Fiona, who disliked being in the centre of attention with all her heart, started to breathe more freely when Annwyn's full interest turned very soon back to Leodhais. 

That the tall, dark woman, resembling a piratess from a fantasy book, dressed as she was in figure hugging male clothes, was gorgeous, as good looking as the blond elf, didn't help Fiona to feel less nervous about everything happening in her life. The couple was honestly intimidatingly beautiful, making her feel even more uninteresting and ordinary, perfectly wrong for the role of this country's king's daughter which she was apparently expected to accept and assume right now, even before reaching her father. 

She smiled even as her breath hitched when Peregrine, as if he could perceive her feelings, pulled her closer to him, while he addressed his sister, whom he apparently disliked seeing on Leodhais' lap, with the elf's large hands encasing her waist, his eyes unfocused as he drank her in as if she was his dream come true.

"I noticed you had an unwelcome visitor?" he asked casually, not wanting to alarm anyone at the table, his spoon stirring the vegetable stew his sister had brought especially for him, pushing it towards Fiona when he realised that he didn't have time to tell Annwyn that she didn't eat meat either.

But he didn't have to say anything, his sister, who was watching his every move around the petite redhead was on her feet, dashing towards the kitchen and back with a full pot of the stew before Leodhais properly noticed she was gone.

She pushed the bowl back to her brother and filled another for Fiona before she sat down again, next to Leodhais, smiling at seeing his pout when she didn't return on his lap. "You must eat too. Gilderoy said that you ate nothing since breakfast," she announced, kissing him on the cheek, then turning to Peregrine. 

"Yes. A Highlander came looking for you."

"Who?"

"He didn't introduce himself. He was dressed all in black like most you, and he was also obsidian-black, with a smattering of emerald scales on his sides and a greenish hue in his wings in his dragon form. And he was huge, so much bigger than me."

Peregrine closed his eyes briefly before he let them fall on Fiona, hoping she wasn't listening. But she seemed absorbed in her own thoughts as she brought the stew to her lips automatically, her eyes set, unfocused, on her son sitting opposite of her, whose wide eyes Peregrine found glued to him and let his own pour inside of them, creating a bridge between the Higland Dragons that hid in their cores even as Annwyn's next words reached his ears, "Oh no."

He nodded, confirming her fear before he replied, his eyes never leaving the boy's, "That was Ancalagon the Black." Just like he remembered him from the night when he killed his parents. 

Freddie's eyebrows drew into a pensive frown, as he recognised the name upon instinct and understood the truth, accepting his heritage when the ring lying on his chest beneath his clothes emitted a few heartbeats of light.

He looked at his mother quickly and, finding her still lost in her thoughts, muttered to the dragon shifter, his voice so low that only the dragons present at the table heard him.

"I'm like you."

Peregrine nodded briefly, inclining his head in a bow to the boy's sharp intellect, and Annwyn gasped, making everyone's eyes snap to her.

"We will talk in a more appropriate moment," Peregrine whispered to the boy who nodded, starting a conversation with his mother who was now looking between him and Peregrine, a deep frown marring her features, distracting her in no time. 

Freddie didn't need Peregrine's help to make her forget what she had caught of their exchange but the dragon shifter laid his hand on her thigh nonetheless, just for the pleasure of hearing her heart skip a beat and her breath catch in her lungs, perceiving her desire of more than the fleeting touch as strong as his own. 

"So... I shifted to show the Highlander that he wasn't the only dragon here," Annwyn continued their previous conversation now that everyone was listening to them.

"You... shifted?" Leodhais mumbled, his green eyes full of some emotion, which Peregrine hoped for him, was awe. Awe was what Annwyn deserved, not doubts, fears, or misgivings from an elf. If he was serious about her, he would have to accept her just like she was.

"I wish to see you in your dragon form," the boy interrupted, making Peregrine's scowl turn to smile as he looked at him.

"Maybe tomorrow, before we leave," Annwyn spoke to Freddie, making Peregrine's eyes snap back to her.

"We?" he demanded. 

"I'm coming with you, of course. I already spoke to my helpers, they'll run The Gate until I return for me. I'm not leaving Leodhais again, and you can't leave him here with me; you'll need every one of us to keep the princess safe on your way to Lundenwic. Alaric clearly doesn't understand the mood in his kingdom as well we do, brother. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent just the three of you to bring her home. And it's not just her," she finished, her eyes, that had been intent on Fiona, flickering briefly to Alexandra before they settled on Freddie who met her gaze unblinkingly, a smile playing on his lips as if he somehow knew things they didn't.

The boy puzzled Peregrine from the first moment he saw him. If his mother was special, the daughter of the last descendant of the old gods and a non magical human, her son, being fathered by a Highlander, was a greater miracle yet. Both the mother and the son had magic... He hadn't guessed Bella's powers yet; could the boy have the gift of seeing the future?

They spoke in serious, hushed tones about their plan of bringing Alaric's family home safely, replying in turns to Alexandra, who, having understood that Silmarea was somehow geographically mirror to her country worried about how long it will take them to reach the capital on foot as she refused to travel on horseback. 

Peregrine gestured to Leodhais, whom the older woman chose as her favourite, that it would be his job to convince her before the morning that she simply would have to ride a horse, before he and Gilderoy replied to Freddie's questions regarding the provinces they would cross on their way, and the population of Silmarea.

"I hope to meet the Centaurs," he announced dreamily. 

Peregrine smiled as he wrapped his arm tighter around Fiona, who had fallen asleep a while ago, her cheek pressed against his chest, her arms folded around his waist. Holding her like that, this woman whom he had only met a few days ago and who gave him her complete trust nonetheless was the best feeling ever. He wished to carry her upstairs into his room in his arms, hold her like this the entire night... 

But it was out of the question. Seeing how his sister behaved around the elf, he knew that Leodhais would spend the night in her room. Peregrine would have to leave Fiona with her son, mother, and her dog and share a room with Gilderoy instead. Oh, well.

"Let us go to sleep. We have a long journey in front of us, complete with more than a couple of nights spent under the stars," Peregrine said finally the moment he woke Fiona up by rubbing her arm gently, then pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose even as she sat up straight, looking unsure about her whereabouts. 

She looked up at him as if he was the only thing she was sure about, smiling, making his heart race, before she said to no one in particular, "Just let me know where do I sleep tonight, please, and where we can wash. Freddie, go up with Grandma, I'll take Gollum out first and then reach you both in a minute, all right?"

"Okay, Mum," the boy replied obediently, as he and Alexandra, shouldering their bags, followed Annwyn towards the staircase situated across the room.

"May I simply let him out in the courtyard, Annwyn?" Fiona called after the woman.

"Of course. Just make sure he doesn't stroll beyond the walls. He doesn't know the place, and I don't want him to get lost in the swamp."

"Thank you," Fiona told Annwyn before she turned around in search of Gollum, finding him already waiting by the door.