Everyone feels better after a good night's sleep. That is to say, Reynir and Mikkel feel better after their good night's sleep. Apparently, the traumatising experiences of the last day are not enough to keep Mikkel from feeling secure in flopping down at the end of the day and catching the 40 winks he has earned. Reynir, too, sleeps like the dead after only a moment of tossing and turning.
Tuuri spends the majority of the night staring at the ceiling and thinking about what has happened. She wonders if she might be able to activate some latent piece of magic in her- the magic is so strong in her brother and cousin, it seems downright unfair that she has not only had to miss out on immunity, but the mage abilities? With this injustice of genetics on her mind, Tuuri drops off. Sigrun posts herself in front of the door, turning a knife over in her good hand. She does not think of anything, if she can stop her mind from wandering.
Emil ends up staring at the back of Lalli's head for most of the night. What Emil thinks about as the night wears on is strictly his personal business.
Once Reynir has grown peaceful in his sleep, he becomes aware of being in his dream-space. He gets up and stretches, then frowns, realising the flock of sheep and the reddish dog that once populated his space have gone. Fled, perhaps, in the wake of the terrifying thing that attacked him? It's a little lonely in the space without them.
Very lonely, in fact. The empty mountain-side reminds him of the time he got lost in the mountains as a child, after straying too far from his home during play. One of his siblings found him well before night-time, of course, and wrapped him in blankets as soon as they got home. A happy ending, but for at least an hour, Reynir was certain he was going to be eaten, or taken away by the spirits, or simply die of exposure.
"Oi."
"Oi?" repeats Reynir quizzically. Doesn't sound like a sheep's noise to him.
"Oi. Reynir."
Reynir looks to his side and sees a very tired, very harassed-looking mage standing at the boundary of his space. Barely able to contain his excitement, Reynir bounds over and peels back the boundary to let Lalli in.
He is even more excited by the prospect of finally being able to speak to him. The language boundary simply falls away when inside the dream-space. He can't explain it and doesn't want to try, for fear that he might talk himself out of being able to understand Lalli.
"Lalli!" he cries "You're alright! Thank the gods! Everyone's been so worried- I mean, mostly Emil, because apparently Tuuri says you sometimes sleep for a few days normally, but Emil thought you might be dying and-"
"There's something in my space."
Reynir's heart skips a beat. In his sleep, he turns over onto his side and kicks the Tuuri in the thigh "Like, the spirit things?"
Lalli shakes his head "Older. Fouler."
"Oh. Um. Are you ok?"
He nods.
"Do you want to maybe stay here for the rest of the night? I'm sure it won't follow you.
He nods again.
They spend the rest of the night sitting in the grass of Reynir's dream-space while Reynir talks about his days as a shepherd and the various, terrifying encounters he has had with feral dogs and weird people he thinks maybe were spirits? Lalli listens silently, and glances over his shoulder frequently.
When the morning comes, Lalli is the first one up. Sigrun is so startled by his sudden movement she nearly throws her knife at him, but stops and smiles as best she can when she sees he's on the move again.
"So you're not dead."
He gives a grunt, somehow understanding what she has said.
"That's good. That's good."
The others move slowly, then rapidly when they see Lalli pulling on his boots and furs. Tuuri hugs him hard enough to produce a light crack from his spine, Mikkel gives him a solid pat on the shoulder and Emil gives him a long, hard stare that is either of relief or anger at being kept in suspense for so long.
"Well, I'm going to sleep," Sigrun lopes over to the bedding Lalli has just vacated and belly-flops. She announces into her pillow: "A three hour nap. That's all I need. Wake me up if we're on fire or dying."
She is snoring half a moment later.
Through Tuuri, Lalli says he needs to scout.
"What for?" asks Mikkel "I don't think it would be a good idea to explore after the amount of trolls we probably disturbed in the city."
Tuuri bends towards Lalli and listens for a moment "He says he needs to make sure we're safe. Something was...something wasn't right last night? We may have to move again, apparently," she adds to him, in Finnish "What are you doing?"
"Mage stuff."
"What kind of mage stuff."
"Magical mage stuff."
"Lalli!"
"Tuuri. I'm going to need Reynir and Emil."
She reports this to Mikkel, who decides it is best to let the mage take care of his mage stuff in any way he needs to, and to trust Emil to keep the other two safe. Unleashing a freshly awoken coma victim, a hayseed civilian without immunity and a traumatised newbie is not one of the easiest choices to make, but Mikkel sees no alternative, unless he wants to try tying Lalli to Tuuri's chair to prevent him from doing his job.
As the three of them disappear into the snow, Mikkel calls out after them "If you see a troll, don't try to fight it! You'll just bring more of them down on us. Just stand still and stay silent!"
