Summer Garden

Claven

She looked at her mistress in apprehension. She was grateful that the mistress might know how to detangle herself from the mortal, but she knew that Luna would become even less interested in Claven afterwards. The spark of romance in the woman was the only spark she had. Without Trei, she would revert to the cold-hearted warrior of the realms who was willing to do all that was necessary.

Luna sat down next to her, "Basically, Trei, you are a Fate. Just like Yio claimed. She just didn't tell us everything, and tried to make us believe she did it, rather than... How do I explain this simply? What Vastras did, to kickstart the whole thing, was make you... Lucky."

Trei shook his head, "Nope."

"The universe is full of chance." Luna shrugged, "Tiny random events that are so small and shortlived they can hardly be said to have occurred at all. As an example, the smallest fragment of magical energy lives for less than a moment, and is too small to be observed except by magical means. Every fragment at that scale has its own set of forces that act on it. They don't interact with physics yet, that requires more of them, joined together. Each of these tiny fragments has a random chance of the colour they will be. When you group them, one colour wins out and converts all the others."

"Like you have black dust." Trei nodded slowly, "So around you, most of these fragments get converted to black, and that causes the rest to follow."

"Yes." The mistress nodded, "Claven here, is red magic. The elf is... Elfin magic. A mix of blue and green."

Trei frowned, "And me?"

"An exactly even distribution." Luna said incredulously, and Claven started, "What?"

Alphege elbowed Trei playfully, "That means you have the potential to use all magic, mortal. That is... Beyond rare."

Luna nodded, "You forced random events to become evenly distributed, which doesn't happen in the real world. That's your presence. You eliminate random chance just by existing. This makes you look lucky, because you can't have bad luck."

Trei shrugged, "Not seeing the connection to Fates yet."

Claven interrupted, unable to contain herself, "You effect every circumstance around you, Master Trei. If a Fate decreed something, and you came along, your presence would disrupt their efforts. In doing so, the tendrils of fate that they create, their influence and will, would become tangled around you. Permanently."

Luna shot her a glare, "What she said. You tangle up the Fates, which makes their stuff bleed off into you. Like when the Fates decreed that I would have a soulmate one day, you stumbled into that tendril of Fate and it got stuck on you. When the Fates decreed the ending of this realm, you walked in, and now you get to decide whether it will rise or fall."

Trei looked at the mistress with concern, "So... Does that mean I can release your imprint? Let you go?"

"No." Luna winced, "Sorry, but you kinda like me. So long as there's any attraction, your subconscious is still going to control my fate."

Claven looked down at her food sadly. The mortal did like her mistress. And if he began to hate her, then fate itself would simply begin to hurt her. There was no middle ground to be had. Perhaps an endless unrequited love was better for the mistress.

She really did have no hope of winning her heart.

The room was silent for a time, and then Trei spoke, "If I am a Fate, or have the power of fate anyway... Does that mean I can do what we wanted Astrian to?"

Claven nodded quietly, "You will always succeed, if it is your heart's desire."

Alphege stood up, stretching, "Well then, historian. I think you have some memories to fetch. Mortal, I would spar with you. We must ensure you are prepared for the battle ahead."

They left, and Luna sat down beside her, an arm around her shoulders, "I did tell you we can never be together, Claven. All I'll do is hurt you. You deserve more than that."

She looked up, her red eyes peering into her silver ones, "I don't care. I know you can be a heartless monster, mistress. You are the Shadow Knight. I am just... I am unable to change my heart. I am drawn to you, as inexplicably as you are drawn to the mortal. I was to be your assassin. I have never felt this way about you before, despite countless council meetings. I trained under you, before Hero came and burned our world. Even then, when you were a goddess unto us, I felt nothing for you beyond admiration. Yet now, my heart is plagued. I can see no point in any future where you are not."

Luna sighed heavily, "Your heart is lonely. Can you swear to me that this is anything more than infatuation, Claven?"

The woman looked away from the intensity of the woman she cared for and shrugged. "I have known lust before. Ash, I even slept with a mortal once. This feels different. I don't care if I get your body or not. All I want is you. You sitting beside me gives me the same palpitations that a kiss might have with someone from my past. I just want to be near you. To have you know me."

"I could not curse you, with knowing me." Luna insisted, "I am not a Fae, Claven. I am a murderer. An executioner. A butcher. Death is the only work made by my hands. I have killed Fae. I bound an entire army of Fae to my own soul's command. Rendi doesn't serve me because he wants to, he wants to because I want him to. I took his will and stripped it away. Can you claim I deserve life? What would I do to you, given half a chance?"

Claven looked up at the silver-haired woman, at her gaze and guilt, at the anger burning there against herself. She did the only thing she could think of.

Her lips met hers, and for a brief moment there was an explosion of light, and Claven felt whole. As if all her anxiety evaporated, as if there wasn't a pending battle against someone who had managed to kill the future of all Fae. She felt Luna relax into her. For a brief moment.

The princess pulled away, standing and spinning away from her quickly.

Claven flinched.

She probably shouldn't have done it. It certainly wouldn't alleviate Luna's fears and hatred towards herself. She just couldn't stand to have someone so beautiful and wonderful direct so much rage inwards.

"You took a chance." Luna whispered quietly, her voice hoarse.

Claven ran a hand through her red hair nervously, not knowing what was going to happen next. Her heart was in her throat, and she was half-expecting Luna to knock her flying. Which was sort of what the problem was. Luna didn't know if she could be a decent Faen.

"You have no idea what just did, do you?"

Claven pulled her knees up to her chin, wishing she could run and hide, but that wouldn't help anything. It could only make things worse. "I'm sorry."

Luna spun around, tears running down her face, "Don't be. Don't. Please."

Claven cocked her head, not understanding.

"It's you. It has always been you." Luna said slowly, in astonishment. "Claven. Please. Tell me you saw it."

The Fae shrugged sheepishly, "I saw light."

"Stupid little magicless..." Luna muttered angrily and then took a deep breath, "Sorry. You've managed to unbalance me. I have no idea what I'm going to do. None. I'm not tied to Trei."

Claven's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

"He's just a mortal to me, now." Luna shrugged, "Attractive but... You untangled the red string. My fate, and his, is now unbound. The only way, the only way that makes any sense at all is if..."

Claven stood up slowly, "You're not pushing me away?"

Luna grinned at her, "I'd say we need to test this. Make sure you really are the one for me."

Claven stood nervously, suddenly feeling gawky and awkward, whilst Luna put her arms around her, breathing in her scent as she pulled her close.

Their lips met.

Light exploded inside Claven's head, and she felt the world around her falling away. As if she were being drawn into somewhere new, into something new. It wasn't alike to anything she knew. Her arms moved around Luna's waist, pulling her closer, as she felt Luna's tongue enter her mouth, dancing across the tops of her fangs.

They fell backwards onto the couch, Luna easily pinning her hips as the passion between them went from something quiet and fragile into something ravenous.

Claven's fingers drew down Luna's back, causing her to break the kiss with a shallow gasp. Teeth brushed against Claven's neck, and she pulled Luna in.