Reunion at Sea

Moonstone

Before they would go to the Moonstone Chamber, the King said, they would share a meal. Hector and Adira didn't join them for it, since Hector was treating Adira's wounds in the privacy of her old bedroom, but they would "catch up" later, the King had assured them.

Apparently, any hard feelings about her "betrayal" had been forgiven.

"So, uh, Your Majesty..." Varian started.

"Please, call me Edmund. I should be bowing to you, not the other way around." The King assured him.

"Uh, please don't?" Varian looked at a loss. "Have you...really been alone here for...two decades? Did my dad ever contact you?"

"Sadly, yes. Well, aside from my ravens." He looked at one of the ravens, which looked like a cross between a raven and a crow like Hamuel was. Hamuel, by the way, was seated on the King's shoulder, eyeing Cleo and Owl. "They're decent enough, but I do miss human contact. I haven't heard anything from your father since he left."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Varian sighed. "There was a few months of my life where all I had was Ruddiger. Well, of the people on my side. It was me and him against the world." He held Ruddiger close and nuzzled him.

"We are eventually gonna talk about the whole 'actually a transformed centuries-old human' thing, right?" Eugene asked, looking at him.

"Eventually." Varian nodded.

"I still can't believe it, though, Eugene. A prince! Oh, wait until Nigel hears, he'll eat all the words he said about you behind you back about you not being 'worthy of a princess' because you weren't royalty! He was even talking about arranging me to marry a prince at some point in the future! Of course, my mother put a stop to that." Rapunzel said excitedly, looking at Eugene.

"So, uh...so, what about my...my mom?" Eugene asked. "We haven't talked about her."

King Edmund sighed and looked up at a painting over the fireplace behind him. "She was beautiful. The Moonstone took her from us shortly before I decided to attempt to destroy it. It was...the final straw, for me. I wanted to destroy it, before it took you, too."

Varian looked at Eugene, "I'm sorry, Eugene."

"Hey, I'm gonna tell you the same thing Rapunzel told Cassandra. Don't apologize for something you had no control over. You weren't even born then!" Eugene shook his head. "Besides, I'm not too broken up about it. I mean, I wish I'd gotten to know her, but you can't miss what you never had, right?"

"Guess so." Varian poked at his food, then looked at King Edmund. "Why did the Dark Kingdom keep the Moonstone protected, if it was so dangerous?"

"It wasn't always. Our people honored and protected the Moonstone for generations, and we were loved and cared for by her gentle embrace. But, one day, it just...started to attack us. The black rocks that had sheltered us and assisted us suddenly turned on us, destroying our homes. And then the plague begin. This would go on for many years, before it would all go back to normal and things would be happy again. But then it would start again once more. It became a wicked pattern that I decided to stop."

Varian looked at his glowing fingertips. "...The plague." He murmured. "Lucas called it 'The Song of Death'..."

"Decay, actually." King Edmund corrected gently. "It does not just kill, but slowly saps out the life of whoever is unfortunate enough to be near it." He sighed. "I would hope that you would not be as...cruel as your predecessor."

"Of course not." Varian shook his head. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I never have. E-Even if it still happens...I never intend to..." He hung his head.