My tidings for you: the stag bells,
Winter snows, summer is gone.
Wind high and cold, low the sun,
Short his course, sea running high.

Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone
The wild-goose has raised his wonted cry.
Cold has caught the wings of birds;
Season of ice-these are my tidings.

* * *

"SO WHAT YOU'RE TELLING me is that our only chance at saving an entire civilization older than time itself is some stupid cup no one has seen for centuries," Morgana said, eyes fixed on Eurion. "That's just bloody brilliant."

"Hey," Selene snipped, chastising Morgana with a cold stare. "I know you're angry, but don't you dare take it out on Eurion. She's the only one who hasn't done a damn thing to you."

The faery was leaning inches away from the thief's face, close enough to have her clutching the old pages to her chest.

Lionel tugged on Kit's tunic. "What'd I do to him?"

Morgana stepped away from Eurion to point at the boy. "You knocked me out with your stupid eruption and then when I woke up, your idiot father had me locked away in a cage like an animal, so thanks for that."

"You're welcome," said Lionel, perfectly innocently. Kit could see the smile quirking up at the corner of his little mouth, softening the fury that boiled in his chest.

The tension was only there because of Morgana. He was rigid, terrified, discouraged, Kit could see the emotion in his eyes raging like a storm. It was bad enough, they all stopped in the middle of the woods to talk him down from his rampage.

"You know what your problem is?" Selene began. Kit knew that tone, it was one she used to put him in his place a thousand times before.

Morgana set his jaw and turned his head, as if he was ready to face Selene. The storm in his eyes was about to become a blizzard.

The thing was, Selene thrived in conflict. She was built for it, and she was good at it. "Your problem is the same shit as this asshole over here that you think you're so much better than." She pointed to Kit.

Ouch.

"Did you ever think for one fucking second that your best friend might also be ripped apart in fear for her people? Did you ever consider that she might be up all night, too, thinking about how she needs to be there but she can't afford to die and leave them all behind in the process?"

Most of the time, Kit was the one Selene was cussing out. But this time, she was ripping Morgana a new one and it felt good. For awhile, he hated her brutal honesty and the intensity with which she delivered it. This time, he wanted to cheer her on.

Unlike Kit, though, Morgana didn't get defensive. He did what no one ever dared to do, and he fought back.

"How long have you known her, Selene? A few weeks? A few months?" He scoffed. "My dear, I have known her for an eternity. I know her pain, by God, I feel it. You see her pain and you think the answer is to fight everyone else off and hold her hand and hope she works it out herself."

She pulled out her dagger. "Call me your 'dear' one more time and you will be missing more than just a hand."

"You wouldn't hurt Giselle like that."

"Losing another hand won't bring her grief, I assure you she has better things to worry about."

Kit was too busy enjoying the fight to realize Giselle was in tears, watching the two she loved the most tear each other to pieces. When he realized, he froze in place.

"Guys," he said.

They didn't hear him.

"See, the difference between you and me is that I figure out what's wrong, and I fix it," Morgana seethed. "What do you do? You don't do anything."

Selene finally snapped. She kicked Morgana back against the thick trunk of a tree and stabbed her blade inches from his head.

"You can just shut your sorry fucking mouth before I sew your stupid lips together," she growled. "I have spent my every waking breath, my entire soul trying to keep her safe and support her through all of this and where have you been?"

"Guys, please-"

She shut him up with a hand.

"Oh, right, I forgot. You were sneaking around behind our backs, betraying us and you nearly got us killed. Twice." She pulled the knife from the tree and pressed the edge beneath Morgana's chin. The sight made something stir in Kit, like satisfaction, or perhaps déjà vu.

This was when a fight broke out. Morgana was quick to kick her back and duck away, but she was quicker to find her footing and swing at him.

"I was saving her," he said.

"Bullshit. You were saving yourself."

"You don't know the things I saw."

Selene cut his arm, Morgana scratched her face hard enough to bleed, and Giselle looked to Kit in fear. Everyone else had already stepped away from the scene, but he finally found it in him to do something.

It took one strategic throw of his dagger, a mere flick of the wrist to toss the blade right between their faces and stick it into to the tree.

"Good Lord, it's about fucking time," he scolded when they stopped. "If you're both so worried about Giselle, maybe you'll look at her right now and realize what you're doing instead of trying to fucking kill each other."

The two of them turned their heads and dropped it as soon as they saw her. Selene reached out, but Giselle pulled away. Morgana didn't get the chance to do the same when he saw the stare the princess fixed him with.

"I don't want to be near either of you right now," she whispered, too upset to speak loudly. "I want to go home, and I want to find a way to do it without dying. That is where we're going next. We're going to find something to keep me safe."

With that, she turned away, disappearing into the trees. The other three were already far from the scene, too uncomfortable to be there. Astyr took notice of the princess and disappeared off after her.

It was just the three of them now.

"I hope you're both fucking happy," said Kit. "I can't believe I'm the one breaking up fights this time. Morgana, you've reached a new low. Selene--"

He almost didn't want to say it, but it had to be said.

"Use your next words wisely, Kit, you--"

"I enjoyed it at first, you know," he told her, swallowing back his fear. "I enjoyed you calling him out, because I'm gonna be honest, he deserved it."

"Oh, that's rich--"

"Morgana, will you shut up?" he snapped. He took a breath to regain his composure, then turned his eyes back to Selene. "He deserved it. And to be honest, I think you two should work out whatever this is in whatever way you need to. At another damn time. But you don't get to settle this in front of everybody, especially not Giselle."

Selene was still fuming, but her face we starting to soften. Morgana just rolled his eyes and turned away, which Kit presumed meant he felt guilty and didn't want to face it because he couldn't stand the idea of the prince being right.

"We'll do as Giselle says," he told them. "Think of something that you know will keep her safe in Faerie while we find a place to camp out, the sun is getting low. For now, go cool off while she deals with her feelings."

* * *

The last person Morgana wanted to see right now, the last person he ever wanted to see, really, was Kit. If it wasn't already awkward enough to see him after he'd put a stop to the fight he had with Selene earlier, it made it worse when he thought of what happened back in the lake. He told himself it was torture, but he knew the truth.

It wasn't torture at the castle. Not the kissing part, at least. What was torture was knowing what he had to do to Kit after that.

"Go away," he growled.

He could still feel him standing there, unmoving behind him.

"Did you hear me? I want you to--"

"What was it for?"

Morgana stilled, eyes settling on the rolling stream before him. He watched a small fish swim past, and he wished he could enjoy how pretty it was out here.

"What was what for? The fight?" He scoffed. "I'm pissed, and your aunt just--"

"I'm not talking about that."

Dammit.

It was the last thing he wanted to think about, and most certainly the last thing he wanted to talk about. He was glad when their conversation was cut short before, when Kit tried to talk about it back at the village. He thought maybe he'd drop it, but it was too much to hope for something like that from a stubborn bastard like him.

"You know why."

"No, Morgana, I don't. I don't know why you fucking kissed me."

Morgana's chains rattled when he ran his hands over his face. He could get out of these cuffs any time he felt like it, but he didn't feel like dealing with Kit's paranoia any more than he had to. He wasn't going to leave Giselle and there was no chance he was going to stop Excalibur by going back to Connor. The prince was worried for nothing.

"There was no other way to shut you up," he told him, because there was no other way to shut him up.

He gave a bitter laugh, and Morgana rolled his eyes. "Really? Is that it?"

"What more do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me the truth," he said. "And don't tell me you can't lie, because we both know that still doesn't mean you have to tell the whole truth. I have no doubt in my mind you did it to shut me up, but there was more."

The faery was silent. He didn't owe him an answer.

"Morgana--"

"I don't know!" he cried. "I don't fucking know, there's your goddamn answer. Now leave it alone."

Kit was finally quiet, but Morgana didn't hear him leave. He didn't dare say anything else, in fear that he might find another thing to pick apart and use to pull more out of him. He was infuriatingly good at it.

"Next time you feel like taking advantage of my feelings, maybe don't stab me afterwards," he said in a shaky voice. When Morgana stayed quiet, he turned and disappeared, leaving him alone.

He thought it was what he wanted, for Kit to leave, but now he didn't want to be by himself with nothing but his thoughts.

Before he could think too much about it, he rose to his feet and made his way back to where everyone else was. He kept his eyes far away from Kit, but he could feel the burning amber gaze no matter what he did.

The only person he felt comfortable with anymore was his mother. He made his way to her, accepting her outstretched arms and resting his cheek on her shoulder.

"You alright?" she asked him.

"I haven't been alright since Saoirse died," he murmured. "But I'll live."

She kissed his pointed ear and he pulled away, looking up to meet her dark eyes through her spectacles.

"It's getting late, I think your friends want to start moving," she said, hooking her arm around his.

He smiled at her weakly, too tired to argue about whether he'd consider them his "friends" or not.

By the time they got moving, the sunset painted the sky in a dozen colors and cast the world in a golden shadow. When he was with his mother, he could forget about everything for a moment and let himself enjoy the beauty of it. So he did.

* * *

The world was a blur of colors and shapes, fading in and out like a heartbeat.

"It hurts. It hurts, it all hurts."

The voice was gentle, but not at all comforting.

"I know, my love, it will be over soon."