When Varian's dad had said that they would be going to Xavier's for dinner, Varian thought that meant that they would be making their way there at dinner time. He thought that he had a few hours to relax and process what had happened, as well as mentally prepare for seeing a Coronan. What Varian hadn't expected was for them to immediately make their way to the blacksmith's home.
Varian would be lying if he said he wasn't anxious. He stayed close to his dad as they made their way out of the tunnels and towards the city. His dad put an arm around him and held him close as they walked. Both of them had their hoods up. It would have attracted a lot of attention if it weren't for Adira.
Between her height, hair, face paint, clothing style, and air of confidence, she attracted a lot of attention. Everybody's gaze skipped right over Varian, passed over his dad, and lingered on Adira before they hastily looked away before they were noticed.
Walking through town was a lot more nerve-racking than it had been to ride into town a few days ago. There were more people out and about now, people that Varian knew or at least recognized. He even saw a few Old Coronans here and there, and if anybody was going to recognize him it was going to be them.
Varian's dad gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Calm down. Everything's going to be fine."
"I know, I just can't relax." Varian muttered.
"Maybe you can do something to distract yourself." Varian's dad looked around before he saw a random patch of black rocks on the street. The capital didn't have nearly as much of a black rock problem as Old Corona and the rest of the outer edges of the kingdom did, but it hadn't been spared completely.
"How subtly can you pull back the black rocks?" Varian's dad asked.
It was probably risky to use his powers in broad daylight when anybody could see, but Varian was always up for a challenge, and his dad was right, it would give him something else to focus on.
"Let's see." Varian said. He brought a hand to his chest, making a show of adjusting his cloak when really he was clutching at the moonstone. With his free hand he stretched out his fingers. He didn't gesture to the rocks themselves, as that would definitely draw attention, but he didn't need to interact with the rocks themselves. He just had to focus and think about them.
"Okay, okay, slow." Varian muttered as a reminder to himself. He stiffened his fingers, as though he was reaching out for something even though his hand didn't leave his side. Varian could feel the black rocks. He slowly closed his fingers into a fist, mentally grabbing onto the black rocks and pulling them back into the earth. It was hard, but not impossible. Even after they had walked past the black rocks and couldn't see them anymore Varian continued to slowly pull them back until he couldn't feel them either.
Varian was still for a long moment as he listened for a sign that somebody had noticed the disappearance of the black rocks, but he didn't hear a word. The Coronans had probably made a habit of blocking out anything that didn't fit their perfect image of the sunny kingdom, so when an imperfection slowly went away they were oblivious to it, because as far as they'd been concerned the flaw hadn't been there at all.
"I think it worked." Varian smiled. He couldn't help but feel proud of himself.
"Good job." Varian's dad said, and the boy was happy to recognize the pride in his tone. Now that he knew that his dad was proud of him it was a lot easier to tell when it happened.
Varian's good mood soon plummeted when they got to the forge. He didn't really want to do this, and he couldn't really place why. Was he afraid that Xavier would hate him for what he had done? Was he scared that the man would forgive him? Somehow that seemed like the more probable possibility, but that made no sense. Why would he be scared of somebody forgiving him?
Xavier was working at his forge, but there were no customers around, so at least there was that. Quirin cleared his throat. Xavier paused in his work and looked over his shoulder. He beamed when he saw them. So he really wasn't mad at Varian for what he had done, so why was his stomach still twisting in knots?
"Quirin, you've returned." Xavier set aside his work. It must not be something that was time sensitive. "And you brought young Varian with you." Varian leaned closer to his father, feeling like a shy child all over again. His dad hadn't let him duck away from a nice person as a kid, and he wasn't letting him do it now. Quirin took a step away from Varian, leaving him to stand on his own two feet. Traitor.
"Hey, Xavier." Varian gave him a small wave. Xavier didn't seem at all insulted by Varian's clear nervousness. If anything, he respected it. Xavier smiled at Varian, nodded at him in acknowledgement, and returned to talking to his dad. Varian breathed a sigh of relief and made his way deeper into the room. He settled himself in the corner, closed his eyes, and started to doze.
He'd always found the sound of people talking, as long as they weren't saying anything bad, really comforting. Varian couldn't help but relax as his dad introduced Adira to Xavier, and the three of them began to exchange stories. Xavier started to tell one of those legends that he was known for, and in return Adira told a story of her own. She spoke with the confidence of somebody who was telling a story they knew by heart, but Varian was sure that she was just making it up as she went.
As Varian dozed and the voices of the adults all blurred together Varian couldn't help but think about just what was bothering him. Why did he feel so ashamed around Xavier? Varian hadn't even gone after him personally the way that he'd attacked Rapunzel's family.
But that was part of the problem, wasn't it?
Varian had targeted Rapunzel. He'd aimed to hurt her, because he'd been hurt by her. He'd considered it retribution. After all this time he understood Rapunzel's position a little better and his anger had dimmed. He could admit to himself that he'd gone too far, and that admittance was what led Varian to forgive Rapunzel.
And she forgave him in return. As far as Varian was concerned, if Rapunzel was forgiving him it was because she too saw where some of the blame was hers, so she couldn't fault Varian completely. Maybe this wasn't how forgiveness worked, but it made sense to Varian. If two people wronged each other, how could they forgive each other when they were still so convinced that they were in the right?
Varian didn't think he would have forgiven Rapunzel for hurting him if he still felt justified in his anger, because why would he be angry if he'd forgiven her? Even with his dad Varian had a similar experience. He now knew all of the ways that he'd been at fault in their relationship, so he could understand why his dad had been so stern sometimes. Varian wouldn't have understood any of that if he was still obviously naive.
With Xavier though, and everybody in Corona, Varian had hurt them, but they hadn't done anything to him to warrant his lashing out. Varian had convinced himself that the entire kingdom of Corona had failed him, but they hadn't. The king had failed the kingdom, Rapunzel had disappointed Varian, and the guards had hurt him. Maybe Varian could justify himself and say that the Old Coronans had always dismissed him, but what about the rest of the kingdom? It hadn't been fair to punish the entire kingdom for the wrongs of a few, even if those few were the ones that were leading them.
Varian had hurt so many good people for no good reason. He had dragged them into his problems. Now here Xavier was, offering forgiveness that Varian really didn't think he deserved.
Varian was really tired, but his rapid thoughts made it hard for him to truly rest. He must have fallen asleep at some point, because when Varian jolted to awareness he was covered with his dad's cloak and the adults had moved to another place. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but it didn't really matter because he didn't feel at all rested. If anything he now felt more tired.
Varian adjusted his dad's cloak around him and went to join the others. He curled up at his dad's side, feeling content when his dad put his arm around him.
"Ah, Varian." Xavier greeted him cheerfully. "Your father was just telling me about those powers of yours. I was wondering if I could see the moonstone."
Varian turned to look at his dad, who shrugged. "They're your powers, it's your choice if you want to show him."
"Okay, uh, just don't freak out." Varian said. He grabbed a nearby scrap piece of wood and created a black rock barrier around it. The moonstone and Varian's hair glowed as he tapped into the magic. Xavier watched in fascination.
"That is an impressive amount of control that you have." Xavier nodded his approval.
"And I can retract the rocks too." Varian demonstrated. Xavier found this much more impressive, and Varian didn't blame him. If he had seen the black rocks in Old Corona suddenly disappear he would have been very excited about it indeed.
"Can you do that with the bigger rocks?" Xavier asked.
"Yeah." Varian said. "I've already started trying to clear the black rocks from Corona, but it's kinda slow." Old Corona was cleared, but Varian hadn't expanded much past there. His family thought it was too risky. The closer he got to the capital, the more likely he was to be found by the guards.
Varian felt more than a little bad. He'd hurt the people of Corona. The very least he could do was pull back the black rocks that had so much to do with why he had lashed out in the first place, but he hadn't yet because he was selfish and scared. He laid low because he didn't want to be caught by the guards..
"Don't be so hard on yourself." Xavier said. Varian had tried to not let his guilt slip into his tone, but he obviously hadn't done a good enough job. "You don't have to do this at all." Rapunzel had said the same thing, and Varian didn't understand it. He had to make things up to the people of Corona somehow, didn't he? If he didn't earn their forgiveness because of shared fault, then he needed to earn it through his actions.
"I-I want to." Varian said, and he did, he just didn't like feeling like he had to watch his every step as he pulled back the black rocks. Corona had been his home his whole life, even if it didn't feel like it anymore, and it didn't feel right to just leave the black rocks to do their thing. "I just don't know if I can do it now."
Varian's feelings were all over the place. They felt raw and way too easily set off. Varian may have a decent control of the moonstone powers, but he wouldn't be surprised if they were set off if he was startled too badly, and then he would just make things worse.
Varian wanted to fix things, but he couldn't handle being in Corona. He'd come here to save his dad, and he'd stayed to help Hector. Now Varian was just tense and ready to leave.
"You know, there's no reason why we can't come back." Quirin gave him a small squeeze. "With time and training we might all be more prepared to be in Corona."
"And if we leave it can give the sundrop and the queen time to figure out how they can better help us, so that this kingdom can be a safe place for you." Adira said. Varian looked at his aunt in shock.
"What do you mean the queen?" Varian asked fearfully. "Why would she ever do anything to help me?" Varian had hurt Queen Arianna almost more than anybody else, even though she'd never hurt him. In fact, she had tried to help him even after he had kidnapped her. If Varian didn't like that random Coronan citizens might have forgiven him, he really didn't feel comfortable with the fact that the queen might have.
"She knows you're here." Adira said. "She's worried about you. She's already done her part to keep suspicion off of you."
"But why?" Varian wrapped his arms around himself. "I don't…I don't understand."
Varian's dad looked pained. He pulled Varian closer, giving him a one-armed embrace. "You sound so much like Hector."
"If he is like Hector, reassurances aren't going to help." Adira said. "And actions will just make him question things even more."
"Time." Quirin said. "Hopefully you'll see that you deserve a second chance with time."
"And a change of scenery." Adira said. "You associate Corona with pain. When your mind has recovered, you can better help Corona recover."
"Your family is right." Xavier said "I enjoy your company, and I think you could do a lot to benefit the kingdom, but you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of anybody else."
As anxious as Xavier's forgiveness made him, Varian couldn't help but feel relieved with this advice. Xavier wasn't absolving Varian of his responsibilities, he was just saying that they could wait until he was more capable of doing what he needed to do. Varian could do that. It was like stopping in the middle of an engineering project because you're tired. The rest may put you several hours behind, but it will also help you to be more aware and alert so you won't be as likely to make a stupid mistake that will set you back even more than that. Varian could handle that.
The door slammed open, startling Varian. He yelped and buried himself against his dad, instinctively looking for protection from a potential threat. He wasn't ready to see any other Coronans today. Xavier was enough.
Adira drew her sword and stood to face whoever had come in. Varian knew that she probably wouldn't attack anybody unless she knew for sure that they were dangerous, she was just trying to be threatening to scare people off.
There was a panicked shriek, which turned to a tired groan. Varian relaxed when he heard the voice.
"C'mon, Adira," Eugene said. He sounded out of breath. "Don't do that to me. I've almost been mauled by Hector enough today, I don't need it from you too."
Varian drew back from his dad and looked towards Eugene, smiling. The man was bruised and bleeding from a number of small scratches. His hair was messed up and there was dirt all over his face and clothes. Varian guessed that Eugene had tripped a few times in the woods when he'd been running from Hector.
"You look like you had fun." Varian said, not even bothering to conceal the amusement in his voice. Eugene gave him an annoyed look.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Eugene said. "I thought I was going to die out there." He sat down next to Varian, nudging him. "Why didn't anybody tell me that Hector was like a monster from my worst nightmare?"
"I thought that much was obvious." Hector chuckled as he came in. His eyes were wide and he almost had a skip in his step as he came in. The adrenalin was still pumping through his veins. "You didn't do bad though. Better than your father his first time around."
"Better than Edmund?" Quirin snorted, which threw Varian off. He didn't think he'd ever heard his dad laugh that way before. His dad rarely laughed at all. "That's not a very high standard."
Adira smirked and leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow at Edmund as he came into the forge and closed the door behind him. "Didn't you get so startled that you flailed, tripped over your own feet, punched Hector in the face, breaking his nose, and then both of you went tumbling into the river?
Quirin's chuckle became a full-fledged laugh. "You two got swept so far down the river that it took you all day to find your way back."
"Oh, I remember that." Hector sat down, leaning back and looking incredibly at peace. Varian didn't think that he'd seen Hector look so relaxed. Not having Zhan Tiri around was doing wonders for his mood. "That was a good day."
"Good day?" Edmund gave Hector a shocked look. "You didn't know how to swim. Not only did you nearly drown, you nearly drowned me because you wouldn't stop climbing all over me."
Hector shrugged. "What's life without a few near-death experiences?"
"A longer life?" Eugene said flatly. Varian snorted in a very unattractive sounding way. He covered his mouth and nose. He didn't think anybody noticed, but Eugene glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and winked.
Xavier just watched them all, looking very content. He looked at Quirin. "You're right, your family is quite energetic."
"It gets exhausting." Quirin said not unkindly. "I never realized how much I missed having you guys around."
Hector seemed to perk up. "Does that mean you're going to come back home?"
"The Dark Kingdom hasn't really been home for a long time." Adira said. "It was barely hospitable there when we were growing up."
"Because of the black rocks?" Varian asked. "What if I got rid of them?"
Adira and Varian's dad gave him looks of disbelief while Edmund and Hector looked excited. It was clear who was most eager to reclaim their home.
"There are a lot of black rocks." Quirin said.
"Yeah, but there isn't really a rush." Varian said.
"It will take a long time." Adira said. "Not to mention the time it will take to get back there. Do you really want to commit to that?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Varian frowned slightly. Why did they sound so surprised and uncertain? I've been wanting to go back to the Dark Kingdom since we left."
Hector nodded and pointed at Varian. "Yeah, yeah, it's the same for me."
"Are you sure?" Quirin asked slowly.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Varian gave his dad a wounded look. "Do you not want to go back to the Dark Kingdom?"
"It's not that." Quirin assured him. "I would love to return to the Dark Kingdom, but I know how hard it can be to leave the only home you ever knew, especially when you go so far away."
Varian grimaced. "Dad, I really don't think that Corona has been home to me for a long time."
"How do you know that the Dark Kingdom will be?" Eugene asked gently.
"Because it's home for them." Varian gestured to Hector and Edmund. "This is going to sound super cheesy and dumb, but my family is my home." It had always been that way. It was why Varian had felt like a stranger in his own home when he and his dad had a strained relationship. And when he'd been traveling with Hector and Adira he'd felt safe and at home even while they were on the road.
Quirin gave Varian a small smile. "If you're sure, I would love to go home."
Eugene frowned slightly as he looked at his dad. "So I guess you guys are leaving soon?"
"The sooner the better." Edmund said. "We want to leave before it gets dangerous here."
Hector raised a hand. "Question. Are we going to do something about the people that hurt Varian? I know we're all cool with the princess now, but what about her father?"
Quirin gave his brother a disapproving look. "We can't just attack the king."
"How can you say that, after everything he's done?" Hector seethed. A part of Varian agreed, but an even bigger part knew that they couldn't move against Frederic, at least right now. There were so few of them, and they were all tired after dealing with Zhan Tiri. The Brotherhood was strong, but they were vastly outnumbered.
"Dad's right." Varian said. "I don't think violence is the answer right now." They might just start a war, and the people of Corona would be the ones to suffer. "But I don't want to just let him get away with abusing his power and his citizens."
"Hey, he won't be king forever." Eugene said. Someday Rapunzel will be in charge, and maybe it's just my biased opinion, but I think that Rapunzel will be a lot more fair than her father is."
"That's not exactly a high bar." Varian muttered, but he did agree with Eugene. Varian had his personal issues with Rapunzel, but he did recognize that she had the potential to be a great queen, even if she wasn't quite there yet. She had a lot to learn, but she had time.
Hector tilted his head at Eugene. "Hang on, if you and the princess are a thing, when she becomes queen you'll be king of Corona, but you're the heir of the Dark Kingdom. How will that work?"
"Two separate kingdoms can share a monarch." Quirin said.
"Indeed, they can." Edmund said. He gave Eugene a careful look. "We're going to set up some lessons. You're very far behind, and you're going to have to learn how to lead both Corona and the Dark Kingdom."
Eugene looked like he'd been punched in the face. "I…hang on, I'm not a leader."
"But you can learn how to be one." Edmund said. "It's an intimidating task, but I know you're capable of it. I've seen your leadership potential."
"But I don't know what I'm doing." Eugene protested.
"That is what the lessons will be for." Edmund said.
"How are we supposed to do that if you're all the way in the Dark Kingdom?" Eugene asked. "I'm happy to come over for a visit, but I'm not moving there."
Edmund held his hand out and whistled. Hamuel, who had been poking at anything shiny he could find in the forge, flew to the king and landed on his arm. "Hamuel can bring you the reading that we arrange for you, and some basic assignments to test your understanding, which you can then send back." Edmund raised an eyebrow at Eugene. "This way I'll be sure that you'll actually stay in touch. I don't want you to disappear again."
Eugene looked uncertain, but when Hamuel flew over and settled on his shoulder he didn't push the bird away. "I guess we can give it a try."
"Excellent." Edmund said. He looked at his siblings. "We can leave tonight at midnight, unless there's more you wish to do here?"
"I'm fine with going today." Varian said.
"We'll have to stop by Old Corona to grab some of our things." Quirin said. He already sounded like he was planning out what to pack.
"I just need a nap, and I'll be good to go." Hector pushed himself off his chair and settled on the ground instead. He curled up on the ground. "Wake me up when it's time for that dinner you mentioned."
"I have a bed you can borrow if you want." Xavier offered.
Hector shrugged. "I like the floor better."
"Trust me, he really does find the floor more comfortable." Adira said. "I've given up trying to understand it." Hector made a crude gesture at Adira before he rolled over.
"I suppose I did mention dinner." Xavier got to his feet, brushing his hands off. "I'd better get started on that.
"I'll help you." Quirin said. Adira joined them. Edmund sat next to Eugene and began to talk to him about some basics of being an heir apparent or prince consort. Eugene looked completely lost, but he did his best to listen. Varian decided to give them some space. He got up and joined Hector in the corner, curling up next to him. Hector adjusted himself to give Varian the space to fit comfortably against him.
"We're actually going to go home, aren't we?" Varian said quietly. "It doesn't feel real."
"I know what you mean." Hector said. "I still feel like I'm going to fall asleep and Zhan Tiri will be right there waiting for me." Hector sighed. "But she's gone. I can feel it. I'm finally free."
Varian smiled as he nuzzled against his uncle. "You know, I've been out of the dungeon for so long, but right now I actually feel like I'm not carrying that with me anymore." Varian didn't think he'd ever forget his time in the dungeon or his months of isolation. It may have been a relatively short amount of time, but a part of it would linger with him for the rest of his life. It wasn't an open wound anymore, just a healing scar, and with time the scar would fade and heal more and more until it didn't hurt, even if it never went away.
Varian was more than ready to move on. He had fought so hard for so long, and now he felt like it was safe to rest. He could finally put his past behind him, and look forward. Even though the Dark Kingdom was in their future, the path looked bright, and for once Varian couldn't wait to see what was up ahead.