The afternoon had been long and boring. She had attempted to resume her exploration of the house, but had lacked the curiosity to make it interesting. She had quickly given up, and gone back to the music room in an attempt to interest herself in music. After distractedly picking out a few tunes on the pianoforte, she determined that not even music could hold her attention. She considered wandering out into the garden, but remembered that Blidarmd would be working there. She considered heading over to Whitaran's study to get him to start teaching her swordplay, now; but decided against it, he probably had other work to do and she would win no favors by pestering him. Finally, she ended up in the library, trying to interest herself in one of the many books available. She didn't really succeed – and the nearly five and a half hours to dinner seemed to stretch on for forever.
The nightly ritual of waiting for Darion to show up was nearly as unbearable, and Snow lingered for far longer than she normally did over the food, putting off the looming boredom she was sure was coming. She needn't have bothered. The moment she stood, Darion stood too.
"Do you wish to accompany me tonight, your highness?"
"I would be thrilled." Snow replied with complete honesty.
They set off together across the lawn and toward the forest. The night was surprisingly warm for it still being early spring, which was good, as Snow had brought neither a cloak nor gloves.
"Grenarin informed me that you were a daughter of rùn."
Snow looked at him cautiously. "Yes, that is what his tests this morning determined."
Darion seemed to mull this over, and they walked in silence for several minutes, passing the tree line and entering the forest.
"Why do you ask?" Snow prodded.
Darion stopped walking and turned to face her. "I believe last night you asked why I remain here despite the –" Here he paused as if searching for the right words to use.
"difficulty?" Snow suggested.
"That is an accurate way to describe it, yes. Despite the difficulty between Navormal and I."
"And?" Snow prompted after the breath he took turned into a lengthy pause.
"I have," he said very slowly, "a direct and – intense – experience with rùn. More so than most, though I do not pretend to understand its workings."
Snow blinked in surprise at the sudden revelation. Then she felt her stomach turn to ice at the implied meaning he gave. "Did Navormal, does he have . . ." She couldn't finish the thought aloud, even as the horrified whisper the first half of it was.
Darion looked at her in surprise. "Oh, no. Navormal? Not at all."
He turned and abruptly resumed walking. "King Oberon does."