Ariel Wylde
It is nearing evening by the time he gets back from the long journey that took him to Elder Mountain. To say he was tired would be an understatement, but he had things to get done before he fell into his bed. First was making it through the outer lying villages without snapping at anyone due to his fatigue. It was much easier said than done. The Fae wanted to talk to him, to ask him if he saw any wounded soldiers on the way there or back. If any of them where from this Court. They wanted to know if he was called so he could end the war, if he was going to be the next Elder Fae. Each question was asked over and over again and yet somehow the young Fae managed to not lose his polite smile and tone, though the corners of his lips tightened with each word he spoke. It was a miracle he didn’t just tell them to shut up. It was a miracle he didn’t use his Royal authority to make them disappear.
After making his way through the first set of villages, the villages ravaged by the war, the ones who were closest to the battlefront. They were the poorest of the poor, and as much sympathy as Ariel felt for them, a lot of them were criminals, convicted of crimes from thievery from the Royal Court to attempted assassination of the Queen. They were farthest from the Royal Court clouds, as he called them. He figured they had a name, but he honestly didn’t care and never would. As he walked away from the first set of villages, the next being about 4 miles away, a gentle breeze swept across his land, ruffling his hair and tugging his wings a bit forward, causing him to stumble. A light sigh escaped his lips, flapping his wings a few times before pressing them flat against his back. He didn’t like flying, that much was known. He liked the feel of the ground beneath his feet, the hard crunch of the ground as he pressed down onto it. Sometimes, he even took off his twig designed shoes and walked barefoot across the harsh, unforgiving ground. And honestly, he didn’t mind having things get stuck in them. Most Fae didn’t have shoes, and those who did were extremely lucky to keep them. Only the Royal Court seemed to be blessed with the gift of foot ware and Ariel did his best to never wear shoes whenever he could.
At the next village he was greeted with a few excited murmurs from the children and offers of food and rest by the adults. He politely declined all of them, staying a while to chat with some of the children and tell them made up stories of his journey and how he had to fight off the Magicusers in order to make it to the Elder Mountain. With their input, it turned into an all-out battle with him on one side, and all their enemies on the other. He battled them all, defeating them all single handedly.
“Until a really really tall Dragonkin came and rescued you from being frozen by a water Nymph!” one child shouted, no older than eight. The rest of the kids started to add more to the story and soon Ariel found himself looking up into the night sky, the stars shining brightly in the sky. Ariel let a small grimace grace his lips for a few seconds. There was no way he was going to walk home in the dark. It meant that he had to fly home at this time of night.
“Mister Ariel, sir?” a small timid voice hushed all the voices of the louder children and they turned to look at a small girl Fae, her jet black hair and yellow green eyes staring up at him, “My mommy told me to give this to you since its far from your home. She said you might be hungry.” She thrust a little basket in front of him and he accepted it gratefully, giving her a pat on the head with a bright smile.
Standing up, he stretched out his back from crouching for so long and gave the group of children, a wave, “My apologies, but I must bid the lot of you farewell. It is getting late like this little lady said, and I have to get home. Maybe in a few days I’ll come back down here and we can have another story time, alright?” He left to the sound of laughing parents and cheering children.
“You’re late.” He was pulled into a corner that went unseen by most and a light kiss was pressed to his lips. Happy that Sindri was the first person he saw when he arrived home, he stood on his toes to kiss him again before thrusting the now empty basket into his hands.
“I can talk later. Give that to chef and tell her I want pastries and breads in there by the morning.” Turning on his heel with an annoyed sigh, Ariel started down the hall, “I must go tell mother and father I have arrived home, or I fear they will worry about my wellbeing.” Of course it was a joke, as his parents rarely cared about anything he did unless it benefitted them. He was sure that him being dead would help them with their power hungry schemes, but killing someone outright wasn’t the Unseelie way of doing things. Waltzing through the dining room doors, he loudly announced his presence to his parents and lazily sat in the chair across from his father.
“What did they want.” Ah, not even a hello. How sad. “Why would they call someone like you to the Elder Mountain? Are they accepting deformed Unseelie Fae’s nowadays?”
Ariel was used to this from his father. To the rest of the Fae, it seemed like he loved his son’s unique look, it gave him a title other than the Army Tactic Commander. But away from the public view, he was a nasty, evil man. In a way he respected him, his work ethic in a sense, but the man himself was too corrupted. His mother was no better but he tried to be nice to her most times.
“No father. They want to send me on a mission.” He paused for a second and assessed the looks on his parents faces, “They want to see if there is a weapon powerful enough to stop this war. I was picked, along with a Dragonkin , a male Seelie Fae, and a Naga.” He purposefully left out the others in case his father decieded to rope him into one of his world domination plots about killing the other races and taking the glory for himself. Turning to his mother, he gave a kind yet tight smile toward her, “Mother, I will be leaving in a fortnight. I just wanted to inform you both.” He stood from the chair and gave a slight incline of his head to his parents before walking out of the grand room in the same dramatic fashion he did when he entered.
Collasping on his bed, he groaned into the pillow, though it morphed into a laugh when Sindri sat on top of him. After a few minutes of trying to get him off of his body, Ariel found himself draped across Sin’s lap, fingers combing gentle through his hair. It was relaxing, something he needed after the tense moments with his parents. He truly didn’t like them. Respect, yes. Love, no.
“So are you going to talk, or am I going to have to sit on you again, Ariel?” His voice was playful and soft, and Ariel could feel the vibration of his chest as he talked. Humming in annoyance he opened his eyes and stared into the deep green that was Sindri’s.
“I’m going to find the Elder’s Book. The Book.” He gave an excited smile at the other’s shocked expression, “It won’t just be me. They took one from every race. They want us to work together and find the Book, and bring peace to the land again. We are going to end the war, Sin. We are going to be heroes!” the excited gleam in his eyes seemed to get brighter as he spoke and soon he was no longer in the older Fae’s lap, but clasping his hands in his own, a bright smile on his face. A soft laughter snapped him out of his musings and realizing what he was doing, Ariel blushed a deep crimson, “Stop laughing at me, I hate you.”
The only response he got was a deep kiss and more laughter.
“Are you ready?”
“No. I want you to come with me. Oh, yes, hello nice to see you too Madame. Have a good day.”
“You know that’s not possible, Ariel just go already. It will be dark soon and you will be late.”
The young Fae looked into the fading light, “I’ll be fine. The time to meet is not until midnight. ‘When the moon is high and the forest animals are quiet, you are to meet in the center of the land. There you will find an old oak tree. That is your meeting place’ or some weird stuff like that.” He smiled kindly at a group of children and quickly turned on his heel to face Sindri. Can I go change? Please. I would like these last hours to be spent without me being recognized and stared at every step I take.”
A nod of the head was all he needed before he rushed off behind the nearest set of buildings, ripping off the attire that marked him as a Royal. Donning old rags that Sindri and gone out and gotten for him, Ariel found a pile of soot and rubbed it into his hair, darkening the color into a nice blackish gray. His eyes still stood out, but it wasn’t necessary to hide them. Skipping back out he met back up with Sindri, who was busy looking through a few pots and pans in a local shop. Pressing a kiss to his cheek didn’t even get a glance from the shopkeeper.
The next hours were spent with the two of them doing things couples normally do in the Unseelie land. Which isn’t much. They found a sort of inn, who let them stay there for only a few silver coins, and the two of them giggled in the back room, talking about anything that came to their minds and sneaking in kisses more often than not. A heavy blush was coloring his cheeks when their playfulness got a little hotter, but being his stubborn self, he went with the flow of things, letting Sindri take control of his body. They had done this many times before, yet it seemed that since it could be the last time, Sindri took care of what he wanted to do to his body, drawing out the shock waves as long as he possibly could. They weren’t too loud, they didn’t need to get kicked out of the inn just as things were getting good, nor did they want to see the shopkeeper see them in such a way. At the end they whispered sweet nothings into each other’s ears until Sindri fell asleep, curling Ariel into his chest. Sooner than he wanted, the clock chimed at the ten, and he knew it was time to leave. Smiling, he shoved Sindri away from him and tossed a wave over his shoulder as he left. The two of them knew that if anything was said, Ariel wouldn’t leave.
He reached the oak just a little before midnight. All he carried with him were the clothes on his back, a canteen made of Fae’s wings, and a small backpack made from the scales of the water nymphs. Seeing that no one else was there, or they were hiding in wait, he plopped down against the tree, leaned his head back, and waited. Waited for their journey to begin.