Fairy Child (29)

Raven nodded curtly to his audience and strode through the thirty foot tall black birch doors of the castle. Their width and height designed long ago to accommodate his enormous size should it be necessary. It took some time to learn how to change his form in so many ways. When he had been young he would have hardly fit inside the borders of a small city. Thankfully he had mastered his shape-shifting abilities since then.

The soldiers stood and stared in awe at their master.

Einar waved his hand in a dismissive flourish and the royal guards made their way back to their stations. Each of them passing with a fisted hand to their heart, their eyes glistening with relief and pride.

With another flick of his wrist he sent a beacon into the air, this time green, signaling that the situation was under control and that everyone could return to their dwellings.

All of this was done in the span of a couple seconds as Einar strode quickly through the doors after his lord.

He followed him as he entered the athenaeum.

"My Lord, I-", he began. He stopped short at the look in his masters eyes. He had expected anger, surely, perhaps even deadly fury. But what he saw and felt radiate off of his master was nothing so simple.

He was melancholic in a deeper sense than ever before.

The Lord of Midnight had always been a sad soul. His life, as long as it was, had been difficult from birth, both loved immensely and hated deeply depending on who you talked to. His lord had always carried the burden expertly. He generally was a very solitary creature and rarely exhibited outright joy but Einar had never seen him like this.

He stood quietly at the entrance of the expansive library watching the lord look contemplatively at a series of tomes that lined a section of shelving about one hundred feet from the entrance.

As he reached and pulled various books from the shelf with one hand, he vaguely waved the other at shelves he passed, without looking up. Books began removing themselves from the shelves and floating towards him, as if carried by ghostly servants.

He opened one of many to begin reading, walking without looking, to one of the many desks that were situated throughout the room for use. The floating books following along to place themselves neatly into piles around the dragon.

He sat quietly and carefully thumbed through the pages of one of the larger volumes, his massive claws contrastingly gentle when handling the pages.

"My Lord I am so pleased at your return. Shocked, truly. We feared the worst.", Einar said the last part quietly, his throat constricting at the thought of all the scenarios he had ran relentlessly through his head the last 20 years.

His lord gave another silent nod.

"Thank you Einar. I can see that you've managed the kingdom in my absence expertly. You will always have my gratitude for that."

Einar felt his chest swell with pride. He was not to make a commotion about his lords kindness, his lord had insisted this many times.

He stood quietly as he watched the massive dragon continue to search the pages he browsed.

"If you are wondering what happened Einar, I will tell. It goes without saying that I will need you not to repeat it to anyone whatsoever. But I also need an ally moving forward and to be an effective one I must tell the truth in its entirety."

Einar stood, shocked that he would be chosen for such an honor, to be trusted so deeply by someone so powerful. He felt a pang in his chest. Was he worthy?

"My Lord, I am not certain that I am the best choice. Given what happened 20 years ago-", Einar began.

"Silence. Einar, time is of the essence and we have much to accomplish, I simply need your word that you will assist me, and that our operations will be discreetly executed.", the Lord of Midnight said rapidly and without falter. He lazily blinked his eyes and slowly looked up from the book he held. He turned to look at Einar directly and then stared unblinkingly at him. His entire demeanor divergent from his statement of "time is of the essence".

"Yes, of course my Lord. Of course.", he dipped two bows successively, simultaneous with each "of course".

"Very good. Now have a seat, I have much to impart on you.", he said to the butler and royal general.

He had always done an excellent job, and Raven had begun to think of him as a friend, even family. If he could tell anyone, it would be him. And in order to get his help, he would need to know everything.

He waved a hand indicating that Einar should take a seat, the chair on the opposite side of the desk pulled itself out to make room for him to sit.

Raven figured he'd need a firm seat under him by the time he was finished.

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Einar sat quietly his hands intertwined in his lap and unabashedly stared at the most powerful being in the world with stunned silence.

He had been turned into a beast, forced to scavenge for magic to survive and regain his senses, roamed the continents for the last 20 years, alone and confused. He encountered a… what had the master called it? A fairy child? Einar figured his master was mistaken as he later mentioned that this fairy child was human. Although his master did not say so explicitly, Einar sensed that he had a deep connection with this "fairy child".

When he saw him speak of the child, her beauty, her kindness, her unwavering courage and acceptance of things around her, Einar couldn't believe the realization he had made.

Einar slowly brought his fist below his chin, something would need to keep his jaw from dropping open.

In all of history the lord had never been documented or seen finding interest in anyone. There were the few times, when the Old World was thriving, that he had allowed some female companions to accompany him to balls and political meetings but never more than that. Even in these few instances, the lord had hardly noticed the companions. Always polite, always a gentleman, but cold as well. His offers for dancing or assisting females to take a seat was always done with the cold proficiency of a trained professional. As though his knowledge of etiquette and propriety were so second nature, that he was not mentally or emotionally present in those moments.

To see him speak of anyone, let alone a female, in the way that he was, was a little more than shocking.

Einar felt like the world had spun on its head. The sky was now the ground and vice versa.

The way the master ended the story implied that he would no longer be seeing the woman. It broke Einar's heart, for if ever there was a ruler who deserved some happiness, it was his lord.

The dragon moved on quickly after that to discussing their plans for figuring out who had cursed him and how he planned to regain the entirety of his power back.

First they would gather as much information as they could, as quietly as possible. Raven wanted to know what the current political climate was, especially since his disappearance. 

Einar made a mental note to pursue the reconciliation of this mystery "fairy child" and his master. He would need to be discreet, yes discreet and clever.

The pair spent hours in the study.

"Are you sure we should allow your return to circulate so widely?", Einar asked.

"Yes.", Raven said confidently. It was time to let the Folk of the world know that the king had returned, and he wanted his kingdom back.