Year of the Rabbit - Part 4

Flubb handed Sable back the costume ears.   “Oh, did you want to hang on to those for a while?” Sable cast her a warm smile. “I think I might keep the real ears going for a time. Someone else might want some good luck.”   Flubb chuckled now too. “No problem, ma’am.” The royal “ma’am” sounded awkward on her lips; they’d moved well beyond that in the privacy of the Warren, but here they had an audience. “I’ll just put them in my backpack then, shall I?”   “They’re pretty durable. Just don’t overwash them.” Sable laughed.   Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She unlocked it and searched for the source. Ah, it was a text message from Senna:   <Just saw you on the news. I’m in town. Want to meet up after the parade?>   Sable was smiling again. Senna, another gift from El-Ahrairah – at least, for her. She was so proud of her newly-found daughters! It hurt to think about the upbringing she and Myko must have had, as Company experiments – not unlike Tempest, but at least they’d had each other.   She was so glad they had all found each other now, though. It had broken her heart to hear of the devil’s bargain Senna had made in the last war; and it had filled her so full of pride she could hardly speak the words when she’d handed Senna the Lapin Star of Valour for that same bargain.   “Senna’s here somewhere,” she told Tempest with a grin.   “Oh, cool. Where is she?”   “Good question.” This crowd was definitely not for Senna. Too noisy, too people-y. To handle it for more than a few minutes, she’d have to have her noise-cancelling headphones. A lot of not-fun.   <Of course!> Sable texted back. <Where are you? Or where do you want to meet?>   She could almost hear the shrug in Senna’s response: <I don’t know the area. Why don’t you pick a place?>   Sable didn’t really know the area that well either, but she’d at least heard of places to go. <Why don’t we explore the vendors at the park and take in the performances there for a bit? And then after, we can go to the Yat Sen Gardens. World famous! Really peaceful, I hear.>   They were on her “Protectorate bucket list,” actually. Sable was making it a goal to visit major tourist attractions and cultural centres in the Protectorate so that she could speak about them intelligently to “foreign dignitaries” like the other House Leaders. Besides, she liked learning about cultures she didn't come from, and this just struck her as something a Queen ought to do.   <Okies,> Senna replied.   Sable sent a happy face back and pocketed her phone. “We’re gonna meet for the performances after,” she told Tempest. “I don’t know where she is right now. Doing her own thing, I guess.”   “She’s probably afraid you’ll draft her into the parade,” Flubb said with a teasing smile.   “I would never do that to Senna,” Sable said, a bit defensively. “She’d hate it.”   But she did it to Jean, didn’t she? Well, that was different. What House Ailurus expected of their Heir was their own concern. Jean was the Lapin Crown Prince. Being seen was, sadly, part of the job description.   Once again, she wondered if making Jean the Heir to the House was fair to him. He was doing the job, but so much of it took so many spoons for him. He was assumed to be her Heir as her eldest (living, she thought in a dark corner of her brain before squashing it) child, but he didn’t have to be. House tradition was pretty adaptable about that.   She supposed it had to be.   Enough! Sable told herself firmly. You are here to have FUN.   Her ears twitched backwards when she heard some impressive drumming starting up. The Highlanders were taking a bit of a break, doing that low-key drumming thing they did between songs, probably because she’d held them all up with the schoolkids. And why shouldn’t I? she told the voice of her mother in her brain that was complaining about how she always had to be the centre of attention and didn’t pay attention to the needs of other people. I’m the Queen, dammit! It's my job.   This was different. It sounded distinctly Asian. Was there a dragon dance going on?   “I want to see what that is,” Sable told her companions. “Who wants to join me on the Lapin float?”   “Is that an open invitation, ma’am?” the Premier asked her with a smile.   “Why not?” Sable cast him her trademark wry smirk, the one that made the Owsla worry. If the Premier could get up on the raised flatbed, with his somewhat soft lawyerly physique and his business suit and patent leather shoes, he deserved to ride alongside. And if he can handle our weirdness. “Want to take a walk in our world, Premier Eby? I have to warn you, you might as well be taking a tour of Diagon Alley.”   He smiled back. “Bring it on,” he said.   “Actually, I can’t wait to meet more of the Tome Knights we’ve all heard so much about,” Mayor Sim put in, smoothly joining the party. “That’s Dame AttorraRu there, right? It’s gotta be.”   “Yes, that’s Ru.” Sable said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced you around yet, have I? This is Dame Flubb; on my left is Dame Gwenefre, and the tiger, as you might have guessed, is Captain Woodwright.”   James transformed into his human form; not in Lapin uniform, as he typically wore during public appearances, but rather, a Lapin pink “jumper” as her former UK subjects insisted on calling it, and wool dress slacks. She really had interrupted his breakfast, hadn’t she? “How d’you do?” he said, extending his hand.   The Mayor covered his flinch well. It was only a momentary startle reaction, more of a twitch, really. Sable was impressed. He clasped her Owsla Captain’s hand. “How do you do, sir?”   “Good to see you again, Captain,” said the Premier, also shaking hands. “I’m sorry, I suppose I should have said hello when you were in tiger form. I was pretty sure it was you. It just feels… awkward… speaking to… a tiger, I guess.”   “It takes some getting used to, I think,” Flubb put in. “How d’you do, Premier, Mr. Sim?” They shook her furry, cat-clawed and gloved hand with a minimum of double takes. The Premier didn’t even bat an eye. Sable was doubly impressed. How often did one meet an anthropomorphic calico cat with dwarven beard braids in a pretty skirt and blouse – and with bunny ears on her head, no less?   About as often as people meet a half-dragon, half-bunny with gems for scales, I suppose. My life continues to be extremely weird. “Ru, would you help us up?”   “Of course, Sable-rah,” said AttorraRu cheerfully. “Here, give us a hand, there, Premier.”   The Premier extended his hand to Ru, and she hauled him up by one arm. This surprised even him, and his patent leather shoes scrabbled against the sides of the float as he was lifted.   “Right, you’re a dragon, I should have expected that,” he said, a little breathlessly. “Good to meet you, Dame AttorraRu.” He shook her clawed and scaled hand.   Ru laughed. “It’s good to meet you too, sir. Mr. Mayor, care for a lift?”   “I’d be honoured.” Ru hauled him up the same way, which he handled with considerably more dignity.   “Well, let’s get on with it, then, Auntie,” Flubb said with a wry grin at AttorraRu, and then she was up on the float as well.   Sable grinned at Tempest mischievously. “Race you?”   “Race?” Tempest echoed, mystified; and then they understood. “Oh!” They returned the grin. “Filk, yes.”   “Three, two, one…” The two siblings changed into their hare forms – one a glowing star-bunny, the other orange, with flames on the tips of its ears – and they scampered towards the float and leaped before Flubb could cry out in alarm.   Sable made a hop, skip and a jump onto the platform, and the crowd cheered… but it quickly turned into a cry of dismay as Tempest got their feet too far in front of them, missed their cue for the leap, and ended up splatting directly into the side of the float before bouncing off. When they hit the ground, they let off a small flare of flames in alarm.   “Oh no!” cried Flubb, reaching down and almost toppling off the end of the float herself.   Sable scurried over to the edge of the float and looked down. “Tempest! Are you okay?”   “Oh no, you don’t,” said Flubb, seizing Sable firmly by the scruff. “You’re not going anywhere, ma’am. I think that’s quite enough adventure for one day.”   Tempest shook themself off, extinguishing their gust of flame almost as soon as they’d ignited it. “I’m fine,” they said crossly. “Nothing hurt but my pride.”   Sable twitched her ear in Flubb’s direction. “Flubb, please put me down. This is very undignified.”   “Dignity?” she snorted. “You have employed me to see to your well-being, Your Majesty, and I am not going to have you getting your fool self killed on my watch!”   “You feel our pain,” James said ruefully.   “Want a hand?” Kit asked Tempest, leaning down.   “That’s probably a good idea. Clearly I need more jumping drills.” They rubbed their nose and ears impatiently. “Who’d have thunk I’d ever say I needed more drills, hey Kit?”   Kitoypoy picked them up and lifted them onto the float. He and Gwen continued to walk beside.   “Can you please at least let go of my scruff?” Sable pleaded. “You’re actually not supposed to pick rabbits up by the scruff. We’re not designed for it like cats are. It kinda hurts.”   “Oh dear, I’m sorry!” She cradled Sable in her arms – but it was a firm grip, and clearly, she had no intentions of letting go.   The crowd was laughing and applauding now, so Sable supposed it wasn’t a complete loss. Anything that mitigates fear of us, she thought. I suppose it doesn’t hurt us to look goofy every once in a while. Besides, that was fun – as long as Tempest is okay. She extended her body as far down as it would go and sniffed in Tempest’s direction.   They didn’t look like they were moving with any difficulty as they hopped away from anything flammable and began to wash their face with their paws, little sparks flowing over their body in place of a normal hare’s saliva. No worse for wear, then. All good. She’d check them over for bruises later.   In all the chaos, the drums she’d been curious about had stopped. She would have to wait for them to start up again before she figured out what they were about.