A Birth day

"No problem," Anise told Ruby. "We told Angus earlier we'd take care of them. They'll be fine here with us." She took the box from Ruby and put it on the nightstand between their beds. She checked and saw that the mice had plenty of trail mix and water, so she believed they were good for now. "They'll be good. Thanks, Ruby."

Marcus finished his check and made sure that Finn was secure in the nursery. Tonight, he closed the nursery door to make sure that Finn didn't go in and eat a fairy or go down and eat a dormouse. Then he headed to the bedroom.

"I think I'm going to make you and Ruby nuts. I closed the nursery door to keep Finn in there tonight. I don't want him going and making trouble for the dormice or for the Fae. I sleep lightly enough that if the babies start to fuss, I'll definitely hear them. We only leave the door open just an inch or two anyway normally, so I don't think it will be a huge deal to have the door closed tonight. But the fairies are so tiny that we need to take some extra precautions to keep them safe." He got into bed and turned out the light. "Goodnight, Aria."

Angus checked on the Fae and found them all in their little improved beds, all sleeping peacefully. That reassured Angus, so he got into bed and turned out the light, yawning.

"Yes," Angus said. "I think they're a lot more settled tonight. They know they're amongst friends now. that would be so hard, I think. I can't imagine losing everything I ever owned and then finding myself indebted to a family of giants. That would be nerve wracking, I think. Makes me grateful that it wasn't us. Night, Ru."

Angus got up early and went downstairs and started on breakfast. He found some strawberries in the fridge and he got to work making a strawberry puree. He used the puree to make some pink strawberry waffles and some strawberry syrup. He made a big skilletful of scrambled eggs and added some diced ham, potatoes, and cheese and onions to the eggs and then he plated a large platter of the waffles, a pitcher of the syrup and a bowl full of the eggs. He made some teeny tiny pink strawberry pancakes for hte Fae and set the cheeseboard up for them with some of the scrambled eggs without the ham, platters of the tiny pancakes with little pats of melting butter, pitchers of his strawberry syrup, pitchers of hot coffee and more medicinal tea, along with some fresh apple juice for them. He set warming spells on the food to keep it all hot, and then he packaged up some breakfast for Abbey.

"Breakfast is all served up and waiting for the fairies," Angus said to Aria. "I'm going to take Abbey's breakfast over to her. Feel free to dig in and get yourself a strawberry waffle. You lot need to eat while it's hot. I'll be back in a bit. I'm hoping I can talk her into eating this morning." He picked up the basket with Abbey's breakfast and headed to the main building.

"Its got a warming spell on it, so it'll be fine," Angus said. "They're still upstairs. I'm sure you could go get them without waking her if you're quiet. I'll be back." He saw Ruby heading downstairs, but he needed to get Abbey's breakfast to her, so he left and went next door.

The girls woke up and dressed and came upstairs, bringing the dormice with them. Sam and Victor headed downstairs, and the kids all helped themselves to waffles and eggs and coffee.

"These are great," Anise said. "Why hasn't he made these before? This might be my new favorite breakfast."

Marcus got up and dressed and came downstairs and when he saw the strawberry waffles, he laughed.

"Now, why didn't I think he'd make those?" Marcus said, pouring coffee for himself. "He normally makes them as pancakes, but Abbey's favorite food in the whole world is berries--any sort of berries. He used to make pink pancakes for her about once a week for her. I'd forgotten about them. If there was any food that she would get excited about, it would be her favorite pink pancakes. This will get that child to eat, I promise."

"They're awesome," Sam said. "I bet he could do chocolate ones too if we asked him."

"Oh, he's done that once," Marcus said. "I think it maybe was for Khaat's birthday one year." He put two waffles and some syrup on his plate and a spoonful of the eggs and headed to the table. "I didn't realize how much I missed these til I saw them on the sideboard. Any trouble with the mice?"

"Not a bit," Anise said.

Angus sat with Abbey while she ate breakfast, and he coaxed her through it. The pink pancakes were the trick, and she was delighted that he had made them for her again. She got him to tell her a story while she ate. While he was there, talking to her, telling her a story, she ate happily, and she finished her breakfast. Robert and Kate were glad that Angus had managed to get her to eat.

[i skipped time here, so i'm presuming that the fairies and edward, etc. are out in the garden]

Robert and Kate wanted to see the Fae, so they left Abbey in Brian's very capable hands, and they came over to the duplex. By the time Angus and Kate and Robert got there, breakfast was over. The boys were at work. Angus took them out to the garden where the tree had been put in the center of the garden. The fairies were already working on preparing the most essential rooms in the castle so that Minos and Ili and Emmi would have a place to live.

Some of the groundsmen were busy laying out the circular garden and the new plant beds and marking out where the stumps were going to go for the other fae, and they were moving things as quickly as they could.

"This is going to be a very ambitious project, I can tell," Robert said. "But it's going to be an amazing garden space when you're finished with it."

"I'm going to let them sort out who gets which stump by themselves," Angus said. "Minos and Ili can handle that. You do realize that this is not all going to be finished in one day, right? Hollowing out a stump and furnishing in it takes time and a lot of effort, especially when you're only three inches tall. And we really do not need them making a bunch of random decisions. Minos and I worked out a very precise plan for this space so it worked for them, for us, and caused no damage to the plants we already have. We need them to stick to the bloody plan.

"The flagstone circles and spokes need to be laid out, the new beds marked, and the water lines and pipes all need to be laid for the new water features that are going to be added. All the plants need to be dug up and moved to their new locations and replanted. All the stumps need to be put into their proper positions. The circles and the spokes need to be dug out, and they need to be paved properly with flagstone so that weeds don't come up between the stones. The beds all need edged. The water features all have to be installed. The enchanted lighting needs installed. The new circular garden fencing and the new gates have to be put in. That means the old fence has to be removed. Old post holes need filled in, and new post holes have to be dug and set in concrete so they can hold the fencing. This is a major project that is going to take at least two days to get just it done, and that doesn't even take into account how big a job it is to hollow out each and every stump and sand the floors and the walls inside, and install windows and doors and all the rest of it. They're not going to be able to be into their new homes in this for at least three to five days from now, and that's with using magic to get it all done."

"I'll fetch you some shoeboxes that you can put the furniture in until their stumps are ready," Kate said. "We dont want to let it sit out at night in case it rains between now and when they're ready to move in. We can label each box so they know which home each box goes to."

"Thank you, Kate," Angus said.