Sienna returned to the garden, joining the rest of the curious family. While Ali clung to her leg, like a sticky monkey, Sienna dragged her foot around, explaining briefly why the investigators had visited her home.

"Trouble really has a way of finding you." Lady Cadelaria commented, pinching lemon browny with judgement in her eyes.

Grandma Byra slapped Cadelaria’s hand that was pushing a browny piece into her mouth. The whole piece vanished inside, nearly chocking the woman.

"Speak less." Grandma Byra said, shoving Lady Cadelaria out of the way.

The old woman reached Sienna, twisting her granddaughter from side to side. "They didn’t hurt you, did they? Lions are not known for their good tempers. Especially the ones that work in any kind of law enforcement organization."

Sienna stepped back, taking care not to trample her daughter into the soil. "They could never lay a hand on me on my turf. I think we should stop now, clean up and have breakfast."

At the sound of that, Ali jumped up quickly.

The last baskets were carried out of the garden, along with the gardening tools. They moved in small groups, split into loud conversation. Grandpa Corven and Lord Marius stuck together, laughing about something. Only Lady Cadelaria was lacking in friends in the compound.

She wanted to find Sienna, but Mija sidled up to her target, leaving the lady seething.

"Is this your way of telling me that you are leaving?" Sienna asked Mija.

And cue, the crocodile tears! Mija could squeeze them out at the drop of a heart. "Sienna, how can you throw me out? Where will I go? I am just a poor girl..."

"You are woman." Sienna cut in.

Mija squeezed out more tears, making Sienna sigh. "If only your tears could turn into pearls! Anyway, since you don’t want to end your vacation just yet, make yourself useful. You’re an influencer. Sell my pans and brand. Bring your friends on board. For every pan you sell, I will pay you a small commission."

Mija blinked, then immediately nodded.

As the family settled outside for breakfast, the snake woman was already rehearsing poses--wrapping herself around a tree with a pan in her hand. She was loudly hissing slogans like "Sienna’s Original Si pan, cooks hotter than fire, hurts worse than a slap from a lion beast man!"

Sienna rolled her eyes but secretly smirked.

"Sis, is she really your choice of brand ambassador?" Soren asked softly, lowering his head as if he was afraid the the words would reach Mija’s ears.

Suddenly, Linera gasped and rose, drawing everyone’s attention. "Oh my good falcon god! We forgot Numia!"

Her words woke them up, and there was more gasping to express the shock they were under.

"No wonder I kept thinking it was a little too peaceful." Sienna groaned. Her eyes darted to her mother-in-law, "Minus a few random visitors."

Corven Junior and Christo were already on their feet, in a hurry to see to it that Numia was released. They were more appalled than everyone else that they had forgotten her since one was her husband, and the other, her son.

"We are never going to hear the end of this." Grandma Byra screeched. "How did we forget to remind the guards to release her after the summit?"

Not one person had an answer to how it happened. For Sienna, it was easy: she didn’t like Numia and she didn’t think of the woman often. Besides, she had been too busy thinking about her rebel father and elder Edris to worry about Numia.

Within minutes, Christo and Corven Junior returned, diving down from the sky, with Numia between them. As soon as her feet touched down, the woman staggered forward. She looked like a storm bottled in human form.

"Sienna!" she shrieked. "You wretched woman! You villain! You had me locked away and abandoned in a cottage far away from here on purpose!"

Lady Cadelaria smiled. Finally, there was someone who could testify to the villainous ways of chubby charms. The rest of the family reacted in different ways.

"Six days! Six days I was imprisoned in that miserable cottage while you all feasted like kings and queens! Do you know what kind of opportunities my son missed because of this? He could have been matched with a proper daughter of beast lord, but no--you sabotaged me!"

Sienna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Aunt, I did not lock you up, my husband did. And he had every right to do so because your matchmaking madness would have made you a nuisance around the summit. Also, it was not locking up....it was confinement. There is a difference between those two things. You had a nice view, big bed, food, water, wine, and movies to watch. It was a vacation."

"Lies!" Numia screamed. "Your husband would not have locked me up without informing you first. Be honest, you are just afraid that my son will rise higher than you through his own marriage."

Lady Cadelaria jumped up. "Aha!" She pointed to Sienna, eyes gleaming with excitement. "You did marry my son to rise from the roots of your impoverished status."

Numia sneered at Lady Cadelaria. "Hey, can’t you wait your turn?"

Sienna’s mouth fell open. What is this? she asked herself. Her expectation was for Numia and Lady Cadelaria to gang up on her. But, Numia wanted her grievances settled first and she didn’t care to pretend to be polite around Lady Cadelaria like she was around other noble beast men.

It was probably because she had already recognized the fact that Corven Junior would never marry a high ranking daughter of a noble fox beast family.

"Are you talking to me like that?" Lady Cadelaria asked. "Do you know who I am you messy looking bird beast?"

Sienna covered her mouth to keep from squealing. She shoveled breakfast into her mouth faster, enjoying the show down. It was the same with other relatives who did not look too eager to intervene.

But, Lord Marius and grandpa Corven seemed embarrassed by what was happening.

Numia eyed Lady Cadelaria disdainfully, from head to toe and then back to her eyes.

Grandma Byra cleared her throat. "Numia you need to calm down. We all knew about your confinement and looked the other way. It was not because we wanted to be cruel but because Elias made the right decision. If you went around bothering those lords, asking about their daughters and shoving Junior in everyone’s face, we would all have been embarrassed.

Sienna and Elias had enough on their hands with the eagles and their schemes. They didn’t need to add your kind of trouble to their plates." She pointed to an empty chair. "Now sit down and eat breakfast or go and clean up first because you look like a mess."