"You're sure this is safe?" Siobhan asked. She eyed the fizzy bubbling pale yellow liquid in her glass suspiciously, as if it might be some kind of poison.

I grinned, "Totally safe. I've been drinking it for years, so have Kelly and Keira."

Laoise sniffed hers then shrugged and drank it back. Her eyes widened, and she gasped "The bubbles are um, an interesting sensation! It's rather tasty, perhaps a bit sweet for my liking though."

Padraig looked warily at his glass, while Merryweather sniffed at their thimble-full of hard lemonade.

It was mid-afternoon now. The seven of us spent the morning out in the courtyard drilling and training again, but I finally called a halt to that so I could share my Earth treats with them. We were all back in the study sitting around a table. I'd opened a couple bottles of the hard lemonade and poured a small measure for everyone. It was chilled of course, thanks to a little magic.

Me and the twins also had glasses, and we'd already drank ours. Partially because we enjoyed it, but also to demonstrate it was safe. Not that I worried any of my companions thought I'd poison them, but it was a strange beverage from an 'alien' world after all. And the carbonation was something they'd never experienced before.

I hadn't opened the thermal bag yet but I'd already told them all I brought food as well. We were sort of doing this one step at a time.

"Please don't feel obligated," I reminded them. "I just wanted to share with you some of the things we enjoy on Earth, but if you're not comfortable with it that's quite all right."

Padraig went next, he took a deep sip from his glass. The expression on his face told me he wasn't impressed. Something put him off, either the bubbles or the taste. Or maybe both.

He set the glass back down and shook his head, "Not for me. Thank you for offering though, m'lady."

Siobhan wound up not even trying hers, which was fine. Perhaps it was the wise thing to do, considering Padraig's reaction. I found it interesting though that the brave and capable guard captain was a lot more cautious and reserved, while her younger sister seemed to be the more adventurous one.

My line of thought was broken by the sound of a tiny hiccup followed by a little burp. Merryweather's thimble was empty, they had a wide smile on their face and their little purple eyes were alight.

"This," they announced as they held up the empty thimble, "Is really good stuff!"

Padraig suppressed a smile as he offered, "You're welcome to the rest of mine, Merryweather."

I was glad Padraig seemed to be getting over his fear of the pixie again. Or perhaps he figured offering our small friend booze would keep him on their good side.

Merryweather didn't need a second invitation, they darted over and wound up halfway inside the large cup as they leaned in to dunk their thimble, refilling it with hard lemonade. Meanwhile Laoise helped herself to her sister's glass. It looked like she'd decided to give the drink a second chance after all.

I smiled as I started opening up the insulated bag. I was happy Merryweather enjoyed it, and maybe Laoise giving it a second chance was a good sign.

The contents of the insulated bag had been kept cool thanks to a bag of ice and a few applications of the same spell I used to chill the drinks.

Kelly and Keira helped, and the three of us set out a couple large plastic containers full of a wide variety of sushi. There were all our favourite kinds of course, along with some other common popular varieties. There were also some little containers of wasabi and a bunch of little soy sauce packets and disposable chopsticks.

The twins and I each had a couple pieces of sushi, to demonstrate that it was safe. And because we really enjoyed it. After more than half a day in the cooler bag it wasn't quite as nice as if it were fresh, but it was still pretty good.

I left Kelly and Keira to talk the others through the sushi while I got the last two items out of the bag. They were for our pixie friend, and I was excited to share them. The first was a package of mini-marshmallows and the second was a bottle of pure maple syrup.

"Merryweather," I smiled at the tiny enby, "I brought these two things especially for you. They're Earth sweets."

They drained their second thimble-full of lemonade then set it down and flitted over. There was another little hiccup as they examined the bag of marshmallows, then the syrup.

"Is this another drink?" they asked as they stared at the bottle. "If it's anything like the lemonade, I'm already sold."

I grinned, "It's not meant to be a beverage, though I suppose you could just drink it. It's a syrup, meant to be poured over something else? Like a sauce I guess, for sweet things."

I opened the package of marshmallows first and offered them to the pixie. They drew their sword and stabbed it into the bag, then pulled out one of the tiny marshmallows stuck on the tip of their weapon. After a curious sniff, they took a bite of it.

A few moments later Merryweather nodded, "It's not bad. It's sweet, but there isn't actually much flavour to it?"

"Try it toasted," I suggested. "It might be nicer once it's got some colour on it."

The fireplace wasn't lit since it was summer, but I took one of the disposable chopsticks and broke it up then put it on the hearth. After a little dose of magic, there was a very tiny fire burning.

I warned, "Just don't let it catch fire, it'll turn into a nasty gooey mess."

With most of the marshmallow still at the end of their sword, Merryweather roasted it over the fire until it started to caramelize.

Then they took another bite of it and grinned, "That's much nicer!"

I glanced at the others and saw they were still experimenting with the sushi. Or at least, Laoise and Padraig were. I had a feeling Siobhan was going to abstain from all the Earthly treats I'd brought.

Finally I opened the bottle of syrup and poured some into the bottle cap then set it down on the table.

"See if you like that, Merryweather? It's very sweet but it does have a distinctive flavour."

The pixie flew up onto the table and dipped a finger in the syrup and tasted it. Then they picked up the bottle top and took a swig from it like it was a drink.

Their eyes were as wide as their grin as they looked up at me, "Lady Tegan, if you offer a few bottles of that bubbly lemon drink and a bottle or two of this maple nectar, you'll have every pixie on the Duma as your friend for life!"

"I'm so glad you like it," I replied as I smiled at them. Then I caught Kelly smirking at me, and asked her "What's so funny?"

She rolled her eyes, "I still think you're part-pixie, babe. Maybe we should invite Merryweather back to Earth with us after all this is over, so they can try Belgian waffles with you. I'm sure they'd love it smothered in all the unhealthy stuff, just the way you always order them."

I blushed, but she had a point. She'd been teasing me for six years now about my sweet tooth. The idea of bringing Merryweather into a restaurant for waffles had me grinning though. Not that we'd ever be able to do it, but it was an amusing thought.

As I suspected, Siobhan didn't actually try any of the food. Laoise on the other hand sampled everything, including the marshmallows and the maple syrup. Even Padraig tried a couple pieces of sushi as well as the sweets.

In the end though, we wound up calling a servant to bring 'normal' food and drink for the three fae soldiers while me and the twins enjoyed the rest of the sushi. Merryweather did their best to finish Padraig's glass of hard lemonade, then passed out on the mantle above the fireplace.

I didn't want to be disrespectful, but there was something incredibly cute about the small inebriated enby and the little snoring sounds they were making.

Kelly and Keira and I each had another bottle of hard lemonade as we ate with our friends, but none of us wanted to get drunk so one each was our limit today. As the six of us ate and the seventh slept, we discussed our plans for the days ahead.

"We have two more full days here," I said to Siobhan, "Then at dawn on the third day we'll travel to the Duma Dé so we're there a good three or four days ahead of the meeting. So maybe tomorrow we should start focusing on what we're bringing, and the next day we can do our packing and final planning. I think we should basically pack like we did for our trip to the other Duma? The only difference is we won't be bringing horses on this trip."

The captain looked thoughtful, "Without horses we'll have to carry everything ourselves. That will limit how much we can bring."

I pointed out, "We won't be marching or anything like that. We can teleport from here to the meadow in the south forest, and from there we'll be going directly to the top of the Duma Dé. So really the only travel we'll be doing is carrying things down from the top of the Duma to its base, and we could do that in a couple trips."

"I suppose," she nodded slowly. "And you want to bring a week's worth of food and drink?"

"At least a week. As much as we can, I guess." I sighed, "I'm hoping the king will show up around the requested date, but like Laoise said, he might drag his feet or whatever, he might be slow."

The brunette spoke up, "Will you be returning to Earth to get more of of the drinks and syrup like Merryweather suggested?"

I shook my head, "No. We'll bring what we have, but we'll also bring fae sweets and mead. It's what the pixies there will be familiar with. I don't actually know how they'll react to Merryweather, since they're from a different troop, a different Duma? Maybe they won't be able to convince these other pixies that the Earth stuff is safe. So I figure, better to offer them local fare first. We can offer the exotic goodies afterwards, once we have their trust."

Siobhan and Laoise both seemed satisfied with that answer, and my reasoning.

Padraig had been listening quietly, but he finally chipped in and asked "Do you really believe the king will come in person?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I give it better than fifty-fifty odds he'll come. He's wanted to meet me for almost three years now, and the Duma Dé are neutral locations. I think his advisors or whatever might argue about it but ultimately they'll decide it's not dangerous."

I added, "Having said that I'm sure he'll probably bring an army. He'll definitely bring a bunch of mages with him, as a counter to me. Colm will have told him what I'm capable of, I bet the king brings a dozen mages to keep him safe."

The others were silent for a few moments, till Siobhan asked "And what's your plan? How will you deal with a dozen mages?"

I shook my head and replied quietly, "My plan hasn't changed from what I told you all back on the road. I'm going to apologize to the king, offer him a chance to back down and leave us alone. And if he refuses, I'll destroy him."

"What about the dozen mages?" Padraig asked. "What if he brings an army?"

"I'll destroy them too if I have to," I sighed.

Siobhan asked "And what's our job going to be through all this?"

"All of you will be there to back me up," I explained. "Look threatening, keep your eyes open, speak up if you spot any trouble that I haven't seen. Siobhan, Laoise, you've both got your bows, your swords. You'll be ready to act if necessary. Padraig, you'll be armed as well of course. I'd like you to continue being my standard bearer, but if we end up in an actual battle drop the damn thing and use your weapons. I know that's not 'proper protocol' or whatever but I don't care. No flag is worth more than anyone's life."

I looked to my girlfriends and continued, "Kelly, Keira, same thing. You'll be armed, you'll be with me watching out for trouble. I'd also like you both to be ready with shield spells, to keep all of us safe from enemy archers. And be wary of magical attacks too, but I'll be ontop of that myself."

Everyone was quiet again as all that sank in.

Siobhan broke the silence once more as she asked "Are you expecting a fight?"

"Yes," I sighed. "I'm not expecting a battle or a war, but I'd be naive to think I can pull this off without any bloodshed at all."

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