July 17, Summer, year 36

He said the place was beautiful, but I had no idea the magnitude of the word's meaning… I am in awe still…

True to his word, Skye played hooky from court, telling Daisuke it was his business for the day. Miharu reluctantly gave them permission to go out, mostly because she couldn't quite bring herself to attempt to naysay Skye just yet, even if he was only acting king.

Everyone dressed as usual, from Claire in her favorite overalls—bright yellow was the game of the day—to Meri in her favorite overalls—a bright pink, courtesy of Lauren. Mirei and Alan decided to match for the day in bright orange and blue, Lauren went for a bright purple with her jacket, and Jamie went with green.

"We're a walking rainbow compared to the rest of them," Lauren grinned despite a few drops of sweat that trickled down her face.

"To be fair, half the colors we wear would look rather garish on the rest of them," Skye chuckled, pulling on his favorite blue shirt. "I may not be one for pastels, but you must admit there are very few colors that go with silver hair."

"Eh, we always find something," Claire teased, braiding her hair up. "Anything that saves us from the leopard print you used to wear…"

Lauren and Jamie snickered, and Skye huffed in mock-annoyance.

"What was wrong with the leopard print?"

Claire made a show of thinking abut it, which only made Skye huff again, and prop his hands on his hips. This, in turn, made her burst out laughing, which had been the whole point of the maneuver.

Miharu poked her head through the door, and winced a little at the colors they were wearing. She was… used to pale colors, theirs were almost blinding in their intensity. Both hands were occupied with small silver bags, that looked like they would rip at a moments notice, and she balanced them very carefully.

In truth, they were the PoM's version of a large picnic basket. One was filled with the things that Claire and the children were allowed to eat—the items that were almost too sweet for ingestion—the other held food for Skye, and helpful translated books for everyone to read.

"You're to come back if you get too fatigued," Miharu scolded gently. "I understand it's a birthday, but that's no reason to push yourselves."

"Yes Miharu," they chorused, actually startling the healer a bit.

Skye chuckled as Miharu fumbled to regain her composure, and relieved her of the bags. He understood, having the whole family say the exact same thing was a little disconcerting the first few times it happened.

"We're not going far," he promised. "Don't worry Miharu, it'll be okay."

The healer huffed an annoyed sigh, and shook her head as she left. Claire blinked.

"Are my habits going to rub off on everybody?" she wondered.

"Only the people who like you dear."

"…somehow, that's not comforting."

There was sporadic giggles from the children, who went silent when Claire raised an eyebrow in their direction.

"Well, come on then," Skye was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

He didn't feel like getting hit. It wouldn't hurt, but he still didn't want to get hit.

The path they followed for a short period of time was laid with stones that shifted colors when they stepped on them. They actually stopped there briefly so that Alan and Mirei could run back and forth changing the colors at random while the rest of them sat on nearby benches.

"How far do we have to go?" Claire asked, resting her head against Skye's shoulder. "I mean as much as I want to see the lands outside the palace, somehow I think Miharu would be a tad bit upset if we collapsed outside said grounds."

"Don't worry, I have a way to get us as close as possible by carriage, then it's only a ten minute walk."

"…carriage?"

He grinned.

"Just wait, you'll like it," he chuckled.

"Dad, that's not fair!" Lauren had been listening as well, and now pouted in her father's direction. "You make everyone curious like this all the time!"

"I know. Isn't it fun?"

Idly, Claire reached up, and lightly smacked his head. He winced a little, more for effect than actual pain, and chuckled.

"Brat," she muttered, unable to keep from smiling.

"Ah, but you love me anyways."

"You're darn lucky I do," and she shook her fist mock threateningly under his nose.

Jamie and Lauren both snickered, and even Meri giggled as her parents.

"Mommy and Daddy are so silly," she said cheerily, swinging her legs so that her small feet hit the underside of the stone bench. "Nicer than the ghost-people."

"Well, I'm sure there are some nice ghost-people," Jamie half-smiled. "Miharu seems pretty nice, and Mom did meet that messenger lady, right?"

Claire grinned.

"Tenshi. I like her. She seems more sensible than most of the frippy courtiers that you have to deal with daily."

"Well, she is a messenger dear, they don't come from the high-noble families, so they don't have to deal with the robes."

"Lucky non-nobles," Lauren muttered. "I suppose we shouldn't complain too much seeing as no one's tried to grab us for the robes, but still, it's creepy that they wear those things."

Before the conversation could get too serious, Alan and Mirei, panting from their effort, came up to the bench and all but fell across their parents.

"I suppose this is a hint that we should find this carriage of yours?" Claire smiled faintly up at her husband, idly rubbing Mirei's back.

"Wait a moment, it should be here quickly."

Five minutes passed, before there was a quick rush of wind, and several… well, they looked like clouds… floated to a stop in front of them.

Jaws dropped, and eyes were rubbed in astonishment. Meri squealed in glee and instantly jumped onto the nearest one. It gave a little under her weight, but she didn't fall through, and instead was giggling at the fluffy feeling of the cloud. Alan and Mirei, seeing it support their little sister were quick to jump on after, which bounced Meredith up a little, much like a trampoline. Again the child squealed in delight, clapping her hands excitedly as she laughed.

Jamie and Lauren were more careful about it, edging around the clouds edging before each picked a spot and sat. Alan, Meri and Meri were bouncing around excitedly, but the addition of their older siblings quickly put an end to that, as they negated a good portion of the elasticity.

Skye had to do a bit more persuading to get Claire to sit on the cloud-carriage, which was mostly a construct of magic. Even seeing it was holding up the weight of her combined children and her husband's reassurances that such constructs could easily hold three times as many people couldn't fully ease her mind.

So, finally, Skye did the usual last resort and pulled her onto the construct by pulling her onto his lap. With everyone on, the cloud seemed to bunch up around the edges, pushing them all towards its center, before ascending off the pathway and up into the 'sky.'

"Hey Dad?" Lauren pointed up. "How come all we see when we look for the moon is a silver disk when there's all this color on it?"

"Shielding spells," he replied, stifling a chuckle at Claire's squeaks of surprise. "The People don't like the idea that humans can see them if they look at the moon, so they cloak it in various shields that make the moon look barren and white."

"That's lame," Jamie's voice sounded a bit miffed. "I mean, didn't they mingle more two-or-three hundred years ago?"

"Yes, but that was then, this is now, the moment is never the same twice."

Claire snorted, smiling faintly. He had a lot of sayings like that, but they rarely got used.

"Everything's so pretty from up here…" Mirei was looking over the side her blue eyes wide in awe. "Like a pastel patchwork blanket!"

No one in the family had trouble with heights beyond the littlest—who was cringing away from the edge—so in short order Claire, Jamie, Lauren and Alan had joined Mirei in watching the scenery. Meredith just sat in the middle of the cloud, on her father's lap. Skye had seen it all before.

"I reiterate!" Claire leaned back slightly, smiling at Skye. "You left this place?"

"You want to stay?"

"Not on your life!" was the quick denial. "I'm just having trouble seeing how you could trade this…"

"I don't know," Skye smiled slyly, and reached out to snake an arm around her waist, pulling her back towards him. "I think I got a good deal on that trade, hmm?"

A blush crossed her face, and she gave him a soft smile.

"Flatterer."

The floating was actually soothing enough that most of them dropped off into naps. It would have been faster to teleport to the nearest station, but that would have robbed Skye of his hours of peace. The People didn't chatter at him per se, but they certainly didn't leave him much in the way of breathing room, even when he was outside the court.

As long as he thought of this as a vacation of some type, it was actually a bit easier to deal with. As much as he loved the farm, the work was constant. It lessened only slightly in the winter, because nothing could be grown above-ground.

Not that this had stopped his wife from building a rather extensive basement greenhouse so that she could continue to profit during off-season.

…okay, sometimes it was a little hard to deal with. But she was always so careful to take him into consideration as well, so it was harder still to take offense over her wanting something to fill the time now that their children were getting old enough to be self-sufficient. She took care of the greenhouse on her own more often than not, and they all loved having out of season fruit in their pancakes in the middle of a winter storm.

He let out a faint sigh, and found himself admitting that he missed having time with just them. Turn back time sixteen years when she was still awkward, he was still a thief… that had been some of their best encounters. Perhaps they should have planned on more time between their marriage and their first children…

Skye wasn't about to admit that he still had that picture he'd "borrowed" from her at that long ago Beach festival. She'd cheerfully kill him. Well, alright, cheerfully threaten him, then mock him for keeping such an old picture.

He looked down at her bright blonde hair and huffed a quiet sigh, contemplating.

"Daddy?" Meri yawned, a noise that ended in a mouse-like squeak. "You unhappy?"

"Not really kitten, just thinking."

"Mommy's unhappy."

He blinked sea-green eyes and focused on his youngest. Sometimes children could see what adults could not.

"Mommy wants to go home," the child continued, brow furrowed as she tried to find the right words to express what she could feel in her mother's emotions. "She doesn't wanna have us… esposed to alla the bad stuff up here."

"I don't either," Skye reached out and ruffled Meri's hair gently. "If it comes down to the truth of the matter, I rather wish all of you would have stayed home."

Meri considered this as her mother started sliding slowly into wakefulness, roused by Skye's voice.

"But then you might not come back," the child said in the same matter-of-fact tone Claire often used when stating the obvious. "Who would take care of Mommy then?"

Skye was silent for several long minutes, hating that point. Had he come alone, it was very likely that he would have been tricked or maneuvered into a robe, and that would have ended very badly. Either he would have been pulled into kingship and left Claire alone or… well, at the very least he would probably have gotten himself killed. Which, again, would leave Claire by herself.

A low, sleepy laugh made him jump, and Meri lit up instantly, rolling into Claire's embrace.

"And have us miss all the fun?" Claire inched up so that her head was sitting on Skye's leg. "Dummy."

She was, he realized, only half-awake at best. Which meant she was going to be a little less guarded, if he worded things carefully.

"Before you ask, no. I don't regret it, and I don't want to change anything," she went thoughtfully silent for a minute, admiring the expression of annoyed amusement that crossed his face. "I never told you, did I, what I wished for the night we met?"

"What you wished for?"

"Ramona's fountain doubled as the wishing well, since Griffin's well near the Blue Bar was off limits. Lumina invited me over that night because she had something she was going to give me…" Claire shifted positions so fast that Skye actually jumped, and Meri giggled to see her mother put her father in a not-too-tight stranglehold. "Which you stole."

"Ack!" Skye tumbled away when Claire released him, trying not to grin. "It was shiny, and magical. What else was I supposed to do?"

She mock-growled at him, eyes glittering with laughter.

"You're a magpie, I swear to the Goddess," she sighed, flapping a hand at him in mock-annoyance. "You like anything shiny and not nailed down."

He just chuckled an agreement, reached out and captured her hand, pulling the blonde to him in a quick move.

"So, what did you wish for?"

Claire paused, closed her eyes and let out a faint sigh, smiling.

She walked up to the fountain, pulling a coin from her pocket, a silly smile playing across her face. It was something she always did, even though the fountain was in no way connected to the Harvest Goddess Pond.
Blowing on the coin, Claire tossed it in the water, and closed her eyes.
"I wish I could meet someone just for me," she whispered.

"And then you walked out the mansion door," her smile turned a little self-conscious. "It was actually a little unnerving to have that happen so quickly, it was almost a relief to find out that I would have to work, to get you…"

"Shouldn't that be me working to get you?" he asked, resting his chin on her head.

"Pffft," she elbowed him gently. "I beg to differ on who did more work Mister 'Phantom Skye.'"

He choked a little to hear his old nickname, and his wife giggled.

"Oh relax," she grinned. "Sometimes my dear, you think too much."

Before he could come up with an argument, the cloud began to descend with gentle corkscrew turns that had Meredith hiding her face in her mother's lap, and woke the other kids as well.

"We're there?" Lauren yawned, rubbing the sleep from her sea-green eyes.

"Almost," Skye replied. "Once we reach ground it's probably a ten minute hike, but after that we'll be there."

He had miscalculated slightly, forgetting to take into account their less-than-stellar energy. It actually took them thirty minutes, but the hike was worth it.

The clearing that opened out before them was a myriad of bright, confusing colors, deep orange mingling with even dark purple, sky blue azalea's mixing with bright red roses. There was a waterfall even, though it didn't roar as much as it gently rushed.

Butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs, and a myriad of other insects that Alan had never seen bounded away at their approach, as did some odd looking rabbits with golden, feather-like ears.

What startled Skye was the sight of Hotaru drawing herself up in surprise, and Kaemon who seemed just as shocked to see them as he was. Alan paid them no mind, since Yue wasn't around, and immediately set off with the bug net he'd 'liberated' from the junk room.

After a few tense moments, Kaemon's surprise faded into a rueful smile.

"Come and join us, Eldest Brother," he offered. "We were settling in for noon-meal."

"Ironic that," and Claire had to grin. She liked Kaemon, he seemed the most open of Skye's family, and definitely the most willing to accept her. "We came to celebrate their birthday," and she gestured to the already-hidden-in-the-grass Alan and Mirei, who was holding a finely crafted porcelain doll. "And I guess recuperate. So Skye," and she grinned wickedly at her husband, "now has someone to eat real food with while the rest of us struggle with the over-sweetened stuff."

Skye propped one hand on his hip and opened his mouth to protest, when a very feminine giggle interrupted him. Hotaru, reclusive, silent Hotaru, was laughing at her sister-in-law.

Well, that shut him up rather quickly, and in no time at all they'd meshed together as one large group. Hotaru was not as forthcoming as Kaemon, but Claire was adept at drawing out conversation from even the most reluctant, and soon enough she was hearing tales of the different kinds of animals in the area. Skye had produced another doll for Meri to play with, and she was happily playing pretend with Mirei, and Lauren who had agreed to play with them. Jamie was just listening to Kaemon, who was a veritable fount of information about the Moon People and the culture in general.

As they posed no threat—well, beyond Alan hunting for bugs—Hotaru was eventually convinced to call in some of the more exotic wildlife. The golden eared bunnies returned first, natural curiosity having lured them to the edge of the clearing, and slowly, odder creatures made their way forward. The three girls dropped their game when a trio of winged horses stepped into the clearing, obviously hesitant. Jamie joined in the staring when a winged cat zipped in from nowhere and landed on his stomach.

"Woooooow…."

Dolls were abandoned in favor of the new animals, though Mirei nearly had a heart attack when a dragonfly-winged frog landed on her hair. Claire held exactingly still when another of the winged cats made its appearance and climbed into her lap with no reservations.

And it was clear from the look on Hotaru's face that it hadn't been prompted in the slightest.

Alan was delighted with the fly-winged frog, and got into a long not-really-an-argument with Skye about being able to keep it. Eventually, Skye asked Hotaru to intervene, and she had, making the now ten-year-old sulk for about five minutes before returning to the bug hunt.

"He is an odd one," she said, settling back into her place next to Claire. "Meaning no disrespect, but he seems…"

"To be the odd one out," Claire nodded. "He tells me that when he gets bigger he's going to be a plant and bug hunter like Parsley in Mineral Town, or Basil in Flowerbud. Travel the world. Lauren too, she's not going to stay, I know."

"You seem…" Kaemon tilted his head slightly. "Not happy about this."

"It's a mother's prerogative to worry about her kids futures," and the blonde grinned a little. "But I don't want to control them and make them unhappy. I know that at least some of my children will take over my farm-"

"Me!" Jamie and Meredith chorused, making the assembled family laugh.

"And that's more than fine. Even if none of them wanted it, I could probably leave it to one of Muffy's kids, or Celia's if they showed the aptitude for farming."

Kaemon was clearly mulling this over, and Hotaru shook her head slightly, a mixture of amazed and shocked.

"You are a very strange woman," she said.

Claire grinned.

"I get that a lot."

That was definitely a fun day. Exhausting, but fun and well worth the effort. And I am ready to drop, so I think I will. Recovering still after all…