Starlight of a Moonbeam

Circles in Time, One - Age 19 (Fenrys POV)

AN:

AHHHHHH!!
Thank you guys SOOOOOO much for the 10k reads!!! THIS IS TOO MUCH TO PROCESS!!!

I'm so sorry it took this long to get another chapter out, but I hope you enjoy it, and thank you again for the 10k reads!!

.

Fenrys pov:

The last time I was here, I was running for my life alongside my new queen whom I'd sworn the blood oath to, and three of my brothers from the cadre, while my own twin brother's blood had not yet dried on the stones beneath Maeve's feet.

The image of what once was my home, now the lair of my enemy, disappearing into the night as we sailed away, of the coast sinking into the horizon and below the black waves, is still branded into my head, still haunting me.

I never thought I'd see the country grow back into view, I never thought I'd set foot on Wendlyn soil ever again. And yet, here I am.

The last time I was at Mistward was during the valg attack when we'd left Doranelle and answered our brother Rowan's call for help. That was the first time the relentless path of my future was ripped open and I was offered a glimpse at something else. That was the last time I fought side-by-side with my brother, Connall.

Nothing about the fortress is much changed. There are new walls and roofs and structures after that battle, and new folk have come and gone. But besides that, it remains a steady, secure place. And I can still see corners and crevices that I used to live in when I was first here.

But nothing is the same at all.

I stand just beside the gate alongside Vaughan. My back is slouched against the stone with my arms crossed over my chest as we wait, while he stands stiff as a board and as unmoving as a rock.

Vaughan was never easy to read, and his lack of explanation or words at all didn't help, but he was serviced to Maeve for far longer than I was and has much deeper and darker memories of those decades, I'm sure.

But despite the fact that his ever silent and brooding mood is a massive damper on mine, I'm used to it... and I wanted him here with me, wanted one of my brother's here with me. Even though this was an unnecessary task for more than one, and it was asking a lot of them to come back here with me... Vaughan came, and I'm grateful.

When the topic came up, I volunteered to go on the trip first - which wasn't a surprise to anyone. If I never went back to that wretched city that was once my home, it would be too soon. And it just so happens that I'm scheduled to go there in just a few hours.

But she was going. And it's been so long that- that I'll go back to that place, just to be by her side.

As ambassador of Terrasen, it's within my duties to do these kinds of things: go to other countries, kingdoms, and represent Terrasen when needed. So the trip to Doranelle to meet with Queen Sellene wasn't out of the ordinary. But it was very far down on my wish list.

However, it needed to be done, and when the trip just happened to overlap with her plans to go, I couldn't put it off any longer.

So here I am, here we are, making a stop at Mistward to pick her up and then head east together. And after that... home. Finally.

Elena has been gone from Terrasen for just under a year now, going around the continents - physically training as well as learning from the other monarchies about governing and politics. She left in the late summer after... him. And now in the early summer, she'll be here another month or so with us before we all go back.