"So we meet at last…" I said. Melodrama wasn't exactly frowned upon around these parts, which was good, because I felt like making this dramatic.

It wasn't like there was all that much fun to be had between the constant attacks by all sorts of magical nastiness. And now here was a perfectly quiet moment and the newcomer just barged into my establishment. The worried look on her face when she realized I was talking to her was totally worth the trouble of keeping my poker face on.

"The other Lily… You're shorter than I expected," I said walking toward her. I had the idea of circling around her, sizing her up, but I quickly realized it would make me miss her expression – and I loved the effect I was having.

"The other… Lily?" she frowned, confused.

"Yes. That would be you, since I've been here first."

"I'm sorry, but who are you and what exactly do you think…?"

"Tiger Lily," I said, dropping my dramatic expression. "Nice to finally meet you," I offered her my hand.

After a moment of hesitation she shook it.

"Tiger Lily. Of course…" she nodded thoughtfully. "I should have known. I mean knowing what people in this town are is one thing, but actually meeting them…"

"I know. Freaky, isn't it? And some of them are not what you're expecting. Wait till you see what Pinocchio looks like these days," I grinned. "So what can I get you?"

I turned and headed back behind the bar, not waiting for her response. It was clear that was her reason for showing up in the first place, since she clearly didn't know that this bar was ran by her namesake.

"You're a barkeep?" I heard her say. Going by her tone she didn't find it very compatible with being a fairy tale character.

"We all multitask here," I shrugged and waited for her to join me at the bar.

"Yes, I'm starting to get the picture."

"Oh but you're not. Because whatever you're thinking, it's worse. There's a whole world out there and they all think they know our stories. And they don't. With most of us it's weirder and messier than anyone suspects. And it really gets to people here. Not that I'm complaining – it keeps me in business. But having to hear Whale's drunken monologues about how he's not a monster, really…" I made a face. "We've got issues. Individually... and as a community."

"I think I'll be adding to that," she said apologetically.

"You will?"

"I can turn into a dragon," she said, averting her eyes as she waited for my reaction. And though few of my customers started choking on their drinks overhearing what she just said, I only laughed.

"Awesome."

"What?"

"Well, isn't it? I don't think you quite get how this town works. We're getting attacked by stuff all the time. Usually by people we didn't even know had any reason to be pissed at us. I mean – even our ice cream lady turned out to be evil. It's really hard to feel safe around here," I said. "But now we have a dragon. You're staying, right?"

"For now," she admitted.

"You're staying and you can turn into a dragon. That's good for the rest of us you know. You might not want to see the place you live in turned into new Neverland or taken over by the Dark Ones… And you can actually do something about it," I said, feeling my smile brightening. This felt like very good news indeed.

"You know telling her all that might just change her mind about staying, right?" said Little John from his seat at the end of the bar.

"Oh, hush. Did turning into a flying monkey change your mind about staying?"

"People get turned into flying monkeys around here?" said Lily in mock horror.

"Now she's definitely leaving…"

"Of course she's not. Not after she found a bar where she'll be getting considerable discounts…"

That made her smile and made the rest of us much calmer. At least for the next few hours she was not going anywhere. Now just wait and see how drunk she would have to get before she started talking backstory – which was a waiting game I was playing with everyone every single evening ever since the original curse was broken.

"Hey gorgeous, can I have some whiskey over here?"

"That depends," I said, turning to the newcomer. "Can I have some explanation?"

"I have a drinking problem. Since when do you need that explained…?" said the doctor taking his usual seat by the bar. "Unless you mean the hair…"

"Of course I mean the hair. Did you lose a bet?"

"Can you believe the service in this place…?" he said, shaking his head. "Why do I bother coming here…?"

"You like the view," I reminded him as I handed him a glass of whiskey. "Or did you mean the whole bottle? You look like you had a whole bottle kind of day…"

"I delivered a baby today," he said in a way of explanation.

"Did you get thrown against a wall again?" I grinned. Until I saw his expression. "You did?"

This time I wasn't the only one fighting down very inappropriate laughter. As annoyed as he was at us for finding it amusing, he left it without comment.

"See what I mean?" I said to the other Lily. "The weirdness of this place is off the charts. You'll fit right in."

"Are you sure you're not saying it just because you like the idea to have a dragon to sort out the weirdness?" she replied with amused smile.

"We have a dragon?" said doctor Whale, nearly choking on his drink. "Since when?"

"Do you pay any attention to what goes on in this town?"

"I would if I had the time. And if it was even possible to sort out at this point… If we had a dragon I'd be seeing lot more people with burns," he said, imagining I was probably just making it up. Which was almost offensive. I had too much respect for good gossip to make stuff up.

"You do know it doesn't work like that, right? Ruby was here since day one – and how many cases of wolf bites did we have…? Exactly," I smiled sweetly as I watched him trying to follow that logic. "Not to mention no one got hurt during that bear attack we had…"

"We had a bear attack?" he said giving me a now I know you make these things up look.

"You really only hear about things when they show up at the ER, don't you?"

"Or when they throw him at a wall," said Little John, pretending there was something very interesting in his beer when the doctor gave him the not amused look.

"I mean, do you need any more reasons to stay?" I smiled at my namesake who was following this whole conversation with great interest.

"There were reasons to stay? I think I must have missed them…"

"Good thing you have a few of your own. You're still here, aren't you?" I said refilling her glass.

Whatever her reasons were, all I had to do to get to them was wait – and keep the drinks coming of course. That was all I ever needed to be the best informed person around.

People living the kinds of messy, complicated lives we were living needed to talk. My way of coping was a little different. I listened. And I remembered. And suspected that it was the biggest reason why my bar didn't burn down during one of our many crises and my customers rarely got attacked by something nasty… There was no such thing as too many stories, really, not if you knew how to keep up. I found the best way was to treat every single one of them as equally important. The stories of princes and witches were no more important than stories of thieves or mad scientist or shapeshifting dragons.

"So…" I started. And that was as far as I got.

"So there was a bear attack? Are you sure… How the hell did a bear get over the town line…?" said the doctor, clearly distrusting me as a source.

"It was a magic bear attack. You know, magic. That thing that usually gets you hurt…?" I grinned. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Magic bear?" asked Lily, finding the idea funny going by her expression.

"It's like this…" I started. And just like that I forgot I had a customer I wanted to interrogate about her past. That could wait. If I wanted to keep my business afloat I had to keep my customers alive – and the way to do that was help them keep up with what the hell was going on. "We have a new princess in town."

"A princess that can turn into a bear?" repeated Lily disbelievingly.

"Wait. The redhead?" asked the doctor, suddenly paying a lot more attention. "Oh I like the look of her…"

"You like the look of anything in a skirt. You'd love it in her kingdom… They're really big on kilts," I clarified, since I was the only one who got the joke.

"Dun Broch? Wait isn't that the place where half of the royal family got turned into bears…?" joined Little John.

"Will you let me tell it or not…?" I turned to him with my best stern look.

They did.

And it wasn't the only story that got told that night. From bears we got to dragons at last. Dragons and magically sped up pregnancies and our former Savior turning all monochromatic and all sorts of other weirdness… All in all it was a very successful night. No one managed to get themselves killed or maimed which was always a plus.

"Remember, you shouldn't drink and fly…" I told the other Lily seeing her to the door sometime after midnight.

"I won't," she smiled. And I knew she'll be back.

And the idea of a dragon inside a building that was very flammable even before I decided to stock it full of alcohol – well, it didn't seem as bad as one would think. I quite enjoyed not being the only Lily around.

"So she can turn into a dragon?" came voice from the darkness of the bar.

"Weren't you listening…?"

"She doesn't look like a princess…"

"She's not… Oh, how hard did you hit that wall?" I sighed and went back to get him.

"Very funny."

"I know. That's me, the funny Lily."

"Rather than the potentially lethal Lily."

"She seemed pretty tame to me," I grinned, supporting him in his unsteady walk.

"Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like the look of her…"

"Of course you do," I laughed and sent the unsteady doctor on his way. With him gone I knew for certain my work was done. For tonight. But tomorrow was a whole new day, with potential for new madness.

Good thing I happened to befriend a dragon...