(ahhhh shoot, im on my phone and it does that sometimes…sorry!!)
Jin inclined his head. "What you say is true. However, i am not going to hide that part of her heritage from her. I will tell her that she is Night Fae." He replied, watching Alina unblinkingly. "I will not hide that from her." He had phrased it to give himself some wiggle room. Yes, he would tell her that she was Night Fae. But he would not tell her who he suspected her parent was. That he would leave for later. If ever. He glanced to Morrigan, signaling something, then looked at Alina. "Now. I am weary of travel, and would like to go to my rooms and rest. Where are they?" A half lie. He wasn't tired, though he was weary of traveling. He just wanted a chance to speak to Morrigan without ears listening kn to their conversation.
"Tell her what you must. She deserves to know the truth." Alina's soft spot for the changeling was obvious, the one weakness she showed in front of anyone. Which was perfectly fine, as that meant everyone knew she wouldn't let anyone harm Miyaki. "Ah, yes, your rooms." She raised a hand, signaling to a guard standing by the door. He approached, listening to Alina's question, before turning to Jin.
"The first floor of the West wing, your highness." The first floor was for important guests, and the second was for Fae of importance as well, but those who lived there, and were a part of the Dawn Court.
"Would you like Mika to accompany you, or would you prefer finding them on your own?" Alina asked, accepting the key the guard handed her, and raising an eyebrow at Jin.
Jin shook his head. "I can find it. Do I need a key?" He replied, looking at Alina, face blank.
Morrigan took out a knife, sharpening it nonchalantly, as if she wasnt standing in the entrance for the Dawn Court. Her red hair was still in the braided crown, with a few strands falling into her face.
Jin glanced at Morrigan, hearing the rasp of the blade being sharpened, and shook his head slightly, then looked at Alina again.
"That is what this is for." Alina said, handing over the elegant skeleton key. She motioned to Morrigan, tilting her head just slightly. "Will you companion be staying in your rooms, or should I have one of the other guest rooms prepared as well?" She asked, clasping her hands back in front of herself again.
He took it, tucking it in his pocket. "Morrigan needs her own room, yes. Preferably right next door so she actually sleeps." He gave Morrigan a look.
Morrigan's lips twitched in a smirk, not looking up from the knife. "It isnt my fault you have a habit of leaving your room." She replied.
Jin shook his head. "Morrigan, hush." He replied, looking at Alina again. "So if a room could be prepared for her beside mine, that would be lovely."
"Of course. Mika, would you mind?" The guard nodded, leaving the room to presumably set that in motion. Alina bowed shortly, flashing that same polite smile once she had straightened. "Both of you, feel free to find your rooms and go about your business." She turned, heading for a door by the throne. "But never forget, should you break the rules of my hospitality, I will not hesitate to enact the judgement my Court is known for." And then she was gone, leaving behind the scent of morning dew and jade, and a certain air of not-quite, but definitely somewhat, threatening meaning.
Jin nodded, and he and Morrigan headed to the West wing, where they located his room, going inside.
"Jin, there is no way you are right." Morrigan said immediately, turning to look at him. "She cannot be. Night Fae, i grant, is true. But your other suspicion? Impossible."
"I know what i saw, Morrigan. And there is only one person i have ever known who was like that." Jin replied. "I am very sure i am correct." He told her, taking off his cloak and setting it on the bed.
"No. You know what that could mean. What that…" Morrigan shook her head.
"I do know. Which is why we need her on our side. I need to speak with her." Jin replied calmly.
It took Miyaki around ten minutes to finally find the local inventor, who was sat at a table in the informal dining hall, gadgets and papers and tools spread out on the table in front of him. Shaking her head with a laugh, the changeling crept up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Kenathius-!" Aster spun around, his ears twitching and eyes wide, only to relax as he caught sight of Miyaki. "Dammit, Miyaki, you scared the shit out of me. Was that really necessary."
"Absolutely." Miyaki quipped, hopping up on to the table and poking around the metal bits, picking up a strange looking half-finished device. "Alina wants to know your process on her music box, and I'm just here to get away from the High Lord. Night Fae are strange, that's for sure."
Jin and Morrigan talked for a while longer, before Jin sighed. "I'm going for a walk, Morrigan. Don't tail me, or I shall have to send you home. I value my privacy."
Morrigan rolled her eyes. "Fine. Leave, then, High Lord." She said, sharpening her knife again.
Jin winked, and left, walking through the hallways without a destination in mind. He looked extremely out of place in the golden, sunlit palace.
"So that's what was going on, huh? Is her Lady entirely sure that's a good idea, inviting them here?" Aster asked as he sat back down, returning to the fiddling he had been doing.
"She said she was." Miyaki said with a shrug, grabbing a small tool of the table to tweak something, before pulling off an entire piece. "I'm not so sure about it, though. The High Lord seems like a man with plans and things to hide. And I don't like it."
"You're wary of everyone." The male Faerie pointed out, glancing up. "Hey! That took me forever to get on!"
"Maybe because it's in the wrong place. You need it over here to get the desired effect, Az." She said, setting the device down to pull her hair up into a high ponytail, before continuing her work.
Jin sighed softly, and continued walking through the hallways and tapping on his pant leg. Interesting…Night Fae, raised in the Dawn Court. At least for a while. Does she have any idea? Any powers or abilities like ours? Or is she as powerless as any other human? I shall have to find out. He shook his head slightly as he turned down a corridor. I cannot simply ask straightout, though. She would likely not answer me. I must gain her trust.
“Just don’t break it, goddammit.” Aster shook his head, eyeing her disassembly and reassembly of the device for a moment before going back to his own tinkering.
“I know what I’m doing. Learned from the best, didn’t I?” Miyaki said, batting her eyelashes innocently at him and earning a laugh in response.
“If you say my brother, I’m going to beat you with this wrench. No High Lady can threaten me enough.” He joked, placing his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out.
Jin kept walking, folding his hands behind his back. "Hm." He walked into the garden, examining the flowers, which were beautiful colors, like the sky and the sun itself. He didn't like it here. It was always too…bright and cheery. He liked the dark far better. The dark hid many things, and made others shine all the brighter. To the sun, all things were the same. But not everything deserved the light.
A few minutes later, Miyaki humped up, holding the completed device up in the air triumphantly. “Got it! Fucker took a bit, but it’s done!”
Aster blinked up at her, before a bright grin split his face. “Holy shit, are you serious? We have to go test it!”
Miyaki eagerly agreed, and they made their way out into the gardens after cleaning up a bit.
“Okay okay, on the count of three, toss it into the air.” Aster instructed, after holding his palm over the sphere like structure to power it with light. Miyaki took the sphere, waiting for Aster to count down, before tossing the sphere as high into the air as she could.
Where it exploded, like a small flash grenade.
Jin jumped when something flew into the air and exploded, and headed in the direction of the explosion quickly. He looked like quite the sight, as well. He didn't belong in these beautiful gardens of orange and red and blue, dressed in white, silver, or black, looking like the night incarnate trespassing in the day's territory. Which was perhaps in truth what he was. He rounded a corner, now in full view of Aster and Miyaki, though he hadn't yet noticed them.
"By Kenathius-Aster, it worked!" Miyuki jumped up and down a few times, the light colored fabric of her skirt swirling around her feet as she did. "I told you I knew what I was doing!" It was the closest thing to magic she could get, using other people's in items like this. And she loved it.
Aster slapped her shoulder, looking up at the fading light as the changeling caught the sphere before it hit the ground. "Damn, you really did it! General Urei is going to love these! Way to go, changeling!"
Jin's eyes snapped to them, and he cleared his throat. "Next time you feel like testing…whatever that thing is, could you warn the others wandering the garden first? I do not know if it was your intention to startle me, but nonetheless, you did." He walked over to them. Miyuki, and someone else. He wasn't sure who this male was, and he didn't particularly care. "Miss Miyuki, a pleasure to meet you again." He added, looking at her.
((Afafasas autocorrect changed her name when I typed it rip))
Aster jumped as Jin spoke, whirling around to bow and almost falling. Miyaki, however, fiddled with the sphere a bit before even turning, raising an eyebrow at him.
“I’m sure. In any case, the gardens are usually empty right around now, which is why we save any testing for Eveningfall.” Miyaki pointed to the sky, where the sun had reached a point that would make it evening. “We weren’t aware anyone else would be here. My…deepest apologies.”
(lol oof)
Jin nodded, then arched an eyebrow. "Are they really your deepest? I don't see you bowing and scraping, which would be your deepest." He replied, looking at her with all the cool blankness one would expect of the night. He chuckled darkly, shaking his head. "Miss Miyaki, i need to speak with you." He added, ignoring the male and focusing on the changeling. Night Fae…she does not look it, quite. But there is something in her eyes. And i know that what i felt wasn't wrong. Like calls to like. I know who the citizens of my kingdom are. Who has Night blood. And she has it.
“The deepest I can manage then.” Miyaki amended, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Because I don’t bow or scrape, for anyone.” She handed the sphere back to Aster, whispering something as she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, before letting go. With one last look between the two of them, the male Faerie left, heading back towards the informal dining room to continue working.
Miyaki turned back to Jin once Aster was gone, crossing her arms under her chest. “High Lord, might I ask why exactly you need to speak with me? I’m not exactly a high priority Faerie, after all. Not one at all.”
Jin gave another soft chuckle, walking over to her and looking down at her, seeming almost predatory with his unwavering, studying gaze. "Yes. You are." He said softly, stepping back a bit. "After all, what sort of High Lord would i be if I didn't recognize someone of my own court?" He gave a razor sharp smile. "You are half Night Fae, miss Miyaki. Like it or not. You belong in my world, not this one." He gestured to the garden. "You belong in the night, not in the sun." He shook his head. "I recognize who you are, miss Miyaki. A changeling. Half Fae. A person of two worlds."
“Is the sun already getting to you, your Majesty?” Miyaki blurted, before she could even pause to think about her words. She hadn’t stepped back when he’d approached, meeting his gaze unwaveringly despite her obvious surprise and slight confusion. Even now, she didn’t drop eye contact, her almost-black eyes staying locked on his. “I’m no Faerie, let alone one of Night. I’m nothing more than a changeling, and even growing up surrounded by the Fae cannot suddenly make me one of them.”
His eyes flashed dangerously. "You would do well not to insinuate things about a high lord, changeling." He said. "As for all that…yes, you are. Like calls to like. A High Lord knows who has the blood of their Court, and you…" He lightly grabbed her chin in his hands, making her look at him. "You have the eyes of many of the Night Fae." His own eyes were the color of liquid starlight, a pale silver that shimmered and sparked with life. But many in the Night Court had those black or almost black eyes. Morrigan did.
Though she didn’t flinch when Jin grabbed her chin, the visible conviction and surety in her eyes disappeared as they shuttered suddenly. Nothing in and nothing out, just blackish blue pools of mystery. “My eyes are just that, eyes.” She said, her voice carrying that same closed off tone that hid her emotions. It was a defense mechanism, one she used when she forgot her tongue one too many times around the wrong noble. “They may resemble those of some of your people, but I believe you’ll find any similarities end there.” She couldn’t be Fae. She couldn’t control any elements or any sort of magic, and she most definitely wasn’t a gorgeous practically immortal being.
He released her chin, shaking his head. "I am not mistaken. And as you know quite well, Fae can't lie. I know what you are, Miyaki. Deny it if you wish, but you are of Night Fae blood." He looked down at her. "And it isn't just the eyes. I can prove it to you. All i need is a drop of blood." Which sounded a bit strange, he knew. But it was true. That was the best way to identify what court a Fae was from. How their blood reacted to certain things.
He was right, Fae couldn’t couldn’t lie. But if they convinced themselves something was true, then that rule didn’t quite work the same, whether it actually was false or not. She thought that over for a moment, before holding out her hand. “The best way for you to realize you’re mistaken is to let you test your theory, I guess.” She said, the closed off look never leaving her eyes. “Go ahead and take some, unless you need a knife, because I’m sure I can find one.”
He sighed. "I am not mistaken, Miyaki. Try to tell yourself I am all you like, but it will not change the truth." He pulled a small knife out of his pocket. "I have one." He gently pierced the tip of her finger, and collected a few drops of blood onto the knife. Pulling a tiny glass vial from his pocket, he put the drops of blood in the vial, and sealed it shut.
(She is half Night Fae, right? Just wanna double-check)
((Half, Yeah. I confused myself for a bit with a few things but I’ve finally decided, she was born to ya Halfbloods, at least one of who was Night Fae))
Miyaki watched him collect her blood and seal it away, almost too calm about the whole thing. The sight of her own blood wasn’t new to her, even if a strange man putting it in a vial was. “So what, exactly, is this supposed to do to prove that I’m what you say I am?” She asked, eyes on the vial as she raised an eyebrow. Her hand lifted to fiddle with the pendant of her necklace, which had been a gift from the late High Lady before her passing. The only times she ever really removed it were when sleeping and when bathing.
(alright)
Jin gave her a smirking smile. "We hold it up to the moon. Don't you know what a blood test is?" He asked, lifting the vial into the air. Luckily, the sun had already gone down, and the moon was out, full and bright and beautiful. Its rays shone into the glass vial, and the blood shimmered with silver, reactivate to the light. He smirked. "See? I told you. Your blood reacted to the moonlight when put in a crystal vial. If it didn't, you wouldn't be Night Fae."
“I’ve never had to take a blood test, so no, I don’t.” Miyaki said, watching him lift the vial. Her eyes widened as her blood began to shimmer, and she took a small step back, looking from the vial to the High Lord. “How is that even possible? How would someone half Fae end up a changeling as well? And I can’t even control any sort of magic. Some Night Faerie I would be.” She rambled, shaking her head the entire time.
