Aidan watched two wretched brothers hiding behind a sea of children. Two grown men coddled and cosseted over tiny people, playing nursemaid like their lives depended on it. They won't be wrong in that assumption. He didn't think he could ever close himself in a small room after what had happened earlier and he broke out of that wooden contraption with a mind to rip limbs from certain gatekeeper brothers. He would have had his claws against their bellies, watching them bleed if it hadn't been for River who closed in on him with a tightening hug that made his insides go churning soft. "We made it." she said, smiling up at him with hesitance. "Aren't you glad?"

No, he was furious. He never had anger like this before. He felt like he was being burned alive with it. He needed to hit something or watch someone bleed. He set his sights back to the brothers who were several steps away and putting the lot of children between them. Before he could follow after them, River reached up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear and the scent of her engulfed him like a high-octane drug that for a moment the wolf crawling under his skin forgot about its burning vengeance. Instead, without giving it much thought, he took her by the arms and inhaled a deep lungful from behind her ear on the base of her neck where the scent was strongest. His eyes closed at the exquisite sensory she induced, wanting to fill in more lungfuls. The scent of her set him back to a sacred place at the Dumuzid rainforest where on the lowest terrain pits of it, one has to climb down piles upon piles of boulders to reach that depth level where the trees grew high enough so the sun don't touch the ground. It was a maddening descent for young hunters on their first trials but it granted a reward of being surrounded by the atmospheric sea of perfume that only depth-level terrain of a wild budding rainforest can only produce. River smelled close to it but she was simply more in a drugging way that made him feel empowered, stronger, and wild. Like he could take on the world with his bare hands if need be. And it has always been something that keeps on happening whenever she's around. You make me feel, he said in mind-speak, his nose nuzzling against her neck trying to find that sweet powerful spot again where the scent was strongest. So strongly that it is as though I am at a different place and at a different time, like I'm younger, stronger. This scent of you— it humbles me.

She held his hand, tightening. And it gave him a grounding sensation, it felt as though throughout his life he was ever flying about all over the place up until right now when she held him so securely that never had he felt so prized and precious to anyone much like this before. And he preened at the rewarding bloom of feeling, reveling in it.

This feeling, she said to him in mind-speak, it's called friendship. It's a connection that happens when you open up to someone with your intimate secrets.

He heard Crow gave a tight scoff like he was stifling a disbelieving guffaw. Narrowing his eyes at the impostor behagthi, "I believe explanations are in order." he said out loud to him, lowering his arms from River. Then turned his head away forward where the children used to be but were nowhere to be found. "First order of business. Those dark tribe brothers needs to be dealt with."

They followed a rocky trail that looked to be a well-worn path, walking together down the tunnel where the gate threshold was a couple of minutes away on foot.

In the rough-hewn walls surrounding them, it held stones glowing with bio-luminescent dim that lit up their way.

"I'm glad we're friends, Aidan." she said to him.

His throat tightened at the notion of telling her a simple white lie. He wanted to return her sincere sentiment but for the first time, he was conflicted on what to say next. This sort of social convention was never on the books he read.

Crow thankfully said, "You and I are not friends, River."

"Way to state the obvious." she rolled her eyes at him, after a few beats she continued, "But your secrets are safe with me. Trust." She said, tapping a fist twice over her heart.

"No one would believe you if you did. My way of doing business incentivizes hard loyalty. At best, they will be laughing at you for even daring to say that you have spoken to me."

"I'm less willing to drop your name if it makes me look like an idiot. But what's the fun in that? If I keep telling people you have a freakishly large third nipple, it's going to catch on eventually."

"You wouldn't dare." he said, looking stern but the slight tilt of his mouth gave him away.

"I'll start with the children." she said, her gaze meeting his in defiance waggling a finger to his face, "They are more eager to share a rumor than I am and it just so happens I'm good friends with a certain talented weaver. Maybe she'll weave a famous blanket about a certain man named Crow who has a freakishly larg—"

Aiden pulled her back when he held a hand over her mouth, and sighed "Enough. No fighting between us. Save it for the brothers who disappeared with our wards."

Her brows raised in alarm, "You don't think they will hurt them, do you? Damn it. We have to hurry."

"My thoughts, exactly. But I didn't want to strain you any further. Rest assured that Crow and I are following your pace."

Her jaw fell then closed before turning around to make strides forward with large determined steps, "If you think you all are so better than me," she spoke to the air while walking way ahead of them, "Why don't you carry me, then?"

"Much obliged." Crow replied, shoving him to the side when he was about to reach over to her.

She shrieked as the damned behagthi lifted her up like a babe, "I was being sarcastic, you dumb-ass bird boy. Put me down this instant or I'll punch you where it hurts. Ugh, don't hold me too tight you about to break my bones, dumb-ass. Why the fuck do you have stones for hands? You don't even feel human. You're just like a freaking brick wall. It wasn't a compliment. Don't laugh. I wasn't trying to be funny. You're a dumbass with a weird-sounding name, put me down."

Then he did as she ordered, tipping his chin forward. "We're here."

Aidan marched up to her, his gaze searching "How are you feeling?"

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"Ego bruised. A little bit. Whatever. I can take it." She crossed her arms closed. "You know Aidan, I will ask of you to never hold back on my account. I can hold my own. I'm not precious china. I want to help and I don't like to bother anyone so if you got a problem with me, say it." She quickly followed it up with an index finger in front of Crow, "Not you. You can go eat shit."

"Is that any way to thank someone for having helped you?" Crow said, facing her and crossing his arms.

"I'd find myself grateful if I had asked for it."

He raised a brow, "You did ask."

"Sarcastically," enunciating each syllable, "Honestly, are the stories about you just that overrated?"

Undaunted, he closed in on her with a gleam in his eyes, sparkling like sunset on the waters of a crystal blue ocean. "Ah, starlight. But you have heard of me. Surprisingly, I'm amused."

"I'll show you what's amusing."

Once again, Aidan found an excuse to hold her close. Vengeance was now an abstract concept of the distant past, and he felt calmer yet electrified at the same time. "The keys." he reminded her.

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, "Oh, yes. Right. I don't know what came over me," she mumbled under her breath, as she perused the contents inside her backpack.

Crow stood tall, gaze set on her, lashes curling against his cheeks looking like a living statue of a god. Hadn't they been torturing this guy? How is he so well-built and agile as though he hadn't been locked prisoner for decades?

Then the damned guy pierced him with a stare, waggling his brows with a smirk touching up the corners of his mouth like he doesn't know what is good for him. He must be insane, he thought. Then, with a louder voice in his mind he thought, You are insane.

"This isn't locked." She noted upon turning the knob in the garden gate. It swung open to a wealthy garden, perfectly curated in a geometric design. Then she barreled forward ahead of them with tight fists and snippy strides that ought to be intimidating on anyone else but because it was River strapped with a bulky backpack that was nearly as tall as her; said backpack continued to bunch down and bounce back up at her every stride. There would be no inspiration of fear.

"What do you think of her plan?" Crow asked.

"It's well-planned and good in a diplomatic sense. But in truth, I have my doubts. This is the dark tribe we're talking about. We once had a 15 year argument about crafting iron and steel for blacksmithing; to use on our own in the safety of our own tribe. Fifteen years of travelling in tunnels and going underground, refusing us to travel in their wooden contraptions and leaving us to fend to ourselves in the dark. Stubborn ass mules is what they are. She hasn't got a lick of chance." He said, looking over the wide expanse of their garden. It boasted a rare variety of trees and fruit they had traded from the sun tribe. A trade that had been in the making for 15 years. Dark tribers weren't easy to persuade, and the gatekeeper brothers certainly didn't make it easier for the sun tribe.

Orange lamps lit up like a swarm of fireflies over the garden. Gritting his teeth, he hated seeing the reminder to his own invention. It wasn't too long ago that the sun tribe had shunned his orange firelights, deciding they have no need for eternal sunlight when they knew perfectly well how to plan for the seasonal changes.

And yet, here it spun above and across the wooden beams of an entire garden, nurturing a variety of seasonal plant life that would have been impossible to grow underground under normal circumstances.

He wanted to turn away, put it in his damned past to forget but somehow those gatekeepers found a way to string the firelights together in a thin string of rope, and had it winded around the overhead trellis. Somehow, those brothers made a creative choice he never thought possible with his invention. It made him re-think if he should have fought harder to continue making them.

"That's an interesting color in a lamp." Crow said, following his line of sight.

"Eternal sunlight." he murmured, remembering the first time he discovered its concoction. It took him weeks obsessing over aligning its electricity into a suitable equation that properly balanced out the natural power of a sun for recycling. Its discovery was one of the best moments of his damned life. No one else could have done it but him. No one else had the tolerance to withstand the pain of stray electricity but him. It would have saved sun tribe a hell lot of work if the sun tribe's governing tribe council allowed his own invention to take root in their workforce.

"Ah. Must be why it hangs over the plants and trees. Quite curious," Crow said, studying the sheer scale of the massive garden "I have been looking forward to see how this present age has advanced."

"It's a mistake." Aidan gritted, narrowing his eyes at the orange lamps "It isn't an advancement. I'm surprised they're even using it at all."

"How is it a mistake, exactly? It works perfectly well to me."

"It doesn't attribute anything of value to my tribe." He said, turning back to walk on his path to the graystone, wanting to escape the ghost of rejection haunting him. The firelight lamp was his most prized creation and yet it hadn't been enough. He still had to do better. Become better. For the tribe.

"Just because your tribe has no use for it doesn't mean someone else won't find value in it. Have you ever thought of trading with the snow tribe?"

He drew back in disgust.

Crow raised both his arms up in surrender. "I am just telling you that you would be feeding millions of starving snow tribespeople with eternal sunlight."

"Why will I take that advice coming from you? You've killed thousands. You're a murderer. What do you care about people starving?"

Crow's jaw had set, a muscle straining underneath. He shrugged him off, taking purposeful strides towards the back garden door where River has disappeared into. And he followed along with him.

Turning the knob, Crow spoke in his mind before pushing past him. Anything I have done in the past, I did for survival. You cannot fault me for that. River surely doesn't.

Aidan caught up easy to him in the middle of the hallway, blocking his path. "I have a wild hunch River forgives easy. I don't. If you so much as hurt her in anyway, what they did to you in that tower stronghold will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you."

He chuckled. "What are you going to do? Decree a 1000 battle trials? Bite me? I've been at the receiving end of your fangs, wolfie. It's nothing to sneeze at." He said flippantly, stepping to the side to walk past him.

Aidan held him by the arm, stopping him again. "You are insane. Don't you have the sense to take this seriously? The fate of the world heck— Brumcia's prophecy getting fulfilled for the sanctity of peace among all tribes, do any of those mean anything to you?"

He considered it for a moment and asked, "How long have I been inside that tower?"

"The hidden market stopped selling your poison four hundred and thirty-three years ago."

"I have been asleep for half that time. If I truly didn't care, then I would have given in to the dreaming sickness a long long time ago."

"Then what do you want, Crow? Because this is baffling my mind ever since you told me you followed Alli'ona to that tower."

"Back then, it wasn't a tower." He bit out, "Once they had me in their chains, they built that godforsaken stronghold around me."

"You see, this confuses me a lot."

"I imagined nothing could ever confuse you. Aren't you the leader of the sun tribe, after all?"

"Don't taunt me, Crow. I'm not as simple as River. I know you rile her up so she doesn't go asking for sensible questions."

He scoffed. "And that would be?"

"Why did you willingly follow Alli'ona? I know your reputation. You're paranoid and resourceful in the most excelling ways a crimelord should be. You had people killed for less than an unsavory assumption. You had people killed for stepping up to ask any sensible question."

"And why would you kno—"

"Because I'm the freaking sun prince, that's why." He growled. "I had traced your venomous syndicate down to its deepest unholy roots. I know what they say about you, speak of you, and what they call you behind your back. And, believe me when I say that what they know about you can barely fit a 5-page book tome. You know how to cover for yourself that it drove people to their early deaths just because you were so overly paranoid on secrecy. I've seen the circles of hell you've built merely so you could hide under it where no one can find you. So, you tell me, why in the hell would you follow Alli'ona out in the freaking daylight, exposing yourself to a trap that you would have normally foreseen? Why take a risk like that when you had people killed for less?"

He went silent.

"I keep asking myself what would drive a power-hungry crimelord to his chains, hidden away and tucked in the most defended stronghold of all time? I've had my suspicions that you are far more than you say you are. No one has ever had the power to alchemize Natura Brumcia's properties. Not since The Great World. But yours is.. what you do is likened to a god."

Crow shrugged his hold off and continued forward on the path where River's scent was strongest. It was a tunnel hallway made of bricks and stones with moss growing between the grouts.

"And then it hit me." Aidan called after him, "Someone has already foretold your prophecy, haven't they, god prince?"