"Perhaps, we should have been far stricter with her as she grew, she is our only child and while she's always done things that made her happy, I had thought that she would take this seriously. Instead from Sansa's latest letter she's been stalking the youngest princess and nearly killed her." Maribel groused, as she debated whether it would be wise to simply recall her daughter. The Lion clan would certainly love it if their family fell down a notch or two, but there had been no news of a war breaking out so at least Santana hadn't caused an incident.

"Perhaps this is part of some larger strategy," Miguel said, but a quick look from his wife caused a smile to break out on his face. It certainly wasn't that, "It's far more likely that the princess is attractive and Santana wants to bed her, she'll never find a mate if she continues to look for quick pleasure."

"We're trying to avoid a war, not start one. A heartbroken princess, and from everything I've read from the reports that Sansa has sent the council, the king is overly protective of his children. I can't imagine a world where it's a good idea to toy with the heart of a princess," Maribel lectures her husband. "She needs to find her mate and soon, she's already far past the age that most others find their mates—and I know that she wants to find a strong mate, but at this point—"

The door to the dining hall was pushed open and one of their maids quickly approached, "Lord Miguel, Lady Maribel, you have—there's a—"

Miguel turned and immediately stood up, there was terror on the maid's face and he scowls. "What's going on? Speak."

"It's a drake, there's a drake outside!" The maid finally manages to spit out.

"A drake? Is it an attack?" Maribel says as she gets up to join her mate, there was always a few days delay, but to launch an attack so swiftly. She could only hope that her daughter wasn't behind this. She doesn't wait for a reply, instead she hurries to the yard, only to stop at the sight of a massive drake that was currently laying on the ground wrapped around, someone who could only be a member of the Agron Royal family. A member of the royal family who looked like she'd just been in a war, they could smell the blood, and there was a wild look in her eyes.

"Are you Santana's parents?"

Miguel immediately looked over at his wife, even as his claws popped out. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, Santana was their only child, if anything had happened to her. "Why are you asking?" He didn't care if it started a war, if anything had happened to his daughter.

Hiccup let out a puff of smoke towards the beastkin and is quickly smacked by Charlie, "Behave yourself, I'm supposed to ask permission if she can marry me and give the parents gifts," she reminds him as she reaches for magic pouch and sticks her hand in and grabs one of the crystal scorpion carcases and pulls it out. It's far bigger than Hiccup is, but it is the second largest one and she was certain she still had it's stinger lodged somewhere in her leg. It drops on the ground with a large thump and she smiles at Santana's parents who look absolutely shocked. "Lord Miguel and Lady Maribel, I have come to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage!"

Maribel stared at the massive crystal scorpion for a moment, her mouth dropping. How had that large thing come out of that small container? "What?"

Charlie flushed, she wasn't quite sure what to say at this moment, "Your daughter, Santana. I heard from a questionable source that this was how one showed difference to a clan head and the parents of my mate. I was told that Santana likes shiny things, so I killed a crystal scorpion for her and well you. I have more if this is not enough, I'm not quite sure of the quantity that is appropriate—" Charlie cleared her throat, she had made an error here. She should have sent word so she could appear at her very best. There was protocol and she wished she had listened to her etiquette lessons.

"You killed that? On your own?" Miguel said, eying the massive creature and looking at Charlie.

"Yes."

"Because you want to marry our daughter?" Maribel repeats, and is rewarded with a rather earnest nod. "Why? You're human, mixed with something else from the smells of you but our daughter needs to find her mate."

"She says that I'm her mate, I don't really understand what that means or what that entails, but you're welcome to come to the ceremony!"

Miguel immediately made a face, while they were used to Santana's many partners it didn't mean that he wanted to watch his daughter mating with anyone.

"You mean the wedding ceremony?" Maribel decided to specify.

"What else would I mean?" Charlie asked, confused.

"Our daughter said that you were her mate?" Miguel questions incredulously.

~ O ~

Santana was on the prowl, she needed to find out more about her mate. Charlie seemed receptive to her and while she thought her mate was intelligent to some degree, it was also clear that she was dense about other things. Charlie didn't seem capable of some grand deception, and she had certainly smelled the arousal from her mate several times, her mate wanted her. She just needed to figure out where Charlie had gone to and she could intercept her on the way back and they could have another conversation. At least this time she'd be able to understand her.

Before she can finish the climb up the tree, that would get her closer to Charlie's bedroom window so she could jump and break in, she feels someone grab her by the scruff of her neck and her body immediately goes limp, she tries to cling to the tree but she's pulled off.

"Well what do we have here?" Kara asked as she held Santana at a distance by her scruff. "The beastkin who has gotten Charlie all worked up and territorial."

Santana stared at Kara with an unimpressed look on her face and waited until Kara brought her closer before swiping at the princess with her claws and catching her on the cheek. It's enough to get Kara to drop her and she lands on her feet and quickly shifts into her jaguar form.

Kara clutched the wound on her cheek and glared at the beastkin completely unimpressed. "I was being nice!"

Santana immediately shifts into her human form and shoots Kara an irritated look, "Excuse me if I don't trust your relationship with my mate."

Kara's brow arcs for a moment, the ease at which Santana had stated that Charlie was her mate was interesting but she wasn't going to simply let Santana get away with scratching her cheek like that. "Your mate, well I've known Charlie since we were children. Fighting is simply how we show affection."

"You hit her in the face with a hammer, and I like her face."

"She's stabbed me."

"I'm sure you deserved it," Santana responds flatly.

Kara twitched, she wasn't sure if she liked the beastkin, "Deserved it? I deserved to be stabbed?"

"I don't know what you did, but I'm sure that you deserved it. I mean she certainly didn't deserve a hammer to the face while she was distracted. She certainly doesn't deserve mean spirited pranks that you and her sister seem to enjoy playing on her."

"Mean spirited? She destroyed half of my forge and a huge chunk of the city on her last bender in the dwarven citadel! A hammer to the face is nothing, it's a love-tap at best. Look, I'm just here to tell you all of Charlie's many—many embarrassing stories."

"I don't want to hear them from you."

"You should probably know who you're mating with before you know you actually mate with them. I mean, I'm honestly surprised that you want to mate with her. You're far too pretty for her. Like I'm curious what it is about Charlie you find so fascinating."

"She's my mate."

"Is that it?" Kara questions as she takes a step back away from Santana's claws. "Beastkin can't mate with other species, so I don't think that's true. So what's your game? Charlie's not part beastkin, so you can't form a bond with her. So I'm thinking this is some ploy to get a favorable result from the Agron Kingdom and Charlie is the best mark."

Santana narrowed her eyes, "Don't pretend that this is for her benefit. This isn't some scam, she's my mate. And you're wrong, beastkin can mate with halflings, as long as they have a core and it resonates with mine—"

"Charlie doesn't have a drop of beastkin blood in her. She's barely a hybrid, so try again, even if your core and her core resonate, there is very little chance that a proper bond manifests, and knowing all that—"

Santana crossed her arms over her chest, "You know what the other half is."

"Of course I do, but I have zero reason to tell you," Kara smirks.

Santana scowled as she turned her back, "When she gets back I'm going to give her permission to stab you."

"And I'm going to tell her that she's being played. We'll see which one of us she trusts. I've known her for years, you've known her for weeks. And you tried to kill her. Who do you think she ran to when you were in her room?"

Santana paused, she didn't like being backed in a corner and while Charlie and Kara seemed to be at odds all the time, she wasn't going to push her luck when there was a lot she didn't understand about her mate. "That was a misunderstanding."

"Sure it was," Kara scoffed. "If she's not dead in a cave somewhere she should be back soon. She'll be back soon."

Santana scowled, but looked up at Charlie's room for a moment, she didn't quite like being held in the dark here. And once she was mated she was going to have a long discussion about this weird relationship.