M:   Derogan was waiting in the throne room when Mandoria and Saxon came rushing in the teen's eyes immediately landed on his little brother's unconscious body in their father's arms.

"Father, what happened, is Mandara ok?" Derogan asked frantically.

"I don't know Derogan," Mandoria admitted, "he is injured and freezing so we need to get him warm quickly."

"We can go to the library," Derogan suggested, "it has the sitting area by the fireplace."

"That will do nicely," Mandoria said, "tell the servants to grab blankets, dry clothes, and bandages, and a warm beverage for Sir Saxon as he is also wet."

Derogan nodded and ran off, Mandoria then quickly led Saxon to the library. When there, the king rushed to the sitting area by the fireplace and set Mandara down on the couch, the librarian saw what was happening and lit the fire for the countries.

"Mandara, please wake up, you're safe now," Mandoria murmured gently, he brushed a hand over his son's cheek but his eyes still wouldn't open.

N:   Saxon slouched on a nearby armchair, absorbing the warmth of the fire. The warmth was so comfortable that he started to doze off, but then he heard what Mandoria muttered, so he said, "if what the stories are true, Ora led us to safety, so I believe that Mandara is safe."

He sat more comfortably so that he can rest his head on the backrest, slowly dozing off until a servant came in with a warm drink for Saxon and handed it to him. Clutching on to the drink, he wrapped the blankets around him and stared at the fire.

M:   Mandoria looked to Saxon with surprise and shock; surprise that Ora apparently came to their aid, and shock that Saxon believed in the myths since the king knew how closed-minded Christians could be to other religions.

"I am surprised that you believe in the goddess Ora considering most Christians I met are closed-minded to such beliefs," Mandoria said, "it must have really been her for you to say you believe in the old stories."

He realized he was sounding a little rude so he muttered a quiet sorry as he turned back to Mandara. He felt his son's forehead to check his temperature, he was still a little cold so when the servants came in with the requested supplies, Mandoria wrapped a few more blankets around the kid. When the bandages were set on a coffee table in front of the sofas, he sat on the ground and started tending to Mandara's injured wing, he never really liked his servants messing with his kids' wings.

"I believe now would be a good time to explain what happened," the king said, not looking at Saxon, "that way I can know whether to thank you or throw you in the dungeon with those french soldiers."

N:   "I'm quite open-minded since Christianity was introduced to England after I invaded the land with Anglo, and we had our own pantheon of gods; Woden being one of the more well-known ones. So seeing a spirit as a wolf that led us to safety is not out of the ordinary for me," he took a sip from the beverage, "Of course, when it comes to Prussia, he does not believe in the old Germanic religion."

When he heard what Mandoria said, he placed his drink on the coffee table. Watching the king tend to his son's wing, he wondered if he would have been careful about his actions. He sighed and started to explain.

"The boy was scared of me, and understandably so, and was overwhelmed after seeing me take out the french soldiers," he rubbed his face in exasperation as he continued, "so he flew away in fear and I followed him until he flew and collapsed into the lake in the Eye of Ora. I swam in and pulled him out, climbed out and met Ora, and the rest is history." He looked at Mandoria to see his reaction to the story.

M:   Mandoria contemplated his explanation for a moment then sighed, "I suppose that all makes sense, Mandara has always been sensitive to such things and is quick to run from danger, even if it isn't entirely real.  He is still learning to fly properly and can't control himself very well so that also checks out."

Mandoria paused for a minute to finish wrapping Mandara's wing, tucking it under the blankets afterward, and turned to Saxon with a serious expression, "all that's left is his wing, I don't believe you hurt him but a simple fall in a lake is going to create such a deep wound.  Did those French soldiers EVER touch my son?"

N:    Saxon shook his head, "nay, I don't think so, and if they did I would have finished them off." He stopped himself from continuing the violent thought, so he drank his drink until it finished. "I noticed that he almost fell out of a tree he was sitting in before taking off, so as you have suggested, he did not have much control of the little control he had, so when he crashed into the water it would have made the wound worse."

He glanced at Mandara and winced at seeing him all bandaged up. Saxon did not like seeing children in pain ever since having his son, so he turned back towards the fire and watched as it flicked and danced around.

"As for the French soldiers, they are likely to be rogue men trying to seek justice for their kingdom, since their own country is not helping the situation there."

M:   "They better be rogue," Mandoria spat, "FE is an ally of mine and a good friend, she knows I don't take kindly to unannounced visitors who are part of a military." 

The winged king was getting angrier the more he thought about what happened, it was the french's fault his son was hurt, maybe not directly, but if they hadn't come to attack Saxon then Mandara wouldn't have run away and gotten hurt.

"I will be writing to her about this incident," he growled, his feathers bristling, "and she better say she had nothing to do with this or so help me I will bring the demons of Jastrem to her doorstep myself.  NO son of mine gets hurt without there being SERIOUS consequences."

Mandoria realized that he was getting riled up so tried to calm himself before he got carried away.

"Father," Derogan said, he just walked in and heard everything, "did Lady France really hurt Mandara?"

"No my son," Mandoria reassured him, "not directly, at least."

Derogan just nodded and walked over to his father, sitting down next to him and staring worriedly at his younger brother. "Is he going to be ok?" he asked.

"He should, but I'm not sure at the moment," the king responded.

N:   Saxon, looking at the family, felt guilty for bringing misfortune to them, so he stood up from the couch and said, "this is my fault. If I had not come here, other countries would not try to target you, and quite frankly, I don't want you all to be mixed up in my drama," he walked up to the fireplace to warm himself up better, "so I'm proposing that I leave in the next two days, which by then I would have healed, and go about my business. Just think about it."

Not all countries had a rotten core, he thought, as he led himself to the door. He looked outside to see that it was quickly becoming dark, so he bid them all good night, and that Mandara will get better. He took a spare change of clothes, since his were damaged from the fight, and walked towards his room to sleep.

M:   Mandoria silently watched him go as he thought about what the entity said, that was the original plan anyway, that Saxon would leave when he was healed, but a part of Mandoria was worried about what awaited him when he did.  He knew that many a country was after him and were obviously willing to go far to capture him, the king dread to think what they would do if they succeed.  He remembered that he had written to Anglo and that put his mind at ease, Anglo was a fast flyer and would hopefully be there to collect Saxon before he left on his own.

The tiniest squeak of a sneeze came from Mandara and broke the king out of his thoughts, he turned to his son and watched him slowly open his eyes a sliver.  Mandoria let out a breath of relief and placed his hand on the child's forehead, he was much warmer now, a little too warm actually.  Mandoria knew Mandara was going to be very sick tomorrow and will need plenty of rest and TLC.  He stood and picked up his son in his blanket cocoon, then made his way to the brothers' room, Derogan following.

Once there Mandoria gently lay Mandara in bed, unbundling him so he didn't get too hot, and tucked him in snuggly.

"Derogan, your brother will be sick tomorrow from how cold he was," he stated, "can I count on you to step up and help look after him?"

"Yes Father," Derogan agreed, "I won't leave his side tomorrow."

Mandoria smiled and patted his older son's head in thanks, and after making sure Mandara would be ok for the night, he left their room to figure out what to do with his new prisoners, and how to prevent this from happening again.

N:   When he reached his room, Saxon changed out of his soaked clothes into the dry ones, grabbed a chair, and placed it in front of the window. Sitting down, he propped up his feet on the windowsill as he admired the night sky, sometimes imagining Anglo soaring in the peaceful night.

Slowly he started to rock on the chair and began to hum a random tune, trying to distract his mind from insurgency. Usually, Saxon can know if the country would have an insurgent, but for the Kingdom of Mandoria, he felt like he was in the middle of a sea of uncertainty. He did not like the feeling of being uncertain, or being in a country that is good.

He turned to see his reflection in the mirror, and out of boredom, pulled a face and asked, "What are you looking at?" He shook his head, probably the lack of sleep is getting to him, so he got up and snuggled right into bed.

-----

"State your business."

"I have come here to deliver a message to Sir Anglo," replied the messenger. He has been riding almost non-stop from the Kingdom of Mandoria to Great Britain to deliver the letter, and he was quite exhausted from the journey, arriving late at night.

The guard checked the messenger, and when he was satisfied, allowed access for him to enter the compound. He was led to a stable to dismount his horse and then was brought to a building that looked older than the rest of the houses in the complex. After knocking, the people stepped back as a tired country opened the door and looked at them through squinted eyes.

"What is your reason for waking me up this late?" he asked; he wasn't actually asleep as he was working through the night. When the guard indicated for the messenger to speak, he spoke.

"I have come here to deliver a message from the Kingdom of Mandoria to you, sir," he pulled out the letter in his bag, "he sent me as I was his fastest messenger."

Anglo took the letter and carefully broke the seal, opening the letter while wondering why the King Wing would contact him; however, the first couple of sentences gave him his answer.

"Good Lord, Saxon, why are you there?"

Anglo thanked the messenger and ordered the guard to provide a room for him on the compound so that he may rest, and that Sir Wales would look after him since Anglo planned to head to Mandoria at dawn. When they left, he held onto the letter tightly, hoping Saxon has not caused any trouble.