Sov Gott

Bedtime Stories

The car rolled into the driveway of a small, two story parking ramp. Geoffrey, Norway and Iceland exited the car when it had come to a complete stop and began trekking up four flights of stairs. Jeff fiddled with his keys for a while, eventually choosing one and shoving it into the keyhole. However, when the door was opened a woman stood nearby, her hand positioned in a way that suggested she had just been about to open the same door. The first thing Norway noticed about the woman was her brilliant hazel eyes.

"Oh, goodness, welcome. My name is Janice, I've heard so much about you two, it's nice to finally meet you in person." Her auburn hair was pulled back into a messy bun with strands sticking out randomly, and freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. Her hand had fluttered over her heart in surprise from earlier, but it now tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. Norway held his hand out to her, which she took.

"Pleasure to meet you as well." Iceland, who was following suit behind Norway, also shook her hand in greeting. Behind them Jeff gave Janice a quick peck on the cheek before two little children appeared. One of them zoomed up to Norway, attempting to climb up his leg, while the other hung back and hid halfway behind the protruding wall with a shy demeanor.

"I assume this is your son?" Norway asked, pulling the boy that had run up to him onto his hip. Norway shut his eyes and pulled away slightly as the boy reached for his nose, reaching its target and grabbing it gently.

"M' name's Al-Aldrik." He said, slurring some of the letters on his inexperienced tongue. That, or perhaps the boy was just tired. Judging from his weight, Norway concluded that it was probably just the need of a good night's sleep.

"Aldrik, his name's Aldrik. His sister calls him Al though, so he's begun calling himself 'Al-Aldrik'," Jeff explained, smiling at how much Aldrik seemed to like Norway, glad that the two got along.

"That's rather cute," Norway said simply, sending a warm smile to Aldrik for a moment despite his nose being squished closed. "My name's Norway, nice to meet you. Can you say Norway?"

"Noh-way," the child responded, grinning at Norway.

"Nor-way," the adult clarified, enunciating each consonant clearly.

"Noor-way," the child attempted, and while it wasn't perfect, the Norwegian praised him for improving.

Aldrik giggled and wrapped his arms around Norway's torso. Aldrik's hair was light brown, and his eyes were a stunningly bright blue, a hue that reminded Norway of France or America's eyes. He had a thin frame that gave away his age, but judging by his size Norway guessed that he was perhaps seven or eight.

"How old is he?" Norway asked softly, to which Janice responded in an equally quiet voice that Aldrik was seven.

Iceland was slowly approaching the other child that had hung back, painstakingly gaining a bit of trust in return. "What's this one's name?" The Icelander asked, turning his head over his shoulder for a glance in the couple's direction.

"Her name's Lorelei, she's four and a half," Jeff answered.

Janice interjected an answer as well, "she's a bit shy, if you can't tell."

Iceland shrugged. "I was shy when I was her age too, nothing wrong with that." The hosts began to imagine how long ago that was, when Iceland was Lorelei's age. It admittedly gave them quite a headache. Iceland reached a hand out to Lorelei, and after staring at his hand for what seemed like forever, she put her miniscule hand onto Iceland's extended palm, and Iceland smiled at her. "Lorelei... That's the name of the ancient, beautiful mermaid that lured seafarers to their deaths. I assume that's where you got the name?"