A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Three

It took three endless days of impeccable pretence for Fiona to fool Emrys that she was resigned to the destiny weaved for her by the old, apparently bored gods as much as he was, hours on end of listening to his words, faking acceptance.

Alaric, who was much less perceptive than his best friend, never suspected that Fiona might want to leave the castle in search of the boy. Despite Freddie being his chosen heir and the only treasured grandson, the king trusted Emrys and his orbuculum blindly. There was no reason to worry, the gods would resolve everything for them eventually, he repeated to his beloved daughter, who, now left without the two people who occupied so much of her time normally, finally passed more time with him. Hours which Alaric spent by talking to her as they sat in cosy armchairs by the lit fireplace in his chambers, basking in the warmth and the soothing light of its moving flames, the scent of the burning wood making Fiona's heart ache for Peregrine's arms cocooning her in his embrace... The long evenings that Fiona used to lure another ring from her father. 

She had had enough occasions to notice the ring which Alaric had originally given to Leodhais pulsing with bright blue light on Peregrine's sculpted chest, he had even immersed it into flames which he had conjured up in the palm of his hand to show her that it bore Nocturnus' name. Fiona had also seen what Selunia's ring, the one that Alaric had once left with her mother and which she had hung around Fiona's neck later, did for Freddie. 

So now, when she asked Alaric for another ring claiming she missed the one she had given to Freddie, and he, unsuspecting of her intentions, offered her to choose anyone she fancied the most, she chose the one carrying the name of Xylostra, the weaver of destiny. None of the rings would lead her better to Peregrine who had become as much a part of herself as Freddie was than this one-- they were both her destiny, her family, the three of them simply belonged together. Fiona would find Freddie and Peregrine and bring them home, but first, she would talk some sense into Lagon. Despite being Freddie's father, he had no claim on the boy in her book; he had ceased being his father the moment he had left her, alone and broken hearted all those years back. He couldn't just appear out of nowhere, claiming her son as his, and she didn't care whether he was the king of all dragons or a bus driver, full stop. 

She just needed to follow the ring, she mused the following morning, slipping the gold chain from around her neck, watching the ring draw circles above the palm of her hand before it started to pull ever so slightly towards north, the circles stretching into ellipses. Its acting like a compass needle for the rings she wished it to find, its light, and the heat it would start emitting once she carried it nearer to its siblings would tell her what to do.

Nodding contentedly as she put it back around her neck, Fiona pulled the hood of her warm travelling cloak up then adjusted the bag on her shoulder and the sword strapped around her waist, and left her chambers silent like a ghost long before sunrise. By now, she knew well which way to choose through the sleeping castle to avoid being seen by the patrolling guards, and she hoped that the ring she had chosen would keep Emrys' orbuculum blind to her decision. After all, her destiny lay with Peregrine, which was the one thing she believed in unshakeably.

Fiona rushed across the first snow-covered courtyard lit by a solitary torch into the next, at the far end of which the castle's stables were situated. Her Snowmane greeted her with excited neighing even before she entered the long, dark building carved into a stretch of the castle's outer walls, waking up his companions-- Buttercup, and Freddie and Aryana's horses-- and Gollum, who jumped at her so fast that she wondered whether he had been expecting her.

The night was starting to morph into day when Fiona finally exited the stables on horseback, Gollum walking at Snowmane's side. She only regretted one thing, she mused as she stole out of the castle through a secret, unguarded gate Peregrine had shown her once. The fact that her old jeans didn't fit her anymore-- her belly, still flat enough to be invisible in her wide dresses was already too round for the form-fitting cut of her favourite trousers. The jeans had been so much more comfortable for horse riding than the heavy long gown surrounding her head to toe just like the travelling winter coat she wore on top. She sighed, at least she wouldn't be cold, the woollen fabric was much warmer than denim.

Fiona had only ridden through the forest buried in a layer of pure, untouched snow shimmering like the mother-of-pearl lining of a seashell in the wan light of the rising sun for what might have been an hour, when a huge, golden wolf materialised from the underbrush lining the path. 

She didn't start-- Gollum's welcoming, overexcited behaviour to the beast tipped her as well as its bright, silky pelt, too similar in colour to Aryana's hair, who this was, despite having never seen the girl in her wolf form.

"Why did you follow me?" she scolded the werewolf on a sigh, her grateful smile marring her attempt at reproach.

The wolf barked once, almost apologetically, looking at her with its eyes that seemed to be a fusion of gold and silver, allowing Gollum to lick it on its nose before it turned away from her. As Fiona watched it run into the trees again, she reined in her horse, waiting for Aryana and Gilderoy to reach her. There was no way the dwarf would let his beloved leave the castle alone.

Unsurprisingly, they appeared on horseback, side by side, a few minutes later, their silhouettes coalescing from the shadows lying under the trees surrounding the small clearing in the middle of which Fiona was waiting.

"Emrys knows," Gilderoy said in lieu of a greeting. "I begged him to allow you to leave if we accompanied you. I promised to keep you safe. He agreed; he said he had seen this would happen. So, he sends his love and a promise to watch over us through his orbuculum and to keep Alaric calm as long as possible unless we get into danger."

"All right then," Fiona muttered. In all honesty, she hadn't expected such freedom from either of her fathers, and she wondered whether she should thank her mother for this. "You may come with me if you insist. But it will be a long and uncomfortable journey..."

A look she could not decipher and a hint of a smile passed between the lovers as they rode to her side and they all moved as one, with Gollum preceding them, towards the trees growing on the northern border of the clearing. 

"It might just be faster and more comfortable than you expect," Aryana whispered excitedly. 

Fiona raised her eyebrows at her only to make her look away, then glanced at Gilderoy riding at her other side even as Aryana let her horse fall back when they reached the tree line and found a northbound path, too narrow for three horses.

"I'm sorry that I didn't ask your permission, Fiona," Gilderoy said, looking at her as if he wasn't quite sure about how she would take what he was about to tell her, "but I sent a word to Leodhais and Annwyn when Peregrine left. I just thought they should know, being his family... and they reached the castle just as Aryana as I were leaving. We agreed to meet them tonight in a small  village lying at the end of this path. And they are not alone."

Fiona sighed, then nodded. She felt bad about putting anyone else in potential danger. She thought that she could, and should deal with Lagon alone, to make him reason... But she wasn't entirely sure that he would want to listen to her. Maybe seeing that she wasn't alone would make him take her more seriously. And she was happy, actually, that she wouldn't have to approach the long journey into the Highlands on her own.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go back?" she asked Gilderoy before she turned to look over her shoulder at Aryana. "It's not too late to change your minds yet..."

Her two friends shook their heads in unison, and they rode on in silence, avoiding talking about anything important even when they stopped for a quick break around lunchtime.