Harry was bored, Ash had been gone for a few Realm days, and he still had two more days until his Healer's appointment. He'd been good so far, sticking to Ash's house, or the park they'd gone to his first week in the Realm. But he was still bored. Right now he and Fionn were at the edge of the park, he'd been tired of being cooped up in the house, and was sure Fionn must be as well. But he didn't really want to be here either. As he looked around, trying to decide on something they could do that they hadn't done so far, he thought he saw a familiar face. Without really stopping to think about it, he turned away from the park and started to follow.
After a few turns down side streets he didn't recognize, Fionn finally worked up the courage to tug at Harry's sleeve and speak.
"Ash said not to go anywhere we haven't been already... I don't recognize this area..."
"It's okay Fionn, we're not going much farther. I saw someone I know and he was headed this way. He just went in there." Harry pointed at a two-story building to their right. "I just want to say hi, and then we can go back to the park, or the house or something." He gave Fionn's arm a reassuring squeeze, and then walked right up and entered the building.
Whatever he had been expecting, this was not it. There were a bunch of people packed into the room, from what he could see, a great many of them appeared to be Warrior Demons. Being short meant he couldn't see what was going on, but that didn't seem to matter. Before he could decide this had been a bad idea after all, the crowd surged forward, pulling Harry and Fionn with it. Soon they were standing near the front, and Harry could see... Well, he wasn't sure what he was looking at. It looked almost like a bird cage, only it was easily big enough to fit three average-sized cars side-by-side inside of it. And there was what looked like a sturdier version of chicken wire covering the outside of the bars, with a single large gate like door a few feet to his left. The floor of the cage was two feet below the level of the floor in the rest of the room.
Just as he finished his examination, a large Storm Demon stepped from the crowd and entered the cage. Shortly after that, a purple-haired Shadow Demon followed him. He looked familiar to Harry, but was not the person Harry had followed to get to this place. It was hard to hear over the crowd, but it sounded like the two demons were going to fight each other. Harry missed hearing why they were fighting, if it was for money or some other reason. But the moment the fight started, he couldn't take his eyes off it. It was fascinating, and a little frightening. Both Demons used not only their claws and, what Harry considered 'normal' fighting moves, but they used their powers as well.
Lighting crackled and then arced off the Storm Demon's wings, narrowly missing the Shadow Demon. A mass of blackness coalesced, and then launched at the Storm Demon's face. Thunder rolled, the smell of ozone was thick in the air, and suddenly both Demons had launched themselves and were battling it out in the air. Diving and rolling as they attacked each other, they moved so quickly and so fluidly it was hard to tell which one was winning and which was losing. But finally, the Storm Demon fell to the floor of the cage and the Shadow Demon yelled in victory.
Fionn was pressed tightly to Harry's side, as though he was afraid of being carried off by the crowd. Harry wrapped an arm and a wing around the Fae to be sure they weren't separated, but otherwise tried not to move from his place. He wasn't exactly sure where the door was from here, or how to get back to the areas they knew, but in any event, their best bet would be to wait for the crowd to die down a bit before trying to get anywhere.
The Shadow Demon came out of the cage, and a brown-haired Earth Demon hurried past Harry towards the cage. As he passed, someone in the crowd stumbled, knocking into the Earth Demon, who then knocked into Harry. He had a sudden feeling of deja vu as his arm was grabbed, sparing all three a fall to the ground. As he looked up into hazel eyes, he suddenly realized where he had seen this Warrior before.
"You, I know you. We met my first day here, didn't we?"
The Earth Demon looked at him thoughtfully a moment, and then recognition seemed to dawn for him as well. "You're the one with an Air Guide. And I see you've already managed to find a mate." He grinned down at them, eyes flicking briefly to Harry's wings as he searched the crowd. "Or am I mistaken? I don't see the claiming studs, but...and where is your Guide? I wouldn't think she would have left you on your own at a Cage Match, but Air can be a bit on the flighty side."
"Oh, er...she had to go to work. Left a few days ago and said she'd try to be back in the next two days. And Fionn's not my mate." Harry blushed and fidgeted slightly.
The Earth Demon's eyes snapped back to Harry, surprise showing clearly and then he shook his head. "I'm Herne if you've forgotten, Gideon is the Shadow Demon who won the cage match. I need to go and make sure he didn't take too much damage, but knowing you are currently Guideless and in the middle of a crowd who wont currently care who's blood gets spilled as long as they can see it happen... You're going to have to come with me. This is a very dangerous situation you've gotten yourself into young one, not just for yourself but for the Fae." Herne's voice was stern, and a touch disappointed as though Harry was a favorite nephew who had just managed to do something stupid.
Guiding them through the crowd with a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Fionn between them, Herne managed to get them past the cage and into a small room, a little bit behind and to the side of the cage. Once the door was closed behind them, silence fell so completely you wouldn't have known there was a crowd in the next room if you hadn't just come from there. Gideon turned towards them and quirked a brow at Herne.
"What's this then? Why... Well if it isn't the little one who tried to run me over a few weeks ago! And a mate already? Did you manage to lose your Guide in the crowd?"
"Why does everyone keep asking if Fionn is my mate? Doesn't anyone have same-gender friends in the Realm? Ash isn't here, she had to go to work and said she would try to get back in the next few days." Harry frowned and crossed his arms. Yeah, maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to follow Herne, especially somewhere he wasn't familiar with, and when Ash was out of touch. But he and Fionn were fine, nothing had happened, and he was tired of being treated like a child. He felt like biting the next person to call him 'Young one' or 'little one'.
"Somehow I doubt your Guide told you it would be okay to visit a cage match without her, and while she was gone." Herne went and picked up a sponge and dunked it in a bowl of liquid before wringing it out and passing it over various cuts and burns on Gideon's upper body.
"It's the way you two stand and interact. Generally you don't get that kind of a closeness unless you're mated, going to mate, or sometimes it happens with twins." Gideon shrugged, and then hissed as the movement pulled at a particularly nasty-looking burn on his right shoulder.
"You two look pretty close to me, so does that mean you're mated?" Harry was still a bit annoyed, but at least he was getting answers. Prior to his inheritance, he would get the lectures about what he'd done wrong, but none of his questions were answered. Even Ash would go off on tangents while answering things, and then she'd confuse or distract him enough that he'd forget the original question sometimes.
Gideon burst out laughing. "Airany and Fiane would have something to say about that. Not to mention the fact that Herne isn't interested in men. No, we're close because we've fought and trained together for well over five hundred years."
Herne snickered at the look on Harry's face when he heard 'five hundred years.' "Immortal, remember? Just because we look young, doesn't mean we are young. Has your Guide explained about claiming studs yet? You'll need to know who not to try to chat up, plus the fact that neither you nor Fionn have them yourselves means you'll end up getting courted at some point." The teasing tone was back to Herne's voice, apparently he got over pique quickly.
Harry shook his head, he hadn't heard about claiming studs yet. But his attention was caught by Gideon as the Shadow Demon turned around and Harry could finally see just how much damage had been done during the match. Besides the burn on his shoulder, and a few claw marks on his back, there was a long gash along the outside edge of the top of his left wing. He had more cuts and bruises across his torso, and a burn on his right side just over his ribs. He hadn't looked like he'd gotten this badly hurt during the match, but everything had happened so fast...
"It's not normally this damaging, but that Storm Demon has a grudge against me. I'll be fine, just need a trip to the Healer's and time to heal up."
Harry just nodded, but Fionn tilted his head to the side and then looked up at Harry. He wiggled his fingers slightly and looked like he was asking Harry something wordlessly. Thinking back to the visit to Fred and George and the strange healing Fionn had done, Harry wondered if he was being asked permission to do it again.
"Whatever you want Fionn, it's fine. Remember, you don't have to ask permission for everything anymore." Harry said softly.
The Fae stared at him a moment longer, and then slowly pulled away from Harry's side. Moving carefully towards the Warriors with his eyes on the floor, he finally came to a stop before Gideon.
"Well hello there. Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Fionn didn't answer and Gideon looked puzzled then glanced towards Harry to find out what was going on. But before anyone could speak, Fionn had raised his right hand up to the burn on the Warrior's side, and it was glowing that faint golden color again. Seconds later the burn was gone, Fionn moved his hand to the gash in Gideon's wing and that too vanished. As he went to circle around to get the burn on Gideon's back, the shock seemed to finally wear off the Warriors.
Gideon moved and quickly grabbed Fionn's wrist, gently but strong enough to stop him from continuing. Fionn's eyes went wide, and then he dropped to the floor, trying to assume the kneeling posture Harry hadn't seen in almost a week. His head was bowed and his body was limp where it dangled from Gideon's grip. The Shadow Demon for his part, was shocked enough by the submissive posture he released Fionn's wrist and just stared a moment as the Fae curled into a ball at his feet.
"He was trying to help you! Why did you have to grab him like that? It took weeks to get him to the point where he'd actually speak and not cringe the moment anyone looked at him." Harry's temper rose and he hurried forward, glaring at Gideon the whole time. When he touched Fionn's shoulder, the Fae flinched then allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and moved back across the room from Gideon and Herne. He trembled slightly as Harry pulled him close, trying to calm him down.
"I did not mean to frighten him, had I known he would react in such a fashion I never would have touched him. But that healing... it is a very rare talent, and you should not allow him to do it with virtual strangers. You have no idea what would happen if the wrong people were to find out he can heal with a touch. Being mated would be some protection, but even then there are those who would not hesitate to kidnap him and force him to use his gift as they willed." Gideon's voice was low, as though he did not wish anyone outside those in the room to hear him, but Harry could also hear no false notes in it. He seemed to be telling the truth.
Harry just nodded silently, his eyes watching both Warriors warily. He'd wondered about the healing Fionn had done, Healer Tristan hadn't shown anything like it, but then Harry hadn't been wounded so he hadn't known for sure if it was normal or not.
"Claiming studs are visible proof that someone is mated." Herne spoke up, he hadn't moved during the healing or after, and it was clear he was trying to change the subject to bring the tension in the room back down to a bearable level. "Each mate has a stud that represents them embedded into the wing, or ear if the mate has no wings, of their mate or mates. Demons have square studs, with a stone in the colors of their wings and engraved with their initials. My Airany is a Water Demon, and this is her stud."
Slowly extending his right wing, he pointed to the square stud embedded an inch from the top of the wing, near the mid point. Beside the blue and white square stud, was a purple oval stud.
"The oval stud is Fiane's, she's a Fae and all Fae have oval studs. Incubi and Succubi have heart-shaped studs, Gargoyles are diamonds, and Djinn if one actually consents to mate with a Demon, are represented by teardrop-shaped studs. The studs for non-Demons are colored based on the color of their magic. For Fae, Incubi and Succubi, you can get an idea of their magic color from their hair and eye colors. They're embedded into the tops of the wings, or the ears, to make them easy to spot. If a given mateship has decided they do not wish to add any more to it, they can have a gold star embedded after the last mate stud. This is to let others know they are not interested and wish to be left alone. Any who do not have that stud are presumed to be open to being courted."
"You may have noticed your wings are extra-sensitive to some people and not others. This is one way to tell who might be compatible, both to your magic and your current mates if you have any." Gideon looked slightly uncomfortable, but Harry wasn't sure if it was because of the topic of conversation, or because he had only just stopped glaring at the Warrior.
"It's not full proof though, things are always changing. Someone who may not be compatible now, may go through a change in the future that makes them compatible. And the same goes for the opposite, unless they are already mated to you, or have bonded to you or one of your mates prior to being fully mated." Herne continued.
"I see. That's interesting, and thank you for explaining. But I think I need to get Fionn home now, I don't want him to regress any further than he's already done." Harry was once again holding Fionn against his side, running soothing fingers along the Fae's back. It was a good sign that Fionn hadn't tried to resume his position on the floor, but he wasn't as calm as he had been before the healing and Harry wanted to get him back to Ash's before anything else happened to undo all the progress that had been made.
"If you tell me where you're living, I'll take you. Gideon should go check in with the Healers, they'll wonder if he doesn't stop by and would have especially been curious if he didn't have anything beyond minor damage after a fight like that." Herne said lightly, trying to explain without actually saying it outright, that that had been the reason Gideon had stopped Fionn.
Harry looked at the Warriors a moment, but then shrugged. It wasn't like he would be able to easily find his way back himself, and it would be faster if someone who knew the area showed him the way. "Ash's house is 1619 Cirrus Court."
"Air district, not surprised. That isn't actually too far from here, it won't take long to get you two home. Come on, we can go out this door and avoid the crowds." Herne headed for the door in the back of the room, opposite the one they had used to get in there in the first place.