A/N: The first chapter has been revised a little bit. The original seemed a little too rushed.

Jar of Fireflies

Calliope lived a life divided into three equal parts, and the first part felt so hazy and far away, she almost wondered if it had even happened at all. She remembered having a family and a home. She remembered going to school in the fall and winter and catching fireflies in the summer. She remembered having friends, though she could hardly remember their faces, and she remembered having a mother. Her mother's was the only face that stood out in her memory, the only one that hadn't smudged away like ink in an old photo. She had dark hair that she grew out long, green eyes, a winter complexion. Callie could remember her scooping her up in her arms, and kissing her face, laughing. Callie could remember the stories she used to tell, the meals she used to cook. If there was one thing that the depths of her soul longed for the most from her seven years Aboveground, it was her mother.

But her life felt like it began Underground. The first seven years were the most painful, and the pain always felt more real to her than the happiness that proceeded it. She didn't remember how she got there or why. She just knew in an instant she was on the dirty floor of the throne room in a drafty, stone castle. She was surrounded on all sides by grotesque beings, before a towering man she knew to be the King. Though she was still a child and he a complete stranger to her, the contempt he held for her was almost palpable.

"Calliope," his voice came low and stern like a judge, "For the sins of your mother, the Champion of the Labyrinth, you are condemned to spend the rest of her days in servitude within the walls of this castle. You will serve me with your labors, you will go only where I allow you, and you will never leave these castle grounds."

Callie remembered being unable to speak as she looked up at him, tears on her face, wondering how she got there. She got up and tried to flee, but the monsters surrounded her in every direction, their faces warped and distorted, their teeth sharp, their claws even sharper. She recoiled at the sight of them, stumbling back into the King's leather-booted calves. He promptly snatched her up by her hair, dragging her away from the throne room.

He drug her down the corridor as she stumbled to keep up and ease the tension on her scalp. When he reached their destination, he opened the door and shoved her into the room. She could hear the whirling and clicking of machines and she looked up to see a a terrifying, spider-like man with two faces and four spindly arms.

Callie shrieked and fell back, cowering by the King's feet.

"You needed an assistant?" The King said, addressing the spider monster.

"Well, yes," he replied, "But she's just a child! What am I supposed to do with her?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," the King said, giving her a sharp kick. "She's got those tiny fingers. Make her reach into the gears and clean out the lint. Make her sweep the floors. I don't care what you do with her. Just keep her out of my way."

And with that, he left her at the spider's mercy.

As luck would have it, the spider possessed far more mercy than the King had shown her thus far. He was the King's clothier, and his name was Arachnus. Though she found his appearance frightening, his extra eyes and limbs allowed him to operate a worn-down treadle sewing machine while simultaneously hand-stitching buttons and hemlines into the king's jackets. He put her to work as his assistant, giving her small tasks that suited her abilities. At first Callie's daily tasks only included opening buttonholes, snipping stray threads, and pressing seams open. She would do this from first light until noon, when Arachnus would stop to make tea and share his lunch of fruit and cured meats. Then they would continue to work until dark, at which point Arachnus would retire to his cottage for the night and Callie would fall asleep upon a pile of fabric scraps in the corner of the atelier. She was not given a room; human slaves didn't get rooms to themselves. She was given only a few simple dresses, a chamber pot, and a large basin and bar of soap to wash with.

During the first seven years, she hardly ever saw the King, except in passing, and even that was enough to make her wish to avoid him altogether. She would sometimes see him as she was carrying heavy baskets of clothing down to the laundry to be washed, and he would smirk at her disheveled appearance and gaunt face. Sometimes he would purposefully kick her or shove her out of his way when he was feeling particularly cruel. He didn't seem to care that it was his clothes that ended up littering the floor; he only took satisfaction in her misery as she was forced to stop and pick them up.

The first seven years were the loneliest, with only her employer for company, but she took the opportunity to learn as much as she could. Arachnus eventually gave her more responsibilities, teaching her more about sewing and garment construction. She learned tailoring techniques and how to take measurements and perform various alterations. He even began to teach her the basics of pattern drafting and cutting. Though he generally preferred to work in solitude, Arachnus knew he was getting old and had to pass his craft on to someone else soon, and Callie was such a quick study and eager learner that he found her quite a pleasure to teach. By the time the first seven years were up, Callie was working independently alongside him, sharing the heavy burden of perpetually maintaining and updating the King's wardrobe.

As the saying goes: when you hit rock bottom, the only place left to go is up, and so it was that Calliope's next seven years in the Underground were an improvement upon the first. Arachnus had talked the King into giving her a room of her own, and as small and modest as it was, she finally had a real bed and running water. She was allowed more freedom to walk the castle grounds, and with the two of them working together, they could often finish their day's work early enough to allow for leisurely walks through the gardens. Even the King seemed to hold her in higher regard, simply ignoring her when he passed her in the halls instead of stopping to torment her for whatever past crimes her mother had committed against him. Above all, what truly made those seven years better than the last was meeting Artemisia.

During her seven years of solitude, Callie thought she would never know human warmth ever again. After all, she lived in a castle where the closest thing she ever saw to another human being was a king who openly despised her. When she met Artemisia, it was on a day she had finished her work early and the castle grounds were completely desolate. It was warm outside and the flowers in the gardens were in full bloom. Callie couldn't help but take advantage of her solitude to go for a swim in the garden's lily pond. She stripped down to her shift and stepped down into the water, gliding out into the tangle of lily pads. For a moment she just closed her eyes and tilted her head back, floating among the flowers on her back, feeling the sun on her face. She listened to the music of frogs and birds, as weeds and large fish brushed against her legs. But then she heard a voice call out, jolting her out of her reverie.

"You know, you really shouldn't leave you clothes unattended. Someone might steal them."

Callie jerked herself up, looking back across the pond toward the origin of the voice. There she saw a woman standing with her arms crossed, holding her clothes in one of her fists. The king occasionally had women as guests in his castle. They were always beautiful in an eerily, otherworldly kind of way, statuesque, and dressed in long elaborate gowns. Callie assumed that they must have been royalty or dignitaries from other kingdoms, but never really knew for sure. This particular woman was very different. She was also tall and attractive, but her jet hair was pulled into a simple knot at the back of her head. She wore an armored breastplate, trousers, and boots with a sheathed sword hanging off her belt. She exuded an air of confidence and swagger rather than one of simpering elegance like the other women. For a moment Callie just stared at her, unsure of what to make of her or how to even respond.

"I…I'm so sorry," Callie finally stammered out, assuming she must have been caught by one of the king's relatives or acquaintances. "It was hot out. I just wanted to go for a swim. I didn't think anyone else was out here."

The woman chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you," she said, "I was just going for a walk through the gardens and was surprised to see the King keeps a nymph in his lily pond." She looked at Callie in a way she had never been looked at before, which only made her shyness intensify all the more.

"No, it's ok," Callie replied bashfully, "I just thought I was alone out here, that's all."

"Well, you should come and get dressed before anyone else discovers you," the woman told her. She examined the clothes in her hand, pulling Callie's corset away from the inside of her dress, causing a blush to creep across Callie's face. "How were you planning to dress yourself in this contraption anyway?" the woman inquired.

"I'm used to lacing it on my own," Callie explained, swimming toward her. When she reached the steps at the water's edge, the woman reached down to help her. Callie hesitated, but took her hand, lifting herself out of the water. As she emerged fully from the water, the woman looked down at her body with that same intense gaze as before. Callie gasped when she realized that her white shift had become completely transparent from the water, and she wrapped her arms around herself for covering.

The woman laughed and removed her cloak from her shoulders. "Here," she said, wrapping it around Callie's shoulders. "Let's go behind that hedge so you can dress in privacy."

The woman helped her into her clothes, lacing her corset and buttoning the back of her dress as they ducked behind the hedge. "I'm Artemisia, Captain of the King's Guard," the woman told her, finally introducing herself. Callie was a bit taken aback. She hadn't realized that there was a King's Guard, nor was she aware that the King would appoint a woman as its captain.

"It's nice to meet you," Callie replied. "I'm Calliope, assistant to the king's tailor."

Artemisia sucked a breath in through her teeth. "Ooh… I'm sure that's a tough job. Our King sure is a flashy dresser."

"Well, that's the one thing I can appreciate about our King," Callie said grinning at her, "He's a dandy, so I get to make pretty things for him. I enjoy making pretty things."

Artemisia threw her head back and laughed as they began to make their way back to the castle. As awkward as their introduction had been, Callie felt for the first time in a long time a sense of connection that had been long lost to her.

Over the next couple days, Callie's thoughts were consumed by Artemisia, and she would try to get her work done as quickly as possible so she could walk the gardens in hopes of running into her again. But by the third day of not seeing her, Callie began to lose hope that anything would come of their chance encounter at the lily pond. It wasn't until the fourth day, while Callie was deep into her work at the sewing machine, that she heard a knock at the door of the atelier. She looked up to see Artemisia standing at the threshold, smiling down at her. Her heart began beating so hard she worried that she would hear it.

"Can I help you?" Arachnus asked gruffly.

Artemisia held up a glove in her naked hand. "I split the seam," she explained. "I was told I could bring it here to have it repaired."

"Told by whom?" Arachnus inquired. He was working on a pattern draft at the cutting table and despised interruptions of any kind.

"The King," Artemisia answered.

Arachnus scowled. "Does he think I'm not busy enough already?"

"It's alright, Master Arachnus," Callie chimed in. "I can take care of it. It should only take a few minutes."

Arachnus glanced sidelong at her, and then shrugged. "Very well," he said, turning back to his work.

Callie took the glove from Artemisia and sat back down at her machine, threading a needle with the sturdiest thread they had on hand. Artemisia pulled over a chair from Arachnus' machine, and sat across from her, watching as Callie knotted the thread and began drawing the needle through the leather.

"You're a tricky woman to track down," Artemisia whispered to her as she watched her work, "I've had my eye out for you for the past couple days, but could never find you. I figured I could always catch you at work."

Callie felt a blush creep over her cheeks and couldn't contain the grin that was now spreading across her face.

"I could say the same thing to you," she said, "But why have you been trying so hard to find me?"

"I was hoping I could take you out somewhere," Artemisia replied. "Maybe we could get a drink and get to know each other?"

Callie glanced up, unsure of how to respond. "I would love to," she said, "I really would. But I live here in the castle and my guardian doesn't like for me to leave unchaperoned."

Artemisia smiled. "I have an apartment here as well," she replied, "How did a human seamstress end up getting a job and an apartment of her own within the castle?"

Callie hesitated and lowered her gaze. "I was brought here as a bondmaid when I was seven," she answered softly.

Artemisia's brow furrowed. "A bondmaid?"

Callie nodded, too embarrassed to look up.

"Are you a changeling?" Artemisia asked.

Callie shrugged. "The circumstances aren't entirely clear to me," she replied, "It all happened so long ago."

Artemisia went quiet a moment, and Callie's heart sank, fearing that she might not want anything to do with her now that she knew her condition of servitude. While most humans living within the kingdom were not of a high status, human slaves were the lowest of the low. But, as she would soon come to find out, Artemisia was not so easy to predict.

"Well then," Artemisia said, "would you like to meet me somewhere on the castle grounds?"

Callie's eyes darted up, a smile alighting her face once again. "Yes," she said, "I would like that very much."

After their first meeting, Callie tried every day to finish her work as quickly as possible in hopes of getting to spend time with Artemisia. Likewise, Artemisia took every opportunity to steal away from the guard for time with Callie. Callie hadn't thought it was possible to be so drawn to another person, to always be thinking about them, to hunger so much for their presence she could hardly concentrate. She wanted to know everything about her and share everything with her. As it turned out, like Callie, Artemisia was not originally from the Underground. She was known throughout her homeland as a skilled swordsman, surpassing all others, male and female alike. However, the rigid customs of her society allowed her little freedom to live the way she wished.

"In my country, a woman could be one of three things," she told Callie, "A wife, a whore, or a nun. None of those choices really suited me."

The King, who had taken notice of her talent, offered her a position among his guard. In exchange for her unwavering loyalty, she took the position and quickly advanced through the ranks.

Callie also shared her own story, about how she once had a family Aboveground, but was taken captive by the King. She talked about how she worked for Arachnus, making herself invaluable to him through her hard work, and how she had even earned herself a room of her own. She talked about how isolated she had been and how nice it was to finally have someone she could talk to.

On the night Artemisia first kissed Callie, they were sitting by the pond where they'd met just weeks before. The moon was out in the clear sky, and the frogs were singing as the air sparkled with lightning bugs. Callie told Artemisia about how she used to capture fireflies as a little girl and keep them all in a jar, watching as they put on a miniature light show right before her eyes.

"Don't you catch them anymore?" Artemisia asked.

Callie shook her head and gazed out across the pond. "No, not anymore," she replied softly. "They were beautiful for that one night, but they would always be dead by morning."

Artemisia regarded her silently, noting how her voice always carried with it soft undertones of melancholy. She was smiling as she looked across the pond, but wistfully, like someone remembering a fragment of joy that had long since passed from them. She only ever seemed to smile when talking about what once was, and Artemisia wished she could somehow change that.

"Can I kiss you, Callie?" she finally asked.

Callie turned to her with a look of surprise, and for a moment Artemisia regretted asking, thinking she might have scared her away. But then Callie's face softened, and she slowly nodded her head.

Artemisia brushed a stray hair behind her ear, then took Callie's face gently in her hand and brushed her lips over hers. Callie's heart fluttered like a bird against her ribcage and a warm intoxication flooded her body as Artemisia moved her lips against hers, bringing her to melt into her like a candle. And Artemisia kept on kissing her, over her jawline, her cheeks, her forehead, her eyelids, and down her neck until Callie ached with a wanting she hardly understood. Never before, since entering the Underground, had Callie experienced a moment so excruciatingly wonderful, she wished it would never end.

She was filled with warmth even as Artemisia escorted her back to her room, and gave her one more soft kiss goodnight. She leaned against her door after shutting it behind her, staring blankly into her threadbare bedroom in a transfixed, dreamlike trance. She felt like she couldn't possibly go to sleep, but at the same time, couldn't wait to sleep so that the morning could come faster. The whole night she laid wide awake in bed, running her hands over her lips, her neck, her skin, imagining they were Artemisia's. The ache she felt from their kiss remained with her the whole night.

Author's Note: This is a story I thought up while at my job in the bridal shop I work at. It's based loosely on a couple fairytales, most notably, Cinderella and Donkeyskin. I must warn any readers that there will be mature content in later chapters, including both consensual and non-consensual sexual situations. I tried very hard to make sure that the non-con stuff does not come off as fetishy or pornographic, but it does play a role in the plot. Most of the characters in the story are my own, with the exception of the Goblin King. He does play a major role in the story, though only as the antagonist and not the love interest. As you might have guessed, the central romance of this story is between two women. I hope you enjoy it.