It was the eve before Hyacinthe's birthday.

Sixteen.

The books, the faeries, even the Wood itself all told him that sixteen was the year he would enter into adulthood. But that wasn't all that appeared on the horizon. There was something else, that prickled under Hyacinthe's skin, crept up his spine, and ultimately sat in the back of his mind where it festered and left him sleepless.

Truss was especially evasive, as the eve settled into evening. Truss wasn't around, if he could help it. Not for maths, not for lunch, not for dinner.

Hyacinthe had been asked not to leave the immediate vicinity of the cottage, too, which was strange, in and of itself. He had grown used to the freedoms he had obtained, and he had intended to see Mary and John, and to walk the Wood with the spirit. But he couldn't, as that would have meant disobeying the faeries directly. His honour wouldn't allow it.

The evening settled into night, and Hyacinthe couldn't sleep. Night turned slowly to gloaming, then to predawn. And Hyacinthe finally slept.

He awoke a short time later, to the bustle of Loch and Liddy around the cottage. They appeared to be... packing.

Truss sat nearby, watching Hyacinthe intently.

"What is it? What is going on? Is it the crows?" Hyacinthe asked.

"No," Truss murmured. "It's not the crows."

"What is it?"

Truss looked like... a cloudy day. His brows were drawn together and his mouth was a hard line. But then, Hyacinthe glanced past Truss and found that Loch and Liddy didn't look half so glum. Loch was a bit choked up, but smiling and going about his harried business. Liddy was practically giddy.

Hyacinthe looked back at Truss, all the more confused.

"It's going to be a big day," Truss murmured.

"Why? What's happening?" Hyacinthe asked, "Why is it a big day?" Truss only glanced away from him, eyes settling stormily on Liddy. "Truss?"

"I told him I wanted nothing to do with you," Truss groused.

Hyacinthe couldn't help but laugh. "I believe it. But if you hadn't had anything to do with me, I wouldn't have any of my favourite toys, and I probably wouldn't be able to figure half so well. Clearly, I needed you."

"But, now I don't want to let you go," Truss backed away from Hyacinthe, still frustrated without any stated reason, and turned to help the other two faeries.

Hyacinthe frowned again.

Why would Truss have to let him go? Adulthood didn't mean he was going to suddenly up and leave them, did it? He didn't want to think about that, much less ask.

--

"Now, Hyacinthe, there's something we need to talk about," Liddy said, still overjoyed. His happiness was a little overwhelming. Hyacinthe wanted him to sit down. He wanted Truss to tell him. He wanted it to sound like bad news.

It sounding like good news just seemed to make everything worse. Sharper, somehow.

"Something we need to talk about," Truss echoed, bitter in tone and body language.

"Oh, Truss, hush down," Liddy said. Nothing could ruin his mood.

Hyacinthe smoothed his hands down against the sofa, trying to dry the nervousness from his palms. "Just get it on with," he said, quietly. "All the hubbub and now a 'talk'? I'm not even sure I want to know, but if I must, don't make me suffer another moment of wondering and anxious anticipation."

"I think we did okay with the education, anyway," Loch mused.

"Oh, of course! Absolutely!" Liddy agreed. He was being too big and too loud.

Hyacinthe backed himself against the sofa cushions and took a glance around the cottage. Nearly everything was packed away.

"First of all, you have a brother!" Liddy said.

Hyacinthe's attention startled its way back to Liddy. "I have a what?"

"Half brother," Truss piped in. "We heard about him awhile back, but we didn't really know what to do with the information. He's something like ten years younger 'n you." Truss gave a mild shrug, clearly unenthused. "I didn't think he was all that important."

"Now, that's not nice," Loch said.

"Neither am I, now, am I?" Truss scoffed. "But that's a horrible order to go in. Might as well start with the boy's father, not the baby of the family. Achille or whatever it was."

"Achille, that sounds correct," Loch mused.

"Oh, yes, his father. Hyacinthe, dear, your father's name is Anthelm. You know the village? The one I believe Truss showed you?" Liddy asked. He didn't look pleased that Truss had shown him, but then, he would have been less pleased to know of Mary and John, wouldn't he? "That's in his Kingdom. It's a big Kingdom, you know, lots of... of... villages and farms..."

"Wait," Hyacinthe wet his lips and leaned forward. "Are you telling me I'm... royal?"

"A royal heir," Truss nodded. "Prince. High Prince, even. I don't know how human titles work, really, but you have an important one. And a different name to go with it."

That just about broke Hyacinthe. "My name is Hyacinthe," he murmured. "I can spell it. I can spell it in the artsy cursive letters. I don't need another name. I like the one I got."

"The one you have," Liddy said.

"Your other name," Loch interjected, "it's a nice name, too, you know."

"I don't want it!" Hyacinthe stood and glanced at the door. He almost wanted to... he wanted to just...

He sat back down.

"I don't want it," he said, much quieter. "Or the title. Or the kingdom, the brother, the father. I like it here. In this cottage. In the Wood. With you three. I don't need a father or brother, do I? It's not like I ever had one, before."

"Sure you did," Liddy cooed.

Hyacinthe took a bit of offense at the cooing. He wasn't a baby..

"He doesn't remember Anthelm," Truss scoffed. "To him, he's never had a father. Even if he could remember something so long ago, it wouldn't have been the King. I guarantee that it would have been the nurse."

"I didn't tell you about the Nurse," Liddy snapped.

"Yes, but those issi told you, and I listened," Truss snapped back. He turned to Hyacinthe. "The crow-king, the Usurper, killed your nursemaid, and she was faerie. Or half faerie. I don't know. But, if there was anyone you loved, as a child prince, it was her. And she's gone. And you? I don't know what they need you for. You don't need to be the heir, they have another one. As to being a son, the King has another child."

"Then, I don't want to go to him!" Hyacinthe said, leaning forward eagerly.

"It's not our call to make," Loch said, gentle as he could be. "You're his son."

"Then... why am I here?" Hyacinthe collapsed against the couch cushions again. "Why?"

"Because of a Curse," Truss said. Quick and blunt, how Hyacinthe preferred bad news to come. "By the way, Hy, your name is Aurore. Never did squeeze that out, did we? Aurore."

"Aurore? It's..." Hyacinthe shrugged weakly. "It's nice enough. But, my name is Hyacinthe."

"Not on the Kingdom's census, it isn't," Truss shifted and almost seemed ready to get up and walk way. For an excruciating splinter of time, Hyacinthe was terrified that Truss really would leave him. And then they all would leave him, with a family he didn't know at all, stuck with a name that wasn't his. Truss frowned at him, opened his mouth, then closed it again and settled back into place.

"I don't want to be Aurore," Hyacinthe said.

--

He didn't get his way. The cottage was packed up and the three fairies left the Wood behind in a journey to the Kingdom, the Capital, and the Palace. They didn't even go through the little town with the little bridge.

Hyacinthe was sure the Kingdom, Capital, and Palace all had names, mind you. And he was relatively sure he'd been told them. But none of them stuck. He was of the Wood, and the Wood -- to him -- was just "the Wood."

"I think I'll make a poor prince," was one of the comments Hyacinthe was stuck on. He kept saying it, always to be brushed off with a smile or laugh, or -- in the case of Truss -- a shrug without agreement or ire in it. He would make a poor prince, though, because he was of the Wood and didn't want to be a prince. Someone who didn't want to be a prince couldn't possibly be a good one, could they?