A Birth day

Aria and Ruby saw Marcus return and chuckled as he said he'd been told that he was hovering " Popy?2 Aria asked and chuckled again as Ruby sent the basket down for them setting a chill charm on it to keep everything cool. Aria walked over to Marcus you think now would be good to give her the necklace with Minos?" she asked Marcus " or should I leave it till later?" she turned the box in her hand not quite sure if the time was right.

Ruby walked over to Aria " go talk to Minos first " she said motioning to the door. Returning to feeding the babies she soon had both bowls empty before wiping the babies mouth and hands before lifting them into the playpen. " I'm sure we'll be okay out by the pond with the babies and the babies will love the fresh air as long as no grass hoppers appear" she said remembering Caprices first trip out when she grabbed a grasshopper and tried to eat it.

"Let me talk to Minos. I think Angus told him about Poppy and her love for fairies. I think I'd like to introduce them first before we have him do an incantation for her. I think meeting a real fairy will be a surprise in itself. Give me a minute and I'll go talk to him."  

Marcus went outside and had a word with Minos about meeting Poppy. Minos was only too happy to agree. He rode inside on Marcus's shoulder. 

"You can come along if you like. Maybe we'll get to the necklace. We can try," he told Aria. He went downstairs.

"Hey," he said to Poppy. "I know you're reading, but I'd like you to meet one of our next door neighbors."

"Where are they?" Poppy asked. 

"He's right here," Marcus said. Minos fluttered up from Marcus's shoulder, and Poppy's eyes grew wide. 

"Is he really..."

"This is Minos. He's a fairy, and he lives, he and his people, in their village right behind this house, in Angus and Ruby's garden."

"Minos," she repeated the name. "Such a cool name. Um..Hi, Minos. I'm Poppy." Minos fluttered over to her and sat down on the book she'd been reading. "I love your wings. You have the most amazing wings. They're stunning." He smiled and gave her a little bow.

"He thanks you," Marcus smiled. 

"Do you speak English?" she asked Minos. Minos shook his head.

"The Fae in Minos's village understand English but they don't speak," Marcus said, "not in the same way we do. Fairy speech sounds to us almost like tiny little bells or windchimes. We've learned to develop our own sort of sign language between us and the Fae. It isn't perfect but it works for us."

"I want to know everything. I have a million questions," Poppy said. Minos gave her a signal to slow down. "Um...slow down? Right?" she asked, and Minos nodded, giving her a thumbs up sign to show she'd gotten his signal right. Minos made a couple more gestures and Marcus nodded.

"Minos says you're smart. He doesn't think it will take you long, and you'll understand it as well as the rest of us."

"And you can do magic?" she asked Minos. Minos nodded.

"I think Aria has something that he might be able to do a little spell on," Marcus said.

Aria heard Marcus and smiled she watched as he walked out and spoke to Minos the returned with him on his shoulder. Aria followed him down to where Poppy's was sitting up in bed she watched as Minos was introduced to her and saw the loom on her face as Minos flew over to her and sat in front of her. Now smiling she heard Marcus and brought out the necklace and opened the box showing the sparkling fae bubble.

" I was wondering if Minos could do some fae magic on this, then, poppy i'm giving it to you, " she said with a smile as she placed it on the book on Poppy's knee on the bed. Aria sat on the edge of the bed next to Minos and Poppy.

"Its beautiful," Poppy said, looking at the bubble. 

Minos did a levitation spell to float the bubble in the air, and then he started to weave an incantation. As he wove his spell, the bubble began spinning in the air, faster and faster, and then he cast his spell on the bubble. The bubble shimmered for a moment, and then the shimmering slowly faded. Inside the bubble now was an image of Mino's palace and the sky. In the bubble, the sun was shining. He pointed to Aria and gestured to her. Marcus watched Minos's gestures for a moment to understand what Minos expected to happen. Minos had enchanted the bubble so that, when the bubble was shaken gently, the scene would change to a night time scene, and the constellations in the night sky would look exactly like they had on the night and at the very moment that Poppy had been born.

"He wants you to shake the bubble gently," Marcus told her, telling them nothing for the moment so that they could fully appreciate what the magic was that Minos had cast. He hoped they could see the night sky and the stars in the bubble. And then he planned on explaining that particular arrangement of stars.

Aria watched Minos cast his spell on the bubble and smiled she saw him point to her and picked up the necklace now with it in her hand she gently shook it , the image changed to a night sky and she smiled " look constellations" she said holding it out to poppy to take from her and look for herself " thank you Minos , that looks beautiful" she said smiling as she let Poppy take it so she could see it.

Taking it back she moved closer to Poppy and placed it around her neck. " there now you can see the sky and the stars anytime you want and Minos too" she said smiling giving her a light hug. Aria looked to Marcus " do the constellations mean anything?" she asked " I didn't recognise it"

"What do you mean you?" Marcus frowned. "How do you know what positions the constellations move to from one night to the next? You'd have to be more experienced than what the basic Hogwarts' astronomy class to recognize in which positions the constellations are in from one season to the next." He had not known her to have that sort of expertise in advanced astronomy.

Minos gestured, and Marcus watched closely to see what he was saying.

"I'm kind of good at charades in school," Poppy said. "Constellations, right?" She asked Minos, and he nodded. "Oh. Wait. The stars in each constellation stay in the same position, right?" He nodded, pleased. "But the constellations themselves move from night to night and season to season." He clapped, pleased. "And that's why astronomers need star charts to track the movement of the stars, isn't it?"  He nodded. 

"Good job. Looks like you and Minos will figure out how to communicate without our help," Marcus said. "I'm sure he'll visit from time to time, when he has time."  Minos looked at Aria and signed a couple of gestures together. It took Marcus a moment to figure it out. "I think I get it. He says the stars in the pendant are Poppy's birth star chart, basically. How the sky would have appeared on the night she was born." Minos nodded. "I didn't know you were such a scholar, Minos." Minos nodded, signing that he had been alive a long time and he had had many hundreds of years to study a lot of things. That made perfect sense to Marcus.

Aria smiled warmly to Poppy as she spoke and watched Minos working out what he was saying and she smiled when she got it right then Minos turned to her and spoke to her as he did with his hands . When Marcus explained she smiled " oh how wonderful " she said " that must take skill to do that , thank you Minos" she said and looked to Poppy.

"I stand corrected these are your stars, the day you were born , not many get to see that" she said smiling to her " I wanted to give you something special, something to make you feel that we are listening to you and care about you too just as much as your brothers and sisters." she told her then looked at Marcus before she slipped from the bed " I'll let you guys have some space" she said moving past Marcus she lent down and kissed his cheek with a smile " i'll see you upstairs" she said and headed up to see if Ruby needed ant help with the babies.

Ruby could see the babies just playing in the play pen happily and she smiled. Accioing a cup of tea she sipped on it a she read her book while half watching them let Angus have time to do what he needed.

"Thank you," Poppy told her. "Its wonderful. I've never seen anything else like it."

Minos didn't stay much longer, knowing Poppy surely needed rest. When he left, Marcus told Poppy about how the guys had gone fishing and he thought the women were going to go outside at lunch time but he was sure he and Angus were going to be around if she needed anything. She said she would ring her bell if she needed anything. Marcus agreed, feeling that giving her some alone time wasn't a bad idea.

Angus only slept a total of a couple hours and then he got up. He had been disturbed by nightmares about Suzanne. It frustrated him. He hit the shower, shaved and dressed, feeling that the shower had helped him to temporarily chase the dream out of his head. Then he came downstairs.

"So, you get a solid 2 hours, huh?" Marcus teased.

"Sometimes that's all I need," Angus laughed. He checked the kitchen and saw the boys had remembered to take the lunch he had packed for them. "Ru, don't forget you and Aria and the girls and Tara and Simone and the babies have a lunch picnic to do. It's almost lunch time. You could go out to the tea garden or maybe over to the big pool and have your picnic by the pool. Either way would be nice."

Ruby saw Angus walk down from upstairs and smiled at him . At his words she closed her book and accioed the stroller smiling to him " thank you for the reminder I was so engrossed in the book" she said as Aria stood up and walke dover to the adjoining door and knocked. Pushing it open she stepped inside smiling at Simone and Tara.

" we're going for that walk with the babies , you both still want to come with us?" she asked as she heard Caprice complain about being put in the stroller behind her and she chukled.

Ruby picked up Caprice and placed her into the seat but she could not get the straps done up before Caprice would push up and pop them out. Picking up Amari she placed her into her seat and Amari glared at Caprice who steeled and allowed her to clip her in she smiled to Amari and chuckled as they were wheeled to the door then Ruby went to gram the basket placing it next to the stroller.

Using what he had on hand, Angus fixed a lunch for Poppy of a chopped salad with fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and some diced grilled chicken with a homemade vinaigrette and some oatcakes. He put it on a tray for her with some iced tea, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies. Marcus floated the tray ahead of him and took it down to her. She hadn't thought she was hungry until she saw the salad, and it looked tasty enough that it encouraged her appetite. She told Marcus to thank Angus for it. Marcus left her to eat, and then he went back upstairs. 

Angus and Marcus opened a couple beers and ate their sandwiches enjoying the quiet.

"Do you have any idea when it was this quiet last?" Angus asked.

"No. Not a bloody clue," Marcus said. "Years. maybe centuries." Both of them laughed.

"After bedtime?"

"Nope. Too many people in this house snore like chainsaws for it to be quiet then. Even the ruddy dog snores," Marcus replied. "You should get a bit more shut eye while the house is quiet."

"No, thanks. I'm good."

"You're having nightmares again, then. Priscilla?"

"I'm sure she's either causing them or she's taught someone else to do it because I'm back in New Orleans again, in that cemetery."

"In the casket again?"

"I don't get that far to find out," he replied. "The rest of our team is there but they're not in the cemetery. I hear them, but their voices are distant. They can't get to me. They're in a fight of their own."

"Where am I?"

"Don't know. Can't ever find you."

"And you're there with her?"

"No. I'm there with multiple Suzannes. Everywhere I look is another Suzanne. But I know they're not Suzannes. I don't know who they really are, but they're appearing as Suzannes, and I'm on my own."

"Well, that's just all buggared, then because I would never leave you alone."

"Yeah. I know. But if it's all the same to you, I'm not going to nap this afternoon. I'll do alright as I am."

"You need to talk to Robert."

"For what end? He'd give me more dreamless sleep potion, and I already have some. There's nothing he can do."

"But your gran is coming back around again too. Something's up, and he needs to know."

"He's working, I'm sure I'll talk to him later."

"In that case, let's make use of the quiet and let me beat your arse in a chess game."

"Well, that would be a first," Angus laughed.

"Would not. I beat you last time."

"Did not."

"Did too. Get the board, and let's see who the best man really is," Marcus challenged.

"You're entirely too anxious to lose today," Angus said.