Romano glared at Skogurland as though if he did it angrily enough, the 'boy' would return the brothers to their homes. His amber orbs flickered like a candle, semi-reflecting the flames lighting the dining hall.

Sko felt the cold glare, and ignored it, instead focusing on her training plan. Her culture hadn't quite developed paper, so she scribbled strategies on some Maple bark, using a half-burnt twig as a pencil.

She wrote down a few lines, scratched her chin a moment, then licked her thumb and 'erased' one of the words.

"Vee~" Veneziano interupted, waving his spoon about. "Don't you have any past-"

"No. Wulf stew is better."

Frustrated at being ignored and at Feli's insistance for that dish, Roma kicked his twin, a tiny smile perking the corner of his mouth for an instant at the yelp.

Sko didn't bother to look up at the heavy footsteps that came up behind her.

"(Yes, Vald?)" she asked, not even looking.

Vald- the chief of the forest dwelling natives- chuckled, giving his scratchy blonde beard a small tug. "(I came to see your return. But who are these two...outsiders?)" he questioned, grasping for a word to describe the Italians better, but finding none in his immediate vocabulary.

"(They are weak. So I brought them back for training.)"

"(You think that wise? If the enemy is weak, then it would be easier to beat them.)"

"(They are not our enemies, though.)"

"(There is no telling what-)"

Sko slammed her fist down on the table, quieting the entire hall.

"(Preying on weak enemies is shameful! These are our allies as of yet, so I believe it best to strengthen our fellows to above fear of a mere cub. Understood?)"

Vald dared not answer.

Sko turned her back again. "(These two will join the younger boys tommorow for training. Unless you have another matter to discuss, Vald...)"

The man needed not the hint. He departed almost as fast as Veneziano does when he sees England with a scone in hand.

All was silent for the longest minute, before Romano stormed off, grumbling about 'wild basterds' and 'caveman language'. Feliciano followed quickly, wanting to be sure that his fratello did not try to swim for it again.

-0-

-0-

Lovi huffed about the underbrush, swearing under his breath. Damn wild ragazzo, feeding us garbage and sticking us in the middle of nowhere.

He ducked around a tree and into a bush, reveling in the sight of his sibling appearing and starting to panic at his solitude.

Eventually though, Roma's hidden caring side broke through his layers and made him show himself.

"Vee~ fratelloooooooo~ I thought you-a left me again~"

Lovino accepted the hug somewhat reluctantly, ending it by pinching his 'idiot brother''s cheek.

"Just give me your phone already. We need to get help, remember?"

"Vee~ you're so smart~"

Feli plucked his smartphone from his pocket and turned it on. Once it was finally booted up, the device 'dinged' several times, chiming in rapid succesion.

"You have...40...missed calls from...Antonio."

The twins listened for ten full minutes before Lovi flicked off the Spaniard's blubbering, feeling a pang in his chest.

But even after climbing the nearest tree to the very top, there was no signal. Not a single bar of service.

The men sat on the ground and curled up their legs, the elder burrowing his face into his knees in a small fit of despair.

They stayed that way for a while, until Alvi came to collect them. They hadn't even realized they had been lost.

Once back in the village, Sko sent them into her home so that they could change for training. She almost put it off for the night, seeing the usually fiesty Italia Romano being quiet and sullen.

But when she heard snores coming through the earthy wall, she threw the thoughts to the wind.

"UP. NOW. Running time!" the child-nation demanded, thwacking the brunettes on the head with the broad side of her sword.