The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft
FACES OF BEAUTY

CH FACES OF BEAUTY

Fleur brought Rieth an early dinner; a rich chicken and summer vegetable soup with his favorite cheddar-herb rolls. Her students were on their way home to Lumberton and Westfalls. The summer festival had been such a huge success that the Mayors of Arbor, Golden, and Brightwater had entreated the Governor of the Southern Star Archipelago to have another before the late fall storms began. Rieth was working long days to restock his shop and finish commissions for the Autumnal Equinox. For Fleur, it meant the end of another session of teaching. She talked idly about hoping the weather held clear for the coming festival and longer so she could teach longer.

Rieth put his bowl aside and took her hands, placing them on what he was working on. It was a life-sized portrait cameo. Her fingers delicately traced the face and she smiled as she recognized the person. “It’s Queen Allura. How did you do it?”

Rieth whispered, “I got a commission request from the crown city.”

Fleur frowned and narrowed her blind eyes. Her fingers ran over the left cheek over and over.

“What’s wrong?” Rieth asked.

“You forgot her beauty mark. She had a small mole on her cheek about an inch below the center of her left eye. About here.” Fleur touched her cheek where the mole was.

“How could you know that?” He smiled as the question came out. For months, he had been replacing her pills with the one Serapha was making and Fleur’s memory was slowly returning. It was a gradual and sometimes terrifying process.

Fleur chewed her fingernail and shrugged. “I... I just do. It... it’s where Prince Kars... I mean, King Karstien always kissed her. Dot marks the spot.”

“You’re teasing me.” He tried to push the memory further. Benign memories didn’t seem to hurt her like strong ones did.

“No... no, I’m not. Every Restday, they would come to the Southern Castle, so Karstien could spend time with his father and sisters. I took care of them, remember? And one day, one of the twins asked why he always kissed Allura there. He answered, dot marks the spot... so he wouldn’t forget... and... and we all laughed...” Her voice trailed off as she stared blindly at nothing; he could sense she was remembering that day as she swayed on her feet. It confused her.

Rieth folded her into his arms and wrapped his love around her. She had been remembering mostly happy, simple memories. He waited until she came back to him. “Are you okay, my little flower?”

“I... I d-don’t know,” she stuttered. “I feel s-so strange.”

“You remembered something new. Maybe you are getting better,” he breathed the words against her forehead. “Maybe you are finally healing.”

She tipped her head back like she was looking at him. She wore a sad expression, “Oh Rieth, I don’t know if I want to remember. I like my life now, our life.”

He grinned, “Our life? So, you’ll marry me soon?” His fingertips traced her beautiful face.

She snorted derisively. “I’m not the meek and marrying kind, so quit asking.”

He laughed at her grumpy expression then whispered, “I cannot grant that wish, my lady,”

“So ornery.” Fleur accused and rolled her faded eyes.

Rieth caught her chin before she could turn her head and kissed her, slowly at first then he let his love and passion for her pour out. Her soul opened to his like a storm crushed flower struggling to lift is petals to the sun. Always he felt her pain, but always her love was more. Two hours later, Rieth watched Fleur hurry up the hill to turn on the light in her lighthouse.

Rieth returned to his project. With a special resin, he glued blue tourmaline in the eye, applied crushed ruby powder to the lips, and set a small chocolate diamond cabochon in the place where the Queen’s beauty mark rested. Dot marks the spot, indeed. He sealed the whole thing with a clear enchanted resin so it would never weather or age. The blue star wood laminated behind the creamy blonde wood cameo made the eyes seem to sparkle more. It was a beautiful gift for Queen Allura’s birthday from Lady Serapha. Rieth smirked and wondered what King Karstien would think if he knew that Serapha’s woodsmith was the man he had the whole kingdom searching for.

Noctos had almost been caught by Shadz and was only saved by Jenna’s quick thinking to strip the young huntsman down to his undergarment and hide him in her bed. Shadz had thought he had followed the wrong huntsman leaving the academy. When Shadz demanded to know why Noctis was wearing the crest of Yophriel, he was answered by Jenna’s sharp tongue and the excuse that her uncle had adopted Noctos into his house so both she and her sealed one would have rank when they were joined on the Day of Light Returning after her mother was found. Rieth had told Regis to draw up the paperwork to make Jenna’s story a reality and was told Rheema already had seen to it. Looking out, Rieth watched the sweep of the light and hoped he could give his niece and his reluctant journeyman the gift of having their joining soon.

The Autumnal Festival was the last event before winter. Many families were preparing to leave the Southern Isles for the bitter, frozen season. The mills had shipped all the milled lumber out of the islands to warehouses in the capital city or on other worlds and were preparing to close until the end of winter harvest. With no work and nothing to do, the population would dwindle greatly during the cold months. Late dry weather had allowed school to continue for a few extra weeks, but the children were ready for their break. Yuli had told them a storm was coming, an anti-cyclonic tempest that would sweep down on the Isles from the Northeast in a week and the citizens of Soldiers Cove were preparing.

Rieth had prepared his shop and his crafter’s agent had set him up with a booth along with entering several of his pieces in the Artisans Competitions arranged to show off the Crafters of Arbor. Rieth had taken top honors in the Summer Festival and his pieces were expected to take many awards. He had no less than twenty young men and women begging to be his apprentice because his old kingdom skills and techniques had been lost in the modern era, and not one could rival the life-like renderings of his artistry.

The arrival of Rieth’s brother Brie with several beautifully made sword, axes, and daggers to sell had brought rumors that the Metalsmith brother of the Whispering Woodsmith would indeed be moving to the isles and taking over the old Smithy’s shop. Siger the forester came a day later. Both were unsurprised when Vela told them Corbin had been removed from his position of Protector of Lumberton after it was revealed the ‘travel fees’ he had collected while the band of brigands had terrorized the Isles was deemed illegal. As the Festival ran, travelers from many other worlds visited the Southern Star Archipelago and the economy was flourished.

Yuli, Fleur, Rieth and their friends walked through the booths and chatted with Siger about the lumber harvest on Meridian, where Siger had most recently worked. Siger challenge Rieth to shooting contest as they passed the field where the outdoor games were being held. Taking position on the archery range, the two quickly bested all but each other. Yuli was calling out more and more difficult shots at greater distances, and soon they were shooting fist sized targets at one hundred twenty stones (meters) away. Finn, Brie, and Bolton had joined in the wagering. And by the third set of ten shots, a dozen were excitedly cheering on the two foresters, who had taken to shooting arrows at wooden disk hurled into the sky at the end of the range.

Stacy, Desandra, and Vela got bored and took Fleur with them to the Artisans’ Competition tents. As they walked, they sipped a new beverage from Jura called coffee. The young Aetherian woman running the booth had suggested Fleur try hers with chocolate and orange flavored syrup. Her giant brother’s hand had trembled slightly when he handed the warm drink to her before he turned away. Fleur could feel such sadness and grief radiating off the two chestnut-haired siblings, she asked the older woman with them, their aunt, who they had lost. The aunt had quietly revealed they had lost their mother recently, then asked if Fleur liked the concoction. Fleur admitted she loved the flavored coffee, it seemed so familiar. Desa called her and Fleur hurried away. Her friend was so excited because her baked goods had done very well, and Fleur again told her she needed to open a bakery. They were giggling about it as they walked through the largest pavilion displaying the woodcrafters arts. Vela and Desa were describing different objects to her when Stacy rushed up.

“You have got to see this!” she gushed as she dragged them all to the grand champion display. Desa and Vela were ohh-ing and ahh-ing over the winning sculpture.

“Stacy, I can’t see it because I can’t touch it.” Fleur laughed, then added seriously, “It would be disrespectful to the artisan.”

“And what would the whore of a high house know about respect?” sneered former Protector Corbin.

The women gasped but Fleur rotated slowly toward him. She could feel a strangely familiar cold energy coming from him. It felt evil, but Fleur couldn’t remember where she had felt it before, only that she had.

She held her head up, and spoke softly, “More than you, Corbin. Yes, I was once a concubine to a high house, then I became a warrior, and now, I am many things, but even at my lowest, I was better than what you are.”

“And what am I?” He demanded, “Since your lies and manipulations ruined my reputation.”

Fleur shook her head slowly as she stepped once toward him, her blind eyes glared at him with a strange harshness. “I did nothing to you, Corbin; you did it to yourself. And you are what you have always been; a liar, a thief, and maybe a murderer pretending to be a protector so you could betray, rob, and have killed the people of your isle, the people who trusted you.”

“You know nothing about me, whore. You can’t even remember your own name,” Corbin snarled.

Stacy and Vela glanced at each other, then both called to their husbands through the soul-bond sealed ones shared. Both covertly, unsheathed the daggers they always carried hidden in their skirts as Fleur confronted Corbin.

“Perhaps not. But I know enough about you to know you to know you should be in the King’s prison,” Fleur hissed.

Corbin laughed, it was a cold and malevolent sound. “You’d know all about the King after all the time you spent with his father, brother, and uncle.”

Fleur blinked rapidly for a moment as Corbin went on, “Is that how it works with the royals, they just pass the best whore around? Were you that good that they shared you?” Corbin growled as he stepped menacingly closer to her.

Fleur did not flinch as she smelled the alcoholic spirits on his breath, she knew from the war and her time with the Huntsman to never show fear. “Perhaps you should go lay down, Ex-protector Corbin. You’re intoxicated.” Her voice was cool.

“Is than an offer? How much does a royal concubine go for these days?” He leered at her.

Fleur reached behind her and put her hand on Rieth’s wrist before he punched the insulting drunk. The woodsmith’s rage vibrated the air around her like the deep tone of a large bell.

“Corbin, look at me.” Blinking once, she tipped her head to indicate over her shoulder.

Corbin looked up to see Rieth, his brother, and their veteran friends glaring at him. Corbin staggered backward away from Fleur, tripped and fell down.

Fleur shook her head again then responded with a beautiful smile and frigid tone. “My early life has made me very, very comfortable, and to answer your last question, Corbin. More wealth than you will ever be able to steal.”

Stacy snorted in amusement as Corbin got up and dusted himself off. He glared at Stacy then Rieth, who loomed behind Fleur like a smoldering volcano, before turning his gaze back to Fleur.

He slurred out in a low tone, “I’ve watched you for centuries, my lady, you don’t have the High Lords of Adamos to protect you anymore. I’ll see you soon.” He bowed to her mockingly and staggered away and out into the crowd moving between the tents.

No one noticed the young man from the coffee booth following Corbin back to the spirits dealers.

Fleur released Rieth’s wrist and put her hands over her face, her fingertips rubbed at her temple scars so hard her skin turned red. Dropping her hands, she turned and huffed at Rieth, “And that, right there, is the reason why I can never say yes, Rieth.” She blinked away tears, her apology was soft. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed all of you. I... I am really not proud of what I was.”

Stacy hugged her, “You could never embarrass us, cousin.”

Vela squeezed them both.

“You’re the kindest person I have ever met, and the most beautiful,” Desa added, “Who cares what you were in the past.”

Rieth took her hand when her cousins let go, he whispered harshly to be heard over the crowd, “I told you so. Only now matters.”

A tear slid down her cheek as Yuli wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Mom. We all love you. Can I please let Fang eat Corbin now?” He begged.

They all burst out laughing. Rieth ruffled Yuli’s curly blond hair and admonished in a raspy voice, “No, Fang might get food poisoning.” Making everyone’s amusement become louder.

As the others turned to go back out of the pavilion, Rieth tapped on Fleur’s inner wrist.

‘Come and see.’

Fleur gave him a half-smile and retorted as she followed, “Oh, I’d love to see but I also want to be taller.”

He chuckled and led her up the display which held the grand champion piece that Stacy, Vela, and Desa were so awed by. He tried to put her hand on the sculpture, but she pulled back.

“I can’t touch it.”

“You can too, I made it.” He whispered behind her ear as he put her hands back on the carving.

It was the face of a woman with her hand holding her windblown hair away from her eyes. There are tiny star-shaped flowers carved into the strands of hair. There is a slight smile to the lips as woman’s eyes look into the distance. It reminded Fleur of how she remembered Lady Asha looked, but not quite.

“She’s beautiful. Is it Lady Asha?” Fleur asked.

Brie, Siger, and Bolton burst out laughing, Vela giggled as Stacy groaned, “Oh good grief.”

Yuli made an exasperated sound, “It’s you, Mom.” He hugged her again, only tighter. “You’re pretty.”

Fleur turns her head toward them, her expression showed that she thought them crazy. She shook her head in disbelief. “There is no way I look like that. I can feel my scars.”

“Only because you try to rub them off,” Vela pointed out.

“They are almost invisible,” Desa added, “Only slightly lighter than the skin around them.”

Stacy took her hand, “Fleur, your eyes are blind, but you are more blind to who you are now and how we all see you. None of us care that you were a concubine before the last war. It doesn’t matter what happened so long ago, you are our family and friend. Rieth is right, now is what matters.”

Fleur’s chin trembled as she put her cheek on Yuli’s head. “Thank you all for everything, for your friendship, for our life together.”

“So, now, will you marry me soon?” Rieth asked in his rough whisper.

Fleur smiled at him beautifully. “Yes, woodsmith, I’ll marry you soon.”

The group of happy friends and family celebrated until late. Rieth and Fleur danced until they were the only ones left. Siger tipped the musicians to play soft music for another hour. The others had gone back to Rieth’s shop to sleep, except for Nevin, Vela, and Nick who went back to their Inn much earlier. As the musicians, packed away their instruments, Rieth wouldn’t let Fleur leave the dance floor. Neither noticed Corbin staring at them from the shadows beside the bandstage, his eyes glowing red with hatred. Fists clenched, he turned and stormed away, as a shadowy voice whispered to him to punish her for not loving him.

“Rieth, we have no music,” Fleur said when she stopped but he twirled her and whispered, “Then sing to me.”

She laughed but he begged breathily, “Please.”

“You’re as bad as Yuli,” Fleur smirked as they swayed.

“Worse.” He held her hand to his cheek so she could feel his smile underneath his thick beard.

She rolled her eyes, then hummed and sang, “May you sail far, to the fair fields of fortune, with diamonds and gems at your head and your feet. And may you need never to banish misfortune. May you find kindness in all that you meet...”

His lips found hers and they stopped swaying and turning. She seemed to melt into the kiss then she pulled her head back and inhaled slowly. Her eyes glowed with her magic as she turned her beautiful face in the direction of his shop.

“Fleur, what is it?”

Her voice was breathless as she answered, “There’s smoke near Yuli and he won’t wake up.” She blinked rapidly then jerked away from Rieth, suddenly panicked. “Rieth, something’s terribly wrong.”

He grabbed her hand and they ran toward his shop. His mind shouted for his brother and brother huntsman to wake but neither responded. Just as they got to the Whispering Woods, a window exploded outward. Flames and smoke rushed toward the sky. Rieth’s shop was filled with dancing fire but no one was moving that they could see.

“Yuli!” Fleur screamed as Rieth held her back.

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