“I had a dream. Or maybe a lysa. Or a vision,” I said. “I don’t know. But I think it was about the fall of Áibmoráigi. There was a woman, and she told me that I needed to prevent it again.”

“How?” Sumi asked.

“When the time is right, I need to follow the lone white elk,” I said uncertainly.

Finn scoffed. “That sounds like a stress dream.”

“No, Finn, it wasn’t,” I insisted. “I’ve been seeing an albino elk, and now I’m told I’ve got to stop something terrible from happening. So what do I do?”

Nobody said anything, and the sick feeling I had in my stomach only intensified.

“Okay, then.” I sighed. “What about the ingredients? Can we stop them from getting them?”

“The mugwort, cloudberries, corn cockle, and goose eggs are all fairly common in Áibmoráigi,” Sumi said. “It’s not an everyday thing, but they often have hvalnum lard and spring lamb stock in their pantry. And Jem just traded them a bushel of Induian pears in exchange for ‘helping’ Eliana.”

“That was before we realized they were abusing and exploiting Ellie,” Jem muttered.

“And they got all the sorgblomma from the Vittra,” Finn said dully.

“The only thing they need is the albino woolly elk heart,” Sumi surmised.

“How common are those?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I’ve never seen one.”

“You said you had, though,” Finn said, looking to me.

“Only in my dreams. Or visions or whatever they are.” Then I corrected myself. “At least I think they’re dreams or something.”

“Doesn’t your friend Pan work with the woolly elk? Maybe he would know more,” Finn suggested.

“I should talk to him.” I wished he were here, discussing this all with me. He always made me feel better, even when everything seemed impossible.

“We mustn’t let them finish the recipe,” Jem said. His fingers were tented together and his eyes were downcast. “My grandfather told stories of the last time the bridge was open, when the wyrm got through. So many lives were lost. Cities fell and the world burned.”

“We’ll do all we can to stop this, but what does that entail?” Finn asked carefully. “What can we do? I don’t even know how we can prevent them from obtaining the elk heart, other than not giving them one ourselves.”

A moment passed before Sumi said, almost reluctantly, “The only way we can be sure that the Älvolk won’t follow through on the crusade they’re on is if we make them submit to our will. They only respond to force.” She exhaled roughly. “We must attack them.”

“They trained Sumi to be a warrior,” Jem said, looking up at her. “She knows how they fight, and how they think.”

“If you have any military, I’d be happy to tell them what I know,” Sumi said to Finn.