"What does he have to do with anything?" Fiona scoffed, taking a step away from the dragon shifter, wrapping her arms around her body like an armour. Lagon, the man who had broken her heart, was the last person in the universe she wanted to talk about with Peregrine. 

"Everything, I'm afraid," he said calmly, his eyes pleading with her to understand that he didn't mean to pry or offend, that it was vital that she told him. 

And even as she stared into his eyes, drawing in some of the calm emanating from them, he saw something in her eyes shift, noticed a flicker of understanding, as if something just clicked into place in her mind.

"Oh..." she muttered, looking away from him quickly to conceal her thoughts and feelings. "Let us talk after we drop Freddie off at school."

She took the dog whistle from the pocket of her jeans, making Peregrine wince at the sight of it, and cover his ears before she brought it to her lips.

The dog and the boy, perfectly happy after their play, joined them in no time and preceded them out of park, back into the busy streets.

They walked in silence towards the nearby school, where, a few steps from the crowded entrance, Fiona called Gollum to her side. The boy followed, stepped on his toes to bestow a kiss on his mother's cheek, the almost nonexistent difference in their heights making Peregrine smile. 

He passed the school bag to the boy when he turned to him.

"Don't let her send you away while I'm at school," Freddie instructed seriously. "There are so many things I want to ask you."

"I won't, Master Frodo," Peregrine said and bowed most naturally to allow the boy to embrace him. "We must discuss the book you've given me too, I've almost finished it."

"Cool!" Freddie exclaimed. "You can read Harry Potter next. Mum keeps the books on her bedside table, should you need them before I return..."

They were as thick as thieves, Fiona noticed, banishing her bemused smile, forcing herself to frown at them instead. "Freddie, go. Now. You'll be late."

"Bye Mum, bye Peregrine," the boy said, looking at both of them before he patted Gollum on the head and then vanished within the crowd of children streaming into the school building. 

"This is a good place for a school," Peregrine said, observing the old manor house, to whose lands Gollum's park once belonged. "And this is a good area of the city to grow up a child. It doesn't even feel like London."

Fiona nodded. "Yes, we're in the city, and yet we're not."

"Did you grow up here?" Peregrine probed, his mind coming alive with assumptions of how Alaric met Alexandra. He had only come to know the man better after he had become the king; this stage of his life, his adventures as a careless prince, were not part of what he knew about him. Ironically, it was in those times when they first met, and Alaric, or rather Emrys who followed him everywhere, helped Peregrine, a young and inexperienced Higlander who had just killed his first and only dragon, the Highlander who had killed Annwyn's father, to avoid trouble with the human police. Thinking about it now, he was most likely here to visit his Alexandra that day...

Fiona's voice scattered his thoughts. "Mum moved here from Ireland when she was very young. She dreamed of becoming an actress. She met my father in a West End theatre where she worked, acting the tiniest roles. He fell in love with her, she said, at least he made her believe that he did... And then he was gone and she was pregnant, unable to continue working in the theatre. She went back home for a while but returned here the moment she could put me in a nursery and work as a shop assistant. When her parents died, she sold everything she inherited back in Ireland and bought a small house in Saint Albans, in hopes that it was close enough to London for Alaric to find her again one day. She had his ring after all..."

Fiona trailed off, the resentment towards the father she didn't know all too clear in that unfinished line.

Peregrine's breath caught when he realised that her son's father treated her in the same way. That's what she was really telling him. It didn't break her though; it formed her into this woman walking at his side, so much stronger than she realised. She was a fighter. A queen. A worthy descendant of the old gods that were her ancestors... He didn't notice he was playing with the ring hanging around his neck until she spoke about her ring even as they reached the end of the road where her flat was again, Gollum, knowing the way, a few steps in front of them.

"Botheration, I left the ring with Freddie... It's been acting strangely for days, I hope it won't distract him at school," she muttered, her eyes intent on his fingertips caressing the ring. Those beautifully shaped, long, elegant fingers she could just picture playing with her hair at night...

"It should be fine," his voice startled her from her fantasies. "I'm sure it only acted strange because it felt this one approaching. Now that they are close to each other, it should show no signs of it being anything but a simple gold ring."

Fiona nodded before she asked, "Are the rings... magical? What did the inscription that appeared in mine say?" 

He could as well tell her; it was common knowledge to everyone who cared to learn in Silmarea. He slowed down, wanting to tell her the whole story before they reached the flat.

"There are ten of these rings, and indeed, they are imbued in magic. The magic of the gods and goddesses of Silmarea from whom you and your father descend."

He watched her frown, then to open and close her mouth before she motioned for him to continue, speechless. 

"Everyone thought that your father was the last king of the ancient line, and when he..." Peregrine looked at her with caution, trying to gauge her reaction and stop in time should the information he was sharing with her seem like it was too much too soon, "...married the man he loves, a pure elf like Leodhais, the inhabitants of the kingdom started to show their discontent. His preference of Leodhais as his heir is well known but not universally accepted; the inhabitants of the kingdom don't want to see an elf as their new king. Goblins are power hungry, and so are the werewolves, but it's the dragon shifters who might be strong enough to fight their way to the throne through all the other creatures, elves including... But then Emrys found you. All the discontent hushed down, the whole Silmarea is waiting for Alaric to bring you home." He looked away as if what he was about to add didn't concern him, casting her an inconspicuous sideways glance. "He still might get his wish of making Leodhais his successor if you marry him."

Peregrine laughed when Fiona gaped at him. "That's so not happening," she announced. 

He looked ahead, his eyes following Gollum walking in front of them to hide the satisfied smile playing on his lips before he continued. "Let me tell you about the rings. As I said, they are ten, and they were made by the most powerful wizard of the time when the last ten descendants of the old gods were alive. Each one carries the name and, supposedly, the magic of the god or goddess it represents." 

Fiona stopped when she reached the door of her house, her hand with the key paused midway to the lock, giving her dark companion time to finish. His tale was riveting; every single thing he said was, honestly.

"Elysium is the god of harmony and balance. Pyralis, the Emberheart, is a goddess of passion, fire, and creativity. Oceanus is the god of depths, emotions, and mysteries. Then there is Xylostra, Sylvanor, Astraeon, Solara, Zephyria... " His eyes were intent on hers as he added, "Nocturnus, the Shadowed Hunter, the god of darkness, secrets, transition, and afterlife. And finally, Selunia, the Lunar Enchantress, the goddess of peace, love, illusion, and reflection. It was her name that appeared in your ring."

Peregrine took the keys from her, opened the door, and ushered inside first Gollum, then her. His hand coming to rest on the small of Fiona's back to guide her within the darkness of the staircase sent a pleasant shiver up her spine. He let the door shut again behind them, separating them from the world outside, making her feel as if he just made her walk through a portal into a parallel reality.