Hey, I'm using some specific names for the characters so I think I should explain some of them early on. This chapter is wrtitten from the perspective of really young, pre-Christian and pre-Swedish Finland and because of that I use the Finnish names.
Suomi is naturally Finland and Ruotsi is Sweden.
And of course Sverige is Swedish for Sweden.
I think that's all You need to know before reading it. Have fun!

He has a few names, it happens when you manage to live long enough.

Toivo is his human name, he has given it to himself and he could give it away as he pleased. It is not that important, although it carries the weight of the person he appears to be. Being among people is so much easier when he can think of himself as of just another Toivo in the long line of other Toivos who have walked the earth till this moment and will appear in the years following.

Suomi is his proper name which he doesn't share with everybody. This name is a gift and also the treasured one. It comes from the people and sings in his ears every time he hears it. Years ago, when he was younger, younger than he even is now, he didn't address himself with any name. He didn't need it or at least it was what he thought in these times. But it was so long ago when he was still not that familiar with the warmth of his own blood and breath. Now "Suomi" is the name he recognizes himself under even in his mind.

When he meets Ruotsi he gives him his both names because he is a young boy called Toivo but also something else. Although he reveals how he's called, he never tells about his birth or origin. At least, there is a certain amount of power over him Ruotsi shall not be given.

But, as Suomi discovers, what he says or what he doesn't say, does not really matter because Sweden has his own words and own names. And he gets it all as wrong as it could be while somehow still managing to seem offended by his Finnish name.
"Ruotsi sounds nothing like Sverige," he says frowning. This is the time when they don't encounter each other that often as the world is vast and unknown so Toivo doesn't mind what the other one thinks of him. Not yet, at least.
"Well, yeah, probably, but you look more like Ruotsi." It's said like it's the most natural response in the world and Sweden, who has never been good with words, does not find anything to say in return. He just stares and maybe Toivo should pay more attention to it but he doesn't.

After all, he has forest to wander, shores to travel, people to visit and the forests are deep, the shores breathtaking and the people intriguing. And the world sings as Suomi walks and listens.

***

"…and Christ will save your soul," Sweden explains solemnly, there is something almost desperate in his tone or maybe Toivo just imagines it. He can never be sure with Sweden.
"Which one?" he asks to clarify because he's a Finn and this is a valid problem for him.
"Your own." The answer is delivered after a while as Sweden does not really understand the problem.
"Yeah, but which one of my own?" Finn is quicker with words and speaks with an ease the Swede will never experience. And that bothers him deeply as he has so much to communicate, and he would do it, he certainly would if he only could find the right phrases at the moment. But instead he just mutters:
"…more?"
"Of course!" Toivo exclaims with a bright enthusiasm, his eyes almost sparkling. "Henkiis what makes blood worm and makes you breath and luonto is…" he puts three of his right hand's fingers up as he begins to explain the whole problem but the Swede carefully bends down two out of these three fingers.
"Just one. And the one God."
There is some concern in the Finn's eyes when he looks at his hand and back on the other's face.
"Easier to remember, I guess,'' he finally says smiling briefly to bring the end to this discussion. He knows for sure that he has more souls than one and there are more gods than the One. But now he doesn't say it and lets it all go. After all, Sweden will probably just forget about all of it in a while. Maybe till their next encounter, spirits know when and where.

Maybe if the Finn would know his neighbor better he would predict that for him it was not that easy to forget. Years later he will know that sometimes Sweden just gets stuck on one thing and cannot let it go no matter what.

The times change. Swedes bring crosses and fire and all he does is in the name of the new God. Suomi is not exactly happy about it and he tries to help himself with magic. He curses Sweden: he lets the raw feelings spring from his soul, flow through him while he speaks the words he cannot truly remember afterwards.

If there was any effect – it wasn't just strong enough. Or maybe, Toivo thinks, maybe the other God was more powerful. He learns it the hard way and as he lies on the ground, looking up at the Swede whose face says exactly and perfectly nothing, after another exhausting fight he has just lost.

Sky is high and clear, the song of the land echoes in his ears as Toivo tastes copper blood in his mouth feeling pain burning in his body and for the first time he wonders if he could actually be mortal.

One day after that the water of baptism washes over him and Toivo becomes Timotheus but it sounds so unfamiliar to him that soon he ends up with just Timo. Years later he thinks that maybe there was something symptomatic in this actions as ''theos'' is Greek for God and pagan at heart Timo quickly got rid of it.

He gets a new name from Sweden – Österland. New names, new religion, new language, new king, new city, new cathedral, new everything. But the land is still vast, the forest as deep as ever, the sea cruel and unpredictable, the Swedish capital far away so Toivo thinks that he surely can wear these freshly given names like a mask. To the core he is sure that they would not change his nature. His spirit will remain the same regardless the circumstances.

When he looks back into all his thoughts and hopes years later he knows how wrong he was. So, so wrong.
It amazes him in some way.