Lukas paced back and forth in the living room, Mathias and Berwald watching him. "I don't know. If we stay, it's not fair to Emil. He needs me. He's a lot younger than Dagny was in human years. I can't just stay away so long. He's going to think I abandoned him," he muttered. "Good thinking! Waldy, pack your bags! We're going back home!" he said. Berwald nodded, watching Lukas continue to pace. Dagny frowned when she felt him pass right through her like she wasn't even there, having just teleported to the house.
"No! I'm not done yet. Emil will think we...I...abandoned him. B-But if we leave it'll feel like I'm abandoning Dagny here. It isn't fair to her. I mean...I didn't really do anything to stop the prophecy. I wasn't there for her. I froze up and tried to pick a fight instead of trying to save her. I can't just leave her without doing something to make it up to her…The funeral isn't enough, not after I found out she was pregnant," muttered Lukas.
"Lukas, you already buried her. None of us knew this was going to happen. You acted the way any of us would have. We were all taken off guard when she died. Any of us could have tried to jump in and revive her or something. You can't blame yourself," said Mathias. Lukas shook her head. "I was her big brother. She needed me most at that moment and I fucking froze Mathias. I stood there and argued while she died," he said, nearly snarling at the spikey-haired Dane.
"She said not to blame yourself. You're hurting her by beating yourself up," said Berwald quietly. Lukas paused in his pacing. "What about Aiyanna?" he muttered quietly. Berwald glanced at Mathias. "Um, did you not hear Berwald? He said not to beat yourself up. He and Tino had already check up on Aiyanna and it's been awhile. If they wanted to attack us by now they would have. She already apologized a ton and Dagny was going to her for help anyways. Dagny...just didn't take her warnings seriously," said Mathias.
"She was also the one who killed Dagny! She is to pay for this. Whatever happened to 'we're Vikings'? She killed one of our own. We should go after her and raze her entire camp! We've done it before. What's to stop us from doing it to her? She killed Dagny, sorry or not," said Lukas, spinning around go glare at Mathias. "She said she was sorry. Dagny wouldn't want you to try starting a war or picking fights just because you feel guilty," said Mathias, glaring back at the Norweigen.
Berwald stood up. "We will give you three more months to make your decision. In the meantime, Tino and I would be happy to go back and visit with Aiyanna. If you like, you can come with us to finally confront whatever problems you have with her," he said. Lukas blinked, surprised that Berwald was being so insistent about this. Mathias looked slightly surprised as well. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll meet again in three months. In the meantime, I'll have all the boats inspected and prepared for voyage," he said.
"You do that. I'm going to study my books some more. Knock if you need me. Mathias, that means you actually wait for permission to enter before you burst through the door," he said flatly, turning around and walking to his room. He studied for a few hours before falling asleep on top of one of the books. Dagny bit her lip, taking this as her opportunity to try to warn him of messing with Aiyanna.
Dagny muttered a spell that the Spirits had taught her and shook her brother's shoulders. Lukas stirred, grumbling about stupid Danes who wouldn't even let him sleep. He opened his eyes and sputtered when he saw Dagny standing in front of him. "D-Dagny?" he asked, obviously still foggy from sleep. "You're dreaming but it really is me. I need you to stop blaming yourself Lukas," she said softly.
"D-Dagny...I-I'm sorry. I should blame yourself. I-I could have stopped it...O-Or at least could have tried," he said. "Stop that Lukas. You wouldn't have been able to stop it. I was already dying at that part. The only reason I didn't immediately disinegrate when I was hit with the spear or when it was pulled out was because I wanted to make sure you would know that I don't blame you or Aiyanna. It was my own fault that I panicked and didn't think that she would have recognized me from so far. Lukas, it really isn't your fault. If it's anyone's, it's mine," she said.
"But Aiyanna...She killed you. She killed you and you were pregnant! Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in an angry voice. "I found out a few seconds before you and the others started marching toward her camp. I didn't think you'd believe me or understand...I was scared Lukas. She was the only female nation I knew...I knew she wouldn't help me after you guys attacked her. And I thought that maybe if you saw her helping me you guys wouldn't attack. I was stupid. I'm sorry," she muttered.
Lukas rubbed his face, agitated. "I get that you were scared but...What were you thinking? Using the last of your energy to try to do something no one's done before...transfering part of a destiny to another person? You could have used that kind of magic to try to save or heal yourself. O-Or saved it and used to to recover once I got to you. You a-and my nieces, nephews, whatevers would be fine," he said.
"It's not like I was exactly thinking right...and the prophecy wouldn't have allowed it. Lukas, I don't know how to explain this exactly, but I knew I was going to die. I knew it. The minute the runes said I was pregnant. I thought I had a few months first but...when I was laying there, something came over me and told me to paint the runes. It didn't work but I had to try. Lukas, don't blame Aiyanna for this. Fate will take care of her. I just need you to keep yourself happy and healthy. The others are worried about you," she said gently.
Lukas sighed and reached for her, his hand passing through her. "I have to go now. They wouldn't give me that much time to talk to you. But listen to me Lukas. I love you. I don't blame you. I don't want you to blame yourself or Aiyanna. I want you to be happy and to be as good of a big brother to Emil as you were to me. Tell the others that I love them too," she said, kissing his foreheand. His eyes teared up a little. He just let them, not bothering to try to wipe them.
"O-Okay Dagny...I-I'll try to not beat myself up so much...for you. I-I'm still sorry for what happened...and I love you too. I promise I will try to be a better big brother for Emil. I-I just wanted you to be happy and I failed that…" he said. She shook her head. "You didn't. You four were my brothers. I loved you and as much as I hate having to leave you, I did enjoy our time together," she said as she faded out of sight. She muttered a spell and Lukas got up, fell back asleep.
Lukas opened his eyes, his head pounding. Why did he feel so crappy...but kinda relieved? Pieces of the dream he had last night slowly came back to him. Dagny didn't blame him...at least according to the dream. He swallowed hard and raised his head, confused as to why he wasn't in bed. Finding that he was drooling all over a spellbook, Mathias mustn't ever find out, he figured he must have fallen asleep while reading again. He huffed and stretched, looking at the page to find out what spell he was looking at.
Lukas blinked. "The reveal spell…Did I accidentally cause her to appear in my dreams? I don't remember casting any spells last night though," he muttered to himself. Mathias knocked on his door and waited approximately five seconds before coming through the door. "Hey Lukas-Awesome, you're already up! I made breakfast since it didn't look like you had anything stocked in your kitchen. You're looking at spells so early in the morning?" he asked.
"I wasn't looking at spells. I just fell asleep while looking at them last night. What are you doing in my house? I thought I told you and the others I was fine. There's no reason for you to continue coming over to make breakfast every morning," said Lukas, the words coming out softer than he intended. He remembered what Dagny said about the other Nordics worrying about him. Mathias grinned, knowing that Lukas appreciated his efforts. "Well obviously my food is better than any Swedish or Norweigen food!" he said cheerfully.
Lukas raised an eyebrow. "And what about Finnish food?" he asked. Mathias shuddered. "You'll never catch me complaining about his food. Last time I said some of his cookies looked a little toasted he nearly knocked me out with a rolling pin," he said. Lukas snorted. "You know how much work he puts into his food. It was your own fault for criticizing his work," he said, getting up and rubbing the grit out of his eyes.
Mathias grinned, happy to see that Lukas was himself again. "Well, it's not Danish food so you can't complain about my cooking this time. I tried my hand at your food," he said. Lukas rolled his eyes. "If it's you making my food, it's not going to taste right," he said. "I thought you'd approve of your food over my food. I'm not that bad of a cook! I can cook anything from anywhere!" he said proudly.
Lukas rolled his eyes again and pushed past his friend. "Well it is my food. That alone will probably be your only saving grace. Mathias grinned. "That and my good looks are enough to get me by," he said. Lukas huffs. "Well are you going to stand there or are you going to come have breakfast with me? If you want to stand there like an idiot though, I won't stop you," he said. Mathias grinned and quickly followed Lukas out of his room.
"So how did you sleep? You seem a lot more like your old self," said Mathias. Lukas shrugged. "I had a dream of Dagny. Nothing interesting. My neck hurts from sleeping on top of the books though. And I didn't even find anything interesting from the new books I brought with me from England's place," he said. "Wait…You had a dream about Dagny? What was it about? Is that why you're in such a good mood?" asked Mathias, eyes wide.
Lukas shrugged. "I guess so. She told me to stop beating myself up and trying to avenge her death on Aiyanna. It was nice even though she seemed upset that I was so screwed up," he said. Mathias grinned. "I told you that she wouldn't want you to be upset and wanting to get revenge. This is proof of that. At least it seems like she finally got through your head. So what is your thoughts on everything? Did you want to go back so we can see Emil again?" he asked.
Lukas rubbed his head. "I don't know yet. It's still a lot to take in. How long until the ships are ready to set sail?" he asked. Mathias sighed. "Well it turns out a couple of settlers decided to turn one of the boats into a house or at least reuse the wood for it. We'll have to rebuild it otherwise we won't have enough room to bring everything home. I already have the other boats being prepared to leave but it'll still take a few more months for them to be ready. It might take up to a year and half for the other boat to be rebuilt," said Mathias, rubbing his face.
Lukas nodded, relaxing at the news. "I think by then I will definitely be ready to go. But in the meantime, I think we should send someone to talk to Aiyanna. Let her know we're leaving and to not start getting all huffy about us staying here on our land. If she tries to attack her while we're preparing to leave, tell her we'll start a war. She doesn't know we aren't in any shape to do so. The bluff should work until we get out of here, especially if she ends up having to leave to attend to one of her other children," said Lukas.
Mathias nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I'll tell Berwald and Tino to get around to it when they can. It might be a couple of months before they can though. Their first priority is gathering wood for the new ship. I'm taking care of hunting and gathering supplies. Your job is to make sure we're in stock with everything and make sure all the settlers got their stuff packed together ready to go since they're technically your people. I was wondering if you wanted to dismantle the settlement before we go," he said.
Lukas shook his head. "I don't see much point. Nature will take it over whether or not we dismantle it. Might as well take what's valuable and useful and leave the rest behind as is. Besides, more than likely Aiyanna would be happy to tear it down for us before we go. Remember not to bring too much raw meat. We need live animals than we do dead ones. Those last a lot longer on a boat. Do you think I should bring back Emil something? I suspect he might be a bit upset with us when we come back," he said, smirking a little at the thought of his very cranky little brother.
Denmark grinned. "Well, I can make him another set of blocks," he said before faltering. "Or…I can totally make him a wooden sword. He'd totally love that," said the Dane, remember the last person he made blocks for. Lukas nodded. "I don't know what to make him since he doesn't do magic…I don't want to do something wooden. Hmm…," he muttered to himself, eyes landing on the several ores of iron Dagny had given him long ago. He had piled them up on a shelf over the counter since she had given them to him as a 'gift'.
"I'm going to make him a Troll Cross," said Lukas picking up one of the ores. Mathias raised an eyebrow but grinned. "That actually sounds perfect! I'm sure he'd love it. He doesn't need magic for it to work, does he?" asked Mathias. Lukas shook his head. "It just wards off malevolent magic. It doesn't require any magic to work, but I will be putting some protective charms on it just to make sure that he won't have to worry about running into any trouble if none of us are around. That, and I'm sure he's going to like it because he hasn't seen this type of metal before, or at least he hadn't last time we saw him," said Lukas.
Aiyanna crossed her arms, her arms now neatly crossing over her obvious pregnancy, now three months along in human years. "Dagny, your babies are making me fat. And pee a lot," she huffed. "Better you than me," retorted Dagny, having heard Aiyanna complain for the last hour. Aiyanna glared at the ghost but poked her own belly. "They won't stop kicking me either by the way," she said. Dagny blinked. "T-They're kicking? You can feel them do that?!" she asked, jumping up from the where she was sulking after Aiyanna had angrily lashed out at her.
Aiyanna nodded. "At least one of them won't stop shifting around. The other one is hard to feel. I worry about it a little bit," she said. Dagny rushed over. "Can I feel them please? How long has this been going on?" she asked, placing a hand before asking. Aiyanna smirked. "A few days," she said. She had kept the information from Dagny for the past few days out of spite. She was till angry about the whole situation even though she felt she really shouldn't after killing the babies' mom.
"You should have told me sooner!" squeaked Dagny, eyes wide when she felt one of the babies kick where her hand was. Aiyanna frowned at the chill Dagny's hands were. "Relax, they're fine. I'm still mad about all of this so…" muttered Aiyanna. Dagny sighed. "Well…I may have forgotten to tell you that Tino and Berwald were going to come over soon…but that's only because I forgot and I can feel them coming," said Dagny. Ever since she died she was becoming more and more spacey.
Aiyanna pushed Dagny's hands off of her. "When are they coming over?" she asked, eyes a bit wide. "They should be here in ten or twenty minutes...I think. I'm still having trouble figuring out this time thing now," she said, spacing off again. "What?! Dagny, you couldn't give me more of a notice?" shouted Aiyanna, getting up and scowling. Dagny bit her lip. "You should find a shirt that's a bit bigger or something," she muttered.
"It's the middle of summer. This is what my people wear," muttered Aiyanna, looking around her hut as she thought of a solution. They both froze when someone came in, Dagny disappearing. Aiyanna spun around to find the Shaman with both Tino and Berwald with him. Tino's jaw was about to hit the floor. Berwald's eyes were wide with shock and surprise. "I am sorry Aiyanna but you said to just let these two in whenever. I don't suppose you heard me knock?" he said in his native language.
"I did not. We will talk about this later. Just...Tell the men to be ready in case the two of them freak out. No lethal force shall be used however. This situation is not going to be something they will react well to," said Aiyanna. The Shaman nodded and left the two stunned Nordics in her presence. "...Please sit down. I suppose we have a couple of things to talk about," she said in the common tongue, gesturing toward a couple of sitting pelts she had prepared for guests.
"You-You're...You lied to us! You said you weren't pregnant!" hissed Tino. Aiyanna bit her lip, one of the babies had kicked upon hearing Tino's voice. "I did...I'm sorry, but I swore to someone that I would not tell any of you," she said. "Who?" asked Berwald, staring at her belly. Aiyanna sat down. "Dagny...Her spirit comes and visits me from time to time. Apparently her spell worked and the Spirits have allowed her to stay on earth until the babies are born…" she muttered.
Tino looked like he had stepped on one of Mathias's blocks. "What?! Y-You mean you've seen Dagny and you haven't told any of us? Y-You've actually talk to her? And she didn't tell us any of this?" he asked, looking a mixture of pissed and hurt. Aiyanna sighed, not sure if she could manage a spell to make Dagny visible to them. That kind of magic was a bit taxing and required a potion. That and she was pregnant so it was harder for her to draw the energy for spells.
Berwald put a hand on Tino's need before Tino could assult the pregnant lady. "If Dagny wanted that, she did good," said Berwald, looking slightly peeved but generally understand of what was going down. "How do we know she's telling the truth? How do we know that it's Dagny's child…?" asked Tino. Aiyanna frowned. She hadn't thought of that. Or maybe she had and it slipped her mind? Dagny isn't the only one who got a bit spacey after the pregnancy.
Just before Aiyanna could answer, the wind blew the leather flaps to her home open. Tino and Berwald blinked when a strip of cloth and a leather bracelet landed in their laps. Tino picked up the cloth and gasped. "T-This is from the blanket I made her when she was little…," he gapped. Berwald stared at the piece of leather with small clay beads. "I made her this bracelet last year when she looked seven," he muttered.
"...I still can't be sure…" muttered Tino. The blanket slipped out of his hand and hit him in the face gently. Aiyanna could make out Dagny giggling as she guided the scrap of cloth along. Berwald chuckled. "It's her," he said, watching as the blanket fell back into Tino's lap. "But…That means we're gonna be uncles...Right?" asked Tino. Aiyanna nodded. "The babies aren't related to me. I'm just the incubator in this place," she muttered.
Berwald blinked. "Babies? Plural?" he asked. Tino froze. Aiyanna placed a hand on her belly, scowling. "Yes. That's why I'm double the size in half the time. Apparently I'm giving birth to twins according to Dagny. She won't tell me what gender they're gonna be though so don't ask," she grumbled. "...We have to tell Lukas. He'd kill us if he found out we were keeping this from him," muttered Tino.
The blanket started to quiver in his grip, flying across the room. Tino sighed. "...She didn't want you to tell us though, right? She knew Lukas wants to take him back with us?" he asked. Aiyanna nodded. "She said it was going to be important that they stick to their own lands for some time, which is usually the case with new countries. She was afraid that if they leave the land she'd never see them again or get to visit them," said Aiyanna.
"...Well it's likely they're gonna be countries...I suppose that makes a lot of sense we won't be able to talk into Lukas," said Tino. Berwald nodded. "It's for the babies's best sake. And for Dagny's. Lukas already has Emil to worry about and Mathias should be kept away from small children. I won't tell anyone," said Berwald. Aiyanna blinked in surprise. It was that easy? They must have cared for Dagny a lot.
Tino seemed to struggle with the concept of keeping something so big from his siblings before nodding as well. "He's right...but we will have to tell them at some point. If the babies end up surviving and getting old enough to leave...They're going to question why these two new nations popped up around the time she died," said Tino. Berwald shook his head. "Mathis wouldn't consider it and Lukas...I don't know. We'll play it by ear. It depends on who the father is," said Berwald.
Tino and Berwald frowned. "Who is it? Has she told you?" asked Tino. "She said they are called Francis and Arthur. She hadn't stopped talking about them since she found out what their names are and how they were originally meant to meet. Do you know of them?" she asked. Tino looked like he was about to break something for a split second before Berwald put a hand on his head to keep him from doing anything destructive.
"...I take it you do?" she asked. "Those two impregnated my little sister!" growled Tino. "Their influence did. They didn't actually do anything and there's no way she actually met them," muttered Berwald, cheeks a bit pink. "But they were going to!" huffed Tino. "Dagny wanted me to remind you that if you try to kill the father, you will leave her children orphans," said Aiyanna, slightly amused by their fighting.
"...Only for Dagny and the babies...But this changes everything Berwald. I want to be around for the babies too and Lukas wants to leave soon," muttered Tino. "It would take a year or so for the boat to be ready though. We could be here for the birth," said Berwald. Aiyanna raised an eyebrow. That was going to be a hard thing to wiggle out of. "You don't have to be here…" she muttered, frowning. "If you don't want us to tell them, you'll at least let us be here when they're babies," he said.
Aiyanna sighed. "Fine. You can see the babies after their born...but you can't tell your brothers. Dagny said she'd haunt me if Lukas found out," she said. Tino stuck out his hand. "Deal," he said quietly. Aiyanna hesitated before taking his hand and shaking it the way she has seen the White men do before. "But you aren't to be there when the babies are actually coming out of me. That's too private," she said. Berwald nodded. "Agreed," he said.
Hope you guys have enjoyed this last installment. We're nearing the end of this chapter of North American History but fear not, there's plenty more chapters for plenty more sequels. All suggestions and comments greatly appreciated!