"So, Ludwig, how are you feeling?" Sofia asked as she combed her son's wet hair.

"Physically or emotionally?"

"Well… both, then."

"Physically, I feel terrible. My mouth feels strange from having been excavated, and now that the anesthetic is wearing off, I am beginning to feel what will be an intense and long-lasting pain."

"Perhaps I was too harsh on you, restricting you from dessert. Would that Sachertortemake you feel better?"

"Yes, please, it would. And with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on the side, if you please."

Sofia went to the refrigerator to cut Ludwig a slice of the Viennese dessert and scoop the requested flavor of ice cream to place on the side in lieu of the usual unsweetened whipped cream.

Ludwig frowned as he put the ice cream into his mouth. His new fillings were painfully sensitive to temperature.

"So, how are you feeling emotionally?" Sofia asked.

Ludwig found that even the refrigerated frosting of theSachertorte was too cold for his fillings. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seems clear to me that you are not feeling well for some reason. Would you like to talk about it?"

"First may I please have a hot Mokka? I don't have much appetite for cold foods right now."

Sofia put the nibbled-on piece of cake back into the fridge and prepared a hot mocha espresso for her son, using the unadulterated brew in anticipation of Ludwig's plea of "caffeinated, if you don't mind".

Ludwig took a Mozartkugelnout of the crystal candy dish, littered the carpet with its wrapper and popped it into his mouth, chewing on the side that had not been inflicted by a root canal. When his mother was done with his Mokka, he sipped but recoiled at the heat, realizing that his fillings were also heat-sensitive.

Sofia sighed at the foil wrapper he left on the floor. "Ludwig, you had never been so disrespectful, you always used to throw your trash away!"

"Sorry, I'm just used to being in a house that is already utterly trashed, that's all." He unwrapped another Mozartkugeln and swallowed it whole. "You cannot imagine the stress I have to endure on a daily basis, attending that school that makes you sit in class most of the day, and then be forced to have a recess in the hot sun, with little to no supervision to prevent the thugs from physically harassing me, and with nothing but infantile educational materials to play with inside the classroom! They call it a Kindergarten, heaven knows why, for it's really more of a Kinderlager…

"And then I come home to King Dad, as he insists that I call him, for him to insult me and boss me around and breathe fire on me and lock me in the dungeon as punishment! Not to mention my half-siblings…"

"He has… of course." Sofia said, not surprised at all that Bowser had fathered children of different mothers.

"The next-eldest one physically harasses me whenever he gets the chance, the girl forces me to play with her and throws temper tantrums to have our father force me to participate if I don't, the middle child never shuts up and annoys me with loud guitar noise that he thinks is music, and the youngest hatched is always stealing my coins and my candies that I have imported from here! And that's not even counting the two eggs that I have put in a time-decelerated incubator to prevent them from hatching sooner… I don't think I want them to hatch just yet…"

"Well, I'm sorry, dear, but your father has all custody rights to you, and all I can do is demand a one-month visitation with you every year."

Ludwig angrily wiped away the tear that had formed in his eye. "And though you had to ruin it by taking me to have the dental exam that my father had indefinitely postponed, I am quite glad to be having this visitation early."

"Early? Isn't it holiday at that school of yours?"

"Well…" Ludwig pulled an Austrian-made handkerchief out of his shell and wiped his face with it. "The assignment was to create a picture book that teaches the integers one through ten. I showed them my number theory project that I completed at Frankenstein University, and the teacher scolded me, having decided that it was unsatisfactory because of its lengthiness and the abstractness of its illustrations. I told her that it had earned me an Eins at Frankenstein University, and the teacher failed me for recycling a project from a previous class. And I got so mad and… frustrated, I actually began to exhibit behavior akin to my father's… I… threw a pair of cheap useless plastic scissors at the teacher… didn't even leave a cut on her… and she suspended me… for an entire month."

"Oh, baby…" Sofia picked up her son, put him in her lap and hugged him while rocking.

"Good riddance, I say."

"Can you promise me you won't throw anything at Mr. Austria when I take you to stay at his house tomorrow?"

"Mr… what?"

"Roderich von Edelstein, he's the national personification of our country."

"I am… still confused, Mutter."

Sofia sighed. "So am I, meinSohn. So am I."

I know, two chapters and still no Austria :( Don't worry, fellow Austria fans, I promise there will be plenty of him in the next chapter! :D 3