The Longest, Coldest Night
Who: Erevos and Winter What: Dancing Where: Starlight Palace, ballroom. When: After this. Warnings: None.
There were fewer occasions that Winter was this… pleased. Dressed in purest midnight, the edges of her ballgown sliding into shadows, she swirled around the dance floors and corridors of the Starlight Palace with the faintest lifting of her lips. Some avoided her when she was in such good spirits, a wise choice for the more tender hearted Seelie and the delicate humans. Even with Aelius’ ring on her finger, most knew to avoid the lady when she was at her coldest, and her cruelest. Their figures were seen parting before her path with a deferential nod or a bow before hurrying away to escape her notice.
But the Unseelie. Oh how they reveled with her. Called out their greetings and beckoned her closer with their toasts. To them she gave them her happiest grins, and traded dark drinks that sparked starlight, and offered her hand in dances.
The music had just begun to swell once more as Winter came to the edge of the ballroom floor. She quickly scanned the crowd and, spotting Erevos, offered him her snow white hand.
“I believe we have a dance in our future.”
This had always been one of his favorite nights. In the mortal realm, it was the longest and coldest night in many parts of the world; everything living seemed to hide away and wait for the storm to pass. But he'd always liked the storms and the frigid chill to the air, the silence.
Here at the Palace it was far more spectacular, however. Here he could share this celebration with his fellow Unseelie and take joy in their shared appreciation for all things wintry, filled with shadow, and of course the brilliant and glittering night sky.
"I believe you're right," he answered, smiling as he clasped the hand she offered in his and led them out to the center of the dance floor. They were a pair that commanded attention as well as a certain amount of trepidation no matter where they went, so it was fitting now that the crowd parted to give them a wide berth as they moved through the steps of the dance gracefully in time with the music.
Erevos looked down at her with a smile reserved for only those other Unseelie out in attendance on this night. It was a language they all shared, a fondness for sharper edges and little patience for things that were fragile and easily disturbed.
"Have you danced with Aelius yet?" Erevos asked, dark eyes briefly scanned the crowd for his friend. Such an unlikely couple the two of them made - Winter and Aelius; but he'd known the both of them so long, and had yet to witness a greater depth of love and commitment among two individuals.
It was a curious thing to ask her about Aelius. Most fae wouldn’t dare intrude into Winter’s business, not unless they wanted to meet the sharp end of an icicle. But she knew the camaraderie that Aelius and Erevos shared and, for once, didn’t mind the personal question.
“No,” she said, fighting the urge to look for him amidst the other dancers. It was still so unfamiliar and yet instinctive, seeking him out as often as she did. “His is the last.” For the when the night was darkest.
A thought flickered across Winter’s icy features, blue eyes flashing, before she voiced it. “He’s… faring well enough tonight. I do hope he won’t be in a mood when we dance tonight.” She never used to care. Seven hundred years and she watched him suffer through the longest night. While she could be the moodier of the two of them, she would have been blind to not notice how Aelius was acting in the absence of light and warmth during this dark Midwinter party.
"He's in a mood," Erevos commented with a nod, leading Winter into a twirl and back. "Well, I haven't actually seen him yet. But I think it's a fair assumption he's off sulking somewhere." The words were spoken with a slight smile, a hint of amusement. He knew how his friend could get, and if Erevos was in a particularly playful mood he might even try to take advantage of that and attempt to antagonize him a bit about it.
But, as it was, Erevos was content to enjoy the longest, darkest night for what it was - cold, brutal, and perfect.
"I can't say that I blame him entirely," he admitted with a slight shrug. "I'm not exactly at my finest when it's the middle of summer. Far too much heat." Which was, of course, Aelius at his finest moment. It still confounded Erevos sometimes, that Winter and Aelius came together and had the relationship they did - one of opposites, but in a way that actually worked for them, rather than against. It seemed to defy some natural law. But, in a way, it gave Erevos hope. That if you were willing to be patient, and fight for something, or rather someone that you felt was worth everything to you... it could result in a love that was true and lasting. A bond that changed you, for the better.
“But we don’t skulk about when we attend the midsummer ball,” she reminded him as they swirled about the dance floor. A moment ticked by and she amended, “well, not too much, anyway.” Many of the Unseelie were in foul moods during the summer parties but it could always be waved away as being in a foul mood in general. That was simply their way.
“How about you?” She tossed the question casually over her shoulder as we stepped to the side, turning this way and then that. “Are you enjoying this night?” It was, as they often said, her night. She should play hostess in some manner. And if she was gently prying, so be it. He had banded questions to her first, and she had noticed he had been being a bit more social this gala than she was expecting.
He grinned in agreement at that first comment, still guiding her through the steps as the music flowed around them. A quick glance around told him there weren't too many Seelie in attendance this night, so it felt especially familiar and welcoming to Erevos, who had always preferred the company of those more like minded. He still wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up with Aelius as such a close friend.
And then she'd tossed the question back at him, and for a moment he paused before responding. "Yes," he answered honestly, "I believe I am." There was some faint surprise in his tone and expression.
"Save for an unfortunate run in with an ex I would have preferred to avoid for all eternity," he said low enough for Winter's hearing only. He'd known her long enough to be less guarded in conversations he would have been with others. "The midwinter feast has been engaging in ways I wouldn't have expected." Reconnecting with old friends, and tentatively forming a few new bonds. Erevos was accustomed to solitude, so he was going about things slowly.
"And it's good to be back home," he confided. After spending such long stretches of time in the mortal realm, attending to the demands of his domain, it was good to be among other fae once again.
Talks of exes had Winter sniffing unkindly. Oh, she had known how Erevos had felt for a time; many had. And similarly, many knew how Winter felt about most Seelie, even the ones who were less exuberant than her husband. She wasn’t in the least bit sorry that Erevos had found better uses for his time.
But here was talk of something new. Someone new, perhaps? She raised one delicate brow, making sure to catch his eye as the swirled round. The other dancers were giving them wide berth, careful not to tread close and possibly earn the ire of the lord of death and the lady of frost. Now was not the time to do something so foolish as stumble into their path and it afforded them a good amount of privacy.
“Who?” She said it softly enough that he knew he could ignore her if he wished. This, now, was mere curiosity, and she couldn’t help but add with a hint of a smirk, “Or is it Aelius’ right to know first?” They were quite the pair of friends.
His grin turned to a warm chuckle, "I think Aelius will survive." Erevos would have just as soon told both Winter and Aelius over dinner at some point, he'd been meaning to have an informal get together with them, wanting to catch up after having been away for so long. But this was Winter's night, and he couldn't resist celebrating with her and the rest of the Unseelie, so Aelius would just have to hear about this second hand.
"Well, Raana, for one." But this wasn't exactly anything new. He'd known Raana for ages, and their connection was a combination of deep and loyal friendship, as well as being lovers. She was helping him, though. To move beyond certain pains of the past and stay rooted in what was here and now.
"The other, well; it's ... somewhat complicated." Erevos admitted, a slight furrow in his brow. He wasn't certain how it would sound once he actually vocalized it, but he wasn't one to skirt around a topic either. "It's a human." He was conflicted, and he allowed that to show in his tone.
It wasn't unheard of for Erevos to occasionally take on a human lover, but he did have certain trepidations when it came to taking things beyond that, beyond the short term. "Perhaps it's for the best that I keep a certain distance there." For a variety of reasons. Mainly that humans were fragile, breakable. And he wasn't.
Raana wasn’t terribly surprising. The Unseelie was friendly with everyone, and if anyone would have seen Erevos in need of friendship and company and extended a hand, it would have been her. If she had taken up with Erevos then she was glad for both of them. Few left Raana’s tender mercies unhappy.
The other lover… Well, that was a different story. Her face said it all, darkening with almost as much distaste as the mention of his previous lover. Winter didn’t feel it necessary to hide her dislike, especially when humans were involved. “I don’t blame you,” she replied airily, the dance moving them so her hair swept off her shoulder without her having to dramatically brush it off. “Mortals are… entertaining,” or so she heard, “but they are complicated as you said.”
And yet she had heard the faintest hints of distress at the complications. Well, Aelius did always tell her to be more forgiving where mortals were involved. “Who is it? Hopefully one of the more clever ones?” Not that she found any of them particularly smart, but her husband had been fond of a few. Perhaps there weren’t all terrible. Perhaps.
Erevos was familiar with Winter's stance on humans. So much so that her response, so very icy, nearly brought out another chuckle. As it was, his lips curved in a half smile. It was one of the areas where their viewpoints sometimes differed, as there were some humans Erevos found to be genuinely interesting, and worthy of respect. Not all, of course. But some. And without humans and their short lifespans in general, he'd have very little to do when it came to his domain of death. So there was an appreciation there that he knew many of his fellow Unseelie did not share.
But as with any friendship that had endured through many long ages, Erevos could appreciate Winter's honesty, and that she did not hide her genuine response. It was perhaps what he liked best about the Unseelie - there were no games. No veiled reactions. If they liked something, you knew it; and if they loathed something, well, you knew that too - without a doubt.
"Her name is London," he answered, moving Winter through another twirl and back again. "There is much I do not yet know about her. I am learning. She's from a time when the world was harsher, more raw." He wasn't blind to the ways in which that appealed to him. "Though she remembers little of her time in the mortal world, having been in Fairy so long."
And now came the complication, at least as he saw it, "My trepidation is in whether or not my nature will eventually overwhelm a human, given enough time" he confided. "I have little experience of such a pairing going well. Save for the way I've seen Raana and Niall interact, they seem to be the exception so far."
At the name, Winter’s sour expression softened a little. “London,” she mused softly. “Aelius is fond of her.” That, of course, was a point her in favor. “She… isn’t the most terrible human.” That was about as kind of a compliment as the frost maiden could ever muster about a mortal.
“Have you talked to Raana about it?” As their hands met once more, she looked over his shoulder for another sign of the fae of passion herself. “How Raana or why she puts up with him is a mystery. But the inner workings of a… with a…” She let go of his hand to give off hand gestures when kinder words failed her before settling back on his shoulder.
“If anyone would know if you could last,” if. Sorry, Erevos, “it would be her.”
An amused grin spread across his lips. "That's high praise from you." Apparently eons worth of Aelius' at times overly positive disposition had indeed softened both Winter and Erevos, in subtle ways. But they would always be Unseelie, and as such would remain fixed in certain regards - both terrifying and sharp.
"I haven't spoken to Raana about it at length, not yet at least." He led Winter through the next few sweeping movements as the music began to reach its final crescendo. "But you're right. If anyone would know, it would be her." The music reached its final notes, as they glided to a graceful stop in the middle of the still empty dance floor. Perhaps once they were no longer commanding the space for their own, other dancers might filter back in.
Erevos dipped his head in gratitude, "Thank you for listening," he released his hold on her and took a step back. "And thank you for the dance." For this particular celebration of the longest night was indeed hers. And with that, the lord of Death bowed in respect to the lady of Frost, giving her a parting smile that was genuine and full as he slipped back into the crowd.