Chapter Twenty-seven

Briar

'Well if you will excuse me ladies,' Lord Ashton says to us and looks at Mistress Garnet and Ruby, 'I promised to give you all some time together,' he says more to Mistress Garnet than to anyone else as his eyes are on hers but as he stands up to leave, he turns to look at me.

'I just wanted to tell you Briar that I, we,' he promises, 'will do whatever you want and whatever you are comfortable with but also know we will always do our best for you and protect you, please believe that if nothing else,' Lord Ashton tells me sincerely with that same indecipherable look on his face and he bows deeply to me, on bended knee and takes my hand and places the same kind of chaste kiss that Hunter the mender had done before.

Doing that for me, me who's an ex-slave, as if I'm really worthy of that courtesy? I just don't know how to react in these situations or how to acknowledge what he has said to me. My hesitancy must have been easily sensed by Lord Ashton as he doesn't press me to say anything as he squeezes my hand gently and gets back up and gives me a smile that seems almost yearning towards me but he swiftly turns around and leaves the carriage behind as well in his wake.

'Hey, what happened to my knife?' Ruby suddenly asks out of the blue to us all, jolting me out of my own spinning thoughts and the heavy mood that's descended upon those left behind in this space.

'Hunter collects interesting things and Hunter n-ever gives them back!' His voice calls out, referring to himself in the third person from a distance away but he answers Ruby as if he still stood in the room with us to hear her clearly.

'I'll get it back,' Ruby growls under her breath and goes to stand up but Mistress Garnet stops Ruby in her place by placing her hand on her, 'I want you to stay here,' Mistress Garnet says to her, to the both of us as she concludes me with a commanding look and then continues to speaks, 'as I have something important to tell you both,' Mistress Garnet quickly glances outside through the open door and weighs something in her mind before she speaks again.

'But I also don't know how long this rest stop will last for us here, so please do what is necessary right now and come back,' she asks of us, her voice reflecting a lost quality to it. Ruby fidgets slightly, unsure if we're dismissed yet or not.

'What I have to say to you both will be quite lengthy I feel,' Mistress Garnet sounds deeply exhausted and she gives me a wan smile as she goes to stand up. But instead of leaving like I thought she was doing, Mistress Garnet crosses the distance to me and crushes me to herself in a tight hug that steals the breath from me.

'I'm so sorry my child, I didn't know what to do and I-,' she halts herself and a wracking sob engulfs her as she drops her shield around her carefully guarded emotions and cries as she clings to me, 'I thought you were going to die, I thought we were going to lose you!' She wails, I and Ruby are both taken aback by the sudden breakdown of our strong role model.

'I'm so, so, sorry my child,' Mistress Garnet apologises again as she cries into my neck and I tentatively reach out and place my shaking arms around her and return her hug mechanically in shock until she begins to stop crying and lets go of me reluctantly.

'I hope one day that you will forgive us,' Mistress Garnet tells me in her shuddering, tear choked voice and turns to exits the carriage, her tread heavy and her shoulders slumped under the heavy mantle of responsibility that she always carries. I watch her through my burning eyes and my setting detachment of the world around me.

Ruby crosses the distance between us as well and hugs me tightly to her too, 'I'm so sorry for what has happened too Briar,' she apologises as well, 'but we will find away out of this, I know we will!' She promises me vehemently and releases me quickly from her crushing hug, 'I'll be right back!' Ruby calls to me and she takes a running jump out of the open doorway and I'm finally left alone to deal with the tumult of emotions coursing through me.

'Hey Briar!' A voice calls out cheerfully to me and the carriage door on my side suddenly opens wide and I see the face of a beaming and carefree Ryo popping into view of the doorway.

'Hi?' I say hesitantly back to him, not knowing what to do with him, all I want at the moment is to be left alone and cry. I don't think I can handle Ryo's brand of enthusiasm right now.

'I need your help in hunting for ingredients for lunch,' Ryo demands and holds his hands out expectantly for me to walk into them, so he can lift me out of the carriage.

'I don't really want to,' I try to say and refuse Ryo but he stops me from continuing on.

'Everyone pitches in with something, it's the comradely thing to do when travelling like this,' Ryo gently reprimands me, 'and you haven't been doing much of that these few days gone,' he points this out bluntly to me and I'm left gob-smacked at him.

'I think I was sick or something?' I feebly try to point out to him.

'Well you're ok now, so let's go do something?' Ryo asks, still waiting with his arms up in the air to carry me down.

'Ok, I guess?' I eventually say to him because he's not leaving, frustration, fear and annoyance are swirling within me now and threatening to spill out as tears if the indication of the hot pricking of my eyes is any clue. 'If Ruby and Mistress Garnet are also helping with tasks, then I can too,' I get up and go to step down out of the carriage myself but Ryo stops my efforts to sidestep around him and he lifts me easily down and I stare at him quizzically and he laughs at me.

'You haven't exactly shown you are graceful on your feet to me yet Briar, I didn't want you to turn an ankle on me next and get out of helping this time too,' he jokes with me and I flush at his teasing.

'You're the one who scared me into falling out of this carriage in the first place!' I try to protest in my embarrassment and he just laughs at me again before he gives me an empty sack to carry and takes my other hand in his, entwining his fingers in mine securely to lead me off into the waiting woods around us. I try to tug my hand free of his but he squeezes it gently and continues to walk on without letting me go.

'It's just in case you trip over a root or something and I can catch you,' he explains lifting our joined hands up for emphasis and then bringing then back down again. His explanation stops me from trying to make him let me go again and I guess his warm hands are soothing to me and gives some comfort even if I didn't know I needed it before.

As we walk in silence, I listen to the sound of the woods around us and the tread of our footfalls in the leaf debris on the floor crunching away. I take a chance to study Ryo in this quiet moment from the side and notice he is shouldering a pack himself but I don't have time to ask him about it before he speaks to me again.

'You know you had me worried back there, earlier on when you were sick,' he starts to say quietly to me and I think he really means that by the heartfelt sincerity colouring his voice.

'I'm ok now I think,' I reply trying to reassure him a little, I glance down to check the vivid pink crystal hung around my neck and see it's still announcing that I'm still full of the Ruby Bumble-barb that everyone takes to stay awake but just not in this much quantity as I have, I inwardly wince thinking about that.

'I'm glad to hear that now because you were even clumsier back then and I had to carry you princess style through the entire camp looking for Hunter simply everywhere,' he tells me off-handedly and I stop walking and gawk at him in horror.

Ryo soon comes to a stop as he realises his hand is being tugged back and he looks over at me in enquiry and he bursts out laughing at seeing whatever he sees on my face. 'I'm kidding, sorry, so sorry? Come on now,' he says and continues to laugh as he tugs me back forward again and I follow in his wake, my face flaming at his teasing again.

'It was more like half the camp,' he reveals a few seconds later and chuckles as I give off a little noisy squeak of embarrassment but I continue this time to follow his lead in the woods.

It wasn't so bad out here, I thought as I had my first real look inside a forest and Ryo helped me navigate the thick brush and fallen trees that were enormous. We had also been filling the sack up with recognisable herbs and nuts we had found whilst on our trek. But somewhere the sound of distant water was getting closer and Ryo led us eventually through a break in the trees and found it for us.

The sun was heavy and hot and the light was glinting through the branches and lighting the running water with flashes. It looked really inviting and I tried to push my hair away from sticking to my perspiring face with my arm when Ryo let go off of my hand and grabbed his back pack off his other shoulder. I looked down in interest as he crouched down to sort through the contents of his bag. He produced a string wrapped around a short baton, a hook and bait to put on the hook.

'You're going to fish?' I asked him in surprise, I may have never seen it done before but I had seen pictures and explanations in books of what it was. 'Do we have enough time?' I glanced around and worried if we end up keeping the others waiting for us to return or worse that they would leave us behind.

'We do have plenty of time,' Ryo tells me as he settles down on ground and sits cross legged before the water. He rummages in the bag again and produces a clean towel and a herbal bar of soap and passes them over to me. I look down at them and wonder why he's given them to me and he explains why to me.

'We're taking a break for you and for ourselves, so it's ok. If you walk a bit further up there,' Ryo indicates a slight incline behind me, 'there's a bathing spot that we always take advantage of here, so if you don't want company joining you soon, go hurry up and have a swim there, it'll make you feel better I promise,' Ryo says with a shy expression on his face as he looks at me and then away again at the water running past.

'I, umm, thank you for thinking of me,' I finally say after staring at him in silence not knowing what to do. He nods to acknowledge he has heard my words, but he's still looking at the water and I think the tip of his ears are turning red, he clears his throat and speaks softly to me, 'I thought you needed a moment to yourself.'

'I-,' I begin to say and try to think of something to respond with to him but can't think of anything but what I just said before, 'thank you,' I say, repeating myself again to him. We then both lapse into an silence but it doesn't feel so awkward this time round but I decided to broach the peace with a question I just thought of. 'How deep is the water? Because I can't swim,' I explain to him and he whips his head around to look at me.

'I can teach you,' he starts to say excitedly but then he blinks and back pedals, 'I mean not now but when we get to my country, we have great swimming baths everywhere and clothes for such a purpose,' he wildly gestures with his hand at what I'm wearing.

'That might be useful to learn maybe,' I say to Ryo observing his flustered antics and feeling slightly embarrassed myself.

'If you just stick to the shallows while you bathe, you should be alright but if you're not, call out to me and I'll come to help you,' he says and goes back to staring at the water and begins to bait his hook.

'Ok,' I say and turn in the direction he first indicated and head that way.

'Don't fall over now!' Ryo suddenly calls out, back to his normal self and I answer back with a small laugh, feeling a little bit lighter in this moment than I have since waking up this morning.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Briar

The water was cold but refreshing and my skin at least no longer felt like it was itching. I finished up quickly before I heard any voices coming towards me and I dunked my head under the water and used the cake of soap to scrub my hair clean as well.

I had no other clothes to change back into but these were made for long bouts of travelling and were spelled to stay cleaner and fresher for longer. It would last about a week Mistress Garnet had told us as she made these clothes for us in secret, underthings and all back then.

But after that period everything would need to be washed to refresh the spell imbued in the fabric again. But still, I would have liked something else to wear, I wasn't used to wearing nice clothes like these anyway, just serviceable attire was all.

I towel dried my hair roughly and finger combed it through, I still lacked the basic necessities that I needed to do things like this but I was adapting. I had also discovered my new gift as well, attached around my waist as I began to quickly strip off. I didn't even realise that I was wearing it, it hugged my form ever so gently that it felt like it was made just for me, hidden underneath my loose fitting top.

The belt was beautiful and it held both my gifts from the sickle thorns really well I had to admit. I could clearly tell where such a wonderful item had come from and my eyes were welling up from too many conflicting thoughts from that direction, so I distracted myself with splashing myself in the face with the cold water as I washed up.

My seed bag was also still with me and I reached out to check on my family and asked if they wanted to taste the water here too, after noticing all the young sickle vines still wrapped around my arm had seemed to enjoy the water immensely, playing and floating around in it.

My seed family hummed a gentle yes to me and so I scooped the water up with my hands and dripped it into the bag that glowed brighter as each seed drank their fill of the refreshment. As they did that I looked around the quiet space for a moment, absorbing it all in before I had to make my way back down to where Ryo was waiting.

On my way back to Ryo, my Willamint tree friend had popped up out of the bag and produced some of it's leaves for me to chew and clean my teeth with. It had fussed over me, sensing I needed to feel refreshed everywhere and knew I hadn't felt that way for days now.

So my friend had wanted to ease some of my discomfort for me and she knew she could help me with that a little. Willamint was widely used back at the castle, their leaves had a quality of making the mouth feel fresh and was known for it's antibacterial qualities too that removed the stuff that could make you end up losing your teeth if you never brushed at all.

As I was chewing away on fresh minty bursts of flavour in my mouth, I suddenly heard splashing and peered through the low lying branches and leaves that lent over the river and I saw Ryo, facing away from me, standing shirtless in the river scrubbing himself with a cake of soap as well, like I had done earlier.

I could see his uniform, shirt and jacket, laid out on the river bank along with his socks and folded boots but he kept his trousers on, loosely tied though and they were dripping wet as he went about the business of washing himself.

Ryo must have thought he had some time left waiting for me to be finished with my bath and so he must've decided the water was too tempting a chance to pass up for himself to get cleaned up as well and I just caught him out.

I was about to turn away and stop peeking at him and announce my presence but something caught my eye on Ryo's muscular back in the sunlight. I stared intently to figure out what it was I was looking at and two twinkling lines formed in my vision and they ran up the sides of his back whilst a third and slightly thicker line followed the curve of his spine.

When Ryo crouched down to get closer to the flowing water to bend and dunk his head under it and then started to scrub at his pale hair, I could see the lines on his body were flexible and individually caught the light and refracted it all back in different directions and different colours like a rainbow made of sparkles.

It was a beautiful opalescent kind of sheen that I saw and I could sort of see that the thicker line that was running up his back, was made of interlocking pieces as they rippled with his movements and were obviously not coming off from his efforts of washing.

I chewed on my lip as I stared at the lines, trying to work out what I was looking at but Ryo then turned away to face the shore. He was obviously done with his bathing and was wading back to where he had left his clothes.

As he stepped out of the water, his trousers were steaming dry already with whatever magic he was using to do that and he plucked up another towel that he had brought with him as well and scrubbed his upper body dry. He was unaware that he was now facing me from his front side now and I saw similar markings on his stomach and trailing down below where his trousers met the markings.

While I puzzled over the sight, I absentmindedly scratched an itch on my right arm pulling up the sleeve to do so and I could see my own sickle thorn marks that I had carried with me since birth and my gaze snaps back up in shock to compare what I see on Ryo's skin and my own.

It's very similar, the markings we have are in most of the same places that they trail allover but also not quite the same as well- there is a difference with him and I and I quickly overt my eyes as I realise he is drying other areas now and quickly pulling his clothes back in place.

But could it be we're more alike than I realised? I never heard of another person like me before existing but would the menders of Winter court ever tell me, or the nobles who observed the experiments and whispered behind their hands as they watched whatever I was put through? No, I think they wouldn't tell me, especially if they had thought I was going to be a useful weapon to them one day. They wouldn't want me to realise how special I was before they could control me that is.

I'm pulled from my mulling thoughts as I hear Ryo noisily move around and sit down now to pull his socks and worn black boots back on. Every trace of his markings are carefully hidden once again on his person and even though he keeps his grey uniform jacket unbuttoned this time, you wouldn't know anything was there to be seen.

Ryo starts his fishing again whilst waiting for me and I guess while glancing at my own hidden marks, Ryo isn't comfortable in showing his off either to people. Something that I understand very well and even though curiosity is burning up inside of me, I wouldn't want anyone to have stared at my markings without my knowledge either and then start asking me questions about it.

So I decide right then, that I won't ask Ryo about them unless he mentions them first to me. I start to walk again but this time a bit more noisier than I was before to announce my presence and stepped into view of Ryo and the river bank properly again and see that he has indeed caught a lot of silver scaled fish, whilst he'd waited for me, all of them strung up on another line, already gutted and washed.

'Feeling a bit better now?' Ryo calls out to me with a genuine happy smile on his face as I step carefully down the slight incline.

'Yes,' I answer Ryo as I come to stand before him, still chewing on the Willamint leaves in my mouth.

'What you're chewing on?' Ryo asks and scrunches his nose up at me as he wonders.

'I got some fresh Willamint,' I tell him and his eyes widen at me.

'Really, do you have any left over?' He asks me eagerly and I nod and hand the rest from my pocket over to him.

'Oh you don't know how much you've saved me,' Ryo exclaims and puts the leaves away in his top jacket pocket. 'I share a tent with Raine and sometimes his dog breath offends me too much,' he complains and I can't help but burst out into laughter at him saying awful things about Prince Raine and the expressions Ryo's face is pulling right now.

'I can't believe you said that about a prince!' I tell him, 'I promise I won't repeat that to Prince Raine,' I say to Ryo while trying to get my laughter under control.

'Why?' Ryo asks me, 'Raine knows I've said worse about him,' he shrugs his shoulders at me not caring in the slightest.

'We've grown up together as children and let me tell you a little secret,' he says getting all conspirator like with me, 'Fae might like humans to believe that they only smell of lavender and roses where you come from, but in reality a Fae can stink as much as a human can depending on the situation, it's the same for everyone, everywhere,' Ryo acts as if he has revealed a huge scandal but he ruins his performance with a wink at me. 'So don't worry about it,' Ryo reassures me and looks back out over the water, I nod my head to him whilst trying to fight to keep the smile off of my face by biting my lower lip instead.

'I see you managed to catch a lot of fish,' I change the topic and wave my hand at the haul of fish, 'I read about the concept of fishing but I only ever saw what happened to the fish that were caught in the kitchens below where I worked when I didn't have any other duties to fill my time in with,' I explained to Ryo as I sat down with a bit of distance between him and me.

I hug my knees to my chest now and I watch in curiosity at how he fishes. Ryo has already baited the hook again and he holds the baton loosely in his hands as he flicks it over his head, back and forth quickly and then lets the fine fishing line fly out and land in the water, to drift wherever it pleased.

'Did you like cooking?' Ryo turned to look at me askance while still keeping his attention on his fishing line.

'I wasn't allowed to cook per-say,' I told him and clench my hands involuntarily imagining a root vegetable of some kind there and the other hand curled over a blunt knife, Ryo takes in the action of my hands but doesn't remark on it and lets me be.

'People have their particular jobs to do obviously and they got them for being who they are and I got the type of work given to me because of who I was, a castle slave,' I remark to him and Ryo's face scowls at what I just said.

'Let me guess, you got the most monotonous and labour intensive jobs going there?' Ryo asks me and I nod yes back to him.

'I don't want to ever peel another vegetable or no, I take that back, a mountain of vegetables with a blunt knife ever again,' I mumble with a tired laugh remembering those not so long ago days when I was doing just that.

Ryo hissed something below his breath that I couldn't catch a hold of and he turns to face me fully with incredulous eyes, 'Are you kidding me? A blunt knife?' He asks me aghast at hearing that.

'Yes, it was the human workers that kept telling me to shut up and use what they had given me and that there was nothing wrong with the knives they gave me,' I tell him and he narrows his eyes at me.

'Weren't there any Fae workers in the kitchens to put a stop to it?' He asks me and I shrug at him, a little uncomfortably about the answer.

'I was told if I said anything to any of the Fae there, the human workers would make my life more miserable and not just in the kitchens but outside of it too,' I carefully say to him and Ryo looks honestly angry on my behalf at hearing that.

'That's so unbelievable, what some jerks will do when they think they have the right to do whatever they want to other people because of some made up definition of rank!' Ryo fumes over my recent situation in life.

'It didn't use to be that bad before,' I try to reason, 'and at least I could wash and sleep in peace without any tricks happening to me, there was that,' I point out to him, 'so it wasn't all that bad,' I say and Ryo snorts incredulously at me looking at the positive side.

'I know there's no use in getting upset over what will be in my past from now onwards,' I try to convince Ryo about how I really feel about those things now and sigh.

'I think at first the free human servants just didn't like the fact that I got a job as Courtesan's Ruby's chambermaid,' I tell Ryo as he listens.

'But the other Fae workers in the kitchens told the human lot to pipe down and pointed out to them that I had been groomed for such a position as a child long before they had ever arrived at the castle. I had the requisite beauty required for the role as well so it was inevitable the Fae working in the kitchens reasoned, that I had the job and that they wouldn't stand for any mistreatment toward me that would prevent me from performing my duties,' I finish telling Ryo and he cocks his head to the side to listen to me getting it off my chest.

'What I think the human servants genuinely disliked the most was that the new Fae chef that they all fantasised over becoming his mistress or whatever for example, never once looked their way,' I announce this fact to him and his hands momentarily clench the baton in his hands but then he remembers what he is doing and relaxes himself again.

'But the handsome Fae chef looked your way I guess?' Ryo astutely asks me and I nod yes to him. 'And the human servants found ways around punishing you that didn't interfere with your duties as well?' He asks me and I nod again, a little uncomfortable this time.

'The situation wasn't so bad until I rejected the offer he had given me off handedly and I did it in front of a huge group of people to have lots of witnesses so he wouldn't ask me again in a different way,' I reveal to Ryo and carried on before he can interrupt with another comment about what I was saying.

'The Fae chef was humiliated but he didn't seek any retribution against me and he still treated me the same I guess. Maybe I might have overreacted back then, I did see most Fae in that place in a bad light,' I conceded. I realise in wonder for a moment that I can actually admit to that now, about my inherent fear colouring my perceptions of most Fae.

'I genuinely think none of the Fae around me in the kitchens knew about that stuff happening to me because no outward damage could be seen on me. I think it was the chef's diehard fans thinking they had to act all indignant on his behalf because they thought he couldn't and they were taking it out on me for humiliating the person they would have gladly done anything for,' I finally finish saying to Ryo and look at him properly again instead of half burying my face behind my knees like I have been doing.

'You're-,' Ryo struggles to say something and swallows hard around whatever emotions are plaguing him after hearing a little bit about my life, 'you're a really strong person you know?' He tells me with a little awe and admiration colouring his voice.

'Lesser people would have had revenge plans planned but you seem to genuinely think through why people are doing what they are doing and trying to not find fault with them aren't you?' He asks wonderingly of me.

I half-heartedly shrug at Ryo, a little embarrassed because of what he's said to me, 'It also helps when I know that if I don't react like they have done, eventually people get bored and move onto other things,' I say honestly and he just bursts into laughter there and then at me.

'Some people wouldn't know what to think about the way you think, they wouldn't honestly know if you're really stupid or not,' Ryo begins to tell me and my mouth drops open at the insult he just gave but he continues to speak to me, 'But you're truly amazing you know that? A truly amazing and breathtaking person of beauty inside and out,' he explains to me amidst his heartfelt laughter and uses one of his hands to wipe away the tears forming in his eyes because of his laughter.

'Thank you I guess?' I reply awkwardly back to him, not knowing to be affronted or not now with him.

'Come on then,' Ryo suddenly begins to shift his body to stand up, 'let's head back to the others and see if I teach you how to cook a meal over a campfire now?' Ryo asks looking down at me and holds his free hand out to me. I glance down at it and look up at Ryo and point to his other hand and he looks puzzled for a second until he looks back down to his other hand holding the baton that's being tugged and he only just realises it and whips his hand back to start reeling the line back in.

'I would very much like to see you teach me how to cook,' I tell him, 'but first you have to show me how to catch a fish,' I say and I cradle my head in my hands that are propped upon my knees and I just take everything in that Ryo does.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Briar

I know I procrastinated with Ryo a bit too much, lingering by his side as he taught me how to clean the fish, prepare it and cook it simply in a frying pan over a fire and with a wooden skewer just in case a frying pan wasn't available but I just didn't want to face Mistress Garnet yet for many reasons and I enjoyed the peace Ryo afforded me with his distractions.

I also knew in the end though he was thinking of stuff for us to do to stretch out our time together which was nice of him but it was time I faced my family and listened to what had to be said. So now I found myself standing outside before the waiting carriage, willing my body to take the last few steps to it that would take me back inside.

When I had finally shuffled belligerently back inside, Mistress Garnet and Ruby were already waiting there for me as I stepped over the threshold. I could see that both of them had also taken the opportunity for a bathe as well since we all had the luxury of that time and they were combing out their hair and drying it with their Fae spelled objects that did just that for them.

I sat down opposite them in my usual spot that had me riding backwards for this entire journey and I grimaced when the doors were shut and we started to slowly journey forwards once again with the rest of the group starting up.

I knew eventually a good travelling pace would be found again when everyone got in sync again after our break but I was beginning to hate travelling and especially in this box contraption because I felt stifled. Who knew I would make a bad traveller after yearning to leave all my life. I just wanted to find somewhere to finally come to a rest. I yearned for a space of my own that I could call home. My seeds in my pouch echoed the sentiment in my heart, they wanted to find a place to put roots down as well.

Mistress Garnet clears her throat to gain my attention from staring wistfully at the world outside the window after she had finished plaiting her long dark red hair and throwing it back over her shoulder again when she was done. The time had run out and there was no more procrastinating to be had between us. This was it.

As I stare at the woman I considered a friend, a guardian, my family even, the feeling of betrayal bubbles up within me and it tints and narrows the vision of my world in stark shades of pulsing anger. Mistress Garnet stares back at me, unflinchingly assessing my features and she can clearly read what she finds written on my face, I'm an open book for once. Mistress Garnet sighs wearily before our fight has even begun but I still don't look away, my continuing gaze conveying the depth of everything I feel right now towards her shouldn't be halted.

I guess my brief interlude of peace I had with Ryo is finally over with now as I sit and wait to hear what Mistress Garnet has to say to me. But before she begins to speak, Mistress Garnet goes and does that complex hand gesture of hers for spelled silence and privacy again, so no one else can hear our conversation outside of our enclosed space, after that Mistress Garnet then begins to speak to us.

'I don't expect you to forgive me Briar for what has happened,' she tells me, 'it's the worst possible outcome to happen after all and I have taught you both well enough to fear being discovered for what we truly are,' Mistress Garnet tells me in a defeated voice, 'but in your case Briar, it genuinely might not be so bad,' Mistress Garnet tries to reason with me by telling me that something good has happened from me being found out. I can't believe the ridiculousness of her reasoning and I can't stop the scoffing sound from escaping from my lips either at her words.

Mistress Garnet levels her gaze at me and stares hard, speaking only to me when she has gained my full attention and says demandingly to me, 'Please just listen to me before passing any judgments,' she says to me. She exudes an authoritative aura that demands respect from everyone.

I really have to think about it because I'm really angry at her, but I decide to agree to do that for now and so I bite my tongue to not pass any scathing comments that I have yet. My ensuing silence must have been signal enough for Mistress Garnet to begin speaking again.

'Briar, before you met us in the very beginning, did you know that you had already been discovered?' She just bluntly asks me outright and the actual question shocks me but I respond and shake my head no to answer her.

What is Mistress Garnet on about though? If I had been discovered already all the way back then as a young child I wouldn't be sitting here right now! But I don't point that out as I'm still agreeing to not disrupt what Mistress Garnet has to say to me and so I'm not saying a word yet.

I can see Ruby though is shifting ever so slightly in the corner of my vision, her lack of ease in the charged atmosphere around her is no doubt caused by me towards her mother. Depending on how this conversation goes, I may lose Ruby as well who I consider as my family and my friend because she will always choose her mother over me.

'I see,' Mistress Garnet says to me and strokes her cheek in thought, 'back then I hadn't realised it either, not even after when I took you under my wing. I admit my motives at first back then was to keep an eye on you for Ruby's sake and my own,' I arch an eyebrow at her honesty for back then but I had suspected that motive, so it's not much a surprise. If our situations had been reversed I would've done the same.

'It was later on, as our time developed into years and our bond grew as we stayed together,' Mistress Garnet tells me, 'that I accepted you as part of my family and now I always will, no matter how you feel about myself or the subject right now,' Mistress Garnet tells me truthfully. I try not to get sentimental at this point over her words but I feel tears prick my eyes nevertheless and my resolve to be angry faltering.

'The truth is something I just learned yesterday about you, before we even met Briar,' Mistress Garnet reveals, 'the truth is something had already happened to you. Something outside my scope of knowledge or guessing. Something that I honestly never thought could've happened to someone who wasn't a whole Fae,' Mistress Garnet hints at her discovery about me and I want to know what she thinks she's learned. How was I discovered already as a child and not handed over to the machinations of the Winter court? This is yet another question to add to my pile of unspoken questions as I begin to fidget.

I hide my time and listen to what else she's telling me in the hope of getting some answers soon. 'The odds of this kind of event even happening to a whole Fae is so slim, it's only ever talked about in bedtime stories to their children to give them something to hope and dream about in their futures,' Mistress Garnet emphasises to me with a wagging finger at me.

'That bedtime story is about finding the one, the one person that their Fae gods have blessed to be their other half that completes them, their Mate,' Mistress Garnet reveals and arches an eyebrow at me to see if I'm following her or not.

I'm not, because I haven't got a clue what a Mate is and I think she sees that. Ruby also clearly looks like she hasn't got a clue either about what her mother is talking about. We weren't exactly told Fae fairytales or taught much about their religion either at the lessons we had to take at the castle with the other human children.

Mistress Garnet sighs to herself and thinks for a moment on how to start explaining this topic to us both, 'You see during our years together, I never bothered teaching you girls about silly romantic Fae stories as I discounted their value to us. They all seemed to have very little to do with our own existence and I thought they certainly wouldn't be of any help to us to know about it at all beyond being an entertaining bed time story for you both,' she sighs and massages the sides to her temple for a moment of relief before continuing.

'I had absolutely written off the stories but it seems I had wrongly assessed their worth to us,' Mistress Garnet reveals to us and the silence in the carriage is deafening as Ruby and I listen with all of our attention and both of us wondering now how could Fae bedtime tales possibly affect us.

'This particular bedtime story was about how the Fae Gods loved their children and wished for them to find a great love for themselves. An ultimate bond of love, the other half of themselves to complete them but this level of love would not be easy to attain though for their children, it was decided by the gods because nothing should be easy or it's simply not worth it,' Mistress Garnet tells us this in her adopted story teller mode, drawing us in to listen to more.

'The Fae Gods decided to bestow a great gift upon their children to try and find their destined love, their Bond Mate with a challenge in place. Their children's Mate would be revealed by an exchange of a drop of their blood touching their Mate's skin and activating their bond and the sign that signalled that they had found their Mate,' Mistress Garnet tells us as we listen but then she sighs and waves her hand as if to push aside a troublesome problem, 'the odds of anyone ever finding their destined Mate however romantic it sounds to acquire that special bond is practically impossible no matter how long lived you are,' she points out, 'the world is too vast and Fae are too many to be numbered.'

Mistress Garnet keeps her gaze trained on me as she speaks the next part to make sure she has my full attention and tries to make me understand what has exactly happened, 'Apparently the impossible was very possible for you Briar as you'd already found it and the Fae boy who had found you from before we had even met, the same Fae boy who had protected you and your secret to keep you safe through all those years until yesterday that is,' she finally reveals to me.

I'm taken aback with what Mistress Garnet has told me and if she's even right, how could such a thing happen to me and who with? How was I so oblivious over something that is apparently so momentous in a Fae's life and it happened to me? All these questions flit through my mind right now but Mistress Garnet continues to speak on as my mind spins with connotations.

'You may recall the menders from earlier today saying something to you about it?' Mistress Garnet tries to remind me about something that did indeed happen earlier and as I think over the last few hours that have all been overwhelming for me, the recent memories of that conversation sort of makes sense now to me.

So it was Lucas who had protected my identity back then, but then revealed my presence when he saved me last night all because of what I am to him? So it hadn't really been Mistress Garnet's fault then that I had been discovered and I just realise now and how hurtful I have been acting towards her. I tentatively reach out to take her hand in mine and see it is clenched in anxiety caused by myself that she was trying to keep hidden as she was tried to explain and hoped I realise this on my own.

I utter quietly, the first words I've said to her for nearly an entire day, 'I'm sorry for taking my hurt out on you, I see now it's not really your fault, you didn't reveal my secret,' I tell her in a teary and overwhelmed voice, trying to convey how truly sorry I am for ever doubting that she didn't try to protect me. Mistress Garnet's hand loosens with her letting go of her built up anxiety with my forgiveness and she takes my hand herself and gently squeezes it to convey her feelings and warmth to me without words.

Mistress Garnet continues to talk on after accepting my apology and at least the mood has changed for the better now in this small space now that she no longer has to guard herself against my overemotional behaviour. Ruby has also relaxed a fraction as well, now that the misunderstanding between her mother and her friend, her adopted sister has now been cleared up.

'Briar I don't know where your belief lies in this whole finding a destined Mate,' Mistress Garnet tells me, 'but it is down to you decide your beliefs and how you proceed from now onwards but I will support you whatever you decide about the subject. Believing though in such things as these special bonds can be very hard, especially for people like us, when it all sounds truly fantastical but there really is a clear method to prove that such relationships or bonds as these do exist,' Mistress Garnet says to me and Ruby, 'and that proof is that the Gods gave their beloved children, the Fae, a way to know when such things had happened remember? By giving them a sign,' she tells us both and we both nod that we remembered that information she quickly covered over from before and nod for her to continue and that we're ready to take in what she says next to us.

'The Fae are well known for their beauty and skin that has no blemish and is a envied quality. Scars and marks that they gain in whatever circumstances don't remain on their skin, yes?' Mistress Garnet asks us and Ruby and I nod yes to her, this is a well known fact amongst everyone in the world, the Fae never look like they may have walked through fire, it's an eerie quality of theirs to be sure.

'There is one exception when a Fae receives a mark that never goes away,' Mistress Garnet reveals, 'and that is when the Fae in question has found their Mate and they receive a permanent raised kind of brand mark on their bodies somewhere to proclaim their connection to one another and their status to the world,' she tells us, Ruby and I look at each other in puzzlement, taking pity on us, Mistress Garnet reminds us, 'the marks are bestowed by the power of the Gods themselves to confirm that there is no doubt upon finding their mate.'

'This blood ritual is now a custom performed these days when Fae eventually settle down in a marriage alliance and it's done more out of tradition, a nod to their history and honour to their Gods rather than done in true hope of finding their fairy tale ending,' Ruby's mother explains to us about this weird ceremony exchange that even we have heard about as young girls and couldn't fathom out the reason behind it.

'Why such a thing became a tradition was because it sounds like this blood exchange was a trial and error kind of thing, more error than anything else,' Mistress Garnet remarks, 'and many Fae just chose to eventually settle down. After all, if you love someone well enough then settling down with someone was better than never having someone by their side for their entire lives,' Mistress Garnet tells us. 'So the meaning of the blood exchange just became a promise of sorts that they would treat each other as mates and it solemnly bound the people joining together even if no mark ever came of such exchanges.'

'But the fact remains that the Fae still perform that one tradition because it's out of hope and because it's the slim chance their Gods have gifted them with. Their Gods ordained that they all had a chance of finding their Mate if their blood happened to come into contact with their destined Mate's skin and that it would awaken the bond between them and mark them irreversibly as belonging to each other forever,' Mistress Garnet teaches us.

'It's a thing to hope for, living a life that is as happy as they could possibly ever be with that person that is destined to be theirs. Their own equal, complimentary, perfect person for both each other. Just imagine what that would be like?' Mistress Garnet wonders aloud and this signals that she has finally finished the explanation of this whole destined mate thing and looks expectantly at us both to see our reactions.

But I don't know what to think about anything of this or how it really affects me. I'm not a full Fae nor have I ever thought about really wanting to be in a normal kind of relationship, never mind bringing in such a far fetched sounding one that I just heard about. Because neither I or Ruby speak our thoughts on all that Mistress Garnet has said, she speaks to me again.

'I don't know how to say this to you Briar as this all sounds like a fantasy but you have had a partial bond created since being a child,' she emphasises to me. But I shake my head no to her.

'I don't have any such mark on my skin as such as you described,' I try to deny the possibility, shaking my head but Mistress Garnet just smiles sadly at me.

'His Fae blood had come in to contact with you somehow but yours had not come into contact with him though, but it was still enough to awaken a partial bond between you two but only on his side,' she explains to me. 'That Fae boy Lucas, protected you all those years by never revealing this miraculous thing that you two had because he knew that would've outed what you were to the Winter court,' Mistress Garnet tells me and I shake my head once again in disbelief, Mistress Garnet face pulls into a sympathetic look for me.

'The thing is Briar, this circumstance of yours is even more amazing than anyone can actually fathom,' Mistress Garnet tried to stress to me something important that I was missing, 'finding one destined mate is a miracle known to very few Briar, but you are far more exceptional than anyone could've thought possible,' she tells me and takes both of my hands into hers, squeezing them and tries to convey how significant what she says next to me really is.

'It's not just because of your circumstances of birth, your extraordinary magic or you, yourself Briar. What has happened to you is extraordinary because you have also found and awoken this mating bond in three more Fae males destined to be for you and you alone,' she tells me in wonder and a buzzing noise begins to fill my hearing as I try to process what Mistress Garnet has just told me.

Not just one but three more? That's four connections that are practically impossible and unheard of and all my problem to deal with. My vision is starting to turn tunnel like and darken now and I feel lightheaded, is this how fainting feels like or am I just truly overwhelmed? I can't think at all now as I try to cling and focus on Mistress Garnet's hands and words to pull me through.

'I know the circumstances are just unfathomable to you and to everyone else but destiny brought you all together at the same time for some reason and a partial bond has already been created with you. Maybe you're a very special person in this world and are finally finding your place in it? Or maybe it's just finally time that something good happens for you?' Mistress Garnet supposes for me, 'The truth is we may never know why this has happened this way,' she tells me, 'but I feel that it's a good thing for you, even if I can't be absolutely certain if it.'

'Why do you think it's a good thing?' I ask Mistress Garnet, feeling stunned by it all and she answers me in the best way that she can tell me why she thinks this isn't all bad.

'Because I've been observing how they all interacted with you before this bond between you all was even discovered,' Mistress Garnet tells me gently. 'I have seen that they all have good upstanding characters about themselves and were drawn to you in a way that none have done so in the past,' I numbly listen to her as she continues to speak.

'They have also shown a certain level of caring, consideration and thoughtfulness towards you that you have never experienced before but have certainly deserved,' as she reveals to me some of her observations Mistress Garnet has made, I worry my bottom lip with my teeth as I wait to hear more of her reasoning, refusing in my heart of hearts to really take it in or believe it though.

'It is certainly something that myself and Ruby have never seen before or experienced either and that shows to me that these
men have calibre and good intentions about themselves. I believe that they would honour and follow whatever your wishes would be for the future as well and most importantly respect your decisions and choices Briar and that is something I couldn't hope for more for you, something that I hope will happen for both of my daughters,' Mistress Garnet reveals her thoughts and feelings about this matter to me honestly at least.

'Do you really think so?' I finally ask after she's finished and is waiting for me to say something, anything really in return to her.

Mistress Garnet nods yes to me with her head and says, 'Yes, I really do think that.'

I nod and think of something else to ask, 'And you are certain of who these so called Mates are? You didn't confuse them for anyone else instead?' I ask her and wait to hear her reply to my question and she laughs at me and squeezes my hands again that she has not let go of yet.

'I'm sure of who they are, just like I'm sure you already know who they are as well if you just let yourself do so, that is,' Mistress Garnet encourages me, 'I'm sure that you would agree that these men would be good for you, be there for you and protect you if need be as well,' Mistress Garnet tries to reassures me and I don't know what else to say and continue to worry my bottom lip.

'Obviously you need time to think about things, so don't rush into anything Briar,' Mistress Garnet reassures me and with one final squeeze of my hands she lets go and leans back again in her seat.

'But if you happen to wish to complete the bond with them after thinking about it, the choice is yours to make,' Mistress Garnet tells me, 'you are after all not a full fledged Fae and you have not been raised in their ways to think that being bound to someone or many someone's for that matter is something that is ordained by destiny for you to do. You have a choice and no one can take that away from you in this life and I will be here to support you in whatever decision you make,' she tells me.

'To complete the bond all you must do is shed a drop of your own blood and it must come in to contact with their skin,' Mistress Garnet informs me, 'the choice is all yours after you get to know them better Briar,' she finishes saying and remains quiet now to observe me and I feel like my mind is spinning out of control again and can't see the world around me for thinking too hard and not being able to think at all, my thoughts flitting allover the place.

Ruby though finds her voice and finally speaks up after this heavy knowledge session and she asks me in avid interest, 'So tell me, who do you think they are?' She asks with a wink and smile sent my way to make me laugh, making us all have a much needed chuckle to break the tension and also break me out of the endless cycle of thoughts I found myself trapped in.