Wedding Preparations

  Gabriella sat in her office in Provent, signing papers and stacking them up for Alfons to take. Now that the war was over, she had made him her Magistrate, and he in turn had been handing her a never ending stack of work to do. Most of it was important, like distributing food and suuplies, and overseeing rebuilding work.

  Of course, they had the funds for none of it. Provent had not been well-off for a while, and despite getting their previous land back, they didn't suddenly get the money they had lost. They had gotten funds from Navar as reparations, but that had been blown through in a month for reconstruction projects. Now, they were basically reliant on Mac to bankroll everything until they could actually try and collect taxes again. He had said it would be fine (at least short-term) but she was worried about putting too much weight on him, so they were trying to scrape together what they could themselves.

  Suddenly Alfons appeared, knocking on the door (which stood open). “My highness,” he said with a bow. Alfons always was one for proprieties.

  Gabriella sighed, “Sorry, I'm not done yet.”

  Alfons shook his head, “No, I did not expect you to be. I just have two letters for you.”

  “Two?” she said, taking them. The first one had the seal of Ositania on it, and she quickly sliced it open.

  Gabriella,

  Elana was born last full moon. She and Eleanor are healthy. See you soon.

  Mac

  Gabriella smiled at the short letter. Phew. Child-birth was always came with risks, even at the best of times, and with the best midwifes. “Well, lets send a return letter with our congratulations. Granted, I might beat it to Pearie, but regardless.”

  Alfons shook his head, “The letter courier is actually here to take you.”

  Gabriella was confused. “What do you mean? Do they not trust my own carriage?”

  Aflons shook his head. “No, it's that noisy, fast carriage.”

  Gabriella blushed, He sent that to come get me? He must want me there as soon as possible. She and Mac's wedding was in about ten days. She had been planning to leave the next day, which would give her time to travel to Pearie, a day of rest, then time to travel to their wedding spot. If Mac had sent the 'steam carriage' as he called it to pick her up, that helped the timeline considerably.

  Alfons coughed.

  Gabriella blushed more, “Sorry...”

  Alfons shook his head. “I don't mind if you want to daydream about your future husband, as long as it's after you've completed all the work I gave you. But you should also open the other letter.”

  Gabriella's breath caught as she saw the other letter. It had the symbol of Provent on it, but with the border of their branch family (or what had been a branch family, since with her ascension it was now the main line). Only three people alive could use that symbol, herself, her mother, and her younger sister, Georgina.

  She quickly opened it, and recognized her mother's handwriting.

  Gabs,

  I am glad to here you are safe and sound. Your sister and I escaped with the rest of the royal family, but word has reached us that the war is over, and about your wedding. We plan to attend.

  Mother

  P.S. Does your husband have any councilors looking for a wife? Georgina will be of age in two years.

  Gabriella stared at the letter, a mix of emotions washing through her. She's fine with uncle sending me off to be a foreign King's plaything, but now that we're getting married she wants to come and be involved. She had half a mind to deny her attendance, but truthfully she wanted to see her younger sister again, since it had been quite a while, even several months before she had gone to Ositania.

  “Do you want me to stop them? I didn't say anything, as you commanded, but I'm assuming they just eventually got word.”

  Gabriella sighed. “No, just let them come. I'll be happy to see Georgina, at least.”

  The next morning, Gabriella went down to the front of the palace to leave, and saw her maids were packing a couple of her chests on the back of the carriage. That looks a bit different...

  Alfons was talking with a man, who gave a deep bow as Gabriella got close.

  Gabriella nodded. “Good to meet you. I don't think we've met?”

  The man stood up and laughed heartily, stroking his beard. “Haha, no. I'm Benjamin, the driver for this new-fangled carriage. They needed someone strong to drive and use the break, so I was conscripted when this one was finished.”

  Suddenly the carriage door opened. A deerkin girl in a dress jumped out of the carriage and, seeing Gabriella, leapt down to hug her. “Gabriella!”

  Gabriella was confused, then had a realization. “You're...Fawna, right?”

  Fawna smiled and shook her head. “Yup! We haven't formally met, but I'm excited to get to know you.”

  Alfons bowed, “You are one of Mac's Queens, correct?”

  Fawna shook her head. “No, we're still just engaged, I have to wait my turn.”

  Alfons nodded, before looking at the carriage. “This moves fast, correct? So must the maids and guards sit inside, too? How will you fit everyone?”

  Fawna blushed, “Um, we can take up to six people, if everyone squeezes in.”

  Alfons thought for a moment, then went to a maid. “Miriam, will you be fine to get our people to the wedding site?”

  Miriam, the Provental royal's head maid, nodded. “Yes, we are mostly ready anyway, it's just a matter of packing the wagons and heading there.”

  Alfons nodded, then got in the carriage.

  “But I need you here to manage things!” Gabriella said.

  Alfons sighed. “It will be fine for a bit. Besides, if we're going to be joining Ositania, I need to meet the people I'll be working with.”

  Gabriella looked at Miriam, who smiled. “We'll be fine, sweetie. Now go see your future husband.”

  Gabriella smiled and hugged her, then got in the carriage.

  Miriam looked around. “Estelle, you're going with the Queen. Make sure you get along with the Ositanian maids.”

  “Don't worry, they're all really nice!” Fawna assured her, before going into the carriage after Estelle.

  Once inside, Fawna explained, “I'd recommended holding the handles until you get used to it.”

  They all nodded, and followed suit. The carriage slowly started moving, going slowly as it wound it's way through Marsae. Once they were out, however, Benjamin let off the brake, and they began going quicker and quicker.

  “Is this safe?” Alfons asked, a bit exasperated.

  Fawna nodded. “Yeah. We only went off the road twice on the way here.”

  “Twice!?” Estelle squeaked, grabbing the handle harder.

  “Don't worry, he knows the roads now so it shouldn't happen again. Probably.”

  Work Distractions

  Mac yawned as he flipped through the papers he was working on one morning. He hadn't been getting a ton of sleep lately, what with the aftermath of the war, beginning to integrate both Provent and the territory around Valien, and his free time being taken up by his women and kids. He had actually just come back from taking a break at the nursery, and his thoughts were distracted. I wish I could spend all my time there, but I need to make sure they can live comfortably, he thought and sighed.

  He started stamping through a stack papers from Emma. While they had been trying to control the cost of food, unfortunately the war had caused it to spike as they'd had to divert food to armies, and send some to Provent since a portion of theirs had been destroyed in the war. And, of course, they were now responsible for the people of Valien as well. A surprising number of people had left the city. He had assumed maybe 10% would leave, but it was closer to 30% who had left to stay inside Navar. A large percentage of them were slave owners, and many of the people who remained were freed slaves who were thankful for their new-found freedom.

  As he was halfway through the pile, the door opened, and Melissandra came in. That's weird, she usually knocks.

  Melissandra had a big smile on her face, as she came up and hugged him from behind, squishing her breasts into his back.

  Mac grabbed her arm. “What's up? Just dropping by?”

  Melissandra pulled him up, whispering into his ear. “Tillie said I'm fully healed.”

  Mac gulped a bit. “That's good, so-”

  He wasn't able to reason with her, as Melissandra started making out with him.

  Mac wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as they kissed.

  Melissandra pulled away. “Sorry, I can't wait until my next night,” she said, pulling off her dress.

  “You wanna do it here?”

  “Yes, I know you've done it in here before.”

  Mac sighed, knowing that was true. Melissandra piled up her clothes, then helped him undress quicker. She then pulled him onto the couch, grabbing his hands and putting them on her breasts.

  “Are you sure?”

  Melissandra kissed him again. “It's fine.” Mac gently squeezed, causing Melissandra to blush. “I guess they're still sensitive.”

  Mac slowly slid himself into her, causing Melissandra to grimace a bit. “You sure you're okay?”

  Melissandra nodded. “I told you, it's fine!” she said, holding up her arms.

  Mac got close and they embraced, and he started thrusting into her. They kissed as their nethers kept slapping into each other with every thrust, until Mac felt himself boiling up. Melissandra was already climaxing, so Mac held her tight and released into her.

  Melissandra teared up a bit.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked, kissing her again.

  Melissandra smiled, “I missed being connected with you so much,” and kissed him back.

  After they had caught their breath, they laid on the couch embracing each other.

  “You're still fine waiting for more children, right?” Melissandra wanted to confirm.

  Mac nodded, “I definitely want more with you, but it's not like we aren't drowning in heirs already.”

  Melissandra giggled, snuggling into him. “I didn't get enough of you before I got pregnant last time.”

  Down in the yard, Eleanor was sitting on a bench with Elana in her arms. Sitting next to her was Lord Cartegna, who kept making silly faces at Elana, causing her to giggle.

  “You're so cute,” he said, gently poking her cheek.

  Eleanor giggled, “I'm glad you could come visit.”

  “Well, I'm going to be taking a bit of a vacation soon, and I just had to come see my little grandchild,” he said making another funny face at Elana.

  “With Lady Lorraine?” Eleanor said with a smile.

  Lord Cartegna blushed. “Ah, yes. Eleanor, you wouldn't be-”

  Eleanor shook his head. “Of course not, father. I'm sure mother would want you to be happy, too.”

  Lord Cartegna wrapped an arm around her and smiled.

  Felicia was in the nursery, currently feeding Freesia. Kay, who was due in just a couple months now, was rocking next to her.

  “Does that hurt?” Kay asked.

  Felicia shook her head. “No, though it makes it a bit sore if you don't switch occasionally,” she explained, deciding to swap then as a point.

  Kay felt her own breasts. “Mine definitely got bigger, hopefully Mac doesn't mind.”

  Felicia giggled, “You think he'll be upset if they're bigger?”

  “Yeah! I was pretty flat before, but I've gone up a whole size!” Kay pouted. “My small chest was part of my charm, he even said so.”

  Felicia shrugged, “Something tells me he'll still be all over you.”

  Emma and Marie were currently sitting in Marie's office.

  “I know you need the money, but you can't just take it out of your own funds, that's not how it works,” Marie explained, drawing an 'X' through the plan Emma had given her. It had to do with encouraging more merchants to transport food. They main way of incentivizing this was, unsurprisingly, money.

  “But it's my money, why can't I?” Emma asked, pushing back.

  Marie sighed, “Your Arpitan funds need to stay in Arpitan. Don't you need to pay all the people farming your land?”

  Emma nodded, “I am! This is left over money.” The former Lord Arpitan had owned a large part of the land in his area, but most of it sat fallow. So, Emma had basically hired any unemployed person in her town to start farming it, with the first harvest due that spring.

  Marie shook her head again. “Mac was very clear, we're only to use royal funds for our initiatives. He's already given money to you before, hasn't he?”

  “Yes, but I've already asked him seven times!”

  Marie smirked, “You really think your husband will decide the eighth time is too much?”

  Emma blushed, “Probably not...”

  Marie leaned back, holding her stomach. “I get it, I feel bad sometimes too, but we can't cut corners with these things. Believe me, you'll need the money eventually.”

  Emma also leaned back, holding her (somewhat smaller still) stomach.

  Marie smiled, “You been feeling better?”

  Emma nodded, “Yeah. I feel like I'm cheating a bit, since the other girls already went through this, and I can just ask them if anything is wrong and they have the answer.”

  Marie giggled, “Yeah, I feel weird asking Mel for advice, but she hasn't steered me wrong yet.”

  Daisy watched as the small team of dwarfs she had been leading were lifting up a new engine onto a carriage. This was the third one they had built, but the first time they had also had the carriage designed around the steam engine, instead of just modifying an existing one. “Hey, don't drop it!”

  “Eh, shut yer trap, we're being careful!” one of the dwarves yelled back.

  “Brick, you idiot, you can't talk to yer Queen that way!” said a gray-bearded one.

  Daisy just laughed, “Haha, I forget that some times.” It still felt a bit surreal to Daisy, maybe because of everything that had transpired since the wedding. Daisy put down the diagram, and went over to help grab the rope they were using to lower it in.

  The gray-bearded dwarf scolded her, “Queen, you can't be helpin' us!”

  “Haha, shut your trap Rammen. Just cause I'm Queen now doesn't mean I ain't helping.”

  Rammen shook his head. “What if yer pregnant? We can't be risking the dwarf heir!”

  Daisy laughed, “Haha, I ain't pregnant yet. Not for lack of trying, of course.”

  This got a round of laughter from the other dwarves.

  Eventually the engine was in, and Daisy hopped on to give it a try. The other dwarves shoveled some coal in, and started up the engine. Daisy slowly eased off the break, and the carriage started slowly going forward.

  “How is it?” Rammen asked.

  “Good. Brake's working fine.” She kept going until it was completely off, and the carriage kept going forward. She started driving it down the track they had built around the palace. Handling is good. It seems like it's picking up speed faster. She went around the turn, and the carriage kept picking up speed. This is almost too fast, I'm worried about the brake. She eased onto the brake a bit, cutting into the acceleration. She kept on it slightly, until she had gotten all the way back to the dwarves, and parked it in place.

  “Well?” Rammen asked as Daisy jumped down.

  “It worked too good. I had to keep touchin' the brake on the whole time or it woulda sped out of control.”

  Rammen smiled, stroking his beard. “So we did improve the design. And the tailor-made carriage worked out.”

  Daisy sighed. “Yes, but this thing will be a danger on the roads. You won't be able to stop in time, and if you hit too big of a rock, you're gonna be in some farmers field before you can stop!”

  Rammen nodded, stroking his beard more to think. “What if we made the wheels thicker? It would slow it down some, but also make it less likely to be steered off by a rock.”

  Daisy smiled excitedly. “Lets do it!”

  Charlotte was in a different part of the palace grounds. She was sitting cross-legged (and curled up in a thick coat) while inspecting the ground.

  Saphoa was next to her, hands on her newest invention, waiting for Charlotte to give her the okay.

  “Okay, try it again please,” Charlotte asked.

  Saphoa nodded, and pushed the cart she had. It had a spiked wheel in the middle that would drive a hole in the ground, and a tube behind it, connected to a hopper full of seeds. When the spiked wheel drove it, the gears it was attached too briefly opened a valve, and a seed would slide out. Saphoa pushed for about ten meters, then stopped.

  Charlotte crawled along the path, then sighed. “It's too inconsistent. Sometimes it's missing the hole, sometimes too many are coming out, sometimes none are...”

  Saphoa shook her head, “I am sorry, I will try again.”

  Charlotte blushed, “It's not you, it's the drill. Mac said they used something like this for plantings seeds in his old world, but the drills in his book weren't for seeds, so I'm trying to modify the design...” she trailed off, deep in thought.

  Saphoa nodded, looking at the the drill. “Why are you so focused on this? I saw you have many other designs in your room.”

  Charlotte blushed, “That wasn't my room, that was my lab.”

  “But you have a bed in there...”

  “I know...I sleep in the lab sometimes. Actually most nights, unless I'm with Mac, and I got to wash first...”

  Saphoa grinned, causing Charlotte to blush more.

  “Anyway, I'm focused on this because Mac and Emma were keen on it. If we can farm more efficiently, we'll get more crops, and have less food issues.”

  Saphoa nodded. “That is understandable then. Not that I mind, but why did you need my help?”

  Charlotte blushed again. “I can't push it myself,” she explained. She tried pushing the cart to show her, but she only got through one rotation before running out of breath.

  Saphoa nodded. “I see. Farmers must all be very strong.”

  Charlotte sighed, “They must be.”

  A Full Dining Hall

  The next day, most of the royal family was waiting in the courtyard as a carriage pulled up. When it stopped, the door burst open, and Fawna ran out towards Mac, squishing herself against him.

  Mac laughed, “Haha, I'm glad to see you too.”

  Fawna blushed, “Sorry,” and gave him a kiss.

  Gabriella got out of the carriage, and walked over. “Can I have my kiss too?”

  Fawna blushed more, moving aside.

  Mac smiled at Gabriella, “Glad you could make it.”

  Gabriella ran the last few steps and hugged Mac as well. “I missed you,” she whispered.

  Melissandra, who was standing close behind Mac with Millia in her arms, giggled, having heard.

  Gabriella blushed, then saw the baby in her arms, and rushed over. “Oh my goodness, she's so cute!”

  Mac sighed, “Did you come to see me or the children?”

  Gabriella acted like she was thinking, then laughed and gave Mac a kiss.

  There was a sigh from behind them, and they turned to see Alfons shaking his head.

  Gabriella gave him a stern look. “I haven't seen him in over a month, I can kiss him if I want.”

  Before Alfons could retort, Marie came over. “Are you the Provental Magistrate?”

  Alfons looked at Marie, then at her pregnant belly, then back up at her face. “I am. I presume you are the Magistrate Marie I have heard about, then?”

  Marie gave a smirk. “If you can, come to my office after dinner.”

  Alfons nodded, “Yes, that's why I'm here.”

  The party then went into the palace, and to the royal dining hall. Mac was happy that, for the first time in a while, all of his partners were here.

  Melissandra was talking with Fawna, while Marie seemed to be following their conversation.

  “Fawna, I want you to take over my scheduling and family management responsibilities. Can you-”

  “Okay.”

  Melissandra faltered a bit. “You don't even want me to explain?”

  Fawna shrugged, “If I can be of help, then I'll do it.”

  Marie sighed. “Fawna, make sure you're taking it seriously.”

  On another side, Gabriella and Amiry were catching up.

  “Has everything been good?” Gabriella asked.

  Amiry smiled. “For the most part, though I feel I was spoiled by Mac's attention before, now I only get it every few days,” she said, smirking at Mac.

  “Sorry...” Mac replied.

  Amiry waved her fan. “It's nothing, dear.”

  Gabriella smirked, “'Dear?'”

  Amiry blushed slightly, “What? It's common in my books, and I always wanted to call someone that.”

  Daisy and Charlotte were busy talking on one end, unsurprisingly.

  At the other table, Eleanor and Felicia were talking to Kay and Emma.

  “Ugh, I just want them to be out already,” Kay said.

  Emma nodded, “I'm worried how I'm going to feel once I get that big.”

  Felicia giggled, “You'll be fine. Besides, are you really wanting to be up at all hours feeding?”

  “Isn't that why you're wet-nursing!?” Kay replied.

  Felicia nodded, “Yes, though I can't until two weeks after they're born.”

  Emma sighed, “I should have paid more attention when my mother was explaining this stuff.”

  Eleanor smiled, “That's why all your sisters are here!”

  Across the table, the only one not partaking in a conversation was Rhea, who was eating rolls hurriedly.

  Mac decided to tease her, “You hungry?”

  Rhea blushed, then looked down. “Yeah...I just felt hungry.”

  Mac chuckled and grabbed a roll himself.

  After dinner, Melissandra was helping Gabriella get settled into a room in the royal corridor.

  “Is it really okay to have my own room? I'm only going to be a here a week.”

  Melissandra shook her head, “You'll be coming back, right? You can't very well have kids if you're living in Marsae the whole time.”

  Gabriella blushed. “True. I only plan to go back for a few weeks, then stay here for...well, until I'm with child, at least.”

  Melissandra giggled.

  “In truth...I would like to move here permanently. You all have been so good to me. And that was the original plan anyway, before my Uncle decided to thrust this on me.”

  Melissandra raised an eyebrow. “I would love having you here, but who will run Provent?”

  Gabriella shook her head, “Once Provent is fully integrated into Ositania, I won't need to be there full time. Eleanor and Emma run their estates just fine from here, and you soon will be as well.”

  Melissandra giggled again, “I planned to go there sometimes, at least.”

  After they finished settling her in, they had a maid grab some tea for them, and sat down to drink.

  Melissandra leaned forward, “So? How did things go?”

  Gabriella blushed. “Well, given the circumstances. Maybe because of the circumstances.”

  Melissandra grimaced a bit. “Mac accepted your apology?”

  “Yes, it was basically a non-factor. I think he was glad to have it behind him as well.”

  Melissandra nodded.

  Gabriella smirked, “Well? How have you been?”

  Melissandra blushed now. “Good. Mac and I are able to have sex again, though like I told you, we're not trying for another yet.”

  Gabriella giggled, “And Marie was fine with that?”

  “Yes, though I think only because of how many heirs we have already. Three and three more in the works. Well, that we know of.”

  Gabriella raised an eyebrow. “You mean someone could be hiding it?”

  “Not exactly. Since their races don't get pregnant as easily, Daisy, Charlotte, and Amiry aren't doing regular checkups, so they might be without realizing it.”

  Gabriella nodded. “I see, I remember Amiry mentioning that. What about the others?”

  “Saphoa hasn't yet, though not for lack of trying. Eleanor is also taking contraceptives, like me. And Felicia plans to restart trying once Tillie gives her the okay...” she added, with an exasperated tone.

  Gabriella giggled.

  “I love Millia, and I want more, but I need a break before going through that again.”

  Gabriella nodded. “What about Rhea?”

  “Oh, Rhea should be able to tell once she is, since she can detect children.”

  Gabriella leaned forward. “Really?”

  Melissandra nodded. “She was able to tell I'd have girl when I was only a month pregnant.”

  They continued making small talk into the night, until Melissandra finally took her leave.

  Gabriella got into pajamas and flopped over on the bed. For the first time in months, she felt relaxed enough to drift off to sleep right away.

  Meeting of the Magistrates

  In Marie's office, she and Alfons were sitting across from each other. A maid had brought in two separate kettles of tea.

  Alfons raised an eyebrow. “Are you keeping the good tea for yourself? Or are you only breaking out the good tea for guests?”

  Marie blushed slightly and shook her head. “No, this is tea for pregnant woman. I'm assuming they thought you would rather have regular tea.”

  Alfons nodded, taking a sip. “It's quite good.”

  Marie nodded, “You can thank Mel-, Melissandra. She picks all of our tea.”

  Alfons nodded back. “Before we begin, may I ask something?”

  “Of course, that's what we're here for,” Marie said, before taking another sip.

  “What exactly is going on here?”

  Marie sat down her tea and raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, I don't get what you mean...”

  Alfons sighed. “I spent several weeks around Mac while we were campaigning, and half the time when he mentioned people, I couldn't tell if he was talking about administrators, adjutants, war councilors, or his lovers. But I get here and it turns out they're all one and the same! Even his own Magistrate is pregnant. I'm assuming it's his?”

  Marie's brows furrowed. “Are you speaking ill of Mac?”

  Alfons sighed, “No, I have no qualms with King Mac. He's done more for Provent than it's last two kings did, and if nothing else, I'm glad to see Gabriella happy with him. But is making your wives into your administrators, or your administrators into wives, really a good idea? What happens where there's infighting, does the the country fall apart? Will it grind to a halt if one wife decides she needs to monopolize his time? Or will one sabotage the other to get into his good graces?”

  Marie leaned back and sighed, holding her belly. “I see where you're coming from.”

  Alfons nodded, taking another tea. “I don't mean to speak ill of anyone, but I've worked for a royal family my whole life, I know how these things work.”

  Marie nodded. “I want to just say 'we're different', but I understand that's hard to just take my word for.” She opened a drawer, taking out a bound book of ledgers, then opened to a page near the back. “Here.”

  Alfons sat down his tea, turning the book around to read. His eyebrows raised slowly as he kept reading. “This is for the whole country?”

  Marie nodded. “And that's with only having Mac for part of last year. Having Eleanor and later Emma really made a difference.” She then opened a different drawer, sliding out a single piece of paper.

  Alfons read this paper, and his eyebrows raised even higher. “Can this really be true? You have info on almost every noble in the realm to this detail?”

  Marie nodded, “Yes, and that's thanks to one of his wives as well. I'm assuming you saw those steam engines?”

  Alfons nodded. “Yes, and became quite a bit more intimate with them after the ride here...”

  “Two of his wives, the dwarf and the elf you met. And I presume you already know about Saphoa and Amiry, and the value they both bring.”

  Alfons sighed, “Okay, okay,” he said, sounding a bit defeated. “I wasn't denying the skill or capability of the women he consorts with. But this doesn't alleviate my concerns.”

  Marie smiled shaking her head and crossing her arms. “That's where Mel comes in. She keeps everyone sorted. Well, and Mac, too. She makes sure everyone gets their turn with him. Myself included.”

  Alfons titled his head a bit. “But you aren't jealous now? When you're pregnant and he doesn't visit you?”

  Marie blushed. “No...Mac still visits us. It's my turn tonight, in fact.”

  Alfons was taken aback. “But your-...”

  Feeling a sense of embarrassment, Marie cut in. “We aren't doing anything, just sleeping in bed together.”

  Alfons blinked a couple times, then leaned back into his chair, scratching his chin.

  Marie just let the silence sit, taking another sip of tea.

  After a minute, Alfons said, “Could we adjourn for the night? I feel I need to think on this some more.”

  Marie nodded. “Of course.”

  Alfons finished his tea, sat it down, and acted like the had something to say. After a few moments, he said, “I apologize if I offended earlier, I-”

  Marie shook her head, holding up a hand. “It's fine, there's nothing to apologize for. I know you just want what's best for Provent.”

  Alfons sighed, standing up. “It is no longer just Provent I must worry about.”

  Marie smiled and nodded. “By the way, Alfons, do you have a wife?”

  Alfons shook his head. “No. I had a couple arrangements made when I was younger, but the woman didn't like me, and I wasn't fond of them, either. Since then, I've dedicated myself to serving Provent.”

  Marie nodded. “I see.” As Alfons opened the door, Marie asked, “Not to pry too much, but why were you not fond of them?”

  Alfons paused, then turned back to face her, running his thumb and index finger over his mustache, a face made as if reminiscing. “My mother always made the best dinners when I was growing up, and I would enjoy helping her sometimes...not that I could ever make anything half as good.”

  Marie giggled. “So you wanted someone you could cook with?”

  Alfons nodded. “The response was always 'that's work for servants'. But that's not the point, making food for yourself is good as well. Besides, you can't always be relying on servants.”

  “I can see why they failed, then.”

  Alfons cracked a smile, taking Marie by surprise. “Maybe I'll have more luck in Ositania.”

  Another Nighttime Visit

  While the others had all been talking, Mac was walking up the stairs of the main area of the palace, treading the familiar path to Lucia's room again. Despite what he had told her, she had been spending much of her time cooped up in her room.

  A maid was following behind him, holding a tray with a steaming hot kettle and two cups.

  When they reached the door, Mac knocked, then waited.

  After a couple moments, the door opened, and Lucia appeared, wearing a yellow nightgown. “Do you need something?”

  Mac smiled. “I was hoping we could talk over some tea before bed.”

  Lucia looked at the maid, then nodded, walking away from the door. She had an overturned book on her bed, which she put a bookmark in and set on her nightstand.

  Trying to get the conversation started on a good footing, as he sat down at her tea table, he asked, “Do you read a lot?”

  Lucia sat down and nodded. “Yes.”

  ...Okay... “What do you read?”

  Lucia watched as the maid poured their tea, took a sip, then answered. “A bit of everything.”

  Mac held back a sigh, nodding and smiling at the maid before taking a sip himself.

  Lucia seemed to be watching him, as if observing an animal in a zoo, curious what their next action might be.

  Mac decided to also play the silent treatment as well. He had been hoping that bringing some tea along this time might help get her more engaged in conversation, but so far it seemed to have the opposite effect.

  However, after the maid took her leave, Lucia asked. “Do you read as well?”

  Mac stopped himself from continuing the conversation right away, taking a page from her book and taking a sip before answering. “Yes, though not as much as I use too. I was more of a reader before I came here.”

  Lucia nodded. “From the Otherworld, you mean?”

  Mac was surprised at the quick response. Is she curious about my old world? Maybe I can use that... “Yes. Before I became King here, I had much more time to read. I also had to read a lot for classes, although that wasn't enjoyable.”

  Lucia raised an eyebrow. “So you're educated?”

  Mac nodded. “I am, in Otherworlder terms.” Mac knew from conversations with Melissandra and Marie that the education he received had far surpassed the schooling most nobles get, let alone commoners. That's not to say people like Eleanor and Emma weren't intelligent, just that the schooling here was a lot more specific to the world they lived in.

  Lucia nodded back, before taking another sip.

  Mac thought for a bit, then asked, “Are you interested in my-..., the Otherworld?”

  Lucia's lips seemed to purse.

  I think I got a hook.

  Lucia went to take another drink, but realized after she had tried that it was empty. Mac grabbed the kettle and poured her some more. As he was pouring, she replied. “A bit. My ancestors a few generations back are from the Otherworld. Granduncle even has a few memories from his childhood of the one who had been summoned, telling him stories from before he was here.”

  Mac nodded. Now I really want to talk to him. I wonder if he knows when and where his ancestor came from in my old world? Well, assuming it's my old world. “What do you want to know?”

  Lucia took another drink. “What kind of advanced technology do you have? More stuff like your 'steam engines'?”

  Well, that's like two-hundred years out of date. What's something that would blow her mind... “We had something we called planes. They were basically like giant metal carriages. They were huge, you could fit hundreds of people in one, and they flew through the sky.”

  Lucia raised an eyebrow. “Flew through the sky? Like a bird?”

  “Sort of, but the wings didn't flap. And they flew really high, even over mountains. And extremely fast, we could get from here to Navar in an hour.”

  Lucia shook her head. “That's almost hard to believe, but I guess with Otherworlder technology anything is possible.”

  They chatted for a bit longer, with Mac explaining mundane things he knew from experience enchanted people of this world, like toasters, computers, and cell phones. He didn't mention he technically had one in his room, since it wasn't much use anyway.

  After they hit another lull, Mac decided it was time to leave.

  “Well, thanks for chatting with me.”

  Lucia nodded. He thought she seemed a bit put off by him leaving, but it was hard to tell. Maybe she actually enjoyed our conversation this time? “By the way, if you run out of books, you're welcome to request some from Marie from our library. Oh, Amiry has a lot of books, too.” She got an entire bookshelf installed in her room, after all...

  Books in this world were fairly expensive, as there was no printing press (something Mac wished he'd had in one of this books, but sadly was not) so all books were handwritten.

  Lucia seemed a bit surprised, but nodded. “I may take you up on that.”

  Mac left and went to Marie's room. She was sitting at her tea table, looking over some papers.

  “What did I say about working during out time together?” Mac said, hugging her from behind.

  “Oh, shut it, you weren't even here,” Marie replied, but blushed and put the papers down, standing up to kiss him.

  “Do you want to bathe?” Mac asked.

  Marie sighed, “Can we just cuddle and go to sleep?”

  Mac held her tight, “Of course.”

  They got onto the bed, and commenced with cuddling.

  “Did everything go okay with Lucia?”

  Mac decided not to insist on talking about it later, knowing Marie was probably worried. “Yes, more so than usual. She seemed to be interested in Otherworlder topics. And books.”

  Marie made a thinking face, “Okay. We might be able to use that to our advantage.”

  Mac waited to see if Marie would have anything else, but she eventually closed her eyes and laid against his shoulder.

  Mac wrapped an arm over her belly and pulled her close.

  Marie smiled, “Thanks for being with me,” and cuddled closer.

  Mac kissed her forehead (the closet part to his face). “I should say the same.”

  Wedding on a Bridge

  The week until Mac and Gabriella's wedding was a whirlwind of activity at the palace. Due to the time and resources devoted to the war recovery, they'd only really had the last two weeks to finalize all the plans and start preparing the the ceremony and reception.

  Mac and Gabriella hadn't made it easier, either, by their choice of venue. Normally, since Ositania would be subsuming Provent (if in name only until it was properly integrated) the wedding should be held at the Ositanian palace. However, Mac had wanted to try and 'tie' the countries together better, and when they had first been discussing it, he had jokingly thrown out having the ceremony on the stone bridge that connected Ositania and Provent, where Mac and Gabriella also had first met. Gabriella (and the other girls for that matter) had loved the idea, though, so that was what they were going with.

  Due to this, the supplies were being wagoned down to the bridge over the course of the week. The reception would be held just inside Ositania, in a flat area near the river.

  Two days before the wedding, the group assembled in the Royal carriage. All the royal family was attending, except Felicia, who was staying behind with the children, and Kay, who was due in a month and mostly on bedrest.

  Even despite those two not coming, the royal carriage was quite full. When Mac entered, he could see Marie, Eleanor, and Emma were sitting around the tea table, drinking and talking (probably about some kingdom related matter). Melissandra and Gabriella (who seemed to have become good friends at this point) were brushing each other's hair on the bed. Rhea was lounging behind them, seeming to be dozing off. Amiry (who Mac had bribed to stay in the carriage with them by giving extra attention to the prior week) was in a corner, reading. In another corner, Charlotte and Daisy were talking. However, instead of going over some invention, they seemed to be whispering in hushed tones.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “What is the matter?” he heard behind him, only to feel two arms wrap around him.

  The only unaccounted for one was Saphoa, who was behind him, and now holding him.

  Mac turned around and gave her a slight kiss. “Nothing, just making sure we didn't forget anyone.”

  Saphoa chuckled, “Haha, I guess with our family that is a possibility.”

  Mac nodded, then had a realization. “Wait, where's Fawna!?” he half-shouted, looking around.

  Suddenly through the door came Fawna, who was blushing heavily. “Did you say my name?”

  Mac let out a slight sigh of relief. “Sorry, I was just worried since you weren't here.”

  Fawna blushed even more, “No, I'm sorry, I was busy with something.”

  Mac gave her a hug and pulled her in so the door could close, and the royal carriage started rumbling down the path out of the palace.

  While they were traveling, the carriage was fairly lively with conversation. Since Mac had returned from the war, the air around the palace had been even happier than normal, and while there would be some difficulties in recovering, everyone was looking forward to what the future would bring.

  Mac, while also looking forward to the future, also couldn't suppress sense of foreboding. It kept popping up now and then, and he kept pushing it back down. He thought maybe it was from constantly being on edge during the Navarran invasion, and he kept having to tell himself it was over.

  Shaking his head, he pushed the feeling down again and looked around. Things had quieted down a bit in the afternoon after they had stopped for lunch, with several of the girls napping on the bed in an odd formation.

  Amiry was the only one alone, still in the corner reading, so Mac went over and sat down on the floor next to her.

  She smirked when he sat down, but kept reading. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “What? I can't sit next to my favorite concubine?”

  This managed to elicit a giggle from Amiry. She closed her book and turned to him. “Is this about Lucia?”

  Mac was slightly taken aback. “No, I really just wanted to sit next to you.”

  Amiry blushed slightly, but shook her head. “We should talk about Lucia anyway.”

  Mac nodded. “Did she borrow some of your books?”

  Amiry nodded. “She sent word through a maid. Since she can't come to the inner palace...well, she could...”

  Mac shook his head, “She is still very anti-Mac. Unless I'm talking about 'the Otherworld'.”

  Amiry giggled, “Yes, that doesn't surprise me. But are you sure she's anti-Mac? She borrowed a couple of my romance books that involve a princess falling in love with an Otherworlder.”

  Mac sighed, “I don't think it's that easy...”

  “I think some of your wives would beg to differ, but I digress...Since she couldn't or wouldn't come to me, I brought a couple dozen to her and gave her some to borrow.”

  Mac nodded, “I'm glad you two got along, at least. I'm guess you have something more to tell me than just you giving her some smut, though.”

  Amiry nodded, taking out her fan and unfolding it with a snap, going into the normal Amiry mode he was use to. “You're correct. While I was in there, I noticed a stack of letters. I though it was odd she had received so many letters in such a short amount of time, so I looked closer while she was busy perusing my books. It was a bit hard to tell upside down, but I believe they were letters she had written.”

  Mac sat and processed the info for a moment. “So...she had a lot of letters to send?”

  Amiry nodded. “What exactly is she doing sending all those letters? You think she's trying to start up an info network in Ositania?” she asked, a bit excited.

  Mac sighed, “I thought you didn't like House politics.”

  Amiry blushed, “I think maybe I just needed to be in a House where I cared a bit more.”

  Mac smiled a bit and kept thinking. He looked up and saw Marie, who predictably was looking over some papers while drinking some tea. She saw Mac look look at her and blushed, mouthing 'What?' over at him. He waved her over, to which she raised an eyebrow, downed the rest of her tea, and slowly got up and came over.

  Mac sat down a cushion for her and helped ease her onto it, garnering a sly smile from Amiry. “I hope you help me that much when I'm pregnant.”

  Mac sighed, “You know I will.”

  Amiry blushed slightly.

  Marie gave a relaxed sighed when she sat down, and then looked at them. “I assume you needed me for something besides to witness your flirting. Not that I'm upset your getting along, of course.”

  Amiry smirked again. “We thought you might want to join in.”

  Mac shook his head. “Can you explain everything to her as well?”

  Amiry retold her observation, to which Marie replied. “That's extremely suspicious. She's only sent two letters to her mother, and received two letters from her mother. And this was three days ago you saw this?”

  Amiry nodded, and Marie held her forehead, adjusting her glasses as she thought.

  Mac broke the silence first. “Is she just...pre-writing letters? Like maybe she doesn't care and wants to get them out of the way, and just sends one every so often?”

  “Hmm...” Marie replied. “I guess that is possible. They seem cordial and on good terms, but both of them write rather generically. And they sometimes use rather stilted grammar for nobles, Navar's royal family must have poor educators.”

  Amiry seemed a bit sad. “Awww, I thought it might be something more interesting.”

  Marie shook her head. “The letters I checked didn't have any real info, but I'm worried something else might be going on.”

  Mac was thinking too. “Maybe we should make copies and see if there are any patterns over time.”

  Marie nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they have code words they are using to pass info.”

  Amiry raised an eyebrow. “Code words?”

  Marie explained. “They're words that denote something else. Like for example, maybe if they mention they had 'mint tea' in their letter, that's code that there is a disagreement going on in the royal family, or mentioning 'the maid was late' means that the Queen is pregnant. You have to know what the codes denote beforehand, though. It's common to use when letters might be intercepted, or you know they're being read.” She thought for a moment, “Maybe I should ask Kay. She doesn't like discussing this often, but I feel like she might know what the codewords are.”

  Amiry raised an eyebrow. “Does Kay like to withhold info?”

  Marie and Mac both shook their heads. “Its not that...she just doesn't like info getting stolen or overheard by people who shouldn't. And the easiest way to avoid that is just not telling anyone unless they need to know.”

  The rest of the day passed uneventfully, until they stopped for the night at an inn in the forest. It was actually a newly renovated inn, as the owners had finally been able to return after years away after the bandit subjugation had made it safe to live here again. Mac was glad, and hoped the whole of the southern areas could return to a sense of normalcy eventually. And the same with Provent...

  The royal family ate in the main area while the large contingent of guards set up camp around the inn. While most of the rest were talking, Mac noticed Fawna seemed to be a bit down, barely touching her food. He tried to get her attention, and when he did, she smiled at him, then started eating again as if she hadn't been seeming down.

  Mac raised an eyebrow, but decided not to make a big deal about it in front of everyone.

  Then, night came. As was custom, Mac had his own room the night before the wedding. Despite them having some traveling to do first, the wedding would be taking place in the evening the next day.

  After taking a quick soak in the bath, he got out and laid down on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he took a deep breath and tried to relax.

  Everything is going fine right now. We're getting another wedding done, everyone is happy, the kids are all healthy...

  As he felt his reassurance's taking holding, he then started feeling another sense of anxiety. While much lesser, it was no less bothersome.

  He felt like someone was going to come knock at his door.

  He stared at it for a few moments, but nothing came.

  I guess I'm just use to having someone-

  Suddenly the door swung open, and Rhea ran in. Mac was stunned for a moment, both that someone had burst in, and that Rhea had used the door and not the window as was her norm.

  “Mac, do you feel that?” she asked.

  Mac shook his head, not sure what she meant. He stood up and grabbed her shoulders, as he could see she was shivering. “What's wrong?”

  Rhea shivered a bit more, than seemed to calm down whens she looked at Mac. “I feel something like the Prism Beast again.”

  Mac could feel the color draining from his face, as he also fought not to shiver. “Again? Is there another one?”

  Rhea shook her head. “Whatever it is, it's much more powerful than the Prism Beast, since I can feel it from farther away.”

  “Where is it right now?”

  “I think...to the north. Out somewhere over the sea based on how far it is, but I'm just guessing. But it feels like it's slowly coming towards us,” Rhea explained.

  Mac blinked a few times slowly, trying to think. What is it then? Some sort of sea creature? Or maybe it can fly?

  Rhea was digging into his chest, so he hugged her tight. “Do you think it will get here soon?”

  She seemed to take a deep breath, then acted like she was concentrating. “I think...it would get here in a few days, unless it speeds up,” she explained, then shivered again. “If it's okay, I'm going to try and block it out.”

  Mac nodded. “Yeah. I might need you to try and sense it again in the future though.”

  Rhea nodded. “Is it okay if I sleep here with you tonight?”

  Given the situation, Mac nodded and they cuddled together on the bed. This seemed to relax Rhea, and she eventually drifted off to sleep. Mac, however, couldn't. We can't let this thing just run loose in the country. If it's worse than the Prism Beast, it could be bad.

  Wedding Day – Gabriella

  In the morning, Rhea was already gone when he had woken up. She didn't say anything as they all ate breakfast half asleep, before getting into the carriage again. Gabriella had gone off ahead with her personal attendants already, given she would need more time to get ready for the wedding ceremony.

  Once they were in the carriage and on their way, Mac went up to Rhea. “Do you want to explain to everyone, or should I?”

  Rhea shook her head, even though she seemed uncomfortable, “No, I can.”

  They gathered everyone up, and Rhea explained what she had felt. Maybe because amongst them only she and Mac had actually been there to fight the Prism Beast, they had a range of responses. Fawna seemed unsure what to think. Melissandra seemed worried. And Marie was staring at the floor as if here mind was in overdrive.

  After he let it sink in for a few moments, Mac suggested, “I think we need to immediately go confront whatever this is. If it's exponentially worse than the Prism Beast, we don't have any choice. I think we need to get all the most powerful magic users in the country and take the four steam carriages we have and immediately go up after the wedding.”

  “What about mobilizing troops?” Saphoa responded. “Should not we get our army together to defend?”

  Mac rocked his head a bit as if unsure. “I don't know. We may need to, but I don't want to mobilize our troops when we don't know what we're facing. If this is worse than the Prism Beast, though, I'm not sure how much they'll be able to do.”

  Marie nodded. “I agree.”

  Mac was a bit taken aback. “I'm surprised you agree, especially since that means several of the royal family will be in danger.”

  Marie smiled wryly and shook her head. “This is different. There's no point in keeping our royalty safe if their country gets destroyed in the process.”

  Mac nodded. “With that said, I think I, Gabriella, Amiry, and Saphoa should go up to face it.”

  Saphoa nodded, “Yes, especially if it is some sort of sea monster. There are several Arkantans at the wedding who have magic similar to mine who can come.”

  Marie added. “I will come as well.”

  Mac shook his head. “But you're-”

  Marie shook her head. “My fire might be useful, and I feel fine enough.”

  Eleanor chimed in, “I should go to, in case I need to use my magic on anyone.”

  Mac nodded. He didn't want to put Eleanor in danger since she couldn't actually fight, but reasonably it made sense.

  “I'll go too,” Melissandra added.

  “Are you sure? I know you can use your ice magic, but-”

  Melissandra smiled a bit deviously, a face she didn't make often. “My magic can be quite powerful if I'm angry.”

  Mac decided just to nod, not wanting to test it.

  After that, the mood was a bit downcast until they arrived. Everyone tried to push it out of their minds, though, and went about their tasks as they got out.

  Separate tents had been set up for everyone to dress and get ready in. Mac had his own, where Kylie was waiting inside to help him dress into his regalia for the wedding.

  “Shouldn't you be with La Hire?” Mac asked, giving her a smile.

  Kylie giggled, “Nyahaha, Mazzy is with him. Besides, since you aren't doing the best man and maid of honor this time, he doesn't need to prepare for anything.”

  After slipping the Prism Beast cape over him, she gave another giggle, “Now you look like a King.”

  “I am the King!” Mac replied, playing the straight man and chuckling.

  Kylie took her leave with a curtsy, then Mac waited, drinking some water as he stewed with his own thoughts.

  He didn't have to wait long, though, as Marie came to get him. She had put on a smile, and whispered, “Let's try to enjoy today, at least.”

  Mac put on a smile and nodded, following her out. They walked through the tents, and to the bridge.

  The bridge itself was filled with people. Two chairs had been set up on each side in rows filled with people. Many nobles were not attending (whether due to the recent war, not liking the marriage to a Provental, or just because they couldn't come) so only a few dozen on each side sitting on the bridge. Mac noticed several Arkantans as well, including Lord Pegog, who was still acting as temporary governor of Valien.

  Eventually they reached the middle of the bridge. On the other half were Provental nobles. There was not as many, but still a fair few had turned out, as winning the war and their land back had made Mac popular with some of them, at least.

  In the front row on their side was two women who looked similar to Gabriella. One was older, and the other seemed to be nearer in age, and maybe a bit younger. I'm guessing that's her mother and sister. He nodded at them, and the mother gave a big grin. The younger sister looked down, seemingly embarrassed.

  Suddenly the music changed, and Mac could see Gabriella coming down the far side of the bridge. Alfons was walking her down, stiffly taking one step at a time instead of smoothly walking.

  Gabriella looked gorgeous. Her white dress was flowery and thick, and her golden hair was held back by her silver crown He bodice barely contained her large chest, which Mac tried not to stare at as it slightly jiggled with every step.

  Gabriella beamed at him as they got close. She gave Alfons a hug before taking the last couple steps. She gave a smile to Marie, who smiled back and started the ceremony.

  The wedding ceremony for Provent was mostly identical to the Ositanian one. And while they weren't doing the best man or maid of honor (partly due to the room constraints of the bridge) they did still have rings to put on. Daisy had worked quickly making a ring for Gabriella. It had a large white gem in it (similar to a diamond, but stark white instead of clear). Gabriella then put Mac's on, and they gave each other a kiss. He heard several gasps from the Provent side, who must not have been expecting the display of affection.

  There was no crowning ceremony, since they were both already wearing crowns (Mac was also worried about people getting confused about how their countries were merging if they started putting different crowns on each other), so that was skipped. They walked back together to the Ositanian side, and into a large tent that had been set up for dinner.

  Alfons had worked with Tillie on incorporating a few Provental dishes in the reception menu, mainly a few pasta dishes (wheat was much more common in Provent due to the growing conditions).

  As always, Mac listened in on what his partners were talking about during the dinner...but none of them were really talking all that much. Even Daisy and Charlotte were not chatting in the corner. Probably because of the thing Rhea felt approaching. Marie and Melissandra were talking, but they were talking about Marie's pregnancy.

  “It feels weird asking you advice...” Marie said, blushing a bit.

  Melissandra shook her head, “It's not that weird. Besides, you've helped me out so much, I'm glad I can help you with something.”

  Fawna was seeming a bit down again. Mac tried to get her attention, but she didn't look his way. What's wrong with her? Maybe I should try talking to her later.

  Eventually they finished dinner, and Gabriella and Mac started walking around to talk to guests. Almost immediately, the two women who he assumed were Gabriella's mother and sister came up.

  “Gabs!” the mother said, hugging Gabriella.

  Gabriella didn't hug her back.

  “What's wrong?” her mother asked, taking notice and seeing the dour look on Gabriella's face.

  Gabriella got heated, “You know what's wrong! I got sent off to a foreign country and you barely so much as wrote me! Did you expect me to welcome you back warmly? You and father-” she cut off as mention of her father made her look down. “Even father didn't write me.”

  “Gabs, I'm sorry, but we couldn't do anything. Ferdindand-” she didn't get to expand, as suddenly Lord Pegog was standing in front of her, his arms crossed.

  “I don't know who you are, but making a woman cry on her wedding day isn't acceptable,” he said, looking down at her.

  “Lord Pegog, hold on, that's her mother...” Lord Cartegna said, running over to him.

  “Even worse,” Lord Pegog replied.

  Gabriella's mother seemed half-scared and half-angry, deciding after a few moments to walk away.

  Georgina, who had been silent this whole time, ran up and hugged Gabriella, whispering, “I'm glad to see you safe, sis.”

  Gabriella did hug her back, “Same to you.”

  Georgina then curtsied slightly to Mac, before running off after her mother.

  After that, most people didn't seem to want to talk with them, although Gabriella didn't seem up for talking much either. Mac decided to take charge a bit, suggesting they retire for the evening. Gabriella gave a weak smile and nodded, so they made a show of leaving the reception tent.

  After they left, they were followed by Estelle, Gabriella's maid, to her tent. It was fairly large, especially compared to the smaller ones that they had used during the military campaign, furnished with a resplendent bed with draperies and a large tub.

  Gabriella raised her arms, and Estelle helped take the dress off, leaving Gabriella only in a very thin bra and panties, which he assumed was designed so as to not show underneath the dress. He instinctively looked away.

  Gabriella giggled, “What are you doing? You've seen me in less than this before.”

  This caused Estelle to blush. “My...my lady...”

  Gabriella laughed again. “We'll be fine, you can come back in the morning.”

  Estelle quickly bowed and took the dress out of the tent, before tying the flap shut.

  Gabriella let out a huge sigh, then came over to Mac and hugged him.

  “Are you okay?” Mac asked.

  Gabriella acted like she was trying to squeeze herself into him. “Just hold me.”

  Mac did as asked, hugging her tightly back.

  After a minute, Gabriella let go. “Okay, I feel better now.” She pulled him towards the bath, where they both undressed and got in. The size of the tub meant they both had enough legroom to sit down across from each other and soak.

  “Sorry about that display with my mother, I just...”

  Mac shook his head. “It's fine, I know how you feel. I do think you should try to get along with her, but-”

  “She doesn't care, she's just trying to see how she can use me, and-” she stopped herself. “Sorry.”

  Mac leaned over and hugged her again. “It's okay. I'm here for you. We can deal with it however you want.”

  Gabriella leaned up and kissed him, and they started making out in the the tub. They started touching each other down below, until Gabriella suggested they dry off and get to the bed.

  “But we just got in the tub!” Mac laughed.

  “We can wash off the sweat later,” Gabriella suggested as she pulled him onto the bed.

  Mac got on top of her right away, licking her breasts as he rubbed his member against her opening.

  “Don't tease me, just stick it in,” she giggled.

  Mac did as requested, sliding into her, causing her to let out a loud moan as he hit against her.

  Gabriella held up her arms, so Mac leaned over onto her and they embraced. Mac pistoned his hips to slide in and out as they kissed, muffling her moans as they tried to get louder and louder. After a minute, Gabriella wrestled him around until she was on top. Pushing her hands into his chest, she started sliding herself up and down on his shaft.

  “This feels amazing,” Mac said as he leaned against his elbows.

  A flushed Gabriella smiled. “Are you almost there?”

  Mac nodded, grabbing her hips. He emptied into in several spurts. Gabriella, who was already climaxing on top of him, fell down onto him with a squish.

  The two then lay there embracing each other for a few minutes.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriella asked.

  Mac was taken aback. “What do you mean? I feel pretty great after that.”

  Gabriella giggled. “No, I mean...you seemed like you had something on your mind today.”

  Mac grimaced, “Was it that obvious?”

  Gabriella turned her head to look at him, her chin on his chest. “Were you nervous about the wedding?”

  Mac shook his head. “No, it's...well, I was gonna wait until tomorrow, but I may as well explain...” he said, before relating what he and Rhea had discussed.

  Gabriella was now sitting across from Mac on the bed, her mind thinking. “So you don't know what it is?”

  Mac shook his head. “No, besides that it's much more powerful than the Prism Beast, and it can probably fly.”

  “Do you think we can beat it with magic, like you did with the Prism Beast?”

  Mac shrugged, “I don't know, but that's our best bet. I was hoping we might gather more magic users, but I don't think we have time.”

  Gabriella leaned up against him, so he could wrap his arms around her again. “We'll have to face it together.”

  Mac stroked her hair.

  The two of them lay there in silence, until they eventually fell asleep.

  Meeting a Beast

  The next day, the camp was a flurry of activity in the morning. The other girls hadn't sat around idly. While letting Mac and Gabriella enjoy their night together, they had quickly gathered up who they could.

  The contingent that would be traveling in steam carriages towards the beast was Mac, Melissandra, Marie, Gabriella, Saphoa, Eleanor and Rhea (in small form) in one carriage. The other two had ten magic-using nobles who had volunteered, including Lord Pegog and Lord Cartegna. They had talked with them in secret, so as to not alarm everyone and cause a panic.

  They didn't waste much time, and as soon as Mac and Gabriella were ready, they steamed off and started chugging north.

  “Rhea, I know you-”

  Rhea shook her head. “It's fine.” She grabbed Mac's hand, then closed her eyes, as if concentrating. Her face seemed pained, but she nodded. “It's...a lot closer. It's probably over Ositania now.”

  Mac clenched his other hand.

  Melissandra grabbed his shoulder. “It's okay, we're doing what we can.”

  Mac made a weak smile and nodded. “You're right.”

  The morning went by slowly, as everyone was quiet, lost in their thoughts. They briefly stopped a couple times to refill the steam engines, but otherwise were going as fast as the carriages could go.

  On the second stop, Melissandra passed around hunks of bread. Mac refused his.

  Melissandra shook her head. “You can't fight properly if you're hungry.”

  Mac, knowing she was right, nodded and took it, chomping down on it and forcing himself to eat it.

  Rhea came over. “The flying beast is a lot closer. We're maybe only a couple hours a way.”

  Mac tensed up. “It is coming directly towards us?”

  Rhea nodded worriedly. “It...might be after me.”

  “Do you think it can sense you like you can sense it?”

  Rhea shrugged. “Maybe. It's not something of this world, so I can't say.”

  “Sorry, I forgot...” Mac said, before looking down. He turned to Marie. “Is there an open area around here? Somewhere far away from any towns?”

  Marie thought for a moment. “Yes, if we keep going northwest, it's an open area southwest of the Elven forest that's uncultivated plains.”

  Mac turned to Daisy (who had come along as one of the drivers) who had just finished reloading the engine. Daisy nodded, “Let's get going!”

  They doubled back slightly to take a separate road, and drove for a while longer to the northwest, until Rhea stated in a low voice. “It's getting close.”

  Mac signaled for Daisy to stop, and the three carriages all parked along the side of the road in an empty field.

  As they got out, everyone stood around, mentally preparing themselves. Rhea was clutching Mac. “It's really close. I can feel it's anger,” she said, looking in the distance.

  Mac also did. I wish I had brought my binoculars. Then, remembering her good eyesight, he turned to Amiry.

  Amiry's face was draining of color. “Mac...” she said, pointing her fan. “It...it's a great flying beast. I can see it, glinting in the sun.”

  Mac looked at where she was pointing, squinting his eyes. Slowly but surely, he started to be able to make out it's shape as well.

  It was, unmistakably, a giant red dragon. It's scales were bristling in the sunlight and it had huge, spread out wings that were being held out wide as it glided towards them. Everyone was able to see it now.

  Is this...is it really a dragon? “Do any of you know what Dragons are?”

  Based on the questioning looks, he assumed they did not.

  Marie, however, seemed to clock on. “Is that a creature from the Otherworld?”

  “Yes. Well, sort of. It was in our fantasy stories, but it wasn't real.”

  “What do you know about it?” Gabriella asked.

  Mac started spouting everything he knew. “They have scales, sort of like sea serpents, which are usually very hard to get through. They can obviously fly. They can sometimes breathe fire.”

  “Is that all? Marie asked.

  Mac nodded. “Off the top of my head. Sometimes they could do different things but it depended on the lore and story.”

  They didn't have much time to talk, as the dragon was now visibly close. It was probably close to thirty meters long, if he had to guess.

  “What should we do?” Saphoa asked. She had grabbed her spear, presumably since there was no water to use.

  “You stay with the nobles, have them attack if it gets in range of any of their magic. The rest of you, stay in a tight group with Lord Cartegna.”

  Lord Cartegna raised an eyebrow. “Why me, son? I know I'm the Marshal, but this isn't a traditional battle.”

  Mac shook his head. “I need your wind magic in case it breathes fire at us. Try to shield everyone from it.”

  Lord Cartegna smiled. “I see. I believe I should be able to do that.”

  “What are you doing, Mac?” Melissandra asked.

  “I'm going ahead. I have the longest range, so I'm going to try and take it out first before it gets too close.”

  “I'm coming with you,” Melissandra replied, getting close to him.

  Mac shook her head, giving her a kiss. “I don't want to risk Millia losing both her parents.”

  Melissandra frowned. “You better not even think of dying.”

  Mac was going to reassure her, but he realized he was out of time. Turning around, he sprinted out away from the others a bit, then got into his normal stance. He had fallen down enough times from Magic Fatigue, he knew the best way to stand to maximize his chances of staying upright. Lining himself up, he struck his palm with a fist to help visualize his magic.

  A humongous lightning bolt came down from the sky, striking the dragon. It seemed to have been a direct hit, causing it to lose altitude quickly and letting out a giant roar. However, it seemed to recover after a couple moments, and kept going.

  Mac fell over, his knees buckling as his vision went dark for a split second.

  “Mac!” he heard Melissandra yell. She was already halfway between the main group and him, running over.

  “Mel, watch out...” Mac said as he tried to sit up.

  “Stay down!” Melissandra said as she knelt next to him.

  Mac shook his head. “I'm fine-”

  “No, stay down!” Mel said, pushing him down and squishing him to the ground. He felt a rush of air as the dragon flew directly over them.

  Melissandra stood up, creating a giant spike of ice above her.

  Mac was taken aback. He had seen her use her magic before, but never into something that large. She then shot it at the back of the dragon, hitting it squarely in the back, causing it to roar again as it swayed slightly in the air before recovering again.

  The rest of the group was now flinging their magic, several fireballs and rocks flying at the dragon. Mac even saw a couple of bullets of water, presumably the Arkantans flinging magic from canteens at it. Gabriella used her magic as well, although the dragon's scales seemed to deflect it away.

  The dragon seemed to be getting enraged at the constant attack. It circled around in the air and started flying towards the group. As it approached, a jet of fire streamed from its mouth as it flew over them.

  Lord Cartegna used his magic at full blast, repelling the flame as it went over them, making a visible barrier the flame failed to reach past.

  After the dragon had passed, Lord Cartegna fell to his butt. Eleanor ran to him, using her magic to reinvigorate him.

  “Do you think you can take it out with another bolt?” Melissandra asked as she and Mac got to their feet.

  Mac took a deep breath. “I might be able to. It seems like it did a lot of damage the first time, plus the other spells hopefully wounded it.”

  Melissandra nodded. “Okay, I'll set you up,” she said, starting to throw small ice spikes at it.

  Mac chuckled nervously. “You're putting a lot of faith in me.”

  Melissandra smiled determinedly while continuing to fling ice spikes, “Of course I have faith in my husband.”

  Mac, determined now to not let his wife down, readied himself once more. The dragon had circled and was bearing down on them again, and Mac lined up a shot. This time, instead of striking down, he shot it from his palm, directly at the muzzle of the dragon.

  It seemed to have an instantaneous affect. It writhed slightly and its wings stopped, causing it to rapidly lost altitude before sliding into the ground, before it...disappeared.

  A few of the nobles cheered, as Mac's wives and Lord Cartegna ran over.

  “I never tire of seeing you use that, son!” Lord Cartegna chuckled.

  Mac was barely conscious, but then felt himself enveloped in a blue glow. Eleanor had grabbed him, and was using her magic to remove his Magic Fatigue.

  “Thanks,” Mac said with a smile. “But what happened-”

  Eleanor didn't answer but pulled him in, squishing him into her breasts.

  Rhea, who had been in his pocket the whole time, quickly flew out. “It's not dead! It feels weaker, but the feeling is still there.”

  Mac patted Eleanor to get out. “What happened to the dragon? It looked like it disappeared.”

  “My love, come see this!” Saphoa shouted. She and Lord Pegog had run to where the dragon had fell to the ground.

  The rest of the group quickly ran over. Laying in a dragon-sized divet in the ground was a girl. She was probably about the same stature as Charlotte (though with larger breasts), with long burgundy hair, pointed ears, protruding horns that curved up from her head, and a long, scaly red tail protruding from her lower back, as well as two smaller wings protruding from her upper back, similar to Rhea. She was completely naked as well, with red skin. Based on the nomenclature of this world, he would have said this looked like a red dragonkin girl.

  “What's going on?” Mac asked.

  “Uncle and I thought maybe the dragon had dug into the ground to escape, but when we got here, this was what we found,” Saphoa explained.

  “That's it!” Rhea said. She seemed slightly less scared now, looking down at the girl.

  Everyone stood around, but then Saphoa went over to the girl, seemingly unsure what to do.

  “Saphoa...”

  Saphoa held up a hand as if to signal it was fine, then put a hand on her wrist. “She's not dead, just unconscious. I'm guessing Mac's last attack knocked her out.”

  “So the girl is the dragon?” Melissandra asked.

  The group stood around for a bit, not sure what to do.

  “Should we just kill her?” Saphoa asked.

  “Is she going to turn back into a dragon when she wakes up?” Marie mused.

  Mac felt conflicted. He didn't want the dragon to wake up and attack again, but killing it now felt... Can we even kill it? he pondered.

  “Are you hesitating because it turned into a cute girl?” Melissandra asked, with a slight giggle, though more due to nervousness then due to the joke.

  “No, I....yes, maybe a bit. I'm wondering if we can reason with her. It's not like I particularly want to kill her, I just want to protect Ositania,” Mac explained.

  Melissandra and Eleanor nodded, while Marie sighed and grabbed her forehead.

  Saphoa, seemingly unconcerned with being close to it, was examining her tail and skin. “Hm...I feel a sense of kindred with this creature,” she said.

  Lord Pegog nodded. “If you told me this was just a red sea-serpentkin that grew wings, I would be inclined to believe you.”

  Mac looked at the others. Maybe we can negotiate with it?

  Before he could think more on the topic, the dragon started stirring, before pushing itself up on all fours. She got sight of Mac, then growled, “You! Why did you attack me?”

  The whole group was taken aback. They looked at each other, then back at the girl. Marie thought to reply first, and took charge. “Who are you? And why did you come to Ositania?”

  The dragon turned her piercing gaze and looked at Marie. She seemed to calm a bit, and started explaining, “I am the great red dragon Roa! I don't even know what Ositania is. I was just minding my own business hunting some goats, when I blinked for a moment and was suddenly above the sea.”

  Wait...was she summoned here!? Mac thought, remembering his own experience.

  Roa kept recounting, “I didn't feel a spell, but the magic around me felt...off. The only magic that felt recognizable was this way, so I decided to fly towards it and see if I could figure out what had happened...” she crossed her arms and got noticeably angry again, “and here when I find it, they start attacking me out of nowhere!”

  Mac's stomach dropped. Thinking about it, he realized they had, in fact, attacked Roa first. What was I supposed to do, though? I thought it was another Prism Beast situation. I didn't expect... (he looked at Roa again)...this. After thinking a few moments, Mac decided to try and see if he could salvage the situation. He took a step forward and bowed his head, “Sorry for attacking you, we thought you were here to attack our country.”

  There was a few gasps seeing Mac bow.

  Roa seemed surprised, but replied, “Why would you think I'm attacking your country!? I don't attack human settlements unless they provoke me.”

  Now Rhea came out, “I can sense creatures that aren't from our world. The last time this happened, it was a beast that was attacking settlements.”

  Roa's anger seemed to subside a bit as she started to realize what had happened. “Wait...I'm not from this world? But...I guess that explains the feeling...” she went deep into thought for a moment, before looking at Mac. “Why do you feel the same as me, though? Did you summon me here?”

  Mac shook his head. “I'm also not from this world,” he explained. “And I didn't summon you, or at least I did nothing to try. I don't know the summoning ritual.”

  Roa blinked once, then nodded, before looking down at the ground as if she was deep in thought again.

  Mac turned to Marie. “Is it possible to summon someone without a Summoning Stone?”

  Marie shook her head. “No. Or at least, there shouldn't be. It should require the ritual and the stone. But with this and the Prism Beast, I'm concerned that may be a faulty assumption.”

  Roa walked up to them (still naked, though seemingly unconcerned with that). “Hey, I understand now this was just a mistake, and I'll forgive you since I'm fine. So could you please send me back to my world? And we can forget this ever happened.”

  Mac, Melissandra, and Marie all looked at each other. She's not even hurt by all that!?

  Marie looked at Roa and said, “We don't have a spell that can send someone from this world. However, if it works as normal, you should get sent back to where you came from after about a year.”

  Roa sighed. “A year? Oh well, I hope no one moves into my territory while I'm gone.”

  Mac raised an eyebrow. “You don't seem too upset.”

  Roa looked at him confused, then had a realization. “Oh, I guess a year is long for humans. I'm over seven hundred, so a year isn't that long for me.” She shook her head, “I would like to have a word with whoever summoned me, though. I don't particularly like getting transported from my world against my will.”

  Since the situation had calmed down somewhat, and it looked like they wouldn't be fighting anymore, Mac sent the carriages with the nobles back.

  He, Melissandra, Marie, and Eleanor were huddled together, discussing what exactly they should do.

  “Should we take her with us? If we just keep her calm until the year is over, we should be able to avoid any issues,” Melissandra suggested.

  Marie shook her head. “We don't know if she even will, though. Unless there's a Summoning Stone underwater and some Arkantans who know the summoning ritual, she must have been transported here by some other means.”

  Eleanor smiled, clasping her hands together. “I think she's a wonderful girl, we should just take her in.”

  Marie sighed, “She's very dangerous, though. We don't know what she might do.”

  Mac jumped in, “She was amenable to our apology, though. How many people would be accepting after we had attacked her like that?”

  Melissandra added, “We should probably keep an eye on her anyway, as Mac might be the only one who can do anything to her.”

  Marie sighed again, then nodded. “You're probably right.”

  Behind them, Roa and Saphoa were examining each other.

  “You seem similar. Are you a dragon of this world? You don't seem to have the same magic, though,” Roa asked.

  Saphoa shook her head. “No, I am of the sea-serpentkin race. We are descendants of the great Sea Serpent's of the ocean.”

  Roa nodded. “I see.”

  “I have never met another race so similar. Would you be considered a 'dragonkin' then?” Saphoa asked.

  Roa crossed her arms. “I don't know what that is, I'm just a normal dragon.”

  “Why are you in this form, then?”

  “When that person used his lightning magic on me, it knocked me out briefly and I changed shape,” Roa explained.

  “Wouldn't that mean this is your normal form?” Saphoa asked.

  Roa got slightly angry, blushing a bit, “What? No! I'm a dragon!” she said, before starting to glow and growing large into her dragon form again.

  Everyone was taken aback, not sure what to do.

  “Sorry, I did not mean to offend, I was just curious about someone who I felt as kindred to me,” Saphoa explained while looking up at her, seeming unafraid of Roa.

  Roa glowed again and went back to her human form, crossing her arms. “It's...fine. As long as you understand.”

  Seeing that whatever the problem was seemed to be resolved, Mac went over to them. “Roa, we'd like to offer you a room at our palace while you're here in our world. You can stay for however long until the summoning magic sends you back.”

  Roa seemed interested but shook her head. “I appreciate the hospitality, but I'd much rather roam free.”

  Mac grimaced a bit. “Um...to be blunt, dragons don't exist in this world, so it would create a bit of an issue if you were flying around everywhere. And I'd rather we co-existed peacefully.”

  Roa considered his words for a moment, then nodded. “I agree. But there's still the matter of who summoned me. Even if they won't or can't send me back, I'd like to have some matter of revenge on them.”

  Mac nodded. “If it's the same person who summoned the Beast that attacked us last year, then we'd also like to find them. We'd be much better off working together.”

  Roa considered his words, then nodded again. “Understood. I will take you up on your offer, then.”

  The group decided they would squeeze her in the carriage, and gave her a cloak to wrap herself in.

  The trip back to the palace was uncomfortably quiet. No one knew what to say with Roa in their midst, and Roa herself was quiet, just looking out the window most of the time as if taking in the scenery.

  Once they were back at the palace, she had Kylie set up a room for her. Roa continued to be quiet, following to her room.

  Mac, Marie, and Melissandra huddled together as they watched Roa watch off, seemingly interested in the architecture of the palace as she looked around.

  “What do we do now? Just keep her happy?” Marie asked.

  Mac shrugged, “I guess so. If she really can help us get rid of whoever is doing these rogue summons, that would be a boon.”

  “And I'd rather have her on our side than...not,” Melissandra added, shivering slightly.

  Marie nodded. “Hopefully we don't have any problems.”

  Since it was late, Mac started walking back to his room to bathe and get some new clothes on before figuring out what (or who) needed his attention. However, as he was about to reach his door, he felt someone hug him from behind, smashing their breasts into his back.

  “Mac!”

  Recognizing the voice, he turned around to see Fawna. Unlike before the wedding, she was smiling. “Are you alright?”

  Fawna blushed. “Yes...I just hated having to keep quiet.”

  “Keep quiet?” Mac asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yes, I know it's not proper to give announcements during other people's special times, but now it's over, I can tell you I'm pregnant!” she said, hugging him again.

  Mac smiled and hugged her back. “That's wonderful!”

  Fawna snuggled into him. “I'm so happy...our kids will be so cute. I can't wait.”

  Mac gave her a kiss. “Me neither.”

  First Minister Meeting

  For the two weeks after Gabriella's wedding, the palace was again abuzz with activity. Rumors had spread about Roa, mainly because Roa herself would randomly walk around the palace and grounds, as she seemed to not like being cooped up. However, when she did decide to go back to her room, she would sometimes sleep upwards of a day or two. She also ate exclusively meat, at first requesting raw meat, although Tillie had convinced her of the benefits of eating cooked meat with some of her recipes. They had told everyone in the palace she was a rare species of beastkin (although Mac wasn't sure how that would hold up if she decided she wanted to go back to her dragon form).

  Mac had decided not to focus on her for the time being though (partly because there wasn't much to do, and partly because he felt better not doing so), instead finalizing his government-running plans, prepping everyone on what he wanted them to do in preparation for their first 'official' meeting.

  Today, finally, was that day. After lunch, the group gathered in the antechamber behind the throne room Marie had taken him to the first day he was summoned, Mac thinking it was fitting to turn this into their main meeting room.

  Mac smiled as everything filtered in, some with stacks of papers, and serious looks on everyone's faces, contrasting with the jovial tones he had just seen at lunch.

  After everyone had sat down, Mac stood up. “Thanks everyone for coming. Welcome to the first minister meeting of Ositania.”

  Everyone was quiet, until Emma and Eleanor started clapping, and the others belatedly followed suit.

  Mac blushed slightly. “Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so formal...”

  Marie shook her head. “This is supposed to be serious, right? We're all taking it seriously.”

  Mac nodded. “Thanks. So...we're doing this to help us run Ositania more efficiently, delegating out tasks officially, and meeting to go over plans and make sure everyone is working towards the same goals. Some of you have already been doing this for a while, but now there's enough of us I want to have regular meetings to keep everyone informed on what we're working on, and others can chime in and offer advice or help if necessary.”

  Everyone nodded.

  Mac nodded back. “Okay. I'll explain more as we go, but first I want everyone to talk about what they're in charge of.” He turned to his left, “Emma can you go first?”

  Emma smiled and shot up to her feet. “I'm the Minister of Agriculture. I will, well I already have been, but I'm in charge of food supplies, trade, farming, and anything else involved with that.”

  Marie added with a smirk, “You've been helping a lot. Especially keeping food supplies going during the war.”

  Emma blushed slightly. “I already knew a lot about crops and trading since I worked on a farm, so it was easier for me to pick up.”

  Down the table, Gabriella leaned forward and looked at Emma. “Wait a moment, Emma is...was...a commoner?”

  Mac raised an eyebrow, not expecting Gabriella to have a problem with that. “Is there an issue with that?”

  Gabriella shook her head. “No, more so I'm just impressed with the way she carries herself, I would never have guessed she worked on a farm.”

  Emma giggled, “I used to be a lot more tanned.”

  Mac smiled, “Do you have anything to report?”

  Emma shook her head. “Nothing new. We're recovering from the war and influx of new residents from Silaro, but otherwise we should be smooth sailing until the next harvest.”

  “What about he food trade with Arkanta?” Mac asked.

  Emma shifted to a different paper. “We aren't buying much right now, since we don't need to fill any shortfalls, but like you suggested we are getting some anyway so that the infrastructure is there in case of an emergency.”

  Mac nodded. “Thanks Emma.”

  Emma smiled and sat down.

  Eleanor stood up (presumably because she was sitting next to Emma and assumed they were going in order). “I'm the Minister of Finance. My job is to make as much money as possible.”

  Mac facepalmed. “That's technically true, but you do more than that.”

  Eleanor nodded. “I also manage all the money and assets of the palace and country.” She grabbed her papers. “The war took a chunk from our budget, but we're still above last year in treasury with all the carriage pre-orders we've received from the noble houses. For other matters, he gold-buying scheme is going well, we've accrued almost a hundred bars.”

  Mac nodded. “Is there a standard for bars?”

  “Yes, I think it came from the dwarves since that's how they sell gold.”

  “Okay, make sure all of our bars adhere to that standard, melt down any gold we get that's not and form it into them.”

  Eleanor nodded and made a note. “I'll see if Daisy or one of her crew can cast them. That's all I have for now.”

  Gabriella held up her hand. “Wait a moment...did you say Ositania is still above where you were last year? Even after funding the war, and all the money you gave Provent for reconstruction?”

  Eleanor nodded, looking at her paper. “Yes. It's unfortunate, since I was going to use the money for other things, but you can't predict everything.”

  Gabriella shook her head. “I'm sorry...”

  Elanor blushed. “It's not your fault Gab, once Provent has recovered it will be a big help! None of them have even bought zipper dresses, let alone steam carriages.”

  Gabriella smiled awkwardly, not sure how to react. “I guess...that's true...”

  Eleanor sat down, and Melissandra stood up next to her. “I am the Minister of Foreign Relations. I don't have anything to report, since I really have done much of anything yet.”

  Mac nodded. “I want you to focus on Toulouse for now. I expect it will take a while to do things like set up embassies and exchange ambassadors anyway.”

  Since most of them had not heard, and he saw confused faces, he explained how diplomatic relations worked in his old world.

  “So the goal is to foster friendlier relations?” Gabriella asked after he had finished.

  Mac nodded.

  “But what's to stop someone like King Lavon from attacking anyway?”

  Mac shrugged, “If they are determined, nothing, but even if it has a chance to, it would be worth it. Plus, if we can establish official trade and other agreements, it would pose more of a risk to attack your neighbors, since you're losing out on those.”

  Gabriella nodded, then stood up as she realized it was her turn. “I'm...actually why am I even here? Is my job really that important?”

  Mac nodded. “Of course. You're in charge of integrating Provent into our country.”

  Gabriella sighed, “I want to help as much as possible, but won't I have my hands full running Provent?”

  “Yes, but anything you can delegate and integrate into Ositania is one less thing you have to do yourself.”

  Gabriella tapped her cheek. “I guess that's true.”

  Saphoa stood up. “As with Gabriella, I am the Minister of Arkantan Integration.”

  “Isn't your situation different though? I thought Arkanta joining Ositania wasn't a sure thing?” Gabriella asked.

  Sapoha shook her head. “After spending time with Mac, and everyone else, I know it is best for our country to tie it to his. Ositania will be the strongest country on the continent soon, and we will not be left behind.”

  Mac shook his head. “I'm not trying to be the strongest country...”

  Saphoa shook her head, and crossed her arms. “Of course you are. You want a country that can take care of its people, defend itself from aggression, and push technology forward. And one where you and your family can be safe. What better way to do that than to aim to be the strongest?”

  Marie grabbed her stomach (she was only a couple months away from her due date now) and leaned forward while nodding. “She's right. And we haven't talked about it in a while, but we're only a year away now from the Empire's Engagement ceremony. Gaining ties with the Empire would strengthen our position immensely.”

  Mac sighed. He had almost forgotten about that, since it had always been so far off, but time was passing quickly and they needed to start preparing. “Fine, let's talk about that now then.”

  Gabriella asked, “Wait, what about the explanations?”

  Mac held up his hand, “Sorry, your right. Marie?”

  “I'm the 'Chief Minister'. From Mac's explanation, I'm basically still just doing my Magistrate job, except I'm looking after all of you now,” she smirked.

  Saphoa asked, “What about the others? Should we not include them as well?”

  “Well, Kay will be joining us when she's able as the Minister of Intelligence. The others have important jobs, but they'll only be joining us if necessary,” Mac explained.

  Melissandra nodded. “Felicia's obviously taking care of the kids full time. Charlotte is going to be working on her inventions. Daisy is going to be training and overseeing the dwarves making carriages and anything else that we need built. And Fawna will be taking over my responsibilities with the royal family.”

  “What about Rhea?” Emma asked.

  Mac shrugged. “Rhea's going to occasionally reprise her courier role, but I haven't thought of an actual job for her. Plus, I'd rather she keep a low profile until our wedding.”

  Everyone nodded, understanding Rhea's circumstances. Being a Spirit and all.

  After a moment of silence, Saphoa asked, “What was that about the Empire Engagement? Is Mac going to get another fiance?”

  Marie leaned back in her chair. “I'll explain, since some of you won't know and Mac could probably use a refresher. The strongest country on the continent takes the crown of the Emperor and is technically the leader of all the other countries on it.”

  Saphoa chuckled, “I don't remember Arkanta ever swearing fealty to them.”

  Marie nodded. “They probably don't know you exist. For all intents and purposes it is a ceremonial title, the only time it coming into play is when trying to curry favor. The Empire is the strongest country, but if all the other ones teamed up against it, it couldn't stand alone.”

  Saphoa nodded. “I think I understand.”

  Marie continued. “When a Princess of the Empire reaches marriageable age, it is custom for other countries to try and win her hand in marriage. The Princess chooses from amongst her suitors and a deal is struck between the two countries. Usually some sort of trade, like gold in exchange for military support, or forcing a third country to hand over some land. That last one being particularly relevant in our situation...” Marie trailed off.

  Mac raised an eyebrow. “We need more land to manage?”

  Marie shook her head. “No, but a certain King of Navar would like some land from us. And he has a son that could participate in the ceremony.”

  Mac realized what she meant and nodded. “Felipe...”

  “We must win, then! Taking that land was a whole part of our future strategy!” Saphoa said emphatically.

  Marie nodded. “Or at least, not let Felipe win. We may need to...prevent him from winning directly.”

  Mac's eyes widened. “You want to assassinate him?”

  Marie frowned. “I don't want to, especially since you seemed to get along with him, but we cannot allow Navar to start making demands of us.”

  Gabriella tapped the table. “Be honest with me, do you think we could win against the Empire and Navar, if it came to blows?”

  Marie sighed. “Excluding the Arkantans, they probably outnumber us four or five to one. Maybe the Arkantans and the catapults could even the odds, but it would be devastating for us even if we somehow won.”

  Mac held up his hands, “Hold on, hold on, let's not go there.”

  Marie looked up over her glasses. “Mac, we discussed this.”

  Mac grabbed his temples and sighed. “Sorry, your right, we need to prepare for every scenario.”

  Melissandra grabbed his arm. “I think the best solution would be to just try and win ourselves.”

  Marie nodded in agreement. “I believe we have a fair shot, too. Think of all the things we could do to woo her.”

  Eleanor smiled, “We could give her a custom made zipper dress! I don't think they've gotten that far, yet.”

  “Do not gift her an engine, though,” Marie said.

  Eleanor nodded. “Oh, I wouldn't, those are way too expensive right now.”

  Melissandra giggled. “We could show her how cute her babies would be.”

  Gabriella shrugged, “If that's important to her.”

  “Do we even know what this Princess is interested in?” Emma asked.

  Everyone looked around.

  Marie grabbed her pen, “I'll see if I can inquire, although we might need to tap our Minister of Intelligence once she's well.”

  Bonding over Books

  Amiry sat across from her tea companion, carefully watching her for any tells. Lucia's skin was darker than even Gabriella's, but she could still see a tinge of red on her cheeks as they discussed the steamy scene in a book she had borrowed from Amiry.

  “Is that...really what it's like?” Lucia asked.

  Amiry unfurled her fan to her favorite position, smiling behind it. “Sometimes,” she said. “Often, it can be a bit more subdued, just enjoying each other's company, but when things are particularly emotional, it can...especially with King Mac.”

  Lucia blushed a bit more, averting her gaze. “I find that hard to believe.”

  Amiry giggled, causing Lucia to look a bit surprised. She didn't want Lucia to dwell on it though, so she tried to move the conversation forward. “So, what would you like to read next? I brought a handful.” She tapped the stack of books she had brought, and then went to pour Lucia some more tea.

  Lucia shook her head. “That is alright, I have already drank enough.”

  Amiry smiled, “It's just us girls here, if you need to use the washroom, go right ahead.”

  Lucia nodded, standing up. “I'd like something more character-focused,” she explained, then went out the door.

  Amiry waited until the footsteps had faded, then quickly jumped up and started looking around. After a bit of searching, she found the stack of papers she had seen last time. Sure enough, they were unsent letters, a stack of twenty or so of them. She rifled through them quickly, but none of them stood out.

  I can't find anything that looks like a cipher. She started to read them, and they were rather mundane. Usually asking about some member of the royal family of Navar, then explaining something regarding the food she was served in the palace or a new dress she had bought. One even spoke of Amiry and their book sharing, something she seemed to have done with a cousin in Navar.

  All too soon, Amiry heard footsteps in the hall again. She quickly stacked the papers back into where they had been, and slid over to the table, grabbing a book from within the stack.

  Lucia came back in, nodding at Amiry and sitting down.

  “Here, I believe you might like this one,” Amiry said, sliding the book over. It's about a nobleman who wishes to escape the nobility and marry his maid.”

  Lucia raised an eyebrow. “Intriguing...”

  In the Royal Nursery, Felicia had been knitting in a rocker next to the three heirs, who luckily all were sleeping at the moment.

  She set her needles down to inspect her work, a doll that looked a bit like Mac. After looking it over, she placed it on the ground, then held our her hand, using her magic on the doll. It slumped over onto its back.

  Felicia went to pick it up, but could not. Her magic still worked, causing whatever she used it on to become impossibly heavy. She then focused again, and tried to make the doll light again. Going to pick it up now, it felt too light, as if there was no stuffing in it at all.

  I guess I need to practice more if I want to use it properly, she thought, remembering all the time Emma had spent practicing in the yard over the past year. She attempted again to use her magic just a small amount, and the doll seemed to be at the correct weight. Nodding in approval, she stood up and slid it next to Freesia, who after a moment, went to grab it in her sleep.

  Felicia smiled and watched over her, gently patting between her bunny ears as she breathed in and out.

  Exploring the Palace

  Roa woke up, slowly opening her eyes to the light coming through the window. She had gotten use to sleeping on a person-sized bed, and they were infinitely comfier than the rocks she was use to sleeping on.

  Yawning, she went to leave the room, but then remembered she had been asked to not walk around naked anymore. Grabbing one of the shirts she had been given (she didn't understand the point of the undergarments she had received, and the dresses were too stuffy) she slipped it on and then proceeded to walk out the door.

  A maid outside jumped slightly when she saw her, though Roa was used to this. “Miss Roa, would you care for some food?”

  Roa thought for a moment, but decided she wasn't hungry. What she did want, however, was to stretch her wings. She had been in human form for around a month now, and she wanted to fly around a bit. She remembered, though, that the King who was hosting her had asked her not too.

  Hmmm...I really want to go flying though. She could just ignore his request, and go flying, but they had been very accommodating so far, and Dragons were proud creatures, not prone to betraying trust or wronging those who had treated them well. I guess I will just ask him.

  Nodding to the maid (which caused her to jump again), she started walking down the hall. She could somewhat sense where Mac was through his magic, since they were both not of this world, and wound through the palace to find him. She came across a heavy door with two guards stationed, who eyed her wearily.

  As she approached, they crossed their spears to block the door.

  Roa, not use to this hostility, looked up at them.

  One of the guards startled a bit, but the other seemed to stand firm, if a bit afraid. He said, “This is the door to the private area of the palace. Only King Mac, his family, and their attendants are allowed past.”

  Roa nodded. “Yes, I have come to see King Mac.”

  The guard seemed unsure how to respond. The nervous one cocked his head. “Isn't she one of-” he said.

  The less-nervous guard blinked. “I don't...no one ever told us...”

  Their confused conversation was cut short as the door opened from the inside. Out stepped Marie, holding a few papers, then stopping and looking at the group, before sighing.

  Roa knew Marie, since she had come and talk to her on a few occasions. She also liked her hair, which was near the same color as her scales.

  Marie sighed. “It's okay, let Roa in if she wants to come in.”

  “But, my Lady...” the less-nervous guard responded.

  Marie nodded. “You did your job well. I'm giving Roa permission to come in, if she likes.”

  The guard nodded, and retracted his spear. The more-nervous guard pulled his back even quicker.

  Roa smiled, “Hi Marie.”

  Marie was taken a bit aback, but returned a smile. “I'll show you to Mac.”

  Roa nodded, then walked up beside Marie. Marie started taking her through several corridors, occasionally going past maids, who all gave worried looks at Roa.

  “Do the maids not like me?” Roa asked, not giving heed if the maids could hear or not.

  Marie shook her head. “No, I believe they heard about your other form, and are a bit scared.”

  Roa chuckled, “Well, that is understandable. You can tell them not to worry, though. I only eat those who brandish their sword at me.”

  Marie seemed to miss a step, but quickly recovered and kept walking.

  Roa kept following, but her eyes gravitated to Marie's stomach. She had asked about it before, and knew it was Mac's child. Wanting to fill the dead air, she asked, “Are you happy to be having Mac's child, or did he force it upon you?”

  Marie blushed slightly, “No, I am very happy to have his child. And Mac is not the type to force himself upon someone. Nor does he have need to, given the amount of his Queens.”

  Roa nodded. “I am impressed you were willing to fight me even with a baby in you.”

  Marie made a pained smile, “Well, with the threat we thought you posed, there wouldn't have been any point...”

  Roa wasn't sure how to respond to that, but didn't need to, as they came upon a door. Marie knocked twice, then opened it.

  At the other side of the room, behind a desk stacked with papers, was King Mac. “Marie, do you-” he started, before stopping when he saw Roa and nodding. “Hello, Roa.”

  Roa nodded back. “I wish to return to my Dragon form and stretch my wings. You had asked me not too, so I wanted to let you know first.”

  Mac seemed to be taking a moment to process the request. “So you are leaving?”

  Roa shook her head. “I planned to come back and spend the rest of my time on this world here. I assume you are still searching for who summoned me?”

  Mac nodded. “Yes, though we've had no luck so far.”

  Roa nodded back. While she was still upset about being summoned against her will, she had cooled off a bit in her time at the palace.

  “I don't mind if you want to fly, but could I request you do it on the other side of the mountain from the city? I just...don't want you to scare anyone,” he asked.

  Roa smiled, her fangs showing. “Very well, I don't mind.”

  Mac seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief. “Marie, could you have La Hire get her a carriage up the mountain?”

  Roa shook her head. “There is no need, I will just run myself.”

  “Are you sure?” Mac asked.

  “Yes, your carriages are much too slow for me.”

  Marie raised an eyebrow. “Even the steam-powered ones?”

  However, Roa had already dashed out of the room, presumably following through on her assertion.

  Another Heir

  Mac was holding Kay's hand, as she cried out in pain. Kelly was on the other side, holding her other hand and trying to soothe her.

  “It's okay, it's okay...” she said, dabbing Kay's forehead of sweat.

  Kay had been in labor for a couple hours now. Some of the other girls had come and gone, though Mac had rushed to her side as soon as news was brought to him.

  Tillie was trying to urge her along. “Don't worry, I can see the babe's head. Just a few more pushes.”

  Kay grunted, heaving as she tried to get the baby out at last, but to no avail.

  Mac rubbed behind her ears, causing Kay to giggle through the pain. “Now isn't the time...”

  Mac shook his head. “Anytime is a good time.”

  Kay giggled again, then whispered, “If anything happens, I love you Mac. I know you'll take good care of our kid.”

  Mac grimaced, leaning in to kiss her. “Don't talk like that, you'll be fine.”

  Kay smiled, then went back to pushing.

  After a few more minutes, they heard the telltale crying of a baby.

  “It's almost out!” Tillie shouted above the crying. Kay gave one last heave, then sighed and fell back on her pillow.

  Tillie and the maids helping her quickly cleaned off the baby before handing it to Kay. “It's a beautiful boy.” Since Kay had asked Rhea not to tell her whether she was having a boy or a girl, they were just now discovering.

  Kay smiled, looking at the baby with tiny cat ears. Mac hugged her, “I guess we're using Kenneth.”

  Kay smiled, kissing the baby, who opened his eyes and looked at her, slobbering a bit.

  “I think he's hungry, let's make sure everything's fine then we can have you feed him,” Tillie said, grabbing Kenneth back.

  Kay nodded, then started squinting in pain.

  Mac immediately noticed. “What's wrong?”

  Kay shook her head. “I don't know. I felt relieved for a bit, but now it went away and it still feels the same.”

  Tillie's eyes went wide, turning away from Kenneth and coming back to Kay. She looked between her legs, before exclaiming, “There's another head!”

  Mac was taken aback. “What!?”

  Kay started pushing again. Luckily, this time it only took a few minutes, and they heard crying again.

  “It's a girl this time,” Tillie said, handing the baby over to Kay.

  “I guess Kassandra wanted to come too,” Kay giggled.

  Mac blinked. “You're amazing, Kay! You had twins!”

  “We had twins, dummy! But now I know why I felt so sick all the time...” Kay said, now looking to finally be relieved.

  Tillie took back Kassandra and felt Kay's forehead. “You worked really hard today girl. The past nine months, really. Get some rest.”

  Kay shook her head. “Wasn't Kenneth hungry?”

  Tillie looked over. “Well he's sleeping now.”

  Kay nodded. “Alright...” then faded off, falling asleep on Mac's arm.

  Kelly giggled. “I'll leave you two to it, then.”

  A Grand Festival

  A few days later, Mac sat in his study, working as as normal. The reconstruction plans were going smoothly, but he was a bit worried about the state of their coffers.

  We could dig into the gold bars stash, but I'd rather not when we just started collecting so recently...I wonder if theirs something else we could tap that I'm just not thinking of... Mac did have a few plans to increase revenue. For one, he wanted to increase the amount that nobles were taxed, which he thought was far too low. He thought he might be able to assess a small one at some point, but right now, right after the war, he would rather not be seen as trying to squeeze them. Waiting until they were more prosperous, when a small increase would be hard to argue, was his current plan.

  Another was to start charging tariffs to merchants crossing into their border. This could easily be explained as fees for keeping the roads managed and safe (which they were doing already), and his hope was most merchants wouldn't balk at a small fee. If Ositania could be become as prosperous as he hoped, merchants would want to flock to them regardless.

  Mac's grand machinations were interrupted as the door flung open. He was surprised they hadn't knocked, but was more surprised when he saw the entrant.

  Charlotte came in, who almost never came to his office, except when she had some sort of breakthrough she was excited to talk about, preferring normally to be in her workshop or out on the grounds testing some invention. And she did not look excited, instead more nervous.

  “What's wrong?” Mac asked, standing up and starting to walk over.

  Charlotte got a bit red. “Nothing is wrong, its just...” she said, before handing over an envelope.

  Mac recognized it immediately, being the green color that the elves normally used for letters. Mac unfolded it and read:

  Charlotte,

  I have decided to hold a Grand Wedding Festival next month, lasting two weeks. You and Mac shall be part of it. I am opening it up to any non-elves as well who wish to be wed. Please pass along to Mac and the others.

  Mom

  Mac blinked a few times, especially at the “Mom” signature.

  Charlotte was blushing. “I can't believe this, she's making such a big deal...”

  “What is this 'Grand Wedding Festival'. I don't remember hearing about it before.”

  Charlotte blushed further. “It's an ancient elven tradition. One hasn't been held in hundreds of years, but Mother must want to bring it back for our marriage. Since elves live so long, its common for engagements to get dragged out since they are in no rush, and having the festival was a way to encourage everyone to get married at the same time.”

  Mac nodded. “Why is she opening it up to non-elves then?”

  Charlotte shrugged.

  “I guess this is as good a time as any, then, right?” Mac said.

  Charlotte blushed.

  “What's wrong, do you not want to?” Mac asked.

  Charlotte shook her head quickly. “No, that's not it. I just wanted to have a small, quiet ceremony, but Mother is doing the exact opposite.”

  Mac nodded, grabbing Charlotte into an embrace. “I know, but it'll be fine. We'll be there together.”

  Charlotte grabbed Mac as well, looking slightly more confident now. “You're right. I can do it if you're there.”

  Mac chuckled, before leaning down and giving her a kiss.

  Side-Stories

  Delayed Wedding

  La Hire sat at his dinner table, watching as his wife and three fiances made dinner. He would get up to help them, but he knew from prior experience he would be talked back into his chair, so he kept quiet and enjoyed a moment of respite. He had just finished a bath after coming home from guard duty, and he contented himself that today had been a peaceful one and he was able to safely come home and see the others.

  “Father doesn't know when we are to have our wedding,” Kelly said, looking up at him, a bit sad.

  La Hire frowned, “What is the issue? Obviously we couldn't during the war, but...”

  Kelly shook her head. “He doesn't want to throw a grand feast so soon after the war, either, thinking it would be distasteful.

  La Hire sighed. That is true...

  Kylie gave a 'haumph' as she came over to set down plates. “I understand, but it just means longer until ours...”

  La Hire reached over and patted her head, causing Kylie to blush slightly.

  “Is the wedding so important? You already behave like you are wed anyway, living together and trying for children,” Mazzy replied as she sat down a bowl of stew. Now that she and La Hire were engaged, she was in no rush to get married, wanting to wait at least until her Lady Saphoa was married first.

  Fiona, her normal stoic self, shook her head. “It's very important to Kylie, though.”

  Mazzy nodded, “Sorry, I still have much to learn about landfolk.”

  Kelly giggled, “Nyahaha, I think it depends on the person, not all landfolk are the same.”

  Mazzy turned to La Hire, “What about you?”

  La Hire was caught off guard for a moment. Why...what would Mac say in this situation? Looking at the four women, he gave a rough smile and replied, “Of course I want to have the ceremony, but I'm just glad I get to see you every day.”

  The four women looked at each other, then smiled, Fiona even leaning over to kiss his cheek.

  Phew...