Sandra had always considered herself a strong woman.
At least, as strong as a normal woman with a normal life could be.
Too bad that for several years now, her life and that one of her family had become anything but normal.
Plumbers who aren't real plumbers, aliens, psychopathic clowns, witches, warlords ...
... O war LADIES, given the circumstances.
Always assuming that she could define that damn frog girl, "Lady".
Could this really be the real world?
The world where his son was forced to live? She thought she could handle it, she thought she was doing a good job.
She had always been proud to consider herself a modern, open-minded mother.
A mother who allowed her son to grow up without holding him in a bubble.
But now …
The last time she saw her son was through the home TV screen while that horrible reporter, William Harangue, ranted about "how lucky the Earth was to finally get rid of a threat like Benjamin Kirby Tennyson".
How did dare that bastard to call her son a threat? How did he dare to rejoice in his departure while she was dying inside?!
Anger had mingled with despair and guilt, inflaming the blood in her veins.
And with each passing day she felt herself slowly consumed by that fire.
She had never left her house since had been taken away.
Carl tried to be close to her, to give her some comfort, but the truth was that there was very little he could do.
There was only one thing at that time that could have made her feel better, seeing her son but CLEARLY it wasn't possible.
Sandra absentmindedly stirred the amber liquid of her Brandy's glass, the third one that afternoon.
God, she hadn't touched alcohol since her college times.
The two bottles of Brandy they had in the glassware had been given to Sandra on her birthday, a couple of years earlier, by her parents from Italy.
Obviously she didn't take it so much to get completely drunk!
She wasn't letting herself go SO much, only she felt that yoga sessions were no longer enough for her, she just couldn't concentrate.
But maybe it was thanks to those two glasses of Brandy she had already drunk that she didn't scream out loud when, after hearing the bell of the front door and getting up to open it, she found herself in front of an alien creature similar to that one his son calls Four Arms.
"Who … What are you?"
"Is Ben Tennyson your son?!" the creature asked with a clear female intonation, ignoring the woman's question.
Sandra blinked a few times, stunned "… Yes?"
Could she have drunk more than she thought?
She glanced at the glass in his hand.
No, she was sure it was her third glass and she hadn't even gotten halfway through it.
"Mother!" the alien happily exclaimed "I'm princess Looma Red Wind, I came with the gifts"
The princess threw a huge sack full of ... something, at Sandra's feet.
Who the hell was that girl now? And why the hell had she just called her "mother"?
"Excuse me but who are you exactly?" Sandra asked in the calmest and most peaceful tone she could simulate, after taking a sip from the glass of Brandy in her hand.
The alien seemed puzzled by the question.
"I told you, I'm princess Looma Red Wind" she repeated.
"I heard that" Sandra replied coldly, already beginning to lose her patience "I mean, how do you know my son?"
The creature widened all four her orange eyes, shocked.
"What do you mean: "How do you know my son?", I'm his fiancée!" she protested "I brought the customary offering …"
Looma continued to blather but Sandra's brain had stopped working at the word "Fiancée".
-I can't belive it, another one?!- the woman thought, squeezing her fingers tightly around the glass -First the frog, now the four-armed monster?- Since when there were all these girls in her son's life? But above all, since when did her son stop confiding in her about his love life?
The only girl she knew he ever dated was Julie.
Where did all those space sluts come from? Why didn't they leave her family alone? WHY DIDN'T THEY LEAVE HER SON ALONE?
"… Mother?"
Oh look! The alien girl must have noticed Sandra wasn't listening to her, because she had stopped babbling.
Sandra drank half a glass in one shot.
"Listen ... Looma, isn't it? I don't know what your intentions are since my son never told me about you" she began "But I'm afraid you came late, my son is no longer here"
"What are you talking about?" Looma said, more and more confused as well as outraged by the fact that her beloved never spoke of her with his mother.
"The Incurseans princess brought him away from me, to force him to marry her" Sandra replied with a bitter smile "They just arrived and ... poof! My son was taken away, without anyone moving a finger to prevent it"
"WHAT?! My beloved has been taked by a rival?"
The princess seemed so upset by the news that for an instant Sandra took almost pity on her …
"I didn't even know I had a rival! How did she DARE taking my beloved without even CHALLENGE me for his hand …?!" Looma roaded furiously.
… Yeah, ALMOST.
"This is outrageous! I will destroy that husband thief with my own hands!" Looma yelled.
Now THIS caught Sandra's attention.
"Are you serious?" the woman asked as an idea began to make its way between her thoughts, an idea that until then she would never have considered herself capable of conceiving.
"Of course I am!" Looma replied "It's a matter of HONOR!"
The princess of the deathless Incursean empire huh? Looma had heard of her, her name was Attea if she remembered well.
That disgusting frog probably believed herself untouchable behind her army, but even Looma had one!
Her father wouldn't deny her his support in this battle and once surrounded the Incursean capital, Attea couldn't have refused to face her in a duel.
"It really is, huh?"
Sandra emptied Brandy's glass, before giving the tetramand princess, for the first time since she showed up at her door, a broad smile.
"Oh, where are my manners? Please dear, come in" the human said softly, surprising Looma "It looks like we have several things to discuss, don't we?"
Perhaps, if she played her cards right, she would get her son back.
All She had to do was pour more fuel onto the fire …
Good thing that Carl wasn't at home at the moment.
Meanwhile, to Neo Tongue Topia Ben, accompanied by Jades, had hurried back to the rooms he now shared with Attea, intent on finding a safe place to hide Gwen's gift.
Charmcaster's old spell book.
He still couldn't believe that his cousin had entrusted it to him, in so many years she had never let him even touch it.
It warmed his heart that she had entrusted him with something so important to her just to make him feel less alone.
He would take care of it.
"Jades, I know that you are a servant and that it's your duty to report when something ... suspicious, happens in the palace, but ..."
"You don't want me to tell anyone about the meeting you just had with your family" Jades concluded for him, with a sweet smile " Don't worry my lord, I won't say anything, besides, I'm your personal servant now, I respond only to you"
"I'm asking you as a friend, not as a master" Ben wanted to underline.
"And I replied to you as a servant, AND a friend" she said convinced.
"Thank you Jades" Ben smiled.
"Your welcome, Ben"
"Now, if only I could think of a safe place where put the book ..." Ben murmured to himself, looking around the room.
On second thought, it didn't seem like a good idea to hide the book in the room.
What if Attea found it by accident? She would have wondered where it had come from, and even if she didn't suspect it belonged to him, she would still investigate.
Then how would he recover it without looking suspicious?
"Maybe I have the solution" Jades said, attracting his attention "Do you remember the friend I was telling you about before your family members arrived?"
"The one who takes care of the gardens?" Ben replied.
"Lillylia, exactly!" Jades exclaimed "She is very good at hiding things, I'm sure she can help you …"
The gardens of the royal palace consisted mostly of a series of small artificial ponds, some had small waterfalls while others were large enough to be overlooked by wooden bridges.
There were several varieties of marsh and aquatic plants to decorate the ponds, some were similar to what could be found on Earth, like water lilies, others were completely different and more … well, "alien like", instead.
However Ben had to admit that it was a really nice place to visit, starting with the decidedly less suffocating air.
They found Jades' friend near one of the ponds.
When the hero saw her, the first thing that occurred to him was that she came out of one of those fairy tales starring fairies, elves and other creatures of that type.
Lillylia in particular resembled a kind of elf.
She was small in stature, with lilac-colored skin, small pointed ears and long dark pink hair tied in a small high tail.
Even her eyes were pink.
She had bright blue marks along the arms and shoulders, similar to tattoos.
"Lillylia!" Jades called, waving a hand.
"Uh? Hey, hi Jades!" Lillylia stood up with a radiant smile.
From that distance Ben hadn't noticed that she was with her feet inside the pond, the water that came to her mid-calf.
The Eukaryotalis came out of the pond, dripping water everywhere.
She wore knee-length brown trousers and a dark green top whose edge was rolled up showing her flat belly.
Her feet were barefoot.
"Hey, Lillylia! How are you?" Jades asked.
"I'm fine, thank you" she answered, then she noticed Ben's presence behind her friend and blinked.
"Oh! My lord!" she added with a slight bow "Forgive me, I hadn't noticed you"
"Ehy, it's okay" the human said "There's no need for such reverence, just call me Ben"
"… Oh, okay! Indeed Jades had told me that you are not like the other lords of the palace" Lillylia smiled "Did you come for a walk? If you accept advice, the best time to do it, it's in the late afternoon, when the leucojum begin to open their petals for the night"
"Actually, I need your help to do something" Ben admitted "Jades told me you could help me"
"If I can, of course, what do you need?"
"Well, I need you to hide something for me …"
...
As promised, the entry of Looma Red Wind ^^ Do you remember the episode "Rules of engagement"? Well, here we are!
Too bad that Ben was not around to appreciate Looma's courtship gifts XD
But now, through Sandra, she has discovered what happened and she's more than willing to do justice(?) and … even more.
I wanted to give some space also to poor Sandra, just remember she's not evil, only desperate.
And let's meet another OC of mine, Lillylia the palace gardener and Jades' dear friend.
After her, only one more OC character of mine is missing, after which there will be no others.
We will see him in the next chapter, see you! ^^
