Sue-Anne's view continued.

We headed out then. Garvan took us to the horse enclosure that we had come from last night. 

"Have you been here before?" Garvan asked us, noting that was seemed unsurprised so far.

"Yes, we came from here last night. Does this lake have a name?" 

"Oh yes of course, silly me, Baragh and Smeg were on horse guard duty, and yes this lake has a name now, It did not originally," he commented, "Ohhh, so that is why you were really bought before me. You must have done something to our horses."

"Not really," I 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?" queried Gavan suddenly interested.

"Yes, why? Is that a problem?" I asked suddenly worried, perhaps I had missed something here.

"No, no problem!" Garvan shook his head smiling with relief. 

"What is the name of the lake now and why did it not have a name before? What is the story?" I asked, noting the change in Garvan's attitude.

"Its called the lake of the dead as about 200 years ago 3 old people were found in it. No-one had seen such old fae before so for a time the water was considered poisonous until some kids, not knowing the history played in it. Beforehand it was unnamed as this was mostly unoccupied lands. I was sent here as punishment and decided I liked the area out of all the drow outlands. It has only been recently that others have moved here, as I said it was considered a dangerous area because of the 3 old fae found dead."

"Does the story say what fae they were?" I wondered if it could possibly have been Kai, Leander and Susan as they disappeared one night never to be seen again.

"Two were identified. One was a Kelpie and the other a ogre but the third no one could place," Garvan was still smirking knowingly at me all this time, ever since I mentioned the red horse.

"I see," I was certain then that it was Susan, Kai and Leander that was found, but I did not say anything as I was puzzling over Garvan's change in attitude to me.

What is with his change in attitude? He is relieved I patted a red horse? Why? I thought. Kell must have seen me puzzling over this as he sidled up beside me and whispered in my ear "Sue, remember that the red horse only goes to one deemed the Priestess of Aine. She went to you there fore Garvan would be thinking you are her priestess and as such you would have more husbands than one."

"AWW, HELL NO!" I exclaimed, startling both Garvan and Kell. "Oh sorry, I was just reacting to what I just thought." and left it at that. The two men were gracious enough not to press. Garvan with no clue and Kell with a satisfied smirk to my outburst.

Damn you Kell, I thought, as I knew he knew it was my reaction to his explanation. It meant I wanted only Kell and that, well that made him a self satisfied jerk in my eyes. He was not really but in that moment to me he was.

As we got to the paddock the red horse came flying up and buried herself in my arms. "Woah! There pretty lady!" I calmed her down.

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

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

"What do you mean?" Garvan said clearly surprised.

"She means that she will only ride me," Kell asserted himself then, seemingly happy at my pronouncement. I wondered if he had inferred something else in the way he said that as the words caused Garvan to scowl.

"I see," Garvan said, clearly unhappy at this, "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?" I did not understand why he would be taking us there.

"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?"

I nodded as Kell transformed himself into a horse. Garvan's horse had made its appearance and he had hopped up on to it, anxious to go.

"I hope you can keep up, Kell," he seemed doubtful.

I could feel Kell accept his challenge, but we could not go anywhere until Garvan had started heading in the direction we were to go. Garvan then turned his horse and cantered away.

I was relieved, it was an easy pace for Kell to maintain, a little bit too easy, but I did not say anything as I did not want Garvan to go at a speed Kell could not maintain.

It was sometime later we pulled up and were having an afternoon snack, Garvan commented, "You're husband Kell surprised me, you know."

"Oh? Why is that?" I tilted my head in query, looking over to where my husband 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," Garvan looked admiringly at Kell.

"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?" Garvan asked me.

"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?"  Garvan looked at me with a calculating but seductive look.

"Oh good grief! I didn't mean it like that!" I said in exasperation, "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?" Garvan flirted back, "I wouldn't mind you know."

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

Kell could tell something was wrong as he immediately swapped to his human form and hugged me - totally enveloping me in his arms and kissing  my forehead in greeting, "What is wrong?"

"Nothing I want to talk about," I reply but I end up telling him anyway.

"He's going to keep trying you know," Kell said matter of factly.

"Surely not?!" I objected.

"He is," Kell insisted, "because he is smitten with you. I know that schwings aren't common. But amongst the fae if it happens its instant love of that person."

"Did it happen to you?" I asked Kell.

"Mhmm, yes, yes it did." Kell nodded.

"When?" I asked.

"From when I first saw you and even now, even being with you isn't enough for me. I need you with everything that's in me, but my humanity in me realises that this is a ridiculous statement to say even as I have said it" he mused.

"That's a long time," I commented.

"Not really," he said with a shrug, "Hopefully it will be a long time though."

"How long are you hoping for?" I asked.

"Eternity would do nicely," Kell smiled guilessly at me, causing me to blush at his sweetness.

I chose then to bury my head in his chest so that he would not see my blush, he chose to hug me tighter in response. Garvan came over then and said, "We better get on the road again if we want to be there by dark."

"Garvan," Kell asked still holding me.

"Yes?" he replied.

"What direction are we headed?"

"That way," Garvan 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."

Garvan looked at him in surprise, "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." Garvan agreed.

"Don't worry, the pair of us will work it out," Kell grinned in anticipation. I too was glad as the slower pace was causing me problems too, not just Kell.

So it was we set off in the direction we were meant to go this time at Kell's pace. Kell and I were happy, but about 2 hours in Kell slowed down and I realised then he was doing it out of curtesy for the horse we were with. It was not as fit as Kell but it could keep up at a slightly slower pace. It was still faster than the original pace.

"We need to change directions here," Garvan sung out suddenly, causing us to stop.

"Lead the way," I said as we let Garvan take over the lead. He surely knew how fast we could go now.

So he did. We arrived at his grandparents shanty town late afternoon, but still earlier then Garvan was expecting. A regal drow was waiting with a very red haired woman. She looked the same age as my mother but somehow I knew she was not.

"Garvan! Welcome! What are you doing here?" the regal drow asked.

"Introducing these two to the family." Garvan said indicating us as he rode up and then jumped down to give the pair a hug.

I jumped off Kell and Kell transformed back into a human.

"Grandma and Grandpa," Garvan stepped back to introduce us, "This is Kell and Sue-Anne Torbrok. Kell and Sue this is Grandpa Kalavan and Grandma Rachel, their son should be around here somewhere..."

"Evan?" Grandma Rachel questioned, "Oh he left to go back to the Dwarven mound to see Elizabeth. You won't see him while you are here." She looked at us then and asked, "So you are Torboks?"

We both nodded.

"By marriage or birth?"

"Both," Kell replied.

"How long have you been married?"

"By which law?" Kell asked.

Rachel smiled, "Well, I can see this will take awhile, how about you come in and rest and I will make everyone a cup of tea."

"Do you by chance have a coffee?" I asked hopefully, I really did not like tea.

"I would rather water," added Kell.

"Coffee and water it is," nodded Rachel as she hurried off to arrange the afternoon tea.

We followed Kalavan into a lovely seating area which did not match the nomadic tents at all. The seating was for a more fixed abode. Noting my surprise the stoic Kalavan spoke, "This is one of the more fixed shanty towns. We could make it permanent, but it defeats the purpose of the nomadic life. Occasionally we do still have to up and move but this is one of our more permanent sites a bit like the one where Garvan was. But where Garvan was, was the governance site where people go to get their issues solved. Thus the fixed building."

We sat down on the couches, Kell and I plastered together out of sheer nervousness. I say plastered but we weren't really we were sitting beside each other, its just there was no room between us. Garvan looked at us and had a torn look before sitting in another chair nearby.

Rachel returned with the tea, coffee, water, milk, sugar and honey and some fae biscuits and fruit. She served us all according to our wishes then sat down herself and our conversation then continued. "So what do you mean by what law you were married by?"

"Well," said Kell, "Do you mean fae law or human law?"

"You mean you were married by both?" Rachel asked.

"We are," Kell nodded, holding my hand to his mouth kissing the back of it.

"How did you manage that? I did not think it possible for a human to marry a beast in the human world." Rachel said with some knowledge.

"In a normal situation," I spoke up, "Yes that would be true, but some jerk twisted the laws and we were married as opposed to me being raped by the jerk."

"I take it by your words he was a jerk with authority?" Rachel asked.

"He was," I nodded.

"Ok," Rachel sighed, "So how long have you been married both ways?"

"By fae law we have been married 3 years," Kell said.

"By human law we have been married 2 days," I added after, and promptly buried my head in his shoulder.

"I take it nothing has happened yet?" Rachel said.

"No, I am still not use to him being a human," I answered, blushing furiously at the thought of us doing it.

"That's normal," Rachel replied, "Kalavan and I were married about that long before I let him make love to me too. I think it must be my genes of hesitancy that is affecting you. A blind man on a flying horse can see he adores you and there is no-one else but you for him."

"Really?" I question, hoping that my hesitancy was not strange.

"Really!" nodded Rachel, "Don't worry, it is worth the wait!" She smiled encouragingly at me before continuing on, "So, you said you were Torboks by marriage and birth?"

"Yes," Kell replied.

"How is this so?"

"Well, when Sue, Leander, Coran and Kai went through the portal home, Sue was pregnant with twins. One twin was Coran's and the other was Kai's. When Kai's daughter was born she transformed into a horse as the magic could not sustain her human form. No Kelpie has achieved human form there in hundreds of years. It took everything I had to just transform my lips for our wedding. There was just enough to get us here too." Kell explained.

"I see, what happened to Sue?" Rachel asked, looking hungry for news on her long dead daughter.

"Well, Sue and Leander remarried," I answered, "As the human law did not accept their marriage here, not that they told them that. Coran died within 2 days of exiting the portal as his body aged to his age. As no man may live past 120 he died, but he took the blame for killing you and kidnapping Susan and Leander. Leander got human parents called the Torbridges. They were sweet enough to change to his fae name so he got to keep his fae name. Susan and Leander had 3 children and only the eldest stayed on the farm of those 3. All of Coran's descendants stayed too. They grew the farm to be independent of the world at large and it is one of the heavily populated fae areas thanks to the work of Sue and Leander."

"Let me get this straight," Rachel asked, "Susan had another 5 children in the human world?"

"Yes, why?" I asked.

"Wow, she was busy," commented Rachel.

"Why do you say that?" I ask genuinely interested.

"Well, she had Garvan, who was born out of rape by Corvan, who later became Coran. Then she had Gerzig to Leander, Gerzig is the current king of the Ogres and Calder to Kai. Before she left she gave birth to a girl called Ahelee who the queen raised until she died. I guess because she did not want any mistakes made on her raising, Ahelee is the current Priestess of Aine. She took over from Elizabeth just before the Queen died, but she was not officially appointed until 5 years ago when Elizabeth had enough of being the official priestess."

"Who is the Queen you are talking about?" I asked.

"Queen DebraLee," Rachel replied, "When she died most of her husbands died shortly afterwards, but there are 2 still alive and one is the most surprising of all."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because their entire marriage he suffered from Qi burning, and when she died everyone expected him to go too. But he is still around. The other husband is Caspian, it's like he can't die yet as no suitable king or queen has been found to rule both courts. All the descendants so far can only manage one or the other of the light and dark courts. It is rumored that Sylvan gave him his life energy when DebraLee died and because of it is living way past the expected life span of the fairy. I do not know how true that is or even if it is possible, it could be that Aine is allowing him longer till the right person comes. I do not know." She fell silent then thinking.

"So how many offspring came from Sue now?" Kalavan asked clearly for his wife's sake.

"I do not know," I replied, "But there is 20 of us at the farm that are humans. 8 are Coran's descendants the rest Leander's. In terms of Kelpie you would have to ask Kell."

"As far as I know, there is only 8 of us too," Kell said, "You see the royal Kelpies were only allowed 2 -3 children - 1 male and one female and who we married was made by scientific reason. Whoever had the most diverse bloodline was the one we were given to marry. I was the first child, my brother will now be trained in the royal duties now that I am gone. He was a mistake, but it turns out now a blessing."

"You say royal kelpies, what do you mean by that?" Kalavan asked suddenly interested.

"I know we are only Marquis here, but over there we were promoted. My father is King of all the fae there. I was the crown prince," Kell stated as if it was not news.

"How did that happen?" 

"I think it was because Kai had the strongest fae magic left in the world and we inherited that magic strength. Those that have been left behind are really weak barely surviving in a magicless world. But with the planting of the 21 sacred trees in a ring of 7 the magic has returned a little to the land. It could be all lost if they aren't maintained though. It depends on the beliefs of Sue's family."

"I see," nodded Kalavan, "So you really should keep your title prince here, as you definitely are. Do not put yourself back to Marquis as you are no longer part of those Atwater's. If anyone questions you tell them I said so. I may not make the cut as King of the Drow but I was in the running till Tyvan was made King."

"Who is Tyvan?" I wondered.

"My daughter Elizabeth's husband," Rachel suddenly spoke up, "Kalavan's eldest son. Coran's cousin."

"Will we get to meet them?" 

"Yes!" Garvan spoke for the first time since we came, "That is the point of this trip."

"I am curious how long ago did DebraLee die?" I wondered.

"About 100 years ago now," Kalavan said, "the fae has not really been the same since. It was if when she died all the dragon's disappeared too. There was always one about somewhere causing mischief, but now there seems to be none. It's a bit concerning really."

It was the first I had ever heard about dragons from any story I had heard. I later came to regret wondering about them.

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