Page 100 of The Explorer
“I was just thinking about how you said that you refer to us French as bees because you think we have a beehive mindset. That’s amusing since you seem to be much more linked to each other’s emotions than we are. You are all personally offended by an insult given to someone else in your group. I find that interesting from a social studies perspective. I’m trying to think of another group of primates who exhibit this type of behavior.”
“Stop comparing us to monkeys and just give the apology to my sister that you owe her.”
“Owe her? I don’t believe I owe her anything since I haven’t taken anything from her.”
“What did he say that was so bad?” one of the Motlanders whispered to another and received the answer, “I don’t know.”
Freya got up from her chair as well. “How about we focus on why we came here? We have a long list of important things that need to be discussed. I don’t want us to start off with bad blood. We’re here to make the world a better place and on the grand scale of things, my feelings aren’t important.”
“I would disagree. We can’t make the world a better place if we can’t even have a nice tone among the fifteen of us,” Holly interjected. “Victor, we understand that you’re a proud man and being put on the spot like this is clearly making you defensive. How about you and Freya walk with me to sit by the water for a few minutes? I’ll be happy to mediate between you. Maybe it will be easier for you to meet her with empathy and respect when we aren’t all staring at you.”
“Thank you, Holly, that’s a great suggestion, but I’m sure Victor and I can have a civil conversation without a mediator.” Looking up at Victor, Freya gave a regal swing of her hand toward the water. “After you.”
With a curt nod, he walked past us in the direction of the gentle waves that were rolling onto the sand, creating a calming soundtrack to this intense beginning to this year’s summit.
“No touching,” Thor shouted after Victor. “And if you make her cry, I’ll fucking bury you in the sand.”
“After I drown you,” Mason yelled.
Freya and Victor ignored their outburst and continued to the edge of the water about fifty feet away from us.
Aubri, Mason, Thor, and I were all standing with our arms crossed, keeping an eye on them.
“How about we give them a moment of privacy to figure things out?” Holly suggested.
“I’m making sure he doesn’t touch her,” Thor said in a deep voice.
Celeste placed her hand on him. “Isn’t the whole issue that Victor refused to touch Freya? From what I heard she offered to move in with him and have children with him. You would think that if he had any interest in touching her, he would have simply agreed.”
She had a point and lowering my arms, I muttered to Thor and Mason, “Freya will call out if she needs our help.”
“Good.” Oliver patted my shoulder. “The French missed the arrival dinner, but we can still have a lovely evening and catch up, can’t we?”
“Sure.”
We sat around a large bonfire and chitchatted with the others for over two hours before Victor and Freya came back. All this time, we’d kept an eye on them as they sat next to each other talking by the water.
“What the fuck took so long?” Thor asked with a scowl in Victor’s direction.
“You wanted us to talk and we did.”
Mason curled his upper lip. “Yeah, butwhatdid you talk about? I’ve never had a two-hour conversation in my life.”
Victor shrugged. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that what I do or say is none of your business.”
Thor grabbed Freya’s shoulder. “Did he apologize to you?”
“He did.”
When Thor looked skeptical, Freya arched a brow and repeated. “Victor gave me a heartfelt apology that I’m satisfied with.”
“Hmm.” I gave Victor a hard stare. “Good decision.”
“Great!” Holly clapped her hands. “Now we’ll put the unease to rest and close that chapter. I know you don’t want a healing love circle, but we could do a fun friendship game instead.”
“Is it the one where we have to compliment each other?” I asked with a frown.
“Yes, do you want to start, Indiana? What positives would you say about us Motlanders? And now that you’ve lived in Old Europe for six months it should be easy to find something to praise them for.”
