"Mourning Emil"
During one of the crew's book collecting expeditions, Emil was cornered by trolls and died. The entire crew took this loss hard, especially Lalli. He wouldn't speak a word, not even to Tuuri, and spent even more time than usual sleeping. In the dream world, he felt a little better because he could pretend that Emil was still alive in the waking world. Over the course of the expedition they had become such good friends... maybe... maybe more than friends. But it was too late for that now. Lalli seriously considered living out the rest of his life in his dream, just so he would never have to go back to that world without Emil. He spent days at the edge of the dream, caught between waking and sleep. Finally, he realized that he couldn't stay asleep forever. The only parts of his friend that remained were the memories shared by the other crewmates, and they were all out there. They needed their scout to be safe, they needed his help and protection as much as Emil had needed it on the day Lalli couldn't give it to him. And if they died too... Emil would really truly be gone. And so, teetering as he was on the edge of consciousness, Lalli let himself drift back to the painful waking world, because feeling the pain was better than pretending it never happened.
