“The Mouse Queen will be assisting us," (Patreon)

I explained with regal finality. "She will be providing me with counsel on what we need to do to get the Empire up and running again.”

“We don’t need that durn goody-two-shoes!” Burnside griped. "Stiflin' our fun an stinkin up the place with her Seeliness!"

"Now now," I chided. “Meadow will be invaluable to our efforts, as she has a deep understanding of what needs to be done to start rebuilding AND she most certainly has knowledge of the volatile political situation between the surviving realms of Faerie.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Burnside, I expect you to behave professionally, as befits the title and station I gave you, a station that you willingly accepted. You knew full well that I am a Seelie elf and wish to create a Seelie empire.”

“Okay…” Burnside grumbled, crestfallen. "Doggone it..."

Everyone stood there in awkward silence for a long time, waiting for someone to say something.

Rebecca finally broke the hush by exclaiming: “We should introduce her to Thomson!”

“Who's that?” Meadow asked skeptically. "Are there more hangers-on lurking about?"

“Ms. Thomson is the lawyer I mentioned,” I explained.

“She’s also nuttier'n squirrel droppins,” Burnside added.

“And she’s your lawyer?” Meadow asked incredulously.

“Well, not currently," I admitted. "She defended me at the trial, and was sent into exile with me to the Antglade Diplomatic Post. She was at my side on the day of the battle, and I thought she had perished, but by freakish chance she survived! Unfortunately she has been driven slightly mad by living alone here in the Underworks for the past few centuries. But now that we've found her again, I’m sure I’ll have her right as rain soon enough.”

“Uh-huh…" Meadow muttered, eyeing me strangely. "All right, I may as well meet the rest of your ragtag bunch of misfits.”

As we guided Meadow to the Underworks entrance, I silently reviewed the events of the past day. Most of the evening and night had been spent on my tense stand-off with Bonsai, followed by Rebecca's first official magick lesson. That lesson had played out with eerie similarity to my own introduction to magick under my mother's tutelage, so long ago. How strange. At least this time the obnoxious pumpkin had been completely disposed of, so there was absolutely no chance that I would wind up having to eat-

“You’re all back!" Thomson cackled as she held a steaming pan of something that horrified me more the longer I looked at it. "Good! This means that you are all probably not a cruel dream I had. Look! Mr. Calaveras reminded me that I had canned pumpkin in my salvaged food stores. I made pumpkin casserole for everyone!”

“Oh boy!” Rebecca cheered.

“Yum!” Burnside exclaimed.

“That’s one of my favorites!" Meadow chimed in. "I like her already.”

"Where did you cook that?" I wailed in dismay. "Do you have a kitchen down here??"

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