It was an accident

21.

Salty seas and the squealing of a child marked the beginning of the next memory. A little, redheaded girl was jumping up and down on the shoreline and waving at an approaching boat carrying people from one of the large ships anchored a distance from the beach.

"Arthur! Arthur!" The girl shouted to the boat as she bounced. She could see the distinctive blond hair waving slightly in the breeze. There was the splashing of wet footsteps before the child was fully immersed, swimming towards the boat in her impatience.  It didn't take long for the energetic girl to reach the boat, expertly avoiding being hit by any paddles as she maneuvered to pop up right beside Arthur. 

"Good lord, Amelia!" He exclaimed, immediately pulling her out of the cold waters and into the boat. Her antics seemed to amuse his companions, if the hearty laughter was anything to go by. Arthur, however, was not as pleased. "You're going to get yourself sick, love," the blonde insisted as he wrapped her up in his coat. 

Amelia merely giggled, "Nuh-uh, I do these things all the time!"

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Finland's brows furrowed as he studied the rift, "England, those voyages took months, did you just leave her in unsettled land while you sailed back over to Europe?" The Fin wasn't yelling, in fact, he hadn't raised his voice a bit, instead keeping it carefully steady while he stared the other down. Somehow that was more frightening. 

England merely huffed and crossed his arms, "Well I couldn't just take a small, native child back to England with me! Besides, it's bad to take a personification away from their lands for too long when they're that young, though I admit I'd thought she was younger than she really was."

"It never hurt any of my colonies," Spain commented idly as he messed with a pen--a pen that England recognized to be his. 

"Well there was no way for me to know that, now was there? Give me that!" England snapped back, snatching his pen from the Spaniard's grasp.

Tino sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before turning to Matthew, his gaze having lessened greatly in intensity. The Canadian only shrugged, "I don't know what she did when he left, I was up with the northern tribes until France came to colonize my land." 

Another sigh came from the Finnish man as he patted Matthew's shoulder reassuringly. "Well, she looks healthy, I suppose that's at least some good news." He didn't see Diego stifle a snort. 

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When the boat finally reached the shore, Amelia quickly welcomed Manteo and Wanchese back from their trip to England. The two were men from a local tribe who had joined Arthur on his trip across the great waters. Amelia immediately flooded them with questions about what the other lands had looked like as she hung from Arthur's arm. She had met people in the spirit realm who had described the lands of England, but they had all died quite some time ago. As was typical with her, she was beyond elated to hear what the modern lands were like from someone who shared her perspective.

The small group talked for a few minutes, retelling tales of their adventure. As Arthur was finishing telling Amelia about the storm they had encountered on their journey back to Roanoke, almost on cue, a man from the ship jogged over to them. 

"Sir!" He called as he came to a stop by Arthur's side, "I have word on the state of the Tyger."

"Alright, out with it then," Arthur prompted the man with an impatient hand gesture. 

"Seawater got past the hull when it ran aground. Some of the foodstuffs and supplies were spoiled, we will have to make a return trip sooner than expected to get enough to last." His report was short, but hardly sweet.