"Ah, there you are, young one. What took you so long? I was expecting you earlier, but better late than never, eh?"
Colbyn eyed him, half-bemused, half-exasperated. Goed avoided his eyes, bewildered. He had been expecting him? But how had he known? Mortified, he suddenly realized that maybe the elf who had talked with him wasn't the only one among them who knew the sign-language.
"Oh, don't look so worried. What kind of a leaders would we be, my brother and I, if we did not know what kind of agreements our employees made? Come, sit by the fire. I think we need to talk."
Goed sat on the log, and looked around him. None of the men looked hostile, or if they were they kept their emotions well checked and out of their faces. If there was anything to read, it was... pity. Goed bowed his head, uncomfortable with the thought that he could be pitied by them. He had always known he was not like other children, had known that his biological father was of the fair folk, but that was all. He was raised as a human, and had always felt himself to be one – and he had learned to hide his elven side from a very young age. There were only three alive from his childhood who had seen him as he really was, and they were busy with their children and grandchildren.
"Now, some introductions are in place, I believe. And some courtesy too. It is considered impolite to keep such a strong glamor on as yours when you are among friends. Goed blushed and let his glamor go. He knew he looked different in his own skin, but he had not expected their reactions, gasps and clearly agitated talk in elven. They talked so fast that he couldn't understand what they said.
"Silence! Tell me young one, who are you and who are your parents?"
"I am known as Goed, son of Ern. I do not know who my real father was, but I know he was of elfin blood. My mother was Finuithlan, and she was a servant of the Dreamer till she got pregnant with me. My father Ern knew he could not father a child – he was build that way – so he married my mother before I was born, thus giving me his name by the right of birth."
"Hmm. Tell me of your mother Finuilathan, of her parents."
"I, I don't know much. She once told me when her time was near, that her mother was a half-blood cast out by her father, because she married her cousin and got pregnant by him before they knew if she had inherited her mother's mortality or not. I guess that means that my mother had one quarter of human blood? But she too kept a glamor always on, wanting the people to believe that she was full human. she got a strange sickness no one knew how to cure, and withered away after father had died. But it took several years. The day before she died I asked what would she have in her burial stone, and she said: "Do not write my age, for if they knew I was two hundred and twenty-three they would turn against you. Write there: Wife of Ern, Daughter of Aine and Fiorn, faded away. The next day she died, and I took care of her body myself, she had made her glamor to grow old, and it would have caused too many questions if the villagers had seen her like that, looking like a girl of twenty."
"And thus, ended the life of Finuilathan, daughter of Aine and Fiorn, granddaughter of Aimee and Beorne and Melyne and Caerran. Your colours favour the side of your maternal grandparents, but in your face, I see something even stronger. Tell me, how old are you?"
"I have lost the count I'm afraid, but I was born in the year of the First Moon."
"And your mother said that she was the servant of the dreamer of that time?"
"That's what she said."
"Then we need to find out who was the dreamer of that year. For only the full-blooded elves, chosen by the goddess, are allowed to enter the house of Dreams as the Dreamer and his servant – and they cannot leave it until the Dreamer has served his time."
It took some time for Geod to understand what Colbyn meant. The Goddess had basically declared that her mother was fay who could have lived thousands of years. And it meant that her mother did not die naturally because of an illness, but because she willed so.
"My mother did a suicide? It was a suicide, just like if she had cut her own throat. Dear Goddess, and I had no idea, I did not understand!"
The stunned shock and pain in his words, visible for everyone to see, softened the expressions that had hardened when they saw his real face. Some of the elves were barely couple of hundred years old, while some, like Colbyn counted their age in thousands. It was almost unheard of that one of the fay would die as young as her mother had. There were only a few cases… Suddenly Colbyn understood.
"They were heartmates. Your mother and human father were true heartmates, two parts of one. I don't think your mother expected to find her soulmate among her grandmother's people after she was shamed by the acts of the Dreamer. Know this: when our kind truly loves, truly mates, to be separated by death is like having your limbs cut away. It hurts so much, I have been told, that the surviving one wishes nothing more than to die. Among us we guard the widows carefully for several decades for they are in mortal danger because of the longing. They miss their spouses so much, that in the end they start fading if not kept occupied with something that can anchor them to the reality. After all, half of them is behind the veil already, so it's temptingly easy to slip through."
Goed nod. It was his human upbringing he knew, that made him to err in the ways of the elven kind. And to know that his ignorance had costed his mother's life was almost unbearable.
"Now, tell me son, what did your mother tell you about the year she served the Dreamer?"
"Let me think. I remember she once said that the moon was full in the first day of the year, and the priestess of Moon gave birth to the twins of colour the very same day. In the end of the year, couple of months after I was born, the high king banished the Dreamer, for he had broken his vows thrice. But he had served his full time, unlike the Dreamer of the previous year, who had been too young to carry the burden. I don't remember more. I was very young when my mother told me about her year in the house of Dreams."
The men and women around the fire had gone utterly silent. And then, to his horror, one by one they kneeled before him. Only Colbyn and his brother were left standing, but they too bowed.
"Please, stop this. What are you doing?"
"You are seventy-six years old, you were sired by the Dreamer of Blood, and you are his sole heir. Your safety is now paramount over anything else. We will escort you to the Moon Garden after we have honoured the prince in the city of Tuired."
Goed was bewildered. He did not know what they meant by heir to the Dreamer of Blood. He had no idea where the Moon Garden was or why his safety was now their top priority. But they treated him with a deference now. With respect. He still had no idea who his father was, but it seemed to make the difference. He barely registered the splendid fireworks in the sky that night, but when Colbyn introduced him to the royal couple and their children he felt almost scared. Why doesn't he introduce anyone else, he wondered, why me? The ideas he got were too unpleasant to dwell in, and he quickly concentrated to the pleasantries and introductions. When he saw prince Finn he knelt and bowed. To his amusement, the young prince bowed too, and he couldn't help smiling to him.
"Good tidings to you, prince Finn. May you grow to have the wisdom of your grandfather Feryn and the heart of your grandfather Brenn."
"Thank you, prince Goed. Why don't you mention my father?"
"Because I served in your grandfather's court and knew him better than I knew his son. But if there is a thing that I'd wish you from your father, then that would be his determination and from your mother her dignity."
"I thank you, prince Goed. You are the first one who has ever told me that there is something good in my father."
"You are welcome, prince Finn."
The young prince run away after his playmate called him and Goed stood up. It was but then that he saw the queen looking him with a tear in her eye.
"I must thank you too, as a mother. I had not realized how it would affect him when so many around him speaks ill of his father. Please, enjoy the refreshments. I need to go to tend my younger son. "
The queen left, and Colbyn clapped him on the shoulder.
"Well done, young one, well done. That was exactly what they both needed to hear and see."
"I just wish there had been a way to correct the prince without humiliating him. For some weird reason, he seemed to think that I was a prince too."
"Oh, no harm, no foul. You can always tell him next time you meet."
"Next time?"
"Next time – if your family ever lets you out of faerie again, that is. Let's go back to the camp site. The portal should be ready soon and we really need to keep going before they ask for another show."