Author's Note: ILOVEMILARION, I was working on layering the meat on the bones of the next two chapters I wrote when I saw your note. All I can say is I want my readers to feel what the character feels, so, unfortunately, I can't gloss over some parts. I'll post this chapter a day early for you. :)

Fairy Mary found her still curled up in the grass late that same night.

"Come before you catch your death, dear," Mary said softly and signaled for Bernard to pick up Clarion.

She didn't speak and didn't move as she was carried home.

Clarion sat at her window the next night and stared out without seeing. She had talked to Sled that evening, but she still couldn't bear to bring herself to see Milori. Sled had wept, pleading for mercy. He said he had been angry the seasons had joined a council for it had ruined his status as second in command. He had meant to cause destruction to scare her, not cause deaths. But he had caused numerous deaths. And she had made the punishment law-no matter who it applied to, she had to carry it out.

Pixie Hollow still did not know who had been caught yet for she didn't have the strength tonight to answer the questions that would ensue. And then would come the exile. She hated Milori, yet she still loved him...and couldn't quite tell him goodbye yet.

Climbing into bed, she laid down and told herself that she could pretend it hadn't happened in her dreams. In her dreams, she could love him freely because there he was an honorable fairy who would love her and fill her with joy. She dreamt of him that night.

Milori met her at the border with a smile and held out his hand.

Clarion blushed and softly set hers in his.

Predictably now, he bowed and brushed his cool lips over her knuckles. He glanced up from beneath his brow with a tender look and straightened. "Come see my world, love," he said huskily and wrapped his feather cape around her. Sweeping her up into his strong arms, he flew over to Mountain and gently deposited her on his back.

"Oh, Milori," she smiled and pulled on a beautiful golden cape with white cotten fringe that he had waiting for her on Mountain's back. "It's beautiful."

He helped her into it and buttoned it down to her knees. "I don't know," he frowned with a hand to his chin in thought as he surveyed her. "I think you outshine it, sweetheart."

She laughed and caught his hand to pull him over for a kiss.

Breaking it a moment later, he pulled back and handed her beautiful matching gloves before wrapping a blanket around her. Then he climbed on Mountain, took the reins, and led them up high in the sky. She was mystified by his beautiful world of snow, but what she loved more was she had to hold onto him tight as they rode Mountain.

They soon returned from winter and crossed into fall by foot. The way he looked at her as she showed him her world made her toes curl and heart melt. He kissed her and always had his arm around her or a hand on the small of her back. It seemed subconscious for him, and she loved it. They crossed the summer border back into spring before he grew too warm. And then, with fireflies twinkling as brightly as the stars above, he knelt down.

"My lady Clarion," he said huskily with love shining in his eyes. "I know that I cannot offer you what a warm fairy can, but I love you more deeply than I ever thought a fairy could love. I want to figure out a way to build a home on the borders so we can be together. I've loved you since I found you wandering in the winter woods. Would you build a life with me, Clarion, and be my mate?"

Her wide eyes searched his. "Are you serious?" she asked with tears in her eyes.

Those beautiful blue eyes looked up at her. "I am, sweetheart."

She threw her arms around him with a tearful laugh, and a brillant show of shooting stars rained through the heavens.

He kissed her and then pulled her down into the grass with him.

Her heart beat wildly. She had been waiting for a love like this for years and here it was. Once a female fairy accepted a male fairy, they were to mate to bind their souls together. Their glows would become stronger, tying their life forces together so that they would die within less than a year of each other at the end of their long lives.

He kissed her as he shed his clothes, distracting her from her nerves. She pulled back for a moment, looking at his powerful body that was more beautiful than she had imagined.

"Don't be nervous," he whispered softly and slipped her dress off of her.

Then he took her in his arms and flew up to the stars with her. She held him tight-only the males flew during mating-and looked at him nervously.

"Do you know about this?" he asked gently.

She nodded. She had heard other female fairies talk about mating. The male created a white dust to put on the female's wings to make them soft so he could hold her tight without breaking her wings. Then he would set her on his hips and...and then she didn't know. All she knew was the female fairies would giggle and blush at the end of the story.

He kissed her, trying to calm her down-she didn't realize until then that her wings were beating nervously. His body was blessedly cool against hers, calming her flush. Then she felt him gently stroking her wings so softly that she felt like melting butter. She sighed his name against his lips and felt him softly fold down her wings. His wings beat stronger without her assistance, and the rippling of his strong back muscles under her hands made her hold him closer. Then he lifted her onto his hips and she gasped at what he could make her feel.

When she woke up the next morning, she was so happy that she could burst. Rolling over in bed to hold him, she saw the empty space and unused pillow. Sitting up in confusion, she looked around to see her own bedroom and no sign of Milori. And then she remembered. She sobbed her heart out for hours, her light slightly dimmer, the glitter of her wings fading.

It had been put off long enough. She crossed the border that evening with two guards and went into the woods to say goodbye to Milori. Her heartbeat roared in her ears and her hands shook.

He was in a cage, basically, that only required five steps to get from one side to the other. He was sitting on the ground and leaning against the bars with his head bowed, his wings and wrists still bound. He was a picture of despair that she knew would forever be burned into her mind and tear at her heart.

When he looked up, she was startled to see his skin a bit gray and deep shadows under his eyes. He looked as if he sat at Death's door. Working to pull himself up, he held onto a bar and bowed only his head, leaning on the bars heavily.

"Why are his hands still bound behind him?!" she snapped at the guards, worried what damage having shoulders pulled back for that long would do to a fairy's back. But then again, it wasn't as if Milori would have use of his wings for much longer.

"I..." Bernard replied dumbly.

"In the front. Now."

A guard went in and rechained Milori before locking the cell again.

"Leave us," she told the guards immediately.

"But-" Bernard protested.

"Leave us!"

The moment they were alone, she stepped forward and reached through the bars with one hand to cup the back of his head. She pulled him toward the bars and pressed her lips to his, gently blowing in air and pixie dust into his lungs. He pulled away coughing so hard he fell to his hands and knees.

"Breathe deep," she instructed.

He gasped in air between coughs, and they slowly subsided. His color was slightly better now that she had replaced some pixie dust in him that had depleated. He was clearly still weak both from being ill and no longer being able to regenerate his own pixie dust in his body since she had taken his talents. "Thank you," he said softly, pulling himself back to his feet.

"I want to know what you were doing in the North Woods," she ordered.

Closing his eyes in despair, he said, "You will not believe me, but I need you to listen." He opened his eyes to look at her. "I think I know the traitor, who will get sloppy now thinking he's in the clear."

She snorted in disgust and started walking away.

"No, please, Clarion! Please! I think the traitor is so close to you," he cried in a panic but afraid of giving a name and being overheard. "You're in danger-you cannot be exiled; you he has to kill!" he practically screamed in fear.

"You told me you would not lie to me when I asked you if you were guilty!" she spun around and yelled at him, her heart breaking. "Don't lie to me now that your neck is on the line."

His eyes searched hers desperately, a tear slipping down his cheek. "Please, listen to me," he begged.

She turned and ran.