As we made our first stop of the day, I called over to Lanlanor. "We need to talk," I said, and though he frowned, he left Khithran in Ashton's charge, and came over to where I sat under one of the large oaks. Temara flitted away as Lanlanor sat, and I silently blessed her for her understanding. "Why are you being so mean to Khithran?" I asked, decidng to cut right to the chase. "And don't give me any drivel about his remarks several years back."
Lanlanor sighed. "His forebears treated the forest elves most cruelly out of all the races they subjugated," he said. "It's not an easy thing to have to be civil around one of their descendants."
It was my turn to sigh. "The poor boy's likely scared half out of his skin," I said bluntly. "Gods above! He was all bravado when asking Ashton if he could join, but it's one thing to have a fantasy, and quite another thing altogether to actually have it come true. You could at least give him a bit of slack instead of treating him as less than the muck on the bottom of your shoe."
"Didn't you once see the world as that?" Lanlanor challenged.
I set my food down, having lost my appetite. "Once," I said. "But I've seen the error of my ways, and I know there's still good in this world, despite all the bullshit going on. But it's not going to do any of us much good if you keep treating Khithran like dirt. He's still a full dark elf underneath his bravery, and if you keep paying him out for misdeeds that are many years in the past, he's going to turn tail and run back to Zocerth faster than you can blink. And since he now knows about Peyton, what's to stop him from telling her about King Calimero?"
Lanlanor was silent for a long moment. "You can't ask me to like him," he protested.
"I'm not asking anything of the sort, idiot," I said crossly. "I just want you to treat him with some form of respect, and stop with the bloody name-calling!"
"Fine," Lanlanor conceded. "I'll take him to my bosom like he's a long-lost brother, if you wish, but I warn you. He's still a dark elf. Until he snaps that chain binding him to the midnight side of his ancestry, I'll be prepared to run my sword through him if he so much as blinks wrong. Then I'll do the same to you for good measure, you black-hearted bastard." But there was a faint smile on his lips as he said these last words, and I knew he would hold true to his word. Elves and half-elves were magically bound to stick to the full letter of any given word, and Lanlanor would indeed now treat Khithran as a long-lost brother. That, I reasoned, as we resumed our lunch, would likely be the key to helping Khithran snap the geas I'd put on his people in the first place.
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After lunch, we resumed our trek, while Peyton told us more of King Calimero and his people. "They're from a distant world that got destroyed by the wars of men," he said, plodding placidly along and looking for all the world like an ordinary cart-horse. We all knew the truth, now, so it was a bit hard to reconcile that image with the knowledge he was in fact the last unicorn of his race in existence. "They're very distrustful of anything that walks on two legs, and even though I'm distant kin, they're still likely to look askance on me for being in such company as yours. No offence," he added hastily, shaking out his mane. "But we are all going to need to be on our best behaviour. Calimero lost almost all his foals to the depredations of war, so he guards his remaining offspring jealously. I don't want any trouble when we get to Avalon, so for the love of all that is good, don't let any of the younger mares lead you off for some 'private fun time'. They can change their form to resemble the most beautiful girls you'll ever seen in your life, and if any of you unmated men end up bedding one of them, you'll be bound to that mare for life, and you won't be able to leave. Calimero will likely want to run you through, but if any of you end up being his son-in-law, he'll tolerate you for the sake of his daughters."
Paradox, Lanlanor, and Khithran duly promised they'd keep in their pants, while Ailsa threw Ashton a pointed look which warned of dire consequences should he break his new marriage vows. Since I knew Ashton was helplessly in love with his new bride, I didn't think even the most gorgeous of unearthly unicorn mares would win him away from her. Temara, on the other hand, had a bone to pick with Peyton. "Since when did Fionn get taken off the market?" she demanded archly, and I had to smile.
Peyton snorted. "I'm not blind, you silly marshlight," he said. "I know you're in love with Fionn, and he'd be a fool not to feel the same. So I respected that he's now as unavailable as our esteemed leader, and spoke accordingly."
"Idiot," Temara muttered, and I was shocked to see tears in her eyes as she lighted on Peyton's shoulder. "You don't know what that entails for one of my kind. We live for a freakishly long time, and even given Fionn's long life, he's still mortal."
"So?" Peyton challenged. "Ashton's likely to outlive Ailsa, but you don't see him angsting about it. He went ahead and married her anyway. Why can't you and Fionn do the same?"
"Mother would kill me," Temara said bluntly. "She may have cast me out, but I'm still one of her subjects, and I'm still the Crown Princess until she tells me otherwise. I can't marry without her permission, and if I did, she'd have every right to reach out to me wherever I am in the world and stop my heart."
"The fuck?" Ailsa said, shocked as she joined us, having overheard the last part of Temara's sentence. "Since when have the pixies turned so bloody vicious?"
Temara sighed as she returned to my shoulder. "Trust me, you do not want to know," she said. "Fionn, I'm sorry. I do love you, more than I should. But Mother's will still binds me, and though I'd love to take you as husband, I can't."
I stroked her hair. "I understand. But does her prohibition extend to fathering children?"
Temara blinked, and then her face lit up like the sun as she kissed me on the cheek. "Not at all," she said. "In fact, I'd welcome the opportunity. I'm not getting any younger, after all."
I smiled. "Then you and I shall endeavour to find a quiet place tonight and do what we can to give your mother a hundred different types of fit." I hesitated before speaking again. "Just as long as you're sure. I don't want to force anything on you that you don't want."
"Human blood will be an improvement on the entrenched inbreeding Mother loves to favour," Temara said dryly. "And any such child would be a blessing to me, even if they follow in my footsteps and can't sling one spell to save their life."
Ailsa smiled as she lent endorsement to the plan. "I think any child of yours would do his or her parents credit," she said.
"Then it's settled," I said, and Temara smiled as she nestled against my cheek. I felt both saddened and glad; saddened we could never marry, but glad that we could, at least, fully express our love for one another and have that love bear fruit. All the same, as we continued our day's ride, I wondered just how Temara and I would be able to consummate our love. There was a considerable size difference, after all, and I found myself increasingly curious as to how we'd be able to get around it.
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