Lauren awoke to something gently running down the side of her face, opened her eyes, rolled over and was surprised at whom looked down on her.
"Bo!"
"Good morning!" Bo said as she bent down and gave Lauren a gentle kiss.
"What are you doing here in Ashal?" Lauren asked as she sat up on her elbows. "What's going on? Are the children okay? Where have you been? I called looking for you." Lauren interrogated. Bo smiled and kissed Lauren again and this time Lauren fell back off her elbows and matched the intensity of Bo's kiss.
"Everything's fine." Bo said after they had broken their kiss. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you." Lauren replied. "Bo, I am so sorry for keeping the knowledge that my parents were alive away from you."
"Keeping that secret should have been the least of your worries, given my own parental issues."
"Your parental issues seemed more manageable."
"Even Aoife?" Bo asked.
"Even Aoife." Lauren replied then she suddenly looked at Bo intently. "Why are you here?"
"Emilia and Savina found information on what's causing the soil contamination both here and in and Nassoria."
"What? How? From where?" Lauren replied as she bolted out of bed nearly knocking Bo over.
"Zandri Labs. In fact, we found out quite a bit of information." Bo replied.
"Are they here?"
"Downstairs."
"I need to get dressed." Lauren said as headed into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Lauren joined Bo, Emilia, Kenzi, Savina and Elena around Elena's very large dining room table engaged in a call with Grand Ducal Jusso Laaksonnen and the Response Team of Dr. Machtemes, Dr. Corrandini, Dr. Asaro, Dr. Riko, and Popawi Grays, who were all scattered throughout Ashal. She looked over and saw Bas Kadine, Bas Yeager Elena's Bas, Bas Phaedrus, huddled in conversation.
"Dr. Lewis!" Savina greeted as she stood up and rounded the table.
"Savina! It's so great to see you again!" Lauren greeted as they hugged.
"This place is gorgeous!" Savina replied after they broke their hug.
"Wait until you see the rest of it." Lauren replied then turned to everyone. "Sorry I'm late joining you all."
"We were waiting for you before we brought everyone up to speed." Emilia replied. Lauren looked over at the three Bases.
"What's going on over there?" Lauren asked as she sat down next to Bo while Kenzi got up, poured a cup of coffee, handed it to Lauren, topped off her own cup, and then sat back down.
"Probably trying to figure out a way to explain our little adventure to the Bostanji." Bo replied. "We're probably going to get locked in this time."
"And twice the workload." Lauren added. Everyone smiled.
"So, what did you discover?" Lauren asked.
After a quick round of introductions, Emilia and Savina recapped what they had found at the Zandri botanical labs, and when they were done everyone was quiet for several moments.
"I should have seen that." Popawi said breaking the silence.
"Don't, Popawi. Hundreds of eyes were on this problem, and no one saw it." Elena reminded.
"I am the Head Gardener of the Presidium. I should have recognized the natural elements." Popawi said.
"No one had an idea on what to look for. It was only when we discovered the Penstongue that we were able to make comparisons, and deconstruct it down to its base elements." Emilia replied.
"But you saw it, Dr. Prescotti." Popawi said.
"Only when I saw the test results at Zandri which spurred my recollection of similar results from old medical cases I had studied from the War of the Five Ranas." Emilia replied.
"Nevertheless, well done, Doctor!" Popawi said to echoes of agreement.
"But why would a plant Fae from the Aecridore Desolate be on the Human plane in the first place?" Dr. Corrandini asked.
"A plant Fae?" Lauren queried.
"Oh yeah, the Penstongue is Fae. A living, breathing Fae." Bo answered. Lauren's eyebrows went up.
"Dr. Corrandini's question I gladly leave to the realm of politics. The more pressing question here is what is our solution?" Dr. Machtemes said.
"And I bet you have one. Don't you, Dr. Prescotti?" Popawi said as he looked straight at Emilia with a knowing smile.
"Wait a minute? I thought there wasn't a solution? That it was all doom and gloom?" Kenzi asked perplexed and then realized the shocked looks of the Jusso and Response Team were upon her. "Your…Serene Highness." She quickly added. "Guess we are back to all that again."
"I was about to explain our next steps back at Zandri had we not been so…surprisingly interrupted." Emilia replied.
"You mean you have a cure?" Lauren asked astonished.
"Dr. Yordanka and I were able to determine we can halt the spread of the contamination and synthesize a solution to protect the remaining patronages, but, as The Princess Royal pointed out, due to safety considerations, some of the harvest will need to be eradicated." Emilia replied.
"What about the Fae who have already consumed some of the food from the harvests of Nassoria and Ashal? Are their lives in danger?" Elena asked.
"It appears the poison is genetically programmed to systematically release itself in stages. Since we haven't seen any Fae lives or cattle lost we can assume that that part of the genetic programming hasn't been activated yet. But we can develop a testing regime to look for the ingestation elements. Dr. Yordanka and I collected enough samplings where we can replicate a solution."
"The Response Team can assist there." Lauren replied.
"I can get right on that, Dr. Lewis." Dr. Asaro volunteered.
"Thank you, Dr. Asaro." Lauren said.
"And we'll need to get a hold of the Homelands to develop a dissemination plan of the solution throughout the harvest lands." Emilia said as she looked to Elena.
"Jusso, I will need you to contact Norburo to inform him of this news, so he can prepare." Elena said. At that, Jusso sat up and straightened his clothes.
"Your Serene Highness, are you sure want me to contact him myself?" Jusso asked.
"Yes, Jusso." Elena replied.
"Who's Norburo?" Savina asked.
"Norburo is the Grand Chamberlain of the Prescotti Homelands. He manages the operations for all of our patron cities, including household staff." Elena replied.
"Wow!" Savina commented.
"All the Grand Ducals within the Homelands are a tad intimidated by Norburo. Including Jusso here." Elena teased.
"Your Serene Highness, it's not intimidation so much as…" Jusso started in defense.
"Of course, it is, Jusso." Elena cut off. "See to it."
"Yes, Your Serene Highness." Jusso bowed his head and dropped from the call. Elena and Emilia smiled at one another.
"I have to meet this Norburo one day." Bo said.
"You can take you time, Your Royal Highness." Popawi replied.
"Popawi." Elena gently chastised.
"There's no love lost between Norburo and Popawi." Emilia enlightened.
"Just because Norburo thinks he's better than me in…" Popawi started.
"Shall we return to the task at hand?" Elena cut off.
"Apologies, Your Serene Highness." Popawi relied.
"We can get started right away, then. Where's this Penstongue? We can use it to accelerate synthesizing a cure." Dr. Machtemes asked.
"It's still back on the Human Plane." Emilia replied.
"Your Serene Highness?" Popawi asked a bit pointed.
"We had to leave it behind." Emilia answered.
"Your Serene Highness, with the greatest possible respect, but…" Popawi started.
"It was my call to leave it behind, Popawi." Bo interjected.
"Your Royal Highness, I cannot stress enough the magnitude…" Popawi started.
"I know. Emilia stressed the same. I have my reasons, but I assure you we will retrieve it at the right time." Bo interrupted. Popawi quickly bowed his head.
"Oh, and, as of this moment, that piece of knowledge is considered secret, and those whom reveal said knowledge will be subject to interview by the Agency." Kenzi added to a deathly quiet audience.
"Let us all reconvene later at Ashal's Agricultural Labs." Elena directed.
"Dr. Prescotti, if you send me what you have I can get everything prepped for your arrival." Dr. Riko said.
"Thank you, Riko." Dr. Prescotti replied. They all bowed, and the call ended.
"Now that that's done, we can start part two of this discussion." Kenzi said.
"There's a part two?" Lauren asked. Bo turned in her chair and faced Lauren.
"Honey, do you know a Dr. Vespasien Lavoie?" Bo asked.
"Dr. Lavoie? Sure! He's an old friend of the family's." Lauren replied.
"How old?" Bo asked.
"Well, he and my parents all met at the Sorbonne during their University days. In fact, the Lavoies have been movers and shakers throughout French society for hundreds of years." Lauren replied.
"The poison for the soil made by Zandri Labs was signed off by this Dr. Lavoie." Bo replied to wit Kenzi called up a screen in the air and showed Lauren a copy of the signed test results.
"We also found out that Dr. Taft's initial contact with you was not because he admired your science." Bo said.
"I know that. It was because of my work in the Fae world." Lauren replied.
"It seems the initial reason he contacted you was because he was asked by your father to initiate contact with you." Bo said.
"So, my father knew where I was all along." Lauren said matter of factly.
"Not precisely." Bo replied.
"I don't understand?" Lauren prompted.
"He found you by rooting you out, so to speak. Chalk it up to a father knowing his daughter. His journals stated he knew your passion for your work would show itself somewhere, and it did when you started posting your scientific theories out on the net and apparently recognized one of your arguments in a paper you wrote. That's how he found out you worked for Ash Pharmaceuticals, and he directed one of his employees to connect with you directly." Bo explained.
"Which one was that?" Lauren asked.
"Dr. Michael Snoode." Bo replied.
"That fraud works for my father?" Lauren asked incredulous.
"Apparently, he's no fraud." Bo replied.
"He fudged his data to make his research work!" Lauren shot back.
"So, it would put you in the forefront to reveal yourself." Bo replied.
"He damaged his reputation in the scientific community just to draw me out?" Lauren asked in a tone.
"Yeah." Bo replied softly. Lauren eyes narrowed.
"And I take it that's how I got selected for the Moses Gomberg Award. Because they engineered the entire thing?" Lauren asked.
"Yeah." Bo replied softly again.
Lauren slammed her hand on the table, stood up and walked out to the backyard porch while running her hands through her hair. No one said a word. A couple minutes later Lauren turned back to the group.
"So, when Taft hired me, I was really working for my father, which means my father must know about the Fae and my involvement in the Fae world, especially given the nature of Taft's true work. But that doesn't make any sense. If my father knew where I was he would have made contact with me." Lauren said.
"Maybe your Dad couldn't make contact in time before everything happened with Taft. Remember, we were all a bit scattered at the time." Kenzi replied. Lauren let out a small grunt.
"Yes, we were." Lauren agreed then looked at Bo with wide eyes. "Bo, if my father sanctioned Dr. Taft's work then..." Bo stood up and went to her.
"There was no indication in his journals that he knew you were working for Taft or that he knew you were in the Fae world. Only that you worked for Ash Pharmaceuticals." Bo replied.
"But how would have Dr. Taft kept that little tidbit from my father?" Lauren asked.
"Perhaps this Dr. Taft acted alone." Savina threw out there. Everyone pondered her statement for a moment.
"And now would be a good time to bring forth the next interesting part of this whole situation." Kenzi replied.
"It seems Dr. Taft served as deputy to Dr. Lavoie on the Plato Foundation's Committee for the Advancement of Humanity." Bo said.
"Well, that's not inconspicuous at all." Lauren replied.
"One of the subcommittee organizations is the VioFynne Conglomerate." Kenzi said.
"How do you know this?" Elena asked.
"This notation here, Your Serene Highness." Kenzi pointed at the displayed paperwork. "It reads in Human speak as Vio Fin Immobiliere, but it's not hard to translate what it really means. Rein Marquis is also part of that group." Kenzi replied.
"Rein Marquis? As in Evony's brother?" Lauren asked.
"Yep." Kenzi replied.
"Rein asked Her Majesty during the Convocation Banquet to approve a presentation of Viofynne's research before the Council of Healers. She did so, despite the objections of Primus Guilloy." Elena replied.
"What's the research?" Lauren asked.
"Genetic research designed to heighten the abilities of Fae. According to Rein, Viofynne has successful test cases to prove their work. Successful approval of their test work will allow Rein to renegotiate his historical agreements with Grand Ducal Savva unimpeded." Elena replied.
"Historical agreements are a huge thing around here." Kenzi noted for Savina.
"When is the presentation?" Lauren asked.
"In the next month." Elena replied.
"Advance the abilities of Fae? Why?" Lauren asked.
"Well, not all of us are Ranoruks." Savina blurted then quickly added. "Apologies."
"None necessary. I'm sure that is precisely the intended purpose of Viofynne's research." Elena replied.
"Okay, but how is Viofynne is connected to my father?" Lauren asked.
"Which brings us to part three of this tale." Kenzi replied.
"There's more?" Lauren asked as she looked between Bo and Kenzi. Bo and Kenzi quickly glanced at one another.
"Dr. Lavoie isn't human. He's Fae." Bo replied. Lauren sat down on the nearest settee at that news.
"How?" Lauren asked incredulous.
"Look here. Kenzi replied as she pointed to the paperwork still being displayed." He notes a meeting he had with Viofynne. In the late 1800's in France."
"Merde!" Lauren replied. "Dr. Lavoie knows about me in the Fae world for sure then."
"That's what we think, too." Bo replied.
"Let me get this straight…as much as I can. My father finds me, has Dr. Taft initiate contact, which he does, Dr. Taft takes it one step further and hires me for his super-secret project to harvest the abilities of the Fae, all unbeknownst to my father. And that he also served as deputy to Dr. Lavoie on this Advancement of Humanity Committee within the Plato Foundation for which one of the subcommittee sponsors is the Viofynne Conglomerate that happens to come from the Presidium. On the other hand, we have this Penstongue plant Fae, which comes from a plane banished by the Queen, held at Zandri, being experimented upon, and turns out to be the catalyst for the soil contamination throughout Nassoria and Ashal, both actions that were signed off by Dr. Lavoie, who turns out to be Fae himself." Lauren summarized. "Have I got it all or is there more?"
"Sounds about right." Bo replied. "You would think Dr. Lavoie would have said something about your existence in the Fae world to your father, though."
"Perhaps to reveal your existence in the Fae world meant to reveal his. He probably figured because you were part of the Fae world you also knew he was Fae, but that you didn't approach him because you were on the run from your father. His secret remained a secret so long as you stayed on the run." Savina replied.
"Logical." Lauren said.
"So, it sounds as if this Dr. Taft went off on his own with respect to your father's wishes, and his intentions for serving on the Advancement of Humanity Committee are pretty clear, given his history. But my question is whether he knew Dr. Lavoie was Fae, given the fact he served as his deputy?" Savina asked.
"Why do you ask?" Lauren asked.
"There's is a common denominator for all of this: Dr. Taft. Even though he's dead he was juiced in with some pretty heavy hitters on a Committee comprised of secret partners with secret agendas anyway."
"Like Elder Reliford, who we found out is Elder Sasaki's rep on the Committee, and we all know Sasaki is the last Fae who would advocate for the advancement of humans." Kenzi added.
"True dat." Bo replied.
"What I am saying is Dr. Taft's agenda may not have been just his own." Savina replied. Lauren looked up at Bo.
"Bo, I need to return home." Lauren said. That straightened everybody up in their chairs with concerned looks.
"Honey, last time you went back to the Human plane to deal with something you got stabbed." Bo replied.
"Bo, there's a conspiracy to poison Ari's homelands. Her home! An act committed by a facility owned by my father! Not to mention I need figure out whatever the true agenda is of this Advancement of Humanity Committee within a Foundation that, I need not remind you, is headed by my mother! I have to go back!"
"Lauren…!" Bo started.
"Bo, there's too much at stake. This could derail everything you and Trick and everyone here is working towards." Lauren pressed. Bo went to one knee in front of her and took her hands into hers. Lauren implored.
"You're not wrong, Lauren. This all needs to be dealt with, but we need a plan and help, but anything we decide to do we will do it together." Bo said.
"Bo…!" Lauren started to plead.
"Together!" Bo said firmly. They looked at one another intently then Lauren nodded.
"We will figure this out." Bo assured.
"My parents…" Lauren said as tears welled up in her eyes. "I wish I could…"
"Let's not worry about any of that right now. Okay?" Bo replied.
"Okay." Lauren replied.
"And here you thought my parental situation was manageable." Bo reminded which caused Lauren to smile through her tears.
"Still do." Lauren replied.
"Glad that's settled. You were giving me palpitations a few seconds ago about wanting to go back again." Kenzi said as she let out a breath.
"And when Bo means together she means the full weight of the Presidium." Elena replied.
"Your Serene Highness…" Lauren began.
"Are we back to that again?" Elena asked.
"I know you wish to help, but what if this turns out all wrong and my family is implicated?" Lauren asked.
"We will worry about that when we come to it." Elena reassured.
"Glad that we have the full weight of the Presidium, but our plan still needs to be a clandestine one." Bo said.
"Agreed." Kenzi replied.
"Count me in on whatever you need." Savina added.
"Me as well." Emilia added.
"Mummy and Mother will kill me if you become more deeply involved." Elena replied.
"No worries. I have your backside." Emilia said.
"Back. You have her back." Kenzi corrected.
"Right! Have to note that." Emilia replied.
"So, now that we have formed this little posse, how are we doing this?" Bo asked.
"Where's Bo?" Kenzi asked as she looked up from some paperwork at the dining room table. Bo, Lauren, Kenzi, Savina, Elena and Emilia spent the rest of the morning outlining a plan and were now preparing to make their respective departures.
"Still upstairs with Dr. Lewis." Savina replied. Kenzi sighed.
"That was an hour ago! Dude! Duty before booty!" Kenzi said. Everyone chuckled.
About 30 minutes later, Bo and Lauren, hand in hand, joined everyone downstairs.
"Finally! Out of your afterglow! Welcome back to the world!" Kenzi greeted. Bo and Lauren grinned to the point they both blushed. Kenzi stood up from the dining room table and walked over to Lauren.
"I wanted to say I'm so sorry about all of this." Kenzi said as she hugged Lauren.
"You did what you had to do." Lauren replied.
"Who knew that when Destiny chose Bo she was choosing you as well. The fate of humanity seems to rest on this little mystery with your family and Dr. Taft." Kenzi said.
"Well, that's an eye-opening way to look at it." Lauren replied.
"We will get to the bottom of all of this." Kenzi said.
"I know you will." Lauren replied. "Where are you headed next?"
"Back to North America." Kenzi replied then smiled. "For now."
"Gotcha! I'm going to step over there and check with Dr. Yordanka to make sure we have everything before we meet up with the Response Team at Ashal's Agricultural Labs." Lauren said then quickly squeezed Bo's hand then left. Bo turned to Kenzi.
"So, exercising your Agency authority back there with the Response Team. Wow!" Bo said.
"Well, we've got ourselves a grand-sized conspiracy happening here, and we can't see all the pieces. Need to minimize the leaks where we can while we work to solve whatever the heck is going on. This impacts all us." Kenzi replied.
"Thanks, Kenzi for everything." Bo said.
"We are not done yet." Kenzi replied. Then Savina called over to Kenzi.
"Kenzi! Got a second?" Savina called.
"Sure!" Kenzi patted Bo on the arm and then joined Savina and Lauren in conversation. Bo turned to see Elena and Emilia engaged in a somewhat heated conversation in a nearby room while Emilia was in the midst of packing a bag. Bas Yeager had grabbed two of her bags and proceeded to walk past Bo.
"By the way, I was meaning to ask what did you do to make the Zandri guards experience the mindquakes even though they were unconscious?" Bo asked.
"We did nothing, Your Serene Highness." Bas Yeager replied.
"What?" Bo asked incredulous.
"Psylax doesn't halt the actual passage of time. It just seems that way to those affected by it. When the Guards woke up they would know something had happened to them after seeing how much time had actually elapsed. So we left it. As it is." Bas Yeager replied. Bo smiled. Bas Yeager bowed and then left. Bo returned her attention to Elena and Emilia's conversation and stepped in closer to listen in.
"Mummy and Mother are going to have a fit that you went off like that. Not to mention everyone else." Elena warned her sister.
"Bo asked for my help." Emilia replied.
"Not the point." Elena said.
"I know."
"Bas Yeager said you were in a fight?"
"It's not the first fight I've been in." Emilia replied.
"Also, not the point."
"I appreciate your coddling."
"It's not about coddling. It's about you running off."
"My running off helped find a cure for what's affecting your patronage."
"Emilia, do not attempt to turn the tables..."
"Oh, but I am!"
"Emilia…!" Elena started but Emilia stopped packing her bag, turned and went up to her big sister.
"I love you, too, big sis." Emilia replied then reached up, kissed Elena on the cheek then gently ran her hand down the same side of her face.
"Emilia…"
"Look at me." Emilia replied. Elena looked at her intently.
"I am fine." Emilia assured. Elena took in a deep breath.
"These sorts of intrigues weren't meant for your life." Elena said softly.
"Yet, I am Princess of the Realm, and a Knight in its highest, most noble Order. I have my duties, same as yours to protect the Realm." Emilia replied. Elena offered a small smile.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I want to check in on Atia before the tongue-lashing begins with Mummy and Mother." Emilia added then headed towards the doorway and Bo, and offered Bo and smile as she passed her. Elena came up next to Bo.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Bo said.
"Of course, you did." Elena said. Bo smiled.
"Baby sisters, huh?" Bo commented.
"It's hard to stay angry at Emilia. Or Maxima for that matter. Those two have us all wrapped around their pinkies." Elena replied.
"It's so cool how you all are with one another. You have all these incredible responsibilities, and yet somehow you remain so close." Bo said.
"It's called being a family. It's something I admire in Lauren and how she strives to maintain the importance of your family life together." Elena replied.
"Yes, she does."
"And so must you, Bo."
"What?"
"Your responsibilities are only going to increase. You will be Queen someday. You need to remember that whenever you decide to go off on one of your adventures. Your well-being is not merely your concern, or for your family or friends, but of the Realm itself." Elena replied.
"I realize that."
"Do more than realize it. Remember it."
"Duly admonished."
"It is not my intention to admonish, but to remind."
"I know. And, thank you for caring about us too. You have been such a great friend and support to us since we arrived here. Especially, Lauren, who's human, and yet how you've been so accepting of her. I mean you're the Regent of the Fae Realm. Back home an Elder would consider their home sullied if a human graced their front doorstep."
"My family is the Ruling Family. We are not brutish, but that doesn't mean the Realm doesn't have it fair share of brutes."
"Well, thank you anyway."
"Of course, Your Royal Highness."
"Are we back to that again?"
"Yes, we are." Elena replied.
