The Long Saturday 4

Á ìslandi ... In Iceland is a bad title, as we are not in Iceland any longer (except for the occasional visit to the portals under the mountains)
Now the story is treading new ground, I am going on from the old Á Íslandi 38 as well as from the new one.
Happening simultaneous is the story of Susan going to Shiltach to get Aamu and her husband and son. This part of the story has not changed, and I won't repeat it. It was part of the old chapters Á Íslandi 37 & 38 and can be read here on my Unicorn Farm blog.

"Hi, Mary," Knud greeted the girl, who came walking with a determined mien. "Are you here to sign up for the racing, maybe?"
"Yes," she said. "I hope I am the first. I want to win."
"You are the first," Knud said wondering, "But that does not mean you'll win."
Mary smiled at Anna and Helge. "You just arrived, are you going to try and win the broom race as well?"
"Of course we are," Anna said. "I'm good at it and Helge is not much worse." She turned to Knud. "Please add us to the list as well, you know the details. Maybe Mary could show me where My is? I think she could use some help with the potions."
"You're not that good at potions," Mary said. "You'd do better helping The old lady and Jan set up the obstacles."
"Hey, you might be right," Anna said, "but that's not necessarily a nice thing to tell a lady you never met before."
"Sorry. lady," Mary said, "I'll show you where My is, if you like me to."
"My name is Anna," Anna said. "Yes I would like to meet My again, we were good friends long ago." As they left together Anna was surprised to see Knud nod approvingly.

Knud wrote down Helge and Anna on the list of older participants, and then looked up at Helge: "You do know that you, as the oldest are destined to take over Gylfi's role as senior wizard, or whatever you may call it. I have played the part until now, but that place is rightfully yours."
"By golly," Helge said. "I never realized, but with Sif and Elwin no longer alive, I am the oldest. I don't really feel like ousting you. You live here, you and Susan re-discovered our magic and everything."
 
"Do you really think Taavi and Tähti felt ousted, or Thora for that matter, by Gylfi being senior wizard back at the Farm? I would welcome it. I am not cut out for being a leader, I talk too much, trust too much. I think you'll do much better. But we can do it slowly if you like. People are used to me casting the Mál sameinast in the morning and cancelling it every night. You do the cancelling tonight, I'll introduce you, no fear. Racing against the other old apprentices won't hurt either. I warn you though. Fiona's going to win, she's been living part time here just ti fool around with Martine on a broomstick! By the way, did we ever tell Anna, and did she tell you that Martine was in an accident?" Helge said: "No, I never heard of that, only that she was the only living of our old teachers and that she lived here."
Knud told Helge the story of them finding Martine in the home, and how she was, nut cured, but much better now. "You'll meet her later, she's still a genius in a broom, but old of course, she won't be racing, even if I suspect she would tie with Fiona for the first place. But tell me some more about yourself. How has life treated you?"

Interrupted by people getting written on the broom racing lists, Helge told Knud about his marriage, work, child and divorce. "We only had that one child, a daughter called Annika. When my wife wanted a divorce, she wanted to leave her former life totally behind, that meant mostly Annika and me. I was given sole legal custody, quite unusual for a father where the mother did not die. My former wife married again, and changed her first name too. She's quite famous now, and I see her name in the papers now and then, and wonder ... I continued my work in the pharmacy, only I worked shorter hours to be at home when Annika came from school. We had a good life, she studied Icelandic, and married quite young to a nice, young man from the same course and have two children, Tony and Emily. I visit them often, as they live near by. After Annika left for the university, I took a part time job as a teacher on the pharmaceutical high school. It soon turned into full time teaching and more as I was made dean of the department. I kept that tenure up until my retirement two years ago. Now I write the books on pharmacology, I dreamt of writing when I taught, but never had the time for. And I have a small summer house with extensive lands - even a small lake - where I normally spend more time than in my apartment in Helsingborg. Annika spends most of her holidays there too with husband and kids, as her in-laws are in a nursing home, Tommy is the youngest of 8 kids. I should be happy, but I am not. Now, after Anna found me again and gave me my old trousers back, I feel better than I have done, but I am still not really happy, I feel like I'm missing something."

"For how long can you stay here?" Knud asked as an answer. "I think you need to do magic, Take responsibility again, lead this school together with me, Susan and My. Let's take a tour of the premises now. I think I can take a break from the listings - else people will have to find me." Knud crammed the papers into a pocket, rose and extended his hand.
Helge clasped it. "Let's go!" he said.