"Because we can only take so much honey from the hives without compromising the bees' welfare and the workers' safety," Bog argues. "We don't raise the bees like the Breezy Meadow does, these are wild bees and they only tolerate so much messing around with before they get aggressive."
"Why can't the Dark Forest start their own honey farm then?" Dawn questions. "The sprite colony has their own and it produces a ton more honey than what you harvest."
"I think I know the answer to that one," Sunny mentions, smiling at Bog's relieved sigh. "It's because there's already a hive nearby and there won't be enough nectar to support all the bees if more are added to the area. If they started their own honey farm just to have tamed bees that tolerate their presence better, it would probably cause the other hive to die. It's just like why only the sprite colony has a honey farm in the Light Field."
"Can't you, I don't know, tame the wild bees?" Dawn asks.
"Dawn, dear, you better eat or you'll not be able to fight properly," Dagda intervenes. "You wouldn't want to lose your next match just because you didn't rest yourself, do you?"
Dagda grins in victory as Dawn ceases her questions in favor of eating her food. What had started as an innocent mention of the Dark Forest royal chef's famous honey and blackberry jam cake had turned into a relentless questioning of why he didn't make it more times besides only on special days since he had access to more flour. Bog's answers had soon become filled with strained patience as nothing seemed to satisfy Dawn.
She's going to be an absolutely vicious political figure once she grows out of her youthful timidity!
"Ah, that's filling!" Marianne sighs. "I'm glad you thought of bringing a picnic, Nex. Festival food is good but it can't outdo your cooking."
Watching the small male beaked goblin beam with pride at his queen's praise, Dagda hides his smile behind a cup of strawberry juice. His eldest made a fine queen. He always knew she would be and he's glad she kept the informal openness with her subjects that he tried to instill in his daughters.
"I've brought plenty, Your Majesty, so you don't have to eat only a little," Nex comments, holding out the platter of sandwiches.
"Maybe later. I'm fine for now," Marianne assures. "We still got kings and princes to beat and I wouldn't want to make it too easy on them by getting myself too full."
"It would make it more of a fair fight," Sunny chuckles, finishing his piece of cooked minnow. "Even halfway through your pregnancy and it still doesn't slow you down. I don't think I've ever seen Chief Caphtor beaten so quickly. Spirits, Marianne, you're like the queen of war!"
"Hey! What about me, Sunny? Marianne wasn't the only one fighting," Dawn pouts.
"Uh, well, that isn't to say that you weren't magnificent yourself!" Sunny quickly reassures.
"You were also surprising, little dandelion," Griselda comments. "I wouldn't have guessed that you knew how to fight so well."
"I might not be able to fight as well as Marianne but I can take care of myself," Dawn remarks.
"Barely," Marianne mutters lowly, smirking at her younger sister's glare before turning her attention to Griselda. "It's actually required that all royals learn basic fighting skills along with their other studies."
"But the Light Field royal bloodline isn't dependant on your fighting ability like the way the Dark Forest is, so why would it be required for all royals to learn to fight?" Griselda questions.
"It's a precaution for two reasons. One, so that they would be able to defend themselves if they're in a dangerous situation without any guard able to protect them and two, if the danger turns out to be their guard," Dagda explains.
"Not that there have been any problems with the royal guards during the past four kings," Marianne assures at noticing Thang's troubled look. "It's only required to learn the basics and it's up to the individual royal to decide to take advanced lessons. I may prefer the sword but I can fight just as well with daggers, staves, knives, and I'm a pretty good shot at archery."
"Let's not forget how well you punch," Bog mentions, rubbing the side of his jaw. "But it's still hard to believe that you know how to do all that as well, Dawn."
Dawn smirks at the underlying challenge, bearing an unnerving resemblance to her elder sister, before standing up from her place among the seated group. She quickly picks up a spare knife among the cutlery and throws it toward a far-off painted target still set-up from yesterday's archery contest. The thud as the blade hits the center mark isn't nearly as satisfying as the shocked looks from all the present goblins.
"Like I said, I'm not as good as Marianne when it comes to blades and feats of strength. However, I can shoot better than her," Dawn gloats.
"Lies and slander!" Marianne accuses playfully.
"Like you know, O Queen of the Dark Forest! I have been practicing a lot and Captain Tigler said that I've surpassed even you," Dawn boasts.
"Tigler!" Marianne yells, wincing apologetically as everyone nearby cringes.
"Whatever you two are arguing about, I'm staying out of it!" Captain Tigler replies from his place on the other side of the marked arena.
Dagda laughs long and hard at his daughters' shocked faces and Dawn's mumbled question of wondering how Tigler knew they were arguing. His daughters are still the same and it felt so good to have his family acting normal again...well, as normal as one married daughter with a son and the other daughter soon-to-be-married could be but it was still more normal than it's been with the newness of everything.
"Didn't Dawn show you her new bow when she visited you last week?" Sunny asks.
"What new bow?" Marianne questions.
"Daddy had it commissioned for me for my coming-of-age but I kinda forgot to bring it with me," Dawn chuckles sheepishly. "I was going to tell you but then I forgot because we were talking about the wedding and...Oh! That's right, I nearly forgot about that too! Last night, Sunny and I had talked about what Daddy said that you and Bog were talking about yesterday."
"What me and Bog were talking about?" Marianne repeats in confusion. "What were we talking about?"
"About you two having a Light Field wedding, of course!" Dawn answers. "It's a great idea!"
"We weren't actually talking about it," Marianne denies. "Just mentioned it during the Romeo and Juliet play."
"It's still a great idea," Dawn remarks.
"We know it's short notice but we'd be proud if you two joined us tomorrow," Sunny adds, stemming the oncoming sister squabble.
"First off, Bog and I haven't even talked about it yet and secondly, tomorrow is about you two," Marianne argues. "We are not going to spoil your wedding."
"Sunny and I wouldn't even be getting married if it wasn't for the both of you. You saved our lives during the Wild Hunt, which still counts because we didn't know then that the goblins wouldn't have killed any of us, and Bog saved our lives during the Spring Festival," Dawn murmurs, grabbing her sister's hands. "So, how would it spoil our wedding to honor the very ones who made such a day possible?"
"No need for you to make your decision like right now at this second," Sunny reassures. "Plum went a bit overboard on the wedding preparations, so there's no worries about rushing around to get anything more done if you do decide to join us because there's plenty of everything."
"Just how overboard did you go?" Marianne asks Plum suspiciously.
"Probably got enough for four royal weddings," Dagda chuckles, raising himself off the ground as the call for the fighters to reassemble goes out.
"I may have gotten a little carried away," Plum sheepishly admits. "I was just so excited that Dawn and Sunny let me help. Like a veritable fairy godmother!"
"You mean, fairly oddmother, don't you?" Sunny teases.
"And don't you forget it," Plum singsongs, pointing a finger and winking at him.
Laughing again as Plum hug-attacks Sunny and starts pinching his cheeks before pouncing on Dawn to deliver the same treatment, Dagda stretches his dark red wings to feel the sun's gentle caress on his aching wing spines. There's been so much happening lately, almost one thing after another, and he's glad that everything is finally starting to settle down.