Mac kicked one of the training dummies attacking him hard in the stomach, then knocked away the sword of a second using his quarterstaff, before knocking out the lights of a third with another quick movement of the staff. He whirled around and blocked the double knife attack of the dummy that he'd winded, twisting the staff to force the dummy to drop its knives.
'Oh…hey, Patty.'
Jack, a crooked little grin on his face, held a hand up and waved as best as he could, considering that they were inside a very small storage closet.
Patricia just raised an eyebrow at him, hints of fond exasperation and amusement in her eyes, then turned and put a hand on the door (Jack had been struggling against the lock and the door for a good ten minutes before she'd opened the door and walked in, and the door had slammed shut behind her instantly). It clicked open instantly, and they walked out of the closet.
She surprised him by giving a wry little smile as they re-entered the corridor.
'How were you lured into the closet, Jack?'
He made a face.
'Jill wanted me to get rid of a giant spider.'
She raised an eyebrow at him again.
'Jill isn't scared of spiders.'
Jack rolled his eyes.
'You know I have trouble remembering stuff about her, Patty!'
Jack really had no idea why his memory was so leaky when it came to his lady's maid, but it was.
Two magically-animated training dummies were thrown to the ground, falling still and 'unconscious', while a third was quickly disarmed and held at knifepoint by Riley, her arm around its neck.
Sitting on the stone wall, Mac clapped, while Bozer gave a whoop and a 'Go, Riley!', and Jack grinned and nodded in approval, giving her a double thumbs-up.
Mac strode through the nearby woods, eyes peeled and hunting for the flowers he'd been ordered to find.
Yes, ordered is the right term.
Bozer and Riley found a book on floriography, the language of flowers, in the library, and are now insistent that we have white violets on the table for Jack and the Queen's romantic dinner, which is scheduled for tonight, not that they know it.
Unfortunately, though the castle gardens have a huge array of flowers, including violets, there are no white violets, so I've been sent on an errand.
His eyes were caught, however, by a stand of sunflowers in the glade he was passing through, tilted up at the sun.
There are no sunflowers in the castle's grounds either.
Now, I have no idea what meaning sunflowers have, but their seeds are good to eat, and according to one of Beth's healing books, they have various medicinal uses, such as fever reduction.
And it is fascinating how the flowers follow the path of the sun over the course of the day, and they're aesthetically pleasing…
He stopped and cut a few of the flowers, tying the stems together with a length of cast-off ribbon he'd 'borrowed' for bundling the violets he was meant to collect into bunches.
There was really no need to bring back whole flowers; he could just collect some of the seeds to be grown into plants, but the flowers were far more aesthetically pleasing, so…
Now, to find some white violets…
Bozer clubbed one of the training dummies hard in the back of the head, then used the weapon to block the strike of a second dummy's sword, stepping closer to reduce the dummy's leverage, then kneeing the dummy hard in the stomach and knocking it out when it bent over, winded. He then whirled around to face the third dummy, which was lunging at him, and grabbed its wrist, using its momentum to throw it into the wall.
White violets in one hand, sunflowers in the other, Mac walked into the castle gardens, where he knew Beth would most likely be. (She'd been assigned the job of cutting all the other flowers needed from the castle's collection, and he knew she'd almost-certainly still be doing that – he'd set off very early that morning, just after dawn, before breakfast, to minimise the chances of encountering anyone outside the castle walls, taking a little food with him to eat as he walked, and Beth had been rostered onto breakfast duty.)
He found her by the rose bushes, carefully snipping off blooms of red roses.
'I got the violets!'
She looked up and smiled, then her nose wrinkled and she tilted her head to the left.
'Is it weird that I think that non-violet violets are just weird?' Her brow furrowed. 'And what are the sunflowers for?'
He laughed, putting the white violets carefully into one of the two buckets, half-full of water, that she had at her feet, where they joined red tulips, primroses and jonquils, then held out the sunflowers to her.
'There aren't any here in the castle, and, well, the seeds are pretty tasty, and they have medicinal properties, and the way that they follow the sun is fascinating; I have some experiments in mind that we could do, and they're pretty…' He felt blood rush to his ears and hoped that the rest of him wasn't blushing too. '…and I thought you'd like them.'
He realized then that of course Beth knew all about floriography (she'd read that book a minimum of four times, after all) and hoped that sunflowers didn't have some really offensive or weird meaning.
But she smiled widely up at him, and reached out and took the flowers.
'Thank you very much, Mac.' She gestured with her head in the direction of the calla lilies, smile growing wry and teasing. 'Help me get Bozer and Riley's flower order done, so we can plant some sunflower seeds? The sooner we get them growing, the sooner we can make a start on those experiments, right?'
He chuckled, and pulled out his Engineer's knife, pulling out the scissors attachment.
'Now, the secret to a good pastrami is all in the rub…'
Bozer started mixing a series of spices together in a bowl, as Riley's brow furrowed and she glanced between the spice mix he was preparing and the side of beef, which had been soaked in brine the night before, on the counter.
(Bozer insisted that he had the perfect romantic menu planned out, including the dish that had made his mother fall in love with his father, apparently.)
'What in the world is pastrami?'
Bozer smirked.
'Why, Miss Riley Davis, I am so glad you asked!' She shot him an exasperated look with a healthy dollop of fondness in it. 'It's a unique Bozer family recipe! My grandfather invented it, and my dad wooed my mom with it! Take some beef brisket, brine it, then massage in the rub, then get it cooking!' Bozer started rubbing in the spices. 'Only annoying thing is that it takes half the day…' He paused, and then his I-have-an-idea face appeared. 'Huh. Maybe I'll get Mac onto that. See if he can build something that can cook it in, like, half an hour…'
Riley raised an eyebrow sceptically.
Mac was really good at engineering. But she had a sneaking suspicion that an attempt by him to create a device that could cook this 'pastrami' in half an hour would lead to a fire…
Mac pocketed his Engineer's knife and pulled out one of the 'paperclips' in his pockets, re-shaping the little piece of wire.
(He'd created the 'paperclip' last month, after witnessing Bozer rant about how hard it was to keep his various pieces of paper containing the various stories he was writing organized, since he wrote bits and pieces at once, not in chronological order – or any sensible order, in Mac's opinion, but Bozer was the writer, not him, so he supposed he couldn't really judge. It was an extremely simple invention, but the engineering involved was surprisingly complex. He'd also discovered that they were immeasurably useful, having many more applications than he'd thought when he'd been inventing them.)
He attached the little piece of re-shaped wire to the cello's bow, and glanced over at Cage.
'Give it a try now…'
She nodded, concentrated and waved a hand, and the bow, held by a metal arm which was, in turn, attached to the stand that Mac had built for the cello, moved across the strings.
(It was too difficult to enchant the instruments to play themselves; that would have required either Riley, Cage or Jill to stay in the tower room during the whole romantic dinner, which they all agreed wasn't good for the romance, so after some experimenting, they'd found that by reducing the number of variables that had to be controlled magically – using Mac's engineering skills, with some assistance from Beth and her knowledge of anatomy – Cage, Jill and Riley could enchant the instruments to play themselves ahead of time.)
They both smiled, then Mac turned to Jill, who'd just entered the room, along with an accordion, a triangle and a viola, all flying ahead of her.
'Alright, could you just put the accordion over there? And the triangle goes over there…'
'Try it!'
Bozer offered Riley a plate with a slice of the 'pastrami' on it, and a fork.
It smelled absolutely divine, and Bozer really had never let her down when it came to food, so Riley, without hesitation, took a bite.
As the meat hit her tongue, her eyes widened.
The flavour, the texture, everything about it was just incredible.
She got why Bozer's mom had been so charmed by Bozer's dad making this for her.
If you could fall in love with someone through food, this pastrami would do it.
She smiled at him and took another bite.
Bozer grinned proudly.
'You're just in time to see the accordion player!'
Mac looked up with a grin as Beth entered the tower room, her arms laden with dishes and silverware, a tablecloth thrown over her shoulder.
The healer grinned right back and put down the flatware and cutlery on the little table (just big enough for two, no bigger) that they'd set up earlier.
Cage, with a knowing little smile, raised her hand slightly, and the two arms that held the accordion's ends in vice-like 'hands' started to move.
'…You gotta give it them, they're sneakier than I thought.' Jack, sitting on one of the chairs at the table, paused and amended his statement. 'I mean, I always knew Cage could be really sneaky, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Riles could be too, but I did not know that Mac, Boze, Jill or Beth had it in 'em…'
Patricia looked up from where she was examining the self-playing musical instruments, which were playing romantic music, a very wry little smile on her face.
(Despite the fact that it was hilariously obvious, the kids clearly thought they were being subtle – except Cage, they knew she had to realize that they weren't at all, but for some reason she was going along with it…)
(Jack had no idea where they'd gotten the clearly hare-brained notion that he and Patty were suited to each other, but he had to give them credit for their persistence and creativity.)
'Have you forgotten the Great Prank War?'
Jack made a huh sound, then crossed his arms.
'It was 79 years ago, Patty!'
Her smile widened a little, and she gestured to the instruments.
'Their combination of engineering and magic is truly impressive.' She reached out and put a hand on the door. 'I don't think I can magic us out again.'
The door had been locked using that same combination of engineering and magic. She required a line of sight for teleportation, and could only teleport herself.
Jack waved a hand in the air, as if to say, not a problem.
'Eh, no sweat, Patty.' He grinned. 'I ain't in a hurry to go anywhere, and there are way worse people to be locked in with.' A look of wry, fond amusement appeared on her face, as Jack lifted one of the cloches on the dishes on the table. 'Besides, it'd be a waste of a good dinner…' His brow furrowed as he examined the slices of beef on the plate, which were emitting a wonderful smell. 'Patty, you got any idea what this is?' She stared at it for a moment, then shook her head. Jack shrugged. 'Eh, smells good. Should taste it, too.' He lifted the rest of the cloches with a series of flourishes, earning him a rather fond little head-shake, then got up and pulled out her chair for her with an exaggerated bow. 'My lady.' After she sat, he sat back down and rubbed his hands together, a roguish grin on his face. 'I'm told I'm an excellent dinner companion, so you're in for a treat, Patty.'
She raised her eyebrows at him, but smiled the widest smile she ever did smile, something soft and fond in her eyes beneath the exasperation.
(She understood why the little band of teens and barely-adults had decided to try and match-make her and Jack. They were friends, close friends. She trusted him implicitly and she'd let him through most of her walls, as many walls as she'd let anyone through for over 220 years. She hadn't intended to, Jack Dalton had just gotten under her skin, somehow.)
(But although she admitted that Jack was a very attractive man, charming in his own way…she hadn't loved anyone since she was a very young woman, barely out of her teens. She'd always been cool, almost cold, and when he'd died...well, her scorned suitor, that damned wizard, had been right about her heart of stone. She didn't think she could ever love anyone again.)
(But that didn't mean she wasn't grateful for the friendship of all those who lived within her castle. Who'd chosen to share her curse, and who'd chosen to stay, knowing the truth.)
(That didn't mean she didn't care about them.)
The carafe of wine started pouring itself into the two goblets, and Jack smiled and picked one up.
'Cheers, Patty.'
(The nickname was well beneath her dignity as Queen. It broke at least sixteen rules of protocol.)
(But she knew a lost cause when she saw one. It was just like his use of her best coffee table as a footstool.)
(And it'd kind-of, sort-of grown on her.)
'Riley?' Bozer rubbed his eyes. It was almost-dawn, really, really early, in other words, and he'd only gotten up to use the bathroom, but the teenage girl was standing by the window in the little nook near their rooms. 'You okay?'
She glanced over at him, then looked back out the window again, swallowing, before speaking, her voice very soft and full of emotion.
'Today is my mom's birthday.'
'I…I'm…' Bozer honestly didn't know what to say. Some things couldn't be expressed well in words. 'Would you like a hug?'
Riley turned around and faced him again, giving a little nod, and he held up his arms. She stepped closer and hugged him, tucking her chin over his shoulder, and Bozer gently patted her back.
After a moment, they let go of each other again, and Bozer took a seat in one of the chairs. Riley did the same a beat later.
They sat in silence for a while, before Bozer spoke, voice soft and a little hesitant, as if he wasn't completely sure how to help her (sure, he was an orphan too, but what had happened to her mom was way different from what had happened to his parents…), but was determined to help in any way he could.
'Do you wanna talk about her, tell me a story? Any story?'
Riley was silent for a moment, and Bozer thought he might have said the wrong thing, but then, she spoke up, a little smile slowly appearing on her face as she lost herself in the happy memory.
'We had a cat. A little ginger one, with green eyes…'
'Can…can I make your mom a birthday feast, Riley?'
'She's dead, Bozer.'
'So?' Bozer shrugged, spreading his hands wide. 'After my brother died, my family made a feast of all his favourites every year on his birthday, to help keep his memory alive, celebrate his life, you know. It's a Bozer family tradition.' He shrugged again. 'And you're family now too, so…'
Riley gave a soft little smile at that, then nodded.
'Okay.' Her smile widened a little. 'Thanks, Bozer.'
He smiled right back.
'Anytime, Riley, anytime.'
Word spread around the castle, of course.
(They really were like an insular little village, where everyone was up in everyone else's business.)
Riley found she didn't really mind.
Quite the opposite, actually.
That night, after a dinner of all of Diane's favourite foods, which had included a toast to her, her courage and her love for her daughter and her memory, Riley was surprised when Patricia led them all out into the gardens.
Mac and Bozer seemed to share her surprise, at least for a moment, before understanding and realization flickered across Mac's face.
Patricia stopped in the middle of the lawn, and turned to Riley.
'The tradition has died out, but when I was your age, every year, we'd light a lantern for loved ones we'd lost, and send it up to the sky. To remember and commemorate them…and maybe to let them know that we do remember them, and miss them.' She paused, uncharacteristic softness in her eyes. 'Do you want to light one for your mother?'
Riley nodded silently, and Patricia held out her hands, instructing the teenager like she did during their magic lessons.
'Envision it in your mind's eye, harness your magic, feel it become real…'
Patricia stood at the back of the lawn, nearest the castle, watching the lanterns, conjured by herself, Riley, Cage and Jill, floated up into the sky.
She made a little motion of her hand, and another one appeared in her hands, a name neatly written on it in her own handwriting, and then, she let it go, and it too joined its fellows in the sky, drifting slowly upwards.
As the lantern left her hands, Jack, who'd just let go of Mac after having pulled him into a side-hug, turned around, making eye contact with her.
After a brief second, he gave a little nod, eyes full of sympathy and care and affection.
She nodded back, something very grateful and equally-affectionate in her eyes, even if it was far less clear than it'd been in Jack's.
He got the message anyway.
AN: Ooh…maybe the matchmaking isn't as unsuccessful as the 'kids' must be thinking…
All of my knowledge about floriography comes from the internet; it might be slightly questionable, so if the meanings of the flowers seem weird to you, that might be why…
Yes, Mac invented the paperclip in this AU, and Bozer's family invented pastrami. I couldn't resist!
In other news, I've got a Valentine's Day fic coming up (it's about 12-15 K words, I think, so short-ish). It's tentatively titled Today was a Fairytale, so keep an eye out for that!