Á Íslandi 33

The words were:
Stupefied
Collector
Arrange
Reflections
Fashion
Slate
    and/or:
Hesitate
Adjusted
Hat
Segment
Coffeemaker
Dessert

Still missing dessert

"I think this needs more tea and cake to be washed down," Aamu said and suited action to words. Susan and Ella helped her lay the table for three. When they sat down with their mugs and slices of Aamu's delicious, German cake, she spoke again: "You say that you know me, and the others. And that I am, like you and Ella, a witch. How come that I cannot cast spells and do not remember anything of it at all? And where are those other children for that matter?"
Susan took a long sip of her tea, and drew a deep breath: "Let me start with your last question. What happened to those other children. It's  a sad story. The sisters Marja and Josta died together with their parents, and an aunt and her children when their summerhouse burned down one summer. Nata went to India together with Astrid Ravndal from Norway to find themselves as so many other did in those days. But as many others they found only death. They were found dead together in Goa some years later. And the boy, Jouka, died from an overdose in Oslo a few years later again. Tähti and Taavi died at almost 100 years of age. You are the only Finnish survivor from the Nordic school of witchcraft."
Aamu looked stunned, and her hand shook as she reached for her mug.
Susan continued: "Ella is not a witch by the way, but all her family is, so she knows about it. And she visited the school several times. You do not remember anything because you- like all of us - is under a spell of forgetfulness. I think I can prove that you are indeed a witch without giving you your powers back. Just a second." She bent toward Ella and whispered something in her ear. Ella nodded and left.
While she was gone, Susan told a bit more of Unicorn Farm. "We met every holiday for three years at the Unicorn Farm, situated in an island in Southern Denmark. We arrived every morning through portals, or walking through the magic line of trees, separating the Farm from the rest of the island. We were taught to brew potions, fly broomsticks, heal, call animals and cast spells. We also learned Icelandic."
"Icelandic?" Aamu asked, "I was in Iceland some years ago, and I found it quite easy to understand what people said. Uwe, that's my husband, wondered why, as he did not. It starts to ring true what you tell me."
Ella opened the door just a bit and said: "Aamu, please close you eyes. This is a test."
She did, and Ella gave Susan the branches she had cut outside. Susan magically rounded the ends and gave Aamu two of them: "What can you tell me about these two branches without opening you eyes?"
"Well," Aamu said, handling the branches. "They are branches all right, one is rough, one not, but nothing special. Just branches. About 30 centimetres long and 2 or 3 in diameter."
"Fine," Susan said, "and now those two." She handed Aamu her own wand and another branch.
"Two more branches," Aamu said after feeling them. "This one a bit longer," that was the normal branch, "and this one somewhat shorter. But the short one feels friendly, almost alive, as if ..." She stopped.
"Yes?" Susan said.
"As if it could bend, talk ... do magic."
"Open your eyes," Susan said,"Because yes it can. It is my wand."
Aamu opened her eyes and looked at the wand. "It looks no different form the others with my eyes, maybe a little worn, that's all. But with my fingers I feel the power in it."
"As you should," Susan said. "When you remember as much as you do, you should."
"But why, how ..." Aamu said, confusion etched in every line of her face.
"The school ended after three years," Susan said, Not because we were done, but because some of the wizards grew greedy for power. They wanted to take over the world, beginning with Denmark. They planned winning the election that autumn by magical means, and slowly begin a reign of terror. We, some of us that is, opposed them. We made a terrible potion, and forced us all to renounce our magic and forget about it. We gave up our magic for freedom. Last spring, as Knud, that's my husband, and I moved, I found my old school uniform in a suitcase. I did not know what it was, it had lain there ever since that Summer. But as I touched it, the forgetting spell was broken, and I Remembered." Susan paused. She took another bite of cake and drank some tea while Aamu digested what she had heard. When Aamu looked at her again, she continued: "I then had Knud touch a uniform too and the same happened to him. We agreed to 'awaken' all the apprentices, we could find and later to re-open the school. You are the last to be found." Susan ended her tale.

Aamu sat still for a short while. Ella poured more tea for them all, and then Aamu said: "You do know that this sounds totally crazy? That if anybody heard you tell all this, saw you swishing a branch and saying strange words, they would normally call the police or a shrink? I don't know if I do believe you or not. It sounds plausible, yet totally fantastic. What would you do to me if I play along?"
"I would of course make you touch my old skirt," Susan said. "It's in that brown suitcase over there."
"And If I don't?" Aamu asked, "will you then cast a spell on me to make me forget?"
"I don't think that would be necessary," Susan said slowly. "Just think it over. To whom would you tell what I have told you, and how would they react, if you did? And of course I would deny having been here at all. I was at home today until half past three, and  I'll be home again 15 minutes after leaving here. Not enough time to even travel one way, let alone staying here for hours."
"A portal?" Aamu asked.
"Yes!" Susan answered.
"I do believe you. Yet I am not sure that I want to be a witch. I have a good life as it is. I am married, I have children and even grandchildren. I have a job I like and live in a nice place here in Germany.
Susan thought it over: "But what about your children? Do you want to deny them their birthright."

... to be continued