(FIC) The Night Has Wings - G
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY white_aster)
This is a Yule present for Laylah, who asked for several possibilities, but I detected that she perked most at the idea of an AU!Cobalt with slate-blue wings. And of course, if HE got to be all prettily animalistic, then everyone else had to, too. ^___^ Enjoy!
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Garnet was not worried. She wasn't. Despite the fact that Cobalt was behind schedule and not back yet. Despite the dire rumors of more guards on the watch tonight for no particular reason. Despite the fact that her feathers felt ruffled and sitting the wrong way and every noise set her on edge, from the clients' carriages rumbling away to the boys' laughter to the closing of doors on the floors below.
She was not worried.
"Don't worry," Safeer rumbled from the corner. His arms were crossed over his great barrel chest, his tail thumping against the wall in what might be amusement.
"I am not worried," she said automatically, turning in her pacing yet again. She resettled her wings for the tenth time in as many minutes.
"Your feathers are up," Safeer pointed out.
She shot him a Look, the one which had cowed fledglings and adults alike but which, as usual, didn't faze the leonid one bit. It was, she would admit when less agitated, one of the things she liked about him. "Even if I were," she said, starting to pace again, "it would not be uncalled-for." Her pacing took her to the balcony, where she scanned the skies with sharp eyes. "He is very late," she murmured.
"He knows what he's doing. Plans change." Safeer's hand crept to the hilt of his sword, though, when a knock came at the door.
"Enter," Garnet said, ruffling her wings again and settling them into something resembling calm.
The door opened and Jasper's head popped in, long black nose first. He twitched his whiskers in Safeer's direction and said to Garnet, "Lord Sebastian's here to see you."
"I was afraid of that," she muttered. She rubbed her temple and said, "Bring him in, if he's not already found a shiny object to amuse him."
Jasper smiled, winked, and disappeared in a swish of bushy red tail, shutting the door behind him.
Garnet turned back to the balcony, scanning the dark skies. Ah! Was that...?
The door opened again, and Sebastian walked in, the royal blue velvet of his jacket a perfect compliment to the glossy blue-black of his feathers. He walked over to Garnet and sketched a courtly bow, his eyes never leaving her. "Garnet. You look particularly fetching this evening."
"Sebastian," Garnet said, nodding to him. "Flattering as ever."
"Ah, but it is the truth," the corvid insisted, smiling. "I do hope that you don't mind my stopping by, but I believe that you were to have a certain something for me this evening...?"
The flapping of wings sounded from outside, followed by the thump of a stooping kestrel dropping feet-first onto the balcony.
Garnet smiled without turning and said, "I believe that that is your certain something right now, Lord Dunsmuir." She turned to see Cobalt, flying cloak and hood tight to his body, settling slate-blue wings against his back and stepping into the room proper. He moved with uncharacteristic stiffness, though anyone less familiar with him probably would not have noticed.
Cobalt threw back his hood and, his eyes lighting on Sebastian, knelt on one knee. He pulled a cloth-wrapped object from an inner pocket of his cloak and offered it up with both hands for Sebastian's inspection. The cloth fell away to reveal a diamond the size of a fledgling's fist, exquisitely cut into the shape of a rose. It caught the light from the oil lamps and splashed it about the room in a hundred fractured rainbows.
Sebastian picked the jewel out of Cobalt's cupped hands with careful talons. "Oh...oh my, even lovelier than I'd hoped. Oh, Garnet, my dear, I knew that I had come to the right place. You always do pick the most exquisite talent." His eyes shining, he turned away from his prize to run one finger down Cobalt's cheek. Cobalt kept his head down but turned into the touch. Avoiding eye contact was so unlike him that Garnet knew there must be something wrong.
"Indeed," she said smoothly. "And please, feel free to choose any of the boys on duty you wish tonight. On the house, of course."
Sebastian smiled, holding the Rose of Casmile up to the light again. "You can afford to be generous, yes, after tonight? Your payment should be hitting your coffers as we speak, great lady." The diamond disappeared into Sebastian's pocket. "Nonetheless, far be it from me to resist temptation." His talons carded idly through the downy feathers at the base of Cobalt's skull. "I suppose it would be unfair to ask yet more of you tonight, my boy, hmm?"
Garnet didn't miss the look that Cobalt slid stealthily her way. "I am afraid that Cobalt has fulfilled his duties tonight, my lord."
"Ah, a pity. I do so love the feel of your feathers." Sebastian sighed, mock despairing. His fingers closed, almost unconsciously, over his pocket, as if to make sure the jewel was still there, before rubbing his hands together. "Though I cannot deny the virtues of fur. Might I steal your wicked red fox, Garnet dear? The little vixen flirted outrageously with me from the moment I stepped in the door."
"I am sure that Jasper will enjoy your company, my lord. A pleasant evening to you."
"And to you, my lady." Sebastian bowed over her hand, kissing her fingers with a bit more heat than was strictly necessary before going in search of his prey.
The door had no sooner closed before Cobalt's wings drooped, and Safeer was at his side, helping him to take off his cloak. Garnet made sure to stay out of the way. "What happened?"
"One of the guards got me with a sword just as I took off...." Cobalt hissed as cloak and shirt finally came away. The iron scent of blood filled the air, staining the black darker and seeping sluggishly from a long but apparently shallow cut to his side.
"Go send one of the boys for the chirurgeon," Garnet told Safeer, who nodded and padded out of the room to do just that. She sighed. "The guard has been called out. I feared the worst."
"I...hsst...am sorry. There were more guards than expected. I had to wait too long even for that one bad chance." Cobalt's eyes were tight with pain, his pupils pinpricks.
"You did well. Not perfectly, but well. You flew silent?" The question was more for her own reassurance than anything. Cobalt was one of her best, and injured or no, he would not have returned to the nest after a heist if he thought there was even the thinnest chance of pursuit.
Cobalt nodded. "The clouds helped. The night was too dark for any to see me once I took wing."
"Good." Garnet felt her feathers finally start to smooth.
The door opened again, but instead of Safeer, it was Jade, nosing around the edge of the door. His eyes found Cobalt, wet nose quivering as he no doubt scented the blood. He whimpered and padded forward a step, then remembered to ask, "I smelled...can I help?"
Cobalt shook his head, but Garnet knew that it was either let the canid help or have him giving them worried puppy eyes all night. She sighed. "Very well, Jade. Help Cobalt to his room and get him ready for the chirurgeon."
Jade's ears perked up, and he moved forward, checking his motion when Cobalt hissed at him, "I don't need your help."
"Going down the stairs'll hurt, with that," Jade pointed out, ignoring Cobalt's glare and getting under Cobalt's arm on his good side. "Let me help." He nosed under Cobalt's chin, reassuringly. Cobalt hissed softly at him again but let Jade ease him to his feet.
And if Cobalt's wing flared and wrapped around Jade a bit more than was strictly necessary for balance, well.... Garnet certainly wasn't going to tell anyone.
After all, later--after she'd had a quick turn above the city to settle her nerves, and after she'd seen that Cobalt was resting comfortably with his hound at his feet, and after that lupine Westfall and his pack hadn't come knocking on her door demanding Lady Pennelton's jewel back--she didn't even glare at Safeer for saying, smugly, that he'd told her so.
She just sighed.
Honestly. Mammals.
~End
Author's Notes: Garnet: Red-tailed hawk Cobalt: American kestrel Safeer: African lion Jasper: Red fox Sebastian: Raven Capt. Westfall: Wolf Jade: Dog (I see him as the bastard son of a border collie and a German shepherd? Nicely built, but soft ears.... o.o;;)