Reynir and Tuuri has decided to split tasks when it came to copying the book found the previous day in what had seemed to be a doctor's office in a communal area turned hospital. Tuuri was going to re-type the text, Reynir was to reproduce any photos and drawings he found. After spending most of the day re-drawing a series of photos showing the progression of the Rash on a patient, he opened the book to the next page that had been marked as having a picture of some kind during a quick comb-through. It seemed to be a flyer with some kind of syringe on it. This was going to be much, much easier than that scary series of photos. The text on the flyer said something about the syringes getting distributed to all treatment centers as soon as possible. He wondered what was supposed to be in them. The radio buzzed. He was quite sure there was no communication planned. Pretending the radio was damaged was fine with everyone, having it damaged for real was not. This meant there was a small chance that Øresund base, and his father, could manage to contact them. Because of this, Tuuri was the one to answer the radio. It turned out to be indeed someone from Øresund base, who claimed to have been trying to reach the expedition for two days. Reynir considered leaving, but his legs felt too weak to support him. What was happening to him? Just yesterday, he had visited that Old World building that was technically sturdy enough to have a troll nest. All though the investigation, Emil had kept saying he was quite sure the rune that Hildur had taught Reynir to draw actually did nothing, and that the building was actually just devoid of trolls.
Tuuri sounded incredibly believable, telling the operator that the radio was broken and that an "accident" had happened with Helena and the cat. Wait, why was she making it sound like Helena had gotten eaten by the troll to save him, while Lalli had arrived later? If she was able to twist words that way, how could he be sure she wasn't doing the exact same thing with him? Or Lalli, for that matter?
-I suppose Reynir's parents would like to speak with him after such a thing happened. Could please fetch them for me?
What was she doing? He wouldn't mind talking to his mother actually, but his father...
A familiar masculine voice came out of the radio:
-Reynir? Are you alright?
Reyir moved his chair closer to the radio and picked up the microphone:
-Ye... Yes...
He might as well go along with Tuuri's story:
-Sor... Sorry... What... what happened to Helena... I didn't know her long, but she seemed...
How could it be so hard to say that last word? She really had seemed nice. He heard his mother's voice:
-I'm happy to hear your voice. But now, you know just how dangerous the Silent World is. Please come back while you are still close to the bridge.
-We... can't.
Fortunately, Tuuri took over:
-Part of the bridge broke while we were driving on it. Actually, we just barely avoided sinking with it.
When his father's voice next came out of the radio, he sounded furious:
-How did this happen?
Tuuri started answering:
-Well, that bridge is more than ninety years old and the knowledge of how it was built in the first place...
-And Helena failed on top of this.
Reynir just barely heard his mother asking his father what he was talking about over his disbelief that if all this story was true, all it took for him to confess was being told that the plan had failed.
-You're Tuuri Hotakainen, right? Listen to me, young lady. If you want to see your brother alive again, you will immediately order that cousin of yours to...
They heard a new voice coming from the radio:
-Please step back, ma'am.
Another new voice:
-Árni Ragnarsson, you are under arrest for attempted murder by proxy.
-You can't do this to me! Do you know who I am?
-Yes, we do.
That last voice was Ólafur's. Guðrún's came next, sounding much closer to the radio:
-Reynir, we are so sorry! Hildur tried to tell us, but we didn't believe her. And when you didn't call back, we thought the worst had happened.
After this, Tuuri felt comfortable telling the real story from their point of view, without twisting any words. That included the fact that they were now reporting to three of Reynir's private tutors.
-Continue reporting to them, in that case. We are going to have plenty to do to clean up this mess as it is, and home is probably one of the safest places for anyone helping you right now. I also understand why you would want to do some that research if you're equipped for it and will need to keep yourselves busy anyway. But please do your best to stay alive, all of you.
When Reynir went to tell Hildur the news, he found her space unoccupied and inaccessible, while it was the complete opposite for the one belonging to Onni. After taking the message he had for Hildur, he explained that he and Hildur had figured out that Icelandic and Finnish mages could ignore each other's protections, but not those of mages from the same tradition.
-Do you know if Hildur is going to go to bed soon?
-I think she will.
-Do you mind if I stay here until she appears in her space?
-Not at all. Besides, she'll probably kill me if I make you wait outside.
Reynir looked around the place. While he knew what Lalli's space looked like from being able to see it, this was the first time he was actually in another mage's space.
-This is different from Lalli's space. More water, less trees. Tuuri told me the three of you basically grew up as siblings, so I thought your space would look like his.
-He's known the forest longer than this place, by now. It's still the other way around for me.
-Oh, is it Saimaa? The place Tuuri told me you lived before going to Keuruu?
Onni suddenly made a face that gave Reynir the impression he had somehow just told him something that made him feel uncomfortable. After that, both of them stayed silent until Reynir saw Hildur appear in her own space and went to join her.
