"Mikkel? No, I don't really like him."
"Aww, you're breaking my little shipper-heart."
"I thought you shipped me with Lalli."
"I can ship you with more than one person."
Silence fell between the two people on the balcony and they looked at the stars that was slowly coming out as the sun went down. The young man, Emil Västerström, had shining blonde hair, blue eyes and was a bit on the chubby side, but not as much as he had once been. He was dressed in a black shirt with white arms, white pants and black socks. Beside him was a woman with short, curly black hair and brown eyes. She was chubby, dressed in a lace-ridden shirt and a black, wide skirt. Her name was Sofia Magdalena Linnea Wilhelmina and she was very stern about people using her full name. It got the word-count up.
Sofia Magdalena Linnea Wilhelmina leaned back in the blue chair she was sitting in, placed her hands behind her head and glanced in Emil's direction.
"Why don't you like him?"
He reached out to whack her in the back of her head, a gesture he knew he would be punished for later because she was The Author. It did however give him a small feeling of satisfaction.
"You already know that."
"Well, our readers need to know as well."
"...Are you writing this conversation down?"
"...mmmmmaybe?"
Emil let out a sigh.
"Always The Author, right?"
She nodded, leaned forward, changed her mind and leaned back again. Her eyes danced between Emil and the stars in the sky, and Emil's eyes focused on the net that kept him from jumping from the balcony to escape her.
"Well, to start with he's a Dane."
The woman nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly with his statement. Danes could not be trusted. They couldn't even talk. He hit her head again.
"You're such a Swede."
"As are you."
They smiled stupidly for a while, before Emil continued.
"I guess it boils down to the stupid joke he pulled on me. It wasn't funny."
"I thought it was."
Emil glared at Sofia Magdalena Linnea Wilhelmina, but she didn't notice it, so he gave up and leaned back, looked at the dying plants infront of him while thinking about the older man.
He called it not liking the Dane, but it was a bit more complex than that. He both trusted and distrusted Mikkel, he wanted to somehow... prove himself to the other man. Not like with Sigrun, he didn't need to prove that he was a good warrior to Mikkel, he just wanted the Dane to find him... not stupid.
"Maybe if you started reading more", Sofia Magdalena Linnea Wilhelmina cut in.
"Maybe if you stopped reading people's thoughts."
"Maybe if you stopped thinking."
They continued teasing each other for a while, then silence fell again. Emil let out a sigh.
"I do not not like him. But I also don't like him. You know?"
She nodded. Emil wasn't sure if she actually did understand.
"I don't spend a lot of time with him, so I can't really make a statement. It's like... He's just there, making sure we have clean clothes and food and I dunno."
"So you'd say he's your servant?"
"What? NO! I didn't say that!"
"More like a parent then? Your dad perhaps."
"My father is an honorable man, and Mikkel is not. Mikkel is just aggravating and stoic and someone you can trust, but you don't want to trust and..."
"He's your big brother."
"He's not!"
"He totally is! You have adopted him as your big brother! Aww, that's just so cute!"
Emil fell silent again, once again looked at the stars. Maybe The Author was correct, maybe he actually had somehow adopted Mikkel as a big brother. He stuck his tongue out towards her.
"Well, I still don't like him."