Private Tales She Who Dares, Wins

[Vaer Nhimei]

“Mmm,” he confirmed with a quiet nod. His eyes tracked her movement respectfully as she walked behind him and prowled lazily toward the globe. Vaer had a moment to be thankful she had never looked at him the way she regarded the globe spinning slowly on its axis. Her fiendish glances and familiar touches were already more than he could manage. That look meant nothing good for anyone, especially one such as himself.

Prayers. He looked genuinely surprised, glancing from Favashi to the lights twinkling across the continents. He’d been suspecting pinpricks of light denoting war or conflicts she’d participated in or found interesting. Very wrong. Each of these was her name on the lips of the hopeful and vengeful.

Duanann were such strange creatures; no matter how long he spent with them, they surpassed his comprehension. Vaer himself was regarded as strong for a black shuck -- in magick, physical prowess, and temperament, he was one of the crown jewels of his species.

Duanann were on a whole other level, and Favashi in a class all her own.

“And where do you think you will go next?” he asked.

 

[Favashi]

Favashi wandered around the globe until she stopped at a large continent that seemed to take up the whole southern section of the world. She put her finger on an angry block of red and gold and tapped it gently.

"Nirredja."

The name might have meant nothing to the Shuck if he had stayed only in the realms of Arethil but there was a far wider world out there and Favashi had had the millenias to travel it. After all, it was from far beyond the sea that she had been born and not here in far humbler lands. For Favashi Nirredja was a lot closer to 'home'. A continent far more advanced than these lands here with wars that would make even the supposed God-Emperor bulk after all his silly talk of ships and Cortos. There Favashi's name was one spoken with equal mixes of fear and awe. There, mortals really knew why to fear the fae.

"Have you ever thought of travelling when not on one of your little Hunts?" she teased and turned to settle the weight of that chaotic gaze on him.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

He was not familiar with the name of the place she traveled next. Outside of books, he was not familiar with the great world beyond the two continents that Summer and Winter called home. There were several others, he knew, but they were too far beyond his means.

One thing stuck with him, however. His eyes shifted from where her nail tapped against the golden globe back to the mountains of the Spine. It was very far away. Vaer had no claims to her but friendship, yet that vast distance was surprisingly… upsetting? Worrisome? He found that he didn't want her to be so far away.

Thoughts he quickly rearranged as she turned that terrible gaze toward him. But now it was his turn to reveal he was up to no good. He leaned in, nearly pressed his shoulder to hers, and whispered.

"Would you be shocked to know that I am rather intrepid?" he asked. Grinning like a fox who'd been in the hen house, he followed the lazy turn of the globe with long, equally lazy strides.

"I own silk farms here, here, and here." He raised a slim finger to point to a place northwest of the Spine, then in the southern tip of the Allir Reach and the Ixchel Wilds. "And here." He stepped around to point to the Falwood. He grinned wider.

"And I own more than twenty mills and shops, including those in Fal’Addas and Alliria. And Vel Anir.” He cast a mischievous look back at Favashi. “That one is my favorite. The snobby nobles would lose their minds if they knew who they’d really bought their fine silk from. A very particular brand of poetic justice, that.”

Vaer laughed to himself. Turning back to Favashi, he slipped his hands into his pockets.

“But all of that traveling is for business. I find that I have little time for leisure trips, such as this one.” Whether or not it was really at leisure was yet to be seen, given the approaching hour of this “game night”.

 

[Favashi]

She stalked his heels as he wandered, her attention divided between hungrily devouring the look of excitement and pride that exuded from him as he spoke, and the points his fingers grazed across the globe. A little intrepid entrepreneur indeed. Golden brows rose as she listened to his not to be mocked pursuits within the world to make his own money. She had no doubt, like here, the Shucks were paid generously and perhaps more so in Autumn's Halls, but it was always good to have a little bit more in the vaults. As he pointed to Vel'Anir, Favashi found herself laughing in utter delight. It was a snub any Dawnish Fae would have delighted in laying claim to.

She stepped forward so the fronts of their bodies just slightly grazed one another and her hands ran up his arms.

"You know... you would be welcome to join me on my travels," if you can stand the Wars. She knew it was the opposite of his calling but in between... in those moments of calm just before the first drop of blood she thought he might finally see the beauty to it all. Favashi rocked onto the tips of her toes and tilted her face up. "It would be nice to have company..."

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

One moment she was walking behind him, the next she was sliding in front of him. Her hands trailed up his arms and her chest brushed tauntingly against his. Favashi was chipping away at his defenses and he was quickly loosing the wherewithal to resist her advances. There was only so much he could take and she was relentless. Like any good hound, she smelled blood and was on his heels.

His hands slipped free of his pockets. His fingers curled loosely around her upper arms as they traced a similar trajectory to her own. Upward until his thumbs swept over the crest of her shoulders. He grinned -- the only weapon he had left in his arsenal -- and leaned in. Close enough that his nose very nearly touched hers. Close enough that his height over her was the only thing separating them from what she wanted, what she chased so fiercely.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. We’ve got a whole week to go,” he rumbled. His hands tightened around her slim arms and he breathed in long and slow. “I wouldn’t be nearly as fun to chase if I gave in so easily.”

Vaer straightened up to his full height and took a long step back before she could boldly cross that thin gap between them. He was still smiling, and his dark cheeks were rich with color. One of his hands drifted down to loosely grab her fingers and pull her toward the door, a faint grip that she could resist if she didn’t so wish to follow him.

“I believe we’ve a party to prepare for. I’d hate to keep your friends waiting on us. I would be loathe to make such a terrible first impression.”

 

[Favashi]

So he admitted this was a chase? Favashi's eyes danced with delight. It was a step closer than she had gotten in the last 100 years or so when she had truly begun to see Vaer as a prize to be won. Still, her lips formed a pout as he squeezed her arms and took a large step away from her. The week could have been a whole lot more fun if they just skipped to the step she wanted. Much more fun. As much as she liked a good hunt she also enjoyed savouring her prey when caught. If only he wasn't right about the tea party she might have chased after him right there and then. What would he do if his back was literally against the wall...

"I suppose," she sighed dramatically and let him tug her from the room. The Fury cast one more look at the globe over her shoulder before pulling the door shut behind her with a faint snick of the lock.

As they walked back to his suite she wondered just when exactly she should tell him about their guests for the evening. If she didn't want him to attempt to leave via the balcony it was probably for the best that she didn't say a word until they were already there. When they reached his door with a final squeeze of his hand she let go and gave a formal military bow, fist over heart.

"Until this evening, mo stór," she winked and then swept off back whence they hade came to her own rooms to get ready.

Leogaire seemed as eager for the nights festivities to take place as Favashi was for the night came quickly. The Genii had done a sterling job setting up the main stage for the evening. Pink had very quickly become the theme. One long table ran down the middle of the lake, floating just above the waters surface, and was decked out in finest splendour. From the pink table runner to the large pink blooms and pink tea-cups and saucers, everything looked to have been taken out of a child's mad tea party. Lollypops the size of trees paved the way to the centre of the lake betraying that there was some form of invisible platform the guests would be able to use instead of relying on magic, and pink flamingos tended to their feathers on the shore.

Favashi strode down dressed in a similar style to the magnificent birds.

In nowt but the boa draped about her like a coiling snake, the ensemble seemed to defy the very laws of logic. Which of course, was exactly how it should be in the Dawnish Court. She picked up a glass of pink champagne and waited.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

She didn't gut him for taunting her back, which he took as a promising sign. But the look she gave him could have melted paint off the side of a house. It was the look the cat gave the mouse when it was cornered.

Vaer was relieved to be back in his room with the safety of a closed door between him and the tigress prowling beyond. He took a much needed, very cold bath and dressed appropriately. "Appropriately" might have been used interchangeably with "outrageously" in this circumstance.

Yet when he arrived at the party, the reality of this event was finally beginning to settle in, the slow sink of a tar pit that took its time swallowing its prey. He was very far from Underhill. Everything was some garish version of pink. Independent, or even coupled, some of them might have been visually appealing. Together? It was a feast for the senses akin to a bowl of sweets and syrup topped with sugar and more sweets. Nauseating and overwhelming. His eyes didn't know where to look.

He gathered that that was the point.

Fitting right into the festivities, the shuck had dressed in the pink suit. It fit him surprisingly well and he wondered how Favashi had managed it. No, he decided, perhaps it was better that he didn't ponder that curiosity much. The suit fit great and he looked every bit the High Lord with his hair coifed perfectly with one singular lock straying playfully on his brow and his nails trimmed, neat, and tinted black. If one kept their gaze above his knees, his garish ensemble might have been forgiven as extravagant or even thematic for the sake of the party.

The pink fuzzy bunny slippers were entirely self-indulgent. They broke any sobriety he had taken pains to give the top 9/10ths of his person.

Vaer strolled out onto the platform, turning about to take it all in with a dry smile. It was entirely at his expense, horrifying his better senses and reason.

Favashi was, of course, already waiting. She had come through on her threat to wear that boa, and to further make a point wore nothing else. Vaer did not bother reining in his amusement -- or his appreciation as his eyes took in her figure from head to foot, then back up again.

"Let us hope for the sake of our guests that your accouterments do not get hungry before the evening's end," he chuckled. He wiggled his bunny slippers as he came to stand near her. They were, humorously, the ideal prey for a feather boa. Placing a hand on the small of her back, he smiled.

"You look fabulous as always, Lady Favashi." And she did. There was a fondness in his voice that had grown over the last however many centuries.

 

[Favashi]

"Pink is my colour and so, it seems, is yours," Favashi grinned in answer to his compliment and greeting. Her eyes seemed to undress him as they ran down his body from head to toes where her lips quirked up into an amused and warm smile. It certainly took the edge off of that primal hunger that seemed to prowl behind her golden gaze whenever Vaer walked into a room. He did look outrageously good in a suit she had stolen off the male servant at one of the last parties she had attended. The servant hadn't been wearing a shirt though, or the pants. She wondered curiously if Vaer had found the matching pink small clothes that matched. That was an expression she didn't want to miss.

She opened her mouth to ask when a commotion drew her attention away from him to the three women striding across the lake towards them.

All three women were dressed in shades of pink and yet all three wore it differently. At the lead of the trio, a good few strides ahead of the other two who walked with their arms linked and heads bowed together in whispered conversation, came the first of Favashi's sisters. She wore a perfectly tailored suit except hers was entirely covered in pink glitter. Her raven black hair matched raven dark blue-black eyes. But her lips and the shape of her face was familiarly similar to Favashi. Especially when she smiled.

"Little sister," the woman purred and swept Favashi into a hug before holding her out at arms length with a shake of her head. "Outrageous as always I see. And you," those dark, unnerving eyes swept to Vaer. "Must be the famous Shuck."

"Lijuan, this is Vaer. Vaer, my sister Lijuan. The Fury of Death," her lips quirked.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

"Is it? It looks much better on you," he chuckled. The color brought out the warm tones in his complexion and its vibrancy only made his hair seem that much darker. Unlike Favashi, whose coppery colors seemed more luminous by comparison.

He smelled their guests before he heard or saw them, and he turned his head only a moment before Favashi. Three women approached. Vaer felt the usual jitter of his nerves before they settled into cool confidence. He had made a life out of socializing; Favashi's guests might have been intimidating, but he was not frightened of them.

Perhaps he should have been, for the first greeted Favashi as sister. Vaer's pleasant smile only grew more curious as he watched their exchange. If Favashi was the golden sun that burned at midday, then her sister was the deepest shadow at midnight. She had the same cunning, angular eyes as Favashi, which marked her as trouble -- if her title as the Fury of Death didn't make that clear enough.

War and death. Were the other two pestilence and famine? The thought amused him.

Vaer, as always, was the epitome of good manners and charm. He bowed respectfully, just a little more than necessary for a fae of his rank.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lijuan." He straightened and smiled between the pair. A lesser person might have balked in the company of war and death, but those ideals had been his companions often over the years.

 

[Favashi]

Lijuan's smile was all teeth when he straightened after the bow.

"I see why you want him, Little Sister," her eyes cut away from the shuck as though he did not exist anymore and focused the heavy weight of death upon her instead. Favashi seemed to relax under it if anything and her returning smile was one of a tigress fully aware of the prize she had caught herself. Before any further exchange could take place however, the other two of her sisters appeared.

Twins.

Again they shared the same familial features yet at the same time managed to look as different as could be to Favashi and Lijuan. Both had blonde curls that framed sweet, almost watery blue eyes reminiscent of a zen garden pool. With rosebud lips a subtle shade of pink and dimples when they both smiled, they were the picture of pure innocence. Or, they would be, if their teeth were not filed into points.

"Pandora and Persefoni," Favashi smiled. "May I introduce you to Vaer."

"At last," Pandora smiled, spreading the skirts of her ostentatious pink corseted dress as she dipped into a low curtsey that almost touched the floor.

"Favashi has told us much," Persefoni winked. Where her sister had gone for a gown from the human courts of balled dances, she had gone for a dress that seemed entirely made out of starlight.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

I see why you want him, Little Sister.

Vaer didn't bother hiding a proud grin or his glance toward Favashi. So they were not alike only in features, but also their bold candor. At least that put him on familiar ground. Unfortunately, that meant he was in the presence of multiple Favashis.

Gods help him.

The other two were twins, sharing the same face shape as their sisters but appearing far more… Demure? Innocent? It was odd, but not the strangest thing he'd have seen; duanann families could be highly varied. The features the four women shared were subtle enough to be missed at a glance. Not that FAvashi and Lijuan were not stunning creatures, but these two were just cute. They even had dimples when they smiled.

Also, teeth filed down to sharp, predatory points. The other shoe dropped. There it was.

"Ladies."

In keeping with his impeccable manners, Vaer offered the twins the same polite bow as their eldest sister. Upon straightening once more, however, he gave Favashi a curious glance, one brow rising. Had she been talking about him to her sisters? He often related tales of Favashi to his sister, Hallori, but it had never occurred to him that she liked him enough to talk to her siblings. Vaer didn’t know how he felt about that. He assumed he was a conquest -- a friend that amused her as often as he frustrated her.

“At last indeed,” he replied humorously. “I hope she has not only told you good things. If so, I’m afraid I may disappoint your expectations.”

As if. He had every intention of sweeping them off of their feet with his charm and wit. Favashi thought she could frighten him with this party and game night, and he was going to foolishly cling to the idea that he wasn't so easily ruffled.

 

[Favashi]

All four sisters exchanged a look honed by an age by a group who had spent many years perfecting a silent language. Lijuan's smile was tiny but the twins wore open grins whilst Favashi threw a sympathetic lazy smile in her guests direction. Gently taking his elbow she begun to turn him to the table.

"Why don't we sit? Dinner should be ready any minute."

As if waiting her command - and of course, they probably had been - tiny flowers suddenly stood and revealed themselves not to be flowers at all but fae, petals where hair should be and skin a deep green and willowy enough to be mistaken for a stem. They leapt about as if in a dance and begun to pluck from the Inbetween steaming dishes of duck, swan, leopard and other oddities befitting the Dawnish Court. Whilst the performance went on the sisters took a seat with the twins securing the prize seats either side of Vaer.

Favashi tried to hide her smile in her cup.

"Favashi only told us the wicked things," Persefoni answered the rhetorical question earlier poised and flashed him a smile of dimples and sharp fangs.

"We much prefer those stories," Pandora agreed as she helped herself to a good hunk of cooked leopard tail.

"A familial trait," Lijuan nodded sagely.

"We should have thought ahead and invited your sister to join us," Persefoni sighed in annoyance.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

Vaer took his seat, politely holding out the chairs for the twins as they snatched up the spots beside him. It would have been uncouth to sit beside Favashi in a setting where he was meeting new people. He tried to convince himself as he pulled up his seat that he had dined beside Kings and Queens and rubbed shoulders with some of their most frightening killers. Favashi’s sisters weren’t any more intimidating than that.

But Vaer was not a very good liar, even to himself.

Only the wicked things and they were still excited for this meeting? Vaer nearly signed himself in prayer. Perhaps agreeing to meet multiple Favashis at once had been overzealous of his abilities. There was, of course, no shortage of his heinous deeds in the service of the Erlking to talk about. Vaer shot Favashi a glance. He’d been nervous before but now he was even more so. What stories had she told them? How much exaggeration had she added for their benefit? Was he going to be as interesting as they expected him to be, or was he going to be a boring desk jockey?

Why was this so important to him? He needed to get his head out of his ass or these women were going to eat him alive.

The shuck perked up at the mention of his sister. Vaer’s charming socialite smile lightened to one more candid.

“Hallori?” he clarified. Not only had Favashi been talking about him, but she’d also mentioned his sister? Obviously, Vaer had done his share of telling his sister about his friend, but the idea of Favashi doing the same was still somehow out of his reach. He didn’t know if he felt more like an agenda, a friend, or a pet, but the idea amused him regardless.

“I’m sure she would have loved the invitation, but she is rarely well enough to travel far from home. If any of you find yourself passing near Underhill, it would be my pleasure to introduce you to her. After Favashi has had the privilege, of course,” he added. “I would not wish to incur her wrath nor Hallori’s.”

Vaer found himself in a rather awkward position. He’d never formally invited Favashi to his home to meet Hallori, in spite of talking about her often – something he didn’t do lightly, as well she knew. Now he’d met a string of sisters and extended that to virtual strangers. It was an unforgivable faux pas at the expense of his very best friend.

“Perhaps this error can be reconciled,” he said, swiveling his head toward Favashi suddenly, “if you would be inclined to celebrate the Long Night with my family and me at Hollyhall?” Vaer didn’t put on charms; Favashi deserved an honest expression. His eyes were apologetic and sheepish, but a playful grin curled at the corners of his mouth. If he was supposed to be married by then, he had no doubt that Favashi would want to witness (if not participate in) the general gloating his mother and sister would be doing.

 

[Favashi]

Favashi lounged rather than sat in her fur-padded chair. She watched her sisters in turn with a lazy half smile as they each in turn attempted their own way to knock their guest off his guard. Her fingernails - a bright, dazzling shade of pink of course - tapped against her goblet as Vaer's face brightened at the mention of his sister. It wasn't often he would speak of her but when he did there was a softness to him and a boyish charm that had even Favashi's heart melting. Her younger sisters were clearly feeling the same affects for they both cupped their chins in their hands and stared at the shuck with wide, adoring eyes.

One eyebrow rose, however, when he extended an invite to the others gathered at the table to meet her. Given how protective he was over her she wouldn't have thought such a thing possible. She herself had never... Her eyes seemed to sharpen and narrow just a fraction but as luck would have it Vaer seemed to catch his mistake in time and Favashi once more went back to that pleased smiled.

"I'd be honoured, Vaer."

"Why couldn't we have a brother?" Panda murmured.

"We did. We killed him, remember?" Lijuan cut in bluntly and then stabbed her knife into a hunk of crackling pork and hoisted it on to her plate.

"Why couldn't we have a brother like that then," Persefoni corrected and clicked her tongue.

Favashi waved the conversation away dismissively.

"What is the Long Night?" The fae traditions got so... murky now a days.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

“Being a brother to sisters is no simple task, and certainly not for the weak,” Vaer chuckled behind the rim of a glass.

Lijuan was just as terrifying as her sisters, but he had grown up in a household of equally frightening women. Vaer's maternal ancestors had served the Wild Hunt since its first days, their ferocity tracing beyond that for millennia in the Summer Court of antiquity. His mother would like these women. She might have retired with honors, but she was still a predator in other ways. Anella, his late elder sister, would have fit in like one of their own. Hallori was gentle and sweet, but she still had teeth and knew how to use them when it suited her.

Pride and affection curled his smile wider as he thought of his family. He hadn't realized how eager he was to introduce Favashi to them, to share the women he loved more than himself with his friend.

So Favashi had had a brother, too? It was more intriguing than finding out she’d had sisters. His demise must surely be an interesting story. Vaer saved that for a later query.

He’d gathered a few things at random to put on his plate. Food was never something he was afraid of. Rather, he quite enjoyed discovering new flavors and ate quite adventurously. Vaer was, after all, a dog half the time and every shuck had embarrassing childhood tales of curiosity. So half of the things he grabbed were bravely chosen curiosities, while the other half were an assortment of familiar delights and greens.

When Favashi asked about the Long Night, Vaer glanced over to her quickly. His smile gleamed. Any chance he got to proselytize he took, but he would resist.

“The Long Night,” he began, “simply put, is the celebration of the winter solstice on the longest night of the year. For those of us with lunar affinities, it means the peak of our strength. I celebrate it according to Klehastic tradition. We – my family, I mean – travel to Hollyhall, our country estate to attend services at the temple in the morning of the day before, and then we celebrate at our home that evening. We have dinner, play games, exchange gifts, and sometimes have music and dancing. My mother is still the family matriarch, so the extended family is usually there."

He surveyed the table to read the crowd. A smile hitched at the corner of his mouth and his eyes glinted.

"Then, of course, we go hunting as a family. Mother chooses the quarry, but it is generally prey animals. All of us go, even the puppies, so it's never anything too dangerous. Sometimes there's an after-party for hunting greater prey after the pups are in bed."

He got the impression he didn't need to define 'greater prey' to this group.

 

[Favashi]

"How romantic," the twins sighed, chins resting on the back of their clasped hands in perfect unison. Lijuan rolled her eyes but her lips twitched at the corners and Favashi didn't bother to hide the flash of a grin. The twins seemed oblivious to either of their older sisters however, or at least didn't care enough to let their reactions bother them.

"It sounds like what the mortals around here call Yalda Night. They gift each other little presents and have a huge feast, and make the oddest little decorations to clutter up their homes," whilst it was Pandora that spoke, Persefoni nodded along. "And they sing the most beautiful--"

"We're not here to discuss mortal traditions," Lijuan waved her hand dismissively. "We should be discussing the hunting! Now, do you make this hunt interesting? A bet, perhaps? Blindfolded?"

"No - we need to bring gifts, have you forgotten what mother use to..."

The conversation quickly descended into an argument and Favashi leaned across to murmur softly to her guest.

"You can uninvite them, I wouldn't blame you. I might even protect you from their fury."

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

Well versed in situations like this, Vaer took the opportunity to eat some of his food. The sisters acted like… Well, sisters. Vaer didn't mind it at all. It was informal, even casual. The scrutiny he had felt so sharply was dissipated and, for now, he felt as though he was passing a very important inspection.

He was listening politely, waiting to be brought back into the conversation with patient smile, when Favashi leaned in and spoke quietly. In each other's confidences as usual.

"You might? Favashi, you are getting soft," he chuckled after dabbing at his face with his napkin. "I wouldn't dare. I am a man of my word." That was all that needed said on the matter. His honest word was why he was here this evening, playing cat-and-mouse with a woman who both thrilled and terrified him – and her three sisters.

 

[Favashi]

"It's the downsides to family, though I suppose you would argue they are positives," Favashi sighed with a dramatic wave of her hands. The girls were still arguing though the topic had moved on from the basic discussion over Winter Solstice traditions to the worth of mortals. It was usually a topic the Fury of War enjoyed taking part in but tonight there was something far more interesting to pique her interest.

"You've never invited me to meet your family before," her gold eyes studied his profile for some tell that would clue her in to what he was really feeling. She had never pried for an invite before because the game of cat and mouse they had played for the last few hundred years had been entertaining. Family seemed like a line she didn't want to cross. "What's changed your mind?" she reached out and gently brushed her fingers down the side of his jaw in a soft caress.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

Vaer only smiled in answer. She was right. Where his family was concerned, he wasn't the Penance of the Wild Hunt or a High Lord of the Second Order. He was Enlai – brother and son, loved and known. It was a rare place of vulnerability, and he was lucky that he had a family that cherished and protected that.

He was glad she had that, too.

His attention was still divided as he listened in on the debate around the table, but Favashi's question drew him back. Vaer was going to reply with the easy truth but paused midway through the breath he'd drawn to speak.

Movement caught his attention the instant before her cool fingers brushed against his jaw. The air against his skin was colder in their wake. His eyes met hers and it took every shred of self-control he had to resist looking down. Her lips were right there. Of every inch of her that was left bare around the boa, her lips were still the first thing he was drawn to.

But he wasn't slipping – wouldn’t allow it, not for the second time today. It was costing him. Vaer hesitated, wholly unlike himself, with his mouth ajar and his gaze lingering on hers.

What changed his mind?

"Nothing. I’ve wanted to for a while.”

A god shitting on the table would have surprised him less than his own honesty. He couldn’t lie, of course, but he could have said one of dozens of other half-truths.

If Vaer was good at anything, however, it was making a stunning recovery from a faux pas and pretending like he didn’t have feelings. He flashed her a boyish grin and shrugged.

"You brought me to meet yours, even if it was a surprise. It seems fair and it's long overdue. My family doesn't need cooked leopard tails and bunny slippers to get together; any given day will do." With that he sat back, crossed his legs at the knee, and wiggled the bunny slipper nearest to Favashi.

Space. Gods help him, he needed space. Vaer drank from his wine to smell anything that wasn’t Favashi. Even with his nose in the glass, he could still scent raspberries and roses and litchi, all ripe and lush and pink as the wine in his mouth–

He sat the glass down rather abruptly and turned back to her with a slight strain to his smile.

“What about you? Until tonight, I never knew you had any living family.”

 

[Favashi]

Amusement danced in that ancient golden gaze as Vaer retreated from her touch. His honesty had surprised her too: not because he had spoken it - the Shuck always had a habit of speaking before thinking around her - but because she was not used to being... wanted. Not in this more vulnerable sense anyway. Typically people tried to keep the Fury of War as far away from their loved ones as possible. It made her feel... more. There was no other word she could use to describe it. His retreat was as much of a relief for her as it was for him and gave her the space she needed to collect herself.

"You've never asked me before," she said simply and picked up her goblet. She swirled the wine twice before taking a sip; there was no wine quite like Dawnish wine. The golden liquor seemed to linger on her lips and she savoured licking off every droplet.

"People often don't associate us with one another," Pandora chirped up. From the look on Lijuan's face she had lost. The Fury of Death was busy downing her entire glass as the twins continued.

"We all look so different, why would they?"

Favashi watched the twins with amusement before her eyes slanted back to Vaer.

"Ask away."

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

You've never asked me before. Well, that was true enough. Neither of them had pried much into each other's personal lives. If they were going to be close enough friends to meet family, however, it might do well to start asking.

The debate had concluded, and Vaer wasn't keen on riling the humors of anyone related to Favashi, so he picked what he hoped was a relatively safe topic.

"You mentioned you had a brother," he offered. "I'd be curious to hear what happened to him."

 

[Favashi]

"He was annoying, so we killed him. The end," Lijuan stabbed a bit of the meat on her plate and shovelled it into her mouth whilst her eyes locked with Favashi's. The only sign the Fury of War felt any of the chill coming off her older sisters look was the slight twitch at the corner of her lips. Then she turned her golden gaze back to Vaer instead.

"Our brother was the Fury of Fate. He had the uncanny ability to be able to see into the future through visions of a sort. When he was younger they were little more than dreams he could remember and would come to pass in small ways, but as he grew and practised his gift more, he found he was able to control when these visions came on. A few years before his death, he came across a herb which he claimed helped make these visions clearer than they ever had been. He would spend days locked away inhaling its smoke, eating it. He forgot everything else, he just wanted to See.

This herb also made him quite the liability. He would talk about his Visions to anyone who would listen which drew mortal and fae to his door. We discovered one day that one of these more frequent visitors had actually managed to get the idiot to reveal his True Name. Our brother was bound. We were... concerned what else he might reveal in these states of his and so we killed him," Favashi finished the tale with a simple shrug and a sip of her wine as though it were the most obvious course to pick.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

So much for a safe topic. The table was as quiet as it had been since they had arrived, with the exception of when he had been speaking. A crease formed between Vaer's brows as he listened to Favashi’s account. It was an unfortunate gift to have been wasted and lost.

"My condolences. Clairvoyance is a rare gift, but the people it touches rarely live happy lives."

He glanced at Favashi briefly. Hallori's gift wasn't a secret, per se, but the Nhimeis didn't talk about it. In retrospect, perhaps it was a secret. Favashi knew. It might have been one of the most personal secrets he'd ever told her, and it wasn't even his own.

Was Hallori's life happy?

Vaer swiftly found something else to think about and changed the subject.

"Do you three also reside in Leogaire?"

 

[Favashi]

"Sometimes."

"When we feel like it."

"Or work permits."

The three of them glanced at one another in the way of sisters then shrugged the same shoulder in perfect unison. Favashi couldn't help but laugh.

"The twins are still young and enjoy the joys of travelling a lot. Lijuan merely hates everyone so prefers not to be around people when she can," the Fury of Death shot her sister an icy glass which Favashi returned with a deeper smirk. "I'm the only one of our siblings who prefers the comforts of a regular home now," she sighed and waved a hand towards the house which glowed from the inside with the now lit lanterns.

"Don't you have multiple homes, Vaer?" Pandora asked innocently.

 

[Vaer Nhimei]

Vaer nodded in understanding. He knew well what it was like to be young and intrepid, moving from place to place. He gnawed away the days and weeks of his prime with work. Trips of leisure such as this were almost nonexistent.

"I do. I keep homes in almost every region I have business in, but only one of them is home." He smiled charmingly at Pandora. "My family primarily resides in Underhill, where I conduct the majority of my business and keep close at hand in the Winter Court. I keep a personal townhouse in Laigin for when I am in residence for the Autumn Court and the Sluagh.

"Hollyhall is, however, my heart's home. It is where I was born and spent much of my pupp– childhood."

He tipped the glass of wine and peered inside. Not surprising that Favashi kept the good stuff and he was already feeling the darkening of his cheeks and his tongue loosening. Note taken.

When he looked up once more, Vaer cast a smile toward the twins.

"Where have you traveled recently?"

He delighted in stories of the grand, wide world. He was lucky to have seen much of it, and yet there was still so much he hadn't. He envied their endlessness, their freedom to travel for what would be so close to forever.