Raiden

"I don't know how you do this," Rhys said, gasping for air while he leaned his frame onto a tree. I raised a brow, waiting for him to pour it down.
"We've been running since we left, and not for once you needed a break. I know that you are the strongest, well- that's why you are our king, but I've never realised the level of your endurance. At least now, at dusk, let us sit and eat. I can't take any step longer if I don't rest for a bit."
I knew we needed a break, but I couldn't stop either. We avoided the pack's guards in order to keep this journey a secret, and now we were near the South-East pack border, where the new and young alpha was waiting for us. He was the only one to know our journey's purpose, beside me and the prince. And that was because we needed cover. No one else knew we were heading to Taria, nor the importance of a friendship with those people. I knew they will ask something in return for us to shake hands, and I was wondering why after all this time they answered. It could still be a trap. But I knew I would ask them to cease supplying the Dawners with moonberries, for I was certain that we eradicated that plant in the Midland.
"You rest, Rhys, when we get to the Alpha Darian's hall. And you go back to the king's seat." I decided.
"What? Raiden, I'm coming with you! We already set this up!" He exclaimed with a newfound energy in his eyes, and annoyance.
"I never wanted you to come with me, but you do have a way to push it sometimes. Even though I don't question Liam's loyalty, he is not fit to rule, not even for a short time, and you know it."
"It is too dangerous for you to go alone. I told you once, and I tell you again : I would die for you, Raiden. If something happens to you, then what of me?" His voice was raised in frustration and his hands were fisted. I glanced at him and turned my back, answering over my shoulder.
"If I die, I die. But if we both die, then what will become of all? You are my successor, the only one I trust to carry on what we started, Rhys. Do you remember the change you envisioned back in the days when we were nothing?"
"We might not be blood, Raiden," he replied, "But we are sworn brothers, just like we were with Jayce. I lost him already, and I don't want to lose you, too. But I understand, and if you don't return, I will continue your legacy."
Taking a few steps, he faced me with his arm out. I grabbed his arm with my own, giving it a strong squeeze.
Before we parted our way and with the possibility of me not making it back, I had one last thing to ask him.
"If I don't make it, claim her, take her as yours. That's the only way to protect her, and I ask you to not let any harm to fall upon her."
"Brother..."
"I couldn't put her in danger... I couldn't claim her. But you were right, Rhys... I love her."
Since I meet her, I tried to deny it.
Speaking those words loud for the first time in my life, I realized their heaviness and what that meant for me. Fear.

The fearless beast, fearing that I will never see her again. Kiss her again. Fear of an one sided love.

"I swear!" He squeezed my arm harder and dashed through the woods, disappearing into Darian's land.

.....

Taria

"Why do you think it is changing color, elder Crenn?" The young leader asked, looking at the small vial contained behind glass panels in the middle of the tall, hollow chamber of the cave.
Right above it, as a natural occurring, the cave ceiling had a round shape opening, allowing the Sun's rays to fall exactly on the container of the essence, at a certain moment of the day.
The old man leaned his weight on his tall shaft, never looking away from the treasure. His grey robe danced its hem slowly in the draft's melody.
"Do you know, lady, what it represents?"
Lady Ewinn shifted her glance, watching him with curious eyes. The white-haired man continued after a few moments of silence.
"Tis the soul's colors. An angel is a pure soul, the brightest soul you'll ever find. That's why the beasts are so drawn to it, and that's why we protect it. And what is a soul, you might ask. Well, it's light. And dark. Love and hate, happiness and sorrow. Life. Our human souls are dull. Our horizon is limited, even in our feelings. And with life, comes death."

"But why, Elder? Why death? Why are we doomed as mortals?"
"You think we are doomed, my lady? If we would live forever, then how would we enjoy every summer and every winter, knowing that they would come and go endlessly? Would we know that we live?"
If we would have only the daylight, then how could we tell that this is light? Should we not see the dark as well, so we know?"
"The dark... The demon... so one can not exist without the other..." the leader concluded.
"The dark is only the light with its back turned," the elder stated.
Lady Ewinn took another moment of silence, and, as she contemplated at the ways of the world, her eyes rounded to the surprise of her own conclusion. "That's why it's alive!"
It was the elder's turn to look at her with curiosity. "Who, lady?"
"The demon, of course! He is trapped in the Stone, but not dead. And that means... the angel is alive as well, sleeping in the coldness of Tarr, just to hold the darkness there."
"Well, my lady Ewinn, I doubt they will ever die. But our concern should be the half angel, who's essence we hold here, right under our eyes. She is human. And she can die."
"Well, she died once, did she? And came back to life after so many years..." the young woman said.
"She didn't really die, lady. At least, not in the way we perceive death. And now she came back." The grey robe replied, shifting his weight on his good foot and easing the shaft he held with his right arm.
"But why? I know that, somehow, the beasts were involved, both the wolves and the nightwalkers..."

"Well, her human body was too weak to hold such powerful light, so she had to be reborn..."
The leader wanted to listen more and ask more. But the one question that was itching her the most was left unasked as their small and revealing discussion was interrupted by the approach of hurried steps.
"Lady Ewinn! Elder Crenn!" a man shouted from one of the tunnels.
"He has arrived! The King of Dirae is here!"

.....

Elder Crenn

The day was bright, too bright for my old eyes. Waiting for the wolf king to arrive at our place, I placed my palm on my forehead to cut from that stinging brightness. I was tired, exhausted, but I knew my task was heading to its end. I waited for so long... But once all will be done, I will rest. For eternity. I had only one regret in my long life- that I can't remember her face. Time does that, but, strange enough, I recall the way she smelled. She had that milky scent, like a baby suckling its mother's tits, sweet and innocent.
And the way she laughed... I smiled to myself. When I heard her laughing for the first time, I thought I'm being attacked by a horny donkey. It was that kind of laughter that one would burst into a laugh at just hearing it. And I was madly in love.

At my left, on the same level of the steps, lady Ewinn held her serious leader face, squaring her shoulders and lifting her head higher, as the parted crowd silenced. At her left sat the always- grumpy grey robe, followed by another one, and at my right sat the other two elders.

The werewolf roamed his eyes over the white building behind us subtile, without moving his head. He stopped at the base of the stair and, after he took in the sight of us, he focused his gaze on the lady of Taria.
"Raiden, King of Dirae, I, Ewinn, leader of Taria, and the Council- welcome you," I heard my lady's voice. At seeing him so close, I nearly dropped my shaft. How was this possible?
My feet carried me instinctively as we proceeded inside, and I struggled to advert my eyes, but not before he glimpsed at me with the same intensity. How long has it been? Too long... Old memories came rushing into my mind, things buried in the long hairs of my white beard.
He, from the blood of the wolf, the warrior prince of old Dirae, son of Theorus and Hara, was here now, walking beside me as a stranger.
He was taller than I remembered, but maybe it was me who shortened over the centuries. He had the same fine looks, only that now he held a heaviness engraved on his features, and his eyes were hardened.

"I come to you today- not as a prince, but as a man- to ask for your blessing."
"Do you love her, Prince?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
He looked me dead in the eye, without even blinking.
"I would die for her."
I knew the feeling. I understood. My hands unclasped the chain from my neck, and, grabbing his arm, I placed it into his palm. With his look glued on my face, he waited. My feet moved fast to the other room and, kneeling, I dragged the heavy chest from under the bed. My wife's wooden chest.
I took the other neck chain from it, the perfect copy of the star chain he was holding now.
"This is for her. Tell her it was her mother's. And this," I moved my hand towards the empty chest, "This is for both of you."

"Do we have your blessings?" He asked again.
"This chest is empty." I said. "Fill it with joy, fill it with pieces of you and her, and you will be a blessed man. Prince, I give you my blessing only if you promise me one thing."
"What would that be?" He asked, squeezing the star in his palm.
"Don't break my Dawn's heart. Don't spoil her light."

The door shut behind as we filled the gathering room.
There, on the round table, our finest glasses, plates and cutlery sat arranged to the detail, ready to be used. The big plateau filled with delicious food was placed in the middle, and in front of each glass they were two flasks, one with fresh water and one with our best wine.

Once we were all seated, I grasped the water, eager to quench my thirst and soothe my dry emotions as I looked once more at my son-in-law.

"We thought you must be hungry, king. And tired. Let's eat together, as our way to welcome you to our humble land, and then you can rest. We had the best guest room prepared for your arrival." Lady Ewinn broke the silence and the awkward looks exchange.
"Queen Ewinn, I came all this way for a reason." The wolf replied.
Clearing her throat for attention, the old grumpy hag couldn't hold herself- "It's Lady Ewinn. You see, here we don't have queens and kings. We have leaders, elected by the council's votes, King." She accentuated the last word in an insulting way. All the eyes jumped from her to him, but our diplomatic leader spoke again, smiling.
"Well, King Raiden, let us eat first, and then we talk. We mean no offence, we just thought that you might need some rest as well."

"No rest needed, Lady." the king said, and I wondered why he was looking behind him. Of course, he was used to have someone serving him. I cleared my throat and spoke to him for the first time.

"We don't have servants here, Your Grace. Besides, no one enters this room but us."

He nod his head in understanding, his gaze lingering on my wrinkled face.

"Your face seems familiar, Elder." he said, reaching for the water. Wise choice, I thought. Water keeps the head clear.

"I was told before that I have a common face." I replied.

Noding again, he poured the liquid in the glass. His hand lifted it to his mouth to drink but stopped before his lips touched the edge of the vessel.
" We don't poison our guests' drinks, king," elder Dina said with a displeased grimace on her face.
The werewolf put the glass down and turned his head in her direction with a most intimidating look. Clearly he was annoyed by her tone.
"No, you just sell the poison to Dawners. Is that right, elder?"
She held his gaze for some time, knowing that this gesture is considered an insult amongst their kind. Then she answered him, while we held our breath.
"We do not sell it."
I knew her game. She was trying to stir him so he would show us 'his true nature', so any reason for this meeting would be blown away. She wanted to prove that we made a mistake by having him here.
"No?" He asked. "Then how comes that dawners always are in possession of the moonberries, even though we made sure that no such bushes exist any more in Midland?"
"We don't sell, we give." Lady Ewinn stated, earning his attention.
"You give... And you invited me here- what for? To tell me how you are helping the rebels?" The wolf asked, his eyes spitting fire.
The leader rose from her seat and reached his glass over the table. After she took a sip, she smiled and handed him the drink.
Sitting again in her chair, she explained:
" For a long time now, humans have suffered at the hands of werewolves and vampires. We are weak creatures compared to you, with no means to defend ourselves. The moonberries are a dark gift, but a gift they are. They provide a choice when you take away all the options from us."
"I know that lowers have suffered the most being caught in our war. And I did what I could to make it better, and I will continue to do so." Raiden said.
"For who? For you, obviously." Elder Dina asked.
The king closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing his face. He sipped from the water and looked at the black robe, our leader.
"Peace benefits all." My lady replied at the grey robe's challenge.
"Why did you invited me here? What do you want?" The diraean asked.
"We want better, king Raiden. For all. We think there is enough room for everyone, and that we can coexist. While you and the nixians take everything you want, lowers are left to starve. To suffer. You take all they have, even their wives and daughters. And no one can oppose you. That is why the dawners hate you so much, and we emphasise with them.
That's why we gift them the berries." I explained.
"Your predecessor was cruel, and full of himself. Full of anger and vengeful. But you are not like him. We needed time to see that. Things need to change." Lady Ewinn added.
The grumpy robe opened her mouth, but our lady shut it with only a look.
"We think that you are open for a change, king of Dirae." An elder said, scooping some stew onto his plate.
"I wouldn't be here if not." The answer came. He filled his plate and, with a calm voice, he continued. " What changes do you propose?"
In the meantime, we all started to eat.
" First, we would like to see that women are not taken into slavery any more." The lady spoke.
" What you ask is hard, and needs time to be done. For now, all I can do is to promise to set a limit to the claims. My alphas will respect that limit. What else?"
"Allow fishing in the Dubh. People are starving, because your packs are taking nearly all the livestock from the humans. Your kingdom is vast and lush. You can do with less meat, and they won't starve to death."
" Change is hard and slow when my packs are used in a certain way. But I will see this done, I give you my word." The wolf agreed, contrary to our expectations.
"There is one last thing, king." My lady added. "Something that must come from you. Something that will prove your desire for a better future for all of us."
" I will think about." The wolf king said. "But, as a fair exchange of 'changes', you will stop supplying the dawners with moonberries. In fact, I offer to buy your supply."
Lady Ewinn set aside her spoon and clapped her hands once. It was time for a vote.
Two of the elders raised their hands in approval, my arm following in the air. We all looked to the Lady. It was up to her now, as she represented fifty percent of the power, while each one of us ten percent.
The werewolf observed quietly, seeming somehow intrigued by our ways.
"As the change can be hard and slow, as you stated, we can reduce to half the amount we give them, and sell to you the other half. For now. If trust is built in the future, things can change. This is our offer."
The king raised a brow.
"Compared to what you ask, you offer little. You had three requests, and me- one. So do better than half."
"Seventy percent for you, then. This is our best offer." Lady said.
"Actually, thinking better, I want one more thing, so we can start to build a trustful relation."
"And what would that be, King Raiden?"

.....