Legal
Lalli was surprised. Firstly, despite it being over 10 years, and everything looked different after the fires, his feet carried him with no hesitation uphill to the right spot.
Secondly, and more importantly, he was surprised to see someone else was there. Someone he didn’t know. A red-haired person was sitting at a fire, that was set up stupidly directly on the ground. Their back was turned, but Lalli knew they were a stranger. He only knew two people with such fiery red hair, and both of them were firmly in their respective countries.
“Kukas sinä olet?”
“Halló?” the stranger turned ” Hver ert þú litli vinur minn?”
A stranger, and a foreigner at that! If Lalli knew anything about the languages of the world*, she was speaking Icelandic.
“Kuka olet ja mitä teet meidän mailla??”
The stranger kept speaking her stupid non-Finnish. Lalli turned on his heel and ran back towards the main-square-to-be.
“Onni, there is someone sitting on Grandma’s land. An Icelander. She’s stupid, she spoke Icelandic to me. As if she didn’t know this is Finland.”
“Hmm, Jussi here was just telling me some Icelanders came in a couple of days ago. Let’s go see what’s going on.”
“Päivää. Onni Hotakainen. Who are you?” (in Icelandic)
”Oh, finally, a civilized person! I am Hildur Halgrimsdottir, charmed to meet you, I’m sure.”
“And what is your business here?”
“Straight to the point I see. I am occupying this land.”
“What? Why?”
“I represent certain Icelandic clients, who have an interest in the newly developing settlements of Saimaa area. There are interesting prospects in the future villages after certain ... developments.... lately. Well, I digress. The long and short of it is that they sent me here to claim good land. This is the best spot on this island. So, this is their plot now.”
“Now hold on, lady! This is OUR land!”
“Hmm? I see no traces of occupancy here. In fact, we have been living” she gestured to a nearby tent “here for several days now, and this is the first time you present this claim.”
“It’s not a claim. We own this plot. And that one” Onni gestured to the area where Tuulikki and Jukka’s house had been “and one more further that way. We weren’t here yesterday because we just arrived at Toivosaari!”
“Well, young man, you seem to have a misunderstanding. The law on land claims says that you have to actually occupy the land you are claiming, not merely say it’s yours. And in any case it’s temporal precedence. That is to say, I was here first and therefore I get the claim.”
“No. This land is not up for grabs. It’s our land. It was owned by our Grandmother and therefore it’s ours now that she has… passed.”
“Oh, I see. You claim heritage. How fortuitous then that you have arrived to present your case before any permanent measures have been undertaken. We will settle this matter with no further delay.”
“What’s going on?” (in Finnish) Lalli demanded to know.
“She said she’s claiming our land for her clients.”
“But it’s ours! This was GRANDMA’s land!”
“Yes, don’t worry. She says it’s ok because we are heirs.”
“So” Hildur was smiling widely, but, in Lalli’s opinion, not at all pleasantly “please present your documentation and I will be on my way.”
“Documentation?” Onni frowned.
“Of course. As legitimate heirs, you surely have your legal documentation? Proof of ownership, charter of heir, et cetera?”
“Ah, no. The entire village was destroyed. Surely you know this.” Onni indicated to the still blackened areas of the forest.
“Yes, but I fail to see how it is relevant? Perhaps your grandmother perished in that event?”
“Yes, she did. Along with all our families. We were the only survivors in the village.”
“And this pertains to the matter at hand because…?”
“We don’t have any documents. We escaped with our lives and nothing else!”
“Oh, I see. How unfortunate. For you.”
“What do you mean?”
“No documentation, no legal claim. This is my clients’ land now.”
“But… but our grandmother…”
“Is not here. Goodbye."
"Are you aware that the developments you mentioned was me? Well, us. Us and some fr... acquaintances. But mostly us."
"Again, not legally relevant. Please approach me or my clients only with proper legal grounds. Which I don’t’ think will happen.” Hildur turned away dismissively.
“Come, Lalli. She says we need documents. Which we don’t have.” (in Finnish)
“You aren’t just giving up, are you?”
“No, of course not. She thinks it’s a matter of law and paperwork. We’ll see about that.”
* He didn’t really. But he did know this wasn’t Swedish, and it didn’t sound like the almost-Swedish Sigrun and Mikkel had spoken.
To be continued, hopefully
