Page 15 of Midnight Sun
There’s silence on the line for a few seconds. Finn can hear the cracking of the wind over the fjord.
“I needed to hear that. Thanks,Amma.”
“I’m looking forward to cooking for you two. See you soon, Thorfinn.”
“Bye,Amma.”
Finn basks for a moment in the reassurance his grandma’s words evoked. He briefly wonders what she meant by cooking for ‘the two of them’. Surely, she thought of Dagur and him. Or could she have meant…
The unpleasant feeling of being watched stops his train of thoughts. He turns abruptly to face James’ PA standing in the doorway. The young man gives him a sheepish look.
“I’m sorry I lashed out like that, Mister Jónsson. It just–” He falters and takes a glance over his shoulder. “Mister Arden’s been stressed lately, and I didn’t want him to be disturbed.”
Finn nods at him. “It’s fine.”
The young man seems relieved. “Mister Arden’s ready to go now.”
Finn whistles for Snjór to leave his nest on the plush carpet and follow him out. He laughs when he sees James struggling with a giant backpack, dressed like a model for fancy outdoor clothing.
“Let me carry that for you,” Finn offers, and to his surprise James hands him the backpack without quarrel. As he lifts it, Finn understands why. “What the hell is in there?”
“Brickstones.” James grins mischievously at him.
“Cheeky,” Finn grumbles.
It takes them almost two hours to reach the southern entrance of the Kjölur road leading to Hrafna’s remote lodge in Kerlingarfjöll. James’ eyes widen as they leave the paved streets and take the gravel road into the Highlands.
“Couldn’t we have stopped at the Gullfoss? Hrafna said you should show me some landscape, and I wanted to see the waterfall,” James complains.
“You didn’t earn your sightseeing yet. And I don’t like the tourist crowds there.”
“What tourist crowds?” James takes a doubtful look into the barren wilderness. “There weren’t that many people, even in Reykjavík.”
“They cart people there in busloads, and I don’t want to push my way through them. Hrafna wants you to experience the loneliness of the Highlands. She thinks your role would benefit from it.”
James crosses his arms and stares out the window again. In the soft light of the near dusk he looks beautiful, and Finn aches to touch him.
“Tell me a little about your role. How are you going to play your Wessex knight?”
Hrafna told Finn about the main conflict of her movie: a knight who sets out to rescue his childhood sweetheart from Viking raiders, only to learn at the end that she has fled an arranged marriage to settle with her lover in Iceland. He half expects James to turn him down, but instead he answers as if he’s talking to himself.
“He’s brave. And it’s a bit tragic that he has to find that the woman who always had a place in his heart has grown up and loves someone else. But at least he can help her escape her father’s soldiers in the end.”
Finn chuckles.
“What?”
“They wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“The audience likes to see an Anglo-Saxon hero. But he or the soldiers of the Lady’s father wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Icelandic nature and a seasoned warrior.”
“Such as yourself?” James teases.
“I wouldn’t have stolen a Lady, though.”
“Too honorable for that?”