Matilda, Child of Fire

HMV: Velkommen til Norge

3 HMV: Velkommen til Norge

"Klokken tikker og tiden går/Men alt står stille her nå.../Sammen kan vi være perfekt uperfekt/Verden e det vi gjør den til"

Translation: "The clock is ticking and time is passing/But everything is standing still here now.../Together we can be perfectly imperfect/The world is what we make it"

"Så hvis du vil...Bli med meg, eg vil vær' din venn/Når du feiler/Føler at du faller/Reis deg igjen"

Translation: "So if you want to ...Join me, I want to be your friend/When you fail/Feeling you are falling/Get up again"

"Sammen kan vi klare alt/Varm deg på meg/Hvis det blir kaldt/Slipp deg løs no, og fall fritt"

Translation: "Together we can do everything/Warm yourself on me/If it gets cold/Let go now, and fall freely"

–Stina Talling, song "BlimE (Mer Enn God Nok)"

2 am PDT, Vera Manor, Macy's Bedroom

Macy heard a familiar knock at the door, as she placed a bookmark in her "Heaven's Vice" romance novel. "Come in!" she called out.

Harry strode in, rather bleary-eyed and wearing what appeared to be a tropical lei. "What's that?" Macy tilted her head, peering over her reading glasses examining the curious fauna from where she was sitting on the bed.

"Camp Wanaka welcoming committee," he answered. "In traditional New Zealand spirit, of course. Our daughter's settled in, and the facility seems rather top-notch, if I do say so myself," he added, removing the garland and placing it atop the wooden dresser.

"That's good," murmured Macy. "As for Oslo—"

"I have all our bags in the bedroom closet," Harry pointed to the location, mere feet away. "What time are we expected there, love?"

Macy hesitated, "in two days' time, 6 pm sharp for the faculty dinner, if I remember correctly, speaking of which—" she reached over to her nightstand drawer and pulled out two round-trip tickets. "We'll be needing these. Our flight leaves 2:20 pm from Sea-Tac Airport tomorrow, which means we have to leave here 11 am to brave the lines—"

"But love," Harry said, almost pleadingly. "I'm a Whitelighter, remember? I can get us there and back within milliseconds, we can leave on the day of—"

"NO," said Macy with a certain degree of sternness. "The university committee is rolling out the red carpet for us, and offered us really nice business class seats—it'd be rude to refuse, don't you think?"

"But Macy," Harry beseeched. "Do we have to? The last time I was on a flight was back in 1943, when I was strapped to a parachute atop the Handley Page No. 52 Hampden aircraft, Napier Daggers and all. Being a radio operator was quite stressful, and the pilot was an absolute dunce—"

"Sweetie, all the more reason," Macy replied decisively. "Besides, it'll look suspicious if we show up having bypassed customs for a summer sabbatical, and we'd definitely be injuring American-Norwegian diplomatic relations if we didn't take them up on their generous offer. You can orb Morgana to the Azores if and when the time comes—she's a powerful witch and something tells me she's ok."

Macy paused. "Plus, I think there's something to be said about going on a transatlantic—and dare I say—romantic, thrilling adventure as a couple. I think it'd be really good for us, to embrace the journey too." Harry's eyes softened as he sat next to Macy, ruminating on her words.

"So how about it, Harry? I hear Lufthansa's business class has fancy seats that turn into beds..." she trailed off, peering up expectantly.

"Oh, really?" asked Harry. Despite his reservations at putting aside his Whitelighter orbing abilities, he was nevertheless intrigued by the thought of a comfortable bed 31,000 feet above the earth, besides the importance of maintaining appearances and rekindling romance in one's married life. "My, how fascinating! Technology has certainly advanced considerably..."