It was amazing, Iryna Rusivna Chernenka reflected, how much could change in a few years, only to become set and never change again, over centuries. She was...old now. Physically 30, but among the older Nations, as physical ageing in personifications was slowed, and after a point ceased.

She was now about 1500 years old, and her siblings had gone away. Her friend-making elsewhere went badly.

Yet, she was the only sibling who had changed. She had matured, calmed. Being and acting as their mother figure for so many years had made her listen more, and fight less.

And now? With no one but herself to care for and a pile of debts from trying to do that, she had to work, mostly on her farm. She'd cut the trademark plaited bun she'd inherited from her mother to around her rounded, childlike chin, and had to wear work clothes so that the only thing that got in her way was the tall, curvy figure also inherited from her mother and representative of her 'Tracts of land'.

So physically and in attitude, Ukraine had changed.

Russia, meanwhile, had not. He was, Iryna sighed, still a cracked-minded, over-sized child. An adorable one who still looked like he had when he was three, apart from being tall and big-boned, but an over-sized child still.

And Belarus?

Belarus still had her long, platinum blonde hair that only seemed to get longer, indigo eyes and fierce expression. She still dressed in the old-fashioned yet girly clothes that her mother and older sister had dressed her in, and they still suited her. But there was one thing Ukraine actually wished would change, but that never did.

Her obsessive 'love' for her older brother.

She wanted to marry him. And Belarus did not take 'no' for an answer.

Where and when had this started? When and how would it end? Iryna supposed the beginning was when their happy family life had abruptly ended with the death of their parents.

While she was the only one who really remembered the Old East Slavic times and the days of the Kievan Rus', her siblings recalled the hardship that had come afterwards. And Natalya, for a while during her childhood, didn't see or remember her brother because of it.

When he came home, he was a new concept to her, and as the person who defeated Mongolia, the man she had only heard of as the killer of her parents, he was a hero to her, and she had worshipped him. After all, he was the only person, of all those who had left her, to keep his promise to return to her.

Then, during her struggle to establish independence, she had been tossed from Empire to Empire in early Europe. Yet she'd kept her revered but once again lost Brother in her mind's eye, and his dashing smile, as she remembered it, had led to a physical attraction forming too.

And perhaps now, after reuniting during the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and realising they had a number of shared cultural, social, religious and political views, she really did love him. Or believed she did. After all, for the incredibly superstitious Belarus, finding someone on the same strange wavelength as she was, for similar reasoning, would be like finding her soul mate.

Maybe, the Ukrainian mused, she was right. God only knew. Either way, she was crazy about Ivan, who found it quite intimidating, since Natalya struggled to come across as the loving person that she actually was.

Iryna gave a small sigh as she snapped out of her thoughts and looked out of the window, at her fields of Sunflowers, dancing in the wind. Ivan, or Vanya, as she affectionately referred to her Little Brother, loved them, but she couldn't take him any.

The family was, once again, divided. When young, it was a purely physical divide, with their thoughts still of each other, but now...She and Vanya's bosses fell out and kept them apart, over gas and debt, mostly. Natalya seemed to shut away almost everything but her desire for her Brother.

Well, almost...sometimes, she would visit, and help the Ukrainian out with the pains her figure gave her, while they had a friendly chat. It was the closest to happy, fun family life they got these days.

But not today. The path through the fields to Ukraine's door was only occupied by fallen leaves, and her phone, which Ivan sometimes used when he thought her boss wasn't around or if Natalya got overzealous in her attempts to marry him, was silent.

In her quiet house, all alone, Ukraine prayed to anyone or anything that may be listening that soon, this weird, battle-less conflict within their family would soon be over.

She didn't really care what ended it, how it ended. Just so long as she and her siblings could all be happy together again. Somehow, someday.

That was all she really wanted. To see Natalya and Ivan happy before she, like their parents had at a similar age, faded away.

Looking out at the swaying flowers, defying Winter's attempted grip to still seem cheerful, but strong, Iryna smiled. There was still hope, warming her heart.

It wasn't a question of if, she knew. It would just be when.

Sooner, or later.

Perhaps later would be better. It would give them time to solve their own problems, internal and external, before coming together again.

Still, she had a deep, secret hope that no matter what troubles that may present, it would be sooner.

Because for all her attempts to remain reminiscent of the strong Nation she had first been known as she missed them more than anything.

They were so close in a physical sense, yet so far in a spiritual and mental sense that it hurt.

Ukraine didn't want to lose her sovereignty, nor did she want her siblings to lose any piece of their identity, but some kind of Union that could bring them back together, something similar to the old days, when they could all see each other easily, would be wonderful.

It would make their separations and problems better, she thought, almost believing her own idealism.

But it wasn't herself she would have had to convince if she had had the power and ability to do that kind of thing these days...

If only they knew...If only they would co-operate, just for her sake...

They could be happy. They would be happy. Somehow, someday.


Perhaps, whoever or whatever Ukraine had been praying to had been listening, and decided to grant her wishes. Or maybe it was just a stroke of luck in her favour, she thought curiously as she hung up the phone.

Her delighted Little Sister had obviously been doing a lot of talking with her Brother since the three siblings were last together because from what Iryna got coax out of the hyperactively ranting Natalya, she had just been invited to the wedding of her younger siblings...

Still, however unusual her siblings were, for whatever reasons, she loved them. So she would go. She would support whatever they wanted to achieve with this...Union, of some kind.

It wasn't quite what she hoped for, but if it was going to eliminate the friction between her younger siblings, and help to bring their family closer together, it would definitely do.

Why they had decided to marry, what they wanted from a Union, and how long this sort of truce would last, only time would tell.

To Ukraine, that didn't matter anymore.

They were happy. Why? For how long?

Who really cared?

They were finally happy.