RPOV
About two hours after learning zmey was my dad, Lissa called me into a meeting. Naturally, Dimitri was also involved. As was an extremely curious Hans Croft.
"Miss Hathaway, Guardian Belikov, who are these two?" he asked the second we were in the door.
"Firstly, Croft, Rose here is my wife, Mrs Belikova. Secondly, those two are our son, Ivan, and our daughter, Riana," proudly corrected Dimitri with an arm protectively wound around my waist. Surprise and shock crossed the faces of nearly everyone present.
I shrugged before reminding everyone why we were here.
We couldn't do nothing anymore. We all knew that. But what could we do that endangered as few lives possible? That, we were struggling to decide.
"We can't afford to go pro-active!" Hans exclaimed once more.
"Well lowering the graduation age only exacerbated the problem on our end!" retorted a stressed and pissed-off Lissa.
"The program's still accelerated," I mumbled, thinking and speaking at once so as to shut them up. "If we could just... ugh. There's no good solution here."
All eyes turned on me, Dimitri's especially. "We at least need another something of an idea, Roza," softly whispered Dimitri in Russian.
Our eyes met. Something powerful shot between us when he lent me his confidence and support once more. He fully believed in me. I nodded then turned to face the rest of the group again.
"What we need," I began more resolutely this time, "is to reshuffle assignments for the next month, maybe two— six at worst. That way, we free up a range of Guardians... They can start with a responding attack on the hideout or hideouts of the most recent attacking group." The more I thought it out the more feasible I began to believe it was. It made the most sense. But was it really realistic? Or was my mind playing tricks on me? I didn't want to put kids to work, but if this was the only suggested plan that had hope of results, then I guess I had to deal.
"It's the only way," muttered Lissa the next morning. It was early, but so was this meeting.
"If Your Majesty accepts, then the only plan or part thereof that stands part of a chance is Hathaway's suggestion," said Hans, reluctantly.
I scowled at him. "It's Belikova, Hans."
My correction sent a wave of amusement through Lissa. "Guardian Croft, I want you to do a major reshuffle. Now. All the Guardians across all Academies that aren't teaching staff are to be brought here and the respective Seniors are to take their place. I'm calling all families to Court and most of those Guardians will also be redistributed into teams. I'll leave you, Rose, and Guardian Belikov to sort out the finer details. For now, I've got alerts and summonings to distribute. But secrecy is still our top priority. Understood?" The authority and resolve in her voice made me proud of her.
"Completely, Your Majesty," the room sang.
Lissa left immediately. Of course. We'd wasted so much time arguing already. Now we had to make this reshuffle happen extremely quickly and extremely subtly.
Hans gave me and Dimitri access to a number of documents we wouldn't normally be allowed to access. We were tasked with organising 'strike' teams.
"I can't see how putting them in with others they may not have worked with before is going to help anyone!"
"Mama, shush," said my sleepy but curious kids.
I took a deep breath while pointedly looking into Dimitri's eyes.
"Okay," he resigned. "It's both more efficient and more practical."
"Thank you, Comrade."
Dimitri chuckled. We set about organising the Guardians from the Academies into a preliminary team with their relevant colleagues. To them, we added a couple of leaders per team from other Guardians Lissa was calling in.
The St Vlad's guardian rank was the first to arrive. Clearly, Alberta still runs a very tight ship there. Wouldn't surprise me in the least. She always was good at running that mob.
"Right, you lot," I called once they were assembled in Guardian Gym C/Private Use One. I had Ivan and Riri with me and to say the Guardians from campus were stunned to see me, and with children, would be an understatement worthy of an 'understatement award'. "First in, best dressed. Pair off. I want you to go through the drills you made us do, firstly. Dimitri will join me in about an hour, then we'll assess you in trios. Now, get to it!" I ordered after covering Ivan's and Riri's ears.
"Dada!" squealed Ivan and Riana. They sprinted from my side, Riri trailing behind her older brother, and jumped into Dimitri's open arms.
"Hey babies," he whispered in Russian, "have you been good for Mama?" Dimitri eyed me with concern and love and pride and joy.
"Yes, Dada."
"Have they, Mama?" Dimitri asked with feigned seriousness and disbelief.
I smirked. "They've been perfect, little angels. Now. Don't we have a job to do?"
Dimitri nodded and we finished off assessing the St Vlad's rank.
"You leave in four hours. Get some rest and have some food," I instructed once we'd wrapped up, while they were doing cool-down stretches. "Any questions?" I knew they were itching to ask about Ivan and Riri. Dimitri sent me a knowing lip twitch. Ivan clung to my side while Riri was perched on my husband's hip, starting to nod-off.
"Yes, just one, Rose," began one of the guardians from my elementary campus days. I was surprised he was still around, but I couldn't deny he was a damn good guardian. "Who are those two and what's going on between you and Belikov?"
I laughed while Dimitri wrapped his arm around my waist. "Only this: Ivan Belikov and Riana Belikova are our children and we're married."
Some jaws dropped, others grinned as if they'd always known, and others whooped shamelessly.
"About time, you two!" crowed Celeste.
"Oh, hush Celeste!" demanded Alto. "No one ever suspected a thing." The sarcasm was as thick as the plush down blanket on our bed.
