AN:/ Thanks for reading through to this chapter.
Longer and more meaningful author's note is at the end.
Enjoy~
The little town was guarded as it was every night, much to a certain group's disdain.
"Didn't they just get new people to move here? It would be the perfect time to invade!" The first speaker had a nasally, whiny, raspy voice - one that not even a mother could love.
A scoff. "We can't win 'em all. You know that, at least," spoke another. This one had a rough voice, almost like a stereotypical bully's. The owner of the voice shuffled around, thankful for the especially dark night. The guards may become wary, but it's not like it mattered much if they weren't able to see the intruders. The speaker tossed its head toward the other. "In any case, we can't go tonight. Let's lure them into a false sense of security, then we'll strike."
"Aw, c'mon, that's so cliché!" The first complained, thus getting hushed by the second.
"Shh! It's cliché, but it works. Now come on, we don't want to get caught now, do we?"
Without another word, the pair slipped off into the shadows of the forest, leaving no trace of their existence in their wake.
Sunlight streamed through the broken windows of the house, dappling itself over the people within it. The brothers were naturally early risers, which proved to be an annoyance to the other inhabitants. Sleeping becomes difficult when two boys are noisily exploring their new surroundings and making no attempt to quiet themselves.
Soon enough, the entire house was (grudgingly) awake, grumbling at the two as they set up the kitchen. Tino and Audun, however, were too excited to eat. They both wanted to wander the town, no matter how crumbly it was. Tino was also pretty anxious about Hanatamago - he hoped she was all right and comfortable.
Thankfully, Elizaveta noticed their discomfort and stopped cooking for a moment, turning to her son. "Eirik, aren't you going to show them around town? I'm sure that they could use some friends here," she pulled a stray lock of hair and twirled it, apparently not aware that touching hair while preparing food wasn't exactly healthy.
The white-haired boy nodded and cast a movie star smile at the new arrivals, taking care to lengthen his strides as he opened the door. Tino supposed that Eirik was intending to open it like a gentleman or something equally ridiculous, but there was some resistance on the door's part. This resulted in a rather peeved Eirik yanking on it until it splintered and cracked open, taking the door off of its hinges.
The boy dashed out, dragging the brothers along while his parents barked at him from their house entrance.
After they were a safe distance away, Eirik brushed off his hands and looked at the brothers, studying them mentally. Tino shivered and coughed in a polite way, trying to get Eirik to remember what he was doing there.
It worked. The boy stood up a little straighter at the sound, looking them in the eye. "Ahem! Anyway, we're out of that one, aren't we?" He smiled and ruffled his own hair, effectively making it look even more awful than usual. Tino was able to hold back his grimace; Audun was not.
The elder brother raised a hand, as if to get permission to speak, but began to talk before Eirik acknowledged him. "Uh, no, you're not 'out of that one.' You're going to have to go back to your house and explain it to them eventually," he then crossed his arms, giving a typical 'Audun Glare' to the younger boy. "How old are you, anyway? You shouldn't act so irresponsibly."
Within an instant, Eirik's happy demeanour melted and transformed into one that was even colder than Audun's.
Tino shivered. Maybe this was what Cousin Roderich and Elizaveta had meant - Eirik certainly didn't look eager to speak at the moment.
"Perhaps that's what you think. See if I care," Eirik turned his back to them. "I'm going to market. Later."
Tino and Audun watched as the boy walked to the gate, had it opened, and left, the gates snapping shut the moment his body was outside.
A lapse of silence followed, but Tino broke it.
"So… I guess we'll have to explore town on our own, huh?"
Audun responded with a stiff nod.
"So… uh… come on, then?" Tino shuffled his feet, hoping to at least get a monosyllabic answer.
Another nod.
So much for that.
Pouting because his brother was such poor convorsation, Tino walked on ahead, eager to meet someone new.
Finding Hanatamago would be a nice plus to that too. Hopefully, she was just eating someone's food around town and wasn't hurt. As he walked, he glanced up and saw a young man, probably around twenty, leaning against the walls of the city. Figuring that he may as well get to know someone that was his age, Tino trotted up to him, feeling like he had when he'd went outside for the first time in his own village.
The man took notice of him first and he smiled, adjusting a device on his nose that looked just liked what Cousin Roderich wore. Tino opened his mouth to speak, but the man introduced himself first.
"Tino and Audun from the next village over, right? How are you settling in?"
Tino blanched. How did he know that? Surely news didn't travel that quickly. Maybe this guy was a creepy stalker that was going to kill him as soon as Audun turned away. Apparently, he looked pretty funny at the moment, because the man laughed at him.
"You should see your face!" he chuckled, not noting Tino's embarassment towards getting laughed at (again). He glanced up and cleared his throat, composing himself. "Ah, sorry. I was the person operating the gate last night. Which one are you? The one who called up to me?"
Relieved that he didn't have a stalker, Tino smiled sheepishly, nodding at him as he did so. "Uh-huh, I'm Tino, it's really nice to meet you…."
"…Eduard. I'm Eduard - it's a pleasure to see new faces here, that's for sure. Why're you guys here, anyway?" Eduard pulled off the thing on his nose and rubbed it with his shirt, replacing them when he stopped. "No idea why anyone would want to come here."
Tino almost agreed with him, but stopped himself. It would be way too mean and rude to be so crass - no matter where you lived, you wouldn't want visitors calling it ugly or inhospitable (even if it was). Shaking his head, Tino replied earnestly, "No, it's a nice village! I've never seen one this big…." His head went blank - it was pretty hard to think of compliments for this place. "Or one as well-protected! I doubt anything gets in here, right?"
Eduard's face fell and, from the looks of how the lines on his face aligned, Eduard seemed to be upset quite often. The man shook his head, his hair slapping the side of his face.
"No, things get in all of the time, but I probably shouldn't say anything more…."
Tino blinked and looked at him, hoping that Eduard would catch his 'tell me tell me tell me' vibes.
He didn't.
He did seem ready to get off the subject, however. With a start, Eduard took Tino's shoulder and beckoned towards Audun. "I'll show you two around town, okay? I s'pose you need to know your way around…." Eduard smiled at them and headed towards one of the many broken down houses, motioning towards it with one hand. "That's where I live. My two brothers also live there… may as well introduce you to them." With that, he shuffled to the front of the house and pulled on the door. Tino noted that there was the same resistance in opening it as he'd seen with Eirik this morning.
The people in this town really ought to repair their doors. Tino would offer to help, but he was only really good at flower arranging.
Audun and Tino stepped in after Eduard, peering around his house as soon as they could see it fully.
It was actually pretty nice. Despite some objects being chipped and the house itself looking a little bare, everything was well taken care of and clean. The aroma of freshly baked bread hung in the air around them - rather uncommon, that smell. Normally, bread was baked and then kept, being eaten stale on most occasions. Tino remembered that he had skipped out on breakfast; he felt a prick of hunger dance at the bottom of his stomach.
There was a man holding the bread, his brown hair was pulled back and out of his face. With a smile and a nod towards Eduard, he placed the food on the table in front of a young boy who stared at said food hungrily. Tino could sympathyize.
Eduard cleared his throat (he seemed to like doing that) and made a sweeping motion towards the guests, presenting them effectively. "Toris, these are the two boys that moved in with Roderich last night. They'll be staying here for a while, presumably, so be sure to welcome them appropriately."
Eduard had directed it towards the brunette, but cast a few glances at the boy at the table. Tino didn't know why, but he didn't have too much time to think about it. The brunette with the bread walked over to him and shook his hand.
"It's a pleasure to have you here. I'm Toris."
Tino blinked. Everyone in this place was so polite! "I'm Tino, nice to meetcha," he smiled and let go of Toris's hand, stepping aside so Audun could be approached better.
Audun shook hands with Toris as well, mumbling "Audun" as he did so. Toris nodded to them and beckoned towards the boy at the table, who promptly hid under it and refused to come out.
Toris didn't attempt to cajole him into coming out, he just cast the brothers a rueful smile. "He's painfully shy, I apologize…. Eduard!" he turned towards his brother. "I'm sure that they have better things to be doing than hanging around here. There's so many other people to meet. How about you show them the other people?"
Eduard nodded. "Sure thing."
Eduard led the brothers outside and shut the door, pushing on it to close it completely. "I guess I should show you the main guard first, then. Come along, you two."
Like ducklings, Audun and Tino followed their guide to the center of the town. The entire atmosphere was more lively than it had been at night, obviously. More people meandered around and spoke to each other, filling the town with low murmurings mushing together.
Standing above the crowd was a blond man with piercing eyes. Upon seeing Eduard, he nodded politely, then shot him a questioning look when he saw the newcomers. Trotting forward, Eduard presented them as he had with his own brother, explaining their situation and who they were staying with.
The man nodded and gruffly told them his name, Ludwig. "I look forward to living with you two - you seem respectable," he then turned around. Apparently, the conversation was over.
Eduard gave the pair a sheepish smile, leading them away. He would pull people aside in the street, introducing the pair to them briefly before moving on. By the end of the afternoon, Tino had met:
A peppy boy named Feliciano
A sweet girl named Lili and her hotheaded brother, Vash
A quiet man named Kiku
A boy that looked similar to Feliciano, but denied all relations to him (and didn't give his name). Eduard later shared that his name was Lovino, but advised that the two stay far from him
A man that followed Lovino around ("another person that you may want to stay away from") named Antonio
And an annoying man named Gilbert, who claimed brotherhood with Ludwig
By this time, Audun was sick of walking around and outright refused to go on.
"If you don't mind, Tino, I'm going to head back home," he scratched behind his head, making his obnoxious cowlick twitch. Tino had the sudden urge to run over Audun's hair with a comb.
With that, Audun made his way towards Cousin Roderich's house, knowing the way to it awfully well. Curiously enough, the door had been fixed. That was fast.
Tino raised an eyebrow, but then returned his attention to Eduard. "That's just Audun - don't take offence at him."
"I wasn't about to. I'm rather tired, myself, actually," Eduard rubbed his head. Tino supposed that Eduard must have a headache as well.
Tino gave him a nod. "Uh-huh, how about we sit down?"
The pair made their way towards the side of the street and rested on the side of it, basking in the noon light. It was chilly but sunny, the air penetrated Tino's clothing and he shivered.
Eduard took notice of Tino's discomfort. "Haven't you got any better clothing?"
"N-no, I don't."
Eduard made a tsk noise and smiled. "Well, I think I can arrange to take you to market tomorrow. How would you like that? We could pick you up some new pants - maybe some new coats, too."
Tino's face brightened. He hadn't had decent clothing in a while - this would be practically perfect.
If only he knew exactly what a market was.
Well… it never hurt to ask, right?
"I think I'd like that very much, but what's a market?" Tino had tried to word it inconspicuously, but the moment it came out of his mouth, he realized that it still sounded pretty stupid.
Eduard didn't laugh at him, though. "A place where you buy stuff that you need, basically." He didn't seem particularly good at explaining it, but it sounded simple. Comprehensible.
Just the way Tino liked it. It wasn't that he was stupid, he just had a lot on his mind right now.
He hadn't gotten over the whole 'I'm so cursed and probably am also gonna die soon' thing. It was a little hard to forget about, but Tino was pretty good at hiding his discomfort.
He picked at some grass and peeped up at Eduard. "Sounds good, Eduard," he crushed some of it in his hand and let it go in the wind. "Thanks for showing me around, by the way. Eirik was supposed to -"
"Eirik?" Eduard laughed. "As if that guy would leave his house for anything."
Tino bit his lip. "Yeah, that was the general consensus that I got, too. He was actually being really nice to us, though. Audun yelled at him and he ran off to market or something, at least that's what he said."
A nod from Eduard. "If that kid's nice, it's not gonna be for long. He's normally so standoffish," a pause. "I hope he's back soon. It's not safe to be out around dark over here."
There was that mention of things not being really safe here again. Tino tried to send off his 'tell me' vibes again.
It seemed to be working, but Elizaveta called from the house.
"Tino! Oh, there you are," she fiddled with the apron around her waist. "I just made lunch, how'd you like to have something to eat?" She was about to walk back inside, but her eyes caught hold of Eduard. "You can eat with us, too, Eduard. We have an empty chair at the moment." Elizaveta gave them a look, but Tino couldn't figure out what it meant from this distance.
The boys walked into the house (Tino marveled at how the door opened smoothly) and sat down comfortably. Eduard gave a wave towards Audun, who responded with a blank stare.
Elizaveta returned, placing buttermilk in drinking horns and handing one to each of the boys. Eduard gulped his down right away, but Tino and Audun were curious - they had never seen a drinking horn before. All that they'd had at home were wooden cups - old ones at that. These were much nicer - crafted from the horns of some beast.
After they sipped the buttermilk, Elizaveta returned with a cooked bird of sorts, placing it on the table. "Help yourself!"
Whatever bird it was, Tino hadn't tasted it before. He gave a look towards Audun, who shrugged, then looked at Eduard.
"Where have you guys been living? This is 'gull, and pretty well made 'gull at that," Eduard nodded towards Elizaveta, who blushed in return.
"'S sweet of you to say," she twirled her hair as she had before. Was it some sort of habit of hers? It was pretty gross. Tino shivered.
Eduard smiled politely. "It's only true…."
Tino really didn't want to stick around to see what he thought was shameless flirting between a young man and a married woman. He stood up with purpose. "I'm gonna walk around outside, if that's alright with you guys."
Audun stood to join him. No objections were made by the other two present (Tino had no idea where Cousin Roderich was at the moment), so the brothers went outside.
Once they were out from the house, Audun began to make his way for the gates of the village.
Alarmed, Tino rushed after him. "Audun! Where're you going?"
He was greeted by Audun's blank stare. "I'm just seeing the surrounding land. We'll be fine - I have the sword."
Now relieved, Tino trotted by his heels. When they arrived at the gate, Tino asked Ludwig (nicely) if he would let them out for a look around.
He nodded. "Just be sure to be back as soon as you can. It becomes hard to see in there when it's dark - you could run into something unfortunate."
It sounded like a threat to Tino, but he kept his mouth shut.
The doors swung open and the boys walked out. Tino thanked Ludwig before stepping completely out.
Then, the gates slammed shut as they normally did.
Tino followed Audun around, who was way more interested in the outdoors than Tino. He studied almost everything that could be studied, inspecting every blade of grass in the forest.
Tino didn't understand his motives until Audun rubbed his fingers together, apparently saw something, and walked purposefully towards a clearing.
At first, Tino saw nothing. Just a giant hill that stood in the way of mostly everything.
Seeing it made him homesick.
Audun dragged Tino up to the top of the mount, not letting him slow down for anything. Something seemed to have him excited, but Tino knew that he wouldn't know until they reached the top.
Once they reached the summit, the view took Tino's breath away.
Stretched out beneath them were flowers - thousands and thousands of flowers. Each swayed gently, creating an ocean below them.
Tino hugged his brother tight. "Oh, Audun! This is perfect! I don't know how you do it, but you can always find me flowers," Tino laughed and began to run down the hill, almost falling as he did so. "We can make the entire village pretty with these, just think!"
He touched the tips of the flowers, looking for one in particular that he couldn't seem to find. "Hm…." Normally, Tino could find them everywhere. Though they were poisonous, Tino loved using them to spruce up dull rooms and bouquets. "Audun, no Lily of the Valley is growing here…."
Tino received one word in response. "Pity."
Hmphing, Tino decided to make the best out of it anyway. "I'll pick some flowers to bring back, okay? I can't thank you enough, Audun - you're the best!" He grinned, gratitude written all over his face.
He was just about to pick a pretty Marguerite Daisy when a shadow descended over him. Tino's hair raised as he peered back, gasping in surprise at the person that glared down at him.
"What do you think you are doing in my garden?"
AN:/ Before I say anything else, I want to thank my reviewers. I really appreciate your input - thanks for taking the time to give me your opinion on the story.
In particular, I want to thank Ripan for pointing out several flaws in my fanfiction, and for giving me the incentive to point something out.
All of the characters, unless stated otherwise, are Vikings from the Scandinavia area that's the setting for this story. That basically means that Tino is not from Finland and that Norway is (not necessarily) from Norway.
I'm not too sure which country this fic is actually situated in. Oops.
Also, I don't intend for this to be seen as historical. As with Roderich's glasses, many more modern inventions will probably make their way in, for simplicity's sake.
Er, I suppose you could think of it as history-inspired, but I'm really gonna twist that a lot.
Much thanks to my beta (of sorts) as well. I tend to be stupid when I write - she helps a ton.
Lastly, I want to thank you for sticking with me and for reading this awfully tedious author's note. XD;;
- Sweet