Evernight

A small, subtle smirk twitched up at the corner of her mouth and Minette shook her head, "My love.. It does take a bit of time to gather enough forces to take on the likes of your mother. Particularly when, from the sounds of it, her own forces are fairly oppressive. And it's not likely Ben'll be rash about who he goes to. He probably won't return till morning, possibly later."

Her arms slackening a little, she tipped back onto her heels with a sly smile, her eyes glittering in the light of the fire, "You can't spend every moment of your life hunting Oilers and slaying dragons. Especially here. Our dragons tend to be much smaller, and less scaley... and we call them snakes. He'll come. I know he will, and then we will figure out a plan to stop your mother."

"But in the meantime, we'll just need to think of some way to pass the time, so you don't go mad with all the waiting. I could try to find something to cook... Or we could read. Or... Hm." Chuckling softly, she shook her head, "It's been so long since I've even had the notion of free time. I'm afraid I'm out of suggestions."
 
"Yea." The same smirk didn't appear over Thalion's own face as he thought on to his mother. He hadn't always hated her, and she hadn't always despised him. For a very brief interlude during his childhood, he remembered being quite happy and idyllic. Sometimes, he wondered if his brain had just made up those things and they had never really happened in the first place, but the memories felt real. As he looked down on Minette, his eyes traveled down the length of his arm and to his hand that was curled around her shoulder. The skin was rough, tanned, and dirtied. Old scars littered the skin in pale, fish-bone like lines.

Those hands—the objects of his hatred for so long. The strong, good hands that hadn't served him in the way he had hoped for so long. Everything would have been different had he discovered the magic within him sooner. He had cursed them for so many years, but in that moment, he wouldn't have changed a thing. He would have survived Evernight for a thousand, a million years if that were what it would have taken. Green Reach was not at all what he had hoped for, not even close, but Minette had been everything to him—in Green Reach, in Evernight… it didn't matter.

"Alright," he sighed, "But killing Oilers and Dragons is what I know how to do. Stopping my mother isn't something I know." Of course, he was feeling a little unusual. Shaking himself out, he slipped his arm from around her and began to walk around the barn room, inspecting every inch of it. "If you wanna cook something, I can hunt something." He wasn't as familiar with the species of Green Reach, but how different could hunting be from one world to the next?

Again, he shrugged, "I can't read. Never learned."
 
It wouldn't just be an adjustment for Thalion. It was quite literally coming into another world, and it was going to be some time before he felt entirely comfortable, if he ever was, at all. She would never push him, never force him to do anything, but she did have hope that some day he might be able to exist in whatever world he was in, without the constant sense of paranoia. That some day, he might actually be able to stop and enjoy something for a moment without fear of repercussions.

"Well..." She continued, her smile softening, "I can't teach you much, but this is the world I'm more accustomed to, and I never would have made it through Evernight without you. Whatever you want to learn, Thal... tell me, and I'll see that I can help." There wasn't much, of course, that they could do now, but when the time came and Thalia was gone from their lives for good, she'd see to it that she gave Thalion the same chance he'd given her, in that nightmare world. Even if the tasks she could teach him weren't quite so extravagant as hunting or gathering or surviving the cold of night.

"There might be a rabbit or two around... and I'm sure there are some spices in the cabinets, here." Releasing Thalion, she moved to investigate the small kitchen area, pulling open the cupboards with a thoughtful frown, "It would give you a chance to test out your bow. Just... don't go far." For all the comfort of being home, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the notion of being left on her own - particularly in unfamiliar territory.
 
The break Minette had allowed him would do him good, of that much he was certain. Night air, regardless of whether it was in Green Reach or Evernight, felt the same. He appreciated it and saying goodbye to her, picked up the new bow, and he stepped out into it and took a deep breath into his lungs. It was an incredibly euphoric feeling and it soothed him. He didn't need to go far at all either, for a small forest wrapped around the far edge of the bar, and it was teeming with life.

Rabbits were abundant. They moved slowly, lolloping in their ungainly way, grazing as they went. At the slightest noise, they were up on their hind legs, black eyes staring in more direction than Thalion could ever. He moved through the forest with ease and surprising silence, even though the forest floor was a tossing ground for leaf litter. He felt comfortably back in his element, though the new bow felt uncomfortable in his hands. It likely would for a while, he assumed, but it was a weapon of choice and that was fine. For a while, he stood stationary and watched the rabbits for a while.

Just because they needed to eat didn't mean he couldn't appreciate the nature of it. Then, he took aim—one arrow, one fat rabbit… the job was done. The rest scatter after that and he didn't have the patience or time to sit around and wait for more. He had considered trying to trap once, in Evernight, but he liked the ritual of the bow and knots had never been his thing.

Picking up his kill, he had returned to the barn about a half-hour later. Morning was becoming a suggestion on the horizon—a faint smudge of pink in an otherwise dark world.

"I have breakfast."
 
While Thalion hunted, Minette scoured the small cottage for anything that could be used to cook or cook with. She found spices, a small selection, mostly dried out, but otherwise edible, some salt in a larger container, and two pots and a cast iron pan. It was feasible, and it was more than they had in Evernight, so all in all by the time he returned, she was in better spirits than she had been in, for quite some time. Things were grim - they would be, for a long while -but there was no reason that they couldn't still have moments, little ones here and there that weren't filled with utter misery.

She looked at him as he announced his quarry had been successfully captured and nodded, she gestured to the fire in the stove, and the small spit sitting next to the open chamber, "It's not much, this old place, but it's better than I expected." There was something in doing the work herself, too, that she thoroughly enjoyed. She knew it wouldn't last, if she returned to life in the palace. There would be servants to do everything... and they would balk at the idea of her making a fire, or cooking her own food. The very fact that she could dress herself would be abhorrent.

Suddenly, the mood shifted, and frowning, she looked away from Thalion, to the small fire, staring into the flames as though they possessed and answer she couldn't quite make out, "...I don't want to do it, Thal." She finally said, quietly, her voice quivering a little, "I don't want to go back to it. To that life. To being useless..." Turning to him, she shook her head, "I didn't ask to be queen, and I don't want it. What... what do I do?"
 
Thalion proceeded towards the hearth, finding a mostly-clean wooden counter space to set down his kill and begin to separate off the meat. "Better than anything I've ever had," he responded when she commented on the old, dusty place where they had taken refuge. He had fallen quiet thereafter, focusing on his work and the precision of his pocket knife, which was beginning to grow dull, he noted. He was so engrossed in his handling of their meal he hadn't noticed the shift in Minette behind him at all until she began to voice her concerns. His eyes, black but burning red and orange from the reflections of the flame, flicked up to her and watched her steadily.

"Huh?" he asked, listening as she poured her thoughts and concerns out to him. "Oh, well, then don't, I guess?" he shrugged lamely, unsure of what else to offer her. "But don't dump them, either. We will end Thalia and you can help bridge the gap while you abdicate your crown to another?" He wasn't sure what else to tell her. She had two options: to be Queen, or to not. It did amuse him that she would have all the power in the kingdom, yet would feel more useless than she did in that moment, so he smiled halfway as a result and looked back to his work.

"Once Thalia is gone, the people are gunna need ya. Even if it's only for a short time and you can't let them down. It seems like too many people have already let em down, but maybe not letting them down is finding a suitable replacement to rule."

He had skinned the rabbit down to its flesh hummed quietly, taking the cast iron, placing it in, and handing the whole thing to Minette and her… herbs. He had never been very good at herbs and had given up on trying to find more delicious food additives in Evernight when he kept getting sick from what he had been eating. "I guess you should ask yourself what you wanna do instead?"
 
How strange, to think she even had a choice. Her entire life she had grown up believing she was destined for only one thing... It had felt inevitable, even as a child, yet Evernight had opened her eyes to so much more. She wouldn't leave Doyle stranded, but could she truly abdicate? Give up her title, her crown... All of it?

Looking to Thalion, she shook her head. There were so many factors to consider, too many issues in the way to even begin thinking that far into the future. The only thing that was clear was the man standing before her, though whether or not he felt the same was a matter of question... He was used to being alone. Would he even want to be with her when he was finally free?

"You are the only constant, Thal. The only thing I'm absolutely certain of. Whatever I decide, all I know is I can't bear the thought of doing it without you by my side. That... that's all I want, when all of this is over and we can live our lives again, free of her..."
 
There was little else Thalion could suggest to Minette. At the end of it all, she would have to make her own decision on the matter. She would have to decide whether she wished to keep her crown or give it away to the next in line. He wouldn't have a future in any realm any longer, not in the same way she did. When they defeated Thalia, if they defeated Thalia, his destiny would be complete. Whatever happened from there was little consequence to him, he had begun to realize. He could learn to live anywhere, to take care of himself anywhere.

Whatever Minette wanted to do, wherever Minette wanted to go, he would follow. For those moments, however, all he wanted was food. His stomach rumbled incessantly and demandingly. He listened to what she had to say, but his eyes followed the rabbit as it was dressed and thrown over the fire. The sizzling it made while in the pot didn't help him, either, and only made his hunger more demanding.

"Let's get free of her first, then." There was no other plan to be made. With Thalia still in the picture, no future of theirs would come to fruition. She was going to be hunting them soon, he knew. If she didn't already know about them, she would. Once she did, she would be pursuing them relentlessly. Though he didn't like Minette's friend, he could only hope the man would pull through for them. "Try to stop worryin about the rest. For now, we have bigger problems."
 
Minette nodded, without looking up from the skillet. Bigger things, indeed. They had a rough time ahead of them, yet no matter how many times she considered these things, she couldn't quite shake the notions of lesser importance long enough not to worry about those, either.

At least in Evernight, the enemies were obvious. That might just have been because they were everywhere, but it still afforded them a touch of the upper hand when it came to Thalia and her predictability. Here, back in Doyle there was no telling what the woman might try to do.

"You're right." Minette responded, though with little conviction behind her tone. She pulled the pan to the side and took down a bowl, filling it before she handed in over to Thalion, her own appetite having sneaked off, buried, she supposed, beneath the increasing weight of anxiety she was starting to feel pouring over her.

She filled her own bowl, then sank down on the hearth, but only picked at it, staring into the fire in an absent contemplation.
 
Appetite, or lack thereof, was a luxury that Thalion had never been allowed. No matter how ill he felt, no matter how his stomach clenched, it was expected that he ate because he never knew when or where his next meal would come. As such, he filled up his bowl and sat down to eat without argument. Silently, he noted Minette's lack of appetite, but said nothing, knowing there was nothing he could say. She was in a state of heavy turmoil, they both were, but Thalion was just a little bit better at hiding it.

Finishing his meal in haste, he set his bowl aside and sunk closer to the hearth. The familiar warmth of fire licked his shoulders and chest, his cheeks and his forehead. He closed his eyes in an attempt to take a moment to process his own thoughts. How long would they wait for Minette's friend? Was the thought weighing most heavily on his mind. If he didn't show, they'd have to go off elsewhere, figure something else out. What that could be, Thalion had no idea. He had never fought a war before. He could fight any number of things in Evernight, but being back in Green Reach felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath him.

The enemy was a woman, and the people who wished to serve her. There were no obvious markings on those people: no fangs, no leathery wings, no bloodthirsty snarls. They were just people, and it was impossible to tell who was good, and who evil at face value. It didn't help that they didn't even know what sort of numbers or support Thalia had amassed in her time in Doyle.

Clearing his throat, Thalion opened his eyes. "You'll feel better once we're doing more than just sitting here, I'm sure." He, too, was feeling restless doing nothing, even if nothing was the best thing they could do in that moment.
 
"I'm sure.." Minette noted, nodding, before adding, with a small smile, "And here I'm supposed to be the encouraging optimist. Can't say I don't appreciate it, all the same."

Slinking closer, she laid her head down on his shoulder, weaving her fingers through his. That was the intrigue to their relationship, truly. The perfect balance. When she needed to be there for him, she was, without hesitation, but when that space in her own right felt vacant, Thalion stepped in, even despite his natural inclinations not to care so much.

It was to the rustling of dead leaves outside that she straightened, and for a tense moment, her grasp on his hand tightened, but as the door opened and Ben's face appeared on the other side, she relaxed and rose, "You're back. How did it go?"

A sigh escaped the man as he closed the door behind him, shaking his head, "Not well. It won't be easy... We're surrounded by her agents... But it's more than that, I'm afraid. People are terrified of her, even if they would fight otherwise... I'm just not sure I've the right to encourage them, when I'm so scared, myself. Did manage to wrangle a few dozen who are willing to hear a plan... But it'll have to be a hell of a plan."
 
"I'm not the optimistic type," he shrugged at her comment. "But that doesn't mean you always need to be the optimistic once. I suppose I could try and be optimistic more often, too."

Her head fell against his shoulder and he angled his head to press a kiss to her crown, offering a loving smile. They sat in continued silence until a rustling broke through him, causing him to jolt and narrow his eyes. His muscles tensed, readied to spring in to action if it was needed, but it wasn't. The door squeaked as it opened and in stepped a quasi-familiar face. A cool blast of wind hit his face as the door opened.

"Hey, you stepped in without threatening Minette. Well done." Thalion mentioned off-handedly, sliding his hand through Minette's so he could stand. The news he brought didn't surprise, or impress, him. Sighing with frustration, he looked away and walked a circle around the room. "We don't even have a plan to give everyone. Where is she staying?" Thalion paused his anxious pacing to look back to Ben.

Though he still didn't particularly like the man, he realized quickly that he had to play nice with Ben if they were going to ever get anywhere, though the expression on his face made it clear that he wasn't thrilled about it.

"She's staying in the castle?"
 
Ben's arrival did not implement in Minette the soaring hope that she had been waiting for, and certainly wouldn't bring them the army they needed to defeat Thalia... yet there was something in that notion that was almost oddly comforting. Perhaps the problem was, and always had been that they were thinking too hard on how to defeat her - when in truth, she was far too powerful for them to come close to... In the end, maybe what they needed... what they had always needed was for Thalia to think that she had won.

"...She is." Ben answered with a nod, "Though she's not there often. My guess is she's not exactly comfortable there, considering, well... Min was there, and I don't think it sat well with her. Still, she shows up now and then, to remind everyone she's still in charge. Likes it, keepin' us on our toes."

Looking to Thalion, Minette smiled, a real and genuine smile that seemed oddly misplaced, until she spoke, "I think I know what to do. It... it might be absolutely insane, but I think it could work, if we can just find a way back into the palace. Your mother has wanted nothing more than to destroy me. And she wanted you to do it... so what if she thought you had? What if she thought that you've returned because you want to help her? All she wants is to conquer and rule, right? And what better ally than a son who has finally come into his magic... a son, for all she knows, who had no interest in aiding this land."
 
"That'll be hard convincing."

Thalion's tone was not optimistic when responding to Minette's suggestion, but he concluded his thoughts with a shrug. They didn't really have any other, or better, options. Scratching a hand through his hair, Thalion swirled around the room once. His eyes averted, glancing over the dusty wall and grimy features. An answer did not immediately divine itself, so he decided that Minette's idea seemed like their one and only chance.

"I've spent a lifetime fightin' her," he said, "I'll have to be able to give one hell of a reason for changing my mind after so long." His entire life had circled around Green Reach and making it back. He spent his years pining for it, with his mother dangling it in front of him like the proverbial carrot on a string. Though her fervent desires for a blood heir could compel her to set aside her logical intelligence to some level, he knew her suspicions would be roused if they didn't attack it with a level of convincing evidence.

"We'll have to convince her that Green Reach isn't all I dreamed." He paused his anxious pacing in front of the fire. The flames highlighted him with orange and gold, turning his otherwise dark eyes into a molten swirl of heat. "So, ban magic and put me in prison," Thalion suggested. "It could make sense. If you're fightin' Thalia, why wouldn't you ban magic users? Imprison them? She'll come sniffin' around for that, I'm sure."

The idea of being imprisoned… again… didn't particularly appeal to him, but what was the worst that could happen? Thalia paid it no mind and they were back to square one.
 
Blinking, surprised by his agreement, Minette considered Thalion's words with a brow lifted. She hadn't said it for no reason, and it did seem to be their best option, but the execution would be difficult, and she wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest.

And at his suggestion, her taste for the concept soured more so. They had been separated twice already, in the worst possible way. But to lose him, even temporarily to that horrible woma ... To risk losing him forever?

She knew it was their only chance, but it wasn't an idea she enjoyed.

Looking to Ben, she frowned softly, "Could you give us a few minutes?"

"Due back at my post anyhow. I'll come back in the afternoon with some supplies for the two of you..." With a nod, he turned and headed for the door and when he closed it behind him, Minette turned to Thalion.

"...Don't think about whether or not it's what we should do. Do you want to do this, love? Do you feel like you can? I don't want to lose you. Not again... And I would give up everything to keep that from happening... But if you genuinely think this might work. That this might stop her..."
 
Thalion's eyes followed Ben until he door closed and he couldn't make out any more. Light from outside was swallowed by darkness, leaving them again in the dull, pulsing glow of the fireside. A deep breath brought dust into his nose and he exhaled again, shook his head, and stepped about the room contemplatively. The job was not one he would enjoy, but what was more prison after a life forged in one? A prison was a prison, even if his last one was not smothered in bars and steel and locks.

Minette caused his pacing pause and he shrugged his answer. "I don't particularly want to, but it's our best bet. She won't believe we're not working together without some proof to the contrary," he reminded her. They could try and convince her all day long, but it wouldn't do a damn thing without a little bit of action behind the words. Thalion just hoped it would be enough.

They would have to try something though, and sitting in a dusty, decrepit old barn wouldn't get them anywhere.

"It's a nice thought to think we'd give up everything for one another, but if we don't do something, there is going to be a whole lot of people dead by Thalia's hand. I'd give up a lot but lettin' all those people die for our safety would be just as cruel as what she did to us."

He scratched a hand through his hair, pushing the long raven tresses away from his forehead. He needed a trim. "I think it might work. I hope it works."
 
He was right. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't think of herself, and however much it pained her to, she had to consider what was best for the people of Doyle. She might not have desired much to rule then, but they were still, for the time being anyway, her subjects, and to disregard them would make her no better than Thalia. Perhaps worse, for they expected more from their queen...

Taking his hands, she met Thalion's gaze, her expression softening as she gentle shook her head, "You know, for all you think you've no good in you, sometimes I wonder if you aren't better, even, than me. I've lived her my entire life, and these are my people. I love them, and I want nothing more than to keep them safe - to free them from your mother's grasp. But you? You're a stranger to Doyle, and yet you still care enough for the people in it to risk your own safety. You amaze me, more and more, every day."

With a sigh, she reached up to brush her thumb across his jaw, "...I'm scared of what it means... Coming back to it all. Revealing myself to the people. We can't hide anymore, once I do. She'll know we're here. And if this is the only way that I can keep her from coming after you, then it's the best thing to do. If you're sure... completely sure, then tomorrow, I'll call for the counsel and I'll make it known all people guilty of the use of magic will be immediately imprisoned." Smiling faintly, she shrugged, "You'll have to put up a bit of fight... But do try not to make it too hard on my guards, hmm?"
 
"I'm not doing it for the people," he admitted with a shrug. It wasn't about them, it never had been. Their safety and well-being was no more important to him than the length of the grass, though it stood to reason that by saving them, it would support the cause of defeating Thalia. Minette's grip on the kingdom was weak, and weakening, with every minute they allowed passing in Thalia's control. He only hoped she still had enough power to make the call again magic. Thalion only had to show them just how terrible magic could be… just enough to scare them away from Thalia's reign.

The struggle for the kingdom only just began.

"We will separate today, then. Only your friend Ben will know of our acquaintance. It's better to not to risk anyone seeing us together here." He straightened, flexing the stiff muscles in his shoulders and allowing a shaggy exhale to slip through his parted lips. He didn't like magic. The few times he used it proved he couldn't control it well and, even if he could control it, he didn't like how it felt. It burned through his blood, threatening to destroy him and everything around him. More than anything, he would have liked to swallow the magic down deep and leave it hidden away forever.

Alas, if he was to be arrested for magic… he needed to actually use magic. "You will stay here, I will venture out. Come tomorrow night at sunset, I'll make sure I'm found." He tilted his head gingerly into the weight of her thumb as it brushed over his skin. "As long as you don't send Ben out for me, I'm sure there will be no problems."

Thalion arched forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Good luck with the counsel."
 
Frowning, Minette looked up, catching his eye. What they were doing had risk... There was little doubt, and the nagging thought in the back of mind was that she had only survived thus far because she had stayed by his side. Separating was necessary for their plan to work. But that didn't give the idea any more value... Or make it any less unappealing.

Looping her fingers through his, she lowered her gaze. Apart from when they had both been absent from life... however briefly, they had never been apart for longer than a few minutes. It was agonizing, in truth, to think of him leaving her side.

"I don't want you to go." She whispered, and her eyes misted over as she met his gaze again. It wasn't a change on mind. Not really. Not when it was the best hope they had at stopping his mother... But it beared noting, anyway, "Every time you leave... It's like the world knows we aren't meant to be apart. Everything gets harder... Breathing... Thinking. I hate that she's still finding ways to separate us."

Her eyes fell, a tear tracking the length of her cheek, hand her grip tightened slightly, "Promise me when this is all over, when we've finally defeated her and we're free, we'll never have need to be apart, again?"
 
"I know," Thalion replied in his usual, veneered stoicism. It wasn't easy and the worst of it, by far, was the sight of the misting in Minette's eyes. Having a heart was a difficult burden to carry and it weighed on him considerably. The heartbreak was a grief that came in waves, grueling. There were shards in his gut that never left, and his mind cycled into an endless carousel of 'what ifs' and 'how comes.' "But I have to go," he stated, knowing she already knew that to be the truth The fact of the matter was that there was no other way. No further options. Nowhere left to run.

"But.. when all of this is over, we'll never have to be apart again," he confirmed. "It'll all be over soon." It would be, one way or another… and in life, or in death, they'd never be apart again. As much as he tried to keep those optimistic thoughts in his head, Thalion was not renowned for his positivity and darkness crept deeper into his brain, clamping down on it like a vice.

"I need to go," Thalion said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her cheek. The salty taste of her tears leeched through his lips, so he kissed her again, just to be sure the last kiss of parting was not disrupting by the saline taste. "You and Ben can rally some troops to arrest me. I'll make sure I get found… but… no one can know this is a ploy. Your soldiers must think it's real, alright? I'll see you soon."

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before sliding his fingers free. Going into the wilderness of Green Reach was almost cathartic in some ways, he decided as he glanced out the dirtied window into the darkness beyond. He knew wilderness, he knew forests, grass, trees…

"Wish me luck. I love you," he uttered, glancing to Minette over his shoulder, gave a small suggestion of a smile, and headed for the door.
 
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