"Do you know where king Harlequin is?"
This was the fourth person to ask me now, He must be caught up with some diplomat "No I'm sorry. He's probably just mingling with someone."
It was his idea to have this party to celebrate the end of the holy war but as soon as the music started he disappeared. I looked around the crowded field and saw the happy faces of fairies, giants, humans and other creatures dancing along to the country style music. The stage was placed in the center of the field and the band played a lilting tune that could convince even the stillest of people to dance. Deciding not to look for king any longer I descried the band listening to the banjo, bass and fiddle play an optimistic tune. Roving closer I noticed the fiddler moving across the stage as he himself danced, his leg jumped up and down as he bobbed his head in time to the music and weaved through the other musicians. The orange hair caught my eye forcing me to notice that it was in fact my king playing the fiddle. He laughed and yawped whilst sweating profusely from dancing on the stage; every now and then he would hop then stay in the air for too long as he levitated momentarily. A laugh bubbled out of me in surprise, he heard this somehow, his attention turning to me. He flashed his white teeth at my expression before silently mouthing dance my queen.
A light blush stained my cheeks but following his command I began swaying in time to the music. After some time I couldn't stop myself and began to add more movement, before I knew it I was going around with the rest of the group. The smell of sweat and crushed grass overwhelmed my senses as I spun through the crowd letting the music take control of me. Slowing down to look back at king I found him dancing and spinning through the crowd of people towards me still playing his fiddle. Stopping completely I watched his fluid movements as he almost floated to me until he arrived at last. Bringing his arm down he stopped playing, moving the bow to be held in the same hand that was holding the fiddle. He reached his hand out towards me and in a quiet voice only I could hear whispered "let's go somewhere else."
I placed my hand in his allowing his long fingers to wrap around mine. He turned and pulled me through the crowd bodies bouncing around us as they tried to avoid king's large wings. We broke free of group and ran towards the forest at the edge of the clearing and kept running even when we made it past the tree line. We kept running until the music faded and our lungs were burning. We slowed to a walk and swung our still joined hands as we both caught our breath. "Where are we going?"
"A place just for us. A place where we aren't fairy king and giant queen, just us."
He still held onto the fiddle that he had been playing earlier. Giants didn't really have instruments but I had seen humans play these before. I let go of his hand and reached out for it in silent question, he handed it to me base first. Through closer examination I found it to be different then the others I had seen. It was the same green as a freshly barked sapling yet the wood was worn and littered with nicks and scratches from years of use. King stepped towards me with a soft look in his eyes "After the sins split up and I went back to the forest to find it destroyed I found one sapling. It was small and feeble but it had survived, I spent the next couple years caring for it... it was the last thing I had. You had left and my home was in ashes. This was the last thing I could do that made me feel like I was doing something useful. One day I came back to find that some humans from the nearby village was cutting it down, I tried to stop them but it was too late."
I set down the fiddle and grabbed the bow from king placing it with the instrument. He held his hands out as I traced the lines in his palm listening to his story. "Using the sapling I made this. And for the rest of the time I was alone every time I missed you I played. When I was blessed with happy memories of you I played upbeat songs, and when I thought of memories where I had hurt you in some sort of way I played sad ones. And when I wanted to just remember you I played your song."
He was silent after that watching me play with his strong hands, examining his calluses earned form playing this instrument and other activities. I stopped to pick up the violin with it's bow and handed it to my king "I want to hear my song."
His beautiful orange eyes widened at my request but then his head nodded as he took it up placing it delicately on his shoulder resting his chin on the edge. "I've never let anyone else hear this."
His arm came up and with great expertise he moved the bow on the four strings and began playing. The forest went quiet as he played a bittersweet melody, I studied his deft fingers as they almost danced across fingerboard. He began walking backwards into the forest as I followed him in a trance. The music was constantly changing and so hypnotic as the scenery around we melted away and soon it was truly just king and I. The music rose in a crescendo before he stopped and let his arms fall. I finally took in our surroundings and found us still surrounded by towering redwoods when I noticed one specific tree that had a had a entrance at its base. King stood off to the side as I hesitantly walked through the dark hole and found it dipped down into the ground. Sensing king behind me I blindly advanced down the tunnel, my fingers dragging along the soft wall to steady myself in the dark. A dim light came into view and I felt the fairy King grab my hips as I beheld the cavern before me. Glow worms dotted the ceiling in a star-like pattern that lit up the medium sized space. The ground was made of moss and in the far corner was a pool of clear water. King was now humming his song as he wrapped his arms around my waist and placed his head on my shoulder. I automatically turned towards him resting my right hand on his shoulder while he shifted his own hands into my hip and holding my other hand up. Pulling him closer to me I moved my right foot back while his foot mirrored my action, stepping in so close our thighs touched. We continued to do similar steps moved in sync to his humming. Leisurely we roamed across the moss floor dancing to our own music, I hadn't even noticed he had stopped humming as we danced under our stars.
