"Hey, kids." Uncle Jake called wearily.
"What's going on?" Sabrina asked.
"Wedding plans." Uncle Jake explained.
"See you." Puck said quickly, and disappeared.
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "That idiot." She said wryly. "Can we help?"
"Please." Uncle Jake said. "They're all trying to pick between a bunch of colors that all look the same to me. I mean, white is white, how many shades of it can you possibly have?"
"I've never really understood that, either." Sabrina said. "But a lot, I guess."
"But what's the difference?" Jake asked, exasperated.
"Well, this one's cream, and that's eggshell, and that one's almond-" Daphne started, pointing at the color samples.
"Stop, Daphne." Sabrina said. "All I see is different shades of off-white, and Uncle Jake doesn't see any difference. You're not helping."
"I was trying to." Daphne muttered. "Can you tell the difference, Red?"
Red nodded. "I can't name a lot of them, but getting the right color is important for art."
"Why are you looking at fifty different shades of not-quite-white, anyway?" Bella asked.
"Wedding dress." Uncle Jake said shortly.
"We can't use white, because it's my second wedding." Briar said, "So we're trying to pick another color, but we can't decide which one. And I want the bridesmaids in pink or yellow, so it has to go with that, and then there's the decorations for the reception and the wedding itself, and we need to decide on flowers-"
"I like that one." Sabrina said, pointing to a card at random.
"Really?" Briar asked, looking at it.
Sabrina shook her head. "I can't tell the difference. I like them all. But go with that one, if it'll make things simpler."
Red nodded. "Actually, Sabrina's right. If you want a yellow and pink theme, this one's yellowish, but not too much. It'll go nicely with one of the darker pinks."
"Did you pick a material yet?" Daphne asked. "Or, more importantly, decide who's going to be in the wedding party?"
"Silk." Granny said.
At the same time, Veronica said "Taffeta."
Uncle Jake dropped his head into his hands. "Please no, don't start this again."
"Let's ask our resident artist." Briar said, turning to Red.
Red, seeing everyone look at her, blushed. "W- well, If you want to use that color, then I say go with the taffeta. It reflects the light back more, and... yeah."
"That settles it, then." Briar said. "Taffeta. And Daphne, as for who's in the wedding party- I don't know. I have too many people to choose from. I even have too many choices for flower girl."
"Who are they?" Bella asked blankly.
"Red and Daphne." Jake said. "Even I knew that."
"I think Red should be your flower girl." Daphne smiled. "Snow promised I could be her flower girl if she married Charming."
"Well, that's three choices." Briar said dryly. "Why is it that these kids get this done so much faster than all of us?"
"Because we know more, duh." Daphne grinned.
Briar laughed. "Well, if you're so knowledgeable, then help me decide who should be my maid of honor, and how many bridesmaids I should have."
"First off, how many groomsmen does Jake want?" Bella said, sitting down in a businesslike manner.
"One." Jake said dryly. "Mr. Clay."
"What about Da-" Daphne stopped. "Oh. Dad's the best man, right?"
Uncle Jake nodded. "I thought about the Anderson brothers, and the three little pigs, and Puck, but- well, I'd like to keep it simple."
"But I don't want to offend anyone!" Briar said.
"Briar, if you had your way, there'd be more people in the wedding party than guests!" Jake sighed. "And I think everyone will understand that you couldn't have all your friends be bridesmaids."
"I can't choose, though!" Briar sighed.
"Simple." Sabrina said. "Write all their names down and put them in a hat. Whoever you pick out first is the maid of honor, second is the bridesmaid."
"But what about a ring bearer?" Veronica asked.
"Do you know Little Boy Blue?" Daphne asked suddenly, grinning sidelong at Red.
Red blushed and looked down.
"I know him." Briar said. "He's your age, right? A sweet boy, kind of quiet, likes to sleep? That's a good suggestion. Nice job, Daphne. I'm going to go write down the names for bridesmaids."
She got up and left the table, pulling the color samples for her dress with her.
"I suppose we ought to start cleaning up the color samples we won't use." Granny said, standing.
Veronica stood, too, and the two picked up the samples, leaving only the pinks and yellows on the table.
"That one and that one." Red said quietly, pointing at a yellow and pink shade after some thought. "If Briar likes them anyway."
"Sounds fine to me." Jake said. "If we could get this whole thing down to three colors, that would be a huge step in the right direction."
"Do you know when the wedding will be?" Sabrina asked.
Uncle Jake shook his head. "Honestly, before you guys got home, all we really knew was that we were having a wedding."
"Did I come home too early?" Henry asked, walking through the door. "I wasn't sure you were done, but I didn't have any other excuses not to come home yet."
"We've almost got the dress colors picked out." Veronica said. "Go look for Puck, dear. He ran off a while ago, and it's his turn to make dinner."
"Thank you." Henry said, relieved. "I hate wedding plans."
"Briar, are you done yet?" Jake called.
"Yes." She responded, coming back into the room. "Veronica, will you be my maid of honor? I'll ask Snow to be my bridesmaid tomorrow."
"Now you need the dress designs, the decorations, the date, and the location, right?" Sabrina asked, ticking them off on her fingers.
"And catering." Veronica added.
"The Baker." Jake said promptly.
"But- he's in the Scarlet Hand, isn't he?" Bella pointed out.
"I don't care." Jake said. "That man makes the best food in the whole world."
"We've got the date narrowed down to sometime in the summer." Briar said. "And when exactly it is will affect the dress designs."
"Not really." Sabrina said. "I know I promised Baba Yaga I'd stop messing with the weather, but I could make an exception for your wedding."
"I like July." Briar said. "Late July."
"How late?" Uncle Jake asked.
"The... twenty-seventh?" Briar asked.
"Sounds fine to me." Jake shrugged.
Granny checked the calendar. "No previous engagements. I'll mark it down."
"I think we should have the reception here." Jake said. "It's simple, it's free, nobody from the Scarlet Hand can crash the party..."
Briar nodded.
"You're making these decisions pretty fast." Sabrina said. "I can't believe it took you so long for the rest of it."
"Well, now that your mother and grandmother have stopped arguing..." Uncle Jake trailed off. "Mom, you don't mind holding the reception here, do you?"
"Of course not!" Granny smiled. "In fact, I think it's a grand idea. Where are you going to hold the wedding itself, then?"
"Well, we could have it outside, since the weather will definitely be nice." Veronica suggested. "Or Friar Tuck has a church..."
"Oh, I love that church!" Briar said. "It's so beautiful! But it's also a little small..."
"I can fix that." Jake said. "As long as you're sure you don't want it outside."
"We can have the reception outside." Briar said. "That way the house doesn't get too crowded, and we can enjoy the nice weather Sabrina will provide us with." She smiled at Sabrina.
Sabrina blinked, then smiled back tentatively, beginning to regret offering to fix the weather. It seemed to react to her mood more than anything, and if she got upset, she might literally rain on the parade.
"You like the colors Red picked?" Veronica asked, showing them to Briar, who nodded.
"At this point, I'm really ready to go with the first two colors someone shows me, even if they're like, green and electric orange." She said tiredly. "Jake, you want to go see Friar Tuck and ask him about this?"
"Gladly." Jake said. "No designing things for us today?"
"Well, I was rather hoping Red would do me the honor of sketching some dresses." Briar said, smiling at Red.
Red flushed bright pink and nodded. "I'd love to." She smiled.
As Uncle Jake and Briar left, Henry and Puck stuck their heads gingerly around the door.
"Are you done yet?" Henry asked.
"For today." Granny said, cleaning up the last of the samples. "Puck, get started on dinner, will you?"
"I'll set the table." Sabrina said.
"How long does it take to plan a wedding, anyway?" Puck muttered as everyone else left, beginning to make dinner.
"Ages, apparently." Sabrina said. "I don't think I want to get married."
"Why would you?" Puck snorted. "Big hoopla about being mature and 'in love' and all that nonsense. What fun would that be?"
"Well, maybe, if the right person came along, I might consider it." Sabrina said quietly.
Puck made a face. "Now you're starting to sound like a girl."
"I am a girl." Sabrina pointed out. "And just because I act tough a lot doesn't mean I don't have feelings."
"I wasn't saying you don't have feelings, I just don't want you getting all moony-eyed over some guy now." Puck made a face.
"I'm not planning on it." Sabrina said defensively. "Just saying I might, someday. But I think I'd like to elope."
"Doesn't that involve running away from home to get married?" Puck asked. "Why would you do that?"
"My dad might not let me do it any other way, since he still feels like I should be ten right now." Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Do I look ten to you?"
Puck looked her up and down, then turned quickly back to his vegetables. "No. You look very not-ten."
"Thanks." Sabrina said, suddenly feeling awkward. "He doesn't seem to like you much, does he? My dad, I mean."
"I guess not." Puck said, shrugging.
"Why, I wonder?" Sabrina asked. "I mean, did you do something awful to him or something?"
"Not that I know of..." Puck said warily. "I mean, I pull a lot of pranks. I could just not remember it."
Sabrina snorted. "You? Not remember a prank? I bet you have every single joke you ever played on anyone memorized."
Puck laughed a little. "Well... most of them, anyway. I don't think there's enough space in my brain for four thousand year's worth of pranks."
"Everafter's memories must be wired differently than other people's." Sabrina said thoughtfully. "I mean, all that history, but most don't seem to forget anything."
"I never really thought about it." Puck said. "But then again, humans have more space in their brains than they ever really use, anyway."
"Aren't you done setting the table yet, Sabrina?" Daphne asked, surprised, sticking her head through the doorway. "I need some help with my sword techniques, can you hurry up and come help me?"
"Sure." Sabrina said, dropping the last few plates quickly where they belonged. "I'm about done, actually, so- Hey! Wait up!" She ran after Daphne, who was already gone, both of them laughing.
In the living room, they cleared a space and Sabrina and Daphne, after fiddling with their swords so that they went into what Sabrina called 'practice mode'- when they were metal and the correct weight, but not sharp, and so incapable of causing more harm than a bad bruise- entered the guard position, and nodded at each other.
"Ready?" Sabrina asked.
"Yeah." Daphne said, sounding determined.
"What exactly do you need help with?" Sabrina asked, lowering her blade slightly.
Daphne followed suit and said, "I'm not fast. And I'm not strong enough for the swords we use in school, so I'm even slower. And because I can't do anything in time, I don't get good. I can't block, I can't strike-"
"Let's see just how bad you are." Sabrina said. "Then I'll see what I can do."
"Are you going to go easy on me?" Daphne asked.
Sabrina laughed. "Of course not. This is to prepare you for a war. If I go easy on you now, you'll die when you get out there. And Daphne?"
As they both raised their swords again, Daphne looked up. "Yes?"
"If I'm going to hit you- run." Sabrina said, and struck.
Daphne tried to pull her sword into the correct position to block, but Sabrina was already swinging again. She struck, and struck, backing Daphne into a corner, her face focused.
Daphne started to panic. Sabrina was acting like- well, like she wanted to kill her! And she had nowhere else to run!
If only she had a shield...
As Sabrina bore down on her for the final strike, Daphne cowered in the corner, pulling her head into her shoulders for the scant protection it would provide.
Her head seemed to be able to sink a lot further than it had been able to before. And Sabrina hadn't hit her yet.
She opened her eyes, and found that she was in a tunnel of some sort. A very, very small tunnel, one that she shouldn't possibly be able to fit into. She reached out to try and touch the walls, which looked oddly leathery, and found that, though there was light, and the wall was less than two inches from her face, she could neither see her hand nor reach the wall.
She decided to stretch her head up to that little circle of light. She stretched, and stretched, and her neck again went further than she was used to, until she was poking her head out the top.
There was Sabrina, staring at her with a shocked look on her face, but something seemed wrong again. Sabrina was about ten times too big.
"G-Granny?" Sabrina said quietly, and her voice quivered. She cleared her throat and called again, "Granny!"
"What is it, liebling?" Granny called absently from another room.
"It's Daphne." Sabrina said.
There was a scuffle in the other room as the unsteadiness in Sabrina's voice became apparent. Granny- also much too large (come to think of it, so was the whole room. Had she shrunk and fallen into something?) and the rest of the family appeared, to find Sabrina staring at Daphne.
"Is that...?" Veronica asked, looking at Daphne quizzically.
Sabrina nodded mutely.
Henry sat down, looking faint. "Why me?" He muttered.
Puck, for his part, burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Daphne snapped. Or tried to. It came out more like a grunt.
Red understood, though.
"Daphne..." She said. "Daphne, you're a turtle."
"A tortoise, I think, actually." Bella said thoughtfully.
Granny shook her head. "The important thing is to get her to stop being that and go back to being human. Quickly, might I add. I assume you don't want to stay a reptile for an extended period of time?" She asked Daphne, who shook her head. It felt odd.
"Think back, Daphne." Uncle Jake said, squatting down by her so that they were much closer to eye level. "Remember what was happening when you transformed. Did you drink a potion? Or get hit by a wand? What made it happen?"
Daphne shook her head again.
"It wasn't anything outside." Sabrina said. "I think it might be kind of my fault, though."
"How is it your fault?" Puck asked, one eyebrow raised. "I don't remember you being to turn people into things."
"I can't." Sabrina said. "Go back to making dinner."
"But I wanna-"
"Puck." Granny said warningly.
Puck made a face, and left the room.
"How is it your fault?" Bella asked once he was gone.
"We were sparring." Sabrina said, holding up her sword to demonstrate. "And I- well, I got really into it, 'cause I told her I was gonna do it full out, and I had her backed into the corner, and I was acting like I was going in for the kill- I wasn't really going to hurt her, but I think I did too good a job acting, 'cause she got really scared, and then she just- shrunk. And turned green. With a shell."
Baba Yaga appeared in the doorway at that moment.
"Why can't you girls develop new powers when I'm not in the middle of something?" She snapped.
"She didn't mean to." Red protested.
"Well, there isn't much I can do at the moment." Baba Yaga said. "But Bella transforms, yes?"
"Y-yeah." Bella said nervously. "But what does that have to do with-"
"You tell her how you transform back." Baba Yaga said. "We'll deal with the fact that you're not using nearly the full extent of your abilities yet later."
"I- I just kind of think about what I was like before." Bella said. "You know, human. Maybe if you try that, Daphne..."
Daphne tried. She tried very hard for an extraordinary time. But no luck.
She was stuck.