It had been a week since Mandrake's attack and our meeting with the council. Every day since then, Nod and I had been searching for a house to live in. I was getting a little tired of it. After looking at so many, all the houses started to look the same.

"So, what do you think?" Nod asked as we walked through a small, stone-walled house. I balanced Alisia on my hip, and looked over the living room with a debating expression on my face. The house really was nice. It had the same compacted dirt floor and stone walls that my old house had. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and there was even a little playset in the backyard for when Alisia got older.

"It looks really great, Nod," I said. "It's just that—"

"It's not home, is it?" Nod said as he leaned against a couch.

I shook my head. "I just can't stop thinking about how much the old place meant to us—to me and Alisia and Ronin. Tara lived there, Nod."

"I get what you mean, MK. I really do. But I think that you should remember—" Nod took my hand. His brown eyes were warm and empathetic. "In the end, it was only a roof and four walls. This might just be a house to you now, but it could be home someday."

I nodded. I looked around the bare walls again. I tried to imagine them hanging with paintings of Nod and Alisia, and the picture of Ronin and Tara. It was easy.

"Our home," I said as I squeezed Nod's hand. He leaned in and our lips touched. His lips had a sweet, salty tang that tasted like joy and dreams of the future. Nod leaned out and ruffled Alisia's hair.

"Look at this, Ace," Nod said with a grin. "Our new home!"

Alisia smiled goofily and babbled. I gasped. "Lissy, you have a tooth coming in!" I put the tip of my finger in Alisia's mouth and felt the hard bump that was pressing from underneath her gums. "I can't believe it. Lis, you're too little to be teething."

"She's seven months, MK. It's perfectly normal." Nod said, picking up the diaper bag from next to the door where we left it.

"Has it really been that long?" I asked softly, whirling one of Alisia's blond curls around my finger.

"It really doesn't feel like that long, does it?" Nod asked, opening the door for us. I stepped out into the luscious green world around me. The sky—far, far above us, was bright and clear as ever.

"No. It only feels like yesterday." I entwine my fingers with Nod's and look up at him. A gentle cough from the other side of Nod startles me back into the everyday—off of cloud nine. It's Redwood, one of my permanent guards. I look around me and see Maple on my left. My four other guards stand by Zeeba and the other mounts. It's impossible for me to be alone with Nod. It will always be—until Mandrake is finally gone for good.

We went back to Ronin's when we were done house-hunting. He'd been released under the condition that he would remain on bedrest until he was recovered. My dad had been staying with him during the day, so he would never have to get up or do anything himself—something that I think Ronin appreciated but also abhorred.

"Knock knock," Nod called out as he opened the door to Ronin's stone home. I felt a magnetic pull to go just next door—to go home. But it wasn't possible. Upon further investigation, Leafmen had found rot inside the house. Alisia wasn't strong enough to make it go away. The house would have to be knocked down, and that just broke my heart.

"Hi there!" Dad called from Ronin's living room. Ronin was reclining on his couch with a grumpy look on his face and tea in his hands. White bandages peeked out from beneath his open shirt collar. A tray stood beside the couch with a few berries on it. Dad was absentmindedly snacking on them as he sat in the chair a few inches from Ronin's couch.

"Hi Dad," I said as I grabbed a blanket from the diaper bag, which was still hanging on Nod's shoulder. I tried to lay the blanket out on the floor, but I couldn't do that and keep my hold on Alisia at the same time. "Lay this down, will you?" I handed the blanket to Nod. Nod spread the blanket out and I laid Alisia down on it. She cooed and her deep blue eyes explored the ceiling. I handed her a thick root with a little honey smeared on it for her to gnaw on.

Ronin looked at Alisia with kind and affectionate eyes. "Teething, is she? Can't believe she's that old." He took a sip of his tea.

Dad readjusted his glasses in shock. "Why, seems like just yesterday she was smaller than an ant! Well—I mean, of course she's smaller than an ant, we're all about smaller than ants, but I mean, when I was big, well—you know what I mean," Dad finished with a smile and a blush.

"That's just what I told Nod!" I said with a smile. "Well, not just what I told Nod, my words were a little different, but…the same sentiment."

"How's the house-hunt going?" Ronin asked, interested. "I circled a few ads in the paper for you. Seems reading the paper is all I'm allowed to do," he added with a pointed look at Dad.

"You heard the doctor," Dad said earnestly. "Bed rest! And I intend to make sure you do exactly that. Rest! In Bed!"

"It's going really well," Nod interjected. He gave me a big smile and looped an arm around my waist, dragging me to his hip. "I think we've actually found a place. Right, honey?"

I rolled my eyes with a goofy grin on my face at being called 'honey'. Coming from Nod's mouth, it sounded so strange and yet so perfect. Like we had been married for years and were discussing our latest vacation home purchase instead of teenage parents being forced into a marriage and a war. "Yeah, I think we did. It's nice. It's not too far."

"It's the old Landen place. You know, the one around the corner." Nod said as he sank into Ronin's other living room chair, pulling me down with him. There was barely room for both of us inside the chair, so I was half sitting on Nod's lap. I put my arm behind his neck and re-arranged myself so that only my legs were laying on top of Nod. I felt a little less awkward that way, even though I was fairly certain a light pink blush still tinted my cheeks.

Ronin's eyes lit up. "Oh, is it now? That's perfect. Stood empty for years. That's just great. It'll be nice to have someone living there again. The Landens were lovely neighbors. Nothing like what you two will be, I'm sure," Ronin teased.

"Are you kidding? I'll be a great neighbor! Popping in, asking to borrow a cup of sugar, commenting on your lawn ornaments, possibly stealing your welcome mat. It'll be a great time!" Nod said.

Ronin groaned. "For you, perhaps! MK, keep him in line, won't you?"

I laughed. "Are you kidding? I have a wonderful idea to move all your hide-a-keys around," I joked.

Alisia suddenly started to whimper from her blanket on the floor. I looked over at her and she was giving me tired eyes and pouty lips.

"Somebody's sweepy," I cooed at her. I untangled myself from Nod at scooped her off the floor as she began to wail. "We had better go," I said as Nod and I locked eyes. I walked over to Dad and gave him a one-armed hug and then I kissed Ronin on the forehead.

Nod waved and said goodbye. He gathered up the blanket I'd left on the floor and once again shouldered the diaper bag. We were just headed out the door when I heard Dad's voice.

"Ronin! What do you think you're doing? The doctor said—"

"Good gosh man, I have to use the pisser! For the sun's sake!"

I shook my head and bit down a smirk. I jostled Alisia gently up and down to console her, even as her screams gave me a splitting headache. Some days, being a mother wasn't really that much fun.

"Here, let me take her," Nod said, opening his arms.

"What makes you think she'll settle down for you?" I asked as I gave him Alisia. As soon as I handed her over, Alisia stopped crying and started sniffing. She rolled over in Nod's arms and clutched to his shirt and put her little blonde curls on his shoulder and fell asleep.

I gave a little gasp and whispered "Traitor" to sleeping Alisia as Nod gave me a big 'I-won't-say-I-told-you-so grin'.

"Ride with Maple," Nod said softly. "I'll ride back with Redwood, and Zeeba will just go home by herself."

Maple—listening, as all the guards were, made room for me on her mount, a handsome little hummingbird named Zeus.

"If it makes you feel any better, Your Majesty, I always slept better in the arms of my father," she said with a warm, playful smile.

"Well, as long as she's sleeping, I guess," I conceded with a smile of my own. Of course it didn't truly hurt me that Alisia settled down for Nod—some people just put babies to sleep. My mother could do it, and so could my grandmother. That talent had apparently evaded me. As had the talents of dancing, plate-spinning, and gracefulness. I could paint a killer sunset though.

Violet had supper waiting for us when we arrived back at Nod's. Today she had donned a dress of dove gray flower petals and tied back her curly silver hair with a thin flower stem. She was such a comforting presence. I would really miss her when I didn't live here anymore. I didn't want her to be lonely—Nod had lived here all of his life—but according to Jinn tradition, a man and a woman lived by themselves after marriage. Or, in our case, a man and a woman and their adopted Queen daughter.

"What is it tonight, Vi?" I asked as the delicious smell came wafting through the room.

"Zeeba put an unfertilized nest in the bushes out back. I thought we might as well use them, instead of letting them rot back there," Violet said as she added spices and mixed the eggs.

"Good thought," I said as I sat down at the table.

Nod came through the door with Alisia, still completely conked out. She was lying on her back in his arms, with one chubby little arm swinging down. I smiled as he went to sit her down on the couch.

"Oh, wait, Nod. Don't put her on the couch, she could roll off. Put her back in my bedroom. I pulled out your old cot today. It's nothing as nice as her crib, but until you two move out, it will have to do."

Nod went to the back and returned without Alisia. He joined me at the kitchen table and placed his hand over mine. "Speaking of moving out," he said, "We found a place today!"

Violet gasped in joy. "Really? That's just fantastic!" She abandoned her eggs and hugged both Nod and I. She placed a kiss to our foreheads and placed her hands on our cheeks, one on Nod's, one on mine. "Truly, kids, that is just great. I'm so, so happy for you." Violet said tearfully.

"It's not far," Nod said. "It's really not any farther than her other place."

"It seems really nice," I added. "I mean, it's not home now, but maybe someday…"

"Of course, dear," Violet assured me. "Everyone feels that way when moving into a new home. It'll take some getting used to, but in time, you couldn't imagine living anywhere else."

Violet went back to her eggs and I leaned into Nod at the table. "So, what are your other plans for this week?" Violet asked with her back turned to us.

"I thought MK and I would go visit the Marriage Garden. Maybe pick out our tree and plot," Nod said as he squeezed my hand.

"You mean, you, me, and our six lovely escorts?" I asked as I thought about our guards posted outside.

"Hey, soon this will all be over, and we can just live our lives as normal Jinn. Well, me as normal and you as a Stomper-turned-Jinn and Alisia as the baby Queen…but as normal as possible, I guess," Nod said with a smile and a kiss to my forehead.

When supper was over, Violet retired to her room. I offered to move Alisia back out here, but Violet insisted that they would be just fine, and that Alisia could sleep in her room tonight. I was grateful for her offer. I moved into the living room to sit on the couch and groaned involuntarily. My hand moved to my back. I had various aches and pains throughout my entire body, but the worst pain was in my back.

"What's wrong?" Nod asked from the kitchen as he washed dishes.

"Nothing," I answered, still trying to one handedly massage my back. "It's just my back. It's sore."

"It's probably from sleeping on that couch all week," Nod said. He entered the living room and sat on the couch next to me. "Come on, turn over," he said. Nod put his hands on my shoulders, guiding me to lay on my stomach across him on the couch.

"What are you even do—" I began to ask when I first felt Nod's fingers massaging into my back. I sighed. "Wow," I said happily as I closed my eyes.

"Better?" Nod asked as he continued to knead my back.

"So much better," I confirmed. I rested my head on the arm of the couch and closed my eyes.

"Why don't you sleep in my room tonight?" Nod offered softly.

"I don't know, Nod. With your mom right there?"

"I mean we do not have to…we're not going to… do anything. Just sleeping. Come on, I can't let you hurt your back any more than this. It's all knotted and tight. You're probably in a lot of pain. I could sleep on the couch, if it makes you feel any better."

"What, and let you be in pain?" I countered. "No way. I'll sleep in your room. It can be practice," I said with a sleepy smile. In a few weeks, Nod and I would be married and living in our own house.

"Okay," Nod let up. "Well, I suppose I should practice at least once at this too. Wouldn't want to mess it up when it really counts."

I had flipped over so that I was on my back on the couch again, with my legs thrown over Nod. He leaned forward and placed his hands under my back and scooped me up and stood. I squealed a little and grabbed his neck, a giddy grin all over my face.

"You scared me!" I protested as he carried me to his room.

"I am not at all sorry," Nod said with a smile as he shouldered us through the door way.

I slept very well.