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_ Part 9 _

Walking down to the kitchen for breakfast the following morning felt more akin to swimming through molasses; each step reminding Erik of the rough night's sleep he'd endured. Tuesdays, and the prospect of another week of work, were never easy to face at the best of times. Having to suffer heavy eyes, dulled senses, and a pounding headache on top of that certainly didn't help Erik shake off that dread for what lied ahead.

On an admittedly subdued bright side, the fresh pot of coffee and warm bowl of porridge waiting for him at the dining table came as a small saving grace.

"You just missed them."

Erik looked to Pieter, hunched over atop a cushion while eating his own mini serving of breakfast. "Guess I overslept."

"A little."

"Typical." With a yawn, he took a seat at the table, stretching his neck from side to side. "Body only wants to sleep when it knows it can't."

Pieter barely managed a grunt in response, sending Erik's whiskers drooping. Even if he'd succeeded in getting a better night's sleep than his host, it hadn't helped his mood.

"So..." Erik poured himself a cup of coffee, idly tapping the tabletop. "Did everybody leave okay this morning?"

"They did. Karin went off to work with your mother after dropping Thijs and Anika off at the station."

"No drama?"

"None," Pieter muttered, taking another spoonful of porridge. "They called to say there's a lot of police around. Should be safe."

"Okay... good." Erik flicked the briefest smile, reaching for a spoon to begin his own breakfast.

"Uh... Erik."

He glanced back up to find Pieter's gaze wandering aimlessly around the table. "What's up?"

In the end, Pieter appeared to settle on offering a gesture of his spoon towards his thimble-sized bowl. "I wanted to say..."

"Yeah?"

Whatever he did wish to say initially looked to be held back by a short bite of his lip. "This porridge... It's very nice with that honey."

"Oh..." Erik smirked gently, head recoiling while he stirred a pattern through his own serving. "Well... I'll call the company that makes it. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear you approve."

"If you like." Pieter slowly allowed his smile to grow. "You know, it's not that often we eat this kind of thing in Meerland."

"Seriously? This is probably the most common breakfast in Velika! Especially during winter." He reached over for the jar of honey set beside Pieter at the table's centre. "What do you usually have for breakfast back home?"

"I guess... cereals. Bread with cheese, meats, jam-- Oh!" His little spoon clanked against the lip of his bowl. "Chocolate flakes, and sprinkles."

"For breakfast?" Erik cocked his head. "Really?"

"Not on their own!" Pieter laughed loudly, throwing up his free paw. "They're really good on cereal, or with a sweet spread on bread. I used to love it when I was a kid."

"Sounds good... but still strange to me."

"It's a Meerlander thing, I guess." The tip of his tail knocked happily upon the table. "People that I've met from most other Polcian countries find it strange, too."

"I think I'll have to try it sometime."

"You should!" Pieter barked, almost leaping up from his cushion. "It'd work well with this porridge, no doubt."

"It's settled then." Erik's own contentment stretched the breadth of his muzzle. "I think I'll pick some up from the supermarket after work."

"Ah... work," Pieter grunted. "Hopefully it'll be nice today. Nice and uneventful."

Erik beamed even brighter at that, reminded of what might help raise spirits even higher than talk of breakfast combinations. "I think it'll be nice... uneventful, maybe not."

"Why are you grinning?" Pieter smiled through his obvious confusion. "What have I said?"

"Nothing... but, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Have you checked your bank account lately?"

"No? Should I have?"

"Oh, no." Erik placed his fingertips together. "It's just that... I heard a rumour about how we might have got some kind of special bonus. I haven't had the chance to check mine this morning."

"A bonus? Huh..." Pieter reached urgently for his phone, tapping away at it while Erik fought to say no more. "Okay... I'm in. Let's take a look to see--" His jaw dropped instantly. "My gods... There's an extra... seven hundred Krona in here!"

"Wow, that much?"

"Y-Yeah!" He shook his head slowly, still scrolling the screen. "I can't believe... So much money! Why would they give us this? And why now? We haven't--" Pieter's jaw froze wide open, forcing Erik to stifle a giddy chuckle. "How did you...?"

"You've transferred me money for rent, which means I have your details. So, it's pretty simple to send money the other way, too, just like I did last night."

"R-Right... of course." He slowly placed a paw to his brow. "I don't know what to say..."

"Thank you would be a start," Erik snickered, sitting back in his chair.

"Th-Thank you! Sorry... This is just so... We're pretty much there now! With just one more paycheque, just, we'll finally have enough to go home. It's incredible!"

"I'm glad that it seems I've helped start your day off 'nice'."

"Nice? More than that! It's..." Pieter cut himself short again, staring off into space with a creeping frown. "Wait, Erik. What about _your_savings?"

"Well..." The satisfaction began to fade from Erik's muzzle. "I can save up again."

"But what about what we spoke about? What about going to Bolstrovo to work with your friends?"

"I figured..." He leaned forward, exhaling softly with eyes down towards his paws. "Your situation is much more desperate than mine."

"No, Erik, I can't. I can't possibly take your money."

"You can." He looked up at Pieter again, smiling in the face of his guilt. "You know I love having you all here. My ma, too. But, it's clear just how much you all want... how much you need to go home. What happened yesterday only made this clearer."

Pieter gazed back down to his phone, rubbing his brow, biting his lip and flitting his tail all at once. Erik could appreciate his dilemma, no question. After all, it was this same decision, albeit from a very different perspective, that had left him exhausted before the day had even begun. In fact, sitting here while the silent struggle played out before him, Erik still didn't know if he'd made the right choice.

"I can't thank you enough for this," Pieter squeaked, leaping up from his cushion to trot across the table towards spotted, wringing paws. "I just... this means so much." He placed his own to them, peering up with a gleeful smile.

Erik gazed back into those joy-filled eyes, finding a contentment the likes of which he'd never seen before. It was a look of relief, of unreserved gratitude. It was the look of someone that had just been saved.

"You're a great friend, Erik."

In that moment, the doubts and difficulties that had haunted him for hours on end lost their cutting edge. He'd definitely made the right choice. "Likewise, Piet--"

"And believe me when I say you'll be getting paid back for this someday. With interest!"

"No." Erik held out his paws. "You don't have to--"

"I know I don't," Pieter snapped, jabbing a finger at him before adding, "but I'm damn well going to!"

That extraordinary morning paved the way for the rest of Tuesday to be so full of life and energy; the mundane regularity of what would have usually followed derailed by Erik's generosity.

Pieter spent most of it with a grin on his face and a spring in his step; relishing in describing his plan to hand in his notice, work his final two weeks and collect his final pay packet. Karin, Thijs and Anika, too, were just as excited over dinner that evening, unable to go five minutes without discussing their potential journey home from the moment they learned of what unfolded that morning.

"Imma head down to the park," Thijs cried, almost dropping his slither of the fully loaded, celebratory pizza. "Not even that one in the district was as good as the one back home. No space!"

"You'll not be able to do that straight away," Pieter stated, picking up another section of a slice stretching as long as he stood tall; more than enough for him and his family to share.

"Why?" came the reply, muffled by a mouthful of cheese and dough.

"We'll have to stay with your grandparents for a while," his mother answered, sitting across from him upon the padded cloth at the centre of the dining table.

"But that's all the way 'cross town!"

"It's not like we can just go back to our old house, can we!?" Anika muttered, tapping away at her phone. "-Sukkel-."

"Don't call me that!"

"Don't be stupid then."

"Anika, leave your brother," their mother ordered, turning to Thijs. "We have to stay with them until we can find a new house for ourselves."

"Fine," he huffed sharply, crossing his arms tight. "Guess I can go to the one there instead. At least we gonna be back close to our _real_home."

Erik felt his ears flick a measure lower, noticing his mother's reacting in kind across the table. "D-Do you want any more pizza?"

Each of their little guests peered up with what he could swear was a collective glint of guilt. Thijs excepted; all too happily gnawing away at his own helping.

"We have plenty," his mother added. "I am thinking the size I ordered was too much."

"I think we're okay," Pieter answered mutedly, looking to the half-eaten slice sitting atop a napkin next to them. "Thank you, though. Really."

"Very kind of you," Karin added, peering up to Tanya with a brief, difficult smile.

"Isn't it great though, Erik?" Thijs roared, muzzle red with sauce. "We're gonna get to go home!"

"Thijs!" Anika jabbed her elbow into his ribs, drawing a loud squeal. "-mijn gods!-"

"What!? What I say?"

"I-It's okay," Erik stammered, holding up a paw. "Really, I--"

"Erik, you're so cool for helping!" Thijs bounced up from his seat, tail lashing about with youthful enthusiasm. "Imma miss you a whole lot when we back home. You're an awesome friend!"

The warmth of the littlest ferret's arms squeezing at Erik's paw flowed through him, helping to bring his ears perking back upright. "I'll miss you all, too." His eyes wandered up to the clock on the kitchen wall, leading him to realise all over again that in just two weeks from now, Thijs and his family would be gone. Maybe for good.

"Shame you can't come back to Meerland with us. It'd be so great t'have a big Velikan lookin' out for me!"

"That would be nice." Erik chuckled, wrapping two fingers around Thijs to return his hug. "I guess I'll just have to look out for you until we get you to the harbour and onto your boat. Deal?"

"Deal!"

While that irrepressible excitement flooded all through the house, the same sentiment came hard to come by for Erik at the supermarket. Wednesday and Thursday came and went with standard monotony, giving way for Friday to arrive and threaten only more of the same. Mercifully, there always remained one hour during the workday that could provide some respite.

He strolled through the big double doors of the staff canteen, finding it half-full for the 1pm lunch slot he always chose to adhere to. Arriving any earlier usually found the place uncomfortably packed out, while eating too much later made for an eerily quiet experience.

Erik padded further inside, scoping the long rows of tables for a good place to eventually sit. Even with a good two dozen or so colleagues seated around the room, it didn't take long to be drawn to a familiar set of antlers rising up from among them.

His focus stayed on Viktor all the way over to service area, meeting eyes with him just for a moment before walking straight into the rabbit waiting at the end of the queue.

"Hey!"

"Sorry." Erik recoiled away, waiting for his colleague to face forwards again before taking a relieved breath.

He kept himself to himself from that point on, muzzle fixed towards the gleaming white floor until his time came to decide upon his lunch.

With a swipe of his currency card and a nod to the blank-faced cashier, Erik moved out of the service line and into the dining area proper. A couple of rows ahead, a seat at the end of a practically empty table called out to him; an ideal position to both eat in peace and keep his back facing his former friend.

It barely took the time taken for Erik to settle down, crack open his soda and season his soup for a shadow to envelop him. He glanced up from his tray to find someone standing opposite, craning his neck further to find those familiar antlers all over again. "Uhm... Hi?"

"...Hey," Viktor rumbled, expression much like the cashier's.

Erik looked back to his food, picking up a spoon. "Need something?"

The chair opposite squealed across the floor, letting out a creak as the big elk dropped himself into it with a sigh. "I wished to say that I have been thinking."

He resisted asking whether it had hurt. "About what happened in the locker room?"

"No, I am speaking about... something else."

Erik shrugged, concentrating on stirring his bowl of thick soup. "What then?"

"About what happened a few weeks ago. About the Polcians."

"Oh." He tried to hide his shock at that, dropping his spoon with a clank before sitting back with folded arms. "Okay. What have you been thinking about exactly?"

"You see..." Another rumbling screech won quick glances from those at the next table as Viktor slid closer. "I have thought about what I did. What I said. I think I know now why what I have done was bad."

Erik's mouth contorted with distaste. Did he only think that he knew? Still, he kept quiet.

"Let me explain that even if you may think it, I am not a sizeist, honest. I am sure you can imagine that where I come from, a small village out in the country, that it is a place where there are very few Polcians." Viktor's antlers shifted forwards as he peered down at his big hands rubbing together. "There, it is more accepted to make jokes like that... perhaps empty threats like that also."

"_How_can that be acceptable--!?"

"Erik, I had never even seen a Polcian in real life before coming here, which is still more than those back home. Even now... I have never really met one."

Erik's head tilted, his muzzle creasing even further. He could appreciate Viktor's gesture, his attempt to somehow explain his mindset, but he certainly struggled to understand it. "Why are you only saying this now?"

"Apart from the fact that we have hardly spoken since... I felt like an idiot. I did not think you would want to hear my explanation." Viktor had already quietened his voice, but weakened even further as he added, "I also heard about the riot at the station on Monday."

Erik's brow rose, tail twitching against the legs of the chair behind him. "Oh."

"I know there have been issues before with people that actually _hate_Polcians, but back in Arkatov, it was only reports on the news to me. Now, it happened in the place that I am living for the first time. It is more real now... and it made me feel even guiltier about the things that I have laughed and joked about. About the things I have said."

Erik unfolded his arms, moving himself closer to the dejected elk. "Wait... so...?"

"So, what?"

"I just thought... you hated Polcians, too."

"I have never said that I hate them!" Viktor shirked back in his seat. "It is true that I do not like how many of them come here now to take our jobs and money, live only in their little bubble district and then complain about being treated as outsiders... They frustrate me, annoy me, but I do not hate them."

Erik nodded slowly. "Most of the news is calling this an 'anti-government' incident, rather than 'anti-Polcian'."

"Come on, this is the VPU we are speaking of; nationalist thugs acting as if they are politicians. It is they who hate Polcians."

He scoffed out a short laugh, which in turn earned a frown back at him. "I remember you asking if I was 'one of them' when we had our argument. I assumed you meant a... 'Polcian-lover' or something similar to what those guys call anyone who disagrees with them."

"Oh." Viktor paused for a moment, clearly thinking back to that day on the shop floor. "No... I was speaking more of people that defend Polcians and put them first all of the time, even the ones who come here and do nothing but complain while not even trying to help themselves."

Erik slowly stroked his chin, studying the elk's puffed out, barrel chest and resolute smirking. He never pictured their conversation taking this course from the point it started. What came as the biggest surprise however was not the amount of ground they'd made up between each other, but just how much more he'd learned about Viktor in only a few minutes spent talking.

"See, I am not just some dumb yokel, hating Polcians for no reason other than just because."

"I never meant to say you were, but..." Erik opened his mouth to defend himself, but stopped himself short. "The fact is... I may have overreacted a little."

"Only just a little?"

"Okay... more than a little."

"I understand." Viktor nudged him by the shoulder. "Such a bad joke was perhaps in even worse taste considering how things can be here."

Erik grunted from the big hand shoving him against the back of his chair. "It's not like you said it to a Polcian, at least."

"True. Not that I think I would have. I think for when I have my first conversation with one of them, avoiding such jokes will probably be a good idea."

He caught his breath, eyes glazing over as he readjusted in his seat. The idea bursting into life inside his head came on strong, though he couldn't be sure whether it was such a great one.

"Erik? What are you thinking about?"

"Huh?" His focus returned to Viktor's smile across the table. "Nothing really."

"It was something, definitely_._"

"Well..." Erik took a sip of his soda, the corners of his own mouth creeping upwards. "How would you like it if I set up that 'first conversation' with a Polcian?"

"What?" Viktor's smile grew into a bemused grin. "And how exactly would you do this?"

"I can ask a friend."

"Friend?" Bemusement shifted into something more like confusion. "You have a Polcian friend?"

"Yeah... He and his family live with me at the moment."

"You are serious? Since when?"

"Since I found him in the alley out back a few weeks ago. He lost his job and his home and..." Erik held up his paws. "You know, it's a long story... but the offer is there. If you want, perhaps you can speak with him after work today, maybe get an idea for what it's like for Polcians living here from one that does so."

"It... would be something different, for sure... and I would very much like to, yes." Viktor's eyes narrowed. "Do you think he would like to? Would he really be willing to speak with some stranger Velikan he does not even know?"

"You want me to what?" Pieter cried from the little walkway outside the Polcian staff entrance, still fastening his coat after exiting out into the darkened back alley. "When?"

"Ah..." Erik stepped back, battling to raise a smile. "Now, if possible."

"Now!?"

He winced. "I agreed with a friend that we'd meet him in the canteen after work."

"Canteen?" Pieter shook his head with a scoffed laugh. "You mean inside the Velikan area?"

"...Yeah."

"Erik, you could have at least asked me before agreeing something like this!"

"I'm sorry." His head dipped, peering down to his idle kicking of pebbles across the ground. "I should have--"

"Never mind the fact we're expected home for dinner," Pieter grumbled to himself, clasping a clump of head fur. "You want me to go in there? There's a reason why we have our own areas... We saw that Monday."

Erik's posture sagged only further, reaching to slowly rub a paw across his downcast eyes. "It won't take long, and it'll be okay in there, I promise."

"You can guarantee that?"

"I can," he retorted, feeling his spotted tail lash behind him. "I'll be with you the whole time. We'll go straight in, chat with Viktor for a little while, and then go home. That's it."

"If 'that's it', then just why does it matter so much if I say no?" Pieter grunted, glaring off down the dirty alleyway. "Why can't we just go back home?"

"Piet, my friend... he's never met a Polcian before. I figured--"

"I'm_not_ an attraction," he snapped, stomping forwards to grab the walkway railing.

"I know. I made a mistake--"

"And like I said before, I would have preferred you to ask me before agreeing something like this."

"I said I'm sorry!" Erik moaned, tail whipping hard enough to clank against an old trolley to his right. "I guess I just got carried away after I made up with him again."

"Made up?" The intensity of Pieter's grasp eased. "Over what?"

"Over... We had an argument a few weeks ago, and until today, we hadn't spoken since."

"That must have been a pretty big disagreement_._" He let go of the guardrail completely. "What was it about?"

Erik studied the rusted metalwork of the trolley beside him, scratching the back of his neck. "Just... something stupid that he did... but I might have overreacted. Either way, he apologised and I forgave him." He traced Pieter's resolve escaping through a heavy sigh, spurred on to add, "You know, there's nothing I can do to make you do this, but my friend... I would definitely appreciate it if you did. Besides, there's nothing to worry about. The canteen will be empty this time of the evening, and if you still start to feel uncomfortable, just tell me and we'll get straight up and leave. Okay?"

"Alright, alright." Pieter's sighing turned into grumbling, his eyes developing a glaze as they focused upwards again. "I'll do it."

"Great--!"

"But if things start to get out of hand, even just a little, we're leaving. Okay?"

"Of course." Erik bounded over to the knee-high balcony, forcing his friend to flinch a half step backwards. "If you're sure?"

"I-I'm not, but--" Pieter stumbled as his foot found the edge of the path's conveyor belt, grabbing the railing for support a half-second before Erik's paw rushed down to offer the same.

"You okay?"

"Yeah..." He reached up for a white-furred fingertip, using it to pull himself upright. "As I was saying... No, I'm not sure, but after everything that's happened, I guess I owe you one."

As Erik had promised, and hoped, the staff break room did indeed sit empty and lifeless, save for a couple of late shift workers sat with their muzzles fixed upon their phones.

"Which one is your friend?" Pieter whispered, scanning the room from Erik's cupped paws.

"Neither." He glanced over towards the vending machines stood in the far left corner of the room, finding Viktor sat expectantly at the table next to them. "That's him."

"The elk?"

"Yes."

"...The_really big_ elk?"

"Yes," Erik chuckled, squeaking across the white linoleum flooring towards him.

Pieter hunkered down as they rounded the first few tables in their path. "Couldn't you introduce me to a slightly smaller friend instead?"

"Sorry." Chuckling became a full blown snort of laughter. "Viktor's the only one still here that I know." Only when he felt the fast twitching of Pieter's tail on his fingers did he stop himself. "It'll be fine. He won't hurt you."

"Not deliberately, maybe."

Erik exchanged a nod with Viktor, strolling past the final table between them. "You worry too much."

"You would, too, in my position."

"Hey, Erik," Viktor called in his deep, rumbling voice; opting to start the conversation in their local tongue.

"Hey," he responded, begrudgingly matching his friend's language of choice as he took a seat across the table. "How was your afternoon?"

"Let us say that I am glad to be sitting at last." The big elk reached to take a sip from his can of soda, placing it back down with a clank loud enough to make Pieter's ears visibly twitch. "I thought that you would be here before me."

"I had to get my friend." Erik's paws rose a fraction as he explained, the eyelines of both Velikans at the table dipping down towards the little figure within them.

Viktor didn't respond, other than to let his head gradually cock and his peering turn to gawking.

"Everything okay?"

"Y-Yes." His focus quickly flicked back upwards. "He is... so very much smaller than I thought he would be close up.

It didn't take long for Erik to pick up on Pieter's shrinking stature and hanging muzzle, prompting him to steepen the sides of his cupped paws. "So, Viktor," he stated firmly, switching to Polcian in an effort to aid his little friend's nerves. "This is Pieter. Pieter, this is Viktor." Erik's eyes remained transfixed upon his paws, teeth clenched in hopeful anticipation of a positive reaction.

Pieter's posture remained small and low, even for that of a Polcian. His head meanwhile rose slowly, high enough eventually to face the broad elk overlooking him. "H-Hello," he slurred, noisily clearing his throat. The cautious paw he offered out barely extended beyond Erik's fingertips. "Nice to meet you."

Viktor merely blinked, frozen stiff aside from the back and forth of his focus between Erik and the little Polcian waiting below.

"Go on," Erik muttered with a quick departure into Velikan, gesturing down at Pieter with a sharp flick of his muzzle.

"S-Sorry," he replied, sounding just as unsettled, perhaps awestruck even, as the tiny ferret peering up at him. His thick, crane-like arm moved from his side, bringing his hand to hover a hair's width from Pieter. "Hello to you, too."

Their final stretches came in tandem, with Pieter's paw wrapping around the big elk's index fingertip as best it could. Unlike Erik's, there'd be no way for him to grasp it completely.

Even so, the gesture helped him to appear more at ease; his little ears rising away from his head. In fact, the same could also be said of Viktor and his own thawing demeanour.

"I'll set your down," Erik announced, parting his cupped paws to allow Pieter to slip down onto the dull beige, plastic tabletop.

"R-Really?" He glared back up at him from beside Viktor's can of soda, its rim standing about level with his shoulders.

"Sure. I'm not going anywhere."

Pieter shifted on his paws atop the table, spinning and twisting to gaze off in each and every direction. The loud squeal of a chair sliding across the floor cut the air, prompting him to snap his neck around to one of the other workers standing up to leave. Erik, watching on all the while, couldn't help but wonder whether this had been such a great idea after all.

"So... Pieter." Viktor leaned forward, seemingly oblivious to the to unease around him as his hulking frame overshadowed the table. "For how long in Velika, this city, you have been?"

"H-Huh?"

"Vik," Erik muttered, watching Pieter like a hawk. "Maybe this wasn't--"

"In a way... we both are visitors to this place," Viktor added, visibly struggling to communicate in this foreign tongue. "I come here from Arkatov... this is very small town in east. There, there is no work but for farmers, those that use only hands, so I must come to here instead."

"A few months," Pieter squeaked. "Almost a year now, actually. I came here for work, too."

"No work in your hometown also?"

"Well, my company, they decided to move my job to Kremensk, when they started operating here... I could have stayed in Meerland, my country, to try and find other work... but by coming here, I kept my job... and also earned the extra money they were offering in return."

"I see." Viktor gave a faint grumble as he sat back in his seat, barely noticeable to Erik and apparently completely missed by an increasingly confident Pieter standing before him.

"I guess we're both same in that way... Here for the same reason."

"Yes... maybe, in some way." The towering elk gave another grunt, one that Pieter couldn't miss. "Many other Polcians also."

Pieter peered back over his shoulder, finding the spotted paws waiting nearby. "What do you mean?"

"So very many of you, you come for work. Now, it happens a lot. It hurts_Velikan_ jobs."

He took a retreating step to stand between them. "I-I don't see how."

"In last few years, back in my home, many jobs, they have ended. Companies, they use many machines to make work in factories, on farms, in many other places. No work is left for people." Viktor's hefty arms cut through the air above Pieter, pushing him into another backward step as they folded loudly against the elk's broad midriff. "These machines, it is Polcians that bring here."

Erik rolled his paws onto their sides, forming a preemptive guard before dipping back into his native dialect. "Vik, I didn't think we'd be speaking about this kind of thing--"

"Also, many companies, they also move from near my home," Viktor continued, cutting Erik off without so much as a glance his way. "They go west, to the larger cities here, where Polcian districts are built, for easy trade with Polcia... This is correct, is it not, Erik?"

He sat there dumbstruck, struggling to keep pace with the conversation's direction. After a moment of consideration, he glanced down to Pieter's curious eyes with a regretful smile. "...It _does_happen, yes. I... know people that have been affected quite badly by that kind of thing."

The potential route this discussion might take played out in Erik's head as it went on. He pictured his paws closing in a locking around his anxious friend, leaving him to hunker down within his grasp as Viktor's piercing glare and grunted accusations fought to penetrate it. He could see himself standing from the table, turning on his heels and marching off to flee the hostility he'd subjected Pieter to.

So, the shock that befell Erik when Pieter paced forward, craned his neck and called up to an equally surprised Viktor must have been plastered all over his face.

"But that's the decision of the companies, not everyday people." Pieter took another step, prompting a forest of antlers to loom over him as the tall elk peered all the way down to the table. "It's just economics. If Velikan companies, and Polcian companies moving here, keep offering good money for roles that favour us for whatever reason, we'll keep on coming."

Erik gave a small grimace, watching and waiting for whatever response Viktor had in store.

"This... this does not help us."

"I never said it did," Pieter retorted, "but it affects us, too."

"Exactly how?"

"You said it yourself. Companies and jobs move, just like mine did, trying to get a piece of this new, exciting Velikan market. The world has changed so, so much since I was around your age, but it isn't just Velikans feeling the effects. We offer technology and research, you offer food and resources... but it's safe to say that there are more tradeoffs than that going on in the grander scheme of things."

Somehow, Pieter had succeeded in silencing both Velikans towering over him, leaving them to look to one another as he stood with paws behind his back in apparent, quiet expectation of the next statement of accusation. He'd not have long to wait.

"Okay... This I am thinking I am understanding... Erik will need to explain some words, but..." Viktor scratched at the fur surrounding the base of his antlers. "I am thinking that things, they would be not so bad if Polcians lived in our cities. In this moment, you live in own areas, away from world. It makes all things so very much more... divided. Your homes, your schools, your jobs, all are in these areas and nothing more."

Pieter began to rub at the fur of his chin, his retort not coming so readily this time. Each second that passed saw Viktor's already considerable posture grow, casting an ever greater shadow over the little ferret. "Well... again, this isn't the average person's doing. It's not a choice that most people have, since, like you say, it's the districts or nothing. Apart from the walkways, the subways and the Polcian areas of stores in the city centre, like we have here, there are no facilities for people my size. If things were more integrated here, it would be easier for us to live like they do in countries like Bolstrovo and Vodaskal: together, in the same areas as our bigger neighbours. Not only that, but there might not be so many problems. There might not be whole political parties so against the changes us being here has created--"

"But, Piet," Erik muttered, cutting in to draw a curious glance from the tabletop. "I thought the districts were the idea of Polcians in the first place? Could they not have just built in the cities themselves, like they do in those places? They could have even copied how things are in the mixed-neighbourhoods of Zelengorod. They've been around since before the war. This would have helped, wouldn't it?"

"Yes... It probably would." Pieter nodded, gazing off towards the gentle glow of the soda machine across from their table. "But, they say that the Velikan governments back then were afraid of building so many Polcian homes and facilities right in the heart of the towns and cities here. They worried it would unsettle locals... So, they suggested these Polcian districts instead. I think we agreed to this idea simply because it was easier, and likely cheaper, to build and keep everything separate." He gave a short sigh and focused back up at him. "As for those mixed-neighbourhoods in the capital and elsewhere, like you said, they've been around a lot longer than the districts. They developed naturally, over time."

"That makes sense, I guess." Erik put on a bright smile, determined to keep some positivity to proceedings.

Despite those best efforts, Pieter's ears lowered and splayed, arms wrapping tight around his midsection. "I guess both side are to blame... If we had done things that way all those years ago, been more integrated, my company might not have had all the protests directed at it. It might not have closed its operation here. I might have had more support and not struggled so much to cope when I lost my job as a result."

"Or... perhaps, things could have been even worse... if all the new Polcian homes in the middle of the cities did indeed upset the locals."

Erik tugged at the collar of his shirt, discomfort rising from his centre. "I'm sorry for bringing this up--"

"Pieter, I am very sorry for this." Viktor's thunderous voice carved through Erik's own apology. "To put you in bad spot, under pressure, this is not what I wished for, yes? I only wished to learn, to understand more of Polcia and Polcians." He linked his thick fingers together, calmly clasping his hands right in front of Pieter. "I am told I can be... what is word... intimidating?"

"Intimidating,you?" Erik's snickered questioning earned an inquisitive glare from the others at the table. "Never. Not for a second."

"Quiet, Spotty." Viktor's bellowing rang round the near-deserted canteen. "You give him bad impression of me."

"It's okay. Not a problem." Pieter's ears flicked back up. At least they did once the big elk's thunderous voice dissipated a little. "Just that... it's a little daunting to have questions directed at you from someone towering above you... two people in fact!"

"Yes, this I can understand."

"How can you?" Erik raised his arms with a wry smile. "You're taller than everyone, not just Polcians."

"Okay, fine." Viktor snorted loudly, the resulting blast of air ruffling Pieter's fur. "I can try to understand, yes?"

He focused back down at the table once more, separating his large hands and setting them down softly. "I must say that... I..."

"You, what?"

Almost as if searching for something with which to occupy himself, he reached over to grab his can of soda before replying to Erik. "I am finding this... so very much... weird."

Pieter's ears flicked once, then again as he cleared his throat to pipe up with, "May I ask why that is?"

"Like I have said before... Polcians, we do not have many of back home in east ... You are first that I have had conversation with ever. Two years ago, when I move here to Kremensk, this was first time I _see_one."

He studied the can being clasped easily by those big, brown fingers, clawing lightly at the back of his neck with his own. "This is all pretty weird for me, too, I admit."

Viktor snatched up his soda; an action Erik couldn't help notice put Pieter on the back foot.

"I-I can tell you that you have no need to feel that way. I, like all Polcians, are just people. Smaller, yes, but still people."

"I suppose..."

"No suppose." Pieter shifted to glance up past the can's base. "We have names. We have families, jobs, thoughts, dreams: just like Velikans."

"Sorry... I do not mean..." Viktor set his jaw with a rumbling grunt, swigging the remnants of his soda with a flick of his wrist. Empty save for the few drops that fell from its lip, he turned the can over in his hand, examining it in apparent fine detail. Whatever went through his mind at that point remained unclear, though the change it brought about would be anything but. Viktor's puzzled, awkward, perhaps even anxious expression eased with his muted musing. In its place, a soft smile spread slowly.

He lowered his arm back towards the tabletop, bringing the can along with it. A gentle clang of metal upon plastic sounded, followed by grinding as Viktor slid it away from the little ferret standing before him. "I know that you, Polcians, are people. This I understand very well. What I find... strange is that you are so very..." Viktor's smile stretched, revealing his top, front teeth. "You are just not as tall as we are."

"I understand what you mean." Pieter mimicked Viktor's expression of contentment, his little tail tapping gently atop the table only emphasising it. "It takes time to get used to it, that's all. On both sides."

The steadily growing connection between his two friends, delayed as it might have been, started Erik's heart lifting. This building of bridges, this finding of common ground, would it be too much to hope it could happen on a grander scale? Did it have to be confined to the canteen of a single supermarket in a single city in a single region? Perhaps it did for today, but one day, sooner or later, this interaction, this integration would grow, sprout and blossom brilliantly. Erik knew it deep down. There'd be no way of avoiding it, regardless of the landscape. Good people would find a way.

The trio parted ways a short time later, following a refreshingly ordinary, relaxed conclusion to their conversation. In a moment of wonderful reassurance, Erik clasped paws and shared his first warm goodbye with Viktor in weeks.

"So, Erik?" The big elk's grin grew even toothier as they pulled their arms back and stood from the table, far more comfortable speaking in their mother tongue. "How about we go for that drink sometime? I am thinking that I have been asking about it since forever."

Erik let rip a short belly laugh, reaching to collect Pieter from the table. "I'd like that, definitely."

Viktor's eyes lit up. "Great! We will do it very soon." He looked down to and tugged at his work shirt. "For now, I will let you go. I must change before I leave to head home."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Was good to meet you, Pieter."

"Oh." Pieter peered up from the cupped paws supporting him with a delayed smile, seemingly blindsided by his sudden understanding of Viktor's speech. "Yes. Good to meet you, too."

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Erik whispered, starting away from the table and towards the canteen's double doors.

"No... guess not, in the end."

He bounded on past the empty chairs and tables, his steps containing a buoyancy that had been lost for weeks, maybe even months. Slowly but surely, things were working themselves out. He'd won back his friend, and helped do his part to improve Velikan-Polcian relations on a very small, isolated scale at least. The broad smile Erik shone down at Pieter proved infectious, going on strong right up until Viktor called out after them.

"Hey, Erik? Pieter, he is of course welcome to come for drink also. Weekend after next, how does this sound to you both?"

Erik glanced mournfully into his paws, leaving Pieter to call across the room and explain the reason why.

"That would be nice... but, I'll have gone home to Polcia before then... Sorry."

"That is a shame... But, I will wish you safe trip." Viktor looked to Erik, regaining the grin he'd given when they first parted. "We will arrange something soon, okay?"

Erik turned his gaze back downwards, his own beaming long faded.

"Erik?"

"O-Oh, yeah... Let me know the date... I'll be there."

"Sure! Have a good evening."

He turned back to the exit and slinked onwards, flopping a shoulder limply to nudge one of the doors open.

"Erik?" Pieter called from his seat as they proceeded out of the canteen. "Are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah... really." They carried on along the lifeless main corridor, past the locker room and towards the outside exit. "Let's head... home."