Julian, Day One
Arden.
When your mistress calls, she can rarely be denied. While it has only been a casual flirtation, finding yourself anathema to the sea has made the forest your call and duty.
There is the Grove, reminder of Finndo, the brother you never knew, but might have been familiar... there is the lumber to be cured for ships, the heartwood for Deirdre's forges, the hunting (ah yes, the hunting) ...
And today.
The more, ah, shall we call them "sensitive" folk would glamourize it into a "calling," a "stirring of destiny."
Whatever it is, it has Julian.
Julian, watching the falls, astride Morgenstern, as the water thunders into the Oisen. The sun is warm, the day is bright.
And there is a thundering of hooves as a bunch of riders approach. The horses are a glorious thing, silver and blue, the colours of the tides. The riders seem to be a part of their steeds.
"Aye, young Prince. Ride with us a while?"
"I will, and gladly," Julian answers them. "Where are you bound this morning?"
The one in front seems much like Oberon. He knows who you are... there's something very familiar about him. His hair is black, as is the mane of his horse. He wears a golden sword, as do the four with him. His eyes are very, very blue.
One of the riders gives a hearty laugh. "Why, we are unbound this morning, if you excuse the expression, your highness." He has white hair, with silvery eyes, and a blue and silver horse with a white mane.
The leader smiles. "My brothers and I are seeking a rare beast that has wandered too close to the borders. I am Robyn, this is Tam, Will, Naian, and Thess," riders of the black-maned, silver-maned, blue-maned, green-maned, and white-maned horses, respectively.
"And you may call me Julian, not 'your highness'," Julian responds.
"With pleasure, Julian," Robyn notes. He bows his head respectfully, then clicks to his horse a faint tonal clicking of the tongue. They begin to move, providing room in the way of such a group for Julian to join Robyn in front.
Naian's steed does not seem as close to or as comfortable with the others; it is younger, seemingly female. Thess looks over to Naian many times as if guarding him.
"Our father has implored our mutual King to set aside a force for Arden, but none since Finndo have found comfort there."
"None save myself, perhaps," Julian says. "You have the advantage of me; you know my father, but I confess I do not know yours, at least by that name."
"If the wind would not carry the name to your father, perhaps I would feel safer in unmasking him. Let us say that he is neither of your kin nor our steeds' own, and that he owes more to Lir's folk than those of the rocks." Robyn grins.
"That is not a proper riddle," Tam complains. "Say rather that he is no son of the moon, but his name is whispered every time the tides touch the sand, and you would still not reveal him as anything but a lord of the waters."
"Slippery fools," Naian says, riding up from in back. "Your highness, my brothers are as difficult to pin down as the element from which we arrived. Our father you know as Oisen." He reins in slightly, falling back.
Thess grimaces. Robyn laughs. "Indeed, we cannot help but take the indirect route. I plea you mercy, Julian. The Wild runs a little stronger than salt in our veins."
"If no offense is given, then no mercy is required," Julian comments. "And where do you ride today, be it ever so indirectly?"
"With hope, not to give mercy," Tam says, riding in front for a moment, then easing up.
Robyn nods. "My brother has it right. We have sensed a disturbance not far from here, and we hope to right a wrong. Things must remain in balance here, for all to live in peace."
Naian sounds startled at the sound of a hawk's cry. The riders view the sky with some suspicion. "We would have peace," he mutters, loud enough to be heard.
Robyn grins. "You need not worry, Naian. The spirits of the air have little quarrel with us today, and I do not think our good friend Julian in league with fires such as you fear."
"Nor any in Amber," Tam adds. The other two remain silent, but for grimaces. Some breach in etiquette, perhaps?
"I know not what manner of disturbance you fear," Julian admits, "but I value Arden's peace as you do, and if you wish my assistance, you may have it, and welcome."
"Should our eyes be open, we shall see," Tam says. He pulls back.
The ride takes you downstream for a while. Tam and Robyn share gleeful and cryptic remarks, and then are silent for a small time.
"If you do not mind us asking," Robyn begins, "my brothers and I would like to know what matter of horse it is you ride. Our steeds sensed only a distant kinship." "A matter of my own making," Julian responds, "part horse, part hurricane, and a number of things besides. Your steeds have the right of it. I call him Morgenstern."
There is a unworded murmur of small astonishments passing between the brothers. Robyn smiles. "A work of living art. Oberon grant you blessings, Morgenstern. May your magics breed true." He speaks directly to Morgenstern, as if accepting him as part of the group.
The trail is following the river towards the ocean. After some time, it splits off and moves upwards of the timberline, against the hills.
Naian has you stop. "There, brothers," he points at the remains of a campfire. "Something of the magic we sensed stayed here."
Tam seems unconvinced. "The one who wields cold flame needs no fire to keep him warm." He slides off his steed and kicks at the ashes.
The kick was a mistake, as the ashes seem to grab onto him, and start pulling him down into the rock. His horse screams and tramples at the ashes, missing Tam by a small measure, but allowing him to pull back. "Wait, wait, it is only illusion," he waves his hand. He pulls his leg up from what seems to be the rock. "There is a mouth of earth here, filled with ash."
Thess sighs in relief. "Are you then convinced?"
"I am then curious," Robyn says, helping Tam up. "We are expected, then, to look at the remains."
Tam is scraping something off of his boot. "This is silk of the web," he says. "I have not known the spider who has built this style of lair." He thumps a knife of bronze against his heel, scraping the remains off.
"Let us hope that this earth has no teeth," Naian suggests, moving around the campsite for anything else of value. There are no bones, nothing but some flattened dirt and the ashes to suggest what was eaten. A very clean camp.
"Or that if we visit her, it is a more pleasant hole we explore," Tam suggests, jumping up into his saddle with a grin.
The road becomes harder, and it is a single-file line against the mountain. From here, Julian can see the city outlined against the horizon. There are flares of light emerald and gold, from the castle, sending messages to outlying stations and reporting the latest ships come to harbor. The Hope's Beacon sails tonight, while the Dawn's Pursuit is expected in late, if Julian reads that right. Cabra can barely be seen, covered in the mist that hangs over the Kraken's Teeth.
Robyn hands over a small closed silver vial to Julian. "Might I interest you in a draught?" he asks. "We do not stop for our refreshment until the sun is cradled by the sea."
"Will it be so long, then, Robyn?" Will asks. His voice is deeper than the others'.
Robyn frowns. "By spirit and silver, I hope not. I have seen signs on our trail that we are not far from our quarry. Naian, do you prove me wrong?"
"No, brother. It is only the matter of summoning our prey that brings uncertainty."
Robyn nods at Will. "And that is your measure, fair William."
The young man nods, and he opens his mouth to have a long, echoing tone like that of a churchbell ring out. It lasts for a long time, punctuated by the sounds of the horses' climbing the rocky road. It bounces between the mountains, and then, just as abruptly as it began, it ends.
"Our challenge is set. We meet at the summit," Will says. He glances at Julian, almost as if to ask permission for what was already done.
"Your Highness," Robyn says, suddenly all manners again, he gestures towards the summit. "Watch your wards, watch your words. I mislike what we head towards."
His doubts are communicated in part to the attitude of the strange scaly horses the boys ride. Thess and Naian move backwards, defensively. Will's right hand is awash in a shimmering light that glows blue at its base, and white at its tips.
Afternoon seems to have slipped away in the ride, and the first three stars of evening have slipped into the violet tinge of Amber's sky. If this is Amber, still; there's a hazy feeling, a "between the veil of worlds" feeling, where solidity is not as certain.
Or perhaps it is that Julian wants to burn as bright as the men near him. The glamour that cloaked them is removed to show that they shine from inside, eyes bright as Julian's father when he is set on a task, skin glowing as Florimel's does as she walks through the garden. It is a heady feeling, both familiar and comfortable, except for the level of energy it requires.
Tam lets Robyn hold the lead. Crossing over the summit a fearful note makes Robyn's beast scream. It's a human scream, and Robyn is hard pressed to control the creature. Morgenstern, on the other hand, has no such fear, except to watch the hooves of Robyn's steed...and evaluate what lies before the seven of you.
A section of forest lies ahead of you, but the silver trees are turned black and red, as if their golden sap was turned to blood. If so, the trees are bleeding.
There is a creature in the clearing. One of the faces on its back is keening, a note that matches the challenge the Oisen brothers made. Another is busy eating at its own leg. It may have been humanoid before, but it is now a creature with several face-like structures. It has a main "head" with grey-white eyes, and several tentacles near its "mouth" that look more like the legs of a spider. Its legs (four, including the one that is being chewed on) are bent backwards, and there are several loose "mouths" attached to them, some of which are bleeding.
"To give it a name would be cruel," Tam whispers.
Its arms, of which it has three, knobby, with grey bumps and boils, are busy, dextrously, building a house of bones. There are an immense number of bones here, some of which look very, very old, as if a mass grave had been exhumed of a battle so old Julian could not put a name to it. It is binding them with sticky silk it occasionally extracts in white-milk segments from the tentacles of its main mouth.
Some of the bones are very new.
Perhaps the most horrific part of this is the silence, and the lack of stench. There's some horrible miasma, a muffling of the sound, except for the chewing of its mouths.
The Oisen brothers seem almost paralyzed in shock.
Julian draws his sword, but does not bring it to attack position yet; he holds it somewhere between "guard" and "salute."
"Are you beast, or being?" he hails the creature. "If you have speech, tell me with whose bones you build."
[He is also checking to see if his sword is doing anything unusual, like, say, the danger-gleam that Sting gave off in the presence of Shelob.] [Though sensitive to the will of its maker, Julian's sword is not sensitive to the creature's nature. Either it is a natural beast, or it may be removed from such magic.]
Fair speech does not bring immediate satisfaction, as the presence of the creature seems to twist Julian's words, and make them sound high and thin, as if there is barely enough air in the area.
It does, however, attract the creature's interest, at least in part. A stream of flies is released from one of the bleeding mouths. The flies hover, and the buzz seems to sound like words. It takes a moment to hear them separately and of the nature of the language in Amber's realm.
"I cover what is real, I hide what is true, Courage is something I can reveal."
With a glob of white, the creature envelops the buzzing midges, and seems to swallow the mixture.
"It is fear, your highness," Tam says, sliding off his horse. "Fear, plain and simple, but this one would speak in riddles. You there, Master Fear," he speaks boldly to the beast, "I dare say you desecrate this place."
The creature turns, and this time, the sound is of air coming out of its mouths. "What is this place to you, Puddle of Oisen?"
Robyn chuckles. Will looks slightly ill. Thess and Naian seem to be gearing up for battle.
"It is as all the lands are to us," Tam says, "Free of the influence of corruption. Name thyself truly, for there are six of us, and no matter how many arms or mouths you claim, I would have thy name to tell of your vanquishment."
The being hisses, a sick, smacking sound. "Six or six hundred, it makes no difference. I and my brothers have already poisoned the grounds. Though you release me from this cursed body, I live on in worm and squirrel."
"But not," Robyn speaks up, "in stream or river, pond, or," he glances at Tam, "Puddle." He seems to be shining now, and his steed's eyes glow red.
"Your highness, would you do us the honour of announcing the charge?" he asks, in the hysteria of someone about to do battle?
Julian draws his sword, and holds it at the ready. "Avaunt!" he cries, and urges Morgenstern forward.
The boys of Oisen dismount, although they seem to advance in tandem with their horses. The creature seeing that it is under attack, begins a strange braying noise, bringing forth gobs of midges and white spittle.
The ground itself blackens and rots where the creature steps, and it seems to sicken Will, who Julian might peg as the most sensitive of the Oisen brothers. His steed seems to nudge him, providing him strength and support.
The flies are a nuisance, as they surround and bite. It is hard to breathe as the air thickens with them. Thess is hit by a stream of the white sludge, which hardens into a spider-silk like tangle. Robyn is the quickest, and he plunges through the insects, calling out a war cry Julian is not familiar with, although it is muffled to prevent the creatures from crawling down his throat.
"Mr. Fear" cannot move very fast, and he is using some of his mouths for a hissing incantation. The cacophony hurts Julian's ears, and although Robyn pushed through, it is Morgenstern who breaks through the cloud of flies to meet with the creature.
Robyn meets one of the arms waving a giant bone as if a club, with his own hand and sword. He is quick, indeed, for the parried blow is strong enough to jar him.
It is Morgenstern who rears up to bring his mighty body down on the creature, just as the earth below "him" turns black. The rotting spreads, opening up loam as if it were some sort of crumbing lace. The bone structure it was building begins to sing.
That effect, at least, ceases as quick as it began, and Naian rushes towards it, singing some sort of spell.
The Oisen's steeds respond to Morgenstern's mighty bellow, as the body of the creature breaks and bleeds underneath his hooves. The flies that were attacking stream towards the sound, in a thick black line, entering one of the screaming open mouths.
Then a gulping noise.
Then silence, except for Morgenstern's walking away from the corpse, making a snuffling, disgruntled sound.
Robyn kicks the bone structure with a foot. "It is good that no blood was shed on this ground," he said. "I fear for what might grow in this."
"Help me, Tam," Naian says. "Together we will bind whatever foul sourceries were brought on by the beast." Tam hurries over, and adds his voice to Naian's.
Will leans heavily against his steed. Thess puts an arm around his shoulders in comfort.
Robyn looks up at Morgenstern. "A debt we owe you," and he grins at Julian, "and your rider as well. This is, alas, only one troubled spot of many that have called us away from our home. However, it grows dark and our father will be concerned."
Naian and Tam's voices sing a song that takes away the miasma of muffling over the field. Unfortunately, it restores the scent of the bones and remaining carrion. Thess covers his nose, appreciatively.
Will looks up. "We will need to send others to cleanse this place," he says. "Or it will attract others of similar corruption."
"Indeed," Robyn nods his head. "And so we shall. Come now," he gestures to his steed. "This creature of the Prince's crafting has taken your fancy, has it not?" He laughs. "I fear, Prince Julian, that there will be a fight for stud privileges should you come visit us in our halls." He winks, lightly jumping into the saddle.
Julian ruffles Morgenstern's mane, and tries to smile back at Robin's wink, but fails to come up with a suitable quip about hoping the rider's fancy parallels the mare's, so there may be a little too much hunger in his glance for humor.
All eyes keep glancing back at the broken body of the creature, as if still very aware of it.
"Our luck is good," Thess says to Will.
"This time," Will responds.
"With a little grace, brother," Robyn chides Will, lovingly. "Luck is not our only tool!" He rides around, as if marking some sort of barrier. His expression as he looks out over the valley is more serious.
Tam and Naian end on a fair note, and look pale. "This place is haunted, and we had best leave before the rise of the moon," Naian says, softly.
"You ride on," Julian says. "Someone ought to keep vigil here, to meet what creatures may be drawn by the taint; let me stand watch."
The brothers seem to communicate by glance, and some of them are human glances, reflecting concern, and some of them are inhuman glances, reflecting nothing but the setting sun in the brightness of their eyes.
"I will remain with the Prince," Robyn says, breaking the silence of their gazes. He slides back out of his saddle, and gives his steed a nod. "Report to our father, for he will need news of this night."
He kisses Will on the forehead, and without argument, the remaining brothers and their steeds make their journey down the hill.
He looks up at Julian, with a look that, were he human, would say quite succinctly, "Well, now what?" He chuckles, and it is an odd sound in this place of bones, bile, and blood.
"Four eyes see where two eyes might tire," he says, lightly. He gives Morgenstern an eye and smiles. "And while I have no doubt that your friend has eyes of his own to spare the cause," he teases, gently, "there should be the sharing of company in the foulest of lands."
"A point well taken," Julian says, not voicing his gratitude out of courtesy, although it hovers in his eyes.
He pauses. "Should you speak with his Majesty as well?" He seems to feel somewhat odd in asking it.
Julian's bitter chuckle is better suited to the landscape than Robyn's kindly one. "There is no need," he says. "When I rode out this morning, there were none who required me back by nightfall, and probably not a few who hoped my absence would be even longer. Had I fallen to late Master Fear, when the news reached his Majesty my father, he would no doubt have answered, 'Arden takes care of its own,' and had done."
Robyn is quiet for a moment, and then he climbs up on an outcropping of bones, disturbing none. He looks out, and then up, as if counting stars.
"He would be correct," the son of Oisen says, and it's a mourning sound, like the sigh of the wind. "And he would be wrong." It's warmer, louder.
He turns around to look at Julian. "I cannot presume upon Royalty..." he smiles. "But, neither can I fly like a hawk, or run like a deer."
He leaps to the ground, soundlessly. "Let me distract you," he says. "I can use my eyes distinct from my mouth, and I will tell you of our Court, for I would have you visit, as did your brother Finndo, once."
He doesn't grant Julian the ability to say no. His monologue is punctuated by his pacing, climbing, and staring out and away.
"Our Court is far removed from those of land and sea, although we know some of the wild folk of Rebma, and we were once Lir's before sworn to Oberon. There is some small trade between the river and ocean, born as we are of water fresh from high in the mountains. The cold here does not bother me as it would Thess, our lowland brother. But I was born of ice, and he was born of rain.
"As with all our kind, these are but forms we choose to shield our spirit, and deep within the heart of the river, we do not keep flesh. We were concerned when your brother hesitated, for we had heard the blood of Amber was..." he looks back at Julian for a moment and smiles, apologetically, "changed. There is a word for it, I suppose, but it is an ancient word, for one who has held onto their skin too long, but I do not know how it translates.
"We had no need to worry, for the Wild was within him. The marriage between him and Arden was a happy one." He shrugs. "We showed him the hospitality of our Court, and he enjoyed the blending of spirit as we do in the deeps. They say that Moins' Court has a tradition like this, that they let the sea in and out of themselves, and that is why they are untouched by the waters.
"I was born of ice, I said, and so I am prone to speaking to strangers. Ice cools the pain of misunderstandings." He stops pacing and sits near Julian. "Much as fire would probably bring some warmth given the rising wind. Alas, fire is not my sphere. I can, however, make sitting more comfortable here, and if you can endeavour to expend power on the first, I will take care of the second."
"Gladly," Julian says, and sets about gathering fallen branches and building a fire. He lights it in the ordinary way, with tinder and flint, rather than draw power for a spark from such a place.
Robyn seems pleased with Julian's choice, to the point of some level of fascination with the mundane.
"Will you break bread with me?" he asks Robyn. "I have bread, and cheese, and a full wineskin, if you will share it."
"Your hospitality is of great value, and even greater pleasure," Robyn announces. "The appreciation of your gift would best be shared, as generosity improves diplomacy." He winks slightly.
Julian smiles back at the wink.
He takes the breaking of bread very seriously. "As for the fruit of the vine, there are blessings I would grant upon it. In this case, I would mingle it with blood of earth, and see this place given back to the Wild, if no other force should claim it."
"Let it be so, then," Julian agrees, and holds out the wineskin to Robyn.
A few drops of wine are all Robyn shares with the earth, and a few words in a language that Julian remembers hearing as a child...a blessing for certain. The drops glow, producing a heat like fire, and then melt into the ground.
Nothing happens for a moment, and then the remains of Master Fear are drawn into the ground. It's like a snap in the air, somewhat like thunder, more like lightning... and there is a sense of relief from Robyn that is almost frightening in its measure.
[Frightening how so? I am sure Julian felt some measure of relief as well.] [Robyn doesn't feel things in small doses: when he is relieved, it's a reduction in tension that overwhelms everything around, like the rocks in the earth are a little better settled, calming ripples in the water nearby.] [Got it. Robyn is "Turn-That-DOWN!" Boy.]
He admits after a moment, nearing the fire for its warmth. "I am given to little comfort with the corpse of the beast so near, yet I feel exposure to the caress of the elements best for the rites of closure." He looks up at Julian, his eyes meeting the blue of the Prince in a startling suddenness. He then says nothing at all, as if there was a thought that was prevented from passing his lips.
His pause extends, and then is broken. "It is not that I miss the company of my brothers, already, for you are an unexpected and pleasurable companion. It is only that I look up at the sky, and the unmeasurable stars, and sometimes I feel as if I could fall within their sea." There is something wistful, and something scared both in his tone.
"Wary of Air and Darkness?" Julian says. "No wonder, there."
Robyn cedes the point with a look of surprise followed by a bit of a sheepish grin, as if it hadn't occurred to him like that.
"Sit closer to me, if you wish, and perhaps earth and firelight will prove sufficient counter." Robyn takes long enough to make it look like he considered it, but not long enough to suggest he wasn't hoping for it.
"I would hear more of my brother Finndo's marriage with Arden. Did he come to it as Year-King? If it were so, it would explain why his death is so little discussed in Amber. It seems you know more of my brother than any of my family has cared to tell me."
"A fire needs a good story, so I remember hearing in a song," Robyn says. He pushes at the earth with his feet, feeling much more comfortable than before.
"I find it strange to not know of one's brothers, but I must admit that should you ask me my sister's name, I would not know save for her aspects. Still, there is much in the measure of time between some of us." He sighs.
"Our father swore his fealty to your father. Perhaps that makes us brothers of a sort, if you do not find it presumptuous." His smile is bright. "And in turn when we reach such power and come of age, we shall do similarly. The memories of rivers run deep, although not so much as that of oceans. Our father was born before the dragons turned to bone, and then to rock, and then to these hills. He has been loyal since before he tasted the blood of men and their steeds in war. The magic of Oberon is mighty against the umbral, and we remember that, for the Shadowed Courts have a long reach."
He shivers a little, and actually ends up right against Julian's leg. Julian leans into him just a bit, and shifts his arm into a position that's not *quite* around Robyn's waist, but suggests it.
"The role of husband to wife is not one I know," he says, simply. He smiles, and there is a moment where he says nothing, and then he continues. "We know that the one who is Arden and yet is Herself pledged marriage to him, and that he was given dowry in the weight of oak, ash, and thorn." He shrugs. "I do not think that one gives her love lightly, but out of respect I do not speak her name."
Julian's thought is the Unicorn, although he does not say it.
He looks behind him, towards the forest.
"I would worry that the breaking of a heart is like death, although perhaps one you can, if my brother Thess is any measure, suffer more than once and again. I have seen her twice, and each time she has no use for a silly son of the river." He pauses, and his eyes are filled with something that Julian can almost...almost touch, it is so vivid for Robyn, and then he turns away and his eyes have tears.
Julian's arm moves a little bit closer to actually being around Robyn's waist. Robyn does not seem to mind, in fact, he is fairly welcoming of it, although his monologue has his attention. "Finndo was not afraid of the Wild. Perhaps he knew the love of its spirit. He..." he pauses, and wipes away his tears. They glitter in the light of the fire. "Was not afraid of adventure. They say he spoke with salamandyr, and once that he flew within the chariot from which Cymnea the Dark sprinkled stars for our night sky. He told such tales as would not bend our ears in the halls of my father's waters, and we hear more from the Biolan Empire. It is where we recognized you." All of a sudden, he hides a smile.
"I pray you, let me in on the joke," Julian says, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed.
Robyn grasps Julian's hand warmly between his own. "My friend, my prince," he pauses. "We would not tease, but rumours spread with the current, of the time your brother Caine brought you to sea. The words of niskie are repeated upstream, that your element is not mine..."
He pauses and looks into Julian's eyes. "Your eyes put the lie to it. They are blue, much like my home." His fingers brush against Julian's knuckles. "Not the green of the hardened sea. Not the green of the Her forest, nor the jealous green of a lover spurned." He removes his hand to brush aside a stray hair. "What element do you belong to, Julian?" There's a slight quaver in his voice as he announces his Prince's name.
"I know not, Robyn," Julian says, now taking both the river-dweller's hands in his own. "If not the blue waters of the rivers, then it might yet be the blue of the sky, to take to the air like any hunting hawk. I thought I heard the trees call to me. Could it have been their topmost branches, and not their roots?"
Robyn smiles, one of those "melts like putty" kind of smiles. "I do not know those places," he says, simply, and it is just that: so little experience outside his element, "but should you find yourself there, there are Rivers within the Wood too, that call my father Grace."
Something about his mood there is more like swearing into service, but his eyes linger on Julian's. He squeezes slightly with his hands. "You are in search of something," he says, suddenly, and he looks away. "I do not know where you will find it. I do not know if it will be something pleasant for you to find." He bites his lower lip, and looks back up to Julian's eyes. "I believe many will follow you...for you are a prince in more than name."
"I would say you flatter me, did I not know your kin do not lie," Julian says. "You do me honor."
He shakes his head. "I wish... I wish to give pleasure to you, my lord. It is difficult for me to say beyond that: I would have you smile, and I think I seek something of comfort in it. I must depart with the glittering of sun on morning's dew, but I would have you leave this place with a lighter heart."
[This is where I have to remind myself that Julian is not the Corwin of the Canon. If this were the First Five and it was Corwin, his obvious next line would be "Shut up and kiss me."
Since it's G&G, and Julian, who even in the Chronicles spoke like something out of Jane Austen, I have to work on a more flowery phrasing.
But you get the gist.]
Julian lets go of Robyn's hands, and slides one arm around his waist, and the other behind his head, drawing him closer. "As you seek, so may you find," he murmurs, and kisses Robyn on the lips.
The morning's chill is one that reaches the bones before the flesh, and with the first light of sun there is some stirring from Robyn, and a feeling of restlessness as born of newly-found energy. He remains near for warmth, but his wakefulness draws Julian similarly.
With the dawn comes transformation across the earth, and with the touch of gold upon the morning dew, do things blossom before their eyes. It is as if good has reclaimed this place, including flowers underneath where they have laid. There are pale blues and whites (some of which are much to Morgenstern's pleasure), and a reassuring carpet of green.
Robyn stands, reclaiming his attire, and looks out across Arden. "There," he says, his first word sounding to blend with the birdsong, a reminder of the breaking of the unnatural silence from before. He points. "Lies the line of my father's blue, and there you have allies, my Prince." He makes the last two words sound almost naughty.
"I will remember," Julian says.
"I must be up and away before my brothers worry. Our work here," he dances a step around, "is well started."
He pauses, then, growing more sober. "I hope only that this is in isolation, although there are other spots my brothers and I may ride towards." He pauses and turns, bowing deeply to Julian's steed. "And our thanks to you, noble Morgenstern. May no kelpie or gryphon seek you as a dish," he almost laughs, as he uprights himself.
Morgenstern favors him with a lowering of his head, and a chuckling exhale that's friendlier than a snort.
He slides back towards Julian, and presses his hand against the Prince's own. "Do not think my feelings fleeting; you have my pledge." He jumps back onto his feet. "Now I must bid you farewell," and he pauses, giving Julian a chance to speak.
"You spoke of leaving me with a lighter heart this morning," Julian says, almost smiling. "You do, for you carry a part of it away with you. Fare you well, then, until we meet once more."
And he watches Robyn go, all the while listening to hear where the forest might be calling him today.
Robyn leaps into the air, and then runs down the hill almost as if he were rain, finding spots and trails as worn down by the passing of moisture. He looks back once, his blue eyes blazing like stars before disappearing into the darkness of the trees.