Light and the Night Sky

Twice

When sunshine pierced the curtains, Daphne shot up in.. bed? The last thing she could recall was, oh no, telling the one fae that had it out for her to shut up. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and held her head. The pain from last night was less but she still suffered from a dull ache. The pain danced from behind her right eye, over the top of her head and to the base of her neck.

Before she could think too much about her blunder, the ever vigilant and silence cat fae waltzed in to summon her for the start of her day. It had been close to two months since her arrival and Daphne still had no idea what the females name was. Signing, she followed her attendant and was quickly brought to the wash room and rubbed raw.

No matter how much time had passed, she could not get over the embarrassment of being stripped naked twice a day and treated like a toddler. She had already tried to do it her self a few times but the cat fae nearly lost it on her. Strangled growls being the only indication that she had made an error.

Daphne was eventually dressed in her usual red dress before she was shuffled down to the small dining room. She bowed her head when she enters the room and stopped walking to her usual seat when she was met with deep gray eyes.

Before she could be too caught up on why the fae that clearly dislike her was here, Sorren was at her side. “Well, not well?”

Smiling she nodded, patting him on the shoulder before following him to the table. “Well.” Looking over at the fae beside her, she met his copper eyes. “Lirael, good morning.”

He smiled at her, nodding. “Good morning, Daphne.”

Sighing quietly, she turned the fae with gray eyes. “Lord Riven, good morning.” The words still felt unnatural on her tongue. Looking back at Lirael he smiles warmly, like someone would at a child learning to walk.

“Eat.” After that he turned his attention to the others. In the last couple of weeks, Sorren and Lirael had made it a habit to talk about things happening around the Court. This way Daphne could listen to the language and ask questions if there were words, she found interesting. He began this again; however, she understood far more than she had ever understood before.

While they were talking, she was picking up at least eight percent of what they were saying. Most of the words were defiantly not ones that she had been taught yet. The more she heard, the more her confusion grew. That is until she realized her head was beginning to throb harder.

The migraine. Hecate had warned her that having too much information dumped in her mind at once was not safe. Was this one of the side effects? If so, why was this happening now? She glanced over at Riven, remembering the ill woman. Was it out of necessity? Was she given just enough access for basic communication to flow?

Gods knew she needed to make this dense fae understand, maybe it reacted to her desire?

“There were no new sightings to the western gate… was spotted in the south. Why does the… our borders?” Sorren spoke while he ate, completely oblivious to her internal debate.

Riven spoke in a low tone. “You speak of Court matters with the human here?”

Even though she had yet to take a bite of food, she slowly set her utensils. “Daphne. My name is Daphne.” She met his eyes, trying to keep her resolve firm.

His cold gaze remained the same as he spoke again, ignoring her words. “You trust the human with Court matters?”

She stood. “Not human. Daphne.”

Lirael reached over and grabbed her arm gently, tugging her to sit down. She did as directed but pinched her lips, she really could not explain why it frustrated her so much. “Daphne, Riven comes from a Court that humans are not ..” Clenching her jaw she shook her head, he rephrased. “Welcome. Wanted. Equal.”

So, she was low class to him. Inequal. “Ah.” She scoffed but looked away from Riven. Of course she was less to him. She would likely be less to many of them here, Daphne had been lucky so far with her treatment. “Less than.”

Lirael nodded and released her arm, leaving behind a warm touch. Unfortunately, her frustration out matched her rush of enjoyment. Looking at Riven, she spoke at him in English but knowing he would understand her tone. “That is so childish. treating humans as a subclass because you are an almighty fae? There are things fae lack too, just because we lack things that you were blessed by the Goddess with doesn’t make humans less.”

A deep growl filled the room but was met with a low growl from Lirael. She knew she messed up but she just couldn’t bring herself to care in this moment. He stood sharply, brush pass her sending a wave of smoke and Sandalwood sent over her. A familiar scent that was imbued in the layers of her mattress.

She spun in her chair and spoke in slow fae tongue. “I did not want this either. Ass.”

Stopping at the door, he turned to glare at her. “Then save me the trouble of showing your lies and just die.”

A deep throat laugh found its way out of her, startling even her with the insanity of it. “I already did.” More laughter rippled through her, the ridiculousness of it only evident to her. “Twice.” She held two shaking fingers as she just giggled, understanding that she really needed to have a meeting with her therapist but would never be able to do that.

Confusion crossed his face, but for only a moment. Riven left the room sometime in her giggling but was clearly not as amused as she was. It took a few minutes for her to stop the laughter but when she did, she saw the looks of concern and confusion on the remaining fae faces. They likely thought that Daphne misunderstood the words and spoke wrong. It would be along while until she could explain what she really meant.

Sighing, she reached out and grabbed a small roll from the table. She recognized it as a stable here. “Bun?”