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Phuddle’s made a mess. Again. The situation is not even a novelty, but him knocking over a few shelves worth of scrolls and books trying to show them a new, innovative way to organize when there’s so much to do is… Inconvenient. Raynor just wants him out so he won't make more of a mess, he doesn’t have the height to put it all back in anyhow. “Mo, Yuko, please just clean up this disaster.”
Mia takes the hint, and before the pan can start rambling with a self-loathing apology she crouches down. “It’s ok Phuddle, there’s no harm done. Let’s go outside, we can eat something by the campfire.”
The little pan perks up. “I want roasted bradybulbs. I know! I should build a roasting machine!”
Mia hums her agreement, using indulgence to mask her worry. Their voices fade as they walk away. “Are you… sure you should add fire to the equation?”
Phuddle can still be heard saying something about being a great cook, and the pan village bonfire incident happened years ago. Raynor huffs, pressing his thumb to his temple.
“So, who's your favorite kid and why is it Mia?” Mo jokes, even if he looks mildly annoyed at having to stay and do some menial tasks. King Raynor did not even glance at Mia to tell her to clean. Yuko sends Mo an amused look, covering her chuckle with a cough as she stacks some papers.
Raynor lifts his gaze from his desk, immersed in a pile of letters from several village leaders from the vulnerable coastline. He brushes it off. “I do not play favorites, she works a lot here and then she has to do more in the other world. It's not a three-person job, anyhow.”
Yuko's eye twitches, looking suspicious of the reasoning. She briefly considers pestering Raynor, to try to poke at him and ask if he's sure he knows which of them is his child. Raynor looks quite busy though, and he could make either of them organize it all by themselves. So, she plays dumb. “It's only fair, she totally needs extra care.”
Raynor nods along at her statement, content with following the string of thought. Mo looks disbelieving, but he softens up as he hands his father another letter he picked up. As much as he might find complaining fun he does think it's cute his parents see Mia as part of the family. “And she cares about you and mom a lot, too.”
Raynor chuckles, his first thought being that Mia would get attached to anyone that she deems nice. Before he can answer, Mo's attention is taken by a string of babbling. Ena comes in, doing something that looks similar enough to walking. Mo lifts her up in his arms with practiced ease, cooing at her. “Hi, there! Anything I can help you with?”
She smiles and lets out a string of high-pitched, intelligible sounds. Mo bounces her in his arms, acting like she just added crucial details to the conversation. The Zealand refugee has pretty much been glued to Mo since she first saw him, and he didn't have the heart not to comfort a small child that misses her family.
Even knowing his own motivations, it takes Mo a couple seconds under his father's disbelieving stare to realize the level of hypocrisy in his previous teasing. He glances down at the baby, one cannot say no to, then back at his father.
Yuko giggles, not missing the opportunity for a taunt she can get away with. “Awww, Mo, aren’t you the best babysitter?”
Mo grumbles, as he wisely decides right then and there not to bring up the topic again. The baby is probably hungry, so he conveniently uses that escape. Raynor looks smug even when he softens his voice to say hi to the little girl, who responds with a mostly toothless smile. Mo leaves with Ena and Raynor chuckles to himself.
“The audacity.” He can't believe Mo could try and point the finger at him when he's in a similar predicament. Then he immediately pauses… has he gotten that attached?
The weeks after the end of the war are full of diplomatic discussions over the newly reunited Centopian islands. The process is still relatively smooth compared to the previous chaos, and things start to wind down after that. Raynor watches Mayla and the kids gardening in the courtyard, having decided to use the diminishing workload as an excuse to spend the day outside. Even Mia's oracle implied something vaguely harmless this time around.
Then a scout appears. She first approaches the queen, bowing and handing her a scroll. She glances over it before saying something and handing it to Mia, who looks around and spots the king sitting on a small table by the apple tree. A swing they'd hung for the Zealand kids is still on the nearby branch.
She skips over to him. “Your majesty?”
Raynor looks at the scroll, sitting with a few documents in his hands despite supposedly relaxing. The table has some food on it, so placing it there is probably not the best. She glances at him, gesturing to the scroll to ask if he'd like her to read it for him.
“If you wouldn’t mind.” He nods, not thinking twice about her reading through it. She'd never repeat anything she hears to anyone else. At the end of the day, she just wants to help him even in this very minimal way. “Maybe then I’ll get through this before noon.”
She parrots the message, the village elders around Zealand having almost unanimously decided to become part of the kingdom. They could've easily retained their independence without pressure, but the protection and seeming harmony of the elves in Centopia have convinced them to become an official part of it. It makes sense, Zealanders are strong and good craftsmen, but they're fragmented without a monarchy. It's part of what made Drakon's original attack on them so brutally efficient.
Mia sits on the swing, idly rocking it with her foot as she reads. She smiles.
“All's well that ends well. I'm glad they feel safe with us.”
Raynor leans back on his chair. He's not a conqueror and was not planning on Centopia's territory expanding before this continent ordeal. Thankfully, with Dystopia gone, the only new neighbors that aren't animals (or the now two pan kingdoms) are the Zealanders. He's not surprised at hearing they want to integrate into the kingdom, after their children were rescued and protected in the crater it must've been a no-brainer.
“It's good, we always want the people to feel reassured, do we not?” He says, Mia knows the tone well enough to grasp that she should probably listen. He wouldn't say no, but there's finer points to pay attention to for this to run smoothly. She nods along quietly, and Raynor continues. “But what changes do you think this is going to bring?”
She knows he's arrived at the conclusion himself and is just quizzing her. He does it most often with Mo, but she and Yuko also get these educational segments when they say something that prompts them. She furrows her brow, going through the mental scenarios.
“Oh! we'll need stairs and bridges.” She remembers how much of a hassle it was to get around when she was learning to fly, and while the crater is accessible, places like Flowerdale rely on flight. It'll be a long process to make sure new and old builds can actually be used by their new, wingless elves. That will require resources, so it's pretty important.
Raynor takes a sip of his tea, hiding the pride on his face as she keeps bringing up smaller changes this adjustment would bring. All mentioned with the added intent to keep everyone as comfortable as possible. His own mind goes to the technicalities first; Zealand is quite barren in the nature department, and with Centopia’s resources their population might grow quickly. She seems to be done, so he steps in to guide her. “Trading and crops are going to look different with more mouths to feed. They would bring us a lot of open fields, though it’ll take some trial and error to see what sticks. And then our harvests will shift according to what can grow there as well.”
“Well, algae’s always an option.” She jokes, delighting in the frown on his face. He’s always externally polite about foreign concepts, he also happens to not be a good actor when it comes to hiding distaste.
“You seem quite bubbly about it; don’t you want to be the food-taster?” He challenges. He knows Mia has probably thought of a dozen comebacks, but it’s funny to see the expression on her face as she filters what she can and cannot say to him.
She scrunches her nose, realizing she doesn’t have many quip options when they’d all be poison related. Raynor can practically see her let out a curse in her mind, before she fixes her gaze at him. “You’d corner me like that? Really?”
Mia plays on the fact he’s taking advantage of his title to win the verbal spar, exaggerating the look of betrayal. He has no shame when it comes to reminding the trio experience is the best teacher, but he rarely does it to her. It’s a good reminder he can and will run circles around them. “No.” He agrees, looking mirthful. “But it is enjoyable.”
She tries to look serious, annoyed at the paternal uncoolnes, but her mouth quirks up. Raynor smiles at her defeat. “There you are.” He taps her with the scroll, reminding her not to get too sidetracked. “There will also be a lot of cultural differences to get through, if Yuko’s reactions were anything to go by.”
“It only takes a bit of effort, it might feel strange, but no one would outright reject them. They are amazing, truly.” Mia contradicts, she’s obviously used to traveling between places and finding things she considers odd or foreign. Her sense of wonder is something he doesn’t want to squash, finding it endearing how she considers nearly everything marvelous. However, her optimism can sometimes lead her stray, so he still tries to balance it out.
“Most elves here haven’t had to build a tolerance to a new way to do things, one that isn’t better or worse but just unusual to them. I’m certainly still adjusting.” He knows his people won’t be unkind, but it’s simply a learning curve.
“Then everyone will have to try really hard. We must look out for them; they shouldn’t have their lives made any more difficult than they’ve been.” Mia proclaims, and he knows he can’t fault her for the ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’ mentality when they’d pushed her to acquire it. Or for being protective of their new neighbors.
“I suppose I can’t be upset at you needing to be aggressively helpful.” He surprisingly yields, leaning back with a sigh. Raynor isn’t bothered by her assertion, even if she’s kind of contradicting him, she’s doing it on the impulse to be benevolent. He ignores that he might’ve wordlessly stopped anyone else for being pushy, until he remembers Mo’s playful accusation. He doesn't think he plays favorites. Mo needs a firmer hand because he's his son and successor. Yuko happens to need one for her survival, her ability to find anything and everything that could be a threat to her life is unparalleled.
Mia does no such things. Trouble finds her frequently, if only because she's almost a conduit for the oracles to fix their problems. That has given him peace of mind throughout the past few years. She's a breeze to deal with, never demanding any kind of reward or praise for her behavior. Always skipping into the palace with a smile, lacking the headache inducing aspects of a teenager's temperament. She can have some sass, but she's never yelled and cried about a minor issue being unfair or gone through some worrying phase. Most of her peers would show an inkling of attitude if they'd been put through an impromptu political talk.
He might avoid telling her no, or correcting her much, but the kids all come with very different characters. No matter how close those three are, they're separate people. They will need different approaches, and the soft one works perfectly fine with her. She won't take advantage of his leniency, so he won’t bother being severe with her for no reason.
Raynor is so lost in thought he doesn’t notice she’s stopped talking and gotten interested in trying to twist around in the swing. She has a good attention span for a child her age, but it's not going to win over the prospect of spinning. Then again, the fidgeting seems to be some sort of crutch for her to concentrate, because she speaks up once more. “It's not going to be simple, but it's still nice that they're trusting us so soon after... That”
After a good chunk of them had been kidnapped and enslaved by the dark elves. Even pure kindness could not be received well by some after that horror. However, they're more than glad to be just like any other population from the original Centopian island. It leaves a warm sensation in her chest, to know that they're optimistic about the future, that she's played a part in making them happy. All she ever wants is to keep every creature here content and shielded from any harm.
Raynor smiles at that part, the one thing he doesn't mind openly encouraging is her joy at being kind. He eyes the rope holding the swing, already twisted around once. He glances at Mayla, still seemingly focused on the garden. He loves his wife, but if she noticed, she'd smugly point out he's all but become an uncle rather than a king.
Mia starts to twist the swing again, and he chuckles, pushing the edge of the seat to help her turn once again. Her eyes dart towards him, lighting up like they usually do when he humors her antics. She spins around a few more times, and he does bother to be a vague voice of reason. “If that rope snaps you won't have time to fly before you're flat on the ground.”
He doesn't mention how, considering how accident prone she used to be, it probably won't feel too unfamiliar to eat dirt. It also happens to be obvious that's what he's thinking. She hides her face from any bystanders that might see her be 'disrespectful', before quickly making faces at him. Raynor lets out a faux offended huff, giving the edge of the seat one hard shove to tangle it even more. He warned her, after all. “Forget it, then. You'll find out if you keep fooling around.”
Mia tries to keep a straight face but giggles when he worsens the twist situation, having to lean back more and more as the two ropes turn to one spiral. She finally can't turn further, letting the swing spin like a hurricane in the opposite direction. Mia laughs until it finally stops at its original position, blinking a couple times as the world comes back to normal.
He raises an eyebrow at her. The swing held up, but she doesn't seem to want to keep doing it, especially after having had a few snacks throughout the morning. Natural consequences. “Come here, don't make yourself more nauseous.”
Mia plops down at the table, taking a few sips of lemonade so the sour taste will make her feel less sick. Raynor notices her pensive expression, tilting his head at her. It might sound strangely unprompted, but it's Mia, so it's almost expected she'll say odd, or endearing, things. This time it's both. “We're really lucky to have you and Mayla... the Zealanders are going to be just as happy to have you after dealing with Drakon.”
Raynor's face softens. She doesn't sound even the slightest bit sycophantic or people pleasing, whatever reason she has to say it seems to be like some sort of admission. He knows during his and Mayla’s absence something happened for her to despise the tyrant personally. Mia’s kept her cards close to her chest about it, and Mo only mentioned the run-in once. In any case, despite her fooling around earlier, the sheer respect in her eyes confirms exactly why he knew she didn't need to be told off. “And you’re our pride and joy.” He tells her softly, before glancing at the other two hellions. “I'm glad Mo will have you around when he's king, it's quite rare to find a friend like you in his position.”
“And I'll never leave him and Yuko alone.” Mia swears immediately, almost programmed to promise that every time it's brought up in conversation.
Raynor smiles at her, answering in the same soft, conspiratorial tone. “I know you won't.”
A small comfortable silence passes before Yuko calls out to Mia, already covered in dirt. “Come here! Sitting all day is boring.”
“Go on, she’s right.” Raynor excuses her. Mia runs over to Yuko and Mo, who have somehow managed to dig several holes and then leave the loose dirt strewn around everywhere. She then glances at Yuko's disheveled state and realizes there probably was a pile of it at some point. Mia has no idea how they managed to trample said dirt, though. “Ok, I'll... Pile it all up again and you guys help put the plants in.”
“Deal.” Yuko and Mo state simultaneously, before dissolving into confused bickering as they try to remember just where they'd agreed each plant was going. Mia rolls her eyes, giving her opinion occasionally, despite having no context of their previous flower discussion. It's hilarious to add her two cents at random moments, and they don’t seem to notice she has no idea what they’re referring to.
Mayla comes to sit next to Raynor, watching the three young elves who have won literal wars together struggle to get on the same page about gardening. She glances at her husband, not quite being able to resist teasing him. “So, playing is encouraged now?”
He glances back at her, somehow looking both guilty and unrepentant. Of course, she'd hear the maniacal laugh and see a pink blur on the swing. “I was only letting her explore why it wasn't a good idea.”
“Mhm.” She does not believe him at all, but it's good for a girl her age to act silly once in a while. He also seems to find joy in indulging Mia, so she lets it go. She does put a pin on the topic to bring it up the next time he accuses her of spoiling Mo while denying he plays favorites.
The royal couple's room is full of chatter. Mayla has been feeling under the weather. Considering their history with being indisposed, and the fact Kyara and Onchao went north with Ono for a couple days, everyone insisted she lay down. He’s not sure how she could rest with all the yapping, and he peers into the room. Yuko's and Mo are by her bedside. Mia's sat on the opposite side, idly massaging Mayla's hand. Raynor clears his throat. “I didn't know resting involved making so much noise.”
He glances at Mayla, gauging to see whether she's bothered by the ruckus, but she looks at them lovingly. Yuko pipes up. “We're just keeping the queen company; we don't want her to get bored.”
Mo rolls his eyes, still managing to look unbearably fond of her. “I'm sure the entire crater is entertained with how loud you're being.”
“If I recall correctly you were laughing at the same volume five seconds ago.” Mayla interjects in her defense, nudging him with her leg. Shiva comes by with a tray, and Mo passes another pillow to Mia. She stands to place it behind Mayla's back, while he takes the tray from Shiva with a small thanks. They make sure the queen is settled, smiling brightly when she sees her take a sip of the soup. Appetite is always a good sign.
“In any case,” Mo changes the topic, sensing defeat as Yuko makes triumphant faces at him. “Mother's fine.”
Raynor comes in and Mia takes it as a sign to move so he can take her place, pulling a chair nearby instead. Yuko goes back to the topic at hand. “I'm surprised Kuki actually gave me something that wasn't a gag gift.”
“She's big on being orderly, I doubt she’d put a tradition aside just to feud with you.” Mo looks down at the small kite in her hands. It's a small custom for a more senior member of an elf's family to gift them a symbolic last toy as they leave their childhood behind, one the trio’s hit the age-range for.
“Anyhow, it's really pretty, Yuko.” Yuko can and will get annoyed at Kuki for being uptight even if she isn't here, so Mia focuses on the positives. The paint on it is bright and fun, she can imagine how a younger Yuko might've played around with it on Flowerdale. Yuko seems dissuaded, and brings up a childhood anecdote about Kuki and the kites they'd fly on breezy tree hill.
Mia takes advantage of the fact she's sitting far, only putting on a cheerful face during the moments Yuko turns to her. She doesn't want to make a nice moment about her own feelings, but as is usually the case when she compares her peers' immediate families to her lack of one, she feels a little hollow. Her father had mentioned this tradition during their bedtime stories. Her mother had grimaced and joked it would have to be a unicorn-adjacent item. While she loved the fact Mia loved Centopia, she might’ve hoped she’d become fixated with a wider variety of animals. Mia feels even more sympathy for her in hindsight; her mother was so interested in new things that being stuck buying one single creature in every form imaginable must've been a tad maddening. As maddening as when she had to listen to Mia sing ‘Walking on Sunshine’ twenty times a day because daddy showed it to her and said he liked it.
Raynor notices her nostalgic look, startling her when he speaks up. “Still with us?”
Mia immediately nods before she even processes what he said. Right, she doesn't live in her memories, the people she loves in the present shouldn't be left talking to the wall. “Yeah.”
Mayla immediately notices she isn't feeling great, turning her attention to her as well. She gestures to Raynor, and he nods, pulling out a couple small gift boxes from the dresser. He hands one to Mayla, preferring to divide and conquer, holding the other one behind his back.
Mayla pulls Mo's attention to give him the small gift, pinching his cheek. He whines about it, and Yuko throws her head back laughing. Mia isn't any less amused, but she has the decency to cover her mouth. Raynor sits down on the chair beside her, and it's then she pays attention to him.
“Mia, we need to talk with you.” He prefaces, the others listening on instinct as well. Mayla only grins. They don't want to blindside Mia with the gesture not knowing how she might feel, she struggles to talk about her parents after all. They also don't want her to feel perpetually left out of these sorts of moments, so it's time to ask directly.
Mia furrows her brow, not even noticing his sleight of hand as he hides the box from her view. “Sure, what's going on?”
“Mayla... And I, we wanted to get you something as well.” And he's grateful Mia's likes and dislikes are so transparent, it was easy, even if they didn't know her as a young child. He continues.
“Now, I know... That we aren't the same as your family. And we don't mean to replace them. But we want to make sure you know you're just as loved as those two over there,” That makes her mouth twitch up, despite the emotion in her face. “Even if it looks a little different.”
Mia glances at him and Mayla, looking more than a little moved. And then she glances at Mo and Yuko, who don't seem to have known but don't look too surprised at the gesture. Mia nods absentmindedly at him, and he pretends not to notice how she blinks rapidly to stop her eyes from watering too much. He shakes the little box teasingly. Mia smiles, obviously knowing what’s associated with her is rather obvious. “Let me guess... A dragon? Or... A beetle.”
Mo finally pipes up, waving his little wooden cup and ball to her. “It's not our fault you have an unexplainable bond to an entire species.”
Mia opens the box, pulling out the unicorn figure. It's a detailed woodcarving, frozen in their characteristically proud canter. She smiles brightly, tracing it with her fingers. She's just as happy about it as she would've been as a child, even if she's been around real unicorns for a long time.
Raynor is about to say something when he's ambushed by a hug, freezing for a moment. Yuko and Mo snicker at his reaction. Mayla, who's more affectionate with the trio, gestures at him, reminding him to simply reciprocate and it'll be fine.
He chuckles, firmly wrapping his arm around her. Mia thanks him before skipping off to Mayla to hug her gently. She sits down, happily holding the figurine. Yuko looks at them excitedly. “So does this mean you're always going to be the stand-in?”
Mayla smiles at Raynor, finding them all adorable. He leans forward to talk to Mia, looking uncharacteristically carefree at the moment. “What do you say? May we?”
Mia only pauses to glance at Mo, but he seems more than glad to share his parents' attention with her. “Of course!” Mia exclaims, turning back to them. Even if they might consider it a privilege, she certainly thinks they deserve it.
Yuko jumps, hugging her from behind and squeezing her, hard. If Mia’s happy, she’s happy. “Think of how cool it is, not everyone gets royalty to fill in during special events, you know.”
Mo clears his throat at her statement, the novelty isn't particularly strong when they’ve known his parents for years. Yuko waves him off. “Of course it's normal to you, I'm talking about everyone else.”
“I think we are still the least cool thing about Mia.” Mo points out, considering their friend is also a unicorn-talking, oracle-interpreting girl that skips dimensions every other day.
“Speak for yourself. I'm amazing.” Yuko pretends to pose haughtily, her chin lifting so high it looks like she's starting at the ceiling. The room bursts out in laughter, and Mayla reaches for Raynor's hand, squeezing it tightly. He looks down in bemusement, he’s not beating their favorite child allegations, and if you can’t beat them, join them.