Part 21

Frida: I am a volva myself and I've never heard of an itinerant volva!

Ilmatar: You don't know what an itinerant volva is? You come from the great north, don't you? In the kingdom, it is rare to have a village large enough or isolated enough to have a sedentary volva... Most of us travel from town to town.

Frida: Who takes care of the wounded?

Ilmatar: Most towns have a healer or a doctor these days... It's quite rare that a volva would take care of such things. If you pass by Sapphire Bay one day, go to see the new university of medicine. The government did a very nice job, really...

Itinerant volvas are mainly involved in assisting childbirth and naming the newborns, marriages, other ceremonies, some rare occasions where they are truly necessary. The rest of the time, who is worried about fables and myths? Some things get lost, you know...

Frida: That's really quite sad. Well, good luck.


Frida: Uh... Yes.

Ernesti: Ah, it's a pleasure to travel in these conditions. Ususally I have to face the snow with horses loaded with packages of books that must remain bone dry. How much stock I have lost that way...

Frida: You sell books?

Ernesti: I have been selling books for thirty years! It's a trade that can bring in a lot of money, and a kilo of books is worth more than a kilo of stone, right? Well, it depends on the book...

Frida: Since we're on the subject of books, I have this one... (Takes out the book that Olov gave her.) Do you know whether there are any others of this kind?

Ernesti: Oh! It's the first volume of a very ancient collection of fairy tales. This one is very rare! How did you get it? It could be worth quite a lot... For my part, I only have the last volume.

Frida: Really? I want it!

Ernesti: You want it? It's not worth much, you know. Everyone has this one! But it's true that the stories are beautiful. Beauty and the Beast, for example...

Frida: I have no money. Could we come to another arrangement?

Ernesti: Come on, let it drop. I'll give it to you. It's no big deal. I can't get rid of it anyway. Here. One day perhaps you'll have the entire collection! (He smiles.)

Frida: I hope so. Thank you very much! Goodbye.


Frida: Not well. I'm always not very well. (Smiles.) But a bit better than yesterday.

Kukka: That's good! Here, you want to help me cook? I paid my fare, but Livari was mad at me yesterday... He told me that I should cook today to calm down. Can you believe it? I've never cooked!

Frida: I suppose. I don't have anything better to do...

Kukka: Thank you! Luckily, I'm not too ill... The first day was hell! I guess in the end you get used to it... (She watches you cut the vegetables.) Ah, got it, that's what it's for... Well, I'll do the same... Haha, it's ridiculous! I have no idea what these tools are for. I could use them as a weapon, but simply to cook with them...

Frida: As a weapon?

Kukka: It's true, we didn't talk about it. Actually, I was recruited by the Ministry of Tranquility and Majesty to enter into the armed forces. I have to go to Sapphire Bay before spring.

Frida: You're a soldier? Really?


Frida: Oh, I think that's great. How should I say, it's... reassuring.

Kukka: Really? I don't know. I don't think that way. I was born to do this. It's who I am—I never thought otherwise. It comes naturally to me... Right, and what am I supposed to do with these potatoes now that we've cut them every which way?

Frida: You throw them into boiling water. (Smiles) Like drunkards.

Kukka: Oh, great! What now?

Frida: Wait for them to get good and soft, add some herbs into the pot over there, and serve them to everyone on plates.

Kukka: Very good. I'll do that. See you later!


Frida: …




Frida: Nothing in particular. What are you doing here?

Suvi [an adolescent girl, his sister, hiding behind a pillar in this shot]: We are traveling. We have the right, don't we? Who are you, by the way?

Kustavi: Suvi! Forgive her, miss... Boats put her in a bad mood.

Frida: No worry. Ok then, bye.


Frida: I have thought again about what you said... I think that actually, I must be afraid of men. I don't know why, but I will find out.

Saul: The night will bring you counsel, very often... Perhaps tonight?




[We die instantly if we end our turn on an Inner Path (the dark blue growths separating the “islands”), because they submerge themselves every turn and have to be Detected again. The light blue tiles on the land are called Light-Eaters, and they deal a lot of damage if we step or are pushed onto them. Some are unavoidable, while others guard shortcuts, which can impact strategy.]


[We discover the name of our new Betrayal form. Yikes.]


The Beast: ~I haven't left anything. I have devoured, meticulously devoured each detail. Your are mine. Your Kingdom is mine. You are in my Stomach. Do not mention this Kingdom in other places; it belongs to me and you can no longer show it to anyway. Such is the pact I have sealed.~

~You are nothing anymore. Since I have entered your Kingdom, you are nothing anymore. I have torn your curtains, I have blackened your walls, I have marked my territory with a branding iron. I cast iron in a dense forest to imprison you outside your Kingdom. Stripped of your sovereignty, fleeing, you are only the breathless echo of my reputation.~

The Beauty: ~It's true. I no longer recognize anything. I have seldom inhabited it—now, it just looks like the suffering you inflicted on it. What didn't I know? How to recognize it? I am nothing now. You took from me everything that made me Queen. And yet, I know it—it is my river flowing here, between the rocks. Why, then, is it you, Beast, swimming and me, drowning?~


(You let your gaze wander around the cabin, between the beds. “To exist? What does that mean? I feel like a phantom, Dad, like a phantom for such a long time... Something within me has been devoured, and I don't understand why. Something possesses me. Something haunts me. It's so clear now. I do not understand how it is that I did not realize it before.”)


Frida: Uh, yes, probably... Um, say, I was wondering whether you might have some extra plants to give me. I would like to access the Seid...

Ilmatar: Oh? Well, yes, I have some leftover mushrooms and leaves... Not enough to reach the Seid, but you'll have a better sensibility. Are you sure? It's dangerous, after all... I haven't done it for years.

Frida: Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry, I'm already half-crazy anyway.

Ilmatar: Very well. In that case, here you are. I'm going to gather a lot anyway. I took the boat just for that reason. There's a nice place a couple of hours' walk from the next stop.

Frida: That's kind of you. Thank you very much!
(Frida ingests them immediately, since they will take some time to take effect.)


Frida: A task of the highest importance?

Livari: I'll explain. Someone drank my bottle of rum. It was on my night table. It's unacceptable! My precious bottle of rum! I was still drinking it yesterday after we departed. It must have happened last night... Jarkko is already on the scene. Join him and see if he can help you in your search. Oh, and be careful, we're at the start of a section of rapids. The boat might move a lot.

Frida: Alright, I'll take care of it...


(Frida and Jarkko search the Captain's room, but don't turn up any clues.)




Frida: Hello Suvi. You haven't seen a bottle of alcohol by any chance?

Suvi: (She turns bright red and instinctively puts her right hand in her pocket) What's your problem, to start with? Who are you, anyway? Why are you asking me?

Kustavi: S-Suvi, I hope you didn't steal something AGAIN, did you?

Suvi: Are you mad?! Leave me alone! I do what I want! I've had enough!


Frida: You are Martti? I would like to question you on the subject of a bottle of rum...

(The man ignores you superbly.)


Frida: What are you doing, Kukka?

Kukka: Uh, I... I was thinking that it was dark here! Ha ha ha... Well, I'll get going, eh?


[Frida, what are you doing. No.]


[Frida stop.]





Mies: (He jumps) Uh, I... No, I am not looking for alcohol. It's just that... Well, it's not as though I NEED some... Ok, I am going to prepare the... the meal, yes that's it.


Kyosti: (He seems deeply shocked.) What are you saying?




Raine: (The merchant looks at you, his eyes clearly showing a total lack of understand.) What's your problem? My goodness, you have an obsession with hens!


Kustavi: ...What?


(The man ignores you superbly.)


Jarkko: Frida... Are you... drunk? Ok, I'm going to pretend I didn't see anything...


Kukka: (She laughs.) You must not drink alcohol very often, eh? (She looks at you mischievously.) I wouldn't mind, but you might regret it when you sober up, don't you think? Not that I'm against the idea, but...

Frida: N-NO PROBLEM! ...Hic! I'm f-frigid eh-any wayy!

Kukka: I'd happily drink with you, but I'm supposed to be cooking... alone, this time. Go and rest, you need it.


Ilmatar: (She laughs gently.) You don't handle alcohol very well, am I right? It's funny!


Frida: I th-think I-I kn-know who it is... Hic! IT'S A HEH-HEN!

Livari: Frida... Are you... drunk? By the norns... You, who are so innocent... You can't trust anyone these days...

[From the game's log/combat diary: “You have achieved the worst possible score in this quest.”]

(Her task for the day complete, Frida goes to bed.)


(You try to reflect. Since when? You have such scattered memories of your adolescence and your childhood... You find no trace. No element. Everything has always seemed to go well. Everything was without worries, without problems... “Dad, since when? You, at least, do you know? Since when am I so cold and dreary? Is it you, is it you who protects myself from myself?)


[We get a nice buff from the volva's hookup, but surprisingly, not a debuff from being drunk off our ass.]





The Beauty: ~No, you are not so old, but I was young, so young... Too young to understand, too young to learn, too young to defend. Virgin in body and spirit, like freshly fallen snow... Was I eighteen, nineteen? I no longer remember... You came, you stared at me, you fixed me with those eyes and those hands which hear only the sound of birds—you burnt me, you burnt me, I remember, I almost remember...~