Chapter 18:
The young female walked through the gathering of generals, collecting quick glances and stares alike. Hips wig-wagging sensually, stiletto heels click-clacking on the floor, she cut quite the figure, aided by the cut of her short, mid-thigh black skirt and soft white blouse.
Her quartet of blue-eyes lent an uncanny look to her oval face. That face, framed by a mop of long, golden hair suggested that she was part human, lending credence to rumors that the Emperor's monstrous general was also his bastard daughter by some nameless mutant from Ooo's wastelands.
The Emperor himself stood near the front of the hall, chatting with another of his favorite soldiers. The annual meeting was a time for the Emperor to learn what was going on with his soldiers, reward the best performers, and set the Army of Ooo's priorities for the year.
The slim girl wore the rank of general, which aroused the ire of several older faces there. Some of those men viewed her as an upstart. Others, thought maybe she'd earned those rank tabs on her back.
Glancing down at her watch, the young woman began to move with more urgency now. Indeed, she brushed past more senior officers, crowding the line to reach His Majesty.
The King was wrapping things up with the medal ceremony, awarding a Cross of Ingrid to the last man before him. As the gentleman bowed to him, the pretty blonde stepped out of the group in front of the dais.
"Hello, Your Majesty," the young woman burbled. "Hello, General Rainicorn," Finn greeted her. Relaxed as he was, the big man seemed more surprised by the way she'd cut to the front of the line than anything.
Suddenly, the pretty young thing grew to twice the height of a man, her arms transforming into scimitar-shaped blades. Before anyone could react, she sliced down through the Emperor's chest, cleaving him into three pieces, spraying blood all over the gathered dignitaries. As the shocked officers variously fled in terror or stood rooted to the spot, the shapechanger burbled, "goodbye, daddy..."
Jake Jr. shot to wakefulness. Sitting up with a start, she clutched at her pounding heart and her long hair at the same time. The ugly dream had come back. Her daughter was going to murder her own father in cold blood, and there seemed little Jake could do about it. Nothing besides not havin' her in the first place, Jake thought.
"Bad," asked Simone? The shapechanger's face whipped upwards to find her once-and-former aunt sitting on the chair in the corner, looking much like she'd been there all night.
"Just a dream," Jake lied, as she slipped her legs out of bed. She was naked but for panties and a tee-shirt, but that was likely Simone's doing. Last she remembered, she was throwing herself at Finn before all and sundry, making a total ass of herself by trying to shove his hand down her pants. She'd stuck her hand in the fire and gotten burned. Bad.
Rising, she said, "I'mm'a go get a shower. I'll be out in maybe ten minutes..." On her feet now, Simone stepped in front of her. It was eerily reminiscent of last night, when she'd been a fool. Face hot, Jake Jr. murmured, "I... I did something stupid. Thank-you for thinking about what I needed..."
When she might have slipped past her aunt, Simone hugged her. The shapechanger burst into tears. "I don't understand why you don't hate me," she sobbed. Rocking with Jake's daughter, Simone stroked her long, blonde hair, whispering soothing words.
In tones that spoke of her irritation, the wizard declared, "I had a chat with Marceline." "Don't be mad at her," Jake murmured. "I... pushed. I shouldn't have." "You're going through a rough patch," Simone sighed. "Drew and I have been talking. We're going to get you squared away, dear. Just hold on, alright?"
Sniffing back tears, Jake nodded. Separating from Simone, she went into the bathroom. Judging by the time, things would be starting up real-soon-now. She needed to be there to make sure Finn was ok.
Far to the east of the Candy Kingdom, Bonnibel Mertens stepped off the private train that had brought her to Clusone. The valley around her was pretty and peaceful, reminding her of 'The Spot' from back in her childhood.
Alone amongst the folk of their home town, Bonnie's father was willing and able to brave the wilderness. On one of his many travels beyond the borders of Lord Woolcot's domain, he'd discovered a mountain valley carpeted in blue-bonnets that was host to a babbling spring.
Every spring, when the weather was nice enough, the big man would pack up his family and go up into the mountains for a time. It was his reward to the family for surviving the bitterness of winter. It was only late in life that Jay had discovered the valley had been home to the Pillow Dragon that attacked the village the day Finn arrived.
Just like 'The Spot', Clusone's pleasant surroundings hid dangerous secrets. The reactor machine had since been enclosed in a tall stone structure with battlements and a gatehouse just like Lord Woolcot's home. That stood to reason, as the strange machine was every bit the treasure that Woolcot's horde of coins and ingots was.
Unlike Woolcot's tower-house, there was an array of long, black threads extending from the top of the structure, fanning out in a half-dozen directions at once, calling to mind Fionna's lesson. Those would carry the electricity the reactor-machine created to the many hungry facilities and machines in the area. One of those would be Lord Enzo's illicit workshop.
"Ok," rumbled the soldier at her side, "what're we doing?" Colonel Pedersen had come highly recommended by both William and Fionna. With a sigh, Bonnie murmured, "not sure. The place the informer told us about is up there..." She pointed towards a pass further up the valley.
Drawing out a device, Leo Pedersen toggled it on. "There's a smaller valley up that way," said he. "It has one main entry that connects with that pass and two smaller entries out the back. If we go up there half-cocked, they can sneak away with this macguffin, and we'll get to do this all over again somewhere else."
Glancing around him, he opined, "we're on the clock, Your Highness. There may be somebody on their way up there already..." Nodding, Bonnie gave vent to a heavy sigh. Her brother and sisters made this look so easy.
As the clock in the grand hall tolled the hour at one in the afternoon in the Candy Kingdom, the various royal entourages came trooping in from lunch. The day had been rather full, with the princes and princesses rushing from one meeting to another, angling for some form of advantage in the new normal that was the United Kingdom of Ooo. Now, it was time for the King and his Royal advisors to be on the figurative hot-seat.
When the last noble had set herself, trumpets announced the arrival of His Majesty. The door to the side of the dais opened, with the young woman from the previous day striding out in a similar outfit to yesterday's in a powder-blue hue this time. The moment she'd taken up station before the throne, the King and his advisors appeared.
Settling himself on the throne, the big man said, "let's begin..." Almost before the words were out of his mouth, Crab Princess rose. The moment Breakfast recognized her, Crab Princess declared, "the committee of the south wishes to discuss Princess Blargetha's proposal."
Finn grimaced. An irritated Breakfast declared, "this matter was tabled, per Blargetha's own request." "We request that it be brought forward," Crab Princess retorted. Several faces in the audience seconded her request, and in short order they had a minor rebellion on their hands from a lot of the kingdoms bordering the inner sea.
With a heavy sigh, Finn agreed to let the matter be taken up. Coming out into the aisle, Crab Princess remarked, "by the King's own account, we are falling behind on building defenses for a potential foreign incursion. Furthermore, my most learned advisors have told me that waiting for our adversaries to approach Ooo could still result in substantial devastation to our lands and people. We believe that the matter warrants further discussion, including a full hearing of Blargetha's proposal."
Bonnie growled, "then let's put it to a vote. Attendants? Please distribute the voting machines..."
Above the ruckus, Jay frowned at his stepmother. "What's the matter," Annabelle purred? "I don't understand her," the tall fellow burbled. Nodding at the castle around them, he added, "according to Fionna, she's kept potent weapons here for centuries..."
Laying her head on Jay's shoulder, the Raggedy Princess gave his hand a squeeze. He could sense amusement from her. "Bonnibel is a lot like me in some ways, dear," Annabelle murmured. "She sprang to life almost fully formed, so she never went through childhood..."
Those words left him puzzled. As he watched the beings in the hall pass around some sort of gubbin that would let them vote, he puzzled at what his wife meant. She liked to torture him with little things like this.
As the votes began to roll in, his face flicked up to the pink-haired woman, who wore a grim, unhappy expression. Hadn't his father said it? Women were mercurial on the best of days, always angling to get the things they wanted without conceding anything to the person opposite them.
If women civilized men, getting them to stop thinking with their fists—or their peckers—the converse had to be just as true. Men tamed the fickle, mercurial nature of women, getting them to agree to a set of rules and stick by them.
"She wants to be the person who decides when, how, and where weapons are made," Jay burbled. Annabelle nodded. With a yawn, the demoness remarked, "Simone calls her the authoritarian busybody." Jay nodded. That fit.
As the duo watched, the decision got made. Today was not to be Bonnibel's day. The motion got decided in Crab Princess' favor, and it wasn't even close. Just as Blargetha had said, she'd taken things out of his father's hands.
Rising, Blargetha moved to the microphone at the head of the hall. The proud princess kept her head high. Her bare back, with its expanse of tattoos, told of how she'd already served the Privy Council, almost with her life.
Clearing her throat at the podium, the plush pretty began to speak. It was clear she'd been preparing for this for a while. She had an endless array of pictures and drawings to explain what she planned to do. For Jay, who'd grown to manhood in a world where paper was precious, the idea that someone could or would spend so much time drawing an idea was astounding.
Glancing at the audience, he saw his father's most wayward of wives had them all eating out of her hands. Jay, who had no knowledge of the things the plump woman spoke of, was impressed just by the volume of work that she'd put into her idea.
As she drew to a close, Breakfast grudgingly declared, "questions?" "How much," asked Djanira? "Seventeen-million coins," Blargetha responded. "Some of this cost can be defrayed with a levy on the Nuke-Fuel storage."
Bristling, Abeiuwa shot to her feet, looking like she would tear the plump woman's head off. Staring back steadily, Blargetha reminded the audience of the cost of protecting the massive bunker in Abeiuwa's kingdom.
"An estimated one-hundred-thousand coins each year," Blargetha declared. "Straight out of the Privy Council's coffers. All to prevent a repeat of the previous incident. Lest anyone forget, I went in that bunker. I've been in there twice. The machinery is in a state of decay. The lower levels have deteriorated, and the radiation flux is much higher than is safe. Moving material back to the caverns won't help much, because we can't effectively keep the fuel cool there."
The Jungle Princess glanced away. Blowing out a breath, Blargetha rumbled, "we need a better solution, Abeiuwa. We need to move on. You have to change too. Our survival depends on it."
"One for one," suggested Princess Grace. "Transfer enough fuel to pay the cost of the protection measures." "Vote," muttered Bonnie.
Glaring at her and shaking his head, Finn muttered, "Peebles... This isn't the way to go. It's going to take us years to make a dent in the nuke fuel supply that's in that bunker right now. That stuff was made for the Ark in the first place. This is a chance to get out of a jam sooner rather than later."
Blowing out a breath, Abeiuwa rumbled, "I... I agree to this compromise." Without a further word, the Jungle Princess sat down. Her acquiescence deflated Bonnie's objections. When Breakfast glanced at her, Bonnie glanced away.
Moving on, Aysun asked, "you said something about protecting our population... I want to know how that would work..."
Nodding, Blargetha responded, "the Ark had the capacity for a million souls. I propose to take a cross section of Ooo's best and brightest, Froyo-folk, Berry-Folk, Candy-People, whatever. In the event that we fail... that we can't protect Ooo... the Ark can still serve its original purpose to protect our cultures and our various species from extinction. I've talked with several learned astronomers. There's stars that might be within reach for us."
The business was sold in that moment. The idea of being able to stick their fingers in the pie and dabble had the host of pampered princesses on board. Jay found himself afraid that they'd get to squabbling over who and how many were posted up to this Ark.
That was a matter for another day. In the now, Breakfast Princess moved the meeting onward. There were many other matters to discuss. With her permission to continue her project in hand, Blargetha made her way down to one of the cross-aisles and went out the door.
Meanwhile, in the mountains above Clusone, Lord Enzo pondered the curves of the young peasant girl before him, even as he pondered the instructions from his allies. The factory was almost ready. They needed some machinery from the far east still to get moving, and there was the matter of the three slaves that were to be provided from Truth Kingdom. Still, they were getting close. He felt he could afford to relax a little.
The young peasant girl had delightful curves. More to the point, she was young enough that she hadn't yet discovered her sexuality. Enzo was going to be the first to sample her charms.
As the doe-eyed beauty stared at him, one of his aides came tearing into the room, shouting to wake the damned. "Lord Enzo," shouted the fool! "Lord Enzo!" "Giovanni," growled the would-be warlord, "calm yourself! What's going on?!"
"There's an army," Giovanni puffed. "There's an army in the pass!" Shooting to his feet, Enzo grabbed at his hair. He knew some of his neighbors had been eyeing this site and the newly available electrical connection. He'd thought he'd cowed them. Certainly, Lord Aurelio having his throat slit in his study inside his own fortified manor had convinced many that it wasn't worth the battle.
Stuffing his pecker back in his pants, Enzo rushed out to the door of the facility. There he found an army, parked in the entry to the valley, just as his aide had said. The bandit-lord turned and rushed down the length of the facility's wall, his mind on the main chance. If he could salvage the stolen technology and flee, he wouldn't face down the wraith of the wax-hustlers.
As he reached the end of the wall, the terrifying sight of another army camped out in his escape route greeted his eyes. Sunlight glistened on armor and weapons, suggesting a professional army instead of the rag-tag militia his neighbors could typically muster. Indeed, as Enzo pondered his next move, a horseman came galloping up, wearing an immaculate uniform in deep blue—the colors of the King of Ooo. At his side, he led a second horse of all things.
Drawing reign, the soldier took out a phone and tossed it at Enzo. Even as he caught it, the phone began to ring.
A cold, emotionless voice announced, "I am Bonnibel, Princess General of the Privy Council. You are known to be in receipt of banned science acquired through guile from the Truth Kingdom. You have twenty minutes to announce your surrender. You won't like the alternative." The caller immediately hung up on him.
Nodding at the horse he'd been leading, the soldier rumbled, "get up." It was clear to Enzo how this was going to go. With an army blocking any hope of escape, he didn't have a lot of choices here.
Swallowing hard, the rogue noble climbed up into the saddle. Turning to his aide, the soldier declared, "the doors are all to be opened. Send the workers outside. If we see even a single weapon..." The aide gulped. Nodding quickly, he turned to go back into the building. Turning to Enzo, the soldier growled, "ride. I'll be behind you. If I suspect treachery..."
Lord Enzo turned the horse and began to ride towards the army in the nearer pass, while the soldier fell in behind him.
The soldier kept his peace as they crossed the half mile or so to the pass. Just before the pass, they found a young woman standing all alone, dressed in a beautiful gown that showed off her heavy endowment. The scarf she wore kept her long, golden hair in place against the blowing of the wind. Her eyes were blue as the sky and just as cold, as she regarded Enzo.
As Enzo opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off, saying, "the Lady of Spies already apprised my father of your treachery, Lord Enzo. He would've made you wealthier than all the men in these mountains, but your greed and lust for quick money got the better of you."
Turning to the officer who'd come for him, the blonde woman commanded, "Colonel Pedersen, please make arrangements for Lord Enzo's punishment. Strangle him until he's near death. Then open him at the seams and remove his stuffing. When he's dead, cut off his head and put it on a pike before his illegal workshop as a reminder to those who might follow him."
With a wave of her hand, the curvy woman dismissed the illusionary army behind her, revealing that there was no more than maybe a hundred or so soldiers. Enzo's jaw came open at the realization that he'd been tricked. Still, with three men striding forward to take care of business, it was much too late to resist.
The soldiers Bonnie had brought were grateful to be free of the headache-generating reality bubble that she'd used to allow them to inhabit three places at once. Now, the soldiers went rushing up the valley at the double-time to make sure no rats escaped the trap.
Thankfully, just as she'd planned, cutting the head off the snake left the other men in the illegal factory in the lurch. As a whole, they surrendered when confronted with the alternative.
The business of clearing the building and searching for the missing piece of machinery took the better part of the afternoon, with a good chunk of the effort tied up in freeing the captive Purple-folk inside.
As the day drew to a close, Bonnie slipped out into the gathering twilight to find Colonel Pedersen there with a handful of men, swilling coffee. "Evening, general," the Froyo-person greeted her. "Colonel," Bonnie replied. "Good plan, general," opined Major Abarth. With a grimace the slime-person added, "could've done without the headache, though."
"I'd rather you still had a head to ache," Bonnie chuckled. Brushing past, she moved in, grabbed a cup, and made herself up a cup of coffee. In the morning, she could get grandma Minerva up here to look around. In the now, she would get some food in her belly and get some sleep.
As Bonnie the Younger wrapped things up in the mountains near Clusone, a fuming Tania Stanek walked into her quarters. The day's meetings had been an utter disaster, with no-one much interested in meeting with her. And, if that wasn't enough, they were essentially talking about stealing the Ark from her people.
As she shut the door, her eyes fell on an envelope that sat propped-up on her table. Striding forward, the young woman stared at the envelope a long time. The ornate wax seal suggested that one of the princesses had sent it. The questions were who and why?
Taking the bull by the horns, the young woman carefully opened the seal to find an invitation to dinner on an ornate card. Standing there, she pondered the meaning of that invite, just as her mother had always suggested.
Knowing who'd sent the card did little to help her understand why. Nothing for it but to get dressed and go find out, Tania, she told herself, as she lay the thing down once more.
Elsewhere, the King of Ooo walked into the family's salon, feeling stressed and hungry. The business with the Ark hadn't been the only sticky wicket to be brought up by the various snarky princesses. He'd gone another round with the Turtles regarding the antiquities trade, and the Elbownians had launched their seventh or eighth foray into trying to legally steal other peoples' shit.
Life in the Elbownian camps wasn't getting very much better, though Finn wasn't sure what he was going to do about that. He now had the issues of the humans in the far west and the Elbownians much nearer to hand threatening to blow up the peace, to say nothing of the refugees still streaming in from the east. And if that wasn't enough, his wives were feuding.
Striding to the middle of the room, the King of Ooo declared, "ok. We're going to talk about some stuff. Right here. Right now." Glancing over at Bonnie, the big man said, "put it on the table or shut up about it."
The pink princess's face went red hot, and she looked much like she'd cry. When Sarah might have intervened, Finn waved her to silence.
Glaring at Blargetha, the candy monarch muttered, "I... don't like the things you play with." When Blargetha might have uttered a biting retort, Hurletta shushed her. In tones that spoke of anger, Bonnibel Mertens declared, "you're dragging us down the road to perdition, and I don't want any part of this."
Nodding, Blargetha replied, "I didn't ask to be in this space." Flicking her chin at Finn, she said, "he could've sent me back to my cell. It wasn't exactly a happy space, but I was prepared to be there the rest of my days. You want to toy with defense and tap-dance around what we face, Bonnibel. You want to take half measures, so you can tell yourself you weren't the one to bring the ugliness of war back to Ooo."
"We... outsourced war," Phoebe murmured. "We... put it all on Finn and men like him, so we could pretend that we lived in an enlightened civilization that had escaped conflict." Glancing at Blargetha, she admitted, "Bonnie, we're... we're still outsourcing it, at the same time we're complaining about the gal doing the job."
The candy monarch began to cry. Striding forward, Blargetha threw her arms around her former neighbor and frenemy. Moments later, Phoebe joined her, as did Nadia, with Finn wrapping his long, ape-like arms around the quartet.
Simone relaxed. Those things had needed to get said. Clapping her hands, she summoned the servants with dinner. In short order, the family was gathered around the table, talking, with Finn doting on Cole, Ember, and Spark.
As they ate, Bonnie declared, "I intend to keep my eyes on your work, Blargetha. I... don't like using the Ark as a weapon system, but your other idea has me intrigued." "The Ark needs a crew, Bonnie," Blargetha responded. "I envisioned it as patrolling the solar system..." Glancing at Finn, she added, "there might be more remnants of humanity out there, or there might be more lost habitats. With a big enough staff, we could reclaim some of them."
Nodding, Sarah remarked, "Minerva died trying to reprocess fuel from the Moscow habitat. It's probably still out there somewhere." Those words had Finn glancing up. Nodding, Betty remarked, "there might be other colonies out there, Finn... getting run into the ground by paranoid dictatorships determined to keep control of the populace."
Finn grimaced. His mother and father had been part of New York's dictatorship. Shaking that off, the King said, "this won't sell unless we can actually turn this into a weapon. The Council's not excited about going into the darkness just to do it."
Nodding, Phoebe murmured, "it took everything I had to damage Martin's ship, and we have no idea if that's the biggest thing they have access to. The Ark would need weapons... big ones..."
Pointing a fork at Blargetha, Nadia remarked, "you brute-forced a weapon capable of smashing an asteroid, but you'd have a tough row-to-hoe getting it small enough to put multiple on that rock. You'd need multiple, just in case they came with a fleet of some kind..."
With a sigh, Sarah remarked, "Martin's scoutship is still out there." Finn's face snapped up in alarm. That ship was out past Beauty Kingdom, on the far side of The Wall.
Seeing the alarm on his face, Roselinen said, "why don't we table this for another time? There's good food in front of us and good company around us." Nodding, Finn agreed to do just that. His agreement dragged the others along.
On the far side of the square, Tania Stanek walked into a large, well-appointed space to find her sometimes boyfriend, Emilio, sitting at a table with one of the members of the King's cabinet. What came as a greater surprise was the sight of the 'elemental' standing in the corner, near the fireplace.
"Emilio," Tania greeted the tall body-builder. Rising, Emilio responded, "Tania. My grandmother wanted to visit with you." Gesturing, the big man announced, "grandmother, this is Princess Tania, of New York. Tania, this is my grandmother, Princess Dowager Odessa, of the Muscle Kingdom."
Tania's blue eyes locked with the dark eyes of the woman at the end of the table. She hardly looked old enough to be anybody's grandmother. Of course, Finn Mertens was supposed to be an old man too. City records said he should be fifty years old or very close.
Emilio took Tania by the hand and led her to the table, seating her on the opposite side of the table from his chair. The young woman was conscious of those cold, dark eyes on her the whole way.
Standing on the far side of the room, Marysia Okonski watched the flesh-creature walk into her master's web. It was a twisted game with her, watching the various encounters that Odessa had with those she was conspiring with and against. Of course, that dark thought brought a darker one.
Odessa didn't really need Masia to be there for most of that. How many opportunities to learn had she missed?
Resolving to learn from this encounter, the young elemental focused on the conversation, as her master began things with the usual pleasantries about the other girl's family and birthplace. It quickly became apparent that the young flesh creature was far out of her depth, eating up every 'Your Highness' as if it was a sweet treat.
Flesh-creature food got laid out, reminding Masia of her lunch, several hours ago. She was hungry, yet determined to hang on, as her master wove the web ever-tighter around their foe.
Odessa talked about how difficult conditions must be in the far west for folk who were accustomed to all the comforts of civilization. She talked of how hard His Majesty was working to ensure adequate food and shelter for those who'd been displaced.
Masia licked her lips as she realized what the older woman was edging up on. Finn the Human, in spite of his name, did not seem to care for his folk. He wasn't doing any of the things Masia would have done in his place.
Bitterly, 'princess' Tania declared, "he could've helped us fix the Ark! He should've left us where we were!"
"I know, child," Odessa responded. "It hurts to have to face change, but we're all dealing with the fallout of having that man take control of our world. Agents of mine suggest he was behind sending undead to raid my peoples' fields. He's a dangerous fellow to be on the wrong side of..."
"That woman," Tania demanded? "Can she really build a spaceship?" "She can," Odessa responded. "She built a death-rocket for the Bandit Princess, who attempted to launch a mushroom bomb at King's Island with it."
Grabbing her hair, Tania demanded, "how's she allowed to walk around free?" "The King keeps her on a tight leash, using a curse that she bears," Odessa responded. "His power is not quite absolute, child, but he's far more powerful than most of us. I... steer things. With my position as Minister for Sustenance, I help those who're allied with me. I might even be able to help with the supply of food for your people. I could, perhaps, make certain luxuries available."
Masia could see how the human girl took that. Her eyes lit up at the idea of having good food and luxuries in whatever rude little camp the humans inhabited just now. Of course, even Masia knew that would only result in this fool and her family being torn apart by the teeming masses in that camp, when they realized that their leaders were letting them starve.
Shaking off the hunger to indulge herself, the blonde said, "is there nothing anyone can do? My people are going to die of deprivation! Can't we be moved here?! There... Isn't there space here for us? There's all these wonderful things here, just like New York had!"
Shaking her head, Odessa responded, "as you no doubt noticed, the Elbownians have been asking the very same thing. Since they lost their homeland to the Dipped, we've been supporting them. They're stuck in a desert in the east, just inside The Wall."
Masia grimaced. Having seen those ugly, blasted lands, she shuddered to think of what it must be like to live there for a flesh-creature.
Odessa continued, "they've been asking to move southwest to the Bandit Kingdoms, and they've promised to take control of the Reactor there and maintain it for peaceful purpose. The King is very stubborn, though. He gets his mind set on a direction, and he can't be dissuaded. You understand, surely? How a powerful man gets stuck on something?"
The human girl grimaced, suggesting she did indeed. In a small voice, Tania Stanek murmured, "will he just take our home? It's all we have. We... we don't want to be here. Our ancestors left this world to your ancestors. We just want to go home..."
"He'll take the habitat," Odessa rumbled. Nodding at her pet, the tall princess declared, "my agent tells me that he discussed this with Princess Phoebe, the ruler of the Fire Kingdom last night." Tania's face went red with rage.
"Now that his pet has raised the issue and gotten the Privy Council's agreement, the wheels are set in motion," Odessa suggested. "I'm not sure even Bonnibel could change his mind right now."
Shaking her head, Odessa pointed to the dessert that was, even now, being laid on the table. "Eat up, child," she said. "Depending on when you next go home, it might be a bit."
Just as it might have with Masia, those words elicited the right reaction. The girl became a wailing, crying mess. Indeed, Odessa ended up suggesting that the servants box up something for her to take with her before telling her grandson to take the 'princess' home.
Rising, Emilio came 'round the table and took hold of his paramour, helping her to her feet. The big man led Tania Stanek to the cloak-room and helped her on with her wrap before leading her out the door.
No sooner were they gone, than Masia was approaching the table. "I don't understand," she admitted. Wrinkling her nose, she added, "not all of it. You want her and the other humans turned against Finn, obviously. I just don't understand why. They have nothing right now..."
Stroking Masia's pretty face, the older woman chuckled, "because, dear child, you can't raise a pack of kids in the middle of a war." Masia gasped. Eyes gone wide, she murmured, "this is how you plan to get all those little bastards back here, where we can reach them..." Odessa's response was a sinister smile.
Padding over to her chair, the wicked grandmother declared, "no matter what happens to the Staneks, there will be unrest in the humans' domain for decades... possibly a century or more. That unrest will directed at our dear, dear King. He can't keep his family there, even if his base of power resides there. He'll have to bring them here, where they're safe from harm..."
Masia began to giggle. It really was absurd, when she thought about it. At the same time, it was so horrendously monstrous that it warmed her insides. Her master was about to foment a war that would burn up possibly thousands of humans just to force the King to move those brats around.
Another longish update as our evil granny makes her move. It appears that a lot of trouble is coming Lollipop's way. Hopefully, Thor can keep the humans from wrecking Finn's island.