The green house interior was decorated beautifully with many flowers and lights powered by magic had been carefully installed with Peony's last minute supervision. Faes of all sizes and types had gathered around in excitement as they admired the flowers and scenery in the green house. The sound of small chimes rang throughout the venue as the queen entered the venue. All eyes fell upon her as the area hushed down. Peony watched from a distance as the craft fairies installed the magicstone into a newly crafted bronze staff. Suddenly, there was a huff of laughter besides her as she casually opened her mouth, "You seem amused. Did you find this matter amusing too?"
It was known that Robin was a very particular fae. If the fairy king ruled the land with a justice covered in righteousness and the fairy queen rules alongside him with a fair and kind heart, then their retainer is someone who is the shadow of the two. A fairy who is so righteous that he enjoys the chaos and madness it'd bring to balance out the scales of the innocent and the guilty. To make matters worse, the more blurred the line becomes, the more ecstatic he grows. When she first encountered him was after her adoption process had been finalized. Despite the formality of it all, hardly many cared for her presence within the royal family. Everyone targeted for her life in many ways. It was then, that the king got fed up with all the numerous assassination attempts at night, so he placed Robin with her. From the day she met him, she could feel an abnormal yet familiar aura coming from him. It was as though he was something that nobody should see, yet he was also something very natural. Seeing him reminded her of the forests that would be inhabited by beasts. Yes, it reminded her very much of the "wild" nature of existence and life. It reminded her a little of the young Mo Li who had tumbled into the forest of their private garden. She recalled the dazzle of her beautiful green eyes that attracted her attention and the wariness she bore not too different from a wild animal. Yes, if Mo Li was a small cub, then Robin would be the forest she had yet to become a part of during that time. Captivating to the senses yet raising many alarm bells all at once. Perhaps it was due to her father's annoucement, but a small number of assassination attempts soon stopped after that. However, that didn't stop him from letting others through. Luckily for her, she never did let her guard down even after she regained some of her spiritual energy back in her. Now, the guy is here laughing at other people's misery again.
"Oh, look!" The fae smirked, "I spy some humans amongst the group. Hm?"
He paused with a look of bewilderment, "Now that is very unusual. Is that a deceased soul possessing metal instead of flesh?"
Peony glanced over and saw the group entering the area in their white outfits adorned with silver and bronze flower ornaments. She watched carefully before nodding her head calmly.
"Heh..." He smirked revealing his sharp teeth, "So, that's the one you brought back from the dead. No wonder he reeks of death all over him."
Peony watched on from a distance without refute. After all, it was a similar reaction for her as well. Bewilderment. She had not pin pointed it before, but it was only after seeing the guardians of Ignihyde and being reminded constantly of their role model that she had finally realized how similar Ortho's presence was with her second sister's husband's presence.
Death.
As they see her mother having secretly noticed the group yet ignoring them calmly, Peony felt a strange sense of surprise mixed with something she could only identify as nervousness. She had told her mother everything and she agreed to help the children achieve their goals without putting them in deep trouble. However, it's only when the fairy queen is at its calmest that she is at the most unexpected.
"Are you not going to attend the festivities, child of man?" Robin looked to her curiously with a sly smirk across his face.
As the gala began with the finish of her mother's speech, she placed on her mask only to hear her mother call her name. It was as she expected. Her mother did something unexpected. Luckily, she was already prepared before entering this event and asked Ying Hui for some help. Perhaps before she was just a human boy before others, but now...
"Finally, I shall express with great delight the return of our princess to the festivities of the gala." The queen said this as footsteps could be heard from afar attracting everyone's attention. Seeing her, the queen smiled proudly before noticing the sound of something clatter. She did a side glance and saw that two of the humans was so mesmerized by her treasure that they had dropped their communicator device used for fairies. Instead of annoyance, their reaction only made her much more happier to see how well her treasure had bloomed as she announced her daughter's name, "Peony Aine Xue."
Hearing her words, Peony nearly fumbled in shock upon hearing this! The room was filled with silence as Peony calmly stepped forth toward her mother with poise and an aloof smile across her face. There was a stunned expression, but nobody could say anything as Peony's own presence made the flowers in the room bloom all together!
From afar, Jack and Ace sucked in a deep breath as they could hardly believe their eyes. Before them was a young lady in a white fluttering dress adorned with purple flowers and green leaves. Her dark brown hair flowed past her waist as they are adorned greenery chains of pink and blue flowers. On a side of her lock of braid, that had been folded back neatly, a small bundle of the flowers of her name sat there calmly. As her dress fluttered softly against her body, her elegant purple mask shone as she walked towards her mother. Nobody could argue that, for a human with a mask, she held an amazing ethereal presence before them all!
Before her dazzling mother, she bowed her head gracefully and respectfully as she greeted her with a soft and warm smile, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Hearing this, the queen sighed in dissatisfaction as she reached out to bring her daughter closer to her, "Did we not tell you to simply call me mother? Come, my beloved daughter."
"Did she just say her middle name was Aine?" Someone in the back whispered in disbelief upon hearing this.
"She did!"
"I can't believe it! The royal family actually loves a human girl so much that they decided to, not just take her in as their daughter, but also grant her the middle name 'Aine'!"
Having picked up the device, Jack looked around in confusion, "What's all the surprise about? Everyone is muttering about the name Aine."
"I dunno." Ace shrugged and glanced over to Silver who also shook his head much to their surprise.
"Perhaps it is some important custom..." Silver concluded hesitantly.
A nearby fairy overheard them and whispered, "I've never seen you guys around. You sound like you're new too. Perhaps you have not been fully educated of our customs yet."
"Ah, Y-Yeah! That's right!" Ace wore a dry smile as he whispered nervously under the tense atmosphere while Peony took her position a few steps below her mother's throne, "So, what is this Aine that everyone is fussing about?"
"Aine is a very important name that nobody but the royal family are allowed to receive." The fairy explained calmly, "What you just witnessed is actually something that has never happened before. Our princess is an intelligent human girl adopted by our queen when the child was just five. She is well known for having acquired a vast sea of knowledge in her mind while she was just ten and has since helped our kingdom thrive and form relations with the humans as an ambassador and our princess. She saved our queen from an ugly scheme against fairy hunters when she was just five and the queen had taken a liking to her ever since. The royal family has gone through many lengths to adopt her, even opening up our connections outside of just human's education facility. However, this is the first time in history that a human was registered as a member of the royal family with the title of princess and has been granted the middle name Aine which is only granted to the fairy queen-to-be or the crown princess. No humans ever adopted by us fairies ever received such a noble name in history! And, she is not even born of the royal family's bloodline!"
"I see..." Ortho concluded as he finished calculating the rough meaning of the words, "Basically, a human orphan adopted by the royal family has been acknowledged as a member of their family by having been granted a middle name only members of royalty are allowed to receive, and, if I understand this correctly, this is the first time in history such a thing has occurred, am I correct?"
The fairy nodded with a reassured smile, "Yes! You catch on very fast!"
"Woah! Then, isn't this like a BIG deal?!" Ace stammered in over exaggerated shock hiding his obliviousness.
"It has always been a big deal since her adoption." The fairy shook her head, "Peony Aine Xue. If you translate the meaning of the names, it would mean Fairy Queen of Blooming Peonies. It is a very noble name. Nobody would think that at some point, the royal family would pass down the name meaning Fairy Queen upon a human child..."
"Peony... Xue..." Jack muttered in shock as he gazed at the mesmerizing beauty from afar. Her delicate clear skin and soft yet bold lips outshone others who had skin of elemental mana or blushed skin. However, no matter how hard he tried to peer at her, he just could not seem to overlap the figure of the person in her mind with this delicate yet regal beauty. Could it really be her? Could that energetic and reckless child really be someone so noble and steadfast?