Star-Crossed
This piece is whimsical, adorning a curio cabinet in the artist’s quarters.
Stars of all shapes and sizes have been carved into the cabinet doors, creating a dizzying complexity.
Some stars contain others, a nesting pattern that required a steady hand and infinite patience.
Some of the stars overlap, creating triangles within the arms of an intruding star.
The line carvings are delicate on some stars, while others are deeply grooved, irregular.
Impassioned, perhaps. Viewers have wondered whether the artist meant for this to be a tribute to the mortal realm or a quiet monument to marvels unavailable to fae eyes.
Stars are an unusual choice, not normally represented in this culture.
A few critics have called this piece maudlin and said that it speaks too directly to the symbol of lost love.
The artist has not addressed any of the questions to date but has stated that this work represents someone in particular.
Kerboros
While Thea dreams, I hold happiness in my arms.
I have never experienced the afterglow that follows sharing myself, body and soul, with my other half.
She rendered me mad with ecstasy more than once, and I would live for her, if I could choose my course.
My entire being thrums with the joy of being chosen by someone who spreads brightness wherever she goes.
Once she awakens, this moment will pass.
We will be forced to respond to the needs of others and play the roles we’ve been assigned.
When my cousin arrives for the quorum, he may demand my execution, as my survival depends on following his commands and succeeding at the tasks assigned to me.
For the first time, my efforts have resulted in abject failure—and yet I have never known such contentment.
I regret nothing, no matter what follows this magical night.
Ever so lightly, I stroke her hair, enjoying the wildness of her curls. Her skin is soft and warm, and I want to kiss every inch of it again. Left to my own devices, I’d let the courts burn and spend the rest of my allotted time between her legs, licking her until she screams.
My breath hitches with the images that conjures, and with effort, I control myself. She’s tired and needs the rest. Adding a glimmer of magic, I trace a pattern on her bare back, etching symbols that I hope she’ll feel when she rouses later.
Despite my best efforts, sleep eventually claims me. When I awaken, Thea is gone. This solitary stirring strikes me like a blow, yet I didn’t expect her to whisper words of love or even teasing enticements as she did the evening before. As I wash and dress, I tell myself this is enough.
The memory will sustain me.
As I step out into the hallway, I surprise Olive with her hand raised to knock. “I thought this was Thea’s room.”
“It is,” I say. I don’t elaborate on our relationship or why I’m staying with her. Whatever Thea chooses to share with Olive, it should be up to her.
“Do you think I could come in?”
I raise my brow. “To wait for her? I do not know when she’ll return.”
“No. If I didn’t find her, I was planning to look for you next anyway. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
In answer, I retrace my steps into the suite, inviting her in with a gesture. “Please make yourself comfortable. There are no refreshments, I’m afraid.”
We licked the dishes clean last night before curling up together in bed. The enterprising staff removed the trays before I emerged today.
Olive gazes around the suite with a half smile. “I see they take their early Ottoman Empire seriously in the Autumn Court.”
“I suspect that’s some human reference?”
“It is. But I won’t bore you with a history lesson.
And this is a gorgeous place, don’t get me wrong.
It’s just…intense. Anyway.” She sits at the table, propping her chin on her hand.
“I hope I’m not overstepping, but it’s obvious that you’re close to Thea.
So I was wondering if you’d tell me about her childhood.
From what I’ve gathered, Thea has a strained relationship with my other sister’s biological parents. ”
“Rain and Fen,” I supply. “That’s true. They detected the deception swiftly, but they didn’t know where Thea came from, so they couldn’t…” I hesitate.
“Return her?” Olive guesses.
“Precisely. They focused on finding their real offspring. I don’t believe they gave Thea much thought at all.”
“She must have been so hurt and confused,” she whispers.
“Yes.” I could add that she carries deep wounds, but some things, she ought to confide herself. I will confirm facts but not speculate about her emotional state.
“And she was raised by a hobgoblin named Mudge? Her foster father.”
“Don’t refer to him that way in front of her. He’s her dad,” I correct.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, that was clumsy. ‘Real family’ are those who love you, no matter what,” Olive says.
“Their relationship is precious.”
“I’m glad to hear it. If you’ve known her for a long time, can you share any stories?”
“What kind?”
“Anything about what she was like growing up. I missed so much.” Olive sounds wistful, genuinely regretful that she’ll never get that time back.
And that’s what prompts me to share. Though I wasn’t close to Thea for her whole life, I’ve been observing her and smiling at her antics for some time.
I talk about pranks she played in the castle, swarms of lizards, the kindness she’s always shown, and her most recent stunt, freeing the pookas from unwilling participation in royal pageantry.
“I’m glad she wasn’t lonely,” Olive says, when I pause for breath.
“I didn’t say that, necessarily. But she’s the sort of person who seeks happiness and scatters it like flower petals for others to find.”
That puts a brilliant smile on Olive’s face, and the resemblance to Thea is stunning, though Olive is the more muted of the two. “I’m glad she has you.”
“It is the other way around.” I stumble a little over the words.
She rises then. “I won’t keep you. I’m off to pester Taragon for some childhood stories too. I have so much to learn. But I was wondering…”
“Yes?”
“I’m almost out of protein bars. I rationed them in the woods, and I did have some of the porridge and stew that Thea made.
What will happen to me if I eat too much fae food?
I’m not precisely human, but I am mortal.
Legends suggest that taking even one bite is too much, but I’m not ready to leave. I just met Thea.”
“It’s a spectrum. One bite won’t trap you forever.
” I pause, trying to think of an example that will make sense to a mortal with a scientific bent.
“In some human texts I’ve read, there is a thing called radiation.
People who have been exposed to it experience symptoms and then, eventually, physiological changes. Is that correct?”
“More or less. Is there radiation here?”
“In the sense that there’s a higher concentration of magic.
Magic is possible in the mortal realm, but the spells are weaker, and the effects are less lasting.
Here, magic suffuses everything, including our food.
In Thea’s case, she’s lived here her entire life, and her body has adapted to this environment.
The mortal realm doesn’t have enough mana to sustain her. ”
“I think I understand. So I can eat fae food for now, but if I linger for a long time, there might come a tipping point where I’d have absorbed so much fae magic that I wouldn’t be able return either.”
“Precisely. But for your purposes, that would require decades of meals in mortal timekeeping.”
“An excellent explanation. I’ve jumped into the deep end without my usual planning, and I want to be useful or, at the very least, not to cause complications.”
“A worthy aspiration,” I say, smiling.
I like Thea’s sister. As Thea does, Olive cares with her whole heart.
In rare sympathy for another soul, at least one who isn’t Thea, I see Olive out.
She waves as she heads down the hallway, presumably to find Taragon.
I haven’t seen any of the others since we separated, and I’m surprised to find that I feel concerned, particularly about Govannon.
I coaxed him out of that blasted tree twice over, so I search for him to ensure that he’s well.
After asking four castle staff members, I find the gnome ensconced in a small reading room.
The copper-and-gold theme is understated here, mainly repeated in the delicately patterned rug.
Govannon glances up as I enter; he has metallic pieces arrayed on the table in front of him.
I’m pleased to find him clean, hair and beard tidily trimmed, and wearing a dapper new suit.
“You look well,” I observe.
“I’m trying to decide if I should try to reach the Summer market on my own. With the patrols and the conflict…” He doesn’t look eager for another adventure.
I don’t blame him; he must be wild with missing Ragh, however, and I imagine he’s frightened of getting lost again. Perhaps those are problems I can solve.
“I could send a message, advising Ragh that he’s needed urgently as a character witness in the quorum proceedings. If I said Thea needs him to speak on her behalf, I think he’d come.”
Govannon nods at once. “That’s brilliant. While he might seem gruff, he has the kindest heart. Once he decides you’re one of his, he never wavers.”
In the desk against the far wall, I locate stationery and writing implements.
I settle in, crafting a message that should draw a certain brownie out of the courtyard he’s guarded all this time, waiting for his true love to return.
The prospect of reuniting two star-crossed lovers fills me with delight, and I hope with all my heart that I live long enough to see this plan come to fruition.
“There, that should do it. I’ll dispatch the message with one of Zeph’s crows right away. You’ll see Ragh presently, my friend.”
Though my heart may soon be broken, I’ll take this happy ending in trade.