Edward found Grog in the palace gardens.
It was late—the moon was high, the paths were empty, the fountains had been stilled for the night. The hedges that had seemed so bright in the day were dark shapes now, the flowers closed, the air cool. Grog had come here to think, to walk, to let the pain in his arm fade to something bearable. He had not expected company.
Edward emerged from between two hedges, his steps careful, his hands clasped behind his back. He stopped when he saw Grog, as if he had been looking for him and was surprised to find him.
"You're up late," Grog said.
Edward moved to a stone bench near the fountain. He didn't sit. He stood beside it, looking at the water, the moon, the dark shapes of the hedges.
"I couldn't sleep."
Grog leaned against a tree, let the bark press against his shoulder, let the pain settle. "Neither could I."
They stood in silence for a moment. The garden was quiet, the palace dark, the world still. Somewhere in the distance, a guard called out the hour. Somewhere closer, a night bird called once and was silent.
Edward spoke. "My brother is going to the hills."
Grog nodded. "He is."
Edward was quiet for a moment. "I used to think he was wasting himself. The parties, the drinking, the women. The way he laughed too loud and stayed up too late and never seemed to take anything seriously." He looked at Grog. "I thought he was a fool."
Grog said nothing.
"I was the responsible one. The one who read the reports, who studied the maps, who stayed up late with the advisors learning what it meant to be king." Edward's voice was flat. "I thought I was the one who mattered. I thought he was just... extra. A second son. Someone who could afford to be foolish because no one was counting on him."
He moved to the bench, sat heavily. He looked older than he had a week ago. Older than he had when they arrived.
"When the reports started coming in," he said, "about the creatures, about the things in the hills, about the door—I thought it was something I could handle. Something I could study, analyze, solve. That's what I do. That's what I'm good at."
He looked at Grog. "Then the beast came. And I wasn't there. I was here, in the palace, reading dispatches while my brother was in the hills, holding a sword against something that shouldn't exist."
He was quiet for a long moment.
"He almost died."
Grog nodded. "He almost did."
"I read the reports from the healers. His leg was broken. His ribs were cracked. He had bruises that took days to fade." Edward's voice was steady, but his hands were not. "He almost died, and I wasn't there. I was here, reading about it."
He looked at Grog. "I've been thinking about that. For two weeks, I've been thinking about that. And I've been thinking about my brother. About the man he's becoming. About the man I thought he was."
He stood. Walked to the fountain, looked into the still water.
"He's not a fool," Edward said. "He never was. He was waiting. Waiting for something worth becoming." He turned. "I didn't see it. I never saw it. I was too busy being the responsible one, the serious one, the one who was going to be king."
He met Grog's eyes.
"And now he's going to the hills. He's going to fight things that shouldn't exist. He's going to do something that matters." He paused. "And I'm going to stay here. Read reports. Write letters. Wait."
Grog watched him.
Edward's voice was quiet. "I used to think that was enough. That being the responsible one, the one who stayed, was enough. That I could be proud of it." He shook his head. "I'm not proud of it. I'm just... here."
Grog was quiet for a long moment.
"Your brother needs you here," he said. "He needs someone who will read the reports, who will understand what's happening, who will know what to do when he comes back." He met Edward's eyes. "That's not nothing."
Edward stared at him.
"You really believe that?"
Grog nodded. "I do."
---
They stood in silence for a moment.
The moon moved behind a cloud. The garden was dark. The fountain was still.
Edward spoke. "When we were children, William used to follow me everywhere. I was older, bigger, better at everything. He wanted to be like me. He wanted to be the responsible one, the serious one, the one who would be king someday." He almost smiled. "I used to push him away. Tell him to go play, to find something else to do, to leave me alone."
He looked at the water. "Now I watch him train. I watch him fall, get up, fall again. I watch him hold a sword against something that should have killed him. And I think about the boy who followed me everywhere, who wanted to be like me, and I wonder—" He stopped.
Grog waited.
"I wonder if he ever stopped wanting to be like me. Or if he just found something better to become."
Grog was quiet for a moment. "He found something to become. That's what matters."
Edward nodded slowly. "Yes," he said. "It is."
---
The moon came out from behind the cloud. The garden was silver, the hedges dark, the fountain bright.
Edward moved to leave. At the edge of the path, he stopped.
"Don't tell him," he said. "About this conversation. About what I said." He looked at Grog. "He doesn't need to know. He just needs to go to the hills, to do what he has to do, to come back."
Grog met his eyes. "I won't tell him."
Edward nodded. He walked into the darkness between the hedges and was gone.
---
Grog stayed in the garden for a long time.
He thought about Edward. About the prince who had come to the palace expecting to find heroes and had found people instead. About the brother who had watched his sibling become something he didn't understand. About the man who was learning that being responsible, being serious, being the one who stayed—that was a kind of courage too.
He thought about the old timeline. About the first prince who had become king too young, ruled too long, grown old and bitter in a palace that remembered better days. About the second prince who had wasted his life, drunk and purposeless, a cautionary tale told to young soldiers about what happened to men who had too much and did too little.
This was different. Everything was different.
He walked back to the palace as the moon set.