Story eleven for the challenge, this time inspired by the word Memory.

Sigrun looked over the water, the towel wrapped loosely around her upper body. Tuuri came up from the water, settled down next to her after drying off. The captain didn't say anything, her gaze locked to the horizon, and Tuuri let her eyes wander over the captain. The captain was well-built, muscular, and Tuuri blushed a little.

Then her eyes stopped at Sigrun's upper arm. She moved closer, settled up on her knees and stretched out a hand towards it. Sigrun looked at her, without moving her head, but didn't stop her, and Tuuri carefully placed her fingers on top of the pink lines covering her arm.

"What... what is this?"

Sigrun let out a sigh and Tuuri pulled back. Sigrun lifted her hand, carefully touched the scars.

"This one was Bjarne. Sigrid. Leif. Terje."

She continued counting up names, moving the fingers to different scars as she said them.

"Down here..."

She stopped halfway down her upper arm, her gaze stuck to the horizon again.

"...I stopped remembering their names. It was no use."

Tuuri looked at Sigrun's arm as the Captain's hand fell down into her lap again.

"...why?"

"To remember them. To remember what I lost in this job, what it has cost me."

She didn't look at Tuuri, and Tuuri touched the scars again, a shiver running down her spine.

"Did it hurt?"

"Not as much as it did telling their families about it. Sometimes... Sometimes there wasn't even a body left for them to bury."

Tuuri moved back again, looked at her captain, looked towards the horizon.

"Fish-guy was fun", Sigrun's fingers touched one of the scars as she spoke. "He smelled like fish, his parents were seafarers. 21 years old. Lost him when we meet a bear-beast. I... I wasn't quick enough to pull him out of the way. You ever seen a bear-beast?"

Tuuri shook her head.

"They're gigantic, very strong. Very deadly. Fish-guy tried to face it himself. Not... not that he would have been able to outrun it anyway. They can climb trees, you know."

Tuuri wasn't sure she wanted to know how Sigrun found that out. Sigrun looked at her.

"You've seen any beasts before this expedition?"

Tuuri shook her head again.

"Only... only a couple. Onni and Lalli made sure I was safe."

"Remember to always tell them what they mean for you."

Sigrun ruffled Tuuri's hair, got up. Her towel fell off and she picked it up, threw it over her shoulder. Tuuri blushed, quickly looked away from Sigrun and out over the water. It was calm now, still after everyone had gone back to the tank to dry off. She picked up her own towel and followed Sigrun.

Sigrun waved towards her when she heard Tuuri's footstep and Tuuri hurried up to her. Sigrun placed an arm over Tuuri's shoulder, causing Tuuri's blush to intensify.

"I hope I won't need to add any of you to my collection. Make sure you stay alive."

Sigrun let go off Tuuri again, hurried towards the tank where Mikkel gave her a new set of clothes. Tuuri looked as Sigrun entered the tank, hurried her steps a bit. Mikkel gave her a spare set of clothes and Tuuri thought about going after Sigrun but decided not to and instead she turned around, settled down next to Lalli.

"Lalli..."

Lalli tilted his head, looked at her.

"Thank you for always keeping me safe."

He didn't answer, his eyes on the Dane to make sure the older man didn't try to throw him into the water as well, and Tuuri got up again.

"I'm going to call Onni, tell him that we're still alive. Good luck, Lalli."

Lalli nodded and Tuuri went towards the door, giggled a little when she saw Mikkel heading in Lalli's direction and then quickly placed herself next to the radio, putting the headphones over her ears. She didn't care how long it would take, she would take Sigrun's advice to heart.

Onni would be happy to hear from her anyway.

Sigrun looked up at the ceiling where she sat on Tuuri's bed, her hand slowly tracing the scars under the shirt. She smiled as she remembered the people she had worked with, smiled as she remembered the fun times they had shared. A tear traced her cheek and she dried it off, leaned back. Let her hand fall down into her lap.

"I'll see you in Valhall", she whispered.