He left without a word; I assumed he was going to the bathroom. But after another minute or so, Ensimmäinen stood up too and left in silence as well, and when I turned around in my chair, I saw him head out the front door. A slender man with hair like a silver cape down his back.

‘They left?’ I said.

Roland nodded.

‘Seems that way.’

‘Are they staying in the hotel?’

‘I don’t think so.’

I made a puzzled face and he noticed.

‘I told you they’re not much good, in an everyday sense. They can be pretty difficult to be around. But when the going gets tough, there are no better friends on this planet, and nowhere else either for that matter. They’re solid, to the core.’

‘The one with the hair, is he mute or something?’

‘Nänne. Nah.’

‘But he didn’t say a word.’

Roland took a sip of his beer and put the bottle down carefully.

‘I guess he had nothing to say.’

‘I think they’re weird.’

‘Sure. They are weird, no two ways about it. But this whole situation is bloody weird. So they should fit right in.’

We sat in silence for a while. One group of diners was unusually raucous and both Roland and I glanced their way from time to time; it was just impossible not to.

‘So you believe me now?’

When Anders woke up…

When Anders woke up, he was outside and it was night-time. The grass was damp with dew and made his feet chilly and the mosquitoes hung around his head like a veil. He had almost made it down to the lake. The dark water and the spruce-shaggy mountain beyond it scared him. He was cold. He only had jeans and a button-down shirt on. He peaked into his trousers. No underwear. The shirt was wildly misbuttoned.

He had a strong feeling of having been on his way somewhere. He no longer knew where to, but he could still sense the irresistible longing that had seized him in his sleep. This longing was now slowly dissipating and that made him desperately upset.

He continued down toward the lake at a trot. Could it be that Ransu had been calling him? Was he waiting on the other side of the lake like last time? It was impossible to tell; the spruce trees clumped together like a dark mass.