The next morning at breakfast the house was perplexed to find that toast and coffee was the only option on the table.
"Beale?" Jaenelle said, "Don't we have anything else for breakfast?"
"Uhm, my Lady it seems that, um, there was an incident in the kitchen last night, and Mrs. Beale…"
Jaenelle held up her hand to stop him and tried to glare at the Coven but a grin twitched at the corners of her mouth.
"Who…?" she began.
"Executed a strategic raid of the kitchen and is holding the eggs and bacon hostage?" Lucifer asked.
"Yes," Jaenelle said.
"I have no idea," he replied with an obviously guilty smirk.
There were some snickers around the room and Beale's eyes widened in absurd alarm over the breaching of the sanctity of his wife's kitchen. But then again, he had to sleep with her.
"Beale, could you ask your wife to join us for a moment?"
"Of course, my Lady," he said and turned on this heel, returning shortly with his rolling pin wielding spouse. Everyone made sure to position themselves behind Jaenelle and appear as inconspicuous as possible.
"Mrs. Beale, your husband has informed us…"
"It's an outrage, my Lady, stealing from my kitchen, MY KITCHEN, and if I find the culprit…" and she tapped the rolling pin against her hand and everyone, well almost everyone, took a step back.
"My dear Mrs. Beale," Azazeal strode forward, "This is truly a most distressing occurrence," he said in that deep, gravelly voice and she was captivated. "But I heard that if you would be so kind as to make your famous lamb tonight that you would find your kitchen replenished and with a few exotic items added in as thanks."
He had taken her hand as if he were pleading with a lover not to leave him and she was regarding him with rapt attention.
"I…well, yes…I suppose I could…but the person who…"
"Oh, don't you worry about that, dear, I'll take care of it. You just concern yourself with the lamb, alright?"
"Alright, well my kitchen better…" she said as Azazeal escorted her to the door.
"Of course, Lady," he said and then she was gone.
Cassie gave Azazeal a look because lamb was her favorite and he glanced at Lucifer with a small smile.
"Alright, which one of you…?" Elizabeth started and the each pointed at each other and smiled wider.
Again males snickers could be heard and it was apparent that this had been a large scale operation.
Jaenelle just rolled her eyes and sat down to eat her toast and everyone else followed suit. Daemon was slightly concerned about her this morning. She had woken up irritable, he suspected because the Kindred Unicorns and Scelties had agreed to meet their new friends today, and he had to put a lot of effort in to improving her mood. Not that he minded really, it was his job after all, but it was a little frustrating to have his work ruined. But then again, it was great fun to see Mrs. Beale infuriated by Lucifer and charmed by Azazeal, although this was likely to make Jaenelle's mood worse by reminding her of their power and lack of accountability to her.
After breakfast, the Coven and their guests, ambled out on to the field that was to be the meeting place and chatted amongst themselves as they waited for the Unicorns. Eventually, there was a bit of rustling in the trees and then Moodshadow's herd walked out in to the open, moving towards them casually as if they had all the time in the world.
Daemon and Lucivar were, of course, used to these creatures, but Lucifer's eyes gleamed in wonder. These were beings that he had not helped to create, they were foreign to him, and therefore deeply fascinating. Without warning, he morphed into a thick and large black stallion with a flowing mane and tail and trotted neatly over to them. There was some sniffing of each other and then a sharp whinny from Moonshadow who nipped at him and started him cantering wildly through the herd.
Cassie touched Azazeal's arm and Lucivar and Daemon watched him turn towards her already appearing to know that she was about to ask him for something.
"Go with him, please," she said and Azazeal became a striking grey stallion with a delicately dappled rump. He cantered over to Moonshadow and with a polite nod of his head moved off to try to coral the black stallion who was now causing quite a ruckus, but to no avail. None of the Unicorns had even make it over to the humans and were alternately chasing and being chased by Lucifer as Moonshadow watched. She whinnied a few times and when the grey stallion apparently gave up and moved to stand next to Moonshadow, the color of rage stared to reach Jaenelle's cheeks.
"Will you stop him?" Jaenelle tried to ask Elizabeth politely but it came out nervous and slightly irritated.
"Oh, he's like a child, messy but harmless. They'll be alright."
Just then Lucifer raced by and nipped at Moonshadow, eliciting an angry whinny and an attempt to kick at him with her back hooves.
"STOP HIM!" she yelled and turned to Elizabeth with a look that would have made Daemon legs jelly. Lucivar and Daemon became twitchy at the tone of her voice and the thought of witches fighting.
Elizabeth met Jaenelle's gaze and narrowed her own eyes in fury.
"He gives me everything he has, everything he is, and all he wants is for me to be happy. The least I can do is let him have some innocent fun. He submits himself to my will enough as it is."
"Not nearly enough," Jaenelle retorted, in her concern over the safety of her Kindred friends.
"You don't mean that," Daemon murmured trying to be helpful and knowing that Jaenelle had never been the kind of Queen that demanded unthinking obedience, but she rounded on him and glared.
"Fine!" Elizabeth said, "This is your world and we're your guests so I'll make him heel for the rest of our stay here." She spoke a few words under her breath and pointed to the ground and the black horse became a bushy black wolf and ran over to her. He approached with his head low and his tail waging between his legs, whining softly. In his agitation, he began pacing in a submissive crouch, looking like he might roll onto his back at the slightest provocation.
For a second, pain registered on Elizabeth's face and then she said to Jaenelle, "Look at him, I am angry with you and he's the one cowering."
"That's because he's afraid you'll beat him!"
Elizabeth was about to retort with something she might regret later, when Cassie stepped between them, ignoring Lucifer's confused growl and return to plaintive whining.
"No," she said, in a tone that got their attention immediately and made Azazeal proud, "When an angel's anxious about their lover's mood, there's no way to explain to them that they aren't responsible. Because it doesn't matter if it's their fault or not, they must respond. They know that there is always something they could do to help but if we can't express it, they have no way to act."
Jaenelle's rage cooled at this and she looked sadly at the wolf at Elizabeth's feet, sitting quietly now, the tip of his tail waging hopefully but his eyes concerned.
"Elizabeth," Cassie said, "You have to calm down or you'll never be able to convince him to change back." Elizabeth nodded at this.
Moonshadow walked slowly up to them and nuzzled Jaenelle's shoulder, asking why the black stallion couldn't play anymore, they were almost finished establishing the pecking order with him in it, but she didn't bother sharing this with the others.
"I was worried for my friends," Jaenelle said quietly, but regret registered in her voice.
"It's alright," Elizabeth said, "I'm so used to his antics, I forget that others can't tell when he's actually getting dangerous. I'm sorry we worried you. We didn't mean to."
Jaenelle nodded.
Ludvarian came trotting over obliviously with a troop of Kindred puppies who were tripping all over each other in their excitement to meet new friends. Jaenelle brightened when she saw them and was soon surrounded with little balls of babbling joy. She laughed and then looked out at the Kindred unicorn herd calmly grazing with the gray stallion that was Azazeal sticking out like a soar thumb amongst all of their white coats. Turning back to Elizabeth and seeing the wolf Lucifer eyeing the puppies with guarded delight she said, "Let them play."
Elizabeth smiled back and murmured to Lucifer who looked up at her for a moment and then tore off into the field where the puppies followed, instinctively following a fast moving object. He eventually slowed and let them catch him, getting tumbled and rolled over and over again by their enthusiasm at catching their prey.
"He's good with puppies," Ludvarian announced to Jaenelle, "Does he have a mate?"
"Yes," Jaenelle said with a small smile, thinking that it would be best to wait until later to try to explain that he was not actually a wolf.