Corrander lays on his bed with his back propped up against the headboard and ankles crossed, his stark black clothing contrasting with the white bedspread. His mother would scold him if she could see him laying on the bed with his boots on! But Corrander rarely takes them off these days. He never wants to be caught in such a state that he couldn't fight or flee with the children at a moment's notice if he had to.
Corrander has a stack of books next to him. On his lap lays a large geography book open to a map of North America. He has a piece of tracing-paper laid over it onto which he's traced an outline of North America and has been filling in the boundaries of the current Fae kingdoms. He's starting to go a little crazy waiting here in this mage-realm and doing nothing to further his family's cause. With the help of the other Fae here, he plans on getting as many names of rulers and people of influence in North America that he can. Then...when the time is finally right...he'll bring Ian to meet them to gather them to him so they can fight Edmund and open the gates. Finally.

Corrander exhales heavily, and his eyes raise up to the paintings he did of each of his family members-- now hanging on his bedroom wall. "Soon...soon we'll have our answers..." he murmurs, his eyes lingering on the painting of his mother with worry. He wouldn't blame her if she'd finally given up on him and faded from existence, but his fervent hope is that she's still holding on. If he can only convince Nettle to try to enter his mothers dreams again and deliver a message for him! He knows she'll do it once she's not distracted with the demon-thing.

Corrander sighs again and glances down at the map. Then his eyes shift mischievously, and he reaches under his pillow and brings out one of the romance novels he found in Nettle's room. He opens it to where he'd placed his bookmark and eagerly starts reading from where he left off last time.
His eyes move over the words, and from time to time he issues a short burst of laughter...a groan of disapproval...a shake of his head in disbelief...a triumphant flash of his eyes...

"The girls are here! The girls are here!" Sarah shouts excitedly as she runs past his door, and Corrander-- startled-- quickly slams the book shut and shoves it under his pillow and tries to assume an innocent look on his face. Then when he realizes that she's not going to burst into his room, he mutters and pulls the book out, trying to find the page where he left off.
At that moment Simone starts crying-- awake from her nap-- and the lights on the baby monitor on Corrander's dresser light up red. Corrander gives a regretful glance at the book, and then puts it back under his pillow. He leaves the rest of the books where they are and gets up-- straightening his leggings and shirt-- and heads for Alec and Nettle's room where the baby's cribs now reside.

Simone is standing up in her crib, stretching out her hand to try to reach Ian's crib. Ian lays on his back in his crib with one of Sarah's stuffed animals clutched in his arms. Simone squawks at him as if to say, "Hey! Wake up!"
Corrander walks silently into the room, and as if on cue Ian's blue eyes open and seem to look right at him. Ian lays there watching Corrander for a moment, and then scampers up to his feet and holds out his stuffed animal. "Dah!" he says, offering it to Corrander. Simone turns and looks at Corrander and lets out a happy squeal-- her face lighting up.
If he hadn't wanted to believe that these babies were of his blood, living with them for the last year would have removed any doubt he had. Simone's eyes-- so eerily like his beloved sister Gwendolyn's forest green eyes-- and the way her face lights up when he enters the room...so like his sister's. Ian's intense blue eyes...identical to Corrander's...and his fair hair that nearly matches the color of Corrander's....if Simone didn't have Alec's brown hair, these twins could be he and Gwendolyn when they were babies. At least in Corrander's mind.

He smiles and takes the stuffed animal from Ian. "Diolch, Ian! I see you are up from your naps! Shall we find your mamau and tadau?" he asks, using the Welsh words for thank you, mother, and father. He's determined that these two should grow up fluent in Welsh if he can help it.
"Mam! Tad!" Ian says, holding out his arms to Corrander. Ian's speech has developed faster than his sister's, but Simone is more advanced with her physical skills. Simone looks at Ian with wide eyes when he says words, as if impressed.
Corrander beams and nods his head to Ian in approval. "Da dros ben!" He sets the stuffed animal down and picks up Ian in one arm, and Simone in the other, and walks out of the bedroom.

As Corrander approaches the entryway leading outside, he can hear the sound of...children's laughter. And not just Sarah's, but...multiple children. Then he remembers something about Oswald saying that he was going to be moving his children to the horizon realm because his lab wasn't safe for them anymore. Well, it appears this is to be the day. And better for the children! If Oswald's lab is anything like Oswald, it's a wonder they haven't succumbed to banality by now!

Corrander sets the twins down on their feet as they reach the entryway, and Simone immediate toddle-runs across the grass, pullled like a beacon to Sarah. Ian takes his steps more slowly and carefully, still a little awkward at walking without holding onto anything. And Corrander stands framed in the entryway with his mouth hanging open in surprise and confusion.

The grounds seem almost filled with little blonde girls-- all identical, and all about the same height as Sarah, if not slightly taller. It's obvious the girls must be Oswald's-- they're all a little unkempt and dressed in mis-matched clothing that only an unfashionable man could throw together. Yet...they all seem so filled with carefree joy when they run and play! How has Oswald managed this?? And why did no one mention there were 6 of them? Or that they were identical? Or...that they look nothing like Oswald? Wait...
Corrander squints his eyes, studying the girls. He feels a tiny shock of recognition..."What in the name of the gods??" he murmurs. His eyes quickly seek out Nettle as if for confirmation of what he thinks he sees.

Nettle seems to feel his eyes on her and glances over at him while in mid-conversation with Tannin as they discuss Sarah's training. Nettle's eyes widen and her jaw tightens when she sees the look on his face. Oops...she'd meant to have a little sit-down-chat with Corrander BEFORE the girls arrived, but...she hadn't realized how long her session with Sarah was going to go today! The twins are awake-- it must be afternoon already!
'Shit!!!' she thinks to herself and shoots Corrander a sheepish smile and holds up a finger to let him know that she'll be right over when she's done talking to Tannin.

At that moment Sarah and Holly-- the "extra-special" clone-- see Corrander standing there and skip over to him. Nettle gulps and quickly turns her attention back to what Tannin was saying-- feeling Corrander's stare burning into the back of her head.

"Uncie Corrander!!" Sarah says skipping over to him with Holly. "The girls are here!!" she exclaims. "Looksie, this is my extra special friend Holly." she says.

Holly looks up and blinks at Corrander. "You're handsome, are you a fae?" she says. She looks him over. "Father says that fae are chimerical beings able to enter at will a spiritual realm called the Dreaming. Can you go to the Dreaming?"

"What? 'Chimerical beings?' He actually said that??" Corrander exclaims, clearly offended, and then clears his throat and tries to smile a charming smile when he realizes he might be intimidating the girls with his majesty. 'Well this is clearly a child raised by Oswald!' he thinks. 'What is keeping Nettle?? Is she purposefully evading me??'
"We ARE the Dreaming, little one. It's where we are from. Arcadia, to be exact. And yes, I can enter any time I please." He pauses a moment, extending his senses around Holly, and his jaw clenches again.
"You have fae-blood in your veins." he tries to say as nonchalantly as he can. Who are your parents?"

Holly points to Oswald. "That's my dad, and Nettle is my sister. Father says my mother passed away when we were too little to remember her." she says. "But Nettle acts like our mom in a lot of ways. We're always playing and she teaches us things about life." Holly says. "Are you our uncle?"

'What???' Corrander thinks to himself incredulously. He stands there in stunned silence as he tries to digest how anyhow could believe that Nettle could be Oswald's daughter!

Nettle gives a nervous laugh as she swoops in to take control of the situation. "Hey guys! Sorry about that! I had to finish talking to Tannin!" She sees Sarah and Holly looking up at Corrander expectantly, as if waiting for an answer, and Corrander staring at Holly with his forehead furrowed in confusion. Nettle gives another high-pitched nervous laugh-- not unlike Mozart's in the movie "Amadeus"-- and takes Corrander's arm.

"I see you're meeting the girls! Holly, this is our Uncle Corrander! Corrander, this is Holly! She's one of my little sisters!" Nettle points out the other five girls. "Over there are Lily, Rose, Violet, Ivy, and Iris...uh, Iris the Second." she finishes with an embarrassed grin. Iris is Nettle's own given name, so Corrander is going to be even MORE confused/upset, Nettle is sure!

Corrander is now giving NETTLE the confused stare. "How...??" he says under his breath.

Nettle bites her lip. "Maybe we should take a walk!" She tries to pull Corrander, but it's like pulling a statue. She tugs a couple of times, and finally he starts moving off with her. When they get out of ear-shot of the girls Nettle starts to talk.
She explains how Oswald had always had a crush on her...how he'd been upset when she and Alec had gotten married...how he'd tried to get into a relationship with a very flighty Euthanatos named Justice, and then when she'd up and left him one day he'd kind of snapped and...in lieu of the REAL Nettle he'd tried to make a clone of her who would love him...had tried to make SIX of them, in fact...and had messed up during the spell and accidentally gotten six SIX-year old versions of Nettle...so technically the girls are Nettle's sisters because they were made with her DNA...sextuplets who just happen to be, well, many years younger than Nettle...
Nettle watches Corrander's face in trepidation after she finishes her explanation. "I really, really meant to tell you all of this a long time ago, but I really didn't know how to explain it, and I wasn't sure if you'd ever meet them, anyway..." she twists her fingers together awkwardly.

Corrander is shaking his head slowly as emotions rush through him. Finally he speaks. "Why didn't he destroy them when he realized what he'd done??" he whispers in a harsh tone. "I thought only bad mages made clones! How do you know you can trust him? How do you know he hasn't made MORE clones!? Or clones of any of the rest of you? Or of ME, for that matter??

Nettle cowers slightly. "He hasn't, he hasn't!" she quickly interjects. "It was just...temporary insanity! You know how it is!"

Corrander shakes his head and starts pacing. "My bouts of temporary insanity result in one-night-stands I regret...or a hangover the next day...or someone dies..." he says meaningfully, glancing over at Ozzie. "They do NOT result in this kind of...of...abomination!" he hisses.

Nettle frowns. "Look, I'm the one who he fucked over. Or, er, DIDN'T fuck-- well, you get the idea!" Nettle stammers. "And I've made peace with it because I didn't have a choice! I don't believe in killing innocent children-- clones or no clones-- and I never had any sisters, so I'm trying to make the best of it! Am I mad at him? Hell yeah! I'll always be mad he did that, because one day those girls will be adults, and then I'll feel completely un-unique, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do when that time comes! Especially if that time is going to come faster than I thought it would." Nettle rubs her temples. Suddenly she looks up at Corrander with a smirk. "I just thought of something! We could have Ozzie make 6 little clones of Alec! You know, for the girls! They're going to have my taste in men, right? HEY! Wait-- where are you going??"

Corrander stomps across the field, heading right for Oswald with Nettle howling after him, trying to keep up.

Oswald is standing next to Alec. When Corrander approaches him he backs up, seeing how serious and deadly he looks.
"Oh my. I see you're upset. I'm not sure why but I think I have an idea." he says.

Alec winces and tries to step between the two. "Oi mate, listen he didn't mean any harm yeah? He just got his lines crossed for a moment. Happens to us all."

"Yes? And now Nettle's got it into her head that maybe Oswald here could make 6 little clones of YOU for the little Nettles to marry one day!" he growls, pointing his finger at Alec.

Nettle eeps. "I wasn't serious! I was just trying to lighten the mood! Honestly, Alec!" she tries to explain.

Corrander raises an eyebrow at Nettle. "And yet I don't believe you."

Alec looks at Nettle for a moment with a raised eyebrow. "Really...the band would be awesome!!" he says with a loud exclamation. "Imagine. A band with all me's."

Nettle's mouth falls open. "The band already IS awesome!" she says, feelings hurt.

"i know love but I mean THEIR band." Alec says putting his arm around. "Not our band. Nothin beats our band."

Nettle sniffs. "Well...OK..."

Corrander glares at Oswald. "Look what you have started! Why did you not destroy them when your little 'temporary insanity' ended??"

"Destroy?" Oswald says blinking. "Kill them?" he shakes his head. "Never. They're just children, they're innocent." he says. "I'd never hurt my girls."

Corrander throws his hands up. "You people are insane! Oh how I long for Arcadia more than ever in this moment!"

Nettle stares at him for a moment, and then gives a loud laugh. "Oh yeah, and Arcadia ISN'T insane??"

Corrander gives Nettle an unfriendly look, and then turns to Alec. "I trust you to check Oswald and make sure he hasn't made anymore clones, and that he never intends to make another again." he says, crossing his arms.

"He's not. We talked about this ages ago." Alec says nodding.

"Absolutely not. Never again. It was the wrong thing to do and I won't do it again." Oswald says. "It was a one time thing and I threw out all the equipment."

Nettle feels as relieved as Corrander to hear this news!

Corrander studies Oswald for a moment, and then relaxes a little...which causes everyone else to involuntarily relax, as well!
"All right...well...I am still trying to...digest this little discovery...I apologize if I'm not the most friendly...'uncle' today to your...girls, Oswald...while I agree it is in no way their faults..." He turns, pauses, and then turns back again. "Although thinking about it from the political-advantage-standpoint, once they did reach maturity they would make excellent decoys for Nettle...should she have the need of a decoy..." he suggests.

"Decoy?" Oswald says looking at the girls. "They are NOT decoys. They are each unique in their personality and temperament and they are not to be used for fun, nor decoy, whatever that means." Oswald says folding his arms.

"Unique in their temperament, eh? If they're anything like Nettle, then their temperament changes by the minute! Good luck with all THAT, Oswald!" he says clapping Oswald on the back...a little harder than necessary...and turning and walking back towards the palace.

Nettle folds her arms and glares at Corrander's back-- the family resemblance quite strong in that moment. After a few seconds she turns back to Oswald and Alec.
"Well that went better than I thought it would! You're still alive!" she beams at Oswald.

Oswald watches Corrander go with an incredulous look on his face. "Decoys...I mean really!!" he says stalking off.

Alec chuckles. "Right right. I better go calm Ozzie down a bit love, before he decides to make Corrander a decoy yeah?" he says laughing. He gives her a kiss and walks after him.

Nettle looks stricken. "He BETTER not!" she calls after Alec. She looks around, realizes she's standing alone now, and hurries over to round up the twins and introduce them to their...aunts?

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