"Sorrel, help." Apricot pleads as I re-enter the game room. "Amelia's being mean to me."

"Oh, really?" I grin. "Because, I've been watching and, from my vantage point, she's been rather the opposite of mean." This gets some more titters from Abby's one friend.

"You loved every second, and you know it." Amelia breaths into her lover's ear before turning to me. "Everything go alright?"

"Yeah, Oliver picked up what he came for, but had to run off when he heard of another opportunity elsewhere in the city."

"You know, my father uses that same kind of double speak all the time." Marcus speaks up. "And, you're about as bad at it as he is." He chuckles when a look of consternation flashes across my face.

"I didn't want to ruin the mood." I sigh. "But, it actually involves you Abby, so I might as well spill." The look on her face makes my chest hurt. "Baron Lampe sent a team to kidnap you."

She loses strength in her legs and has to support herself on the edge of the pool table, but she doesn't lose control of her magic. Marcus hovers nearby, wanting to help but not wanting to be too forward.

"I spotted them when you arrived, that's why I had to make some calls and step out." She seems to recover as I continue, even smiling at Marcus for his concern. "I caught them, and had to wait for Mage Long because they had a Fire mage with them." Fire enters her eyes at the implications of that, but she doesn't let it get away from her.

"What did you do with them?" She nearly spits.

"Turned them over to the Guard to deal with." I shrug as if their fates are no matter to me. "Oliver and I just had a little chat with the mage though, he'll be rotting in a hole in the ground for the foreseeable future, if it makes you feel better."

"It does." She snarls.

And, for some reason, he seemed to be rather afraid of me." I chuckle darkly. "He quickly told us all about his other accomplices, and Oliver ran off to round them up. You're safe now, as is your Aunt." I allay her fears. "She's having lunch with the Guild head right now."

"Thank you." She says after taking a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds. "I need to call her."

"Tell her to come over, if she wants." I offer, and she nods before sitting down in a corner to make the call, her friends hovering near by while Marcus walks over to the three of us.

"What didn't you say?" He ask quietly, so I put up a soundproof wall.

"The accomplices weren't sent for her." I say in a normal tone. "They're assassins sent for another target." I look in the general direction of the castle. "And, the ones sent to grab Abby would have taken her the night we had dinner if I hadn't awakened her."

"Those fuckers." Apricot snarls.

"They sent a messenger bird back, asking for re-enforcements. Cendassa just happened to be sending a separate team, and they brought that waste of magic along with them. They just reached the city last night, and fobbed him off onto the kidnappers this morning."

"And he just told you everything?" Marcus gulps. "You weren't gone that long."

"He didn't want to talk about the second team, at first. But..." I grin evilly. "Well, let's just say that I learned a few things from treating you last night."

"That's my man." Apricot hugs me from the side, while Amelia nods with a vicious look on her face. My girls may seem nice and innocent... Well, maybe not innocent. But they've got a bit of a blood-thirsty streak.

Marcus just gulps again before muttering to himself. "Never piss off an Archmage."

"Hah! Oliver said much the same thing." I bark out a laugh. "I didn't do anything permanent, just scared the sad fuck. The fool was actually chosen for this mission because he had a gambling debt to Lampe. A mage with a gambling debt, for fucks sake." I shake my head before turning my attention to Abby.

"Thank you again." She bows to me. "Marta said she would head over in a little bit. I hope that's okay."

"Of course it is, now cheer up." I order the girl. "You came over to have fun, so have some fun."

"Mhm." She mumbles.

"Alright, come on." I take her by the wrist and start dragging her out front. "I was going to save this for the party, but I might as well test it out now."

Everyone follows us out, and once we're on the stone outside, I let go of her hand and toss out a few seeds. These go from seed to tree to logs in just seconds, and then those logs take only seconds more to flow into a giant carousel.

It's menagerie is made up of dozens of different 'cute' insects, along with snails, turtles, frogs, lizards, humming birds, and even a kangaroo rat in honor of the dungeon. The whole thing starts turning and the poles go up and down as some organ music starts playing.

"Oh, babe. It's wonderful." Amelia hugs me. "There's no spiders, right? Then, yes it's wonderful." Her arachnophobia make me laugh.

"It'll look better at night." I cast the yard in shade so all the lights can show off.

"Nice touch with the rat." Apricot chuckles as it spins into view.

"Thought you might like that."

"Look, It's a ladybug, I love ladybugs." Abby's tittering friend grabs her hand and drags the young Fire Mage forward. Marcus and her other friend following in their wake.

Instead of taking the girls onto it, I pull them to one side and create a small-ish Ferris-wheel. It has a dozen cars, which are all shaped like different flowers. Apricot and I have to almost drag Amelia onto it, even though the top doesn't go higher than our house.

Once we're on board, I start it up and slowly rise us up to the top. "See, it's not so bad up here. There's nothing to be afraid of." I hug Amelia from one side while Apricot snuggles up opposite me and starts running her hand along the blonde's thigh to distract her.

"I guess it's alright." She breathes out. "Mmm. What else did you have planned?"

"Just a little train ride around the Garden." I say while nuzzling her neck. "Maybe a few surprises for those who go exploring on their own."

"Oooh, right there." She purrs. "You do love putting on a show."

"Says the lady that has no problem with us groping her in front of guests." Apricot says and teases Amelia's ear lobe with her teeth.

"Abby are Marcus are too pre-occupied with each other right now." I mimic Apricot's move. "And her friends are busy whispering about them."

"Who cares about them." Her breathing starts coming faster. "Just keep doing that thing with your vines."

"Yes, Ma'am." I say and do my level best to help Amelia overcome her fear of heights.

A bit of heavy petting later, and Amelia has a nice rosy flush to her skin. So, I start taking us down before our guests get too suspicious. Fortunately, in the artificial night, they could barely make out the Ferris wheel, let alone us up at the top.

Abby and Marcus are holding hands now as they sit side by side on the wings of a fuzzy poodle moth. She's been venting her frustrations about the whole Lampe situation, and he's doing a fair job of just listening to her, and being supportive.

I don't know if she's really interested in him, or just needs someone, anyone, right now. But, it seems like she could definitely do worse than the son of a Count. And, if it lessens Amelia's jealousy, I'm all for it.

The girls and I go sit on an upside down hedge-hog and just snuggle for a bit. Abby's friends got a little bored of just watching her and marc, and started to investigate the menagerie. I'm feeling a bit puckish, so with a mischievous smile, I move the creatures about when those two are looking away.

Apricot, with her magical sight, catches on right away and starts giggling. Amelia want to know what's so funny, so I overlay an enhanced view onto her eyes. Which is much trickier than I thought it would be.

The two girls, Ashley and Rosa take a few minute to notice anything, but once they do, they start freaking out. At least, until my wives give the game away by giggling too loudly. By this time I can sense Marta arriving in a carriage with Stanwood, so I gradually remove the artificial twilight as I bring the merry-go-round to a stop.

"Marta's here." I warn as the painter and her escort start walking down the path.

"Auntie!" - "Abby!" ""Are you okay?"" The ask at the same time and start running towards each other.

While they console each other, I get a call from Oliver. "Everything went fine." He opens. "They actually gave up straight away." He chuckles. "Seems your move at Riverton is already paying off; their leader was already half convinced to just abandon the mission, and was talking it over with his team when we surrounded them."

"That is excellent news." The smile can easily be heard in my voice.

"Yes, it is. And thank you again. I'll talk to you later." The court wizard disconnects, as abrupt as ever.

"He got them?" Amelia asks.

"Yup, and it looks like they were going to run out on the contract anyways." I grin. "Having the 'fight' play on a loop outside the gates must be driving the poor guards mad by now, but it does seem to be effective. I'll have to make some more players so they can spread them throughout the country."

"Yeah, effective is one word for it." Marcus chuckles. "Dad pulled some strings and had one brought to the house for me to watch, and if I hadn't already been flat on my ass, I think I would have fallen down."

"That's our man." Apricot squeezes my arm. "If anyone knows how to put on a show, it's him."

"I just wish he'd quit falling on his ass every time he does." Amelia snorts.

"Hey, I'm getting better." I rub her back, and look up at the tree. "Last time I gently drifted down onto my ass, and then passed out." I chuckle and kiss her on the forehead.

"I'll thank you not to do that again, please." She shivers. "Scared the life out of us."

"I'm sorry, Amelia." I kiss her for real this time.

"Enough of that, you two. You've got guests." Marta's laugh fills the yard. "Guests who are dying to know what these wonderful contraptions are."

"Oh, I call this a carousel, and that's a... sky wheel." 'Sorry Mr. Ferris' I think as I start the amusement rides back up. "I would have made it larger, but we're still working on someone's fear of heights." I pull Amelia into a side hug as we face the newcomers.

"Wondrous." Awe fills her voice as I cover us in shade again. "I take it these are for your party?" Her sentence is more statement than question.

"Word's already getting around?" I raise an eyebrow. "The invites don't go out until tomorrow. Why don't you come inside? I'll give you a sneak peak at some of the other entertainment I've prepared."

"Oh, yes. Marta, you have to see these games he's created." Abby grabs her aunt by the wrist and starts pulling her inside. Her friends and Marcus trailing along after.

"Sorrel." The guild leader nods to me. "How goes it?"

"Good, Oliver rounded them up without issue." I nod back. "Abby knows there was a second team, but not what they were here for. Though I did fill Marcus in."

"That's fine, he's a good lad." He smiles. "So, make anything else new?" His eyes gleam as we walk down the hallway.

"There's a few new things, yeah."

***

"Thank you for such a lovely meal." Marta says as we finish up dessert.

"No, thank you for putting up with me being such a poor host." I smile self-deprecatingly. "I do tend to get lost in my own world when I'm enchanting."

"It was fascinating to watch though." She laughs. "Even if I had no idea what was going on, it was still very entertaining to watch not just one, but two new rune games come into existence."

"I had some idea of what was happening." Stanwood says. "And, I found it even more fascinating. Just how do you manage so many changes with nothing... well, exploding on you."

"Hmm? Oh, that's thanks to Magical Sight, I picked it up from observing Apricot." I smile over at my wife, who's sitting back and petting Mittens after finishing her second bowl of chocolate mousse. "I can see and correct any problems before they have a chance to overload the rune script."

'Not that problems really happen anymore.' I think to myself. I've already raised my enchanting skill to the point that I just don't make mistakes. I've even developed a bit of a sixth sense on how to avoid pitfalls and work around finicky runes. So, all those iterations were just me tweaking minor parts of the games to make it run true to memory

"I didn't know that was even possible for someone who isn't Fae." Stanwood's eyes widen a bit.

"Oh, Sorrel's quite good at defying expectations of what's possible." Amelia laughs from beside me. "You might even say he's our own impossible existence." She smirks while using my title to tease me.

"So, what do you have planned next?"

"I still gotta enchant those rides out front, and I want to add another one that lets people tour the garden." I think through my plans for the coming days. "Then, there's a handful more rune games I'd like to make before the party. And, I'm sure I'll be busy fending off people once word about Smith Street and Marcus gets around."

"Hmm?" Marta stares at the Count's son with a confused look on his face. "What about him?"

"Marc, mind if I show them what your bones looked like? Just the bones." I add quickly after seeing the look on his face.

"Very well, I'm sure they won't be the last people who want to see." He sighs out and turns away to face Abby who takes his hand under the table.

I project the image of his skeleton from last night for just a moment. Abby's friends gasped outright, and even Marta and Stanwood hissed a little, but I blocked the noise from Marc's ears.

"I have a Nature Magic healing spell that on its own isn't very useful because it drains my own strength to heal others." I explain. "But, it also lets me bypass the body's innate rejection of foreign mana, letting me piggyback traditional healing spells onto it. I've got to do something about those, by the way. They're just not very good, even with a bypass like Healing Sap."

"He really is impossible, isn't he?" Apricot teases their stunned looks.

"Dev told me about young Valli, but I had no idea. Do you have any idea what this means?"

"That a lot of people are going to be pestering me." I say flatly. "Look, I want to help everyone, and if I can work out a way to lessen the drain of those spells, I will. But, until then, I'm not going to let a bunch of strangers suck me dry. As heartless as that may sound."

"Was it really, that bad?" Marcus speaks up again. "You seemed fine after treating me."

"How many times did I refill my plate at dinner? How many donuts did I eat?" I counter.

"He also seemed fine after scaring off an army too." Amelia adds, "Right up until we were alone and he collapsed for a day. He's damned good at hiding mana drain, but that doesn't mean it doesn't affect him." She pats my leg with a proud look on her face.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"Nothing to apologize for." I wave the matter away. "But, I would be grateful if you spread the word that I won't be able to treat frivolous cases. I don't want every baron bringing their bunions and boils to me."

"Hah!" Apricot barks out. "Thanks for saving that imagery until after we ate."

"I also plan to make and distribute a medical imaging rune. That way, I can at least help the regular healers to be more effective." I shake my head at the long, long list of things I still need to do.

"You'll get there babe." Amelia knows me well enough to have guessed what I was thinking.

"Enough seriousness, though." I smile and stand up from the table. "Who wants a train ride around the garden?"

***