As soon as she left the portal, Felicity took up a brisk pace. She contacted Ari through their crystals and her friend met her in the middle of one long corridor.
Kellen happened to be with her.
“Felicity, what ever is wrong?”
“We found Fergus the First.”
All activity in the hallway ceased. Aasguard warriors, mages, and others she could not take time to identify all turned toward her with shocked expressions. “You found his treasure?”
“Yes, and him. He is alive. Come.” She did not bother with time to explain but throttled back down the hall to where she had exited the portal.
They all arrived in time to see Eliza step through the portal as she and Mozark maneuvered Fergus into the school. Many caught sight of Punzel and shocked gasps escaped at the sight of the fierce sea dragon but also at the amazing appearance of this distinguished warrior’s unexpected arrival.
Kellen stepped forward immediately to offer a warrior’s welcome. “Fergus the First, it is with much gratitude and awe that we welcome you to this first school for Aasguard warriors.”
Ari stepped up right after him and offered the same greeting. “You are most welcome. You have a sea serpent as a companion?”
“This is Punzel. She has been my faithful companion through all of this.” Fergus reached for Punzel who immediately tucked her head under his hand. She calmly gazed back at the myriad number of warriors and mages who studied her.
“We are grateful for your care to our much revered warrior.” Kellen stated this firmly. “You are most welcome.” Then he hesitated. “But the nearest body of water is a few miles away.”
“We have a plan for that,” Felix inserted.
“This is the first time I have seen sunlight in centuries.” Fergus shaded his eyes in the streaming sunlight.
“Let us settle you in a room.” Ari had already begun assessing the space before she nodded to herself and set off down the hall. A room that overlooked the training field would offer him an excellent view of the activity but also allow Punzel to visit.
Fergus’s face fell a fraction once the mages settled him on the bed. Of course he would be dismayed to be among his own again and have to lie in a bed. Again. He had been doing so for over a century.
Felicity searched for Rykert and grabbed his hand. Then she outlined her idea. Kellen overheard her, as did Mozark and they all hurried to a storage room on the ground floor. There she selected a chair she thought would be perfect for Fergus and the three men aided her in quickly outfitting it to offer Fergus maximum mobility.
The modifications did not take long and they wheeled it into his room. His expression changed at the sight of their ingenuity. Eliza and Mozark lifted him from the bed again and settled him in the chair.
By placing his hands on the wheels Fergus could wheel himself about the school. He seemed eager to do so. “Punzel?”
She stepped forward. Her size made it difficult for her to enter the room even. And the crowd inside made this more difficult. “I am here.”
“Do you have a place to stay?”
She turned to Felix, who must be behind her, at least if the flash of yellow scales was any indication. “We do.” Felix and Maeze soon whisked the sea serpent off. Warriors surged into the room to offer greetings to Fergus whose entire persona changed.
No longer in pain, he seemed eager to see everyone and everything.
“Will he overtire?” Felicity asked Eliza, who stood beside her.
“Yes. However, with his Aasguard constitution it will likely happen this evening when everyone goes to bed.”
“He is thankful to be back among his kind and to be welcomed.” Felicity could nearly trace her fellow warriors’ awe at finding this particular man. This warrior so revered among them. A legend.
“Am I wrong that he seems to have developed an interest in Lucy?” Eliza’s smile looked sweet. And a little melancholy.
“I thought the same. And she lives by the ocean with a sea serpent for a friend. It seems like a wonderful match.”
“Is she too young for him?”
Felicity smiled. “Lucy is the first female to ever train as an Aasguard. She is not as old as him, but close. Lucy mentioned a desire to move on a few years ago. I convinced her to build her house instead. She had grown weary of protecting treasuries and the like.”
“Did you know this was going to happen?” Eliza used a hand to encompass the school and the crowd.
“No, but something told me that the time for her to pass was not then. That she needed to remain here.” Felicity acknowledged the spurt of gratefulness that she and her friend had held on a little longer.
Lucy hovered much like Punzel and she kept close to Fergus, who seemed to take it as perfectly normal for her to do so.
“Do you believe he will walk again?”
“He has been in this condition for so long. Vaspiris are among the nastiest of creatures. Their venom is horrific.” Eliza’s face shadowed as she took in Fergus. “He would have had a better chance if Punzel had gotten him to us much sooner.”
“They did not know what caused his agony.”
“Unfortunately. Our hope is that his Aasguard healing abilities will enable him to walk again.”
“If not, he can at least use that chair. It should offer him additional freedom.” Yet Felicity knew she would struggle to live in a chair.
She would move on to the next life. Then her thoughts slid to Rykert. Except… He joked with another Aasguard who looked cheered to be in his company. Maybe she would take being confined to a chair if it meant she could spend time with him. If he could accept her as broken… But I am broken.
Perhaps not in body, but certainly in her stunted mental growth. She had been an automaton for so long, a creature who could not feel, that she had neglected to develop internally.
Rykert’s head lifted abruptly and he said something to the other warrior before loping across the room. One solid arm slid around her and tugged her into his side. She leaned into him. His scent washed over her and comforted her as she savored his arm around her.
Eliza drifted off to check on Fergus.
“You are entertaining bad thoughts.” Rykert breathed this into her temple.
She shivered. “Yes. Would you still want me if I was in a chair?”
His mouth gaped. “What kind of question is that?” Rykert’s expression turned fierce. “Yes. I shall take you however you are.”
And suddenly life looked much nicer.
‡‡
Rykert did not like how tumultuous Felicity’s thoughts felt. She struggled with something and he needed to quell that immediately. He had come to realize she could be her own worst enemy when it came to her internal conversations.
That might be why nature had paired them. He could help her through the ugliness.
“We do not have to figure all of this out right this minute.” He also glanced pointedly at Fergus and Lucy. “Do you believe Lucy would be so shallow as to spurn Fergus because of his injury?”
“No. I believe she will work around whatever struggles they have so they can be together.” Felicity’s fierce tone told him all he needed to know.
He quirked a brow at her.
Chagrin flashed across her face before both of her arms wrapped around his waist in an equally fierce hold. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” He kissed the top of her head. “Finding Lucy will probably be the best incentive for Fergus to continue living.”
“I hope he regains his mobility.”
“He probably will. When no one else had ever heard of Aasguard warriors, Fergus pushed himself to become the very first of our kind. Then he trained others to become their best selves. He kept the course, never deviating from his goal.” He smiled in the direction of his friend. “Now he has even more reason to fight this new battle.”
Lucy stood close to Fergus with her hand on his shoulder. He spoke with the many in the room who desperately wished to chat with him.
“Let us move into the lounge area.” Ari’s voice rose above the myriad conversations. He and Felicity turned to the door as they stood the closest. They strode down the hallways to the large living area off the foyer. Here everyone was able to take a seat so Fergus was not as conspicuous and he took to wheeling himself about with the same glee that Maeze took to learning Aern’s bad habits.
Eventually, Fergus and Lucy settled close to them. Felicity glanced at Rykert. “Should we admit we have been to their treasure houses?”
He laughed. “We have been to both of your treasure houses.”
Lucy chuckled. He might know her but Felicity did and warmth emanated from her at her friend’s delight. “Did you find mine in good order?”
“We did. Felix loves treasure, so he found both of yours a few decades back.” Rykert explained about him diving into the sea without warning all over again. This time, Fergus joined Lucy in laughter. As he suspected, Fergus thought it hilarious that Felix had dunked him. Words could not describe how happy he was to hear that rumble of happiness from his friend.
The tight lines of pain and fatigue that previously etched around his mouth and eyes had decreased. An emotion that might be joy emitted faintly from him. His gaze kept caressing Lucy’s face.
“I rarely visit my treasury.” Lucy tapped a finger on Fergus’s chair wheel.
“Do you swim down there alone?” Felicity did not sound as though she approved of this.
The laughter lines faded on Lucy’s face. “When I first built it, no. I had my dragon. But she passed on and I have yet to find another.”
“So you do swim to your treasury alone?” Rykert could not prevent the slight judgmental tone.
“No, I encountered Issac during one of my forays there and he had a few pithy things to say to me.” The laughter lines deepened.
“Who is Issac?”
“The handsome sea serpent who visits me whenever I am home.”
“Ah. He accompanies you to your treasury?” Felicity inquired.
“He does. He also ate the nasty octopus who lived there. I had a bad wrestling match with him after my dragon passed. That is when Issac and I first met.”
“The sea serpent ate that octopus? I have never encountered one that size before.” Rykert well remembered the enormous octopus. “Then again, sea serpents are gigantic.”
“Yes, Issac is even larger than Punzel.”
“Did he follow you into your treasury?” Fergus inserted this question into the conversation.
“He did. And he lectured me the entire time. As though we had been friends for years.” Lucy smiled. “He is an excellent friend. I am certain if something happened to me as it did you, he would remain with me.”
“Punzel has kept me sane. I do not know what I would have done. I must have eventually died. Something would have eaten me and I could not have fought it off. There were times when I wished for that.” Fergus rubbed a hand down one thigh. No one commented on how much smaller his legs were than they should have been. Not small by human standards, but definitely by Aasguard norms, he had lost muscle there.
This made sense in light of the injuries he had sustained.
“Why did you visit our treasuries?” Lucy asked the question he should have already answered.
He and Felicity explained their idea to make a general treasury. Both warriors sat up a little straighter.
“That makes perfect sense. I took the time to invest mine a few decades ago and my treasure has continued to grow.” Lucy tapped a finger to her lips. “I could aid you in growing the treasury.”
“I did the same before I left for Atlas. Since then, I have had plenty of time to think about investing mine in different ways. Of course my treasure has been neglected since this occurred.” Fergus gestured to his legs. “I am certain I can assist you with investing it wisely and helping to distribute the funds as well.”
Fergus animated even more than he had before at the prospect of something to do. As though not only had he found Lucy but he also had found a new purpose. Rykert and Felicity exchanged glances.
“Do you believe Atlas would make a worthy general treasury?”
A few blinks as his friend thought about the place he must know well. Although if he had been confined…
“Punzel and I explored the entirety of Atlas. My upper body strength is such that I can hold onto her and she is an excellent swimmer, of course. We have explored every alley and building there.”
“You could hold on for short jaunts but not until you reached the surface.” Felicity answered the question on his mind.
“Correct. We tried to increase the amount of time I could spend exploring with her. Despite our best efforts, I could only hold on for a third of the time it would take us to reach the surface.” A note of despair lined his otherwise emotionless answer.
“But for Rykert and Felicity’s explorations, we still would not know you are alive.” Lucy grasped Fergus’s hand in a white knuckled grip.
“It happened when it was supposed to.” Fergus carried their entwined hands to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back of Lucy’s hand.
An intimate exchange but Rykert was thankful to have witnessed it. This show of early affection made him hopeful for his friend. Fergus had Lucy and Punzel—two excellent reasons to remain with them in this realm.