North's reminder of food dissipated the nervous tension in the room. Sadly for Ochieng, Aria decided to intervene and ask to talk with the former Summer Knight before he could escape.
Saying Ochieng was nervous was a gross understatement. He was stuck with the reason the Spring Court was feared for two centuries. It did not take a genius to know that the subject of this talk would be Juhua; a sensitive spot for the nymph.
The African warrior took his eyes off Aria to glance at the door, sending a prayer to anyone listening that a savior would appear. The Guardians would most likely not interfere with North dragging them off to the Yuletide feast. Ju and Jack could be ruled out, given that, while Jack was very lax, both greatly respected privacy and would not interrupt something that was most certainly personal. That only left the yetis, elves, and the mysterious Mrs. Claus, whom Ochieng assumed must have existed by the ring North never took off even if it was on the wrong finger.
Sadly, any hope of something stopping this talk was thrown out the window with a flash of silver and a faint breeze that tickled the darker Knight's neck. His eyes snapped back to Aria, who was now only a few feet away, the tip of her extremely sharp sword pointed right at his throat. Her eyes stormy sent poisonous knives at him. They stood there for a moment or two, Ochieng glancing between polished metal and eyes resembling the jade pendant Ju wore.
"What," Aria finally spoke, snarling and showing some impressive amount of teeth. "Did you do to Ju?"
Ochieng could not suppress the chill that ran down his spine. While he knew that the nymph would not attempt to remove his windpipe with her teeth, it was hard not to imagine that exact scenario with the way she was growling. She reminded him far too much of a lioness protecting her cubs.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Ochieng replied in as calm of a voice as he could. He just needed to keep his cool and continue to breathe. He had been in worse situations than this while on the Summer Court. After all, Aria would not even think of using lethal force… yet.
"Liar!" The sword tip bit into Ochieng's throat, drawing a small bead of blood. The summer spirit backed away from the blade as best as he could, though it didn't do much good when his feet felt stuck to the floor. "That necklace you gave her triggered something! Set her off! Now you will tell me what!" In almost any other situation, Ochieng would have been impressed by how the spring spirit managed to enunciate her words with her teeth moving no further than a millimeter apart. That not being the case, all he could do was picture her teeth coated in his blood.
"I swear to you, I have no idea what did that! I did not mean to cause any harm, especially to her." The tip of the sword did not drop, though Aria did stop snarling. Ochieng took this as a sign to continue. "You have known both of us for over 200 years. Do you honestly believe that I would give Ju anything with the intention of hurting her, purposefully or not?"
Aria did not speak. She continued to stand there, studying Ochieng as if she was probing for something. After what felt like an eternity, she closed her eyes with a sigh and her shoulders relaxed. She stood at ease, sheathing the sword without glancing at the Summer Knight. The tension in the former Knight faded, replaced by a look of weariness Ochieng did not expect.
Suddenly, she seemed older, more battle-worn, and, dare Ochieng say it, resigned, though the African spirit did not know why. Neither spoke while the Spring Knight gathered her thoughts.
"The necklace..." The broken silence made Ochieng jump, snapping back to attention. "That was a courtship gift to Ju, wasn't it?"
Warmth flared across Ochieng's cheeks, though it was hard to tell by looking at him. "Wh-what makes you think that?"
Aria settles him with a look. "I may not have many spirits climbing over each other for an attempt at my hand, but do not forget that I am French. And while I hate stereotyping, we belong to a plane of existence where belief is everything." Ochieng's face grew hotter as the other knight explained. Oh no, why couldn't it be Jack that he was having that talk with? While it'd still be just as embarrassing, at least Ochieng could somehow manage to turn it around on the ice sprite like he did a while ago.
The nymph left Ochieng to his mortification for a light while longer before cutting in. "I don't see a problem with your wishing to court Ju."
Ochieng's attention snapped back to her, eyes growing to the size of yarn balls. "What?"
Aria sighed before shaking her head. "I don't have a problem with you wanting to court Ju," she reiterated, sounding a touch annoyed now. "It's clear to me that you both like each other and I'm not going to step between that." Ochieng felt both his cheeks burn even more, but could not hide small smile growing on his features. Aria, the overprotective spitfire of the Seasons, was granting him permission to court Ju?
"However," Aria added. "If you should put one toe out of line, hurt Ju in any way..." The nymph stalked over to the Summer Knight, who was now backing away from her. He only got a few feet back before his back hit something solid. Aria continued forward, eyes hardening back into ice shards. Reaching him, she leaned forward and purred into his ear. "Well, surely you know what my generation of countrymen are famous for. Now," she paused, glancing over his face before meeting his eyes. "Do I make myself clear?"
All Ochieng could do was nod. His voice had abandoned him as his knees fought to stop quivering. While the summer spirit had been trained his whole life to fight for survival, never once had he met anyone who exuded a killing intent as strong as hers. It was taking everything he had just to remain standing.
The two spirits stood there with only the sound of their heartbeats, each studying the other. Suddenly, as if a switch flipped, Aria's cold leer brightened into a near childlike smile. "Good! Now I'm glad we cleared that up!" She spun around on her heel and headed for the door, not once looking back at the darker spirit. "Come on, let's go meet up with the others, I'm starving!"
Ochieng stood rooted in place, not moving until the door clicked behind the nymph. Then he collapsed on the floor like a puppet without strings, his senses barely registering anything around him. Oh Moon, did he pray this was a one time encounter with whatever it was the Spring Knight had been.
Moonlight filtered through the tree branches, glistening off the snow coating the forest. Silence hung in the still air. Not a single creature stirred in their burrows, peacefully snoozing away the cold night. There was only one place that the moonlight did not reach. The hole sitting in the middle of a clearing once lay hidden beneath the skeleton of a bed, though it had been months since the denizens of the forest had seen the old wooden frame.
A loud crack accompanied by a swirl of colors suddenly appeared a few feet from the hole. Two figures leapt out of the vortex as it closed behind them. The smaller of the pair crept closer to the abyss while the other hung back, scanning the forest.
The smaller figure reached the edge of the hole and crouched down, setting down a small box tied together by a simple black ribbon. Slightly obscured by the bowtie was a note written in neat handwriting that read, "For Grandfather Kozmotis Pitchner. Merry Christmas."
"Are you done yet?" the taller figure asked, glancing at the smaller one. Upon receiving no response, they let out a sigh. "Look, if we're not back soon, Sandy will notice our dreams haven't taken and he'll go see what's up. And how do you think the others will react if they can't find us?"
"I know, Aria, I'm almost done," the smaller figure replied, staring down into that darkness while moonlight shone upon them. With one last sigh, the figure stood up and returned to Aria's side.
"Don't you think it's lonely?" they asked. Aria tilted her head and shrugged at the smaller figure, prompting them to continue. "I mean, we have others who'd offer their homes up to us if we needed a place to rest. We have people who care about us and check up on us. He doesn't have any of that. He's forced to live each day clinging to the shadows with no spirit even wanting to be seen with him. Even Jack wasn't reviled by all in the courts like this."
"Yeah, it sounds pretty lonely, being completely outcast by even your own kind, but you mustn't forget why he is. Remember all the chaos he brought? The destruction he caused? The lives he took?" Aria replied, eyes fixed on the hole as if she was expecting something to creep out of it.
"That wasn't Kozmotis! That was Pitch! He never would have done that if he were himself!"
"I know, Ju," Aria cut into her partner's protests, remaining calm under the fall spirit's glare. "I know that what happened wasn't his fault, but not everyone sees it that way. Please remember that because of Pitch, there is no more Golden Age. It's because of what those creatures made Kozmotis into that all other intelligent life on other planets has been wiped out. Why there is no other planet with magic on it. Why Bunny is the last of his kind. I do agree that we shouldn't blame Kozmotis for the crimes committed by Pitch, but you can't forget that not everyone sees them as separate people and they won't hesitate to take their anger out on him, an innocent man who's already been tortured for eons."
The two stood there, letting Aria's words hang in the air. Slowly, the fight left Ju as her shoulders slumped forward. "It's not fair. I thought spring was supposed to be about hope and renewal."
"It is," Aria agreed. "But it's not spring for him, not yet anyway. And even if it was, he'd have to face the fallout for Pitch's actions." Aria sent her friend a small smile. That was one thing they had yet to really warn the boys about. No longer did they represent just one aspect of their seasons, but their entirety, from the gentlest breeze to the harshest storm.
The two stood somberly there for a while longer, breathing in the cold air. The moonlight danced around them, reminding them of the being that watched over from afar. Finally, Aria held up a snowglobe and gave it a good shake. Without another word, she tossed it a few feet from her and Ju and both stepped through the vortex that appeared before them. The only evidence they were ever there were two sets of footprints and the small present.
Rey: It's done, it's finally done! After over a year of dancing around and life getting in the way, the muses have smiled upon us and granted us this chapter!
Lin: It's about damn time. This editor is appeased.
Rey: Sorry, the muses hate me, it seems. Though, interestingly enough, Aria's eye color has changed twice in the time it took to write this chapter, from green rimmed with hazel, to lavender, then to a jade. I have no idea how that happened…