Private Tales Feathers & Fae

[Miane]

The Sereti Mountains
A Private Keep a couple days north of As Nineban

Place a dish of cream and honey on a rock, and pray for help.

Miane doubted anything would come of it. She'd found her mother's journals in a trunk deep in the attic the day before, and her father had never spoken of them. Perhaps he hadn't known they existed. She'd flipped through them, found one in particular that she would read over later, that seemed to be a journal of her daily life, this particular volume starting not long after marrying Miane's father.

But the ones she'd sorted through immediately seemed to be books of instructions, all in her mother's hand. Much of it she couldn't make heads or tails of, written in languages and symbols that she didn't know.

Just that one instruction had stood out to her, and it had stuck in her mind as she continued on through her day.

The remaining servants and guards at her family's keep were just as busy as she, in the weeks and months after her father's death. She wasn't sure what kind of help she'd prayed for, on the mountain paths behind the keep the evening before.

There's just so much, she'd whispered into the depths of the dusk as Akea waited nearby in a tree. I knew he was dying, but none of us expected it so soon. If I want to learn more about my magic, then I'll have to leave this place... but it's been my family's home for as long as I can remember. I don't know how to decide. What to do. Where to go.

She didn't know which nameless god or spirit she'd prayed to, and that alone probably should have made her hesitate, but besides those who served her family at the keep... she had no one. No except Akea.

Nothing had changed when she woke that morning, though, and so she kept herself busy with the duties of the day. Tending to the birds--most of them were nearly ready for their new homes, and then she would need to decide whether or not to begin rearing a new batch of falcons, sorting through her parents' remaining belongings, and making sure those maintaining the keep had what they needed.

It was with no expectation of an answer to her prayers that she left the keep at nightfall, calling Akea to her from the trees.

"Hello my love," she crooned softly to the barred owl as it landed on her outstretched hand, wrist and arm protected by a thick leather glove. "Shall we see what you can find to hunt tonight?"

Akea hooted softly, and reached forward to preen at Miane's hair for a moment, but she didn't reach out to connect with his mind just yet. Miane just laughed softly, and reached over to scratch the top of Akea's head before gently tossing him back into the air from her arm, following behind as he flew into the forest.


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

Soar high, high into the sky.
Leave behind this land too dry.
Tragic the events fall on you.
Pain clinging like morning dew.
All ears turn from your cry.
Seek only what is surely true.

Wind blew through an open window. Page fresh with ink turned. Smeared. Obscured. Lost.

A heavy sigh escaped ancient lips. The poet stared at the now blank page before his eyes. He knew what this was. A tiny, annoying event typically forgotten as quickly as it had transpired. For most it would be. For the shepherd of the lost it was a sign. A soul in need of guidance waited for him.

Quacey got out of his chair. His quiet home echoing as wood creaked and was drug across stone. His personal journal was pulled from the shelf of his ample study. He wrote the poem down. The words clear and living once more. Then he closed it and began to head for his room. He should get prepared to travel. He had a duty to uphold and it never did wait for him.

==========================================

The offering was presented. A prayer was made. The pathway between the wilds and the realm of mortals opened.

This was what Quacey had expecting. Into the darkness he strode. Each step never faltering. There was no need for fear here. All one needed to do was trust and they would never fall over the edge.

Where the mountain of a fae found himself was a dry place. Heat was quickly giving way to the cold. A place of sand and stone no doubt. He gazed about him. A bowl filled with cream and honey. The offered meal. He bent down and picked it up. Fresh, or as fresh as it could be. Eyes gazed about once again. A mortal. A girl. No. A woman.

Quacey turned to face her. In a calm voice he called out. "Have any bread for this cream and honey?"

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane didn't realize Akea had led her back to the clearing where she'd left the cream and honey the evening before until she heard someone speak.

In a calm voice he called out. "Have any bread for this cream and honey?"

She swore quietly under her breath, flicking her hand to signal Akea to perch in a tree to wait and watch, then her hand settled on the hilt of her sword as she turned to face the man.

"I have no bread with me," she said. "Who are you? A beggar lost in the mountains?"

The words were ridiculous, she realized, as she took in the sight of him. He was tall, and not slight or starving in the least, and his clothes were too fine for a beggar.

"Who are you?" she asked again, fingers gripping her sword hilt now, ready to draw it as soon as he became a threat.

The one thing she did know, with a certainty, was her duty to protect her family's ancient keep, and those who resided within it, even if they were not kin.


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

"Shame." He said with a hint of sorrow in his voice. Then he lifted the bowl to his lips and drank the entire thing down all at once.

As soon as the last drop was gone, he held it out towards the cautious girl. "This belongs to you does it not?"

A question had been asked. Who was he? The answer was too long and complex to give. So for now silence would do. She would come to know eventually. Not as if a question needed an answer right away.

He set the bowl down between them only a second after he had asked.

"What was it you prayed for? Why did you call out for me?" Quacey asked as he looked around them. Vague memories came to him. A place he likely had visited in the past, but recalled nothing more.

His attention then drifted up towards the night sky. Stars shown and the twins continued on with their dance. All was peaceful and quiet. A breeze was blowing. An occasional rustling of a branch. Reminded him of how it was back home before he had to leave. Perhaps he could capture some more calm before duty took him into chaos once again.

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane watched as he lifted the bowl of cream and honey to his lips and drank it down. Her fingers curled reflexively around her sword hilt, but she didn't make to draw the weapon just yet. When he held out the dish, asking if it was hers, she watched him silently until he set it down.

"What was it you prayed for? Why did you call out for me?"

Had he been waiting in these woods, then? Watching her? Her eyes flickered up to Akea for just a split second, then back to this man. She'd become lax in her surveillance of the forest lately. She would amend that, beginning tonight.

"I do not know who I called out for," Miane spoke the truth in that at least. "And I suppose I prayed for... wisdom. Guidance."

Miane's eyes lowered to the now-empty dish. "I... found a note, in an old journal of my mother's. Something to do, to pray, when one felt lost. That's all."

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The woman before him remained silent. Was she so unsure of what she wanted? An answer to why he was called here. He very much doubted she was lost in the simple sense and just needed to be guided to the road. She thought that he was the one lost on the mountain. So she was in need of something else.

And then she spoke.

Quacey turned his gaze away from the night sky towards her. A prayer for wisdom and guidance. A good decision. Actions only solved the issue of now. She needed solutions to the issue of tomorrow it would seem. The mention of a note from a journal. Mention of a mother but no mother here. Uncertain in who she called out to.

The fae walked over towards a place with boulders. He sat down and then motioned for her to join him. What decision would she make? Certainly he would need to learn more about her if he was to fulfill his part in the pact sealed when he drank the cream.

"Why do you feel lost? What wisdom, what guidance, do you seek?" Quacey said in a calm tone like the faint rumbling of the earth. "What did you expect would happen? Do you have so much faith in your mother's words?"

Miane

 

[Miane]

"I don't know what I expected to happen," Miane said after several moments of silence, continuing to observe the stranger. Part of her wanted to call Akea down from the tree to perch on her shoulder, but if she needed to fight this man, she'd need the owl for distraction.

"I never knew my mother," Miane finished. "She died bringing me into this world. But you haven't even given me your name, so whether you are a god or a spirit, I don't see that anything more is any of your business."

She stepped forward and fetched the bowl where he'd set it back down on the rock.

"If you're hungry or in need of a bed, there's a room for anyone in need within the keep." Miane pointed back down the trail. "I can show you the way."

Miane glanced back up at Akea then, meeting the owl's gaze. Wait here, then follow at a distance, she told him as their minds connected. I don't want a stranger to know of you.


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The fae just made a hmmm sound as he listened to what the woman who had called for him had to say in response. Uncertainty. Caution. Suspicion. All expected and understandable. Few knew what would happen when the ritual was invoked and the pact made. She was even following the words of a mother she hardly knew. It was admirable.

And yet she did two very rude things. She accused him of not providing his name despite her being the one who called him. The order was all wrong in what she expected. Something that would need to be corrected. And she just used magic in front of him.

Quacey sighed.

"A rather rude mortal you are. Summon me here for guidance, demand my name without ever offering your own, and then try to secretly command your companion in front of my face. Is that what passes for manners amongst mortals in this century?" Quacey said to her as he motioned in the general direction of her owl. Then he motioned towards her hand. "Is that why you are unmarried at such an age for a mortal as well?"

Miane

 

[Miane]

"How am I to know the proper etiquette when you have not even told me who or what you are?" Miane countered, her right hand tightening at her sword hilt once more. "I know enough to know that names have power, and while you may have answered my prayer for guidance, that doesn't make you trustworthy. I have gone so far as to offer you a room in my home without knowing more about you.

"As for Akea--" Miane stretched out her left hand here, and the barred owl flew down to land gently on her wrist "--it was less that I was secretly commanding him, rather that I communicated with him in the only way I have besides hand signals."

She quirked her head there, though. "Is it rude to use my gifts in my own home?"

Then her eyes flashed as she met his gaze. "But as for my hand in marriage... that's none of your business, unless you're asking for it."

She glanced up at the sky. "It'll be dark soon. If you need a place to stay, my offer still stands."


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

And the mortal woman just did not understand what manners were. Normally it was to be expected. Normally it would flow over and off of him like rain. Normally it would not bring out his ire. But under such a beautiful night sky with the twins shining so bright, it was ruining his peace. So he decided to teach this mortal a lesson in how one should conduct themselves.

"Enough!" His voice burst out of him with the intensity of a war horn.

His form began to grow as he raised up a single foot. Larger and larger and larger he became until he was three times the size she had seen him before. His foot came slamming down onto the ground and as it did everything began to shake like a minor earthquake had occurred. Darkness swirled around the two until it had swallowed them both up into a great, lightless cage. All that was left was the boulder he had tried to get her to sit with him at and a campfire that had not existed before providing the only light within this new place.

"The proper etiquette is for the one who calls to name themself first. Real or fake it does not matter. Wait for them to name themselves, but they do not have to. Ask questions yet make no demands. Be polite yet not a fool. This is the order of things that must be followed, even more so if one is a host. A peaceful pact if broken means either party is free to do as they please."

Quacey shrunk back down to his original size. He motioned towards the boulder before him. "Now sit. We will begin again."

And so the fae waited for her to make her choice. Do as he said or walk away into the darkness.

All that had occurred was but illusion. Changes in perception in what one experienced. Trickery. Deception. The essence of the fae. It was all things that could be seen through. Things that could be rejected and would fade. If so all it would have been was a large man stomping his foot on the ground while speaking as if he was a child throwing a tantrum.

Miane

 

[Miane]

"Enough!" His voice burst out of him with the intensity of a war horn.

Miane almost drew her sword, but she wondered if it would do any good. Fear struck her heart, but she didn't cower. His size didn't frighten her. She'd been raised on these mountain slopes, after all, and while he made a frightening display of power, her senses told her that he was still flesh and blood.

The darkness, though, a darkness which made even Akea shy away where he perched on her arm, was enough to keep her frozen in place.

As he chastised her, she fought the urge to simply turn and leave. While the sight of things around her had changed... the feel of the ground beneath her feet had not. She'd grown up walking this mountainside in the brightest daylight and the darkest hours of the darkest nights. She could find her way home simply by counting her steps.

But this creature was right, in some regards, though his etiquette was backwards. Here, it was the guest who introduced themselves first, but if he didn't know that, then she was willing to at least concede that he might be from very far away.

And she owed him no courtesy after that comment about her marriage, or lack thereof. If he knew that much about her at just a glance, then surely he already knew her name as well.

But he had, at least, given an apparently small show of his power, and as he beckoned to the boulder, she knew that for the present, there would be no other she could learn from.

So she bent her arm, bringing Akea to her shoulder, and he shifted to rest there instead of on her wrist. She gracefully removed her heavy leather gloves, and came to sit on the boulder, facing the fire, and laying the gloves across her knees.

"You can call me Mia," she said after a calculated silence. It was close enough to her name that she wouldn't falter, but different enough that it wasn't her true name.


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The fae watched her. Frightened stubbornness. That was how he would describe her. Few mortals dealt well with such a show of power, no matter how lacking it was in reality. She seemed ready to argue with him. To point out how he was somehow wrong. Perhaps he was in some way. But that did not matter now. If she didn't choose now then nothing would be able to help her back to the proper path.

But, thank the twins, she sat down. She gave him a name, unlikely her true name. But a name was proper and something he could work with. A smile and a bow were given to her after she spoke.

"I am Quacey." He lifted his head and shoulders back up to a proper sitting position. "She said you seek wisdom and guidance. You mentioned your late mother's books directing you to call upon me. Why? What drives you to take these steps Mia? How is it you find yourself lost in the darkness far from your path?"

And then he waited. Perhaps now she would be more willing and less stubborn. It was a foolish thing to call upon one of the duanann and then argue with them. Luckily it was he she had called and not one of these others. Precious few would be so patient with her. A fact that had saved her life this day.

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane nodded politely as the creature--Quacey--gave his name, then turned to gaze into the crackling fire. She still didn't know what to make of him, and she wasn't about to go into all the details of her life... but she could start with one thing. The biggest thing that loomed over her future.

"It is less that I am lost," she answered, "and more that I do not know how to choose which is the right path. Do I stay here and continue my family's legacy, and maintain the home that's been in our family for thousands of years... or do I leave, and find someone to teach me how to use the magic I possess?"

She sighed, reaching up to stroke Akea's feathered breast. The darkness around them was still unnerving. She relied heavily on the sounds of nature to help her keep her bearings in the mountains, and while she knew where she was unless this Quacey had somehow moved the boulder to another place entirely... she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something--anything--might sneak up on them. Her right hand fidgeted, fingers twisting at the folds of her skirt.

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

Unless it flew in the air nothing was going to sneak up on them while Quacey's feet were firmly planted on the ground. What was more of a concern for him was what the mortal had to say. Uncertain about her path and yet so sure about what paths were available to her. She had lost sight of things. Perhaps because of some lose. Perhaps because of the burden of blood. Perhaps because she had no one to lean on like a husband. He did not know, but he wouldn’t let that stop him from trying to help.

"Are you certain only two paths lay before you? You say you aren't lost, but being unsure of the right path is what it means to be lost. One doesn't need to leave the road to lose themselves. The first thing you need to do is admit to yourself you are lost. The next is really weigh your options. You see only two, but I see more than that. Try not to focus so hard on what you think you have to do and more on what you could do."

Quacey noticed how nervous hand movements. Seemed she was bothered more than he realized. Certainly not all by this discussion he hoped.

Miane

 

[Miane]

As if sensing her discomfort, Akea started softly preening the loose hair around Miane's ear. She listened to Quacey, and softly snorted. She disagreed with his definition of lost, but that was an argument that could wait.

"I was desperate enough to call on a being I know nothing of," she pointed out with a deprecating glance at Quacey. "I think that should count toward admitting that I'm lost."

As he mentioned her options, though, she shook her head and laughed wearily.

"Do you know anything about where we are?" she asked, gesturing around them as if the darkness wasn't there. "The Shtakmat State? They are highly religious, and the only reason my family has been permitted to remain here without adhering to their faith is because we were here before them, and because they like our falcons.

"There are already rumors of the mountain witch with the owl familiar who spies on the devout Sahiya to learn how to tempt them away from their god. No, if I am to learn my magic, then I must leave here, and doing so will mean I must give up all that my family has worked for over thousands of years."

She sighed then, looking down at her lap. "It would be an easy decision, if there were not those who who relied on the safety of this fortress--of my family's name--to live peaceably."


Quacey

 

[Quacey]

Details began to be revealed. Complex political issues tied into heritage. He would say it all sounds silly and foolish but the fae were no better. Honestly the fae were silly and foolish by nature, not that any of them would admit it. Her dilemma was making more sense.

"I do not see why you still can not do both. learn your magics." Quacey said as his hand gestured about. "You could seek a tutor from that human city Elbion could you not? They are respected so learning from them would counter accusations of being a witch. And you could stay to fulfill your role as leader."

Seemed like such a simple solution yet it was not. It would be very difficult for her to do and require passion to fuel success. But did she have that passion? Was it her inner desire? Certainly it worked for her political problem but did it work for her personal one?

Quacey looked at her. He looked deep into her eyes. "Enough about your people's problem. What is it that Mia the woman wants? To find love? Adventure? Peace? Ignore all thoughts of others and their desires of you. Ask what Mia desires and tell me out loud with your own voice what it is."

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane laughed, though not cruelly, when Quacey suggested taking a tutor in Elbion to allay the rumors of her being a witch.

He really knew nothing about this region at all, it seemed.

"It would not matter whether I was born with the ability to use my magic in fullness, or whether I learned from the college in Elbion," she said. "So long as I refrain from worshipping the Sahiyi god, I will be seen as an outsider, and with my magic, as a witch."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he continued to speak. It felt like trying to talk to a brick wall.

Love... she'd had love. Her father had loved her deeply and he'd been her closest friend, and he'd raised her not to need anyone besides herself. If anyone else had ever shown an interest in her, romantic or otherwise, they'd never stepped forward, and on her end, there'd never been anyone that caught her eye enough to make a move of her own. Adventure... she raised and trained falcons for a living. If that wasn't adventure enough, then she was a thrill-seeker. Peace, well... who didn't desire peace, but she would be a fool to think that she'd find it anywhere outside of her own heart.

"What do I desire?" she repeated, trying not to scoff. Had she not just said? But perhaps, if she said it a little differently... "To be able to live without hindrance, free of other people's derision and scorn, and without worry that those under my protection will pay when other people's fear of me becomes too great for them to ignore or resist."

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The fae wanted to sigh as he listened to the mortal woman speak. She was far too caught up in such trivial politics. Even this religious group was caught up in it all. All of it was to such a degree that she would never escape the darkness around her.

Her spoke desire attested to how lost she had become. What she sought could never truly be. There would always be someone who brought their troubles upon you and judged you. His own centuries of life were a prime example.

Quacey looked to her. An idea had formed. A way to perhaps buy her time to resolve her issue. One she was sure to laugh and deny in her stubbornness.

"Your desire is impossible to fully achieve. I spent decades or even centuries attempting it myself. Eventually trouble will find you and make you pay for the time you spent ignoring it."

Quacey held out a hand to her with his palm facing up.

"But you may be able to buy time with some absence. Make a pact with me and I will spirit you away to learn before you return to fulfill your duties."

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane had known much of it simply wasn't possible when she spoke it aloud. She would never be able to control what people thought of her. What they said of her. But this Quacey had seemed to not be satisfied with anything she said so far, so she finally put to words the impossible wishes that twisted through her mind in the darkest depths of the night.

Quacey held out a hand to her with his palm facing up.

"But you may be able to buy time with some absence. Make a pact with me and I will spirit you away to learn before you return to fulfill your duties."

She gazed at his hand dubiously, and it took everything in her not to scoff. Not to throw her head back and laugh, unheeding of the consequences, and wipe away tears of mirth when she'd caught her breath.

She was torn between fury and laughter, but since she had a feeling that laughter would only get her killed in this moment, she let the rage settle over her. Rage was easier to control, though it sparked in her eyes, and Akea tensed on her shoulder, his feathers pulling in tight.

Easy, Akea, she whispered in her mind, taking a deep breath and twisting to face Quacey, ignoring his outstretched hand.

"Whatever spirit or god you might be," she said, slowly and patiently as if speaking with a child, "you seem to be misunderstanding something. My duties are not something that can wait to be fulfilled. I am already in the midst of them. And no matter how badly I wish to learn something, to perhaps find some answers for myself, to abandon those who rely on me for protection and livelihood would be not just a betrayal of my word and my family's honor, but also require me to set aside something that is the very core of who I am."

She may be uncertain of what path to take to shape her future, but there was one thing Miane was certain of: her own values, and the sacrifices she was willing to make.

"My absence is not something I can simply enact on a whim," she said, meeting Quacey's gaze without wavering. "And I have heard of no god nor power in this world that can stop or alter the flow of time, so my absence would be noted. I am responsible both for living creatures who are not free to fend for themselves, and for people. I will not endanger any of them by simply disappearing. Nor will make a pact and bind myself to someone I do not know."

She stood then, ready to walk off into the darkness Quacey had constructed. "I offered you a place to stay, should you need it, and that offer still stands. Akea needs to hunt for his dinner. You can accompany us, or you can head for the keep and tell them that the Lady of the Owl sent you for shelter."

He spoke in riddles already. If he could not make sense of her subtle invitation to stay, to be someone that she came to know, then that was his problem. He'd had cream and honey, after all. It wasn't like he came all this way with no recompense.

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The fae frowned. Mortals were always so difficult to deal with. They misunderstood things so easily and always assumed the worst or the best. They got angry and blamed you for their faults in thought. So that was how it went with the woman.

Mia declined his offer and went on a little lecture. Duty this. Duty that. She did not understand true Duty. Yes others depended on her, but she had the choice to continue or stop. She didn't know that tug, that compulsion, of true Duty. A force beyond your understanding that demanded things of you while stripping away any semblance of a choice. Something you could not escape. Duty was why he was here now having a young mortal woman a tiny fraction of his years lecturing him over Duty right now.

But Quacey didn't stop her. She would never know true Duty. It was not something for mortals. They had their own pseudo Duty to worry of and she was taking her own seriously. It was admirable.

He just held his hand out until she was done speaking. A twist of it as he returned his hand to his own space and the darkness around them vanished. The fire faded. He stood and then disappeared into an eclipse of moths fluttering about in every direction.

His voice echoed out from seemingly all around her, "Go. Hunt. I will return when you are done."

She needed time to think. Something he would give her at least a false sense of being alone to do. He would just watch her and learn more about who she was.

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane didn't so much as flinch as the darkness around her fled, nor did she react when Quacey's form dissipated into moths. The last of the evening light shone golden through the trees.

She did scowl, however, at the sound of his voice.

His voice echoed out from seemingly all around her, "Go. Hunt. I will return when you are done."

She huffed, then replaced her gloves and lifted a hand to lower Akea from her shoulder. She smoothly tossed him into the air. Hunt, love, she whispered in her mind. I'll be fine.

The owl circled around her once, and she could feel his skepticism, but after a moment, he soared into the trees and disappeared from sight. She followed a moment later.

If Quacey watched her from some unseen place, he would see her working her way along an unseen path. Every so often, she would crouch down and pluck some leaves or flowers from a plant, tucking them into a pouch she kept at her waist. Sometimes she press a hand to a tree or a stone and whisper a word, and a pulse of magic would reverberate through the air.

Wards, but meager ones, that she'd cobbled together the workings of on her own through trial and error. Enough to redirect unwary humans with ill intentions. Not enough to even come close to deterring the fae. They'd been placed by her great-grandmother, and at that time they would have kept the fae out, but not now. Not with Miane's lack of knowledge.

After about an hour or so, Akea swept back through the air toward her. Miane held out her arm without even looking up, and he landed on her leather-gloved wrist, and she placed him back on her shoulder before returning to the main trail that led through the forest around around her keep.

---

Miane looked around warily as she approached the gate to her keep. She hadn't returned to the clearing where she met Quacey on her way back, uncertain if she could face him again there without losing her temper. She heard no sounds of alarm from within, though, and the gates opened to her as she approached.

Akea stayed perched on her shoulder, and she ducked into the small office built into the stone wall just inside the gate.

"Have any strangers come since I went out, Arman?" she asked an older gentleman seated at a desk. The room was lit with candles, and orange light flickered against the walls.

"Not that I am aware of, my lady," he said, looking up from his books with a concerned glance. "Should we expect someone?"

"I... am uncertain," she answered. "Tell the guards to keep an eye out. I met someone in the woods, and offered him shelter should he need it. But it was hard to judge his intentions. He's definitely a stranger to these lands."

"I will tell them, my lady," Arman said with a gentle nod, and she returned his gesture before stepping back out of the office.

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

Ritualistic. The mortal woman did things in certain orders. Touching of waning wards. Plucking of plants. All activities with purpose and reason. A very serious person so far based on these activities and her previous words. Shame. It was no wonder she was having an issue finding a suitable husband.

Eventually her owl returned and they returned to that fort she kept mentioning before. Inside she went to specific room and spoke with her guards. No doubt it was about Quacey, but it was possible she had other visitors expected. Stranger things happened.

After she stepped out of the office, he decided it was best to having his promised return.

As Miane had gone about her rituals and activities in the fort, she might have noticed more moths than usual. Walking along her way she would suddenly have a massive eclipse of them fly by and around her. Eventually they would swirl into a ball in front of her and in their place would stand a tall figure.

The moths collapsed into the figure. Quacey was now before her. He looked down at her.

"I return."

Miane

 

[Miane]

Miane had noticed the influx of moths as soon as she stepped out of the office, but bit back a sigh and continued to the mews. She settled Akea for the night, checked in with the mews' guards for the evening, then led the congregating moths out of the mews and into a quiet hall that led out to the main yard. It was lit with torches, but wasn't a main thoroughfare through the keep.

She slowed her steps, waiting.

When the moths swirled in front of her, then collapsed into the form of Quacey, she stayed silent, not raising an alarm. Yet.

He looked down at her.

"I return."

She raised a brow, snorting quietly.

"Yes, that is clear," she answered. "Though I am... uncertain as to why. I do not know why my plea summoned you, and I don't know what it is you want of me now. You keep offering help of some sort, but don't expound on what type of help you might give that will actually aid me."

She met his gaze then, her blue eyes fierce and unyielding. "I feel like you are mocking my life, and my choices, and the ways I've had to deal with the obstacles and hurdles thrown into my path."

There was the quiet shuffle of boots on stone then, and Miane looked over to see a couple of guards appear in the hall's entrance. She raised her hand and flicked her fingers before squeezing them into a fist, then lowered her hand again. The guards stepped back, just out of sight, but not out of earshot should she raise her voice and call for aid. They would not, though, hear their conversation should their voices stay low and calm.

Quacey

 

[Quacey]

The guards trying to stay hidden were doing a terrible job of it, at least concerning doing so from Quacey. He could feel every slight movement they made. But their presence was of no concern to him. He could freely come and go from this place as he pleased. His earlier action should have made that clear. Mostly he was planning to behave out of respect for being a guest in another's home.

What was more concerning was the look and words offered to him by the mortal woman. She had called upon him and made the offering without knowing what it all meant. Other fae might take advantage of such a misstep. Luckily for her, he had no such inclination... yet. For now a pact was in place and she was still in need of his help figuring out what she should do.

A slight frown formed on Quacey's face as he just looked down on the shorter mortal.

"If I wished to mock you then I would not be so subtle about it. Such an action would be a rude thing to do to a spinster such as yourself."

The edges of his lips twinged a bit, but he never did stop that slight frown.

"As for why I am still here, it is because you misunderstand my purpose. I am here to help you not solve your problem for you. There is no point in taking someone lost back to the road if they can not find their way back on their own if it happens again."

He was observing her. That was his current purpose. Come to an understanding and guide her to a place she was ready to accept help. There was far more options and creative solutions available to her than she was allowing herself to have. There would be nothing he could do to help her if she was not willing to accept his help after all. Best she open her eyes on her own before he showed her the light.

Miane

 

[Miane]

It felt like they were each saying the same thing to each other, but neither of them was hearing or understanding. Miane sighed, but her eyes flashed at the word spinster. Quacey had berated her for her supposed lack of manners several times, but he was just as lacking.

"Unless you are seeking to court me and woo me," she said through gritted teeth, "my marital status is absolutely none of your concern, and those comments will stop. Immediately. But let me state here and now that I have seen little from you that would even suggest you to be an adequate husband, in manner or ability. It will take quite a lot of convincing on your part for me to accept any suit from you."

Miane took a deep breath and stepped back, her fist clenched at her side. "Guards!" she called, though not in alarm, and beckoned them forward when they appeared around the corner.

"As for the rest of what you said," she answered as the guards approached, "I never asked for answers to be given to me. I needed a listening ear and guidance, the former of which you have barely provided, and the latter has been cloaked in insults and riddles. So I think it best now that we part ways for the night."

She turned to the guards. "This is Master Quacey," she said, as he'd offered no title and simply his name. "Please show him to the guest quarters, and fetch a servant to see to his needs."

The guards were armed with swords and spears, but their armor was only leather breastplates. It had been many generations since Miane's family could afford to keep their soldiers in plate armor, but they didn't have much need for it anyway. The guards and soldiers here were for defending the keep and family, not marching to war.

"Have a good night," Miane said to Quacey, then she turned on her heel and vanished into the shadows at the far end of the hall.

---

"He's a boor," Miane muttered to Shila, her lady's maid, a bit later as the servant combed and braided her hair after Miane's bath. Miane kept picking up trinkets on the vanity and throwing them back down, her face seemingly stuck in a snarl for the time being.

"Well, he's certainly managed to get under your skin rather quickly," Shila said, amusement in her voice. "There. Your braid's done. Do you have any particular clothes you want laid out for the morning?"

Miane shook her head. "Just normal clothes."

Miane dreamed of moths all night long.



Quacey