Chapter 4

Hildur broke the silence of the dream-sea on which she and Onni were travelling:
-I was just thinking. If you're following me anyway, you might as well meet Reynir. This way, you can check on him when you go visit your cousin and you'll know his face if he happens to need help while I'm unavailable.
-I'm not following you, I just happen to be going to the same place as you and unable to conjure my own means of crossing the water wherever you've walked recently.
-Which forces you to literally be on my trail. Most people call this "following".
-Mhh...
A couple of safe areas came to her sight. They were much further away than she would have wanted, but not as far as she had feared. Close enough that Reynir had relatively little chance to run into something dangerous if he left his area's safety to visit her. She came to tears when she saw that sheep-filled meadow she knew all too well. She'd once read an Old World story about a man who fell in love with a woman whose memory never lasted more than a day, making her wake up every morning with no idea who she was. The man's dedication to her despite this was supposed to be one of the romantic aspects of the story. Every single night for the last seven years had given her a good idea of what the real thing, rather than the version that made a story people would want to read, had to be like. Hildur and Reynir's fylgja had been helping each other cope with this over the years. The first few weeks hadn't been so bad, as Reynir was always happy to "discover" his safe area and the novelty of it kept his attention enough that he never got around thinking of anything to do "next" time. The first time he did end up making a plan, she had to explain the situation to him. He'd come up with an idea: have her explain him what was going on the next night and tell him what he was planning to do. She'd tried the next night, but he had been too wrapped in the place's "novelty" to listen. Things like that kept happening. Little by little, she'd stopped being cooperative and reduced her role to making sure he didn't wander out of his safe area. She'd stopped explaining things he would never get to enjoy anyway. Eventually, she had ready-organized "first-timer's" tour for him that lasted the night and caught his attention at the right moments in such a way that he never considered going outside of his safe area or what to do next time. But this time was going to be different. This time, he was going to remember.

As she went into the area and brought Onni into it, she saw that she wasn't the only one in a celebratory mood. Reynir's dog fylgja was overpowering him and licking his face like it hadn't done in years.
-Uh... You weren't exaggerating when you said he looked different.
Despite what she had told him, Onni was probably still half-expecting a younger version of Bjarni with red hair. They both walked to the center of the meadow. The fylgja moved away, and Reynir just barely had time to sit and notice her presence before Hildur gave him a big hug:
-I'm so happy you're not taking these forsaken pills anymore! I could have wished for better circumstances leading to this, though.
-What do the pills have to do with this? Mikkel just told me that you told him what they actually were, and that the stuff had possible side effects that weren't desirable in our current conditions.
Hildur had convinced the Danish medic that the pills were a different product. While that product was used to treat night terrors as well, the side effects were different from those of the medicine actually in the pill box, and something that didn't matter much in Reynir's usual life conditions, but was best avoided in an expedition literally in the middle of nowhere. She gave him the real explanation, making it the third time she'd given it in the last twenty-four hours. He had the reaction anyone would have had:
-Why...
-You, of all people, getting chosen by the gods goes against every one of father's beliefs. I made complete sense to him, but not you. I think he decided that the gods must have made a mistake at some point, and that he was fixing it in their stead by getting these pills prescribed to you.
He finally noticed she hadn't come alone:
-Who is that?
-I'm Onni, Tuuri's older brother and Lalli's cousin. Your sister thought you should know my face.
-I think I already saw you before. Tuuri put a picture with you on it on the desk. She and Lalli are doing well, by the way. I'll tell them I saw you when I wake up.
-Thank you very much.

With the introduction finished, Onni went to the edge of the protected area, and realized that he could leave it without Hildur's help. Given Reynir's current strength, the place was supposed to have at least basic defenses. It was only a few paces to Lalli's from where he was, so he decided to visit it, even if he was unlikely to be there. He quickly discovered that the defenses had gotten better, if still much weaker than his own. He heard Hildur's voice coming from behind him:
-There you are. I'm heading back, he'll be fine on his own for the rest of the night. So, this is your cousin's space. Nice trees.
She reached toward the place's border, and her hand went right through it.