Previously on Avatar (http://beckyh2112.livejournal.com/445052.html#cutid2)...
"Hakoda!"
The dullahan reined in his black steed. The horse pawed at the sands of the beach, and the dark man lightly tapped his curled whip against its flank. It settled, and he rubbed its neck.
The merrows by the bonfire on the beach stirred, then one of them stepped forward. He doffed his red cap and grinned with shark's teeth. "What brings one of the Unseelie queen's messengers out to us?"
Piandao studied the merrow-man. Skin roughened by sun and sea, blue eyes like the choppy waves, a scruffy beard, clothes scrounged from the drowned dead, blue beads in his hair.
"Queen Ursa has no claim on the dullahan in her exile," Piandao said, voice deceptively mild. "But the selkie prince and his sister have run afoul of Ursa's changeling-boy and Ozai's son." A pause as he rubbed his thumb against the vertebrae of his whip. "It has been said the selkies and the merrows have some alliance. So I brought word before Ozai discovers them."
The merrow had paled, and Piandao jerked on his horse's reins. He urged it into a walk before the merrow could find his voice.
***
Hakoda cinched the swordbelt he hadn't worn in years. Hard blue leather covered his body, shimmering with sodden white polar bear fur and dark penguin down. He checked the sheaths of his bone blades, then went to find the sword he had won so long ago from the stromkarl.
"Hakoda," Bato said quietly, armored and armed himself. "The dullahan called you by name. Are you certain you want to risk this...?"
"Ozai can't have my children," Hakoda snarled. "The dullahan said I'll die soon, but he didn't say how, and I've never heard of anyone avoiding a portended fate."
Bato nodded, then reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "I'll be by your side."
"When the time comes," Hakoda said, "I go alone, Bato. Don't do anything foolish."
A wintry smile appeared on his oldest friend's mouth. "As you wish."
Fae New Orleans: Hakoda and Piandao, "If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh."
"Hakoda!"
The dullahan reined in his black steed. The horse pawed at the sands of the beach, and the dark man lightly tapped his curled whip against its flank. It settled, and he rubbed its neck.
The merrows by the bonfire on the beach stirred, then one of them stepped forward. He doffed his red cap and grinned with shark's teeth. "What brings one of the Unseelie queen's messengers out to us?"
Piandao studied the merrow-man. Skin roughened by sun and sea, blue eyes like the choppy waves, a scruffy beard, clothes scrounged from the drowned dead, blue beads in his hair.
"Queen Ursa has no claim on the dullahan in her exile," Piandao said, voice deceptively mild. "But the selkie prince and his sister have run afoul of Ursa's changeling-boy and Ozai's son." A pause as he rubbed his thumb against the vertebrae of his whip. "It has been said the selkies and the merrows have some alliance. So I brought word before Ozai discovers them."
The merrow had paled, and Piandao jerked on his horse's reins. He urged it into a walk before the merrow could find his voice.
***
Hakoda cinched the swordbelt he hadn't worn in years. Hard blue leather covered his body, shimmering with sodden white polar bear fur and dark penguin down. He checked the sheaths of his bone blades, then went to find the sword he had won so long ago from the stromkarl.
"Hakoda," Bato said quietly, armored and armed himself. "The dullahan called you by name. Are you certain you want to risk this...?"
"Ozai can't have my children," Hakoda snarled. "The dullahan said I'll die soon, but he didn't say how, and I've never heard of anyone avoiding a portended fate."
Bato nodded, then reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "I'll be by your side."
"When the time comes," Hakoda said, "I go alone, Bato. Don't do anything foolish."
A wintry smile appeared on his oldest friend's mouth. "As you wish."