Jaekel

"…."

Jaekel had slept really well the night before they set out to stop whatever was going on in Nix'Ryl. It was not that he had not dreamed, but it was one of his peaceful, very private, dreams.

He tried not to dwell on it as he met his family in the front hall. Surrounded by people he loved he smiled happily. He hugged his mom and dad one last time, as well as Rune's parents, as she did the same thing and listened to his father complain that he was not taking anyone else.

But Jaekel could not shake the feeling that it might be better to have less people and Amrunela was all he really needed. At least he knew for a fact both of them would be able to survive for a few more years at least. Whether they would succeed or not was something he did not know.

He was glad that Rune would be with him. He shuddered at the thought of going more than twelve hours without seeing her faelike face.

"Well, the sooner we are off the quicker we will be back!" He grinned at them, and then added, "Don't worry, nothing too bad will happen to us!"

Jaekel might trust too much in his visions, but it was not so much his visions as the one behind them that he trusted. He had been assigned a mission at birth, and though he might not know exactly what that fully meant, it did come with some perks.

As Rune and he left and climbed onto the horses, he grinned at her, "Aren't you glad that I forced you to learn how to ride, now?"

She rolled her eyes at him, and tossed him a bright smile, "Did you know that I would need it?"

"Nah, it's just a really useful skill." He leaned forward and directed his horse forward, making sure it moved slowly enough that she could easily catch up.

"You seem really perky today." She caught up to him, so they were riding side by side. "No dreams?"

"No nightmares," He kept his eyes on the road.

"Really, what was your dream about?"

Immediately, hearing her question, Jaekel's cheeks reddened. He just barely managed to shortly say to her, "None of your business."

Her laughter pealed out, "Why are you blushing? You know, I don't think I've ever seen you blush. So, why are you blushing now?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Because I find the fact that I occasionally dream about a little girl calling me papa embarrassing, okay?"

"Awww…." Rune placed her hands over her heart, "What is her name?"

He smiled, and knew his eyes grew tender thinking about his future child with the woman he already desperately loved, "Karita. And she looks like her mother so much…"

"Karita, huh? It's a pretty name." Rune laughed happily, and then paused, "But you do know I am going to tease you about this until this child is born, right?"

"Indubitably." He laughed softly, underneath his breath. Of course, she would. He had only told her because he did not want her assuming a different kind of dream causing that blush. That was a misunderstanding he would do anything to prevent.

They fell into a comfortable silence until dusk when they pulled up short in order to make camp. There were still quite a few miles to go before they even reached Nix'Ryl.

They pitched their tents and made a quick stew for supper. Neither one of them were exactly good at cooking but before they had left, they had gotten the cook to teach them a few simple dishes.

"Night, Rune." He hugged her and then slipped into his tent. They did not really have to worry about any threats in the night as long as they were in their native kingdom.

"Goodnight, my prince!" He heard her soft laughter and knew she was turning in as well. He fell into an exhausted sleep, not even caring that the ground was hard, or that he was sleeping on a tree root.

His dreams that night was of a woman with a beautiful smile, who always lifted his heart whenever it was down, who he would gladly die for. It was their wedding day, one of the very sweetest dreams he ever had. And it was the dream that left him the happiest when he woke up. Even their kids were nothing compared to that sweet smile of bridal surrender.