Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Boreus knew Autumn was safe with Chaos. That meant he was free to go see Auster. To find out what his fellow was thinking with Autumn, to find out if he had let his murderous urges go yet.
To find out if he was going to acknowledge that Autumn had been there the entire time, even if Autumn said he had only ever seen Eleni. Boreus knew that wasn’t right; he’d been with them on the nights that Autumn would be ascendant, on the nights that she would sing for them.
He just had to point that out to Auster, and perhaps he would begin to see that Autumn wasn’t the enemy he’d painted her.
He wasn’t going to speak to his partner’s feelings for Autumn, but he would point out what they both knew, and then he would see where they landed.
He crossed the slope to the grove and the villa. But Auster wasn’t there; the villa was empty, with nothing more than a set of footprints heading off to the left to show where he’d gone.
Boreus needed to decide if he would follow and try to force his fellow to acknowledge what Boreus already knew. Or if it would be the better part of valor to let Auster think, and when he returned to the villa, try to speak with him then.
It was probably best that he wait. He wasn’t certain how long Autumn would be gone, Chaos often forgot time, and as long as she was in his domain, Autumn was safe.
Boreus went back to the villa, the herbs were wilted now, but the yellow of the lemons was still bright. He took the herbs and tossed them out the window. There were seeds in the limp flower heads and maybe they would grow there.
Perhaps that was an answer of sorts. Perhaps he needed to take a seed from himself and plant it in Auster. It wouldn’t be as simple as throwing himself into fertile soil, but he could at least start something growing.
Boreus sat, looking at the lemons, until he heard Auster pushing the door open. It was strange that the villa door had a slight squeak to it. It was a creation of Love, and the Highest had allowed the door to squeak. There had to be a reason, but that wasn’t where his head needed to be.
Auster walked into the room, the Prism Blade strapped to his hip, and stopped short when he saw Boreus standing there. “Hello?”
“Hello, Auster,” Boreus gestured to the vase that had held the herbs. “They were dead, but I planted them outside the window for you.”
“You have become a gardener?” Auster walked more fully into the room. “An odd occupation for Winter’s Heart.”
“We all have different sides, Auster.” Boreus said. “Just as a heart has partitions.”
“Philosophy,” Auster nearly scoffed. “What can I do for you?”
“I thought we could discuss the beginnings of a plan to rescue Skirion,” Boreus sat back down. “Autumn has said she will act as support once we have the basics of a plan down.”
“Where is she?” Auster asked, and Boreus didn’t miss the instant where he had to force himself to use the correct pronoun. “I thought to see her today.”
“She is with Chaos,” Boreus reminded Auster. “She told you that yesterday.”
“She also said she didn’t know how long she would be gone.” There was an odd combination of emotions in Auster’s eyes, but none of them were anything that made Boreus comfortable having Autumn unguarded in his presence. “Seems odd that she would go to Chaos at all.”
“You would not know,” Boreus settled back into the sofa. “Chaos is an honored advisor to the Highest, and elder to the rest of us.”
“The mad god?” Auster asked incredulously.
Boreus nodded. “There was something that happened during the rise of Light and the others. The Second Great War changed a lot of things about the way the Mountain is governed.”
“I cannot say that I am sorry Magic no longer sits at the summit.” Auster said. “Nor Sky.”
“Magic died in the war.” Boreus said. “I have read the chronicles of those days, and I am grateful I was still searching for Eleni then and was not present to battle the demons.”
Boreus shouldn’t have said Eleni’s name. Auster’s eyes had gone sharp, and he’d lost control over his emotions. “But you found her?”
“The Highest found her,” Boreus corrected. “They had been searching for those banished from the Mountain by Magic’s plotting, and they found Eleni, who, I might remind you, has been Autumn this entire time.”
Auster made a face, and Boreus wanted to smack him. “You keep saying that.”
“Let me tell you a story,” Boreus said, leaning forward. “A story I was told by the Highest, one that I witnessed for myself.”
Boreus told Auster the entire story. From Autumn’s beginnings, all the way down to when he realized he loved them both the same. “And now they are one, and you will do nothing to jeopardize that.”
“I—” Auster shook his head. “I am trying.”
“But are you trying to get to know her, or are you trying to get us to leave you alone?” Boreus asked, already knowing the answer from the look on Auster’s face.
“Before you are allowed to be alone with her, you will be approved of by Light, and I will warn you, if there is the slightest speck of wanting to harm her, it will be known.”
Auster sighed, “I am trying in earnest.” He said, lying through his teeth. “I will do my best to get to know her. Perhaps we will become friends, but as long as there is a flicker of Eleni there, I will not give up hope that I can save her.”
Boreus rose, reaching to poke Auster in the head.
“That is the thought that you need to let go of. Eleni does not need to be saved, Auster; she agreed to braid with Autumn. Remember, before we loved her? Remember that she was aging? Remember that the only reason she lived beyond her years was that she was twined with an immortal soul.”
Auster opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “I remember.”
“Good, now we should begin to plan to save Skirion.”
“I could not wake him,” Auster said sadly. “All I could do was guard him against the things there, and hope that you would come sooner or later.”
“We will go back for him.”
They spent the rest of the day trying to form a plan. Trying to take half of the information that they needed and make it whole. Halfway through, Boreus realized they needed Autumn here to tell them what she could provide.
She was still with Chaos though, and he had no way to reach her until she was finished.