European meetings were never the sophisticated affairs that they set out to be. After listening to a weekend of England ranting about how people shouldn't eat horses whilst the rest of Europe nonchalantly ignored him, everyone was keen to relax at the party on the last evening. This involved an over the top consumption of alcohol.

It was a sad fact that the nations were highly resistant to a plethora of drugs. Of course, their individual resistances varied depending on sex, weight, and other factors (although Latvia seemed exempt from this restriction), but all nations were much less likely to be affected by drugs than a human of similar stature. It was fortunate in that they weren't easily poisoned, but it made their alcohol bills extremely high.

Estonia had never really been a party person. He had lived with numerous other nations who enjoyed throwing various balls and banquets, and after a few centuries he was fairly tired of it all. Clearly, though, he was in the minority. At least once a month he was expected to attend an 'informal function' in which the nations should 'get to know each other's cultures and traditions'. If it was up to him, Estonia would have taken a plane back to his home the evening after the meeting finished, but at least forced social occasions were a good time to people watch.

This party was a surprisingly interesting one. The venue was the very posh, though not particularly well decorated, hotel in which the meetings had been taking place. It had started off with England staunchly thanking them for attending, before reminding them of next month's World Meeting in Russia whilst using various naff quotes for atmospheric effect. However, it rapidly deteriorated into a disorganised mess; tables were knocked over, an overzealous game of darts in which there appeared to be no set target was being played, and the chandelier was sporting a pink frilly thong. Estonia didn't want to think about where that came from.

The surprise of the party thus far, though, was France. Usually he would be found with a glass of red wine in hand either bothering England, flirting with whoever looked vaguely in his direction, or a complicated combination of the two. However, this time he was standing in a corner of the room, looking rather discombobulated and confused. It was rather worrying. Earlier in the evening he had been fine, heckling during England's speeches and commenting on the poor quality of the very expensive food, but now he didn't even react when a dart whizzed by his ear and punctured the frame of an extravagant painting. He groaned and leaned against the wall, looking tired, before sinking down to his knees.

Estonia had actually planned on leaving soon, he had spent a little over two hours at the party, plenty enough to be able to recount the main events without being around so long that he actually got involved in one of those events. He may be a nation, but he still had a circadian rhythm and wanted to go to sleep before too long. However, France was actually worrying him a little. Having fought in various battles and wars, it was against Estonia's nature to just leave an obviously distressed and vulnerable individual on the field, however, he also had a penchant for not getting involved in such matters and would rather have got another nation to go to the rescue. All the others were ignoring France, although in their intoxicated state it was to be expected. The more sensible nations who Estonia could trust to not be totally inebriated appeared to have briefly disappeared. Estonia sighed, it was obvious that he would have to help.

Estonia started to make his way across the busy floor, dodging darts and deflecting drunkards as he tried to seek out France. Suddenly, a hand appeared on his shoulder,

"Hello Sweden," a smiling, but obviously drunk England happily greeted. Estonia wasn't too offended by this misidentification, perhaps he could use it as evidence that he should be considered a Nordic. He briefly looked around for the real Sweden, and found that he was currently letting Poland stand on his shoulders in an attempt to rescue the chandelier's underwear. It was both geographically and mentally disturbing, but at least Estonia felt that it was sufficiently safe to keep up his Swedish charade.

"Do you want to know a secret?" a swaying England grinned. Estonia wasn't in a particularly secret-sharing mood, but decided that it was safer to humour England rather than relay that his intention was to help France.

"What is it?" Estonia tried to smile as he asked. He hoped he wasn't going to be shown one of those rocks that were laid on the dining table earlier. He had thought them decoration until England actually ate one.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it was not a rock. England reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out… a sprig of mint?

"The fairies gave it to me," he whispered.

"Um, that's nice," Estonia was keen to move England on, France really wasn't looking well. "Sorry but I have to go…" he attempted to break away.

"No, no, no," England shook his head and grabbed onto Estonia's arm "You don't understand. It's magical." A stern look was on his face. It seemed that Estonia was going to have to work harder to escape England's clutches. The best idea seemed to be to entertain England for a time whilst thinking up the next escape route.

"What's so magical about it?" Estonia asked. He wasn't totally confused by the proclamation of magical beings. Although not being 'blessed' with the ability to see them himself, a sober Latvia occasionally mentioned that he could see gryphons and an almost sober Russia made him hide in the storage outhouse for a week to escape from 'the spirit of winter'. Compared to this a possessed mint sprig was nothing.

"Aha!" England proclaimed "This magical plant can alter your perceptions!"

"It's a drug?"

England sighed, suddenly looking very tired.

"Of course not. It's a piece of powerful magic to use against your enemies. Honestly Sweden, you really need to stop being so naïve," England patted Estonia's shoulder, smiling. Estonia looked over at France who now appeared to be asleep. In fact, Greece was also asleep next to him, curled up like an overly large cat. Estonia was glad that he looked okay, but really had to shake England off somehow.

"Say I had an enemy, call him France, I mean France-is, yeah, Francis," England continued, ignoring Estonia's glances at France "Imagine if Francis was heckling and annoying you all day," England put on a look of faux despair as he relayed his tragic tale "Then you might want to give him a couple of leaves of this. It'll keep him quiet for the rest of the night!" England gleefully finished.

"Wait, you drugged France?" Estonia was genuinely shocked and worried, though also mildly impressed, "Will he be okay?"

"Aww, whatever, he'll be fine," England brushed off Estonia's concerns "Even humans are okay with a bit of this stuff, just makes them quiet for a while," he shrugged, before holding out the sprig. "I like you, you're not an idiot. Take this and use it on someone you don't like."

Estonia really didn't want to take the strange plant. He felt as if he was in some illicit drug dealing ring. However, it would probably be safer for everyone if a drunken England was not in charge of such an item.

"Thank you," Estonia graciously accepted the twig. It certainly looked like a normal sprig of mint. He gave it a cautious sniff. It certainly smelled like a normal sprig of mint. He wrapped it up in a pale blue handkerchief and put it in his inside pocket.

"Excuse me England, but could I borrow Estonia?" Lithuania asked as he approached the pair. Estonia was relieved to finally find a way out of the conversation.

"Who?" England confusedly looked around, trying to spot the fabled Estonia who he was supposedly in possession of.

"Yes," Estonia snappily replied to his saviour's question "See you later, England," he smiled, grateful to be free of England's grasp.

"Oh, alright then," England looked a little sad "Goodbye, Sweden."

"Thank you," Estonia half-whispered to a mildly confused Lithuania.

The pair walked a little way across the hall's floor in an attempt to get away from the crowd which was now making an attempt to play some sort of dangerous mixture of blind man's bluff and red rover. Estonia stole a glance back to France, who was now fast asleep, Greece and Switzerland, who it appeared were no match for the free bar, were laid beside him, also having a snooze. England was known to be a very truthful drunk, so Estonia wasn't too worried about France's health, and he didn't really want to risk waking Switzerland up. He decided that it would probably be best for all if he let them be. He continued walking to a quieter area with Lithuania.

"I'm about to leave," Lithuania finally spoke "I was wondering if you were also leaving soon?" he definitely looked worn out. It wasn't too surprising since he was one of the more hard working members of the group.

"Definitely," Estonia was a little too enthusiastic at the thought of finally being able to leave the badly decorated prison "Should I go get Latvia?" The three of them were staying at the same hotel, it gave a good deal with their airline cards. He gave a glance towards the bar where Latvia invariably homed into. He was chatting to Belgium whilst surrounded by tankards.

"No," Lithuania snapped, before correcting himself. "Latvia enjoys staying out late, and anyway," Lithuania fidgeted "I want to speak to you alone."

This struck Estonia as being a little odd. Lithuania was usually the one who rallied them all up and made sure that everyone and everything was organised. He was a sort of team mother, normally a little annoying but definitely someone who you were grateful that they were around. However, this disregard towards Latvia combined with the more-stressed-than-usual expression which Lithuania was sporting did worry Estonia a little. He really wanted to ask what was wrong, but felt that it wasn't his place.

"I'll get my coat," he answered "I'll meet you by the taxis."

Lithuania nodded in agreement and they both started making their way towards the exit, occasionally dodging the blindfolded nations who were using the floor as a running track.

Estonia really didn't know why he brought a coat to London in the early summer. Even in winter at his own home he occasionally went out to the shops without any specialised winter clothing, although people did think him a little strange for doing this. He supposed that it was good to be prepared for all eventualities. Anyway, despite his inappropriate attire taking a while to find in the cloakroom, he managed to find Lithuania outside by the taxi stop. They managed to get a taxi back to their hotel.

Estonia generally enjoyed Lithuania's company, he was pretty much the only genuinely nice person that Estonia knew. In a way Estonia idolised him, but Lithuania was also modest and kind, someone who Estonia enjoyed spending time around when he could. However, the taxi ride back to the hotel was fairly awkward. Estonia occasionally tried to make polite conversation, but was mainly being ignored. With anyone else, Estonia would brush this off as rudeness or grumpiness, however, he was getting more and more concerned about Lithuania's quiet demeanour. Just as he was about to ask, Lithuania spoke

"What time do you leave tomorrow?" he asked, still looking as though he was distracted.

"I have to get to the airport for midday," Estonia replied "So perhaps eleven? I'm going with Latvia."

"Good," Lithuania muttered "Would you like to have breakfast with me? At the hotel café?" he questioned "I have something to ask of you." He looked down at his feet, as though embarrassed at having to ask for something.

"Sure," Estonia tried to sound warm, although he wasn't so good at the whole comforting people thing. "Anything for you," he inwardly cringed. Lithuania looked strangely pleased at the last statement, even giving a small nervous smile.

The taxi stopped outside the hotel and the two made their way inside and to their rooms. Despite his tiredness and enthusiasm for rest, Estonia didn't sleep well that night, he was too busy thinking about Lithuania, and what his request could be.