Chapter 18

Orm walked with Hendrick along the museum with the Buhund Finn looking at portraits of previous troll rulers, that owned the palace behind Queen Maribel's time.

"Oh, you see that troll over there? That's Maribel's great-uncle, the previous King that was against my grandmother being around her son," Orm commented. "Or at least by the way his beard looks like,"

"It's odd for me to see animals with facial hair like that….it's so unusual,"

"Gypsy horses can have facial hair as well and they're animals too,"
"…...Okay…..you're got a point," Commented Hendrick. "Oh, I was going to ask you this before. How did you and Arrog deal with keeping the monarchy under your name?"

"Legally as they're alive the name of the kingdom goes to him and Maribel. One thing that saved us from something more difficult to deal with was if Arrog and Maribel would have been King and Queen of Norway," Mentioned Orm.

"Oh that would have been tough," Mentioned Hendrick making Orm nod, then the trio took a turn to the next hall to encounter the troll triplets play with the couch pillows and Maribel sat on the couch reading a magazine curiously.

"Your majesty, what kind of book are you reading there?" Asked the troll, then Maribel showed him images of celebrity couples.

"Two famous humans were hiding their relationship apparently and someone found it out," Spoke Maribel. "At least, that's what I think it is. It doesn't say anything,"
"Okay. Where's Arrog?" Questioned Orm, then she pointed at the balcony, where King Arrog stood looking over the place and Orm made his way out of the room with his friend to meet the taller troll. "Your majesty, I'm here," Commented Orm, then Arrog moved his head signaling Orm to approach thereafter Orm leaned his arms on the railing.

"Have you thought about the deal?" Asked Orm making Arrog shake his head.

"You know it's a big thing to decide in a short period of time," Commented Arrog. "For the moment, I'm really glad our conversation with these humans went well. I just feel there is something wrong here,"

"Maybe you're right," Stated Orm. "Hey uh we forgot to mention about our guards, that remain frozen around the castle. Shouldn't we try to thaw them?"

"I'm waiting until we get in contact with the Björgmans," Responded Arrog. "At the moment it's important to know, what's up next,"

Hendrick got to the other side, standing vice versa to Orm, then faked a cough to earn the attention of the two trolls.

"After all these days, I'm fearing what might come to us in the future. Humankind isn't lately tolerant of changes or new things. I've noticed this decade to be worse than the ones before. The world is getting cruel,"

"The world is what you make it," Commented Arrog remembering this quote from Gerda on the night she and his army came together to invade the snow palace. "Our world lacks on good leadership and good people,"

"Are you referring to this, that humans might not accept our existence?" Orm asked making Hendrick nod.

"Or worse as you're a special kind of sort in this decade, certain types of people may want to put an eye on you and take you under their gun," Mentioned Hendrick. Around the world, there are such kind of cases with other types of animals, that are rare"

"Okay,"

"I don't want to scare you, I'm just speaking this, so you can be careful with people here in the future,"

"For the moment we have come to this conclusion, that we are open from Fridays to Sundays. I don't have any royal duties for now and our second conversation will follow soon again. Until there both of us can have new ideas,"

"What will be about the triplets?" Questioned Orm. "Will they be part of these visits?"

"At the moment, they're planned," Added Arrog. "But if Henry says, danger can be around I'll keep them back,"

"Cubs are out there on these black markets prone to be kidnapped. They provide these people more money and are usually easier to catch," Commented Hendrick.

"Your beginning to make me despise your kind. But to your luck I'm comprehensive and have met good human connections like you or Gerda and her friends," The King said making the human nod along with Orm.

"Gerda…...she must be so sad and confused right now all on her own," Commented Orm tragic, while Arrog placed his hand on Orm's shoulder listen to his mourn.

"This is amazing!" Shouted Gerda looking through the window at the highest spot of the Eiffel tower, which she was taken to by her friends Rose and Juleka. "I didn't think this would be so….wow!"

"I knew you would love it," Commented Rose happy. "Wait until you see the entire city by night. That is the most romantic experience you'll ever have, right Juleka?" Asked Rose making Juleka nod a little embarrassed.

"I think more if you have a….special someone," Commented Juleka turning a little pink, then looked away making Gerda chuckle noticing Juleka's shy reaction.

"Yeah, that sounds to be true," Gerda admitted. "And the restaurants here are very expensive if you ever wanted to have a romantic dinner with a special someone,"

"It really is," Commented Rose. "My dad took my mom once her on their 12th anniversary of marriage. It was supposed to be on their tenth, but they had no luck in making reservations on their day until 2017,"

"That must have been one of the best evenings they had," Mentioned Gerda making Rose nod.

"Yes it was according to my mom," The French girl said. Rose widened her eyes and nudged Gerda with her thighs to get her attention. "Luka told me he saw you talking with Rollan the other day on the houseboat. Did something happen between you?"

"You're serious Rose?" Asked Gerda chuckling making the girl nod. "He questioned me how I was feeling. We chatted a little bit and I got to know a wee bit about him," Responded the Scandinavian girl. "I got to know, that when he was younger his father passed away on a shipwreck on the sea,"

"Oh no,"

"He admitted it sometimes feels good to talk about it,"

"It sometimes does. Most of the people just can't talk about it out of fear or solely because it's hard for them to do so,"

"Yeah,"

"So you spoke to him about how you lost your parents on ice,"

"Yes, this happened a long while ago and along with my brother, we tried to make something out of us without our parents around for us. Kai was the only family I've had and I've lost him too,"

"How was your brother…..oh wait I think he reminded us of our Nathaniel, right?" Asked Rose making Gerda nod.

"Yeah, incredibly talented artist," Noticed the girl. "He's able to paint with a brush portrait of human and animals,"

"Nath only uses color pencils and small felt tip pens. He says felt tip pens are a little hard for him, cause he messes his drawing up when he accidentally passes with his fist around his drawing,"

"I like its color more than the one of the pencils, but I admit it's not easy to use without damaging your artwork," Confessed Gerda, then beside the trio ran a boy to a man, that was taking a picture from the city.

"Dad, dad, mum saw the ice vendor down there!" Said the boy grabbing the man by the hand. "We have to go down there,"

"Oh, have you ever eaten ice cream?" Asked Rose making Gerda shake her head. "Good, then you have to come down with us, I pay you a scoop,"

"Oh, but I've got the money," Mentioned Gerda making Rose shake her head.

"I know, I'm offering you that. Next time you can do the same if you want," Suggested the short-haired blonde, making Gerda nod.

The girls had left the Eiffel tower to get to the ice vendor, which was the well-known André. Known as the matchmaker. According to many citizens, a large amount of couples there had gotten together.

"André is like a clairvoyant, but with ice. He uses his ice variations to make an ideal combination for you and the funny part of it, those combinations match with your soulmate,"

"That sounds a little ridiculous," Commented Gerda a little unbelievable about the story. "

"It does perhaps, but who knows? Juleka is going to give it a try. She has never been here," Rose commented. "You want to go first?" Asked Rose, then Juleka moved forward to the cart and greeted the ice vendor.

"I'd like chocolate ice….." Commented Juleka, then Rose stood beside the tall girl and waved at the vendor.

"Oh it's you…..the little girl that visited with Prince Ali the pediatric hospital," André spoke with a bright smile as he recognized the young girl. "Is that your friend?"

"Yeah, that's my best friend Juleka," Commented Rose. "We've been friends since the daycare center,"

"Ah very lovely…..what about I make your friend a combination rather than giving her a simple ice?" Asked André making Rose nod and look at the tall girl, which shrugged her shoulders.

"There you go, one Cherry ice ball for the excitement with chocolate sprinkles, green tea-ice for balance and harmony and last for the trust a thick dark-blue scoop blueberry," André announced building his ice, then handed it out at Juleka, which widened her ice at the portion, she received.

"Wow," Commented Juleka about the large portion. "I don't think I can eat all that alone,"
"If you want, we can share," Suggested Rose. "I was hoping for a smaller portion,"

"Until next time, I'll figure out a sort, that will be ideal for you," André commented making Rose smile, then she looked back at Gerda, which stepped forward.

"Hello," Greeted Gerda, then Rose placed her hand on the friend's arm.

"This is Gerda, our new friend in town," Introduced Rose. "She's the one, who had been stuck in ice for years,"

"Ah, I heard about you in a few meetings here. You're doing well so far?" Questioned the man making Gerda shrug her shoulders.

"I'm trying my best," Responded Gerda.

"I have so many combinations in my head, I could give you, but you're probably here for sightseeing, right?" Asked the man making Gerda nod.

"Well so far I know we're not done yet,"

"Alright, I'll have an offer. You pick a number between 1 and 20 and I'll pick out for you one of the combinations I've got in my hand,"

"I pick seven," Commented Gerda watching the man create for her his combination.

"The touch of you beloved feels as warm as sand. This is the most pleasing aspect in your eyes. His eyes, dark like chestnuts. Safety and Comfort you'll always find when needed," Built André the ice cream by adding dark-yellow mango scoop on the cone, followed by milk chocolate. "This relationship won't be accepted by many friends of you, but what they don't count with your future partner's perseverance in fighting all his way to earn the people's respect," Commented the ice maker adding a strawberry flavored scoop on top of the others, afterward added black sprinkles on top of it.

"What could possibly make friends like us not accept Gerda's choice?" Questioned Rose looking at Juleka, which shrugged her shoulders.

"Good question," Responded Gerda watching Rose ponder about it.

"He didn't talk about us doing that," Mentioned Juleka making Gerda nod.

"No, he didn't,"

"This could be…..Gerda will find more friends in the future and they won't accept it," Rose mentioned making Gerda shrug her shoulders.

"Or it's specified about my friends in the youth home," Pointed Gerda out. "I thought it's not so bad,"

"Well, it isn't. Just kind of odd to think about that," Rose commented. "I couldn't imagine hating you or Juleka. Or hate the person you would go out with unless it was a jerk, maybe,"

"I don't think I would ever date a jerk. Or fall in love with one in the first place," Gerda commented. "At least I don't think I would,"

"Who knows…..hey….maybe you will fall in love with someone from another country or maybe religion?" Rose noticed. "Or do you know, what people don't accept nowadays? Same-gender relationships,"

"Same-gender relationships?" Asked Gerda bewildered. "Does that exist?"

"Yes," Responded Rose, then looked at Juleka, which avoided eye contact with the best friend swallowing hard. "Ask Juleka. She will say the same," Commented Rose watching Juleka nod hasty. "See?"

"Uh okay…...you mean it's totally okay, that a girl can fall in love with another girl and the same with the boys?"

"Yes. Already when I was young I heard a lot of people talking about how wrong that is, but that's not wrong. At the end of the day, it's still love, no matter who the person is," Rose stated. "The issue is, not all people understand it and think being in love with someone of the same gender is sick, but it's not. Even my dad thinks this way sadly," Commented Rose making Juleka gasp in shock. "Just imagine how he would react thinking I would go home and say I was a lesbian or something,"

"Hmm…...I guess this would make sense, but I don't understand one thing. How does it come, that you fall in love with someone of the same gender?" Questioned Gerda. "In my time we never had experienced this kind of relationship,"

"Anything else people have finally accepted it with the time, but this same-gender relationship hasn't been accepted everywhere,"

"Okay. With the time people will get to understand it," Gerda said, watching Rose pay the ice cream maker, then approached her best friend.

"Shall we eat the ice together?" Asked Rose noticing Juleka a little sad. "You're okay,"

"Yes I'm just a little….shocked how people don't accept this," Juleka spoke making Rose nod.

"You're right, Jule," Rose agreed patting the friend on the arm, then took the plastic spoon out of the ice to scoop out a bit of the ice, while Juleka looked at the friend neutrally and Gerda tilted her head noticing, that something was up with Juleka. Gerda looked back at her ice and tasted the chocolate-flavored ice bit, which she liked after the taste.

Rollan had the task to vacuum the apartment of the Hemmings and spent the last part of it inside the living room, where the twins sat on the couch playing video games. Rollan bowed down to shove the brush under the couch.

"Watch out for the banana!" Warned Jake making Jett laugh.

"Ah ha!" Laughed Jett, then watched Rollan get up and watch the crooked part of the top of the brush fall off, making Rollan furrow his eyebrows and put it back together.

"Rollan, is this your last work?" Asked Jake making Rollan nod and continue to the end of the room. Jake shrieked as he crashed with his cart into a wall in the video game, then moved further.

"I hate driving against Monkey Kong. He always kicks me out of the road," Commented Jett serious getting back into the road after he was pushed away by another cart.

"Mitt Matt is worse," Complained Jake. "He always gets the best power-ups," Added Jake making his sibling nod.

Rollan finished vacuuming the room, then took the cable back into the vacuum, then carried it back to store it back.

"Watch out Jake, Fish Head is going to catch you up," Warned the brother, making Jake nod and Rollan returned into the living room to see the two boys play.

"What are you two doing?" Asked Rollan. "This is new to me,"

"We're playing a video game," Replied Jett "Wanna play with us?"

"I don't know, how to play video game," Rollan commented making the boys chuckle, then one of the boys paused the game to leave it. Jett got up to pick from the furniture under the TV to pick up a wireless gaming controller and handed it out to Rollan, then pulled him to sit down on the couch between the boys.

"Jake will put for us to be able to be three players. You're number three," Instructed Jett then Rollan looked at the controller and got curious at the joysticks, that could be moved around.

"Fascinante" Commented Rollan, then Jett leaned his head under Rollan's arm to look at him, then Rollan got embarrassed and leaned back on the couch, making the boy chuckle.

"Okay, now it's your time to pick a driver. Can you see down there the little words with the keys of your controller?" Asked Jett making Rollan nod.

"Oh are they the guidance?" Questioned Rollan, then moved the joystick to switch characters.

"You can also use the arrows to go slower,"

"Okay," Responded the Spaniard using the arrows instead, so he could check out every character he could find and stopped at a racer, which was a green ogre. "I don't know, but I'm picking this one,"

"Good," Commented Jett, then the three watched the screen move on to the next screen and Jake moved back to the first level, which had a short racing track. He adjusted the racing settings, then pressed start seeing the loading screen appear, showing a gray bar being filled with a green color.

"You play the game like this, the left joystick here you use to guide your vehicle. The X button you have to press to drive the car, the circle you use to brake, the square you use it to drive back and the triangle is to release a power-up, which you catch during the game,"

"And what's a power-up?" Asked Rollan.

"You will see during the game boxes, which you can break with your car, and on the right corner, it shows you the power-up you received. If you press the triangle your car drops it and depending on the power-up you can put other racers in danger or it helps you,"

"Okay I see what I can do," Rollan commented, then saw the loading screen had disappeared and their characters had shown up along with five others, then Rollan watched the boy hold the X button to make their vehicles rev up. Rollan pressed his X button too, then saw the wheels of his car produce smoke behind his car, making him confused and look at the other two, which were doing the same. "Our cars are about to catch fire,"

"No, they're not," Responded Jake with a chuckle. "They always do that at the start. I don't know, I have to ask dad why,"
"Okay," Rollan said watching on TV the countdown go from 3 back to 1, then the game announced the racers to start and all cars started along with Rollan, which looked up at the three split-screens, that had shown up and got confused. "Uh, why do I appear 3 times?" Asked Rollan seeing on Jake and Jeff's side a part of his car racing beside a Crocodile character.

"You have to watch the third slide on the right side. That's how you orientate yourself," Jake instructed watching Rollan crash with his car against a wall outside of the curve.

"I crashed against a wall. What do I have to do?" Asked Rollan, then Jett pointed at the square button and Rollan pressed it to see his car drive backward on the road, making Rollan smile. "Ah gracias," Thanked Rollan, then pressed the X button and drove along the curve carefully while using the joystick to stay on the road.

"And….how are you doing?" Asked Jett making Rollan shrug his shoulders.

"Not bad I think," Rollan said, then he saw a box show up outta nowhere in front of his car, then Rollan broke the box and received a power up on the corner of his split-screen.

"Now you've got a power-up. That power-up creates an ice field under a player you drive behind. When you drive behind one, click on the square button,"

"Okay,"

"Look drive behind that ice bear, then press the button" Commanded Jett then Rollan followed the mentioned car, afterward as he got closer to the car he used the square button to make under his car an ice field get shot out under the opponent's car, causing it to slip away. "That's it!"

"Ah that's actually pretty helpful," Commented Rollan, then encountered another box and broke it, while beside him another racer stole another box beside him. Rollan received a rocket, then got curious about the object he received.

"What?"

"Don't worry. It just makes the car crash somewhere," Commented Jake, then pressed on the button to show Rollan the use of it, then the two observed the missile automatically attach its aim on a car, which belonged to Jett and he was able to see on his split-screen a warning about the rocket.

"Hey!" Shouted Jett driving in slalom, then he crashed against another driver and got hit by the rocket. "That wasn't fair!"

"You have hit Jett, that's good," Jake complimented making Rollan smile a little.

"I did…..cool," Spoke Rollan making the boys nod.

From the bureau, where Rollan overnights his smartphone started to ring and the kids put it on pause to hear it.

"Is it dad?" Asked Jett, then Rollan got up to get the smartphone and attended it.

"Hello Mr. Hemming," Greeted Rollan.

"Hi, Rollan. Can you do me a favor?" Asked Arthur.

"Si, I can"

"Can you go into the bureau and look for the dark-green case and come down to the entrance? I need to bring it to work and I've forgotten it,"

"Of course and you're waiting there at the entrance?"

"Yeah, I'm almost there. Don't worry," Responded Arthur.

"Good I'm going to get it," Rollan responded.

"Thanks and...how are the boys doing?"

"They're good. Oh uh and they're teaching me something new. They call it video game and it kind of looks funny,"

"Oh really?"

"Si, they're really kind. They seem to be appreciating this with me,"

"My boys are starting to like you a lot Rollan. I'm not often around to play with them anything,"

"That's a little sad,"

"I'm seeing forward to take them out somewhere someday or just be together with them like fathers should do with their sons,"

"You're working hard to give your sons a good life. Just like…. my dad used to,"

"It's my issue and I shouldn't exaggerate on it. I just keep doing the same mistake over and over again,"

"Si….uhm…."

"I'm here waiting for the case. We can continue after I'm back if you're okay with,"

"Sure, I'll be there," Rollan said, then watched the phone call being taken down by the Swede and Rollan took a look at the secretary of the man to look for the specific case.