Warning-Use of a bad word in the last sentence. The opposite of heaven.
Eire strode bravely across the foyer and into the hallway that led to the kitchen, Gladys and Peter following suit. It was a large house, very old, and it had an air of grandeur about it. The walls were adorned with paintings of scenery and kings and queens, and the wooden floors were soft and worn with age.
As the group ventured down the hall, they were unaware of another figure following mischievously behind.
"Here it is!" Eire said, stopping and opening a large door on the left side of the hall. It opened to reveal Arthur's kitchen, a particularly large room that the trio usually avoided at all costs when they were here.
"Look at what he's got in here." Peter said with a boyish mixture of fascination and disgust, pulling open the door of the modest white refrigerator. He took out a plastic bag.
"What is this supposed to be, crumpet or marzipan or something British like that?" He said, poking the shapeless tan-grayish form inside the bag.
"Peter, do you even know what marzipan is?" Gladys asked, ruffling his hair as Eire observed the room with her hands on her hips.
"Yes." Peter said with a grumpy expression, ducking his head away.
"Sure you do." Gladys said, smiling teasingly, but before Peter could respond Eire turned around to address them.
"We'll just rummage through the cabinets until we find the tea. Peter, you take that area-" She beckoned to a section of cabinets next to the refrigerator and above the stove- "Gladys, there-" She waved her hand at a row on the far side of the kitchen- "And I'll look there." She pointed over at the cabinets over the counters to their right. "Okay, let's go!"
They headed off to their designated areas and began their search.
"Hey look, Eire, Iggy likes Lucky Charms." Peter said, holding up a recently opened box of the sugary cereal.
"Racist pig. You think because I be Irish I be likin' me Lucky Charms?" Eire exaggerated her Irish accent and laughed. "But that's interesting. Alfred told me he was never allowed to eat stuff like that. Good black mail, too. Let me take a picture of it." She pulled out her phone, came across the room, and took a quick snapshot of the box with Arthur's kitchen in the background as proof.
"I found his baking materials." Gladys said, leaning back so the two could see the large array of flour, salt, sugar and other basics. "It all looks so normal, it's quite amazing it turns into the rubbish it does."
"Arthur would be so hurt, Gladys." Eire said sarcastically, winking at her fellow nation, who giggled and turned back around. "Mortified, more like, me being in cahoots with you two children." Gladys replied.
"Who you calling child, lassy?" Eire directed at the girl, who in looks was seemingly the same age as her, if not a bit younger, maybe sixteen or seventeen to Eire's eighteen or nineteen appearance.
Puck peered out from behind a paper towel dispenser, watching the friends break down in laughter around the open cabinets surrounding them.
"I should add to their fun." He mused with a smirk, and sent an apple flying through the air, bonking Eire squarely on her forehead.
"Who threw that?" She cried, pretending anger as she eyed the two nations.
Then a spoon hit Gladys' ear.
"Oi!" She cried, glaring at Peter, who was hit with a colander before he could say a word in his defense.
And havoc ensued. Laughing raucously, the trio was on their feet, flinging common kitchen items across the room at one another.
"Be careful!" Gladys shouted when a fork narrowly missed her eye. "No sharp objects, Peter!"
They all laughed and went to grab more ammunition when they heard from across the across the house,
"What the DICKENS is going on?"
They all froze, looking straight ahead in terror. They heard heavy footsteps running in the hallway towards the kitchen, and suddenly Eire was pushing them towards the other door, hissing "Go! GO!"
They all ran through the door, flew through the dining room, then Eire was in the lead, turning randomly down hallway after hallway, pounding up a flight of stairs-
"WHAT THE BLOODY-"
They froze.
"Keep going, go!" Gladys cried, shoving Peter into motion. Then they were running again, turning left and right and left again, paying no attention to where it was they were going-
And there were footsteps behind them-
And they didn't know whether to laugh or cry or scream-
"HERE!" Eire cried, pulling open an old and dusty door and pushing them inside-
Then all was quiet.
"Where are-"
"SHH!" Eire hissed, putting a finger to her lips and cocking her head towards the door.
"WHAT is the meaning of this?" They heard Arthur shouting a couple hallways away. "I leave the house for but ten minutes, come back for a folder-and a bloody tornado's swept through my kitchen since I've been gone!"
It was all the trio could do to suppress the giggles bursting out of them as they listened to Arthur scolding his fairy friends.
"What do you mean, you don't know what happened? You three are the only ones here! NO, I don't want to hear it, Peaseblossom." They trio broke down in silent giggles again. "Just…Clean up the mess, and don't let it happen again, alright? Blast, I'm late for the meeting." They heard his footsteps retreat, then all was silent.
"Can we-" Peter started to say, but Eire shushed him. Standing up quietly, she tiptoed over to the door, and felt along the wall until she felt a switch.
She flicked it on.
Blinking, they looked at the room around them. It appeared to be some sort of storage room, with dusty boxes piled against the walls and old chests and trunks stacked up all around.
"Hey, look at this!" Peter cried, running over to an old-fashioned wire dress maker's dummy. "She has fabulous curves, non?" Peter said, running his hand over the rusty wire hips of the model.
"PETER!" Gladys cried, and Eire had to turn around to suppress her laughter. "Where on Earth did you get that come from?"
"Where do you think?" Peter said gleefully, giggling at Gladys' face's bizarre mixture of shock and great amusement.
"More like who do I think." Gladys said, shaking her head, giving Peter a harsh look but failing to mask her smile.
"Well, I'm going to have a look around." Eire said, heading towards a trunk with old-fashioned hinges and dust-covered leather. "We're not sure Iggy's gone yet, and it's quite interesting in here."
"Alright." Gladys said, looking around at the room as Peter tried to maneuver himself inside the wire dummy.
Eire flipped the slightly rusty latches of the trunk and lifted it open.
"This is really fascinating, how many historical artifacts Arthur has up here." Gladys said, inspecting an old manuscript with signatures at the bottom she was trying to make out. She glanced at her watch. "Oh, it's one already!"
"We'd better get going if we're going to obtain that tea." Eire said, shutting an old book she was inspecting and placing it back in the chest of drawers where she'd found it.
Peter jumped up from his place behind a stack of boxes, suspiciously keeping his hands down, hidden by the box. "We're leaving?"
"Yes." Gladys answered, standing up and brushing of her skirt as Eire gave the room one last sweeping glance and headed toward the door.
"Come one, lads, we've got a mission to fulfill." Eire said, and stepped into the hallway. She stopped abruptly.
"What?"Peter whined, rubbing his nose and peering around Eire. "I don't see anything."
"That's not it." Eire said, scowling a bit as she looked down the hallway. Then her face brightened. "I do so love adventure." She said, and led the other two down the hallway.
"What? What's going on?" Peter inquired, turning back to look at Gladys. "What-"
"We have no idea where we are, Peter." Gladys answered, peering around her casually.
"Oh." Peter said, looking back ahead. "Cool!"
"I'm sure we'll find the stairs soon." Eire said, deciding to turn right and continuing bravely down the hall. "What could go wrong other than us having to hide some more when Iggy gets back?"
She turned left-
And fell back on Peter, who fell on Gladys, who fell on the floor-
"What the hell are you all doing here?"
They looked up at the figure standing over them, one hand on its hip and a scowl on its face.
"Er-good afternoon, Ms. Findlay, how are you?" Peter stuttered. Gladys glared at him, and he shut up.
"Blair, allow me to explain." Eire said sweetly.
Scotland looked down at them with a scowl.
The name Peaseblossom belongs to William Shakespeare-it is the name of one of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lucky Charms is copywrited by, uh, what's the name, General Mills! Ya. So don't sue me, please. By the way, in case you were wondering and don't feel like researching-
Gladys- From the old Welsh name Gwladus, possibly derived from gwlad "country".
Kinsey-an English surname derived from Old English cyn and sige "royal victory".
Eire-Gaelic for Ireland
Blair-From a Scottish surname meaning "plain, battlefield" in Gaelic.
Findlay- From the Scottish name Fionnlagh / Fionnlaoich, meaning "fair hero" - from the Gaelic elements "fionn" meaning white or fair and "laoch" meaning warrior or hero.
Hud lan- Magic shore in Welsh