kitchen_maid | (no subject)

Even with the chief conspirator rather definitely dealt with, there is rather a lot that has to be addressed in the wake of an attempted royal coup. The others involved must be located and taken care off, a nervous populace must be reassured.

Arrangements must be made for the room and board for Norman the Royal Dragon of Ambergeldar.

The heroes of the day must be properly thanked and acknowledged. (Which means finding a new Protocol Officer who can throw together an appropriate ceremony and celebration, immediately.)

In the meantime, however, those heroes have earned a bit of a rest. Amy made sure, personally, that everyone had a room, fresh clothes and anything else they want.

She also has the Royal Family's Sitting Room set up for their use. The room is full of comfortable chairs, and has a lived-in feel, with Perry's books and Amy's handwork and several of Merry and Susan's toys scattered about.

There is also, on a long, low table, rather a lot of food -- bread, meat, cheese, a couple of pies and a tray of other pastries, fruit from the palace greenhouse, pots of tea, pitchers of apple cider and milk and wine.

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Parker lets Meg go, and smiles at her.

"I'm really, really glad you came," she says.

Parker knows that, for Meg, jumping into another world is NOT something that is done lightly.

And she's grateful.

"You would have done the same thing for me," Meg says.

"I'm really, really glad you didn't get eaten by a dragon."

"Oh God, me too."

Parker isn't remotely afraid of Norman now. But there at the beginning? Scary hadn't even begun to cover it.

"Amy came and got you guys, right? I've heard the gist of that, but I'm still kind of sketchy on the details."

Meg nods.

"Yes. Um, because they suspected that someone at the palace was involved, and they didn't know who they could trust. So she went to Milliways to get help."

There's a slight pause.

"Your friend Amy is scary."

Parker raises her eyebrows.

"Scary?"

Not the first word that springs to mind with her when she thinks of Amy.

"Yeah."

Parker looks like she might need some convincing on this point.

"Well, I mean, she can be very....queenly when she wants."

"But scary?"

"Parker? I watched her slap a guy across the face hard enough to draw blood and then order him taken to the dungeons.

"All the while using the royal 'we.'

"And, granted, he absolutely had it coming, but . . .

"She's scary."

"Seriously?"

Parker's eyes have gone wide.

"Who was it? I mean, I guess someone who was in on the whole conspiracy. But who?"

"Lord Julius? He was the one who locked Logan and me in the secret room.

"The Queen, like a certain other celebrated queen, was not amused."

"The Protocol Officer?" Oh, Parker half wishes she could have been on hand to see that. "He always drove her up the wall."

"Wow."

"And, wait. You and Logan got locked in a secret room?"

There hasn't been time to do much catching up, yet.

"Just overnight," Meg says, quickly.

"And we got ourselves out.

"And found very critical evidence of Lord Julius and Lord Maximilian's complicity."

"Oh, just overnight."

That makes it all better.

"You guys are okay? How did you get out?"

"We're fine. It wasn't the most restful night I've ever passed, but we're fine.

"And in the morning, Logan saw a door, hidden in the wall. And we figured out how to open it, and got out."

"Well, I'm glad that he was with you. That you weren't by yourself."

Yeah, Logan might not be reliable on a level that, say, Laura is. Or even Meg herself. But, when the chips are down, he can be a very good person to have on your side when you're in a jam.

She's glad he came.

Edited 2009-04-10 01:00 (UTC)

"Me, too," Meg says.

"I'm glad you weren't alone, either.

"So you talked a dragon into letting you go? Not only letting you go, but . . . giving you a lift home?

"How?"

"Basically? We made it a better offer."

"Well, Perry made him a better offer. He did most of the heavy lifting there."

"I honestly don't think Norman was all that enthused about the plan anyway. And if the king offers you a deal, and you don't have to worry about knights showing up with swords on top of it, it's smart to take it."

Dragons are apparently very intelligent creatures.

"I can't believe the dragon is named Norman," Meg says.

"So you negotiated a deal with a dragon?"

"It isn't really. His name is something very long that sounds sort of like a porpoise talking on land."

"I couldn't say it to save my life. Perry could--I think that earned him a few points."

"But, yeah. That's basically it. We bargained."

"You have interesting friends, Parker," Meg says, with a look somewhere between amusement and disbelief.

And then starts to laugh.

Parker laughs too.

"Present company totally included," she says.

"I still can't quite believe I'm presently . . . present," Meg says.

"I have to say," Parker admits, "I was kind of surprised to see you."

"Thrilled. Grateful. Don't get me wrong."

She smiles a little lopsidedly.

"But I know how you feel about other worlds."

That aren't Laura's apartment.

Meg shrugs, a little awkwardly.

"You . . . you were in trouble. And . . . I couldn't not help, if I could."

Not her clearest phrasing ever, but the point seems evident enough.

More than evident.

"You're a really good friend. You know that?"

Parker knows it was a big step for Meg to come here.

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noteful - 2009-04-10 02:17 (UTC) - Expand

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