Chapter 6

Raye neighed and butted her head against Serenity's shoulder. Serenity reached up and stroked Raye's long snout. "Hello beautiful." She then looked back at Endymion to gauge his reaction. But there was only mild surprise in his eyes. Hers narrowed slightly trying to read something deeper. Her breath puffed out in little white clouds. It was colder here in his world. She looked cold and he unhooked his cape to wrap around her bare arms. Her dress was a simple white frock, a little too thin for his world and he wrapped the cloak tighter around her thinking he needed to find some way to keep it closed and secure. He could still see her legs through the glossimer material. "Do you understand now why I held your hand?" When he shrugged her frown deepened. "I wanted to make sure you knew who you were looking at and didn't feel cheated that I didn't come through with you."

"I wouldn't have mistaken you for anybody else." He gave the land around them a sweep of his hand, they were far from the cliffs they had been on before but still there was nobody. They were not yet out of them completely though, just beyond the last one. "There's nobody with whom I could mistake you with." He tugged her towards him and made to lift her up. "It's time we get going. We have a long journey to take back and we have to go around the town. Probably give it a wide birth."

Raye gave a sound of agreement but Serenity held up a hand. "Wait- Endymion give me a second, let me look." And he allowed her to. She had no reason to tell him about the one-fae rule. And if they were both telling the truth then she couldn't very well leave him without his approval. He supposed she would want to see what she had done to herself.

She found an icy patch as the water clung to the rock wall and touched her face in surprise. She touched her features gently and turned her head to look closely. When her eyes trained on him the blues were bluer than ever before and there was now black in her eyes and he almost thought it was a bad omen if it wasn't what was 'natural'. She swallowed hard. "I take it back, you are different. I'm still me, only..."

"Human."

"Plainer." Serenity countered. "Everything about me is not just so human, but my hair is a flat blond, my skin is only pale not translucent. My eyes and lips are plain and dull." She gave a small turn and the wings were not even reflecting in the moonlight now. They didn't even reflect in what was in the sky, the end of the sun as it sank behind the cliffs. In other areas the sun would be visible for another hour or so but here it was darker sooner.

"Are they gone?" He asked wondering if they'd disappeared now that they were out of her world.

"In a manner of speaking. I know they're still there but nobody will be able to see or touch them now. You cannot remove a part of me. Think of it more like they're welded to my body now but with no possibility of a human noticing. Same thing with my ears." She ran a few fingers along the tips but the motion she made was uninhibited as she followed the line he could see. He didn't understand how she could do that and yet still have her elf ears. Perhaps it became more like a ghost sensation, like a phantom limb?

"Why are you surprised? Didn't you do this to yourself?" She shook her head in the negative. "Then this is what happens to protect you when you enter the human world?"

"No. If I were to enter the human world of my own choosing, then my appearance would not change. I would be as I were in there. I have no control over what I look like. The boundary between one world to the next does not either."

"Then why?" Endymion reached out and traced the shell of her ear. He'd wanted to do so before and her head turned into his touch without trying to. He found he liked touching her.

"Because of you." She whispered and there was a strained note in her voice as if she liked him touching her too.

"But I didn't-" Then Raye's head was between them, butting him away from her and if he wasn't good on his feet he would have been knocked over. As it was Serenity had to cling to Raye to stay upright.

She gave a laugh to lessen the impact. "I'm not used to being without my wings. I feel a little off balanced."

"Then let me help you." Endymion side-stepped the firery horse and swung Serenity up into his arms so he could put Serenity onto Raye's back. He made to join her but Raye moved without his say-so and he had to jog to keep up. He tried once more to swing up onto her back but Raye took off into a run without him. "Hey! Come back here!"

Serenity's fingers snarled into Raye's mane and pulled so hard that the horse whined in protest and it looked like Serenity was being pulled off the horse as she did so. Raye turned and trotted back, he hadn't said how fast she had to return. "Please don't do that."

"Me or the horse?" He asked now being able to join her on the horse's back. He had always called her Flame for her grace and he wasn't sure how to address her now that he knew her real name.

"Both." He felt Serenity's shoulders shift against his chest as he rode with her. One arm was around her waist while his other hand held the reigns. Perhaps he didn't need these either anymore. He really didn't know how to go from here. She was still so tiny. He felt like an ogre holding her captive like this. "Where to now?" She asked when silence threatened to drown them.

"To get my gear and head onto the next check point. I need to meet up with whomever could have survived the last attack. There will be news and further plans when we reach it."

Serenity ran her fingers through Raye's mane, as if trying to soothe the pain she, or was it he, that was caused earlier. "Raye says she knows the woman which relayed the instructions to you. Raye can find her again if you wish it."

"I'd rather not. She is too obvious a choice and I don't believe she will be the one sent to update me on the next move. We must communicate through very specific channels."

"You do not like the Queen very much do you?" Serenity questioned softly, her eyes on the setting sun and he followed her gaze, thinking of his answer. He had no reason to hide much from her but at some point he might have to sell her and anything she knew could be used against him.

"Why did your world shake?"

"Now who is avoiding an answer?" She teased and leaned back into his embrace. "You were planning on abducting me. The borat is not pleased with changes to his environment. He can sense when someone is up to no good, despite their 'honorable' intentions earlier. Sometimes flukes happen. Not very often but they can. Now that you no longer wish to capture another fae we can move between worlds again."

"You never told me that. If I had known it I might have agreed to that promise earlier."

"You already knew you could not find them again." Serenity looked up at his jaw. "Even with me in your midst we would not be able to if you meant the residents harm or anything else. I may be fae and able to travel between lands when looking for them for whatever reason, a human cannot. Now you can at least bypass one obstacle."

"The looking for them part?" Endymion checked and she nodded her agreement. "We're going to be going into fae territory a lot then?" He wasn't sure what he'd had planned but he wasn't opposed to going to a land that was safe from those who wanted him dead.

"I thought you wanted my help." Serenity said turning to look at him as they rode. He was still a young man but with brown hair and eyes, his appearance was bulky to make viewers second guess themselves if they wanted to attack him. It was not the dark haired man with the enchanting blue eyes she had first met. His horse was a brown now too. She slid her hand into Raye's mane and stroked the horse subconsciously.

"I do."

"Why?" She looked truly curious.

"To defeat the Queen."

"So you can rule in her place?" She turned to look forward once more. "Do you think you're the better ruler?"

"I don't know who should rule this country, I only know she should not. She has stolen all the life from this land and what was once a vibrant country is now broken." He liked to look down at the bare slope of the back of her neck as she bent it forward. It surprised him and he stopped himself from tracing that line with his lips. There were more pressing matters at hand. He thought about what she'd asked him. "I do not know her daughters but they are too young to rule."

"She has a son." Serenity spoke and he stilled so he didn't even breath. "The Queen has a son?" Was she talking about him? He wasn't her son, he knew both of his parents.

The girl in front of him nodded. "He drifts aimlessly through the worlds looking for a place to call his own. His mother did not want him, she had power and greed on her mind. She knew bringing a child from a previous coupling would not sit well with your father." So she did know the truth of his origins. Whether she knew that from the first moment or not, he wasn't sure and he probably wouldn't ask. He was more interested in the knowledge he could gain about the Queen. Have a child out of wedlock would not tear the woman from the throne.

"Especially a male child when he wanted daughters." Endymion added and saw the tree which he'd hidden his pack. Raye moved quickly and smoothly and Serenity had proficiently distracted him so he didn't notice the ground being ate up. They'd had no problems on the way back.

"Her children will not rule." Serenity promised him and he didn't know how she could be so assured on that point. They were for all practical purposes next in line if the Queen managed to dispose of him permanently.

"If I were to die-"

He saw her head shake and her eyes locked onto his as she turned once more in her seat. He was still disconcerted by the change in her. He had grown used to her original appearance. But she was still breathtakingly beautiful. "If you were to die, which you will not if I have anything to say about it, her children will still be grasping for a crown that will never be theirs."

Endymion slid from the horse to deal with getting his pack down from the tree. It was easier to toss it up there and he pondered what she said. "Are you a seer?"

"No. Raye has some gifts in that realm but I know my fae. The Queen's daughters will not be able to complete what their mother set out to do. They will be forced to follow in the fae's footprints and their human side will make it impossible for them to resist to the pull."

"They are half fae?" Endymion almost fell out of the tree in surprise. "The Queen is fae?"

"She is."

Endymion retrieved his pack and slid it along his body so it rested behind him. "How do you know so much about her?"

"I am very old and I have seen many things." Serenity announced with some gravity and he eyed her thoughtfully.

"Is that why you are sure I will win?"

"I don't know any such thing. I just know that I will help you in whatever way I can. I agree that she is unfit to rule. It will take a very strong and very compassionate ruler to turn this place around. Though it was never as vibrant as you seem to believe."

"If you're so old, how come you still look like a very young woman?"

"In my world you do not age. People go and seek a chalice for eternal youth, they do not realize that they're standing in it. Humans are too impatient to realize that they are not aging. Usually the fae are sent into the human world until they become adults."

"Did you?"

"Enter the human world?" Serenity questioned and then shook her head. "No. It was too dangerous for me."

"Because you are so youthful mentally?"

"Because of what I am, not who I am. As for your assumption that just because I am playful I am not wise, I hope you will change that opinion sooner rather than later. You could learn a lot from me child."

His face twisted as he mounted the horse again and sent her off in another direction. "If you judge on looks alone, I am your elder."

Her finger came out and traced the taunt skin of his hand. "Your looks change too often to make a relevant argument in that fashion."

"This is the most fluid conversation we have ever had." Endymion announced with some surprise. Not once had she spouted off into another conversation point and leaving the one they had just had completely in the dust. While they did move from topic to topic without fully hashing it out, it was followable rather than just jumping ship.

"Part of my curse." She sighed and leaned into him. "You own me."

He wanted to question her about that statement but he also wanted to go back to an earlier topic now that he thought of it. "Why other fae lands?"

"I am going to find us help." She admitted. "Though the fae will not like you and will need some convincing. Just be prepared to have a challenge on your hands. Now no more questions. I haven't had a night where I could not fly, it is exhausting to tamp down on that part of me."

He thought he could handle any challenge easily, he didn't know exactly what he was in for that point. She was right to have warned him. He would have asked more questions but she was asleep in his arms.