Silently they had walked up the hill to meet an equally as quiet meal. Now they sat outside, as always, watching the sunset without a word. Though to Njal the silence was normally welcomed, his anger had turned into a sinking feeling had taken hold of him and had not yet let go long after the sun was gone behind the mountain top. Saemund waited patiently leaned up against the log as well, for he knew the bated air between them quite well. It seemed to constantly drift into any situation involving the two of them. Not even a request to pass a fork over was safe; every acknowledgement they made towards each other was soon met with the suffocating effect that followed when they got lost in their thoughts towards the other. The altercation at the bottom of the hill earlier didn't help their case out much, either.

They both where wary of the other for different reasons, however, for Saemund feared that Njal took him as a threat.

Njal feared that he wasn't one himself.

Saemund, wanting to escape the war being waged in his head, settled for a smaller battle, and spoke up.

"You said that um, letter you wanted… me… to pick up was from… who again?"

Njal glanced over at Seamund, seeming to have just registered that the Dane was still there. He dipped his head and sighed. He sighed due to the yet another futile attempt at reconciliation from Saemund. He snatched the neatly folded letter from his pocket and opened it up, flattening it in his lap.

Picking up the paper, he looked over at Saemund again and said "It's from my Brother. Egill's his name."

Saemund sat up straighter at that, and suggested by a wave his hand that he hold the letter. Njal looked a little dejected at this, but soon enough handed over the paper.

Looking over it, Saemund said after a few moments "I didn't know you had a brother…"

"Well it's not common knowledge that's for sure… he's an island a little north west of here. Found him around… oh, fifty years ago I'd say." Njal stated. "he's still pretty little."

"Is he… coming to visit?" Seamund gestured towards the letter again, obviously referring to its content.

Njal sighed "I wish… but with all…" his eyes trailed up and down over Saemund "…This going on, I'd rather he not."

Saemund looked taken aback at this, though truthfully it wasn't a surprise to him at all. He shouldn't have expected anything more.

Saemund answered back "I would love to meet him… I wouldn't mind him coming over or any…" he stopped short due to the icy look Njal was shooting at him.

Njal practically growled his words though his clenched teeth. "You know what I meant, Dane."

Though still wary of Njal's stare, Saemund couldn't overcome the guilt that had overtaken him. He answered slowly "It wasn't my decision, you know… I wouldn't ever…" He looked down at the ground, lost. "I didn't have any part of this Njal."

Njal only looked over him again, frowning a little more. With a small huff of air he snapped his attention away and stood up leisurely. Sauntering back to the house, he stopped outside the door. He glanced at the letter he held in his hand and looked back at Saemund, still sitting up against the log looking disconsolately. Sighing yet again Njal walked inside.

He returned a few minutes later, holding a pile of blankets and pillows.

Hahahaha late as usual (I tried to get this up since THURSDAY but Fanfiction is a bitch)

Nothing really to say about this one except FILLER CHAPTER

Well it's not really filler, as it has a purpose, but nothing really happens…

Sorry for the boring angst… but the next chapter (which WILL be submitted later this week as it's already typed and ready to go) is fun and fluffy.

Uhhh…. Oh yeah one thing!

Egill – Iceland. I like Emil and Ari as good Iceland names, but Emil means 'rival' and that's not what I want him to be in this story. So I went with Egill, for 'edge of a sword.' I mean hey, he's got to be a bad add little dude to be Iceland. I'm not certain, but I think he's going to be in this fic somewhere. But briefly. Just as a 'hey look it's egill. Oh hey he left' kinda thing.

Egill isn't a baby during this time because, I don't like the whole kid for a very long time spaced out ageing thing. I mean he's obviously not as old as Norway and Denmark, but if these countries just appear randomly out of the woods how the hell do they survive on their own if their first few decades are spent as babies? They can't opt out of natural selection, they'd be eaten by wolves or something. I mean I guess I could go a darker route and say that a lot of nations used to exist, they just never got picked up by someone. Maybe it's like super natural selection. Get picked up by humans/other nations or die because you're a fucking baby for fifty years. There's so few countries now because it's so hard to actually stay alive. Wow I got way to into that ok Egill is older let's just go with that.