The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH RESOLUTIONS

Looking around, Yuri breathed out in relief, they were in Fleur’s usual Room of Light, dressed as they normally were in the past; as a Guardian, a Huntsman, and an Oracle.

Yuri turned toward Kaleth and demanded, “What was that cursed place?”

“An ancient temple that was corrupted then destroyed. The Oracles don’t know why you were taken there,” Kaleth frowned.

“It’s a puzzle.” Fleur snarled. “Tell your father I won’t solve it.”

“Daisy...” Kaleth started, but she turned violently and slapped him as hard as she could.

“It’s Fleur! Daisy is gone, Daisy’s dead, just like you,” she hissed, she began hitting his chest, crying, “Her life was a lie... Just l-like your... Y-your.. Love.”

Kaleth let her hit him, tears wet his beard as they leaked from his eyes, but he said nothing, did nothing to stop her from pouring out her grief against him.

Yurieth tried to pull her away as she flailed and sobbed. “Enough, Fleur, it wasn’t his fault. He loved you as much as I do.”

“You’re both liars,” Fleur shoved away from them, wrapping her arms around herself. Sound filled the room; their father’s voice surrounded them.

“Fleur is already broken, she was made that way, so she couldn’t access her magic too soon. She needs love to power her magic, her will isn’t enough. She needs your love and you will love her, Yurieth. She was made for you, to bear your heir. Together, you and she shall...”

“And what of my brother, what of Kaleth?” Yurieth demanded, he sounded anguished.

“I will deal with my youngest son. Everything shall be as she remembers, he will do his duty to jump start her magic and begin her change, their children shall be accounted for,” Adamos announced firmly. “Winning is the only thing that matters.”

Her pale lavender eyes cut hard into Kaleth’s amber ones. “I know the truth. I heard it from your father when he told your brother and son the truth about me, about us... Damien was right. I was just a concubine... But I don’t belong to the House of Adamos anymore. You both got your sons, I’m out!”

“That’s not true, Daisy...” Her glare cut him off and Kaleth amended himself. “Fleur... what happened to us... being sealed... it was a mistake... but it was the best, most beautiful mistake of my life. Our life, our children, it was a twisting of fate that wasn’t meant to be, but I won’t regret it. You gave me something I was never meant to have as a Guardian, and I’m sorry it hurt you. I was blessed to be loved by you for a time. I meant what I said the last moment we were together… I will love you for all time but I want you to find someone else to love. Look at him, Daisy, he’s right there, he has always been beside you.” Kaleth wanted to reach out and wipe her tears but he was the ghost in her past and she needed to be with her future. “You promised... Goodbye, my little flower.” He vanished in a shower of golden light.

“Why?” Her shoulders sagged, threatening to drag her to her knees, “Why me?”

Yuri pulled her into his arms, “You mean why us?”

She looked up at him, her fingers reached up and traced his face. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to love me back, I know you don’t, your soul told me the truth.”

“No, Fleur. My honor, the part of me I hid behind since I found out I wasn’t an oracle, told you that. My soul never stopped loving you.”

“Your father manipulated us.”

“Yes, he did. Use your power, read me for truth. I loved you without his manipulation before I knew anything about who you were and more, after I knew everything.” Yuri promised. He focused on the first day he met her and every happy moment they shared.

Her eyes began to glow, and he felt the warmth of her magic flowing through his soul as she searched for his truth.

“Please, choose me… forgive me…” he begged.

Yuri inhaled deeply; the magic was retreating from around them. He was holding Fleur in his arms, just like the evening he woke up after she had saved the King’s City and their souls had become tangled. He kissed her hair, unwilling to move. The soft glow of Asha’s magic surrounded them.

“Go back to sleep, Uncle Yuri, it’s not morning yet.”

“Wake up, Yuri.” Serapha’s soft voice prodded him from a deep dreamless sleep.

“What happened?” He whispered while Fleur was breathing so slowly, still sleeping. “There was a place... shadows under the floor. The Celestial Guardian saved us.”

“We’re not sure,” Asha answered, “Allura and Eonae barely managed to keep you both from being forever lost. The broken part of mother’s soul didn’t return to her, part of your soul took its place. We... we don’t know who she will be when she wakes.” Her chin trembled as she spoke.

“Yuri, why don’t you take her up to the lighthouse and tell her about the sunrise? She always loved it when you did that,” Serapha suggested.

Yuri carried his still sleeping beloved through her storm battered garden and up the steps of her lighthouse. Someone had placed a chair on the seaward side. The storm had moved off leaving high ribbons of silvery clouds under the waning crescent moon. He whispered to her of the white caps bringing the morning tide. Of the changing colors of sea, sky, and cloud until the last bright objects of Aetheria and Arborea disappeared from view as Aetheria Prime rose golden on the horizon.

Fleur sighed contentedly. “That sounded beautiful. Asha fixed your voice.”

“Mostly, but she says she can’t fix your eyes. They’ve faded from lavender to a pale gray lilac.”

“They were filled with Essence of Darkness so I could see when I was the Dark Oracle, I didn’t think I would need them again. I did what I had to do to finish my mission.” She tried not to sound regretful, but a single tear made a crystal trail down her cheek. “Then I could see again but I could feel only my pain; now I am blind, but I can feel my hope again.”

“What will you do today, my beloved?” His gravelly deep voice was beyond even Asha power to heal completely, he would never sing again, but he could speak almost normally.

“I’m not sure. I don’t feel my pain as I did, but I remember I promised I would marry you soon, Yuri, or would you rather I call you Rieth?” She turned her face up toward his.

“Doesn’t matter. I think you have felt too much pain, Daisy, or do you prefer Fleur?”

She licked her lips, pulling them between her teeth for a moment. “Fleur, I think. Daisy has known too much of sorrow, she deserves her rest. I remember when Asha and Shadz told me about erasing her memories so that I could live. I told them to let her die, then I made Shadz take me to say goodbye to you, Kalen, and Jenna just in case it didn’t work. I should have known you were too stubborn to do what I said. I didn’t know I was pregnant with Yuli, I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. I am sorry that my actions hurt you so much, I’m sorry my father’s game destroyed your hope, destroyed you.” He hugged her tighter.

She shrugged, “Without the anger and hopelessness I felt, I never would have been able to draw enough darkness to fool the Xelusians. Because I had given up, there was nothing I could be tempted with to sway my mission. I’m... I’m just glad to know that Kaleth’s love wasn’t a lie, that it wasn’t just his duty to obey the oracles, and that yours is true.” Her fingers traced his face and he kissed her fingertips when they passed over his lips. “What will we do now, Yuri?”

“Be joined for all time and raise our son. Do you want to stay here or come to Meridian 4?” He asked.

“Meridian?”

“I moved my school there. Actually, it’s very close to mark on the ancient map. Karstien gave the whole system to the House of Yophriel to try and keep me too busy to look for you.”

Fleur giggled sadly. “He would... You took the name of your mother’s house?”

“I did. I couldn’t abide what my father put you through, what he manipulated us into putting you through. Karstien understood, he feels the worst of all of us. He would probably give you anything you asked for.”

“Anything?” She tipped her head contemplatively. “Have you started the reclamation of Meridian 3?”

Yuri grinned at her, “No, it was delayed because I was looking for you and Yuli...” Fishlover meowed from beside them and jumped into Fleur’s lap while she sat in Yuri’s. “No, I was not looking for you, wretched feline.” He scolded his war-cat.

Fishlover blinked lazily and butted Fleur’s hand so she rubbed his ears. “It doesn’t seem fair to trap you and Yuli on this little tiny island when we have a whole system to explore. Maybe in the spring?”

“Anything you want, Fleur, anything,” Yuri promised.

Fleur dumped Fish out of her lap and put her hands on either side of his face. “I want a kiss, my huntsman.”

In Fleur’s house, Karstien, Shadz and Abe watched from the window.

“You took a big chance hinting at me where to send him, nephew,” Abe announced softly.

Karstien nodded, “You took a risk sending him here before the portals opened.”

“He wouldn’t wait,” Abe shrugged.

“I’m sorry, Shadz. I knew you would object. I thought Asha was going to kill me, revive me, and kill me again. But Allura guessed correctly, their hearts would find their way back to love and it would give her something to fight for.” Karstien apologized.

Shadz sighed heavily. “I suppose he has suffered enough for the mistakes of his youth. Speaking of mistakes of youth, Vole and I owe Colby an emerald each. He said he thought Corbin was the traitor in the core. But for almost two centuries after, there was nothing questionable in his service as a guardsman except his lackadaisical attitude.”

Serapha rolled her eyes and went downstairs to where Asha and Allura were making breakfast. “You won’t believe it! The men are actually taking credit for our idea.”

Allura grinned. “Well, we did kind of make them think it was their idea. Kars made enough of a mess of it in the beginning.”

“Technically, it was my fault. I didn’t know how else to save her and when she agreed to memory erasing to buy time... Meara, Shadz, and I came up with the best plan we could. We just didn’t count on her heart fighting the enchantment for so long. I’m sorry I didn’t trust your magic, Aunt Serapha.” The master healer apologized.

“It wasn’t just my magic. The Queen’s Blessing to restore hope was needed too.” Serapha pointed out. “And I don’t think any of you from this time realized just how stubborn Yuri really is, he’s as bad as Fleur.” Serapha began setting the table while Allura plated the cooked food.

Asha looked around the kitchen. “I can’t believe Uncle Yuri made these cabinets. I mean I’ve seen the bows he’s made but these...” She couldn’t keep the awe from her voice.

“Yuri does good work. You should have seen the inside of the Winter Castle, the whole thing was covered in carvings like this. It took him almost a century.”

“He is truly an artist,” Allura added as she ran her hands over the cabinet doors he had made for Fleur. “The cameo he made for you to give to me was breathtaking. I never would have expected such artistry out of a huntsman. I just thought his only craft was a different art of war than protectors.”

Looking out the window and up at the lighthouse, Asha mused, “I don’t know if he is a huntsman anymore, Allura. I think he might want to be a husband from now on.”

Smiling, Allura shrugged, “He can be more than one thing, Karstien is... and our king has grand plans for his uncle and best friend. Now, we need to plan a royal wedding, but I don’t feel right making them get married on the traditional Day of Light Returning, as Daisy and Kaleth did.”

“Perhaps something small and soon, Yuri is also very impatient. Like a child wanting a treat. It’s why he got on that damn ship and almost died rather than wait for the portals to open. He’s spoiled,” Serapha announced and they all giggled.

“What are you three plotting now?” Abe demanded as he came to sit at the table.

“Not more royal games, I hope,” Karstien added as he hugged Allura from behind. She tipped her head back and he placed a chaste kiss in the beauty mark on her cheek.

“No, my king, our family is done with those.” Allura declared. Karstien just hummed in agreement.

Shadz sat down next to Asha. “Do we know who she is yet?”

“Fleur,” Fleur answered as Yuri lead her into the kitchen, “I’m Fleur. And Yuri and I would like to be joined soon. Something small, just family and our closest friends. As far as anyone else in the kingdom needs know, Lady Daisy died when the Relic Remnant returned, and Lord Yurieth of the House of Yophriel married Vinterfleur, a granddaughter of the House of Valent.”

“It shall be done,” Karstien said firmly and she reached across the table to take his hand. “Anything else you want?” He offered.

“Just a few things but first I’m starving and where’s the coffee?” Fleur demanded and they all laughed.

“Well, she’s back,” Asha giggled as she held the carafe holding the brew to Yuri who poured Fleur a cup.

Fleur sipped it then scowled in her daughter’s direction, “I can’t believe you made me forget coffee with everything else.”

Asha held up her hands helplessly, her tone waspish, “What did you expect? You have practically had a coffee cup in your hand every moment of your life when you weren’t wielding a sword.”

“And sometimes when she was,” Abe reminded them of the time she had made him hold her coffee so she could fight necrorriors after she almost spilled it when they were ambushed on Gaia. They laughed, sharing the amusing stories of Fleur’s coffee addiction with Yuli.

One of the first things Fleur did was give the Cat’s Soup Cafe to Desandra, and demand that Banth and his great-grandnephew Bolton be given a house rank. Yuli predicted the weather would be mildly warm and clear for the next tenday. Yuli and his best friend Nick taught Kalen and Jenna how to run the lighthouse and showed them all the places on Arbor Isle they loved. They explored and got to know each other more every day.

Asha and Shadz brought their children to meet their grandmother, great-uncle, and uncle. Fleur wept tears of joy as she held Asha’s infant daughter and son. Abe and Serapha’s daughters and young son, and Karstien’s sons and toddler daughters joined them at the end of the week. Fleur’s family had doubled in size while she lived in Soldiers Cove. The number of children and grandchildren of the House of Adamos had increased from seven to seventeen, counting Yuli.

Master and Commander Vole had sailed in with Fleet Captain Lilith, who had landed the Wanderer outside of Brightwater Port. On the fourth evening, Fleur took Lilith up and showed her the light and how it worked. Vole was standing outside by the repaired rail, staring at the sea as he did every evening.

“Lilith, it’s time.” Fleur said as she polished the glass.

“Time for what, Lady Dai... I mean Lady Vinterfleur,” Lilith felt confused.

“Time for you to tell Vole how you feel, how you’ve always felt.” Fleur announced as she started the rotation of the light. She walked down the steps with the brilliant light shining just above her. “Tex...I mean Theresa, she was my friend and I was happy for both of you but she has been gone for a longtime… and so has Meara. Your sister Lessa and cousin Rheema aren’t the only ones who deserve a family with a sealed one. You don’t need to be a warrior forever. You won’t leave your children the way your father left you.”

Lilith swallowed, she always felt vulnerable when she talked with the oracle. “I’m not pretty enough for Vole. Meara was but I’m...”

“Lilith, stop. You’re stunning, a decorated warrior, and the second highest ranked officer in the Fleet, but you still see yourself as the gangly girl who did sword katas until she couldn’t lift her arms just so she could try to beat Shadz. I know you never dated another male because you have always loved Vole,” Fleur declared in a prim tone.

Lilith gaped at her then blushed bright red when Vole’s voice came from behind her. “Is that true, Lil?”

Fleur went down the stairs passed Vole, “Don’t let her leave until she’s told you everything.”

Karstien eyed Fleur when she came in with a smug smile. “What did you do?”

“Lilith and Vole, it’s time… Meara made him promise to tell her how he felt when he finished mourning, and to thank Lilith for the loan. They are to be sealed ones.” She shrugged. “Sorry but you are going to need to appoint a new fishing fleet commander, Vole’s going back to the space fleet. Oh, and I will be needing the pieces of my Relic back so we can get the Chronos FTLs back online. I have a project for them, I need them to find the places Yuri and I saw.”

“I’ll ask his grandfather who he wants in charge.” Karstien hugged her. “You haven’t really changed that much if you’re still playing match maker and chasing puzzles.”

Fleur smirked at him, “Who’s playing? One is my gift… and the other is my curse.”

“You just can’t resist a puzzle, can you?” Karstien smiled down at her.

Her brow furrowed. “I still haven’t solved the first one. I promised you I would find the answer to where you are really from… I got a little distracted by the war, the recovery, and chasing Shadows.”

“You don’t have to chase this,” Karstien frowned, “You don’t own me or our people anything more.”

Fluer put her cheek over his heart and listened to it as she had so many times over the years. “No, but I owe it to Yuli and the children of the Southern Star to figure out what here makes them special. The children who are born here and leave before their magic comes, don’t have their gifts.”

Vela and Stacy had both been forced to admit to Nevin and Finn that they had figured out who Rieth the woodsmith really was but had been ordered by Asha not to interfere. The two Mazoni swordwomen had shrugged off their pouting spouses with the calm statement that the Mazoni serve the needs of the King and the kingdom, not themselves. Nevin was just happy to get to go back to His and Vela’s previous lives as researchers. He had not enjoyed their almost eighty-year-long stint as innkeepers, even though he was a consultant with the Miners in Westfalls.

Finn had asked Stacy if she would mind if they stayed in the Southern Star Archipelago, took over the Slumbering Pines and started a family now that she was no longer bound to protect Fleur. Stacy promptly informed him that starting a family was fine but her duty would take her wherever Fleur went, just like her grandmother Meara. Yuri offered to let him open an Inn on Meridian. By the end of the tenday, it became clear that half of Soldiers Cove would leaving when Fleur and Yuri did. Banth wanted to stay and tend the Veteran’s lighthouse, but told Bolton to go, it was time for the younger man to seek his own hope.

When told this Fleur rolled her eyes and simply said, “He’ll be back, his hope is here.”

In the pre-dawn hours before the joining ceremony, Rheema had come with Regis, who was to be Yuri’s best man. Asha had begged Rheema’s forgiveness and explained how she understood Rheema was right to feel betrayed. Asha had let her strict training close her mind to the possibility of Serapha’s magic being the solution. They had cried in each other’s arms and then Asha shocked everyone except Regis and Yuri by asking Rheema if she knew she was pregnant. The happy news almost delayed the ceremony.

It was a beautiful autumn dawn when the Huntsman was joined to the Oracle he had loved for thousands of years.

The End Almost...