"So we came a little bit early…. Wouldn't things have acounted for that?" asked Tino, sounding very confused. "Time is confusing child. Yes, you were to come here and meet Dagny around this time. The foreigners I speak of come much later. But Dagny was not to meet Aiyanna until after you left, which was supposed be a decade or two ago. You were never meant to grow attached to her and stay this long so she found Aiyanna while you were here.
"Dagny was meant to be left alone for a while, long enough for her to have need of Kumajiro, or Nanuk as some call him. While the bear did still come into her life, it now serves more of a role of comfort than protection. Aiyanna was to find her years after that and take her under her wing, guiding her and teaching her how to use her resources. After Dagny has matured a bit, that is when you and the foreigners were to return," said the Elk.
"...How has that changed now? S-So what if they stayed longer than everyone thought...I like having my brothers around. Couldn't it still work out? We could still all get along and help each other out," said Dagny. Aiyanna tried not to scowl at that. The Elk shook his head. "Originally, that's what we thought as well before you and Aiyanna met. But then she started becoming uncertain, asking spirits for guidence as to what to do with you.
"She got what she asked for, but she was given a warning first. To hear the prophecy would cause the prophecy to be unstoppable. Nothing could and would reverse it. What is set in motion cannot be stopped. Dagny had a chance a week or two ago...but a decision has been made. I apologize Dagny. There is nothing the spirits can do but attempt to make it comfortable for you. We will guide you as much as possible," said the Elk.
Aiyanna frowned, feeling her temper flair up. "And why is my mother getting so involved? Who made the decision?" asked Aiyanna. "Your mother is getting involved because two nations are to be born...or at least were meant to be born. But destiny has changed. She is trying to make sure that that still happens, for the world would become an incredibly different place without them. As for who made the decision, you did," said the Elk simply.
Aiyanna frowned. "Two nations…? Who is their mother?" asked Aiyanna. "You have your information. Enough to make your own deductions. Anymore would have dire consequences. Since your last request already set things in motion, I would not push the point any further. Think not of your people but of those here," said the Elk. "Wait...Aiyanna is the reason Dagny is going to die?!" asked Mathias.
"Don't answer that," hissed Earth. The Elk shook his head. "Unlike you Terra, I have no motives here. My duty is to inform and guide, or protect when I am allowed to do so," he said, turned to the tree before turning to Mathais. "Yes. She is. But you and your brothers are the catalyst. But if it is any solace to you, there is nothing you could have done to undo or prevent what happened. It was out of your hands and will continue to be," he said.
Lukas stood up. "You really think that's going to make me feel any better? That's my little sister. You yourself said it, this doesn't really have anything to do with her. Why does she have to be the one that suffers?!" he asked, fists balled and shaking with anger. "Watch your tongue boy," hissed Aiyanna, trying to stop him before he upset the spirit. "Don't tell me to watch my tongue when your big mouth is the very thing that got us in trouble," retorted Lukas angrily.
Aiyanna stood up. "Don't act as if you have nothing to hide. Does Dagny know that you are conquerers? That you go around forcing other representations to work for you or face being killed? How many lands have you destroyed? Harmed? How many of your own kind have you ruthlessly killed? Does Dagny realize that as a settlement, she has no free will of her own? She'll forever have to bow to you and hope for your mercy. You make me sick," she spat.
Lukas blinked, looking like he had just been slapped. "I-I would..T-That's d-different. I wouldn't do that to her…" he stuttered under his breath. Dagny's eyes widened. "W-What? What do you mean?!" she asked. Mathias stood up, frowning. "You're jumping to a lot of conclusions. Who even told you all of that?" he said, starting to wish for his axe. This meeting was heading south.
"I did," sighed Earth. The Nordics froze. Dagny blinked. "...So it is true? They do...hurt other people like us?" she asked. Nobody spoke for a few seconds. "Yes. Yes it's true Vinland. We were hoping you would be able to help prevent it from happening here," said the Elk, breaking the silence. Berwald looked at his feet. Tino couldn't look Dagny in the eyes. "It was just a bit of fun Dagny. Nothing too serious. Everyone's overreacting!" said Mathias in attempt to defuse the situation.
"Don't say that…" said Tino, shaking his head. "Just a bit of fun?! People died!" hissed Aiyanna, fists clenched. She could feel her feet sink into the earth to prevent her from throwing the first punch. Mathias narrowed his eyes. "Please. Like you haven't experienced death or war. You're older than any of us here, aside from Grandma and the Elk guy. Your hands are as dirty as ours," he said.
Aiyanna laughed. "I don't kill other personifications. The only other personifications on this side of the world are my children and siblings. I'm much too far away from them to be able to wile them up," she laughed before her eyes narrowed back at the Dane, "My children wage war. I do my best to intercede. They know what a life costs. They do not take it lightly, unlike you. They would never dare to think of claiming a portion of earth as theirs and solely theirs."
"Now who's the one acting high and mighty. You know what, I have no idea why Dagny even liked you. I don't know why we thought you could help. I should have known that this was your fault. You're the cruel one here. Because of you, I lose my sister!" shouted Lukas, losing it. Aiyanna shook her head, forcing herself to take a step forward. "Because of you, you lose your slave. Your little worker. You were just going to leave her anyways, after she was proved capable, weren't you?" she taunted.
Lukas clenched his jaw and both Tino and Berwald shot up to keep him from charging at her. Aiyanna smirked before turning to Dagny. "Girl, though I do not approve of these foreigners, you are still of the same land as I am. I would like to take you under my wing if you still feel as if you want a better, more experienced guardian to look after you," she said. She turned to the spirit.
"Thank you for your wisdom. We will contact you if we need more help," she said, pouring powder on the flames to end the session. The Elk opened his mouth as if to say something more but she quickly sliced her hand through the smoke, thus ending the connection between worlds. "You apologize to him. To all of us. What you said was over the line," hissed Mathias. "Were you not planning on making her work for you? Were you not planning on taking over the land?" she asked.
"We're nations. It's what happens," said Berwald, struggling to contain Lukas with Tino's help. "We would never hurt Dagny. Never!" shouted Lukas. "I'll take that as a yes then. I believe this meeting is over. Don't come after me or my people. Don't stray too far from your settlement. I will leave you alone as long as you leave me along," huffed Aiyanna, standing up.
"You aren't taking Dagny away from us. You aren't hurting us. We were willing to work with you. We can be rational people before you decided to curse Dagny!" shouted Mathias. "I don't think that's helping…" muttered Tino. Aiyanna's eyes widened. "You're going to blame this on me? Didn't you hear the Elk? None of this would have happened if you hadn't just left me alone. Stick to your side and I stick to mine," she shouted back.
Lukas shoved Berwald away, causing him to trip over Tino. He ripped his foot out of the roots attempting to wrap themselves around his ankle. "Forget whatever you thought about us being friend or us staying to our side. You started this. You were the one that got us involved. If we see your people, if we hear your people, likewise yourself, you're dead. If you kill one of our own, we will not hesitate to kill one of yours. That's a promise," he said in a dark menancing voice. His siblings froze, eyes wide. They've never seen Lukas get this way.
Aiyanna looked down at the sixteen year old attempting to threaten her. "Lukas...you don't mean that. She couldn't have known. I-I think we should all just go home and take some time to calm down and reflect on what's going on here. Fighting won't help any of us," said Dagny nervously, unsure as to whether she should get between her brother and Aiyanna or not. She'd never seen him so mad.
"She did Dagny. She did know. The spirits even told her before she asked for the propehcy that it would have negative consequences. This witch couldn't even restrain herself! She doesn't give a crap about anyone other than herself. She doesn't give a crap about you, probably not even about her own kids," growled Lukas, now being restrained by a very frazzled Mathias.
Aiyanna narrowed her eyes. "Mother, my spear," she said. "Aiyanna, this will not-" "I'm not going to attack. You know the courtesy for this. My spear. You can intervene if it violates the peace," she hissed. The wind blew and a spear dropped into Aiyanna's waiting hand from the branches. The Nordics froze. Aiyanna threw the spear at their feet, the end nearly nicking one of Lukas's boots.
"I declare war. You have two days of peace between us, long enough for you to come to a decision. After that, if you leave your settlement, I will hunt you down. I will only accept a treaty of peace once you agree to leave and tell no one of the land here. Dagny is the only one who will not be automatically attacked, but she might be captured. It depends on my mood. I suggest returning to your homes. It's going to be dark soon," said Aiyanna simply before turning around and leaving the clearing.
The Nordics watched her go before Mathias finally broke the silence. "Well fuck. Looks like we're at war," he said. "This isn't funny!" hissed Tino. "...I know...We'll figure it out. I'll make sure none of us get hurt. Speaking of which, you okay Lukas?" asked Mathias, looking at the squirming form he was still holding back. "She wants Dagny. She isn't going to help. She caused this mess. No. I'm not alright," growled Lukas.
"...Do you think she'll really follow through with the whole war thing? We're all on edge or up set...Maybe she'll reconsider it?" asked Tino, sounding uncertain. "I'm sorry boys. I wish that were so. I would suggest either preparing for a war or preparing for a trip back home. Once Aiyanna makes up her mind...she sure is a stubborn one. Especially after so many years alone. I'm sorry. I'd try talking to her but I'm sure she's mad at me as well," sighed Earth.
"Let's just get home. She was right about one thing, it's getting dark. I don't want us to get lost...especially if she's upset," said Dagny nervously. "You think she'd attack?" asked Berwald, pausing in helping Mathias attend to Lukas. "Nei...but that's not to say her people won't after she tells them. You know our citizens only listen to us so much," said Dagny softly. Lukas stood up, letting Mathias and Berwald wrap an arm around him. He silently started walking back home.
"W-What if we take her home with us? That can't do any harm, right? I mean, Aiyanna can't hurt her. The settlement will probably left out of this if Aiyanna sticks to her promise of leaving it alone. She can come live with us and we can forget any of this happened!" said Mathias optimistically. Lukas shook his head. "It'd speed up the process. The longer a nation is away from their home, the weaker they become. She's a settlement, not an underling. We can't do anything without changing her status, but even that might speed up or complete the process," he said.
"But-" trailed Mathias. "She'd need to become a nation, but that process is messy. Norway's boss won't even consider it unless we can get the settlement to grow and prosper. That would also require letting other countries find out about her, which could just end up with us in even more of a mess," said Tino. Lukas nodded. "Plus, her aging is being caused my magic. My guess is magic will keep her from escaping the prophecy. Usually horrible things happen when people try to reverse or avoid them," he said.
Dagny sighed. "Guys...it's not so bad. I mean, I'm the age most humans normally die. In fact, if I were human I'd be lucky to have lasted this long. I'm not really worried about this...I'm more worried about you guys and how you'll take all of this. I don't want you guys doing anything you would regret," she said, lying slightly about how much she had accepted what was going to happen.
Lukas shook his head. "We'll stop it. They may be certain that this will continue, but I will find a way around it. A way that won't upset the balance of anything. You're going to meet Iceland and Greenland. You're going to live. I'm going to make sure of it," he insisted. Dagny glanced at Berwald who sighed but gave her a small smile, as if he knew what she was thinking. "Let's just get home and have a nice dinner. We could all use the rest," said Tino.
Lukas just sighed and led them back home. Dagny helped Tino cook, ignoring the tingling that was sweeping her hands. "We're almost done. Dagny, can you pass me the corn please?" he asked. Dagny gave him a shaky nod before husking the corn and passing it to him. He blinked as he turned to take the cobs from her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Dagny started to nod but shook her head when she saw Tino give her a look. "N-Nei...I feel another growth spurt coming on," she mumbled.
Tino blinked. "What?! I should get Lukas!" he said. Dagny quickly grabbed his sleeve. "Don't! You saw how he was back here. He's not taking any of this well. I don't want to freak him out any more than I already have," she said, starting to look a little pale. Tino frowned. "Go upstairs and lay down. I'll take care of the others. Come down when you're feeling well. I'll make sure that Lukas doesn't freak out," he said.
Dagny nodded, starting to feel too out of it to really give him a response. She just left the room, leaving Tino to figure out what he was going to do to break it to his brothers. He quickly sets the corn to boil before pulling Berwald into the kitchen. Berwald frowned a little at suddenly being tugged into the kitchen. "What's wrong?" he asked, realizing that Dagny wasn't in the kitchen.
"She's having another growth spurt. I need your help breaking it to Lukas…" trailed Tino, blinking when he saw the door close slightly. He shook his head. It was probably the wind. Berwald surprised Tino by suddenly swearing. "First the war, now this. We should have seen it," he muttered. Tino nodded, swallowing. "Bring Mathias in here. Tell him that I need help preparing one of his dishes," he said.
Berwald nodded, quickly pushing Mathias into the kitchen without a word and sitting down next to Lukas, who just raised an eyebrow. "What was that all about? He leave another block on the floor for Tino to slip on?" he asked. Berwald just nodded, glancing upstairs. Lukas sighed. "She's having another growth spurt, isn't she?" he asked. Berwald blinked but nodded, ready to grab Lukas in case he did something drastic.
"I already figured that she would have. We need-I need to find away to fix it. There's got to be a spell. I'm almost tempted to ask Vlad for help. He wouldn't be willing to come all the way over her to take over her if he found out about her," said Lukas. "Yeah but the guy's a huge gossip. Worse than Francis. We tell him, everyone else in the world would probably come out for her," said Mathias, walking in.
Lukas shook his head. "Vlad's in hiding. Too many people think he's a vampire. It doesn't help that he keeps regenerating or healing whenever they stake him so now he just sends Bulgaria out to do his chores. He's not likely to tell anyone about anything," he said. "But the amount of time it would take to get him a letter...That'd take months! And then on top of that, we have to wait for him to send back a response," said Mathias.
"Besides, he'd still find a way," mumbled Berwald. Mathias grinned. "Still upset when he spread the rumor that you're half giant?" he asked. Berwald just huffed, cheeks turning slightly pink. Tino smiles. "Food's ready," he said, peeking into the living room. Berwald looked up and nodded, standing up. "I'll check up on Dagny. Lukas, Mathias, eat," he said. Lukas started to argue before Mathias pulled him into the kitchen. "We're having my food tonight!" he shouted. Lukas huffed.
Berwald smiled as Mathias immediately managed to distract Lukas as planned. He climbed up to Dagny's room. "You feeling alright?" he asked gruffly. Dagny was curled up under the covers, not visible. "I'm fine...just sore," she muttered. "...How old are you now?" he asked. "...About eighteen. Tino's gonna have to get some more clothes again…" she muttered. Berwald just nodded and sat on the bed.
Dagny peaked out from the covers. "I already look like I'm older than you," she groans. Berwald smirks and plays with her hair. "Older than Mathias at least. We can turn this into a way to annoy him. Now when we're in the markets, he has to listen to his 'Big Sister'," he said. Dagny snorts and sits up. "I swear, all you and Lukas can do is think of ways to mess with Mathias. Not that he makes it so tempting, but why is that?" she asked.
Berwald simply shrugged. "Long history. Big ego," he said. Dagny laughed and hugged Berwald, her clothes a little snug. "Should I go downstairs or just give Lukas a heart attack in the morning instead?" she asked. "Hmm, heartattack now or later. Either way, he's gonna have one," thinks Berwald. "That answers absolutely nothing," she snorts. "Get some sleep. I'll tell him you're fine," he said, standing up. Dagny nodded and went to sleep.
Happy Holidays everyone! Hopefully I can get some reviews :) Take it easy guys!