Re-discovering the Magic

The 2024 A-Z Challenge featured mini biographies of all the apprentices on The Unicorn Farm - The Nordic school for magic - back in the 1970es.
I made it through all the apprentices in April. and this is a follow up story describing the handful of teachers gathering the broken threads of magic once again, trying to revive the magic

May 7th, a week ago today, would have marked the 150th birthday of the oldest of the professors from Unicorn Farm, Gylfi (pronounced Gilvi). And yes, this makes him over 100 years old at the time of the happenings at the Unicorn Farm. He had discovered a potion of, not youth or eternal life, but slow life when he was a young teacher at the newly founded Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland, Reykjavík) and brewed and drank of it sparingly ever since.

Thora worked at the library at the same university, young and insecure, she had still felt the magic in the old professor. But before she pulled her courage together to approach him, he retired, after many busy, productive years, and moved back to his parents' old, decrepit manor house quite a distance from Hella.

After putting the gardener's house in decent shape, he moved there, and enjoyed spending the nights looking upon the stars through the windows he  had installed. He was at his happiest when one night he saw the necklace of the Perseids.
Due to his magic, he was able to partially repair the broken ecosystem in the large park-like garden, even if his lack of money meant that he spent a long time doing this.

Thora retired early, as the new systems and management were not to her likings. She also moved to Hella, not knowing that she was now close to Gylfi once again. She cared for the animals of the surroundings, wild and domestic alike, and even had a cat owl staying in her small house.

One late evening, under the almost midnight sun, her owl, Brúnleit, lost its way and landed at the ground of Gylfi's manor just inside his fence. Armed only with her falconers' gloves and a tasty mouse for her owl, she found her way inside the garden. She got a bit lost looking at and caressing the many different flowers and plants in his garden. It was long before she remembered Brúnleit again. The owl had crept all the way up to the lodge, where it now sat at the verandah, hooting softly.
Willing the owl to come to her, she crossed the magic line, and set off the guardian spells that Gylfi had put in place. Gylfi recognized the magic in Thora, and she recognized him from the university.

Together they studied magic and made plants and animals thrive. Soon Thora moved into another house in the sprawling grounds of Gylfi's manor, and one day they found a room filled with books and magical stuff hidden away by Gylfi's parents when they inherited it from their parents. Books, wands, cauldrons, bottles and flasks with strange contents were placed in an attic room, forgotten, now found. 

Soon Gylfi and Thora were growing in magic back in Hella.

 * * *

One day in early spring, when the days were still short, Gylfi and Thora went shopping in the much larger Selfoss for necessities not to be had in Hella and the other smallish city in the vicinity.
"Damn!" Gylfi said as he halted the car near the big roundabout in the outskirts of the town.
"Mind your language," Thora said automatically, then sat up. "Those campaigns to stop the war or whatever it is, do get worse and worse," she said, rolling up the windows as the first of a rain of missiles hit the car.
Gylfi adroitly put the car in reverse and drove backwards out of the rain of tomatoes, potatoes and a stone or two. Just as quickly he went into first gear again and drove slowly forwards. "Open the doors", he said to Thora and piloted the car between two banner-carrying youngsters. Long, wavy hair, bare feet, flowery shirts and skinny jeans made it hard to see if they were males or females, but the elderly couple trying to keep the missiles at bay with an inadequate umbrella were clearly one of each. Thora opened the back-seat door closest to them and moved over. Gylfi snuck the car up to the couple and loudly said: "Get aboard!" The two climbed aboard with a haste belying their years and dignity.
"Kiitos," the woman said, smiling at Thora, who recognized the Finnish word for thank you and smiled in return.
"Please, close the door!" Gylfi sad, turning the car away from the demonstration.  
"Mitä sanot?" the lady said. Then she shook her head and pulled a branch from her handbag. She swished it through the air and said: "Kieli on sama! ... Sorry what did you say?" she added.
Gylfi repeated: "Please close the door," and now the man, who sat next to the door complied.

For some time Gylfi concentrated on getting through the campaigners, away from the rain of tomatoes and other projectiles and avoiding the banners. Finally he turned right and took another way into town. When he stopped the car, he first of all assured himself that the windows were undamaged, then he turned to the new passengers: "Hello, I am Gylfi and this is Thora. Pleased to meet you!"
"I am Tähti Kuusisaari from Finland, and this is my brother Taavi. The pleasure is ours. Thanks for rescuing us from this chaos," the lady said.
"What was that spell?" Gylfi asked. "And no reason to play innocent. I felt the magic!"
"Are you a practitioner of magic as well?" Tähti asked, and as Thora and Gylfi both nodded agreement, she continued: "It is a simple enough one, it makes all languages like one, it so to speak reverses the Babel tower incident," she said still smiling.
Thora and Gylfi both laughed. Then Thora spoke up: "Where are you two staying? For a peace movement, I found them a bit violent." This wry comment made the others chuckle.
"We left our luggage in a locker at the bus station, and were going to find somewhere to stay. We planned on visiting Þingvellir and Hekla. We retired some years ago, and now we're visiting the Nordic countries one by one to see how much magic is left."
"You're welcome to stay at our place," Gylfi said. "There are room for the two of you in my house, I have a spare bedroom. And Thora is an excellent cook."
Thora protested and the same did the Kuusisaari twins.
"Protests are futile," Gylfi said. "Let's collect your items, get some shopping done and return to peaceful Hella to plan."
"Hella?" Taavi said, "not the place with those ancient caves?"
"Yes the very same," Thora answered. "They are an eternal source of strife in the community. Some want them to be made into a museum for posterity and more open to tourists, while others want to still be able to stove their hay, cheese and whatnot in there."
"We might be able to help interpret the old inscriptions," Taavi said,  "Maybe we need to prolong our stay here. This has become very intriguing and interesting."

 * * *

The solar flares made for spectacular Northern lights while Taavi and Tähti helped Gylfi and Thora prepare dinner. They ate together in Gylfi's living room, not only was it the biggest, it also had a large window facing north and thus giving a view to the celestial spectacle while they ate in the darkness.
Over the coffee, which Taavi and Tähti insisted on preparing after their experience with Icelandic coffee, they finally felt comfortable enough with one another to touch on the subject of magic once again.
Tähti opened by trying to teach Thora and Gylfi the language spell. She slowly swished her wand and spoke the words; "Kieli on sama". The words in Finnish were not hard for the two Icelanders to learn, but the magic of it seemed to elude them.
"Our wands are very worn," Thora admitted, "We found a stash in an attic room, but it seems they are losing power each time we use them. We're already on our second pair of wands."
"This is a serious concern,"  Täthi said. "Obviously, if we only have the wands we inherited, or what we can find in old attic rooms. No offence intended", she quickly added.
Gylfi replied: "And none taken; if our predicament is any indication, each wand will only take so much use, and then deteriorate. This will fast become a problem."
"But where did those old wands come from," Taavi asked. "We have not used ours that much, and I too have noticed a ... sluggishness ... for lack of other expression, in my wand recently."
"This is surreal," Thora said. "Here we are, practitioners of magic, finally out in the open and ready to go. And then we are cut off by a lack of wands."
"I remember something," Gylfi said slowly, "the old people ... they used to Signa wands for children coming of age. But how?"
"Signa?" Thora said. "I remember some singing involved, no blessings."
"Singing ..." Tähti looked at Thora with a strange look. "My grandmother taught me a song when I was very small. She sang it to me every time we visited. And when I got old enough to sing, she asked me to sing it for her afterwards. She told me it was the most important song I would ever learn, and when I finally sung it perfectly she promised to tell me how to use in the summer. Only she died, fast and unexpected, from a seemingly harmless disease before summer came." Tähti pulled out a large, blue handkerchief, wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
"Can you sing it still?" Taavi asked. I vaguely remember your singing, but Grandpa kept me busy with his games of guess a flower or mixing up strange concoctions ... those were potions! But that'll have to wait. Sing!"
Tähti drew a deep breath and stood up, gently she sang a tune of  growing, of mending, of future and past, of flying and longing. She grasped Thora's hand and pulled her out of the door, out into the night under the still dancing aurora borealis. The skies seemed to dance to her tune, as she walked around the garden, pulling Thora along, touching this tree and that until finally she stopped by a big, old hawthorn. There she pulled Thora up to the tree, and placed their hands on the trunk. Thora felt the skies and the tree and her whole being resonate through her palms resting on the tree. When Thora sang the last line of the song, a shiver ran through the tree and a branch from high up fell from it, gently landing on Thora's arms.
"Take it!" Täthi said in a low voice, and Thora did as she was told. The branch felt alive in her hands, and a happiness stirred inside her, and she swished the wand through the air. Emerald green sparks flew from the end, and would have started a fire had the ground not been drenched still from the recently melted snow.
"Yes, wands most certainly are sung!" Taavi whispered.

 * * *

Soon all were armed with the coveted wands and they had all four learned the words to the wand song. Tähti was exhausted and they went to bed.
Thora woke early next morning, in the dark, there was just one single thing she wanted to try out. Could she cast spells in Icelandic with the new wand, or would it respond only to Tähti's Finnish?
She sneaked out of the house, into the garden and under the old hawthorn which had given her the wand. She mulled over the Finnish words of the language spell and composed the Icelandic formula: "Mál sameinast!" she said, swishing the wand just so. And then she laughed. She would be able to understand what she said to herself, no matter what language, she spoke, she needed a testing object. The old magazine in Polish! Now it would help. She went back to her own house, careful, so as not to wake up Tähti, still soundly sleeping after her expenditure of magic the evening before. She crept up the stairs, and took the magazine into the room farthest from Tähti's chamber. Then she read, and as if by magic, the strange, Polish syllable with their hard to pronounce consonant clusters turned into musical Icelandic inside her head as she read them aloud. Yes it worked! Satisfied, she walked to Gylfi's house where the two men were already up and about. "It works!" she told them triumphantly.
"What does?" Gilvi said, and Taavi's "Mikä toimii?" at once turned into 'What works?'.
"The language spell works in Icelandic as well!"
"Of course it does," Taavi said. "How do you say it in Icelandic?"
"Mál sameinast," Thora answered, and Taavi slowly repeated. When he said it right, he swished his wand while saying the words. And to Gylfi his next sentence sounded as Icelandic.
"It sure works," Gylfi said. "This is nice to know. We can use our old spells, even with a Finnish wand."
The three of them had breakfast in Gylfi's cottage, and then they began working. They perused all the books on magic from the attic room. Taavi was able to read them as well after a crash course in Icelandic pronunciation rules.
Tähti woke up for lunch. And after eating they told her about their readings in the old books on magic.
"The contents are at the same time very different from and almost the same as our Finnish tradition. It seems that in Iceland magic was more or less split into branches, while we speak of people's penchant in Finland. I think the similarities are vastly more than the differences."
"Dearest brother," Täthi interrupted him, "you do not by any chance have a copy of that old spell, we did not understand?"
"But yes," Taavi answered slightly confused, "I have one  right here, in my wallet.

 * * *

That earned him much praise from Tähti, and as Thora and Gylfi heard just what this spell was, from them as well.
In a sense it was a key to magic. It was a spell to know which brand of magic a person was endowed with, or more to the point to make a utensil that could tell this.
"I thought it over this morning," Tähti said, "I think we have to open a school for magic ... shush, hear me out, she said as the other three began to talk. "After I'm done, you're welcome to pester me with questions, objections and so on. Agree?"
They nodded, and Tähti continued: "Magic was in the olden days an integral part of daily life in Finland, and I reckon in Iceland as well. But it was a rogue magic, people learned from grandparents, masters, whomever knew a bit, and often they were badly taught, and even worse in the application of magic. To the detriment of the magic society as a whole. Think of witch hunts, burning at the stakes, trials by water and so on and so forth. If we need to revive the magic - and I think we have a moral obligation to do so - we should do so in a ... let's call it scientific way. Shoot!" She stopped and sat back in her chair.

Taavi began: "I think you're right. We have to revive the magic. More and more the wizarding people are coming to realize what they are, we saw this in our travels. And the scientific approach sounds just right for our days."
"Yes," Thora said slowly, "this tally with what we have seen. But why limit our school to Iceland and Finland?`I'm sure the situation is roughly the same in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway as well as on the Faroe isles."
"But first we have to teach ourselves," Gilvi said. "only yesterday I did not know of wandsinging, and we still do not know if it can even be taught, or if it is something only you can do. So much to do, so little time!"
"Yes indeed," Tähti said, "We have books, yours here and ours in Finland, we have our wands, we have to study diligently, but time ... we need more time."
"How old are you?" Gylfi asked bluntly.
Thora said "You know how old I am, 51 at my next birthday, soon."
"We're both 62, having had our birthday this year," Taavi said.
"And how old am I?" Gylfi asked.
"You're 70-something," Thora replied. You retired only a few years ago."
 "That sounds about right," Taavi and Tähti said in unison, a twin habit they had done their best to unlearn, but it surfaced now and then when they became passionate about something.
"I am 104 years old," Gylfi said, his face immobile as a mask. "I was old already at the time of the Great War, WWI as it was later to be called. I wanted to join, but my then wife, a non-wizard, did not want me to. And as I was busy at the newly founded University in Reykjavík, I was fine with this." He looked at Thora, "Yes, I was one of the original teachers at the university, I worked there from 1911 until I retired now 14 years ago."
"How did you manage this?" Thora asked.
"Faking my dates? It was easier in the days of old, than it is now. And then ... back then, in 1911, when the university was founded, the owner of an old mansion donated his library to the university. I was, am still for that matter, able to read all the old handwriting and old Icelandic and a smattering of odd, old languages, having studied these subjects at other universities in my youth. Hence I was given the job of sorting the books and adding them to the catalogue. But I did not hand in all the books, some of the books on magic in my house ... I found them in a chest in that old library. And one of the books contained potions, recipes for potions. I only ever tried one of them. A potion of youth. The ingredients are simple, but the brewing is really complicated. It does not restore your youth, or make you even one day younger, but it makes you age slower. I have drunk sparingly of this potion ever since, and I expect to celebrate my 300th birthday if nothing kills me before then. This potion will give us all the time needed to learn, study and find a place for the school."
"Go get it," Thora said. "We have a busy time ahead!"

 * * *

"If we want to found a school of magic," Thora said, "We'll have to find more good wizards to teach there. Do you have any idea of where to begin?"
"You said in the car, that you could feel my magic," Tähti said, looking at Gylfi. "How did you do this, I mean can we learn to do this?"
" I don't know, I thought we all could do this. Close your eyes." Gylfi placed two books on the table in front of Tähti, of roughly equal girth and weight. He placed one of her hands on each book: "Now feel those books, can you feel which one is magic?"
 "The left one is magic," Tähti said after only a slight hesitation. "That's easy."
"Exactly. That's how it is!" Gylfi said, "but we have to learn."
"Can I try as well?" Taavi asked. And he was able to feel the same difference as his sister. They then practised with their new wands, the old wands, branches, rods and timber. Very soon they were right every time.
They ate lunch, and how they ate. "We'll have to go shopping soon," Gylfi said, "We eat much more than I reckoned we would."
"We do?" Taavi asked. "I remember our grandparents complained that we ate so much at their place. Our parents always said that it was the rural air that did it. Maybe it was the magic?"
"I still remember grandma's cooking as very good," Tähti said smiling. "But then we'll need some good cooks at our school ... that'll have to wait until later. What about our books? Could we get them somehow?"
"Whoa," Gylfi said. "hold on a minute. I have a shadow of an idea. This also have to wait at least some days. We'll have to practise and grow in magic first. I'd suggest we try wandsinging next."
They went out into the park. Thora placed her hand on a tree and sang the wandsinging song. Nothing happened. Then Gylfi tried and then Taavi with the same negative results.
"You try again, Tähti," he said.
Tähti sung and still nothing happened. "It seems that we will have to work on this," she said.

 The next weeks were quiet, but busy, the four read books or went for walks in the great park and surrounding countryside in the semi-dark days and dined well and planned long into the dark hours. The quiet was now and again interrupted when someone found an exiting spell, a difficult potion or a new or easier way of doing something. The poor table in Gylfi's living room took many a pummelling from strange substances and once even from a rain of small stones.

"We really have to go home to Finland," Taavi said one morning. "There's some things I want to check in my books, Id like to bring them here - and on he more prosaic side we need more clothes, and to take care of our homes. We can't just stay here forever."
"No really, you can," Gylfi said. "But I acknowledge that you have to check up on your flats in Finland." He slanted his head and smiled at Thora who smiled back. "But for today I have planned an outing to the caves of Hella. Because today it is the spring equinox."

The caves of Hella were impressing, but for our four wizards they were also a disappointment. By now they were experts in the discernment of magic, and they found only weak traces of magic here and there, the wisps and echoes of old spells and a bit more in one of the chambers, Maybe once, long ago some wizards had cast some spells at one of the walls there, maybe an old wand was buried there. All the writings were not in the least magic. And they were not able to read anything at  all from the inscriptions on the walls and columns.

The next day Gylfi told the three other wizards that he had a big discovery to show them. He would not tell anything but that they were going to Eyafjallajökull and probably stay there for a couple of days. He bade them dress in comfy, warm clothes and sensible shoes - "And please remember your wands. Thora, can I ask you for once to pack a generous lunch. I have some last minute preparations to see to?"

Half an hour later they all piled into the old car and Thora drove them to the nearest bigger town, where they stopped for some shopping, and coffee and  cake. Gylfi took over and steered the car down a narrow, bumbling road. At the end of this, mercifully short ride they stopped at a small farm. A woman dressed in skirts and with long braids came out to greet them. "He came over after you phoned him," she said. "I have the horses ready for you!"  
"Horses?" Taavi said, "What now, Gylfi?"
"Well it's impossible to go there by car, and and I can't see us walking over there, so ... riding is the best alternative. Trust me."
They distributed the bags and bedrolls and Gylfi took the lead. They soon came to a glistening ice cap, and Gylfi followed the rim until he found an almost invisible track. "I was here years ago," he said, "but I am sure this is the right place. Come on!"  The track twisted and turned and suddenly a black hole into the ice opened in front of them. Led by Gylfi they entered and stood in a natural cave. They pulled the horses into the cave and tied them to rings set in the stone. Gylfi spoke again: "This is one of the old Portal places of Iceland. From here we can go to a big place under the mountain, or to a similar place under Drangajökull. We will have to go to the big place."
"Portals!" Taavi asked in an awed voice.
"Yes," Gylfi answered, "Portals. They worked in the middle ages, up until the great witch hunts, and then they were forgotten and fell into disrepair. I discovered this place by pure accident, and I have carefully tried and tested all the portals - one nearly killed me, it is sealed by now."
He opened a door in a far corner. "Only wizards can pass through this door. It is a mini-portal in its own right, and not a nice experience, but fear not, follow me."

 * * *

Of course they were wary following Gylfi after this. The door looked like a dark hole to an even darker room, As they crossed the threshold one by one the world spun around them in a dizzying, sickening way leaving them retching and gasping for breath.
"Wow," Tähti said, "your portals are tough. She sat down hard on one of the chairs and held her head until it stopped buzzing. Then she looked around. Sleek, grey stone walls made out walls, floor and ceiling in the long broad corridor stretching ahead of them. Slowly she turned her head and looked behind her, a grey stone wall was covered in a shimmering, vaguely blue substance, like sparkling smoke.
"Is that the portal?" she asked, pointing to the oblong cloudy thing.
"Yes. This is what we came through, Gylfi said, carefully nodding. "The dizziness will get better with each use, I hardly feel anything any longer. Are you ready to go on?"
The three wizards stood up, shook their heads carefully, felt their heads and legs, and realised that they felt much better already.
"Yes, we're ready," Thora said. "Lead on."
Gylfi led them through smoothly hewn corridors of that same grey stone. Everywhere were doors and a irregular intervals corridors branched off. Some of the doors had strange blue symbols over them, some still lit, others faded almost away.
"What is this place once again, and who made this?" Thora asked.
"As far as I have been able to find out from reading old, and I mean really old, moulding texts, this is the main portal room of all the magic world from back when wizard or witch was an honourable occupation. I don't know who made this. They fell into oblivion in the early middle ages. I surmise, that the black death, that almost halved the populations also decimated the knowledge. I further guess that the portals actually helped spread the pest, and that wizards and witches in many cases carried the disease with them through the portals - only to die from it themselves as well. What ever the reasons, after 1500 those portals were only known to a few wizards here and there throughout Europe until the persecutions in the 16th century killed them off as well. My rediscovery was pure luck. I was riding here one summer on a trip to circle the ice caps, I followed a small, but beautiful mouse into the natural cave. I then fell in the darkness, waking up again near midnight, and stumbling around, looking for the horse - who had of course left me and returned home - and the stuff that had spilled from my backpack, I literally stumbled through the portal. I returned, and studied over the years, and now I suggest that we go to Helsinki. Follow me."
The other three looked at one another at a loss for words, and just followed Gylfi to a door with a glowing blue symbol over it.
"This here symbol means Finland." Gylfi said, certainty in his voice.
"How so?" Taavi asked.
"It's an ancient language, or maybe just symbols. I have made my own small booklet with a list of the doors' symbols. I suggest that you copy it for yourself later on." He opened his backpack. "And now, before we jump through this portal, a snack is a good thing. At least I have found that eating helps with the sickening feeling and with not getting exhausted. Thora's cookies are very good for this."
"That's where all my cookies went!" Thora exclaimed,  "I never understood what happened to them!"
They all ate a couple or three of Thora's cookies and then Gylfi opened the door to the room, where yet another blue, shimmering oblong portal waited fro them. He then bade Tähti go through the portal as the first one.
"I go first?" Tähti said, at the same time eager and afraid to go on.
"Yes. Ladies first," Gylfi said, bowing in a very old fashioned way before her.
"If you do not like what you find, you can just return," he said in a teasing tone.
"I'll do it," Tähti said, and walked through the portal head held high and walking with dainty steps.
"Now, who's next?" Taavi asked.
"Thora, you go now," Gylfi said, then Taavi, and lastly me bringing up the rear."
They did as suggested and soon all four wizard stood shaking and breathing heavily in another stony room.
"Where do you think we are?" Gylfi asked Taavi and Tähti.
"Not in Helsinki!" Tähti said with determination in her voice. "It feels wrong."
"You're right, we're not in Helsinki. But we're close."
"Hey," Tähti said, "now you're telling the truth. What you said before were half truths, not far enough off for me to notice, but now, now you're telling us an unlikely truth. I see our glow!" Gylfi looked at her, astonishment etched on his face. But Tähti shook her head: "Later. If we are in Finland, and I see your truth there, but still not in Helsinki, I am certain that we are in Turku. We could be in a chapel in the cathedral of our Lady."
"You hit the bullseye!" Gylfi said smiling.

 * * *

They ate a few more cookies and opened the old, creaky door leading to the church proper.
They met a man lurking in the dark of the church behind the small, hidden door, but luckily he was drunk, and accepted with no further questioning that they were just tourists visiting the cathedral and looking for the special amber-hued burial window in the chapels.
Outside the cathedral they sat themselves down at benches under some birch trees a luscious green in the warmer sunshine of Turku.
"Now, how do we get to Helsinki?" Taavi asked, " and are you two going with us, or what?"
"I can answer the first one," Tähti said. "By bus, I think there's a bus an hour going from Turku to Helsinki, passing by the cathedral square every hour at the hour."
"And no, I do not think we're going to stay here," Gylfi said. "The horses should not be left for days in that cave, and I noticed that our drainpipe was leaking when we left. I suggest that you go home, arrange your stuff for a prolonged absence, and then return when you're ready. It should be quite easy. Come back here, go into the chapel and pass through the portal to the portal room under the mountain. Watch out for that drunkard, though. He might not pass it off if he see people disappearing there regularly." Gylfi smiled.
"The list," Thora said. "they'll have to know which portal to come through once they're back under the mountain."
Gylfi pulled a small notebook from his pocket. Looking at his watch he hurriedly copied the signs for Eyafjallajökull and his phone number on an empty page, which he then pulled out and gave to Tähti. "Just remember what I taught you about the spelling and pronunciation of Icelandic words, then you'll have no trouble phoning me if you do not want to walk all the way back to Hella - or if you're afraid to brave the portals alone, I'll come and fetch you ... and bring a batch of Thora's cookies."
"That last option sounds tempting," Taavi said. "I think we go for that."
Tähti looked at the paper and read Gylfi's address and phone number aloud, the spell at once transforming her words into Finnish for her and Taavi. "No good, she said. When I try to call you, I'll have to cancel that spell, and hope that my atrocious Icelandic will suffice."
"It will," Gylfi assured her, "the lady putting you through is a nice one. Do you have any idea how long before you return?"
Täthi and Taavi looked at  one another. "Quite soon, Taavi answered, "there's no reason to dally, and every reason to come back to Iceland. Two weeks at the most. By the way, if you need a cup of coffee before going home this bill should do it." He gave Gylfi a Finnish bank note.
"Thanks, I did not think of that," he admitted, and added: "We look forward to seeing you again." Thora nodded. "Maybe we can even prepare one of the small huts in the area for you 'till then," Gylfi mused. Then the four magicians shook hands, and Tähti and Taavi hurried to the bus stop while Thora and Gylfi slowly drifted back to the church. They entered the cathedral again.
"Let's play tourists for a short while!"
They paid for entrance to the small museum, and were even allowed up in the tower. After a cup of surprisingly good coffee they went back into the chapel and assured that no-one were around before they opened the secret door. Soon they were back in Iceland.

 * * *

Back in Hella Thora decided to check out the families living around there for wizards and witches. Gylfi backed her up and suggested she used the ruse with borrowing a cup of flour from the houses.

In a house surrounded by buttercups Thora talked for a long time with Hildur, the housewife and mother of eight children in all ages from toddler to young adults. Thora was almost blown away by the magic in the air, even the baby in its pen seemed to exude magic like a strong light. During her visit she took great care not to talk of anything to do with magic. But she noticed the harness used to train the small ones broomstick flying  and the wands hidden in a vase of paper flowers. With her new knowledge of wands, she could feel that the wands were quite old, and not very efficient any more. She was more determined than ever for them to open that school of magic. The husband, Starri, returned home just as Thora was taking her leave, and she caught a whiff of magic from him as well.

Gylfi and Thora discussed late into the night how and where to find a place for a school. Thora did not think Iceland would be a great place for it.
"We would be overrun," she said, "people here are still keeping to the old ways, albeit erratically and faultily. My visits to neighbours - and yours as well show us that that magic in Iceland had not died out. We need to build a school in a place where only the students can go, where we teachers can live, and where we can have a shelter for magic animals, some place near the sea would be nice - and not too cold either. I'm sure something will show up."
Gylfi went to the window and grasped the mullion firmly, shaking it gently he spoke: "I had imagined that this place would be our school of magic, but I see the wisdom in your words. When the Finnish twins return, we should travel through Sweden, Norway and Denmark to see if we can find a fitting place. You're right about the climate as well, It's too cold here, same as Greenland and the Faroes."
On this downcast note they called it a day and Thora left for her small cabin. Brúnleit awaited her hooted sharply and offered her a juicy rat. "No thanks, my dear," Thora said gently, ruffling the feathers between her small horns.  "I have already eaten tonight." Brúnleit hooted once, softly, swallowed the rat in one gulp and flew of to the tall tree where she normally slept

 * * *

Some days later, Gylfi was out fishing. He did not use any magic, but still he caught enough fish for dinner and some more, he gutted them and returned home.
Thora had been working in the garden, tending the early greens and encouraging them to grow, at the same time discouraging the aphids and other pests from eating their edibles and instead eating those that Thora and Gylfi regarded as weeds. She picked some early greens and flowers and herbs. Potatoes were still to be had in the root cellar, as were various cabbages and other roots. Soon the potatoes were simmering, and the other greens cleaned and cut. She buttered a huge pan and spread the roots and greens in it. Then she filled the herbs and spices in a glass, cut them with her scissors and added salt. This she would sprinkle over the fish before consigning them to the oven. She also filled the kettle with fresh water; black tea to warm them both after a day spent in the still cool Icelandic spring was a luxury they did not want to do without, they were human after all, and the warmth spell demanded much mental energy to maintain.  

While she waited for Gylfi to return home, she said her evening devotions. She looked at the photo of the cloister from the former Carmelite monastery in Elsinore. That place exuded a serene, almost holy atmosphere even from the old black and white photo. She wanted to go there again soon. The flagstones in the photo caught her eyes. A legend told that if you stayed in the cloister on a night where the moon was full, Kirstin Munk, the morganatic wife of king Christian IV, was supposed to appear where the light of the full moon fell on a certain flagstone.
Thora did not believe this to be true. But the old monastery held a fascination to her. She was awakened from her wool-gatherings by her owl, Brúnleit, that landed on the window sill with a small bird in it's sharp claws. Thora rose, and gently asked Brúnleit to let go of her quarry.
Protesting, but knowing that Thora was the master, the owl let go of the still fighting bird. Thora held it carefully and examined it with eyes and magic. Miraculously it had only a few punctures to the skin, nothing internal was damaged, only squeezed a bit. Thora gently placed the small bird in a bush under a huge rowan tree and put a protecting spell on it. The spell would wear off, but now it stood a chance.
Thora gave Brúnleit one of the savoury biscuits she kept for this purpose, and told her not to bring birds into the house. "If you must catch birds, eat them before you come here," she said sternly. The owl hooted softly and flew off to the rowan tree to sulk and eat her biscuit. Thora laughed to herself. She suspected the owl of deliberately bringing in an unharmed bird now and then to get the treats.
The phone rang, and as Thora picked it up and said: "Hello, Thora speaking," a lot of statics and a jumble of words followed. For a second Thora was about to hang up, then she recognised Taavi's voice and the Finnish word for hello. She quickly pulled out her wand and cast the language spell, hoping it would work through the telephone as well. It did, and Taavi told Thora that he and Tähti were on their way to the portal in Turku.

"Great," Thora said. "Have you decided to brave the portals alone?"
---
"Yes, fine! Just wait in the cave and I or Gylfi will be there -- See you! - Bye."

 * * *

Gylfi entered the room just as Thora hung up. "Who was it?" he asked letting down the catch of the day in the sink.

"The Fins," Thora replied. "They are on their way to Turku, and are going to brave the portals on their own."
"Fine, I have something I want to test," Gylfi said. "Would you mind preparing the fish, while I get them. What a luck I did not stop when I had enough for the two of us. I'll be hungry when we return."

"What mischief have you planned now!" Thora asked.

"Teleporting," Gylfi answered. "I have been practising every day, sometimes even more times a day. And I can teleport with the neighbour's cow for short distances."
Thora began laughing, "That's why Starri's Hildur has been complaining that her cow gives less milk recently. I overheard her at the bakers'." she turned serious: "But teleporting is dangerous."

"As I said, I have been practising, and I think I'm just naturally good at it. It's easy, and it does not make me dizzy or tired as portals and other kinds of magic does."

"You're a strange one, Gylfi," Thora said lovingly, "I'll take care of fish and whatever, just drink up your tea, have a few more cookies, and remember to bring some along when you go and get the Finnish twins, these caves are not a place for prolonged stays."

Gylfi smiled at Thora while he ate the last of yet another cookie, then he wrapped some in a napkin and stuffed in his pockets. He rose: "Thank you. I promise to take care, and only take one of them at a time. No need to hurry and risk our future teachers."

"Great, I look forward to seeing you, and them, home again."
Shortly after she heard the roar of Gylfi's old car and began scaling the fish.

Gylfi arrived at the end of the bumpy road near the farm before darkness fell. He parked the car well away from the farmhouse and with agile steps climbed the nearest mound. Yes, he could see the cave from there, he looked around, painting an inner picture of his surroundings. The glacier looked bleak in the van evening light. He had to hurry. He pulled out his wand, looked at the distant glacier and cast the spell.

He stood at the entrance to the cave.
He entered the cave, and when he no longer could see the road, and thus also was not visible from outside, he pulled his staff and with a softspoken Ljús and a swish it emitted a clear, golden light. He took comfort in the fact that he knew where he was going this time around. Caves were one of his weaknesses, never admitted to anybody, but he felt the pressure of the masses of stone and earth and ice on top of him almost like a physical pressure.

A gleam of dull blue told him that Taavi had lit his wand as well and was near the little portal in the back of the cave. He called, and even this small sound filled up the cave with warmth and life - and bats. Gylfi ducked, as the bats flew over his head and out into the new night.

He turned his light up to full and walked briskly over to the twins. The cave was unusually dry and it was easy gong. They greeted one another and the twins gladly accepted a couple of Thora's cookies.

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