M:   Edel decided to prove that point by yanking England to the ground by the back of his shirt and sitting on him again, fluffing up his fur and purring.

Derogan burst out laughing, even more when muffled shouting was coming from England, this had to be the funniest thing he's seen since the Saxon up a tree incident. Mandara was very happy to see his brother laughing, and he nearly screamed with joy when he noticed that his eyes had returned to their ocean blue.

"Derogan, your eyes are blue again," Mandara exclaimed, hugging his sibling tightly, "I'm so glad you're back!"

N:   "Derogan, you're back," Johann beamed, joining Mandara and hugging Derogan, "I knew you would come back."

While the boys were overjoyed, England was shouting his head off underneath the fur, and all his parents did was laugh as they watched their son being sat on by a dragon.

"Must be quite warm down there," laughed Saxon as he crouched down, "I think you are better off like this." There was a momentary pause for England but then he began to shout again, and luckily it was muffled as the entity could tell it was directed at him.

M:   Edel apparently didn't appreciate the shouting coming from his fur so he decided to teach England a lesson. He stood up off the country then grabbed him the minute he tried to run away, he held him tightly in his paws and wings and started grooming him, licking his hair like a lioness grooming her cub and making it stand on end like a weird mohawk.

All three children and Rowen were laughing at the sight, and Rowen decided to add insult to injury, "aw, is little baby having a bath, do you want your binky and teddy bear when you're all clean?"

N:   "No, I bloody do not," he shouted, using his arm to whack the dragon's face to make him stop. "Let -thbbpt- me goo. Pfft, my hair is in my mouth," he yelled, continuing to try to stop Edel, but soon his arms were pinned to his sides and endured the full grooming treatment.

After a few minutes of struggle, England adopted his father's 'why is this happening to me' face, and just stood there, his head moving from side to side as his hair grew in height.

Seeing this, Celtica had completely lost, on the floor laughing until she had to gasp for oxygen, while Saxon and Anglo laughed as they saw their son get his hair done.

M:   Mandoria was walking towards the infirmary to check on Rowen when he heard the excessive amount of laughter coming from that direction. Confused and curious of its origins, he kept walking and was utterly shocked by the scene he stumbled on to.

"What is going on here," he asked, "I must say I have never heard so much laughter in my life."

"Edel adopted England and is giving him a bath," Mandara explained through laughs, "we're just teasing him now."

"Oh," Mandoria said in amusement, trying to hold back a quiet snicker at England's face, "I truly feel sorry for you England, a dragon's parental nature is very strong and you will most likely be stuck with him for when he deems you old enough to leave the nest, which in terms of dragon age is about two to three thousand years old."

N:   England blinked a couple of times as he tried to comprehend what he just heard, "Two to three THOUSAND YEARS," he yelped, stunned by how long. He looked up to Edel, only to get a lick right in the face, and asked him, "Could we possibly shrink that to normal years, or decades, maybe even centuries? BUT. NOT. MILLENNIA."

Edel only stopped for a second before resuming England's bath, earning a grumble from the country. "I see that a no then," he muttered before closing his eyes, trying to wish himself from existence.

Johann, dying of laughter as he sat down on the floor, said "Also, King Mandoria, Derogan is back," he pointed at the prince who was also laughing. "He got his blue eyes back, thanks to Edel sitting on England."

M:   Mandoria looked to Derogan and saw that his eyes were indeed blue and he let out a sigh of pure relief, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better my son," he said, placing a hand on Derogan's shoulder. Derogan simply smiled and hugged his father, also happy to be out of the hole.

Edel kept at England's grooming for a while more until he decided he was well cleaned, then he grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up so his feet were dangling off the ground.

"Now that you are clean he will take you back to wherever he decides the nest is," Mandoria explained through giggles, "he will then either curl around you and have you take a nap or go off hunting to feed you, don't worry though, dragons eat their food cooked."

N:   There was an audible groan from England as he was suspended in the air, "I feel like I'm a bloody five-year-old again." Glancing at his parents, he saw Saxon joining Celtica on the floor and laughing while Anglo chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"You were a handful as a child," Anglo grinned, "and if you had wings, I would have probably needed to step down from ruling and keep an eye on you 24/7." He walked up to Edel and patted him, "at least this time, you would not be running away whenever you have to go to bed."

After a moment, the entity said between laughs, "Welcome to the family, Edel," causing England to grumble again as he crossed his arms.

M:   Edel purred in response to being in the family and turned to find where he wanted his nest to be, everyone else following behind.

After a moment of wandering, Edel went back to the dining room and plopped England down in front of a fireplace that what there. The dragon lit the fireplace to keep England warm, gave him a few parting licks, then ran off to find some nesting material.

N:   England used the opportunity to crawl away, eager to get away from the dragon, when Johann stood in his way. "I don't think that's a good idea, Sir England," the boy smirked, "like what King Mandoria said, dragons have a strong parental nature, so I doubt that you leaving would result in anything good."

The country mumbled under his breath before returning back to his spot. Arms crossed, he pouted as he watched the fire in front of him.

M:   The Mandorians all snickered to themselves at England pouting like a kid.

"Don't worry England, I'll explain to Edel that you can't be his child," Mandoria reassured him, "though I think it would be nice to let him have you for today."

After a few more minutes, Edel came back with pillows and blankets and placed them on the floor, he dug and rearranged them for a bit until he was satisfied with the new nest, then grabbed England again and put him in the middle of it. Edel lay down in the nest with England, coiled his tail around the country, and curled up around him to go to sleep.

N:   England attempted to escape, but soon felt drowsy as the combined warmth from Edel and the fire made him want to sleep. Using the dragon's fur as a pillow, his eyes grew heavy as he slowly dozed off, but just before he did, he warned the group to not tell anyone about this.

"No promises," the British countryhumans said in unison, getting a grumble from the country before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

"Wow," Anglo muttered, genuinely surprised, "he actually fell asleep."

After a moment, Saxon spoke up, "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Who's hungry?"

M:   "Me." the brothers said in unison.

"Me too, guess I might as well join you since I'm out of commission for the time being," Rowen said.

"I think I can spare a few minutes for lunch," Mandoria said, "I'll go check with the chefs to make us something."

He left to do that while everyone else sat at the table.

"I think you guys could take some pointer from Edel's parenting skills," Rowen decided to strike up a conversation, "despite being born out of stone he really knows what he is doing."

N:   "We probably should," Anglo nodded, "I mean, the amount of effort needed to get that boy into bed was a lot, yet Edel can do it in an instant." However, Saxon crossed his arms in response, saying that he's a good enough father.

"I beg to differ," said Celtica, getting a glare from the entity, "A parent shouldn't be good enough for their child; they should be good."

"Fine," he muttered, then he faced Rowen, "You should take some pointers too since Johann is in your care now."

M:   Rowen chuckled, "maybe I should, I thought of myself as decent since I would help look after the princes when his Highness was particularly busy, but you can never have too much advice, on anything really."

"Like how Derogan always needs advice to stay out of trouble," Mandara joked, "or not to fly faster than he can handle, like this one time we were racing and he turned too hard and crashed into a tree-"

Mandara was cut off when he got a mouth full of feathers from Derogan's wing slapping him in the face, "don't you dare tell that damn story, let me keep whatever little dignity I have left." He growled.

N:   "No, no, no," Saxon smirked, his eyes glinting with curiosity, "I would very much want to know what happened, Derogan. Everyone now knows about my tree story with the snake, so now let's hear yours." Anglo and Celtica nodded, also wanting to know what happened.

"You should have said nothing," Johann whispered to the prince, "you baited yourself out by saying that."

M:   "I don't care, no one says anything, period," he barked, pointing to Rowen as well.

"Unfortunately, since he is the future king I do have to abide to his wishes," Rowen sighed, "but I know someone who doesn't."

Right as he said that Mandoria came back in and sat down, confused when Derogan looked horrified to see him, "did I miss something?" He asked.

"Mandara was trying to tell the story of Derogan's little incident but he won't let him or me tell it," Rowen explained.

Mandoria nodded with understanding and so started explaining, "so my sons were having a friendly race when Derogan crashed into a large oak, then suddenly started screaming like he was being murdered. Naturally, I came over to see what was going on when he fell out of the tree and ran away, a family of squirrels came down and started chasing him until he remembered he could fly. After that, it took me a week to get him out of the castle and he still screams and runs away when he sees one."

N:   Immediately, Saxon cackled when he heard, clutching onto Anglo as the winged country shook his head in disappointment at the entity. "Wait," he laughed, "you're scared of those little critters?"

"I do not think it's kind of you to laugh at Derogan," Anglo said, although he himself was struggling to keep a straight face.

"I'm going to laugh if I want to," the entity responded, "now we're even."

Johann was also laughing, and patted Derogan's shoulder, "sorry for laughing, but that's way too funny. It's not as funny as the badger standing behind King Mandoria right now, but it's close enough."

M:   Mandoria squeaked in surprise and turned to look behind him but saw nothing, he sighed and was about to scold Johann when a badger noise came from underneath the table.

"Father, it's under the table," Mandara said, 'looking' under the table, "it's coming for you!"

Mandoria jumped from his chair and backed up a few feet, then got down on all fours and fluffed out his uninjured wings in a threatening manner like he was ready to fight whatever came out of the table. The children and even Rowen were just laughing at the display the king was putting on.

N:   Saxon threw his head back, laughing his head off, while Anglo's head was buried in his arms, his shoulders shaking vigorously from laughing. Celtica wiped a tear as she said, "you can relax now. There isn't a badger coming after you."

Johann chuckled when he saw Mandoria's reaction, and punched the air, "Yes, another prank successful."

M:   Mandoria was slightly confused at everyone's laughter until he watched Mandara make his badger call and frowned, "very funny," he grumbled.

"Everyone else has been pranked, it was high time you were pranked too," Mandara said innocently as his Father came back and sat down. The king looked unhappy at being laughed at but a smile returned to his face as he chuckled at himself.

"I suppose I should have seen it coming," he eventually admitted, "now I have three prankster princes to deal with."

Mandara and MA chuckled mischievously and high-fived each other for a job well done at training their new apprentice.

"I can only imagine the tricks you have planned for me Johann," Rowen chuckled nervously.

N:   Johann rubbed his hands together mischievously and grinned, "First, I would need to gather information about what scares you, then use it to my advantage. If I cannot find anything, you better keep an eye open when you sleep from now on."

Near the fireplace, a half-asleep England lifted up his head and called out to the group, "Can no one here get a decent, peaceful sleep?" His head dropped back down and soon went back to sleep.

"He was the one who woke everyone up," Celtica countered, and when she tasted her food, she hmmed from its vibrate taste, "Nice dish, and it has the added bonus of no spice," causing the rest of the British and Johann to hum in agreement.

M:   "Well, I guess my chefs finally learned that foreigners can't handle the spiciness of our food," Mandoria commented, "I tried to have them put a little British swing on it so I'm glad you like it."

"That reminds me, when are you guys leaving," Derogan asked, "don't get me wrong, we love spending time with you, but British Empire has got to be getting worried that half of his family has been gone for so long."

N:   The British countryhumans glanced at each other, wondering about the answer to the question, and Celtica answered, "Usually BE isn't too worried if us three are gone for a while, I mean, Saxon's occupation requires him to be away. However, England is a different story, and we might have to go soon."

Saxon nodded and added, "I might as well get the court proceedings over and done with back home, but after that," he glanced at Mandoria, "I got some work to do."

Anglo, confused at the entity's last sentence, finished the answer, "Saxon and I already finished the logistics and planning to go home, so it's just a matter of when we will go." He gazed over to his sleeping son and sighed, "We have definitely overstayed our welcome, and England has to return, so we would most likely go tomorrow."

M:   The Mandorians went silent as they took that in, they all knew that the English and Celtica had to leave but it didn't make it any easier.

"Very well," Mandoria said, "I will make sure that you have a proper escort out of the kingdom so you may be safe and not worry about running into any unwanted parties. You are welcome to take any horses you wish we have enough to spare, and I will of course provide you with enough provisions for your trip."

"What about Edel," Mandara asked, "would he be going with them since he adopted England?"

The group looked to England and Edel by the fireplace as they pondered that.

"Knowing how the world is now, I think it would be safer for Edel to stay here," Mandoria said, "if he left this kingdom he would most likely be hunted and killed simply because he is a dragon, England would have to say goodbye to his mother hen."

N:   Anglo nodded, "I agree; it is best that Edel stays. However, hopefully, England would be allowed to visit him whenever he wants; and even if you are able to convince Edel that England is not a child, I doubt he would let him go easily."

For a while, nobody talked as they ate their food, and bored of the silence, Celtica spoke up. "So," she faced Rowen, "I beat you in the spar."

M: "Yes you did," Rowen agreed, "I do wish we could have spared with Tamordos but I doubt the outcome would be different."

"You are really good with spears, Celtica," Derogan commented, "I have never seen Rowen be beaten in a spar before, how did you do it, if you come back could you teach me, I would love to fight with a spear."

"Woah, take it easy Derogan," Mandoria said, "the English and British will without a doubt come back, you can pester them more when they do," he turned to the others, "you all are always welcome here whenever you wish, though do make sure to give more notice next time please." he joked.

N:   Anglo chuckled lightly while Saxon just grumbled a bit while he ate. Celtica was slightly surprised by the number of questions but she smiled and answered anyway. "It really does all go down to practice, and with enough determination, you could beat Rowen too."

The Celt rubbed the back of her neck as she remembered something, "Although, with my case, I developed my skills with a spear, or more accurately a trident, very quickly back when I was imprisoned in the Roman Empire, so it became more of a life or death situation."

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the memories, and went back to her point, "If you really do love fighting with a spear, I will definitely teach you when I visit."

M:   Derogan beamed with joy while Mandoria just shook his head, "you're going to turn my son into a warlord Celtica."

"Or a powerful king that can defend his people," Rowen defended, "besides, they will need to learn to defend themselves eventually if we are to prepare for 'him' to come."

Mandoria's face turned down at that, but he nodded, "you're right, then I truly look forward to you coming back Celtica, and the rest of you too."

Mandara got bored of the conversation and tried to change it, "so Anglo, are you getting Saxon a pet snake when you guys go home so he can practice facing his fears?"

N:   Saxon went pale at the mention of a pet snake, narrowing his eyes at Mandara for reminding Anglo. The winged country smirked when he saw the entity's reaction, and replied, "Yes, I will. After some thought, I think we can just bring a grass snake native to England instead of going all the way to Australia." He glanced at Saxon and nudged him slightly, "Wales probably knows someone who could arrange it, and besides, both you and Ireland need to learn not to be afraid of snakes."

"The boy is smart," mumbled the entity, "living in, well, Ireland. There are no snakes; therefore, it is heaven." He saw Celtica snickering at him, so he asked, "Why don't we get some seagulls for Scotland, huh?"

The Celt's face quickly switched to a concerned mother, "Don't touch my boy, Saxon. It's not his fault that seagulls decided to chase him."

"It was his fault really," the winged country pointed out, "I told him not to feed the birds, and what happens next, he is sprinting the entire length of the beach with an entire flock of seagulls chasing him for food."

M:   Everyone laughed at the Scotland story, except for Derogan who knew exactly how it felt to be chased by animals.

"Oh my gods it's just like with Derogan," Mandara exclaimed, "I'm telling you, he's related to you guys, without a doubt."

Mandoria chuckled, "well, my wife always said she came from the British Isles, I never really believed that since BE had never heard of her before but who knows, it could be a possibility considering the consistencies."

N:   "There is the possibility that she could," Anglo thought out loud, actually seeing if it was possible, "Saxon and I didn't see any other countryhumans when we arrived in the British Isles, except Celtica, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't any." He faced the Celt and asked, "Was there anyone you saw before we arrived?"

She raised a brow and smirked, "I shall neither confirm nor deny the claim that there was another countryhuman."

"If you are related to us," Saxon spoke, "welcome. We have a dragon, a general dislike of spices, and the tendency of being chased by animals."

M:   Mandoria rolled his eyes in amusement at Celtica's vagueness and muttered, "oh women" under his breath. Then added so everyone could hear, "well I'm glad we are a part of the family now. If you'll excuse me though I do need to get back to my duties, don't have too much fun without me."

"No promises," the brothers said in unison, Mandoria just smiled and left to return to work.

"So do you think we should rescue England yet or let him 'suffer' more," Derogan asked.