saturday.

"A toast," said Matthew Kinrowan, and raised his glass. "To those with wit and courage, who were able to win through adversity and walk away unscathed." Six pints of Harp clicked against each other, and they all drank.

"The one thing I don't get," Chris said, after putting his glass back down and slipping his hand back over Lance's, "is what she meant. About the heart of stone. Well, that's not the only thing I don't get, I don't get a lot of this, but that's the big thing."

A good night's sleep, once they'd finally settled down to it, had done Chris a world of good. He was looking like himself again, but like a version of himself that no one had seen in years, dark and lithe and unwound like a man whose burdens had been lifted from him. Lance thought, though, that there would always be that hint of shadow in the back of Chris's eyes.

Kinrowan smiled. "The Faerie Court is many things, Christopher. It is eternal and undying. It breathes magic like air, drinks magic like water. Those of the Court command powers that are a mystery to the human world, and can harness secrets long since lost to the world of man." He looked down at his hands, and smiled a little, ruefully. "But the one thing that the Court cannot understand, is powerless against, is love."

"I feel sorry for them," JC said, softly. "Not for what they keep doing to us. What they were going to do to Chris. That's monstrous. But I just can't imagine living without love."

"Neither could I," Kinrowan said. "There are others of us. Not many. But we have traded that power in for just a little more humanity than we might otherwise have had, and I consider it a bargain well-made."

"What do we still need to do?" Lance asked. Chris's fingers tightened on his own, then relaxed. "To keep him safe. To keep us all safe." He remembered the resolve in the Queen's voice, and only the warmth of Chris's hand kept him from shivering.

"You'll have gotten the hairs from the horse's mane," Kinrowan said to Joey. Joey nodded, and reached into his pocket, bringing them out and handing them over. Kinrowan nodded as well and looked back at Chris. "I'll take these and have them forged into a ward for you." He held up his right wrist, which glinted with a silver circlet that had no clasp or catch. "Yours can be Cold Iron, of course, since you've no need to worry about the poison of its touch, and that will provide even more protection. And I'll teach you what spells I can of protection and of warding, which will give you even more. You'll need to be vigilant, but you'll no longer need to walk in fear. It's over."

"I'm not scared anymore." Chris's voice was quiet, but heartfelt. "Not anymore. I owe you so much." His hand clasped Lance's again, for just a brief instant. "You've give me so much."

Kinrowan shook his head. "You have others to thank more than I. I only provided the answer. They found the strength to walk it."

"I know," Chris said, and reached on the other side of him with the hand that wasn't holding Lance's to enfold Justin's. Justin slid his other hand into JC's; JC took Joey's, and Joey reached past Kinrowan to clasp Lance's. The process only took seconds to complete, and when Joey's hand touched Lance's to close the circle, it felt like a bolt of lightning ran through them. Lance could see JC smile and knew that he too was seeing the warm golden glow that enveloped them all.

"You know," Justin said, after a moment. "We've got an album that we just finished." He paused, and then couldn't keep the grin off his face any longer. "Think anyone at the label would object if we put that ballad on it?"

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