M: When Anglo pat Mandara's leg to tell him he was finished, the kid barely even registered it from being too far into the grooming from Derogan, eyes closed and humming contently as his brother was working his feathers with expert care.

Derogan chuckled at his little brother in complete bliss and stopped so he could come back to earth. Mandara whined when Derogan stopped but perked up at the mention of food.

"Yes please," he said, sliding off the bed, Derogan merely nodded and too got off. Silver Streak decided that she wanted to join too so she flew over and landed on her friend's shoulder.

"I can't wait to tell Father that we beat the head of insurgents with pillows," Derogan jeered at Saxon.

"What's an insurgent," Mandara asked innocently, "is it like, a military group or something?"

-----

"You are so precious," Mandoria claimed, letting the stablehands take Xanthos, "you are just like my eldest son, Derogan."

"You know, Johann hasn't gotten a chance to meet the princes yet," Rowen stated, "perhaps he may join you for dinner so they can get to know each other."

Mandoria smiled at the suggestion, "that is a splendid idea, after all, he will be staying until we find a good home for him, would you like that Johann?"

N: Johann nodded in excitement, he would like to meet people around his age, and he was a little hungry too, so he rushed out of the stable, waiting at the entrance for Mandoria to catch up.

As they walked towards the dining hall, he requested, "may I not have any spicy food? The food is nice and all, but my tongue kind of died."

-----

Saxon tensed when Mandara asked the question, he forgot that he didn't know he was the head of insurgents. He quickly gave Derogan an annoyed look for slipping, then he had a silent argument with Anglo about who should say.

Saxon lost, and remembering that Mandoria warned against talking about insurgents to his sons, said, "insurgents are a sort of military group," he patted the younger country on the head, "but it's the sort of adult stuff that you would not find any interest in."

He turned to Derogan, "and you are not going to peep a word about you two defeating me with pillows, it would ruin my reputation."

"What reputation?" Anglo joked as he made his way to the door and opened it, making sure nothing caught on his wing as he dragged it on the ground behind him. Saxon grunted and walked through, spotted a servant, and ran over to them to ask for something.

No one heard them as he gave his request, and the servant gave him a strange look before walking away to do it. Saxon turned around to see Anglo giving him a confused look, so he smiled, "it is nothing you need to worry about. Let's make our way to dinner."

M: Mandara and Derogan giggled at Anglo's joke about reputation, and Mandara said, "well since a lot of people have been looking for him, I'd say he is quite the celebrity."

Derogan frowned at that, yes Saxon is a celebrity but not the type you would want to meet. He was also a little miffed that no one would tell Mandara the truth, but perhaps it was for the better that he didn't know.

When the group entered the dining room, Mandara suddenly said to Saxon, "Hey I just remembered, Silver said that you were in the eye of Ora and a kid tried to attack you, what was all that about?

Derogan also looked to Saxon for an explanation.

-----

Rowen still had scouting to do so he bid the two goodbye and remounted his horse, bringing back out the stable gates. When Johann mentioned the spiciness of the food Mandoria chuckled.

"Of course you can, I really have to remember to tell my cooks to leave the spice out when cooking for foreigners."

When he said foreigners, Mandoria's heart dropped a bit as he thought about Johann's situation, the poor kid had nowhere to go. He knew he couldn't stay, it was hard enough raising two children and ruling the kingdom at the same time, he wasn't sure he could handle a third child.

They rounded the corner towards the dining hall, but before they entered Mandoria asked, "you and Sir Rowen seemed to get along very well, how would you feel if he took you in? I know he's always wanted a child and he seems quite fond of you, and that way you can visit the castle whenever you want."

N: "Wait, REALLY," Johann beamed, "that would be great. Sir Rowen is really nice and friendly and he is a knight," he paused then said, "no offense, sir, you are really kind too."

He tried to calm himself down since he was hyper ever since arriving at the castle and let Mandoria open the doors into the dining hall. When he spotted Sir Anglo, he greeted, "Hallo, Sir Anglo," and waved, but he did not say anything to Saxon as he made his way to the table.

-----

"Oh yes, that," Saxon had temporarily forgotten about that, and he didn't want to say everything, so he said, "he is one of my people and we discussed something and concluded that he was going to stay here to find a new home." He left it at that as he did not want to remember what happened in Saxony and sat down at the table.

Guessing from Saxon's explanation, Anglo could guess what happened to the boy, and asked, "do you want to talk about it?" He shook his head, so to fill the awkward silence Anglo said, "well I'm sure that he would have a good home in this kingdom."

He turned around when he heard the doors open, and saw the child along with Mandoria come in, he waved back at Johann, and replied, "Hallo, little one," but he immediately noticed him avoiding Saxon.

M: Mandara and Derogan looked over to Johan and their father, tilting their heads in confusion, yes they knew about the boy but they didn't expect him to be there.

Mandoria noticed his sons' puzzlement and beckoned them to come meet Johann, they complied and walked closer.

"This is Johann," Mandoria introduced, "he lost his home and family so he will be staying in our kingdom from now on, Johann, these are my sons; Mandara and Derogan."

"Davhir," the brothers greeted in unison.

N: "Hallo," pipped up Johann, then he noticed their wings, and after a moment of admiring, he absentmindedly muttered, "nice wings." Anglo chuckled at Johann's expression, and as he went to sit down, he asked him, "so what have you been up to, mister?"

His eyes gleamed as he glanced at Mandoria, "I had a great day with Sir Rowen and King Mandoria, we went on horses and the captain and the king raced," he smiled, "and Sir Rowen beat King Mandoria." He went to sit so that he was opposite Anglo and Saxon, and next to the princes.

M: "Thanks," the brothers said in unison again. When they sat down and Johann told them about his day, Derogan smirked.

"Well, now I'm jealous, all we did today was play board games with Sir Anglo and Sir Saxon."

Silver Streak cawed at being left out so the prince reiterated, "and you too Silver."

"Well at least you took it easy as I asked," Mandoria commented, "I'm sure you both will be fit to go back to your troublemaking tomorrow."

The brothers chuckled mischievously and Mandara said, "we did make trouble today, we had a pillow fight with Sir Saxon and won."

"Did you now," Mandoria hummed, raising a brow at Saxon, "the great and powerful Saxon, who had dispatched a dozen French soldiers with nothing but two daggers, was defeated by two young boys with pillows?"

Silver Streak made a noise that sounded like laughter.

N: Saxon raised his hands in surrender, "I would have beaten them, but who can overcome the power of tickles?" He looked at Silver and said, "now I am being laughed at by a bird. This is an all-time low for me."

When Anglo heard about how Saxon dealt with the French soldiers, he questioned Saxon, "you did not feel that you confronting the french? You know how our grandson feels about French Empire."

"They were fre-"

"I know they are French," he waved his hand to interrupt Saxon, "but I know how you feel about them, so the next time you meet them, tell me about it." The food was brought before each person, and the servant that Saxon was talking to earlier brought Anglo's plate, and they began to eat.

While they ate, Anglo asked Mandoria, "on the topic of countries, were you able to get in contact with England?" Saxon also waited for his response.

M: Mandoria almost choked on his water when England was mentioned, he had almost completely forgotten about England, and what happened at his camp. He stayed silent as he contemplated how to answer, he couldn't lie because it didn't work last time, but he also didn't want to talk about it in front of the children.

"Sort of," he sighed, looking away from them, "my knights had found his camp and were ordering him and his remaining men to leave, just like they were supposed to, but something went wrong during the negotiations."

The king looked over at the boys, then back to Anglo and Saxon, "I would explain further but I feel this is not something to discuss in front of the children."

Mandara and Derogan gave each other confused looks, their father seemed very nervous, which was an odd thing for him to be, whatever happened at England's camp must not have been good.

N: "What do you mean 'something went wrong during the negotiation'?" Saxon growled as he began to stand up, but Anglo grabbed his arm to keep him seated, and said, "if Sir Mandoria said that he would explain further later, then he will," and he was able to calm Saxon down for the time being.

However, he himself was annoyed that anything but peaceful negotiations took place, and he is protective of his son, so he gave Mandoria a pointed look before tucking into his food.

As he ate, he noticed a strange flavor appear, and he was confused as he did not recognize it before, but he liked it. Ignoring what was said before, he said to Mandoria, "you surely did outdo yourself with this dish, what is the secret ingredient?"

When Saxon heard that he tried to keep a straight face as he asked Anglo, "you like it?"

"Yes, I do."

"It's a little sweet, isn't it, slightly crunchy?"

"Yes, exactly," Anglo gleamed.

"Well," by this point, Saxon was trying his hardest to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing, "I am glad to tell you that I have tried the secret ingredient before yesterday, with your help of course."

"But, yesterday, you ate a-", his face dropped as realization dawned on him, he looked down at his plate, and mumbled, "I hate you."

"I love you, too," Saxon whispered back before bursting out laughing.

M: Mandara immediately looked sick to his stomach but Derogan burst out laughing along with Saxon, which caught Mandoria and Silver Streak off guard.

"What is so funny," Mandoria asked, "did I miss something?"

"Anglo made Saxon eat a cockroach yesterday," Derogan explained, "it was after I bet him to eat one since I found a snake first, remember?"

Mandoria's face scrunched up in disgust as he recalled it, "how mature," he muttered.

Silver Streak perked up when she figured it out, she hopped over to Anglo's plate, grabbed the half-eaten bug -which was much bigger than the one Saxon ate- and took it back to her spot to munch on, earning a small "eww" from Mandara and Mandoria.

N: Johann watched as the situation unfolded, as he was put off because of the bug, but he laughed anyway. He felt slightly left out, being the only human at the table, and that he missed too much to be able to understand what was happening.

He couldn't stand being near Saxon, so he quickly finished his food and patiently waited for everyone else to finish before he could leave the table, something that his mother used to tell him.

The bug made Anglo completely lose his appetite so he elbowed Saxon in his side to stop him laughing, which failed as he continued to laugh until he couldn't breathe, and between gasps, Saxon said, "now we're even."

Anglo just rolled his eyes, and he noticed Johann's discomfort, so he said, "I am going to go and rest, and maybe Johann wants to go too." Johann nodded, as he stood up and took his plate to hand it to the kitchen staff directly.

M: "Actually, I think it best if you stayed," Mandoria said before Anglo left, "so we can discuss about what happened to England."

He was really not looking forward to that, considering how Saxon reacted to it he was quite scared of how they both would take the full story.

"Mandara, Derogan, why don't you two take Johann to your room, that way you can get to know each other better," Mandoria suggested.

The brothers looked at each other with confusion and concern, but said nothing and just nodded, standing up to wait for Johann.

N: Anglo nodded and stood behind Saxon, just in case he would have to keep him down if something bad happened to England and he reacts badly. When Johann came back and saw Anglo, he mouthed thank you, which Anglo nodded in acknowledgment, before he left with the princes.

When they had left, Saxon asked through gritted teeth, "as I said before, what did you mean 'something went wrong during the negotiations?"

M: Mandoria looked away with guilt in his eyes, he stood up to better explain.

"Well, as I said, things were going perfectly fine, my captain and Sir England were talking about leaving the kingdom and he was going to do just that. But, a few of his humans were angry that they had to leave without capturing you, Sir Saxon. I haven't the faintest idea how or why, but England joined them and refused to leave, my knights tried everything to end things peacefully but nothing worked."

Mandoria sighed before continuing, "England and his men attacked my own, they had no choice, all the people in the camp were either captured or killed, England was injured by an arrow but ultimately surrendered and was taken into custody. I-I didn't tell you because I was afraid you might harm me or my sons, I am deeply sorry."

Mandoria closed his eyes in preparation for the wrath he was certain he just unleashed.

N: Saxon was the first person to react, he stood up abruptly, marched over to Mandoria, and exploded, "it is bloody good that you are afraid because I will burn this god-damned kingdom to the ground," his blue eyes stared daggers at the kingdom, "no one, I mean NO ONE hurts my family and gets away with it."

Saxon realized that he has been shouting, but had not heard a peep from Anglo, so he look at him. Anglo froze when heard the news and his good wing drooped to the ground, that's why he couldn't stop Saxon and stood there as he processed the information.

He sat down, his head in his hands as a flurry of questions passed through his mind, tuning out Saxon's threats. He only snapped out when Saxon scolded, "are you just going to sit there and do nothing?"

"It is not his fault."

Saxon stared at Anglo, wondering if he lost his mind, and demanded, "please, tell me how in any way this is not his fault." Anglo looked up to Saxon, but his eyes seemed to drift past him and were unfocused.

"England should have taken the peaceful option, even if some humans were against it, which would lead to less bloodshed. But-", he stood up so he was next to Saxon, "I am only hearing one side of the argument, so I don't know." He stared angrily at Mandoria, "Why don't you lead us to our son, your highness, to get some clarity? How could you tell us about hurting your sons when we couldn't even see our own?"

He dragged Saxon away from Mandoria, to give him some space, and so that he wouldn't spontaneously attack him.

M: A few guards heard the shouting and ran in weapons drawn to protect their king, he waved them off with his wing but was also subconsciously gripping the hilt of his sword. He felt both terrified and incredibly guilty, he should have told them sooner, England was their son after all and it was selfish of him to keep what happened a secret.

"O-of course," he stuttered, "r-right this way."

He began leading Anglo and Saxon to the dungeon, along the way he asked a few guards in Mandorian to go safeguard Derogan and Mandara's room, just in case. They complied and headed over there, one guard stayed with his king to protect him if things went south.

When they made it to the dungeon, Mandoria walked over to a different area than the French soldiers. There was a row of decently sized cells with a few English soldiers in them. In the last cell on the right, England was sitting on a bed picking at some bandages wrapped around his stomach.

"Sir England," Mandoria said, still slightly fearful, "you have some visitors."