N:   Wilfred and Royal arrived an hour later, having to organize the guests, running into the open with a couple of servants who lit up the area, and were shocked at the destruction around them.After checking on everyone, Royal began to coordinate a response, ordering the servants to bring the medics. Meanwhile, Wilfred was looking around, trying to find a certain Prussian. 

"We can forget about him for now," the hybrid spoke as a couple of soldiers arrived, "right now we need to get everyone inside." 

Yes, inside," the twin repeated to himself as he looked at the ruins of the rookery, "I guess BE has to put out a statement about what happened, and his declaration of war." 

Royal sighed, not particularly happy that she had to be dragged into another war, but she pushed it aside as she walked over to Prudoria. Seeing that he needed the most attention, she tried to wake Esha up so that she could get the Prussian.

M:   Esha groaned as she was rudely awoken, it took her a while to realize it was Royal who awoke her. She uncurled around Prudoria and gently licked him to try to wake him up, though she was rewarded only with a few whines of pain and his wings twitching.

 While the hybrid looked over Prudoria, Esha told her what Prometheus had done, except instead of Prometheus being there, Esha took credit for the deal, thinking it would make more sense than some random shadow person.

 "I didn't have a choice, he was too powerful, I had to make the deal," she said, "Rest assured, he can't hurt anyone with magic anymore, and considering my threats, I don't think he will mess with us anymore either."

N:   Royal nodded, "At least that's one thing off our plate, now we need to help you all." 

When she saw the medics come over, she beckoned them over to Prudoria to patch him up on the spot while she went over to her brother and repeated what Esha said. 

Wilfred nodded, saying that he was going to forward it to BE before shivering. "Be quick," he said to the hybrid as he began to walk back inside, "there's already a layer of snow on everyone, and we don't want hypothermia on our hands." 

With Wil gone, Royal began to help the medics out, moving people onto stretchers for the soldiers to carry everyone back to the infirmary. 

Soon only Esha and Prudoria were left, and the medics warned that the infirmary was full, so the Brit made a suggestion. "Let's take you to one of the common rooms," she said, "at least we will be out of the snow."

M:   Esha nodded in understanding, she had been going around and shrinking her fellow eternals, just enough so that they could be brought inside, carrying a full-grown tyrannosaurus and a dragon would have been pretty difficult after all. She went back to Prudoria and gently picked the griffin up by his scruff, limping after Royal as she led her inside. 

They ultimately decided to go to Edel's room, it was safe and warm anyway, and when they got there the dragon didn't mind having some guests.

"How is everyone else," she asked, "Mandoria and Anglo, are they okay, and what about the guests?"

N:   "They're safe in the infirmary, along with anyone else who was injured," Royal answered as she made herself comfortable in a chair, "all the guests went back to their rooms and are getting ready to leave for their journeys whether it be tomorrow or the following day." 

Staring at the snowflakes as they landed on the window, she continued, "There was some tension between the insurgents and their respective empires, and it doesn't help that they're still under the influence of the venom. With Prudoria still out cold, we haven't been able to remove the collars on Mandoria, Anglo, and CW; we're doing our best but they have been pretty submissive. CW is definitely worse." 

Once the medics had done all they could do, they bid everyone good night before leaving, and when they did, the hybrid advised that they should sleep. 

"I'll stay here if you need anything," she said as she got up and began to form a pile of cushions on the floor near the window, further away from everyone so to give them space. Not giving a second thought that she was still in uniform, she laid down on her stomach, curled up into a ball, and used her wings as a blanket. "Good night," she muttered.

M:   "Good night," Esha responded back, or at least she hoped it would be a good night, she didn't think there would be any trouble, just some people waking up screaming from nightmares. Nonetheless, she lay her head down and went to sleep, wrapping a protective wing over Prudoria.

N:    The night soon turned into day, and BE called a meeting with all the empires and kingdoms. In the meeting, he announced his declaration of war on the Kingdom of Prussia, and although some had questioned if there was a point since the Prussian was disinterested with the British, the Brit made his point clear. 

He wanted the Prussian to pay for the suffering he had caused.

While many had sided with the Brit, some had decided to opt out of the war, although they still showed their support. For the few who didn't support the British, they were highly advised to leave, or in BE's words, "better leave before I wage a war with you too". 

By noon, some countries had left, notably Castile, Aragon, and their son after SE refused to side with BE. 

In Edel's room, everyone was still fast asleep until Royal jolted awake when she heard a knock. After a couple of seconds, BE stepped into the room and asked if Prudoria was awake.

M:   Prudoria was awake, though it didn't really look like it from how ill he looked, Esha was comforting him as best as she could, preening the feathers on his head and keeping him warmly wrapped up in her wings and tail. 

"He's awake, he's just battling an infection," she informed him, "Thunderbirds have some nasty bacteria in their bites, being a fishing avian, they tend to hunt whales, mosasaurs, and large hippocampi, and having a nasty bite means they can bite once and leave the prey to die of infection, then go pick up the carcass later. Luckily Prussia's bite wasn't that bad, it's just going to take a little bit for the illness to pass on those who have been bitten."

N:   BE nodded, "I see, well, just call me when he is no longer in pain." 

"Why did you come here in the first place," Royal spoke as she got up, then she thought about what happened the day before, "did you want to say something to Prudoria?" 

The empire only glanced at the Prussian, and after a moment of silence, finally replied. "I just wanted to thank him for saving my life," he answered, "and putting his life before Grandpa, and honestly being incredibly brave by standing against Prussia."

M:   Prudoria opened his eyes and stared at BE, it didn't look like it, but it truly meant the world to him that the empire thanked him, it felt like he finally earned his respect. 

"Don't thank me, I was just protecting my family," he said quietly, "You have viewed me as a threat and untrustworthy, but you were still my family, you still took me in when I had nowhere to go. I would stand up to Satan himself to protect you, and I suppose I did, but I would do it all over again if I had to." 

With that said, Prudoria shakily tried to stand up, Esha attempted to stop him but he insisted he was fine."I'm guessing you really came to get me to remove Father's and Anglo's collars, I think I have enough energy to do that, shall we?"

N:   BE sighed as he stepped aside for Prudoria, "Let's go."

"And you're not going to deny that you only came so Pruds would remove the collars," Royal raised a brow as she walked over to them.

"Follow us and see what we're dealing with," the empire said simply as they walked towards the infirmary, and the hybrid could already hear a multitude of voices from the room. 

When they opened the door, they were greeted with a busy room, all the beds filled up from the fight yesterday, whether they were actually fighting Prussia or caught in the crossfire. In one corner, all the beds were occupied by insurgents, some of them with restraints while others were passed out. In the other corner were the Mandorians, and further along was CW, accompanied by DR, and Anglo. 

"The Mandorians haven't left Mandoria's bedside," the empire pointed out, then he gestured to Saxon, who stood between the empires and the insurgent, "and Grandfather hasn't been able to relax all night. Getting these collars off would help with a lot of things."

M:   Prudoria blankly observed the room, like he didn't have any energy to show emotion. He went over to his family first, they all hugged him and made sure he was ok, then he touched Mandoria's collar with his beak and it fell off, much to the relief of the Mandorian. 

Prudoria then went over and repeated the process with Anglo and Commonwealth, smiling slightly when their significant others hugged them both. With his tasks done, he began to hobble away towards the door.

N:   Seeing that Prudoria was leaving, Johann quickly rushed to his side, wondering why he had to go. 

"He's still weak from yesterday," Royal explained while the Mandorian helped stabilize his brother, "and there isn't any space here so he's going back to where he was staying." 

"Then I'll go with you," the Mandorian spoke as he turned to his brother with a smile, "I'm not leaving you."

M:   Prudoria stared at him for a moment before smiling and rubbing against his face, "Thank you, brother, I don't mind the company, though I may just be sleeping the whole time." 

The two bid everyone else good day and slowly headed back to Edel's room. When they got there they saw that all the dragons were still asleep, so Prudoria dragged himself back over to Esha and lay back down with her to go back to sleep.

N:   Johann watched as Prudoria fell asleep, and standing by what he said, he sat in a nearby chair so that he was with him. 

Eventually, after finally being able to relax since yesterday, exhaustion finally hit him as he too dozed off in his seat.

M:   Esha woke up after a little bit, and seeing that Prudoria was being taken care of, she stood up to stretch her legs. Walking around, she was checking on the countries that were not injured, and tried her best to entertain them and hopefully make light of what happened.

N:   While Esha was talking, HRE was doing his best to avoid as many countries as possible. With the, although clear, revelation of Prussia and his relationship, countries and humans alike have been asking him questions. 

It got to the point where the German was overwhelmed so he hid. Finding a common room that was empty, he muttered a couple of words before entering, and once he closed the door behind him, the door seemingly disappeared on the outside. 

Finally, alone, the empire relaxed as he collapsed onto a sofa, and as he faced the fireplace, his veil slowly disappeared. 

The veil that covered his face was his magic at work. He was surprised how very few pointed out how his veil never revealed his face when flying, how it seemed to always cover his face, because the truth is that it wasn't real. 

Slowly, he opened his eyes, not two, nor three, but seven eyes. Two places above where eyes would normally be placed, another two below, and one in his forehead, arranged in a semi-circle. Only Republic of Venice has seen his face. 

Rubbing his face, he muttered to himself, "Prussia, what have you done?"

M:   As it turned out, HRE wasn't quite as alone as he thought, as the books on a random shelf started moving and a few fell off, then the tiny face of Sofia popped out from behind her hiding spot. 

"Hah, you found me," she beamed, not at all bothered by HRE's new appearance, "now you're it, I find you now!" 

She jumped off the shelf and skipped over to the adult, but when she noticed his troubled demeanor her own changed to concern.

 "Is something wrong, are you ok," she asked.

N:   As soon as he heard her voice, HRE made his veil reappear, but he knew he was too late so he just sighed. 

"It's just," he began but then he shook his head, "forget it; it's not important. Why are you hiding?"

M:   "I'm playing hide and seek," she responded innocently, "I like to hide from my daddies." 

Sensing that HRE was still upset, she climbed onto his lap and lay across it, kneading her hands and paw and purring quietly. She would do this whenever BE or Saxon were overworking themselves and were stressed, it always calmed them down and forced them to take a break. 

"So you're just like us, you're special too," she then addressed, "Why not tell my family, they would keep your secret, then you won't be alone anymore."

N:   The empire, relaxed, tilted his head at Sofia when he heard the proposal. Petting her, he thought about it but shook his head.

 "Nein, I would rather die with my secret than let more people know," he replied, and then he suddenly stopped petting her as he let out a deep sigh, "I'm just a freak of nature and people just avoided me when they saw my face. Even when I joined KoF's family, I was singled out even when they didn't know my secret." 

The empire looked back up at the fireplace, watching as flames danced. "The humans made me feel like a monster, so I hid," he continued, "When Prussia was finally born, I was overjoyed that he didn't have my eyes, but then I soon learned that while he looked normal, he became the monster. I even saw it in Deutsche's eyes, the monster in him. I guess it runs in the family."

M:   Sofia stared at him while he spoke, somehow understanding how he felt despite being so young. 

"People think my family are monsters too, Auntie Esha was almost killed because of it," she murmured, "The only ones who are treated okay are Unkles Neflen and Odrus, though people are afraid of Odrus's eyes." 

After a moment of silence, she offered, "I could go get Auntie Esha, She knows how you feel the best, you don't have to show her anything, but talking to her might help you feel better."

N:   HRE thought about it and nodded, patting her head, although he reminded her as she went to leave.

"I'm never joining your family," he spoke, his tone suggesting his seriousness, "I would rather spend Yule with my son than a mirror of myself." 

With that, he walked over to the door and tapped twice, now the door was visible again in the corridor, and he opened it for the young child to leave.

M:   "You don't have to join if you don't want to," she said innocently, "We can just be friends, then you won't be lonely." 

She hopped along to track down Esha, taking care to avoid the clumsy feet of people not looking where they were going. She eventually found the adult taking with some guests, still in her feral form, so she politely waited until they were done to lead her back to HRE. 

The draconic eternal ducked into the door and nodded in greeting to the empire. "Hello there HRE, Sofia said you wanted to see me, What can I help you with?"

N:   "It's more of Sofia believing that you are the right person to talk to than me wanting help, but I digress," HRE replied, not moving his sights from the fireplace. 

While Sofia was gone, he actually contemplated if he wanted to talk, and figured that he would rather be alone. Instead of seeking help to be accepted, he saw an opportunity to ask someone who was also alone." 

"Have you ever gotten over the feeling that people see you as a monster," he finally asked.

M:   Esha was taken aback by the question, no she didn't think it was an insult, Sofia briefly and vaguely explained that HRE was an eternal, she was just a little shocked that he would use the term monster to describe her. 

"Well, look at me, I don't exactly look like a cuddly poodle, now do I," she said, lying down, "trust me, people still think of me as a terrifying, bloodthirsty beast, and even in my normal form I'm not any less intimidating. It's hard to get over something when it still happens to you." 

She looked the empire up and down, trying to find something different about him, "Why do you ask, from here you don't look like a monster, It's not like countries with four wings are unheard of, you look less monstrous than me."

N:   HRE turned right at Esha, and without a second to think, he let his veil go transparent to reveal his face for a second before it returned to normal. 

"The thing is that you're part of a species which have draconic features, so even if others see you as a monster, you know you're normal to your species," he spoke, "meanwhile I just look like your ordinary country but a face so different I look like I've been cursed." 

Facing the flames again, he clicked his tongue as he grumbled, "I should have never shown my face."

M:   Esha wasn't phased by HRE's face, she only made a sound of understanding. 

"You are normal, you're just a different kind of normal, you are a hybrid like Sofia," she explained, "Sofia's parents were a naga and a griffin, Askad is her father, and her mother was also named Sofia, but passed away after birth. You sir are a mix of a Cherubim and an Arachne; a four-winged country and a spider centaur, It is very common for the descendants of an arachne to have multiple eyes, more often than not that is the only feature they will share with their offspring." 

Esha finally unshifted and returned to her regular form, "I get it, people are going to be a little scared, and if you want to hide your face that's fine, but what you have has been shared by millions before you, Arachne repopulate like rabbits after all."

N:   HRE stayed silent for a moment and bowed his head, and after a moment started to chuckle. 

"And now they're all dead," HRE added onto what the Eternal said, bluntly, "all killed by the human beings who called me a monster." 

The German stood up and walked up to the Eternal, pausing for a moment before he spoke. 

"Danke, for reminding me of parents I can't even remember," he scoffed, "danke for explaining why I have this hideous face, and danke for making me wish that I was never an Eternal. Oh, and there is one thing you don't get; people will not only see me as a monster, they'll see me as the monster who also is the father of one." 

With that the empire stormed off, regretting the choice to open up at all.

M:   Esha was surprised at first, but the realization of her words finally hit her and she cursed herself for it, so she ran after him to apologize. 

"HRE wait," she exclaimed, grabbing his arm, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset or insult you, I didn't understand how you felt about yourself." 

She let go and let him turn to face her before continuing, "Look, you've had people call you a monster when you just want to be normal, me, I've been called a monster more times than I can count, and what I did was embrace the role the humans forced me into, if they were going to treat me like a monster, then by god I was going to be their worst nightmare. Believe it or not, but you've had it pretty damn easy compared to me."

The eternal started to tremble in anger and sadness as she remembered what the humans did to her. She placed a hand on her forehead and spoke a spell, when she removed her hand a glowing white ball appeared in it, which she shoved into the empire's hand. 

"You ought to stop fucking complaining about your looks, because you've had a great and spoiled life since the start," she barked, the memories making her agitated, "I've had a shitty existence since the moment I was born, when my own draconic eternal parents abandoned me because I was different than them, and from then on I was fighting for survival way before the fall of the empire. If you don't believe me; then watch what happened to me when a bunch of England's humans found me, then you can decide which one of us is more of a freak to the humans!"

With that she was the one who marched away, she needed some air after revisiting her past yet again.

N:   HRE watched back Esha's memory; didn't make a single reaction to her torture, and when the memory was over, the unfazed empire crushed the ball in his hand.

 "Only the more reason why I hate being an Eternal," he muttered, "Eternals are monsters." 

He glanced at Sofia, who had been following them and heard their conversation. Walking up to her, he crouched down to her level. 

"Does Esha usually use that excuse when it comes to suffering," he asked, no longer the gentler self he was minutes ago, "because she forgot to mention about how she was rescued by someone who cared about her. At least she had someone she could call a friend; I didn't have the privilege of a friend to rescue me. She knows absolutely nothing about me." 

With that, the German got up and left, leaving Sofia on her own as he went along with his day as if nothing happened.

M:   Sofia watched him leave, feeling terrible for making him more upset than he already was, She knew it was useless to go after the two adults, so she ran to the infirmary to get her parents. When she arrived most everyone was awake, so one by one she asked them for help, completely forgetting that HRE didn't want people to know about his secret.

Luckily, she remembered not to describe his many eyes, all she said was that the empire was an eternal and that he hid his face because people thought he was a monster. She told them all about what happened between him and Esha, and that she never wanted to hurt him. 

When no one offered to help, or just didn't know what she was talking about, she plopped down on the floor and began to cry, upset that she hurt someone yet again.

N:   Republic of Venice was wandering around the halls, trying to find HRE as he's the usual person the German talks to. 

After a while, he decided that KoF was his best bet, so the Venetian headed towards the infirmary where he found the Frenchman. When he had asked where HRE was, the Frenchman just shrugged. 

"Ask the Eternal child," he suggested as he pointed at Sofia, "she's been asking everyone about HRE; she might know where he is." 

Nodding in thanks, he walked over to Sofia to ask, but was surprised when he saw that she was crying.

 "What's wrong, ragazza (young girl)," he spoke softly as he used one of his ribbon-like tentacles to wipe a tear away, "what is upsetting you?"

M:   It took a moment for Sofia to stop crying, and when she did she took another little bit to admire RoV's tentacle, It seemed as though there weren't any eternals like him in the old colony. Once she had collected herself, she explained yet again what had happened, and again left out the detail about the eyes. 

"I just wanted to help," she sniffled, "Aunty Esha usually helps too, but they fought instead, and now they're both upset. Why do I hurt people, I don't want to do that, I just want to help."

N:   "I see," RoV hummed as he scratched his chin, "Well, little one, the only thing you did today was help, not hurt. You thought of the best person to help HRE, and sadly it didn't pan out, but nothing stopping you from trying again." 

Getting up on his feet, he held out one of his hands while one of his tentacles patted Sofia's head. "Andiamo (come on)," he smiled, "let's go find HRE and Esha." 

Hand in hand, the pair searched the castle, the Venetian distracting the young girl by letting her play with his ribbon appendages.

M:   Sofia did enjoy interacting with RoV's funny limbs, Though it was more of a halfhearted interest, she still felt like it was her fault that Esha and HRE fought. Odrus ended up joining them, now in his normal form, mostly as a promise to Sofia's folks to keep an eye on her. 

They happened upon the spot where the fight broke out, Sofia started sniffing around and flicking her tongue to pick up a scent. 

"I think he went this way," she said, pointing in a direction.

N:   RoV nodded and let Sofia lead the group until eventually she no longer could. Where they stopped looked like any ordinary corridor; however, the Venetian knew what to do. 

Letting go of Sofia's hand, he let his ribbon limbs run against the wall, trying to sense if anything was different, and after a while, he couldn't feel anything. 

Suddenly, as he walked along the wall, he came to a halt and he slowly turned around to see one of his ribbons had wrapped around something, but there was nothing to see. "Bingo," he muttered as he twisted whatever he caught, and soon he heard the click of a door. 

Although still invisible, the outline of a door appeared as he opened it, revealing HRE sitting inside. The German was staring straight at them, veil on, and wondering why they were all there. 

"How did you," he began but was quickly interrupted. 

"I know you too well, HRE," RoV smirked, then his face became stern, "although it seems like I don't know enough. You're an Eternal?" 

For a moment, the empire did nothing, and then suddenly he was up and stormed up to them, so the Venetian stretched a couple of tentacles in front of Sofia. 

"She told you, didn't she," he spoke, failing to hide the anger in his voice, "who else knows, huh? I made it clear that I didn't want her help," and he turned to face Sofia, "and the only thing you did make it worse."

M:   Sofia flinched and whimpered at HRE's anger, then began to cry once again. Odrus picked her up and tried to calm her down, but she wriggled out of his arms and plopped back on the floor with a thud. 

"I know! I always make it worse," she wailed, "I thought Aunty Esha could help, I thought I could help, but I can't! I don't want you to hurt like us, Chrissy killed everyone because we were different, and I just wanted to make sure it didn't happen again, I'm sorry!"

N:   "Wait, 'different'," RoV said in surprise as he turned to HRE for an answer, "why did she say different? There's nothing obvious about you that would make you- did she see your face?" 

"Ja, she was hiding in the room I was hiding in and saw ... it," the German replied monotonously, his attention focused on Sofia. Slowly, he knelt down and chipped the young girl's face, and wiped away a tear. 

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you were hurt too," he spoke softly, "I shouldn't have shouted at you; you did nothing wrong. It's just that ... I've already suffered and there is nothing that could reverse it, and you trying to help me just reopens old wounds. Bitte, stop helping me."

M:   "She can't help it, she experienced terrible things for her age," Odrus told him, "I know she doesn't look like it now, but she was torn limb from limb by Jacobites, right in front of her father, while she was still awake and conscious. I ... don't actually remember how she was healed, or by who, but to put it simply, she had fewer limbs when we found her being held as a trophy by the leader." 

Sofia again whimpered now that those memories were brought up again, Odrus picked her up and held her tightly. 

"She's only three years old, and had to go through torture, dismemberment, and being held hostage as some guy's pet," he stated, "I'm sure you understand why she wants to help so much, she doesn't want to see someone like her suffer, and considering she bit BE a couple of weeks ago with her rattlesnake venom, she wouldn't do this if she didn't think you weren't worth helping."

Guessing that HRE would remain stubborn, Odrus sighed and said, "We'll leave you alone now, you probably just need some quiet time right now. But at least know that you are not alone, my friends and I will give you as much space as you want, but if you ever feel like you just need someone who is willing to listen, we'll be there for you, or I will at the very least."

N:   HRE silently nodded, "I will think about it, but you are correct, I do want some time alone so," he pointed at the door, "leave."

"Suit yourself," RoV huffed as he and the two Eternals left the room and closed the invisible door behind them. Once they did, the Venetian was surprised to see that the moment the door was closed, it became visible, so he decided to take a quick peep inside. It was empty. 

"I still don't get how he does that," he muttered to himself before turning to the others, "so I guess we got to find Esha now."

M:   "Yeah, Esha will be a bit more testy than HRE," Odrus said, "but first let's get this little one back to her parents." 

Sofia made a noise that vaguely resembled a no, and reached out to RoV. Although confused, Odrus complied with her demands and gave her back to the country, where she hugged him tightly and buried her face in his shoulder. 

"I think she likes you," the older eternal stated, "I hope you have strong arms, because she's going to make you carry her for the next hour or so."

N:   "You don't need to worry about that," RoV smiled as he waved his ribbon appendages about, "I've got plenty of arms to spare."

The trio wandered around in search of the draconic Eternal, and after an hour Sofia was piggyback riding RoV, his ribbons wrapped around her so she didn't fall and her head on his shoulder. 

After a while, the Venetian asked, "Where could Esha be? You're her friend, right?"

M:   "It's kind of hard to predict where she would be, especially if she doesn't want to be found," Odrus admitted, "We've already checked her indoor spots, so she's probably outside somewhere," he paused, and pondered that, "you know what, I think I know where she is." 

The three put on their coats and headed to the stables, and sure enough, Esha was there redressing Sleipnir's injuries. She heard them come in and at first she smiled and waved, but when she saw Sofia on RoV's back she frowned and looked away. 

"I don't want to talk about what happened with HRE," she grumbled, "what happened happened, let's just leave it at that.

N:   "You had to bring up a traumatic experience," RoV spoke, "forget about HRE for a moment, How do you feel after the conversation?" 

Looking around the stable, he added, "Clearly you needed to go somewhere where you can clear your head."

M:   Esha took a moment to think about what he said, it surprised her that they didn't want to talk about HRE. She rubbed Sleipnir's muzzle and sighed, "I don't know, I feel a little worn out, it certainly takes the energy out of you when you relive trauma. It never gets any easier, no matter how many times I remember that moment." 

Odrus came over and sat next to Esha, offering a supportive hand on her shoulder, to which she nodded her thanks. 

"Am I a monster," she murmured, "HRE was dead set on calling all eternals monsters, and I guess he's kind of right, but am I really someone that people want to destroy the moment they see me, am I really not worth anything to anyone?"

N:   "Seriously, are you really asking that," RoV raised a brow, "you are definitely worth something to everyone here. Heck, even you're worth something to BE, and he doesn't make bonds easily." 

Walking up to the Eternal, he crouched down so that he was at her level, Sofia still on his back. "I'm not exactly what you would call a 'normal' country, but when I saw you, yes I was a little intimidated, but you seemed like a nice person to talk to," he spoke, "Now, the question that you should be asking isn't 'am I really not worth anything to anyone' but 'do I feel I am worth anything to myself?'."

"It doesn't matter what other people say," he pointed at her, "do you feel like you're truly a monster? A monster someone will kill on the spot?"

M:   Esha looked at him, she had such a genuine expression on her face that said "I don't know how to answer that, but you wouldn't like it". 

"After facing the Christians, all those years spent surviving on my own hiding from humanity, yes, sometimes I do," she admitted, "Have you ever heard the story of Beowulf, where a drake had a cup stolen from its hoard and went on a rampage, I was that drake, except I never went on a rampage, the storytellers just wanted their dragon hunter to sound more heroic." 

Esha shifted into her dragon, but stayed about the size of a horse, "Tell me, and be honest, if you were a human, or a countryhuman, would you not want to kill me like this?"

N:   RoV stayed silent for a moment, glancing up at Odrus before answering. "If I was a human," he answered, "I would most likely run away, freeze in fear, or would be stupid enough to try to fight you," he said, "a countryhuman would probably try to fight you if they were either protecting someone or something, or they were being stupid.

"Again, I'm the wrong person here," he raised his hands in admittance, "but I'm a curious person. No, I wouldn't want to kill you but understand you; being a friend might be a stretch because you are a dragon but I would want to know your boundaries and we would mind our own business." 

With the Venetian struggling to say anything else, he turned to Odrus for help.

M:   Odrus shrugged, even he didn't know what to do or say, leaving Esha to sigh again and lay her head down in defeat. 

Sofia was watching all of this, she desperately wanted to help but was worried she would do something wrong again. She heard a clatter come from down the hall, and being the curious child she was, climbed off RoV's back and went to investigate. She walked into the blacksmith and saw Ivor, she remembered seeing him and Esha hanging out at the ball, maybe he was a friend of hers? 

With this in mind, she walked up to the human and asked if he could help Esha.

N:   Ivor, crouched down so he could pick up the shoes he dropped, raised a brow, "Sure, is she in trouble?" Following after Sofia, he greeted everyone while ignoring the fact that Esha was a dragon. When he had asked about Esha, RoV asked if the human saw Esha as a monster. 

"No," the blacksmith replied, shocked from being asked such a question, "Esha is a wonderful woman, dragon or not, and I don't see her at all."

"Are you telling the truth," the Venetian asked, "What do you see when you look at her now? Would you kill her?"

"See looks like someone who is hurting because a friend is in pain," he answered simply, "and I'll refuse to lay a finger on her."

M:   The eternal stared at them, but she couldn't help but let a small smile cross her face. 

"There's that smile, I knew it couldn't stay hidden," Odrus chuckled, patting her mane, "Do you feel better now, Esh?"

"A little bit, I guess," Esha admitted, "I guess I just need to hear that from a human."

"How long have you two known each other, you seem pretty close," he asked. 

"About three days."

N:   "That's not a lot of time," RoV enquired, "especially for someone as reserved as Esha, three days might as well be an hour."

"Well, a lot can happen in an hour," Ivor countered, "and besides, we bonded over something, or rather someone, that we both cared about." 

The Venetian hummed, not knowing of whole they were talking about, but understood the feeling.

M:   "Yeah, Arthur Beckral, he was the one who was mainly in charge of the stables," Esha said, "he was so kind and caring, and a little headstrong when it came to the horses, he wanted to make sure they got the best care possible." 

Odrus again patted Esha comfortingly, and leaned in to whisper to RoV, "Esha had a thing going on with Arthur, it was in the early stages and neither had confessed their feelings yet. He was murdered before they could go any further, Esha's still coping with it." 

Esha nodded in agreement, then with a yawn she announced, "I think I'm gonna sleep out here tonight, I need a break from all the countryhumans."

N:   "Reasonable, we are tiresome beings," RoV half-joked, and seeing that she was clearly tired, he bid them farewell and made his way back to the main compound. 

The day went on smoothly, with more and more guests leaving and the night arrived peacefully. Although there were still plenty of countries in the compound, the night wasn't eventful.

However, early in the morning, Alaric was taking care of his phoenix egg, when he saw that the shell began to crack. Although he felt he was prepared to take care of the bird, the crack took him by surprise. 

"Wolfe," he called out as he kept an eye on the egg, and after a couple more calls, the son finally arrived at his father's room, clearly annoyed. 

"Seriously," Wolfgang grumbled as he walked up to Alaric, "this better be a good reason- oh ... OHH!" 

"Exactly. Call Esha; a phoenix is about to be born." 

The other nodded as he rushed out of the room, quickly changed, and went to search for the Eternal.