Over the next several days, they kept to back roads and wooded paths. Eventually they would have to venture into a more populated area to gather supplies, but both Blaine and Kurt were hoping to put that off for as long as possible.

Kurt still didn't know quite what to think about this strange man who had sacrificed everything to help him.

He, in equal parts, wanted to trust Blaine and wanted to figure out what his angle was. Was Blaine just planning to sell Kurt to someone else? If so, why the good-natured ruse, when all he would have to do was bind him in iron and throw him in the back of the carriage? Was he simply toying with him? What exactly was he actually getting out of all this?

One thing was for certain. Blaine was either unimaginably kind or unimaginably cruel.

Kurt had a very strong sense that Blaine was not a cruel man, and he wasn't sure if that growing conviction was more comforting than it was terrifying. If Blaine were actually in love with Kurt like he claimed...

Kurt had heard that not all human men looked down on the Sidhe. He had just never experienced it personally, and it was more than a little unnerving.

Blaine had been taught by his elder to revere the Sidhe. Kurt had also heard about that; heard that things had not always been like this between the humans and the Sidhe in Villalu. And it couldn't have been that long ago, either, if Blaine's second-elder had spoken of it. But human lives were so short, and they treated the stretch of a single generation like an eternity.

Kurt, not for the first time, wished that he'd made the effort to learn more about human society before his Rite. If he had known more, he wouldn't have let himself fall asleep in that clearing, completely at ease, as if nothing in the world could touch him.

It had been his first journey into Villalu. He hadn't made it back for his wedding the following day.

They had been journeying for about a week when Blaine asked him about it. They were riding along at a reasonably mellow pace, the trees that lined the dirt road they traveled dappling the sunlight. It was a warm and pleasant day, they had recently taken food and drink, and they had been journeying in comfortable silence for the better part of an hour.

Kurt was driving; They had both agreed that it would look odd if Blaine were holding the reins instead of this "slave," should another human cross their path. Blaine had joined Kurt on the perch, however, their arms occasionally brushing lightly together as Kurt handled the reins.

"So...Kurt, I- I mean, you don't have to answer me if you would rather not talk about it, but I was, um, wondering...I mean..."

Kurt smiled. He had found himself smiling more in the past week than he probably had in the last five years. But Blaine was really quite cute when he got nervous and flustered.

"It's all right, Blaine, you can ask me. If I don't want to answer, I won't."

Blaine smiled back. "Well, I was just wondering when, and maybe how you got...you know, caught? You really don't have to answer, though, Kurt."

Kurt took a moment to consider the request. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it. Then again, his third elder had always told him that the gods created language to heal the soul. Kurt hadn't spoken to anyone about his experience. His owners obviously hadn't cared to hear it, and what few other Sidhe he had been allowed to converse with from time to time didn't want to talk about the horror that was their capture and enslavement. They wanted to talk about their old lives, their true lives. They wanted to speak in their native tongue with another being just to remind themselves that it hadn't been a dream, that life hadn't always been about desperation and raw survival.

He felt like he was going to cry again. He wondered why it was that he and Blaine seemed to spend so much time making each other smile and cry.

"Well," Kurt began softly, his voice a bit shaky.

"Kurt, you don't ha-"

"Blaine, hush. This isn't like asking me about a trip to the market. It's going to make me upset. Are you going to be able to withstand that?"

Blaine swallowed nervously, but nodded when Kurt looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"All right then. It was about five years ago, I believe, I'm not entirely sure. I try to pay attention to the seasons and the moon, but I was in a dungeon for, I believe, a few months at one point, which threw off my orientation a bit."

"F-five years? A dungeon...oh, Kurt..."

"I was on a traditional trek called the Nuptial Rite. All young Sidhe must complete the Rite on the day before they are married. We journey to one of several sacred sites, and we are meant to...hmmm...we call it soul-walking? A bit like meditation, I suppose, but with the aid of a mild hallucinogen. The point is to take stock of oneself, of one's betrothed. The soul-walker takes the journey alone, speaks to no one, and then returns to officially declare the intent to marry or the intent to withdraw from the union. It's usually more of a formality than anything else, but I..."

"So they trapped you while you were med - uh, soul-walking?"

Kurt sighed. "No. The site is on protected ground. But the journey from my village to the site took me through Western Villalu, just for a few miles. And I...I was incredibly stupid. I was incredibly young and incredibly stupid, Blaine, and that is how I got caught."

"Kurt, it wasn't your fault. You can't think-"

"No, it wasn't my fault. But it could have been avoided. I actually stopped and took a nap on Villalu soil!" Kurt laughed harshly. "I had just finished the Rite, and I was on my way home, and I was ready to get married, and everything just felt so perfect. It was a beautiful day, much like this one, in fact, and I stopped to rest and eat some sweet grasses. I fell asleep, and when I woke up there were men throwing iron chains across me."

Blaine just looked at him with big, brimming hazel eyes.

Those eyes had an effect on Kurt that he didn't understand.

Kurt wondered if he should share this next part. Perhaps it was too intimate, perhaps simply too much. But he had never said it out loud, and he felt like maybe he finally just had to.

"That first night..." Kurt took a deep, shaking breath, his eyes fixed hard on the road ahead and not on Blaine.

"I...I had never been with a man before. My wedding night was going to be my first time. But they just...they just passed me around. They...gods, it was so terrifying."

Kurt hated that he had started crying again. He hated that Blaine was probably crying too. He hated that the story made him sound like such a weak, pathetic victim.

Kurt felt Blaine gently tug the reins from Kurt's hands. Blaine pulled them to a stop, and turned to him.

"Kurt, may I hug you?"

The sweetness and formality of the request just made Kurt cry harder, but he found himself nodding, because yes, he hadn't been hugged in five long years.

Blaine gently pulled Kurt to him, and wrapped his arms tenderly around him. Kurt rested his head in the crook of Blaine's neck and stained his tunic with a flood of tears. Blaine stroked his back gently, just holding him.

They stayed like that for a long time.

Finally, Blaine spoke. It was a murmur, so soft that Kurt wouldn't have been able to hear it if he hadn't been so close.

"How were they never able to break you?"

Kurt sniffled slightly. "They did."

"No, Kurt, they didn't. Your eyes...they aren't like the others. Your eyes look free. In five years, you never let anyone take that from you. I can't even...you're just amazing."

"I...I feel pretty broken, Blaine." Kurt's voice was very small. Blaine hugged him tighter.

"Of course you do. But you're not. You're strong and fierce and alive and whole. I can see it even if you don't, Kurt. That's what made me fall in love with you."

Kurt tensed slightly, and Blaine loosened his grip, but Kurt didn't push him away. After a moment he relaxed back into the embrace.

"It wasn't that I thought you were frail and weak," Blaine continued, "it was that I knew you were incredible and powerful and full of fire. No matter what they did to you, Kurt, and no matter what they made you think you were choosing to do to stay alive, they never really touched you. I doubt that they even got close."

Kurt shuddered. "Dronyen got pretty close," he whispered. "If you hadn't...I don't know how much more I had left in me, Blaine. I think he truly wanted to destroy me."

"He did," Blaine agreed painfully. "But he won't."

Kurt took a deep breath against the steady thrum of Blaine's heartbeat.

"I really hope this is all real, Blaine. I hope you aren't just a different kind of sadist than Dronyen is. Because I'm going to tell you something right now, and it's going to leave me completely defenseless."

Blaine inhaled sharply, but didn't speak. What could he possibly say?

"I...I think I trust you. In fact, I know I trust you. And if you betray me now, it will break me. Utterly and completely."

Kurt lifted his head from Blaine's chest and looked him in the eye.

"You have the power to break me, Blaine," he repeated. "And that...that's all I wanted to say."

Kurt looked away, overwhelmed by the intensity in Blaine's eyes. He felt Blaine move his hand to softly cup Kurt's cheek.

"I promise that I won't betray you, Kurt," he said simply.

Kurt closed his eyes, melting into Blaine's touch. He felt loved and safe in a way that had only lived in ghostlike memories, gathering cobwebs in his heart, for far too long.

"Thank you," Kurt breathed. "For...just...thank you."

Blaine smiled as Kurt lay his head back down in the crook of his neck.

"Thank you for trusting me," he replied.

That afternoon, they found themselves riding through the first unavoidable village of their journey. They stopped to feed and water both the horses and themselves, and to replenish what supplies had started to dwindle. It was a small village, and not a wealthy one, which meant that all eyes were on Kurt. Blaine had to treat him like a slave, and Kurt had to treat Blaine like his master. Anything out of the ordinary might become a story worth telling, and that was simply not an option.

It was incredibly odd, especially given the sweetness of their conversation earlier that day.

Blaine barked out orders, telling Kurt what to fetch for him and making Kurt carry heavy bundles completely on his own when Blaine could easily have helped him.

Blaine did his best to apologize with his eyes whenever a chance presented itself. Each time, Kurt replied with a silent look of sympathy and understanding, and Blaine knew it was going to be okay between them.

They were sitting on a wide bench near a cluster of shops, enjoying the sun, when the man approached them. Kurt was eating an apple and Blaine was eating a chunk of cheese with a piece of bread.

The man sidled up to them, smooth and smiling, his eyes hard as rock.

"Hello, sir, Grade's the name. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance before."

Blaine glanced up with a practiced look of irritable boredom. "Jor," he said. "Just passing through. On our way to B'aufe."

"Pleasure to meet you, Jor. Say, that's a mighty pretty elf you got there. May I?"

Grade's hands were poised to touch Kurt.

"Rather you didn't," Blaine said, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. "Not for sale."

"Well, now, I understand that. Creature like this you want to hold on to for awhile. But some pals and I might be able to rustle up a bit of coinage if you're of a mind to rent. You staying in town tonight?"

"No," Blaine said firmly. A little too firmly. "Got to get back on the road. Nice to meet you, though, Grade." Blaine got to his feet and motioned Kurt to follow him.

Grade closed his hand around Kurt's wrist. Blaine spun around.

"What can I give you for fifteen minutes with it, Jor? Have a heart. We don't get much in the way of quality sprite flesh around here."

Blaine grabbed Grade by the lapels and slammed him against the bench.

"I'm sorry, Grade, but do I look like a man who needs your money?" he hissed. "Do I look like a man who likes to share his toys?"

He shoved Grade onto the bench, hard.

"Let's go," Blaine muttered to Kurt. "We need to get the hell out of here now."

"Oh, it's like that, is it?" Grade called after them. "You're just a couple of boys up from Khryslee, aren't you? Well, I don't want your filthy wild elf anyway, you bloody abomination!"

Kurt and Blaine made it back to the carriage in record time. Kurt took the reins and led them east out of the village. Once out of view, they followed a wide circle until they were westbound once again.

They didn't speak for a good long while.

Finally, Blaine said "I'm sorry, Kurt."

"You say that quite a lot, you know."

"Well, I feel like I should."

"Blaine, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm just glad we've left that horrible little place. Small villages are the absolute worst. You do realize that it's considered poor manners not to rent out your slave for a fair price, though."

"Fine. Then I have poor manners. At least I have a soul."

"That you most certainly do." Kurt smiled, trying to melt some of the tension that Blaine was clearly still carrying from the confrontation.

Blaine smiled back, and did seem to relax a little bit.

"Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know what he was talking about? Khryslee?"

Kurt was quiet for a moment.

"Yes," he finally said.

Blaine waited for Kurt to continue. When he didn't, Blaine pressed.

"What is it?"

"It's a place."

"Well, yes, I did kind of gather that. What did he mean? What kind of place is it? I don't think I've ever heard of it before."

Kurt sighed, and pulled the carriage over.

"Get one of your maps."

Blaine did, and Kurt leaned in.

"See...there?" He traced what looked like a narrow strip just past the entrance to the Faerie Lands.

"It's near the Villalu border, really. You have to go through..." (he spoke the name, and it was utterly unpronounceable to Blaine) "...just for a bit, and then there you are. They are highly protected lands. Of those who desire to live there, only some are welcomed in. But it's the only place I know of where..."

"Where...?"

"Where...unconventional pairings are accepted."

Blaine's heart began to pound in his chest. Could Kurt be telling him...did he mean...?

"Yes," Kurt replied to the question in Blaine's eyes, "Humans and Sidhe live there as lifemates, but others do too. Human women who love one another and don't want to live as the property of men, human men who want to be with one another instead of taking a slave and marrying a woman they don't desire, Sidhe couples in unblessed pairings..." Kurt shrugged. "It's supposed to be a beautiful place," he finished.

"It sounds beautiful," Blaine breathed.

Kurt laughed. "I meant the landscape. The flora and fauna. It's meant to be quite lush. But it's very rare for anyone to see it unless they are planning to...relocate there. Permanently."

"Would...do they let people in on their own?"

Kurt raised his eyebrows in question.

"I just meant...well, once we get you home, I'm going to need to figure out a plan for myself. I can't stay in Villalu, and I have a feeling I wouldn't be particularly welcome in faerie country..."

"That feeling would be correct," Kurt confirmed.

"So I wonder if...well, maybe I could go to Khryslee. I think I could stand to live in a place like that."

Kurt studied him. Blaine had gotten fairly proficient at reading Kurt's expressions in such a small space of time, but this was not one of them. This look was an utter mystery.

"I don't know, Blaine, but I think you should try," he said finally, picking the reins back up and continuing them on their way.

In the village of G'auri, a royal messenger delivered a scroll to the steward. The steward hung it in the window of the general supply store, where all important notices were put on display.

On his way home from the tavern, still feeling frustrated and irritable from an incident earlier that day, a man named Grade stopped to study the scroll.

It seemed that one of Prince Dronyen's courtiers had run off with quite a lot of palace gold, as well as one particularly high-quality Sidhe slave. The palace was offering a reward for any information that may lead to this man's capture.

Grade read the physical description of the criminal at large.

He smiled to himself.