Seeing the plea in my eyes, Freya gave a silent nod of her chin before turning to the group that was arguing.
“Who won?” she asked and as if magical words had been spoken, Mason whipped his head around. “We did! My team won.”
“Thor, do you want to name the winning team, or should we just continue to the next challenge?” Freya asked in a level tone as if she hadn’t even noticed Aubri and the men arguing.
Thor straightened up. “No, of course we should announce the winning team. Mason, who was on your team?”
“Simon and Harper.”
“Good, the three of you stand over there and Freya can take your picture for the scrapbook. You’ll get your reward when we’re back at the cabin.”
“What’s the reward?” Simon asked while Harper turned to the other Motlanders and whispered loudly, “I hope it’s earplugs so I can get some sleep tonight. Indiana snores.”
The large man in question heard her comment and denied the accusation. “No, I don’t.”
“Not all the time, but you make these little grunts.” Harper imitated the sound and it made us all laugh.
“Aren’t Motlanders supposed to be sweet?” Indiana asked.
“Aww, the mean Motlanders getting under your skin?” Aubri teased him and shoved at his arm while giving a mocking pout.
He snorted. “Not fucking likely.”
“Okay, so for the next challenge we’re going to…”
Celeste interrupted Thor. “Please don’t say anything involving speed or strength. We know you want to show off, but we already established that you Nmen are the fastest and strongest. Can’t we do something where the rest of us stand a chance?”
“Whoa. I’m stronger and faster than Freya and Aubri,” Simon insisted.
“Yeah, me too,” Victor chimed in.
Aubri scoffed, “As if,” while Freya didn’t seem the least bit offended and spread her hands with a smile and admitted, “My strength is in my brain, not my legs or arms.”
That seemed to calm Simon a little but not Victor, who could never leave well enough alone.
Looking straight at Freya with a smug smile, he taunted her, “Which proves that I’m stronger than you in all areas.”
Her left eyebrow arched up as she kept her gaze locked with his. “Could be, especially if we count your ego. I’ve never met anyone with a bigger ego than you.”
“That’s right,” Simon exclaimed before Victor scowled at him and told him to shut up in French.
“I think we should all be nicer to each other,” Holly suggested. “People are getting their feelings hurt. How about a big group hug?”
Thor wouldn’t hear of it. “You five can hug if you need to; the rest of us are adults and don’t need to be comforted like children.”
“That’s not very nice,” Doreen muttered and hurried to hug Holly. The other three Motlanders were quick to join the supportive circle and talked in low voices among themselves.
“If we can’t do the climbing and building exercises that we planned then what do we do?” Thor asked the other Northlanders. “Should we go straight to the sledding?”
“Maybe we could do something easy like building a snowman,” Freya suggested.
Mason nodded. “Yeah, let’s see which team can build the biggest one.”
“Or we could compete to build the most creative snow sculpture,” I suggested. “That would be fun.”
Mason wrinkled his nose. “I liked the part about competing, but then you said the word sculpture and ruined it all.”
“I think it’s a great idea.”
Thor groaned. “Freya, stop! You’re just excited because Belle spoke up with an idea, but none of us are artistic and it would make us look bad.”
Around us the wind was picking up and making it colder. “Or we could go back to the cabin and have some hot chocolate,” I said.
“We’ll do that later. First we need to finish at least two challenges.” Thor looked toward the Motlanders, who had joined the rest of us again. Three of them were holding hands.
“Belle suggested that we do a snow sculpture competition. How would you like that?” Freya asked them with a friendly smile.
“That’s fine.”
“Ooh, can I be on Belle’s team?” Lachlan took a sidestep closer to me.
“Ehh…” Thor frowned.
“How about we make this one a national challenge?” Victor smirked and crossed his arms.
“No, that defies the whole purpose of the summit. We’re supposed to bond across nations.”
“Oh, come on, Thor, are you afraid you won’t be able to create something beautiful?” Victor retorted. “One single national competition won’t kill us.” We should have one member from each nation be a judge and the rest will create masterpieces.”
“Can the judges return to the cabin and wait for the masterpieces to be done?” Celeste asked. “I desperately need a bathroom break.”
“Me too. And I’m freezing,” Harper complained.
“How about I take Celeste and Harper back to the cabin and then you call us when it’s time for us to judge the sculptures,” Mason said.
“That’s fine, but where would we do it?” Thor looked around.
“It has to be somewhere where we can’t see each other’s sculptures and steal ideas.”
“Paranoid much?” Freya shook her head at Victor.
“What about the Moose Valley?” Indiana suggested. “It wouldn’t take us more than twenty minutes if we fly and that place is massive. We would have plenty of snow and room to spread out as groups. That way we could all go back to the cabin and pick up whatever tools we might need plus get a snack before we head up to the valley.”
“I like it. That’s what we’ll do,” Thor declared.
“Shouldn’t we decide as a group?”
Thor chuckled. “No, Holly. This isn’t the Motherlands. You do it your way when you host, but right now you’re in the Northlands and we don’t have a slow democracy where everyone has to agree. As the future ruler I’m the highest ranking in our group. I make the decisions.”
We were walking back to the cabin when I heard Holly whisper to Harper, “I’m so grateful I don’t have to live with a tyrant like Thor. How can the others be okay with him being so bossy all the time?”
I gave a sideways glance to Victor, who wasn’t much better, but before I could make a comment, Aubri, who walked next to me, spoke up, loud enough that everyone could hear her.
“It’s funny how the Motlanders always think that they have more freedom than the rest of us. In reality they are some of the most restricted people on the planet. We Northlanders might have a ruler, but at least he doesn’t tell us how to speak or think.”
Oliver, who was skinny with a large nose, was usually the quiet one in the Motlander group. Provoked by Aubri’s words, he defended his nation in a high-pitched tone, “Neither does our council. We can think for ourselves and speak freely.”
“Then what’s improper speech again? Isn’t that what makes you people report each other when you hear a simple swear word?”