Ram stood over Steve, pushing her hand down against him to force him back onto the staircase where he was sitting. There was a scowl on her round face and even with the hair blocking her eyes it was clear to anyone looking at her how upset she was.

"Will you hold still?" Ram said.

"Couldn't we go somewhere more comfortable to take care of this," Steve said.

"I will not allow you to track blood all over my floors!" Ram shouted.

From her spot at the top of the stairs Emilia tried to understand what she was taking in. Ram was over an injured Captain Rogers, not tending to him but waiting for something. Just as she was about to rush down to his aid, Rem came running from the hall that led to the kitchens.

"I came as soon as I can. What happened?" Rem asked as she dropped to her knees next to Steve's shoulder and began to cast a healing spell over the spot where he had been hurt.

Emilia descended the stairs as he was explaining to them what this was. "That Elsa woman from before ambushed me in the woods, I fought her off easily enough. Then a mabeast dove out of the forest and bit me."

"Dearest sister, I thought that you said that you repaired the barrier?" Rem asked.

"I did," Ram said. "But if this person is damaging the barrier to draw us out there to keep fixing it I can't exactly be held responsible for that."

Rem turned back to her healing with a small hmpf, but said nothing else as she focused her efforts on Steve's shoulder.

As Emilia reached his side, Puck flitted out from behind her hair. "Did you say that you were bitten by a mabeast?" Puck asked.

"Right, my guess is a Wolgarm. We need to find someone who can remove a curse," said Ram. "It'd be best if we went and got Lord Roswaal," she said as she got to her feet.

A small voice echoed down the hall from opposite the kitchen. "That won't be necessary, I suppose," Beatrice stepped into view clutching a book to her chest, the cover of which was almost as wide as her. She padded down the hallway, yawning as she walked.

"Good morning Betty," Puck said.

"Hey, Bubby!" Beatrice said in that super sweet voice she seemed to reserve for him.

Steve grunted. "It's a bit demoralizing laying here like this," he said.

"It will be even more demoralizing if you get any blood on my freshly mopped floors," Ram threatened.

"Come on now, Ram, Rem is just going to have to go over what you mopped again to get what you missed anyway," Puck teased.

As Rem finished, she lifted Steve's head with considerable easy and deposited it on her lap. "Is that better, Captain Rogers?" Even as she spoke her words were becoming clumsier.

"I think so," Steve said. Then Rem started to run her hand through his hair. "Yeah, actually."

Beatrice crowded in before he could answer and touched his shoulder, trying to reveal the thread of the curse. "Wait, did you kill the Wolgarm who bit you?" She asked.

Steve nodded, his eyes closed as Rem moved her fingers through his hair.

"Hmm, then there is no curse, I suppose."

"That's it?" Steve asked.

"That's is, in fact."

Rem started as he went to sit up. "You should still take it easy," Rem suggested.

"If it's possible maybe take someone with you if you go out or exercise inside of the property?" Asked Emilia.

Steve got to his feet and rotated his shoulder, trying to get a feel for it. "I'd be more careful, but I get the idea that she got what she came for," he said.

"What's that?" Ram asked.

"This magic stuff is actually magical, like you wouldn't be able to tell that something ripped me open right there," he said pointing to you.

Ram flung his shirt into his face. "Put your clothes back on, Captain, you wouldn't want sister to pass out."

Beatrice shuffled back toward one of the doors in the hall that she had come out of. "Betty's not needed here anymore, I suppose."

"Thank you for the help again, Beatrice," Steve said. "And you too, Miss Rem, you're incredible," Steve rubbed her back he thanked her and even just from that he could tell that she was very pleased with herself.

Rem bowed. "Thank you, Captain Rogers. Now I have some duties to attend to," Rem moved a little faster than normal leaving the area.

As the group started to disperse, Emilia asked. "Has anyone seen Peter?"

"He's probably in his room," Steve said. "Can't imagine he would have much reason to get up super early in the morning."

"You're up early, though," Emilia said.

"Military lifestyle, they were pretty strict about lights out, wake up, and chow times," he explained. "Before you go find Peter, would you mind if I pick your brain about something?" Steve asked.

Emilia touched a finger to the side of her head. "Pick…my…brain?"

"Would you mind if I asked you a question about Elsa," asked Steve.

"I'll tell you what I can, but most of what I know is rumors," she said.

"How did she get like that?" Steve asked.

Emilia shook her head.

It was Puck that answered for her. "Best guess is that whatever happened to her, it happened in her homeland," he said.

"Homeland?" Steve asked.

"The black hair and pale skin combination isn't exactly native to Lugunica, if I had to guess she is probably from the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko to the North," Puck said.

"She did mention something about the first time she felt truly warm, so there's one mystery solved."

Puck flew over so that he was in front of Steve's face. "Kind of weird for her to reveal herself to you on the road and bait a fight out like that."

"I think that all she wanted was the fight," Steve said.

Puck cocked his small head to the side starting at Steve. "That was all she wanted eh?"

Emilia stepped closer too, looking down at Steve's mouth. "Did she bite your mouth. It looks like there might be lipstick there," she said.

"Okay, so she tried to kiss me, by force I might add," Steve said.

Puck burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny," Steve said.

"It really isn't, Puck. We need to help Steve, he's going to be a father soon and that crazed woman will be a mother."

Puck and Steve both turned to stare at her. After a moment, Steve waved. "I'm going to go take a bath, that's all you, Puck."

Peter remained in bed for most of the day, only coming down for dinner that night. The day had passed without much other incident and he repeated the previous day's routine in the evening. Checking to see how much charge the suit retained, going through some of the study work that Rem had given him (only for her to show up and work through some of it with him) and then a brief conversation with Emilia before she turned in for the night.

The dream came again though it wasn't as vivid and the white eyed shadow of a woman was more distant this time. He called out to her, asked her what she wanted and who she was, but her only response was the same thing she always said.

The next few days went like this without much difference. Steve worked out inside of the property in the morning, with him and Emilia nearby doing some stretches themselves and with him helping the maids with some of their work later by climbing up the walls of the house to remove overground vines and clean off stains.

He had lunch with Emilia and Puck inside of the gazebo. It was there the he noticed Rem carrying a small Captain America doll tucked into her apron. Where had she gotten that, was Steve carrying the things around on him?

After lunch Peter took some extra time to study and he managed to find Beatrice in her library to ask her for some reading suggestions. She flung him out through some form of magic with the book that she had told him to take.

The only deviation from all of this was him asking Roswaal for a chance to use a space in the house as a lab. It turned out that there was already one in the place. He could take some time to gather materials and mix them here to break things down and make more web fluid,. He had been working on a simplified formula based on things he was sure existed in this world, the yield wouldn't be as good, but it would be something.

Things progressed like this until it was the fourth day.

Outside in front to the mansion Steve had taken to working out, just shadow boxing and doing different little drills. He was really impressed that after getting his arm bitten into like that only a few days ago that he was completely able to use it as normal almost right after the healing spell had been performed.

Magic was really something else.

Magical, really.

"Captain, my dear Captain!" Came a singsong voice from nearby. He glanced back to see Roswaal Mathers standing a few feet away dressed in something a little more upscale than his usual finery, the coat on this outfit was cut with more pronounced tails and he wore a top hat perched atop his head.

"Lord Roswaal," Steve said glancing back at him. It took him a second to notice that there was something clutched under Roswaal's arm.

"I see you have spied what I came out here to give you," Roswaal said as he pulled the round shield from under his arm and handed it off to Steve. On the front of the shield was a hawk or some other bird of prey in what looked like a family crest.

Steve took it, feeling the weight in his hands and testing the balance of the thing. "I can borrow this?" He asked.

"You can have it. Though I would advise against losing it, the metal used by the elves to forge it is quite rare these days and almost certainly indestructible against most conventional means," Roswaal explained.

"Thank you. You don't know what this means to me," Steve said.

"Having you here is simply a pleasure, I can leave Miss Emilia and Rem and Ram without having the fret over their safety," he said.

"Leave?" Steve asked.

"Precisely. There is some business I must attend to," Roswaal said. "Speaking of which, I would like it if you and Peter could watch over the place until I return. Rem and Ram will be here to supervise."

"How long do you think you'll be?" Asked Steve.

"As long as it takes," Roswaal floated up into the air, his hand on top of the hat to keep it steady. "Maybe a day or two? Ta-ta for now!" He lifted up until he was little more than a dot in the sky and streaked off toward the tree line until he vanished.

"What the Hell? He can fly now?" Steve asked as he watched him go. Despite the fact that Roswaal could apparently fly, the most important thing for Steve to do right now was test this new shield out. Even holding it at his side, he felt complete again.

Peter wandered into the foyer of the house to find Ram and Rem slipping into cloaks and looking over a long strange of parchment. He walked over to them and pointed at the paper.

"I bet I could read some of that," he said.

"Then you can probably handle this shopping trip by yourself," Ram said.

"Oh, oh, you're going into town?" Peter asked.

"Yes," Rem said softly, "there's two more people here in the house than normal and we've run through food a little faster than expected," she explained.

"It's a pretty long trip to the Capital, right?"

"We're not going to the Capital, we're going to Irlam Village," Ram explained.

"I think that there was a town mentioned to be nearby. What if I tagged along and I could help you carry some stuff?" Asked Peter.

Rem looked up at him. "You're welcome to come if you want."

The walk to town was a little further than he thought it would be. Considering that Steve had said that he had gone out here before for a run and not hit anything it was a good distance away. The three of them walked in mostly silence for a long while. Peter pointed at Rem.

"Uh, Miss Rem, can I ask you something?" Peter asked.

"Hmm?"

"Did Steve give you that Captain America doll?"

It took her a second to realize what he was referring to, they didn't know what a Captain America was. The moment that she did, her neck, cheeks and shoulders all burned a bright red. "That's private, I think."

Peter gave her some time to calm down as he thought about how much nature there was out here. Sure, he had been outside of the city before and he didn't even live in the deep part of Manhattan, but it sure felt like there were more trees on the side of this road than there were in all of Queens. This road was so seldom traveled that they came across the site of Steve's fight with Elsa to find some of her knives strewn about the ground.

"He ran this far out?" Ram asked.

Peter nodded. "He's really fast."

"That idiot," said Ram.

Irlam Village came into view over the rise of the next small hill. It was a quaint little settlement nestled in the bend of a little river with the main center of the town marked by a large dirt square where people were gathering to trade and just talk.

From the moment that they entered it was like the maids were honored guests, Peter had to guess that being servants of the Lord of this area was sort of like being low level local celebrities, especially to these people. He had never seen anything like this, outside of shows. People spending most of their lives tending fields, shirtless, shoeless children dashing through the streets, life was busy and rough from the look of it.

But they seemed happy and fulfilled.

That was Peter's observation at least.

He felt someone observing him, he could feel their eyes digging into his side. He turned to see a skinny girl with strawberry blonde hair tied back with a large ribbon. Her big light blue eyes were locked on him as she stood there in her long shirt.

"Hey," Peter said.

She waved her reply.

"I'm Peter," he said.

"Petra."

Peter walked closer to her, his steps chosen carefully and as he neared her he saw that she was standing near an alley where there were other children crowded around. It seemed like when he and maids had come into town that they had hidden here.

"What's up, guys?" Peter asked squatting down to get on their level.

"Did those ladies capture you?" Asked a chubby boy near the front of the group.

"Capture me? Those two—I was just walking to town with them to make sure they got here safe and could carry everything back," Peter said.

A blonde girl shook her head. "They're Demi-humans. My mom said Mad Lord Roswaal is obsessed with them. They're all he hires."

Peter shook his head. "You don't have to be scared of Ram-Ram and Rem-Rem—okay, maybe the pink haired one is a little scary."

"Wait, where did you come from?" One of the twins asked Peter.

"The future," Peter said with a sly smile.

"Come on, let's go introduce ourselves to the maids," Peter said leading the kids off to meet them.

Mild.

Cain and Dine.

Lucas.

Meina.

Petra seemed to be the little ringleader. She for sure seemed to be the only reason that they were trusting Peter. After they had gotten comfortable around the maids and started calling them by the pet names that Peter realized, on second thought, were probably something that the maids only called each other.

"Did you tell them to call us that?" Asked Rem.

Peter nodded. "I was just trying to get them to stop being so scared," he said.

"Miss Ram-Ram, are you twins like us?" Asked Cain.

"Which one of you is the strongest!" Asked Dine.

Rem looked at them. "My sister is, of course."

The kids were cluttered around Rem and Ram for now, while Peter stood on the outside of the group watching them harass the twins for any kind of attention that they could get. He remembered being a kid, being so unused to new adults, especially ones who would readily ignore your conversation. Rem and Ram seemed vaguely intrigued by the kids, but also unsure of exactly what to do.

Someone tugged at the back of Peter's shirt. "Oh, hey," he said as he spotted the green eyed little girl with the blue hair in a neat braid.

She motioned for him to follow and he glanced back and decided to see what she needed really quick. He made his way with her toward the fence at the edge of town. She climbed through the poles of the fence and went out into a field to get a small brown puppy that she brought back with her.

"Oh, what's his name," he asked the little girl.

She didn't respond, her little smile just growing wide as she held the thing out.

"That puppy is so cute!" It was Petra, she had chased after Peter with Lucas following behind her. She imagined that this was their little dynamic, Lucas crushing on this girl and the only way that he knew how to express it was to shadow her.

"He's got a little bald spot on his head," said Peter. "I hope he's not hurt." As he reached his hand out to touch the little creature it wagged its tail. He rubbed the spot on the top of its head easily enough. Then there was a sharp jolt, his tingle caused him to jerk his hand away.

The puppy snapped at the air where his fingers had been and then growled.

The blue haired girl rubbed it, soothing it back into submission.

"Peter!" Rem called.

"What happened to you helping us?" Ram asked.

The little blue haired girl held the puppy out again as if she expected Peter to give petting it another try. He went to reach out and give it a goodbye rub and his tingle stuck again. He thought the best of it and jogged off to meet the maids.

"Coming, ma'am," he said. Peter waved back at the kids. "Be careful with your dog! Next time I come we'll hang out again."

"You promise?" Asked Petra.

"Promise!"

He took one glance back and saw the kids gathering around the blue haired girl and the puppy. The rest of them were looking at the stray dog, but the girl with the blue hair was staring after him with a slight smile. It was weird to think, but it felt almost like the little girl had wanted the dog to bite him.

Children could be so cruel.