AN: This may be seem like the family love is moving a little too fast, but I hope you all understand that this bonding and connection was pre-determined by a higher power and will be explained in later chapters. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

It had been a little over a couple of months since I arrived to this fairy kingdom. I still don't remember anything of my past, but it doesn't really bother me. I have this weird gut feeling that it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie and move on with making new memories with my new family.

That's another thing that has changed since I landed here. I now call Marianne mama. It all happened after I got sick and let the name of endearment slip out when she was trying to get my fever down. I was so embarrassed at the time, but Marianne just smiled and said she didn't mind and was happy that I felt that way since she also looked at me as her daughter. So, I continued to call her mama, and she's been trying to convince her dad to make it official. However, the king doesn't want to do anything until after the winter months; in case my 'real family comes looking for me.'

I understand that he is worried that mama will get her hopes up too fast, but I honestly believe that I'm here for good—especially since no one has ever seen my kind before.

The other part of my mind thinks he might be embarrassed to call something as ugly as me as his grandchild, but mama reassures me that this isn't the case. According to her, King Dagda is just as eager to announce my entry into the royal family, but is hesitant because of his own paternal instincts. He cannot fathom how any father would forget about finding his daughter and believes that mine is frantically looking for me.

He really is a good man.

There is just something in my gut that tells me he is wrong though. I just don't have the stomach to tell him this.

Anyway, it may be for the best because Roland still hates me…and if Marianne is my mama then after today he will be my papa…

I am not happy about this one bit and I know for a fact that Roland feels the same way.

On more than one occasion, I have heard him trying to convince mama to send me to live with the elves or convince her to not adopt me at the end of the winter months. Mama put her foot down on both those matters. She told him that she was now a packaged deal and to take it or leave it. He immediately stopped pestering her about me and apologized saying how he was 'scared for her well-being' and 'loves her so much' etc. She gushed and forgave him and he hasn't talked about sending me away since, but I've heard that he still sends out his minions to try to find my 'real family.'

It scares the hell out of me that he might one day succeed in sending me away.

Just the thought of never seeing my mama again brings tears to my eyes. Dammit, I can't be crying. I have to be strong on mama's big day. Even though I don't like the jerk, mama still loves him and he makes her happy; mama's happiness is all that matters to me.

With this last thought of determination, I wiped the tears from my eyes and focused on happy thoughts before turning towards mama's vanity mirror.

I smiled at the sight of myself in the outfit mama had picked out for me. She had me wearing a pretty and simple lilac and purple dress. The dress started as a light lilac shade on the top and eventually turned into a dark purple color once it reached the bottom hem of the skirt. It looked much like my green dress, but mama had this specifically tailored to my shape and it didn't have any wing slits in the back; she knows I'm self-conscious about my scars.

Even if I don't know where they came from, I don't want anyone to see them.

My hair was pulled back in its usual black headband so my 'cute, little freckles' were on display. To finish the look off, mama had placed some daisy earrings in my ears and black ballet flats on my feet. Mama has a good taste in style and fashion.

But I'm starting to get worried because it's been a while since she left this morning…

Mama had this weird look on her face when she looked at my earrings. She then leaped in the air in a panic screeching that she forgot to make Roland a boutonniere and dashed out the window. That was a while ago and Aunt Dawn said that she and the sprites would go look for her, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of any of them since they left.

I hope that they are alright.

I moved towards the window and sat down on the reading nook. I might as well just wait and keep a look out until someone comes back. My legs were stretched out and my body was beginning to relax when I spotted mama's figure flying towards me. The smile on my face soon faded when I realized that she was hunched over and crying.

What…what happened?

Why is she…

I didn't get to ponder this for long as Mama flew right past me and landed on the rose bed. Sobs racking her body so violently that her small frame was shaking.

My legs quickly raced towards her and my arms went around her torso as I hugged her with all my might.

I didn't make any shushing noises, I didn't ask what happened, and I didn't whisper any false words of positivity.

I knew none of those things would help—I just held her and stroked her hair as she wailed with sorrow that broke my heart into two.

This continued for several, long minutes, but I didn't let my embrace slacken.

My mama needed me, and I was going to be there for her; just like she is always there for me.

I barely noticed the sprites had come in through the window until one of them gave her a handkerchief.

The wails had eventually subsided into gentle sniffles, but I could tell she wasn't ready to talk about anything and stayed silent as she stared off into space. Eventually, a knock on the door broke the silence. Mama seemed to realize where she was and looked at me in shock before giving me a gentle smile and a hug. Mama then got up from the bed and led me over to the doorway; she rubbed at her eyes with her free hand before she opened the door.

I heard Aunt Dawn's voice at the door, but was more focused on mama than the words coming out of her mouth. Mama asked her to take me for a walk or something while she sorted some things out. Aunt Dawn asked her to tell her what happened, but mama wouldn't budge and told her to tell everyone that the wedding was off.

Shocked questions left Aunt Dawn's mouth, but they fell on deaf ears as mama closed the door on the both of us. Before Aunt Dawn could knock on the door again, I quickly grabbed her hand and suggested that we let mama have some alone time to work things out and see how she feels in the morning.

Aunt Dawn didn't like to leave mama alone, but knew that I was right to give her some space. She picked up my hand and asked what I wanted to do.

"Can we go to the library and read for a bit?"

"Of course we can," she replied with a small smile on her face and lead us towards the inner rooms of the castle.

I hope mama feels better soon.

Soon enough, spring turned into summer and summer turned into fall. Time was slowly helping mama heal her broken heart after she called off the wedding. She still won't tell anyone what happened; Roland was more than happy to tell the entire kingdom that she had left him at the altar brokenhearted. However, I knew that there was more to the story than what he was letting on—mama wouldn't have left that jerk unless he gave her a good reason to.

She's been studying fighting and training endlessly since that day to make herself stronger mentally and physically. Mama says it's so that she won't need anybody to rule beside her; she'll be strong enough to protect her family and the kingdom all by herself. I'm happy that Roland is out of the picture, but it breaks my heart when I hear mama talk like that.

Everybody needs somebody.

I looked over the edge of my book, pausing my reading on the history of the kingdom, when I heard mama let out a frustrated cry. She's been going at the training session with the sprites harder than usual. My gut says that she had another argument with grandpa again.

"Uhm…mama?" I hesitantly called out to her. Probably best not to get on her bad side when she's wielding a really sharp sword.

"Yeah, baby? What's—ergh!—up?" She asked as she knocked the shield away and parried with the sword. Obviously, there were multiple sprites working to hold up the shield and three sprites holding up the sword, but it still seemed unfair for the sprites when mama was this upset.

"Uh…well, are you angry?"

"What?! Of course—ah ha!—not!"

"Really? 'Cos you seem a bit tense…"

"Nope, I'm not—take that!—tense at all."

"So you didn't get in an argument with grandpa today?"

"Wai—wha—hey! Time out already!" Mama shouted at the sprites after they almost knocked the sword from her hands. The sprites were all too happy to have a bit of a reprieve and immediately dropped the heavy armor and weaponry before going towards the river for a drink.

Mama slid her sword back in its sheath before turning her full attention towards me. She flew up to the rock that I was perched upon and sat cross-legged in front of me.

"Okay, who told you about the argument I had with your grandpa?" She interrogated me with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Nobody," I told her honestly, "I just guessed that you had a fight with grandpa since you were training with the sprites extra hard today."

"Oh really? How do you know that I didn't have a fight with someone else? Maybe I had a fight with…with your Aunt Dawn," she smugly asked me—thinking she had caught me in a lie.

"That's because you aren't out looking for Aunt Dawn."

"I'm sorry…what?"

"Whenever you have a fight with Aunt Dawn, she flies away or you storm off, then she does something reckless to spite you, and you spend the rest of the day looking for her to either save her or make sure she's okay," I told her in a matter of fact manner, "Whereas when you get in a fight with grandpa, you spend the whole day training until you drop so you don't have to think about whatever the argument is about and can pretend like nothing ever happened when you see him again."

Mama just looked at me in shock before rubbing her temples.

"Geeze, I need to stop forgetting how smart you are," she mumbled to herself before giving me a rueful grin.

"Alright little miss smarty-pants, you caught me. I did have an argument with your grandfather," mama conceded before cutting off my victory cheer, "However, I wasn't training to forget the conversation."

I looked at her in utter confusion and disbelief.

"Then…why were you training?"

"I…I was training so that I could calm down…and not hit your grandpa… but mostly to calm down before I bring up the subject again," mama admitted in embarrassment.

"Your arguments don't normally make you that upset…or violent. And you never want to bring up the topic after you two yell at each other. What were you—" Mama cut me off by placing her hand over my mouth.

"That's something for the grown ups to discuss and something I don't want you to worry about," mama told me with finality in her voice.

"Uhm okay, but—"

"No, Imogen. I mean it. I'll tell you about it once your grandpa and I come to an agreement," with that final command mama stood up and dusted off her purple tunic.

"Now how about you launch those clay disks at me and we'll test my agility," mama told me while offering her hand to help me up.

I hesitated in taking her hand…I really wanted to know what was going on, but I knew mama wasn't going to budge. Guess I better take what I can get.

"…Okay, mama."

After mama's training session, we both went to the castle to get cleaned up before dinner. My room looked just like mama's, the only difference was that I had a large daisy bed and a bookshelf in place of a vanity. Mama liked the idea of me focusing more on books than my looks and her interest in my education only skyrocketed after her heart was broken.

The green dress that I was wearing earlier was covered in dirt and grime, so I changed into a pale pink one instead. Rather than wear my hair in the usual head band, I pulled my brown locks into a loose bun. Since I still had some time before dinner, I decided to go down to the library and get the next volume of the fairy kingdom history. Grabbing the previous volume and my ballet flats, I hurried down the winding corridors towards the glass paneled doors that held my favorite room in the entire castle. My eyebrows scrunched in curiosity when I saw the door ajar and heard…mama? Is that grandpa also in there?

I strained my neck and focused as hard as I could to hear what they were saying. I really shouldn't be eavesdropping, but man am I curious to know what got mama so angry earlier.

"Marianne, be reasonable. You need to think this throu—"

"I've thought this through over and over again, dad. I need you to make her officially part of the family before we hibernate for the winter months!"

"Marian—"

"Dad, listen to me, please. If she isn't officially adopted as my daughter, then by law, I cannot place an omniscient spell on her. I won't be able to wake up if she is in danger. I could potentially be sleeping away while my childis hurt or dying. How would that make you feel? And don't act like you still don't put the spell on Dawn and me even though we're adults. I know you, dad; I know you're a good parent—which is why you need to let me be one."

"Marianne, I love that little girl as much as you do, but she will be fine. The chief elf leader swore to me that she would be protected with the other elves in the underground bunkers. To top it off she'll be staying with yours and Dawn's friend, Sunny. Nothing will happen to her while we sleep," grandpa tried to placate mama while not denying the 'hover parenting' into their adult years.

"Dad, you are not listening. It doesn't matter if we luck out and nothing bad happens to Imogen while we are asleep. It's the fact that I'm her mother and won't know if she is safe or hurt; meanwhile all the other fairy parents will know the wellbeing of their children. And all because you still believe that someone maybe looking for her. Well I got news for you Dad, if I ever lost Imogen, it wouldn't take me nine, count them, nine months to find her. Hell, it wouldn't even take me a month to find that little girl. Even a week would be pushing it, but if someone had crippled my wings then I could see that being plausible…But I digress, that little girl is mine; she became mine the moment that idiot, Roland, waltzed her tear-stained face in front of me. She became my little girl when I bathed her, clothed her, fed her, read her bedtime stories, and hugged all her fears away. Imogen just cemented that she felt the same way when she called me mama after I gave her medicine for the first time. All I need you to do is decree it so that I can protect my daughter. Please dad, I'm begging you," mama pleaded with grandpa towards the end of her speech and truth be told, it sounded like she was trying to choke back tears.

I really wanted to rush in there and hug her.

The silence seemed to drag on for an eternity. It was so deafening, that for a moment I was afraid to breathe and be found out.

"Marianne, you must think me a monster…" Grandpa sighed out before I heard shuffling and drawers opening.

"Dad, I don't—"

"Please, let me say this," Grandpa interrupted, "I never thought of your feelings when I told you to hold off on the adoption. I just—I –can't understand how her birth family can forget about her…I mean I know that Imogen doesn't remember anything about them, but they couldn't forget that cute, little, freckled face smiling at them; could they? I cannot imagine going a day without seeing that smiling face at the breakfast table or having that little hand tug at my arm to ask me questions about our magic and history..."

Grandpa's voice trailed off as though he were lost in thought.

"Dad…do you…have you been wanting to adopt Imogen all this time?"

"Of course I have! I kept trying to smother the feeling, but every time I would hear 'grandpa' echo in the halls…that damn feeling of happiness would burst and make my heart flip in joy." Grandpa admitted to mama. "I've always wanted grandchildren and when Imogen stumbled into our lives, I was ecstatic to grow our family, especially when it was you who took up the mother role. But then when she didn't know where she came from or if she had family…I told myself to not get attached because there was no way that such a sweet child didn't have someone looking for her."

"Dad, she has someone looking for her—it's us. Our family needs her, I need her, and I think she needs us too. Fate brought her to us, but we have to do the rest if we want to keep our new family together. There aren't any other humans here and…I don't think I would give her up to them if they did come around…"

"You see, this is what I was afraid of Marianne. You've gotten too attached too quickly and—"

"Dad! Hear me out. Yes, I am attached to Imogen, I won't deny that. But I wouldn't give her back to her old family because of the marks on her back. There are even some old scars on the tops of her legs… I don't think these marks were caused by an accident—somebody did that to her and I'll be damned if anyone hurts my baby girl ever again." Mama said with determination in her voice.

"…Why didn't you tell me about this? Is…is she okay? Does she remember anything abo—"

"That's why I didn't tell you. You want to find out what happened, but Imogen is embarrassed about her scars and I can tell that she doesn't want to talk about them…Even if she remembered how she got them, she wouldn't tell anyone. She wants to move forward with her life and I plan on helping her do just that," Mama spoke so softly towards the end that I had to lean in a bit further to hear her. She really is perceptive of my feelings—it's one of the reasons that I love her so much.

"Have you asked her if she wishes to be adopted? I know she looks at us as her family, but she could be secretly hoping that her birth family…" Grandpa trailed off towards the end with a sniffle. Is grandpa crying?

"No, I haven't asked her yet…I wanted to get your permission first before I raise her hopes up," mama began saying before letting out a sigh, "That's a big lie. Truthfully, I haven't asked her because I'm scared she may not want to stay here with me—that she really wants her 'human' family to come rescue her and be with her own kind. But I can't help except hope that she…"

"I see…well you have my blessing to adopt her, but we really need to sit down with Imogen an—"

My feet rushed through the door before I could stop myself.

"Yes!" I shouted as I raced towards mama with open arms. She was standing dumbfounded in front of the desk that grandpa was sitting at with papers in his hands. His expression was also one of shock as I leapt towards my mother to hug her with all my might.

"Imogen, what…?" My mother trailed off as she hugged me back.

"Sorry, I know it isn't nice to eavesdrop, but the door was slightly left open and I heard you two talking and I want you to adopt me and officially be my mama and I don't want to go back to my birth family even if they ever do show up because I know that you are supposed to be my mama and no one else and, and, and…" I breathlessly told her at 100 words per minute. Not containing my excitement in the slightest after hearing how my family loved me so much.

Soft chuckles from mama and grandpa graced my ears as I felt grandpa give a big bear hug to both mama and me.

"This is wonderful—I am so happy that I can officially welcome you into the family, little one. Could you ever forgive this old, sentimental fool for not doing it sooner?" Grandpa asked me while leaning down to my eye level; sincerity and sorrow were heavy in his eyes.

"Of course, grandpa! That's what families do," I told him before giving him a kiss on his bearded cheek. This perked the old king right up as he let out joyous laugh before taking me from mama's embrace and lifting me high in the air.

"Then we must start the paperwork at once! Oh! I must have the royal announcers assemble everyone in the town square tomorrow morning!" Grandpa quickly put me down before racing back towards his desk for the papers that were in his hand earlier and grabbed a pen on the way.

"Why do you need an assembly tomorrow, grandpa?" I asked him curiously while trying to sneak a peek at what he was writing on the parchment.

"Well, the king has to announce when a new princess arrives, doesn't he? Princess Imogen daughter of Princess Marianne by royal decree!" Grandpa boldly exclaimed with great flair.

He is so amazing!

"Yep, and grandpa will make sure to put in a bylaw about any nay-sayers to the new decree will be beheaded!" Mama helpfully chirped in with a sardonic grin on her face.

I laughed so hard at the innocent look mama gave grandpa who was scolding her on her diplomacy and tact.

Stars above, I love my family.