It was very, very difficult to get anything done with a toddler in the house.

At Samhain, this rule became doubly-so.

Morgana had found that the best way to go about this was to wake up the Acorn at the same unreasonable hour of the morning she herself usually got up, spend the morning and early afternoon chasing the child about the yard, wear her out, and put her to bed very, very early--before sundown, if at all possible.

But first she had to catch her. Right now Acorn was swinging madly back and forth on the garden gate while Morgana took a break and caught her breath.

A strange young woman crested the hill, accompanied by Niabheara, Dierdre, and Maalech. She waved her arms in the air. "Meg!" she called. "Acorn!"

Maalech didn't look at all so eager. Even though it hadn't been as hard as he would have thought to bring calm to the mind of Dierdre, he was still intensely aware that he was glammed. he looked like he knew he should look, but he was still aware of his changed body. It was impossible to overlook. So, he looked a bit more serious than usual where he walked, keeping close to Dierdre.

He was a bit proud there, he had never done it before, but it seemed to have worked just like he had theoreticized it would.

Niabheara quickly came round to the front, realising that under the circumstances she might well be the only person Morgana recognised. "Me-eg!" She flagged her hand above her head. "Sorry to rade your own house like this but we have news!"

Dierdre, likewise, stayed close to the boy, seeming a bit less wired than she'd been. She hesitated, not wanting to call attention to herself.

Morgana hopped off the outside of the fence, instantly worried. "Niabheara?" Her only thought was that if Niabheara had left Cnoch-na-Niall for any reason just now, something had gone wrong. "What on earth's happened now?"

Acorn had no such reservations. She squealed and launched herself at anyone who came in reach.

"The Puck," said Marcello. "It's Marcello, by the way. The Puck turned me into a woman, stole Dierdre from jail, attacked Niabheara..." She tried to remember which other things she was allowed to talk about. "We came here for a day or two to see if the people left at the castle can smoke it out."

"It... transformed me as well" Maalech admitted, giving Acorn a hug before sending her on the way to the rest. "But I'm glamored. So I can't touch iron, it's embarrassing." He sounded a little off, his voice was a bit deeper, but it was probably just embarrassment. He seemed to be very uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"So, yes, it has been quite an interesting set of days." She scooped up the Acorn to stop her from running back and forth between the lot of them for the rest of the day. "So . . . we're here a-visiting?" She raised her eyebrows in a hopeful, winsome expression.

"Not for very long," Marcello added. "Just until Samhain proper."