Chapter 141
The Horned King pondered the concept of a birthday and its strange gift-giving custom for a fair amount of time, puzzling at the nature of the odd little celebration. The Invisibles had insisted they throw a party, and he had a hunch that even if he'd refused their request they would have pulled some sort of private disaster in Avalina's room anyway.
So he'd given them leave to, on the stipulation no objects would be hurled at her. They hadn't stopped talking about it whenever she was absent, and he deduced they were rather excited about an opportunity to act even more manic than normal.
The Horned King had never given a gift to anyone before, save the library to Avalina, but it hadn't been expected of him then. Now, the Invisibles had told him it was customary to give something on one's birthday, and he was utterly at a loss at even where to begin.
He could not ask her if there was anything she wanted. He knew she wanted for nothing and was perfectly content as she was, save for one thing. The one thing he could not grant her.
Not yet, anyway. And he could not bring himself to ask the question, only to push her into either lying to him or speaking her request aloud and forcing him to deny her.
Either of those options would benefit neither of them. He had guessed she would not ask to leave again, even after he had told her he would not harm her family, and he admired her honor in keeping her word.
So he was on his own, combing over every conversation they'd had in the past several months, trying to remember any clue that might have popped up at some point. Her birthday was only a few days away, and ideas refused to come to him.
He had never pondered on what a female might like, (or anyone, for that matter) and he found himself going over things inside his head he didn't know he knew about. Most females enjoyed jewelry, but that just didn't seem to fit Avalina. She had books and a garden, two things she had great interest in and enjoyed. She had never shown particular interest in much else, save music and horses. Her simplicity was infuriating, particularly when she already had everything she could want.
He thought ceaselessly, turning every possibility over in his mind, until at last he lit on something that was so simply perfect, he couldn't understand why he hadn't thought of it before.
'Yes,' he thought in satisfaction, seating himself in his chair in his private chambers. 'That is satisfactory.'
After the Invisibles brought him the correct materials, he began to work.
"Shhh!" The Invisibles hissed at Creeper. "She's coming!"
Creeper quickly hid himself under the tablecloth and the lich backed farther into the shadows behind the door, mentally steeling himself for whatever horrors the Invisibles might unleash upon Avalina's entrance. It was pointless to try and prevent it. They did what they pleased, regardless of what he said. Sometimes he wondered why they couldn't cause disasters in bloodshed and death rather than all this infernal, sparkly, multi-colored, thrice-cursed /happy/ stuff. If he had their power he certainly would.
The Invisibles opened the door for her, before a small 'poof' noise made itself known and Avalina shrieked in surprise as the Invisibles doused her in multi-colored glitter, her hair and skirt getting the worst of it. Creeper came out from under the table, making himself known, and hurled a handful of it at her. The lich repressed a growl of irritation, arching a brow ridge faintly when he heard her laughing. Why was she laughing? That wretched stuff was /abominable/!
It was almost with a mild start that the Horned King realized she was indeed a year older than she'd been when she had been blown in by that storm. So much time, already lost...she was growing up.
Had it really been that long?
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVALINA!" The Invisibles crowed, confetti falling from the ceiling like snow, and shaking the lich from his thoughts.
Avalina was speechless.
"I...how...what..."
Sensing the lich behind her, she turned, the surprise on her face asking the question without words.
"They insisted on throwing you a party," the Horned King said, slowly nearing her. "And I would...like to wish you a pleasant date of birth as well."
"I...I don't know what to say," she finally stammered out at length, overwhelmed. "I've never had a party before. It's..." She glanced up toward the ceiling at the Invisibles, who were cackling up near the corner, and grinned herself. "Very different."
"My condolences for the glitter," the Horned King growled, noticing it fell off her every time she moved. "It was not my idea."
Avalina laughed. "I know, but I don't mind. It makes me feel sparkly! Wait...how'd you know it was today?"
"The Invisibles informed me," he answered. "For once they made themselves useful. You are fifteen, yes?"
"Yes," Avalina said slowly, "I suppose I am." Seeing the lich had noticed her rather distant expression, she explained. "I'd forgotten all about it til just now."
"Well," the Invisibles said from the ceiling, "We're gonna make sure you never, EVER forget /this/ one! Bahahahaha!"
And with that, they burst into song.
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows!"
"What sort of song is that?" Avalina asked, not quite certain whether to laugh or stare.
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows!" The Invisibles cackled.
"It's not by any means a 'song,'" the lich growled. "It is a detestable statement set to chanting."
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows!"
"How long does it last?" Avalina questioned, looking up at them again as they continued to sing.
"Infinity."
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows!"
"How do you know?"
"That is all they have said to me for a week."
"PINK FLUFFY UNICORNS DANCING ON RAINBOWS!"
From that point on, alternating, one of them sang it nonstop through the whole evening. After glitter-bombing the Horned King and Creeper and making them wear ridiculous pointed party hats that cracked Avalina up every time she looked at them, they proceeded to carry out every single plan they'd cooked up since the party was given the go-ahead. There was no manner of hysterical insanity they /didn't/ do, including instigating a confetti playfight between the three castle inhabitants. Toward the end of the evening they bade their audience sit down, and stopping their background song for a bit, proceeded to run a slapstick comedy routine full of nonstop jokes that made absolutely no sense. By the end of it even Creeper and the Horned King were chuckling, something the Invisibles were quite proud of, and Avalina laughed so much her sides hurt.
"Hey, what'd the kitty cat say to the other kitty cat?" one asked.
"I don't know, what?" another replied.
"I'mma slap you with applesauce!" the first crowed in laughter.
"You durteh furball!" the other bawled, rendered helpless by their own jokes. "Go spit-shine yourself!"
"Bahahahahahaha! MEOW!"
That night, when the Horned King had accompanied Avalina to the stable to care for Mitternacht, he bade her come near and produced the object of his labor he had spent the last several days making. He had been forced to throw away the first half-dozen attempts when they did not turn out properly, as he had been somewhat out of practice.
"Oh, sir!" Avalina gasped upon seeing it, "It's beautiful!"
"It is for you," he rumbled softly, "Wherever you go."
After a moment, the words tasting so odd on his tongue, he added, "...Happy birthday, Avalina."
Gingerly, as if she were afraid of breaking it, she slowly took it from him with all the awe and reverence in which a new knight may take his first sword.
"Did...did you make this?" she asked after several moments.
"Yes," he answered, studying it with a rather pleased expression. "You approve?"
"Approve? Of course I approve! It's...it's gorgeous! It's perfect! How did you do it? Did you remember how?"
"I remembered."
Avalina's grin spread across her face as he continued. "I have for some days, but returning memory to habit was somewhat..." He glanced down at his hand, which was bandaged across the palm. "Problematic."
"Paper cut, indeed," Avalina gently chided him. "I knew it couldn't be that. I hope it isn't deep?"
"To me it isn't, though to a mortal it would be most...painful. Do not worry, it will heal soon."
"Did you make these once?" she asked, marveling at the gift in her hands.
"Yes. If my fragmented memory serves correctly, I believe I used to enjoy the sound they make, providing they were the right pitch. Which I am quite sure this one is."
"Then that just proves what I've been telling you all along," she smiled at him, "You /can/ make beautiful things."
His silence was neither uncomfortable nor pleasant, and as she studied it she commented, "I've never seen one in person before. Only in pictures."
"Do you know how to use it?"
"I think so."
"Well?"
Seeing the faint, expectant smile on the Horned King's face, Avalina blushed self-consciously, and after a moment, raised to her lips the little polished flute with tiny, masterfully carved vines, flowers and birds intricately adorning the dappled wooden surface, and breathed the first windy notes the instrument had ever uttered into the peaceful stable air.
Her fingers were clumsy on the holes, having never played or touched a flute before, and she had no idea which holes were which notes, but she did her best.
Lowering it after a minute, she hugged the Horned King tight.
"Thank you so much!" she said joyfully. "I'm so glad you're remembering! I hope you can remember more soon!"
The lich smiled faintly. "You are welcome." Producing a deerskin bag just long and narrow enough to hold it, with a shoulder strap for easy carrying, he continued, "May you play it much."
"Oh, I will!" she promised faithfully, "I will!"
It looked almost too perfect to touch, let alone play, and Avalina was humbled and overjoyed beyond belief to have been the recipient of such a beautiful gift. But what made her happier than any material thing was that the Horned King had remembered how to make something from a lifetime ago. If he had been able to make things such as this, surely he couldn't have been evil from the beginning as he believed...could he?
The Invisibles were right. She would never forget this day or anything that happened in it. Ever.
Staring out her window, she realized rather somberly that the day must have been like a mourning service at the farm for her family. Especially for her mother. They probably thought she was dead.
Avalina had never had a birthday away from her family before, and she missed them more than she ever thought possible.
Biting her tears back, she swallowed hard and turned away, determined not to cry and ruin everything, but a single tear ran down her cheek and splashed against the floor before she could wipe it away.
"Human, what are those?"
"I don't know, Creeper. I thought maybe you'd know."
"They grow like nothing I've ever seen, not in any country. I thought they were roses but they can't be."
"Yes they are, see the blooms? They can't be anything else. But why are they growing...well, like this?"
"Didn't I just tell you I don't know?" Creeper huffed. "Maybe the master would know. This /is/ his realm, after all."
The two of them were standing with their mounts near the edge of the Horned King's land, close enough they could see over into Prydain. Their view from the ground, however, was somewhat prohibited by the thicket of thorny rosebushes in front of them that stood a little over three feet high. Thick as grass-stems, they stretched around the Horned King's lands like a little hedge, barring it from the rest of Prydain. There were some open places leading to the hills beyond, but for the most part it was unbroken. It was almost as odd to Avalina as the forest springing up overnight.
The scent of the blossoms were thick and sweet, and Avalina gently brushed her fingers against one of the blossoms. Instead of merely the traditional rose, which she had only seen before in their traditional blush, there were many colors of these roses. Varying shades of red, yellow, pink, orange, lavender and white bunches of petals added color and a gentleness to the thorns, which, like the stems, were long and green and tipped a bloody red, as if they had just impaled someone. Avalina shuddered, not wishing to look at them too long.
"I think I will," she told Creeper, swinging up on Mitternacht. "Maybe he'll know something of it."
"And they've only appeared in the last few weeks?"
"Yes sir. And they make almost a fence around this place. Except for the lake, of course. It's almost like it's sealing it off from the rest of Prydain."
"Hm."
Avalina said nothing more, letting the Horned King mull this over for several minutes, unconsciously pacing in thought as he did so.
Going to his window, he could see little of what she spoke, as the newly grown trees were in the way, but he could see glimpses of the belt of color through the trees that stretched along his land.
"How long have they been growing?"
"I only noticed them a few weeks ago. And they're growing unusually fast. Almost like everything else here, except..."
"Yes?" The lich questioned.
"Like...well...all the flowers and grass here don't seem to have the same sense of urgency those roses do, sir. Nothing else is growing like that, and spreading, and I don't know why they're doing...well, everything. They bend and weave around your borders like they've got a mind of their own."
After a moment, the Horned King asked, "Were they growing before the intruder arrived?"
"N-no."
After many minutes of silent thought on the lich's part, he finally dredged out, "Nothing grew here before you came. Did you not tell me that a farmer's saying is 'Cherish the land, and it will cherish you'?"
"Yes," Avalina answered, somewhat puzzled.
"It seems the land is doing just that. You have cared for it well."
"I've heard that saying all my life, but I've never seen it happen like this," Avalina said in amazement. "I wonder why they didn't show up til recently."
Another length of contemplative silence later, the Horned King finally answered somewhat slowly, "Perhaps they were simply not needed until now."
After he had bade Avalina go her way and enjoy what was left of the sunlight, the Horned King pondered what she had told him. He hadn't told her everything he was thinking, but he suspected the thorny bushes were manifestations of Avalina's own fear of intruders coming into her little haven and hurting her again. And unconsciously, she was making them grow and spread in the manner they were, making a kind of barrier. It was the only possibility that made sense to the lich. Avalina seemed to have an effect here, in this once-dead realm, that didn't seem to have any power over the rest of Prydain.
The fact that she was still frightened of intruders troubled the lich. She should have nothing to fear here.
"Invisibles," he said tonelessly. A split second later they crashed through the door in response to his summons, still singing.
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows!"
As one, they stopped and one said in a professionally overly cheerful voice, "Let's test your knowledge and see what you've learned so far! What color are the unicorns?"
"Piiiinnk!" The others chorused like a bunch of little children being taught that the sky is blue.
"Where are they dancing?" the professional chirped.
"Raaaiiiiiinbowwws!" The rest sang in raptured awe, right as the other said happily, "Please use one word to describe the texture of their magical fur!"
Complete silence reigned in the room like a suffocating blanket.
"Um..."
"I have no idea, do you?"
"No, I don't."
"Well...this is awkward."
"Wait! I know, I know!"
"What?!"
"What?!"
"SMILES!"
"YEEEAAAAHHHH!" They all shouted in victorious triumph, before turning to the Horned King. "You called?"
"Did you have anything to do with the roses?"
"Not a teeny tiny thing, Captain Jimmy Sir!"
"Dismissed."
Long after they'd shut the door, he could still hear them still going at that thrice-cursed /thing/ they'd been at for nearly a month now.
"Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing On Dancing On RAIN!"
"MEOW!"
Well, it's been exactly a month, a week and a day since I've updated this thing, and I can't tell you all how sorry I am about neglecting my story and therefore neglecting my readers. I really didn't meant to keep you all waiting so long, and I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost half my readers by this point. XD On April 27th I had to put my best friend and dog of 14 years to sleep. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, and I just couldn't write after that. I couldn't do much of anything but mourn, really. I'm still mourning but God gave me an abandoned baby bunny to take care of and help me out of my rather depressed state, so I'm a little better than I was. =) I've also gotten acquainted with Watership Down in my absence and the franchise has gained another fan...seriously, if you've never heard of it, educate yourself, read the books, watch the animated TV series, and if you're feeling brave, watch the animated movie. It's flippin' bloody epic! (and I do mean that bloody part quite literally.) Some of you may have noticed I've written a oneshot for the Watership Down's lead villain (I have a thing for villains, don't I?) who is voiced by John Hurt in the animated series. The same person who voices the Horned King, I might add. What're the odds, huh? =D And also, Hurt voices the hero in the Watership Down movie. Ironic, isn't it? But if you like, feel free to check my oneshot out and review it, even people who aren't familiar with the franchise will understand it, I think. But you'd better not read it if you're allergic to /*MAJOR*\ spoilers for practically everything Watership Down related. XD You have been warned. Lol
I don't feel like this chapter was quite up to par...it may be just because I haven't written on this story in so long...but I struggled with this. I was almost afraid to write it cause I didn't want the aftereffects of everything that's happened to me this past month to bleed off on the story...I hope I kept it cheerful enough. Lol And for anyone that may ask...the "dirteh furball" gag and everything up there next to it is a string of inside jokes me and some friends came up with in a restaurant one day and all the waiters thought we were nuts...(they were right, you know) And it was bloomin' hysterical. Lol
During my absence HFTH has also passed 20,000 views. How cool is that, yo? =D And just a warning...updates may still be slow for a little bit til I can get back into the swing of things. Sorry guys. =(
Also, the Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing On Rainbows thing...that is a real song. It is on Youtube. A real person sings it. While playing a ukulele. It is infectiously catchy. And the extended version is ten pooping hours long. LOOK IT UP AND BASK IN THE AWESOME INSANITY. 0_0
Oh, one more thing. Before I forget, Olmo put a page up on TVTropes for Hope For The Heartless. Google "TVTropes Hope For The Heartless" and it should be right at the top. =) Thank you so much Olmo! You're amazing! =D And I got a reader that was brought here from TV Tropes too! Whoo! And Olmo asked me to tell everyone that if y'all can think of any more tropes she hasn't thought of, message her with suggestions and she'll put them up if they fit. =)
And to all those who may have noticed, yes, I changed my username for personal reasons and from this moment henceforth, unless I change it again, I shall be known as "TheCacklingCactus." Fear me. *ninja face*
...this is easily the longest footer I've ever done...