"Hey it's time! And let me in, it's freezing out here!"

Enya looks up from her sewing and places the item back on the table to briskly hurry to the door where she could hear rapid knocking and opened it, yelping in alarm at the sudden rush of cold air before someone runs in.

"The door was unlocked Ella, and where's your cloak?" The tailor scolds as her friend, now sopping wet from the storm outside is trying to wring out her wet skirt.

"No it wasn't also I left it here so you can repair it, remember?" Ella responds as she let out a sneeze and gagged. "Ugh, I don't want to get sick, can't miss the you-know-what today!"

"I have your cloak ready, meant to wait for the storm to pass so I could give it to you." Enya sighs as she walked back to her work table and grabbed the folded green cloak to hand it back to her friend. "There, now you can stay dry and Corvus won't fuss."

"Perfect! Now for that meeting, I heard we have important news to discuss and my uncle is getting a promotion!"

"Barius is getting a promotion?" Enya hears her father says as he looks up from his work. "Well that's wonderful! Should I make him a new apron to celebrate?"

"I think he'd like to stick to his current one, but thanks sir." Ella laughs. "Come on, we're gonna be late! And you are part of this meeting too!"

"I don't get how being a royal tailor means I need to be part of a royal council meeting. I'm not even that important for it!"

"We're there for...emotional support! For your husband and my betrothed."

"That's still not a valid enough reason."

"Well yeah, but our boys still want us at the meeting today, so, we're going."

"Fine, but then I have to get back to work and hope the rain lets up because Soren still wants to do some training later. Otherwise he's gonna insist on doing it indoors." Enya sighs as she walks to her old room to grab her cloak.

Amaya, who was sleeping in her bed with several small balls of black and white snuggled against her, looks up and gave a soft bark. Enya motions for her to stay quiet, but the dog immediately gets up, earning several upset yelps from the small puppies who were nursing.

"Oh now you've upset your pups." Enya mutters as one of the puppies, who had fallen out of the basket and onto the floor was wiggling around in search of its mother. "Oh come here sweetie, you need to stay warn with your siblings."

"Enya hurry up!" Ella yells from outside the room. "The rain is getting worst!"

"I'm coming!" Enya yells back as she grabbed the puppy and dropped it back into the basket before snatching the cloak she dropped on her bed and gives her dog a scolding look. "Now you stay here and feed your furballs, I'll be back later."

Amaya snorts before climbing back into her bed and settles down on a spot where her pups weren't occupying. With a nod, Enya then hurried out and wrapped the cloak around her before rushing over to her father.

"Have fun at your meeting dear, and try not to punch anyone if there's a guest!" Damian says when she approaches. "And run if you can, but be careful!"

"I will, love you da!" Enya chuckles as she bends to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back as soon as possible! Bye!"

Once they shut the door behind them and made sure their cloaks were secured, Enya and Ella stood under the eves of the building, the doors to the main part of the castle several yards away and the rain coming down quite quickly.

"Times like this made me wish we had sky magic." Ella sighs as she held a gloved hand out to let some rain fall onto her palm. "Oh well, a little rain never hurt anyone, right?"

"Tell that to my husband when he wound up getting sick after my birthday that on year." Enya mutters before adjusting her cloaks hood. "Okay we just need to run without tripping or slipping. Ready?"

"GO!" Ella yells as she takes off into the water.

"Wait!" Enya yells as she takes after her, nearly tripping in the process. "ELLA!"

"I WIN!" The shorter woman yells as she ran through the doors that a guard opened before Enya ran right past her. "YOU SNOOSE YOU LOSE!"

"Not funny!" The tailor scolds as she removed her drenched cloak. "Ugh if I get sick I am not gonna be happy."

"Hey if you do, you have your caring husband to look after you." A familiar voice says before her hand is grabbed and she's spun around to face her husband.

"Ah Soren!" Enya yells as she's dipped near to the floor. "That's not funny and I am very wet!"

"And hello to you too, gorgeous." Soren says as he pulls her in to kiss her.

"Soren we're in public!" Enya gasps as she smacks his shoulder and turns her head away so the kiss lands on her cheek. "Hands to yourself!"

"What, I can't kiss my beautiful wife affectionately anymore?" Soren asks teasingly.

"You can remove your hand off my butt when we're in front of friends." His wife responds and smacks the offending hand away before she's pulled back onto her feet. "Meeting now, affectionate gestures later."

"And don't use the "I haven't seen you in hours" excuse, you saw her like half an hour ago." Corvus adds with a roll of his eyes. "Let's just get to the meeting before Opeli goes looking for us."

"Aw no kiss for your soon-to-be wife?" Ella teases as she hugged his arm. "Also I'm cold, I need to be warmed up."

"And you are very soaked, what were you two doing?" Corvus asks as he bends to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Playing in the rain?"

"We literally just ran over here, and I nearly tripped." Enya explains with a roll of her eyes as she grabbed the corner of her tunic to wring it out. "Damn it, I seriously need to change everything."

"Oh you look fine, don't worry." Soren assures her with a chuckle before kissing her cheek. "You'll warm up in no time, come, before Opeli goes hunting for us."

As the four adults were walking, they soon came across Callum as he was entering from another door, not looking as drenched as the girls were. Lucky.

"Morning, Soren! Corvus! And you as well Enya and Ella!" The prince greets them cheerfully as he approached.

"Morning deartháir beag!" Enya greets.

"There he is, the step-mage!" Soren laughs as the teen joins them. "Still funny. Gets a little funnier every time."

"A mhuirnín, be nice." Enya scolds with a frown.

"It's funny, that's how nicknames work!" Soren laughed as he leaned on Corvus. "Hey what if I called you-"

"Don't." Corvus warns, putting an end to that conversation.

"Oh hey!" Callum yells, turning back. "Uh see you guys at the meeting in two minutes. In one minute!"

"Huh, what's got him all riled up?" Ella asks as Soren shrugs before they continue to walk.

"He's gonna talk to the Crowmaster guy, so anything that has to do with mail." Enya says with a shrug. "Oh that reminds me, I gotta check to see if any letters arrived for me from Xadia - specifically from Reyna."

"Aww, to find out if her little bird baby is doing good?" Soren asks. "Yeah I haven't heard from her in a while, hope she's doing okay as well as her family. We can check the crow tower later for that."

They soon arrived at the meeting room, where Opeli was waiting for them, along with Barius.

"Hi uncle!" Ella greets cheerfully as she walks over to the baker and hugged him. "Oh and congrats on the promotion! Mom and dad will be so proud when they get the letter telling them about it!"

"I sure hope so, it's not every day a simple baker like myself gets promoted and be part of the new king's council." Barius chuckles as he hugged her back. "Aw darling, you're soaked! Did you trip while trying to get over here?"

"No, she ran over to get me without a cloak." Enya says, holding up her cloak. "Also hello Barius, seems like now I'm not the only one who got to be part of the council now."

"Royal tailors are quite important as royal bakers, we're practically keeping the kingdom together with our crafts!"

"Oh yes, you both certainly are." Soren says as he reaches for a jelly tart before Corvus smacked his hand from the tray. "Ow! Hey I'm hungry!"

"Wait until the meeting starts, these are for everyone." The tracker scolds. "Also we have some very important things to discuss for the you-know-what for you-know-who."

"Oh that, we certainly do have somethings to talk about with that." Opeli agrees as she turns from the window. "Are you sure prince Callum doesn't know that-"

She immediately stops when the doors to the room open and Callum walks in, giving them all concerned looks.

"You ever get that feeling where..." He says as he enters.

"Where you walk into a room and everyone shuts up and you were pretty sure they were talking about you?" Soren finishes.

"Yeah..."

Enya and Corvus immediately elbow the captain and send him a look.

"Uh nope! You're way off buddy!" Soren says with a nervous laugh.

"A mhuirnín, if you don't shut up right now, you're gonna be in hot water." Enya warns in a low voice.

"Sorry sorry, I'm just a bit nervous. You know me."

"I know, here just eat this to shut you up." Enya then promptly shoved a jelly tart into his mouth.

The doors soon swung open to allow Ezran to walk in with two soldiers behind him, smiling at his friends and brother as they bowed in respect. Once he arrived at his seat, they all sat in their respective chairs.

"Welcome king Ezran, it seems like can now start this council meeting." Opeli says as she sat.

"Opeli wait, we're not all here!" Ezran points out, nodding at the empty seat behind him. The doors soon swung open to allow Bait in, Opeli bending down to pick him up and place him in his seat.

"Shall we begin, Bait?" She asks and the toad cloaks in affirmation.

"Alright then, our first order of business is welcoming our new council member to his first day." Opeli says as she hands Callum a pillow with a golden pin that he takes and places on Baris' apron. "Welcome Barius the baker."

"I feel so proud." Ella whispers to Enya. "I don't think anyone in my family expected him to have this."

"That's what he gets for being the best baker in the kingdom." Enya chuckles as they clap. "And he deserves it."

"Our next topic: the king says he has some news to share." Opeli says as she opens a scroll. "It says here that it is "big news"."

"I planned a surprise for everyone, Katolis is going to have some special visitors." Ezran says as he stands.

Before he could continue, Soren begins to drum his hands and fingers on the table and making drum rolling noises, Ella following in suit with a big grin. They both stop when Corvus and Enya give them a look.

"What? It builds anticipation!" The knight says and his wife shook her head with a sigh.

"Now I'm excited, and I already know what's happening!" Ezran says with a smile. "The dragon queen is coming to Katolis! And she's bringing Zym!"

"Huh?!" The group save for Callum exclaims.

"Um, king Ezran, perhaps we should think this through." Opeli suggests. "The dragon queen in Katolis, won't people be...terrified?"

"Ezran, is that even...a good idea?" Enya asks, raising her hand. "I mean last time we had visitors from Xadia, and even if they weren't too important like the dragon queen, someone got stabbed."

"Wait who got stabbed?" Ella asks in horror.

"They might be, at first. But it will change when they meet her." Ezran assures the councilwoman and turns to the tailor. "I promise it won't be like a repeat of what happened with your friend, and I doubt anyone is gonna want to stab Zym or his mother. Zubeia is kind and gentle and funny, and when people see that, it will start to change how they see dragons."

"I hope so, I've already got enough complains about the little reptile we have living under our roof." Soren mutters. "Tart doesn't even like sheep, she'd rather consume a tray of jelly tarts than some farmer's herd of smelly goats!"

"And that's sort of the point, this is the first step in building trust between the human kingdoms and Xadia." Ezran adds.

"And besides, she only eats three people a day, it's a small price to pay for peace." Callum says with a laugh at looks att hem. Soren awkwardly coughs as everyone else just glances at each other, unsure what to say. "Sorry. Not funny, bad joke."

"I've heard worst." Ella whispers to Enya. "But yeah, bad joke."

"Well, I suppose if the kingdom is having a guest, I ought to welcome her with a dragon sized jelly tart!" Barius says, breaking the silence.

"Not the size of a dragon?" Ezran asks as the baker laughed.

"No your majesty, the size a dragon would eat!"

"Yes! And for tomorrow's council meeting, lets all come with ideas to make this visit amazing! Ella, you're welcomed to come as well."

"I'd be honored to come and help plan this visit." Ella says, beaming with pride.

"Meeting adjourned." Opeli announced as everyone was getting up from their seats.

"So, should we brainstorm something while you go back to sewing?" Ella asks Enya as they are preparing to leave. "Oh we can do decorations! You can make decorations with cloth, right?"

"Assuming my father and I have enough." Enya responds with a shrug before she stops to avoid crashing into Corvus. "Hey!"

"Uh that new...dance craze that's sweeping the castle!" Soren says loudly and looks to the girls for help as he proceeds to dance. "Right? That's what we were talking about!"

"Uh yeah, that cool new dance!" Ella says as she starts to dance with Soren, earning groans from their partners.

"I can't believe we're dating literally the same person." Corvus mutters with a shake of his head. "Hey you're the one dating her, try being the one married to him." Enya says rolling her eyes before approaching her husband and pushing him forward. "Come on A mhuirnín, back to our jobs."

Callum, who was giving them a skptical look just shook his head and walked off. Once he was gone, the two stopped their dancing.

"I'm a master bluffer." Soren says proudly as he followed his friends and wife out of the room.

"Maybe try being a little more...discreet if you start discussing this around Callum." Enya suggests as she puts her cloak on and grimaced. "Ugh I forgot this was still wet. I'm gonna go change, and you should too Ella."

"I'm perfectly fine, a wet dress isn't gonna kill me." The shorter girl huffs.

"No, but it will make you sick if you don't change." Corvus points out. "And you don't want to miss tomorrow's meeting, right?"

"Ugh fine, I'll change." Ella mutters with a pout.

"Oh Enya, before I forget!" Soren says, grabbing his wife's arm as she's about to walk away. "When the rain clears up later, meet me where we usually meet up for our daily exercises! Gotta keep you in shape for the crownguard, remember?"

"Oh that. Can't we skip it for today? Dad and I are kind of in the middle of something and I have to check on Amaya and the puppies, gotta make sure our sweet girl is looking after her pups properly." Enya says, fiddling with the ends of her short hair. "I'll double the exercise tomorrow to make up for it. Plus...I've been a bit exhausted lately and really don't feel like having an hour of intense workout today."

"Really? Are you sick?" Soren asks, stepping to her and putting a hand on her forehead to check for a fever. "Maybe upping the work out routine wasn't a great idea, you get some rest A mhuirnín. I'll see you later tonight for the you-know-what."

"Alright, see you then." Enya chuckles as she gives him a kiss on the cheek. "And make sure you avoid getting Callum suspicious, it is his surprise birthday party afterall, and we have all been putting way too much effort into this for it to be ruined."

"Alright, I'll try to be discreet and act like nothing is up if he asks me about it." Soren says with a roll of his eyes. "But you know Callum, he's not one to stop being suspicious when he gets wind of something being off."

⚔️⚔️⚔️

"And that's the last bit of decoration! It's perfect!" Ezran says happily as Enya and someone else are hanging the last banner up. "Thanks for your help Cici, I know you and our new Crow Lord Associate are busy with the mail stuff, but thank you for taking the time to help us out with this for my brother."

"No problem! Anything for my sister's friends and her only student!" Cici says as they climb down the ladder. "When Crow told me of the surprise party and that you guys needed an extra hand, helping out was the least I can do."

"Yeah and we definitely needed someone to reach the rafters of the room to hang those ribbons, you're the only one around here with wings." Enya adds with a chuckle as she gestures to the Skywing's large dark wings. "Ah and I hate to ask, have any letters from Reyna come yet?"

"Oh yeah! Something did come for you from her, here." Cici then pulls some thick folded paper from their pocket and hands it to Enya. "I think this may be more drawings of my nephew than a full letter, you know how she loves to gush about her son."

Enya takes the letter and unfolded it to find two written pages and at least three pages of drawings.

"Aww look how big he's gotten! And he's only ten months old!" She cooed. "He looks so much like his mom in these."

"I know! One would never think be was half human." Cici chuckles. "She's proud of him! Oh and speaking of being proud, Crowy got promoted recently!"

"I heard, he deserves it after all these years." Enya says as she tucked the paper into her pocket to read the letter later. "Has he told you?"

"Nah, but Ezran told me earlier. I've been a bit busy today and haven't seen him since this morning. The second he comes by I'm gonna congratulate him when I get the chance."

"Hey someone needs to make sure Callum doesn't come anywhere near here, can you go tell Corvus to distract him since Soren would do a poor job doing it?" Ella asks as she enters, carrying some trays with tarts. "I would, but my uncle needs some help in the kitchen, who's not busy?"

"Oh I can do it, I've got nothing to do right now." Enya offers. "Plus it's not raining either, so I can head out and tell him. I'll be back!"

"Hurry back! We all gotta be here when the sun goes down for the party to start!" Ezran yells as she hurried out.

Enya made her way outside and to the courtyard to find Corvus and the other soldiers and chatting with them before she waves to get his attention.

"Corvus! Hey!" She yells, finally getting his attention.

"Oh hey how's the preparations going?" He asks when she reaches him. "Everything set up?"

"Almost, we just need Callum to be distracted for a wee bit longer. Can you do that? I'd ask Soren, but I don't think it'd work to well."

"I can try, any ideas on how to distract him?"

"Uh art? Magic? Anything that keeps him away from Ezran and the king's tower."

"Gotcha, anything as long as it has his interests and-"

"W-wait up! Step-mage, lets talk!" They hear Soren yell and clear his throat to get their attention.

Out of the corner of her eye, Enya caught sight of Callum storming towards them with Soren close behind and her eyes widen in horror. "Change of plans, we both have to distract him with Soren's help." She says quietly before turing to the prince. "Callum! Hey, what's up?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's the rush?" Corvus asks as Callum storms past him.

"Soren told me everything." The teen responds.

"Everything?"

"A mhuirnín!" Enya gasps. "What did you tell him?"

"Everything about the secret plot that the crownguard is trying to...thwart!" Soren says quickly.

"R-right!" Corvus says quickly. "Callum, we need your help with the..."

"The thwarting! The thwarting!" Soren finishes and looks to his wife for help.

"Uh yeah! The thwarting! It's so serious that...I offered to help! Enya says and Soren nods. "Even though I'm not part of the crownguard."

"Yet." Both Corvus and Soren add.

Corvus then starts to push Callum in a different direction. "Maybe we can go somewhere quiet to talk about this-"

"Plot! Against the king!" Soren interjects.

"Ancients help me." Enya mutters. "Yes, we should go somewhere more quiet to discuss this matter. You know, to...avoid any panic and rumors."

It seemed like their flimy sounding excuse was reasonable for Callum. He then nods and says, "I'll help any way I can. Let's go tot he high mage's office, which is, uh, my office."

The three adults nod and allow Callum to lead them to the tower where the high mage normally stayed, and once inside the office Corvus made sure to shut the doors to avoid any interruptions.

"If Ezran is in danger, you need to tell me what's going on, now." Callum says once the doors were shut.

"Well, I'm not sure where to start." Soren admits. "I think uh...you know who knows most of the details? Corvus!"

"Oh yeah he knows more about this than even me." Enya says with anod. "Tell him Corvus."

"Uh I have a quick question first. I've always wondered..." Corvus looks around the room before his eyes land on something next to Callum. "What's under that cover?"

"Oh it's- ih, something lord - the previous high mage left behind." Callum says. "A mirror with ancient runes on it. I'm convinced there's a deeper secret here, if I can figure out what it is or what it does."

"That does sound very interesting." Corvus responds with a nod as Soren nods in agreement.

"Wow, I didn't know you've been doing this." Enya says as she steps to one of the walls with papers that had scribbles. "So for the past two years, this is what you've been doing and still haven't cracked the code on the mirror?"

"No, it's just so weird that I haven't been able to, but this tome my aunt claims to have found and mailed should help." Callum says with a nod.

"That book also sounds very interesting." Corvus agrees.

"You know, perhaps when the dragon queen comes you could ask her about this mirror, it looks like an old Xadian relic." Enya suggests. "Or ask Ibis or try to find a scholar well versed in old elven relics about it. Right Soren?"

"Oh, uh, super. Super interesting!" Soren says, looking up from the odd wooden shaped cube he had found and proceeded to go back to messing with it.

"It is! As soona s it gets here I'm gonna be able to -" Callum then stops his rambling as Soren proceeds to ignore him and mess with the cube. "Wait, are you trying to stall me? I'm very passionate about this stuff and nobody-"

Enya tenses when she sees the prince look out the window and shuffled close to see the lights go out in the king's tower across the way and someone shut the doors.

"The king's tower went dark, Ezran is in trouble!" Callum yells as he jumps to the window and flung it open before leaping out, shouting an incantation.

"Callum!" Enya screams as she, Corvus and Soren rush to the window to see the teen now soaring up into the sky.

"Did he just...uh..." Soren looks to his friend and wife for an explanation.

"Well we distracted him long enough, if the tower went dark and the doors closed that means everyone finished setting up the surprise, right?" Corvus asks. "That's good, right?"

"I suppose, but we should still head over to make sure we don't miss it and that our very overprotective high mage doesn't blast someone with a lightning spell." Enya says before heading to the doors. "Come on!"

The three hurried out of the tower and ran straight for the castle where the party was held. The second they got there, Soren immediately threw the doors open.

"Surpri- oh...we missed it." He says when he saw the scene before him.

"Well you certainly didn't miss the party." Ella laughs as she and Cici walk over with plates. "Jelly tart? Uncle Barius and I made them with every flavor."

"Yes please!" Soren says as he eagerly accepts a plate and shoved the pastry into his mouth before pulling it out and offered it to Enya. "Uh, sorry, wanna bite?"

"I'll get my own thanks." Enya says as she pushes his hand away and accepted a plate from Cici. "Oh but you know who certainly would like your jelly tart?"

"Who?" At that moment, he then feels something heavy grab onto his arm and snatch the jelly tart right out of his hand. "Jelly Tart Mulligan! I thought I taught you better!"

Enya laughs as their now large dog sized dragonet growl playfully as she ate up her stolen treat and looks to Soren as if expecting him to have another in hand.

"No, daddy is very disappointed in you little lady, you can't just steal jelly tarts out of people's hands like that! Not even the dragon prince does that!"

"The other day you laughed when she did that to Ezran, you just don't like it when she steals the tarts from you." Enya laughs as she held her tart out for the dragon to eat. "Sweet baby, you're gonna get so fat if you keep eating so much of these. I know you're a growing girl, but it's not healthy for you. Then again I tell your dad and he still insists on gorging himself on tarts."

"Hey I'm a growing boy, I need the protein!" Soren protests as Cici hands him another tart before shoving it into his mouth.

"I hardly doubt this counts as protein." Damian laughs as he walks over to them. "I think this was the most excitement I've had all month - aside from the family dog suddenly giving birth last week under my desk and Soren finally catching that rat that had been getting into our cloth and stealing bits of it for whatever reason the week before."

"Yeah that was a weird week." Enya agrees as Crow Master walks over. "Oh hey! Cici told us about your promotion, congrats!"

"Crowy!" Cici exclaims as they shove their plate of tarts into Corvus' arms and ran to the human. "Congrats!"

"Cici!" The two embrace and kiss before breaking apart.

"I'm so proud of you!" The elf gushes before the two start to kiss again. Tart made a gagging nose at the sight and shoved her head against Enya's skirt to cover her eyes.

"Someone's not a big fan of public affection." Ella laughs. "She's seen you two kiss so many times, she should be used to it."

"We've never kissed like that." Enya mumbles.

"Not in front of her at least." Soren whispers to his friend. "Know what, I'm bored and I wanna dance. Come on, A mhuirnín, dance with me!"

Enya yelps as he grabbed by the hand and pulled her close to start dancing.

"Whoa hey! Slow down!" She laughs as her husband began to dance around the room, dodging guests. "A mhuirnín!"

"Come on, I know you wanna dance! And my wife certainly doesn't have two left feet!"

Enya laughed as she held tightly as they danced, before stopping and leaning against Soren for support. As she did, she looks around the room, noticing Callum was missing and not mingling with the guests.

"Hey where's the birthday boy?" She asks. "He didn't leave, did he?"

"I see Ezran heading to the balcony, he might be there." Soren says, pointing to where the king was going and shutting the doors behind him. "You think this surprise party was a good idea? After what happened two years ago he wasn't even too thrilled to celebrate his sixteenth birthday and avoided doing so all together."

Enya grimaces, recalling that all too familiar day. Two years back they had went to visit Lujanne to return Phoe-Phoe's feather to her, which turned into a nearly full month long stay when Callum and Rayla decided to try and rebuild the old ruins of a structure made by Moonshadow elves that apparently was meant to allow them into a realm between life and death. Rayla had apparently seen Viren there and left that same night, warning Callum and the others not to follow her. The poor teen was too heartbroken to even enjoy the birthday cake they had brought him as a surprise from the town nearby, and spent the rest of the trip back home in silence before shutting himself away in his new office and burying himself in his studies to learn new spells.

"Well, we did try to make him happy, even though this is also the anniversary of when she left." Enya says with a shrug. "You think Rayla is okay? Or do you think she actually found your father and something bad happened to her?"

Soren grimaces and held his wife closer to him. "I hope not. We've already dealt with him, and if he even is alive..."

"Don't worry, if he even is alive like Rayla suspected, we can take him on." Enya assures her husband and took his hand to place a gentle kiss on it. "I swear Soren, I'm not gonna let him hurt you again. Not while I'm still here."