Who: Carabosse and Puss de Carabas
When: A Thursday, late evening
Where: The forest
What: They chat about her arrival and other things

It was late in the evening, shadows creeping along the trees.

Carabosse stood stately in the midst of the forest. She hoped to catch a glimpse of the King but she could not know the kind of mischief he was running about just now. When the cat slinked up behind her, brushing his bright orange tail over her clean, black dress she almost frowned.

( Do you care to explain what took you so long de Carabas? )

Azkadellia arrived under cover of night. La Bonita Carnivale dropped her off at the docks; she was the great ship's sole passenger.

Her passage had been fairly miserable. She sailed Lake Finaqua in smaller crafts, little sailboats and dinghies, but this was a giant ship and the Sleepless Sea wasn't nearly as calm as the lake waters. She didn't much enjoy traveling by water this way, not that she planned a return trip to the shores of another reality.

( For better or worse, Haven was her home now. )

Oberon stood at the edge of his territory; a cigarette dangled from his lips.

His season was over, but snow still clung to the branches. The cold wouldn't be chased away by the sun. Winter would not be felled so easily, not this year at least.

Titania wasn't here to sing the trees awake. He would be lying if he didn't find that a gift. It left a bit more time to linger in his season, a little more time to ponder his machinations for his down time.

The man at the helm of the ship stood with his hands on his hips. Their bearing was clear enough and the wind so fair he didn't need to touch the giant wheel before him. He had a light load this trip, but that's how it went. The captains of the ships driving the Sleepless Sea took turns picking up a load at one of the docks, sailing toward the north gate of Haven. Sometimes they had a crowd, sometimes there were no passengers at all and they could lay parked in the harbor for days until one arrived.

This round La Bonita Carnivale carried a few passengers, most of them keeping to themselves. He didn't pry. If one chose to approach him he'd answer their questions to the best of his knowledge.

He'd been doing this a few years now, enough to know what facts were best discovered by the new residents on their own and which facts were better shared beforehand.

In the one hundred years that she had been asleep the very walls of the castle had grown quiet and still, even after the awakening it was as if the castle itself refused to jump to life. It was a single kiss and a determination above all others to live that brought a little spark back into the sleepy castle. She had quietly bid her time, doing her "womanly" deeds and carrying on as if she wanted to be the Queen some day.

( With her faerie god mother dead, killed by the man who forced himself on her and insisted he take her as his wife, there was no hope that she would ever be the sorceress she had the potential to be. )