In a Weary World

Chapter XIII: Lessons in Being Normal

You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are. -- Alice in Wonderland (2010)

"We'll cast the spell at night," Solvej announced. "About four in the morning, I think."

"Why at four?" Hjalmar wondered aloud. "Has that some magical significance?"

Solvej shook her head. "No, it's just that I'll have to go outside to establish the spell's boundaries, and at that time there aren't likely to be many people about to wonder what I'm doing."

~~~~

Rigmor's first day living in the rooms next door to Solvej was no less stressful than her move had been. With Hjalmar's help she unpacked her suitcases, dusted the furniture, and found somewhere to put her various belongings -- of which she had a surprising number, considering she was on the run. The whole time Solvej wandered around the room, muttering to herself and placing her hands on various parts of the walls.

Hjalmar suspected that none of this was truly necessary for the spell, but rather a way for her to avoid being drawn into discussions like "this wardrobe won't hold all those suitcases -- try stacking them against the wall".

"Right," Solvej said briskly, moving away from the door she'd been leaning against. "That's the interior of the rooms shielded. How about a cup of tea before we do any more?"

~~~~

Rigmor, it turned out, was hopeless at making tea. Hjalmar watched, dumbfounded, as she filled the teapot with cold water, put a teabag in, turned up the stove, and left the teapot until it boiled over. The worst part was that she honestly seemed to think that was how to make tea. Hjalmar accepted the teacup she handed him with murmured thanks, unsure of how to broach the subject without embarrassing her.

He did not grimace when he sipped the tea. Not when Rigmor could see him, anyway.

Solvej, to his astonishment, drank her entire cup without seeming to mind the taste. He gave her an amazed look when Rigmor was distracted with looking for biscuits.

"What?" Solvej asked defensively under the noise of the princess opening and closing tins rather loudly. "I've had to drink potions that taste like extra-strong vinegar mixed with the worst-tasting medicine you could find. Compared to that, this isn't bad at all."

The conversation was halted when Rigmor returned, triumphantly bearing a tin of butter cookies. They were rather stale cookies, with the sort of softness that came of being left uneaten for too long, but pointing this out would be rude.

"What do we do now?" Rigmor asked some minutes later, with her mouth full of cookie. Her words were so muffled they were almost incomprehensible, and crumbs sprayed everywhere when she spoke.

Hjalmar was horrified. He would have thought a princess would have better manners! Why, he and his sisters would never have dreamt of speaking with their mouths full!

Solvej, whatever her other faults, at least had the decency to chew and swallow her cookie before speaking. "It's quite simple. All I have to do is make you stand in the middle of the room and tell the spells I've just cast that they're in place to protect you. Then I have to go outside and tell the spells where to end, or they'd cover the entire street."

~~~~

And so it was that late that night -- or early the next morning, depending on how you looked at it -- Solvej slipped out the side door. She stood beneath Rigmor's window first, and informed her spell that it was to end at the outside wall and go no further. Then she went round the other sides of the house and did the same there. Fortunately for her, there were no humans around to ask questions. The only living things she could see were a few alley-cats sniffing around the bins, and a drunkard weaving his unsteady way home from the pub. She waited until he had stumbled past before she double-checked the spells to ensure they were secure and went back inside, congratulating herself on a job well done.