2
AT AROUND THE same time, Astrid Jonsdóttir was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of a different harbour, in Troms?, Norway.
If it wasn’t that she had just emerged from a ridiculously hot sauna, she might have been feeling chilly, wearing only her swimming costume and woolly bobble hat, but she was relishing the sensation of the cold air biting at her skin, and biding her time until the moment she would plunge into the freezing water in front of her.
It had been a strange day. After four years, her contract at the Atlantic Marine Mammal Council had ended.
If she were honest with herself, she’d been burying her head in the sand, hoping that someone would simply decide they couldn’t live without her and extend her contract for another four years.
But that hadn’t happened. It was part of their ethos, an attempt to offer opportunities to young scientists and keep things fresh.
Of course, Astrid knew that. She had benefitted from this herself, so she shouldn’t be annoyed by it.
But she was devastated that she was going to have to leave Norway.
Four years had been enough time for her to fall in love with the place.
It wasn’t so very different from her homeland of Iceland, but coming to Troms? had been a milestone in her career and, on some level, she felt like a failure having to return to Reykjavik.
Astrid lowered herself off the dock and into the water, managing to keep her head out and her hat dry.
Although it never failed to make her gasp, it put a big smile on her face, and suddenly the fact that today was the end of everything as she knew it didn’t seem so bad.
She swam to the steps that led back up onto the dock where the wood-fired sauna floated in the harbour, decorated with fairy lights to stave off the late afternoon darkness of the late Arctic winter, hauled herself out of the water and hurried back into the welcoming heat of the sauna.
‘Hey, Astrid. Do you want me to come to the airport with you?’ Sofie was a colleague and had become one of her closest friends. She still had two years to go on her contract and was sad to be losing Astrid back to Iceland.
‘No, thanks. It’s better if we don’t have to say goodbye at the airport.’
‘True. If you’re sure. Or I could make Aksel go with you?’
Aksel was Sofie’s on-again/off-again boyfriend. A great Norwegian Viking of a man who would make easy work of carrying all her luggage, but Astrid preferred to say her goodbyes before the very last moment, even to Aksel.
Astrid shook her head and moved up to the top bench in the sauna, where it was hotter. ‘No, I’ll be fine.’
‘Do you have a plan yet?’ Sofie asked.
They’d talked about it a handful of times, and it was always Sofie that brought it up, never the other way around. Sofie couldn’t understand how Astrid could contemplate going back to Iceland without having a plan. How could she leave Norway with nothing in place, not even anywhere to stay?
‘I’ll talk to my sister and hopefully I can stay with her to begin with.’
Gudrun was four years younger than Astrid and had lived in Norway for a while herself while she was establishing her career.
She, like Sofie, was a planner. She was settled in Reykjavik with her long-term partner, Olafur, and was manager of Snug, a homeware shop that specialised in sourcing its stock from local producers and craftspeople.
‘She’ll be able to give you some work, I expect,’ Sofie said, as if this was a good thing.
‘Probably,’ said Astrid, wanting to say whatever Sofie needed to hear to put an end to the conversation.
‘I’ll definitely ask her.’ She definitely wouldn’t.
The last thing she wanted was to be stuck indoors day after day like her sister, selling pointless things to tourists.
The past four years at the AMMC had established her career as a marine biologist and a respected expert in North Atlantic marine mammals, and she intended to continue on that trajectory.
Somehow. The downside of having buried her head in the sand was that she had left herself with no time to look for suitable roles in Iceland, or anywhere else, and there wasn’t much around.
Admittedly, it was a niche career, and her next job could take her away from Iceland again.
She didn’t mind. Her love of these graceful, magnificent creatures meant she was willing to go wherever she had to go to work with them.
Her work at the AMMC had been her first proper job after years of working on short-term contracts and volunteering to get the experience she needed.
She specialised in tracking and monitoring particular individuals and groups of mammals, building up pictures of their habits and migratory patterns.
Although she was based in Troms?, she’d had the opportunity to be out at sea for weeks at a time on research vessels with other scientists.
Another thing she’d miss. At least staying in Reykjavik with Gudrun would give her half a chance of finding work of some sort.
Maybe even in her field, if she was lucky.
Anything but working in a shop would do.
‘I’m going in,’ said Sofie .
She pushed open the sauna door and left.
Astrid watched out of the tiny porthole window as her friend plunged straight into the dark water without even taking a moment to think about it.
Astrid laughed, thinking how much she’d miss her.
Although she loved the career she’d chosen, it wasn’t great for maintaining close friendships or relationships.
It was too transient, often too remote, in places where there were more whales nearby than there were people.
Sofie was a rare find. A person Astrid genuinely liked as well as being a colleague at a similar stage in her career.
She watched Sofie climb back onto the dock, walking nonchalantly back to the sauna without a hint of desperation to be back in the warmth.
‘You’ll miss this,’ she said as she settled herself next to Astrid on the top bench. The cold coming off her skin briefly cooled the surrounding air before the heat of the sauna obliterated it.
‘I will,’ Astrid agreed. ‘We’re into warmer water at home, so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve missed it.’
‘Hot springs, you mean?’
‘Yes, but the local pool is just as good. And sociable too.’ She’d forgotten how much she used to enjoy hanging out in the hot pots at the pool, chatting to whoever else happened to be in there.
More often than not, it was someone she knew, or they turned out to be a friend of a friend.
Maybe she’d forgotten lots of other good things about living in Reykjavik.
‘I’ll come and stay with you when I’m in the depths of a Troms? winter and even the sauna isn’t working for me.’
‘You’re welcome anytime,’ said Astrid, hoping that she’d be in a place of her own before Sofie visited because there wasn’t much room at Gudrun’s.
When their time was up, they dried themselves, dressed, and strolled through the quiet streets .
‘See you tomorrow,’ said Sofie as they hugged goodbye when they got to her building.
‘It’s pastry day tomorrow.’ Astrid had promised a box of pastries from Backstube as a going-away gift for her colleagues. Boxes of the mouth-watering pastries from the bakery on Storgata were purchased for every occasion from birthdays to retirements and everything in between.
‘My mouth is watering already,’ Sofie said before she waved and disappeared inside.
Astrid continued on the short walk to her own building.
Her flat came with the job. It was cosy and made the most of what little light there was at this time of year, with windows in the main living area that faced south.
She felt lucky to have landed a place to live on the main island that formed part of the city of Troms?.
It had the convenience of the city on her doorstep and beautiful views across the fjord to the other part of the city, where the Arctic Cathedral soared into the sky and the cable car ran up the mountain.
She took her layers off and jumped into a hot shower before dressing in jogging bottoms and a soft sweatshirt.
This was her last week at work, and although in her mind she was going back to Iceland to stay with her sister, she hadn’t got so far as to actually ask her.
Suddenly, having no solid plan past the next few days was overwhelming. She sighed and picked up her phone.
‘ Hae! ’
Astrid grinned. She tended to forget how enthusiastic her sister was.
‘ Hae .’
‘How’s things?’ Gudrun asked.
‘Good.’ Astrid curled herself into the corner of her sofa. ‘I’m coming home for a while.’
‘Oh my god! For a holiday? How long for?’
‘Not a holiday. My contract’s ended, so I’m at a bit of a loose end for now.’
‘Are you going to Mamma and Pabbi’s?’
Astrid had been hoping Gudrun would assume she needed to stay with her. It felt awkward to ask.
‘Only joking,’ Gudrun said, laughing. ‘You have to stay with us. You’ll be desperate to leave Iceland again if you have to live at home.’
Astrid laughed. ‘Thank you. If you’re sure you don’t mind?’
‘Of course I don’t mind. I can’t wait to see you! When are you coming?’
‘This weekend.’ Astrid braced herself.
‘And you’re asking me now? This is so typical, Astrid. You are leaving Norway after four years, and you are telling me now. Five days before.’
‘I don’t know what I’m doing next. I was waiting to see if anything came up here.’
Gudrun harrumphed in reply. ‘It’s lucky for you that I’m such a forgiving sister. So what are you going to do?’
‘I’m still looking. I’ll sort something out. I have enough saved to see me through a couple of months.’
‘Hang on,’ said Gudrun, and put her finger over the microphone.
Astrid could hear muffled talking. She was probably speaking to Olafur.
‘It’s your lucky day. Olafur thinks they could use a marine mammal expert at Iceland Adventures.’
‘It’s not certain yet,’ Olafur said in the background. ‘The boat isn’t finished yet, and I’ll need to ask Jonas.’
‘It’s okay,’ Astrid said. ‘Don’t make him ask Jonas.’ Astrid knew Jonas and knew he was a soft touch who would probably give her a job even if he didn’t need anyone, especially if Olafur asked him.
‘He doesn’t mind. Or you can work in the shop with me. We’re coming up to the busy time. I always need extra staff.’
‘Honestly. It’s really kind of you, Gudrun, but I’m not ready to go straight into anything. I’m happy to use the time to have a break. Catch up with all of you.’
‘Okay. You’re right. You need a break. I know you, Astrid. You will have bottled up all your feelings about your contract ending. You love that job,’ she said gently. ‘It will be difficult to leave, and it’ll take you some time to come to terms with it.’
Astrid sniffed and blinked away some tears. Trust her little sister to put into words the feelings she couldn’t acknowledge herself.
‘Yes,’ she said, trying not to give away the fact that she was barely holding it together now. ‘So, see you next week.’
‘Text me your flight details and we’ll book a transfer for you.’
Olafur’s employer, Iceland Adventures, ran transfers to and from the airport, usually combining it with a visit to the Blue Lagoon. ‘Thanks. I’ll skip the Blue Lagoon though.’
Gudrun laughed. ‘Love you, As.’
‘Love you.’
Astrid hung up and gazed out of the window at the twinkling lights over the water.
Leaving Troms? was hard because she wasn’t leaving on her terms. And all the harder because she hadn’t let herself think about it.
Gudrun was right, she hadn’t come to terms with it.
Calling her sister was always going to be the point at which she’d be forced to admit to herself that Troms? was over.
That the AMMC wouldn’t change its mind at the eleventh hour and tell her there had been a mistake and that she could stay after all.
It was ridiculous to think that was ever going to happen.
She had to get her head around the fact that she was going back to Iceland.