M: Johann continued to hug Rowen until the morning, and he stayed asleep until he felt some movement, so he opened one eye. "Danke," he said for no particular reason, holding the captain tighter before letting go. He slowly got out of bed, but the moment he got out, he stumbled a bit as he tried to regain his balance. After unceremoniously tripping over Titan, who was lying down near the foot of the bed, he bowed towards Rowen, "and that is how you don't get out of bed."

———

Saxon, like always, was the first person to wake up, and instead of going to the training grounds, went to have breakfast for a change, and was soon joined by England, and then Celtica. After a long while, while the British were in the middle of eating, a half-asleep Anglo walked in and sat down for breakfast. "I sometimes wonder," he spoke, "if you three even appreciate your sleep," getting a laugh from the rest of them on the table.

When she had finished, Celtica stood up and announced that she was going to leave, "and I've heard the amount of accidents that you English have gotten yourselves into," she chuckled, "and I wish not to enter into that cycle. Give my best to the two princes and to King Mandoria." She then whispered something into England's ear, who nodded in response, and then she left towards the stables.

Once she saddled Aerion, she mounted her and rode through the gates, heading towards Britain.

M: Rowen chuckled at Johann's stumble, he sat up and stretched, "don't worry, more often than not I too trip over the animals first thing in the morning."

He stood up from the bed and ruffled Johann's hair, "why don't you go back to your room and get ready for the day, we can have breakfast at the castle."

N: Johann nodded eagerly and rushed towards his room. When he opened the door, he saw the mess that he left behind from last night, so he began tidying up. After smoothing out the creases from his bed, he found the new set of clothes that Rowen had given him.

Putting on the white shirt and dark trousers, he was surprised that they fit as he stretched out his arms, seeing if the sleeves would stay at his wrists. He ran back out of the room, got himself ready in the bathroom, and was soon standing in the doorway with his shoes on.

M: Rowen was also pretty quick to get ready since he was used to it, he made sure to feed the animals before they left too. The two walked in silence and headed straight for the dining hall when they entered the castle.

Mandara and Derogan were up by then and had joined the English for breakfast, Mandara smiled and waved but Derogan didn't acknowledge them. When Rowen asked about this Mandara answered, "He's still pretty broken after yesterday, he hasn't said a word all morning."

N: Johann walked up to Derogan and patted his shoulder to comfort him, "I hope he gets better as the day goes on," the boy said to Mandara, and then he spoke to the older prince, "you will get better."

"Ah, Sir Rowen," England spoke up when he saw the captain, "Lady Celtica told me to tell you something before she left." He stood up so he was far enough from a certain entity, "she said that you might have to increase your guard at the southern border. Although it is densely forested, and nearly nothing can go through, it doesn't stop someone from making their way through it."

M: "Yes, I considered that myself since she was able to sneak in undetected," Rowen said quietly, "I will send some knights there to patrol, and hopefully they will stop anyone from entering. For now, let us peacefully dine and rest our minds from the constant drama."

With that, they went back to the table so he and Johann could join for breakfast.

"It is a shame that Lady Celtica had to go so soon," he said, trying to strike up a conversation, "I admit that I wanted to challenge her to a duel to see if she would actually put up a challenge."

N: "I think she might have, but the moment she heard about my injury," said Anglo, and then Saxon and England added theirs, "I think that might have spooked her and probably not want to remain here."

"Or she was afraid of Sir Rowen," Saxon suggested, "he is very skilled with a Tamordo."

"The only reason why you are still alive, Faeder," scolded England, "after saying that, is that she is not here. Maybe she has other reasons like, I don't know, going to British Empire to remove the tariffs. The last time someone came to take you home got injured and is still in the Kingdom." He nodded at Anglo then added, "and she might want a break from our drama." The entity nodded as he accepted the explanation.

"Well, at least she didn't follow the whole 'accepting challenge' thing," Saxon uttered, but then he got an idea, "Sir Anglo can verse Sir Rowen in a duel."

The winged country almost spat out his water when he heard, and when he found his voice, he muttered, "I'm not that good with spears; I'm sure he would beat me."

"Come on," the entity cheered, elbowing Anglo, causing him to choke on his water again, "you always boast about you being better than me." The winged country shot him a look of pure annoyance.

M: "It's alright, no need for pressure, if Sir Anglo doesn't want to duel then he doesn't have to," Rowen said, "besides, I need to inform my knights to move security to the southern border, if Lady Celtica could sneak in then that means those with less desirable intentions can too."

After he said this, heavy and slow footsteps came from the hallway, everyone turned to the doorway just in time to see Mandoria come in. The king was being helped by a servant and was putting his weight on a crutch since he had a bit of a limp on his left leg, his large left wing was completely bandaged and in a sling, most of his bandages were covered by clothing and the bandages around his neck and forehead were gone, though he had a noticeable scar across his throat.

"Father," Mandara exclaimed, running over to Mandoria and gently hugging him, "you're up, I'm so glad you're up."

N: The English all stood up in respect, Anglo also lowering his wings at the same time, as they acknowledged Mandoria's presence.

"I hope that Sir Mandoria has rested well," spoke Saxon, getting a nod from the rest of the English.

Johann also stood up, but instead, he walked up to Derogan and asked, "your father is here, are you glad? But I understand if you are not in the mood."

M: Derogan looked to him then up to Mandoria, he smiled ruefully and walked over to hug his father too, the king could tell that his son was still upset so he gave him an extra comforting hug.

"Thank you for looking after them," Mandoria said, barely above a whisper, his once clear and powerful voice reduced to a hoarse, raspy breath from his injury, "I hope they didn't give you any trouble."

N: "No, no. They were both fine," answered Anglo, "I'm afraid that you missed Lady Celtica, although she is carrying your message forward to British Empire."

They waited patiently for the King Wing to reach his seat at the head of the table, and when he sat down, with some assistance from the servant, the rest of them sat down too.

"Let's maybe move away from the subject of BE," Saxon began, "and continue with the fact that Sir Anglo needs to verse Sir Rowen in a duel." The winged country only dismissed the entity, so he continued, "and if you don't, I'll forever say that you are a terrible swordsman."

"But I'm not," he exclaimed, clearly his pride was hurt, so he hmm a bit, as if considering the offer, and finally gave in, "fine." The entity did a small but noticed celebration.

M: Rowen facepalmed, "you are such a child, Sir Saxon."

"I think that was already established by the snake encounter yesterday," Mandara joked.

"I heard about that from Merilda," Mandoria commented, drinking some warm tea to soothe his throat, "I truly wish I was there to see it, was it as funny as Sir Saxon clinging to the top of a tree?"

N: "He was quite brave actually," Anglo recounted, "and for someone to hold a python in his bare hand despite him completely losing his cool not that many days ago is quite the achievement."

"But when he yelped and jumped on the table before that," England laughed, "that was priceless." Saxon shot him a glance for him to be quiet but the country continued, "I really do wish that the infamous Feathered Assassins, plus their recruit," he nodded at Johann, "planted a snake under Faeder's bed."

"And I'll be out of the Kingdom before you can say 'You're dead'," the entity snapped at his son, and for a moment England went silent as he looked at his father, but began laughing.

"Oh my Lord, you really are that afraid," he said between gasps, "I need to start telling other kingdoms that the only way to get rid of the Head of Insurgents is a snake."

M: Mandara snorted so hard that he hurt his throat, Mandoria and Rowen also chuckled, but Derogan remained emotionless.

"You are indeed brave to put up with that, Sir Saxon," Mandoria commented, "I am deathly afraid of badgers, and if someone pulled that on me it's straight to the dungeons with them."

"Because of that I learned how to mimic a badger call," Mandara said, "I tried it on Father and he was scared so bad he flew up to the banisters of the throne room and refused to come down until I proved it was me."

He then made a badger noise that was so realistic that one would have thought there was a badger in the room.

N: England laughed at the sound, amazing at how realistic it was, and Anglo grinned too. Saxon, however, yelped when he heard the sound. After his last encounter with some badgers, he would rather stay away from anything linked to them.

When the English heard him yelp, they only laughed even more, to which Johann asked, "Sir Saxon, are you also afraid of badgers?"

"No, I'm not," he replied, albeit a bit too quickly, "I would simply advise you not to chase after a mother badger. Those things are vicious," and then he shuddered at the memory.

M: "Derogan told us that while he and Saxon were in the woods looking for something to scare someone with he told Saxon about Father's fear of badgers," Mandara explained, "he said that Saxon saw a badger and chased after it to catch it, then the next time he saw him was with Father and Anglo and he was clinging to a tree, right Derogan?"

Derogan merely nodded, still not speaking or looking at anyone.

N: Johann sighed when he saw Derogan's reaction, and asked, "Derogan, what do you want to do? Anything that could cheer you up? We could, um" he glanced up to the entity, "catch a snake to give to Sir Saxon?" The entity's eyes widened and shook his head, immediately protesting against the suggestion.

"Or," the boy continued, "we could catch a badger for your father, and do a better job than Saxon?"

"If you want to be thrown into the dungeons," muttered Anglo as he sipped on his water, getting a small chuckle from England.

M: Derogan didn't say anything, he turned to Johann and just stared at him, but something was different. The teen had cracked under pressure so hard yesterday that his spirit was broken, and when a countryhuman has a broken spirit, their eyes turn a deep, dull gray, not silver, more like smoky or storm cloudy. After staring for some time, he scooted out of his chair and silently left, his movements robotic and void of emotion.

"Derogan must still be recovering from yesterday," Rowen sighed, oblivious to the change, "a boy his age shouldn't have to have so much piled on him."

N: As the prince walked away, Johann only watched him worryingly as he left. "H-his," he stuttered, facing Mandoria, "his eyes are different. Why are they grey?" Wanting to help his friend, he jumped out of his seat and was about to run out of the room when Anglo stopped him.

"You should give him some space," the winged country spoke, he had a clue what happened to the prince from the boy's description, "his spirit is broken and you need to let him be."

The boy looked up to the Englishman, pleading in his eyes, "but someone can go to him. If he's broken, then I could fix him. Bitte, he's my friend."

M: "No, Anglo is right," Mandoria said, though regret was evident in his voice, "a broken spirit can't be mended with simple words, it takes a long time to heal from that and most of the time the victim just needs space. Believe me, I want to help my son more than anything, but I know that the best thing for him right now is to give him time to himself."

N: A defeated Johann trudged back to his seat and slumped into his chair. He moved his plate away, since he lost his appetite, and crossed his arms on the table, resting his head in his arms as he stared out into nothing.

Anglo sighed, "you have a good heart, Johann, but you need to remember that some things just need time."

The boy nodded but didn't say anything, continuing to have a blank but saddened expression.

M: "He will be okay Johann," Mandoria said, "this isn't the first time his spirit broke, both of us had to overcome the sorrow of his mother's passing, all we need to do is let him know we're there for him while giving him the space he needs."

Rowen nodded in agreement, he finished his breakfast and bid everyone farewell so he could go to work. The room fell silent while everyone else ate.

N: England felt uncomfortable in the silence, so he spoke up, "Sir Mandoria, is there anything that we can do for you. Anything at all, because otherwise," he glanced at Saxon, who looked up and smirked, "my faeder might do something reckless from his boredom."

"It's not going to be reckless," Saxon commented, "and I'm not a child. I just might just challenge Anglo to spar with me." The winged country sighed as the entity mentioned sword fighting again, but Saxon quickly got his attention when he added, "while he is blindfolded." There was a noticeable grumble from both England and Anglo as the English finished their breakfast.