Healing

It took an extra day to plot their course before the group could finally leave Valiant. Not wanting to head out blindly, they had carefully coordinated their roads and planned stops.

"A day of planning is better than a week of being lost," Eira reminded the impatient princess.

Mairwen was not usually in on the course-plotting, though she was quite capable, and she had no idea how much work was involved. Even with her new found appreciation for the task, the princess was still quite eager to leave.

"At the rate we are going, it will take longer to plan our trip than to actually take it," the princess lamented.

Although she felt there was no time to lose, the rest of the group was too cautious to be rushed. At last everything was set for them to leave the following day.

After some parting words of farewell, the group all headed to their own rooms to sleep one last night at the inn. Yet, sleep did not come to the raven-haired lady.

Mairwen tossed and turned, but all that filled her head was thoughts of Dania and those reptilian creatures who had stolen her research. What could they possibly want with it?

She poked her husband, but he rolled away from her. It was no use waking him when he was obviously sound asleep. 'Alaron will be awake,' the princess thought.

Mairwen could not explain it, but often she could just sense her brother. Even when everyone said he was dead, something in her told her it wasn't true. Her instincts just now said her brother was as restless as she was.

The princess slid out of the side of the bed and slipped on her simple shift. The door creaked in protest as she entered the hall, yet her husband did not wake.

Entering the hallway, Mairwen immediately spotted a shadow leaving the room next door. The cloaked figure was unmistakable. Alaron was on the move.

Careful not to wake anyone, the dark-haired woman waved to get his attention. However, the young Guardian did not seem to see her. Alaron hurried in the other direction and out of the inn.

Unable to assuage her curiosity, the princess followed. For a moment, she felt like she was chasing a dream or even a phantom, but the movement was too intentional for her to believe such a thing. In the streets, the once bustling city was eerily quiet.

Alaron ghosted with the shadows of the buildings and suddenly disappeared between two of them. Mairwen stifled a gasp. Had she lost him so easily? She closed her eyes and shivered. It was colder in the evenings outside than her simple shift was made for.

A warm blanket draped across her shoulders as Alaron came out from the shadows beside her. "You really should not follow me like that. Or if you do, get better at it," the Guardian whispered, amusement in his voice.

"Where are you going at this hour?" Mairwen pulled the blanket tightly around her like a shawl. It seemed her brother had just about everything hidden in his mysterious cloak.

The man's silent chuckling stilled as his shoulders drooped. "To visit another person I let down. I usually do that when I am in town. Do you want to come?"

Nodding, the princess fell in step behind the nearly silent shadow. They moved rapidly through the town to a lowered depression that was near the city walls. Mairwen recognized the spot immediately. She had visited it almost daily for a year. It was the Valley of Kings--the royal graveyard.

"Who have we come to see here?" The blue-eyed woman had a guess, though perhaps she was missing a piece of the puzzle.

Alaron took her hand, drawing strength from his twin, and wound his way to the lowest part of the cemetery. Even though it was within the city's limits, the low place was filled with a lingering fog. Yet the mist was somehow comforting to the two visitors, like a shield that would hide them as they carried out their business.

The Guardian knelt at a gravestone as he ran his fingers along the masonry, touching each letter with care. B-I-R-G-E-R. By tradition, Councilmen who gave their service to the crown had the option of being buried with the Kings of old. Birger had no family, so he was added to the hallowed ground--though too far early in his life.

"I watched him die." Alaron told Mairwen. "At my coronation, Councilman Birger stood up and called out Ravenna for pretending to be the Empress. Cafer stabbed him in cold blood and then acted as if nothing had happened. I was so drugged that I could only watch. Why couldn't I stop Cafer?! I just sat there."

The Guardian pinched at his nose and rubbed below his eyes as liquid threatened to flow down his face. A comforting hand fell across his shoulder. "Cafer killed him. Not you."

"My actions led to his death," the man insisted, his silver eyes flashing in her direction.

"That may be true…And yet, I am sure he would forgive you. Look at you now. A Guardian and a champion for humanity." The princess wrapped her arms around her brother's shoulders from behind and lay her head on his shoulder. "He would be proud of who you are now."

"I don't want to let anyone down again like I did with him. I won't let you down, Mairwen. We will find Dania." In response to his conviction, the fog seemed to part and make a circle around them, guarding them from the outside world.

The pair stayed for quite some time talking about Birger and his headstrong tendencies. They had memories of the red headed man making the most outlandish claims and yet still being gentle as a lamb when it came to his affection for his rulers and his country.

Usually these visits were guilt ridden for Alaron, but this one was healing. Mairwen always had that effect on him. She was always able to help him move forward. He would return the favor. "Thank you," he said when they had fallen into a companionable silence.

"For what?" Mairwen cocked her head.

"For sneaking out and coming after me." Alaron said with a hint of teasing. He nudged his sister with his shoulder as she sat beside him.

The woman swayed and chuckled lightly. "Anytime."

A wolf's howl pierced the night, bringing the princess and Guardian back from their reverie. Even the fog closed in around them at the haunting sound.

"We should probably head back," Alaron said as he stood from the ground. A chill ran down his spine as he remembered the warning about wolves from Petyr. He hoped the crazy fool would be fine out on the road in a carriage.

Nodding, Mairwen took the hand her brother offered and rose from the soft grass. "The other two will miss us if they haven't already."

Under the cover of the fading darkness, the twins went back to the inn. Whereas the streets had been almost completely abandoned before, many shopkeepers and early risers of all sorts were beginning to rouse in their dwellings and come into the streets to fetch their morning water.

The pair avoided most of the people, quietly acknowledged a few, and were happy to finally get back to the inn. The princess removed her shift and climbed into bed, far more at peace with the world than she had been before.

Renat wrapped his arm around her. "Where have you been?" he asked groggily.

"Some watchdog you are," she teased. "I've been gone for ages, and you just now noticed?"

Renat's eyes opened wide; he was suddenly very alert. "Where have you been?!" he repeated with more fervor. The man knew he was a heavy sleeper, but that kind of absence scared him to his core.

"I will tell you after I rest a little. Everything is fine. Just hold me." Mairwen snuggled deep into his embrace and her breathing slowed.

Unable and unwilling to deny her request, the man tightened his grip and breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened, the woman was safe and back with him. For now, that was enough.

It was late morning when the princess was finally roused from her slumber. She awoke with a jump and nearly elbowed Renat in the face. At some point he had wriggled from underneath her to get ready and was standing over her with a loaf of bread.

"We are late!" Mairwen exclaimed.

"I tried to wake you earlier, but you were sleeping so hard that not even pinching you (Alaron's idea!) made you stir." The tall scientist offered the bread and Mairwen took it as she got dressed. Packing up their things, the group left the inn for the final time.

"You move pretty fast when you finally wake up, sleeping beauty," Alaron teased her as they headed to the stables.

"Not everyone can survive on no sleep," the princess countered. "That's the last time I follow you into a graveyard."

"What?!" Renat interrupted. "Is that where you went?"

Mairwen explained as the group went to get their horses. Thankfully it was not as macabre as the scientist had initially thought. Guardians and their ways were still a bit of a mystery to the lanky man, and so all sorts of theories had run through his mind.

"You have some strange habits," Renat said to Alaron at last.

"Right back at you," the Guardian laughed.

The stable caretaker hurried toward them, ushering the group out of the stable. "You need to hurry if you want to make it."

The four, who were mounting their steeds in the thoroughfare eyed him curiously. "Make what?" Eira asked.

The stable hand pointed down the street. "The parade is almost here. The Empress is coming!"

Galvanized into action, those in the street were caught up in a great surge toward the blessed event.

"That could be a problem," Alaron said to the others. But it was too late. The groups' horses were already caught up in the crowd's flow.