"The Eternal Queen, Empress Gertrude and Princess Maeve of Connaught." Jeeves announced as Lina sat in the upstairs parlor with Luna, Amelia and Sylphiel as they discussed the twin's latest manifestations of power.

All four of them got to their feet as the Eternal Queen entered with Maeve. Gertrude walked up to Lina and pulled her into an embrace, and Lina said, "Gourry will be relieved to see that you are recovered and up and about again."

"We Gabrievs take our lickings and keep on ticking!" Gertrude said, "Nothing keeps us down for long."

"About that," Lina said as they all took their seats, "There's not any reason for your amplified senses, strength and endurance, is there?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Gertrude asked.

"Well, I mean there's no elf or dragon in your ancestry?" Lina said as the Eternal Queen fell into a different conversation with Amelia and Luna.

Trudy laughed and waved her hand dismissively as Jeeves came in with a tray filled with tea and biscuits, "Oh, but even if there were, I wouldn't have been paying attention. I have no idea really."

"Whoa. It's not often that you remind me of Gourry." Lina said as she grabbed a cup.

"Whatever do you mean?" Gertrude said sharply.

"Oh, well, if I ask Gourry a question about your family he tends to say he wasn't paying attention."

"Well, there are so many lies and exaggerations." Trudy explained, "I mean, some of it has to be true. We have to have been descended from the Swordsman of Light and all that. But other stuff? It just gets ridiculous! Your head either gets turned by it or you learn to tune it out."

"Oh, that makes sense. In a twisted sort of way."

Gertrude took a sip of tea and asked, "Where is my dear brother?"

"Fishing at the lake with my dad and Zel. Dad gives them life lessons on fatherhood right now." Lina explained, "And given that the twins are now opening portals, we need all the lessons we can get!"

The Eternal Queen looked up from her conversation, "Did I hear that correctly? They can open portals?"

Lina took a moment to explain about the events that happened when the twins were kidnapped and their more recent experiments with opening and closing portals. When she finished, the three royals were looking at Lina in astonishment. "Well, you are going to have your hands full." The Eternal Queen finally said, though an unusually pensive look crossed her face.

"Have you found a way to get them to stop?" Maeve asked.

Lina laughed nervously as she shifted awkwardly in her seat, "Um, no."

The Eternal Queen chuckled, and a measure of relief washed through Lina, "Well, I did reason that your children would inherit your wanderlust. Yet it manifested far earlier than I would have ever anticipated."

And then the laughter rolled out of Lina as she put a hand over her stomach and took a deep breath to reply, "You have a point there."

"Think of how far they could have traveled already!" Amelia said, "Worlds and lands we've never dreamed of! Across the ocean even."

"As enticing and romantic as that is, perhaps we ought to get affairs in order in this peninsula before we cross the ocean." Gertrude said.

"Do you have anything in mind?" Sylphiel asked.

"I plan to return to the Elmekian Empire at the end of the week." Gertrude explained, "But I would like to see the school in operation to get a feel for what a similar school in Elmekia would look like, if that is alright."

"Of course." Lina said.

"This is also a good time to mention our plans for advancing upon Dils." The Eternal Queen said, "This does not leave this room. But we are working on a plan to liberate the country, along with the Duchy of Kalmaat and Ralteague and Saillune and a few of the kingdoms of the Coastal Alliance."

"What do you need from me?" Lina asked.

"Focus on your work here." The Eternal Queen said. "We're hoping you have already weakened them enough that we can quickly push them out of Dils, and once that is liberated we will push forward to Lyzeille."

"And enjoy having me as a student while you can." Maeve said as the merriment she was suppressing started to spill out, "It will be my last semester."

"What!?" Lina exclaimed, slightly offended that Maeve seemed so happy to leave. "It will not! You still have much to learn."

"But I am going to be married!" Maeve announced as a huge grin broke upon her face as hearts shone in her eyes, and Lina recognized the look of a love struck teenager.

She also nearly dropped her teacup, "What!?"

"Once Dils is freed, someone will need to be placed on the throne." Maeve explained, "My grandmother was a princess from Dils. And as the royal family that had been living in Dils has been executed, my claim to their throne is very strong. And there is a Duke in Ralteague whose mother was a princess from Dils, so his claim is just as strong. We met over the break and found ourselves agreeable to one another and plan to wed after Dils is freed and to rule together as husband and wife."

But you're so young. Lina thought as a tightness spread through her chest. But then, she was also aware that plenty of princesses Maeve's age found themselves wed. Lina set her cup down as Amelia said, "The Kingdom of Saillune offers our congratulations! Have you officially announced this yet?"

"No. We plan to make the announcement before we advance upon Dils. We are still gathering troops and drawing plans. We can't say for sure when we will advance upon Dils, only that between now and the time that the semester ends, Maeve will be called from Maninstit to the battlefield." The Eternal Queen smiled as she grabbed Maeve's hand, "And then to the altar."

"So you may not even finish the semester?" Lina said.

"I will stay as long as I can." Maeve replied as she glowed with happiness. "Learn as much as I can! But I feel ready, because of all that you have taught me."

But I don't feel like I've taught you near enough. Lina somehow managed to stop herself from saying it as as she put a smile on her face and pushed her reservations aside. Suddenly, it was much easier to understand why her mother was so upset over Luna leaving. Maeve wasn't even her own daughter, but Lina was not happy at the idea of letting her go just yet. Still, it wasn't her decision to make. So what else could she do but say, "By the way, congrats!"

Lina and Gourry had been a bit nervous about including Naga and Moe in their couple's dinner with Zel, Amelia, Sylphiel and Rick. Moe was a servant, and Naga was Naga and her penchant for antagonizing Amelia was hard to ignore. But so far it was going well. Naga wasn't wearing the severely modest grey dress, but a rather lovely gown of dark blue velvet that suited her so well that it was some how more maddening than the black bikini. You could take her seriously as a sorceress and princess for one thing. But it also had the strange effect of mellowing her personality. So much that it wasn't until towards the end of dinner that things became tense.

"Maeve is just so young." Sylphiel said.

"I thought so as well." Lina said, "But then, I defeated Shabranigdu at her age."

"You were very young then." Zelgadis pointed out.

"I was, wasn't I?" Lina said with a wistful smile.

"I was nearly married at that age." Naga said, "Thank goodness that fell through. But in royal circles, a woman my age is an old maid! Most women marry at around Maeve's age, to be honest."

"And she is so in love!" Amelia said as she sighed. "Did you see how she lit up when she talked about him? Most royals, when they marry for duty, are not so lucky to be in love. It will work out splendidly!"

"But he's her cousin!" Lina said, and then she shuddered. While Lina hadn't exactly had a gaggle of cousins to play with when she was growing up, the thought of marrying someone so closely related disgusted her.

"Well, of course he is." Amelia said, "Most of the royal families are cousins of some sort."

"But doesn't it gross you out?" Lina said.

"Well, Alfred was gross and creepy." Naga said as she set her fork down.

"He was a dear! Until he met up with those Mazoku." Amelia said as she lowered her head, "They corrupted him."

"He went looking for them!" Naga shot back, and Lina wished she hadn't brought it up. "And you only liked him because he was buttering you up so you'd agree to marry him and he could get the throne. As soon as he'd nabbed it he would have ignored you while he chased the maids around the bedroom. Trust me."

Amelia turned read as she clenched her fist around her knife and shuddered with suppressed rage. Sylphiel coughed and said, "So how long will Maeve remain with us?"

"That's undetermined." Lina said, seizing on the change in topic as the air charged with tension between the sisters, "We'll just have to focus and push her as much as we can until it's time for her to graduate."

"At least Maeve is already very motivated and driven." Gourry said.

"Yes, I wish I had more time, but she is one of our top students and very accomplished. So I can feel good about graduating her." Lina said, "Even if there's a difference between knowing this stuff and implementing it."

"I'd say this school does a good job of giving hands on knowledge. Maeve has already faced down Deep Sea Dolphin and other threats." Zelgadis reminded her, "Because of that, she's more prepared than most monarchs, especially now that Mazoku are trying to take over kingdoms. Which makes her the best person to reclaim Dils and keep it safe from Mazoku influence."

"That's a good point." Lina said as she finished eating and looked around to see that most everyone else was as well as the conversation lulled.

People started standing up to leave, and Rick asked, "So, is everyone ready for the kids to come back tomorrow?"

Lina chuckled as she reflected on how eerily quiet it had been without the students. "Bring it on!"

Moe got up from the bed as one of the babies started crying, "Break time's over." He said as he gave Naga an apologetic smile before he walked out of his room.

Naga watched him leave and tried to not feel resentful over just how much time he spent working. She'd never realized how long and hard servants worked until her interest in Moe grew. And now that they were together it was hard to spend time without him outside the nursery. Where there was almost always a baby needing tending. And considering that school was resuming, asking for Moe to take a week off so they could have some time alone together was out of the question. It wasn't fair. Especially since she wasn't in the mood to hold and comfort babies with him. For a moment she warred with whether or not to follow him.

It didn't take her long to make her decision. She walked into the nursery and found Moe holding one of Lina's twins while Amelia sat in a rocking chair with Justina. Amelia's eyes were closed as she rocked back and for a moment Amelia hoped she was asleep. But then her dark blue eyes fluttered open and locked on her, and the air became charged with their unresolved conflict, so much that Justina started to fuss a bit.

Something broke within Naga. This need to hurt her sister was also hurting her niece. And Naga's stomach twisted at the thought. She sat in an empty rocking chair beside Amelia and started to rock back and forth. When she finally spoke, she surprised even herself with what she said, "It hurts when I see you hold her."

"Huh?" Amelia replied.

"Because I keep thinking about how Mom should be here to see it."

Amelia was quiet as she bounced Justina, and eventually Naga continued, "Every time I look at you I think about how she should be able to see you now, all grown up."

The pain that Naga struggled to push away all the time boiled over once more, and before she could even think about leaving to get a drink, the dam bust forth. "Oh Sis!" Amelia exclaimed as she got up and put her arms around her, pressing Justina between them, "I miss her too."