A Birth day

Aria smiled and took the daggers from Marcus slipping them back into their holders while she watched Marcus duel with Angus. Ari was surprised but not at the same time at how skilled Angus and Marcus were together. Once done she smiled as she listened to them talking to Pascal who said he was staying with Edward and Simone. I guess we'll see you in the morning pascal" Ruby said smiling to Pascal.

Aria walked over to Marcus " that was great , I'll take the daggers to Michael, you go wash up and recover" she said smiling as she ehaded to the main house to find Michael and ask about the charm on her daggers.

Ruby chuckled and headed back to the duplex to continue making their supper. " supper won't be long now" she said " don't be too long Aria" she saw Aria nod as she entered the main house before she moved to Angus " how did it feel dueling like that again?" she asked

"I hate to admit it, but I love it," Angus told Ruby. "I've always loved it. I guess I didn't really see that it really was making use of what I learned from Pascal. When I was a lad, Pascal ran a fencing school, and I spent some time nearly every day when I wasn't in school or traveling with Edward. And I had entirely forgotten that Pascal had wanted me to enter some fencing competitions but I didn't take him seriously.  Changing subjects, though, we should soon rescue Edward and Simone of our little monsters."

"That reminds me," Marcus said, sitting down not far from Angus. "I had a thought. Daria is struggling with where to find something to do for the summer. Maybe she could help with the monsters for the summer. She'll be thirteen before the new school year begins. What do you think?"

"I think that's a fine idea. I mean, a lot of kids start babysitting before Daria's age, and we'll be here, certainly. Or if we're not, Edward or Simone or the Fae will be here. She'll have all sorts of supports. And I'm sure she'll pick up on the routine soon enough."

"She is quick witted, that one," Marcus said. "And a hard worker, and she's good in the kitchen. She likes to help her gran. So I dont think you'll have an issue. If you do, you let me know."

"It might help Aria too because it will give her more time with her when Daria is around at the same time that Aria might be. Any objections, Ru?"

Ruby chuckled and smiled as Angus spoke of how he felt dueling pascal again " that's good , I'm happy if you are" she said and then chuckled nodding as she spoke again " yeah we should " she said pausing as Marcus spoke about Daria babysitting Caprice and Amari. The more she listened the less she needed convincing .

Once Marcus paused and Angus asked her if she had no objections she smiled " with a resume like that how can I, of course we'd be happy to have her be the girls babysitter" she said and smiled " we'd all have free time and some one capable to look after them, " she said as she turned and walked to Edwards side of the duplex.

Entering she found two little toddlers sleeping and smiled " awe, I'm here to take them home now, thought you could use the peace and thank you for looking after them as long as you did" she said smiling " suppers almost ready if you want to eat at ours?" she asked as she picked up the two sleeping toddlers one in each arm.

"We'd be happy to, but, if you don't mind, we'll take a raincheck," Edward said. "We''ve got some lovely take out from a London restaurant. We thought we'd make use of the tea garden if you don't mind, and we'd have a quiet supper outside in the gazebo."

"That sounds perfect," Angus said. 

"Angus," Edward said, "Fencing is one thing but actively training the way you like to do it, is a horse of an entirely different color. You train hard like you play hard. Do check with Robert before you do a great deal of rough housing, won't you? That kidney can take weeks to heal, I'm sure he told you. You do not need any more damage, and I know you haven't complained but even I can see you still have pain and fatigue from time to time. Do make sure he's given you leave to go back to the rough and tumble stuff before you get knee deep in it, won't you?"

"If it makes you feel better, fine," Angus said. "But if Pearl comes, she's not going to ask me if I feel up to it."

"That's different, and you know it. If the fight comes, then we'll face it together like we always do." Edward looked at Ruby and Marcus. "Do try to get him to keep his word, won't you? I'll get back to Pascal. He was just opening a bottle of some exquisite French champagne." He turned and went back to his side to help Simone prepare to take supper outside.

"He might have a point, though," Marcus said quietly to Angus. "And it won't hurt you to at least ask the question of Robert. You do not want the fight coming and you having to sit it out."

"I won't sit it out," Angus said strongly.

"You will if Robert does not allow you to go and sends us instead," Marcus said. That made Angus' blood run cold. The idea of anyone else fighting his fight for him unnerved him to his core. He didn't scare easily, but he was not going to let someone else do his mission for him. Suzanne had started it, and Angus was meant to finish it--not someone else. And it only made him more certain that he needed to make sure he could still do this, whenever it came.

Ruby smiled at Edward and nodded " of course, that sounds wonder full , enjoy your meal" she said and carried the babies to where angus , pascal and Marcus all stood. Hearing Pascal she looked at Angus then to Marcus "We'll try but he doesn't know Angus that well , does he" she said with a chuckle " if he can he will, that's Angus motto" she said then groaned "ho boy, just realised, caprice will be like that too come teens , oh boy i have my work cut out for me." she said and then chuckled as she held the toddlers close to her.

Hearing Marcus Ruby sighed and nodded but turned to speak to Marcus " you and I both know he won't stay out of the fight, my mother started it to get to him and I'm guessing now he feels he has to finish it, I don't blame him for thinking that way, its who he is" she said " all we can do it make sure the damage is minimal, right?" she said then smiled " now I must get these two monsters into their cribs ans PJ's , if you excuse me" she said and headed up the stairs to change and put the babies to bed.

Aria looked around for Michael finding his office she knocked on the door " hello?" she asked as she gently pushed it open.

Michael was sitting at the desk in Brian's office with a high intensity light, and he was wearing a pair of magnifying lenses and he had some micro tools and was working with a diamond festoon necklace set in gold. 

"Come," he said, focused on the work on the necklace. He had pair of pliers with small jaws and he was working on the prongs of one of the settings for the largest diamond in the center of the necklace. "Fixing one of Daniella's necklaces. She caught the prong on her coat and pulled it loose. I'm repairing the setting so she doesn't lose the stone. What can I do for you?"

Aria heard Michael and slowly entered the room " oh, okay" she said taking out her daggers and holding them " I was going to ask if you could charm these two , so if left in some one we could ind them, kinda like a locater charm maybe?" she asked as she watched him do the intricate work on the necklace " wow you got a steady hand " she said softly so not to disrupt him then stepped back out of his way. she gently placed the daggers on the table and moved to the door " you can do them when your finished with Daniella's necklace" she said smiling before she moved back to the duplex .

"I left my daggers with Michael, he was busy" she said smirking to Marcus " fixing Daniella's necklace she snagged." she said as she pored a cup of coffee for herself and moved to sit down next to Ruby.

"I'll get to it as soon as I fix this setting," he told her. "Shouldn't take a moment."  He didn't really question why she wanted such a charm on the blades, but he felt that using an accio charm was an easier way to retrieve the knives, but he could do the charm. So when he finished fixing the setting on Daniella's necklace, he cast the location charm on the blades.

"I shouldn't be surprised that Michael could do that, but maybe it comes from knowing fine jewelry," Marcus said. "I suppose, when one learns to look at tiny details like that, if he sees a snag with the necklace itself, it probably looked like a simple enough issue to fix with a magnifier and a pair of pliers. I've never tried to do something like it, even if I've sseen an issue, but maybe Michael doesn't have the same sort of hesitation I do about tinkering with a fine piece of jewelry."

He went through the kitchen to walk over to the duplex, and when he went through the kitchen, he saw Nicky putting out Indian Butter Chicken, naan bread, rice pilaf, and a very traditional Indian carrot pudding for dessert called gajar ka halwa. It smelled incredible.

"Save me some if I get waylaid taking these blades back, won't you?" Michael asked.

"Of course," Nicky smiled. Michael walked the blades back to the duplex. He knocked and went in and took the blades to her. 

"The charm should work fine for you," he told you. "What I did is sort of a reverse of an accio charm. So it made sense to me to make the incantation sort of a reversed version of accio. The reverse word to activate the location charm is Occia."

"Leave it to you to do something absurdly simple," Marcus laughed.

"Unlike Robert who wants a little more tradition to his incantations, I'd rather not make it so damned hard to remember," Michael said.

Aria saw Michael enter the duplex and smiled when she saw he had her daggers with him " oh thank you and , I don't want them to return just let me know where they are because if the person I throw them at gets hit they thro out thorns that won't let them be removed other than by the owner, and that's me" she said taking the daggers and placing them int their sheath. Taking one she held it in one hand her thumb moved just slightly and several thorn like protrusions shot out then with another movement they slid back in.

"Maureen showed me how to do it while Edward was talking to her father" she said smiling as she slid both back in to their sheath. Ruby chuckled at the swift movement of the thorns on the dagger. She looked at Angus " so your rapier shrinks and Arias daggers have those unremovable thorns unless its the owner that removes them, neat tricks " she said smiling.

"That's going to be bloody complicated for the rest of us, Aria, if you are injured and unable to go retrieve your blades yourself," Michael frowned. "We could end up with someone who's wounded that we just simply can't help. So, do be bloody careful about using that charm at all. That has some damned high risks to it. I can't help but having some serious misgivings about that one. Anyway, I have to get back, so good luck with your blades. I'll see you lot later."

Michael turned and apparated out as opposed to walking back to the main house.

"I suppose," Angus said to Ruby, "that's why Edward's bought so many things from Braylen's family. They've always had some creative weapons."  He got up and headed to the kitchen to make some sort of dessert. He gave it a little thought and then he made some orange bars.  They were like traditional lemon bars, except they were orange instead of lemon. He made some fresh coffee for those who might want some. When they were done, he took them from the oven, cast a cooling spell, cut them and put them on a platter and set them on the worktable.

"I made some orange bars and some fresh coffee if anyone wants one," Angus told them.