forum Nature's Breath, Death's Call (Open One on One | Romance, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy)

Started June 15, 2023 by @Null-Gravity language

tune

Time passes.

Meals come and go to Killian without a word or hair from the Fae Lord, who hadn't shown himself since that first day.

Then, a message.

It was very simple, the handwriting elegantly flowering and twisting around the page, like fall vines. The ink was a dark, burnt orange color.

"𝔐𝔶 𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔎𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔞𝔫,

ℑ𝔱 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 𝔣𝔢𝔴 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰. 𝔓𝔯𝔢𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔣 𝔦𝔫 5 𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔱𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔴𝔞𝔦𝔱 𝔞𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔫𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔫 𝔴𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔯𝔬𝔬𝔪.

𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔩𝔶, 𝔈𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔫"

That was all the paper said.

If anything was worth being grateful for, Killian would eternally be grateful for being left alone in his room with little to none interaction. He still couldn't figure out how food came and went from his room but he chalked it up to fae magic, something he didn't want to delve too far deep into right now. For the past few days, Killian spent most of his time in bed or curled up on the oversized windowsill he had converted into a sitting area with extra pillows and blankets and read.
He had found the courage to write a letter and leave it on the empty food tray, requesting books he could research from. While he could have simply asked Everen, Killian was trying to minimize his interations with the fae lord as much as possible, with any fae really but the lord in particular. That is until a note came attached with his breakfast. He had gotten up hours ago, having found it hard to sleep the night before and had begun reading the books that had been brought. He had already read through one, making messy notes in the margins with some quill and ink he had found on a desk when his breakfast and the note appeared. He waited a few moments, staying as still as humanly possible until he was confident he was alone and slowly collected the tray. Settling back down on the makeshift reading nook, Killian nibbled at some bread and read the note. As much as he wanted to hate anything to do with the fae, their food was pretty good, that or he was desperately hungry. So he ate and read. Killian rolled his eyes at the note, somehow knowing it pained Everen almost as much to write something seemingly endearing and formal to a human as it was for Killian to read it.
5 minutes…
Killian paused, glanced up at the wall, expecting it to open now, then immediately put everything aside to change and gather his notes and scribbled-in books. While he could care less about what the lord wanted, he certainly wasn't dumb enough to refuse anything at this point, not with his siter's life in the hands of a fae creature and his own life at risk here in the fae realm. He tugged on a crimson tunic and pine green pants before running hishands through his hair and waiting by the northwall.

As soon as Killian stands still in front of the wall, the door appears, the one that led to the strange corridor.

This time, the hall had multiple doors branching off from it, though upon inspection none of them had handles and wouldn't budge if pushed.

One door, however, did have a handle, in the shape of a falling maple leaf.

Maybe it was a falling maple leaf. Who knows with the Fae.

When Killian lays his hand on the handle, the door automatically opens, revealing a dimly lit chamber with a large, canopied bed in the center of it.

At a desk on the far side of the chamber, the silhouette of the Lord was visible, though he was faced away from the door, and was engaged with what looked like a mechanical sphere. Whatever its purpose was was unclear, but when Everen lets out a delighted "Oh!" after turning a ring, it was clearly either a puzzle, a project, or both.

He suddenly whips his head around, looking at Killian. He sets down the sphere gently, and stands.

"Ah good, you're here," he smiles.

Killian hesitated before slowly moving into the corridor, cautious of its unfamiliarity. It wasn't as direct as the one that had lead to the throne room had been and there were more doors lining the walls this time. He didn't even try to rationalize any of it but the magic of this world was something that constantly facinated him.
He gave up trying to open doors after the first few, either finding them locked or some even without a handle until he came upon the door at the end of the hall. Large and ornate similar to the throne room doors but this one seemed more worn down, as if the wood it had been carved from was milenias old. Hetrced over the whorls of carved wood befor ehe lightly rested a fingertip against the maple leaf handle, worried any more pressure or attempt to turn the handle would somehow crumble the leaf. Thankfully it didn't though his relief was short lived when he realized exactly who's room he was going to enter. Killian had expected it to be at least a library or a common room, not Everen's personal bedroom. He was glued to the spot at the threshold of the room, irrationally scared of stepping inside. Was he even allowed here? Did Killian accepting the unspoken invitation mean that Everen was allowed to do the same? Would the one place he considered a safehaven in this place be compromised if he stepped inside? He didn't doubt the fae's ability to manipulate even his own privacy that way, they were clearly capable of it. He glanced around the room, though there wasn't much he could see save for the bed and a few pieces of furniture, carved from the same wood as the door and equally as beautiful. He shuffled slightly, debating whether it was worth running back to his own room and slamming the door shut. Bu then his gaze caught on the figure at the desk. Everen himself, seemingly preoccupied with a trinket. This was his chance to escape, the fae lord still hadn't noticed him. But the small sphere caught Killian's attention. He recognized the sphere of rings as he had many back home he had made himself. Against his better judgement, Killian took one step into the room. "They're resemeble the stars." He said, almost automatically. The spheres had been a favorite trinket toy of his sister's so every now and again she would ask Killian to allign the rings around the heavy sphere in the middle until they reflected the stars that particular night. Of course she would eventually move the rings out of plce so she could fidget with the sphere but Killian never inded the gentle tinkling of the rings as she had unclicked and clicked them back into place. He blinked, his smile fading when he was reminded why he was here and not home. "you had a question." He replied, clutching the books and notes closer to himself.

Everen chuckles.

"Not this one," is all he says in response.

He blinks at Killian's forwardness, then smiles.

"All of you are the same. . . so forward. Must we get to talking about the mysteries of each others worlds so soon? After all, there's tea waiting for us in the drawing room," he says casually.

Killian tilted his head but of course he shouldn't have expected such mundane human things in a place of magic and wonder. He nodded slightly, daring another step closer to get a better view of the sphere. His mind spun with questions. If not a model of the stars then what was its purpose? Did it house magic? How did it work? Why was Everen toying with it? Killian blinked and shuffled back a bit. "I'd like to say same of you, considering our previous meeting." He muttered, brows furrowing with confusion, "why bother? It's not like we're aquatinted in any way that suggests we'd be co.fortable sharing tea. You called me about a question, not for tea."

"The wonderful thing about tea is you have no need to be acquaintances with the one who you're sharing tea with. As a matter of fact, it is the best way to become acqauinted is over a good cup of tea or coffee," Everen shrugs causally, still smiling.

He opens the door and gestures for Killian to walk through.

"After you, sir," he chuckles.

Killian remained in place, still confused why the fae was suddenly being so hospitable. "Why the sudden interest in being aquatinted?" He asked, eventually forcing himself to walk into Everen's room then into the ajoining sitting parlor. He couldn't help himself if he marveled at the place as he had done countless times now. The bedroom itself looked like something out of a fairytale he'd read Eevee at night, warmly lit by the parlor room light yet still keeping that intriguing sense of mystery. Killian had remind himself that this was still Everen's room, indeed a fairytale come true but not one Killian wanted to be a part of. He settled in one of the chairs but paid no mind to the tea. Instead he looked up when he heard Everen laugh, surprised to hear such a sound from them. It almost didn't see eem fitting after their previous encounter. "Of all people I would imagi e I'd be the last person you'd want to speak with outside of our arrangement"