"So why are you disguising yourself like a commoner?"
"It's to keep anyone from trying to rob me on the road. No offense to Solyra, of course, but travelling in my best clothes and with a whole entourage would probably spur some unwanted and unsavory attention."
Feliciano listened as Alfred detailed his plans, while they drank wine in Lovino's quarters on the ship. The Prince of Aegaimore arranged to sail aboard with the Solyran Princes back to their capital city of Niba, a two nights voyage across the Eldarin Sea. After that, Alfred would continue travelling across Solyra to find his true love.
"So how did you figure out your true love is trapped in a tower?" Lovino asked, "Not to mention a tower that's so far from Thagia?"
"I had my fae cousin do some soothsaying for me," Alfred answered, "Surely you guys have heard about my family being descended from the fae, right?"
"We've heard about it," Lovino replied, "Your family is still fae-blessed, even after several generations."
"Only bits and pieces though," Feliciano amended, "Perhaps you could tell us the whole story!"
"Sure, if you'd like to hear it," Alfred complied.
"Why not," Lovino agreed, "We have plenty of time right now."
"It all happened ten generations ago," Alfred began, "The Royal Family of Aegaimore had a long and strong dynasty that held power for a very long time. However, for the previous few generations, it was getting difficult for the Kings and Queens of Aegaimore to conceive children, many times as few as one or two heirs per generation. It all came down to this one last King from this dynasty line, who had as his wife and queen a beautiful woman of noble birth. Despite their best efforts over 15 years of marriage, not once did the queen conceive a child."
"15 years with no results," Lovino chuckled, "That's a lot of effort."
"They started looking for other solutions," Alfred continued, "Naturally at first, they blamed it on the queen being infertile, so many suggested that the king take a new wife, or find mistresses who can bear children for her. Now, the king loved his wife and didn't want to cast her away, so he did try to take mistresses strictly to rectify the problem, but they couldn't conceive a child for him either."
"So he was likely the problem," Feliciano determined, "As if any man would confess to that willingly."
"Meanwhile, the court was preparing to turn against the King," Alfred elaborated, "Some began strengthening their political and military power, so that they were ready to claim the throne for themselves when the King inevitably died without an heir."
"Sovereignty crisis," Lovino predicted.
"After trying many other possibilities, the king and queen finally consulted a powerful soothsaying witch," Alfred narrated, "The witch looked into the future and foresaw that the queen would bear a son they can proclaim as heir. However, the father would not be the king, it would be a Seelie fae, and this child would be fae-blessed. Naturally, the king and queen were flabbergasted by this prophecy, and were uncertain whether they would ever get the court to approve of a fae-blessed heir that was not part of the dynasty's bloodline."
"Sounds like a tall order," Feliciano noted, "So the queen had an affair with a Seelie fae?"
"Yes she did, although it didn't happen right away," Alfred recounted, "A few weeks after the soothsaying, the king and queen came across an intruder in the gardens during their late evening stroll. This intruder was a Seelie fae, a member of the Kirkland clan, who just happened to be passing through and meant no harm. The queen and the fae were instantly attracted to each other, and the king noticed right away that there was a spark between them. After the fae gradually became their friend, the king gave the queen his blessing to see if this might be the father of this foreseen fae-blessed heir."
"An affair of convenience," Lovino remarked.
"Indeed, the couple nights of passion was all it took," Alfred carried on, "Soon enough the queen was pregnant with the child. Only a couple servants in the castle knew about the fae, the king tried to convince the court that the conceived child was indeed his heir. The child was born with blond hair and purple eyes, which had not been in the king's family for generations. The court naturally protested this, but the king declared the infant Prince Matthew as his son and heir nonetheless."
"You even know the name?" Feliciano checked.
"Prince Matthew would go on to be a beloved King for Aegaimore," Alfred described, "His inherited fae charm made almost everyone like him, he was so kind and gentle that everyone was caught off-guard and enchanted by him. Those who still protested his rule too harshly earned his rage a couple times, which made the air in the throne room freeze over like a blizzard was coming."
"He had some fae magic to him," Lovino verified.
"Yes he did, although it did not entirely pass on," Alfred disclosed, "I'm sure you both know the old fae rules. The strongest fae magic among humans passes from mother to daughter, so the father to son lineage that royalty works with will gradually diminish that magic. Still, King Matthew did marry very well, had children and died happily in his old age. Madeline and I are nine generations descended from King Matthew, and while we did not get any magic, some still say that fae-blessed ancestry makes us more charming."
"No doubt about that," Feliciano noticed, "So you still have cousins on the fae side of the family?"
"Yes, King Matthew's fae father lived a much longer time," Alfred elaborated, "Since he could not spend extended periods of time in the human realm, he continued to live in Sovalon with the Kirkland clan and would visit for key moments of Matthew's life. He eventually found a fae wife and had more children, these ones being Matthew's fae half-siblings. The fae cousin I mentioned, Arthur, he's now part of the third fae generation, which makes him a great-great nephew of Matthew's."
"And a cousin to you," Lovino calculated, "Multiple times removed in some way."
"Exactly," Alfred detailed, "The Kirklands are known in Yuvalon for their magical power, and this branch of the clan is directly related to the Royal Family of Aegaimore. As such, we've kept in contact through the years, more frequently in the earlier generations. We still have a pair of enchanted gemstones that we use for communication, so the Royal Family can summon our cousins in time of need."
Alfred reached into his pocket, before holding out his palm to reveal an oval-shaped white gemstone.
"That's a lovely gemstone," Lovino assessed.
"We normally keep it safe in Thagia, but Arthur let me take it on this journey, just in case something happens to me," Alfred reported as he put it back in his pocket, "Madeline and I used it to summon Arthur the other day, that's when I asked Arthur to look into my future and see who I would marry. He's the one who determined that she's locked in a tower at the base of the Tailian Mountains."
"Which brings you onto our ship here and now," Feliciano concluded.
"Yeah, that's right," Alfred outlined, "When we reach Niba, it shouldn't take more than a week to ride out through the forest to the mountains, where I will find this tower and the young lady inside. Then I just have to convince her to come back with me to Thagia."
"And you've left Madeline in charge of Aegaimore," Lovino verified, "Until you return with your bride?"
"She was curious about coming with me, but I insisted she stay home," Alfred spoke, "If this journey manages to kill me, which I really hope it doesn't, she'll need to take the throne of Aegaimore."
"So let's hope you return home safe then," Lovino said, "Otherwise she can't come to Solyra afterwards to marry me."
"I'm not saying you're a top contender," Alfred divulged, "But yes, you are a top contender. We just want to get my own marriage and inheritance figured out before saying a word about Madeline's fate."
"That makes sense to me," Feliciano accepted, "Let's hope all goes well for you on your journey then."