Soon, the girls clustered around the stranded A7V could hear the rumble and squeal of tracks. The source was shortly revealed as well, as the LK II came trundling over the landscape with Erne's L-60 closely behind, having nothing else to do.

The LK II mounted the low bank that was the cause of the A7V's problems, tipped forward again, and came to a halt in front of the house-like tank. The little L-60, meanwhile, pulled up in line with Clare's tank, which was parked close by. Clare, Inny and their gunner had already set up a portable camping stove and appeared to be brewing a pot of coffee. Erne and Finn lost no time in copying them, while Annalee sat atop the L-60's turret, her fiddle in her hand, ready to play some lively and work-assisting music if required.

Over at the A7V, it had been agreed that if the front of it could be pulled round to the right, the leviathan would be on level ground and in no further danger of tipping over. The LK II was going to do the pulling and Shannon volunteered the Mk D to help as well. The K.u.K. girls moved two metal covers on the front of the A7V and then busied themselves with rolling out steel cables to attach to these.

"I guess it's kind of clever, Onee-chan," Annalee said, sitting on the L-60's turret and swinging her legs. "Having towing hooks hidden on the front of a tank like that, but when they designed it… isn't that almost as if they expected that tank to get stuck a lot?"

Erne just looked at her and gave her a shrug.

After not too much delay, the towing tanks were hooked up to the A7V and the plan was put into action. Lots of revving of engines and scraping of metal accompanied the movement of the box-like tank as its nose was pulled round to its right. After a few precarious wobbles it lumbered away from the crumbling bank and the Oberschlesien it had been leaning against, coming to a stop on flat ground once again.

The crew dismounted and Sissi rapturously hugged Franzi. Shannon, meanwhile, crossed over to where Clare and Inny were parked up, where she spied their coffee pot.

"Thirsty work!" she commented, removing her caubeen and wiping her brow. "Put another pot on, will you?"

Inny obligingly got to work preparing more coffee as Franzi and Sissi came up, still arm in arm.

"Coffee?" Shannon offered, wanting to seem hospitable, and possibly to distract herself from the two girls in front of her who were stuck together like limpets.

"Oh, some coffee would be lovely!" Sissi declared. "And we could have some cake as well, perhaps?" she longingly asked Franzi.

"My dear Sissi, we had cake earlier!" Franzi said in a soothing voice. "But we can have coffee," she concluded.

"Shall I make some tea, for those who would prefer that?" asked Tiszi, who had just wandered up, brushing down her white jacket.

"If you want to," Franzi shrugged.

"Oi! Shannon!" Erne hollered from beside her tank. "If we're all having coffee, can we grab a bite to eat as well?"

"I suppose so!" Shannon shouted back, aware that she was feeling a bit peckish. "Get out some of those potato cakes and soda farls."

"What's a soda farl?" Sissi asked.

"It's a sort of bread - it's very tasty!" Shannon assured her.

"I have some food in the tank that I could get as well," Sizzi volunteered. "I have some lovely schnitzels that I could heat up."

"What's a shnittle?" Shannon asked, sounding worried.

"Schnitzel," Franzi corrected. "It's a dish of breaded pork - try some, I'm sure you'll like it!"

Meanwhile, Finn had helped Erne to take a large dixie, or metal food container, from some recess in the tank where it had been keeping warm next to the engine compartment. She looked across to where Clare and Inny were performing a similar operation with another large pot.

"What have you got in yours?" Finn called across.

"Irish stew," Clare replied. "And champ," she said, indicating a smaller mess tin which held mashed potato mixed with scallions. "What about you?"

"Dublin coddle!" Finn said, sounding pleased with herself.

"What's coddle?" Franzi asked, overhearing this exchange.

"It's chunks of sausage, bacon, potatoes and carrot, all cooked up together!" Shannon explained. "Would you like to try some?"

"I have some goulash in the LK II. We were saving it until later, but I'll get it out now if we're having a break," Tiszi said, sounding as if this were a national disaster rather than a good thing.

"Goulash? What's that?" Shannon asked, continuing her impromptu culinary education.

Tiszi was about to answer, but Franzi cut in first. "It's a delicious stew of beef, tomatoes, paprika and sour cream," she explained.

"That does sound nice!" Shannon agreed. "I bet it would be lovely to dunk a chunk of soda farl in that..."

All four of them paused while they considered this delicious idea.

"Well, let's have some then!" Franzi proposed.

"And then we can have some strudel to follow!" Sissi, who obviously had a sweet tooth, exclaimed.

"And… what's that?" Shannon asked, amazed that she was learning so much about food in such a short space of time.

Tiszi took the opportunity to answer for the K.u.K. girls. "It's a layered pastry with apples, raisin and cinnamon," she said. "But it's called rétes."

"It's called strudel," Sisis insisted.

"It's rétes," Tiszi replied.

"Strudel!"

"Rétes!"

"It's called strudel," Franzi adjudicated, causing Sissi to clap her hands in delight and Tiszi to sulk.

"And maybe a waltz too, my Franzi?" Sissi suggested, her eyes gleaming.

"Why not, my dear Sissi?" Franzi replied.

"Let's get to it then!" Shannon said.

Franzi's crew produced a small music system from inside the A7V, while various coverings, from pristine white table cloths to heavy tarpaulins, were taken from every single tank in the area spread over the ground. With something now in between them and the ground, the stew, champ, coddle, schnitzels, goulash, strudel (or rétes) and various other dishes were all brought out from where they had been stored in tanks, while Franzi and Sissi waltzed contently in the background.

Laune excelled herself by producing a whole roast beef, which she had cooked the previous evening and brought with her. She returned to form quite spectacularly when she realised that she hadn't brought anything to cut it with, but the K.u.K. team were able to assist with providing the appropriate utensils.

After a short while, Judge Sasagawa turned up, presumably wondering why all six tanks were stationary and grouped around a spontaneous picnic. She appeared to resign herself to this, however, and even accepted a cup of tea and a slice of cake. No one saw when she poured something from a hip flask into the teacup.

The sun climbed higher as the girls continued to sample the culinary delights from their respective adoptive cultures, listening to a mixture of waltzes and polkas coupled with some tunes from Annalee's fiddle. It was only after a considerable amount of time had passed that Sissi turned to Shannon.

"About our match. Um… who won?" she asked.

"Er… I don't know," Shannon admitted, her mouth still full of her last bite. "Please could I have some more chocolate torte?"

THE END