"Emil, wake up, breakfast is done."

Emil blinked, yawned and stretched before he settled up. He thanked Siv and she left the room again to give him space to wake up. He yawned again, scratched his back and pulled his legs over the edge of the bed. He buried his face in his hands, tried to remember his dreams, but they were slowly slipping away. Lalli had been in it, there was a troll somewhere, as well as an explosion and a dotted hen. Emil looked confused, then got out of the bed.

After getting dressed he hurried down to the kitchen, where Siv and Torbjörn already were sitting. He sank down on one of the chairs, Siv offered him a cup of tea and he served himself some porrige. They exchanged the normal morning pleasantries, then ate in silence. After that Emil went back to the guestroom, checked that he still had all the tickets and then went back downstairs. Torbjörn and Siv were already putting on their coats and shoes and Emil hurried up to them, did the same. They walked into the chilly autumn air, looked into the windows of the stores they passed.

"Anna worked here last summer", Siv said as they passed a bookstore.

Emil peeked through the window.

"Did she like it?"

"It wasn't her dreamjob, she said."

"What's her dreamjob?"

Siv smiled.

"She doesn't know."

Emil pulled away from the window and they continued walking.

"There's a book-store in Björköfjärden as well, isn't there?"

"Yes", Torbjörn said, "but it has a smaller stock than this one. Biggest bookstore in Scandinavia!"

Emil smiled, but didn't say anything. They reached the bakery and Emil slipped inside, looked through the confectionery. Torbjörn and Siv chatted away with the woman behind the counter while Emil looked at the cookies. After a while he called the woman over.

"Could I have a couple of each?"

"Yes, of course", she grabbed a box and started filling it with cookies. "Is there anything else you would like?"

"No thank you, it won't stay fresh the whole way. It's a present for my friends in Finland."

She put a bow around the box and Emil paid her. They left the bakery again, continued slowly towards the train station. The train was already in when they arrived and Emil said goodbye to Siv and Torbjörn, before finding his place inside it. They waved to him through the window before leaving and Emil took the book out again. He had gotten it a couple of weeks earlier, but hadn't had time to start reading it right away. It was about different types of explosives, comparing what they had today to what was used in the Old World. Emil hoped to learn something to make his work more efficient.

He fell asleep shortly after the train left the station, dreamt about Lalli again.

"Where are you staying?"

Lalli's voice was soft, quiet and Emil looked at him, smiled.

"I don't know yet, I figured I could solve that when I'm there."

Emil settled up in the grass, Lalli settled down beside him. They sat in silence, looked at the rabbits on the field. A couple of deers looked at them from the trees and Lalli's eyes followed them.

"Animals like you", he said.

"I guess?" Emil said. "I like animals, that's why I keep dreaming about them. I dreamt about lynxes a few weeks ago."

Lalli didn't answer.

"I'm on the train now, the boat will leave in about 8 hours. I'm going to look for a gift for Tuuri while waiting, any suggestions?"

Lalli shook his head and Emil let out a sigh.

"I didn't think you'd have. Dreams can only repeat what you already know, right?"

Lalli didn't move. Emil rolled his thumbs, woke up again. The conductor was shaking him.

"I apologize, mister, but I need to see your ticket."

Emil smiled at the conductur, assured her it was alright while digging out the ticket from his backpack and handing it to her. She looked at it, nooded and continued through the train. Emil picked up the book from the floor and continued reading, doing his best to not fall asleep again. Three hours later they arrived in Björköfjärden and Emil left the train, happily stretching his legs.

Björköfjärden had gotten larger since he first met the Finns there 10 years earlier. Apartments and stores had been built, mainly souvenir shop, but also grocery stores for the few people living in the area. One of the former sleeping quarters for travellers had been rebuilt into a restaurant and a luxury hotel had appeared near the trainstation. Standing five floors high it was among the tallest buildings in Sweden. Emil had never seen it before. He looked at it for a few minutes before looking at the clock and following the signs to Björköfjärden Town Square.

There was lots of people there, he could hear people talking in Finnish, in Danish and in Norwegian. A few people greeted him when they passed each other in the street, old workmates who had decided to persue a different career after a few years in the cleansers. It was nice to see them, but Emil pulled his sleeves further down whenever someone called his name. He found a bookshop next to the grocery store and went inside. Torbjörn had been right, it was tiny, most of the books were thin and cheaply made so travellers could afford them. Emil walked along the shelves, tried to find something that Tuuri would appreciate. In the back he found some larger and more interesting books, not the regular bestsellers people usually bought. He found a book about etymology, smiled and bought it. Even with a Captain's salary the price was high, but he was certain it would be worth it.

With his errand done he went to the harbour, settled down on the sofa in the waiting room. One good part about Björköfjärden getting larger and more travellers arriving was that they had finally changed the disgusting sofas Emil remembered from last time he had been there and they had hired cleaners to keep sofas and floors clean. He opened his book again, read a little, but after a couple of pages he was disturbed by other passengers starting to talk to him. A lot of them seemed to think he had done this several times before and Emil smiled, told them that there was nothing to worry about. The Baltic Sea had very few sea beasts and the crew was very skilled and knew what they should do in case they did end up getting attacked.

In reality, Emil had no clue. There had been a lot of times during the years when he thought about taking the boat over, but there was always something that got in the way. He hoped badly nothing would go wrong during his travel, but considering how his life had looked the chances for that was pretty slim. He'd face those problems when they came though, after the weeks in the Silent world he had gotten a lot better at not panicking. After having calmed down another ten passengers they opened the gate to let people onboard. Emil waited until the flood of people had calmed down a little, then boarded himself. He found himself a bed, placed his backpack and the two presents on it and then took a walk in the areas paaengers were allowed into.

He ended up in the dining hall and grabbed himself a bowl of food. A couple of the other passengers joined him, a Swede and a Finn, and Emil talked with them, happy to get a chance to practice his Finnish. The Finn didn't say much though, but explained to Emil that it wasn't him being impolite, Finns was overall a quiet people. Emil told him about Tuuri and the man nodded.

"I know her. Worked with her. West-Finnish heritage."

The Finn continued eating and Emil smiled slightly, not really sure what the other had meant. The Swede was much more social and he and Emil chatted away for several hours. After dinner the Swede took out a deck of cards and the three of them started playing, soon joined by a few other passengers. It was after midnight when Emil went back to the bed and fell asleep, this time without dreaming. He woke up again when the large ship stopped and they had to move over to the river boats.

The Swedes and Finns had worked together the last five years to build a real harbour town in Pori. It hosted about 50 people, with a small hostel that could host another 20 people. Emil hadn't been part of the actual cleansing and building, but he had taken part in the planning. It had resulted in many late evenings, lots of sleepless nights, but now that he saw the result he felt happy and a little bit proud. Large areas outside of the small town had been cleansed, Emil had suggested that they should turn it into farms, but the Finns wanted to keep their forests. It didn't matter much, Emil had concluded, as long as they made sure to keep the forests safe. He would have preferred if the forest line was a little bit farther from the town, but he had no say in it.

There wasn't much time to look around in the town, the river boat would leave only one hour after Viking Line made shore. Emil hurried off the ship, saw some of the other passengers disappear among the houses and then he boarded the smaller boat, finding a table to sit at. The Finn from the Viking Line accompanied him, they exchanged a couple of words in Finnish and then Emil continued with his book while the Finn quietly looked out the windows. The windows closed after about an hour and everyone on the ship fell quiet. Emil didn't mind, but after yet another 30 minutes he was getting bored of reading. He had never been very interested in reading, although books that caught his interest could keep him glued to the pages for hours.

He played a little with a coulple kittens he found in a corner if the cafeteria, but was ushered away after ten minutes by the lady in the cafeteria. She pointed to a sign and Emil looked at it. "Grade A-cats in training." He let out a sigh and wandered back to the table. The Finn pulled out a deck of card from his pocket and the two of them started playing. It was almost evening when the windows opened up again and Emil pressed against it, looked at the distant lights that was Keuruu. The lights came closer and he pulled his backpack to his back again, grabbed the two gifts from the table and hurried to the deck.

From the deck he could make out a figure standing on the pier and as the boat got closer Emil was able to make out more and more details from it. The figure had long legs, a gray coat with fur among the edges. When the boat got even closer the figure pulled down the hood and a light-gray pony tail danced in the wind. The figure lifted its face from the ground, letting Emil see the sharp chin and the high cheek bones, but what really made him draw a breath was the gray eyes that seemed to glow. The figure caught Emil's eyes and a small smile spread over its lips.

Lalli.