Chapter Six: The Return.

The Keep was silent.

Well, silent only to those who could not hear how he could hear.

To him, it was a hive of noise. A thousand threads to pull on – an expanse of light and thrumming thoughts and emotions and plans. Up in the tower, the world was quieter. It was easier up here- there were less things to concentrate on.

Lightening scorched the skies, burning across the pathways of his mind. A hawk squawked in her cage, displeased by the weather. Kohen blinked, reeling in his mind. It took him a moment, to shelf all that colour, all of that wonder inside of one small skull.

"Calm," He soothed, stroking the hawk's head. "But calm is a strange word for the Keep which houses a burning movement that seeks to save the world."

If he left his mind wander, he could feel the contentment of souls resting by the roasting fire and wrapped up warm on a rough evening. There would be guards on the walls, sheltered by stone and magic against the frigid weather. If bored, he could spend days in their minds, watching memories from days gone by.

'Invasive' He reminded himself. Just because he couldn't, didn't mean he should. So, he sat on the fringe of the open window where the cold seeped through the stone and listened to the silent Keep. The wind cut at his skin, whipping his unbound hair as he balanced.

Servants scurried below in a network of stone corridors. Dignitaries were reclining in opulent rooms, sipping expensive alcohol. A show – a painted face over the Legion that hid the hard work of calloused hands and weary shoulders.

"The storm is frightening the animals." Kohen murmured to the hawks. Cattle, pigs, horses – all frightened by the increasing intensity.

Another flash of lightning forked through the skies, illuminating black clouds.

Kohen waited for the energy to fade.

Instead, he felt the flicker of a soul rising to meet it. A foreign, un-natural magic that burned the fringes of his mind. The magic was foreign, but the mind wielding it wasn't. He balanced on the lip of the window like one of his snow-hawks ready to take flight, rain soaking his hair and face.

In the dark, a deep horn began to bellow.

Just a sound, trembling above the storm. A sound that broke the silence of the slumbering haven- conveying an emotion far deeper. It was golden to him, rising from the small houses that littered the town. Rousing the weary souls inside the Keep who worked far beyond the hour the sun fell out of view. Hope.

A beautiful, terrible thing. Hope conjured by her presence alone. What a weight to carry.

Kohen released a breath. She was alive. She had made it.

Seeker Birchwood had returned.

She was home.

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Lightening illuminated the great, stark rise of the fortress. It sat at the heart of the lake, the sharp and rocky rise assaulted by choppy water. I felt the throb of energy at my palms which were covered by thick gloves. It felt as if the storm was following me, a zing of energy that had not left me since Haaling.

It had not taken long to overthrow the keep. Saviours are fled when the lightening fell from the seemingly calm skies. They were a skeleton force and I had taken one of their remaining mounts, their food and fled back into the wilderness in case they returned with a bigger force.

I curled my shoulders inwards, miserable and freezing. I would prefer the snow to this onslaught of rain that seemed to flick under my hood. Horseshoes clopped on the stone bridge and I could see no one entering Adotlan ahead of me. The gates were closed, the great Keep silent. There wasn't a whisper of laughter from inside the walls – only the weak light that cut through the storm.

I peered over the bridge wall. When the lightening flashed, I could imagine seeing Sirens cutting through the water – silver flashes of long, powerful tails.

A voice, amplified by a cast, cut through the din.

"Halt and dismount."

The mare startled and I slowed, curving a hand down her long face as I dismounted. I whispered to her, sensing the unease that all this strangeness brought her.

"You and I have been walking for far too long," I told the mare. "And we shouldn't be out in this storm, but know that in a few minutes, you will be pampered, and I will be in clean, warm clothes!"

The horse gave me a baleful look.

"I know you don't believe me, but just you wait. The stables in Adotlan are quite the sight."

She ignored that, her warm breath ruffling the fur at my shoulder as the walls loomed above us. Another flash spooked her, but the energy of it invigorated me. I curled my fists, feeling the heat spiking on my skin.

Darkened figures appeared high on the walls – the shape of watchers illuminated by the sheltered torchlight. I shivered in the freezing rain, waiting. The coldness was in my bones now – I would need to raid the store-cupboards to stave off a sickness.

A pair of soldiers appeared, slipping out of one of Adotlan's hidden doorways. Above on the walls, I knew there were a dozen casts or crossbows aimed at me, waiting for a wrong move.

"This is a bad road to travel in a storm, friend," A familiar voice questioned. "What brings you to Adotlan?"

I slicked back my hood and gave Tamas a trembling smile. "I have come home."

The young soldier took a moment, before breaking into a laugh. "Seeker Birchwood! Welcome back!"

He strode towards me, leaving the other soldier behind. I didn't recognise the other man – he was young, with round cheeks and a bewildered frown. Rain sluiced down Tamas' face. He had a new scar – one that hadn't been there weeks before. The edges were healed, leaving just a healthy pink line that cut across his nose.

Tamas looked over his shoulder. "Laurel, run up and signal the Seeker's return."

Laurel's widening eyes took me in. "Now?"

Tamas heaved a breath. "Yes now."

Laurel vanished into the dark. Tamas clapped my shoulder, smiling with an old sort of familiarity. I returned the gesture, knowing then that the long journey since Aoak was over. The war wasn't, but this small battle was. He took the reins of the mare and I fell into step behind him.

In the dark, after the next clash of thunder, the great bellow of a horn broke the night.

The gates opened into Adotlan opened with a groan and I couldn't help but smile, staring at the dark cobble-stone streets. Rain snuck in past my collar. The horn continued to ring, the noise cascading through the streets. Ahead, lights lit up the high towers of the Keep, piercing the dark skies.

Lighting flashed, illuminating those pointed rooves.

The forges were quiet. The streets were empty.

Tamas said, "We are glad to have you back, Seeker. As we always are after you come back from one of your missions."

Just a few weeks. The time had felt like an age in the Abyss, but it had only been a few weeks. I had been gone for that long on other excursions with the Legion. I wondered if that was something the inner-circle had spun – that I had purposefully gone into the Abyss for the Legion.

Not that I had been trapped. Not that there was a chance that I wouldn't have come back.

"I am glad to be back." I replied finally. "To rest in my own bed."

The horn kept bellowing and lights flickered to life in the town.

"I swear to the Divine, if Laurel has rung the wrong horn again..." Someone shouted into the rain. "...I will march up to Ewyn's Hall and complain myself!"

I had to snort. Mahon would have loved to listen to that complaint.

Faces peered out into the dark and I let my hands burn silver, trying to bite down a smile at the calls of delight. Seeker Birchwood. The townspeople flung open the doors of their home, clustering together under the lips of their rooves.

No one stopped me in my march up to the Keep. They just watched and smiled at me, their faces warm and welcoming. I returned it, and with each passing step, felt the weight of that warmth melting the tiredness from my shoulders. They pressed their two forefingers to their brows, saluting me.

"We are all glad that you have returned." Tamas whispered.

Cries of Seeker rang out. The whole town was emerging, crowding in the alleyways to see if the bellowing horn spoke the truth. It looked as if the world had been seeped of colour in the rainstorm, illuminating only when the lightening shot overhead. The second set of gates opened to the inner bailey.

A stable hand braved the rain, nearly stumbling in the slick mud.

"Seeker." He breathed as he took the reins. "Seeker Birchwood."

"Thank you," I said to him before turning to the mare. In Elvish, I told her, 'Thank you for bringing me home."

The mare looked at me with dark, intelligent eyes. Her ears were perked, and I knew that in her own way, she understood. The last leg of my journey loomed. The great steep stairs up into the hall – it may as well have been a mountain. But I climbed with aching legs, half wondering why it was always the last few steps of a long journey that were the hardest.

As I neared the top, the great doors of Ewyn's hall were open. A burst of freezing wind cut into the fire-lit hall, rousing a chorus of shivering groans. A small figure stood shadowed against the brightness of the hall, wrapped tight in a heavy, expensive cloak of purple. Her hood was down, and that fiery hair was braided tight for the night.

She froze, stricken at the sight of me. The wind pulled at her violently and her robes billowed out to the side. Hard enough that I feared it would catch her and cast her into the skies.

A small hand cupped her mouth. Fyr's soot covered fingers trembled as she asked, "Aviana?"

"Fyr..." I made it the last few steps, sweeping her into a tight hug. She laughed, hugging me back fiercely. She drew back, clasping my cheeks with burning hands. "You are going to catch your death in those clothes. Come inside."

She didn't give me a choice, lacing her arm through mine and guiding me into the airy hall. "I will call for the servants to make you a bath. And the cook to make you a nice hot meal. I'm sure Magin Beatrice wouldn't mind making you something to stave off the cold I'm certain you're going to have once your body has time to realize that it isn't moving anymore."

I stopped her, catching her wrists. "I missed you too, Fyr."

She looked away sharply. "This is all very sudden. You could have sent a snow-hawk."

"I won't dare be so inconsiderate next time," I glanced over her head to the workers who had been caught by surprise. They loitered, desperately trying to seem like they were working.

"There better not be a next time," Fyr retorted.

Suddenly, a door was thrown open and a voice loud enough to challenge the horns atop Adotlan's outer walls, bellowed, "What maggot has left the doors open! Tha's soldier Laurel needs to be put on kitchen duty. Always blowing the wrong horns and getting everyone stirred up."

"What a beautiful sight." I grinned.

Gwendolyn Feldspar was wrapped tight in her dressing-gown, her hair twisted back under a night-cap. She had capped her tusks for the night too. Poor Laurel. I would have pitied him if he had done all of this by mistake.

Her gaze fixated on me. A growl ripped from the pit of her throat. "Shiny!"

Any stragglers were wise enough to get out of her way as she strode towards me and like I had done to Fyr, Gwen did to me. She scooped me up, her hug bone-crushing tight. She shook me from side to side like I was a little ragdoll, shaking as she laughed loudly.

She let me down and two massive grey hands pinned my shoulders. "You look like a little wet rat Shiny."

Someone pulled off my wet cloak. My clothes clung to me; the chill of my limbs combatted only by the burning fires. "I've had little chance to change my clothes."

"I can smell that."

"Gwen," Fyr admonished. "She has only just walked in the door and you're already insulting her."

"I am only telling her the truth."

Fyr took a moment and turned to the nearest servant, dishing out a flurry of orders that I barely caught. I did catch bath and food.

Another door into the hall cracked open, and a voice called with derision, "I swear Fyr, that Laurel boy should be demoted. Always causing a flurry. That lack of critical thinking is not something we want in our soldiers. If the Captain was here to witness this, he would..."

Matthaeus paused. "Well, well."

"I am not dead."

The vampire smirked. "I can smell your silver scarred blood."

I took in his tousled golden hair and crumpled clothing. "And has my return interrupted something important? I would hate to think that it has."

The vampire narrowed his eyes. "Your return means we continue our training sessions. I would be very careful about what you chose to say next."

I laughed. "Well, you know that I do love a good punishment."

Gwen snorted. "Make sure to relay that to little Captain."

"And where is Mahon?" I asked. "Working away into the late hours?"

"Away from Adotlan." Fyr lay a hand on my arm. "With High Elf Taelan. But he is due back! Soon. He has stopped for supplies in an outpost before continuing."

Disappointment sat heavy in my stomach. "That's right on the lip of Adotlan's borders. Why do we need an outpost so close?"

"Which means he will be back soon and that we should all vacate the Keep for a few days." Gwen sighed loftily. "The man has been wound so tight you would think he was being drawn and quartered."

"Gwen."

"Fire-Lady?"

"The past few weeks have been hard." Fyr glowered. "On all of us."

"And yet you pick the worst word to describe it." Gwen was not swayed. "I swear you do it on purpose."

"Oh, Divine." Fyr hissed. "Aviana, you have missed absolutely nothing. Gwen is still the same ...."

"Same what?"

"I am not lowering myself to your level, Gwen."

"And yet, you are the tiny one. I can see the top of your head Fyr."

The vampire cast me a reproachful look. A brewing argument. Then, I caught sight of the figure standing up at the top of the hall. A slim figure dressed all in black, as silent as the night. Water dampened his hair.

Long ears were perked in our direction, basking in the heavy emotions bottled inside the hall.

His head titled as his presence hit me like a blow to the chest. I bit down a whimper, taking a quick step back. He was alive. He had made it.

I had left him clinging to life and in my travels, the worry had plagued me. He had been so sick, so pale and weak and I could only remember him like - holding onto life by the tips of his fingers.

Kohen moved slowly, hitching up his tunic to show me the curve of a vicious scar down the side of his ribs – a tendrils of silver markings stretching across his sun-touched skin.

I strode to him and clasped his shoulder, squeezing tight. As good as a hug.

The Zentin blinked and tears shone on his cheeks. He reached for my shoulder, hesitated and then, wrapped his arms tight around me. The embrace was soft, but warm. I sagged into him, shuddering in relief.

"I missed you," He whispered into my ear.

"I thought you might have died," I listened to the flutter of his heart.

"You burned silver into my blood. You kept me alive because you loved me." Kohen leaned back, now squeezing onto my shoulder. As good as a hug. "And I woke up and could not feel you. Anywhere. Just a whisper of resignation in the streets where a burning door had snatched you away."

"I did not mean to leave for so long." I said. "I didn't want to cause anyone pain."

"I know..."

My mind turned unwittingly to the haven in the Abyss where rot had not touched. A place of Zentin, alive and happy. Kohen sucked in a sharp breath and retreated a few steps, his brow furrowing. He said nothing but stared hard at me.

"Kohen..."

He curled his arms around himself and shook his head. "They are like me, but they are not my people."

He sensed the doubt before I could even find the words for it. With a soft voice, he asked. "Would you call any Elf you see before you a Dratlan Elf? No. You wouldn't. My people belonged to a culture that formed in the centuries we resided in Cadelith. We were different. I don't... whatever we had become is gone."

"I'm sorry that this has caused you pain." I croaked.

"No," He shook head, managing a whisper of a smile. "No, whatever I feel about that needs time to sink in. And it is overshadowed by your return. I consider you family, more than I would them."

He would feel my disbelief, but I couldn't help it. He saw them then as I thought of them unwittingly, spirits guarded by the Zentin of the Abyss. His smile widened and he tilted his head, eyes fluttering shut. After a moment, he spoke. "They are as beautiful as your memories of them were."

"Aren't they?" I whispered.

"You came back to us even though they were there?" Kohen stared at me with golden eyes.

The others were listening now, their attention drawn towards us. "I had to."

"You were bound by duty and morality to come back," Kohen shook his head. "But you came back too because you missed us – because you love us too."

"This is all bubbles and flowers," Gwen's loud voice broke the heavy air. "Come here, Shiny."

Again, I was unceremoniously drawn into a back-breaking hug. Gwen held me for a long moment before setting me down. "You reek Shiny."

"Bubbles and flowers?" I retorted.

The Troll went to say something, but a keen whining bark grew my attention. Two enormous hounds stood in the open doorway of Ewyn's hall, soaked by rain. Heavy tails were held stiff, and they watched me with burning amber eyes.

My boys.

We were on each other before a word could be said and I was lathered in wet kisses. Both hounds turned, whining and whimpering and licking my face as I tried to lavish love on the both of them. They knocked me onto my arse, their tails swinging so hard that they vibrated.

"My boys," I kissed them. "Oh, I missed you both."

Arno snuffled at my clothes, looking indignant.

"I know I shouldn't have left for so long." I felt the woven collars around their thick necks. "But you can't imagine who I had run into!"

"Your boys have been tearing through the Keep in your absence. They will only listen to Mahon and he rarely stays in Adotlan." Fyr interjected. "But you are back now, and the cook is safe from their pinching. Now, I will call for a bath."

"Subtle, Fire-Lady." Gwen snorted. "She means that you stink Shiny."

I sniffed myself, but I knew what Fyr was doing. She was trying to bring this somewhere more private- to stem the rumours. I didn't know what story they had been spinning in my absence, but I would go along with it. "I seem to have gotten used to the odour."

"It is quite...distinct." Matthaeus drew me into a hug.

"I need to send a message." Kohen touched my arm. "I will come back."

"I know you will."

I was swept up to my room by my chattering friends, all rushing to fill the silence. A steaming bath was drawn, and the men sat behind the bathing board. Gwen jeered the petals that had been cast across the rippling water but checked me for bruises before I slipped beneath the coloured water. The hounds sat by the door, guarding it. When there was a rustle, both hounds would raise their mighty heads before checking to see where I was.

I scrubbed grit from my arms. "There are Zentin in the Abyss. Sheltered by the Lady Isobel."

"Zentin?" Matthaeus sucked in a breath on the other side of the board. "How?"

"They lived there before the Zentin came to Cadelith." I explained, feeling the heavy silence in the bedroom. That hot water pulled at my tense muscles and I let out a long breath. I was home. I could relax here in this familiar room with these familiar voices. I pressed my head against the cushioned edge of the tub, my eyes slipping shut. "If I fall asleep, don't let me drown."

"That would be a terrible joke." Gwen snorted, sitting against the side of the bath with her back to me. "To come all this way only to drown in the bath."

"That seems like the kind of joke you would laugh at." Fyr sniffed.

"If it wasn't our dear Aviana, it would have been morbidly funny." Matthaeus said.

"And that morbid sense of humour really guides you." Fyr bit back.

"My tiny mortal friend, I know you appreciate my humour. Besides, being undead gives one an automatic morbid humour. Without it, we would rather be dead."

"I have met some boring vampires." Gwen told him sagely.

"Yick." Matthaeus laughed. "There is nothing worse."

"I can think of a few things." Miffed, Fyr set down a set of bedclothes for me on a chair beside the tub. "Has anyone forgotten the past few weeks? The tension? Hiding Aviana's disappearance as something we had planned."

My gut curled. "Was it truly terrible?"

Fyr wiped her cheeks. "We knew you would come back. We could believe nothing else. Not when we had fought to get so far. The silence in Aoak after that doorway closed was deafening."

Gwen nodded sagely. "Everyone stood there and just stared – idiotic when we knew what had happened. You were there, fighting that burned bitch and then you were gone."

"But our dear Captain was infallible." Matthaeus said. "He took only a moment before barking out commands that no one could ignore. There were bodies to be collected, people to be healed and Nirani and undead to be burned. He did not falter, and it was only because of him, that we did not panic."

"That sounds like Mahon."

Gwen turned me a look, flashing me a lewd side-eye. "You may find a way to thank him for all his hard work. He picked up your slack."

I stood from the water and the woman diverted their eyes. Fyr held out a large towel so I could dry. "I found my way home. I got back. Is that not thanks enough?"

"Your Captain is not easily pleased." Gwen retorted.

I wrapped myself next in a silken robe, knowing the moment my head hit the pillow, that I would sleep for an age. "When the Captain returns and I get some sleep, I will tell you all about it. Every bit." The dead land. The obsidian palace. The Elves whose souls I loved, were trapped in that purgatory. "But the world doesn't seem to be falling apart at the moment. I can rest."

I passed the panel, binding my hair in silk. It took just a moment – a pause where Matthaeus cast a look to the others.

Calm. With a restrained breath, I asked. "What's wrong?"

Silence. My hands burned, brighter now than they had before I fell into the Abyss. Unease whispered at the edge of my mind – but it didn't feel like my own.

"Is the capitol burning? Are the trees rotting into the ground?"

Fyr took a soft step towards me, the news falling from her like a hammer down onto a skull. The words rang, painful and brutal.

"Vanya is alive."

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Welcome back to Aviana's world! 

Tell me your thoughts, theories and conspiracies. 

How do you think the reunion between the Captain and the Seeker will go?

What other problems may they be hiding? 

Until next time, Saoimarie.