Stories of the Never-Never

The Meeting of the Courts

In no particular order, here's the next one.

The Unseelie Court stood in attendance as Queen Mab and her three sons, Sage, Rowan, and Ash emerged from behind the throne and took their respective places at the head of the room. Mab's cold blue eyes scoured the room, causing many a fey to shudder under her gaze, the cold of Winter itself seeming to emit from her eyes as the made their way around the room. Everyone was silent, waiting for the signal from Mab to even sit down, let alone speak. With a wave of her hand, and a sigh, Mab turned and sat on her throne and her subjects sat, all except for Rowan, who was the Queen's bodyguard as well as her favoured son.

Without waiting for anyone to fully sit, Mab began to speak. "Now, as you all know, biannual meeting of the Courts is coming to the Winter Palace for the first time in a millennia, and so we have the responsibility of ensuring that our guests are well accounted for, and that those Summer fools don't ruin everything with their endless pranks. As this is such a unique meeting of the Courts, what with the newfound Iron Court as well as the Dark Court deciding to make attendance for the first time in years, we all have to be on our 'best behaviour'." She spoke mockingly, earning jeers and returning mocking calls from her subjects, and smiled sarcastically. "Yes, those were Oberon's specific words, and hell be it if any of the Unseelie disobey the mighty Oberon's wishes."

Prince Ash put one hand on his mother's left arm, and spoke quietly in her ear. Smirking as he drew back, Mab laughed at what he had said, earning a few strange looks from the Unseelie fey, though quickly masked. "Oh, yes, and as my son has reminded me, the half-breed Summer brat will be coming with her father, so do your best to disrupt her. She knows nothing of Court life, so make sure she learns not to cross the Unseelie, ever." The jeers and mocking calls grew louder, and the Royal Unseelie grew amused watching. "They know nothing of what she is, do they?" Sage whispered and Ash chuckled.

"Nope. And I have no intention of mentioning that either. The more fun for us, making the Summer brat fall for our ways. Oh, this is going to be the best meeting we've been forced to come to in years, brother." Ash replied harshly, grinning like an evil cat. "This time, I'm going to kill two birds with one stone; lure the half-breed into falling for me, and getting the advantage over that blasted Puck for once." Now grinning as evilly as Ash, Sage patted his back and whispered good luck in his ear before waving his hand over the Unseelie fey, causing them to fall into an abrupt silence.

Mab began to speak once more, not having noticing her son's earlier discussion, instead watching her Court's revelry at the thought of finally getting a hand over the Seelie Court. Mab's cloak of icy blue billows around her as she stands, her voice echoing through the chamber. "Do me proud, my servants. Do the Winter Court proud, and wreck as much havoc as possible on the other Courts, while keeping within the boundaries of the treaty with Summer. The Dark Court is on our side, and despises Seelie as much as you do. Use this to your advantage. And remember; get that blasted half-breed brat away from my Court!" With a wave, she stormed off out of the room in typical Mab fashion, leaving her sons to trail behind her, and the watching fey to leave at their own time.

Sage and Rowan made their way towards the Royal courtyard which overlooked the fjord which led into the Winter Court's city of Tir Na N'Og. "He's going to fail, brother." Sage stated as they watched the first ship of the Summer fleet come round the bend into sight of the city.

"I know. But maybe that's best. He's too young to know how to break a heart, even if it is a half-breed's. He'll fail, and then fall in love with her like he isn't supposed to, and then we'll have to deal with the mess he leaves behind him. Like usual, he just doesn't have the heart of a Winter Fey, and he's going to create chaos when Summer and Winter find out that the forbidden love has happened." Rowan continued, and leaned out over the balcony at the edge of the courtyard, sending icy flurries down over the city, and over the fjord to mess with the Summer fleet.

As the two older sons of Mab watched the arrival of the Summer fleet from the Royal courtyard, the youngest son watched instead from the tallest tower on the palace, getting a perfect view of the whole city stretched below him, and the fleet of Summer and now Dark Court ships as they made their way cautiously through the frozen fjord towards Tir Na N'Og. He wasn't aware of his brother's discussion, but he was aware of something else, much closer to home, which he had tried to hide for so long, but was now in danger of losing.

"Hello again Puck..."

P!@