A Birth day

Aria smiled as the male communicated with Marcus and Angus " the chickens in the fridge cooked , well slightly over cooked but its cooked none the less , I could make sandwiches for us" she offered " or a chicken salad with a dressing?" she asked as she moved to the kitchen and took out the chicken to show Angus and Marcus.

Ruby had seen the male fairy fly in to the house and she watched it in awe as he communicated with Angus. " the ice cream sandwiches are done in the freezer along with a trifle " she added motioning to Aria to bring them out if Angus wanted some.

"I have an idea," Angus said. "Let's cut some bread into cubes and toast up our own croutons and dice cup some of the chicken, warm the chicken and the roasted vegetables I made, and then toss it all together with a quick homemade vinaigrette for a warm chicken panzanella salad. I think I'll get myself a glass of iced tea to go with mine."

"Iced tea sounds great," Marcus said. "I'll get it." When the little fairy smelled the food, he fluttered up and flew behind Marcus to the fridge and landed on Marcus's shoulder, peering over to try to see what he was smelling. "Oh. Curious, are you? We call it a fridge, and it keeps our food fresh for us." He poured a couple glasses of iced tea and added lemon and sugar. The fairy seemed almost agitated by the sugar. Marcus put just a few crystals of it on his fingertip, and the fairy seemed to need to flutter over and count each sugar crystal one by one.

"Oh," Marcus said quickly. "Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Sugar crystals and salt crystals--bad. Honey--good. My apologies." He looked up at Ruby and Aria. "If they see salt and sugar crystals, they have to stop and count each one. It's a thing with them, like an OCD thing. Honey is better because there's nothing to count. Evelyn did tell me that once but I thought she was joking. Clearly not." He looked at the bowl of roasted vegetables. "Could I get you a few little pieces of vegetables or fruit?" He looked to see where the fairy was looking after he stopped counting the sugar, and Marcus said the fairy was looking wide eyed at the large cookie with the sprinkles on the counter. "That cookie is bigger than you are. You wouldn't be able to eat a whole one," Marcus laughed brushing away the sugar crystals. "If you want food, we'll make sure you get it." The fairy settled in on Marcus's shoulder again. "I don't think he's ever seen this much food before," Marcus said. "He's fascinated."

Aria listened to Angus and nodded " sounds perfect and we can have the trifle and ice cream cookies for afters" she said then glanced at Marcus with the male Fairy she chuckled " he's taken a shining to you" she said then noticed him count but understood when he explained why the fairy was counting the crystals and she nodded. Seeing him looking at the cookie she chuckled and broke a small piece off for him holding out her hand she smiled to the fairy who fluttered over and picked up the small piece returning to Marcus shoulder. " your right its a shame they are like this" she said " I hope Kate comes up with a habitat for them that's comfortable for them and their children" she said.

Ruby glanced down at the now napping babies and smiled piking up Caprice " I'll put Caprice to bed" she said and walked up with Finn behind her a she changed and settled Caprice down to sleep before returning to do the same with Dimond , turning to leave the room Finn settled between the cots and she smiled to him " make sure nobody harms them" she said softly " oh and fairies are nice don't attack them" she chuckled as she saw him act like he nodded his head. " good boy" she then headed down to the kitchen " need a hand?" she asked.

"You could make a lemon vinaigrette, if you dont' mind. There's a recipe in my book," Angus suggested to her. "It won't take me long to cut up some chicken and mix it with the vegetables. By then, the croutons will be hot and crispy and ready to mix into a salad.

Angus cut up the bread and put the cubes iin the oven to toast for homemade croutons. He diced the chicken and then minced up just a wee bit of the roasted vegetables, warmed them and put them on one of the plates from the tea set and offered it to the fairy. "Potatoes, parsnips, carrots and mushrooms." The little fairy was smiling like a little boy with a pile of Christmas presents. He took the tiny plate and began eating hungrily, his eyes closed, delighted with every single bite.

"Have you been looking for your friend for very long?" Angus asked. The male nodded, continuing to eat. "So it's been a long time since you've eaten or been warm. You can have all you like." Angus made the panzanella salad and added the hot and crispy croutons. He was tossing the vegetables and chicken and croutons when he heard a teeny tiny belch from Angus's shoulder. He glanced up to see the fairy was highly embarrassed at himself. "No harm done, Friend," Angus smiled. "Would you like any more? Or would you rather wait for the sweets afterwards? Fruit and cake and ice cream?" Those words seemed to be almost magical for him, and the fairy nodded enthusiastically. "Fair enough, then. Dessert it is. How about I get you some now so you can sleep with a full stomach for once."

"I'll get it," Marcus said. He plated up a wee little bit of the trifle with the fruit and then added another little bit of cookie with a small bit of ice cream. He gave it to the fairy who was elated with dessert, but it was the very first time he had ever had ice cream, and Marcus was guessing that this little one was going to be an instant ice cream addict. "Not too fast. It'll give you a headache. Take your time," Marcus told him. When the fairy finished dessert, he seemed to realize he was stuffed. Marcus took him back to the basket with his fairy family, and he settled in, lying beside the female, and covered with his new green blanket, and he quickly fell into a sound sleep.

"Well, now that our houseguests are settled for now, I think we could get some supper too," Angus said. "If Ruby is done with the dressing."

Ruby nodded to Angus then chuckled as she heard the soft belch from where Marcus stood with the fairy on his shoulder. She gathered the ingredients then added the lemon juice, garlic, mustard, honey, salt, and pepper to a small bowl, and whisk to combine them. Then she added the olive oil. As she poured in the oil she whisked continuously until the dressing emulsified. Hearing Angus she chuckled and handed him the bowl with the dressing in " this okay?" she asked.

Aria watched as Marcus moved to place the now well fed male with the female and smiled " I think they will be okay " she said watching as Marcus covered the male with the green blanket. " you know we could add a fairy home to the cottage for them to live in" Aria suggested " once we get the poisoning situation sorted " she looked over at Angus and Ruby in the kitchen.

"Perfect. Let's eat," Angus said, handing everyone a pasta bowl full of salad with some dressing drizzled over it. "I thought about some sort of house for them, but I don't have any idea what it should look like. Maybe our guests can give us some ideas tomorrow. Or maybe Kate has some ideas. She did a fabulous job on Fudge's tree, so maybe she can come up with something just as exceptional for these guys too."

"Well, but if all those eggs hatch, what are we going to do? We can't provide housing for a fairy village, you know," Marcus said.

"Well, of course we could," Angus said, "but maybe they wouldn't want that. I think we should wait and see what comes. If they want to stay with us, they might want our help or they might want to be independent. It isn't like a fairy eats much or takes up much room."

"Well, you're right, of course," Marcus said. "Great salad. I think having something just a little lighter before bed is a good choice. And I like the lemon dressing. Great choice."

"We need to be watchful that we're aware of where these two are. They are going to be curious about learning how we live and watching everything we do," Angus said. "We need to let everyone know in the morning to be very careful so we don't slam them in a door or shut them in a drawer or something."

"Oh good," Marcus said sarcastically. "Something else I hadn't given though to yet. You do have a means of thinking of those things, don't you?"

"Well, its true, though."

"Alright. We'll be careful. I'm guessing that if we give them a place to live, we'll not place them in nearly so much danger, though."

"That's probably true, too," Angus said. "I'll try to talk to Kate tomorrow. I'll want to see how Abbey is anyway. Just curious. How long does a fairy live, anyway, Marcus. Do you know?"

"On average? According to Evelyn, almost 1500 years, and they look completely ageless their entire lives, and are almost completely immune from illness. Poison, though, appears to be a completely different matter altogether, judging by tonight's events," Marcus said.

"You know, if I were a muggle, that might bother me that something the size of a preying mantis will live to be 1500, and muggles rarely make it to 100," Angus said.

"Fortunately, you're not a muggle, though," Marcus laughed.

Ruby took a plate and sat down to eat . " well its from your recipe" she said and chuckled " so it should be good" Aria listened to them talk of the fairies and how long they live for she was surprised it was that long. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to help

"Also we have the flower garden they could make their home there, but Angus is right the others should be told so they can watch for these two around while the female mends." she agreed with him about. having some way to tell when and where they were. " I do think for now he'll stay close to her and the eggs until they hatch." she said as she ate her food " your right this is good , really good." she continued to eat. " what time do the girls need to be back at Evens?" she asked

"Well, because they're an hour ahead of us, we need to have them there by 8 am their time, or 7 our time," Angus said. "Evan or Tara might bring them home if you ask, and frankly, they might like seeing our guests. I hope the girls did okay with Edward with their potions lesson, but he's usually a good teacher. And sometimes they make those potions formulas more complicated than they really need to be."

"And, the girls have a disadvantage that their books are in French, and they don't speak French," Marcus said. "Every lesson has to be translated for them while they learn French. Fortunately for them, they're using a French language program that's similar to what the Department of Mystery agents use for quick study of foreign languages. That allows me to help them through the difficult bits. That, and they say that Evan is a good language teacher."

"That is definitely one of his strong suits," Angus said.

"Oh, that reminds me," Marcus said, thinking out loud. He went to the desk, got a piece of paper and wrote a note quickly and then handed it to Aria and Ruby. "Evelyn's sizes. Just presume she needs a little of everything. Oh, and I've made a note of the style of bras that fit her best, not just her size. I'll either give you money or, you can go to Clive's and charge it to my account. I've bought clothes for her there before, so Clive has her sizes on file too. I appreciate you getting some things for her. I'll get her some of the other little things that I know help keep her occupied when she goes through these things. When we get it all together, I'll take them to her myself because she trusts me to be there for her when she goes through these rough patches. Not that you're not welcome to come, but you certainly don't have to."

"Evelyn might not needs us to go with you," Angus said, "but if you'd like the company, we'll be happy to go along."

Aria nodded to Angus as he told her the time they had to be up and at Evens ready for school the next day. " okay I'll be up anyway so I'll take them." she said then watched as Marcus took a piece of paper and hand it to her " great we'll get these once I get back from dropping the girls at Evens " and don't worry about it, she'll have the things she needs" she said with a smile " I'll go with you too see her." Aria said.

Ruby finished her food and nodded to Aria and Marcus " don't worry we'll get the things she will need " she said as she finished her food and gathered her s and Arias plate along with any others that were empty from the table. .

"If you keep an eye out on the wee ones, I'll go shower quick," Angus told Marcus.

"Go ahead. They're fine," Marcus said. Angus went upstairs and showered and changed into simply some pajama bottoms. He gathered up a fresh change of clothes for tomorrow and brought them downstairs with him. When Angus was finished, Marcus went up and showered and started his nighttime security checks.

As the house was quieting, Edward came over.

"I hear we have some new family members," Edward said.

"Marcus told you about them," Angus said, pointing to the basket. "Yes. It's very different from what you and I are used to." Edward didn't get overly close, but he looked in the basket.

"He's wearing white and green?" Edward asked very softly, when he leaned up again.

"Yes. Is that significant?"

"Perhaps. Consider that fairies are industrious creatures. Most of their kind are gatherers, crafts people, builders, that sort of thing. Agrarian, not a hunting society. They're too small for that. And, because they're so tiny, while they're out working, they need to not be seen any more than necessary, so they're going to need to be wearing largely shades of green to blend in with their woodland surroundings. A fairy wearing white would, then, be quite extraordinary, I should think."

"You're thinking he may be of a higher class."

"Most assuredly. Not necessarily a royal, but perhaps. The fact that he does not have a crown or a circlet of any kind would certainly seem to discourage that. What color is she wearing? The blanket covers her."

"Pink."

"Well, that might or might not be significant. Some of the females have duties related to flowers and nectar and such. However, it could be. Perhaps we'll know in time."

"If they're important, there could be others looking for her."

"Well, maybe. Have there been fae here before?"

"Not that I've ever experienced in my time here," Angus said, "but that doesn't mean they weren't here. We didn't know we had bowtruckles either but we have them now."

"Well, its getting harder and harder for fae to survive out in the muggle world. They're a bit safer in our world, but unplottable properties like this one is going to become more and more essential for any sort of magical creature the more that the muggles expand. If we can offer them a tree or a place for tiny ones like this to survive, who are we to not extend such kindnesses? Certainly we would want someone to be kind to us if we were in their tiny shoes?"

"Well, I am 100% certain that Brian is going to feel that way when he finds out. I am guessing that he isn't going to sleep tonight. He's going to be with Abbey tonight. I could take a moment and go ask him. It isn't going to matter so much for a few days, but I know he's going to be captive tonight and awake. Maybe he'd welcome something else to think about for a minute."

"I agree, but I also agree that you already know his answer," Edward said.

"I'll take first watch," Marcus said, "so you can talk to Brian and then get some sleep. You can spare me halfway through."

"That would be better," Angus said. He transfigured his pajama bottoms to jeans and picked up the shirt from the outfit he'd just brought down, and slipped on his slippers. "I'll be back in a minute." He apparated over to the main house.

"And I'm going to bed," Edward said. "Goodnight, you lot. If you need anything, speak up." He headed back to his place.