Private Tales Malison Breaker

[Skyler]

Skyler always hated the cold. It seeped past her threadbare jacket and gloves all too easily. A plume of mist left her mouth as she crouched in the curve of an old oak. She'd went deeper into the Eastern woods today. Further away from their small town of Briar. Her teeth were chattering and she had to clamp down hard to quiet that sound. It was too dangerous to let any sounds than were necessary be heard out here. Especially with the quiet of the snow.

It wasn't the predators she was worried about.

It was because she was so close to the boundary of their lands; the fae. The fae and all the ancient stories the town whispered about of monsters that slipped through the borders. Many would call her a fool for venturing into these woods at all. For coming this far and for coming alone.

But her family counted on her. A father who was ill. A younger brother who could barely walk. And a good-for-nothing older brother who'd left their little house by the woods long ago, when she'd only been thirteen. Off the the mainland to attend school or learn trade or just to flee from the life she was now stuck in.

The bastard.

And so, she kept an arrow nocked to her bow as she crouched in the freezing temperatures and waited, watching the clearing beyond the cover she was provided. Hoping for a snow rabbit. Or better, a deer. Something to eat tonight.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The forest was silent. The snow fell gently, swallowing up the sound the stag made as it strode cautiously through the drifts of white. He was as dark as a stain on the world, his rich ruddy coat sharp against the glow of the snow around him. Walking into the clearing, its regal head swiveled around as it took one step, then another.

Unseen by its quarry, a wolf moved in the thicket. But not a wolf. Its coat was as white as the snow, thick and sleek on its slender body. It crouched, gold eyes watching from the underbrush opposite of the human hunter it had yet to notice. They glimmered with an uncanny intelligence as it watched the deer, pursuing it step for cautious step.

Only when the stag had lowered its guard, dropping its antlered head to the ground, did the dog spring. Its long body undulated, powerful legs launching it forward. The first two strides went unnoticed, but when the stag heard the crunch of snow by the third, it was already too late.

One final leap and a snarl later, the dog's great maw clamped down on the stag's throat. Almost as large as the beast it felled, the struggle did not last long. The violent red splash of blood was as shocking against the white of the snow as the dog's pristine coat.

The wind shifted, however, and the dog suddenly raised its long snout. It sniffed the air before its head turned toward the human also watching from the eaves of the forest. Ears laying back, either in anger or surprise, it simply watched her, gold eyes meeting hers.

// Skyler //​

 

[Skyler]

Skyler knew it the moment she saw the overly large dog.

It was one of them.

The size was beyond any normal dog that a human would own. And there was a spark of intelligence in its golden eyes and as its eyes locked onto her own, despite already being freezing, she felt a shiver of fear brush down her spine. Some primal instinct to run. A larger instinct whispering she was already dead.

But something else ignited in her veins.

A simmering kindling of anger.

She was starving. Her family was starving and she'd been sitting in this goddamned forest for how long waiting and as soon as a deer did show this bastard showed up taking her kill. They had their own territory and here one was, taking the scraps they'd selfishly left behind for the humans. And what was she supposed to do?

Roll over like the dog this thing certainly was NOT and let it kill the deer and probably kill her?!

Hell. No.

Skyler's verdant eyes burned like a wildfire consuming a forest as they locked onto those two orbs of lazy gold. There was no hesitation in her tired, cold limbs as she pulled back and released that arrow aiming for a kill shot between the white dog's eyes.

If the rumors were true, she'd probably be dead before the arrow released. But it was better than running. Better to meet death face-to-face.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The dog merely held her gaze, something odd passing across its eyes as she drew her bow back. The human girl released the arrow at full draw, but it didn't move, didn't try to run or dodge it. It merely gasped, eyes widening, and spoke.

"Zatte rïs itsh nï--!"

Whatever more it meant to say was lost. It let out a sharp whining squeal as the arrow pierced its skull. It staggered backward and crumpled into the snow. It heaved one final breath but never exhaled, deceased beside its prey.

 

[Skyler]

Thrumm-thrumm-thud-THUD-THUD.

She felt like there was a moment she couldn't breath even as her heart fought in her chest like a wild beast. She'd expected a lot of things to happen but not...that. And it spoke. Finally, she willed herself to move.

To breath.

Looking down, she noticed she'd already strung another arrow on her bow at some point. Standing with stiff limbs, she kept it there and advanced on the fallen beast. The dog. She nudged the body with the toe of her boot. It wasn't until she waited a full minute to not see the rise and fall of its chest did she finally lower her bow.

"Hells," she breathed. The deer also dead. Verdants shifted between the two.

It was late and she was cold and barely keeping it together. Squatting next to the deer, she took out a hunting knife and began skinning it and slicing up the meat. Retrieving her arrow from the dog with a messy squelch sound, she put it back in her quiver. Already shouldering a full-load and too disgusted to go near that carcass, she left it in the woods.

Let the other beasts and wild animals tear it apart. Maybe it would leave them off her own scent so she could make it back to the village. First she'd drop the meat off at home. Then she'd prepare the deer skin for the markets. Perhaps it would give her a chance to buy a new pair of boots. Maybe even a new hunting knife.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

In the pitch black of a moonless night, a dozen white canine figures watched from the forest, obscured against the snowy landscape. They waited, their attention never averting from the cottage and its occupants. Small and dirty, it had not been difficult to find once they had caught the scent. It reeked of human. More specifically, that of the woman they'd tracked from the forest beyond.

The silence of the wood went unbroken -- offering no warning to their prey as they began bedding down for the long winter night. Even when they finally lifted their ears and turned as a collective to the west, they uttered no sound.

A larger form emerged from the leys between, a white dog twice the size of even the largest one waiting. Her heavy coat glowed with a subtle light, even in the absence of the moons. Her crimson eyes fixed the hut for several long moments, then took a step forward and began slowly stalking forward.

The others raised the alarm at last. A chorus of yips and barks erupted, piercing the silence. Their white bodies began to glow as they circled the cottage, bands of light beating down a perimeter in the snow.

The great dog, far larger than any horse, snarled as her paws smashed down the cottage's meager door. The flaking paint of the runes around the threshold sparked with magic, but did not stop the dog from entering. Teeth bared and long fangs dripping with spittle, she raised her enormous head and stared down at the human occupants with anger and hatred blazing in her gaze.

"Murderer!" she snarled. "You killed him!"

 

[Skyler]

Skyler was watching her mother eat like a noble woman as she looked down her nose at her daughter. Grief did strange things. Her father had died on a hunting trip he took his daughter on. Right after Timothy had fled for the continent. And even though she'd been nowhere near her father when the...accident happened, her mother still blamed her for him not coming home.

And since his death she'd spiraled into vanity, refusing to work and stealing any meager coins Skyler was able to earn from hunting or trading. But if her mother couldn't love her, at least they agreed to love Teddy, Theodore. Skyler's youngest brother. Currently poking a stick into the fire.

And that's when the barking and howling started.

Skyler was up, a dull dinner knife in her hand as the beast broke down the door. Her mother gave a strangled cry but managed not to faint, cloth napkin frozen in front of her lips. Teddy froze and looked over his shoulder at the dog with childlike wonder and fear.

Skyler was easily positioned in front of her brother. Hand shook slightly, holding that dinner knife. Her hunting knife was on her belt in the loft. And her arrow and quiver were by the door.

Damn.

She knew her father had been foolish to pay for that gods worthless ward on the door. To Skyler's surprise, her mother spoke first.

"Pleaseplease what are you sp-speaking of? We have killed no one."

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

"Liar!" she barked with an angry throw of her head. Her voice rattled the windowpanes. She took a step further into the home. "You killed him!"

There was a distinct pang of emotion in her voice as she swung her snout through the air toward the one holding the knife. Her lips peeled back in a snarl.

"You. It was you. You are the one who killed my brother." Her red eyes fixed the girl, then the knife in her hand. Finally, she looked down at the child behind the girl, staring up at the great dog with his eyes wide and innocent.

"A brother we have lost, so a brother we shall take."

 

[Skyler]

"No," she ground out, surprised at the voice coming from her own lips. Strong, unwavering. Decided.

She took a step between her mother, her brother, and that dog.

"I killed him."

A screech from her cowering mother behind her but Skyler did not risk a glance behind. Or a glance at her brother. "Take me, instead. A life for a life. Even if your brother was beyond the wall, breaking the treaty. Hunting what little food, no, the scraps you've given us on this side."

Her jaw set even as her mother remained silent behind her. Not even offering a yelp of protest or a cry of another idea, gladly accepting the sacrifice of her daughter for her son. Perhaps that hurt Skyler more than she thought it would.

Skyler flipped the knife in her hand and launched it into the dirty floorboards between herself and the fae mut. Her small, thin shoulders squared in defiance even as she faced the reaper. "Do it. If you have any mercy, do it outside."

She doubted it even knew what the word mercy meant.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The girl refused. The great dog's eyes watched her, unswerving from the girl's as she stepped between them. A confession and an offer to take her brother's place. The cwn offered no argument to the accusations she laid against her kind, but neither did she flinch when she threw the knife.

What she did do, however, was laugh. Outside, her siblings' voices rose in a chorus of cackles and yips that echoed her amusement.

"Mercy?" She was smiling as she lifted her head. "I reserve none of that for you, murderer. Where you are going, death would be a mercy."

She was quick -- far quicker than some paltry human. She would get no farewells. With a loud snarl, she lunged forward and seized the girl's dominant arm in her jaws. Her teeth drew blood and the color smeared in her brilliant white fur. For a moment she twinkled with light, the glow too cheerful for the sight of her yanking the girl off her feet as the yipping outside culminated at the peak of its chaotic crescendo.

There was a glitter and the pair disappeared. A splatter of blood and a scrape of claws was all the cwn left behind as proof that they had been. Outside, the congregation had gone utterly silent.

---

The girl had been pulled between. The cwn cloaked her in magick and the pair dissolved. Like sinking into a warm bath in a pitch black room, they became nothing and everything, rocked by the currents of the flowing ley line. Deaf and blind and ethereal, the only thing keeping her body from being thrown back into the corporeal side of the veil was the cwn who had taken her in. She possessed no body to fight against her abduction; they didn't exist there the same way.

Time passed differently between. Even to experienced travellers it felt like forever and an instant. The cwn dragged her through with little care for her comfort.

A small eternity and a few moments later, they rose up out of the band of magick and took shape once again. Having a body was heavy after the weightlessness of the leys, and the cwn dropped her like a ragdoll.

The brightness of late afternoon was punishing -- almost as oppressive as the muggy heat cloying the air. The ground was thick with leaf and needle litter, fallen branches laden with blankets of moss, and clusters of ferns competing for the dappling of bright sunshine filtering through. Trees rose up abruptly, their long bodies reaching far overhead in a great race for the sun. Far above them the canopy was alive with birdsong and the busy his of branches in a wind they could not feel at the forest floor.

They were far from the freezing winter of her home.

The cwn paced a few steps away and raised her paw to wipe the blood from her muzzle with a look of disgust. Around them, the drumming of more paws arose as her family joined them from between. They ran through the trees with playful chatter.

"Get up," the great white dog growled. "If you won't walk, I'll drag you."

 

[Skyler]

And she fell like a dropped rock. Her senses were utterly overwhelmed, turned inside out, twisted, and then overwhelmed again. Ears rang and head spun. There was a throbbing in her arm and she felt warm red drip and pool down her flesh.

Sissy.

Gods, she would remember her younger brother screeching that name the second before her world popped.

She gasped and managed to get to her knees and elbows, fingers fisting into the pine needles, moss, and rocks. Above the ringing, she caught 'drag you' from the white bitch. Skyler's only regret was not taking the knife she'd held to shove it into her own chest. Maybe she could still kill herself if she found a way. Because if she was where she thought she was.

Skyler lifted her head and promptly vomited the contents of her stomach at the dog's feet. Then another dry heave. And another.

A shaky, bitter laugh. "Why," she gulped in some air and lifted her head with a glare, "don't you just kill me now?"

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The cwn stepped back with a string of curses in her foreign tongue. She flicked her paw and then tried to wipe it clean on a patch of ferns. In the forest around them, a cacophony of laughter burst forth. She bared her teeth at the trees, and the giggles died down somewhat before she turned the expression toward the human girl.

"Because," she spat, "unlike you, I can keep my species' half of the agreement between your land and ours. I was going to be content taking your brother to replace the one you killed. Thanks to your offer, however, I may get the revenge I want yet." She sneered. "Unless you think your mother and brother will survive without you?"

Her smile vanished and, with a deep growl, she nipped at the girl's haunches hard enough to bruise.

"Get up or I will drag you."

 

[Skyler]

The giggles.

Weary gaze swept across the greenery of the forest around them. Trying to track along the same lined-gaze this dog used. This savage dog. Skyler didn't see anything.

A frown on her pallid face, which paled further as the blitch of a dog spoke.

She grimaced but held herself from crying out in pain. She wouldn't give this fae prick the satisfaction. Pushing to a stand she took a wobbly step like a newborn, spitting one more time before straightening and inhaling scents of a summer forest. Mint, chives, garlic, fresh-turned dirt.

Fingers clenched around her still bleeding wound on her other arm, trying to keep more of her blood spilling in the forest among the other bodily fluids left behind.

Teeth grit as she stumbled forward, hating how weak she probably looked. Barely any grace for even a human at this point. "No, they won't," she admitted quietly, "but how can I help them from here?"

But maybe they would. If they called her older brother back. If they could even find him. If he even listened. MaybemaybeMAYBEmaybe

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The girl got up, albeit shakily. Both a disappointment and a satisfaction; she was compliant, but that meant she didn't get to drag her. Some victories came at a price.

The dog offered no answer to her question, letting her own mind supply the answers. She simply followed behind, herding her onward. Around them, her siblings' snickering faded, but their white forms still flashed between the trees at intervals. A pair of them leapt out in front of them, one nipping at the heels of the other as they played chase along the path the much larger dog guided the girl toward. They stopped to play well ahead of them, but only lingered until she had made some progress before moving on a bit more.

Their destination was not far, and soon a dedicated path formed. Narrow and meandering, it was packed down by hundreds of paws over years. Much larger pawprints were mixed in with smaller ones -- and some even smaller yet than those belonging to the pair leading the way.

It wound its way through the wood for only a little longer before the forest began to open up. Patches of grass and clover began to grow along the path, spreading out where the sun gained dominion over the warm shadows. The trees ended suddenly, the eaves giving way to an open, plush lawn. It was bright and golden, the pillars of light thick enough to make the damp air hazy, obscuring the building that emerged.

Built out of white stone, it had a soft, radiant glow beneath the sweeping eaves of the green ceramic tile roof. It was tall and sharp, its windows and archways and facades rising up into narrow pointed arches. Much of the house appeared to be open, and what few glass windows it had in place were brightly colored. The lines of the architecture mimicked trees, but with perfect symmetry. Beside it was a small pond with a tree blooming as pink as a sunset.

Beneath the blossoming tree, a figure lifted their head to observe the approach over their shoulder. From the trees, the cwn all emerged and ran with yips and barks across the green toward the house. Some paused to watch their sister and her captive pass, others continued on as if they didn't exist. The pair that had led Skyler and her captor bounced over to the figure, who stood and approached.

His white hair was half drawn back from his face, a gold pin shaped like a branch fastening a knot at the nape of his neck before the silken locks flowed into the loose hair down his back. His features were long and softly rounded and as perfectly symmetrical as the windows on the home behind him. He was dressed in black and white robes that swished elegantly about his narrow form. The rich ebony silk highlighted his snow-pale skin. Pointed ears marked him as other, if his coloration hadn't already, and he could have stood head and shoulders over most men. His powder blue eyes -- quiet and demure beneath pale lashes -- looked to the pair who were bouncing around him, then to Skyler and the cwn who brought her.

The latter at last abandoned her position behind Skyler and padded up to the blue-eyed man. As she stepped in front of him, there was a swirl of light and mist and her body shifted. Where the oversized white dog had once been, a tall woman now stood. Rivaling the blue-eyed man in height, she had the same white skin and hair, though somehow warmer, more lavender than his hard, crisp whites. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a tight braid and fastened with a scarlet ribbon, and she was dressed in a long black tunic patterned with red and blue embroidery and close-fitted boots.

There was a streak of vomit still on one of her boots.

The cwn-now-woman folded her hands and bowed deeply, bending at the waist. When she straightened, the man made a series of hand signs.

"She aba us ïpö id ushana Ruoqin," she responded with their native tongue in a low, dark tone. She glanced back at Skyler before the other's blue gaze followed as well. His expression had been soft but now he drew a visible breath, his chin lifting and his lips setting in a grim line that formed small creases around his mouth. Unsurprisingly, the woman was openly scowling.

 

[Skyler]

What the hell was this place?

Skyler didn't know whether to be disgusted or in awe. She settled on the edge of both. Everything screamed opulence. And all those eyes on them. Her legs wobbled and she knew her body threatened to betray her. Threatened to sag to the earth.

Muscles screamed and trembled with the effort to stay standing.

Even as her head spun from the blood loss and puncture wounds in her arm from where the dog-bitch had grabbed her. Her own lips set into a thin, mirrored line to that of the strange male staring back at her and she locked eyes with him. Shoulders stiffening. Grip tightening on her arm even as pain rippled across her face. Even as she gulped back her surprise at the dog's transformation, knowing what it meant in those snowy woods.

But a part of her already knew.

And so, she refused to break first. To turn her gaze away. She held the snowy-haired ones powder-blues with her own eyes even as her head begun to spin. Even as there was a wobble in her knees.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The blue-eyed man’s gaze shifted from hers to her shoulder, the corners of his mouth twitching downward before his observation continued down her form and back up again. He drew a deep breath and looked off toward the treeline before turning once again to the woman.

He signed something, which she received with a deepening frown. She began to argue something in their language again, but he raised a hand and she fell silent. The two cwn sitting behind him laid their ears down and looked from one to the other, shrinking back slightly. He signed again and the woman threw a dark look at the girl, but bowed once again to the blue-eyed man with a final curt response.

“Come with me,” she growled. Without waiting, she turned toward the house. The two cwn behind her stood when the man turned to gesture to them and began his walk back to the cushion beneath the flowering tree. The pair bowed, then ran off to the house.

As soon as they reached the house, they began barking and yapping, an unholy noise that filled the clearing. The woman groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Hurry up,” she told the girl.

 

[Skyler]

That was it? The stare. The small frown. His hand gestures which went well beyond Skyler's understanding. She found her legs move as if in a delirious dream - no, nightmare. She didn't know if she wanted to laugh, cry, or pass out. Maybe all of the above.

Skyler walked through that warm grass, the hot breeze nipping at her heels. She was already sweltering. Afterall, she had on winter clothes when she was taken. Nothing as elegant as those dressed before her. Stiff, tight, and well-used clothing. If her human heritage didn't give it away already, she'd stick out from her clothing alone.

But she paused in the threshold of that house. A bloodied hand coming to grip the smooth, pristine surface of the walls around them. Head shook as she refused to take one more step forward. One step in that house. "No," she rasped. She knew that male was behind her somewhere on his cushion beneath that tree. She didn't know if he was watching or could even hear them. And she didn't turn around to find out as she kept her attention on the woman.

"I'm not moving another inch until you tell me what the hell is going on and where the hell I am."

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

The duo went inside, their barks answered by some others and a few annoyed voices in their faerie language. They disappeared across the vaulted foyer and into one of several archways. The woman had walked steadily in front of her and was waiting in the white marble room. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the windows, the colored panes painting murals on the floor beside her. A white dog leaping across a mountain to catch a green bird in its long mouth. Over the mountain, a gold woman crowned in sunlight held a birdcage.

The woman scowled when the girl put her bloodied hand on the archway, smearing it bright red. She crossed her arms.

“Bold of you to assume you have a right to anything. You’re going to--”

“Fengli!” A young man’s voice cut in, gasping from one of the arches. While the cwn all blended into the clean whites of the interior, he stood out like one of the stained windows brought to life. Orange of hair and copper-skinned, he was clothed in a rich emerald that complimented his coloring well. Though his ears were pointed and his features long and pretty, he was not much taller than Fengli.

“Xao and Laomi said we had a guest, but they didn’t say it was a human girl.” He half-jogged across the foyer and reached out toward the human, then hesitated. Keeping his distance, he threw the woman a dark look. From the closer proximity, it was evident that his left eye was a prosthetic made of solid gold.

“Look at her! She’s exhausted. What have you done?”

Fengli responded in a pair of clipped lines of faerie, and the other gasped. He curled his hands to his chest and looked at Skyler, aghast.

“You killed Ruoqin,” he replied flatly. He clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly, a shimmer of tears lining his eyes.

If she had been going to answer, Fengli beat her to it. She delivered her message to him, waved a hand at the girl, and began to leave. He gasped once more and protested, but she cut him off with a few more words and he fell silent. His friendly, helpful demeanor gone, he frowned at the girl, then sighed sharply.

“Father says I’m to bathe you and tend to your injuries as our guest.” He held out his hands, offering aid he was clearly reluctant to offer. “Come inside.”

 

[Skyler]

It was strange seeing one of them with emotion other than hate or anger. Skyler blinked at the newcomer who'd seen just as eager to help as he was then reluctant to give. His hair the most vibrant orange she'd ever seen. Not even Glen's strawberry beard and mane could come up against that shade.

And for a brief moment, she thought about the merchant's son. He'd promised her the world. Promised to take her into his family. And she'd seriously considered his offer. Most of their village were poor farmers and marrying a merchant's son was certainly a step up. And goddess knew her family needed the help. Her little brother needed more than what she could catch for them, especially in the winter. Before she could give Glen an answer, he'd told her he'd enlisted and was to leave the next morning for the mainland.

And that was that.

Head shook even as her blood-smattered hands tightened on the marble.

She swallowed, then almost snorted at the word guest.

"No. No," she breathed. Insisted. "You are not going to touch me. Who are, what...where am I?" Her voice wavered from resolve to a plea as her voice cracked. Head pounded and she found herself sagging against the marble archway of the entrance.

This was all a joke, wasn't it? Why had that one left a place like this? Clearly they were all well fed. Well taken care of. Safe. Comfortable.

Why the hell had he gone into the woods so close to her home that night? Gone after that deer? Stared her down.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

She wasn't going. He sighed. Of course she wasn't. He muttered a few words in their other language and gestured toward the outdoors.

"You are in the Emerald Glade, home of the Haoqi clan. Welcome to the Summer Court, golden and fair home, blah blah blah. Vhora: city of the sun, throne of the radiant Queen Titania, blah blah. You are south of Fal'Addas -- very far from your mortal home." He bowed with a plainly put on yet highly elegant flourish. "I am Ehlark Haoqi, changeling, and I will be your humble escort. Now if you would kindly follow me, I am sure you would like to sit down."

He wasn't sure if he was expecting her to collapse or numbly follow. He might prefer the unconscious, if he was being honest. The less time he had to speak to his brother's murderer, the better.

 

[Skyler]

Skyler blinked and blinked hard. Was she hallucinating? One of them bowing to her? Even if it might've been in mockery. Had to be. Must be the blood loss. Shock. And fatigue.

But three words kept radiating in her mind.

Far from home.

far from home

far from home

NononoNO.

She'd find a way to go back. To escape. She had to. Because that other fae prick's words kept swirling in her mind. Do you think they'll survive without you?

She gave one glance over her shoulder. Back they way they'd come, past the tree where the other was kneeling. Past the path she'd walked up on and further into the bright, green wood beyond. A small part of her thought about running. Just push off that damn marble wall she was leaning against and run like hell. But she knew she wouldn't get far. Not the way she was.

She'd have to bide her time.

And as soon as she saw an opportunity, she would use it. And as she turned back to the one called Ehlark, she wondered if he could read the thoughts in her eyes. Finally though, she pushed off that wall and followed him. Knees continuing to shake beneath her. She didn't offer her name. Didn't say one word. But her lips parted to ask a question.

"A changeling? Does that mean you can become any form?" Skyler had only been taught that humans were the prey and fae the predators. There were ferocious creatures that preferred to hunt the humans. Ones taht the very woods she hunted in came out in the deepest of night and earliest of dawn hours. Tales of children going missing. Most folk thought she was mad to go hunting where she did but...Skyler had never had a choice.

She only knew that fae were stronger, faster, and had keener senses. She didn't really know the intricacies of the different kinds.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

She looked properly shaken by the answer to her questions. Ehlark, in spite of his apparent dislike of her, still waited patiently for her to make up her mind. He did not rush her, nor did he warn her away from the telling look back at the forest. She had to make up her mind on her own.

And she did. Though she didn't take his help, Ehlark walked beside her, the aid he had previously offered ever present -- should she ask for it. He still guided her to walk toward one of the archways and the long hall beyond it to the south wing of the home.

He couldn't help laughing a little at her question. "Ah, no. I'm flattered you think I'm fae, but I must disappoint you. I am not one for pretending to be things I am not.

"I am only a changeling in the sense that I was born to elven parents and brought here. As some might say, I was taken from my elf family and now belong to this cwn family. Funny that an elf is a pet in a house full of dogs." His laughter was bright, honest. There wasn't a trace of anger or resentment in his features for a moment.

He walked ahead of her long enough to open a door at the end of the hall. Before them was a spiraling staircase, which he gestured for her to take upward. Ehlark let her set the pace, keeping behind her just in case. He quite obviously didn't trust her to get upstairs on her own. His pensive frown had returned and he kept raising his hands to steady her.

 

[Skyler]

Every time he'd reach toward her. Try to help, she'd flinch away. Even when he said he was really an...elf.

NOT fae.

He wasn't fae. Thank the dark gods. And maybe the goddess even though those ancient beings had betrayed and left the humans to their fate long ago. Of course, she'd never say it aloud but she'd think it furiously.

O fuk these stairs.

Lips set into a thin line and her bloodied hand gripped the marble railing as she tugged herself up. One stair and then another. She was breathing hard but she refused, absolutely refused, to have him help her.

"Taken," she breathed. More steps. More breaths. "Don't you ever wonder," another breath as she finally reached the top. More immaculate marble. A pristine hall with large doors to several rooms with large floor to ceiling windows along various walls, "what your birth parents," back of her hand wiped across her brow as she squared her shoulders, "are like? Do they not let you leave here?"

It was as if she was echoing a question she feared about what they'd do to her as well.

 

[Ehlark Haoqi]

Hovering always within reach, he followed slowly after. She huffed and puffed, but she made it to the landing and straightened. As much as he wanted to dislike her, she had an impressive fighting spirit. He answered her slow question with a bitter smirk.

"Considering my birth parents are both dead? No, I don't suppose I do."

Ehlark walked ahead of her down the hall. He wasn't going to share the intimate details of his life and inner workings of his mind to her. Gods, definitely not her. He would rather have his other eye carved out than to share heart wrenching tales with her.

"I am a son of Clan Haoqi. I am free to come and go as I please. Why would I want to leave a place and people I love?"

As he spoke, he opened a door and held out his hand to beckon her in. The room beyond faced east and the warm breeze seemed to come through cooler as it passed through the shadows. There was a bed with a sheer canopy and the tall windows had curtains of the same bluish-white material swaying gently in the breeze, ethereal as water slung from a bucket and suspended midair. There was no balcony, but there was also no need for one; the view and air was already splendid.

In the same room was a wardrobe and a writing desk. "Desk" being a loose term for the low table surrounded by cushions. It was fully supplied with ink, quills, and a box of parchment. Behind a privacy screen was a wooden tub and a vanity.

"These will be your quarters for the time being. It will be warmer in the mornings, but evenings will be pleasantly cool."

He did not wait for her this time. Crossing the room toward the bathing area, Ehlark pulled out the wooden stool tucked under the vanity, poured water into the washbasin, and dunked a cloth.

"Some hot water is being brought up for your bath. Come sit and let me look at your shoulder." The changeling waited, watching her expectantly.

 

[Skyler]

Following him into the room and as his back cleared her view, she couldn't help but marvel at the space. This could fit their entire house. Perhaps two of them. This was a rather strange prison cell to keep her in and it only made her feel more off-kilter.

Even though she and Ehlark were worlds apart, she could understand the loss of a parent. Even if he hadn't known them. Even if their losses weren't the same.

"I didn't mean, I'm sorry," hand came up to rub that back of her neck, wincing slightly as she did so, trying to apologize about her question. His birth parents. And her heart ached in her chest thinking about her father. She'd always related to him more than her mother. But she took her own feelings of heartache, ragged pain, and grief, and buried then deep, deep down.

She held his gaze, wavering between his eye and the golden one, then finally relented and sat where he motioned.

"You're not bathing me," voice was clipped and stern. But she was going to allow him to look at her shoulder. Fingers clasped the torn fabric of her tunic and carefully slid it off the offending shoulder. He'd find a rather bony shoulder to a malnourished and underfed body.

Of course, she didn't know why they bothered to tend her at all. She knew she wasn't truly a guest. Did they want to heal her up just so they could break her down again? Perhaps it would've been better not to let him tend to the wound and accept a faster death, instead.

"Why're you doing this?" She could help the question bubble up. "Helping me?"