#but she's also a fae queen and fae are supposed to be sparkly

[feliciadraws]

Her majesty, the fae queen nymph, Queen Mab 🧚‍♀️🦋

Big thanks to @bamboorocket for letting me draw her gorgeous nymph OC for a oneshot concept she's working on!

[ladyofstardust]

Carol of the Goblins

Word Count: 2.7k

Rating: T

Summary: In which Jareth fights in the war against Christmas Wrapping and he and Sarah exchange gifts. A DVD player may or may not have gone back in time and a Goblin may or may not have been on fire. Whatever, the cops left in the end.

Notes: Apartment-verse fic.  Set after the events of Thursday Night.  I’m also posting them over at Ao3 in order if you’d prefer to read that way.

You took my dreams from me When I first found you I kept them with me babe I put them with my own Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you

- Fairytale of New York by The Pogues

“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the apartment, there were several creatures stirring but most notably the Fae king currently in a duel with my wrapping paper,” Sarah said coming in through the front door.  Jareth was sitting crosslegged on the floor of her living room, hair sticking every which way and with several pieces of scotch tape in it. He was cursing in a language she didn’t know at her wrapping paper, while the Peanuts Christmas special played in the background.

“Sarah!” He said with a start.  “You weren’t supposed to be home for another hour!”

“Traffic was better than I expected,” she said with a smile, eyeing the nondescript box Jareth had half-wrapped.  “My family sends their love and more importantly, their gifts.”

Sarah held a bag of gifts up for him to see, but he only scowled at them.

“This holiday would be much improved without this patently impossible task.”

“If you don’t do it by hand how will I know you mean it though?” Sarah teased.  “If you can wrap my gift by hand I’ll show you my trick for next year.”

“I don’t need a trick I need magic,” he grumbled.  “I truly despise you for these ridiculous gift rules.”

“No you don’t,” she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbing a stray piece of tape at the same time.  “You just need to be creative.”

“That wouldn’t be necessary if you’d just let me,” at this he gave a little hand wave and the lights on her tree all lit up.  He cocked an expectant eyebrow as if this proved his point.

“And I’ve seen what wonders and sparkly delights magic gets me for Christmas.  I want to see what my boyfriend gets me when he’s got the same limitations as the rest of us mortals.  My gift is also not made with magic I’ll remind you,” she said, retreating to the kitchen.  “Besides you’re the Goblin King. Stuff of nightmares and such. Is a bit of shiny paper really going to be your downfall?”

“Oh do go off,” he said bitterly.  “And do not come in here until I am done wrapping!”

“Babe, I will need my living room back before June,” she called from the kitchen.  

“I should really just return this and find a girlfriend who appreciates my magical abilities.”

“Probably!” She called back.  “In the meantime I’m going to start on dinner before the crew gets here.  Ludo doesn’t eat meat and Hoggle is currently on a weird Underground diet and can’t have ‘anything that flies’ and I’m not sure…if he counts chickens?”

“He does,” Jareth replied.  “Most of the Underground chickens can fly, they just choose not to because they’re disgusting, lazy vermin.”

“You’re in such a good mood that I’m going to put on Christmas carols so I don’t have to hear you shouting eldritch horrors at the scotch tape.”

Sarah spent the rest of the afternoon making Christmas cookies and a very large pot of spaghetti and cauliflower balls.  She wasn’t much in the kitchen, but one of the only skills she picked up from Karen was knowing how to make some kickass cookies.  

Her and Jareth had gotten into the habit of spending Christmas Eve together with their friends.  Sarah was less and less interested in driving for three hours to Irene’s place to hear about who was ruining the economy this year (her), what people needed to ‘get over’ (human rights usually), and when she was going to make something of her life (get married).  It was exhausting and compared to the idea of curling up with Jareth watching Die Hard…well she knew which one she was choosing.

Jareth had begged off the Underground’s Yule festivities as they were normally held at the Winter Court and he and the Winter Queen weren’t currently on the best of terms.  They had briefly debated decking the hell out of the castle’s halls and doing a very medieval style Christmas, but Sarah wasn’t up to it this year. She liked their low-key traditions of board games, mulled wine, and listening to Christmas music together.  It always made her feel at home, and it was the part of the holidays she looked forward to the most.

“Would my beautiful, lovely, and generous girlfriend be willing to come in here a moment?” Jareth called from the living room.

“Sure but she isn’t helping you any,” Sarah said, laying out the Christmas cookies on a plate.

“Well then nevermind!” he yelled.  

“You’ve got another half an hour and then you’ll need to give up and come play Settlers of Catan.  Hoggle won’t play Risk with both of us anymore,” Sarah said, reminding him of what Hoggle colloquially referred to as “the most scarring experience of his life.”

But it was not as though there was a lot of fire and really, he’d gotten out of there long before the cops showed up.

A few months ago, during a rainy day, they’d decided to play a game of Risk.  Things went well…for about the first hour or so. Then alliances and double dealings happened and it all culminated in Jareth creating a playable dragon that truly, under no circumstance, needed to breathe fire.  So she’d countered by setting up landmines of pudding for his troops to fall into because of Jareth’s hatred of sticky things. The dragon stepped in the pudding and a goblin came and ate the dragon, because of said pudding.  At which point the dragon started breathing fire out of the goblin’s mouth, the goblin started freaking out running all over her apartment breathing fire, lighting other goblins on fire as it went, as she was running behind it dropping pudding on the fire because well, it was what she had handy, while Jareth tried to turn off the building’s sprinkler system.  They’d managed to get the goblins back through the mirror before the cops showed up, but not before they cleaned up all the pudding and scorch marks.

So no, Hoggle was not down to play Risk.  Sir Didymus was still on board though.

Sarah went into her bedroom to grab Jareth’s gift.  She’d spent a lot of time thinking about what to get him, they’d never really done a traditional Christmas gift exchange so this was her first experience trying to buy for the man who could have anything he wanted.  The influx of ads pushing whiskey stones and artisanal shaving kits were all wrong for Jareth. She’d debated getting him a nice new pair of leather gloves, but realized she’d be really put out if he thought to buy her underwear, and he had a whole drawer full of specially designed gloves.  The mall likely didn’t carry gloves that were designed for spell casting anyways. The idea had come to her one afternoon while cleaning out her drawers. She’d found some old notes from the Goblins and she realized just the thing for her Goblin King.

She hung out flipping through Jane Eyre in her bedroom, waiting for Jareth to finish with her gift.  Finally, when she got to the scene where Rochester and Jane confess their love, Jareth walked in, looking somewhat worse for wear.  His hair had gained several more pieces of scotch tape and for some reason he had a cut across his cheek.

“I’ve brought you a gift,” he said quietly, extending the package towards her.  

In the end, he’d wrapped it perfectly.  There was a beautifully tied ribbon, with a bow on top, and the wrapping job looked professionally done.  Sarah let out an impressive whistle.

“You know, I gotta say, much like a hotdog, the process to get it may not be pretty, but the end product sure is.  Damn, now I want a hotdog.”

“Your gift is not a hotdog,” he said brows knitting together in annoyance.  

“Shame,” Sarah said with a pout.  “Guess we’ll just have to go back to the cart in the woods.”

“What is that,” he said, trying to change the subject by pointing to the gift bag Sarah had at the foot of the bed.  

“Well that would be your gift,” she said, patting the space next to her for him to sit down.

“But…it’s in a bag?” He said confused.

“Yeah that’s my trick.  I suck at wrapping so I always just get a nice bag instead,” she said with a wink, giving him a quick peck on the tip of his nose.

“So putting me through the torture of hand wrapping your gift was for…?”  He said, helplessly.

“Fun.  Namely, mine,” she grinned.

“I will get you back for this,” he grumbled.  

“I’m sure you’ll get me back for it before the night is over,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes.  “Now open your gift!”

Jareth glared at her one more time before grabbing the gift bag.  Slowly and deliberately he removed every piece of tissue paper as Sarah watched expectantly.  Finally, he pulled out her gift at the bottom of the bag.

Knit together with golds, greys, browns and black was a long scarf.  At the bottom of each tail was the pattern of his sigil, just like the amulet he wore.  

“I’m not a great knitter,” Sarah said taking a breath.  “So I know it’s not perfect or anything. I tried to get the sigil right, and I had Ludo help me a bit to make it even.  I wanted something really long so you could wrap it around your neck a bunch of times since you’re forever wearing those low-cut shirts.  But I chose this gift because eight or so years ago, I made Sir Didymus a scarf. It wasn’t very well made, but I spent about a month trying to get it ready for Christmas.  I gave Hoggle some marmalade, and Ludo a game of marbles. I didn’t realize that these were the first Christmas gifts my friends had ever received. I didn’t realize that in knitting that scarf I’d find myself and my life totally co-opted by Goblins, and Goblin Kings alike.  That the act of making that scarf might have been more powerful than that first wish. That scarf is coming apart, and filled with holes and probably quite a few pudding stains by now. Sir Didymus still wears it proudly. I didn’t know then, what I know now. About you, about the Underground, or about … anything really.  But I can honestly say, there’s no place I’d rather be, and no one I’d rather be with. So it seems only right that your first Christmas gift should be a scarf as well, since it was what brought you home to me. Merry Christmas Jareth, and I do love you very much.”

“Oh I do wish you hadn’t,” Jareth said, flopping backwards onto her bedspread. 

“Oh...why?” Sarah said, feeling her heart start to sink.

Jareth leaned forward, propping himself up on his elbow. “Because your gift is perfect Sarah.  It so far surpasses my gift that despite spending the better part of today attempting to wrap it, I’m not sure I want you to open it.”

“To be honest, half the gift was definitely watching you war with the wrapping paper,” Sarah said, grabbing Jareth’s gift to her.  

“I just want to take the opportunity to remind you that I once turned the Bog into your fondest ice skating dreams,” he said as she began to tear into the paper.

“I don’t have any ice skating dreams I can’t skate,” she said, not looking up from the box.

Sarah removed the gift from the plain brown box he’d placed it in.  Inside to her complete surprise, she found a new DVD player and every John Hughes movie Sarah could name.  She looked up at her very nervous looking Goblin King and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“You...replaced my DVD player?  And got me The Breakfast Club?”

“If you’d allow me a few moments I’m sure I can provide something suitably magical,” he said quickly.  “Something that does not involve wrapping paper.”

“What after you conquered it?  Absolutely not!” She said clutching the DVDs to her chest.  “These are mine and I love them Jareth. Love them. Between this and the war on Christmas wrapping you staged, I honestly am … really charmed.”

“You are forever complaining about how I damaged your original device, I thought it a suitable gift to replace it for you even though I had nothing to do with the initial...malfunction,” he said, and Sarah saw the tenseness leave his shoulders.  

“Jareth, I think you may have sent that DVD player back in time.  It oozed noxious purple goop for a few minutes, lit off some more truly foul smelling purple smoke - seriously I don’t even think the bog smells that bad, and then poof!  Gone! Where did it go Jareth? Where did the DVD player and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off go?!”

“If I knew that I simply would have retrieved the old machine,” he grumbled.  “I replaced the film, along with several others by the same filmmaker. I was told he’s a favourite of yours.”

“You were told by me, many times, because I love John Hughes movies.  But that kinda proves my point about why I like it. Actually no, why I love it.  It’s thoughtful Jareth. I love it when you think about me. I love it even more when you think about me, and what I like, what I don’t like.  You even remembered not to include St. Elmo’s Fire because of my inability to watch a Demi Moore movie without getting unreasonably angry.”

“Because she reminds you of your mother,” he nodded.  “I remember.”

“Yeah...yeah that’s why I love it Jareth,” she said, giving him a smile.  “It’s a wonderfully human gift. It’s perfect. Or maybe imperfectly perfect.  Which makes it human, which makes it perfect.”

She leaned over and gave him a kiss and he took the opportunity to pull her down.  She snuggled up next to him, facing Jareth and her window, watching the snow lightly fall on her fire escape while he laid soft kisses on her cheeks and temples.

“Merry Christmas Sarah, I also love you very much.”

“Seem like that’s our lot in life, to love each other very much,” she sighed happily, nestling closer.  “I guess it’ll have to do.”

“Yes, I guess it will,” he said smiling.  “But I think I hear our friends arriving.”

“Mmm the Christmas cookies will keep them busy for a while,” she said, snuggling further into the crook of his neck.  

“Not busy enough for all the ways I’ll be celebrating with you tonight.”  

“Okay,” she said rolling over.  “First we settle, then we Catan, then we bang.  Deal?”

“An acceptable bargain,” he said offering his hand.  

She took it, giving it a firm shake, and they nodded at each other seriously, before Sarah started laughing.  

“Come on, grab the game and I’ll put on Christmas Vacation with my shiny, new, non-time travelling DVD player.”

“I’ll grab the board game.  Pour me a glass of mulled wine love,” he said giving her a quick peck before leaping off the bed.

“My lady?  Sire?” Sir Didymus called from the kitchen.  

“They’s in the bedroom bein’ gross,” Hoggle replied sourly.

“We’re just grabbing the board game!” Sarah shouted at him.

“Whatever yous say.” Hoggle muttered.

“Come on Rocket Man, Christmas awaits,” Sarah said, grabbing her new DVD player.

“As long as you don’t ask me to wrap anything else, I’m right behind you.  I think this is going to be an excellent year.” he replied.

The DVD player, unfortunately, was toast before the new year.

[screamingatanemptyroom]

A Fairy Tale Story Part 3

I continued it!!! (No title, since I’m bad at those, sorry!) Part 1 and Part 2 linked! 

Hope you guys like it! 

“We’re here.” Alston’s voice was tired, portal magic was fairly draining in general, even more so more a half-blood gnome like him.

“Hooray.” I couldn’t hold back my sarcasm, but I still found myself looking around at my surroundings with interest. It had been six years, after all. I wondered how much the fairy realm had changed while I was gone.

Not much it turned out. There was still the sparkly stone paved roads, only used by the unfortunate folk without wings. The houses of all different shapes and sizes, made of wood and decorated with flowers still stood, ready to accommodate creatures from tiny brownies to giants. Flowers were everywhere, in every color imaginable, their scent heavy on the air around us.

And floating high above it all was the Fairy Castle, made of glass and stone, a symbol of wealth, power, and control.

“This place is awesome! I can’t believe my mom never took me here! Stupid Pixie forest, not nearly as cool as this place…” Marryn looked around in every direction, comments rolling off of her in a constant stream. “Wow, what’s that?”  she stopped and pointed at the floating castle, I wanted to answer her, but the words brought memories which quickly overwhelmed me.

“WOW, what is that?!” I am four years old, still full of wide eyed wonder for the magical world I lived in. I tug rapidly on my mother’s hand when she didn’t answer immediately. She smiles, as she often does when she looks at me, but her smile is sad. “That’s the royal palace of the fairies, dear one.”

“Is that where daddy lives?” My question is innocent, her reaction explosive.

She grabs my arm tightly. “Don’t EVER call him that!” She’s shaking and pale, frightening me. “Do you understand?”

I nod my head, too scared to speak. She releases my arm and we walk home in silence.

The palace, once beautiful, now seems threatening instead.

I tried to shake myself free of the memory’s hold, but it takes a few moments. Marryn stared at me in concern, and seeing my incapacitation, Alston jumped in to explain.

“That’s the royal palace. We’ll be heading there next to meet with the king and queen.”

She grinned in response. “King and queen, huh?” She looked down at our clothing, I’m wearing a baggy t-shirt and shorts, she’s dressed in a lacy nightgown that says “bite me” on the backside.

“This should be interesting.”

I broke in. “We’re not going there first.”

“El,” Alston puts a comforting hand on my arm, “There’s no use in putting it off…”

I brushed him aside. “I’m not putting it off, I have to get my gear.

At my words his eyes widened in understanding, and he silently got out of my way.

“Wait where are we going now?” Marryn sounded exasperated. 

I grinned. “We’re headed to my place.”

I remembered the way surprisingly easily, considering how much time it had been since I last went there. It was close to the palace transport gate, but down a dark alley, tucked away out of sight.

“Not to burst your bubble hun, but how do you know that someone else isn’t living there now?” She was trying to be understanding, but I still had a flash of annoyance.

“They couldn’t even if they wanted to.” We were there. A small dark stone building with an iron door. I went up to the door, noting that the black candle recessed above it was still in place, and began focusing my energy within. “Stay back, this is the dangerous part.”

“Wha…”

I centered my magic on the black candle, the heat causing it to catch fire. A loud click could be heard within. A small part of me registered Alston pulling Marryn back out of harm’s way, but the majority of my attention was saved for the entrance. 4 spears appeared on the walls on either side of me, and a plume of flames shot from the metal door itself. I slipped into my magic, surprised at how easy it still was, and the world moved in slow motion. I caught one spear, knocking the rest out of the way, and held out one hand to absorb the fire, shooting its energy and heat out of the tip of my spear into the sky.

There was a moment of silence.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?” Marryn was not pleased. I opened the door in front of me, flipping the switch that deactivated the trap.

“That was my security system.” I motioned them forwards. “It’s safe to come in now.” I didn’t take it personally when they moved rather hesitantly.

“Do you have to do that every time you go inside your house?” Her voice was hushed as she entered the dark coolness past the iron door.

“Pretty much.” I shrugged, “Keeps unwanted people out, forces me to stay up with my training.”

“Your training for what?” Instead of answering her, I sent my energy forward, lighting the lamps in the room. My house could speak louder than me sometimes.

She stepped forward, looking around her with a slightly terrified expression. Every wall in my house was covered floor to ceiling with weapons. Bows, knives, swords, most made of silver, many poisoned. Targets and practice dummies took up residence in the far corner. On the second level, there was a simple floor cot where I slept, and piles upon piles of books. Marryn moved up the steps towards them, picking up a book curiously and dropping it in shock. It skidded down the steps, coming to a stop at my feet.

I picked it up, glancing at the title. “The Poisoning of Water Based Fae.”  With a sigh I set it down.

This place had no good memories for me.

Marryn had had enough “Alright, El. You need to start talking and fast. What is all this?”

I chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound, it just contained sadness.

“It’s exactly what it looks like, Mar. Officially I was trained to be the crown prince’s bodyguard. That was the excuse they used for all the injuries, the weapons training.” I looked over at Alston, he avoided my gaze with a regretful expression. “And I suppose that was part of my job. Protecting Ofrin was important.”

I picked up a knife off the wall, ignoring the quiet sizzle of burning flesh as the metal touched my palm. “But mostly I was their killer. The dirty little secret of the royal family, a tool to take out any who stood in their way.”

Marryn stepped forward, placing a hand on my arm.

“That doesn’t make sense. You were only sixteen when I met you in the human world. How long could you possibly have been doing this?”

I stared at the wall. It was easier to look at then her pitying expression.

“They started my training when I turned eight years old.” I ignored her gasp and moved towards my wall of weapons. “But my first kill wasn’t until I was ten.”

There was an awkward silence after that.

“We’ll need equipment.” I grabbed an assortment of throwing knives off the wall.

“Here.” I handed them to Marryn.

She was shocked. “Wait, what?”

“You’ll need to be able to protect yourself” I gestured at the blades she held. “Most of those are silver. Shouldn’t burn you since you only have a quarter pixie blood, but will damage almost anything else here. I also handed her some clothes, a simple set of forest green pants and shirts. “Sorry, it’s so big. You’ll have to roll them up a bit.” As I spoke I pulled on my normal black battle gear, and started taking more knives off of the wall, tucking them into various hidden pockets and holsters. I strapped a sword belt on, making sure each weapon was loose enough to be drawn easily.

I felt better with my weapons on. It had been a long time.

“You look awesome!” Marryn grinned, and started changing into her new clothes as well. She then motioned to Alston who stood facing the wall. “What’s up with him?”

Alston cleared his throat uncomfortably. “It would have been nice to have some warning before people just start getting undressed.”

We both laughed. “Sorry, Al. We’re done getting naked, I promise.”

He turned around with a sigh of relief, I held out a bow towards him.

“Here you go.” He backed up, silently shaking his head no.

“What’s wrong? You’re an awesome shot!” I held it out to him again, but he simply backed further away.

“I don’t do weapons anymore. I haven’t touched them. Not since…” He trailed off, not looking at me but through me, into a bloody past we both shared.

I dropped the bow at his feet. “Fine, but don’t come crying to me if you get killed.”

He grinned at me, the strain fading from his face. “Deal.”

As we got ready to leave I ran quickly up to my cot, and reached under my pillow, pulling out a silver locket from underneath my pillow. I felt for the hidden latch on the side, opening it up to two pictures within, a woman with a tired smile and a young boy with a bright, happy expression.

“What is that?” At Alston’s question, I tucked it quickly into my pocket. “It’s nothing.” I turned away, avoiding his curious look.

“Come on guys, we have a king and queen to visit who I’m sure will be delighted to see me. “

Marryn cracked her knuckles. “This is going to be fun, I can tell.”

We headed over to the portal to the palace. There was royal guard on either side, passing an arrogant glance between them once our group came into view. I felt my back muscles tense as the remembered anger and frustration of my childhood came back to haunt me.

“Halt!” The guards both leveled their golden spears at me. I paused right in front of the tips of their weapons, smiling calmly.

“Morning, gentlemen. It’s been a while.” I put my hands on my hips, trying to appear unaffected by their hostility. “You can put the toys away, children, I’m expected upstairs.”

“Half breed!” The taller guard on the left sneered, neither spear moved, “If you think for one moment a mutt like you is getting near our king…”

Marryn rolled up her sleeves, “Did he say mutt? OOH, he’s gotta death wish.” She started moving forward but was stopped by Alston’s outstretched hand.

He retrieved an official looking scroll from his pocket, passing it to the guards with a deferential bow.

The quieter of the two opened it up and read it, sighing loudly. “She’s been ordered to present herself in court.”

“Well, she still has to give up her weapons.” The ornery one looked put out.

I smiled widely. “Well that would be foolish. Why would you want to take my weapons?”

The guard motioned towards me with his spear. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a traitor, no way we’re letting you up there armed. You could kill someone.”

Marryn spluttered with rage behind me, but I felt a familiar coldness take over. My smile became sharper.

I pulled out a knife with each hand. “Worried about these?” Both guards tensed up, ready to attack. I chuckled. “You shouldn’t be.”

I tossed both knives into the air and in the brief millisecond they glanced up to follow the movement I jumped forward. I knocked them both on their backs, and took their weapons, a spear in each hand, the points at throats on either side.

“Your mistake is assuming I need my own weapon to kill someone, or a weapon at all for that matter.” My voice is a whisper. I don’t threaten them further. I don’t need to. They know enough of my history to take it seriously.

The more vocal of the two guards stared daggers at me, his gaze full of hatred. “Go to hell.”

I laughed, tossing the weapons behind me. “Is that any way to talk to your princess?” I started for the portal, Alston and Marryn close behind me.

He spat on the ground by my feet. “Bastard freak like you will never be royal…”

He ended on a groan as Marryn kicked him in the crotch.

“Just keep insulting my friend, buddy. Plenty more where that came from.”

I grinned at her. “Thanks.”

She shrugged, “What are friends for?”

We took the portal up, and headed out to the main throne room. No other guards tried to stop us; word must have gotten around.

“Before we talk to the fairy king and queen, which judging by how things have gone so far is SURE to be a pleasant encounter, why don’t you catch me up really quick on that whole “princess” comment.” Marryn is asking nicely, but I’m not fooled. When she wants to know something, heaven help whoever is standing in her way. I sighed loudly, but figured it would come out anyways. Especially considering who we were about to go see.

“It’s…half true, I guess.” I ran my hand through my hair uncomfortably, “Look, my mom… she was just a normal human, ran into a handsome guy and didn’t notice she had fallen into a fairy ring. Young people, full moon… you get the picture.”

Marryn shrugged, “So what’s the problem. His family didn’t like your mom?”

Alston laughed, I sent him a dirty look. “That’s putting it mildly. You see… he was engaged at the time, to the current queen.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. He married her about a month after his little human ‘adventure’”

I glanced around, this wasn’t something I typically talked about. “They both got pregnant, I was born first, about 6 months before Ofrin. Makes for an uncomfortable situation.”

Marryn was silent for a few moments, processing the new information. “You never told me what happened to your mom.” It was a quiet statement, not a question. I could ignore it if I wanted. But she was my friend, and maybe it was better not to pretend.

“She was trapped here. She ate food in the fairy realm, and being full mortal she couldn’t go back, not without losing 100 years of life as payment.” I blinked rapidly, my eyes were moist. “She tried to be happy here. She had friends, a house… me. And for a while that was enough.”

There was an uncomfortable pause. Marryn didn’t seem willing to push further. I took a deep breath. “Until it wasn’t enough. She got it in her head that she would be fine. Snuck out in the middle of the night and returned to the human realm. She paid the price, and there was nothing I could do.”

Alston put a sympathetic hand out, but I avoided it. “You were five, El, it’s not your fault.”

I cleared my throat. “Well, there’s the whole sordid tale. Let’s move on.” I pointed at the grand door in front of us. “We have a king and queen to annoy.” With that I pushed open the doors and entered the throne room.

The hall was as grand as I remembered, with representatives from every supernatural species imaginable there in their finest clothes. Every visible inch of the room: wall, ceiling, the furniture, were covered in gold. I wanted to shudder in disgust, this room always gave me headaches, but I held back. I was under the watchful eye of the court and every movement had meaning.

Years of training in court etiquette took over, and with a long confident gait I moved in front of the thrones. The king and queen sat calmly on their respective seats, watching my approach with intent, silver eyes. They looked like a drawing from a fantasy book, with flowing white hair, decorated with flowers, delicate features and intricate royal red robes. They looked utterly in control, and for a moment, I felt sixteen again: scared, alone, betrayed. I shook it off. I had survived the worst the court could dish up. They should be scared, not me.

Alston bowed as low as he could without falling over. Appropriate for a half blood, showing the most respect possible to the king and queen. It was the bow expected of me. It’s what I would have done six years ago.

Screw that.

I bowed, but it was a slight bob of head, I kept my gaze locked on theirs the entire time. Gasps filled the room at my breach of protocol. It was a gesture made to equals. I had sent a very clear message.

I’m not under your control anymore.

“You dare.” The queen’s words were quiet, but clearly audible around the room. I should have known she would be the one to take the most offense at my little display. The king simply watched me with narrowed eyes, content to see how this would play out.

“You will kneel before the throne.” Her voice carried magical weight with it, it made me want to obey. I struggled silently for a brief few moments.

“Who’s the angry hag?” Marryn stepped forward, an eyebrow raised, ignoring the stir she caused with her words. I laugh out loud, the weight of the Queen’s magical command lifted.

If they thought I was offensive, they were nowhere near ready to meet my friends.

Before an open fight could break out, Alston stood out of his bow, although he kept his gaze respectfully low.

“Your Majesties, we have received the message of our fallen brother, the morning star’s return. We are here to promise our aid.”

The queen’s gaze cleared of its anger. “Well spoken, gnome.” She cleared her throat delicately, looking out at the whole court. “The Morning Star will return in three days, on the night of the full moon. This has been predicted by the spirits. An army of darkness will accompany him, one such as we have never faced before. We will need each and every one of you.”

“That’s all well and good, but why did you call for my return?”

My question returns her focus to me.

“We need you to retrieve the mirror sword.”

If there had been a muted grumbling at her earlier words, it quickly changed to actual yelling and fighting at this last command.

Marryn was shaking my arm trying to yell in my ear. “What’s the mirror sword?”

I could barely hear her, I saw Alston’s gaze and he looked as terrified as me.

“He can’t go alone!” I am sixteen, at the height of my training. Confident, deadly, everything they wanted me to be.

“I’ll be fine, sis.” Ofrin smiles at my concern, pushing his hair out of his eyes. I had dedicated my life to protecting him, my younger half brother. I look him over with a worried gaze. He was too thin, too much time spent in the library reading, no time on the training grounds. He knew everything, delighted in discussing obscure facts and trivia, but he could barely hold a sword, much less defend himself.

I thought it wouldn’t matter, I was good enough with a blade for both of us.

Until the King and Queen ordered him on a quest. “Find the mirror sword, in the fountain of truth.” The queen is smiling, she always smiled when speaking to her son. “Return with it, and you will have proven your worth as next in line for the throne.” I thought nothing of it, until the order came that he was to go with only Alston for company. I scream and cry and threaten, but the order stays. In the end it took Olfrin’s smile to calm me.

“Don’t worry so much. I’ll be fine. Al and I will go get this silly sword, and we’ll be back in time for the full moon. We’ll go out, have fun, I’ll even buy you some of that candy you love so much.”

I hold his hand tightly, he and Alston are all the family I have left. “Promise me you’ll be safe.”

He laughs. “I promise.”

 The next time I see him, he is trying to drive a knife through my heart.

Marryn shook my arm; it brought me back to the present. I nodded my head at her, letting her know I was ok. She looked unimpressed but released me. I looked at the queen.

“I’ll go retrieve the sword. I should have gone the first time anyways.”

She gasped. “You dare question the decision of your queen.”

My smile was tired. “I will get the sword, and I will put down your rabid dog of a son. Then I will go back to my world and you will never see me again. I am what you made me, I’ll kill for you once more. Is there anything else you wished to discuss?”

She was silent.

I winked at my father, to my surprise he grinned back. “See you later, Dad.”

I marched out as the hall was deathly silent.

“Well that was fun.” Marryn grumbled as we left the city behind us. “I’m starting to see why you never talked about your family.”

“Yeah, I like yours a lot better.”

We stopped for a moment, staring up at the mountain ahead of us.

“We have to climb THAT?” at my affirmative nod she groaned with disgust. “Remind me why I invited myself along on this little adventure? How do we even find the mirror sword anyways?”

Alston sighed. “I still remember how to get there.”

I looked over at him. “What happened when you two went up there last time?”

His face was cold. “He tried to kill me.”

I should have known. “Join the club.”

Marryn jumped in. “This place sounds absolutely delightful! Shall we?”

With that, we started our journey to retrieve the mirror sword. To kill my half brother and stop his army of darkness.

This was definitely not how I thought my week was going to go.