CAUTION: Fluff and fashion ahead! ^_^

Ch. 27 – A Day with Kuina

Golden pink light painted stark violet shadows in the Grove of Kings as her Majesty, Queen Helena of the Line of Prometheus took her consort by the hand and introduced him to their son. Neither parent said anything. Through weary gaze, the wayward pirate read and reread the bronze plaque proclaiming this tree the living memorial of Prince Telemachus du Helena et Zoro. It was still so small.

Zoro couldn't help but wonder at his wife's ritual. She had replaced a wilting bouquet of forget-me-knots with a fresh one, placed a kiss on the tips of her finger to the trunk of the sapling, and now sat with her legs crossed in the half lotus, something he recognized as her preferred stance for meditating. She did it all with such practiced ease, he guessed she came here often.

The grief of the grove had new meaning for him now. He'd walked beneath these boughs before, had even witnessed a funeral here. But the trees had still only felt like trees to him then. Now he almost wondered if old souls wandered here. Old and young souls, perhaps.

Taking the cue from his wife, he sat beside her with his legs crossed, cradling Kuina in his lap. The little princess slept peacefully on, blissfully unaware of the brother she should have known. Meanwhile, Zoro clapped his hands together and bowed his head respectfully in prayer.

When he'd finished, he opened his eyes to notice his old bandana around the trunk. It was weatherworn and somewhat faded. Thoughts and regrets finally took the form of words, and at last he broke the reverent silence:

"Helena," he said. "Something has to change."

She turned her exhausted, sad gaze to him and waited for him to go on. As she watched, he carefully untied the old bandana from his son's tree. Taking the newer bandana he kept on his arm, he knotted it around the sapling.

"I can't go to sea again and not hear from my family," he told her, his son's bandana clutched loosely in one hand.

Helena chewed her lip pensively, brow furrowed. "You said the provisos saved your life once. Do you really want me to renege them?"

"I think if we're honest, we both want you to renege them," he said. "But we also know it feels wrong somehow. Could we maybe revise them?"

"What do you propose?"

Zoro gazed through his mask at the small tree in silence for a moment longer, pondering an appropriate response. "I'm not sure yet," he said at length. "I need time to think about it."

Helena nodded. She slipped the worn bandana from his hand and tied it in its customary place on his upper arm. Upon closer inspection, it looked like it had a few more years of life in it yet, despite having faded from its time out in the elements. "Dare I ask how much time we have?"

Zoro sighed. "I guess we had to face the question sooner or later. What you've said about the World Government pronouncing me dead has me worried that the crew might not know to wait for me. I want, no, I need to be at the archipelago first, and the anniversary of our split is in…"

"…a little over a week," Helena said. "Kuina's birthday."

Zoro nodded. He should have realized she'd remember that particular date. "It's possible that they'll say something about my recent comeback in the news, but I can't count on that. They may just gloss this all over since they were trounced so badly, eh?"

Helena hummed a pensive consent. "I think one of our triremes can get you to the Saobody Archipelago in time. Especially if you take mine. It's a nice ship; very fast. Only the best for the Queen." She wearily sing-songed that last bit. "And for the Queen's husband," she added.

"Did your ship, or, any of your ships survive what Regent did to the harbor?"

"Most of ours weren't docked there," Helena told him with a soft smile. "We don't like to put all of our eggs in one basket. Especially such a highly exposed basket."

"That's a relief," Zoro said. "When would I have to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning at the latest."

Tomorrow morning, Zoro thought sadly. So little time. It's always so little time…

He settled back against an older, larger pomegranate tree behind him. Perhaps it was disrespectful, he didn't know, but at the moment he was too tired to care. Apparently so was Helena. She curled up against him, smelling of earth and steel; of blood, and sweat and battle.

"Zoro?" Helena asked, adjusting herself against him until she was comfortable. "You said that the provisos saved your life. May I ask how?"

"It's…a little hard to explain," Zoro replied, placing his free arm around her; the one that wasn't cradling a lightly snoring toddler. "Have you heard of Bartholomew Kuma? He was out to take the Captain's life…"

Helena listened quietly as he recounted the story of his own vicarious torture. She didn't say much, in fact, he didn't even know if she heard the whole harrowing tale. The way she drew closer to him when he finished seemed to imply that she had, but by the time he finished talking she had fallen asleep. Not long after, so had he.

Zoro awoke to a face full of diaper.

He wasn't quite sure how it had happened. One minute he and his family had snuggled together to catch a few winks, the next he was laying on the floor of the pomegranate grove with Kuina sitting determinedly on his head. Helena had disappeared. The sun had risen enough to turn the sky blue.

"Wake up, Papa!" Kuina demanded, standing only to sit down hard on his face a second later. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"I'm awake," he grumbled. "Stop 'at kid."

Kuina giggled a giggle that said she knew she could get away with being a little bit naughty this morning. The little menace continued to bounce up and down on his face until he grabbed her and pinned her down, tickling her for good measure.

When she'd giggled until she was red in the face, Zoro finally released her.

"Where's your mom?" he asked.

"I 'unno," she said with an over-exaggerated shrug.

"So she just up and left the two of us to sleep in the dirt, huh?" he asked.

Kuina kept shrugging at him like she'd only recently figured out how to do so, so Zoro just chuckled to himself, stood and stretched. As soon as he did, a little note fell from his person, fluttering into Kuina's hands. She held it out to him excitedly:

"Mama write it?" she asked. "Mama like to write letters."

Zoro took it from her. Sure enough it was a note from Helena.

"You both looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you. I was called away on kingdom business. We're all pretty swamped with the cleanup, including the nursemaid unit. Please look after Kuina today."

That last sentence made Zoro's brows knit together, in confusion or fear or probably both. "Me look after the kid?" he thought in distress. "What do I know? Heck, I can't even change a…"

At that precise moment, Kuina turned red in the face. She strained and furrowed her brow in determination.

"What's wrong kid?" Zoro asked in concern. Realization hit him a moment later. "Oh no, don't tell me…"

A squishy, tell-tale sound told him that his worst fears had just been realized.

"Need new diapy," she informed him, almost proudly he thought.

"What the He…ck kid?!" Zoro barely restrained the swear in front of his child. "You could tell you needed to go, so why didn't you just tell me? We could have gotten you to a bathroom or something!"

"No like potty," Kuina said, stamping her foot. "Want diapy."

"So help me, if I'm watching you today kid, you're going to be potty-trained by sundown," Zoro insisted through gritted teeth, taking her little hand in his. "Come on, let's get you home for starters."

"Where we go?" Kuina asked, pointing the other way. "Home over there."

For a kid who'd never been outside the palace before, she had a pretty good sense of direction.

Getting Kuina a clean diaper didn't turn out to be as difficult as Zoro had feared. As soon as they walked through the palace steps, servants swarmed the little princess, ecstatic to meet her. They immediately smelled and soon attended to her needs. It wasn't long after that he ran into Andromache.

"Finally found your way out of that broom closet I see," Zoro said to her. She didn't look amused, but then, he didn't really find her batting him over the wall all that amusing either.

"Helena seriously put you in charge of watching the baby?" she asked, glaring at him. "Do you even know the first thing about children?"

"Nope," Zoro replied, then his stomach grumbled loudly. "I'm guessing the next thing we need to take care of now is breakfast, though. Care to point us in the right direction?"

Andromache snorted. "That poor child is probably already having an information overload as it is, this being her first time out and all. I suggest you take breakfast in Helena's room so Kuina can have a sense of normalcy. Then she definitely needs a bath. You too, no offense. Helena's got a bathroom annexed onto…"

"Yeah, I know," Zoro cut her off. "I've been here before, remember? But, uh, when will Helena be done with…whatever she's doing?"

"Arranging clean-up and funeral games and rescheduling the City of Dionysus Festival?" Andromache replied with an edge of sarcasm. Apparently she was still mad about that broom closet jab. "Well, you're sure to see her by noon. She never misses a lunch appointment with her daughter."

"So I just have to keep you alive til then, eh kid?" Zoro said, turning to look down at where she'd been standing a moment ago. "Kid? Not again!"

Zoro caught up with his adventurous daughter the next room over, which happened to be the destroyed throne room. As it turned out, she'd singled out her grandfather from the busy hum of people.

"Gampa Pinch!" she cried joyfully. "No goose!"

"Hey there, Little Queen!" Cygnus said, stopping mid-conversation with a bunch of palace staff to pick her up. He looked much better now that he'd had the wound in his face tended.

"The Princess!" Nysa cried. Zoro remembered her from before: the loud, fashionable party planner. She had a short, clipped way of speaking as though she were always in a hurry, and she never seemed to run out of lists and clipboards. "Diddy. Dress?"

An elderly woman with green ombre hair and wearing a false mustache took the princess's little hand and smiled. "Hi there, little one! Oh, yes, I'm going to have such fun making dresses for you. Do you like glitter, Princess?"

Kuina giggled and nodded excitedly.

"I love her already," Diddy said, grinning at Cygnus. She had remarkably well kempt teeth. Or maybe they were dentures. "If only her mother enjoyed wearing pretty things more."

"Helena likes wearing pretty things," Zoro put in. "Just not the kind that slow her down!"

"She could use a little slowing down now and again, don't you agree? Anyway, she's been giving me trouble with her wardrobe since she was five." Diddy grumped, then narrowed her eyes at him. "You're Zoro, aren't you? I don't like you."

"Get in line," Zoro said unapologetically.

"Helena outsourced her wedding clothes because of you!" Diddy sniffed. "She didn't want a gown. She just had to have a kimono, didn't she? And she went to a tailor in town to measure and order in your clothes and hers. It's an insult!"

"Now, Diddy," Cygnus put in, "The tailor she went to specialized in imports like that. She has given you the honor of designing every other royal gown she has ever needed, including her coronation gown."

"Yes, and what thanks has she ever given me for it?" Diddy snapped. For a ninety-year-old woman she sure had a lot of fire. "On top of that, every dress I seem to put her in ends up torn to shreds. Oh, but not that kimono, no. She's taken special care of that. It's in tip top shape, isn't it?"

Zoro smiled inwardly at this.

"Anyway, now you can work your magic for Kuina here," Cygnus said in an attempt to mollify her. "She's about as Princessy as Princesses can be."

"Yes, yes," Nysa chipped in. "The Parade! Four o'clock!"

"Of course! I've already got something in the works, I just need her sizing," Diddy said, pulling a measuring tape out of what appeared to be a sewing utility belt, complete with needles of several different sizes, fabric swatches in every color imaginable, and large, sharp sheers. "Do you like pink, little one?"

Kuina furrowed her brow and shook her head as Cygnus set her down to be measured.

"Purple then?"

Kuina shook her head harder, much to the seamstress' bemusement.

"What's your favorite color?"

Kuina grabbed her own wild hair and held it up in fistfuls. "Geen!" she exclaimed.

Zoro grinned. "That's my girl."

Zoro did eventually get around to breakfasting in Helena's room. With his knees up around him, he sat with his daughter at a toddler sized table in toddler sized chairs, eating croissants, fruit, and yogurt. He was impressed with the kid's table manners, which were much more elegant than his own. Though she had more plastic utensils set up outside her plates than she could possibly need, she always seemed to know which one to use, and would even cut her own grapes in half with a fork and blunt knife.

She got a little messy – the yogurt helped with that – but insisted on cleaning herself. She led the way to the bathroom, where she washed her face and hands, and splashed herself all over in the process.

"I guess I should give you that bath now," Zoro mentioned with some trepidation. She didn't look like someone who would sit still long enough to bathe.

Kuina shook her head vigorously.

"What, you don't like baths?" Zoro asked, his sense of alarm mounting. If she disliked bathing, she'd be even harder to pin down. He got the image of trying to wrestle her into the tub, only to fall in fully clothed himself. It wasn't worth it, no matter how dirty and stinky she was.

Kuina shook her head again. "I like bath," she said. "But we no work out yet!"

A smirk spread across Zoro's face. "You want to go work out?" he asked. "Doesn't your mom usually do that with you before the sun's up?"

The Princess nodded energetically and took her father's hand. She looked him in the eye very seriously, reminding him again of her mother's commanding, diplomatic manner. "Mama busy today. Papa work out with Kuina?"

"Sure, kid," Zoro said, letting her lead him from the bathroom toward Helena's bookshelf. "Let's go to the gym."

Helena aside, Zoro couldn't have picked a better workout partner. He had thought Kuina would want to spend most of her time playing in her playhouse, but she immediately followed him to where he would normally do his reps.

The time passed quickly as he let her grab hold of the dumbbells as he lifted, or did pushups with her sitting on his back giggling like mad. He had just finished a round of chin ups with her holding onto his back like a little monkey when Helena came in from the bookshelf passage. She had a fond smile on her face.

"So this is where you two went off to!"

"Mama, Mama!" Kuina cried. "Papa strong! Just like you said!"

Zoro dropped from the bar and let Kuina slide off his back. "Hey, Helena," he said, grinning at her. "Care to join us?"

Helena chuckled. "I'm afraid it's lunch time, you two," she told them, "And after that you really need to get cleaned up and settle Kuina down for her nap. There's a lot going on after that, and you two are expected to participate."

"Participate? In what?" Zoro asked, taking the towel Helena proffered him and wiping his brow.

"Well, there's going to be a parade at four o'clock this afternoon. We're using it to formally celebrate the recent victory, celebrate your homecoming, and to introduce Kuina to the people," Helena said. "The City of Dionysus festival is being re-celebrated tonight so we don't offend Dionysus. And in between there are some funeral games to mourn those we lost."

"I'm fine with the first bit," Zoro told her, following Kuina as she skipped toward the secret passage that would take them back to Helena's room and lunch. "But I'm not participating in any funeral games ever again."

Helena chuckled. "Well, if I die, you'd better plan on participating in mine."

"Fine," Zoro said, rolling his eyes as he took her hand. "If you die before I do, then yours'll be the one exception."

"Papa…" Kuina whined as she eyed the sumptuous lunch in front of her. "I have chocwate sammich cookie for lunch?"

"You may have some for Dessert," Helena said, pouring herself and Zoro a cup of tea. "I have some left over from yesterday." She leaned over to Zoro as she passed him the tea. "They're her favorite," she whispered.

"I share wif Papa?" Kuina continued, eyes wide. "Papa want cookie?"

"That's ok, kiddo. I don't really care for chocolate."

Helena grinned at him. "I guess she gets her sweet tooth from me then," she said with a wink. "They're my favorite too."

"I learn new things about you every day," Zoro observed. "Like your, um, knitting talent."

He glanced down under the table, where Helena worked a pair of long wooden needles between her toes. Using a skein of high quality, green yarn, she set about knitting him a new haramaki as she ate.

"It's nice to have a hobby," Helena replied, shrugging.

"Does a Queen have time for hobbies?" Zoro asked.

"Nope!" Helena said, grinning, though that grin disappeared into a yawn. "Why do you think I do it with my toes? It's called multitasking."

"Are you going to join Kuina and me for a nap after lunch?" Zoro asked. "You look exhausted."

"I never nap," Helena told him.

Zoro stared at her, aghast.

"What's that look for? Like I just said, there's never enough time!"

Sooner than he would have liked, Zoro found himself slightly rested, scrubbed clean and sitting on a chariot-shaped parade float with his family. Kuina had gotten just the kind of princess dress a two-year-old would want. It was sparkly and huge, and per her request, very, very green. They'd put a small, golden laurel grown on her head to remind everyone just who she was, not that there could be any doubt, what with the wild green hair.

She looked great. They'd put Zoro in a toga with gold trim, though. It was to symbolize his connection to the royal family or something like that. He wasn't particularly fond of wearing a dress – too breezy for his taste – but he couldn't exactly complain. Helena had it tons worse.

Raqueline and Diddy had gotten it into their minds that Helena needed ceremonial armor to embody her recent martial victory. As she was the Sun Queen, that meant lots of gold and jagged angles. It would have looked cool, except that they had decided to put a pair of long, sharp cones on the breastplate.

Kuina couldn't seem to stop pointing it out. "So big!" she whispered, tugging on the side of Zoro's toga for the hundredth time to point at them. "Mama not big there."

She'd said it so much that Zoro finally couldn't help a loud snort. Cygnus, who had apparently heard her, couldn't help one of his own. The two men quickly shoved their fists over their mouths to stifle the inevitable laughter

"They do seem to be overcompensating for something, don't they?" Cygnus whispered as Helena turned around to glare at them, completely pink in the face.

"Something funny?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"Nope," Cygnus and Zoro said together, pursing their lips.

"Mama, why you so pointy?" Kuina asked loudly. "You have extra swords?"

Zoro and Cygnus couldn't take it anymore. Their hearty laughter drew stares from the crowd, but they didn't care.

"Wait, wait," Zoro said, calming himself under Helena's scrutinizing gaze. He pulled one of his katana from its sheath and stuck it in her mouth just as she opened it to say something. "There you go. You can do Seven-Sword Style without me now!"

He and Cygnus dissolved into more fits of laughter as Helena's face turned from carnation pink to poppy red.

"Alright, that's it!" she cried, yanking the katana out of her mouth.

"Wait, mercy!" Zoro cried, trying and failing yet again to get a grip on his own laughter. "Don't go Titan on me! It's not fair! I'm one sword down!"

"You are so sleeping in the guest room, Zoro de Helena," she proclaimed.

"Is ok, Papa," Kuina said, patting Zoro's arm when he made a pouty face. "Then Mama no poke you."

After the parade, Zoro counted himself lucky to spend a little time with his family walking the festive streets of Ilium. Most of the damage done to the city had been isolated to Mycenae outside the wall, and a few streets near the palace. That meant that the party would continue uninterrupted, and boy did Helena's people know how to throw a party.

Helena pointed things out as they walked, explaining this or that about the culture and traditions. Both she and Kuina had changed into dress length chitons, which meant he was in no danger of being blinded by glittery layers of tulle when he put Kuina up on his shoulders, nor was he in danger of getting skewered by breastplate cones when Helena took his arm.

He was still stuck in a toga though. As much as he respected Helena's culture and traditions, he needed to find something else to wear. The festival stalls seemed like a good place to start. To his surprise, Kuina found something for him first.

"Geen!" she said, pointing at a long coat fluttering on a coat rack.

"Your Majesties!" A diminutive, older man in spectacles approached Helena and Cygnus, wringing his hands in delight. "And you! It's you!" he cried, taking Zoro's hand and shaking it with unbridled enthusiasm. "I owe you so much! My business has been booming since you were last here!"

"Do I know you?" Zoro asked, feeling a little awkward.

"Ah, yes. We only met once," the man said, adjusting his small spectacles. "You tried to kill me."

"I did?" Zoro asked, surprised that he'd attack someone so thoroughly unthreatening. "Did you deserve it?"

"No," Helena said flatly. "He was just trying to take your measurements."

"Ohh! Now I remember," Zoro smiled. "You're the one who ordered in my wedding clothes."

The man nodded energetically. "I ordered in lots of things in that style after that, and my business has been booming. It inspired me to develop my own line, and it's been a huge hit! You're very popular here, you know."

Zoro raised a brow while Helena laughed.

"Exhibit A," she chortled, gesturing at some teenagers on the other side of the street. They all wore their hair in various cuts and styles, but all had been dyed mint green.

"What a great color," Zoro said pointedly to Cygnus, who raised both his fluffy eyebrows in an attempt to look innocent.

"Yes, it's a lovely color," the grandfather insisted, ruffling Kuina's hair while she giggled. "Well, go on, then. Try on that coat, Hurricane. I think it suits you."

"Great, then I can finally get out of this dress."

"Toga," Cygnus corrected.

"Dress," Zoro corrected his correction.

"I see you have a mask," the tailor said as Zoro took the coat from the rack. "Which God are you supposed to be? I don't know any God or Hero who dresses all in white."

"Roronoa Zoro does, when he takes down Nemo!" a little boy cried, butting into their conversation as he ran by. "That's a great Zoro costume, by the way," he said to Zoro, who threw a fist into the air.

"Finally!"

Zoro had a lot to reflect on, walking toward the palace as the sun began to set. He only had one traveling companion now; the rest had stayed behind to enjoy the wine samples they'd started handing out at street corners.

"You know, it's strange," he said pensively. "I've had a few families. A dojo. A crew. – but this one is different somehow. I have a beautiful, kick a…er, kick butt wife, a crazy Father-in-Law, but strangest of all, I've got this cute, well-mannered kid who likes biting things, and working out, and the color green, and chocolate sandwich cookies. She's got pretty good fashion sense too."

He looked down at his new clothes. He now sported some comfortable black pants and boots, but most of notice was his long, forest green coat. It was a warm night, so he wore it open, exposing his bare chest and the new haramaki he wore beneath it.

His traveling companion let out a loud snore from his shoulder, and Zoro shifted her weight against him as he walked. "You're the only person I don't mind leaving a party early for, kid," he said, smirking. "Especially one where they're giving out free booze."

Sensing his affection, the little bundle in his arms started gnawing on his shoulder in her sleep. He'd probably have to do something about it in a minute – she'd bite deep enough to leave another one of those bruises soon enough. He didn't want to pull her away and wake her up though.

A few fireworks took care of that for him, to his chagrin. They went off in one of the surrounding neighborhoods, startling Kuina awake. She didn't make a fuss though, and curled against him again when the noise settled.

"Papa," she mumbled. "I yuv you."

A warm emotion shot through him with unanticipated intensity. "You too, kid," he murmured softly. But then she said something that made his heart stop:

"You stay?" she asked.

Before he could answer, Cygnus and Helena came running up beside him. "Where are you going?" the later demanded.

"I'm taking the kid home," Zoro said, cocking his head in confusion. "You're busy, Helena. It's ok, I don't mind. You said I'm supposed to take care of her today."

"I'll help you put her to bed," Helena insisted. "Anyway, you're walking in the wrong direction. Again."

Cygnus cut in before Zoro could respond. "I'll take her home," he said. "You two need to spend some quality time together before you leave."

Zoro and Helena exchanged glances, then flushed when Cygnus went on:

"In fact, I think Kuina should stay with me tonight," Cygnus insisted, stealing Kuina from Zoro's shoulder. "I'm not opposed to the possibility of more green-haired grandchildren."

"Father!" Helena spluttered. Zoro grinned.

"Gampa," Kuina put in blearily. "Need to check potty."

Cygnus and Helena's mouths dropped open as Zoro looked at the setting sun and fist-pumped.

"What did you do?" Helena demanded. "None of us have been able to get her interested in potty-training at all!"

"I just told her that all pirates are potty-trained," Zoro said with a shrug, "And if she ever wants to come to sea with me, she has to be too. Isn't that right, kid?"

Kuina nodded sleepily, then screwed up her face in discomfort. "Gampa! Need to check potty now!"

"Alright, Little Queen! Alright!" Cygnus said in a panic, taking off into a sprint. "Let's go find you a potty!"

"You do realize what you've promised her now, don't you?" Helena asked, looking slightly aghast as they watched Cygnus sprint away.

"Sure," Zoro said. "But I never told her when I'd take her to sea, did I? It'll be a few years at least."

"A fair few," Helena affirmed, taking his hand.

At that moment, they both caught sight of Hector and his family walking together in the street. Zoro still couldn't get over how much Astyanax looked like his father, or how incongruous tiny little Andromache looked next to the two enormous men.

It was even stranger to see the trio of warriors dressed in loose festival clothes instead of armor. Hector and Ax apparently had no qualms about wearing a dress, er, toga, and Ann actually looked kinda pretty with a wreath of flowers around her head. Well, she might have, but she still wore the same grumpy scowl Zoro had seen on her from this morning. Maybe she wasn't just mad about the broom closet jab.

Helena quickly hailed them. "Oh! Ann! I'm worried Papa will get lost taking Kuina back to the palace," she said hastily, before her father could dash out of sight completely. "Could you make sure he reaches it alright, and that he has everything Kuina needs."

"Aye, my Queen," Andromache said, pounding a fist to her chest. Her expression softened incrementally. "I'm honestly surprised you'd want me to have anything to do with your daughter after we failed you so completely last night."

"Not completely," Zoro shook his head. "You saved her from a huge pack of marine wolves. I'd say you did a pretty good job. Too good a job, actually."

"How do you know about that?" Andromache asked, narrowing her eyes. Understanding struck a moment later. "Oh gods, you were the green fox, weren't you?"

Zoro smirked at her, vindicated by her look of horror.

"Well, next time don't look so threatening!" Andromache barked, frowning at him. "I guess it's a good thing I had the child proofing on."

` "Hey!" Zoro started, "I can't help the way I…"

"I hate to interrupt, but you really need to hurry before Father gets too far," Helena insisted. "Sorry to make you do this Ann, especially after I gave you and Ax a long overdue day off."

"It's quite alright, my Queen. I'm glad for any chance to make up for last night's failings." Ann saluted again, looking considerably happier than when they first saw her. She took off after Cygnus, her family moseying after her.

Zoro narrowed his eye at Helena. "You gave them the day off?" he asked when the de Hectors were out of earshot. "Your note said the nursemaid unit was busy today."

"Well, they were busy," Helena replied unapologetically. "Busy having the day off."

Zoro scowled at her. She spoke to his concerns before he could voice them:

"I wanted to give you a chance to spend time with our daughter, alright?" she confessed, "I know you've probably never taken care of a kid before, but you did a pretty good job, all told."

When Zoro didn't answer at first, Helena rambled on quickly:

"Anyway, it was either you spend the day with her, or you attend to all the boring kingdom business with me. I thought this was a far more enjoyable way for you to spend your time, so…"

"Helena," Zoro interrupted sternly, and her mouth snapped shut. She wore a look of determination, though, like whatever came out of his mouth, she would defend her decision to the death. His response made her gape at him:

"Thanks," he said firmly. "I had a really good time with her today."

"You…you did?"

Zoro nodded. "She's a good kid. Nice work."

Helena flushed, clearly pleased. "She is, isn't she?" she replied, lacing her fingers through his. "I can't take much of the credit though. She kind of came that way."

"What was that your Dad said about trying to make another one?"

Helena laughed. "Later," she said with a wink, leading the way to one of the nearest festival booths. "First, we've got a party to attend."