Vanity stared, absolutely gobsmacked. "Nothing? That's your grand plan?"

Felicia nodded. "If this is a time loop, then everything we already know about has to happen, and will happen, no matter what. The King won't give Fiona the potion, my dad still breaks in, and Fairy Godmother..." She trailed off, not needing to finish.

Vanity crossed her arms. "And we just stand there? Smile and hope for the best?"

"No—no," Felicia said quickly. "We pretend to help. We make it look like we're doing everything we can."

Vanity's expression shifted, still skeptical but listening.

"We do exactly what Fairy Godmother told us to do," Felicia continued. "We go to the castle, we blend in. We stay near the King like shadows and watch everything unfold." She paused. "No matter what we do, or don't do, it shouldn't interfere with what's meant to happen. Which would explain why we're still here and things are still going according to history."

Vanity dropped her arms with a frustrated huff. "So you're telling me all of this was for nothing?" She slumped down onto the dirt floor and began absentmindedly drawing spirals in it.

Felicia sat beside her.

"But what if something does change?" Vanity asked, not looking up. "What if, because we're here, the King does give the potion? Or Shrek doesn't get inside? We don't actually know this is a perfect loop."

Felicia sighed. "Then we adjust. But only enough to keep things on track to protect the outcome."

Vanity let out a hollow laugh. "So I was right. This was for nothing, and no matter what I do or say, I still end up a nobody with a deadbeat dad and an imprisoned mom."

Felicia's chest tightened. "It might not fix everything right now... but we can't let the timeline break. If it does, you and I might not exist at all."

Vanity's hand stilled in the dirt. Silence stretched between them.

"What about after?" she asked quietly. "After the ball. After she loses. When we have to find a way home?"

Felicia hesitated. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out. Maybe we can get the wand back."

Felicia stood, brushing the dirt from her dress, and offered her hand. After a moment, Vanity took it and stood as well.

"Right now, the wands are merged," Felicia said. "But binding spells like that? They can be unstable."

Vanity tilted her head. "You think we can break them apart again?"

"I'm not sure," Felicia admitted. "But magic reacts to big moments. When she..." She paused. "When everything falls apart, something might happen."

Vanity considered this, her fingers tapping lightly against her satchel. "So, we wait until the end, watch for an opening and then take the wand?"

Felicia nodded. "And then take the wand."

Vanity glanced at her. "And go home to what? The same future?"

Felicia's confidence flickered. "Hopefully not exactly the same."

Vanity narrowed her eyes. "That's not reassuring."

Felicia sighed. "I don't know how much we can change without breaking everything. But maybe just understanding each other changes something for the better."

Vanity didn't respond. Instead, she turned and pushed open the barn door, stepping out into the light. "The ball," she said after a moment. "Let's talk about the ball."

Felicia followed her outside, and together they began walking toward the castle.

"We are castle servants," Vanity began. "If we're going to blend in, we can't just wander around."

"My dad and the others enter through the main moat entrance," Felicia said. "The guards will be distracted, so that helps us. And our outfits give us an in. The potion stays with the King. He's the one who slips it into the drinks while he's in the kitchen. If we're there, we can track it."

Vanity nodded slowly.

"We follow him discreetly," Felicia continued. "Make sure his heart stays the same."

Vanity's jaw tightened slightly, but she didn't argue. "And Fairy Godmother?"

Felicia hesitated. "We stay out of her direct sight as much as possible."

Vanity let out a quiet laugh. "After today? I don't think that's possible."

"She might be distracted," Felicia said. "But we stay useful. If she sees us working, she won't question us."

"Serve drinks. Carry trays. Stay close to the action without being part of it."

"Exactly."

Vanity smirked faintly. "You're surprisingly good at this."

Felicia shrugged. "I've had a lot of time to think about how everything went wrong. Plus, I have two brothers. You learn to plan around chaos."

Her heart dipped slightly at the thought of her siblings. Their future was tied up in all of this, too.

Vanity's expression softened just a little. "Alright," she said. "We play along. Help just enough to keep her satisfied, but not enough for her to win."

Felicia nodded.

"And after the ball," Vanity added, her voice quieter, "we watch for the moment everything falls apart. Then we take the wand and go home."

A breeze stirred the trees around them. The sun sat high in the sky. Only a few hours remained before sunset and the start of the ball.

"For what it's worth," Felicia said softly, "I don't want your family to suffer. I don't want that for anyone."

Vanity didn't look at her. "And yet they do."

Felicia swallowed. "But not forever."

That made Vanity pause. She turned back. "You really believe that?"

Felicia thought for a moment, just a moment, then nodded. "I have to."

Vanity studied her for a long beat. "Fine," she said at last. "We do it your way."

Felicia smiled, resisting the urge to hug her again.

Vanity brushed dirt off of her dress and adjusted her sleeves. "Come on. If we're going to pretend to be helpful little servants, we should probably get to the castle before we're late."

Felicia gave a small, nervous smile. "Right."

Vanity suddenly stopped, staring at her.

"W-what?" Felicia asked.

Vanity gestured vaguely at her. "No offense, but I don't think the castle employs ogre servants."

"Oh!" Felicia gasped, immediately understanding. She fussed with her hair, trying to cover her face and tuck back her ears. "Better?"

Vanity tilted her head. "Better, but you might want a cloak. Just in case."

Together, they made their way down the hill and into the bustling boulevard of Far Far Away.

* * * * *

The boulevard hummed with excitement and preparations for the royal ball. Carriages rolled over cobblestones, merchants called out from stalls and shops, and banners bearing the crest of the royal family snapped in the breeze. Billboards moved and twinkled high in the sky while music from buskers and bards drifted through the town.

Up ahead loomed the Far Far Away castle.

Felicia couldn't stop staring.

She had seen the castle her whole life, but seeing it now was strange. It looked younger in a way. This was before Arthur wore the crown, before she and her brothers were born.

Vanity caught Felicia slowing and grabbed her wrist. "Stop gawking. We need to move."

They kept to the far edge of the sidewalks with their heads lowered in their servant uniforms. Felicia was trying to make herself look smaller, hunching slightly and keeping her hair over her ears.

Vanity noticed and came to an abrupt stop in front of a small clothing stall.

She stepped up to the stall and scanned the merchant, who was busy arguing with a customer over some embroidered gloves. Then, as casually as breathing, she slipped under the awning and ran a hand over a row of velvet travel cloaks.

Felicia stared and let out a harsh whisper. "Vanity—"

Vanity lifted a dark green hooded cloak, inspected the stitching as if considering a purchase, then turned back toward Felicia. "Try this."

Before Felicia could object any further, Vanity swept the long cloak over her shoulders and fastened it at her throat. "It helps hide your ears."

Felicia glanced back toward the angry merchant, who seemed not to have noticed the missing cloak.

"How are we going to pay—?" Felicia began to ask, but Vanity was already walking.

Felicia hurried after her, trying not to smile despite herself.

The cloak did help. With the hood up and her green skin shadowed, she looked less obviously like an ogre and more like an oddly tall servant.

Their disguises gave them a free pass to cross the castle's moat. As they approached the castle doors, they slipped off the main road and circled toward its rear grounds, where trimmed gardens met the old outer wall. The farther they went, the quieter it became. The noise of the crowds faded, replaced by gardeners clipping hedges and the silent patrol of palace guards.

Felicia's nerves returned in full upon spotting the guards.

The girls moved off to the side and crouched behind a marble fountain. Two armored guards crossed the path ahead, chatting idly. Felicia held her breath until they disappeared.

When the coast was clear, Felicia led Vanity through rows of hedges until they reached a weathered stone wall, half-covered in ivy.

"This is a secret passage to the kitchens," Felicia said. She put her hands on the brick wall and began to push, slightly grunting through her words. "My mother used to sneak in and out this way with extra helpings after dinner for all of us. Ogre appetites are something else."

Vanity began pushing too, smirking.

The door gave way, revealing a narrow hallway. Both girls looked over their shoulders before disappearing inside. Felicia pulled the wall closed behind them.

The passage was dark, narrow, and smelled faintly of dust and baked goods. The only light available seeped through the kitchen flooring above them.

Their footsteps echoed more than they would've liked.

As they neared the exit, a false tile looking up into the kitchen pantry, both girls listened. They heard voices as two staff members paused right above them. Felicia's heart stopped before the servants moved on.

When the coast was clear, Felicia reached up and pushed the loose tile aside. She crawled up out of the floor and into the kitchen's massive pantry, then reached back to offer Vanity a hand up.

After both girls had climbed through, closed the tile behind them, and snuck out of the pantry, the chaos began.

Steam clouded the air, and staff rushed everywhere carrying platters, sacks, and tureens. Someone shouted about a pheasant, another about the wine, another about the dog's food.

Felicia had barely taken it in before a sharp voice cut through everything.

"Where have you two been?!"

A severe woman in black stood before them, her silver hair pinned back so tightly it looked painful.

Neither girl answered. Felicia kept her head low beneath her cloak and her hands behind her back.

"No excuses!" the woman snapped, thrusting aprons into their hands. "The banquet begins in hours, and you wander in now?"

Before Vanity could form a lie, the woman was already assigning duties.

"You." She pointed at Vanity. "Service aid."

Then at Felicia. "You. Kitchen prep."

They were being separated, but there was no time to argue. The head of staff turned sharply, and both girls were swallowed into the frenzy.

Felicia found herself elbow-deep in preparations. After putting on some rather tight chef's gloves, she was handed loaves of bread to slice, bonbons to wrap, vegetables to sort. There was no need for her to pretend to be busy, because she actually was. It was still early in the day, but she continued to keep an eye out for the King. Or worse, Fairy Godmother.

And somehow, between peeling carrots and cucumbers, she realized she was like a fly on the wall.

Servants gossiped, cooks muttered, footmen talked when they thought no one was listening.

"The King hasn't eaten all day."

"He's been quite frantic."

"Has anyone seen Fiona?"

"I haven't seen her outside her room."

"Prince Shrek is taking hours to decide what to wear."

Unbeknownst to them, it was Charming who continued to preen.

Felicia tucked every word away. She drifted everywhere she could, volunteering for errands she wasn't assigned, trying to stay close to the pulse of the castle.

At one point she was polishing silver in a hallway lined with portraits of previous kings and queens of Far Far Away. She knew the silverware and the hallway well, but something was off.

Her parents' portrait wasn't there yet.

That made her chest ache unexpectedly.

Later, while carrying drinking goblets through a corridor, she passed the grand ballroom, which was being transformed into a sort of rehearsal hall. The candles on the chandeliers were being lit and hung. Musicians tuned their instruments and practiced. The choir found their assigned places in the middle of the room along with Fairy Godmother.

Felicia turned and flattened herself against the wall so fast her shoulder blade struck stone. She peeked around the doorway, trying to keep an eye on things.

Had she been seen? She couldn't tell.

Fairy Godmother hovered near the elf pianist, directing the musicians with sharp flicks of her wand like a conductor. Impatience echoed unmistakably in her voice.

Then Fairy Godmother turned toward the door.

Felicia's heart hammered as she disappeared fully behind the door so she wouldn't be spotted.

Fairy Godmother floated out into the hallway, took a deep breath, smiled her devious smile, then turned and went back inside the room.

"As tonight's MC, I demand—" she trailed off, addressing the room.

Luckily, Felicia hadn't been spotted, though her pulse continued hammering for minutes afterward. The last thing she needed was another lecture and more threats from Fairy Godmother.

Felicia hoped Vanity was having a less stressful time than she was.