Hope Falls

"Get off of the horse, Draven. Let us speak properly." Sarika told him quietly, waving the guards on when a few of them stopped and looked at her. "Your priority is Izsak, Draven and I can look after ourselves."

---

"No, it is no one's fault. The Guardian's came for the girl too young, the Guardian's gave her to us too untrained." Aodhän sighed. "You liked her, initially, the fire you say you hate now. You liked that she had the confidence to speak against you. I think, had our lives been calmer, this wouldn't be an issue at all. I think the two of us - me included - need to take a deep breath and give her a fresh chance if we want to have any use of her."

“Mm… where has all this wisened calm come from?” Isolde chuckled.

---

“You want to do this here? Now?”

"The quiet conversation the two of you just had." Aodhän laughted quietly. "There is potential, Sol. You made the relation to her behaving like Kael does yourself. I told the little lover of hers to be careful with her because she was just a girl compared to us. I still believe that."

---

"I want us to be okay." Sarika whispered, waiting until the guards have moved on before leaning forward and sliding from her own horse. "I would rather we work through this here, now. Where people are not near to gossip."

“So we are to treat her as a child? You think that is best?”

---

Draven sighed in irritation as he stopped his horse and got down too, setting his jaw.

"Not as a child, that would be patronising but perhaps as a human. I think if she is desperate for friendship, if we provide that then we it will make the rest of our time with her much easier. Do whatever it is girl friends do with her; picnics and talk about boys."

---

"You know I love Izsak, but only the same amount you love him." Sarika whispered, "I - I was out of order accusing you of feeling anything for Matilida, I know you would never do that to your brothers memory... or me. I was speaking from fear, nothing more."

“You spoke thinking I would deliberately go out of my way to hurt you. What kind - “ Draven shook his head, inhaling sharply. “I thought you understood that I wasn’t that monster I have to be with them, with you. But you genuinely saw me doing it - getting with her, as an act of petty revenge. Maybe the war has changed us both too much for this to be repairable if it’s made you think so lowly of me. Especially after everything. I allow myself to be humiliated, brutalised, in front of people who are never going to respect me again. But that’s not enough for me to prove my loyalty even after all this time is it?”

---

“Boys?” Isolde chuckled then, smile tugging at her mouth.

"Men; me." Aodhän grinned cheekily at her. "Go to her and gush how you are absolutely obsessed with me and she will soon trust you. She'll think you are being vulnerable to her."

---

"You took the whipping because you had to prove to me that you were loyal?" Sarika frowned, taking a few paces closer to him and resting her hand against his biceps gently. "The war has changed nothing of us. I had to give the command to hurt you and that is where my fears root from. It is nothing to do with you, and I'm sorry that I have twisted it to make it feel like that. I love you, Draven and when we get home all I want to do is hide in our room with you for a few days."

“I took it so you wouldn’t appear weak. So you wouldn’t appear vulnerable. Manipulated by me. So that your people could see that you are still their leader and still the best one they will ever have. I took it because it was what was best for you, your rule, this country; but even doing that doesn’t prove to you that I care. Because you think I don’t. You think I would harm you on purpose, manipulate someone else whilst doing so. My dead brothers fiancée’s feelings meaning fuck all.” Draven shook his head. “When we get back you will have Izsak to tend to.”

---

“Nobody will ever hear me gush over you like a sapling girl.” Isolde flushed then, shaking her head with a laugh. “It’s unbecoming!”

"No I don't, no I don't. Not truly." She denied quietly, wrapping her arms around to pull him into a tight embrace, one of her hands moving up to tangle her fingers in his hair and close her eyes. "I have been unfair to you. Please forgive me..."

---

"I must be unworthy of your gushing then." Aodhän gasped in faux offence, a hand moving to his chest.

“You not trusting me hurts far more than any public whipping could, to both my ego and my heart.” Draven shook his head, pulling away and moving to get back on his horse. Though not moving, unwilling to allow her to be alone.

---

“I gush often enough to you about yourself, no wonder your head is growing.”

"I am not ready to go back yet; to be strong and stony faced." Isolde mumbled, walking to the nearest tree and sitting down at the base of its trunk. "I do not feel strong." She added in quiet sorrow.

---

"It was bound to happen when Her Majesty showed an interest in me, wasn't it?" Aodhän grinned. "You could have chosen anyone you wanted."

“Well then you must put on a good show.”

---

“I didn’t choose you…” Isolde shook her head. “You were chosen for me by whatever fates there are. How else would you fit so completely into my soul?”

((Night))

"I am tired..." She began, though let her voice drift off into silence as she stared into the trees ahead. Listening as the wind whistled through the branches before adding quietly; "I have been since we lost our boy, and I can not put on a show if I have lost your love too. It was the only thing that made me strong."

---

"I think it was her, not the Fates. She treasured you, she adored me." Aodhän answered confidently. "I know it was them, actually; the two of them Who better to look after one another's broken hearts than each other? We will look after and love one another, the way they will also do for themselves."

(( Night ))

“You’re the one trying to throw it away, acting as if I’ve moved on to someone else. You accusing me of being with Matilda fucking hurt, Sarika.”

---

Isolde fell silent at hearing that, tightening her hand on the reigns as she considered his answer.

"And I'm sorry... I didn't mean it."

---

Aodhän's face contorted into a frown once the silence had taken hold, shifting his weight in the saddle a little uncomfortably and whispering; "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to upset you."

“No it’s - I never thought of it that way, that’s all…”

---

“No. You just wanted to hurt me, which is shit.”

"You-" Sarika began, before shaking her head and dropping whatever it was she was going too say. Lifting her hand up to rub her temples, waiting until she had evened her own breathing out before reaching her arms out to him to offer a hug. Repeating again, quietly; "I'm sorry."

---

"I have for awhile now,"

“What made you think of it like that?”

---

“Get back on your horse. We need to be far enough away when the Fae realised we have duped them. We can discuss this at home.”

Sarika slowly dropped her arms to the side, turning away as her eyes began to shine with tears. Silently pulling herself back up and pushing the horse forward without another word.

---

"We were down by the water, you were readying the boat with Kael to take it out to see the Selkies; one of the stories you told him was one of her favourites and it just... felt like a sign. It felt like she'd given us all a nudge to get to where we are."

“Was this before we got together?”

---

((Are you okay for a skip for a few hours till the wolves are home?))

Aodhän just gave a quiet nod of confirmation.

---

(( No problem! You first? ))

Many hours later…

“The healers are saying they think his tongue has been cut out.” Draven murmured as he entered his and Sarika’s chambers after checking on Izsak. “He refuses to open his mouth and speak to them, tell them anything about his time with the Fae, what they have done to him… it wouldn’t be unheard of, Isolde is known for taking the tongues of those who won’t divulge information, and we always knew he wouldn’t break… Other than that he’s still not in good shape…”

---

“And how long after that did you wait?”

"I should go and see him soon aswell," Sarika frowned, shaking her head at his words. "If we have good luck when the girl loses control she'll cause damage, it would be what they deserve. I have been looking at maps, updated by the scouts who have been slipping over the border. They think they've identified two maybe three holding cells. They've picked up scents from some of ours, the winged rats and the leeches around them."

---

"I don't know." Aodhän laughed quietly. "Too long, I imagine."

“Our kind come first… but if possible we rescue the others too. Then we can ransom them here…” Draven nodded. “If Isolde has indeed cut out Izsak’s tongue… we will have to spend whatever is necessary to get a Witch to fix it if possible. If one of the defectors can’t do it then we’ll have to venture over the border and see someone who can.”

---

“But you are with me because it is what you want and not because you think it’s what your wife would have wanted?” Isolde asked quietly then, leaning over to scratch the ears of her horse to give her something to do with her free hand.

"Now we have Izsak back everyone will be hungry to get others home; even if it is just recovering bodies so something will have to be organised soon." Sarika noted quietly, getting to her feet and walking toward the other side of the room to gaze out of the window - swiping a drink from the table as she walked past it to sip.

---

"Of course I am. I love you."