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søndag den 20. februar 2022

Á Íslandi - 15

And still I have not used all the prompts, we were given for Wednesday 16, so I continue.
The prompts were:

Sweetheart    
Succotash    
Semi-stable    
Solace    
Singularly    
Solution   
    
and/or
Married
Lately
Diet
Denied
Squash
Urban

And for this instalment, I used
Sweetheart.


In the afternoon, Rasmus and Finnbogi were about to leave with Marit and Fiona to see Sandra at her house. On their way out to the car, Fiona stopped at the table where Susan and Knud sat talking to Martine, Rósa and Hilde.
"This is a bother travelling to and fro all the time. Could we bring Sandra and the whole caboodle here?" Fiona asked.
"I don't see why not," Knud answered, and Susan nodded slowly, thinking: "She could have the room over the old stables, where the principal had her office when this was a home for special needs people, It's out of the way, facing the road, where almost nobody comes. If Heidi, Tage and Lis have no objections, and it's medically advisable, it would indeed make life a bit easier for us all."
They left in Fiona's big car as it was big enough to have a person lying down inside it.

Hilde looked at the others and asked: "What do we do with Mary and Roseanne? Should they join in the teaching or not. and what will we tell them?"
"Well," Knud said. "Rasmus left with Fiona and Marit without doing or saying anything."
"We spoke about it yesterday, no this morning," Susan said. "He would like the girls to be taught with the others, and I agreed. It is not a question of if they realize what we - and they - are but when. And I'd like  them to be told, not find it out."
"I'll tell them," Hilde said. "But I'd like one other to come along, I think Susan would be the obvious choice, as you gave their father his wand."
All agreed on the suggestion and Hilde and Susan rose and went to the stable, where all the children were gathered, admiring yet another batch of new bunnies.
"Susan, if they keep reproducing this rapidly, we'll be drowning in rabbits very soon. Can you either sort them in male and females, or would you like me to tell them not to have bunnies any more?"
Little Susan answered: "I'll keep them in separate cages from now. Granny. I am going to have some help build them, but will do."
"Fine," Susan said. "I'll keep you to your word."
Hilde saw her two youngest grandchildren and called them to her: "Mary and Roseanne, please come here. I need to talk to you!"
"We did not do anything," Mary protested, "and if you talk to us, the others will run off again, and leave us alone with the babies."
"No, they won't," Hilde said. "Today we have planned a surprise for everybody at Birch Manor."
Susan clapped her hands, and slowly the 20 other pair of eyes sought her out. "Today we have a surprise planned for all the children at Birch Manor. And by 'children' I mean all children. My children, Hilde's children and their children, all the way from Nina, my oldest daughter, down to Heidi's youngest grandson, who is only a few weeks old. Now you all go and wash faces, hands and feet, change any dirty shirts, blouses, pants ...you get the drift and make your parents do the same. We all meet in the dining hall in 20 minutes from .. NOW!" Susan said looking at her old fashioned watch.
"You two stay here," Hilde said, as Roseanne and Mary were on their way off too. "Your father is not here, and as I said, I want a word with you."
"We did not do anything wrong!" Roseanne repeated.
"No you did not. I know," Hilde said. "But I want to talk to you all the same. Sit down!"
Roseanne and Mary realised that they had better do as they were told and sat down on the bench next to Hilde. Susan sat at the other end of the bench.
"Do you have any idea what the other children are doing in their secret place?" Hilde asked. "And it's OK to say if you do. We know what they're doing, so you're not telling on them," she added.
"No," Roseanne said. "I do not know. I tried spying on them, but they seem to have disappeared."
"They have fun," Mary said. I can hear them laughing, but I can't find them. I always think I'll see them just around the corner, or in the next room, but they are not there."
"I'll tell you a secret," Hilde said. "We are wizards, all of us here, and you too."
"Like real wizards?" Roseanne asked. "I thought it was only something in the movies and books. Can you do magic?"
For an answer Susan drew her wand: "What is this?"
"A stick," Roseanne said.
"A wand, stupid," Mary said, pushing her older sister. "She just told us she's a witch. Ammirite?"
"Yes, you're right, Mary," Susan said laughing. She swished her wand through the air and the bale of hay next to the bench shimmered, moved, shifted and turned into a deer.
Then Hilde drew her wand. She also swished it, murmuring a few words in Icelandic and slowly soared up to the low roof, surrounded by blue sparks that danced and sparkled around her.
"Can I learn to do that?" Mary asked in wonder.
"Yes you can, but it is not all fun. Some of it is hard work. When first I tried it took me three days to learn how to make a pincushion into a hedgehog," Susan said, smiling at the memories. "And I nearly killed us remembering the wrong word for 'swallow' in Icelandic. That's the language of magic for us, and Finnbogi and Rósa have agreed to teach us. You'll have to learn a lot."
"And we have a small problem with you two," Hilde added. "You tell me you can hear the other, but not see them. Your father made your brains tickle yesterday, and I can't feel your magic at all. Something happened to it. Someone put your magic to sleep. We are all going to help you make it wake up."
"Mum did it!" Mary said. "It was that strange medicine she made us drink when we had that bad cold."
"Yes," Roseanne said slowly. "It tasted bad. It made me more sick. I still feel sick when thinking of it."
"Can you describe that medicine?" Hilde asked.
"It was pinkish," Mary said. "It tasted yucky."
"Yes pink," Roseanne agreed. "And yucky. Like Brussels sprouts and beer and, oh just yuck!"
"Bitter?" Susan said.
"Yes bitter's the word."
"If I did not know better, I would say it was some kind of Mondrian," Susan said.
"Yes, but it can't be!" Hilde said. "Gilvi got that bestiary. You told me, and I trust him to have placed it somewhere out of reach if he did not actually destroy it. We'll have to ask Martine if Thora ever told her anything."
Susan sprang from her seat and facepalmed: "I am a total idiot. There is another copy of Griffon's Bestiary. Ella's grandmother borrowed the book to copy it. I forgot! You take Mary and Roseanne to the meeting. I'm off!"
"Remember to bring something to eat," You're going through a lot of portals, I suppose."
"I will. And please tell Rasmus, Finnbogi, Fiona and Marit about our suspicion when they return."
Susan hurriedly found Knud and told him when she had just realized. "I'm off to Schiltach to speak to Ella. Now."
Knud just hugged Susan and held her close. "Take care, Sweetheart. I can't bear the thought of something happening to you," he whispered.
"Nothing will, I promise," Susan assured him and walked off towards the portals.

... to be continued

2 kommentarer:

  1. A light dawns for these girls and i am very glad.

    SvarSlet
  2. How awful to feed them medicine to make them forget or lose their magic. Why would their mother do that?

    SvarSlet

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