"Nothin' to worry about," the innkeeper reassured them. He gave a slight smile. "Lawrence is the best place in all of Kaz to weather a storm."
Dean looked up.
"Kaz?"
"Mmhmm."
"What's Kaz?"
Bobby suddenly stared at Dean in disbelief. His bearded mouth hung open and he had to work hard to shut it. Dean glanced at Cas momentarily.
"You said Kaz, right? Not Cas?"
"Kaz," Bobby repeated. "It's where we are, boy! The Great Land of Kaz!"
Here, Cas joined in.
"The Great Land of Kaz? Do you mean the Great Land? It has a proper name?"
"All I know is the Great Land of Kaz is where we are! This whole ginormous island which we sit on is the Great Land of Kaz. Here."
Bobby took a map from underneath his table. It was different than the one of the city. Cas and Dean both gathered to look it over.
"This is the Great Land of Kaz, see?" Bobby said, pointing to the paper.
There was the outline of a great island. The couple had difficulty understanding it.
"Ya said you're from the north, right?"
"Yeah," Dean answered slowly.
"North 'a Lawrence—see, here's Lawrence right there—is the volcano. That's them mountains here."
"The Valley," Cas gasped. "That's it, then. But…but what's…what's all of this?"
The beta gestured to the blank area west of the volcano. It was left blank, with only three words marking it.
"Up here," said Bobby, pointing to the northern most point of the map, "Is Azazel's domain. We don't go there. Nobody goes there. 'Cept the King. But that's why he's gone now…"
"And this?"
Cas moved his finger just south to where there was another word.
"Oh, that's Purgatory. We don't go there, either. Sometimes the guard heads out that way but it's just mountains. Bad folk live out there. Probly where we lost the king."
Cas and Dean looked at each other. This map was a lot to take in. They had lived their lives thinking the Great Land was an endless, unknown entity when all along these people had figured it out. They almost felt disappointed.
"Well?"
Bobby was still holding the map open for them, staring.
"Dean," Cas said gently. "Let's go."
"Dean?" Bobby asked.
His face changed, softening somewhat. Dean stared blankly.
"Uh, yeah, what?"
Bobby shook his head. He forced a laugh.
"Parents wanted you to have a lucky life, eh?"
"I guess?"
"Dean," Cas said again. "We need to go before the sun goes down."
"Okay, okay. We'll be back later for another night."
Bobby nodded, still smiling.
"All right, then."
With the storm cleared, Cas was feeling much better. They got back on the path and headed around to the castle. They passed the spring again, where Cas looked over the rail again and sighed. Dean encouraged him to keep up.
It wasn't long until they found the bridge. It crossed over the river and went to a different looking district of the city. There were no longer bustling crowds of workers and women. There were no vendors, no markets, no fires or animals. All of the buildings were short, sturdy barracks and the only people they saw were either guards or well-to-do looking sorts with fancy clothes and great stacks of books and papers. This led to the castle.
"They said the library is off to the side or something, right?" Dean asked, looking around.
"I don't remember," Cas admitted. "Let's ask…excuse me?"
Cas waved down a tall man who was carrying a large, leather-bound book. He eyed the couple and clearly knew they weren't from Lawrence.
"Are you lost?" he asked calmly.
"Only a little," said Cas. "We're looking for the library."
"Oh, yes, it's just over there."
The man pointed to a small door to one side of the castle. Cas nodded.
"Thank you very much."
"Not a problem. Good day."
He hurried past them and Cas and Dean were on their way.
The castle was tall and almost scary, though beautiful. Guards that wore armor like Uriel's stood at every door, watching silently or chatting amongst themselves. When Cas and Dean approached the library, the guard that was standing there stopped them.
"What business do you have?" he asked in a stern voice.
"Um," Cas gasped. He was intimated by his tone.
"We just want to get out the library," said Dean. "Want to learn about your city."
The guard gave a stiff nod.
"Very well," he said, stepping aside. "You may enter."
"Thanks."
"Thank you," Cas said quietly.
The opened the wooden door and stepped inside the library. Neither of them knew what books smelled like, but old paper and leather was the first thing they smelled. It wasn't a very high room, but row after row of wooden bookshelves went to the ceiling. There were tables and chairs that had a couple of people sitting in them and reading, and towards the back there were more.
Since they couldn't read, Cas and Dean needed assistance. The folks who were reading seemed too preoccupied to be bothered, so they strolled between the bookshelves and headed towards the back. Great stained glass windows were on the wall that faced the outside, sending colored light across the floors. At each table, candles waited for eager readers to benefit from.
At the end of the library they found people who were not reading, but writing. One of them looked up when they saw Cas and Dean and greeted them softly.
"Hail," she said. "What brings you here?"
"We were interested in the history of Lawrence," said Cas. "But…my mate and I can't read."
"I am one of the top historians here," the woman said, smiling, "I would be happy to help. What interests you the most?"
"All of it," said Cas. He looked to Dean. "Your king, his disappearance, and the spring…"
"Oh, yes, the spring."
A sudden giddiness grew on the woman's face.
"There's so much to say about Lawrence. Where do I begin? Why don't you take a seat…"
Dean and Cas both sat down at the woman's table. She introduced herself as Dorothy.
"It's nice to meet you, Dorothy," said Cas. "I am Cas and this is my mate, Dean."
Dorothy blinked in Dean's direction.
"Dean? Did you say Dean?"
"Uh, yeah," Dean said. He wrinkled his forehead. "What's wrong with my name? This is the second time."
Dorothy hummed.
"I'm sure it's a coincidence," she said. "Let me begin our story and you will judge for yourself."
"O-okay…"
"A long, long time ago when the Great Land of Kaz was nothing more than packs and herds of hunters and gatherers, a meteorite fell into the ground. It ripped a giant crater near the river and opened up a spring. The sight drew attention from some hunters and gatherers, and upon investigating they realized that the meteorite had been an angel.
"The angel was damaged from the fall, and one of the hunters, a man named Lawrence, nursed them back to health. They became great friends. The angel taught the people how to build with stone and mud and soon there was a small city. Lawrence was decided to be the king and he took care of the people. He mated and the royal lineage began.
"Apparently the angel had fallen for a reason, the old writings say, and soon they disappeared to finish or start the business they arrived for. The city of Lawrence continued to grow and thrive, but King Lawrence himself was sad. He missed the angel. His missed their company. Even his mate and his child didn't curb his sadness.
"We don't know what Lawrence did, but we speculate that he left the city in search of the angel and somehow got entangled in dangerous business. He eventually returned but he was gravely and mysteriously ill. A sort of madness had poisoned him. The last writings of his are mostly crazed rambles, but the final page he wrote had been important to our history."
"What was it?" Cas asked.
"He said that the angel would come back, somehow," Dorothy explained. " 'The angel will return one day. It may not be that angel, but a crown will announce their return.' That is what he said."
"But they didn't come back, did they?"
"We don't know."
Dean cleared his throat.
"Okay, great. There's a lot of weird crap in Kaz. What about your recent king? What happened to him? Why's everyone so messed up about him going away?"
Dorothy gave a weak smile.
"Our king," she began, "King John. He was a wonderful ruler. Very interested in the people. Trouble was after him, though—Lord Azazel from the darklands." She paused here to sigh. "We don't know anything about Azazel except that he is, or was, evil and cruel and was bent on killing King John."
"He was killed?" Cas asked.
"We don't know," said Dorothy. "His struggle with Azazel goes back quite far. After he was crowned king, one of Azazel's henchmen broke into the city and meant to capture John. There was a fight and the henchman was killed, but this roused John's curiosity. Against the wishes of his officials, King John insisted that he would go and find Lord Azazel. A few of his guards went with him. They were gone for months.
"When he returned, he had not even gone into the darklands. Instead, he had found a pack of hunters and fallen in love with one of their betas. He came home with her and they married. His feud with Azazel stopped momentarily when his first child was born, but it started again when the baby, a son, was a year old.
"Another henchman had come. Instead of killing him, King John took him prisoner and shortly thereafter left with him. He said little, except that his wife, Mary, should not worry. He promised her that he would put an end to Azazel's grievances.
"Mary was with egg again after King John left. She was alone in the castle with her son and another on the way. For a month, she was quiet. Her staff had difficulty reaching out to her—but, since she was a hunter, it was always a little hard. One day she decided she would find King John. She left with her son and the egg. And…and we never saw any of them ever again. That was almost thirty years ago."
"Huh."
Dean huffed a few times.
"Weird stuff, right?"
He looked to Cas, who was deep in thought. Dorothy kept nodding as if someone was talking to her.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked Cas.
"There were words you used," he began, "About Lawrence and John. You said egg. Did they…did they only have one egg?"
Cas' hands touched the bundle of his own egg on his chest. Dorothy nodded.
"Yes," she said. "That's a sign of the Winchester clan."
"Winchester?" Dean asked.
"The royal lineage. They have one egg."
Cas and Dean looked at each other.
"But they aren't the only people ever to have one egg, right?" Dean asked.
"I'm not sure," said Dorothy. "I've never noticed…why do you ask?"
Cas took a deep breath. He opened the bundle and showed Dorothy his single egg. Her eyes widened.
"One?" she asked. "And…one egg and a Dean?"
Suddenly, Dean jumped out of his seat and slammed his palms on the table.
"WHY IS EVERYONE SO HOT ON MY NAME?!" he shouted.
Dorothy let out a tiny laugh. She shook her head. The other writers sitting near them had stopped working and looked over at them. Dorothy was nervous but not because of that.
"Because Dean was the name of Mary's first son!"