Decian ‘woke’ again in the forest, surrounded by sleeping forms. But this time, with a heavy heart, he recognised them. The short, stocky man whose blanket had mostly fallen off was Jedd, snoring loudly. Ridley sat by the fire, keeping watch and carving something out of a piece of wood. Avaeon had his thin blanket up over his ears, the only distinguishable feature poking out being his tail. Which meant…

Decian looked next to him. To the reddish brown hair splayed around the prince’s head. To the soft, freckled shoulder that remained uncovered by the blanket. He put a hand over his heart, which thumped uneasily in his chest. That familiar feeling spread, no less bitter than when it was paired with loss. He reached out to brush a hand against Isgellian’s shoulder, which was just as soft as Decian had expected it to be. Unscarred, unlike his own. The Prince stirred in his sleep and sat up to look at him.

“Wh-What?” He asked as he rubbed his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

Decian’s heart felt funny when the prince’s green eyes opened fully, settling on him. Absent was the look of distaste, the narrowed eyes, the scowl… Instead, his eyebrows arched up, curious, his green eyes wide and beautiful. He waited patiently for Decian to speak. “N—I don’t… I don’t know…” Decian ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so confused. You’re always so… So cruel. I honestly don’t see any redeemable qualities, but here… In this dream… Why do you look so… So beautiful, here?”

The Prince blushed and looked away. “D-Decian, what… What are you talking about?” He stammered.

“How do you feel? About me?” Decian asked. The Prince stared down at his lap.

“I… I mean, you’re not as bad as I thought you were.” He mumbled. Decian watched as his glamour flickered over his face. The blush disappeared. “You seem… Nice.”

Decian nodded slowly. “I don’t understand what this is… If this is just a dream, or… a vision? Or some strange mixture of both… Is this really going to happen? This attack? Is… Am I going to… Feel for you, this way?” He frowned. This feeling was… uncomfortable. He felt as if his guard was down. He didn’t think it was love, as he had believed it to be, before. It couldn’t be that. Not with Prince Isgellian…

“Feel… What way?” Isgellian asked, moving closer. He had a faint smile on his lips, watching Decian with such innocent curiosity…

Decian stared into such lovely eyes, his feelings indecipherable. What way? If it wasn’t love… “I… I don’t know… I think… I’m comfortable with you. I’m not comfortable around many people…”

“I assume not many people make you laugh, either.” Isgellian grinned. His upper lip disappeared almost completely when it did. His smile was so…

“Watch out!” Ridley screamed, just before a big black beast clamped an arm around Isgellian’s shoulders.

“No!” Decian shouted, lunging for his sword. He leapt to his feet and gave chase immediately. Isgellian’s hair flew in front of his face, concealing the prince’s identity once more. Decian's frustrated scream echoed through the trees for miles. The monster was too fast. In a last-ditch effort, he threw a knife at the creature, before something with sharp teeth clamped its jaws around his leg. Isgellian was gone. Again.

When Decian woke up, his leg was sore, but he barely noticed it. He stayed awake, staring up at the ceiling, for quite a while after that… It wasn’t love. It was… Friendship. It must have been. The heartbroken feeling was from losing a friend. As if he’d lost Deme or Firaine. That had to be it, but… His lips curled into a scowl. Friends… With that man? “I’m not here to make friends…” Decian muttered bitterly, rolling onto his side. “Certainly not with a man who sees himself so highly…” He sighed and shut his eyes.

That was the last dream Decian had about the night in the forest.

The nocten was surprised to wake up to light, filtered by the thin curtain, flowing into his room. Had he really slept the rest of the night, undisturbed? He sat up in bed, looking around himself, confused. He felt… Refreshed. It was unfamiliar.

A knock came at his door just as he was getting out of bed. He opened it up, not bothering to put a shirt on, thinking it would be Brabil.

The blond servant from the night before let out a startled squeak when the door opened so soon, and stared over at Decian. “Oh…” His cheeks flushed as Decian watched his eyes flitter down, and then back up. “U-Um! I’m su-supposed to wake you. Tell you that b-breakfast is served, a-and it’s best y-you come down s-soon.” He stammered and swallowed thickly.

“Are you... All right?” Decian asked, noting the elf’s red-rimmed eyes more than his reddened cheeks. “It looks as if you’ve been crying…”

His eyes widened more as the blush quickly drained from his face. “I—I’m fine! And even if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t be any of y-your business.” The elf huffed. “Put a shirt on before you come down for breakfast, it’s improper.” He scowled, turned, and walked away.

Decian just rolled his eyes. He was tempted to go down shirtless, just to piss off that servant.

In the end, he showed up to breakfast in his uniform, as always. Everyone but Ridley was already there, eating in silence. The silence remained, even when Ridley arrived, uncharacteristically sullen, then all the way through the meal. Decian couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering over to the elven prince every now and then, his dream from the previous night playing over in his mind. He couldn’t stop seeing that soft, almost expectant look in the elf’s eyes as he'd shifted closer. “Feel… What way?” When the prince looked up and scowled at him, the foul expression turning his soft features harsh and cold, Decian settled on dislike. It had just been a dumb dream, written by the wine and the nerves… There was no way Isgellian would be anything but a prickly, unpleasant, rude man.

Breakfast remained silent. No one spoke until they reached the stables.

Upon seeing his horse, Ridley’s smile returned, wide as ever, as he went over to him. He hugged the brown beast’s neck and scratched it. “Well hey there Oats.” He hummed into his neck.

Decian looked over in the middle of summoning Krenn. “You named your horse Oats?” He raised an eyebrow at the man.

“No, my… Well, my girlfriend named him Master Oats. I call him Oats for short.” Ridley shrugged. “What’s your… big cat’s name?”

Krenn appeared in front of Decian, and immediately headbutted him. “Ah!” Decian grinned, rubbing her ears. “This is Krenn.” He said, looking over to Ridley. “She’s a panther.”

“And you say Oats is a strange name,” Prince Isgellian scoffed, “When you named her, did you simply say the first nonsensical syllable that came to mind?”

Decian’s grin disappeared immediately. “You don’t speak Angelic?”

The prince’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Krenn… It’s a word in the angelic tongue. Elves don’t learn it?” Decian asked. Pride fluttered in his chest when the elf said nothing, merely looking away.

Jedd laughed at the prince’s sullen expression. It was Ridley who asked, “Well, what does it mean?”

“Runt,” Decian kissed the top of her head, “Not very original, given the fact that she was the runt of her litter…”

“Ya mean tha other ones’re bigger?!” Jedd gasped, struggling to mount the small horse his king had let him borrow from the stables.

“Well, no, it turned out that she just hadn’t been able to get to the food when she was a baby... Bullied by her litter. She’s bigger than the rest, now.” Decian beamed with pride. He and Krenn were two of a kind, after all. Their bond was much stronger than that between other nocten soldiers and their mounts.

“Can we all just shut up and carry on with our mission?” Prince Isgellian huffed, already seated in his saddle. Everyone’s smiles faded at that.

“If you think we won’t be talking while we travel for days on end, you’re sorely mistaken… Cow Pie.” Ridley added the nickname almost as an afterthought, snickering. Jedd beamed upon hearing the nickname he’d created was catching on.

“Stop calling me that!” Isgellian huffed, nudging his horse into motion, heading away from the stables.

Jedd looked over to Avaeon, who was standing nearby, quietly, throughout the whole conversation. “Aren’t ya gonna get on a horse?”

Avaeon frowned slightly, looking down to the hooves at the end of his equine legs, and then back up at him. His tail swayed softly behind him as he shook his head. “That would be… Weird. Don’t worry, I can keep up easy.” He smiled nervously at Jedd.

“Oh… Right, sorry.” Jedd chuckled, “Well, let’s go before Cow Pie gets too far.”

And so, their journey began down the central street of Stelloise, crowds of elves gathered to watch the five go, most waving and calling out their best wishes. Prince Isgellian fixed on his best political smile, waving back to his people as he departed. Decian remained solemn, focusing on keeping Krenn calm. Once they had left the city behind, though, Isgellian’s sour mood returned. No one spoke for most of the morning. Decian was quickly reminded of how uneasy the prairies made him. Too much sky. He was at the rear of the group, and kept glancing around, staying alert. His mouth settled into a slight frown, his dark brows pressed ever so slightly together, eyes squinting against the light. His pupils, vertical like a cat’s, were thin slits. To everyone else, it looked like he was grumpy, and maybe he was. He was accustomed to darkness, not bright, sunny days. It gave him a headache. Just as it had for the past week he’d been travelling with Brabil. No one wanted to risk his wrath, so no one talked to him. He settled into soldier mode. Staying alert, ready to protect the others should anything malicious come. But the prairies were silent.

Jedd thought Decian’s soldier mode looked scary. He remembered what Decian had said, about drinking blood, and shuddered. It wasn’t until noon, when Decian had pulled his panther up next to him, that any of them spoke again. “So, tell me about this ‘Siren.’” Decian still didn’t smile as he glanced around them.

“Oh, right, u-um…” Jedd looked over to him. He preferred tipsy Decian, who smiled easily and chuckled at Ridley’s jokes. When the nocten was sober, all Jedd could see was his grey skin, reddish eyes, and stone-cold expression. “It… W-Well, she showed up ‘round tha same time tha gods disappeared. Um… I-I’m not sure where ta start…”

“Do you know what she looks like? Any weaknesses? How does she attack?” Decian asked systematically, questions he always asked when faced with a new beast.

“She’s got tha body 'f a human, an’ a long black tail like a fish. Her body’s, like… got scales in some spots. Um… If she had weaknesses people knew ‘bout, she prob'ly woulda been taken care of long ago. But tha thing is… She don’t usually… Attack.” Jedd picked awkwardly at his fingers.

“What do you mean she doesn’t attack?” Decian frowned.

“Well, tha books of legends that talk about ‘er ‘ve all got some poetic way of sayin’ it, but… Basically, anyone who likes women fall under ‘er spell, and drown ‘emselves in tha lake… She don’t gotta do nothin’”

Decian was quiet for a moment and looked around at the group. “Well… You heard them. Are any of us here… What was the word? Gay?”

“I think my wife’d be pretty upset if I was…” Avaeon mumbled. Ridley and Jedd just shook their heads.

The Prince scowled, looking back at him. “Are you truly asking if any of us is a morally corrupt freak? No. At least I’m not.” He huffed and turned back around.

Decian rolled his eyes. “It’s not morally corrupt to like other men.”

“Do you?” Jedd asked Decian, staring up at him with hopeful eyes.

Decian shrugged. “I don’t discriminate. I didn’t even realise there was a word for men who liked men until Isgellian said it.”

“So, ya like both?” Decian nodded. Jedd sighed. “That’s not helpful…”

They both decided to ignore the ‘Disgusting…’ Isgellian muttered under his breath.

“So, none of us are going to be immune to her spell… We’ll have to come up with a way around it. How does it work?” Decian asked.

“Well, tha people who’ve lived through goin’ ta tha lake said they heard singin’. Then not much else. A couple gay men’ve tried ta go, too, but when they got inta tha water, she attacked ‘em. They said she was fast. Like. Scary fast.”

Decian nodded slowly. “Well, we could try blocking our ears? Does any one else have any other ideas?”

No one did. Their plan, though tentative, was made.

The time passed in silence, after that.

When they stopped for the night, everyone but Avaeon and Decian tied their mounts to trees, leaving their saddles in a heap next to them. Isgellian laid out his bed roll away from the others. He sat down on it, picking at a bread that had been packed for him as he watched Ridley build the fire. Jedd sat down on the ground, inviting Avaeon to sit with him.

“So, I heard ya mention yer wife, earlier?” He asked the satyr. Decian excused himself as they chatted. They’d made it into the woods around mid-afternoon, something Decian was endlessly thankful for. It was still leagues brighter than home, but he’d found his headache was less arduous since then.

The forest was quieter than he had expected it to be, though he supposed that was expected, given that the animals had all fled. He wandered through the dark trees, staring up at the leaves. He could see stars shining through them, which was… different. The canopy was so sparse, there. He climbed up one of the trees. Any which one, no matter if there was a path cleared or not, because he could push his way through. It was weird, but it was… nice. Easier. There wasn’t a risk of climbing the wrong tree and finding nothing but a canopy too dense to climb through… Decian climbed high enough that he could barely see the ground, too far from the camp they had set up for anyone to spot him. His back hadn’t stopped itching since the previous night. It had only gotten worse throughout the day. With a groan, he loosened his collar and pulled his shirt off. His torso was covered in scars, but none came close to the size of the two that rested between his shoulder blades. They ran the length of the bones and were as thick as two fingers were wide. He glanced back toward the camp again, just to be sure no one could see him. He couldn’t even see the glow of the fire between the trees.