Tissaia rose with the sun, unwilling to wait another minute to see if the scouts had returned with Talarion and Kaius. She dressed quickly in the change of clothes that had been provided for her. They were very unlike the clothes she was accustomed to, but no less comfortable. Her tunic was made of some type of hide which had been dyed a deep shade of brown.

    She wore it on top of a plain white blouse, and over the hide tunic, she'd been given a leather vest. The sides of it were enforced with scale-like material to offer her additional protection. Her pants were plain, but with the same reinforced scales going down the inseam, and she kept her original boots.

    After securing her weapons, Tissaia opened her door, then leaped back when she found an unexpected figure behind it. The female, Kahari, offered her a slight wave and a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I was just coming to check on you. I thought you'd want to know that our scouts returned."

    "With my brother?" Tissaia asked hopefully.

    Kahari shook her head. "But they did say they found two more dead Blood Fae and hoof tracks leading towards Oriana's Pavilion. Vael thought it would be better to come back and tell you. He assumed your brother might be less willing to trust us than you were, especially if he mentioned you and you weren't with him."

    "He would be right," Tissaia confirmed. "Thank you for letting me know. We should leave as soon as possible. My brother will be worried."

    "Of course. Vael and I will escort you." Kahari turned to leave, then paused with a sniff. "Did that male follow me here!" She exclaimed. "Gods, I warned him that you didn't want to see him!" She took a step forward but Tissaia caught her by the wrist.

    "It's all right," she assured her. "Yes, he must've followed you here to find me, but he didn't bother me too much, and he left very quickly. I should've made it clearer why I didn't want to see him. We had an...argument. He didn't do anything to me."

    "Oh." Kahari's shoulders relaxed and Tissaia released her. "I'm sorry, I just assumed with how upset you were that he might have hurt you in some way."

    "He did, but not physically." Tissaia grabbed her satchel with her few belongings and followed Kahari out the door. They walked at a quick pace but Tissaia took the time to fully observe her companion, realizing that she hadn't yesterday. She'd been too preoccupied.

    The female was decently attractive, but her beauty was somewhat muted compared to other Fae, Tissaia thought. She had a long, narrow face and a shorter, pointed nose spattered with freckles. There was also a tiny, almost imperceptible freckle in the center of her forehead shaped like a four-point star. Her hair hung just past her shoulders and was a mixture of copper and bronze, giving it its dark auburn hue.

    Her eyes were quick and sharp, and a shade of green so deep that it seemed to have been pulled from the depths of the forest itself. Her lips were thin, but pretty, yet it was her ears that piqued Tissaia's interest. They were round, but this female was clearly not Human if she had been able to pick up traces of Azael's scent from the night before.

    "You're half-Fae," Tissaia realized.

    Kahari sucked in a shallow breath, her eyes darting to Tissaia, before she gave a timid nod. "My mother was Human, my father Fae."

    "I'm sorry if it's a sensitive subject," she apologized swiftly. "It wasn't a judgement. I was just intrigued. Your kind is the rarest species in all of Asterria. I've never met one in person before."

    A tight smile stretched across the woman's lips. "That's for a variety of reasons. Many Fae find Humans beneath them. The ones that don't are afraid to get attached, and what Human would want to fall in love with someone and have children with them only to die before all of them?"

    "Is...is your mother still around?"

    Kahari barely tipped her chin. "She is, but she's old now. Eighty years this spring, and my younger sister is already forty. And since I already know you're going to ask, I passed my sixtieth birthday this year."

    That didn't surprise Tissaia, given the age of her mother, and all Demi-Fae aged like those of their Fae heritage. They wouldn't live to the four-thousand years a full blooded Fae could live up to, but Kahari might last half of that. The oldest a Demi-Fae had ever lived was almost three-thousand years, and that had been Queen Idalia, Oriana's own daughter, before her Ascension.

    "Is your sister half-Fae as well?" Tissaia asked.

    "No. My sister had a Human father. My mother loved both of our fathers at different points of her life. She just wasn't one for making lifelong commitments, except to my sister and I."

    Kahari fell silent and Tissaia didn't press her for more information as they approached two males waiting in the middle of a square. Azael was holding the reins of his buckskin stallion, and the second male, Vael, whom they had learned seldom went by his full name, held the reins of a small brown and white splotched mount.

    "We don't keep many horses here," Vael called when they drew near. "But the Elder told me to give you one. She said you would need to travel quickly."

    "Thank her for me when you have a chance," Tissaia replied as she took the reins.

    Vael bowed his dark curly head, then spoke the words that would carry him out of the village. The rest of them followed suit, and they emerged into the forest. Tissaia watched as Vael shifted the form of a massive, brown-furred bear.

    Kahari approached him and pulled herself onto his back as though this were a common routine for them. Her fingers gripped the Shifter's fur and with a shake of his head, they set off into the woods. Despite herself, Tissaia exchanged an amused glance with Azael, then mounted her horse and trailed after the Bear and the half-Fae.

•༻☽☾༺•

    They rode in relative silence for a time, which was only interrupted when Kahari announced she and Vael would move on ahead to make sure there weren't any straggling Blood Fae nearby. The Shifter had then shambled them out of sight, leaving Azael and Tissaia alone, but he was holding to what he'd said last night. He'd let her decide when she wanted to speak with him.

    That moment came not long after. "When you were angry at me yesterday," Tissaia began, her eyes fixed on the trees ahead, "was that actually you being angry at yourself? Are you afraid of being like your father?"

    Azael drew a steadying breath. He had told himself that he would be as open with her as he could manage. This would be the test of that promise. "Yes," he answered, "and I'm sorry for accusing you of the things I did. You didn't deserve that. I thought you were angry at me while you were healing me and I got angry too and lashed out. I realize now that you were probably actually worried and trying to mask it."

    "But yes, I am afraid of being like my father," he admitted. "I always have been. I saw how much my mother disliked him and how little our people respected him, and I saw the things he did to deserve that. My mother hated him, and...like you said...I think she hated me too."

    "Azael, I..." Tissaia started, but he caught her eye and shook his head. She closed her mouth though her brows pulled together.

    He exhaled a small sigh, then told her the truth. He told her about learning of his father's affair and going after his mother. How Queen Elwyth had told him repeatedly that she didn't want him coming along with her, and then the terrible blow she dealt that persuaded him to remain behind. "You're beginning to turn into him! And he's the one I'm trying to escape."

    Tissaia's eyes had gone wide at that. The truth laid bare. His mother had wanted nothing to do with him, because he reminded her of his father. And even his father knew it. Azael hesitated only briefly before telling her about the argument they'd had the day after the ball, when she had followed after him and he said those equally terrible things to her. The words that had prompted his outburst.

    "She might have overcome what I did to her, but you were the one who broke her when she watched you steal your betrothed's heart...She left because she couldn't stand either of us. Because she couldn't stand you, and she came back a corpse."

    "I know none of that excuses my behavior or the things I said to you," Azael added when he finally finished. "But I suppose, maybe now you understand a little better. It was...it is my fault that things are the way they are. That my mother is dead and my father is all but losing his mind. I don't even know if Orilight will glow for me, and I haven't wielded it because I'm afraid to find out."

    "Honestly, I even came on this quest for selfish reasons. I came to prove myself. I don't know for what or to whom, but I know that's why I came. Not because I thought any of you needed me, but because I selfishly needed to make myself feel like I've done something important and worthwhile."

    Tissaia was quiet for a moment after he finished, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Thank you for telling me that. And you're right. I was worried. I didn't think about what I was saying. I was just afraid and knew I had to keep your attention somehow. But that doesn't excuse what I said to you afterwards. I was equally terrible to you. Gods," she groaned, squeezing her eyes closed. "Azael, Darling..."

    Something hopeful stirred within him. If she was calling him that already, perhaps he was slightly forgiven. Tissaia's sapphire gaze met his, brimming with sorrow. "Darling, your mother didn't hate you," she said gently. "And I never should have said otherwise. I know it's not true, and it never has been. Do you know what she said to me after our betrothal was made official?"

    Azael shook his head and Tissaia smiled. "She told me that if I made the same mistakes as those females you were with on the Isle of Lorn, if I ever used you or hurt you like they did, she'd make sure I learned my manners in a way that I would never forget. Then she told me she was glad that the King had agreed to choose me, because she thought I would be the best fit for you, and perhaps it would offer us a chance at experiencing love in our lives."

    Azael jerked his gaze away and cleared his throat, even as he tucked the words away in the back of his mind. "I don't think I have any clue how to love another person," he murmured. "I never experienced much to learn from. That's part of the reason why I've never agreed to marry you. You don't deserve to be trapped in a loveless marriage."

    "Would it be?" That coaxed his gaze back to hers. Tissaia held it as she asked again. "Would our marriage be loveless?"

    He gazed at her, his heart all but screaming the answer, but he couldn't voice it. He couldn't give her the answer she wanted, even now that she understood more. Not with the Seer's words ringing in his ears day and night. He could never subject her to his fate, and as long as a child never existed, he would never have to fear dooming his son too. No matter what it cost or how badly it clawed at his heart.

    Tissaia drew a deep breath, something about it sounding almost resigned. But she didn't push the question again. Instead, she said, "I was wrong. I don't think Mavron could ever admit he made a mistake, and he certainly wouldn't apologize for it. You might resemble your father and share his blood, but you are not him. In one conversation alone, you have proven to be more than he ever could be."

    Azael said nothing as Kahari and Vael came traipsing back out of the thinning trees. He could hear the rush of water close by, and within minutes, Oriana's Pavilion was in sight. Two familiar figures were already coming to meet them.