For the Sky (DISCONTINUED)

15 - An Ill-fated Farewell

I will not bore you with the details of our arrival on the outskirts of Sonder's hold. I don't think that such a cumbersome description of each and every doubt I had and was too afraid to voice, of each pledge of loyalty from Aro on the behalf of his kind he muttered as we drew close, of each laborious sigh that escaped Frin's lips as Asger tried to interrogate her as to the extent of her commitment is the tale that you are looking from a recount of events such as this one.

Although we had set out precisely at dawn, before the light could really even filter through the tree tops that towered over the clearing in which we slept, the journey did prove lengthy, having reached the castle only right before noon. Sweat rolling off my back, I glanced up at the towers and in my fatigue, thought that I had slipped into some kind of fever dream. It was strange to see something so familiar and yet unbelievably alien - perhaps out of spite, the new castle was a silhouetted replica of the old one, and not as it had been in its prime. Rather, it remained in style with the ruins that I had spent so many of my mornings and evenings casting forlorn gazes upon and rummaging for valuable remains. It was sound in structure, sure, but the stone from which it was built was a dark brown with etches of black, no doubt an expensive endeavor as that kind of material would only be found in the Southern or Eastern continents. Whether from neglect or a stylistic choice, swamp green vines crept up the walls, curling around window frames, pillars, banisters. Banners of orange and yellow hung everywhere - almost obnoxiously so, to rub in the face of any passerby that banners of yellow and white had hung here not even a generation ago. 

"Hold on," Frin raised her head for the first time in a few hours, her wild eyes finally showing some signs of life. "I can get inside just fine," she gestured to the broad, winding river that ran through the clutches of massive iron bars on one flank of the castle walls. "Are you planning to scale the walls?"

"Like I said, this is what the pooka would've been for," Asger pranced in place nervously, his shoes grinding up the soil. "If he could've shrouded everything, or at least a part of the wall in smoke, we..." he paused, throwing an indiscernible glance at Raul. "...could've slipped through the gates." He swished his tail, tensed his jaw, brow furrowed. "Aro?"

The Ceffyl Dwr slowly raised his head as if he knew what kind of request was going to come next. 

"No," I quickly interjected. "No, no, we're not going to resort to that - Asger, that dissolves his whole body, please-"

"I'm on my patron's homeland, nothing will happen to me," Aro shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but I could see him shivering. "I've done it before."

"But what about..." I shook my head, stepping forward to try and meet Asger's eyes. "What about - oh! You said that we needed him as a lookout, right? There has to be another way, then - we need him."

"A Ceffyl Dwr's fog lasts until the next sunrise," Asger said. His voice was cold and flat. "We wouldn't need a lookout." 

My heart began to race. "But when would you be able to return, then? Aro, you're a valuable part of this - you're..." my voice slipped in audibility as a clump formed in my throat. Perhaps if I hadn't paid so much attention to my studies when I was younger, didn't listen to any of the stories - perhaps it wouldn't hurt so much. "I'd never see you again."

"How long did I know you, princess?" he offered, gently cocking his head. He had no lips that I could read, no pupils that could fish around the clearing to give away a lack of sincerity, but even as he tried to give his voice a patronizing tone, it was his ears - his half-back quivering ears that gave it all away. "I am loyal only to my blood - my blood, for the time being is loyal to you. If it is what is needed to serve you, then I shall do it."