"And for coins for a bribe, right? I don't know where fairy rings around Akershus are but I can find them once we get there. Paths converge on them, they tend to be easy to find."

Nod. "But we can't tell my niece where to find it until we know. Do we - I'm not sure what all of the limits on writing a note are, can we take the materials with us and write one there?"

"Yeah. We just can't use slow paper or ink, ours are fine."

Nod. "I suppose if we get lucky it won't take more than the one sunset. Have to time everything right."

"Yeah. -  I can't wait to leave."

"Yeah. Soon."

She asks his father for paper and ink. And coins.

He has paper and ink and an eccentric assortment of coins from lots of different governments.

"Thank you. - for everything, not just for this. I know fairies don't thank each other, but - it seems wrong to not, in this case."

“Well, you’re not a fairy, are you.”

"No, I'm not. Thank you for making this place so much nicer than Akershus. And for - helping me not feel less."

“I’ll look into that thing where you’re going to die.”

"Thank you. I suppose I'll have to visit again someday, then. Hopefully with my other children, I think they know much more Arabic than I do."

Bounce bounce. “Then you’d better go get them.”

"Yes, I suppose I'd better."

And at some point the sun peeks above the horizon.

Yaaaay they can leave.

Yes they can!

She makes sure they have enough food to make it back to Sweden, then scoops up her toddler and tells Ingolfr to follow and then they can be off.

He's so much happier out here. He's a lot faster than Ingolfr, so he takes lots of detours - climbing a tree, crawling into some bushes, following paths off until they dead-end at a rock or a flower or some suspicious local fairies.

She's so glad he's happy! And she's glad to be outside again, and glad to be away from everyone else, and very glad that they're going to go get her other children, who she has not seen in, like, almost a year and a half. 

"So I think we go up through Sweden first, leave the coins and a note, and then head right on to Norway. If we're very lucky my niece might be able to get her siblings before their morning classes start, and then we won't have to wait hours and hours for them to finish."

"Sounds good! I don't know how to write but I might have to write the note we're leaving with the coins, for it to be enforceable - I guess maybe you could write it on one sheet and I could copy it?"

"We could do that, though I don't think I can write the note without names. Enforceable how, I don't think we need anything from the person who reads it except that they bring my son to the fairy ring?"

"Right, but if they accept our coins and then don't bring him to the fairy ring then they made and reneged on a deal with me and that's enough to speed them up. And then, I dunno, I could punch him in the face for stealing from us. And get the coins back, I guess."

" - all right. If it lets us get the coins back. But you ought to let them go after, somehow."

"I don't want more humans, I can't feed them. You can usually hurt someone until they're not in your debt, if you don't want any service or information from them and you want them clear of you."

Nod.

"But hopefully they'll just bring your son."