|Real World|
Pip looked down at his sleeping charge, alternating between biting his thumb and snapping at pixies that brought him unsatisfactory news. That and glaring at Nuada whenever he came close to Rhianwen were his main activities. Even his dearest, beloved Lena could not bring him solace at a time like this.
He had been the one to cause this. And youth could only explain so many of his past shortcomings. Royalty should know better than to put their own wishes first.
But, he thought as he looked at his pregnant wife, he had known what he wanted. And to win Lena's heart he had been prepared to do anything. Having lil' Red in his life was a nice addition. If only she could survive this. If only she wouldn't hate him for what he had done.
Hesitant he landed on her cheek for a moment, jerking his feet back up with a hiss. The pain of magic was too much to bear, even if he wanted to.
"Is there a reason you avoid sleeping near her?" Nuada asked from his sitting position. Pip had assumed the Bethmooran elf had been asleep but now found himself observed by a pair of feral eyes. The pixie reprimanded himself for not having been more careful around the larger fae. The longer the situation went on the more he had to share about his dear charge.
Pip carefully lifted a strand of hair away from Rhianwen's face as he answered. "The Sphere generates magic energy inside of her. When she sleeps it's possible to absorb it from her."
Nuada lifted his eyebrows for a short moment, looking at the sleeping woman with a calculating air about him. "May I?"
Placing down the strand of hair Pip sighed deeply, waving a hand to give his consent. Nuada could crush all of the pixies just by grabbing them and closing his fist. Antagonizing him wasn't the best of ideas even on a good day. At least he wouldn't touch Rhianwen for absolutely longer than necessary.
When the elf pulled his hand back in surprise Pip nodded. "Told you. Strange things used to happen before I figured that out."
Which was why from that moment on Rhianwen had never slept alone in her entire life. The strain had been too much on her tiny body back then, causing her to scream her lungs out every moment of the day and well into the night. But now the Sphere was generating an excess of it. Just like a baby could not have contained it, this energy was too much for a pixie body.
The other prince went back to his sitting position, amber eyes slowly moving across the room as if an enemy might jump out at any moment. Wink was sleeping nearby, snoring so deeply small pebbles moved across the ground. Pip hovered over Rhianwen, hoping the air current from his wings might cool her down a bit. His poor, poor girl. And all this because he had dared to hope, to dream about a family.
"How is it that one of the Fair Folk, a noble, decided to get attached to a mere human?"
There was still rancor in those words, a venom perfected over thousands of years. Pip sensed the intended sting of reproach in the question and bit his tongue to keep from answering too passionately. Instead he considered his answer carefully. Had there been something specific?
Pip eyed the pink… creature apprehensively. Ever since he had found out how badly he'd fucked up - and this was a mistake of gigantic proportions - he'd been holed up in this hovel in the country side. Several months had passed where he had been reduced to a glorified babysitter by his own hand.
He could have killed the mortal. Full-sized humans were tougher but something as small as this wouldn't take much. After the unpleasant business was over with he could just retrieve the Sphere and return home.
And then what? Tell Lena he'd gotten the Sphere as a proof he'd do whatever it took to make her happy and hey, he'd killed a baby for it. Sure, it was a human babe but the principle was the same. Even during the Great War that had been considered a reprehensible act, only for those most debased among their kind. And the Golden Army, about which he had heard horrified whispers, handed down through generations of pixies.
The thing had a century to live, at the most. Probably far less. He could wait until it died a natural death and then get the Sphere back, no problem. Red curls bounced up and down as the child busied itself in crawling on the floor as its mother was busy cooking. Every once in a while green eyes would look up at him, studying the flying character that was always near. Pip wondered if his own child would drool so excessively as well.
"Her Majesty will be giving a ball soon and would greatly advise you to attend," Lenore told him, her eyes drawn towards the child every once in a while. His grandmother's right hand knew the child could see them and knew about the magic it produced. So far he had been able to keep quiet about the Sphere being inside it. With some luck nobody would ever have to find out.
Pip nodded, scratching his cheek. "I'll attend. It's been a while since I was last home. Wait, I'll come with you to the door."
That was the moment it happened. A shrill voice shouting his name at the top of tiny lungs. "Pip!"
The prince looked down in surprise. That had been his name, and in pixie to boot. On the ground the babe was scrunching up her face as if tears were going to well up any second. Thinking he flew up higher, prompting another shrieked outburst. "Pip!"
"Sir… the human knows your name," Lenore barely could form the words as the babe threatened to work up a tantrum, plump feet drumming on the floor.
He nodded, fluttering towards the ground. The action appeased the mortal who started to blow bubbles of air out of her own spit. "Correct me if I'm wrong but… that was in pixie. Kid, say it again. Can you say 'Pip' again?"
Spittle flew around in the air as the bubbles popped. Then it came, in the high-pitched, nearly whistled tones of his native tongue. Not his true name, the child could never have had access to that, but still it was his name. For the first time the pixie prince looked at the human and saw something else than a container for the Sphere.
"That's right, kiddo. I'm Pip."
"My name was her first word," Pip finally confessed. And his native tongue had been her first language, just as her loyalties had been to him from those first few months onward. It had taken a year more for her to finally speak her 'mother tongue', something which had worried her parents more than anything.
That was the same time he had realized his actions had had consequences other than a slight inconvenience for himself. Because of him Red had been able to see him and all of the other otherworldly creatures inhabiting the world. Nothing he could do would ever make that up to her. He had ripped her from her secure spot in the human world and forced her in between.
"I don't know about the big folk, crown prince of Bethmoora. But for me personally, someone who chose my name as a first word is someone I will protect with all I have."
A statement which had gotten him in trouble quite a few times. The snarl gracing Nuada's face was enough to show that here too his words fell in infertile soil. All that kept Pip safe was his blood and he knew it. Just like Rhianwen's blood condemned her.
"And why do you insist on remaining by her side, if it pains the both of you so?"
Pip landed on the pillow next to Rhianwen's cheek. Her chest had nearly stopped moving completely apart from a few hitches every once in a few hours. What choice did he have but remain by her side, even when she tried to reject him completely, when he had his own life to support?
Lenore had been the one to first notice it. Much like changes in personality, changes in a body were hard to spot if you were with a person nearly every day. Almost without noticing it lil' Red had changed from a wailing babe to a stumbling toddler and then into a budding young woman. Pip had felt his heart swell with pride when he saw how she grew. And she loved him with all she had in her.
Even his grandmother and mother had approved of his human charge, even if they too hadn't known why he had done it at first. Eventually he had confessed and nearly gotten strangled by his grandmother. The women had demanded to speak with the child. He'd agreed and spent weeks getting the girl ready to greet the pixie ruler and the heir to the throne.
His mother had still boxed his ears as if he hadn't been older than a century after the meeting, but they had liked the girl. By then Red had become accustomed to handling the pixies, only ever touching them when necessary and with the greatest amount of possible care. Her fingers were nimble and soft, smelling of lightning and mint.
"I'm the reason she can't have a normal life. So I promised her I'd at least help her live a happy life," Pip answered, feeling that sinking of his stomach every time he thought about how he had been screwing things up. He should never have put the Sphere there. He should never have stuck around the child. Should never have encouraged her to meet more fae. Never have…
His thoughts were interrupted as an older pixie nearly knocked him out of the air, sending minute specks of dust spazzing through the air. Regaining his balance easily enough Pip tried to appear as if he was in complete control of the situation. "What?"
"Your Highness, we found her. She said she would be coming to meet you as soon as she gathered her things," the pixie reported, a magnolia tattoo glistening in blue along his temples.
Before Pip could answer a female voice spoke from the shadows at the top of the stairs, the sound echoing as if they were suddenly in a larger cave. "Correct me if I am wrong, but I did believe our next appointment wasn't due for a little while longer."
The pixie prince raised up his head to ascertain it was indeed who he had been expecting. A tall woman with midnight hair dressed in deep green robes was standing there, eyes glinting in the half dark. A gold and silver chain hung around her neck, trailing along the swans embroidered in her dress. "Caer Ibormeith."
Pip bowed respectfully as he floated in the air, dipping his head low. "An honor, as always."
At least Nuada had the sense to bow for the goddess of sleep and prophecy as well, if not quite so deeply as Pip did. The pixie could swear that the tall folk so seldom had any real sense for propriety.
"Little Highness. Prince of Bethmoora. And of course all others," Caer smiled as she noted the other pixies bowing respectfully. She walked down the steps while Pip bit his tongue to keep calm. He'd learned from the first time that rushing a god never ended well.
"Well then, little prince. Will you tell me what happened that you needed my assistance so urgently?"
Pip explained quickly, only pausing when he got so excited the words got stuck in his mouth. Caer listened intently, her eyes completely black as she observed the sleeping Rhianwen. During the speech she knelt down, her long green dress billowing around her as she moved. White feathers were visible from underneath her sleeves as she moved her hand above Rhianwen.
"Can you do something?" Pip asked, watching as the goddess revealed very little of what she thought. The only reason she was here was because Pip had once helped her retrieve her golden chain from a thief. After that she had offered him a boon, anything he could have desired. A century later he had called upon her aid in relation to Rhianwen.
Black eyes focused on him. Caer seemed to weigh her words carefully, echoing faintly as she spoke. "I could, perhaps, lend a hand. Though it may be very dangerous to interrupt her dreams."
"What kind of dreams?"
"Nightmares," Caer at once clarified, removing her hand from above Rhianwen. "They are using nightmares to force her into servitude. The oaths for Regalia are only binding if made through free will, though nobody bothers to ask how the Regalia come to that 'free' will. Right now she is giving her all to resist the spells."
"Then we have to help her," Pip said, not seeing the problem.
Caer raised a hand in caution. "I am not allowed to mingle in the affairs of another pantheon. If Rhianwen would have offered to serve me whilst awake it would be a different manner. I cannot wake her myself without ending a truce. You will have to choose someone to go in and save her."
Pip at once clasped a fist to his chest. There was no question who he trusted most to save her. "I'll go. Doesn't matter what happens."
"What is happening in these dreams?" Nuada asked, looking anywhere but at the sleeping human.
"Death," Caer answered simply. "War such as only a few of the fae truly remember."
"Doesn't matter. I'll do it!" Pip said before suddenly Lenore yanked him by the ear.
"Are you crazy? You're the prince, you can't just go in there! If anyone should go, I should."
Wink too grunted something, having been woken in the last few minutes. Pip gathered from rather animate gestures that he also volunteered to go see what the matter was. Caer smiled at them all before shaking her head. "I am quite sorry, sir troll, but you simply do not have the aptitude for something like this. And neither do any of you, little prince."
"What are you talking about? We're the best chance she has," Pip muttered, not happy being told he wasn't up to scratch.
Caer gestured to Nuada, only adding fuel to the fire. "I can only send someone who is capable of walking another's mind. I hear the Bethmooran princess is capable of such a feat."
"My sister is not entering the mind of a human," Nuada snapped, crossing his arms over one another. With the way his spine seemed to stiffen Pip was reminded of a tiger suddenly sprayed with cold water.
"I will accept none who aren't able of the task," Caer answered. "My duty to the pixies means I help keep the human safe. The princess, or someone of equal capacity."
Nuada glanced at Rhianwen, before he looked at Pip. Somehow the way the silver-haired prince gazed at the human and at Wink gave Pip an idea. It would take a lot of bargaining but if there was one guy capable of fighting his way out of a war zone…
"About that crown piece,…"
"No," Rhianwen whispered as she dropped back on her behind. It had taken a long time to find the exit. So many tries, so many 'fresh starts' as Phobetor named them. When she had found it she had been so happy, not wondering why it had been easy to find in the end.
"Is something wrong, Regalia? The exit is right in front of you," Phobetor actually sounded rather amused, the mocking tone plain to her ears.
Dazed she looked through the gateway, at what was waiting for her beyond. There was no way she would be able to keep her word if she went through. At least in here she could keep saying no. They needed her awake if she was to officially plead fealty to Fortuna. "I'll stay here."
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that," Phobetor leaned forward so he could whisper in her ear. Along with her he was the only thing in color in her nightmare. "Could you repeat that for me?"
Rhianwen swallowed, tears stinging in her eyes. She closed her eyelids, raising her head up to the sky. When you know you can't win a battle, you turn around and run away. That was the most important thing Pip had ever thought her. If she went through the exit she would lose by default. Which meant all she could do was remain here. "I said, I'm staying."
The god's touch was cold on her neck, fingers gripping down firmly. She could feel his smile as she gasped out in pain. "I thought you might say that. Still, nothing is lost. If there is one thing we have here, Regalia, it is time."
"Drop dead."
Phobetor chuckled. "I think you already tried killing me. Would you care to try again? Do you remember what happened last time?"
She flinched when he ran a finger across her cheek, the gentle touch so more frightening than the iron grip he had previously used. When he asked again she nodded. She remembered. She didn't want to go through that again. Phobetor moved his hand, more to the back of her neck this time. Rhianwen swallowed.
"Recognize this grip? You should be thanking me. Quicker this way." Phobetor said as if he did believe he was doing her a kindness.
It was quicker. The first time had been during her fourth playthrough. She'd snapped after seeing what had happened to Wink. It was quicker than the third time, when she had attempted to reason with a group of hobgoblins that had tried fleeing. Not as quick as the fifth time, when she'd tried to keep Nuada from charging into a group of the FESC.
"Well then… will you kneel before Fortuna?
"No."
The next thing she saw was a leather ball near her outstretched fingers in a gray corridor. For the longest time she didn't move.
So yes, new chapter. Any comments are welcome as always, since that is what reviews were made for ^^
KittyoftheNight : not that much romance in this chapter, but the next chap will have more Rhianwen/Nuada interaction. Three cheers for that, am I right? =)