"How are you doing that?" Blaine asked, as he watched Kurt light candles from a single flame produced from his fingertip. "Don't you need an anchor?"

Kurt smiled. "I have one." He gestured around the room. "Or haven't you noticed that we are inside of a tree?"

Blaine opened his mouth and then closed it, pulling himself up from the bed so that he could look out the door.

The truth was that he hadn't realized they were inside a tree, though it did make sense now that he really looked around. He supposed he had been distracted by the fact that he and Kurt had spent the entire day making love.

Blaine pulled on his robe and parted the curtains that hung over the entrance to the room.

He almost fell over when he saw where they were.

The tree they were in was enormous, and their room seemed to be about two-thirds of the way to the top. A spiral staircase circled the trunk from top to bottom, broken up by landings like the one outside of their door. Four other trees of similar design surrounded them, and they towered high over the city.

Off in the distance Blaine saw something...odd. It was almost like looking down into the sea, but the rippling surface was entirely vertical, stretching as high and wide as he could see, and obstructing Blaine's view of anything that lay beyond it.

"What's that?" He breathed as Kurt came outside to join him, the answer coming to him a moment before Kurt answered him.

"That's the border."

Blaine was speechless. The sheer magnitude of it was overwhelming, even at such a distance, and he didn't know how he would be able to actually walk up to it without falling to his knees in awe.

"It's..." he finally began, trailing off.

"I know," Kurt said quietly, understanding everything from Blaine's tone alone.

"What is it like, Kurt? Is it completely different?"

"Not completely different, no. Some of the plants and animals are different, though animals can cross the border at will. It's only meant to keep humans out."

Blaine glanced at him. "But why? I mean...why is it like this?"

He didn't need to explain what he meant. He meant the slavery. The compulsion. The abandoned ruins and the religious persecution. It was the border itself. It was all of it.

"I don't know," Kurt sighed, easing himself onto the wide bench on their landing. He sat facing the lush green landscape disappearing into shimmering blue-gray.

"I should know," he continued, as Blaine sat next to him. "I...I was a bit of a different person before I left the feririar, Blaine. I wasn't terribly responsible. I neglected any and all studies that weren't directly related to sharpening my power."

Blaine smiled slightly. "That doesn't sound like you," he mused.

"Yes, well, it's amazing what slavery can do to a person," Kurt said bitterly. "I never used to have a care in the world. I used to just flit around kissing boys and eating flowers."

"You still do that," Blaine pointed out.

"Yes, well, I suppose I do. But...I never thought about deeper truths, Blaine. I never thought about what any of it meant. I led such an easy, comfortable life, and I chose not to learn about the ugliness in the world. I lost my first ancestor...my mother, I suppose you would say, at a very young age, and that was all the ugliness I cared to acknowledge."

Blaine reached over and took his hand. "I'm sorry. It's hard to lose someone like that," he said quietly.

Kurt gave him a small smile. "It was a long time ago. But thank you."

Blaine watched Kurt as he gazed at the undulating border with a faraway look in his eyes.

He wanted to ask Kurt about what was going to happen when they crossed that border, and why it was that Kurt was fighting the idea of staying with Blaine, even though he clearly seemed to want to.

He also wanted to know just what it was that made Kurt different from other Sidhe, though this mattered to him less, because Blaine couldn't imagine it actually making a difference. He would want to be with Kurt regardless.

But it all felt so heavy and harsh. Kurt had said he didn't want to tell Blaine yet because they had just come back together and he didn't want to ruin it. That did not sound promising.

Blaine had wanted to know. He had wanted to know so badly that he had stormed out of that cafe in S'aufa and let Sir compel him. But that had been before he knew that Kurt loved him. And that had been before he realized that Kurt's decision was about more than what Kurt wanted.

And now knowing the truth could mean knowing, actually knowing that he and Kurt couldn't stay together.

So Blaine didn't ask.

"So..." Blaine said, searching for a topic. "Do plants...trees, I mean...do they count as earth?"

Kurt looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"I mean, as far as anchoring goes."

Kurt nodded. "If they are growing out of the earth, then yes. Some aquatic plants function as water."

"Hmmm," Blaine mused. "One thing I don't understand, though."

"Yes?"

"Well, Sir – or Anus Face – whatever you want to call him -"

"I quite like Anus Face."

"Yeah, well, he could compel me no matter where we were. He didn't seem to need an anchor or essence or anything like that. And when you healed me in V'auda, you didn't have an anchor, did you? Or maybe you did, I suppose you could have used the fire or-"

Kurt shook his head. "There is a fifth anchor, for those sorts of powers."

Blaine stared at him for a moment. "Are you...going to tell me what it is?"

Kurt rolled his eyes as if it should be obvious. "Life, Blaine. For healing, compulsion, anything like that, life is the anchor. When I healed you and Anus Face compelled you, you were the anchor. We drew the power from your life-source. That's why you retain a bit of power for a week or two afterward. It's kind of a give-and-take."

Blaine looked incredulous. "So I...retained some of his power after I broke the compulsion?"

"I cleared you of it," said Kurt in a disgusted tone, as if he were referring to cleaning up vomit. "You do still have a bit of my essence lingering, though, from the healing."

Blaine smirked. "Not just from the healing, Kurt," he said in a sultry voice. Kurt laughed.

"So..." Blaine said thoughtfully, "Do I have enough of your essence," he punctuated the word with a lewd expression, at which Kurt tried not to smile while he rolled his eyes, "so that I can grow our flowers?"

Kurt considered this. "You know, I'll bet you could," he replied.

Blaine smiled. "Show me how?"

Kurt nodded happily and stood up to lead Blaine back inside.

Their time in L'auhe was far too short.

As much as he wanted to linger with Blaine in the soft bed at the tree inn, Kurt was feeling unsettled. He knew he wouldn't feel entirely safe until they had crossed the border, and the only way they were going to be able to do it with a remote degree of safety was to bypass the rest of the border towns and cut through the forest.

Objectively, it was the safest route. But it made Kurt's heart pound, made him wake up and pace in the middle of the night.

Because the safest way he could think to go back in would be to follow the path he took out in the first place.

To travel back through that clearing where he had been caught. The first place where he had been raped, the first place where he had been treated like a thing rather than a person.

But now he would travel it with his eyes open, and with Blaine beside him.

But still...to go back there...

On their third night in the tree, Blaine awoke to soft sobs. Kurt was not beside him in the bed. Blaine sat up and looked around, finding himself frozen with horror when he finally located him.

Because he was curled up tightly against the wall, naked, moonlight flooding in through the windows and making his pale skin glow. Kurt's face was pressed into his knees, and he was crying hard, though obviously trying to remain as quiet as possible.

It reminded Blaine so vividly of that first night in Dronyen's castle that he thought he was going to be sick.

Blaine quickly moved out of the bed and across the room, kneeling beside him.

"Kurt," he whispered, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Kurt looked up at him, unable to stop sobbing, unable to speak. Blaine simply pulled him into his lap and held him tightly, stroking his back gently and planting occasional soft kisses on his forehead.

They stayed like that for a long time, until Kurt finally cried himself to sleep and Blaine carried him back to the bed.

When they woke up in each other's arms, Blaine did not ask what it had been about, though Kurt could see the fear and concern in his eyes.

Over breakfast, Kurt told him.

"There has to be another route we can take, Kurt," Blaine insisted.

Kurt sighed. "There is. There are. But you don't understand, Blaine, the border is chaos. Drayez doesn't even bother with it, none of the rebel cities want to claim it, and none of the eastern feririars want to do anything about it because all of the trouble is on Villaluan soil. The humans and the Sidhe... they hunt one another there. And then there are all the humans desperate to get into Khryslee, willing to do anything to get through, and all the recently exiled Sidhe starting floods and fires because they're terrified of humans and their power goes a bit...haywire when they first cross. The only way to get through quickly and somewhat safely is to use one of the lesser-known routes. And the one I came through the first time...it's the only one I know."

"We'll find another," Blaine said firmly.

"Blaine, it's too dangerous. We just...it's all right. I'll be all right, as long as you're with me."

Blaine looked thoroughly unconvinced.

Kurt rubbed his already swollen and red-rimmed eyes miserably. "We can't just stroll through the border anywhere. We have to go through a portal. It's the most secluded one I know of...it's logical, Blaine. I'm just being..." Kurt waved a hand dismissively at his own emotional reaction.

"Kurt. You are planning to re-visit the site of one of the most traumatic things that has ever happened to you. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound logical to me. Can't we ask around? Look for another way? I don't want you to do this."

Kurt shook his head, fresh tears starting to well up in the corners of his eyes.

"I can't...if we start to ask, people might figure out where we are going. Who I am. I just need to get you to Khryslee before I can go home, Blaine. Please."

"Kurt..."

"Please, Blaine." His voice was small and broken, tears staining the tabletop over which his head was hanging limply. Blaine pulled his chair closer, and held him.

Blaine willed his frustration to diminish. Once again, Kurt was holding things back from him. And not only that, but he was insisting on putting himself through unnecessary pain for reasons he wasn't willing to explain.

His frustration was not diminishing.

Blaine wanted to demand that Kurt explain why it was so important that they take this route. Either that, or he would settle for going outside, taking a walk around the inn's grounds, taking some time alone and clearing his head.

But Kurt was crying, and he was raw and delicate and completely vulnerable. So instead, Blaine stayed and quietly held him.

They left the next day. More than anything, Kurt was overwhelmed by the anxiety he felt about the remainder of their journey through Villalu. He just wanted to get this over with.

It had become clear to Blaine that any argument with Kurt about the route they were taking would only end up with Kurt curled up and sobbing while Blaine tried to suppress the wrestling match between guilt and anger inside of him in order to comfort Kurt.

So he gave in.

He did, however, secure one very important promise. Kurt had agreed that once they crossed the border, he would answer Blaine's questions, even though Blaine wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear those answers.

But that would be after they crossed the border.

After they followed the path that Kurt had been led along in chains.

After they found the clearing where Kurt had been held down and taken by force for the first time.

Blaine very much wanted to introduce the men that had done it to his sword. He wanted to destroy every man who had ever hurt Kurt with his bare hands. The more Kurt cried, the more Blaine itched for a good spot of justified violence. It was a slightly unsettling feeling for him.

"We should get some more weapons," Blaine said abruptly, as they readied the carriage.

Kurt gave him a noncommittal look.

"If it's really as dangerous as you say, we need to be prepared. And if anything happens to...compromise your power, I want to be able to fight. We need more than just a sword."

Kurt sighed. "Yes, that probably makes sense."

"No one is going to hurt you again, Kurt," Blaine said sharply. Kurt flinched slightly at his tone.

Blaine walked up to him and wrapped his arms around him, "I hate this," he murmured. "I know it's nothing compared to how you're feeling, but I don't want to take this route any more than you do. When I think about what they did to you...Kurt, the only reason I'm not crying constantly is because I'm just too angry."

Kurt nestled into him. "Well, the only reason I'm not angrier is because I've been crying constantly."

They both laughed softly. Blaine lifted Kurt's chin and kissed him. "I love you," he said. "And I hate what you've been though."

"I hate it too," Kurt murmured. "But Blaine, I meant it when I said that I'll be all right as long as you're with me. Before, when I was caught...I've never felt so lonely in my life. But I've never felt less lonely than when I'm with you."

"You have me," Blaine whispered, and kissed him again. At least until Khryslee, he added silently to himself.

"I'm sorry if I'm being...weak and frustrating. All the pain is just feeling so fresh right now. It's like a scab has been ripped off a wound."

Blaine smiled. "You're not being weak. You are being slightly frustrating, but I understand. Let's just face this now, and once we've crossed the border you can explain everything. And Kurt?"

Kurt looked at him.

"Please promise me that you will explain everything."

Kurt gave him a faint smile. "I promise. I love you. You're wonderful, Blaine."

Blaine pulled him closer. "I try."

On their way out of the city, they spent the last of their money on food and weapons.

Because once they left L'auhe, they would have nowhere left to spend it.