A meeting between two Norsemen

[Bacharth]

King Vincent sat at his desk at Benedictine palace, looking over the new bills that have been passed by congress. "Man, these people just can't do anything without a bunch of laws dictating their lives." Suddenly, a light on his desk lit up and a beeping came from the speaker attached to it. Vincent put down his pen and pressed the light.

"Yes Miss Syona?"

"Your excellency, we have a visitor by the name of Erik. He says he knew your father."

"Erik...what's his last name?"

"Betrakte, sir."

"Send him up right away, Jacky."

"Yes your ex-"

"Call me Vince, I hate all the formalities."

She smiled, "Of course, Vince."

Not three minutes later, a knocking came at his mahogany door. Vince stood up and said, "Come in, Erik." Erik, with his hair now cut short, and looking much older than when he led Norsvea, walked in the door, and bowed.

"Your ex-"

"Vince, please. Call me Vince."

"Alright Vince, lets get down to business."

"Have a seat, first, please."

"Oh, thank you."

Vince sat down and put the bills in his desk drawer and cleared off his desk. Erik sat down, his eyes looking tired from the plane ride over. He pulled out a map from his pocket and placed it on the desk. Vince put his hands on the map and said, "Alright, first of all, hold on. Who are you and how did you know my father."

Erik sighed and said, "My name is Erik Betrakte, and I was a close friend of your father. Both of us were in the Akershus Festning shelter when the nuke hit Oslo. Before he left Oslo for Louisiana to be with you, he gave me something. He gave me this map, and told me to find you and tell you about the revitalization of Norse Distopyanism."

"Alright, tell me more."

Erik pointed at the map. "Sakhalin Oblast, an island north of the Japanese islands, and Khabarovosk Krai. I did a little research, and noticed that there is a huge majority of Scandinavian population there. Also, I know the leader of the Hanseatic Commonwealth, Sarah Tintagyl. We can get in contact with her in order to see about creating a Norse state there, away from the hell of Europe."

"I will agree, I'm getting a very cold shoulder from my French neighbors. It would be nice to get away."

"Well, let's take a trip to Brisbane and meet with her."

***

Erik and Vincent sat on a public plane from Agirion to Brisbane. Erik silently stared out the window, while Vincent talked freely with the other passengers. Erik was not used to his publicity. After a bit, Vincent sat back in his seat and looked at Erik.

"What's wrong man? Don't like plane flights?"

"Well, it may be the fact that we're sitting Coach, and you're talking with your citizens like they're old friends. How can you do that?"

"It's the secret to why I'm so loved in my nation. They see me as one of the guys. Just another person, they tell me what they want, and I talk to the parliament about it. I'll attend parties, outings, barbeques, all that stuff."

"Aren't you worried about assassination?"

"It's the assassin that has to worry about it. You see, traitors and assassins have no police to go after them, instead, the people are allowed to do what they want to them. Torture, murder, $%&@, whatever they want. And, there's a huge reward for assassins if they choose to turn them in."

"Well !@#$, I guess that's not bad."

"What about you Erik, how did you run Norsvea?"

"As a Kaiser, as the emperor, the military and political leader."

"But not the social leader?"

"Nope, I'm not very charismatic."

"Sure you are, you've got the looks."

"But the speaking skills, that's what I lack."

"Ah, that can be trained. That's what you get in Monarchies, training."

"Well alright."

The pair touched down in Brisbane the next morning, and they headed straight for the diet. Both of them were dressed in black suits with red and gold ties, except that Vincent chose to wear a crown just for the heck of it. It was just a copper crown with plastic jewels in it. and he wore it just to get a laugh out of people.

Erik approached the front desk gracefully and got an attedant's attention. "Hi, my name is Erik Betrakte, and this is my friend King Vincent Beauregard, and we wish to see Lady Tintagyl." The attendant pressed a button and told Sarah that she had visitors.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The secretary at the front desk of Diet Hall looked in amazement at the two men walking in from the street. They looked like clowns to be honest, not the circus type, but like the kind of guys that just never seemed to grow up. She figured as soon as they walked in they were here to see the Lady Protector. Lady Sarah attracted all types of these young gallivants, so it was no surprise when they asked if they could request an audience.

"Well she's not really busy today at least. Though with some of the events going on it the world, she been quite aloof lately. So I'll warn you now and I'm sure the guards will warn you upstairs. She's not in the mood for jokes." The secretary said eying up the plastic jewels. "But you can go upstairs, her office is always open in the day for guests."

When the two would proceed upstairs, they would pass various government offices and military guardsmen, who eyed them strangely and when they finally reached the doors to Sarah's office. The Marine at the door, searched them for weapons and after finding none, opened the doors to her quarters. "Your Ladyship. May I present Erik Betrakte and Vincent Beauregard of Normandie."

Sarah stood up from her chair with wide eyes. "Erik!" She ran up to him and took his hands. "Its been forever, I'm glad to see you! How have you been?" Her smile was genuine, the first time seeing an old friend in a long time. "Its great to see you in Brisbane." She turned to Vincent and returned the same emotion. "And to you Your Majesty. Welcome. You know, I wasn't expecting an audience. Otherwise I would have worn something nicer." She said looking at her blue sundress. "But please, why'd you two come here. Maybe we can do lunch or something. Something fun for once."

[Bacharth]

Erik returned her smile and gave her a hug.Vincent reached out to take her hand and kissed it and then bowing to her. He then said in his french accent, "I have heard much about you Lady Protector, it is nice to meet you."

Erik chuckled a little, "It's nice to see you too, Sarah. I agree, it's been too long. Don't worry about Vinzent here, he never really dresses professionally, we just wore the black suits for effect."

"Kind of like zat movie, eh, ze blues brozers?"

"I was thinking because we were at least trying to appear like we meant business, but I guess that works too." His stomach rumbled at the word lunch, and he remembered the last thing he ate was that toast with lingonberry jam on the plane.

"We have some information to discuss with you, and a request. Maybe we could discuss this over lunch, know any local places?"

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I know a few places. Here, let me grab a few things and we'll head out." She walked over to her desk, grabbed her purse, a light jacket and a few other odds and ends and led the two gentlemen out of her quarters, out of the Diet, and back onto the sunny streets of Brisbane. Thing had been brightening up in the city and people were once again filling the streets of the city with smiles and laughter. Sarah lead Erik and Vincent down the main boulevards to the cultural district, to the conservatories and salons and stopped at the entrance to an old French style bistro.

"I know that you and the French aren't on exactly good terms Your Highness, but the music in here is to die for." Sarah said holding the door open for them to walk into the dimly lit restaurant.

A soft piano played as a waitress came up to the ground with a smile on her face and her eyes speaking volumes of respect. "Lady Protector, welcome. We're glad to see you again. Will you be in your private booth today, or would you rather be placed near the bar?"

Sarah chuckled and looked at her guests embarrassed a bit. "I swear, I haven't picked up drinking. Much..." She turned back to the hostess and nodded. "The private booth please, we're in a bit of a discussion."

"Well then, right this way."

The hostess led them to a small room in the back, with stain glass windows and decorations from the Napoleonic era. Dropping their menus on the table, she departed as Sarah wet her lips with a glass of water. "So, what was it that you wanted to discuss?"

[Bacharth]

"Oh no," Vincent replied, "the French are on excellent terms with me. It's us that are not on good terms with the French." He chuckled and continued to see the sights of this beautiful city. "This is much bigger than Agirion." Erik nodded and watched as a beautiful Australian girl passed by. "Much more beautiful too, and I love music, so Vincent can suck it up." Erik chortled and put adjusted his aviator sunglasses.

Erik's eyes lit up at the music and the smells of the restaurant. Vincent's mind just went to how it reminded him of home. Erik laughed when Sarah responded to the bar comment. "In moderation, it's a fine thing to do, especially socially." They followed Sarah and the waitress back to the booth where Erik placed his briefcase next to him.

"Yes, we have things to discuss about some of your Russian holdings." He retrieved a map from his briefcase and placed it on the table. The map had borders of the Khabavarosk Krai, and Sakhalin Island highlighted. In the key below, one would notice that the two places are colored with the Norse color. "We have noticed that a major population of these two Russian areas are actually mostly Scandinavian Norse people. However, the people are a mix between that and Russian, which is rare for the area, since the majority of the areas are Mongol-Rus or Rus-Chinese. When Vincent's father explored the area, he noticed that the language of the area was a modified Old Norse, which made it easier for him to communicate."

"What Erik is getting at, your ladyship, is that we with to set up a nation within that area. A Distopyan nation, none of this Nordlandic stuff that seems to pollute the minds of Norsemen."

"Remember what I told you about the Nords, Vinzent, don't knock them," Erik said calmly to Vincent. He then turned back to Sarah. "Now, we would only want the Khabarovosk Krai and the Sakhalin Oblast. You can keep Primorsky and therefore Vladivostock. It is of no use to us, as that area is primarily Rus-Chinese."

Vincent then chimed in, "We would call this sub-ethnicity the Austergorods, and the nation name is still a struggle between Austervania and Khabhalin."

"Also," Erik said, "we would be running this under a government style based off of Vincent's monarchy and my Triumvirate-Republic. It would be a democracy, so you would not have to worry."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah sat back and looked at the map that Erik had drawn out, she held it in her hand as she leaned back on the chair balancing the glass of water in her other hand. She couldn't help but chuckle. "You Europeans seem to pop out everywhere. Europe, North America, heck even Africa and now in my Russian territory. Thought I haven't heard much of a significant European population there, I'm sure with an area that size that internal policy wouldn't be a problem. Though I would hope that for whatever nation you would set up that you would want to obey the laws of diversity that these people have had under my rule. I would be greatly disappointed to hear that a power minority had been set up."

"As to a Distopyan nation, I would be elated." Though she gave a slight glare to Erik at his Nordlandic comment, but nothing to disturb the mood of the lunch. "Gentlemen, I try to be as benevolent as I can, both to my people and to the people of the world. I don't see any problem with the independence of your nation in the Northern Russian Provinces if you intend to stay peaceful and I warn you that not only from my end, but as to all your new neighbors. We Oceanians and Asians have spent years dedicated to making this region stable and our jobs are barely done." She thought of the current rebellion in the Lu Empire. "But as to a friendly nation, I see no problems with it. However of course, there will be economic ties, a verbal Non-Aggression Agreement and perhaps open borders if you agree to it. After all, there are various people in those areas how have grown accustom to the openness of the Hansa and I would hate to see that ended."

"But, yeah, as long as you seek to further Asian stability, everything would be doable."

[Bacharth]

"Of course," Erik said, "from the beginning, all I wanted was peace. That's why I left for Africa once the fascist Nords started coming into power. I couldn't stand to see my people as a war mongering group. And even after the fall, they were still too war-like."

Vincent continued, "Cultural diversity has always been an importance to me. It's why I chose to liberate the Gaelic people from the oppressive leaders that led France after the Welsh fell. King Jacques of Northern France did everything in his power to oppress those who felt more ties to their Anglo-Norse brothers than the French."

"Open borders and non-aggression would be great. Less spending for us to create border patrols anyway," Erik said with a laugh. He realized his Nordic comment had gotten misunderstood. He would have to address that in private. "And, this information of this language they spoke would be good, since I speak Old Norse, and Vinzent speaks Icelandic, so I could easily teach it to him. Henrik speaks Old Norse also, so we would be able to understand each other."

"Fortunately, they don't write in Cyrillic," Vincent laughed. "Thank you Lady Protector, we shall give these people the respect and freedoms they deserve."