Big and Hungry

This moment was perfect; there was no way Noreat was going to let it slip past him.  The King was locked in that hazy plain between awake and asleep, just barely aware of the world around him and yet aware enough to know he was no longer dreaming.  Usually, this moment was annoying for him, but right now it was everything he could ever want.  Noreat could feel Zephyr with him at this very second.  The older man's big warm arms were locked around his back, Noreat's face was pressed into his lovers chest.  He could even hear Zephyr's heartbeat drumming in his ears.  Noreat didn't move, didn't twitch, and didn't even dare to breathe too deeply.  This was a rare moment for him.  He usually couldn't remember Zephyr in his entirety like this.  Most of the time all he was able to recall would be the heartbeat, the tough textured skin, the feeling of Zephyr's breath against his neck.  Great God and Goddess he wanted to stay in this place with Zephyr for as long as possible.  He had to stay like this for as long as possible.

Just as Noreat was starting to match Zephyr's slow breathing something from the other side of the room slammed.  There was a shout and the King's bubble of warmth was starting to fade.  He kept his eyes shut tight and kept going over the sensations he loved in his head.  Zephyr's callused and old hands from fighting and daily wear and tear, the way his skin smelled, the heavy thick arms wrapped around his back.  Damien's voice floated into his ears drowning out Zephyr's heartbeat.  Two more minutes, two more minutes, he pleaded but the door to his room opened.  The King curled his fingers into the pillow he was holding onto.  Zephyr was slipping away faster and faster and unknown screechy voice was shouting at Damien.  All the warmth he felt faded into the covers and ferrins.  The world was returning to Noreat even though he wished it wouldn't.  Damien called for Noreat and Zephyr was gone.

"Your Majesty—"

"Great God and Goddess what could you POSSIBLY want from me right this second, Damien!?  Because if it is not imperative to my existence you are going straight to the Tower for the rest of the day, I swear it!"  Screamed the King.

Against Noreat's threats and wishes, the King's bodyguard pulled the curtains back and flooded Noreat's vision with light created from the magic chandeliers in the room.  Both of his ferrins turned and growled at Damien.  They didn't like all this shouting in the morning.  Noreat was about to start chastising Damien and calling in a guard when he saw what his bodyguard was holding.  In Damien's hands was a caged, big black bird.

"…What is that?  Why did you bring me this?"  Noreat growled.

"I found it in the courtyard."

"And so you thought it best to bring me the damned thing?!"

"LET ME OUT!"  Screeched the blackbird.

The King's heart rammed against his ribs.  Dwalen birds couldn't speak.  Entity birds could speak.  This was a messenger, what had it been doing in the courtyard?

"Who sent you?"  Noreat demanded of the blackbird.

Instead of answering, the bird snapped at the bars that held him in the cage.  The creature wasn't in a good mood.  Well, that made two of them.

"Let me out now!  No cages!"

"It was diving at anyone with black hair, I think it was sent for you but it didn't know where exactly to go," Damien tried to explain.

Of course the messenger had been sent for him, why else would an Entity bird be on Dwal?  The King jumped out of his bed and ripped the cage from Damien's hands.  The bird started to scream at him but Noreat was in no mood to argue with a damn blackbird.  He shook the cage a number of times, causing the messenger to screech and bounce around inside.  Damien didn't exactly approve of the aggressive measures Noreat was taking with the messenger, but Noreat would hear none of his protests.

"I am the King and you will tell me who sent you and why, or I will be having blackbird for breakfast!"

The bird stopped screaming and huddled itself on the far side of the cage.  It puffed out its inky black feathers, trying to appear larger than it was (it was already the size of a small cat).

"I am Roche and my master loaned me to Iridesia.  She sent me here and said to find the King with black hair and blue eyes but didn't say which way," the bird shivered.

A bit of Noreat's heart sank into his stomach.  Of course Iridesia would send the messenger, not Zephyr.  Zephyr was probably…

"Relay your message to me," Noreat said lowly.

Roche hesitated, maybe still calculating if Noreat would make good on his threat a moment ago.  For the record, Noreat would make good on that threat.  The bird was big, he would make a fine meal.  A second later the bird nodded his head and took in a breath.

"King Noreat, we have much to discuss.  I will be waiting by the Gate for you.  Iridesia."

And of course Iridesia would only send him a short cryptic message.  Why should he expect any different?

"Does the King want to send a return message?"  Roche asked very quietly.

"No."

"Then can I be let out?"

"No," Noreat handed the caged creature back to Damien.  "Keep this thing with you at all times.  I need a group of soldiers.  Pack your things, we are going to the Gate."

"Yes your Majesty," Damien bowed.

The magician was gone a second later.  Noreat didn't have much time to waste.  He sent for his servants.  After they dressed him for the day he ordered them to pack his things for the journey to the Gate.  While they were busy packing Noreat went over to his desk.  He got down on the floor and pulled the small ornate box out from under it.  It was dusty and heavy.  Noreat hadn't touched it in the last few weeks.  Even seeing it made his chest hurt.

"I just heard from Damien what is going on," Tien appeared in the doorway to his room.  "I'm coming with you."

Noreat had been intending on asking her to come along.  Tien had been the closest thing to a confidant he had for the last…it had almost been a year at this point.  The King was a bit relieved that she already volunteered herself; it saved him the trouble of actually asking her.  So the King nodded to the empath as she crossed the room and knelt down beside him.

"Iridesia sent me the messenger, Tien.  Zephyr is…probably no longer among us," he sighed as he brushed the dust off his box.

"You don't know that for certain."

"Do not fill me with baseless hope, empath.  You know as well as I after so long there's little chance he is alive.  I already mentally made the decision to have a funeral for Zephyr a week ago.  It is only now that I am afforded the opportunity to follow through with this choice.  Since I doubt Iridesia would supply me with his body I can burn this instead," Noreat showed the box to the magician.

"You want to scatter the ashes by the Gate," Tien nodded.

"It is the closest I can get to Entity."

"It sounds like the Gate is open now.  You could, realistically, go to where you met him."

"I have no reason to actually enter Entity now.  The Gate itself will suffice."

"Noreat, please keep an open mind to this.  You might be surprised in the end," the empath attempted.

"After all this time?  I doubt it."

A second later Tien wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled the King in for a hug he did not ask for nor give her permission for.  But even though he didn't exactly ask for the hug, he…sort of liked it.  Tien was warm, but like Zephyr, but she was nice enough.  She had been kind to him and he considered her a good adviser/confidant…  He let the empath hug him, though he made no attempt to hug back.  It was nice to get some sort of physical comfort after so long.  Ferrins were terrible huggers, and Godspeed nearly smothered him when she tried to hug him with her wings.

"C'mon," Tien helped Noreat to his feet.  "We should get you some breakfast."

Noreat shrugged in agreement and handed off his ornate box of Zephyr to one of his servants.  He ordered the servant to put it with his things and to keep it safe.  It had to make it to the Gate intact.

Getting to the Gate was a simple enough journey.  The King, his bodyguard, his confidant, and his soldiers marched their way through Dwal and into the mountains tow where the Gate to Entity lay.  There are three Gates in Dwal, all of them leading to other worlds, all of them scattered about the country.  Noreat hadn't been to the Gate since he and Damien found it sealed months ago.  Damien and Tien had visited it infrequently over the passing months, trying to find a way around the bloodseals.  Their attempts had been rather unsuccessful, though that hardly mattered anymore.  By now they were coming up on the clearing where the Gate lay.  Noreat wasn't quite sure how he felt.  Hope was not an emotion he was accustomed to feeling, and he wasn't sure if that was the term he would use to describe his demeanor at the moment.  It was very difficult to be hopeful when he was almost completely convinced of the fact that his beloved was dead.  It felt as though he was walking on shards of glass, and in-between those shards he could see raised clear platforms.  But to get to safe ground he had to tread on the painful shards first.  He was fairly certain that wasn't how hope should feel.  Thankfully, he didn't have to linger on that uncomfortable feeling.  Roche started screeching and jumping around his cage.

"In the forest now, let me go!!"  He demanded.

"I have yet to see Iridesia.  You will not be released until then," the King rumbled.

"This is not fair!"

"Life is not fair, you would do well to learn that lesson sooner rather than later."

Roche bit the cage door, his beak nearly taking off the fingers of the slave who was holding the cage.  Good thing that girl had reflexes, or else she would be bleeding and screaming and giving away their position.  Not that it really mattered if Iridesia heard them coming.  Noreat was going to arrest and imprison her for defiling his Gate and killing Zephyr.  This was all her fault.

"There's someone ahead," Damien's voice brought Noreat back to the present.

Both Damien and Tien tensed as the silhouette of a figure moved through the foliage and towards them.  The King stopped short, not sure if it was Iridesia or not.  It wasn't, but Noreat couldn't decide if the woman coming towards them was much better than her.

"You must be the King," she stated as she bowed.

Just like the first time he saw one of these people, Noreat almost mistook her for a Ynoizmo.  Of course, she was no such pretty thing.  Her elongated ears were hardly as delicate or dainty as a Ynoizmo's, hers were tougher and wider.  She was one of Entity's shigens, shapeshifters that Zephyr had warned him about.

"I am.  Who are you, shapeshifter?"  The King frowned.

The shigen smiled, which automatically made him hate her.  The shigen was a beautiful creature, with cascading waves of fire colored hair rolling down her neck and back, its tips skimming her waist.  Her hair truly was fire colored.  It was not as if her hair was very red, like Damien's, her hair was fiery.  The rays of sunlight caught in her hair turned orange and yellow, as if her hair could burst into flame at any moment.  While she was obviously older, maybe in her late forties, she still had a soft slender frame covered by a charcoal dress with yellow trim.  The dress was plain, but if it had been anymore embellished it would take away from her natural beauty.  Noreat didn't like her or her natural beauty.  He also didn't like how she seemed to have been waiting for him, smiling at him in a sweet (superior, he thought) way.

"I am Lady Honoo of Moszou," Lady Honoo explained, placing a hand over her heart and bowing.

Quite the title for a shigen.  Noreat felt something inside him twist.

"What are you doing here, Lady?"

"Iridesia," she stopped, narrowing her sky blue eyes, "lorljnck," she said under her breath, "Princess Iridesia requested I act as emissary for her in this venture."

"And who are you to the Princess and King of Geofek?"  Noreat nearly spat.

Honoo rounded one of her long ears forward.  Her smile didn't fade, but the King watched as something flashed behind her bright blue eyes.  She was smart, and she could hear the bite behind every word he spat at her.

"You think that I have taken your place in the King's heart?"

Was the damn shigen an empath too?  The King only glared at her, his eyes straying from hers to follow the gentle curve of the markings on her face.  They were pretty, she was beautiful, and she was older than him, a better-aged match for Zephyr.

"You did not answer my question, Lady," Noreat warned.

"Have no fear, King Noreat.  In the short time I spent with the King it was obvious he held no feelings for me, nor any other that was in his presence.  You may safely assume you still occupy his heart.  And besides, I would not take a human as a mate."

"Odd.  Why not?"  Tien said out of turn.

"You humans have, forgive me, short lives.  I've seen some humans live to almost a hundred and twenty, but those are rare creatures and by they reached that age they were rather fragile.  It would be too heartbreaking to set my sights on a mate I could only hold onto for a short period of time."

"How old can you be?"

"Don't humans consider questions of age to be impolite?"  Honoo wondered aloud, and then shrugged.  "I turned five-hundred this year."

The King ran his eyes up and down the Lady a few more times.  The woman could hardly be older than forty-five!  Zephyr never mentioned that shapeshifters could live forever!  (Great God and Goddess he would kill for the ability to be young and handsome forever!)

"…You look quite good for five-hundred," he murmured.

"Thank you," the Lady bowed.  "However, as much as I enjoy compliments, we have strayed from the subject at hand.  The Princess asked me to escort you to the camp.  It is by the large stone-doorway.  I would request, though, that you leave your army behind."

The King watched as Lady Honoo's eyes sparked with some sort of power he didn't know how to describe.  She was uncomfortable around the many swords, spears, and bows so close to her.  Noreat couldn't stop something like a triumphant ease across his lips.  Finally, he got to be the superior one in this situation!

"Why would the Princess request that?"  Noreat almost purred.

"Because she brings no army with her, only a few close friends."

"Then I should be permitted the same," the King snapped, "Damien and Tien will accompany me or these negotiations will not occur."

Honoo looked over the magicians on either side of the King.  She didn't seem to sense the energy they could wield, or she knew she had no choice in this matter, and nodded her head.  If she had refused Noreat would have just had her removed, since nothing would stop him from at least learning the truth about Zephyr's fate.

"This way please," the shigen said.

"ME TOO," Roche bit the fingers of the girl who held his cage.

She shrieked and dropped the birdcage.  The bird ducked his beak under the lock on the cage door and pushed it up, opening the door and freeing him.  The blackbird cawed and flew over to Honoo.  The Lady shigen let the bird rest on her shoulder.

"…Some would consider keeping a messenger prisoner as an act of aggression," she said very carefully.

"I know very little of Entity customs," the King waved a hand dismissively, "I was keeping the bird for insurance."

"Insurance of what, I wonder," Honoo said softly, petting the bird.

The King did not feel he needed to answer that wonder.  Lady Honoo nodded her head a moment later and led Noreat and the magicians into the forest.  The soldiers stayed behind, but Noreat heard them shift in their armor uncomfortably.  They didn't want to leave the King even though they knew he traveled with two powerful magicians.  Noreat was convinced Iridesia would not be so foolish as to try to kill him.  Even if she tried she would not succeed, with or without her shapeshifting emissary.

"Do you know who put those bloodseals on my Gate, Lady?"  The King did not want to walk in silence with this creature.

"No, nor who took them off.  When I arrived the Gate was already cleansed of the bloodseals."

Of course Iridesia would cover her tracks; the damn girl was smart.  Zephyr wouldn't raise a stupid daughter.

"What happened to the King these last months?"

"It is not my place to say."

Damn tight-lipped shapeshifter!  She was not allowed to keep secrets from him, he was the King and this was his land!  Emissary or not she was required to answer his questions.  The King growled under his breath, which earned him an ear-twitch from the Lady.

"I am sorry, but the Princess wanted to explain to you what has transpired," she said very gently.

"If you know something she does not I demand you tell me."

"The Princess is the one who wishes to explain all that you want to know, I assure you she will answer your questions."

"And can you assure me that she will not lie through her teeth?"  He hissed.

"My," a voice Noreat didn't recognize hissed from behind him, "you seem to know Iridesia fairly well."

The King spun around on his heel to see who was behind him.  Damien threw a protective arm out in front of the King as he turned as well.  Standing in what once was the King's shadow was a lanky, tall man with white skin and equally white hair.  His long face was all corners and angles, with a sharp hawkish nose and sunken-in blood colored eyes.  Noreat decided that he disliked this man even more than he disliked Honoo.

"Who are you?"  Snapped Noreat, feeling rather threatened by the snow colored man who could disappear in the woods.

"Think of me as insurance," purred the white-haired man.

Oh, now Noreat hated him.  Lady Honoo coughed loudly to get the white-haired man's attention.  He sighed, put a hand with boney fingers over his heart, and bowed slightly.

"I am Damien Vieha."

The King watched as his bodyguard twitched at the thought of sharing names with this man.

"Is there anyone else hiding in the trees I should be on the look out for?"  Noreat demanded.

"Quite the short temper on you," Damien observed, earning him a threatening growl from the King.  "I'm fairly certain I'm the only other person from Entity you have to worry about."

Noreat shot a dark glare at Lady Honoo.

"You did not tell me you were having me followed."

"I was not having you followed.  Damien was to serve as my defense should…you be less than hospitable towards me," she said very carefully.

"Of course," spat the King.

"What's wrong with you?"  Tien said very quietly.

White-haired Damien stiffened at the accusation and straightened.  Noreat took note of a thin, curved, sheathed blade hanging from his belt.

"Excuse me?"  Damien said softly.

For such an intense looking man his voice was rather soft, with almost a singsong accent to it.  Damien's accent rolled letters together and softened hard sounds; it was nothing like Zephyr's accent, which elongated vowels and rolled only the r's and g's.  He liked Zephyr's accent much more than Damien's.

"There's something wrong with you.  I can't…read you," she narrowed her eyes at Damien, crossing through the forest to get up and close with the lanky pale man.
  
The King felt something like worry for the empath jolt through him.  Tien had been the one person he had confided in for these last months, he did not want to see her hurt by this man.  Then again, Tien was a very powerful magician, she could hold her own.  That dinky blade at Damien's side would do nothing against her.

Damien laughed uncomfortably and folded his arms behind his back.  "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," Tien snapped.  "There's something wrong with you.  You're icy, but if I search long enough I can find what you're feeling.  Tell me what's going on."

Damien hesitated and narrowed his blood colored eyes at her.  Perhaps there weren't empaths on Entity, and so he didn't know what Tien was talking about.  However, he wasn't denying the fact that there was something strange about him.

"I don't know how you 'read' people, but I doubt you've had many chances to read a dead man," Damien said finally.

"That's impossible," Noreat's Damien barked.  "The dead don't walk!"

"Maybe here they don't," shrugged the white-haired Damien.

Tien took a big step back from the white-haired Damien, but kept herself between Noreat and him.  Both magicians didn't like him now.

"That doesn't make sense," Tien murmured.  "You can't be dead and alive…"

"Technically I never really died.  Just…mostly died," Damien laughed dryly.

"This is a waste of time, you don't need to know what he is," Lady Honoo said loudly.  "He serves as my defense right now, not as your enemy."

"You have a walking dead man," Noreat snapped.  "What sort of game is Iridesia playing?"

"She's not playing a game, she just needed our help," Damien explained.

"Please, Your Majesty," Lady Honoo tried catching all of his attention.  "Iridesia is just beyond these trees.  She will explain everything to you."

The King didn't want to take his eyes off the walking dead man, but decided he should leave watching him to his two magicians.  Very slowly, he nodded and turned his back on the white-haired Damien.  Tien and his Damien stuck close to the King, neither liking their new company.  They slipped past the last barrier of trees into the small clearing before the Gate.

A small camp had been made beside the Gate, next to the river that flowed around it.  There were a couple of tents and a small controlled fire in a pit between them.  They were hardly nice tents; nothing like the ones Noreat had been sleeping in as he traveled from Koatrah Vizyro to the Gate.  They were small, made of animal skins, with odd painted designs on them.  One of them was a hair bit nicer than the others, with a black symbol of a creature painted on the side.  The creature looked as if it were struggling between being a lizard and a bird.  The King looked about the camp for Iridesia and her familiar dark red dress, but couldn't find her.  He did, however, see the giant tan feline that was curled up with its back against one of the pillars of the Gate.  It wasn't a Dwalen creature, and judging by the way it glared at Noreat through smoke colored eyes he guessed that it was an Entity feline.  Of course everything from Entity was giant.  The people were tall, the animals were big, the mountains were monstrous, the trees were tall; everything in Entity was big!  There must be something in the air or water there.

"I'm glad you made it, King Noreat…" Iridesia's voice (a bit lower than he remembered) wafted through the air.

The King turned to glare down his enemy when he was stopped short by her new appearance.  Standing beside Honoo was definitely Irideisa…or what was left of her.  An unskilled hand had chopped her hair short, and it fell in a mess around her neck instead of down her back.  Someone had tried to brush it, (maybe Honoo, she looked as if she knew something about maintaining hair) but it was still a mess.  Instead of her dark red dress Noreat had never liked, she wore a brown sleeveless tunic that had been torn and patched over a thousand times.  There was some sort of animal trim to the bottom and the collar to her old cape had been sewn to the top.  Across her waist was belt made from animal fur and she didn't have any shoes.  Her toes were black with dirt and red with cuts and bruises.  There also was some sort of mark scarred into her right shoulder.

"Princess Iridesia…?"

She smiled slightly, her full lips looking pale from the lack of paint on them.  The King couldn't suppress a shiver as it moved down his spine.  This was not the King's daughter, not how he remembered her at all.  She looked like something wild, a creature that should be running with rabid dogs, not living in a palace or being served.  Since Noreat didn't really want to touch Iridesia in her current state, he kept a few feet of distance from her.  But his hands felt the need to wander and he touched his own right shoulder.  Iridesia smirked; her eyes almond eyes glinting like Zephyr's did when he noticed something.  The girl ran her fingers along the mark on her shoulder.

"Do you like this?"

"Not at all," Noreat snapped.  "What in the world did you do to yourself?"

"Survived.  I had no other choice…not that I really regret it.  I became one of the Serevaste wilders," she smiled almost wistfully.

She smiled down at the scar on her arm.  It looked like an arrow with a swirl around it.  Noreat had never seen anything like it in Geofek; he couldn't begin to assume what it meant.  It wasn't as if the King was worried about Iridesia, or that he truly cared about the girl, but if she was alive…then Zephyr could be too.  This wasn't what he expected, and every time he glanced over to Tien he could see that she wanted him to try and consider his options here.

"I am sure your father was none too pleased to hear that you decided to become a barbarian," Noreat said as carefully as possible.

Iridesia snickered and shook her head.

"He wasn't.  Even though he was so sick and tired he managed to yell at me for a few minutes…"

Sick?  Zephyr had been sick this entire time?  What kind of disease could incapacitate him so?  Dwalen healing magic was better than Entity healing magic, why didn't he send for aid?  The King's heart thudded against his ribs and he tried to figure out the best question to ask next.

"Don't look so worried, he didn't become a wilder," Iridesia explained.

"I was not worried about that."

Noreat didn't exactly dislike the scar Iridesia had, but if Zephyr had a mark like that he wouldn't mind.  It was just one little scar, easy to ignore or easy to accept along with the rest of a person.  A thousand more questions raised themselves in his head, but Noreat decided to forgo those inquires and headed straight for what was important.

"Where is Zephyr?"

"He's not here," the Princess's voice turned harsh.

"Then he is still in Entity?  Is he still ill?"  He was speaking a bit faster than usual.

"It's not like that."

The King's short temper was reaching its frayed ends.  He could not stomach any more ambiguous answers!  He just wanted the truth, and he was damn entitled to it!  Zephyr loved him just as much as he loved Iridesia (probably more), she had no right to keep him a secret from her!

"I have no patience for these games child," Noreat hissed, "and I will not repeat myself.  Answer my damn questions!"

Tien's hand brushed against Noreat's shoulder.  He jerked his limb out of her comforting grasp.  Noreat was not going to let Iridesia play games and speak in riddles to him.  The girl had summoned him for reason and he deserved to have his questions answered.  This was not Entity, Iridesia had no authority here, and she had to answer to Noreat.

Iridesia's eyes flicked down to her dirty toes for a moment.  The giant tan cat behind her shifted, picking up its big head and letting it's smoky gaze shift between the Princess and the King.  Noreat would have focused on the creature more if he didn't hear the jingle of metal clinking together coming from Iridesia.  When his eyes went back to her he felt his stomach sink.  He recognized what she was holding in her hand, and he wished he didn't.  He wished he didn't know what it was or what it meant, but he sadly did.

"My father won't be coming, King Noreat," Iridesia said lowly.  "I'm sorry."

The Princess's tone was flat, her eyes dark and devoid of light or color.  Noreat felt a shiver move through him and he couldn't stop it.  The world around the King started to move slower as Iridesia held out her hand, extending the trinket towards him.  It was Zephyr's anklet.  The painfully simple piece of jewelry that Noreat didn't even notice until the morning after the two first lay together.  He didn't want to take it.  He didn't want to touch it or accept it or even look at it.  If he took it he would only be admitting the truth: that every one of his foolish, hopeful, idealistic wishes had been for naught.  It would be admitting the horrible and painful truth that Zephyr was dead and Noreat never had the chance to say good-bye.  Iridesia wrinkled her nose as she frowned at Noreat.  She had no reason to frown at him, he hadn't said anything!  With an unimpressed huff the wild Princess started to close her dirty hand over the shimmering, old piece of jewelry.  

No, he needed that, she couldn't keep it!  He shouted and lunged forward, snatching the little gold anklet from her hand.  The giant tan cat behind her growled, digging its sharp white claws into the dirt.  Noreat didn't care about the creature; Tien or Damien could kill it should it become aggressive.  Iridesia made a high-pitched yipping noise and shifted over to her Damien, the tall thin one with ugly white hair and demonic red eyes.

It wasn't until Noreat had the anklet in his hands did he realize that he had no right to it.  This was Zephyr's anklet, given to him by his mother when he was small, one that he wore his entire life.  It was such a tiny piece of Zephyr, but it had so much more of him than any of the letters or even the crown.  Noreat didn't know what to do now that he had it.  Burning it felt wrong, but there was no way he could wear it.  It…didn't belong on him.  It belonged on Zephyr.

"How…" Noreat's voice trailed off and turned to a strained sound.

Originally he was going to ask how Zephyr died, but as the words moved to leave his mouth he quickly pulled them back.  He didn't want to know how Zephyr died.  He didn't want to hear that Zephyr was sick for months, slowly deteriorating in his bed while he coughed up his lungs and decayed while still alive.  No, in Noreat's mind Zephyr went down fighting.  Serfina and the Ymanians stormed Des'Tailer in one last desperate attempt to win the war and Zephyr went down after killing twenty—no—thirty (thirty was a much better number) men.  It was quick, it was epic, and it only made Noreat's chest hurt more.  He should have been there, in the imaginary battle, fighting alongside Zephyr, protecting him from what would have been the finishing blow.

Tears that he didn't know he still had rolled out of his eyes.  Only two, two little tears moved out from his eyes.  Noreat had thought he had cried all of his tears out months ago.  He hadn't cried at all in the last couple months.  Crying took energy that he didn't have.  Crying took emotion that he didn't want to feel.  But he was crying now and his body shook with so much pain.  Why did he fall in love with Zephyr if he was only going to lose him?  Noreat had promised to protect Zephyr and he failed to keep such an important promise.  …No, he didn't fail, he was kept out by someone else, someone who didn't want Zephyr to live.  The King brushed the two clear tears off his cheeks and glared at the three Entity people (and one beast) before him.

"This is all your fault," he hissed with such terrible venom at Iridesia.

The Princess tilted her head, letting her messy blonde locks falling into her dirty and scuffed face.  She was about to open her mouth to speak but Noreat wouldn't let her.

"You put the bloodseals on the Gate!"  He accused.

Iridesia sighed and looked down at one of her palms.  She peeled back the bandages on her hand and frowned at whatever she saw.

"Yes, I did," she said lowly.

The King channeled all of his remorse and pain and transformed it into pure fury, all of it directed at Iridesia.

"It's your fault the King is dead!"  He shouted.

The giant cat rounded an ear forward.  It almost looked as if it understood what was going on.  Of course it had no idea, it was a stupid animal Iridesia brought with her to make her look impressive.  Noreat wouldn't even look over at the creature, he decided focus on hating Iridesia at the moment.  The Princess stiffened and frowned at Noreat.

"How da—"

"Be silent, girl!  You knew that Zephyr and I had a treaty in which he promised to give aid to the other when called for!  All you had to do was send a messenger and say you needed aid and I would have come!  I would have brought my entire army and I would have helped you save Zephyr!  But instead you, precious flower, decided it would be better to lock me out of Entity!  You let Zephyr, your father and your King, die!"

"You have no idea what has been happening, Noreat and—"

"And whose fault is that?"  The King demanded.

The Princess shivered but held her ground.  Now that she was a barbarian she thought she was strong enough to stand up to Noreat.  How wrong she was.  She was going to pay a thousand times over for Zephyr's completely avoidable death!  Iridesia sneered and folded her arms over her chest.

"What is the point of lying now, King Noreat?"  She asked lowly.  "Would you really have come to help my Father?"

"You have no right to speak to me in such a way, I am King and you are on my lands!  I am no liar, and I would have come if the request had been made!  I tried to go to Entity when you sent me a damn dying bird and Titan, but your accursed bloodseals prevented me from even getting a toe into Entity!"

"Such things are easy to claim when you have no evidence to back it up," Iridesia shrugged.  "Besides, I doubt you would step foot on Entity if there was no immediate promise of sex."

"Don't you dare belittle my relationship with Zephyr!  I LOVE HIM!"  Screamed the King.

The forest went quiet a second later.  Noreat couldn't hear Iridesia if she said anything.  He couldn't hear Damien or Tien if they said anything, and he certainly couldn't hear Honoo or the dead Damien if they said anything.  All he could hear was the ragged breath he took.  He opened his closed palm to see Zephyr's anklet in his hand.  The sunlight glinted off the pale white pearl charm hanging off it.  He was too busy looking at the charm to notice how Iridesia's expression shifted from a dark sneer to a bewildered expression.

"…I loved Zephyr," he said much quieter than before.  "And now because of your selfishness I will never see him again."

Silence from the heartless Princess and her allies.  Noreat couldn't take his eyes off Zephyr's anklet.  He was so sorry he wasn't there to help his beloved, that Zephyr had to suffer due to the neglect of his damn daughter, and that he died without aid.  Great God and Goddess, Noreat would give anything to go back and drag Zephyr with him into Dwal.

There was a low creaking and dragging noise.  Noreat looked up to see Iridesia heading through the Gate.  She was leaving?  She couldn't leave!  She still had to be arrested, tried, and executed for murder!

"You are not permitted to leave, Iridesia!"  The King snapped, rushing forward.

"I will return," she said quietly, slipping through the open doors of the Gate.

She would not get away so easily.  Noreat rushed forward to chase after her as she tried to slip into Entity.  The giant tan cat roared and jumped to its feet.  The King yelled and skidded to a halt just in front of the seven-foot tall monster with knives for teeth.  This was not fair, Iridesia could not leave her attack kitten behind to dissuade him from going to Entity!  This Gate was his!  The murderous bitch should have to pay a fee to use the damn thing!

"I am the King and this Gate is mine, who are you to stop me?!"  He screamed at the cat.

"Big and hungry," answered the beast.