Prompt #5: Seeking Solace

Rating: T (language)

In a fit of impulsivity, she rips those god-damn painful heels from her feet and dashes across the grass, the pastoral tempest nearly lifting her airborne. Deftly, she clinches her dress about her waist, hoisting herself into the great Zeun oak with smoothness born from practice. High winds tug the loose ribbons away and sweep her hair about her face. She finds her footing easily among the branches. She leans back in her favourite seat, from where, on a clear day, she might see the sky, ignoring the bark digging into her back through the thin dress. She knows it is childish of her to just up and leave, but she had to breathe. The whole damn lot of it – protocol, proper conduct, duties, responsibilities – everything had just felt like an anvil on her chest. If only this storm would just blow them all to oblivion… Her sigh is lost in the wind.

"Enjoying the breeze?"

The unexpected voice makes her eyes fly open. How…? But then she recognises the lilting accent and resists the urge to groan at her misfortune. She hadn't realised that he'd left the ballroom as well, let alone find solace in a tree. And as it was with her luck, of the forest of Zeun oaks, it just had to be this one. "General. This is my tree." There was a rustle of leaves followed by a muffled curse, and she smirks as she imagines that the tree had taken a swipe at him.

"Forgive me for interrupting… The atmosphere in the hall was too constricting."

She can hear him scrambling around amongst the foliage and rolls her eyes to herself. "The ball was thrown for your benefit, General. Surely there are better ways to flout authority."

There was silence for a moment at his end before he replies, "I could say the same for you, guest of honour Crown Princess of Jupiter." From his lips, her title sounded more like an insult.

She couldn't believe she was going to play his game, and wonders if she could be blamed if he 'fell' and broke something important. "If your background checks had been thorough enough, you'd know that the Zeun princess is not one for parties and balls, and much prefers breaking noses to coiffing her hair."

"And which part of that is supposed to shock me?"

She twists around at his bark of laughter. She acknowledged that she was not the most feminine of women, but she feels her hackles rise to his taunt. "What are you implying?" She hopes that he doesn't realise what dangerous territory he was converging on – then she'd have a legitimate cause to pummel him into the ground.

Either he doesn't, or he simply did not care as he starts to tick off an imaginary list. "You're freakishly tall, muscled, you swear like a sailor when you think no-one can hear. You're confident and dominant and you push so hard to be treated as an equal." He seemed blissfully unaware of her hands balling into fists. "You're so damn strong! Plus everyone knows your father wanted a son, so you're always overcompensating – your archery is better than half the men in my army, for gods' sake. And on top of that, you have no idea ho-"

"That's it!" Cut off mid-sentence, he stares wide-eyed as she draws herself to full height, balanced on a branch over a whole lot of thin air. "You think you can just come here to my place of solace, and insult me to my face like that?" She has no idea what an imposing figure she strikes, garments tossing in the wind, mahogany hair tangling in the leaves. "You and you're god-damn precious Earth wanting in on a millennia-old alliance which means I have to marry your sorry ass because our Moon queen has trust issues and can't bear to surrender her precious daughter to your master – and do you know how infuriating it is that you can't even respect me because I'm not a simpering idiot from your blue marble of a planet?"

He cocks an eyebrow, but stays silent as she continues to vent at him. "And lucky for me, Zeun culture doesn't place a premium on love in a life-bond, but one of my closest companions does and now she has to wed that stick in the mud you call a leader? You and your god-damn arrogance to just waltz in and destroy everything we've worked to keep, and all you can say is how fucking tall I am? I can't believe I've tried to be civil and mature about this for four forsaken months. The moment you try to approach me after we are wed, I will cut off that worm you call a cock. Or, since you don't seem to be listening, I can do so right now just to prove a point!"

To his credit he had been listening to every word, but she doesn't realise that his eyes had been judging the distance between his branch and hers through her impassioned outburst. Leaping, he prays that the branch would hold their combined weight, as his momentum causes him to pin her to the tree trunk behind her. Pressing his front against her back, he makes sure to secure her hands and hold her down firmly enough to be immobile. It would not do to fall out (or get thrown out). "Get the fuck off me!" And to her credit, the threat of catching air did not stop her struggling for even a moment.

"Listen to me, you banshee." He twists her arm hard enough to get her to pause. "I never said those were flaws. And if had let me finish my sentence-"

"Shut up-" she snarls, "–you're not getting out of this so easily."

"Listen. I was going to say that you have no idea how fucking gorgeous you are."

She stills, mostly out of shock, then incredulity. "Don't make me laugh. I know your type – petite, coquettish, with blonde hair and open legs." At his unvoiced question, she supplies, "We run our own background checks too."

He was even taller than her, and proved it by resting his chin on her head. "Hey, if I wanted a – well – simpering idiot as you put so eloquently, I would certainly not have picked you." Her body had not lost any of the tension, but at least she was in a listening mood now. "My 'type' on Earth was certainly like that, because there is only one type of court harpy." He loosens his punishing grip on her arms so they wouldn't bruise coming morning. "All those things I said were true. And they're what make me want you."

The incredulity was oozing out of her pores. "Seriously. The fact that I swear is attractive to you? Were you dropped on your head?"

He smirks against her hair. "Yes, but that is beside the point. Everything about you says that you don't take crap from others. You aren't delicate or mincing or fragile." He releases her now and she turns to face him. "You might not love me, but I hope we can at least be friends. My sister was married off to a man she hated, so I hope things can be different between us."

He was standing far too close for comfort, so she tries to insert a change of mood. "So what are you planning to do – seduce me?"

"As long as you don't try to cut my… parts… off."

A blush blooms across her cheeks as she remembers her words of anger and frustration. "You're a jerk," she mumbles.

He leans close, audacity growing with her discomfort. "A roguishly handsome jerk?"

Her eyes flash as she prods his chest. "Don't get cute. I'm still angry at you. At all you Terrans."

He hops onto a neighbouring branch and sits down. "Well, I'm sorry," he says simply. Then, after she'd perched herself on the branch again, he points out candidly that "My cock is not a worm."

For a moment she stares back, before somewhat choked laughter bubbles up, and he's satisfied that she really wasn't that angry. He's still close enough to touch her, so he reaches out and folds a lock of brunet hair behind her ear. She looks at him strangely, searchingly, and he meets her green eyes. There was a peace there he hadn't noticed before.