Welcome to Ambrosia!

[Guu]

“Alright message sent.”

“Encrypted as well?”

“Yep!”

Guu was huddled next to Molly who was finishing typing on Guu’s dataverse device.

“I’m guessing they were using ‘Minnie Mouse’ and ‘Mickey Mouse’ as code names.” Molly Continued. “Funny, I remember that name at DA, her husband must use the name a lot.”

The princess knew for the fact that Molly was going to flip her lid when they both arrive. She vowed to be in the same room when that happened.

She took back her device that she stomached immediately, not prompting any questions from the little girl beside her who was probably already too indoctrinated into this place to care. The two were called down for breakfast.

The Pokutes prepared a spread muffins and bacon. Sylvia was already eating, wearing a black t-shirt with some metal band logo emblazoned over it. Guu recognized it as her sleeping attire. Molly quickly jumped in the chair beside her and dug right in.

The pink enigma just sat down beside her. She used to join in with the eating back when she lived with Hare, but now anything she actually ate (as in “ate” ate) would go into a separate stomach that actually digested it and turned it into that horrific brown slimy blob log that she didn’t really want to experience again. So yeah, eating was not preferable.

After Molly and Sylvia were all full up, the dining room was quickly disturbed by another frantic teen.

“Your highness!”

“Don’t tell me another orc attack.” Guu said, rolling her eyes.

“Uh-no! It’s ambassadors from the Horsemen!”

“Horsemen? Like Centaurs?”

“They are a faction in the Tangled.” Sylvia butted in. “Ambrosia hasn’t encountered them yet. They’re lead by some green guy… Retane I believe.”

Guu’s mind suddenly flashed back to Coruscant. It was the candy shop after Desco had eaten herself into a temporary coma. The news reported on the person she was talking about. She knew she was going to come across his group eventually, but she didn’t think it would be so soon after DA.

“Did they say exactly what they were here for?”

“No, they said they would only speak their business in the presence of the Princess.” The messenger continued. “But they made it clear they were here peacefully. They even checked their weapons to prove it so.”

Guu rubbed her chin as she thought about the best course of action. She doubted the boy had pat the group down for any hidden weapons, so it’s possible that this was all a ruse for an assassination. She usually wouldn’t care if it was, but worries for the safety of Molly and Sylvia. But at the same time, what reason would people have to assassinate her? The crops around Ambrosia were more valuable that she was at that moment. Killing her would gain them nothing but warfare. In the end, she decided to take these Ambassadors in good faith… with the presences of Auburn and his troops of course.

“Tell them that we require some time to prepare, and that we’ll have guards present for everyone’s safety.”

Might as well be transparent as possible.


-----


Auburn and his platoon were dressed up in uniforms and stood at attention in lines along the walls that lead to the throne. Standing in the middle of the room were Guu, Sylvia, and Molly all dressed up in a freshly summoned princess gowns. Molly had a mile wide smile across her face as she looked at her beautiful new light purple dress with awe. Sylvia, in a black dress, looked incredibly uncomfortable in her formal clothing. Guu was just kind of standing there in her pink dress, waiting patiently for the guests to be let in.

Finally, the doors swung open, revealing a team of people in black robes; their faces hidden by hoods. The princess started to wonder if she should have suspected an assassination after all. She looked over towards the guards and sure enough, they were thinking the same thing, looking a bit nervous by the ambassadors’ appearances. Throwing caution to the wind, she did a small hand gesture to the guards to signal to them to relax, and just hoped to Omni that she was right about this.

But as the group approached, she felt something odd. Her senses couldn’t pick up the ninja, she assumed it was because they all had suppression, however she could feel a tiny little heartbeat, like something she’d sense from an infant. Did they have a baby on them?

The group halted twenty feet from the Princess. They all bow down to her, which she politely responds with a curtsy. They stand again as she began to talk

“I welcome you all to Ambrosia. And I’m glad to finally meet someone from the Horsemen.” She spoke loud and clear. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?”

Who Guu guessed was the leader stepped forward. She wore a cloak and had a hood over her head.

“I apologize for our appearance, we don’t intend to stay long.” The leader began. “We came here to deliver a gift.”

“A gift?” Guu asked intrigued, but the cloaked woman continued.

“Our master Retane wishes to grant you specifically the most precious of gifts in the name of peace between our two factions.”

She signaled to one of the other cloaked figures. She stepped out in front of the group and closer to Guu, carrying a satchel with her. Placing some padding on the floor, she reached into the satchel, and placed on the pad what the princess could recognize as an egg. The cloaked woman moved back into her place in the ranks, never breaking eye contact with the egg.

“Inside the egg is master Retane’s only daughter. He has named her Naturae.” Spoke up the leader again. “He requests that you should raise her. He somehow already knows she is bound to be a gentle soul, so she wants someone to raise her in an environment of kindness.”

Sylvia had her jaw dropped. Molly had her hand over her mouth. The guards all weren’t sure what to make of the offer. However Guu just calmly stepped forward. With the egg out in the open, her senses were fully functioning on it. As she moved in close and got on her knees to look at it’s lime green surface much more closely, she could feel every detail of the life growing inside. As a being who’s spent a long time studying mortals, she was fascinating to her, and yet, so beautiful.

Before the princess knew it, she picked up the egg and nuzzled it lightly. She could feel the life inside move, not sure if reacting to the action of being picked up or from the contact with her face.

She pulled the egg away from her muzzle and caressed it carefully in her arms. She stood up and regained eye contact with the leader of the pack.

“My home is Naturae’s home.”

With all the group had seen, they were quite satisfied. They gave one more bow and walked out the way the came; disapearing into the long corridors of the castle.
Sylvia and Molly approached Guu.

“Wow, that’s… that’s a real egg?” Sylvia asked. The princess nodded in return.

“This is amazing! He gave you his daughter?” Molly exclaimed excitedly.

“Well, we have plenty of rooms around here. Might as well fill the place up.” Sylvia said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “I’ll go with whatever you want Guu, as always. I’ll just be glad to get out of this damn dress.”

“Oh, don’t get out of the dress quite yet. We have more guests on the way.” The princess said. She quickly walked out of the throne room to find somewhere private.

“Wait, for real?” She could barely hear the gothic second in command say in response.


-----


Guu made it to her bedroom and perched herself on her large mattress with the egg. In one solid motion, she shoved the egg into her mouth and down her throat.

With the egg in her stomach, she could feel it floating safely in the abyss. Safe from the elements, safe from gravity, safe from anything that could even remotely harm it. She lay down on the bed, adjusted the temp of her stomach so it’s comfortable for the egg, and just contently listened to its small little heartbeat.

“Welcome to Ambrosia.” She said, her hand on her belly.