M: Esha watched them leave until she couldn't see them anymore, she then turned back to Arthur's grave and reached into her bag again, setting a rose on the headstone.

"May you be at peace now, Arthur," she said, wiping the snow off the stone, "I know not when you may come back, or if you will even be a human in your next life, but I will search the world a thousand times over to find you again, and I will continue to do so until the end of time."

She stood and leaned against Ivor, giving him a small wing hug as a content smile rested on her face, "so, what do you want to do now?"

N: "I mean, we literally have the rest of the day to do whatever we want," Ivor shrugged as he thought hard about what to do when his face lit up, "I'm sure the lake nearby should be frozen by now, and it would be great to skate on it. We can bring people along too and it would be a great time."

The blacksmith turned to her and smirked, "So, when was the last time you skated?"

M: Esha blinked at Ivor, "I never skated before, in the days of the empire the world was separated into different biomes, I had never been in a cold biome before, and even after the fall, I hadn't been on ice that way."

N: "Well, you're going to thoroughly enjoy it," Ivor smiled as they made their way back to the castle, asking around to see who would be interested. There were a couple of people interested, even some countries, so they got ready for the wintery air.

When Scotland heard what was happening, he immediately agreed to come along, and when he heard that Esha had never skated, he chuckled, "Then I'm going to have a blast pushing you onto the ice, but I will be nice. For your sake."

"Don't be too harsh on her," England rolled his eyes, drinking his warm beverage as he watched his husband getting excited about going on the ice, "you literally live around frozen lakes."

"I struggled to catch her when she was in her home turf, and now I can return the favor," the Scot spoke, "let me grab my skates."  The Englishman sighed as he watched the Scotsman leave the room, and then he turned to the Eternal, "If you want help, ask RE."

M: Esha smiled nervously at England's words, she was getting more nervous by the second, especially when she saw what she would be wearing, how was she supposed to balance on a thin blade on ice?

She was thankful that the rest of the eternals, minus Askad, and the Mandorians would be joining them, hopefully, they would protect her from Scoty.

"Are you sure this is a good idea," she asked Ivor as she scrutinized the skates she was given, "I feel like I'll break something if I put these on."

N: "Those skates are surprisingly resilient," Ivor informed as he glanced at his skates before putting them into a bag, "and you can balance pretty well when you wear them on solid ground. Balancing on the ice is the difficult part."

Some of the Brits decided to come along too, as well as the Saxons, so a decently sized group slowly made their way to the lake. When they arrived, people began to put on their skates, some more confidently than others.

Scotland was the first to get ready, gradually making his way to the ice before tentatively stepping onto it. Once he got his bearings, he was quickly off, skating as fast as he could further into the lake before looping around, cheering as the fresh air hit his face.

England rolled his eyes as he walked over to Esha, holding out his hand. "Do you want a hand," he asked.

M: "Maybe," she murmured unsurely, "I'm just a little scared that my tail is gonna get cut off."

She grabbed his hand and stood up, leaning against him to support her weight, though the closer she got to the ice the more she tried to stall, "how do we know that the ice is thick enough, someone could fall into the water and I don't want it to be me."

N: "You can just look at the ice," England explained as they slowly made their way to the ice, "if the ice was opaque, then it isn't thick enough, but you can see it's clear blue, so it's at least four inches deep. It's perfectly fine and you won't fall in however do avoid any grey ice."

Seeing that the Eternal was trying to stall, he reassured her, "Not everyone here is like Scotland, some of us can barely keep our footing on the ice. It's a learning process and all you got to do is practice."

Once they had finally arrived, he carefully stepped onto the ice and held a hand out. "You can do it, Esha," the Englishman spoke, "trust me, ok? Just one step at a time."

M: Esha nodded and slowly inched her way onto the ice, slipping at first but got her footing quickly.  As England led her further on the ice, she was still jittery and was clinging on to him for dear life.

"I don't like this, it's scary," she declared, fearfully wrapping her wings around England, which definitely didn't help him with anything.

N: "Esha you need to let me go," England warned as he felt himself beginning to slip, "or I will- oof."

The pair lost their balance, falling onto their butts onto the cold hard ice. England grumbled as he tried to get up to his feet, he just slipped again and fell.

Scotland was watching from afar, and when he saw that they were struggling to get up, he decided to skate over and help them out.

"Seems like you got yourself into a right pickle," he chuckled as he held out his hand for England, "let's get you up on your feet, ok? Just follow England's lead."

The Englishman nodded as he got onto one knee, and with the other's help, was able to push himself up and onto his feet.

"The key is that you need to push with your feet, not walk," Scotland explained as he held onto Esha's hand, "and if you slightly bend at the knees, it can help you balance, and point your toes inward."

"You can do this, Esha," England spoke as he held the Eternal's other hand, "you would need to face your fears, otherwise you won't go far. Being scared makes you fall."

M: Esha whined at this, but she knew they were right, she took a deep breath to calm herself down, and with the help of the two British countries she stood up and once again tried to skate.  It was a bit easier with two people to hold on to, the hard part was figuring out how to move while keeping her knees bent at all times, maybe she took the directions too literally.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," she said after a lap around the lake, "the ice really isn't that slippery, I just thought it would be, this isn't that bad at all."

N: "That's the spirit," Scotland smiled as they slowly picked up their pace, "and you're doing it; just push and slide."

Once Esha grasped the technique, the Scotsman slowly loosened his hold on her hand until it was just their fingertips.

"I'm going to let go now," he announced, "and I'm going to skate in front of you, and I just want you to follow the path I take, okay, and don't worry, England will still be holding your hand."

M: Esha gulped but nodded, she stumbled a little once Scotland let go but was able to balance herself and kept skating.  At one point, just as England was about to let go and the eternal was about to skate all on her own, a rouge snowball hit her in the face and she fell into England again.

"Sorry Esha," Derogan called from the edge of the lake, he and a few other people decided that they didn't want to skate and so were having a snowball fight, as was proven when he got hit in the ass by a projectile thrown from Commonwealth, who then ran laughing to Dutch Republic for cover, the young Mandorian running after him.

N: "Where's my apology, young man," England yelled, helping Esha back on her feet. "I swear," he muttered to himself, "if I get knocked down again, I'm going to drag someone across the ice."

Scotland shook his head as he went over to them, crossing his arms at his partner. "So are we going to continue practicing or-woah," he exclaimed as another rouge snowball came their way, although he was able to just dodge it in time. "Their aim is terrible," he grumbled, "and if another comes our way, I'll join you, England, on your quest for revenge."

Meanwhile, back on solid ground, Dutch Republic was making sure CW didn't use him for cover, and although the Dutchman was tall, he was pretty lean, and the winged country's four wings weren't well protected.

"Get away from me, you overgrown chicken," DR chuckled as he ducked, just in time for a snowball to hit Commonwealth, "that's what you get for using me as your meat shield, idiot."

M: "Come on Dutchy, you're no fun," Commonwealth laughed, "help me out here."

"Dutch can't save you from me," Derogan laughed too, "you will face my wrath!"

Unfortunately, a snowball hit the Mandorian in the face and knocked him into the frozen powder, and when he looked up he saw Uskaine, Sofia, and the three Saxon friends hiding behind a snow fort, all of them ducking down once they were spotted.

As the winter antics continued at the lake, inside the castle there was a different kind of atmosphere.  Prudoria still wanted to give Anglo a good time for Yule, so he with the help of Saxon and Odrus, put together a Christmas party in the infirmary, even the insurgents and medical staff were invited to have some fun.

Although Christmas wasn't a common concept to the eternal, Odrus decided to play the part of Santa Claus and had a bunch of presents under a little bonsai tree that one of the doctors had.

"This is for you two," Prudoria said, handing two presents to Anglo and Saxon, "Odrus helped me make them, I hope you like them."

N: Anglo accepted the gift with a smile while Saxon studied the present, wondering what it was from the shape of it.

"Why is it squishy," the entity asked as he squashed the wrapped gift, "and it seems like things are protruding out of the main mass. Is it a-"

"Plushie," Anglo answered for him, so the entity turned to see what was in the Englishman's hand, and there he saw a mini version of himself.

Curious about what he had, Saxon opened up his present, and sure enough, it was a mini Anglo, and it even had golden wings. The entity froze, surprised that he was given such a gift, since an entity of his standing wouldn't get plushies. He just started at the mini Anglo's golden eyes, and silently he brought the plushie to himself, giving it a tight hug.

"Danke, Prudoria, for such a thoughtful gift," Anglo thanked as he too also hugged his Mini Saxon, "and thank you, Odrus, for today. It's definitely made an impact," he said as he glanced at the entity.

M: Odrus smiled and dipped his head in appreciation, then rubbed Prudoria's head as he said, "The little tyke wanted to give you two something that you could have while you two were apart, what better things to have than mini-mes, you know."

Prudoria nodded vigorously in agreement, then gave Anglo and Saxon a group hug.

The eternal smiled at the interaction, he stood up and left so the three could have their moment.  He watched as everyone else was having fun opening their gifts, he had cast a spell on the boxes to search deep into the souls of everyone to give them the most thoughtful and meaningful gifts, he especially liked seeing the insurgents start crying at their presents.

There was only one present left under the tree, this one was much more special than all the others, since it was for someone Odurs had been avoiding for the past few days, and who was himself avoiding everyone else.   The eternal took the gift and sat near Chrysalis, keeping a respectful distance away from him.

"You're missing quite the party, Chrysalis," he spoke softly, "we're missing you too, why don't you come join, it'll be fun."

N: "Well, I'm not interested," Chrysalis grumbled as he looked away from the Eternal. The insurgent had isolated himself, hidden away in the corner so he didn't have to talk to anyone. He would occasionally walk up to the insurgents, since they were still recovering, but otherwise, he didn't say a word.

"There's no point joining the party if I'm the insurgent assigned to this damn island," he muttered, "one day I'll be accepted and the next I'll be hunted, so it's best to keep the 'bonding' to a minimum."

When the insurgent glanced at the present, he scoffed before looking Odrus dead in the eye, "and I don't want to 'bond' with you, so you might as well throw away that present."

M: Odrus pursed his lips, he couldn't be upset with Chrysalis, he accepted that he would never be on friendly terms with the insurgent no matter how hard he tried.

"Well, I'm not giving this to you to bond with me," he corrected, "it's so you can bond with someone else."

Odrus opened the present for the other, and after needing to annoy Chrysalis for a moment, got him to see what was in it.  It was a pair of glasses and two bracelets, all expertly crafted with Celtic engravings in the golden frames and wristbands.  The bracelets had a few unknown gemstones embedded in them, and the glasses were made with the pink healing crystals rather than glass, with more gemstones lining the rims.

"Just try them on once, then you can throw them away if you want, but at least wear them for just a minute."

N: Chrysalis frowned but took the glasses and bracelets anyway.

"If you insist, I'll try them once," the insurgent spoke as he put on the bracelets, "but I got to say, it would be such a shame to throw these away; you can sell these hens for a good amount of money."

Putting the glasses on, the insurgent was confused about the gift, wondering why he was seeing everything with a pink tint. "If this is your definition of a gift, you need to do better-"

He suddenly went silent as he stared at something, or rather someone, and he quickly took off the glasses, wondering if he was dreaming. Sure enough, when he put the glasses back on, the figure appeared again.

"Thema," he called out, staring at the ghost, and in turn the English insurgent was confused by the interaction. Anathema was leaning against the wall by the door, and when she saw Chrysalis look in her direction, she was intrigued.

"You can see me?" she mouthed as she walked over to him, and when she saw that Odrus wasn't holding the other's shoulder, she asked, "How can you see me?"

Chrysalis was in pure shock, and without a moment to think, reached out to her. When he actually made contact with her hand, the pair froze in surprise.

"I can see you, Thema," the Scot smiled a bit as he got up on his feet, "and I can hold you." Without a moment to spare, the insurgent hugged her, trying his best to hold his tears back.

"But how," she asked, but when she noticed the bracelets and the glasses, she finally understood what happened. Embracing her younger brother, she gave Odrus a slight nod, "Thank you."

M: "Anytime," Odrus mouthed back, a proud smile on his face that his creation worked.  He turned back to the party and a few people were looking at them with confusion, Chrysalis wasn't exactly quiet with his shout.

The eternal quietly insisted that they turn around and mind their own business, and when they did he looked back to the siblings, "Well, I'm glad you liked them, I was worried they might not work."

N: Anathema nodded as she patted Chrysalis' back, who just ignored the Eternal, and when he looked into her eyes, she put on an 'older sibling' look, glancing at Odrus.

The Scot sighed as he slightly turned in Odrus' direction, "Thanks, I guess, for this gift."

M: Odrus smiled again but this time it seemed forced.  "I know you will never forgive me for what I did to you, and you're a smart man to do that because I can't promise that it won't happen again, to anyone.  At the very least I wanted to give you back what was taken from you.  The glasses and bracelets are enchanted so it's only Thema you can see and interact with, it's a permanent enchantment so they can work for millions of years if taken care of properly."

The eternal looked away for a moment, "I know what it's like to lose family, you already know that, but I never could find my wife and daughter after they passed.  I'm just glad that I could give you what I didn't have."

He stood up and dipped his head in respect, "Happy Christmas you two, may you both have prosperous lives and afterlives," and with that he walked away, not wanting to intrude on the Scottish insurgent longer than necessary."

N: After a while of everyone enjoying their gifts, one of the countries walked up to Odrus and tapped on his shoulder, and when the Eternal turned around, RoV smiled as he held out a wrapped box.

"It's not fair if the person giving out the presents doesn't get one of his own," the Venetian spoke as he handed the gift, "it's something I got HRE to do as a way to apologize for his behavior."

Pointing at the door, he continued, "he's still hidden away, that's why he can't gift it to you himself, as well as him being his moody self."

M: Odrus chuckled at the quip, "I kind of noticed that, can't say that I blame him though, Esha used to be like that for the first century or so of living in the colony."

He unwrapped the box and felt around in it, it was a pair of glasses, which surprised him at first but he guessed they were enchanted considering he just gave something similar to Chrysalis.  The eternal closed his eyes and put them on, but when he opened them he dropped the box and put his hands over his mouth in shock.

He could see, not the blue and black spirit world that he was used to, he could actually see colors and objects he'd never seen before.  He took the glasses off and his vision, or lack thereof, returned to normal, and putting them back on restored it.

Odrus was outwardly crying at this point, he's lived for hundreds of millions of years and has never once seen the world like this, he was overwhelmed and overjoyed.

N: Although RoV was happy that Odrus was happy, even giving him a hug, he was confused as to why he was crying.

"I guess HRE did something to the glasses," the Venetian guessed as he pointed towards the door, "you want to go and thank him?"

M: Odrus nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes I do, though I don't think I can thank him enough for this."

It took a considerable amount of time for them to just walk to the door, Odrus was stopping at every moment to look at everything.  All his life he's only seen blue and black, just the outline of objects and the glowing highlights of people.

"Never in my life have I seen so many colors, I almost can't comprehend the beauty," he said to RoV.

N: Once RoV realized what had happened, he smiled, "Yeah, now thinking about it, we take our sight for granted. The world is a beautiful place and it's great that now you can finally experience it."

After a very long time of Odrus admiring the world around him, they finally arrived at the right door. It wasn't obscured like how HRE would usually hide himself, so the Venetian knocked before entering.

The German was seated on the sofa, his feet propped up while reading a book he found. His veil still on, he looked up at the pair for a moment before returning to his book.

"Odrus wants to thank you for the gift you gave him," he spoke, pointing at the Eternal, "I guess you are an eye expert." When the empire jolted his head back, snapping his book shut, the other muttered a small apology before stepping aside for Odrus.

M: Odrus was confused by the reaction to "eye expert", but he paid it little mind and stepped closer to HRE, trying to wipe away the joyful tears.

"There are no words I can say to express my gratitude to you," he said, "270 million years I've been on this planet, 270 million years of learning almost every type of magic there is to learn, and never have I been able to see the living world.  I don't know how you did this, but thank you, thank you so much."

Without thinking, the eternal embraced the empire in the biggest hug he could, still sobbing in utter joy, it was any wonder he still had tears left to cry.

N: HRE froze when Odrus hugged him, not sure of what he was supposed to do, so the awkward empire ended up giving the other a half hug while patting on his head.

RoV snorted at the sight, "If that's your definition of a hug then no wonder you were a trash dad to Prussia." The Venetian chuckled a bit before falling silent, noticing that the German was practically glaring at him, so he muttered another apology before preoccupying himself with a painting.

The empire shook his head and let Odrus have his moment before speaking. "I'm not a fan of using magic," the German spoke, "but since RoV suggested that I present you a gift, I figured that this is what you would want."

M: "It is, it really is," Odrus confirmed, finally letting the empire go and wiping his eyes, "this is the best gift I have ever received."

He stared at HRE for a moment, he couldn't deny that something had been lit in him, he already liked the man's physique and admired his strong and confident personality, this gift was just the cherry on top.

The eternal leaned forward again and rested his head on HRE's chest, a soft purring could be heard within his throat.

"I think I like you," he whispered, "it's been so long since I had a mate, and I think I want you to be mine.  You don't have to agree, this is probably weird for you and you want nothing to do with me, and I'll respect that, but after 156 million years being mateless, I think I finally found my match."

N: RoV was watching everything happen from his peripherals, and he smirked when he saw HRE embrace Odrus, properly this time. However, the smile almost instantly faded when he saw the German push the Eternal away.

"This is a mistake," he spoke all of a sudden, taking a couple of steps back, "You seem like a nice person, and I feel bad for saying this, but I don't think it's fair on you to like me if you haven't seen all of me." Sighing, he looked away towards the fireplace, "I wouldn't like myself if I saw me, I don't know how anyone else would."

M: Odrus listened calmly, not saying anything until HRE was finished speaking, at that point he put a reassuring hand on the other's shoulder.

"Liking someone should never be based on outward appearance," he stated, "yes it can be a factor in it, you certainly have a lovely figure, but no one should let that be the definitive reason to like someone.  You like someone based on who they are on the inside; their personality, how they interact with others, what they chose to make of themselves in this world."

He gave the other a knowing smile, "I work at a tavern in the nearby town, at first I was hiding my face too because people were uncomfortable with my grey and cloudy eyes, and there were certainly those who liked to make fun of them.  But after a while, I decided that I wouldn't let them dictate who I was simply for my eyes, I stopped covering them up and let my personality do the talking instead, and eventually people came to ignore my eyes, since my personality was much more appealing to them."

The eternal rubbed against HRE's shoulder and purred again, "Yes your outward appearance is beautiful, but I think you're personality is even more stunning, you gave me something no one else in this world has before, and that's more important to me than any facial features would ever be."

N: HRE was still reserved but he found the idea of opening up appealing. 'Maybe,' he thought, 'maybe it's okay this time," after all, the last time he willingly was vulnerable to someone was the mother of his child.

Much to RoV's surprise, the German dropped the veil, revealing his eyes, all seven directed at Odrus. The empire smiled awkwardly, since he's not used to visibly expressing his emotions, "still beautiful?"

M: Odrus really stared this time, at first it looked like he was staring in shock, but then his whole face turned a deep shade of red.

"Beautiful, that word is not worthy to describe you," he breathed out, "You are angelic, I may have only just been given the gift of vision, but I don't want to see anything else in the world, you're absolutely breathtaking."

He very gently placed a hand on HRE's cheek, as if to check if it was just another allusion, a shutter running down his spine at feeling the soft skin.

"Why have you hidden away this treasure, I've read the Bible before, you're truly a stunning representation of real angles, are you also hiding a halo above your head?"

N: HRE smiled again, genuinely this time, as his feathers fluffed up a bit. "I'm pretty sure I don't have a halo the last time I checked," he joked, "but I guess I would hide the moment someone looked at me with any hint of disgust," he paused for a moment, "but danke."

M: "I don't understand how any being on this planet could be disgusted by your glory, have they not read the book before," Odrus asked in genuine curiosity, "no matter, even if they do not appreciate your beauty, my point before still stands, don't let them judge who you are by your looks, let your true self shine brighter than their words, let them see who you are on the inside, not the outside."

Despite being shorter than HRE, Odrus stood tall and rubbed his head under the other's chin, the purring even louder than before.  "You are perfect, you are everything an eternal can dream of in a mate, I would give you everything I have if you could be mine.  Ever since I lost my first mate and child, I vowed to never mate again, but with you, I think I'm ready to end that promise, if that's ok."

N: "I guess we have similar promises," HRE spoke, wrapping his wings around them so they were cocooned in black feathers, "and if I'm the perfect mate you seek, I will gladly give myself to you."

"And that's my cue to leave," RoV announced as he rushed to the door, "have fun, boys."

Once he closed the door, he warned the servants to not let anyone inside before wandering off, meeting up with PE. The Portuguese was just leaning against the wall, a smile on his face.

"So the gift worked," the empire asked, to which the Venetian nodded, "so they're together?"

"They basically are," the other chuckled, but then frowned, "but how did you know about them?"

"I just observe people, and I saw how Odrus saw HRE. Also, there was Sofia explaining what happened, of course, so I just talked about how he was blind around HRE, the seeds of an idea." The empire placed a hand on his shoulder, "it's not the first time I've done this. I planned BE to meet FE, and someday you will learn the art."

"Sure," RoV rolled his eyes as the pair walked away.