M:   Askad chuckled, "Those two remind me of my littlest brother and I, he was just as adorable as Wales was."

Not wanting to spend more time procrastinating, he gave Uskaine's legs one more look to make sure he didn't miss anything, then checked that he was comfortable and had enough water and pillows before leaving for the infirmary.

 "I feel so helpless for Uskaine," he said to Celtica, "You know how horses basically can't survive without their legs, his have been broken for nearly a month and the doctors say he will likely not walk again. All I can do for him is make sure he is as comfortable as possible but I can't shake the feeling that he could die if his legs don't heal, he is one of only five Eternals left on this godforsaken planet, and they are all under this roof, not to mention he is my mate, I couldn't live with myself if I lost him too, but I just don't know what I can do."

N:   Celtica paused for a bit as she took the information in before answering, "In all honesty, I don't know if I have the advice since I am not like you and don't know the position you are as an Eternal, but what I can tell you is to not to worry too much," she turned to face Askad, "it may sound counter-intuitive but it's true."

She watched where they were going and continued, "We can only hope that your mate doesn't die because of his legs, but if it is the case you need to cherish every moment with him." The Celt sighed as she went down memory lane, "When my husband was dying, I worried constantly for him to the point where my only thought of him was him dying, but that meant I didn't use our limited time together to do the things we love and enjoy each other's company, and I regret to this day that I didn't do so."

She wiped a tear that began to form, and weakly smiled, "But that was a long time ago, and here I am still, poking fun at the English almost every day."

M:   Askad nodded, it wasn't the answer he hoped for but it was one he appreciated.

The two finally arrived at the infirmary, but what was waiting for them Askad didn't expect. One of the Eternals was awake, he looked very confused and fearful of the doctors that were trying to help him.

"Neflen," Askad exclaimed, he slithered over to his friend's bed and smiled, "you're awake, oh thank the gods."

"Askad," Neflen said questioningly, "w-what's going on, where are we, what happened?"

"It's a long story, I'll explain later," Askad smiled, "how are you doing, does anything hurt."

"A little, I've got quite the headache and my throat is really sore," he said, rubbing the bandages around his neck, "seriously though, what is going on, this doesn't look anything like the settlement, where are we?"

N:   "You're in the British compound," Celtica answered, walking up to his bed, "you were found along with the rest of your friends and you were brought here to be treated to." She turned to the doctor and asked about the state Neflen's in.

"We were able to treat most of his surface wounds," the doctor answered, "however, the moment he woke up, we were having trouble helping him."

"I see," the Celt hummed, and she faced the Eternal, "I promise you that these humans are only here to help you and not to harm, and these doctors swore to not harm anyone as part of their training, so you are in safe hands."

M:   Neflen looked at Celtica like she was out of her mind, but before he could comment on it Askad reassured him, "She's right, these humans are nothing like the ones we have encountered before, we've been under their care for a little over a week and they have done no harm. I promise they won't hurt us."

 Neflen's expression didn't change, "you all have gone insane," though he sighed in defeat, "but it seems like I don't have much of a choice, do I."

Askad smiled in gratitude, "Thank you for giving them a chance," the other just huffed and turned away.

Unbeknownst to them, the other Eternal was starting to stir too, faintly groaning as his face scrunched a little from the talking, though he seemed to be too weak to open his eyes just yet.

N:   Celtica only nodded when she saw that Neflen complied, and she turned when she heard the door open, and in came Royal. The hybrid wobbled over to a bed, surprised that one of the Eternals was awake, but she shrugged it off and flopped on the bed, her wings hanging limp.

"Are you alright," Celtica smiled as she walked over to the lying hybrid and the other grumbled.

"Turns out that trying to work while injured is not the best of ideas," she mumbled, and she paused for a bit as she heard some noise, and said, "Check on the other Eternal."

M:   "Huh," Askad said, he turned to Royal and then looked to the other. He saw that he was stirring a little so leaned closer to him, "It's ok Odrus, it's safe to wake up now, we're no longer prisoners."

The naga placed a hand over Odrus's, he flinched and groaned again, then very slowly opened his eyes, his silver eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling.

"Askad is that you," he asked, then sighed in relief, "thank goodness you are ok."

"I can say the same about you," Askad chuckled, "welcome back to the land of the living, both of you."

"Yeah, great," Neflen said sarcastically, flopping back on his pillow, "more like welcome back to the land of the clinically fucking depressed. Everyone is dead, what difference does it make if we're alive."

"Same old Neflen," Odrus said, "somethings never change, do they?"

Neflen grunted again but didn't add anything, Askad simply chuckled at their bantering, just like old times.

"It's good to see you both are feeling much better," he said, "you've already subsided to you're arguing, I'm sure you're both going to be just fine."

N:   "Wow, you will be amazing to have around," Royal grumbled, referring to Neflen, "please, if you keep up with the arguing, you're in the right place. We are way too used to them."

"Specifically when England and Scotland are around," Celtica chuckled.

—————

BE was walking around to find Rowen and Edel, and when he asked a servant for their location, they said that they were last seen leaving Prometheus' room, so he headed there. When he arrived, he poked his head in and saw that the tailor was taking Johann's measurements while the Mandorian was sharing stories with his friends, so he asked where his father and dragon were.

"I haven't seen Edel, but Hezyka went on a walk with Father," Johann answered, "why do you ask?"

"It's just that," the empire stepped into the room and showed what he was carrying, an updated prosthetic leg with slight adjustments and a fin for Edel, "I want to give these to them."

Prometheus looked at the items, and although he knew why Rowen needed the leg, he wasn't sure about the fin so he enquired as to why it was needed.

"Edel lost his fin when he fought a large bear when I was twelve," the Mandorian answered, "since then he hasn't been able to fly, and every time we try to get him a new one, he rejects it."

The tailor hummed, "Well after I finish with you, I would like to pay a visit to this dragon." After quickly finishing off, Prometheus and Johann went to help BE search for Rowen and Edel.

M:   "Who is that," Odrus asked, sitting up with the help of Askad, "Are they the ones who helped us?"

"Yes and no," Askad said, "it is a really long story but I'll do my best to summarize it."

He sat down on his coils and explained everything that happened, sticking to the important parts so he wouldn't be talking for an hour, when he was done there was a long quiet as the others took in what was said.

"So I guess that's it then," Neflen broke the silence, "from fifty to five, we'll never be able to recover now."

"For once I agree," Odrus sighed, "now there's no hope in restoring our species, there's too few of us, and already so many subspecies have been lost forever, there's just ... no hope for the Eternals."

They all subsided to silence again, Askad also looked hopeless, after all, it was hard to know that you are the last of your kind and when you die, you will be gone forever.

-----

"- I can't believe you didn't tell me about this," Rowen said, "Mandoria, this is a huge decision, you can't just make it on a whim."

The two were out in the garden nearby Esha's fountain, they had been walking around enjoying the day when Mandoria mentioned what Prometheus' said about his wing, and wah he offered to do for them.

"I haven't made a decision yet," Mandoria defended himself, "he simply brought it up and before I could say anything you came out, I momentarily forgot about it, that's all."

Rowen sighed at this, deflating a little at the idea of such an operation, "Well... what are we going to do, something this big and risky could make you lose your wings sooner, or worse. Mandoria I don't want to lose you again."

"I know, I know," the country said, sitting down on a bench, "I haven't decided yet, I need more time to think about it, but we have to remember that I'm going to lose my wings either way if we don't do anything, this could be our only chance."

"I know," Rowen sighed, sitting down too, "I'm just scared."

"I am too, Rowen, I am too," Mandoria agreed.

N:   Johann wandered around with BE as they tried to find Rowen and Mandoria, while Prometheus trailed behind. The moment they went outside, the tailor warily looked up to the sky, but after a moment he took a deep breath and walked into the sunlight. Johann looked behind to check on Prometheus and was confused at the sight of the clusters of dandelions next to the tailor's feet, but he shrugged it off and looked ahead.

BE was scanning the garden when he saw the pair sitting on the bench, and he briskly walked over to them, but when he was close enough he slowed down, "Am I interrupting something?"

Prometheus and Johann also followed, but the former redirected his attention to the Eternal in the fountain, and his heart fell when he saw her injuries, so he instead walked over to the fountain.

—————

Celtica didn't know what to say. She had no idea what they felt, and she thought she didn't have a place to say, since she once ruled over humans, humans who cause the near extinction of the Eternals.

M:   Mandoria and Rowen looked up at BE, they glanced at each other and a silent message passed between them. Mandoria stood and said, "No, we were just talking, reminiscing about the good old days, is there something you need?"

Back at the fountain, Edel was there, he was sleeping curled around Sleipnir, the two have bonded very well over the past week and they hardly leave each other's side, except when Edel follows England around.

Sleip smelled the human approaching and was awake in an instant, he lept up from the cuddle and charged at Prometheus. He stopped before he could trample the human and reared up, neighing threateningly and doing what he could to tell him to back off, that humans were not allowed near Esha for the time being.

N:   "I just wanted to bring the final version of your prosthetic, Rowen," BE answered, handing over the leg to the Mandorian, "I made it so that it was slightly closer to your old prosthetic, so when you wear it, it would feel natural to you. The toes are one solid block which can bend so you can still walk normally, but hopefully, it is more comfortable."

Johann was only partially listening as he turned to Prometheus, wondering what he was doing.

Prometheus was undeterred by Sleipnir's threat, he just stood there as he watched him, and after a moment reached out to him. The moment he touched him, the horse began to relax, and the tailor hushed as he stroked his muzzle, and he whispered, "I am not going to hurt her, I promise. I only want to see what I can do." A couple of dandelions grew from the ground as he continue to calm Sleip down, and when he was finished, he walked away and stood next to the fountain.

"Esha," he whispered, reaching into the water, "seems like you mean a lot to the people around you." He reached underwater and touched her gills, and he smiled, "Let's speed up that Stasis of yours." Although it was not visible, his hand turned a dark ocean blue, and where his fingers touched the gills it glowed, and wounds both internal and external began to heal, and within a minute the majority of Esha's wounds were healed.

Pulling his hand back out of the water, now back to normal, he ruffled her fur, "You still have to finish it off, but now you will wake up sooner rather than later."

M:   Esha seemed to take a deep breath as bubbles floated out of her gills, the water shimmered gold for a split second before it returned to clear, the koi even seemed to be energized as they swam around a little faster than before.

Edel paid little mind to that, he saw Rowen trying on his leg so went over to investigate. He noticed the other thing in BE's arms and sniffed it curiously.

N:   "So you found what I have made for you," BE as he showed it to Edel clearly, "it is just a prototype to see if the fin is the right size." The empire opened up the mechanical fin, revealing the fabric fin itself and the metal rods keeping its shape.

"Good luck trying to get that on Edel," Johann chuckled after he asked to see the fin, "he breaks the ones before."

"Why does he," Prometheus asked, walking over to the group, and he looked at the dragon, scanning over his injuries, "you seem like a young dragon, but you don't look young, why?" He walked towards the dragon, hands in pockets, and studied the creature.

"Maybe because he came from a statue," Johann suggested, and the tailor hummed.

"You haven't flown before, have you," he asked Edel, glancing over to his tail, "do you want to?" he asked again but this time his voice appeared in Edel's head, "You can tell me here."

M:   Edel jumped at the voice in his head, whimpering and shaking his head, it reminded him way too much of when he was mind controlled when he was "born."

"Edel, what's wrong buddy," Rowen asked, standing up with the help of Mandoria.

Edel shook his head and grumbled a little bit, like he was saying don't worry about it. Edel look up to the sky, staring at the clouds and occasional birds flying by, it was obvious he wanted to fly, he just didn't like having something on his tail, it felt unnatural.

"He does let you put it on," Mandoria piped in, "I think he just finds them uncomfortable and shakes them off."

N:   "I see," Prometheus replied, and he asked Johann to hand him over the fin, and he studied the fin, "well, this wasn't going to work anyway. The general shape is correct, but the inner workings are not." Handing back the fin, he looked to the dragon and ran his fingers through his fur, "I made a rule to myself to not interfere too much with the course of nature, but to every creature to give one gift of healing," he smiled as he looked into the dragon's eye, "you obviously want to fly, so I will give you that."

Placing two fingers on Edel's forehead, the spot forming six circles in a ring and a seventh one in the center of them, causing the dragon to be filled with bliss, and the tailor scratched the dragon's chin as he enjoyed the treatment. Prometheus looked up into the sky and weakly smiled, "Hopefully I don't get a sunburn after this." As he ran his fingers through his fur and scratched Edel, and later on to belly rubs, his hands turned back to the dark ocean blue, and the missing fin began to reform, the nerves first coming from the tail, then the bones, and afterward the skin.

Johann just tilted his head as he watched the fin form before his eyes, and he tried to speak but was in shock. And he watched as it was completely healed, as if it was there the entire time.

Prometheus chuckled as he patted Edel's head, the symbol disappearing as his hands turned back to normal, and he smiled at his handiwork, "what do you think, Edel?"

M:   Edel looked back at his tail, blinking at it like he was astonished, he flexed his tail and bumped it on the ground, testing to see if it was fake or not.

"What," Mandoria said in utter shock, "how did you- that's impossible," he walked over and examined Edel's tail, "How did you acquire such powerful magic, not even I could regenerate something like that."

N:   Prometheus looked at the country and smirked, "You will know in time, but now," he glanced over to Johann and joked, "I'm not revealing anything while he's around."

"I'm invisible," Johann blurted out, "Johann Kress is not present so you can tell us how the hell you did that."

"You will know," the tailor shook his head and chuckled, and he glanced at Mandoria, "You may even know when I help you, but now is not the time."

Taking a step back, he clasped his hands together and said, "Now, Edel, you need to learn how to fly. The holes in the membrane may be an issue but that is an easy fix," and he waved his hand and the holes disappeared, "but the main problem is that you have never flown before."

While Prometheus thought, Johann asked him, "Could you completely heal Edel?"

"I will not," the tailor answered without turning to him, "for several reasons, but the main reason is that it would reverse the course of nature, healing his fin is already doing that. Doing something as complex as his eye is one step too far."

He clicked his fingers as an idea came into mind, "the best people to teach winged creatures are ones with wings," he turned to Mandoria and asked, "How much do you remember?"

M:   "Remember what," a voice asked, Askad and Celtica coming closer to the group.

"How to fly," Mandoria simply answered, he explained what Prometheus did for Edel and then answered the question, "To be honest, not much, it's been three years since I last felt the freedom of flying, not to mention I am in no shape to fly let alone teach, sorry."

Askad paid little mind to what Mandoria said about flying, he looked suspicious that a human knew such high-power magic. He slithered up to him and slowly circled him, "A human knowing such an advanced spell is quite interesting, to say the least. I find it interesting that a human knows magic, to begin with."

He slowly coiled around Prometheus, not to hurt him and it was only around his legs, just to hold him in place as his fiery gaze stared deep into the human's own two orbs, "what else are you hiding human, if that's what you really are anyway."

N:    Prometheus shrugged as he spoke, "I don't have to tell you anything, and you will know soon enough," and he looked up to the naga and smiled, "Don't Eternals live for millions of years, so patience is not a new thing to you."

"We cannot deny that you wield great power," BE spoke, walking up to him, "and as long as you don't tell us the truth, we may assume that you're a threat."

"Me, a threat," the tailor grinned, "I helped Edel and sped up Esha's healing process so she would wake up sooner. I have made clothing for you people to wear and have served you as your head tailor, and the moment you don't understand something, you ignore what I have done in the blink of an eye," he shook his head and muttered quietly, "things stay the same whatever the era."

Looking down at Askad's coils around his feet he asked, "may you please unwrap yourself from me, or do I have to punch my way through?"

M:   Askad growled at the threat and coiled tighter, but when Mandoria put a hand on his shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, he let out a breath to calm himself down, unwrapping his tail around Prometheus and slithering away to check on Esha.

"Please forgive the suspicion, Sir Prometheus," the winged country apologized on behalf of everyone, "it's been a rough few weeks and I think we all have developed some form of distrust. You are a good man, I know that, and I assure you that our view of you will not change simply because you prefer to hide the things you can do," he glared over to the others, "Right."

"Right," Rowen agreed, "some people just like to keep their private lives to themselves, nothing wrong with that."

Edel seemed to agree too, licking the back of Prometheus' head and making his hair stand on end.

N:   Prometheus laughed as he scratched under Edel's chin, "What I worry is that when my sister comes, she is going to start blabbing away, or try to mess up with my life." Smoothing down his hair he continued, "But enough about that, we got to teach you dragon basics, Edel." He turned to BE and asked, "Your brother may be a good candidate to teach Edel, being part dragon and all."

BE raised a brow, since he isn't used to being ordered, but he nodded anyway and walked back inside.

M:   "Now this is going to be interesting," Rowen declared, sitting back on the bench, "hopefully Edel doesn't destroy too much of the garden when he practices."

"Have some faith, Rowen," Mandoria chuckled, "I'm sure Edel is going to do just fine, right big guy."

Edel didn't listen, he had already run back to Sleipner to show him his tail, jumping around like an excited puppy.

"Say Celtica, what was Wales like when he was first learning to fly," Rowen then asked, "was he clumsy or did he get the hang of it quickly?"

N:   "In reality, none of us knew how to teach Wales," Celtica answered, "and Anglo was having a hard time. Sure, he taught him the basics of taking off, hovering, and landing, but the style of flight for Wales was fundamentally different from Anglo's, so it was a learning process. However, eventually, Wales got the grips of flying through trial and error."

"So the last person Anglo taught to fly who was like him was Royal," Johann asked.

"Sort of," the Celt then further explained, "It was the same case with her, she was already a teen when she came to us, and she self-taught herself the basics and some tricks, but Anglo developed her skills even more."

M:   "Interesting," Mandoria commented, "you know, I don't think the different kind of wings was the main problem, sure the wind currents affect skin differently than feathers, but it could be that Wale's type of wings made it difficult to teach him. There are four major types of wings; elliptical, high-speed, passive soring, and active soring. Leather wings tend to fall under elliptical, they are the smallest of the wing types and are built for maneuverability and short bursts of speed, Derogan has elliptical wings too."

He spread his wing before adding, "Anglo's is much like mine, passive soring, which are the second largest and are built to catch air columns and fly at higher altitudes. I have learned firsthand with my sons that it is much harder to teach someone to fly if they have different wing types; Derogan's elliptical wings prevented him from flying at high altitudes and Mandara's high-speed wings make it difficult for him to hover and fly at slower speeds. The problem with Wales wasn't his bat wings, he just needed help from someone with elliptical wings."

N:   "The poor man hasn't taught anyone how to fly for a millennium," Celtica commented lightly, "give him a break."

When she finished, she turned around to see BE walking with Wales beside him, and the first thing he said was to Prometheus, "You can perform magic?"

"I see news has spread quickly," Prometheus spoke, giving a pointed look to the empire, "but let's not concern us of that and focus on what is at hand. Could you help teach Edel how to fly?"Wales glanced up to the dragon, and at his new tail, and he answered, "I'll try, but I'm not the best teacher. At all."

"You can do it, brother," BE rested his hand on the shorter country's shoulder, and the draconian country nodded with reassurance.

"Let's maybe not try to fly in the garden," he pointed out, "let's start in the field," to which he walked towards.

"Esha is coming out of her Stasis soon and she could help you too," the tailor said.

M:   Everyone nodded and they all left for the field, Askad stayed behind and glared at Prometheus until he was out of sight.

"That man is trouble," he grumbled to himself, "he's just doing these nice things so they would let their guard down."

He glanced at Esha, running his hands over the scars that Prometheus healed, "But then again, why would he go through the trouble of healing you if he was just pretending, seems like a waste of energy if his motives were ill," he sighed and brought his forehead with Esha's horn, "please wake up Esha, I don't know what to do, you were more of a leader than I ever was, now I need help, so please wake up, please."

N:   Further away, Wales led them to the open field where he turned around and faced the dragon. In all honesty, he didn't know how to teach someone how to fly, never mind a dragon, but he took a deep breath and faced the challenge.

"So, Edel," he began, unfurling his wings, "let's start basics. Open your wings and let's see if you can get a good few flaps from them," and he gave further instructions to further see if he is fit to fly.

Prometheus stood as he watched the country teach Edel and he hummed with approval, but he yelped as he retracted his hand into himself. When the burning sensations stopped, he checked his hand to see a mark of a circle and a dot in its center, and he sighed, "So the sunburn finally came." He brushed it off when he saw Johann look at him strangely, so he slid his marked hand into his pocket.

M:   Edel spread his wings, they were on the smaller side for a creature his size, they were only just barely big enough to be able to lift his frame, and even then were most likely built for short-range propulsion rather than long-distance flight.

"I don't think Edel will be able to fully fly," Rowen addressed this, "his wings are quite small for his size, and based on other factors such as his bulky frame and feline-like legs, I think he was more built for jumping long distances rather than sustained flight."

Edel tilted his head at that statement, giving his wings a second look like he never considered that before. He trotted away into the tree line, only to come barreling back out and jumping as high as he could, flapping his wings with all his might. He did succeed in reaching an incredible distance, but soon lost altitude and landed back on his feet. He padded back to the group to see how he did.

N:   Johann gave Edel a thumbs up and Wales was pretty impressed by the height, meanwhile Prometheus remained neutral on the matter. "Your wings are a bit small, Edel," the Mandorian admitted, "but that jump was great."

M:   Edel wagged his tail and bounced in place like a toddler, almost making the ground shake.

Mandoria stepped up this time and gave him a congratulatory pat, "That was very good, buddy, this time don't have your wings so ridged, allow them to bend so they can scoop at the air rather than slap it. Wales, why don't you show him how it's done, the best way to fly is to watch how someone else does it."

N:   Wales nodded, and after a test flap of his wings, he leaped and quickly took off, since his wings were elliptical. Although his flight speed was slower than other wing types, he was able to get some simple tricks in before hovering in the air.

"Take another run-up," the Brit spoke from the air, "and let's see how high you can go."

M:   Edel watched Wales for a bit, seemingly studying how he moved his wings. Mandoria stepped back to give him room to take off, which he did similarly to how Wales did.

His flight was slow and labored at first, more focused on staying in the air than gaining it, and eventually burned out his motor and plopped back onto his butt.

It went like that for a few hours, Edel would take off, flap aggressively, then either fall on his tail or crash on his face. His last attempt was a running start and even though it was the highest he'd gone, he fell head first and the force of the impact drove his head into the dirt like an ostrich, and he was having difficulties pulling his head out.

N:   Johann ran up to Edel to check if he was ok while a small 'oof' came from the tailor behind him. Wales landed nearby and he walked up to the dragon, watching as the Mandorian rushed to him and tried to pull him out.

"Be careful," the country warned, "his horn is there too and you don't want that to break."

"You need a lot of force to break a dragon's antler," Prometheus stated, "but I agree, be gentle."

"But how are we going to get him out," Johann asked.

"Dig," the tailor replied simply, "free up some space so he could dislodge his head."

M:   Edel wasn't making it easy, with his head deep in the dirt and his vision completely blocked he was starting to panic, it was like how Prussia often blindfolded the reptile so he wouldn't fight back.

"Edel easy," Rowen said, running up to the struggling dragon and stroking his fur to calm him, "it's ok, relax buddy, we're going to get you out of there."

"We need to hurry," Mandoria insisted, getting down to start digging, "he's going to panic more and possibly hurt himself the longer he can't see anything."

N:   Wales quickly flew off to get some shovels while Johann knelt next to Mandoria and helped him out. Standing a meter away, Prometheus was conflicted about what he should do. Strictly speaking, he shouldn't assist them, but his heart told him that he should, and flashes from Edel's mind made him want to help even more. He thought about waiting for them to dig, but he was disturbed by Edel's memories, so a minute later he muttered, "What is the harm if I help out a bit," and he summoned a staff from the ground until it stood two meters tall.

With one end of the staff, he traced out a ring around Edel, and when he connected the line, he asked for the others to step back. Johann was reluctant to, but he did so anyway and stepped outside the ring.

The tailor tapped one end of his staff on the ring, and suddenly the ground within it began to shake and the patch of dirt rose from the ground, lifting Edel. He smiled as he rushed over to where the dragon's face was, which was poking out from the other side, and he tapped his muzzle with his staff, "You're ok now. No one is going to hurt you."

M:   Edel didn't seem very reassured, he was still whining and struggling to get his head free, but thanks to the levitation loosening the soil, he managed to yank his head out of the dirt and fell off the floating land.

Mandoria and Rowen started cheering that Edel was ok, but it stopped when the most heart-wrenching wail came from the reptile. Edel was still terrified, he fully expected a certain winged German to pop out at any moment, so he quickly got to his feet and bolted back to the castle.

He ran and ran until he found England, at which point he barreled for the country and nearly toppled him over, hiding his head underneath his person and whimpered in fear.

N:   "What on earth is happening," England questioned as he knelt next to him, and his instinct to protect kicked in, "did someone hurt you? Hush, it's fine I'm here."

Ireland almost dropped the harp he was practicing on at the sight of the dragon while Scotland was surprised by his sudden appearance, but he quickly overcame it. Seeing his son's confusion, he came over to him and briefly explained about Edel and England, and ended with, "Why don't you play something to calm him down?"

 "I'm not sure," the Irishman answered, and he quickly corrected himself, "not that I don't want to, it's just that I might not get it right."

"You doubt your own skill," the Scotsman shook his head, "believe in yourself and you'll be surprised by what you can do." The son glanced at his other father and the dragon and nodded, sitting upright like he was taught to, and began to play a soothing tune.

M:   Edel stopped trembling when he heard the music, he was wary and still a little scared at first, but the melody was quite calming and he slowly settled down, curling close to England and just lay still, his eye unfocused like he was going through his thoughts.

A few minutes later, Rowen and Johann came in, they and everyone else had split up to find where Edel had run off to. Rowen slowly approached and sat down next to the dragon.

 "I'm sorry that happened Edel, that must have been pretty scary," he murmured, gently petting Edel's fur, "it's ok now, nothing's going to happen to you, he's not coming for you, I promise."

N:   England stroked Edel's fur to help him calm down, and he looked up to the Mandorians and began, "Are you talking about-"

"Yes," Johann answered before he could finish and he knelt next to the dragon, "and he is very, very far away from you, Edel. He is not coming to hurt you ever again."

M:   Edel whimpered more and hid his head under his wing, a sound that resembled a sniffle emerged soon after.

"We weren't even doing anything harmful," Rowen sighed, "Prometheus used magic to regenerate Edel's tail and we were teaching him to fly. He landed too hard and got his face stuck in the dirt, blocking his vision and scaring him. Prussia would blindfold us a lot when he moved us from the cells so we couldn't memorize anything and use it to escape, Edel thought, for some reason the bastard liked to blindfold him more than us, I don't know why but now it means that he'll freak out if he can't see."

Edel grumbled in his throat and smacked Rowen upside the head with his tail, telling him he didn't appreciate the walk down memory lane.

"Ow, sorry Edel," the human muttered, rubbing the back of his head, "I'll stop now, actually, I'll go tell the others we found him, you guys just stay with him for a bit until he calms down."

N:   "Wait," England spoke, "Prometheus used magic? He told me that he didn't know any before he arrived."

"Maybe because any human who knew magic would most likely be killed," Scotland suggested as if it is obvious, "so of course he lied."

"Whether he lied or not, it doesn't matter now," Johann interrupted them so they wouldn't continue, and he watched as Rowen walked away, "right now, Edel needs to calm down."

The Mandorian crawled up to the dragon and cuddled up to him, running his hand through his fur as he made quiet hushing sounds, telling him that everything is going to be ok.

—————

Celtica and BE went off to continue to find Edel while Prometheus walked back to the fountain. Wales saw him, and curious in what he is doing, followed behind him, far enough to keep an eye on the tailor.

When he arrived at the fountain, he took one look at Esha before nodding with approval, walking to a nearby bench, and sat down. He stretched out his arms before closing his eyes, letting the light sink into his skin, and he was acutely aware of Wales walking up to him.

"Why are you sitting down?" the Brit asked, "we need to find Edel."

The tailor paused before answering, "They already found him. He's inside the castle."