M:   Mandoria woke up quite early, even by his standards, it was still dark outside and the moon was still up.  He groaned as he buried his face back in his pillow, this was the third time he woke up tonight and he was growing frustrated.  He's been waking up so much because his fatherly instincts were supercharged from yesterday and he kept getting up to check on Mandara.  His youngest son had been asleep all those times and was more or less fine aside from typical cold symptoms.

Mandoria knew he shouldn't bother his children again since they too were becoming frustrated at being woken up, so instead, he got dressed and walked out to his balcony to go for a night flight, hoping it would calm his nerves a little.

N:   Saxon started to develop a cold so whenever he tried to sleep, his body would refuse to, and it got to a point when he just got out of bed. He decided he would get some warmth so he headed to the library, where the embers of the fireplace were still warm. He was about to sit down when he noticed a book on a nearby table, titled 'The History of the British Empire'. Out of interest, he picked up the book, sat down in front of the fireplace, and began to read.

It was a theme in the book to start the history from England, his son, and only briefly mentioning the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms before him. It made sense, he thought, as when England became the head of the country, the people were then considered to be English and no longer Germanic or Anglo-Saxon, but it still saddened him that it did not include the centuries of history before them.

He kept on reading until he noticed a shadow pass near the window, so Saxon stood up to check it out, and when he saw Mandoria in the sky he waved to try to get his attention.

M:   Mandoria didn't notice Saxon waving at him, the library was dark aside from the dim fireplace so the entity couldn't be distinguished from the dark window.  Mandoria was enjoying himself too much to notice anyway, it wasn't often that he would fly for fun, normally he would fly to travel around his kingdom faster or to give his kids flight lessons, so those rare chances for a leisurely flight were always enjoyable.

As the winged king gazed up at the moon he decided he was going to go up and touch it, so he stopped dead and shot straight up like an arrow. Higher and higher he climbed until one couldn't see the earth beneath the clouds, then he stopped flapping his wings altogether.  For the brief moment of weightlessness before gravity took hold of his body, Mandoria reached out and touched the moon's silver rays.

As the weightlessness dispersed and he began to fall Mandoria didn't open his wings, he loved the feel of free falling and savored the sense of danger from doing it, the adrenaline rush was like a drug to the king, he couldn't get enough of it.  He continued to fall until he was mere meters from the ground, at which point he spun around and flung his large wings out like a parachute, slowing his descent until his feet softly touched the ground.

N:   Saxon gave up on waving so he just watched Mandoria as he flew, wishing that he could also fly and be in the same state of freedom as him. While Mandoria fell, Saxon was tempted to go out and try to catch him if he didn't make it, but he had enough faith that he would catch himself before he hit the ground, which he did.

When Mandoria landed, he clapped in amazement and said, "even watching Anglo fly, it still amazes every time I see someone glide among the stars.

"Don't tell Anglo, he would get jealous," he then laughed.

M:   Mandoria jumped when he heard clapping, he turned to Saxon and laughed at his words, "I'm flattered but not nearly good enough to be jealous of, if you really want someone to swoon over then you should see Commonwealth, the tricks he can do with four wings can astonish winged and wingless alike."

Mandoria flapped his wings again and landed on a nearby balcony so he could go inside, heading for the library since that's where Saxon was.

"Might I enquire as to why you are up so late," he asked when he walked closer to the entity, "are you in need of something?"

N:   "I just got restless from getting a small cold," Saxon answered as he plopped down in front of the fireplace, stretching out one hand to receive the warmth and the other to pick up the book to read. While he was flicking through the pages, he asked, "and what is your reason for being up this late?"

M:   "I was restless as well," Mandoria answered, "I guess my fatherly instincts don't want to settle down after yesterday.

The king sat down on a sofa since he had nothing better to do, he saw the book Saxon was reading and chuckled, "my sons were reading that the other day, you fascinated them so much that they wanted to know more, but from what they told me you are absent for the most part, any reason why that is?"

N:   Saxon sighed as he set the book down and said, "when books refer to the history of Great Britain, they only go as far as the last couple of kings of Anglo and mine's people, but after that, it's always about the English or the British. This makes no sense when it was widely accepted that William was the first King of England, despite being French." He spat out the last word in disgust, he never liked Normandy and certainly when he became more prominent in British history.

He got up and slouched beside Mandoria and continued, "and there is the usual stuff of being the head of insurgents, moving from place to place, not being an actual country, and the stuff like that." He looked down and muttered, "they probably did not want a German in their history." He noticed that he was talking quite a bit, so stopped himself from rambling on, and asked Mandoria, "what other books do you have in this grand library?"

M:   Mandoria hummed at Saxon's words, he could hear the emotion as the entity spoke, he was clearly upset that he wasn't included in BE's history books.

The king frowned that Saxon decided to sit so close to him, it was considered extremely rude to not give a winged country space for their wings, the fact that Mandoria's wings took up the whole couch and Saxon was sitting on his feathers was even worse.

"Well," he said curtly, "if it will get you off my wing, there are some books about Mandorian mythology since you seem to be interested in that."

Mandoria then tugged his wing a little to give Saxon the hint to get off.

N:   Saxon immediately stood up and murmured an apology for sitting on his wing. He has not been in the accompany of a winged country for a long time before being rescued by Mandoria, and being wingless, was not used to the customs of winged entities.

When he followed Mandoria to the section with Mandorian mythology, he passed lots of history books containing different empires and countries, fascinated by the amount of information gathered here. When they arrived at the area, his eyes flicked from one book to the other, not sure what to choose.

M:   Mandoria was smoothing out his feathers as Saxon was looking at the books, it was hard enough to care for his massive wings without someone sitting on them. Anglo clearly hasn't taught the entity about wing etiquette.

The king noticed that Saxon was having difficulties picking out a book, so he grabbed one himself and handed it to Saxon, "I recommend this one, it's about the legend of Ora and how she became one of the guardian spirits of the afterlife."

The book was leather-bound and had the image of a blue wolf head with a star on its forehead, the title was in English and said, "The Tale of the Wolf Goddess".

"It is in English as well," Mandoria added, "I think you will enjoy knowing why Ora guided you yesterday, as she only comes to those she deems worthy of her aid."

He looked out a window and saw a sliver of light along the horizon, indicating the rising sun.

"However, I think I will take my leave and do my duties for the day," he said, then added jokingly, "try not to get in too much trouble while I do."

N:   Saxon chucked at the comment, getting into trouble was his job description but he decided to hold off as he engrossed himself into the book. With the book in hand, grabbed a blanket that was left from yesterday, wandered out of the library, and headed to the training ground. However, this time he did not go to train but to just enjoy the sunrise with a good book.

He sat on the grass, which was wet from the morning dew, and read. Page after page, he learned more about the mythology of Mandoria, interested in its stories that involved Ora, and wondered why she guided him, of all people, to safety.

"Probably because of Mandara," he said to himself as he turned to the next page.

-----

Anglo rose early in the morning to check if he got all his essentials for the journey and went to his grandson Wales to tell him what to do. He arrived at his door and slowly knocked, checking if he was there, and when he felt a faint vibration in his wings, he opened the door to see Wales seated in his bed reading. When he looked up, he smiled and half flew off his bed to meet Anglo.

"Good morning, grandfather. What brings you here?"

"I would like if you looked after the human messenger who came last night, to see to that he is well-rested, as I'm going to go now."

"I will do that, but may I ask, why are you going?"

"To collect Saxon."

Wales went silent when he heard his other grandfather's name, his dragon wings fluttering a bit in nervousness, but then he finally spoke.

"Have a safe flight, grandfather."