For want of a sheepherder
Reynir eventually found the house, still not believing that he had made it all the way to Sweden on his own. So much for deciding to take that little escapade no further than Reykjavik. The Academy of Seiður was in town, so enrolling into it once he had been discovered to be a dormant mage hadn't required any extra travelling. Then the dreams had started, and he had not understood what they were until a big news story hit the stands a few days later. The biggest shock had been realizing that the dreams had started the day after the reported event was assumed to have happened. He had already taken to write the dreams down due to their sheer strangeness, but had become much more dedicated to it once he realized that they contained precious information that was impossible to get any other way. He knocked on the door, which was opened by Onni:
-Oh, it's you. Come in.
They had already made contact via their dreams during Reynir's trip. There weren't that many mages in Sweden, so he had been easy to find. Onni led him to the living room, where three children were playing with blocks. From the little Norwegian he had learned, Reynir could tell Onni was introducing him to the children in very basic Swedish. They both sat on the couch. Reynir pulled out the notebook in which he had written down his earliest dreams, and gave it to Onni. He looked around the room:
-Isn't there supposed to be a radio here?
-First thing they sold.
He already knew why Onni was still here. He had nobody to go back home to and, in the midst of his grief, had realized that as mad as he was at their parents, these children didn't deserve to suffer the consequences of what had happened. They had already lost a beloved cousin to this. Onni had taken upon himself to watch them while their parents were kept busy repairing the damage that had been done. Reynir watched the children play as Onni was silently reading the notebook. At some point, the scaled-down version of Emil among them came close to him and started examining his braid. After an indeterminate amount of time, Onni closed the notebook and put it on his lap. Reynir decided to prompt him:
-So?
The other Onni had no idea what those ghosts were, so there was no way this one would have one. But a least, he now had an idea of what had happened to his younger sister and cousin. And of why Reynir, of all people, had ended up with the dreams.
-Did you inform the Nordic Council of this?
-I tried. From what I could tell, they either didn't believe me or didn't care. Same thing for getting in contact with Trond, Taru or Sigrun's parents. I thought someone who was involved in the expedition should see these, and you are all that's left. Well, except Torbjörn and Siv, but they will probably be in the non-believer crowd.
Onni stayed silent for a few moments before speaking again:
-Are they back from the expedition yet? The other ones, I mean.
-No, but they are on their way to their pick-up spot.
Onni spoke again after a few moments of silence:
-I'm staying in the guest room ever since Trond and Taru left. There is a second bed in there. You can stay here for a while.
-Why would…
-I'll figure out a way to make them believe you. In the meantime, Siv has gone back to working at that Rash research institute.
-I already told you the cure the others found was a dead end.
-Another expedition down there is very unlikely to get funded after Torbjörn and Siv's didn't even get to make that trip. Your access to what the others know is the most solid lead we may ever get. Anything you pick up from them will be better than the circles in which the people at the institute have been running for the last fifty years.
Reynir suddenly perked up:
-You mean I could actually find out what the cure to the Rash is if I keep noting my dreams down long enough?
-I wouldn't go that far, but I still think it would be a monumental mistake to not explore the option. Though honestly, the mood around here could use getting a little better as well.
The memories from the previous day would always come flowing in right before he woke up, which let them still be fresh when he had the means of noting them down. He couldn't help getting worried about his other self, whose thoughts seemed to have gotten bad enough to not realize that Lalli had been in no shape to call Onni for help that evening, and that if he hadn't been there to do it instead, they would have all died in the ghost attack. At times like this, he really regretted not having any actual control or means of communicating with his other self. All the dreams let him do was observe. He had guessed the reason for this: his other self had ended up on the expedition by sheer "bad" luck, so any intervention on his part held the risk of keeping something else that was vital, but based on a very unlikely timing of events, from happening. However, he had very strong thoughts towards the conversation that he was currently transcribing. Yes, things would have been different if his other self hadn't left home. They would have been a lot worse.