Ⓐ - Ⓩ ~ Selma

This is a series of studies for my long-time-in-the-writings book about the magic in the Nordic countries.
We are in the 70es on Unicorn Island, an island off the coast of southern Zealand. A handful of teachers have gathered the broken threads of magic once again, trying to revive the magic in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Faroes and partially Greenland.
Our main protagonist is Susan (me) from Elsinore and her three co-apprentices and friends Heidi, Tage and Lis living at Unicorn Island.
I grasped the chance to write a little bit about some of the lesser known apprentices in this A-Z challenge.

Ⓐ - Ⓩ

S is for Selma Finnbogadottir

And I continue the story from yesterday

"Yes you're going off to the School for magic, Rósa, as are Kirstin, Finnbogi and Grani, but sorry to all other sons and daughters of Starri, not this time. Maybe in a year or two, when we have found more teachers," Gylfi said.
Thora got up and left the room, while Grani's older siblings looked angry and the younger ones vented their frustrations. Their mother had to shut some of them up with more cake.
When he again could be heard, Gylfi continued: "And then I have a surprise co-apprentice for you: Selma Finnbogadottir. You all know her, as she visits the same school in Hella as you all do, but none of you knew, I think, that she had magic. Her parents have not, but such things happen, as do the opposite."
"I knew," Finnbogi said. "Or at least suspected."
Thora entered with a pretty girl, she had blond hair in two long braids, longer even that Rósa's. She was dressed in practical yet neat clothes, and Finnbogi and a couple of Grani's older sisters suddenly felt rural and clumsy.
"Hello, Selma," Finnbogi greeted her, "how did they find you?"
"Do tell your story," Thora encouraged her.
"But first sit down," Grani's mother said and placed a mug of tea and a plate of cake in front of an empty chair.
"I was watching you," Selma said. "Almost every Saturday, I have sat outside the barn and listened. I found out that I too could fly a broomstick. I have tried a couple of times, when you were all in here drinking tea."
"Show us!"  Kirstin said.
"That might actually be the best ... in a short while," Thora said, "But first have some tea and cake and tell us a bit about your family, and the whole story."
Selma looked at the others, she knew them all from school, and Thora had told her not to be afraid. She trusted Thora. No reason to be afraid, she had been afraid for far too long. She nibbled at the cake, it was good, and drank some tea. Then she began: "We, that is My father, also called Finnbogi, of course,  my mother, Gilla, and my sisters Frey and Frigg, moved here some years ago. My father got a job planning the new thermal heatings, and the rest of us just came here. Of course I knew about magic in days of old. We hear about it in school, and in the sagas. I always felt fascinated. The library here had many books on magic, and many more stories of people from older times doing magic. I avidly read all those. One day I overheard Grani and his brothers talk of broomsticks and Saturday. I went out here next Saturday, wanting to have a look. But when I arrived, I could not find anybody."
  Selma drank some more tea while everybody waited, and she continued: "Then I realised that you could not very well be flying around in open air, or inside the house. You just had to be in the barn. I walked over, but as I was about to knock, I heard someone, I think Grani's mother, talking about potions. I sat down under the window and I listened. I was afraid to be discovered, but the bushes were close by, and I hollowed out one of them while you practised flying. As I said, I was afraid, afraid of being discovered, afraid of what you would do to me, if you discovered me. Change me into a toad or worse maybe. But most of all I was curious, curious enough to stay even when afraid. Could I learn how to do the same, could anybody?"
  She sighed deeply. "My curiosity was awakened, and I could not stay away. Next Saturday I returned. And the next. Ever more afraid to be found out. One Saturday I heard Sigurdur, Kirsten's father, tell you about diminishing spells, Then you all left for tea and cake. I sneaked into the barn, I tried flying ... and I could. It was fun," Selma smiled at the memory. "And then I grasped a wand and tried diminishing some pieces of straw left there. I could do that as well. I became so absorbed that I almost did not hear you return."
"Ahh that was why the broomsticks were in disarray," Finnbogi said. "We tough it was the cats. And I could feel that somebody, a girl even, had used that old wand. But I did not say anything. And you used it again later, didn't you?"
"Yes I did. Two Saturdays ago, you were brewing some simple potion, and I would so much have liked to learn. During the tea break I again tried flying. I was better at it, and the diminishing as well."
"Now let's see what you can do!" Grani's sister said.
They all went into the barn. Grani and his older brothers first flew a couple of rounds, then Grani handed Selma his broom: "Here, it's the best broom we have!"
Selma straddled the broom, and said the words, and gingerly she rose. flying in sloppy, but steadily improving circles inside the barn. She rose and fell, and then landed in front of Thora and Gylfi. "I can do it," she said triumphantly.
"We never doubted you," Thora said. "Let's see your spelling too."
Selma picked up the old, slender wand from one of the workbenches along the side of the barn. She held it in a tight, yet not too tight grip, swished it and said the words, as she had already done a couple of times. An poof, the straws in front of her shrunk as much as to be nearly invisible.
"You have earned your apprenticeship on The Unicorn Farm!" Gylfi said in a loud and clear voice, and all cheered for Selma.

 - - - - -

At the Unicorn Farm we do not see much of Selma in the chapters I have written so far. She is an all-round good apprentice, but as she herself suspected, best at brewing potions. Her wand was of linden wood and her sparks a light green.
Later she married Grani, and they both died (were killed actually) on their honeymoon.

Ⓐ - Ⓩ

Tomorrow T for Terje