Hope Falls

"This is the conversation you need to be having with her, when you are both rested and rational." Kael repeated quietly. "Maybe without so much of the... blame attached to it though, mm? She won't want him working with the Adair's. Did you see her recoil when you called the wolves her people? She'll never be truly accepted, you know it, she does. She won't want the same for Sullivan."

“Not a conversation I want to have soon.” Wyatt spoke firmly, ending the conversation.

"I don't feel like either of you need company tonight, so, I am going to go back to my own rooms." Kael swallowed, finally getting to his feet. "We'll rearrange what we had planned tonight. Yeah?"

“No - stay. I feel awful. We agreed you’d spend the night here.”

"No. You shouldn't be focusing on me tonight, there are three people here who need more of the energy you have left."

“My son is asleep, Florence has made her feelings clear. You do not need to leave…”

"You have years on me. You have... centuries on me so don't think I am rude but I think the only thing she has made clear is that she is overwhelmed. I think you need each other tonight."

“She closed the door behind her. That signals that I am not welcome and this is my bedroom for tonight.” Wyatt snorted. “I will not force you to stay if you feel uncomfortable, but do not feel you have to go.”

"I'm not staying here, I would like you to just.. try and go in there though. Humour me. We'll bet on it if you want to."

“No… no. Nothing productive will come from talking tonight. We both need space.”

Kael nodded his acceptance, grabbing his hand to pull him into a hug. "If you need me, find me. I'll see you soon."

(( Night night ))

“Good night Kael.”

---

The next morning…

“Morfyyd, chew. If you choke it will not be pleasant for anyone.” Isolde sighed softly as her daughter popped whole grapes into her mouth from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table, having finished her main breakfast five minutes earlier after wolfing that down too.

Mor giggled and raised her eyebrows as she popped another grape into her mouth and swallowing dramatically, looking across the table at Kael and grinning for his approval.

Kael tried to appear stony-faced, mouth set in a neutral line as he shook his head at his sister. Though his words were uneven with the laughter behind them, "No, it's serious. You might really gwt hurt Mor." A smile finally broke through then, chuckling as he added, "Grapes are the most deadly weapon in our artillery."

Aodhän cast a sharp gaze up to glare at Kael, "You shouldn't be encouraging her."

---

Karina lay bleary eyed in the bed in the healing quarters, too exhausted to even flinch away as one of Devika's acolytes peeled off the bandage from her head to check her injury. Having opened her eyes for the first time since the fall only an hour earlier.

---

Sullivan stood in the doorway of his room, closed cupped hands being used to rub the sleep from the corners of his eyes with a yawn. Demeanour changing entirely however, almost bouncing on the tips of his toes when he spotted his father's boots in the door. Taking in a deep breath to yell excitedly; "Dad!"

“You are done playing with your food Mor, return to your room to be dressed, Alice will be doing your hair today before your lessons.”

“But I do not like it when she does it! You need to do it!”

“Mor! Your father and I need to talk to Kael. You have been excused. Go.” Isolde instructed, already at the end of her tether with her daughter despite the time of day. Watching we Mor stuck out her tongue at her mother before pushing away from the table and stomping out with exaggeration.

"It is very amusing, seeing your attitude just uncontrolled and in a small child." Kael directed at his mother with a chuckle as his sister left. Picking up a red Berry and biting into it.

"There isn't time for jest, Kael."

“From what our Seers have gathered, Prince Ishaan will be marrying Lady Zoya.” Isolde lead the conversation, moving to sit back into her seat as she took a drink of her tea. “In Baldruun the brides wear a thick veil until the ceremony is over, and they have not seen the reveal, but they have seen, smelled, heard enough in between to conclude that it is almost certain the eldest daughter is the one to marry the Prince. Your father and I have had several discussions over the last few days between ourselves and the council - you would have been included had you not taken yourself to the city - and we have concluded that the best thing for relations with Baldruun is for our presence to be noted at the wedding and coronation. You and your father, to be specific.”

"When you and I had a conversation about it all, the first night I came home, you said that it would be ridiculous for any of us to go. You said it would be too dangerous, that we would be risking entrapment and that we would send a representative instead so that we didn't cause any offence." Kael frowned, reaching across to grab another berry so he had something to do with his hands. "'Why have you changed your mind?"

"We need to focus on how we appear to the rest of the continent, this one and the East. We will be seen as rude, it will look like we are carrying on the aggression if we don't make the gesture." Aodhän's brows furrowed. "'This isn't something that can be debated, Kael."

"'You would leave mother and Morfydd alone? Whilst mother is vulnerable?" Kael crossed his arms over his chest, meeting his father's gaze. "It is a trek to the East. A long way if anything happens."

“It kills all the necessary birds with one stone. It accepts King Amirs gracious invitations he’s been offering for years and which we were starting to seem rude by declining over and over. It gives you an opportunity to travel as you wish to - it will not all be politics. You said you were open to the idea of looking at brides. This way you can sit in Amirs palace whilst they all come to you in succession rather than it taking them months and months of travel. It makes you look incredibly gracious and thinking of the ladies wellbeing that you are willing to take the hard travel rather than make them do it twice over. You get to build your own relationships with the Eastern rulers, and by attending Ishaan’s coronation and assuring him that you are personally taking great care of his sister and that she is more than just a prisoner, it may ease any remaining tensions.” Isolde set her cup down on the table. “You are free, to say no of course. You’re a grown man and I cannot force you to do it. But it will be important for your reign later on and you will benefit from it. You will gain the travel you have wanted, allies for the future. You can report back to Indira what you have seen with your own eyes, and put her at ease. Perhaps if you build things up enough with Ishaan you can have what remains of Indira’s things brought back over, to provide greater comfort. We are aware there is a risk. But your father has had the Seers pressed for days looking at every choice and so far they have seen nothing violent.”

'I went to speak to the ancestors last night, before my return home. Wyatt accompanied me, found the shaman do it." Kael took in a breath, shoulders dropping as he tried to relax. "Ada came through, she spoke of me and my sisters. She wouldn't have said that to me if something was destined to happen to your baby, right? Right?"

"Another girl? Oh." Aodhän smiled warmly, hand finding Isolde's under the table to squeeze it tightly.

“No… no I don’t think she would have. That’s good to hear.” Isolde smiled softly, taking Aodhän’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “You saw Ada… Did she divulge anything else?”

"That it isn't just her that the ancestors welcomes, but Dmitri too. She said the two of them are together, and well and happy. She said had they not both been laid to rest here, if we had not honoured them as we had then that wouldn't have been the case so she was thankful. Thankful to us all." Kael offered a warm smile, leaning back in the chair. "Fiadh is with her family. At peace. All of them are at peace."

“That’s wonderful to hear Kael… do you feel a little better about things now? About them being together when you were worried otherwise?”

"I knew Fiadh would be okay, I - I had no worries about her at all. Ada and Dmitri is a relief though, yes." Kael offered a warm smile. "I will have wife and children in the future which is... expected, obvious really but her tone was light so I think that whoever it ends up being I will actually do more than tolerate them. Indira's life is going to be tied to mine, forever now, whatever that means..."

“Well… even as King you’ll need to keep her here so I suppose you will be connected mm? You learned a lot.”

"Fiadh was uh, never meant to have a mate either. It wasn't ever meant for her, even if she had lived which is... " Kael wrinkled his nose. "It's something. I can't unexplain how it feels."