Jay stared at the stars, lost in thought. The fire crackled. Johan and Sofia were cuddle together on a blanket at the edge of the fire pit, staring up as well. Corey was sitting on an airondike chair, close to Jay. He had his phone out, he'd upgrade when they got back to Iowa to a bigger "phablet" style phone, part phone, part tablet. He's also upgraded the data plan. It was a stretch since neither was working a paid job. But they would be away from internet for most of the summer again, and he didn't want to get cut off.

"This is interesting," he said, not looking up. "I've found Murmansk and Petsamu. They are both real places. And there is this whole wikipedia article about the winter war. Right at the outset of World War II, the Russians did try to invade Finland. Now if I can just find some reference to that name..."

Corey had been on this kick since before they got here. He'd pumped Jay for every detail he could recall about his Ehva dream. Now he was looking up information about the Lohtta vision, hoping to find some proof that it was really a past life memory.

Jay didn't care if they could confirm it. Would "proof" really prove anything? A skeptic would merely insist that Jay had subconsciously recalled the story of the winter war from some history class, a possibility Jay was willing to concede, and concocted this fantasy from that.

He was willing to concede the possibility, but personally he leaned towards believing in reincarnation. Most pagans did. They took it as a personal belief, did they need further proof?

The more perplexing issue for Jay was, what did it mean? What were the spirits trying to tell him with these visions of the past?

"So, Jay," Johan said, looking over at him. "What do you think of the training so far? Is it what you expected?"

"Not really. I mean, I knew what I was going to be expected to do, but the visions... They're skippy."

"Skippy?" Johan raised an eyebrow.

Corey laughed. "Yeah, Jay has a way with words." He reached over and ruffled Jay's hair.

Jay blushed. "It's just, they skip all over the place. I expected... For starters I expected to be told what to do."

"In time, perhaps," Johann said. "For now, you have much to work out."

"And I expected some continuity, like each vision would somehow be connected to the last, and to something I'm consciously working on."

"Perhaps they are," Sofia suggested. "Just at a level you can't understand yet."

"When?" Jay protested. "When will I understand."

"Patience," Johann replied. "In time."

Jay sighed and stared up at the sky. It was always the same, in time he'd understand. He'd understand himself, Darren, whatever the hell was going on with the otters. When?