"Grossvater!" A small cry came from the hallway that just preceded the room Germania was in. The blonde turned his head and was met with the albino form of his grandson, Teutonic empire. He was a powerful boy, but still small, coming to a new sort of power with every day of conquest that passed.
But that aside, the boy had tears streaming down his small cheeks and dripped onto his white tunic. Germania quickly swooped down to his knees and caught the child- for he was a child- in his arms. The smaller boy wrapped his arms around his neck.
"What is wrong Gilbert?" He asked, not bothering to use his grandson's nation name. It was too long to call him in small conversation.
"We went hunting in the woods! And there was a poor little bird, she had a worm in her mouth… and one of the men shot it! I think it was going to feed its babies!" he bawled… Germania smiled at the child's purity of heart. He may have seen battle, but he did not believe in bloodshed without cause, and he hoped that purity remained.
"Where was this?" He asked gently, looking into the blood red eyes of the boy. He was so young. No older than maybe thirty years along, and at the physical and mental age of about four or five.
"Just inside the forest! I think it was a duck, or something like that!" he said, simply crying his eyes out. Germania nodded and let the boy go from his tight embrace.
"Let's go find the place, maybe we can find the nest." He said, trying to cheer the boy. He had plenty of work he should have been doing, but time off was rare and he would seize this chance to spend time with his poor grandson.
It was almost three hours before they had found it. The nest was resting snugly between the branch and trunk of a tall tree that Teuton had easily scaled. Coming down, the boy gently put the nest on the ground and crouched on his tiny legs to look at it.
"I don't… are they sleeping?" He asked, looking up at his grandfather with teary eyes. Germania grimaced, looking at the small, yellow balls of feathers that sat perfectly still in the nest. Shaking his head, he looked to his grandson.
"I'm afraid that the poor babies passed away, Gilbert." Germania said sadly. "Their Mutter wasn't there to keep them warm."
Teutonic Empire's face made Germania's heart break a bit with how his mouth turned to a frown and his eyes watered over with tears. He hugged his grandfather's arm and cried, begging the man to fix them. Shaking his head, Germania found himself deciding that this was a good time to give his grandson a life lesson of sorts.
"Do you see, how killing these bird's Mutter, affected more than just her?" The little boy nodded. "This is something you must keep in mind when you kill, Gilbert. In war, there is much death and bloodshed. But sometimes it's best to not just kill those on the opposing side. You must always think about how it will affect others, and your people. Do you understand?"
"Yes Grossvatter. I understand." The little boy sniffled.