By the Light of the Northern Star

When we walked into the Mall it was packed full of people. The first place we headed was the Hot Topic.

“What, really Anna. You mean to tell me you’ve never tried on Tripp pants.” Elise asked as they passed one of the racks.

“No never. I’ve always wanted too but when I was a kid my mom hated things like that so I just never tried.”

“Well it’s happening today.” She said as she picked up a couple pairs.

At first, Anna tried on a pair with chains and almost fell over from the weight and tripped on the bottoms because they were too long. Finally, we found a tighter pair that was short enough to wear.

Finally, we found everything we needed. We went to Hot Topic, Kohl’s, H&M, Spencer’s, and Books-A-Million. We got everything from clothes to shoes to books and magazines.

“Elise and I cannot thank you enough for all the stuff you have done for us. I don’t know what we can do to repay you.”

“It’s no problem,” said Gunnar. “We don’t mind you need it anyway.”

“Thanks,” said Elise to Gunnar with a light blush on her cheeks.

We all headed back to check in with the others. The first one to greet us was Dani from Alestorm.

“Where have you been?” He asked Heri.

“We had to get things for the girls. What is the problem?”

“We are having trouble with many things and we kind of need more help.”

“Elise, Anna could you go with Kári to set up the merch booth.” Heri asked politely.

“Of course we can come on, let’s go.” Elise said grabbing Kári and I. She dragged us all the way to the place Heri told us to go.

The girls set up the clothes, CD’s, and other assorted things they were to sell.

“Elise, what are we supposed to do now? We have four hours before the concert starts.” I asked.

Matson from Korpiklaani was walking by and must have overheard because he answered my question.

“Just stand there and watch the stuff and make sure no one messes with it. Were gonna be up on stage tuning up if you need anything.” He answered smoothly and walked away.

“That was super random,” Elise, mused as we sat down to wait for the fans to get here.

A little while later, the guitarist Cane from Korpiklaani came back to the table and handed us a few drinks that looked mixed.

“Hey girls, I decided to make you a drink. It is just a small splash of Vodka with some Cranberry juice. I figured you were thirsty.” He said shyly.

“Thanks Cane,” I said as she took the drinks and gave him a small kiss on the cheek for being so thoughtful. He blushed as he walked away.

Not too long after he left we got our first customer. It was a short girl with long blonde hair to her waist.

Elise helped her while I sipped on my cocktail until another customer needed help at the same time.

I figured we had been standing there for three hours because the concert ended. Elise and I packed up all the unsold merch after all the stragglers left.

“Anna, I am so ready to get all this stuff away so I can finally get some much needed rest.”

Just then, a big, burly guy joined by Jonne came next to us.

“Girls, this is Frank, he’ll take care of this stuff so you can come with me.” He said as Frank started loading everything away.

“So where are we going,” I asked in anticipation.

“We just are going to the local bar before we have to get going. It’s gonna take a while for all the stuff to be put away.”

As soon as we got there, the crowd was winding down. Good thing not a lot of people there knew whom any of these guys. We were in some town in Georgia.

I sat next to Terji while Elise sat next to me talking to Gunnar already.

“So Miss Anna, how do you like the tour so far,” an unfamiliar voice said. I turned to see it was Terji.

“I’m having a good time since my head stopped hurting.” I said then ordered just a coke.

“Not a big drinker huh,” he said taking a drink of his beer.

“Not really, I did enjoy a little concoction Cane gave me. I just never liked the taste unless it’s in something else.”

“Well, I guess that’s different. So what else do we not know about you.” He said smiling slyly.

“Um, I’ve lived in Florida all my life. Hating my mother, liking my father, and very sheltered, so when Elise moved down, I finally started to get my stuff together. I got an apartment and an awesome job. Well, I did not so sure about that now.” I laughed. “So what about you?” I asked truly interested.

“Well my brother got me into guitar, he even taught me a little. I had a band before this called Flux. We were in a contest with Tyr, coincidentally. After talking to Heri and we had a lot in common. A little while later, I joined after talking to Heri. I’m a year older than you are. Which I found out about from Elise.” He answered me.

“I’m glad I got to go with you guys.”

“Me too, little Anna.” He said.

We talked all night. I didn’t know we had so much in common. When it was time to go I didn’t want to leave. He was my new best friend. I was hoping to talk more to Heri. I had the biggest crush on him since I started listening to their music and I was hoping to talk to him later.