Retirement to his daughter's kingdom where he could spend time with his grandchildren spoiling them rotten, was something that he was going to need to seriously consider as he made his way in for an emergency meeting with the Holy Emperor. He wasn't quite certain what had happened that would call for such a meeting in the middle of the night no less, but he was loyal to his Emperor. Still it would be nice to see how much the grandchildren had grown. Perhaps there were even great grandchildren, he would certainly enjoy playing with great grandchildren.

The smile on his face faded as he directed into the Emperor's personal chambers, such a meeting place indicated that this meeting was far more serious than he had believed, but he had been awoken from his sleep hours and dragged to meet the emperor. It could be anything, things could be getting testy at the border that they shared with the Draconic kingdom, or something could have happened to Judy and the kids. The moment he comes face to face with the emperor he immediately drops to one knee in front of him despite his old bones protesting loudly at the action.

"Cardinal July, it has come to my attention that you've failed to properly educate your daughter. I have just received a late transmission from Countess Georgiou. Laying with an animal?"

"I mean I don't particularly like Russell either, your holiness, but to call him an animal is a bit insulting to animals."

"This situation does not call for mirth and merriment, I overlooked your middle child's fascination with the knife-ears, but for your youngest to spend her night dancing with a beastkin after being possessed by a demon no less—"

"Charlotte was thrown from a balcony at a young age, she landed on her head and broke her arm, at this point I imagine Judy's getting a bit desperate that she couldn't find a suitable match in the Agron Kingdom. She's probably considering this because she simply doesn't have any other options. There are plenty of women in the Agron Kingdom, we simply have to pick the ones with the right temperament and the right beauty and I'm sure Judy will make the right choice for Charlotte's partner."

"She speaks in tongues Cardinal July." Holy Emperor Cleon snaps at him, he wasn't going to let him just bypass this.

"She doesn't speak in tongues all the time, and I'm certain this has more to do with the blow she took to the head, and getting nervous. She's not even aware of it, so it's certainly not demonic. She is still a swordmaster, she is still intelligent and she is lonely, the right woman, a strong woman from the kingdom from one of the more loyal families should be sent, with the instructions to flatter and ignore all of her—odd behaviors," Lawrence insists. "She'd feel more at ease if it was I who made the introduction. She adores me and hearing my opinion about the beastkin will make her think twice about indulging your holiness, she's young and desperate."

Cleon stared at Lawrence, contempt on his face. He wished that he could simply end his existence, but Lawrence July was a hero, the sole survivor of a deadly dragon attack. "Very well, but if you should fail then you will be the one to lead an inquisition into the Agron Kingdom."

"As you wish your—"

"Lawrence, you have been incredibly loyal to the Empire since the days of my father. Do not make me regret the faith that he put in you."

"I will carry out your will," Lawrence promised, watching as the Holy Emperor relaxes. An inquisition would be the very last thing he would lead towards his family. He would simply retire to the Draconic kingdom, which would be enough of a distraction for Cleon to forget leading armies into the Agron Kingdom, not that it would matter. He was certain that the Agron kingdom could repel the Holy Empire, if not through their strong military but Brittany's inventions would probably turn the tide of war and the Empire would fall.

~ O ~

One of the greatest inventions that had come out of their tower was the long range communication crystals that Brittany had helped develop with Lena, it had been created so they wouldn't lose touch after Lena got absconded to the dwarven kingdom. It had been an awful loss for their kingdom, Lena helped keep Brittany focused, and Brittany helped Lena dream big. Still she was proud of her daughter and such a device let her keep in communication with both of her parents, and her mother would love to hear the good news. She did enjoy weddings, all the food and the drink and—

Judy froze as she stared at the communication crystal, it was her mother's fault that her children had turned out the way that they had. They had all taken the extremes of her personality, and whenever her mother visited chaos ensued. This was a very delicate time, a possible war, her daughter finding her partner and her mother had a habit of making things infinitely more complicated. But if she didn't let her mother know and she was to find out the rampage would be equally problematic, especially if her half-sister was involved.

With a loud sigh she continues her approach to the crystal and activates it and sends a message to her mother, she waits for a moment, it was the middle of the night after all. Hopefully her mother wasn't checking her crystals, which was—

The crystal lights up and Judy groans loudly before slapping on a practiced smile, and answering, "Mother—" she immediately looks away from the crystal and shakes her head. "You're worse than Quinn, mother."

'Don't be such a prude, there is absolutely nothing wrong in enjoying the niceties of life, and I've been busy and deserve this. Your father has been busy, and it's rather disappointing. Now why are you calling dear? Have you finally decided that your life is boring and you want to join us?'

"Absolutely not. I have to make sure that my children aren't terrorists, and I called you to let you know that there is someone who is interested in Charlie!"

'I don't understand why this requires you contacting me Judy, they are my grandchildren, this was always bound to happen. They all inherited my charm.'

"That's not—actually, Charlie probably did inherit your charm which is the problem. The others took after their father, which is probably why I don't have such a problem with them. But your charm is very specific and it doesn't work with most people. I still don't quite understand how you and father happened and I don't want to hear the details."

'Well—I thought he was cute how he struggled—'

"Mother. What did I just say? I do not want to hear about you and my father," Judy interrupts, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I only called you to see if you wanted to help, Charlie knows nothing about beastkin and I imagine that you know how to court one, but we can manage without you. Quinn has her sparrows, but I'm worried she might try and sabotage this, you know how jealous she gets when anyone shows more interest in Charlie than her."

'A beastkin?'

"From the Jaguar clan, I don't know why she finds Charlie so fascinating but here we are. We just need to make sure that Charlie can seal the deal and then Russell can step down."

'A kitten! How adorable, she does take after me after all. She's going to have a very cute pet.'

"I don't think they like being called pets' mothers," Judy groaned with a shake of her head. "Didn't you just say you were busy? We can certainly manage here, I'll keep you informed." Judy said hoping that put an end to mother's interest in the matter.

'Don't be absurd dear, it's been years since I've seen the grandchildren—they've probably gotten stronger now. I should bring gifts, and I really don't think it's as hard as you think it is, Charlie just needs to bed the kitten. They are rather simple, if she takes after me she'll be fine. Though you might want to reinforce furniture—'

"Mother!"

'There you go being a prude again. I have some things to attend to here, and I should make Cassandra into why magic's being corrupted, but I should be there by the end of the week, tell Quinn to make sure that there is a selection for me. Only the best!"

Judy's eyes widened as her mother ended the communication network, talking to her mother had always been a mistake. "Well, this has just become a disaster."

~ O ~

Some people had made the suggestion that she was a shit-stirrer, and really Kara had no idea where anyone had gotten the idea that she was nothing more than a troublemaker. Charlie was her dimwitted friend, and as a good friend, she was going to make sure that her friend lost her virginity to someone who was quite possibly far out of her league. Maybe that would fix Charlie's confidence and perhaps then Charlie would stop feeling so jealous about how her life was going. And while it was fun to fight on sight, she missed her drinking buddy. She watches Charlie work through her swinging drills for a moment and sighs as she drops her hammer on the ground, letting it make a loud thud which draws her friend's attention.

"Fuck off Kara," Charlie grumbled. "Why are you even here? Go back to humping rocks or whatever it is you dwarves do for fun."

Kara rotated her shoulders out, before stretching out her back. "Oh don't worry, Lena said I can't hit you in the face with the hammer today, but I could use a good workout. Something about how if I rearrange your face, it won't make it look any better, and I may make the problem infinitely worse." She watches as Charlie stops moving and turns to her before smiling. "Unlike Quinn, I want you to get laid! It'll make you far less uptight, and it's kind of sad that you've never gotten your dick wet."

Charlie rotates her sword and slams it into the ground, letting the dirt hold it up. "Come here so I can punch you in the face."

Kara smirked, Lena had said that she couldn't hit Charlie in the face with her hammer, that didn't mean that her fists couldn't do her talking for her. "I have good advice for you."

"I already know what I need to do. Kill something impressive and present it to her, I just haven't decided what yet," Charlie scoffed, she knew how to impress women.

"In what world do women like being presented with dead things?" Kara questions. "Like I knew you were bad with women but I mean come on Charlie."

"She's a beastkin, and I'm courting her. I should at least try and court her in the Beastkin way, and we do this all the time. Everytime there's a hunt, we dedicate what we kill to our lover, or someone we hope to be our lover. It's a whole thing Kara," Charlie snapped back cracking her knuckles and gestures for Kara to come at her.

"I forgot how fucking weird humans are, no dwarven woman wants to be presented with dead things, and Lena certainly finds the whole thing to be bizarre as well. But if you're serious I hear that she likes shiny things, and since I know how many times you've been hit in the head, and or dropped on the head, I figured I'd help you."

"I really don't need your help Kara, you're not better than me because Lena picked you," Charlie grunted, throwing a punch which Kara sidesteps.

"Alright so you kill something for her and then what?" Kara questions. "What's step two?"

"I ask her to marry me?"

Kara stopped dodging as she stared at Charlie, like she was an idiot. Her friend was an idiot, and quite frankly she'd probably have more luck with Kal and his endless problems with Lois. "Charlie, you can't just ask a woman to marry you. You need to court her, do all the romantic things first."

"I'm pretty sure—" Charlie twists out of the way as Kara begins her onslaught, pushing her back with practiced heavy blows and well-timed kicks.

"Charlie, you're fucking terrible with women. Like the fucking worst, your mother is probably going to throw this huge meeting with the entire family to make sure that you end up married by the end of the season. If you do things your way you'll end up alone, and a sad and lonely drunk."

"But I really do think she wants to get married—" Charlie catches one of Kara's blows and immediately uses Kara's momentum to throw her, making sure to shift her weight just enough to dislocate the joint as Kara crashes to the ground.

"Charlie, you barely know her! And given your position you would think that you of all the fucking—holy shit did you just break my shoulder?"

"You're fine," Charlie smirks, pulling back from Kara. "I trust her."

"Why?"

"Because she's not an assassin? Because she was nice to me last night, and it was fun dancing with her."

Fuck her shoulder hurt, she should have hit Charlie in the face with a hammer. "How can you be so—where the fuck are you going?"

Charlie pulls her sword out of the ground, and lets out a very sharp and shrill whistle. "Smaug, Lord Fatty! Breakfast!"

"You wouldn't fucking dare," Kara snaps at Charlie, holding her shoulder.

"They haven't been fed yet, and I'm aware that you gave Quinn that very special dwarven ale last night. So if you don't want to be Smaug's chew toy and Lord Tubbington's breakfast—you could fight them but personally if I were you I'd run."

Kara shot Charlie a very dark glare, but quickly realizes that Charlie's whistle has caught the attention of Smaug and Lord Tubbington, and she didn't want to test if Charlie would save her or not, as she manages to get to her feet and simply begins to run. She was going to fucking murder Quinn, she had thought it would be funny. And for a spymaster, Quinn seemed quick to throw people under the bus.

Charlie smirked before she went back to her sword drills, it was good to know that her mate liked shiny things, she knew just the monster to present her.