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A Nudge from the Nest

posted by Brenda at 04:38 AM, March 22, 2004 | Filed under : Fiction | Comments and Followups

A few hours after the Revelation…

Garrett sat on the bench outside the front door of the family’s cottage with his back against the wall, staring at the castle, with its torchlights blazing in the dark. The air was cool and breezy, and it would have been a beautiful night for stargazing, but Garrett was too preoccupied to do anything except stare at the castle.

Supper had never been so quiet. Mum and Maggie sniffled. Faith tried to start a conversation with, “So does this mean you’re really a prince?” but it died under dirty looks from one end of the table and sobs from the other. Garrett, who was always hungry, merely picked at his food for a while, then excused himself and went outside. He had been out here ever since.

As the folks of the Quarters settled down for the night, the cottage door opened and Donovan quietly stepped outside. He took the bench on the other side of the door and packed his pipe. The scene was comforting for Garrett. He and his dad had been out here just like this many times before.

“How is she?” Garrett asked, still staring at the castle as his father lit his pipe.

“Asleep, finally.” said Don. “The girls, too.” Don sat and smoked without a sound for several minutes. “I meant what I said, you know. It doesn’t matter all that much.”

Garrett turned to stare at him incredulously. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter? My whole world is a lie and it doesn’t matter?”

“Keep your voice down, lad.” He continued quietly, “That’s exactly what I mean. You haven’t changed bodies since this morning, have you?”

“It sure feels like it,” said Garrett.

“But you haven’t.”

“No.”

“So you’re still the same man you were when you woke up. The same one that worked in the stables this morning.”

“Yes, but…”

“But nothing.” Donovan sighed. “The only difference is that you have one piece of information that you didn’t have this morning. It’s not that it hasn’t always been true. It’s just that now you know.”

Garrett stared at the ground. “I wish I didn’t.”

“Son, I always knew that someday you’d find out. Of course, your mum thought that she could keep it a secret forever, blissfully explaining away everything that didn’t fit her view of reality,” Don smiled and smoked as Garrett chuckled.

“Do I really look like Mum’s brother?” Garrett asked after a pause, even though he thought he knew the answer.

“Your mother doesn’t have a brother, Garrett. Never did.”

No, that was not the answer he expected. Garrett snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”

Don smiled. “Don’t be too hard on her, lad. She really thought she was doing the right thing. You know your mum. She would do anything to protect you kids, even if the protection is sometimes worse than the danger.”

“Do you think there really was a danger?”

“I don’t know enough about their business to say. I think she was right about the way you would’ve been treated if you’d grown up up there” he nodded toward the castle. “But whether you would’ve been in real danger or just turned into an obnoxious brat, I don’t know.”

Garrett stared at the castle again for a long while. “What do you think I should do?” he said finally.

Donovan smiled around his pipe. “That, my boy, is up to you.”

“You’re no help,” Garrett laughed. “It occurs to me that there’s a lot I need to learn.” He stared at the castle again. “What do you know about them? About him?”

Donovan shrugged. “Not much more than you heard this afternoon. Anna didn’t talk about it much. I think she was embarrassed about the whole affair. It made her feel stupid, and she hates to feel stupid. In the beginning, I think she thought she could change him. It didn’t take long to see that that wasn’t going to happen, but by then, the damage had already been done. I’m sure it was her feelings about the whole situation with him that made her protect you so fiercely. If things couldn’t go her way, then by God she’d keep what she could, prince, or king, be damned.” Don paused and chuckled, “I don’t care how strong he is, I wouldn’t want to be in the room if he tries to take you away from her.”

Garrett smiled in spite of himself at the thought of the King twirling on a spit over the fire, then quickly banished the thought. “I don’t want Mum to get hurt, but when I find out what I need to find out, I might end up going away anyway. I mean, I don’t want to, but I don’t know if there’s some kind of ritual or ceremony or something that these people are supposed to do.” He sighed. “There’s so much I don’t know.”

“Garrett, your mother won’t be pleased, but I’ll support you in whatever you need to do. Amber is not what it once was. People are leaving. Even the royals have all taken off for parts unknown. Every parent wants their kids’ lives to be better than their own, but I don’t see that happening here. It scares the hell out of me, but I don’t see a future for you in Amber.

“Your mother didn’t want you to know about your heritage, and I respected that to keep peace in the family. That doesn’t mean, though, that I sat back and did nothing. I did whatever I could to teach you what I thought a Prince of Amber ought to know. I took you to the stables so often so you’d learn to ride. I introduced you around so that you could associate names with faces, and so they would know you when the time came. I made you take fencing lessons even though we couldn’t afford it. At least you’ll be able to defend yourself if you have to.”

That made Garrett think of something. “You were never around when Random came to the stables. There was always something important you had to do in the office. Was that because you couldn’t keep from punching his lights out?”

Donovan laughed. “Like I could do that! No. In fact, I probably owed him one because I had you and he didn’t.” He puffed on the pipe. “No, I wanted you to know him and him to know you. I wanted you to see as much of each other as possible, in case the time came when he was the only family you had.” Don stared at the castle. “Those Amberites, they live a long time.” He paused again. “You know, Fetlock once told me that he and Random were children together.”

“No!” exclaimed Garrett in disbelief.

“Yes. Now Fetlock’s so old he can barely mount a horse and Random is still a fairly young man. Think about it. No one can remember even in their history books a time before Oberon, and that’s only one generation back.”

“Oh my God!” Garrett breathed. “Oberon would be my grandfather then, wouldn’t he?”

“Aye. You met him once. Do you remember?”

“I think so. I was about three or four, wasn’t I?”

“About that. Anna had brought you down to visit at the stable and he came down to get his horse to go into town. I was holding you and I put you down so you could greet the King with a proper bow. I thought your poor mother was going to faint right there. I introduced you as my son and you did your bow perfectly. He bent down and picked up your chin to look into your eyes. Then he smiled and said, ‘You’ve got big things ahead, lad.’” Donovan smiled at the memory. “He stood up and said to me, ‘A fine boy you have there, Bailey. Raise him well.’” Don pulled the pipe out of his mouth and stared into it. “A fine man, Oberon, and a great king. Random’s got big boots to fill.”

Garrett stared off into the distance. Yes, he did remember that. What he remembered most was that the King was so big, so powerful, but had held his chin so gently. He remembered being frightened, yet fascinated at the same time. King Oberon was his grandfather. Whoa.

Donovan sat up and stretched. He tapped the spent contents of his pipe out on the heel of his boot and stood up. “I’m gonna hit the sack. You coming?” He added teasingly, “Even princes need to sleep.”

“Oh, shut up,” Garrett said as he stretched and stood up as well, a shorter image of Donovan, in mannerism if not looks. “I guess I will. Dawn comes early.”

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