Belle just snickered, completely ignoring the grumbles and muttered complaints. They were only half-hearted at best anyway. And soon everyone settled down to eating anyway.

Andy just settled in with her crew for dinner. There were a few snickers out of Briar for the 'minions' comment, but otherwise, it was a fairly quiet evening.

They spent the next couple days in town, or just outside town. Thomas got the fairies that day in a shipping container with air holes in it.

"You ready for this?" Belle asked with a huge grin.

"This oughta be good," Andy said, grinning. She could hear high-pitched voices chattering from inside the box.

Belle grinned and pulled the top off, letting the fairies loose. Immediately they flew up, chattering and laughing, and Dejaal looked up. In an instant he was crouched, trying to decide which fairy to go after.

Kaelas immediately zoned in on the fairies as well and crouched down low to the ground. Andy recognized the look in his eyes immediately and backed off a few steps. Clearly, he was about to pounce.

Belle sat back to watch the fireworks with an expectant grin. She could see the fairies giving off a little dust already. Oh this was going to be good...

Just as Dejaal was about to pounce, the fairies all scattered, going in six directions at once. That threw him for a moment before he lunged at the nearest one, missing it and going after the next, which brought him almost skidding into Kaelas.

Kaelas only avoided the collision by using Dejaal as a kind of springboard, stepping on him to jump higher and try to catch one of the fairies. He missed, and scrambled to turn around again for another shot.

Andy almost cackled when one of the fairies nearly brained itself on a tree trying to get away from the cats.

"I think we owe them a lot of pizza," she muttered to Belle.

"No kidding." Belle grinned and watched as a fairy darted around a tree in circles several times, Dejaal scrambling after it.

Then a second fairy flew right at Dejaal, and for a moment he was so astounded he didn't do anything. Then the fairy flew past him, cackling madly, and he jumped after it.

Kaelas managed to jump and ricochet off of a tree in an attempt to pin down a fairy. He still missed.

"I wonder if either of them are going to think about putting a bubble shield around the fairies," Andy murmured to Belle. "Though I think that would make it too easy."

"It would make it too easy," Belle muttered with a snicker. "It's cheating. Besides, I think they're not even thinking right now."

Which Dejaal proved when he leapt at a fairy and narrowly avoided landing on Thomas.

Andy snickered.

"This is better than the laser pointer," she admitted. She winced when Kaelas and Dejaal finally collided and Kaelas bowled Dejaal over.

The fairies all shrieked with laughter, flying around the two big cats while they tried to untangle themselves and go after the fairies again. By the time they were ready to go, the fairies were off zooming away again.

Belle snickered. "Way better than a laser pointer."

Kaelas was off again immediately, going after the fairies.

"How is it that a bunch of fairies are getting the better of two giant cats?" Andy asked after a moment. The cats were clearly having fun, but still.

"They're fairies," Belle said wisely. "You don't screw with fairies. Ever."

"No, you don't," Thomas agreed, plunking down behind Belle and starting to braid her hair. "They can be annoying little buggers."

"No kidding," Andy replied, watching the spectacle. Kaelas had finally managed to pin one down, but it managed to squirm free again.

Belle shivered and managed to keep track of all six fairies, watching Dejaal leap and run after them, at one point jumping over Kaelas to get to one and just barely missing it.

"Now for the million-dollar question," Andy said, watching one of the fairies streak towards Lien. Lien growled a low warning. "Did anyone warn them to stay away from the giant flying lizards?"

"Nope." Belle watched as the fairy quickly detoured away from the giant angry flying lizard. "But apparently a warning growl from a very pissy mother gets through to a fairy pretty quick."

"Clearly," Andy said. "That's something, at least." After a moment, she got up. "I think I'm going to go see if I can't get a pizza now. That way, I should be back at about the point that the cats start getting really frustrated. Sound like a plan?"

"Oh yeah. I'll tell you if they ever manage to get a fairy." Belle grinned broadly. She didn't think they would, but hey, you never knew.

And pizza actually sounded tasty. If Andy got any extra, anyway. It was just about lunch time, after all.

"I'm just going to bring back enough for lunch," Andy said as she stretched a bit. "And a medium just for them so they don't bug us for ours. Any preferences for toppings?"

"No mushrooms and nothing odd, like fish. Otherwise I'll eat just about anything." Belle shrugged. "I think the fairies like cheese."

"Right, no mushrooms, no fish, extra cheese," Andy parroted back. Easy enough to remember. "I'll be back, then. Keep an eye on Kaelas for me?"

"Will do." Belle grinned. "I can always throw Teaser at him if need be." She was joking, of course, but Teaser didn't know that.

"What?!" Teaser almost squeaked, his eyes widening to laughable proportions.