When he opened his eyes again, Florian noticed that a clock had indeed been brought to the room for him, sitting on the small writing table that had remained bare so far. It was just past four in the afternoon now, or so the clock told him; but he was glad at least that they measured time here in much the same way. Jerah had called the Veil a “mirror” of the Earth, so he supposed something as basic as time might be the same, but who could say for sure?
Jerah had told him that dinner would be at six, so he had over an hour to kill until then. He ended up in front of the floor-length mirror in his room, looking at himself again, and consciously altering his face a little bit at a time. He watched the skin shift with some trepidation as his face became unfamiliar, then back again until he recognized himself.
He thought of making himself taller, focusing on the way he'd changed his face and pushing the sensation toward his legs. The ache in his bones was immediate and made him gasp: the sensation of growing pains instantly familiar, though it had been years since he'd felt it. When he opened his eyes after wincing in pain, he had gained well over an inch of height, and he could see a sliver of his ankles peeking out through the hem of his pants. He laughed at the sight—it wasn't a problem he had ever had before. The difference in vantage point was strange and unfamiliar, so with an exhaled breath he let himself shrink back to what felt like his natural height—maybe just a tiny bit taller.
A hard knock rapped on the door once more, familiar to him now as the sharp knocks of Kade's fist. He must have returned from contacting August.
Sure enough, Kade stood outside the door, though he looked less disinterested than he had this morning, meeting Florian's gaze steadily.
“King Jerah told me you're going to be training with me starting tomorrow,” he said. “I thought maybe we could... Well. How much of the castle has Jerah shown you?”
“Oh, uh... Most of it, I think,” Florian replied, unable to get a read on Kade's expression.
“Did you see the Moon Garden?”
“Moon Garden?” he asked blankly, and the tiniest hint of a grin played at Kade's lips.
“It's my favorite place in the castle,” he said, and Florian blinked, surprised to think of Kade having a favoriteanything.“Come on, I'll show you. That's where we'll practice, too.”
“Sure,” Florian stammered, before he could psych himself out of it. He was sure this was the longest conversation they'd had so far, and now Kade wanted tospend timewith him? And they’d be alone, for the first time since they’d met—his heart started hammering at the thought.
Luckily, Kade had already turned to head back down the hallway, giving him no time to second-guess his decision as he closed the door behind him and hurried to follow. Kade led him back out of the castle onto the grounds, heading toward the back garden. He took an unfamiliar turn, then led them through an archway that seemed to loop around back toward the castle, following a narrow, pale stone path that twisted and turned between the castle’s towers. They walked in silence, Kade never looking back to see if Florian was following.
Soon the path opened into a large circular courtyard, surrounded with deep green foliage and tall marble statues. True to its name, despite the first traces of dusk only just beginning to emerge, Florian looked up and saw clearly the moon shining down from the center of the circular courtyard.
“This is really beautiful,” Florian said softly, looking around. Finally, Kade turned back around to look at him—again with that faint hint of a smile on his face that softened his eyes.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It has the same enchantment as the observatory, so you can always see the moon. I come here often. But it works well for training and practicing, too. It's pretty private.”
Florian nodded, still looking around. A few flickers of movement caught his eye—at first it looked like the moonlight glinting off of leaves, moving gently in the slight breeze; but as he looked more closely, there were just a small handful of amber lights, dancing like fireflies through the air. When he glanced back at Kade, his eyes were illuminated by the soft glow of the moon as he looked up, golden orange in the flickering, floating light of the garden.
“Jerah said I can transform, like you do,” Florian found himself saying. Kade glanced over at him, their eyes meeting. This time Florian forced himself to keep eye contact, despite the nerves it elicited in him. “But I don't... I don't know how that would work.”
Kade's head tilted almost imperceptibly. “I don't know for sure. But you’re a Changeling, so that would make sense. Maybe you need to see it first.”
“That's what I was thinking,” he said, and this time he could hear the nervousness in his own voice, though Kade had no visible reaction to it. “But I didn't know if it was, like... rude to ask or something.”
Kade chuckled at that, a grin crinkling the corners of his eyes for just a moment, as he took a step back.
“Not rude,” he said, and closed his eyes. “Watch.”
Florian nodded and watched. It was subtle and imperceptible at first, but his body began to glow with a golden orange light, the same color as his eyes; as the light grew brighter, the shape of his body began to both shrink and elongate. It was almost blinding, and Florian couldn’t make out any details, but when it faded away, a huge, gray-furred wolf stood in Kade’s place—its eyes the same gently glowing canine orange. It looked up at Florian quizzically, taking a step towards him.
“Wow,” he said softly, looking the wolf over. Somehow it still sort of looked like Kade, even though it was a picturesque timber wolf—it was his eyes, Florian realized. His stoic eyes were still the same as they had been as a human.
They looked at each other for a moment, then Kade made a bowing sort of gesture with his head.
“Right,” Florian stammered, remembering he was supposed to try transforming as well. He took in a steadying breath and closed his eyes, thinking of the way Kade had shifted: his body glowing and morphing. Though he pushed his magic through his body as he envisioned himself in a new form—in much the same way as when he'd changed his height earlier—he didn't feel anything happening. When he opened his eyes again after a moment, he was clearly still a human—or rather, a fae.
Across from him, Kade tilted his head as if wondering what he was doing.
“It didn't work,” Florian said, looking at his hands for a moment, then looking back over at Kade. “Any ideas?”
The wolf blinked, then after a moment stepped closer to Florian. He knew it was Kade, but some primal part of him still sent a spike of fear leaping into his throat as the wolf approached. But Kade seemed to sense it, and he paused before taking a slower step forward, his ears pricked up curiously and his tail slowly swishing back and forth, as if to say he came in peace.
“What are you thinking?” he asked nervously, eyeing Kade as the huge wolf stepped closer to him—and to his surprise, the wolf pressed his face into Florian's hands, nudging his fingers through the soft fur on the top of his head and down to the scruff of his neck. “Really? Petting you?”
Kade's head turned, his ears tilting back slightly; his annoyed expression seemed so entirely human in the moment that Florian couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped his mouth. “Okay, sorry, I get it. You think touching you will make it work?”
