"Hey, do you speak a human language? When's the next boat ride out of this country?"
Toivo Niskanen lowered his newspaper. Normally he would have responded to the insult to his native Finnish, but he knew who this Norwegian woman was. The capital city (well, capital town) had buzzed for almost two weeks with the story of the outlanders who had gone into the eastern wilds in pursuit of Onni the mage, who in turn had gone into the eastern wilds in pursuit of the Kade guilty of so much horror.
Toivo had a particular interest in the story, for he had known both Onni Hotakainen and his cousin, Lalli Hotakainen, more than a decade ago when they had all lived in the village of Toivosaari. He had survived because he was working in the capital for months before the attack began; Onni, his sister Tuuri, and Lalli, had been the only survivors who were actually in Toivosaari at the time. By the time Toivo learned of the Hotakainens' survival, they had been taken to the military base of Keuruu and had made their new home there.
Married then, and now with two children (one blessedly immune), Toivo had lost track of the Hotakainens until the astonishing tale last winter of Lalli and Tuuri's expedition to Silent Denmark. Now Lalli and Onni were both back in Finland where they belonged, along with this flock of outlanders, and rumor had it that they had actually destroyed the Kade, avenging all the dead of Toivosaari and surrounding villages. Toivo's own brother, Tapsa, was one of those avenged, and the Norwegian woman, tactless though she was, had assisted in that vengeance.
Toivo turned, determined to be polite. "Hmm, let's see ..."
