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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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X has exchanged her torn and now bloodstained surcoat for another one in the same colors.

It is comfortable, and it does not hamper her mobility beyond acceptable levels.

Her shoulder, of course, is long-healed. This is the benefit of being a mutant.

The second benefit of her mutation is that she is not appreciably tired, and thus is making significant inroads in her rather primitive attempts at sandwiches.

They are good, though. So is the milk.

And eventually she will settle in one of the comfortable chairs, careful to keep from stepping on any of the toys.

X is good at being polite. Or at least she tries.

Edited 2009-04-05 03:50 (UTC)

Parker has had a very long, hot bath, and changed into a fresh dress. And she feels much better for both.

It has been a long, weird handful of days. But they've all made it to the Happily Ever After portion of the story. Well, except for Perry's evil uncle. Parker knows that she should probably be more upset/grossed out by what had happened in front of the palace.

On the other hand, evil uncle. The dude had totally had it coming. Parker just hopes Norman doesn't develop indigestion.

Parker helps herself to a cup of tea, and moves to sit in a deep armchair (after first relocating Merry's stuffed froggie). She discretely toes off her slippers under her long brocade skirt, and tucks her feet up under her.

She'll get up and talk to everyone in a minute. There are a LOT of details she wants to catch up on.

But for now it's nice to feel safe and comfortable.

"Parker, I am so terribly sorry about everything."

First things first.

The smile that Parker had worn at Amy's approach gives way to mild confusion.

"Sorry? Amy, you don't have anything to be sorry about."

It's not like anyone could have predicted that the king's evil uncle would have orchestrated a plot to take the kingdom via dragon-aided kidnapping.

"Still, you are my guest, and you got abducted by a dragon. I . . . I am very sorry you were . . .

"And I'm very glad you're all right," Amy concludes.

"You are all right, aren't you?"

"Well, none of that is your fault. And all's well that ends well, right?"

The kingdom is safe. And no one (except the villain of the piece) had been eaten. Not even Elspeth.

"And I'm fine. A little tired, but fine."

"Are you okay? I know you must have been freaking out. I'm so sorry Perry got snatched, too."

"I'm well," Amy says. "More than a little tired, but well."

There's still ever so much that has to be done.

"I was worried, yes, but . . . very fortunate, in my friends.

"And you certainly needn't apologize for that."

Parker smiles.

"I'd say we're both pretty fortunate in that area," she says, looking around the room.

Parker doesn't often use the word 'overjoyed' to describe how she feels about things. But that was how she had felt to see Laura and 494 and Meg and Logan here in Ambergeldar.

"How are the kids. Are they all right?"

"They'll be fine. Ingress came to visit Susan, which helped. And Merry . . . well, he mostly slept through things.

"They're with Perry right now, and then I suspect Susan will want to come visiting."

"That's good. And yeah--they'll have to meet everyone."

Parker grins.

"I have to say, being kidnapped along with your husband was a trip."

"You know, he can be extremely royal when he wants to be."

"This isn't a half bad look for you," Parker says smiling, coming to refresh her cup of tea.

The surcoat is pretty becoming, actually.

"Are you sure your shoulder is all right?"

Parker knows about Laura's healing ability, of course. At least in theory. But it's a lot different when you see your friend shot.

She just wants to be sure.

"Yes," X says promptly. She does not even bring up her hand to the former position of the wound.

"It does not take long for me. To heal."

The tilt of her head as she studies Parker is slightly more pronounced than usual.

"You are okay, too?"

"Yeah, well. I still worry."

It's just Parker's way.

She takes a pretty long sip of tea before she answers.

"I'm okay. Tired. And still a little sore. And it's just starting to hit me that Oh my God--We got kidnapped by a dragon and some crazy man tried to take over the kingdom."

"But all in all? Okay."

Parker grins.

"And you don't know how glad I was to see you guys. You and 494 and Meg. Hell, even Logan."

Logan, Parker was glad to note, looks a hell of a lot better than he had the last time Parker had seen him.

Amy laughs, a little.

"Wants or needs to, yes. So can I.

"We have occasional call to practice that sort of thing."

"I do not mind," X says.

She takes another bite of her sandwich.

"This coup was not very messy. That is good."

X has seen worse. A lot worse.

"And the dragon is okay. I have not met one before."

Beat.

"Logan? Oh. Not Wolverine."

There's another, longer pause. Then, awkwardly --

"It is good to see you, too. Was. We did not know if you were okay."

Edited 2009-04-06 02:27 (UTC)

"Not many call like this one, I hope."

Crazed relatives trying to seize the kingdom would get really old as a routine thing.

"But I can definitely see where it comes in handy."

Parker smiles.

"Perry was sure that you had everything totally under control. Though I don't know if he was expecting recruits from the End of the Universe."

Parker's smile softens a bit.

"It really means a lot to me. That you guys came," she said.

This is one of those times when you really know who your friends are.

"And yeah--I don't know much about coups. But as far as this one goes? There was, what, one life lost? The ringleader?"

Parker makes a face.

"I hope Norman doesn't get indigestion."

X considers this in silence for a moment.

"I do not think he gets sick. Like that."

Beat.

"Sheep are very bony, too."

Plus the fleece. It's not that different from court finery, is it?

Though the metal might be a problem. Hmm.

Parker laughs.

"I meant more in the spirit that that was one awful person he ate," she tries to explain.

Yes, she knows that there were probably shades of grey, etcetera, etcetera. Maximillian had been human, and all that jazz. But he had tried to kidnap Amy, and then taken a shot at her.

She finds her sympathy well to be on the dry side.

"So, how exactly did you guys wind up here? Amy came and got you, I assume?"

There are still lots of bits and pieces of each others' stories that they haven't had time to tell yet.

"Oh. I do not think that is biological."

Beat.

"Yes. She was worried. I did not -- "

She stops herself, frowning slightly. Perfect recall is all well and good, but words help, too.

"We did not want you to be hurt. And we are good at finding people."

They could have taken the dragon, if it came to that.

X has no lack of self-confidence in her martial prowess. Sometimes it shows.

"I think explaining to Lord Stefan how I pulled five people out of my wardrobe is going to be interesting . . ." Amy says.

Still, priorities. Save your husband and your friend, and then deal with everything else.

"It can make things easier, you know. Being extremely royal. It makes it easier to be . . . slightly less emotionally . . . well. It was not at all the time for me to fall apart."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right about that."

Parker nods.

"It looked like you guys were well on your way to getting to us. What was with all those little gnome...things?"

Parker had noticed them, but had many other things on her mind at the time.

"It helps you keep it together. I understand. And I'm sure it helped everyone else keep it together, too."

Parker doesn't claim to be an expert on palace life, but she can't imagine it would be good for morale if the queen fell apart in the middle of a crisis.

She raises her eyebrows.

"What are you thinking of telling him?" she asks.

"They were in the trees," X says.

She offers a one-shouldered shrug, quick and slightly awkward.

"I do not think Tom liked them."

"I had never met Tom before."

Parker remembers his exchange with Perry. And smiles a bit.

"He seems to fit in pretty well here, though."

She seems to recall that there was a 'Lord' in his introductions there somewhere.

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