7

The next day, there was the new and huge monthly meeting with all of the nobles and hobgoblins managing areas of Faerie. Also, the commanders, high-ranking officers, and... A lot of fucking people. It was honestly ridiculous how many people right then, and I made a mental note to start trimming it down. Not every noble needed to attend.

But then again, did I trust the information to be passed along accurately?

Probably not.

I did a double take when I saw Leigh—the head of the new Faerie network—and cameras set up all over.

And she was frowning at my reaction, hurrying over to me. "You approved this. I was told you approved this and going forward, Your Highness."

"I don't know that I didn't," I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "There's a lot, Leigh. Who did you hear it from?"

"Me, Your Highness," Izzy said as she joined us.

I nodded. "Then I approved it." I swallowed a sigh when Leigh wasn't convinced, glancing between us as if seeing a cover-up right before her eyes. "Izzy never assumes or just answers for me. That's my answer. She can absolutely pinpoint where and when we discussed this."

"Two weeks ago when—"

I saw sandwiches being brought in and groaned. "That's why you asked if we still wanted lunch during the meeting. You wanted to make sure we all wanted to be eating on camera. I remember that but missed it was for this. Right, okay, I thought clips of decisions or—I didn't think the whole thing." I rubbed my neck.

"Yes, live."

"Oh boy," I chuckled darkly. "Okay, well, might as well just get the possible issues out of the way then."

"I was hoping there would be less of them and everyone would behave if we did it recorded and live for all fairies to see," Izzy grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm normally the problem."

"No, you are not, Your Highness." She chuckled when I rolled my eyes again. "You normally just cuss first."

"Amen to that, Sister."

We all got settled, and I verified everything was working and live broadcasting to the town center of each city of Faerie.

"Thank you for the people who are catching this live and so dedicated to the news of our world and progress," I said in greeting. "Eventually, we will move forward from just this one screen for so many. We have priorities first, but it is on the agenda as we always want the people of Faerie well informed. On that note, these meetings—we cover a lot."

I relaxed when several people chuckled.

"And we forgo the normal formalities and cut each other a lot of slack because of that," I continued. "I will forget people's names, and Neldor and I will absolutely just be informal with each other. Even the commanders will slip—please accept that. Our focus is where it should be and getting things done and not court-perfect politeness.

"Also, not everyone was ready for this to be shown live, and a lot of us don't get the sleep we need. So I ask everyone to please not be sticklers and keep their focus where it needs to be and on the amount we handle." I thought that pretty much covered it. "Okay, so as we've been doing, I open the floor to pressing issues before we move on to updates."

"The most pressing issue is the last awakening, Your Highness, Your Grace," Morgan said firmly as he stood after I took my seat.

I swallowed a flinch. "I apologize again for not being able to control how many. I didn't think it would be so many and—"

"Forgive me for interrupting you, Your Highness, but you misunderstand me," he cut in, bowing to me. "The fact you woke over three hundred and fifty thousand fairies at once is a miracle and we should have been ready. We prepared for way more than the last numbers."

I was pleasantly surprised for once there was a problem and it wasn't my fault or couldn't be blamed on me. "What part of the system broke down, Commander?"

"From what we can tell, there were too many family volunteers," Shael answered. "One family of fifty put down to be volunteers to help but all focused on their one family member who got separated from them in the war and frozen somewhere else. So then we actually didn't have fifty volunteers, but one group for that single fairy."

"There was also a lot of discourse in the instructions," Morgan added. "People not listening or the families so excited that they found their loved one that they rushed to take them home and the fairy collapsed because they didn't immediately start refueling. We had seventy emergencies that way and then a mess because healers were being dispatched."

"So now that more people are awake, we're having too many cooks in the kitchen," I muttered. "To say it bluntly and make something complicated simple."

"Yes, a lot of people were overruling ours or—we had a lot of messes we haven't before, and someone could have died," Shael confirmed.

I nodded, having thought this could be an issue earlier, but people were always so scared and worried about the awakenings going wrong. Now, years of there not being a problem, people were becoming lax or acting like it was no big thing.

"Going forward, one person per fairy being awoken is allowed, not a parent," I declared. "Sibling, cousin, bestie, lover, aunts, uncles—not a parent."

"I think a lot of people will take issue with that, Your Highness," Morgan hedged.

I snorted, finding Calarel in the group. "How many times has Izzy yelled at you about my care? Hudson? Darby? Katrina?"

"None, Your Highness," she chuckled, clearly knowing where my head was.

"Now how often has my father? "

"Too many times to count," she confirmed.

I spread my hands to say "I rest my case" as over a dozen people chuckled. "This time we had messes, next time we could have conflicts or problems, and I won't risk that. People have waited this long, the parents can wait another few hours so we can do it correctly and not have seventy fairies almost die because steps were ignored.

"It helps to have someone there that they know, but it's not needed, and if it's going to be a hinderance, then we have to cut it out. I'm also not going to risk problems with our healers killing themselves. People have to keep not being selfish for a bit longer. We're almost there, and any delays keep others from their loved ones.

"And I hope that others hear me on that, and more people volunteer to help that have no vested interest in the area we're focusing on next. I'm hoping to do the same tomorrow morning. We could be done waking fairies by the end of next month if we stay on task. I ask people hang on a bit longer."

The people in the room seemed to accept that at least, and Shael sent word to the right coordinators to get started on that since the captains heading everything with her were in the meeting as well. They could at least start on the lists of volunteers and cut down family members, etc.

I was more excited about the awesome sandwiches that were brought in instead of the list of other issues. Most were fairly small besides having to find a new provider of building materials since the human company finally figured out we were buying a lot and now were trying to put the screws to us. They were suddenly out of what we needed and wanted to talk about a new contract.

Geiger was all over it, but until then we needed more supplies or too much was on hold.

"How did everything go with the fairies who went to human colleges?" I asked.

The nobles and I had agreed that getting our best and brightest engineers and more reeducated on everything updated in the last twenty years was a priority now. Some could afford their own tuition but needed the help with papers, covers, and getting into the human system. The nobles gave scholarships to others, one focused mostly on culinary.

I didn't oppose it, but engineering was definitely the priority, especially with everything we were bringing into Faerie now.

"Very well, Your Highness," one of the captains overseeing it all replied. "We had one drop out, but her sister died when awoken, and the extent of her injuries wasn't known, so it was a shock."

"More than understandable," I accepted. "Give our condolences and make sure she knows her spot in the program is there for her whenever she's ready. We have someone checking in on her?"

"Yes, I personally spoke to her two days ago. She's helping on her friend's farm and needs a bit of peace."

Again, more than understandable. As long as she had people checking on her and she could turn to.

I didn't need to know specifically about grades, but everyone was doing well, and it was clearly worth getting our people updated. It was nice when something I wanted and pushed for panned out like that.

Juan took over the meeting when it was time for updates and started with the calendar project that had expanded… And more than I realized.

"I apologize, but I thought you were read in on this, Your Highness," he hedged when people noted my shock.

I smiled at him. "Juan, this is all within your purview. You're my guy to help bring funds into Faerie, and you're doing better than I could. You had the authority to do all of this."

"We've been incredibly focused on local ordinances and what will change when Princess Tamsin becomes queen," Neldor added. "Neither of us knew there was so much corruption and very specific rules in place to—we've got a lot on our plates. We both gave you free rein because you deserve it."

Well said… Even if he probably shouldn't have said it for me but whatever.

"I know the idea was to branch into greeting cards and more," I took back over. "We approved whatever the ‘more' was that you wanted."

"If you could back up and fill everyone here in on the steps," Neldor hedged, glancing at me. "We trust you, but we've known you—Tamsin has for years and years. For those that we're looping in or now the citizens of Faerie who are just being brought in on this."

"Of course, Your Grace," Juan accepted.

"No, you don't—drama aside with your family, you were born a prince, Juan. The eldest and heir. Giving Tamsin the respect of being our leader and future queen is one thing, but you are not beneath anyone else here. We respect our allies, and you've done us a favor taking over so much to help Faerie in her time of need."

That was why Neldor was awesome. He meant it. It wasn't for the cameras or public, but as much as he could be a spoiled prince, he had a good heart.

Juan accepted that and went over the original idea of doing calendars and how it all came about. The problem was the profit margin was low after we paid for the printers or did print by demand so it wasn't the bulk printing discounts.

Then there was the idea that the noble Mallory would enter the human world as an artist doing things never seen before… And really, they were pictures of Faerie. People would think it was digital art and she was a new talent.

Apparently, it was a really good fucking idea because she blew up.

I knew the numbers were good after Neldor promoted her as something he stumbled across and bought some prints from, but… We had no idea.

Juan had bought a warehouse for next to nothing and a noble who wasn't eligible to run his family's area was taking over the project. His family had experience with printing presses and more, so he was easily updated on the new machines needed. They bought printers for the art prints, calendars—a whole slew of everything.

"To the world, Mallory does drops of certain prints and goes through our printing company," Juan explained. "Her website handles it all. Any orders over sixty-five US dollars get free shipping and we're expanding areas. Totally normal starting up and expanding."

"And this is more than art prints for the wall?" Onas asked.

"Yes, she has her own calendars, notepads, notebooks, binders, sketchbooks, mousepads, desk pads, stickers, and postcards," Juan answered. He glanced down at something. "Her last drop not even two weeks ago sold out in five hours."

"Well done," I whispered, glancing between them. "Impressive. You're getting a following."

"The people helping me on all fronts are very good at it, Isabella Thorne and Queen Sasha especially," she told me.

"Let's make sure we extend some sort of thank-you to Sasha to print anything her family might need since we have the machines," I told Juan. "Maybe there's something she would want specifically for her stationary or family that isn't a print sold."

I was glad when people thought that a good idea.

"We have also expanded the original idea of the calendars, Your Highness," that noble interjected. "We did do holiday cards and other cards. A few options of posters." He frowned. "It's been a bit confusing—humans are at least. Most are oddly prudish about the body and then seem to rush to buy items with nakedness? It's confused many of us."

"It confuses a lot of level-headed humans as well," I drawled. "We all have our areas where there's a bit of hypocrisy. Just accept that this is a human one and they have a huge spectrum of values and beliefs." I was glad when he nodded, those of us who were used to the human world having a hard time not laughing.

"Given how free fairies are with their bodies, it's been proposed that we also branch out into stock photos, Your Highness," Juan told me.

We had to explain how that worked and why humans would just want pictures of shirtless men or mostly naked women. Luckily, Juan was also prepared and brought up one of the sites with pictures from a model and then showed how companies had used that picture in a media or social media ad. Or book cover. Lots of different things.

"I'm sorry, Prince Juan, but are you saying that we can help Faerie by taking these pictures?" a captain asked, gesturing to the others sitting by him. "Help fund new housing for other Guardians and hobgoblins?"

"Put in more rest stops and supply them with the massive amount of ingredients they go through?" another captain asked, glancing at those near her.

"Yes," Juan answered easily. "People pay for these photos, to use them. They pay more for pictures they make money off of like on t-shirts. But if we take the pictures strategically to make them easy to change as people need, you could have cover designers buy everything available for one model. One big use we found was for book covers.

"An author could have a series of twenty-plus books and use the same model, maybe changing her hair and eyes. Or we could do that and be ahead of the game. That is what we're thinking would be a big draw." He gave me a look, and I fully understood what he wanted, using glamour to change my hair to lavender and my eyes gold. "That would take a long time to do digitally."

Hudson cleared his throat. "It's a good look on you, Tams."

"Thanks, beastie," I chuckled, taking off the glamour.

"Would full nudity help?" that same captain asked, his friends nodding. "Could we get more if we showed our full bodies to the humans? We have no problem showing everything except our wings."

"They would be popular on OnlyFans," Izzy muttered, shrugging when I shot her a look. "Fairies are hot, Your Highness. There isn't a single fairy who isn't gorgeous. It's part of your DNA, and that is not part of the human genome even if they're all beautiful in their own way and some inside."

"Let's leave the OnlyFans for another meeting and keep the clothes on for now." I glanced at Juan. "We can also glamour costumes and outfits, so let's start with some people on market research on what does the best. Also, hire a few photographers who can teach our people how to set up the right shots and poses."

"The only drawback I could think of is that fairies generally all have long hair and that's not the trend with human males," Lucca interjected, bringing up a good point like always.

We moved on, and the comfort blankets with magic were selling out at the higher numbers. It was decided to keep that the same level and not expand any more so the market wasn't just flooded and it became a fad. Companies died hard from overexpanding when the trend was good and not getting a better foundation for the long haul.

The sorbet expansions were all doing well. The contracts with the colleges were in place and the first of them had done well. The rollout with the options for humans had done well and were a big hit fast. That was surprising how recently it happened, but apparently there was some magic transferred given it was made by fairies and hobgoblins.

Marisol—my human friend—and her family all assured us that it just made them feel good like an energy drink but without the caffeine. Our healers were monitoring the situation, but Marisol's aunt now had lower cholesterol. That could be from eating more fruit though, right?

So nothing negative but maybe good for humans.

Cool.

But more wanted it, and a big chain wanted to carry it, so we would need to expand for that. We could and would because the money made from that was ridiculous. Like ridiculous given how easy it was to grow more fruit and harvest with magic.

Oh, and our biologists were doing well fixing the banana situation with the fungus or whatever.

The numbers being brought in from the auctions of our butchered animals were great too. Plus , the new farmers markets were sold out. They were insanely popular with supes gushing all over our social media. People were pushing to do three times a week with more vendors.

I put a pin in that and wanted more of the updates first.

The bakery expansion was great and the quiches were always sold out. It was time to open another location, and bakers from Faerie who couldn't open their own shops yet were willing to help out and get the production numbers up.

The clothing companies were also doing great. All of them. The co-op and deal with Lady Jean. More were needed to help. That was the factor holding them back.

Even the rug cleaning company was thriving. The YouTube channel was making revenue even if people were annoyed that our videos were stolen and used as backgrounds for those AITA Reddit videos. I didn't care so much about that, but what came next. We had fairies scouring landfills and dumps for rugs, cleaning them, and reselling them for good money.

It was all great news which was fantastic… But overwhelming.

"I'm sorry to interject, Your Highness, but we've been going for two hours now," Lucca interrupted when someone stood to give another update. "This is a good time for a break, to let people use the restrooms, and clean up their area. I could use another drink, and I heard they were wondering if they should bring in second lunch."

I glanced at the clock and nodded. "Yes, that's perfect. Let's say fifteen minutes and then we can come back fresh on the topic."

And hopefully, my head wouldn't explode from it all.