Worst case scenario: The cleanser
Árni and Sigríður had just had a discussion with a neighbor complaining about the things the children of a wealthy nearby household got away with on a daily basis. They had already forgotten whose children the neighbor had been complaining about. They now had the cleanser who was related to the expedition's organizer on their minds. They quickly realized that someone used to working with fire and explosives was probably just as bad to have as a bully as a mage. It could actually be worse. In the mage’s case, there was at least a remote possibility that his gods were limiting what he could do to Reynir. Cleansers did not need to call upon their gods to use their explosives or flamethrowers. They remembered the official had told them that the crew had been ordered to keep Reynir alive, and that protocol forbade from leaving non-immunes alone without immune guards in troll-infested areas. The captain had to be enforcing these rules. But what if she left Reynir alone with the cleanser as a guard, while the scout was asleep, under the cover of showing the medic and the skald something that could interest them? Maybe the cleanser would play a "prank" involving explosives on Reynir, the “prank” would go wrong and, when everyone came back, he would claim that he was fending off a troll attack and that Reynir "accidentally" got caught in the blast. Nobody would question him, because he was their employer's relative, despite the obvious absence of troll remains in the vicinity. The medic would do his best to repair the damage, the skald complain about her favorite toy being broken but ultimately turn her attention to the cleanser himself, the captain possibly scold him for the waste of resources but not much else. They knew that by the time the news reached headquarters, everyone would be agreeing, willingly or reluctantly, that it the whole thing was an unfortunate accident. Would they get Reynir back with an eye missing, or even a limb, all because of some rich kid’s boredom? They prayed the gods that the other members of the crew realized that this could happen, understood the implications and made sure Reynir and the cleanser were never left alone.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Silent World:
The idea suddenly felt stupid. Manning the radio in case somebody called and stayed to talk with him if the person they were trying to reach was unavailable. Speaking with him was probably the last thing all but one of the people at headquarters wanted to do. Maybe he should take the earphones off and try talking to Emil. Tuuri claimed that Swedish was actually quite similar to Icelandic. And if Emil had somehow managed to befriend Lalli despite not speaking a single word of Finnish, it couldn’t be much harder for him and Reynir to get along, right? Just as Reynir was about to act on the idea, the radio buzzed. He might as well answer:
-If you're trying to reach Sigrun, Mikkel or Tuuri, they are not here. Can I take a message for any of them?
-Does this mean Lalli is here?
The familiar accent almost made him jolt:
-Onni! Uh... yes, Lalli is here but he's sleeping and Mikkel forbade us to wake him up unless it was necessary. He's been basically taking daily double shifts lately, so Mikkel's been making sure he gets all the sleep he can. I'm not sure "getting a magic lessons from his cousin" will count as a good reason to wake him. But if you really, really need to talk to him now, I'll wake him and figure out a good excuse before Mikkel comes back.
-It is not so important that such measures are needed. I will accept your offer to take a message.
Once Reynir had noted the message that he would later give to Tuuri, Reynir asked if Onni needed anything else.
-To know since when you are manning the radio.
-Since the only other awake person here right now is Emil. The most entertaining thing I did today was mend the canvas on a folding stool. Uh... before you called, of course.
They had to do some of that cover-up research from time to time, and that research was the reason Tuuri was part of the expedition. Whatever was interesting to Tuuri was to Mikkel as well. Emil came to the office asking something. He had probably recognized his name and thought he had been called, considering that he was now reaching his hand towards him, probably expecting to be given the earphones. Tuuri had suggested starting with short and simple sentences:
-Oh, no, not for you. Tuuri's brother, Lalli's cousin. Doesn't speak Swedish.
Either one of the words being close enough to its Swedish equivalent, or the association of Tuuri and Lalli's names, had apparently made Emil understand who he was talking with. Emil went back outside, but not before raising an eyebrow and asking a bewildered question. He was probably surprised that there was someone at headquarters with whom Reynir could have somewhat of a casual conversation. Unfortunately, any chance of resuming said conversation got shot down by Onni's voice speaking from much further away from the radio than before:
-Hey, you three, what are doing with this?
Reynir heard the sound of something being dropped on the floor just as he took the earphones off, wishing Onni good luck with Emil’s young cousins. Well, he had technically talked to Emil just now. Re-doing his braid while waiting for the others to come back couldn't hurt.
