A Birth day

Marcus watched all the available Fae flutter over to where supper was laid for them.

"Oh, they understand English just fine. They just don't have the ability to speak it. Their bodies apparently aren't designed to be able to speak human words. It's why they use gestures or signs to communicate with us," Marcus said.

"You can use the table to eat, just not the end Jess and I are working on," Robert said.

"I'll eat over here next to Angus so I can keep an eye on him," Marcus said, still working with tweezers.

"Jess," Robert said quietly, "if you can take a break, would you go over and make sure Marcus is getting all the foreign bodies and then see if you can clean and close all those little tiny punctures and cuts for him, please? We might as well take care of anything we can. And double check his vitals while you're over there, please. His nutrition panel was starting to slip a bit today finally. I expected that, but we can't let it fall too far."

Ruby smiled as the Fae started to fly over and sit at the table " oh that's good to know" she said and smiled at the fae " I hope its to your liking" she said as she then moved to dish up a bowl for Marcus and Angus. Jess heard Robert and nodded " he is stable, I'll do that now" she said drawing off her energy and moving to Angus she stabilized his energy and started some of the small cuts healing. She checked his vitals and checked the wounds on his knee " your doing well, I think you got most of them, there are still a few small pieces that aren't too deep and will wash away." she said to Marcus.

Aria helped bring the babies to the table and filled some bowls for them blowing on it to make it the right temp for them before grabbing her own food and sitting next to the babies to eat " the boys better hurry and grab food or we'll eat it all" she said and chuckled. Ruby went to the bottom of the stairs and chuckled as she called up.

" Foods ready come and get it" she called before moving to get her own food and sit at the table.

Startled, Angus's eyes flew open, and he jumped when Ruby shouted up the stairs for the boys. Before he thought, Marcus sighed, frustrated. It was the first Angus had dozed off all day, and she had woken him up by shouting. Marcus reached over and laid his hand on Angus's arm to calm him. Angus saw Jess finishing up the job Marcus had started.

"Sorry, Mate," Marcus said. "You're alright. Ruby, if it's all the same with you, I'll send them a paper bird next time if he's sleeping. Just say the word, and I'll take care of it."

"It's alright. I shouldn't be dozing at supper time anyway," Angus said. He noticed Jess was doing a bit of first aid on his knees. "Thanks, Jess," Angus said, trying to breathe to stop his heart racing after being startled.

"I'll get you a supper plate," Marcus said, as Minos flew back in with a bundle of something wrapped in a leaf. He showed Robert a number of tiny potions bottles, and Robert nodded.

"By all means," Robert said, knowing that Fae magic was what the Fae had relied on successfully for thousands of years. He was not going to pishtosh the Fae king's knowledge or efforts. "I'll give you a moment, shall I?" Minos nodded.

"No thanks, I'm not really hungry," Angus said to Marcus. "I can reheat something a little later."

"How about just a small serving, then?" Marcus asked.

"He'll be better by morning," Robert told Marcus. "He's just overdone himself. A good night's sleep will put him to rights. He's strong and healthy otherwise, except for these fractures, so I'm not concerned with his appetite being off one night. That's the least of my worries."

Marcus got up and got two relatively small servings, one for himself and one for Angus, feeling Angus might have more appetite if he weren't eating alone. Elwood made it to the table on his own two feet, and Robert smiled.

"Good work, Elwood. Your rehab is really paying off. How does it feel?"

"Like perhaps my final days won't be as a prisoner anymore," Elwood said.

"Pearl assigned you to bedrest decades ago. Learning to walk all over again is ambitious, and it takes time. However, I still think you should resist the temptation to predict a toe tag for yourself in your immediate future because I see it less and less all the time. Being here with your family has done wonders for you," Robert told Elwood.

Ruby looked at Angus seeing him jolt awake she realised what she had done " oh sorry Angus, yeah I'll do that next time" she said and sat with the babies when Marcus grabbed some food for himself and Angus. Aria fed Amari while Ruby watched Caprice feed herself with a spoon and doing a good job of it.

Jess looked up at Angus and nodded " your welcome" she said softly " there's just minor damage to the knee, no more foreign bodies in it thanks to Marcus's deft hands with the tweezers " she added it was now she saw Minos fly in with some potions for Robert and she finished up with Angus. Moving to Robert she watched as he stepped back to let Minos work with the Fae potions marveling at the technique he used.

Minos removed the damaged wings from the fragile fae, and he laid them down on a scratchpad of white paper and gestured to Robert that, if he wanted them, he could certainly have them.

"Thank you. That's very generous, Minos," Robert said. "You obviously are aware that some of our potions depend on powdered fairy wings." Minos nodded and made some small gestures that Robert watched very carefully. He got the general idea that damaged wings were of no use to the fae, except perhaps to sell them to a wizard. "Perhaps I shouldn't tell you this but I sometimes am laughed at by other potions makers because I do run short every now and then on fairy wings because I don't like to go hunt down a fae village to pluck their wings. I think that's entirely rude." Minos smiled and nodded.

"Minos told Angus once that Fae wings can easily be damaged by severe weather and other hazards of being tiny in a big world," Marcus said, as Minos fluttered over to Angus and began to make gestures to him. "They have gotten rather used to them needing to regenerate. It happens more than we might think."

"Minos is offering to save their damaged wings to give them to you for your potions if you'd like them," Angus said. "He says that we do enough for them that he believes if the wings serve some purpose for us, you should have them--so long as we can keep it confidential that he's giving the wings away. He would be basically shunned by other Fae kings for doing such a thing with a human."

"Our lips are sealed, Minos," Robert said. "We protect our friends--always. Thank you." Minos fluttered back over to Robert, and Robert watched some of the glow in the injured fairy start to return. "Minos, you are remarkable, my friend." Minos laughed, and it made Robert smile. He had never heard Fae laughter before, and he liked the little tiny bell-like sound."

"Minos says you should take advantage of the break and go eat. He will stay with your patient. His potions need a bit more time anyway," Angus said.

"You're getting very good at speaking Fae," Robert said. "I think I'll do just that. Thank you, Minos."

"No, Minos is a very good teacher, and he has learned to teach me slowly," Angus admitted.

Jess watched and listened as Minos spoke to Robert and Angus interpreted his sounds that Minos made to wards him. Jess looked at the wings and marveled at how small they were yet how valuable to potion makers. " I'll fetch a box for them" she said heading to the door and porting over to the main house into Roberts lab. Finding an empty box she placed some padding in the bottom of it and ported back.

Walking over she gently placed the wings into the box and closed it. Ruby watched and smiled as Minos made the offer to Robert she knew now he would have fae wings should he need it if they got damages which she hoped would not be that often around them. " they look almost iridescent" she observed as she looked at them " even damaged they are beautiful" she added

"They are iridescent indeed," Robert said to Jess. "If you've ever looked closely at a dragonfly's wings in the light, the cells shimmer in different colors, like nature's own stained glass. If you look at fairy wings in the light, they shimmer in different colors too but theirs aren't divided with so many cells. The colors swirl a bit, and they glitter. And I have never ever seen two pairs of wings that look alive. Rather like snowflakes in that regard."

"If Minos allows, Jess, you should look at his wings in the light. His wings are a great deal bigger, and more colorful because of his royal lineage," Angus said. "Some of that is determined by bloodline, it seems."

Minos nodded that he would show them his wings. Robert lit his wand, but not too brightly, and Minos fully unfurled his wings and turned around so Jess and Robert could look at them. For his size, they were bigger than he was, and they were full of all sorts of color in jewel tone hues, and they glittered like diamonds.

"Impressive, aren't they?" Angus said. "His wife's wings are every bit as beautiful. Hers are more feminine, and hers are in shades of fushia, indigo, violet and some bright apricot with some little gold threads."

Jess looked at Robert and listened to him talk of why the wings changed color like they did . She smiled when he mentioned Minos Wings and watched as Robert lit his wand and Minos showed her his wings " there magnificent, the patterns and color" she said watching the change color as Minos moved in the light. Hearing Robert talk of Minos wife's wings she smiled " they sound absolutely beautiful", not that yours aren't too." she added and smiled to him " thank you for showing me them" she added.

Ruby saw Caprice had finished her food and she cleaned up the bowl before placing her into the play pen where with a yawn she lay down to nap. Aria helped Amari to finish , wiped her mouth and then placed her next to Caprice in the play pen to nap while she helped Ruby clear away the bowls and empty plates.

The babies had no more than hit the playpen when Caprice started to shout babble, but Angus was starting to notice that it was the same babble over and over. To Angus, it sounded not so unfamiliar from when Abbey was starting to try to talk, to name things, and to him it sounded sort of like a babble and a raspberry, like "Blrrrbbbpt." And it was loud. She was trying to reach for something, and she was shouting at something--or trying to. Minos fluttered over to the playpen purposely staying out of her reach. She was trying to demand his attention, and she was getting angry and demanding about it. He shook his finger at her, and she gave him a pouty lip, looking like she was going to try to give him a big demonstration of crocodile tears. He scowled at her for thinking that she could get away with pretending to cry, and he shook his finger more firmly at her. Then he fluttered to Angus and gestured to him.

"I wondered if that's what that was," Angus said, and Minos nodded. He looked at Ruby. "Apparently, Minos believes that particular babble has meaning. He believes that gibberish is her sound she makes to try to get his attention. our child is speaking complete garbage at a king. Fantastic." That made Minos burst into laughter, and he accidently did a somersault in the air because he was laughing so hard. Angus reached up and caught Minos with the palm of his hand, and Minos sat crosslegged on Angus's palm, as if sitting with Angus was the most natural thing in the world.

Ruby heard Caprice and listened and watched as Minos flew close but not too close. Walking over she looked down at Caprice and then to Angus " oh, well that will stop quickly" she said smiling then chuckled hearing Minos laugh and sit with Angus. " I'm sure she'll grow out of that" Ruby said " if not as she grows we'll explain shes not to demand anything from any one" she said.

Aria cleared the table and wiped down the table making sure it was clean and ready for the next meal as Ruby spoke to Angus. Now with a clean table cloth on she placed a vase with flowers in the center and set the dishwasher going. " there all clean again" she said and chuckled. Jess sat quietly watching over their little patient as she saw his light brighten even more.