watches.

started carving out the face of the figurine-in-the-making, eyes focused on his work.

walked closer towards him to see what he was doing.

heard something moving through the grass off to the side. He stilled the knife and glanced up.

frowned back at him.

watched him. "Glad to see y'too."

nodded. "What're you doing?"

calmly waved him over with the hand holding the piece of wood. "Come, I'll show you." The fairies were still babbling amonst themselves.

frowned, but after a moment of standing still he walked towards him.

moved over on the bench, making room for him to sit, and continued his work.

grumbled quietly under his breath and sat down besides him, folding his arms over his chest. "What is it?"

unfazed by his attitude, not expecting anything else. He turned the piece of wood over in his hand and pointed the edge of the knife to_

what he'd been carving. "This is the face, 'n the whole thing'll eventually become a nisse."

nodded with a typical frown. "It certainly looks ugly enough to be one."

continued his work, not the slightest discouraged. "'s 'cause I just started." And nisser weren't the most handsome creatures.

would blame the ugliness more on nisser being ugly, rather than Nor's craftsmanship. "I'm sure."

nodded idly and cut off a useless piece. "D'you want to carve somethin'?"

shrugged. He wasn't particularly skilled at carving, but it couldn't be that hard...

picked up another piece of wood and handed it to him. "I'll go find a knife." He said and got up from the bench.

nodded and took the wood. He ran his fingers over it with a small frown, debating what to do with it when Norway returned.

/ The small gathering of fairies giggled and flew over to sit on the back of the bench, watching him.

turned to stare at the fairies, his frown deepening. He much preferred his quieter elves.

returned soon enough with another fitting knife for the work, handing it over with the hilt towards Iceland before he sat back down beside_

him.

took the knife, adjusting it in his hand so that he could begin whittling at the wood.

continued his work, not minding the fairy that came to sit on his shoulder to whisper in his ear.

continued his work, not minding the fairy that came to sit on his shoulder to whisper in his ear.

didn't pay much attention to what he was doing, and it was obvious that he hadn't done this before. Within a few minutes he had nicked his_

finger no less than 5 times, and the wood resembled nothing distinguishable.

glanced over to him. He waited a few moments before he gently pried the wood from his fingers, and fixed it up so it could be worked with_

again. "I'll show y'the basics.." He knew he wouldn't ask for help by himself.

scowled silently.

took that as a good sign, oddly enough. He should be glad he wasn't guiding his hands. He showed him basic cuts and how to avoid the worst_

mistakes, before handing him his piece again.

scoffed quietly and went back to butchering the piece of wood.

didn't try to correct him again, figuring he'd just find it annoying. He sat in silence, smoothly carving out the nisse's hat while the

fairy fell asleep on his shoulder.

grew bored after a while. He didn't have patience for things like this, and it was making him frustrated. He turned to watch Norway instead,

and poked at the fairy.

simply kept carving. The fairy mumbled and swatted blindly at his finger, rolling over lazily.

snickered quietly and continued to poke at it.

/The little fairy moaned, displeased, fluttering its wings defensively in an attempt to get its peace back.