Jack was telling his grandchildren the story of the Great Gale when the commotion started outside. He motioned toward his son, Elliot, to go see what was going on, his story never faltering as he approached the part all the children loved best: when Dorothy Gale melted the Wicked Witch.
Elliot peered out the window at the side of the door before returning back to sit beside his father. "It's just Amy and Jael," he said after his father finished the story.
At that news, Millie got up and went to greet her two daughters, leaving the rest of her family in the living room listening to her husband's ... embellished tale of the original Slipper. Soon after his daughter, Hanah, also rose and went to greet her siblings.
Babette gave her father a look, her dirty blonde hair cropped short, much like Elliot's. "Sounds like Wyatt brought some friends beside his new bride."
Jack nodded once. His face not giving away his feelings at his daughter's snide tone. He looked like an older version of both his sons, with hair white as snow and more wrinkles than either of his boys wanted to get. More scars, too.
"Best go help Gwen and Martha get things ready in the kitchen," he told his daughter, motioning toward the room with his head.
Babette groaned inwardly as she got up. She hated cooking. "Sure, Dad," she replied, slipping into the kitchen to avoid the first wave of the reunion.
Elliot went to the door and opened it wide so that those on the porch could see inside. "Well, come on inside, then," he said as five men dressed in military fatigues fanned out into the forest surrounding the house. "There's introductions to be made."
The first thing that Jack noticed about his son's bride was the way her wide eyes made her look so young. The next thing he noticed was that she looked even younger with her arm in Wyatt's and her other hand holding Jeb's. As her wide blue eyes looked around the farm house, he couldn't help but notice how his son pulled her slightly closer and how happy both Wyatt and Jeb looked beside her.
"Son," Jack said, standing to embrace his eldest son who let go of DG's arm to embrace him in return. "You're lookin' well."
"Aye," Wyatt replied, "Mostly her doin', Dad. You look well, too."
Jack smiled, turning his attention to the girl-woman at his son's side, holding his grandson's hand firmly, as if afraid he'd leave her side if she let go. "And you must be the Crown Princess DG."
She smiled back, her tone warm and inviting, "It's just DG, Mr. Cain." She gave Wyatt a look before glancing again at the other occupants of the room, "After all, there is no rank among family."
Jack raised an eyebrow at that, studiously ignoring the snort he heard from one of his daughters. "In that case, DG, please, call me Jack ... and maybe one day, Dad."
A bit of tension drained out of DG's body at his words, but it was only really noticeable to four people in the room: Jack, who was watching her very closely; Wyatt, who could feel how tense she was; Jeb, because she relaxed her grip on his hand; and Amy, who was standing behind her with the same studious gaze that their father bore.
DG looked to the two women that had just come out of the kitchen. One looked like a younger version of Millie, with a round stomach that spoke of yet another baby. The other was younger than Wyatt and had an almost reckless air about her. Addressing the first she smiled, "You must be Gwen."
Gwen nodded, a bit surprised that Wyatt had mentioned the family at all.
DG responded to her unspoken question, "Actually, it was Jeb who mentioned you first." Turning to the second woman she said, "And you must be Babette."
Babette raised an eyebrow, turning to her oldest brother as if to say, 'And this is supposed to prove what exactly? That your new wife has a good memory?'
One of Gwen's children, a girl of about six annuals, approached DG and tugged lightly on her skirt. DG looked down into eyes as blue as her bond mate's. "Hi there," she said with a friendly smile as she crouched down so she was eye level with the child. "I'm DG, what's your name?"
In one arm the girl held on tightly to a careworn doll, "Gaby." She took DG's hand out of Jeb's and tugged her over to the sofa, forcing the princess to sit down before she climbed onto her lap. "Tell me a story."
DG's eyes flickered to Wyatt's as he moved to say hello to the rest of his family. Jeb was also busy hugging relatives. Looks like she was going to have to travel this one alone. Oh well, she'd dealt with odd children before in the nurseries. This should be a piece of cake.
"What kind of story?"
"A love story," Gaby insisted.
"One with action!" Marcus insisted at the same moment.
The other children (of which there were ten) started clamoring their own requests as they moved to sit on the floor in front of DG. She raised her eyebrows, thinking of only one story that might placate them ... well ... most of them.
She held up her hand and the noise from the brood stopped. "All right," she said, her eyes twinkling. Piece of cake. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home and take care of the baby ..."
By the time the tale of how her uncle met his bond mate was over, Gaby was enraptured in her lap and more than just the children were listening to her weave the foreign tale.
"I don't think I've ever heard a tale quite like that before," Elliot commented from his place in the back of the room. "Fanciful at best."
DG's teeth glinted as she smiled at him, "It's all true."
"Really?" one of the older girls asked curiously. "Sarah's real?"
The story teller nodded, "As I live and breath. She and my uncle are currently in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City ruling over the Labyrinth."
"It's such a dark, vile place, I don't know why anyone would willingly rule there," Babette sneered, knowing her comment would earn some sort of verbal remark from the princess.
DG's eyebrow raised again as she looked at Wyatt' sister. "Have you ever been there?"
"Why would I want to travel to such an evil place?"
The carefree woman-child of moments before vanished and in her place sat the Goblin Princess. "You enjoy the night just as much as the day. Both are necessary for different reasons. The same is true for summer and winter, life and death. You cannot enjoy the beauty of light without having the darkness of shadow to compare it to."
She searched the faces of those before her, wondering just how many of them saw the Land she was bound to as evil. "How can you judge something you do not understand? The Labyrinth and her denizens are no more evil than the O.Z. and hers. Evil is created by choice, not by which part of the light spectrum someone ended up on."
"But what are goblins except creatures of nightmares?" Elliot questioned. Curiouser and curiouser. This slip of a girl seemed to have fire in her soul. He wondered how long it would take to direct it at him instead of his brother.
DG smirked, reminding Wyatt of her uncle. "Playful."
"What do goblins look like? I've never seen one," Andy asked eagerly. His mother shot him a look but he remained unrepentant.
"Would you like to?" DG responded.
At the eager nods she received from around the room, DG sat up and a groan was heard from her back. "It's your own fault for trying to squeeze into such a narrow opening," she chastised. "Now, all three of you, front and center."
The children watched in amazement as three little shadowy things removed themselves from DG's body (one coming from her boot, another from her head, and a third from the back of her waist cincher) to plop onto the ground and literally grow until each one was three feet tall.
"This is Ding, Bing, and Ring," DG informed the stunned audience. "My bodyguards and the ones who were supposed to keep me out of trouble when I snuck away from my tutors when I was younger."
Bing crossed his arms over his chest, "We wouldn't had to if you coulda jus' stayed still for five minutes!"
DG's eyes grew wide as she pointed at him, "So says the person who kept on whispering in my ear during lessons about how the Helping Hands were more interesting to listen to!"
Ding snorted and DG turned her attention to him, "And you! You were always after me to play tricks on the runners to get them turned around. Do you know how much trouble I got in because of that?"
Wyatt could barely control his laughter as he pulled her into his side, "Was any of it ever your fault?"
DG thought about it for a second before replying, "The fountain was my fault. That's when Uncle decided that a hobgoblin was also necessary to keep me out of trouble."
"Did it work?" Jack asked, incredibly amused at the interaction.
DG opened her mouth to respond when she felt the tugging.
"What is that?" Wyatt asked her, his brow furrowing.
"A summons," she replied, holding out her hand to make a crystal appear. "Uncle must be too busy."
"How can I feel it?" he asked, confused.
"The Labyrinth likes you," she replied matter-of-factly as she stood, silently cursing. The crystal hopped from her hand to Gabby, transforming into a mechanical toy cat as it touched the child's hand. She pointed to her guards, "Stay put. I'll be back."
"Mom!" Jeb said, jumping up to give her a hug. "Be careful."
DG smiled warmly, "I will. Thirteen hours at most, Jeb. Have fun, and please try not to get into trouble."
"I can promise to try, but I'll make no guarantees," the boy replied cheekily.
She suppressed a grin at his words but the tug was getting too strong to ignore. With barely a thought she transformed her clothing into full Goblin Throne Regalia and nodded to Wyatt before disappearing.
The Cain clan stared at the empty air she left behind her in shock and confusion.
Babette and Elliot cornered their brother as soon as they could. He was standing outside the house, watching the children play with the mechanical cat.
"I see you're robbing the cradle now, Wyatt," Elliot commented as if he were stating that the clouds looked like rain in the near future.
"What's that supposed to mean, Elliot?" Wyatt asked, keeping his eyes focused on his son as he played with his cousins.
"You know exactly what it means. How old is she anyway? Fifteen, sixteen?"
"Seventeen," he replied, knowing it was what his siblings wanted and wouldn't let him forget the age difference between him and his bond mate.
"That's rich, Wyatt," Babette shot at him, "You're acting like fifteen annuals in age difference doesn't matter. And she's only what -- four annuals older than Jeb? And he calls her Mother? Really, Wyatt, I expected more than this from you."
"So it's perfectly acceptable for you, Babette, to take up with a man twenty-five annuals your senior, but for Wyatt to become bound to a princess fifteen annuals his junior it's a crime?" a new voice commented.
The three turned to find Amy standing there, her arms crossed and a glare on her face. "Mighty hypocritical of you, don't you think? At least he's marrying DG. Which is more than you ever did with your man."
Babette glared right back at her sister, "Stay out of this, Amy."
"Why should I? It seems more of a family debate than anything else." She moved to stand beside her favorite brother. "Besides, I like DG."
"You would," Elliot sneered.
"She understands things at seventeen that you won't understand even at seventy, Elliot," Amy responded sadly. "And she loves Jeb as if he were her own."
"But he's not," Babette ground out. "He'll never be her son."
That got a reaction out of Wyatt. With quick movements he strode over to his younger sister and gave her the same look he gave misbehaving guards. "You can say what you like about my relationship with DG. But you will never again say that Jeb is not her son. He is more her son than he ever was Adora's, and she has been a better mother to him than I could have ever asked for. Her age does not matter. And the next time you even look at her funny, I'm going to let Ding, Bing, and Ring do what they've been wanting to since your first comment about goblins."
Babette glanced at the three goblin guards who were playing with the children. "So they are evil."
"No," Wyatt shook his head, "But they are very territorial."
He stepped back to his place by the house, his eyes going back to watch his son play. "Oh, and Elliot?"
"Yes, Wyatt?" the younger man asked.
"Don't try to touch her. Those three have no qualms about castration."
By the time Azkadellia was set to meet with her mother, she had cried all her tears and there was no visible trace of her inward turmoil.
Not that her appearance mattered too much since she was meeting with a group of dignitaries from the Northern Guild, which was made up primarily of Viewers.
She hoped that she'd be able to see Lylo before the meeting started and perhaps get him to shield her mind for her.
"Princess." Looked like her luck was holding up
With a smile Az turned around to find Lylo approaching with a younger Viewer at his side. She curtseyed as she greeted him, "Lylo. It is very good to see you well."
Lylo bowed to her, as did the other Viewer. Her long time friend took her hand, his gift washing over her in steady waves as she felt despair loosen its hold on her heart. "This is Lylo's brother. Raw. Come to meet Princess and learn from Lylo."
Azkadellia smiled at the younger Viewer, offering him her hand in a gesture of trust. "I'm pleased to meet you, Raw. I hope you find your time here beneficial to your training."
Raw took her hand in both of his, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes were knowing of her sorrow. She put on a brave face before he could say anything. "Shall we go then? We don't want you to be late to your first Council meeting."
Raw nodded, sadly, "Yes, Princess."
"We talk later," Lylo said to both his brother and his princess.
"Of course, Lylo," Azkadellia said, knowing neither Viewer would let her get away without talking about it now that they knew.
A/N: Come on, who's your favorite Bookie? Come on ... say it. Or I'll start singing "Don't You Want Me?" by the Human League. We all know that nobody wants that, now do they?