"So, I hope you're both satisfied that everything is still in working order." I tease while helping Amelia and Apricot out to the carriage almost an hour later. Though, their current state has as much to do with me as it does with Apricot playing around with that lightning spell again.

"Very." Amelia lets out a low laugh. "But, I think we need to add a nighttime only rule for that spell. I think you broke Apricot when you turned it back on her."

"Mm fn." I think that was supposed to be 'I'm fine', but the pixie is still doing her best impression of someone without any motor control. "Vr fn."

"Sure you are." I lay her down in the back of the carriage with her head in Amelia's lap. "And, I might even believe you once you start using vowels again. For now, just lie there and let Amelia feed you some snacks until you recover."

"It is almost lunchtime." Amelia comments after checking the sun. "And, I could probably use a few more minutes to recover myself before dealing with the property people."

"Just tell me where to go." I say over my shoulder and get the carriage moving.

...

"F'd... F'ud... Fo... ood. Nnh." Apricot weakly pounds her fist on the seat. Amelia has been teasing her by making her say actual words before she could have a piece of licorice.

"Who knew pixies were weak to lightning." I chuckle darkly after glancing back at the frustrated thing. "I swear I didn't use any more on her than she did on either of us."

"And, she loved every second of it." Amelia joins in on the laughter. "Maybe a little too much. Mhm? She's telling me that you cheated, used your healing knowledge or something."

"Hehehehehe." I start giggling. "What? I would never trace out the nerves down there and stimulate them directly with electricity. But, I bet she won't be commenting on how long it takes me to learn a spell again anytime soon."

"Hahahaha." Amelia's laughter bounces the poor pixie's head up and down on her lap. "Oh, sorry, Sweetie." She stops jostling her patient and gives her another chew.

"..." What I was about to say is drowned out by a shout and a scream from around the corner a couple of blocks ahead. "Someone's hurt!" I say before jumping off of the wagon and running ahead much faster than Flicker could carry us.

My eyes take in the scene in an instant, confirming what my magic already told me. It looks like some kids were playing around and one of them ran into the street and got clipped by a horseman who took the corner a bit too fast. The child, a ten-year-old boy, broke an arm when he fell.

"Oh, gods. I'm so sorry. But, you'll be fine, you'll be fine. Healing day is tomorrow. Oh, gods quit screaming." The rider is doing a poor job of trying to comfort the boy but his friends won't let the man get near.

"Sleep!" I command and the boy stops screaming; I catch his limp form and lower him to the ground. "Everything will be fine; I'm a healer and was going to be working tomorrow anyways." I explain while setting the bent arm so I can fuse the bones back together.

The kid has a few scrapes too but is otherwise fine. I still give him a small dose of healing sap just to be on the safe side though. I also mend up his clothes where they got torn.

"Wake!" It seems that everyone has been holding their breath for the short moment of time it took me to patch up the kid because they all let out a relieved exhalation when the boy opens his eyes and looks around at all the people staring down at him.

"W-what happened?" He looks down at his arm like he's expecting it to still hurt.

"I healed you a day early. Try to be more careful about where you're playing from now on." I tousle his hair before turning to the rider. "And, you! Your time is not worth someone else's life. You're damned lucky that it was just a break and even more so that I was nearby."

"Y-yes S-s-sir." He stutters and takes a step back from the fury in my eyes.

"Dammit, Sorrel! You have got to quit running off like that." Amelia shouts down at me from the driver's seat. "I almost knocked Apricot to the floor of the carriage when you jumped off the driver's seat like that."

"Sorry." I duck my head and all the little boys say 'ooooh, you're in trouble.' or some variation. "But, it was a kid." I gesture the boy with the no longer broken arm.

"Mhm. Just get your butt back up here, I'm hungry." She scoots over to make room on the seat for me.

I do as she says and look back to check on Apricot who just sends me a thumbs up for taking care of the boy. I give her another piece of licorice as an apology which earns me two thumbs up.

"Sorry, Baby." I put my arms around Amelia and kiss her on the cheek. "I should have said more than 'someone's hurt' and run off. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I know. And, you know that I'm grateful that your first instinct is to help." A complicated look flashes across her face as she thinks of how we met. "But, you move scary fast. Seriously, I blinked and you were halfway down the street."

"Mhm. All those morning runs are starting to pay off." I smile down at her. "The rubber shoes help too, they're really good for traction. But, I think I need to start using a stronger formula on mine." I show her the bottom of my shoe and it's destroyed sole.

"Heheh. Oh, Sorrel." Her laugh turns into a sigh, but she rests her head against my chest and I can feel the tension draining from her.

"I promise to use that same speed to run away from anything truly dangerous in the future." I kiss the top of her head. "Now, do you want to carry Apricot into the restaurant, or shall I?"

"Mhm, we should probably just leave her here." I can feel more than hear Amelia's soft laugh. "She's got plenty of candy to snack on, she'll be fine."

"Dn't Yuu Dare!" Apricot pushes herself into a sitting position and glares at us.

"Well, I suppose now that she can sit up on her own it should be alright to bring her with us." The humor is clear in my voice. "But, you have to feed her, and if she starts making a fuss and crying I'm going to pretend I'm not with you."

"Hehehehehe." Amelia starts giggling uncontrollably when Apricot starts hitting me weakly about the head. "Hehe, Fine hehehehe. But, you hehehehe have to hehehe change her later. Hahahahahahah."

"I am not baby, yuu jerkss." Apricot carefully enunciates each word all while hitting the both of us.

"No, Amelia is Baby, you're Sweetie." I catch her arms and dart in for a kiss only for her to shock my lips when I do. Not that that stops me. "Mmm, as sweet and tingly as ever." I lick my slightly numb lips.

"Mmm, I hope you don't kiss real babies like that." Amelia jokes before moving in to get her own kiss from our fussy little thing.

"Can we eet now?" The pixie asks with a sigh.

"Sure." I nod and a wicked smile grows on my face. "Now, do you want Mommy or Daddy to carry you in? Hahahah!" I just laugh when she hits me with an extra-strong zap. "So, Mommy, then. Ow!" That one actually hurt.

"Alright, I think that's enough teasing for now." Amelia says after getting her laughter under control again. "Let's get inside before the place fills up."

I endure one more shock to lift the pixie up and settle her on my hip. We get a few funny looks upon entering the restaurant, but I just don't care.

"Table for three?" The hostess asks before adding in an undertone. "Uhm, is she alright?"

"Oh, yes." I chuckle. "She's just used to flying everywhere; her legs are just a little weak right now."

"O-of course." The hostess' blush makes me think she saw through my clever ruse. "Well, uh, right this way, please."

"Oh, gods. The look on her face." Apricot breaks into giggles after the woman leaves us at our table. "You lunkers are so fun to tease about sex."

"Are you feeling better now, Sweetie?" Amelia strokes Apricot's back. They're both on one side of the table with me on the other.

"Yes, but I'm still going to get you both back for that." She says that, but starts playing footsie with us under the table.

"I look forward to it." Just then, the door to the kitchen swings open, bringing the delicious scent of cooking food to our noses. "Almost as much as I'm looking forward to whatever that divine smell is."

"The seafood special." Amelia informs us. "They have a mage with storage on staff, and a contract with another one working on one the fishing boats down in the gulf, so it's always as fresh as can be."

"Mmm, been a while since I had some good seafood." It looks like it's been even longer for Apricot, she's already drooling.

"Oh, gods. Sorrel, please tell me that you can steal their recipe." Apricot says as soon as she senses my magic probing around in the kitchen.

"Heheh. Yeah, I should be able to, but we need to find us a good fishmonger." I don't even recognize a couple of the things they're cooking up in the kitchen, but I was never super big on non-plant sea life. "That, or maybe plan a trip down the river."

The waitress comes to our table after that and we order, three specials, of course. While we're waiting for the food to arrive, and fooling around under the table, a familiar face enters the restaurant.

"Sorrel, there you are." It's the fire chief and she looks excited. "You know, for such a distinctive trio, you're surprisingly hard to track down."

"Chief Struhl, to what do we owe the honor?" I say in a collected manner as Apricot and Amelia choose that moment to up their footsie game to eleven.

"The Baron and Edsel finally gave the go-ahead for the giant faucets." She snags a free chair and sits down in the middle of the walkway. Fortunately, we're near the back so she isn't in anyone's way. "Only Edsel says that he isn't going to be able to do it all himself, and I can't work stone to save my life."

"And, he told you that I can. I guess no good deed goes unpunished." The girls start giggling at that. "I'll be happy to help after the healing fair, but, as you can see, we're somewhat busy right now." The waitress appears just then with our plates.

"Ooh, get me one of those." Struhl tosses the waitress a gold after seeing our food. "What about after lunch? Surely you can at least get started."

"Sorry, no." I shake my head. "We've still got to find a property for the business, and aside from a handful of quartz, I don't have any stone in storage. I was planning a trip out to the grasslands to dig some up soon."

"Nng. I can help you find a building, but that's not going to help with the stone." She grumbles.

"Mhm. I wasn't going to show you this yet..." I bring out the quartz and iron that Ed let me keep and fashion it into a mockup sprinkler head. "This should be made from brass and glass, but these are all I have on me. The liquid inside the glass expands when heated by a fire, causing it to shatter, letting the plug fall out, and water in the pipe behind to spray out." I demonstrate with conjured water that vanishes before it touches anything else.

"This!" She snatches the sprinkler head out of my hands, much to Amelia and Apricot's amusement.

"Mhm. Ed's glass guy, Claude, is working on the ampoules right now." The waitress appears with Adriana's plate, but the fire chief barely takes the time to stuff it into her storage before rushing back out of the restaurant.

"Hahaha. That was mean." Amelia chortles.

"Would you rather she stuck around?" I reply and finally start in on lunch. "Mmm, now this is good. Almost as good as what you two are doing."

***