Garvan's view

My earliest memory is being nursed with who I thought was my sister. I remember the love my supposed mother and father showed me. They treated me as if I was their own child, later Tyvan explained that magic was used to bind us altogether so that I would not become unseelie.

Drow children had a high chance of becoming unseelie if one or both parents were missing. In my case I discovered I was the product of rape. A situation that was unheard of in the fae, it is just my parents were so compatible that this did not matter. My real father did not listen to the 3 fates who had told him not to chase after Elizabeth but rather Susan.

As I grew, I realised there was something different about me to my sister and our other relatives. I could not stand the tutors we were given, so I was a downright troublesome child, pulling pranks whenever and wherever I could. I could tell that they did not care for us, just the job itself. They saw it as a way to promote their prospects amongst the royal families, not realising that it would not matter what they did, the royal family would not look at them unless it was by a Goddess inspired event.

We had gone through perhaps our 20th tutor by the time I was 4 or 5 and it was then I met what I now know to be my real father Corvan Morrowind or Coran Grey, depending on how you want to remember him. I felt like he genuinely cared for us all and he educated and grew me in ways so beneficial to me that I thought he was my father.

I knew in my heart that he was not my father, Tyvan was, but I could not help but wish he was. Coran had time for me unlike my own father. Tyvan, I had to give him credit, did spend as much time with us as he could, but Sylvan had started training him up to take over as King of the drow. A task my father, Tyvan, was suited for.

I remember a big drama occurring and a war in the fae over whether or not my aunt, who really was my mother, could give up her role as Priestess of Aine and follow what was known as the God of Gods. I did not know this God and I did not care too. I did know Aine and was happy following her as she was all I did know.

It was then I met AheLee, she was just a baby, nursing. I did not pay much attention to her as she and my brother were just there, screaming mounds of neediness. Once AheLee was weaned, DebraLee took her away, raising her as her own and teaching her the way of Aine. I forgot about her and we walked our own paths until I was 50.

I remember DebraLee at the swimming hole with 2 of her husbands Caspian and Sylvan. I remember thinking as a horny 15 year old how beautiful they looked together and for some reason my eyes kept being drawn to Caspian. He was incredibly beautiful for a male, I had never seen such beauty. I wondered at my enviousness then of the other two. But as with all things it was a fleeting memory as I did not get the pleasure of seeing the 3 again that way. Well not until I was in a relationship with AheLee and by then I had quite forgotten my interest in Caspian.

I do not remember what event it was but I remember seeing her again for the first time. I fell in love instantly with this beautiful red haired drow. We were like magnets, drawn to each other. We just talked that night, about everything. My desire for her only grew.

We became lovers not long afterwards. We never hid our relationship, but somehow everyone missed the fact that we were in a relationship.

We had been together 20 years loving and being loved by each other. It was then we had come to the realisation that we could never have children to each other. It did not sadden us as we were still young and neither of us really wanted children yet. We just decided that Aine would bring someone into AheLee's life when she was ready.

We had been together 70ish years when we decided that we would marry regardless of the consequences. We tried and tried to form the marriage bond but it would not bond. I was 195 years old when we went to Sylvan about our problem and it was then we learned to our horror that we were actually brother and sister - we could not get married, we could not have children and what we were doing was wrong.

I found that who I thought was my sister, I could get married too, but I did not want her, I wanted AheLee. So, I started cursing Aine and the troublesome life she had given me.

Aine must have pitied me as she appeared before me and said, "Child, what is your problem?"

"I can not marry the person I want to marry as I find out now she is my sister and your priestess. How am I supposed to go on knowing our shame? Even we know that brothers and sisters are not to have relations, and yet we did."

"I tell you what, child. In return for your continued fealty I will mark you with a tattoo. This tattoo will show you which husbands you are to be fellow husbands with. You will share a single wife like my honored priestess DebraLee did with her husbands. The situation might surprise you though."

"When will I meet her?" I wondered, "Can I do anything to hasten on meeting her?"

"Unfortunately, No," Aine said, "She is not in this world yet, but she will be shortly."

I groaned figuring that the person had yet to be born, "Thank you Aine. I will wait as you say."

"Your welcome my child," Aine said and disappeared in a sparkle of light.

My behavior was terrible then so Tyvan banished me to the far corners of the outlands where I was to look after and rule the people there." so I packed up and left, kissing AheLee goodbye.

When I arrived, I was horrified to see how run down and degraded the tents were and there was no place to rule from. So, the first thing I did was to build a meeting/banqueting hall. The center of the room was a traditional ruler's hall, off to the left side as you looked at the throne was a huge fireplace and long banqueting table. To the right was a study area where books and planning meetings could take place. Off of that side were the bedrooms - one big one for me and several smaller ones for visiting dignitaries or women that had taken my fancy in the night. The other side held a storehouse and kitchens.

At first I did not drink much, but eventually when the hall had been completed I would drink myself to oblivion every night. It was then I started taking women to my bed. I think I was too drunk to care, or I basically fucked anyone who looked the remotest bit like AheLee. I would always chase them out before I fell asleep though. I did not want to be married to anyone but AheLee or the person who Aine wanted me to marry. Whoever she was.

I doubted the goddess, I doubted that anyone would make me feel more that what AheLee had, but I was proven wrong.

5 years went in a blink of an eye with the boozing and ruling.

I remember the day clearly that Sue-Anne walked into my life with Kell.

I was feeling hung over and a bit worse for wear, looking forward to another boring day of administration followed by a night of drunkenness' I was half dressed in my favorite pair of leather pants. I was reclining on the throne eating grapes when I noticed the guards with 2 people I had never met before.

My eyes locked together with the girl's and I felt a schwing of recognition zap through me, my crotch hardening at the mere sight of her. Despite the reaction of my groin, I thought the girl was my mother, the one who had abandoned me to Elizabeth. I put down my grapes, sat up, got up and walked over to her - I was excited to think that she was possibly my mother, the one I wanted so desperately to talk too.

"Mother?" I asked as I came over to her. She ducked behind the good looking male that accompanied her. The prick laughed at me and hugged the girl securely to his side. It was clear to me then that this was not my mother, but the actions of an inexperienced girl, "No! You are not mother!" I took a step back from the pair as the man kept glaring at me. I tilted my head, "If you are not mother, who exactly are you? And why do you look like mother? Why have I not seen you before?"

"Prince Ga.." the horse guards started to speak, thinking that I had given them permission to state their business with this couple.

"I was not talking to you!" I cut off the guard before he finished speaking, and I nodded towards the couple, "I was talking to them. I asked them a question, well specifically the girl. I expect them to answer." And looked expectantly at the couple.

It was some time before the girl hesitantly spoke an answer to my question, "My name is Sue-Anne Torbrok and this is my husband Kell."

I wondered at the trueness of the statement as I could see the pleasure her words gave to the man. He turned from a somewhat somber countenance to a ridiculously happy one.

"You know using that surname can get you into a lot of trouble," I commented to them.

"It can?" She wondered, "But who are you to say so? It has been our name since we were born."

I was a bit confused by her statement as I knew every Torbrok there was thanks to our regular family banquets, and she was not one amongst the ones I knew. So, I asked, "Are you trying to deceive me? You say you had the same name since you were born and you are married? How can this be? Torbrok is not a usual name you know."

"I know, but we are distant relatives. We have the same great great grandmother," she explained, "But different great great grandfathers." I was confused for a second as I though she was talking about me and her, but then I realized she was referring to the kelpie.

"Really? And what were their names?" I was now interested in this girl. Completely and utterly fascinated. I knew in that moment that I would never drink again to oblivion, nor would I be with any other female. I hoped that it would not be a long wait, but I was not holding my breath anytime soon. I got the impression that these two were different in someway to the fae.

After looking around the room, to all the scantily clad women who had now made and appearance said, "I would be glad to answer but please could you tell me who I am addressing?"

Everyone's faces, looked at her in horror. They and I were pretty sure everyone knew me, but clearly we were both wrong.

"Really? You do not know who I am?" I asked astonished.

"No," she admitted, "I know nothing of this land except stories."

An idea came to me then, that perhaps these two people were from the human world, "Tell me, are you from the human world?"

"We are," she nodded.

"So, you are human," I mused incorrectly, looking at her before looking at Kai, "but clearly you are not. What are you? And how do you have the same great great grandmother?"

"I am known as the prince of the fae in the human world, but my father says in the fae, I am just a marquis," Kell responded before falling silent.

"So, you are a prince then," I said before blathering more information then they needed to them, "Well Prince Kell, my name is Prince Garvan Torbrok. I only just found out that was my real name recently, before then I thought I was Prince Garvan Morrowind. Why am I telling you this? Its none of your business! And both of you still have not answered my question, who is your great great grandparents?"

The girl looked up at the man and it seemed that they had a silent conversation. Kell squeezed her shoulder, and  kissed her forehead, their endearing intimacy suddenly making me feel jealous of him.

For some reason the girl seemed unsettled and stuttered out, "O-our g-great great grandmother was known as Susan Torbrok." 

An exclamation rippled through the court at her words causing her to falter, "What? What is with everyone's reaction?" She demanded of me.

I was feeling extremely shaken by her words. This meant that they were both my great great niece and nephew according to what she just said. This also meant that she was also fae. I answered her question, "I can see your serious, but if this is true, you both are my great great niece and nephew." I fell silent thinking over what I had just found out and decided that we were better off in private then have our family matters spoken of before this court, so I continued on, "This matter is not for the court room, but rather a private matter. Please follow me!" and I walked out of the hall and into my sitting room.

I collapsed on my daybed and indicated for them to sit on a nearby loveseat.

"Sorry about this," I said as he lounged on the chair confident in my appeal to her. Though it seemed that the pair were having a private conversation, looking at me furtively.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I asked, "What are you two talking about?" 

"Nothing much," she responded, before deflecting the question, "What do you mean we are your great great niece and nephew?"

"Susan and Coran are my real parents," I replied.

"So, you would be my great great Uncle?" she asked looking puzzled, "But what do you mean real parents?"

"Yes, and as I said earlier, I only just recently found it out and I still have not gotten over the fact who I thought were my parents had hidden it from me. Their excuse was rather pathetic if you ask me. It's the reason I have been here the last 5 years or so."

"Oh, who did you think were your parents?"

"Elizabeth and Tyvan Morrowind, the now drow king and queen. Although Elizabeth is human, she was the Priestess of Aine until my sister AheLee took over." I explained, suddenly sad about losing AheLee yet again.

"What happened?" She asked leaning forward, seemingly interested in my change of attitude.

I was tempted to share the information, but did not, "Another time, perhaps," I said, "So who is your great great grandfather Kell?"

"Kai Atwater he was known as before he became Kai Torbrok," Kell said.

"So, we really are related...huh! Who would have thought!" I commented.

Silence filled the room and Sue kept looking at my tattoo, her intense inspection got the better of me, "Ok, out with it," I said a bit testily, "What is bothering you?"

She was totally embarrassed by being caught out, "It's nothing..." she attempted not to answer.

"It clearly is not nothing. Even though I have not known you for long, I can see something is bothering you. Now what is it?"

"Your tattoo," Kell spoke as if he knew what was bothering her, "Could you tell us about it?"

"My tattoo?" That surprised me, "Oh, Aine gave it to me as a consolation. She said that my life belonged to a married pair, one of whom had a matching tattoo, not necessarily in the same spot, but matching."

The pair froze at my words, and she buried herself in Kell's chest. 

I was puzzled by her response, and having so little to go on, I asked, "Is something wrong? Do you know someone with a matching tattoo?"

"I am sorry," Kell spoke what seemed to me to be a half truth, "We are just feeling overwhelmed with everything. We only arrived in the fae last night, and to find we have family here... Neither of us was expecting it." Even though I suspected otherwise, I decided to take it on face value.

"I see, do you want to be alone for a bit, or perhaps you would like a tour?" I smiled at her, and all of a sudden the schwing I felt when I first saw her was back. I wondered at it, but not for too long as she answered my question.

"Would you mind terribly if we were alone till lunch and then take us touring?" she asked.

"Not a problem," I smiled  at her fondly, "Do you want to return to your sleeping quarters or would you rather a room here? That tent was designed for Kailana and Daniel when they come."

"Who are they?" she ask.

"Kailana is Kai's sister; Daniel is Susan's earth father." I explained getting up from my seat, "Perhaps when we tour, I can explain the family here."

"I would like that, Thanks!" she answered.

"Come on," I offered his hand to me, and to my delight, she took it.

I pulled her up into a hug earning myself a furious shove, and scolding from her, "Don't!".

I could not help but laugh at her adorable response, and turned away to walk out the door, though if I am honest it probably was more of a sexy swagger, to lead them back to the tent. Remembering that everyone was waiting on my judgement on whether or not they were Torboks, I announced to everyone, "This pair are indeed Torbroks. Treat them accordingly."

I then remembered that they had just got here and would want time to catch up on each other's interpretation of what we had just been though. I was not so lucky. I did not have that luxury to relax. I had decided to take them on a tour of the lands and to do this I needed to oversee some things first.

I hurried through my court duties and arranged for someone to over see them whilst I was away, and if things were too difficult I left a communication device to contact me in emergencies. I then prepared everything needed for us all to go touring. I then went to their tent and seeing them coming out from their room, I smiled and said, "I am here to give you that tour!" 

I saw Kell say something to Sue, but I did not hear but I did notice it got him a punch in the arm.

We left then and began our tour of the drow lands. I took them to where the horses were to get a horse to travel with them on. I noticed that they were unsurprised by the direction we headed, so I asked, "Have you been here before?"

Their answer surprised and made sense to me, "Yes, we came from here last night."

"Oh yes of course, silly me, Baragh and Smeg were on horse guard duty," I mused, "Ohhh, so that is why you were really bought before me. You must have done something to our horses."

"Not really," Sue commented, "I was just admiring them when a beautiful red horse came up to me and invited me to pat her. So, I did."

"A red horse, you say?" I asked, suddenly interested in which horse it was that approached her, the red horse only approached those blessed by Aine. If she was approached, it explained my schwing feeling towards her, it meant at some point I would have a chance to figure this feeling out.

"Yes, why? Is that a problem?" she asked worriedly

"No, no problem!" I shook my head smiling.

Again, Kell said something to her, so quietly I did not hear what. But I did hear her exclamation to it. Her loudness and firmness startling me as she exclaimed "AWW, HELL NO!" she looked at us then and said "Oh sorry, I was just reacting to what I just thought." and left it at that. 

I had no clue as to what it was about, but I got the impression she was not going to say, even if I asked. So, I chose to let it rest. Kell seemed to know what her outburst was about though as he had a satisfied smirk on his face.

As we got to the paddock the red horse came flying up and buried herself Sue's arms. "Woah! There pretty lady!" she said calming her down.

"Seems like she likes you," I commented, "I think you found yourself a horse to ride here."

"Not at all," Sue shook her head, "I will only ride one horse here, and it is not her."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She means that she will only ride me," Kell implied that only he would be ridden by her both in and out of bed. I understood, but it did not make me happy. I wanted to know why I kept experiencing schwings with her.

"I see," I said, in effort to change the topic I continued on with our task, "Well we better go then, we have a long way to travel today, I need to take you to where my grandfather currently is so you can meet Rachel Morrowind and their son."

"Grandfather?" Sue looked confused by my words.

"Yes, Rachel is Susan's mother and she would want to meet you and hear about Susan's life after she left here. I am guessing you know that right?"

Sue nodded as Kell changed into a horse and my horse finally made its appearance. I hopped up on him then and said to Kell, "I hope you can keep up, Kell," I hoped he could, I know our horses are good runners but Kelpies could be hit and miss in comparison. Kell looked fit, but looks can be deceiving. 

I wondered if he would keep up, so I set off at a pace that a unfit kelpie could maintain. He kept up the entire time no worries. I was relieved at this. Kell had decided to stay a horse and was grazing while we stopped for an afternoon snack. In effort to get conversation going I commented to Sue, "Your husband Kell surprised me, you know."

"Oh? Why is that?" she tilted her head before looking over to where Kell was grazing peacefully.

"He kept up with our horses all afternoon, most Kelpie's can't, but then I am told Kai was like that too. Kai was supposedly an amazing piece of horseflesh according to my da... uncle," I caught myself before I said Dad... Tyvan was not my Dad he was my uncle.

"According to the pictures we have of Kai, Kell is a pretty close match but I think Kell is prettier..."

"Should you be saying that?" I asked her.

"What is wrong with calling my husband pretty? He doesn't classify as handsome he's just too pretty. You're more handsome than he is."

"Really?" Her words surprised me and I wondered if I had a chance at seducing her by them.

"Oh, good grief! I didn't mean it like that!" She said putting me in my place, "I was just trying to describe the difference between pretty and handsome. I wasn't trying to pick you up!"

"Are you sure about that, Princess?" I teased her, "I wouldn't mind you know."

"Forget it!" she snapped, getting up and going over to Kell.

As soon as she was near Kell he transformed back into a human, hugging her, "What is wrong?"

I decided I did not want to hear that conversation, so I moved away, packing up the lunch stuff.

After I had packed I went over to the hugging couple and said, "We better get on the road again if we want to be there by dark."

"Garvan," Kell asked hugging Sue.

"Yes?" I answered.

"What direction are we headed?"

"That way," I pointed towards the north east "Why?"

"Do you mind if I set the speed for a bit so you know my capabilities? I am finding the pace a bit slow."

His answered surprised me as although I had gone slow for a kelpie it was still pretty fast, "Slow?? This pace is slow?"

"Yes, Sue and I we trained a lot before we came here and were basically running from dawn till dusk, and I am use to that pace this slower one is causing me to cramp. Its why I stayed as a horse till Sue needed me."

"I see, but I hope it is not too much faster or our horses will struggle too." I agreed, interested to see how much faster he could go.

"Don't worry, the pair of us will work it out," Kell grinned in anticipation. Sue looked relieved, I knew then that the pace must have been too slow for both of them.

To my surprise the pace Kell set was incredibly fast. I wondered if our horses could keep up to him. My horse started to huff and puff when our pace slowed to the pace my horse could keep. Kell had kept his word in dropping to the speed my horse could keep. 

We kept on until I recognised the surroundings as a place we needed to change directions. So, I sung out "We need to change directions here,"  causing them to stop.

"Lead the way," Sue said and turned Kell to run behind my horse. 

🍀A/N Please vote if you enjoyed this chapter. If you see any errors please let me know as this is unedited. 🍀