Epilog

Many years later (as in the 10 years in the future WfW - we are in July 2031):

   Susan was packing her sewing room into crates. She had made this her working room after their eldest son had moved away from home. When the others had also moved out, Knud had made himself a writer's den, and she could hear him bustling in there. After all the children had moved away from home, their house now had a stupid size. It was far too big for the two of them alone, and far too small when children and grandchildren came home for a visit or on a short vacation. The area they lived in had also changed. From being situated in the outskirts of a small town with open fields around it, the house was now framed by a residential neighbourhood, and the road to the forest was no longer safe for the grandchildren to travel alone. Every day there was a little less fresh air  and a little more noise and turmoil. They had talked about moving for a long time. And now Knud had retired, they had been looking for, and now finally found the perfect house. For many years it had been a home for adults with special needs. An old farm, where one half of the farmhouse had been the residence of the manager couple - where Susan and Knud would move in. The other half was furnished with a large kitchen and various workshops. The stables had been made into small apartments, and by merging them two and two they would be perfect for their children to live in while on holiday. The barn had been used for storage, and Susan dreamed of a few horses, perhaps a cow or two, at the very least some chicken. The lot was large, there was a lake and a small forest, it would be glorious. Susan had no doubt that she would have her days filled up from early morning to late evening, but Knud was used to people around him, meetings and decisions.
    Susan shook her head. She had promised Knud to pack a lot before their morning coffee, so now she had to get going.
   Suddenly she was standing with an old suitcase in her hand. She could remember seeing it before, it had been hers for many years, but it was small and she had not used it for many, many years. Together with Knud she had been on backpacking trips, and later camping trips with the children and in recent years conferences and congresses abroad.
   She put the small suitcase on the table and opened it. There was some old clothes and some even older books in the suitcase. And then a broken branch. Susan got weird feeling in her stomach at the sight of the branch. The top piece of clothing was an old, green T-shirt, it had darkened over the years and almost fell apart when Susan picked it up. Below it was a striped skirt, and when she picked it up, a door opened in Susan's brain and all the memories of the Unicorns Farm came tumbling back over her. She dropped to the nearest chair with her skirt in hand. Fortunately, it was a sturdy, old chair so it held. She sat on the chair for a while, completely overwhelmed by the memories, Knud was also part of them. She had always imagined that she had met him for the very first time when they both moved to Copenhagen to study, but they had met at Unicorn Farm! Susan got up and looked down into the suitcase with renewed energy. There were more clothes and a lot of old books on magic and then the branch ... she began crying, it had been her magic wand.
    Susan undressed, standing in underwear and let her hair down just like the first day at the Unicorn Farm. Then she resolutely put on her skirt. It still had to have some magic in it, for it fit just as well on her chubby, aged body now as it had on her gangling girl's form long ago. She went upstairs and opened her wardrobe. There was a green t-shirt she had bought some time ago but never used. Now she resolutely pulled it over her head.
   "I'm out for a little walk!" she cried out to Knud.
    "Fine," he replied, "but don't be away for too long, I'll be making some coffee soon.

   Susan quietly closed the front door behind her and went up the hill. The very best would have been a branch from the cherry tree in the nearby city, but it had been felled many years ago. She reached the church and turned into the parking lot. She had followed the two Japanese cherry trees there through many seasons of change. She had spoken to them, both when she was happy and sad. She walked to the largest of the trees and placed her hand on the stem. The tree began singing, at first quietly, then louder and clearer. Susan began to hum along with the tree. She saw Thora before her inner eye. She remembered her first and only lesson in magic wands and just as then she let the tree lead the way. Susan eventually embraced the tree and her humming turned into a song without words. A song about the changing of the seasons, the changeability and unchangeability of the world. Eventually, she was filled with longing to once again let the magic run through her and began to sing all by herself the song Thora had taught her. She finished with a high pitch, pure as a bell that made the tree shiver, and a branch loosened and fell straight into Susan's waiting hand.
   Excitedly, she let the wand swish through the air and, smiling, saw the white-green sparks leap from the end.

    She hurried  home, went into the sewing room and took a pair of striped pants out of the suitcase. They would probably fit Knud. The smell of coffee was pervasive and enticing. She went out into the kitchen.
    "Dearest Knud," she said softly, "just try these pants."
    "What a funny pair of trousers. Did you sew them?" he asked as he took off his jeans. Standing in panties on the kitchen floor, Susan remembered exactly how he had looked back then. Of course, the years had not passed without a trace for him either, but he was still strong and athletic. He took the pants from her hand and then he stood completely still. All colour drained from his face and upper body. He sat down hard on the stool and stared into thin air. Obviously without seeing anything in front of him. Then his hands sank down to his thighs, he looked up at Susan and said, "It's probably a good thing we bought the new house. How many of the old apprentices do you think we can track down?"
    "What about our children and grandchildren?" said Susan, "how many of them do you think are witches or wizards?"
    "I'd better start studying genealogy and family history," Knud said slowly and carefully. "It will be a great hobby for such an old geezer like me. And the perfect excuse to look for information on a lot of different people."
    "What tree was your wand made from?" Susan asked.
    "Sloe," Knud replied. "But it probably doesn't exist any more."
    "No, but do you remember that Thora was to teach me how to sing magic wands into being?" Susan said smilingly as she let the sparks from her wand fly in a cascade over both of them.
   "Slokkvast!" she said hastily to the sparks, which had ended up in the neatly folded towels.
    She was quite sure that they would have no time to get bored in their retirement at Birch Manor.