Swan Boyfriend: Hansal Part One (special preview)

Once I see the peaks of the tents, I feel a bit better. Once I get to spend some time with my brother, I think everything will be ok. I land in the Carnival, finding myself remembering the old days when I was little. I had been a toddler when Edgar brought us here. He was sixteen, I was three, and our parents had been killed by Hawks. Edgar barely escaped with me before losing one of his eyes. Somehow, we had found ourselves in the carnival and were taken care of. I was raised in the carnival by my brother, where we lived in Scarebrooke. I spent much of my time in the library, reading and discovering the world outside the fence of the carnival.

I think, due to the attack on our parents, Edgar had grown frightened of the world outside. He felt safe with Mr. Faire and with Scarebrooke, he had found his place in the world. But for me, young and headstrong as I was, I wanted to find my place in the world too. I wanted to see the world and not just read about it from the words of Keats, Byron, and Shelley, both Shelleys, actually.

I go into Scarebrooke, seeing a few new sights already. I then look up, seeing a Raven perched on a lamp post above me.

“What? You gonna shit on me?” I chuckle.

Edgar flies down, shifting into his human form. He stands tall, a bit heavier than the last time I had seen him. He adjusts the glasses on his face and smirks. “Was hoping to get the drop on you!” He hugs me tight. “It’s good to see you, brother. How have you been faring?”

I shrug. “The usual, I suppose.”

“Do you still work for Robin?” Edgar asks as we start to walk down the main street of Scarebrooke.

“I still do deliveries from time to time,” I say with a nod. “What about you? How has the carnival been fairing?”

Edgar chuckles. “Well,” he then sighs. “We have been dealing with quite the shake up around here.”

I furrow my brow. “What kind of shake up?”

“Muna, Fye, and Bron all left,” Edgar says with a sigh. “Dimitri and Valentine as well,” he adds.

I am gobsmacked. The three of them had practically been the whole show back in the day. It was also because of them, the carnival existed as it did. I had grown up with Dimitri and Valentine too, they had been some of my closest friends. It seemed so strange they would just be gone like that. 

I grab Edgar’s arm. “Why? What happened? How could they just leave like that?”

“They were reunited with their missing children,” Edgar says simply. “Barbol and Farrow turned up in Hearthway Hollow.”

“The werewolf place?” I scoff.

“They decided to stay there,” Edgar bows his head. “It’s been quite hard getting used to, but we are finding our stride. Oriharu has taken over the cabaret and he’s done a wonderful job of it.”

“But they’re just gone? Just like that?” I snap my fingers.

“They’ll return one day or another,” Edgar chuckles. “It won’t be forever. They simply want to be with their children and grandchildren.”

“Oh wow,” I whisper. “It just...I can’t quite wrap my head around it. It seems so odd to not have them here. They were the carnival to me.”

“Such as things are, brother,” Edgar smiles down at me. “You left, remember?”

“Yeah but-” I scoff and tilt my head towards my shoulder. “I didn’t matter like Muna, Fye, and Bron did! It’s totally different.”

Edgar furrows his brow at me. “You mattered like that to me.”

I slouch a bit, pouting at his words.

Edgar puts his hand on my back. “Come along now. I only have you for a short amount of time and I want to catch up with you on everything.”