Chapter Four

" you still ride?" cephas asked her after breakfast,

" of course. not as much as i would like, but-" And she smiled an impish smile, " i bet i could still whoop your arse in a race."

he barked out a laugh, his hat in his hand, and he made her think of poets and fieldsmen. she smiled up at him.

" you want to go for a ride ceph?"

he looked at her with a warm smile,

"want to test this ol' man, Hannah?"

she giggled.

" first of, you're not that old. secondly, yes, let's test run you." he laughed again.

" well let's see, set me up."

she led him to the stables where she greeted every horse, and he watched her.

" you can pick from any of them, they are just itching for a ride."

"they told you that?" she looked at him, confused, and then the confusion cleared and then she smiled.

"I just feel. I don't really know what they're thinking." she rubbed rhe nozzle of a mare, and looked at him,

" is this one ready for me?" Hannah looked at the mare,

" I think she has been ready for a while." cephas nodded, smiled and put his hat on.

They rode.

outside the walls - Anemos had been had to sway, but he soon agreed - so they rode, and Hannah found herselfwondering why she had npt done this sooner. But sooner wouldn not have included so far. so she choose to believe all thimgs worked out in their own time, in their own way.

they stopped at a clearing and cephas got down from his mare, helped her get down from hers.

" Tell me how it has been, little sister." cephas said, as they sat on the floor, taking the sightof God'sgreat heaven, breathing in the sweet morning air.

" what do you want to hear about?" she bumped his shoulder playfully with hers, and he did the same.

" oh I don't know. perhaps about the Athanatoi. what it was like batlling them. what it was like, meeting your warrior. Aunt Anastasia and uncle Asher, How they have been. And also, How you've been handling the dreams." she looked at him, and then she looked up at the clear sky. where to begin? she thought.

so she started at the beginning,

" they wanted me. the Athanatoi. those fickle immortal beings. A seer many centuries ago, foretold a child, born of the seventh day, of the seventh month, at the seventh hour. that child was to be the end of the Athanatoi. that child was me. when i was nineteen, Jasper came. he found me, lying down under a tree, asleep." she laughed at the memory, the sweetness of yesterday. the beauty of their meeting making her smile.

" he made my tummy dance. " she looked at cedric, " he still does."

cedric nodded with a smile. she continued,

" we were to journey to the island of the immortals, where the Athanatoi and the human race first parted, and it is still not clear why they left. they left, but they controlled, they terrified and they afflicted. my journry with Jasper took a turn when we met martha. she fed us, gave us a roof over our head, and turned out to be my grandmother. our grandmother. " she gasped, and looked at cephas,

" Did you know? of martha, all this time. Did you know? "

cephas screwed up his face and looked up at the sky,

" I did. but you must know this. when i was older i sought her." he looked at her with a sober smile, " but she did not want to be found."

he ran his thumb across her cheek, " I guess you changed that."

she did not know what to say to that, so she she did the only thing that felt right, she rested her head on his shoulder,

" Don't sleep, cousin. you haven't finished your story."

she let out a breathy laugh.

" where did I stop?"

" when you met martha."

she sighed, a deep, happy contented sigh.

" I loved her, before I knew she was mine to keep. I loved her, she tended Jasper and I. Not just how bodies, but our hearts too. she loved us too, loves us still."

" i'm glad. glad to know that, amidst so much chaos, there was love, there was peace."

" there was. And although trouble draws near. there is love," she linked her fingers with his, " there is peace."

" There you are, Little sister, There you are." And he kissed the top of her head.

~~~~

They made it back to the castle by lunch time, and headed straight for the kitchen - riding and emotions made hungry people- and maddy rushed up to Hannah in a flash,

"princess Hannah, oh, princess! I have been looking for you."

" for me?" cephas just winked, and walked to the counter for a muffin.

" For you! Madam Hulkins, the seamstress, sent me to you, with some dresses, for a fitting, and I when I searched for you, you were no where to be found. I knocked on your door but no response. Forgive me for this, but i was worried and peeped in, and when i realised you were not in, i zipped right out, although i did leave the dresses in your bed."

Hannah looked at the girl flabbergasted and shook her head in order to clear it.

" you left dresses for me, in my bed?" the girl nodded, earnestly. Hannah had the strange desire to hold the girl's head in place to keep it from bubbling off.

" But what am I being fitted for?" she searched her mind trying to recall if there had been a time, an event requiring fitting had been mentioned.

" For your cousin Cephas's welcoming." Hannah's mouth formed an 'O' as she looked above maddy's head to look at cephas, who was lost in a conversation with one of the cooks,

" Does he know? cephas, that is?" maddy shook her head, 'No'.

" Then we must keep it that way." Hannah brought a finger to her lips, making maddy giggle,

" yes, ma'am"

Hannah smiled a big smile and looked at cephas, he fixed his on her for a second, smiled and went back to his conversation,

" Welcome, Home, Cousin Cephas, welcome Home." she whispered under her breath.