Wine Woods

16. Sail Away from Me.

Alfred just looked tired. Drained would be a better word. Nobody knew how to feel. They'd all gotten the news at once. Matthew cried into Gilbert's shoulder, Dildane was holding the wall like he'd been hit in the stomach, and Juan was crying into Berwald and Tino's hug, not knowing what to do or how to feel.

Ivan watched him carefully, before picking up the letter and reading it again, like the words would morph into new ones that said 'stay.'

Katushya, Eduard, and Raivis were already packing, each with a sad look on their face. 

"Is there any indication for how long the war will last?" Alfred asked, looking up. Louisiana, who was sitting on his lap, reached up with her pudgy little hands to try and grab his necklace, and he let her, and he watched as she put it in her mouth before taking it away, just in case she tried to swallow it and then choked. She was only a month and a half old.

"No, just the knowledge that France has gone off," Russia tsked, "and now he wishes to spread his doctrine. You understand, we must go to protect our nations and our people."

"I never said I didn't," Alfred replied, bouncing the little girl on his lap a little, "just asked how long? A year? Twenty? I want to know."

"I can't give you an answer," Ivan replied, looking around. Alfred copied him, noticing that everyone was starting to calm down, that it had finally sunk in, "I don't wish to leave you, moy dorogoy, but I must."

Alfred closed his eyes. There were humans in the room, Nala and Bartow and Nesrin and Luna, and they looked more nervous than anything. So many children, so many animals, so much feed needed-

And, they had just discovered, only a week ago, that they will have to pay every cent for the land they bought. Thousands of dollars.

This valley would have to be urbanized fast, and they needed working hands that were unavailable. Luna was pregnant from a former slave who was escaping to Canada, Nesrin had to care for the dragons, and they were old. Their children's children were not old enough, and wouldn't get older fast enough, at least not fast enough to cover for multiple super-powerful personifications to leave.

Alfred recognized their fears, and knew what he needed to do to fix them.

"Well, you must pack," Alfred said, standing up slowly. He was tired. It had been late when they got the letters, and by now it had been an hour. 

The other nations looked around carefully, and Tino walked up to him.

"Emil and Valtio will be staying with you," he said, his voice strong, although Alfred knew it was about to break down into tears, "they can help you here."

You see, only China had ever decided on making a home like this before, making a place for personifications and certain humans to stay, and it had taken him almost seventy years until it was sufficient. They didn't have seventy years. Not yet.

Alfred nodded, and he looked around the room, counting their loses.

Matthias, Lukas, Tino, Berwald, Gilbert, Ivan, Raivis, Katushya, Eduard. Nine. That was nine. 

"I would normally offer you humans as travelling companions, but it seems I'm running short," he said, laughing as the three of the four humans laughed, besides Bartow, who's long, graying hair fell in front of his face as he stared at the ground.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Gilbert asked, and Alfred looked down at Louisiana, who was starting to sleep, and nodded.

Ivan watched him carefully, trying to pick out if he was lying or not, but being unable to tell. 

After everyone had left to go to their rooms, Alfred handed Ivan Louisiana and went upstairs, telling him to stay there. So he did, and he waited.

One by one, every one of his children came down- besides the babies of course, they wouldn't understand what it meant that their father was gone. They might grow up not even knowing him.

"Papa?" Vermont said, his soft voice like bell chimes, "What's going on?"

He looked over to Alfred, who stood near sleepy little Ohio, petting his hair, and he gulped.

"I will be going back to my country for now," he said, not daring to let his voice waver. The children looked between themselves. Papa had been gone before, at most a few weeks. It wouldn't be much longer than that.

"I don't know when I'll come back."

Delaware crossed his arms over his night dress, his eyebrows furrowing. Pennsylvania also looked like she didn't know how to react, having been taking the braids out of her hair a few moments prior because she wanted to bathe.

"How long, dad?" Delaware asked, tilting his head, and Ivan felt his stomach twist. Alfred looked down, picking up Ohio and kissing his forehead. Kentucky walked over and grabbed his hand, leaning into his arm. 

"Years," Ivan replied, and many of the children gasped. Tennessee walked up to him before hugging his leg, burying her face in his knee.

It was very heartfelt after that. York and Vermont started crying, Hampshire comforting him, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware were mad. Jersey had no response, just nodding and staring at the ground.  Virginia did something similar, and West just... looked at the ground. Columbia ran up to him and hugged him around the waist.

Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi just looked at him, a few tears about to slip from Georgia's eyes. Rhode held his hair, pulling on the braids in his hair, Massachusetts comforting Maine, who was staring at Alfred fearfully. Connecticut sat on the floor. He didn't obviously understand that what this meant, but he knew he didn't like it. Carolina and North had no obvious reaction, but North bit her lip and walked out the room, Carolina following behind. He could hear them yell at each other, and Alfred went to break it up.

He walked back in, and the children all looked at him.

"Say goodbye and goodnight to your father, kids, and then I'll tuck you in to sleep, okay," he said, smiling lightly to try and coax them into doing it. He knew that Gilbert and Matthew were having this exact conversation, and that his children were reacting harsher because there were more of them.

And so they listened to their mother, and he brought them upstairs like little ducklings and were tucked in and kissed on the forehead youngest to oldest, and Ivan went to pack his chest to start the flight, and at midnight was mounted on Belize, Raivis sitting behind him on the big saddle, with the chests over the dragons back, and he waved, and Alfred waved back, and the nine of them were in the sky.

Alfred fell into a fitful sleep after that. He woke up a few times more than the babies needed him too, and some of the children joined him in his bed even though they would wake up to the babies crying and wouldn't get to sleep through the night.

It was comfort they wanted, and so Alfred opened his arms and tried to comfort him. He wasn't sure if they felt better afterwards.

They did, every one of them. Because now, their mother was their source of comfort, since there was no father to turn too.