Dawn was seeping over the horizon, bringing wonderful colors into the world, when Angelique finally came to a halt, reaching out behind herself to grab Alfred's arm and stop him as well. "Look," she said, pointing out at the scene before them. "This is it. This is our land. The capital of the Kingdom of the Fey."
Alfred looked where she was pointing, and it was beautiful. He had no idea where they were, and could not even remember passing into the forest they now stood in, but it was still the most amazing thing he had ever seen. The trees, though tall and proud and thick, stood several feet apart from one another, their roots entangling in graceful patterns on the ground. Their leaves were broad and colorful. Up ahead, the trees spread out further, opening into what was almost a wide clearing. Around the trunks of those trees wound spiral staircases built of smooth wood. They seemed to blend right into the bark of the trees, and Alfred found himself wondering if that was truly the case. But what really caught his eye and his breath was what was growing out of the leafy boughs high in the canopy of the forest. Far up above him was a city of houses, built into the trees themselves, nowhere close to touching the ground. Alfred nearly stumbled over his own feet as he stared wide-eyed up at them. This was far beyond anything he could have imagined.
"Well, what do you think?" Angelique prompted him after a few minutes of awed silence had passed.
"I think it's amazing," Alfred breathed, still unable to look away from the city in the trees. The horse, which was still trailing along behind him, snorted its agreement. "Is this the palace? This has to be the palace."
Hong frowned at him. "The palace? This is nothing but the edge of the city. The palace is far grander than this." He gestured up at the buildings above them. "The poorest of farmers can live in these houses."
"Poor?" Alfred asked, amazed. It made no sense to him that anyone but the richest of the rich could live in such magical houses. The countryfolk back in Spades would have been green with envy at the very idea, he was sure of it, even if they weren't badly off themselves. To live up in the trees, high above the ground, almost as though he was flying… He would have loved to try it.
They walked on, through one part of the city to another to another, and Alfred watched, silent in awe, as the houses grew larger and more complex, but still never touched the ground. There must have been magic involved somehow, he thought, because there was no way any of it could have existed by normal means. But then he remembered what Arthur had said, that magic was something small and personal, and he remembered the tingling, warm sensation of Arthur's magic on his own skin, and he looked down at the ground to hide how his mouth sank into a frown. Maybe it was magic, or maybe it wasn't, but Alfred didn't want to think about it further.
Luckily for the three of them, it was still early enough in the morning that there were few Fey actually awake and walking around. Only one seemed to catch sight of them, her eyes widening as she took in Alfred and his very Human features and attire. Hong caught her gaze and shook his head slightly, and though she looked around nervously between him, Alfred, and Angelique for a few moments, she nodded her head. It seemed that she, at least, wasn't going to turn them in. Not that it would really matter for Alfred, as it would take him straight to the palace anyway, but he supposed it was good for Hong and Angelique's reputation and standing in whatever they did for their Kingdom. He would hate for them to get in major trouble for doing this for him.
The sun was finally beginning to move close to the center of the sky by the time they reached the palace. It was just as Hong had said- those houses in the trees were nothing compared to the sheer majesty of the castle before them. In size, it was probably no bigger than the castle of Spades with which Alfred was so familiar, but it looked so different, so unique and foreign and unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Like the rest of the buildings in the city, the palace was suspended above the ground. Instead of simply spreading across one, two, or possibly three trees, however, it appeared to branch out along dozens of them. It was built of the same smooth wood, interspersed by many wide windows that seemed to open into large rooms or hallways, though Alfred couldn't see them clearly from the ground. No matter what the truth was, though, he was entranced by the sight. To believe that this was where Arthur spent his days…
The thought of Arthur sent a spark of longing shooting through Alfred's body, and he turned to look pleadingly over at Angelique. "Now we can go see Arthur, right? Is he in there?"
But Angelique just frowned slightly. "Well, I hope so."
"What do you mean, you hope so?" Alfred asked, eyes wide and disbelieving. His heart was throbbing painfully. "You said before that you could take me to Arthur. Please, don't tell me you're having second thoughts about this. I'm not going to hurt him. If he still doesn't want me, I'll leave, I promise. Just please, please, let me see him one more time." Alfred had grown up a Crown Prince, and he knelt before no one, but his voice shook with the begging he refused to show outright. After coming all this way, after searching for so long, after defying his parents and his Kingdom, how could he turn back?
"I wasn't saying that," Angelique hastened to reassure him, holding her hands up somewhat defensively. "I only meant that we can't just walk in there and go right to Arthur. This is the palace, after all. There are guards all over. And I expect you know that Humans aren't exactly a welcome sight around here." She looked over at him, her expression apologetic. "Before you can see Arthur, you're going to have to see the King."
"The King?" Alfred felt himself pale. It was foolish of him, but he'd never anticipated this. Somehow, all of his imaginings of how this romantic adventure would end involved him running in and declaring his faithfulness and love to Arthur right away, usually in flowery prose and sometimes even poetry. But of course there would be some kind of obstacle in the way of that, and having to meet with the King of the Fey was one of the worst he could come up with at the moment. He had no idea what to expect once he walked through the palace doors. For half a second, he hesitated in fear.
But this was Arthur. This was everything he'd dreamed of, every silly romantic notion come to a head, the moment where the very idea of One True Love was brought into question. There was no way he could walk away from it now and live with his decision for the rest of his life. He looked over at Hong and Angelique, expression stern and determined. "Take me inside, then."
The two Fey exchanged a look that Alfred couldn't quite understand, before Hong nodded. "Let's go." He pressed one hand against Alfred's back and pushed him gently forwards, and though Alfred jumped at the sensation- no one had ever done that to him before, no one but Arthur- he didn't complain or try to move away. This was not Spades anymore, and Alfred's word meant nothing more than anyone else. The horse didn't follow them, though it didn't seem to be running off either.
The winding steps that led up to the wide entryway of the palace were long and steep. It felt as though it took forever to reach the top, though that might only have been Alfred's growing nerves. Each step was built of wood instead of the stone he was used to, and the sound of his footfalls where they landed sounded odd to his own ears, only heightening his sense of not belonging there. This was the land of the Fey. This was the place that Humans spoke of in hushes whispers and that soldiers refused to describe when asked about the War. This was not where Alfred was supposed to be. But that didn't matter, not right then.
Finally, they reached the top, and the guards that waited there took a long look at Alfred and his companions and almost seemed to refuse to let them in before Hong fixed them with his unwavering stare. Then the great wooden doors were pushed open, and Angelique, Hong, and Alfred walked inside, where they were met by the curious and judgemental looks of many other guards in the long hallway that Alfred assumed was the Great Hall. It looked nothing at all like the ones in Spades or even any of the other Four Kingdoms, dark where those ones were airy and light, but that didn't detract from the magnificence of it all. Other dark hallways led off of the main one. Hong and Angelique, and as such Alfred, didn't veer from their straight path, heading towards the wall far at the end, illuminated by what looked to be hundreds of candles. Only once they got close enough did Alfred realize that those candles were wreathing another large door, intricately carved with designs he didn't understand, but thought he might have recognized from what Arthur had taught him. He knew what lay beyond that door.
The guards at this door gave their strange procession another confused look before they actually opened the way into the next room. Alfred was getting rather tired of that. It certainly wasn't helping him deal with the ever-present nerves that the situation had instilled in him. The fact that the King of the Fey was going to be sitting just a little ways on was sending shivers down his spine that he had to fight to hide. It was for Arthur, he reminded himself. It was all for Arthur, and nothing could stop him.
Except, possibly, the King himself. As soon as Alfred caught sight of the man seated in the throne across the long room, illuminated by a vast array of candles, he felt his knees quake beneath him. He knew he looked an absolute mess, living off the land for weeks as he had, not at all suitable to be in the presence of a King. But he was royalty, he was the Crown Prince, and he wouldn't be turned away, not without a fight. Lifting his head high and squaring his shoulders, Alfred strode forward, Hong and Angelique walking right behind him. He didn't flinch beneath the harsh gazes of the royal guards.
"Well, what do we have here?" The mocking voice seemed to resound around the room, but Alfred knew that it came from the man on the throne. "Two of my Fey and a Human Prince. I haven't seen something like this for years."
"Your Majesty," Alfred called out as he continued to walk forward, "I'm sorry to intrude on you like this, but I came here to accomplish something important. Angelique and Hong have nothing to do with this. It's my own fault for involving them, so if you're going to punish someone, punish me. But first, please, hear me out."
The King frowned at him, his strange, bright red eyes narrowing as he looked over Alfred's form. "They are guilty. You couldn't have forced them into leading you here if you'd tried. And since they did this of their own free will, I have no choice but to hold them to their decision." But he didn't immediately order his guards to rush in and grab them all. Instead, he cocked his head slightly sideways, his pointed ears sticking up through his pale hair. "Though I have to admit I'm curious about what you want. What could I possibly give you? You're the ones who won the War, after all."
That was good enough for Alfred right then. Any sort of audience granted him was one step closer to his goal. Once he came to the foot of the short staircase that led up to the throne, he bowed deeply, not kneeling, and then looked right up into the Fey King's eyes. "I came here to find my One True Love."
There was silence. Then the Fey King blinked at him. "Your what?" One side of his mouth crooked up into an odd sort of smile. "I think I misheard you. Say that again?"
"I said," Alfred tried again, "I'm here to find my One True Love. That's what I came for."
"Your One True Love," the King repeated. "Is that it? Your One True Love?" And he laughed. He laughed long and hard and very nearly fell forward over the edge of the throne as tears ran down his cheeks from the force of it all. Around the room, the guards were chuckling, too.
Confused and annoyed, Alfred glanced back over his shoulder at Angelique, who could only offer him a helpless shrug. He turned back to the Fey King, a firm scowl on his lips. "What's so funny about that? I'm telling the truth!"
"Are you serious?" the King demanded, wiping at his eyes with one hand as another chortle escaped his mouth. "Are you actually serious? You really believe in all those One True Love stories? Oh, Lady, I thought you were supposed to be a Prince, not some little girl!" Another round of laughter rang out from the guards, and Alfred felt his cheeks flush an angry red.
"Of course I'm serious! Why would I say that if I didn't mean it?"
"Wow." The King brushed at the last few tears still clinging to his eyelashes. "Wow. I didn't think anyone older than ten or so even thought about those old stories. Good job proving me wrong, your Highness."
Alfred decided immediately that he didn't like the Fey King. It wasn't even his odd looks that did it, though Alfred had to admit those were somewhat alarming, but his mocking, unfriendly personality. Alfred had no idea how a person like that could have stayed King in the first place. He would have expected some king of uprising by now. But it wasn't as though he could do anything about it, not when he was a guest there, so he just drew in another deep, calming breath and tried to go about his business politely. "Now that you know why I'm here, can I go try to find my One True Love? I don't want to take up more of your precious time." Alright, so that last part was a bit more scathing than he'd intended, but he didn't feel guilty.
The King smirked down at him. "So you have a little bite to you after all. Good. Alright, let's say that your whole quest for your One True Love is really what you're here for. Is that also why you ran off from your Kingdom and duties and all? That doesn't seem very heroic of you."
"I know." Alfred frowned. "But at the time, it seemed like the best thing to do. I still think it was a good plan, even if I didn't really think all the way to the end of it. I wasn't going to marry someone I don't love if I still had a chance to marry the man I want."
"The man?" the King asked, eyes wide with curiosity. "I didn't know about that. This so-called One True Love of yours is a man?"
"Yes. And I love him, so no matter what you think about that, it's not going to change. He's the reason I came all this way. He's the reason I ran off from my parents. I won't leave until I can talk to him, or at least until he refuses to talk to me." Alfred met the King's gaze straight on, unwavering, his head held high.
Quiet reigned for a long while as the King looked Alfred up and down and up and down. Alfred nearly began to sweat beneath the stare. He'd never met someone with such oddly colored eyes before, and they only seemed to increase the strength of his gaze. But Alfred didn't look away. He couldn't.
Finally, the King nodded slowly. "Alright, so you're here for your male One True Love. But that doesn't mean I'll just let you walk around until you find him. After all, us Fey aren't supposed to mingle with your kind, by our own laws and yours. You bringing this here could get the both of you in major trouble." His eyes searched across Alfred's face. "Tell me the whole story. I want to know how you met and everything from that point up until now."
"Fine," said Alfred, "but I'm not going to tell you his name." So he started off way at the beginning in the woods, back where he'd accidentally come across Arthur, just like he'd told Angelique. He recounted the years they'd spent getting to know one another, the arguments and the laughter, the masquerade and those days in the gardens, the talk of childhood and magic and responsibilities and just what made a pie different than a cake. As he spoke, he saw the King's expression change again and again, and watched the guards lean in to listen better. And then of course, he got to the part where he fell in love and everything fell apart. Just as before, that was the hardest to say aloud, but he still said it. He looked around at all of them, at Angelique and Hong and the Fey King and the guards, and shrugged his shoulders. "And that's why I'm here. I need to show him that I mean it, all of it."
Silence. Then the King nodded slowly, and a wide grin split across his pale face. "Wow. If I wasn't so sure they were all fake, I would actually believe I was in the middle of one of those old stories. So this really is all about your One True Love."
Alfred nodded. "It is."
"And you're willing to risk all this even though he already turned you down?"
"Yes." There Alfred paused for a second, reaching up to rub at his neck nervously. "I don't want to force him into a relationship or anything. It's just that he told me he loves me, too, and I think we could be good together if he wanted it. And if he doesn't, well, I had to see him again, one last time." It felt odd, exposing his innermost feelings to a gathering of strangers like this. He only hoped it would be worth it in the end.
"I see." The King pursed his lips in thought, glancing from Alfred to Hong to Angelique and then back over their heads towards the door they'd come through. Alfred forced himself not to tremble in his anticipation. This was it. Either this had been a waste of time and effort, and he would be forced to return home with nothing but his broken heart, or he would be able to see Arthur again, even if only for a minute or two. The quiet drew on and on. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the King's next words.
And then the Fey King opened his mouth. "Well," he said. "I can't say I've ever been in this position before." He looked down at Alfred again, crossing his arms over his chest. "By the laws, I should have your secret lover punished, and you thrown in jail or sent back to your Kingdom in shame for daring to come here and associate with any of us Fey, and as a King I shouldn't be able to be swayed from those laws. But still… I can't help but want to know the ending of all this. And I really want to know who you're in love with. Who would risk that much to go and fall in love with a Human?"
"I'm not going to tell you his name if he'll get in trouble for it," Alfred replied with a frown.
"Right." The King sighed and drummed his fingers against his knees as he thought some more. "What if I swore to you that I wouldn't punish him at all?"
"I'm not stupid. I've been around royalty long enough to know that Kings can lie just as well as anyone else."
The Fey King grinned at that. "Good answer. I like you, Alfred of Spades. If you were a Fey, I'd invite you to sit in my court. If more Humans were like you, I think we could all get along better, even after the War." His eyes narrowed as they searched across Alfred's face. "You're going to be the next King of Spades, aren't you?"
Alfred shrugged, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "I hope so, if my parents haven't disowned me for running away yet."
"They're making a mistake if they do," the King said. He rose up from his throne, his cloak falling majestically and slightly wrinkled around him, and began to make his way down the steps to where Alfred was standing. Once there, he reached out and clapped one hand down on Alfred's shoulder. "You'll be a good King. You have my support when you take the throne. The Humans could use a leader like you."
"We're not the only ones who need to change a little," Alfred told him. "I've heard what the Fey think about us, too, and I can tell you right now that a lot of it isn't true." But he still clapped a hand on the Fey King's shoulder in return.
"Right, right." The King's grin only widened, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. "But either way, I don't think I have any problems with you, so I can promise you right now that I won't hurt your secret lover at all. Tell me his name and I can get him summoned here right away."
Alfred's heart leaped in joy, nearly threatening to burst right out of his skin in his happiness, but he suppressed it as best he could. "And you're not lying?"
"I'm not lying."
There was no proof of that, of course, and Alfred had only barely met the man a little while earlier, but right then, he had no other choice than to believe him. Besides, the King's smile, though a little abrasive, didn't seem to be hiding any ill will. Alfred hesitated a moment longer before nodding. "Alright. I'll trust you, your Majesty-"
"Gilbert," the Fey King interrupted.
"Gilbert, then. I'll trust you, Gilbert, and I really hope you're going to keep that promise." Alfred took a quick glance around the room, noted that all the guards were leaning in to listen to the name he was about to say, and sighed. "His name is Arthur. He told me he's a librarian."
"A librarian," the King- Gilbert- repeated, almost disbelievingly. "Arthur, the librarian. Are you joking? You must be joking. There's no way you would have fallen in love with him of all people."
Alfred gaped at him, confused and utterly unsure of what to say. Luckily, Angelique jumped in to help. "It's true, your Majesty," she said with a smile. "I don't know if you've seen Arthur much these last few months, but he's been even angrier than usual, and it all fits in with Alfred's story. They really fell in love."
And Gilbert threw his head back and roared with laughter. Alfred wasn't sure whether to be offended by that or not, so he kept quiet, even though his lips threatened to twitch upwards into an answering smile. But finally, Gilbert seemed to have calmed down enough to speak again. He wiped at one eye, still chuckling lightly. "I can't say I approve of your taste in men, Alfred. Honestly, Arthur?"
"I love him," Alfred replied stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think he's the most handsome, amazing person I've ever met. There's nothing wrong with that."
"I never said there was." Gilbert was still grinning, though. "I'm just having a hard time believing that you actually managed to fall in love with Arthur, because I have no idea what you see in him." Before Alfred could retort, Gilbert turned to look over at two of the guards standing by the wall, and gestured towards them. "Go summon Arthur immediately. If he asks why, tell him he has an important visitor." He winked at Alfred, who could only smile nervously back.
The guards bowed and left, and Alfred suddenly found himself utterly terrified. He had come to the end of his journey, and this was the moment he had been waiting for, but now, he didn't know what to expect. Arthur would soon be walking through those same doors that he had entered. What would he say? How could Alfred prove himself and a potential relationship to be worth all of this? He had no idea if he even was worth it all, though he certainly hoped so, and he really hoped that Arthur would feel the same. Words and sentences and phrases ran through his head, all possibilities of what to say, but he couldn't seem to figure out what would be best.
Then he heard the very, very soft sounds of three pairs of feet approaching and the slight creak of the door as it opened, and Alfred turned, breathless, to stare at confused, beautiful green eyes.
A/N- Chapter seven! I've never written Gilbert before, so I hope he turned out alright. I didn't want to make him ridiculously over the top like I so often see.
Hope you enjoyed!