M: Mandoria and Rowen chuckled too and just silently watched as the father and son resumed their usual bickering.  Eventually, everyone was done with lunch and left one by one to go about their business, Edel stuck around with England while Rowen and Johann went to explore the castle a little.

Mandoria was looking over his wings again and decided to ask Anglo to help him give them a once over, "Rowen had to stitch up a few wounds on them and I want to make sure their healing ok, I haven't exactly been very careful with them as I attempted to fly at one point," he reasoned, "it obviously didn't work out that well and it would be nice to have a fellow wing make sure they're fine if you don't mind."

N: "Sure, if it is fine with you," Anglo replied as he went over to Mandoria. He did an initial check and hummed, "It looks good so far, could you quickly stretch out your wings so I can see it better?" Since he was injured, the Mandorian couldn't completely stretch his wings, but enough for the Englishman to check. Looking at the wing arms and seeing the pin feathers, he nodded, "So far so good."

However, there was something bugging him that has grown inside him the closer he came to Mandoria, and he wasn't sure of this feeling. When he formed a guess, he looked up to England and Wales, who was introducing his son to the dragon, and BE, who was being pestered by Alaric about the topic of land. "Could you give us the room, please?" Anglo asked, and once they left, he closed his eyes and began to focus on the fluttery feeling, his hand slowly going closer to the Mandorian's wing. He felt the feeling grow, "it can't be," he muttered, and he opened his eyes.

Taking a step back, he formed a fist and turned to Mandoria, "I have a working theory, and if it's correct you have nothing to worry about, but if not, sorry in advance." He pulled his arm back and then punched as hard as he can, aiming right at Mandoria's wing, but it never came into contact. A forcefield temporarily appeared where the Englishman's fist would have landed, and repelled the country, making him take a couple of steps back. "You got to be kidding me," he spoke, "Algiz? Saxon actually ..." but he stopped his train of thought when he remembered Mandoria was the one with the runic protection. Standing in front of him, he asked in all seriousness, "Tell me, did Saxon use rune magic on you?"

M: When Anglo apologized in advance Mandoria turned his head to him just in time to see him try to punch his wing, he was startled and also jumped back a bit, but when he saw the brief flash of the magic-made shield he understood what Anglo was trying to do.

"Well," he started, rubbing his neck awkwardly, "I guess there is no point in lying after that huh, yes he did, but for good reason.  While we were still in Prussia I had fallen extremely ill, though it wasn't any old flu.  I can't prove it but I believe Prussia cursed me when he found out we escaped, there was a strange black mark on my chest originating from where my brand was, tendril-like structures extending from it like it was snaking along my body, not to mention my heart and lungs felt they were being crushed.  Saxon healed me and placed a protection spell over me so Prussia couldn't reach me. If he didn't, I dare not imagine what would have happened."

Mandoria lowered his wings slightly that he sold out Saxon, "Please don't be mad at him, he was just trying to help me, I don't want to be the cause of more trouble, I've already done enough harm after losing to Prussia.  And you also didn't hear this from me, Saxon asked me to not tell anyone but I know it's not worth lying to a winged country, just please don't be mad at him."

N: Anglo just stared at Mandoria as he explained, and after a moment to process the information, he shook his head, "I am a bit mad since using rune magic drains your life force, and for him to also heal you means that he used two, but it's for a good cause so that doesn't matter. I'm mainly worried for him." He sat down on a chair and rested his elbows on his knees, looking down at the floor.

"There's a story that we learn as kids about rune magic," the Englishman spoke as he continued to look down, "that the god Woden, master of runes and the wisest of them all, got his wisdom and knowledge from suspending himself upside down from the World Tree that connected the Nine Realms. Swaying around with a spear stuck in his side, sacrificing his right eye, he stayed like that for nine days and nights to fully access all knowledge."

He looked up to Mandoria and sighed, "Of course, no one would be able to survive that, but the idea remains: you would need to suffer to be able to perform rune magic. Because of what Saxon's Vater did to him, he was able to do some basic runes, while I couldn't but only studied with my Mutter. However, the power to perform the magic came from their suffering so they have to 'channel' per se to achieve the outcome they want. After that, when they rest, they remember what happened to them."Sweeping his hair back, he let out a sigh, "he only uses it as a last resort, so if he believed that it was necessary, then I'm happy he did the right choice. And you cannot bring more trouble," he smirked to lighten up the tone, "he is trouble."

M: Mandoria couldn't help but smile at the Saxon was trouble comment, oh how painfully true that was, he was curious however about what Anglo said about rune magic.

"Is that really how it's like for Germanic magic," he asked, sitting down across from his fellow country, "I've never had that problem before, I understand that not all magic is the same and it tends to differ between religions, but I've never heard of magic punishing you for using it.  I have a guilty secret of using magic to make clones of Prussia to practice our final battle with, or what was supposed to be final, and I was never affected by it."

Mandoria stared off into space like he was remembering something and shrugged, "I don't know, it just sounds weird to me I guess, but that also makes me wonder what type of magic Prussia is using; if he's using Germanic magic we're ok but if he's using Mandorian magic it could potentially bypass the rune Saxon gave me.  I know for a fact that he has my journal, that's where I would write down spells in case I ever needed them, none were dangerous but I wouldn't be surprised if he was experimenting and discovered a few by accident."

N: "There are some crazy runes too," Anglo spoke, "and it's not hard to know which one's  which since it is literally our alphabet, but let's just hope Prussia didn't figure out those yet." He sat up straight and continued, "I understand that it's weird, but that's just how it is. Priests and priestesses who dedicated their lives to runes knew full well what it took to perform magic, so the consequence of it would generally soften the more you case runes, as by then you came to terms with what you went through. But for Saxon, it was personal and he didn't intentionally want to perform magic, it just happened, so it's harder for him. The whole thing is riddled with consequences. The god Freyr sat on Woden's throne and trades his sword to marry a giantess, that same sword would later be used to kill him in Ragnarok. Heck, there is even a rune that allows the caster to make food out of thin air, but they wouldn't be able to eat it."

The country stood up and examined Mandoria one more time, "despite the negatives, runes are bloody effective, very few things could bypass them. Once the caster performs magic, depending on the rune, it would do the task it was made for. For the healing," he pointed at the other's chest, "Prussia could case another curse to hurt you again, although it would be harder. As for the protection," he motioned around for the force field, "a lot of things in our religion comes in nines: Nine Worlds, nine herb charms, and for Algiz is nine physical attacks until it becomes ineffective. What you saw before was me using up one of the attacks, and only things that are coming at you will be blocked, not the frequency cannon BE made. Use the next eight wisely."

M: Mandoria nodded in understanding, " I will take note of it, thank you, and thank you also for making sure my wings were ok, I was definitely worried that they were just dead limbs after what happened, and now that we think Prussia can cast magic it explains their reattachment a little better."

The country let out a long sigh as he thought about that, "there's something I neglected to mention about that day and the weeks after that.  Prussia ... was regretful of what he did, he even apologized, I thought for sure I was dead because he would never do that, but I wasn't.  He said that he was infuriated and not thinking straight, that he would take it back if he could, he never would have imagined that he was capable of ripping off another's wings.  He became slightly nicer for a little while, giving me more rations and having a doctor make sure I was healing ok, it didn't last long and he was back to his normal self after about two weeks, but I could never figure out why he changed like that, all because of my wings, I just don't know."

N: "In all honesty," Anglo said, "I find it hard to believe that Prussia could be anything but his normal self, but it's understandable. To hurt your own, even if you dislike them, affects you more than hurting a stranger, and Saxon learned that the hard way."

As soon as he finished, he turned around when he heard a shriek echo in the corridor, and he was about to rush out to check when he stopped the moment he registered wing vibrations. "I don't understand," he muttered to himself, "there's a shout, but Royal's laughing."

—————

For a while Johann walked with Rowen, exploring the castle, and he kept on running ahead and making the other catch up. "Remember when I first arrived in Mandoria," he smiled, "and we explored the castle, but it was more like you trying to keep up with me."

He stopped so his father could relax, until he heard a single voice, and was confused to hear only one side of a conversation. "Let me lead you to her," said the voice, approaching the corner, "you shouldn't be wandering around." Johann raised a brow but then jumped when he heard the cluck of a chicken, and he shrieked when he saw Mr. Hähnchen and Royal round the corner.

In response, the chicken fluffed up his wings and ran right past the Mandorians, surprised by the sound as he disappeared. "It's the other way," Royal called out, although she struggled to speak from laughing so much, "you're going the wrong way," and she watched as the chicken reappeared and disappeared down the right corridor.

"You really want me to go deaf," the country laughed while Johann recovered from the chicken 'attack', "of all things, chickens?"

M: "I don't understand it either," Rowen said, rubbing his ears from being right next to Johann when he screamed, "What is up with you and chickens, Johann, ever since you were little you've hated them, I remember how you and Elizabeth would walk home from training and you would hide behind her when you passed the castle's chicken coop."

-----

"That sounded like Johann," Mandoria declared, "is Royal a prankster, maybe she scared him somehow."

However, his question was answered when a chicken came running into the room, earning a chuckle from the country when he realized what happened.

"Look's like Erna's chicken got loose and Johann ran into him," he said, standing up and walking over to the bird, "he's always been afraid of chickens, I don't know why though."

Mandoria picked up the chicken and pet him, "might as well go find them and give him back to his owner, you coming?"

N: "I don't see why not," Anglo replied, patting the chicken on the head, "let me take you to the guest wing, little one." With that, they left the hall and made their way to the guest wing, but he stopped when he heard music coming out of one of the common rooms, so the country opened the door.

Sat on the sofa in front of a fireplace were Wolfgang and Erna, the former teaching the latter how to play guitar, while Heinrich quickly cleaned the barrel of his musket. Turning around to face the countries and the chicken, Heinz let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness you came, I had enough of third-wheeling this group."

—————

"I ... actually don't remember," Johann spoke sheepishly, "I just feel scared when I'm around chickens, and it started when I was pretty young, but I just don't remember the cause."

"That's probably your brain's coping mechanism," Royal suggested, but then she noticed what Rowen said, "wait, who's Elizabeth? Is she your sister?"

"She was- umm," Johann stuttered, slightly flustered, "she was a f-friend. Yep, a friend."

"I see," the hybrid smirked, not convinced by his answer, but she changed the topic anyway, "what have you seen so far in your exploration? You might have missed some places."

M: "We have seen a bit," Rowen answered, "though it was mostly me trying to keep up with this ball of energy.  I was especially impressed with the library, it had to have been twenty times bigger than the one back home."

His face fell as he thought about home, it was probably nothing more than a pile of rubble now, centuries of knowledge gathered in that library now destroyed.  Rowen shook his head to forget the thought and instead asked, "Do you happen to have a horse stable, Johann and I have a soft spot for the creatures and I personally wouldn't mind meeting some."

-----

Mandoria snickered at Heinz's comment, "I can understand that, I remember how BE would invite me here for a visit and French Empire somehow was always here too, third-wheeling can definitely be rough for someone who was newly widowed at the time."

Mandoria walked up to the two lovebirds on the couch and handed the chicken to Erna, "You should be a little more careful letting him wander around, judging by the squeal Anglo and I heard earlier I think he gave a certain son a heart attack," he chuckled.

N: Wolfgang laughed a bit when he heard but was immediately scolded by Erna. "Come on Hähnchen, you didn't need to scare Johann," she said, and the chicken replied with a series of clucks as if annoyed by being accused.

"He said that Johann actually gave him a heart attack," Anglo translated, smiling at the comment, "and that you should take better care of Johann instead."

"Jo had it coming," Wolfe commented, "too bad he's scared of chickens."

"But wasn't it you who made him scared of chickens," Heinrich asked, "Mutter said that you brought two chickens into the Kress' home, and the pair went to Johann's cot and scared him."

"I can neither confirm nor deny that claim," the Prussian said simply.

—————

"Sure, let me lead you the way," Royal nodded. Walking ahead of them, she took them to the Royal Mews, revealing thirty, maybe even forty, horses in a large and spacious stable, stablehands walking around and taking care of them. A man in his forties walked up to them and bowed, to which the country spoke, "This is the Honourable Gentleman Sir Beckerel, he's the Gentleman of the Horse, someone who oversees the horses here."

"Please, just call me Arthur," Sir Beckerel spoke, standing up straight, and when Royal explained why they were there, he nodded, "You are free to see the horses, call me or any of the stablehands if you are in need of any assistance."

M: "Thank you, I think we're just going to have a look around but we will let you know if anything happens," Rowen said, then shook his hand, "name's Rowen, this is my son, Johann, we used to have horses back before Prussia invaded the kingdom of Mandoria so I just wanted to have a moment to walk down memories lane.  What do you say, Johann, meet back here in an hour?"

-----

Mandoria rolled his eyes, "Oh it's my sons all over again, the number of snakes and spiders they would hide in visitors' beds would be equal to a thousand chickens, not to mention the occasional badgers they would 'gift' me."

The country's eyes shifted between the two male Prussians and he sighed ruefully, "You two remind me of them a lot; mischievous, stubborn, and independent,  but when it comes down to it you look after each other and don't want to see each other hurt, that goes for all of you, and I admit that it hurts to see the similarities."

He sat down in a chair and sighed again, "The last time I saw them I was dying, their heartbroken and fearful faces have been burned into my mind for years, and all I want is to see them again, to show them I'm ok, and even though we now know they're alive, I still might not get that chance.  I fear that Prussia might hunt them down and use them to get to me, I dread what he would do if he found them."

N: "Let's not think of that now," Anglo said, "we are not sure that Prussia would find them, so let's hope that Wilfred finds them soon."

"Prussia would most likely hunt them down," Heinrich spoke, placing his musket down, "he knows that Mandoria had escaped, and he knows that your sons are alive too, so now it's a race to who would get to them first."

"Do you think Sir Deutsche is also alive," Erna speculated, petting her chicken, "King Prussia also said that he's dead, so there might be a chance that he's alive too. I felt sorry for him, having to have a father like Prussia."

—————

"Already ahead of you," he replied as he began to wander around, amusing Royal.

"I'm going to check up on my horse," she said as she watched the Mandorian wander off, "and keep an eye on him from a distance." They all parted ways, the Mandorians exploring while the Brit went straight to her horse. When she approached him, he raised his head from his feeding trough and gently nudged him, earning a chuckle from her. He was a chestnut Cleveland Bay, his black mane well maintained as she ran her fingers through it.

"How you doing Bugsy?" she muttered quietly, and she turned to see Johann petting a horse as she smiled, "We have guests so I would like you to be a good boy, ok?" The stallion snorted and head-butted the hybrid, making her laugh again.

M: Mandoria perked his head up when Deutsche was mentioned, he remembered him, how he tried to warn him of Prussia challenging him.

"I remember him," he repeated aloud, "he came to my kingdom to warn me that Prussia was coming.  I was surprised that the son of my rival wanted to help me, and even though I lost he was still able to give me a few hours of preparation to face Prussia.  I also hope that he was spared, he was a good man, far more deserving of the title of king than his father, he said himself that even though they were related by blood Prussia was not his father, I respect him for standing against him at such a young age.  No countryhuman in their late thirties would dare to stand against an empire, they are considered toddlers to us older folk, though I admit, Anglo is considered an infant compared to me, no offense Anglo."

-----

Rowen wandered around in the opposite direction, walking around and observing the different breeds and coat patterns of the horses, he was impressed, he had never seen so many horses in one area, not even back home in their stables.  He subconsciously sighed as his mind went back there, and back to his horse, he missed Star Dust so much, he would give anything to see her again.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice that he was all the way on the other side of the large field, which had to have been nearly one and a half football fields long.  As Rowen looked around to reorient himself he saw a group of horses separated from the rest, grazing under a willow tree near a runoff pond, he rubbed his eyes because they all looked vaguely familiar.  As he got closer the horses actually started gathering up to him, and that's when he saw it, the Mandorian crest tattooed on their shoulders.

"You guys were our horses," he said in shock, "did BE rescue you from Prussia?"  Two horses came up to him and he recognized them immediately, "Spirit, Cinnamon, you're alive, how can that be?"

He pet their noses and the two nudged him, happy to see him again.  Rowen was thrilled, he couldn't believe that all these Mandorian horses were here, that BE saved them, he could feel joyous tears welling in his eyes.  Then there was a whinny from back at the tree, Rowen looked over and his jaw dropped in disbelief, there they were; Star Dust, Xanthos, and Comet, as well as a little foal that looked like a mixture of his and Mandoria's horses.

"Star Dust," Rowen shouted, he ran up to her as she did the same, and the two collide in the middle as the former captain hugged his best friend, fully crying with joy and relief, "I missed you so much, I thought you were long gone, I'm so glad to have you back."

N: Royal perked up when she heard Rowen, her sensitive hearing allowing her to, and she smiled when she guessed what happened. Seeing Johann in the distance, she guessed he didn't hear, so she opened up Bugsy's gate and walked over to the Mandorian, the horse trotting next to her since he learned to follow her without a lead rope. "Johann," she said, causing the other to turn around, "I think you should follow me."

Confused, Johann nodded and followed her, and was even more confused when he began to hear his father's voice. "What's happening," he asked, but his answer soon came when his eyes landed on the Mandorian horses, specifically Comet. "No way," he gasped as he saw the horse, blinking a couple of times to see if what he was seeing was actually real, "COMET!" He ran towards him, and when they met, he fell to his knees, "I missed you, buddy," he cried, "so so much."

The stallion nickered and nudged Johann gently before laying himself down and resting his head in the other. He continued to rub the Mandorian as if saying that everything is going to be ok.

Wiping away his tears, the Mandorian turned around and saw the foal standing near Xanthos, and he smiled, "And who is this little one?"

—————

Anglo grumbled a little at the comment, but he sighed, "None taken. I would be lying if I said that you are the first person to say that to me, although admittedly our age gap is humongous. The number of times Celtica had said to Saxon and I about us being children is a lot, so finally there is someone to put her in her place."

"Imagine about us," Wolfgang said, "we wouldn't even live a fraction of your lives, and it's weird that someone in their late thirties is considered young. I guess everything is scaled up in the life of a countryhuman."

"He went to warn you about Prussia's arrival," Heinrich wondered, raising a brow, "huh, interesting." He was going to speculate on the idea further, but he thought that it would be something for a later date. "Perhaps," he spoke, drawing away from what he said, "that if he became a friend to you, then he is to your sons if all of them were presumed to be dead, so where your sons are, there is a chance Sir Deutsche is there too."

M: "One of Saxon's insurgents, I think his name was Wald, said that your horses crossed over from the Kingdom of Mandoria into Prussia. He knew that Saxon and Mandoria were friends so he informed him. Here in Great Britain, we value our horses since forever, so we knew we couldn't leave them there, so BE called in a favor from Kingdom of Portugal to retrieve the horses, since he found it easier to bypass the Spanish navy than us. Your horses were taken to Republic of Venice to keep safe for the time being, and when the Portuguese arrived, they were taken from there and came here."

Bugsy whined a bit as he stood next to the Brit, eyeing the open fields, and she chuckled, "Alright, you can run around if you want. Remember to come back when I ask you to." The horse nudged her saying thank you before galloping off and running freely, randomly jumping into the air.

—————

"Vater has been pestering BE about getting some land. We just arrived and he's already thinking about owning land, I guess it's basically instinct to him now."

"If Edel is giving England a bath, then that's a good thing," Anglo smirked at the comment, "he is overdue for one."

Soon after, Wales peeked into the room, "Grandpa, have you seen where Royal went?"

The older country shook his head and quickly did a wing sweep to detect her, and quickly got an answer, "she said that she's in the stables with Rowen and Johann."

The dragon country nodded, "BE has an idea of how to protect us from the frequency cannon, and he needs to test it out."

M: Rowen laughed as Bugsy pranced around, looking so happy and free even if he was in a pen.  Star Dust watched him too and she nudged her human expectantly.

"You want to go for a run too," he deduced, "it's been a while hasn't it, I hope I remember how to ride you bareback."

Rowen then mounted the mare and held on to her mane, not too hard to hurt her but enough to keep him steady,  and after a moment of adjusting himself he patted Star Dust and she immediately sprang forward at full gallop.  Rowen was whooping and hollering and having the best time in years, oh how he missed this, he felt so free on the back of his horse.

He spotted a separate training area on the other side of the fence with an obstacle course in it, some spectators were standing around after they finished watching someone else ride through it and it sparked up an old feeling in his chest, a feeling he thought died off after he became a knight.

Rowen eased Star Dust to a halt and motioned over there, "what do you say, girl, want to see if we still got it?"  he asked.

Star Dust whinnied like she said she thought he would never ask, so after backing up a bit to get a good running distance, she took off at full gallop towards the four-foot-tall fence and nimbly jumped it.  The spectators turned their attention to the party crashers, Sir Beckerel was there too, and watched as they went through the course.

Star Dust was on the older side at this point but no one would have guessed with how nimble and fast she was, weaving around barrels and jumping hurdles like she had done it all her life, Rowen was able to stay steady on her back and not slip off despite riding bareback.

The only time the two realized people were watching them was when they jumped the last hurdle and crossed a finish line, the crowd erupted in cheers, and a man announced that their time was 5.8 seconds, the fastest time of the contestants, making Rowen proud that they still had racing in them after so long.