The Long Road Ch8

[lothinielflowermaiden]

Author's note: See previous chapters for warnings.

 

Chapter Eight

After being forced to leave, the rest of the family had all gone their separate ways, to their own homes. There was only a little over a week until February's world meeting, and they did all have business in their own countries that they needed to take care of before the meeting.

None of them were really surprised that Norway wasn't at February's meeting. After all, it had only been a little while since they had last seen him, and they doubted he could have recovered enough in that short amount of time to be able to attend the meeting. Unlike at all of the meetings in the fall, this time the other nations did not question Norway's absence. There were a few enquiries as to his condition, and few rumors had been circulating as a result of the incident at January's meeting. The other Nordics shared what information they felt was appropriate about Norway's condition, and made an attempt to dispel some of the rumors.

After the meeting, they began to make some attempts to at least contact Norway, to make sure that he really was still all right, and that he knew they hadn't abandoned him. However, when they tried to call him they learned that his number had been disconnected, and any notes they sent to him went unanswered. As much as they tried to convince themselves that Norway would be all right, that his people would see that he was taken care of, they were still worried by their inability to reach him, as it brought back bad memories of the previous autumn, when they had not even known where he was. Their first instinct had been to suspect that the communications might be being intercepted by Birger, but as the month of February passed, they occasionally began to wonder if maybe Norway just didn't want to be in contact with them anymore. Maybe the incident the last time they had seen him had caused a rift in the family that would never mend.

There were other signs that a permanent rift may have been created, besides their inability to contact Norway. With the exception of the world meeting at the beginning of the month, the family did not see each other at all during the month of February, and usually they tried to get together at least once a month. And when they had been together at the meeting, the argument had lingered unspoken of between them.

---

When the time came for March's world meeting, none of them had much confidence that the situation would change. They had all arrived in the meeting room in three separate groups, with Sweden and Finland being the only members of the family to arrive together. The tables in the meeting room were always arranged the same, regardless of whose turn it was to host the meeting, and they went to their usual table, with no words exchanged between any of them. Elsewhere in the room, nations were greeting each other, and there was a constant background noise of various conversations that would last until the meeting started.

It was only a few minutes before the time the meeting was due to start when Norway arrived. He looked a lot better than he had in January, although considering the condition he had been in the last time his family saw him, that really wasn't saying much. He was still thinner than usual, but nowhere near as much as he been the last time they saw him. He still wore a splint on his injured wrist, but it was smaller than the one that he had worn right after the surgery.

When Norway entered the room, the noise of conversation quieted for a moment, and several of the nations present watched him enter. Apparently, the gossip about what was going on with him had not died down, despite his family's attempts to put an end to it.

Norway did not visibly react to being watched by so many others, though. His expression was as non-existent as usual, although in some ways he seemed even a little more distant than was normal for him. He didn't seem to care that he was the subject of curiosity, though, as he made his way to his usual seat at the table with the rest of his family.

There was no time for any of them to talk to him before the meeting started, though. It didn't take long for the meeting to dissolved into the usual complete chaos, and by the time they stopped for lunch, nothing had been accomplished besides an argument about America's latest "heroic" idea. But then, no one ever expected the meetings to accomplish much. They were primarily held to give the nations a chance to see each other and to "foster global communication". Occasionally, if there was a real problem, it might be dealt with at a meeting, but any actual accomplishments from a world meeting were rare, especially since there were only a few things the nations could really do themselves without having to check with their bosses.

As the meeting broke for lunch, everyone got up from their spots and began leaving the room, singly or in small groups.

"Are you coming to lunch with us, Norja?" Finland asked. The whole family usually went out to lunch together during the world meetings, regardless of whether or not they were actually getting along at the time.

"Not this time," Norway answered. "I have some things I need to take care of." He stood up and began gathering the papers that were on the table in front of him.

Denmark came up behind Norway and wrapped his arms around the smaller man. "Come on, Nor, you have to come with us!"

"Let go of me," Norway said. "I already said I had other things to do." His voice was back to the usual monotone, and he showed no sign of any emotion.

Denmark, apparently not having learned anything from the incident at the hospital, did not let go of Norway. "You can do whatever it is later. We haven't seen you since January."

"I already said no. Now let go of me." He did not seem uncomfortable the way he had before; but he did not seem to show any sign of annoyance, like he usually would have.

The rest of the family, at least, had learned from the incident at the hospital.

"Don't force him," Finland said. "We'll see you this afternoon, Norja."

Norway managed to free himself, and quickly left before he could be restrained again. The rest of the family left through another door, except for Iceland, who followed Norway.

"Bróðir!" Iceland called once he caught up to Norway.

Norway glanced back at him briefly, but did not stop walking. He seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the building.

Iceland looked to make sure they were alone in the hall before resorting to more drastic measures. "Móðir!"1 It was the first time he had said that out loud, and he wasn't sure he quite ready to admit it generally. But he was determined to try to talk to Norway, and hoped that admission might get him to stop.

It seemed to work, as Norway stopped and turned back to face Iceland. "Don't say that where anyone might hear you," was all he said. It was one thing having the family know, it was another to risk any others finding out.

"It got you to stop," Iceland said. He looked at the splint on Norway's wrist. "You're still hurt."

"Don't worry about it. It's almost healed." For a couple of moments, neither of them said anything. As much as they both wanted to talk, neither could seem to find the words. At last, Norway said, "Island, I really don't have time to talk right now. I have to meet someone during lunch. And the others are probably waiting for you."

"Are you angry at us for leaving?" Iceland asked. It had been impossible to miss the fact that Norway seemed to not want to be around the rest of the family anymore. And, of course, he couldn't ask the question that was really bothering him. He couldn't ask if Norway blamed him for everything that had happened, for being a reminder of what Scandia had done.

"No," Norway answered, after a few moments of silence. "Not for that." He turned away, towards the exit. "I really can't talk right now, Island. I'll see this afternoon, though." With that, he walked away.

Iceland waited a few moments, and then followed. He got outside in time to see Norway leave with an unfamiliar human.

---

The afternoon's meeting was just as chaotic and unproductive as the morning's had been. When the meeting ended for the day, Norway managed to leave the meeting room before his family could try to stop him again. They noticed that he seemed to be trying to avoid them, but they weren't sure what to make of it.

Something about Norway's behavior at the meeting made them extra worried about him again. He had seemed to be acting completely normal, but there had been something off about him. None of them were quite sure what it was; they just knew that something wasn't right.

And so, for several days after the meeting, they again made several attempts to contact Norway, but never received any signs that their messages were getting through. They had gone by his house (the one in the dimension only accessible to their kind) a few times, but there was no sign that he had been there recently. Remembering the previous fall, they also checked the cabin, but had no luck there either.

When a week had passed, they were forced to give up the search and return to their homes. They had business in their countries that they needed to take care of, and with so many things unresolved, they could not stand to all be together any longer than they needed. As difficult as it was to not know what was going on with Norway, they reminded themselves that he knew how to contact them, if he wanted to. There wasn't much else they could do at this point besides wait for him to be ready to contact them. (And hope that such a time actually came, but no one wanted to admit they were worried about that.)

---

Translations:

Bróðir - Brother (Icelandic)

Móðir - Mother (Icelandic)

Author's Note: I'm sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual. It's mainly just to show that some time passed, although there are also some hints of what's going on. I actually have three scenes written that were supposed to be the rest of this chapter, but they didn't seem to go with this part. So, I decided to save those scenes for the next chapter. With any luck, the next chapter should be out sometime next week (since it is half written.)