"I don't know what you're talking about, Tino. I'm completely calm," mutters Lukas after he quickly casted a spell to keep Dagny from hearing them. "You're upset and you were going to make her and Tino upset," said Berwald. "I wasn't getting that upset…" mumbles Tino defensively. "We're all upset! Let's at least agree on that. But getting mad won't help us right now. We need to find out more about what's going on here and come up with a realistic plan!" said Mathias, quickly taking charge.
Lukas just nodded and sat in a nearby chair. "I can't believe this is happening," he mumbled to himself. "You didn't know. None of us did. We're going to try to fix this," said Tino, attempting to be optimistic. He shook his head. "You don't know, Tino. She has a prophecy. Trying to undo the prophecy would only cause it to be that much more catestrophic. This woman she's talking about...She could already be toying with her and we wouldn't even know it!" said Lukas, hands shaking slightly.
Mathias. "It'd be nearly impossible to do anything unless we had an idea of what her end game was...or if we at least had an idea of what she's like. We could ask Dagny, but if Aiyanna is the reason she's aging so fast, it might not be a smart idea….Ooh I know! We ask Dagny to arrange a way for us to meet her! It doesn't even have to be formal. We could just 'coincidentally' bump into her on a hunting trip or something!" he said.
"..We'd just have to keep Lukas calm long enough for us to be able to talk," said Tino, noticing how Lukas kept balling up his fists. "She might be the reason Dagny is dying," growled Lukas. "We don't know that," said Berwald simply, crossing his arms. "It could be coincidence. For all we know she's trying to help Dagny. She did help Dagny bond to that bear. That isn't a bad thing," said Tino optimistically.
"It's a bad sign! I thought we went over that!" hissed Lukas. Mathias frowned at his friend's lost of composure. "Lukas, we're going to set up a peaceful meeting and try to talk this out. We won't jump to action if we aren't sure there is a need for any. What do you think Tino, Waldy?" asked Mathias. Berwald's eye twitched at the nickname but he just nodded in agreement with what Mathias said. "I agree...I don't want to fight someone and find out they were innocent," said Tino gently, putting a hand on Lukas's shoulder.
Lukas sighed. "I'll do some research. It was your idea so you figure out the details of your little meeting," he said before walking out of the room. Mathias waited until he left. "Poor guy. He's new at this big brother thing. He obviously really needs my help. It takes a big brother to help a big brother," he said. Tino nodded. "He does seem pretty upset. But I'm sure he'll be okay. There's no for sure thing right now," he said.
"Well, let's call lil' Dagger," said Mathias, making Tino chuckle at the stupid nickname. Berwald frowned. 'Someone should stop letting Mathias come up with nicknames,' he thought. "Dagny!" shouted Mathias. He shouted for her a couple of times before he realized Lukas didn't take the spell off of them. "Lukas!" he started shouting, blinking when he didn't get a response from him. "I'll get him," said Tino.
Tino knocked on Lukas's door and frowned when there was no response. He opened the door and found that Lukas was surrounded by a pile of books, reading. Lukas scowled as he looked up. "Did Mathias already manage to break something in the five minutes I've been gone?" he asked. "N-No we were just wondering if you could take the spell off so we could call your sister," said Tino politely.
"Right. Sorry," said Lukas, putting the book in a troll's hand. Tino didn't mention anything about the book suddenly starting to float, deciding that he didn't need to know. Lukas poked his head into the living room, muttered a counterspell, and walked away. "It should be fixed now. Sorry about that. Let me know if you guys have any new developments," he mumbled as he went back to his room. Tino nodded and returned to the others.
Mathias called Dagny and turned to Berwald. "Welp, at least she's not freaking out. I don't know what I'd do with two of our group so upset," he said. Tino nodded and smiled at Dagny. "I'm glad that the dress fits. We had a few questions. Lukas is doing some research so that's why he's not here," he said quickly. Dagny pet Kuma, who's fur had suddenly grown in within the past hour to match Dagny's growth spurt. "What questions?" she asked.
"Do you think you can figure out a way to arrange for us to meet with Aiyanna? Either formally or informally? We want to meet her and see if it would help us better understand what's going on here," said Mathias. Dagny blinked but nodded slightly. "I know some places where she hunts...But if she thinks you're sneaking up on her or something I don't think she'd be very happy. She might think you're spying or going to try to attack her...At least she didn't seem to like it when I do it," she said.
"Do you think you can convince her to meet with us then?" asked Tino. Dagny sighed. "I don't know...She doesn't really seem to like the idea of you guys being here...I almost feel like she only put up with me because I was a little kid...but I might be able to convince her. It'd be pretty tough unless…" her eyes widened as she trailed off. "Unless what?!" asked Mathias, grinning if Dagny had a mischevious idea at hand.
"...I can ask Grandma if she's willing to help us convince Native America to meet with us peacefully…" said Dagny. "What?!" asked Tino, eyes widening. "You know Grandma?! Please tell me she's the kind that makes cookies!" said Mathais excitedly. "Um...I don't think so?" she said slowly, confused as to where that came from. "When do you think you can talk to Grandma?" asked Berwald, putting a hand on Mathias's head to keep him from jumping up and down excitedly like a puppy.
"Probably pretty soon...but we'll want to do it in the forest where no one might walk in on us. I'll go grab Lukas and see if he wants to come with us. She can probably answer some of his questions if he has any," said Dagny before running off to her brother's room. "Did you know she knew Grandma?" asked Tino quietly. Berwald shook his head. "Human grandmas are awesome. Do you think ours will knit us presents?" asked Mathias.
A grumpy Lukas followed Dagny into the living room. "So we're going to go visit Grandma?" he asked. "Yeah and she's gonna have cookies!" exclaimed Mathias. Tino sighed and Berwald snorted. "Ideally. Ideally she'll have cookies," corrected Mathias, jumping up and down under Berwald's hand. "Let's just get this over with. I need to keep studying...though I guess I wouldn't mind asking her a few questions," said Lukas.
"Get your good boots and coats. We're gonna have to walk a bit to get to a place wild and far away enough from the tribe and settlement to be able to contact her," instructed Dagny. Lukas glanced at the now too small coat he had made for her earlier before handing her his coat. "I'll use Mathias's old coat," he told her before she could protest. Mathias nodded. "She's gonna need boots too," he said.
"I think I can lend her a pair. They might be a bit big though," said Tino before rushing out of the cabin to grab them. He and Mathias came back a couple of minutes later. Lukas shrugged on the boots. "Why do we need to go to the middle of the woods to meet her?" asked Lukas. Dagny slipped on the slighly too large boots. "Because she can't communicate as well if she isn't surrounded by nature. I don't think she can if she isn't in nature. That and I don't want the settlers freaking out if they saw her," she said.
"Is she really that old?" asked Mathias. "Take a second to rethink that question considering our Grandma is Earth," said Lukas. "And you're over a couple of centuries old yourself Den," said Tino with a chuckle. Dagny shrugged. "It's hard to describe...You'll just have to see for yourself," she said. "It's time like these that I'm able to see how much you two are alike," said Mathias with a smirk. Both Lukas and Dagny made a face at him before heading out.
They ignored the mumblings of the people they passed by on their way to the forest. "Who's that lady with chief's advisors? I don't think I've seen her around," muttered a middle-aged woman carrying back water from the well. "She kinda looks like Dagny," said her daughter. "Don't be silly dear. Dagny is your age...I think," said the mother, frowning a little in confusion.
"Welp, there goes my spell. Let's get out of here before we have a mob on our hands," mumbled Lukas quietly to the others. They shuffled towards the forest a lot quicker after that. "..What do we do about them when we get back?" asked Dagny. Lukas sighed. "I'll probably have to cast another spell...Or tell them it the truth. I don't know what people usually do with settlements this far from home. At least before we could go home for a few years and come back saying we were someone's grandkids," he responded.
"He's had to recharge the spell everytime you had a growthspurt. I was starting to wonder if we should worry about their brains," said Mathais. "Well...A handful of them know what we really are...I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell everyone else. I mean, we are the reason we survived the trip here. And we even helped set up the camp and build the houses," said Tino. "It could work," nodded Berwald.
After a half an hour, Dagny found a clearing with a log they could sit on. "This should be a good place...Lukas, could you cast a spell to keep people away?" she asked. Lukas nodded and immediately mumbled a spell before sitting down on the fallen tree. "So where's Grandma? Does she know we were coming?" asked Mathias excitedly. "Well a little birdie told me you were coming so yes, I know dear," said a voice echoing through the clearing.
"...Grandma?" asked Mathias, blinking in confusion as he looked around the clearing. The others looked equally confused. "Give me a second to find a nice tree. I don't want to have to talk over a woodpecker again," mumbled their grandmother, the voice fading. "...What is going on? Lukas, did you accidentally put that confusion spell on us? I can't see her but I can hear her," he said.
"She doesn't have a physical body...She uses trees and nature to talk and interact with us," explained Dagny, sitting next to her brother. "That's right dearies. I used to be able to take a physical body but it takes too much energy nowadays. That and this feels a lot more natural to me," said Earth, chuckling a bit at her unintended joke. "Great. So that's where Mathias gets it," muttered Lukas when Mathias started laughing.
A nearby tree sprouted bark that resembled eyes and a mouth. "There we go, much better. I would have used the wind, but you wouldn't all be able to hear me with this breeze. Oh look at you boys, all grown up. Your mother would have been so happy...And Dagny...Dagny what happened? You've sprouted right up...unless I've lost track of time again," said Earth.
"That's kinda why we wanted to come and talk to you," said Dagny. "We know about the prophecy and think Dagny's growthspurts are either connected to that or Native America. We were hoping you could tell us whatever you know about what's going on. If not, we were hoping you would at least be able to convince Aiyanna to meet with us peacfully. We don't want to start any problems. We just want to help Dagny," said Lukas.
Earth sighed. "My help, boys, is severly limited. I can't interfere if it potentially means life or death for any of my descendents. I cannot contradict or reverse prophecies, much less fight against them. I know that is not the answer you want to hear, but even my power is limited by something stronger than myself. What I can say is that Dagny's trouble stems not from her own hand...and it cannot be fixed by her own hand," she said.
Mathias raised his hand. "I just have two comments. One, could you please refrain from using nature puns when you're telling us something so negative? Also, I did appreciate that pun and you're like an awesome grandma for using them. And the last thing is...does that mean if we got involved that we could help fix it? We're pretty good at fixing things. Just last week Sweden fixed my table," he said, rambling a bit.
"That was three things," huffed Lukas under his breath. "He's just trying to help," Dagny muttered to her brother, "Besides, you had the same question, didn't you?" Lukas sighed but didn't argue with his sister. Earth smiled faintly. "I'm sorry dear but it's my way of trying to brighten things up. That and the few of my descendents that can or still talk to me either don't pick up the puns or have stopped acknowledging them," she said.
"The few that can...Why can only some of us talk to you?" asked Tino. Lukas inwardly growned. He should have known their little question and answer session would have gotten sidetracked. "The more my wilderness is tamed, the harder it is for me to reach out to you. Any civilized area, though it is a piece of me, belongs largely to you. I can attempt to take those areas back, but it requires a lot of power and destruction, and paperwork, you won't believe how hard it is to get permission to do that, that it isn't quite worth it," said Earth.
"Paperwork?" muttered Berwald. "Don't worry about that. The point is that the more my trees and soil are cut and pushed away, the more smoke in the air, the weaker I get. It still isn't too bad. Sadly, I've out lived many of my children and I do feel that I will end up outliving some of my grandchildren as well. But that's the way things work. The world keeps turning," said Earth, waving his question away with a branch.
"Okay then...What do you know? Or at least what can you do that could help us?" asked Lukas, trying to steer the conversation to their purpse. "Ah Norway, you're so much like your father. Though you do remind me of your mother in some aspects. She did have a temper that made her fiercesome to handle. Anyways...I can tell you that I'm not sure how your help would affect the situation," said Earth.
Lukas frowned. "What do you mean? Is this prophecy exclusive only to the Aiyanna and Dagny?" he asked. "As far as I know...yes. It was Aiyanna's attitude toward Dagny and her decision to ask for the prophecy that acted as a catalyst for what is to come. Neither Dagny nor Aiyanna knew you were countries, much less kin to Dagny in one form or the other," said Earth, ignoring the confused looks the Nordics got at the kin part.
"So...The prophecy doesn't include us because no one knew about us at the time? Don't prophecies usually compensate for that kind of stuff?" asked Tino, looking very confused. "It's because you boys didn't show up until after the initial contact and decision had been made," said Earth. Lukas frowned. "Decision?" he asked. Earth sighed. "Curse me and my mouth...I can't say," she said.
Lukas stood up. "You know something. We need to know what it is. If it could save Dagny's life or give us a fighting chance at it, you need to tell us," he said. Earth cursed in an ancient language they didn't know. "Fine. The decision regarding how she feels about Dagny. That is all I'll say. It is the catalyst for what happens next. Ask no more questions if you don't want me to file the form to make it hail over your hut," said Earth.
"W-We'll ask no more questions about that...b-but do you think you could at least set up a meeting between us and Aiyanna? Maybe we can make a good enough impression on her that she can help us help Dagny. It wouldn't hurt. At least we can show her that we don't have any bad intensions. The last thing we would want to do is create enemies when we're still trying to figure this other stuff out," said Tino hesitantly.
Earth sighed, a gentle breeze floating through the clearing. "I suppose I could try, but Aiyanna is incredibly stubborn. She is already quite upset…" she said. Lukas raised an eyebrow. "What did you say to make her upset?" he asked. Earth scowled. "What makes you think it was me?" she asked. "None of us has spoken to her and Dagny was only a child when she last spoke to Aiyanna. I doubt Dagny did or say anything to make her want to refuse our offer of a meeting," he said.
Earth huffed, ignoring how the boys shuddered at the sharp gust of wind. "Fine. I want to make something clear first. It was something she had to know, especially after the conversations of yours that she eavesdropped on. Things on this side of the world is different from yours. The tribes do their best to live in peace, fighting every once in a while, but able to get along in a crisis or at least leave each other alone for the most part. The idea of a tribe conquring the other or even stealing land isn't a common thing," she said.
Lukas raised an eyebrow. "...So…?" he asked, wondering where this story was going. A handful of acorns landed on his head. "I'm getting to that! I had to explain that wars, conquring each other, enslaving each other, was something that your side of the world does. Granted, I possibly could have found a way to better explain it...and a better time to explain it, but it was the heat of the moment and I had to keep her...or had given a more in depth explanation...but she was fired up.
"She told me she had already made her decision. I tried to convince her that she needed to reveal herself to you and she refused...I don't know how I can convince her. She does seem to have a soft spot to Dagny, she has children of her own, but it seems to come and go. Perhaps if I told her Dagny was in trouble...I could convince her to come and talk with you but I can't guarantee anything," said Earth.
"I'd be okay with her thinking that...afterall I am in trouble. I'm nearly a century old and I already almost look older than my siblings who've been around for centuries. We have our own magic...maybe if we had hers to help us we can fix things...or maybe I can change her mind. We have to try," said Dagny, keeping her voice flat to avoid it shaking out of fear of the end she views coming near.
Mathias nodded, slightly shaken by the usually cheerful Dagny's voice going flat like her brothers. "I'm sure we can find someway to convince us to help us. It doesn't hurt anything. And we'll keep it peaceful! I won't even bring my axe!" said Mathais. Earth snorted. "A viking pledging to be peaceful. Well…if you all are so sure about it I will extend the invitation to her. I will also be the one to make sure there is no bloodshed. I will find a way to contact you when I have the details figured out," said Earth.
"Thank you," said Berwald, nodding as he stood up. Earth smiled. "You boys take care of yourselves now, okay? Mathias, Dagny, please try to keep out of trouble. Especially you Mathias. From what I've seen, you're the brains of the operation. Tino dear, there's a beehive with honey in it about fifty paces from your house. Berwald, there's a fallen tree with good wood in the same area. Lukas, if you need help with magic let me know," she said before disappearing.
"...Well that was something," said Tino. "Yeah. Not one cookie!" said Mathias with a slight pout. "Where exactly whould she cook it. Not like she'd set herself on fire to feed you," retorted Lukas. "Let's go. It's getting dark," said Berwald. Dagny nodded, frowning as she felt a breeze cut through the clearing. "Follow me," she said, leading the way since she knew the area best
Will Dagny survive the growth spurts? Is Aiyanna really the source of them? Will Norway be able to save his sister? Tune in next week to find out (if finals don't kill us all first)! Reviews appreciated!