Kindly edited by @CollinHarrison4

Kelton inwardly cringed when he saw the expression on Gossamer's face. It reminded him of long ago when his boyhood self would engage in some idiocy. There was little need for Gossamer to verbally scold, not when his eyes could assume demonic levels of disappointment. Rolic saw it and chuckled.

"I thought you meant only to trade words," Gossamer said, his eyes dissecting Rolic.

"It is good to see you, Gossamer," Rolic said, not waiting for Kelton's response. "I was most persuasive and have earned some trust." He held forth his bow to Gossamer.

"There are things I must know," Kelton said, though Gossamer's expression had already lost its admonishment. He was now examining the bow. "It is a risk, but I think a smaller one than I first envisioned."

"It is so much stiffer," Gossamer said, ignoring Kelton's response. He held the bow awkwardly and tugged on the string. The movements attracted Bynard, who came over and was equally enthralled with the bow. Gossamer pointed at the end. "Do you see how it is shaped, bent where the string is attached?"

"Carved from a larger piece, I think," Bynard said. "Not at all like our sticks. What is this string?"

"Sinew from cattle, I am told," Rolic replied. "I know not which part."

"It holds tighter than the weaved plants we have tried," Gossamer said. Others began to gather around, ignoring the newcomer to concentrate on the bow. "Can I see it work?"

"Aye," Rolic said, taking the bow back. He lowered his pack to the ground and retrieved an arrow from the pouch mounted on the side. "What is my target?"

"That tree," Bynard said, pointing at a large trunk twenty paces away.

"I am more skilled than that," Rolic said, his sneer accenting the pride in his words. "Something more distant."

"The tree over there, the one with the dead branch hanging from it." Bynard pointed at a tree some hundred paces away. Its trunk was as wide as the first, yet the distance shrunk it to the eyes.

"That knot," Rolic said as he nocked the arrow. "The large one, about head-high." That brought a few chuckles from the spectators that had gathered. As a group, they thought it a cocky target.

Kelton felt arms wrap around him from behind. He leaned into Juno's embrace, his smile no longer for the demonstration.

"You brought him here?" Juno whispered.

"It is a gamble, my love," Kelton replied, his voice well below the growing comments about the bow. "The rewards will be great if I have not erred."

"He is older than I imagined."

"Older than I remember," Kelton said. In truth, Rolic looked weaker as well. There are those who go gray yet hold the breadth of their stature. Rolic looked thinner, shorter, and he moved with less confidence. "His mind is strong, and he knows much."

Rolic aimed as if he and the bow were as one. His arms were as steady as the tree he targeted. He released the drawstring, sending the arrow flying faster than the eye could follow. It embedded itself in the tree with a thud a hand below the knot he had identified.

"I am getting old," Rolic said, disappointment plain on his face. The ever-growing crowd gasped at the power of it. There were shouts calling for the few woodworkers who had joined their ranks. Excitement grew, as did whispers that such a weapon could destroy the world in the wrong hands.

Rolic handed the weapon back to Bynard. "The arrow must be dug from the tree. It is best if tight-wrapped straw is used for a target. Size it like a sleeping pallet and bind it with cloth, large enough so few arrows go missing in the woods. Arrows take time to create as well, and will weaken quickly if used on trees."

Bynard looked toward Kelton with awe in his eyes. "They do not feel these coming?"

Rolic answered before Kelton could. "The Brethren will know the point of launch, not the wood in flight. They fear the bow as you fear their swords."

Bynard grinned. "You sound as if you have done it, sir."

"Aye," Rolic replied. Silence seeped into the crowd. Rolic pointed to Kelton. "Long ago, I sent shafts after two Brethren as they chased Kelton. Held them in place as he ran." He smiled at Kelton. "Did I not?" Kelton nodded. It was more information than he would have preferred let out.

"Why did they not end you?" One in the crowd asked.

"I am more difficult to find than most," Rolic admitted. "Like Kelton, I am Unseen." The silence was mirrored by stillness. All eyes steadied on the man who had brought the bow. Kelton could see both awe and fear in their faces.

"This is Rolic," Kelton interrupted, breaking the silence. "I met him long ago and sought him out. He means to help us."

"Are there more?" Bynard asked. Kelton wasn't sure if he meant the bow or Unseen.

"Does he fight like you?" another asked. Questions began to swirl faster than a tempest. Rolic stood there with a grin, absorbing them in silence as if they were a banquet.

"It is best for now if less is shared," Gossamer boomed, raising his hands to capture the crowd. "All will be known in time. Mayhap, we should let Rolic..."

"There are many more bows," Rolic interrupted, answering one of the first questions. "They are hoarded by those in white robes. What you have in your hands is the only one not in a temple. Unseen? Well, they are rare outside of the Brethren. There are only two that I know of, and they stand before you."

"Rolic..." Kelton tried to stall Rolic's words and reached out to pull him aside. Rolic politely avoided the move.

"How do you know this?" one in the crowd asked.

Rolic smiled at Kelton, then looked around. "These men will die for you. I can see it in them, and they deserve to know who travels with them."

"Rolic," Gossamer warned.

"I know this because I once wore the white," Rolic said out loud.

"Was that wise?" Juno whispered to Kelton. Kelton shook his head as many of the gathered faded back from Rolic.

"Aye, you should fear one like me," Rolic said. "I have done much to ruin this land. But know that I have stepped from my past and now follow the Answer. What I know, he will know." He looked around at the open mouths. "I ask that you do not seek to speed my demise, for it will come soon enough. What I have done will make me more sought after than the Answer himself." He turned toward Kelton and dropped to a knee. "I pledge my loyalty to you, the true king of Aragonia."

"He is no different than us," Bynard said, also taking a knee. One after another, the former King's Own followed his lead. Soon, all found the ground with words similar to Rolic's. Gossamer smiled and joined Taggert in taking a knee. Kelton wanted to run.

"It was wise," Juno whispered. Kelton stopped her from kneeling and pulled her to his side. If he would suffer a king's crown, she would don the queen's.

Serenity moved to Kelton's side, opposite Juno. "You must share words now," she whispered, then knelt with the others..

Kelton looked around at the men and women who thought him a king. The weight of the world was an awful burden, pressing hard upon his mind. It was a squeeze of his hand that lessened the strain. He looked down at the hand that grasped his and then upward to a soft smile full of pride. The horror ahead dulled and, with Juno as his guide, a desired end became known. He smiled as he found his words in her eyes.

"A crown must be earned," Kelton said, "and we have only begun the task of removing the blight on this land. It will be a hard road, but know that when we are done the crown will be the land's servant, not its master. That is my pledge to you."

The gathered crowd stared wide-eyed at Kelton as if he had promised too much. Their stunned silence was deafening. Kings were not servants.

Serenity stood and spoke loudly. "The Goddess fills our king's swords and desires."

Cheering broke out that rose to shake the leaves in the trees. Men and women stood, and those with swords raised them to the sky as if victory had already been achieved. Kelton's heart lightened as they threw their joy at him, lifting his spirit for what was to come. For the briefest of moments, Kelton felt he could do no wrong. He knew it was false perfection, but the shared exuberance felt so good. He had a family who thought as he, and it was growing.

Once it quieted and the world slowed again, Rolic approached. "I have declared you the true king and lit a fire in my heart and theirs." He smiled knowingly. "I know what troubles your mind. You foresee the cost of failure and dwell on imagined errors. You must abolish your doubts and accept failures and successes in equal measure. Indecision is now the true enemy, for an army that fails to act is bound only for the grave."

"It is true," Kelton sighed. "I see fields of dead in my mind. It is a struggle to push it aside and step forward."

"You will step boldly. I see it in you," Rolic said.

"I also see that you altered the topic," Gossamer said to Rolic. "All wondered about you, and now they praise Kelton. There will be whispers of the white robes changing sides like the King's Own. You build trust quickly, mayhap too quickly."

Rolic chuckled. "It is an honest trust, Gossamer. One I will soon prove beyond doubt." His face stiffened. "Kelton and I will visit a temple, and he will return with resolve beyond what we have just seen."

"Temple?" Gossamer asked with concern. Juno echoed it, with a hint of terror coating her tongue.

"Aye," Kelton said with a sigh. Rolic had a way of shoving things forward before their time. Kelton had meant to be more diplomatic with the idea. "There is something I must see. I am told it is the key to many things."

"Then tell him," Gossamer commanded. "There is no reason for him to risk so much."

"It must be seen," Rolic insisted.

"I do not trust you," Juno said.

"You are Juno," Rolic said. "It is a pleasure to greet you, my lady." He bowed in the way of royals, another sign to Kelton that Rolic was not of this land. "I have heard much about you. When Kelton speaks of you, the words are scented by flowers and soft as feathers. I see now that what I heard is true."

"I trust you less now," Juno said. Kelton smiled, as did Rolic. "You shift things as you see fit, pushing and pulling with your words. Nothing but a storyteller, yet I know not the true tale."

Rolic laughed. "You have seen through me, my lady. I have found verbal distraction to be a useful tool. As for my tale," he said, indicating Kelton, "I have chosen to live or die in the Answer's service. Aye, some of it will be on my terms, yet it will be for his benefit. Is that not your desire as well?"

"She is not in doubt," Gossamer chimed in.

"Nay, she is not," Rolic said, shaking his head. "She is as Kelton described - his strength."

"You are right," Juno said to Kelton. "He uses words like a sword to conquer minds. I do not trust him." She looked back toward Rolic. "Will you try your mead next?"

"Is there nothing you keep secret?" Rolic asked Kelton.

"Not from my love," Kelton said with pride. It thrilled him to see Juno's confidence grow, stirring more than his mind. Concerning Rolic, she had valid points. "You have named me king, and I name her my queen. We are as one."

"Have you told her who you face?" Rolic asked, his face becoming serious. Juno had thrown him off his cadence, and something sinister entered his tone. Kelton thought him unused to a lack of control, and Rolic was in the process of grabbing it back.

"We have only just arrived," Kelton said. He knew what was coming from Rolic and wished to stall it. "Mayhap a moment or two to breathe, then all will..."

"What does he mean?" Juno asked of Kelton.

Kelton sighed, recognizing Rolic's need to direct conversations as water steers rivers. There was no stopping it, even if the banks will be eaten away by its flow. "My trust of him shrinks by the moment, my love," Kelton said, as much to Rolic as to Juno. "He speaks of the leader of the Brethren, Magna'est. He wields blades like mine. Though I would not have thought it possible, he is Nagada."

"Nagada?" Gossamer said after the initial shock wore down. "Another like you? I thought you an exception. Did you not say that they do not train others?"

"He is Nagada," Rolic said. "He was birthed in the tribe."

"Then how...?" Gossamer began, then abandoned the question he could not find words for. Kelton could see the same confusion paint Gossamer's face as it did his own. A Nagada, traveling across the sea, taking control of the Brethren without stirring intrigue, or at least noise. The language barrier alone would impede any attempted coup of the white robes, and Nagada were not known for subtlety.

"It is what visiting the temple is supposed to reveal," Kelton said.

"It is too grandiose," Gossamer argued, and Juno agreed. "Words to ensnare you. Brethren, and no one else, enter their temples. If others have, they have not returned to speak of it."

Rolic gestured to stall the argument and recover his pack. He pulled out two white robes. "Two Brethren will enter. Unseen are never questioned, especially those clothed in white. Kelton will emerge unharmed, or I will be dead. It is vital he sees what is."

"Tell us," Juno demanded.

Rolic smiled. It was his soft disarming smile. "You believe my tale of Magna'est is grandiose, my lady. The full truth is more so. You must hear it from one you trust, and I am not he." He looked at Kelton. "It is a truth known only to the most powerful. Will you see it?"

Serenity rose from the water and smiled at Kelton. Her beauty drew him into the pool. Ignoring the water flooding over the tops of his boots, he pursued his desire. Her eyes sparkled, reflecting the soft morning sun as it danced across the surface of the pond. He heard his name from her lips, a song that dissolved into his soul. Her welcoming arms reached out to him, when an enchanting hum broke him from the dream.

Juno's finger caressed the side of Kelton's face, guiding an errant strand of hair from his cheek to behind his ear. His eyes opened to see her smiling lips, and the source of the pleasant sound.

"Have I thwarted her?" Juno asked.

"Aye," Kelton replied. Her lips joined with his, a blissful waking that smothered the incessant dream. The song continued far away, the words barely recognizable. It tickled his ears as Juno's sweet kiss warmed his heart ... and other parts. A pallet far away from others is what he desired most at times like these.

"Those words," Kelton questioned, breaking the kiss as the song began to take shape.

"Silly words," Juno whispered. "It is what we are taught by the mothers when we drink the Darny leaf. I think it is a bonding thing." She smiled. "It was always done in secret, yet here we can sing it loudly."

"Will you sing it?"

"It is only silly sounds," Juno said. "There is no meaning to them." A voice broke above the rest, the song becoming as pure as flowing water and as pleasant as the smell of spring. Juno stood from the blankets. "How does Serenity know such a thing?"

It was the song Kelton first heard so long ago, the one that drew him to a pool of water. It was as endearing as when first he heard it. Kelton rose from the makeshift bed into the crisp morning air. He had heard the song at other times, though only now was it coalescing in his mind. At the nighthouse in Shunneer City. At house Tarvakian in a shared bed. It was Yanda who quietly serenaded him as a mother would a child.

"It is Sorinnian, is it not?" Rolic asked. Kelton turned to find the man stepping forward, as curious as Kelton. Juno looked confused.

"Aye," Kelton said, his smile growing. "It is a lullaby sung by mothers, I was told." Serenity's beautiful voice was augmented by the cursed who had joined the army. He could hear Sanlina clearly, though her voice had little of Serenity's grace.

"Yanda's words?" Juno asked. Kelton nodded as he walked forward, his feet bare from the night.

"I had never heard it sung through," Kelton said. "It is a lullaby. It speaks of the Goddess and her beauty. It is soothing and consoling, letting her know that while she sleeps, all will be well. None will leave her, and all will worship her name." Kelton looked back at Juno. "It is a beautiful verse, rivaling many I have read in the library."

They came upon Serenity, smiling as she sang. The cursed were doing the same, an odd mix of happiness and surprise in their expressions. Men were gathering, drawn by the song and the flower who sang the loudest. Kelton smiled when Juno stepped forward and joined the chorus.

"How is this song here?" Rolic asked.

"I know not," Kelton said. "There are many odd things about, and by far, this is not the strangest. At least it pleases the ear." He was thinking of joining the verse when it ended.

"How do you know our song?" Sanlina asked Serenity.

"I was going to ask the same of you," Serenity replied. "It is my mother's teaching, taught by her mother, and so on, as is my lineage. I thought it unknown to all but the last-of-the-line."

"I have never heard another sing it," Hector said as he approached, his smile as large as Kelton's.

"The words have meaning," Juno said with contagious excitement. "They are from another land, from a people who do not share our manner of speaking."

"She is the last-of-the-line?" Rolic asked Kelton in a whisper, indicating Serenity.

"Aye," Kelton replied. Rolic looked confused, as if things were not as he expected. An odd look for the man. "Is there something amiss?"

"I thought it to be Juno," Rolic said. His lips seemed to push to the side of his face as he thought. "It is but a story, yet it is not. Such things..."

"Kelton," Juno interrupted, waving him over. The women gathered as he translated the song. He enjoyed the pleasure they took in the revelation of what they once thought to be gibberish.

Juno walked back toward the camp after finding a small stream in which to wash. She missed warm baths and covered latrines, but it was nice to sleep in the arms of the same man - especially one who found joy in making her smile. A rough life in the trees was an easy trade for the sole possession of Kelton's heart.

"May I have a word, my lady?" Rolic asked, surprising her. He was seated under a tree, hidden by the trunk as she passed. Had he been silent, she would have walked past unknowing.

"You followed me," Juno accused. There was little about the man to trust. His way with words was too skilled, and he proved he could steer many minds with ease.

"Aye, but not with my eyes," Rolic admitted. "I waited here, facing away in respect for your solitude." He smiled softly. It was an endearing smile, one that projected kindness. She didn't trust it either.

"You wished me alone," Juno said. She could see the camp, its fire healthy, and others moving about. There was nothing he could do before she could scream, bringing help in a moment. She trusted Kelton's blades.

"Aye," Rolic said, his smile fading. "I intend to ask for your help in convincing Kelton to enter the temple. He has wavered under your counsel."

"No fancy words?"