M: "Maybe back to Anglo to tell him that his husband's being stolen by a cat," he joked, though he did vibrate his wings to let the Englishman know, "I did want to show you the dragon babies, but Edel and little Mira weren't feeling very good, so maybe we'll wait on that."

He thought about it, trying to think of something they could do, "Well, we could go find my dads, I don't think Johann had properly introduced you to them, did he?"

N: "Not really," Gwyn muttered, rubbing the back of her head, "I met Sir Rowen before Johann actually, he was an instructor for us cadets, and then Jo came along and helped me with horse riding. I met Sir Mandoria only in passing and that's it. There was never any-," and then she acted out the scenario of if Johann greeted her to the Mandorians, "-none of that."

M: Prudoria was confused that Johann never properly introduced Gwyn to their parents, with how much they talk about her he would have thought they met at least more than once.  He shrugged at this and they left to find Mandoria and Rowen, wondering what they might be up to.

They eventually tracked them down to the library, where Rowen was helping Mandoria groom the parts of his wings he couldn't reach.  Prudoria made sure to announce their presence before entering, since wing grooming was quite intimate for his parents, and didn't want to come in without permission, or at least that's what Johann told him to do.

When they were let in Prudoria brought Gwyn over to them as they stood up, "Hey, sorry to bother you two, I wanted to properly introduce you to Gwyn since Johann never did.  Gwyn, these are my and Johann's dads; Rowen and Mandoria."

"Hello Miss Gwyn, it's nice to officially meet you," Rowen greeted, "honestly though, Johann talks about you so much it's like we already know you."

N: "It's nice to meet you, sirs- umm the both of you," Gwyn stuttered, unsure how to refer to the pair of them, so she tried to hide her nervousness and smiled, "And yeah, it seems like I'm already known to everyone from the looks of it, hopefully not too much."

"Did someone call me," Johann called out, popping his head up from a nearby sofa and still half asleep, and somehow was able to scare the lights out of Gwyn, which in turn scared him when she yelped. Still half-asleep, he had her coat on like a hood and crawled back on the sofa and squinted in their direction, "Gwyn, is that you?"

"Yeah it is," she frowned, crossing her arms, but smirked a bit, "and, dear Johann, could you care to tell me how much you talk about me?"

The Mandorian proceeded to go red and slowly disappear from view, getting a good chuckle from the Welshwoman, to which she also added, "And how's the coat?"

M: "He wouldn't take it off," Mandoria chuckled, he and Rowen holding in their laughter from the two scaring each other, "Rowen tried to grab it while he was asleep to return it to you but Johann would grip onto it tighter."

"And don't worry, he definitely picks and chooses what he wants to tell us about you," Rowen added, offering Gwyn to sit with them, "though for some reason, he mostly talks about the different scents of your hair."

"Rowen, no need to embarrass the poor girl," the country scolded, "she wouldn't want to be around Johann if you do that.  But on that note, he did wake up for a bit when we found him to tell us where he was, thank you for helping him, it's always been a challenge for us to get him to open up about his worries, we're glad he has someone he's comfortable talking to."

N: Gwyn blushed at the comment, but she tried to hide it as she admitted to the Mandorians. "You better thank Prudoria too," she spoke, "he opened the door for him, and all I did was help him though."

After a pause, Gwyn called out to Johann, "You can stop hiding now."

Johann's eyes peeked over the back of the sofa again, and seeing who was there, he slowly got up, still wrapped in the winter coat, and walked up to his girlfriend and sat beside her. There was an awkward tension between them, and not because they were uncomfortable with each other, but because the Mandorian's fathers were looking at the both of them.

The young man could sense the young woman's nervousness, so he shuffled up to her, took off her coat, and draped it over her, smiling at her as to say that there is nothing to worry about.

"So now that we're both here," Johann said, "is there anything you want to ask? Are you fine with that, Gwyn?"

The other's eyes lit up with mischief and nodded, "But you don't have to ask about how Jo's hair smells like, which is for your information, fresh pinewood." Johann proceeded to cover his face to cover his embarrassment while the cocooned Welsh just giggled away.

M: Everyone else chuckled too, "I knew it, everyone said I was crazy but I knew my son smelled like a tree," Mandoria joked, "although, after a long day riding Comet, he tends to smell like something else."

"Now look who's being embarrassing," Rowen nudged his husband, "ignoring that, I was wondering if we might see you at the Yule Ball, our other two sons are finally coming home that day and it might be nice of you three to meet, because you really should be prepared to prank-proof yourself if you're going to be hanging out with Johann."

"Back home, those three would always try to sabotage each other from getting girlfriends," Mandoria warned, "I'm sure they are mature enough not to do it anymore, but I would still be wary, there is a very good reason I kept the three troublemakers away from my meetings with my allies."

N: "Johann, seriously," Gwyn shook her head in mock disappointment, "you're going around messing with your Father's alliances."

"What can I say," Johann shrugged, "they knew the risk of taking me in, so it's on them," getting a facepalm from the other, "and if either Mandara and Derogan brought anyone with them, I will go back to my old ways and sabotage."

"So clearly you haven't matured whatsoever," the Welsh concluded, getting a goofy smile from Johann, and she chuckled. Once they had calmed down, she returned to Rowen's point, "Yes, I'm going to be in the Yule Ball, and being a cadet, our outfits are provided by the Royal household, so I'm excited about how that's going to turn out."

"You better not outshine me," Johann joked before adding, "and about the whole 'pranking' stuff, I think the question should be directed to Prudoria," he faced the Prussian, "Are you prepared?"

M: "No," Prudoria admitted, almost in a questioning manner, "I've been more worried about if they would accept me, I don't want to be a painful reminder to them, especially since they probably thought you all were dead."

"Pruds, I promise you, Mandara and Derogan are going to be just fine having you around," Mandoria reassured him, "if they accepted Johann, a former Saxon and by extension, Prussian, then they will have no qualms with you whatsoever."

"It also took them a couple of months to actually prank Johann when he came, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about," Rowen shrugged, "oh, and before I forget, Gwyn, If Johann starts giving you a hard time or is just being particularly annoying, just give him a good tug on his ear, he knows to stop misbehaving when I do that, It's effective 100% of the time, isn't it Finzenda."

N: Johann proceeded to pout, "Don't give her any ideas, Hezyka."

"Too late," Gwyn smiled as she nodded at Rowen, "thank you, sir, for the invaluable advice."

"You don't have to refer to Hezyka as sir," the Mandorian reminded, "you're part of this family as much as he is."

The cadet warmly smiled but she turned to both Mandoria and Rowen, "I just want to be respectful, but if you prefer me to call you by something else then that's fine."

M: "Not at all, call us whatever is comfortable for you, just nothing royal related," Rowen said, "throughout our time here, we've come to enjoy the humble life, or as humble as you can get while still living in a castle."

Mandoria nodded, side-hugging his husband in respect, then adding to Gwyn, "You know, something Johann did tell us about was your unfortunate familial relationship, and we were thinking, perhaps it would be nice if you come to stay here for a bit, we talked to BE and he had no quells with the idea.  It might be good for you to experience a real family if you'd like."

N: Gwyn's eyes lit up at the suggestion and nodded, "I would really, really love that. That's just," she couldn't contain her excitement as she got up and quickly pecked Johann on the lips, "will be quick, let me go and get my stuff from home," and proceeded to run out of the library.

The Mandorian cleared his throat, his face going as red as his father's, and he turned to his parents, "Well, I guess that she accepted the invite."

M: The others laughed at Johann's expression, with Rowen patting his shoulder, "She's a good one, you're not gonna be able to find another one like her."

With that being done, Prudoria decided that he and Johann should let their fathers go back to their privet time, so he dragged him along to go see what Wolfgang and Erna were up to.

"Hey Johann, do you know how I can prove myself to Wolfie," he asked as they walked, "I can tell he doesn't like me, he hides it really well but I think I remind him too much of Prussia.  BE and I are on comfortable footing now, I think, how do I get that way with Wolfie, and Heinrich for that matter, Heinz doesn't do a very good job of hiding his dislike."

N: "I think that should be established is that the Saxons hate Prussia," Johann stated, "they were prisoners to him, suffering under his hand when he destroyed our home. Each of them have their own reason to despise him, and for Heinz," he sighed, "not going to lie to you, it will take a while for him to get past his dislike.

The Mandorian rubbed the back of his neck, "But honestly, I'm the worst person to ask. Ja, I know them, but I haven't seen them for years, and I can't give you the best advice." His eyes lit up when an idea popped into his mind, "maybe ask Erna. She's fine with you, right, and she's the closest to Wolfe. We can deal with Heinz another day, when he's in a better mood."

M: Prudoria nodded, not really sure what to make of what was said, he'll just have to figure it out himself.  The two wandered around looking for the Saxons until they were told they were in the stables, Prudoria had never seen a stable before so he was interested to go there.

When they arrived, Prudoria was immediately distracted with the horses, having only seen Sleipnir and Uskaine before then he was intrigued.

"These things are weird," he said, holding out a hand for one of the equines to sniff, "their mouths are so small, how are they supposed to hunt, they wouldn't be able to get a good bite on anything like Sleipnir does."

N: "Because horses don't hunt," Johann answered although his voice did have a hint of confusion, "horses are prey animals and they graze. Sleipnir isn't your ordinary horse, and is definitely an exception."

The Mandorian decided to lead the Prussian over to his horse, and when Comet initially saw Prudoria, he backed away, so Johann had to give him enough reinforcement to become more comfortable around him, and the stallion let the country pet him.

"Were you never exposed to horses in general," the Mandorian asked, "because this place, the stables, is basically a second home to me."

M: "No, I've only ever seen animals in books," Prudoria admitted, "I was never really let out of my room back with Prussia, and the books I had were never swapped out, so after the 200th time reading the same 15 books you just don't bother remembering what they were about."

The country found himself enjoying the horses, especially Comet, he almost forgot why they were there in the first place.  He was soon reminded when a certain Prussian horse decided to make a snack of his wing, causing Prudoria to dramatically scream in fright, jumping back and falling on his butt while Blackjack nickered mockingly, feathers still in his mouth.

N: "Was hast du schon wieder angestellt, Blackjack (what the hell did you do this time, Blackjack)," Wolfgang groaned as he came around the corner, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw the pair. The Saxon was wearing a vest instead of his usual shirt, and in his hands was a large bucket of warm water, and floating inside it was a small jug.

He set the bucket down next to Blackjack's stall, and approaching the horse, he held out his hand, silently demanding for the feathers, and after a few minutes the stallion eventually gave in and spat it out. Once that happened, the Saxon stepped into the stall and began to rinse Blackjack, grabbing jug loads of water and pouring it down his back.

"Johann," he muttered without turning in their direction, "Prudoria. What brings you here?"

M: "Um, j-just seeing what you and Erna were up to," Prudoria said, griping his wing and eyeing Blackjack fearfully, "I had never seen horses before so Johann was introducing me to his, then your's wanted to eat me."

He stood up and backed away from the stalls to look at his wing, luckily the only thing he lost was his feathers and his dignity, not like he had much of it, to begin with.

"I don't think I like horses anymore," he said from his hiding spot, "I think I'll stay here while you guys are with them."

N: "Seriously, Wolfgang," Johann grumbled, "it's the first time he's been around horses and already he's scared of them."

"Not everyone has to have the same interests as you, Jo, besides we grew up with horses around us," Wolfgang commented, then he turned to Prudoria, " and if it makes you feel better, horses don't eat people."

M: "O-ok," Prudoria whimpered, slowly coming back out and standing behind Johann, then tried to strike up a conversation "w-well, what have you been doing recently, Johann and I just came back from introducing Gwyn to our parents and we didn't know what to do, so came here to see what you were up to."

He then thought of something to help calm himself and smirked, "You should have been there, Johann was so red the whole time I couldn't tell if it was from them teasing him, or the fact that he was still wearing his girlfriend's coat inside and was getting too hot."

N: Johann tried his best to discreetly tell Prudoria to shut it while Wolfgang chuckled away, "Aww, young love at its finest."

"Young," Johann raised a brow, "but you're not that much older than me."

"But I have been with Ernie much longer than you have been with Gwyn, and we are a bit more comfortable with each other since we've been together for a little over a year," Wolfgang pointed out.

"But you seem to always fold at my touch," a voice spoke, and soon Erna walked towards them and used her finger to raise her boyfriend's chin so he looked directly at her, "isn't that right, dear?"

Wolfgang's eyes widened and looked away blushing, causing the other to laugh. "Obviously when you're like that," he muttered as he redirected his focus to washing his horse.

Erna smirked as she turned back to the other two, "I heard you boys from down the stables so I just wanted to check on you, besides," she pointed at the nearby black Hanoverian, "she's the one you should be around, Pruds."

Blackjack heard the Saxon and snorted, which only got Midnight to nicker, almost like laughing, as she leaned over to the Prussian to better understand him.

M: Prudoria squeaked in fear and hid behind Johann, having to duck a little since he was just barely taller.

"No thanks, I've had enough of horses for one day," he whimpered, "I'm lucky that I didn't lose my wing, I'd rather not take that gamble a second time.  You know what, I'll just meet you guys back in the castle."

With that, he ducked past the horses and rushed out of the stables, running back inside to go hide in the infirmary again.

N: Johann flipped his finger at Wolfgang before chasing after Prudoria, to which Wolfgang yelled back at him.

"Leave him alone," Erna spoke to the other as she petted her win horse, "you didn't exactly help, and neither did you, mister," as she tapped Blackjack on the nose, "Let's just hope he catches up to him."

M: Prudoria headed back to the infirmary just like he said he would, letting out a relieved breath as he smelled the sanitized air.  Normally he wouldn't have been allowed to stay as long as he has since he's basically healthy, but the nurses have been letting him stay since they knew he needed a safe place to come to when exploring the scary outside world.

He sat back on his bed and focused on fixing up his feathers, making sure there were no broken blood feathers since he was still trying to grow out his plumage.  Unfortunately, there were a few blood feathers that had been ripped in half, but he couldn't tell how bad it was since it was in his black feathers.  Not knowing how to remove blood feathers, he vibrated his wings for Anglo or Mandoria to ask for help.

N: Anglo was in a nearby room when he felt the vibration in his wings, so he quickly left the room and made his way to the infirmary. He arrived just after Johann, and immediately asked what the Prussian needed.

"Removing blood feathers is a painful process," the Englishman stated as he walked over to him to check on them, "they have a large blood supply to help regrow feathers, so they should only be removed if you have to."

Checking through the blood feathers and finding the damaged ones, he sighed, "and these ones do have to be removed, but I'm not exactly the most qualified to do this." He waved over a doctor to stand beside him, and introduce the two to each other.

"This doctor here is qualified to help winged countries like us," Anglo reassured Prudoria, "and he personally is the one who treats my wings. Prudoria," he knelt down in front of him, "he can help you remove the feathers safely, but I cannot promise you that it won't hurt, so I'm giving you the choice whether you want them removed or not. Also, if you want your father here to support you if you do decide yes, then I can go and call him."

M: Prudoria whimpered slightly at what was said, having second thoughts about this, he didn't know it would be that bad.

"W-well, I already called Mandoria at the same time I called you, he should be on his way, but now I'm not so sure about this," he admitted, hugging a pillow tightly, "I don't like horses now, they're mean."

They waited until Mandoria came and was informed about what happened, and after he checked the feathers himself he shook his head, "Anglo's right, they have to be removed, it's basically an open wound at this point, but it's still up to you Prudoria, I'll be right here if you chose yes."

The Prussian whimpered a little more but ultimately nodded his head, huddling into his father's embrace and closing his eyes in preparation.

N: Anglo nodded to the doctor, signaling to start the procedure. The doctor firmly nodded and began to carefully spread a paste around a blood feather to help numb the forthcoming pain.

"This is going to hurt," he warned as he pressed the tips of his fingers around the blood feather and swiftly pulled it out then quickly retrieved a piece of cloth and applied pressure to the wound. He had a bit of trouble keeping it in place as Prudoria would instinctively pull his wing away, so he would have to wait until he was calm to continue. Tossing the feather into a small bowl, he prepped the next feather for removal, and in ten minutes he was able to get rid of all the broken blood feathers.

He hummed approvingly at his work before bandaging up Prudoria's wings, giving the country words of encouragement until he was finished.

"All done," the doctor announced as he washed off his hands in a nearby basin, "just check on your wings once in a while until the new blood feathers grow but otherwise you're all good."

Johann slowly walked over to Prudoria, "how are you doing," he asked before lowering his head, "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I didn't know that Blackjack was going to do that."

M: Prudoria was a rather difficult patient, constantly yelping and squirming as each blood feather was removed, he actually had to have Anglo help hold him still from how much he jerked around.  The only thing preventing even more squirming was Mandoria's reassurance, the older country hushing the younger one and gently rubbing his back to calm him.

By the end, Prudoria was partially exhausted from the pain, though he smiled in thanks to the doctor while he was bandaging him up.

"It wasn't your fault, I don't think even the horse knew it would be that bad," he said to Johann, "though I still think it best to give them a wide berth from now on, at least Uskaine and Sleipnir don't bite, usually."

Mandoria chuckled at that, rubbing his son's shoulder in comfort, "Oh Prudoria, it's like you've been in this family for years, already getting yourself in trouble, what am I doing to do with you when your brothers get here?"

"Pray that we don't run you to death," Prudoria laughed, "because I'm going to enjoy having more people to make trouble with, right Johann."

N: "Definitely," Johann smiled before turning to Mandoria, "Well, I guess I wish both you and Hezyka good luck, Father."

"But now you need to rest," Anglo spoke, "no doubt you are drained, so no troublemaking until you're better."

"Seriously," the Mandorian muttered, "his first proper day out of the infirmary and he's here again."

M: "I don't mind, I like it here anyway," Prudoria said, "it's my safe place and the nurses are very nice and patient, besides, there's always tomorrow, though I do want to come to Maria's funeral, she was nice to me too, almost motherly."

"Don't worry, my son, we'll come to get you when it's time," Mandoria reassured him, gently laying him down in bed, "for now you should get some sleep."

Prudoria nodded, though he sat back up to give everyone a hug, Johann he gave the biggest hug, saying, "You're a good brother, thank you," before laying back down to sleep.

Mandoria patted his older son's shoulder proudly, glad that he had bonded so well to his new brother, then quietly ushered him out of the infirmary so Prudoria could rest.

N: As they left the infirmary, Ireland came across them, and immediately asked a question.

"Has anyone seen Esha," the Irishman asked, "Alaric needs some help with the phoenix egg, sort of struggling with how to take care of it."

M: "I haven't seen her, though Johann talked about her making soup earlier," Mandoria said, he did a quick wing sweep to see where she was, "she's outside, by the graveyard I think, we should probably check on her."

The kingdom led them out to where Esha was, and sure enough, she was kneeling in front of Arther's grave while Neflen was standing nearby.  Mandoria walked up to Neflen and asked if Esha was ok.

"Yeah, for the most part," he whispered, so as not to disturb Esha, "she comes here once a day to meditate for an hour, I come with her to make sure she doesn't freeze herself like last time.  She won't tell me why she does this, but I suspect she's trying to connect with Arther again."

"How much longer will she be then," the winged country asked, "Alaric needs help with his egg."

Neflen took out a sundial and pointed it north, "15 more minutes, I've learned the hard way that you shouldn't interrupt her meditating no matter when or why she does it, she gets really pissy when you do."

N: "You have to tell us what happened," Johann whispered before falling silent along with the two Brits, standing there awkwardly as they waited for Esha to finish.

M: "I think I'll let my scars do the talking later," Neflen simply said, but didn't explain more and too went silent to wait for Esha.

Fifteen minutes later on the mark, Esha's eyes opened and she stretched a bit, setting a flower that she was holding on the grave.  She stood and was initially surprised that she had an audience, but when Neflen explained she rubbed her face in exasperation.

"I know I should expect a human to be a little overwhelmed by caring for a phoenix egg, but I just explained it to him a few hours ago," she groaned, "I wonder if that man was even involved in Wolfie's childhood or not."

She took a deep breath to calm down, then forced a smile and said, "Alright, lead me to him, I'll see what I can do."

N: "Alrighty, right this way," Ireland announced as he led the group back inside and up a bunch of flights of stairs until they reached one of the quiet top floors, the silence occasionally being broken by quiet muttering."

Once they arrived at where Alaric was, he was sitting in the middle of his office, one that he had BE a while back for work, and the room was a mess.

"Messy, messy, messy," the Irishman tutted, "just like your state of mind, Alaric."

"Was?" the Saxon stuttered as he spun around, holding the egg in his hands and clearly doesn't know what to do with it.

"You're useless," the Irishman facepalmed before turning to Esha, "now you see why he needs your help?"

M: "Be nice, put yourself in his shoes," Esha growled, smacking Ireland upside the head, "he just had an egg placed into his care without warning, that's no different than finding a baby on your doorstep in the middle of the night."

With her scolding finished, the first thing she did was cast a spell to set the room in order, all the paperwork and reports floating into neat piles and filing themselves away in their proper places.

"I apologize Alaric, I guess I underestimated how much you needed my help," she said, "let's do this a bit more slowly this time.  So, a phoenix egg does not require much attention if you don't wish to hatch it immediately, it just needs a warm, soft nest to sit in until you're ready to hatch it.  For now, you can just let it sit on your nightstand or your desk in a blanket nest."

She led Alaric to the desk and made space for the egg, carefully folding the blanket into a nest shape and setting the egg in it, making sure the sunlight was shining on it, which allowed the chick's silhouette to be seen.

"Look, it's dreaming," she said softly, placing Alaric's hand on the egg, "the shell is harder than a diamond, it won't break until it's time to hatch it, and the chick will wait as long as you need to be ready for it."

N: "Ok, ok," Alaric muttered, trying to reassure himself as he watched the chick slowly moving around in the egg.

Meanwhile, Ireland rubbed the back of his head, and grumbled under his breath. "Was that even necessary?"

"You were a bit insensitive, Ire," Anglo reminded him.

"But she did comment on if he was in Wolfe's childhood," he muttered, but eventually the Irishman shrugged it off.

After a couple of minutes, Leon rushed into the room, and was temporarily surprised to see everyone in the room before shaking it off. "Alaric, all the preparations are done," he informed the Saxon, "we can do the service tonight."

"Gut (good)," the other nodded, sitting into his seat and leaning back as he stared into the ceiling, "let's give some time for Heinrich to rest before he goes."

"And what about you? How are you?"

"I'm fine," Alaric replied nonchalantly before sighing, "I'll see you later, Leon, and danke."

The Saxon looked at his friend with concern and looked at the others, silently asking for help.

M: The others looked just as lost as Leon, Mandoria never really spent time with Alaric since they weren't exactly on comfortable terms, due to how history played for them.

Esha just patted the Saxon's shoulder and ushered everyone out, "I know that look he has, he just needs some quiet so he can organize his thoughts," she stated, closing the door behind her.

"Is it okay to leave him by himself, we don't know how he handles grief," Mandoria wondered.

"Well, someone should check on him every now and then, maybe Wolfie, but he needs just a few minutes of quiet time, it'll be good for him," Esha said.

N: After a bit, Johann asked, "What now?"

Anglo shrugged, "I guess you can go about your day, but be ready for tonight," he glanced at Leon, "and not be late."

The Saxon nodded, "Try to be ready by dusk, and ask any of us Saxons to lead you to the right place. They will know where it is."

Anglo nodded in thanks and they waved the Saxon goodbye. "I guess now you can do whatever you want now."

M: The two other countryhumans nodded and went about  their business, Esha mostly hung out with her animals while Mandoria took a short flight around the castle grounds to stretch his wings.

As the day slowly faded away and the sun was hovering over the horizon, everyone was preparing for the funeral, the second one in just a week, so the atmosphere was a lot grimmer than usual, it made everyone wonder  who would be the next to croak, and how soon.

The Eternals did their painted tears like before, even Mandoria decided to do it, but while Askad was finishing his, he couldn't help but watch Heinrich, sitting on the floor with Sofia trying to comfort him.

"Hey, it's ok Heinz, you don't have to go if it's too much," the naga reassured him, slithering over and placing a hand on his shoulder, "I understand if you can't face a crowd, I told BE to have the priest wait for everyone to leave so we could have a more private goodbye, the others will understand."

N: Heinrich nodded, "danke, but don't worry, I'm going either way. There's no way I'm missing Mutter's funeral."

The  Saxon glanced over to Wyatt and Callum, and watched as the Scottish brothers were in a heated debate while their sister stood between them in silence, her face filled with grief.

When the Scot realized that she was watched, she walked away from her brothers towards the Saxon, and when she was standing right in front of him, she plucked a single primrose from her small bouquet in her hand and handed it over to Heinrich.

"You can give it to Maria," she suggested, then she gave another one to Sofia, "and you could too."

M: Askad weakly smiled at the gesture the little girl gave to Heinrich, not finding anything to comment about it, so he patted his shoulder and slithered over to Wyatt and Callum to break up the fight.

"Enough you two, this is a time of mourning, not to squabble over petty arguments," he scolded, "it's disrespectful to the dead, and even more so to Heinrich, you should be comforting your friend in his time of need."

He nudged the brothers away from each other with his tail, "If you don't have anything decent to say to each other, then give each other space, don't stand so close if you're just going to fight, got it, children.  Actually, let me rephrase, the young ones are better behaved than you, you're acting like the British family."

N: "Don't compare us to that family," Callum frowned before facing his brother, "and besides, this wouldn't happen if Wyatt had some common sense."

"Maisie wanted to come," Wyatt rebutted, "she insisted that she came to pay her respects to Maria, and she wanted to see you. You've been away from home and she misses you."

"I was going to go back eventually," the younger brother grumbled, "Ricky needed me, and he's lost without support."

"And what about your own sister," Wyatt hissed as he pushed past Askad and stood face to face with his brother, "how do you think the news about Mother impacted her, huh? She's eleven for fuck's sake, and look at her," he pointed at Maisie as she just stood there next to Heinrich, "no eleven-year-old kid normally acts like that when their mother is at death's door."

"Proving the point that she should have just stayed at home."

"No," the elder brother scoffed, "after the funeral, she's staying here." He raised his finger to stop the other from protesting, "She needs you around her, and for you to be present in these difficult times. I already spoke with the Weismanns so she could stay overnight with them, and I already have her stuff packed. You have no choice: be with her while I'm with Mother."

Callum grumbled as he rubbed his temples, vaguely registering his brother leaving the room. "Petty arguments, huh," he muttered under his breath before asking, "Could you  take care of Ricky after the funeral while I take care of my sister? I don't know how I could do both."

M: "Of course, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give him any less attention," Askad said, "I know how you feel about him, and how he feels about you, it runs deep, so you can't let it drown.  I will help keep his head above the water, but I believe it's you who needs to teach him to swim."

With that, Askad went back to Heinrich and helped him up to get him and Sofia ready, though decided against making him wear the painted tears, he didn't want to be culturally invasive, simply allowing him access to it while he painted his daughter's face.

N: Heinrich quietly watched as Askad painted tears, patiently waiting for the naga to finish before asking if he could wait just outside. Once he could, he silently left the room, and once he reach the corridor, he beelined to a window and opened it up, breathing in the winter air.

Leaning on the windowsill, the Saxon zoned out, unaware as someone walked up to him and tapped on his shoulder, startling him.

"What the-," he yelped, but he immediately stopped when he saw Josef standing in front of him, gently smiling as he wore his funeral clothes.

"I made sure to come this time," the Reborn spoke, "to make sure I don't repeat my mistake and support you, Heinz. Prometheus was aware of my visits, despite I'm forbidden, but he allowed me this once to come, and then next time you'll see me is at the ball." The Austrian placed his hand on the other's shoulder, "es tut mir leid wegen (I'm sorry about)-"

He didn't get enough time to finish as the Saxon quickly pulled him into an embrace, and after making sure his sunglasses didn't fall off, he returned the hug, patting Heinz's back as he sobbed.

M: Esha conveniently was walking by on her way to meet everyone when she happened upon the cuddle session, she smiled at the sight and let them have their moment before walking up.

"Hey there Jo, it's nice to see you again," she said, "it's good that you're here, Heinz needs all the support he can get."

Josef cleared his throat before greeting Esha. "When we were younger, he was like a little brother to me," he admitted, "all of them were: Wolfe, Erna, and Johann, but-," his smile wavered, "I guess I can't actually be with them anymore, but I'm fine looking out for this one."

"I'm not little anymore," Heinrich smiled as he wiped away his tears, "if  you think about the age you stopped aging, and mine now, I'm way older than you."

"Nein, you're still six years younger than me," the Austrian joked before turning to Esha with concern, "are you ok? I know it's been a couple of days, but the last time I checked, you almost froze to death at the cemetery."

"You were here then," Heinrich questioned, "but we didn't see you." Josef  quickly shut up about it, trying to pass it off as nothing.

M: "Oh, so you were the one who rescued me," Esha said, finally connecting the dots, "well, thank you, and yes, I'm better, at least than before. I make sure to bring Neflen with me when I go to visit Arther's grave."

Askad and Sofia came out then, Askad tilting his head at the sight of Josef, "Hey, haven't I seen you before?"

N: Heinrich began to panic at the question, but Josef turned to him and smirked, as if to say that he has everything under control.

"Maybe, sir," Josef answered, "I came into this compound with the McKenzie brothers, helping them bring Madam Maria here, may God rest her soul." He paused for a moment in respect before adding, "However, I don't recall seeing you before then, and trust me, if I did, it would be pretty hard to forget a being like yourself."

He glanced at Heinrich and continued, "I felt I was there at a critical  moment, so I'm here to give my condolences to the good sir Heinrich here, then I'll be on my way."

"Was," the Saxon exclaimed, but the Austrian faced him and held his shoulders.

"Wenn mehr Leute mich sehen, wird es mehr Fragen geben (If more people see me, there will be more questions)," he spoke sadly, "ich sind in der Nähe, ja? (I will be nearby, ok?)." When the other nodded, Josef hummed  in approval, "It's good to see you Heinz, and let's hope we see each other some other day," and with that he walked away.

M: Askad watched the man go, looking to Heinz and Esha for explanations, so Esha said, "he's a friend of Heinz, they met at the Unicorn and he introduced me to him the other day, he's a nice man, very considerate."

Askad nodded, accepting the explanation without a second thought, Heinrich spent a lot of time at the Unicorn so it made sense to him that he would make some friends there, why think otherwise?

"Well, I'm glad you're making friends here," Askad smiled, "for eternal's, wealth is measured by who will stand by your side 'till the end, I'd say you're a very wealthy person."

Esha nodded in agreement, "he sure is, how about we get going now, let's see how wealthy Maria was."