Page 61 of North Is the Night
Siiri
Soft hands stroke mybrow, soon replaced with the sensation of a cool, wet cloth.
“She’s burning up,” Aina whispers, with fear in her voice.
“A veden väki has taken hold,” Mummi replies. “I can’t get it out, no matter what I try.”
“We should take her to the sauna,” comes Milja’s voice. “Only a fire spirit can fight water.”
I feel a heavy weight lift off the bed as Mummi goes to prepare. On the other side of the bed, Aina still sits, holding my hand and applying wet cloths to my burning forehead. I swallow a moan, feeling the fever race through me like a brush fire.
“Don’t you dare die,” Aina whispers, my hand gripped tight in hers. “If you die of this fever, you had better be prepared to haunt me, because I’m not living without you, Siiri.”
I want to speak. I want to tell her everything I’ve kept buried in my heart, but my lips don’t move.
“Please, don’t leave me,” Aina begs, her voice breaking as she leans over me, a single tear dropping onto my cheek. “Come back to me. Siiri, please. Don’t leave me here alone. Please, come back.”
Those words fill me, warming me, strengthening my will to live.
Come back to me.
Anything for you, Aina.
Come back to me.
Wait for me.
Come back...
My throat burns painfully. That’s the first clue telling me I’m awake. I don’t move, don’t open my eyes. I’m not ready to shatter the illusion that Aina is here with me. But that was just a dream, a memory from long ago. Aina is gone, and I’m alone.
Keeping my eyes closed, I use my other senses. They’ve untied me from the beam, and I lie on my side in Lumi’s hut. There’s a crackling fire to my left, the feel of fur under my cheek, a cookpot bubbling, the hooting of an owl outside. I’m alive. The witch didn’t kill me. How long have I been asleep?
My stomach growls ferociously as I take another deep breath, smelling the savory reindeer stew. I’ve been starving myself for days, trying to preserve my rations. For every step I take north, I’ll have to retread the same steps south with Aina at my side. I will not fight to save her just to lose her again.
“You’re awake,” Lumi calls. “Good.”
I open one eye to see the witch sitting across from me. She watches me with those sharp, wolf-like eyes. I try to roll over and push myself up onto my knees, but my wrists and ankles are still bound. Growling in frustration, I jerk upright, flopping like a fish until I’m sitting up. Then I flash Lumi an accusing glare.
“It was for my protection, I assure you,” Lumi says. “Tell me, why does a weary traveler need all these blades?” She gestures in front of her at the food preparation stone, where all my blades have been collected, including the knives hidden in my boots. My grandmother’s silver still glints at her wrists.
“You can never be too careful,” I rasp.
“I’m going to ask you some questions now,” Lumi says, wrapping a colorful fringed shawl around her shoulders. “Who are you?”
“I told you. I’m from the south, journeying north.”
“For what purpose?”
“I’mrecovering someone who is lost.”
“Lost in the north?” she presses.
“Something like that.”
“No, that’s not how we’ll proceed,” she says with a little shake of her head. “I will ask questions, and you will answer. What is your name, girl?”
“How can that possibly matter?” I press my hand to the bandage at my neck. “Ask the question you really want answered.”
