L:   Wehrmacht had also stayed awake late last night. He had been listening for footsteps in the north wing that could signify Iremacht's return. Eventually, though, his eyelids drooped and he dozed off. That's why when he woke in the morning, he bolted out of bed and ran out of his room still in his nightwear. Iremacht's room was down the hall and he knocked on the door. No response. Wehrmacht opened it, found the room empty, and rushed to Germany's room.

"Germany! Did Iremacht ever come to his room last night?" Wehrmacht shouted by Germany's door.

His nephew took some time to open the door, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What..? Nein...?"

Wehrmacht ran out of the north wing without further ado. In the living room, he spotted MA asleep on the couch.

"MA, why are you sleeping here?" Wehrmacht gripped the militant's shoulder. "Have you seen Iremacht?"

M:   "Gah, I wasn't asleep, I swear!!" MA shouted when he was startled awake. He blinked a bit and relaxed when he realized what happened.

"Oh hey Wehrmacht, you're up pretty late, is something wrong?" He asked sleepily, also rubbing his eyes, he didn't realize it was morning since it felt like only a few minutes had passed when he dozed off.

L:   "Sorry for waking you," Wehrmacht said. "Did Iremacht ever come back? He wasn't in his room this morning. Did you see him head to the north wing? Or maybe Poldara, have you see Poldara? Does Poldara know where my son is?"

Wehrmacht's wings shifted from side to side in agitation as his fatherly concerns kicked in. He regretted not going after Iremacht or waiting for him to return. This wasn't the first time he hadn't found Iremacht in bed, but he always worried.

M:   "Wait it's morning?" MA said, confused. He looked out the window and sure enough, there was sunlight outside. "huh, how about that."

He turned back to Wehrmacht, "no, I've been out here working all night and I haven't seen him, I didn't see Poldara either but Trigger went looking for him last night and passed by with him. I was on the phone at the time so I didn't ask where they were, but it looked like they came from outside."

-----

Back outside with Iremacht, Flurry and Tank got worried that Iremacht would freeze so they snuck outside and snuggled up to him while he was sleeping. A little bit later, Mandoria spotted the mass of fur sitting at the base of his tree and decided that looked more comfortable than his nest, so he silently flew down and nestled next to the dogs, and when morning came Iremacht ended up looking like a Disney princess.

L:   Iremacht had a very warm night's sleep. He found out why when he woke up to a bunch of animals snuggled against him. He had been using one of the dogs as a pillow and the other one as a blanket, and he had to wrench his arm out from underneath all the fur to rub the sleep from his face.

"Alright, get off of me," he growled. "I am not a fucking furry." He wasn't going to hit any of the dogs or, as he later noticed, Mandoria. But he did raise his voice, hissing like a snake. "GET. OFF."

M:   The animals all jolted awake, Mandoria immediately flew away but the pooches decided to give Iremacht a few morning kisses before they left. It wasn't the crazy slobber attack that Wehrmacht had received when he first arrived, just some gentle licks to tell their friend good morning.

-----

Poldara woke up when he felt vibrating in his feathers, he was confused as to why he felt someone panicking so early in the morning, so he got out of bed and walked to the living room, not changing from his pajamas yet.

"What's going on out here," he asked groggily when he saw MA and Wehrmacht, "why is someone vibrating their wings?"

L:   "You felt that?" Wehrmacht paused in his fretting to stare at Poldara in surprise. "I didn't think you could sense wings so far away." Then his eyes widened like he was seeing Poldara for the first time. "Wait, Poldara! Did you find Iremacht? He didn't come to his room last night."

-----

Iremacht grimaced at the dogs' licking nonetheless and stood up, wiping his cheek. He arched his back in a stretch, breathing in the fresh morning air. Then he went straight to the kitchen to bother the kitchen staff for breakfast.

M:   Poldara flinched a bit at Wehrmacht's shout but nodded, "yeah, he slept outside under Mandoria's tree"

"He slept outside?" MA repeated, standing up beside Wehrmacht, "that's strange, why did he do that?"

Poldara shrugged, "I don't know why, I just assumed he liked star gazing, I did find it weird when he asked dad to join him though."

"He asked Trigger to sleep outside with him," MA said in disbelief, "did he?"

"No, dad slept inside"

MA turned to Wehrmacht for an explanation.

L:   Wehrmacht stared helplessly back at MA. He was both shocked and saddened; shocked because he didn't know his son liked sleeping outside and saddened because he guessed why Iremacht did it - to avoid him.

"Is he still in the backyard?" Wehrmacht said. He was already heading in that direction without confirmation. "He must've gotten a cold. He didn't bring a jacket."

But Iremacht, of course, wasn't in the backyard.

-----

Iremacht gave the kitchen staff a hectic breakfast routine. His sweet tooth craved a specific pastry with specific levels of sugar and savory taste. He had already rejected several versions that the cooks placed in front of him.

"Come now, it's a simple dessert," Iremacht scoffed. "How hard is it to get this right?"

M:   "I don't know," Poldara said as he started following him, but MA stopped him.

"You're not going anywhere outside while still in your pajamas," MA told him, "go change first."

Poldara looked like he wanted to protest, but decided against it and went back to his room. MA then followed Wehrmacht outside to find it vacant of militants aside from themselves. The dogs were still outside and Mandoria was preening himself on a sunny spot in the yard. MA walked up to Mandoria and asked him where Iremacht was.

"He says he went back inside," MA said as he turned back to the German, "I'd have to guess he probably went to get breakfast."

Mandoria then screeched again, "apparently the dogs didn't want him to get cold so they buried him in their fur." MA translated, chuckling a little bit.

L:   "The dogs slept with him to keep him warm?" Wehrmacht echoed. He knelt down to pat Flurry's and Tank's heads. "Good boys. I guess this makes up for the welcome tackle I got. Thanks for keeping him safe for me."

Wehrmacht followed MA's guess and went to the dining room. He didn't find Iremacht at the table though.

"Did he eat breakfast that fast?" Wehrmacht wondered aloud. Then he muttered under his breath, "He hates me that much."

M:   MA again followed Wehrmacht, this time the two dogs joined in the search. When MA heard Wehr's words he frowned and brushed his wing against the German's.

"I'm sure that's not the case Wehr," he reassured him, "I may not know what happened between you two to cause your relationship to become estranged, but I do know that deep down he still loves you, he may not show it, but your still his father and he still cares about you."

Flurry sensed the sadness in the air and went to lick Wehrmacht's hand in comfort.  Tank, on the other hand, was sniffing for Iremacht's scent and was starting to make his way to the kitchen.

L:   By now, Iremacht was already full from taking a single bite out of all the pastries that the cooks had served him and finding something to criticize about each of them. He finally told the kitchen staff to stop, saying they'd failed miserably as he walked out. He almost stepped on Tank's muzzle.

"Did you follow me?" Iremacht asked the dog. "I told you I'm not a furry. What do you want?" He spotted Wehrmacht and MA in the dining room. "Ah."

Iremacht sauntered over to the other two militants, licking any pastry crumbs off his teeth.

"Machty!" Wehrmacht exclaimed. "Why were you sleeping outside? You could've caught a cold if it weren't for the dogs."

"I'm fine," Iremacht said. "I can sleep wherever I want."

"You could have at least told me."

"Why? Because you're my dad?" Iremacht rolled his eyes. "I can do what I want and when I want to without telling anyone."

M:   MA felt slightly awkward standing in between the Germans as they argued, he wasn't sure if he should interfere or not.

"Um, well the good thing is we know where he is now," MA said to Wehrmacht, "though he is right Iremacht, next time tell someone so no one wakes up in a panic."

"Who woke up in a panic?" Mandara asked as he, Poland, and Poldara walked in.

"We couldn't find Iremacht this morning and Wehr's fatherly instincts kicked in," MA explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry Wehrmacht, I knew he was outside and I should have told you." Mandara apologized.

L:   Why am I the last to know things about my own son, Wehrmacht thought to himself. He sighed and mustered a nod at Mandara. "It's alright. At least he's safe. That's all that matters to me."

Iremacht didn't say anything back; he just folded his arms and focused on a corner of the dining table. Germany also padded downstairs, oblivious to everything that had just happened and still a bit groggy.

"Wehrmacht, Iremacht, Poldara, and MA are going to the shooting range today, ja?" Germany yawned. "You're not going to leave the dogs here with me, are you?"

M:   MA snickered, "unfortunately we are, it's far too loud for them in my training grounds."

"And you need to learn not to be afraid of them." Poland said, "you didn't even get love tackled yet you're terrified, it's not good."

Poldara then knelt by Flurry and squished her face, "how could you be scared of this face, the only thing it will do is love you to death."

Everyone chuckled at Poldara's silliness, and Tank took the opportunity to sit by Germany and lick his uninjured hand as a peace treaty.

L:   Germany flinched away from Tank's lick but decided he would try to be more welcoming.

"So when shall we go to the shooting range?" Wehrmacht asked. "Should we all get breakfast first or are there places along the way?"

"I already had my breakfast," Iremacht said. "Hopefully the kitchen staff learns how to make a good pastry by the time we get back or else those ten previous versions would've been wasted for nothing."

M:   "You had ten pastries?" Poland said in shock, "geez is there anything left in the kitchen?"

"We could go to that coffee place that makes the breakfast sandwiches." Poldara suggested, "I love the cheesy bacon bagel."

"I don't see why not, that way the staff can restock the kitchen." MA joked, "though by foot both the coffee shop and my shooting range are a bit of a way away."

L:   Wehrmacht knew it would be fastest if they flew since three of them could. But he jumped at the chance to walk through the Mandarian capital city - alongside his son.

"Walking is fine," Wehrmacht said quickly. "We're all militants capable of traveling that distance on foot. And Poldara, this will be good physical training for you. You never know if your wing breaks one day and you're in the middle of nowhere."

Iremacht was already going for the door when he turned around to ask Poldara, "Hey, you should bring Mandoria along. I'm quite fond of him and would like his company."

M:   "I don't know, Mandoria is wild and hasn't been near many people before, and I don't think he would like the shooting range either," Poldara explained

"Yeah, I don't think it is a good idea to bring animals to a gun range," MA agreed, "besides, Germany still owes him an apology for scaring him yesterday."

"But you can still spend time with him when you get back," Mandara piped in, "and hopefully France will be here by then too." he neglected to mention Belarus since it was supposed to be a surprise for MA.

L:   Iremacht frowned at not being able to take Mandoria with him. He shrugged and went out to the front of the estate. Wehrmacht waved goodbye to Germany - who looked pretty nervous about going to see Mandoria again. When the militant was outside, he stretched his wings to their full length and took a deep breath.

Iremacht saw the great black feathers from the corner of his eye. He was reminded that the three people he was going out with today all had wings. They were militants - militant-in-training for Poldara - that he would never be able to measure up to. Even now, he had to wait for MA to lead the way.

M:   MA and Poldara hugged their family goodbye and waved to Germany, but before they completely left, Mandara called after them, "you two be careful around Iremacht, I'm worried that he could be unpredictable around weapons."

"We will Trigger, he is never going to leave my sight." MA called back, "and neither is Poldara."

With that, the two Mandarians left the house and joined the Germans. Poldara saw Wehrmacht spreading his wings and he stopped in his tracks to gawk at him.

"I think you have an admirer Wehrmacht," MA chuckled as he passed him, and started leading the way without another word.