M:   Both Mandara and MA flinched when Iremacht said that, it was all coming back to them, a whole century and a half of fear and sadness. Poldara noticed his dad and uncle's startled and almost fearful expressions, he was very confused, first his dad tells him that Iremacht was a friend, now he and MA were staring at him like he was a horrific monster. 

Mandara suddenly started hyperventilating, the sudden trip down memory lane had triggered his panic attacks and he felt it hard to breathe. His legs felt wobbly and he almost fell, but MA acted quickly and caught him.

"Mandara!  No, you can't be having a panic attack, not now!" MA exclaimed, but Mandara's behavior wasn't fake, "Poldara, run to your dad's room and get his emergency inhaler!" the militant ordered, Poldara nodded and ran as fast as he could to the master bedroom.

MA then half-dragged half-carried his brother to the couch, he set him down on it then turned to Wehr, "Wehrmacht, you're a winged entity, help me calm him down."

L:   "What is happening to Mandara?" Wehrmacht asked, touching his wing against Mandara's. "Panic attack?  Emergency inhaler?" He couldn't believe this was happening, one moment Mandara was alright and the next he could barely stand.  Wehrmacht knew it had something to do with Iremacht's actions. He knew that he should sit down and have a talk with his son, he just had to find the right moment. 

Germany snatched one of the remaining glasses of water from the tray and handed it to Mandara.  He gave Wehrmacht a pointed look as he passed.

M:   Mandara took the water and started drinking it quickly, but it went down the wrong pipe and he started coughing, which made his panic attack worse.  MA wrapped his arms and wings around his brother and comforted him as best he could, this was something that happened a lot so he knew exactly what to do. 

"It's ok little brother, I'm here, you're safe just take deep, slow breaths," MA said softly, resting his head on Mandara's and petting his wings reassuringly. 

Poldara soon came back with the inhaler and handed it to his dad, who snatched it and wasted no time breathing in and out into it, MA still hugging him as he did so.

L:   The longer Wehrmacht watched Mandara suffering from the panic attack, the more guilty he felt. He debated whether he should go after Iremacht and Poland, but then he felt a tug on his sleeve and Germany was standing next to him, jabbing his thumb at a corner of the room away from Mandara, MA, and Poldara. 

"We should give them some space," Germany said, dragging Wehrmacht to the corner. He lowered his voice, "you need to talk to Machty. Do you see the trouble he's caused already? I will not have a repeat of the last visit, especially not in the Mandarians' own home!"

"I know, I know," Wehrmacht sighed, "I'll talk to him, I promise. When he's alone." 

-----

Iremacht followed Poland through the hallways of the north wing, his face blank but his eyes darting around as if scanning every crevice he passed. They fell on Poland's white wings; they looked so strikingly opposite of his father's black ones.

M:   Mandara just kept working on his inhaler until his heart finally stopped trying to burst out of his chest and his wings no longer sounded like a buzzing bee. MA saw that his brother was calming down now and he loosened his hug enough for Mandara to comfortably lean against him. 

"That's it Mandara, everything's ok, I got you," MA said, Mandara simply smiled at him before passing out in his arms, the rest of his energy being drained from the panic attack. 

"Should I go get Papa, Uncle MA?" Poldara asked, MA shook his head, "No, not while he's with Iremacht, we'll just wait for him to come back.

"But you said Mr. Iremacht was a friend." 

"And he was, but now I'm not so sure.  You have to promise me that you won't tell him what happened or of our concerns about him, understand." 

"Yes Uncle, I swear on my wings I won't tell him." 

"Good, now why don't you go play outside for a bit, this is a grown-up thing right now and I don't want you a part of it." 

"Ok, I'll see you later then." Poldara then walked in the direction of the backdoor, leaving MA to hold his unconscious brother.

-----

Poland knew what was happening to his husband, he could feel it in his wing, but he trusted MA to deal with it until he came back. He noticed Iremacht staring at his wings and he flicked them uncomfortably, thankfully though, they reached their destination. 

"Here it is," Poland announced, gesturing to the bedroom door, "if you need anything just press the 1 button on the phone for room service."

L:   "How homely," Iremacht commented, stepping into the room. He brushed past the furniture and the bed without a second glance, ran his finger along the top of a drawer, and hummed when he found no dust. 

"You get visitors often?"He wandered over to the window to assess the view.  It looked into the backyard, which had a nice tree in it as well as two dogs.  Iremacht's eyes widened a fraction when he saw the familiar tri-colored wings of Poldara as the kid came out.

M:   "Not in this wing no," Poland said, not stepping into the room so he didn't intrude, "but in the south wing is where Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus stay and they do visit often since their good friends with Mandy and MA, so much so that Poldara calls them uncles, though Belarus isn't called aunt yet, maybe someday." 

Poland was anxious to get back to Mandara so he said, "well, I let you get settled in, I have to go check on the dogs outside." and with that, he calmly walked out of sight and then ran the rest of the way.

-----

Poldara didn't feel like playing too much, he just grabbed a tub of meat so he could feed Mandoria.  The dogs could smell the meat and almost squished him as they tried to get some, which he surrendered a little bit so they would go away.  

The young country walked up to a bird perch and whistled for the eagle, who gladly flew down from his tree.  As he fed Mandoria, he kept thinking about his dad's panic attack, it clearly had something to do with Iremacht, but he didn't know what or why, it was just so confusing to his 12-year-old mind.

L:   Based on the information Poland had given, Iremacht guessed Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus would all be coming to the celebration. He was on neutral terms with those Eastern European countries so he didn't mind too much. He hoped they wouldn't irk him or get in his way. 

Iremacht watched the dogs hounding Poldara for meat and then go away once they got it. He was surprised when an eagle flew down at Poldara's command. Iremacht unlocked the window, lifted it up, and stuck his head out. "Hey, kid!" he called. "Nice backyard you got here. Is that your bird?"

M:   Poldara nearly jumped out of his skin, he dropped the meat tub and Mandoria was startled back into his tree. The dogs wasted no time in snatching as much meat as possible before the kid shooed them away. He looked towards the voice and saw Iremacht looking out his first-story window, he was nervous at first, but remembered his promise to MA and tried to hide it as best he could. 

"Dahver Mr. Iremacht," he said, waving at him, "yeah, that was Mandoria, I rescued him when he was hurt in a storm and now we're best friends, if you want you can come out and meet him."

L:   "Hurt in a storm," Iremacht mumbled under his breath, "and now best friends." He propped his elbow on the window sill and leaned his chin on his hand. "What fun," he said to Poldara, "sounds like the story of my ... parents." An idea came to mind, "say, Poldara, I'd be impressed if you could make Mandoria fly to where I am." Iremacht held out his arm expectantly, "you'd be a great 'falconer' if you could. You want to be a great falconer right?"

-----

Inside the estate, Wehrmacht and Germany rejoined MA. They were alarmed that Mandara had passed out; they didn't realize it had cost him so much energy. Wehrmacht heard Poland returning and asked him if Iremacht was settled. 

"Did he ... say anything off?" Wehrmacht added.

M:   Poldara tilted his head, "I never thought about it, but I didn't train Mandoria, we treat each other like friends, not master and pet, so it's up to him if he wants to go over there." He then turned to the tree and called to Mandoria, who flew back down to his perch after screeching a bit. "He says that after Mr. Germany touched his wing he doesn't really want to take his chances, which might be a good thing because I don't want you to get bit too."

-----

"All he asked was if we got many visitors, I told him just Rus, Kaz, and Bel were regulars," Poland said as he made his way to the couch, sitting down next to the brothers. 

"Oh honey," he said as he ran his hand across Mandara's wing, which twitched in his sleep, "I guess today's stress finally caught up to you." Poland then looked to MA, "what happened to make him panic?" 

MA stared at him for a second, then looked to the Germans, then back to Poland, "I didn't want to say this, especially in front of Wehrmacht, but-" he took a deep breath, "-Iremacht is acting like the man who killed our father and tried to kill us, so Trigger had a PTSD attack."

L:   Wehrmacht and Germany exchanged a look of understanding. Neither were fond of the old empire MA was referring to. 

"It's alright," Wehrmacht said, "I already know Machty acts that way. I shouldn't have pestered him to come." 

"You're his father, you have every right to pester him," said Germany, "but I doubt he'll stay in his room for long." 

"He has a lot of pent-up energy," Wehrmacht agreed, "MA, Poland, are there any activities that you have planned that could occupy Iremacht's time?  If he's busy, he might drop the act."

-----

Iremacht still kept his arm out with a smile. "I've suffered worse than a bite, kid. Don't worry, I'll be careful with Mandoria. I've been around and studied winged people enough to know not to touch wings unless given permission." His eyes narrowed onto the eagle and he said in a sing-song voice, "Come now, don't be like that. You're named after royalty. Unless it's because I'm half-German and you're scared about your namesake's history." 

He was trying to taunt the bird since it seemed to understand countryhumans perfectly well.