Five: A Lesson in Patience… Or Not

Terry awoke to a most wonderful smell. He sat up and allowed the covers to fall back. At least this time he'd had the presence of mind to crawl under the covers before falling asleep, unlike last time. Getting up and putting his boots back on he left his room and followed that wonderful scent. As he moved through the halls the scent led him to what appeared to be the kitchen. He walked inside and found Katelyn and another man cooking.

Katelyn turned to him with a smile, "Awake at last are you. Ready for that meal?"

Terry's stomach decided to answer for itself. "Guess I am," he said sheepishly.

"Dinner is almost ready. Just a few more minutes," she put what appeared to be mashed potatoes into a bowl, "unfortunately it does not appear as if his Majesty will be joining you tonight."

"That's all right," Terry replied, "we've been stuck with each other for a while. A little time apart would do us some good."

One of the male cook's eyebrows rose, "How long have you known his Majesty?"

"Not long," Terry picked a grape out of a nearby bowl and popped it in his mouth, "we met through a mutual acquaintance." Not the full truth but the acquaintance was real.

"It is unusual you would be brought into his confidence so quickly."

The man's gaze was beginning to make Terry uncomfortable. "It was an accident really. I don't have any family and I moved around too often to really make any friends." He shrugged, "who am I gonna tell?"

"So you are a koji."

"Koji?"

Katelyn huffed, "He obviously doesn't speak our language Garret." Looking back at Terry, "He means orphan."

"Oh, and you're right. I don't speak Japanese."

Katelyn laughed while Garret muttered something about, "outworlders."

"It is the same language however we don't call it that. Only the people of your world use that name for our language."

"I'm on another world?" Terry asked, incredulous.

Garret turned and leaned back against the counter. "Are you really that stupid?" With a roll of his eyes and what sounded like a long suffering sigh he continued, "Don't you know anything boy? Gaia was another world a long time ago. Why do you think no one on your world is able to see it?"

"Because it's protected by magic. Aré told me—"

"His Majesty. What gives you the right to call him by his given name?"

"I—"

"Garret, enough!" Katelyn slammed her hand down hard enough on the table to echo through the room. "Master Friedle is a guest of his Majesty and is to be treated as such. Even if he is from the outside, that does not give you the right to interrogate him."

Garret turned back to his cooking. He muttered something else Terry wasn't able to catch.

"Come, the dining table is this way," Katelyn motioned for Terry to follow her, which he did.

The dining hall Terry was led to was smaller than he expected. While it was large enough to hold his living room, twice, he expected something large enough to match the grandeur of the manor.

Katelyn pulled out his seat. "This is his Majesty's informal dining room."

"I can only imagine what the formal one looks like," Terry replied.

"Perhaps you will dine there sometime."

"Maybe," Terry took his seat. "If you don't mind my asking, what's Garret's problem?"

Katelyn moved to the seat across from him and sat. "Garret is over protective of his Majesty."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Garret is an only child and he is also a Halfling. He was found by his Majesty wandering the streets. Garret was only about five and no one ever knew what became of his parents. His Majesty raised Garret, gave him a home and, when he came of age, a place of employment. This was also a home where he could be cared for and loved."

"Well that explains his attitude at least. So this happened, what, twenty years ago?"

Katelyn laughed, "Try eighty."

Terry's eyebrows attempted to meet his hairline. "Why am I still surprised? I don't know if I'll ever get used to this not aging thing."

"Garret ages, just not as fast as you or I."

"Wait? You're not… You're not Fae?"

"No," Katelyn replied with a slight upturn of her lips. "However my family has worked here even before his Majesty was born." A bell sounded causing Katelyn to stand. "Dinner is ready. I will be back in just a moment." She left for the kitchen.

Terry was left alone and found himself feeling rather awkward. While he had gotten used to the size and luxury that was Wayne Manor, he'd never had anyone wait on him like this before. It made him feel rather uncomfortable but what was he going to do?

He shook his head and forced himself to think about something else. Instead he focused on his own personal dilemma. If they ever got back - When, he thought determinately, not if, when! – what was he going to do about his new relation to Bruce?

"Here we are," Katelyn placed a plate of food and a glass of juice on the table before him.

She had been so quiet Terry hadn't heard her come back in. "Are you sure you're not Fae?"

"Yes I am sure. Believe me, what is considered quiet for us can be loud to them. If you need anything more do not hesitate to ask."

"Thank you." Once he took his first bite, Terry's silent contemplation was completely forgotten.

As promised Kane woke Aré up before the meeting reconvened. He had been woken early enough to change into something more formal and was currently admiring the wood spirals in the table before him. These men couldn't be any more long winded if they tried. The topic of conversation had continued to go around in circles and quite frankly he was getting tired of it. Finally he'd had enough.

"Would you all just shut up!"

The voices became suddenly silent and all heads turned to face him.

"Pardon me?" Nigel looked slightly shocked by the command.

"You heard me. All you people have been doing for hours is bicker and complain about the use of time travel by a people who, for the most part, don't even know we exist. And while I do know a few of those time travelers personally I also know there was a very good reason for them doing what they did." Aré took a breath to keep himself from raising his voice. "Another thing, I am sick and tired of the way you speak of the Human race. In case you haven't noticed we have four people here who are Human and I carry Human blood myself. I find your comments quite insulting." He held up a hand to forestall any argument. "And until you can continue this conversation civilly instead of bickering like children, this meeting is ended."

With that Aré stood and left the conference room, leaving silence in his wake.

He walked down the halls, silently fuming. As if he didn't already have enough troubles as it was. His mood must have been reflected in his features because anyone he passed moved quickly out of his way and made no attempt to stop and speak with him. That was just fine by him, Aré really wasn't in the mood to talk with anybody anyway.

"Security must surely be lax if they will allow just anyone to enter here."

Aré stopped and turned his gaze towards the one who had just spoken. There was no hiding the contempt Sora's features were twisted into.

"I know," Aré made no attempt to hide his dislike of her, "I will have to be sure and remind them not to let you in anymore."

Sora laughed but it was not a pleasant sound. "Me? It is you they must remember to keep out. As for me, this is my home."

"It was mine first." While he had never really thought of the palace as home he wasn't about to argue semantics.

"Ha, hardly, your home is with the dogs."

"And yet my father makes sure I have a room here. And, well, unlike you I am actually welcome within these walls."

"You are about as welcome as a rat."

"You would know."

Sora bristled, "How dare you speak to me in such a manner? That is no way to speak to a queen."

"You are queen in title only," replied Aré, "You do not hold the true power of the position. I have more power than you will ever have. I was born with more power than you. My authority outweighs yours."

The look of contempt on Sora's face turned into a sneer. "And yet it is I whom your father keeps close."

"Not by choice. My father wouldn't willingly keep a harlot as his consort."

Sora drew herself up, her expression changing again, this time she looked smug. "I would never have thought you would speak about your mother that way."

"You leave my mother out of this."

"I am not the one who brought her up. You speak of harlots and yet who was it who carried a bastard child?" Sora paused to think for a moment. "Oh yes, it was your mother."

Aré felt his anger increase. "At least I was conceived out of love. Unlike Izumi and Nakumaru, who were only conceived out of duty." It was a sad fact, yet one whose truth could not be softened. "My father never has and never will hold an ounce of love for you. You, who holds nothing but contempt for this House and is only here because there was no choice. My father married you out of love but it was not love for you, it was love for me and his wanting to keep me safe."

"If that is what you believe then you truly are delusional. Kane sees you as a worthless obligation, he has told me so himself. He has told me how he wishes you had been killed as a newborn and what a mistake he made in consorting with the likes of such a mangy human. His deepest regret is the taint he brought onto this House. He regrets you."

Lies! Aré's mind screamed, what she's saying, it's all lies. And yet a small part of him feared those words were the truth. He knew, knew, his father loved and cared for both him and his mother yet hearing Sora's words and having had them come from multiple sources was what kept that little shred of doubt from never disappearing.

He wasn't about to let Sora have the last word and he was determined to wipe that smug look from her face. "Say all you want Sora, but my father holds no regrets where my mother and I are concerned. No, his biggest regret is having been forced into marrying the succubus trying to steal his soul."

With that Aré turned and left the hallway, determined not to let Sora's words get to him. Unfortunately, the wounds had already cut deep.

The sun was slowly making its way towards the western horizon casting evening shadows across the front lawn of Aré's manor. After finishing his dinner Terry had gone outside to explore the grounds. The land the estate sat upon was large, larger than probably the land Wayne Manor sat upon, and equally as impressive. There were cherry blossom trees lining the rear and sides of the property. What was surprising to Terry was that they were still in full bloom. As far as he knew those trees only blossomed in April… ish… If he remembered correctly it was nearly the beginning of summer. The blossoms should have fallen by now.

Gravel crunching underfoot drew his attention down the long driveway. He watched as a man approached riding a brown horse. It wasn't until the rider stopped at the steps he was sitting on and dismounted that Terry recognized him. Terry's eyes went wide, "Holy crap."

Aré sent Terry a confused look. "What?" he asked.

Terry looked Aré up and down. Upon his brow was a circlet with a symbol he didn't recognize at the center. He had on what appeared to be a long cream colored coat which extended down well past Aré's knees, trimmed in a pale blue-green, the sleeves were trumpet shaped with vents going up to his elbow showing tight fitting light blue-green sleeves underneath which came to a point at the backs of his hands. The front was partially closed using what looked like a pair of Chinese buttons, at his waist an intricate belt of the same pale blue-green color. There was a sword in a dark scabbard attached to the belt.

Terry could barely make out the pale blue-green under-tunic, his gaze traveled downwards, taking in tight cream colored breeches which disappeared into knee high boots the same color as the under-tunic.

"What!" Aré asked again, agitation evident in his voice.

Terry snapped back to reality. "I… uh… I didn't recognize you in that. What are you wearing?"

Aré looked down at himself and groaned. "Jeans and a t-shirt wasn't exactly proper attire for the meeting. These are my 'royal robes'." He made air quotes as he said the last part. "These are what I wear whenever I have to be official."

"I knew you were a prince but those really make you look the part."

"Thanks," Aré sat beside Terry, "I think."

"No really, you look good." One shoulder lifted and fell in a shrug. "This is still really new to me. Everything that's happened recently, information overload you know? Knowing something and seeing it for yourself are two different things."

"I know what you mean." The horse Aré arrived on shook its head and pawed at the ground, causing both men to turn their attention to it. "I better put her in the stables." Aré stood and took the horse by the reigns, leading her back to the stables.

Terry followed, it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "So how did the meeting go?" He ventured to ask once they arrived.

"They're all morons." Aré griped, pulling the saddle and reigns off. "We sat there for hours while they bickered and complained. Every one of them acted like children."

"Kind of scary since they're all older than you, right?"

"There were four people there," at Terry's look of confusion Aré elaborated. "Four Humans, the rest were Fae, other than them, yeah, they were all older than me." He led the horse to a feeding bucket then picked up a brush and began brushing her out. "You want to know what they bickered about. Time travel of all things."

Terry's eyes went wide with shock. Do they know? Was his first thought. "Really?"

Aré nodded, "Yes, but they don't know anything. All they know is what they sensed, that someone has traveled though time recently." His voice lowered and Terry barely heard him say, "My father knows."

"What!" Terry exclaimed, "how?"

"I told him."

"You told him after you told me not to say anything. That if I did things could change drastically. I'm thinking universe ending paradoxes here and you go and tell your father!"

Aré stopped what he was doing and faced Terry fully. "I didn't have much of a choice. My father is the only one besides the gods and myself who has authority over time. He could sense it and he would have found out sooner or later. I decided sooner would be easier."

"He knows everything then?" He threw his hands up in the air, "great so when the world ends I'm blaming you."

Aré whorled around to face Terry, throwing the brush to the ground so hard it broke. "Be silent boy! I do not need you or anyone else telling me how much I have royally screwed things up. I have already been told that on more than one occasion! Believe me; I know exactly the ramifications of what I have done. I do not need a reminder."

Terry took a step back. Aré's outburst had caused his eyes to flash white for a moment and his clothing to flutter in a nonexistent wind. He held his hands up, palms out. "Sorry. What's got you so riled up?" Whatever had him so angry had more to do than what Terry had just said.

Aré took a calming breath and bent to pick up the pieces of the brush. "I ran into Sora while I was at the palace."

"She's here?" Terry didn't like the sound of that. "They made it here before we did? If others can sense the time travel then she must know we're here too. She would have to," Terry began to pace the short distance along the isle in the stables; "we have to move fast then. Find Inque, Shriek, Spellbinder and Blight. They can't exactly blend in. Well maybe here they can but—"

"Terry," Aré cut the boy off mid rant, "we made it here before they did. Sora's essence hasn't made it here from the time we came from yet. Unlike you a Fae's physical body doesn't move through time if they go to a time in which they are alive. I told you before my essence came here, my memories from the future."

"Then how come you arrived wearing the clothing from our time and covered in blood?" he questioned.

"That's complicated," Aré replied after a moment. "But the point is that we still beat them here. We still have time."

Terry stopped his pacing, "How much does your father know, exactly?"

Aré shrugged, "Not much actually. I told him that I came back from about fifty years in the future, that I had a companion and that we didn't come here willingly."

"He knows about me."

"To a point. He knows your name is Terry but not much else." Aré looked at the pieces of the brush in his hand then tossed them onto a nearby bench. "Besides, my father knows not to ask questions about the future. At least not any questions which could have a dire effect on it."

"Well that's good, at least."

"Yeah," the two fell into a long silence during which Aré finished brushing out the horse and placing the mare into her stall with some food and water. Afterwards they headed back to the manor. Before entering the manor Aré stopped Terry. "I really do apologize for snapping at you earlier. This whole experience has to be harder on you than me."

"I'm not sure I would say that." Terry replied.

Aré raised an eyebrow, "I'm able to blend into the times better than you are. There is so much you have to be careful about. So much knowledge you have to not let slip."

"And you don't? You know just as much as I do, if not more. Look, I'll be fine. So long as nobody tries to read my mind I think we'll be okay."

Aré gave Terry a skeptical look before nodding slightly and entering the manor. "If you say so. I know we are not quite used to the difference in time," his gaze traveled out one of the windows towards the setting sun, "hopefully we won't be here much longer. I only estimate another day or so then we'll return to Gotham."

"And then what?"

"Then we wait for my brother to show and figure out how to get back without damaging the timeline."

"Oh, sounds simple enough. No problem then."

Aré rolled his eyes, a light chuckle escaping him, "Yeah… right…"

Aré had been right about the effects of jet lag. Terry found himself staring at the ceiling of his quarters, wide awake and with no hope of falling asleep anytime soon. Turning his head to the left he saw the red glow of the bedside clock read 11:38. Terry groaned, one would think that given the time to actually get a good night's sleep he would do just that, sleep. While Terry welcomed the chance for the extra sleep it seemed as if his body had other ideas. He tried to will himself to sleep, didn't work. He heaved a dramatic sigh, it had to be well past midnight now. He looked at the clock again 11:42. Oh come on!

"Slag it." When he'd taken a tour of the manor he'd spotted a workout room, getting out of bed he changed into something a bit lighter and headed out. A little physical exertion would tire him out enough to get at least a few hours' sleep. He wasn't sure how many people were still awake and remembering how sensitive Fae hearing was he made sure to be extra quiet as he left his room.

As he walked down the hallway towards the staircase leading downstairs voices caught his attention. Curious he moved closer to the balcony and knelt down. Boot heals clicked on the hardwood floor, "What are you doing here?"

That had been Aré. Terry peered through the balcony railing and watched the man come into view. He hadn't yet changed out of his earlier attire and Terry couldn't help but be reminded that the man was more than human. Wearing those clothes he actually looked like the mythical creature he was.

"I had to talk to you."

Terry started at the other voice. His eyes went wide as he saw Bruce come into view. His voice wasn't quite as deep as Terry was used to hearing. It stilled awed him to see his dad so young. Dad? he thought, have I really come to accept that so quickly? Shaking himself from his musings Terry returned his focus to the conversation taking place below him.

"And it couldn't possibly wait until I had come back to Gotham?"

"No, this is something I didn't think could wait."

Aré stood straight, crossing his arms. "Let me guess, the world is in danger. Again. Oh, I know, Jack is on the loose again."

"This is not League business and has nothing to do with the Joker."

"Then what is this about?"

"I ran into someone while I was patrolling."

"You always run into someone."

"True, but not everyone I run into is from the future."

Terry felt his heart jump up into his throat. I'm a dead man.

"The future you say?" Aré's voice became so even it was as if there was no emotion in him. "Who did you see?"

There was a moment of silence while Bruce studied Aré with a confused look before he replied, "Do you remember when I told you about when John and I chased the man from the future? I told you about the boy who my elder self had taken as a protégé." A muscle in Terry's cheek twitched at being called a boy.

"You are saying the boy you saw while you were in the future is in this time? In Gotham?"

Bruce nodded, "Yes," the tone of his voice belaying his exasperation. "You had to have felt the transition."

Aré appeared to be trying to remain calm. "I felt it. Such was the basis of our conversation during our meeting. Considering those who were taking part in the meeting, suffice to say we got nothing done."

"You were called here because of time travel? How long have you known the boy was here?"

Aré seemed to deflate. "It hasn't been that long B. Only a couple of days at most. Whatever it was we were originally going to talk about has been put on hold."

Bruce was silent for a moment. "Are they going to search for the boy?"

Aré shrugged, "I have no idea what those fools are planning to do."

"Are you going to search for him?"

"How could I not? If the Council does search for him it would be better for everyone if I were to find him first."

"Hm, good point. What would happen if the Council were to find him first?

"More than likely they would make an example of him. They were very angry and were nearly ready to announce our existence to the rest of the world." Bruce's eyebrows rose in surprise. "The Council was very adamant that they 'remove those who break the laws.'"

"Remove, as in—"

"How do you think I mean? Remove, never to be heard from again."

Terry suppressed a shiver. He didn't want to disappear forever. Besides, his being here wasn't his fault. He'd been trying to prevent the others from coming back in time. It wasn't like he had a choice.

"Look, B, it's past midnight. I'm tired and my day's been crap. If it's all the same to you I'm going to attempt to put the last twelve hours behind me. I will see you when I get back to Gotham, okay?"

Bruce gave a slight nod and remained where he was even when Aré turned and headed back from the way the two had come. Deciding to forgo his workout Terry moved away from his hiding spot and quietly made his way back to his room. He didn't even bother to change back into his sleep cloths before climbing into bed. He was not looking forward to seeing Aré in the morning. Terry just knew the man was going to chew him out.

His heart jumped into his throat when he heard his door crack open. With his back to the door he was able to hide the look of surprise that had appeared on his face. He closed his eyes and schooled his features to make it look like he was sleeping, forcing his breathing to be slow and even and praying that whoever was at the door couldn't hear his frantic heartbeat. The door closed back up after a few minutes and Terry let out a sigh of relief. Physical exertion was out of the question for the night but he surprised himself by falling asleep in only a few minutes.