Charlie hopped off Hiccup as they arrived near the drake pens, which also was her personal training ground. Well, it wasn't her personal training grounds, but it was a private training ground for members of the royal family, but she was the only one that ever used it, sure it was crawling with moody drakes, but they generally left her alone. She places the cat down on the ground and before Hiccup can escape to his pen, she grabs his reins tightly and pulls his head down so they're eye level. "You're supposed to eat Kara." Hiccup responds by dragging his tongue along her face, before huffing at her and dropping to the ground with a loud thump.
Charlie narrowed her eyes for a moment still not releasing the reins, "I understand that she's probably gummy and tastes like dirt, but to betray me for some fish Hiccup?"
Hiccup smiles at her and leans forward to lick her again only to get a firm pat on the snout, the smile disappears and his eyes constrict as he glares at Charlie before closing his eyes and deciding to put his head down to ignore her.
"Real mature Hiccup! Letting a dwarf ride you?" Charlie grunts at her less than trustworthy steed, but she gives up when she doesn't get a response from him. Instead she unhooks the reins, removing the bit from his mouth before patting him on the head. "Next time maul her a bit, not enough to kill her that would probably be bad, but you can chew on her, I'm sure she'd make an excellent chew toy." She waits until she sees a familiar swish of Hiccup's tail before she nods. That had been a productive conversation. She turns and spots the black cat that she had rescued sitting beside her patiently. Charlie looks around before spotting the half eaten cart of fish and heading over to grab a fish for the cat, maybe she could ask a maid for some milk or something.
Santana tilted her head as she studied her mate for a moment, she could have sworn she had heard the queen mention that they were friends, but she wasn't sure if she trusted that characterization, from what she had seen Charlie and Kara hated each other. Which begged the question why the two kingdoms hadn't yet gone to war. Before she can really lean into it the scent of fresh fish catches her attention and she shifts her gaze to her mate who is holding a fish.
"Come on lets find you a bowl," Charlie coos and reaches for the cat who immediately swipes at her hand. Charlie withdraws her hand immediately. "We can't stay here Smaug or Lord Tubbington will eat you," Charlie informs the cat before quickly scooping it up in her arm and carrying it away from the drake pens. She makes sure to move quickly, and she places the cat down near the servant's quarters, and places the fish down as well. It was a cat, it didn't need a fancy bowl. She waits until the cat starts to sniff the fish before she pulls back, and stretches. She needed to see the queen, her mother, before she paid for the damages that Kara caused on her own. She wasn't going to be held responsible for that, Kara had no business being on Hiccup. "But first a nice long soak."
Santana's head snapped up, completely distracted from the fish that her mate had been kind enough to give her. Her mate hadn't quite figured out that she was a beastkin yet, which did make her question her mate's general intelligence, but that wasn't the point. Her mate was about to get naked, which meant that it would be a perfect time to see what she was working with and then she could mate with her. Once they were mated they could have the human ceremony of marriage, and then there wouldn't be a war, and she could have some strong cubs with Charlie and everything would work out well. She takes a few more quick bites of the fish, as Charlie leaves, keeping her gaze on her mate before following her.
~ O ~
"When did you get back?"
Charlie spun around and locked eyes with her personal aide. In theory Sebastian was supposed to be the one running parts of her personal household from the staff to everything else, at least the ones that had been assigned to her by her father. She pauses when she spots the black cat once again who was now sitting in front of her. Perhaps she'd made a new little buddy. "Can't talk Sebastian—"
"You will make time! Do you remember the last time you did any paperwork whatsoever? Don't answer that it was rhetorical. Which means—"
"I know what the word means Sebastian and you can't talk to me like that! I'm royalty!"
"And a terrible boss, the last time you did paperwork was right before I went on vacation and do you know how long ago my last vacation was?"
Charlie blinked and tilted her head. "Why would I know when you take your vacations Sebastian?"
"I haven't had one."
"So schedule yourself a vacation. I don't really know why you—not having a vacation is my fault."
Sebastian inhales sharply and glares at Charlie, once upon a time he had been so grateful for this opportunity, but he had passed the civil servant's exam at the top of his class and had been assigned to work at the palace. He had expected to be working closely with the King, or even the Queen, but instead his services had been given to the youngest member of the royal family. If only he worked for another member, Quinn did excellent work and got all her paperwork done on time. She even stayed up late to make sure all her work was done. Frannie had a full team and her team got vacations every quarter! Brittany's staff also got regular vacations. Sure he was the highest paid aide, but that's only because he had wanted to quit years ago and Judy simply kept giving him raises. "You need to sign off on a vacation and have a plan in place for my trip. You know the paperwork that you never do! You also need to hire more people! And why is there a cat following you?"
"Because I rescued her from Hiccup who was trying to eat her, and then I fed her and now she's following me. If I sign your vacation papers, will you leave me alone?" Charlie questions.
"Who will manage the staff?"
"I don't know, aren't they self-sufficient?" Charlie throws her hands up in the air. She really didn't know what Sebastian wanted, this was why she didn't like elves; they always had to make things more complicated than they actually were.
Sebastian stared at Charlie, before closing his eyes and rubbing at his temples. "Do you have any idea what I do all day? No, of course you don't, that would require you to be an adult and do your paperwork."
Charlie nodded and while Sebastian's eyes were closed she scoops up the cat and just runs in the opposite direction away from Sebastian. She wasn't going to be stuck doing paperwork, it was boring. Besides, she was covered in blood, sweat and dirt, and she wanted to get clean before she went to see her mother in a desperate attempt to save some coin, by forcing Kara to pay for it. She ducks into a small closet at the end of the hallway and closes the door, taking a deep breath as she lets the cat go and rests for a moment. Sebastian never actually spent any time hunting her down, they both knew that it was fruitless even if he was an elf.
She waits for a few more minutes before opening the door to check that the coast is clear, but all she sees is maids giving her a look as they walk past. No one questions why she was in a closet, but she could imagine that the news of her hiding in a closet will make its way to Quinn and it would be another thing that Quinn could blackmail her with.
"Alright—I don't know what to call you, so I'll just call you Inky for now." Charlie whispers to the cat. She'd get the cat a collar and even though her eyes itched, she was going to keep it and have the maids pamper her new pet. She's met with a strange look from the cat, but she shrugs her shoulders. "Alright, a soak, then clean clothes, and then we'll go and find some food!"
Santana stared at her mate for a moment before deciding to smack her once again with her paw, what type of name was Inky? She makes a swipe at Charlie's hand only to have her mate pull her fingers back and gently put her on the ground.
~ O ~
"Inky. No. You stay out here and wait for me, I'd rather not be clawed at while I'm naked and trying to bathe. And I don't want you accidentally slipping into the water." Charlie stated narrowing her eyes at the cat. Inky clearly had no problems with her claw usage, and she really didn't want to be taken off guard by a cat, and have to explain to a healer why she had claw marks in places where there really shouldn't be claw marks. She blinks as Inky rubs her body against her leg and she shakes her head, before petting the cat.
With a sigh she sits on a bench and pulls off her boots and wiggles her toes, before she takes a stand and pulls off her rather tight shirt and drops it on the bench. She pauses for a moment and glances over at Inky who has gone completely still. Her pupils were massive and it almost made her feel a bit uncomfortable, she was being watched by a cat. She stares back for a moment and crosses her arms over her chest which seems to cause Inky to glare at her. "These are not milk bags!" She'd picked up the most perverted cat. She's rewarded with a hiss from Inky. "Should have called you Pervert instead of Inky," Charlie muttered under her breath as she gripped the belt on her pants and undoes it before dropping her pants, kicking them off.
The moment that Charlie's pants dropped Santana's pupils returned to their usual size as she tilted her head slightly, she had not been expecting her mate to have that between her legs. She blinks as Charlie suddenly covers herself with a towel and looks up at her mate, hybrid. It was something that only occurred in hybrids. No one knew why, but it was common enough with Beastkins that did have children with humans. Which meant that her mate was part beastkin, but apart from Charlie's freakish durability which wasn't normal by beastkin or halfling standards, she had to wonder if Charlie had some giant in her. They were nearly extinct, but neither Judy or Russell were giants. Judy was always covered in thick scents, and Charlie just smelt like Hiccup, so she couldn't really tell.
The moment that Charlie turns to go into the baths, Santana's train of thought is broken as she watches her mate slowly slide into the bath and let out a loud pleased sigh. She could feel the heat from here, and she didn't know how they managed to heat up the water without any fire, but the water was clearly warm if not bordering on hot. Before she can approach her mate and get a closer sniff she gets splashed by some water and immediately jumps back and hisses, only to see Charlie grinning at her. If her mate wanted to play then they would certainly play, she approaches the edge of the bath carefully and looks at the water and reaches out to touch it with her paw before turning around and walking out the door.
"Seriously?" Charlie groaned, she hadn't actually mined the company. She sighs, but closes her eyes and relaxes in the bath for a moment before she opens her eyes to see a massive black panther charging through the door and jumping at her. "What the—" All of her training immediately kicks in and she immediately vacates the bath as the panther creates a massive splash that causes drenches her from head to toe, as she wipes the water from her face she opens her eyes once again to see that she is now staring at the beastkin from this morning. The one that had informed her of the disappearances, it takes Charlie another moment to realize that the beautiful woman from before was currently naked. Charlie does an immediate double take and immediately scrambles back there was a naked woman in her baths, unfortunately the floors are wet and she slips and falls backward banging her head against one of the statues that decorated the room.
Santana stared at the prone form of her mate for a moment, before the ears on the top of her head tilt, someone was coming. She glances at her mate for a moment, she didn't want to leave her, but she had seen her mate take a hammer to the face, so she would like to think that her mate was probably fine. She was tempted to stay, but she didn't know how this would look. A beastkin standing over the Agron Kingdom's youngest princess. Her people would be slaughtered and there would be a bloody war. She immediately shifts back into her kitten form and quickly finds someplace to hide, darting behind a column and keeping low to the ground, as she tucks her tail in. Hopefully she wouldn't be spotted.