M:   Edel responded by licking Johann's face and hair and gave him a cartoony slicked back hairstyle, making Derogan chuckle. The older prince petted the reptile's fur and went over to Mandara, "your turn, little brother."

Mandara smiled and lay down on his stomach, since the brothers were the type of countryhumans that didn't have hair, he knew that Derogan was talking about his wings, so he spread them nice and wide so his sibling could reach all the right spots.

"Hey England, how does Sir Wales's wings work," he asked while he groomed, "he doesn't have feathers so that means he can't pick up vibrations, right?"

N:   "I believe, as long as he has wings, he can pick up vibrations," England answered, "but just not as well as winged countries who have feathers, according to Fa."

Anglo nodded, "But I think that if Wales were to ever meet Edel, they would communicate with each other the best. However, as long as he is surrounded by winged countries with feathers, it would be hard."

"The upside is that his wings would not get waterlogged, which is useful in a country which rains a lot," the younger country continued.

M:   The brothers nodded in agreement, "that is definitely a pain in the rear end," Derogan said, "it makes it hard for us to swim too, the weight of the feathers just drags us under."

"Father has it worse," Mandara added, "since his wings are so big just being stuck in the rain makes them too heavy and he ends up dragging them, which just makes it worse since they'll then be caked in mud. Father can't even fly in the rain, which is weird since our wings are supposed to be waterproof, or at least resistant."

"His explanation is that he's been alive for thousands of years and his wings no longer have that waterproof oil on them," Derogan then said, "we think it's because he doesn't take dust baths.

N:   Anglo tutted in response, "He has no excuse, having lived for a long time or not, you should take a dust bath."

Saxon's face scrunched up in confusion, "You take dust baths."

"Of course I do," the country replied, "how the hell am I supposed to fly in a kingdom like Britain. I am in England, it is raining; I go to Scotland, it is raining and snowing; then I go to Ireland, it is raining cats and dogs."

M:   "Father always says that you should take a dust bath at least once a month," Mandara explained," the dirt helps absorb bad oils and rids feathers of parasites, but if I'm being honest, I've never seen Father take a dust bath before."

"Just because you haven't SEEN him do it doesn't mean he doesn't do it," Rowen stated, "everyone has things they prefer to do in private. I, being his captain and royal adviser, have had the unfortunate luck of forgetting to knock before entering his chambers and witnessing said things."

Mandara and Derogan both tilted their heads in curiosity of what Rowen said, "like?" they asked.

"Things I will not discuss," Rowen simply said, "the king's private business is not something to announce to the world, and quite frankly is something I wish I did not know."

N:   "And it is something I don't wish to hear," spoke Johann, running his hand through his hair and making it extra messy. The boy glanced at the dragon and got an idea, he grabbed some ribbons and tied some end to end. Looking at the mini rope he made, he placed it on Edel's snot, "there, now you got a multi-colored mustache."

M:   Edel twitched his nose at the feeling of the ribbons tickling it, he shook his head to make Johann let go but it was too late, the dragon scrunched up his snout and squinted his eye.

"Fuck, take cover," Rowen exclaimed, jumping onto England to push him to the ground. Derogan pulled Johann out of the way just in time to save him from getting singed. Edel blew out a large ball of flame as he sneezed, it didn't set anything on fire but a few embers settled onto the people below.

Everyone sat there in shock at what happened, Edel on the other hand just sniffled and lay his head down to go back to sleep.

"Is it safe yet," Mandara asked, having been scared so bad he shot up to the banisters in the ceiling.

N:   England glanced up in the direction of Mandara's voice, "How are you up- never mind. Anyways, it is now safe to come down."

Johann, after recovering from his shock, looked at the sleeping dragon, "That ... was probably not a good idea."

The country nodded in agreement, and his eyes flickered to his parents and saw that Anglo's wing was wrapped around Saxon, the embers resting on it. Some of the embers reached to the entity's shirt, they would slightly singe and leave a mark, but his eyes were wide open when he saw it burn his shirt.

The winged country saw him, and when he saw it was safe, folded up his wing and knelt next to Saxon, "Are you alright?" The entity opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out, and the other noticed that his heart rate was slowly increasing.

"Ist mein Vater hier? (Is my father here?)," the entity finally said, his voice quiet and with a hint of fear, and he flinched when an ember came into contact with his skin.

"Nein, he's not," Anglo replied, rubbing Saxon's back, realizing that some old memories may have resurfaced, "He's nowhere near you, you're safe, ok?" When he saw another ember falling towards him, Anglo caught it before it reached Saxon.

The entity hugged his legs, his black entity eyes flickered around the room as if scared another Head of Insurgents would pop out of nowhere.

M:   The three Mandorians looked to each other in concern for Saxon, after Mandara came back down of course. Although none of them knew much German, they've learned from Johann that Vater means father, so they pieced together quickly what the two entities were talking about.

Mandara walked over and hugged Saxon comfortingly, "I guess your father wasn't a good person," he stated the obvious, "it's ok though, we won't let him hurt you, you're safe with us."

Derogan and Rowen stayed silent, not really knowing what to do or say, until the captain eventually asked, "do you ... want to talk about it, Saxon?"

N:   Saxon placed his hand over his heart, and noticed that a bump that he was too familiar with was still there, "I-I guess the rain didn't heal that, huh?" he muttered to himself. When he heard Rowen's question, he answered, "Ok."

"Are you sure," Anglo asked, full of concern, "you don't have to bring it up."

"It has been centuries," the entity replied, "over a millennium since he died, yet I still let him dictate my life." He took a deep breath, suppressing the lump in his throat, "that fucking bastard," he said quietly. Anglo, although he was still not convinced if he should continue, he sat next to him and wrapped a wing around him.

"My father wasn't actually my biological father," Saxon began, "he found me and adopted me, since I didn't have any parents of my own, and took me in as his own. However, 'his own' usually overlapped with being an insurgent, so he raised me to be like him, and that one day I would become an insurgent, so I wasn't ever his 'son'."

He paused for a bit as the lump resurfaced, "Whenever I did something wrong, or anything that would displease him, he would grab a metal poker, heat it in the fire until it was white, and then he would ... he would." The lump caught in his throat, causing him to stutter as he tried to recount the events, so Anglo rubbed his back to comfort him.

"The bastard would brand me," he blurted out suddenly, all the emotion coming out, "again and fucking again, and when- and when he heard that I liked Anglo," he rested his hand over his heart, "he marked a cross over my heart, as if to say I shouldn't care for anyone." He buried his head into his arms, constantly cursing his father mercilessly.

M:   Mandara and Derogan were horrified to hear that, the former hugging Saxon tighter and the latter looked furious.

"How could someone do that," Derogan shouted, "that is horrible, I can't believe someone could be so cruel."

"Brother, aren't you forgetting about someone," Mandara pointed out, Derogan opened his mouth to respond but then closed it, muttering a quiet, "touché"

Rowen looked pretty somber in reaction to this information, "We all have scars from traumatic experiences," he started carefully, "none of us here may completely understand the pain you go through, but we know what it's like to be scared for life in one way or another."

With a small sigh, Rowen reached into his knee-high left boot and fiddled around with it until something clicked. He removed the boot and revealed that his left leg was actually a prosthetic, and that it was amputated at the joint.

"This is from the fire that killed my pregnant wife," he explained, "a terrible reminder of a traumatic event that took the only family I had at the time away from me. But I don't let it stop me from going on in life, I push through the scars of the past and focus on the things I have today, you should too Saxon, you'll realize that even though you had a rough start, you have a pretty good life now, with people you love and who love you back. Don't focus on one man's hate when you have many a man's love with you."

N:   Saxon only hummed in response, so Anglo lifted the entity's head and rested it on his shoulder, "Remember that we are here for you."

"I guess," he said absentmindedly, looking at Rowen's prosthetic, "but now I have taken up his mantle of the Head of Insurgents, and his life's work is now mine."

Anglo sighed, comforting the entity, and he noticed that his heart rate was creeping steadily higher, and since he knew what it meant, he raised his wing so it covered Saxon's face.

The entity didn't like to show excessive emotion in front of anyone, except Anglo, so he was thankful for the cover, as tears built up in his eyes and slowly ran down his face.

Johann, when he saw Rowen's leg, walked up to him and gently tapped it, "Fire always comes to destroy," he said quietly as he leaned against the captain.

"But remember," Anglo spoke, "that fire also shows the beginning of life. Even if a forest is ravaged by fire, its soil comes out stronger than before, and from its violent fiery death, a phoenix is born from its ashes."

M:   Rowen nodded in agreement with Anglo's words, putting on his prosthetic as he said, "that's right, with tragedy comes new life, you may have lost your childhood and freedom to be who you wanted to be, but you gained a family, new friends, and a place you can call a second home, it's not worth dwelling on the bad when so much good overshadows it."

Mandara continued to hug Saxon, wanting badly to make him feel better, so he did the only thing he could think of, "come on Saxon, where's that friendly yet scary smile, I know it's around here somewhere," he pushed on the entity's cheeks to try to force him to smile, and when that didn't work he said, "maybe it needs help coming back out, I know how to help."

He started tickling Saxon, trying really hard to make him laugh, "come out mister smile, we all miss you, we want to see you happy again," he giggled.

N:   At first, the entity found the tickling more annoying than fun, leaning against Anglo more as he edged away from Mandara; however, the Mandorian persisted. After a couple more minutes, the country found a spot where Saxon was the most ticklish, and a small smile grew on his face. Seeing this, Anglo inched away from him, "You're on your own now."

"Wait, what," the other said through a smile, "I am not going to last-" and he caught on his words as Mandara tickled him even more, making Saxon squirm and lay down on the floor. The tickling was too much for him, his laughter filling the room as he begged the prince to stop.

"Please, stop," he asked between laughs, his eyes filled with tears, although you couldn't tell if it was from joy or the previous sadness, "this is too much happiness."

M:   Mandara relented and stopped tickling, then lay down on top of Saxon to hug him, "yay, there's that smile, welcome back Hezyka."

Derogan and Rowen glanced at each other when Mandara said that, he just called Saxon father and they didn't know how to feel about that."

"Um ... Mandara, do you realize what you called Saxon," Derogan asked.

Mandara nodded, "yup, Edel might have adopted a new son, but I adopted a new father like Rowen, now I have three Heyzkas, four including Anglo."

Rowen chuckled at Mandara's silliness, "well then, welcome to the unofficial family Saxon."