A Birth day

Minos took the two tiny crowns reverently, and he fluttered to the tray and saw the two bodies wrapped in gold. Minos drew back the cloths, one at a time, and then he knelt between the two, taking a moment to show respect to them. He positioned them carefully, thoughtfully. The little fae king wore green and white, with a robe of green, trimmed in white and gold. His robe had an emblem of a tree in white. The tiny queen wore white, trimmed in green and gold. Her robe was white and gold with the emblem of a tree in green.

Angus studied the faces of the fae king and queen closely. The king had sandy blonde hair, and the queen's hair was a shimmering silvery white. From the facial features, Angus was sure--these were his parents. Angus said nothing, giving Minos time with his parents. He watched Ili, trying to gather her strength to go join him. Angus reached his hand over to her, and she walked over onto it. Angus lowered his hand onto the tray so she could walk to him in just a couple steps. Instead, though, she knelt at the feet of the deceased royals, not approaching Minos. When Minos realized she was there, he stood, went back to her and reached for her hand. He led her up to see them.

Marcus was arriving back with seven little fae who were all seated close together on his open hand. They clearly did not feel well at all. Marcus was concerned that they get more tea straight away. He walked out onto the porch.

"How many did they find?" Angus asked.

"Just seven. Looks like there are four females and three males," Marcus said.

"Put them on the deck table. I'll bring Minos and Ili. Let's let the newcomers gather themselves if they choose to." Marcus lowered his hand to the table and the seven walked off and then sat down on the table.

"Minos," Angus called softly. "Your people are here. We found seven survivors." At that news, Minos looked up, looking for them. "I'll take you." Angus reached his hand down for them and he moved Minos and Ili to the survivors. There was a tearful reunion between them all. Angus noticed that they all appeared to be rather youthful, or about the same age as Minos and Ili--except one. A fae man who wore a tunic and leggings in a shimmering emerald green. His hair was a blend of blonde and shimmering silver. He bowed to Minos and Ili, though, so Angus was presuming he might be an advisor of some sort--perhaps a vizier of some sort.

"They need time to talk and time to heal," Angus began.

"Oh no!" Marcus said, looking up. He saw Pip was flying overhead, and the little owl dropped a package that was falling, heading right for the deck tabletop. Marcus flicked his wand at the package, casting a fast Arresto Momentum spell. "Catch that box, Ruby," Marcus told her quickly. "We dont need to smash any of our guests." Angus noticed the colorful wrapping paper around the box.

"That's a shipment of some dollhouse miniatrues. I've got more coming, but I think I'll need to actually order a lot more," Angus said. "Can we get the dishes washed up so I can feed our guests? And, Ladies, I need those quilts and towels and washcloths immediately, please? The new fae need to bathe and eat and sleep straight away."

"I'll get the food for them," Angus said. "Marcus, would you help clean and mend their clothes while they bathe and get them more warm tea. Then, while they eat, set up that tray with the moss for them to sleep.

Marcus warmed some tiny pitchers of tea and set it out for the fae. As the fae took their first ever warm baths, Minos brought the clothes to Marcus to clean and mend. Then Minos took the clothes back to their owners. Ili had taken the pitchers and had gotten some of the new tiny mugs and was pouring tea into mugs and delivering it to the new arrivals. When the clothes were all clean, Minos helped Marcus set up the moss covered tray with beds by laying seven new quilts and pillows down for the new fae to lie down on, and putting additional new quilts over top, turned back to make the little improvised beds look clean and inviting.

Angus pressed one of his large wooden cheeseboards into service as an impromptu dining room, and he put the dining furniture there. He took a sage green linen napkin and cut it into tablecloths for the tables and put them on the table, replacing the table settings exactly as Ruby had done them. As a last touch, he took some teeny vases and added a tiny chamomile flower to each vase with a drop of water

He took more of the leftover roasted vegetables, diced it into tiny manageable cubes, and heated it. He also cut up some fruit into tiny cubes and set out some plates of hot vegetables and some bowls of chilled fruit, along with some pitchers of cold, fresh water. He put some tiny tumblers out for the water, set out inviting looking plates with the hot meals on them, the bowls of fruit, and then, he made some teeny tiny slices of fresh, soft bread, and set them on platters on each table with a bowl of soft fresh Irish butter on each table. Then, as a bit of an afterthought, he took more small bowls and dolloped some fresh blackberry jam into the bowls for them to add to the bread if they liked.

Angus saw that Ili was looking anxious with nothing to do.

"Ili? Will this do, do you think?" Angus called.

Ili went over and saw the tables loaded with food, all so beautifully set, and it two tiny tears slipped down her beautiful cheeks.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," Angus told her softly. Minos came over and looked and then looked at Angus. He shook his head quickly at Angus, pointed to Ili and gave him a big smile. "Oh. Happy tears?" Angus asked, and Minos nodded. Minos looked at the table and nodded emphatically. This made him very happy.

And then Jack arrived with one more--a young one, smaller than the rest. Ili gave her a big hug, deeply relieved to see this one again, when she had, clearly, believed it was lost.

"Your daughter?" Angus asked Minos. Minos shook his head and pointed to Ili,and then tried to point this small one at Ili's side. "Ili's sister?" Angus asked. Minos nodded, seemingly relieved that Angus was smart. Minos was looking for something. Marcus laid out a small, clean piece of paper and the pencil lead. Minos picked it up and wrote a name. Emmi. "Emmi. Her name is Emmi," Angus said. Minos nodded.

"This new small one is named Emmi, and she's Ili's sister," Angus said. "Minos, I think the meal is ready for your people." Minos was able to make a loud buzzing sound, and it drew the others to the cheeseboard where the tables were laid, There was great excitement, and, at Minos' invitation, they all hurried to find places to sit and began to eat as if they hadn't seen any food at all in days.

"I think we've made them all very happy for the moment," Angus told the others.


"Thank you," Angus said.

"I think that could work really well," Angus said. "I think they're all going to be tired after lunch, and I expect all ten of them now are going to want to get some rest after their stomachs are full. Once we get them settled, I'll go out and take a look at it to see if it is structurally sound. If it is, I'll show it to Minos, and if he likes it, I'll talk to Edward about enlarging our garden enough to accommodate that tree in the center of it, and creating a border space all around it, inside the garden fence, to allow for the fae to build their homes around the perimeter of the garden, like Minos thinks he wants them." He got up and went into the kitchen, took some more tiny bowls and dished up each of the fae a teeny weeny serving of Ruby's trifle and as they were finishing their meals of vegetables, fruit and bread, Angus took them each a little serving of trifle. That made the fae exceptionally happy, all of them cheering. It almost sounded to Angus like a cross between buzzing and tiny bells. He was happy to know they were happy.

When they were all finished eating, they all had a cup of tea, and then, they all headed to get some much needed sleep. Angus took the moss covered tray that now had all the fae on it inside and he put it on the desk where it wouldn't be bothered. The fae each found a bed and crawled in, and most of them were asleep almost instantly. Minos was sitting crosslegged in the center of the tray, determined to try to stay awake to guard them.

"Minos," Angus said softly, "you're safe here. We will guard you. You can sleep safely here. We will keep you and your people safe. Just one question, though. Could I put your deceased loved ones to rest, or would you and your people prefer to be a part of that?" Minos thought and then showed Angus two fingers. "They would want to be a part, so they can all say goodbye, then," Angus said, and Minos nodded. "Then that's what we'll do. Get some rest for now." Minos sighed and nodded and then found a bed for himself.

"Maybe while they're sleeping, we should get some lunch ourselves. It's been a very busy morning," Marcus told Aria.

"That would be fine. What do you think about putting their graves around the two trees and the flowers that I planted back in the back of the tea garden for the kids? I'll explain to Minos that those trees and flowers were planted for our children so by putting their loved ones there too, then their loved ones will have a place where they will be remembered, so the fae will know we consider them our loved ones too."

"I think they'll like that," Marcus said.

"And, Jack, if you have any more tree stumps out there that need to go or that have hollow spaces, have your guys save them for the fae," Angus said. "They want to build their houses around the edges of our garden. That means, I'm going to have to move the plants out a bit to make the center square bigger to hold the tree in the center. Then I'm going to have to put the plants in a grid formation, rather like having roads and crossroads. That will help the fae to have defined plots for their houses around the edges. And then I'll have to replant the garden fence and the gate outside of that. And I' want to ask Kate about some sort of specially designed enchanted nighttime lighting that they'll like. Now are you completely confused? Not sure what they like about the garden, but if that's where they want to be, that's where they'll be. Might take me some time to do all that, but it's definitely going to have to be done."