Private Tales Ash and Iron

[Maeve]

Maeve's fingers brushed the edge of the feather in her hair when he complimented it, throwing him a shy smile over her shoulder before seeming to remember who exactly he was and what she was meant to be feeling towards him. She stuck her tongue out to restore balance. Still, her feet dragged somewhat as they wandered lazily towards the cottage door. It was growing cool as it usually did in Spring or she would have suggested eating outside.

"You're 400 years old and you haven't had oysters?" she raised a slender brow and paused to collect the bunch of flowers he had given her earlier. "Are there any things you want to do you haven't had a chance to yet?" they only had a day left and she wasn't sure how ill he was going to be tomorrow with the poison now so close to his heart. But maybe... maybe she could help cross a few things off his list.

 

[Lorcán]

He smirked at the playful gesture to shrug off his compliment. "I guess I didn't get around to it.." he huffed a laugh under his breath and smirked as she picked up the flowers, his hand pressing to the small of her back as he stepped aside to let her step back into the cabin..

"Plenty.. But nothing I'm going to accomplish in a day." he mused, rubbing at his chest as he flopped into the armchair.

What had he accomplished with his life? Had it not been for his brothers and Amaryllis, he'd have had no real relationships to speak of. No wife, no children, an estranged mother and a father who could barely look at him. There were countless who surrounded him, flocked to him because of who he was or who his father was, those who pretended to care, and Lorcan would convince himself he was using them for his own amusement but he knew that was the truth in reverse.

It was a sad thought, that he simply hadn't wanted to feel alone for the last few days of his life, and it'd have been even more pathetic to say it aloud, and so he smirked at her as he shoved the thought away..

"Anything you'd suggest?" he asked coyly.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve was far less genteel and crossed her ankles before dropping to the floor in one fluid movement. She plonked the oysters on the coffee table and began sorting them from the seaweed and other bits of rock she had scooped up along with them. If her grandmama had seen her right then she would have had a fit: it was far from Princess like behaviour. Mae, however, didn't seem to give a damn as she drew the hunting knife at her thigh and began prying them open. All the while she mulled over the question.

"I guess human wish-lists are different from fae ones," she mused and made a victorious noise when the first oyster cracked open. "I wanted to unite the Southern clans and sail on a boat," things that her people hadn't done for a great many years. She cracked open another oyster, her tongue sticking out as she worked.

"Other humans like to learn to... paint or sing, learn how to do wood carvings or cook. Do you know how to do any of those?"

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan's chin rested atop his knuckles as he watched her crack open the oysters, his lips curled into a lazy smile as she spoke, though that smile faltered and fell at the question she posed, the image of a pile of burning paintings flashing through his mind..

"I used to paint.." he answered quietly and rubbed at his face. "But that was a long time ago..Otherwise, no. Flying, fighting, fu--" he cut off and cleared his throat. "There was always one war or another to consider. My father didn't really allow much time for passions." he snorted and let his head fall back, trying to pull a pain free breath into his chest but he winced at the ache.

"I wanted peace.." he told her simply as he stared up at the beams above. "Maybe now we'll both finally get it." he mused with a smirk.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve paused in her work to fix him with an icy glare.

"What did I say earlier?" she threateningly waved the knife in his direction to add to the seriousness of her point before popping open the last of the oysters. Once she was done she stood and went to the kitchen to grab one of the lemons she had brought with her. When she returned and sat back down she continued the conversation as if she hadn't just threatened him. "Vivienne has paints somewhere around here that she uses for her work, why don't we do some painting tomorrow then?"

Carefully she sliced the lemon in half then squeezed some juice into each of the oysters. She held one out to him then picked up her own.

"So you just, sorta, slurp it from the shell. Like this," she tipped her head back as though she were doing a shot and the oyster meat slid down her throat.

 

[Lorcán]

He didn't see the glare, but he didn't have to see it to feel it, or hear it in her tone. "Sorry." he murmured, trying to fight his exhaustion as she pottered around..

"I'm not sure I still could.." he answered quietly. By the way he was feeling right now, he couldn't think of much else other than sleep, but as she offered him food he forced himself to sit up and take the shellfish with a look of curiosity and uncertainty..

"It looks like.." he smirked and his head shook. "Never mind." he muttered, and copied her, swallowing down the slippery meat with a slight grimace..

"Mmm... Thanks." he handed the shell back to her, his nose still wrinkled..

 

[Maeve]

Maeve snorted a laugh.

"There's boar over there from the other night still," she motioned to the platter on the kitchen side as she tipped back another oyster. They weren't to everyone's taste but fond memories accompanying it for Mae at least made it taste all the better. If the Princeling wasn't keen then she would finish them off by herself. Though half way through her quiet mocking something tugged at her mind; a line in a poem or a snatch of a conversation when she was little...

"Oh..." she bit her bottom lip. "You probably don't want to eat human food on your last few nights... Fae food is meant to be..." she didn't have the word. There had been a whole song dedicated to trying to describe it and she doubted even that did it justice.

 

[Lorcán]

It took him a moment to get over the disgust. "Are you sure you're supposed to eat those things?.." They reminded him of some slimy creature children would find in the dirt and eat if it wasn't slapped out of their grubby hands soon enough. His throat cleared, and his eyes rose to hers in question as she bit on her lip..

He stifled a laugh and shook his head. "It's fine. I appreciate you feeding me." his cheeks dimpled. In truth he wasn't hungry at all and hadn't been for days. Food didn't seem all that important now, but that she was making some effort to take care of him was both unexpected and somewhat adorable.

"But yes, fae food is...Different." he rumbled as he settled back into the chair to watch her eat those disgusting molluscs with a small smirk, his hand settling on the rising ache in his side and his breathing a little more shallow.

"I'd have brought some for you if my trip had been better planned.." he frowned, recalling the moments that he'd stumbled from his room window and taken flight moments before hitting the ground.

 

[Maeve]

"Well, I don't suppose you would waste food on someone you were hoping to be able to kill," Mae shrugged nonchalantly then slurped down the last of the oysters with a satisfied sigh and leant back against the couch behind her. She didn't bother rising from the floor.

If it concerned her at all he had thought about killing her she didn't show it.

"I was always told you couldn't eat or drink things from the Fae if you're human but I guess... I'm not... fully human anymore," she wrinkled up her nose at the thought. Was she fae? Part fae? Was there even a word for what she was? It was a disconcerting thought and one that would spread the dark spot of loneliness upon her heart. Maeve played her knife over her fingers, lost in thought.

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan visibly winced as Mae so casually brought up the subject of his prior intentions, his throat clearing awkwardly.

"I mean, you can eat it.." he rumbled quietly, glad she'd changed the subject. "But human food would likely taste like ash in comparison. Unless you remained in the fae lands, you'd no doubt starve and die. Fae are... tricky.." he frowned, grimacing as he shifted slightly in his chair.

"Taking something from us, like food or flowers, or feathers.." his brow quirked at her. "Implies that you owe something in return. Particularly if you say thank you, sort of seals the deal." he smirked. She hadn't said thank you for either gift he'd given her, but she had at least accepted them.

"Fae alcohol seems to affect humans far more severely than it does with us. I can drink, a lot before it affects me but, one sip to a human and they're extremely...pliant." he looked at her, a flare of warning in his eyes. Who knew if she'd ever require to use his advice or not, once he was gone there would be nothing he could do to help her.. "So, I'd advise against it, just in case.. Fae kissed or not."

 

[Maeve]

Silence descended on the room like a thick, woollen blanket. Maeve had visibly paled at his warning of drinking and eating anything the fae gave them. All her life she had been taught of the dangers that surrounded the Gods that walked among them on the Isle. Not to follow them, talk to them, accepts gifts of any kind... her fingers unwittingly lifted to the feather in her hair to run her fingers down the edge. She debated giving it back but she couldn't owe a dying man much, could she? Did the debt fall to another fae? Would someone else try to claim her once he was gone?

She gave a quiet huff and shook herself from the worry.

"If it means I suddenly won't like oysters then I definitely don't want to try any fae things," she sniffed.

 

[Lorcán]

His dark brows furrowed and he sat up with a flinch as she reached for the feather, fearing she might try to give it back.. "You don't.." he said quickly, as though he'd read her mind. "You don't owe me anything. I'm not trying to trick you." he assured, his voice a slight strain with pain and he huffed, letting his eyes close as he rested his head back, a slight smirk on his lips as she spoke of oysters..

"Of all the things.." he laughed under his breath. "I hope, you never have to make the choice.." he sighed. "Like I said before, my home wouldn't have been safe for you..".. Other places, perhaps, but not Laigin, not near the Erlking.

Lòrcan was silent for a long moment before he finally murmured.. "I could never have done it, you know.. Not after I saw you." he frowned, his eyes struggling to reopen.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve stood gracefully and picked up one of the thick, warm blankets they had used last night and carefully laid it over him.

"Get some sleep Lòrcan," she bent to brush a bit of hair away from his eyes. "It's been a long day," and you don't need to convince me anymore. He had had multiple chances to kill her throughout the day and he had taken none of them. Quietly she straightened and turned away to clear up the remains of their - her - dinner and then piled a few more logs on the fire for him. A part of her wanted to try and coax him into one of the beds as it would be comfier but with the poison running through him she doubted feather mattresses would do anything to ease his discomfort.

"Goodnight," she murmured and slipped quietly into her room.

 

[Lorcán]

The prince's dark brows slowly rose and fell as she covered him with a blanket, the touch of her hand brushing his hair from his face had his eyes closing and a sigh escaped him. "Thank you.." he murmured. And yes, he owed her something, he owed her much, but the best he could do under the circumstances was wild flowers and feathers, like some sort of besotted magpie.

He watched her go, his eyes remaining on the door of her room for a long moment after it had closed, as though he silently willed it to open again. He felt awful, and the thought of him dying in the night, alone in this chair brought a new wave of self pity over him. He could almost hear his father's scolding. He never had been one for pity..

His jaw clenched and he pulled himself up from the chair, surprised by how much more effort it took in such a short space of time. He created the same nest as she'd slept in the night prior, and curled up in it, the scent of her still strong on the pillow she'd rested her head on, and his eyes closed.

 

[Maeve]

It took a while for sleep to come for her but when it did she dreamed she was flying.

She didn't recognise the wild land below her or the star constellations above her but there was a sense of home that filled her when she saw it. It was so warm! She marvelled at the feeling of it on her wings - wings? - as they flew on through the night sky. Everything was to peaceful, so calm, if she could stay up here forever she would be content...

The sound of the birds loudly chirping outside her window woke her and she blinked away the odd dream, though put it down simply to experiencing flight properly for the first time yesterday. A sigh left her as she lay there, enjoying the noises of a waking forest, then realisation dawned on her. Quickly she scrambled to her feet to check...

"Lòrcan?" she asked tentatively as she opened the door to her room.

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan's night had been far less pleasant. The chair he'd been sitting in earlier had been scorched, cushions and blankets were strewn around the room, and Lòrcan slept feverishly on the floor. His skin was deathly pale, his chest heaving erratically and his shirt clung, soaked with sweat to his body. His dark hair was stuck to his brow and beads of sweat shone on his furrowed brow.

He was muttering incoherently, as though in the midst of a bad dream.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve clenched her teeth.

He doesn't want to be saved, he doesn't want to be saved... she reminded herself as she stalked from her room to fetch a pail of fresh, cold water from outside. When she returned she took it straight to his side and dunked shredded bits of an old shirt in it.

"You know, you didn't think of one thing. How much work it was going to take to watch you die," she didn't know if she could hear him but listening to his wheezing breathing was agony and she needed it to cover it with something. Gently she laid the fabric over his sweat forehead.

 

[Lorcán]

The shadows were trying to swallow him whole, trying to claw their way back into his mouth, rob him of breath and stop his heart. His eyes moved under his lids as in his mind, he fought them, and fled. They had the shape of his father and the cold chill of his voice, each way he turned was another shadow killing Ama, killing Sid and Raph and... Maeve.

Lòrcan pleaded in his fever, every muscle bound tightly under his sweaty, pale skin and the black veins, now visible on the sides of his neck, now encircled his heart, as though fighting back against the handprint Maeve had left there. He couldn't breathe. His hands tore subconsciously at his shirt, taloned fingers shredding through fabric and skin as he fought to free himself from the shadow in his mind.

Her voice was distant, a soft echo in his nightmare before she stood behind him and loosed an ash arrow into his back. Another pained gasp was dragged into his lungs as he turned toward her and another flew straight into his heart. He cried out, and as though in effort to protect him from harm, the shadows started to crawl over his skin like the blackest of smoke. They slithered toward Maeve, and within moments they wrapped themselves around her throat and squeezed.

 

[Maeve]

Something changed in the natural morning shadows of the room. Maeve couldn't have described it even if her life had depended on it, but she had known in that primal part of her mind that they had gone from harmless to the type of shadows which ate children in the horror stories shared on Midwinter Feasts. It was the only warning she had before they speared towards her. With a yelp she tried to scramble back but tendrils wrapped around her legs and waist and held her in place. The thicket cord wound about her throat and begun to constrict.

"Lòrcan," Mae wheezed then gasped in a desperate attempt to get more air into her lungs before it was too late. "L-Lòrcan... Wake... wake up!" her fingers clawed desperately at the smoky tendrils but they slid through them as though they truly were made of nothing more than shadow.

 

[Lorcán]

Streaks of black, poisoned blood raced from his wounds to soak into the fabrics and floor that he lay squirming on. In his dream he fell to his knees, snapping at the ash arrows, each one he removed quickly replaced by another. His father watched him, a cold laugh hissing from his lips as he shook his head and sneered in disdain. In loathing.

"Pathetic.. You've always been pathetic.." The erlking snarled as Maeve shot another arrow that struck him through the shoulder. He screamed out and fell forward onto his hands and knees, dragging his gaze up to beg her, but what he saw instead stopped the words in his throat. His father's grin remained as he shifted from himself, into the image of his son and approached Maeve.

"N-no.." he rasped.

He watched as the illusion stood behind the mortal girl, and held a hand around her throat as he kissed at the side of her neck as his grip tightened, and tightened. He could hear her gasping for air, but he couldn't get up.

'Lòrcan...'

"Maeve.."

'L-Lòrcan... Wake... wake up!'

He frowned as he watched her shout at him to wake up.. Wake up? He was dreaming. Fuck. His eyes snapped open and he dragged a sharp, painful breath into his lungs, the shadows instantly returning to him and seeping into his skin.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve collapsed onto the floor beside him as the shadows released her. Her face was both pale and blotted as blood and air fought to rush back into her starved cells. The hand she had been using to claw at the shadows over her throat gently rubbed at the angry, deep maroon lacerations around her neck. Her head still swam and in the end she shut her eyes in an effort to stop the room from spinning quite so bad. Even then she could hear how laboured her breathing was and the pounding of her heart that was like a drum inside her ears.

Like his magic, hers reacted to what had been a very real threat only seconds ago.

At first she thought it was her blurry vision causing the stars to appear before her eyes but even as she blinked them away they grew brighter, bigger, expanding... Light as bright as a morning star burst over the room.

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan blinked hard as he looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't see. There was nothing but darkness, and he deliriously muttered her name amidst each panicked breath as his heart began to slow and his lungs tightened. Dying was...painful. It was not calm or peaceful, it was terrifying and heartbreaking and agony.

He stopped squirming as much as his breathing became more laborious, and he blindly reached out in search of her, a grimace of pain contorting his pale features as his lungs clawed for air.

Lòrcan seemed to feel the light before he saw it. A feeling of warmth that seemed to force it's way deep into his bones before it broke through his blackened vision and he had to close his eyes to shield them from it. It burned through him, and he could have sworn he felt something latch itself onto his very soul and slowly siphon every drop of poison from his blood. He let out a strangled cry, his spine arching from the floor and his muscles bulging with tension, his body radiating the light which now danced with shadow across his skin as the black veins receded.

It took less than a minute before his body eased and light and shadow cancelled one another out. Slowly, Lorcan's eyes opened and he blinked away the light spots that distorted his vision..his vision. He could see, and so he looked at her as he pulled in a deep, pain free breath.

 

[Maeve]

The light slowly fell back towards her body like a thousand fireflies. When they touch her skin they glowed for a brief second, tiny little sunbursts painting themselves over her skin, before vanishing entirely. Once the last drop of starlight landed on her forehead Maeve gasped in an lungful of air and rolled onto her side coughing violently. It felt as though she had been drowning and suddenly her lungs had been cleared of the water clogging them up. She retched but nothing came up so she gulped down more air instead. Her lungs burnt, her head hurt, and she could barely figure out where she was or how she had ended up on the floor. All she could remember were the shadows...

Her fingers rose to her throat but the welts were gone. With a groan she opened her eyes, wincing at the brightness of the dim room.

"You... were dreaming..." she began to explain.

 

[Lorcán]

His mouth gaped as he rolled to his side to watch her in stunned silence as the little lights float back to her like dying embers. It took him a moment to realise what had happened, and a glance down at his torso confirmed it. The black veins were gone, and all that remained were her handprint, and strange, swirling silver scars where shadow and light had danced over his body. She'd healed him, somehow.

Panic quickly set in as he recalled that feeling of something attaching itself to him, his heart sinking as he considered the worst. "No." He scrambled to her, dragging her into his lap as his hands cupped at her face, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Maeve? Maeve.. Please wa--" His words were cut short by her gasp and he let out a breath, letting her roll to her side and letting out a quiet laugh of relief. He stared down at her, the colour returned to his skin, the gold flecks of his eyes far brighter and his cheeks dimpled in a roguish grin.

"I know." he answered quietly, stroking a hand over her hair. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

'Please be alright..' he thought as he studied her face.

 

[Maeve]

"I'm fine..."

"It really is unfair he looks like that when I feel like I've just had a horse kick me in the chest."

Gingerly she pushed herself up into a seating position and rubbed a hand over her chest only to immediately regret it. It felt like her skin was on fire. Awkwardly she undid the buttons at the top of her tunic to see if there was any physical marker to explain what was causing such pain. What she saw however made her breath hitch. The blue tribal tattoos she had had inked on her skin on her 13th birthday as a sign of entering womanhood were changed. Tiny little stars now wove their way through and around the strands of blue creating strips of the starry night sky.

She blinked and then glanced up at him, noticing for the first time the swirls over his skin. Realisation seemed to dawn on her face.

"H-how do you feel?"