AN~ Bit short on wordcount this time around, guys. Sorry, but that was where it had to end. Maybe I'll go back and beef it up later.
QotU: Invent me some Granny-foods. Or Sneak food, in this story.
Old QotU Winner: Hanayou of the Grimms had an awesome idea to paint the scene from Book 4 where Sabrina falls off a balloon and Puck catches her on the Empire State Building. That's just awesome.
It was a week before they could go out, actually. A long week of administrative work for Sabrina and tours of the incredibly confusing castle for Puck, and small parties for both of them.
Then, finally, eight days after she'd arrived back home, Sabrina was released into her city.
She wore a plain brown dress that would fade into the background of many places, and she'd rubbed dirt into her hair and skin- many of them did that, though only a few actually wore the dirt because they couldn't access a bath regularly- and her soft leather boots padded silently down the cobbles as she left the city.
It would have been pleasantly nostalgic of every time she'd done this in her life, if it weren't for the fact that she was being tailed by Jonas and Puck.
She didn't mind Jonas, so much, as long as he remembered when to stop asking questions, which he did, usually. But Puck... it was evident in every fiber of Puck's being that he didn't want to be here, and she knew he would cause as many problems as possible.
Still. She was determined to have fun today.
No matter how much Puck groaned.
Seriously, though, he needed to stop.
"Puck!" Sabrina snapped. "I know you don't want to be here, and frankly, I wish you were somewhere else too, but would you make it easier for both of us and try to enjoy yourself?"
"Fine," Puck said, and she could hear him rolling his eyes.
"I'm enjoying myself," Jonas piped up. "This is exciting! I get to see the city!"
Sabrina smiled fondly back at Jonas. He was so adorable sometimes, it was hard to remember that he was almost as old as she was, and not younger than her sister.
She led the way through the small side entrance she'd used her first day back, out instead of in this time, and now, outside the walls of the palace, the sounds of the city washed over her, and she relished them- horses, and people speaking in code and English that was code, and just plain English because they wanted to get business done as fast as possible, and seagulls, and the clatter of wagons on cobblestones, and cows and doors banging shut, and pots clanging onto stoves and 'Get your meat pies here!" and oh goodness she'd forgotten how much noise the castle walls shut out, and she'd missed this incredibly.
"Your city's louder than mine," Puck said, wrinkling his nose as Sabrina led them out of the alleyway and into the main thoroughfare to the palace.
"No, not really," Sabrina said. It wasn't, actually. "You probably just forgot how loud it is."
"I think I remember how loud my own city is, Gri-"
Sabrina whirled and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't go announcing who I am, please. I mean, half of people will know by the end of the day, but don't make it easier for them, all right?"
Puck blinked at her, pushing her hand off his face. "You just said please."
"Yes," Sabrina said slowly. "Yes I did. Will you do it?"
Puck shrugged. "Whatever."
Sabrina sighed. That was the best she was going to get from him, she knew.
"Come on," she said, turning back around and walking into the crowd.
The main thoroughfare was always crowded, even on hideous days, or in the middle of winter. It was where people went on their way to the palace or school, because the city's school was only a few buildings down from the castle, and it was the place tourists and foreigners went to find what they were looking for. There were several restaurants and a few major businesses- though most businesses worth their salt, ones that made things or ones that sold spies, were far less prominent than the shops here, the ones in plain sight would do for the desperate or foolish. Today appeared to be market day, and the wide street was crowded with livestock and stalls of winter vegetables.
Sabrina reached to her right and snagged a boy who had jostled Puck as he walked off. The kid struggled, but she gripped him tighter and held out her hand, palm up. The boy glared at her stubbornly.
"They may be tourists, but I'm not," Sabrina told the boy. "Give it."
The boy glared at her, still stubborn, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag- Puck's moneybag. He dumped it in Sabrina's outstretched hand, where it landed with a jingling noise.
Sabrina smiled at the boy and said, "Come on, I'll buy you a pasty."
The boy grumbled, but followed Sabrina without her forcing him. She grinned. She really shouldn't encourage him- there were better things for a Sneak to do than rob foreigners (much better), but she remembered her times in Artisa, and all those cruel people she'd been housed with, and she understood how he could resort to something so stupid to get food.
She dropped some of Puck's coins- he protested, but she stopped him with a glare, she'd pay him back later- into the hand of a baker, who gave her a pasty in return. She handed it to the boy and, as she did so, whispered in his ear, "Stop by the palace next time you're hungry, all right?"
The boy scrambled off without responding, and she shrugged. She'd done what she could.
Puck snatched his purse back, glaring at her.
"You're welcome," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. "Next time I'll just let the kid keep the money."
Puck gaped at her, indignant. "You paid for his breakfast with my coins!"
Sabrina dug a few coins out of her own pocket, which was much better concealed than Puck's, and handed them to him. "Rule number one of Sneak City:" she said, "Never let a street urchin see where you keep your funds."
"What's rule number two?" Jonas asked.
"Look like you belong here," Sabrina said, smiling at him because he didn't.
"So it's all right to give street rats food, but not money?" Puck demanded. "That doesn't even make sense! Why on earth would you feed him? He'll just follow you around looking for handouts!"
"No, actually, he probably won't," Sabrina said, sighing as she started to walk down the street again, trying to just enjoy the city and not get irritated by Puck. "He'll be too proud for that. And I fed him because I understand."
Puck snorted. "How could you understand?"
"For your information, buster," Sabrina said, her voice rising, "Everyone in Sneak is required to spend part of their childhoods living with a foster family in Artisa, so we can learn how to blend in with a culture and do any task. And my foster families were horrible to me. So don't ask me how I can understand being hungry, you spoiled pr-" she cut herself off before she could announce to the whole crowd, several of whom were already pretending not to listen to her, that she was traveling with royalty.
"Oh," Puck said softly. "I didn't know."
"Yeah," Sabrina said, all the tension out of her voice, replaced with defeat. "I know. It's... not something I like to talk about."
"I can see why," Puck said. He surprised her, then, by putting his hand on her shoulder. "Does your grandma know?"
She laid her own hand over his and shook her head. "Only my sister knows, because the same sort of thing happened to her. Sometimes I think maybe we're all supposed to go through that, to make us stronger. But then I think that nobody could want to do that to their children... could they?"
"Of course not," Puck said quietly. "You'd have to hate kids to torture them. And you Sneaks might have sticks up your rear ends or who knows what, but your grandma loves you, and she'd never let anyone hurt you if she could help it."
Sabrina smiled up at Puck, who was a good deal closer to her than she'd realized, and he smiled back down at her. She realized, then, that he was being sweet, and that she was happy. She was so happy, in fact, that she didn't even bother to remind herself of how much she disliked him most of the time.
"Awesome," Jonas' voice shook her out of her reverie, and Puck as well, and they jumped a little. The sounds of the city filtered back in- she hadn't even realized she'd blocked them out. She felt herself flushing as Jonas continued, "So can we see the city now? Please?"
"Yeah, certainly, of course," Sabrina said, looking very conspicuously away from Puck, "Did you want to see anything in particular?"
"Everything!" Jonas said, spreading his arms wide and almost hitting a passing farmer, who glared at him. "Sorry!"
Sabrina snickered. "Let's start with somewhere a little less crowded."
She led them off onto another side street, and through into various neighborhoods. It was more fun than she'd thought it would be, with Puck with her. She led them through the various backstreets of Sneak City, showing them the 'districts,' such as they were- the general areas where seamstresses and tailors, or smiths, or apothecaries, or code-talkers, or masters of disguise worked. The districts were loose things, blending into each other and mixing with residential areas, stacked on top of each other. She also brought them into the tunnels in the cliffs, showing off a little bit, particularly to Jonas, though both seemed impressed when she presented them with the twisting caverns that were one of her favorite parts of her dark, gloomy, vibrant city.
Even Puck seemed to be having a good time. As the day wore on, his complaints about the darkness, the high buildings and the light they blocked out, and the narrowness of the twisty alleyways that made up most of the Sneak streets died out, and by lunch time, he was completely cheerful about his squid tacos.
Sabrina, who, like Jonas, had opted for the slightly less exotic breaded whitefish and potato, sat on the wall of a fountain in the small, cheerfully lit square and smiled fondly at Puck, who was digging into his squid with an adorable gusto. She shook her head at her fiance, and then stopped, noticing someone across the square.
"Sabrina?" Jonas asked, when she didn't move for a time. "What is it?"
She scrambled to her feet, ducking behind another person in the crowd, grateful for her height, and said, "We have to go."
"What?" Puck asked, his mouth full of food as he looked up at her. "Why?"
"We have to go," Sabrina repeated, "Come on!"
Bradley was about a hundred feet away, walking closer by the minute. She didn't know why, but she was struck when she saw him by an intense need to get away, and she thought, briefly, that it was that she didn't want Bradley to meet Puck- or the other way around, for that matter.
It was too late, though. By the time she convinced Puck and Jonas to get up, and by the time they had gotten themselves standing, when she turned around, ready to dash off, she stopped abruptly. Bradley was directly in front of her, and she'd almost run into him.
"Oh..." she said softly. "Hello."
"Hi," Bradley said, looking and sounding stunned.
"Who's this?" Jonas asked. "Is he why you wanted to leave?"
Sabrina was filled with the desire to strangle Jonas, but she squashed it. She couldn't squish her blush, though, and she broke eye contact with Bradley- easy enough, since he was easily as tall as Puck- taller than when she'd last seen him.
Puck did it for her, though, smacking Jonas lightly upside the head and saying, "Nice one, doofus. Even I know that was a stupid thing to say."
"I'd heard you were back," Bradley said softly. "I didn't think I'd see you."
"No," Sabrina agreed, "No, I wasn't planning on it. It... didn't seem wise."
"I understand," Bradley said.
Remembering her manners, Sabrina said, "Bradley, this is Jonas. He's from Trickster, but he thinks he might want to learn to be a Sneak. And... this is His Majesty Puck. My..."
"Fiance," Bradley finished for her, when it became evident that she couldn't.
Sabrina nodded. "Jonas, Puck, this is Bradley, a friend from school."
The looks Bradley and Puck gave her, then each other, made it clear that nobody other than Jonas thought she'd done an adequate job at introductions, or told the whole story. Bradley shook Puck's hand, and Sabrina could see the tension in the two boys as they squeezed each other. She winced. She hadn't wanted this meeting, and she felt torn in two separate directions. Her heart didn't flutter when she saw Bradley anymore, this had proved it, but she was still fond of him, and... she was fond of Puck, too, she realized. He might drive her insane, but she wanted the two to like each other.
When the two finally released each other and Bradley moved on to shake Jonas' hand, the younger boy let loose a barrage of questions, and Puck sidled over to Sabrina.
"What's really between you two?" Puck asked.
"Nothing!" Sabrina protested, her voice too loud, too shrill, to desperate.
Puck gave her a look. "Grimm. I don't study people like you do, but even I know you two have more history than school friends."
"We were... almost something," Sabrina said softly, giving in. "But then your mother, and my grandmother, and then you happened, and we ended it before it began. I'm over him, now. As much as you can ever get over anyone."
Puck looked her up and down and grinned at her. "Now see, isn't it better to tell the truth?"
Sabrina stared at him, exasperated. He was just impossible to predict. But then again, why had she expected him to get upset? It wasn't as if either of them were really in love with each other.
"Bradley, buddy!" Puck said, leaving Sabrina to go back to her... former crush. "Listen, Sabrina was taking me and Jonas on a tour today. You wanna come with?"
What in the name of all things holy was he doing?
"Oh, yes, please!" Jonas piped up. "It'll be fascinating to have another Sneak along, one who isn't royalty. It'll give us another point of view!"
Bradley looked at Sabrina, defeated. She looked back at him and shrugged. He sighed, then nodded.
"Great!" Puck said, "Now that that's settled, I'm gonna go finish my lunch."
The rest of the day was incredibly awkward, though Sabrina found that sometimes, she could almost forget how tense things were and just enjoy time with three people she cared about. They left Bradley when the sky got dark and even the cracks of sunlight that made their way between the tall, crowded stacks of buildings disappeared, three stories below his house in the purple shadows, and then they made their way back to the palace. Jonas was still prattling about how amazing the day had been, and how much he'd loved it, how wonderful he found Sneak. Sabrina smiled a little bit behind him, and cast a glance back at Bradley, climbing up to his house from the street. She felt half mournful, half nostalgic, watching him, and one hundred per cent confused.
When they neared the palace, Puck pulled Sabrina aside, back a little bit behind Jonas, who kept walking, not noticing anything.
"What is it?" she asked, suspicious. He'd done this before and dumped spiders down her dress.
"Nothing bad, I promise," Puck said, and he wasn't smiling at all- a rarity so large she believed him.
"All right, what, then?" she repeated.
"It's just, I was thinking," Puck began.
Sabrina tapped her foot a bit, difficult to do while walking, and said, "Spit it out, would you?"
"All right," Puck said, then took a deep breath, "I was thinking... what if we call it off?"
"Call what off?" Sabrina asked, though she had a suspicion what he was talking about.
"This," Puck said, "Us. Our marriage."
"We can't do that," Sabrina said softly. Her heart was fluttering, feeling higher in her chest than usual. She wasn't sure why- excitement or worry? "We need this alliance. Daphne's peace talks aren't going well enough that we'll be safe. And the alliance can't exist without our marriage."
"Yeah, I thought of that," Puck said, "But we won't be getting married for nearly three years. Who's to say what will happen in that long? All we need to do is win the war in less than three years, and we can break the engagement without hurting anyone."
"Oh," Sabrina said softly. He really had thought about it.
"See," Puck continued, "This way I don't have to get married- I kind of never want to get married it seems kind of stupid- and you can get back together with your Bradley boy. And nobody can complain because they don't need us to be married to be safe anymore."
"Yeah," Sabrina agreed. She was partly touched by his care in suggesting that she could marry someone she was fond of, and partly... saddened? No, she couldn't be sad. That was simply ridiculous. She'd never wanted to marry Puck. And if she spent more time with Bradley, her feelings would probably reignite. It was an excellent plan.
"So all we need to do is win the war in the next three years," Puck said, grinning at her. "All right?"
Sabrina nodded, forcing a smile onto her face. "All right," she agreed. After all, she didn't fancy Puck, so there was no reason to be sad, especially when he seemed so happy to actually do something kind for once.
Puck grinned at her. "Great," he said, "Let's win that war."
She nodded and echoed, "Let's."
AN~ Aww, they kind of like each other now. It's so cute.
Feature: Petals in the Ashes 2 by hvg2001
A well-developed world, set in 1866- and other than some incredibly stilted dialogue, well grounded in its world. That's the strongest part of this story. I could see them in 1866 doing time-period things in the right way. It was very well-done, though it could use a proofread.
Some Review Replies:
Guest: Good. :) I needed a character to be this kid, and I didn't want him to be an OC, so he became Jonas. Not TOTALLY an OC.
Isabella314: I'm not sure you're right about the boys usually falling for girls faster thing (I've fallen for a guy over the course of a weekend), but Puck's definitely falling for Sabrina faster than she is for him. I might maybe have Puck see Sabrina almost die but... Well...
Nello Orella: QotD: DUDE. Just... DUDE. Chapter: We'll see. ;)