Private Tales Legends are not born, they are Made

[Maeve]

"I'm not letting you go alone, Lorcán, not when this involves me."

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Maeve had never met the Erlking but she hated him to his very core. Not only for the pain he had brought her mate and his closest friends but because it was only ever over him that she and Lorc fought. And she hated it. She hated digging her heels in and throwing a tantrum like a toddler but doing so was the only way for him not to try and keep her on that island. Safe. When would he realise that safe meant nothing when he came home so angry and upset? At least here, this close, he wouldn't have to deal with the pull and the feeling of her mad and upset with him. This... compromise was the best for them both. Ish. Maeve would have preferred to win the argument outright and be in the room talking to Midir herself - and a choice few things she'd have to say too!

Maeve kicked a rock as she thought about what exactly she would say to the man who decided when the most powerful fae lived or died.

The rock skipped along the lakes surface disturbing the calm mirror like surface. It managed a good five skips before suddenly water erupted and from the depths jumped a kelpie covered in weeds and vines. Maeve took several steps back up the bank but the creature did not turn towards her. Once it hit the water it vanished back below its depths. She had been thinking of going for a swim not too long ago and now thanked the stars who watched over her from staying her hand.

"Does anything in the fae world not try to kill you?" she murmured to herself as she made her way back up the bank to a tree where she had dumped her stuff. She had had ever pure intention of sitting there and reading until the wave of anger - no doubt from her mate - had hit her and she'd felt the need to pace.

 

[Fraeya]

Just a few trees back from the very tree Maeve had her stuff against was a small clearing. A loud SMACK was heard and a few rising voices. Voices that held sharp currents of anger, hunger, pride, and violence.

"...maybe you shouldn't. If the matriarch finds out-"

"She won't find out. The mut'll heal well before then."

"...but Delun and the Erlking-"

A sharp, vicious laugh.

"If you think either of them will ever find out. And I bet we'd get rewarded if the Erlking found out. But if you've lost your balls Fal'adas. Then let her go and I'll take care of her myself."

"No. Just maybe-"

SMACK.

Fraeya winced as she felt the sharp tang of blood on her lips as another blow lanced across her face. As much as Fal'adas wavered, his grip didn't loosen on her wrists he held behind her back. She spit a glob of blood out on the grass at her knees. For some reason, she thought when she became fae things wouldn't hurt so much. Sure, the blows she was getting now would've killed her as a human. But they were also just as painful.

"Someone has to teach this monstrosity a lesson," Warren sneered and landed another blow across her swollen and bruised jaw. Fraeya struggled as a low grow curled from her own lips.

 

[Maeve]

Stay out of trouble, Maeve. I mean it.

It had been the number one condition of being allowed to even enter the Autumn Court. It was also why Maeve hesitated when she heard the sounds of flesh being pummelled and the growled out words. If it had been any other time she wouldn't have given it a second thought to rush in there and save whoever was being beaten to brutally. Instead though she chewed over her lip and weighed up her options.

The offenders might just leave soon when they were bored. She could wait and then help. That, technically, would mean she hadn't been getting into trouble just helping someone else without the risks. But what if they didn't grow tired? Fae could torture bugs for hours and find glee in it.

Her eyes slowly panned back to the lake.

Maybe she didn't have to get into trouble. Picking up another rock she headed back to the waters edge.

 

[Fraeya]

"If you touch me one more time," she breathed and pulled against Fal'adas.

"You'll what?" Warren crooned and flexed his hand. Even his knuckles had felt that last blow. Fraeya already hated the idea that she'd have to go on hunts with them one day. Had she known she'd do anything to keep the balance and safety of the book?

Even this?

Fae made?

That night was still a blur. She just remembered begging the Erlking to kill her. His look of disappointment. The amount of pain. Somehow ending up back with Delun. His furious face as he sent a letter somewhere. She had a suspicion it was to the King.

She'd never seen him quite that mad before. He'd been worried the night at the ball, so long ago when this whole thing started. But this was wholly different. He'd stayed with her the rest of the night even though she found him disappearing whenever she woke up. The next morning he took her to the shuck matriarch.

And that was the last she'd seen him. Even though he'd made it a point to say she still worked for him. And it had twisted her new heart to see how upset he still was.

Warren's voice brought her back as he knelt in front of her. His dark eyes level with her own meadow-greens. "You can't even turn. We don't even know if you can do anything other than being pathetic. A waste of magic. And a waste of space."

For a moment, Fraeya thought she caught a flash of red down by the outline of a lake through the trees. Fraeya pulled her arms and got one free.

Warren lunged backward with a sudden start, much to her glee even as Fal'adas tackled her to the ground. "So brave," Fraeya grunted. "Can't even face me alone, can you?" She knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Goad him. Perhaps a little bit of her brother was coming through.

 

[Maeve]

Balfour raised his shaggy head as Maeve marched past him. The Cù Sìth had not left her side the moment he had bonded to her and decided he was hers so of course he had come with her on this adventure. She was pretty sure it was what had eased Lorcan's anxieties a little further.

"I'm not doing anything stupid, or dangerous!" she glanced over at the hound who merely tilted its head causing one ear to flop to the side whilst the other perked forward. Disbelief was written clear as day across those canine features. Maeve chose to ignore it however and continue on with her half thought out plan. Grabbing another stone she launched it across the lake, this time a little harder than before. Sure enough the great swamp kelpie rose from the depths to snatch at the offensive lump of rock but this time, before it dive back down, Maeve launched another directly at its head.

And this time it didn't sink below the surface.

Further up in the treelines the group would suddenly head the snapping of trees and a great thunderous scream like a horse who had just been burnt with the branders plate. A second later the kelpie came hurtling through the undergrowth, snarling and snapping at any that got in its way.

 

[Fraeya]

"Oh fu-," Fal'adas swore, seeing the monstrous kelpie first and Fraeya suddenly found herself freed. Warren didn't have time to turn around as she suddenly felt teeth and hooves on his back. He screamed and yelped as he was dragged forward. Fraeya scrambled out of the hooves and strange vines of the beast just in time. Moving like a blur and rolling into the bushes.

Chest heaved as she caught her breath and waited to see if the beast would keep going. If the others were also truly gone. She'd be lying if she didn't admit that the small smirk curling on her lips wasn't from satisfaction at hearing Warren's yelps and growls of pain as he got dragged further and further away. Fal'adas screamed like a child, too.

A swamp kelpie.

She'd never seen one before. Just heard the legends growing up here. Did she have luck to thank for it or something else? Willing herself to move, she slowly crawled out from the underbrush and stood, the back of her hand cuffing across her bleeding lip. She knew the pain would go away soon.

One tiny perk of her transformation was the healing ability.

It was a wonder she'd survived with the fae as long as she had just as a human and with the way things were going now...she didn't know how long she'd survive as one of them. Bruised and bleeding self began retracing the kelpie's tracks from whence it came from the swamp. She moved silently and frowned as she spotted a redhead. Fraeya was about to sneak away and leave, deciding she didn't want to invite anymore trouble for the day when there was a growl at her side.

Greens snapped to the Cu Sith.

Fraeya froze.

"Easy," she breathed, knowing she'd been given away now but not willing to break eye contact with the one growling at her.

 

[Maeve]

"Balfour!" Maeve hissed from up in the trees. The Cu Sith didn't stop his snarling though and if anything his hackles raised further. The redhead scrambled off the branch and landed with a soft thud on the balls of her feet, bringing down a few fresh green spring leaves with her. One of which she plucked from her hair before grabbing the scruff of the hounds neck. Instantly he turned from snarling demon to adorable puppy, looking up at Maeve with round innocent eyes and attempting to lick at her arm.

"What did we just go through in training, hm?" she scolded until the hound whined an apology and she released him, tickling behind his ear to show she was no longer mad. Only then did she seem to remember Fraeya and glanced to the other fae with an awkward smile.

"I'm sorry about him, he's still just a puppy. Are you... are you okay?" she eyed up the swelling bruise beneath her eye.

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya stared. Not fully relaxing even as Balfour calmed himself down. A hand pushed through tangled light hair, away from her brow. When her hand dropped it pulled some leaves that had lodged there free. She let them drop to the ground with a flutter of her fingers.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she huffed, a defensive tone. Fingers lifted again to gingerly feel along her swelling lip.

She was used to putting on a mask of toughness for survival. And even now, it was no different. Even as her gaze flickered beyond the redhead, then to the Cu Sith. Half wishing the beast had gone ahead and torn out her throat.

"I think I'll be fine," she murmured a little more quietly. Bright green-eyes snapped back to the female. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you visiting from another court?"

 

[Maeve]

"That doesn't look fine," she nodded to her swelling eye with a small frown. "Let me..." Maeve trailed off as Fraeya asked the question of dread. Where was she from? She swallowed and glanced down to Balfour whose eyes were trained completely on her in that loving, doting way of a dog who loved its life. She scratched his head with a smile.

"I don't come to the Capital often, I prefer... quieter towns." she shrugged a single, slender shoulder. Mae certainly wasn't dressed like any city dweller with her wild hair strew with leaves, the intricate tattoos across her skin and the wide legged trousers that almost looked like a skirt paired with a cropped leather-made corset.

"My name's Maeve," she held out a hand.

 

[Fraeya]

Hand dropped from the angry flesh on her face. She hesitated as Maeve held out her hand. Stepping forward slowly, NON-THREATENINGLY BEAST. See?! Slow movements here. Nothing but slow, nice movements. She held out her own hand and shook Maeve's.

"Fraeya," she exchanged.

Slowly, a flash of recognition dawned on her face, thinking of Isiell. "Oh. Oh! Are you the one that slapped Prince Lorcan?" Swollen lip sneered in clear distaste at the name, Lorcan.

Fae male prick.

It would make sense, though if this was the one Isiell had mentioned. Back when Isiell was trying to recruit Fraeya as her warlock. If only the dawn fury could see her now?

Stars, what a mess.

It was like learning to walk again. Learning how to exist and be all over again. And while the den mother was trying her best, it was hard with a new magic-made species.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve went nearly as red as her hair. The Hunt had not been her... finest moment and she regretted deeply it was the first impression she had left on the Autumn Court. Blushing and stammering like a child probably wasn't doing her any more favours either so she swallowed and tried to pull herself together. To distract herself from her own anxieties she began pulling other leaves from her hair. In her rush to get out of the kelpies way she hadn't had time to climb gracefully.

"I.. well yes. It was very... rude of me though," she grimaced. Rude was an understatement. It had broken him and her in a way that had taken months to heal properly.

"Can I ask... why... were those men doing that to you?"

 

[Fraeya]

Blonde-brows rose nearly into her hairline. A shake of her head and a quiet chuckle. "Oh please, knowing it was Prince Lorcan, he more than deserved it. There was this one time he..," she paused at Maeve's next question.

A short, bitter chuckle this time. Moving past Maeve, she went to the water's edge and dug into her pocket. Squatting down, she pulled something out and held it between her fingers. A glance over her shoulder at the redhead. "Typical fae male prickness?" A shrug of her slender shoulders as her attention went back to the watery surface of the swamp.

"For how much fae pride themselves in being superior to humans they act a lot like them. More than they'd ever admit. Being scared of or angry at what they don't understand." Perhaps when she'd been a changeling she would've kept her mouth shut. Never dared to share this with another fae. But she wasn't a human anymore.

Hand shifted and she left the small offering by the water's edge. Being fae didn't stop her from leaving boons behind. Even though she probably didn't need the support and favor anymore, she couldn't break the habit. And Syrillia could be a grumpy water nymph. Now that Fraeya knew she shared these waters with that kelpie, she could understand why.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve trailed after the other fae as she spoke of humans and fae. It made her brows knit together. Only Sid, Raphael, Fiadh and Lorcan knew that she had been Made and because of that the other fae she often found herself around did not sugar coat what they thought of humans. Most had no strong feelings towards them, others saw them much like a human did a good dog, and some saw them as pests that would be better if they were controlled. She'd never heard any of them, no matter how much they liked humans, compare them in such a way.

Curious she drew to stand beside her as she did her offering.

"And they don't understand you?" she filled in the unsaid part of the sentence. "But you... look similar to them. Are you not the same kind of fae?"

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya slowly straightened and looked at Maeve. While Fraeya was perhaps, a little short for a fae, she was a little taller than she had been as a human. And she found herself having to crane her neck far less looking at fae now. It was a strange sensation. A small unsettling to add to the large pile of unsettling and new things since being turned.

"No, they don't understand me. I used to be human," she admitted bluntly. Again, surprised that Maeve hadn't heard about her already or hadn't already known about her. Fraeya had caused quite a stir at the ball when she'd initially made the bargain. And before that...just being associated so closely with Delun and the book.

Lifting her hand, she tugged some leaves out of her own blonde locks.

"And no, what I am...is new," she admitted, letting a crushed brown leaf fall from her fingers to the ground. Brilliant greens shifted back to her pet. "Do you always travel with a bodyguard?"

 

[Maeve]

I used to be human...

Maeve's eyes widened and the rest of what Fraeya said faded into a murmur. Another human turned fae. Fiadh had never heard of such a thing in her centuries of being and Lorcan had only found hints of rumours in the dusty tomes of the Autumn libraries. The occurrence, if it had happened before, was incredibly rare. Yet now there had been two within months of each other. The hairs on the back of her neck began to raise.

"Bodyguard? What? Oh," Maeve glanced down at Balfour whose head was tilted to the side as he gazed up at her. Still just a puppy. Soon she would be looking up at him. "Apparently it is what his kind do, they bond with the person they first see when they're born," she shrugged and ruffled the hounds ears.

"I..." she glanced around but there was nobody to be seen. "What was it like for you, when you changed?" she whispered. "Do you find it hard to control magic?"

 

[Fraeya]

"You're lucky you have him," Fraeya said quietly. A sharp pang in her chest. A longing for something she'd never had. Until recently she might've had with Cassian. But now...

Fraeya truly had no one. Lexi and Cassian had barely accepted her when she'd been human. Now? Now she was too scared to go see them or go back. Delun was the closest thing she had as any kind of family but he was distant at best. Isiell had disappeared. Nairth was the Spring King and all the fae she knew always had their own agendas. Fraeya had always known she'd been meant to uphold this precarious balance of worlds. Even before the brownies shared their prophecy. Even before the Mystics shared their vision. But no one had prepared her for the cost of how lonely it would be.

Noticing Maeve's gaze, Fraeya blinked and looked around too, wondering who or what the redhead was looking out for.

She'd never met another fae so...nervous.

Not in Autumn court or really anywhere. They always seemed so sure of themselves. Saw themselves as gods and goddesses meant to walk and rule the earth. Especially the duanan. Wasn't she a duanan?

"When I changed? It was awful. It felt like I was dying over and over again." She winced and for a moment, her fingers trembled before she clenched her hands into fists at her sides. She chose not to answer the female's other questions yet. "Why're you so curious? Usually fae are too disgusted to talk to me or seem to think I"m cursed and don't want to get close."

 

[Maeve]

Well, she supposed she deserved that question.

"I..." her cheeks almost turned the colour of her hair. Instead of answering right away she turned and wandered closer to the waters edge to sit herself down on the sands - a very un-fae like thing to do. Certainly of a Duanann. Though there was a natural grace to her her manners were at odds with it. She barely thought at all of the lessons Fiadh had been trying to impart to her about acting like a fae.

"Will you promise not to tell?" she asked glancing up at the other woman. Balfour flopped beside her and rested his head in her lap. Once Fraeya agreed she would give a big sigh and pick up a flat pebble to fiddle with it.

"I have only told a few people and now I tell a stranger," she laughed and shook her head at her own stupidity. But this was the first person she had met like her. She might never meet another for thousands of years if ever. "I'm curious... because I wondered if it was anything similar to what I went through when... I turned from a... a human into a fae."

 

[Fraeya]

“Who would I tell?” A small, sad twist of her lips as her fingers gently pressed against her slowly healing split lip.

Fraeya suddenly felt her legs buckle and she promptly sat on the curved roots of a mangrove. “Hells,” she breathed, dragging her fingers through her hair. “I thought I was the only one.”

No wonder why Maeve seemed so different from other fae. Still fae. But not. Like her.

“When…how..?” Elbows fell to prop on her thighs as she leaned slightly forward. Curiosity glinting in her green eyes.

 

[Maeve]

It was almost as if she could free Lorcán's disapproval but she tried to ignore it and convince herself he didn't know what it was she had just let slip. He wouldn't deny her befriending the one person in the world who might be able to understand what it was she was.

"A... A few months before the Wild Hunt," had it been so long already? She glanced down at her wrists where iron shackles had once scarred them but now only the faintest of white lines remained and they covered and hidden by strips of the blue swirls of the night sky that seemed to have taken up permanent residence on her skin.

"I don't really know how, none of us do. Lorcan and --" She didn't want to give Fiadh's name up. "My..." a big breath. "Well it's rather complicated," she laughed and shook her head sending red hair flying about her face. "I didn't know what was happening to me until I ran into some bad folks. When I realised how bad iron hurt I connected the dots..."

 

[Fraeya]

"Sounds better than the way I was turned. Cause trust me, you wouldn't have missed it." Fraeya hadn't been exaggerating when she said it was like...dying. No, it was like being destroyed and reborn. A small frown as Maeve mentioned torture. And Lorcan.

A light touch on Maeve's shoulder, her green eyes serious and solemn. "Hey, do you need help getting away from Lorcan? I have some friends in some other courts. Just say the word...," Fraeya's voice trailed off, assuming the worst. She didn't trust Lorcan as much as she didn't trust King Midir.

Had Lorcan burned her with iron?!

That bastard.

 

[Maeve]

"From Lorcan?" Maeve's head snapped up, her eyes wide and full of bewilderment. "Goddess, no! He's--" she managed to just catch herself before she blurted out that he was her mate. She supposed once the Erlking knew it would begin to become more common knowledge, she might not have to hide in the shadows anymore and could enjoy this world and its wonders at his side where she belonged. But until then she wouldn't utter a word about it.

"Lorcan gave me a piece of his soul, he saved my life," she rubbed one of the tattoos that curved over her heart with a fond smile. "And where we live? Well... it's the safest place in this Court I imagine," she smiled faintly. "I know he has a bit of a reputation here but, the Lorcan I know?" and love? "He would rather hurt himself than me. But you..." Maeve frowned thinking of what she had just seen. "Fraeya, maybe we ran into each other so I could help you."

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya couldn't help the slight unhinge of her jaw. Blonde-brows nearly disappeared into her hairline. Widening of spring-green eyes.

"I definitely don't know that Lorcan," she said. Still having a hard time believing what Maeve told her. But...fae couldn't lie, right? The Lorcan she knew went through females like a summer fae went through clothes and fashions. He was cruel and shallow. He only cared about himself. His grip on her chin was all too familiar and the way he'd been so happy to draw the attention of his father to her.

Although, he didn't have the guards take her after her got her knee to his balls. Perhaps that was something.

"Help me? How can you help me?" Fraeya had never been offered free help before. There were always strings attached. Bargains made. So her tone was more than cautious as she looked the redhead with swirling dark tattoos over. She couldn't help the brush of her fingers across her own neck, the Erlking's mark long gone.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve seemed entirely oblivious to Fraeya's caution. Unlike the other fae, Mae had not been raised living with Fae. They had been Gods who had occasionally appeared to bless or curse a mortal. They were more a figament of myth and legend than a living, breathing reality. So she looked the picture of humanity when she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed it whilst she thought about how she could indeed help the other woman.

"Maybe I can ask Lorcan if you could live with us, in Endora I mean. Not the palace itself - unless you wanted to - but I think we could find you your own place," she mused aloud basically to herself. "Or maybe he can suggest you do some work in Endora, at least then you wouldn't be stuck here all the time," Lorcan had told her how possessive the King could be over members of his court.

 

[Fraeya]

She stared quietly, beginning to truly understand that Maeve was who she said she was. She didn't try to string fancy words together to get around a lie. She didn't have ulterior motives that Fraeya could tell. Fraeya was as open as the hunt book was for the Fall festivities.

Fingers dropped from her own neck. The swelling on her lip and eye were finally going down. Bruises of mottled greens and blues still tinged her flesh, though they were starting to shrink as well. "After what I did to Lorcan at the last ball we were at," she looked up at the sun-speckled trees above, "I doubt he'd be too thrilled to agree to an invitation to this...Endora."

A small puff of air through her healing lips, "But I'd like to see it," bright green eyes returned to Maeve. "I never knew there was a safe place with the fae. And don't blame me if I still don't quite believe it until I see it." Perhaps it would be good to get away for awhile. A break from the Erlking and his kingdom. Even as she thought it, she felt a small invisible tug to the book of the hunt. Her entire purpose for being created. As if it was feeling her thoughts and reminding her of what she served.

And there was no escape.

"Do you know if you could help me with my magic? I haven't been able to unlock it yet." A frown grew on her mouth, fingers curling into frustration atop her thigh.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve's answering smile was sympathetic; even Fiadh hadn't quite believed the utopia Lorcan had created on what had been a glorified bit of swamp.

"Your magic?" she blinked in surprise. Given how knew she was herself to the fae world and her magic she hadn't ever expected someone to ask her to teach them. Though, Fraeya was unique. As unique as her anyway. Perhaps they could help each other more than other fae could. She took a deep breath. "I can try, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be. Sometimes I can control it other times thing can get a bit... dicey," she rubbed the back of her neck and laughed nervously as she remembered the small crater she most recently made.

"What is your magic?"