When England first brought Terra Australis to his home, they were met at the door by two boys with blonde hair. If they had been home, then they would have been at the age when they would be starting to learn about the ways of grown men.

One had blue eyes, and his whole body seemed to radiate arrogance. But she decided to give him a chance, he couldn't be all bad, could he?

The other was hiding behind a tall man with long blonde hair and a blue coat. He had big eyes, the colour that England had taught me was called purple. And he was clutching a white fluffy object - like a cloud.

They didn't seem to care about her presence. But the man with them did, 'Is this your love child, mon ami?'

'No,' replied England, 'this is Terra Australis, she is my newest colony.'

She didn't miss the way that the man relaxed when England said that she wasn't a love child. She didn't know what a love child is but based on the man's reaction she doesn't think that it was anything good.

'Australis?' Asked England, kneeling down to her level, 'Can you please introduce yourself?'

England had spent much of the journey over teaching her how to introduce herself, she could do it in her sleep!

She bent her knees, and lowered her head, 'Hello, I am Australis.' She stole a glance up at England, to see how she had done and he was smiling - she had done well!

The man smiled down at her, he seemed nice, 'Hello, Terra Australis, I am France.' He had his arm wrapped around England - like he was afraid that he was going to run away.

She remembered seeing her father hold her mother like that, but she'd never seen a man hold another man like that, maybe it was an English thing?

The boy with blue eyes, stepped forward, 'I'm America, the greatest country ever!'

Australis narrowed her eyes at him, she definitely didn't like him.

The other boy had to be coaxed out by France, 'I-I'm C-Canada, and this is Kuma.' He held out the cloud, and it moved!

Australis jumped backwards, 'It moved!' Her hand flew to her pocket, would Kuma want to eat Matilda?

America laughed, 'You're scared of Kuma? You really are pathetic.'

England gasped, 'Apologise right now!'

America rolled his eyes, 'Fine. I'm sorry.'

He didn't seem sorry. But England accepted it, so she supposed that she should too.

France chuckled, 'Australie, Kuma will not hurt you, he is perfectly tame.' He gestured to Canada, who put Kuma down.

Kuma looked like a very furry, white, wombat, but his snout was longer and pointed, not square. He looked around lazily and then pawed at Canada's legs. Canada shooed him toward Australis.

He ambled toward her and she inched behind England. But Kuma followed her. He came closer and closer and she froze. But he didn't attack.

He merely sniffed all over her legs and body, then froze. He had smelled Matilda. He retreated and walked back to Canada, much faster than he had walked to her.

She let go of England's hand, 'Do you want to meet Matilda?'

England looked confused, 'Who's Matilda?'

Right, she hadn't told him that she'd brought Matilda. Matilda was a snake that'd been in the gardens of the hotel they'd stayed at while they travelled to England's country estate.

The staff had been planning on killing her - but Australis had gotten to her first.

'She's like Kuma,' she explained, 'She won't hurt you.'

She reached into her pocket and her hand closed around the scaly body of Matilda. She gently pulled her out, if she woke her up too abruptly then she might get aggressive.

As soon as Matilda was out of her pocket they started panicking.

'Snake!' yelled France, pushing Canada behind him.

'Save me, England!' Yelled America, clutching at England.

Australis was confused, 'What's so scary about Matilda?' It was at that moment that Matilda decided that staying in her hand was boring and that she wanted to explore.

She wound her way down her leg and scented the air. She caught a whiff of mouse behind the tall one and she slithered toward it. Australis saw the mouse too, 'Matilda!' Yelled Australis, 'No eating!'

This did not calm things down, France took this to mean that she was going to eat them.

This incited a panic.

Australis dived toward Matilda, catching her tail in her hand. In the hopes that if she contained Matilda that the panic would die down.

America gasped as Australis knocked him over, in her efforts to grab Matilda. He grabbed onto the sideboard in a last ditch effort to keep him upright. This brought the sideboard down in a cacophony of shattering glass.

Canada clutched onto Kuma in fear. Kuma did not appreciate being squeezed and bit down on Canada's hand. Canada dropped Kuma, who ran out the door, knocking over France.

France fell onto the floor in a heap, his leg hitting Australis, causing her to drop Matilda, who slithered as fast as she could away, straight into England's waiting grasp.

England surveyed the damage - America was covered in broken glass and he had several nasty cuts, Canada was silently shaking, France was on the floor, unharmed, and Australis was in the middle of the chaos.

'I believe she is yours?' Said England, handing Matilda to Australis.

Australis checked Matilda over for injuries, then put her back in her pocket, 'Sorry, England.'

'It's okay, Australis.' He said, 'This isn't the first time this has happened.' He knelt next to America, 'Can you help me get America to his room? Those cuts will need to be treated.'

Australis nodded, 'Sure.'

France picked himself up off the floor, dusted off his coat then started taking care of Canada.

Author's Note: Australia has now met America, France and Canada. Her first impression of America wasn't good at all, and her opinion of him will probably stay the same for a while.

I am unsure what the aboriginal Australian stance on same-sex relationships is. So, instead of having a possibly wildly inaccurate stance for Australia, I have decided that she didn't often spend much time with humans, and spent most of her time with her father.

So, she doesn't have any real opinion on same-sex relationships yet, and she just thinks it's normal in England.

Also, Matilda the snake is named after the Matilda in the song 'Waltzing Matilda' by either Banjo Patterson (a famous Australian poet) or Christina Macpherson.

However, the song Waltzing Matilda was only first written down in 1895, so we're just going to assume that Australia just picked the name Matilda randomly.