Started writing this on the family computer while listening to the soundtrack from Mario RPG. :D Apparently it influenced me in a weird way, because this chapter somehow started with Odin seeming as if he had just finished a few cases of whiskey...

Mayaj: Count on you to restore my faith in this! I am a big fan of tickling. :) The bird was rather last minute, I'm glad you liked it. I worked really hard on this chapter, I really really hope you enjoy it.

Elsie: Goodie, I really did think that the reunion might have been too mushy, thank goodness it wasn't. ::starts singing:: I can't wait to see you! Counting the days!

faerie-gumdrops: Isn't the bird awesome! It came out of NOWHERE! And the purity thing... That was me floundering. I seriously had no other way to get the girls back.

Dying Without Gackt: And what a secret it was. O.O

misanthropic muse: Knife just snapped, I think. In my opinion (still working on if this is true, but i think it is), in this world, just about anyone can break an enchantment given the right circumstances. I'm so much more at home with the gore. I know I'm doing it right. :) With sweetness, I always feel like I'm doing something wrong, or that it's too sappy. ::fakes a french accent:: "When people tell me they are happy it makes my ass twitch." Sorry...stayed up late watching a movie...

rangerboi: The same can be said of me! Even though I'm so slow, I feel like I zip through these without giving them enough consideration. I did have a epilogue haphazardly planned, but this chapter proved it utterly unnecessary. Not a D&D fan, but I will take your word for it. Can't wait for the next chapter of CoA!

Jack Milo: Yee hee! Thank you. ::sing-song voice:: This one's even sappier!

KrispyKremes: Omoshiroi namae... No, this story is most definitely not based on anything. You can ask Elsie, she was there when I came up with it. I think the movie was old enough at that point to not be very capable of attracting my attention. It wasn't shiny anymore. I love it too, though. :)

--------- Chapter Forty
Destiny From Scratch
(Odin)

"You're just being stubborn!" Marja said, taking the time to stomp her foot. Her method of arguing was quite impressive; even though she cycled her points, she had yet to repeat herself. "You have to come with us."

Idra sighed and shook her head. "I have family and obligations. It would be selfish and irresponsible if I were to just go off without giving anyone any notice. Besides, I don't want to go to the city. I'll keep my mountains, thank you."

But for all her disputations and refusals, I sensed that she wasn't being completely honest; there was something in the tone of her voice, and the way she looked at me out of the corner of her eye whenever she countered one of the other's pleas to change her mind. They all wanted her to come back with us to Mioll, and the truth was, I did too. Despite her occasionally infuriating behavior and politely concealed dislike for me, I liked her. She was an interesting person full of surprises--some pleasant, some not--and I would have given a great deal to know her better, even if she was a mercenary.

"Then give them notice."

Everyone stopped walking and stared at me. Until then, I hadn't said anything; where Idra went was entirely up to her, and I didn't imagine for even a moment that anything I had to say would sway her. But perhaps I was wrong. She folded her arms and looked at me intently, as if what I said next was going to be something very important.

Suddenly nervous, I looked down at my boots and resisted the temptation to kick up a tiny cloud of dirt. "We'd all like to take you back with us, show you a bit of hospitality." I looked up at her and smiled. It was a shaky smile, I knew, but I wasn't capable of much more than that; I was far too afraid of her answer. I didn't know exactly why, but it had become very important to me. "In particular, I'd like you to meet some of my people. I think they would like you very much." Then I added, speaking almost too quickly to be understood, "I know that I do."

A slow smile crept onto her face, and then she nodded just as slowly. "If that's the case, then I suppose I shall just have to tell everyone I'm taking a holiday," she said.

Marja let out a little cheer and Kyube gave me a warm smile. Knowing that she was Kyube and not Cedlie made it easier to accept that smile and appreciate it in the manner it was intended. Seeing how obviously happy she and Knife were had helped me put my demons to rest, and I could already see these odd but vibrant people as good, true friends. Marja's 'initiation' had been the first time I'd tickled someone or been tickled myself since I was eight years old. The thought made me want to laugh out loud--Knife was right, I didn't act my own age, thinking about my childhood as if it were some untouchable faraway thing.

"Nice work, your Majesty. I take it this means that your 'leave of absence' is officially over?"

When I had lost myself in my thoughts, I had dropped behind the others, though I'd kept the presence of mind to keep walking. Knife had turned back to walk beside me, and he stared at me with a grin, waiting for me to respond.

I nodded. "As soon as I get back, I'll announce a celebration--none of the people will care what it's for--and then take up my duties immediately."

He put his hands in his pockets and raised an eyebrow at me. "Immediately? Does that mean before or after the celebrating?"

"During, I suppose."

He chuckled and shook his head, then he aimed a kick at my knee as he had before; this time I managed to keep my footing without help. "There you go, being an old man again. You've already got people to be tired old men hard at work. Let go a little. Have a party and just...I don't know, dance with the girl you like."

Blushing, I tried not to look at Idra. "I don't--"

"Don't try to deny it. I've seen you look at her. And she gets you all riled up--you, the stiff-necked old geezer with patience for blood and diplomacy for skin." He shook his head again, smiling in amusement. "Why don't you just tell her?"

Something told me that a shrug or other noncommittal answer would earn me another kick, so I just sighed and said, "What difference would it make?"

Knife rolled his eyes. "What a pair of idiots you two make. She's too proud and you're too thick. Look, if you don't tell her by the time we leave the mercenary camp for Mioll, then I'll tell her. Life is too short to waste on stupidity like this."

I couldn't think of anything to say to that, so I remained silent and hoped he would leave it at that. Neither of us brought up the subject again until we reached Idra's camp, and Knife gave me a pointed look and said, "Don't pretend to forget." I stared at him for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. All that was at risk was my pride, after all--the worst thing she could do was laugh at me...or hate me. Further rumination on the consequences made my stomach turn and I almost had to stop to be sick on the grass.

As soon as we arrived at the camp, a flood of people rushed forward, and Idra was swallowed up in the mob. A tingle of jealousy shot up from my ankles to my head then back down again as I watched her exchange hugs and kisses with all of them; I had to shake my head and remind myself that I was being ridiculous. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Knife making faces at me. I calmly reached over and grabbed his ear, then yanked it with just enough force to pull his head down a few inches.

He yelped and pulled away, then grinned at me while rubbing his red ear; he might have said something, but Kyube put a hand on his shoulder and asked him something in Wairen that I didn't quite catch. Knife laughed and said something that could have been translated into a rather bawdy version of 'make others happy' with the word 'learn' mixed in. I had never been very good at languages, and Wairen was too full of slang and coarse words and sounds that it almost escaped me altogether. This small bit of Wairen gave rise to a rapidly spoken discussion in the language, so I decided to leave them to themselves and turned to talk to Marja.

She was watching the intimacy of the happy couple with something akin to motherly pride and self-satisfaction in her face. Grinning broadly, she looked at me and winked, then sighed contentedly in an exaggerated fashion; she wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me a half hug. "I told you. When you give your heart to someone, you can't just take it back."

"I quite agree." I smiled and looked down at her. "For someone who doesn't seem to have a great love, you seem to know a great deal about the subject."

In one swift move, Marja released me and twirled, though the gesture was hindered a bit by the fact that she had not changed back into her more customary skirt. "But don't you know? I do have a great love. Money! What truer love is there?"

At first I thought she was joking, but my laughter was stilled by the innocent sincerity in her voice and the honest light in her eyes. I reached out to pat her head, then at the last minute I changed my mind and gave one of her long strings of curls a gentle tug. "You'll sing a different song one day, little bard." She laughed and waved a hand at me.

"Oh, but I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket," she said, but I didn't believe her for a moment. I raised an eyebrow and stared at her, and it wasn't long before she relented. "Alright, so I just couldn't carry it very far. If you must know, I can fake my way through 'Vinegar Nights' and 'Mice in the Attic.' "

It didn't shock me at all to hear that the two songs she saw fit to mention were a tasteless pub ballad and a nursery rhyme, respectively. Frankly, after what I had seen, nothing about Marja would ever shock me again.

Of course, being who she was, she proved me wrong right then by grabbing the collar of my tunic and pulling me down for an affectionate kiss on the cheek. I blushed an immediate and very dark shade of crimson, and when I noticed Idra standing a few feet away, I felt as if I'd never be my rightful color again. Marja laughed none too softly, obviously very pleased with her latest bit of mischief.

The crowd of people hadn't ebbed at all; in fact, they were gathered together in front of us and were collectively smiling with all of their white teeth showing boldly. For a brief moment I had to fight back thoughts of wild dogs bearing their fangs and reminded myself that we were among friendly company, as long as the bills were paid.

Which reminded me. Bowing to the lot of them, I explained in as polite a manner as I could that I was not indeed carrying any money. The smiles quickly faded, but came back when I explained that I intended to take Idra back with us to Mioll where she would be paid in full, and then some. Payment had been one of Marja's much reiterated arguments that had failed to persuade Idra to accompany us, but the rest of her band immediately accepted it as the perfect reason for a journey to Mioll.

Chief Essen extracted herself from her people and held up a long, gnarled wooden staff; she waved it in a grandiose manner, speaking to the crowd in what I assumed was their own private language. After they answered her in first a general murmur, then a resounding shout, she turned to our little mismatched group and said in the common language that I knew, "We ask that you be our guests, if only for the space of a meal. If you accept our invitation, then know that it shall be the grandest feast you will ever experience."

It was no mere boast. Despite the fact that there was no table, everyone in the camp was quite comfortable; they seated themselves wherever there was room, though they insisted that the five of us, Idra included, take places near Chief Essen. In the firelight, the mercenary chief looked even older than she had upon our first meeting and I wondered if she had acquired new wrinkles worrying over Idra.

The sharp pain of someone's elbow in my ribs stole my attention from the food and the company and I glared at Knife. He inclined his head at Idra, then went back to his meal, but not before winking at me. As much as I itched to answer his elbow with a jab between the shoulder blades, his threat hung heavily over my head; I moved to sit closer to Idra and cleared my throat.

"Yes?"

I smiled a shaky sort of smile and started drawing nervous circles in the dirt. "Um. This...party. Why go to such trouble for us?"

She smiled back. "It isn't often that we get to entertain a king."

"Oh. So you told them."

"I told them." Her smile wavered a bit, then returned with its former strength. "You're angry?"

Keeping my eyes on my dirt circles, I shook my head firmly. "Not at all. I'm flattered, actually." The circles became more numerous and started overlapping each other. I knew what I wanted to say--but I couldn't find the words, none of them seemed just right.

Idra reached over and put her hand over mine, my drawing came to an abrupt stop. "We're friends, Odin. You're allowed to look me in the eye."

With no small amount of uncertainty, I moved my hands so that I held hers. "Your face," I blurted before I could stop myself. "Before we came here, I saw your face in dreams. I don't know why. But I did."

She blushed, but she did not look away or try to make me release her hand. "As I saw yours in mine."

Surprise locked my body in place, and it was only with great difficulty that I managed to speak again. "But then you must have recognized me from the start."

She nodded.

"Then why didn't you say something?"

Idra laughed and moved her free hand to rest on mine. "I could turn that same question back on you. I don't think either of us will get an answer." She sighed. "In my case...There really is no answer--not a good one. I saw you, and I was afraid. It was that simple. I searched so long for you, I couldn't believe that I'd finally found you." Then she laughed. "And then you were so irritating, I almost didn't want to believe it."

I stared at her, then joined in her laughter. "You didn't always appear to be a great prize yourself." The laughter slowly subsided, and then I pulled my hands away and fisted them in my lap. "But why did we have those dreams in the first place? It couldn't have been to make us aware of each other--I don't heed dreams."

"Is that so? I'd never have guessed it. That dream of the missing princess had your whole country in an uproar."

I blushed. "How did you know about that, living all the way out here?"

At first it seemed as if she didn't intend to answer me, but then she pointed to a muscular man sitting a few feet away, feeding a toddler sitting on his knee. "My Uncle Eradven. He goes to the center city a few times every year." Suddenly, Idra burst into a new bout of laughter, she covered her mouth and tried to hold it back, but it escaped her, brief bursts of sound that were more like hiccups.

"What?"

She held out a hand and touched my chest lightly. "I'm sorry! But it's just so funny. You must have thought you were so clever, sending your people to look for someone you thought was a faerie story."

"But isn't she? I mean, she--"

But Idra interrupted as if she hadn't heard me. "Idra is the name I am known by best. My full name is rather pompous, so I rarely give it." She gave a mock bow that looked even sillier, as she remained sitting. "I am Seridrani Telret Alastoi."

If I had had less presence of mind, I probably would have fallen backwards. As it was, I let my jaw drop and started to stand up, blathering half-formed words.

Shushing me urgently, Idra grabbed my arms and pulled me back down, then held me there, gazing straight into my eyes. "Don't make a fuss."

"But you--" I grabbed at whoever was sitting next to me--Kyube--and pulled at her arm. I pointed and sputtered, "She's Seridrani!"

Everyone immediately surrounded Idra and started asking questions. She covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes; one by one we backed off and apologized. Before she could answer, Chief Essen laughed and said, "Ah, there's a name that hasn't seen use in many a year, indeed it hasn't." She patted Idra's knee. "Not since the day we liberated Cikkarat."

Everyone stared. "But I thought that was a radical group," Marja said. "All the histories say that."

Idra blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap, while Chief Essen chuckled dryly. "There was no radical group. That's what scholars would call 'a perversion of history.' We were hired by one of the nobles that had pretended to switch loyalties." She patted Idra's shoulder. "A fine day, that. It was Idra herself who slit the usurper's throat. Her first kill."

"But she's not any older than I am!" I was still reeling from the shock of Idra's true identity, but this one was not the least dulled by the first. "She couldn't have been more than a toddler back then."

Chief Essen shrugged. "Ours is a hard life. Children have to grow up very quickly. And old Rashlim was a demanding teacher--his oldest son earned his first kill when he was only a few months older than Idra was when she earned hers."

Innocence had certainly never been something I could imagine in Idra's face or personality, but to think that she hadn't even had any in childhood... I decided to put it out of my mind, it was not my place to judge an entire culture. There probably would have been an uncomfortable silence, but Knife jumped in with a much-appreciated change of subject. "But that still doesn't explain why she's alive at all."

" 'Tis simple. She and her older sisters were sold into slavery. We found her when we were in Lowenryll, after we'd just finished a job for the king there." No one else seemed to be listening in or about to interrupt our conversation; this was either old news, or the mercenaries were not inclined to gossip. Given that they were such a tight-knit community, the former was most likely. "Her grandfather insisted that babies are not to be bought and sold like a wheel of cheese and stole her from the slave master. If he had not saved her, then she would have surely died a horrible death and become a mullo, a spirit, and so we call her that to remind her why she is not one."

Idra looked up, the only sign of distress was in her eyes and a very slight furrowing of her brow. "My sisters had probably already been sold, and Grandfather didn't even know about them. He would have looked if he'd known." Her pain was so well-hidden, it made me pity her all the more; after a small battle with myself, I reached out and took her hand. She did not pull away.

"The dreams." It wouldn't take the pain away, but it would take her mind off of it, at least a little.

"My only guess is that they were sent by Terra. Like all Spirit Guardians, she looks after her own."

I stared at her, confused. "I thought dreams were the domain of Sidus."

"Terra has been known to trespass onto it, many of the Spirit Guardians often do."

Moving to sit across from Idra and me, Marja asked, "How do you know that?" She was sitting cross-legged and bent her waist until her elbows touched the ground and her cheeks were resting on her hands. It looked like a quite uncomfortable position, but she had slid into it with ease.

With a shrug, Idra said, "It's common knowledge out here." Then she let out a sigh and frowned, looking very put-upon. "I'm a princess, but I like my life here in the Outer Regions and I've never had any interest in being royalty. But apparently Terra has other plans for me."

I blushed at her obvious indication. "Is that such a bad thing?"

She didn't answer me outright. "I always thought that I'd be able to live here forever." Then she laughed abruptly and sighed again. "But you gadje have tossed aside a lot of things that I've always thought. I'm not sure I mind just yet."

"You always have been far too fond of gadje, Mullo. Bless your grandfather's heart, but it always sent him into fits. He was so intent that you be one of us that he constantly forgot your origins altogether." Chief Essen was silent for a moment, then closed her eyes and nodded. "Well, then, I'll leave all of you to make your plans. You can say your goodbyes in the morning, Princess."

The finality in her tone and the deliberate use of the word 'princess' seemed to upset Idra a great deal; she squeezed my hand, perhaps for reassurance. She watched the chief leave, then stared after her for a moment. "What will you do now that you know who I am?" she asked me, her voice so low I could barely hear it.

Before I could answer, Knife and Kyube got to their feet and announced that they were going to find someplace to be alone; then they walked away hand in hand, so close to each other that I was surprised they didn't trip. Marja rose as well and said that she had always wanted to meet a gypsy man up close and that one of them--a 'cute' one--had been staring at her for some time now. "I might as well give him a little false hope before I miss the chance to have an overnight romance before I'm sixteen," she said. She winked at me and scurried off.

We were alone, which did nothing for my lack of confidence. In fact, I felt rather stupid. "When we get to Mioll, I suppose I...well, Cikkarat is your kingdom by birthright, so I suppose I'll return it to you and relinquish governmental control of it to you."

She dropped my hand and waved her arms as if she were fending off an enemy. "Oh, no! Please, don't do that." Then she held my hands, one in each of hers. "I have no mind for government or politics. I'm barely more than a soldier, hardly even a noblewoman. All that makes me a queen," she choked on the word, "or a princess is my bloodline." She looked down at our joined hands. "Cikkarat isn't mine anymore. The only way it can be again is if I..."

"Marry me?" I was finishing her sentence and proposing at the same time. My hands would have been shaking if she hadn't been holding them so tightly, but they seemed to be making a valiant effort to do so regardless.

There was nothing but silence for a long time, and I felt my heart turn to stone. Then she let go of one of my hands and touched my cheek with her fingers. "I've been waiting for you to say that since I first saw you."

In all my twenty-one years, I had never thought of kissing as a very important part of life. It took all of half a second to change my mind. The world melted away and...I lost my ability to think in words. Every thought was a sensation, for the first time in my life, my body was doing all the thinking for my brain, and I wasn't worried about anything.

It was over much too soon, but quite frankly, the cheering and whistling were a little hard to ignore. Our...moment had drawn quite a bit of attention. We broke away, blushing and laughing, then we looked at the crowd of celebrating mercenaries and laughed even harder. I raised our joined hands above our heads and the cheering became a roar.

Marja was at the front of the crowd, standing next to the 'cute one' she had pointed out; she was the loudest among the whistlers, and I knew that if her fingers hadn't been in her mouth, then she would have been whooping and hollering with the rest. Knife came walking over to where we were, he had Kyube's arm over his shoulder and she looked weak and sick.

But there was a broad grin on her face, and she added a whistle of her own before anyone could inquire after her health. After things had calmed down a bit and everyone had begun to break off into groups and couples, Marja shook off her 'overnight romance', and the five of us gathered around in a little circle of our own.

Kyube, still leaning heavily on Knife, stuck a fisted hand into the center of the circle, then opened it. A small object fell from her hand; I leaned forward to see it better. It was a petrified basilisk's eye on a chain, at least, I thought it was one; I'd never actually seen one before. Marja gasped and picked it up.

"My basilisk's eye!" She clutched it to her chest and rocked from side to side for a moment, eyes closed. Then she opened her eyes and reached out a hand to Kyube. "You...then you aren't a Prince of Thieves anymore either?"

She shook her head, then turned to Idra and me. "I know Knife said it to the Chandraline, but I'm sure that it was the first either of you heard of it. Knife and I are--rather, we were Princes of Thieves. But we've renounced our titles." She smiled at Knife and patted the arm he had around her waist. "To be poetic, we're both stepping onto new paths."

Knife took Marja's hand and put something in it, but he didn't let go of her right away. "You've been a good girl, Marja, but I know it's only a matter of time before you realize that even though we went to all this trouble we didn't make any money. So I thought I'd give you this before you feel cheated." Then he released her hand and she held up the object to see it better.

"It's a...Knife, if I were anyone else, I wouldn't be able to accept this." Her eyes were wide and she sounded like a little girl who had just discovered that despite everything her older, supposedly wiser, friends had told her, pixies were real. "Do you have any idea how rare it is to find a blue starphire, let alone a worked piece?"

He shrugged. "Nope."

"The price I could get for this! My old dad would have killed to have one in the main shop. He wouldn't even sell it. He'd just keep it to brag." Shaking her head in disbelief, Marja asked, "Where did you get this?"

"An oracle gave it to me before we even left Pabra. Said I'd need it 'before long.' "

Marja scoffed. "Oracles have a poor sense of time, but at least this one had a good eye for jewelry."

We probably would have spent the rest of the night talking and laughing and making plans, but a few of Idra's aunts ushered us off to bed, chiding us for staying up late on the eve of a journey. I didn't think I would be able to fall asleep, but I surprised myself by dropping off almost immediately, and I didn't wake until the sun's morning light burst in on me through the open window. I stepped out of the wagon that had been provided for Knife and me to share--no matter how he protested, they insisted on separating him from Kyube--and I stared up at the sky, marveling at the rich color.

Our horses were waiting for us, looking quite happy and a bit fatter than they had been when we'd left them. Waldgrave greeted Marja with a whinny, then when she patted his nose, he tried to bite her and step on her foot, both attacks she evaded and rewarded with an affectionate and playful slap on the forehead.

The entire camp gathered together to see us off, and I wondered if it was anything like a sailor's farewell party. I knew it would be a hard goodbye for Idra, so we stayed behind a bit longer than was necessary, but then we had to leave.

It was a very quiet ride. The others were still tired from the night before, and the days leading up to it, and I was content to enjoy the leisurely ride home and the feel of Idra's arms around my waist. I looked over at my companions. Kyube was sleeping with her head resting on Knife's back, and both he and Marja were dozing off a bit. Sooner or later Waldgrave would take advantage of Marja's half-sleepy state, but he was currently behaving himself.

By late afternoon, though, everyone was wide awake and itching to be back in the city. "When we get back," Marja said, "I'm going to eat something with lots of honey in it!"

After that, it became a game. Kyube piped up, "When we get back, I'm going to see if Kiveo will give me a job in his forge."

"When we get back, I'll make a knight out of Knife," I said.

He laughed. "Really? That'd be interesting."

Kyube poked him in the side. "I think it's a great idea. You need an honest job. I'm not going to be the one bringing in all the money while you slob your life away."

There were a few more 'when we get back' statements, and then we grew silent again. Then Idra leaned forward until her cheek was touching mine. "When we get back, we're going to start a family."

For the first time in my life, I knew why stories ended with 'happily ever after.'

--------------

I'm...done. NEXT BOOK!!