"I missed ya too! And when are those beanpoles gonna learn how to keep a schedule?! Yer not a servant, jeez." He plopped down to wait in one of the chairs in which he sat all those months ago when they shared the first apple pie that she made for him. The waiting didn't do anything for his nervousness though, just giving him more time to come up with ways that today could go wrong.

"They'll probably never learn." Mellisandre turned back to the sink with a chuckle. "They think they're entitled, and probably are, because they paid for the catering and the missus' catering isn't cheap, especially not since the bakery became an imperial bakery. How did you manage to get the evening off from reigning after all?"

"Oh, she raised the prices because of that and now ya get to work harder? Foo... " Gnimish actually groaned at the thought of that, then chuckled at the second question. "It's easy to be makin' yer schedule flexible when yer the boss. Hm, maybe I oughta buy the bakery and cut yer hours in half." Of course he'd do no such thing, as the humor in his tone told her, but it was a fun thought regardless.

"Oh, then I'd have to live off half the pay, too." Mellisandre laughed as she sat up the last tray to drip dry and reached for a towel.

"All done. See, I told you I was nearly finished. That wasn't too long of a wait for you, was it?" She folded towel over a rack to dry and went to join him at the table.

"Oh, no. Not at all, Sandy, not at all." Despite the thoughts racing through his head as he sat there, he'd wait a lifetime for her if he had to. In many ways it felt like he already had.

"Oh, I almost forgot." With that she reached to untie her apron. She certainly didn't need an apron for enjoying the rest of the evening with Gnimish. Rid of the apron she held her hands out to him. "Are we off to somewhere or would you like to come upstairs?"

Gnimish chuckled as she discarded the apron, then took both her hands and smiled. "Nah, we're off to somewhere. I kinda have a surprise for ya... ya wanna get cleaned up or anythin' before we get goin'?"

Mellisandre took a step back and looked down her dress and then lifted a hand to check the state of her braids before she smiled to Gnimish again.

"I think I'm good to go, unless it's something involving the nobles."

"Nah, no nobles. Just me." He winked and released one of her hands, reaching for his amulet with it. That Gnimish was a noble, and since the ceremony Mellisandre, too, was a fact that occurred to neither of them. "Sorry there's no carriage today, I kinda thought we'd have less of a chance of gettin' interrupted again this way." And the two gnomes poofed away from the bakery.

When the two gnomes reappeared, Mellisandre found herself inside a small stone gazebo sort of structure overlooking a lake. The structure itself consisted of a circle of pillars, supporting a domed ceiling, and the setting sun reflected off the lake provided plenty of light to illuminate a small stone table in the center of the structure, upon which rested a picnic basket with a wrapped package sticking out of it.

"Oh look, Gnimish, this is beautiful!" She gave his hand an excited squeeze, her eyes looked out over the lake. "The colors are amazing."

Mellisandre took a drink from her glass and actually had to concentrate on the task. Was that a present Gnimish was pushing around on the table? Perhaps that was had him rambling this evening. He had been rambling a little, hadn't he?

"What's that?" She asked as soon as she sat the glass back down.

"What's what? Oh!" He'd managed to distract himself with his own thoughts that he almost forgot he was still touching the package. "It's somethin' for ya... would ya like it? Er, I mean, would ya like to open it.."

A drink was definitely needed to clear his throat after that, and he took a quick sip from his glass to wash down the cheese before she could answer.

"Of course I would." Mellisandre chuckled. She'd have hugged him, too, but somehow that wine glass had gotten into the way first. "Silly. Like I'd consider even for a second not wanting a present from you. Not a chance. It is from you, right?"

"Oh yes, yes! Definitely... actually it's somethin' I've been meanin' to give ya for a long time, but I just never found the right time." He lifted up the package and held it out to her, instantly feeling his heart begin to beat just a bit faster.

"I wonder what it might be." She took the package from his hand with a wide smile, curious to see what it was he had been holding onto for such a long time. "It feels soft."

With that comment she turned to unwrapping the package. Gnimish's nervousness was contagious and because of that it took her a little longer than it should have to open the present. But eventually she managed to wrestle the gift from the paper. She turned the luxuriously thick pot holder glove over in her hands. A grin spread as she realized what it was.

Gnimish's heart picked up another notch as he saw the glove in her hands, though he was smiling happily. "I, um, made it the same time I made yer cap... just couldn't think of a time to be givin' it to ya... didn't make sense to do ?em both at once, ya know?"

"That's genius. It can go on either hand, just as one needs it." In fact, it had a thumb on both sides. Only a gnome could come up with something that excessively useful.

Mellisandre was at a loss about what to do first; try on the mitt ever which way with both hands, or hug and kiss Gnimish.

"Yeah, I kinda put a thumb on each side... I was, um... well... anyway... " He chuckled nervously as he stumbled over the explanation. He would never, ever admit that the reversible oven mitt
was actually a tailoring mistake and he had accidently put two thumbs on it. Never, ever, ever.

"It's perfect, and so thick. I'll never burn my fingers again." Hugging and kissing Gnimish would be first, she decided just then. That way she would have a good excuse to hug and kiss him again after she tried on the mitt.

But when she stuck her hand into the oven mitt, her fingers encountered something uncomfortably cold, hard and metallic.

"Oh, whatever is this?" She fumbled to get a hold of the object between her fingers and then pulled her hand from the mitt.

He finally got himself under control long enough to return her gaze and answer, though he still felt a flood of giddy emotions flowing through him. "Hmm"

"The ring." She hoped she was still holding it and dropped her gaze to her hand. She'd just die if she had somehow managed to lose another piece of priceless jewelry.

"Oh, the ring... that is supposed to go onto a finger isn't it." He just chuckled and shook his head, having completely forgotten about such details. "Here, lemme help ya with that... "

Mellisandre was almost surprised and definitely very relieved to find the ring still in her fingers. With a little chuckle she watched Gnimish slide it onto her finger. Perhaps it was the practice he had gotten at the clothier, either way, the ring slid smoothly onto the correct finger at the very first try.

With a decidedly feminine gesture Mellisandre lifted and turned her hand to see the last bit of orange light reflect of the stone.

The diamond set in the ring wasn't gigantic or so large as to be gaudy, but it was plenty large. Gnimish wasn't out to compete or something, the ring had a meaning and significance all of its own, regardless of size. He did, of course, want her to find it beautiful though.

"It's beautiful." Mellisandre whispered, still awed by entire proposal. Then she wrapped her arms around Gnimish again.

"Do you think it'll be very different being bride and groom?" She wanted to know once she could talk again.

"I'm thinkin' it can only get better, Sandy... " Finally he managed to get himself up off the floor of the gazebo and back onto the bench with her, wrapping both arms around her. "Can only get better."

"We're really going to get married and be Mr. and Mrs. Gnimoi, getting up together in the mornings and everything." Mellisandre tried to imagine how that would be, completely ignoring the fact that Gnimish was not only Gnimish but also the emperor of Shylasa. "Mom and dad will be so surprised."

"Oh yes, oh yes... " The idea of waking up to her every morning was enormously appealing. Every night with her was amazing, and now he'd have the mornings too. The next thing she said caught him by surprise though. "... Mom and dad? Oh yep, I guess we kinda have to be tellin' them, don't we. Forgot all about that."

"We do." Mellisandre chuckled happily. "On one hand I want to go and tell them right now, but then I want for us to just stay here and enjoy the evening. We can still tell them tomorrow, can't we?"

"I'm thinkin' there's no rush at all." The idea of going anywhere or sharing her with anyone at this moment was absolutely terrible to him. "We can stay here as long as ya like. We barely even touched our food!"

"Right. Food." Mellisandre chuckled. But neither of them seemed terribly interested in food just now. In fact, when Gnimish poofed her back to the Moosegnobbler bakery much later, the bottle was still half full and nearly half of the cheese and grapes was still in their containers.

?I'm thinkin' there'll be all kinds of flowers seein' as though all sorts of folks will probably be bringin' 'em, yep!? He was terribly proud that he thought of that answer.

?And Gnimish will look absolutely beautiful.? Mellisandre added with a giggle.

?No, you will!? Gnimish chuckled and nudged his beloved baker, still wearing that goofy smile. Mellisandre just had to give him a quick kiss for that excellent answer.

?Will Gnim wear a tux? That would be too cute!? Rory had yet to run out of questions.

?What's a tux?? Mellisandre gave Rory a blank look.

?A tuxedo! It's a formal suit.? Rory explained.

?A tux? Oh, no... tux?? Gnimish would have answered faster, but he was busy getting kissed.

?No one would see under the pretty robe anyway.? Mellisandre quickly put her hand on her mouth, albeit a bit late, and hoped that no one, especially not Gnimish, noticed her slip. Of course, Gnimish being Gnimish, Mellisandre's slip flew right over his head.

?When did Gnim pop the question? How did he pop the question??

?A few days ago in the gazebo of an old temple, with a picnic and an oven mitt and on a knee and he was soo adorable and a long speech and it was ever so beautiful.? Mellisandre tried to describe all in one sentence,

?Aww! That sounds so cute! When Sar proposed to me it was more like ?Grab your things. We're going to go get married.? Yeah, that wasn't so romantic.?

Finally Gnimish realized that there was a chair beneath him that would probably like for him to sit down, so he did. Mellisandre promptly flopped down in the chair next to his.

?He even remembered to put the ring on my hand.? She told Rory with a wink to Gnimish, who could only fidget a bit more as Mellisandre related the proposal to Rory. He even coughed a little as she mentioned putting on the ring.

?Oh, yeah, I remembered. Honest, Rory!?

?How exciting! And romantic!? Rory sighed happily.

?It was super romantic, just as the sun was setting.? Mellisandre nodded a few times, and then leaned over to hug Gnimish.

?Oooh, Gnim. I never took you for the romantic sort!?

Gnimish wrapped his arms around Mellisandre, too. Their chairs clearly having conspired to be right next to one another just for the gnome's convenience.

?I couldn't just be doin' somethin'... plain... for Mellisandre, now could I Rory? I mean, really.?

?And then we went to the opera and everyone in the plot became vampires and they all sang like angels.? It was in fact the second time Gnimish had taken her to that opera, and Mellisandre had enjoyed it even more than the first time.

?How sweet! That's it. I need a gnome husband. I didn't realize gnomes were so romantic.?

Mr. Gnoffeymel With The Blessing In The Sitting Room

Mellisandre's mother did not need to be told like Gnimish's teammates had to be.

"Em, pull the roast off the stove, please. Dinner will be after you had a chance to chat with Gnimish." Mrs. Gnoffeymel had just opened the door to the pair, and before she even welcomed them in and greeted them, she called over shoulder to her husband.

Only then did she pull Mellisandre into her arms and whispered congratulations to her. She dampened her excitement long enough to nod and smile to the somewhat confused appearing emperor.

"Good evening, Gnimish. Do come in. Ah, there you are dear." With that she pulled her daughter with her and left Gnimish to face Mr. Gnoffeymel by himself.

"Good evening, Gnimish. Well do come in, you heard the lady." Mr. Gnoffeymel, not having gotten to see Mellisandre yet, was a little at a loss, too.

"Um, right, I'll see ya in a..." Gnimish's words trailed off as he half-waved to the departing Mellisandre, finding himself all alone with Mr. Gnoffeymel. What exactly had just happened, anyway? They were supposed to come in and be politely greeted in for dinner or something, or at least that was how Gnimish had imagined it.

"What's so urgent that dinner has to wait?" Mr. Gnoffeymel asked as he led Gnimish to the sitting room. He had been looking forward to that roast who's enticing aroma had filled the house for the last hour or more and wasn't entirely sure if he should not be mad at Gnimish for the delay in his enjoying the meal.

"I guess they're off doin'..? girl things or somethin'... so, um, how are ya?" Blissfully ignorant that Magorielle Gnoffeymel had very much intentionally left the two of them alone, Gnimish found a seat to flop down into and tried making small talk with the Gnoffeymel patron.

At the very least Gnimish and he were like-minded, and Gnimish's belly had no issue with voicing its objections, issuing forth a rumble in protest as soon as it received word from his nose on just how good the roast smelled. With any luck, Mr. Gnoffeymel wouldn't hear the rumble, but that was probably unlikely given how loud it had been.

Emlexander Gnoffeymel sat down in the stuffed chair and gave Gnimish his undivided attention, politely ignoring the rumble. Even so, Gnimish found his hand reflexively moving to his belly before quickly moving it away, suddenly a little self-conscious of how he was sitting. His hands moved from the armrests of the chair to his lap and back again before he settled on a pose with his left arm on the armrest and right arm in his lap.

"Are you planning to quit your job than and pick up baking?" Emlexander asked almost hopeful. On his wife?s advise, he had already started to make himself like the idea of his daughter being an emperor's wife instead of a baker. But he'd still prefer a baker son in law.

It was Gnimish's turn to chuckle, hearing that question. Indeed, when he was around Mellisandre he felt far more like simply 'Gnimish' than 'Emperor Gnimoi', but that didn't mean he could just drop everything and take up a trade.

"No, no. I'm afraid that can't be happenin'. But I can be makin' Mellisandre happy without bein' a baker, of that I'm certain. That's more important than anythin', makin' her happy. I hope ya know what a treasure ya have in yer daughter there, Em."

Emlexander nodded, albeit a bit thoughtful. Gnimish had said all the right words. But something still bothered him.

"Well, she can't be doing both, being up before dawn, standing in a kitchen and be the woman behind the emperor while you're reigning. Neither one of those are nine to five jobs, I am thinking."

"No, no, they're not. I dunno how, but..." Gnimish paused, tilting his head in thought.

"... well, it's gotta be workin' out one way or another, even with a title. I mean, she's got a title now and it dosen't keep her from her bakin'!" Of course Empress was a far different title than a mere Duchess. It would mean that she would be the ruler of all Shylasa in the event anything befell Gnimish. The council and nobles would try to shape her as they saw fit. Not to mention that the people would expect much from her, seeing her as 'one of their own'.

"I gotta tell ya, I don't wanna be doin' anythin' to endanger her career, Em... if that means I gotta make some kinda compromises, then that's what I'll be doin'. I don't need an Empress as much as I need a happy Mellisandre."

"Then let her be your empress who occasionally expels the staff from the kitchen to bake you a pie." Em chuckled, feeling inexplicably relieved. "She should be much happier doing that than shooing you out of the way in a bakery and teaching you how to keep books."

"If that'll make her happy, then that's what I'll be doin'...? Gnimish nodded, again tilting his head thoughtfully. ?But I'm kinda thinkin' about holdin' off on any official announcements and such until she's finished all her testin' and gettin' certificates. I don't wanna be takin' any of that away from her by havin' the testers think they gotta just hand it to her because she's marryin' me."

"That is a good idea. I'm sure we can make the girls keep their mouths shut for a little longer so that the press isn't getting to find out either. Then, when Sandy has her certificate we can have us a nice, big party. I'm guessing the wedding itself will have to be at the palace. But a little engagement bash here where she grew up shouldn't be interfering with that."

"Absolutely not, I'd be honored to be havin' a party here too, really. Ya got no idea how borin' and stuffy havin' a party with the nobles can be. Everyone just kinda sits around and looks all glum and someone gets up and makes a toast to somethin' that no one really cares about and everyone cheers for about five seconds." In truth, Gnimish would rather skip that part altogether, but it was expected of him and would be doubly expected of Mellisandre.

"Well then, unless you've any questions regarding her dowry, we should go let the girls know that I let you live and make sure that roast hasn't dried up." Emlexander waited for a moment to give Gnimish a chance to speak up. But he?d rather Gnimish didn?t want to discuss that. He couldn?t imagine that dishes and linens would matter any more to Gnimish than the price of a bakery did. Though the thing Maggie had amassed for their daughter were fine looking, he was certain the palace was already equipped with the finest of everything and Sandy?s things would look less fine in comparison.

Gnimish chuckled as Em made the decision to spare his life. His belly urged him to hurry up and end the conversation too. "Nah, we'd best be gettin' in there. " The whole dowry thing just seemed entirely silly, but it seemed to be tradition and far be it from Gnimish to interfere there.

The Emperor With A Skip In The Garret Room

?Speakin' of annoyin' beanpoles...? Gnimish glanced down down at the ring he had slipped onto Mellisandre?s finger some weeks ago. ?I'm gonna be hearin' plenty from 'em soon.?

?You will?? She understood that they were no longer talking of the people in the sword?s arena but of the members of the council on Shylasa. But she couldn?t fathom why he would be hearing from them shortly or why he would be quite this displeased about it.

?Oh yes...? He almost groaned. ?At some point I gotta think about tellin' the council about... well, us. Sure they'll be havin' lots of stuff to say.?

?They don't know yet?? So that was it. Gnimish hadn?t told them of their engagement yet.

?Surprising, eh? Guess we finally managed to avoid the papers.? He shook his head, chuckeling.

?I hope they don't get wind of the party. Mom started planning, of course.? It would be far better, Mellisandre thought, were the council to hear the news from Gnimish instead of from the paper. Their current luck with avoiding reporters could not last much longer. Sooner or later one would spot the ring on her hand and speculate on paper for all of Shylasa to read.

?Oh, I won't be tellin'. I'd rather that just be us and yer family and such.? Gnimish found her hand and gave it a little squeeze.

?You're going to absolutely hate it, too.? Mellisandre smiled wide as she tried to imagine Gnimish at the type of party her parents had planned. They would not get to arrange her wedding, so her mom was going to make up for that now. ?Just everybody will be there. Mom even has uncle Geelexander put together a dance floor.?

?Wait, could ya say that again?? Gnimish grinned and shook his head. ?I thought I heard ya say dance floor, but that can't be right.?

?You heard right all right. But don't worry, she's getting a real band for music, not the various cousins tuning their instruments. Haloprogneline put together a new one that sounds like a mix between cymbals, a saxophone and a harp. It looks monstrous, though, and is way too big to carry around.?

?Oh...? Gnimish chuckled again and tried to remember the last time that he danced, which was probably never. ?Sounds like somethin' a gnome should be proud of! I'm sure it'll be a, um, grand party and all too.?

?He certainly is proud of it. But he hasn't found anyone yet who can play it.? The instrument definitely was everything a gnomish invention should be; impressive with lots of shiny gears, buttons, levers, and whatnots and entirely too complicated to be figured out by anyone besides another gnome.

?He can't even play it?? Gnimish sounded surprised.

?No, not anything one would want to listen to anyway.? Mellisandre shook her head and Gnimish snickered.

?Well, it'll be a great time, I'm sure. I'll get to meet some more of yer family too, good thing yer parents gave me the tips on dealin' with 'em all. I promise I'll be keepin' my mouth shut about it, and I'll threaten Drakhan that he'll go a month without and caramels if he tells anyone.? He nodded sagely.

"Oh, you want me to actually... while you're watching?" He wasn't sure, but he thought he felt his eyes widen at the thought as she sat down. But he was determined not to embarrass her at the upcoming party, and if this was how to go about preventing that, it's what he would do.

Forward was easy enough, and he counted 1...2...3... as he skipped forward, the prismatic robe bounced about as he did so. Backwards wasn't quite as easy though, and by 2 he'd stumbled a bit and had to use the foot of the bed to catch himself.

"That was pretty good already. Let's just count to 4 each time." Mellisandre nodded encouragingly and counted out the skips with him as he tried again.

"Okee, lets try this again..." Her encouragement worked just as planned and he gave a little smile as he got back into position and skipped forward, 1...2..3...4, and backward, 1...2...3...4. The second time he realized that looking back over his shoulder didn't help his balance at all and he managed to finish without a single stumble.

"Very good!" Mellisandre applauded enthusiastically. "Now just forward, but in a circle."

"O-ho!" As absurd as it was, he actually looked proud to have pulled off the feat of skipping. "A circle now, ya say? Ok, gotcha... circle... circle..."

"One, two, three, four, turn around and go the opposite way, three, four, turn around, two, three four." Mellisandre watched, giggling as she called out the numbers.

"Circle, circle..." Gnimish let Mellisandre do the counting as he skipped around the room, even beginning to hum a little as he got the hang of it.

"I'm thinkin' this isn't nearly as bad as I - " as he spoke to her he made the mistake of turning to face her and his circle turned into more of an oval, which brought him right into the wall of the room with a little "Oomfph".

"That was pretty good already. Now there's only one more step and then we can try together." Mellisandre looked ever so happy, not letting on at all that this was the point where it got a little difficult. "Now you got to skip sideways."

"Sideways?" Only a little deflated by his impromptu meeting with the wall, Gnimish stepped back into the center of the room and tilted his head. "Sounds just like forwards and backwards." So he gave it a try, but only managed to take a normal, if bouncy, step to the side. The second attempt was a bit better, but was just more of a jump to the side than an actual skip.

"More than just one at a time" Mellisandre giggled. "Right, two, three, four, left, two, three, four, right, you can do it, left, I think you got it. Oops." The wall didn't seem to mind much, though, getting bumped into. And she wasn?t about to give Gnimish the time to get discouraged. "Smaller skips may work better. My room isn't all that big."

"Who put this wall here anyway? Ok, smaller, gotcha..." He got the hang of that too, laughing as he bounced back and forth across the floor of the little room.

"Nothin' to it, nope!" As if to show off his newfound prowess, he even mixed in a circle with the sideways skipping, then stopped before Mellisandre and took a little bow. "This dancin' thing wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, so that's the dance ya do at the party?"

"Well, those are the components." She smiled and stood up.

The Reptillian With The Charisma In The Arena

The two happiest gnomes ever poofed, hand-in-hand, into the swords arena. They were just in time to see the evening?s official grunt grumpily at the two ladies already present.

?Look, Gnimish, it's Xeenie, and he's grumpy. Do you think a cookie would cheer him up?? Mellisandre waved the little papersack she was holding because her other hand was busy holding Gnimish's.

Gnimish almost forgot the first half of her sentence as he heard the last half of hers.

?Oh, Xeenie, no reason not to try. 'ey, Xeenie!!? He tossed a wave that way.

?Yup, cookies, with chocolate pieces and stuff.? Mellisandre nodded.

?Hello, Gnimish. Mellisandre.? Xenograg never used pet names for anyone, no matter how much he may like them.

?Hullo Xeenie. Would you like a cookie?? At least he wasn?t using any titles, Mellisandre thought.

?No, thank you.? The reply was even.

?Oh wow, that *is* grumpy.? Gnimish was taken aback and blinked several times in utter surprise.

?Perhaps you should have one, Liberator. You do seem somewhat? grumpy.? Even one of the pretty ladies agreed.

?He sounds just like Russel. Maybe he's allergic to sweets, too. That would explain the grumpyness.?

?Humfph, I'd like to know what's so wrong with Sandy's cookies that'd ya be turnin' 'em down.? Gnimish turned and smooched Mellisandre's cheek as if she needed comforting after the refusal.

?'ey, more for us.? Mellisandre blushed a little under her green cap but smiled happily.

?You wish to be the target of it, Templar?? Xenograg looked at the pretty lady, not in the least appearing to have asked in jest.

?I know I'd be grumpy if I couldn't be havin' cookies anymore.? Gnimish nodded as the gnome pair reached their table and Mellisandre flopped into one of the chairs.

?Am I not already?? The pretty lady now was frowning.

?If you were, you would have no doubt whatsoever.? Xenograg looked even grumpier now.

?Then cheer up or you will bring the rest of the party down with you. Would you like something to drink?? The pretty lady replied.

?I already have something.? Xenograg lifted his mug.

?That lady talkin' to Xeenie looks grumpy too, I hope it's not catchin' or somethin'.? Gnimish shuddered at the thought, and then waved down one of the serving lads for a couple orders of milk.

"Oh!" Uriko put her finger to her lips. "Hmm, well I would say not to slash...... but it got her the point!"

?We have cookies.? Mellisandre waved merrily to Uriko, finally having recognized her as the glitter lady from the isle. And her not gloating upon Xeenie?s invitation deserved a reward, Mellisandre thought. Uriko?s head promptly perked up as she heard the word cookies again.

?I bet everyone'd appreciate it if we brought one here! The arena's very own Gyromatic Cookie Dunking and Plate Procurement Assistant! Oh, Uriko likes cookies, yep. I bet she'd use a GCDPPA!?

?Eh, don't listen to ol' grumpypants. You dueled just fine.? Mellisandre tried to cheer up the pretty lady.

?I am attempting to help her, Mellisandre.? Xenograg threw in.

?Being grumpy and making the ladies cry isn't helping, Xeenie.? What was that man thinking, Mellisandre wondered. ?You should have a cookie.?

?She's right, ya really should.? Gnimish agreed.

?I think Liena did a good job. I think it was just luck I won that duel afterall.? Uriko finished her contemplation of the duel.

Xenograg?s look seemed to say that he didn?t think luck had anything to do with it, but he held out his hand for a cookie with a defeated little sigh.

Grinning, Mellisandre reached into the bag for a cookie, ran over to Xeno to drop the cookie into his hand, and then ran right back to Gnimish and flopped back into the seat next to him.

Gnimish grinned triumphiantly as Mellisandre returned, and then watched Xeno with that expectant, ?We replaced the bad widget with a good widget, the device is bound to work now?-look.

?Thank you.?

?You're welcome.? Mellisandre replied with a merry wave. ?Look, Gnimish, he's all happy and cheered up now.?

?I bet if we had an image duplication box we could catch him smilin' when he bites into that.? Gnimish said just as Xenograg bit into the cookie.

?But we don't have such a box. You didn't bring your crayons either or you could have drawn it down.? Mellisandre wasn?t at all sure that Xenograg was smiling.

?Oh, yer right... hm? I really need to start bringin' my callin' pad on nights when I'm not actually callin'.? Then Gnimish saw Uriko prance over toward them with a big grin and waved a cookie at her.

?Hullo there. Would you like a cookie?? Mellisandre turned the opening of the bag so Uriko could pull one out without doing gymnastics.

?Yes! I would love a cookie!? Uriko?s smile was even wider as she followed the cookie Gnimish was waving with her eyes.

?Of course I meant us, together, and all.? Perhaps to help out his buddy, Bran chose just that point in time to make an entrance spectacular enough so that even the distracted gnomes couldn?t miss it. Mellisandre waved to the lizard. ?Look, it's Brannie!?

?Oh, I'll be tellin' Xeenie then!? Gnimish had cleared his throat a couple time as she patted his back, unable to hide his huge grin even with the near-choking.

?Oh yesss, what would a night of dueling be without the Gnomesss? ? Bran sent a wave back.

?That's us!? Mellisandre smiled happily as Xenograg let them know that he had a ring ready for them to duel in. She leaned over and gave Gnimish a sizable good luck smooch before they went climb into the ring and she pulled out the little shiny sword. Or was it him that gave her the good luck kiss? The world may never know.

?No pokin', ok?? Gnimish grinned mischeviously and whipped out Kui-sa'kai and waved it around at Xeno and Mellisandre.

?No poking, got it.? Mellisandre nodded her head and begun to swing her shiny little sword just as Gnimish extended his blade to poke her. ?Hey, you said no poking.?

?I, uh...? He glanced down at Kui-sa'kai, then back up at Mellisandre.

?If you get to poke, then I get to poke, too.? Mellisandre grinned and then did just that.

?It's only fair, I suppose.? Gnimish chuckled and stepped backward a bit, away from the shiny sword. ?Well, foo.?

?Oh, I'm hidin' from Sandy, don't tell 'er I'm down here!? Gnimish ducked down and found a golden braided, giggeling gnome waiting for him.

?Silly, I am Sandy.? She was still giggeling as they straightened up again.

?Sure ya are... ow, and ya got me too.? But she hadn?t hit him all that hard.

?Or maybe you let me get you.? Mellisandre suggested as she tried to copy some of Gnimish?s moves.

?You forgot to do the RAWRAWRAWR thing.? Bran called out some helpful advise.

?Rawrawrawrawr.? It didn?t have the desired effect, though, because by the time Mellisandre acted upon the advise the round was already judged over and the two gnomes were pausing for a breath before the start of the next round.

?Yer not scary at all I'm afraid.? Gnimish first had blinked at the odd sound coming from his baker and now was chuckling.

?But you should be scared. See, I have a shiny sword.? Mellisandre giggled in mid-thrust and ended up on Gnimish?s stop hit.

?I have my reptilian charissssma.? Bits of the conversation from within the other ring drifted over.

?Charisma?? Uriko tried to take a look at Bran and shook her head not seeing it. ?Really? You do...!? You have to show it to me sometime!?

?What? I would think my charisssma oozesss out of every ssscale!?

The Duchess With The Amulet In The Observatory


Mellisandre was nearly running when she returned to Gnimish's rooms in the palace, and she definitely was running as soon as she saw him. She nearly flew into his arms and hugged and kissed him before she rushed into speech.

"Oh Gnimish, it was absolutely wonderful, not at all like the tea last week. The ladies were all of them ever so nice, and the lady with all the white little curls and the wrinkles - I had no idea one could fit so many wrinkles into such a little face. She even has wrinkles on her neck. Amazing - anyway, she said I should be wearing the tiara when they come over here next week. It's okay that I said they could come isn't it? Do you know where that tiara went since the nice maid found it and brought it back?"

Since Gnimish had informed the council of their engagement Mellisandre had received invitation for tea, luncheons, or similar social gatherings from some of the noble females. Most of those she answered with polite apologies. Apparently the ladies didn't know that during the week Duchess Mellisandre Gnoffeymel was an aspiring baker. Certainly, they would not plan for the meetings for weekdays in order to force her to send her regrets.

But a few of those invitations were for weekend afternoons, and though she would have much rather spent those with Gnimish, she had accepted one or the other invitation. She would eventually have to meet all the nobility and now was as good a time as any.

Gnimish actually had to take one step back to keep his balance as Mellisandre wrapped her arms around him at a run, laughing happily before and after her telling of her time at the tea. He knew at least some of the snooty nobles would warm up to her eventually, how could they not?

"That's great! The tiara? Oh, I've still got it in here, ya can wear it next time! And of course it's ok if ya said they could come, ya gotta meet some of these folks eventually I figure."

"They're not all that different though from the committee and guild people we cater for. They don't know when it's time to be done." She just had to give him another kiss. "I much rather be spending the afternoon with you instead of with them. They really should be inviting the both of us. That would be a lot more fun."

"It would be, yep." He traded her one kiss for another, smiling as he gave her another little squeeze with the arms still around her waist.

"But they'd probably be even extra-borin' if I was there... everythin's gotta become a big to-do if the Emperor is attendin' and whatnot." He actually rolled his eyes at his own title after saying it, almost reflexively.

"They'll probably be a little more themselves with just ya there." He released her long enough to turn and take a few steps back into his room proper, motioning to a glittering piece of jewelry on one of his many crowded shelves. "And there's the tiara, just waitin' for that pretty head of yers."

"But it's so unfair. They all know each other, have known each other for decades. I don't know anyone there." She reached for hand and gave his fingers a squeeze. "There it is. I'll have to remember to put it on for the next time.?

"There's some more stuff to it, of course... summonin' portals and mass attuned portals and... well, it gets kinda borin' after a while really."

"That doesn't sound boring in the least." Mellisandre giggled. "That has to be more interesting that watching dough rise."

"Welp, the important part is that once a rogue portal is opened, it's like a permanent link to whatever's on the other side, and they can use it to come and go on Shylasa as they please. Most are actually rather benign, but others have been used in the past to bring entire groups of demons through, so they're entirely illegal." Gnimish chuckled and squeezed her hand, happy that he wasn't boring her to tears.

"Demons, aren't those horrible stinky thinks with horns and tails and claws?" What use anyone could have for such a foul creature Mellisandre couldn't fathom. "These stairs are horrible, too. Are you sure there's an observatory somewhere up there?"

"Yep, those're them. And I'm kinda sure no one moved the observatory. Never know around here." Gnimish grinned as they finally reached the top of the stairs.

The short hallway there led to a large set of double doors that easily opened, revealing a large room that was mostly empty, save for the huge crystal in the exact shape of Gnimish's amulet hanging from the ceiling. That and a few chairs and one table.

"Oh, I've been here before!" Mellisandre exclaimed as soon as she stepped into the room. She had been in the observatory before. In fact, this was the place she had first met Gnimish after a large, black dragon had practically dropped her through one of the windows.

"Ya sure have! Hm, and I guess he isn't showin' up. Ah well." Indeed, there was no sign of Drakhan in the room, though that wasn't such a bad thing to Gnimish.

"So! What we do is sit here and stare at that big thing and tell it where to look." It sounded so simple when he put it that way, and he forgot to mention that it required the user to be wearing his amulet as well.

"That sounds easy enough." Mellisandre let go of his hand to grab one of the chairs and maneuver it to where she thought was a good spot from which to stare at the huge crystal.

"Pretty much!" He flopped down next to her and watched the crystal for a moment. Before long it seemed the giant star was sucking the very light out of the room as everything around them became dark but the crystal glowed with a faint blue light.

"Oh." Mellisandre scooted closer to Gnimish, out of surprise. She didn't scare easily, and a crystal, even if it was the size of a huge punch bowl, certainly didn't scare her. Much.

"So here's where we are...." And sure enough, the center of the crystal became a blur of color for a moment before the image of the two gnomes sitting together appeared inside.

"Look, it's you and me." Mellisandre giggled. "You look ever so handsome."

?Who's that pretty girl in the picture?" Gnimish chuckled and tilted his head. Then gave her a playful little nudge and focused on the crystal once more. "Now lets see if we can't see what's keepin' scaly..." The crystal became a blur of color once more before stopping to focus on a few different areas in the palace, then outside, and finally came to rest inside a vast cavernous lair, inside which rested a sleeping black dragon.

"Perfect!" Gnimish gave her cheek a little kiss as he saw she'd brought the image up perfectly.

"Now try turnin' around... no, little too far... there ya go. Right toward the hill. Perfect, now head up the hill there." As the 'eye' moved up the hill and neared the top, it revealed itself to be more of a plateau, upon which rested the abandoned temple itself. A magnificently beautiful structure, clearly built in devotion to some greater being, the great structure just begged to be explored in the fading light of the day.

"This is fun!" Mellisandre was immediately fascinated by this new form of exploring and kept on going, down that hill and up another one and down again, toward a handful of buildings that caught her interest. "It looks like a farm. I wonder where all the people and the animals are."

"Yep, it's just like walkin' around, only ya never get tired and no one stops ya to bug ya." He had to snicker a little at that, but tried paying attention to what she was looking at. "Hm, wonder where... try headin' down toward the barn over there."

Mellisandre did just that. It took her a few moments to make out anything in the much darker interior of the stable once it came into view. When she did start to see details within the boxes that were to house animals, she gasped and grasped Gnimish's arm.

"Are you seeing what I think I'm seeing?" What at first had appeared to be empty boxes, now showed to be house metal mesh cages with little people - no, children inside them. "This is horrible! Can we let them out?"

"The heck is that?" Gnimish was as shocked as Mellisandre, if not more so, at the sight. But once the crystal adjusted to the poor lighting, it left no doubt as to what was in those cages. The distance and detachment of viewing the scene through the crystal did little to mitigate the shock of such a thing. "No, no, not from here... can't touch nothin' with the eye."

"Oh." That little expression sounded utterly deflated. But Mellisandre wasn't someone who'd let a seemingly impossible to alter situation keep her down for long.

"But we just have to do something. Let's at least see what else might be there. Those locks look easy enough to break." For a moment one of those locks occupied most of the viewing crystal. Then Mellisandre moved the view out of the stable and around a corner. "Shouldn't there be some people, or at least a keeper?"

"Lookin' all rickety to me..." Gnimish had leaned forward onto the table beneath the crystal, on the edge of his seat so to speak. Children in cages were horrible enough, but the very idea of this sort of operation, whatever it was, within the borders of the empire was offensive as well. Then something caught his eye. "Oh, wait, wait, turn it around...there, comin' in through the side door, ya see 'im?"

"I do." Mellisandre moved the view closer. Something about the man seemed familiar. "Isn't that a palace uniform he's wearing?"

For a long moment Gnimish was too stunned for words as he crystal revealed the image of the man, and it indeed was a palace uniform. This was only getting worse by the minute, as if there was some weird child slavery right under his nose all this time or something.

"Yep... think I recognize that guy too. Maybe. Not sure... store that image though. Oh, wait, ya don't know how to be doin' that yet, here." Gnimish reached over and held the amulet for a moment and focused on the viewing crystal, then released it.