Interwoven

EPILOGUE

57** th ***Day of the Shining Light, 30 AoE*

Sanwell, Tobias realised, was beautiful.

Not in its entirety, of course. It had its uglier sides, as did any city. It had the dingey alleyways and the stinking backstreets. Stables left uncleaned and tavern steps drenched in the vomit of patrons who had overindulged which the cleaners had yet to tend to. Everything past the Riverrun. The subterranean tunnels that had housed the rebels.

But as he looked out the window from the highest spire in the castle, there was no doubt. Sanwell was beautiful. It glittered in the dawn light as people hurried about far below. They looked like little more than ants from his point of view as they laboured, repairing the damage that had been done to the city in the Carisi rebel attack. They were just as industrious, too; so many of the scars had been healed over by the tireless efforts of those who shared his feelings.

And yet as he swept that ridiculous cape back from his shoulders and turned away from the window, Tobias knew he couldn't look at the people below the way his father or his brother had. They were not ants. They were people; living and breathing and loving and feeling and they deserved his respect far more than he deserved theirs.

"My king?"

He glanced to the side. William stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms folded. Gone was the chainmail of a kingsblade. Absent was the battleaxe and the hatchet. Even his beard had been trimmed back as he donned instead the hardened leathers he'd worn as a Ratholarin soldier. His blood-father's sword was sheathed on his hip as he looked the tiger up and down. "Really? That's what you're wearing?"

Tobias spread his arms out and looked down over himself. The royal robes were awful. Too warm by far for the time of year, too heavy for his smaller frame, and absolutely the last thing that Tobias had ever, ever wanted to wear. That said nothing about the crown, surprisingly heavy between his ears. "Apparently it's another immutable tradition. They wouldn't let me march out there in loose trousers and a comfortable shirt." He shrugged as he made his way over to the chuckling hyena. As warm as he was, William's smile was warmer by far. "I'm surprised you're still here."

"Well, I couldn't leave without seeing you off." He pushed away from the door and met Tobias halfway, arms extended. They wrapped around the tiger tightly, and Tobias squeezed him back in turn with a sigh. "Besides, I kind of want to hear this speech. There's not a good record of Ratholarin kings lately doing right by the people."

Tobias snorted and pushed William back from him as the hyena chuckled once more. "Rude. I could have your head for that, you know."

"Oh, those days are _long_past, I'm afraid." William smirked as the implication sent a rush of blood through Tobias' ears, and the tiger flicked them back as best he could. The motion caused the crown to slip, and he was forced to perk them back up and bare his blush to keep the crown from falling off his head. From the smile on his face, he'd been counting on that. Damn him. "You _are_going to do fine, you know. I'm certain of it."

"That makes one of us." Tobias sighed again as William's arms slipped back from around his middle. He was going to miss that feeling. Even after so long, the hyena's embrace was something special to him. "I know the answer, even before I ask, but I have to nonetheless. I couldn't convince you to stay, could I? I could amend some of the things I'm planning to say... it'd be my pleasure to offer you a kingsblade position again..."

William smiled as he stepped to the side and allowed Tobias to pass. The tiger motioned for him to follow as he swept out of the room, and William only paused long enough to close the door behind them before he did so. "Thank you, but not for all the silver in Ratholarin. I think I've seen enough of this realm for a lifetime, if I'm being honest. I need to find Daniel, and your order of amnesty for regicide and sorcery won't keep me safe if I stay. I need to go home, Tobias... I need to find him."

"He fled to Ingsbren, right?" William nodded as Tobias looked down the stairs. The servants below nodded to him as they caught sight of their new king making his way toward them, but even the ones on the bottom level of the staircase who could have fallen to their knees to prostrate themselves didn't. Good. They'd learned quickly that he didn't expect that ridiculous display of them. "Well, you'll both always be welcome here as long as I live. I sent word to Queen Sarina a week ago. She'll be expecting your arrival; I don't doubt she'll offer you whatever help you require to find him."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll make sure to give her your best." William chuckled to himself and shook his head as Tobias glanced over at him. "Met her once, you know. She seemed nice."

"She is. Was. I... don't know if she thinks much of me after... well, everything." The tiger shrugged as they reached the bottom. The servants parted around him, and he smiled and nodded his appreciation as one opened the door for him. The throne room wasn't far, and Tobias' footsteps slowed as they made their way down the short hall. "If you don't mind, would you have her send a letter back to me when you arrive? It's not just for her, but..."

He cleared his throat as he meandered his way before the doors to the throne room. Ugh. When he looked to William, the hyena was nodding. "Of course. You could always come by yourself, you know. Visiting kings and queens and whatnot would be a fine excuse... and it'd be a good place to see him for yourself."

"He might be my blood, but Allan is not my son. He is Sarina's." Tobias shook his head and closed his eyes. "I am not surprised that Fredrick concealed his existence from me after she was banished, but that he has grown so big now... he does not know me. I would seem to him like... well..."

"Like my blood-father to me. Maybe." William smirked up at him. "At least you're not trying to invade and conquer Ingsbren."

"Not as far as _you_know, anyway." William laughed at that, and Tobias himself couldn't help but smile. He stepped back from the hyena and took a deep breath before he struck an imperious pose. "What do you think?"

William too stepped back, and he folded his arms as he cast another appraising glance along Tobias' body. "Well, you sure look like a king. So... if that's what you were going for, then congratulations. You got it right."

"You're as great a help as ever." Tobias rolled his eyes and relaxed his stance as William smirked at him. He couldn't help the tug of a smile of his own on his muzzle. "Look, just in case I don't get a chance to say it after all of this and before you leave, but... thanks. For sticking around. Helping with all of this."

The hyena tilted his head as Tobias reached out to pat his shoulder. "After everything, I couldn't trust... well, anyone. Especially once you told me about the rebels at the Crest. I..." He winced.

William, however, simply nodded. "You've still not heard from... Soren, was it?"

"No. No, and I don't expect that I shall." Tobias sighed as his paw dropped back from William's shoulder to hug around his middle. The painted dog's silence had been surprisingly painful. "When we captured Leena and the other rebels there, I was glad that he wasn't among them. And I mean, perhaps it _was_all transactional with him, and I was just another client, but..."

"I doubt you were just another client. You care too much for that to be the case." William shook his head. "But I know the feeling. If it wasn't for you pardoning me as soon as you got your crown, I'd never have seen the outside of that dungeon again." He shuddered as Tobias nodded. "You know, I actually saw my old commander. Geoffery? He was out in the merchant quarter with his grandcubs... I think if they hadn't been there, he might have actually stabbed me on the spot."

Again, Tobias nodded. "Well, at least neither one of us is going through this alone. We've had each other, at least for this much." He tried a little smile, and it became more genuine as William returned with one of his own. "Damn. Look at us. How in the world did we end up here?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how we survived this long." Tobias chuckled at that as William glanced over at the door. Through it, everyone was waiting. What nonsense. What absolute nonsense. "I don't know. Maybe the gods were watching out for us the whole time. I can't imagine any other reason for us constantly finding our way back to one another."

"True. Our fates _have_always been interwoven, have they not?" Tobias sighed as he looked down to the floor. "William, I... am sorry. For everything I did to you. For how badly I hurt you, and for how many times I did it."

"This again? Damn it, Tobias..." The hyena sighed as he stepped forward again and wrapped him up in a tight hug. The king gasped as he was squeezed, and he quickly slipped his arms once more around his friend. "Stop it. Alright? What's done is done. It's all in the past now. It doesn't matter to me... it shouldn't matter to you."

Even as the hyena held him, Tobias couldn't do anything more than shake his head. Oh, to be on William's side of the matter. To be able to simply forgive and move past it would be a luxury to the tiger. "I'm afraid that it will always matter to me. I don't know how to absolve myself... and I don't know how to stop feeling what I do."

"Heh." William leaned into him a little harder, and Tobias squeezed him back tightly before they disentangled from one another. "Not sure I can help you with that. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself." He leaned in to gently touch his forehead to Tobias' and the king sighed. "But if it helps, I have faith in you."

Those words lit a fire in Tobias' heart hotter than any flame, mundane or magical alike. He reached down to take William's paws in his own and squeezed them tight. "I fear I will be jealous of Daniel to the end of my days, you know."

"I doubt he'd blame you." That drew a chuckle from Tobias even as he pulled back from William. Their eyes met, and the urge to kiss that scarred, strong, familiar face was near to overwhelming. His want hadn't faded. Tobias suspected that it never would. "Are you ready?"

The tiger looked to the door as a tickle of dread touched his heart. Behind it lay the future. Impossible to predict, utterly terrifying, and yet inescapable. He could forestall it as long as he liked - he was king now, after all - but eventually he would have to walk through that door. "You'll stay with me for this, won't you? I'm, ah... I'm a little scared."

Whatever fear was bubbling up inside him was stolen by the smile on William's face. "Of course. Not going to go anywhere; not on your big day." He reached aside to the door, paw pressed against it. "I'll be with you right through it all. I promise."

Relief washed over Tobias in a wave, and he almost sagged with the weight of it. He couldn't let himself, of course. A slouching king would do little to inspire the people. "Alright, I guess. I... suppose I'm ready. Or at least, as ready as I'll ever be."

"Chin up, my king. You're going to do fine." William's smile broadened as he leaned into the door. He paused a moment as Tobias took a deep breath, and then gave it a firm knock.

From the other side of the door pulled a pair of kingsblades. They revealed the grand throne room beyond, and the crowd of people that filled the great hall. A great blue carpet had been rolled out from the door, and soldiers lined it on both sides. It didn't keep the common folk behind them from seeing him in the doorway, and he forced himself to smile as he stepped forward.

There were no cheers - and so much the better, since he'd not done anything yet to warrant such a response - but the people still knelt down as he passed them by. That was something that had not yet reached beyond the castle, but he would see about it at the earliest possible moment. Tobias had to hide his wince. The idea of people always bowing and scraping to him was as strange as ever.

Still, William strode shoulder to shoulder with him. In another life, he wondered, would the hyena be making his way to the throne beside his own? Would they be walking paw in paw instead? King, and Consort? Perhaps. Maybe. Potentially. He looked at his friend, but William's eyes were on the crowd. Tobias couldn't help but smile. Even removed from his duties and on the verge of leaving Tobias' life forever, he still couldn't shake his instinct to protect. The Tobias in that other life must have been very happy indeed.

It was still embarrassing to make his way up to the thrones while the crowd - hundreds upon hundreds crammed into the hall - looked on. The windows were open and restored, as were the tapestries and decoration and warmth of the time before Fredrick. He was especially grateful for the windows. The common folk perhaps did not bathe as often as they should, and so many of them packed so tightly to hear him was... less than pleasant.

But still he endured, and his eyes fell upon the thrones. The throne of the king looked just the same as ever, but the throne of the king's bonded had been restored after Fredrick had had it removed. It gleamed alongside Tobias' seat of power, empty for the moment. Filling it would be a concern he would have to attend to later. He bit back a sigh. If only he could have convinced William to take it.

Alas not. As Tobias climbed the dais upon which the thrones sat, William took up a position between the two of them and clasped his paws behind his back. Tobias didn't sit, but he too turned to face the crowd. There was no need to sit; this would let more people see their king. "Please, rise."

The sea of people before him did so, and Tobias smiled down as he looked across them all. His councillors had suggested that only the most important people be present for his speech. He had told them that it was important that all people knew they were important to him. "I thank you. All of you, for your support and your efforts. It is by your paws, not mine, that the glory of Ratholarin may shine once more upon our region.

"It is not a shine untainted by our recent past. It is not a glory that we can be allowed to take for granted. It is far, far more than this, and it is for this reason that I stand before you today." The tiger pressed a paw to his chest. "It is a sacred duty, bestowed not by the gods of old but by us all. All of us, who may work together to see this land become something far more than it otherwise could be."

The king's paw curled inward as he closed his eyes. His voice had remained steady so far, but he could already feel his fingers trembling. "The last few years have been hard, but we cannot shy away from the reality of this world that we live in. For my whole life, the actions of the kings before me have cast a shadow, long and terrible, over the lives of so, so many."

Tobias glanced aside to William. The hyena noticed and similarly turned his head, and he smiled and nodded to him. "Through the actions of my grandfather, the Yarovenni were brought to heel. Through the actions of my father, the Carisi were collared by our forces." He shook his head as he turned back to the crowd. "And through the actions of my brother, we have villainised these people and many others - our brothers and our sisters in these lands - to the extent that violence was the only recourse.

"This will end. This must end." More than a few of the people below had begun to scowl. That was expected, of course. Fredrick's attitude of Ratholarin supremacy had been popular among the Ratholarin. "We now are thirty years deep into the Age of Enlightenment that my father declared in the wake of the Carisi surrender, and yet I for the life of me cannot imagine that we have left the Age of Chaos behind us!

"War and strife and division plague us, even as we strive as hard as we can to ensure a better future for us all! We cannot - I cannot - be the head of the Ratholarin that shuns the people that make it great. Those people whose blood comes from every corner of this region, and even from further afield than even that, are a _part_of Ratholarin. To deny them is to deny ourselves!" For as many scowls and glares rose to him from the crowd, twice as many at least nodded along with his words. He was reaching them!

And so Tobias reached out a paw, extended to the crowd before him. "The enemy of Ratholarin is that, my brothers and sisters. The enemy of Ratholarin is the division between us. The enemy of Ratholarin is the very idea that some of us are more or less worthy to call these lands their home. This is an enemy I will fight, with every breath on every day that I have the honour of standing as your king. Not sitting atop a throne, but standing with you. All of you.

"I ask you. Those here now, and for those whom you will spread the word to beyond these hallowed walls, I ask you: stand with me. Lend me your strength and I shall lend you mine. Stand with me, that we might forge Ratholarin into the jewel of the southern sea that it was always supposed to be! Stand with me, that we can vanquish our divisions and emerge on the other side as one people. One Ratholarin!"

He couldn't see where it started, but a cheer went up from somewhere in the crowd. That was the spark that lit the flame, and within a second arms were raised. Shouts and cheers rose up over anything else that he might of said, and so Tobias simply lowered his arm and stared out across the people. They cried out for him. They applauded. Even those who had glared earlier at such a conciliatory tone were swept up; the worst they could manage was the barest shake of a head. The crowd - the people - were with Tobias.

Once more he turned to William. The hyena was already looking at him, and Tobias felt his ears redden again. As the din rose throughout the throne room, William too began to slowly clap his paws together. The sound was absolutely swallowed up by the noise of the common people, but the motion was worth far more coming from his friend than anyone else.

Tobias didn't know if he could be the right king for his people. He didn't know if he could be worthy of the position, and of the right to rule after what he had done. In William's smile and gentle clapping however, he could be sure of one thing. William thought he was the right one. William thought he was worthy of the position. The tiger smiled.

Maybe, just for once, he'd trust the hyena and listen.

#

Audience with a queen was a much bigger deal for William in Ciroven than it was in Sanwell. Ingsbren culture seemed to keep their royalty much more insulated from the common folk than in Ratholarin, and certainly much moreso than Tobias intended to see going forward. It was perhaps fortunate that William carried a letter of introduction from King Tobias the First of Ratholarin, else he might have never made it through the palace's doors when he arrived many weeks later.

Sarina had remembered him, of course, and had been more than a little perturbed by his presence in her lands given what had just happened to Ratholarin. He'd told her the whole story at her insistence, and he didn't doubt that it had been the most exciting part of her day at that point. He wondered if she would ever hear quite a tale again as long as she sat her throne. William had, at least, suggested that she should not wish to hear one. Such tales came with a cost in real lives that often went unremarked by those who heard or told them.

However, while he'd been regaling her with stories of betrayal and mad kings and rebel leaders and broken bloodlines, she'd had some of her royal guard dispatched on William's request. By the time he'd finished speaking with Sarina, they had returned with a location for him. He'd almost bolted out of the palace before he thought to stop and ask her permission to leave, though he only received it on the promise that he return soon. Clearly he'd made a good impression on the monarch.

Not so good, however, that he would have stayed there a moment longer even if she'd tried to restrain him. Furnished with knowledge of the surrounding villages, William had left Ciroven itself behind him and spent the rest of his day on foot. Thankfully he'd arrived at the palace relatively early in the morning, but it was still just about dusk when, finally, he reached his destination.

The hyena unslung his pack and laid it down gently on the ground against the wall of the little farming cottage. It was a fair ways off the main road, and he was panting as he finally reached out toward the door. William paused there. He was a mess. He'd bathed before seeing the queen of course, but what amounted to a day's hard travel after that had certainly taken its toll on him. Was this how he wanted to present himself?

Any hesitation he might have felt didn't matter in the end, as the door cracked open from inside. He looked up with a gasp of surprise; a pair of yellow eyes peered through brown fur at him from just behind the door. "Uh, good evening."

"Evenin' t'you." The figure nodded, their voice deep and gruff and unmistakably male. "Somethin' I can help y'with?"

"I'm very much hoping so." William cleared his throat. His stomach was all abuzz and he trembled with excitement and hope. "I was hoping you could direct me to someone. Daniel, son of Amos. I heard tell he could be found here."

"He's not, sorry." The figure's eyes narrowed.

William's heart sank. "He's... not."

"Nope. Sorry." The door opened a little further to reveal an older bear's face, similar in many ways to Daniel's. He looked William up and down slowly before he started to smile. "But you must be William."

The hyena blinked. "You, ah... you know me?"

"Only what I've heard, and damned if I ain't heard a lot." A meaty paw thrust out through the doorway toward him. "Rowan, son of Amos. Daniel's brother."

William's eyes widened. He'd forgotten the name - Daniel hadn't spoken of him too much - but grasped the paw eagerly. It _was_the right place! "Oh... forgive me. I never got a description from... it's very nice to meet you, at last."

The larger male just chuckled as he pulled the door more fully open. William almost stepped forward, but the bear did first and he was forced to hurriedly back away. His paw was still trapped in that massive grip, so much like Daniel's and so different. "Nah. Pleasure's all mine. He's not shut up about you ever since he got here. C'mon. I'll take you to him." He nodded to the side of the house as William sighed in relief. He was here. He was safe! "Should've been back by now, but he ain't got a farmer's paws."

"Heh, I can imagine." Rowan finally released William's paw, and the hyena reached down to his pack. The bear just shook his head as William lifted it up. "Is it fine to leave here?"

"Yeah. You're gonna want your arms free to pry him off you." The bear barked a single, loud, quick laugh as he started off around the cottage. William hurried to follow as Rowan glanced back at him. "Y'know, I don't know what I was expectin' from you. He did say you was a hyena, and Carisi at that. Don't get many of either 'round here."

William nodded along. Tall stalks of grain waved in the breeze as they strode past. "Carisi by blood, Ratholarin by service. Don't really belong anywhere, sir, if I'm honest."

"Ha! Well, first thing's first, y'can drop that 'sir' business right now." Rowan smirked at him as William began to smile. "Ain't no sirs here. Don't know what it was like in Caris or Ratholarin, but we're all jus' folk here. Got it?" When William nodded, his smirk turned into a grin as broad as any Daniel wore. "Good. You're no soldier or kingsblade or anythin' anymore. Not here. We ain't gonna give you respect for that, and we don't expect none in return. You treat us well, we treat you well."

"That sounds fair enough to me." William nodded again as he looked out across the golden fields. They seemed pretty extensive. "Daniel's out working the field? Isn't it a bit late in the season? Too close to harvest?"

Another deep laugh sounded from the bear. "Can tell you ain't no farmer neither. Normally you'd be right, but had a trader roll through recently. Had some seedlings for grain what'll apparently live through the harshest Pure Snow. Said he sourced them from Neriovar way up on the other side of the world. Northreaches." He shrugged and elbowed William in the side. "Expensive chance to take, yeah, but if we get even one good harvest off-season we might be able to seed the whole field. Double our harvest."

William whistled to himself. He might not have understood anything about harvests and farming and grain and he certainly knew nothing about the Northreaches, but Rowan's excitement about the seeds was positively infectious. "I can only imagine how helpful that would be. I hope that they... uh... grow? Bountifully?"

That time the laugh was more of a cackle, and Rowan slapped William's back hard enough to almost bowl the exhausted hyena over. "You and me both, kid!" He almost winced at being called 'kid' but then, he was still much younger than Daniel and Rowan was his _elder_brother, after all. "Not too far now. Can't wait to see his face when he sees you."

"Me neither." The nervousness continued to buzz away in William's stomach, intensifying as they drew closer. It had only been a season, roughly, since Daniel had left Sanwell in the middle of the night; since William's blood-father had forced that choice on them. In his darker moments, William had wondered again and again if Daniel had actually escaped and made it to Ingsbren. That he had was overwhelming and wonderful, but once he heard what all had happened... well, William couldn't shake that buzz from his guts.

The sound reached him before any sight did. Grunts, followed by thuds and scrapes. The sounds repeated again and again, louder and louder even as the light was fading around them. Rowan slowed, waving William back as he stepped around the edge of the stalks and into the open air. "Oi! Danny! You still tillin' back here?"

"Say it again and you're gettin' a hoe buried in your back!" William's heart all but leaped out of his chest. That was Daniel's voice, for sure! He grunted again as he, presumably, struck the soil. "Get off, Rowan. I'll be in for dinner in a few. Just gotta finish up here."

"Don't worry 'bout it. I'll take over, but I gotta present for you first." William looked up, heart pounding away as Rowan leaned back around the stalks to meet his gaze. He nodded once.

William hesitated a moment as Daniel groaned. "Ain't got time for your surprises, Rowan. You want those seeds planted, I gotta get this done. Snows ain't more'n a few weeks away."

The hyena took a cautious step forward as Rowan turned back to face his brother. "Well, you play this right'n it's gonna be some seeds planted a bit sooner for sure." Rowan stepped to the side and waved William forward, and with a smile of his own at the implication, William cleared the stalks at last.

And there he was.

Booted footpaws were planted in the damp soil. The legs of thick trousers were wrapped up and around the top of the boots to keep his feet clear of any muck. Those trousers hung loose on Daniel's hips. His chest was bare, and he panted hard as he leaned on the hoe in his paws. Great puffs of steamy air rolled out from his muzzle with each breath, though they all stopped the moment he looked up and past Rowan. His eyes locked on William's and he just... froze. Stared.

William smiled. "Hi, love."

Daniel was in motion faster than William could blink. The hoe was still standing mostly upright by the time he all but bowled the hyena over, and Daniel and William both tumbled to the ground before the tool could. Daniel did at least have the presence of mind to roll with his tackle, and both males landed more or less on their sides rather than the bear crushing William under his weight.

He nevertheless gasped, breath rushing out of him as he impacted the soft - but not that soft - soil. It didn't help that Daniel grasped him almost tightly enough to cut off William's air supply. For his part, tears sprang to William's eyes as he clutched Daniel just as tightly. Home. He was home.

There were no words. There was nothing William could say, and it was clear the same for Daniel. He sobbed against the hyena's neck, muzzle buried against it as he held his lover as though he never would again. William squeezed his eyes shut. Breathed deeply. Daniel stank from his day's labour, but that was an entirely familiar scent. Half-forgotten, for better and for worse, but refreshed in his mind then and there. He sucked in another breath. Sighed.

Finally, Daniel was able to pry himself off William's shoulder. William turned to him to ask, but no sooner had he opened his muzzle than Daniel's was against it. Words were stolen as the bear's tongue met his own, and William couldn't help but press eagerly back up to meet it. His paws shifted, one to the back of Daniel's head while the other sought out one of the bear's to squeeze tight. He moaned into the bear. Daniel shivered against him.

He lost track of the time it took for them to part again. A lifetime could have passed between the moment their muzzles met and separated again, and that would have been the sweetest thing William could possibly imagine. When it did however, he found himself looking right into Daniel's smiling, tearful eyes as he bear's nose brushed against his own. "Arevo ne, William."

William's grin could have swallowed him whole as his own eyes began to well up. "You said it right."

"Practiced. Every damn day since I left." He leaned down for another shorter, gentler kiss before he pulled back and slowly helped William up alongside him. "I knew you'd be back. Never doubted you for a moment."

As William smiled and leaned in against his bear, Rowan chuckled. "He ain't kiddin' about that. Gotta say, the wife'n I sure did."

"That's 'cause they don't know you like I do." William gasped again as he found himself bodily lifted up and brought up to sit in Daniel's lap. The bear's paws came to rest on William's hips as the hyena's legs splayed out around his middle, rubbing slowly as he looked his lover up and down. "Aww. Damn, I kinda like the beard."

"I can always grow it back out." William lifted a paw to cup Daniel's cheek, and the bear leaned his head into it as he closed his eyes. "I missed you. I know it's not been _that_long, but... too long."

The bear nodded his agreement. "Too long." Daniel held the paw on his cheek in one of his own, trapping it there for a moment before drawing it before his muzzle for another little kiss. "I knew you'd be back. I knew you'd make it." He shivered for a second as his eyes opened once more. "News hit Ingsbren hard. Regicide and magic and rebels. I was scared for you, Will. Never doubted you, but damn it all, I was scared."

"I never even knew if you made it here. I never knew if you survived, I just..." He shook his head and nuzzled in close. All of his fears may have melted away at the sight of Daniel, but giving voice to all that he'd worried about on the way out of Ratholarin was like expelling them from his body and soul. Daniel was alive and well. William_was alive and well. They were together again. "I am _never letting you go again."

"Not even for a bath?" Daniel chuckled as he wriggled his whole body against William.

All the hyena could do was laugh, even as the bear's work-stink was rubbed all over him. It mingled with his own scent, amplified from a day's walking. Together, they almost smelled just like home again. As far as William was concerned, they _were_home. "We can go to the baths together then. I am _not_letting go. You're going to have to get used to me constantly at your side. You'll probably be sick of me in a few days."

Daniel snorted as he leaned in to kiss William's forehead. "Never. Not ever."

William all but fell in against Daniel, arms and legs wrapped tight around his bear as he was held just as close in turn. He sighed in relief, head against Daniel's shoulder. He'd made it. Everything that he'd had to do - all the death and the pain and the suffering - was worth it now. He could put it all behind him. No more fighting, no more war. Just him, and Daniel.

And, if William was to judge by the prodding at him from beneath, it was something that Daniel was looking forward to as well. He could feel the bear's cheek heating under his paw, and he smirked as he leaned in closer and dropped his voice to a whisper. Rowan was nearby, after all. "Have you been waiting for me for that?"

Daniel's blush intensified as his eyes fixed on William's. "No, I mean... got two workin' paws when I ain't too tired. No one else helpin' me, though."

"I see." William leaned back from Daniel, still smiling as he turned toward Rowan. "Do you mind if you... give us a minute alone?"

The older bear stroked his chin as he looked down at the two of them for a moment, before he flashed a coy smile of his own. "Dinner's in half an hour. Don't make too much noise; I don't wanna have to explain whatcha doin' to the kids."

"No promises. Thanks, Rowan." Daniel grinned as he nodded to his brother, and the older bear winked and rolled his eyes as he turned away. No sooner had he done so than William found that bulge in the bear's trousers ground firmly up against his backside. "Half an hour, huh? How long's it gonna take you to get out of those leathers?"

"That depends. How long is it gonna be until you pull them off?" William smirked as Daniel moved in an instant, his paws fumbling at the bindings and starting to strip the hyena down. He spread and lifted his arms, laughing as Daniel eagerly, _hungrily_peeled his clothing away. The sound was one of relief. Of joy. Longing. And, yes, as the bear's paws ran over William's bare chest and he pulled they hyena into another passionate kiss, of carnal want.

But in that desperate, needful embrace of their muzzles and their bodies, William could feel all of his own wants and desires reflected. Daniel was his everything, and the bear was eager to show him just how much the inverse was true. He propped himself up to allow Daniel to pull his trousers clear from his legs. Helped ease the bear's off, too. Half an hour wasn't a lot of time, but that was alright. It was a fine start, and they had the rest of their lives.

William laughed again. The rest of their lives would be a perfect place to start.