P.S. 0 – Chapter 39.9

The snow was early this year, even for the mountains. Just a freak snow shower that was making it hard to see, but would mostly melt even before it stopped snowing. Though Aoife preferred it this way, as it gave her an excuse to keep her grey cloak's hood tightly around her face. 

Not that it was herself that she worried about. It was Eirwen and the weapon master, Red, it was Red now, but no, currently Lily and Dusk, that she worried about. Those had faces that might get recognised, even if Dusk had dyed his hair black right now. Aoife was an unknown. Unless they ran into Aodhán's deserters, who had fled from Eirwen's rule, she had nothing to fear herself. The same applied for Bethan, still calling herself Oath.

They poured into the ale house, where they got stared at with suspicion. Their grey cloaks did buy them some goodwill, if only in the form of not immediately getting kicked out. "Strangers, eh? You with those Iceheart folks?"

Dusk grinned, with a face that she had never seen him make, nearing exaggeration but not quite there yet. A perfect fit here. "Yeah, they needed a bunch of experienced mountain folks to guide them. Told them sure, we know the mountains. Didn't bother telling them that none of us have ever been in this area before, but hey, they didn't ask."

The man behind the bar grinned in turn as he shook his head. Dusk gestured at the seats and after two counts of hesitation, the man nodded. Dusk sat down and held up four fingers as he put a few coins down. The man nodded once more, then got them their drinks. Four cheap ales, though they didn't taste horrible. And impossible to get drunk on.

The man looked at their group as they drank. He waited until Dusk put more coins down before he asked a question as he poured them their next round. "So, they paying you well? Not giving you trouble?"

"No, they're surprisingly decent. They pay extra whenever they get into a fight with wolves or giants, but they don't expect you to participate. Just trying to hunt down the giants for some reason. All we need to do is show up and keep an eye out. I've been paid worse for tougher jobs. They're really trying to make clear they're not a threat."

"Yet you still dyed your hair for the job." The man chuckled, making clear he was just making conversation, not trying to threaten Dusk.

"You got me there." A chuckle in turn, then idle chitchat about the weather with both sides avoiding more intrusive subjects. Aoife kept her face smooth, but inside she was frowning. He was good at this. Too good for someone who always was so open about his emotions.

Some locals came in, clearly a bit uncomfortable with their presence. Red downed his drink and signalled for them to do the same. "Thanks for the drinks, they're not half bad. But it's about time we go back and sleep."

The man nodded, perfectly fine with them leaving so his regular customers could enjoy their evening. Alehouses and their clientele weren't big fans of strangers. The regulars also visibly relaxed when they left.

Outside, the snow had intensified, making it hard to see well. They meandered through the streets a bit, barely seeing anyone out there. Then a woman in a cloak walked by and Eirwen gave chase soon after. "Excuse me, miss, you dropped something." She held up a money pouch that Aoife hadn't seen her pick up, nor drop on the ground. A lie then?

The woman turned as she rejected Eirwen's statement, then her eyes looked at Aoife. Just enough to catch a proper view of a familiar face that shouldn't exist, recognisable even with the burn scars in her neck. Judging from the way the woman's eyes widened just a touch, mirroring Aoife's, they had both recognised each other. Aoife looked at Red, who nodded back. So she wasn't just imagining things. How?!

A count of hesitation, then the woman nodded. "Thank you. Please, come in. This is no weather to be on the streets for, not after you helped me." She led them to a house nearby, unlocking a door that seemed quite sturdy. A small hallway that barely fit them all, designed to keep the heat inside. Aoife sensed someone in the main room, and someone sleeping in one of the bedrooms. Entering the main room, there was a man next to the fireplace, a short sword in hand as he eyed the sudden intrusion with warranted suspicion.

The man had significant burn scars in his face, heavy enough that his dark red hair didn't cover the entirety of the top of his head. A sturdier jaw, his mother's green eyes, and heavy muscles that suggested he did a lot of physical labour. But still the resemblance was there. Aoife had only met him twice, but she easily recognised him, as she had the woman. Red's older siblings, who had burned to death when he was six.

Red took off his hood, showing his face openly. They recognised him as easily as she had recognised them, both cursing at the sight. He raised his hand with a smile. "Excuse us our intrusion, and thank you for your hospitality. I'm Dusk and these are my compatriots. We won't be long, just until the snow settles."

Why so short? She realised the answer just as she asked herself. Because they could be used against him. Against Eirwen. He had no interest in dragging them into that situation.

Aoife turned her sight towards Eirwen. "You knew?" She had been the one to make contact with a quick excuse. Yet she had never met the two. Flamehearts debuted socially at age twelve, that was when she had first met Aodhán. His siblings had died long before they could debut. How then?

Eirwen nodded as she sat down on a couch near the fireplace. "He did keep the secret. Showed everyone how callous his father had been about their deaths, complaining he shouldn't have tried only to fail, because now there were bodies to bury. But I saw his dream, where they were still barely breathing. He shushed me, told me they had died. So I realised, understood it was a secret he couldn't even tell me."

"To be fair," Red said as he sat down next to her with a crack of his neck, "I didn't know. I couldn't. It was too big a secret for me to be able to hold on to. So I made sure others handled it, keeping me out of it. Only sixteen years later did I get a clue that maybe they were still alive."

Eirwen nodded. "Róisín, then. She served your father, but he didn't have her loyalty. You did. And yes, you mentioned your father would use your siblings to taunt and insult you. It would have been a hard lie to hold up if you had known of their survival."

His brother spoke up, eerily calm. "Then why come here? Especially when you indicate you're just visiting? What brings you here, little flame?"

"That name is dead. So is the Flameheart line. And as for me, I guess I just got sentimental." The sad smile on his face confirmed that. "This might be the last chance I have to meet you, so I wanted to introduce you to my loved ones."

He rose to his feet and gestured. "My name is Flannán Caisteal, though I go by Red. You may have heard of me as the Crimson Giant or the Mountain Blaze. This is my betrothed, Eirwen Verglas. And this is our future wife, Aoife Carraig. As for Bethan over there, she's a busybody healer who is as family to Eirwen. To me too, to be honest." It was the first time that Aoife had seen Bethan look a bit embarrassed.

Red sat back down while Aoife pondered. "Hold on. So you found out when you first came to the mountains?" So that was why he had insisted on travelling under cloak. "How did you know where to go, if you only had a clue?"

Eyes narrowed at that. Clearly his siblings too wanted to know. As he wanted to open his mouth, Eirwen spoke first. "Nóinín, right? You had a private meeting with her, and you knew her from before. So she confided in you that she had met someone resembling. Obviously you didn't chase that lead back then." Aoife wondered why it annoyed her that Eirwen had seen through him that easily. Jealousy, mayhaps.

Red had a wry smile on his face. "If I had followed up on that clue back then, my father could have found out. Only with him dead, could I afford to ask where exactly. Back then, I just made her tell me the rough region, so I knew where never to go."

"Why did you take so long?" His sister definitely had the Flameheart temper. "We heard the stories. Everyone understood he had betrayed you. You're telling me that a- that you couldn't have taken him out earlier?"

"If I had murdered hundreds, yes." He looked up at his sister, pain clear in his eyes. "The only way to get to him without being restrained, would have been to prepare a full assault and kill all in my way. And contrary to your beliefs, sister, I'm not that much of a monster." A flash of an ashamed grimace on her face. "So I waited, trying to ensure I could get enough on my side to clear the way. Instead, he gave me an opening in the hopes he would have an excuse to beat me. The rest is as you know."

He looked at the doorway leading to the occupied bedroom. "I think mother just started having a nightmare. Is there anything we-" With a curse, his siblings went over. There was a muttered conversation that they all deliberately blocked their senses from. Less than half a moment later, sleep still clearly on her visage, an older woman rushed in. Like the others, significant parts of her body were marred with old burn scars. The instant she laid eyes on Red, her eyes opened wide with tears and she practically threw herself at him.

It was rare these days to see Red without full confidence. But there he was, unsure whether to hold her, then very carefully wrapping his arms around her, while both let their tears flow. It was new to Aoife, as he had held himself together all throughout the war and beyond. Only outside her sight had he ever shown feeling this uncertain.

When they finally let go of each other, he simply smiled, tears still in his eyes. "Hi mother." He wiped the tears away and reintroduced everyone. At this point, Bethan couldn't take it any more and came over to use her healing magic. While she worked on making their burn scars less of a problem, they talked, Red giving them a quick summary of what had happened at Flameheart during the past two decades.

Aoife couldn't help but notice he didn't ask about their lives, while they didn't share either. A line drawn. He still didn't want to know about them, so that he never could be tempted to make use of them. Knowing they were alive, that was plenty for him, and already a risk.

And she saw the look in their eyes. A part of them feared him. He had called it right. They did see him as a monster. A burden he was willing to carry, if only for their sake. She suppressed the urge to curse them out, though her anger did slip into her eyes, something that she realised didn't go unnoticed. At least they had the decency to look ashamed.

The snowfall was slowing down by the time they got up to leave. Red left them with a simple last sentence. "If you ever need me, I will come." With that, he said his farewells to his family. Aoife knew, as did Eirwen, that he assumed they'd never do. And that he'd never see them again.