M:   "No, the dumbass couldn't keep his mouth shut and provoked the fatherly wrath," Esha grumbled from her spot, "Mandoria gave him a well-deserved left hook to the jaw after he started talking trash about Prudoria, or something like that."

"Yeah, that's about the long and short of it," Mandoria agreed, "right now we're just going to stay away from him and let both of us cool down a bit, because even if it was deserved, doesn't mean it was necessary."

N:   Anglo slowly nodded, making a mental note to ask his grandson later about the details, but he ignored the issue for the moment as he walked over to Esha.

"Is there anything I can get you that can help Aslan," the Englishman proposed, "anything at all?"

M:   "Maybe a snack for being such a good boy," Esha said, scratching Aslan under his chin, "though actually, I do need a bit of fabric to mend his wings, it's an old leather-wing trick, if you're wings are ripped or have a chunk missing, you sew some fabric into where the missing membrane is and then cover it with a layer of clay made with unicorn water, then after about two weeks you take off the clay and the fabric would have transformed into viable tissue."

"Wow, that's impressive," Rowen commented, "that would be a nice trick to show Wales, you never know when he might need it."

N:   "I agree, that will definitely be useful if he were ever to be injured," Anglo nodded before turning back to Esha, "I think there may be some spare pieces of fabric in the tailoring room, and I will definitely get some snacks for Aslan."

The Englishman left the room, and after a while came back with some fabric draped over one of his arms while he carried a bag of food for the manticore in the other.

"I wasn't sure of what Aslan would eat," the country commented as he handed the materials over to the Eternal, "but I brought some food that a feline might eat, since he is part lion."

M:   "Perfect, manticores are basically just lions with extra bits, so they'll eat whatever a lion does," Esha said, pouring out the contents of the bag for Aslan, "and besides, Aslan was most likely a normal lion at some point, weren't you buddy."

Aslan purred in response, licking Esha's face with glee, earning some laughter from the eternal, "Who knew manticores were so cuddly, it's a shame Eternals were a natural prey to them, they would have made great guard animals."

"Why is that a normal statement for you," Mandoria asked, "being natural prey to something, did eternals not really care when their peers got eaten?"

"Well of course we did, but it was all part of nature," the draconic entity said, "being prey to something meant that we couldn't overpopulate, that way the other creatures would be able to keep their natural territories and we wouldn't need to expand so much. Once you stop being prey to something, once you break the food chain and are no longer having your population being controlled, that's when you need to destroy other creatures just to provide for your species. The humans have always been against nature, nothing will change that, but now that Eternals are taking their side, I expect the next extinction event to happen much sooner than the last one."

N:   "But hopefully not too soon," Anglo added, "even if it is inevitable, I would like to live a bit more before being swept up in the next extinction event."

"Same here," Johann nodded, "I would very much like to grow old, but you," he pointed at the Englishman, "you've been around for a long while."

"Not as long as Esha and Mandoria here," the country chuckled, "but touché."

M:   "I wouldn't even put myself in the same classification as Esha," Mandoria chuckled, "she's older than every countryhuman that's coming to this ball combined, I'm pretty sure she's older than most of the boys as well, right?"

"Yeah, I'm the second oldest of all of us, Odrus takes the top spot," she agreed, "still not old enough to master healing spells yet, though we mostly try not to use them since it's so draining."

They all chatted for the next hour or so, Esha got Aslan all fixed up and just needed to make the clay, but she would do that later, now everyone waited for the doctor to tell them when they could see Prudoria.

N:   After what seemed like forever, the doctor finally came back out to report on the progress of Prudoria's recovery.

"We have eventually gotten most of the shrapnel out of him now," the doctor reported, "and only a trace remains, which is negligible enough to patch him up. But- umm ..."

"But," Anglo questioned, "what's the matter?"

"Wings have historically been fragile, and we don't know how much the bullets will affect Master Prudoria's wings," the doctor replied uneasily, "and we can only know when he is fully conscious. Right now, he barely responds to various stimuli."

M:   The Mandorians glanced at each other with worry, Esha also was concerned with this information.

"So you're saying that there is a possibility that Pruds wings could be permanently damaged," she reiterated.

"Sounds like it," Rowen sighed, "Poor kid, he barely even knew how to fly, now he might not again."

Mandoria was especially distraught, he knew how it felt to be grounded because of bad wings, and he felt that it was his fault this all happened in the first place, was he now responsible for his son's possible permanent flightlessness?"

"Can we see him yet," he asked in a shaky voice, "I need to see how bad it is, please."

N:   "Yes, you may," the doctor nodded, leading them all inside the infirmary, all the way to the end where makeshift curtains were made to separate the Prussian from the rest of the patients.

When they arrived, the doctor peeked around the curtain to see if everyone was ok, then gave the thumbs up so that the group can see Prudoria.

The country was lying face up in bed, motionless with both wings wrapped up in bandages and held in braces while various doctors and nurses were patching up his smaller injuries.

Johann carefully approached his brother, and his eyes were quickly fixated on the large amount of bandages around his abdomen, and how they were already stained red.

"Can he hear us," the Mandorian asked the doctor.

"He probably can," the doctor replied, "even if he looks like he's sleeping, he can make the smallest of responses. Try holding his hand."

M:   When Johann did as told and held Prudoria's hand, there was the smallest, tiniest squeeze from it, hardly even noticeable, but just enough to signify that he could hear them. Mandoria and Rowen were immediately relieved about what their older son told them, they were worried he could have been in a coma, thank goodness that was not the case.

"Hang in there, buddy," Rowen whispered to him, gently rubbing his forehead, "you're going to be alright now, no one is going to hurt you anymore."

Mandoria smiled at that, a wave of relief washed over him now that he knew those words were true and not just hopeful, he turned to Anglo and patted his shoulder, "Come on up, you found him, he should know you're here too."

"It's fine," Anglo shook his head, "I want you all to have your moment with him first," but after enough peer pressure, he stepped forward and held Prudoria's hand, smiling at the tiny squeeze.

"I don't know if you can actually hear me, but I wish you a swift recovery, Prudoria," the Englishman spoke, "and for you to stay strong."

M:   Prudoria squeezed a little harder when Anglo spoke, and a reassuring sensation entered the two winged countries' feathers, as if saying not to worry, that he'll hang on for them. Esha felt it too, her leather wings being much more sensitive than Wales's, and she smiled that everything was going to be ok now.

The family stayed with the Prussian for as long as they could, only leaving after the doctor said that Prudoria needed rest, though Aslan was adamant about sleeping at the foot of his owner's bed to protect him.

"Alright, that's one missing child down, now we have one more to go," Esha announced, "I still need to figure out where Sleipner has gone to, so I'll see you guys around."

N:   "Make sure you don't get lost," Anglo warned, "we don't want a repeat of yesterday, do we?"

Johann shook his head, "Nein, we don't. See you in a bit, Esha," as he waved her goodbye.

Once she was gone, the Mandorian asked, "What now?"

M:   "Well, I think some people need to get some sleep," Rowen stated, gesturing to the two countryhumans, "don't think I didn't notice the bags under your eyes, you two must have stayed awake all night for Prudoria, well now that he's safe you both should go get some sleep."

Mandoria was about to retort but a yawn cut him off, so he reluctantly agreed, then looked to Anglo for his response.

N:   "I think it is the best for everyone if we did rest," Anglo nodded as he stifled a yawn, "well I wish you all a good night ... morning to you all then."

-----

Many hours later, a small gathering had formed in one of the basements, open to training while the winter blew its freezing winds outside. Although the room was cold, it was much more bearable, and a fireplace heated up the room.

Wanting Heinrich to be more in his comfort zone, Wolfgang and Erna decided to drag the Saxon down to where they heard Royal and America had been dueling, so they wanted to join, meanwhile Johann came along to watch.

Slowly, one by one, they faced off the Brit, but each one fell short and lost; however, Wolfe kept going for the longest.

"I'm impressed," the hybrid smirked, helping the Saxon up since she knocked him down, "you've clearly deserved the role as knight, Wolfe, and I could only imagine that you would be a wonderful soldier in my army."

Turning to the small crowd, she announced, "Does anyone else want to duel me, whether to practice or an actual duel I don't mind, as long as you believe you're up to it."

M:   "I'll give it a shot," Odrus volunteered, "it's been a long since I've dueled someone."

There were a few snickers from the group, mostly from those who thought he was actually blind and didn't know he could see spirits. That was the thing though, he could see spirits, but not inanimate objects, and he also had the power to hide the spirits from his vision and become completely blind.

"Would you like me to hide my spirit vision, Royal," he asked as he was handed a sword, "it won't make a difference to me, but I know that you like a challenge."

N:   "I sure do," Royal nodded although watched h easily as Odrus' sword balanced in his palm and did a few practice swings; clearly he was a skilled swordsman.

Once everything was done, they got into their starting positions, the hybrid's wings tucked neatly behind her as she tightly gripped her sword.

"When this feather lands on the floor, you start," stated one of the soldiers there, and when they let go, the dark feather slowly drifted down until it finally hit the stone floor.

M:   Odrus obviously could not see the feather fall, but when he felt the vibration of it touching the floor, he could also feel the heavy footfall of Royal lunging forward, expecting him to do the same. Instead, he dodged to the left and slammed his elbow into the country's nape to disorient and stun her. While she was laying on the ground, he sat on her back to keep her from getting up, and to humiliate her.

"Well that was easy," he said smugly, "should we do two out of three?"

N:   There were a few snickering from the crowd, to which Royal muttered, "Fine, and get off my back."

"Don't humiliate yourself, general," America jeered, to which he laughed a bit more when the hybrid dusted off her clothes and gave the American the finger.

When they had gotten back to their starting positions, the Brit nodded at the self-proclaimed referee, and when the feather touched the floor, she went much more on the defensive, waiting for the Eternal to act so that she will counter.

M:   This time Oderus was the one who lunged forward, but when Royal tried to use the same tactic he did, he used his momentum to tuck and roll away from her elbow, then stood up to resume the fight.

Neflen and Uskaine were there two, both just watching since they didn't believe they were qualified for a fair fight, though they were very impressed with Odrus's fighting, they had never even seen him touch a sword, he was a healer, not a fighter, yet he was quite skilled in combat. It didn't matter what Royal did, he always seemed to know where she was and what she was going to do, it was almost supernatural, even by Eternal standards.

By the time they passed Wolfe's record, the eternal wasn't even struggling, in fact, he seemed to become bored as he was yawning and taunting Royal.

"Come on, slow poke, I've seen ankylosaurus move faster than this," he mocked, "those things were 8-ton mountains with stubby legs, yet they could run faster than you can swing a sword."

N:   Royal wasn't paying attention to the Eternal, more focused on studying Odrus' technique, so she zoned him out. Although she got the basics of his skill, she was having trouble knowing how he could predict her attacks.

"I'm out, your turn," Royal muttered to herself, and while Odrus swung his sword at her, she ducked and closed her eyes, and as she did, she immediately lunged forward and knocked the other unbalance.

There was a smirk on the hybrid's face, and hidden under her eyepatch was a bronze iris, although the average onlooker wouldn't notice the switch. With her sword in hand, Wren danced around the Eternal, not afraid to hurt him if it meant she would win.

With a much wilder and chaotic fighting style, the secondary alter was largely unpredictable, and Royal would warn her at the back of her mind if anything was approaching outside her peripheral vision. Where Royal would restrain herself from hurting Odrus, Wren would follow through.

"Come on, old man," she laughed, even when the Eternal landed a blow, "scared to hurt the little birdy?"

M:   "Well, I didn't want you to cry that your feathers were ruined, Princess," Oderus chuckled, "what's your excuse, afraid that this old man might break his hip, well, not before I break your back."

The eternal noticed that Wren's footfalls were a bit more erratic than her sister's, but it was still clear that she was underestimating him, so he threw away his sword and cracked his knuckles, "how about we make this a bit more interesting, hey Neflen, give me a beat, would you."

"Oh hell yeah," Neflen cheered, summoning a stereo and hitting play, "you're fucked Wren, it's dance battle time!"

Odrus smirked, he may have not been much of a sparer, but everyone knew he was the king of dance fighting, the music not only helped him build a better picture of his surroundings, but he seemed to hear it in a different way than others. First, he was dancing up close with the confused Wren, trying to bring her guard down as much as possible, even pulling America over to join. Then all at once, when he was back to front with the country, he jerked his head back and it slammed into her face, following it up with a kick to America's stomach.

N:   Wren was completely taken by surprise, wildly swinging her sword to hit something as she landed on the ground. America too did double over, on his hands and knees as he felt the wind knocked right out of him.

"How was that even allowed," the Brit questioned as she unsteadily stood up, ready for another round when in the corner of her eye she saw the American gripping Odrus' sword and seemingly muttering to himself.

"America, let go of the sword," her voice low and full of seriousness, and when he didn't move she growled, "America, do as you're ordered."

After a moment of hesitation, he finally did let go, to which the other sighed and told him to head over to the other side of the room where she could keep an eye on him.

With that sorted, all of Wren's attention was on Odrus, her mood dampened by the American, "I will keep at this all day if I have to," she spoke.

M:   "Good, because I'm far from done," Odrus claimed, still dancing, "and you didn't have to shoo away the kid like that, it just would have made things interesting."

While they continued to fight, or whatever they were doing now, Uskaine looked over at the pendulum clock on the wall, tutting at the time, "They're going to be at this for a long while, I have that appointment at the stables in fifteen minutes to get my new shoes," he turned to Johann and Heinrich, "I don't suppose you two would like to join me, I admit that I'm a little nervous."

N:   Johann nodded, "ja, I don't mind coming along."

"I'll like to see how this duel will pan out," Heinrich muttered, staring intently at Odrus and Wren; "you guys can go ahead and I'll catch up to you later."

M:   Uskaine smiled and ruffled his son's hair, he requested that Neflen record the fight so he could watch it later, then the two headed off to the stables. When they arrived, they saw Rowen feeding Star Dust and her foal, they stopped for a moment to say hi.

"I don't think I ever learned her name," the centaur noted, letting the baby sniff him, "I'm guessing you weren't the one who named her."

"Unfortunately not, she was born before we came here," Rowen said, "she was named Rose Quarts, which I think fits her quite well. She got the rose from her father's chestnut fur, and the quarts from her mother's white patch on their eyes."

"I agree, she is a pretty little thing, we were coming here for my appointment, though it was nice to see you two."

"Certainly, I can't wait to see your new shoes, have fun now."

With that, the two went to the back where the blacksmith was, who was busy shoeing another horse. Though Uskaine was alarmed when the man pressed the red-hot shoe against the horse's hoof, "woah woah, no one told me the shoes would still be hot when they were put on!"

N:   "Huh," the blacksmith questioned in surprise, holding a couple of nails in his mouth as he blew the billowing smoke away.

"There are lots of benefits to having the horses hot-fitted," Johann explained, "it kills any bacteria and it sears the hoof to the shoe, which is helpful for wet conditions where you don't want there to be a gap for water. Although, we should have warned you about it, for your own sake."

"The horses don't feel a thing," the blacksmith continued as he sanded down the hoof to properly fit the shoe, "if they did, I would have been kicked by now."

When he had seared the hoof and made sure it was the right shape, he proceeded to place the shoe back on and nail it into place, and in the next ten minutes, the horse had a new shoe. The blacksmith smiled and patted the steed down, leading the animal outside for a stablehand to take it away.

With that done, the burly man walked up to Uskaine, "Don't worry, I've done this for a long time and I wouldn't hurt any of the horses. I'm Ivor by the way."

M:   "O-ok, it's nice to officially meet you, Mr. Ivor, my name is Uskaine," Uskaine greeted, trying to shake off his shock, "apologies for the shout, I was just surprised for a second. I know that it won't hurt, I guess I'm just nervous since it's my first time."

He took another moment to calm himself down, then placed a hoof on the stand so the blacksmith could look it over.

"I don't know if it has any importance with hooves, but I did a little research and I believe I'm a mix between an American Paint and a Percheron," the centaur stated, "on the topic of the actual shoes, I don't suppose you have something that is on the thinner side, I don't want to add too much height, I already struggle getting through doors, but at the same time still durable enough for me to pull carts and heavy loads."

N:   "I'll see what I can do," Ivor hummed as he pulled out a tool from his belt and began to clip off overgrown parts of the hoof before sanding it down. "The thinness will compromise the durability of the shoe," the blacksmith continued, "so there would be some height added."

When he had finished prepping the hoof, Ivor lumbered over to the furnace where the heated shoe sat, and with a large pair of tongs pulled it out and hammered it into shape, each strike with the hammer as powerful as the last.

When he was done, he came over with the red-hot shoe, and he warned, "This won't hurt, but just be mentally ready."

M:   "Ok, I'm ready as I'll ever be," Uskaine said nervously, "though I apologize ahead if I do flinch a little."

With that said, Ivor placed the shoe against the hoof and it started sizzling, that startled Uskaine a little but he held as still as possible. Within a few minutes it was done, Uskaine did a few test laps to get a feel of it, and was pretty satisfied with it.

"It feels a little funny, but I'm sure that's normal, I'll get used to it," he declared, "excellent job though, you're quite the craftsman."

N:   "Thank the years of hard work," Ivor smiled, happy that a piece of his work had satisfied the centaur, "now we got to do the other three so you can truly see how it feels."

With that, the blacksmith was back to work, heating up the other shoes before clipping and sanding down Uskaine's other hooves, and after an hour, the job was done and the Eternal had all his shoes on.

M:   Uskaine walked around again to get a feel of his shoes, they made his hooves feel a little heavier than before, causing him to take comedically larger steps, but he was sure he would be walking normally after a few days.

"Fantastic work, my friend, I couldn't ask for anything better," he smiled, "thank you again, Mr. Ivor, how long will it be before I need to get new ones?"

Before the blacksmith could answer, a loud slam came from the doorway, startling the three and a few of the horses. Esha was there, she was panting and had a look of rage in her eyes, but the most obvious thing about her was the blood that ran from her head to her tail, which clearly was not from her.

"You there, grab your tools now," she spat at the blacksmith, smoke flowing from her mouth as she spoke, "I've got a bound horse that needs to be released from the slavery of the Short-lives, and if you hurt him I will gladly gut you too, understand!"

N:   Ivor froze at the sight of Esha, while Johann asked, "What happened?"

"Ask questions later," the blacksmith quickly answered, packing the tools closest to him, "just leads me to the horse and I promise I will not hurt him."

M:   Esha huffed in indignation, seeming not to believe the blacksmith, but she wordlessly led him away to the pasture, Uskaine and Johann following after. There was quite a bit of commotion outside, stablehands were gathered at the doorway and were talking amongst each other with worry, Esha roughly pushed them aside and marched towards a downed animal.

She had found Sleipnir, but she had found him in the hands of humans, he had thick shackles binding his legs and neck, and a halter was tightly wrapped around his muzzle. A bright yellow tag was pinned onto his ear, and a painted brand saying "Sold" was on his flank. The poor Sigven looked slightly malnourished and there were several whip marks on his back and rear end.

"Esha ... what happened," Uskaine asked, his voice was quite nervous sounding.

"Those ... damn ... humans ... stole my best friend ... and tried to sell him," Esha forced herself to say, she was too angry to talk, "they broke him, and chained him up in a damn box, and dared tell me to piss off when I tried to take him back!"

A chuckle left her lips, a chuckle that could terrify satan himself, she then reached into her bag and pulled out a severed head, starring at it with madness in her eyes, "Well, I took really good care of them, he can't buy my friend without his head, now can you?"

Esha turned to the blacksmith, "Once you free him, get the best medic you can and make sure he is well taken care of, or else I'll stake your head in front of the castle along with this fucker, you got that, human?"

N:   Ivor wordlessly nodded, glancing at the severed head as he got to work, meanwhile, Johann looked like he was about to be sick from the sight of the head.

Whipping out his tools, he could see that the steed was frightened by them so he quickly hushed him as he used a wire saw to cut through the chains and shackles, being careful to avoid contact at all times.

When he began to remove the muzzle,

Sleipnir flinched, making the blacksmith also flinched. For a split second, he thought that Esha had a sword ready to decapitate him.

The progress was slow as he didn't want to hurt the creature any further, but eventually, he was able to get the muzzle and shackles off, but he stared at the tag in disbelief.

"I can remove that," he spoke quietly, "but only if you don't do anything. It will hurt him if I remove the tag, but I will be as gentle as possible, so you have to promise me to not come for my head."

"Meanwhile I'll go and get the medics," the Mandorian added, already leaving the group."

M:   Esha stared hard at the blacksmith, "fine," she grunted, "I'll let you have this pass, you've been gentle so far so I think I can trust you, for now. Uskaine, keep an eye on him, I need to go make an example of the buyer."

She marched off to do that, Uskaine apologized to everyone for her threats and reassured them that she would not go through with them. Meanwhile, the draconic Eternal made her way to the main courtyard with a spear in hand, ignoring the horrified screams from passers-by. Picking a spot that was in full view of BE's room, she stuck the spear in the ground and the head onto that, letting the blood turn the snow red.

Summoning a paper, she wrote in the man's blood a single warning:

"May this be a lesson to all; money is printed in blood, and those who buy other creatures must pay with their own"

With that, she tacked the sign to the forehead of her victim, shifted into her dragon form to let out a territorial roar, then walked back to her fallen friend, knowing full well that the roar will attract people to her masterpiece.

N:   BE jolted at the sound of screams and the roar attracted him to the situation below. Peering out of his office window, he sighed at the sight of the severed head, barely making out the note.

"Are you going to have that monstrosity taken down," PE asked, treating some of the cuts that the empire sustained from the fallen glass.

"Not today," the Brit hummed, "unless someone is willing to lose an arm to her. No, let it stay there until she cools down, then we can take it down."

"At least before the Yule ball?"

"Definitely."

———

Ivor moved quickly, trying to get most of the painful parts of removing the tag before Esha returned, and when she did, he slowed down and began to cut away at the tag.

Finally it came to the main piercing , and the blacksmith slowly separated the two halves , sliding them out until finally it was out, leaving a hole in Sleipnir's ear.

M:   Esha unshifted when she came closer, kneeling next to Sleipnir's head and petting him comfortingly, the tired Sigven only managing to whimper in pain. It took a few minutes, but the eternal's bloodred eyes faded to green, then turquoise, then blue as her anger subsided to sadness.

"Thank you," she finally murmured to Ivor, "I'm sorry for my threats, Sleipnir is my oldest friend, we've been together for as long as I can remember, I couldn't stand the thought of losing him."

"You're not going to lose him, Esha," Uskaine reassured her, "Sleip won't give up that easily, he's a fighter with a whole family he's fighting for, I promise it all will be ok."

Esha wouldn't respond, she held her friend's head in her lap and buried her face in his mane, trying her hardest not to cry.

N:   Johann finally came back with the medics, and with the help of Ivor, dispersed the crowd so that Esha could have a quiet moment with Sleipnir.

"I don't know why anyone would want to hurt such a magnificent creature," the blacksmith commented, "and what the person did was illegal either way, so they fully deserved it."

"Is it actually illegal," the Mandorian questioned.

"To shackle up a horse, yes," the blacksmith nodded, "although there has always been a problem of horses being tied up in the hidden parts of this country, so regulation has been tough."

M:   "Knowing Sleip, he didn't give them a choice in the matter," Esha chuckled ruefully, "Sigvens are omnivores, but very deadly predators as well, it's not uncommon for the occasional eternal to be killed by one."

"Which is why this situation is even more bizarre," Uskaine commented, "how did humans manage to wrangle a mostly wild Sigven, it usually takes a large group of eternals to do that."

"Can we not talk about that please," Esha pleaded, "I don't want to think about how my best friend was captured, I already have to live with the image of the horrendous living conditions he and other horses were kept in. Thankfully, I made sure to burn that place to the ground and free its prisoners, no longer will it and the demons that used it bring pain to innocent animals."

Uskaine sighed at this, he kneeled down and offered a hug to comfort Esha, which she gladly accepted, the centaur then looked to Johann and gestured his head to her, indicating that she would appreciate his comfort too.

N:   Johann came over and sat beside her, giving her a side hug while he petted Sleipnir.

"He will be fine, Esha," he reassured her, "he's tough and won't die to a bunch of humans. Just be strong for him and he will make it."

After doing as much as they could outside, the medics requested that the steed be moved indoors closer to their supplies, where they can treat Sleip better, to which the Mandorian turned to the Eternal to see if she was fine with it.

M:   Esha gave a simple nod in response, she knew that it would be better for him to be in the stables right now, even though she wanted to get him back to Edel and the cubs, the stables would be a better environment for healing. She squeezed her friends one more time, then shifted back into a dragon to help move Sleipnir inside, wrapping her tail around him as carefully as possible.

Once inside, the medics led her to a special recovery pen for injured horses, she was thankful that it was bigger than the normal stalls, she wasn't sure if he would even fit in one. After he was laid down and the medics went back to work, she resumed her spot next to her steed and continued to comfort him.

"Poor Edel, he has no idea what happened to his mate," she muttered, "and because the cubs are not ready to go outside yet, it will be a while before they can see each other again."

N:   "We will have to break the news to Edel eventually," Johann commented, "we don't want him worry about if Sleipnir will be safe."

M:   "I know," Esha murmured, "I can only imagine what his reaction would be, he'd probably go burn down what I missed."

The eternal wiped her eyes with her sleeves, smearing more blood onto her face, which caused Uskaine to shake his head and sigh. "Alright honey, let's go get you cleaned up," he said, picking her up in his arms, "you don't know where those crooks have been, you could get malaria like this."

Esha didn't argue or struggle, she allowed herself to be picked up and carried back inside, though not before thanking Ivor again.

"We better hope that Scotland doesn't see us," Uskaine commented to Johann, "he's going to have a heart attack if he sees his Òrail covered in blood and not know it came from someone else."