#21

I've been preparing everything as we talk, not that our guests have noticed. Even with the usual show I put on while making breakfast, not even the guardsman has looked up from the movie. By the time the good 'pixies' are abducting the princess everything is done. Including the glass trifle dish I had to make, because it's not really a trifle if it's not in a trifle dish.

Pausing the movie as it pulls out to book form again. I levitate five plates onto the table, followed by the trifle, a platter of French toast, all the toppings, and a pitcher of ice water. This gets their attention, and the guard looks ashamed that he got so caught up.

"There's powdered sugar, various syrups, and jellies, so please, help yourselves. And, just ask if you want something besides water, I have almost every kind of juice." I say sitting down with Amelia. "I may not be quite up to the standard of your chefs, but I do have two sweets obsessed ladies to take care of, so I try my best." I use magic to load up Apricot's plate for her.

"Why'd the movie stop?" Faye asks with a pout. "Ooh, that looks yummy." Her face brightens right back up.

"Oh, thank you sir. You didn't have to go through the trouble. And, I haven't even introduced myself yet, either. I am Hilbert Crothers, Commander of the Queen's Guard. I came to apologize personally for my man's behavior last night."

"Nice to meet cha." I say around a mouthful of breakfast, before swallowing. "Don't worry about it. If the General's expression was anything to go by, then I'm sure your man has learned his lesson on how to hold a crossbow."

"Mommy said he's mucking out the stables all on his own, for a month." The princess adds with a tittering laugh. "Do, you have grape juice, I love grape juice."

"That's the least of his punishments." The Commander looks like he wants to spit.

"It's in the past now, I was just worried about what might happen if someone who couldn't protect themselves spooked him." I wave the matter away, and pour the Princess her juice. "Now please, eat, enjoy. I'm used to cooking for five by now anyways, and Amelia's parents went in to check on things at work already."

"Thank you, it look delicious." He nods, and lets the matter drop as we all eat our meal.

"Oh, this cake is so good. No wonder it's called angel food." Apricot moans out. I was afraid the name wouldn't translate, but this world has a similar mythological being. The Polyglot skill actually gives me a basic overview of the word I'm using when translating stuff like this.

"Wait 'til you try devil's-food cake." I grin at the silly little woman. "Just gotta get those cocoa beans. I haven't seen a lot of tropical foods so far, but Amelia assures me that The Capital has everything. It'd be nice to pick up some of the more exotic fruits and nuts too."

"The Crown would be more than willing to provide you with anything you desire. Her majesty even tasked me with finding out what you might be interested in." Hilbert says.

"Oh. Well, I won't say no to any interesting seeds or cuttings. Nature Mage and all that." I show off my tattoos to the guardsman. "But, we were looking forward to going shopping. Aside from getting some supplies, we haven't really had a shopping trip since Riverton, and there's so much to explore here."

"I bet Mommy will let you into the Royal Gardens. There's all sorts of plants from all over the world there." Faye speaks up excitedly with syrup dripping down her chin. "She was really happy to finally Awaken. Do I really have the same magic as her? She was making stuff move around all on it's own last night. I want to be able to do that too, but now I saw your movie, I really want to be able to make that. Can we finish watching it now? I'm done eating." The words just spill out of her.

"Of course. And, it looks like Apricot's done too. Would you like to move to the sitting room. Maybe, get cleaned up first?" I hand her a damp wash cloth. "The Gardens sound lovely, I'd be honored to be granted access. As for making your own movies... That might be possible. Very difficult with just Motion Magic... But yes, I can see a way to make it work."

"Sorrel, honey. Start the movie before you get lost in thought." Amelia speaks up and I notice we're already in the sitting room.

"Oh, sorry Princess." I rub the back of my head in embarrassment.

"He he, you're just like Uncle Oliver." She giggles. "Do you really mean it though? I could make my own movies, even without Light and Air magic?"

"Yes. The sound would be the easy part." I produce some wood and my trusty bundle of cotton, and fashion a simple speaker. "Now, Master Long should be able to help you and your mother with this part." I use the speaker to say, getting an astonished look from the girl and her guard. "I'm using this stiff cone to make noise by moving the Air, when normally I just use air magic directly." I 'speak' right next to her ear before handing over the speaker.

"Wow, it's like a weird drum, but I've never heard a drum sound like this. How does it work?" She asks wide-eyed.

"It is like a drum, you just have to beat it really, really fast." I smile. "Tell The Queen to focus her magic senses on the little cylinder in back while someone talks very loudly into the cone. It'll be hard at first but she should be able to reproduce the vibrations to mimic the sound. Might not even need the speaker box after a while" I explain. "The actual picture part is going to be a lot harder."

I retrieve some paint from my inventory and make a mechanical television. It's basically a large abacus with fifty rows of fifty beads. Half a centimeter each, and painted half white, half black. I test it out by making it switch from one to the other. Then I start with basic swipes and simple patterns. Once I get the hang of it I make a greyscale image of the princess and have it talk using the speaker. "Hello Princess, this is being done with just motion magic."

"It's me!" She squeals.

"This is just what I could think up in the moment, I'm sure there's a better way to do it. Maybe a board with tiny flags, or a bunch of shutters that let light through, or something like that." I ponder. "But, this is only twenty-five-hundred beads with just two colors. To make a movie look more realistic, you would need hundreds of thousands, or even millions. All moving dozens of times a second, and with a mix of colors too. Though, for that just the primary colors along with white and black should work." I hand over the 'T.V.' "Either way, these should be good practice for Her Majesty."

"Thank you sir." The commander says. "I'll make sure she gets these."

"No problem." I wave it away as inconsequential. "Back to the movie now?" I direct to the awed princess before starting it up again.

***

"...pretty please. Just one more movie, please." The Princess begs.

"I'm sorry Princess, but you've already been here for almost two hours, I'm sure your mother must be missing you, and wondering where you disappeared to. You don't want to get me in trouble for kidnapping the Crown Princess. Now, do you?" The guard Commander has actually been checking in via a magical device every twenty minutes or so. So, I'm not really worried, I just want the kid to go home. "Don't you want to show her the speaker box, and movie screen?"

"He's right Princess, it's time to head back to the castle." Crothers says firmly. "How about I call ahead and have the chefs prepare your favorite lunch?"

"Okay." She says, chastised. "I'm sorry mister Rumex, I don't want to get you in trouble. Thank you for the meal, and the movie, and the magical tools, and again for my dolly. Bye Apricot." She says that last with a hangdog face.

"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll get to see her again soon." I can't help but ruffle her hair. "Here, an extra present just for you. Since you seemed to like breakfast so much, and these are the recipes I used to make everything. I'm sure your chefs can do much better than I did." I give her a sheet of paper and a single serving of trifle in a covered dish I made behind my back while we were talking.

She gets a little of her energy back at seeing the treat. "Ooh, thank you, thank you."

"You're very welcome." I give her a quick bow. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence, it's been a pleasure spending time with you. You too Commander." I give him a nod.

"Thank you for the wonderful meal, and a most interesting experience." He nods back. "Now, come along princess, it's time too go."

"Bye princess, you watch out for those evil fairies, you hear?" Apricot says with a chuckle. She got a kick out of Maleficent.

"Heheheh, bye Apricot. I will, and spinning wheels too." She waves with the hand holding her doll as she gets into her carriage.

"Oh, thank goodness she's gone." We all slump after they drive out of sight. "Cute kid, but I did not sign up to be a royal babysitter."

"It was a bit nerve-wracking." Amelia agrees. "Especially when she was screaming during Prince Phillip's escape. I thought half the guard was going to crash through the doors."

"They might have, even despite the Commander's call. But, they had a Light and an Air Mage with them, who worked together to show everyone what was going on. Well, I say that, but it was more like they just didn't want the movie to get interrupted. They'd been watching along since the beginning" I chuckle.

"Hah!" Apricot laughs out. "Bloody lunkers. Oh, man. What was up with that story though? Those pixies were nuts, and a fairy turning into a dragon? Your people just liked to pull stuff out of their asses, didn't they?"

"I warned you beforehand. And, well Disney was always a bit weird with how they adapted these old stories. In one of the oldest versions there was no Prince, and Maleficent was actually the Queen who went nuts after the King came back one day with his new mistress and their twins that he pumped into her while she was under the curse."

"That fucker!" They look shocked and more than a bit pissed off. Not that I blame them, those old fairy tales really are fucked up.

"The pixies accidently woke Sleeping Beauty from the curse after they heard the newborns crying and tried to get them to nurse. Somehow one of the babies latched onto her finger instead and sucked out the poison flax. Just in time for the king to comeback for seconds, or however manyeths at that point. And, of course she was totally fine with this whole situation, apparently. Newborn babes, and all."

"No fucking way!" Apricot spits out.

"I know, I know. My world used to have a lot of messed up ideas on how to treat women." 'Still does.' "So anyways, The Queen tries to feed the King his babies." They gasp. "And when that fails, because the chef wasn't fucking evil or stupid enough to feed the King his own children. She then tried to just burn Aurora alive but ended up on the pyre herself. Leaving the King to wed his new mistress and live happily ever after."

"How did it go from that to what we just watched." Amelia asks.

"Sorry, but I don't actually know. The story changed over centuries of telling and retelling. Somewhere along the way it became about a childless royal couple that was finally able to conceive only to have the baby cursed. Either by an old Fae they offended somehow, or by an evil female Mage." 'Witch' doesn't translate. "She then sleeps for thirty or a hundred years with the thorns fending off countless princes, only letting in her one true love. Who then proceeds to wake her by giving her a bit more than 'true love's first kiss'."

"Ugh." Her face scrunches up in disgust. "I think I prefer the movie version. At least, it's cute, and a lot less rape filled."

"Yeah. Disney may have taken these old stories in a weird direction, but they did clean them up a lot. They even did a retelling from Maleficent's view" I tell Apricot. "One where she fell in love with a human, only to be betrayed. Which is what drove her to such extremes."

"Ooh, I wanna watch that." My Fae lover says excitedly

"Sure, but maybe later tonight." I smile at her bobbing up and down in the air. "I'm getting better at the translation thing, but it's still draining. And I should warn you it's not in the same style, they used real actors like in Hook, instead of an animation."

"That's fine." She bobs. "Oh, Mittens. There you are. Were you hiding from that scary princess?" The pixie dive bombs our cat. Clinging to his neck she scratches him behind his ears.

"He's been lazing in the courtyard since we got up. Kaitlyn must have fed him before they left." I bend down and scratch his butt. "You hungry again, little guy?"

"Why don't you feed him, while I use the toilet." Amelia says while heading down the hallway. "Then we can go check out some of those shops we passed on the way in."

"Oh, indoor plumbing. How, I've missed you." I sing out as I carry the kitten and his rider into the kitchen and set out a plate of warmed up meat for him. And, the last slice of cake for Apricot. "Is there anything you're looking forward to from the market? Aside from more sweets that is."

"What more could I want?" She mumbles out between bites.

"I love you. Embiggen!" I grab her, now human sized form, from behind and pull her into a tight hug. "Thank you for putting up with the princess." I breath into her ear.

"I know how much getting along with the local powers can mean for you, and she's really not that bad." My lover turns her head and our lips meet. "There, now let me go. I've still got cake left." She says, but she keeps licking her lips, and not because of the cake.

"Hey, no fair!" Amelia comes running in. "Where's my kiss?" She tackles the two of us and locks lips with Apricot. "Mmm, you taste so good."

"Unfortunately, you only get a taste for now." I say as the strain creeps into my voice. "I have to drop the spell now." I give them both a quick peck on the lips before releasing it. "Sorry, that thing is a magic sink. Sucks me dry faster than even Amelia can."

"Hah!" Apricot barks out as Amelia's cheeks go bright pink. "Oh, look at her face. She's a wildcat right up until you catch her off guard like that, then she's a bigger kitten than Mittens here."

"Hush." Amelia covers her face trying to hide her embarrassment. "Let's go shopping already." She changes the subject. "You stay out of trouble while we're out. Okay kitty?"

"Mrr?" The cat looks up from his lunch for a second.

"Aww, you're so cute." Apricot dive back into his fur, but he just goes back to eating. "Oh, fine I'll let you eat."

***

"You sure you don't have any more room in your inventory?" Amelia pleads with me as I carry a dozen bags. "What about you Apricot?"

"Already told you that pixies and the like get smaller inventory slots. We don't need to be hauling around cubic meters of junk like you lunkers." The pixie in question drums her heals onto Amelia's forehead as she replies.

"We'll reach your father's warehouse in a few more blocks, I can unload Charlie's wipes there, and free up half my inventory." I sigh out. "Weren't you complaining about my spending habits just this morning? What's up with this shopping spree?"

"That was before I saw how much Mana stones sold for." The coins start rolling in her eyes again. "Besides, we'll need most of this stuff when we get our own place."

"Uh huh, and all the sweets and candies? And, you know I could have just made all that stuff for us."

"Ah, but then she wouldn't have gotten to spend so much coin." Apricot explains. "She loves it almost as much as she does us, and she hasn't really gotten to play around with it in months."

"Quit picking on me." Our cute little Water Mage stamps her foot. "You two have been such meanies ever since we got to the Capital."

"Aww, but it's so fun seeing your cheeks flame up like that." I levitate the bags off my arms so I can reach up and pinch her cheeks. Before turning my head and looking down the street. "Didn't expect to run into her so soon."

"Who?" Amelia snatches onto any chance to change the topic. "Oh, it's Abby. Hey, Abigail! Over here." She frees herself from my assault and starts waving to the potential Fire Mage.

The young brunette's head snaps up when she hears someone calling her name. Her eyes widen when she realizes who we are. Not exactly hard to do, what with my blood red hair, and Amelia's shining golden locks. There's also a dozen bags floating in mid-air besides us that might help clue her in.