Heli surveys her native city with a sense of horror and nausea – what have they done to her beautiful city? She represents this city, capital of Finland, she protects it like Cerberus, or an unyielding dragon. All the shelters strong, valiant Heli has built to protect her citizens were of no use, their reinforced walls no use against the Soviet's bombs. She hardly notices the rivulets of carmine that surround her, sinking into the deep snow, the broken bones from each bomb exploding that try to impede her attempts to help her citizens, the dizziness coming from the concussion that, from experience, she understands comes from a bomb exploding too close to her…the feeling of near defeat is the only thing the once-assumed to be infallibly valiant and tough Heli notices. She almost got defeated…. Heli refuses to be defeated, and though she knows Finland is strong, she worries about her immediate superior, the representative of Suomi, Finland – Timo. She hasn't seen him for a while, his Swedish counterpart could well be trying to protect him. Heli knows the truth. She understands that Sweden's government only wants Finland to win so that they can have a buffer state between their country, beautiful-cold-strong-weak-desolate-sparkling-perfectly-flawed Sverige, Sweden. She understands that their neutral country to the west that everyone obsesses over – and, secretly, she's jealous of – still really doesn't think of Finland as quite equal. Sweden…Sweden has some trouble letting go of Finland. She suspects it's because of all the country's time under Denmark's iron rule. She has a brief, naïve moment of thinking she may forgive the Scandinavian nation. But she knows she can never, ever forgive Ivan, Russia. He walked into her city with his soldiers and set off a bomb near her just so he could…oh, how did he put it? It was so…euphemistic…oh, kyllä, ja…incapacitate her. He hurt her so badly she doesn't know if she can make it. She feels betrayed by everything. She thought she was strong. She thought she was immune from injury in some way. Maybe she felt women weren't supposed to get hurt? The whole "don't hit girls" thing only worked to some extent. That was childish and innocent of her. Why would she expect a crazed, psychotic man like Ivan to follow rules of war? Why would she expect to miraculously escape unharmed for the bombing of her city? Why would she expect everything to go in any sort of organised or planned way? This is war…war is chaos, war breaks every rule Heli has ever wanted to believe… Trying so, so hard to believe…she's angry with herself. She feels sick to her stomach…but that's probably loss of blood. Or is it? She doesn't know…she's very, very upset, that's all that she truly knows. She sings a Finnish folk song, Illan Hiljaisuudessa, In the Still of the Evening. If only evenings were quiet. If only it was still. She all too well feels the blood seeping out of her and she knows she is growing weaker… No. No…she is a Finn. She has sisu. Her country has sisu…the essential Finnish word, the only word to truly capture the Finnish spirit, a word untranslatable, strength of will, determination, the ability to keep doing something against all odds. She has sisu. She can make it and she will make it. She winces as she gets up and slowly walks down to her city. She knows she doesn't have much time until she's unconscious…but she'll try to do her best…she's made it down to help people, but finds people, her citizens, the only people she'd ever love, dead, dying, in pain, or otherwise injured. She knows this war isn't over yet. Ivan has made sure it might never be over…and all she can do is hope Timo or Sweden or some other foreign country thinks enough of Finland to help… The world swirls with a dark olive colour, a rust colour and then… Darkness finally hits her.