House Warming

Getting everyone and everything back to the castle took very little time and effort. As everything was bundled up, either I shoved it into my storage space or Kat teleported it to one of the girls at the castle. Then it was just a matter of putting the girls that didn't fit on the dragon in storage as well.

The argument over who would be stored lasted longer. Hilde was firm that she should get to fly as it was her castle. Ariel really wanted to fly again, having had a blast the first time. Cass wanted the adventure of trying it out, and Ruby didn't want to let her go alone. Kat just rolled her eyes.

In the end I just put my foot down and told Hilde she'd already gotten to fly not once but twice, if she wanted to fly again she could do it as a dragon. She wasn't ready for that yet, so just accepted being stored with a pout. Ariel was much more cheerful about it and gave me a kiss on the cheek as I picked her up to deposit.

Cassandra had a blast, Ruby really, really did not. Maleficent was not amused at being thrown up on.

The four of us were met by those left behind in a big group on the royal floor. Ella was the first to leap into my arms. "I missed you too, pet." I told her, while whirling her about as she giggled.

Snow was looking about confused, probably wondering about her mother's whereabouts. That was a good reminder, so I set Ella down and reached up to pluck Hilde out of nowhere. She looked about as I set her down. "Well that wasn't so bad, no time passing in your storage?"

I shook my head as I set her down. "None at all for what, or who, is stored." I repeated my trick with Ariel and was swarmed by Snow and Rapunzel after I put her down, who wanted their own hugs. "Okay now for something really interesting." I told the girls, and concentrated on my apartment.

One of what had been a blank wall before, now had a door in it. Nice. I walked over, bringing it to everyone's attention. "Where did that come from?" Hilde asked curiously.

"One of my recent rewards was an extra-dimensional dwelling, much like my storage. Doorways inside will appear in places key to each of you. Right now only I can sense or use them but once I've invited each of you inside you'll be able to find and use them yourselves. Let's take a look, shall we?" So saying I opened the large black wooden door and gestured inside.

Instead of going through, Hilde walked to the other side to examine the wood. "So this wasn't here before? It looks perfectly seated into the wall as if it belonged here." Cass and Ruby, still looking a bit green, walked through the door between us. Followed by Snow and Ella.

"Company magic can be really quite impressive, no one else will even notice the door or us using it." I waved Gothel through when it looked like she had plans to try staying behind. Laughing, Rapunzel followed her.

Maleficent stopped to look the door over as well, her raven sitting on her shoulder. "And you couldn't have just opened one of these up where we were?"

I shrugged. "I could have, but these apartments tend to take on characteristics of where they are first used. I'd rather it not look like a ruin."

She snorted. "Fair enough." And passed through with Ariel and Aurora right behind her. That just left Hilde and me, and Kat...

I looked around at the empty room with of course no sign of her in sight. "Kat?!"

"Yes?" She was standing just inside the doorway, looking as impertinent as always. I swatted her ass as she ran off inside with a giggle, then I gestured to Hilde who put her arm through mine as we walked inside together.

The floors were black stone, much like Hilde's castle, but the walls were paneled in black wood, unlike the stone there. The electric lighting overhead was also definitely not a feature of her castle. The short entryway opened up on a large living room with a big, lit, black stone fireplace and a wealth of very nice black leather couches and chairs. Most everyone was hanging out in here, though I could make out Snow and Ella in the kitchen over the breakfast bar.

"Okay, there are some things you should all be aware of. This apartment has features none of you are going to be familiar with." I gestured towards the overhead lights. "Many are powered by something called electricity, you can think of it as magic if you like, though it's really something else. Some worlds we end up in later will almost certainly have similar, so I'll be sure to explain what's here."

I left Hilde in the living room and went to talk to Snow and Ella before they accidentally hurt themselves on a modern appliance. Snow was currently looking into one of the big refrigerators in wonder. "It's cold, and such a strange variety of foods." She said as she turned to me, smiling. Ella was playing with the sink, switching the water from hot to cold and back, and gave me a smile as well.

Knowing they'd likely be the two most in the kitchen, I went over everything with them, though Ariel quickly joined, full of curiosity, and most of the others watched from the living room. After that I took everyone on a tour, as I didn't know the layout yet even myself.

The first floor had the kitchen and living room, along with two bedrooms and a bath. Going over the bathroom's features got as much excitement as the kitchen and Ariel had to be pulled away from the toilet that she kept flushing with a giggle. Upstairs had four more bedrooms spaced out along a long hall with a second bathroom at the end. A lot of space, even if some of the girls would have to share rooms.

I also found a very special room on the first floor, just off the entrance, that no one else could enter. In it was a desk with a familiar computer. Time for that later.

I gathered everyone back in the living room, taking a seat on a plush leather couch where Hilde and Ella quickly squeezed to either side of me. Not that I minded in the slightest. "Okay ladies, time to decide our next move. Most of you know I am not from your world. I was sent here to collect five Princesses before I move on to the next. With Aurora here, that quest is complete, but that does not mean we have to leave right away."

"We?" Hilde was quick to interject. "You expect us to uproot our lives and follow you to another world?"

I nodded. "I do. Do you really want to stay behind and lose eternal youth? Have you not grown used to all the sex? Do you really want to be left alone again in your castle without even Snow by your side?"

That gave her pause. Ella just hugged me tighter. "You've already uprooted me from my life, and I am eternally grateful to you for it."

"I'm up for the adventure." Cass declared. "I'm with her." Ruby told me with a wink. Maleficent ran a hand through Aurora's hair as the girl sat next to her. "I vowed my Godchild's parents would never see her again. Another world sounds good to me. Besides, I am still very interested in your offer of sponsorship to work directly for your masters." Aurora just smiled. Gothel looked away from my gaze, she knew she had ****.

"You are my Prince, where you go, I follow." Snow declared boldly, and Rapunzel nodded along, as did Ariel.

I looked back to Hilde and raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "Very well, my love, I will give up the kingdom I fought for for you, I will follow you wherever you go, and I will do whatever you say."

I kissed her passionately then, and she melted against me. "Very good. I am glad to hear you are all on board, but we still have decisions to make. Do we go now as is, or do we spend some time grabbing more assets?"

"I'd like to say goodbye to my father." Ariel spoke up.

I nodded, looking at her. "That is something I very much want to do, clearing things up with Triton so that Corona and Tirulia don't suffer. While you are doing that I could see about the kingdom to the north that Hilde heard about across the sea."

Ariel had perked up quite a bit hearing me speak of letting her visit home, and chimed in again after. "Oh, Arendelle! I know about them."

Excellent. "A Queen and her sister, the Princess? No other family?" She nodded, smiling. "The Queen would be a great catch and should be interested in a curse breaker." I turned back to Hilde. "You mentioned Agrabah before. Have you had any contact with them?"

"The Royal Vizier Jafar is a greasy man with eyes on the throne, but also a sorcerer of some little power. I've dealt with him in the past to get my hands on rare ingredients from the region for alchemy. I wouldn't trust him with anything of import though."

That was an opening at least. "Interest in the throne or the Princess? And if you showed up to offer him help in gaining the throne, would he believe you?"

She thought about that shortly. "I think he wants the throne more, but she gives him legitimacy to it. He might, if he thought I wanted something very important in return. There are far more dangerous things than that snake in the desert though, things best left undisturbed."

I mused on that a bit. "So a journey north that should be easy, a journey south that's high risk but also high reward, and I don't mean Jasmine, both or neither? Any strong feelings about this aside from Ariel?"

Ariel raised her hand anyways. "If you let me see my father, I can see about grabbing anything valuable I can get my hands on while I'm there?"

That wasn't a horrible idea. "I don't need wealth, but items of magic I wouldn't say no to." Triton might have all kinds of neat stuff just lying around.

"Agrabah would be difficult to get to without flight, but my presence is certain to wake things up best left alone." Maleficent said. That made sense unfortunately.

"What about a quick snatch of something seemingly unimportant? A simple bottle hidden among scrap pots." As hot as Jasmine was, and having a harem member in an actual harem outfit, she wasn't worth the trouble. But Eden was.

Hilde looked like she was thinking. "Can you narrow that down a bit? I might be able to scry something more specific."

"Does it matter?" Maleficent asked. "It would still be a long, dangerous journey there and back, or worse."

"If I can get a lock on the exact location, we might be able to boost the cat for a quick jump beyond her normal range."

If the girls could pull that off that would be more than enough out of Agrabah. "A collection of old pots by the docks is as specific as I can get. Any arguments against going north?" No one said anything, and Ariel looked excited. "Okay, the big closet at the end of the hall is my extra-dimensional storage. Anything you put in there I can snatch and vice versa. Hilde, your mirror is there. See what you can find from here while I go north. Ariel, you're with me, as is obviously Mal."

"Mal?!"

"It's a nickname, get used to it. Now as I was saying, Ariel and Mal are going north with me, and Kat as well since I can't keep you away. Anyone else with a need to go?" Kat appeared in my lap and purred.

Cassandra raised her hand. "Are you likely to need a guard, my Lord?"

I shrugged. "It shouldn't be dangerous, but having a personal guard wouldn't look bad. Not sure how we get you your own horse though."

"What if she rode a wolf?" Ruby asked with a grin. Cass got a twinkle in her eye at that.

"Now that sounds impressive." The three of us laughed while Maleficent grumbled.