Emil didn't always remember his dreams, but he was pretty sure they didn't usually have this many animals in them. He lifted his head, staring at the small, fluffy sheepdog and the stag whose antlers were an inch away from poking him in the eye. Between the two animals, he could see a familiar, freckled face beaming at him.
"Reynir... what..." he said groggily, rubbing his eyes.
"Hi!" Reynir dragged him to his feet. "Guess what? So I was just wandering around in my dream, and then I walked through the part with the water and then I found this place! And you were there! And I found this guy!" He patted the stag on the tuft of fur right between its antlers, causing tiny sparkles to fly into the air.
"Okay..." Emil said slowly, still processing the fact that Reynir and a stag and a dog had suddenly popped into his dream.
Reynir's face took on an unusually solemn expression. "Anyway, I've been worried about the other mage. You know, Lúlli."
"Lalli," Emil corrected, feeling a sharp pang of worry for his friend.
"Right. Him. He isn't waking up, I think something is wrong! I tried to talk to him in a dream last night, but he wasn't very friendly and then he kicked me out! So I need you to come talk to him instead. Will you come?"
About time someone noticed Lalli's catatonic state, in Emil's humble opinion. There was just one problem. "Sure, but he won't understand a word I say."
Reynir looked thoughtful. He pulled his braid over one shoulder and pinched the very end between two fingers. "I'm not so sure about that, you can understand what I'm saying, right?"
"Yes..."
"Great! Let's go! Can we go?"
"Sure," Emil replied warily.
Reynir took off running down the green, grassy slope they had been standing on. Emil had to jog to keep up. "Wait! What is this place?" he panted as they ran.
"This? This is your place!" Reynir responded cheerfully. "It's really nice! I honestly didn't expect to see any wildflowers, but those are really pretty. And I like the hills, those are cool! Oh, look! We're almost there!"
Suddenly Emil found himself wading through icy, knee-deep water. "It's okay," Reynir said, "Lalli should be really close!"
Emil said nothing, only nodded with a silent resolve. He would make it there no matter how cold the water was.
Even in his dreamspace, Lalli was exhausted. Something was wrong. Except he knew that, he knew that his luonto was missing. Then the weird spirits attacked, and he thought... no, he knew... he had seen Onni? He wasn't sure anymore. He was missing his luonto, that was the reason his mind was so full of static. He shook his head, silently willing the irritating background noise to vanish. No luck.
"Hey! Are you okay? I brought your friend this time!" A cheerful, red-topped head appeared in the far corner of Lalli's field of vision. Oh no. Not him again. The weird foreign mage was back, invading his dreamspace yet again. He was talking, too. What was he saying about friends? Lalli didn't have friends. But that wasn't true, he did have a friend! One friend, a friend with sparkly hair. Lalli tried to hold on to that thought, but it was no use. He pressed his hands to the sides of his head and turned away.
"I'm so worried about him," Reynir whispered to his fylgja. "He's been getting worse. It's been weeks since he was actually awake."
"Lalli?" Emil said hesitantly, stepping onto the boards of Lalli's raft-thing.
Lalli didn't speak. He stared stubbornly at the reflections in the water, not moving a muscle. Emil glanced nervously over his shoulder. It was clear that he had no idea what to do.
The stag paced back and forth behind Reynir, its eyes mirroring Emil's fear and indecision. Suddenly, Reynir had an idea.
"He doesn't know what to do..." he said softly as the stag 's restless movements stilled, "but maybe you do?" He spoke directly to the stag, looking straight into its magnificent turquoise eyes. "Please, can you help? Please?"
The stag seemed to nod, and it disappeared into the trees and mist and shadow at the edge of Lalli's dreamspace.
Emil sat down next to Lalli, who had shuddered as if his soul had suddenly filled with snow and curled up into a ball on the rough wooden planks. Emil had never felt so helpless in his life. He didn't know what to do, this was mage stuff, he didn't know anything about mages, he didn't even know if all this was real. Reynir had vanished, he had left them there, alone, with Lalli sick and seeming to fade by the minute. It wasn't fair, Emil shouldn't have to deal with this alone. All he could do was sit there, watching the dappled shadows dance on the water as Lalli shivered on the planks next to him.
Then Reynir reappeared, with a rush of happy chatter. "Wow! That was fast! Emil, your stag is the best!"
"My stag?" Emil repeated incredulously.
"Yes! He's like your version of my dog!" Reynir waved his hand towards the stag, and Emil looked over just in time to see something long and silvery slink out of sight. "He's really friendly and nice and I'm pretty sure he saved Lalli!" Reynir bounded over to Emil, grinning so broadly it seemed like his face might burst. "And since he's your stag, that means you helped!"
"I did?" Emil was still confused as to what, exactly, was going on here.
Reynir opened his mouth. "Mrrh."
He suddenly looked incredibly confused. "I didn't say that... Lalli!"
Even though the weird foreign mage had called Onni, and probably had something to do with the return of his luonto, this did not give him permission to just barge into Lalli's space whenever he felt like it. Lalli frowned. "Go away," he said. Then he noticed the other person standing in his dreamspace. "...Emil?"
The golden-haired Swede turned quickly, a relieved smile growing on his face. But morning was already here, and Emil faded from sight as he started to wake up.
Emil yawned widely. He was back in the Cattank. He knew that he'd just woken up from the weirdest dream ever, but he couldn't quite remember what that dream had been. Something with lots of animals, and something ridiculous about mages. He rolled over, unwilling to leave the warmth of his blankets, and caught sight of a familiar pair of silvery eyes regarding him solemnly from underneath a nearby bed.
Outside the Cattank, Reynir was telling Tuuri about how he had found Emil and Emil's stag had found Lalli's wild cat thing and how Lalli was going to wake up any second now. She didn't seem to believe him, though. At least, not until she opened the Cattank's door.
End.
