N:   "Don't thank us," Anglo spoke, "and you do not have to repay anything; we care for both Edel and Johann, and to help someone you care for requires no payment. It was Mandoria's leadership which got us out of the sinkhole, and we only played a small part."

Celtica nodded then added, "It's our honor to bring them home."

When he felt Edel curl around him, Johann snuggled up to the dragon, almost disappearing under his wing as he moved around to find a comfortable spot.  After some stretching and shuffling, he finally found a spot; his chest slowly raised and fell, and his breathing quiet and steady as he leaned against Edel.

M:   Rowen smiled again, "you're right, helping a friend is a reward in itself, I thank you all the same."

"Are Derogan and Saxon ok," Mandara asked as Rowen stood up.

"Yes, they are both still sleeping, Derogan woke up at one point but immediately went back to sleep," he explained.

"Good, I think we all could use sleep after today," Mandoria commented, then turned to Celtica, "if you are still wanting to leave by tomorrow you may, I will have my best knights, excluding Rowen, escort you out of the kingdom so you might actually have a chance at making it to the British Isles."

N:   "I think I might stay," Celtica replied, and she glanced at Anglo, "these English seem to be attracted to trouble, so I might as well stay to keep them out of it."

"We are fine," the winged country reassured, "go to British Empire, and we will be fine here. We will meet up with you later." She tilted her head as she considered it, "Don't worry about us."

"Fine," she said, "I'll go."

As soon as she said that, England walked into the room, and Anglo was immediately worried by his shocked expression. When he asked what happened, the country answered, "I was just returning the supplies when Faeder all of a sudden snored so loudly, I swear, I left my body for a second. Then he went silent, so I rushed out so I wouldn't get another heart attack."

M:   Mandara burst out laughing, to which Edel growled in annoyance to, the other Mandorians just quietly snickered.

"Well, maybe a goodnight's sleep will help ease your charged nerves," Mandoria said, clasping a hand on the younger country's shoulder, "that goes for all of us."

Mandara nodded in agreement as he yawned, then proceeded to give everyone a goodnight hug and Edel a gentle head pat before going up to his room to sleep.

"I'll be sleeping here tonight to keep an eye on them," Rowen said, nodding to Edel and Johann, "if any of you wish to join I don't mind, but otherwise, goodnight." he then left to get a spare pillow and blanket.

N:   "I do not mind staying," said England, to which Celtica sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness you are, otherwise you will wake us all up again. I don't want to jolt up from the sound of someone breaking down a door."

"First of all, I said I was sorry," England spoke, crossing his arms, "and second, it was a one-time thing." The Celt only shrugged and walked towards the door, bidding everyone goodnight.

"Do not think too much about her," Anglo smiled, running his fingers through England's hair, "we all understand that you want me with your mama dragon."

"He's not my-," England said, frustrated, "ugh. Forget it."

"Fauntkin, could you also clean yourself up? Edel may have given you a bath, but it's not the best," the winged country said, then he turned to the dragon, "no offence."

England grumbled more and agreed, following his father, who also bid everyone goodnight, to grab a pillow and a blanket to join Rowen.

M:   While everyone left to get ready for bed, Mandoria stayed and knelt down in front of Edel, running a soft hand over the bandages on the dragon's face.

"I'm deeply sorry that you had to endure this Edel," he said quietly, "but I also hope that it serves as a lesson about the next time you run away from the consequences of your actions. One way or another we must pay for the harm we have caused others, so hopefully, you will be more careful the next time someone you've adopted gets taken by their real parent, okay?"

Edel just quietly rumbled in the back of his throat, not making eye contact with the king as guilt settled in his heart. Mandoria smiled half-heartedly and patted the injured reptile's head, then stood up and grabbed one of the blankets that was left of the nest from earlier and draped it over Edel. After a moment more of watching over him and Johann, Mandoria left and retired to bed.

N:   After a while, England came back, having stolen a pillow and blanket from Saxon's room, and he laid it next to Edel. Not sure what to do next, he just laid down, his hands behind his back as he looked up to the tall and vast ceiling.

Thinking through the events of the day, he muttered, "Us English do cause a lot of trouble, huh?" Hearing the soft breathing of Johann and the dragon's occasional huffs, the country soon closed his eyes and fell asleep.

M:   When Rowen came back he was holding a large bowl of water for Edel.

He set the water down for the dragon and moved his head over to it so he could drink. Edel sniffed the bowl but didn't want to drink anything.

"Come on Edel, you lost a lot of blood, you need to drink something," Rowen sighed, softly petting his head.

Edel groaned but wouldn't budge, so Rowen left and came back with a cup, he scooped up some water and opened the injured dragon's mouth just enough to pour a little in so he would drink, he kept at it for a while until Edel was willingly drinking, letting Rowen lay down on his own pillow and blanket to watch them.

"Hey England," he said, "do you think I'm really cut out to be a father, I couldn't even protect Johann or even Edel from getting hurt, maybe it's just not good for them to stay with me."

N:   England mumbled in his sleep when he heard his name called, slowly opening his eyes until he was somewhat awake.

"I am sure that because they are with you, they have a roof over their heads and a place to call home. They may get hurt, that is life, but never doubt your ability to be a father; I know that when you will protect them, you will. From someone who doesn't have the best father, and as someone who has a difficult relationship with his own sons, I am telling you that you are cut out to be a father."

He yawned a bit, then added lightly, "Although, I'm not sure anyone could challenge Edel when it comes to parenting."

M:  Rowen chuckled, "yeah, he sure is overprotective, though after today I think he might be careful about how protective he is, right Edel."

Edel grumbled in his throat and spit some of his water into Rowen's face, who just sat there with an "I shouldn't have said that" face. "Ok, I guess I deserve that," he said as he wiped his face with his sleeve.

Edel huffed and blew some more fire into the fireplace, then lay his head down and finally closed his eyes to sleep. Rowen smiled and patted the dragon's neck, "I'll take the first shift to watch him and make sure he doesn't go downhill, I'll wake you in about two hours for your turn, sound fair?"

N:   "That's fair," England replied, covering himself with his blanket, and he added, "you might have to shake me a bit to wake me up." With that, he went to his side and went straight to sleep.

After an hour, an awake entity walked into the room, bored as he didn't know what to do, and he sat in front of the fireplace. He still wore his ripped shirt, his bandages on his back could be seen through them as he absorbed the warmth. He glanced over to England, and happy that he was resting, he asked, "Is it alright if I stay here? The last time I got bored, I caused a mess, and I'm trying to stop doing that."

M:   "Sure, as long as you don't snatch anyone while they are sleeping," Rowen said, attempting to make a joke, then handed Saxon a book he was reading, "here, this should keep you occupied, and it's in English too so you'll actually be able to read it."

As he handed Saxon the book, loud huffing came from Edel as he picked up the entity's sent next to him. He opened his one remaining eye and turned to Saxon, lowly growling and curled tighter around Johann, warning him to not get any ideas.

N:   Saxon thanked Rowen, and when he saw Edel, he reassured, "I'm not going to take Johann from you, I already learned my lesson from messing with you." He faced his back to the dragon before opening up the book.

"English, huh?" the entity wondered out loud, "one day I would have to learn Mandorian if I ever bring my work here." His eyes widened when he realised what he said, quickly glancing at the captain. "Sorry," he muttered, "Force of habit."

M:   Rowen's face painted itself with a look of concern but tried his best to play it off, "sure, I just hope that work is more helping us out than insurrection."

Before the conversation could be carried out too far, Edel headbutted Saxon and gave him a disappointed and expectant look, which made Rowen smile in amusement, "I think someone is waiting for an apology, Saxon."

N:   The entity sighed, "I'm sorry for what I did. I should not have taken England from you, especially while you were sleeping, and I promise I will not do that again."

Saxon began to flick through the book, skimming through, when he suddenly stopped at a page. Interested at an image of a dragon, the entity read the information below the picture, and his eyes flickered between Edel and the pink dragon. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone confused you with Empyr," he spoke, "you two do actually look similar.

He looked up to Rowen, "Does magic occur this frequently in this kingdom or something? From what England told me about what happened in Dewhurst, is it that easily accessible?"

M:   Rowen nodded, "yes and no, magic is everywhere, we just know how to find and use it. Typically, magic learning is reserved for priests and the highest-ranking officers of the army, though it's easier for some to learn than others as I could never make anything work. We put such strict regulations on it because magic can be abused just as easily as alcohol, if the wrong person learns magic it could lead to disaster beyond our understanding. Another reason is because we try to hide it from King Prussia, if that spawn of Xisaldir learns of our ways he could use them to destroy us, and without a doubt turn his attention to the rest of the world when he's finished us off."

N:   Saxon hmmed in agreement, "We do not want a magic-induced madman running around, do we?"

He closed the book and ran his finger along the spine, admiring the intricate detail of the cover, "We used to have magic in the British Isles, Celtica mainly knew about it since when I arrived it was restricted to the Celts, with all their druids and others. However, afterward, you paid with your life if you practiced any magic, and the religious Christians would go around and kill anyone they would suspect of doing magic. There may have been some mages, but most were innocent, so the art of magic died away."

Gazing at the fire he continued, "That's why Celtica loves the legend of King Arthur, with all the magic and the wizardry, even if practicing magic was dangerous, it was still present and powerful. And it was a way to make the invasion of the Saxons look bad too, so it was a double win for her."

M:   "I guess that makes another reason for us to hide magic," Rowen sighed, "we don't discriminate when it comes to religion here, anyone can live here and still freely practice their beliefs, but we have always been careful around Christians. They're dangerous, they do the most damage to the magic and non-magic worlds, and I predict that in the future they will snuff out all other beliefs until only Christianity remains."

It went quiet as those words hung in the air until Rowen cleared his throat, "Sorry, I shouldn't be speaking so disrespectfully of your religion," he pulled out his Eye of Horus charm and rubbed his thumb against the smooth gold surface, "you probably don't care about what I say anyway, no one cares for Egyptians after all, all we are is free labor to the rest of the world"

N:   "Wait, Egypt," asked Saxon, surprised by what he heard, "I would have never guessed." He eyed the Eye of Horus, "Egypt has such a rich history, has many people from different places, and definitely, in the Ancient times, they were a force to be reckoned with."

The entity looked up to the captain, "Just because you are Egyptian doesn't mean I will not listen to you, or not care about what you say. I know the damage that a lot of Christians have done, but there are a few who do not follow the crowd, and I hope that they are the ones who do better than the Christians before them."

Glancing over at Johann he added, "Saxony has become a Christian area after it was introduced by HRE, but we tend to keep the old gods alongside the Christian one. Johann is one of them, so it's your job to make sure that he doesn't follow the path of hate."

M:   "Yeah, you're right, and maybe he can help open my own eyes a little too," Rowen said, putting the amulet down, "I'm not entirely Egyptian either, by the way, my four times great grandmother was born in Egypt, her name was Sharifa, from what I've been told she was kidnapped by English conquistadors and sold into slavery when she was 12. She lived in the British Isles 'till she was about 27 and her master used her as a breeding sow to sell her children to the highest bidder, and when her body could no longer handle giving birth her master put her and her last eight-year-old son up for auction as they were no use to him."

A few tears welled up in his eyes and he took the time to wipe them away before continuing, "King Mandoria was visiting British Empire for whatever reason, they were walking around and stumbled upon the auction just as Sharifa and her son were being shown off, he was horrified of the story the auctioneer was telling the crowd to try to get them to buy her. When he saw them take her son away and heard the boy screaming for his mom he knew he needed to step in, so he bought all the remaining slaves and when they came back here he let them all free, Sharifa was the only one who stayed because she was worried that she would be kidnapped again if she went back home."

He picked the amulet back up to look at it, "King Mandoria gave this to Sharifa to help her remember her life before slavery, and it's been passed down through my family ever since. One day, when Johann is old enough, I'll give this to him, and hopefully with it, he'll learn how important it is to me and my ancestors."

N:   Saxon was silent as he listened, and he kept a straight face but inside was angry from what happened. After Rowen spoke, the entity remained silent, yet in his mind he was figuring out a way for the British Empire to lose Egypt.

"I am deeply sorry that this happened to your ancestor," he spoke, "yet what is the apology of an Englishman going to be worth when it was us who did it. Anglo and I disagree with the idea of slavery, and Celtica particularly hates it since she was taken by Roman Empire. I believe it was the feeling of 'superiority' that we cultivated from being safe from invasions that we invaded, so the dislike of slavery lessened as you go down the British family." Frustrated, the entity placed the book down so he doesn't accidentally throw it, "Who am I kidding, it's just with England and British Empire that we have that problem. The rest of the British Isles have been, and are, under the control of the English, so it's with them."

He buried his head in his arms, and he muttered, "Empires tend to be annoyed with me because I always target their colonies, and England is constantly pissed that I target BE's colonies, but that's where most of the resentment is found. I try to make sure that the Empires lose grip of their colonies so that they could live in peace." He looked up to Rowen, "I see what happened to your ancestor as my own fault, I should have figured out that something was happening, an insurgent appearing because of it, so it is on me."

Taking a look at the sleeping Johann, he said, "I promise, he will."

M:   "It wasn't your fault Saxon," Rowen reassured him, "heck, Egyptians have been using slaves since long before you and Anglo were born, for all we know it's just karma taking a hold. And I know I shouldn't say any of this, but I'm actually glad Sharifa was captured, otherwise, she never would have come to Mandoria and if I was even born I wouldn't be the man I am today or met you all," he looked to Johann and smiled fondly, "or taken in Johann. Saxon, don't blame yourself for things out of your control, the conquistadors would have come whether Egypt was BE's or not, and I think it would have been much worse if Sharifa ended up in Spain or America."

Rowen stared into the fire for a bit, deep in thought, "my mother used to show me something, here."

He took the water bowl Edel was drinking from and set it in front of the two, he gently tapped the surface of the water to create ripples, "Mother used to say that ripples are like good deeds, they look small and insignificant at first but with time they grow and will affect all that comes into contact with them, but first someone has to start them, you understand."

N:   Saxon watched as the small disturbance created the ripples, one superimposing the other as they reflected off the sides of the bowl until they lost their energy over time and the water went still again.

"Your mother was wise," the entity said, and then he tapped the side of the bowl, causing a ripple to appear on one side. He tapped again on the other side, and watched as the ripples grew in size in the middle, "and this shows that two heads are better than one."

M:   Rowen stared at the water like he was dumbfounded by it, then chuckled softly, "well, I guess the older ones are the wisest," he playfully elbowed the entity and set the bowl aside. He yawned and lay down on his stomach, his head resting on his arms, "since you're up maybe you could watch over the two troublemakers, England and I were going to take two hour shifts but if you're staying here I might as well get some shut-eye, but I understand if you don't want to."

N:   "I'm fine watching over you guys," Saxon said, grabbing the book again and leaning against the wall, "I doubt I am going to sleep in a while, so rest while you can."

When Rowen closed his eyes and slept, the entity began reading through the book, occasionally looking up to check on the sleeping group. He decided that he was going to keep watch for the whole night, allowing Rowen and England to rest, so as the hours passed, Saxon slowly made his way through the book.

A couple of hours before sunrise, the entity struggled to keep his eyes open, and his head lolled as he tried to keep awake. England, since he slept for a while, saw his father as he struggled to sleep, so he got up and grabbed his blanket and pillow. Placing the pillow near Saxon, he gently guided the entity to rest his head on the pillow, taking away the book and covering him with the blanket.

Saxon soon fell asleep, and the country sat next to him, watching over the group until they woke up.