#other faes are jealous of Thena all the time

[softquietsteadylove]

Could you try and do one for the Maleficent AU where Maleficent herself shows up somehow. Maybe Gilgamesh is like hello there beautiful and Thena gets all jealous and protective and then they have a fluffy comfort at the end.

Stunning.

She was elder than Thena, not that one could tell a fae's age based upon appearance. But something about her...she was a faerie of old magic. Black horns coiled from her head, her wings were black in some light and brown in some. They were huge, long and silken, practically dragging on the ground behind her.

Her lips were red like a fresh pomegranate.

"Thank you for escorting me, captain," she thanked in a silken voice. She smiled, the colour of her lips making it clear when they tugged upward gently.

Gilgamesh blushed.

Thena pursed her lips to herself, observing from a respectful distance.

The fae was from the Moors, word had it. She belonged to another mothernest entirely, one more inland and to the north. She had a great control of magic that most fae didn't even possess anymore, much less know or teach. But her relationship with the humans was good, and thus she was acting as an ambassador of sorts.

"I will bring word back to the queen and to my own flock. I'm sure the mothernest will welcome any of yours who would like to see our ways."

"I'm sure some of us will take you up on your offer."

Thena tilted her head, trying to get a look at Gil's face as he said it, but his back was facing her. She didn't like how eager he sounded.

"You have done good work to associate with the humans here, it is admirable," she congratulated him, her eyes still catlike and intimidating.

A bird - a crow, or perhaps a raven - cawed on the head of her staff.

Thena tried to at least get a good look at the fae's familiar, but its head tilted too often.

"It hasn't been easy at all turns," Gil admitted freely. "But I think we're making real strides. Some of us here have good history with humans, so we're trying more, I guess."

Thena smiled; he was mentioning her, in not so many words.

"I value a fae who can see past a human's nature," the woman said with a hint of a laugh in her voice. "I have a...complicated history with them, myself."

Gil laughed. "I gotta admit, I wasn't all that fond of 'em. But I guess they're growing on me."

Thanks to her, Thena mused as she waited and waited and Gilgamesh to conclude his conversation. He usually wasn't one for idle chatter with his charges.

"They have 'grown on me' as well."

The fae had an interesting speech pattern, like she wasn't used to conversing with her own--or conversing in general, perhaps.

"You are welcome in the Moors as well, of course."

Thena's wings bristled, her feathers raising in their follicles. Just what kind of invitation was that? An invitation to the mothernest was one thing, but was this fae proposing Gilgamesh come and take a tour of her home?!

The bird cawed again (definitely a raven).

The woman's hand stroked its feathered head, and Thena saw that she even had long claws on the end of graceful fingers. Perhaps it was a trait of northern forest fae. They had trees to scale to make their nests.

Thena pursed her lips, raising her wings into proper posture as she decided that she had waited enough. "Excuse my intrusion."

"Thena?" Gil said aloud, surprised by her interruption.

"Of course," the female observed her with those same predatory eyes.

Thena did her best to keep her wings still behind her as she stopped behind Gil's shoulder. "I was rather fond of the humans who inhabited the Isles a number of decades ago. I understand you have a good rapport with the human kingdom close to your mothernest in the north."

She tilted her head, her bird mirroring the action. "Indeed, the queen of the coastal kingdom and I are quite close."

She said it like there was more to it than that. Thena tilted her head in return, "Gilgamesh does well with the humans. They're fond of him."

She smiled, "I'm sure they are."

Thena's feathers raised again, although she did her best not to seem too ruffled by the technically innocuous statement.

"Thena's the one who's built the best relationship with them," Gil shifted, even putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's thanks to her that we've made any progress."

Thena tried to look at Gil in thanks for his praise, but she had far too much trouble taking her eyes off the woman facing them. She seemed amused; was what Gil said humorous?

"Thank you for your hospitality," she smiled at Gilgamesh again. Then, she turned to Thena, "I hope we will cross paths again. You should meet the humans of Ulstead."

Thena nodded, not entirely sure what to make of the exchange.

"Until then," she nodded, her ruby lips upturning again. Her wings outstretched, and her familiar took to the sky ahead of her, "guard, Thena."

Thena and Gil nodded to the woman as she launched herself into the sky. Her wings were truly strong, letting her climb at an incredible rate. Beautiful too.

"She was nice."

Thena glanced over at him, with his hands on his hips and a dumb grin on his face. She sighed, letting her fangs breathe.

"I figured you'd like her."

Well, since he seemed to like her so much. "Hm."

"You should see the Moors, I bet you'd like them, based on how she described them."

"Would I?" Thena asked him, irked that he was suggesting so openly that she go visit this...stranger. "She told you about them at length, did she?"

"Well sure, she asked about the mothernest here, what the forests are like," he shrugged as they started walking back in the direction of the cliffs. "The Moors sound interesting--magical, she said."

"Did she?"

That came out a little too sharp. Thena felt it as soon as it was off her tongue, and obviously Gilgamesh received its sharpness. She avoided his eyes as he looked at her. "You okay?"

"Of course," she muttered down at the sandals on her feet. "I'm glad you enjoyed your time with her."

That came out even sharper, somehow. Gil tilted his head but Thena even moved somewhat away from him as they walked.

"Hey," he said more gently, pulling her back by the hand, "wait, just look at me."

She didn't want to. She felt flustered by how strongly she had reacted to a strange fae smiling at him. Well, it wasn't just that, it was how he had smiled at her, too. Thena squirmed (as did her wings).

"Thena," he prompted, "did she...bother you?"

She frowned, feeling heat creep up her neck. "You seemed rather impressed with her."

Gil stepped closer to her, his smile turning more gentle. This was more like the Gilgamesh she knew and...knew. "She was nice. She knows a lot about humans. And she's flying back to be with her family."

Thena peeked at him.

"I told her all about you," he said with a grin. "Told her about how you came up from the southern Isles and I've been enchanted by you ever since."

She rolled her eyes. He would not charm him way out of trouble this time.

He leaned closer, though, moving his hands to her cheeks to make her meet his eyes. "Don't believe me?"

Thena's eyes fluttered, his breath hitting her cheeks. "You seemed rather enchanted by her, as well."

He chuckled before leaning in, touching their lips together gently. "Did I?"

He damn well did. Thena kissed him again, rising up on her toes.

"How could I be?" he smiled, moving his lips to her cheek as he slid his hand up her back and between her wings. "When I've already found the most beautiful fae in all the realms."

Thena inhaled as her nose hit the robes over his chest. He smelled of sea air and of pine forests. She nuzzled into him, although she felt something in the folds of his tunic.

He had her feather slipped into his robes, over his heart.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked as she wrapped her arms around him as well. He massaged between her wings with one hand and held her waist with the other. Their heads hovered close, their horns even knocked together slightly in their proximity.

"Just," she offered minimally. She still wasn't happy with how taken he seemed with the beautiful fae, no matter how little she blamed him for it.

"What if we stop by the human farms on our way home, ask for some apples?" he suggested as he grasped her hand in his.

"Hm," Thena sighed, parting with him somewhat reluctantly. Her wings fluffed behind her. "I suppose that would be agreeable."

He could clearly tell her ire wasn't nearly what she made it seem to be. But he played along, bowing to her as he would when they had first met and were coming to know one another.

"Will you carry them home for me?" she asked needlessly. Of course he would, but she was savouring the idea of a feeling like a fae with a perspective mate wrapped around her finger.

"Anything for you," Gilgamesh promised her, bending his head to kiss her shoulder as she passed him to take off first.