A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Four

As if she could feel her approaching, Annwyn was waiting for her at the edge of the village, and Fiona dismounted her horse and ran into the half-dragon's arms the moment she spotted her tall, graceful figure materialising from the early winter dusk. 

The woman was the closest thing to Peregrine Fiona had, she mused as she wrapped her arms around Annwyn's waist, and she had missed her. She was thankful to Gilderoy for appraising his friend Leodhais about what had happened. It had never crossed her mind to do so.

"It's all right," Annwyn spoke to her in a soothing voice, her hands restoring peace and order into Fiona's wind-blown hair. "It will be all right. I know Peregrine, I'm sure that he is not in the slightest danger. We will find Freddie and bring him back where he really belongs... " she trailed off, and for the first time, Fiona realised that Peregrine must have told her who Freddie's father was. She didn't mind. She admired his relationship with Annwyn, because she had never had a sibling. But she hoped he hadn't told anyone else. Because right now, seeing who Lagon had become in this world, she didn't feel particularly proud of herself, of their past connection. Fiona had loved him, and he had used her... She shook her head; this wasn't the moment to think about the past. She was here to sort out her future. 

"Does Leodhais know?" Fiona asked, disentangling herself from Annwyn's arms to be able to look up in her face. If Leodhais knew, then Gilderoy did too, and Aryana...

"No. And I won't tell him unless you want me to. This is yours and Peregrine's affair concerning only the two of you, your son, and his father."

Fiona shook her head no. "Please don't tell him yet. I prefer it this way. Thank you, Annwyn." She managed a smile as she looked at the half-dragon, the first proper smile in too many days.

"Thank me when you'll hear how we'll travel to the Highlands. Now come in." She motioned to what looked like an inn situated behind them, on the other side of a small green which most likely doubled as the tiny village's square. "We got enough rooms for everyone to sleep comfortably."

Gilderoy and Aryana who had been stalling behind so they would not disturb their conversation, appeared at their sides followed by Gollum and all their horses, and after a quick but heartfelt greeting they reached the inn's door all together. 

Fiona shivered as the heat of the inn spilt over her through the door Annwyn had opened; she hadn't realised how cold she had been, or tired, until that moment.

No sooner had she spotted, squinting against the fire and candle light which seemed too bright after the dusky darkness reigning outside, Leodhais, seated at the table with two men she didn't recognize, than he jumped to his feet and ran to greet them, pulling her and Aryana into his arms at the same time, before he turned to Gilderoy and hugged him too. 

"I missed you as well," Gilderoy told him, his voice coming muffled from somewhere under Leodhais' shoulder. "The castle feels almost melancholic without you and now Peregrine too. My feet were itching for another quest..."

Leodhais chuckled as he laced his arm around Fiona's and led her to the long table placed by the fireplace where Gollum already lay on the floor, stretched luxuriously in the heat of the flames. "Come meet our companions."

The two men stood and kissed the women's hands gentlemanly before they shook Gilderoy's. 

"Angus here is one of my many distant cousins," Annwyn explained, elbowing the man as ginger-haired as Fiona in the ribs playfully as she sat at his side, and he pulled her under his huge, muscular arm and mussed her neat hair mercilessly in response. She laughed before she continued, "And Calum is his good friend. They are both dragon shifters and..." she paused as the landlady appeared with jugs of mulled wine and warm ale.