Bella is enthralled. "Oh, that's gorgeous."

"The prettiest," Tony agrees, gazing fondly at it.

"Do you want a look at it with the specs?" asks Bella. "It's so pretty, so efficient..."

"Sure!"

Bella takes a moment longer to gaze through her specs, then hands them over with their current lens configuration.

"Whoa," says Tony. "Yeah, I know what that is! I didn't know you could see it, though, that's awesome."

"Yep! C'mon in," says Tony.

Bella adjusts her hat and smooths out her robes and murmurs her cleaning spell and follows the princesses into the castle, taking small careful steps.

"Sparks and fumes, I've been hiking with you in the woods for four days and somehow my name never came up," snorts Bella, "that would be sad if it weren't so funny. I'm sorry, Your Majesty - I'm Isabella Swan. Bella for preference."

"The second thing," says Bella. "Possibly not both right away, given the probably-a-minor-technical-issue around succession."

"...Okay," says Bella. "...Now I have to pick. Um."

"Take your time," the queen says, amused. "You can stay in the castle while you get to know them. There's room."

"Okay, thank you!" says Bella, smiling.

"Thanks, Mom," Tony adds, and she takes Bella's hand. "C'mon, wanna go find somewhere to put you?"

"Yeah," Bella agrees comfortably, following where Tony leads.

"Thank you," Bella giggles. "I can't believe I just never thought to introduce myself. You never asked, either."

"I knew who you were."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't need to name you to anyone. You were right there."

"Yes, I suppose if we'd been more than three of us it would've come up."

"Yes."

"Well, now you know. And my middle name is Mariel, if that ever matters."

"I will remember it."

"I went by Mariel for about three months in school. I thought it sounded more witchy, and I hadn't yet quite realized I could do more than just witchcraft. It didn't stick. I like Bella better."

"They are both pretty."

"You're pretty." Pause. "Do either of you have an opinion on who definitely marries me and who has to wait for technical innovation and maybe doesn't marry me if I can't do it?"

"Well," says Tony, "if one of us still has to go find a husband, it should probably be me."

Bella looks at Sherlock to see what she thinks of this. Just in case anything about what Sherlock thinks of this is visible.

Sherlock is nodding!

"Okay. Unless something particularly compelling pointing the other direction comes up in the amount of time allotted to this decision, we can go with that." Pause. "I can probably solve the technical issue, though."

"I support this plan."

"Okay." Sherlock gets a kiss on the temple. This maneuver proves reasonably complicated for Bella and she trips on the hall rug. "I need to make myself another pair of moccasins, I wasn't even this clumsy before I made them, I'm too used to them now," she mutters as she gets up again.

"Want me to carry you?"

"Yes. And then I need to know where to get nice imitation leather for new moccasins. At least I have my sewing kit and my bead stash on me." She hops gratefully into Tony's arms.

"Palace staff of some sort?"

"Yeah, them."

"All right. Any names I should be learning in that department?"

Yes!

"It may as well be now."

"All right then." She hops into Tony's arms again. "About the fake leather, when I run into someone I can ask do I need to produce money for it, or what?"

"Only if you feel like it."

Bella takes that as a no. "Okay," she says, nuzzling Tony's neck.

Tony turns her head and kisses Bella's cheek.

The kitchen is extensively but somewhat eclectically supplied. For some reason, they have six crepe pans.

"You have," Bella observes, "six crepe pans."

"They were there when I got here."

"Huh. Well, it's not going to throw off the spell or anything." Bella starts placing little glass droplets as markers in key locations around the kitchen. "How often do you acquire new kitchen equipment?"

"Infrequently."

"Would they conflict with any other conveniences?"

"Cabinets can open themselves, but they can't switch between multiple compartments themselves, so it does mean that you have to manually close and reopen the doors or drawers or whatever if you need things from compartments other than the last one opened."

"Then let's leave the storage as-is."

"Okay." Bella counts the tokens she's placed, and pulls out a notebook and flips through it until she finds what she's looking for and checks something, and then she counts the spice jars, and then she peers into the ovens, and then she peers critically at the organization of the preserves jars, and then she inspects the arrangement of the silverware. "Can you think of any customizations you want that we haven't already talked about?" she asks, making small tick marks in various places in her notes and then nudging the placement of a glass token.

"I cannot."

"Thank you," says Sherlock, and impulsively hugs her.

Hugs! Bella likes hugs. She hugs back.

Hugs and kisses?

Oooh yes please.

Mm. Kisses.

"I bet," says Bella, "that you could also carry me if you so chose, if there were a better room than the kitchen for us to be in right now."

"I believe that is true," says Sherlock, and picks her up.

"I hope they will not be upset."

"I don't think it will be a negative reaction. Well, maybe a little, because it's very fast - they have an unusual perspective because when they got married it didn't work out. They'll probably have all kinds of questions about how I can be sure I want to marry you."

"And how are you sure you want to marry me?"

"I think you're pretty much as you present yourself," says Bella. "Some people aren't, but I don't think you're one of them. I like the way you present yourself. If there weren't princess-related issues lurking about I'd probably want to wait longer before getting married, and just be your girlfriend for a while first, but I'd still really like you."

"I am exactly as I present myself," says Sherlock. "And I really like you too."

Bella grins. "So few people are exactly as they present themselves. I have a deal with myself that I won't pretend to be anyone I'm not to myself, but I'm not always perfect about being open with everybody else. I'm not proud of all my characteristics." She sobers a little throughout the course of this utterance.

"Like, you said I was a helpful person. I am, in the sense that I help people, but that's just because I feel like it. I don't go far out of my way to do it. It falls by the wayside if it's competing with other things I want more. I've never been able to - never been interested in fooling myself into doing anything I didn't really want. And I'm good at figuring out what I really want. It just usually includes helping people who wander by."

"I see," says Sherlock.

"But," says Bella, "unless my thinking turns up something unexpected, I want to marry you, and I had not really been planning on kids anytime in the immediate future but I expect I can warm to the idea, and if I manage the technical stuff I want to marry Tony too, and I want to be a queen and do all your politics for you when that is called for, because I think being an effective and decent monarch sounds like a fascinating challenge."

"That seems very reasonable to me."

Nuzzles and neck-kisses!

Nuzzles and cheek-kisses!

Bella tugs Sherlock down after her. For snuggles. If she also waves a bare foot at the door in such a way that it is convinced to close, that's unrelated. Maybe.

Kisses and snuggles and making the knowledge of Bella's name useful, maybe?

Well, Sherlock is not a very exclamatory sort of person.

Awww. Does she mind if Bella tries to fix that?

Not at all.

Good!

In fact, she appreciates the effort quite thoroughly.

"Yes, you probably should."

Bella starts reaching for a change of clothes. "Where's a mirror I can use?" she asks, stuffing her head into a raspberry-colored tunic.

"I will fetch one," says Sherlock.

"Ooh, portable mirrors, fancy."

Sherlock glances at Bella, perhaps wondering what was so surprising about the mirror's response, perhaps thinking about something else entirely.

"Confidence," Sherlock murmurs. "That sounds promising."

Sherlock giggles.

"I will be good to you," says Sherlock, "regardless of Cricket's opinion on the matter."

Sherlock grins a little.

...Sherlock giggles.

"Shall we come up with a wedding date? Or would you like to make more calls first?"

"More calls will probably be to people who also want a date," Bella says, leaning her head on Sherlock's shoulder. "So we should probably pick a day. Hmmm."

"Anytime within the next year would be likely to satisfy Mother."

"Late summer? Maybe mid-Umber."

"Entirely acceptable."

"And Ranata won't have to take off work then either, although Charlie will no matter when it is. Umber fifteenth." She kisses Sherlock on the cheek and beams.

Sherlock grins back.

"I will probably have to wear a dress to be proper about it, won't I," muses Bella. "Oh well."

"You may wear whatever you like, as far as I'm concerned."

"There's also your mother who may have concerns," Bella points out. "And however many guests who'll be scandalized anyway but could be slightly placated."

"Ha."

"I'll wear a dress," shrugs Bella. "It's not a big deal. I admit I'm having some trouble picturing you in a dress, though."

"I do not wear them."

"Well, you're the one who's royalty to begin with, you've probably got more social leeway than I have."

"Likely yes."

"I know I said politics sounded fascinating but I haven't actually studied it, since I didn't expect to get to do any... am I likely to get an official crash course or will I wind up picking things up as I go?"

"You may ask Mother."

"Will do. Should I also ask about the sword or should that wait a bit?"

"You may also ask about that. The worst that might happen is that she asks you to wait until we are married before you look at it."

"All right. And then I'll be able to pick it up without getting burnt," says Bella with understated glee. "I wonder, if I do marry both of you, if that'll leave me able to use royal magic instead of just have low-level perceptions like I think royal spouses usually do? Or if for magical purposes marrying Tony will be redundant?"

"I suspect," says Sherlock, "that there is only one way to find out."

"Yes," says Bella placidly. "With any luck, I will get to perform the experiment."

She nods.

...Sherlock smiles.

"Hello, Your Highness," exclaims Ranata when she's recovered her composure somewhat, "it's lovely to meet you, I'm Bella's mother Ranata Swan, I want the whole story."

"My sister and I went questing for someone to marry," says Sherlock. "We found Bella. She is delightful."

"She is very sweet."

Sherlock hugs her back.

"He'll get over it. Especially if Ranata visits and then talks to him. She'll like you. And Tony too. I'm debating whether to announce that part of the plan ahead of time."

"Perhaps not until we know it will happen."

"It worries me that your father is worried," she says. "I'll live."

"It's only because it's fast. Nothing about you. We already knew it was fast."

"Yes, I suppose we did."

Nuzzle. "Umber is a ways away. It's only Brown now. He'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea, and we'll have plenty of time to confirm that it's a good idea."

"All right."

"Now," says Bella, "fun as it is being carried everywhere, I'm going to atrophy if it goes on much longer and I'm going to crack my head open one of these days if I try doing without, so I need to go find one of the servants you mentioned and see about moccasin material."

"All right."

There she is!

"Your Majesty?" inquires Bella, quite ready to be sent away if the queen is busy with important queening.

"Ah, Bella," says her majesty. "Have you decided which of my daughters you are going to marry?"

"Sherlock first," Bella says. "In the event - I think it's an unlikely one, but not an impossible one - that I can't help out with producing you a royal grandchild, they think Tony will have an easier time finding a more traditional sort of spouse."

"I think they're right," says her majesty. "Very sensible."

"But since I probably can work out a spell for it - it may already have been invented, although I'd need to do a bit of a research project to find it - and since I'm going to marry Sherlock anyway, I was wondering if it would be a good idea for me to take some sort of politics lessons? The topic interests me but I haven't done a lot of investigation into it as I never expected to have a chance to apply it."

"Also very sensible," she says approvingly.

"Is there something like that available already, or that can be easily set up, or should I just investigate your library and talk to key staff members...?"

"I think the most instructive method would be if I taught you myself," she says. "Although you're free to browse the library as much as you want."

"That does sound very instructive, and I'd appreciate it," says Bella brightly. "What sort of schedule works for you?"

"That depends," she says. "Will you be staying in the castle for the forseeable future?"

"I will need to go to my house to collect my belongings and my cat, in the next week or so, and possibly again to sell the place. This will be pretty quick if I get a carpet to enchant and fly there and back instead of having to hike, though."

"Good, then I can keep you plenty busy," the queen says with a smile.

"I like to be busy!" Bella says approvingly. "Where are we going to start?"

"I know a fair amount about the magic works, considering that I'm not personally a wizard or related to one," Bella replies. "And some incidental facts about the Society and not very much about their history."

"Wizards," says Queen Marianne, "are apparently very relevant all of a sudden."

"We met some on our way here," Bella says. "I checked, and they weren't - at the time I looked - stealing any magic in active use."

"Good for them," the queen says dryly. "Any interest in looking again?"

"I can, yes, although if you want me to look more thoroughly instead of just again I'll need prep time to add a new lens to my spectacles or research some other sort of divination."

"About how long would that take? I'm thinking of sending you with the delegation. Practical experience," she says.

"Oh! Um, I'm about halfway through figuring out how to wrestle a dwarf spell into a lens, and given the gorgeous design on the armor Tony made I bet she can help me and shave a week off the time. If I just do that and don't make myself new moccasins so I can walk without tripping, or a flying carpet, I can probably have it done in a couple of days. Help from one of the princesses, or maybe you, could get me up to version two on the item-reading lens that uses fire-witch principles, but I haven't been actively looking into that recently so it'd take a little longer. And I've been meaning to add a lens or two enchanted with dragon spells but I've been putting it off in the hopes that I could get my friend Kexan to introduce me to King Kazul so I could ask for a look at the King's Crystal, which has yet to happen. Non-lens-based divinations, it depends on what exactly you want me to look for."

"We can probably wait for the dwarf lens," says the queen. "I don't have a specific notion of what you should be looking for, but I like information and I like more information better."

"I also," Bella adds, snapping her fingers in sudden memory, "now have an intact wizard staff that's not a discard to play with - did Sherlock mention this? - and I haven't started inspecting it yet, but there could be some kind of divination wrapped up in there that I can apply to myself or to a new lens, and it would probably be ideal for checking out what wizards are up to if I can make the adaptation."

"That sounds like a longer-term project to me," says the queen. "But I'd be interested to see what you could dig up with it."

"It could take a very long time," Bella admits, "mostly because there might not be anything like what I'd be looking for in the staff, but I've had staff fragments pass through my possession before and sometimes things rise to the surface right away. It's probably at least worth an hour checking that out before I start working on the dwarf lens full time. ...Should it be full time, are we in enough of a hurry that I should skip the moccasins and the carpet?"

"The official delegation will be going sometime this week," says the queen. "I'd rather you were able to accompany it without falling over."

"Okay. I've already asked for the material I need to make them. It won't take long, since I've done it before and I have all the beads and my sewing kit. I can get started on a preliminary check of the staff and talking to Tony about dwarf magic before the imitation leather arrives."

"Aren't you efficient," the queen says approvingly.

"Well, I haven't figured out immortality yet, and it's the next best thing," says Bella brightly.

The queen laughs.

"Is there anything else I should learn or have prepared before the delegation goes out?" Bella asks.

"Nothing crucial. Use your judgment."

"Always," says Bella, and she sweeps into a completely incompetent curtsy and departs to get to work on the staff.