Hello, my pretties. Excuse me while I gush at how amazing you are.

There's a longer author's note at the end. This chapter was a lot easier because I've known it was coming for weeks. The next couple will probably come back to back for that reason.

I own nothing but the lords and well…someone else can have them. I also really don't own Disney but I'm also Floridian so that's debatable…

Farron was waiting in the lobby of the Boscan Embassy for Lucy. He was dressed in a black tuxedo more in line with Fiorian customs. The white shirt underneath had his clan tattoos embroidered where the peeked out from his jacket. His long hair was braided down his back.

"I know. I'm late," Lucy said, trying to run in the full skirt of her blue-grey dress. She'd forgotten how much she hated tulle and how much it itched. The translucent tulle was used to give the skirt shape as well the pretense of modesty though her dragon tattoo was visible on her thigh. The bust concealed most of her cleavage but there was no hiding the size of the girls. The lace sleeves reminded her of Boscan formalwear.

"You look amazing."

"Thank you. So do you. By the way, if accompanying you to events like this means I get pampered like that every time, I might actually agree to them," Lucy said as she looped her arm with his. After dress hunting with an assistant assigned by the Embassy, she'd been taken for a spa treatment at a place she'd enviously passed when she lived in Crocus.

"I'll keep that in mind. There are a few places where I can't safely bring Freed to events like this, that I would still like to have someone beautiful on my arm. Especially places like Desierto where the conversations would be dull."

"Remember, no-"

"-More than five minutes with your father. How will I know it's him and not someone else from the gentry?"

"He'll be the one criticizing all my life choices. The others will be trying to see down my dress. And I'm here to protect you from marriage mothers."

.~*~.

Compared to the gaudier décor of the ballroom after the Grand Magic Games, the room appeared more mature. There was no buffet. Each little round table seated four and had small name cards. The tables had large bouquets of flowers as centerpieces. Strung from the chandeliers were garland instead of ribbons.

"Ambassador Farron Pradesh of Bosco. Lady Lucy Heartfilia of Fiore," the announcer said as they entered.

"I was hoping to avoid that," Lucy said through clenched teeth.

"Sorry."

The room had erupted into whispers. There were men and women that she recognized. Most she did not care for. Before her father, who was standing frozen, could approach her, Princess Hisui did first.

"Lady Lucy, I wasn't expecting you. Especially since your father arrived alone."

Lucy curtsied while Farron bowed. "Did he? I apologize for the confusion."

Hisui turned her gaze to Farron. "I had heard you'd promised."

"I have."

"It surprised me that you didn't even entertain the marriage contracts."

That's spoiled princess code for throwing temper tantrum for not getting her way, Lucy thought, knowing that Farron would hear her. He coughed, choking on his laughter.

"Are you all right?" Lucy said, turning so that only Farron could see her grin.

"Fine. I think that we should find our seats. I'm sure that my throat is merely parched. With your leave, your highness."

"Yes, you may go. Lucy, I would like to talk to you further at a later point tonight."

"Yes, your highness," Lucy said with another curtsy before following Farron to their table.

"Do you not like her?" Farron asked lowly.

"That's a complicated question with a complicated answer."

While Bickslow had been involved in the fight with the dragons, he hadn't known the full extent of the princess's involvement. He'd known even less about the spirits going crazy and that it was caused by the closing of the Eclipse Gate. Lucy's tone was more introspective, like a professor discussing a theory.

"So…do you like her or not?"

"I don't know. I just worry about her being irresponsible. She has magic but was never taught how to respect it. It's not an extension of who she is like it is for us."

"Fair enough." He sighed heavily. "Here comes the first."

"Hello, Ambassador Pradesh." Lucy immediately recognized the voice. Lady Tremaine couldn't successfully conceal her heart of ice underneath a honeyed voice. She was in that ridiculously conservative style that she was well-known for. It was as if she thought any skin was a sin. On the other hand, her two daughters wore ugly dresses and headpieces but with corsets designed to give them a profile.

"Hello." Farron trailed off as he stood and Lucy thought, Lady Tremaine. "Lady Tremaine."

"I'm so glad you remembered me." She turned her piercing gaze onto Lucy. "Miss Lucy."

"It's Lady Heartfilia until my father finds another heir."

Lady Tremaine's lips pursed. "Of course. Though, dressed like that, I'd have thought that you were a streetwalker that the ambassador paid to accompany him."

Both Farron and Lucy balked at the brazenness of her statement. You heard that too, right? Lucy asked Farron who nodded slightly.

"That's a surprising thing for someone to say when you seemed to be trying to court the ambassador," Lucy said, standing and letting her hackles rise.

"Merely trying to understand his taste, that's all."

"I assure you, his taste is impeccable. After all, I'm sure that this isn't the first time that you've attempted to throw your daughters at him." Lucy turned slightly to Farron. "I rather think this dress is a good mix between Fiorian and Boscan. What do you think?"

"You're not wrong."

"Emi would consider it rather modest," she mused, tapping her chin.

"Probably." Farron could see the point that she was making with Lady Tremaine. He could also hear the older woman's slow realization.

Lucy turned back to Lady Tremaine with a haughty smile. "For future reference, if you're going to try to marry off one of your daughters to someone whose culture is different than yours, maybe you should get off your holier-than-thou high horse and bother ensuring that you don't insult his culture."

"Hmph," Lady Tremaine said. She marched off with her daughters in tow.

"I've wanted to do that half my life," Lucy said, watching her leave.

"Know her well?"

"She tried to marry my father after my mom died. That didn't work but Papa thought she was an excellent example for me and arranged lots of playdates with her evil daughters. I thought she'd retired from balls and whatnot after Ella's marriage."

"Who?"

"Her stepdaughter. Lady Tremaine became a noble after marrying-" she paused, trying to remember the name- "Duke Woods. Anyways, Duke Woods had arranged a marriage for his daughter, Ella, with a Minstrellan noble. Duke Woods died. There were a lot of rumors that she poisoned him.

"Anyways, a letter comes talking about the marriage and Lady Tremaine writes back. The wedding is planned. Nearly all Fiorian nobles invited- including my father and me- her oldest, the black-haired one, is walking down the aisle and the noble- I can't remember his name- says, 'That's not Ella.' I know it's petty, but it was hilarious. The groom's whole family is up in arms that she would try to con them. It was amazing because Lady Tremaine is a bully and people like her rarely see justice."

"I'm guessing she stopped coming to functions after that?"

"Yeah. There was about two years after that and me running away that I didn't see her."

He chuckled. People that pretended to be wholesome, even when someone deserved the fangs, bothered him. He could hear her mentally shaming herself for revealing how much she'd enjoyed watching Lady Tremaine get her comeuppance.

"Did you know Ella well?"

Lucy shook her head. "I think I'd been there three times before Drizella let it slip that she was their stepsister. After that, they tattled to their mother anytime I talked to her. I saw a bruise once and realized that trying to talk to her probably did more harm than good."

Farron frowned. "No one did anything?"

Lucy shook her head. "It's the gentry. And Ella just wanted to leave them all behind. She left them the house but took everything in it. I think the only things left were their beds and clothes." Farron groaned suddenly. "Another mother?"

"Worse. A politician." Farron stood and held out his arm. "Think you're ready to help me deal with this?"

Lucy stood. "Let's find out."

"What do you know about him?"

The person that Farron gestured towards was a blue-haired man in his late forties-early fifties. He carried himself with every bit of gentrified arrogance and Lucy was already reminding herself to keep him from drooling into her cleavage.

"Lord Nico Mytril. Gross. Part of Fiore's trade committee. Manufactures clothes made from Boscan silkworms."

"Yes. He's trying to double dip. Our trade committee isn't having much luck with him. If he has his way, they're afraid it'll set a precedent."

"They're not wrong." She smiled. This was the smile all of his brothers warned him just to get out of her way when he saw it. "I have the perfect play."

As they walked over, another man had struck up a conversation with Lord Mytril. The man had short green hair and almost black eyes behind metal-rimmed glasses. His suit was a dull black and held nothing of the flare that she'd come to expect from his son.

"Ambassador Pradesh, Lady Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to see you. You look more and more like your mother every time I see you," Lord Mytril said.

"Thank you, Lord Mytril. Hello, Lord Justine." Lucy grabbed Farron's hand and squeezed hard enough that her nails dug into his skin.

Don't. This isn't the place for it and you know it.

"When should we expect a name change?" Lord Mytril asked, looking down at their clasped hands.

"I don't know. After all, my father took my mother's name."

"That's true. Your father must be thrilled. I know he tried to arrange a marriage between you and a Pradesh when you were younger."

"It's a shame my son's an abomination. Both of you in the same guild would have made quite the pair."

Stop! Lucy yelled before Farron could react.

"I'm very fond of your son. I personally have no qualms with his preferences except that we have the same tastes in men so then it becomes quite the competition."

"Do you know where my son is?"

Farron listened to her consider the best way to answer that question. The entire night, she'd been careful to allow people to assume that she was his promised without lying.

"At the moment? No."

She knew that the Thunder Legion had a job in Sevier but where exactly they were, she had no idea.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you plan on carrying the family's legacy when you've disowned your only child? Unlike my title, or even Lord Mytril, your title has to be passed down or your lordship goes into receivership until the next the millionaire decides to buy themselves a title. The Justine's have held that for what? Two hundred years?"

She watched as Freed's father tried to come up with a good argument for that before stiffly walking away.

"That was impressive," Lord Mytril said. "Are you sure you can handle a firecracker like her?"

"Honestly, I'm beginning to question if anyone can," Farron said with a look of awe. "While I have you though, a friend on the Boscan trade committee hoped I might be able to talk to you."

"Lady Heartfilia, this will probably bore you. Why don't you go while we chat?"

"No, thank you. I need to protect him from the sharks."

His gaze shifted towards a woman hovering not too far away. "I see what you mean. I appreciate where you and your committee are coming from, but I need to make a profit."

"You're double dipping. If you weren't on your trade committee, you'd have been found guilty for violating our trade agreements."

"That is preposterous," Lord Mytril said, his face flushing. "If you don't-"

"Please allow me to interrupt," Lucy said in her ditziest voice. "All of your clothes are made from imported Boscan silk. Papa bought me one of your dresses for my sixteenth birthday." She frowned then turned her best puppy dog eyes onto Farron. "I can get another dress when we get back, right?"

"For you, yeah. My brother knows a few good places in White Sea."

The memory from that morning of Kaleb with his silk shirt on but unbuttoned flitted through her mind and she almost lost her ditzy façade. Don't think about him shirtless, Lucy repeated in her mind as almost a mantra. Her face flushed slightly when she felt Farron jolt as he resisted the urge to laugh.

"Good," she said, careful to keep her higher pitched ditzy tone. "Now, it can't be produced anywhere else because Boscan silkworms feed on chamastan, a plant that requires the specific nutrients found within the water of the Grass Sea. Right?"

"That's correct," Farron acknowledged, uncertain of where Lucy was going with this.

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, after all my knowledge of Boscan law isn't the best, but doesn't Bosco have laws concerning any businesses that imports and exports to them. That they have to maintain certain things like employee conditions."

Up until those last two words, Lord Mytril had been mostly focused on Lucy's chest as she shifted around as part of her ditzy persona. Farron swore he could hear the lord's thoughts screech as he was suddenly focused on Lucy's words. He could also hear Lucy's mental giggles as she knew exactly what she did.

"They do. It's how we maintain workers' standards in Bosco."

"Hypothetically speaking, if a Fiorian company was found to have less than stellar work conditions, shouldn't they be begging the Boscan trade committee not to pull their contracts while they rectified the problem. You know, if it was me, I'd be trying damn hard not to lose those incredibly profitable contracts."

"Sounds about right."

"Fine. I'll talk to the committees tomorrow," Lord Mytril said through clenched teeth, his face ashen.

Lucy and Farron watched him slink away. "This is fun," she said with a wide smile.

"You're terrifying. How did you know all that?"

"The work conditions or the Boscan law?"

"Both."

"Fiore has strict freedom of the press. The gentry can't stop something from being published, but they can bribe the printer to not make it widely available. Like an unfavorable article only being printed in three towns on the opposite side of the country."

"And Boscan law?"

"Textiles are part of Heartfilia Konzern as well. Papa was always careful to make sure we were within the law."

"I'm glad to know some of my lessons stuck."

Lucy turned slowly, her movements so mechanical that Farron swore he heard them creak. "Papa…"

Jude Heartfilia was a surprisingly tall man considering how petite Lucy was. He was an imposing presence with air of a business man. After a long minute of them staring at each other, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to see you safe. I worried when you disappeared. Your friend, the celestial wizard at Sabertooth, said you'd gone on a training mission when I placed a request with the guild."

"I did. Then I ended up in Bosco."

Jude's eyes narrowed as the scrutinized Farron. "He's better than that pink haired idiot you were always with."

"Natsu is my friend and you don't get to decide who I end up with."

"You're still my daughter-"

"And therefore, you should have learned that I'm just as stubborn as you."

"The fact that you chose to go to a country whose entire civilization is built on hedonism and debauchery proves that you can't make your own decisions, so you will listen to me because-"

"You can take that patriarchal bullshit and shove it up your ass." There was a collective gasp. "I said that really loud, didn't I?"

"Yes. Let's go for a walk in the gardens," Farron said with a scathing look behind Lucy's back at her father. "Was he always like that?" he asked after she'd cooled down.

"I don't remember what he was like before Mama died. A workaholic, sure. But not mean."

Lucy and Farron sat down on a bench where Lucy took off her heels. She leaned back and stared at the sky.

"What are we looking at?"

"That's Orion who's hunting Taurus. Then on Taurus's shoulder is- Holy fuck. How did I not see that?"

"What?"

"Do you have your com?"

"Yes."

He handed it to her and she quickly dialed Kaleb.

"What?" he said groggily.

"I know what the writing is."

"Lucy? Why are you on Farron's com?"

"Because there's nowhere to carry mine in this dress."

Farron noted how quickly Kaleb got up when he realized it was Lucy calling and made a mental note to tell their father later. Kaleb was notoriously hard to wake up in the middle of the night.

"Can I see the dress?"

"Later. Is the program up?"

"Yeah. It'll take a second for me to-"

"The first letter is the Pleiades star cluster." Lucy gave him time to find a picture of the cluster then superimpose the first letter and watch it line up. She closed her eyes and pictured the night sky. Her finger moved in the air as she traced out the symbols against the various clusters. "The next one is the second Cassiopeia cluster. The third is the third Perseus cluster. I mean that-"

"I understood what you meant."

"The next is Cassiopeia's fifth cluster. And lastly, Andromeda's first."

"How do you know them so well?"

"For the longest time, the closest I could get to my magic was studying the stars. The only reason my father let me have my keys is that mages fetch more money, even in a bride price."

"The frankness that you say things like that is disturbing," Kaleb said. "It'll take an hour for me to write a program that'll figure out where Anna was pointing. I'll also have Thane get some star maps for you."

Lucy smiled for him.

"Can I see the dress?"

She giggled, handed Farron the com, stepped far enough away that he could see all of it, and turned for him.

"What do you think?"

"I like it."

"Go back to bed, Kaleb. And thank you." Farron hung up the com and stuck it back into his pocket.

"Have you noticed that the tattoo has changed?"

Lucy looked down at where she knew the dragon was and saw what he meant. The dragon had become such a part of her it that it was like the scar on her shoulder from one of Jackal's curses. She didn't really see it anymore. Whereas the mark had been a blue dragon-shaped shadow, it was now developing distinct details.

"Huh. That's new."

"I noticed it earlier."

"It's probably from the fact that I rarely turn off the dragon anymore. I'm still working on holding it while changing into my star dresses."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Farron asked if she was ready back inside. The party would wrap up in less than an hour.

"I hate when they do that," he said as they sat at their table eating fancy desserts.

"Do what?"

"Talk their made-up language. I get it. They don't want me to hear. Go talk in a corner and not next to me in gibberish."

"It's not made-up. It's Izezish."

"What?"

"The Izezins were a tribe here in Fiore. The last one died around twenty years ago but before he did, someone had the bright idea to turn his language into a business language of sorts since it's an entirely oral language which means you have to be taught. You can't learn it out of a book."

"And you can speak it?"

"Yeah. My father taught me."

"How many languages do you speak?"

"Fluently: Common, Izezish, and Fiorian. I speak fluent Boscan and Sevish but I struggle to read and write. I can read Minstrellan but I've been told that I have a horrible accent and I'm not real good conversationally."

"The first five I get considering your father's business, but Minstrellan."

"I like Minstellan literature," Lucy said with a bright red blush. "I suspected that the translations Papa got me weren't very accurate so I learned Minstrellan so I could read them in their native language."

He laughed. He'd read plenty of Minstrellan literature and knew how raunchy it could be. Much like Bosco, Minstrel preferred to be open and accepting of people's sexuality though it was still expected to be something kept behind closed doors.

"Lucy, I have two brothers and a sister. I don't care which of them you marry, but please be my sister-in-law and give me an excuse to bring you along to functions like this."

The idea for Izezish is based on the Navajo code talkers during WWII. Since the language was so different from even it general language family (ie Spanish and Italian are Latin languages) as well as unwritten, it worked really well for speaking code. Also, according to one of my professors, its similarities to Japanese drove them nuts. [The More You Know…]

This has been brought up a few times so yes, Lucy has a dragon soul. It's her tattoo. Yes, she'll mate. Yes, Zen will be in the story but he's still currently in Pergrande. No, I won't acknowledge who her mate will be.

Lucy in Bosco is going to be running parallel to the Avatar story arch. The two will converge on a new dragons' arch. After that, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to tackle Alvarez.