Little did the couple know that there was no such thing as a short visit to Desmond and Piper's house, especially when Lyneth was involved, and Desmond didn't waste any time in reassuring the young couple. "Don't be silly. We don't get visitors that often. Besides, I think you just made Lyneth's day," he added, chuckling at the small voice that was yelling from the kitchen.

Josh arched a brow, exchanging a questioning glance with Dru a moment before asking uncertainly, "Fairies?"

Judging by the look on Dru's face, she didn't have the first idea what Lyneth meant by "fairies". She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, and finally began to follow Piper into the kitchen, toward the little mischief maker who seemed to rule the roost. "Dare I ask what fairies you're talking about?" she asked as she slipped into the kitchen, and stopped abruptly, finding herself presented with the sight of Lyneth feeding her Kneazle with a spoon, while said feline was sitting on the back of Piper's Malamute, Loki.

Josh couldn't help himself when presented with that sight. His mouth dropped open a moment in surprise before he burst into quiet laughter. He'd never seen anything so silly in his entire life, and he quickly realized that life with Lyneth was probably never boring. He knew a little about fairies from some stories he'd read and Shakespeare, but that was about the extent of his experience with them.

The little girl looked up with a smile, but quickly returned her attention to feeding her entirely too intelligent feline, who appeared to raise one brow at the visitors as if to say, "So?" Smothering her giggles, Dru moved to slide into a seat at the table, for lack of anything else to do, watching as Piper navigated the little trio in her kitchen to locate glasses and the iced tea from the fridge.

Desmond jumped in to help ease the tension and explain about Lyneth's cat, which he knew probably seemed a bit strange to the younger couple, just as all of Rhy'Din had once seemed strange to him. "Lynnie, why don't you introduce Knip to Dru and Josh?" he asked, letting the little girl take charge of that while he helped Piper gather glasses and tea.

"But he hasn't finished his lunch," Lyneth protested innocently.

Dru's jaw actually dropped when that protest was backed up by the animal himself. The enormous ginger Kneazle turned around on Loki's back to look directly at Des, and proceeded to convey in a series of meows and other noises that he was not going to interrupt his lunch just to inspect visitors, thank you very much. Then he turned back around and started licking from the spoon again.

Piper smirked, trying to hide the expression for the sake of her husband's pride. Although ...."You did rather ask for that, love."

Desmond sighed resignedly, as if he was used to this behavior from what appeared to be an ordinary feline, but was obviously nothing of the sort. "It's rude to ignore our guests," he whispered back at Piper, secretly thinking both Knip and Lyneth were just a little bit spoiled, but not really in any rush to do anything about that little fact.

"It's okay," Josh interjected as he took a seat beside Dru. "We can wait. I wouldn't want to interrupt his breakfast." Or lunch, as it were.

"And, to be fair, Lyneth was the one who greeted us," Dru added with a smile, her eyes constantly straying back toward Lyneth and the two animals. It was fascinating, and a little intimidating. And here, she'd thought the most intimidating person in the house was Desmond.

Piper giggled affectionately at her husband's whisper, kissing his cheek, and turned to set the jug on the table, leaving the glasses to him. "We haven't seen you since Lena's wedding," she said, her gentle voice easy to relax to. "You're going back to Tirisano soon?"

Desmond went about filling the glasses while Piper interrogated, or rather, made small talk with the other couple, hoping she'd be able to put them at ease. Though she might be unaware of it, it was a particular gift of hers. He wondered if the other couple was aware that Piper was herself of noble birth. It was something they had in common with her, that no one else in the family seemed to share.

"In a few days, yes," Josh replied. "It's ceremonial season, and we're expected to be there." More so, Dru was expected to be there, but it wouldn't look good for him if he wasn't with her.

"Oh, of course," Piper nodded. "It's the same at home - England on my Earth, that is. We refer to it as The Season - a round of parties and outings and ceremonial occasions that lasts about six months, generally. You're lucky it's only August, it can be exhausting."

Dru laughed, surprised to find so much understanding in one of the most under-stated of the Grangers she'd met. "The highlight of the month is Independence Day, but I'm expected to attend a lot of different things," she admitted, glancing up at her eldest brother as he lingered near by. "It'll be a lot easier with Josh around this year."

"Are you gonna smooch in a cabbage and wear pretty dresses and stuff?" Lyneth interjected, scraping around the bowl for the last of Knip's food.

"Carriage," Desmond corrected with a slightly apologetic smile to their guests as he finished filling their glasses. He swore she did that on purpose, but had yet to really scold her about it, as she was too damned adorable. Thankfully, Desmond had learned how to interpret Lyneth's little mistakes, as Josh was looking more than a little confused.

"Oh," Lynnie nodded sagely, gently scratching Knip's head as he licked his lips. She put the bowl in the sink, and the Kneazle jumped down from Loki's back, letting the Malamute escape into the garden while he sized up the visitors for himself. "I thought it was wrong, 'cos cabbages don't make things with wheels. Pumpkins do."

Dru chuckled, the incessant ridiculousness of the child putting her more and more at her ease.

"Why does it got to be a secret?" a small voice asked from where Lyneth was snuggled against his chest, very comfortable, even if he wasn't.

Piper to the rescue, however. "Because Dru is a princess, sweetie," she explained quietly. "And a lot of people think that for someone to be a princess, their parents should be married. Dru's mummy and daddy weren't married, and Dru's mummy kept his identity secret so that no one would make his life hard for him and his children. Just because they're both gone now doesn't mean that secret doesn't still hold."

Des frowned a little at the thought of the shared bloodline, or more accurately, their shared father. He had no love for the man who'd fathered him and had no idea if Dru's mother's experience with his father had been any better than his own mother's, but it wasn't something he wanted to discuss in front of Lyneth.

Josh flushed a little, realizing he probably shouldn't have mentioned it in front of Lyneth, but it was too late now - the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. "We're just not sure who to invite," Josh explained further, feeling a little stupid for having mentioned it at all, especially since he thought he should know better. He offered an apologetic and slightly ashamed look at Dru.

"Shall we cut the cake?" Desmond asked, hoping to change the subject.

Despite the urge to change the subject, Dru smiled reassuringly at Josh, and lowered her gaze to Lyneth. "People at home would be very, very nasty to me if they knew who my father was and how he and my mother made me," she explained gently. "They would not have any respect for me, and I need to have their respect, because I'm going to be the ruler of their country. Do you understand?"

Lyneth listened, nodding as it was made clear, first by her mother, and then by Dru. "'kay," she conceded, perked up by Des' suggestion regarding the cake. "It's choklit, I maded it."

Desmond laughed, whatever mood he might have sunken into at the mention of his father quickly dispelled by Lyneth's buoyant mood. "Well, of course you made it! Isn't it obvious?" he asked, tilting his head a little to observe the lopsided cake. It didn't really matter because all that mattered was what it tasted like, but Des got a kick out of teasing Lyneth.

"Only 'cos it's awesome!" The little imp jerked upright suddenly, wriggling around on Josh's lap to lay her hands flat on the table. "And I want a big bit!"

Piper snorted with laughter. "Well, that's very unfortunate, isn't it, sweetie?" she pointed out. "Since I want doesn't get."

Desmond could have given her the usual parental excuse of "You'll spoil your dinner," but instead was found telling the little imp of a girl, "You know what happens when you have too much choklit," he warned, pronouncing the word exactly the way Lyneth had.

Josh got the feeling there was some little secret the trio was sharing that he and Dru knew nothing about, and it had something to do with Lyneth's fondness for sweets. He almost grunted when she wriggled around on his lap, one leg almost going to sleep, but he made no complaints, except for a mild look of temporary discomfort on his face.

Dru was just as at a loss as Josh, but managed to keep it from her face, watching in amusement as one parent took one tack with the child, and the other chose a different way. "Nice girls who sit properly on their own chairs and ask politely might get a proper piece of cake," Piper hinted with a faint smile.

As Lyneth pouted, Dru sensed an opportunity to help. She sat up straight in her own seat, hands folded demurely in her lap, and turned her eyes onto Des. "Could I please have a piece of cake, Desmond?"

Piper hurriedly turned her face away to hide her laughter as Lyneth stared at Dru, aghast at the sight of proper manners displayed when asked for.

It was impossible for Josh to demonstrate such proper manners with a very wiggly little girl on his lap, so instead, he thought maybe he'd try an entirely different tact. "Maybe you could sit next to me instead, so that I can have a piece of cake, too," he suggested to the little girl.

Between gentle parental discipline, gentle teasing from her aunt, and equally gentle suggestions for what she should do, for the first time in a long time, Lyneth found herself utterly without cheek to wriggle out of something. She pouted, sighed, and slid down from Josh's lap, climbing back up into her own seat with an air of being severely put upon. Piper smirked faintly, watching as her daughter put her momentary sulks away, and copied Dru. "Could I please have a piece of cake, Daddy?" she asked, her tone and accent identical to her aunt's out of sheer mischief.

Des had a lot of practice at keeping a straight face in regard to Lyneth and he proved it by answering her just as seriously and politely as she was asking. Of course, it didn't hurt that he'd had plenty of practice as a lawyer either. "Yes, you may, Lyneth, but guests come first." He turned to Dru and Josh, having a hard time hiding the sparkle of amusement from his eyes, even though he had a serious look on his face. "Would you like a slice of cake, too, Josh?" he asked, since Dru had already asked for one.

"Yes, please," Josh replied, sitting up straighter in his chair, since everyone else was.

Des went about cutting a slice for each of their guests, before handing them to Lyneth. "Lyneth, would you give Dru and Josh a slice of cake, please?" They had played at this plenty of times in her bedroom while pretending to have tea with her small collection of stuffed animals.

Playing tea party with her toys and having an actual tea party were two very different things, however. Lyneth practically glowed with the responsibility of carefully transferring two plates to their intended recipients, almost forgetting to stop and be thanked before she was climbing back into her seat to wait patiently for her own.

Josh couldn't help but chuckle at the lengthy explanation from Lyneth, especially at the idea that the birth of a sibling might only be so that Lyneth could have a baby to love. He had a feeling it had a lot more to do with Piper and Desmond wanting to expand their little family than with giving Lyneth a tiny human pet to dote on. "Are you hoping for a little brother or sister?" he asked curiously.

Desmond said nothing, but returned Piper's look with a knowing and adoring smile of his own. It was obvious to anyone who saw them together that they adored both each other and their little imp of a daughter.

"I want a girl, boys are boring." This predictable response from a little girl was followed up with, "But not boys like Daddy and you, and Uncle John, and Wufust, and Hump'y, 'cos you're nice boys. But other boys are mean and don't show you their winkie when you ask nicely and also grow up too fast and don't want to talk to you any more 'cos you're too little."

Josh arched a brow at the outpouring of information, which was not what he'd expected when he'd asked that simple question. "I, uh..." he started, but was quickly rescued by Desmond, who turned a stoic look on his daughter.

"Lynnie, you know it's not polite to ask boys to show you their winkie. It's naughty. You wouldn't want them to ask you to show them your private bits, would you?" he asked, turning the tables back on her.

"I don't have naughty bits," Lyneth answered loftily. "I have girly bits."

Piper swallowed a mouthful of her tea, raising a brow at Des as though challenging him to get the point to stick when Lynnie was being deliberately obtuse.

Beside Josh, Dru was snickering softly into her own tea, leaning against his arm to give him a little bit of moral support. There really was no one in the world quite like Lyneth.

"I said private bits," Desmond corrected. "Your girly bits are private, just like boys' winkies. You know this!" he added with a chuckle. He would have apologized to Josh and Dru for her, but she was just being Lyneth, and she was among family. "Why don't you finish your cake and then you can wash up and show Dru and Josh your garden?"

"But you said when I got older I would be able to ask boys nicely to show me, and they would, and I am older, and I ask nicely, and they don't," the little girl pointed out, cramming her last mouthful past her lips and wriggling her chocolate coated fingers at her father.

"She always manages to find the loophole," Piper murmured for Josh and Dru's benefit, realizing that Lyneth might be a little much for them.

"Much older. I mean like not until you're at least twenty!" Des told her, only half-teasing. He didn't want them getting a call from school letting them know that some parent or other complained that their daughter was a little too precocious for her own good. "It's not just bad manners, Lynnie. It's being naughty, and you know what happens when you're naughty?" That last part was phrased like a question, but was really more of a warning.

The warning worked. Lynnie opened her mouth to talk back, and abruptly closed it, wide turquoise eyes daring Des to follow through and make it perfectly plain in front of their guests. Instead, she pulled the napkin out of her collar and scrubbed at her face and hands.

"Good girl," Piper praised her, rising for a moment to fetch a damp cloth and finish the job while Lyneth relaxed.

It was rare when Des had to play the stern father figure, but there were times when it was needed or Lyneth risked becoming a spoiled brat. "That's my girl," Des added to the praise, leaning close to smack her still slightly chocolatey lips with an affectionate kiss.

Dru looked up at Josh, somehow managing to convey amusement and admiration for this little family in just her eyes. They were an impressive, cohesive unit, even with their little bumps. It was something to aspire to, almost.

Josh smiled back, reaching for her hand beneath the table, now that they were finished with the cake. If their future was even half this happy, they'd have succeeded well beyond his expectations. From what he'd seen of the various couples and family units within the Granger family, most of them seemed pretty well settled and happy. It was definitely something to aspire to.

Kissed, praised, and de-chocolated, Lyneth slithered under the table and pried their hands apart, claiming Josh's hand in both her own. "No smoochin'," she declared, popping up between them. "You got to see my garden."

Laughing, Dru gently swept the little girl's hair out of her eyes. "Is it a very special garden?" she asked, and tried not to laugh again when Lyneth made a face.

"No, it's a garden," the little girl said again. "It's my garden."

Josh was a little surprised to find Lyneth popping up between him and Dru and he found himself chuckling in amusement when she warned them against smooching. "I'd love to see your garden," he told her with a smile, hoping she'd be pleased with his interest in something that was wholly hers.

"I stand corrected," Dru murmured in amusement, happy to let the over-excited child drag Josh out through the back door. As Piper rose to clear the table, the princess looked across at Des. "Is she always so ....hyperactive?"

Josh glanced at Dru, a little surprised to find she wasn't accompanying them, at least not yet. He hoped Lyneth didn't ask to see his winkie because that would be awkward.

Des chuckled at his sister's question, amused at the way Lyneth had just manipulated the situation to get Josh all to herself for a little while. "Yes," he answered without hesitation. "But she's harmless really. She just loves being a child." While that might seem like an odd statement to make, it made perfect sense with regard to Lyneth.

She swallowed, wondering why she hadn't realized that he was bound to ask. More so than Jon, Des had to ask; he needed to know the details to make sense of things. "We were traveling in three cars, one after the other. I and my uncle were in the first, my mother in the second, and my other uncle and his wife in the third. The cars, unknown to us, had been sabotaged - the exhaust had been lowered on the first car, the brakes cut on the other two. There's a part of the route where the parade speeds up, so that there isn't too much bunching on the bridge leading to the Royal Mile. The exhaust on our car dropped and snagged on the cobbles, and the car flipped over, trapping us underneath. My uncle was knocked unconscious, but I wasn't. I heard screaming, and the sound of the cars behind us crashing into us. My uncle and his wife were killed instantly, but my mother ....both her legs were broken, and she was impaled through the stomach by a piece of mangled metal. No one could reach her. It took an hour for her to die. It took three hours for them to get us out of the wreck."

Desmond had heard countless stories from countless people during his years as a prosecutor. Through it all, he'd tried to maintain a certain distance, a certain aloofness. He couldn't afford to get too tangled up in the emotional trauma each victim was forced to deal with. He needed to keep a cool head so that he could prosecute the case to his utmost ability without getting emotionally involved or vested, though there were times when it had proven difficult. This, however, wasn't about a case or a victim he hardly knew. This was about his sister, his own flesh and blood, and despite the fact that he hardly knew her, his heart went out to her, feeling her pain and wishing he could help her somehow. All he could do, though, was give her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze to let her know he was there and that he was listening. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, and I'm sorry about your mom," he told her sincerely, knowing words weren't nearly enough to help ease her pain and her fears.

She nodded, swallowing against the urge for tears that always came when she revisited those memories, enfolding Des' hand between her own. "That's why I'm scared of the parade," she said softly. "But it is also why I'm insisting upon riding. No one seems to understand."

"I understand," he told her, letting her take his hand between her own, his expression far more sympathetic and compassionate than one might expect of a man who'd been hardened by the life he'd once led. He'd changed since coming to Rhy'Din, his heart opened by the love he felt for Piper and Lyneth, softened by the love and admiration and acceptance bestowed on him by family and friends. He felt more whole now than he had his entire life, and he wanted to pass on some of that to this youngest sister who seemed to need it more than the others. "Your uncle is just worried about you, Dru. He cares about you, and he doesn't want to see you get hurt. You lost a mother, but he lost a sister. I'm sure he doesn't want to lose a niece, too."

"I know he doesn't," she assured him. "But I have to do it this way. It isn't just my life at stake, it's the entire tone of the rule I will take on when uncle decides enough is enough. I won't begin that by allowing my people to think that I don't trust them."

"I assume someone was trying to either disrupt or overthrow the government," Des said, not out of curiosity but a desire to see the whole picture. "I also assume there's been an investigation to determine who was responsible for the attack," he reasoned aloud. It didn't sound like the kind of thing that had been accomplished by a single crack-pot, but a faction of some kind.

She nodded comfortably, relaxing a little more. "They're fairly sure it was the work of three or less, working without affiliation to any of the subversive organizations within the populace," she offered, having been fully updated on this as the saga went on. "There haven't been any arrests, however. They seem to have completely disappeared."

"Gone into hiding, more than likely," he replied with a thoughtful frown. Until they, assuming there were more than one, were ready to strike again. Though he didn't really feel it was his place to butt in - at least, as far as the government was concerned - the life of his sister was at stake, and that was not something he took lightly. "What are they doing to catch the perpetrators?" he asked further.

"I don't know the details," she confessed awkwardly. "It isn't considered information that I need to know. All I really know is that the investigation is ongoing." She sighed softly - it was frustrating, knowing that her family's murderers were still out there, unhindered and uncaught. "To be honest, I'm sort of hoping that I'm going to prove too big a temptation for them to miss out on."

"Yes, but if they're smart and they sense the security is too tight, they might wait for a better opportunity. One where an attack would be very unexpected." Des paused momentarily to think on it further. "How many people know you're here?" he queried, not trying to scare her, but wanting her to be smart about all of this.

"My uncle's trusted circle," she told him quietly. "Royal security, obviously, and Josh's family. It is being kept as close a secret as possible, to preserve my privacy with my family."

"And they're sure the perpetrators are not connected in any way with the government or have infiltrated security at all?" he questioned further, though there might not be any way to know that for sure, until her attackers were caught.

"As sure as they can be," she nodded. "There have been several attempts to set a trap of some kind, with information about my uncle's movements leaked to various sources within the palace and government. None has borne any fruit."

"Pardon the phrase, but maybe they'd rather try killing two birds with one stone," Des reasoned, leaning back with a quiet sigh. He had enough problems of his own trying to keep Lyneth safe from the Fae, but he couldn't very well turn his back on his sister either. There were professionals in Tirisano who were better trained at catching her attackers and keeping her safe than he was, and he couldn't very well follow her around from place to place, but he'd feel better knowing what was being done in detail. "I suppose I'm poking my nose in where it doesn't belong."

"What do you mean?" she asked, uncertain why he had chosen that phrase to illustrate his feelings. "Des, any advice you could possibly give me would be more than appreciated. I feel as though I am setting a trap on my own, and there is a very high chance that it could prove fatal for me. But it has to be done. And perhaps they are satisfied, whoever they are. They killed most of the royal family, and two completely innocent aides. Perhaps they have had enough of killing."

"Just so long as she doesn't try to grow up too fast," Dru said gently. "She should enjoy it as long as she can. It's no fun being an adult." Said the seventeen year old with the expectations of an entire country on her shoulders.

"Don't worry," Des told her. "I'll make sure she doesn't." He glanced at the door again, smiling at the sound of Lyneth's laughter in the yard. "She's having way too much fun pretending at being a little girl."

"Then you should be out there enjoying it with her!" Dru laughed, rolling her eyes at her brother. A thought occurred to her. "Oh ....do you have any idea how we could invite you to the wedding?" she asked curiously. "We have excuses for the others, but I couldn't think of anything for you."

He arched a brow, just now realizing that though he was her brother - or half-brother - no one in Tirisano knew that. "Are you planning on keeping your paternal bloodline a secret?" he asked, needing to know that first.

"I have to," she sighed, not happy about it, but understanding the reason. "It isn't so much that I was born out of wedlock, as the fact that I'm the product of an extra-marital affair. Our father was married - I don't know whether his wife was still alive at that point, but I think she was. And if that is the case, then I can't tell my people who my father was, or who my family is."

"Yeah, well....Dad had a hard time keeping it in his pants, I guess," Des said, hinting at the fact that he had not only known the man but didn't seem to keep him in very high regard. "For all I know, we could have half a dozen other siblings out there somewhere." The bright side of that was that had his father not been so popular with the ladies, Des' life might have been very different. He might never have ventured to Rhy'Din, and hence, never met Piper or Lyneth of any of his father's family, including his siblings.

"My mom loved him, you know," she said quietly. "Til the day she died. She really regretted the way it ended between them, and the fact that he'd been banished quietly but officially from Tirisano for seducing a royal princess. I don't think she ever told him that she'd had a child by him."

"So did mine," Des admitted quietly with a small frown. "I'm sorry, Dru. I don't have many good memories of the man." He didn't really want to tell her much more than that, letting her remember him as someone her mother had once loved. It was better that way. "Come on," he told her, reaching for her hand. "Let's go rejoin the party before they think we got lost."

It was a shame he had cut off that avenue of conversation. He might have liked to have discovered how much Dru loathed their father for her mother's unhappiness, for the taint of scandal that would always color her own lifetime. She had no good thoughts of the man, except the grudging admission that he must have done something right to have been loved by her mother in the first place. Instead, Des changed the subject, and she found herself dropping her hand into his. "All right, let's," she agreed. "Just no setting your imp of a daughter on me without provocation."

He hadn't really answered her question, but they still had time to figure it out. Whatever was decided, he wouldn't miss his baby sister's wedding for the world. He laughed at her threat. "You haven't babysat her yet!" he threatened - or promised - back at her with a sly grin on his face.

"That yet is a little ominous," she laughed back at him as he led her out into the back garden, to rejoin his wife and daughter, and her fiance. So perhaps it hadn't been the brother/sister conversation she might have been hoping for, but Des had reassured his baby sister in a manner no one else had been able to. She needed that reassurance, and now she knew where she could find it. And she was one of only five people who knew about Piper's pregnancy. If that wasn't evidence that she was part of the family now, Dru didn't know what was. She just knew she was going to miss them all while she was home, already itching for August to end and allow her to return. Rhy'Din was as much home for her now as Tirisano had ever been, and she hoped it would remain so, for many years to come.

((One simple scene turns into something more profound, as usual! Many thanks to my writing partner for her continued awesomeness, even while distracted!))