Chapter 924 - Return to Morgain

The first sign of Alfred's arrival was the shadow crossing the garden. Trafalgar looked up as the vessel came down through the low cloud over Euclid, black hull descending slowly, six wings shifting around it while pale vapour poured from the vents underneath.

The garden was another business entirely. Snow and loose soil blew outward as the ship lowered itself over the open ground.

Several of the ornamental shrubs bent flat, and one of the lighter stone pieces near the path shifted far enough that Trafalgar watched it go with open displeasure.

"Alfred, if you wreck my garden again, I'm sending you the bill."

The broad bridge came down from the side of the vessel and Alfred appeared at the top of it with one hand on the rail, white hair tied back at his neck, captain's coat hanging open. He looked over the garden before he started down.

"I've seen better planting outside roadside inns. If I break anything, I may be doing you a service."

"You only say that because you've never paid for a single thing you've damaged."

"I fly the ship. That ought to count as contribution enough."

It ended there. Alfred reached the bottom of the bridge and his eyes went past Trafalgar to the people waiting near the mansion. Mayla stood nearest with Aaron held against her chest, Cynthia and Aubrelle beside her, and Pipin close by Aubrelle as always.

Alfred's face changed when he saw the child. He came closer, slower than before, and looked down at the bundle in Mayla's arms, and for once every trace of the teasing went out of him.

"Is this him?"

Trafalgar stepped up beside Mayla. "Aaron du Morgain. My first son."

Alfred looked at him, then back down. The boy was awake now, his eyes moving without settling on anything, and Alfred said nothing for several seconds before a real smile came onto his face.

"Look at you. You've kept busy while I've been flying everyone else around the world."

Trafalgar let that one go. Alfred turned to Mayla, and his voice came down lower.

"Congratulations, Mayla. I mean it. I remember you trailing after this idiot around the castle making sure he ate his food. Seeing you with his son makes me feel older than I care to."

"Thank you, Alfred. He's doing well now. We had a hard start, and he's getting stronger."

Alfred's eyes stayed on Aaron a moment longer. "That's what I wanted to hear. Take good care of him, though I doubt either of you needs telling."

Cynthia greeted him after that, and Aubrelle did the same. He knew them both already, so nobody troubled with introductions. His attention came back to the three women when he noticed that none of them had any luggage waiting.

"Are you all coming with us?"

"Not to the castle. Aubrelle travels separately to meet her family before the Council. Mayla and Cynthia are staying here with Aaron."

Aubrelle gave a small nod. "My family will already be putting their delegation together. It makes more sense for me to go to them directly."

"And I'm not taking Aaron into the Morgain castle without a reason. Mayla stays with him, and Cynthia stays here as well."

Alfred glanced back at the vessel. "Then they've more sense than I have. I'd sooner keep well away from everything waiting in that castle too, and somebody decided I was still useful."

He gave the garden one last look and his tone turned practical.

"We should go soon. Caelum told me to collect you earlier than usual. Your brothers and sisters have started coming back. Most of them should be at the castle by now, and the household is making ready for the Council."

"Then there's no sense in waiting. I've packed everything I need."

He had packed very little. The visit was not meant to run long before the family left again for the Council.

Mayla shifted Aaron in her arms as Trafalgar came to her. "Be careful while you're there. You've told me enough about that castle for me to dislike you spending an hour more in it than you have to."

"I won't stay longer than I need. Once I've spoken to Valttair and learned what he wants from me at the Council, I'll leave."

He leaned down and kissed her, then laid a hand on Aaron's head. "I'll be back soon. Look after your mother while I'm gone."

Cynthia came forward after her, and Trafalgar kissed her, then turned to Aubrelle and did the same.

"I'll see you at the Council."

"I'll be there. I should reach my family's lands well before the delegations leave."

Trafalgar gave the three of them one last look before he turned away. Alfred had already started back toward the vessel, leaving him room to finish. Trafalgar noticed it and said nothing, and followed him up a few moments later.

The bridge rose behind him as he came onto the deck. Crew moved through the ship bringing the last systems up, and the six wings opened slowly beyond the windows. Alfred went forward while Trafalgar carried on deeper inside.

"Try not to vanish before we reach the castle. Valttair asked for you by name, and I've no wish to explain how I lost one of his sons."

"You've carried me enough times to know I can stay aboard a ship until it lands."

"I've carried you enough times to know better than to count on it."

Trafalgar left him to the controls and went to one of the forward windows as Euclid dropped away below. The houses shrank, the roads thinned into pale threads, and the city went out of sight behind the cloud.

The journey took the better part of two days. Trafalgar spent most of it resting, going back over what Caelum had told him and deciding how much he meant to give Valttair first.

By the second day, mountains came up through the cloud ahead, huge and white, with dark stone cutting through the snow. Alfred took the vessel deeper into Morgain territory along a route he had flown more times than Trafalgar could count.

Late in the day, Trafalgar went back to the forward windows. Far off between the peaks, dark walls showed through the snow. Towers came after them, and then the great fortress built into the mountainside.

The Morgain castle was in sight at last, and Trafalgar kept his eyes on it while Alfred's vessel carried him in.