After taking a couple days to calm down from their previous quarrel, the detective trio continued with their investigation, starting with the attacker's identity.
With a little searching, they were able to find the company's name on the knife hilt, and by using the internet they were able to trace it back to a small family business located in Boston.
"Boston? Didn't ve have a meeting zhere a couple months ago?" Hungary asked. "Ja," Prussia responded. "Zhat's already a good sign."
The shop also had a website, and when Prussia clicked on it he found a phone number he could call. He typed it into his phone and put it on speaker, instructing the other two to keep quiet.
"Hello, this is Daniel and Son's Armory, how may we help you?" A man called in a monotone voice, he's obviously been doing this for a long time.
"Uhh ja, do you know if anyvone has recently purchased any Jagdkommando's from your shop?" Prussia asked.
"Why? Did someone get murdered?" The man wondered with a curt snort.
"Maybe, zhat's vhat I'm trying to figure out," Prussia answered seriously. The man's smug grin dropped and his whole demeanor changed. "Alright, damn give me a sec."
He pushed himself on his rolling chair over to a nearby computer, using it to pull up a directory of past purchases. "Ok. It seems like the last purchase was... June 13th."
'The last day of the meeting,' all three detectives thought to themselves.
"Do you know who bought it?" Prussia asked. The man on the other side paused for a second before sighing. "Look, I'm not really supposed to give out that information, and even if I did I couldn't tell you. My brother was working that day."
"Vell I'm trying to run an investigation here. If either you or your brother could provide a description or name, zhen zhat vould help out a lot," Prussia persuaded. He was technically running an investigation.
The man on the other line was silent for a while before speaking again. "Now that you mention it, later that day my brother told me about some little lady that entered the store. She was really cold and abrasive."
Prussia and Hungary looked at each other, before she tapped him on the shoulder to ask further. "Vhat did she look like?"
"My brother said she looked like a maid, and had this angry face the whole time," he described. "Oh, and I think she was shopping with her brother... or maybe boyfriend? I don't really know."
The three passed a few more glances to each other, until Japan inched forward and whispered into Prussia's ear. He nodded and looked back at the phone. "Did she have a bow?"
"Uhhhh... yeah, I think she did. Do you know her?" The man asked. The three had a silent party now that they finally had a lead, leaving the man on hold for an awkward amount of time.
"Oh uh, yes ve do. Bye now!" Prussia yelled happily as he hung up. He turned off the phone and spun around to look around at the other two, who had big grins and almost jumping for joy. Prussia joined them and the three detectives cheered loudly.
After they had calmed down, the three went back to the board to continue their work. They took off Hong Kong and America from the attacker list, and even though Russia was at the shop with Belarus they didn't think he would've or could've stolen it from her. So that only left Belarus as their attacker.
"So now we have an attacker, but who is the victim?" Japan asked while staring at the board.
"Zhat is a good question, Belarus vould kill any of zhese's people on a vhim, she doesn't need a motive," Hungary noted.
"Zhen ve should sort zhem from most to least likely," Prussia suggested. The other two agreed and they began dividing up the list of nations.
After a while, they had a long line of nations, with China as the largest suspect and Cameroon as the smallest.
There were still too many to come to a definitive decision, but they were fine for now knowing that Belarus was responsible, and America was tied into it somehow.
Hungary was still sticking with her love triangle theory, but now she was adding Belarus to the equation.
She believes that Russia, China, and America are in a polyamorous relationship, and that's why America doesn't want anyone spreading the drama about Russia and China being together. Belarus must've caught them together, killed China, and started going after America. At one point she grabbed onto him, so he slipped out of his jacket to escape. The water marks were either him sweating as he ran, or he was crying from fear. Finally he canceled his plans with Prussia and ran to go somewhere safe.
Prussia was still completely against this theory, but he would admit that the series of events seemed a little too perfect.
If only he knew the victim.
When Natalya awoke she was fully expecting Alfred to have turned around in his sleep and latched onto her, but in a brutal act of irony she was the one that turned and latched onto him.
She wasn't expecting to have another nightmare about Russia, nor that her actions in her dream would transfer into the real world.
She nearly screamed when she found her arms wrapped around his chest and her face crammed into his back. She only stopped herself because she was worried she would wake him up.
Slowly she was able to remove her right arm, but her left arm was completely pinned under him. How did that even get there in the first place?
So until he woke up, or she somehow found a way to get out, she was stuck curled up on him. Luckily for her she got her opportunity when he started stretching as he awoke. That gave her just enough time to free herself and slither out of the sleeping bag before he turned to look at her.
America was perplexed why her face was so red, but she played it off as just being from the heat. He accepted that answer and the two quickly packed up and made their way onto the road again.
After a quick trip to the Four Corner's Monument, the two finally entered Utah. The first thing Natalya noticed was how red everything was. Much like Arizona, this place reminded her of Australia during the few meetings that took place there. She hated those meetings.
But unlike Australia, there were these massive sandblasted rock formations all over the place. (Australia has them too but far out in the desert and away from any meeting places.)
She was able to get a great look at them when they reached Monument Valley. There were large mesas and buttes everywhere, and even though she had never watched a western, she could agree that this seemed like the most fitting place.
She would never admit it, but she found them really cool. Of course, Alfred did all the admitting for her. "Man, the desert looks sick doesn't it?"
Natalya nodded in agreement as the two continued sitting and looking at the rocks. She listened attentively as he began naming off other rock formations around them.
Eventually, it spiraled out of control and the two went on a three day detour of driving all around Utah and Arizona going to the strangest rock formations they could find.
They first traveled the Petrified Forest, hiking around the multicolored rocks and finding strange chopped up logs and branches with bizarre pieces of wood. Alfred picked up the most cylindrical one and handed it to Natalya, who inspected it thoroughly. It had all sorts of colors in it, everything from bright yellow to deep blue in a cool swirling pattern. She was definitely keeping this.
Their next stop was to Antelope Canyon, which turned out to actually be a winding cave going through the middle of a large sandstone rock. It wasn't eventful or very exciting, but it was still worth a picture.
After they were done walking through the cave, they drove further west, passing the North Teepees and reaching The Wave.
"Woah," Natalya said in amazement as she walked on top of the wavy rocks. They were completely smooth, and she felt like one wrong move would cause her to begin sliding.
"I know, right? It's so trippy," Alfred commented as he walked alongside her over the waves.
"How did all of this form?" Natalya asked as they took a break on top of the largest peak to observe the whole wave.
"Lots and lots of wind and rain. The water and air was constantly weathering and eroding the rocks until you get stuff like this," he explained while pointing a thumb back at the wavy rocks behind them.
"All the coolest rock formations are from wind and river erosion, which also form the stuff we saw at Monument Valley and what we'll see at the canyons."
After taking another trip in the car, the two made their way up to Canyonlands National Park, which stunned Natalya with its absolutely massive size. Obviously she had to say something about it. "This place is huge!"
"That's adorable," Alfred chuckled in response to her comment. Natalya was confused what was funny, and even though he wanted to keep it a surprise, he eventually decided to elaborate for her so she wouldn't get mad. "This isn't even close to the size of the Grand Canyon. In fact it's roughly a forth of the side."
Natalya nodded as she stared out at the large stretch of rugged landscape. "I want to see it." Alfred smiled amicably at her interest.
His attention was suddenly brought to a bead of sweat that was trailing down the side of her face. It was only then that he noticed how flushed her face was.
He gave a sigh while his eyebrow tweaked in annoyance. "I told you to wear something lighter."
She turned her eyes to him and frowned. "And I told you I'm never wearing those jeans again."
"I can turn them into shorts," he suggested. She shook her head at the idea. "That doesn't fix the problem, it's tight everywhere. Besides... that would make me look like a slut."
"What are you talking about? It's not like I'm going to make booty shorts out of them, I can make them however long you want," he assured.
She was still vehemently against it, giving him a look of discomfort as if she were about to be sick.
"Well whatever you do, it better be something lighter than what you have on now, because you won't make it through the Grand Canyon wearing something that thick and dark," he warned while pointing at her clothes.
She grumbled and brushed some dust off her dress. She liked these clothes, she didn't want to wear any of that ugly American crap.
After a little more exploring, the two decided to head back to the RV when Natalya started overheating.
As Alfred drove around to somewhere near the Grand Canyon they could stop for tonight, Natalya decided to catch up on her reading while she cooled off.
August 7, 1867
I forgot to mention something strange I found out about the other nations. I just figured everyone could heal and have strength like I do, but it turns out that I'm actually an anomaly among the nations.
They still regenerate and have a level of super strength obviously, but not nearly to the level as me. An injury that takes a few minutes to heal for me takes about half an hour for them at the least.
And their strength is even worse, even the strongest of them may be able to punch a sizable hole in a wall. Compare that to me who could do more damage than that when I was baby.
The only two that come close to me physically are Russia and possibly Mattie. I think Mattie is roughly as strong as I am but I can't tell because he has the fighting prowess of a sloth.
August 8, 1867
Another thing I forgot to mention, I bought Alaska from Russia. So now he's out of North America and I gained a massive amount of land, for only 7.2 million no less.
I now own two of the biggest land transactions in all of human history. So that's pretty cool.
March 4, 1869
Ulysses S. Grant has become my new boss. He was a great general, so I hope he will be a great president as well.
February 3, 1870
Th U.S. now have the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. They state that slavery is abolished, everyone has the right to due process, and all men of all races and backgrounds can vote.
Hopefully women will be next to get an amendment. Though I hope it doesn't take another civil war to get there.
- Alfred F. Jones
Natalya decided to skim through the next few entries, because they were all some boring stuff about herding cattle, mining towns and other boring stuff about plains life.
July 4, 1876
Today is my 100th anniversary of declaring independence as my own country!
I still can't believe how much I've grown in such little time. I'm the third largest... or forth largest country since territories don't technically count.
I've brought so much new technology to the world, and it only seems to grow more and more as time goes on.
I would be lying if I said I expected to make it this far, and I can't wait to see what the next 100 years has planned for me.
France came to my party and hinted at a big present he was making for me. I wonder what it is.
September 3, 1883
Ok so technically this is my 100th anniversary of winning against Britain and actually being independent, but who's counting anyway?
June 19, 1885
France got me this amazing statue to build. It's called the Statue of Liberty and is a gift for our alliance during my revolution.
This is the most awesome gift anyone has ever gotten, I can't thank him enough for it.
April 22, 1889
Oklahoma as a Native American reservation has been stripped away and became a massive land grab for Americans, like it was some sort of game.
Needless to say I'm pissed with my boss right now. The U.S. is randomly attacking Native Americans and trying to shove them onto even smaller reservations, and the whole damn government won't listen to me.
December 29, 1890
Today was the last battle between the Native Americans and the U.S. Army. And sadly the natives lost. I fought with Crazy Horse at Little Bighorn, I fought along side Sitting Bull and Big Foot. I tried to fight the Americans back, but it just wasn't enough. I failed you again, mother.
And yes I did fight against my own government. Anyone would when they've become genocidal maniacs killing off the natives simply for existing.
Most of the natives were put onto reservations or like some leaders, were executed.
I on the other hand, was dragged all the way back to the capital to have a talk with the president. I don't know who anymore, I haven't seen any of them since Lincoln died.
He was willing to give me a pardon, but I told him to go to hell. I was then sent to prison for treason and now have a twenty year sentence. Oooh no I'm so scared.
May 18, 1896
First the killing and encroachment of Native Americans by the U.S. Army, and now the Supreme Court is ruling that being racist is constitutional?
My country's treatment toward other races is seriously beginning to get under my skin.
- Alfred F. Jones
Natalya got about halfway through the next passage, before her eyes slowly began drooping. It was getting harder and harder to keep them open, until they unwillingly fell closed for the last time as she fell asleep.
The next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes to a big white blur flying toward and into her face. She removed it and observed what it was, finding that it was the white sundress she packed.
She then looked up from the dress to the door of the room. Alfred was standing there holding the matching hat. "If you don't want to wear jeans then wear this," he instructed while frisbeeing the large hat to her.
He then left to go make preparations for entering the Grand Canyon, leaving her to grumble angrily to herself while changing into the dress.
Though, looking in the mirror... it doesn't look that bad. And it's a whole hell of a lot more comfortable than pants. And having a hat to block out the sun is definitely a bonus.
Content with her clothing, she left her room and walked outside to find that they were right in front of Grand Canyon.
It was stupendous, she couldn't even put it into words. The only thing she could think about it was that it was like the previous canyons she's seen, but better in every conceivable way.
In a daze, she walked to the edge of the canyon, not noticing Alfred who was putting a bunch of gear into a canoe. Or the fact that he had just paid a guy to drive off in the RV.
Meanwhile, she was on her hands and knees peering over the edge to the river far below them. "That's a far drop," she commented. Moving slightly back as she got a bad sense of vertigo.
"Yup," Alfred agreed while walking up behind her, dragging the canoe alongside him. He set it down and looked at Natalya, then without warning he put his hands under her arms and lifted her up. Before she could even process the situation, she was placed in the boat as Alfred went behind it and began pushing.
"What are you doing?" She asked in worry as they inched closer to the edge. "Getting down the canyon... duh," he responded with a roll of his eyes.
"Huh? What?! No!!"
"Hang on tight!"
Natalya tried climbing out of the canoe, but Alfred pushed it forward off the edge and jumped in.
She fell back into the boat and landed against his chest, clutching hard to his shirt so she wouldn't fall out.
Raising her head from his chest, she looked at his face and gave him a death glare. "You're insane!"
"What do you mean? This is fun!" He argued, but was shut up when they hit a bump causing them to headbutt each other.
"Oh yeah, so fun!" She yelled as they hit more bumps. She was practically strangling him with how hard she was wrapping herself around him. Though knowing her the strangling might be intentional.
The canoe then flew off another ledge, hurdling them straight toward the river. They hit the water with such force that Natalya's grip around his neck was ripped away. Sending her slamming against the other end of the boat then back into him.
The two laid still in the boat as it slowly floated down the river. Alfred was slumped over and groaning as he rubbed his neck, and Natalya had the back of her head against his chest as she began to slow down her breathing.
She relaxed against his chest for a moment... until she realized she was relaxing against his chest.
She nearly screamed as she jumped and elbowed him in the forehead, then scurried to the other end of the boat. From under her hat she peered at him as he simultaneously rubbed his neck and head. He had suffered some pretty heavy whiplash when they crashed, and being knocked in the head did not help.
He gave her an adorable pouty face, which infuriated her. "Jeez Nat, way to kick a man when he's down."
If she were in the water right now it would be boiling from her rage. "You are not a man, you are a psychotic little boy!"
"Don't be so mean, I was just trying to have some fun," he said while still continuing to pout.
She stared at him gobsmacked, appalled at how stupid this man was. "Fun? Fucking fun?! You could've killed us!"
Alfred rolled his eyes and dipped his head back with a peeved groan. "You keep saying that but I haven't killed you a single time... of course you can't say the same."
"Just because I got lucky and survived your stupidity doesn't mean you can keep doing it. Eventually one of your antics will get me killed, I'm certain of it," she scolded.
"Whatever, you're alive now so let's get moving," he brushed her tirade off while grabbing a nearby paddle to row with.
Natalya wasn't done with her rant, but Alfred was ignoring that for now so she had no reason to continue. She looked around her for another paddle, but it appeared that Alfred had the only one.
That was good for her, that meant Alfred had to do all the work, and row all the way down the. . . how long is this river?
"How long is the Grand Canyon?" She asked suddenly. Alfred smiled as he pushed through the water. "We skipped a good sixty miles from the beginning, but that still leaves 217 miles to go."
She gawked at him for a while, before looking ahead of them to the canyon cliffs that seemed to go on forever. "And we're traveling the whole thing by boat?"
"Yup."
"So what about the RV?" She asked. (She was mainly worried about her clothes and the stupid stuff she kept collecting.)
"I paid a guy to drive to the end, we should meet up somewhere at the Nevada border," he answered.
She stared at him with narrowed eyes, wondering how he could be so careless. "You paid a stranger to drive your RV around the country... are you not at all afraid they're going to steal something, or just drive off never to be seen again?"
"Don't worry. I paid him half now, and half when we get to the end," he assured. "Besides, if he drives off somewhere with my bomber jacket still in the RV... I'll hunt him down and kill him." He was dead serious, especially since she could see the aura surrounding him.
"Da, and he still has my dress and bow. If he takes that then I'll kill him then kill you for trusting a thief," she threatened.
"Fair enough."
The two continued down the river for a few minutes, with Natalya hiding her face from the sun with her hat. She flicked it up and looked over at Alfred. "So how long will we be floating?"
"Two or three days. Depends if we slow down to check out anything," he told her. "Oh, that reminds me, if we're going to be out in the sun for so long you're going to need some sunscreen. You should be able to find some in that bag right there."
Natalya sat up and opened the large bag, finding smaller boxes and bags of mystery items, then far at the bottom she found the tube of sunscreen.
She quickly lathered herself in it, luckily getting it on before her skin turned too red. It was going to be a long ride and her fair skin was going to need all the sunscreen it could get.
After putting the tube away, she laid back down in the boat and relaxed quietly as Alfred slowly pushed their way down the stream.
It didn't take long for her to get bored, she came here to see the view, not float around at a painfully slow seven miles per hour for three days straight.
"This is so goddamn boring," she complained while rolling on her side, definitely kicking his back on accident.
He turned around and smiled, then gave her an intense stare. "Well get ready then, because we're about to hit the rapids!"
She was about to get up and see what he was referring to, but suddenly something knocked the boat around, dropping her onto her back again.
She hopped up and watched as Alfred maneuvered around rocks and shallows while speeding through the rushing brown water.
But of course, the second something fun happened it ended instantly, bringing them to a halt as they once again reached the slow stream.
Natalya's face dropped and she let out a sigh while flopping back in the boat. "This sucks, I just wanted to see the view. Not bake in this damn sun!"
Alfred laughed at her whining and looked back at her. "Chill out, I packed a drone you can use. It's in a black case in the bag."
"A drone?" She asked while sitting up. "Yeah, you ever fly one?" He wondered.
"No, I haven't," she answered while taking it out of the bag.
Alfred took it from her and set it up, taking it for a little test drive to give her a rundown of the controls. More confident in her ability to fly it, she took the controller from him and flew it herself.
She almost sent it straight into the water, but recovered last second and brought it back up.
Slowly it made its way farther and farther, until from the screen on Alfred's phone she could see she was at the top of the canyon. For as far as she could see was the true view of the Grand Canyon, with all of its plateaus and carved out rocks.
Looking down, she could see herself and Alfred as tiny specks in the river, a river that seemed to go on forever. How did that create such a massive canyon?
This was another thing worthy of a picture or two.
In no time she ran through the entire battery and had to land the drone. Luckily Alfred brought some portable charging stations, but that still meant she had to endure intense boredom until it recharged. Maybe she could pass the time with some small talk.
"Can I ask you a question?" She requested. Alfred turned his head slightly and nodded. "Shoot."
"So how can this tiny stream make such a massive canyon?" She asked. "I've seen rivers way larger than this and they didn't make any canyons."
"I'm not really going to get super sciency on you, because that would just be confusing. So the short answer is basically that the Colorado River's strength combined with weathering and eroding by wind and rain has slowly been carving deeper and deeper over time. In fact it still continues today."
"That must've taken a long time," she noted. He tilted his head sideways and gave a nervous laugh. "It's not that simple."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the Grand Canyon isn't all old. Sure there are parts that have been around since the dinosaurs, but some parts are only about six million years old. That's a baby compared to other rock formations."
"I don't know what you're talking about, six million still sounds ancient to me," she argued, which Alfred found funny. "I guess so."
Natalya stopped talking for a minute as they hit another segment of rapids, looking over Alfred's shoulder while he expertly weaved through the water.
After they had made it back to the calm waters, Natalya continued their talk with a question she really hoped he would respond to. "Speaking of ancient... do you think you could tell me a little about your mother?"
Alfred paused his rowing, not daring to turn around to her. He sat frozen for a good minute before slowly beginning to row again. "What do you want to know?"
"I just want to know about her. What was she like? What did she do? What was your life like with her? Things like that," she suggested.
Alfred was quiet for a little while longer, either hesitant to answer or thinking of what to say, Natalya wasn't sure.
After what felt like an eternity, he opened his mouth to speak.
"She was... amazing. She taught Mattie and I everything we know. How to fight, how to hunt... how to live. We lived as nomads, we traveled all over the Americas. The most we would stay with a single group of Natives were a few months to a year depending on the weather. We made and slept in igloos with the Eskimos, sailed on the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes with the Iroquois and Hurons, walked through the vast plains with the Lakota, and like you've seen, we lived under rocks with the Anasazi.
And if we weren't up for more rural life, we would occasionally go to the empires like the Aztec and Inca. There were also the Mayans and Olmecs, but that was long before Mom had Mattie and I. I wish I could've seen the Mayans, they were crazy smart for how long ago they lived.
Mom was really smart too. She knew all of the tribes' languages, even better than me. And she was super strong, and a warrior... there wasn't anything she couldn't completely obliterate in a fight.
I think the best thing about her though was that she was always there. She was our mother, and she wouldn't leave us for anything in the world. She didn't have a government to answer to, no boss to take orders from. We simply just... lived. We lived to live, just like any other human. I'm not sure if you have ever had that experience, but I would die to feel that level of freedom again."
"Of course, Mr. Freedompants is looking for more freedom," she joked, raising Alfred's mood a little. "Freedompants? That's a new one."
She gave him a microscopic smile before getting back to her questioning. "So if your mother didn't have a specific government she was a part of, then how did she form?"
"She didn't have a government she belonged to, because the one that created her had disappeared. If you want to technical, my mom's name was Norte Chico, after the first empire of the Americas."
"But if it disappeared then shouldn't she have died with it?" She asked.
"Not necessarily. Sure, nations can die when their empire falls, but that's because there were competing nations that took over when the other had died. Case in point when Germania killed Rome. But my mom had no competition, she was the only nation in all of the Americas. When her empire crumbled, her people were still around, just dispersed. None of them had left and became people of other nations."
"So how old would your mother be then?"
"Norte Chico was established somewhere around 3500 B.C. So she's actually a little older than China. . . Oh, and if you think that's old then you should've seen my grandma."
"You had a grandmother?!"
"Why are you surprised? Rome is the grandpa of the Italies."
"But Rome was younger than your mother, it's a little hard to believe you had a grandmother when nations didn't even exist."
"She didn't personify a nation, rather a group. About 16,500 years ago a group of people crossed over the Bering Straight from Asia to North America. My grandma was part of that group. Even though she was older than any tribe that began in the Americas, we used to always call her Clovis since that was the group that formed."
"So she was a cavewoman?"
"I mean... she did hunt mammoths and stuff so kinda. Though she stuck more to the plains since that was where it was warm and had lots of food."
"I can't believe this. This completely rewrites the history of nations. I thought it was common knowledge that it all started with the four river valley civilizations. But "nations" that existed before nations?"
Natalya rubbed her temples while trying to take in all this new information. Does that mean there was a personification of the continents, or maybe even Pangaea.
Alfred laughed at her expression, knowing just how ludicrous all of this must sound. "I know, it's pretty crazy right? And since she came from Asia that means I'm probably distantly related to China in some way."
"What the fuck Alfred? That's so unfair!"
"Um... what do you mean?"
"Most nations don't even have parents, then you come out here with an entire family tree."
"Sorry?"
"It's fine. It's just... I thought you were the New World. But you and your family have been around forever."
"I guess that is a little weird for nations, huh?" He awkwardly laughed. "Though I think the weirder part is how the natives are still around today. That's a lot of time and conflict to go through and miraculously not go extinct."
"Da."
The two went quiet after Natalya had finished her questioning. Or that's what they thought until one more question popped into her head.
"So that strange language you were speaking back at the village was a Native American one?"
"Yeah. It's the Navajo language. . . obviously," he answered. "If you want I can teach it to you, it's pretty cool to know rare languages. Then we can have our own secret language to talk to each other in. We'll be like spies."
"I think I'm good," she denied his offer. He gave her a look of fake sadness. "Well alright, I guess. But if you change your mind, just remember that if you break your streak... I break your legs."
"Huh?" She looked at him in confusion. Was that a threat?
"It's... the duolingo meme. You do know what memes are right?" He wondered.
"Not really," she shrugged. Alfred looked absolutely devastated. "That's horrible. But I guess that just means I'll have to show you myself."
He then proceeded to stop rowing and pull out his phone, showing her all the newest memes. Don't ask how he has any service in the bottom of a canyon, that's not important.
After a while, he had gone through all the ones he could find and looked at her. "Sooooo, what do you think?"
"I can't tell if they were supposed to be funny or bizarre and stupid," she told him.
"See, now you're getting it," he happily declared while tapping her shoulder.
She frowned at him and rubbed the arm he touched. "I'm not sure that's something to celebrate about. Also, what is the obsession with beans?"
Alfred broke out into a laughing fit while shrugging his shoulders. "I don't fucking know."
"Right... well you should probably get back to rowing the boat," she reminded him. He understood and moved back to the front and picked up the paddle again.
In no time they came up to another rapid, which Natalya watched by grabbing Alfred on the shoulders and observing from over his head. It wasn't until after they passed it did she realize what she was doing and moved away from him.
Natalya was embarrassed with herself for doing that, but Alfred understood her excitement, and even offered to let her row the next time they reached a rapid. She was happy to hear that and eagerly accepted.
When the time came for her to row, she went as hard as possible, using all the strength she had to blast through the water. It almost tipped the boat a few times, and if Alfred didn't know any better he would think they were in a speed boat.
For the next few hours they swapped between rowing and relaxing, until it began getting darker and colder.
Alfred wanted to sleep in the boat so they would still be covering ground during the night, but Natalya refused since she didn't feel like getting woken up by some rapids every few minutes.
So the two sailed to shore and dragged the boat away from the water, then set up a tent to sleep in for the night.
Doing what she's done a few times, she waited until he began dozing off to take her phone out of her pocket. Why didn't she just use this earlier when she was bored?
She was about to begin reading where she left off, but suddenly remembered what Alfred said earlier about knowing Native American languages. Maybe now she could finally translate the beginning pages of the book.
So scrolling all the way back to the beginning, she looked at the first passage and pulled up google. (Again, don't ask how she has service.)
The most obvious language to look up was Navajo. It was the one he talked about the most. But when she put the first word in, nothing came up, which aggravated her.
She tried it with a few more words, but it came up with the same results, and even the ones that did work didn't make a sentence that made sense.
'Ok, so Navajo isn't the language... but then what is?' She thought while trying to figure it out.
She also remembered that Alfred had mentioned a few other tribes, so she decided to go through those as well to hopefully get any good results.
After around forty minutes of looking up crappy translators for each language, she was eventually able to find that the language Alfred wrote was Lakota. She got extremely lucky, if it wasn't one of the ones he mentioned then she would've been screwed.
Putting each word in the translator, she came up with the following entry.
Today - 964
My mommy gave me this notebook. She gave one to Kanata too. So we can write about our life. I don't know why, but Mommy said it is very important.
- Maska
Finally, she can understand what he's saying. Though that took a long time to translate, time she didn't have for how tired she was soon to become. So she decided to just do a few for tonight then spend time on the boat doing the rest.
And that's exactly what she did.
The Harvest Moon 1, - 964
Mommy told us to never go near the forests around the Great Lakes. There are dangerous man-eating creatures out there.
I don't need to worry though, Mommy is really strong, and she could take down anything that tries to hurt me or Kanata.
Moon of The Rutting Deer 18, - 964
Before Grammy Clovis passed she taught Kanata The Way of The Maple Leaf, and after some practice with Mommy he was finally able to do it.
She also gave me a gift, something called The Way of The Plains. I'm not sure what that does but I'm sure it's something cool.
The Hard Moon 16, - 964
In order to escape the cold, Mommy has brought us down to one of the desert tribes to stay at. Kanata is really upset, he doesn't do well in the heat.
- Maska
The next ten or so entries were all about plains and pueblos and snow. Less about his life and more just on where he was. Though there were a couple passages about something Alfred referred to as "fluffy cows."
Moon of The Harvest 23, - 1000
While we were staying up in Kanata's land for the grape harvest, a group of strange pale men came on this massive canoe, with a big white wind catcher and many oars.
Mommy wasn't sure if we should talk to them. We've never seen pale men before... besides Kanata and myself. For all we know they could be hostile, they have these large shiny axes and clothes. And funny long beards.
All the men had these eyes like the sky and hair like the sun, like me. Then two others had violet eyes, like Kanata.
Mommy thought it was pretty strange, so she eventually came out to meet them. They also seemed pretty weirded out, since they spoke some strange language we couldn't understand.
Then five of the men noticed us and began trying to talk to us, they seemed to think we could understand them since we look the same. One of the men was really tall and scary and made Kanata cry, which Mommy really didn't like. The short smiley one was able to calm him down though, which Mommy did like.
- Maska
'So the Nordics really were the first to find the Americas,' she thought as she went to the entry that was in one of the Scandinavian languages. When putting it in a translator she found that it was Swedish.
Moon When Ducks Come Back 7, - 1001
The men who came to Kanata's land taught us their language. It sounds funny, but they're nice people... even the tall guy with the scary face. I like the guy with the spiky hair the most, he is very fun to hang out with. The smiley one is really nice to me and Kanata and they take care of us while Mom is hunting. I do not really know about the other two, they are too quiet.
Though one of them knows magic, so me and Kanata decided to show him our skills.
Moon When Trees Crack From The Cold 14, - 1009
The smiley one and the others said they have to leave. Apparently the cold is just too much, even for them. Their crops couldn't survive and died, leaving them with no food.
I told them that they could travel south to warmer land, but they said it would take too long with the amount of food they had left, and it was better to return home.
I'll miss those strange men.
Moon of The June Berries 28, - 1142
The League of the Iroquois has been founded, made by Dekanawidah and Hiawatha. So now all of the tribes have come together as one.
Moon of Making Fat 20, - 1250
Mommy took us on a voyage to Cliff Palace, and this place is amazing! It's like an entire city in the cliffs.
Moon of The June Berries 20, - 1325
I was wrong, Tenochtitlán is a real city. A floating city in the middle of Lake Texcoco. I've never seen a place full of so many people, and buildings, and amazing pyramids. Mommy really likes this place, even if she prefers to be a nomad.
Moon When The Wind Shakes Off Leaves 12, 1492
Some more strange men came to our land by three massive canoes, but these aren't the same as the others. They speak a different language, and one of the men is very tanned with green eyes.
And also unlike the others, Mommy didn't go to meet them. Instead, she grabbed us and ran away, warning us that they were full of sickness and death, and we must avoid them at all costs.
Moon of The Harvest 13, - 1521
Mommy woke up screaming today, saying that "they're gone" and "they're all dead." Who's gone? Who's dead?
Moon When The Chokecherries Are Ripe 4, 1526
The Spanish, as we have learned they are called, have brought a plague called smallpox, and it is killing everyone. It starts out with normal sickness, but then it gets worse and worse. People begin getting fevers, and vomiting. Then gross blisters and scabs cover their bodies until they can't take it anymore and die.
Mommy has gotten it too, but we're hopeful that she'll make it. But she can't stop crying and screaming in pain. She says that the Spanish are demons, killing all of us. They burnt down Tenochtitlán, they've given us sickness that has killed 55 million of us.
I'm scared, I don't want the demons to kill us! I can't let them kill my Mommy!
Moon When Ducks Come Back 13, 1550
The smiley man and scary man finally came back, though I'm not seeing the other three. I wonder where they went.
Moon When The Leaves Turn Green 18, 1552
I've been watching the smiley and scary pair for a while, but I'm too scared to go near them again. I can't trust any more of these people from across the Atlantic, not after what they did to my Mommy.
While watching them one of the times, another scary man with a scar beat up the other two and took their house. He scared me so I ran away back to Kanata and Mommy.
I hope the smiley and scary pair are ok.
Moon When The Leaves Turn Green 21, 1552
I was hiding in a bush watching the smiley one, who was talking with these two other guys. One had curly hair and the other had big eyebrows. The smiley one noticed me and brought the other two over to me.
They were speaking in another language I don't understand, but for some reason I was able to speak it to them. It's called English or something.
They were fighting over who was related to me and who would be my older brother. I don't want them to be my brother, they're strangers, and the eyebrow guy was being all creepy and scared me.
Though the curly one did offer food, the eyebrow guy started crying so I decided to cheer him up. It works whenever Mommy cries.
- Maska
That was the end of the early entries, wrapping up the missing gaps of young Alfred.
That brought her back to the more modern entries, starting with a handful of passages strangely related to what she just read.
February 15, 1898
Did Spain sink the Maine? I'm not sure, but it seems a little too convenient that it happened in Havana harbor, with Spain knowing I support Cuba's independence.
April 25, 1898
I think I've had enough of Spain's crap. He's the only one still lingering around even after putting out the Monroe Doctrine, besides France in Guyana. But Spain just seems to be everywhere, and he refuses to let anyone go, even with the U.S. insisting that he gets out of Cuba.
I guess I'll just have to take him out myself.
(The president gave me a pardon when the war started. America can't exactly fight a war if America isn't involved.)
July 1, 1898
Along with some of the other ranchers, me and the Rough Riders fought on San Juan Hill with Theodore Roosevelt. I'm not sure who he is or where he came from, but he's a real man's man. Rumor has it that he had severe asthma as a child and literally willed his way through it until he beat it.
July 1, 1898
I'm not sure why, but the second I got my hands on Spain I couldn't help but beat his ass. It was strange, it was like some pent up rage or resentment I didn't know was there. In that moment I briefly remembered all of what Spain had done.
He was the one that brought people to my land, he brought disease, information to the world that the Americas exist. If it weren't for him so many wars could've been prevented: No Civil War, no fighting with Mexico and Mattie, no fighting Britain, no exploitation of African Americans and killing of Native Americans, if it weren't for him my mother would still be alive.
And now she can rest happy seeing Spain humiliated, his empire destroyed by the same land that gave him that status in the first place. If only I could send him off to limbo so Mother could get her own share of revenge.
- Alfred F. Jones
Natalya grinned while reading the final entry. She had become so emotionally invested in this diary that it felt good to see him get revenge on someone that caused so much pain.
She couldn't help but be happy when Alfred succeeded, and sad when he failed or experienced a tragic event. These feelings were bizarre and she had no clue when she began feeling this way about his history, but she would be lying if she said it felt bad.
She looked up to Alfred, who was rowing through the northern end of Lake Mead toward their RV off in the distance. It was still surprising to her how such a young boy can go from tribal life to a powerful empire in a little over 100 years. And she couldn't wait to learn about his journey to becoming a superpower.
Alfred brought the canoe to the shore and climbed out, stretching his tired legs and sore arms. Then after giving the driver the rest of his money, the two finally got back in the RV and left.
By complete coincidence, they had been parked in the Valley of Fire, another place Alfred had mentioned.
"You wanna go to Death Valley and finish our mission of going exactly where Ukraine told us not to?" He asked while smirking at her.
"Might as well," she shrugged.
That was a horrible mistake, though of course she never could've anticipated that Death Valley would be experiencing their hottest day of the year. A whopping 134F or 56C.
In only a few minutes of walking around and she was nearly passing out. Even Alfred with all his heat tolerance was struggling in this type of arid hotness.
They quickly got back into the RV and cranked the air conditioner up to the max as they left the valley.
Nearly four hours later, Natalya was comfortably relaxing in her cold RV climate until Alfred opened the car door to another area of the desert. A while ago they entered some random desert town, because according to Alfred they were there for a very important reason. Natalya didn't care if it was important, she was over being in the desert and just wanted to be back somewhere cool.
Alfred said she could stay in the RV, so she did, but he got out and skipped away to the front of some random house with a massive crate in his hands. Just like at the Navajo town, her curiosity got the better of her as she found herself bearing the heat to figure out what he was doing.
As she neared the house, she heard the quiet talking between Alfred and someone else.
"You were supposed to be here three days ago. What the heck happened?!"
"It's complicated, there's been a lot of detours and stuff. But hey, I'm here now. And look, I brought a bunch of cookie dough."
"You think I can be bought out by a bunch of tubes of raw dough?"
"..."
"Well I can, now let's go."
The sound of footsteps slowly began getting louder and louder, coming closer to the bush Natalya was hiding behind until the two figures appeared in front of her.
Next to Alfred was a man almost the same height, with smooth brown hair and hazel eyes. Behind him was a strange dog-like thing, following the two to the RV.
The two froze in front of Natalya as the three looked at each other. Then simultaneously, Natalya and the stranger glared at each other.
"Who the hell are you?"