Henry was slowly turning, trying to keep an eye on all, Cevian, Cylindra, and Pollux, Teslas' oldest child, that were circling him, looking for an opening to attack. He was gripping Charos with both hands, holding it before his body protectively, and listening for their steps carefully.
When they had finished the sword, three weeks ago, Cevian had been so excited and impressed with it, she had made it her personal duty to train with Henry, and her brother, as well as her best friend, had immediately agreed to help. The three mice had become Henry's most common sparring partners, over the course of the weeks, and not last thanks to them, he had gotten used to the new sword fairly quickly.
He glanced over the blade now, regarding the new knob he had carved out of a bone, that looked like a bat spreading its wings, with pride. "Won't the wings be in constant danger of breaking off though?", had been Thanatos' first comment, and Henry had laughed, dismissing it and claiming he could replace it anytime, after all.
He felt the steps of Cylindra approaching from behind and ducked away under her attack, rolling off to the side, and blocking Pollux' claws with the blade. Cevian leaped at him from upfront and he held Charos horizontally, to block her path.
Having a bigger sword that covered more space and of which he did not have to fear it would break under a lot of pressure was fantastic, and he was fairly versed at using it now.
Sparring wasn't the only thing Henry had spent his time on though, over the last couple weeks. Lovelace and Teslas had found a compromise on how to divide his time between chores for both, they decided they would switch every second day. He was working in Teslas' workshop for two days, then ran errands for Lovelace the next two, and so on.
Henry had found the compromise acceptable, especially as in between switching, he had successfully pushed through that he would always get a day off for training and doing whatever he wanted as well.
Today was one of his free days. He had just returned from a supply mission to the Fount yesterday, and tomorrow he would start working with Teslas.
Most of the errands he had run for Lovelace so far had gone to the Fount. At first, he only supplied the nibbler colony there, who were close friends to the mice in the jungle. He had refused to travel directly to the human settlement before, but when the nibblers at the colony there told him the humans needed supplies more than they, he had – cautiously at first – led his first trading party there.
They needed goods direly as the plague had hit them hard and many of their old suppliers were dead, or too occupied with their own aftermath of the plague, to keep supporting them. Regalia and the nibblers were the only ones that remained.
To Henry's surprise, all his fears about being unwelcome had been unjustified. Apparently, most of them cared more for the things he brought than for his outcast status. Further, he was a friend of the nibblers, and luckily, his reputation from supporting the quest in the jungle and on the waterway had spread, and York and Susannah welcomed him almost with open arms. Some of the people had even thanked him for saving Luxa and called him a hero.
Curiously enough, it had been Howard's younger siblings, who had taken the biggest liking to him, throughout his, at this point, three visits there. Chim, Hero, and Kent loved how he always had some sort of story to tell, and they were visibly fascinated with his entire image. Stellovet had pretended to dislike him at first, but Henry had quickly noticed her eyes shone exactly the same way as her younger siblings' when he talked of his adventures, perils, and battles.
Over the course of his visits, she had apparently grown more and more tired of pretending and soon turned into one of his biggest admirers herself. The last time he had arrived, she had even waited for him at the gate, eyes shining with excitement, much to Howard's disapproval.
Howard himself was the only one who still cared little for Henry, all he ever did when his siblings clustered around the outcast and bombarded him with questions, was raise an eyebrow dismissively. Henry had even overheard him talking to Stellovet about how she should stay away from the "dangerous outcast", to which she had simply responded – "from what you told me, didn't he save your ass at the waterway?" That had done the job of silencing Howard for a while, and Henry had had to suppress a chuckle.
It had been weird seeing all of them again, like this – without them knowing who he was. He had spent his childhood playing with them and making fun of them, especially Howard and Stellovet, but now it was almost nice to be able to enjoy the company of humans – any humans – again.
Luxa and Gregor had been there once as well, she had mentioned she had wanted to show the Overlanders and Hazard, who had moved to Regalia after Hamnet's death, the Fount, and he had been able to ask for the fate of the plague victims.
Howard and Andromeda were perfectly healthy again, though Howard had visibly lost weight and his features had matured, similarly to Henry's, throughout his first half a year in exile.
He had been relieved to find out Ares was alive as well, and though he was still in the hospital, he was almost cured too. It would take him a few more weeks to get out, as he had been the worst case, but he would fully recover soon.
Gregor's mother was still in the hospital as well, she had not been as sick as Ares, but from what Henry had understood, the doctors had discovered Overlanders had some sort of resistance to the cure, and while it had eased the symptoms, it had not erased the plague from her body yet. They had needed to conduct more experiments and readjust the formula a little, which had taken longer than anticipated. Now, they were fairly optimistic again, saying the latest version would most likely work, though it would take a long time for her to actually get out of the hospital. Half a year at best, the doctors had told Gregor.
He was fairly frustrated at that, but Henry suspected Luxa was almost happy. This way, he had a reason to come back to the Underland frequently, apparently, he was in Regalia almost every day now. The two had visibly grown closer, over the last year, and normally, Henry would have teased her endlessly about it, but like this, he had to resort to rambling to Thanatos and the mice about it.
It had been good to see her again – she had grown so much, this last year. Henry realized she was thirteen already, like Gregor, and a wave of that specific feeling, when you discover kids are growing without you being prepared for it, had hit him unexpectedly.
He thought about how his own eighteenth birthday was in a few months and suddenly asked himself if one day, his age would become meaningless to him. If it all would just blur together into endless weeks, months and years, and if he would at some point not be able to answer the question as to how old he was anymore.
Then, Henry had realized it was utterly pointless and a waste of his thoughts to linger on something so conceptual and abstract, and went back to sparring with Charos.
"It... should work. At least somewhat. Though, are you sure you don't need a handle to hold on?" Teslas asked while he and Henry inspected the result of their work, these last two days.
The exiled prince rolled his eyes at the nibbler. "Handles are for weaklings. I'll be fine."
"If you say so", Teslas grinned. "Well, ready to show Thanatos? You should test it in a safe environment, and maybe above a water body, just in case you DO fall off."
Henry chuckled. "I won't FALL OFF. I NEVER fell off a bat before – except on purpose. Now that would be a first I could live without."
He took up the saddle prototype they had just finished and started making his way out. Fall off... who did Teslas think he was?
"And you are actually serious about this?" The gaze in Thanatos' amber eyes was still skeptical when Henry showed him the prototype.
"It'll be great, let's just test it, okay? You agreed to let me test it!"
"What was I thinking", Henry heard the flier mumble as he reluctantly let the exiled prince strap the construction around his neck. It looked almost like a broad collar from leather with a surface to sit on and the lever that activated the primary function. "The things I do for you, Henry, never cease to amaze me, truly."
"Oh, quit whining, it actually looks really neat." Henry grinned. "And once you see how it works, you'll love it as much as me."
"Never", Thanatos grunted, but let Henry mount up with a sigh.
It felt strange sitting on an artificial surface, instead of on the flier's fur directly, for the first time, and the exiled prince thought as much as Thanatos would have to get used to this, he would too. He quickly checked the accessibility of the lever and signaled he was ready to begin the test run.
As confident as he had acted in front of Teslas, he was still happy nobody was around to watch them now. If he did end up falling off, he could really live without the mockery of his mice friends.
Thanatos lifted off and soon hovered above the lake, just in case. Henry felt his chest tighten with excitement, as he fumbled with the lever. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be", the flier grunted, and Henry determinately pulled it to the right.
The saddle did exactly what it was supposed to – the whole construction, along with the sitting surface, rotated to the right, at first by exactly ninety degrees, but Henry was so startled he forgot to let go of the lever and the construction rotated again, by another ninety degrees. And it sent Henry, who was not even remotely able to hold on, using only his legs in an upside-down position, face-forward into the lake.
When he broke the surface moments later, snorting and coughing, Thanatos was laughing vigorously. "Maybe you should at least add a handle to hold on!", he called, finally grabbing his bond by the arm and heaving him out of the water.
Henry, sitting on the beach, looking like a drowned rat, glared at him from beneath the strands of his wet hair, that now reached beyond his shoulders when untied. "Well, MAYBE I SHOULD!"
"Falling off a bat for the first time, really, what a great start to the day this is", Henry mumbled to himself, angrily pulling his dripping shirt over his head, wringing it out and tossing it onto the beach to dry. "DON'T YOU DARE TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS, you hear?" He called to Thanatos, who was still chuckling.
"Maybe I won't, maybe I will. Depends on how much of a brat you are." For that, Henry started chasing him, swinging his wet shirt, yelling mocking threats.
They spent the next half an hour messing around in a similar manner until Henry's hair and clothes had dried enough so that he felt ready to go back inside. He took the saddle with him, grumbling he'd add a handle, and maybe something else to help him hold on.
Apparently, it was not as easy as he had thought, staying on a bat while upside down.
Later that day, when it was time to go to bed, Henry and Thanatos were sitting in their designated sleeping cave, but the exiled prince was still sketching around in his mother's notebook, instead of turning off the lantern, that stood next to him, and going to bed.
"You need to get some sleep. You can finish that later, Henry", his bond poked him in the side, and Henry grunted. "Hold up, almost done."
"What are you even sketching?" The flier asked, curiously eyeing the page. While shifting to get a closer look, he accidentally touched Charos, that was leaning against the wall, with a wing, and the huge sword fell over, making a deafening clanking noise.
Henry jumped, dropping the notebook, and rose to lift the sword back up, not without glaring at Thanatos accusingly. The flier just shrugged, but then his attention was captivated by the notebook. "That... is not your hand, is it?" He asked, glancing over the random page that had flipped open when Henry had dropped it.
The exiled prince sat back down and picked up the book. "Did I never tell you? It belonged to my mother."
Thanatos shook his head and Henry was surprised at how he had forgotten to share this story entirely. He sat so that his bond could see the pages and flipped through them, one by one, showing the flier what his mother had come up with over the course of her using this book.
"I knew your mother was an inventor, your father spoke of her frequently, but I had no idea how brilliant she was." Thanatos chuckled. "Where did you get this book from?"
Henry sighed. He packed away the notebook and lied down, leaning his head against Thanatos' back, and told him about his first day of working for Teslas. How he had found out, how he had assumed the worst immediately, and how Teslas had shared with him what he knew of his mother, and given him the notebook to keep.
"Ever since then I draw my own inventions in it. I think my mother would have been happy." He smiled at the ceiling.
Thanatos was silent for a moment. "I had almost forgotten how I found you packing and crying, back then. It makes sense why you jumped to conclusions, it must have felt like losing your mother for the second time."
Henry turned and pressed his face into the flier's fur. "It... it did. I sincerely thought she... she had never even cared about me. But now... Now she is always with me, through mine and Teslas' inventions, and through this book."
The flier nodded. "I am sure she would have been proud of you."
Henry gave a dry chuckle. "Proud? Of a traitor for a son?" But Thanatos silenced him immediately. "Henry, you are so much more than that. Do not let the past weigh you down like this, I speak from experience, you know?"
The exiled prince remained silent, but the flier continued – "I only met her once or twice, but my memory of her is fairly clear. You look a lot like her, you know? Especially when your eyes shine with excitement about something new."
"Really? I barely even remember her, even though I was eight when she died. She was never at home, and neither was father. I know now that she had a good reason, but still." Henry hesitated, "You... you knew my father, didn't you? What... what was he like?"
Thanatos sighed. "I see him in you as well, in a lot of ways. Bold, brave, fierce, up for every challenge, a leader – not afraid to go past his comfort zone and try new things."
Henry chuckled. "I used to be very against going out of my comfort zone, actually. That only changed when exile forced me so far out of it that I simply decided it doesn't matter anyway anymore."
Thanatos grinned. "I know. I still had to deal with that "you" as well, don't you remember?"
"You mean the "me" you wanted to dump in the Dead Land before he saved your ass from the rats? The "me" that almost starved himself to death before agreeing to try raw fish? The "me" that let the crawlers who were chased by those rats die for their weakness?" Henry elbowed him slightly.
"Exactly that "you". The snotty prince of Regalia", the flier extended his wing a little, causing Henry to be flung across the cave. The exiled prince screamed in shock and the flier laughed. "I can sometimes genuinely not believe I put up with your brattiness and obliviousness back then. Like, what in the world was I thinking?"
They both laughed. "You thought I would die two seconds after you left me. And you wanted to avoid any more unnecessary deaths on your conscience." Henry remembered Thanatos' words to Hamnet. "That must have been it, at least in those early days."
The flier nodded. "I thought of leaving you every day, you know? But then I looked at that pathetic pile of misery that you were back then, and I just couldn't bring myself to."
Henry elbowed him, fiercely this time, and Thanatos chuckled. "You know, the worst part is, I can not even say you are wrong." The exiled prince sighed. "I WAS a pathetic pile of misery who needed your routine to even get through the day."
"I had a feeling", the flier grinned, and they proceeded to lie in silence for a while.
"You know, I am happy you told me about your mother. It also sheds light on why you and Teslas built such a strong connection so quickly, and why he accepted you as a student back then. He must have done it for her." Thanatos spoke up again after a while.
Henry nodded. "I'm pretty sure that was why", he sighed, "I would have told you earlier, I just... forgot, kind of."
"It's alright", Thanatos reassure him.
"Hey, tomorrow we test the saddle with the handle, okay?" Henry grinned. "Teslas and I added it earlier today, and I am itching for another test run. Tomorrow is my free day too."
Thanatos sighed. "Fine. You know what, fine. Do whatever tests you like, I am tired of fighting because of this."
Henry jerked up, eyes shining with excitement. "REALLY?!"
The flier rolled his eyes. "Sure. It's not like I can stop you anyway."
Henry spontaneously wrapped his arms around his neck. "OH MY GOODNESS YOU ARE THE BEST I LOVE YOU AND I PROMISE IT WILL BE AWESOME BUT YOU ARE THE BEST AND –"
Thanatos interrupted him, chuckling – "Okay, okay, calm down, geez, it's just a few experiments."
"No, it's not", Henry shook his head, "It's you, ditching your pride for me, and going out of your comfort zone as much as I have, back when I was still the bratty prince."
"That's what you do when you love someone", Thanatos' voice was quiet, but his words still painted a smile on Henry's face. "You do?"
"You're the closest thing to family that I still have... and had in a long time", was all the flier said.
"You too", his bond responded.
But now, fuelled by their conversation, he was way too restless to sleep. "And look, it will be worth it, I promise", he assured Thanatos. "A saddle that rotates with the rider, imagine the stunts it will allow us. Fighting grounded enemies while sitting upside down will be so much easier, and dodging by rotating too. And the best thing is, you will be able to fly normally. It's just me who will rotate. Don't you agree this will be an outstanding gadget if we learn to utilize it?"
"If you and Teslas ever perfect it, and if we master it", Thanatos responded, "Because as fun as all that sounds when you say it like that – even if the handle works, I'm pretty sure you're far away from finishing the design. It'll need work. And once you perfect it, actually learning to utilize it effectively will take months of practice as well. For me and for you."
Henry sighed. "I know. We'll probably have to unlearn everything we have practiced in terms of flying together so far, but oh well. It'll be worth it... don't you think?"
Thanatos pondered. "If it does work the way you describe it... then yes. That will increase our strength, and most importantly, our unpredictability, in battle significantly."
"So you're with me?" Henry grinned.
"Always."
