With Sabastian and Potemkinme properly cowed, Mero let out a breath before smiling beatifically. "So where is my mother staying?" she asked them happily.

"At the usual hotel," Sabastian explained in a relieved tone as he no longer felt like he was about to collapse under the weight of Mero's displeasure.

"Then do be so kind as to make the arrangements," she instructed happily. "We'll all be going to see my mother. I want to show my new friends - and future family - the hotel our kingdom thinks so highly of, and introduce them all to my mother. After all, before she makes a decision regarding my engagement, she should meet the prospective groom."

"Yay!" Caboose declared happily. "New family!"

"Y-yes, Your Highness!" Potemkinme confirmed, though he visibly flinched at the 'future family' comment.

"While we're waiting," Miia began as the two fish butlers dashed out, "I've got a bone to pick with you, Mero. I didn't say anything when you were putting them in their place, but where do you get off relegating the rest of us to co-wife status?" Her voice remained calm up until the end, where it suddenly spiked into an angry, hissing shriek. "You're the last to get the engagement approved, after all!"

"Well, we're all going to be sharing the duties and pleasures of being Sire's wives, aren't we?" Mero asked happily. "Doesn't that make us co-wives?"

"Well...yeah, but-"

"Though if you mean 'how dare I declare myself first place', I wasn't," Mero continued with an angelic smile. "I happily embrace my role as one of the later wives. In all fairness, Polt is most likely to be First Wife. Not only does she have the most skill and experience with domestic matters, she is First Lieutenant."

"Gyurk!" Miia's scathing retort wound up swallowed at the mention of 'domestic matters', as she knew her own domestic skills left a great deal to be desired. Only Caboose was able to eat her cooking, she tended to make messes worse when she tried to clean, and she could not keep up with Suu when it came to mothering (that particular duty seemed firmly split between Kii, Papi, and Rachnera of all people).

"The arrangements are prepared, Your Highness," Potemkinme declared as he stepped back in, gesturing to where a rather large stretch limo sat at the curb.

"Then let's go!" Mero exclaimed eagerly, gently pushing her chair out the door by the wheels until Caboose came up behind her to push it.

Caboose sat back in the limo, watching all his girls as they reacted to the ride to the oceanside in their own way. Suu and Papi eagerly stared out at the waters as they raced by, with Mero watching on in amusement. Rachnera sat huddled in one corner, since there was only so much room even inside a limo for her to stretch her legs. Cerea sat in the opposite corner, her legs carefully folded so as to not accidentally crush them under her own weight, facing a similar problem to Rachnera.

Polt sat one seat away from Caboose, with Kii between them. Apparently, the salt tang of the sea air didn't entirely agree with her plant nature, and so she found herself clinging to Caboose for comfort as she was so far beyond her 'home forest', as she now thought of the forest greenhouse in Blue Base. She'd actually shrunk down somewhat as a result of even having to leave her mobile stump-throne behind, her figure now closer to Papi's in build.

Miia had curled her lower body up as much as she could without blocking in Mero's wheelchair, and was watching the waves through a separate window from Papi and Suu. Lala had been nowhere to be found when they gathered to make the trip, but Caboose was confident she'd show up if she was needed...or if something would interest her. He was upset the girls of MON and Kuku couldn't come, but they were all busy.

As a thought finally occurred to him, he turned to Sabastian. "So this is about the engagement, right?" he asked curiously.

"I...do not know," Sabastian admitted. "Until Merouta-sama brought it up, I had not heard about it."

"Oh." Caboose turned that over in his mind for a time.

"Then why the summons?" Polt asked curiously, deciding to get the question Caboose would eventually reach out there before they reached their destination.

Sabastian pulled out some paperwork. "From what we've heard from our security forces, a dangerous individual is targeting the Princess! The Scylla...Oct!" He showed Caboose and Polt a grained out picture of what looked like an either masked or scarred face under an all-covering robe. "She's a villain who has deceived many mermaids! The information we received says the Princess is her next target!"

"The Queen is very worried about this," Potemkinme indicated. "We would have arranged for security personnel to protect the Princess, but...apparently hiring security forces for someone else's embassy isn't diplomatically feasible."

"So what do you make of this?" Polt asked Caboose curiously as she showed the paper to him.

"I think Miia's going to be upset with me again," Caboose deduced calmly.

"Huh?" Polt asked in confusion.

"I like Connect the Dots!" Caboose explained happily.

All the girls glanced at each other as they tried to parse that odd statement. Before an answer could be deduced, however, the limo came to a halt. "We're here," Potemkinme declared as they began to unload.

The hotel resembled an ordinary hotel building rising into the sky for the lower half of the floors. However, the top half of the building looked more like a castle than a standard human building, or even a skyscraper.

"Which is Hudson's room?" Caboose asked curiously, staring at the castle-portion of the building.

"I...beg your pardon?" Sabastian asked in confusion.

"Oh, did they already move to the clock tower?" Caboose asked sadly.

Everyone exchanged glances, as Caboose seemed to be more confusing than usual. "Enter, please," Sabastian finally instructed, hoping for something to eventually make sense.