[canada] syrup on a stick [konrad]

Konrad could have probably slept through an atrial assault, so even if Valda did snore, he wouldn't notice. "Don't worry, half the pups snore louder than I bet you ever could," He told her with a big grin, suddenly feeling that familiar pang in his chest as he realized how much he missed his dogs right about now. They were his family, just as much as Anders or Valda, and he always missed them when he was away. The Swedish wizard watched her move around the room from his more than comfortable spot, unpacking and getting her things together to get ready for bed. The smile on his face never fading but growing when she commented on his comfort.

"It's not bad here," He replied, but Konrad was the kind of guy who could get comfortable anywhere. He never complained, he went with it, and even if the mattress was a little lumpy, he was comfortable enough. They had walked a lot today, and his muscles were sore. Even as he lay on the bed, he could feel the blood draining from his tired feet back to the rest of his body. He was athletic, but there was something about hiking and exploring that always exhausted him. He fought back a yawn, covering his mouth with the inside of his elbow, and nodded as she padded off to the restroom.

By the time Valda returned, he would be fast asleep, far away in dreamland, but it wouldn't be long before those dreams would turn into nightmares. Images of the shadowy figures he was forced to work with floating in front of him. Anders hurt and alone. The dogs going without food. And Valda being taken from him. All the things he worried about, all the things he hid behind his dimples and carefree smiles, came flooding to the surface until he was shouting in his sleep.

Eight, maybe ten minutes had passed since she had left the room. Valda went about her usual routine of changing, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and taking a moment to daydream as she relaxed from her day. She was shocked to see Konrad fast asleep when she returned. "Konrad," She had spoken softly when he didn't first acknowledge her entering the room. Valda chuckled merrily to herself as she rolled her eyes in disbelief. They'd been busy, but surely too much for the Swede to handle.

The belongings she had taken with her were tucked away. Valda moved carefully about the room to draw the blinds and curtains, dim the lighting, and lock the door before she joined him in his slumber. Valda snatched the small purple vile off of the dresser and took it with her over to the bed. It was some lavender oil. She took only a small amount and rubbed it into the scars on her neck, face, and stomach. Old scars that still needed healing and the oil would do just that. Heal it from the inside-out. They'd been souvenirs she got to come home with after defeating a pack of hungry wolves in self-defense. Of course, Gio did all of the work. She'd managed to stay alive long enough so he could save her. Those memories seemed so long ago, almost a lifetime away.

She set the oil aside and glanced at her friend. Valda never imagined herself here, in Canada, and with Konrad at her side. Her plan had been to move to Scoarta and work in childcare. Secretly, she was pleased to see that that hadn't been her life and she was able to explore and see so much of the world. There was so much out there! Valda smiled softly as she glanced at Konrad one last time before she tucked herself under the covers with her back towards him and fell asleep.


Loud shouting pulled her out of her deep sleep almost immediately. She sat upright in bed at the loud alarming shouts. Her heart was racing at impossible speeds. It was the same feeling she had when she woke up from her own terrors after her mother's days and months following. It wasn't her own shouting though. Another shout pulled her attention to Konrad. "Konrad?" Gently she shook him as she sat on her knees. "Konrad, wake up! It's Valda. You're okay. I'm here. I'm right here," She pulled her arm back quickly when he woke up incase he swung at her out of defense.

Konrad could hear her voice, but it sounded like they were underwater, or she was a million miles away; Valda, his night in shining red hair, he could hear her voice, but he couldn't hold on to it. He shouted again, calling out from his nightmare and reaching forward with his eyes still clenched shut. He felt her shake him, and maybe that did the trick or the words she was saying, but slowly and awkwardly, the wizard started to return from the land of the sleeping.

"What? Wait. What?" He groaned, turning over to the other side to face her as he blinked away any remnants of the nightmare he had just escaped. "Uh, sorry, I didn't. Did I hurt you?" Konrad had no memory of it, but the way she was leaning back away from him was worrisome.

"Sorry if I woke you," He said softly, the tiniest bit of humiliation crossing his face. The man knew he didn't have to save face around Valda, she knew him better than that, but it was still an awful feeling. He was so intent on protecting everyone in his life that sometimes he forgot he could use a little help too. Pulling himself up so that he could lean his back against the wall where a headboard would normally be, Konrad was careful not to push her. He sighed, letting his head rest against the wall as he stared up at the ceiling. "I hate nightmares," He finally admitted, daring to look over at her with his icy blue eyes.

She relaxed when he snapped out of it. Her muscles naturally loosening as she sighed in relief. "No, you didn't hurt me," She reassured him with her gentle smille. One hand rested on the bed beside her while the other reached up to push some loose strands out of her face. "Don't be." She hated to see him like this. Tormented by his demons and being so overwhelmed that they had a tight hold of him even as he sleep. Valda knew he carried around a lot of weight. This was just a little glimpse as to how much he actually had. She couldn't read his mind or see his dreams, but she could tell he was getting worn out from it all.

Her hand reached out and rested on his shin, giving it a slight reassuring rub as he leaned back against the wall. "I hate them too," she spoke softly as her chocolate brown eyes locked with his. These sorts of terrors were never fun. They were stressful, emotional, powerful. "You feel like you have no control over anything. Everything spirals into chaos and all you can do is stand there and watch it happen. No matter how fast you move or how loud you yell, you can't stop them. You can't fix it." There were even times where she'd wake up gasping for breath. Whatever night demons haunted her, she was glad they were slowly going away, but sometimes it wasn't fast enough.

Valda adjusted herself to sit cross-legged in front of him. She held her pillow in her lap with the blanket over her shoulders. "I started having mine a year before mom died." She nodded slowly for herself as a way to affirm she could tell him these things. Valda never spoke of her dreams to anyone. Sasha had witnessed a couple but he didn't pry too much. "Things got....really bad." Words started faltering unwanting to leave the safety of her own confines of her mind. Konrad was someone she could trust. He was one of her dearest friends and meant a lot to her. She thought perhaps if she shared a little of her experience with him, he wouldn't feel so alone and helpless. "They only got worse when she did die. I've gone weeks without sleep. They'll go away with time. I hate to say it, but that's all that's worked is time." Valda sat quietly as her words hung in the air. She'd always been so open with others, but even now she found herself tearing down a couple of walls she had forgotten about. "How long have you had yours?"

Konrad felt clammy from the nightmare, worried he might not be fully awake yet, and irritated by the lack of control that he was feeling. Everything in his life was shifting, spinning chaotically away from the things he knew, and he was having trouble catching up. He'd felt this way before when his parents died, and he failed a year of Koldovstoretz, but this time was different. He wasn't just trying to take care of his brother, he had Valda trying to take care of him, and that was a comfort right now. Konrad felt overwhelmingly relieved that she was sitting there with him, even if he hated that she had to revisit her own past to try to comfort him.

"I'm sorry, Val," He said, reaching out to hold her hand with a soft smile and forgetting that his palms were probably sweaty. "That you had to go through that, and that it still haunts you," Konrad wasn't the smartest wizard that had ever lived, but where he lacked in academics, he had always made up in emotional intelligence. He could tell the memory was painful; the wizard knew that that kind of pain never really went away. He knew it first hand.

"Tiden leger alle sår," Konrad whispered, like a mantra shared in the dark, and found solace in the Swedish proverb. Time heals all wounds. It was what she was saying, and a part of him knew it to be true. Icy blue eyes slid over the large scars that clouded her neck, claw marks from a trip to Romania, and he nodded. All wounds.

Valda calmly took his hand in hers when he reached out for her. There was a unique way physical touch could take hold of one's emotions and change them. Except for the little excitement of being woken by Konrad, Valda had been pretty levelheaded for the night. His hand holding hers was a little clammy but she didn't mind. She adjusted their hands so that they could hold onto each other a little easier. Hold on to anything. Hold on to someone. "I'm okay, honestly." She gave his hand a gentle reassuring squeeze. "As okay as I can be considering all things. I can only get better, right?"

His Swedish comment puzzled her a little, but he seemed to relax a little as he said it. Everyone had their mantras they would repeat to themselves when they needed a morale boost. Was this his? Val's was look up. Look up and keep going. Look at what's around. Look at all she could've missed if she'd shut herself away. She was grateful she decided to look up when she did. The first time when she needed to, he had been right there. A complete stranger at the time and battling his own shadows of death, but he had come to her in her time of need to provide her some comfort. She never told him how much that meant to her. She had wanted to be alone but Konrad knew what was best. They barely spoke a couple of sentences to each other but just having someone else there was all she could ask for when words couldn't find the way.

In the dim lighting, she noticed his eyes gaze upon the scars of her neck. Valda didn't react or try to hide them. Instead, she acted like she didn't notice and looked at their hands. They were close enough already but she felt a need to be even closer. With a sigh, she adjusted herself and moved to sit beside him with a pillow behind her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about everything he'd been through. She had had it rough but Konrad had essentially lost everything. There was still more at risk for him if he didn't act carefully. Valda took his hand again as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry that you've been through all that you have. No one our age should have to lose their parents. Nor should they be getting pulled into all sorts of trouble," her other hand rested on his forearm. "No one."

Gently, her hand moved up and down his forearm. It was comforting to her to feel that constant motion. Consistency helped keep her own head leveled when she needed to be strong for both of them in this moment. Silence settled on them both. She sat still for a few minutes but her mind raced a million miles about everything he was going through and she started to see more and more similarities between their lives and where they were opposite but how they would compliment each others with their experiences and knowledge.

Valda knew dwelling on the past, especially the bumps and holes in the road, never helped. So she thought to change the sightly dooming feeling that she was sure was settling on Konrad to something of better spirits. "Mama used to always garden She'd have a lovely vegetable garden and next to it was her beautiful flower bed. I'd always go out there to help her, though I never did much help. I'd find dandellions she had plucked and would bury them so they looked pretty. I didn't understand that they were weeds!" She laughed a little as she curled up against him. "I loved her garden. It was my favorite spot. I'd chase rabbits and frogs through the patches. During the summer when she would be out there, I'd follow her and take a nap in the sunflowers. I never failed to find my spot and snooze the day away in the shade of them. I loved her sunflowers so much that mom let me pick a few to put in my room. When they eventually died, I cried. I cried and cried and cried because I wanted them to last forever." Unintentionally, her hands tightened on his arm and in his hand. She was suddenly struck with the thought that her mother, Zoya, had been like the sunflowers. A slight sniffle came from her but she continued on wiping the corner of her eye then placing it back on his arm. "That was when she taught me that the more of them I picked, the more would die. So mama got out her paint and brushes and we put sunflowers all over my room. She put them on the stairs to my room. They were on the window sills, doors, and a chest I have at the foot of my bed. We even got some decorations and bedding to match it all."

She glanced up at him with a smile, hoping her somewhat-happy story was cheering him up to. "They're still there. The paint's faded over the years but I go back and touch it up as best I can. I don't like to go home too often, but when I do, I always love to go up to my room and just sit on the windowsill with her sunflowers all around me. It's silly, but especially in the summer when the sun shines right through my window, I can feel her love for me. I'll always miss her but I can't help but feel her love when I'm there. I've-" she scoffed a little at the new realization she had. "I've never told anyone that. Not Sasha, though he probably knows. Not Miha, or Lev, or Giorgo. You're the first one to know the origin of the sunflowers in my room." Her chest rose and fell slowly as she took a deep breath. "What was your mother like?" She knew to tread carefully. Konrad didn't have to answer if he didn't want to. Sometimes talking about what made her hurt helped. Valda wasn't sure when the last time was that Konrad really got to talk about her. While she was attempting to cheer him up, she also wanted him to know that they could talk about these sorts of things together.

Valda's sense of optimism washed over Konrad like a soothing wave, and he knew if she could feel hope after everything, then he could too. Konrad followed her by sitting up and got more comfortable as their shoulders brushed and Valda laid her head down on his. It was dark in their room, but with her beside him, he wasn't afraid of it anymore. Konrad listened to the story she told him about the garden, imagining the little redhead in the summer sun, the vegetables and the flowers, and the butterflies flittering by. It was a beautiful scene, enough to calm his nerves and let some peace sink in. Konrad's breathing grew slower, his heart returning to an average rate, and he leaned his head against the wall behind them, willing his eyes to close. They felt heavy, but he wouldn't sleep, not while she was sharing.

The sunflowers in her room made him smile, even behind his sleepy closed eyes, and Konrad nudged her a little when she admitted that was the first time she'd told the story. They had shared so much, things people should never have to go through, and the memories that were left behind. Konrad had shared more with Valda than anyone else in the world besides maybe his brother, but there were things Valda knew that even Anders did not. It was a strong connection, quite the friendship, and he sincerely appreciated it.

At Valda's question, Konrad smiled again before sighing quietly and opening his eyes to peer over at her. "My mother," How could he possibly explain everything there was about Freja? How could he sum up a brilliant witch and compassionate mother in a few sentences? It seemed like an impossible task, and it made his heart feel heavy again. Konrad let out another soft sigh, closing his eyes as his head rested against the wall behind them. "I think our mothers would have gotten along," He offered, that dimpled smile growing again on his face. "She loved her family; there wasn't a thing in this world she wouldn't do for us. She was brave and smart and had the best jokes. Half the conversations she had with my father were jokes, old jokes they had been sharing for decades, like their own secret language." Konrad had hoped to one day decipher it.

"Stubborn too, though, Anders got it from her," Konrad let out a laugh that could fill the room, remembering several instances all at once as his tired mind grew chaotic in the night. "Once the dogs are old enough, they sleep in their barn, and it's warded and has some heating charms, but they must get used to the cold, so it doesn't bother them when we're on a run. If they stay in the warm house all winter, their winter coats won't fully grow in, but my mom didn't want them to be cold out there. I remember one year she slept out in the barn with them for a week straight to make sure they were alright." Konrad, it seems, had inherited quite a lot from Freja as well. Including her love for the team and undying compassion for others.

With true intent, the red head listened to his memory. The entire time she couldn't help but smile while she found similarities of Konrad in his mother before he even admitted to it. Her big chocolate brown eyes tried to search his face in the dark. While she couldn't see him clearly, she could hear his emotions by the soune of his voice. So far, he was okay. Okay was good. It was better than anxious and startled. His laugh, which she'd grown dearly fond of, not oy filled the room but it rang in her ears and filled her chest with hope and love for the young man. His laugh was contagious causing her to giggle quietly against him.

"I'm surprised I've yet to find you sleeping in the barn, too," she truthfully informed him. He made his pets homemade meals! That couldn't have been inexpensive but it seemed like a small price for him to pay when he loved them dearly. She knew Konrad would do anything for his pups and their well-being.

Valda was growing sleepy again. The excitement had come and gone and exhaustion came back making her eyes want to close. Valda didn't want to sleep. Not yet. Her mind and thoughts were wide awake but her body was not. "Come on," she patted his arm coaxing him to follow her lead. "You need to sleep. I'll be right here to keep the nightmares away. If you slept like that, I can guarantee your body will hate you for it." She was already fluffing her pillow out again and crawling under the covers as she spoke. She remained facing him as she pulled the blankets up to her shoulders and tucked her arm underneath her pillow and head.

"Sometimes I think of our mothers," she admitted. "I wish they would have known each other in this life, but who's to say they haven't met yet in the next? While we're down here missing them, they're up there missing us?" Valda almost wanted to suggest they do a summoning spell to see Freja. She'd done it for her own mother and had gained some closure from it. For Konrad, Freja had been gone in an instant. He didn't have much of a chance to say goodbye. Perhaps she'd wait until she and Mihaela perfected summoning the dead more. If they ever did again. "Our paths crossed more than once. Sasha's, school, and now look at us. Just a couple of misfits visiting Canada together." Not like he could see ot, but she smiled softly. "What if they're having their own sleepovers and sharing stories about us with each other? I've got a feeling that their patha have crossed too."

"Oh, it has happened," Konrad said lightly, feeling a weight lighting off of his chest despite Valda laying on him. Talking was nice, talking to a friend was better. Valda had become more than just a friend over the past year though, she was like family, and he appreciated her more than he could ever find the words to express. Valda began to move, and Konrad shifted to make it easier for her until she started telling him what to do. He laughed again, finding her nurturing words amusing, and he knew that she was correct. His neck would hate him in the morning.

Sliding down to get more comfortable, the wizard left is arm stretched out across the top of the bed, in case she wanted to lay closer still. "They would have liked each other." He said with a smile, something strong pulling at his heart. Valda was too kind to have to endure such loss, and his heart broke for her, too. "I like to think they don't miss us but that they are proud of us." Not that he thought his mother wouldn't miss her family or that he wished all of her emotions would be wiped clean wherever she was, but Konrad just hoped that she was happy. And as he was familiar with it, it was possible to feel sad and happy at the same time.

"I'll bet they are gardening together, then. Your mother keeping the plants alive, my mother wanting to know when she can feed the organic carrots to the reindeer." Konrad laughed again as he settled his head against the pillow. She was right; this was a lot more comfortable. He was exhausted, and soon enough, he was snoring again.

In the dark, she could feel his arm outstretched across the bed. Naturally, she was pulled in closer to him so his arm became her new pillow and she curled up into him with one arm tucked beneath her while the other wrapped around his torso and held him close. Quietly she wanted to protect him from whatever evil followed him. Maybe, for once, he could get a good night's sleep.

She laughed happily hearing Konrad's vision of their mothers gardening together. Wouldn't that have been a sight! Here he was, doing what he did best all over again. Always, he knew just what to say. Only someone so wise could recite the proverbs and poems he did. That wisdom came with a price. Always.

She laid their quietly listening to their breathing and hearing a faint pulse where her head met his bicep. Her eyes closed as she listened to the peace settle in. The fear and sudden panic now obligated. "Konrad," she whispered quietly into the dark after a few minutes. There was no response. Instead, she heard a soft snore come from him and she scoffed with a shake of her head as she relaxed.

Tomorrow had much more in store than either were prepared for. They needed the rest. She was relieved to see he was getting his. She remained still in the dark until she too drifted off to sleep with his company silently comforting her own worries and racing mind.

[[Out]]