Slow rebuild
Onni turned out to not know nearly as much about the exact circumstances of Tuuri's death as Taru had initially expected him to. He had literally seen her go while still in his coma, and in the process had realized that Reynir had hidden something from him upon checking on him. That had resulted in Reynir only getting to tell that Lalli and Emil were missing before being forbidden from contacting Onni ever again. Taru, given the circumstances, decided to tell Onni about Tuuri's request, and the last news she and the others had gotten about Tuuri, at a time at which she had yet to show any symptoms. When it came to how Tuuri had gotten bitten in the first place, Onni correctly guessed when it had happened and all but spelled out that his attempt to prevent such a thing at all costs was the reason of his coma. It was no use reminding him that he still had Lalli, considering both their current circumstances. As for Reynir being still alive in spite of having been in the same room as Tuuri when she had been bitten… she still wasn't sure whether that particular detail would make things better or worse from Onni's point of view.
Trond came back from the kitchen, in which had been explaining to the Västerströms what they had just seen and heard. Taru told him the little she had found out, and suggested they prepare a prioritized list of questions to ask the young Icelander should he show up again. Trond agreed before giving his own news:
-I stuck to the basics and what they entailed on a practical level. It may have still been a little too much for them. I suggest finding the brats and making sure they have no intention of going in the kitchen for the next hour or so.
Because "his stomach needed to get used to proper food again", Emil's dinner, much like the meal he had eaten upon his arrival, was a soup made out of the little non-solid food in stock. Mikkel had made a big pot of it upon their arrival and re-heated it when dinnertime came, as he was also feeding the soup to Lalli. In the light of the news concerning the new unexpected tag-along, Emil didn't have the heart to protest Mikkel going straight to bed after having eaten his own dinner. Between Sigrun being ill, Reynir needing to sleep to do his magic and Emil wanting to check on Lalli, all three of them went for an early night despite the surreal atmosphere that made the possibility of the entire day turning out to be a dream feel all too real.
Onni was letting his fylgja come into his dream realm for purely practical reasons, but Reynir was afraid to get even that permission revoked with the news he had been asked to pass in priority. Onni had clearly not liked hearing it and Reynir could not think of anything to say that didn't risk making things worse. Whatever his feelings where, Onni kept them at bay for long enough to ask Reynir questions on behalf of the people back in Sweden and listen to the answers Reynir could give until he could no longer maintain his connection to his fylgja. One question in particular was conspicuously absent, but Reynir has no idea whether it was due to Onni being unable to ask it at all or having a good reason to no want to ask him.
xxxx
Mikkel had given both Lalli and Emil a wash before tending to the man who had turned out to be his brother, but it hadn't been enough to get entirely rid of the olfactory results of the trekking. Sigrun was aware that she didn't exactly smell like bunch of fresh flowers herself, but the fact that the whiff coming from the other lower bunk was different from her own helped cement the fact that Lalli was really here. Sigrun mustered up the strength to stop lying on her belly and sit on her bunk, on the off-chance that she wasn't the only one trying to make as little noise as possible under the assumption that nobody else was awake. Noise came from one of the higher bunks and the cat quickly joined her, looking at her expectantly. The little beast now knew that if she was noisy enough that early in the morning, the one person awake would feed her to make her silent and keep her from waking the others.
-You win, Pusekatt.
Just as she was picking a couple of cans of food out of the cupboard, she heard something sounding very much like someone who had forgotten he was now sleeping right under the ceiling due to Emil having been impossible to put any further away from Lalli than the bunk right over his. She briefly glanced behind her to get her suspicions confirmed and got a third can of food out for Reynir, as he was coming down from his bed. All three of them ended up having breakfast in silence, and quickly stopped pretending they weren't regularly glancing at Emil and Lalli's bunks. Sigrun was extremely curious to find out more about what had happened to those two, as the little Emil had been willing to share the previous day had related to how he had ended up bringing a Danish soldier back with him and the reason Lalli was unlikely to wake up soon unless they got the help of a mage who knew what they were doing. Sigrun didn't want to miss a single word about what had happened over the past few days that Emil could drop once he would be awake, a craving that conflicted with her knowledge that both of them needed to get as much rest as they could while waiting for the boat.
Emil started squirming, prompting the cat to jump on his bunk and start licking his face. He responded to the gesture by happily petting her for a few moments before waking up completely and promptly half-slipped, half jumped out of his bed to check on Lalli, then notice Mikkel was still sleeping.
-Come and grab a can. It should get close enough to soup if you chew long enough, and it actually tastes better than his cooking.
Sigrun quickly regretted pointing this out as an option when a combination of the energy Emil could spare on eating and his rich kid upbringing worked together in making chewing and talking mutually exclusive acts for him. By the time Emil finished the can, Mikkel had woken up and started making more soup, telling Emil he'd rather have him eat it for dinner if he had had tuna for breakfast. Next on the docket was feeding Lalli. This time, at least, Emil stayed near the table instead of hovering over Mikkel.
-So, how you think he moves your body?
Emil waited a few moment before speaking again:
-Well, you kind of did it in a way that time you gave me a headache.
Another pause, before Emil spoke again:
-Or I could punch him on your behalf a little earlier, if you wish.
Mikkel looked at Emil with a raised eyebrow right as Sigrun lost the little patience she still had:
-Hey, buddy, would you mind filling in for people who can't hear Lalli?
Emil briefly looked at her as if he had forgotten she was sitting right next to him:
-Err… sorry. It was just the two of us all this time, so I guess I need to get used to the three of you being here again. Lalli's suspecting that Reynir is doing something he told him to not do make his body move, so even though he's tolerating it right now out of necessity, he's still a little tempted to punch Reynir once he recovers.
Sigrun's mind latched onto the part about Emil having been alone with Lalli and getting used to having other people around again, realizing that she was needing to get used to having them around as well. She had been so eager to make sure she made it to the boat that she hadn't realized that it was going to involve seeing other people again after it having been only the six – now five – of them for several weeks. Those new people were probably going to be treating picking them all up as a side chore to getting Reynir back.
xxxx
Now that the essential information had been shared on both sides, Onni suggested to Reynir that it would best to stick to one contact per day, unless there was an emergency. Reynir answered that he would make sure that Sigrun agreed with the idea. Onni was unfortunately going to have to tolerate that dog, that was still preferable to Reynir's actual face, for a few more days; the news Reynir had brought this morning included the fact that the attempt to fix the outpost's radio had been unsuccessful, in part for reasons that didn't need to be mentioned. As Reynir's dog was fading away, the memory of Taru telling him about Tuuri's request decided to pop into Onni's mind, alongside the realization that Reynir hadn't come to see him between the first night after Tuuri had been bitten and the night after the one on which he had seen her fly away. The possibility that Reynir's silence could have been requested by Tuuri crossed Onni's mind, but in his current mood, it wasn't nearly enough to calm general anger he had against just about everyone involved in this expedition. He woke up, ready to face the barrage of questions from some of the very people he was angry at.
-Let's try this again. Our siblings, from oldest to youngest.
-Maja, Mille, Malthe, Morten…
-Morten is our father. "Martin" is the name you're looking for.
The look Michael gave him told him that the exercise of getting all their relatives straight had definitely taken all the mental energy he had for the day, in no small part due to his extremely stunted ability to read.
-Is there anything you want to do instead?
-Time alone. Something to do. That doesn't make me tired like this.
He pointed to the pieces of paper on which the names of their siblings and parents were written. Mikkel understood.
-I'll see if there is anything that can fulfill this purpose here. But to be honest, even my crew is starved for entertainment other than each other's conversation. We only packed essentials and some of our skald's less cumbersome possessions when we left our vehicle. We also currently have no other reason to leave the outpost until the boat arrives. You can go walk outside during the day if it helps, just don't come to the barracks unless you really need to.
Michael stayed silent for a few moments, clearly taking some time to process what he had been told, before answering:
-Help you search? Now or later?
Mikkel wanted to check on the others first, but it sounded like a good way to spend a little more time with him, keep him busy and delegate the little he was able to delegate all in one.
The few wood games that they found in the small recreation room were for at least two people, but the perfect one to keep in the infirmary was found in the form of a set of dice, that would have the side effect of being usable to test Michael's mental calculation capabilities and exercise them if they had been stunted in any way. Mikkel made sure Michael returned to the infirmary, before taking one of the chess sets back to the barracks, alongside a few books. He didn't expect the others to want to use either of them immediately, but at least, if any of them ended up thinking about Tuuri or the precarious state in which some of the still-living currently were for too long, it wouldn't be from lack of something else to keep their minds busy.