lothinielflowermaiden | The Long Road Chapter 12

Author’s Note: This chapter took a slightly different direction than what I originally had planned, but it’s necessary to get to where I want to go with this story. Despite what I said a few chapters ago, a couple of the human characters are back in this chapter. Unfortunately, Birger is still taking his responsibility a little too seriously. As far as warnings go, any previously mentioned warnings may still apply, but I don’t think there are any new ones for this chapter.

Chapter Twelve

Birger was waiting for him right outside the airport. During the flight, Norway had allowed himself to hope that maybe he would finally be allowed to be on his own. But apparently Birger still felt he needed constant supervision.

            “You look tired, Haldor,” was the first thing Birger said to him. “I knew letting you go to the meeting was a bad idea.”
            “I’m alright,” Norway said. “It was just a long flight back, and I’m a little tired from that.” He didn’t want Birger to decide that he shouldn’t be allowed to attend any more meetings. And he didn’t want to have to deal with the man that he now knew had spent months lying to him.             Birger studied him closely. “Just in case, I’m going to call the doctor. We need to make sure all this traveling hasn’t been too much for you to handle.”
            Norway just wanted to go back to his own house, and not have to spend any more time with Birger. But he had to stay on good terms with his government, which meant that as long as Birger was officially appointed to watch him, Norway had no choice in the matter. And so, he let himself be taken back to Birger’s house, where he was immediately sent to lie down. After more than two months, Norway was getting tired of being treated like an invalid–or a child.             Once he was alone in his room, he did not lie down as he had been told to. Instead, he picked up one of the few books in the room and sat down in the chair. He was still reading a couple of hours later when Birger came to tell him dinner was ready. Although Birger did not comment on his disobedience, Norway could sense the man’s disapproval.

~*~

            The doctor’s appointment the next morning went about the same as usual. Norway was asked several times if he had been eating and sleeping. He was weighed, and the doctor always noted if his weight had changed since his last examination. And his wrist was examined to make sure it was still healing properly.
            “You need to make sure you get enough to eat,” the doctor said, once the exam had been concluded. “You’ve lost a little weight since the last time I saw you. Are you sure you’ve been eating?”
            “Yes,” Norway answered, not entirely truthfully. He hadn’t eaten while he was traveling to the meeting. The day before the meeting, he’d had breakfast with his family, but had then slept through lunch time. Later that evening, he had been forced to have at least a light supper. He had eaten three meals the day of the meeting, but once again hadn’t eaten while traveling home.
            The doctor seemed to suspect he wasn’t being entirely truthful. “Haldor, you can’t keep doing this to yourself. A lot of people are worried about you.”
            That second sentence surprised Norway a little. He was used to Birger’s comments about how he was too important to lose. In fact, he had heard that so much that he no longer expected to hear anything different from one of his people. He only mattered to them because of what he represented. “You’re only saying that because of what I am,” he said at least.
              “No, because that is not all you are. You are also a person.” For a few moments, the doctor seemed to be thinking. Then he asked, “Did you see your family at the meeting you went to?”
            Norway wasn’t sure why he was being asked that. He didn’t know if admitting how much time he had spent with his family would get him in trouble, so he remained silent.
            “Haldor, Birger is the only one who thinks that you shouldn’t be allowed to see your family. I thought his decision to send them away was wrong, especially when it was obvious how much they care about you.”
            Norway still didn’t say anything. He had come to believe his family was telling the truth about why they had left, but having one of his people confirm it really made it true. It also left him unsure of what to say.
            For several moments, a heavy silence fell. Eventually, though, the doctor was the one to break to the silence. “Haldor, a couple of months ago, when you were first brought to the hospital, I didn’t even know your kind existed. I’ve had to make guesses about the best way to treat you, and I know the others involved in your care have been doing the same thing. But none of us know you; none of us know what you really need. I had hoped that your family might be able to do what none of us can, but Birger remains convinced that you should have no contact with them.” For a few moments, he fell silent and studied Norway intently. Eventually, though, he broke the silence to ask a question. “Haldor, what do you need?”
            Norway hadn’t expected to be asked that. In the last several months, he had gotten used to having people treat him like what he wanted didn’t matter. He didn’t like it, but living with Birger had forced him to get used to it. So, although he knew what he wanted to say, he was not able to actually bring himself to answer.
            After several moments of silence, the doctor seemed to realize that Norway wasn’t going to answer him, so he changed the subject. “I’m going to clear you to go into work for the rest of the day,” he said, making a note on the paper in front of him. “And I will see you in a couple of days.”

~*~

After spending the afternoon at work, Norway was forced once again to return to Birger’s house. And immediately something happened that made him even more displeased about having to stay with Birger. “Haldor, let me see your phone,” Birger commanded almost right after they had walked in the door. Norway hesitated a moment before he handed Birger his cell phone. That phone was the only means he had of talking to his family, and he did not want to give it up. Birger pushed several buttons on the phone, but Norway couldn’t actually see what he was doing. After a few minutes, Birger turned the phone off but made no move to return it. Instead he said, “Haldor, I told you not to talk to your family anymore than the meeting required. I doubt the meeting required a fifteen minute phone call the day before.” If he had been prepared for the question, Norway would have made up something about needing to discuss some policy before the meeting. But he had forgotten that the call he had made to ask for help before succumbing to that flashback would be in the call logs of his phone. He also hadn’t expected Birger to go so far as to actually look at his phone like that. Birger didn’t give him a chance to reply anyway. Instead, he locked the phone away in a drawer. “You can have this back for work tomorrow,” he said. “Now, you should probably go get some rest. I will call you when it is time for dinner.” ~*~ Although Birger allowed Norway to have his phone back every morning, he always took it back in the evening. Every day, as soon as they entered the house, Birger would ask for the phone and check the call log, before locking the phone up overnight. Knowing that his phone would be checked kept Norway from contacting his family, and he did not know if they had tried to call him. He suspected that Birger would probably erase any messages before returning the phone. Norway continued to have nightmares at least a couple times a week. Whenever that happened, he would spend the rest of the night sitting in the chair, with every light in the room turned on. His physical recovery stalled. Every day it got more difficult for Norway to eat enough. He wanted to ask Birger why he had lied, but he wasn’t supposed to question someone from his government. So every time he was around Birger, Norway had to force the questions back down, until he felt as if he might choke on them. At every meal, he managed to force himself to eat a few bites, but every day it got harder. Norway began to spend most of the time he was at the house in his room. He only came out when it was time to eat. His weight began to go down again, and the doctor questioned him about it at every appointment. He never answered though. Sometimes, when he was at work, Norway thought about going to someone else from his government and asking if he could stop having to stay with Birger. But he was always stopped by the question of whether or not he could trust them. He did not know if anyone else had been involved in the lies. As the days passed, he became more and more tempted to just go ahead and call his family during the hours that he spent at work. Sometimes, he even went so far as to enter one of the numbers, but the thought of what might happen if Birger found out, kept him from ever going through with the call. After the first couple of weeks, the only thing that allowed Norway to keep going was the knowledge that at the beginning of May he would get another respite. After the decision from the previous month, he knew that Birger could not attempt to keep him from attending a world meeting again. So, he only had to wait that long, and he would be able to get away. He tried not to think about the fact that even then, he would still have to return. ~*~ Meanwhile, the rest of the family had begun to suspect how closely Birger was controlling Norway. They continued to take turns calling Norway, and leaving messages on his phone, even though he never called back. Based on what little they knew, they suspected that Norway was probably not getting any of the messages. However, each evening, one of them would call him and leave a message on his voice mail, hoping that he might actually get it. They also tried to come up with other ways of contacting him. Letters had not worked, and the phone did not appear to be working either. The best idea they could come up with was arranging some pretext to go see him on official business, but unfortunately no official business came up. Then, they had considered just going there, but they had been sent away, and it seemed best to avoid causing an international incident. Even then, the fact that they could not just go to him had been difficult for some members of the family to accept. But, they all just kept reminding themselves that they would see him in May. ~*~ And so April passed, and eventually it was time for May’s world meeting. Unlike April’s meeting, this one was being hosted in a country where Norway had an embassy. So, just like in March, Birger had arranged for him to stay with someone from the embassy. Norway had hoped to be able to stay where all the others did, in the hope of having the freedom to actually talk to his family again, but he did not want to risk Birger forbidding him from attending the meeting at all. That meant, though, that it was not until the day of the meeting that Norway got the chance to see any of the other nations. He also did not arrive at the meeting until right before it started, once again due to Birger’s arrangements. Due to how late he had arrived, Norway had not gotten a chance to speak to his family before the meeting. So, once the meeting descended in chaos, he let himself think about what he needed to do. He knew that once it was time for the meeting to break for lunch, his family would want him to go to lunch with them. However, he also knew that the person he was staying with would be waiting outside for him. As difficult as it had been during the past several months, Norway had done very little to go against the increasingly restrictive rules about his contact with other nations. He had spent time with his family during the previous month’s meeting, but that had only worked because no one had been there to stop him. This time, he knew that if he did not show up when he was supposed to, Birger would find out and would find a way to place even more restrictions on him. Despite that, though, Norway knew that he wanted the chance to talk to his family. The other Nordics had noticed almost immediately that Norway’s physical condition seemed to have deteriorated in the past month. Although he still looked better than he had in January, he had lost a lot of the weight that he had managed to gain back, and the dark circles under his eyes had returned. Emotionally, he seemed close to normal at least; he no longer showed whatever it was that had seemed off about him two months before. As they continued to observe him during the meeting, they all know that this time, they could not let Norway leave again. There was more going on than they had previously suspected. The morning dragged on, as most of the world argued over various things that really had nothing to do with whatever the meeting was supposed to be about. Eventually, though, it was time to break for lunch. Gradually, the meeting room started to empty out. “Are you coming to lunch with us this time?” Finland asked. He remembered that Norway had avoided being around them in March. Even with the issues that had been resolved the previous month, some of the others had suspected that something else had been going on March. For a moment, Norway looked towards the door, and did not answer the question. Even though he had spent the morning thinking about it, he was still not sure what choice to make. In March, he had lied and told them that he had something he needed to do, rather than admitting that he had been forbidden to associate with them (and told that they didn’t care anyway). At last, though, he managed to admit the truth. “I don’t think I can. I have someone waiting for me outside.” For a few moments, none of them spoke. They could all see that Norway’s physical condition had deteriorated noticeably. None of them wanted to take the risk of worsening his emotional condition. By this time, everyone else had left the room, leaving the five of them alone together. “Norja, if you go meet this person, will you actually eat lunch?” Finland asked. Even without an audience that was the closest he would come to voicing his suspicions that Norway had stopped eating again. Norway did not answer immediately. He knew that what he was doing to himself was wrong, but he couldn’t stop. He looked away, refusing to look at his family as he whispered, “No.” “What about if you come with us?” Finland asked. He did not comment on what Norway had admitted, but he knew it would have to addressed later. “I don’t know,” Norway answered. “I don’t really feel like eating.” He wanted to tell his family what had happened over the last month, but the words wouldn’t come. He still did not look at his family. The others all exchanged concerned looks, knowing that they needed to intervene soon. At the same time though, they still had to be careful how they acted around Norway. “Do you want to come with us?” For the first time since the questioning had started, Norway looked at his family. He could see the concern they felt for him. “Yes, but I can’t.” He looked towards the door, knowing he was already late; he would be in enough trouble later without doing something that had been explicitly forbidden. The other four wanted to press the issue further, but at the same time, they didn’t want to make Norway uncomfortable or force him into anything. “Nor, you have to come with us. We never get to see you anymore!” Well, apparently one member of the family didn’t share those misgivings. Norway looked back towards his family, and then towards the door again. He showed no sign of what he was thinking, but after a couple of moments, he looked at them. “Alright,” he said. After all, he did want to go with them, and he was going to be in trouble anyway. ~*~ Norway did not get in as much trouble as he had expected to, at least not immediately. The man he was staying with accepted his excuse about having had to meet with some other nations during the lunch break, and did not even question him about what other nations he had met with. However, he knew that Birger had been informed, and Birger would question him. It had been worth it, though, just for the chance to be with his family. They hadn’t really discussed anything related to what was going on at lunch, being careful to keep the conversation on neutral topics. However, that had meant that things had been almost normal for close to an hour, before it had been time to return to the meeting for the afternoon. He had even managed to eat something, although only a very small amount. His irregular eating habits over the last several months had left him with very little appetite, but it had been easier to eat when he didn’t feel like he was being choked by questions that he couldn’t ask. It had been so much easier to be with his family than it was to be around Birger. Norway tried not to think about the fact that now that the meeting was over, he would have to return home (or rather to Birger’s house) the next day. He would not get to see his family again until the beginning of June, and that was only if Birger allowed him to attend June’s meeting. And, he knew there was no guarantee of that, after he had done something that had been forbidden. ~*~ “We have to get Nor out of there! Whatever they’re doing to him is making him worse.” Denmark said. The other four Nordics had returned to the hotel where they were staying, once the meeting had ended for that month. They had spent the past half hour discussing the situation, and were no closer to a solution than they had been when they started. They all knew that they needed to intervene before it was too late. However, they could not agree on what exactly needed to be done. “‘nd ‘f we j’st go w’th’t being given permission, w’ll make th’ngs worse.” It was obvious, after all, that at least one person from Norway’s government didn’t trust them. They had no way of knowing just how widespread that opinion was. They also did not know for sure how closely Norway was being watched, but if what they learned that day was any indication, they had little chance of being able to see him without official permission. It also seemed like unless something unexpected happened, they had very little chance of getting official permission to see Norway. Denmark had pretty much decided that they shouldn’t even bother with trying to get official permission. His idea of what to do seemed to be to just go in and take Norway back with them. The others were trying to come up with a more moderate approach, but none of them had any ideas yet, and the discussion was on the verge of developing into another fight between Denmark and Sweden. Iceland had moved to the edge of the room, once the conversation had begun to go that direction. He didn’t have any more ideas than the other three did, and he still didn’t know if his existence was upsetting to Norway. With everything else that had happened, they had never gotten a chance to talk about the revelation from the previous summer. He could see just as clearly as the rest of the family could that the person that Norway was staying with wasn’t helping, but he didn’t want to make things worse. Finland had been about to intervene to try to stop the developing argument a few times, but hadn’t actually done so yet. If this argument took the same turn some of the other recent ones had, he would interject. At the moment, his attention was divided between listening to them, and keeping an eye on Iceland. He suspected that Iceland might be having a more difficult time dealing with his true heritage than the rest of the family had really realized. Ever since that last day of Scandia’s visit, the family had been focused on Norway–they had either been searching for him, or trying to help him recover. None of them had really thought about the fact that Iceland had also been affected by the revelation. He made a mental note to talk to Iceland soon, before that situation got any worse. Denmark and Sweden were still arguing about whether or it was a good idea to force Norway’s government to let them see him. Since neither one was willing to consider what the other one said, they were still nowhere near a solution. “I think that we should wait a couple of weeks, and then go try to see Norja,” Finland said, once a break in the argument allowed him to speak. The idea had just come to him while he had been debating whether to stop the argument before it escalated further. “In just over two weeks, we will have an excuse to contact him that his government might actually accept.” It was the one thing that none of them had thought of, but once it had been pointed out, it was obvious. It was currently the evening of May 1st. In just over two weeks, it would be Norway’s birthday. Surely, then, Norway’s government would allow them to at least speak to him. Closing notes: First of all I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I know a couple of people mentioned being glad to see some recovery started to happen in the previous chapter, and I hope they’re not too disappointed by the setback in this chapter. In addition to that, I have a couple of things I want to explain. I actually meant to explain about the phone last chapter, but I was in a rush to get the chapter out, and I think I forgot to add that note. Each of the nations is given a cell phone, usually by their government, but sometimes by another agency. They are supposed to use this phone to keep in touch with other nations, for any kind of business or whatever, and it is also how their government can contact them in emergencies. Every nation is supposed to have a phone number for any other nation, so Birger actually broke a rule when he didn’t actually make sure that any other nations had Norway’s phone number after the old phone was disconnected. Another thing that I want to clarify, is exactly what I envision Birger’s job to be. I actually got part of this idea from something I read in another story, but I thought it made sense. Basically, every country’s government has an office or department that is supposed to deal with any issues relating to the personification of their country. Birger works for that department, and has been assigned to make sure that Norway is kept safe until he has recovered. And if the way Birger has been handling the assignment is anything to go by, he needs to switch departments, because he has a little trouble remembering that the personifications are actually people. I have a pretty good plan in mind for the next chapter, and I’m hoping to start working on it today, but I just started back to school a week ago, and that’s been eating up a lot of my writing time. I will try to update at least one a month, though.