Daphne Grimm could scarcely hold back a grin from covering her face as she watched her sister Sabrina. The two sisters were sitting in one of the beautiful gardens of the palace in Fairie, having tea and catching up. The sisters tried to get together at least once a week, but they both had increasingly busy schedules, one of them being a senior in college, and the other being a recent law school graduate who also happened to be the Queen of Fairie.
Daphne couldn't help but beam with pride when she thought of her sister, taking on this new challenge with enthusiasm and tenacity despite being, as she had put it, "scared shitless." However, if you asked any one of the subjects of Fairie, they would not hesitate to gush and praise about their young queen. Everyone simply adored Sabrina, and Daphne couldn't help but feel jealous at times over her older sister's life.
She had married the love of her life several years prior, and shortly thereafter was crowned queen of a beautiful, magical country that was, essentially, underneath New York. She had spent the last three years making changes to policy and to rituals, working hard to reform the ancient customs of the strange court of Fairies, and to improve the lives of her subjects. Despite making so many changes to ancient customs, Sabrina also worked hard to preserve the unique culture and traditions of her new people. She studied and tried hard to understand the traditions of the fae, and she had become very adept at understanding their culture and skillfully weaving new policies that retained the honor and dignity of the "old ways," as people jokingly referred to them. If asked, however, she would credit the work to her brother-in-law Mustardseed, who had been very helpful in the whole process.
Puck, however, would be quick to boast of his wife's accomplishments, beaming with pride to anyone who would listen. The king of Fairie was also adored by the people. It was clear that he had matured immensely in the years Sabrina had been in his life (another reason that Sabrina was adored by all, as she had accomplished the seemingly impossible). Puck had been happy to accept his position as king, and had been doing an impressive job. Daphne had heard around the Golden Egg that between the two of them, Sabrina and Puck were creating a new golden age in the kingdom.
On top of that, in some strange twist of weird fae magic that no one save Titania seemed to understand, at Sabrina and Puck's coronation, Sabrina had received some limited form of Fairie magic that gave her wings like her husbands. Titania had said that as the queen, Sabrina should have power to lord over her subjects should they forget who was in charge. Sabrina had just laughed it off. However, Daphne swore that she had heard the former queen mutter something under her breath about making things easier when it came time for them to give her grandchildren.
Her train of thought coming full circle, Daphne again grinned as she watched her sister watch her husband play with some children in the courtyard.
"So," she smirked, "when are their royal majesties going to bless the kingdom with an heir?"
Sabrina choked on her tea and glared at her sister, as Daphne cackled, knowing that the blush forming on her sister's cheeks was not just from the coughing. She had seen the way Sabrina was looking at Puck and the children, who were still tumbling about on the grass and laughing. She had also overheard her mother trying to gossip about it with their brother Basil, saying she thought there might be a royal announcement any day now, but Basil had started gagging and quickly changed the subject, not interested in discussing that part of his sister and her husband's lives.
"Actually…we decided that maybe…it might be a good time to start trying…" Sabrina admitted quietly, glancing down at her teacup in embarrassment. This time Daphne did not stop the grin spreading over her face. She could tell that even though she was embarrassed, Sabrina was feeling excited and very, very happy. She squealed and bit her palm, a habit she never could quite shake.
"What?" she shrieked, causing Puck to glance over in their direction, frowning in concern. Sabrina rolled her eyes as she waved her hand to assure him they were fine, and turned back to her sister.
"You can't tell anyone, alright? We don't want to make a big deal out of it. It just…well, seemed like the right time. At least, it did…" Sabrina trailed off again, her expression clouding over with trepidation.
"Oh," Daphne said quietly. "The ogres? Is it getting bad again?"
Sabrina nodded.
"Worse," she said, "things have been increasingly tense the last week…we've been trying to find a way to broker peace, but it's been difficult. They feel threatened because they know they aren't as intelligent as we are, so they feel like we are going to take advantage of them. Trying to make official contracts or treaties just makes them suspicious. It hasn't escalated yet, but…" Sabrina trailed off again, frowning as she became lost in thought.
Daphne frowned as well. She had known that things were tense from talking to Mustardseed, but she hadn't realized quite how bad it was. The ogre territory bordered the outskirts of Fairie, and there was a long history of tension and distrust. They really were not happy about this new "golden age" of Fairie that was beginning to take shape, and there had been some trouble because of it. Mustardseed had said that they had threatened with a war, but at the time he had felt the claim ridiculous. Now, it seemed, those threats seemed more serious.
"What are you going to do?" Daphne asked, knowing that Veronica would want to know when Daphne told her about it.
"Honestly? We're not sure…we've tried several different ways to get them to commit to peace, but like I said, they just feel threatened. Puck, Mustardseed and I have been in meetings with advisors for days now, and none of us know what to do…I've been reading up on Fairie's history with the ogre country, trying to see what has worked in the past, but so far I haven't found anything helpful." Sabrina frowned again, and it was easy for Daphne to see how heavily this was weighing on her shoulders.
"Just give it time…I bet the answer is simpler than you think. You'll figure it out, you always do." She smiled at her sister, who smiled back and reached over to grasp her hand.
"Thanks Daphy…you always know how to make me feel better." Sabrina smiled at her, but suddenly her smile morphed to something else.
"That's it!" she cried, jumping to her feet and knocking over her chair in her haste. Daphne laughed as Puck came jogging over to see what the fuss was about.
"I've got it!" Sabrina exclaimed, her eyes wide and her hands waving about as she began muttering to herself.
"Oi, Marshmallow, what kind of crazy juice has she been drinking?" Daphne turned, grinning, to face her brother-in-law. Before she could answer, however, Sabrina grabbed his arm and exclaimed again "I've got it!"
She began dragging Puck back towards the castle, calling over her shoulder "Thanks Daphne! You're a genius and I love you! See you soon!"
The pair disappeared inside, but not before she could hear Sabrina shriek "Mustardseed! I've figured it out! Mustardseed!"
Daphne rolled her eyes affectionately at her sister's hasty departure. It was definitely more characteristic of herself rather than Sabrina, but seeing as Sabrina had most likely just figured out how to fix relations with the ogres, Daphne figured she was allowed to act a little crazy. She snagged a tea cake for the road and showed herself out, taking her time to meander through the breathtaking gardens as she made her way to the Golden Egg.
She was still shaking her head and laughing to herself at Sabrina's behavior when she got to the front door of the Grimm apartment. She unlocked the door and walked in, but stopped in her tracks at what she saw. Her mother and Basil were sitting on the couch, frowning at the phone that was sitting on the coffee table.
"Uh, guys?" Daphne stepped into the living room. "What's wrong?" She reached into her pocket and clutched at her wand out of habit. Her mother turned to look at her, still looking shocked and something else that Daphne couldn't quite place.
"That was Uncle Jake. We need to go to Fairyport Landing."