I feel as if I rushed Norway's story in there to quickly. Mehhhhhhhhhh oh well. If we use animes an example, the main character's backstory is usually explained, or at least the basics are, before anyone else's.

Short chapter is short, sorry. Just thought it would be a good way to break it all up.

Fragments fragments fragments. I UNDERSTAND Microsoft Word! STOP YELLING AT MY GRAMMAR!

A few hours had passed. Nikolai respectfully watched as his comrade's, no wait, as his former comrade's body was taken away. A simple white sheet was tied onto two large sticks, providing a make-shift stretcher. It was soon dabbed red with a collection of damp rose petals, ready to dry up in the sweltering sun. The same rose petals that pump through our veins, and that keep us alive.
Gupta didn't need them anymore.
Our blonde hero turned to his captor with an icy fire engulfing his eyes, leaving the rest of his whole face void of emotion. "Do you do this often?" His question was answered with a confused look. "Walk around like an idiot, a living target for whoever has a vendetta for you?" And with that the swordsman coldly turned on his heel and began waltzing away from the man he hated most.

Back at the palace, Nikolai felt it would be best if he were as far away from the king as possible.
But of course his 'highass' demanded that his new doll and bodyguard be merely one room to his right. How he hated that individual with a passion. What this author didn't tell you is that on the way back to the castle, the flame-headed male had flirted with about fifty girls, the last turning out to be another assassin and another kill on Nikolai's growing list.
Such a pretty face too, what a shame.
Honestly, this man succeeded in causing the dear 'lemming' mental turmoil.
Speaking of the adorable animal, the king also ordered that the respected and amazingly strong swordsman downgrade to a simple Animal Control Officer. And not just any regular stray dog catcher, no, he simply had to find one single species.

The feathery blonde thought rather murderous notions as he carried a covered cage back to the large charred structure that the king called home.
"'Catch me a lemming,' he said" Nikolai mumbled quietly to himself as he kicked up the dust in this giant sandbox of a town. "Too bad they only live in northern climates."
He remembered the incident a few minutes ago with a rather irritated sigh. He had to bargain with a rather stingy merchant just to buy the last collared lemming in their collection. The disgusting man, with a rather bushy mustache, and large stomach to rival with that of a cow's, had nagged him and urged him to pay more than he offered as his maximum. However, he had only his own money on him, nothing more, and nothing less. Not to mention Ice currency wasn't as strong as the Fire dollars... That and the Ice and Fire Kingdoms rather abhor one another, so trading with them got even worse. Eventually he managed to... persuade the man into giving him a 100% discount.
Who said threats never get you anywhere?
"You're more trouble than your worth." Nikolai lifted the thin white fabric from the cage and examined the animal. The creature stirred from its slumber and blinked at the man before scurrying to the part of the cage where an empty and chipped teacup lay. He then pawed at the porcelain surface. The king's doll stopped walking and observed the creature's desperate look. He silently gazed at the cup before realizing what the lemming meant. He set the cage down on a section of a stone walkway and opened the top of the little lemming dwelling, pouring a bit of the water he kept in his pouch into the specimen's 'bowl.' The mammal immediately started to lap up the substance, then actually took a dip in the liquid.
/It must be scorching for him.../ Nikolai picked the cage back up and shut the opening before trudging back to his idiotic boss. "I guess we're one in the same, huh? Maybe Mathias got something right." And with this he stopped dead in his tracks. Someone behind him knocked right into his back before shouting at him. Nikolai didn't bother to comprehend the words. "Him?" He suddenly said. The man who ran into him stopped and raised a brow, obviously confused. "As if he could get anything right!"
"Are you trying to start something punk?!" The rather muscular individual threw a fist, which unsurprisingly, the experienced fighter caught with ease, even of it was thrown from behind.
One hand holding that of the opposing.
Another holding the cage.
Two cobalt daggers pierced the offending man's gaze before an utterance of "What?" came from the awfully terrifying swordsman. The rather rude man learned his lesson when icy flames engulfed his soul, freezing fire coming from the stare. The tight grip on his fist loosened and he ran like hell, leaving two "lemmings" to dwell on their thoughts.
One thinking of grains and water.
The other thinking about the difference between idiocy and intelligence.

Anyone up for Norway's new nickname being Lemming? They're so f-ing cute that I can't even swear and type "lemmings" in the same sentence.

I wanted to use the Norwegian lemming originally, but ya know, no Norway here. That wouldn't make sense (although 'frosted flake' and 'Ricola' don't exactly fit into this time period either but shhhhhh). A fun fact about the Norwegian lemming is that everyone used to think that they commited large scale suicide together as part of their life cycle. They would drown themselves in a large body of water. This theory was only supported further by a Canadian documentary that showed Lemmings 'jumping' off of a cliff and landing in water below. In reality, the makers of the documentary shot them off turntables e.o oh Canada….

Either way, they really do die by drowning often, but it's coincidence. Often, they have to cross bodies of water but sometimes several lemmings won't make it to the other side of the lake/river/stream/ what-have-you.

And that concludes today's lemming fun fact.