Then I realized. "Wait. Who is Scandia? And Uralia? I've never heard of them. Are they related? Are they still around? Are they related to the Nordics? Why—"

Berwald raised a hand to silence me, but it was Ivan who spoke. He had tears in his eyes, and, for once, he didn't cringe when Natalia put her hand on his arm. "Uralia was—she was—she was my little sister. On her udder side, Scandia was her big brudder. We weren't related, do," he said quickly, seeing my questioning expression. "Scandia and I weren't related in duh least. I only ever met him once or twice before—ow!" Natalia had tightened her grip enough to hurt, but he'd already said enough.

"Oh," I whispered. "Is he dead?" The Nordics and the Russians looked hesitant. Finally, Natalia looked over at me with a pained expression.

"We don't know," she said.

I was sure I hadn't heard her right. "You don't know?" No one said anything. "How do you not know?" my voice was rising. I needed to calm down. I took a deep breath, rubbing my temples. "Okay, okay," I said. "Even if he's—" I swallowed "—dead, who's Uralia? I know she was Ivan and Scandia's little sister, but still…" I was a bit on edge as I said, "Did anyone else know her?" Everyone exchanged looks with each other, and, one by one, everyone raised their hand. "Everyone?" I asked. Antonio nodded, having looked up from the paper rose he was creating when the story ended.

"Uralia was a nice girl," he said, a sweet smile on his lips. It did not escape my notice that he used past tense. "She loved to travel. She was always visiting someone, hardly ever at home."

"Yah," Wang Yao said. "She lahved warm places. She always was complaining dat her house was too drafty." He looked so happy to be thinking about her. As I looked around, I saw that everyone had the same thoughtful expression.

"Well," I said, "I wish I could have met her." I looked back down at the table. "She sounds wonderful." I wondered if she would have liked me, but then thought, Probably not. She seemed really nice, and I'm not exactly—

I realized a lot of them were staring at me. "What?" I asked. "Is there something on my face?" Everyone chuckled, but only for a moment. Then the mood got serious again. "Seriously, guys. Why are you staring at me?" I looked around the table, but no one would meet my eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Vell," Roderich spoke up, "it huz recently become evident zat Uralia izz…not uz…lost uz previoushly zot." He looked around, like he wanted someone else to speak up.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Where is she? She's not dead? Can I meet her?" I was growing more excited with every question, and I didn't really notice the looks being exchanged.

"Vell," Ludwig said, "you kind uv alvreddi huv."

"What do you mean?" I asked again. "I think I'd remember meeting someone like her. And what do you mean 'kind of'?" I looked at everyone in turn. Though they all looked really happy, it didn't seem like anyone was going to come forth with any information. Finally, after several minutes of silence, I just put my head on my arms, which were crossed on the table. "Well," I said, "this conversation has tired me out. I suggest that you discuss where to go from here amongst yourselves, and wake me up when you're ready to tell me the truth." Then, I closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep, and, for the first time in months, I didn't have a single nightmare: only peaceful dreams full of snow.

Hey guys!

Told you I'd be back soon! Hope y'all had a good weekend.

I just gave blood this morning, so I'm a little bit out of it as I type this.

I know the chapter's short, but I promise next one will be longer.

Happy reading!

Anya