N: When Johann was on Star Dust, although she wasn't as large as Xanthos, he felt uneasy from the height, but when Rowen got on behind him he felt a little safer. As soon as they started moving he tightly grabbed onto the mare's mane, causing her to whine a bit. After apologizing, he let go, swaying to the momentum of the mare as they rode.

Watching the open plains, he asked Rowen, who was the one holding the reins, "may I try to ride?"

-----

When he heard the question, Saxon was stunned and he quickly blubbered, "nein, I mean, no, but I guess-"

Anglo, seeing that Saxon wasn't helping Mandara, answered for him, "What Saxon  is trying to say is that both of us were born in the land that Prussia now controls, but it was centuries before he was around. That is why you heard Saxon speak in German since it was the language of our people; however, we do not often speak it because of the association it has to Prussia."

Saxon pointed at Anglo, "aye, what he said, we usually refer to ourselves as Germanic to dissociate from Prussia, but Phoenix here has practically anglicized, just like his name  suggests."

Anglo rolled his eyes at Saxon's last comment. He turned to Mandara, "I hope that has tidied any misunderstandings."

M: Mandara's eyes flicked between Anglo and Saxon, still unsure what to think, he just stayed squished up to the wall like his life depended on it.

Derogan, seeing how unsure his brother was, scooted over in front of him and held his hand, "it's ok Mandara, they're not Prussian, they're not going to hurt us."

"B-but he s-spoke-"

"Just because someone speaks German doesn't mean they're Prussian, Saxon is not Prussian and I can prove it."

"H-how?"

Derogan pointed to the board game they were playing, which had been scattered all over the place from the fight. The teen went over and picked up the Prussian and Ottoman Empire figurines.

"These were the last pieces in the box when Saxon came to play," Derogan stated, "If he were Prussian he would have picked the Prussia piece, but instead he picked the Ottoman piece because he hates King Prussia as much as we do, you understand?"

Mandara slowly nodded, feeling a little better from the explanation, he unpasted himself from the wall and said to Saxon, "I'm sorry for calling you Prussian, everyone we've met that spoke like that was Prussian, and everyone who was Prussian had ill intentions."

Derogan sighed and patted his brother's back comfortingly, "he's right, whenever we meet someone from Prussia something bad always happens, so we have come to associate the German language with danger."

-----

"I don't know," Rowen said, his voice holding a bit of nervousness, "Star Dust has never had an inexperienced rider before and she can be very sensitive to who is riding her."

"You should have seen the time a different knight tried to ride her," Mandoria said, "he and Rowen decided to swap horses for a day and the minute he tried to mount her she bucked him off, he was experienced in horseback but she wasn't having it."

Rowen and Mandoria both laughed at the memory.

N: Johann's eyes widened when he heard the story, and muttered, "actually, I have changed my mind. I don't want Star Dust to feel too uncomfortable that she would buck me off," he turned a bit to face Rowen, "and for you to go down with me."

Ahead of them he spotted a large oak tree in the distance, and grinned, "you cannot tell me that racing has never crossed your mind, so why don't we race to the tree over there? I can mount off and watch if you are afraid I would get hurt."

-----

Saxon nodded as he stood up, happier that Mandara was less frightened, "I accept your apology, and I understand your concern," he sighed, "All I really want is to speak my language freely and not be associated with danger."

Anglo nodded along to what Saxon said, he too wanted to speak freely, but it was not to the same level as Saxon, who still has people where Prussia was, compared to his people following him to England when they first arrived there.

Looking around at the mess, he asked, "may you kids please tidy up the mess you made," and when Saxon faced him when he was referred to as a kid, he chuckled, "you too Saxon."

"I'm not a kid," he murmured, as he picked up a pillow.

M: Mandara and Derogan giggled at Anglo calling Saxon a kid, "I agree with him, Sir Saxon," Derogan said, "you like to cause mischief and take up any challenge thrown at you, just like us."

Mandara nodded in agreement, then he, Derogan, and even Silver Streak helped clean up the mess and put everything away. Once they were done Mandara sat down and started to unwrap the bandages around his wing, Derogan quickly stopped him.

"You can't take those off yet, it's only been two days, "he said.

"It's itchy Derogan," Mandara explained, "it keeps bugging me."

"Well it probably needs to be changed," Derogan reasoned, "I'll go get some fresh bandages," and he left to do just that, Mandara continuing to itch his wing

-----

Mandoria and Rowen looked at Johann when he suggested racing, then to each other. Rowen flashed his king a challenging smile and Mandoria shook his head in amusement.

"Well, Xanthos is not really built for speed, but I suppose we can give him a test run," he said.

Rowen smiled gratefully and situated Johann so the kid sat behind him, "there, now you can hold on to me so you don't fall."

The riders rode up to a boulder as the starting point, then Mandoria said, "to that oak tree and back, 10 gold pieces to the winner."

Rowen smiled again and gripped onto the reins, "you're on," he looked back to Johann, "are you ready?"

N: Johann wrapped his arms around Rowen's waist, determined to not fall off since he knew this was going to be fast, and replied, "Ready."

The moment they started from Mandoria's countdown, Johann surged forward when Star Dust started to gallop at full speed. If he had not held on, he would have fallen off right at the start.

He turned around to see Mandoria not far behind, but Johann still cheered when he saw they were winning.

-----

Seeing them walk around, Anglo was aware that he has been in bed for the whole day, so he decided to stretch out his legs by getting off the bed. He swung around his legs to the side of the bed, and using the limited energy he has, tried to get up.

Saxon watched him as he tried and was concerned that he would get hurt. He walked over to him and asked him to stay in bed, but Anglo replied, "I have had a good night's rest so I think I could at least stand," and when he said that, he got up with the support of Saxon.

However, his wing was limp from still being in pain, and his arm was still in a splint, but he ignored that as he wobbled to the mirror, and stretched out his arms and laughed, "I think I am resembling more like you with all the bandages and injuries." Saxon facepalmed himself when he heard Anglo.

He turned around to see Mandara itching his wing, "Mandara," Saxon worried, "I think you shouldn't itch your wing, you would only aggravate the wound and it wouldn't stop the itch."

M: "I can't help it," Mandara whined, "it itches really bad and the bandages are rubbing."

After a few seconds of itching, Mandara eventually said, "screw it" and unwrapped the bandages, revealing his gash. It wasn't infected yet but it was still pretty nasty looking with all the dried blood caking the feathers.

"Eww," he said as he looked at it, but he had to admit it felt much better without the bandages.

-----

Mandoria smiled at Johann's happy shouts, it almost made him slow down to let him and Rowen win. He didn't though, he wasn't about to let his captain win, he would never hear the end of it. Xanthos was surprisingly fast for a Shire and soon he was gaining ground on Star Dust.

When the riders made it to the tree they were neck and neck, unfortunately, Xanthos had to slow down so he wouldn't slide off-balance as they rounded the tree, leaving Star Dust to take the lead again as they headed back for the boulder.

N: Johann got a bit worried that Mandoria was catching up, but after seeing that they were in the lead after rounding the tree, cheered "woohoo" and raised his arms. When he did, he was momentarily in the air as he no longer held to Rowen, so he quickly wrapped his arms around the captain in fear.

-----

Although Saxon was used to seeing wounds, seeing Mandara's wing was something new so he looked away, trying to forget the image. Anglo on the other hand limped over and said to Mandara, "Although it might feel good now, you are risking getting an infection," he pointed to the bed, "why don't you sit on the bed so that we can treat you better?"

He turned to Saxon, who nodded when he knew what to do, and he tidied the bed so it would be more presentable, "sit here so I can clean your wing, and don't worry about me?" He took the basin and washcloth that Saxon handed to him; they were prepared for Anglo in the morning but he didn't use them.

M: "But Derogan is coming back with new bandages," Mandara reminded them, he did as told anyway and plopped on the bed.

Silver Streak flapped as Mandara sat down next to her, then hopped over to his injured wing to look at it. She made a noise that vaguely sounded like a whimper when she saw how bad the gash was. The raven tried to help the wing by pecking at the loose feathers but when she touched a sensitive one and Mandara winced she stopped and just sat in his lap to give him emotional support

-----

Mandoria laughed at Johann's joy, he always loved it when children were happy, it made him happy. Rowen was also smiling at the kid, he had only known Johan for a little over an hour and he was quickly growing attached to him.

The riders were coming close to the finish line, Star Dust was still in the lead and Mandoria knew he and Xanthose weren't going to be able to pass her, but they still gave it their all and flew past the finish, figuratively speaking.

"Woah, that was fun," Rowen declared as he pulled his horse to a stop.

"Indeed it was," Mandoria agreed, "you make a fine racer, Captain, almost better than a knight."

Rowen rolled his eyes at the joke and looked over his shoulder at Johann, "you still alive back there?"

N: "Just," he squeaked, his arms were still around Rowen and when he was sure that the world had stopped zooming past, he tentatively unwrapped himself and shuddered, "that was super cool and scary at the same time."

He faced Mandoria and smirked, with the most respectful tone, "you have lost, sir, so I believe you would have to abide with the agreement made?"

-----

"I know, I know," said Anglo, as he sat down next to him, he lifted up his limp wing so that it rested on the bed. He dampened the washcloth and said, "but you don't put on clean clothes when you are still dirty, do you?" He rolled up his left sleeve, since his right one was still in bandages, and got to work.

Anglo smiled when he saw Silver trying to help, and he focused on cleaning the area around the wound, working his way around until the dried blood was removed. Mandara would flinch whenever he touched the wound itself, so he would quietly apologize and send him calming wing vibrations to help him.

M: When Derogan came back with new bandages and a basin and washcloth for Mandara, he saw that Anglo and Saxon were already helping his brother.

"Well, looks like I'm late to the party," he joked.

"Yeah, Sir Anglo wanted to help," Mandara said.

Derogan walked over and placed his basin on the nightstand since he clearly didn't need it anymore. He sat next to Mandara and started grooming his other wing while Anglo finished cleaning the wound, he knew his sibling loved his wings groomed and if he was scared or in pain it always calmed him down, leaving him blissfully unaware of anything happening to him.

-----

"I'm afraid so," Mandoria laughed, "ten gold pieces to the winners. If you were older I would have offered to buy you and Rowen a drink, but I suppose ten gold will have to suffice."

Rowen chuckled a little and looked out into the horizon, the sun was getting lower in the afternoon sky. He frowned at that, he was having a lot of fun with Johann and Mandoria, and he didn't want it to end yet. However, he knew that the kingdom comes first so he said to Mandoria, "Sire, it is getting later in the day, perhaps we should head back."

Mandoria looked over at the sun and nodded in agreement, "I suppose we shall, see you slowpokes at the castle," then without warning the king charged at full gallop back to the castle.

"Hey, no fair you cheater!" Rowen shouted after the country, he told Johann to hang on and he too raced for the castle.

N: Johann quickly held on as he watched Rowen slowly approach Mandoria, but he was so far ahead that it was clear they were going to lose. He did not mind as he just watched the scenery around him as they approached the castle, plus he was getting a bit tired from traveling to the kingdom and staying awake for a long time.

As they reached the stables, Mandoria was already off his steed as Star Dust trotted in. When he was helped down, Johann stifled a yawn and wobbled a bit as he adjusted to walking on solid ground again. He stood up straight and put his hands on his hips, and proclaimed, "I have successfully explored the castle," he yawned, "but I feel that this explorer has to sleep."

-----

What Derogan did was immensely helpful for Anglo, who can now access the wound better to clean it properly. He then picked up the clean bandages and carefully wrapped Mandara's wing, minding not to bend too many feathers. When he was done, he patted Mandara's leg, "all done, you did well staying strong."

Saxon, who was paying half of his attention to what was happening on the bed, looked outside to see the sun low in the sky, so he said, "it is getting a bit late, so maybe we can get something to eat before we head to bed," he turned to Anglo, "do you need food to be brought here?"

"I think I can manage," he replied, and he stood up, but his wing was still limp so wherever he went it would drag on the floor. Saxon frowned but Anglo insisted, "I'm still sore, but I can still walk around." Saxon conceded and asked the princes, "are you good to go?"