please have mercy

How long had she known for? The entire time? It felt almost like a betrayal, though Florian wasn't sure why. It wasn't exactly any of his business. They were family, yes, but there was enough of a degree of separation between them that meant they could have their own secrets. He was sure there were things that had happened in the Hightower household that he had never told Marian about.

It didn't matter now anyway. They were away from that life, the one that would force them to care. All that really mattered now was how Chris and Robbie handled it. Florian tried to put himself in their shoes. How would he feel if he found out that his parents weren't who he thought they were? If he found out that his brother was something he had been brought up to hate?

Florian had questioned everything he knew once before, when he had met Magdalena and they had sat up all through the night, talking about her way of life and his, and how the two really weren't so different. She had made him see how wrong he'd been, how different things could be if only he saw things from another perspective.

Florian took a breath in, and let it go. He shook his head, looking at Marian as he said, "You're doing your best for them, same as you always have. It's -- tricky. But Robbie'll get over it."

She couldn't ask those questions. They weren't Florian's burden to carry, and there was only so much he could do to help. He was already doing plenty just by being here, a man they could trust who showed an interest and told them stories. By reminding her that their past didn't have to condemn them. It could simply be one part of what they were.

"Do you think, sometime, you could talk to him? He's at the age where me being a girl and his sister means that I can't possibly understand anything or know what I'm talking about," she tried to smile even if she didn't make it.

"Just - perhaps if he hears it from you, it'll be a little easier to listen to the fact that maybe the Order wasn't correct in how they thought about fairies."

Or other magical beings. But she'd start with fairies. The rest of it she had her own difficulties swallowing most days.

He had to have his own weapons at the ready, a form fitting tunic, a dramatic cape, but he did not aim to outshine the gorgeous elven woman on his arm with any sparkles and glitter and whatever loud outfit he could come up with in this month of June.

Still, getting to dance with the woman he'd matched with writing letters just like they'd done back in February was enough to make a guy have his own kind of butterflies.

They passed through the night, both trying their best to behave themselves, sneaking a touch here or there. Kronk knew that she had to leave later on, and he wanted to make sure that they got a chance to just be together without anyone else around. It's what they'd been texting each other about over the last few months and tonight was the night.

Saying their goodbyes part way into the night once they'd talked to some people and enjoyed the dancing, Kronk led them back towards his apartment, feeling a little too warm for the warm weather they were having. He wasn't quite sure if that was just because he was layered in the summer, or that it was the doing of the woman next to him.

"Tonight's been amazing. Glad my pasty recipe worked." He teased with a grin, still with that little bit of disbelief that his gesture had gone down so well. Guess that just meant Marian was the right person to give them to.

She'd fully leaned into enjoying prom before then. She'd danced, she'd tried the food, she'd rested with Kronk in the slumber tent, and she'd made sure to connect with her friends. They had paused to look over the star wall as Marian added a quick note of her memories.

It was beautiful. It was wonderful. It was like something out of a dream.

Still, as he asked her if she wanted to leave, she only paused for a small moment before nodding with a smile. It didn't take long to gather their belongings and slip away to head back to his apartment. Then, the heat that had been building slowly began to rise steadily until she could feel the pink in her cheeks.

"As if there was a chance it wouldn't. You're an incredibly thoughtful man Kronk. I've been so lucky to be the recipient of it. And tonight was positively wonderful."

He had been finishing up folding and putting away the last bit of it when his phone buzzed in his back pocket. His hand tugged it from his pants and he opened the message as quickly as he'd seen it was Marian's name across the screen.

He grinned a bit at her response, knowing it was later in the evening, when he'd get some more flirtatious texts from her without the boys around.

Kronk: I will be your dutiful stylish parasol holder. What's my uniform?

Kronk: I'm very into equal opportunities to put hands to bare skin

Kronk: You can put your hands wherever you'd like ;)

But it felt like only a moment later her phone vibrated in her hand again and she found herself smiling down at her phone.

Marian: Oh, I think you should get a say in your uniform. Actually, I think there should be several so you can match each of the parasols. A uniform for each day.

Marian: That's good to know

Marian: I'm a firm believer in good sun protection. I'll make sure to do a very thorough job.

"Oh, I'm sure everyone had their own lovely nights," Isabela demured. "There are so many new couples! Did you see Gen and Audrey dancing together when she won queen?"

She would know. Even if the both of them had politely agreed not to talk about those experiences.

"Oh, I did see that! Do you think they're finally going to make things official?" After all, the gossip about the two of them had been swirling for months now.

He made a few more dumplings, routine showing in how quickly and comfortably he was able to pleat each one and set them aside for the pot that was about to start boiling. Each one was set neatly side by side in a row, and he had a spoon on hand that would allow him to gently set them into the water.

He nodded, scooping a couple of the dumplings into his spoon and putting them into the pot. He continued until the pot was fairly filled with the ones they had made so far. "I love having them ready for a quick meal. The work week can be so draining, so having something comforting at the ready is great. What would you prep for you that gives you that sort of feeling?"

"These days, whatever I'm cooking usually needs to feed my brothers as well as myself, so our meals are dictated a little bit by whatever they're willing to eat or whatever I can most effectively sneak vegetables into," she said with a smile.

Chris usually wasn't a problem when it came to vegetables, but Robbie was a lot pickier.

"I'll often make some kind of tray bake, like a lasagna, and put it int he freezer so I can pull it out on a week night. Or I'll make a big batch of pasta sauce on the weekend so its ready for me to serve on top of the pasta during the week."

"It's my pleasure," Milori said, as was the social script, but he meant it too.

He wasn't sure where exactly to start so he figured he'd see where Chris was at and let him lead.

"I don't...I don't know anything."

Marian tried to smile encouragingly. "Sure you do. You know about animals, right?"

"Oh. Um. Well, animals usually like me? And they listen to me. If they want to. I can't make them do things, but I can explain things and then usually they don't mind listening. But I just. Thought they liked me and that I was good with them."

Florian was sure that it wasn't all Order men, but still... he had heard several rumours about several different families. Mistresses, flings, torrid affairs. All of it had happened at some point or anything, despite the way everyone had tried to deny it all. He couldn't even be sure that his own father hadn't been amongst the men looking away from their wives; he might've gone to that chapel and prayed every Sunday with the rest of them, but that didn't mean that he practised what he preached.

Florian looked back up at Marian again. He knew exactly what his father, what his brothers would say. Excellent! They'd smile. Then he's no relation of ours at all! Chris would be cast out quicker than any of them could blink. Where he would go, where he would be sent, Florian didn't know. But he knew what his father would think of a stepmother's illicit affair.

All of those thoughts rushed to his mind as an instant, and he fought them all down. His brow furrowed again, but this time he did allow himself to ask, "Someone exposed him? Who? And-- when?"

Trust was simply so difficult these days. Even when there was no good reason. Chris had been her guilty secret for so long, she was struggling with the fact he didn't have to be.

"A well intentioned fairy that I was friends with. When she met Chris for the first time, she could sense his magic and she told us. She thought she was being helpful. It was a few months ago."

Of course, that very moment was what had put Marian under suspicion for her assault later on. The police had finally identified the real culprit which meant she'd been cleared. But the weeks of suspicion had left scars on a friendship not strong enough to survive it and they hadn't spoken since.

"I think the reveal was hard enough. But once they figured out that I already knew, well. Chris has forgiven me. Robbie hasn't. This feels like one more way I'm ruining his life."

Isabela was not overly fond of the content of this year's musical, but that was never really the point for her anyway. She came to the musical to see and be seen. Since the directors had never seemed to appreciate her talents, she had stopped expecting any good roles.

Now, she mostly liked to sit on the stage while the leads performed and gossip with her friends.

At the moment, she was sitting on a stage bleacher, next to Marian, lounging while Dipper and Joy were getting directed.

"Sooooo," she said, nudging Marian, "how was prom?"

Sometimes it felt like the lines struck a little too close to home, but she was trying not to think about it.

For now though they weren't working on one of her scenes, instead focusing on Dipper and Joy, so Marian was able to relax and enjoy the show. For a little while.

Legs crossed, she was sipping at her water when Isabela nudged her. "Oh, it was a lot of fun! Nothing compared to yours of course, but who possibly could?" she teased gently.

Milori wasn't sure how helpful he'd be, but he could only try. He'd recruited an animal-talent fairy as well, an Enchantra native named Willow, who could hopefully fill in any gaps.

As he approached, he waved politely to Marian and then to Chris.

At the comment he nodded, but he didn't speak yet.

It was Marian who said, "Thank you both for being here, we appreciate it a lot."

It was nice to see. "You're right. I hadn't thought of it in those terms but that's a really great comparison," Shang admitted. He continued to work on folding his next dumpling or two. "The nice thing is once this part is done they only really have to cook in boiling water for a few minutes. Really doesn't take that long."

He hummed. "Or they can be pan fried if you like a bit of a crunch. With that it's also really just a few minutes both sides."

With his corrections, she worked on making the smaller pleats in her dumplings. She still moved much more slowly than he did, but there was a sense of accomplishment to doing even that much.

"That's very handy indeed. Like you said, it makes a lot of sense to make them in a batch, and then you have a quick meal on a weeknight when you're tired. I can see why you enjoy this so much."

But then Marian continued, and Florian stilled, wondering if he had heard correctly.

A half fairy. There were worse things to be, Florian supposed, but... how? Chris was older than the fall of the Order, which meant that his father - Marian's father...

Florian looked down the hall, as if it might answer his questions, before quickly looking back to Marian. The silence stretched onwards, longer than he should've allowed it to, but the confused draw of his brows should have been enough to expain why.

"He is?" Florian asked. He paused, because he supposed Marian wouldn't have said it if she hadn't meant it. It wasn't a particularly funny joke. "But Robbie, he's not...?"

"No. He's very much our father's son."

Which was the problem. Her father had been larger than life. A charming Prince of the Order, generous with his rounds and his praise, the first in every fight, always with a story to tell and quick to silence any disrespect. He'd been a lion stalking through his domain, and Robbie was the young cub who wanted so much to be all of that. Even if he shouldn't.

"When Chris was born, my stepmother's affair was impossible to deny. She and Robbie's fairy godfather fled. I hid Chris. And we were told to tell everyone that they had both died - so that's what we did. That was why I stayed home to look after Robbie."

Why she'd never gotten married. She'd only gotten engaged after her father's disappearance. After her uncle wanted connections more than he wanted a nursemaid for the future Prince.

"When the Order fell, I brought Chris out of hiding. I just...wasn't ready to tell them the truth. Until the truth got told without me and we've been dealing with the fall out ever since."

But that wasn't something Genevieve understood. Almost none of the other Brunch Babes did. She knew she was right though, and she wouldn't be changing her behavior.

She would take the small olive branch if nothing else.

"How have you been settling back into life here in Swynlake? Is there anything you're looking to explore this time around?"

But she didn't continue to push. She knew when enough was enough. It didn't seem like Marian would indulge her in it anymore and that was fine. She could continue to play nice.

"It hasn't been so bad. I'm surprised how easy it was to adjust to the slower pace of things here," she hummed, settling back in her chair once more. "I think this time I just want to settle more. Establish myself more here. It's more than just me passing through and writing a blog about it. A change of pace was definitely needed."

Matilda was looking after Robbie for the moment, so they couldn't go back to the house. But perhaps this was better anyway, as close as it was to all of the animals.

Hopefully nothing dnageorus came to find them while they were waiting.

"Is he coming?" Chris asked quietly. She gave his hand another small squeeze.

Florian had been party to dinners like this many times before. It was only natural, he thought, when you had siblings with which to argue. It was inevitable. How many times had he and Felicity sat at a quiet dinner table after Fabian and Frederick had stormed off to their separate rooms? Or how many times had all four of them, and their mother besides, sat in stunned silence after their father had yelled at them for one thing or another?

Florian wasn't even remotely perturbed by it. he shook his head when Marian apologised, and said, "I'll take it as a compliment. I suppose it's nice that they feel comfortable enough." He chuckled.

He knew there was a lot that he didn't see, a lot that probably went on under this roof that he didn't know about. Petty squabbles and arguments that happened, compiling on one another, until something like tonight happened and it all bubbled over. Florian had seen only the tip of the iceberg; he was sure there was much more going on beneath the surface.

"Have they reached that age where they're fighting all the time?" He asked. "I remember when Frederick and Fabian got to that point. It's a wonder we didn't have WWE knocking at the door."

She'd gotten very good at clinging to the smallest of wins.

It was hard to imagine Florian and his brothers fighting like this, although she supposed that was only because she saw what they were like in front of other people. The dramatic handsome princes, the Hightower pride, the next generation of heroes, the golden warriors.

Until Florian disappeared. Until the world changed. Until it was just the two of them sitting here.

She needed to change with it.

"They'd been fighting a little bit. It got worse when they found out that Chris is actually half fairy."

She waited for his reaction as the sentence dropped between them.

"I think it'll still turn out well. And if you can't decided, a medieval peasant dress would totally get the job done, you would've hit a lot of different dreams with that one!"

For now, they had a room to finish decorating.

"Oh that looks so good! Thank you so much Isa. I think if we hang up this banner on this wall, that should be all we need to do."