Page 114 of The Pacifist
“But I wanted us to catalogue all of it before revealing it to them. I want them to be really surprised and happy.”
We laughed and assured her that they would be.
“Okay, I’ll go get them then, but just because we found all this doesn’t mean we can’t still do the film events, does it?”
“What film events?” Jonah asked.
Freya explained to him about her idea to show the first five episodes of theMen of the Northseries at live events and added with excitement, “Christina and Alexander already agreed that they would be on stage to answer questions about how they met and fell in love.”
Christina nodded. “We did.”
“I didn’t know they were making a whole series about how the integration began between our countries.” Anne looked to Jonah. “Did you?”
“Yes. It was pre-approved by the council, but withdrawn after we saw the first episode. Of course, I loved every part of it.”
“But if they pre-approved the series, then why can’t it air as planned?”
“Because there were violent scenes and the romance wasn’t as toned down as the pre-approval had requested. A small majority argued that the violations to our entertainment laws were too great and it could make viewers uncomfortable.”
Anne sighed. “Now I want to see it even more.”
“Then you can buy a ticket. It will be fifty dollars,” Freya said with a satisfied smile. “You’ll have to be quick though, because there’s only twelve hundred tickets and they are going to sell out fast.”
I grinned. “If you’re sure about that, then maybe we should raise the price.”
“Is there a family discount?” Jonah asked.
“What do you mean?”
Jonah pulled me against his side, placing his arm around me. “Mila and I are getting married. That will make Anne and me family, won’t it?”
Christina looked surprised but opened her arms to hug me. “So it’s final, is it? You won’t have that awful tournament after all?”
“There will still be a tournament, but they’ll fight for money and not me.”
Anne wanted to hug me after Christina. “I was afraid to ask him if you’d said yes. Jonah was so nervous that you would rather marry a big warrior in that tournament.”
Freya angled her head. “Tell you what, Anne. If you become part of the family, you can sit on the balcony with the rest of us. It’s free.”
“I would love that. When is it?”
“Maybe next week or as soon as we can make it happen. I’ve already talked to my parents about it and they loved the idea. My mom promised that she would contact the production company and set it up.”
“I’m serious, people, I’m starving.” Giving Freya a gentle push toward the door, Christina reminded her, “Run upstairs and get your dad and Magni to come down here. Just tell them we found something they need to see.”
“I’m on it!” My cousin threw the words over her shoulder before she was out of sight and ten minutes later, she returned with Magni and Khan.
Khan walked straight to Christina, who was sitting on an old piano stool with her legs crossed. “This’d better be good, I was in an important meeting.”
“Didn’t Freya tell you what we found?”
“She mentioned something about a broken vase.”
“Ah, but did she mention that it’s an old Egyptian artifact?”
Khan shook his head and gave Freya a questioning look.
The sneaky smile that grew on her face had me laughing. “Tell him.”
