The question that Camille asked was surprisingly loaded when it came to Lewis. A classic move would have been to kill them, though it was very rare for him nowadays, and usually a last resort. Normally he would prank them in a humiliating way that would cause them a loss of reputation, but that wasn’t something he really wanted Camille to be doing. So, he went with the third option.

“I ignore them,” he said as a half truth. “Or I tell them I’d rather not be around them…politely, and then ignore them.” It was the ‘correct’ answer that he needed to give, but it was probably something that he would struggle to do in practice. “I secretly get revenge in my mind and imagination, but I leave them alone.”

A Tea Party
“Fifi,” Camille propped herself up at Fiori’s workstation. “I don’t know what to do. What do you like to do Fifi?”

“Well… I liked to hogtie squirrels and put them in dresses,” Fiori answered her youngest sibling easily enough.

“Dresses?” Camille perked up. “THANKS, FIFI YOU’RE THE BEST.”

“Just remember if you can’t get what you want just…”

Camille darted off from there as she threw open her mother’s gigantic closet. She had so much jewelry, dresses, shoes, and hats that some of them Camille had never seen before. “Silva,” Camille darted downstairs. She waved Silva down so she could whisper to her. “I need your help Silva…”

“Oh? I am ever the faithful servant young miss,” Silva smirked at her.

Soon Camille had one of Simone’s long dresses on with heels and accessories on. Silva had tied up the dress in such a way she wouldn’t trip. “Darren,” Camille was hanging from the door handle very cutely. She had a tiara in her hair with several dozen bracelets and necklaces on her.

“What’s wrong Camille?” Darren was genuinely concerned about why the little girl looked so sad.

“Can you come help me?” Camille took his finger with her hand and gently tugged. It wasn’t long before Darren was in one of Simone’s dresses with a giant hat and heels on. They were sitting at Camille’s play table in the toy room. “More tea Princess Darlene?” Silva had catered her party. “What about you Lady Eyolf? Missus Squirrel? Lady Snow?” Eyolf the dire wolf was in one of Simone’s more poofy dresses with a hat on his head. Snowball had a vest on with a fancy small hat. Then there was Mrs. Squirrel, a squirrel with a dress on. Supposedly he knew Fiori.

Darren looked pained every time Camille wasn’t looking at him. He felt trapped by the five-year-old. This was nothing more than a brutal trap he had fallen for. “Yes please,” Darren managed to get out with a smile.

“Sugar?” Camille reached with some tongs and offered Darren some.

“Just two cubes,” Darren sighed as Camille helped him out.

“Silva is making our cookies and she brought Lady Snow and Lady Eyolf their own food. Walter is getting Mrs. Squirrel some acorns.” Everything was right in the world.

Lewis was sitting in the foyer with a nice cup of coffee and, surprisingly, a book in hand. He was enjoying the prolonged sense of quiet that came with most of the Terrrowin family being away for various reasons. It was a rare moment, and he relished in the silence. Only, something felt off. Sure, the silence was great, but it was too quiet. There were usually things happening about the castle and island that Lewis could sense, even if only minor.

“My dog is missing,” he finally decided, standing up. “Eyolf is usually prowling the island around now.” This called for an investigation. It took him little time to track down where his hellhound went, and he was surprised to see that Eyolf was happily playing along with the youngest Terrowin, Camille.

“There you are,” Lewis said as he crossed his arms. “Well, at least you’re safe.”

Darren was staring at Lewis with a horrified look. “L-Lewis, it’s-”

“Darren, if I wanted an excuse, I would have asked,” Lewis said, almost ignoring Darren entirely. He walked over and sat down across from Camille, and looked at the display. “No coffee?” He pouted. “Camille, you-”

Camille cleared her throat loudly, “AHEM, it’s “Dutsis Camille!”

“…did you mean ‘Dutchess'?” Lewis asked.

“DUTSUS Camille!” she demanded.

“Dutsis Camille,” Lewis corrected himself, sighing internally, “If you’re hosting a party, you must make sure to accommodate the many needs your guests may require.” He pointed at Eyolf, “For instance…I’m sure Eyolf-”

“LADY Eyolf.”

“Lady Eyolf would like water in a doggie bowl as opposed to a cup.”

Darren was mouthing ‘Help Me’ over and over to Lewis, but it was clear that the master of the house had no intention of helping.

“And it’s not Darren right now. It’s Princess Darlene,” Camille spoke up correcting her father. “She has a great bloodline history and everything.”

“Sorry, Princess Darlene,” Lewis immediately corrected himself with his daughter.

Camille had gotten Simone’s fancy plates and bowls for the tea party. She was taking the utmost care that nothing happened to them. “Sorry Lady Eyolf. Here is your fine porcelain,” the little girl said as she poured the water from a tea cup into the bowl and set it down for the hellhound.

Lewis… Are those my clothes and jewelry? AND MY GOOD DINNERWARE?!

Lewis coughed for a moment to ease his wife, “Dutsus Camille, does Mommy know you are using all of her things?”

Camille paused in mid-pour of refilling Darren’s cup and looked over at Lewis innocently, “Fifi says that I should do and then ask for forgiveness.”

… We need to tell Fiori to stop giving advice to Camille.

Camille set the teapot down and came over to Lewis, “Oh look it’s Baroness Lucy.” After several minutes of fight, Camille gave in that her father would not in fact put one of Simone’s dresses on. Inside he had a huge sun hat on. Now she had them all sitting at the table. “We brewed only the finest coffee for Baroness Lucy.” She remembered the manners that Lewis had taught her not that long ago. She poured some of the coffee for Lewis. “Sugar Baroness Lucy?”

“No thank you,” Lewis answered up as he drank from his cup.

Somehow in the next five minutes, she had managed to wrangle poor Glyn into it. The tall lanky teen was sitting at the table in one of his mother’s dresses. Unlike Lewis, he couldn’t fend off his sister. She popped another big hat on his head and even had a little dress for his potato that was ever-present. “This is Countess Glynn and Knight Potato.”

Glynn looked miserable when his sister wasn’t looking. This was pure torture at worst. Darren and he made eye contact and mouthed a strategy to get out of the tea party.

“The cookies and cake are here Princess Darlene,” Camille handed out a plate to everyone and offered them up some cookies and a slice of cake. She hopped up on her seat with a little cushion so she could be at everyone else’s level. “Baroness Lucy, how is the weather outside?”

Lewis glanced outside through the window. “A bright and sunny day,” he said as he took a sip of his coffee. At least Silva was making the drinks and snacks. If left to Camille, it might have truly ended in disaster. “Should we move this to the outside?”

Before he could get an answer from Camille, though, there was a knock at the door.

“Where is everyone?” Xeik asked as he walked in. “Isn’t today Camille’s check…up?” He was staring at Darren. “Do I even want to know?”

—

Five minutes later, a very confused blonde woman was struggling to walk out the front door, her poor feet barely squeezing into Simone’s heels. “Ugh, I hate heels,” she hissed.

“Don’t complain, Lady Ayaa,” Lewis replied as he snapped the mental image to Simone. At least she might find this amusing. Her daughter was definitely a menace.

“While she’s not here,” Darren said as he glanced around nervously. “What’s the plan to get out?”

Lewis raised an eyebrow, “Plan? None. How did you even get roped into this?”

“She crocodile teared me,” he snapped. “It was either go along with her plan or risk her coming to you to complain. I rather like having my head on my shoulders, thank you,” he said, glancing back to see if Camille had arrived yet. “Not that I think you would kill me, right?” he asked.

“Huh” Lewis said, without clarifying.

“You…you wouldn’t actually kill me, right?” Darren asked, laughing nervously. “Right?”

Lewis took a sip of his coffee, noticing Camille was coming. “More tea, Princess Darlene?”

Darren gave Ayaa the ‘please help’ look, and the blonde merely shrugged and smiled. “I would like some, Baroness Lucy.”

“I’m doomed,” Darren said to himself.

Alone

It definitely didn’t seem fair. Everyone was always paired up with someone else. The other kids all had someone their age to hang out with. To make things worse the night phoenix children all had twins to keep them company.

So she studied the twins in detail. She watched Remy and Damond for days. When it came time to visit Janus and Lila she watched them too. She knew how they operated on a deep level now. Even Alshaya and Everett had a connection. Ezili had Lucas. Corrine had Jules. Chantel and Gisele had each other. Glyn had his potato. Fiori only needed herself. Kija had Mups and Theo. Emerei had Josephine and Hugo. Rex had all of his children. Mira had the ocean. Ilya had the garden. Rez was doing Rez things at a spa. Teagan always played with Damond and Remy too.

This left little Camille all by herself. She stood there in the long hallway of the castle where her bedroom was holding her stuffed animal. She squeezed him tightly. “It’s just us Blanc.” The little white bird tweeted at her as he landed on her shoulder. “Just us…” She felt lonely while everyone else was busy. She didn’t want to do bigger kid things. Nor did she really want to do pranks with Damond and Remy.

Letting a huff leave her lips she immediately started to have a meltdown as tears poured down her face. She ran for Lewis and put her arms up at him. She was sniffling and snuggling him in his lap. Trying to calm down from her sudden realization. “Daddy,” Camille let out a loud cry as her sobs got louder.

Lewis was in the study reading up on new grape varietals when Camille came in, tearing up. It wasn’t uncommon for her, but usually she had a reason that at the very least made sense. He picked her up, and wiped away some of her tears.

“There, there,” he said. “What might be wrong, Miss Camille.”

“I’m all alone!”

He thought for a moment, “Well, I’m here right now, aren’t I? And Mom will be back soon too. Besides, Remy and Damond have to be around here somewhere…”

She shook her head. That wasn’t what she meant. Nobody understood. “Why don’t I have a twin?’ she managed between sniffles.

Oh. It made a little more sense now with the context. That wasn’t an easy one to answer, but he could at least make an attempt. “Well, you see, sometimes that’s just how the world works. Sometimes when babies are born, there are twins or even triplets, but other times, they are born into the world on their own. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to it other than what fate has in store.”

“Fate sucks,” Camille commented.

“”Aye, but I’m glad fate gave me you, Camille. I would be sad if I didn’t have my precious daughter here with me.”

Camille was trying to get a handle on her tears but she just kept clinging to Lewis. She had little hiccups now as she snuggled her head into his shoulder and sniffled up at him. “No one ever wants to do what I want to do but you and Mommy.”

“Well, have you ever done what everyone else wants to do?” Lewis rubbed her back softly.

Camille shook her head, “I don’t want to be bad. And everyone else is doing adult stuffs like homework.”

“Why don’t you try and make them be good then?” Lewis looked at her a little surprised by her answer.

“You can’t even make them be good and you’re the adult,” Camille spoke up now as she pulled herself up and held her arms around his neck so she could look into his eyes. “How am I supposed to do it? How do you negotiate with literal terrorists?!” She dramatically threw herself back and Lewis caught her.

“Have you tried to paint with Corrine and Jules?” Lewis thought of the idea.

“I’m not good enough,” Camille quietly replied. “What if they don’t like my scribbles?”

“I’ll let you in on a secret…” Lewis whispered to her, “They weren’t very good at your age either.”

“They weren’t?” Camille tilted her head. “Do you really think they won’t mind?”

“They love you as much as your mommy and I do,” Lewis was rubbing her back again as she got the last of her hiccups out.

“Can I tell you something else super upsetting to me?” Camille looked a little guilty.

“Of course, you can…”

“I think Remy and Damond are hiding Philip on me. Philip is my only friend Daddy. I can’t find him anywhere.”

Lewis had given her quite a few different options, but she tried her best to argue against all of them.  At the very least, she seemed rather open to making an attempt at an art project with Jules and Corrine, but there was one other problem she had to deal with first.

Ultimately, this was her real problem.  

"Phillip is missing, is he?" Lewis said as he stood up, still holding her.  "Well then, maybe we should go looking for him."

It took little effort for Lewis to coerce and answer from Diamond and Remy.  If anything, they wanted him to know.  There was something off about it.

Minutes later, Lewis and Camille were outside, looking at the roof over one of the garden awnings.  Surely enough, the red dragon was sitting there.

"That's easy enough," Lewis said as his body shifted into the form of a night phoenix.  "We just have to fly up there and grab him." He took to the sky, and looked back to see Camille tearing up.

"THEY'RE SO MEAN!  NOT ONLY AM I ALONE, BUT I CAN'T FLY EITHER!"

As it turned out, Camille really struggled with having more than one problem at a time.

Camille was a fledgling. She had her very first coat of feathers in her phoenix form but she couldn’t fly just yet. It was a work in progress and Simone and Lewis were working with her on it. It wasn’t like the others where they had each other to gauge

Camille with her teary eyes had enough. She stomped her way inside and to the portal. It was tuned to multiple places. It had a series of runes that you activated. Camille got a chair and fussed as she messed with the rune slates.

Soon a doorway to the Angelus Academy opened up. She stomped her way into the academy ground. “Do you know Janus Terrowin?” She stopped by a group of girls. She did this a few times before she found the big door to a history class.

They were in the middle of a self-study session. She opened the door and the professor looked at her with big eyes. What was a child doing here? She moved to the desk of Janus Terrowin and got up on her tippy toes. “It’s an emergency Janjan. I need you to come home now.”

“W-What?” Janus looked at her with wide eyes.

“Excuse me, but who is this,” the professor pointed at Camille.

“I’m busy can you interrogate me later? This is important,” Camille spoke up to the professor.

“Camille,” Janus spoke, “You can’t be here.”

“I thought I heard her voice,” Lila came in with Myrri in a full sprint. “Camille! You can’t be here!”

“Why is everyone yelling at me?” Camille started to tear up and cry again. Janus panicked and got up picking her up.

“There, there Camille,” Janus had Camille clinging to him. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have a twin, I can’t fly, and the worst crime happened today,” Camille was hiccuping again in her tears.

“And what’s the worst crime?” Even Lila was there rubbing her back. She understood in a way why Camille was upset she didn’t have a twin. “What did those two knuckleheads do this time?” Lila had caught on fast that it was the younger twin set doing something wrong.

“They put Philip on the roof. He was missing all day. Philip is my only friend,” Camille was now in full-blown tears. “Janjan you need to go home and beat up Damond and Remy. They are so mean to me.”