So this is the end of the first half of this thing, with more of my idea of Incredibly Obvious Foreshadowing. If any of you mosey over to my Wattpad page, you can see my original/ non-parody fic, a piece called Trails that might give some idea what I really do.

The Guards gathered the banquet guests at the table in the Royal Dining Room. Ajax looked them over sadly. There was Agaric, whom he treated as well as he did because he was always uncomfortable in his presence. There was Skarff, a charming acquaintance but hardly a friend. There was Cerasa, who for the first time seemed to show him respect. There was Lemmia, the one who had done the most to help, whom he still barely knew. And all the others were no better, people he tolerated because his office required it. Then he thought of the people who were not there: Hector, Daffy, the children, the Dowager Prunus, old Morrie and even Naam. He had one more realization, that he still could not picture a place for Pruna.

"Manny," he said, "bring me the Eightfold Orb." The Orb was set up on the table.

"What is the meaning of this?" Agaric said. "Are not the conspirators captured?"

"Not all of them," the King said. "Now, I summon the wisdom of the Eightfold Orb. Orb, is the author of the plot against me at this table?" The answer formed: Proposition affirmative.

"This seems procedurally questionable," Skarff said.

"Orb," the King said, "is the leader of the conspiracy at my right hand or my left?" He sat between Lady Meliboia and Cerasa. The Orb answered: Proposition negative. "Orb, is the conspirator on my right?" The Orb formed the answer: Proposition highly likely. Ajax did not hide that his gaze had turned toward Agaric.

"This is nonsense," Agaric said. He gave no attention to Nopalina as she filled his glass. "Besides, the law is quite clear: Evidence produced by magic is inadmissible in court!"

"No, but an investigation that substantiates it is," Ajax said.

"Hold on," Skarff said. "Agarric was in danger during the battle. If he had been privy to a plot, it woould have been most sensible not to come, or to leave early."

"Of course," Cerasa spoke up. "But that, in itself, would make the risk worthwhile." She shrugged. "It's what I would do."

"You did more than anyone to stop the assassins," Agaric said. "Would that not make you a suspect?"

"I would be insulted if I was not a suspect," Cerasa said. "But the Orb already said that I am innocent."

"In any case," Ajax said, "tonight was the second attempt. The first was in the Dowager's Palace. That would have killed me… unless the real purpose was for another to take a bomb meant for me."

"You can prove nothing," Agaric said. "Bombadgers don't talk. They can't talk."

"Hang on," Meliboia said. "Did anyone know there was more than one Bombadger?"

"Everyone knows that!" the accused Lord snapped. "How could there be one Bombadger if there were not more?"

"To be sure, it folloows," Skarff said. "But Ajax said nothing about whether the Bombadger who made the first attempt was still in custody. I am zure he would have been alerted if an escape occurred. But who else woould know if there was one Bombadger, two or three, unless they had had dealings with them all?"

Agaric looked to one side, then the other. "You know what?" he said. "You know what? I'll spare you all the trouble. Yes, I organized the plot! You could never have proven it, though I'm sure you would find a pretense to ruin me sooner or later. The Maidens did not know I was aiding them. They didn't care, they just wanted Ajax gone! You are a terrible King, Papadopoulos! We were better off with Naam than you!" He drew a pistol out of his sleeve, just before Angelo and his Second grabbed his arms.

Ajax rose to his feet as Agaric was dragged away. "Now, there is another thing," he said. "I have announced that Lady Meliboia is my wife by the customs of her people. She has called me her husband. From this night forward, we will share the Royal Chamber and bed as Lord and Lady. We will not deprive you of a wedding, but it will be a celebration of the vows we have already made in private. All loyal subjects of my rule and Kingdom will be expected and required to acknowledge Meliboia as my Queen. Now." He gestured for Mel to rise. She did, reluctantly. As she rose, all at the table, from Attendants to Patrons, stood and bowed to her.

"Well," Mel said, "I don't believe I've ever been royalty before."

"You get used to it," Ajax said. He turned his head as Lemmia came to their side.

"If I may, your Majesty," the Lindormess said, "I propose that you complete a further ritual. Also, I believe we have another guest…" Ajax flinched at the oncoming shape, but it was too late.

"Ohmygosh, we only heard when we were on our way!" Daffy squealed. "Are you-? Oh. Sorry."

"No problem," Ajax said. He gave Hector a thoughtful look as his brother helped him up.

They found a suitable space in the former Throne Room. A High Mage hung the Mirror between a dart board and a pachinko machine. They had invited Nopalina, Hector, Daffy and Skarff to join them. The Eater hovered by a bagatelle table beside Nopalina. Hector sat with Daffy in his lap. Lemmia stood before the Mirror. "Welcome, friends, brethren and beloved," she said. "We are here to complete the Rite of Wishing. It is not meant to be a formal ceremony, but a test and testament of love. My Lord and Lady, are you ready to speak each other's wishes before these witnesses?"

"Your pardon, Lady," Meliboia said. "My husband has spoken my wish. I do not need another."

Lemmia looked to Ajax. "Is it your will to make another wish for your beloved?"

"Perhaps, but I must think on it," Ajax said. "My Lady may go first."

Mel stepped forward with a smile. Lemmia was clearly concerned, but did not intervene. Only Ajax saw Daffy raise a hand. Hector quieted her. "Wishing Mirror, I wish to see,"' Mel said, "what would have been if Ajax had married Princess Pruna."

The Mirror shimmered strangely. The images that appeared seemed like an overexposed photo, too bright yet faded and faint. This time, there was no sound. It quickly became clear that they were seeing a sequence of events long separated in time. The first image showed Ajax and a slim, beautiful woman with reddish brown hair. They stood together at the altar, both smiling. However, as they read their vows, the woman looked aside, as if directly into the Mirror.

The vision went on. The Mirror showed the pair together, in the throne room, at war, in their bed. Sometimes, they were happy, yet even in their happiness, there were glances toward the Mirror. In his peripheral vision, Ajax saw Daffy quietly weep. It became evident that the pair set themselves to having a child, in the hope of finding some measure of joy. With time, difficulty and great pain, they succeeded. That truly made them happy, for a time. Then their child transformed.

And then the image changed. It fixed on one figure that had already flicked in and out of view several times. It was the Lady gazing into the Mirror, and as the vision fixed on her, it was revealed that it was not one image but many, flickering like a flipbook, day after day, then year after year. At first, the figure had the marks of tears on her cheeks. As time passed and her features began to change with age, the tears disappeared and she only gazed, and the face was somehow even sadder than before. The time passed faster, so that the face became lined and the brown hair became gray. Then finally the images seemed to run together, one moment young, the next old, and then both at once.

"Mirror," Ajax said, "show no more." The Mirror became silver, still rippling. Daffy ran to him and put her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry," Mel said, embracing them both.

"You were not the first to make this wish," Lemmia said. "You summoned a fractional world, even further from reality than Xaja's. It was like a dream within another dream. It is what happens when the Mirror is given a wish for a thing that would not, could not and should not be." She laid a hand on the Mirror. The ripples stopped. "Perhaps things will be better now."

"I knew," Daffy finally spoke. "I let my sister use the Mirror. It was... before. Before."

"It is all right," Ajax said. "You did nothing wrong. I… I was already prepared to do what I did. I might not have, if I had not seen her feelings change."

Daffy turned to Mel, and they promptly embraced in unison. "Oh, I'm so happy," she said. "Everything has been worth it, to see how happy you have made Ajax. She would be happy, too."

"Hey," Ajax said to Hector, "you could try getting a word in edgewise."

"There's nothing to say," his brother answered. "When I saw the way you looked at her in the hospital room, I knew you were going to end up here."

"It's true," Daffy said. "I had to convince him it was going to end well." She sidled up to Mel. "So, could we have a peek at one of your wishes?"

"I think I have an idea," Ajax said. "Wishing Mirror, I wish to see… what would have been if Meliboia had remained among the Myrmidons."

The Mirror rippled. Then it showed a ship racing through space, which he recognized as her father's ship, at the head of a fleet of craft. The image shifted to a command center in front. Mel sat in the commander's seat in little more than her Cingulum, a crest of command on her ceremonial helmet. The front and midsection separated from the much larger rear, still firing their combined energy blasts at a battlestation ahead. A twin-nacelled strike craft and a double-hulled escort fell into formation on either side. Then the forward section split off, racing its escorts to the planet ahead.

"Oh, you're an admiral!" Daffy said. "I knew you would be in charge!"

"Nice," Mel said, tugging Ajax's cheek. "Now, I have to decide if you're worth it… Eh. It's a fair trade. So, if I'm Queen, let's talk about where I'm going to sleep…" They kissed as the first wave of tactical warheads flashed across the planet's surface.

Later, in the Royal Chamber, it was Ajax who mentioned the first wish. "I've been thinking," he said, "the Mirror showed you older than you are now. It often shows the future. But why was it only then that the creatures you fought found you?"

"I keep telling you, space is a big place," Mel said. "The Ostrakoi had been expanding for thousands of years before they got anywhere near Star Union space. They weren't just going to sweep in and wipe out civilization overnight. Actually, I recognized the city. It was New Corinth on Beta Omicron. It's where my family would have come from. I suppose they had gone back home."

"Listen," Ajax said, "there were… things… Persephone said. Do you want to talk about it?"

Mel sighed. "You talk too much, you know," she said. "Sometimes, you think too much, too. Look, you know there's lots of stories about me. I've heard hundreds of them. And I meet hundreds of people like her; they talk like they know something, when I couldn't guess what they think they heard, because there's too many things it could have been. She was crazy, anyway. All you need to know is, everything you see is what I was born with or what I worked for." She rose to give him a better look. Of course, she was entirely unclothed.

"I never thought differently," Ajax said. And for a while, he said nothing more.