Blondie grinned brightly at the camera. "So remember viewers; just because a dragon is darker in color does not mean that it is evil, just that they may need a little more TLC and attention than lighter colored dragons, isn't that right Mira?"
The red-haired witch opened her mouth to respond but was cut of when a dark scaled dragon chick nuzzled a ticklish spot under the witch's chin causing her to squeal and laugh cutely, the girl (woman) looking completely at home sitting in the middle of a nest of chard and fresh hay with squirming scaly dragon chicks crawling and snuggling all around and over her and Legend the mother dragon looking down at them all in the grateful exasperation of a tired new mother who had managed to find a proper sitter for her rambunctious brood.
"As you can see dear viewers an image speaks louder than words." Blondie smirked at the camera, discretely motioning to Humphrey to take a quick picture of the scene, mentally hoping that Clawstorm would consent to her Mira persona being on a few posters and merchandise to be available on the news club's mirror-net store. "There are plenty of hatchlings both light colored and dark colored who need good homes to go to so if you would please check out our school news website for applications for screening so that these little guys can go to good homes that would be awesome! Blondie Lockes out!"
"…And cut! That's a wrap people!" Cupid called out with false cheer, already putting the mirrorpad away. "Great work everybody!"
"You holding up okay?" Blondie whispered to the winged girl, the two of them walking off to the side as Mira handed a dragon to Daring and the O'Hair sisters so that she could help Humphrey take some photographs of them with the dragon chicks (the boy seemed so hopelessly besotted that he was taking every other picture of just Mira and in turn the witch was doing her utmost to make it seem as though she were completely clueless towards the boy's stuttering gushing about her hair, her smile, and other such things of that category while she proceeded to take pictures of everybody else).
"It's… going to be awkward for a while but Dexter is being super nice about it all and… well at least we still have our friendship. I mostly feel so embarrassed not picking up the fact that he's gay! I mean it was so obvious and I just refused to believe it for selfish reasons, I honestly can't believe that I made the mistake of thinking that he was in love with Raven at one point either…" Cupid trailed off her cheeks bright red in shame. "I'm sorry about insisting on a few days of the two of us not working together, at the time I asked I just-"
"Hey don't worry about it." Blondie assured sincerely. "It's a perfectly reasonable request and everyone involved totally understands! He's still willing to be your friend and you both are being really mature about it so no worries!"
Ashlynn's intervention a few weeks ago to warn Cupid that Dexter was gay unfortunately fell an hour short, the immediate Charming clan had some sort of quiet business in the Queen Lands and had decided to make a family weekend out of it, Ashlynn had seen an opportunity and asked Cupid to stop by her and Briar's dorm (Mira, Blondie, and Tiffany Muffet were out in the woods reporting on some rare cold region furry tarantula so Ashlynn couldn't ask for their help) so that they could inform her about something vey important involving Dexter, privately and without judgment.
Cupid had mistakenly thought that the boy was going to try to declare his undying feelings of love to Raven because she just so happened to be in her home kingdom for the day that the Charming family had been arriving, she wanted to warn him before he left that Raven was not only very gay but also had a sort of threesome thing going on at the time with both Apple and Faybelle.
With great care and apology (after the initial "What are you talking about? Raven and I are just good friends why would anybody think differently and isn't she sort of in a strange time-share thing between Apple and Faybelle?") Dexter explained that the reason why he strived to be so close to Raven was because she was a homosexual and he could identify with her because… he was one to… and he didn't dare tell anybody because Charming princes didn't get as much leeway traditionally with that sort of thing and… he (or more specifically Sparrow but Dexter didn't feel safe volunteering that information just yet) kind of suspected that Cupid felt something towards him and he was trying to work up the nerve to take her aside and tell her one of these days… because she was one of his best friends and he wanted to come out in a special way to her.
The strained awkward silence that Briar and Ashlynn had rushed in on soon after that had been so intense that Tiny (who had been passing by innocently at the time) had paused and asked out loud why the air felt so odd all of a sudden (giants weren't as sensitive to certain things as other races such as witches but they were good at sensing intense emotions and medium amounts of magic pouring through the air).
It had been an awkward few days after that.
"Well at the very least it's not another girl I have to worry about or feeling as though there is something wrong with me… at the very least…" Cupid flushed uncertainly. "Still I should have known!"
"You're still in training." Blondie pointed out. "Don't stress about it, it all ended well and now everyone can move forwards to the next crisis."
"Yeah." The winged girl couldn't help but chuckle. "Never a dull moment in this school!"
"What in the name of the Ancestors?" Mira's alarmed voice caught their attention; the redhead stared at the news club's mirror-pad with shaking hands and paling skin.
"Speaking of which…" Blondie whispered as they approached. "What's wrong Mira?"
Daring kindly extracted the mirror device from the stuttering witch's grip. "It says here that it's from Snow White, she says that she's a huge fan of Mira and would be very happy if she would accompany her highness to dinner and for her to help present a surprise to all of Ever After High that would end up being mutually beneficial to both Ever After and Mira's home kingdom." The prince informed the room while placing a steadying hand upon the mentioned witch's slightly trembling shoulder (something that Humphery was totally not jealous about! Okay maybe a little jealous).
No one noticed but Blondie paled at the news nearly as much as Clawstorm.
"B-but I'm below her royal majesty's station and from a completely foreign land!" Mira spoke, Clawstorm obviously attempting to cover her panicked horror with a completely different emotion. "What could her fairest highness in all the lands possibly want with a mere commoner witch born from her story enemy's lands?"
"Well you are very well liked among both the students and staff." Cupid attempted to placate the panicked witch. "And now that Raven is no longer a student at this school it only makes sense that you'd be chosen to help represent both the Rebel and growing neutral factions of the school so that she can show that she isn't favoring any one faction or group of students aside from her daughter in particular."
"Yes!" Mira wringed her hands together nervously, looking as if she were about to be sick. "That must be it, it has to be."
XXX
"Now will you finally admit that swordplay is a serious practiced skill that demands much discipline and instruction, not just observation and swinging the blade around in the hopes of hitting your target every so often?" Faybelle asked the prone princess, an amused smirk adorning the fairy's face.
In response Apple merely made a face and stuck her tongue out at the fairy.
"Such insolence!" Faybelle's tone faked horrified shock even when she couldn't wipe the triumphant wicked grin from her black painted lips (Raven had a whole supply of black lipstick that Apple had gotten her earlier in the year and while the princess had assured the witch that it was all right for her not to feel obligated to war that particular shade, which was designed specifically for villains (probably even for Raven specifically considering the type of connections Apple had) and therefore super expensive, anymore Raven still did not want to waste it all. So Faybelle seeing the opportunity to get high quality make-up for free accepted the lipstick and a bunch of other villain themed cosmetics as gifts from the both of them). "Honestly princess you should only stick out your tongue like that only if you are planning on putting it to good use."
"What other use would I use it for?" Apple gasped in innocent confusion lifting her head off of the grassy forest floor to better peer at the fairy. "I'm kind of too out of breath for a verbal sparring match if that was what you had meant…"
Faybelle's eyes widened. "Sweet ancestors you are serious." The fairy snickered. "Don't worry princess once we manage to loosen Raven's conservative reservations I'll show you exactly what I mean."
"Huh?" Said Apple the innuendo in the other's voice going completely over her head.
"Oi we'd appreciate it if you two kept that aspect of your personal lives to yourselves!" Sparrow sniped motioning to himself, Darling, and Dexter. "Fay, we agreed to teach her about swords and fighting not have us learn about the two of you perving on each other and Raven!"
"She just said something uncouth in mixed company?" Apple asked Dexter and Darling as Faybelle proceeded to goad Sparrow.
"Don't worry about it." Darling assured glancing at her brother's blushing face. "Most of us are pretty used to her antics and as far as I can tell she only says that kind of stuff to people she knows won't dare gossip about it to the entire school. It's… a pretty common fairy thing, boast in front of close friends to keep them from trying to steal the two of you and boasting in a more tactful and calculated manor to everybody else to show off her winnings and new prestige. It's just how it works."
"Fairies are notoriously territorial." Dexter mumbled while extending a hand to help the blonde up.
"Raven keeps saying that too." Apple admitted with an eye roll. "Thank you for agreeing to do this secretly, my parents would flip if they ever found out I was doing anything un-maiden-like."
"We're more than happy to help out." Dexter smiled kindly, glancing pointedly to Darling. "Some of us understand the need for a girl to know how to defend herself."
Darling proudly clapped a hand on her brother's shoulder as they walked Apple to rest on a stump and offered her water, which she drank greedily. "While we're on the topic of self-defense we should definitely look into using that purse of yours as a weapon." Darling decided as she sat next to Apple and drank her own bottle of water.
"It would be convenient if I could figure out different ways of using this thing in case of an emergency." Apple admitted as she searched through said objects contents for her phone. "Raven said that she'd hext me to tell me about how her first series of major tests went, she's been studying like nobody's business and inhaling all the information that they are giving her."
"So in other words she's adjusting to her new school rather well?" Darling asked.
Apple smiled softly. "Like a fish to water." She stated feeling a pang of guilt, Raven had been trying to hide it from her but Apple could tell that to the witch Hathor Academy was like coming home after a long and stressful period of being away. Raven loved being surrounded by other witches who weren't being trained to become villains, she missed being able to partake of her culture, and more importantly she felt safe at the academy in a way that had been achieved at Ever After only after Apple had verbally admitted to giving up on forcing Raven to change into something she was not and accepting who Raven was, for real, not just as another means to create peace between them.
Apple knew that she was lucky to still be as close as she was to the witch at all, that it was only due to Raven's extreme fondness and sense of duty towards her and Faybelle's personal amusement that had kept Apple at her side at all. It was going to take a lot of work to fix the rift that had formed between them, allowing Raven her personal need to distance herself from a good majority of the things that involved Ever After, and to actually learn how to get along with Faybelle and share Raven with the fairy… and maybe even learn to accept the fact that Apple was slowly growing scarily fond of Faybelle too, but she'd do it. She had salvaged enough footholds with her newly realized feelings for Raven that she was not going to let go for anything as long as Raven still wanted her in the witch's life.
All thoughts in regard to Raven, Faybelle, and their odd little triangle halted as her eyes landed upon the little icon that indicated that her mother had sent her a message of a royal official capacity.
"What's with the face princess?" Faybelle called, halting Sparrow mid-rant.
"My mother's going to rebuild the Dragon Games arena, she wants me to take Raven back to Ever After for the weekend and see if I can help convince Mira Shards to be the official civilian guest of the White family so that she can represent the plight of all the endangered species of dragon in both Ever After and in her and Raven's homelands." Apple reported with narrowed, suspicious eyes at her phone's screen. "Seems as though she wants to improve relations between Ever After and the Queen lands while also endearing herself to the school's populace."
"Does she now?" Faybelle sounded just as suspicious as Apple. "Why now do you suppose? I mean after all of these years of not personally acknowledging the Queen territories in any manor save for reminiscing about how "evil" Raven's mother was it does seem awfully strange to make such a bold statement of public support." The fairy barely managed to hold back a sneer.
"Mom probably sensed the political tides changing." Apple stated not sounding impressed or kind about her mother's attempt at diplomacy. "She probably wants to avoid controversy towards her deliberate inactivity in showing kindness towards Raven's family and her people in the name of keeping up her misplaced distain for Raven's mother."
And to soften the blow should it ever come to light that the queen and king of Ever After had a hand in helping a notorious group of witch haters… but Apple didn't say this out loud.
"I know that Raven wants to come back for a visit but I'm not too sure that she'll be willing to come back while my mother is around to recall how "evil" her mother appeared to act." Apple frowned. "I suppose if Raven doesn't want to deal with all this I can say that Raven has to study for stuff, it's not exactly a lie…"
"Highly doubt your mother would allow her own wife up on the stage let alone let me anywhere near you…" Faybelle grumbled darkly.
"Maybe I could say that I'm helping Raven with an assignment this weekend, compromise by making a quick cameo appearance with Raven via mirror-chat if she's so bent on me and Raven being apart of this… however that would leave Mira to fend my mother off all by herself and she really seems to be spooked by the queen of Ever After… not that I blame her considering my mother's reputation for borderline racist stances in regards to the villain kingdoms and the people who live in them…" Apple muttered to herself as she forwarded her mother's message to Raven along with sending several hexts about the different options that they could go to avoid the whole sordid affair.
"I mean the Headmaster is already giving me the stink eye every time we come back from visiting Raven for the weekend if she were to come over here there would literally be no way he'd be allowing me to go anywhere alone with her and Giles seems to know that leaving her alone with you would probably be just as bad as being left alone with me and she'd be all too happy to go along with whatever plans that they would have to keep her celibate because Giles has all these books that he keeps giving her and she just reads like a starving woman and the Headmaster and her are trying so hard to make nice-nice and she's already made it clear that she enjoys acting like a prude just to see me all riled up and you all flustered…" Faybelle continued to grumble.
"At the very least her not being allowed back into the dorms unsupervised might save me from having to explain why I haven't moved out all of her old stuff- er the stuff I had gotten for her way back when…" Apple coughed in embarrassment.
"You know I have a cousin or two who might like the doom and gloom stuff, Raven's made it abundantly clear that we're allowed to do whatever with it so we've got free reign to where it goes." Faybelle piped up conversationally.
"As long as it's going somewhere that all that stuff would be appreciated, you know I never would have guessed that Raven would have such a fondness for colorful flowers before now, but my main concern is to what to do with all of that hextra space!" Apple replied back absently sending a warning to Mira's phone.
Faybelle cast the princess a sly look. "Oh I could think of a few things to do with that space… if only Raven could be allowed to stay with you, or me for that matter when she visits…" The fairy trailed off with a put out sigh, because while the Headmaster and Giles had not spoke any direct words they had made it abundantly clear that they were going to take their newly acquired grandfather and granduncle duties seriously while also maintaining the school's policy (which was more of a futile idealistic hope in Faybelle's opinion) of keeping all students (or former students in Raven's case) chaste while they are on campus. And what was worse was that Raven had expressed that she agreed with this verdict, citing that it would be far too awkward for her if her newly discovered relatives suspected anything of the sort of thing that she and Apple were suddenly so obsessed with as of late to have transpired anywhere on campus.
Which, okay yeah, Faybelle could relate and sympathize with that feeling (except in her case her mother was hinting towards grandkids, grandkids, and more grandkids). Really what a bother.
Not that Raven or herself for that matter ever really had the time or the proper spare moment where they were both in the mood to do anything…
Raven wasn't the only one working hard in both school and in business, Faybelle had to attend covert meetings with her mother's allies and corresponded with Elenore Queen on so many things in preparation for a worse case scenario and to push Councilman Tomak out of power that by the end of the day she was just as tired as Raven often was and only had enough energy to egg Apple on in her flustered attempts to flirt and seduce Raven before both she and Raven dragged Apple up the stairs to sleep.
It was really funny how exhaustion and the constant threat of all-out war could force a semblance of peace in the personal life to the point where Apple was just an integrated part of this whole strange thing, like a light fixture or something, Faybelle had expected for the two of them to start fighting it all out for dominance and for the right to be Raven's romantic interest but somewhere between everybody pointing out that Apple would make a rather proper bridal gift concubine and the fact that all the scary stuff was really putting such small petty thoughts of possessiveness into severe perspective… it just wasn't an issue.
And also the real immediate threat of Raven up and deciding that she was better off without the both of them if they didn't get along helped a lot too…
"This is more than I ever wanted to know about their relationship, in fact I would have preferred never listening to this." Sparrow whispered, his eye twitching as the Charming siblings stared on wide-eyed.
Apple jumped when her phone chimed out indicating that she had gotten a message.
"…Raven says that if my mother's proposition turns out to be honest and the Evil Fairy sees an opportunity to be exploited then she'd be willing to bear through with it." Apple winced. "She says that the Thorn Clan might be able to get a jump in on this too and on a public note this would strengthen ties between our perspective homelands."
"Well my mother would definitely see some benefits to this." Faybelle grumbled bitterly. "Isn't it a bit dangerous though? The enemy wants war and since they've failed to make it with the Queen and King lands they might try to create discourse between Ever After and the Queen territories."
They've already tried. Apple winced at the thought, reminding herself that Faybelle had no idea that Snow White and Prince Charming had already done something that would result in war if too many people knew about it, in fact she wouldn't be surprised if the Thorn family demanded reparations for all the trouble her parents had inadvertently caused resulting in the villain community and international relations, maybe even demanding that they be held responsible for the few lives that had been reportedly lost when that comet landed.
"…My mother… has never really been concerned with such things." Apple coughed. "She is the fairest of them all and therefore well loved by most everybody according to the polls so…"
"Riiiight." Faybelle said flatly. "And whom exactly is she polling to get those results?"
"She's got several royal fan clubs, volunteers who take the survey, and keeps a close eye on Ever After High's news feeds and social media." Informed Apple wearily when Faybelle made a face.
"So she's got her fans, the weird people who actually take time out of their lives to do these surveys-
"Buy the surveys." Apple interrupts.
Faybelle makes a face. "-Care enough to buy surveys and cyber watch the newsfeeds of a high school that is technically under her rule in her kingdom?"
Apple sighs conceding to the point.
"I'm going to see if this might be turned into a longer weekend so that we can rest before ad after this whole thing is over." The princess turns back to her phone.
XXX
"Will you be ready to deploy in time?" Kline asks the man standing in front of him, all around the two are four muscular bodies dressed in black kneeling on the floor in a show of respect.
"Yes sir, I've only deployed the best of the best of my mercenaries, their disguises will be flawless even in the heat of battle. Queenie and her pathetic army of midgets won't know what hit 'em until the ground is stained in red." The elderly lord across from Kline speaks in a nasally voice, his tailored "battle uniform" (he fancied himself a general in the upcoming wars he was certain were to start any day now) only made the man look even scrawnier than he did normally.
"Very good my friend I'm glad to see that there is at least one man that I can truly count on to be loyal to our cause. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your handiwork." Kline inclined his head genially.
"Think little of it young sir." The lord assures. "I knew your father, he and I we good friends, when he was alive he helped us do many great things to this land, truly those whining peasants should have been more grateful and should not have dared to celebrate his death, not on my properties they didn't at least I made certain of that." The man glances around at his armed goons pointedly. "I know that you are not one of those unnatural freakish magical creatures of nature like those horrid false reports from the Wonderland barbarians keep saying, you have served all of us well since you had taken over from your father, after this I plan to make my so-called fellow kings who are either trying to flee like cowards or are attempting to form a coup against you realize their mistakes… or face the consequences." The man takes another pointed look around, his grey bullet head swiveling to and fro comically.
"And I trust that you will succeed well in this endeavor." Kline smiled and bowed his head humbly. "I thank you for your help and I look forward to asking for your advice in the hopefully near future… as the war rages and our dreams of "purifying the land" come true."
The lord across the disguised warlock blustered and preened, not taking note of the almost sarcastic tone that Kline had spoken in nor very much else as he was blinded by his own pride.
It's like leading the lambs out to the sacrificial blade. Kline thought to himself mildly, after all when this was all said and done the lords of these pathetic kingdoms being done with their usefulness would be destroyed as a matter of course, the hunters eradicated and fearsome reputation used as a scapegoat in order to turn fears upon the citizens of Ever After and the Charming kingdoms when the last of the recent Queen family had been taken care of and dear Clementine was to bravely take the throne.
The current royal family would not be forgotten, while his father held the current matriarch in contempt Kline respected both Clawstorm and Raven Queen greatly, their loving memories would help fuel the flames to the wildfire and he could be free to admire their short lives and accomplishments in peace.
After all Raven Queen was famous for standing up to centuries of tradition and to a school full of powerful future rulers (most of whole he would have eradicated as a mere method of due course of course) it was a shame that he'd have to kill her, she could have been a very important ally if she were more easily manipulated and not apart of the Queen family.
And Clawstorm, dear Clawstorm, his beloved sister's dearest childhood friend… he hated that he would have to bring his sister grief by killing her once most treasured non-familial companion, she would never know it was by her own family's hand that the woman's demise had come, it would just have to be so since she refused to see her one and only best friend as the enemy.
A little lie to his future queen wouldn't hurt very much would it?
XXX
"So what do you make of it?" Raven asked the mirror-pad that she had propped up next to her cauldron. "Should I call the Evil Fairy and ask her if there is any merit to this or should I be calling to advise her of my concerns?"
Milton and Giles both sighed. "We might as well gain something positive from this too if we can, this is of course taking into consideration in the event that your in-laws actually let you come back here." The Headmaster grumbled. "Ever After High will be safe for you to visit even with that woman making a spectacle."
"She did seem genuinely sorry for the whole asteroid thing." Raven tried to placate the two grim faced Grimm Brothers. "Surely she wouldn't be planning anything malicious."
"I'm afraid my dear that these kind of people are always sorry about something, especially when they are caught in the act." Milton informed the girl calmly. "However both Giles and I have not picked up on any obvious reason as to why she would come here aside from what she states in her message to you so there is not real reason for us to object to anything when she calls us to let us know about all of this."
Raven's eye's bug out slightly. "She hasn't called? I would have thought that she'd have to explain all the construction required to rebuild the arena!"
"Oh She hasn't started on the rebuilding process yet." Milton informed, both he and his bother watching the young witch's look of incredulity in amusement.
"But she's scheduled to come in less than a few days!" Raven exclaimed.
"Dwarves are capable of building things very quickly and the queen has access to the best of the best Dwarf-Construction guild." Giles informed the girl with a chuckle. "We know that this is hardly the way that you wanted to come back to the school for a visit but I'm sure that we can make the best of it."
Raven is silent for a moment, thinking. "This has all been purposely timed so that I'd be on the week-long break after the academy's testing days, I'm getting good marks in all of my tested subjects thus far I'm certain that I can come a day or so early-"
"Shouldn't you be more concerned with taking that day off to rest?" Milton reminded in concern, the man eyeing the dark circles under his granddaughter's eyes. The girl had much to catch up on in the academic sense and even though she was where she was supposed to be in terms of age group and classes she still had lots to do with starting courses and moving in while in the middle of the term.
"I'll be fine." Raven assured. "I'll try to get to bed earlier and I'll rest full eight hours of sleep when I'm back there, I just really want at least one day to be back at Ever After High without having to worry about political ramifications and all this intrigue."
"So you won't argue if I say that your imposed bedtime will be around nine thirty?" Milton asked for all the world like he was just a normal grandfather, Giles rolled his eyes behind him.
"I'll most likely already be dozing off around nine and will have to go to bed early but it'll be worth it." Raven chuckled back even though she was dead serious. "I'll even see if I can get my grandmother's dragon to come too, it'll be good to get awareness out there about endangered species of native dragons at the very least."
"We'll be looking forward to seeing you Raven." Giles said honestly. "Now go get some sleep, trust me that herbal remedies exam your currently studying for is a lot easier than what your instructors have led you all to believe."
Raven huffed a tired laugh. "I look forward to seeing you uncle Giles, Grandfather." The witch spoke the familial titles pointedly.
The two men smiled at the new titles and a moment later the older members of the Grimm clan bid the younger goodnight.
XXX
"Alright, where have you two scheming gremlins hidden my pajamas and my real underwear?" Raven demands from atop the staircase.
"I think that all that studying has melted your brain if you're so far gone as to mislabel our respective species." Faybelle grins wickedly moving her black game piece on the checkerboard she is currently playing with Apple.
"Real underwear?" Apple asks innocently.
"Yeah, those pieces of fabric you swiped before replacing them with things like this." Raven held up a lacy scrap of green fabric with two fingers, making sure to keep it away from a purring Nevermore's curious reaching paws as the dragon sat on her shoulders.
"That looks like real underwear to me." Apple nodded to herself. "It's pretty warm out here, those are pretty enough to be used as both underwear and pajamas you know."
"Both fashionable and practical." Faybelle commented lightly.
"I'll bet you two think it is." Raven rolled her eyes. I'm not going to have to deal with this in Ever After too am I?"
"Oh come on you know you love it when we do this kind of stuff, if you didn't you would have put a stop to it ages ago." Apple cooed.
Raven hid a smile as she descended the stairs. "Maybe…" She admitted. "But no matter how much I'm flattered by this attention I do not want to give… certain people cause to have my breaks with the two of you chaperoned if it is discovered that Apple is a participating force not a hindrance." The witch pointed out plainly.
The fairy and princess both made faces.
"Yeah that would be a problem." Faybelle admitted grudgingly pulling the witch into her lap as Raven drew near.
"Did you finally get enough sleep last night or are we going to have to wake you in the carriage when we arrive?" Apple asked as she accepted Nevermore in order to help the dragon into her harness.
"…I might nap a little." Raven coughed guiltily. "Grandfather doesn't know quite what to make of this sudden and unexpected event that your mother has put together mostly without his permission, so he's going to keep me close just in case." The witch looked away guiltily.
"It's okay to say that he doesn't trust her." Apple's eyes narrowed. "I don't trust her, she'd only come back to the school if she had an ulterior motive, Mira doesn't know what to make out of all of this either, she's a nervous wreck and I've been around witches long enough to tell that it's not just because of being on stage with a queen that is having her so worked up… I suspect that she senses something off about all of this."
"I sense something off about all of this." Raven snorted. "But my grandfather and granduncle are keeping their ears to the ground and we won't know what's going on until it's happening so…" Raven shrugged. "Hopefully this'll be all about posturing and that will be that."
"At least there is not much chance of something exploding." Apple muttered. "What?" The princess demanded to the shocked faces looking at her.
"You jinxed it!" Faybelle exclaimed.
"I did not! I mean how often does political posturing result in something exploding?" Apple huffed affronted.
"She did it again!" Faybelle declared dramatically.
"Apple maybe it's time for you and I to have a talk about tempting fate and how the universe loves to display it's odd sense of humor upon us mere mortals…" Raven began.