Evernight

[Elle Joyner]

Minette woke shortly after Thalion to find that he was already up and about. She caught only the tail end of his conversation with Gregian, but it was pretty easy to surmise from the tone that the Duke was up to his old ways. Still, she was feeling refreshed, and it was hard to feel annoyed when she had finally gotten a decent night's sleep. Her shoulders and her legs ached, but she'd become almost accustomed to the feeling and when she stood and stretched, she barely noticed the new twinges.

There had been a time when she had been so certain she would never find anything at all enjoyable about Evernight… back when every sound she had heard, everything she saw from the corner of her eye terrified her to no end. Now, however, she was able to pick up on subtle beauties… the way the early morning light caught the tips of the treetops and cast them in pale gold… the faint smell of the elderfire bushes, their berries like honey to taste… The sound of Thalion's voice, even as he chided Gregian… strong and commanding, yet different when he spoke to her.

Smiling delicately, she approached him, looping an arm through his, "I haven't slept that well for a good while. Thank you, for staying with me. Are you hungry, or did you want to get an early start?"

Her eyes flickered briefly to Gregian. He was a mess… the stitching on his face ugly and raw, no doubt painful. His hair was matted down, his skin smudged and dirty… It was almost enough to garner her sympathy, "Morning, Gregian. I trust we'll have no trouble today?"
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The sound of Minette's voice caught him by surprise, but it didn't show on his face. He hadn't expected her to awake so quickly after he had, and he brought his head to the side to glance over his shoulder as she rose. When she smiled at him it was like for a split second everything stopped and her warmth pierced through all the bad things in his life and all was well again. Hope beaded on his skin like dew on spring grass and he felt it radiating in to soothe his blood; he couldn't know for sure if today would be better than yesterday, or if this time they'd win, but he was optimistic and that's the best he could say. It was an unsettling sensation, one he was not entirely familiar with, but he wore it well.

Her arm hooked through his and he brought his hand down the length of her forearm and laced up their fingers. "You are welcome," he answered, turning his eyes to the horizon. The world was still silent as if it had ended in the night; the sun still resolute below the horizon but a smudge of colour suggested it quickly approached. The sooner they left, the better, but he couldn't deny the rumbling in his stomach. He was hungry, though he shouldn't be, as they had only just eaten the night before.

"We should eat," the fire was only hot coals left in the small hand-dug pit, but they didn't need fire to eat the charred Oiler meat they had prepared the night before. "We will need to move quickly and swiftly today n' a meal will keep up our strength." Gregian, in particular, looked like he could use some more to eat. Though he had gone soft in the middle with extra weight and his cheeks bulged like a newborn baby, his skin was pale and his eyes glossy. The wound seemed to be sucking the very life from him, and it was hard to tell if he was behaving out of choice or because his injuries and exhaustion had forced him into submission. The reason for his obedience concerned not Thalion, but he knew it was in his best interest to keep the Duke well taken care of, at least as taken care of as possible, so they could move with some pace.

They had already lost so much time having to drag him behind the day before.

There was no need for urgency, but Thalion felt it in his bones that there was a clock ticking away somewhere… and he had learned to trust those instincts over the years.

"No trouble at all," Gregian swore, his words slurring together like he had been drinking though not a single drop had touched his lips.

Giving Minette's hand a tug, Thalion pulled her to the edge of their make-shift camp, "I think he's taking ill, Minette," his lips tantalizingly close to her ear as he leaned into whisper, "I untied him for a few moments this morning n' he nearly toppled over."
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[Elle Joyner]

Upon closer inspection, she hadn't needed Thalion's suggestion to see the shape Gregian was in. He seemed gaunt, even with the bit of excess weight he carried, his eyes darkened, rimmed in heavy bags, his lips thin and pale. Infection could be staved off with the herbs she had given him, but it was no guarantee, and out in the wild, having run into any manner of trouble, there was no telling when or where he'd taken so ill.

Frowning softly, she looked up at Thalion, shaking her head, "He doesn't look well, at all." They couldn't carry him. Not like they had the day before. Even well rested and fed, they were both of them in no real shape to cart Gregian miles upon miles, and the slower they went, the more chances they had of running into real trouble. If they couldn't cart him around, there were only two possible solutions... leaving him behind, which even given his behavior prior seemed cruel and unnecessary... or waiting where they were until he had healed.

Unshouldering her bag, she pushed around inside, pulling free a canteen. Giving it a small shake, she held it out to Thalion, "There's not much left. He'll likely finish it. It's the water from the falls..." They wouldn't be able to retrieve more - not if they were ever going to put distance between them and Thalia... but it was a chance they would both have to be comfortable taking - to leave themselves exposed, with no more of the healing water.

Gregian didn't deserve it - that was for sure - but she couldn't in good conscience sit and watch him die... not when she knew they had the means to help him but weren't taking it for selfish concerns.
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The water had once saved their own lives.

Thalion could still remember hobbling to the falls after facing a dragon—ribs cracked, bloodied, bruised… then there was Minette, who had nearly broken her ankle and struggled to hobble along. They had been in rough shape. So rough, that there had been more than a few moments that Thalion had thought they wouldn't make it. He could still recall the sense of relief that had come over him when they had reached the water and dipped his toes below the cold surface. A lot of emotions had been shared between him and Minette at those falls—good, bad, and ugly.

It had also been the only place of any goodness he could think of when they faced his mother. It was also the place he had died. So, when she produced the flask of the last remaining fall water and suggested it be used on Gregian, he felt a pang of defensiveness immediately rise through his chest. It felt unfair that he had to share any part of such a sacred place, both in physical form and in his heart, with anyone such as Gregian. Once the initial surge of emotion crashed over him, it receded and he relaxed again. It was just water… it was just water and ultimately, Thalion was determined not to be his mother. Letting Gregian die would be the easy route; the route his mother would have taken.

He saw it in himself, too.

It took conscious effort to avoid following that path of vice. There were times, like in that moment, when his emotions got the better of him and he very nearly began to wish Gregian would just die, already. It scared him—his own thoughts. It scared him that someday they'd go so far he wouldn't be able to come back from them. When Minette put her eyes on him, he could only nod and let her extreme sense of just and fairness wrap around him and weave through him like a thread and needle through a piece of cloth.

"It should be enough for him," Thalion replied, taking the little canteen from her and turning to Gregian, "He probably won't be at a hundred percent, but he'll be better."

With that Thalion extended it out to Gregian, helping him tip his head back and swallow down the water.

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[Elle Joyner]

Maybe it was something in his eyes, or the lilt in his shoulders, as though the weight he carried had somehow grown, but Minette had come to know those moments when Thalion was struggling, internally... when he was battling what was inherent... ingrained into him by his mother, in favor of what he desired instead to be. It was those moments when she knew that she needed to be her strongest... that she needed to be the light he so desperately sought to find in himself.

And the fact that he agreed, regardless his apprehension, that time and time again he did what was right instead of what was easy... was a comforting indication that despite all of her best efforts to destroy the good in him, Thalion was not so easily broken. Maybe he didn't see it, but Minette did, and she loved him all the more for it.

After he had given Gregian the water, she reached for his hand, and giving it a squeeze, she smiled up at him with tender affection, and with her free hand, brushed the hair from his eyes before stroking her thumb across his cheek, "You know that you are the best thing in this entire world, Thalion? I know that wasn't an easy decision, and I know what it means for you to aid him, after all he's done..." Pressing onto the tips of her toes, she kissed his cheek and lingered there for a moment before she straightened down again, nodding.

"I'll get my bag... We should eat."
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Gregian was a man revitalized after a few moments. The dark circles around his eyes softened and his eyes themselves seemed to become clearer, like he was no longer fighting any kind of infection. The wound that they had hastily patched on his forehead sealed shut, leaving only a patchy scar behind. Thalion, still unsure in their choice, turned away and went to kick dirt over the hot coals of their fire to distract himself with. When Minette toed over to him, he glanced her way from the corner of his eyes, arching his brows a little. "Hm?"

He had gotten a lot of compliments from her, but something in the way she brushed her hand across his cheek and trailed her thumb tenderly about his skin, he knew it had been the right decision. A hard decision, but the right one. That's what a person with a heart and soul would do, right? Show compassion. "Not hard to be the best thing in this world," he pointed out idly, still not entirely read to take all of her praise, "When you're comparing against Thalia n' dragons."

He scrunched his eyes closed when she kissed his cheek, not because he didn't enjoy the gesture but because he never knew how best to respond. He wanted to return her affection, but he could feel Gregian's eyes burning into the back of his head.

The suggestion of breakfast was met with a nod. "Let's walk. We can eat and walk at the same time if we just have some of that smoked Oiler meat." It wasn't an ideal, tasty breakfast, but it would fill them and provide them with enough energy to keep on. The faster they walked, the better, Thalion decided, though he still wasn't sure why.

Going to untie Gregian, he watched as the bulbous man worked his way up to his feet. The brightness in his eyes and the flush in his cheeks didn't diminish when he rose and explored his range of motion.

"I feel good," Gregian admitted with a nod.

"Good enough to walk on your own?"

"Definitely."

Thalion narrowed his eyes to slits as if questioning the intelligence of that decision, "You try n' run and you'll have an arrow in your back. Understand?"
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[Elle Joyner]

It was strange how seamlessly their journey seemed to go, after Gregian's recovery. For all that they had endured over those past few weeks in Evernight, it was almost more disheartening when nothing went wrong... simply because it felt as though the worst was being steadily built up, instead of coming at them in small increments. It fashioned within Minette a sort of paranoia, and made those quiet moments at camp more unnerving than usual.

Gregian had been quiet, passive almost and as harmless as a lamb. That, in and of itself, should have been a greater indication that something was wrong, but Minette still dared to hope that he had changed - that his brush with mortality had awoken in him a new understanding of life, and an appreciation for the people who had spared his. But a pot, before it boils is still hot, even when there are no bubbles. He was an angry man, bitter and jealous and seething in his own roiling rage.

That morning, while Thalion was hunting, Minette had found busy work... mostly gathering and prepping for the remainder of their trip to the coast. She hadn't meant to leave the knife lying around - she'd been using it to clean a rabbit and set it in the ground to fix the meat to a spit when she found it pressed up against the small of her back. Somehow... despite her indefatiguable hope for his soul, she wasn't entirely surprised...

His voice was a hiss in her ear as he yanked her back against his chest, "Call him..."

"Gregian... You don't have to--"

But the blade pushed with more force, until she could feel it pierce her skin his tone a growl, "Now!" With a small grimace, Minette nodded.

"Thalion!" She cried out, and her eyes stung with sharp tears as his grip on her tightened with a bruising intensity.
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Once he reached the edge of the forest, he stood in front of the tightly knit trees and stared deep into the darkness ahead as if asking permission to enter. His hands hung lowly down at his side, his right fist curled around the center arc of his bow. Then, he respectfully stepped into the massive realm of woodland, and from the first footfall the whole atmosphere changed. The ground was spongy, like walking on foam, and as he put his full weight down the earth seemed to hug his boots and gently release them with each step. Scent from the foliage, mixed with the dampness and decay, danced through the air and tickled his nostrils. Sprinkles of dew that were lying in wait leapt from their hosts to anoint him with weepy atoms, and cooled his face in their misty kisses.

Rabbits darted underfoot, quick and scurrying, but Thalion was just as quick. Swiftly, his movements as quiet and seamless as water, her drew his bow and aimed his arrow. Thalion! the sound of his name pierced him more violently than ever before and his motions stumbled. The rabbits scurried free with their lives. Minette had never called for him before, not from a campsite and not like that. His brows furrowed deeply, nearly meeting at the center of his forehead and forcing a deep crinkle right between his brows. A crinkle of concern. Without thought, he turned and began to make his way silently, but quickly, through the forest back towards camp.

He bounded in huge stride, effortlessly moving through the thick foliage but not having to ever look as to where to put his feet. He just seemed to know—intrinsically.

"Minette?" he called back, swinging around the familiar bend and darting into their camp just in time to see Gregian poised over her. The dangerous gleam of the knife in his hand—Thalion's knife—caught his attention immediately.

"I knew I should have killed you when I had the opportunity," were the first words out of his mouth, "What is it you want for her release? She was the one who saved you after all, you have no argument with her."
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[Elle Joyner]

Frozen in place, Minette had never felt so utterly helpless. She had been up against all manner of beasts, including a full grown dragon, but at the end of the day there was something so intensely terrifying about coming up against a man... Gregian was fully conscious of what he was doing - and the thought of that terrified her.

She knew, instinctively, that there would be no point in trying to appeal to his conscience, to try and talk him out of his betrayal... He had finally convinced her, broken her spirits... there would be no saving him, now. She had been wrong, and accepting that somehow hurt more than the tip of the blade pinching her lower back. Tears stung her eyes, blurred her vision... She didn't want to be wrong - desperately, she had wanted him to change... to show that he was a better man than he had been.

Thalion burst from the forest with unsurprising authority, and Gregian tightened his grip on Minette, who flinched, sucking in a sharp breath as the blade pressed in, "Her release? You don't get it, do you? I'm sick of the both of you... Ordering me around, telling me what to do and where to sit or stand or when I can take a damn piss! I'm a duke, damn it all, and I deserve to be regarded with respect! Especially by the likes of you, you... Witchling! No... I don't want anything. Except for you to watch when I cut her throat..."

He leaned in close, so close Minette could almost smell the madness coming off of him in waves, "You could've had me. Been something... But instead, you chose him... The way I see it, Princess, I'm doing you a favor..."
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Thalion had never killed a human being before.

He had killed all sorts of monsters and beast, usually without fluttering an eyelid, but a human being? He had spent so much time alone, afraid, and desperate for some sort of human connection that it went against nearly his every instinct to kill another. It was that which had driven him to save Minette's life instead of end it all those months ago. Like anything and everyone, he needed love and attention… vital elements he had been neglected of for too long.

It went against every instinct, yet it was so easy. His muscle memory moved seamlessly and his face never changed. He didn't grow angry or irrational, he merely drew an arrow and strung it tight against the bowstring like he was aiming for an animal. He was aiming for an animal. For a split second, he stood with his bow taut. Aside from the beat of his heart, no muscle moved. That pounding inside beat a rhythm to the words of the Duke's execution, the cold steel of Gregian's judge and jury. His fingers twitched, unfurling, and the arrow whistled as it shot a true and straight line. The spearhead pierced Gregian's chest as if it was nothing, just meat, blood, bones… blasting a cavity into his heart as it burst crimson. The sudden thump of the arrow into his chest sent Gregian back. His face, so twisted with rage and pride was empty—eyes open, mouth slack, as he was propelled backwards.

His eyes held on Gregian's in those fractions of seconds he was there and then gone. He was dead long before he hit the ground.

With him, Thalion's bow slipped free from his fingers and the worry returned. "Minette-" he whimpered, his voice soft and pained, like that of a child being denied a toy. "Minette, did he do anything to you, are you alright?" His hands ghosted few centimeters above her shoulders, afraid to touch her in case she just crumbled under his touches, but the sight of her cheeks caused his palms to close around them as he lowered his head to press a kiss to her lips.

"I'm sorry," he squirmed, "I'm so, so sorry… please, please tell me you're okay." Thalion had never begged for a damn thing in his life before.

But Minette was worth begging for.
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[Elle Joyner]

It was quick... a burst of sudden, searing pain and then it was carried away as Gregian toppled backwards, body impacting earth with a solid sound of finality. Thalion spanned the distance between them, his hands cupping her face and he kissed her, and it was all Minette could do to keep from dissolving entirely. It all happened in the span of a few minutes, and it was over so quickly... so quickly. But it felt like a moment that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Tears burned again behind her eyes and she blinked as she pulled back to meet Thalion's gaze, shaking her head, her own hands reaching up to brush against his jaw, "It's okay..." She whispered, and the words hurt. Everything hurt, "It... it's not your fault. I... I should've known. I should've know he wouldn't change, that he would never be a better person... She wouldn't have picked him if he was a good man. She would never have brought him here."

Sucking in a small hiss of pain, she curled into him tightly and held onto him, tears sliding down her cheeks with freedom, now. At the pulse point in her back she could feel throbbing, knew what the warmth that ran beneath the fabric of her shirt was... The knife lay beside Gregian's outstretched hand, the blade tinged red. Whether it had been intentional or not, the damage was done. Already, she felt weakening in her limbs as they grew heavier, colder.

"...I'm okay." She whispered again, laying her head on his chest. To thing that they had used the last of the water from the falls on that bastard, "I'm fine..."
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But she wasn't fine.

She could say it all she want and Thalion could wish desperately to believe it all he wanted, but he knew better. She wasn't fine. His arms curled around her as she melted into his chest, holding her impossibly close and scrambling to find words—any words, but there were none. His eyes dripped with tears. His walls, the walls that held him up, made him strong just…. Collapsed.

There were no sobs or cries, just tears gently sliding down his cheeks. They had wasted everything on Gregian because it had been the right thing to do… and look what they had gotten for it. There was no going back to the falls. There were no stitches that could fix the internal damage. There was nothing in Thalion's infinite realm of knowledge about Evernight that could help Minette now. She was dying in his arms and he was powerless to stop it. Once, they had gotten lucky, but there were no more Antropoes to sacrifice themselves left. There was no one left.

"Maybe he didn't change," Thalion agreed, tucking his chin towards his chest so he could look down to Minette. "Maybe we were wrong about him, but I changed. You were right about me when no one else would have been." It wasn't much to console, he knew, but it was all he had. Thalion had changed a great deal since meeting Minette. He was still the snappish, cold, aloof bastard he always was, but there was a hint of warmness to him now that hadn't been there before. When he looked at Minette, he seemed to soften and turn from a hunter to simply a man. He had loved, and continued to love, in a way he never thought himself possible and it was only because Minette had taken a chance on him, too. Perhaps merely out of her desire to survive, but that was beside the point.

"All I know is that I can't lose you." His soul ached for her. It was heavy and sullen, like an overly damp towel. He could feel it curling around his heart and the pair beating painfully in his chest, as if they were trying to escape. "I just.. I just can't. Not now, not this far."
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[Elle Joyner]

As Thalion's voice softened and she looked up to see the tear tracks trailing along his bronze skin, she knew without a doubt how bad things were. It wasn't fair. They had come so far... She had, to all intents and purposes, found a way to revive him from death... to restore his soul to him. They were right there, days from the edge of the world, from possible escape. It wasn't a dragon or a Half Hag or a Watchcrew. It wasn't even a damnable plant. It was Gregian... a piece of her own world, and one that she had stubbornly kept around because as she was so ought to do, she needed to fix him.

A sob escaped and Minette curled her fingers into his shirt to pull herself closer, squeezing her eyes shut tightly against the numbness that had taken over. Maybe she had changed him... maybe. But he had changed her, too, and she wasn't ready to leave him. She wasn't ready to go... They had so much taken from them, had endured too much to end it now on such a pathetic note.

But what could be done? What was there left to do?

Her grip slackened and she sank back with a sigh, breathing out slowly as her eyes opened and met his gaze again, "Don't let her win..." She pleaded, shaking her head, "Don't go back to how it was. Promise me, Thal... Promise me you won't... If you can do that... if you... If you can hold on to that, then you will never lose me. Find the edge... and get out of this horrible place. Can... can you do that for me?"
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It was so hopeless and bleak. They had survived so much, yet it was the thing Thalion wanted most that destroyed him in the end, he realized bitterly. It had been Green Reach, and a piece of it, that had killed Minette. In that moment of loss, his world collapsed—where there had been light, there was shadow, the pain coming and going like waves on frigid sand. His connection with Minette was quickly weakning, he could tell that, but he clung to it, what little he could. Bit by bit, she was growing weak. Her grasp, once firm and strong, fell loose against the fabric of her shirt.

Death wasn't kind. Thalion knew that. It snatched where it could, taking those who were far too young, far too good. It didn't pretend to care, it didn't pretend to distinguish. Thalion's skin greyed in a way that made it look thicker, almost leathery, as if all the blood had leached into his core or else drained into his feet. Every movement he made was more crisp than usual, robotic even. He knew Minette was near the end, and he knew she'd take the best part of him with her. "I'll do what I can," he assured her, though he couldn't even think about his mother, Green Reach, or Evernight in those moments. He'd go on because that is what Minette asked. He'd fight because that was what he needed to do. If she died, he'd ensure it wouldn't be in vain, not without a fight, but first…

First, she needed a gift.

His soul was a transitory thing, it seemed, and when he felt it pounding on his chest, he knew it was time to let a small part of it go, even though he had just gotten back. Taking Minette's right hand gently in his own, he pressed it down against his chest and held it there for a second. When he finally allowed her hand to pull away, with it came a brilliant light. The light was too bright to look at, but it flickered in a vulnerable way.

"A part of my soul," he explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. He opened and closed his fingers a few times and the light continued to swirl amid them, always staying close but never seeming to actually settle in his palm, "So even in death, you and I will never truly be that far apart at all. It's a promise because someday…" he inhaled sharply, fighting back the surge of emotion that was banging against his skull with such force, he didn't know how it didn't explode, "Someday, I'll meet you again to retrieve it."

"I love you Minette—" He knew she hadn't much time life, but he had said everything he needed her to hear. Coaxing the almost life-like light light with a small wiggle of his fingers, he pressed it into Minette's chest where… for the time being, it would stay.

Until someday, someday, he'd could meet her again.
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[Elle Joyner]

She watched the incandescent glow with a sense of awe, and in that moment, the fear left her, peace filling her in a way she had not anticipated. There were no thoughts about fairness. No thoughts about what could have been, but would not. No thoughts about where Thalion would go or whether or not he would sink back into the shadows if she wasn't there to bring him out into the light... Tears slid down her cheeks, but she didn't feel sadness, anymore.

"Thalion..." She murmured quietly, reaching up, fingertips kissing his jawline, brushing across his cheek, "You didn't need to do that... You... you've already got my whole heart. You have, for a long, long time... I know you think I changed you... and... and maybe I did, but Thalion, you have shown me so much, too..."

Breathing in, closing her eyes, she exhaled in a sigh, "I never thought I would have the courage to survive Evernight... but you gave me that... You taught me how strong I could be. And I thank you for that..." Opening her eyes again, she met his gaze, smiled delicately, "I love you, Thal... with all that I am. And I know you'll keep your promise... You will... because we're a part of each other, you and I... we've always been."

Her hand slumped to her lap, and her eyes drooped again, too heavy to keep open, "When you find me... you... you owe me a dance, Thal..." She breathed, and with a shutter, Minette was gone.
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With a shudder, Minette was gone.

Thalion never knew as much sadness as he did after Minette's death. He wept until there was nothing left inside but a raw emptiness that nibbled at his insides like a hungry rat. His irises were threaded scarlet and his eyeballs hung heavy in their sockets. His whole body hung limp like each limb weighed twice as much as it had before and just moving it about was a slow, painful effort. The next morning, the sun still shone in the sky, but not for him. The Oilers clicked their bursts of melody, but not for him. For him, there was no beauty left in the world.

He buried Minette where she had died because he didn't have any other option. Two days later, he had packed up his belongings and left. The sadness didn't leave him, but it was overwhelmed by rage. For three more days, he traveled East, as alone as he had always remembered being before her. It was odd how quickly he could fall back into old habits; old ruts that were years deep in his mind. He travelled swifter, lighter, more fearsome than anything before—and he left behind him a path of destruction. Anything that crossed him he killed. Oilers, rabbits, Half Hags… he spared not an arrow for any of them because he thought it'd make it better. Maybe it would make it just a little bit better if he could make something… anything pay for what had happened to Minette.

It never helped.

On the seventh day, right at the tip of morning, the trees began to recede and in its place were fields. It was everything he remembered: rolling, grassy hills laced with the occasional shrewd shrubbery or low to the ground plant. Nothing particularly tall grew in those fields, and the horizon became indefinitely more terrifying without a single tree to tie it down. He kept on. He walked because he didn't know what else to do. He had promised Minette, but he didn't know where to start. He had tried for Green Reach for so long, so many years, and had never made it. His thoughts grew darker, his mind slowed down, and when he was on the brink of giving up, he saw the Roc.

The Roc was nestled on the ground, looking into the distance like it was considering something philosophical, as if it wasn't just a bird. In the early fall sunshine, its feathers were as glossy as fresh paint and its head as white as a paper cut out. Thalion squinted at its beak; it was as yellow as the buttercups that sprung over the mountain grass at his feet. Thalion approached it, lacking any sense of self-preservation and as he did, the great bird rose up. Its wings stretched out to either side, blocking out the sun as he screeched.

"You nearly killed me once," Thalion called to it, though he knew Rocs couldn't speak common tongue… and probably couldn't understand it, "Nearly ripped my arm off. I still have the scars." He drew and arrow and pulled it tight, aiming the arrowhead towards the bird. He couldn't kill it—not with a single arrow and certainly not with the three arrows he had left in his quiver. The bird seemed genuinely disinterested in the thread, pushing off from the ground and lazily swooping circles over head for a moment before diving down and pinching Thalion up in its talons. Thalion fought the grip, tyring to breaking himself free by thrashing. The bird's talons crushed his bow and arrow, but did not hurt him. The bird cruised low and fast and as they flew over the edge of Evernight—the edge of the map—the bird let go and down, down, down went Thalion.

He fell and fell. The world fell away and into darkness he continued to fall. It went by fast, yeet slow, almost suspended. He waited for impact, waited to feel his bones smash to dust, but there wasn't. He jolted and sat up. His hands found the dirt below him and his eyes found the buildings around him. Horses and carriages rivered past him, people gazing down at him oddly.

"Ey fella, outta the street would ya?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Thalion lept up, finding his muscles weak and he stumbled painfully, "Where… where I am?"

"Lousy drunk," the man scoffed as he climbed up into his carriage and snapped the reins to get the horse moving. "You're in Doyle, of course."

His heart was pounding in his ears. People were yelling at him, his boots were sinking into the mud, and he was having to dance between horses that trotted fearlessly through the streets. They would have thought nothing of running him over. He felt impossibly out of his element—there was no safety without trees and cover. The animals were unusual and strange, completely unfamiliar to him now. He kept wiping his sweating palms on the legs of his trousers and on his cape as he darted down between two barns and smacked his back into one of them, just to catch a breather. It was impossible to keep up with it all—the noise, the movements. His brain was working just to try and keep up, but it was no use.

He was so foolish to believe he could belong anywhere except Evernight, but when his eyes found the castle off in the distance, he felt some relief.

He hadn't come to Green Reach, he reminded himself: he had come to kill the witch. His bow was gone, but he managed to dislodge the small paring knife he kept in his boot and he immediately was on the move again. He slid through the alleys and closes, trying to keep away from people as much as possible. Many commented already on his strange dress or unusual appearance, but he brushed them off.

"Sir, you can't enter the palace of the Queen." The guard barked out at him.

It hadn't been a long hike to the palace, no longer than anywhere else he went in Evernight—and he felt a little foolish for believing he could just waltz in the front doors. Thalion looked back at the guard. "No," he remarked, "I suppose I can't."

Undeterred in a very Thalion fashion, he swung around the palace, nimbly slipping by the guards (he pretended they were dragon, it worked surprisingly well), until he managed to locate an open window. It was but a cracked window, a vent window for the Butler Pantry, but sliding his blade along the edge, he managed to chisel the entire thing away from the stone to make a small hole in the wall big enough for him to wiggle through. Unsurprisingly, he found a Butler Pantry on the other side.

Now inside, he moved easily through the guards' routines, making a joke of their patrol and watch. No one seemed to notice he was there at all, which worked out well for him. He had been intending to find his mother's bed chambers and to lie in wait for her to return, but not knowing a thing about castles or palaces, he had to work his way around the huge wings systematically, carefully opening and peering into each door. Most were empty guest bedrooms or servants' quarters, but one in particular caused his heart to stir.

The room was cold. A violent brush of air surged across his face the minute he opened it and a shiver cursed him. A single bed was in the center, candles flickering around her bedside with melted wax trailing down. In the bed was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Of course, it was Minette.

His heart cried and he cursed himself for so foolishly forgetting that her body in Green Reach remained. He carefully stepped towards her, one step than two, until he was at her bedside. The knife slipped from his fingers and fell down to the floor, his hand coming up to brush down her incredibly cool cheek. Dead. She must be.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, cursing fate for reminding him of his loss yet again, "I'm so sorry, Minette." Leaning over, he pressed a soft and tender peck to her lips. A goodbye, again.
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[Elle Joyner]

It was not a gasp, a choking, sputtering inhalation. It was soft. No louder than the brush of a dove's wings through the air, the subtle sound of breath, returning to lungs... of life resumed. Minette's eyes flickered open slowly, and moved from the ceiling to settle in the man at her side. Blinking, she stared for a long, silent space of time, unmoving, every thought in her mind tarnished by doubt, by fear. Rationality was no friend to hope, and she was desperately afraid that this was just another torment... another endless dream.

But she recognized it... the stone walls, the tile pattern on the ceiling, it even smelled familiar, and with her eyes opening wider, she tried to sit up, making herself dizzy in the process. Pinching her nose, she leaned her head back, her eyes closing, but she reached out anyway and grabbed for his hand, clung to it as though it were the only thing keeping her alive...

And maybe it was. She remembered it all. Remembered everything that had happened. Gregian... the knife plunging into her back... She remembered the terrible coldness, the heaviness of her own body, giving up on her, remembered Thalion's words and the desperation in his eyes, his gift...

Tears blurred her vision as she opened her eyes again and looking at him, she smiled gently, reaching out with her freehand to touch his face, cupping his cheek with tenderness, "...You're here. You... you made it."
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"Minette?"

Perhaps life was finally making up for everything is had done onto Thalion by finally giving back everything it had taken. He had been at the receiving end of not one, but two, miracles. When Minette first sat up, pinched her nose, and sunk back down in a dizzy fit, he had a doubt in the back of his mind. There was something nagging at him incessantly that he couldn't be seeing her there… that she was dead. He did, after all, always believe that what happened in Evernight happened in Green Reach. You died, you were dead, but maybe he had been wrong. As disbelief ebbed into shock, his eyes widened.

He had to reach out and touch her. He looked something like a curious kitten exploring the edge of the box for the first time. His hand slowly closed around Minette's, but first only his fingers. They brushed against the back of her palm and pulled back a second later, as if afraid to find her body cold… but it wasn't. There was warmth in her skin that invited his hand back to hers. This time, he didn't hesitate to lie his hand entirely overs hers. It felt right. They hadn't been apart long—less than two weeks—yet he had almost forgotten how right something could feel.

He jolted at first when her other hand came up to his face. Her fingertips explored his cheek and his eyes fell closed, relaxing into the touch like he still couldn't believe it was there. He feared he'd open his eyes and she'd be gone but… he opened them to find her still sitting there. "I don't… I'm…" there were a million things to say yet no language left to say them in. His brows knitted together into a frown of concern, a certain gleam of uneasiness in his eyes as he fought for the right words. For the second time, one of only a very few times in his adult life, his eyes brimmed with tears. "I… you… you're here. I thought… I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

A shaky breath expelled from his lungs. It whistled as it pressed up his throat, his eyes still not losing the tension that was in them. He didn't want to blink. She could leave him again; she couldn't leave him again… not again, that wasn't fair. It wouldn't be fair. "We're in Green Reach. I… I don't know how."

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[Elle Joyner]

Pulling herself forward, her hand draped around the back of his neck, Minette hugged him tightly about the shoulders, burrowing in the crook of his throat. It was there, the steady rhythm she had grown so accustomed to, the scent of fresh air and pine. Her heart unfurled and she sighed gently, unwilling to let go, even when he spoke, too afraid if she did it would prove a lie.

"It doesn't matter how. It's happened. You're here, and I am never letting you go, Thal." She had never thought it possible. She had hoped, against reason, against rationality, but she had never truly thought that they would ever get back. But they had - they had, and now they had the chance to set things right. In her kingdom, in their lives together. They would stop Thalia, and then they could start a new journey... one less fraught with dangers... with sorrow.

"I thought..." Sitting back, reluctantly, she met his eyes, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand, "I thought it was over. But she underestimated you... She always has. And I'm ashamed to say I may have as well, Thal. The power you have, not just your magic..." For she knew he would dismiss it, "But your heart. Your strength. You are... you are capable of things I never thought possible. You brought me back... You, Thal. And I don't know how I will ever thank you..."
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It was her breath against his neck that made him realize he wasn't dreaming, because he could never make up a sensation quite like that. The soft warm exhalations tickling his skin caused goose bumps to rise all across his back and down his arms; he knew for certain that she was truly of flesh and bone… and she remembered. Whatever had brought her so far, he didn't know. He didn't care. She was with him, gripping his neck like it was her last anchor in to the world. Finally, his mind accepted that she, truly, was there and his arms slid around her waist, pulling her impossibly tight to him.

It was like Thalion's life was finally making up for all the terrible things he had to go through as a young boy. Miracle after miracle flooded into him, and it seemed as though the universe was conspiring to bring them, and to keep them, together. Eventually, they'd run out of miracles but he knew then that they wouldn't fail. They couldn't. There were still many miles worth of work left ahead of them, but Thalion didn't feel so afraid anymore. Even in death, Thalia had not beaten them.

"If anything," Thalion clarified, "You overestimated me. I was just so bent on impressing you, doing good by you, that I did everything I had to do to meet your expectations." He hadn't always liked Minette. In fact, there was a time he was fairly confident he had hated her, but somehow she had nestled herself past all of his barriers and walls, and crawled straight into the only little soft spot he possessed. There had been not much kind or warm about Thalion, but Minette had found a little thread and tugged it loose. "As for bringing you back, consider it a favor returned. Plus, I believe you have something of mine. But for now, I think you should keep it."

His lips met the apple of her cheek, kissing her tenderly. "You should rest. The fight has only just begun."

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