Fire and Ice

by Blue_Jay_Jay

Summary:

A Fix-it fic for Last Herald Mage, a 'Lendel Lives AU.

Suppose if Tylendel had messed up making the Gate, didn't attack the Leshara, didn't get Repudiated, didn't kill himself, and has to Deal With the Consequences of his stupidity.

Characters are 16 (Vanyel) and 17 (Tylendel)

Diverges from Chapter Eight of Magic's Pawn, at the building of the Gate.

Chapter 1: Darkest Night

Summary:

Tylendel and Vanyel have snuck out on Sovvan night to avenge the murder of Staven, Tylendel's twin. But things go horribly wrong.

Warning For descriptions of violence, magical trauma.

(Chapter One has Vanyel POV for first half, then Savil POV)

(Outside of Valdemar’s Capital, Exile’s Road, Sovvan Night)

Vanyel pushed his way past grasping branches, cursing under his breath as they caught at his hair and cloak and scratched his face and hands. He fought his way through them and into a walled courtyard knee-deep in weeds, with vines crawling over the crumbling walls. There were the remains of a building as well, skulking in the corner of the yard, roof fallen in and a tree growing inside the vine-covered walls. Tylendel was examining the doorway with care, testing the lintel with his dagger to make sure it was solid, then nodding in satisfaction and sheathing the blade.

“This will do.” He said quietly, almost to himself more than to Vanyel. “Van, do you think you’re ready?” He asked, finally turning to face him.

“As ready as I’m ever likely to get.” Vanyel said after taking a deep breath to steady himself.

Tylendel took his frozen hands in his own which were no warmer. “Van, I’m going to have to force that link between us wide open for this to work.” He searched Vanyel’s eyes for a moment. “I may hurt you. I’ll try not to, but I can’t promise. Are... are you still willing to help me?”

Under the stark light of the red mage-light over his shoulder Tylendel's drawn face with its dark-circled eyes and hollowed cheeks looked as hellish as the demon masks revelers would be wearing to Sovvan parties this very night. His eyes were dark as the night around them and Vanyel was willing to do anything to see those eyes again shine with love and happiness.

Besides, it’s too late to back out now. Vanyel thought as he nodded his assent. I didn’t confess to Savil what was going on when she nearly caught me when I was returning the books. She asked me how was I was really holding up under all of this. And I... lied to her. For you. We can’t trust anybody else, not even Savil.

Tylendel let go of his hands and raised his fingers to Vanyel’s temples, leaning forward so that their foreheads were touching. Vanyel stood still, trembling a little from more than just the cold, and waited for something to happen.

For a long moment nothing did, Then suddenly--

Rage. An all-encompassing, all-consuming rage bloomed in him like a fire that consumed all in its path. Pain. So much pain. The pain of hundreds of razor teeth ripping flesh, Ripping Him Apart! Feeling his blood and guts and life spilling out. Grief. Staven was dead. Staven- brother/twin/otherself, the stone foundation upon which his own fragile flame was built. Revenge. One thought burned bright above all the others- They Must Pay. The ones who killed Stav will die in as painful, as horrible a death as the one they gave him.

A small corner of Vanyel’s mind was still his own and it wondered at the overwhelming force of his lover’s rage. But that part of him was as helpless as a mouse under a glass, it could only watch in hopeless terror.

Tylendel turned to face the stone doorway, Vanyel turning with him with no conscious decision to do so. Tylendel opened the pouch on his belt and took something out. He began chanting in a strange language and cast a double handful of some sort of powder onto the threshold. He held his now empty hands palm outward towards the opening and continued to chant.

Vanyel’s vision began to swim and he felt a sudden surge of weariness. The edges of the doorway were starting to glow, a sullen red that matched Tylendel’s mage-light. Vanyel found himself gulping for air like he was running up a steep incline. His swimming vision became oddly doubled, he could see what his own eyes beheld, but now he was also seeing things from what had to be Tylendel’s point of view. Streams of red light were pouring off of ‘Lendel and feeding into the strange red fire crawling around the edge of the doorway as if the rocks themselves were smoldering. And he could see himself glowing blue, faintly as foxfire, and a blue mist that was being drawn off of him and feeding into the Gate that Tylendel was building.

His legs trembled and through their shared vision he could see how the Gate was tethered to both of them. The delicate blue mist of his own life-force was drawn like tufts of wool into the brighter red of Tylendel’s thread of rage and swallowed by the raging fire of Tylendel’s grief-fueled power.

As Vanyel felt more and more of the strength being drawn out of him and Tylendel, the edges of the door began to glow brighter and brighter, twisting like flame, like slow smoke trails. Tendrils began to reach out towards the middle, weaving, stretching, reaching. Straining to meet one of its siblings across the divide.

Finally two ends met across the gap and the whole of the doorway was suddenly filled with throbbing scarlet light. Vanyel felt an incredible gush of energy leave him, reminding him horribly of the shared memory of having his guts pulled out. He nearly collapsed but somehow managed to keep his feet.

The unholy red opening, searing as bright as the noonday sun on closed lids, whether his eyes were open or closed, suddenly went dark. When his eyes could see again, the gap no longer framed shadowed weeds and a tree-trunk, instead what he saw was infinite blackness, darker than the darkest night. A blackness that seemed to swallow any light that touched it.

Tylendel stared in confusion and Vanyel felt the tossing flames of rage/pain/grief suddenly cut through with a chill blade of fear.

“This-” Tylendel gulped, eyes wide. “This isn’t right. There should be...” He shook his head and raised his hands again and Vanyel saw through that curious double-vision how Tylendel reached out translucent red hands to try and reshape what he had created.

His creation fought him. The magical hands Tylendel touched it with were seized and sucked in, pulling a great burst of strength from both of them. Tylendel swore and Vanyel fell to his knees, feeling that the cold air he gasped was doing nothing to relieve the feeling that his chest was being crushed.

Tylendel was doing, something, twisting his fingers in the air, trying to unweave the tendrils of his hideous creation. Vanyel saw fiery fronds fray off and scatter across the building face like scarlet lightning, burning the plants that were growing over the stones. But soon as the trainee mage let go they promptly burrowed back into the greater structure of the Gate, reforming all that he had managed to undo.

Next he turned with his magical hands and tried to unbind the tethers that chained him and Vanyel to that horrible sucking Void. Vanyel screamed. He felt like someone had laid a red hot poker on his half-frozen flesh. He felt like the pressure crushing his chest was increased twentyfold, yet somehow he still had breath to scream.

“Vanyel!” Vaguely he could hear Tylendel call his name and Felt his terror raising up, drenching down on the flames of rage like cold rain. On his hands and knees in the weeds, darkness threatened to overwhelm him and blood was roaring in his ears.

There was a flash of red light, Vanyel jerked his head up, hoping against hope that Tylendel had managed to do something. His lover stood arms up-raised over Vanyel, they were surrounded by a glowing red dome that swirled like a soap bubble in every color that could be called red. Still the ropes of red and blue light coming off of them were passing right through the dome and being devoured by that swallowing darkness.

:GALA!:

The shout, weirdly echoing, bouncing like a sharp sound off a stone wall, cut through Vanyel’s head like a knife.

:Gala Help! I fucked up! I fucked up So Bad!!: Tylendel was terrified. Vanyel could feel the fear coming off him in waves. His mouth wasn’t moving as he shouted, eyes closed tight. :GALA! I NEED YOU!!:

:?!?: A touch. A touch Vanyel felt inside his head and inside his heart. :What!? Where?!?: A female voice that Vanyel had never heard before, yet that felt so familiar, caused a surge of hope to echo down the bond from Tylendel.

:Exile’s Road! The ruined cottage!: Tylendel shouted back. :Tell Savil!:

:Coming Chosen! Hold On!!:

There was a blinding flash of light and a horrendous crash. Vanyel raised his heavy head to see through his own eyes that lightning had struck the tree growing in the ruined cottage and burned a huge crack down the center of it. The sky, which had only held scudding bits of windswept cloud eager to be elsewhere before, was now boiling with angry bruised looking clouds that flickered menacingly within.

Lightning arched down and struck the dome that ‘Lendel held over them. Vanyel felt the shock echo between them, watched helpless as ‘Lendel fell to his knees and the dome seemed to quiver. More lightning flashed overhead, turning everything starkly white and leaving his eyes dazzled.

Then a lightning bolt, twisting with deceptive slowness, reached down from the sky and touched the Gate. It drank in the lightning, seeming to become only darker for the brightness it had just consumed. Then it pulsed. Then it pulsed again, and tendrils of purest darkness began to reach out of the portal and grope blindly around.

They reached the edge of Tylendel’s red dome but were thwarted by its smoothness, sliding off and gaining no purchase until one fell across the streams of energy being forcibly pulled out of them by the Gate. Then they struck as sudden-swift as a nest of snakes for the gap in Tylendel’s defenses, worming in through the opportunity of the slightest opening to wrap themselves around the twined red/blue cord of Tylendel/Vanyel. Their touch was as repulsively vile as a slug and both burned and froze Vanyel from the inside out.

Tendrils climbed up inside the dome and rent it asunder, slicing through the walls as if they were as soft as wet clay. Tylendel jerked and Vanyel moaned, feeling his pain as the walls his mind had built were torn down. He struggled to raise another dome, but it was much paler, more translucent, and the tendrils ripped it to shreds just as easily as the first one. A third attempt was slapped down before the dome could even begin to form and Tylendel fell forward over his knees, clutching his head and screaming.

Vanyel couldn’t feel anything but pain. His or ‘Lendel’s he couldn’t even tell anymore. The Darkness was going to consume them both.

Vanyel! The world had narrowed to nothing but black, red, and flashes of blinding white. The pounding of his blood in his ears, the roaring of the wind and the storm.

:Vanyel!: He was going to die. They were going to die. With his beloved, yet also so alone.

:VANYEL!!:

There was a different kind of screaming in his ears, it sounded like an enraged and terrified horse screaming. Somehow he forced his eyes open, his own eyes. He turned away from the sickening black Void, sucking all that he was away from him, and saw a Companion leap into the ruined courtyard.

Oh good. Gala’s here. He thought muzzily, too drained to even summon that flicker of hope that surely Tylendel’s Companion could help them somehow.

She charged the black tendrils and they recoiled from her, boiling around each other and folding back towards the Gate. Tylendel looked up and Vanyel was again struck with double-vision, seeing through his eyes that the Companion glowed a bright and brilliant blue and was pushing a blue dome before her that was driving the tendrils of darkness back.

She stood next to where he knelt and faced down the Darkness that ‘Lendel had called, her dome of blue spread outward to cover them both. A bolt of lightning came slicing down and it turned away from the dome of protection at the last moment, striking a crumbled stone wall and exploding.

A wave of weakness and darkness washed over Vanyel then and his already deteriorating sense of self slipped even further away. Who was he? What was he? Emptiness and cold and pain were his only echos.

:Vanyel...: A voice, gentle and welcoming. A warmth suddenly against his frozen side. ‘Lendel? He put out his hand and felt the warm heaving sides of a horse that has just run as fast as it possibly can go.

An inflowing of strength rushed into him and he was able to lift his head and open his eyes. He looked into the deep blue eyes of the Companion. Nothing like the silvery blue of a blue-eyed horse. Her eyes were as deep and mysterious as a lake uncharted. But warm and blue like every summers sky. Blue like love.

My Lady’s eyes are like the skies, a soft and sunlit blue... his heart sang the verse and he fell into those eyes, feeling a deep embracing love, hearing music, feeling joy, lost for an endless moment in rapture.

:I am here my Chosen. I will always be here. I love you.:

A sudden jab of pain and cold made his eyes snap back open. He was still in the burning courtyard. Tylendel was still on hands and knees, but with his head turned to stare at them. The entwined cords of red and blue were still tying them to the horrible Darkness. Hungry tendrils from the Gate still were reaching for a way in. He was clutching the kneeling Companion, my Companion? Like a drowning man clutching a raft.

:I can’t cut the cords!: Her voice in his mind sounded breathless. :Hold onto me tight! I can’t feed you energy unless we’re touching! The others will be here soon!:

He clutched a handful of silken mane, softer than any horse’s hair he’d ever touched and leaned his forehead against her neck closing his eyes. He could still see through ‘Lendel’s eyes. See himself a dark shadow outlined in blue leaning against Her- so bright, brighter than the moon! See how her light was bolstering his own feeble glow. Could See how the dome she’d made was able to constrict the flow of power away from them, though she could not stop it completely.

Lightning crackled overhead, thunder rent the air, even louder than the pounding of his blood in his ears. He felt fear, his or ‘Lendel’s or the Companion’s he couldn’t tell anymore. The tree was on fire inside the ruined building, sparks and light being sucked into the hungry Void.

:Chosen! I am here!: The first female voice, Gala, rang through his head from ‘Lendel’s direction. A surge of joy and relief from ‘Lendel made him force his head up to see for himself as Gala scrambled through the lightning blasted wall and came to Tylendel’s side. The blue dome parting like a curtain to allow her entry.

His lover flung his arms around his Companion’s neck and another blue dome, this one tinged strongly purple, rose up around them and quickly spread to match the inside edge of the first. Gala tried to close off the flow of energy that was flowing out of her Chosen and his lover, but like her sister Companion she could seem to do no more than constrict its flow just a little more.

Still the relief even slightly on the terrible pressure and pulling coming out of him made the lathered neck under his cheek actually start to feel slightly warm on his numb face. The familiar and comforting smell of horse, the smell of his happiest memories, filled his nostrils.

:Tylendel! Ke’chara we’re coming!: Savil’s voice suddenly in his head as well as a dizzying vision of dark road illuminated by a silvery-purple light and flashes of lightning, disappearing at a terrifying rate beneath silver hooves.

:Hurry! I can’t make it stop!!: Tylendel’s mental voice was desperate.

The tendrils were trying to force their way past the walls the Companions were holding over the yawning dark doorway. With Tylendel helping, the three of them were able to hold back the Dark, but the walls bulged grotesquely inward, writhing tentacles searching, hunting for any weakness. Trying to slip under or through the gap that was still drawing all of Tylendel/Vanyel’s strength away through it.

:’Lendel!: Savil agin, somehow sounding much closer. :We’re almost there! Hang On!:

Then suddenly she was there, her Companion leaping over the ruined wall followed closely by another Herald on a stallion, both of them with bright balls of power and light hovering before them and surrounded by a holy glow like heroes from a ballad. They spread to flank them, Savil beside Tylendel and the other, a pale blond by Vanyel. They raised their hands and added their domes, silvery-lavender and bright gold overtop on the ones Tylendel and the Companions had raised.

:What have you done!?: Savil’s hard mind-voice was like a whip-crack across his thoughts. She glared at her pupil, Tylendel’s face was white, eyes wild.

:I-I was trying to make-- a Gate...: He said.

:What? A Gate?? How could you even...: She glanced over at Vanyel and then back to her student. Her eyes narrowed. :A Gate to where?:

A bit of color came back to Tylendel’s white face as he remembered his vengeance. :To the Leshara’s.: He replied, raising his chin defiantly.

:YOU HOT-HEADED FOOL!! You have to know Exactly where you are going! You’ve opened a Gate into the VOID!!: Savil shouted back making Tylendel's face go even paler than before, his eyes rimmed with white all around. Vanyel felt his sudden spike of terror and horror.

Savil swung down from her saddle and knelt next to the cord that was still tying them both to the Gate. She raised her hands and the wall holding back the wave of Darkness thickened and straightened and then shoved the tendrils back through the opening. The blonde Herald had also raised his hands and at his sharp gesture a gold seal covered the opening, and shone so bright the flames in the tree looked dull.

Savil laid her hands then on the red-with-wisps-of-blue cord. Vanyel felt her hands as if they were laid upon his own bare chest. Felt her fear and her fury. Lavender bright like silver surged forward under her hands, wrapping the cord, trying to close it off from the Gate.

The crushing feeling seized Vanyel again, even more intense, and he cried out. Even though it wasn’t as bad as the burning/freezing attempt his lover had made. Savil stopped immediately and swore creatively. Then raised her hands to the Gate itself and stretched forward ghost hands bright as moonlight.

Red struggled against the silver-purple, but it could not hold back the tide. The angry red of the Gate Tylendel had built was swiftly suffused by that lavender light, like milk into tea, easing the red into a shade of purplish mauve and then into a muted violet that was still not quite Savil’s bright and silvery lavender.

:I’m going to see if I can give this Gate a Terminus point!: Savil said, raising her hands to make complex weaving gestures in the air.

:Try and set it for the Chapel!: The other Herald’s mind-voice shouted back. He was holding his palms flat in front of him as the Darkness flung itself at the seal he’d placed on it. His Companion’s legs braced as if he was somehow keeping them from being pushed back.

Savil caught up some of those now violet threads and wove them around her fingers like some sort of glowing cat’s cradle. Once she had a number of threads well wrapped, she seized them and Vanyel felt the strength of her will pulsing down the threads burning them to her brighter color. The light surged down the threads she held and swiftly overtook the darker angrier colors of the Gate.

The opening misted over, obscuring that horrendous emptiness. Another pulse of light and shock of energy leaving him and the doorway no longer looked out into an endless nothingness but rather onto the normal darkness and flickering lightning of night and marble steps leading down to manicured grass.

Lightning struck the tree again and it exploded into fiery chunks, throwing burning pieces of wood in every direction. Somehow none of it hit them. Vanyel raised his aching head and saw Tylendel with his hands upraised. Right. Fetching. It hadn’t occurred to him that it could also be used to deflect things.

Savil was climbing to her feet with the aid of her Companion’s harness. The blonde Herald had dropped his golden seal and dome and was looking anxiously upwards. “We’ve got to get moving before that gets worse.” He said. “It didn’t look to storm before this.”

Savil shook her head, she was glaring at Tylendel with barely suppressed fury. “Gates play merry cob with the weather even at the best of times, this atrocity--” She gestured sharply at the now sedate Gate and Tylendel cringed. “This is whipping up a storm, my changing it made it worse, and when I shut it down all hell is going to break loose!”

She pointed to the fires around them. “Smother those flames trainee!” She barked. “We need to get back to Haven and shut this nonsense down. And then we are going to have a Very Serious Talk.”

Tylendel turned and held out his hands palm down and the flames began puffing out in showers of ash. Vanyel felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He turned to look and found himself looking out of his own eyes only. It was the pale blonde Herald, who was somebody important, Vanyel thought his name might be Jaysen but it was just so hard to think. He turned away from Vanyel and glanced over to where Savil was supervising Tylendel’s firefighting efforts.

:Savil. The other boy isn’t doing well. He seems to be tied into this somehow...: Vanyel tried not to wince away from the loudness of the voice in his head, but the man didn’t seem to notice. :How on earth did this happen? And how is your damnable nephew involved?: His disdain was like a slap against Vanyel.

The Companion that he’d almost forgotten he was holding onto turned sharply to the stallion standing beside her. :Felar! Tell your damn-fool Chosen to shield his thoughts!:

Savil turned back around, finally looking down at Vanyel and suddenly taking in the fact that he was clinging to the neck of a Companion. Jaysen had pulled his hand back and was looking at the boy and Companion with something akin to shock.

“Is that Yfandes?” He asked in a very surprised voice.

Savil looked at Vanyel for a long moment then stepped over to him, leaning down to lay a hand on the side of his head. He felt another of those odd touches inside his head, a touch that tasted like flowers. A sudden surprised grin broke across her face.

“Teacher. The fires are all out.” Tylendel spoke with a carefully inflectionless voice. He was standing next to Gala without touching her. Her ears were pinned back and she glared at her Chosen like she was seriously contemplating biting him.

“Right. Let’s get out of here.” Savil took Vanyel’s elbow and urged him up onto his Companion’s back. Yfandes. His Companion.

“C’mon lad. You’re an Ashkevron, there’s no horse or horse-shaped creature you can’t ride.” She said firmly, he felt an incongruous feeling of happiness coming from her despite all the other emotions swirling, anger/anxiety/outrage/guilt. But she felt happy, about him.

“Let’s go!” She said as Yfandes climbed carefully to her feet and lightning lit everything bright as day and thunder cracked sharp and close.

Tylendel ran across the threshold first, closely followed by Gala. Vanyel felt pulses of energy pulled out of him, not as much as before but it was still enough that he was glad no one expected him to be able to walk. Jaysen and Felar were right behind them along with another set of surges. Then it was their turn. Yfandes ducked through the doorway and the world dropped away from him.

He was falling. He was surrounded by that horrible Darkness that Tylendel had accidentally summoned. It was hungry. It had had a taste of him and wanted the rest. He was alone. Yfandes had promised she’d be with him, but he was alone.

Suddenly the world came back. The comforting solidity of a horse between his legs, mane tangled around his fingers. The clash of hooves on stone and then the softer thud of ground and grass. Wind howling, tearing at his hair and cloak. The coldness and darkness of the night not nearly so cold or as terribly Dark as the Void.

Yfandes skidded to a stop and turned. Vanyel found himself before a small old-fashioned marble temple with columns and wide stairs leading up to an arched doorway filled with the ruined courtyard they had just left. Savil and her Companion were just coming through the doorway along with another surge of energy being pulled out of him.

Lightning struck nearby. On which side of the Gate he could no longer tell. Things were staring to get a weird echoing distance to them. Like when his arm was broken. He could no longer feel anything, or hear anything past the blood rushing in his ears, even the warmth beneath him was a distant thing.

:Stay with me Chosen!: Yfandes bright voice in his mind made him struggle to come back to himself, to raise his head to see what was going on.

Savil and Tylendel were both before the Gate, hands upraised and tracing shapes through the air. He couldn’t see the threads anymore, but he could still see the glowing edges and how they rippled with lavender struggling again with a sullen bruised violet. Twisting, pulsing and writhing, mirroring the increasing fury of the storm-clouds above that were crawling with lightning.

“It’s fighting us! Jays! We need your help!” Pale Jaysen raised his arms and his gold joined the battle. Colors swirled dizzily in Vanyel’s sight, he clung tight to Yfandes mane, his vision starting to spin sickeningly.

Hoofbeats behind him and an older man mounted on a powerful stallion pounded up and skidded to a halt next to Vanyel and Yfandes. He raised his hands and added his clear sky-blue power to their efforts. Lightning struck a nearby tree and several touch-downs happened on the other side of the Gate causing it to flare up.

But with four working together they were able to unravel it faster than it could knit itself back together. Vanyel could still feel it pulling on him, but the tugs were growing weaker and weaker. There came a point where he could see it wavering, unspooled ribbons of colored light flailing mindlessly.

The image of the courtyard had misted over with swirls of all the colors in the world. Vanyel felt everything tilting sideways and he didn’t realize he was actually falling until the hard earth slammed into him.

:Vanyel!: He could still hear Yfandes voice, but it seemed more distant even though she was right there.

Lightning struck the bell tower making it shriek. The Gate collapsed slowly into a writhing nest of coils of light. Lightning struck the tower again and several trees at once. One bolt landed squarely into the center of the collapsing Gate. Energy flared up again, flinging the mages back.

A terrific whip of twisting power, rising up like an angry glowing serpent, searching for any conduit left open to it. It writhed across the mages and their Companions, rebuffed by the bubbles of power around them.

Then it found Vanyel.

A bolt of multi-colored light arced into him and Vanyel screamed in agony, convulsing as scintillating light coursed through his body and mind. He was lifted from the ground, glowing, pulsing, shuddering. Yfandes screamed but he couldn’t hear it, everything was pain and light.

Why had he feared the Dark when it was the Light that was going to consume him?

Then he was dropped back to the ground. Burning and freezing both at once. Everything was agony. He could hear Tylendel screaming. He could feel Tylendel screaming. Everything hurt. Everything hurt. He could feel chaotic thoughts, feelings swirling around him. Could feel/see something like glowing burn-marks where the Gate had been, even though his eyes were closed.

At least he thought his eyes were closed, but he could still see things. A strange woman at his side, dark-haired and tears streaming down her face. Liss. But it wasn’t Lissa, his sister didn’t have blue eyes. A warmth against his side, a feeling like arms around him, inside him. :Chosen!:

It hurt. Everything hurt so much. Hands on him. A blast of guilt/fear/pain. He curled away from that touch whimpering in pain. Voices babbling above him, around him, inside him. He couldn’t tell what was him and what wasn’t. Everything was pain.

:Chosen, I am here.: That feeling of Yfandes was the only thing that didn’t hurt. He turned towards her, groping for her. When he found her shoulder and pressed his face into her neck the cacophony of outside voices and feelings suddenly cut off.

He looked up and sincerely wished he hadn’t. The world swam with color and movement. There were Heralds and Companions all around them. Every Companion glowing that bright blue, everyone else glowing in a rainbow of different colors. Tylendel knelt at his side, red and throbbing painfully in his blurring vision. His eyes looked stricken.

Even their bond hurt. Vanyel closed his eyes and pressed against Yfandes. His head was full of nothing but burning pain and the desperate wish for it to all just stop.

Another Presence. Contained. Pale silver-purple. Savil.

Hands touching him. A spike of worry. “Vanyel, lad are you--” He cringed away.

:hurts!: Came out semi-instinctively when he tried to speak. And that hurt! He whimpered and pressed back into Yfandes. Savil had retreated, or at least he couldn’t feel her anymore.

:He’s hurt. Badly. Inside his mind.: He heard Yfandes, muffled, speaking to someone else. :He needs serious help. They have no idea what they are dealing with here.:

:Chosen.: Her voice to him was the softest whisper. :Vanyel. I need you to try and get on my back again. You need to see the Healers.:

He opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. Everything was glowing, not just the people, but the trees, the temple, even the ground. I can ride with my eyes shut. He reassured himself and moved slowly, dragging himself onto her wet back. Wet. He realized after a moment that must mean it was raining but he couldn’t feel it. Only burning pain.

Pain and dizziness. The world had become a horrible assault on his senses. It took him daring to open his eyes a tiny slit to realize that Yfandes was moving though he could scarce feel her steps, she had the absolutely smoothest gait he’d ever encountered in a horse. Savil was beside him on her own Companion, a hand on his belt keeping him steady.

He closed his eyes and tried to just hang on. He burned. His head was on fire. He didn’t know how long it took, it felt like forever. Then a stillness. A new presence, soft and green. Cool hands rested on his aching burning forehead. Blessed coolness bathed itself over the burning in his mind. Darkness beckoned, the welcoming shadow of pine-scented sanctuary. He fell gratefully into that promised gentle oblivion and knew no more.

~~~~~

Healer Andrel lifted his hands reluctantly from Vanyel’s head after the boy slumped into boneless unconsciousness. He looked at Savil, her protegee Tylendel hovering anxiously at her shoulder, Companions behind them.

“What the hell have you brought me Savil?” He asked, rain plastering his greying red hair to his head. “I’ve just poured a major Healing into this boy and I’ve barely even touched the edges of his hurt.”

“Backlash shock. We collapsed a major spell-work and it grounded out through him.” Savil said shortly. Not sure how to explain the rest. She’d seen it happen and she didn’t understand what had happened.

He bent to scoop Vanyel off of the mare’s back and into his arms before Tylendel could step forward to do so. “Don’t you dare! You shouldn’t even be out of bed never mind dashing around in the cold rain!” He turned and strode in through the garden door that Mardic was holding open.

They followed him in, he’d already been directed by Mardic as to which room was Vanyel’s. She was enveloped in a blessedly warm blanket and looked into Donni’s worried face. Tylendel, all of hell in his eyes, hesitated at Vanyel’s door for a second before going in at Andrel’s brusque call.

“You should get out of those wet clothes.” Donni told her. The skies had indeed opened up after that disastrous closing of Tylendel’s monstrous Gate. But she’d hardly felt the chill rain, her nerves still zinging from that terrifying brush with the Void. How in the seven hells Tylendel half-trained, and Vanyel unGifted, had managed to do that she had no idea. But she was going to find out.

She followed Donni’s gentle urging to her own room and let her student help her out of the soaked clothes and into shabby and soft loose pants and long nightshirt with her robe, also blessedly warmed by thoughtful Donni, belted tight around her. She stuffed her feet into warm slippers and padded out to peer into Vanyel and Tylendel’s room.

They’d gotten Vanyel stripped and into the bed. Andrel was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands on either side of Vanyel’s head and an intense frown on his face. Mardic was helping Tylendel into the hideous purple pants he usually slept in. Tylendel swayed, an arm thrown around his friend’s shoulder, clearly Mardic being the only thing keeping him upright at the moment.

Andrel was straightening up, blinking his green eyes at her. He beckoned her closer, still keeping one hand on Vanyel’s cheek. The boy looked absolutely dreadful, always pale, he looked waxen and almost transparent. The black hair spilled on the white pillow now had threads of silver streaking the temples. The rise and fall of his chest so slight he looked half-dead. She hadn’t thought anyone could look worse than Tylendel after his backlash shock, but the younger boy was so fair and slight that he seemed to have almost collapsed in on himself.

“I’ve done as much for him as I can right now.” The Healer said in his softest voice. “But more importantly I’ve managed to establish a link. I... want you to have a look, tell me if I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing here.”

She raised a curious eyebrow but came to stand at his side and laid a hand on his shoulder, he reached up his free hand to enlace his fingers with hers. She opened her mind to his familiar Presence, their minds meshing with the ease of long partnership. They were occasionally lovers and his mind fit to hers as gently and surely as his fingers had entwined with hers. She followed him down beneath the stormy layers of pain that the boy was feeling even through magically-induced sleep, down to the aching core of him.

It had been a sour disappointment when she’d tested Vanyel as a youngster to see so much Potential without a single channel being actually open or looking likely to be. When she’d seen him tonight clinging to the neck of the oldest Companion who hadn’t yet Chosen her hopes had leapt. When she’d carefully touched his mind then and Seen that his Empathy and Mind-speech channels had opened it had been like a moment of sunshine in that dark night.

Now each and every channel she tested was open. The Mind-speech wasn’t just receptive, now it was projective as well and open much wider than it had been when she first looked. Same with Empathy. He had nearly as much Fetching as ‘Lendel now, Farsight, Foresight, and enough Fire-starting that he’d never need a tinderbox. And opened widest of all, the precious Mage gift, shining bright like a blue jewel.

All of them open wide, wrenched and torn open, not opened naturally. All of them raw and hurting like flesh burned past blistering. He even had a touch of the Healing gift which was attempting to soothe his own pain even though its channel was as raw and burned as all the others. The one and only thing still closed was the Bardic gift, the one thing he’d wanted above all else, held back as though the gods felt they could only be generous up to a certain degree.

She pulled back out of her nephew’s tortured mind and stared at the Healer for a moment in shock. She’d been testing the newly Chosen and possible candidates for over twenty years, the most number of gifts she’d ever even heard of in one person before was five. The boy had all eight of them.

“What in the hells happened to cause that?” Andrel asked her.

“Healer Andrel...” Mardic was holding Tylendel up by the waist and ‘Lendel’s arm over his shoulders, the trainee looked about ready to collapse. “Can I put ‘Lendel in with Van? I-- don’t think they should be separated.”

Andrel quickly rose and folded back the blankets. “Not with a new Lifebond on top of this mess. They need contact.” He helped Mardic put Tylendel to bed with his lover, tucking the blankets well in around them both as he snuggled against the younger boy, wrapping an arm and leg over him and burying his face into Vanyel’s neck. She wasn’t sure, but it seemed like he breathed a little easier with ‘Lendel there.

“He needs contact with his Companion too. Until she gets him firmly bonded to her she can’t protect him from a distance. And I’m--” She swayed, suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion as the last dregs of adrenaline faded.

“I can keep first watch teacher-mine.” Mardic said quickly, putting hand to her shoulder and reaching out to touch her mind and sending her a much-needed trickle of energy.

“Bless you. We triggered all of his Gifts when we collapsed that Gate. You’ll have to shield for everything.” Mardic’s eyes grew a little wide at that, but he placed himself in the chair beside the bed and carefully spun several layers of warm yellow shields over the bed and its pitiful contents.

Andrel wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her back into the common room, carefully and quietly pulling the door to the boys room shut. He firmly sat her down in the chair closest the fire, then laid his hands on her head for a moment to let a soft wash of energy flow into her, warming her chilled core a little.

Donni pressed a mug of hot tea into her hands and she just clutched it, staring into the steam and feeling the heat slowly sinking into her frozen hands. Andrel sat across from her, gladly accepting the mug Donni gave him before she took her own and sat on the edge of the hearth.

“The Lifebond... I’m not sure is new.” Savil said after a minute when something Andrel had said penetrated the fog over her thoughts. “I knew they were stupid in love, but it also seemed like more somehow.” She glanced over at dark-haired Donni as she curled catlike next to the fire.

The Lifebonded girl nodded in agreement. “They act so much like Mardic an’ me when we first got together, I’m pretty sure it’s a Lifebond.” Her eyes glanced sideways. “Mardic thinks so too.”

Andrel rubbed his face and took a big gulp of his tea. “Whatever happened also forced that channel wide open as well. We’re going to have to treat them as if it is brand-new. Tylendel is probably in nearly as much pain as Vanyel just by the way its echoing down their Bond.”

Before Savil could think of anything to say to that startling revelation there was a quick light rapping at the door. Donni jumped up to answer it and to usher Lancir and Jaysen into the room. The Queen’s Own Herald came in, nodded briefly to the Healer and fixed cold angry eyes on Savil.

“I need to talk to you. It cannot wait.”

Savil waved them tiredly towards the sofa. She could tell her superior was furious, but he was also a mage and knew how exhausted she had to be after something involving a Gate. She took a drink from the almost forgotten mug in her hand while they sat. The tea was heavily laden with honey and she silently blessed the one student who almost never gave her trouble.

Lancir looked in the direction of the sleeping boys, probably noting the layered shields on them, then turned back to Savil and fixed her with a hard look. “Jaysen has been telling me his end of this evening’s debacle. That your favorite protegee and somehow your nephew, who both hate each other, are involved. Taver told me someone opened a portal into the Void! And now a normal windy autumn night has turned into a frog-drowning nightmare! I want to hear from you what exactly the hell happened tonight?!”

Savil stared down into her mug for a moment, deeply regretting going along with their ruse, she had thought it would help keep the boys safe. I’m just as guilty as them of not seeking help when I probably needed it.

“I have a lot to explain.” Where to even start? How many of their secrets were still hers to keep? “They don’t hate each other, that was... a subterfuge to keep Vanyel’s father from realizing how close the two had become.”

Lancir glanced back towards the closed door of the room again where both auras clearly glowed in very close proximity to each other. He turned back to Savil and raised an eloquent eyebrow while Jaysen sat carefully very still. She nodded slightly.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened, yet. The boys are in little state to be questioned. But they snuck out while we were at services. I thought Tylendel was still too sick from the backlash of his twin’s death. Too sick to be plotting revenge. I was wrong.” She took a deep breath.

“Somehow they got into my proscribed magic books and figured out a Gate spell. Half figured out. They went far enough out from the Capital that we wouldn’t notice the Gate energies until it was too late to do anything about it. But it went horribly wrong. Tylendel called for help, and we found when we got there that he’d opened a Gate without a Terminus, and somehow it opened into the Void itself.” She expected Lancir to swear creatively at that, but he just nodded tight-lipped.

So she went on. “Jays helped me hold the Void back and I was able to take control of the Gate and give it a destination. I thought I had tamed it. But after we crossed the Gate and I tried to take it down, it fought me, it fought all of us. You were there, you saw. And when we finally collapsed it... the power backlashed through Vanyel.”

“Taver thinks that part of the Void was still in the Gate, he said he felt a maliciousness that was unique to the Void.” Lancir said quietly. “And it took four of us, including the original caster, to unmake it. If we hadn’t...” He trailed off, there was no way to tell how much that sucking emptiness could have swallowed.

“How long before they can be questioned?” Lancir asked Savil. It was Andrel who replied.

“Trainee Tylendel will probably be able to answer for himself sometime tomorrow, as long as he isn’t expected to leave this suite. Young Vanyel however has the worst case of Backlash I have ever seen in my life. He has Gifts that have been opened suddenly and opened at full strength. And not just ‘opened’, his channels have been blasted open. He’s a wreck. He couldn’t withstand so much as a harsh thought right now. Never mind an interrogation. As a Healer I forbid it.” He spoke with a calm authority that challenged the Queen’s Own knowing he would win.

Lancir looked at Andrel and then away, rubbing his eyes and sighing heavily. “The Queen will be wanting to know.”

“And Tylendel is the one who built the Gate. Vanyel was merely an accomplice, and unGifted until just now.” Andrel didn’t back down. “You can ask the mage-trainee about the rogue spell-work. Tomorrow. His lover is under Healer’s Orders.”

Lancir glared at him a moment longer and then turned his gaze back to Savil. “Is there anything else I should know about this near-disaster?”

“They’re Lifebonded.” Donni chirped. Savil had forgotten she was there. So apparently had Lancir. “It wasn’t just young dumb love, Vanyel couldn’t do anything else except what ‘Lendel wanted.”

Lancir buried his face in his hands with a groan. “You’ve got to be kidding me...”

“Are... are you sure?” Jaysen asked. Savil shot him a look. He’d reluctantly accepted Tylendel being shay’a’chern, but only after she’d rammed his damn prejudices back in his face. Well out of Tylendel’s hearing. All he knew of Vanyel though was her earliest impressions that the boy was a brat and what he’d seen of his snide vain little public persona.

Donni raised her chin and glared fearlessly back at the Seneschal. “I’m Lifebonded. I know that dazed look anywhere.”

“And I could see the Bond when I was trying to Heal some of the damage to his channels. That sort of thing is unmistakable.” Andrel remarked calmly.

Lancir looked up from his hands. “And just to top it all off, Yfandes of all Companions Chose him. Wonderful. Just wonderful.” He sighed heavily, slapped his hands on his thighs and stood up with a grunt. “I will go and report to the Queen, such as I can. Herald-mage Ashkevron, you have a new pupil. Congratulations. Consider both of them confined to quarters. I shall speak to you tomorrow.” He nodded curtly and let himself out of the door.

Savil waited a few moments after the door shut before she turned to glare at Jaysen. He was perched nervously on the edge of the couch, he met her eyes for a moment before looking down.

“I’m sorry Savil, I didn’t know what the hell to tell him. You just dragged me out into that-- that living nightmare. I’ve never felt magic that wild! Or ever been that close to the Void!” He looked away again, visibly swallowing some of his panic.

“And I’ve never seen Lancir that angry before either.” Jays went on in a softer voice. “He asked me what in the seven hells happened. All I knew was somehow your damn nephew was tangled up in it and I know he’s been a burden to you…” He trailed off at her expression.

“He’s family.” Savil said firmly. “And he’s been Chosen.” She held his eyes till he looked away.

Jaysen sighed and rubbed his face. “Yes. Hard as that is to believe given what I have seen of him at Court.”

“Tylendel loves him, their fight was faked. Do you not believe shay’a’chern people are capable of real love?” She didn’t really want to try to defend Court politics, Jaysen should know damn good and well how fake all that was.

“Yeah well, he loved Nevis too…” Jaysen muttered darkly.

Savil would have thought she was far too tired to get that angry, but her frayed nerves had taken too much stress to not snap at that point. Only Andrel’s hand on her arm kept her from rising to her feet. “They both almost died and you-- you’re going to sit there and judge…” She sputtered, her exhaustion and fear and the sudden realization of the truth of her own words hitting her all at once.

“They’re Lifebonded!" Donni was on her feet, hissing the words between her teeth in the effort of not shouting them. “That is as strong a bond as the Companion bond! Vanyel is as much to Tylendel as Gala is! Nevis was puppy-love, this is for life!" Usually the most even-tempered of her students, seeing her in a fury was almost as shocking as the rest of the night’s events.

“I think everyone needs to calm down.” Andrel said warningly holding up a hand and glancing meaningfully towards Vanyel’s room. “I wasn’t kidding with what I said about even a harsh thought. He’s as open as only the newly gifted can be and as raw as a burn wound on top of that.”

“Jaysen.” Savil forced her own feelings down with the ruthlessness of long practice. “I truly appreciate what you did to help this evening. I couldn’t have held back the Void and taken control of the Gate at the same time. So thank you for that. But we’ve got things well in hand now.”

Jaysen thankfully refrained from commenting on that. “Just let me know if you need any help keeping shields up.” He said keeping his voice carefully neutral

“I’ll be sure to do that.” She said, past caring how that sounded. He just nodded, rose and gave Andrel a very slight bow and then went out the door that Donni was pointedly already holding open for him.

Donni slid the bolt on the door after the Seneschal left and came to lay a hand on Savil’s shoulder. “I’m going to bed for now. I’ll take over from Mardic when he gets too tired.” She gave a gentle squeeze. “You should try and get some sleep too. We can keep shields on Vanyel for you, but you’re going to hafta deal with Lancir tomorrow.”

“Thank you Donni, you are truly a blessing.” Donni gripped her hand briefly before nodding to Andrel and going into her room and leaving the door slightly ajar.

“Bed is probably a very good idea.” The Healer said. “I can feel how drained you are.” He was holding her hand she realized.

“Do you object to staying here overnight?” She asked.

“I was just about to ask if you minded if I did. I’d like to be here in case anything happens in the night, and to give him another Healing in the morning as soon as I’ve recovered enough energy to do so.”

“Thank you. Do you want to take Tylendel’s room or…”

“I’d rather bunk with you if you don’t mind. You’ll know faster if something starts leaking past your student’s shields.” He rose and offered her a hand up.

“I don’t mind. Though I think we’re both too tired for anything but sleep.” She remarked dryly. He gave a little lopsided grin and followed her into her room, also leaving the door slightly opened so they would be alerted by any noise from the boys room.

Donni had left a warming spell on the bed as well and it was bliss to climb into an already toasty bed with the added bonus of Andrel’s long arms wrapped around her and his comforting weight at her back. Her mind was still full of turmoil, she was not looking forward to the promised reckoning with the Queen’s Own tomorrow. She didn’t want to think about what other spells Tylendel might have gotten into in order to enact his vengeance. Some of the books she had were proscribed for a reason.

~~~~~~

Notes:

I made Andrel a lot more proactive in this. I feel like canon didn't give the Healers enough credit, or enough power. I'm seeing Healers in this as having the power to pull rank over Heralds (or else they'd never be able to make the crazy masochists sit still long enough to be healed!) similar to the way medics in the military can "outrank" some pretty high ups if it is related to medical care. And being under Healers Orders is like the next thing to Sanctuary in a temple (also all of the nurses/EMTs I've ever known have been very protective of their patients, and would happily fist fight a god to protect one).

Chapter 2: The Morning Bright

Summary:

Tylendel has to confess to both Savil and Lancir under Truth Spell.

Lancir is slightly less of a hard-ass in this chapter.

(Starts with a bit of Vanyel POV, most of this chapter is Tylendel POV, some Savil POV)

Vanyel knelt in tall weeds, wind tore at his clothes and hair. The Gate. That horrible opening into Darkness and fear had ahold of his soul and was trying to pull it from his body. He looked up seeing the Void opened vast before him, reaching out hungry tendrils for him.

He looked quickly to either side. He was alone.

Frantically he tried to raise a dome like he had seen the others make. But his walls were pale and thin and he couldn’t seem to form them together into a whole. And his effort hurt. Burning pain flooded his mind.

“Vanyel!”

At the sound of his lover’s shout Vanyel looked up to see Tylendel atop Gala, leaping into the ruined courtyard, shining like a hero in a ballad. His lover threw his hands up and a glowing yellow orb appeared between them. He flung it forward, it swelled as it flew slowly through the air and was nearly twice as big as the Companion when it landed on the earth. It sat a moment turning slowly, then shuddered and exploded silently.

Where the orb had been was now a twisting mass of shadowy shapes, writhing as sinuous as snakes, as dark as the Void. Somehow there and not there. Then the shapes broke apart into distinct and horrible beings. Like if some mad god had combined a coursing hound with a viper, they were unnaturally attenuated and disconcertingly boneless in their movements. Eyes that glowed the same sullen yellow as the orb and mouths full of needle teeth as long as his thumb. There were five of them.

Tylendel pointed to the Gate and shouted something and made a throwing gesture. The creatures looked to where he pointed and then back to Tylendel. Their heads lowered and they leapt as one attacking the Companion and trying to reach the one who had so recklessly summoned them.

Bright red blood blossomed on Gala’s silver-bright coat. She screamed in pain and franticly struck and kicked with her hooves, spinning in place, trying to keep the horrible hounds at bay. ‘Lendel was flinging bolts of red lightning at the creatures but they either avoided sinuously or simply shrugged off his attacks.

One of the creatures ducked under Gala’s lashing hooves and laid her belly open with one fell swipe of its fang-studded jaws. She screamed in agony and went down in a great fountain of bright scarlet blood. Tylendel was thrown and landed badly, body twisting and crumpling and then lying very still. So horribly still.

“TYLENDEL!!” He screamed his lover’s name to no response. The creatures turned from Gala’s corpse to begin slowly stalking towards him, their yellow pupil-less eyes full of malice.

Vanyel raised his own hands and sent twin gouts of flame from his palms. He smelled burning, he felt burning all through his mind. He was shuddering, shaking so hard his teeth rattled. Then he was falling. Falling into the horrible Darkness of the Void at his heels.

:VANYEL!: A shout, inside his aching head. A touch that made pain explode across his senses. He flailed against that touch, lashing out with the pain that surrounded him, felt pain echoing back in response.

A sudden shock of cold. Wet. Vanyel gasped, coughing in the smoky air and looked around dazedly, chest heaving. He was wet and cold but also somehow too hot. He lay in the middle of his bedroom floor naked, a strange man with wild red hair standing over him with an upturned water pitcher in his hands.

Savil was standing in the doorway with hands upraised, Mardic slumped against the wall near her unconscious. A groan from his side and he turned his head to see Tylendel. He’s Alive! The blonde was slowly pushing himself to hands and knees from behind the knocked over chair.

The man set the water pitcher down and pulled the singed coverlet from the bed and knelt beside him, wrapping the blanket around Vanyel’s suddenly shivering form. He was older but still handsome, wearing a loose linen shirt and green pants, his red hair streaked with grey. He was surrounded by a gentle deep green glow that Vanyel suddenly recognized as the soothing presence that had cooled his burning head before.

“I am Healer Andrel. How are you feeling?” He lifted Vanyel’s wrist to feel the pulse.

“Everything hurts.” He said weakly. “My head feels like fire.”

Andrel let go of his wrist to gently lay fingertips against his temples. “Let me see what I can do about that.” He said and Vanyel sobbed with relief at the soft rush of coolness that flowed out from his fingers and started numbing the fiery aching burning places in his mind.

And not just his mind, his body was also far too hot, yet he couldn’t stop shivering. But the soothing power of the healer’s hands seemed to somehow be both cooling and warming at the same time, flowing from his head to his body and back again, easing the heat and the pain and enshrouding him in peace.

All too soon though the healer lifted his hands from his head and sat back sighing. Vanyel opened his eyes and rubbed his head, it still hurt, but felt slightly buffered somehow. Like Andrel had somehow applied salve on the inside of his head. He was still seeing that weird glow around the healer though, and everyone else too he realized as he glanced around his suddenly crowded room. Savil by the door a cool lavender. Donni, radiating concern, was helping Mardic sit up. She was the green of new leaves and he was a cheerful yellow.

Tylendel knelt at his other side, red and wavering, not touching him. He felt a mix of guilt, pain, and fear coming off his lover. Vanyel reached for him and he winced back, looking askance at the healer.

“’Lendel…” Vanyel nearly sobbed his name and held out shaking hands to him. Tylendel hesitantly took his hands, then scooted closer so he could wrap his arms around him. He buried his face in his beloved’s chest.

“I thought y-you were dead! I saw you dead! I saw-- or d-dreamed… I d-don’t know…” He wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist clutching him tightly. “T-there were these things and t-they killed Gala and- and…”

“Shh love. It’s okay. I’m okay.” Tylendel held him as gently as if he would break, as tightly as if he would never let go. “I’m here ashke. I’m here… I love you, ashke it’s alright…”

He clung to his lover, taking comfort in the warm solidity of him in his arms. Feeling his hand gently stroking his hair, the warmth of skin against skin. Skin. He remembered suddenly that he was stark naked except for the blanket and his room was full of people. But Tylendel was already pulling the singed blanket around his shoulders and murmuring soothing things.

He could feel worry prickling from all around him and also coming from inside him. He could hear something like the sounds of a crowd murmuring in the distance, but muffled like they were in another room. There was guilt that had to be coming from ‘Lendel undercut as it was with a current of fear and concern. And beneath that was the low thrum of anger that still burned in his beloved.

Bits of memory of the previous night started coming back to him. Sneaking out, the Gate, the horrible pulling, Savil and Jaysen coming to help, the lightning. We failed. He’d failed ‘Lendel, he’d failed him and they’d been caught, what was going to happen to them now?

~~~~~

Tylendel woke up and groaned, he felt like he had the worlds worst throbbing hangover on top of the rusty knife sawing pain of having overused his Gift. And the soul-deep ache of the empty twin-bond and the weariness and ache of the Backlash from that were both as strong as when he first woke up after flattening the pine grove.

For a moment he wondered if last night’s events had been some sort of horrible nightmare. He felt his heart racing like he’d just woken from another nightmare, but the waves of fear were coming from someplace deep inside him that had only held faint notes of music before. He opened bleary eyes to see Mardic sitting in the chair at the bedside a look of concern of his face.

He felt a surge of magic suddenly from next to him. Magic that was coming from Vanyel. Wild and uncontrolled, wavering blue walls started to rise up to wrap like protective arms surrounding Vanyel. When the blue hit the edges of Mardic’s yellow shields it recoiled for a second and then exploded outward shredding his shields and flinging Mardic across the room.

“Vanyel!” He shouted his lover’s name hoping to see his eyes open. But Vanyel’s eyes were screwed shut, his face was contorted with pain. Pain that Tylendel realized he could feel. It wasn’t just his own head that was hurting, he could feel the waves of pain and fear coming off of Vanyel at a much much deeper level than just his minor gift of Empathy could give.

“Vanyel!” He could hear footsteps rushing through the common room. He tried to grab Vanyel’s shoulder to shake him awake but the second he touched him Vanyel screamed and flung up his hands, flames bursting forth setting fire to the bedclothes and scorching a wide path up the wall to the ceiling.

He grabbed Vanyel and yanked him off of the burning bed to the floor. Vanyel was screaming mindlessly and glowing blue with power. He grabbed his shoulders and tried to mind-touch his lover.

:VANYEL!:

Agony stabbed through his head in response and the world turned upside down. There was a shock as he felt his body hit the floor and then another different kind of shock that he felt from the inside. But the wild pulsing of uncontrolled magic was suddenly null in the room.

When he managed to push himself up to his hands and knees it was to find that he had been flung to the other side of the overturned chair. He looked up to see Healer Andrel was kneeling by Vanyel and had his hands resting on Vanyel’s head. Vanyel gave a choked sob of relief and there was a slackening of the pain he was feeling from the link he’d pushed open between them.

:Ke’chara… : His teacher’s mind-voice, a carefully muted thread touched him delicately. :Are you alright?: He looked over towards her, hair tousled and in her sleep-clothes she was more approachable than the force of nature she’d been last night.

:I think so. Other than everything hurts. Is Mardic okay?: He looked over to where Donni was helping her Bondmate sit up. He was rubbing his head and grinning at her reassuringly.

:He says it’s no worse than a practice bout when the arms-master feels you’ve been slacking.: Savil told him after glancing over at the couple. :How is Vanyel?:

Tylendel turned back to check how Vanyel was doing. If he hadn’t just seen Vanyel throwing magic around with his own eyes he’d have thought his memories of last night’s events were a dream. A nightmare. Beloved, what have I done to you? Andrel was still in trance over him and the look of pure bliss on Vanyel’s pale face under the healer’s hands made his throat go tight. Seeing the lines of pain and fear easing off his beautiful face, softening him, seeing the tense muscles in his neck relaxing.

He crawled to Vanyel’s side without thinking about it, but didn’t dare touch him. After a few more moments Andrel broke the contact, lifting his hands from Vanyel’s temples and letting out a big sigh as if he’d just set down something heavy. Tylendel felt the pain coming back as soon as the healer stopped, why had he stopped when Vanyel was still hurting?

Vanyel opened his eyes slowly, black lashes fluttering before he blinked a few times and looked dazedly around the room, absently rubbing his head where the healer had been touching him. When his beautiful silver eyes found him he reached out a hand for him, Tylendel cringed back and looked worriedly at Andrel. The last few times I touched him I hurt him!

“’Lendel…” At his lover’s sob he turned back to him, his silver eyes shining with tears, pale trembling hands held out to him entreatingly.

Tylendel couldn’t refuse him. Hesitantly he took his chilled hands in his own. When nothing awful happened, he quickly crawled the last bit of distance between them and wrapped his beloved in his arms. Holding him close even though it sharpened the amount of pain he was feeling from him. The amount of everything he was feeling from him. Desperate fear and pain, grief, relief, guilt, pain.

Vanyel was babbling about his nightmare. His fear of losing him. He murmured back soothing things, stroking his lover’s silky hair and trying his best to comfort him when he knew with painful guilty certainty that Vanyel’s pain was all his fault. Why worry over losing someone who can’t even get vengeance right? Came the bitter thought.

Feeling his lover trembling, he pulled the blanket protectively around Vanyel’s slender form. He was clinging to him desperately, face buried hard into his shoulder, arms tight around his waist. Donni was helping Mardic stumble out to the common-room, Savil was still by the door looking at him, her face unreadable.

“I’d like to get some clothes on Vanyel.” Andrel said mildly. “I’ve already fought down one fever that his body produced when it couldn’t handle the power overflow. But I don’t want him to take a chill now either.”

Tylendel didn’t really want to let go of Vanyel, nor was he even sure he could when he was clinging to him so tightly, but he managed to shift his arms to be more around his neck so that when he levered himself to his feet Van was perforce brought up with him. They both swayed like drunks and Andrel quickly laid a hand on each of their shoulders to steer them back to the bed.

Savil got some warm under-clothes out of the dresser and politely turned her back so that they could help Vanyel into them. Tylendel realized belated that she must have taken over Mardic’s place shielding Vanyel. Sure enough as soon as he looked with his othersight he could see her finely crafted shields, layered several deep over his lover. And he was still feeling so much pain from him?

He was also impressed by the amount of power he saw glowing bright in his lover’s aura before it hurt too much to keep looking. What had been barely glimmering foxfire before was now like a bright shining flame, several flames he thought, but his focus was shifting so much he couldn’t really tell.

“D-did I do t-that?” Vanyel tremulously asked when they got him back in the bed and he looked up at the burned wall.

“Yes.” Tylendel told him, gently as he could, sitting on the bed facing him. “It’s okay, Savil is shielding you right now…” He trailed off at the way Van’s face was crumpling at his words.

“So… last night, wasn’t… part of the nightmares?” His lover sounded so helpless, looking down at the scorched blanket and not at him. He could only shake his head wordlessly.

“A-are we in trouble?” Van asked softly. Tylendel knew he didn’t mean the burned wall or blanket.

He looked over at Savil where she was setting the chair upright before sitting down in it. She exchanged looks with Andrel and he nodded and left, closing the door behind him. She waited til he was gone before she turned back to face them, she looked tired, more tired than he could ever remember seeing her.

“As much as I hate to say it lad, yes, ‘we’ are all in trouble of various degrees.” Savil looked between them, pausing with her eyes on her student.

“I’m responsible for the both of you louts, I hope you’ll recall. I have to account for any mischief my students or wards get up to. ’Lendel, you’re going to have to explain yourself to Lancir sometime today. He wanted to question you last night but we convinced him you were in no shape for it. But I can’t really put him off any more than I already have.” Tylendel gulped and tried to keep his face still, he nodded acknowledgement since she seemed to be waiting on him to respond.

“What about me?” Vanyel was looking at his aunt with his silver eyes wide and vulnerable.

“Vanyel, you are injured. You are under Healer’s Orders.” Savil was trying to be comforting in her way he could tell. “Though Lancir wanted to know your part in all of this just as badly, Andrel put his foot down, no one will be allowed to question you until he clears it.” She was just so terribly bad at it.

He reached for Vanyel’s hands and held them as he looked back and forth between his aunt and Tylendel. As he touched him he could feel his barely smothered panic, along with an increase in the ache in his head.

“W-will that-- will he be able to s-stop father…” Vanyel began and trailed off looking frightened to even say his fear lest that summon it.

Savil looked surprised and gave a short huff of laughter. “Vanyel—lad, don’t you remember being Chosen? He can’t touch you now.”

Vanyel just looked stunned for a few moments, then his face grew thoughtful, remembering. Tylendel felt the tumble of recalled emotions, the fear and terror, the pain and pulling, and that singular moment of shining incandescent joy and love. The wonder and peace and belonging. It reminded him suddenly of Gala, and that Vanyel had said something about her being hurt?

:Gala?: He sent out the mind-call unthinking, reaching for the familiar comfort of his Companion and was surprised by the jolt of pain from beside him, Vanyel yanking his hands away from him to put them to his head with a startled yelp.

:Chosen?: He felt her touch and her worry. Tried to send back a quick wave of reassurance that he wasn’t the one hurt while shielding Vanyel from it, but his lover was recoiling from him and he could feel how it was making the burning places in Van’s head start to throb. He dropped the mind-link with a whisper of apology.

“What’s-- what’s happening to me?” Vanyel asked looking between Tylendel and Savil, brows knit together in pain and confusion. “Why am I hearing people talking in my head? Why is everything glowing? Why does it hurt so much?” He looked so lost and so frightened that Tylendel wanted to wrap him in his arms and never let go, but Vanyel had drawn back, pulling his knees up under the blanket and wrapping his arms around them.

Savil sighed and rubbed her own temples. “How much do you remember about last night’s events? Do you remember being hit with the backlash from the Gate when we collapsed it?” Vanyel nodded, wincing at the memory. “Well, when the energy from the Gate hit you it opened all those latent Gifts you had locked away. You have Mind-speech and Empathy, which is why you are hearing and feeling things from other people. You have the Mage-gift too, the glowing you are seeing is the life and magical energies resident in the world.”

Vanyel stared at her for a moment before he turned accusing eyes to him. “You said you wouldn’t be able to trigger anything! You promised me!”

“I… I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” He protested, he reached for Vanyel but he pulled back, his beautiful eyes now looking at him with hurt and distrust. “I didn’t know that would happen, I swear!” Even worse than the hurt in his love’s eyes was the feeling of doubt and suspicion coming from him.

“Vanyel, lad, I don’t even know how this is possible.” Savil said gently. “The energy should have dissipated, it wasn’t behaving in any normal way.” She looked like she was about to reach out to lay a comforting hand on her nephew’s shoulder, but seeing the way he had curled in on himself she seemingly thought better of it.

“The reason it hurts is because your Gifts didn’t open naturally, they were wrenched or torn open. The power from the Gate somehow burned your channels open, you’re lucky you didn’t die.” Savil went on and Tylendel wanted to shake her, to tell her to shut up, why couldn’t she see how much she was upsetting Vanyel? “And some of it is Backlash shock like ‘Lendel had. But the Healers will be seeing to you, and you are off all your classes, until Andrel says you’re fit.”

Vanyel nodded slightly and was quiet for a long minute before he looked up at Savil. “W-will I be able to see Yfandes… sometimes?” He asked hesitantly, softly.

Savil gave a real smile then. “Of course, lad. She’s your Companion. You need to spend time with her to help the bond form. And she will be able to shield you when you are together. As soon as we’ve gotten some food into you and a couple of more layers on, ask one of us to call her for you. You can sit in the garden with her.”

Vanyel gave a tentative smile at that and Tylendel had to suppress an irrational surge of jealousy at the feelings of relief and anticipation Vanyel felt at the thought of getting to spend time with his Companion. What’s wrong with me? He doesn’t begrudge me Gala, why should I mind him having a Companion? I should be glad! We can stay together, train together, be heralds together.

He didn’t have long to stew over his thoughts because a tap at the door announced Andrel’s return with a tray with bowls of hot porridge laden with butter and brown sugar, a pot of honeyed tea, and a special cup of something for Vanyel that tasted so terrible it made Tylendel’s mouth cringe in sympathy.

He didn’t think he’d have much appetite, and Vanyel expressed doubt of being able to eat at all, but under Andrel’s watchful eyes they both picked up spoons. He’d put his Healer’s robes back on but not his boots, and he was clearly not planning on leaving until they’d eaten enough to please him. After the first couple of grudging mouthfuls however they both found themselves hungrier than they’d thought and they were soon scraping the bottoms of their bowls.

Just as they were finishing there was another tapping at the door-frame and Donni poked her head in the partly open door and then came in to hand Savil a folded note. She nodded her thanks and opened and read the note and her lips thinned, she folded it back up in her hand when she was done and sighed and looked over at Tylendel.

:Lancir will be here in an hour to ask you some questions about last night. Is there… anything you might want to discuss with me before then?: Her sending was carefully baffled against Vanyel overhearing, fortunately he was worriedly asking Donni if Mardic was truly okay and she was laughingly assuring him that Mardic had a thicker skull than most.

He shook his head, this wan’t going to be made any better by having to go through it twice. He had no idea what he was even going to say and it suddenly occurred to him then that amidst his frenetic weeks of scheming and planning that he’d never really noticed that he hadn’t actually made any plans for after…

I was so focused on just Getting Them Back that I didn’t even tie up the horses for us to ride back… we could have come back by the Gate, but we’d have been tired. To tired to walk back, Van at least would have been exhausted. And I would have been…

He wasn’t sure what he would have been. His visions of bloody vengeance hadn’t really left any room for thoughts of after. He hadn’t thought about consequences, he was the consequences. He’d been so focused on what he needed to accomplish his goals, on what needed to go right, that he hadn’t thought much about what could go wrong. And it had gone about as wrong as it could go. He’d failed. In the cold light of morning, his thwarted justice tasted as bitter as the medicine Andrel had given Vanyel. Staven… I’m sorry…

“Ashke…” Vanyel was looking at him, worry and pain marking lines on his perfect face. “A-are you…?” He trailed off uncertainly. He could feel his tumbling emotions- confusion and concern, doubt, and guilt, as much as the pain that was a constant grating inside his head. And Van, gods, what have I done to you?

He tried to force a semblance of a smile on his face. “It’s alright love. Lets get you bundled up so you can see your lady hmm?” Vanyel gave him something like a real smile in return and he turned away quickly, guiltily, to pull some outer clothes for him from the wardrobe.

“Only for a little bit. No more than an hour” Andrel said warningly. “You have been drained almost to the dregs on top of everything else, you will not have the energy reserves to keep yourself warm.”

“His Companion will help him stay warm, and I can put a warming spell over him along with the shields.” Donni volunteered. “I’ll be sure he doesn’t stay out too long.”

By the time Tylendel had gotten himself dressed and gotten their cloaks and Donni had taken over Vanyel’s shields, the Companions were already waiting for them in the garden, three of them. Tylendel had his arm around Vanyel’s waist supporting him as they went out of the garden door, but as soon as he saw Yfandes Vanyel had stepped away from him to fling his arms around her neck with a joyful little cry.

He tried not to let that hurt. Or at least to bury that hurt where hopefully Vanyel wouldn’t be able to feel it in him. He had his own Companion, he knew how incredible those first days were. Donni was also fussing over her Companion, Tash, a proud stallion who was not too proud to submit to his chosen weaving little braids into his mane and tail.

The third Companion was Gala. She was looking at him expectantly. He’d been blocking her out of his mind these past two weeks. Only making the briefest of contacts, and trying to keep his feelings muted under a veil of tiredness and pain. What she must be thinking of him, of the mess he’d made of everything.

:Chosen?: At her gentle Mind-touch he finally dared to look up. Blue eyes that held equal parts of love and reproach.

:Am I still?: He asked her, fearful of the answer.

She stepped forward and pressed her head into his chest. :Of course you are still my Chosen. I love you.: He brought his arms up around her head and leaned against her, tears stinging his eyes. :But I am also very angry with you.:

:Gala… I-I’m sorry.: She pulled back at bit so she could look him in the eyes.

:What exactly were you planning to do with that Gate my Chosen? I thought you were truly badly hurt if you couldn’t even bear my touch. But now I find you weren’t as sick as you claimed, and you were hiding things from me.: Her eyes were boring into him, he couldn’t look away. :What secrets have you been hiding from me?::

He felt her reaching for him, and after a moment’s agonized hesitation he opened his mind to her, let her see the simmering rage, the stolen spells. Felt her shock and outrage over his plan to wreck bloody vengeance upon Evan Leshara and anyone else who dared to interfere.

:Chosen no, oh no…: Her eyes were dark with anguish and he could feel her dawning horror. :How could you even think--:

Fury rose up in him again, the sheer unfairness that even his own Companion wasn’t on his side. He flung at her the memories of Staven’s death, the horrendous creatures, all mouth, tearing him into tiny pieces. The agony and the fear, the helplessness and rage. She staggered back a step and shook his hands off of her, also breaking the mental contact.

:Gala… I…: He hadn’t meant to be that harsh. He should have warned her. She was looking at him with her eyes so dark with distress that they looked nearly violet.

:What was that? What were those Things?: She asked.

:Those are the things that killed my brother.: He told her. :And I saw and felt the whole thing through our twin-bond…:

:My love… oh ‘Lendel. You have to tell Savil about this. And Lancir. You shouldn’t have kept the Bond a secret from me.: She paused, looking at him searchingly. :You are my Chosen, and I will defend you unto death, but I have to know what you’ve done. You can’t be hiding things from me anymore!:

He nodded wordlessly, unable to stop the tears. She took a step forward, reaching out her nose to him and he fell against her neck, muffling his tears in her mane. :I will always be beside you, my Chosen. Always. Together we can face anything...:

For a few moments he just leaned against her strength, feeling the love flowing through their bond. He could also feel the love echoing down the link with Vanyel and it suddenly occurred to him that his lover might have been over-hearing their whole conversation.

But when he looked over to his lover he saw that Yfandes was laying down and had curled up protectively around Vanyel, he was wrapped up in his cloak and tucked against her side, one arm across her back and his face against her neck. There were several layers of shields on him, green from Donni and blue from Yfandes.

Yfandes looked up from nuzzling her new Chosen to give him a long and level stare. What did she think of him, when it was his fault that her Chosen was so hurt right now? He wanted to go to Vanyel and hold him but with the way Yfandes was staring him down he didn’t dare.

It wasn’t nearly long enough though before Savil poked her head out from the door to summon him to his reckoning. He dumped his cloak over the chair in the bedroom and went out to the common room where Lancir waited dressed in crisp whites. Savil had taken enough time to change into her whites as well and braid her hair.

He hadn’t even bothered to run his fingers through his probably knotted curls. And though he had put on clean clothes, he was having instant regrets over having grabbed an all black outfit even though it was the season for it. It made him look more in stark contrast to the two older mages with their silvered hair and all white clothes.

“Tylendel, Savil has kindly offered her Workroom for our privacy and safety. She will also be part of this examination as both your instructor and as a witness.” Lancir at least seemed more like himself this morning, his deep voice calm and assured.

Tylendel nodded wordlessly and followed Savil and Lancir into the Workroom and dropped cross-legged onto his usual pillow on the floor. Savil also sank onto her pillow with a grace that belied her years, but Lancir took a bit of grunting and puffing to get himself settled.

At Savil’s gesture the Workroom shields glowed into life, surrounding them and cutting them off from the rest of the world. There was even a pronounced lull in the pain he was feeling from Vanyel, dropping it to something like the behind-the-eyes headache he got when a storm was coming in, and not the burning throbbing spikes of pain through his skull that pounded in time with his lover’s heartbeat. He was horribly selfishly grateful for that respite, it might give him a chance to try and actually think and frame his answers in the least damning light possible.

Lancir stared at him for a long moment and then reached up and sketched a glyph in the air between them, Tylendel felt a breath of air that wasn’t there settling around his head. Truth Spell. Though the person bespelled couldn’t see it, he knew he was now surrounded by a blue glow that would betray him he lied.

“Trainee Tylendel Frelennye, I have placed Truth Spell on you for this interrogation. First Stage for now.” He paused and raised a grey eyebrow at him. “As long as you are honest and forthcoming with your answers there will be no need to engage Second Stage.”

Tylendel nodded, trying to calm his jumping nerves, he was afraid to even look in Savil’s direction. But then Lancir turned to her and nodded. He nervously turned to look at his teacher, she looked back at him stoney-eyed and expressionless for a long moment before she cleared her throat a bit and started the questions.

“How did you get into the proscribed books? I couldn’t find any sign of the seals being tampered with.” Her grey eyes were darker than Vanyel’s, and right now they were the color of steel to his beloved’s silver.

“I knew you had set the protections so that an unGifted person could move them without setting anything off. I…” He gulped and pushed on. “I asked Vanyel to go get the books out of the cabinet for me.”

Savil pursed her lips together for a moment, probably trying to bite back a curse. “And how were you able to handle the books without leaving any sign?”

“V-Vanyel held the books and he turned the pages for me.” He didn’t want to keep mentioning Vanyel, didn’t want to spread the trouble he was going to be in around. “I-I made copies of the spells I wanted to use and then he returned the books before you noticed.”

“The first spell was a Gate.” She paused and looked at him and he nodded. “What was the second spell?”

He hesitated. He knew, he knew wyrsa were one of the nastiest things his teacher knew of, something she’d told them about as an example of the horrors of magic-twisted creations. What would she think of him, that he was prepared to call something like that?

He dropped his eyes, looking down on his clenched fists in his lap. What the hells could he possibly say to such a direct question, other than the unvarnished truth? A truth that would damn him and possibly his poor befuddled lover as well?

“Tylendel.” Lancir spoke softly, but threat loomed large in his tones of calm reasonableness. “What was the second spell?”

The only way to keep the slightest control was to keep being co-operative. “Wyr… wyrsa. I was going t-to call wyrsa…”

Savil gasped. He didn’t dare look at her. His teacher. His mentor. The woman who’d loved him more than his actual mother, the mother who turned away from him when he was twelve like he was some sort of monster. Then died, poisoned herself to escape the pain of having produced such unnatural issue. Maybe he really was a monster after all.

“’Lendel… no…” Her voice had never sounded so broken. He dared a look and immediately had to look away from her expression of disbelieving horror.

Lancir made a small sound in his throat then picked up the thread of questioning. “You intended to Gate to Westrel Keep?”

“Yes.”

“And then, you intended to unleash wyrsa? Upon whom?” He dared a glance at the Queen’s Own’s cool expression and dropped his eyes.

“Evan Leshara. He killed my brother.” He tried to keep his voice even, though it broke on the last word. He tried to keep the rage from flooding him, but even just saying the words made him angry all over again.

“Anyone else?” That carefully mild voice infuriated him.

“Anyone who got in the way.” He spat.

Savil made a choked sound, Lancir spared her a brief glance but kept going. “So you intended to Gate to the Leshara’s and turn wyrsa loose on them?”

He didn’t dare speak. He only nodded once.

“And Vanyel knew of this plan?” He was implacable.

“Vanyel didn’t know anything about the second spell.” He had to protect Vanyel. He knew he’d already done him so much wrong dragging him into this mess, Van didn’t deserve any more punishment then he had already been served by cruel Fate. “I didn’t tell him, he had no idea what I had planned.”

Lancir frowned and looked at him steadily. “What did he think was going to happen?”

“I-I don’t know what he thought. He doesn’t really have any idea how magic works, maybe he thought I couldn’t do it and he was just humoring me?” He could hope anyways. As much as it hurt to think Van might have doubted him, he was also painfully aware that his doubts had not been entirely unfounded.

“Well he is going to have to learn about magic now.” Lancir said flatly. “Since Savil has told me he not only has the strongest Mage Gift she’s ever seen, he has almost every single Gift it is possible to have.”

Tylendel stared back in shock. He’d half wished for Vanyel’s latent Gifts to be open when he saw them, so that no one could take him away from him. But not like this, gods not like this.

“How did you think you would have the strength to cast two such taxing and difficult spells.” Lancir went on inexorably.

“I—” This was the other thing he had hoped that they wouldn’t ask about. “I was going to borrow Van’s energy. He had the latent Mage-gift, and we have some sort of link, and I thought I could use it to…” He trailed off, they were both looking at him in horror.

“Y-you— th-that’s Power Theft!” Savil sputtered, looking at him like she wasn’t even sure who he was anymore.

“H-he said I could use him…” He protested weakly.

Lancir took several deep breaths before he spoke next. “Did he have any real understanding of what he was offering you? You said yourself he doesn't know anything about magic.”

Tylendel shrugged helplessly. “I— I don’t know…” He didn’t know what to say, he’d been so focused on his plan. And Vanyel had just gone along with everything he’d said, offered to do anything at all he asked. Lie. Steal. Anything.

“What is the nature of your relationship to Vanyel Ashkevron?” Lancir asked cooly. As if he didn’t already know. Gods above that meant it was going into the records damn it all.

“He’s… I-- ah… w-we’re… lovers.” He finally managed to get out.

“And what is the nature of the ‘link’ you said you felt.” Lancir’s face was impassive.

“I don’t know. It feels as deep as the twin-bond.”

Lancir regarded him quietly for a few moments. “So you were unaware that the link you feel with Vanyel is actually a Lifebond?”

“What?” He looked between them in shock, Lancir calm and still as a statue, Savil struggling to do the same. “I… didn’t… no, I didn’t know. I guess… it must be, since I can still feel him even through the shields…”

They exchanged a startled look and probably thoughts before Lancir turned back to him looking more thoughtful. “Tylendel.” He was speaking more gently now. “I need to ask you some things about your twin. You said you felt him as deeply as you feel your Bondmate?”

“Y-yes. I didn’t let Savil know how strong our link was. But I could feel him always. Always.” He stared at his fists clenched in his lap, sight blurring as tears welled up unbidden. “I felt him die…”

“You felt him suddenly gone?” Lancer asked softly.

“No!” Tylendel turned to the Queen’s Own with a snarl. “I. Felt. Him. DIE!!” He was shaking with rage and barely controlled sobs. “H-he reached for me. And I felt those things ripping him apart like it was my own body. I saw them! I tried to reach him with my magic but it was too far! Too far! I felt him dying… and I couldn’t do anything! A-all I could do was bear it with him. Promise him-- p-promised I-I would see him avenged.”

“Gods above! You shouldn’t have been alone with that lad.” Lancir sounded shocked. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?”

“I-I told V-Vanyel…” He managed to choke out.

“’Lendel…” Savil voice was rough, like she was having trouble keeping emotion in check. “Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad? You know you can tell me anything!”

“I-it was Sta-s-stuff with the feud, y-you’d’ve told me to get o-over it…” He said more than half sobbing, feeling bitterness rise at the thought that the only one who’d been on his side in all this was soul-bonded to him and probably didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“Tylendel, if you experienced your twin’s death first-hand, that makes you a witness!” Lancir leaned towards him, speaking calmly yet forcefully. “You could have asked to give your testimony at any time after the attack, and instead you dragged your young lover into a murder plot!”

“I…” He stared back and forth between them torn between his anger and his grief. “I didn’t t-think… didn’t know... n-nobody else even cared! You didn’t care! Only Van did!”

“’Lendel, ke’chara. Of course I care! But you are a Herald-trainee. You have to be impartial. You can’t just go taking justice into your own hands!” She reached for him but he wrapped his arms around himself, pulling back from her outstretched hand.

“Justice?” He gave a bitter laugh. “I didn’t want justice, I wanted vengeance!” Rage flared within him, nobody understood dammit.

“Against all of the Leshara?” Lancir asked him sharply. “You were planning to turn wyrsa loose on innocents. All of the Leshara were not party to your twin’s death.”

“I…” Tylendel could barely see past the haze of red and blur of tears. “I just wanted Evan a-and Wester, I…”

“’Lendel. Wyrsa are deadly. Absolutely deadly. It would have been a bloodbath.” Savil’s voice sounded nearly as choked as his. “I can’t believe you would… that you really meant…”

“I…” Teetering between rage and grief, he was blindsided by a surge of shame. “I’m s-sorry! I’m so sorry, I thought if n-no one else would do anything, I had to… I’m sorry! ImsorryImsorryImsorry…”

Gentle arms wrapped around him, pulling him to a strong white-clad shoulder. He tried to push away, fighting the tears and comfort both. But Lancir laid a hand along his head and the simmering rage suddenly crested and broke within him, releasing a flood of tears.

“Staven… Stav… I c-couldn’t save you… what f-fucking good is t-this magic if’n I can’t e-even save m-my own brother…” Tylendel broke down completely then, collapsing against the older man, harsh sobs wracking his body.

Savil came and wrapped her arms around him from the other side. “Ke’chara, my poor heart-son, how I’ve failed you.” She said softly and he wept even harder at that while she gently brushed her fingers through his curls.

“And Van… Gods I l-love him, so much. An I h-hurt him so bad. I almost killed him…” With the fever of his rage broken, guilt was rearing up its ugly head to replace it.

“He’ll get through this ke’chara, we’ll all get through this together.” Savil told him, her arms around him tightening. He turned blindly away from Lancir to bury his head in Savil’s bony shoulder and sob like a lost child. Lancir let him go without a struggle, but kept one hand on his shoulder.

“I’m so s-sorry! I fucked e-everything up…” She held him as he wept bitterly, thinking of all the things he’d ruined or nearly ruined.

“Not everything.” She pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes. “You can still testify against Evan Leshara and have him brought properly to justice.”

He stared back at her surprised, then turned to Lancir who was offering him a handkerchief. “I-I can? I can still testify? And you’ll listen?”

“The Circle accepts magical testimony, Tylendel. You can show us what happened as well as describe it for the records.” Lancir spoke gravely. “We are here to uncover the truth, and what you have seen is relevant to my investigation.”

Tylendel nodded, taking the handkerchief and scrubbing at his face and blowing his nose. Lancir and Savil eased back to their cushions and linked hands and minds before reaching out for him. He took a couple of deep breaths and then took their hands in each of his and drew them into the memory that was seared indelibly into his heart and mind.

~~~~~

I’m going to have to get used to having my world turned upside down. Savil thought as she and Lancir sat recovering from Tylendel’s sharing.

He’d come to her three years ago as a terrified fourteen year old, full of Gifts he didn’t understand, rejected by all who’d previously loved him because of those Gifts. Everyone except for his twin, the only one who stood by him until Gala finally came for him. Then he was in a strange place and missing the one person who’d loved him unconditionally. Her heart had melted for the lad, and even as he grew into a fiery young man, still in her mind her ‘Lendel had been more of a mischievous child than someone capable of contemplating and fully intending to wreck such horrible vengeance on not just his brother’s murderer but also innocent bystanders.

After he’d shared the horrendous scene of his twin’s murder with them, Tylendel had wept again, sprawled across the floor with his head in her lap. She’d stroked his blonde curls and simply held him. Her infuriating heart-son. Her beloved demon-child. Lancir had sat silently, a slight frown of concentration on his face and one hand on Tylendel’s shoulder as he wept himself out, until the sobs eventually trailed off and he was able to sit back up.

Lancir had dismissed the Truth spell, quietly thanked Tylendel for being honest with them and for giving his full co-operation. He’d just nodded, eyes staring at his hands loose in his lap. She’d taken down the Workroom shields and Lancir told Tylendel he could go though he was confined to the suite, he’d just nodded again without looking at them and unsteadily rose and left, quietly shutting the door after himself.

Lancir stretched his legs out with a grimace and leaned back on his hands. “I’ve been in magical battles before, but even I was shocked at how horrific that was. Do you have any idea what those things even were? You have more experience with other-planer creatures and they didn’t look… natural.”

She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve heard descriptions only, but from the look of them and the way they were used, I think that was a gretshke-Swarm.”

“So foreign mages were involved in this then.” Lancir sounded angry at that but he didn’t sound surprised. “This feud is one half step away from turning into a small war. If your student had succeeded in his planned attack it would have been a bloodbath. Or a mage-battle if the foreign mage was staying at the Leshara’s.”

“You saw what he experienced.”

“Yes, that is not an excuse… but I will tell her majesty that he was maddened by grief and the shock of having experienced his twin’s death first hand.”

“He felt all that, and didn’t think he could tell me…” She trailed off, this was as much her failure for not noticing, not getting Lancir to talk to him sooner.

“No. He only felt like he could tell his younger lover. Who has no experience with magic.” Lancir grumbled. “And gods I do not want to think about another House deciding to get involved in this mess. How likely is it that Vanyel’s father will show up demanding custody of his son back?”

She grimaced and sighed. “Probably pretty damn likely. But he’s been Chosen!”

“Yes. But do you realize that Lord Withen could still really cause some problems if he felt like it.” Lancir said quietly. “Depending on what he might have heard about Tylendel.”

“I know, I know.” Savil rubbed her aching temples.

“I don’t think you do.” He paused until she looked up. “Vanyel is still a minor, and while technically so is Tylendel, his older twin was counted an adult and allowed to be Lord Holder. Does the difference of an hour mean one twin can be an adult and the other still a minor?”

Oh shit. That had not actually occurred to her. She could only hope if she hadn’t thought of it that her thick-skulled little brother wouldn’t think of it either.

“And then there is Tylendel’s reputation.” The Queen’s Own spoke carefully. “He has not exactly been discreet about his preferences, and he is regarded in some corners as having seduced that other boy.”

“That’s-- it wasn’t like that. Nevis is rather known for making a scene no matter whose bed he climbed out of.” She protested. “And that was definitely not how it was with Vanyel, it was quite mutual.”

“It won’t matter much ‘how it was’ what will matter is what stories Withen heard. If he feels like having Tylendel charged with corruption of a minor that could lead to… awkward explanations.”

She swore, creatively.

“But, the boy has been Chosen. The queen will of course back you in your claim for custody. However, she would also truly appreciate it if this could remain a private family matter.” Lancir said tactfully. “How likely is he to appear in Court to demand his son back?”

“Not very. He wouldn’t think of it and would be too impatient to wait. I expect he’ll show up pounding on my door someday soon to yell at me personally.” Savil was quite certain that he would care more about finding her than he would care about finding any other nobles to hear of his shame.

“Especially… if we left word for the guard to escort him directly to your quarters when he shows up at the front gates…” Lancir trailed off suggestively.

She grimaced, and then sighed. “As much as I dislike the idea of tricking my brother like that, it would probably be the best approach.”

“Don’t think of it as a trick.” Lancir said gently. “If he cares more about having a confrontation with you,” He raised a skeptical eyebrow as if to say the more fool he. “More than he cares for getting some back-up from other nobles, then he might be in perhaps less of a mood if he is brought straight to your door rather than left to cool his heels somewhere polishing his grudges.”

“Pfft! He wouldn’t just sit, knowing my brother. I’m pretty sure if I don’t leave orders for him to be brought to me he will simply badger the first person he sees into personally taking him to his sister. Whether they know the way or not.”

“So we have a plan then. Or at least the hope of an approach that will lead to the least amount of him angrily ranting about his troubles to whatever courtiers or servants happened to be hanging about.” Lancir folded his legs and started trying to lever himself up off of the cushion, she rose and gave him a hand to his feet before he had to overcome his pride enough to ask for help.

“About the boys…” She started to ask but he laid a restraining hand on her shoulder.

“You understand there are things that I can’t talk about yet… however, I can tell you Tylendel’s testimony is extremely relevant.” He looked at her until she nodded. “Please keep him under surveillance. He is in a delicate state right now, we’ve broken through the anger, but having to relive the attack again may trigger a backslide. Be gentle with him, he needs to feel supported, but also be watchful.”

She nodded, privately she hoped that he would spend as much time as possible with Vanyel since they were going to have to keep constant shields on the lad, it might be a good way to keep him occupied and feeling useful if he could help protect his lover.

~~~~~

Chapter 3: Warm as Love

Summary:

Bonding time with Yfandes, girl talk with Donni (Donni gives good advice).

Vanyel has visitors, finds out he has more friends than he realized (the Coming Out episode).

(All Vanyel POV)

When healer Andrel finally let him go outside to see Yfandes Vanyel had been so glad to throw his arms around her neck and lean into her soothing presence that he was able to forgot for a short time some of his perplexing new feelings and new problems. Even though she was one of those new perplexing things. As soon as he touched her he felt a wave of love envelope him and distinct lessening of some of the distant crowd noises. There was even a bit of a buffer it seemed between him and ‘Lendel’s constant low thrum of anger.

:Chosen…: Her voice in his mind the softest and gentlest of whispers. So full of love and unspoken acceptance it made tears sting his eyes. He buried his face in her neck and just held onto her tightly for several moments breathing in sweet hay-scent and feeling the solid warm reality of her in his arms.

“Hey Van, lets get you settled down ‘fore you fall over.” Donni said lightly from beside him. “I promised Andrel I’d keep an eye on you.”

He pulled back a bit to see she was standing beside a handsome stallion with several little braids in his mane and tail. He smiled a little at that, it reminded him of how his sisters were forever plaiting braids and putting ribbons and flowers on their favourite horses. He took her proffered hand so that Yfandes could fold her legs and lay down with far more grace and dignity than any horse he’d ever seen.

As soon as he’d taken her hand, Vanyel could feel Donni’s concern for him, a surprisingly good-natured concern. She didn’t blame him for hurting Mardic, nor did she resent having to take care of him. Despite her earlier assurances that she wasn’t angry, that was a relief. She got him settled against Yfandes side, tucking his cloak around him, then carefully wove another type of dome over them that made the sheltered spot in the sun as warm as indoors.

It occurred to him that he’d been so happy to see Yfandes that he’d forgotten about Tylendel, but a quick glance over his shoulder showed him that he was standing off to one side with Gala, his hands cupped around her head. They seemed to be in deep communion and he turned away to give them privacy, perfectly happy to just rest his cheek on Yfandes satiny coat and occasionally stroke her neck.

Even the burning in his head seemed a little further away with her there. Or maybe it was whatever had been in the cup of foulness that Andrel had given him. Everything was just a little distant and gently blurred around the edges. A bit like being very slightly drunk, when everything was sort of golden and beautiful like a painting.

Yfandes nuzzled his cheek, her nose softer than the softest velvet, while he just leaned against her strength. He understood a little better what Tylendel had meant when he’d described his relationship to Gala as being one of lesser to greater, Yfandes felt like she was just so much more than he was. Certainly if the amount of brightness indicated anything, her blue glow was like a full moon in winter. He felt vaguely like he should maybe say something, but for the moment he was content just to be with her and bask in her soothing presence.

It didn’t feel like that long before Savil, now dressed in whites, opened the garden door and quietly called Tylendel inside. “It’s time.”

Tylendel nodded but didn’t say anything. He slowly stepped away from Gala, trailing his hand down her shoulder til he was out of contact. He gave Vanyel a weak semblance of a smile, he looked like he’d been crying, his eyes were red-rimmed. He tried to give his love an encouraging smile back but Tylendel was already looking away, giving Donni a quick nod before turning to follow Savil back into the suite.

He didn’t realize he was staring worriedly after the closed door until he heaved a sigh and Donni came and sat cross-legged beside him on the grass and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Hey Van, it’s gonna be alright, okay?”

He looked at her, trying not to think about all the many horrible ways it could be very much not alright. “How? How is anything going to be alright? What’s going to happen to ‘Lendel?”

“Well, he’s broken rules but not laws.” Donni said quietly. “Getting into the proscribed magics, I’m not sure what they’ll do about that. He may be delayed in getting his whites.”

“He-he’ll still be allowed? To be a Herald?” He knew how important that was to ‘Lendel.

She glanced over to where Gala was still lingering in the garden, looking watchfully towards the suite. “He’s been Chosen. As long as Gala stands by him he’ll be a Herald.”

“But…” He wasn’t sure how much he could tell her. Broken no laws? Plotting vengeance was surely illegal no matter how justified it was. “Heralds are supposed to be like… perfect and good…”

Donni laughed at that and shook her head at him. “Heralds don’t have to be perfect, just good. And we’re only trainees, we get a little leeway.” She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Did anyone tell you I was a thief before I was Chosen?”

“What? No.” He looked at her surprised and glanced over at her Companion who looked amused. “Really?”

She nodded, looking not at all remorseful. “Savil says ‘apprentice thief’, to make it sound like I hadn’t ever really stolen anything… but I was an orphan, I did what I had to to survive. The Circle can be understanding about some things.”

Vanyel nodded, stealing food when you were staving was one thing, he wasn’t sure vengeance was going to be on the list of things that could be hand-waved away. Hopefully the fact that they’d utterly failed would grant them some form of leniency.

“Did you… um… try to steal your Companion?” He asked, wondering a little what the stallion seemed to find so amusing.

“Naw. I knew what Heralds were, what a Companion was!” Donni laughed and exchanged knowing glances with her Companion. “Was more that I thought I was gonna be under arrest so I ran. He had to chase me down multiple streets.”

Vanyel laughed a little at that mental image, most young girls already thought that horses were grand, and that Companions just about pulled the chariot of the moon. It was hard to imagine a young girl running away from a Companion.

“You’ll be a Herald too you know, eventually.” She pointed out with meaningful head tilt in Yfandes direction.

He looked at Yfandes for a moment, so shining and beautiful, then at Donni, so earnest and kind. “I’m not sure if I’m… a good person…” He admitted before he dropped his gaze to the faded grass between them.

She looked at him thoughtfully for a couple of moments before she replied, while he picked at a few strands of already dead grass. Somehow that she was taking a while to answer was more reassuring than daunting. She wasn’t going to just give him a pat response.

“I’ve met a fair few spoiled rich boys and nobles brats here. And I’ll admit I was afraid you were one of them for awhile there.” Donni began, settling her elbows on her knees and propping her chin on her hands. “But I know a bit about how people who’ve been kicked around get defensive. And while it may seem like nobles get a life of cream, I also know the kicking around is a lot more vicious too.”

He looked up at her a little surprised that she would have that insight having just told him she came from the streets. Or that she would have anything like sympathy for someone who’d actually had a life of ‘cream’.

“Tylendel told us you weren’t like those other boys.” She smiled crookedly. “And honestly, I was a little worried after the last one that he was just going to get his heart broken again. But once you had a safehouse, you were different. Open. You dropped the act and the defenses. I could see how much you care for him. And you’ve been good for him too.”

He nodded hesitantly. He wasn’t sure how good he had actually been for ‘Lendel, but he was glad that his lover’s friends approved of him.

“I haven’t had arms practice with you, but I’ve heard Duke Oden praise you as always honorable. He doesn’t hand out praise that easily. People show who they are in a fight, whether they mean to or not.” Donni went on. “You wouldn’t kick someone when they were down.” He nodded rather more emphatically to that, thinking of Jervis standing over him.

“But being good isn’t just about not being awful. Being good is about doing the kind thing even when other people aren’t kind, the right thing even when it is hard.” He looked into her serious hazel eyes, greener than ‘Lendel’s more gold-flecked brown.

“I don’t know if I’m anyone to judge you whether you’re a good person or not. But the Companions don’t Choose wrong. They knew what they are doing when they Chose us. If they could look past my rags and your velvets to see the same goodness inside both of us, there must be something there. We just have to trust them.”

Vanyel nodded and turned to look at Yfandes. Her eyes were so very blue, he could lose himself in their depths forever. He’d never really felt much in the way of faith before, not in the empty words of priests or in cold stone statues, but Yfandes was real and warm and loving and bright. He could have faith in her if there was ever anything worth having faith in.

They sat together in peaceable silence for awhile, he wasn’t sure for how long. Vanyel just resting his heavy head on Yfandes and watching the motes of dust in the air and soft colors that surrounded everything now. Full of such love and peace that the even the throbbing in his head seemed very far away. He could barely even feel ‘Lendel with Yfandes right there, and he felt a little guilty that he was only relieved to not be feeling that constant grating anger.

:Too much anger is poisonous.: Yfandes spoke softly into his mind. He started a little, wondering how many of his thoughts she could hear right now.

He raised his head to look at her, deep knowing blue eyes looking back at him. :Just surface thoughts right now. Contact makes things clearer. I am trying to be careful of hurting you.: Her gentle mind-voice was quiet, like a girl whispering secrets.

:So you haven’t seen-: Vanyel tried to speak to her in the same way but a stab of pain cut him short. He put a hand to his forehead with a hiss and Donni looked over to him radiating curiosity and concern.

:Beloved, don’t try to mind-speak me yet. You are too hurt!: She nuzzled him and he cupped her elegant face in his hand and leaned his forehead against her cheek. :Speak out loud, or simply think your fear and I will try and answer it.:

He swallowed and tried to just lay out all his fears in a semi-coherent bundle. He was worried that if she couldn’t actually see all of his thoughts, she might be confused as to how good a person he actually was. He was also a little afraid that if she could see all his unworthy thoughts she would cast him aside immediately. He was weak and vain and selfish and a coward and not somebody who deserved to be a Herald.

He felt a rush of love and reassurance. :My dear sweet love, you don’t have to worry that you fooled me. At the moment of Choosing, I saw All that you are and All that you could become. I made my Choice with the full knowledge of who You truly are. And I know I will never regret my Choice, whatever road we end up traveling.:

“I-I’ll try to be as good as you see me as.” He whispered back, tears threatening his eyes. He felt strangely stirred inside, like her faith in him had added some secret strength to his core. He wasn’t remotely sure he was worthy, but he was willing to try. For her he would try his absolute best.

They sat awhile longer, Donni’s Companion wandering off after a bit, pausing to gently butt his head against Gala in passing. It occurred to Vanyel that he didn’t know the stallion’s name or even anything at all about Mardic’s Companion. He’d never even thought to ask. He found himself suddenly wondering if Gala and Yfandes liked each other, were they friends? He supposed all the Companions must surely know each other, how well did they all get along?

He felt amusement from Yfandes. :Donni’s Companion is Tash, a shameless flirt. Mardic is Chosen of Fortin. Gala’s younger than me, I saw her born. Yes, we all know each other, and get along fairly well.: She nuzzled him fondly. :But it has been near a candlemark now I’m afraid, and as much as I have enjoyed this, you should go back inside.:

He nodded against her neck and started struggling to unwind himself from his cloak. Donni gracefully uncurled from her cross-legged pose and offered him a hand up. “Ready to go back inside?”

“Yfandes said it’s time.” He told her. He paused, and feeling greatly daring, leant down and laid a kiss on Yfandes pristine forehead. “I’ll see you again soon.” He promised, slowly trailing his hand down her face as he stepped away from her.

As he followed Donni inside and got further away from Yfandes there was an increase in the distant crowd noise, also he was suddenly aware of feeling Tylendel again. The anger was no longer just simmering, now it was a coiling flame, dark with grief.

He stumbled and Donni caught his arm, her concern washing over him. “Van? Are you okay? Shit, no you’re not. Lets get you sat down and I’ll strengthen the shields.”

She supported him as he half staggered to the edge of the bed and collapsed on it. She raised her hands over him and he both felt and saw the green around him thicken and become firmer somehow? The crowd noises faded to nothing and the anger from his lover seemed suddenly muffled.

“Better?” Donni asked looking at him with great seriousness as well as with an oddly distant gaze as if she was staring sort of past him and not directly at him. He nodded and sat up straighter just as he felt the flames of anger suddenly flare up into a true rage.

Vanyel gasped as he felt that raging tossing despair building up like an unbearable pressure inside him. It felt like outrage and ultimate unfairness. It tasted like bitterness and grief.

“Van! Dammit, hang on.” Donni laid her hands on his head and the pressure dropped. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

“It’s- it’s ‘Lendel, he’s so- so angry. I can’t…” He took a deep breath, he wanted to run outside back to Yfandes.

There was a sudden surge of guilt and shame that nearly took his breath away. The rage and grief and guilt twisted up inside him, the rage and the shame burning hotter and hotter. Then the rage suddenly crested and broke and melted away and he was plunged into a yawning pit of grief and guilt.

Tears flooded his eyes and he couldn’t stop a choked sob from escaping his throat. Donni sat beside him and pulled him gently against her shoulder. “Hey Van. It’s okay. It’s not you. It’s not you. Take a deep breath. Breathe. I got you.” He collapsed against her and clung to her shoulders as sobs shook him, she radiated sympathy and concern and carefully patted him on the back.

“Van, do you understand what’s happening?” She spoke calmly and carefully. “Did Savil explain anything to you?”

“S-sort of, a little. About Gifts. But somehow, I-I’m still feeling ‘Lendel. Always! E-ever since he tied us to that Gate thing. I-I thought it was supposed to stop after Savil and the others closed the Gate.”

Donni paused a moment and he felt a little surge of exasperation from her. “Didn’t Savil tell you that you and ‘Lendel have Lifebonded?” He managed to pull back from her enough to look at her in shock. She shook her head a little and muttered not-at-all under her breath. “Dammit Savil…”

“Lifebonded? Like you and Mardic?” He just stared at her in stunned surprise. “Me and ‘Lendel?”

“Yes. Andrel confirmed it. He saw it last night when he was healing you.” She looked at him, tipping her head to one side. “And Mardic and I had been wondering ourselves for a little awhile with as hard and fast as you two fell in love. It reminded us of us.” She grinned at him.

He smiled tentatively and sat back a little, hesitantly starting to pull away and rubbing his sleeve against his tear-streaked face. The welling of grief from inside of him seemed to be ebbing down, he wasn’t sure if it was from Donni’s efforts or from whatever was happening with ‘Lendel.

“I know how intense it can be. Having feelings not your own coming from inside you. And probably worse for you since you are also feeling things from outside for the first time too. Everything must be really confusing.”

He nodded a little too enthusiastically and winced and put his hand to his head. “And it all hurts.”

“Now Savil will be eventually teaching you to ground and shield and everything else, but I can tell you about how to deal with being Lifebonded.” She gave a wry sort of half smile. “Much as I love my teacher, she is terrible with emotional things, as evidenced by the fact she didn’t think it was important enough to bloody tell you why ‘Lendel was still in your head.”

Vanyel managed a weak chuckle. He knew his formidable aunt had never married, it was hard to imagine her being in love with anybody. Who would even dare?

“It can be really overwhelming, especially in the beginning. You have not only all of your own emotions about being in love, but you are feeling all of theirs too. It can kinda get intense. It can be really easy to lose yourself, to get swallowed up.” Donni went on looking at him seriously. “And it can feel perfectly wonderful too, but you need to have a strong grip on your own self, to not get lost.”

“With Mardic and me, I’m the one who kinda has to be careful not to trample over him. He’s a lot more laid back, goes with the flow and I’m the more restless and impatient one. With you and ‘Lendel though…” She raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing look.

Vanyel ducked his head a little and smiled sheepishly. “I’ve… yeah, kinda been following his lead most of the time…”

“And it’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, as long as you can still y’know, say your piece and stand up for yourself.”

He looked away and hung his head. “I’m afraid I haven’t really done much of that…” he admitted reluctantly. “If I’d said anything about, well, anything, maybe of all this wouldn’t have happened.” He waved vaguely towards the burned wall.

Donni shrugged philosophically. “Who can say how things would have been different? What’s done is done. Once you’ve snatched that purse, all you can do is run from the guard.”

That analogy startled a laugh out of him and she grinned back, her hazel eyes sparking with mischief. She patted his hand that was still enclosed in hers, the feeling of her good-natured humor was a steadying balm against the despair he was feeling from ‘Lendel.

“It’ll get easier as you get more used to things. And once you are healed enough to hold up your own shields you’ll at least feel more in control. Though I have to warn you, you’ll never be able to block him out completely now that you are Bonded.” Donni continued her expression turning serious again. “It’s like the Companion bond, you’ll always have Yfandes too.”

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. When Tylendel had been telling him about Gifts he’d been uncomfortable with the idea of ‘Lendel having the power to see into his thoughts without him being able to do anything about it. The assurance that he would one day have some sort of control over all this was rather undercut by the caveat that his lover and his Companion would still be privy to all his thoughts and feelings.

He’d thought Lifebonds were supposed to be something romantic like in a ballad, but from what Donni was telling him it was sounding less romantic by the moment. He felt a surge of anger, he’d never asked for any of this. He’d never wanted magic, or to be a Herald. He’d just wanted to be a Bard dammit.

It took a sudden wave of despair mixed with pain to make Vanyel realize he wasn’t just feeling his own anger, he was feeling things from ‘Lendel again. It wasn’t just anger and rage, it was pain and agony, it was fear and despair. He was feeling the echoed remembered pain of the attack on Staven. They were making Tylendel relive all that again. He took several shuddering breaths, trying to remember what it felt like to be alone in his own head.

Donni looked at him sharply, seeming to realize something was going on. “Heyla Van, just keep breathing okay? Try and think of Yfandes. You were happy just a little while ago. Try and remember that, remember what is you and what is him.”

Vanyel took several unsteady breaths, trying to summon that peace he’d felt leaning against his Companion’s side, tried to focus his pain-blurred thoughts on that feeling of inner strength he’d felt from her. He felt the memory peak and then fall away into grief, but somehow he was able to hold himself above it, like treading water.

“I- I think the worst is over…” He rubbed his free hand against his aching eyes, only a couple of bitter tears had squeezed out this time. The sorrow was somehow easier to deal with the second time, maybe he was getting used to it like Donni said.

Donni got him a handkerchief from the drawer so he could blow his nose and gingerly dry his face. His eyes were already sore from how weird and glowy and unfocused everything was, now they ached and his skin felt raw from crying. His head was starting to throb again like when he had first woken up, before whatever medicine the healer had given him. But the pain seemed to be also making it a little easier to block out ‘Lendel’s grief.

Remember what is me and what is him. He focused on his breathing, on his physical sensations, his own pain, the things that were coming from only himself. He thought about how it felt the first time he looked into Yfandes blue eyes, remembered her love flowing through him, remembered her faith in him.

“It will be better later, I promise.” Donni reached for his hand again and he took it, wanting to feel some of her stability. “As awful as things are right now, it’s because you’re both hurting. Trust me, when you have the chance to share something that’s… ahem- joyful, it will be at least that intense but in a very good way.”

Even if he hadn’t caught the euphemism there was no mistaking the feeling of remembered lust and blinding pleasure he was suddenly getting from her. He pulled his hand back and gave her a shocked look. “Donni! Hey, I felt that you know.”

She chuckled wickedly but folded her hands back in her own lap. “I meant you to. Distract you from all the bad with a thought of something nice. Did it work?”

He nodded shyly, trying not to blush. The thought of being able to feel everything his lover felt certainly held some interesting possibilities. I did say that having a link with him would make our love-making even more spectacular. Why are the gods so capricious over which wishes they grant?

“It’s… good to know there’s- ah, some good things…” He said feeling his cheeks heating. Dammit my face already hurts, why do I have to go blushing like an innocent maiden?

“And you’ll be able to share magic, make the other stronger. Concert work is very difficult, you use up a lot of power just trying to balance each other. Savil says Lifebonded mages can pull off spells that would take three or four unbonded mages to put together.”

Vanyel just sort of shrugged and twisted the handkerchief in his hands. “That’s good I guess. Not exactly comforting, but my only experience with magic so far has been painful and traumatizing. So I’m not sure I can judge.”

Donni looked at him thoughtfully for a minute before she spoke. “You probably learned to ride a horse when you were real young right?” At his confused nod she went on. “They put you on like a pony the first time didn’t they? And someone else led it around? They didn’t just throw you on the back of an unbroke stallion without so much as a rope did they?”

He hadn’t thought of it that way. “My mother wanted to keep me on the pony long after I’d already started sneaking rides on the hunters.” Donni laughed at that and reached over to lay her hand on his shoulder.

“Right! Exactly. When you’ve had a chance to build up confidence and you’re the one holding the reins you’ll be ready and raring to go.” She squeezed his shoulder gently. “And if you need a comforting thought, I just told you Lifebonded mages are stronger in concert than like any three or four others. They won’t separate you and ‘Lendel, you’ll be a team, always.”

“Thanks, Donni. That’s… that helps. Thanks for talking to me. For making this stuff make sense.” He put his hand over hers and gave a tentative squeeze back. “Having someone to talk to who understands… it’s helping. Thank you.”

“I’m not saying it will be easy or anything. Mardic and I are still having trouble trying to mesh magic, and we like never even fight.” She smiled at him and he smiled back, feeling a little better about everything with at least some explanations for the inexplicable.

The bedroom door opened and Tylendel came in slowly as Vanyel looked up at him worriedly and expectantly. He looked defeated and tired and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. Donni let go of Vanyel's shoulder and stood up to let Tylendel have the space to come sit next to his lover.

Tylendel came over to the bedside almost shyly and stood looking down at Vanyel, though he didn’t try to sit down. Donni settled herself in the chair at the bedside and looked at her fellow trainee with curious concern.

“’Lendel… are you… Okay? H-how did it go?” Vanyel asked him nervously, wishing he would sit down beside him.

Tylendel shook his head slightly, and took a deep shuddering breath. “I… they put me under Truth Spell. I… had to tell them everything.” He looked at Vanyel, his eyes dark with grief and shame.

“How much trouble are we in?” Vanyel asked him, reaching up a hand to his lover.

“I- I… don’t know yet…” Tylendel took his hand and kissed it. Vanyel felt his grief and guilt and shame, mixed with a strong undercurrent of fear.

Tylendel sank suddenly to his knees in front of him and looked up at him, holding his hand with a trembling grip. “And, Van… ashke… I’m the one who’s done wrong. Not you. I’ve done wrong to you. I dragged you into my mess and I shouldn’t have.”

“No ‘Lendel, we share everything. Good and bad. I-” He tried to protest but ‘Lendel was shaking his head, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Van-ashke, beloved. I used you. I took something from you I had no right to take. I hurt you. I nearly killed you!”

“I offered my help, my energy, whatever you needed! You didn’t take anything-”

“I should never have asked you that. I’m sorry, my beloved, I am so sorry!” Tylendel pressed his face into Vanyel’s hand and started to cry. He stroked his other hand into Tylendel’s curls and tried to pull his lover into his arms, but he buried his face in his lap instead and sobbed.

Tears overflowed his eyes, he wrapped his arms around Tylendel’s head and just held him while he tried to weather the storm of ‘Lendel’s guilt and grief. He tried to remember blue eyes warm as love. Tried to think of laughing brown eyes and a warm smile. A soft voice whispering ‘I love you’ under the safety of a blanket.

Tylendel wrapped his arms around his waist and clung to him, Vanyel holding him tight and stroking his hair and his shoulders while he sobbed. He didn’t know what to think, despite his inclination to instantly forgive ‘Lendel, the traitorous memory of the spike of anger he’d felt earlier against the unfairness of all that was happening to him kept digging at the back of his brain. If that had even been his own anger.

He had every reason to be mad at Tylendel, but also no reason. He’d gotten into spells he wasn’t supposed to, and somehow the magic gone wrong had pulled Vanyel’s head apart. But Tylendel swore he hadn’t meant for that to happen. And Savil swore she couldn’t understand how that it was even possible to have happened. But Vanyel knew he’d volunteered. He’d known they were breaking the rules. It was stupid, and his stupidity had gotten him hurt. But he didn’t blame ‘Lendel when he knew he was at least part to blame for his current predicament.

After his sobs slowly trailed off and ‘Lendel started to sit back he handed him his handkerchief and caught his hand as he started to pull away. “’Lendel… you warned me that you might hurt me, and I still agreed to it. Neither of us realized how bad it could go, but you weren’t hurting me on purpose.”

Tylendel looked up at him, eyes dark with guilt. He dropped his eyes and kissed the back of his hand. “I didn’t warn you enough. I… I had some idea how bad it would be. I downplayed how bad, so you’d help me…”

“I could’ve said no.” He protested and Tylendel looked at him with a sad pained expression.

“I’m not sure you could’ve, beloved… I…” He looked at him searchingly for a moment before glancing aside at Donni and dropping his eyes. Vanyel felt his lover’s shame rising. “I used my Empathy… to make you feel more sorry for me. You didn’t really… have a choice. I pushed you until you gave in.”

He heard Donni gasp in shock but Vanyel only had his eyes on his lover. He hadn’t let go of his hand, he could feel Tylendel’s shame and guilt, and fear that Vanyel was going to be angry. And that some part of him wanted Vanyel to be angry with him. He glanced over at Donni, she had a hand over her mouth and was looking at Tylendel with round eyes. This was something more serious than he really understood.

“You said you had to tell Savil and Lancir everything. Did you tell them that?” He asked Tylendel. At his headshake he squeezed his hand until he raised his head to look at him. “Good. Don’t tell them. Whatever trouble you end up in don’t make it any worse.”

Vanyel looked over at Donni who looked back at him for a moment before she nodded and drew a little x over her lips. He turned back to his beloved.

“I don’t understand a lot of what’s going on just yet, but I intend to learn. Donni’s been telling me some about being Lifebonded, and about being a Herald-mage. About what we could be able to do together. I want you beside me for that.” He smiled a little. “You can’t be a great Herald-mage if you have to spend the next ten years shovelling the stables.”

“Gods. You are too good for me beloved. I don’t deserve you…” Tylendel’s voice broke and he kissed his hand again.

“I’m… I’m not saying I’m not going to be… upset. When it stops hurting so much that I can actually think about things.” He looked into Tylendel’s eyes, feeling his hand tremble. He reached out a hesitant hand to brush his cheek. “Right now though… I just want a chance to catch my breath with all these crazy things happening. I don’t want you to be in more trouble, I don’t want them to have any reason take you away from me…”

He felt tears sting his eyes again. Tylendel kissed his hand several more times then finally climbed up to sit beside him on the bed and wrap his arms around him. “Ashke, beloved. I love you so much. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t deserve you…”

“I love you too.” Vanyel cupped his hand to Tylendel’s face and looked into his eyes searchingly. “We’re… we’re Lifebonded. Did… did Savil get around to telling you that?”

“Yes. Eventually.” Tylendel smiled at him through his own tears. A genuine smile full of warmth and love and his usual wry humor. The kind of smile Vanyel had been afraid he’d never see again. ‘Lendel cupped his face a moment, thumb gently stroking his cheek, before he leaned in and kissed him.

Vanyel completely forgot about Donni sitting right there as he melted into that kiss. He forgot that they’d just nearly had their first real fight. He was even able to forget his aching head for just a moment as he was lost in the touch of ‘Lendel’s soft lips against his. Feeling his love like a rush of warmth suffusing his being.

He was reminded of Donni’s presence in the chair only when she cleared her throat after a couple of moments. He pulled away from the kiss reluctantly, only noticing he’d wrapped his arms around Tylendel’s neck after they broke apart.

“Uhm… Sorry…” He apologized blushing but she was only looking at them with amusement. Tylendel had wrapped his arms around his shoulders when they were kissing, he loosened his grip when Vanyel pulled back but didn’t let go.

“Hey, I know what it’s like.” She said with a grin. “You two are perfectly adorable you know. I wouldn’t dare to tease you knowing how Mardic an me were at least as ridiculous when we first bonded.”

“I remember.” Tylendel said with a grin, glancing back at Vanyel out of the corner of his eye and giving his shoulders a squeeze. “Thanks Donni… for everything. You’re a true friend.”

“We’re all going to be Heralds together, we’ll be working together all our lives. It’s good if we can all be friends and partners, rather than just acquaintances.” She pointed out with serene logic. “Besides, who else will possibly be able to understand you but another pair of mages who’s also bonded.”

~~~~~

Andrel had stopped by that evening to give him another Healing and another cup of utterly vile-tasting medicine. Vanyel slept deeply and dreamlessly that night and woke to morning light as thick and golden as honey. His thoughts also felt syrupy thick and slow. He could still feel the ever-present pain, but it was less.

The morning passed in a golden sort of daze. Andrel came by with another Healer in tow, a woman whose name Vanyel immediately forgot as soon as he was told. She spent quite some time with her hands resting on Vanyel’s head. Her glow was a brighter green than Andrel’s and also felt somehow brighter, her healing a different sort of coolness.

He felt the whisper-soft touches of her inside his mind, felt her surprise a couple of times, as well as a growing sense of disapproval. When she was done she tipped his face up to look into his eyes for a moment before she let him go and pulled Andrel and Savil to the opposite side of the room for a whispered conference.

Once the Healers had left, he got to spend time in the garden again with Yfandes. Tylendel carrying out a little stool so Savil could sit comfortably while she kept watch over him. Gala had come with Yfandes to the garden, and Tylendel went to her as soon as he’d gotten Savil and Vanyel both settled.

A third mare came wandering in after a little and came and stood beside Savil to be introduced as her Companion, Kellen. Yfandes told him with some amusement that Kellen was actually her great-aunt and that the others found it highly amusing her Chosen had turned out to be related to her great-aunt’s Chosen.

While Tylendel was focused on Gala, Savil started explaining a bit about Gifts to him, the different types and what they could do. He’d had some idea from his study of ballads and history that there was a difference between Heraldic magic, that in Valdemar was called Mind-magic, and what everyone else just called magic. And from Tylendel’s descriptions he knew that there were also different types of Heraldic magic.

But he’d never realized there were so many types, he’d thought there’d be perhaps four, plus Healing and Bardic. Not that there were nine including the Mage-gift. And that some of it, like being able to see the future, sounded more like some sort of carnival trick than what he would have really thought of as actual magic. But they were all apparently valued Gifts by the Heraldic Circle.

When they went back inside after what had scarcely seemed like an hour, Savil got Tylendel to get him a book about magic off the main shelf. She told him that it was one of the most basic primers on all types of magic and that it was the first step of his magical education. It was thankfully not as thick as some of his history tomes, but when he opened it to look at the first few pages he was dismayed by the dense close-written script.

Savil chuckled knowingly at his expression and assured him he wasn’t actually expected to try and read anything until he felt better. She cast a glance over at Tylendel and suggested that perhaps ‘Lendel could read to him while he was recovering, since brushing back up on the basics surely wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Tylendel had sighed but took the book from him, Vanyel was perfectly happy to curl up on the sofa in the circle of Tylendel’s arms to be read to, despite the slight prickle of irritation from ‘Lendel over having to go back over the most basic material. It was almost blissfully normal, except for the subject being magic instead of history. Except for the ache in his head. Except that it was close to the middle of the day and they should be in their classes instead of in the suite.

Lunch arrived along with a summons for Savil. After reading it over she looked at them both for a long moment, long enough that Tylendel stopped chewing enough to ask what was wrong.

“I’m being called to a special meeting of the Heraldic Circle to debrief them on the new developments to the situation.” She looked at Tylendel and he swallowed, looking like his appetite had abruptly abandoned him. “They aren’t asking for you yet. But you need to be prepared that at some point you may have to testify before the Queen and Council.”

He nodded going a little pale. Vanyel reached for his hand and held it, his own lunch promptly forgotten. He could feel Tylendel’s fear mixed with guilt, his sudden anxiety. It occurred to him then that he’d not really been feeling much when his thoughts had been caught in liquid amber. Now that the haze was clearing and his thoughts could move again he found he was also back to feeling outside things.

“I’ll probably be gone hours, do you think you’re up to holding shields on Vanyel until I get back? Or until Mardic or Donni gets back if it takes longer?” Savil asked Tylendel and he straightened up a little and nodded.

“Alright, let’s see then.” Savil sat back and watched critically as Tylendel turned and carefully began building several layers of thick shields over him.

Vanyel tried to watch closely remembering his failed dream attempt to build his own shields, but he didn’t understand what Tylendel was doing except that he seemed to be doing it perfectly. Savil nodded when he was done and dismissed her own violet shields, Vanyel feeling the sudden retreat of her presence, leaving the warmth of his beloved wrapping him close as a hug.

They finished lunch in silence. Tylendel for once only picking at his, Vanyel eating awkwardly with his left hand because he didn’t want to let go of Tylendel’s other hand. Savil went into her room and changed into formal Whites, coming out with her hair pinned in a severe bun and looking quite formidable.

She paused to check over Tylendel’s shields and give them a couple of prods that Vanyel didn’t even feel before nodding in satisfaction. She laid a hand on Tylendel’s shoulder and gazed at him for a few moments, Vanyel could feel the connection between them but couldn’t hear anything. He felt a slight easing of the tension in his lover as he nodded and gave his teacher a weak smile.

She laid her other hand on Vanyel’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “You just try and rest, you don’t have to do anymore study unless you feel up to it. Don’t do anything too strenuous.” She raised a wry eyebrow at him and he flushed.

“O-of course not aunt. We’ll be good.” She ruffled his hair fondly before folding her cloak over her arm and nodding to Tylendel and leaving.

They settled themselves back on the couch after she left, Vanyel laying down with his head in Tylendel’s lap and a light blanket tucked around him. Tylendel gently stroking his brow while he silently read one of his own books.

It was so comfortable and peaceable that Vanyel slipped into a light doze and only woke some indefinite time later when there was a knock at the door. Tylendel helped him sit up, and he rubbed his eyes and yawned while Tylendel got up and went to see who was at the door.

“Oh! It’s you!” Said a scornful female voice, while Tylendel took a tiny step back in surprise.

“We’re here to talk to Vanyel. And we won’t leave until we’ve seen him!” Another girl’s voice continued demandingly.

Tylendel looked over his shoulder at Vanyel, his raised eyebrows asking him if he should let this intrusion in. Vanyel sat up a little straighter and nodded, he was pretty sure he recognized those tones. Tylendel swung the door open and gallantly waved three girls into the suite, Jesalis, Kertire, and young Jillian.

“Vanyel!” Blonde Jesalis came forward to quickly grasp his hand. “We’ve been so worried about you! We had to come see you, see if you were truly alright.” Through the contact of their hands Vanyel was surprised to feel true concern and even affection? For him?

“We’d like to talk to our friend, alone.” Kertire said very pointedly to Tylendel, raising a dark and scornful brow at him. Tylendel raised a golden eyebrow back at her and met her glare with a look of calm resolution.

“It’s fine my ladies. He can be here, he lives here. And… well, he isn’t actually allowed to leave…” He beckoned Tylendel over to him and also waved the girls towards the other couch and chairs. “Please come and sit, you’ll have to forgive me for not rising. I’m-- uhm… sort of recovering from an injury…”

They sat themselves down, Kertire and Jesalis taking the couch opposite him and Jillian claiming the chair nearest to Vanyel’s side. Tylendel sat next to him on the couch after the tiniest moment of hesitation as the girls cast looks of cool disdain at him.

“Vanyel, my dear friend. We have been very very concerned for you.” Jesalis said after a bit of an awkward pause. “We haven’t scarcely seen you in Court in near a month! And now you are off all your classes too. We were starting to worry that your harridan aunt was keeping you a prisoner here!” She gave Tylendel a pointed look.

Vanyel gave a little laugh. “I’m not a prisoner, I’m just under Healers Orders.” They all glanced aside at Tylendel with expressions ranging between suspicious to openly hostile.

“What’s happened to you Vanyel dear?” Jesalis looked at him earnestly. “There’ve been the absolutely wildest rumors going around about what’s been going on.”

“What… What have people been saying?” Vanyel asked, not sure if he wanted to hear it but needing to know.

The girls exchanged looks a moment, hesitating, before Kertire took the lead. “They’re saying your feud with Tylendel has been escalating. That after the public fight you had a secret duel, and that he tried to kill you with magic and destroyed the pine grove in Companion’s Field.”

Vanyel looked back at them in shock. That was not was he was expecting to hear. “That isn’t what happened at all!” He tried to look reassuring. “Our fight was a… uhm, misunderstanding. We’re okay now.” This was met with expressions of polite disbelief.

He went on. “And we weren’t fighting when the pine grove was destroyed, we were just… talking. His brother was murdered, I suppose you heard that?” They nodded, now casting cautious and slightly guilty glances towards Tylendel. “Well the shock of that made ‘Lendel’s powers explode. He wasn’t trying to hurt me, I only got hurt because I wouldn’t let go of him.”

“I heard…” Jillian began but then trailed off uncertainly until he looked at her expectantly. “I’d heard… that Lord Frelennye was only killed in a hunting accident. By some creature from the Pelagirs.”

Tylendel drew in a sharp breath, Vanyel felt his spike of anger across their bond and quickly laid a restraining hand on his lover’s arm. Tylendel looked at him and then away, slowly letting out an angry sigh. He looked back at the girls who were watching them in rapt fascination.

“I’m afraid I’m not… at liberty to discuss some things… but Stav- Lord Staven was murdered by magic. The Heralds are investigating it.” He said, his voice harsh with suppressed emotion.

They looked at him and at Vanyel, a myriad of conflicting emotions flitting across their faces. Vanyel realized he still had his hand on Tylendel’s arm and he tried to remove it with casual nonchalance hoping none of the girls would notice.

“That was over a fortnight ago though. What has happened to you now that you are injured?” Jillian asked Vanyel with a slight furrow to her brow.

“I was injured during that big storm.” Vanyel ventured cautiously. “There was uhm… a magical accident? Lightning hit a spell and kinda broke it, and some of it hit me. I sort of… have magic now?”

They all gasped at his rather heavily censored version of that night’s events, and turned faces full of pained sympathy on him. “And… I’ve-- ah… been Chosen it seems?” He told them waving his hand vaguely in the direction of the garden and Companion’s Field beyond. “I have a Companion now. Her name is Yfandes.”

The girls all gasped again, this time with delighted surprise. Jillian clasping her hands together and making an almost painfully high pitched squeal of excitement. She was only fourteen and still hovering on the threshold of whether a Companion would be preferable to a husband.

“Oh my gods, Vanyel! Really? That is so wonderful! Congratulations!!” Jillian was fairly bouncing in her chair, Jesalis was smiling at him brightly, and even sardonic Kertire looked a little jealous.

“I wouldn’t have guessed you were hiding an idealistic streak from us Vanyel.” Kertire remarked dryly. “I thought you were a sensible one?”

He shrugged helplessly, glancing at ‘Lendel out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to pressing his lips together in an attempt not to smile. I’ve been hiding lots of things from my so-called friends. But maybe… I don’t have to?

“Oh really?” He said, sliding into one of his more flippant guises. “What scalawag has tarnished my good reputation by calling me sensible?”

The girls all giggled hysterically at that, and he even managed to startle a laugh out of Tylendel next to him. He flashed him a quick grin out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that Kertire seemed to be looking between him and Tylendel with a calculating expression on her face.

“Seriously though,” He leaned in towards them a little, trying to catch Kertire’s eyes especially. “What else have people been saying about me… especially about me, and Tylendel?”

Jillian just looked back at him with slight confusion, but Jesalis and Kertire were giving each other very significant Looks. A silent argument played out in subtle shifts of expression, that baffling silent communication that girls had that wasn’t Mind-speech.

“Well considering the source, I didn’t give much credence when I heard it.” Kertire began slowly, looking carefully at Tylendel out of the corner of her eye. “But that Evan Leshara said you two were lovers.”

“Not just lovers.” Jesalis jumped in after giving her friend a disgusted look. “He said that Tylendel seduced you, like he seduced Nevis. That he preys on impressionable and confused boys.”

“Tylendel didn’t seduce me. I seduced him.” Vanyel said firmly before Tylendel could get angry, and also quickly, before he lost his nerve.

Three pairs of shocked round eyes looked back at him for a moment before Kertire broke it by laughing. “I told everyone he was full of shit. I didn’t realize I needn’t defend your honor.”

“No, you did the right thing.” Tylendel spoke up. “Evan Leshara is a vile snake and the only thing that comes out of his mouth is poison.” Vanyel glanced aside at him, that was perilously close to things they weren’t supposed to talk about.

Kertire looked at Tylendel for a long moment, her gaze carefully weighing then turned back to Vanyel. “What should we tell people?” She asked quietly. “We’ll be happy to tell everyone whatever you want them to think.”

Vanyel looked at Tylendel for a long moment, reaching for his hand and enlacing their fingers together, and then back at the girls. “Tell them the truth.” He said, surprised a little at how steady his voice was. “We love each other. We’re lovers. We’re together. Together for good.”

Jillian gave a delighted little squeal of joy. “I knew it! You talked about him so much, you were obsessed! From enemies to lovers. That is so romantic!”

He looked at her with a certain amount of surprise, “You don’t mind?” He asked her, she seemed awfully happy about this for someone who had been so determinedly pursuing him.

“Of course I don’t mind.” She said tossing her sandy braid over her shoulder. “Why on earth would I mind?”

“Err… well I thought, um… You seemed awfully interested in me…” He trailed off at the way the girls were glancing at each other and not very successfully fighting laughter.

“Wait, you didn’t actually think I was serious did you?” Jillian asked, eyes sparkling. “It was just part of The Game!”

He wasn’t sure how to reply to that and his confusion must have shown on his face. She reached out to lay her hand reassuringly on his arm.

“Vanyel, darling! I thought you knew! You were just so good at The Game, and such a good friend, that I knew I was perfectly safe playing with you as you would never do anything ungentlemanly.” Through the gentle touch of her soft manicured hand on his arm he suddenly got a clear picture of himself, in his most elegant black outfit, doing a simpering and mocking impression of a girl she didn’t like.

Gods, I don’t act like that do I? His face must have betrayed some of his thoughts because the girls all laughed and gave each other knowing looks. Kertire reached over and took Jillian’s hand off of Vanyel’s arm and placed it on her own, putting her hand overtop and patting it condescendingly.

“See Jills, I told you you were flirting too hard! Poor Vanyel thought you weren’t kidding.”

Vanyel laughed at Jillian’s put out expression. Tylendel squeezed his hand and he looked over into his warm brown eyes feeling a bit shy, though he didn’t try to take his hand away. They hadn’t really discussed just telling people about their relationship. But if he was really free from his father, and wouldn’t be taken away for being open, why not tell? Especially when telling the truth would deprive Evan of things to use against them.

He felt love and approval, and was that pride? Coming from Tylendel from their touching palms as well as from deep inside him. He swallowed and broke his gaze away with difficulty to find the girls were giving him and Tylendel rather amused looks.

“I’m glad that you three came to see me, and that you don’t-- er, mind me being… um, shay’a’chern. I… that really means a lot to me. I know I haven’t exactly been the best friend…” Vanyel began, not sure how to articulate how their unexpected support was making him feel.

“You have too been a good friend!” Jillian protested immediately. “You always listen. And you play us music. And you’re funny and fun to be with. And you’re safe. In a way most boys aren’t.”

“You talked me through that tangled mess with Ryven and Lynessa,” Jesalis added. “You gave me the strength to just walk away from all the drama. Now they are mooning over each other like love-sick puppies and I am quite glad to be well shut of him.”

“I wasn’t sure if I really helped any with that… are you really happier?” Vanyel asked her, having Tylendel in his life was making him feel a little softer towards the idea of romance being something like in the ballads rather than just a hunting strategy.

She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. “Ugh yes! She still thinks we’re friends and she reads me the poetry he writes her.” She made a most unladylike face and retching noises while the others laughed. “I really dodged an arrow there. So yes Vanyel, sweetie, you really did me a favor.”

“Oh, if we’re talking about lovesick mooning…” Tylendel leaned over to the girls with a wickedly conspiratorial grin and raised his eyebrows and tilted his head towards Vanyel.

“He plays me love-songs on that lute of his.” He said while Vanyel blushed hotly beside him. “It’s very romantic…”

They all giggled and Vanyel fought to get his blushes under control. “Traitor.” He mock stage-whispered to Tylendel who just chuckled and reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind his ear. Which only made him blush harder and the girls laugh harder.

Poor Jillian laughed so hard she got the hiccups, which only set everyone off more. Tylendel got up to the sideboard to get her a glass of water. While he was up, Kertire leaned over and quickly whispered. “Tell us true, is it really alright? He hasn’t left you alone for a moment…” She cast a quick glance aside at Tylendel pouring the water.

He smiled at her, trying to show that he was genuinely happy for once. “Really, it is okay. He’s protecting me, not holding me hostage. I told you I have magic now, but I’m also injured inside. I’m not capable of holding shields over myself yet. It’s sort of like when my arm was broken and I had to have help dressing. If he wasn’t here protecting me I’d be half-mad with hearing everyone around me thinking so loudly.”

This got him some startled looks, the girls all looking at him sort of wide-eyed as Tylendel brought Jillian her glass of water and looked at them all curiously.

“Y-you can hear what we’re thinking?” Kertire asked him cautiously, her face carefully very still. Vanyel could feel her disquiet and remembered how he had felt about the thought of Tylendel being able to hear his thoughts when he was first explaining Gifts to him.

He shook his head and glanced up at Tylendel who was sitting down beside him and very carefully taking his hand back in his own. “Not while Tylendel is keeping me under shield I can’t. And… uhm… I’d also be leaking my thoughts all over the place too. And it hurts. Like trying to pick up something with a broken arm. My head feels like the worst hangover you can imagine.”

They made soft murmurs of consolation while casting careful glances at him, he mentally cursed himself for saying too much, he hadn’t meant to make them uncomfortable. Fortunately Tylendel smoothly cut in.

“Don’t worry ladies. Savil and Donni and Mardic and I have been taking turns to keep watch over him. Savil is a powerful mage, she’ll be training Van when he’s healed enough. He’ll be learning control of his Gifts along with all the things a Herald-trainee needs to know.” He smiled at them with his utmost golden charm and they all fluttered back at him, breaking out in smiles again.

Jillian suddenly noticed the magic primer on the table, and after craning her neck to read the title she exclaimed. “Oh Vanyel, don’t tell me your awful aunt has already given you homework? And with you injured?”

He laughed and cast a sly glance at Tylendel. “It’s not so bad, since my head hurts, Tylendel has been reading to me.” He clasped the back of one hand to his forehead and leaned back against his lover. “Would that all my lessons were so pleasant.”

This got more giggles and a general air of relaxation. They assured him that they would set people to rights who they caught spreading lies about him and he thanked them again for their friendship and support. Upon leaving they each clasped his hand in turn to bid him farewell, Kertire only hesitating the tiniest second before she gripped his fingers. He pretended he didn’t notice anything amiss and instead made much over bowing dramatically and kissing Jillian’s hand in a flowery courtly parting, much to her delight and amusement.

After closing the door after them Tylendel came and sat beside him, taking his hands and kissing them. “I’m so proud of you ashke.” He smiled at him with such love that Vanyel felt like his heart was going to melt.

“I- I wasn’t sure if- I mean I didn’t ask if you minded…” He smiled back shyly. “That was… okay? To tell them?”

“It was very okay beloved. I’d much rather be telling people the truth than trying to pretend I dislike you or staging another fight.” He cupped his face and looked into his eyes. “Are you okay with telling people?”

“I’m tired of lying and pretending. And I’m… glad in a weird sort of way, that we don’t have to hide anymore.” He leaned forward to kiss his beloved, getting utterly lost in what was meant to be a simple kiss until ‘Lendel pulled back regretfully, laughter dancing in his eyes.

“We promised Savil we’d be good.”

Vanyel sighed and leaned over to pick up his book. “Alright. Next chapter then?”

Afternoon was darkening into evening and still Savil wasn’t back from her meeting with the Circle. Vanyel tried not to let it worry him about how long it was taking though he could feel Tylendel fretting, glancing anxiously towards the door of the suite after every other page he was reading.

A knock at the door startled Tylendel so much he dropped the book, he quickly scooped it up and laid it on the low table before he went to answer the knock. He stiffened in surprise when he opened the heavy door and offered a quick bow to whoever was on the other side. “Your grace.”

“I would like to speak with Vanyel Ashkevron if he is not too indisposed?” Came a familiar voice he hadn’t expected at all. Tylendel stepped back and waved Vanyel’s weapons instructor Duke Oden into the suite.

The handsome young Duke was dressed as if for Court in elegant silks and a brocaded jerkin of blue and gold, his dark hair tied back with a ribbon. An ornately tooled baldric held an equally ornate ceremonial sword at his hip. His tall boots were polished to a deep lustre. Vanyel was much more used to seeing him in scuffed leathers and tough linens and with a blunted practice blade. He tried not to stare.

Duke Oden waved him down when he made to rise. “No please don’t get up, I am quite pleased to see that at least you aren’t bedridden.” He settled himself comfortably across from him and watched coolly as Tylendel sat cautiously back down next to Vanyel on the other couch. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better. Thank you for coming to see me, you didn’t have to.” Vanyel was more than a little surprised by his latest visitor. Just because he was his favourite instructor by far it didn’t necessarily follow that he held Vanyel as his favourite student.

“When I received notice that you were under Healer’s Orders and would be off your weapons lessons for the foreseeable future, I felt I had to come pay a call on my best new student to see how he fared.” He paused and raised an eyebrow. “I was concerned about you. I have been hearing some pretty wild stories that I didn’t really put any credit to…”

Vanyel gave him a steady look back. “You heard someone saying I was dueling? That isn’t true.” He said firmly.

“I didn’t think any student of mine would be engaged in illegal dueling. But what, if you are at liberty to say, has been going on?” His eyes flicked to Tylendel and then back to him, there was the slightest raise of his eyebrow.

Vanyel looked over at Tylendel for a moment and reached for his hand, clasping it in his own. He turned back to Duke Oden. “Well, to start with, we aren’t enemies. Quite the opposite in fact.” He felt himself starting to blush but pushed on. “We only pretended disdain in an attempt to keep people from guessing about our relationship.”

If this was shocking his teacher he wasn’t showing it, he only held him in his steady unflinching gaze as he waited for him to continue.

“I suppose you’ve heard some about what happened to Lord Frelennye?” At Oden’s cautious nod he went on. “He was Tylendel’s twin brother. When he died Tylendel felt his death. We were walking in Companion’s Field when it happened. Tylendel lost control of his Gift and destroyed the pine grove.”

“I was only physically hurt then, my nose was broken. But during that storm the other night, with all the lightning… I got struck… and it awakened my Gifts.” He gestured to the silver at his temples and Oden’s eyes widened slightly.

“So I’m hurt inside, with new senses I don’t have control of yet. I have to be under constant watch. I’ve had Healers looking at me and giving me all sorts of vile concoctions. Everything hurts and it’s hard to even think.” He shrugged, not sure what else was safe to tell.

Oden looked at him for several long moments, his usually inscrutable face looking thoughtful. “First I want to assure you of my absolute discretion. Nothing you’ve told me will leave this room.” He waited for him to nod before he went on.

“I have been wondering for some time why it seemed like I knew an utterly different Vanyel from the one I kept hearing about. That rude arrogant toad who picks fights with Herald trainees sounded nothing like the respectful and honorable young man I had been crossing blades with for these past months.” He crossed one leg over the other and laced his hands together over the knee. “At Court you surrounded yourself with the prettiest girls, but never courted any of them. You were known as a terrible flirt, but there was never a rumor or a scandal. Your other instructors complained you were a lazy air-headed fop, but I found you to be quick, clever, and hard-working.”

“While it might have been easy to simply congratulate myself on being your favourite teacher, I couldn’t help but wonder at what lay under such contradictions. But I think I understand it now, I see that it was all armor, it was all feints and deflection. I am honored that I am one of the few you let see the real you. And I am honored that you are brave enough to tell your secrets to me now. Perhaps if I had been a little braver, you might have felt safe to confide in me sooner than this.”

Vanyel looked back at Duke Oden with widened eyes, wondering if he was actually implying what he thought he was. His dark hawk-like eyes flicked over to Tylendel for a moment then met and held his and he nodded calmly. Vanyel was shocked, Oden was shay’a’chern?

“I… thank you. That- that means a lot. But you don’t have to… it’s not really a secret anymore.” Vanyel glanced aside at Tylendel, he was still looking at Oden with open-mouthed shock.

“I don’t know how much you hear of the more- salacious types of rumors… But there’s… some who are trying to say that Tylendel took advantage of me, of my innocence. But I am no child. If people my age can go to war, or get married, I can be with who I love. We’re together because I want to be with him.” Vanyel gazed steadily back at Oden, still slightly stunned to realize that he was like him. He’d had no idea. “If certain individuals have decided to include me in their lies and slander and I can disarm them with the truth, I will be glad to do so.”

“Your bravery is quite admirable.” Oden treated him to one of his rare quick smiles. “But are you entirely certain it is safe to do so?”

“My fear before was that my father would call me home, lock me away. I was his heir. But I was Chosen that night with the lightning, he can’t take me away now. I have four brothers, the next eldest is only two years younger and far better suited to be Lord Holder than I ever was.” He squeezed Tylendel’s hand, glancing aside at him and smiling quickly before looking back up at Oden. “I don’t care who knows now. People can be shocked or point and stare, I’m not pretending to be somebody I’m not anymore.”

~~~~~

Chapter 4: Two Heartbeats

Summary:

Tylendel has to turn his illicit notes over to Savil. (Lendel gets an F in magic)

We find out more about Tylendel's life before being Chosen.

Warning- Mention of underage sexual activity (vague, Canon typical); mention of child abuse and neglect (vague); and mention of past suicide (mother’s)
Both the underage activity and the mother’s suicide are Canon.
(No incest or twincest)

(Tylendel POV throughout)

Tylendel sat on the sofa, his book forgotten in his hand as he gently stroked his lover’s brow. Vanyel was asleep again, head pillowed in his lap, tired out from the excitement of his visitors earlier. Even in sleep there was slight furrow of pain between his elegant brows and he tried to soothe it away with his fingertips.

He was so incredibly proud of his beloved he thought he might burst. When Vanyel’s court butterflies had shown up ready to defend their friend, he’d been a little concerned, even though it was a bit like being menaced by a pack of those little fluffy yap dogs. But Vanyel had just told them the truth, admitted his love for him in front of his peers and then told them to tell everyone, he’d thought he’d grin his own head in half.

It wasn’t just his own selfish desire to be acknowledged, though he admitted there was a little of that, it was good for Vanyel to realize that he had friends. That there were those who would support him. That people liked him and his company and weren’t all just just trying to get something from him or trying to get in his breeches. He smiled a little, wondering if Vanyel had the slightest inkling that it was actually the dark-haired girl Kertire who was the one who fancied him.

And then there had been the visit from the Duke, he thought his eyebrows were probably still residing somewhere in his hairline over the revelation that he was shay’a’chern like them. And that he’d just come out and admitted it to them. Maybe not out loud, but a nod between gentleman was as much of an admission as a soliloquy.

And Oden had called Van brave for daring to be open and not caring who knew. He’d all but admitted that he thought Vanyel was braver than he himself was. Perhaps his love would actually believe such high praise when it came from the instructor he admired most.

There was a hidden strength in Vanyel that wasn’t apparent from his outwards appearance. It was easy to think of his beloved as delicate, especially while he was hurt right now. He was just so beautifully slender and graceful. But Duke Oden’s visit reminded him that his lover was like one of those deadly rapiers he was so good with. Deceptively slight, but wickedly fast and sharp.

His ruminations were interrupted by Mardic’s return, bustling in the door with his book-bag over one shoulder and armor-bag over the other. He made such a clatter getting in the door it woke Van and he sat up rubbing at his head and an immediate frown creasing his brow. He could feel an increase in the amount of pain he was feeling across their bond now that Van was awake.

As soon as Mardic had gotten his things stowed away he came and offered to take over shielding duty. Despite his desire to be the one protecting his beloved, he was also starting to feel the strain. And from the pained expression on Van’s face his shields weren’t doing enough as it was.

As soon as Mardic’s shields had settled into place and he dropped his own, letting go of the forms and reabsorbing the energies, Tylendel felt the ache of Gift-strain. He was rather dismayed to find he was much more tired from his few hours work than he expected to be. And he wasn’t just feeling Vanyel’s pain anymore, throbbing like a second heartbeat in his head, now it was his own head that was also aching.

Donni arrived shortly before supper, the four of them sitting around the low table and sharing small talk while they ate. Mardic keeping up his end of the conversation for once when he discovered Vanyel knew not only hunters and palfreys, but draft horses as well. His usually stoic nature giving way to an actually animated discussion when it revolved around horses. They were so engrossed that they didn’t notice that Tylendel was only picking at his food and casting nervous glances towards the door.

Donni noticed, but at least she wasn’t calling him on it, just cast looks at him as he destroyed a roll without eating any of it. Just when it looked like she was about to make up her mind to say something, hopefully only in mind-speech, the door opened and Savil came back into the suite.

She looked coldly furious and the conversation quickly died off as she folded her cloak over arm and came to the center of the room. She fixed her eyes on him and he had to fight down a shiver at her expression, no matter how angry she had ever been at him before, she’d never looked quite like this.

“Trainee Tylendel Frelennye. I will require you to turn over the illicit notes you made. Now.” Her voice was as cool as ice, as calm as fallen snow.

Oh, that’s bad. That’s very bad. She only calls me ‘trainee’ when she’s angry. And she never uses my family name. He left his place beside Vanyel and quickly went to their room and pulled his notes out of the book he’d hidden them in. He brought the pages to Savil and handed them to her, she took them without another word or a nod and went into her room and shut and locked the door.

He stood a moment looking at the closed door before he finally turned around and stumbled back to sit down with a thump next to Vanyel. His lover was looking at him with worried eyes. He wanted to reach out to him, to hold his hand, but he also wanted to protect him from feeling the brunt of his spike of fear and anxiety. He picked his plate back up instead and stared down at the unappetizing lumps on it.

Nobody said anything. At least not out loud. He was pretty certain that Mardic and Donni were deep in conversation from the quick glances they kept flicking at each other. Vanyel sat tense and still beside him, casting little sideways looks at him, not reaching for him though he clearly wanted to. Tylendel turned away from him, hating himself that he couldn’t offer his love even the slightest comfort right now. He’d always been a little bit jealous of the deep closeness of the lifebonded couple, somehow it was even worse right now knowing he couldn’t even touch his bondmate without hurting him.

A knock at the door broke the awkward silence and Tylendel was glad to jump to answer it and usher a harried looking Andrel into the suite. He was very glad to see the red-haired healer and Vanyel even more so. Andrel took his place beside Vanyel on the couch, taking his wrists in his hands and asking him a bunch of questions about how he was feeling and how much pain he was in.

Tylendel hovered beside the couch through the questioning, he thought it didn’t seem right that Van was still in so much pain even with healers working on him twice a day, but Andrel didn’t seem perturbed. Finally he let go of Vanyel’s wrists to cup his hands over his temples and give him another healing, Vanyel sagging against his touch relief in every line of him.

Tylendel also felt some of the tension leaving his own shoulders as the ache in his head was suddenly lifted. He stood up a little straighter and watched as Andrel sat in trance over Van for several minutes, occasionally shifting the placement of his hands on his beloved’s head slightly.

As soon as the healer finished and lifted his hands from Vanyel’s head Tylendel felt his pain coming back, perhaps a little slower than last time, but all the healers efforts didn’t to be helping all that much as far as he could tell. However Vanyel thanked him politely for his help, so he must have felt at least a little better for it.

Then Andrel turned his serious green eyes on him and beckoned him over and waved him into the chair beside him. “I’d like to have a look at you as well while I’m here.” The healer said and gently took his wrists in his hands and half-closed his eyes while he scanned him.

“You really need to rest from doing any magic or you’re not ever going to recover from the backlash.” He looked into his eyes, then raised his hands to his temples and he felt a slight ebbing of the ache in his head.

“You aren’t just feeling Vanyel’s pain, your own body is sending you signals, trying to tell you to take it easy. I hope you are aware it is possible to permanently damage your abilities by overstraining them.”

He nodded and mumbled something about resting more while he tried to think of some way to ask him why Van wasn’t getting any better without it sounded accusatory. And without asking it in front of Van in case it was bad, he didn’t want to upset his beloved.

“Now Vanyel, healer Lyvian thinks that we should see if you can sleep without drugs tonight.” Andrel said as calmly as if it were his own idea, he paused and Van nodded his agreement. “If the pain is too much however, I want you to tell me. There are some other preparations I can try that won’t leave you quite as dazed.”

Vanyel nodded and thanked him again, Tylendel had kind of hoped he would say something right then, but if Van thought he could handle it then he was just going to have to handle it too. After Andrel left Mardic began telling Vanyel amusing anecdotes about his huge family, how he was Chosen, and how his father had been very put out that Fortin wasn’t willing to service any of his mares before he carried Mardic off.

It was so good to see Vanyel laughing at the bucolic images Mardic was painting, and he caught Donni’s eye and sent her a carefully shielded mental thread to whisper his thanks for cheering and distracting Van. She just nodded and gave him a smile then turned to join in with Mardic in telling Van the story of how they’d met the first time in weapons class and both got soundly beaten because they couldn’t tear their eyes away from each other.

He was grateful that they had Vanyel so distracted that he didn’t notice that Tylendel hadn’t moved from the chair back to the couch and by his side. He tried to pay attention to the conversation, but his eyes kept being drawn to his teacher's firmly closed door. That she was taking so long to go over his notes was surely not a good sign, not a good sign at all. He must have have truly messed up the Gate spell somehow for it to have warped so much. Maybe she would have some idea from his notes what the hell he had done to make the magic attack Van like that.

Finally the moment he’d been dreading, Savil’s door opened and she stood in the doorway a moment looking at them as the conversation died to a nervous silence. She beckoned to him wordlessly and he got up quickly and went to her, avoiding both Vanyel’s worried look and Savil’s piercing gaze, trying to walk into his teacher’s room without feeling like he was slinking in like a guilty hound.

Tylendel paused in the center of the room and turned to face his teacher, trying to keep his face from giving away his deep anxiety. She closed the door firmly after them, bolting it and activating the room’s shields and placing a silence spell over the room before she turned to face him. Her expression one of forbidding coldness.

“I’ve had a chance to go over your notes trainee.” She began with cool calmness. “I want you to come here and look and tell me what you did wrong.” She was in her most severe ‘teacher mode’, disapproving and having caught him in a mistake that would get himself or others hurt.

She pointed to her battered oak desk where the two books he’d asked Vanyel to purloin were laid out opened to the relevant passages with his notes laid beside them. He nervously sidled up to her surprisingly clean-for-once desk and looked down at the two books. He noted that there were several more layers of more complex protections on the books than had been there previously.

He checked the Gate spell first, he still wasn’t sure what had gone wrong there, but everything seemed to be in order. The diagrams were fairly simple, he’d gotten all the unfamiliar syllables copied correctly. He’d even done the step with the powder that the notes said could be skipped if one was in a hurry.

“The Gate spell seems correct. Why didn’t it work?” He asked trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

“Because while you got the technical details correct, you took shortcuts like I am always telling you not to. You didn’t bother to write down the special instructions and cautions.” Savil pointed down at the closely written paragraphs he’d read over but not bothered to waste time copying, and then at his scribbled notes and few lines summary.

“You noted what you needed to open the Portal, but you didn’t make any notes about the Terminus.” She sounded only mildly exasperated, not as if he’d nearly killed Vanyel and himself with his mistake. “Such as how the terminus must be a familiar location to the caster. You can’t just tell it where you want to go, you have to know the place. You didn’t have a firm enough destination in mind, your mind was too chaotic, so it opened a Portal into pure Chaos and the Void.”

“I keep telling you Tylendel, magic takes control. You have to master yourself before you can hope to master magic. A mage cannot be ruled by emotions. A mage especially cannot be ruled by anger.” Savil went on, her voice coldly calm. She should be angry with him with as colossal a fuck up as this had been.

“That isn’t all.” She went on as though this were any exercise that he was being graded for his performance on. “Look carefully at the summoning spell.”

He looked at the wyrsa spell with all its complex diagrams. The central part was all right, but when he started working his way through the glyphs around the border he discovered to his shock that he’d gotten one near the edge of the page wrong. What he’d taken for just water-spots or worm-bites on the worn page edge were a series of dots and marks that were part of the closing sigil.

“I got it wrong…” He spoke dully. Even if he’d gotten there it wouldn’t have worked?

“You got it half right. The Summoning is fine. What you got wrong was the Fetters.” Her eyes bored into him. “You would have been able to Call them, but you would have had absolutely no control over the wyrsa. They would have been utterly freed to kill as much as they wanted. It would have been a slaughter. An absolute slaughter.”

He felt his breath catch in his throat. He’d only wanted to do back to Evan what he’d done to his brother, rip the bastard to shreds. And gut that smug pig Wester. He hadn’t wanted to do more than terrify the others, make the women shriek and run. Maybe hurt anyone stupid enough to raise arms against him. But he hadn’t wanted to hurt any women or children. He’d just wanted to frighten them, to teach them a lesson.

“No… I didn’t mean… oh gods…” He tried to breathe, fighting back tears. What the hell was I thinking? I could have killed them all...

“They would have very likely attacked you and Vanyel as well.” Savil went on quietly. “Wyrsa are monsters in the truest sense. Made to kill, and nothing else. Even with Fetters in place it can be hard to stop them once they’ve gone into a frenzy.”

Tylendel buried his face in his hands his throat tight with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry. I never meant that, please believe me! I thought I’d be able to control them like leashed hounds, I was just going to get Evan and Wester. I only wanted to scare the others.”

“You swear that to me?” Savil asked him quietly. “Truly?”

He looked up at her through tears. “Y-yes! I swear! Savil, I-I’m supposed to be a Herald. Heralds protect women and children, they don’t-- they don’t… oh gods… oh gods…” He sank to his knees suddenly overwhelmed with guilt and shame.

Tylendel buried his face into his knees and started sobbing as the enormity and the wrongness of what he’d been planning to do became suddenly and painfully clear to him now that he was no longer clouded by rage. He’d not just been planning bloody murder, he’d been planning to terrorize women and children. As if destroying another family could ever restore what had been shattered and lost to him.

He’d let his pain and rage consume him so much that he’d lied to his Companion. His fury had so blinded him that he had made critical and potentially deadly mistakes. Mistakes that would have ended up killing dozens of people. Innocent people, not just the ones who’d hurt him. He could have killed Vanyel, who’d done nothing wrong but to love him and do whatever he asked.

A hand on his shoulder. Savil had knelt down, gently touched him. He couldn’t look at her, he couldn’t. Tears soaked the cloth of his breeches, his hands knotted in his hair. A careful mind-touch from his teacher and he opened his mind to her immediately. He didn’t think he could get words out past the tears right now anyway.

:Savil I am so So sorry…: He didn’t wait for whatever recrimination she was going to give him, he just let spill his thoughts. :I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I had a plan, but I wasn’t thinking I was just reacting. Like you’re always warning me not to. I’m so sorry…:

:’Lendel… I have to know that you were not planning to kill all of the Leshara. The Circle, on hearing what you confessed to, are deeply, deeply concerned.: Her voice in his mind was carefully dispassionate, but he could feel her restrained anger mixed with fear beneath the surface.

:I want to support you. I love you like the son I never had. But I don’t know if I can defend you unless I know what you actually intended. Did you intend to wipe out the entire Leshara clan, branch and root? That’s what your brother would have wanted isn’t it?: Her accusation hurt, all the more because he knew deep down that it was true.

He drew in a shuddering breath as a fresh spate of tears hit him. That was what Staven would have wanted. That was what Staven had asked him to do. Get Them Back. There had been no limit placed on how many of Them he’d wanted to accompany him to the afterlife. Staven had always wanted him to destroy them all and had never understood why his little brother held such powers in his hands and never used them.

Staven had been the one who goaded him into playing tricks on people when his powers had started to manifest. Egging him on to crueler and crueler pranks. It was Staven who thought that them linking while he found out what bedding a lady was like would be funny. Would be good for him. And when his powers had exploded, Staven had taken care of him, protected him.

And he’d wanted to use him as a weapon.

He remembered the day Gala came for him, Choose him, saved him from madness and fear and a cursed existence. How the happiest day of his young life, when the darkness was pierced by a brilliant ray of light, his joy was marred by the seething jealousy he’d seen and felt from his twin as he stared at the creature that would carry his little brother far away from him forever.

:No… Savil, I… I know I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was just driven to do something! But… I only wanted to get back at the ones who hurt me directly. I know that isn’t what he wanted. I know that… that Stav wanted me to destroy them all, every one of them. That was what he’d always wanted me to do, and what I always refused to do. I couldn’t do that. Not even for him.: He shook his head slightly, fists wound tight in his forelocks.

:I know that I promised him that I’d get them back. But… I only meant to get Evan for killing Stav, and Wester, for driving our mother to suicide. I only wanted to make an example of them. I didn’t want to fight anyone else unless they tried to interfere.: He drew several shuddering breaths. :I swear I didn’t want to hurt any women or children, I just wanted to scare them. I-I realize that’s… not exactly better. But I swear the only ones I wanted to kill were Evan and Wester!:

He managed to raise his head a little, looking at his mentor through tear-blurred eyes. :He was Dying! And I couldn’t do anything to save him… all I could do was promise him whatever he wanted. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell him… I wasn’t ever going to become like Him.:

Savil looked at him with a frown of concern, reaching up a hand to brush back his hair and cup his face. :Ke’chara… What are you saying? I thought your twin protected you? I never thought I’d hear you say anything against him. You always acted like you thought he hung the moon?:

:He… he stood up for me, protected me from being cast out. He was the only one who still loved me after my powers woke fully. He took care of me… except… for when he didn’t…: He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand and took a deep breath. :He did hang the moon and the sun. He decided when it was ‘safe’ for me to leave our rooms. He decided when it was ‘safe’ to go outside. He was the one who made sure that meals were delivered to me… but sometimes he… ‘forgot’…:

Savil drew in a breath, he felt her sense of growing horror. “’Lendel… ke’chara…”

:I told you that Wester tricked our mother into killing herself just before I was Chosen.: He swallowed, even in mind-speech this was the hardest thing to get out. :But it wasn’t just before, it was over a month before Gala came for me. I was devastated by mother’s death, even though she hadn’t wanted to look at me in two years. But Staven was furious. Absolutely furious. He wanted me to use my magic to… to get revenge. To wipe out the Leshara. And I wouldn’t do it. He tried to convince me. But I wouldn’t give in.:

He felt tears sliding down his face, but couldn’t stop his final and utter betrayal of his beloved brother. :He was starting to get angry with me. Didn’t let me outside. Kept me locked in our rooms. Kept ‘forgetting’ me. I was… I was so close to breaking down and… and doing what he wanted. Gala came just in time…:

Savil’s arms closed around him, pulling him gently to her shoulder, he leaned into her shaking with silent suppressed sobs. :Gods… ke’chara… I had no idea… Was that why those first few months I kept finding you in the morning asleep in the garden curled up with Gala?:

:I was… looking at the stars… and I was… lonely…: He swallowed against the ache, the empty place in his heart that used to belong to Stav. Daring to reveal his darkest shame and renounce his twin made it hurt with new sharpness.

Savil just held him, rocking slightly while he cried against her bony velvet-covered shoulder. He’d never dared to tell her any of this before, he’d known she’d only have been on him twice as hard to distance himself from his family and especially his brother. His brother, the only one who’d still seen him as worth anything at all. Even if it was only to be a tool.

He’d never told Vanyel either, not in any of their many long late night talks or tearful confessions. He’d been too ashamed, ashamed of his lies as much as what they covered up. Not even Gala knew, he’d let her think it was his parents keeping him confined, that he missed his brother so much because they’d never been separated before.

He’d never wanted anyone to know how he’d come to dread the touch of his brother’s mind, the feeling of his disappointment in him, his sense of betrayal, his constant simmering rage. Never let any of them know that he’d never ever been truly separated from his twin until he felt him dying, felt him being inexorably torn away from him forever. When two heartbeats had become only one.

Didn’t want to admit, even to himself. That it had been a relief.

Savil held him until his sobs had stopped, held him until he started to pull away. She gave an extra little hug then let go so he could sit back. He still couldn’t meet her eyes, he stared down at his hands curled on top of his thighs. He could feel her looking at him for a long moment, then she took his face between her hands and kissed him gently on the forehead. Like when he was younger, when she was the one who comforted him after his nightmares.

Savil rose and went to her desk and took up his notes, then calmly walked over to the fireplace and carefully fed them to the flames. Watching until there was not so much as a scrap of ash left before she turned back to face him.

She looked down at him steadily. “Lancir told me to confiscate your notes. He didn’t tell me I had to give them to him.” He gulped and looked back up at her feeling a faint stirring of hope.

“I’ll tell him that I destroyed them for being too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands. Which is completely and technically true. However, I don’t think he needs to know about your poor scholarship.” She stepped closer and reached for him, he took her hands and pressed his face into them, feeling a few more tears squeezing out.

:Thank you… Savil… thank you.: He fought to keep from completely breaking down in tears again. Her hands tipped his chin up to meet her serious grey eyes.

:You are my heart-son, and I love you. I will protect you. But you have to promise me, no more secrets!: Her eyes held his until he nodded, tears still slipping unheeded down his face.

:I promise. I won’t… I won’t hide things. Not anymore. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about everything!: He buried his face in her hands for a few moments longer until she gently tugged him to his feet and gave him a square of linen.

She took the books and carefully closed them in the cabinet and re-sealed it with several new layers of protections, stronger even than the new ones on the books themselves. Then she came back and took his hands in hers and looked at him quietly for several long moments.

“I want you to know that you truly can tell me anything ‘Lendel. I will protect you to the best of my ability, but you can’t leave me in the dark anymore ke’chara. I have to know what I’m protecting you from. Is there anything else I should know about? Any more surprises in store?” Her eyes held his as he struggled not to drop his gaze.

“I… I don’t know… if- if when I… when I used Van’s energy to make the Gate. I don’t know if I did anything to him?” He looked back at her, terrified that he was digging up a nest of vipers where he was hoping for only worms. “Van thought I opened his Gifts somehow. Did I? I didn’t know that was even possible I swear!”

She squeezed his hands and gave him a slight smile. “No ke’chara. I touched his mind before the Gate blasted him and he only had receptive Mind-speech and Empathy, and those were almost certainly triggered by the Companion-bond and not anything you did.” Savil gave him something slightly resembling her usual smile. “Those are two of the most common Gifts in newly Chosen, and usually the first to wake.”

“We don’t really understand what causes Gifts to open, but it is often related to stress or threats upon the Gifted person’s life, or the life of someone they love. Vanyel’s first two Gifts might have woken on their own from the terrible stress of the Gate. Or it was bonding to Yfandes. Companions have the power to enhance and increase their Chosen’s abilities.” She gave his hands another gentle squeeze.

“I may be angry with you for getting into something you were forbidden to do, and for getting into magic that is far too advanced for you yet. But I don’t blame you for the things that happened after you lost control and everything got wildly out of hand. That wasn’t a normal Gate, it was tainted with contact with the Void. No one could have predicted the way it reacted when the lightning hit it, I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”

He nodded, he wanted to be utterly honest with her, to honor his pledge. But he also felt bound by what he had promised Vanyel he would keep quiet about. He wasn’t sure what sort of punishment there was for Power Theft, he’d not even realized how bad a thing it was when he did it, but he knew full well how wrong misuse of your Gift was. Vanyel probably had no idea how very serious that was, how much Donni was protecting him with her vow of silence. That the Circle could decide to Block his Gift if they found out he’d abused it.

“I’ve heard a few vague tales of some secret hidden school that knows how to trigger Gifts on purpose. But I’ve never heard anything that I’d call at all reliable. And after seeing what the warped Gate energies did to Vanyel, I can’t imagine how one would go about doing something like that safely.” Savil let go of his hands and settled herself wearily in her desk chair. “As far as Andrel and I have been able to figure it, when the Gate energy hit him it blew through those barely opened channels and just kept going, blowing open each channel it encountered along the way, and pushing everything to its widest extent.”

He stared at her wide-eyed in shock. Lancir had said Vanyel now had almost every Gift it was possible to have, but he’d thought he was being hyperbolic. That he maybe had some wildly high number like five or six, but all of them? And all of them powerful? Vanyel’s aura had been almost too painfully bright to look at when Tylendel had looked at him with his othersight the other day, but he’d thought that he was just getting a reaction from overusing his Gift.

“Lancir said he had every Gift it was possible to have? Was he being completely serious? Vanyel has all of them?” He asked, stunned. His Vanyel, who’d never cared anything for magic and was only bewildered by it, was now going to have to learn to control every single Gift?

Savil pressed her lips together and glanced aside a moment and sighed before she looked back up at him. “Almost every Gift. He didn’t get the Bardic Gift I’m afraid.”

Tylendel sagged against his teacher’s desk and swore, one hand twisted in his forelock, one gripping the edge of the desk as he leaned on its solid strength. His first thought was to be angry at the unfairness of it all that his love had been saddled with all these Gifts he didn’t want, while the one he wanted above all else was dangled just out of reach. His second thought, which quickly dampened the surge of anger into a chill of fear, was that Vanyel was going to be furious when he heard that.

“Ke’chara, I’ll tell him, you don’t have to. I don’t mind being the bearer of bad news.” Savil said reassuringly, reaching out to lay a gentle touch on the back of his hand clenched on the edge of the desk. He cast her a look of desperate gratitude and let go of his hair to cover her hand with his own.

“I-- I don’t want him to hate me…” He said weakly, after everything he’d done to Vanyel, all he’d suffered because of him, and still his love’s true dream was as much out of reach as ever it was.

“’Lendel, ke’chara, I won’t let him blame you for that. You took foolish, reckless risks, played with dangers you couldn’t comprehend, and got your lover hurt. But it isn’t your fault that Wild magic did this to him. We call it Wild magic because it is utterly unstable, unpredictable, and untamable. Only the Tayledras mages even attempt to work with it at all, and it can take a circle of Adepts fifty years just to cleanse one area.” He nodded. She’d been telling him stories about the elusive Hawkbrothers almost since he’d first become her student.

“Now, I was trying to tell Vanyel some about his Gifts this morning, but I don’t think he was really able to listen at the time. Healer Lyvian was right at least about that much, he was pretty well out of it. I’ll try again tomorrow after Andrel stops by.” She gave his hand a gentle squeeze before she let go and leaned back in her chair.

“It’s late, you should try and get some sleep.” She paused, looking at him with an expression of pained sympathy. “I love you ke’chara. We’ll figure this out, together. Just don’t shut me out anymore, okay?”

He nodded, trying to cram his guilt about betraying his promise as soon as it was made down with all the rest. He took her hand and kissed it, she ruffled his hair fondly and then waved the Silence spell off and the room protections open so he could let himself out.

As soon as he stepped back into the common room Vanyel fairly leapt off the sofa and flung himself into his arms, wrapping him in a tight embrace and pressing his cheek against his neck. He felt his rush of love and reassurance and he just stood for a long moment holding tight to his beloved, burying his face in his shoulder and trying to bury his guilt and shame to some deeper level inside himself where Van wouldn’t have to feel it.

I’m so incredibly lucky to have someone as wonderful as Van. He would do anything for me, he’s proven that. He really loves me, and he still loves me despite everything I’ve done to him. He should hate me for all that, instead he still wants to be with me. He would never ever hurt me. I’m the one who keeps hurting him…

“C’mon ashke, let’s go to bed.” He murmured into Vanyel’s ear. He nodded against his neck, pulling back and casting a hostile look at Savil’s closed door before turning and leading him back to their room by the hand.

Mardic and Donni followed after them, Donni carefully closing the door after herself and meeting Van’s surprised look with a raised eyebrow. “I’m already in on this. And you have to know anything I know, Mardic knows too. So, simpler all around if I’m here for the war council.”

Vanyel nodded, settling himself on the edge of the bed, Tylendel hesitantly sitting beside him as Donni took the chair and Mardic casually folded his lanky form down onto the floor. Vanyel took his hands in his and looked at him searchingly for a moment, he could feel his lover’s anxiety was nearly as great as his own.

“’Lendel… What happened in there? I felt…” Vanyel began hesitantly, glancing aside at Mardic and Donni then turning back to him. “You found out something. Something new and horrible. I… I need to know what’s happening ‘Lendel. They’re going to eventually want to question me too. I need to know how to not make anything worse.”

Tylendel looked at Vanyel, he seemed much clearer eyed than he had been since the night his Gifts were wrenched open. He was looking at him now with his silver eyes shining bright with all the intelligence they usually showed. He dropped his eyes to their joined hands, torn between his desire to protect his lover, and his fear of doing anything that would upset him.

“Did… Did she figure out why everything went so wrong?” Van asked softly when he didn’t say anything, struggling to find where he should even start, what was safe to tell.

“Yeah… I didn’t… I wasn’t focused enough, I didn’t know where I was going. So it… it opened into Nothingness.” He swallowed against his leaping fear, his shame at his failures. “And then the lightning strikes warped it, turned it into Wild magic. That’s why it took so many mages to get control of it at the end. Why we didn’t really have control of it, and why part of it escaped and hit you.”

Vanyel nodded thoughtfully, frowning slightly at the memory, he looked up at him still frowning. “But, Savil already told you that. That night, I heard her. There’s something more than that.” He looked at him until his raised his gaze nervously, meeting his lover’s eyes and glancing aside to Donni before looking back to Van.

“Tylendel. Please tell us. They’re your friends. They’re our friends. Donni has already promised to keep our secrets, if she’s in so is Mardic.” He looked over to Mardic who nodded, his dark eyes serious.

“It’s… It’s about the second spell.” He started hesitantly, looking back at Vanyel. “I… I copied it down wrong. Van- ashke… I could have… I could’ve killed you. I could’ve killed a bunch of people!” He shook his head fighting the tears trying to well up, fighting to hold the turmoil he was feeling back from his beloved. “Not just could have… If I’d actually gotten there and… and started the other spell… it would have killed everyone there.”

“What was the other spell?” Van asked him incredulously. Clearly not able to fathom what could possibly be so dangerous. “Was it something like those things that killed Stav?”

He drew in a choked breath, not just because he couldn’t really bear thinking about his brother after his confession to Savil, but also at the sudden realization that he had indeed been prepared to counter an attack of horrors with abominations of his own.

“I was going to call some things called wyrsa.” He said, trying not to flinch when Donni and Mardic both gasped. Vanyel glanced at them and then turned back to him with a bewildered look. “They’re… they’re sort of dog-like, but like if someone was crazy enough to cross a sight hound with a viper.”

Vanyel gasped and his face went pale, his hands tightened on his, clenching almost painfully hard. “I dreamed those! ‘Lendel, I saw them! The morning after the Gate, the nightmare I was having was that you had summoned these snake-dog creatures. They were as big as colts, with glowing eyes and scaly hides instead of fur, and fangs as long as your thumb! But they turned on you. They tore Gala’s belly open the way those things tore Stav apart. They killed you and they were coming for me. I tried to throw flame at them, but then Andrel threw water on me and woke me up.”

“Ashke…” He reached up a hesitant hand to Vanyel’s face, he was looking at him with a fearful and worried expression.

“That was just a dream though right? Something from the Lifebond? You know what these things look like and I picked it up from you.” Vanyel said, his eyes searching his for reassurance he couldn’t give.

“Van… I only read a description. You actually saw them.”

Vanyel shook his head in denial, biting his lip and looking over at Donni and Mardic before turning back to him. “But it was just a dream! Dreams aren’t… dreams don’t mean anything!”

Donni made a little sound and reached out to lay her hand on Vanyel’s arm. “Dreams mean something when you have Fore-sight.” She said as gently as she could while Vanyel turned to stare at her.

“What? But I don’t have that do I?” Van protested while Tylendel tried to catch Donni’s eyes over Van’s head and cast a desperate look at her begging her to stop. Vanyel looked back at him, catching him in the act of making faces at Donni and his eyes narrowed.

“'Lendel... What are you hiding from me?” Vanyel stared at him his expression hardening.

He swallowed, he was going to strangle Donni for bringing this up, he really hadn’t wanted to have to be the one to tell Vanyel the truth. “Do you remember what Savil was telling you in the garden this morning?”

“Not really, this morning was kind of a blur. I only barely remember the other healer, and seeing Yfandes. I didn’t feel like I was actually awake until after lunch.” Vanyel told him, rubbing his temple with his fingers. “I remember Savil was telling me some about Gifts. She was telling me about the types of Gifts people could have, And when we went back inside she gave me that book on magic.”

“Ashke... Savil wasn’t just telling you about other people’s Gifts… She… she was telling you about your Gifts.”

“But…” Vanyel looked back and forth between him and Donni in confusion. “She was telling me about all of them?”

“You… uhm… you have all of them.”

“What do you mean all of them? I thought she said I had Mage-gift and Mind-speech and Empathy. How do I have all of them? How is that even possible?” Vanyel shook his head slightly, a frown starting to form between his brows.

“How it’s possible I have no idea ashke. But you have a little of everything Savil says. Enough Fire-starting to set the wall on fire.” He gestured to the wall beside them. “Enough Fetching to throw me and Mardic across the room.” He went on softly, looking carefully at his beloved, trying to gauge how much this was upsetting him. He seemed awfully quiet.

“When you say I got all of the Gifts… did I really get All of them?” Vanyel asked quietly, his silver eyes piercing him suddenly with their intensity.

“Van… ashke…” Tylendel reached for his beloved but he pulled back, his expression half hopeful half pleading.

“Did I get the Bardic Gift along with all these other Gifts?” He was nearly quivering, looking into his face searchingly. Desperately seeking the answer he was hoping for.

“Van…”

“Answer me dammit!” Vanyel snarled, his voice dropping suddenly into the startlingly low growl he was capable of.

He twitched. Vanyel had never ever snapped at him like that before. He hoped that he wasn’t about to undue all the goodwill and forbearance he’d gotten from Vanyel so far for all that he’d done to him. He swallowed hard, dropping his eyes from his lover’s.

“No. No you didn’t.”

He braced himself for an explosion that didn’t come. He looked up cautiously, Vanyel was just staring off at nothing, jaw clenched, looking at the shadows beyond the bedside candle-flame. Donni and Mardic exchanged looks and probably thoughts. A speculation that was born out when Vanyel gave a snort and glanced over at Donni.

“No. It’s not very fair is it?” He said in his most scathing tone. “I’m afraid I have seen passing little fairness going around lately.” He slumped back arms folded across his chest, leaning against the pillows and curling his legs beneath him, while Donni and Mardic both looked rather surprised. As usual, it was Donni who spoke first.

“You’re going to be very strong.” Donni said quietly, pausing until Van looked up at her. “If you can pick up conversation through two sets of shields, think of what you might be able to do when you are healed. You called fire and threw two people across the room while asleep. Think of what you could be capable of with control?”

“Oh yes. How wonderful. Once it stops hurting me, I’ll be able to hurt others. I can look forward to a lovely life of being used as a weapon of destruction! I wanted to be a Bard, I wanted to create dammit!” Vanyel’s voice was low and harsh, Tylendel could feel his anger, could feel that his lover wanted to be shouting, but also didn’t want any further attention from Savil. Vanyel’s words as well as his tone of suppressed anger filled him with a feeling of sick dread mixed with terrible guilt. He well knew what it was to be only thought of for his destructive potential. Almost as well as he knew the sound of a hushed voiced that wanted to be shouting.

“There are lots of things Herald-mages do that have nothing to do with fighting.” Donni said gently, reaching out a hand to Vanyel. After a tiny pause he took it. “Mages are fantastic messengers. We can use magic to boost our own or someone else’s Mind-speech. We can send magical messages that can only be opened by one person. We make fantastic spies, we can use magic to hide and disguise. You’ve got Far-sight, you wouldn’t even have to get actually inside a place, you just need to be close enough to look around.”

“And as for fighting, you’ve been in weapons training, you know how much of fighting is really about defence. Most of a Herald-mage’s job on the battle-field is actually protecting our own troops from magical attacks. What we’re doing for you right now, holding shields over you, you’ll eventually be able to do for others. Probably a lot of others judging by how bright you glow.” Donni raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards Van and he sort of shrugged, but looked a little bit thoughtful. “You’ve read Herald Seldasen’s Tactics, right? As Herald-mages we’ll be fighting the other side’s mages and whatever monsters they can call up. We’ll be fighting magic against magic, not against sword and spear.”

“You know I was just a farmer’s son before I was Chosen.” Mardic spoke up quietly. “If I’d been called up to fight, I’d’ve just been in the regular troops. I’d probably have ended up just another body on the field.” He looked up at Vanyel, expression serious. “I know nobody really actually wants to fight. But as a Herald-mage, I actually have the chance to make a difference. A real difference. With Donni by my side, we can be a real force of change, we could turn the tide of a battle. Save our people from being slaughtered.”

Donni smiled down at her bondmate fondly before turning back to look at Vanyel. “And you won’t be doing it alone either.” She put her other hand overtop of Vanyel’s and smiled at him reassuringly. “You and ‘Lendel will be a team. No one will separate you. You’ll be working together, you’ll be partners in every way.”

Vanyel nodded and turned back to look at him, hesitantly reaching out a hand. He took it in his own and gently kissed the back. He could feel how Van already regretted snapping at him, how he was worried about him, even though Tylendel knew he utterly deserved all of his anger and more.

“I’m sorry, ‘Lendel. This is… just a lot to take in.”

“Ashke. You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I’m the one who dragged you into my mess. I’m the one who hurt you. I nearly killed you. I probably would have killed you and a bunch of other people too if I’d been able to go through with my plans!” He looked at his beloved still looking at him like he was something worth loving. “I- I think that might have been what you saw in your dream… what would have happened if the Gate had worked.”

Vanyel let go of Donni and put his other hand around his, holding him as if he was afraid he would pull away if he didn’t. “But it didn’t. And you didn’t. Ashke…” He looked at him searchingly for a moment and squeezed his hand. “You’re already going to be in enough trouble for planning to kill someone. Please don’t borrow more trouble by thinking of the worst it could have possibly gone.”

“Van… I…” He was fighting tears, he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t deserve this kindness.

“Is Savil going to tell on you?” Vanyel asked him quietly, he could feel his wariness and concern there, along with the somewhat surprising sense that his beloved didn’t entirely trust Savil to stand up for him.

“No… She destroyed my notes.” He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, dashing away the tears that kept trying to form. “She’s… she’s going to cover for me…”

Vanyel scooted closer to him, freeing a hand to cup his face. “Then you have to let her. You can’t be thinking of what might have happened or what could have happened. That doesn’t really matter right now.”

“Van’s right.” Donni said softly, casting a quick glance towards the closed door. “Just worry about what you got caught at and don’t confess to any other damn thing.”

He looked from Donni’s serious face to stolid Mardic nodding in agreement then to Vanyel’s worried silver eyes. He could feel his love for him through the touch of his hand on his cheek, his need for him, his determination to keep him at his side despite everything.

He leaned forward and kissed his beloved’s lips. So softly. “I love you.” He whispered. “I’ll be quiet.”

~~~~~

Chapter 5: The Ties That Bind

Summary:

Nightmares and Visions. Tylendel starts feeling some of the negative effects from the Power Theft. Vanyel has his first Foresight dream.

(Tylendel POV blending into Vanyel POV, then Savil POV for the rest)

Warning- For magical trauma, distressing imagery and flashbacks.

He was in a sunken overgrown moat beside an old craggy keep built of pale stone that loomed ominously behind him. Before him was an older man, blonde hair cut in a rigidly precise line across his forehead, wearing battered leather armor that looked well-worn and well-used. He paced slowly towards Tylendel with the deadly grace of a cat approaching a mouse.

“So you like striking from behind hmm? Can’t face a foe straight on can you?” He spoke in a low gruff voice and Tylendel felt his heart hammering with terror as the man glared at him with cold hatred. “It seems I have been remiss in teaching you about Honor young milord. But I think we can remedy that.” The man smiled cruelly then and he thought his heart was going to stop in his chest.

Suddenly there was a crowd of boys and young men watching them and he realized he had armor on and a sword and shield in his hands. No sooner had he realized this than the man was on him with a flurry of blows too fast to see, ending with Tylendel knocked flat on his back on the trampled grass, spots dancing before his eyes. The man forced him to rise with taunts and goads, and made him fight him again. And again he knocked Tylendel flat.

Three more times he was forced to fight this impossible force. Three more times he was flung into the dirt. The boys and young men watching made no sound, they neither cheered nor jeered this unequal fight and their eerie silence made the ringing blows against his helm and shield and his desperate gasps for breath seem all the louder.

The final time Tylendel hit the ground it was after a horrible crack like a bolt of thunder, but wet-sounding like a green branch breaking, and he could no longer even move. Something was wrong, something was very wrong with his arm, he couldn’t move it and it hurt! He turned his head to look and saw there was someone holding him down. The dark spots cleared from his eyes suddenly then and he found he was looking at a girl, a little bit older than him, who looked like a young version of Savil. He’d recognize that familiar proud nose anywhere.

“Don’t move love, your arm is broken. Both bones.” Young Savil was looking at him with her horsey face pale with worry, her high voice tight with anger. He realized she was kneeling on his hurt arm, keeping him from disturbing it as she carefully cut the straps holding the broken shield to his broken arm. And oh gods, Oh Gods! His arm wasn’t just broken it was Bent In Half! Despite how careful as she was trying to be, when Young Savil cut the last strap it jostled his arm slightly and the sudden spike of agony sent him screaming into darkness.

But it was not the welcoming darkness of unconsciousness, it was a darkness that clutched and scratched at him, tangling in his hair and clothes like brambles. Tylendel swore as he fought the clutching branches, stumbling into a brighter darkness and a coldness, blinking his eyes open to see he was in the crumbling courtyard where he’d built the Gate, standing knee-deep in weeds.

He could see Vanyel standing by the ruined cottage, testing the lintel over the door with his dagger to make sure it was solid enough to be used for the Portal. He nodded in satisfaction and sheathed the blade and turned to take Tylendel’s hands in his own. He was startled to see he was looking at not Vanyel, but rather himself. But looking nothing like the usual reflection he saw in the mirror every morning. Under the stark pitiless red light of the mage-light over his shoulder he looked taller, darker, and angrier. He looked like the older version of Staven that he’d only seen though his brother's eyes in the mirror.

“I’m going to have to force that link between us wide open for this to work.” He heard his Stav-self say. “I may be sorry it hurts you.”

He placed his hands on Tylendel’s head pressing hard, and leaned forward until their foreheads touched. Instantly he was filled with fiery rage, burning away all rational thought, leaving nothing behind but anger and terror. Stav-him turned away and raised his hands and began the incantation while Tylendel turned and copied him, helpless to stop the chanting and the casting that he desperately no longer wished to even try.

The opening filled first with angry throbbing scarlet, as waves of power were being drawn off of him, and then with a blinding flash and a sickening lurch it was suddenly filled with the hungry maw of the Void. Darkness reached out slow creeping tentacles searching and groping around for any source of energy or life they could consume.

Tylendel knelt in the tall weeds burning and freezing both at once. He felt like bands of iron wrapped his body, his chest ached, every gasped breath felt like icicles stabbing him through. The power being wrenched out of him reminding him horribly of the shared feeling of his brother’s blood and life spilling out.

He heard a familiar scream and his head whipped up terrified of what he would see.

Stav-him was holding Vanyel by the shoulders, pushing him towards the yawning emptiness of the Void as Van desperately struggled and fought against him. Tylendel held up a hand to his otherself crying out in wordless terror, unable to form even a single syllable. Stav-him turned to give him an utterly contemptuous look of disgust.

“It’s you or him.” He said and shoved Vanyel through the opening.

He was falling. He was surrounded by cold and by Darkness and fear.

He was riding. He was riding Gala through a mountain pass in winter and it was dark, but it was the normal dark of night and the stars were bright as diamonds overhead. Vanyel! He looked beside him and his beloved was there, mounted on Yfandes, keeping pace so perfectly that their Companions hoofbeats sounded like one. They were dressed in matching Whites with thick white fur cloaks against the cold.

The canyon they raced down was not in any way natural, the ground stretched out level and flat as a boulevard before them, the high walls were perfectly smooth and straight as if cut by a blade. He could feel the cruel violence of the power that had been used to carve out this canyon, how every thumb-length was cut with pain and blood.

Now they were standing at a narrowing of the pass, a place where they had worked together to pull down boulders from the cliff-top to narrow the cut pass even further, to a gap where one person could conceivably hold off an army. He was panting and sweating from the effort but felt proud of what he and Van had done. He turned to face his beloved, a little surprised to see that he was older with silver streaking all through his midnight black hair, but still so so heartbreakingly beautiful.

They clasped hands, Vanyel looking at him with his glorious silver eyes, he looked so much more mature and sure of himself. Tylendel could feel the strength in those hands and the incredible power coiled behind those beloved eyes. He felt a glorious depth of years and memories in his beloved’s gaze, as well as a strange quiet sadness.

“You have to go and get the Guard.” Vanyel told him, shaking his head when he tried to protest and laying a finger over his lips. “You know I’m the stronger of us. We’ve made a narrow point that one mage can hold, and that mage should be me. I’m the one who has the most tricks up my sleeve. And one of those tricks is You beloved. Once you’ve summoned reinforcements you can tap the node under the forest and feed me as much power as I need.”

Tylendel wanted to protest, to argue. But there wasn’t Time. He seized Vanyel by the face and kissed him farewell, trying to put all of his love and heart and passion into his lips.

He and Gala were running, running faster than they had ever gone in their lives. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Tylendel was linked with her, deeper than than he had ever gone before, he felt her body moving as if it was his own. She felt his desperation and made it hers, putting forth the greatest effort, giving him her all. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. He was somehow Fetching her and him both, sending them leaping, near as to flying as the ground disappeared beneath and behind them.

The Guard-post. Men and women in Valdemar’s blue and white running, arming themselves, forming columns and flowing out the gates. Gala was sprawled on her side in the snow, steaming, panting desperately for air. He knelt next to her, plunging his mind down deep into the earth, tapping the node. He knew Van needed him, he’d felt the battle start over an hour ago, felt the shocks of magical attacks on his beloved as if he were right there with him. Felt Vanyel fighting back, felt him burning through his vast stores of power at an alarming rate.

He could feel Vanyel reaching out for him. His life-mate was frightened, desperate. Tylendel reached back for him surely even across the distance and opened a channel of power to him. Vanyel didn’t just clasp the link he held out to him, he Clutched it. He seized the power Tylendel held out to him and Pulled, and then kept pulling. Drawing more and more, so much and so fast he was lost in rushing river of light and sparkling energy. Feeling the raw power burning his channels as he opened himself completely and gave as much of it as he could possibly give his beloved. Feeling it build higher and higher. Too high. Higher than mortal flesh could possibly bear.

Too late he realized what was happening, as light turned into agony, punching though his mind and through his heart. As that place inside him where Vanyel’s soul was entwined with his, the place that sang with music and love, suddenly burned brighter than the sun and hotter than fire. Burning his soul to ashes in its wake before it went irrevocably cold and dark. Leaving Tylendel kneeling empty, shattered and alone in the snow.

~~~~~

He was dreaming, but this was also real. Vanyel knew it in the way you just knew some things in dreams. He was riding Yfandes, leaning low over her neck as she stretched and bunched beneath him, running swiftly through the cold winter night. He looked beside him and Tylendel was there on Gala, dressed in Heraldic whites and a white fur cloak, their Companions keeping such perfect pace that their hooves rang as one on the stone. Mage-lights floated before them, blue and red, lighting the way so they could run full-out even in the moonless night.

He was hurrying towards certain death Vanyel knew. The canyon they galloped down was of black rock, surrounded by tall sheer cliffs. The tops of the cliffs were of natural jagged outcroppings, but from about ten man-heights down the walls were Unnaturally sheer. He could feel in his bones that these walls had been cut, carved out with pure power. A sick dark power that glowed a sullen angry black-red, dark as dried blood, so utterly different from the healthy living flame of his lifemate’s aura. A power he knew was drawn off of agony, suffering, and death.

They stood now together at a place where the canyon turned, he could see a natural path leading upwards and where it joined the carved trail there was a narrowing and a wall of rock from behind which there would be a certain amount of shelter from the enemies coming down the canyon. And they were coming Vanyel knew, he wasn’t sure how he knew, but he knew it as surely as he knew no one was expecting it and that his people would be utterly helpless before an overwhelming force.

He and ‘Lendel had pulled rocks down to narrow the pass further, to a place where conceivably one mage could hold back an entire army by himself. He took ‘Lendel’s hands in his feeling the love flowing between them, looked into familiar and loving brown eyes, somehow unsurprised to see that he was older now with laugh-lines around his generous mouth and silver wound through the gold of his hair.

“You have to go and get the Guard.” He told Tylendel, knowing his bondmate would protest and laying a finger over his beautiful lips to forestall it.

Vanyel shook his head sadly, stubborn until the end.“You know I’m the stronger of us. We’ve made a narrow point here that one mage can hold, and that mage should be me.” He could see the anguish in his beloved’s eyes, could feel that he wanted to argue, to fight him on this. But Tylendel knew as he did that they didn’t have the time to waste, every moment they stood here was a moment their people remained unarmed.

“I’m the one who has the most tricks up my sleeve. And one of those tricks is You love. Once you’ve summoned reinforcements you can tap the node under the forest and feed me as much power as I need.” Vanyel cupped his hands to his beloved’s face, looking into eyes that held a wealth of memories, feeling the years between them. He kissed those lips that he knew so well, trying to press into him all of his love, all of his thanks, all of his heart.

“Fly quickly my beloved. I can only do what is necessary if I know you are safe.” He kissed him again. A farewell. And an apology. Tylendel backed away, then turned and swung quickly into Gala’s saddle and they leapt off, galloping away with the speed only a Companion could manage, hooves chiming on the stone and fading away rapidly into the distance.

Now he was mounted on Yfandes back and the first ranks of soldiers were coming around the bend. They didn’t see him yet he knew because he willed it. They were dressed in a motley of black but with the same weapons and helmets and dull black shields. And they moved together as one, as though they had been trained and drilled by one even more ruthless than Jervis.

He struck the ground before the first ranks with lightning, blinding and disorienting the men who screamed and shouted and staggered back. But they quickly closed back into their ranks and set their weapons towards him and watched him warily through the eye-slits of their helms. Vanyel and Yfandes stood in the gap between tumbled rocks outlined in blue fire, he held up a hand around which coiled lightnings. A challenge and a threat.

The men parted and out stepped a mage in a black hooded robe, glowing with that same black-red sullenness that meant Blood-magic. Vanyel smiled grimly, he knew that his own power came from the living earth, and that he could always pull more from that endless pool of brilliance. The Blood-mage’s power came from torture and death, when he had spent all his coin there would be no replenishing it until he could get ahold of more victims.

The soldiers parted again and a second mage, robed like the first, stepped forth, and then a third. Vanyel’s smile faded as he contemplated his three-to-one odds. At least ‘Lendel had gotten away, his beloved would be safe. And he’d gone to get help, Vanyel’s death wouldn’t be in vain, the Guard would come, his people would be safe, Valdemar would be safe.

He felt a touch, the start of an attack from the mages, and he lashed out at it with the power coiling in his hands. But as soon as he lashed out Vanyel realized the touch wasn’t the black-red of the Blood-mages but was instead a familiar pale green.

Donni! No!! A dream, it’s just a dream, nonono...

He pulled back desperately on the energy he’d flung out, grabbing it with mental hands that burned from the touch and pulling it back into himself. Feeling all the aching burning places in his mind suddenly bloom into absolute fiery agony. He was surrounded by light and pain, Vanyel screamed, it felt like his head was going to explode like a pumpkin thrown off the roof.

The world was a spinning kaleidoscope of colored light and pain, he couldn’t feel anything except agony, he couldn’t even tell up from down or tell if he laying down or standing up. He felt like he was spinning, he was shaking, shuddering as if with terrible cold, but he was hot, hotter than fire. In his body and his mind, everything felt like burning. He felt pressure, terrible pressure. He couldn’t breathe! He thrashed in utter panic, lost in a maelstrom of pain.

Everything hurt, everything was fire. He couldn’t even remember what was happening. Why did it hurt so much? A memory, an image. The canyon of ice. Black-clad mages, three of them, with black-red power coiling around them. He was fighting for his life and losing. He struggled desperately, unable to even tell where his enemies were, unknowing of what weapons he even had left to fight with.

He felt a shock, something big and bright and right on top of him. He lashed at it desperately and it retreated. But it wasn’t the right color he realized suddenly, it was wrong. Gold and light, not a darkness that burned like hot iron. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. ‘Lendel. Where was Tylendel? Escaped. He escaped. But I’m dying. Dying alone. ‘Lendel… I’m sorry...

~~~~~

Savil jolted out of a sound sleep, shocked into wakefulness as several mental alarms shrilled their warnings at once in her mind. Her students were under magical attack and she could feel a wild surge of power coming from Vanyel’s room. She flung herself out of bed, fighting free of entangling blankets and sheets with a curse and running out her door and through the common room to see Mardic a few steps ahead of her flinging open the door to her nephew’s room.

She was greeted by what was becoming a horrifyingly common sight, Donni slumped unconscious against the wall by the door, Tylendel sprawled unconscious in the middle of the floor. Vanyel was screaming and thrashing on the bed, glowing a brilliant blue. There was a vivid new burn mark jaggedly black across the ceiling and still smoldering, everything loose in the room was swirling around wildly as if blown by a terrific wind.

Mardic immediately flung himself over Donni’s huddled form, shielding her from flying debris, Savil flung up a shield over herself and forced her way to stand over Tylendel where he lay in the middle of the room. It was like pushing against a strong headwind, the waves of power and force coming off of Vanyel battered her shields. Papers, books, and loose clothing whirled crazily around the room, flinging themselves against her shields, the walls and ceiling.

She tried to put a containment shield over Vanyel, attempted to quell his uncontrolled display of power. Her first try had little effect, it was like trying to hold onto a sandstorm, the wild twisting energy grinding away at her shields and dissolving the first one she got over him almost as soon as she made it. She quickly piled several more over top and tried to at least get the Fetching under control, using every trick she could think of to try and dampen his power without touching the utter chaos of his mind.

There was a crash from the common room but she didn’t have time to wonder what it was until Jaysen suddenly appeared at her side. “Get a shield on him dammit!” He shouted as he tried to force his way to the bedside.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?! He tears them apart as fast as I get them up!!” Savil yelled back, then went on in Mind-speech. :Don’t try to Mind-touch him! He’s caught in a nightmare and you could get pulled in.:

With Jaysen’s help she was able to get a strong enough set of shields to clamp down the worst of the energy-storm so that Jays was finally able to reach the bedside. He tried to grab Vanyel by the shoulders to shake him awake which turned out to be a big mistake. Vanyel’s body arched up suddenly under his hands and he pulsed painfully brightly, flinging Jays back and completely shredding the combined shields they had managed to get over him.

The things flying around abruptly flattened themselves against the ceiling and walls, the chair flipped over and slid away from the bed and the entire room shook. The armor-stands spilling their contents with a tumbling crash and Vanyel’s lute flinging itself off the rack to land with a sickeningly unmusical twang and crack on the floor. Savil staggered back a step under the onslaught, focusing on keeping her shields over Tylendel and trying to extend them enough to cover Jays as well.

:Sa-vil… help…: A faint familiar mind-touch, groping desperately for her, full of fear and anguish and despair. :Savil… it’s Van, he’s- Dead! Gone…:

She managed to grasp his mental hand despite the shields she was juggling. :’Lendel, no! It’s just a nightmare! I need you snap out of it Ke’chara! Vanyel isn’t gone, he’s trapped in a pain-loop and nightmare. We can’t get near him!:

She felt him stirring at her feet, pushing himself up with a sob, and then to her horror crawling out of range of her shields. Moving with blind determination towards the bed where his lover was bent taut as a bow, no longer screaming but with teeth clenched and eyes screwed tight, his entire body shuddering with every pulse of energy. The ground itself was starting to buck and shake in sympathy. The glass doors burst open letting in a rush of cold air and Yfandes, glowing the same bright blue as Vanyel. Tylendel crawled up the side of the bed and flung his arms around Vanyel, laying his head on his lover’s chest and calling his name out desperately, Yfandes reaching the bedside in a few steps and pressing her head against Vanyel’s forehead.

“Savil! Here, behind you.” Lancir called to her from the doorway.

She glanced over to him and nodded, quickly casting a mental link to him so that he could add his strength to hers. It was just enough that when Vanyel suddenly gave one last final convulsion before falling limp, they were able to handle the incredible spike of power that would have surely shattered the glass doors and flung them both senseless to the floor. As it was, the sudden abrupt stop of all force from inside the shields nearly made her stagger, and the sudden silence after the roaring made her ears ring.

Savil slowly straightened up from her reflexive crouch and took a quick stock of the situation. Tylendel was holding onto Vanyel’s limp body and sobbing uncontrollably while Yfandes nuzzled her Chosen’s dark hair, Jays was still curled on the floor unconscious, Donni was lying on her back but was awake and had a hand held to Mardic’s tearful face. And Lancir stood in the doorway, sword belted over his nightclothes, looking equal parts horrified and furious.

“What in the Nine bloody Hells was all that!?” He asked her.

“We need Healers here, now.” Savil said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “We’ve got people injured.” She turned from his outraged face to step carefully over to the bedside where Tylendel was sprawled half across Vanyel, arms wrapped around his lover and face buried into his chest. Yfandes glanced over at her with one anguished blue eye, not removing her nose from Van’s head.

She was reassured to see Vanyel was breathing, albeit shallowly, she was more afraid of what she might find or not find as she reached out a carefully guarded tendril of thought towards his mind. She sagged a little in relief to feel the complex patterns of an intact mind there, but that relief was short lived as she saw how much turmoil and distress was there. They needed Andrel as fast as possible.

She turned next to check Jaysen, he was stirring and starting to moan a little as she knelt next to him and carefully laid a hand on his left shoulder with two quick taps. “Jays it’s me. You’re safe.” He twitched slightly but then relaxed and put his hands to his head with a groan to rub his temples with a muffled curse. “How are you doing?”

“Gods, my head feels like a mule kicked it…” He groaned. She helped him sit up and lay his head on his knees, her hands on his back as she carefully smoothed out some of his ragged energy flows.

Savil turned back to where Lancir was looking incredulously around the room. At the books and clothes tossed against the furthest wall, papers fluttering in the air, the flipped chair in the corner and the way the scattered armor formed a crescent with the bed at its center. She could see several more Heralds with weapons to hand, most still in their sleep clothes, peering cautiously over his shoulders.

“’All that’ is what happens when someone with Fetching and Mage-gift looses their center.” Savil said, trying not to snarl. “He’s been too injured for me to even teach him the basics. If ‘Lendel and Yfandes hadn’t been here I don’t know what we’d have done.”

She turned to check on the Lifebonded couple. The other Lifebonded couple. “Donni, how are you doing over there?” Donni was lying in a clear circle of space, testament to Mardic’s shielding abilities, and he was holding her head in his lap and stroking her sable curls. How’d a curmudgeon like me end up riding herd over a bunch of love-struck teens…

“It hurts like fucking hell, but I’ll survive. Luckily he pulled most of it.” Donni said with a grimace putting her hands over her eyes and rubbing them.

“That was pulling most of it?” Lancir looked up at the scorch mark across the ceiling, noting the sharp bend at the end.

“He was having a nightmare, he started glowing. I tried to mind-touch him and went flying.” Donni went on, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. “I think he was dreaming he was fighting someone. I felt fear and darkness and heard him say my name and ‘no it’s a dream’ right before he hit me, and then I guess he pulled it back on himself and got all tangled up.”

Lancir looked over at Yfandes, standing in the wreckage of the room with her muzzle pressed gently but firmly against her Chosen’s head, noted the powerful shields she had over him. He turned his gaze to pass slowly around the room taking in the devastation, then he dropped his eyes to Mardic and Donni for a moment, before he turned back to Savil with his lips pressed together tight.

:This is… A Lot. Savil, I didn’t realize how… how Strong he really was.: He raised his eyebrows and gave her a slightly wide eyed look.

She fought to keep her temper from flaring up. :Yes! He really is That strong. I’m not exaggerating here. I’m not soft on him because he’s family or because he bonded to my favorite pupil. He needs Help! Serious help. I need help, and you know how I hate asking. I’m doing everything I can, but I’m really running out of ideas here!: She glanced over to the bed, ‘Lendel was still clinging to Vanyel, sobbing and holding his lover close like he was afraid he’d vanish if he let go.

Lancir’s mind-voice was carefully even. :We’re going to have to arrange for experienced mages from the circle to take turns watching over him. You can’t expect your Trainees to be able to hold him if it takes two Adepts and a Companion to get him under control when he loses it.: She nodded and looked away, she’d hoped she would be able to contain her nephew’s power on her own, but after this little outburst she was going to have to admit to needing assistance.

There was a slight furor from the common room as Andrel shoved his way through the curious onlookers to reach the door to Vanyel’s room. “That was fast, we only just sent someone-” Lancir started to say but Andrel just pushed right on past him to quickly scan the room for who needed him most.

“As soon as I felt the shaking I knew to come here.” The red-haired Healer said, he’d just thrown a robe over his nightclothes and stuffed his feet into boots and come running it seemed.

“Vanyel had another nightmare and lashed out, but then pulled the power back on himself, lost his center and lost control. Possibly drained himself down to nothing.” Savil nodded her head towards the bed where Vanyel lay pathetically limp and being cradled by his lover. Andrel gave the sight of a Companion indoors no more than a cursory glance but went straight to the bedside and gently nudged Tylendel aside so that he could sit and cup his hands over Vanyel’s temples.

Jaysen had managed to lever himself to his feet, he turned and offered her a hand up with a very subdued expression on his face. She probably could have gotten up on her own but this was not a time to be proud. Savil seized his forearm and hauled herself to her feet, he gave her arm a little squeeze before he let go. She nodded her thanks and he flashed her a weak apologetic ghost of a smile.

Savil went to the foot of the bed and wrapped a comforting arm around Tylendel’s shoulders. “It’s okay ke’chara, Andrel’s here.” He turned towards her and clung to her, burying his face against her shoulder, shaking with silent sobs.

:He’s going to die, Van’s going to die!: Tylendel mind-sent desperately since he was crying so hard he couldn’t have possibly gotten words out otherwise.

:No Ke’chara, the Healer is here. We’re going to take care of him. You were just dreaming. He’s going to be okay.: She tried to reassure him, holding onto his shaking shoulders as he sobbed brokenly into her neck.

:But he Will! Eventually he’s going to die and leave me all alone!: Tylendel’s chaotic thoughts were shaded with tones of darkest anguish.

:’Lendel, love, please calm down. Everyone does eventually die in the end I’m afraid, but nobody knows when-: She tried to reassure him but he cut her off.

:You don’t understand! He’ll send me for help, and he’ll try and fight them by himself, and he’ll Die! And I’ll be left all alone…: Tylendel pulled back slightly so he could look into her eyes, she was shocked at the depth of grief she saw there. :I was… I was there, in Vanyel’s dream. Van wasn’t Just dreaming, he has Foresight, he was dreaming the future! I only saw part of it, then he sent me away. But I felt it, Savil! I Felt him Die!!:

:’Lendel, Ke’chara, please take a deep breath and calm down. First of all, you haven’t even Got that Gift, so I don’t think that was really Foresight. That sounds more like a normal dream about being worried about the future. You might’ve taken your memory of your brother’s death and mixed it up with your worry for Vanyel.: She laid a hand against his cheek. :Who was Vanyel fighting? What did they look like?:

:I- I didn’t see them actually…: Tylendel swallowed hard a couple of times and managed to take several deep breaths, his sobs giving way to soft hiccups and shivering. :But I knew they were coming. And Van was older. He was wearing Whites and had silver all in his hair.:

:Alright then, even if it was Foresight, that would only be one Possible future. It takes time to get your Whites. It takes even more time, and working with Nodes extensively, to get silver in your hair. So even if that Was a glimpse of your future, then that is just One possible future. And one that sounds quite a ways off, anything could happen between now and then. The future isn’t something that is set in stone, it is always fluid, and even a small change can make a big difference.:

He nodded weakly and pulled away slightly, scrubbing at the tears on his face. The healers that Lancir had summoned had arrived by then, they came to the bedside as Savil gently drew Tylendel further away so that they could have room to work, it was getting a little crowded in here with all these people and a Companion. Mardic was helping Donni up and into the common room, Lancir left with them to shoo the gawkers out. Jaysen had gone over to the opened garden doors and pulled them shut so all the warmth of the room wasn’t escaping.

Dawn crept in while the healers worked over her nephew, she kept ‘Lendel occupied and out of their hair by getting him to help pick up and set to rights the things that had been flung around their room by Vanyel’s fit. Jaysen had stayed as well and was quietly picking up and racking the pieces of armor strewn across the floor. Tylendel gave a pained little cry when he went to pick up Vanyel’s lute and saw that the neck of it was clearly broken. He knelt cradling the broken lute in his arms like it was an injured animal and started sobbing again while she just held him and tried to soothe him with promises she would help him buy another if this one was unrepairable. Gods preserve me from emotional teenagers.

Jaysen gently took the broken lute away with an expression of pained sympathy and carefully laid it underneath the instrument rack while she got Tylendel calmed down a second time and got him back to his feet. When the healers finally broke out of their Healing meld and stepped away from the bed, Tylendel immediately moved to retake his place sitting on the edge of the bed with one of Vanyel’s hands tenderly held in his. She didn’t blame him for being so concerned, nightmares aside, Vanyel was terribly pale and looked about half-dead, and even after having four healers work on him he showed no signs of waking.

One of the healers, a tiny old birdlike woman with silver hair and dark eyes, paused to lay a hand atop Tylendel’s blonde curls for a moment. She cast a startled glance towards Vanyel then turned her attention back to Tylendel, closing her eyes and frowning slightly in concentration. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care, his whole attention was focused on watching his lover breathe. After a few moments she took her hand off of Tylendel’s head and cast a sharp look at the other healers before she turned and marched purposefully out to the common room.

Savil raised an eyebrow and glanced askance at Andrel, he flicked his eyes towards Tylendel then tipped his head meaningfully towards the door where he was following the other two healers as they filed out into the common room. She nodded and turned to see that Jaysen was settling himself into the righted chair at the bedside.

:Lancir said we’re going to have to get the mages to take turns guarding him, I can’t put this much on my trainees. Are you sure you’re alright to take first watch?: She mind-sent in private mode, she didn’t think Tylendel was paying much attention to anything else except Vanyel, but she didn’t want to add to his stress.

:I’m alright, I was just a little rattled. Lancir already asked me if I was up to taking first turn.: He paused and gave her a sympathetic look. :I have to admit I’m astonished by just how Strong the lad is. If I’d realized… I know I offered to help before, but Savil, if I’d Known how bad things really were, I’d have pushed you harder to let me help.:

She sighed and glanced back towards the boys, she didn’t really want to bring up to him the reasons she hadn’t wanted his help before this. :You know me, always trying to go it alone.: She only said with a depreciating half-shrug, they’d been lovers for a brief time but she’d chafed at his attempts to lay claim.

“You go on. I think Yfandes and I can hold the fort for now.” The pale blonde mage told her softly, she noted the strength of the thick golden shields he had laid carefully overtop of the Companion’s bright blue ones, and whispered her thanks before she ducked out the door.

Once in the common room she was relieved to see that Lancir had indeed banished all extraneous people and shut the door to the suite. Mardic and Donni were sitting together on a sofa and the tiny silver-haired healer was laying her hands on Donni’s head while Andrel and the other two healers argued over a teapot and several packets of herbs.

“It isn’t just about the pain, we need to sedate him, and if at all possible dull his Gifts as well!” Andrel was saying snappishly. “You saw what we’re dealing with! He has the worst Backlash I’ve ever seen, his channels are raw and burned, and he just tore it all back open again. He’s never going to be able to heal if he can’t rest!”

“You’re wanting to mix too many things at once! It’s dangerous!” The tall rangy blonde with hair like a disarrayed haystack protested.

“You’re trying to give him too much! Some of these preparations will be enhanced by the actions of the others! It could be far too easy to overdose the lad as slight as he is!” The bearded bearlike fellow grumbled with his huge arms folded stubbornly across his broad chest as he glared at Andrel.

“Andrel’s right.” The old healer had finished with Donni, stepping away from her after giving her a small reassuring pat on the shoulder. “The extent and complexity of the damage, coupled with the need to keep him from exerting any of those Gifts and hurting himself further, as well as managing the pain, will require a multi-pronged approach.”

She looked up at her larger compatriots with calm authority. “The synergistic effects will be offset by the sheer amount of pain the poor lad is in. He’d burn right through anything weaker without gaining any benefit from it, and then he’d suffer while we had to wait to be able to give him anything else.” They grumbled a bit but stepped back and let Andrel carefully spoon dried herbs into the infuser under her sharp and watchful eye.

Mardic helped Donni up and they retreated to their room to recuperate. After they were gone the silver-haired old healer perched herself bird-like on their vacated space and looked over at Savil where she’d dropped herself wearily on the opposite sofa next to the chair Lancir had claimed.

“Herald-mage Ashkevron, I have some grave concerns I’d like to bring up with you in regards to your students. Not just the one with the Backlash and magical trauma, though that is quite a shocking case. I am also very worried about the trauma to the other boy.” She spoke calmly but seriously and Savil straightened up from her slouch, trying to brace herself for whatever was coming next.

“Please call me Savil. Yes, Tylendel also had Backlash when he lost control of his Gifts and destroyed the pine grove, but that was weeks ago. We thought he’d been slowly recovering from that?”

“I’m not talking about the Backlash, he’s recovering from that well enough. I want to know if anyone realized that the lad is suffering from the loss of a Lifebond?” The healer asked worriedly, Savil could only stare at her in shocked confusion.

“What? What do you mean? His bondmate is Vanyel, the boy you were just healing!” Lancir said a little crossly, looking up at the old healer with an exasperated expression on his face.

The tiny bird-like healer shook her head stubbornly. “I’ve just scanned for injuries three different people who have Lifebonds, and Healed two of them. I know quite well what an intact bond is supposed to look like. And in the blonde boy I saw both an intact bond and a severed one! You’re damn lucky he bonded twice or else he’d be mad with grief!”

Lancir gave a short mirthless laugh at that and the old healer cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. “He rather did go a little mad when his brother died.” He said to her questioning look and shrugged when Savil shot a glare at him.

“Twin brother.” Savil amended. “He said they had a twin-bond… do you think that that could have been… a Lifebond?”

The old healer looked thoughtful. “Were they identical twins? How far apart could they still feel each other? Was it like a regular twin-bond that they outgrew as they got older?”

“No, they weren’t identical, his brother was swarthier and taller. He said he could always feel his brother, even from all the way in Haven. And the bond only got stronger as they got older. But we thought that was related to his Gifts awakening?”

“Identical twins are like two halves of a walnut, they mirror each other and some think they even share a soul. But identical twins also grow apart as they grow up and become unique individuals, the bond usually fades with time and distance. When fraternal twins share a bond it is often actually a Lifebond, especially if distance didn’t seem to matter to the bond. People tend to think of a Lifebond as being a more of a “romantic” sort of bond, but more Lifebonds happen amongst twins than among the general population.” The old healer said glancing back and forth between them. “The Companion-bond is a type of Lifebond, which is also probably doing a lot to help keep him stable. Was he very upset over being separated from his twin? Did his twin have a traumatic death? When did he lose his bondmate?”

“He was more upset about being separated then he let on… he didn’t really tell me how much he missed him, but I’ve learned more about it recently.” Savil offered a little hesitantly, glancing at Lancir out of the corner of her eye, some of this was sensitive information.

“His brother was brutally murdered.” Lancir spoke with careful evenness. “It’s under investigation, so I can’t say much about the situation, but he lost his twin over a fortnight ago.”

“Hmm, a fortnight you say? That’s odd, because he is in a high state of distress right now. I would have thought it was more recent by the amount of despair I saw in him?”

“He’s been under a great deal of stress; his brother’s death caused the fit that that gave him Backlash, then Vanyel was injured in that storm a few days ago, and they’ve both been in near-constant pain since then.” Savil shook her head slightly and rubbed her own aching forehead. “He nearly lost Van, and then had a… nightmare, I think. He told me he dreamed that Vanyel had died, and I think maybe he projected the memory of his brother’s death onto the dream so it felt very real. And Vanyel was also having a nightmare at the same time so all he was feeling through their bond was pain and fear.”

“This is steeped.” Andrel announced, taking up the cup of medicine and casting a quick glance at the old healer. She nodded and he turned towards Vanyel’s room.

“I’ll come with you, I want to… check on ‘Lendel. If you’ll excuse me?” She cast a quick glance at the old healer before she looked at Lancir.

“Go ahead, hopefully you can get him to open up to you. I need to talk with Healer Daenna about this.” He said quietly, she felt her eyebrows rise slightly, Lancir had called the head of Healers Collegium out of bed for her nephew? Perhaps he was starting to take this seriously after all.

When they went into the boys’ room Yfandes seemed a little more relaxed, though she hadn’t taken her muzzle off of her Chosen. Tylendel was still sitting on the edge of the bed holding Vanyel’s hand and looking into his face with worried concern. It reminded her of the way Vanyel had sat over Tylendel when he was in his Backlash shock. He looked up when they entered gaze flicking desperately back and forth between her and Andrel.

“H-he’s not waking up? Is-is something r-really wrong or-” He stammered looking at Andrel as he came and carefully set the cup on the bedside table.

“It’s alright, he is under a Healing sleep, that is why he won’t wake.” Andrel laid a reassuring hand on Tylendel’s shoulder. “We needed to make something for him and didn’t want him to have to hurt while it steeped.”

“But now it is ready, and I will wake him.” The healer gently tugged Tylendel to his feet so that he could take his place on the bedside. Savil wrapped her arm around Tylendel’s shoulders, both as comfort and as assurance he wouldn’t interfere with the healer’s work.

Andrel sat and gently laid his fingertips on Vanyel’s temples. After a couple of moments Vanyel stirred weakly, moaned and slowly blinked his eyes open. He looked owlishly around at the worried faces peering down at him, not seeming to notice the incongruity of his Companion being one of them.

“Vanyel.” Andrel spoke softly, waiting a moment until Vanyel focused on him. “How are you feeling? Do you know what happened?”

Vanyel blinked a few more times, brows coming together in a frown, a hand going to rub the side of his head. “It hurts. My head hurts so much. And I feel so tired… what happened? I don’t…” He gasped suddenly and tried to sit up.

“Donni! Oh gods, I hit Donni! Is she okay? Please tell me if she’s okay?!” Vanyel asked with desperate fear as Andrel caught him by the shoulders preventing him from trying to get up. “I thought she was the dark mage from my dream… I tried… I tried to pull it back, and then everything was burning and I was falling, spinning… and I couldn’t… I couldn’t… It hurts!” He fell back into the pillows with a sob, clutching at his head, the heels of his hands pressed against his eyes. Tylendel gave a choked sob and started to reach for him but Savil held onto his shoulders and gently restrained him.

“Donni’s alright, Vanyel.” Savil said trying to put as much calm reassurance as she could into her voice. “She’s got an awful headache but you took the worst of it back on yourself. The energy flowed back into your raw channels and enflamed them, and then you lost your center, that’s why you felt like everything was spinning. And you’re tired because you lost control and went into a fit like the ones Tylendel had and drained yourself to the point of collapse.”

“’Lendel! Are you… okay?” Vanyel dragged his hands away from his eyes and looked up, searching for his bondmate’s face, Tylendel immediately shrugged off her hands to kneel next to the bed and take one of Vanyel’s hands in both of his.

“Here ashke, I’m here. It’s okay, I’m okay, you’re the one who’s hurt!”

Vanyel turned towards him, wrapping his other hand around ‘Lendel’s as tears started to form in his eyes. “Beloved! I’m so sorry, I was dreaming again. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone…”

“You’re the one who sustained the most hurt Vanyel.” Andrel said gently. “And I have something here to help ease the pain, as well as some things added to it that should have a numbing effect on your Gifts. Tylendel, if you would help him sit up please?”

Tylendel helped Vanyel struggle into a sitting position, sitting behind him on the pillows, arms around him so that Vanyel could just lean back against his chest. Andrel carefully holding the cup to Vanyel’s lips when his hands trembled too much to hold the cup steady by himself.

After the first sip of it he made a grimacing face. “Ugh! That’s even worse than yesterday!”

“I know, I’m sorry. I need you to drink all of it though.” Andrel said amusedly. Vanyel took a couple of deep breaths to steel himself and managed to get the rest down in two quick gulps interspaced with horrified expressions of disgust.

“Gyah… that was foul!” He said, shuddering all over as he swallowed hard a couple of times. “But thank you. If it works half as well as it tastes bad, it should leave me not feeling any pain at all!” Vanyel managed to joke weakly as Tylendel held him close and leaned his cheek against the top of his head.

Andrel just chuckled and took the cup away, saying he’d back to see how he was doing in a little while. Yfandes had pulled back slightly while this was going on, but after the healer left she stepped forward again to lean over and nuzzle her Chosen. Vanyel reached up sort of absently to stroke her nose, then he gave a slight start and turned to look at her.

“Yfandes? What are you doing in…” He looked at her a moment in surprise, then his gaze shifted to take in the shields over him and Jaysen sitting guard in the chair, the roughly tidied room beyond, then up to follow along the twisted black line across the ceiling. He made a small whimper in the back of his throat and turned to bury his forehead against his Companion’s cheek.

“It’s not your fault ashke. You were having a nightmare.” Tylendel murmured softly holding him close, Vanyel wrapped one arm around Tylendel’s, the other curled around Yfandes’ neck as he tried not to sob.

“But it felt so real!” He cried softly.

“Can you tell me what you remember about your dream?” Savil asked him carefully, sitting on the edge of the bed. She noticed Jaysen was being uncharacteristically quiet, and looked faintly surprised, this was a side of Vanyel he had never seen before.

“It was… I was going to die. I knew, somehow in the dream, that I was going to die.” Vanyel began hesitantly, pausing to swallow and take a deep breath, as Tylendel tightened his arms around him reflexively. “There was a canyon pass in the mountains, but it was… not natural, it had been cut with magic.”

Tylendel stiffened, eyes widening slightly as Vanyel continued. “There was an army coming down the pass, and no one knew they were coming. I had to stop them. I pulled rocks down to narrow the pass-”

“I was there!” Tylendel said suddenly, cutting him off. Vanyel opened his eyes and shifted in his arms to look at his lover in surprise.

“You were… how did you know that you were in my dream?” Vanyel asked.

“I was there! In the canyon of black rock.” Tylendel said vehemently, he was looking at Vanyel intently, searchingly. “I was in your dream with you, and you sent me away!”

“I had to send you to get help!” Vanyel protested looking distressed, he took his hand off Yfandes to reach up to cup his lover’s cheek instead. But Tylendel drew back, his expression going from anguished to angry in a flash.

“I could have helped you! But you sent me away! And then you died!” He cried accusingly, while Vanyel shrank in his arms, looking at Tylendel with a wide-eyed shocked stare.

“That’s enough! Tylendel, you can’t be angry over something that only happened in a dream!” Savil cut in before things got any further out of hand. “Just because it feels real doesn’t make it real. I dreamed my boots ate my feet clean off once, and I when woke up my feet were still there. You’re Lifebonded and you have empathy, you probably just picked up on the intense feelings and images from his nightmare.”

“I-I d-didn’t actually die… in m-my dream…” Vanyel stammered weakly, staring up at Tylendel’s face though he didn’t try to reach for him. “There were b-blood-mages, three of them. I was j-just starting to fight them when Donni touched me and… I h-hit her with magic for real. And I tried to pull it back, and everything turned upside down and on fire.”

Tylendel looked deep into his eyes searchingly, raising a hesitant hand to brush his fingers over Vanyel’s cheek. “But I felt you die!” He cried softly, his anger crumpling abruptly into anguish again as he wrapped his arms tighter around Vanyel and buried his face into his neck. “I felt the emptiness…”

“’Lendel… ke’chara…” Savil reached out a hand to gently grip his arm where he was wrapped around his lover. “I think… you might have taken the memory of your brother’s death and projected it onto your nightmare of losing Vanyel. If your dreams were different-”

“They were the same! We dreamed the same dream!” Tylendel insisted looking up at her with his brown eyes dark with distress. “The canyon of black rock, cut as if with a knife! And I got the Guard and channeled Van energy and he used it to call a Final Strike!”

“’Lendel… I-I only got as far as just starting to fight the mages… and I don’t even know what a ‘Final Strike’ is!” Vanyel protested softly, but he turned to wrap his arms around his lover and lay his head against his shoulder.

“If the endings of the dreams were different, I don’t think-” She started to say but Tylendel cut her off.

“He just woke up before the end!” Tylendel cried out desperately, his arms tight around Vanyel. “Van’s got Foresight! It was a true dream! We have to figure out how to stop it from happening!”

“Alright, just calm down, lets try to look at this logically. How did the dreams start? Was the beginning the same for both of you?” Savil hoped that if they perhaps dissected Tylendel’s nightmare it might dissolve some of the terror it had inspired.

“It started with both of us riding our Companions down the canyon.” Vanyel said without lifting his head from Tylendel’s shoulder. “It was night. But we could still run because the ground was so smooth and flat, like a paved road.”

“I had… I guess I had another dream before that…” Tylendel began hesitantly. “I was beside a strange keep, and I was fighting this guy in an overgrown moat… well, it was less ‘fighting him’ and more I was just getting my ass soundly beaten by him. He kept knocking me down and making me get back up and fight him, over and over again, and the last time he knocked me down he broke my shield and the arm under it too.” Vanyel suddenly stiffened in his lover’s arms, lifting his head to give Tylendel a shocked look, but he was solely focused on his teacher. “And you were there for some reason, but you were much younger, like almost my age.”

Savil looked at her pupil, a strange suspicion starting to form in her mind. “Can you link with me? Show me what you saw in your dreams?” Tylendel nodded and reached out a mental hand to her, linking his mind to hers with the ease of familiarity and long practice.

Tylendel’s thoughts were colored with deep distress, but the images were sharp, far sharper than she was expecting from a dream, however recent it was. She was both very surprised and yet somehow not at all shocked to see a familiar sprawling old keep, built of pale local stone, looming in the background of his vision. And while the man he was fighting was not anyone she recognized, she definitely knew the type, ex-mercenary and full of himself. After the final blow landed with the horrific sound of wood and bone breaking and an explosion of bright and dark sparks of agony, the vision suddenly cleared to show a brown-haired girl who did indeed have the Ashkevron nose. But there was a certain something about the girl’s features that put her more in mind of Vanyel than herself.

“That was Forst Reach!” She said looking between Tylendel and Vanyel, Vanyel was looking at his lover with worried confusion. “Vanyel, can you tell me, do you recognize this person?” She cast a small illusion of the angry man in his worn practice armor and Vanyel twitched, letting out a startled oath.

“That’s Jervis! My father’s arms-master.” He spat angrily. “That’s the bastard that broke my arm when I was fifteen!”

Next Savil shaped the wisp of illusion to show the girl’s face looking worried and angry. “What about her, do you know who this is?”

Vanyel broke out in a fond surprised smile at the sight of the girl. “That’s Liss! My older sister Lissa. She went to foster with the Coreys.”

She let the illusion fade and just looked at the boys for a moment, noting the way they were curled into each others’ embrace. She glanced aside at Jaysen, she was sure she’d never seen him look so nonplused. At least this should convince him that they truly are Bonded. She thought wryly, though she had to admit that Vanyel with his guard down and without any of his masks was a completely different person.

“You were dreaming about me?” Vanyel asked Tylendel, looking at him as if he wasn’t quite sure whether he was pleased by this. “You were dreaming… my memories?”

“I don’t know ashke, it felt like I was myself, just… smaller? It didn’t feel like the same as when someone shares a memory via Mind-speech, you can always sort of feel the otherness of the other person in the thought-patterns.” Tylendel said a little hesitantly, raising a hand to stroke his lover’s hair back from his face. “But maybe if it was you… I wouldn’t be able to tell? I don’t know...”

Vanyel sighed and laid his head against Tylendel’s shoulder. “It’s probably something I’m doing. I-I keep like setting stuff on fire… an throwing people around… an now… now I’m giving you nightmares too…” He said rather plaintively, Tylendel hastened to reassure him.

“Ashke…” Tylendel stroked his hair, kissed the top of his head since Vanyel had his face buried in his shoulder. “You aren’t doing any of it on purpose, I know that. Everyone knows that.”

“M’sorry…” Vanyel mumbled into his lover’s shoulder, trying to burrow deeper into his embrace.

Savil reached out a hand to pat her nephew gently on the back. “It must be something from the Lifebond.” She said with careful casualness. Several other possibilities had already presented themselves to her, but she didn’t think she dared say them out loud considering current company

“I’ll b’glad when I’m finally able to shield m’self… s’embarrassing… every-everyun knowing my thoughts…” Vanyel mumbled, she noticed his speech was starting to sound a little slurred. He was also laying his head on Tylendel’s shoulder now less for comfort and more as if it was too heavy to hold up.

The door opened with barely a whisper and Andrel came back to check on Vanyel, Savil cast him a glance as she got up and stepped back to give him room, if the discussion in the other room had been half as interesting as this one he showed no sign of it, he was totally focused on his patient.

He leaned over and laid a gentle hand on Vanyel’s head. “Vanyel, it’s Healer Andrel. I came to see how you are doing now? Feeling sleepy yet?”

“M’not tired…” He protested automatically, the primal voice of every stubborn youngling that ever existed drifting out of him in less than convincing tones.

“Mhmm, of course.” Andrel said with unperturbed calm. “Why don’t you lie down for just a little while, get comfortable.” He gestured for Tylendel to help him in gently encouraging him to lay down. Which turned out to be as simple as the blonde carefully sliding out of his arms and out of the bed, and since Tylendel was the only thing holding him up Vanyel promptly crumpled into the pillows.

“Need’t… need t’tell Donni… sorry I… I din’t mean t’hurt her…” Vanyel was mumbling as Tylendel helped get him tucked in under the blankets. “Not… not s’posed… t’hit girls…”

Tylendel laughed softly and kissed him on the temple. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you beloved. And I promise I won’t tell her you said that.”

:Ke’chara…: Savil reached out a mental thread to Tylendel after casting a brief glance at Jays who was watching all of this now with a slightly bemused expression. :’Lendel, I don’t want to say this out loud in front of Jaysen… but I have a theory about what’s going on here. I’m pretty sure these dreams are related to the Power Theft.:

He glanced at her in surprise and then looked away, turning his attention back to his lover, gently stroking a hand through his dark hair spread on the pillow. :I guess I don’t understand how it’s so different from sharing power? We share energy all the time, you’ve been Trying to teach Mardic and Donni to meld and share their power? What exactly makes what I did so different?:

:Because sharing is done consciously, the person sending the power has control over it, they can shape it, and more importantly they can cleanse it first.: Savil told him, wishing she’d had a chance to explain this before it actually happened. But she’d never dreamed it would be something that would come up with Heraldic trainees. :Power Theft isn’t just forbidden for being unethical, it is also unsafe. Taking someone’s life-energy also means taking some of their life-experiences. The power hadn’t been properly cleansed of the memories and emotions and pieces of personality attached, so when you took his energy and made it your own, all the pieces of personality and memory in that energy got confused and blended in with your own memories.:

“He’s good and asleep now.” Andrel whispered as he gently caught Tylendel’s arm and started to lead him away from the bedside. “We should let him rest.” Tylendel nodded reluctantly and allowed himself to be led towards the door.

Yfandes turned away from her careful watch over her Chosen and looked at Tylendel who stumbled and turned shocked eyes towards his lover’s Companion. After a moment of gazing into her eyes he nodded and went to open the garden doors for her. She paused to brush her nose across his cheek and he reached up to shyly stroke her neck before she turned and picked her way daintily outside to the garden where she went to a sunny patch and folded herself down into the grass in case Vanyel needed her again.

Tylendel carefully shut the doors to the garden and turned to catch Jaysen’s blue eyes looking at him in shock. “Yfandes asked me to tell you she will be close by in case Van wakes up, but she doesn’t think he could project past the end of his nose right now.” Jaysen just nodded, looking more than a little stunned but also thoughtful. Savil hoped this would be the final nail in any doubt he might be harboring, Companions didn’t talk to anybody but their Chosen… or their Chosen’s lifebonded.

Tylendel followed her and Andrel out into the common room where Lancir and Healer Daenna were still sitting in quiet discussion, though the other two healers had left at least. She felt her protegee brush his mind against hers and she laid a hand on his shoulder and opened her shields to him as she gently steered him towards the couch while Andrel claimed the other chair.

:I… had another dream… between the memory-dream and the Foresight dream. Another memory-dream… I think?: Tylendel had his eyes fixed firmly on the floor as he slumped into the padded couch and she sat next to him, keeping her hand on his shoulder. :I saw the night of the Gate… but from Van’s eyes. I saw how I looked to him… and… I barely recognized myself! I was… terrifying… I thought it was… I thought it was Stav…: She felt the shame behind those words as he wrapped his arms around himself, she gave his shoulder a squeeze.

:But then it was different. I was suddenly myself, And I was also seeing Vanyel at the same time. And it was nightmarish and awful. Van got… the Void got him. I Felt him falling into Nothingness.: He shivered slightly, she felt the echos of his fear and loss coloring his thoughts. :Then the dream changed to the Foresight dream and we were running down the canyon.:

:’Lendel… I really think that this sounds like you were getting Vanyel’s memories mixed up with yours from the Power Theft.: She glanced aside at Lancir and the old healer, they had fallen silent and were watching them closely. They were both Empaths so they were probably acutely aware of Tylendel’s distress.

:But the Foresight dream…: He protested weakly, burying his face in his hands.

:Vanyel is the one with Foresight, not you Ke’chara. You may have been in part of his dream, but after he woke up, I think you went on dreaming on your own, and put your own fears and memories into the dream.: She shifted to wrap her arm around his shoulders and give him an encouraging hug. :I think this is something you need to talk to Lancir about, he Is a Mind-healer, his job is to help us keep our heads on the level. And he might know more about Foresight than I do, I admit it is the Gift I know least about. Do you think you can tell him about this? I can help you.:

Tylendel took a deep breath and let it out in a shuddering sigh. :I’ll… I’ll try…:

~~~~~

Chapter 6: Thicker Than Blood

Summary:

Lissa shows up ready to defend her favourite brother. Withen comes to try and take Vanyel home. Gets told.

This chapter contains Extra Douchey Withen, but to make up for it we also have Lissa Being Awesome.

Warning: For Homophobia (canon-typical) and Homophobic slur (a very antiquated one).

(Tylendel POV, then Vanyel POV, ending with Savil POV)

The next few days passed in a strange blur, a mixture of moments of emotional intensity spiking through long stretches of worried watchful boredom. Vanyel was scarcely conscious for more than a candle-mark at a time, only long enough to coax some food or more medicine into him before he fell back into his deeply drugged sleep. Tylendel had overheard the healers one morning talking about the medicines they were giving him, he didn’t know herbs from dandelions, but he did know what argonel was and his blood had run cold to hear that they were giving something that strong and that dangerous to his beloved.

He hated, absolutely hated seeing Vanyel this way. Laying so utterly slack and near lifeless in their bed, in his brief bouts of semi-wakefulness he sat swaying, his eyes glassy and blank. Worse was how he could barely feel his lover even when he was sitting right beside him. He could still feel their bond, feel his life thrumming on the other end anchoring him, but there was barely any presence there. None of his sharp wit and clever humor, no quicksilver emotion, no feeling of his love reaching back for him.

There wasn’t even any pain anymore. Tylendel knew he should just be grateful the healers drugs had finally delivered his beloved to a place beyond his constant agony, but that pain that not even the Workroom shields could block out had been at least a constant reminder that Vanyel still lived. He kept waking in the night to check that his beloved was still beside him, still breathed. His borrowed memories confused and blending with his nightmares, poisonously whispering to him that Van was gone, he was alone.

He was talking with Lancir everyday for an hour or more in the Workroom, and that was helping. Every session was an emotionally wringing ordeal, starting with the first one the morning of Vanyel’s fit. Healer Daenna had sat in on that one and gently and carefully explained to him how twin-bonds worked and that his bond with his twin had been in fact a Lifebond. It took a moment while he sat blinking for her words to sink in. Lifebond?

It had taken him a long moment to realize that his shock had less to do with the revelation of something he’d wondered at himself with the way his bond with Van felt the same as the one with Stav, but with the fact that his brother had hurt him and hadn’t seemed to ever care. He wanted to die every time he thought about how much he’d hurt Vanyel. But that his own brother, his twin, his otherself, his first bondmate, could hurt him without feeling anything filled him with sick betrayal. He would have willingly died for Stav if he had asked him to, but he didn’t want to kill for him, and that just wasn’t good enough.

Never good enough. Always second-best. Always in his brother’s shadow, and him utterly confident that Tylendel would always be right there behind him, obediently following him everywhere. He’d thought that Staven was everything, and after the rest of the family turned on him he was everything. But to Staven, Tylendel had just been an extension of himself, and he’d been as angry with him when he refused to use his powers on his behalf as if his own arm had refused to obey his commands. Shame and guilt and long habit made him shy away from examining his darkest thoughts too closely.

But Lancir caught those dark shadows and dragged them out into the light. Let him rage and weep and declare he was renouncing his family name, that Vanyel was the only family he needed. Waited until he’d calmed enough to listen again, before carefully and patiently explaining that he’d been both bonded and an empath, completely untrained and unshielded, that he had truly been feeling everything twice as much. And that Staven had been a child given adult responsibilities, with no time to mourn his very real losses, that he’d probably shut himself off from his emotions as a defence response.

That thought had plunged him into another spiral of guilt. That he’d had Gala to come save him, and he just left, abandoned Stav to deal with all of that alone. Tylendel knew if Yfandes had carried Vanyel far away from him he would have been furious and heartbroken, it was no wonder his twin had been slowly filling up with poisonous rage while his life was perfect. Lancir didn’t let him leave the Workroom until he’d at least put his feet on the path out of that spiral, he still wasn’t entirely convinced that he wasn’t responsible for his twin’s decent into madness, but Lancir had at least gotten him to see that there was nothing he could have done. He’d borne his brother’s rages and long silences, endlessly offered him his love and support, and it was never going to be enough when what Stav had wanted most was for him to betray his conscience and everything that he believed in.

He didn’t know what he would have done without Gala’s steadying presence keeping him grounded. She reassured him that he didn’t abandon his brother, that she was the one who was wholly responsible for taking him away. That he couldn’t have stayed where he was, that he needed the help and training that he only could have gotten at Haven. She had looked at him sorrowfully and told him she had seen the darkness in his twin when she came for him, saw how it was wrapped around him. That she’d truly thought once she carried him off that he’d be safe, and she blamed herself for not noticing that his brother's shadow still clung to him. He’d sobbed against her neck until he couldn’t even cry anymore and then just lain against her side feeling her deep love washing over him easing the ache in his soul until his worry for Vanyel goaded him back inside.

The next day Savil sat in on the session with Lancir and they talked about the Power Theft and about his blended memories and nightmares. He’d had a horribly restless night full of fitful dreams; the memory of Vanyel/him getting their arm bent in half, the hideous crack of all his hopes and dreams being broken; the Gate memory-dream and the terrifying monster he had become consumed by his brother’s rage, Van falling away from him screaming into Nothingness; the Foresight dream, Vanyel making him leave, making Tylendel abandon him, then feeling him dying alone and afraid, feeling their bond shatter. He dreamed of Staven too. His rage-twisted face screaming at him, feeling the seething jealousy and seeing his hurt and betrayed expression turning icy as he climbed into Gala’s saddle. Hundreds of razor teeth and claws tearing him apart, hearing him screaming his name as he died, begging him to help him.

Every time he woke he stared at Vanyel’s sleeping face until his gritty eyes couldn’t stay open anymore, falling back into dreams that began to meld together into an unending parade of loss. Herald Kilchas had been keeping watch that night, saying as the resident night-owl he was best suited to staying up all night. After the third time Tylendel had woken gasping from his nightmares to anxiously check that Vanyel was still beside him, the gruff old goat had reached into a hidden pocket in his doublet and silently offered him a silver flask.

He told Lancir about his nightmares, leaving nothing out. Told him about the parts he was pretty sure were memory, the parts he thought were dreams, and the Foresight dream. That they were all blending together into one horrible nightmare in his mind. Lancir reiterated what Savil had told him about Power Theft, that he’d unwittingly absorbed some of Vanyel’s essence when he’d taken his energy, that he truly would be unable to tell whether something had come from his own memories or his lover’s. That their Lifebond was complicating things because there was already so little separation between them. That mages who committed Power Theft usually did so against strangers they never saw again, they could sense the foreignness of the memories, but since Vanyel was so close to him there was no perception of difference or strangeness.

He pressed Lancir on the Foresight dream, trying to impress on him how real it was, that they had to figure out how to stop it from happening. Frustratingly Lancir agreed with Savil that only the first half of his dream had been sharing Vanyel’s vision, and after that he’d gone on dreaming his own guilt and fears and memories. Even more frustrating the Queen’s Own Herald sat and detailed out every logical reason why the second half of the dream had been entirely of his own making. That not even a Lifebond could give him control of one of Vanyel’s gifts, the true vision had ended when Vanyel had woken up. That his dream of leaving Vanyel in the canyon to fight alone mirrored his memory of leaving Staven behind, both times Gala carried him away from his bondmate. His dream of Vanyel dying alone, crying out for his help, mirrored his memory of Staven doing the same. Lancir had looked at him very gravely and told him that Tylendel knew, as few living did, what having a soul-bond shatter felt like. It was natural to project that fear, that memory onto losing Vanyel, especially when he came so close to it being a reality.

He’d fought back his tears enough to finally have the wit to ask how Foresight worked, whether there was anything they could do to control it. Hating himself that he’d somehow forgotten to ask these very important questions yesterday, when the vision had just happened. He’d been so distracted with the revelation that his twin-bond had been a damn lifebond, so selfishly absorbed in his shock of finding out how thoroughly his brother had betrayed him, how little he’d ever truly mattered to him, that he had somehow forgotten that Vanyel’s life was in danger. His brother didn’t matter anymore, only Vanyel mattered.

It was thoroughly disheartening to learn no one controlled a Foresight gift, that visions were like cats that showed up when they felt like it and not when it was convenient. That the only measure of the ‘power’ of that gift was the strength and clarity of the visions, and whether the Foreseer only had them while asleep or whether visions could strike them while awake. Even worse, to find out that it was a very rare gift, and they didn’t have anyone with the gift of Foresight among the current Heralds. That the last Foreseer had died nearly a decade ago.

When he wasn’t in a mind-healing session with Lancir, or recovering afterwords in the garden with Gala, he was sitting at the bedside watching his lover breathe. It felt unbearably lonely not being able sense him, Savil had tried to get him to go into the common-room and do other things to distract himself but being that far from Van when he couldn’t really feel him only made him more anxious. Gala did her best to keep him soothed, and with Vanyel as heavily drugged as he was he could mind-speak her freely without hurting his bondmate, which helped a great deal.

And surprisingly Yfandes was also talking to him. He’d been more than a little stunned the first time when she asked him to open the door for her after Vanyel’s magical fit, but sort of assumed it counted as an emergency situation. Now whenever he carried his lifebonded’s unconscious form outside for his regular bonding-time with his Companion she talked with him, he was both flattered and grateful. He remembered her guarded look that very first morning in the garden when she was unsure of him, but perhaps seeing how much he truly cared for her Chosen, how Andrel and Savil had to basically drag him physically away from Vanyel’s bedside, had apparently softened her attitude towards him a little. She told him it also distressed her terribly to not be able to sense Vanyel unless she was touching him, and she hated it as much as him to see him this way.

There were healers constantly in and out, seemingly the entire Healers Collegium, but since none of them could seem to do anything he didn’t pay much attention to them. Until the third day when one laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and casually asked how he was and he promptly broke down in ugly sobs, eventually managing to choke out that not being able to feel his bondmate was making his nightmares of losing him worse. This inflamed the argument between the healers that had been raging unnoticed by him for days about how heavily drugged Van was, with the mind-healer now also arguing vehemently that if his Lifebonded couldn’t feel him than it was too much.

Eventually Healer Daenna came in and settled it, and to his immense relief declared a lessening of the heaviest sedatives to be balanced by an increase of the gift-numbing drugs. She agreed to keeping Vanyel drugged to the eyebrows at night since it was his nightmares that were causing him to re-inflame his burned channels, but she decided that they would try lessening the sedatives during the day since she was also concerned about loss of condition with Van sleeping constantly. He didn’t get much of a chance to thank her because the mind-healer pulled him aside to the Workroom for a truly grueling session focused on his grief and guilt that left him so wrung out and exhausted afterwords that he could do nothing but crawl into bed to curl around his beloved, to drained to even think.

But the next morning when Tylendel woke Van to feed him breakfast his beloved actually looked at him, saw him and smiled at him. He thought his heart would burst with joy feeling that gentle rush of love and recognition he’d so desperately missed. It was like sunshine, like air, he couldn’t live without it. His lifemate felt very vague and sort of fuzzy, and he couldn’t focus on anything for longer than a moment or two, but he was awake and he could finally feel Van again. Yfandes was also delighted when he carried Van out to the garden, to have her Chosen aware enough to gently stroke her neck and mumble her name lovingly. Even though he fell asleep shortly thereafter Yfandes reassured him it wasn’t as deep a sleep and she could still feel more of his thoughts than she had before. When he woke Van back up for lunch his lover reached up a hand to cup his face and murmur his name with such love and heart-stopping sweetness that he nearly broke down crying again.

Vanyel even managed to stay awake until supper, and each hour that passed it seemed he could feel more of his presence, feel his mind slowly drifting towards clarity, like watching a thick mist slowly evaporate. It was almost comical when Van was able to focus enough to notice the black lightning-mark across the ceiling and suddenly remembered the fit he’d had and insisted Tylendel immediately go find Donni so that he could apologize for hurting her. As he’d predicted she of course forgave him instantly and was far more concerned with how hurt Van was. As he’d promised, he refrained from mentioning Vanyel’s drug-induced comment about ‘not hitting girls’. Privately he suspected Donni would just think that it was adorably quaint, but only coming from Van, anyone else who tried to say that would get punched.

When Andrel brought the evening dose of medicine for Vanyel he was actually aware enough to give it a sour look and complain that he only just got the point of being able to string two thoughts together. Andrel chuckled a little and told him tomorrow would be better, that they were cutting down on the strongest things since he’d gone so long without incident. Tylendel was surprised when the red-haired healer turned to him next and offered to mix him up something to help him sleep as well since the mind-healer was concerned about how little sleep he’d been getting. He wanted to refuse, afraid to be unready in case anything happened in the night, but it occurred to him that he couldn’t help Van if he was so exhausted he couldn’t think. And considering how Vanyel had choked down countless potions with minimal protest, he couldn’t really do any less. He ducked his head and sheepishly admitted that he would really appreciate that. When Andrel went into the other room to make up his sleep draught, Kilchas who was on guard again that night chuckled and thanked him for accepting the healer’s help, remarking slyly that the stuff he’d shared from his flask was damned expensive.

He slept deeply and dreamlessly and Vanyel actually woke before him, when he opened his eyes blinking against the morning light the first thing he saw was Vanyel’s face inches from his, awake and looking at him expectantly. His silver eyes bright with intelligence and awareness, he smiled so beautifully at him when he opened his eyes and smiled back dazedly. Vanyel whispered good morning and leaned forward slightly to kiss his lips, he could feel his love washing over him, his quiet delight in being the first one awake. The pain was also back, but it was nothing to being able to feel Vanyel really there again.

It was midmorning and Tylendel had been tasked with tidying up the common-room, he suspected it was so that Savil could talk to Vanyel alone, but since he could properly feel his lifemate again he didn’t mind it so much. The Healers had already left and Jaysen wasn’t due for another hour, so Tylendel was startled by a firm knock at the door. He went to answer it and was very surprised to see looking back at him the girl from his shared dreams with Vanyel. She was wearing riding leathers and her brown hair was windblown and escaping its braid, she looked dusty and tired but determined.

She looked at him with a cool and distant expression that was altogether familiar and he spoke before she could even open her mouth. “Liss! You’re Lissa, Vanyel’s sister!” Her brown eyes widened in surprise, they’d been grey in his dream. “Van will be so happy to see you!” Without thinking he reached out and hugged her tight, stopping and letting go abruptly when she stiffened in his arms and pulled back radiating shock.

“Who… who are you?” She asked him with a very puzzled frown on her confusingly familiar unfamiliar face.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. I’m Tylendel.” He said, offering what he hoped was a charming smile.

“You’re Tylendel? Tylendel Frelennye?” Her expression darkened and the slight frown became a true scowl, he felt the shift in her from worry and confusion to wariness and a fierce protective anger starting to uncoil but being held carefully in check.

He held up a placating hand and tried to put on his most earnest and calming voice. “Things aren’t like you think, Van couldn’t tell you, but it’s…” He trailed off and glanced aside, suddenly noticing the Palace servant standing unobtrusively behind and to one side holding her packs. “I have a lot to explain. And… there’s been… an accident. Van’s been hurt.”

She took a deep breath and a half-step forward, her anger lost under a sudden spike of worry and concern. “I need to see him!” She demanded, glaring at him as if daring him to try and stop her.

“Of course! Please come in, your aunt Savil is here, she can help explain everything.” He waved her gallantly into the suite and took her bags from the servant with a quiet word of thanks, pushing the door shut with his hip.

He laid her bags next to the sofa and gestured her to follow him to his and Vanyel’s bedroom. “I assume you’d like to see him right away and we’ll explain things as we go?” She nodded eagerly and followed him radiating intense worry. “You’re in luck, the Healers just left and they’re trying to give him fewer drugs so he should be a lot more lucid today.” He realized belatedly how uncomforting that statement was when he felt her anxiety spiking even higher and she nearly stepped on his heels she followed him so closely.

He opened the door and smiled to see Vanyel was indeed sitting up and awake, talking quietly with Savil. They paused their soft conversation and looked up as he entered. “Van-ashke, you’ve got a visitor!” He moved aside so Lissa could step into the room and Van’s face lit up with surprised delight when he saw his sister.

“Liss!” He exclaimed and held out his hands to her, she about flew to the bedside and sat for a second holding his hands and looking at him searchingly before she wrapped him in a careful hug.

“I’ve missed you so much! I can’t believe you’re here!” Vanyel hugged Lissa tight, burying his face against her shoulder uncaring that she was sweaty and dusty and must have been riding since dawn or possibly earlier.

She pulled back to look at him again, her face full of worry. “Gods Van, you look like hell. What in the world has been going on here? What’s happened to you?” She glanced over her shoulder at Tylendel then back to her brother. “This one says he’s Tylendel, and he seems to know a lot more about me than I do about him. He said you’d been in an accident? What’s going on, are you… are you alright here? You said in your letter, but…” She looked over at Savil sitting in the chair, noticing her for the first time, she stared at her with surprise then dawning recognition. “You must be my aunt Savil, you’ve got the nose.”

Savil just gave a rich chuckle and smiled amusedly at the girl with the exact same nose. “Yes, I’m your aunt Savil. Herald-mage Ashkevron at your service.” She gave a slight bow from her chair and beckoned her student to her side. “Trainee Tylendel is my protegee, and he feels like he knows you already from having seen you in Vanyel’s dreams.” Lissa’s eyebrows rose and she looked at him with slightly suspicious curiosity as he came and wedged himself between the chair and the bed. “As to why he has been sharing Vanyel’s dreams… I think perhaps Vanyel should be the one to explain that part.”

Lissa looked expectantly at Vanyel and he bit his lip before looking up at her sort of nervously. “Liss, he’s… we’re… um, I love him! And he loves me, and we’re lovers.” He was starting to blush a bit and was looking at her anxiously like he was a little afraid she wouldn’t approve. “We pretended to dislike each other so no one would suspect, so Father wouldn’t suspect. But, we’re together. Together forever!”

Liss looked at Vanyel with her mouth falling slightly open as Tylendel sidled closer to the head of the bed so he could take one of Van’s hands in his. Vanyel reaching for his hand blindly, taking it and gripping it tightly. She looked up at him and then back at her brother, a sudden grin breaking out over her face. “Really? Van… that’s, that’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you.”

He felt an incredible surge of relief from Vanyel, and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, he really really cares what his sister thinks. The siblings hugged again, Vanyel with only one arm as he was still holding tight to his hand. Lissa pulled back to grin at Van again then turned to look up at him, still smiling but her gaze gone cool and appraising.

“You better be good for my brother.” Lissa said lightly, but there was steel under her voice, the same steel he heard in Savil’s voice when she told him he’d better behave.

He tried to keep his tremendous guilt off his face. “I’m trying to be.” He said softly, bending down to place a gentle kiss on Vanyel’s hand in his. This made Vanyel start blushing harder though he didn’t try to pull away, Lissa just grinned hugely watching her brother suddenly acting like a shy maiden and Savil groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Lord and Lady, don’t get them started. They are absolutely smitten with each other, so you needn’t worry on that front.” Savil said in very long-suffering tones. Lissa chuckled in such a Savil-like manner it made him stare at her a little startled and have to fight back a smile, while Van turned even pinker and looked away for a moment until he got his blushing under control.

“Liss, I’m so glad to see you, really I am. But what are you doing here? You… you didn’t run away from the Corey’s did you?” Vanyel asked, looking at his sister with as much worry as love.

“No, don’t worry, I got Trevor’s permission to come here.” Lissa began but then hesitated and glanced over at Savil quickly before looking back to her brother with a question in her eyes.

“It’s okay Liss, Savil knows all about what sort of trouble we’ve been in. She’s on our side, she’s helping us, she’s protecting us. Please, I need to know what you heard. How… bad the rumors are and how fast they’ve traveled.” Vanyel said earnestly reaching out his other hand to take his sister’s. Lissa took Van’s hand and held it tight and looked at him for a moment searchingly, she turned a harder version of that look on him and he tried to meet her gaze steadily.

“You know I wrote to you as soon as heard about the fight you had with Tylendel. And you wrote me back a very brief, and not at all reassuring assurance that everything was fine.” She began after turning back to look at her brother. “I asked the girls that had sisters or cousins at Court to keep me updated of any rumors relating to you. I heard… that after the public fight, that Tylendel secretly tried to kill you with magic. That he leveled a whole forest trying to get to you.” Lissa glanced aside at him a little nervously before she went on. “And that he’d been placed under House Arrest for being possibly insane, and that no one had seen you in weeks, and that he’d either killed you or at least hurt you very badly and the Heralds were trying to cover it up.”

Savil swore softly, Tylendel glanced sideways at her with his lips pressed together tight. It wasn’t so much the slander against him or the mistruths and outright lies, it was that they were all carefully designed to cast doubt and suspicion on the Heralds.

Lissa hesitated a moment looking between them and paused with her eyes on Savil. “I told Lord Trevor that I had a family emergency, that my brother had been hurt and that I had to go to Haven as quickly as possible.” She bit her lip nervously and went on. “I didn’t actually tell him that I had been told by a family member that I needed to go… but I sort of said some things that would have given him that impression.”

“Your brother has been hurt. And I am your aunt, and I am quite glad you have come.” Savil said leaning forward in her chair to lay a hand reassuringly on her niece's arm, though Tylendel could tell she was angry, it was just not at Lissa. “I shall write him immediately to assure him that you arrived safely, and to thank him for being so understanding of the importance of family and for sending you so promptly.”

She sagged a little in relief and turned back to her brother, he was also casting a look of undying gratitude at Savil. “So, what has been going on? How were you hurt?” Unspoken but hanging in the air were the words this time.

“It’s sort of a long story and… complicated.” Vanyel began hesitantly glancing quickly over to Savil and then up to meet his eyes, and he realized feeling his lover’s sudden worry that Van was hesitant to say anything that might seem damning of him. Oh Ashke, I don’t deserve you…

He gave Vanyel’s hand a reassuring squeeze and prepared himself to face the wrath of his lover’s big sister. “It’s mostly my fault.” Tylendel said quietly as her cool suspicious glances turned into a steady icy glare as sharp as the point of a dagger. “I got him involved in my family’s feud. I got him involved in… my plot for vengeance for… my brother’s death.” He paused to take a deep breath, finding it a little easier to get out if he didn’t say his name. “I tried to use a spell that was too advanced for me, and it… it went wrong. Very very wrong. And Van got caught in the blast.” Lissa stared at him hard for a long moment, he tried to hold her gaze and not cringe away to crawl under the rug and hide with shame.

“Some of it wasn’t your fault.” Van, bless him, offered hesitantly. “Lightning struck the Gate and warped it, it wasn’t supposed to explode like that.”

“Lightning?!” Lissa asked incredulously, turning back to look intently at Van. She reached up a hand to gently touch the threads of silver that streaked his temples now. “It that what did… this?”

Van nodded carefully, reaching up to clasp her hand. “Yeah it did. And… Liss, I uhm… I also have magic now?” He offered tentatively and tipped his head in the direction of the burned wall. She took in the scorch marks that went from the bed to nearly the moulding, eyes traveling up the wall and then following the jagged black line across the ceiling before she dropped her gaze back down to look at her brother sort of wide-eyed.

:Chosen? We’re here… what’s going on?: Gala sent to him, he could feel her concern, she must have felt his spike of worry and shame, though it was also the usual time that Van would spend in the garden bonding with Yfandes. He sent back a wave of reassurance and a flash of the shared memory-dream showing Lissa’s face and that she was sitting here now.

“The ladies are here.” He commented softly giving his lover’s hand a little squeeze. Van turned to glance towards to garden doors, smiling brightly to see the Companions peering curiously through the glass at them. He turned back to his sister with a broad delighted grin on his face, letting go of his hand to take both of hers in his.

“Oh Liss, you have to come meet Yfandes!” Vanyel said excitedly as Lissa gave first a confused glance to see horses looking in the window, then a startled double-take as she realized those were not horses. She stared at her brother in even greater surprise.

“Liss I’ve… I’ve been Chosen! I’m going to be a Herald, a Herald-mage like aunt Savil. Like ‘Lendel. Father can’t… he can’t take me away now. I’m safe, I’m finally safe from him.” Van was smiling so beautifully, with such happiness, but there were also tears threatening to form in the corners of his eyes. Liss reached her hand to cup his face, her eyes blazing with fierce love.

“Van, oh Van! That’s… that’s wonderful! I’m so glad!” She smiled at him though her eyes also looked suspiciously bright and she reached out to hug him again. Vanyel hugged his sister tight, burying his face against her shoulder, Lissa resting her cheek against his head as a tear escaped her eye to fall on his silky black hair. Tylendel glanced away, wishing he could give them a little privacy, but unwilling to step away from Van’s side for even a moment.

When they pulled back apart, both of them were wiping at their damp eyes. Lissa gave her brother a fond smile, then turned a more serious look back at him, a contemplative look. “Did Van ever tell you about how they broke his arm?” She asked harshly. Angry still, but not quite at him so much anymore.

“I dreamed it.” Tylendel told her, letting her see some of his own intense anger at those who’d hurt his beloved. “I was in his memory, I saw everything from his eyes. I felt what he felt. That’s how I recognized you, I saw you there, saw how you helped him.” He paused a moment and tipped his head a little, offering her a hesitant smile. “That’s why I unthinkingly hugged you, I’ve felt how much he loves you and… I guess I sorta forgot for a moment that you’ve never actually met me.”

“You know, I came here ready to knock your head in if it was necessary.” Liss said with a slightly feral smile that said that option could still be on the table. “I’m glad to find it’s not. As long as you’re really serious about my brother, as long as you never hurt him…”

“I’m serious.” He promised, taking Vanyel’s hand in both of his, looking deep into his beloved’s eyes. “I’ve never been serious about anything in my life before Van. He is everything to me.”

~~~~~

Vanyel was incredibly happy even in spite of the throbbing ache in his head that only the healers strongest drugs could seem to touch. He was glad they were trying a different set of medications that let him remain conscious, he’d been shocked to find out he’d spent three days sleeping and didn’t remember a moment of it. He was especially glad that today they had decided to drastically cut down on at least the strongest pain-dulling medicines. He’d lied to Andrel about how much it hurt, he was more than willing to trade being in pain for having full possession of his wits. He would have hated for his sister to see him drooling and slurring worse than a drunk.

Lissa. Liss was here. He could scarcely believe it.

He was just so incredibly happy to see his sister, to know that she’d come rushing to his side once again, ready to defend him against anyone she thought a threat. He was nearly beside himself with joy that she was happy for him and ‘Lendel, that she approved of ‘Lendel, despite her earlier concerns that he was what her little brother needed defending from. And that Savil liked her, had immediately offered to cover for her the same way she was covering for him and ‘Lendel.

He was in the garden with Yfandes, leaning against her warm side with a blanket and ‘Lendel’s arms wrapped around him. Yfandes also approved of his favorite sister, the one she had seen most in his thoughts and memories, which was as much of a relief as Liss and ‘Lendel getting along. It had probably not hurt any that Liss had been utterly entranced with her beauty and had automatically treated Yfandes like a person with no prompting from him.

When Jaysen had come to take over shielding duty he’d been a little surprised by the impromptu family gathering, but smiled amusedly at his burbling introduction of Liss that halfway through he suddenly remembered his damn manners and awkwardly tried to turn more formal. Once Jays had his shields in place, Savil had invited Lissa back inside to ‘get settled’, Vanyel was pretty certain that actually meant ‘lets talk privately’.

Tylendel glanced up from where he’d been tucking him more securely against his chest and shoulder. “You can have my old room for as long as you like. I already moved all my stuff into Van’s room months ago.” He said cheerfully, gracing Vanyel with one of his brilliant smiles, he couldn’t help smiling in response even as he blushed a little to remember how eager ‘Lendel had been to move in with him. How stupidly happy it made him to see his lover’s clothes hanging in the wardrobe next to his own considerably larger collection. How good it felt seeing their armor stands standing proudly shoulder-to-shoulder as they couldn’t dare.

He was feeling so good, so content, even with the ever-present pain, that he was startled by a sudden surge of anger from ‘Lendel, and then a moment later a more muted surge from Yfandes. He stirred and shifted in his lover’s arms to look up at him concerned.

“’Lendel? What… what’s wrong?” He noticed out of the corner of his eyes that even Jaysen had stiffened and was looking towards the doors to the suite.

“Van-ashke...” Tylendel brushed his fingers over his cheek and looked searchingly into his eyes. “It’s… it’s your father. He’s here.” The words he’d hoped he somehow would never have to hear. He felt his breath catch in his throat as icy dread stabbed his heart. “You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to. Savil says she’ll throw him right out if you say so.”

:Beloved... He Can’t take you away. He has no power over you now.: Yfandes gentle voice filled his mind, her soothing presence and loving strength buoying up his spirits. :You won’t be alone. We will Always be beside you.:

Vanyel swallowed, trying to force his fear and trembling down. “I’ll… I’ll see him. Yfandes… Yfandes thinks it’ll be okay…” He took a deep breath and tried to brace himself for what was probably going to be the worst version of his father he had ever seen. Tylendel looked towards the suite, sending along his assent to Savil.

The doors swung open after a few moments while his heart started beating faster, and Lord Withen strode out flanked by Savil and Lissa. Like Lissa he was dressed in dusty riding leathers and tall boots, his greying dark hair escaping its tie, he radiated irritation and barely smothered outrage. He glanced first over at Jaysen sitting impassively on the folding chair to one side.

“This is a personal family matter. I would speak to my son privately.” That horribly familiar rough grumble made Vanyel’s blood run a little colder, his stomach to give a terrified little flip inside him.

One pale golden brow lifted ever so slightly. “I am here keeping guard over Vanyel. I am doing so on the orders of the Queen’s Own Herald, I cannot leave.” Jaysen said in an utterly indifferent voice.

Withen colored a little and drew himself up. “He doesn’t need protection from his own father! What sorts of nonsense has he been telling you people?” He started to huff and bluster, dashing Vanyel’s barely budded hope that his father was going to make even the slightest attempt to keep his temper.

“I am protecting you just as much.” Jaysen said coldly and stared at him until he looked away flushing. Finally Withen turned and let his gaze fall to where his wayward son sat on a blanket spread on the grass, Yfandes curled up against his back and Tylendel at his side with his arm still wrapped around his shoulders. Belatedly Vanyel wondered if he should have tried to meet his father standing on his feet, or at least asked ‘Lendel to let go of him so as to not make him any angrier than he already was. But seeing the barely smothered fury on his father’s face as he glared down at him, he wasn’t even sure he could have kept standing and he was immeasurably glad of his beloved’s steady loving presence at his side, he couldn’t imagine doing this without him here.

Feeling his fear and dread, Tylendel wrapped his arm a little tighter around his shoulders giving him an encouraging squeeze. Withen’s eyes flicked sideways to the blonde and he scowled, his lips tightening. Vanyel was suddenly slapped painfully by the mental image floating in the forefront of his father’s mind-- Vanyel, on hands and knees, Tylendel mounting him like a dog. His father’s utter contempt and disgust was like a handful of dung rubbed right in Vanyel’s face.

“Vanyel…” His father was looking at him now but he couldn’t see anything past the images that were burning in his mind. “I heard you were… sick. I’ve come to take you home.”

Sick… he heard I was ‘Sick’. Vanyel could feel the emphasis behind that word, that his father had always suspected he was disordered, warped and wrong. But now he knew that Vanyel had succumbed to temptation, finally become fully corrupted and tainted. Vanyel saw a flash of his father’s recent memory, bitter with shame and sharply outlined in shocked outrage, of how he ‘heard’ it; Father Leren reading to Withen from an unsigned letter from Haven, a ‘concerned warning’ sent anonymously, detailing his son’s shameful associations and blatant self-disgrace.

“No.” He spoke the word softly, vaguely surprised that his voice came out evenly despite how it felt like his insides were made of ice water. His vision cleared enough to see his father’s face spasm with rage as if he’d shouted his denial at him.

“I never should have sent you to this corrupt place, you’re coming back with me. I need to get you away from these negative influences.” He shot a pointedly poisonous glare at Tylendel and then turned his proprietary scorn back to Vanyel. “We’ll get you back on the right path.”

His earliest fear, that his father would banish him to some remote monastery to never be heard from again came roaring back and bit his heart so sharply he drew in a shuddered breath, fighting an overwhelming spike of fear. His vision blurred again and saw it clear as day; a darkened cell, a pale thin figure, shaven-headed, slumped hopelessly against the stone wall.

“No!” This did come out as more of a shout and Withen twitched back in surprised anger before he took a half-step forward, face flushing with frustrated rage.

“You listen here you-” He started to roar but Vanyel cut him off, suddenly filled with a reckless anger of his own.

“NO! You listen to me!” He shouted back, seeing his father’s dark eyes go wide and his mouth fall open in shock that he would dare to interrupt one of his famous diatribes. “You sent me here because you didn’t want to deal with me. Because you’re embarrassed by me. You don’t actually care about me, you don’t even care that I was hurt! You’ve never cared! You only care about what people might be saying about you.”

“You’re sitting there thinking every horrible thing about how awful and dirty and perverted it is, but ‘Lendel loves me! And I love him! And I am happy. Actually happy for the first time in my life since I was a small child and too innocent to see everything wrong with the world! I’m happy! And you want to take that away from me!” Vanyel was trembling with as much rage as fear, struggling not to cry, dammed if he was going to give that bastard the satisfaction. Vaguely he was aware of Jays swearing under his breath and felt the shields around him tightening. Too late, he had already seen it all.

Withen was sputtering in rage, his already red face going somehow redder and horrifyingly mottled. “How dare you! You insolent, ungrateful brat! You’re my son, my heir! How dare you try and say I didn’t take care of you!? I’ve given you everything!” He could feel his father’s outrage deepening, felt him counting up how much he had spent on his least grateful child; the horses, the ridiculous clothes, the extra lessons he didn’t need, the proper arms and armor he disdained for something as useless as music.

“Spoiled is what you are. Treesa spoiled you rotten and it made you weak and corruptible! She told me I was too hard on you, but obviously I wasn’t hard enough!” Again, unwanted, he saw his father’s inner vision of him; too much like his wife, too pretty, too vain and shallow, too irrational and always weeping. Too damn fancy.

Vanyel drew in a shuddered breath, eyes blurring with the tears he was stubbornly trying not to shed. His father’s form blurred before him, the colors he saw around everything now still in painful focus despite his watering eyes seeing nothing but vague shapes. Withen was an angry sour yellow, bitter as bile, looming threateningly over him with a poisonous shadow wrapped around his shoulders like a cloak.

“Not hard enough?!” His voice cracked out of him sharp and furious, before he could even think of what he was going to say, or make the slightest attempt to temper his words. “You weren’t hard enough to have a bully and a brute twice my size beat me bruised and bloody every single damn day? You weren't hard enough to let him break my damn arm and then come yell at me for it? You weren’t hard enough to never ever give me a single word of praise, not so much as a smile?” Traitorous tears were running hot down his cheeks but he didn’t care anymore. It didn’t matter whether he cried or didn’t. He couldn’t possibly be any more loathsome or pathetic in his father’s eyes.

“All I ever wanted was for you to tell me I did something right! All I ever wanted was for you to be proud of me! And all you ever did was let Jervis beat me into the dirt and then come and kick me yourself!” Vaguely he was still aware of Tylendel’s arms around him but couldn’t feel anything past his own anger and grief and the burning ache in his head that seemed to swell along with his emotions.

“Proud?! How could I ever be proud that my son is a sniveling catamite! A weak little--” Whatever else Withen had been about to call him was lost as Vanyel surged up out of lover’s arms and sent his father flying head over heels with nothing but pure fury.

“Weak!? Is this weak!?” He screamed as Withen struggled back to his feet eyes wide with shock. Vanyel flipped his hand dismissively in his father’s direction and he went somersaulting sideways into a bush. A clench of his fist and the bush burst into blue flame.

Withen flailed his way free of the flaming shrubbery shrieking to roll desperately on the grass smothering the flames licking his clothes and hair. Vanyel started to take a step towards his father, full of nothing but rage for the man he’d lived in terror of his whole life, but found he was suddenly unable to move. Tylendel had wrapped his arms around him crushingly tight, pinning his arms to his sides. Savil had her hands upraised, an intense frown of concentration on her face, out of the corner of his eye he absently noted Jaysen was in the same pose, the folding chair flipped over behind him.

“I am strong enough for you now father?! Am I hard enough!?” He shrieked, voice breaking. He struggled against the arms and invisible bonds holding him. Unbidden a shower of multi-colored sparks exploded against the shields surrounding him, lighting them up purple and gold and blue. Withen stared up at him in absolute horror from his hands and knees in the grass, his eyes as big as saucers, his face white as death.

A slight movement from behind Savil caught his attention as Lissa stepped out from behind their aunt, staring at him with her eyes round and shocked, face as pale as Withen’s. Liss… No… Don’t look at me like that… His rage was instantly drowned with sick shame and a queasy fear that his beloved sister would never look at him the same again. He sagged in Tylendel’s arms, hanging his head as tears dripped unheeded down his face.

“Does it make you happy father? I’m stronger now than you can possibly imagine. Does it make you bloody happy?” There was a thunder of hooves behind him, but he didn’t bother to look when he knew it was the Companions by the sudden increase in blue shielding around him. “It doesn’t make me happy. It just makes me sick to know I can do this to you, that I could be a hundred times worse a bully than Jervis could ever dream of. I never wanted any of this.”

Withen had climbed to his feet, his mouth working silently as he struggled to find words. “Would… would it help if I said I was sorry?” He finally said cautiously. Vanyel looked up, meeting his father’s eyes, hoping against hope that he would see some slight sign of remorse there. All he saw was fear.

“Only if you actually mean it.” He couldn’t stop himself from giving voice to his first poisonous thought.

“Are you calling me a liar!?” Undeterred, unrepentant, his father was already letting his anger and shame burn away his fear.

“All my life you’ve lied to me and I could never prove it. I know when someone is lying to me now! Tell Me The Truth!!” Despite the shields around him Vanyel felt something, like a breeze that wasn’t there rush past him.

“I’m only sorry Jervis didn’t break your neck instead of your arm!” Withen snarled, and then drew back with a sharp intake of breath as if stunned those words had left his lips.

Vanyel stared back at Withen for one long frozen moment, feeling the true depth of his revulsion, that he’d really rather have Vanyel be dead than be what he was. He turned away from the man he’d called father and buried his face in Yfandes neck with a strangled sob.

~~~~~

It’s always one step forward and two steps back with these two, Savil thought. Tylendel had been in therapy sessions with Lancir every single day, and they had also brought in a Mind-healer who specialized in grief and trauma for him to talk to. He’d taken the news that his twin-bond had been a Lifebond about as well as could be expected. Lancir managed to talk him down from publicly renouncing his family name, but all his heartfelt loyalty to his brother had dissolved into bitter betrayal and emphatic insistence that he wanted nothing to do with any of the rest of them ever. Savil was glad that he’d finally broken free from his brother’s madness and his family’s feud, she just wished it hadn’t taken all of this to do it.

After Vanyel’s fit, her nephew spent the next three days drugged senseless, with the healers nearly coming to blows over how his case was being handled. It was only after Tylendel collapsed in hysterics over Vanyel being so drugged he couldn’t even feel him, that the faction arguing for less drugs gained ascendance. Tylendel’s sole and solitary focus now was Vanyel. Which was what she had wanted, both for her nephew’s sake as well as her protege's, but she was starting to get concerned now by how obsessive Tylendel was becoming. Other than his mandatory sessions with the Mind-healers he had to be in the same room as Vanyel, watching him sleep like he thought he would vanish if he looked away, any attempt to get him to do aught else was met with resistance and jittery anxiety. Thankfully he relaxed somewhat after the medication was lowered and Vanyel was able to stay awake for longer periods, enough so that on the day she judged Vanyel to be awake enough to ask about his Foresight dream she was able to convince Tylendel to go clean up the common room before Margaret threatened to quit.

Vanyel tried his best to remember as many details from his vision as he could, but his days of drugged sleep had blurred his memory. She wished yet again that she could touch his mind, that he could share his dream with her the way Tylendel had, she might notice details that he wouldn’t think important. There was little to be gleaned from his descriptions of the soldiers or mages, he didn’t see the faces of the soldiers under their helms and he couldn’t recall the faces of the mages, only their arrogant malice. He’d seen no markings of any kind, no banners, no crests, no glyphs. She suspected the dream might be more allegorical than literal; surrounded by black cliffs on a moonless night, unmarked black armor on faceless soldiers, black-robed mages with their black-red magic coiling around them, evil and darkness personified as something that could be fought.

The door opened and she fought back her irritation that ‘Lendel couldn’t even bear to be apart from his lover for a mere quarter-mark but her annoyance evaporated when he grinned and stepped to the side to admit Vanyel’s older sister Lissa. Savil had taken an instant liking to her blunt-spoken niece. It didn’t hurt that she reminded her very much of herself at that age, all lean lanky limbs and untamable hair, prickly temper and iron determination. She was glad for Vanyel to know he had the support of someone in his family besides her, and seeing how well Vanyel responded to having his sister there she was determined to do everything she could to keep her around as long as possible.

After they got Vanyel settled in the garden with Yfandes and Jaysen had come to take over shielding duty Savil dragged the girl inside so she could ask her about the rumors she’d heard in more detail. She was very glad that she’d had the wit to ask her in private, Tylendel really didn’t need to hear right now that the rumor-mill was painting his brother as a cold-blooded murderer who’d assassinated the Leshara boy and made it look like an accident. Or that Tylendel had been his willing accomplice.

There was a rough and angry knocking on the door and Lissa jumped and cast a slightly guilty and alarmed look towards the front of the suite. Savil heaved an annoyed sigh and went to answer it, unsurprised to find Withen standing on the other side of the door, hand already impatiently upraised to knock again. He had not one but two guards flanking him, one from the walls and one from the Palace. Not an encouraging sign.

“Savil. I have to talk to you.” Withen said gruffly, without so much as a single greeting or courtesy. “In private.” He added, casting a resentful glance at one of the guards. The palace guard gave her the little head tilt that asked if this person was a problem that needed to be dealt with.

Savil gave a smile that was rather more toothy than was seemly. “Withen! What a surprise, I was not expecting to see my little brother here today. What brings you out all this way?”

“Dammit Savil! I came to see my boy! Where is he?” He was starting to get red-faced and preparing to work himself up into one of his tempers. The guards both tensed slightly.

Savil narrowed her eyes and drew herself up, pulling around herself the authority and dignity of being the first mage in the Heraldic Circle. “Your boy? You mean your eldest son? The son you just deposited on my doorstep without even asking? The son you never once asked about in four months time? And now you think you can just come barging in here without a by-your-leave demanding to see him?”

“I didn’t just ride my best horse to foundering to be turned away at your damn door! I’m his father! I have rights!” Withen was starting to raise his voice enough that a door across the hall opened and a suspicious and wary face peered out to see what the fuss was.

“Alright.” Savil said flatly, folding her arms across her chest and giving him her most withering look. “Maybe you’re right. Perhaps you deserve to see what it is you have wrought.” Her poor neighbors had already endured a lot over the past few days, she needed to get her idiot brother out of hall before he started shouting things that would make the rumors flying around sprout extra heads.

She gave the guards a reassuring nod and stepped aside to wave her brother into the suite. He tromped past her tossing his saddlebags carelessly to the floor beside the door and looking around, drawing up short when he saw Lissa standing there with her arms folded over her chest. Withen looked suspiciously at his eldest daughter as she glared back at him head held high, an altogether too familiar stubborn expression on her face. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the Corey’s?”

“She’s here at my bequest.” Savil said quickly before the girl had a chance to say anything to set him off, she was clearly simmering for a fight just as much as he was. “I sent her a magical message asking her to come here with all haste.” She continued calmly, utterly prepared to back her niece’s cover story with the full weight and power of her rank. She’d rather have her brother’s outrage focused on her.

“And you didn’t think to send me one?” Withen asked indignantly. Her stupid arrogant brother who hated and feared magic wanted to know why she hadn’t sent him a magical message?

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I tried. You weren’t where I expected you to be, it didn’t reach you.” He’d believe that probably, he had no idea how magic worked despite her offering to explain it to him several times. “Why are you here all of the sudden?”

He drew himself up scowling. “I came to see just what the hells you think you’re playing at here Savil? I sent the boy to you to turn him into a man! I thought that you at least could teach him about duty and honor, how to respect authority, and instead you just let him run wild! You let him associate with degenerate perverts, you let one of them corrupt and seduce my boy!”

“Your boy? You expect him to act a man while you only call him ‘boy’. You wanted him to learn respect? When have you ever shown him any?” Savil snapped at him, furious at his arrogance and presumption, that he dared to be mad at her for not cleaning up the mess he’d made. That he didn’t see his son as a person even, just as a mess, a problem to be solved. “You gave him a set of values so distorted it’s a miracle he even recognized love when he saw it! You taught him he had to hide everything he felt or thought because adults could never be trusted, and that nearly got him and Tylendel both killed!”

“He’s my son! You can’t keep me from seeing him!” Withen was visibly trying to reign his temper in for once, though she didn’t really believe him.

She glanced over at Lissa, seeing the girl standing rigid with her hands clenched. She was rather impressed that she’d managed to hold her tongue this whole time, but followed quickly on the heels of that thought whispered another, how much of her life has she spent swallowing the words she wanted to say? If Vanyel, the first-born son had been treated so poorly, how bad must it have been for a mere daughter?

“What do you think Lissa? Do you think he deserves to see what he’s done here?” She asked casually looking over at her niece who was reminding her more of herself with every moment.

Lissa cast her father the sort of look one might give a cutpurse who’d just accosted them. “I don’t know if he can behave himself.”

Withen turned outraged eyes on his eldest daughter. “Why you ungrateful little-”

“See what I mean?” Lissa said giving him a scornful look before turning back to her and raising an eyebrow. “But maybe we should, the only thing he’s ever believed is his own eyes.” Her eyes flicked to her father briefly then back to her. “But only if Van wants to see him.”

“Of course, only if Vanyel is willing. I’ll ask.” Savil said calmly, as if it wasn’t even a question. She turned towards the garden and laid her hand against her temple and half-closed her eyes. Complete theatrics, she could mind-speak flat on her back and half-conscious but her brother didn’t know that.

After she’d mind-touched Tylendel and he’d passed along Vanyel’s assent she looked at her brother a long moment, trying to gauge how calm he actually was, he was scowling but when was he ever not? She waved him towards the garden doors, trying to impress on him that Vanyel was hurt and under Healer’s Orders, and that he had been given a lot of drugs for pain and he should damn well remember that. Just before she opened the doors she added that she’d have him thrown out if he caused the slightest problem.

She thought between her, Jays, and Yfandes they’d be able to protect Vanyel, and to handle any potential outbursts. That Vanyel being fully conscious would mean he had some slight modicum of control. But as soon as the shouting had started and she realized that Vanyel was picking up all of Withen’s vilest thoughts right through both Jays and his Companion’s shields her heart sank with horrified dread. Jaysen immediately reinforced his shields with a muffled curse and she quickly added her own, still it wasn’t enough.

Savil had known, she’d known damn good and well that her idiot brother wasn’t nearly calm enough to be allowed near Vanyel. But against her better judgement she let him, thinking it might be good for Vanyel to actually have the chance to confront his father rather than to feel like he cowered behind others. And she had to admit some small vindictive part of her had wanted Withen to see how close he’d come to destroying his eldest son.

When Withen called his own son a catamite to his face, Vanyel exploded out of Tylendel’s embrace like a raging beast and flung Withen halfway across the garden with the pure untrained and half-drugged power of his mind. She flung up shield after shield and still couldn’t stop Vanyel from flinging him next into the bushes and then with a gesture engulfing them in flame. She couldn’t even tell if it was Fire-starting or pure Mage power or some strange fusion of the two, fire wasn’t supposed to be blue.

Tylendel scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arms tight around Vanyel, pinning his lover’s arms and physically holding him back from attacking his father. Yfandes had also lunged to her feet and was glowing faintly blue as she added her strength to theirs. Vanyel was screaming at the tops of his lungs, tears pouring down his face, his normally deep voice gone so high with emotion it actually broke. Power surged inside the shields destroying several of the innermost layers in a shower of multi-colored sparks, though the outside ones held.

Just as Savil was beginning to really fear that she wasn’t going to be able to stop her nephew if he truly wanted to kill his father, the fight suddenly seemed to go out of Vanyel and he sagged in ‘Lendel’s arms weeping bitterly. The sudden lull in the raging strength battering against her shields didn’t make Savil drop her guard in the slightest and she was immensely glad when Kellen, Gala, and Felar pounded up behind Yfandes and added their strength to the shields.

When Withen offered his tentative apology, however insincere and backhanded, she’d felt a slight stirring of hope that maybe the situation could be salvaged without bloodshed. Her hopes were quickly dashed when Vanyel looked up, his silver eyes blazing.

“Only if you actually mean it.” He snapped out, voice seething with bitterness.

“Are you calling me a liar!?” Withen, stupid, arrogant Withen, started to roar again, somehow already forgetting that he’d just been thrown around by an invisible unstoppable force and was just set on fire. Or that his sister the powerful mage had been utterly unable to prevent it.

“All my life you’ve lied to me and I could never prove it. I know when someone is lying to me now! Tell Me The Truth!!” Vanyel shouted his voice suddenly full of inescapable command.

The blue glow of Truth Spell sprang up around Withen, shockingly bright, and his face twisted with darkest rage. “I’m only sorry Jervis didn’t break your neck instead of your arm!” Withen spat, and then drew back with a sharp shocked breath, stunned to hear his blackest thoughts leaping out of his mouth like toads.

Vanyel stared at his father for one shocked horrified moment, then turned away from him and buried his face in Yfandes neck with a strangled sob. Tylendel kept one arm wrapped around his lover, curling protectively around him, staring at Withen with an expression even more viciously hateful than the one he’d worn when describing his twin’s murderer. Red light began to glow around the clenched fist of his other hand.

Savil promptly seized him with her own power and ruthlessly quashed the lightnings he had been about to summon to smite Vanyel’s father with. While she was relatively certain Tylendel at least wasn’t going to be able to just brute-force his way past this many shields she wasn’t prepared to take any more damn chances. She was so preoccupied with keeping her nephew under shield and her student in check that she was utterly unprepared for Lissa to step forward and punch Withen right in his stupid face.

He staggered back a couple of steps, blood erupting from his nose before he tripped and landed flat on his ass in the grass. Staring up at his eldest daughter in befuddlement as she took another threatening step forward and unleashed all her pent up worry and fear in a tirade of words.

“What kind of man, what kind of father, cares more for his own reputation than his children’s lives!? Van got hit by fucking lightning and almost died! And all you care about is that maybe someone might not think you were manly enough to sire manly sons! What kind of man would take anyone else’s word over his own son’s when he never ever gave you any cause to think he was lying?” Lissa’s hands were clenched white-knuckled, it looked like she wasn’t punctuating each word with her fist by sheer force of will. “What care did you ever give him besides food and shelter? When did you ever give him anything he really needed? When did you ever tell him that he’d done well or that you loved him? All you’ve ever given him was your scorn and disdain, all you’ve ever given him was contempt.”

“Van was your precious heir, but you treated him like a more like a prized possession than a person. You give more love and kindness to the hounds and your favorite horses than you do to your own children. Every time Van ever reached out for the slightest scrap of paternal affection all you gave him was your scorn like a slap in the face. When have you ever told Van that you loved him?” Lissa sagged a little, shoulders slumping. “When have you ever told any of your children that you loved them?” Withen was just gaping up at her, blood dripping from his nose to spot the brown leather of his jerkin.

“Just… go away father. You’ve never cared and it’s a little too late to pretend you suddenly do now.” Lissa turned away to join Tylendel in comforting Vanyel. “Just go away. We neither need nor want you here.”

Savil glanced over to her nephew, Vanyel had collapsed to his knees and curled up in a shuddering ball, Tylendel was kneeling half-crouched over him wrapping his arms around him and trying to murmur loving words past his lover’s sobs. Yfandes and the other Companions were standing in a protective half-circle around the two boys, Yfandes glaring at Withen with her ears pinned flat against her skull. A quick glance at Jaysen showed he had also relaxed from his fighting stance.

As soon as Withen had managed to struggle to his feet she caught him by the arm and dragged him back inside, pausing inside the boys room to pull a handkerchief from the pile on the bedside to blot at his bleeding nose.

“Hold still you gods-becursed idiot!” She snapped. “Tilt your head back.” He submitted to her tender ministrations, eyes wandering, then catching on the scorch marks black across the ceiling and following them down the golden-oak paneled wall. They dropped to the wide bed and flicked uncomfortably to the side to take in the pair of weapons-stands and Vanyel’s broken-necked lute laying beneath.

Withen took over holding the handkerchief and looked at his sister. “Did... did Vanyel do all that?” He asked hoarsely, tilting his head towards the burned wall. At her nod his eyes got a little wider and his face paled even more.

“Nightmares.” she said curtly. Gestured him out into the common room, she wasn’t going to let him invade anymore of her charges precious privacy. Withen seemed to be struggling with something, perhaps having his world turned literally upside down was finally penetrating the solid bone of his thick skull. But she didn’t really have the patience to wait for him to figure out that the only person he should be ashamed of was himself.

“What happened to you little brother. Your own son. Your son. How could you treat him like this? That letter you sent me could have been written by our father it was so pompous and high-handed, you never even asked, just declared unilaterally that this was happening. When he got here I thought it was just the usual father and son conflict combined with teenaged rebellion, and he was plenty sullen enough. But you made him so distrustful, so afraid that he didn’t trust a single adult with his problems. And that nearly got him and Tylendel both Killed!”

Withen drew in a breath like he was going to protest something but wilted under her fierce glare. His gaze dropped to the bloody cloth in his hand and he raised it shamefacedly back to his nose.

“Well I am pleased to tell you that he isn’t yours anymore, he’s mine.” Savil told him flatly, fists on her hips. “He’s been Chosen, he’s going to be a Herald-mage. Possibly the most powerful Herald-mage the world has ever seen... if we can just keep his powers from burning him up from the inside!” Withen gulped and dropped his eyes to the floor.

“So you can wash your hands of him with a clean conscience and have your perfect little copy Mekeal to be your heir just like you’ve always wanted it.” He winced but didn’t protest.

There was a long uncomfortable pause while she waited for him to get angry again and instead he shifted his weight from foot to foot and looked around the room, anywhere but at her. Finally he spoke. “Will... will I ever be able to see him again?” Eyes turned towards the closed doors to the garden.

“After everything you’ve done to him, after what you just said to him? Do you think you deserve to?” She glared at him in astounded outrage. “Were you paying any attention to what happened out there? He saw your thoughts, you fool. He saw exactly what you thought of him, of Tylendel. Every vile poisonous thing. If someone had said even half of that about Treesa you’d have drawn steel on them. So you should probably make peace with the idea he may never want to speak to you ever again.”

“But… he’s my son…”

“He is not your possession! You didn’t want a son, you just wanted an obedient duplicate of yourself to parade around so people might congratulate you on your virility! You don’t even care about him! You never even asked how he was hurt!”

“He just looked pale and thin, I’d have expected him to fill out a little, not get even skinnier. And he looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, but he didn’t look that bad…” He muttered defensively. Savil glared at him furiously, Skinny? Pale?? Because there aren’t bones sticking out it’s not ‘that bad’? He looks half dead and you damn well know it!

“Vanyel nearly died!” She spat angrily. “He got caught in the blast of a major spell collapsing, a spell that allows one to travel the distance of two weeks ride in an hour. The failed spell and all that thwarted energy poured through his mind like a river of fire and burned his Gifts open. You know I came and tested everyone for magic several years ago. Vanyel only had potential when I looked at him, a lot of potential, but it was locked tight as a rusty gate. That potential got broken open and blasted to its widest extent. He has been in constant agony since the accident, unless he’s been drugged senseless. The healers have been giving him argonel Withen, fucking argonel!” His eyes grew round in horror at that and he gulped.

“He looks weak and tired because he spent most of the last week drugged to complete unconsciousness in an attempt to let his poor burns heal. But every time something upsets him that happens!” She gestured angrily towards the garden doors and towards Vanyel’s room. “So thanks for that. We had only just, maybe, got him stable, and you had to come raging in here like a bull with its tail on fire. You had to come and rub your vilest thoughts into his mind like salt in his open wounds.”

Withen drew in a deep breath and she braced herself for him to start yelling again, but instead he sighed heavily and slumped defeatedly. “Savi… I…. I know I fucked up.” The use of her childhood nickname brought her up short. “I just couldn’t do anything with the boy, he was just so… so…”

“Mulish? Stubborn? Impossible to reason with? I’m sure I have no idea where he got that from.” She was too tired to not be sarcastic and he winced.

“Will I really never see him again?” He asked quietly, no longer demanding.

“Maybe someday. Not for... awhile. It really depends on him.” Savil didn’t want to give him too much hope. “If you can treat him like an adult, and like he’s his own person, and you can treat his choice of partner with the slightest modicum of politeness, perhaps someday. But it will be his choice, and I won’t blame him in the slightest if he never wants to see you again.” He nodded slowly, still not looking at her.

She rang a bell for a servant to escort him back to the stables and as soon as he was gone she went back out to the garden, relieved to see Yfandes was lying back down with Vanyel tucked against her side, ‘Lendel and Lissa sitting one on either side of him each with an arm around him comfortingly. Vanyel was wiping his face gingerly on a handkerchief and seemed to have gotten himself back under control. Gala and Kellen were standing guard by the outside entrance to the garden and Felar stood next to his Chosen, muzzle resting against his shoulder.

She felt the hesitant brush of Jaysen’s mind against her shields and she opened a line to him. :Gods, Savil, I’m so sorry…:

:I don’t blame you for any of that Jays…: She said wearily, a little surprised to find that it was true. He waved her to take the uprighted chair and she settled onto it gratefully.

:I thought I had him shielded. I really did… and he still got a face-full of That…: She wondered how much of his guilt was related to seeing someone so viscerally show to him how vile and hateful his prejudices really were.

:It’s not your fault my brother is an asshole and my family is crazy. It’s as much my fault for not making sure Withen was calmer before I let him see Vanyel. But you see what I’m up against here. Vanyel is so strong and so sensitive he picked up an unGifted’s thoughts right through both your And Yfandes shields!:

:I guess I can understand a little better now why you were so halter-shy...: She wasn’t sure if Jays had meant for her to hear that last thought, it was so softly introspective and uncomfortably intimate. She dropped the link hastily.

Tylendel cast a quick look at her and she nodded to let him know Withen was gone. He turned back to Vanyel, giving his shoulders a gentle encouraging squeeze. “Your sister is awesome, Van. I hope you don’t mind if I name our firstborn after her.” He said lightly, making Lissa guffaw and even managing to get a weak startled chuckle out of Vanyel.

“As long as you’re the one giving birth, you can name the baby whatever you like!” Vanyel drew himself up slightly and gave his lover a haughty look, then blew his nose loudly and inelegantly, while Lissa just laughed harder and shook her head at them.

“So, how long have you two been…” She made a kissy-face and Vanyel sputtered a little while ‘Lendel just laughed again. “Because if it’s not saying too much, I’ve never seen Van be this open with anyone.”

Vanyel gave ‘Lendel a questioning look. “Go on and tell her.” Tylendel said with a smile hugging him a little closer.

“We’ve only been together for a few months. But ah, that doesn’t matter much because we’re uhm, we’re Lifebonded.” Van said sort of shyly looking between his lover and his sister.

“Woah, like in the ballads?” Lissa looked surprised and curious. “What’s that like?”

“It’s intense…” Van said, reaching up and lacing his fingers together with ‘Lendel’s. “If people who are in just regular love are known to be fools, being Lifebonded is five times worse for making your brains totally fall out your ears.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid that then.” Lissa said with a laugh, and turned to give ‘Lendel a more measuring look. “So I guess you really are in it for the long siege. Sorry if our father is an ass, but please let me welcome you into our dumb family.” Liss held out her hands to Tylendel and he clasped them grinning in pleased surprise.

“Thank you, I’m honored! I’ve never had a sister before!” He squeezed her hands and leaned forward past Van to lay a kiss on her cheek.

“You know, the Seven Cory Swordmaids wanted to all come along to ride to the rescue of my favorite little brother. I had to convince them to stay behind. I didn’t realize I should have let them come along.” Liss said teasingly and looked a little surprised when they both blanched.

“Gods no, Liss. Revenge has been the cause of all these problems. We can’t be bringing armed conflict into this. I appreciate the willingness to stand by me, it really does mean a lot. But we’re already in trouble for trying to escalate things once and we’re on pretty thin ice right now.” Vanyel said emphatically, and ‘Lendel finally was nodding along with him eagerly.

“Vanyel is right.” Savil spoke up and they all turned startled eyes to her, apparently they hadn’t noticed she was there. “We’ve had one of the Leshara here in Court trying to garner sympathy, but also to stir up trouble. This whole mess is barely a step away from being a small war, if we do anything that makes it look like the Ashkevron’s have picked a side the other Houses might follow suit and we cannot have that.”

Lissa chewed on her lower lip nervously. “I hadn’t thought about it like that. I’ve heard a bit about a fellow named Evan Leshara? Is he the one causing problems?”

Tylendel started to open his mouth but Vanyel suddenly clutched his arm tight and turned his reddened silver eyes on her. “Aunt! I need to tell you about something I saw! Something I think Evan might have had a hand in.” She nodded at him to go on, but he hesitated for a long moment looking at Tylendel before he turned back to her and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “When… when Withen was here, I saw a flash of his memory, of how he found out about… about me and ‘Lendel. Someone wrote him a letter. An unsigned letter. Called itself a ‘concerned warning’. And it told that I had blatantly and openly disgraced myself and that everyone knew about it.”

Savil swore creatively and at length. Lissa looked impressed. “Well, there isn’t much that we can do about that now. Withen has already come to throw his tantrum, but since you’ve been Chosen the worst he can do at this point is disown you.” She shrugged, though she privately vowed to bring this up to Lancir, he might not take it that seriously, but it might also fit into a larger pattern she couldn’t see.

“If he does he’ll have to disown me too!” Lissa said angrily and Vanyel turned and clasped his sister's hands murmuring that she didn't have to do that, not for him. “I’m sure he won’t, don’t worry about it, mother would purely murder him if he tried. But Van, that was amazing! How did you do all that? You sent him absolutely flying with just a wave of your hand! And then all the fireworks stuff. That was incredible!”

Vanyel ducked his head ashamed. “Liss, I’m so sorry! I don’t have any control over any of this stuff! I didn’t mean to scare you, as soon as I saw how scared you were I- I managed to pull it down. To stop it. I’m so sorry, I don’t want to be like this!”

Lissa and Tylendel both hastened to reassure him, Lissa insisting that she had been surprised and not that scared, ‘Lendel gently reminding him that he had managed to stop it and that was progress. Savil vowed to herself then that she was going to do whatever it took to keep Van’s sister here, if Lissa could help him have even the slightest modicum of control she was worth her weight in gold right now. She’d get an order from the queen herself if she had to.

~~~~~

Chapter 7: Truth and Consequences

Summary:

The trial of the century! The queen calls Formal Court to address the Frelennye-Leshara feud head-on.

Tylendel finally gets to testify, the truth will come out!

Warning
For Homophobia/Homophobic speech, Xenophobia/Othering (Evan is a colossal douchebag).
References to Kidnapping, Torture, and Murder.
Magical Violence, and Blood/Gore.

Savil POV at the start, mostly Vanyel POV, ending with a new POV- Lissa!

Lissa had been with them a week now and the girl was an absolute godsend. Practical and unflappable, she had refused to let her brother wallow in self pity after Withen’s disastrous visit, brushing it off as ‘good riddance’ and assuring Vanyel of her unwavering support. Savil wasn’t sure what she would have done without the girl’s steadying presence. It wasn’t just that Vanyel had the support of someone else in his family, the one person who had always supported him, she was also better at dealing with his worst moods. Lendel was quickest to predict when his bond-mate was going into a downturn, but it was his sister who was able to deftly handle what was apparently a common refrain to her ears.

Lissa had the ability to pick through his surface complaints to cut through to what was actually bothering him underneath it. And she was unafraid to call Van out when he was being particularity bratty, whereas Lendel felt far to guilty to ever complain about anything Vanyel did or said. It probably helped a great deal that she had concrete examples of the good in his life to point out to him as balm to his father’s rejection. He had received a nigh-hysterical letter from Treesa trying to warn him that his father was coming for him and assuring him that her love for her firstborn son was undying.

Savil had also received a letter from her sister-in-law, while not noticeably any less hysterical, it had however contained some vital pieces of information. First of which was the enclosed letter of ‘anonymous concern’ that had sent Withen off in such a frothing fury it had terrified even those who were used to his temper. Second was that Withen had been convinced by the household priest to send Vanyel away to a remote monastery of his order to ‘purify’ him of the perverted taint that had led him astray and into a life of sin. Treesa had begged her to use whatever power was at her command, to use her position, her magic, anything to keep Withen from Vanyel. Begged her to take him far away and hide him if necessary, that she feared for her son’s life should Withen get his hands on him.

Treesa had also confessed to how much casual abuse Vanyel had suffered while at Forst Reach; the daily sword practices that were little more than public beatings, how any prank committed on him by his cousins or brothers, no matter how cruel or dangerous, was always brushed off as ‘boys being boys’. How all her protests were put down as feminine hysteria and motherly softness, how any attempt to complain to her husband that he was too hard on Vanyel had only led to harsher treatment of the boy.

It had sickened her to realize just how bad it had been for her nephew there, and for her niece as well. Lissa had gotten the opposite side of that clipped coin, constantly dismissed and diminished, too unkempt and uncouth, never feminine enough, never going to get a good husband the way she was. Barred from the sword-lessons that her brother had so hated, she had taught herself in secret, with help from rapier manuals bought without her father’s knowledge and with Vanyel as her secret sparring partner. The two of them had banded together as the black sheep of the family and been each other’s only support until Lissa had the chance to go foster with Lord Trevor.

Vanyel had only had one nightmare in the week since Lissa had come to stay with them. A nightmare his sister had been able to wake him from without anything flying around or catching on fire. Savil had taken it as a positive sign, that perhaps things were starting to get better, that Vanyel might be starting to get some modicum of control over his projections. She’d carried that hope right up until the next day when she’d had a rather exasperated visit from Lancir to inform her that Vanyel had projected his nightmare to everyone in the Palace who was even slightly Gifted or sensitive. Even Healers and Bardic trainees had picked up on his grief and shame at his father’s disgust and utter contempt, his nightmare of being cast out into an icy landscape, and then pursued by wyrsa into a narrow canyon of black rock.

So now Vanyel was getting mind-healing sessions with Lancir as well. Savil had shown him Treesa’s letter of course, and the enclosed letter of anonymous ‘concern’, which he had taken into custody as evidence. But after Vanyel’s nightmare projection Lancir had asked to see her sister-in-law’s letter again, which he read over much more carefully. He also interviewed Lissa for over an hour before declaring that he was going to be having sessions with Vanyel as well. She wasn’t sure how Lancir was finding the time or the energy between the investigation and all of the closed-door meetings, as well as all his regular duties, but she was immensely grateful to him. She’d somehow never realized how much Tylendel’s mercurial moods and flashes of hot temper had hidden his depths of pain from her, and seeing how different Vanyel was with his sister’s support now as well as his lover’s, made her realize how much of what she had taken for arrogance and brattiness from him was yet another mask for pain.

Vanyel’s bond with his Companion was getting much stronger, so much so that she could hold shields on him overnight, which was a big relief on the rotation of mages keeping watch. They’d had a sort of canvas lean-to constructed beside the garden door to Vanyel and Tylendel’s room. Fortified with hay-bales for insulation and a thick layer of straw underfoot, this temporary stall allowed Yfandes to stay near enough to her Chosen to protect him through the night.

The boys and Lissa were out there now, along with some of Vanyel’s court butterflies, sitting on blankets spread over hay-bales and laughing and chattering away like any group of youngsters. The girls had happily welcomed Lissa, not even batting an eye that she wore boy’s clothes and talked about swords and fighting rather than more womanly pursuits. Herald-mage Justen, recently back from the field, was sitting unobtrusively to one side, keeping up shields over Vanyel. Well, he was doing his best to look unobtrusive but that was somewhat of a feat with his bulk.

:Savil.: Her thoughts were interrupted by a mind-call from Lancir. :Sorry to spring this on you, but something’s come up and Elspeth needs to speak with you immediately.:

:Of course. Justen is watching Vanyel, I can come directly-: She started to send back but he cut her off, sounding rather harried.

:No need. We are coming to you.:

She felt her eyebrows rising in surprise. Whatever this something was that had come up, it was sensitive enough that the queen didn’t want to discuss it in any of the normal meeting rooms. She gave a quick glance around the common room, which was impeccable tidy as Lissa had insisted on ‘earning her keep’ by helping out, as if all that she was doing for her brother wasn’t enough. Setting up the framework for a Silence spell took only a matter of moments, so she was rather surprised at Lancir’s soft rap on the door shortly after she had finished. He wasn’t kidding when he said Immediately. Must be quite sensitive indeed!

She opened the door and waved them in, dipping her head to Elspeth as she passed, then shutting and bolting the door as well as activating the magical lock she’d rarely had occasion to use. They sat and she activated the Silence spell, feeling its muffling blanket wrap securely around them. Lancir glanced around and nodded, he looked as harried as he’d sounded, eyes dark-circled like he hadn’t been sleeping. And Elspeth looked determined and full of quiet anger.

“Evan Leshara returned to Haven last night.” The queen began without preamble. “This morning he asked for a private audience so that he could present a letter from Wester Leshara demanding that the crown make a decision on the disposition of the Frelennye holdings now that there is no longer a direct heir. Insisting that their compromise of marrying Donyll Leshara to Agatha Frelennye was now the only possible solution, and that a decision needed to be made and a wedding arranged before the weather turned.” Her tone made it clear what she thought of the sheer presumption of the man that he would dare to make demands and dictate terms to the queen of Valdemar.

“I plan to call a full formal Court tomorrow to address the Frelennye-Leshara situation in full. I have had just about enough of this feud trying to tear my people apart. We have enough evidence now to make a case, and to make demands of our own. Tylendel will of course need to be there to present his testimony.” Elspeth paused as Savil nodded acknowledgment, this is what she’d hoped would happen, that Lendel would be allowed to bring the truth to light. “I know that your nephew is under Healer’s Orders, but I also believe his testimony would be quite relevant. Do you think Vanyel would be able to withstand being in court if he had extra protection?”

Savil paused to consider it carefully, after the incident with her brother she was very wary of the idea of putting Vanyel under any kind of stress or strain. She thought of just how badly it could go if Vanyel lost control of his powers in a packed courtroom. But if he did have relevant information, then it could be a different kind of dangerous for him to not be there. She thought of how little he would like sending Tylendel to face the music alone, how he would feel if something important got missed because he wasn’t there. She knew what Andrel would say about the idea, but she was also pretty sure she knew what Vanyel would say too.

“Maybe…” She said cautiously. “Two mage-guards at least besides myself. His sister needs to be allowed to be with him, she has been invaluable in keeping him calm. And I need to be able to take him out of there at any point if it becomes too much for him.”

“Of course. For his and everyones safety.” Elspeth hesitated a moment then went on. “I assume also that Vanyel would like to be there if he can. Lancir told me that he and your protege are Lifebonded?”

“Yes. Andrel and Daenna both confirmed it. And Tylendel has been feeling all of Vanyel’s pain since the accident. He can feel him even though the Workroom shields.” Savil tried to keep her calm, bad enough that no one had wanted to believe how strong Vanyel was, now she was also having to convince everyone that he and Tylendel really were bonded.

“That is another reason to want to have Vanyel there if he thinks he can at all handle it.” Lancir said quietly. “Vanyel is also able feel Tylendel’s distress even past his own pain. And he has felt it every time Tylendel has had to recount his brother’s murder. This will be an incredibly stressful time for Tylendel and it will be stressful for Vanyel as well. I’m not sure he would be safer here, feeling all of his bondmate’s distress and not knowing what was happening to him.”

“It will better for Tylendel as well if Vanyel could be there, he gets terribly anxious when they are apart and being together keeps both of them calmer.” Savil said, weighing how to word the next part. “But it is still quite a risk. I know I keep harping on how strong Vanyel is, but I still don’t quite feel like anyone takes it seriously enough. His mage Gift has the potential to be even stronger than mine and I’m the most powerful Adept you have, and he has nearly as many Gifts as the rest of my pupils put together. His Empathy and Mindspeech are incredibly sensitive and we’re going to be putting him in a room absolutely packed with people. He has Mage gift and Fetching and Fire-starting, and somehow combines them in ways I don’t fully understand. You should see the state of his room after all his nightmares.”

Elspeth’s lips tightened and she exchanged a look with Lancir. Savil hoped that look meant Lancir had described to her some of the destruction he had seen. “Lancir told me you managed to confiscate your protege's illicit notes before the room got trashed, and you already destroyed them as well?”

“Yes, I confiscated his notes the night it was ordered.” She said carefully. “And I destroyed them because the knowledge in those books is far too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands, especially not the partial and hastily made notes of an apprentice.”

“About those books… I would also like to inquire why you even possess a book of summoning monsters?” Elspeth asked raising her eyebrows skeptically.

“It is a book of monsters that is true. It tells the methods of summoning them, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to contain them, how to banish or destroy them. It is not just a book of summonings, it is a catalogue of every horrible magic-twisted beast and other planar creature mages have ever dealt with over the centuries since the Cataclysm, and the most effective methods of combating them.” Savil explained carefully. “The information in that book is quite dangerous, but it is also priceless. No, more than just priceless. The price was paid by the mages who died to gain us that knowledge. I wouldn’t want to let their sacrifices be in vain.”

Elspeth frowned a little but reluctantly nodded. “I trust you have increased your security measures?”

“Yes. I will be alerted instantly should the cabinet be opened, a book moved, or opened, or when any page is turned. No one will be getting into those books again without my knowledge.” Savil said firmly. “I’ve even had a physical lock installed. The books are safe.”

Elspeth regarded her for a few moments before she nodded again. “Very well. I will want to ask you more in-depth questions about your private library later, and the advisability of letting any of your students access after this, especially Tylendel.”

Savil bent her head in acquiescence, but she didn’t like it. She wasn’t going to send her students out ignorant and unprepared to deal with the horrors they would face. At least she didn’t confiscate the books. And she said she’ll bring it up later, I’ll have a chance to explain my reasons better.

“Please talk to your nephew, see if he is willing and if he thinks he would be able to testify. I am prepared to override the Healer’s Orders to have him there. We will make sure he has two guards and a healer on standby. And of course his sister is invited to Court as well, he needs whatever support we can offer him.”

~~~~~

Vanyel was certain he’d never been so incredibly nervous in his life. He’d been in court before of course, he’d been presented before the queen when he first arrived at Haven, but it had been rather anticlimactic in its rote functionality. This however was going to be a full and formal court, and everyone who could possibly be there was going to be crowded into the great space. And this court was going to be focused entirely on the Leshara-Frelennye feud, Tylendel was going to have to give his testimony before all of the most important people in Haven.

And they had asked him to be there, they wanted him to testify as well if he thought he could. Vanyel wasn’t sure that he actually knew anything terribly useful, but he was more than willing to tell them anything that could help bring Evan Leshara low. He was just glad he would to be able to be there to support Lendel. Though he quailed at the thought that he was going to be more in the center of attention then he had ever dreamed or wanted.

He tried to bury some of his panic under picking the right outfit and making sure Tylendel put some actual effort into his appearance for once. His sister was going to be there too and since she had only packed practical clothes, he offered her first choice from his wardrobe for something to wear to court. Lissa had gleefully accepted and perused his collection with far more interest than she had ever shown in clothing before, pouncing almost at once on the deep blue satin that Lendel thought he looked so refined in.

It was equally as flattering on his sister and she twirled for his inspection and then planted her fists on her hips and grinned at him, joking that she liked it much better being dressed up in his clothes rather than the other way around. Vanyel was hit with a sudden flash of an older Lissa in a deep blue captain's uniform, sword on her hip, standing in the same pose and grinning at him in the same way. He blinked and it was gone and Lissa was tsking over the black outfit he’d laid out on the bed, saying it would only make him look even paler and more sickly than he already was, and might also put negative associations in people’s minds.

He eventually settled on the silver grey outfit he’d worn to his first night among the younger courtiers, it went well with his eyes and might subtly draw attention to the wisps of silver at his temples now. He’d coaxed Tyendel into his nicest clothes, rich browns and golds that complemented his golden curls and warm eyes, but his lover was unusually pale and silent. Lendel had been completely on edge since Savil told them yesterday that Evan was back in Haven and the queen was going to bring him up on charges today before the entire court. He knew it was what he’d wanted to happen, the chance to properly call Evan Leshara out and expose the truth, but now that it was finally here he was a bundle of nerves. He hadn’t touched breakfast or said more than two words while Vanyel fussed over him, trying to restore some semblance of order to his curls and feeling worse than useless.

Vanyel was not in much better state, he’d only forced himself to eat because the medications went poorly on an empty stomach and hit him harder and he desperately needed his wits sharp. He’d had to actually argue with Andrel on that point, to keep him from giving him too strong of pain drugs, had to tell him that being in pain was not as important as getting the truth out. Andrel had just rolled his eyes in exasperation, saying that he was already sounding like a Herald. The red-haired healer was quite wroth about being overridden by the Queen’s order and had apparently insisted on being with his patient during this court appearance. He had also been assigned two Herald-mages to hold shields over him for this, Jaysen and Katiya, and Vanyel tried not think of how he was going to look walking into court with his entourage and bodyguards.

As they entered the great chamber he was acutely aware of the press of minds and presences, the muffled murmuring of hundreds of thoughts was like a waterfall, thundering at the edges his mind and making him shake. The huge vaulted throne room was packed to capacity. Anyone who was someone was there. Courtiers and nobles in their best finery, a rainbow sea of colors, light glinting on gold jewelry and sparkling like stars off of gemstones. Guards in deep blue stood along the walls and Heralds were dotted among the audience, the unadorned starkness of their pristine uniforms a contrast to the ostentation of the courtiers.

Lissa was beside him holding his hand, though he had resisted at first, once they got closer to the courtroom and the wall of people he had groped unconsciously for her hand and clutched it tight. Jaysen noticed immediately and he quickly reinforced his shields, Katiya looking over as he did and increasing her own, as Savil and Tylendel paused and glanced back at them in concern. Andrel, who was bringing up the rear, stepped closer and laid a hand on his back. The soft rush of cool green soothed him and Vanyel breathed a little easier when the roaring dropped to a bearable rumble like distant thunder, and he found himself suddenly rather glad of the respectful way courtiers quickly parted before the three Heralds in their gleaming white formal uniforms.

A young Herald on the raised dais at the end of the room lifted a trumpet to his lips and played a series of silvery notes as a hush settled over the crowd. Ornately carved doors behind the throne were opened by a pair of guards and Elspeth strode through like the Queen of winter, wearing a flowing white velvet gown and a cloak of rich midnight blue trimmed in ermine, the gold crown resting on her pure white hair the only spark of warmth in her formidable appearance. Lancir followed his queen as she took her place on the throne and then stood to one side resplendent in his formal whites and draped in a royal blue tabard emblazoned with the winged white horse of Valdemar in silver embroidery. He held his official staff of Office, a wrist-thick stave of golden-oak carved with shattered chains that transformed into graceful leaves, and topped by a winged horse cast in silver.

Lancir raised the staff and brought the silver foot down sharply three times on the stone dais as the last little whispers and stirrings among the court fell silent and still. “Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! Opens this now the official royal Court of Queen Elspeth the Peacemaker, all present shall attend and take heed.” Lancir’s voice rang out true and clear and easily filled the vast Courtroom.

“My people, I have called you here today to shine light upon a shadow that has fallen upon the peace of the realm.” Elspeth began, her voice filling the room as easily as Lancir’s had. “Valdemar’s greatest strength is in our unity, and the ongoing conflict between the houses of Leshara and Frelennye has threatened the peace and stability we have enjoyed for many years. The feuding between these two houses has escalated rapidly, resulting in damage to property as well as loss of life, and it has led to strife and discord among my own Court as people’s sympathies were swayed towards one side or another.”

“Of such things wars are made. Our enemies would love to see us fall amongst ourselves, doing half their work for them. The Leshara-Frelennye feud has resulted in multiple deaths, with the most recent being the death of the Lord Holder, Staven Frelennye and the last viable heir.” She paused, scanning the room, as Vanyel shivered feeling the spike of tangled grief and guilt Lendel felt at the mention of his brother’s death.

“We have evidence that Lord Staven’s death was no accident. No attack by roving beasts, but rather a targeted assassination.” There were gasps and a ripple of shock through the court that Vanyel felt even through the shields. “Today we will shine a light on deeds done in the dark, we will have testimony by witnesses and involved parties, we will expose the truth and put this feud to rest once and for all.”

The queen sat back in her throne, giving a little nod to Lancir who stepped forward and tapped his staff once for attention. “First witness called forth: Herald-trainee Tylendel Frelennye, Chosen of Companion Gala.”

There was a soft murmur through the crowd as Tylendel left Savil’s side and made his way to the front. Vanyel felt his lover’s spike of nervousness and fear as he paced towards the throne, he felt the mixture of curiosity and suspicion from the crowd. Tylendel paused before the throne and bowed deeply and gracefully, his blonde curls flopping down over his eyes before he straightened up and stood at something like a parade rest, hands clasped behind his back.

“My queen, I am ever at your disposal.” He said in his clear tenor as the room fell quickly silent, every ear straining to hear.

“Herald-trainee Tylendel, in order to prove the truthfulness of your words, are you willing to submit to Truth Spell?” The queen asked and Tylendel immediately nodded his assent, curls bobbing.

“Yes, your majesty. I will gladly undergo Truth Spell. I am sick and weary of the rumors and lies that have been dogging my heels.” Tylendel couldn’t seem to resist making a dig at the surrounding courtiers, Vanyel wanted to shake him, this was far too serious for him to be going after low blows.

Lancir nodded and raised his hand making a cupped and swirling sort of gesture, like someone scattering seeds for birds. Vanyel wasn’t too terribly surprised to see with his new senses that rather than seeds, the silver-haired Herald-mage was instead spreading motes of pale blue swirling energy that spread around Tylendel like a cloud, wrapping him in a sort of halo of blue. What surprised him was when the little cloud suddenly opened eyes of deep sapphire like a Companion’s and blinked and looked around before settling its gaze on Tylendel.

There was a soft gasp from Lissa and Vanyel tore his eyes away from his lover for a moment to glance at her. “He’s glowing.” Liss whispered, he just nodded impatiently and turned back, he’d read about the Truth Spell, he knew that it caused a blue glow that vanished if someone lied. But he’d never heard anything about it having eyes.

“Trainee Tylendel, I would like you to begin by telling us about the night the pine grove in Companion's Field was destroyed, the night that Lord Staven Frelennye died.” Lancir began the questioning, his voice cool and impartial.

Tylendel took a deep breath and began speaking in a clear voice, calmly at first, but emotion began to creep in as he went on. “I was in the pine grove in Companion’s Field with Vanyel, we often went there to talk because it felt so peaceful and private. We are not enemies, we only pretended to fight to keep Vanyel’s father from calling him home. All of the sudden I felt that something was wrong, horribly wrong with my brother. We’re twins. We have… we had a bond. We could always feel it if the other was hurt; he screamed when I broke my leg, I fainted when he was knocked unconscious, and it only got stronger for me when my Gifts woke.”

“I felt terrible pain and fear coming from him. I reached through the Bond and I was able to reach him, to link with him. I saw- I saw all of these things swarming around him. Horrible, unnatural things with bat wings and mouths full of rows and rows of razor teeth, there were hundreds of them.” Tylendel took a deep shuddering breath and pushed on, Vanyel shivering in sympathy and with his own remembrance.

“They- they were tearing into him, they were tearing him apart. They did it slowly. I was there with him, I felt his every agony as my own, I saw it all from his eyes. But I couldn’t- I couldn’t reach him with my magic, it was too far, I couldn’t help him. But I witnessed. And he knew I was with him, he… he didn’t die alone…” Tylendel’s voice broke then on a sob and he bent his head as tears trickled down his cheeks. Vanyel had to bite back his own sob at the wave of grief coming from Lendel at having to tell this tale once again.

Swallowing hard Tylendel took another shaky breath and went on, though there was no longer the slightest steadiness in his voice. “When I woke up nearly two days later, it was to find out that I had lost control of my Gifts and completely destroyed the grove of pine trees, and also broken Vanyel’s nose in the process. I don’t remember any of it, I didn’t mean to…”

“Did you see anyone else at the scene of your brother’s attack?” Lancir asked with grave calm.

“No… no, all I saw was the monsters.” Tylendel took a deep breath. “But I am certain that Evan Leshara is to blame for my brother’s death.” There was a ripple of whispers through the room at his pronouncement, but the Queen’s Own didn’t look away.

“What reason did you have to suspect the Leshara, and specifically Evan, of being responsible for Lord Staven’s death?” Lancir’s voice held an edge of ice to it.

“I don’t have proof- but I know it was the Leshara. Wester blames us for his younger son falling off his horse and getting trampled, but it really was an accident! We had planned to steal some prized cows as a prank, but wound up spooking the entire herd. We’d bribed the herd guards to leave, Westley wasn’t even supposed to be there, but he heard the ruckus and came to see what was happening and wound up charging right into the middle of the stampede.” There was more murmuring in the crowd as the blue glow around Tylendel remained steady.

“I know that’s why Evan has been here at Court, trying to garner sympathy, and poisoning every ear against us. They didn’t think a seventeen-year-old could be Lord holder and wanted him out, but more than that, they’ve long wanted to annex our lands into theirs. Their so-called “fair settlement” of marrying my innocent cousin the cloister-maiden to some drunken old lecher was just another ploy to claim our holding and swallow it whole. I know Evan’s been here asking questions and digging for information, and eventually he found enough to lead my brother into a trap!” Tylendel’s voice rose with anger as he made each pronouncement, whispers breaking out again as he spoke.

“Did you tell your teacher what you saw? You were witness to a murder, did you ever think to try and tell the Heralds what you had seen?” Lancir asked calmly, reasonably, as Vanyel desperately wished he didn’t have to ask him that.

Tylendel hung his head and shook it. “No.”

“Why not?” Lancir’s voice was still as calm and level as before, but there was a sharpness to his tone.

“I- I’m training to be a Herald, I have to be impartial, that’s what I kept being told. I couldn’t be involved. That I had to distance myself from the feud. I had to distance myself from my brother, the very last of my family. I didn’t think I’d be allowed to say anything since all I kept hearing was how I had to hold my tongue while Evan could just spout whatever lies and slander he felt like the entire time! I didn’t think anyone would listen to me, or they’d think I was just making it up.” Tylendel glared sullenly up at Lancir frowning down at him, resentment plain in his voice.

“Did you tell anyone at all?” There wasn’t a trace of exasperation in the Queen’s Own’s voice, but Vanyel still could feel it behind his words, in spite of the heavy shielding around him.

“The only person I felt would listen to me… was Vanyel…” Tylendel dropped his eyes as he said this as more murmurings broke out amongst the crowd. Vanyel kept his gaze fixed on Tylendel, beautiful and golden in the light shining down from the clerestory windows, trying to ignore the way he could feel curious glances skittering over him like invisible spiders.

“And what exactly did you tell him?” Lancir’s voice was colder than ice.

“Everything I just told the court, plus that I also suspected Wester of being responsible for my mother’s suicide before I was Chosen. I told him that the Leshara had basically destroyed my entire family, and I… I asked him to help me get revenge on them.” There was a gasp through the crowd and Vanyel felt the ripple of shock through the courtiers, whether it was due to possibility of a murder-disguised-as-suicide or to the idea of a Herald, even a trainee one, plotting vengeance, it was hard to tell. But Vanyel could feel the levels of disquiet and unease rising around him.

“And what help did you expect from someone with no magic of his own?” Lancir asked as if he were only mildly curious.

“I knew that he could get into where my teacher’s advanced magical texts were kept, that not having magic himself would mean he could take and return a book without notice. I asked him to get a book for me that had a spell in it that would let us cross the distance to Westrel Keep in a single night.” Tylendel kept his eyes on the floor in front of his feet as he spoke slowly and carefully.

There was an uncomfortable pause while Lancir looked down at Tylendel’s bowed head for a moment before he spoke next. “Now, I would like you to tell the Court about the events of Sovvan night.” Vanyel took a deep breath, feeling the spike of Tylendel’s anxiety and fear at those words, unconsciously squeezing his sister’s hand so hard she hissed.

Tylendel took several deep breaths and began speaking, trying his best to keep his voice steady. “Sovvan night… was the night I had planned to go and get revenge on the Leshara. I was sick from the magical backlash of my twin’s death and from losing control of my powers, but I pretended to be even sicker so that no one would suspect I was planning anything. I knew everyone would be busy and it would be the easiest time to slip away unnoticed. The guard wouldn’t think someone riding out of town late in the evening was unusual on a night known for parties reveling until the dawn.” He swallowed and went on. “I also thought it was appropriate to plan my vengeance for the night of the year dedicated to the recently departed.”

The queen leaned forward in her throne as Lancir glanced back and took a tiny half-step to the side. “You knew that there would be a gathering of all of the Leshara at Westrel Keep that night to celebrate Sovvan. Were you planning to lay waste to the entire Leshara clan?” She asked, her tone unyielding.

“No your Majesty. I only wanted to kill Even Leshara for murdering my brother, and Wester Leshara for driving our mother to suicide. I had planned to make an example out of them, but I only wanted to terrify the others.” Tylendel spoke softly, eyes on the floor. The blue glow of the Truth Spell remained steady.

“What stopped you from enacting your plan that night?” The queen asked coolly.

“The spell went wrong, it didn’t take us to Westrel Keep, instead it whipped up that violent storm that night and it- I hurt Vanyel again. I cast the spell all wrong, and Vanyel was caught in it, and I nearly killed him!” Tylendel’s voice broke on those last words and he bent his head further, shaking as he gulped deep breaths. “I realized vengeance wasn’t worth it, not if it hurt Vanyel… I… I confessed the next day to what I’d done and almost done, and told what I’d seen the night my brother was killed. I realize now that I should have done so at the beginning… I’m- I’m sorry.”

Elspeth looked at Tylendel for a long moment before she spoke again. “Will you continue to seek vengeance after this or will you be satisfied by whatever decision we make in regards to the feud and your former household?”

“I- I serve Valdemar, I serve the crown.” Tylendel said shakily raising his head to look up at his queen. “I will abide by your decision, I just wanted someone to do something!”

She nodded gravely in acknowledgment. “Thank you for your honesty and your cooperation trainee Tylendel.” She nodded to Lancir and he banished the Truth spell, the little blue cloud creature closing its eyes and vanishing like mist in a sunbeam.

Tylendel bowed deeply to the queen, somehow still graceful despite his tear-streaked face and trembling hands, and then he returned to Savil’s side where she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and held him tight. He was close enough to touch and though Vanyel ached to fling his arms around his beloved he didn’t dare even reach for his hand in comfort with so many unfriendly eyes around.

Lancir tapped his staff on the stone again and his voice rang out. “Next witness called forth: Herald-trainee Vanyel Ashkevron, Chosen of Companion Yfandes, and former heir to Forst Reach.” Another wave of whispering broke out over the crowd.

Lissa gave his hand an encouraging squeeze and he took a deep breath and squared up his shoulders before he stepped away from her and walked slowly up to the dais flanked by his guard of Herald-mages. Painfully, acutely aware of all the eyes in the room being on him now. He bowed carefully to the queen, praying he wouldn’t fall on his face in front of the entire Court.

“Herald-trainee Vanyel, in light of your recent injuries you will be allowed to sit for the remainder of the proceedings.” The queen said, waving graciously as a servant hurried up with a small stool.

Vanyel managed another careful bow. “Thank you your majesty. Your kindness is much appreciated.” He tried to project a calmness that he didn’t feel, and he was briefly very glad that his voice was deeper than Lendel’s, it might help convince people that he was more than just a slight and frightened boy.

“Herald-trainee Vanyel, in order to prove the truthfulness of your words, are you willing to submit to Truth Spell?” The queen asked with the same words as she had Tylendel, but he thought her tone was a fair bit gentler.

“Yes your majesty, I will submit to Truth Spell, I have nothing to hide.” Vanyel said with a confidence he did not entirely feel.

She nodded to Lancir who began the same casting gesture, Vanyel watched curiously as the motes of pale blue swirled around him, feeling it as a gentle breeze that somehow didn’t stir so much as a single hair. He tried not to startle when the bottomless blue eyes opened and looked at him, but more than just the eyes or the breeze, he was surprised by the feelings of bright curiosity and friendly interest that surrounded him, like a kitten made of air and cloud.

“Trainee Vanyel, I would like you to begin by telling the Court what you know of Evan Leshara, how did you meet him?” Lancir spoke impassively, but with perhaps a little more gentleness in his voice than when he’d questioned Tylendel.

“I first met him after my faked fight with Tylendel. He sent me a message saying he wished to speak with me in private, that he thought we might have a lot in common.” He tried to project his voice like he’d been taught in Courtly Graces, making sure even the people in the back could hear him. “He was very friendly towards me and expressed his deepest sympathies that I had been beaten up by a very violent and very troubled young man. He tried to goad me into telling him anything negative I could think of about Tylendel, about Lord Staven, and about the Frelennye. And he tried to ask me if I thought my father would press charges against Tylendel for the fight, if I thought this incident would be enough for him to ally the Ashkevrons with the Leshara against the Frelennyes.”

There were murmurs amongst the crowd, Vanyel raised his head a little more, and took a deep breath before he continued. “I told him that my father had exiled me to Haven in hopes that my strict aunt could get me in line, and that he’d listen to a halfwit before he’d listen to me. He was rather disappointed to hear that. Then Evan started asking me about the Heralds, asked if I’d heard any insider information, did I know if the Queen was any closer to a decision on the feud since my aunt was so highly placed. I told him I didn’t know any more about Heralds or the Crown than the next person. I told him my aunt gives me lectures on duty and responsibility, and staying out of trouble, she doesn't tell tales or gossip.”

“Was that the only occasion you spoke with him?” Lancir asked calmly, though Vanyel thought he detected a slight hint of amusement from him at the thought of Savil gossiping.

“No. He asked to meet me a couple of times. Each time he asked me for information about Tylendel, and his brother, anything I could think of about the Frelennye. And he kept asking me odd random things like if I knew when the Heraldic Circle meets, how many Herald-mages were in Haven, how many Herald-mages were there were in total, and when did they meet and where.” Vanyel paused as both Lancir and the Queen’s eyes narrowed at that. “When he left home for Sovvan, I was mostly just relieved to not have him trying to wring information out of me anymore. But then Staven was murdered and I was afraid I may have somehow told him something that they could use against him.”

“Why were you so willing to help Tylendel with his vengeance? Was it out of guilt that you thought you might have unwittingly enabled Lord Staven’s death?” Lancir asked him gently, looking steadily into his eyes.

Vanyel shook his head, taking a deep breath and steeling himself, trying to sit up as straight as he could on his stool. “No. I helped Tylendel because I love him and I would do anything for him.” There was a shocked gasp from many throats and an explosion of whispering and murmuring among the gathered courtiers. But he was done lying and hiding, especially if it meant people understood how important Tylendel was to him.

Lancir frowned out over the assemblage and rapped his staff twice on the stones. “Silence in the Court!” They quieted under his stern glare but Vanyel could still feel the heightened emotions filling the room. The constant ache in his head, which hadn’t been all that bad this morning, was starting to subtly throb in time with his heartbeat.

Lancir looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Did you ever think to try and refuse him? To talk him out of it?”

“No.” Vanyel said quietly, and that was totally true. Whether his beloved had actually forced him to go along with his plans like he’d confessed to him and Donni and Mardic, he wasn’t entirely sure of. It wasn’t like he’d even tried to argue, but he definitely wasn’t going to mention any of that.

“Why not?” Lancir’s tone was still as calm and even as before and Vanyel had to fight a wave of guilt that his reasons for going along with his lover’s plans for vengeance were not quite as pure as filial duty and honor.

“He… he was hurting! He felt it when his brother died, and he really was very sick after that and from destroying the pine grove, he just didn’t let anyone know that he’d recovered faster than they expected. And it just seemed like… like no one was ever going to do anything about Evan, he was just going to keep lying and getting away with everything. I didn’t really care about the stupid feud, I only wanted to support Tylendel. I love him and I just wanted him to be happy again…” He trailed off, blinking and fighting against the tears that were trying to sting his eyes.

“Did you ever think to try and tell anyone else what was going on?” Another damnably reasonable question.

“No. I was already keeping everything about Tylendel a secret, we even staged a big pretend fight to try and keep people from guessing about our relationship! One more secret didn’t seem like that big of an ask, not when it was so important.” Vanyel breathed deeply, his sweating palms pressed flat to his thighs to hide their trembling.

“So you participated knowingly in Tylendel’s plans?” The queen asked him as he nervously shifted his eyes to meet her cool blue gaze. “He didn’t trick you into stealing for him or mislead you as to his purposes?”

“He didn’t trick me!” Vanyel protested quickly. “I knew that stealing from my aunt was wrong. I don’t know much about magic, but I know that if my aunt has a book out of reach for being dangerous than it probably really is.” He felt both chilled and too warm, a trickle of sweat crawling down his spine. He’d been so worried about what sort of trouble Lendel was going to be in that he had somehow not thought much about the possibility that he might also have to confess his wrongdoings before the entire court.

“I knew… I knew that he was planning revenge, that he was going to kill the men that murdered his mother and brother. And I knew that it wasn’t exactly the right thing to do.” Vanyel said looking up at the Queen and trying to ignore the pounding in his head and the pounding of his heart, the whispering and the swirling emotions. “But it also felt like the only thing we could do. That nothing was ever going to be done to stop Evan and Wester, and it was up to Tylendel to take matters into his own hands. I thought that after everything they’d done to him and his family, it wasn’t revenge as much as it was justice.”

“Only the crown may dispense justice.” The queen said raising a cool eyebrow at him. “A vigilante is not a hero, no matter how justified he may feel his vengeance is.”

Vanyel bent his head. “I- I realize that your majesty. I just… didn’t know what else to do.” He said helplessly.

“Will you be satisfied with whatever decision we make in regards to the feud. Will you continue to seek vengeance against the Leshara after this?” Her voice was implacable, her eyes cool and calculating.

“I don’t know the Leshara from anybody, I never cared about the feud, only that they’d hurt Tylendel. If Tylendel says he is satisfied, then so am I. I only want what he wants.” Vanyel said as firmly as he could, he really didn’t care about the feud except that he just wanted it to be over.

The queen regarded him for a moment before she nodded. “Thank you for your honesty and your cooperation trainee Vanyel.” Lancir dismissed the Truth spell, the blue eyes closing and the cloud dissipating slowly and reluctantly.

Vanyel rose from the stool and then swayed as a wave of dizziness hit him, Katiya quickly caught his elbow and steadied him. He managed to make a shallow bow, as deep as he dared without fearing ending up on the floor, then returned to where Savil, Tylendel, Lissa, and Andrel were standing while the room buzzed around him with whispers and emotions. Jaysen grabbing the stool and carrying it over and then taking his other elbow and helping Katiya gently get him settled upon it.

Any shame he might have felt about being seated while everyone else was standing was buried beneath the sheer gratitude of not having to trust his trembling legs to another bout of dizziness. He wasn’t honestly sure he could have kept standing without the queen’s thoughtfulness, the nervous energy that had carried him though his questioning had abandoned him as soon as he was done and he felt weak and breathless. Lissa laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and after a moment Tylendel laid his hand on the other shoulder. Vanyel reached up and clasped his lover’s hand, no longer caring anymore who saw. He’d already declared his love for him before the entire court, it’s not like there was anything left to get embarrassed over.

“Next witness called forth: Evan Leshara, of Westrel Keep.” Lancir’s voice rang out clearly, his cool gaze regarding the room impassively. There was a long expectant pause as people craned their necks looking around, but Evan did not appear.

Whispers broke out as the pause drew out longer, far longer than was comfortable.

Lancir struck his staff against the stones again, two sharp ringing tones. “Evan Leshara! Son of Estan Leshara and Kethryn Rowanna-Leshara. Official envoy of house Leshara. You have been summoned before the Crown. Stand forth!” Lancir’s deep voice rang out, echoing in the grand space.

A sudden scuffle and a shout at the back of the room drew everyone’s attention. “Take your hands off of me! You can’t treat a man of my station this way! I have rights!”

The back of the crowd shifted then parted and a blue-clad guardsman and a Herald that Vanyel didn’t recognize pushed through the crowd holding Evan Leshara by the arms. They force-marched him up the aisle to stand in front of the dais as the entire room broke out in an excited buzz of murmuring and whispers. Evan was wearing a very fine orange velvet doublet and pants in the latest fashion, with a gold chain around his neck and rings on his fingers. Vanyel thought the color suited him horribly, making him look somehow both sickly and flushed.

“Unhand me!” He snapped haughtily, as indignant as a wet cat. “Your Majesty please, this is entirely unnecessary!”

“We caught him trying to sneak out the back.” The Herald said, her voice carefully neutral. The queen nodded slightly, and the guard and Herald released Evan and each took a half-step back.

“This is all a terrible misunderstanding!” Evan protested, pointedly straightening his doublet before bowing deeply and turning his most earnestly charming face up to the queen. “These boys cannot possibly be counted as reliable witnesses, the Frelennye boy is emotionally unstable and by his own admission vindictive. And the Ashkevron boy has been manipulated into an unnatural and unhealthy relationship, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, I was just concerned for him.”

The queen’s eyes narrowed but her face remained otherwise coldly impassive. “Evan Leshara, you have been accused of conspiracy to commit murder and murder-by-magic. You are hereby ordered to give testimony. Are you willing to submit to Truth Spell to prove the truthfulness of your words?”

Evan’s genial expression faltered and he got noticeably paler. “There is no need to make a public spectacle of all this. We have already offered a completely reasonable and honorable solution to the problem, all it needs is your approval.”

“Evan Leshara, you have been credibly accused of a grave crime.” Elspeth’s voice was silk and steel. “You are being given the opportunity to speak in your own defence, the chance to clear your name, and your household’s name. Will you submit now to Truth spell to prove the integrity of your words?”

The last of his smarmy smile vanished and Evan drew himself up, trying to match the queen’s cool expression. “I will not submit to this indignity! I demand this ridiculous farce be moved to a private venue at once.”

Elspeth’s eyes flashed dangerously and she leaned forward in the throne. “You have ignored a direct Royal summons to present yourself before this Court. Twice. You are in no position to make demands. You have been ordered to give testimony, and we expect answers. I am offering you one last chance to undergo Truth spell willingly, do you accept?”

“No! I do not have to subject myself to this outrage!” Evan declared petulantly, and turned to stalk dramatically away.

He didn’t even manage to take a single step before the Herald and guard caught him each by an arm and promptly turned him back around to face a now very visibly unamused queen. “Evan Leshara, you have twice defied a direct summons, you have refused a direct order, and now you have even tried to leave Our Presence without being expressly dismissed. You are hereby ordered to undergo Second Stage Truth spell, we will have our answers.”

This time when Lacir made his casting gesture it was different, more complex, and the motes of blue swirling around were brighter. The cloud that formed around Evan’s head and shoulders was thicker than the one that had enclosed Lendel or him, and when the eyes opened there were two pairs of them, weaving around Evan in alternate directions. They did not seem to be as cheerfully curious as the first ones, less like playful kittens and more like their mothers, circling a terrified mouse with predatory intent. Evan had his jaw stubbornly clenched, lips pressed together tightly.

“Tell us what you know of Vanyel Ashkevron. For what purposes did you approach him?” Lancir began the questioning, Vanyel was vaguely surprised they were starting with him rather than at the beginning.

“I knew he was the Ashkevron heir, sent to Haven for his education and so he could make connections at court. I knew that he was a ward of his aunt, Herald-mage Savil Ashkevron, and that she was also the mentor and guardian of Tylendel Frelennye. I had heard that Vanyel and the Frelennye brat didn’t get along, and I had hoped I could take advantage of that. Especially after they got into that public physical altercation, I thought he’d surely be receptive to our side and I hoped I could get some useful information out of him, so I asked him to meet me one evening.” Evan’s eyes bulged in shock as words began pouring out of his mouth in an unchecked rush.

“I had seen the Ashkevron boy in Court several times, a preening little popinjay who surrounded himself with beautiful girls but never actually bedded any of them. And I knew that Tylendel was a pervert who liked too-pretty boys who were younger than him, so I was a little suspicious of their supposed animosity.” Tylendel’s hand tightened in his and Vanyel felt the surge of his indignation at Evan’s words.

“Once I managed to get him alone my suspicions were confirmed, he was certainly fey and definitely Tylendel’s latest conquest by the way he got defensive when I warned him about all the other boys he’d seduced. I couldn’t believe my luck when I realized that the fool Tylendel was bending over this time was the Ashkevron heir, anything he didn’t tell me willingly I could force out of him with threats of exposure. But he was a gullible rube from the country and about as subtle as wet linen, I talked to him on three occasions and all three times I was able to draw out enough unwitting information from him that I knew we’d be able to set up a trap that the Lord-brat would walk right into.” Vanyel’s face burned scorching hot with embarrassment at Evan’s words while his stomach felt like a cold ball of lead had been dropped into it. It was his fault that Staven had been killed, Tylendel’s plan to feed them misinformation had backfired. Beside him he could feel Tylendel’s outrage growing.

“You had planned to blackmail Vanyel if he didn’t cooperate, but since you got the information you wanted out of him without it, did you ever follow through on those plans?” Lancir asked calmly.

“Yes, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I sent an anonymous letter to Lord Withen telling him about his son’s disgraceful and shameful behavior, hoping it would motivate him to do something about it. I thought while he might not care much about a bit of fisticuffs, he would surely have something to say about a degenerate pervert debasing his firstborn son and heir.” Evan looked completely appalled to have his normally silver-tongued mouth spewing forth his unvarnished opinions and secrets.

“I hoped he might decide to press charges against Tylendel, or call Vanyel home for correction, like Nevis’s father called him home after I reported his activities. Anything I could do to cause problems for Tylendel, to unsettle him, convince people he was unstable and dangerous, to make sure the Crown wouldn’t name him the Frelennye heir despite him having been Chosen.”

Vanyel felt sick. Even though Evan had gotten everything he wanted from him, yet he still felt the need to try and separate him from Lendel, to ruin his life. He could feel his lover’s outrage and anger building through his grip on his hand, his protective indignation over the things being said about them, and especially about Vanyel.

“Now, you will tell us about the plot to murder Lord Staven, who participated in the planning and how was it carried out?” Lancir’s next question caused Evan’s eyes to widen slightly and his face to go even paler while the whispering fell silent as everyone strained to hear what would come next.

“Everything was all Wester’s idea!” Evan yelped. “He’s the one who planned everything, I was just here to gather information and be persuasive. He’s the one who hired that out-kingdom mage to summon monsters and make it look like an attack from Pelagir beasts! The plan was that the mage would stage several small attacks around the borders of the Holding, to lure Staven and his men out with a mixture of illusions and enough real monsters to cause damage and injuries and make it seem like they were serious attacks. He kept them running ragged all day chasing after his illusions, wearing out the horses and whittling down the number of guards, until he was able to separate the Lord-brat from the rest of his people.”

“The mage had some sort of scrying spell set up so he could see where he was sending his creatures. Wester wanted to watch it all, to see his vengeance for Westley’s death played out in full, so I had to be there too. It was… it was unbelievably disgusting and horrible. Those vile bat-things the mage summoned ripped the Lord-brat into little bloody pieces, and he screamed like a rabbit the whole damn time. And the mage… he… he liked it! He was enjoying it far too much, to an almost sexual extent. It was hideously embarrassing and uncomfortable.”

Tylendel spat out a curse at Evan, Savil quickly laying a restraining hand on his shoulder, the room breaking out in fierce whispers again. Vanyel clung tightly to his lover’s hand even though he felt almost nauseous with Lendel’s rising rage pulsing in counterpoint to the throbbing in his head. The swirling emotions of the watching courtiers were rising ever higher, pressing against him from all sides. The avaricious curiosity of the crowd only seemed to grow hungrier the more it was fed. People were shocked, outraged and disgusted, some were deriving malicious satisfaction from the spectacle, while others were titillated as if this were merely a play.

“Silence in the Court!” Lancir tapped his staff again for order, shooting a pointed look at Tylendel before sweeping the rest of the room with his disapproving glare. The whispering quickly withered away into silence under his stern gaze. Savil had her head bent next to Tylendel’s, he stood stiffly, jaw clenched, and glared at the floor taking deep breaths.

“Now Evan, tell us everything you know about the foreign mage that Wester hired.” Lancir said with implacable coldness.

Evan laughed almost manically, high pitched and breathless. “His name’s Krebain. And he’s not just foreign, he isn’t even human! He’s some freakish thing from the Pelagirs with claws for hands and predator eyes.” He shuddered and twisted one of the rings on his fingers, fiddling it back and forth nervously. “He’s a monster! He told us he needed a victim to raise power for the spell. I had to go out and grab some street rat for him to tear apart for his evil ritual, and then I had to clean up his mess afterwords. The servants are all completely petrified of him and won’t go near him. I had to wait on him when I was back home for Sovvan! Me! Treated like a damn servant!!”

“Are you saying you kidnapped a child for this Krebain?” The queen asked, her voice cold and deadly.

“It was just some dirty urchin! It was nobody!!” Evan whined wringing his hands. There was a dark line of sweat soaking through the back of his doublet. Vanyel could feel the disgust and outrage rising around him even past his lover’s sullen anger.

There was a long pause while Evan stood there miserably fidgeting with the rings on his fingers. “Why were you so willing to do all of Wester’s dirty work for him? What exactly were you getting out of all of this?” The queen finally asked.

“Once we had gotten rid of the Lord-brat and got Donyll put in as lord of the Frelennye holding, I was going to be placed as his seneschal. He’s a completely useless sot and an idiot, so long as he was kept topped up with plenty of wine I would be the one actually in charge. I’d get all the power of a lord and none of the repercussions, anything that went wrong I could blame on Donyll.”

Tylendel spat out several vehement curses and let go of his hand to take a step forward, only Savil’s determined grip on his arm stopping him from physically going after Evan. The whispering had built up to low murmurs and muttering, the whole room buzzing with hushed voices and vibrating with emotion.

“Order in the court!” Lancir had to rap his staff on the stones several times to restore order. “Trainee Tylendel, if you cannot contain your outbursts you will be escorted from the court.”

The mutterings and whispers slowly faded away under the Queen’s Own’s formidable blue gaze but eventually they settled down. As much as he missed holding his beloved’s hand, Vanyel found himself grateful for the brief respite that distance afforded. Lendel’s anger burned inside of him and made his head ache, he had gotten comfortable with its absence. Lissa still held onto his other hand, a beacon of calmness and stability, Jaysen and Katiya moved a little closer and tightened up the shields they were holding around him. Savil was holding onto Tylendel with one hand on his arm and the other resting on his shoulder, her silver head bent next to his golden one, silent whispers trying to calm his fury.

“Now, you will tell us everything you know about the death of Lady Aislynn Frelennye.” Lancir’s voice was still outwardly calm but Vanyel could feel his quiet anger, a much colder more patient thing than the hot fire of his beloved’s outrage.

“Wester knew how devoted Aislynn was to her husband, how devastated she had been by his sudden death. He hired a travelling fortune-teller to tell her that her husband’s spirit was trying to reach her, that he had a very important message for her. Wester told him to tell her that in order to speak to the dead she had to be near to death herself, but that the strength of her love would see her safe.” Evan’s face had gone from merely pale to a rather sickly greenish tone.

“Wester sent me to buy the Black Angel mushrooms from an illegal apothecary, and then I paid some street-lush to pretend to be a wise old herb-woman and she gave the mushrooms to Aislynn and told her they were Ghost-shadow mushrooms that would allow her to speak with the dead-”

“Poisoner!” Tylendel shouted furiously, interrupting Evan. “Murderer! Lying two-tongued snake!” Tylendel shook Savil’s hands off and strode forward, rage giving his voice a harsh edge.

“You bloodless coward! You killed my mother! You killed my brother! You’ve destroyed my entire family!!” Tylendel screamed, his clenched fists glowing red with power, as Evan cowered away from him and screamed in terror.

Tylendel’s fury boiled up inside of him, a rage twice as hot, twice as righteous as before. Evan’s confessions were like oil poured on the flame of Tylendel’s anger, his absolutely certainty that he had been correct all along. White hot rage battered at all of the hurting places inside Vanyel, burning him with its shocking fury. He curled up on his stool, only Lissa’s arms around him keeping him upright as he sobbed with his lover’s echoed grief and his own very real pain. Courtiers were screaming in shock and terror and the crowd was pulling back, leaving Tylendel in a clear space in the middle of the crowded room.

Lancir had thrown up a series of blue shields over the queen on the throne and separate shields over Evan who was cowering at the base of the dais and shrieking that he didn’t want to die. Red lightnings coiled around Tylendel’s arms and his face was twisted with rage and grief, cheeks streaked with tears. He strained against a pale lavender shield that held him pinned in place, keeping him from advancing upon his most hated enemy.

Savil had her hands before her cupped, holding her pupil in check. She reached up and made a grasping gesture, then yanked sharply downwards. The lightning Lendel was holding abruptly discharged into the floor with a shocking sound, leaving charred black cracks in the marble. Tylendel staggered and fell to one knee, his hands still glowing red and the sleeves of his shirt hanging in singed tatters.

Four other Herald-mages had taken up positions between Tylendel and the panicked courtiers forming a multicolored shield to protect the crowd from the magic surging through the room. Still people were screaming in panic, and screamed even louder when the lightning discharged, Evan screaming the loudest of all. Vanyel screamed out his lover’s name but his voice couldn’t be heard over the general chaos.

Tylendel slowly rose to his feet, crackling red sparks again starting to crawl over his fists. Desperately Vanyel reached inside of himself, to the place where his lover’s rage burned hottest, reached with all of the parts of him that hurt and ached and burned. Pushing past the pain was like reaching directly into the center of a furnace with his bare hands.

:Lendel! STOP! I Need You!!:

Tylendel paused shuddering, slowly he turned away from where Evan was cowering before him wailing, and he looked at Vanyel over his shoulder. His eyes were red-rimmed, his grief-twisted face streaked with tears, golden curls tossing wildly around his head in an invisible wind. He felt the searing brightness of his lover’s righteous anger undercut with a dark stab of fear, guilt and shame, stealing some of the heat and fury of it.

Vanyel held a hand out to his lover imploringly, tears streaming unheeded down his face. “Lendel…” He choked out into the suddenly breathless silence. “Please, don’t do this!” Jaysen and Katiya had their arms around him, both holding him up and holding him back. He didn’t even remember standing.

Tylendel’s eyes bored into Vanyel’s for a long agonizing moment, dark with rage and grief, shining with tears. Slowly his arms lowered, the crawling sparks of energy flickering out, the red glow fading to nothing. His lover took a deep shuddering breath, then another, his curls settling back down around his shoulders in a wild disarray. Slowly he turned to face him and to take a hesitant step towards him.

“Van… Van-ashke…” His voice was ragged, eyes holding onto his like a lifeline.

“Lendel, beloved.” He held both hands out to his love. “Please…” Begging him with every fiber of his being to come to him, to turn away from his vengeance, to rest safe in the arms of his love and block the rest of the uncaring world out.

Slowly Tylendel took a wavering step towards him. Then another. It seemed to take forever. Then he was stumbling forward in a rush to bury himself in his arms and collapse to his knees sobbing in the same moment. Vanyel felt Jaysen and Katiya stiffen a little when ‘Lendel had started his stumbling run towards them, but they stepped back and parted their shields for him so that Vanyel could catch his beloved, wrapping his arms around him as hard as he could, falling to his knees under his weight and holding on tight. Tight enough to keep his love from flying apart.

~~~~~

Lissa found herself much more excited to be in Court than she had expected to be, despite the seriousness of it all. Not least of all because no one had forced her into some hideous confection of a dress or painted her face or twisted her stubborn hair into some painful artifice. Her dearest brother had actually offered her first choice of his wardrobe, a high honor she knew from that vain creature. She had immediately seized upon the deep blue outfit that rather resembled palace guard uniforms, and she had quietly slipped throwing knives into her boots when she went to her borrowed room to change.

She hadn’t expected to actually manage to bring them in, but the guards hadn’t even searched her, just waved them all through unchecked as they were being escorted by three Heralds. She saw the group of girls Van had introduced her to the other day as they passed into the great space, she gave them a quick little wave and the youngest waved back encouragingly, but poor Van never noticed, he was clutching her other hand like his life depended on it and staring fixedly at the floor. She was gratified that he had taken her advice not to dress as if he were going to his own funeral, but he still looked far too pale and sort of trembly for her liking, and like the grumpy red-head healer, she worried about whether he was really going to be able to withstand all this, but she knew how important Tylendel was to Vanyel.

She still held some private doubts about her new adoptive brother, he seemed a bit of an idiot to her honestly. But then, to be fair, all of her brothers were idiots and that included Vanyel, so he fit right in. Tylendel looked quite impressive standing in front of the throne bathed in golden sunlight and surrounded by the blue glow of magic. She knew from Vanyel the gist of his family’s feud and that his brother had been killed, but hearing his testimony in his own anguished words, she couldn’t imagine how even the hardest heart couldn’t be moved.

But that Herald Lancir was like a statue of ice up there on the dais, asking his questions with cool authority, so different from the kind concern he’d shown when asking her about the abuses her brother had suffered growing up, or the careful way he’d asked her about how well or poorly she was treated. She’d never met the queen before, but she was even colder than her mouthpiece. Lissa supposed that they had to be impartial, or at least seem impartial, but even the speech the queen had delivered at the start of this had been in a rather flat cold tone.

When it was Van’s turn to speak she squeezed his hand encouragingly before he made his way to the dais, hoping that he really would be able to feel her love through his strange new gifts and it would help him weather the stares and whispers. She quickly revised her impression of the queen as stone-cold when she gave Van a seat so he didn’t just keel over in the middle of testifying and spoke to him in somewhat gentler tones. Lissa’s attention had pricked up considerably when her brother mentioned some of the other questions that Evan had asked him, about ways to breach security at the Palace itself, she was quite glad to see both the Queen and her Herald had also taken keen note of that.

That Evan Leshara sure has an eminently punchable face. Lissa thought to herself when he was first dragged forth from his hiding place in the back of the Court, protesting loudly of his grand status. He had a grating voice, alternately whiny and unctuous, and reminded her of the awful old priest back at Forst Reach. At first she was sort of darkly amused that this puffed-up toad was the cause, or at least catalyst of all this trouble, but as the testimony went on, she felt sicker and angrier with every new revelation.

It wasn’t just the way Evan was talking about Vanyel and Tylendel, though that made her clench her jaw tight with anger, it was all the other things he was saying. His utter lack of regard for anything beyond his own entitlement or aggrandizement, his totally cavalier attitude about the deaths he’d caused to happen, and that one of them was of some unknown child that he’d just callously handed over to one even he considered a monster. Tylendel spat curses at him twice and had to be officially reprimanded, but the whole room was buzzing with whispers and mutterings and Lancir had to bang his staff quite a lot to restore order.

She desperately wanted to hear more about this mage from the Pelagirs, but Lancir was instead asking about even more murders while Evan got increasingly whiny and desperate, fiddling with the rings on his fingers and sweating like pig before the axe. Something about the way he was twisting one ring in particular caught her eye, the oddly rhythmic way he was turning it this way and that. A pattern. She realized suddenly, like the drum codes she’d been learning for passing simple messages across a distance. She looked over to her aunt, hoping to maybe try and warn her that some sort of subterfuge was going on, but she was busy trying to keep Tylendel from going after Evan, just as Lissa had her own hands full trying to keep Vanyel from falling off the stool the queen had granted him.

Then Evan confessed to being behind the poisoning of Tylendel’s mother, and all hell broke loose.

Tylendel started screaming at Evan, throwing off Savil’s hands and advancing upon Evan with a strange angry red lightning starting to coil around his clenched fists. Evan screamed and cowered away, the gathered courtiers and nobles all screamed and drew back, leaving Tylendel in circle of clear space. He seemed to be struggling against an unseen force. She noticed Savil hadn’t tried to run after him, instead she had her hands held cupped in front of her, quivering with strain. She reached up and made a sharp gesture downwards and the lightning Tylendel was holding suddenly shot straight into the floor at his feet with an ear-shattering crack. He staggered to one knee as the screaming of the crowd intensified, the sleeves of his shirt charred and smoking.

The courtly ninnies were all screaming their fool heads off. Evan, the pig that he was, was squealing loudest of all. Vanyel was screaming Tylendel’s name, but the blonde boy couldn’t hear him over the din. Tylendel slowly and ominously rose swaying to his feet, red sparks of rage-fueled power crawling over his hands, hair tossing wildly in his own private windstorm.

Suddenly Van went from weeping and swooning in her arms like a maiden in a play, to leaping forward a hand outreached to his lover as she was abruptly shoved away from him by an invisible wave of force. Only training kept her from landing badly on the marble floor and as she rolled and scrambled gracelessly back to her feet she heard her brother’s voice echoing in the sudden silence, pleading with his lover to stop.

Tylendel had gone from looking like some sort of tragic angel to a rather disheveled and demented madman, his hair a snarled mess, clothes scorched, his eyes red-rimmed and face streaked with tears. But Vanyel’s voice seemed to have broken him out of his killing rage. He choked out the nickname he’d given Van and stumbled towards his lover’s outstretched hand, the two Heralds parting to let him finally fling himself into Vanyel’s arms, both of them falling to their knees and clinging together sobbing.

It took much staff banging to restore order, Lancir raising his voice and trying to drag everyones attention back up to the throne. The gathered courtiers were understandably rather skittish, but seemed a bit calmed by the fact that the two boys were now huddled on the floor, arms around each other and weeping. That two more Heralds had come to take up guard positions around them and the green-robed Healer was laying hands on both of them probably didn’t hurt either.

The trial was seemingly going to go on, despite Evan being rather hysterical at this point. The guard had to haul him up from where he’d been cowering at the base of the dais, and she noted with alarm that he was still feverishly twisting the ring on his finger. He’s sending someone messages somehow, I know it! I have to warn aunt Savil!

The queen was now demanding to know why Evan had been asking so many questions about the Heralds and Herald-mages. Evan’s voice was haggard as he explained that the reason he was trying to find out when the Circle met was because that Krebain had asked for the information as part of his payment, that he’d wanted to know their meeting times and places so he could try and set a magical trap to assassinate the top Herald-mages as a group instead of one at a time.

The crowd gasped in shock, but Lissa was busy trying to reach her aunt through the press of white-clad bodies that were blocking the way. Savil had ensconced herself next to Tylendel and wrapped both boys in her arms, the air around all of them seemed charged with static and she didn’t know any of the other Heralds well enough to just tug a sleeve or push her way through.

A high pitched scream wrenched her attention back to the dais at the front of the room. Evan was clutching the wrist of his left hand, staring at the ring on his finger in horror and screaming. The ring was glowing red-hot that quickly turned white-hot as Evan’s scream spiraled up impossibly high. Lancir flung up his arms just as the ring exploded in a shower of blood and sparks of liquid gold. A blue dome of protection over the dais was briefly visible when blood and hot metal hit the edge of it and slid off.

Evan was now writhing on the floor screaming in absolute agony, clutching the stump of his wrist as bright scarlet blood pumped out onto the white marble. The crowd on cue started screaming again and several people fainted. One of the guards, thinking extremely fast, pulled off some decorative cords from his shoulder and wrapped them tight around the stump of Evan’s forearm, attempting to staunch the flow of blood. The red-headed Healer shoved out of their group and rushed to the wounded man’s side, kneeling heedlessly in the spreading puddle of blood and laying hands that glowed upon him.

A hand on her arm nearly made Lissa jump out of her skin, but it was aunt Savil saying it was time to get Van and Lendel out of there. More than time, was her thought at seeing how sickly green-white Van’s face was when she came to help him to his feet, and poor Lendel was a complete wreck. Both of them needed her and Savil’s help to get back up, not least of all because they refused to let go of each other.

With Savil holding up Tylendel on one side and Lissa holding up Van on the other they were able to start the seemingly endless trek for the doors. Vanyel only made it about half a dozen paces towards the door before suddenly collapsing limply in their arms and half dragging Lendel to the floor with him. Jaysen promptly scooped Vanyel up into his arms to carry him the rest of the way back to the suite, firmly telling Lendel he could barely stand never-you-mind trying to carry Van.

Lissa sidled over to her new idiot brother and wrapped her arm supportively around his waist. Tylendel wrapped a trembling arm around her shoulders and managed to flash her a weak shadow of a smile and a hoarsely whispered thanks as they followed Jaysen out of the grand chamber. As they were leaving Lancir was just announcing that Evan was under arrest and the crown was issuing a warrant for Wester’s arrest.

~~~~~

Notes:

Sorry this chapter took so long to make! Real life has been kinda kicking my ass, my spouse had to stay in the hospital a couple of times and things have been crazy. (it's part of an ongoing condition, but we managed to get to see a specialist and that has helped a great deal)

But I've been wanting to get to this part for a while now, ever since I started a Lendel Lives story I thought that part of the satisfaction of this would be seeing Evan have to make an accounting of himself and displaying to absolutely everyone what scum he is. (also this will help salvage Van's reputation somewhat)