“She’s closer to twenty-five,” Sumi clarified. “Jo’s been here for much longer than Jem, obviously.” She smiled at Johan. “I remember when Rinatte met you. She fell head over heels for you.”

Johan chuckled softly. “I remember you now, Sumi. You’ve aged well.”

“I’ve cheated,” she said with a rueful smile. “I spent time in Alfheim.”

“Okay, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Finn said. “But what do you mean by time moves differently in our lands?”

“One year on Alfheim is about eight years here,” Sumi answered.

“After Eliana and Illaria’s father was killed by a kuguar, Senka took them across the bridge,” Jem elaborated. “She used to travel with Jo-Huk, then she had the babies, and he fell in love with Sarina and ran away with her.”

“I’m sorry, Jem,” Johan said, his voice thick. “Sarina wasn’t safe with the Älvolk, and I loved her. But I never thought I’d forget you. I never wanted that.”

“I’m sure the two of you have a lot to talk about, and you definitely should, but I’m having a hard time with the whole time thing, so can we go back to that for a moment?” I asked.

I moved Niko, holding him more on my hip so I could sway and bounce him more easily. Not that he was fussing. I just needed to do something.

“When Senka left, the twins were just babies, crawling around,” Jem said. “For me, in Alfheim, that was only three and a half years ago. When I visited her once, she was trapped in an unhappy relationship with Indu and very pregnant with you.”

“That’s when I met Jem,” Sumi explained. “I’d been living on my own, moving around the various villages and the wilds of the arctic lands around Áibmoráigi. I never ventured too far into the human world, and I did odds-and-ends jobs for trolls. I was recruited by the Omte King to help find the Lost Bridge, and I became friends with Senka through the whole ordeal.”

“You knew my parents?” I asked, feeling dazed. “When they knew each other?”

She nodded. “I knew Senka and Thor, but I didn’t know they were involved or had a child together. And I didn’t spend much time with the two of them together. When Jem visited Senka, I followed him back to Alfheim. And that’s where I stayed until Eliana went missing.”

Finn sat down on the arm of the chair beside his wife. “But how does time move differently?”