Several hours have passed after Olivia's little adventure to visit the Millers. Her way back to the Kettenrad territory that night proved to be rather uneventful. No more sneak attacks, and no accusations of being a horde. Instead, she finds a bunch of signs have been put out directing her (some reading *This way!* Others readying *No, not that way!) to the elevator up to the residential area. After a quiet and comfortable ride up, she finds herself standing at a crossroads central to the family residence.

Olivia, now freshened up herself and wearing a dress the color of a dark red rose trimmed with swatches of gold-colored cloth, calls nervously into the residence, "Hello? Anyone at home?" Instead of clutching her cloth cap in her hands (it still needed to dry after she washed it following the adventure with Pretzel), she clutches a small bag containing the spring outfit she has finished for Amelia. Without the cap on, one can see that her hair is in a short, neat braid.

"Just a minute, dearie," comes a reply from somewhere deep inside. "Amy will be out in a moment. I've got things to finish preparing."

Olivia tries to determine the location of the voice inside the maze but fails miserably. "Okay, thanks!" she calls back.

A dark-furred Kadie head pokes out of one of the buildings, with on of Olivia's fabric flowers in its hair. "Olivia?" Amelia says, sounding surprised. "What are you doing here?" She can't help but stare at the Skeek's outfit.

Olivia scurries over to Amy, pleased to see a familiar face. "Hi, Amelia! Can you believe it, I came here on Gunther's invitation! Apparently he didn't want to eat with his brother and his brother's date without someone on his side. Although he still thinks I'm an invading horde. Anyway, I thought coming to dinner would be a perfect opportunity to bring you this!" She holds out the bag in triumph. "It's the spring outfit I made for you!"

"Gunther… " Amy begins, then resets and takes the bag. "You have it done already? Wow!" She looks around, then says, "Better come inside, we can look at it there!"

Olivia nods and follows the Kadie girl into the other room.

Another Kadie is making his through the room as the girls enter. It's definitely not Zahnrad, although he's close in age; he's stark gray in color. His hair is slicked back tightly, his clothing preened and very neatly done. Also, he looks … displeased about something.

"Oh, hello," Amelia says, coming up short at the sight of the new Kadie. "You must be Dieter?" she guesses.

Olivia cranes her neck so she can have a good look at the chandelier. "Wow, this is so much better than the dining hall at the Weavers'! Ours is quite boring in comparison!" She then casts a glance at the older Kadie coming through.

The Kadie arches his eyebrows and looks at Amelia critically. "Mmm. Yes, I am. You have the honor of meeting me," he says flatly. He flicks a bit of fluff off his shirt. "I deduce you must be Amelia. Your fame as a frog-beater precedes you."

"Um, thanks," Amy says, unsure of how to react to the odd fellow. She steps aside and introduces Olivia. "This is Olivia Weaver, a friend and… uh… Gunther's dinner date."

Olivia cringes a little upon hearing herself introduced as Gunther's 'date,' but she smiles gamely at Dieter and bobs a tiny curtsey. "Pleased to meet you."

Dieter's head snaps suddenly as his attention turns to Olivia. "Yes, it is a pleasure to meet me," he says in a monotone. "I would ask what Gunther has on you, to have gotten you here … but this conversation suddenly bores me. I need to find a axel, or maybe a sprocket."

Olivia ers and looks at Amy quizzically, then back at Dieter. "Well… ah… have fun, then," she says, not knowing how else to end this strange conversation.

"Well, good luck then," Amelia says to the man, and makes sure she isn't blocking his path to the door.

Dieter's nose goes up into the air, and he marches to the door. From behind; the two girls can tell even his tail is expertly groomed. The door swings open and he steps outside.

Once Dieter is out of sight, Amy whispers to Olivia, "Bit of a poodle, that one. At least he didn't use the royal 'we' though."

Olivia rubs her forehead a little and nods at Amy's comment. "Yes, just a touch," she agrees. Then her face brightens and she puts the bag on the floor and opens it to show Amelia the garments inside. "Anyway, here are the spring clothes I made for you! I figured I'd make the winter ones later, whenever it actually starts getting colder."

Excited, Amy kneels down to look at the clothes! "Good plan, since I'm usually a lot fluffier in winter… "

Inside the bag are a blue blouse, a green pair of cropped pants, and a brown sash. "See? I made the colors sort of in-between – not too bright, not too dark. They're earth-tones, too, just like you wanted. The pants have wide belt-loops sewn on them so you can run the sash through. And they're even shortened so you can go wading in them! What do you think?" Olivia asks.

Amy picks up the blouse with wide eyes. "It's great!" she exclaims! "Shorts that fit! And a sash to make me look … like a girl!" She grins from ear to ear, then asks, "What's wading?"

Olivia ohs! and explains. "You know, when you just slosh around in the shallow part of the river. Just enough water to come up to your ankles or so. With the pants shortened, you can wade as much as you want without getting them wet. In case you want to cool your heels a bit in the warmer weather."

Amelia ahs! "That's right… and there are clothes you can even wear for swimming, aren't there?"

Olivia nods. "Yes, boys usually wear short pants for swimming and girls can wear one-piece or two-piece outfits. Some one-piece swimming costumes even come with short skirts on them!"

"For trapping fish in?" Amy asks. "I'll have to look at some before it gets really hot in summer."

Olivia laughs at this idea. "Well, I suppose you could trap fish in a skirt that was really long and wide, but the skirts I'm talking about only go partway down the thighs. They're more for decoration, I guess. I have one on my swimming costume."

Amy asks the obvious question: "What color is it?"

Without missing a beat, Olivia replies, "Light orange. The costume itself is yellow and aquamarine."

"And it doesn't attract fish?" Amelia asks, just to be sure.

Olivia grins and says lightly, "Oh no. Actually, I think the colors scare them away. Seriously, though, the movement of the skirt in the water does scare them off. Wouldn't you be scared if a huge orange blob came at you?"

"I'd be scared if anything big came at me in the water," Amelia admits, though she grins when she says it.

A door towards the rear swings open. Another Kadie walks in, this one is definitely older. He's a mottled tan fellow, tall, but a bit scrawny and wears thick-lens glasses. He doesn't seem to even notice the two girls; he's busy reading over something and humming quietly to himself. He sits down at the table.

Olivia nudges Amelia and whispers, "Is that Zahn's father?" She stuffs Amy's clothes back into the bag as she does so, then hands it to her to be stored away.

Clutching the bag, Amy looks at the older Kadie. "I think so. It should be Andre Kettenrad. He was working on an indoor hot spring a little while ago," she replies, also keeping her voice low.

Olivia considers for a minute, then asks, "Should we go and sit down with him? Or say hello? Or does he not like to be disturbed?"

"No, no, no," the man says and scribbles something on what he was reading. "Backflow jammed the valve. Why didn't I see that before I built the first one? Double-valves, it needs double-valves," he mutters, still oblivious to the other two.

"I guess we can sit down until he notices us," Amy suggests, and heads over to one of the bench seats across from the man.

"Good enough for me," Olivia responds, then takes her seat next to Amelia. She glances surreptitiously at what the older Kadie is reading, trying to make it out.

"There was some sort of accident with the plumbing on the fake hot spring," Amy explains. "Must be what he's talking about."

Olivia ahs quietly then says to Amy, "I can see where Zahn gets some of his ability with machines from."

Amy nods. "At least his focus," she says, then tries clearing her throat loudly to get the man's attention.

From what Olivia can see, it looks like some sort of diagram with lines going everywhere. They sort of look like pipes. He looks up and scratches his cheek lightly, then his eyes lock on the two girls. HE sits there for a moment, then goes, "Urk! Who are you, why are you in our dining room?" The door to the kitchen swings open and Elsa Kettenrad comes out while wiping her hands on a towel. "That's Amelia; she was invited to dinner, dear. The other is Olivia. Gunther told me a bit ago that she is here at his request. He probably threatened her," she says, then looks at the two girls. "Sorry about that, Olivia. Gunther is excitable." Without missing a beat, Mr. Kettenrad asks, "Which one is Amelia and which one is Olivia?"

Olivia nods to Zahn's father and says helpfully, "I'm Olivia Weaver, sir, nice to meet you." Then she says to Zahn's mother, "Well, Gunther didn't threaten me exactly. It's kinda hard to take the person 'threatening' you seriously when he's covered in slugs."

Amelia shudders at the mention of slugs. When she recovers she introduces herself. "I'm Amelia Blacktail, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you and join your family for dinner tonight." Quite a mouthful for Amy.

Mr. Kettenrad nods his head slightly. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Weaver, Miss Blacktail," he replies and smiles slightly. He cants his head and considers Amelia. Elsa just laughs lightly and nods, saying to Olivia, "Yes. Again, I apologize. Gunther is a bit excitable and he spends far too much time with the otters."

Andre fiddles with his glasses for a moment, "Wait, Amelia Blacktail? The Blacktail daughter?"

"Umm, yes?" Amy answers, a bit uncertainly. "Is that alright?"

Andre levels his gaze on Amy. "I've heard a few stories about you, Miss Blacktail," he begins…

Olivia finds Amy's hand on the bench and squeezes it comfortingly, offering her silent encouragement in the face of this interrogation.

"Really?" Amy asks. So much for Zahn's father being a total shut-in. "You should take anything Emmett Oggton says about me with a grain of salt, sir… "

"Indeed," Andre says and taps his fingers on the table in a slow, loud, and deliberate pattern. Elsa rolls her eyes lightly and says, "I'll go call the others." Andre clicks his tongue, then says, "Now, where to begin? I hear you broke some boy's fingers a few years back; that you fight constantly with the Chalks, the uproar you caused at the Frog Princess contest when your dress burst… " Elsa heads out the back door, shaking her head.

Amelia listens to the list. "Well, at least you haven't heard anything bad about me then," she says, smiling.

Andre continues to look at Amelia, face stern. "So, you consider destruction good, then?" he asks as he gets up from the table. He walks over to the cabinet and opens a drawer. As it opens, he holds his papers over it. Sproing! Something fires out of the drawer, whacks the paper, then falls back it. He slips the papers into the drawer and closes it without even blinking.

Olivia, thinking of the tragic demise of some of Zahn's own flying machines, whispers to Amy, "Don't worry, he can't get too mad at you if destruction runs in the family!"

"Destruction?" Amy asks, confused. "No sir, I don't think destruction is good. That's why I don't… well… destroy things. It's why I helped Zahn with dam when the storm hit."

"Yes, and come back to the compound. Then you go into his cabin… " Andre adds to Amelia's statement and heads back to the table. He sits down.

"He was hurt, and needed help," Amelia says.

Andre watches Amelia a bit longer, then finally smiles. "And, you're quite unflappable, I might add. Good trait," he comments. "Forgive my questioning, but I wanted to see how you handled some stress. It's a good sign of the internal integrity of the subject at hand."

Amelia blinks, then glances at Olivia, before replying, "Thank you, sir. I like to think that I handle stress pretty well." She hasn't actually killed anyone yet, after all…

Olivia gives the Kadie girl a quick wink and murmurs "Good job!" to her in an undertone.

"Quite, brittle materials are most bothersome to build with. I've had far too many pipes crack because of poor material," Andre says. then takes a moment to comb back his hair. "People aren't much different. All types, all sorts of structural stability." He then smiles to Olivia and says, "And please forgive me for my lack of attention. I've heard nothing but good things about you, aside from that you like to dress strangely."

Olivia starts at this, then breaks into a laugh. "Fortunately, I try to keep a good sense of humor about the remarks on my clothes," she replies, not looking offended at all.

"Good attitude to have. I'm sure you've noticed by now that we're not exactly the most normal group around," Andre remarks to Olivia.

"Did I have to actually dress nicely? This is just a simple dinner?" comes Zahnrad's voice from somewhere outside. "I am not Dieter, I don't like feeling all poodle-y! What do you mean, Amelia is already here. Ack! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Olivia shares a grin with Amy, and replies, "Indeed."

"I like your outfits," Amelia says to Olivia. "The make you stand out." She hides a grin at Zahn's outburst.

"Thank you," Olivia replies. "The bright colors ensure that I don't get run over by a cart, I'll tell you that!"

"He's so excitable some days," Andre comments and turns to look at the door. Which … opens up a moment later and Zahnrad runs in. He skids to a halt. He's dressed … remarkably well. His clothing is clean, pressed, and shows no signs of repairs. His hair is even combed back and braided down the back. He takes a breath, then sees Amelia. He … blinks.

"Ah, really?" Amy asks, then thinks about it a moment. "They scare the dray animals, right?"

Amy looks at Zahn and blinks in surprise as well.

"Ah, hi," Zahnrad manages to say after a moment. Two more Kadies come through the doorway; this time it's Elsa, and right behind here is Gunther. He's all cleaned now; except it looks like the repeated soaks he's had today has left him a little … puffy. "Hey, the hordling is here!" Gunther says and points at Olivia.

Olivia is about to reply to this when she sees Zahn come zooming in. Looking at him over her shoulder, her eyes widen. "Wow, you clean up pretty well, Zahn!" she bursts out, laughing. Then she makes a face at Gunther and says, "Learn to count, willya? I am one person. That is not a horde! And hello to you, too!"

Amelia looks at the state of Gunther's fur and has difficulty restraining her laughter. "Hello, Zahn," she finally manages. "Did you remember to wash behind your ears?"

Zahnrad blinks, then asks, "Argh, what has my mother been telling you?" As Zahnrad walks over to sit by Amelia, Andre comments, straight-faced, "What women always tell each other; the secrets of keeping us in line."

Gunther snorts loudly. Unfortunately, it makes his face fur move like a puffball. "You might be hiding them," he says matter-of-factly. Still, he grins and says, "Good, you did come. I'm not stuck with just those two." He motions toward Zahn and Amy.

"Oh, I just couldn't think of anything else to say," Amelia admits. "You do clean up well though, and you even braided your hair!" She sounds impressed.

Olivia shakes her head at Gunther and says, "Of course I came. I promised I would and I try not to break a promise." Then she grins and adds, "So, do you feel brave enough to sit next to me during dinner?"

"Uh, well, with help. You seemed to like it this way, so," Zahnrad says quietly and fidgets. "Stage one," Andre comments oddly and glances over at Gunther. "And you. You really need to quit accosting everyone that passes by. I know we have many valuable secrets, and your enthusiasm is commendable … but it's a bit much."

"Yes, father. Afraid? I'm afraid of NOTHING!" Gunther declares. As he's walking over to Olivia, he suddenly stops and twitches. He digs under his shirt for a moment, and pulls out a slug. He goes to toss it out the door, commenting, "Missed one!"

"Were you ever like that, Zahn?" Amy asks quietly.

"Ah, thankfully not," Zahnrad whispers to Amy. "I'm more like my older brother was."

Olivia watches Gunther toss the slug and comments, to no one in particular, "If another slug crawls out of his clothes I'm gonna impale it with my knife and that's a fact!"

Elsa walks over and kisses Andre's cheek lightly. She sits down and says, "Well, this is nice. We haven't had a large group here in many years. I'm glad you all could make it."

"Keep the salt handy too," Amelia advises, then leans across the Skeek to tell Gunther, "Olivia is wearing a secret puzzle dress you know. You have to fit the gold bits together to form a picture." She starts to lean back, then thoughtfully adds, "In your head."

Gunther, whose hands were reaching towards the dress, withdrawal at that comment. "Hm, maybe it's a secret message to her allies," he muses.

Olivia gives the Kadie girl a look of exasperation. "Oh great," she mutters, "now he's going to be staring at my chest all night. Thanks bunches, Amy."

"It should keep him occupied at least," Amy whispers back.

"I apologize if we seem a bit strange," Mr. Kettenrad says and looks at his wife. "We try to encourage creativity around here." Mrs. Kettenrad nods, adding, "And self-reliance. If you create the problem, you solve it." She winks quickly at Amelia. Zahnrad coughs.

"We both appreciate being invited," Amelia says.

"Yes, thank you very much for having us," Olivia chimes in, taking her cue from Amelia.

Gunther is just staring at Olivia, brow furrowed.

Olivia leans over to Gunther and whispers, "Cracked the code yet?"

Zahnrad whispers quickly to Amelia, "You look really good. Not that you don't normally, but, er, I'll shut up now." Gunther just grunts.

Elsa claps her hands together and says, "Well, dinner is ready, and Amelia helped make it. Shall we eat?" Andre nods and asks her, "It's all secured on the tray, right?"

"Yes, dear," Elsa replies.

Unsure of what to do next, Amy starts to offer to help serve… but snaps her mouth closed at the mention of a tray…

Olivia mouths the word, "Secured?" to Amy and arches a quizzical eyebrow.

Amelia just shrugs to Olivia, and then eyes the center of the table suspiciously.

"Good. The last thing we need is another 'tossed' salad like that," Andre deadpans and smiles, amused.

Zahnrad whispers to Amy and Olivia, "Just be ready to duck if something goes wrong."

Gunther … well … he just grunts.

"Engaged," Andre says as he reaches under the table and pulls something. A moment of silence, the a clanking and grinding sound fills the room. The center of the table drops down an inch, then splits apart. A dark hole remains, which Elsa cranes her head to peer in when nothing seems to come up. "I geared it down," Andre explains. A minute later, a strange pyramid-looking thing spins out of it. It settles down, filling the hole. The pyramid seams split and fold open. At the center is a variety of vegetables, nuts, and fruits in individual bowls. Attacked to the pyramid sides are plates, bowls, and glasses. They settle down without incident.

Zahnrad blinks, then grins. "Hey, it worked this time," he comments. "No more scraping it off the ceiling."

Blinking, Amelia asks, "How the plates and stuff stuck to it?"

Olivia's eyes widen as the pyramid slows to a stop. "Wow," she breathes, "much, much more interesting than at the Weavers'!"

Andre glances at Zahnrad and comments, "Of course it worked. It only took a few revisions."

Elsa reaches over and pulls a thin thread that is going over the plates. "Oh, there are some twine holding them in place, dearie," she tells Amelia. "We painted it to match the plates so it wouldn't be so obvious."

Gunther says something other than a grunt to Olivia, "Yeah, it's kind of neat. Father's trying to automate the house as much as possible to give us more free time to work on new designs and such, instead of having to deal with chores."

Amelia grins, but doesn't ask if it's really faster or more efficient than just doing the place settings by hand. This isn't the sort of family who'd worry about that.

Olivia says to Gunther, "I wish the Weaver's would do a little more of that for general housekeeping chores. I hate getting stuck with kitchen duty for a week! That's a lot of dishes to wash."

"It won't snap closed and sink back down while we're eating, right?" Amy asks Zahn out of the side of her mouth.

"You should see the sprayer," Zahnrad tells Amelia and Olivia. "Father specializes in hydraulics, and is prototyping a machine to wash dishes for you. We keep barrels of water up high in the trees to provide force downward to power it. It doesn't work quite right yet, but it's close!"

"No, it's not done that yet," Zahnrad tells Amelia.

Gunther makes a face. "Oh, yeah, the Weavers are a big clan. We're kind of small; just the four of us, and a few cousins. Families don't seem to grow much in the Wingnut clan," he says.

Amelia unstraps her plate, and has a terrible thought. "Zahn, you haven't shown this to Emmett, have you?"

Elsa glances at Gunther and sighs softly. "Well, there are reasons for that, dearie," she says quietly. "Most of us are busy working on stuff … and the dangers of working here and the dam has … thinned us." Gunther just bites his lip as Elsa gets her own plate.

Zahn looks at Amy, brow arched. "No, why?" he asks.

"I just know he'd try to use it to launch a girl out of a big hollow cake," Amelia says.

"Volunteering?" Zahnrad asks Amelia with a straight face.

Olivia takes her cue again from Amy and unstraps her own place setting. Then she smiles at Gunther and comments, not unkindly, "As for the Weavers, well, I think we've had to marry because we wouldn't have the manpower to keep up with the business otherwise!"

"Not after I saw Parsley try it with a giant pie," Amy says, shaking her head. "All that pumpkin filling everywhere, and then the Creens swooped in… "

Andrea chuckles. "We tend to put ourselves out of business," he says to Olivia. "We devise ways to lessen work. Over time, it's made needing a lot of 'manpower' for things around here unnecessary."

"You could encourage Zahn to lick off the icing," Gunther suddenly comments and grins at Amelia. Zahnrad looks aghast at Gunther and blurts, "Gunther!"

"What? It would hurt less than Creens," Gunther says and looks innocent.

Olivia smiles at Andre as she helps herself to some fruit. "Seriously, though, when you get the machine for washing dishes all worked out, sell one to the Weavers. I know a lot of apprentices who would thank you personally if you did!"

"He's right, it would," Amelia admits, and starts filling her plate. "Although maybe that dish sprayer thing could do it too."

"Ah, but the older Weavers would fight against it," Andre points out while filling up his plate. "This town hates change. Often the attitude is if we had to suffer through it, so do you', for unnecessary things."

"Ah, no, the sprayer wouldn't. The water is heated to near boiling," Zahnrad says to Amelia.

Elsa glances at Andre, then Zahnrad, "Now, dears, we discussed about mentioning work and town politics at dinner. We shouldn't bore our guests with chatter about what we work on here."

"Like that indoor hot spring?" Amy asks.

Zahnrad blinks, as does Andre. "How do you know about that?" they ask in unison.

Olivia munches some berries while she thinks this over. She swallows and says, "True enough. So it's good that my aunt likes a little change here and there. If she was totally resistant to it, she wouldn't let me work on my fabric art. But anyway, that's town politics and I guess I shouldn't talk about that anymore." She glances over at Mrs. Kettenrad and smiles apologetically.

On the spot, Amelia says, "Woman's intuition."

Zahnrad and Andre look at each other, then shrug. "Mother and Father want it," Zahnrad explains to Amelia, "So they can have a more private bathing area. They're tired of the 'otter surprises' that they kept getting down at the public ones."

Elsa smiles to Olivia and says, "Oh, don't fret over it. Our views here tend to clash with the town, so we usually just keep them to ourselves."

"I can certainly understand that," Amy says, and digs into her food to avoid continuing the subject.

Gunther, however, does continue it, "The glasswork Dieter is installing is really neat. He's been working with the glassblowers in town to build some custom glass bits that reflect and direct light around in the water and along the walls. When the sun is just right outside, the room lights up with a really cool glow! You can then lurk in the basin and slowly rise up, looking like a creature from the dark mists of the swamp!" He pauses and then adds, "Hey, I bet that would scare off any invading hordes!" Zahnrad groans, then rubs his temples. "This is what I live with. I'm so sorry that they like you … "