"You're welcome, Beast." Cerené laughed.
"When are you going to realize that you're not ugly?" Ladle told him. "Come out, eat something, Beauty."
Fable thought it was a nice touch from Ladle to call him "Beauty," although she didn't know why he was called a beast.
"Marmalade gave me a fish," the Beast said. His voice was calm, raw, as if he were older—wiser, maybe?
"So where is the Star?" Fable tried to sound casual.
"The Star isn't coming," Cerené told her, knotting her face, as if Fable shouldn't have asked.
Fable shrugged and went to eat a fish. She noticed how she was almost everyone's favorite. Everyone patted her and took extra care of her. It dawned on her that she was the youngest, too. Maybe that was the reason.
Fable continued eating, wondering how she should bring up the subject of Loki's Fleece. She didn't have to wait long, though. Cerené brought up the subject on her own. After all, this was supposed to be some kind of meeting.
"So, here is my plan," Cerené said, tapping her blowpipe on her hand. "The only way to save Shew is to go to the Schloss and free her ourselves. We're not going to wait until the Queen of Sorrow consumes her heart."
Everyone seemed to listen with great interest, but Fable needed to put the pieces together. The timeline of this dream's events confused her. She assumed that this happened after Loki had cut off Cerené's hands, and that Cerené had been resurrected somehow. It had to be, because Shew never mentioned Cerené knowing the Lost Seven. Or…
"That's one hell of a daring rescue," Marmalade said, not really encouraged by the suggestion.
"Anyone have another way to save her?" Cerené said. "We all know what it means if the Queen consumes her heart."
Fable didn't know, but assumed there was more to the Queen preserving her beauty than what she previously knew.
"Last time Loki cut off your hands, Cerené," Marmalade argued. "I have no idea how you were resurrected, but I'm glad you are. Do you want to risk Loki killing any of us again?"
"It's the right thing to do!" Ladle waved her scythe happily. Everyone ducked to avoid accidentally dying before their time by the hands of a reckless reaper. "We have to save Shew." Ladle didn't seem to notice she was about kill someone. "And Cerené, we don't need to know how you came back, nor do we need to know where Fable has been all this time. All that matters is we're all together."
"Of course Ladle would encourage you." Marmalade pursed her lips. Fable sensed that Marmalade was acting like a leader in this meeting. "She is Death. She isn't afraid to die."
"Don't listen to my girl, Ladle." Jack bumped Ladle playfully as he leaned against a tree with that same white feather between his teeth. Of course, he had his hat on. Fable was surprised he and Marmalade were together. "But it would be neat if you woke up and discovered it was your turn to die today," he teased her.
"Stop joking, Jack," Marmalade puffed.
Jack rolled his eyes then winked at Fable, as if telling her Marmalade was nuts.
"Last time, all of you sent me to the Schloss to befriend Shew and help her escape on her sixteenth birthday," Cerené told everyone. Fable grimaced at the revelation. "I did my best, and was about to save her. I understand that you couldn't reveal yourselves then. But look at what happened."
"We were lucky Shew's heart wasn't really twenty-one grams that day," Ladle commented.
"Thanks to Loki stabbing Shew so many times, she lost so much blood and her heart weighed less, or the Queen would have consumed it any time later."
"Wait." Fable had to interrupt. "I don't understand." She partially didn't care if she'd acted out of the context of the dream. She had to know what had happened on the night of the last Dreamory.
"Didn't we tell you about this before?" Marmalade sighed. Fable began to not like her.