They reached the eaves of the Black Forest in the late afternoon of the following day, even as the sun was beginning to set.

The weather kept in its improbable clemency even though the sky had become a little hazy as the day progressed, as if it got tired of all the sunshine, just like Fiona seemed to have become weary from the long journey, or more likely from the distance the two of them were forced to keep between themselves for their companions' sake, Peregrine's mind suggested, making his lips quiver with a content smile. By the old gods, he suffered from not being able to hold her in his arms constantly just as she seemed to do, it was clear from the multitude of longing, lingering looks they had exchanged throughout the long day, he mused as he helped Alexandra off his horse.

"If everything goes well, if we cover as many miles as we did today tomorrow, this will be our last night spent outdoors before reaching the Bleak Moor," he announced. He knew a noble vampire family loyal to Alaric who would offer them shelter tomorrow,  then they would spend the following night with Wilbur's pack...

His eyes strolled to Leodhais unconsciously for a brief moment, his memory suddenly producing a vision of Auriel before Freddie walked up to him, insisting to help him with the horses.

"Where are we?" the boy asked as they tethered the beasts to one of the uncountable trees surrounding them on all sides, so tall that they turned the falling twilight into dusk prematurely. 

"In the Centaur Territory."

The boy gasped in awed surprise, wide blue eyes darting into the gloom pooling among the tall, thick tree trunks. 

It made Peregrine smile. "Don't you get too excited, Master Frodo. They hardly ever appear, I only met a couple of them a long time ago. They treasure solitude and prefer the company of their own folk."

He kneeled next to the silent, awe-inspired boy the moment they took care of the horses, making the best of his endless curiosity, feeding his hungry mind with facts. There was no better way to learn about the kingdom he will inherit one day, than the present moment, before his imagination would become used to all the things he now, coming from a different world, regarded as wonderful and magical. 

"They are elusive, nocturnal beings, spending nights by observing the stars and divining the future. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they knew about your and your mum's arrival even before your grandfather sent us to find you," he said, winking at the boy before he stood up again, and taking his hand in his most naturally, led him back to where Leodhais and Gilderoy, or rather Annwyn, had managed to lay a fire.

"I can see the future sometimes..." Freddie muttered, making Peregrine's step falter, "I knew you would come for us. I even see granddad and Emrys in the ring on some nights..."

Peregrine gasped and stopped in his tracks, his mind working at triple speed to produce correct questions to ask-- no one had ever spoken about Emrys to the boy, he was sure, there was no explicable way he should know that name-- but Freddie freed his hand and dashed off towards his mother, letting him know that he was done with this subject for the moment. 

Feeling that the boy wished for their conversation to remain private, Peregrine didn't say anything about it to Fiona as he gathered her in his arms once the fire burned down to lively flickers of golden light dancing like will-o'-the-wisps in the inky darkness creeping upon them from the surrounding forest, relishing in the way she seemed to only relax entirely when he was so near that she could lay her head on his chest, drifting off to sleep in seconds. She needed the rest he couldn't afford to take; with only Gilderoy still knowing about the dragon shifters following their progress across Silmarea because they seemed to be simply harmless observers, and he didn't want to alarm the others pointlessly, the two divided the night watch between them.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised to find Freddie, hours later, as he watched over his sleeping companions from his and Fiona's spot, walking across the small clearing towards the dark trees like a child ghost drifting through the night. Of course, the centaurs found out about him, sensed his presence, and felt intrigued by this lastest scion of the old gods-- just like them, he seemed to possess the rare gift, the magic of prophecy. It made sense that, mysterious and elusive as they were, they wouldn't let the occasion to meet their future king slip.

However, Peregrine couldn't let him out of his sight even though he didn't fear the centaurs, but rather admired them. His love of Freddie's mother made him feel responsible for the boy as if he were his own.

Removing Fiona's arm from where it lay on his thigh since he had sat up and propped his back against a tree trunk to be able to watch the forest without neither falling asleep nor leaving her side, he stood up then followed the boy silently, in a discreet distance.

In this manner, they walked through the thickly grown trees for a few minutes until, upon reaching another, larger clearing lit by a few stray moon beams, Freddie stopped and without looking back, he spoke to Peregrine. 

"I knew you would follow me. They knew it, too. You don't have to hide, Peregrine, they'll speak to both of us."

A shiver rippled through his entire being. Never in his long life did Peregrine encounter so many unexpected and unpredictable events as since finding Fiona and her son, he mused, walking up from the shadows to stand at the boy's side. 

The softest of sounds, a mere sussurrus of multiple hooves that were used to pretend invisibility treading through the stems of the grasses covering the forest's ground, alerted them to the fact that they were not alone before Peregrine could open his mouth to reply to Freddie. 

A fur-covered, breathing wall of centaurs, half men, half horses, taller even than his Shadow, materialised from the black trees even as the moon beams filling the clearing until then vanished beyond a cloud drifting lazily across the otherwise clear sky.

But the two almost humans didn't need the moon's light to be able to see, the centaurs' silvery grey pelts seemed woven from moonlight, glowing eerily, brightening the night reigning in the world around them. 

Peregrine bowed in respect to the elusive, magnificent creatures, and Freddie followed his example. 

And then, Peregrine watched, awestruck, as they bowed to Freddie in a silent greeting, an acceptance, one after another, creating an illusion of a wave rolling on its way across the sea's surface as the respect for the boy standing next to him, for the man and king he would become in the future rippled through them, their humble behaviour sending Peregrine's heart soaring, making him fall deeper in love with his Bella who had brought him up alone, giving up her own life for so long. To his knowledge, the centaurs had never shown this much respect to Alaric; they never agreed to meet him, they had never pledged...

"We are here tonight to pledge loyalty to our future king. Frederick of Silmarea, we swear to serve you for as long as you'll live," one of them, a male whose white pelt made him appear older than the others, announced. 

Peregrine felt elated as he saw Freddie drop to his knee in the most natural way as he accepted the offered allegiance. The boy was a born king... And yet he couldn't restrain his thoughts from rushing to his Bella. This honour should be hers to accept; the ancient traditions of Silmarea would not permit the boy to skip his mother, she would become the queen, replacing Alaric, before Freddie...

A soft laughter of a female centaur standing on the right side of the male who had spoken, her thick, long, brown hair covering her bare chest, disturbed his reverie, making him understand that among many other things they were capable of, they could read his thoughts. Hopefully, the boy standing next to him didn't share even this gift of the centaurs.

The female laughed again. "He can't use it yet," she informed. "And to reply to your thoughts about his mother..."

"Don't, Leia," her older companion admonished. "Leave this to them. Let me only tell you this, Highlander. You two were meant to meet; it had been written in your stars. You need each other in your lives... Sooner or later, if you accept your destiny, you'll both find happiness together and change this world for the better. That's what the stars say tonight."

"Fare well, our king," he continued, turning to Freddie. "You know where to find us should you need our service in the future."

The centaur bowed again,  the others, in a smooth wave, following his example, the brown haired female smirking at Peregrine, as if she knew something he didn't, over her shoulder before they vanished into the night-shrouded Black Forest. 

Peregrine shook his head as if dispersing a dream. He couldn't explain that smirk, just like he failed to wholly understand the point of this meeting. What was it about Freddie, a ten-year-old grandson of Alaric who descended from the gods themselves, and had no idea about the boy's existence yet, a son of a Highlander, an ancient, regal race of dragon shifters feared but looked down at in contempt and misunderstanding by most inhabitants of Silmarea, that inspired respect and loyalty? he wondered, his eyes drawn to the spot beneath the boy's shirt where the ring glowed with a faint bluish light illuminating his face, the only bright spot in the inky darkness after the centaurs' departure.

Why didn't Bella take it back? The ring belonged to her... His thoughts continued to race as he took Freddie by the hand and looked up at the sky, waiting for the comet tail of the long, wispy cloud still covering the moon's glowing orb to drift entirely away before, guided by the wan light returning to the sleeping world, walked with him in silence towards the camp again.

Bella seemed to be guided purely by her instincts and her heart just like her son, he thought as he lay down next to her again, gathering her in his arms as she drifted closer to him in her sleep, after he had accompanied the boy to his sleeping place next to Alexandra, and woke Gilderoy up.

Bella and Freddie were the best thing that had happened to him in his entire life... Peregrine allowed his thoughts to drift to the perfectly impossible future spent with them, as an important, beloved and loving part of their lives, a member of their small family, as he allowed the sleep take him, his hand and face buried in Fiona's cloud-like hair.