Ehva walked through a white landscape, snow breaking under her feet and her boots sinking knee deep at times. Next to her the reindeer, which stood taller at the shoulder than her head and weighed three times her weight, had no such problems, thanks to its wide hooves. She would have to stop soon and attach the wide snow shoes to her feet, but not here, not under the very eaves of Haikonen Castle. She shuddered at the reminder, glancing back at the barely visible structure. Put a few more miles between them and the Svedes.

The wind gusted around her and she pulled the four winds caps, a man's cap, down over her ears. She'd told the castle men she was Alva, when they had begged passage past the castle for summer market to the north. It had been an easy lie, she'd been Alva nearly three years now, since the Birger Karl and his men had swept through the region, killing her father and Doffo, the boy she was supposed to marry. The men they hadn't killed had been taken to work on the castle itself and few remained alive.

The battle had been fought some distance from the village when the invaders caught the men out hunting. It had been a small mercy, she hadn't had to see them die, nor had the women of the village been raped as happened often in war.

There had been nothing they could do about the war, the second incursion by the Svedes into their homeland, supposedly to force them to this new faith of the south, the cross of the dead god. And yet most of the men still had pagan runes on their shields and their lords had little interest aside from the lands of the Sami people.

Ehva had put on Doffo's clothes, shoved the four winds cap on her head and married her best friend Kirste, so no Svede could take it into their head to claim either woman. Other than one terrify moment when she had to protect their herds from a pack of wolves, armed with only a spear, taking over the men's role in the village had been easy enough.

Leading the herds to market was the worst part, and that was because the markets lay on the far side of the Svede castle. It meant lying her way past the men who had murdered her father, and hoping they did not take it into their mind to continue their bloody crusade.

Kirste, on the reindeer's far side, let out a soft noise. Her husband to be had been in the battle as well, and while she seemed content to share Ehva's bed now, Ehva knew she thought of the boy often, cried his name in the night. He had been taken as a slave and she had hoped to see him working the wall, to know he was alive at least. So far they had no such luck.

Down the line the girls of the village were all scared, passing under the castle's wall had frayed every nerve. Ehva felt it, knew she had to do something to bolster their courage. Not knowing what else might serve, she began to sing, an old joik the village had kept for generations.

Jay woke still singing the song softly to himself. It was an old dream, one he remembered having many times before. But never in such detail. Something about the dream was so different from a regular dream, the way he could feel the warmth coming off the reindeer at his side, the musky smell of it. The castle looming above them.

Or how the names conjured memories. Doffo's name brought bitter sweet memories of a friendly boy on the cusp of manhood. Kirste's brought memories of two female bodies wrapped together under a bed of reindeer hides, perhaps foolishly believing they had to share a bed to make the sham marriage real, or perhaps just wanting some intimacy in a life that would likely remain devoid of men. Either way they had discovered quickly they enjoyed this enterprise and there were many happy memories within this dream.

"A past life memory," Amanda had opined more than once. "How else could a dream evoke memories?"

In the past the dream had evoked a sense of place, a vague hint of how their houses look, what they wore. He'd spent hours scouring historical sites trying to put together more. The song they sang was a vague memory as well, he could never repeat it when awake.

But this time it had offered him details it had never before. He thought he might even be able to sing the song. He rose from the rug he shared with Courtney and found his laptop. He attached a microphone and sang as much of the song as he could remember.

"That's beautiful," Courtney said, coming up behind him and hugging him.

"Ehva," he said.

"You remember her song? That's great."

"It explains a lot about your gender identity," Courtney had said when he first told her about his dream of Ehva. "You were a woman in a past life, forced into the man's role. You didn't work everything out then, and now you have to do it in this life." Jay wasn't so sure, it felt like a pat answer. But he liked the idea that Ehva had been a past life of his.

"I got more," Jay said. "Details. Names. Things I think I can research."

"Cool, something to do today," Courtney said. She went into the kitchen to start on breakfast. Jay looked up at her retreating back. He knew what was hidden behind the comment. The pack was gone to their summer camp. Then the big council. Their parents would be leaving for the conclave today.

"Two days and we'll head to Uncle Johan's," he reminded her.

"I know. Then at least you will have something to do."

"Oh don't worry, we'll keep you busy, too," he joked.

"Stoking the fire for your sweats. Beating the drum for your visions." It was true, she'd be Jay's primary helper, doing all the mundane chores while he was trying to achieve his visions.

She came back with bowls of oatmeal for each of them. He pulled her down beside him. "Sing with me," he commanded. He started into the part of the song he remembered.