The next morning was filled with anxiety. Nod was dressed in his Leafmen armor, he had to work later that day. We went to my house, and I had to dress like a Royal Advisor, which meant a dress with a full skirt. Alisia also had to dress royally, which meant white lotus dress for her. I was crazy nervous about addressing the Council. What if our plan didn't work? What if they forced us to separate anyway? I twirled the rings on my left hand around my finger. The night before we'd found wedding bands for the both of us, to complete our story.

I rode side saddle to Moonhaven, gripping desperately to the sides of the saddle. I was relieved when we landed. I dismounted Zeeba and got Alisia out of her baby seat. Nod slid off the saddle and crossed over to me. I gave him a nervous look. He kissed my forehead and breathed, "Don't be nervous. Remember, they work for you."

I nodded and squeezed his hand. "Go time," I whispered. "What did Moonhaven need a Royal Council for anyway?" I thought bitterly. I took a deep breath. I just needed to answer their questions as honestly as I could, following Nod and I's story. Nod and I walked into the Royal Council Room. With his head held high, he looked like a royal.

The Royal Council was waiting on us, four old Jinn men. I saw Finn leaning against a wall on the far side of the room and my stomach settled. I trusted Finn. I curtsied as best as I could while holding Alisia, and Nod folded at the waist. I could feel them watching us. When we straightened, the Jinn then bowed to us.

"Good morning, Your Excellency, Your Majesty," they chanted.

"Good morning, Council, Colonel," I greeted them cordially. I did love Finn, but I wished desperately that it was Ronin leaning against that wall instead of a stand-in. Ronin would know what to do.

In the center of the room there was a round table. As we approached, the Council and Finn walked to the table and sat down. Nod and I took empty seats, and I held Alisia carefully in my lap.

"We have called this meeting to discuss strategies to protect ourselves from Mandrake," a Council member rattled. This one was especially elderly, a white clover Jinn who looked frail.

I hoped my relieved sigh wasn't too loud. "Oh thank God, it's not about us at all," I thought.

"However," another Council member cut in with a snide voice, "We've also called this meeting to remind her Excellency and the Royal Protector about the sanctity of Royal Relationships."

My heart dropped like a stone in the water. I put on a disinterested face. "Mh? What's that?" I asked, feigning innocence. "My sanctity is no way questioned. I would never be unfaithful to my husband," I said loftily, and I casually put both of my hands on the table, Nod grabbing my right. Both of our rings were glinting in the sunlight.

Five faces lost their varying expressions and each changed to one of complete and utter shock.

"Excuse me," Council Member Ryan broke in, "But you can't actually mean the two of you are married?"

"Yeah," Finn chimed in as well, "What? Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?"

Nod and I had to bite our lips on that one. Sweet Finn.

"It's impossible," said Council Member Ash, the one who had not yet spoken, and the youngest of the four, "I was just in the Marriage Gardens yesterday for a wedding. There was no tree with your names on it!"

"MK and I performed a Stomper wedding ritual. We thought it would help to balance our two worlds and officially bring them together by using one of their customs. We were planning on putting in a tree later," Nod explained, his eyes slightly apologetic for the surprise. His story was so expertly told, I would have believed it if I didn't know the truth.

I took my left hand off the table to keep Alisia from tumbling off of my lap. She wrapped her little fingers around my hand and touched my rings experimentally. She wasn't used to feeling them on my hands, and honestly, neither was I.

"But it's still not sanctioned!" cried Council Member Hawthorne. He was the one who had brought up our sanctity in the first place, and for some reason, he looked to be the most riled up. His eyes pierced Nod. "You're not royal!"

"Neither am I," I countered. "I am of no Royal blood, even if I do hold a title and a position. Why, Council Member Hawthorne, I had no idea who I married mattered so much to you," I said, adding a little snark. I didn't like Hawthorne's attitude.

"Now, now, Council," the eldest man spoke in a gravelly voice once more. If I remembered, he was Sycamore. Augustus Sycamore. "Her Excellency has a point. She is of no Royal blood. And as I told you, Hawthorne, that makes the matters of her marriage none of our concern. Congratulations," Sycamore offered.

"Thank you, Council Member Sycamore," I said sincerely, and Nod's grip on my fingers tightened. I was so relieved. The worst part was over. It was done! Now Nod and I could have a real Jinn wedding when we were ready.

Council Member Hawthorne looked sullen at his edge of the table. But then his eyes gained a cunning look. "Yes, Congratulations," he echoed dryly. "I look most forward to coming to your house-warming party. Have you found one yet? It's a shame dear old Violet will have to live alone now, Nod." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. Hawthorne was trying to egg Nod into something. Nod's teeth set on edge. But I was confused. Housewarming party? I squeezed Nod's hand as gently as I could, trying to silently coax him out of doing something he'd regret.

"My mother is very independent," Nod finally said, with forced congeniality. "And we will look forward to seeing you all at our housewarming party. We haven't set a date yet, so check your mail frequently!" Nod joked, smiling especially at Finn and Sycamore.

"Thank you, Nod," Sycamore wheezed. "Anyway," he said, clearly trying to bring us back to the business of Mandrake, "Our correspondents in the sister Kingdoms have not reported outright sightings of Mandrake or Boggans. The remaining Boggans residing in Wrathwood do not appear aggressive. However, there have been whispers of rustles within the unclaimed areas of the forest."

Finn leaned onto the table, his chin in one hand, stroking his red beard. "That is odd," he remarked.

"What about the Blight?" Nod asked. "Has it appeared in any of the rumored areas?"

"No," Council Member Ryan interjected, "But according to whispers and rumors also, Mandrake isn't about the blight anymore. He's about something bigger." His gaze fell to the infant in my lap, and Alisia batted her eyes a bit shyly. My right hand fell out of Nod's grasp and my arms curled protectively around my daughter.

"What are we doing to do?" I asked softly.

"Well, our first instinct was to remove yourself and the Queen from Moonhaven," Council Member Ash explained, folding his hands in front of him. "Perhaps move you to a sister Kingdom."

I shook my head. "No," I disagreed. "We can't do that. I can't make decisions from an entire Kingdom away! Not to mention, if Mandrake discovers our position, we'll be putting an entire other kingdom at risk. They have their own boggans to fight," I argued. And also, if they moved me, what would become of Nod? Would he join us? What about Ronin? My father? While I did want to visit all the sister kingdoms someday, this was not how I wanted to do it.

"Our other option was to go on the offensive," Hawthorne said, seeming civil and contributing. "Send out units of Leafmen to scour the forest and dispose of Mandrake before he can attack again."

Nod and Finn's eyes connected. "That sounds plausible," Finn trailed, considering.

I had to admit.. I liked that option. While it put others at risk, and I knew this was selfish, if they found Mandrake in the woods, he wouldn't have another chance to attack Alisia.

"However, if we do find Mandrake in the forest, and he's building up another army, finding him will be the first battle in another war," Ash reasoned. "If we simply wait for Mandrake, and dispose of him while he's alone, the boggans will lose their nerve and scatter."

"Wait? As in do nothing? Nothing at all?" Nod interjected, a tone of disbelief in his eyes.

"Mandrake will think we've forgotten about him. He'll surely come after the Queen again. And if we increase her security, we can catch him," Ash continued.

"Hold up, hold up," Nod said, throwing his hands in the air. "Are you saying that you want to use MK and Queen Alisia as bait?" There was a fire in Nod's eyes.

"Think, Nod," Sycamore spoke on the subject, "If we increase Alisia's security to six Leafmen, and Mandrake comes alone, there is no way by the Sun he is going to reach her."

I saw the situation both ways. I wanted to avoid a war, but at the same time I wanted to keep Alisia far from danger. I certainly didn't want to use her as bait, but Sycamore was right. If Mandrake did come back, it wasn't going to be just Ronin anymore. He'd have to fight through six Leafmen and Nod to get to us.

"I agree with the Council," I voiced. "There is no way that Mandrake would survive six Leafmen," I agreed, an air of certainty in my voice. I shocked myself by how decisive I sounded.

"MK!" Nod protested, staring at me. "You can't just offer yourself and Alisia as bait! It's too dangerous!"

"Nod, there's no way that Mandrake could fight through six Leafmen," I debated. I grabbed Nod's hand again. "Please," I pleaded. "This is the quickest way. Mandrake can be defeated and then we can get along with our lives."

Nod looked away from me and snorted out his nose.

"Now, Nod, this is what Mary Katherine wants. You'll be there to protect her, you have to admit, young warrior. This plan will not fail," Sycamore said sagely. "You have a promise on the Council's honor that Mandrake will be defeated before the Queen's first birthday."

Nod turned his head in my direction, and I locked onto his hazel eyes with my green ones. He looked down then at Alisia, and said to Sycamore, "Six Leafmen?"

"Of our very finest," Sycamore confirmed, nodding his head.

Nod finally sighed and smiled at me. "Alright," he relented.

"Yes," I said happily, and I leaned sideways to kiss my fiancé on the mouth. I heard Finn gulp from across the table and could practically see steam coming from Hawthorne's ears, but Sycamore, Ryan, and Ash just leaned back and chuckled, each of them having wives they loved very much.

We thanked the Council Members for inviting us to this meeting, said goodbye and then we exited Moonhaven. As soon as we reached the outdoors, I let out a huge sigh of relief and laughed. "Oh, Nod! That was perfect!" I exclaimed, ecstatic.

Nod laughed at my enthusiasm. "We were good, weren't we?" he admitted.

"It's a good thing we make a good team," I flirted, batting my eyelashes just a bit.

Nod laughed and reached his lips down to connect with mine. "Good thing," he murmured his agreement.

I was about to suggest we go back to my house and fix it up when I remembered the housewarming part of the meeting. "Nod? Housewarming?" I reminded him inquisitively. "What's a housewarming?"

Nod's pupils widened as he remembered that as well. "Oh yeah. Well," Nod grinned at me. "How would you like to live together? Because we basically just told the Council that we were looking for our own house and they were all invited to our housewarming party."

I did want to live with Nod, after all, we were getting married. "But I like my house.. I'm close to Ronin, and Dad.. can't we just live there?" I suggested.

"Well, I would say yes. I would want to live there as well, but even with your security increase coming, I think it's too dangerous to live in the exact same house. And, it's kind of a Jinn tradition that once a man and a woman get married, they look for their own home, signaling their start of their own lives together. You get what I'm saying?"

I nodded. "But we can find somewhere close to Ronin and my Dad, right?" I prompted.

Nod wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning back because Alisia was in between us. "I promise," he said.

"Well," I started with a smile. "Do you want to start looking now?"

"Let's! Onward, ho!" he joked, and then he took Alisia from me and put her in her carseat.

I was about to slide onto Zeeba when Nod grabbed my wrist and whirled me around. I looked at him curiously, but then he enveloped me in his arms and kissed me.

When we drew back for a breath, I asked, "What was that for?"

Nod shrugged with a smile on his face. "I just want to do that every chance I get."

Hey guys! I just wanted to thank you so much for all your ideas, they are really helping to get the creative flow going! Keep 'em coming, and remember to review! How'd you guys like the chapter?