A/n: I'm hoping to get the ball rolling a bit faster and bring this all to a conclusion within the next few months but being forced by to write a mere twenty pages per chapter is grating on my nerves a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to finish all of this relatively soonish.
XXX
"You know, not counting your differences in beliefs you two have a lot more in common than many granddaughters and grandfathers out there." Giles observed knowingly as the maids cleared the dinner table. True to Raven's previous predictions she was nearly out like a light long before ten o'clock that evening, the girl had made a valiant effort to stay awake after she had her tummy filled with dinner but was ultimately defeated and had to be carried out of the dining room by one of the maid staff with barely a weak murmur of goodnight to the two older men. Not long after the maid had put the witch to bed had Mira Shards been called in to the Headmaster's guest quarters to make good on her temporary position as bodyguard and Faybelle deterrent, Milton had grumbling suspicions that the fairy was planning on a midnight visit to her wife just to be contrary towards protocols of decency and himself in particular.
XXX
Meanwhile in the Headmaster's guest quarters…
"Mira what are you doing in here?" Faybelle and Apple who had been startled by the lights suddenly being turned on by one very unimpressed looking redheaded witch stared at said girl with wide eyes.
"The Headmaster, the man who is kindly sticking his neck out for me at the moment with her fair highness the fairest of the fair of them all queen Snow White, did task me in being my home country's youngest royal heir's body and chastity guard, the young miss gave me permission to shoo the two of you away if she was already fast asleep and if she was not that I act as a very stubborn fourth wheel for she still needs to face his lordships honorable Giles Grimm and lord Headmaster Grimm in the morning with a clear and innocent conscience. Seeing as the young miss is indeed knocked out cold from both this exciting day and jet lag I must strongly but politely see your ladyships off to wherever you had snuck in and bid you goodnight." Mira stated politely and kindly but still firmly, her stance indicating that she was not going to change her mind.
"So it's perfectly fine having you here but not letting Raven's wife and best friend through?" Faybelle challenged bluntly her eyes narrowing in territorial suspicion.
"If your ladyship is worried for her wife's safety in that regard then it is my duty to in form you that aside from my meager status as a simple and plain commoner with nothing of substantial worldly worth or title save for the ones graciously given to me by the Enchanted Mirror and therefore making myself quite a distasteful prospect for the young miss and her very clear devotion to you and only you, if the Queen Lands do not go to war then my parent will be marrying me off to either a suitor that I have been arranged to be wed to before they had even been out of the womb, or an older suitor closer to home it is essential to keep good relations between the Enchanted Mirror and my future in-laws and therefore I must remain ever faithful to my future spouse whomever they turn out to be… that and Lady Raven is more like a highly prestigious extended family member, and I don't do incest." Mira declared with slightly narrowed eyes, she had been planning on informing Humphrey or her "engagement" and impending "marriage" (she had a cousin in the North Sand and Stone region as well as an old ally in the undersea kingdom off the coast of her homeland whom she had been in loose contact with over the years and both of whom who have stated that they would be willing to hide her if she ever needed a place to run to and disappear indefinitely).
"You're engaged?" Apple blinked in surprise even as Faybelle relaxed into an accepting sulk. "Well I suppose that it's still not an uncommon practice these days outside of royalty, who are you being married off to? And why? I thought that the Enchanted Mirror wanted you to serve your homeland."
Clawstorm was prepared for this; she had worked out the bugs of her explanation long ago, and then updated it in case Humphrey tried being more than just friends. "That is only in the event of war where I could defend the land and royal family through honor of war and constant life-threatening sacrifice, however if there is no war then I would be put to better use as a wife to a family of standing higher than my own, as it is I am currently engaged to either become one of the harem wives to the young princess Ali daughter of pharaoh Nefret Queen of the North Sand and Stones empire when she turns of age to have a proper harem in three or so years, perhaps earlier if I give permission to allow myself be wed to a thirteen-year-old, or a middle aged lower ranking lord from the sea kingdom beside my homeland, it is quite in style for one of their kind to take land dwellers as brides."
Apple's eyes grew wider while Faybelle scrunched her face up in disgust.
"So you either have to marry an old fish face or a kid?" The fairy asked sounding incredulous.
"Only if my services are not better used in fighting for home and country." Mira sniffed all business-like. "It is my duty to the one kind enough to adopt me."
"Humphrey is going to be very shocked." Apple whispered, it was an understatement and all the females knew it.
"Right…" Faybelle said slowly. "And it is also your duty to ensure that an Evil Fairy Queen and her unofficial human consort can't properly greet her wife in a time when everything is actually quiet?"
Apple? A consort? Yeesh her daughter was quite the adventurous little thing Clawstorm mused. "Yes your ladyship it is like you say."
"So not even if I mention that-?"
"No, still not going to work."
"Aw come on!"
"I am merely doing my duty and adhering to my training." Mira sniffed.
XXX
"Yes well despite her stance on being able to choose one's destiny for themselves she has quite an impressive grasp on the power of words and stories, as well as a keen interest in the wellbeing of the school community as a whole, she has been quite helpful in certain aspects despite her not attending classes here anymore, like with that litter of dragons, I would have never have known about that in time for their births unless she had told me about it, and something tells me that she's been using her influence to resolve far more conflicts than I'd ever know about in the past few weeks." Milton shook his head. "She's a willful one, just like her mother and grandmother, I don't know why I was so surprised on Legacy Day, apparently if I had just observed closer I would've seen it coming."
"She gets a lot of her willfulness from you too brother dear." Giles reminded dryly. "She actually reminds me more of you than she does of Elenore, if memory serves me correctly for a short time you had been the one to openly defy your social standing by being with Elenore while she merely skirted on the edge of what was acceptable story roles and what wasn't. She even looks like you when she's got that stubborn set in her jaw."
"My stubbornness and her grandmother's will, Ancestors help us all if she's inherited her mother's unique gift for misdirection and hiding between blades of grass." Milton muttered, trying not to think about how all of his attempts at pinpointing his daughter's current location were turning up alarmingly empty.
"She has the potential to become a great Headmistress someday." Giles mused pointedly.
Milton gave his brother a bittersweet smile but shook his head; he reached up to scratch behind Nightshade's horned head, the dragon having loyally taken up residence on his shoulder as if the little dragon had been doing so for years and not the past few weeks whenever Milton took the time to visit Elenore. "If that's what she chooses to do with her life then so be it, I'll help her out wherever I can, with overjoyed enthusiasm. But the truth of the matter is that she'll be having a difficult enough time getting a degree in a discipline that she loves along with dealing with that blasted Thorn Clan and taking care of her kingdom on top of that, it hurts me to say but there is just no room in her life for a fairytale or for this school when she becomes of proper human age."
"Good answer." Giles praised. "And we will be perfectly fine finding someone to replace us, the Grimm line is far from dying out thanks to you and Elenore we will still have to keep looking though, perhaps at the very least we can find a relative of Elenore's who would be willing to take over for a while until a more permanent solution could be found, but we do have more options now, and we have more family, it doesn't have to be just us anymore."
"That is rather comforting in these uncertain times." Milton agreed, feeling the weight of his age as he stood up, Nightshade giving a contented hum as he shifted on the large man's shoulders.
It had been a tiring afternoon, between having to politely question the queen's motives towards Mira without letting the woman know that he knew that the whole debacle had not been a mere training exorcise at all, while also having to find a better explanation than what the queen had given to explain to his students and staff why no one was to go near the ponds often used for ice skating in winter (he highly doubted that saying that it was for the vague reason of him being the Headmaster and therefore had his own reasons would deter anybody, in fact Giles pointed out that it may cause students to investigate on principle), he did not want students running back in horror because they spotted Snow White's people dredging up the shredded remains of a man and a whole bunch of illegal weapons.
Raven and Mira suggested that he say that someone had introduced an invasive species of fish or algae into the lake and that all proper WLKP (Wild Life Kingdom Protection) protocols were put in place to ensure that the rest of the school's wilderness areas were not contaminated as well. The suggestion being both reasonable and highly believable since they would have to clean the lake from toxic potions that had leached into the water from broken illegal magical weapons, was of course used, and naturally with the high number of students in the nature lover's club and beast classes the students actually respected his word and had even helped in cautioning others to stay out of that part of the forest.
It was a fascinating thing, people who normally went out of their way to get into trouble for once since Legacy Day actually listening to him (granted they were mostly listening to his granddaughter, Miss White, and Miss Shards but nobody had questioned him this time around! That meant a great deal)!
Mira, the poor girl, appeared to be utterly petrified, even though she was doing her damn best to hide it, of the fact that she had somehow found herself roped into the middle of this whole mess and of Snow White in particular as far as Milton could tell.
Well this certainly was some rich irony as far as Milton was concerned, the same woman who had once waxed on and on about the evils of the Evil Queen and the dreaded place where she hailed from had instilled real bonnafied fear of herself to a civilian of said dreaded place.
He only hoped that no more unwanted surprises transpired tomorrow.
XXX
"That was utterly exhausting." Clawstorm grumbled into the guest bed as Maid Marion tended to the welts on the woman's back and sides. It had been a busy day of her constantly being dragged around by Snow White to show the school populace how to play a dragon game, advising tomorrows tournament volunteers on how to show off their newly adopted dragon chicks in the cutest-in-show contest, and then living the ordeal of nearly being forced to spend the night in Snow White's guest chambers, thankfully Apple had swooped in just as her mother was getting a little too friendly and spirited her away for a shopping spree in the village and far, far away from the queen. At the very least Clawstorm did not have to be dragged anywhere private with old Snowball and her highness was thankfully discrete enough that she played along with simply just using Mira as a means to get good publicity and did not insist upon any undo attention until the end of the day.
Apple at least had been sweet enough to apologize for her mother's overzealous behavior.
"What's exhaustin' is seein' you have to get wrapped back up like a mummy every few weeks!" The human grouched. "Honestly old friend you get out of prison and the first thing you do to celebrate it is to get batted around like the kitten's yarn ball?"
"It's not my fault that people seem to be hitting me a lot harder now than they were a few years ago!" The witch defended.
"Uh huh." Maid Marion said flatly.
"At any rate I really have to thank you guys for letting me crash here for a spell, old Snowball has been acting very suspiciously and I don't think that I'd be able to sleep in the dorms as long as she's nearby." The witch sighed.
"She's definitely up to something." The Big Bad Wolf grouched from outside the doorway, keeping his back respectfully to the room. "She smells funny too, like being around you has made her decade or something."
"That is definitely suspicious." Clawstorm grimaced since in the past the queen was only ever really happy when the witch was miserable.
"Maybe she wants to make sure that you won't out her for her crime of aiding a plot to destroy your kingdom, or maybe she's hoping that she can win her daughter's good graces back through you, or maybe se genuinely wants to avoid war just as much as the rest of us." Red Riding Hood proposed, leaning in her home's guest bedroom's doorway with a used spoon full of cake batter in one hand and handing the bowl to her husband with the other.
"I hope so." Clawstorm sighed tiredly. "It's just too disconcerting knowing that Snowy cares about knowing me to the point where she can see right through my disguise. I'm just glad that Raven is going back to the academy as we speak for her post testing celebration school activities, she's better off being as far away from the blast zone as possible… even though I'm going to have to abandon my hopes that little Apple was keeping a cool lid on things between that Thorn girl and my kid, apparently the princess is considering the benefits of being a fairy and witch's consort."
There was a slight choking sound from the hall. "Really? Straight-laced little Miss Apple White?" Bad Wolf sputtered.
"The one and only." Clawstorm sighed again. "At least my daughter actually has some taste, Apple is a decent girl with a better-than-average sense for dragging people out of her mother's clutches. I should make a note of asking her if she has any clue as to why Snowball is acting so out of character."
"While you're at it can you ask if she knows how my son and that nice Charming boy he's dating are doin'? I try asking Sparrow and he blusters about how I'm sooo embarrassing! Queen Charming is having the exact same issue with her boy too!" Maid Marion sniffed as if affronted at the thought of her child not being all that willing to gossip about his private relationships to his mother.
Clawstorm grinned wickedly into the comforter. "I live to snitch for only my closest of friends."
"I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about such things from my girls." Bad Wolf gruffed from the hallway.
Clawstorm snorted, trying to smother her laughter while the man's wife gave him a disbelieving look.
"Sweetie, you do know that our Cerise has been dating Briar Beauty since thronecomming and I'm almost positive that Ramona is trying to work up the courage to ask her roommate out." Red Riding Hood informed exasperatedly.
"They what?"
"They talked about all of this to the both of us dear." The hooded woman shook her head solemnly. "Cerise had Miss Beauty over for dinner that one time and it was a big deal! How could you have missed that?"
"I thought that our little pup was just nervous that she knew our secret!" Bane cried out.
"No… she was nervous because she was introducing her first serious relationship to her parents." Simone intoned calmly.
"Hey Bane!" Clawstorm called. "Just be glad that you don't have the Evil Fairy hinting at your daughter to give her grandchildren or run the risk of psycho Snow White being your daughter's mother-in-law! You hardly have room to complain here!"
XXX
"I'm telling you that there is something really off about my mom!" Apple insisted in horror to the occupants of the carriage. "She can't stop talking about Mira, she even almost tried to get Mira to stay with her for a private dinner and stay over night too!"
"Little ol' Mira must have run her mouth raw doing that polite I-am-but-a-mere-plain-and-simple-common-witch routine." Faybelle snorted. "So your mom's a fan of the school's favorite neutral party and polite pauper it's not that unusual for people to act all giddy over a celebrity."
"It is when you are my mom, she always prides herself on people fawning over her and not the other way around, plus there's the fact that Mira was totally mortified by the attention! When I rescued her by taking her shopping in the village she kept hauntingly commenting on how peculiar it was for someone like my mother to be so enthusiastically friendly towards someone from her self-proclaimed arch enemy's homeland!" Apple exclaimed.
"That does sound like Mira was pretty upset about it." Raven concurred sleepily, her head resting heavily on Apple's shoulder, it was early afternoon in the Middle Sea region but the odd hours that Raven had been sleeping in the past three days plus her late nights studying were taking their toll. "But to be fair it's not uncommon for those born in lower social standing to be weary of monarchs… you have to admit that we can get pretty strange more often than not…"
"The people you hang out with from your kingdoms don't treat you that way, in fact their downright friendly in a way that is uncommon for people like them to be addressing someone of higher standing." Apple pointed out, there were a lot of foreign exchange students at the academy who were either from the King and Queen lands or refugees from the neighboring four troublesome kingdoms who had been given government issued work and school visas, it seemed like every one of those people went out of their way to treat Raven like she was a long lost relative or friend.
"On both sides of my family history it is not uncommon to find a disguised Good King or Evil Queen down at the local pubs getting drunk with the locals and making fun of parliament officials just like they were ordinary people, it's practically tradition." Raven mumbled into Apple's quilted jacket. "Is how we keep an eye out for the general wellbeing of our people, an' on my mother's side it is believed that it helps ground us to the magic of the people an' makes us better rulers, but mostly most of the family does it for the beer and the chance at improper behavior."
"Ah… how utterly charming." Apple intoned flatly making Faybelle snicker in her seat across from them causing Nevermore, who was sitting beside the fairy while still in her harness to parrot the noises that Faybelle was making while also attempting to nibble on her offered snacks. "But seriously, there is definitely something wrong with my mom!"
"I'm sure that Mira can handle whatever the queen will throw at her, she did pretty well in keeping us out last night after all." Faybelle grumbled as if she were put out by the whole thing and not just a teeny bit impressed that such a polite goody-goody could talk circles around a fairy who had been trained in the art of talking circles around people.
"Not that anything would have happened since I was dead on my feet." Raven tried to give the two the stink eye, or she thought she did but in reality the most that happened was that her heavy-lidded eyes just closed even more firmly than they already were. "Just give me like ten 'er so hours, den we'll see..." Raven mumbled as she slid a little further into the embrace of sleep.
"We'll remind you that you said that." Apple promised even as Faybelle seemed to perk up at the news.
XXX
I don't think that I can do this! Clawstorm thought to herself as she felt her entire body involuntarily freeze mid-way through raising her fork to her mouth.
"Ah, so her fair highness wishes for my presence directly after I am finished with breakfast." Mira states faintly putting her fork down and smoothing her powder blue cotton gloved hands down the skirt to her yellow and light blue dress that Apple had kindly bought for her the previous day, the dress along with the fancy yellow hat with a short blue veil pinned to one side of her head sort of make her feel like one of those socialite ladies from Londoom who have tea and tiny little scare-cakes while discussing murder mysteries and town gossip, except the outfit definitely has a fairytale feel to it and lacks the charming little goulish touches from the monster realm.
"She says that it's ridiculous for the resident hexpert in dragon riding and dragon games to just sit in the bleachers as a spectator, she wants you to sit beside her at the royal viewing balcony and watch the proceedings." Blondie informs apologetically, honestly looking guilty for being the bearer for unwanted news. "It will put us at a slight disadvantage not having you there to be the commenting spectator but seeing as this is a practice game the queen figured that the rest of the news crew could also use the practice. Snow White would however prefer it if you were to show off Apple's dragon chick and then Legend before the best in show competition starts so that the audience can see how to properly present both young and adult dragons properly."
Hmm obviously Snowy wanted to talk in private if she was willing to forgo the opportunity to be part of the commenting on the first ever practice game over the loudspeaker. At least the woman had the presence of mind not to seem too suspicious by letting Clawstorm as Mira be in some way apart of the activities even though it was plainly obvious to the witch that the human woman appeared to want to hog all of her time for some indescribable reason. "Will you guys be needing my notes on the name for different uncommon plays and game terminology?"
"Yes please." Blondie nodded noting that the rest of the news team seemed to be giving the witch odd looks for appearing to be so downtrodden for being chosen by the Snow White to basically be at the queen's side all day. "I understand why you are so nervous, your homeland's monarch being the queen's arch nemesis and all." The reporter commented glancing pointedly sidelong at the confused faces of the rest of the news club and a few stray on lookers.
"Is that why you've been so worried about all of this?" Dexter asks sounding sympathetic.
"It is important that relations between this kingdom and my homeland strengthen and we could use the good publicity, I-I'm fearing that I may run the risk of making a fool out of myself-…" Clawstorm pretended to admit and it was only half a lie really, her country did need the good publicity and she was worried about being made a bloody fool of yet again by Snow White who took perverse delight in her suffering regardless of who got between the crossfire, so hell yeah she was bloody nervous!
"Waitaminit, you are nervous about making a fool of yourself?" Briar barked a laugh. "You're little Miss polite and proper self-conduct! There's no way! I mean, girl, you still refer to your closest friends as lords and ladies, and you freaking curtsy better than most princesses! Hex you act more like a proper princess than most princesses come to think of it, you'll be fine!"
"You'll do great I know you will." Humphrey cheered in with a besotted shy blush painting his nose. "And you do look very ladylike in that dress, bright colors really suit you."
"I will do my very best." Mira smiled bravely but despite her best efforts there was still a haunted note in her grey eyes.
XXX
Blondie was concerned for her friend.
As a reporter Blondie was all about telling the people the truth and exposing secrets and good stories alike but because she was a good reporter and grade A sleuth she also knew the power and importance of information. The fact that Clawstorm was willing to trust Blondie (who was also unfortunately known to the school on the unfounded reputation as the second most untrustworthy person to know other's secrets right behind Cedar Wood) with so much meant the world to the girl, it wasn't often that even her closest friends told her secrets so for the older witch to trust that Blondie would not only be competent enough to understand that in a situation as dangerous as this information to the public (and therefore easily accessed by the enemy) should keep a delicate balance between keeping away from neglecting the people's rights for important information regarding their homelands and family safety while also not releasing information that could fall into use by the enemy and thus cause harm to the common people's homelands and families, but to also come to Blondie as if she were a trusted confidant and ask for help and guidance (which personally Blondie thought that Clawstorm was doing just fine on her own and being the older of two therefore gave the witch more experience in this) was something that Blondie knew that the witch had not considered lightly and that the amount of trust that someone like her was willing to put into Blondie to help get this right was… Blondie didn't have the words.
And also the witch was helping Blondie big time with her homework; thanks to Clawstorm's help Blondie's last report card looked far better than it had the previous quarter.
Blondie hadn't had enough time alone with the witch to get her side of things but Blondie could tell that Clawstorm was highly worried, scared even, and from the brief gestures and that hushed, hurried whisper in the hall when no one was looking told Blondie what she already knew; that the attack on the queen the other day had been real and somehow Snow White had found out her secret and yet was for some reason or another willing to keep it a secret. Knowing the woman's past history with Clawstorm that was cause to be extremely suspicious.
So since there wasn't much that anybody could do but wait to see what happened Blondie opted to show her friend as much support as possible right now.
"Thank you." Mira said as Blondie finished up with the witch's makeup, behind her stood Poppy who had just secured the last pin to hold the little blue flowers to Mira's cascading red hair. "My hands are a trifle unsteady at the moment."
"Hey no prob, this bit of work will do wonders for the publicity for the shop." Poppy assured, putting supplies away.
"You've done this before right?" Blondie asked calmly. "So just forget about the queen and the politics and just let what comes naturally from your experience help you out through the show, and I'm confident that you will find a way to persevere over the willies in regards to sitting next to the queen. I believe in you. You'll do just fine doing what has to be done, you have lots of practice and bravery in that department."
Mira took a deep, calming breath and smiled up at the reporter. "Thanks, I needed that. Do you feel up to a spot of tea and cookies tomorrow while I help you with schoolwork? I personally could use a touch of normal to calm down after all of this."
"Sure, maybe we can even do that tonight if our schedules allow it." Blondie nodded knowing that Clawstorm desperately wanted to talk partly about what was going on but would mostly want to have a conversation that was directed at other, happier subjects, as was often the case when the two of them talked, Clawstorm had a lot of funny stories to tell.
"Good luck." Blondie waves as Mira walks out to the field with a little golden and white dragon in tow while she hurries over to the announcement balcony.
While Apple has of yet to find a dragon riding outfit that would suit Mira best seeing as that most outfits available must be tailored and they tended to follow a fairytale theme which would make it difficult to customize one for Mira since she had no real story theme, so yesterday Mira had made due with a rather ugly brown- and outdated in fashion- spare outfit from storage as she instructed others on how to fly on the backs of dragons, but today since the witch would not be riding the dragons herself she got to wear her new dress which she sports splendidly as she patiently leads first the small dragon chick around on it's lead expertly distracting it with a fire proof toy or a bit of food to keep it from running wild on her while the judges look it over, and then just to show how to show off an adult dragon Mira then leads Legend around, both witch and larger beast moving as one in an elegant choreographed dance that best displayed Legend's scales and agility as well as the rider's ability to lead the beast while it was on the ground, much to the audience's awe and delight.
Clawstorm may be able to act like a plain and simple commoner fairly well but there was still this way that she held herself in moments such as this that was definitely that of a true queen and leader, a force to be reckoned with as well as a powerful protector willing to sacrifice everything and live in danger just as long as she could do so to ensure the safety of her family and people.
Blondie felt instinctually that if there was anyone who could save everybody from all of this it was most certainly her.
Blondie trusted that instinct unquestioningly.
XXX
"A training exorcise?" Kline stared in disbelief at the report handed to him. "That's what they're calling it? What happened to the men? Even if they failed in their mission the evidence that they were to leave behind when they all were terminated should have at least been enough to rile up the fairest of them all into action against the Queen Lands."
"The sensors do indicate that the men were all terminated, however we can't gather much more information than that from the school due to the Grimm Brother's nearly airtight control on the information that get passed in and out, all the chatter from the students to their parents has been about the Dragon Games sir. His lordship has attempted to send more men to the area to report on what has happened but thus far no men have come back and we can't pinpoint the remote sensors, there has been no indication that the men have been terminated by the self-destructive devises, the signals have just… disappeared." The ancient butler informed Kline with a polite bow of the head and an air of strict professionalism.
"So either they are not taking the bait or they are arranging things outside of the public eye." Kline massaged his aching temples. "How many men did his lordship send out to gather information?"
"Six sir."
"Six?" Kline gaped in outrage, well that explained why they didn't hear back from those men. "That is an awful lot of men to send on a mere few hours information gathering mission."
"His lordship wanted to be as thorough as possible and if the men had found anything untoward he wanted as many bodies as he could send right now to try another attempt at causing unrest between the two kingdoms." The butler's professional tone seemed to be undercut by a strong current of exasperation, and then the man appeared to catch himself because he amended in a slightly apologetic tone. "His lordship only wishes to bring back concrete results sir."
Regardless of tact or revealing our intentions… the disguised warlock thought poisonously. "I'm sure he does." Kline nodded seriously knowing from the feeling in his gut and the evidence presented to him that Snow White's forces had captured all six men. "Will you give the order to continue to search for their sensors beacons and if they are found anywhere near the school or a secure complex in Ever After, they are to have their uniforms detonate."
"I do suppose that it has to be done sir." The butler nodded gravely, indicating that he too had come to the same conclusion. "Must I tell his lordship or shall I kindly… be discrete upon this matter?"
Kline smiled a sad, kind smile at the man, he always liked this butler, he may work for fools but he was far from being one himself, and he was loyal to those who treated him with proper respect, he'd have to speak to his father about sparing this one when the other lords took the fall, it always paid to have competent people working with you. "I can always trust you to be discrete my good man, I hope that you have a pleasant day."
"And I hope the same to you sir." The butler nodded. "Your business associate from the sword branch of the factory has asked to see you after this meeting is finished, it sounded rather urgent sir, shall I send him in?"
Kline sat up straighter. "Yes, if you would please."
A few moments later a cloaked figure walked in indeed looking rather urgent.
"All listening devises and spy-spells have been removed father." Kline assured the figure in front of him.
There was a shiver within the depths of the deep hood and when it was pulled back it revealed Tomak's true face without a trace of glamour.
"Father?" Kline sat up in alarm at the older warlock's unusual lack of paranoia, at showing his own face here, in the nest of their foolhardy puppets.
"I cannot find them my son!" Tomak's voice was on the edge of panic. "They have taken both your mother and sister away and I cannot find them!"