Chapter 6.
"Hedda. Morgan." Ingrid looked them in their eyes as she said their names. "The ceremony is not important."
"What?" Hedda was confused. All her life she had heard about the ceremony. It had been a goal for people for as long as she could remember. It was like a portal to the grownup world, when she would understand all the secrets of magic and get her own part of it. And now her mom was telling her the ceremony wasn't important.
"The ceremony is just part of the ritual." Edith took over the explanation. "It's more of a welcoming in to the world of magic. A ceremony to celebrate you being an adult. And a cover so kids isn't trying to get their magic before they're mature enough to handle it."
"So how will I get my magic?"
"You already did."
"When?"
"An alvie gets her magic when she plants her tree."
"Oh." Things started to make sense to Hedda. It was all very logic. Part of her wished they had told her before. But she was also very aware of that it would have influenced her a lot. It would have taken her ages to decide where to plant such an important thing. She would have made it in to a big deal and she would have been scared to do it. Maybe she would have been sitting here with that twig still in her hand if she hadn't been told. And no way would she have put it in a pot in a strangers car. And that's actually right where it was supposed to go.
"That makes a lot of sense." Was the only thing Morgan said about it.
"There's of course more to the story. Like what tree it is and where you get it from. An old family tree will give you more. If the twig is given by your mothers it will give even more. And if the tree gives the twig willingly it will also make a huge difference. A taken twig will never give as strong magic. And that's why it's important we don't tell kids about the real way to get magic. We want you to be the strongest version of you.
"Maybe you two need a moment. Why don't you go put Morgan's van in the forest behind our house?"
"There's no road..." Hedda was a bit confused.
"There will be a road if you believe there is one."
Morgan and Hedda looked at eachother. Without a word they left through the back door and out the garden gate in to the woods. To take a more private path back to the car. They weren't really in the mood to meet all the people and their staring. Hedda's moms were right. There was a road. Quite small and it looked old and not used. But Hedda knew it hadn't been there before. They got the van, that magically started, and drove it up the small road and parked behind Hedda's parents house. It was a nice spot. Kinda private but not far away. Not inside the circle but didn't feel excluded.
Chapter 7.
They just sat there for a moment. Neither of them talked. They had let go of each others hand inside the car because Morgan had needed both hands to drive. But now they were still and both their hands went looking for the other. As if it had been missing. It felt good when they found eachother again. Like being home. Weird that. They hadn’t even known the other existed when they woke up this morning. Now, well now it was unimaginable that they would be apart for very long.
“We should go.” Morgan finally spoke. “They’re waiting for you. Us.”
They walked in to the circle through Hedda’s garden. The party was to take place in and around the communal building by the apple orchard. People were already there. Including Hedda’s moms and sisters. A lot of people were staring at Morgan. Rumors had clearly found themselves around the small village and most people knew at least that she was with Hedda. If not they could probably figure it out since they were holding hands and definitely had that energy between them that only couples have. Hedda’s mom greeted them with hugs and Hedda introduced her sisters to Morgan.
Vera is 19, Tyra is 17, Marta is 12, Stina is 10 and Greta is the youngest. She’s 5.”
“So you’re the third?”
“Yup.”
“Must be nice with so many siblings?”
“It actually is. We have a lot of fun!” Hedda didn’t actually know if Morgan was happy being the only child or if she had a longing for siblings. But she squeezed her hand in support anyway.
Hedda walked Morgan around to introduce her to people. Aunts, cousins, people she wasn’t related to. Though Morgan thought a huge amount of them were actually related. Finally they stopped by the chair an old lady sat at. She looked like she could be the eldest of them all. But her blue eyes were very friendly.
“Hi Morgan. I’m Hedda’s great grandmother Iris. Viola over there is my youngest,” she waved in the direction of a group of elderly women that was putting up some flower garlands, “And you have of course met my granddaughter Edith.”
“It is very nice to meet you” Morgan took the old lady’s outstretched hand.
“I heard you’re the one who brought the rain.”
“Oh. Well. It wasn’t really on purpose...”
“Actually it’s at least half my fault Nana. Even though we didn’t actually plan for it.” Hedda squeezed Morgan’s hand a bit. They were in this together.
“Oh well. It gave us a bit of a challenge to keep it away from the party area and that’s always fun!“ Nana Iris laughed and Morgan smiled at her. Then she looked up and saw that the rain was indeed gone where they were. It was raining as far as they could see outside the party area. But on the inside one could actually spot the sun behind the clouds.
“I mean ultimately we would have made an extra sunny day and perfect party weather. But under these circumstances I think ‘not wet’ is as good as we’ll get.” Both Morgan and Hedda agreed to that. Not wet wasn’t too bad.
Somehow everyone knew when the ceremony was about to start. Everyone over 16 gathered inside while the kids kept playing outside. The teens were left in charge and not even the babies were allowed to come inside during the ceremony. It was very normal though. Every alvie mother was in tuned with her children she would know if she was needed outside.
The ceremony wasn’t long. It wasn’t extravagant. It was a simple but nice welcoming in to the world of the adults. A gratulation to finding your magic. Hedda’s moms held a short speech. So did Nana Iris and some other people who might or might not have been Hedda’s relatives. At the end Hedda and Morgan held a big basket so everyone could put an apple from their tree in to it. Actually they all put two apples in. They had apparently all gotten the message that this was a ceremony for two now. Everyone said something encouraging while putting the apples in there. The apples they had collected they were then to make an apple sauce of. The apple sauce they’d eat a spoon of every day until it was gone. That would bring some luck and strength and connect them to the community.
When the ceremony was over everyone went back outside and joined the kids and teens. There was music playing and the cake was served. It was a nice party and people had a nice time. When it was over Morgan and Hedda walked back to the van. There wasn’t a discussion about where they would sleep. Staying apart wasn’t an option and Hedda's parents very well knew that feeling. And even if Morgan was welcome to stay in Hedda's room it wasn’t the place they were supposed to be. The van didn’t have a bathroom though and the house was close enough it would be more practical to use the bathroom there. So Hedda moved in to the van. Morgan’s toothbrush moved in beside Hedda’s in the downstairs bathroom in her parents house.
Chapter 8.
One might think that to merge ones life with a person one just met might cause issues. Especially if one decided to live in a small van. The “kitchen” could barely be called a kitchen. It was a hot plate, a small fridge and the sink was just a bowl with a small water dispenser hanging on a shelf over it. There was two plates, two glasses, two bowls and two mugs. And two sets of cutlery. There was a few cooking utensils like a pot, a pan, a medium sized knife and a small knife. And a few ladles and such. Beside the kitchen there was the two seats in the front of the van, but they were behind a curtain. And then there was a dresser with doors on one side and drawers on the other. The tree was in a pot on top of the dresser and beside the dresser there was the bed. Or well it was basically a mattress on the floor. It was simple but also decorated. There were fairly lights and pillows. The bed was cosy and it felt nice to be in this place. Other people might have expected issues. But alvies almost never did. For alvies stuff kinda always worked out. Stuff didn’t happen unexpectedly. Some things they definitely had to work harder at. But everything nice was worth the work. For Morgan it might have been different though. She didn’t grow up in the same environment. She wasn’t part of a system that worked without hiccups. Even if her own family was alvie and they tended to work everything out her surroundings certainly didn’t. Hedda wasn’t clueless about the world outside. But she had never actually lived in it. But even so. Morgan did not have any expectations about their relationship. It was new. It was overwhelming. But never ever did she feel scared or insecure. She had bonded with Hedda instantly and they both knew they were it. Forever.
They didn’t spend all their time in the van. They spent a lot of it inside the house with Hedda’s family our inside the circle helping out wherever they were needed. There was always work to be done. Most of the food for the people in village was made there. They had the apple orchard in the middle and there were small gardens where it grew vegetables almost everywhere. You could always see alvies around either planting stuff or picking things for dinner. The thing with seasons and how long stuff took to grow didn't seem to work quite the same as in the outside world. The plants grew however they were needed to grow. The alvies worked in harmony with the earth and with the help of friendly words and a touch of magic the food was growing even when it snowed. Morgan realized that she really liked working with the earth like this. Feel the energy at the top of her fingers and watching things grow. Plus everything somehow tasted better when you knew you had been part of the making. They made the apple sauce in the kitchen in the house. Just them. Working together. The filled a jar with the golden sauce and put it in the fridge in their van. Every morning they each had a spoon full and it tasted just delicious. They ate most of the meals with Hedda’s family and they settled in just fine in their life together. The van wasn’t a long term solution but for now it was just perfect.
It had been little over a week since the day they met. Hedda woke up fairly early in the morning because she had to pee. She could hear the birds singing in the trees outside the van and she had a feeling it would be really nice outside. But it was also nice in bed and she didn’t exactly wan’t to go outside and down to the house just to use the bathroom. But she couldn’t really not go either. She sat up and looked around to see where she had put the long sweater she usually wore when walking down to the house in her pajamas. But instead she saw a door she hadn’t noticed before.
“Ehm. Morgan?”
“Mmm.” Morgan was obviously not completely awake. But not asleep either.
“Where does the door in the back lead?”
“There’s no door. Come back to bed.”
“Of course there’s a door. It’s blue. I can see it.”
Morgan didn’t reply. Maybe she had fallen back asleep. Hedda stood up and opened the never-seen-before-door. Inside was a bathroom. It was tiny but that didn’t matter. It was just what she needed. When she crawled back in to bed again a few minutes later she snuggled up close to Morgan.
“Why didn’t you tell me there’s a bathroom in the van? That would have been helpful to know.”
“There is no bathroom. Why would we go to the house to pee if there was a bathroom.”
“So what do you think is behind the blue door?”
“There’s no door in here except the doors outside. And they’re not blue.”
“Sure there is. The BATHROOM door.”
Morgan gave up trying to go back to sleep and actually looked up at the wall beside them.
“Why is there a blue door there?“
“I don’t know. I assumed I just hadn’t noticed it before...”
“This van is tiny. If there was a door before you would have noticed it.”
“Yeah. I would have. I’m just a bit tired still. And where did the door come from?”
“Did you say something about a bathroom?”
“Oh yeah. Definitely is a bathroom behind the door.” Neither of them were in bed anymore. They were standing in front of the door looking at it. It was a bit odd to suddenly have a door there. Or well a whole room.
“Should we open the door?” Morgan held Hedda’s hand quite firmly.
“I mean. I’ve already been in there. It’s a bathroom...” Hedda opened the door to show Morgan. The bathroom was still there. It wasn’t big. But it somehow managed to squeeze in a toilet, sink and even a small tub.
“Well this is handy.” Was the only thing Morgan could think of to say.
Morgan opened the door to the outside world and stepped out. They were both barefoot but neither of them seemed to really notice. Together they walked around the van. Three times. It didn’t really look bigger
“But how?” Was Morgan’s only comment.
“Well there’s only one logical answer. Magic.”
Chapter 9.
They somehow managed to get themselves dressed and walked down to the house. Ingrid was in the kitchen preparing for breakfast.
“Hi. I woke up a bit early today so I thought I could make some pancakes for breakfast.” Neither of them said anything. They just sat down at the table and got served freshly made pancakes.
“So how are you this morning?” Ingrid continued to talk as no one else seemed to plan to.
“There is a bathroom in the van.” Hedda talked fairly quietly.
“Oh. I didn’t think you had one. So you’ve been using the downstairs bathroom...”
“There wasn’t one. There is one now.” Hedda looked her mother in her eyes.
“Oh. That was a bit quick...”
“You knew this would happen?”
“I mean obviously you’ll grow your magic. You’ve done the ceremony. It usually just takes more time before something bigger usually happen...”
“Like a magical bathroom in a van?“
“Oh well. Or like a flower. Most alvies make a flower before they make a bathroom.”
“But we made a road. It’s bigger than a flower.”
“Well, we kinda helped you making a road...”
“Oh.”
“You know your magic were fresh and you both seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the new information so we decided to make it for you as not to discourage your magic.”
“Right. Thanks.”
“A whole bathroom though. That is definitely something else...”
Edith came in to the kitchen.
“Oh hi. Good morning. That looks yummy. Anything new?”
“They made a bathroom. In the van.” Ingrid looked at Edith in a way that Hedda couldn’t quite interpret. Edith seemed to understand though.
“Oh right. That’s handy indeed. Hope you have good use for it!” She sat down at the table and Ingrid joined her. No one mentioned the bathroom again.
Edith and Ingrid had suggested that Morgan should invite her parents to come visit her in Sweden. A lot was new in Morgan’s life and they wanted her to have the support from her family too. Plus they felt that they also deserved to know about the alvie world. And of course they all wanted to get to know them since they were all part of the family now. Morgan agreed and thought it was a good idea. She wanted to have her moms there and show them the alvie world and introduce them to Hedda and her family. Plus they hadn’t seen eachother in a while because of Morgan’s traveling. Her moms had been excited over the idea to meet their daughter and her new girlfriend. And travel was something they had wanted to do more of. The trip had been booked and they would arrive about a week after the day the bathroom appeared. They would stay in Edith and Ingrid’s guest room.
The next morning the van felt bigger. The bed wasn’t cramped in between the dresser and the wall. There was actual space to walk around. The van didn’t really look different from the outside though. It did the morning after that though. That day the inside didn’t feel super different but there was an actual door to the outside. And the windows looked like real windows. They both stumbled out to see how the van looked from the outside. But it wasn’t a van anymore. It was a tiny house. It had no wheels and there was a small porch in front of the door. It felt weird. But nice. They had kinda made their own little home. Even if they didn’t really control it.
On the fourth day of the whole “van transforming in to a house thing” it got bigger again. The bed had moved in to its own little bedroom. The kitchen had an actual stove and full size fridge. And there was a small living room with a couch and fireplace. When they went outside to look the outside had changed yet again. It was definitely a house now. It had a chimney and flower boxes under the windows. And the garden was fenced in with a white picket fence.
“So. We have a house now...” the idea was still overwhelming for Morgan but she had started to get used to it.
“Our own house. And garden.” It wasn’t exactly normal for Hedda either. Houses weren’t really built the same way as in the outside world but it was definitely still involving work and planning from a fair amount of people in the village. Not just two young alvies with fresh magic. And it was made while they slept too.
“So I guess we can’t pick up my moms in my van then...” They looked at eachother and started to laugh. It was kinda a funny idea. To go pick her moms up in a house and not a van.
“Well there’s no wheels...”
“Or steering wheel”
“Who knows what happened to the engine...”
“Well at least there’s a fireplace...”
“I’m sure my moms planned to take their car anyway. It has plenty of room for us all. Plus more than two seats.”
“Yeah that’s probably better. Though I’m sure there would have been seats for everyone if we had taken my van too. That’s the way it usually is.”
“Yeah I think my moms car might have been a five seater when they first got it. Now it’s basically a bus...”
The house kept growing and the day they had to leave for the airport it was a medium sized two story home. There was one bathroom on each floor, two rooms upstairs and kitchen and living room downstairs. The kitchen had countertops and cabinets and it was even filled with all the pots and pans they could need and they had a really cute set of dishes. The bathroom was no longer tiny and the bedroom had closets for their stuff. The bed had a bed frame now. The headboard was beautifully carved with a pattern of apple blossoms. The bed knobs was natural sized carved apples and the bed linens matched the curtains. They were wondering if the other room upstairs was for Morgan’s parents to stay in. But it was still completely empty so they assumed it wasn’t.
Chapter 10.
They had decided that only Ingrid and Edith would go with Hedda and Morgan to pick Morgan’s parents up at the airport. It wasn’t super far to go but it would still take a little over an hour. Morgan had offered to drive but she was reminded of the fact that it wasn’t legal at the age of 17. Ingrid took the wheel instead.
“She usually drives.” Edith told Morgan.
“Hey. You have your strengths and I have mine. Your’s are definitely not driving.
“True enough.”
“It’s lucky we have magic...” Hedda started to say. “Though I guess that’s also the issue here...”
“So Morgan. I think we forgot to ask what your mothers names are?” Edith changed the subject.
“Oh right. They both kinda go by two names. Their Mongolian names are Zaya and Sarnai. Zaya means Destiny and Sarnai means Rose. So they tend to go for that too. Bit lucky they got names that easily translate to real English names.
“Luck or magic. Hard to tell the difference sometimes.” Said Ingrid.
“Oh. Hm. I haven’t thought of that. The thought of magic is still so new to me. Yet it has always been there. Even if I wasn’t aware.”
“What names would they prefer?” Hedda asked.
“I don’t think it matters much to them. They’re very used to both names and call eachother both.”
”Have you thought about how to tell your moms about it? Like do you want to be alone or with just Hedda or do you want us to be there or help?” Ediths chair had turned sideways so she could see them better behind her.”
“I think it’s better if I tell them myself but it’s great if you’re all there too. There’s a lot of questions I barely know the answers to myself.”
“Of course. Whatever you need.” Edith took Morgan’s hand and squeezed it for support.
“And maybe don’t do that with your chair on the way home. It could be a bit freaky when one is used to cars being as they are in the outside world...”
“Oh right! I didn’t even think of that!” Edith turned her seat around so it was facing forward again.
“Maybe you can tell why she isn’t the one driving” Ingrid chimed in.
“Hey. I have other strengths!”
Everything went smoothly. Not that anyone of them had expected anything different. That’s how it usually is when you’re an alvie. Doesn’t matter if you’re aware that you are one or not.
Morgans moms introduced themselves as Destiny and Rose and said it was probably easier to remember and less confusing to use double names. The road back to the village went well and Edith didn’t accidentally turn her chair at all. And she didn’t do any other noticeable magic either. They had arranged so Hedda’s younger sisters would stay with grandmas Viola and Dagny so they could explain the whole magic thing to Destiny and Rose without any interruptions.
Hedda and Morgan sat down in the living room with Morgan’s moms. Edith and Ingrid started to prepare dinner In the kitchen so they could be nearby if they we’re needed. But Morgan would do the explaining and Hedda would of course be by her side.
“So. I found out some things when I got here. And we think you might want to know too. It’s nothing bad and you don’t have to be scared. But it could be a bit to take in.” Morgan looked at her moms who seemed to be totally fine this far. She took it as a good sign and continued. “You know when you left Mongolia and brought the tree branch with you. And planted it in our yard?” They both nodded. “Well you might also know that’s not usually how an Apple tree is made. I mean yes you can make them from a cutting but you don’t just stick them in the ground without rooting them first. They don’t become a full grown tree in a few weeks either. And they definitely don’t grow apples all year round whenever you’re in the mood for one.”
“Yeah I guess we knew that. It’s just not something we have thought much about. It’s always been that way. Maybe we thought it was a special Mongolian breed...” Destiny was holding Rose’s hand while speaking.
“Yes. Well. It’s actually magic. We are apparently something called Alvies. And so are Hedda and her family. And this whole village.”
“Oh.” It was the only thing Rose said.
“Yeah. And you are actually both my biological mothers.” Destiny and Rose looked at eachother when they heard that.
“I think we knew that in a way. It was never really any other option. But we tried to not think about the how. We were just so happy to have you!” Rose reached for Morgan’s hand. Destiny took Hedda’s. They sat so for a little bit. For the moment this was the only explanation necessary. There would be more. Later. Right now it wasn’t important. They had dinner together instead. Talked about all kinds of things. Not much was about the magic itself. Some were about the life in the village though. And about Hedda’s family.
In the evening Morgan and Hedda got ready to leave for their own house.
“Oh. Are you staying in your van? I thought you might be staying in the house too” Destiny looked a bit surprised.
“Ah. Yeah. Kinda. We might have accidentally turned the van in to a house with our magic...”
“You turned your van in to a house?
“Yup. It has kinda been growing. Right now it’s a two story house with two bedrooms. We don’t know if it’ll be a guest room or maybe an office or something. Not that I think we would need one. I guess we’ll see in the future. But we don’t want to mess with anything until it has stopped growing. So you can’t stay there yet.”
“You grew a house.”
“Yeah...”
“Can we get a tour tomorrow?”
“Sure!”
“Good night Honey. We’ll see you tomorrow!
Morgan got a long hug from both her moms. And Hedda got some too. It had been a long but nice day. Morgan was glad to have her parents there with her.
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