Breken took a simple wagon, filled with supplies and they journeyed for a day.

Ending up deep in the forest to the west on a relatively flat part of a hill. Lugh wanted to stay with Ava, Balor stayed to help set up the mimic orchard.

“We are here.”

“Where is here?”

“A forest, it’s not safe, but nothing here is a danger to you either. Most importantly it’s basically as private as one can get. Let’s set up camp first.”

And so they did, it was mundane, tents instead of quickly shaping stone buildings, a fireplace with rocks Breken gathered instead of magically making one. A kettle and a camp pot with a hook from the mansion.

He lit it with a piece of flint and steel instead of magic, Harlan didn’t understand it at all. Magic was much easier than all this, he could’ve set up a better camp in half the time.

The only magic Breken used was a series of runes, carved into the ground with his sword.

“Let’s talk… No one can hear us here, there is no one watching, I am absolutely sure of it.”

“What about?”

“What happened when you were gone? Ava was pretty broken up about it, royals took you right in front of them, she thought it was all her fault, that she had killed you. Have you ever talked with her about it?”

“No, why would I? I’m back, everything is finally ok.”

“That is what they all say. I’ve seen privates ascend the ranks quickly, usually with a massive pile of bodies, friends and enemies both. They are great, they are powerful. They go back home to the praise of everyone around them. Then their wife or child drops a bowl, they are back in the fight, they strike out. That is what you are, you are a crossbow with too tight a string, you bolt ready to fire off with the slightest movement. It was an illusion, but you would’ve killed your sister if it meant killing me when you thought I was a threat.”

“NO! No… it was an illusion, it was fine, I just need a little more time to get used to everything.”

“And when the twins are born? One of them hiccups or cries, you lose it, you hurt them. You need to talk about it, stop running.”

Harlan explained things, from the experiments into necromancy, to the assassination attempts, even the werewolf attack before he was taken away.

Breken was upset.

“Fucking godsdamned royal family.‘

Harlan chuckled.

“Yeah…”

The kettle Breken put on started screaming, Harlan tried to fling a rock at it, Breken stopped him.

“It’s just for the tea.”

Harlan watched him prepare it, Breken moved with grace, never making sudden movements.

“Sugar?”

“Yes please…”

They sat, watched the sun set and the moon rise.

“How do you feel?”

“Alright…?”

“The tea has a calming effect, it will help with the next part. Remove your shirt, cross your legs, hold the cup to your chest, and just breathe, feel the moonlight on your skin, the warmth of the cup, the smell of the tea. You’ve been able to sense mana since your birth, so I bet no one taught you how to do this.”

Harlan felt the calm spread through him, his mana sense was wild, spreading far beyond what he thought it ever could, then he saw the thing in the darkness, eyes and teeth, gleaming white, drowning out the moon in his vision. He closed his eyes but the thing remained, and then it spoke.

“My child, you have spent so long unable to hear me, I thought you were lost? And this sadness… I worry for you.”

Harlan felt her words reaching directly into his soul, calming him greatly, it spoke with such kindness, such familiarity.

“Do you know me?”

“I know all of my children, from Fomor the First, to Darreth the twelfth of his name. The pact brings us all together.”

“Who?”

“You, my lost child, that is your name. You were too young to remember it, too frightened… I could only call upon you once, when you were nearly lost again, from this mortal realm.”

“The werewolf?”

“Yes, the child of Aine, her pact still holds.”

“I… I don’t know who Aine is, and I don’t think I care right now…”

“That is fine my child, what would you talk of?”

“What do I do? What can I do? I want to stop being afraid… to not hurt anyone…”

“There is never a path of no harm. But to avoid harming your loved ones, listen to the man with you, he has helped your sister by bond. They are not my children but I watch over them still. He is afraid too, but he hides it so well. Sleep now, tomorrows joys are still waiting for you.”

Harlan woke up, he was in a hole, a crater really. The sun was high in the sky already. Everything in 30 feet beyond the crater was dead, trees had fallen, the leaves on the ground were dust in the wind, the campsite was gone.

“HARLAN, ARE YOU ALIVE!!'' he could hear Breken yelling in the distance, standing with someone else, a woman, late 30s, a royal seal on her chest, the spy Rosewell had watching over him.

“YES! WHAT HAPPENED!‘

The woman and Breken both walked towards him.

“That is what we wish to know, young Fomoria.”

“I… mana sensed?‘

“You set off a spreading darkness based spell well beyond your level, it was spreading from your skin, then it consumed the camp site, I barely got the wagon away, one Ox wasn’t so lucky.” Harlan could see that Breken had been hurt, a patch of his clothes were gone, the parts around it soaked with blood, but he didn’t look injured.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Young Fomoria, you must learn to lie better, we are not angry, we wish to know what happened though.”

“I was speaking.”

“With who?”

“The darkness?”

Both of them seemed frozen, not sure how to interpret his statement, it was true to both of them clearly. They knew Harlan couldn’t lie well.

“Explain”

“When I started sensing, a voice spoke to me… She was nice, She calmed me.”

Breken and the woman shared a stare, both having no idea how to parse what was said.

“Hallucinations are sometimes seen by those with warmind, what did you talk about?”

Harlan spoke of what the darkness said to him. The woman subtly grimaced at the mention of Aine.

“He is speaking the truth. The darkness shouldn’t talk at length with anyone, and to bring up that name…”

“Speaking of, what is your name?”

“Dahlia. Royal spy under Rosewell. You should never have seen me at all. I will take my leave now.” she seemed to shimmer and then disappear.

Harlan could see Breken’s eyes tracking her still.

“Let’s make a new camp site, I brought spares of everything, just in case.”

“Just in case I ruined everything, again…”

“It isn’t your fault kid, you said the voice calmed you? I say it’s a small price to pay for you to have a little peace of mind. Now let’s get to work.” Breken gave him a pat on the back and smiled, he knew that Breken really wasn’t angry at him.

It took them a short time to set up the new camp, Breken used the crater as a starting point, flattening the ground and digging a home into the hillside. Giving it a nice front yard for a cooking fire.

He even made a ring of stones 30 feet across 100 feet away from the rest of the camp in case Harlan wanted to contact the darkness again.

“Isn’t it… strange? I mean, she is called the darkness.”

“I never gave much stock into the idea of anything being evil just because it’s dark, look at hati, they are evil hateful bastards. On the other hand skoll can be reasoned with, stretches of these woods here are watched by skoll, who report large disturbances sometimes in exchange for not being bothered by the army.”

“You can do that?”

“You talked with a giant stag, didn’t you? Why should an evolved wolf be different?”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“There is actually an issue here now, I wanted to have us deal with it.”

“That sounds like a bad idea.”

“No, it will help set bounds, part of the issue with having warmind is that you can’t tell when you are in danger, you are constantly in a fight or flee state. I will help you find those bounds, keep them strong. You will be ok, maybe not now, maybe not in a month, but eventually. Don’t give up, I know what’s down that path.”

Harlan felt emotions welling up inside him, the care in Breken’s tone touched something inside him.

“Thanks…”

“Today we will just work on a routine, know that this place is safe, it’s normal. You are normal when you are here.”

They worked out a schedule for Harlan, regular sleep wasn’t part of it, so at night he would try to enter a trance, not the sensing state that caused the last incident, but a false sleep.

And it was helping, Harlan was feeling better, nothing bad had happened, after a week Breken finally asked if he was ready to solve the issue.

Harlan agreed, Breken grabbed a weapon from the wagon, a pair of heavy metal gloves. Hand to hand training was part of the routine, to help him feel like he could be safe even if he was ever forced to be unarmed.

And then they set out, just after dinner, dusk had fallen by the time they reached their objective.