L:   "Wha-" Iremacht took the plush carefully. Such a kind act made him want the teens who hurt Poldara to suffer even more. But he decided not to bring any more unnecessary attention to the kid. 

"Thanks," he said, hugging the plush close to his chest to show his affection. "It's a very noble bird. I'm going to keep this in a special spot in my office."

"Or maybe take it wherever you go," Wehrmacht joked. "That's what I did with the Ireland plush that one of my best soldiers gave me ... back in WWII." He trailed away, then cleared his throat and said to Mandara, "Right, you were going to knight a soldier at the ceremony after the play. Have you found a replacement for the original person?"

M:   Mandara's face fell at the question, he had not found a replacement, the soldier backed out too close to the independence day for anyone to be available. 

"I haven't, I didn't get enough notice beforehand and ran out of time, so I'm just going to have to cancel that part." 

"You can't cancel the knighting, Dad," Poldara protested, "you do it to honor grandpa, remember." 

"I remember Blue-Jay, but how can I have a knighting ceremony without someone to knight?" Mandara said. 

"Well Mandy, I think the answer is standing right in front of you," Poland said, then gestured to Iremacht with his wing. 

That statement shocked everyone, especially Russia, but they stayed silent and waited for his response.

L:   "No." Iremacht clutched the plush eagle so hard, it looked more like he was strangling than hugging it. He shook his head. "I refuse."

"I'm kind of second-guessing that too," Germany said to Poland. "Are you sure you want Mandara to knight Machty? No offense to my cousin, but the events these past few days are clear."

"Why did you reject it so quickly?" Wehrmacht asked his son.

Iremacht loosened his grip on the plush eagle. He looked away. "Just no," he said simply. "Knight Poldara instead."

"He's a bit young ..." France pointed out.

"Then knight Russia."

M:   Mandara stared at his husband in confusion for suggesting Iremacht, but before he could ask questions Poland explained, "We all make mistakes and cause problems, but I think what Iremacht did for Poldara earlier overshadows anything else he did while being here."

"That is true," MA agreed, "I may not have been there to witness it, but from what I understand is that you saved his tail feathers Matchy, just imagine what would have happened if you weren't there."

Mandara flinched a little at that, he didn't really want to imagine if his son was alone.

Poldara on his end seemed delighted that his best friend was chosen to be a knight, "you can't pass it up Iremacht, only people how were heroes get to be knighted, and you were mine today, so you have to do it, please."

Poldara then held up his Empyr plushy and tried to speak in a deep voice, "as the Guardian Spirit of Courage, I believe you deserve to be knighted." the kid then spoke normally, "see even Empyr agrees."

L:   As cute and irresistible as Poldara sounded, Iremacht still took a step back, shaking his head.

"What I did today was a one-time deal that happened by chance," he said. "It doesn't excuse anything. Find someone better. I don't ..." He glanced at the Empyr plushy. "I don't deserve to be knighted. I'm no hero."

"Well, you kind of look like one, with the royal half-cape and all," Wehrmacht said. He wasn't picking a side, necessarily. Wehrmacht wanted Iremacht to make this choice on his own - the retired militant was simply glad his son was being humble.

"I'm not a hero," Iremacht said firmly. He looked and France and Russia and added, "Because I can't guarantee that I'll stop the things that I'm doing after this. So please pick someone else."

M:   "Please Iremacht, there is no one else, and if there was you deserve it more," Poldara begged.

Mandara put a hand on his son's shoulder, "Blue-Jay, you can't force someone to be knighted if they don't want to be, it's just not how it works."

Poldara looked really disappointed, his wings lowered a little and he whined in his throat, but he said nothing more and just stood silently. With his son out of the way, Mandara looked up to Russia, Kaz, and Belarus with hopefulness, but they shook their heads.

"If we're following what Iremacht said, none of us deserve it either," Russia explained, "I am at war with my brother and enemies with half of the world."

"I betrayed my family to help the leader of the Mandarian resistance," Kaz added.

"I called the Germans Nazis and blamed an accident on someone who had no part in it," Belarus said.

Mandara stared at them for a while, then sighed, "well, I guess that's it then."

L:   "Don't be sad," Wehrmacht said to everyone. "If Iremacht doesn't want to be knighted, that's perfectly fine. But at least I can still give him a little medal of humbleness."

"Vater, stop embarrassing me," Iremacht said. "I don't deserve that either."

Germany scratched his chin. He felt awkward now; Mandara seemed like he was in a muddle because there was no one to knight at the ceremony. "Or how about just being a knight for a day?" Germany encouraged.

"A knight for a day?" Iremacht mumbled. "Is that how it even works?"

"Well, er ..." Germany glanced sheepishly at Mandara for help. "I'm sure there's nonbinding options."

M:   Poldara perked up and stared at his dad intently, Mandara and MA exchanged glances and shrugged.

"I ... don't know, we've never done that before," Mandara said, "I suppose it's up to whoever I'm knighting if they want to keep the title, I've never had anyone who didn't but hypothetically I guess so."

Poldara's sad attitude had quickly disappeared and was replaced with hopefulness, he stared at Iremacht with puppy dog eyes for his answer.

L:   The idea was starting to become increasingly possible. Iremacht looked at his father and Germany, but both just smiled at him. He looked at Poldara and regretted it because the kid was giving him THOSE eyes.

"Knight for a day," Iremacht said under his breath. "And only because I saved Polds this one time." He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "As long as you promise there's no excessive chivalry and paparazzi ... I am not above breaking a fan or a reporter's nose if they get too close."

Germany hummed in thought. "I hope it isn't too weird that you'll be knighting someone from a different country? Will your people accept that?

M:   "We did it to Greece," MA said, "he and his father, Ottoman Greece, let us and Deutsche stay in their country when we were banished. On the Prussian Independence Day, we knighted him when he decided to attend."

Mandara nodded in agreement and addressed Iremacht's concern, "there won't be paparazzi, as for chivalry, that custom died out a long time ago so no one's going to hold you to it."

"It definitely doesn't apply to him," Russia muttered under his breath, earning an elbow to the ribs from Kaz.

Poldara didn't catch that because he was jumping up and down with excitement, "Yay, my best friend's going to be a knight, my best friend's going to be a knight, can I be your squire, please, please, PLEASE?"

L:   "Squire?" Iremacht smiled. "Nah, I can't have you serving me, Polds. I'm pretty sure, from the history books I've read, that knights can knight other knights. Which means that after I get knighted, I can knight you also. We can both be knights for a day!"

Wehrmacht chuckled at the childish excitement building in Iremacht's voice. He came between his son and Poldara and wrapped his wings around the two as he said, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've still got a play to watch and Machty needs to make sure he doesn't screw up the ceremony and botch his one chance."

Iremacht shrugged Wehrmacht's wing off with a grunt. "Have more faith in me, Vater. There's no way I can mess up kneeling." He glanced nervously at Mandara. "I just have to kneel, right? You sure there's no fancy surprises?"

M:   "Pretty much, though I think the only 'fancy' surprise will be your attire," Mandara said, "the soldiers I knight would come in their dress uniforms, no one has appeared in time period clothes before, but it just means I won't look so out of place for once."

"Speaking of the play, it is starting soon Mandy, are you sure you're going to be ok watching it?" Poland asked. That statement surprised MA since he just told the Germans that his brother wouldn't watch it, so he stared at the country for his answer as well.

"I think so," Mandara said, though there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, "I'm never going to get over the trama if I keep avoiding it, if I'm ever going to be who I was before Soviet then I need to face the past and show it I won't be afraid anymore." he turned to the others, "so shall we go then?"