Premise: Sesshoumaru was a taiyoukai, and a taiyoukai's dignity is almost dearer to him than his own life. Aoife was a púca, and a púca's sense of propriety is... diminished, to say the least; dignity is not in her daily vocabulary. More than the distance of a world over separates them; more than time comes between them. She is a daughter of the Goblin Market and Seelie Courts, and he is a law unto only himself.

So how can he let her go?

This is a snippet/drabble-length sneak peek of a story that may end up being written at some point. Maybe. I'm kind of entranced by this idea right now. There won't be an obvious chronology at first, because time-travel and magic and SHENANIGANS. But it'll start to smooth out.

Also, Aoife is pronounced "ee-fa".

The Midnight Well

-01: but the rain is full of ghosts tonight

She looked up at him, her usually expressive face calm and still.

It unnerved him.

"Aoife," Sesshoumaru began, focusing on keeping his voice level and uninflected, only to stop when she raised one hand.

"Don't," Aoife said softly, so softly; softly enough that if Sesshoumaru did not have the skills of an inu taiyoukai then he would not have heard her at all. "I am returning home, Sesshoumaru. I am returning to the Seelie Courts."

He stiffened in surprise. She smiled bitterly.

"Dignity isn't my strongest trait," she continued, her voice still soft, still gentle. "I'll never be perfect and calm; I can't wear the mask that you do. I can't wear the mask you'd require of your lady." She paused. "I am a púca, Sesshoumaru," she said, her eyes falling closed as her voice rose, "I am the daughter of a nightmare. I cannot pretend at being tamed and gentled." She opened her eyes, then, and stared straight into his own as her voice dropped back down into a whisper. "Not even for you."

He cast about for something to say, anything to respond with, but she kept speaking.

"I am made to run and to dance, to cross the world over in a single, wild night-time ride. I am made to fight and to fly and to fuck—" Sesshoumaru flinched at her coarse language and that bitter smile twisted her lips yet further, "—and I am as I was made to be. I am of the Fae, Sesshoumaru. I cannot be what you currently want."

His throat worked, ready to deny it and—

"So I release you, Sesshoumaru." He froze at this, hardly daring to blink. "Your debts are paid in full."

He stared at her, mute, all of his words dried up inside his throat, as he watched her turn and walk away.

"What makes you think that I will not find you?" The words slipped from Sesshoumaru's frozen throat, an exact echo of the snarling demon in his head. From his own lips, however, the words were cool and collected; there was no emotion clouding his tone and for a wild moment Sesshoumaru considered just saying to hell with dignity and tossing Aoife over his shoulder to carry her off. She couldn't leave if he wouldn't let her go, correct?

She had stopped walking when he spoke, and now she looked back at him over her right shoulder. "You might," she said. "But you won't."

"How can you be so certain of this?" Sesshoumaru demanded, and Aoife smiled wryly at the beginning sounds of frustration in his voice.

"Beyond the fact that the Market won't let you in?" Aoife asked, teasing him gently. Then that brief smile faded. "Because your dignity won't let you," she said softly, before turning her face away from him. He took one step forward, but in the time it took for him to make that single movement, Aoife had already shed her clothing and her human skin, galloping away in the shape of a beautiful black horse that was swallowed up by the sudden entrance to the Goblin Market.