N:   It was barely the break of dawn when Saxon woke up from a relaxed sleep. It was routine for him to wake up early but he was annoyed because for once he wanted to stay asleep.

"Well, there is no point trying now," he said to himself.

He sat up in the bed and saw some neatly folded clothes, clean bandages, and a washbasin on a desk for him. He prepared himself to stand, and, after a few tries, was able to stand on his two feet without any support.

He staggered to the desk and took off his tunic, redressing his wounds using the materials provided. When he was finished, he dressed in the new white shirt and trousers provided. He instinctively reached down to the desk to retrieve his eyepatch but then he remembered that he left it back home. He stared at his reflection again in the mirror, then left the room.

He did not know what to do so he slowly walked in the direction where he thought the watchtower would be. After wandering the halls of the castle, he reached it and asked the human guard if he had seen any countryhumans approaching the castle. The guard said that he had not seen anything out of the normal and, satisfied with his answer, slowly walked outside to an open green area to admire the sunrise.

M:   Derogan was fidgeting in his sleep, his little whimpers from his nightmare filled the quiet room but did not wake Mandara, being the heavy sleeper he was. Eventually, Derogan's eyes snapped open as he woke from the dream, he sat up in bed and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

Once he was calm, he decided to open the curtains to see what time it was, clocks having not been invented yet. The warm rays of morning sunlight hit his face and he smiled, he always loved mornings like this, it got him in a good mood for the day.

As he enjoyed the morning air, he noticed someone standing in the knight's training grounds, he tilted his head in confusion, what were they doing there? He couldn't see who it was from this distance so he decided to get dressed and go investigate.

Mandara had still not woken from the noise of Derogan's movements, but the young country paid little mind to that as he opened his window and jumped out, catching himself mid-air with his wings. Derogan silently flew over to the person and stopped a few meters behind them, that's when he realized this was the country his father rescued.

"Dahver there sir, what are you doing out here?" he asked, still hovering in place.

N:   Saxon didn't hear Derogan come, so he jumped a little when he spoke. He turned to see the young boy in the air behind him.

"Oh, good morning, Prince Derogan. I only came here to admire the sunrise," he faced the horizon where the sun started to appear, "it is the simple things in life that are the most beautiful, don't you think?"

Saxon realized that Derogan had woken up quite early. "Should you not be in bed?"

M:   Derogan nodded in agreement as he landed, nothing could beat the simple beauty of nature, it truly outmatched anything man-made. When Saxon asked the question he shrugged.

"Father says a king must awake with the sun, so he's been having me start to wake up early to get used to it, though today I simply woke from a bad dream," he said as he walked closer to the entity, "it kind of frustrates me that he does that, he thinks that just because I was born first that I should be king, but he never stopped to ask if that is what I wanted."

He shook himself out of his gloating before it muddled his mind and asked, "What about you, are you king where you come from?"

N:   Saxon hummed along to what Derogan said then he gave his response. "Your father is only looking out for you and the kingdom, and it is a good habit for a future king to adopt."

Tired from standing up for too long, Saxon eased himself down to the grass and continued, "However, if you believe that being a king is not what you desire then you should address it with your father. Communication is important, believe me."

Derogan's question took him by surprise, "Nay, I am not the king where I am from, I cannot since I am the ..." he held his tongue before saying too much. "My eldest grandson is the king where I am from." Then he thought again, "By now, he is probably the king over a quarter of the world."

M:   Derogan nodded slightly, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to tell his father how he felt about being king, but then he would be disappointed and Derogan didn't want that either. When Saxon described his grandson, the kid's eyes lit up.

"Quarter of the world, you must be talking about British Empire, you're his grandfather? That is really cool," he said with admiration flickering in his eyes, "Father is allied with him and we have visited his kingdom a few times, but I don't remember ever seeing you around, do you guys not get along? Or did he banish you? Is that why you were injured when Father found you?"

Back in the castle, certain winged folk felt the excitement from Derogan's wings, waking them up. Mandara looked out his window to where the vibrations were coming from, then went to tell Mandoria what was going on.

N:   Saxon chuckled from Derogan's excitement, seeing his wings vibrating so much from it. The kid sure did admire his grandson.

"Calm down, one question at a time," he smiled as he answered each question. "You may not have seen me as I tend to travel from country to country. I get along with my grandson. The same could not be said with me and my son England. As for the question if I am banished, nay I am not, but I was close to once. Lastly, my family did not injure me; injuries are often something that accompanies my work."

When he finished, he noticed some movement in his peripheral vision, so he turned to face a window but saw nothing. Probably a figment of his imagination.

"However, enough about me, yesterday I heard that you have flying lessons with your father. I would like to know what the best flying trick that you can do is."

M:   "I don't know a lot of tricks," Derogan said, "Father has soaring wings so he can't teach that stuff, I've had to self-teach the few tricks I know, which are simple twirls and loop-the-loops."

He opened a wing so Saxon could look at it better, "he says that mine are elliptical wings and I have better maneuverability than him and Mandara, who has high-speed wings. Personally, I wish they were soaring like Father's, that way I can finally have bigger wings than Mandara, he is five years younger than me and his are longer, it's not fair."

As Derogan explained flying to Saxon, Mandara just explained to Mandoria what he saw. The king was confused as to why the two were talking to each other, let alone outside so early, so he decided that maybe he should check on them. He got dressed in his royal outfit, stepped out onto a balcony that was connected to his room, and took to the sky with one massive flap of his wings, Mandara following after.

The two flew over to the training grounds and spotted Derogan and Saxon, the king smiled at how friendly they were with each other, the country had been here for barely a night and he already made a friend. Mandoria and Mandara flew closer and landed a few feet next to the two.

"Well, it seems we are late to the party," the king joked, "it looks like you two are getting along nicely."

N:   "Well, bigger does not necessarily mean better. I am no expert, being a wingless entity myself, but from experience, having more control of the situation may come in handy than generally having power in it."

When he had a better look at Derogan's wings, he did note how they seemed slightly smaller. "There is no need to compare yourself to your brother. The only person that you need to compete against is yourself; comparing yourself to others would not help."

When Mandoria spoke, it surprised Saxon again from being snuck up on. "You would think by now I would get used to winged entities sneaking up from behind since living with one." He stood up from the grass in respect to Mandoria, although he did have to be careful not to put too much strain on his wounds. "You have not missed much, good sir," he faced Derogan, "we were just discussing about flying."

M:   Derogan stood up too, "Yep, I saw him admiring the sunrise from my window and came out to join him, and then we started talking."

Mandoria nodded in response, "understandable, the sunrise is always something to admire, and it is made even better with someone else."

The king gazed at the placement of the sun and the length of the shadows on the ground to determine the time, "we should go back inside however, I still have work to do, the duties of a king never rest," he then turned to his sons, "perhaps you two would be so kind as to show our guest to the dining hall for breakfast, I doubt he has eaten since yesterday."

"Yes Father, we will do that," Derogan said, Mandara looked a little nervous about being left alone with the newcomer but nodded anyway.

Mandoria smiled in approval and turned back to Saxon, "I'll see you later then," and he spread out his large wings again and took off towards the castle.

N:   Saxon nodded to what Mandoria said just before he took off. When Mandoria was out of sight, he looked down at the two princes. He noticed that Mandara moved so that he was standing slightly closer to Derogan.

"Since you know the area better than I do, I will follow you to the dining hall," he then turned to Mandara, "you may wish to stay with your brother if you want." When the young boys led Saxon into the castle, he wanted to find a way to talk to Mandara.

"And on the topic of food, what is the cuisine like in this kingdom?"

M:  "Spicy," Derogan said simply, "Father is trading partners with Sir India so we get a lot of spices from him, Mandara and I don't mind it, right brother?"

Mandara just nodded, he was fiddling with his feathers and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone, especially Saxon.

Derogan frowned, "Why are you afraid of Sir Saxon, he's really nice."

"His eyes are scary," Mandara muttered, barely above a whisper. Mandara and Derogan had never met an entity before so this is the first time they saw black entity eyes.

By now they entered the dining hall, it was very large to accommodate lots of people when Mandoria held feasts during celebrations. Today it was just the three of them, and some servants were setting up one end of the dining table for them, they bowed in respect when the countries drew closer.

N:   "Spicy, you say? From Sir India." Saxon was slightly worried about that. He has had spice in food before, that was not new to him, but whenever British Empire would come home with spices from India, to put it simply, Saxon chugged a whole jar of water afterward. It has been some time since the incident, so maybe he has gotten used to it. Maybe.

When Mandara pointed out his eyes, Saxon suddenly became self-conscious of them. He would have been fine if an adult was scared of him because of his eyes, but he felt guilty that a child was scared this time.

When they entered the dining hall, Saxon whistled in amazement when he saw the sheer size of it. The young boys led him to the table where the servants indicated where Saxon should sit. When he sat down, a plate was placed in front of him and, knowing that the food may be spicy, stared at the food worryingly.

M:   Derogan and Mandara sat down next to each other and were given the same meal of eggs, meat, and toast, Mandara started eating right away, but Derogan noticed Saxon's expression as he looked at his food.

"Breakfast usually isn't spicy unless you ask for it, so it should be fine," he reassured the entity, "but if you're still worried then the cooks can get you a glass of milk or something."

Derogan then fell silent, not knowing how to strike up a conversation, Mandara definitely wasn't going to help with that.

N:   Now reassured, Saxon relaxed and tucked into the food. He soon realized how hungry he was and after his first serving, he called a servant for another.

For a couple of minutes, the only noises heard were the clinking of cutlery and the chewing of food. The silence became too uncomfortable, so Saxon decided to break it. "So, Mandara, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies?"

M:   Mandara reflexively shrunk in his chair when Saxon mentioned his name, he was still nervous about talking to him, but when Derogan patted his brother's shoulder comfortingly, he felt a little better and tried to answer as best he could.

"I like bird-watching," he said, "Father has been teaching us to talk with them since we can make bird noises, so I like to go into the woods to practice with them. I collect feathers too, and a few of the winged kingdoms of Father's court have gifted me theirs when they found out."

Derogan smiled that Mandara was becoming more comfortable around Saxon, he patted his shoulder again with approval, then added, "We both also like swimming in a nearby lake at the bottom of a sinkhole, it's called The eye of Ora because it is rumored that when the full moon hits the lake, the wolf guardian spirit Ora emerges from it."

N:   "That is quite interesting," he then smiled when he remembered something, "I remember when Anglo once had a fully-fledged argument with a bird, and it was amusing to watch."

When he heard about the sinkhole, he was intrigued by it. He enjoyed listening to stories like these; about spirits and unworldly powers, especially since it is not as intertwined with society as it used to be.

When he had finished eating, Saxon asked if he could use the training grounds. "It is part of my daily routine to train. Am I allowed to, or do I need permission from your father and to be supervised?"

M:   Mandara and Derogan exchanged glances and shrugged, "we don't know, no guest has asked to go to the training grounds when they visit, but I don't think Father would mind," Mandara said.

"And we have a day off from lessons today, so maybe we can join you," Derogan suggested.

Mandara frowned, "Derogan, Father says we can't train with weapons until we're older, and after what happened with King Prussia, he thinks you'll get hurt again."

"That was a year ago, Mandara," Derogan retorted, "I learned my lesson, and if it makes you feel better we will just watch," he turned back to Saxon, "if that's ok."

N: Saxon nodded and stood up to leave, but then he tensed up when Prussia was mentioned. "Prussia, you say..." he muttered; however, he quickly changed to the subject at hand.

"If your father said so, then it is fine if you watch. I can use a dummy." He faced Derogan and, through a forced smile, said, "Maybe you can learn a thing or two from me so that you won't get hurt by that Prussian again."

He looked down at his hand to find it clenched in annoyance. He sighed and unclenched his hand, wondering why Kingdom of Prussia was always the source of the problem.

"May you please lead me to training grounds, for I have forgotten the way?" He memorized the directions, but he didn't want the princes to know.