Chapter 242 Day Two with the Kids

"You fly out of them?!" asked Aella in horror, glancing back at the slides.

"Well, not really, but none of the dwarven kids can slide on them, yet," said Sarah, sheepishly.

"We have to do some more calculations," added Merle with a nod.

"Some of the loops don't work just right, yet," added Donovan.

"I wanted to use magic, so the person sliding didn't get flung off the slide, but Sarah said no one could fix the magic if it got messed up," said Merle with a frown.

"Aren't they adorable?" sighed Daefina with a smile.

"Are you daft?" gasped Voluri, looking at her in puzzlement.

"I can't wait until we have some of our own!" added Daefina, ignoring her husband's look of incredulity.

"I'm with you Voluri," muttered Aella, motioning for the kids to come to her, then saying louder, "I still have things to do today. I told Daefina you would only be here for a little while and you ended up being here all day."

"Ahh," moaned all three kids, glancing over at the massive tangle of slides.

"Alright, we'll finish quick!" cried Merle, glancing at his siblings who nodded with looks of seriousness on their faces.

Aella went to say something when everything seemed to stop all around her.

"You aren't supposed to use time magic!" cried Sarah, looking around her in shock.

"Yeah, only dad is supposed to do that!" cried Donovan.

"We don't have time to waste!" growled Merle, raising his hands into the air as glowing runes and spell circles appeared all around him.

Sarah shook her head as if there was nothing she could do, and stepped up next to him. Laying her hand on him, Aella could sense she was lending Merle magic. Donovan hesitated for only a moment, shoving some fingers into his mouth to suck on them for a moment, then joined Sarah on the other side of Merle, laying the clean hand on his brother's shoulder and sent magic as well.

Aella watched in fascination as the slides twisted and turned, as Merle tweaked the glowing lines of magic. What felt like half an hour passed as the kids focused on the slides they had made in the night, and Aella had time to study all of the people around them.

Daefina was smirking, as if she had a secret, and was holding a hand over her belly in the motion of rubbing it. Aella figured she had decided she was pregnant and hadn't told Voluri yet.

Voluri had a scowl on his face as he faced the slides, as if he couldn't believe he had allowed the kids to do such a thing, and there was no way he was going to use one of them. Several of the dwarves around them had looks of varying interest, with some really excited to try the slides and others looking outright scared of the kids and the slides.

"All done," said Merle softly, dropping his hands and his siblings all but caught him as he went to fall, the time stop magic ending just then.

Aella grabbed him up and held him in her arms wondering if Joseph was going to kill her slow or fast.

"He'll be fine in a minute," sighed Sarah, as she rolled her eyes.

"He does this all the time," agreed Donovan, removing his fingers from his mouth to look over the slides.

"What just happened?" asked Daefina in concern, looking back and forth at the kids and Aella.

"Them showing off their magic," said Aella as Merle opened his eyes and started to squirm to be let down.

"Wow," said Voluri, stepping towards the railing to see the slides better.

Aella turned to see the end result and was surprised to see the slides had taken on the form of various dwarven shapes. She could see a forge, a dwarf with a hammer, another with a pick, and several other dwarven things. Even the royal insignia could be seen if you moved from side to side.

"How did you do that?" he asked, turning to look at Merle.

"I figured you would appreciate them better, if they looked intentional, rather than just slides for fun. Now you might not tear them down as soon as we leave," he shrugged.

Voluri opened his mouth, then turned and looked at the slides again with a slight nod. Apparently, that had been the exact thought he had.

"Well, time to go," said Aella before anyone could say anything else, grabbing the kids and teleporting back to the dining room in the demon castle.

"Oh, this place is big!" said Sarah, looking around.

The elves were sitting at the table eating breakfast, and Aella fought to hide the smirk when she saw Frederik still hadn't shown up.

The kids quickly joined the elves at the table, and Aella allowed Precious to eat while she leaned against the wall, trying to figure out what she was doing next. She really needed to speak with Firion to let him know that Jozef was gone, and she probably needed to tattoo him as well. She also needed to see about getting Alfred tattooed.

As she thought about Alfred, she decided she could swing in and get him tattooed really quick before heading to Firion. Thinking about him, she could see him sitting at a table talking with Bridgette in the library, and almost teleported to him. That would work well. Bridgette needed to know that Aella was tattooing all of the leaders.

"Where to next?" asked one of the elves, as they gathered around her with the kids looking up at her excitedly.

"I think the library," said Aella, letting Precious land on her shoulder before teleporting them all to the table where Alfred and Bridgette were sitting.

"Aella!" gasped Bridgette, her hands fluttering in the air as if she wasn't sure what to say.

"Is something wrong?" asked Aella, watching the dark look on Alfred's face.

"Are you here to tattoo me?" he asked.

"Yes, I've gotten all the other leaders, except Firion," said Aella.

"What about the lions?" he asked, still not looking up at her.

"No, not yet," said Aella, with a frown. She hadn't thought of them, or the lizard people. "I probably need to tattoo the gargoyles, too."

"Well, if he's getting a tattoo, then so am I!�� huffed Bridgette, starting to roll up her sleeve.

"As the Sage, I can see that," agreed Aella, nodding to the elves for them to get started.

"Well, yes, as the Sage, but also as Alfred's wife!" declared Bridgette.

"Wait, what?" asked Aella, pausing in turning to check on the kids.

"See! I told you she didn't realize!" said Alfred.

"Oh, Aella," sighed Bridgette, shaking her head. "You really need to open your eyes to those around you."

"Since when?!" exclaimed Aella, seeing the sleeping baby in the baby bed beside them and the math and realization hit her all at once. "All along?!"

"Aella, do you remember when you bombed the demon city that first time?" asked Alfred, sounding more tired.

"But you were immune!" cried Aella.

"He was," growled Bridgette.

"Oh," said Aella, glancing at Bridgette again, before looking away.

"We planned to get official, anyway, but you moved the time frame up a bit," said Alfred.

"I'm sorry," said Aella, hanging her head.

"The problem we are dealing with at the moment, doesn't have anything to do with all of that," said Bridgette, waving her hand at Aella. "Alfred wants you to take him back to the land of the dead so he can get his sister and bring her back to life. I keep telling him his children need him, that he can't waste his life energy by bringing her back. She's happy over there."

"Her life was hell, and I want her back," he growled.

"Why would he be using his own life force?" asked Donovan. "Why doesn't he use magic?"

"Silly, he doesn't know how to do that. He probably hasn't even talked with the tree about how to do that," said Sarah.

"Wait, what tree?" asked Alfred, half jumping out of his chair towards the children.

Bridgette groaned and rubbed her face. "They mean the world tree, dear."

Aella was still trying to get over the fact that Alfred and Bridgette were together. Did that mean she was the only one still single? She had a wonderful night with Frederik, but did that really count? Should she be getting so invested in everyone, when they were going to get old and die, leaving her along again?

"Aella, you need to take me to see this world tree," said Alfred. "I'm sure you can leave the kids here with Bridgette."

"Sure, go ahead. Maybe this world tree can talk some sense into him," sighed Bridgette, turning towards the kids.

"Can we read some of your books if we promise not to hurt them?" asked Merle, already inching towards the shelves.