Page 180 of North Is the Night
Liisa still watches me. “Why have you not come back to us? Is it Aina? Is she dead?”
Mummi rounds on her. “Liisa, did you finish feeding the chickens?”
“Now that you’re here, you should meet Aksel’s new bride,” she says over Mummi.
I glance between them. “Aksel is married?”
Mummi slips her blue cap on and grabs her favorite wool shawl off the peg by the door. “Not yet. It’s all been a bit sudden, but love always rings true in the end.”
“Who is he marrying?”
Mummi smiles, holding out her hand. “Liisa’s right. You should meet her.”
We take the long path through the trees to get to Milja’s house, to avoid being spotted by the other villagers. “What does Milja know?” I say to Mummi.
“Oh, goodness. Everything. More than even you, I suspect.”
I pause my steps. “How—”
“Hurry up,” she calls out. “All will be revealed soon.”
We step into the yard to find Milja on the back step peeling vegetables with a young woman with long, blonde braids. Both women look up as we approach.
“Good morning,” Mummi calls.
Milja’s eyes fill with tears. “Siiri? Oh, blessed mother, be praised.” She hurries over to wrap me in a tight embrace.
The young woman behind Milja looks at me with joy in her eyes. “This is Siiri?”
Milja inspects me, her fingers brushing over the scar on my neck. “Is Aina alive?”
I smile, taking hold of her hand. “Let’s go inside.”
We all settle at Milja’s table. She fusses over my thinness and my cut hair as the young woman pours us all cups of tea.
“My Aina?” Milja says again.
“I have her,” I say with a smile. “She’s free of Tuonela. She’s with me in the north.”
Next to me, Mummi squeezes my shoulder, while Milja and the young woman fall to pieces, crying and hugging each other. My own smile dims as I watch the stranger cry. “Who are you? Why do you act as though you know Aina?”
The girl laughs, wiping away her tears. “Oh—forgive me. I never said. My name is Helmi.”
I go still, heart racing. I know this name well. She was all Aina talked of during the first days of our reunion. I’ve committed all the girls’ names to memory: Lilja and Salla, Riina and Helmi, Inari and Satu. Most nights, Aina has nightmares. She wakes up screaming, her body drenched in sweat. I hold her and ask the same question: “Who was it this time?”
Someone is always dying in Aina’s dreams. Someone is always fleeing. Someone is tortured with a little round stone. Aina has dreamt of Helmi’s death many times.
“You’ve heard of me,” she says gently. “Aina told you?”
I give a curt nod. “How did you get here?”
“Aina freed us. She made a deal with the death god and—”
“I know what happened down there,” I say over her. “I’m asking how you gothere.”
She holds my gaze. “We made her a promise, Riina, Satu, and I. We promised we would find her family and tell them what happened. She wanted you to know how much she loved you, Siiri... and that she didn’t blame you for what happened.”
“I blame myself enough for the both of us,” I reply.
