The mourning took place for the rest of the night. Even the dragons joined in, shooting jets of flame fifty feet into the air. The elves sang, their voices seeming to cut straight to your soul. Everywhere that Nick and Kevin looked there were elves crying, or dragons making mournful sounds. Grief had permeated the air.
At the head of the crowd Nick caught sight of Brian. He gasped, squeezing Kevin’s hand tighter, pointing up to where he saw them. “I found them, Kev.” He whispered into his lover’s ear. Kevin’s eyes followed his finger. In a small garden area AJ was huddled on the ground with Brian on one side nad the King on the other. All three of them were shaking with sobs.
Nick had heard the singing; heard the cries that someone had died. Frantically he and Kevin had searched for their friends. They had seen AJ first, just vaguely, carrying a body into the castle. But the crush of bodies had prevented him or Kevin from seeing who it was that AJ had carried.
They couldn’t help but sigh in relief to see Brian and AJ alive. Behind them, in the crowd, stood Howie. He too was crying, but he was alive.
Just as Nick made to step forward, to try to make his way to AJ and Brian, he saw AJ rise from the ground. It had been hours since he had first come in. To have knelt there, sobbing out their grief, for so long, Nick thought that they would move stiffly. But AJ rose with a fluid grace, as did those on either side of him.
The crowd was silent as AJ looked to them all. His face was ravaged with grief, the emotions out there for all to see. It was such a contrast from the AJ that he had used to be. The only who had been the rebel of their band. The one who had hidden behind sunglasses so as not to show his true feelings about things. Now he stood there, his feelings and pain out for all to see.
AJ didn’t raise a hand, or make any gesture, but everyone’s attention was riveted on him so that when he spoke, his voice seemed to carry even though it was quiet.
“We have suffered a terrible loss today.” He said solemnly. “All of our hearts are heavy to lose the song that Iona sang. We must console ourselves with the fact that she is where she wanted to be. Her body has joined to the earth in the area that her sister, my mother, was also joined. Their spirits are together now in this garden that is our home. This was as she wanted.”
Tipping his face up toward the sky, AJ watched as the first rays of sunlight pushed at the darkness. “Iona died with honor. She died to protect her nephew and her father; her trulion and her King. She died fighting evil. Look above you, look at the sky.”
Every face turned upwards to watch the sky as the sun slowly rose. Night began to fade, replaced with the beautiful colors of morning.
“So the cycle goes, each and every day.” AJ spoke loud enough for all to his, emotion brightening his voice. “Though darkness comes, it is always inexorably replaced by the light. Rothalo seeks to cover the world with his darkness, to cast us all forever in the shadows of night. But we will not allow this. He thinks he understands? He does not know the true fury of an angered elf.
“So are he and Twyla the darkness, we will be the light. We will be the dawn, stealing across their world, chasing away the shadows. When all seems dim, when you heart feels heavy under the weight of our loss, remember who we are, and what we do. Remember Iona, who died fighting to bring the light to the darkness. She was the first ray of the new sunrise. Together, our light will shine bright and strong, and we shall be victorious!”
A loud cry echoed all around them. Elves were jumping on their feet, raising fists in the air. The air of grief was still there but it was countered by one of determination and strength. With a short speech AJ had taken everyone’s pain and used it to bind them together, and to give them purpose. The fight had been important before, but he had made it personal.
Head held high, AJ stepped away from his lover and his grandfather. He walked down through the crowd, not bothering to hide the tears that had left tracks on his cheeks. As regal as any King he went past the people and inside the castle.
It was as if AJ’s leaving was a signal. Nick watched the gathered elves slowly start to disperse. They moved, not with sadness and pain, but with a new purpose. All around he saw elves who were discussing battle strategy, or what weapons were needed to be made, how to better defend their home. This was truly becoming a castle of war.
Through the crowd came Brian. He too bore the marks of his weeping, and he bore them without shame. He took Nick’s hands when they were offered, and readily accepted the hug that Nick and Kevin both gave him. It was all Nick could think to do. In Brian’s eyes he saw grief beyond what he’d expected. This woman, AJ’s aunt, must have gotten close to Brian in such a short time.
Brian wiped at his face when he pulled back, trying to clear his eyes. “Thank you guys for sticking here. You could have gone to your rooms.” He said softly.
Reaching a hand out to rest on Brian’s shoulder, Kevin offered him a gentle look. “We needed to make sure you were all ok, cos. She was close to you, this woman?”
“She was my Aunt. A beautiful woman with a strong spirit and a ready smile. She was a seamstress, and a caretaker. When our friend Geoff was injured, she sat with him until he was well. She told me stories of Alex when he was younger and we would laugh together until we cried. Her song was bright and true, and will be sorely missed.”
In the back of his mind Nick thought that Brian was starting to well and truly sound like an elf too. He spoke the way they did, with all this song business and in big flowery sentences. But one part stuck with him. “I thought she was AJ’s Aunt?” he asked softly, afraid of sounding rude.
The corners of Brian’s mouth quirked in a small smile. “We told you about our joining ceremony, and the tattoos and all that. Well, when two families join as ours have, you adopt the family to you. His grandfather is now mine. He calls me his grandson. My Uncle and Aunt are now AJ’s Uncle and Aunt.” Something off in the distance caught Brian’s attention. “Sweet Jesus.” He murmured, stretching to try to better see the figure running. “Is that….Aine?”
“Who’s Aine?” Kevin asked him.
Brian’s eyebrows furrowed as the figure darted between elves, rushing to get to the back of the gardens. “Iona’s daughter. My cousin.” The look on Brian’s face was still curious. Then suddenly it cleared as he got a better view. With a muttered “excuse me” he darted away, catching up with the woman right as she reached the edge of the gardens.
Everyone made way for them, leaving a gap. Many eyes watched as Brian caught Aine, holding her waist to keep her back. He bent and whispered in her ear so low that no one else could understand what he said. But after a minute she stopped struggling. Her body went limp and her legs gave way beneath her. Still held by Brian, Aine collapsed to the ground, her long brown hair fanning out around her as she threw her head back and screamed to the sky. Then she collapsed into Brian and sobbed her grief loose.
A pair of hands touched Nick and Kevin’s arms, catching their attention. They turned to see Howie standing with a beautiful fire-haired woman, and two big men. All of them were human. “Come on, guys.” Howie whispered. “Let’s go get you to your rooms so you can sleep a while.”
He led them through the castle and was just about to take them upstairs when Kevin broke away. “I’ll be up shortly.” He said, looking Nick in the eyes before turning to the others. Then, without another word, he headed out the front door. Nick sighed but allowed the others to continue leading him upstairs. He was exhausted, and bed sounded so wonderful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cautiously, not quite sure what he was doing or where he was going, Kevin stepped out into the main courtyard. He scanned the area around him as he walked. Why he was doing this he didn’t know. He should, by all rights, be on his way upstairs to go to bed in the arms of his lover. But here he was, forcing one foot in front of the other.
There had been something about AJ’s face as he had walked away that wouldn’t erase from Kevin’s mind. Something there that had reminded him of the AJ he’d met early on in the band who had been so unsure, so afraid. Someone who looked as if life had treated him hard, and whose heart was breaking underneath all of it.
There had been that quality to AJ’s face again. A pain in his eyes that went deeper than simple grief. Kevin found that he couldn’t resist it. So he went in search of the man who had been his friend for years.
It was outside the castle that he found him. Alone on the edge of the cliffs, AJ was staring out at the waves that crashed on shore. His posture was tight, stiff. Not by a hair did he betray if he heard whether Kevin was approaching, but once he was within earshot AJ spoke. “Is there something you need, Kevin? If it’s not important, now isn’t really the time.”
“I don’t need anything.” Kevin said, stepping up beside him. He didn’t look at AJ, didn’t say another word, just watched the waves with him.
Time passed. Five minutes, ten, thirty, Kevin wasn’t quite sure. Oddly enough he found peace in the waves, and in the solid presence of the person beside him. He actually felt some of his tension start to drain from him.
So it surprised him when AJ started to speak. His words were barely a whisper, but they were full of hurt. “For a long time I avoided contact with anyone. I disappeared from Howie, from Roth, from Geoff and Richard and Isleen. Marzio and Sofia. I hid from all of them, even though they were my friends. I had seen so much death and so much heartache that I couldn’t bear to be close to anyone.”
A lone tear slid down AJ’s cheek. “This right here is why. To be this close opens your heart for so much hurt if anything happens. To interact with humans is even harder. It was a big thing for me, to join the band. To open myself up that way to caring about you guys, knowing that one day you would all die, and I would still be alive.”
He sniffled, wiping away his tears. “She was a beautiful woman, you know. She didn’t deserve to die like this. He didn’t kill her because she posed a threat to him. He had her by her throat, and he could have easily stopped her spear. No, he killed her to hurt me.”
Those tear filled eyes turned to Kevin. In them was a pain that spanned ages; a pain that almost dropped Kevin to his knees. He knew, instinctively, that he would have to live a long time to come close to the amount of pain that AJ felt in that moment. It wasn’t just this death. It was centuries of deaths. “He only came to see our barrier and find its weaknesses. Getting us and Iona was a bonus. He said he was going to leave me with a gift, and he killed her before I could get to them. Just to hurt me.”
Now AJ looked back out to the water. Something in the air seemed to vibrate around him, though Kevin didn’t know enough to recognize it as magic. Magic barely controlled.
“But he made a mistake if he thought this would break me.” AJ spoke in a voice that turned white hot with rage. “I will kill him if it is the last thing I do.”
“Why does it have to be you?” It was the first thing that Kevin said since AJ had started his speech, and it wasn’t what he had intended to say. But he found that he wanted desperately to know the answer. “Why you? Why not any of these able bodied elves or dragons? What makes it all fall on your shoulders, Age?”
“I am the trulion.” AJ said softly. Again there was the sound of millennia in his voice. “I can be no more, no less. I will kill him because it is what I’m destined to do. Because it’s a part of who I am. I will kill him for Iona. For Brian, and the pain he inflicted there. For the thousands of people he has killed over the years in his attempts to take my life. For all races that wish to live free. For the faeries, who he sought to destroy, and to whom I am oath bound. To the elves; the dwarves and centaurs. The mermaids and the satyrs. The nymphs and the imps. For all of them.”
Again AJ turned to Kevin and it seemed that his very spirit glowed from within him, lighting those ancient eyes. “More than that, I will kill him because it is right. Because if I don’t, he will kill us all. I will kill him so that everyone, including you and your family, will know the freedom and peace that we all take for granted. It falls to my shoulders because that is the way it is meant to be. Without realizing it, I’ve been preparing for this moment since I was born. Only one of us can survive this. I aim to see that it is me.”
Together the two stood silently, watching the waves yet again. There were no words that could be spoken between them that wouldn’t have sounded false. But something inside of Kevin understood a little better than it had before.
Quietly he reached over, taking AJ’s hand in his. Neither looked at the other, but AJ took the offered hand and squeezed. Together, standing on the cliffs overlooking the sea, two friends began to heal.