{A bit anticlimactic, sorry, but I also felt I drug it out too long. <3}
At first Mateo froze when he heard the voice, before he realized the upper hand they had...if he could manage to be the convincing person now. Oh, why wasn't Naomi at the bottom for this...he was no good for being the convincing person! Especially as he saw who he would have to convince.
"Rico...hi...", the wizard gave his best smile to the already strict guard (or one by the rules), "Uh...refreshment?", he offered, holding out a glass.
Rico ignored him, "I found them! The oth-", he turned to inform the rest of the mob, but only got that far and two steps.
"Plan B!", Naomi launched the cup she was holding and hit the guard smack on his back, not sure herself if that would make the potion work by being spilled on him alone, but...why not try when it was all they had!
"Hey!", Rico turned, frowning, "What was that for?!".
No one was sure how to interpret this at first, "Uh...Rico?", Mateo tried. The guard turned to him and then they all saw the similar look of realization!
"Here! Take these!', Naomi jogged down the steps with an armful of cups, handing them over (and almost spilling half, her father and Mateo noticed in concern). Rico immediately took them and then turned to do so. The wave of undue credit some (Dona Paloma) felt Naomi had been riding through this was squashed a bit, and she given her own taste of it as Rico put on his best act of still being in with the revolt to effectively pass along the drinks in the logic of how Captain Turner had been betting on making it work in the first place.
The Turners and Royal Wizard still didn't come out just yet, not sure yet if the coast was indeed clear, and until it was, but still, with a quick peek around the corner, Naomi could see Elena, her grandparents, Isabel, Estaban, Gabe and Cid all tied up and just saved from something nasty no doubt.
"Rico...what are you doing?", Gabe, still suspicious, wanted to know. The other guard didn't answer him, instead continuing down the line, a change evident as he did so. Soon a sheepish group was facing their royals.
***
"I would say!", Estaban became the family spokesperson, striding forward after everyone had convened to the front of the castle, rubbing at his rope burned wrists a bit and fixing his jacket as he spoke, "that after the shameful treatment of myself, my grandparents and my cousins, we should...!".
"Estaban...", Elena stepped forward, laying a hand on her cousin's arm, "they couldn't help it, and...after all...you were affected too", she gave her cousin a smile.
The Chancellor cleared his throat, "I have no idea what you're talking about...but...very well", he looked Diginifed Sulky, as only he could pull off.
Rico stepped forward, "We...we really are sorry Your Highness, and...just grateful some of us have sense", the other guard nodded towards Gabe and Cid. The latter of which shook his head, "No, I don't take any more credit than you do, just got fixed first", Cid said with a warm smile.
"Still...I wonder why only some were affected?", Naomi asked, glancing to Gabe and Mateo as Elena went about her Formal Pardoning, "and...what made the difference, you know?". The other two just shrugged.
***
Mateo found the answer later and after perusing old texts in his workshop he'd collected but not had a chance to get to. As he'd suspected, a particularly bright star the Maruvians had been watching had finally fallen amidst the recent meteor shower. It had been called the Contentment Star, and produced a kind of anti-contentment gas that apparently just fed off any small problems, felt or real, and dissatisfaction with the set up of things when come in contact with.
For the random villagers, probably normal petty day troubles.
Gabe, one of the few unaffected guards, spent a long time trying to pry and see what Rico and Cid's issues had been, but Rico just told him to drop it, while Cid laughed and said probably feeling like the Carpenter's Boy same as Gabe was a Baker's Boy.
As for Elena, everyone blamed the Sceptar for causing different side effects, and random at that, for surely she was content...except...well...Naomi and the Council did know better. Anytime an option to prove herself came up.
