Two Land Rover Discoveries drove into Culver Bay, Dorset, the next morning. From the first appeared a petite woman with red-gold hair and a slightly taller one with raven-hair and bewitching dark eyes. From out of the latter came a woman of around twenty with a curvaceous figure and a young lady of the same age who was tall, auburn-haired and with the same soulful dark eyes as her biological mother. Bess Pembroke may not have inherited her mother's M-Gene but did receive both the Boleyn and Howard drive from her as well as the dark eyes. As several courtiers from her reign could have testified, she inherited her father's hair-trigger temper along with the Tudor auburn hair.
Having parked beside a large boathouse, the Pembrokes smiled at the tall brunette in a trouser suit who let them inside. Georgina "George" Jones nee Kirrin not only owned Kirrin Island opposite the sea door but was another member with Rex of the Paranormal Investigations Bureau. The Famous Five's tomboy had grown into a top chemist. The chubby form of her American husband, Jupiter Jones of the Three Investigators, was carrying some parcels onto the Bonaventure. "Hello everyone," he said. "Bess, Kate, Q-Branch has sent us thermal wetsuits in your sizes, alongside some other kit that I shall brief you both on later."
"Once everyone has arrived…" A distinctive wheezing and groaning sound interrupted Jupiter as what seemed to be the battered form of a 1950s or 1960s police box materialised in one corner. Once the Doctor appeared from her TARDIS, Bess rushed up to greet her spouse with a prolonged kiss.
"I see that the Doc and her missus are at it again," Graham noted drily, as he, Ryan and Yaz also exited the TARDIS.
"Easy, Grandad! It has been at least a week since we last saw the Pembrokes at Mary and Dan's wedding."
"Thanks, Ryan," the Doctor said, the kiss finally ended. "Graham, I first married Bess three regenerations ago for me and about 450 years ago for her. We have plenty of kissing to catch up on.
"Harry Potter contacted me via psychic paper. We are all going on a sailing holiday together. Once I have rematerialized the TARDIS below decks on the Bonaventure, we can set off.
"Bess, you can share my bedroom on the TARDIS. It is bigger than the twin rooms on the Bonaventure, as well as having a double bed."
"Of course, my darling!"
"Jinkies!" Velma Johnson nee Dinkley had arrived with her husband J.I.G. "Jigger" Johnson, Rex Milligan's fellow alumnus of Sheldrake Grammar School and long-term best friend. He was now a top biologist and animal whisperer, as well as a fellow member with Rex and George of the Paranormal Investigations Bureau. "You two need to get a room!"
"That was what they were just discussing, love," Jigger teased her. Short, stocky, red-haired and with a face that even his best friend had to admit was no oil painting, he was a distinctive figure. He was also amiable, smart, loyal and very much in love with his wife.
"You are insufferable, Jig, but I love you anyway." Velma leaned in to steal a quick kiss.
A full-length mirror somewhat incongruously fastened to an inside wall flashed white to allow the Potters through. A clearly blissfully happy Parvati was carrying Anushka. For all her grumbling about her baby weight, it was clear that she was loving motherhood.
Albus, Velma noticed, seemed unusually cheery. "Your second son seems less grumpy than usual," she whispered to Ginny.
"Oh, we finally realised that Al is gay and had fallen for Scorp. He was jealous of Rose, who is straight and also smitten with the youngest Malfoy. That was at the heart of much of his grumpiness. Luckily, Scorp is bi and fancies both of them. Rose offered to, err, share the spoils. Since agreeing to the deal, Al has become much more agreeable. He is too busy taking turns with his cousin in snogging Scorp's face off!"
"Jinkies!"
After another couple of flashes of the mirror, Rex, Louise, Jean, Linda and Harriet had arrived, with the remaining members of the Paranormal Investigations Bureau following shortly after. The lanky blond physicist Jon Warrender was accompanied by his wife and fellow Lone Piner Penny. Penny, a pretty redhead with a beaming smile, largely ran the family hotel The Gay Dolphin in the East Sussex town of Rye Royal. She was leaving that in the care of her management team to go with the team on what promised to be a thrilling adventure. A tall fair-haired couple were the next to come through the mirror, the man stocky and his wife slender. This was Jeff Webster and Liz Spencer, two of Dan Robinson's fellow Baker Street Irregulars. The strident feminist Liz had yet to take Jeff's surname despite some thirty years of marriage. Mickey Denning, short with close-cropped dark hair and protuberant large ears, came through a couple of minutes later to complete the set, with Dan still on honeymoon.
"Once the Weasleys, Scamanders and Malfoys are here," Harry announced, "we shall set sail. With the runes carved discretely into each yacht's prow, we can use the Portus spell to travel to open water off the coast of Iceland in a fraction of a second. There is a sky satellite providing us with a live feed of the area, so we shouldn't give some poor Muggle fishers heart attacks when we appear out of thin air."
At that point, the mirror flashed and Hermione, Rose, Hugo, Hope, Padma with Sachin and finally Ron came through in turn. Rose ran up to hug Albus, before first the Scamanders and then the Malfoys arrived. Once Rose and Albus had taken it in turns to kiss their mutual boyfriend soundly, the Potters and Malfoys boarded the Nike with Jigger, Velma, Penny, Jon, George and Jupiter whilst the Weasleys and Scamanders joined the Milligan-Dana-Craig family and Mickey in boarding the Balaska II. Once the Doctor had entered and dematerialised the TARDIS and rematerialized it below decks on the Bonaventure, her "Fam," the Pembrokes and Jeff and Liz boarded the
In the bridge of the Balaska II, Rex flicked a switch under the control desk for steering. Three concealed control panels emerged. Jean activated the secure communications array that was controlled from one of these. Two panels slid back to reveal monitor screens showing the bridges of the other two yachts. "I can remotely open the boathouse doors from my mobile," Rex said, touching his face on a picture of the Milligan-Dana-Craig family that was his mobile screensaver with his right index finger. From the revealed Special Apps menu of the Q-Branch devised device, he selected the remote control for the boathouse doors. Once all three yachts had slid down into the waters of Culver Bay, Rex remotely closed the boathouse doors, and they sailed out into open water. "Louise, darling, please link us to that IADC satellite over the Iceland Sea to check that our intended destination is free from potential onlookers."
"I'm on it, love!" His wife was standing by the scanning array panel. Pressing a series of buttons by a screen revealed a live satellite image of an area of empty open sea between Iceland and Greenland. "All is clear, Rex. Per radar, there are no boats other than the other yachts within eyesight of our current location too."
"Thanks, dearest!
"Luna, please mirror-call Harry, Ron and Anne. We shall use the portkey runes to teleport the yachts to our destination when ready."
"Aye-aye captain! We'll give them scurvy landlubbers what for, me hearties!" Luna deliberately rolled her usual Devon burr into one closer to a pirate straight out of Hollywood central casting.
"Fossilised Fishhooks! I knew that introducing you to International Talk Like a Pirate Day was a bad idea! You are getting worse than Nancy Walker for speaking like a distaff Long John Silver! Honestly, I ask you…?"
A few minutes later, Ron was on the foredeck of the Balaska II, Harry on that of the Nike and Anne on the Bonaventure. Each mage tapped runes discretely etched into their respective yacht with their wands and intoned "Portus!" The three ships vanished, reappearing off the coast of Greenland.
Standing by the Balaska II's secure communication panel, Jean pressed a button with a picture of two superimposed Ws on it. "Balaska II calling Wonder Woman."
"I can hear you, Jean," purred an exotically accented mezzo-soprano voice over the loudspeakers. "Clark, Lois and Lara are with me. We shall come over in the Invisible Jet." Lara Lane-Prince-Kent is a lively five-year-old girl. Lois and Clark are her biological parents, but both insist that she was as much their mutual spouse's daughter as theirs.
"Thank you, Diana. We will need the extra muscle if things go south!"
"Jean," Diana continued, "it might be worth asking Mary and Dan to take the Gloria Scott to Storybrooke, just in case the whalers find the portal our Kraken friend fell into."
"I shall speak to Anne and Catalina about taking the portal to them, so that Anne can use that portkey spell on their yacht. Rex can contact Zelena to admit them to Storybrooke Harbour.
"Thank you for the suggestion, Diana."
"No problem, Jean. Wonder Woman over and out!"
Mary and Dan were again in the swimming pool on the Gloria Scott, enjoying a few laps in the Caribbean sunshine. The newlyweds were not expecting red fluorescent lights to start flashing in the doorway leading through to the bridge.
"That is the emergency secured Skype signal," Dan observed. "It must be important! They wouldn't interrupt our honeymoon for somebody having lost a pet!"
"You would certainly hope so!" Mary sighed. "Worshipping thee with my body will have to be put on hold for the immediate future."
"Hopefully we can get back to that once whatever this is has been resolved."
After both the newlyweds had given themselves a quick rubdown with a towel, they donned bathrobes over their swimwear and entered the bridge. Dan flicked a switch under the steering console and a control panel with four buttons slid out from the front of the dashboard. Pressing the first button opened a secret panel in the wall revealing the secure communication array. Mary went over to answer the call from the Bonaventure. "Hi Dan and Mary!" Bess called over the speakers, her smile clearly visible in the monitor screen. "We are sorry to interrupt the honeymoon, but can you let our mamas through a portal please?"
"Of course, Bess!" Mary responded. "I take it that something is afoot. What strange case are we looking into now?"
"You two are enjoying your honeymoon! The rest of us are investigating a group of rogue whalers. They seem to be based around Iceland. We are headed there.
"A kraken off the coast of Iceland was trying to escape them but was sucked into an energy portal and transported to the United Realms. You were heading to Storybrooke eventually anyway. Would you like to go there now, just in case some of our whalers also fall into Fairyland please?"
"We shall do, Bess. Mum can transport us there in a flash.
"Dan, we shall have to confine our lovemaking to the master cabin again…"
Once they had said goodbye to Bess over the communication array, Mary went down the stairs leading below decks and twisted a decorative carving in the corridor that led from the bedrooms to the galley and living and dining rooms. A section of nearby wall slid back and across to reveal the portal room. Two full-length mirrors could each be turned into an energy portal at the touch of a button were on the opposite wall to the entrance. Doors leading to the loading bay for the torpedo tubes and mortar cannons and to the diving gear and equipment store were to the fore and aft. The diving store led to an airlock chamber with a concealed external exit below the water line. Mary suspected that reloading the torpedo tubes might be required if the whalers sent a raiding flotilla after the vanished kraken and accidentally found the portal to the United Realms.
One of the mirrors glowed and Anne and Catalina came through the activated portal. "Mi hija!" said the latter, as the couple pulled Mary into a tight three-way embrace.
"Hi Mama, Mum!"
"You are looking ecstatic, Mary. I take it that the honeymoon is going well then?"
"Wonderfully, Mum!"
The second mirror glowed, and Rex and Louise came through. "Jean and Linda are in charge of the Balaska II in our absence," Louise announced. "Rex has spoken to Zelena. She should be awaiting us off the Maine coast with the Jolly Roger and the Scroll in twenty minutes time."
"We had better get Mum up on deck then.
"Dan and I can check the satellite imagery. We don't want to give some Maine trawlermen the shock of their lives."
"To be fair, Mary," Rex noted, "a pirate ship appearing from nowhere would already have done that…"
Half-an-hour later, the Gloria Scott was docking in Storybrooke Harbour. As the Good Queen, Regina was leading a section of the great and the good of the United Realms in a welcome committee. "Welcome, your ladyships, to Storybrooke and the United Realms. I am sure that you are used to pomp and circumstance…"
"Absolutely, Queen Regina. 'Lina and I have always wanted to visit your Realms. From what Zelena tells us, we should fit right in."
"Regina is fine. We are all friends here. The original Dark Curse acclimatised us to American values. We are less stuffy now, not that we were particularly obsessed with rank in the Enchanted Forest."
Mary saw a woman amongst the welcome committee who resembled a dark brunette version of her. Feeling curious, she stepped up to her doppelganger. "Hello, I am Mary Pembroke-Robinson. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady…?"
"I am a princess, if you want to be formal, Lady Mary. My name is Aurora. I live with my husband Prince Philip, our child and our dear friend Mulan."
"Dear friend?!" Mulan interjected. "That isn't what you and Philip were calling me last night."
"I thought that you wanted us to be discrete?"
Philip sighed. "It wasn't Mulan who announced in Granny's that we were cultivating a mutual taste for Chinese last week."
"I thought that Fairy Tales believed strongly in finding your One True Love," Rex noted to Zelena.
"Mages, metahumans and certain of your Former Young Adventurer set are branching out into polyamory, Rex. I guess that having multiple True Loves was always going to happen eventually. The heart wants what the heart wants after all is said and done.
"Mulan had silently loved Aurora for years, so much so that she turned mercenary to avoid having to see her happy with Philip. Ruby had been serving with her. When Ruby returned to Storybrooke for her and Dorothy's wedding, Mulan came with her, and Aurora asked her to stay at her and Philip's house. Our legendary Chinese warrior confessed her true feelings for both her hosts and discovered through True Love's Kisses that Aurora and Philip had both fallen for her too."
"Petrified Paintpots! I must tell Nancy, Ned and Frank that their lifestyle choice has perverted another new genre!"
"You said it, my pretty! Personally I blame Diana, Harry and their respective family units."
Regina led everyone to Granny's Dinner, where Granny Lucas had prepared a banquet of traditional foods from the Enchanted Forest. Her reasoning was that the late medieval period was close enough to the Tudor Period to make three of their guests feel at home. Many of the Storybrooke residents also enjoyed eating meals that reminded them of home and Granny intended to make it a monthly event in the future.
Anne, Catalina and Mary were amused to find roast goose on the menu at a Diner in America. Roast turkey had replaced goose as the regular Christmas Dinner option back in Britain. The goose was exquisitely cooked, as were the accompanying meat pies and vegetable pottages, served on a crusty loaf of bread. Anne asked Granny for the recipes, which she intended to forward to Jane Rochford and Jane DeLisle. Jane Boleyn and the Lady Jane Grey were amongst those returned to life with their respective husbands George Boleyn and Guildford Dudley. With the vacant former Boleyn and Dudley titles of Viscount Rochford and Viscount Lisle restored to George and Guildford respectively, the couples had adopted Rochford and DeLisle as their surnames. Both Janes had also conceived and given birth in the year or so since their resurrection. As new mothers, they had become the main cooks at Pembroke House, whilst joining their husbands in studying for Open University degrees.
After the meal, Regina asked Anne and Catalina to stay with her and Robin for the night, whilst Zelena extended the same invite to Rex and Louise. Mary and Dan wanted to anchor the Gloria Scott near Arendelle where the kraken had first being sucked into from off the coast of Iceland.
We don't know if the whalers will find themselves here, Mary thought to herself, but we will be ready for them if they do...
Author's Note: I borrowed the idea of "Traditional Enchanted Forest Comfort Food Day" at Granny's from my fellow hobbyist, Model Builder. Please read his stories.