Inside the vast room, well lit and feeling pleasantly warm after the darkness and the rain and wind reigning outside, they found Annwyn collecting dishes from their table with Leodhais in tow. The elf was helping her eagerly, his hands and other parts of his body searching and finding easily many occasions to touch the gorgeous half dragon.

Gilderoy, staring intently into the dancing flames of the huge fireplace, where he probably went to dry off when his help was refused by the two, seemed deep in thought, the sight reminding Fiona of Peregrine's words pronounced in the stables about Aryana. This was a story Fiona hadn't heard yet, something, obviously, very close to Gilderoy's heart.

Apparently thinking the same, Peregrine pressed a kiss into her rain-sprinkled hair, then left her, and made his way to his thoughtful friend, even as Annwyn noticed their appearance. 

"Oh, here you are. Let me show you your room, Fiona, I already took Alexandra and Freddie upstairs. They should be settled for the night by now," the beautiful woman said, a genuine smile playing on her lips as she laced her arm around Fiona's the moment she approached her.

"I would like to help you first," Fiona protested, her eyes strolling to the pile of used dishes on the table. 

"Thank you, but there's no need," Annwyn said. "I already have a helper for tonight; we can manage." Her eyes followed Leodhais, who just walked by carrying a tray full of cups and goblets towards the kitchen dreamily. Fiona smiled; Annwyn looked as much enamoured of the blond elf as he was of her. "And, Freddie asked me to tell you that he would wait for you," she added. 

Fiona nodded without further protests as Annwyn led her towards the stairs, her eyes seeking Peregrine who was now deep in conversation with Gilderoy by the hearth on the other end of the large room, making the half dragon smile knowingly, the smile bringing a rush of colour and heat to Fiona's cool cheeks. 

"I..." she started as they walked up the wooden stairs, not sure what she wanted to say really. There were so many things she wanted to talk about with Peregrine's beloved sister, his only family, but she didn't know where to start.

"No need to explain." Annwyn smiled again, shaking her head as they reached an ill lit corridor. "I understand. And I'm happy for him. And for you too. Peregrine is a wonderful man. He only needs someone to help him see himself for what he really is."

Fiona pondered those words until Annwyn suddenly stopped in front of a closed door, her hand gathered in a fist knocking against its dark wood. 

"I have never seen him behave around a woman as he does around you," Annwyn added in a whisper, pulling Fiona in a quick embrace, even as the door started to open, revealing Freddie in his Harry Potter pyjamas, the colourful print of a scene from the movie on his chest perfectly out of place in this world, in the shy and unsure light of the row of candles lining the corridor.

"Where's Gollum?" he asked the instant Annwyn, having wished them a good night, returned towards the stairs while Fiona followed Freddie inside the room.

"He preferred to stay in the stables, with Peregrine's horse," she said, looking around the candlelit room. Three curtained single beds, one with Alexandra already fast asleep, and a large wooden screen standing by the only curtained window, most likely separating the bathroom area from the rest of the room were all that there was. 

She smiled; she could do with less than this. A roof above her head and Freddie, her beloved Gollum, and Peregrine at her side were the only things she needed to be happy. You are so selfish, she scolded herself even as the thought settled in her mind. You must think of Freddie first; he needs more in life than this. A sigh followed that thought. She had just uprooted her son from his life. He'll need friends and good people around him to form, or rather, to support his personality in the right direction while he grows up, the sweet, intelligent child shaping into a wise and strong man. Had she done the right thing, bringing him into this world...?

"I want to see the horses!" Freddie called, scattering her thoughts. He followed her to her bed, snuggling next to her as she let herself fall on the straw-filled mattress covered with off-white sheets.

"You'll see them tomorrow," Fiona promised, drawing him into an embrace. "Peregrine's Shadow is the biggest of them all and all black. I'll ride Snowmane, a tall dapple grey, and you'll get Roheryn, who is as brown as your favourite hazelnut chocolate spread. And now let us get some sleep, Freddie. It will be a long journey."

"Good night, Mum," he said obediently, pecking her on the cheek before getting up and heading for his own bed. "There's a jug of water and a basin behind the screen if you want to wash."

"Goodnight, Freddie."

She tucked him in, kissing him on his forehead on her way towards the wooden screen, her night dress under her arm.

Fiona couldn't suppress a sigh when she noticed the jug and the basin filled with cold water. She could do with this arrangement for one night, she mused, washing as well as she could using a piece of linen cloth, missing her shower. But she couldn't go on like this forever in this world, not on certain days, and she just liked to wash her hair every night too, a necessity that had become a habit during the long years while she had worked in the hospital. She never felt completely clean unless she washed her hair.

Right, she would have to talk to Annwyn, there was no way she could talk about some things with Peregrine, she resolved, pulling her night dress on before she brushed her teeth, thanking her mother mentally for having brought their toothbrushes and a toothpaste, then gathering the rest of her clothes under her arm before stepping from behind the screen, eying the pot set in the corner with a frown. She could never use that... The thought lingered in her mind as she walked across the room, blowing candles along her way, all apart from the one set upon a wooden trunk next to her bed. 

She settled in the bed, in the room filled with the soft, relaxed breathing of her other two roommates, after smelling, shaking out, and spreading hers and Freddie's used clothes over the only chair she found in the room. It seemed the best thing to just reuse them again tomorrow, their clean clothes weren't infinite. If she had understood well, it would take them at least a week to reach her father's castle, and she wasn't sure at all that they would find a place to wash their garments along the way.

Just what did the characters in fantasy books she had read by dozens in the past do to always stay clean? She wondered, hoping to fall asleep fast. The princesses took baths prepared by their maids, who washed their gowns in rivers a few times a year, unless they had magic to solve all of their problems... 

But she wasn't a princess, not until she arrived at her father's court at least, not ever if it was for her. Peregrine didn't care about a princess; she could feel that, and she didn't care about a future without him... Botheration! She dropped a pillow on her face to muffle a groan. She was being silly. Most likely, he didn't care about a Fiona in his life, tying him down, clipping his magnificent dragon wings with her love, her needs and demands as few as they may be, by being herself, a short, unpretty gingerhead, a half ordinary human...

Another sigh escaped her. These thoughts were not going to lull her to sleep. And other, less selfish thoughts and worries, were transpiring through them.

Those of her mother suddenly appearing at her father's court uninvited. Those of the thoughtful Gilderoy-- the side of him she had never seen before tonight. Those of Leodhais and Annwyn as a couple-- was the elf mature enough to keep a woman like her happy? Those of Freddie's future, of Freddie growing up in this world so entirely different from what he had experienced until now... Freddie a dragon shifter, a Highlander... She felt like crying at the thought. She... had fallen for Peregrine, she wouldn't want him to be any different... And yet she hoped that her son wouldn't have to experience all the hardship, danger, and sorrow that seemed to be an inseparable part of being a Highlander. 

More than a few things will have to change in this kingdom, she resolved as if it depended on her, making herself giggle. If she ever became the princess or a queen of this fantastical word, she would stop that nonsense among the Highlanders. No more killings. What was the point in being the only one if it made you alone in the world, the terminator of your own kind, with countless deaths lying on your conscience?

Placing the pillow back under her head and drawing the curtains around her bed, she realised that she might even meet Lagon in this world... What would she do, how would she behave if that happened?

Pushing the blankets away, she sat up. There was no way she was going to fall asleep with all these things crowding her mind. She missed her routine-- a long shower, caressing Gollum's ears as she fell asleep, making the bread dough... Maybe she could do something about the last.  They were in an inn, after all, with no supermarkets round the corner. Annwyn was bound to make her own bread. 

Not giving herself time to think about it twice, Fiona pushed her feet into her white fluffy slippers and stood up. Her mother hadn't packed her dressing gown, but the place was warm enough and her long-sleeved cotton night gown was decently long for her to venture into the kitchen without having to dress up again in her used clothes. 

Without overthinking her decision, she made sure that the only candle still burning in the room was placed in a safe spot and left, walking out into the silent corridor lit with a long row of flickering candles, each of the unattended flames translating as a potential risk of a fire in her modern, electricity-spoiled mind.