"You are most welcome, Lady Quake," Princess Cauladra replied as she took her seat.

"And thank you for all of YOUR help in dealing a final death blow to vampires and blood mages which plagued us as of late," Prince Birch added with a knowing smile, "Your contributions to our cause not only ensured our victory but also hurried it along!"

Quake raised her goblet up to them and drank down its entire contents, "Cheers!"

"Skoal!" Irzen raised his globlet up to the Elven Prince and Princess and drained it.

Both Prince Birch and Princess Cauladra raised their glasses, "May fortune and victory ever favor you!"

"Huzzah!" Quake added another cheer.

All three Elves in the room laughed at the Dragon Elemental.

The elemental had sparkly eyes now with all the admiration going about the dining hall. She was on cloud nine until she saw a glint of light and shadow in peripheral vision. The brothers of light and shadow were coming back. She was so excited, that she jumped up from her seat and exclaimed, "They're back! Woot! My brothers are back!"

Irzen rose from his seat as well and looked around the room, "Mermidon and Dragolem?! Where?!"

"I don't know for sure I just know they are coming, or on their way." She said all dreamy like.

"Better that than them not coming at all, I guess." Irzen returned to his seat somewhat anti-climatically.

"What is a Mermidon and a Dragolem?" Princess Cauladra asked Quake.

"You have brothers, Lady Quake?" Prince Birch asked, "Fascinating! I did not know elementals had families let alone kinfolk."

"Huh?" Quake shook her head, "No. They evolved from stone draconic elementals. They have one final phase of their evolution so to speak. They are twins like the opposite sides of a coin, one good, one bad."

"And they are brothers you say?" Prince Birch rubbed his chin in contemplation, "Fascinating! With one being evil and the other good, I suspect they quarrel quite a bit with you serving as the voice of moderation, eh Lady Quake?"

"First of all, I'm not a lady. I'm a rooting tooting gal. Two, my brothers don't fight each other, they simply avoid each until the right time comes around and they start kicking some serious butt." The elemental said cleaning the meat of the T-bone steak.

"What an odd family!" Prince Birch responded scratching his head, "Do you have any other brothers or sisters besides your twin siblings?"

She nodded, "I have an older brother. His name is Razorlink. He is the elements of Air and Water. Perhaps she will give him life soon."

Irzen continued with his meal but also listened intently to all that was being said.

"Wait! You have another brother who is unborn?" Prince Birch gave Quake an odd look, "You know his name. You know his element. But he is not born yet. How is that possible?"

"Unlike Dragolem or Mermidon. Razorlink and I were sculpted out of clay back on Earth. Razorlink is a year older than I. Two, the lady wasn't even near water to bring him to life, instead I woke up first and it was a good thing I did. Nothing like giving 'Ole horn head' a piece of my mind." Quake finished off the first steak and started on the second.

"Fascinating!" Prince Birch leaned in devoting his entire attention to Quake, "Tell me how many of your kind can Lady Alyson create or sculpt? And from what stuff did your twin brothers come?"

"They came from the earth elemental army the lady summoned to replace the people of Storm Haven, who were already turned to stone by a Medusa. Since they were 'stoned' so to speak, it made it easy for the lady to swap them out and give the former baddies a migraine. Good times." The elemental finished off the rest of her platter of food and sat back thoroughly satisfied.

"And who, pray tell, were these former baddies of which you speak?" Prince Birch inquired once again.

******

Captain Lion continued to eat the remainder of his meal and sat back in his chair when a knock interrupted their conversation. "Enter."

Maxim entered the cabin, "The ship is ready to set sail, sir."

"Very good. The other ship and its crew ready to be on their own?" He inquired.

"Aye sir," Maxim glanced down at the kurori shaking his head and then over to the shield maiden and cracked a grin followed by a low chuckle.

Serna gave Maxim a strange look.

"That is all, Maxim." Captain Lion gestured towards the door.

Maxim left and closed the door. Once outside on the deck, he burst out laughing hysterically.

"Wait a minute!" Serna opened the door and walked towards Maxim, "What's so funny?!"

As soon as Serna came out onto the deck, the rest of the crew burst out laughing. Maxim tried so hard to compose himself and fell over clutching his stomach. The sound of the raucous laughter brought out Sir Gonagle and Spencer. The two gnomes looked at each and sighed.

Spencer approached with caution, "Umm...Serna, you might want to look at yourself. I mean your reflection."

Sir Gonagle grumbled, "Blasted kurori."

"Why? Do I have egg on my face or something?!" Serna replied as she patted her face to see if anything had landed on it.

"Not quite." Spencer gestured for her to go back inside the captain's quarters, "there's a mirror inside."

The kurori heard the shield maiden coming towards the door and closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. Then moved out of the way for Serna and waited.

"Oh-kay!" Serna returned to Captain Lion's quarters, found his mirror and took a hard look at herself before she snapped in a bellow that reminded one more of a demon-possessed child than that of a little girl, "CCCCCAAAAAAAALLLLIIIIIAAAAAAAPPPHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY!!!"

Captain Lion held his breath.

Caliaphy stood in the open doorway giving Serna a thumbs up, "Teeheehee!" Just before she bolted off the ship and towards the palace.

Serna was after her in a heartbeat! "CALIAPHY! I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR WINGS OFF FOR THIS! JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU RAT!"

Caliaphy skipped to and fro keeping just ahead of Serna's pursuit. Occasionally taking flight if she got too close to her and then would stop about fifty feet ahead of the Shield Maiden letting her catch up, well almost. "Wow! You're good, Serna but Alyson was better. Nah! Nah! Nah! You can't catch me!"

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!" The Shield Maiden snapped as she continued to give pursuit, "YOU'LL SEE! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! BIG TIME!!!"

The kurori continued to skip along into the palace exterior. The guards and servants momentarily stopped their duties to see the shenanigans of Caliaphy with the shield maiden running after her.

Serna continued to chase headlong after Caliaphy and raised quite a ruckus in the process, "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE RAT! IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU!"

The kurori stuck her tongue out, "Blah, blah, blah! Yakkity-schmackity! I'm not the one yelling at the top of her lungs causing a scene."

Realizing that she could not catch the Fairy, Serna looked around and found a wash brush in a bucket of warm water next to a mop. Reaching into the bucket, Serna picked up the brush and with very good aim was able to bean Caliaphy in the back of her head with it as she ran off.

******

Madeous awoke from his slumber to the sound of the shouting shield maiden. He had heard of the kurori's bouts of trickery from Alyson and how she was left hanging every single time. He also knew that Caliaphy couldn't resist sweet smelling treats or shiny objects. Getting up and stretching he made his way out of his guest room and followed the sound.