Worst case scenario: The skald
Árni and Sigríður didn't know how they had missed this piece of information on the documentation left behind by the official for so long. The skald girl not being immune made them completely re-evaluate the time during which Reynir had to be stuck alone with her. The official had told them the expedition had the means of isolating non-immunes from potentially contaminated immune combatants, but these means had certainly been set up for the one non-immune person that was supposed to be on the expedition. The medic probably had no other choice than putting both Reynir and the skald in the same small isolation chamber. Whatever happened in there would be Reynir's word against the skald's, the skald being more likely to be believed. This only added to the fact that the skald girl had already been the member of the crew they were the most worried about before they noticed her immunity status. The girl was able to hurt Reynir with words and trick him, where all of Reynir's other bullies only had actions. They were also certain that she was trying to seduce him, using whatever passed for courtship in Finland. Reynir was probably the perfect target for a young Finnish woman who was educated by her country’s standards and wanted to flaunt her knowledge of Icelandic. The lies she told to her mage relative and the captain probably happened when Reynir refused her advances. And if he one day ended up giving up and saying "yes" to something, she would probably claim the whole thing was his idea if they were caught together. How far was that girl going to go? Was this expedition going to make them grandparents? Were they going to be left with no choice but to have that girl as a daughter-in-law? Was she doing it all just to get herself out of Finland? They weren't sure whether the latter option was better or worse than the idea that she could be just seeing Reynir as some kind of toy. And the two options weren't actually mutually exclusive. They wished that this expedition would end soon, so Reynir could get away from that horrible young woman.
Meanwhile somewhere in the Silent World:
Tuuri laughed:
-Wait, your parents really told you there was still a ban on non-immune people travelling internationally? How did you ever find out it was not the case?
-One of my brothers told me while he was visiting. Poor Bjarni must be gritting his teeth right now if he knows where I am. The whole family, actually, come to think of it.
Reynir hadn't actually thought of them in a while with all that had been going on. Tuuri tapped on the windshield, as they were once again in isolation in the front of the vehicle:
-Well, here we are. So much for them trying to keep us in.
Reynir looked out the windshield, at the long-abandoned town that could be seen from it:
-Yes...
-But I'm curious, how come your siblings got to leave home and not you?
-Dagrenning children, more like adoptive siblings blood-wise. All four of them are immune. What about Lalli? How did he ever get to become a scout if Onni wanted to keep both of you inside the base?
-Onni tried, trust me. But the options that would both keep him inside and did not require Onni or me to be constantly keeping an eye on him ran out quite fast. I also heard Lalli tell Onni that one of them should be outside the base from time to time, and it might as well be him. Guess it had to do with whatever reason we moved there in the first place.
By now, Reynir had pieced together that Onni and Lalli were hiding a lot from Tuuri, and she knew it. But she had picked up the habit in her own way. Reynir knew how Lalli usually talked from the dream world and the few times she had translated something Lalli wanted to tell him in the waking world, she had made him sound much more tactful and polite than he really was. Part of him was also convinced that if it weren't for this habit of Tuuri's, Sigrun would be taking his powers much more seriously. But all around, she had been a pleasant surprise in this situation he hadn't chosen. Another non-immune, from the other side of the world, who knew what it was like to be locked behind walls while seeing all the immune people going in and out as they pleased and taking it for granted. Who, once out of those walls, wouldn't be satisfied until she saw the edge of the world. Who understood him on a level that the other members of the crew couldn't. Who had become a true friend. Tuuri's voice interrupted his thoughts:
-Hey, shouldn't we be allowed out by now? Mikkel, what's taking so long?
Mikkel's stern voice answered from the other side of the door:
-I took the usual amount of time. The two of you are the ones who didn't hear me when I said you could come out half an hour ago out because you were chattering away. I was actually about to start making dinner early in hope that the smell would give you a hint.
Had they really been talking for that long? Reynir didn't notice.
