Reunion

ReunionThey left at first light, after packing up, cleaning and closing up the house, and getting a last good night of sleep. Lily hadn’t thought she’d sleep much given she’d already slept most of the day away, but she was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.Scout shook her awake, and Lily grumbled sleepily as she pulled on her lovely new clothes, including the shawl that she would treasure until the day she died.Outside, she mounted up the horse already waiting for her. "How long have you been awake? Why didn’t you wake me?"Casting her a look of fond amusement—Lily hoped it was fondness, anyway, fool that she was—Scout said, "I hardly needed help saddling horses and lugging bags, and you need your rest." She held up a hand when Lily started to protest. "Once we reach the ruins, you’ll be doing all the hard work, and there is an entire palace for you to retake. Get your rest while you can, because you won’t be getting much of it soon.""Fair point."Scout heeled her horse, and Lily followed her, vanishing swiftly into the beautiful forest that seemed to echo with soft laughter. They came quickly to the old road marker the fox had shown them before, and carried on from there, ever looking for more remains of the old road.After a couple of hours, though, they were forced to halt when no sign of one could be found. "We should stop for lunch anyway," Scout said. "Maybe after rest and food we’ll see where we’ve been staring at it the whole damn time."Lily laughed, because she could not count the number of times she’d stared right past exactly the thing she was looking for. Dismounting, she dug out their afternoon rations from her saddlebag and settled on a large bit of rock to eat, flushing for no good reason at the way Scout sprawled on the ground with her back to the rock, right next to Lily’s legs.It would be so easy to bend over and kiss the top of her head, curl a hand around her neck and stroke it fondly. She could only imagine, though, that if Scout had wanted someone to do such things with, she would already have a companion. Who wouldn’t choose Scout if given even a hint of a chance? Even when Lily wanted to clobber her, even when she was smirking and being annoying because not everyone could draw water or mop a floor, she was kind and helpful. She had done so much for Lily, for no real reason at all, and was doing still more—things that would put her in very real danger, especially as she’d be going against her former pack.Queen or not, Lily did not merit such…calling it devotion would be presumptuous. Such earnest assistance. Scout had been so much, seen so much, when Lily had never left her kingdom, not even for diplomatic visits. She’d asked time and again, but her father hadn’t thought her old enough for such things.Would he had said differently, if he had known what was coming?No longer really hungry, Lily nevertheless ate all her food and chased it with cool brook water.Scout stood and stretched with a groan, showing off long limbs and lean muscle, shoulders and arms built by years of chopping wood. Lily looked away, face hot, and cast the core of her apple off into the trees before walking around the area looking for signs of an old road. "I don’t see anything." So far, they hadn’t taken more than a couple of minutes to find, if they weren’t immediately obvious. "Did we go astray? That seems highly unlikely given you, though, Scout.""I have never once gotten lost or lost a trail, and I’m not about to start now," Scout replied. "Damnedest thing that it’s being so difficult now.""Maybe the closer we get, the less the road is intact? Though you’d think the opposite would be the case, with the deepest parts the most protected. Hmm…""No, I think you’re right. The closer we get to the heart of the forest, the more protected it’s going to be. I know this is the right direction, though, there should be more road around here somewhere." She lifted an arm, holding it out straight. "Somewhere on or near this line, I think."Lily nodded and returned to looking, kicking away detritus and rubbing at interesting spots, hoping to unearth familiar pale gray stone carved with a rose.Instead, she came upon an actual rose. It was large, the very color of fresh-spilled blood, bathed in thin streaks of sunlight that had pushed through the thick canopy. "How beautiful." Drawing closer, Lily reached out to touch it, gasping when it proved to be ice cold to the touch. "How…""What did you find?" Scout asked sharply, and was at her side so quickly that Lily jumped. "I’ve never seen a rose like that." She frowned thoughtfully as she touched it herself. "No rose that cold should be able to survive, and it’s the only one on the bush; there aren’t even any other buds. Peculiar, to say the least."The rose suddenly shimmered with light, and then one by one the petals drifted to the ground. Dismayed, Lily crouched and tried to catch them, though what exactly that would accomplish she couldn’t say. She’d just grabbed a couple when she saw it: a hint of familiar pale gray stone. "Look!" She pulled away grass and detritus to reveal the whole tile, looking up with an eager smile at Scout, whose answering smile made her heart flip. Flushing, Lily dropped her gaze to the tile again. "So where do we go from here?""Northeast. If I’m right, we should reach the ruins in just a few more hours, barely before dark.""So soon?""Yes, if I’m reading certain landmarks correctly. I thought it would take us much longer—it should have taken longer, going by the old accounts I looked over while in town. The Laughing Forest does as it pleases, though, I suppose." She offered a hand and tugged Lily to her feet, and Lily didn’t think she was imagining that the grip lingered a moment before Scout let go and stepped back.As the forest had grown so dense, and the markers increasingly difficult to see, they continued on foot leading the horses. Now, though, they looked for the beautiful blood red, ice cold roses, following them deeper and deeper—until suddenly the forest gave way to an enormous valley that was heavily shaded around the edges by the canopy.In the center, nearly lost amidst trees and foliage, were the ruins of a castle. She could even see the remains of a tower, covered in all colors of climbing roses and with a tree growing up the middle of it, almost like the tower had been built around the tree."Is this truly the original Rosenfall?" She asked, barely noticing as the reins slipped from her fingers, bringing a hand up to clutch at her shawl. "I can’t believe this was here this whole time, and not even all that far away…"Scout snorted. "It should have been a lot further away, I know it.""If the forest could do that, why couldn’t it simply give us a direct path?"Before Scout could reply, the nearby bushes rustled, and a moment later appeared the beautiful, enormous fox who had first shown them the road tiles. "Hello again."The fox yipped and wagged its tail playfully, then motioned for them to follow before sprinting off across the valley."I’m not running!" Scout bellowed after it.Lily giggled, retrieved her horse’s reins, and they headed off across the field to the castle ruins.Eventually, they came to a halt by the tower remains, and Lily gasped as she spied a placard, the silver kind used for memorials. Brushing away the leaves and roses partially covering it, she read, "Here lies the Rose and the Fox, who gave everything for a kingdom that rarely gave them anything. May they rest in joy and peace."The fox gave several sharp, piercing barks and turned several times in a circle before sitting down like an eager hunting dog being made to hold still."The Rose and the Fox," Lily repeated. "Prince Briar.""And Reynard, I’d wager," Scout said, scowling at the fox. "In all his irritating glory, you bossy bastard."Reynard made a noise that could only be a laugh."You shouldn’t be so rude," Lily said with amusement of her own. "Clearly he has power here.""I killed my own father, I don’t give a single damn about anyone’s power or authority."Lily laughed loudly enough to startle nearby birds. "Well that’s certainly true. I don’t know of anyone else in the world who would make their queen wash dishes."Scout looked briefly abashed, but rolled her eyes when Lily smirked. "You be quiet. Your Majesty."Still smiling, Lily looked over the rest of the ruins. "I wonder why Josiah wanted me to come here.""Who exactly is this Josiah?"Lily was surprised only that Scout hadn’t asked sooner. "The Captain of the Guard.""You sure you can trust him?""Yes, absolutely. Without him I never would have made it out of the palace. I hope he’s all right."Scout narrowed her eyes. "What exactly does this Josiah look like?""Why are you acting so suspicious of a man you’ve never met? Never even seen.""Oh, I met a Josiah once," Scout said with a snort. "Eerily pale, eyes a peculiar red-toned brown, hair the color of old, dark steel.""That’s…that’s the same Josiah.""Not many Josiah’s around who would know the location of the ruins and be able to make it all the way out here on their own.""I feel you’re insulting me, somehow," a familiar voice said from behind Lily.Scout snarled and went for her sword, even as the voice registered and Lily rushed to him with a disbelieving cry. "Josiah!"He embraced her tightly. "Your Majesty, I’m so happy to see you alive and well." He slowly let her go, smiling as his gaze shifted to Scout. "If I’d known you were under the protection of the Wolf, though, I wouldn’t have worried. Long time no see, Scout. I had no idea you lived here now. Last I heard, you were in Huntsman country.""Good to see you again, blood drinker," Scout said, letting go of the hilt of her sword. "What in the world are you doing playing at human in the royal court?""Blood drinker?" Lily echoed, staring between them. "They called you that before, back when I was running away. What does that mean?""Exactly what it sounds like," Scout replied. "He drinks blood. Human, specifically."Josiah smiled crookedly. "Different cultures call my kind different things, but the one you probably know best is vampire."Lily’s eyes widened. "I didn’t think vampires were real."Josiah and Scout laughed, before he replied, "We like to keep a low profile. There aren’t many of us, and killing one of us is considered a serious prize for hunters and other cretins.""You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here playing at human.""Come on, I’m sure you’d like to sit down, rest, have some food. I’ll talk while you rest, and then you can sleep, and tomorrow we’ll start addressing the problem of that backstabbing shitstain."Lily smiled. "That sounds perfect.""This way, Your Highness." He winked. "There are a couple of others at camp who will be happy to see you."Frowning at that peculiar statement, she nevertheless followed him through the trees with Scout close behind leading the horses.As they broke through the trees, movement caught her eyes—and then she screamed, legs giving out from the shock, and the screaming turned to sobbing, hands over her mouth in a belated effort to muffle the noise.Then Alice and Penelope reached her, and the three women clung to each other, the other two soothing Lily as best they could while letting her cry."I thought you were dead," Lily managed. "I thought they’d killed all of you.""They tried," Penelope said grimly. "If Alice hadn’t gotten to me in time, I would be."She hugged them over and over, before eventually accepting the kerchief that Penelope offered and letting them help her up and lead her to the campfire. "Clarissa? Leigh?""Leigh, I’m not certain, but she wasn’t a threat to anyone and she has powerful connections throughout the continent." That was true, Lily had completely forgotten that. Scholars got overlooked, so people tended to forget that some very powerful people were scholars, and those scholars talked to each other.So Leigh might just still be alive."Clarissa…she has powerful friends, too, but she was also one of the most dangerous of the four of us. I could not get to her before they hauled her away, and then my priority had to be getting Penelope here, where we could be relatively safe and wait for you.""You already knew about this place?""I’m your bodyguard and personal assassin, of course I did." She glanced at Josiah, who shared her rueful smile. "I also knew his secret."Lilly threw up her hands. "Everyone knows everything except for me. Some leader I’m proving to be." She couldn’t deny it hurt. All her friends, all the people she trusted, people she’d thought were dead, had never entirely trusted her. "Excuse me please." She rose and strode off into the woods, until she came to a pile of stones that looked like they’d once been a large column or something, and sat down on them, staring off into the trees.She was tired. She couldn’t grieve her father, her people, couldn’t recover from the hurt of the betrayal, and now it seemed it was just one thing after another. Scout was related to the wolves who’d stolen her kingdom, killed her father. People she trusted had been keeping secrets from her, important secrets. A sanctuary for times of emergency. That Josiah wasn’t even human. She felt like a fucking fool, the naïve little princess flitting about oblivious to the realities of the world, when she’d always felt like she’d done so well at not being such a tiresome stereotype.Shows what she knew. Maybe everyone was better off without her as queen, if even the people she cared about most didn’t trust her.What other secrets hadn’t they told her? What else did they talk about, laugh at her about, behind her back? Damn it, she didn’t need this right now.She stifled a sigh at the sound of a familiar tread, and scooted over so Scout could sit next to her."Here," Scout said, handing her a steaming bowl. "You need to eat.""Thank you.""For what it’s worth, they all look like kicked puppies right now. Don’t think they were keeping secrets because they didn’t trust you. Josiah has always been cagey about what he is, as too often when he reveals it, the wrong people always manage to find out. They rarely hurt him, but they’ve hurt people he cares about to get to him, more than once. Got a nice scar myself, from helping him drive back hunters one night. If I had to guess, I’d say Alice found out by mistake, and it wasn’t her secret to share.""They could have told me about this place. What else haven’t they told me?""I think they would do whatever they felt was necessary to keep you safe and, where possible, happy." Scout nudged her shoulder. "Bodyguards always keep things like this a secret. The fewer people who know, the safer you are, even you.""I didn’t where it was or how to get there. How is that safe?"Scout sighed. "Fair enough, though I’d wager they trusted the forest would show you. Certainly it has shown itself to favor you." She cast a Lily a playful look. "Troublemakers stick together, I guess. Come on, finish your soup and then, if you’re inclined, give your friends a chance to apologize. You don’t have to, obviously.""No, I will. At the very least, there are bigger concerns than my hurt feelings.""My mother used to say that the world does not stop for a broken heart, but neither does a broken heart step aside for the world to pass. Small things don’t stop just because of big things. There’s no line.""So very wise, Lady Farahild. What would I do without you?""Oh, shut up."Lily laughed and finished her soup, letting Scout take the bowl even though she could have carried it herself just fine.Back at camp, Alice immediately pushed to her feet and rushed over to them, hugging Lily tightly. "Please don’t hate me, I’m sorry.""Alice…how could I ever hate you?""Most people do eventually.""Well, not me. I’m sorry for storming off. I haven’t been handling surprises very well lately." She hugged Alice again and kissed her cheek, holding hands as they returned to the campfire, where she sat between Alice and Penelope. Opposite them, Scout settled next to Josiah, who handed her a large mug of something he poured from a jug.Scout sipped it and cast him an amused look. "Where did you get mead in all this mess?""Lifted it from the goods abandoned by some fleeing thieves.""I see," Scout said, mouth twitching with laughter as she took another swallow of mead.Lily waved it off when he offered her some, more than happy to stick with tea."So how did you come to be all the way here, Josiah? You seemed happy where you were when I left."Josiah’s mouth twisted, eyes heavy as he stared into his own mug. "The same way I always get myself in trouble: I grew too fond of someone who liked me fine when they thought I was human, but not so much when they learned the truth. You’d think I’d stop making the same stupid mistake over and over, but I never seem to really learn my lesson." He sighed and drained his mug, then set it aside and stretched out with his head pillowed on his satchel.Scout frowned, brow furrowed in that way it always was when she was thinking over something. "Mist?""Yes," Josiah said softly."You tell him or did he learn it?""I told him. Showed him. He left afterward, avoided me for two whole weeks. I tried several times to speak with him…but ultimately it was pretty clear what his decision was. So I left.""But—""Doesn’t matter, " Josiah said sharply. "This isn’t the time for my stupid story, my idiotic problems that I bring on myself. If you really want to listen to my stupid sob story, I’ll tell it in full after all of this is over, though really you’ve heard the bulk of it.""Somehow I doubt that," Scout said, "but yes, one problem at a time." She gathered the dishes and headed off to wash them, and Lily set to work laying out their beds.Josiah looked at her in faint, fond amusement. "I didn’t know you knew anything about camping.""Scout has taught me a lot.""How did you meet her? She’s quite the impressive figure."As she stripped down and braided her hair for bed, Lily gave an abbreviated version of her time with Scout, from collapsing in the forest to waking up in her cabin and through to leaving for the ruins.The smirking smirk her friends gave her when she’d finished didn’t bode well, but she was spared their teasing by Scout’s return.Hugging her friends tightly, just to try to convince herself yet again that they were real and there and alive, Lily then crawled into her bed, wrapping up in her beloved new shawl before pulling up the blankets as well. Just paces away, settled in her own bedroll, Scout smiled. "Soon, Your Majesty. Soon you’ll be back where you belong."That means never seeing you again, though. Lily bit back the words, and smiled in return. "Got a ways to go yet, I think. Sleep well, Scout.""Sweetest of dreams, princess."