Human names were another of those things that England had to explain to me. He'd scowled when I'd asked him, but then explained once he realised that I genuinely didn't know what a human name was.
A human name, he told me, was a name nation's took. It's like their country name, only they use it when they're around humans.
"When you're around humans, you tell them your human name, not your country name." He'd informed me, kneeling in front of me.
"Around other nations you use your country name, but around humans you use your human name."
"So why does France use your human name?" I'd asked him, confused.
He'd smiled fondly - that was the way he always smiled when he thought about France - "Countries use their human names with each other when they trust each other implicitly, or if they're trying to insult someone."
I wanted to ask which way France used his human name, but decided against it.
My human name is Elizabeth Jane Kirkland. The Kirkland part is because I'm England's colony. England likes to name his colonies after great rulers of his, so that's where the Elizabeth came from.
He doesn't like to talk about the Elizabeth I'm named after. He gets all teary. So, I read every book I could find in his library on the subject of her.
It's hard work, as my English still isn't as good as Newfoundland's or America's, but I'm getting there.
Elizabeth Tudor ruled England from 1558 to 1603. During her rule she advanced England to practically unheard of greatness.
It was under her that Sir Francis Drake and other great Englishmen explored vast swathes of the New World.
The New World is what they call America, Newfoundland and Canada. I'm not part of the New World, though I'm the most recently discovered continent.
She was known as the Virgin Queen, because she never married. She said that she was married to her country.
When I asked Newfoundland about it, she said that, when Elizabeth was alive, she and England were the closest of friends, but they weren't married.
Newfoundland is much better at explaining than the books are. She actually lived through Elizabeth's rule, and she tells amazing stories about the royal court.
I've never visited court, though England and America go often. Newfoundland says that it's because I'm not old enough to go. America says that it's because I'm not important enough to be granted an audience with the king.
My middle name is Jane. America says that England named me Jane because I'm a plain Jane.
Though Jane looks like Jeanne, I wasn't named after Jeanne D'arc, the woman France loved. For ages I had no idea why I was named Jane. But then I overheard France and England talking.
"Mon Lapin" France always calls England Mon Lapin, or Angleterre, "Why did you name Terra after such a tragic figure?"
My curiosity peaked, I lean in closer to the door, straining to hear England's answer.
England sighs, "Because she looked just like her."
"How?" Asks France, "Terra looks nothing like her!"
England's silent for a moment, "Not physically, frog, they had the same look in their eyes."
"What look?" Asks France, sounding like he definitely doesn't want to know.
"Remember, the look Jane wore on her coronation day? She looked like she was completely and utterly lost, but also so determined to stay strong.
Terra had no idea what was going on when I found her. She was alone and scared, but she kept going when it would've been so easy for her to curl up and hide."
I'd never though of it that way. I'd kept going because that was what Father would've wanted. I'd never even thought to give up.
France sighs, "Sometimes you are too perceptive for your own good, Mon Lapin."
England continues, "I'd let Jane die. She was only a child, and I let her take the weight of the crown on her fragile shoulders. I wasn't going to let Terra die."
After that, I asked Newfoundland about a queen of England named Jane. She told me that she only knew of one Jane who'd ruled England.
Lady Jane Grey was Henry VIII's (Elizabeth's father) sister's granddaughter, and she'd never wanted to be queen.
The only reason she ended up as queen was because Edward (Elizabeth's half-brother) wanted a Protestant on the throne when he died, and he couldn't put Elizabeth on the throne because of Mary, their older half-sister.
According to their father's will, if Edward were to die, then Mary would take the throne, and then Elizabeth. If Edward put Elizabeth on the throne, then Mary would rebel, and steal the throne anyway.
So, he put Jane Grey on the throne. She ruled for only ten days in 1553 before Mary raised an army and had her deposed.
She was imprisoned, and then executed. She died on the 12th of February 1544. She was only months away from her seventeenth birthday.
I empathise much more with Jane's story than with Elizabeth's. It's probably because Jane seems so much more human than Elizabeth.
With Elizabeth, I always feel like I have to live up to her legacy. She was the greatest of England's queens, and she was infinitely powerful.
With Jane, it feels like she and I could be friends. She too was powerless, surrounded by men who could crush her like a bug. She had no choice, and there are days when I feel like that too.
Though she was powerless, she should stood strong to the end. I'd like to be like her one day.