Downtime in Naarajärvi

A few days had passed since Taavi Virtanen had fallen ill. Passed out, coughing up blood, the medical staff had him hooked up to every scanning machine imaginable. Blood tests came back negative for any form of pathogen, and no bacterial infection was detected, either. The necrotic tissue that had been on Taavi's arm had been cut away and patched with a fresh skin graft. The doctors were baffled over what was going on, and got to work sampling organ cells with prior medical checkups.

Outside, in observation, Town administrator Eemil Jarvi, Ilona Anttila, and one Eevi Väinölä were looking inwards as Taavi was recovering from the tests, hooked up to a ventilator. One of the finest medical minds of Naarajärvi - Doctor Nilsson - came into the observation room from the ICU. Her blonde hair was a bit disheveled, and her eyes were weary with fatigue.

"I have the results from the preliminary testing," she said.

"What have you found out?" Eemil asked.

"His symptoms are numerous: cell tissue death, significant loss in weight, necrotic tissue in his lungs. Many of Taavi's symptoms resemble tuberculosis, but there's no sign of him having ever been exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, much less having an active infection," Nilsson started, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. "We've also ruled out any form of viral infection. As far as wee can tell, what he has isn't coontagious. The only thing we have to go on is the large amount of dead cells and the telomeres on the chromosome samples being far shorter than they should be. His cells are breaking down far more rapidly than previous checkups - prognosis isn't looking good. Any ideas?"

"There were a few things about his after-action report that were concerning," Ilona said, pulling the file up. "To quote: ' Upon entering five meters with the Lich, an unusual black cloud engulfed be while my armor was overheated. Pain filled every nerve in my body, and when the heat dissipated and the armor came online, I tackled the enemy and put distance between us.' His report contains references to skin irritation and shortness of breath after that."

"You said there was cell death," Eemil said. "Like the type consistent with advanced aging?"

"Exactly, but...I was under the impression that Taavi couldn't age," Nilsson started, before the buzzer sounded. Taavi was awake, but haggard, pale, and gaunt. He looked miserable. A big cough hit him, painting the inside of his ventilation mask.

"I...gotta..." Taavi coughed out. "Doc..."

Doctor Nilsson put her face mask back on and went back in, supplying Taavi with some water. The coughing passed, and Taavi started to breathe easier again.

"You were there, Eevi," Eemil said. "What do you make of all this?"

Taavi's face fell as Nilsson told him the news, and he commented, "I feel like I aged two decades. I hoped...I would have gotten lucky."

"Lucky? What about?" Nilsson asked. A still silence filled the room as Taavi looked up at the ceiling lights of the ICU room - everything could be made out, even through the mediocre quality of the speakers. Taavi moved his hand up, staring at it. There were surgical scars - largely faded, but still present - on the underside of his forearm.

"Soviet scientists...I knew they'd be my death," Taavi said.

"Yes. Your file mentioned you saw war as far back as the Winter War, but..."

"Artificial Meta humans didn't just appear with the rise of something like Spark," Taavie interrupted. "People have tried creating them as far back as the turn of the 20th century. The Soviets tried...and when volunteers started running out, they took prisoners of war. People like me."

"You mean to say that...you...you are...?" Nilsson prodded.

"Yes. I'm not a natural-born Meta," Taavi confirmed. "These powers came to me months after a week-long stay on a Soviet surgical table. You don't know pain until your organs are being dug out and replaced and you can see your guts being pulled out."

Nilsson dropped her clipboard at the implications, uttering, "You weren't under anesthesia...they kept you conscious the whole time..."

Taavi’s revelation settled heavily over the room, though the atmosphere remained clinical and detached, much like the woman who stood silently at the observation window. Eevi’s expression was unreadable, her eyes fixed on Taavi with a gaze that could have been mistaken for indifference. But underneath that stoic exterior, thoughts raced through her mind-calculations, possibilities, the cold logic of survival.

Eemil and Ilona exchanged glances, clearly disturbed by what they had just learned. Doctor Nilsson, visibly shaken, struggled to regain her composure, her hands trembling as she adjusted her clipboard. Eevi, however, remained still, her eyes narrowing slightly as she processed the information. She had known suffering-intimately, painfully-but she hadn’t anticipated hearing such a story from someone like Taavi, someone she had only known for a short time. But it gave her an answer to his longevity like her own finally.

“It’s… unexpected,” she finally said, her voice as calm and measured as ever. “But not impossible to address. If that thing from the village is the source, then we need to focus on neutralizing it. Emotional responses won’t solve this problem.”

Eemil nodded, trying to shake off the shock. “You’re right. We need to find a way to help him, but we have to approach this logically. We can’t afford to let our emotions cloud our judgment.”

“Agreed,” Eevi responded, her tone flat. “I’ll assist where I can, but we need to remain focused. Time is not on our side.”

Ilona looked through the after-action report again, her brow furrowed. “The black cloud… it’s clearly some form of magic that targeted his cells directly. We need to isolate it and find a countermeasure. I’ll start looking into potential sources or experts who might have insight.”

Doctor Nilsson, now more composed, nodded. “I’ll get the team working on it immediately. We’ll pull in resources from everywhere we can.”

“Do that,” Eevi replied, her gaze still fixed on Taavi. “I’ll monitor his condition personally. There’s no room for error.”

She hoped in his current state that he could still register Eevi’s presence. She watched him, her face impassive, but there was a brief flicker of something-recognition, perhaps-before her usual detachment reasserted itself.

“You’re still alive, Taavi,” she stated matter-of-factly. “So long as that remains true, there’s a way forward.”

The connection between them was there, unspoken and understated, but real nonetheless. But Eevi didn’t dwell on it. There was work to be done, and attachments-no matter how tenuous-could wait.

With that, the group dispersed, each to their respective tasks. Eevi lingered by the observation window for a moment longer, her gaze still locked on Taavi, calculating, analyzing.

“Stay alive,” she muttered under her breath, more a command than a plea. “There’s still more to be done.”

"Not sure you'll do much other than buy me some time, really. See, the funny thing about the Soviets, Eevi..." Taavi trailed with a slightly rueful chuckle that ended in a cough. "They loved their brute force in these experiments. And to say the results were crude is an understatement. At least four hundred must have died outright - based on the reports I found when trying to hunt those quacks down, another twenty suffered cell breakdown and died a few months later, and another ten died two decades after the experiments. Only two managed to die of old age. As far as I know, I'm the only one to survive to this century."

Taavi didn't feel particularly feverish, or suffer particularly bad chest pain that would indicate lung cancer.

Taavi looked down at the surgical scars, and started to piece together exactly what happened. The necrotic flesh on his arm that was cut away obviously came from the spell he was hit with.  So, was the necrosis in his lungs caused by the same spell - or was it something else that the spell had triggered by mistake?

Salminen's file placed him at twenty-two years of age, yet he had the wrinkles of someone in his forties.

Could it have been possible that the spell had artificially started to accelerate Taavi's aging - and the subsequent cell breakdown - in addition to the necrotic damage it caused? Unless there was some Meta that existed that could reverse the artificial aging, or some magician that could place his cell breakdown on pause, the most Taavi could hope for was a temporary treatment that would buy him time.

I wonder if that magician girl back near my vacation home in Maine was the real deal...

Based on current estimates, Taavi was looking at a year and four months left to live. Nanotherapy could probably buy him another two years on top of that.

"Funny. As a mercenary, I was expecting to die by the gun long before any of this kicked in," Taavi commented. "Eevi, if you're still there, can you tell me exactly what Salminen looked like after he was hit?"

"Salminen?" Eevi's voice was calm, despite the grim subject matter, her detachment from the situation clear in the way she spoke. "He aged... quickly. The wrinkles came in first, deep lines that carved into his face within moments. His hair, too—gray, brittle, like the life was being drained out of him. It was almost like watching time catch up with him all at once."

She paused, reflecting on the memory, before continuing with clinical precision. "His skin looked like it lost its elasticity, sagging, and there was this... hollowness to his eyes, like he had lived decades in the span of minutes. I don't recall any necrosis spreading but he looked like a man well into his forties, despite only being in his twenties. It wasn’t long after that he started coughing up blood. He was fine last I saw him but maybe they need to watch him too for any similar occurrences. Learn what they can from him as a normal human if it is still affecting."

Eevi’s voice softened slightly, though it was still tinged with that characteristic coolness. "It was rapid, brutal... I’m surprised you’re still conscious, let alone able to think and talk clearly. But it sounds like whatever’s happening to you is similar."

"It wasn’t just you two, though," Eevi added after a brief pause, her voice taking on a slightly more personal tone. "That power... it hit me too. It didn’t age me, but it felt like I was on fire, like every part of my body was burning from the inside out. It was... intense, even for someone like me. The pain didn’t linger, but the memory of it did. It’s not something you forget easily."

She hesitated before continuing, as if the memory was still fresh, "If it’s anything like what I went through, I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now. But if that spell could affect both of us in such different ways, there’s no telling what it’s really doing to you. I just know it’s not something that should be ignored."

There was a moment of silence, as if Eevi was weighing her next words carefully. "You’re tough, Taavi. You saved the both of us from that when you shot that thing. But this... this is something different. If there’s a way to slow it down or stop it, we need to find it fast."

There was a brief silence before she added, almost as an afterthought, "I don’t think there’s much time left if not. Whatever you want to or need to do, you should do it soon."

"The doctor said nanotherapy might buy me some time. And I still have a few contacts I formed over the years," Taavi said as he laid back in his bed. "There was this magician girl I met on vacation in the States. Looked like more than just sleight of hand tricks - like genuine magic. Not sure how good she is about necromancy. I'm sure you formed contacts in your career, too."

"For you..." he trailed, his voice gaining a tender tone. "It's different. Your powers are natural. I don't foresee your body breaking down over this - we both felt the same pain over being struck. Only one of us is dying over it - I'd rather it be me than you. You know, after we met the first time, I was hoping to see you around more. I may have gotten that, but not in the way I expected."

Taavi's look reflected love - not in the sense of physical interest or familial ties - but an unconditional desire to do right by those he feels a strong tie to. He was a man who had lost his parents and his best friend to time, his innocence to war, his hope to the depths of despair, only to have the last yanked from drowning in the sea of hopelessness. It had hung on by an inch of its life, the water forced from hope's lungs as it was resuscitated.

"You mask it well, but I can see through it - you know as well as I do what brutality and betrayal humanity is capable of, and for all your stoicism, the emotional pain lingers," he said, grabbing his breath after a coughing fit. "That's why act the way you do - so no one can hurt you again. I was the same for a long time - it took me five decades to start thawing - I wish I could do the same for you. I wish I could be your own personal North Star, guiding you, until I fizzle out."

Taavi shut his eyes, trying to preserve the energy he had in him, saying, "Just go and meet the people around Naarajärvi. These people had lost everything when the town's economy collapsed. Everything I've done since has been about keeping them all alive - the responsibility, the faces, all of that gave me reason to fight. Maybe in all those faces, you'll find something more than yourself to live for - you can be much more than what you were."

It was soon after that that Taavi went still, save for the rhythmic breathing of his lungs, and the monitors still showing brain activity and a heart rate. The occasional brief cough woke him, only to depart as quickly as it came.

"Nanotherapy... it’s a start," Eevi murmured, her gaze fixed on the floor. The emotion in Taavi’s voice, the tenderness she wasn’t sure how to reciprocate, made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to this... this connection, this care. The sincerity of his words stirred something in her, but she didn’t know how to respond.

Taavi’s mention of the magician girl caught her attention, though. "If she’s genuine, then maybe... maybe she can help. If not, there’s always someone else. The world’s full of people who claim to have power. Some of them are even telling the truth." Her voice was flat, almost detached, but there was a flicker of hope buried deep within. As Taavi continued, speaking about his own pain, his own history, Eevi felt a pang of empathy. He spoke as if he could see right through her, as if he understood the walls she’d built around herself. It was unnerving, but she couldn’t deny the truth in his words.

"Maybe you’re right," she conceded quietly, almost to herself. "Maybe I do act this way to protect myself. But it’s worked for me so far. I’m still here. I’ve survived." Her words were defensive, but there was a subtle vulnerability in them, a crack in her usual stoicism.

When Taavi spoke of being her North Star, her guide, Eevi’s breath hitched for a moment. The thought of someone wanting to be there for her, to help her find her way, was foreign and uncomfortable. She’d always relied on herself, trusting no one, but here was Taavi, offering something she hadn’t realized she’d been missing.

"You don’t need to be anyone’s 'North Star', Taavi," she said, her tone softer, almost gentle. "Just focus on staying alive. You’ve done enough for everyone else. Maybe it’s time someone did something for you." What struck her most about his words was that he wanted her to meet the people of Naarajärvi. She could speak well enough formally with anyone on matters of business, her recovery, and her new contract. But, socializing was an entirely different beast.

"I... I hate people, Taavi," Eevi began, her voice barely above a whisper. She hesitated, the words catching in her throat as she glanced at his resting form. "They’re blind, deluded. They think the world is something it’s not. Every time I try to feel for them, all I get is contempt in my heart. Contempt for their naivety, their ignorance..." Her voice trailed off as she realized Taavi was already asleep.

She let out a slow breath, the unspoken words lingering in the quiet room. It felt like a weight pressing down on her chest, something she wasn’t used to carrying. She had always been able to shut herself off from others, to keep her distance, but now... now it was different.

Eevi reached for her crutches, her movements deliberate and slow. She wasn’t sure what to make of this connection she felt with Taavi, or of the unfamiliar emotions that had begun to stir within her. All she knew was that, for the first time in a long time, she felt a flicker of something more. A desire, perhaps, to understand what it meant to care, to feel, to be more than just a survivor.

But that desire was tempered by fear, a fear that any attempt at empathy would only lead to more pain, more disappointment. And so, as she prepared to leave, she pushed those thoughts aside, retreating back into the familiar numbness that had kept her safe for so long as she departed to greet people she was supposed to help.

With a final glance at Taavi, she turned and made her way to the door, the echo of her words following her into the hallway. "I’ll... I’ll try," she whispered, more to herself than to him. "I’ll try to find something worth living for. How bad can these people be?"

"They'll be wary of you to start," Taavi managed to say before Eevi left. "It's a small town, and they dislike having their peace disturbed, but they ought not be belligerent towards you. Except maybe young Astrid. You make me think about her - she's impulsive, dismissive, doesn't think of others. But she had good parents, and tries to live up to what they taught her."

Naarajärvi, at its height, was a town with nearly a thousand people. When the economic collapse hit following Professor Anttila's death, most of them went to other towns with more stable forms of income. Some even went as far south as Helsinki. Now, the town was less than three hundred people. There was plenty of spare space that had to be repurposed for new things. Mostly, several of the larger buildings were repurposed for mining down into the earth. With the scientific innovations that Naarajärvi's scientists had engineered, there was a plethora of underground steam vents that allowed for geothermal power to be used for the isolated town.

It was one of those towns were everybody knew everybody else.

The small apartment complex that Taavi normally lived in lay on the northwest side of town. The landlord would be quite cautious and have a rather dark sense of humor. Several of the stores in the area were mom-and-pop stores, where entire families worked them. Children worked cleaning the shelves, with mothers and fathers, all too familiar with the world's struggles, worrying about keeping the doors open with what little customers they get in. If not for Taavi's occupation drawing in money to attract miners and technicians to keep the geothermal power plant operational, the town would have been forced to be abandoned half a decade ago.

Taavi was right - many of the town's citizens kept Eevi at arm's length, most only offering a nod and greeting before proceeding on with their lives. The exceptions were the nurses and doctors who were off shift and acquainted with Eevi already, and eager to check on her condition. They were willing to respect her decision if she didn't want to talk about her current condition.

The only citizen likely to show any aggression to Eevi was Astrid Jørgensen. A second-generation child of people who came as scientists, Astrid was a few years out of her teens, and a diagnosed sociopath. When she wasn't picking fights, she was at a range, or she was out of town to hunt wildlife. It was hard for anyone to call her a "good" girl, but she mostly behaves herself after fights are broken up. Astrid's father died in a mining accident a few years back, so she had only herself and her mother - she and her father had been very strong social role models for her.

While not a clean girl, her tendency to go hunting to bring meat back for the local butchers made her a constructive member of town.

For a given definition of "love", Astrid loved her parents. At the very least, she respected them to hold on to a moral code of her own. Namely, the well-being of Naarajärvi is paramount to her. Do right by your fellow townspeople, and don't bring harm to them. This meant that when Taavi was first brought into town in an injured state some years back, she was belligerent, verbally abusive, and even tossed stones at him one time - he wasn't one of Naarajärvi's locals, after all. She cooled down as Taavi brought in money to keep the town afloat, but the two still butted heads, at times.

Astrid always stresses that she's not a "bad" person; she just has to work harder than everyone else at being good. In short, her moral compass can be summed up as "whatever helps the well-being of my home is good, and anything that hurts it is bad".

All around, the general experience would get was a polite, if somewhat reserved, social experience - it should suit her to interact only with stores rather than random passers-by.

As Eevi moved through the quiet streets of Naarajärvi, she couldn't shake the feeling of being out of place. The town, with its quaint, old-world charm, felt like an exhibit in a museum; static, preserved, and removed from the flow of time. To Eevi, it was like stepping into a world that had moved on without her, and the townsfolk’s polite but distant glances only reinforced that sensation. It was as if they were observing a rare creature, something out of a different era, not quite sure how to interact with her.

She had been away from Finland for nearly ninety years, and now that she was back, the disconnect was palpable. The language was familiar, but the cadence and intonations had changed. The customs were similar, yet subtly different. Even the way people dressed and carried themselves was foreign to her. And then there was the stark realization that she was older than every person she saw. It was a strange, almost unsettling thought; these people, who she might have once seen as elders in another life, were now younger than she, their lives brief flickers compared to the long shadow she cast.

The town’s reserved nature suited her well enough. The nods and brief greetings were enough to acknowledge her presence without demanding more from her. It allowed her to maintain the distance she preferred, to keep to herself without the burden of unwanted connections. She had no desire to delve into the lives of these people, to become entangled in their world. Her purpose here was temporary, a brief stop in a life that had long been unmoored from any sense of normalcy.

But there was one person in this town who piqued her curiosity, despite herself. Astrid Jørgensen. Taavi’s words about the girl echoed in Eevi’s mind as she considered the parallels between them. Irreverent, dismissive, defiant, and close with her father, traits that Eevi found oddly familiar, almost like looking into a mirror that reflected a younger, more volatile version of herself.

The parallels weren’t lost on Eevi. She recognized in Astrid the same stubbornness, the same refusal to be bound by the expectations of others. But while Eevi’s defiance had been shaped by a century of isolation and the horrors she had witnessed, Astrid’s was rooted in the close bond she had with her father, a bond that had given her a moral compass, however skewed it might be. The girl wasn’t inherently bad, Taavi had said, but she had to work harder than most to be good. It was a struggle Eevi understood all too well.

As she walked past the small apartment complex where Taavi normally lived, Eevi couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to meet Astrid. Would the girl see in her a kindred spirit, or would she regard her with the same belligerence she herself was no stranger to sharing? The thought was fleeting, quickly pushed aside. Eevi wasn’t here to make friends or enemies; she was here to do what needed to be done and then disappear back into the shadows.

Still, the parallels between them gnawed at her. Astrid’s relationship with her father, her struggle to be good in a world that often rewarded the opposite. It all resonated with Eevi in a way she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. She had long since severed any ties to her own past, to the people she had once cared about, and she had no intention of forming new ones now.

Yet, as she continued her walk through the town, the thought of Astrid lingered, a small, stubborn thorn in her mind. Perhaps it was the nostalgia of being back in Finland, or maybe it was the odd sense of kinship she felt with the girl, but Eevi found herself wondering if, in another life, they might have understood each other.

But this wasn’t another life. This was the present, and Eevi had no room in her life for connections, for understanding, for anything that might tie her down. She was a shadow, a ghost in a world that no longer knew her, and she intended to keep it that way. So, with a final, lingering glance at the town around her, Eevi turned away, ready to continue with the task at hand. She had to get something more than hospital food.

Eevi's options in interaction at this time in the day are rather limited, as only restaurant owners, store owners, doctors, the apartment complex's landlord, Eemil, Ilona, and intelligence staff for mercenary contracts will talk to her for extended periods of time. Eemil and his support staff didn't have anything that didn't involve defense contracts - even then, they'd encourage Eevi to recover to her full strength.

If anything were to be asked about Taavi - townspeople would talk about him with a combination of caution and reverence. Taavi was feared for his abilities, but beloved because of how his actions have helped the town. And able-bodied people who pitch in to the town's defense regard him as a dependable ally. A few were even curious as to how things would change with a second Meta helping the town. Taavi rarely spoke in-depth about his past to the townspeople, but he talked just enough to establish a basic rapport with them.

He got along best with both hunters and former conscripts of the Finnish Defense Force, since he related to them best. And the way they talk fondly about him reflected this. Many of the hunters were also taught marksmanship by Taavi - his super speed and extremely fast reflexes may have been the result of the Soviet experiments, but his marksmanship skills were mainly self-taught.

The landlord, by contrast, will speak of him fondly as a good tenant rather than someone to be idolized, though also he would call to attention Taavi's eccentric sense of humor. Namely, he'd bring up a story Taavi talked about when the landlord brought up hunting fowl - jokingly, Taavi brought up that the last time he went hunting using birdshot, it was with his grandfather...but they were hunting for his grandmother. It's obvious from the landlord's deadpan delivery that Taavi had meant it to be taken as dark comedy.

In fact, a lot of Taavi's humor was based on dark stories that were re-contextualized in a hilarious light by the punchline.

However she would respond, Eevi was given an opportunity to pick out a key for herself, since Eemil had given her an apartment room with the first four months' rent fully covered by him as part of the contract. She could opt to take a room on the second floor, if she desired - Taavi's room was on the second floor, as well. A meow can be heard from inside his room - Eevi had the option to investigate that, too.

One of the local restaurants was small, and wasn't filled with more than one or two customers, at present. The family-owned business would cater to Eevi's request, but the menu options were limited relative to, say, a restaurant chain back in the United States due to the town's relative isolation. The waitress would recommend reindeer for meat, however, since the freshest batch were brought in by local hunters the day before the undead besieged the town.

"We have several preserved pine needles," the waitress would offer, politely and hospitable. "It goes well brewed as a tea, if you're interested."

Of course, with her moral compass being "what's good for Naarajärvi is good and what's bad for it is bad", Astrid kept following Eevi at a distance, unsure as to whether the stranger to town meant to do harm - like she always assumed of outsiders, or if she was going to do well, like Taavi did. Astrid, every so often, did feel "bad" about giving Taavi a hard time, but rarely agonized about it - she wasn't exactly drowning in guilt, but Taavi was one of the few outsiders she felt any form of significant desire to apologize to.

Watching to make sure Eevi wasn't going to cause trouble was sufficient distraction from these curious feelings she had.

Eevi settled into the small, family-owned restaurant, her gaze flicking over the menu. The offerings were limited, but she wasn’t particularly picky. She was more interested in something sweet to counterbalance the bitterness that seemed to have settled in her since her return to Finland. The waitress’s recommendation of reindeer meat was met welcomingly with a request for extra with the portion she would be receiving. As well, Eevi opted for anything on the menu that promised sweetness, along with the pine needle tea, but not before requesting extra sweetener. Twice.

As she waited for her order, Eevi’s keen senses picked up on the faint, almost imperceptible presence that had been shadowing her since she’d started walking around town. Astrid, the girl Taavi had mentioned, was following her, hovering just on the edge of sight like a wraith. While she might have fancied her abilities of stealth as a hunter and overconfident youth, Eevi was a career criminal used to watching her own back. It wasn’t surprising, given the town’s cautious nature towards outsiders, but it was beginning to grate on Eevi’s nerves. Her appetite, already fragile, was being spoiled by the sensation of being watched like a potential threat.

When the tea arrived, steaming and fragrant, Eevi took a sip, the sweetness washing over her tongue, soothing in its own way. But it wasn’t enough to drown out the irritation that Astrid’s silent observation was causing. She set the cup down, the porcelain clinking lightly against the saucer, and exhaled slowly. She didn’t want a confrontation, but this constant surveillance was becoming intolerable.

With a calm, measured voice, Eevi called out, her eyes still fixed on the tea in front of her, “You know, it’s rather hard to enjoy a meal when someone is lurking in the shadows. If you have something to say, just say it. Your presence is affecting my appetite.”

She lifted her gaze, her eyes scanning the restaurant until they landed on the vague outline of the back of Astrid's head two booths down. Eevi’s tone was neither hostile nor welcoming; it was simply a statement of fact. She wasn’t here to make friends, but she wasn’t about to let herself be scrutinized like a specimen under a microscope, either. In spite of the matter-of-fact way her words conveyed, the irksome look in her eyes betrayed this neutral tone.

She waited as if challenging Astrid to either engage with her directly or leave her in peace. The sweet tea, now slightly cooler, sat waiting in her hands as she took another sip, her mind a still, silent ocean hiding depths that few could fathom.

"I fancy myself good at sneaking," Astrid said, soon after Eevi called her out. "You have to be to not startle the reindeer. It tells me you've been places."

Turning around, Astrid's features were made clear. They were not so different from Eevi's own, though her eyes were an ice blue and her hair was several shades lighter. It only deepened the comparison between the two. There was an inherent "wrongness" with Astrid's chilling stare; like one was looking at a script rather than a human being. This guilt-free confidence in her moral compass allowed her to stare down Eevi with no sense of shame or fear.

"You're that newcomer, came in that night," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We're not keen on outsiders here. Most people around here don't have the backbone to say it to the face of visitors. Not me. I have no issues with making my dislike known. Who knows? Maybe you'll turn out like Taavi and be an unexpected blessing for my home. Me? I'm not holding my breath on it."

Astrid was smiling behind the bench as she stared Eevi down, because she knew the consequences if Eevi resorted to violence - she'd be lucky if all that happened was that she was kicked out of town. Patiently, Astrid waited for Eevi to either defuse the situation in her own peculiar way, or make the first shot with violence. The latter would only prove Astrid right that outsiders were not to be trusted. If she tried the former...well, she could still become a problem, in Astrid's view.

Eevi listened in silence as Astrid spoke, her expression impassive, eyes betraying nothing of what she was thinking. The girl's confidence, this thinly veiled dismissive disdain, it was nothing Eevi hadn't seen a thousand times before in a thousand different places. It was almost amusing how predictable it all was, how this child thought she could size up someone like Eevi and come out on top.

When Astrid finished speaking, Eevi calmly took another sip of her tea, not bothering to look up right away. The silence stretched between them, tense, as if the air itself had thickened. Finally, Eevi set her cup down and slowly raised her gaze to meet Astrid's, her eyes cold and unblinking.

“You think you're clever,” Eevi said, her voice low and measured. “But you’re not nearly as clever as you think. I’ve met girls like you before, always trying to prove something, always trying to assert dominance in the only way you know how. But here’s the thing, Astrid. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

She leaned back slightly, her gaze still locked onto Astrid’s with an intensity that could freeze fire. “I wonder,” she continued, her tone now as cold as the winter winds that blew through Naarajärvi. “Did your father teach you to be this rude? Or was he not around long enough to correct your behavior?”

The words hung in the air like a dagger, sharp and poised to strike. Eevi knew exactly what she was doing, poking at a wound she was certain existed. There was no remorse in her expression, no sign that she had overstepped any boundary. Eevi simply waited, holding Astrid’s gaze, almost daring her to make a move.

She was prepared for whatever came next, whether it was a verbal retort or something more physical. Astrid had wanted a reaction, had wanted to provoke Eevi in some way and Eevi had given her exactly that, though not in the way the girl might have expected.

The ball was now in Astrid’s court, and Eevi was content to let her make the next move, all the while silently assessing her, deciding whether this girl was worth any more of her time.

"Alright, outsider..." Astrid started, moving out of her booth. "That's fighting words."

"That's a new stool, Astrid," the restaurant owner warned as she reached for it. "Break it, and I'll let the butcher know - it'll come out of your pay."

"Yeah, sure it will," Astrid trailed, fuming as she glared daggers at Eevi. The insult had cut hard, and Astrid immediately began formulating a dozen ways to pose Eevi's body. Let it freeze in the weather, use it as a scarecrow. A selfie with the body - hell, that last one would be doing this outsider's ugly mug a favor. The outsider was nowhere near her level to take up a picture frame.

"They say you came from that place," Astrid said as she passed by, remembering whispers she had heard about the outsider. "Haunted town. Might go there and see what fossils I can dig up."

"Uncalled for, Astrid," the owner warned.

"So was what she said," Astrid retorted, her eyes ablaze in anger. "Outsiders are all the same rude bastards."

"Well, they will be if you give them a reason," the owner said.

"She'll be trouble later," Astrid asserted, a smug look on her place. "I find you lying out in the snow because of the outsider, I'll be the first to say 'I told you so'."

"Astrid..." said another man, burly, stood up from the other side of the restaurant before walking over. "Knock it off, or your mother will know. When she learned you tossed bricks at Taavi for being an outsider, you were cooped up for two whole days. Keep pushing this outsider, and I'll recommend the same thing."

"I...fine," Astrid conceded. "You're off the hook, stranger...for now. See you around."

Astrid walked out of the restaurant, deciding to go elsewhere to vent her frustration. Why was everyone in this town such an idiot? It's like she was the only one to take outsiders with any degree of seriousness.

"Idiots, idiots, idiots..." she muttered.

From the whispers, Astrid figured that the stranger was...intrigued by Taavi. Birds of a feather - she supposed that was alright. If she started following Taavi around, that would make keeping track of her - and getting rid of her - easier.

Eevi watched Astrid leave, her eyes cold and unyielding. The girl's outburst had only served to confirm what Eevi already suspected: that Astrid was nothing more than a bluster of anger and arrogance, a child playing at being tough in a world she barely understood. Eevi allowed herself a small, satisfied smile as she turned back to her meal, the girl's threats already fading into irrelevance.

When she mentioned her home though, Eevi’s mood was soured. To, as she felt, threaten the ruins of her childhood home and the resting place of countless innocents uninvolved in their spat was tasteless to her. The hypocrisy she was feeling was palatable. “A graveyard is a graveyard because the dead are resting there,” Eevi had said calmly as Astrid had stormed out. “Leave them to their rest, or I’ll help you find yours.” The threat was delivered with a chilling nonchalance, as if the act of violence was as mundane as finishing her tea.

The waitress, who had watched the exchange with a wary eye, approached the table once more. Eevi's smile was still there, but it had softened, becoming almost... pleasant. She finished her tea, savoring the last sweet sip before setting the cup down gently on its saucer. Her spirits were higher now, a strange satisfaction blooming from the cold cruelty she had meted out. It was a reminder of who she was, what she was capable of.

Eevi placed a generous tip on the table, nodding to the waitress as she rose from her seat. “Thank you,” she said simply, before gathering her crutches and making her way out of the restaurant. The waitress called out to her, reminding her of the rest of the food she had ordered but Eevi waved it off. ”Have it yourself. Enjoy the food with the tip I gave you.”

The streets of Naarajärvi were quiet as Eevi made her way to the apartment complex, the evening air crisp and clear. Her mind was oddly at peace, the earlier tension of the day dissipated by the encounter with Astrid. There was something about returning to that part of herself, the part that didn’t shy away from the harshness of the world, that felt like slipping into a familiar coat. It reminded her that she hadn’t gone soft, that despite everything, she was still herself.

Arriving at the apartment complex, Eevi noticed that her assigned apartment was right next to Taavi’s. As she approached the door, she heard the soft sound of a cat’s meow coming from inside Taavi’s apartment. The sound was unexpectedly pleasant, a gentle contrast to the harshness of the world outside.

She paused for a moment, listening, before shaking her head slightly. “Of course,” she muttered to herself, a hint of amusement in her voice. It seemed that even Taavi, the hardened warrior, had a softer side.

Eevi entered her own apartment, closing the door behind her. The space was small but adequate, a simple place to rest and recover. She set her crutches aside and made her way to the window, looking out at the town below. The encounter with Astrid played over in her mind, but it didn’t trouble her. If anything, it affirmed that she still had the sharp edges she’d always relied on to navigate a world that was often unforgiving.

After a moment, she turned away from the window, feeling the exhaustion of the day beginning to settle in. Tomorrow would bring more challenges, more opportunities to test herself. But for now, she allowed herself to relax, to let the quiet of the apartment wash over her.

The cat’s meowing from next door was still audible, a soft reminder that even in a place as cold and distant as Naarajärvi, there were moments of warmth to be found. Eevi shook her head again, amused at the thought. Having Taavi as a neighbor would help to keep her entertained.

Taavi rested in the medical center as the first batch of nanite treatments were being infused in him. The coughing had calmed down to the point that he was breathing again, and he was told that he would need to be kept overnight and a sizeable chunk of the next day for observation. Whispers of an altercation reached him during the staff change between the shifts. If he were a betting man, he'd guess both Eevi and Astrid were butting heads.

They were alike in many ways, but Eevi had seen more in her lifetime. Considering she and Taavi were contemporaries, this ought to come as no surprise - not that Taavi expected Astrid to know either of their ages. The key to putting up with Astrid lay with knowing what was off-limits to bring up and letting whatever she said roll off your shoulders. Her bite was worse than her bark whenever she decided to act.


He awoke coughing the next morning, with a little less blood than before. Tissue samples were taken for him to see if the nanotherapy was having any effect; the process took a few hours for the results to be given. While it looked like some cellular breakdown had slowed, it was overall inconclusive this soon after the administration of nanites; so he'd need to remain until at least noon. His coughing attacks became less frequent, but they were no less violent when they did come up.

By the time noon came about, more tests had been done. It looked like the cellular breakdown had slowed to the extent he most definitely wouldn't keel over in the next few days. The doctors gave him the estimates, and erred on the side of caution. As long as Taavi could continue with monthly treatments, he had roughly two and a half years to live - possibly three, if fortune was on his side. His chances were best, they said, if he stopped with mercenary work.

"Oh, sure...retire from mercenary work and leave you all starving?" Taavi asked derisively. "Thanks for the advice, but I can't do that."

Doctor Nilsson looked at him with a saddened look in her eyes. Taavi took his duty as the town's provider very seriously; well above his own personal well-being. Ever since he had become the mercenary that the town hired out to bring in its income, he cheated death more times than he cared to admit, all while looking it in the eye, unafraid of it coming for him. But those had all been potential deaths that were hazards of his profession; this one was an inevitability of time.

It would be the one death that was impossible to cheat. In any other circumstance, Taavi would accept it without complaint. Circumstances had changed; he met Eevi. A kindred soul who had survived many of the same horrors he did, with about as many psychological scars as he did, but hadn't put them past her the way he had. And even then, there were still old wounds that had been reopened after setting foot in Metsäjärvi.

He had to use what downtime he had to help Eevi move her moral compass's needle to a better path. Once that's done...he'll face his end the only way a soldier can: fighting. When someone lives by the gun, they ought to expect to die by the same. That was an acceptable compromise: use what time he can to help a kindred spirit, and then die a violent end for the same rather than waste away in front of her.

He was discharged at around 2 pm, local time. He was given a few emergency medical supplies for his cough and asked to come in the following week.

No one around him in town was willing to admit just how rough, gaunt, and tired he looked. They saw a dead man walking, but were too polite to say it. Going out near the local restaurant, Taavi spit out a bit of blood before entering.

Entering, the familiar sight of the owner greeted Taavi.

"Good to see you're alive and well, Taavi," the owner said, his hand going through his beard thoughtfully.

"For now, yeah," Taavi said, his voice raspy, deep, with a growl to it. "So, I've been hearing whispers from medical staff. Something went on here?"

"Astrid decided to pick a fight with the newcomer," the restaurant owner said.

"Oh, dear. She would," Taavi said, his voice heavy-laden with a sigh. "I'm guessing she was trying to goad Eevi into hitting her."

"She tried, but...she got hit in a different way," the owner sighed. "The newcomer invoked her father..."

A chill immediately hit Taavi's spine. Old Snorri had been one of the few people Astrid legitimately loved - and she didn't take invoking his name lightly. Astrid would have hit back with a similar family threat. It fell flat for Taavi himself when he and Astrid first met simply because there was nothing he had left that she could threaten. Taavi had been past the point of caring about how someone threatened him.

"How did Astrid hit back?"

"Threatening to grave-dig Metsäjärvi," the owner said.

Was Astrid completely insane? Sure, she didn't know as much about Eevi as Taavi did, but threatening outsiders was flat-out stupid. It's even stupider when the outsider is a Meta. Taavi had sort of hoped that, with him around to give her strong crack-down, Astrid would have learned. But then again, Snorri was still in Astrid's life back then - his finger was no longer on her moral compass's needle. She was more volatile now than she was when her father was alive.

"I'll give both of them a talking-to," Taavi promised. "This shit can't be allowed to go unaddressed."

"I agree," the owner said. "But before you go; you were in the hospital for days now. I imagine you're famished."

"Please, don't bother on my account..."

"No. I insist - it's on the house. Consider it payment for what you do for us all," the owner said with a smile. "Aina, get Taavi settled. And let's get the good dishes ready."

"I...I...yes father," the waitress said before looking at Taavi with a blush. "R-Right this way, Taavi."