Page 110 of North Is the Night
The shaman senses my thoughts. “The luonto is never wrong. It suits you perfectly. What do we know of our friend the white-backed woodpecker?”
I chew on my wad of sweetly sour bark. “They’re bloody annoying.”
Väinämöinen blinks twice, then roars with laughter, the sound deep and musical. He slaps his leg. “I was going to make that joke if you didn’t get there yourself.” He wipes a tear of mirth from his eye. “You’re quite right. Like you, the woodpecker is bloody annoying.”
I scowl at him, but his smile has already fallen, his tone more somber.
“And clever, resourceful. Highly industrious. You’ll never find a more hardworking, tenacious little bird. They like to stay close to home, but they’re not averse to traveling long distances if the need arises.” He pauses, raising a thick white brow as he offers me a knowing smile. “And they mate for life.”
I spit the wad of bark into my hand. “Fine, I’m a wood-
pecker.”
“Too right,” he replies, hiding his smile.
“So, I did it. I released my luonto. That means my itse is next, right? Am I ready?”
“You can’t release your itse until you are properly tethered. Your drum is done. All that remains is your hands.”
I swallow my excitement as he moves around the hut, rattling things about. He means to do this now.
Slowly, he turns. “Are you ready?”
I nod, determination filling me. “Yes.”
“Why do you do this?”
“For Aina,” I reply.
He nods. “For Aina.”
I place my hands flat on the table. “Do it, old man. I’m ready.”
35
Aina
“Tell me about Jaako,”I say, helping myself to a second jam tart.
Across the table, the god of death sits, sharing a meal with me. He glances over the flickering candles, the light playing off his white and black eyes. When he tilts his head in that way, dark brows lowered, shadows dancing on his face, I can almost see the raven inside him.
“What do you wish to know?” he asks.
“Where is he?”
“He is here.” Tuoni taps a finger to his chest.
“He’s inside you?”
“Heisme, wife.”
I set my tart aside, sucking the jam off my thumb. “I don’t understand. How did the curse work? Tuonetar shackled you with goblin-forged chains that limited your magic. How could you then visit me as the raven?”
He’s quiet for a moment. “I’d need a shaman to confirm my theory, but I think soul magic cannot be contained. She could have my body, she could have my ability to make fire, manipulate shadow, control the dead. But she couldn’t have my soul. That part of me will always be free. I am no shaman, so it took some time for me to work out how, but I found a way to release my luonto.”
“Your luonto?”
He gives me a patient smile. “The piece of my soul that takes the form of a raven.”
