Fable - Ask Wild Kelpies for a Prince

[Ianthe]

Ianthe opened her mouth then promptly closed it. Opened it again, then closed it. It wasn't very often that the kelpie was left at a loss for words. From the sulky expression on her face she didn't seem too pleased about it. When she caught sight of the wreaths cold anger and something... other writhed in her stomach. Then an idea to win the argument sparked inside her evil little mind. With a cruel half smile she looked up at him, arms folded over her chest.

"If you're so committed to this little story of yours, burn those wreaths then."

The smug look on her face suggested exactly what she thought he would do instead.

 

[Saang Lusce]

That... gave him pause. Not because she was agreeing to it in a round-about way, but that he wasn't sure he trusted her on the matter of such a blatant, public social protocol. The fae raised his brows over narrowing eyes as he stopped a dozen yards or so away from the little encampment, eyeing the devilish nag in his arms with suspicion.

"Is that the true custom once a mate has been chosen?"

 

[Ianthe]

Ianthe's smirk was positively feral. There was no way any sane person would believe she had had any good intentions in making the suggestion to set the wreaths alight. Even the way her canines dimpled her lip did nothing to temper the malevolent look in her eyes.

"I guess you're about to find out."

 

[Saang Lusce]

"Or," Saang countered her supremely monstrous grin with sound logic, "I could find Sorelia and ask."

Yes, that felt like a good plan. He'd hate to misstep so soon after being welcomed in. He turned into the encampment and made to stride right past the tent, adjusting Ianthe in his arms.

"Now where did she go..."

 

[Ianthe]

The smirk promptly vanished, replaced once more by murderous intent and a sulky pout.

"Fine - fine!" folding her arms over her chest again she leaned back against his annoyingly pleasant warmth as they trudged the final few steps up to the tipi. "We can't lie anyway," she half muttered beneath her breath as though to assure herself he wouldn't really claim she was his mate. She didn't like the way the word made her heart hammer and her palms sweat.

Still, she did aim a good petty kick at one bundle of wreaths just before they entered.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Aha, there we go. Saang's smugness returned as he promptly stopped and backpedaled to the tent with a contained chuckle.

"That's true, we cannot lie," he agreed. Though he mightn't been able to say he'd actually taken her as his mate, he'd be lying if he said the idea did not displease him. Not that she had bothered to ask. Saang stooped to pass through the opening, giving her feet kicking access to the stacks of bridal wreathes, and shook his head as she sent the nearest toppling into a mess outside.

"How does that custom even work," Saang asked in earnest as he lowered himself to his knees on the furs and pelts inside, setting her down with more care than she likely wanted or needed, "choosing a mate based off a wreath? Is it really so simple?"

He eased back to sit on his heels while she made herself as comfortable as she could, looking at her curiously, "Have you made a wreath for anyone before?"

Ianthe in love. Now there was a thought. Or did love have nothing to do with it?

 

[Ianthe]

Ianthe stifled a soft moan of relief as she was set down upon the furs. She hated to admit how, even being carried, the simple movement had made her feel close to emptying her stomach. The dramatic kelpie rolled onto her side and curled into a pathetic ball, contemplating the worth of life as the very room began to spin. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the trick her mind played on her, focusing instead on the questions-Saang-definitely-should-have-researched-earlier. She gave a soft huff.

"It's not just about picking the prettiest wreath, it's about what the wreaths represent," she cracked an eye open and rolled it when she saw his quizzical look. Shutting her eye again she continued. "Each wreath will be made of different things, be decorated differently, they're all symbols of what a life with that kelpie will be. Like a promise. If your kind did such a thing they might put gold on it for example to show they have wealth to provide," a soft snort showed her what exactly she thought of that in a mate. A pregnant pause followed where it seemed uncertain whether she would answer his other question before, finally, in a quiet voice she said:

"No. I've never been worthy of being someone's mate."

 

[Saang Lusce]

Something about this tradition felt so... earnest. Sweet? Completely not what he expected of a clan of sea murder-horses? Color him surprised and enlightened. He smiled to himself as he imagined the intimate and artful act of a kelpie mare creating a wreath and wondered, quite strongly, what a wreath from Ianthe might look like.

"What do you mean?" he blinked at her last words, that wonder withering for confusion and concern, "You are more than worthy. You are a fierce and seasoned warrior that has never backed down from a challenge. You've fought and won many battles. You are smart and powerful," a pause, he smiled down at her warmly, "and beautiful. How could you possibly not be worthy?"

Was it because up until today she had been a tame kelpie? Would that be enough to turn such a prized woman down as a potential mate?

"I think it is they who are not worthy of you."

 

[Ianthe]

Every compliment was like a dagger in her heart. Ianthe drew her knees up inch by inch as if she could somehow physically shield herself from the blows. She didn't want to be any of those things. Certainly not to him. Did she? No. It was absurd. He had only ever been nice to her because he had believed kindness would make her easier to control, easier to manipulate, easier to own. Well, she was free now. She didn't need his sugar-coated lies.

Didn't need the tiny bit of hope that bloomed in her shrivelled heart as his last, lingering words.

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped and dragged a pillow over her head to block him out. "It doesn't matter anyway, nobody will ask me if they think you've chosen me. And I don't care anyway. I don't want some shitty family I'm meant to care about, I much prefer killing them."

 

[Saang Lusce]

That warm smile dissipated with the quickness of chilled water poured over campfire embers. Deflated from his attempts to bring some kind of comfort to her, Saang furrowed his brow in thought.

"...I see," the Duannan replied with a sigh. It was becoming more and more apparent just how little he truly knew of kelpie culture. Or Ianthe, for that matter.

These things had never mattered much before, but the difference now was that he actually wanted to know. Hopefully Sorelia would be a bit more forthcoming with her knowledge - on the former, at least. He looked around and pulled a bundled pelt from the side of the tent and lowered it over her curled figure. The cold wouldn't get to her, but the withdrawal chills likely would. It would be best not to leave her alone for long.

"Try to rest, I need to speak with Sorelia. I'll be back shortly." He could collect seaweed for her, the type Kelpies did not normally eat due to its high amounts of naturally occurring iron. Normally it would make them gravely ill, but for her it would ease the spin of her symptoms. Rising to a crouching stand again, Saang tugged his own pelted cloak more snugly over his shoulders and dipped out of the tent, nearly walking straight into another kelpie who was waiting outside.

"Ha-" Saang righted himself with wide eyes and looked over the kelpie mare as she turned to face him, only to discover it was not a mare at all but the black-haired stallion from his second trial, "ahhh," he looked away, feeling strangely awkward under the rather pleased mirth on the other's face, "it's you. I ah, do not believe I have your name."

"Sevir," said the kelpie while he looked Saang up and down.

Normally this sort of attention was quite welcome but for some reason it made the Kelpie Commander feel quite out of place. Saang cleared his throat and moved to step past him, "Was there something you needed?"

"Just you," Sevir smiled smugly after Saang's departing form that abruptly stopped at those words long enough to peer with uncertainty over his shoulders, "the Matriarch requires your presence."

"Ah," well that was convenient, "take me to her then."

 

[Ianthe]

The celebrations were in full swing now. Since Saang and Ianthe's private moment, kelpies had gathered their stock of driftwood and lit a grand fire in honour of their latest clan member. Drink flowed freely and someone had even pulled out a pair of huge skin-made drums on which they played a haunting yet alluring rhythm the kelpies danced to. Against the light of the flames their bodies seemed taller, and they writhed like the waves beyond the shore.

Sorelia lounged on a series of spread skins - not all of them sheep and goat - with a glass of wine in her hands. She watched the dancers even as Saang and Sevir approached.

"What, no blue tornado with you this time?" she mused, finally dragging her eyes to meet her latest clan member. "Sit, have a drink. I always find wine is better when discussing war."

 

[Saang Lusce]

The Commander raised his brows over a catch of amusement. Blue tornado... well that was a new one.

"No..." he replied, eyeing the shorter Sevir of whom he could feel staring, "she has been freed and is resting." If the wild kelpies knew about the sickness associated with the freeing of a tamed kelpie he could not say, but he would not elaborate further unless asked.

Sevir indicated the open space directly to Sorelia's left, then moved to take up residence near her right but not too close.

"A drink would be welcome, thank you," Saang offered the matriarch a grateful smile and lowered himself to the ground. This sort of meeting style would take some getting used to if it was to be a normal thing now. A young mare approached with a bottle of wine and handed Saang a glass he believed to be carved from stone.

"Admittedly, I had not intended to bring you into any war," he said before taking a sip and finding it to be a flavor he'd never tasted before, "as I first stated upon arrival, I came to ensure the safety of your and every other wild clan out there. The Princes will not hesitate to take advantage, especially not when full scale war breaks out."

His gaze flickered to Sevir whose smile had faded at his words and shifted to something of malcontent. Goodness, had he said something wrong?

"Your keenness to join my cause is... unexpected," Saang added, "if it is truly what you wish I will not put you off. I would be honored to have any kelpie fight at my side."

 

[Ianthe]

"Suggesting we're not safe suggests an enemy. An enemy that should be wiped out," Sorelia sipped at her wine, her eyes still lazily tracing the dancers on the beach. Sevir perched upon one of the craggy rocks, not quite comfortable sitting down in his Matriarchs presence. A soldier through and through.

"You say these Princes will get us caught up in their petty wars, well then they are both threats. To us, to all kelpies. Why not simply wipe them both out and start afresh? Selkie jerky?" she asked, offering a plate that had been sat by her side as though she had not just suggested regicide.

 

[Saang Lusce]

So it seemed the prideful culture and life of a warrior was not just inherent to tamed Kelpies of the Night Court, but extended to others of Ianthe's kind. At least those clans here in the frigid and unforgiving seas of the north. Saang found himself curiously surprised, though he supposed he should not. This must have been the reasoning her kind had been tamed for war those many hundreds of years ago. The Night King had seen their potential and then took it for himself by force.

Saang was only just coming to see how wrong such a thing was and it had taken too many centuries to get there. The Night Court truly was an abomination of their kind and while he'd not necessarily been out for its total annihilation, he could not help but agree that until the leadership of the split Court changed, until this war was settled and its people given a reason to live a different life, things would continue as they always had.

"Mmm..." he rumbled in thought, eyeing the offered jerky with some hesitation. Selkie jerky? Could they not simply eat normal seals? Did it have to be their fellow fae? Lips pressing into a thin line, he took a piece and tested a bite, uncertain if he was relieved that it did, indeed, taste almost exactly like mortal seal.

"Is it possible to call the wild clans together? Will they rally and fight under one banner?"

 

[Ianthe]

Sevir seemed to tense at the suggestion but Sorelia merely smiled. Taking her time in replying, she instead took her own bit of jerky and began to rip it the shreds, popping smaller, bite-sized chunks into her mouth. After an age, she spoke.

"There was a time, many moons ago, where a Southern Lord came to these shores. Seeing the might of the kelpies, he tried to tempt them with honeyed words to his cause. He claimed to be making the grandest Court the fae had ever seen before. It would ravage the other kingdoms, and claim power and wealth for us all. Many kelpies were swayed. Those who weren't won by ideas of treasure were won by dreams of glory and blood. But they did not know that the Lord had something far darker in mind for our people. As they slept beneath their roof of his house, having revelled and celebrated the wars to come, he slipped a bridal or iron between their teeth and bound them to his will.

Now, those who had not joined heard the screams of pain amongst their brethren. They had not trusted the Lord but now there was proof of his true intentions. The only bigger threat to a kelpie than another kelpie, was the Lord. So the kelpie clans cast aside their centuries of strife and banded together under one flag. They fought hard to free those bound, but to their dismay it was the ones they fought to help they met on the battlefield. Brother fought father, mother fought daughter. Lover killed lover. There were no winners after the kelpie wars. The clans, broken, scattered back across the islands choosing to save what remained of their own.

The rest, is history."

 

[Saang Lusce]

This was a story Saang knew, but not from the kelpie's perspective. It had been told to him after the formation of the Night Court and he, among the few young and capable warriors that held honor beneath his King's crown, had been one of the first wardens of the cavalry. Over the centuries, he'd worked his way up to the top and now stood as the Commander of those that the King had turned against Sorelia's people.

"I see," he said after some time of his own quiet, nodding to himself in understanding, "then I cannot expect them to rally to me."

A long, slow inhale filled his lungs with brisk, cold air. Snow had begun to fall over the celebrations. His breath billowed as clouds before his face and soon the snow melting upon his shoulders began to form steam from his own internal fire.

"I have no intentions of enslaving anyone," Saang spoke again, "in fact I mean to free those presently under the control of Prince Kana'ti. I have that power, as his Commander." Perhaps this was information he should not have shared, but Saang could see no way forward that was not lead by the truth. He refused to allow history to repeat itself.

"But I fear those of the Night Court may no longer be civilized enough to rejoin the wild clans. They may cause more harm free without their masters to control their rage. What are your thoughts of this?"

 

[Ianthe]

"Do you think us civilised?" Sorelia laughed at the very idea and then took another sip of the dark liquor in her goblet. When her lips came away from it they looked a lot more red than any wine had a business of causing. She licked the droplets off with slow, savouring precision.

"We are the sea. The sea is us. There is no true taming of it, no matter what you try to do to harness it. Is that young filly not point enough?" Sorelia snorted. "But we are herd creatures. They may vanish for a while, wreck havoc even, but the urge to not be alone will drive them to a clans shores eventually. There they will learn true manners," she flashed him a grin, her teeth painted in blood.

"I will call the other clans for you if you so wish. Releasing that which is ours might win you the chance to explain yourself. They might not come at all. As our clansbrother there are a few who will come regardless, but the rest will be down to fate."

 

[Saang Lusce]

Saang had not partaken of the wine or the jerky again after their initial tastes. He rarely ate over discussions of war. His brows raised as Sorelia tried to make her point, "Compared to the kelpies of the Night Court... I do."

She did not know those kelpies any more than those kelpies knew her own people. The differences in culture and upbringing were vast, and he did not think she understood the severity of their savagery. Certainly she was a wild thing and he did not doubt her or her clan's mettle - but pitted against a full cavalry of the Night Court's own?

They would likely be decimated. Ianthe would know this, but he could not figure if she would care enough to explain.

"And if I offered to take their trials?" he asked, eyes lingering over the dark ichor on her lips, "Of any clan who would allow it?"

 

[Ianthe]

Surprise flickered across the Matriarchs face.

"That's unheard of," Sevir spoke up before Sorelia could open her mouth. He had stood up from where he perched and now crossed his arms across his chest as though to keep them from doing something he might regret. The muscle ticking in his jaw indicated what he thought of that. "You too our trials, you're a part of our clan. To go and find another--"

He stopped when Sorelia raised her hand.

"It is not against the laws," she admitted softly.

"But--"

"Do you question the laws, whelp?" Sevir did not flinch under that unyielding gaze for several pregnant beats, before lowering his gaze and sitting back down. Sorelia gave him a lingering look before returning her attention once more to Saang. "I have never heard of such thing. Two clans, yes, when the mating ritual called for it. But the dozens there are out there?" she shrugged her shoulders. "It is certainly one way to try to unite a broken people."

 

[Saang Lusce]

The Matriarch was not the only one colored by surprise. Saang's gaze tracked the sudden movement of Sevir, uncertain of the male's intention or concern... but his own question begged much the same. Was joining multiple clans against some social stigma or expectation?

Apparently not. Well... that certainly presented much more legitimate options for enacting cohesive plans. Saang was a war strategist. He had not survived in these brutal battles between Princes for as long as he had on luck alone. If he could not unite at least the majority of the clans under one banner, it could spell disaster for his plans.

"Then that is what I will do," he said finally, glancing to Sevir without apology, but with purpose, "a plan without unity is destined to fail," and he turned to look once more at the Sorelia, "if you could spread the word to the clans to send whoever is willing to meet, then I will start with them."

He waited a beat, thinking that any other fae of his position would have stopped there with something just short of an order. That was not his way.

"I will do what I must to ensure my intentions are clear. If you wish me to bear your clan's symbol to show my allegiance, then I will bear it and any other."

 

[Ianthe]

Sorelia nodded to his request though made no moves to do so right that moment. Tonight was one of celebrations and her own clan, the concerns of Saangs loftier dreams not at all as pressing to her as drinking and fucking the night away. At his last proposal she gave a delight clap of her hands.

"Well, that brings us quite soundly onto the reason I really summoned you here. Your tattoo," her eyes glistened. If Saang had been paying much attention to the kelpies gathered he would have noted over the past few days how they all sported a tribal weave. The positions on the body changed, and the designs were slightly different, but they all in some way represented three horses, breaking out of the sea foam.

All except, of course, Ianthe.

"Sevir here is the inker who oversaw your trials, he will dictate the way our mark will be borne upon your skin to reflect how well you handled the trials. What it shows of your character."

 

[Saang Lusce]

And back to Sevir his eyes went, brows raised in some mild trepidation for what that would mean considering the outcome of the second trial...

"I see," Saang replied, resigning to the acceptance of this fate, "very well. When will the marking take place?"

 

[Ianthe]

Sevir patted the satchel that sat on the rock beside him.

"Now, if you're ready," he all but purred. When Saang didn't protest, he waved the Lord in to cavern he had completed his second and third trial in, indicating for him to lay down upon the stone slab. Once settled, the inker began.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Seemed tending to Ianthe would have to wait a little longer. Saang passed his remaining wine and jerky over and stood, pulling the pelted cloak from his shoulders to reveal the glimmering scales of his armorskin suit beneath. Before he knew it he was back on the slab and once more bare beneath the all-too-please gaze of the black-haired Sevir.

Saang had noticed many marks on the kelpies here, though admittedly he'd not paid them enough attention to notice what similarities they bore. Sevir was not shy with the mapping of his mark, beginning the surge of coiled and patterned waters along his left hip and bringing it swooping up just above the dip of his groin where the first horse emerged in signifying his pleasure in pain.

A second wave wove upwards, coiling at the center of his chest where another horse tore free in a curiously flame-like radiance to signify his breath of fire.

The third encircled the area over his heart, strong and resolute.

"I have never marked a canvas as expansive as yours before... but you are special, aren't you..." Sevir remarked when he finished, having nearly run out of ink. He stood back as Saang slowly sat up, looking upon his work with pride, "Now you must walk among the clan so they may know your mark. Come."

Saang sighed deeply, grabbed his cloak to fasten it about his waist just below the main line of the lowest part of his mark and paused before Sorelia to give the matriarch the first look.

 

[Ianthe]

Someone had passed Sorelia a pipe whilst the boys had been gone and from the sweet smell that wafted in the air it definitely wasn't kelp.

"Really?" Her eyebrow cocked as she looked at exactly where the most detail was then to Sevir with a shake of the head. The kelpie stallion didn't even have the audacity to look ashamed. No, if anything he looked smug.

"It suits you," she nodded in approval then waved a hand. "Go, enjoy your celebration. I will send words to the clans in the morning."