Chapter 36
I had expected at least 20-25 chapters, but I guess this is fine too. My fellas, I hope you enjoyed reading my first try in this fandom :D I still need to work on their characterization a bit more.
Months passed after Rollan and his friends had uncovered the trafficking of rare animal species. Enrico's father was locked up in jail along with the teammates, that could have been found before they would escape Spain, and the young teens Enrico and Ernesto were locked up as well, but for a shorter time of period due to earlier confession of the crime. Rollan remained back in Alicante with his mother to finish his formation and help out his mother to pay for the debts, which they had succeeded after two more months.
Rollan finished along with Pastor, Marina, and the rest of their class their formation as civil guards and sat all together in the downtown Alicante in front of the grandstand, where the head chief stood along with Lieutenant Roberto leading the ceremony of the finalists. Vice versa to the seats, where the students sat was another row, where friends and family members of the students were present as well to see the bestowal.
The freshly-formed guard students wore all their uniforms which consisted of a black vest with a red front and black boots. Their pants were colored in a snow-white tint with a thin black line following up on the side of their legs up to their waist. Each of the students had on their shoulder a black stripe with a golden, thick stripe on it announcing their current ranking.
Rollan sat beside the corridor, next to Pastor, which was reading a letter he had on his hands and he showed it to Marina, who sat next to him afterward he showed it to Rollan as well.
„It's from my grandfather in Granada," Pastor said making Rollan nod.
„He must be proud of you,"
„I wasn't expecting, that I would become a guard at some point of my life and they're really happy to know I did this," Pastor commented making Rollan nod. „Did your mother come?"
„She had walked out from her seat about five minutes ago," Replied Rollan looking back at the guests trying to spot his mom. The students got up and the three friends copied their classmates to look at the front, where the head chief got to the rostrum and grabbed the cone, Roberto placed it on the rostrum to speak into it.
„One year you have all been working hard to learn the basics and the daily routine of a guard. Every one of you mastered this along with the parkour at the academy at Urbanova. Each of you became good in your own way and helped our team out. Good and less good things happened during your experience along your formation, but none of us is perfect or will ever be. The most important is to know, why we're here and why are we doing this. With this, I welcome you all in our professional life and I wish you only the best on your way," Spoke the head leader, then looked at the assistant standing on the side of the stage next to a table, where a large board lied with several medals on it, major of them looking alike with the others and fewer were colored differently.
At the seats Rollan chuckled as he noticed next to Marina a classmate move his finger in front of his face from praying, then Rollan glanced to the other side, where the families were and noticed his mother return looking for a free spot, and behind her came Kai along with Alfida and Gerda looking for free seats. Rollan smiled surprised seeing his friends had appeared to attend his ceremony and looked back at his friends.
„I can't believe Gerda and her friends made it to come to the ceremony," Rollan commented making Marina nod.
„That's great. Another good thing for you on the ceremony," Marina commented earning a nod from the Spaniard, which looked up at the stage to see a finalist got up on stage to receive his medal.
„Fernando will next Monday begin his day working at the castle in Madrid as one of King Esteban's guards. This is a big honor for you," The woman commented making the young man nod. „Along with your horse Migo you'll be there employed along with three other candidates we'll see throughout the ceremony,"
„The next student on our list is Marina. Our first and the only woman joining the guard commune. She made it to the top five students and together with her horse Roni," The assistant announced watching all applaud along, then Marina got up happy and looked at the boys, which gave her a thumb up and additionally Pastor whistled loud seeing Marina get up on stage to receive her medal.
„This young woman here will be one of the four new guards at the kingdom in Madrid. Make yourself a name out there. Show everyone, what you're made off," Commented the assistant sticking on Marina a medal, afterward she took a second one and attached it to Marina's uniform next to the other one.
„ Muchas gracias," Marina responded embracing the woman excited, that smiled at the young woman and patted the girl on the back, and watched her ran down off the stage to pull Rollan and Pastor into a hug.
„Two medals?! Amazing!" Pastor complimented earning a nod from the girl. The trio looked up on stage to see an adult, that had received a medal as a finalist walk down the stage happily and the assistant grabbed the next medal to call the next student.
„Rollan," The assistant called seeing the crowd applaud along with his friends, then Rollan looked to the guests to look for his mother with his friends and waved at them, seeing them smile glad about his call. Rollan got up on stage, then gave the woman his hand to shake and waited for her to pin up the medal on his uniform.
„Rollan's face may be familiar to most of you. He grew up here in Alicante and during his formation, he already stopped a theft and along with a few friends from out here uncovered a trafficking case, which had been located outside of our town for a long while. This is quite impressive for the time you had been attending the academy," The woman told Rollan in front of the stage and picked up a medal to pin it on Rollan's vest. „Like everyone else you receive your medal confirming you're done with your formation and this medal here…."The woman stated picking up a medal, which was a little larger, than the other ones and stung it next to the other medal, then Rollan smiled as he read on it local hero. „I have heard you were able to be partnered with one of the found horses from the trafficking from last year. Before we were able to confirm that his foal Valiente ran through a few medical tests to see if he was suitable and was taken to attend the training, but this you already know," The assistant commented making Rollan nod, then he gazed at his teacher, which was smiling at him and Rollan saluted seeing the adult mirror back his deed.
„Sandro is our next finalist," The assistant commented and Rollan got down to get to his class friends to share a hug and Pastor took a look at Rollan's medal.
„If you had chosen to be working at the castle you would have three by now," Pastor mentioned making Rollan nod.
„You know if my stay here wasn't temporarily I would have thought of accepting in going to Madrid, but I have thought a lot about getting independent and move out to live somewhere with Gerda. At some point when we're both ready to go this road together,"
„Well if you're back there you still can work as a guard somewhere. You've got those medals and you can get from Roberto a reference letter. That will help you out a lot there," Pastor commented.
„Pastor is right," Marina agreed, then watched Rollan glance back to the seat row his mom sat with his friends, then Rollan walked to his mother, which smiled and Rollan embraced the woman happy.
„Congratulations, Rollan," Wished Alfida looking at the black-haired boy, then felt Luta got up on her shoulder down from Kai's lap to look at the finalist.
„Felicidades! I'm so happy about you," Commented the mother, then Rollan got down on his knees to look at his non-Spanish friends.
„I can't believe you made it to get here just to see the ceremony," Rollan commented.
„Well, you better say it was worth it. I'm wasting half of my holiday vacation just on flying," Alfida commented.
„I'm fine. I've got no job yet," Kai added making Gerda snicker.
„I took some vacation days too. I saved them up on purpose, so I could be able to come here without any problem," Gerda commented watching Rollan come down to hug her and the younger brother.
„Congratulations, man," Said Kai smacking Rollan on his back making him chuckle, then he took his arms off Kai and moved his knees up to reach Gerda for a hug, which they let take longer.
„I missed you so much, Gerda. All these letters couldn't replace your non-presence around me. They could just help me know you were supporting me this entire time too,"
„Now I'm here with you," Gerda stated shoving her hand behind his head through his hair. „We will celebrate with you the degree,"
„Oh, by the way, Marina's parents offered Pastor and me to bring our guests to their house for dinner, so we could all celebrate," Rollan mentioned looking up at his mother and the friends sitting next to his girlfriend.
„Oh what's for dinner?" Questioned Kai curious making Rollan shrug his shoulders.
„I don't know," Responded Rollan. „They just invited us,"
„Food is food," Alfida replied. „Let us get surprised,"
„Hehe, good idea," Commented Rollan looking at the crowd, then saw Marina move her hand to call Rollan back to their crowd, then Rollan nodded and gave the friends a short smile before returning to his place.
At night the friends sat together during dinner having a good time together enjoying each one's company. Gerda, which had eaten everything from her plate watched vice versa to her on the table Pastor scoop out a small portion of Paella onto his plate. Gerda grabbed her plate and got up to wait for her turn, then Pastor noticed Gerda and offered her to scoop it out for her.
„Shall I?" Questioned the raven-haired boy earning a nod from the girl, which reached the boy the plate watching him drop two scoops on her plate and Gerda took it back to her.
„Muchas Gracias," Gerda responded making Pastor chuckle at Gerda's pronunciation of the words. Gerda watched her boyfriend fill up his cup with water to take a sip from it, then Gerda reached her hand to grab the jar and gaze at the Spaniard. „You're not hungry anymore?"
„I'm fine. Paella isn't really a dish I enjoy eating a lot," Rollan mentioned earning a nod from the girlfriend.
„Really? I didn't find it bad," Gerda replied. „I actually enjoyed it,"
„Well that means you will like the Paella my mom makes a lot,"
„Does she make that dish a lot of times?"
„When I was younger I remember. The last time I ate Paella was almost two years ago. As I wasn't such a fan of it my mom decided to make rice instead for dinner,"
„For me, this is an interesting change of taste,"
„I understand you…...and hey, I could ask my mother for the recipe and do this for you or your family once, when we're together. I know more or less how it's done,"
„You don't have to do that," Gerda mentioned placing her hand on Rollan's, then looked at his uniform and took a closer look at his medals, making Rollan smile proud. „You must be so happy, that you've got your formation all behind your back now,"
„Yes, I do. Also that my mom and I are now out of the debt is also a big plus. I have offered her each month about a third from my earnings for her to keep it aside for any emergency and will try to do the same while I am back in Scandinavia making my life,"
„Haven't you ever thought about the possibility of your mother to come with you up to us, so she wouldn't be alone here?"
„Oh uh actually not," Responded Rollan. „I haven't thought about it,"
„You really should make her that offer. It's the best for both of you to be near each other with the absence of your dad,"
„I will ask her right now," Mentioned the Spaniard getting up from his seat and walked to the end of the table, where his mother sat together with Marina's parents, then Rollan bowed his knees to have eye contact with the woman. „Mama, can I ask you something?"
„What do you need, niño?" The raven-haired woman asked, then Rollan sat on the bench right next to her.
„You remember, that I talked about around the time I would finish the course I would go back to Gerda and the others, right?"
„Si,"
„Look Gerda suggested me this idea since I'm leaving…..you should come along with me too, so we wouldn't be far away from each other," Rollan offered. „It would be easier for both of us I believe. If you're sick or need help I'm near and can always pass by, when I got time. When you're here and I'm away it's hard to find a way to get the way all down here, mostly if it has to be fast. You won't also be alone when you come with me. I'll be there, Gerda and Kai will be there as well and you'll meet other people along the kingdom, which you will like,"
„I'm not sure about the idea. I have been so used in being my entire life here I can't really imagine my life somewhere else,"
„I understand that mama, but…...look you wouldn't be alone there like you're here….by that I mean mainly because of me and soon Gerda. As you know I'm looking forward to starting a new life along with her, if she accepts it as well. You can live your life just like you did here, you could as well if you're interested in making a little bit of money sew clothing or anything alike to sell it. Or sell textile crafts like Artur's mother,"
„Your suggestion doesn't sound bad at all if I have to be honest,"
„And if you need it, Gerda's parents can display two things or three at their shop, so people get to know about your offerings," Suggested Rollan. „I would just need to ask them,"
„I think I'm going to accept your offer, Rollan. I would be really happy to see you more often and at the same time I wouldn't want you to stay here because of me only when you had started your life somewhere else,"
„You're the best, mama," Rollan commented and placed his arm around her mother's back and lied his chin over her head. „Me te gusta,"
„You're such an idiot, Pastor!" Shouted Marina earning Rollan's attention, which looked at Marina, which stood up on her feet looking at her table mate, that was chuckling and Gerda sat across them looking surprised at the two.
„Why are you overreacting? It was obvious anyway," Pastor commented and got splashed with the water of the girl, making Rollan furrow his eyebrows.
„What's happening?" Questioned Rollan looking at Alfida, which was laughing at the incident, then she looked at Rollan nodded waiting for Rollan to question her again. „Why did she do that?"
„Apparently Marina had been crushing on you this entire time and never said anything," Alfida explained making Rollan furrow his eyebrows.
„Really? I have never noticed that," Rollan commented looking at Marina, which had begun to pick up the empty plates to avoid getting questions from the others on the table. „Would it make sense to offer her a hand?" Questioned Rollan, then saw Marina's father shake his head.
„Eh I would leave her for this moment on her own just in case," Commented the adult making Rollan shrug his shoulders and take the plates around him to make a small pile, watching the rest wait for the girl to retrieve the plates.
Gerda sat with her legs crossed at the hill gazing at the ocean alone after dinner. Gerda had over her legs a wrapped-up package, which she held with her hands close to her. Behind her, Rollan showed up carrying two middle-sized plates with brown-colored Caramel flan, then got down on his knees and showed her one of the desserts.
„Are you interested in one of those?" Questioned Rollan making Gerda smile and accept it. „It's Caramel,"
„Thank you," Gerda responded, then Rollan sat down handing his girlfriend out one of the forks.
„It was a quite long day, right?" Questioned Rollan taking a scoop of his dessert and glanced at the blonde.
„It was alright," Replied Gerda. „I assume those type of days usually seem longer than they look,"
„This formation year felt so long for me. Mostly the start of it. It felt like an eternity for me when they were passing by, but now I'm here hours after my graduation. That was a tough year, but it was worth it,"
„I'm glad you made it through it," Gerda admitted leaning her chin on his shoulder rolling her eyes up at the boy. „You deserved it after the amount of hard effort you've put into it"
„Re-reading our letters on the times I felt down helped me as well to keep on moving. When my mom couldn't help me out you did,"
„He's here Alberto!" Shouted a voice, then the couple looked back to see a child appear there with a large smile on his face and a smaller boy showed up to see the two.
„Hola Niños," Rollan greeted the boys neutrally, then the youngest boy ran at Rollan and hoped at Rollan's back.
„I wanted to congratulate you on your medals," Alberto the little boy commented. „Rollan is the guy, who saved our cat last time from the broken tree,"
„Broken tree?" Questioned Gerda watching Rollan drop his dessert down and pull the boy on his lap to frizzle the kid's hair.
„Oh you know about a few weeks ago, we had a heavy rainfall and one of the lightings had broken a tree and locked up his cat in a small gap, then was unable to climb out," Rollan explained.
„Rollan is the coolest guy in town. When I'm older I want to be like him…..do you think this is possible?" Questioned the boy making Rollan nod.
„Sure, if I were you I would start to practice on your sports skill soon. When you're closer to the age you're able to attend the academy you would be at least in form. Focus on this and later on when you're old enough to own a sword or at least a little saber you can as well practice a little with it. Just don't do what I used to do, when I was younger, messing with actual criminals. I didn't die, but it's not a good idea. I'm talking of experience," Rollan explained making Gerda chuckle.
„You're the best Rollan," Commented the boy giving Rollan another hug, while Rollan patted the boy's back.
"De nada, niño,"
„Come Alberto or mama will scold us," Warned the older boy earning a nod from Alberto, which waved at Rollan and ran along with the younger sibling away leaving Rollan back with his girlfriend.
„Aww the way you handled the little fanboy was sweet," Gerda mentioned with a giggle making Rollan smile sheepishly at the girl.
„After what happened back on the Suburbs of Alicante a few kids have heard about it and had been talking to me a lot and asking for advice. It actually feels cool, when young kids idolize you for something you did. Isn't that what the kids did to you and Kai as well?"
„More or less. Some almost killed us in some places. They were worse than some singers' fangirls,"
„Right…..wait that one last time on the day we've met at Orm's house, they had broken your portrait of your parents Kai recently made, right?"
„By accident, but still. It was sad," Commented the blonde looking down at her pack, remembering, that she had it with her.
„At least it wasn't done on purpose," Rollan commented, the saw Gerda held up her wrapped-up pack at the boy. „What's that?"
„A gift for you for your graduation," Explained the girl, making Rollan smile and take it.
„You didn't need to do that," Rollan responded watching Gerda take a scoop from her dessert.
„I know, but I thought you would like it," Commented the teenage girl, then Rollan removed the cloth off the pack to reveal two small pieces of canvas, which was two paintings. The first one was the exact same portrait Rollan owned before it was destroyed. Rollan moved the one from the back to the front to see it was a painting of him together with Gerda standing next to each other smiling. „Kai painted them by following his mind only. It turned out pretty good, didn't it?"
„Your brother really is a fantastic painter," Rollan commented wrapping the gifts back, then pulled the girl into his arms to peck her on the forehead. „Gracias, mi Amor,"
„De nada, cariño," Answered the girlfriend smiling enchanted at the Spaniard, then closed her eyes along with him going in for a kiss, and from the ground appeared the weasel Luta, which jumped at Rollan's shoulder and leaned her nose on Rollan's ear causing him to snicker and jerk with his shoulders as he felt the pet's wet nose in the ear.
„Ey!" Complained Rollan making the weasel chuckle, which jumped at the arms of Gerda, which patted the weasel on the back as she got down on her lap. „Why did you do that?" Rollan asked watching the weasel sniff on Gerda's empty plate, then she moved on to Rollan's, which still had a bit of flan on it, then Rollan shoves the plate forward and nodded at the weasel, which smiled and analyzed the dessert before she tasted it.
„Can weasels eat that?" Questioned Rollan making Gerda shrug her shoulders, then Luta lied down on the ground ignoring the dessert and look forward at the ocean, then Rollan exchanged looks with Gerda and he placed his arm behind her back, then she leaned her head on his shoulder and observed along with the raven-haired boy the ocean, which mirrored the reflection of the full moon above the shallow. Further on the two hang there together until late in the night, soon both fell asleep while their friends still were sitting at the dinner table chatting loud not noticing their lovebirds had been gone for a little while.
The End.
My first fanfic in this fandom and it was okay I think. I'm so not used to navigate in times before the 21/10th Century and at the same time the Snow Queen franchise doesn't have a specific century set, but it's obvious to be a fantasy world and that they're in a time, science and future progress are advancing fast. I've set 1900+ as a time focus, but it, not 100% correct and hard to research. Issue no. 2 is only the location of King Harald's kingdom or the character's native language. The troll kingdom is most likely to be the Norway as the "canyon", where you see the kingdom is inspired by the Trolltunga in Norway. I'm would at least want to know, if Gerda and Co. are really supposed to be Russian characters or like in the books from Scandinavian ethnicity (I forgot what the book said lol), I'm sorry if this doesn't follow quite the franchise to 90%.
Future plans? I have no idea where to start, so I'll leave it for now and do a small break and you'll see, what I'm up to, when I make my next update. Probably I'll do an one shot or two, just to tick them off my head.