I, Ireland, made my way to the home the Vikings had created so quickly on her coast in Cork. I marveled at their ingenuity, and how quickly these things kinds of things came about, as I knocked on the big, oak door. It burst open with triumph and I fell backwards, which seemed to happen a lot those days. I looked up to see the young man, Denmark, staring at me with a quizzical look. "Oh, you, eh? I forgot about you."

I puffed my cheeks as I stood up again. "What, so I can leave then, right?"

Denmark smiled wide. "Nah," he said and opened the door wider, "You can come in. You can serve our drinks." I hesitated as a tremble went through me. He frowned and closed his eyes with a squint of confusion. "What's the hold up, eh- oh, what was your name, again?"

I frowned again. I couldn't believe this kind of guy was taking over my country. "I'm Ireland, or Eire, in my tongue." I wasn't quite known as the Republic, yet. Denmark and I were speaking Latin, as was the way of Europeans to broke the language barrier between small and unknown dialects, though I had a feeling people knew how to speak this guys language.

"Ireland's fine," he said dismissively and then grew impatient, "Come in, I'm not holding this door open all day, you know."

I stepped inside onto the earthen floor and saw only the other teenager in the room. Anticipating my confusion, Denmark walked behind me, put his hands on his hips and pronounced. "Sve is gone with Finland now. Isu-kun is sleeping. You can just start by cleaning or something. I don't feel like drinking right now."

"Are you even old enough to drink?" I asked, without thinking about how he was supposed to be my new boss. I was curious, without thinking that countries took so long to grow.

"Ha!" he said with that obnoxious grin, "No one from our place is ever too young for a drink!"

The other boy didn't even look up from the table, staring mysteriously into nothingness. I felt suddenly very alone in the company of these boys, wondering what Mother was doing now. I could not allow this to bother me, however, and Denmark wasn't as scary as I thought. Or at least, not at that moment. He wasn't over the top friendly, either, and I found as he showed me what cleaning he wanted me to do that he really did expect me to serve him.

"Here", he said and handed me an empty bucket and a sponge. "Go get some water or something and you can clean up."

"But the nearest water is the ocean!" I squeaked. He put his hand on my head and pushed down a little bit.

"I didn't ask you to talk back, you know. Oh, and don't run away," he said as he lifted his hand and turned away, "Or I'll find your ma and kill her."

I trembled and headed out the door, looking sideways at Norway as I left. He still hadn't moved since I came here. He was a little creepy.

It wasn't far to the ocean; Cork was a harbor, after all. The major problem was not getting the water, but getting it back to the rounded house. I was still pretty little. I wore a simple druid's robe and it's white skirt was covered in dust by the time I returned, having been consistently unable to lift it as I stepped all over it. I was on the verge of cursing by the time I returned, but to make matters worse, Denmark just looked at me as I came back. "Oh, yeah," he said and squinted his eyes. "I wondered where you went. I had to get my own drinks, I was starting to get pretty mad."

"Whaa?" I asked and froze for a second before pursing my lips in frustration. "You told me to go! I should have just ran away if you didn't remember where I was!"

"If you had done that," he replied in a sing-song voice, "I would have killed your Mother."

They weren't all bad, though. Sometimes, when Sve and Finland came around I would play with Finland. He wasn't much older in appearance than I was at the time, though later I would find he took to adulthood much more quickly than I did. Sve as they called him, or Sweden, was really scary and big on the outside, but he did little more than grunt and I soon found him to be little more than an ornament. He seemed to care for Finland very much.

I really liked Isu-chan, Iceland, very much as well. He was very little and hardly spoke, except to Norway he said "older brother" every once in a while. I would find that even though he was smaller than me at the time, he too would come into adulthood more quickly. The laws of countries are strange.

Norway warmed up ever so slightly when he saw me and Isu come along. He told me about the trolls and faeries from his land, which surprised me. I shared with him the stories Mother Eire had told me, and he seemed to enjoy them. I think. He didn't have much of a personality.

"Can you see them?," he asked me one day, "The faeries?"

I laughed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "They aren't real, you know?"

He frowned, as if I had something offensive. "Don't mind her," he whispered and patted the air next to him. "It must be because of her religion."

I walked away from him very confused that day.

The only one who really made me work was Denmark. I relished the days Sve watched the house and found myself dreading the days Denmark returned from which ever country he was bullying next. He had a really big head and didn't listen to my complaints. I found out one, rare day that he was more than just a happy go lucky kind of guy.

They never really let me out of the house much, and it wasn't until a rare day that I was allowed to roam the country with Sve and Fin that I saw the smoking in the distance. I stopped my race with Fin to look around and saw a round tower in the distance. My heart stopped as I realized the monastary was on fire. I just stared for a minute, until Fin came to my side. "What is that, Eire-chan?"

"I-I..." was all I could say as a flash of my mother came into my mind.

Sve had been looking off into the distance and it wasn't until Fin had asked me this that he had begun to pay attention. He came behind us and put a hand on my shoulder in silence. I turned and looked up at him, tears in my emerald eyes, imploring him with my gaze. Was this all their fault? Were they attacking my religion?

"...We are going back, now," he said and took my hand in his.

"No!" I shouted and pulled back, "No, I want to find Mother!" I dug my heels into the ground, but there was no use in fighting against that mountain of a man. I was sniveling by the time we reached the house and knocking my free, tiny fist into the large palm grasped around the hand Sve dragged me by. I protested the entire time, screaming for him to let me go, but he said nothing and had no emotion on his face. Finland walked behind us quietly, and I could tell that he was worried about me.

"Sve," Denmark said when he opened the door, "What's that annoying-oh..."

Sweden shoved me into the house and then let go, causing me to fall onto all fours. Defeated, a let the tears flow freely as I begin to scream. "I w-want t-to g-go home!"

I couldn't see them but I could hear them as they began to talk about me. I just kept repeating myself over and over, eventually throwing a full blown tantrum and kicking my legs.

"What the hell is her problem, Sve? Shut her up!" Denmark barked.

"She saw a monastery being burned..."

"So what? This is our country now, that's not my problem!"

When I heard him say that I felt inside me a fury that felt so alien to my isolated little heart. I felt like I did the day I defended Mother against this creep the first time, but even more powerful. I flipped over and stood on my feet, clenching my jaw and fists. I trembled with rage. "This. Is. Not. Your. Home. Get. Out. Now."

The group turned to me, surprised I had spoken. I could see Fin holding Isu-chan in the corner, obviously disturbed by the show. He cowared a little, waiting for the response. To my dismay, Denmark just began laughing out loud. "What? Not our home?"

Norway and Sweden looked sideways at each other as Denmark began to speak. I'm not sure now if it was just me, but I think they looked like they felt sorry for me. "Sorry, kid," Denmark said as he stepped dangerously close to me and bent over. "Listen, you're cute and all, but this is our country now. We need to expand the empire and everything." He put a hand on my head and began to pet it. "You see, the monastaries have lots of goodies in them, and we want them for our people. So we have to take them, you understand."

I stared at him with a glower. "You're stealing from my people to give to yours?"

"Hey, hey, don't make it sound so bad! I'm giving your people the chance to become part of our people." He opened his eyes and I think he really meant what he said. "We can all become a family!"

I spit in his face.

I hadn't expected to do it. The truth is, I was still really scared of Denmark and I had even grown fond of Finland and Iceland. But the idea of Denmark ravaging my people and converting them into some sort of pagan society really pissed me off. My country was Christian, and had been since my birth. Celebrating the sabbats was still common, sure, but it worked for my people. They didn't need any Scandinavian gods or Viking overlords.

Denmark just stood there for a moment, with my spittle trickling down his face. He looked really surprised. I heard Finland gasp and Sweden grunt. Norway shook his head. "You little-" he said and raised his hand to hit me. I cringed and closed my eyes. I couldn't help it. As badass as I had wanted to look, I was really scared of him. Besides, I was just a little girl.

I was surprised when nothing came down and after a second I opened my eyes. Denmark's hand was still raised, but Sve had moved forward and was holding it back. He was wiping his face with his other hand. Denmark stood up, then, and turned to Sve. "Keep that kid in check," he said with a hiss, "Or I'll kill the brat next time." He glared at me with angry eyes and a devilish grin. "You hear that?"

He left the house, mumbling about getting something to drink. "Dark foreigner...*" I muttered, but not very loudly.

Norway took Iceland from Finland and went into his room. "That was stupid, kid," he said with a deadpan tone as he closed his own door.

Sve looked down on me with that scary look, but I was suddenly more grateful to him than anyone else. My eyes started to well again and I ran into his leg, hugging the tree trunk and bawling, making no thought of the chainmail which rubbed roughly on my cheek. He picked me up in silence and brought me into room. He let me go and I reached out for him, wanting someone to comfort me like my mother would have. "Wait!" I said as he began to close the door, "I'm lonely."

He stopped for a moment, then looked at me. "Denmark has no plans to leave." was all he said as he shut the door and locked it behind him.

It was dark and lonely. I covered my head with the blanket and cried softly. There wasn't even a window so I could look at the moon. After awhile, I heard the door open and shut again before I could remove the cover from my head. When I was done, Finland stood there with a lamp. "I asked Sve if I could sleep with you tonight. You seem lonely, no?"

I smiled weakly. "Fin-chan..."

He set the lamp next to the bed and crawled in with me. I snuggled close, hiccuping between tears. He frowned. "I'm sorry that Denmark can be so scary, but he really isn't all bad."

"I'm running away..."

"...That's a bad idea."

"Don't tell, mmkay?" I said as I started to drift into sleep, "If you promise me, I'll let you and Sve use the Cork harbor for awhile."

"..."

"Promise me..."

"I promise not to tell Denmark..."

"None of them."

"None of them."

"Finland..."

"Yeah..."

"You're my fair foreigner...*"

*Okay, quick history lesson. The Vikings (known as fair foreigners) and the Danes (known s dark foreigners) were actually fighting over Ireland and Iceland was obviously not there yet, since the Norse founded Iceland. However, I didn't want to split the group up. The Danes came later and DID NOT lead the Vikings, but I really just liked putting them together. So sue me.

Oh, and they came and went a few times, but I'm probably going to have Ireland run away to represent the first couple times they kicked em out and have the final battle with Boru be the last. Whoop for Vikings, Sve is a badass, no?