Dullahan

9 - Other - 2

When both boys had regained their breath, Wyn started off again, leading Eldred through a winding path that took them through corridors and passageways in what Eldred suspected was a more direct route through the castle, streamlined with many trips back and forth. All of a sudden Eldred found himself back in the kitchen, the familiar sounds of work and cooking filling his ears, the smells of baking food making him hungry despite the food he had already eaten. A few of the kitchen staff turned to look at him as the two of them entered the room, but their attention is quickly recaptured by their tasks, and the two boys were left alone.

Wyn returned his tray to a table, before darting back through the kitchen toward the door that Eldred had come through the day before- the way to the gardens. "This way, Fenn!" He called, beckoning for Eldred to follow him.

Eldred hesitated only a moment, appreciating the warmth and comfort of the kitchens, before hurrying after the other boy, nervous anticipation starting to build within his chest. Wyn had told him there were others, and the prospect of meeting more new faces was intimidating. Eldred hadn't had good luck when it came to making friends. Back home he had only had Cal and May, the other children carefully steered away from him by their parents. Both Cal and May's parents had tried to do the same, some more subtly than others, but both of his friends had been determined and had refused any attempts to drive a wedge between them. After so many years, they had for the most part given up on trying to keep the children apart, and so Cal and May had become outsiders with Eldred, and the three of them had been satisfied.

Eldred wasn't sure how making friends would work here, in the castle. He wasn't certain how humans were treated by fae. What little he knew of them from his mother's stories had as of yet been useless, the truth proving much stranger than anything his mother had told him. He understood that there was something about him that at least the adults seemed not to like- he'd noticed the looks he'd received from some of the servants, and evidently, Gildas and the King did not like him. He found himself growing increasingly more reluctant to actually meet the rest of the children, and increasingly more certain that he should have remained within Ness's room.

By the time Wyn had led him through a maze of hedges and trees, Eldred had just about convinced himself to make an excuse to leave, to return to the familiar boredom of that small room.

"They're just up ahead!" the other boy called, disappearing around the next corner before Eldred was able to say anything.

He had slowed to a walk, daring himself with each step to turn back around, to go back.

The previously close quarters of the garden, lined with garden vegetables, flowers, trees, trellises and bushes opened up into a large green, grass reaching waist height, speckled with wildflowers despite the season. In its centre was a fountain, its base wide, the water within clear. Gathered around, some perched on the wall, others looking around in the grass nearby were a group of children. Eldred recognised some from his first visit to the kitchen, but there were others that he hadn't seen as well. There was a mixture of children of different ages, each one seemingly a different type of Fae. Some were like Gildas, with deer or goat's legs, while others had the barky skin of a dryad. They were dressed in a mix of clothing, from the tidy uniforms of pages and errand runners to the rattier clothes of kitchen scullions and stable hands. Wyn had wasted no time crossing the space, ignoring the paths of shorter-cut grass in favour of frolicking through the flowers, shouting to catch the attention of the others.

Eldred waited where he had emerged beside the hedge, watching as the other children looked up with smiles and laughter, two of the other kitchen workers running over to meet Wyn. They talked quickly, before Wyn turned around, frowning, and waved impatiently toward Eldred.

The anxiety made him feel sick, frozen in place with the nerves, countless scenarios running through his mind. At the second, more impatient beckon, he managed to start moving again, gaining speed as he followed Wyn's haphazard pathway through the grass, almost tumbling over his feet once or twice.