Lily | The Summer Lady (summerslady) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2013-07-21 01:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~25 points, ~~fix (thesummerknight), ~~sarissa (summerslady) |
Who: The Lady and her Knight (Sarissa & Fix)
What: Coming … home.
Where: Their shared apartment.
When: After Sarissa's arrival.
Warnings | Status: None | Logged | Complete
Sarissa pulled the tie from the bun on her head, her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders in subtle waves, light and flowy. It was the only moment of simplicity and relaxation she offered, otherwise she stood calmly though rigid as she stared out of the window over the sleepy city. She extended her senses quietly to feel the earth as it breathed around them. Summer was so .. different from Winter. Alive. It breathed and grew and changed, but the slow death would come with the approach of Winter. It always did.
The firm, but gentle presence of her Knight washed over her though, and Sarissa turned knowing very well she couldn’t ignore him, nor did she wish to. Truly. He’d left her to her own devices, had been perfectly accommodating and gentlemanly but fear was a thing at the heart of Winter, and not yet so easily lost in Summer.
Composing herself, Sarissa opened the door and stepped pleasantly into the main room, her bright eyes finding Fix. She inclined her head pleasantly.
“Sir Knight,” she greeted him, crossing her hands in front of her, her shoulders tense.
***
Fix had been waiting patiently in the main room, trying to work through the many emotions and thoughts that were rampaging through his mind. Sarissa as the Summer Lady was no surprise, and he had nothing against her. She had come from Winter, but then so had he, although he was many years removed from that. But his heart screamed to him again and again that she was not Lily, that it should be Lily standing in her place. But...that was not her fault, and his duty was to the Summer Queens. It was a duty that had made him into a better man, he thought, and one that he took very seriously.
Ten years ago he had been a frightened, nervous thing, and today...he liked the man he had become - the man that the Summer Mantle had made him. It was different than what Harry had to face. Instead of the death and darkness of winter, instead of the animal urges and viciousness, the Summer Mantle encouraged him towards courage, towards hope, towards civility and reason. It made him stronger, better, more confident. When it pulled at him, it urged him to be a better man. And he listened. And it had made a difference.
Sarissa was of Winter, and she had not expected this. She was not prepared for it, and although he was her servant, he would do whatever he could to help her with the transition. She would see that it was nothing to fear, that Summer brought warmth and life into a person, and pushed fear away.
And even though she was not Lily, even though she had taken the place of the woman he had loved, he would give his complete loyalty and devotion to her, because she was a Queen of Summer. And that was all that mattered.
When she entered the room, he fell to one knee before her, bowing his head.
“At your service, my lady.”
***
No, indeed, she was being prepared to take her sister’s place in Winter, and though that prospect had frightened her she had no choice but to face it. The sudden impact of Summer’s Mantle on her person had been entirely unexpected, and she.. floundered in those first days. The feeling was familiar now in this strange place. The earth felt the same, the season was bright and fresh and.. new enough even with the taint on the air. It was magic, but not the magic of the season in itself. She and the Winter Lady might investigate. But for now..
Sarissa peered at her Knight. She knew nothing of him, personally, but their relationship didn’t warrant the sharing of information and that was enough to console her for the moment. She wasn’t prepared for intimacy of any kind, though she knew well Maeve’s relationship with the former Knight of Winter. Was Summer much the same? Was his purpose to serve even those base desires? She hoped not. He was a good man, at least he appeared to be, though Sarissa elected to remain wary. And for her own hide, as it were.
She didn’t know him.
“Rise, Sir Knight,” she said, offering him a very subtle smile. She couldn’t show her fear, so she maintained that calm civility as she turned to face the window, the Summer light streamed through it and washed over her in a gentle warmth.
“I had hoped to meet in different circumstances,” she glanced back at him. “Though the policies of Summer Court are.. unknown to me.”
***
“Yes, my lady,” he said, rising, and clasping his hands behind his back. “Had the choice been mine, I would have seen you comfortably settled in Summer before you were forced to endure strangeness such as this. But I fear neither of us were given a choice in this matter. I am only happy that I am here to serve you as I may.”
He nodded to her politely, maintaining a formal - yet warm - distance. Everything about summer was warm in one way or another. At least compared to the icy hearts of Winter. He wondered for a moment, and with discomfort, whether she would expect him to serve her in all ways. There was no doubt that she was beautiful - all the Sidhe were so, and the Queens most of all. But any attraction he had for her was physical at most, and he had no personal desire to move their relationship beyond a working one. His heart still ached for Lily, and the Mantle pushed him towards love and caring, instead of towards his more primal urges. But she, of course, had been Winter - and he wondered how much of that was still in her heart.
“The policies, my lady?”
***
Sarissa inclined her head toward him again, acknowledging his statement. But she wondered how happy he truly was to serve her. Neither of them had the choice. He was right. Titania had lost two of her Ladies in ten years, and one them personally close to Fix. How terrible a thing. But had not Mab now lost both of her daughters too? Sarissa perched herself peacefully on the window sill, facing the Knight, though she kept her eyes slightly averted and peered at nothing in particular.
“Policies,” she confirmed, though let the silence settle for a moment. How to say what she meant? How to approach it. “I’m thankful for your presence, Sir Knight, it would be sad to be alone..” She paused, lowering her eyes to her hands. They were steady, perhaps it was the influence of Summer beating against the teachings of Winter.
“I know what to expect of the Winter Knight,” she said delicately. “But the duties of Summer are.. different?”
***
“I am not the Winter Knight,” he said, his voice full of vitriol. He had hated Lloyd Slate with every inch of his being, and had not for one moment thought that Mab’s punishment was too cruel. It had been nothing more than he deserved. Harry, on the other hand...that saddened him. He had liked Harry. He was a good man, with more Summer in his heart than Winter, and he hated the thought of watching the cruelty of the Winter Mantle eat his friend alive.
He felt heat rush through him, warmth, courage, blocking out his darker and more angry emotions, tempering them with the peaceful softness of a Summer evening.
“Yes, my lady,” he said, his voice even again. My duties are much different than that of the Winter Knight. His duty is to slay who Mab asks him to kill. My duty is to keep that from happening. His is a duty of death and ice. Mine is to preserve life and protect those he threatens. And, of course, to be your servant.”
***
Sarissa forced herself to stay calm in wake of his initial reaction. The intensity of his hatred for Slate was not lost on her, and though rationally she knew the hatred was for the man himself it was instinctive for her to be wary of Fix while the emotions ruled him. But the calm, temperate touch of Summer settled over the tension and eased it away. Though the Lady remained calmly rigid on the sill, her shoulders still tense, and her face composed into a mask of cultivated nothingness.
Then she smiled and the warmth of it mingled with Summer’s touch. She turned her face toward the sunlight and breathed it in, quiet for a moment.
“My servant,” logically she knew their roles as Lady and Knight, but the reality of the situation was far more different than any teaching or witnessing had been. “I.. don’t intend to use you,” she said, delicate again, vague. “But.. you’re my guide and my guard. A servant then, by design.”
She met his eyes at last, and it was like.. meeting an old friend, so familiar was the presence of Summer in him to the Mantle of the Lady inside her. They were both an extension of Titania, and they did not now belong to themselves. They were extensions of each other.
“Does your.. mission extend even in this place?” She didn’t know if Harry was near.
***
When she spoke of not using him, for a moment something very hurt, and very young flashed through his eyes. A pain of well-known rejection, a glimpse of the young, insecure man he had been before taking on the Mantle. It was very brief, a cold wave of sadness almost instantly warmed by Summer, but it was intense while it lasted.
“Yes, lady, your guide and your guard, as you will have me.”
A week ago, he would have called himself good at guarding his Lady, but recent events had shown him otherwise, and a shot of pain echoed through him, clouding his eyes like a dark summer rainstorm. He would not fail her. He would redouble his efforts if need be, watch over her with even more intensity than he had Lily. He would not fail Summer twice.
When she met his eyes, emotion gripped him, and nearly staggered him. Lily was there, in her eyes, or at least what Lily had become. For a moment, he couldn’t speak, and he broke eye contact quickly. Lily was gone. What he saw in her eyes had been the Summer Lady, and that alone. Lily was not alive in her, and everything that had been Lily had died when Maeve shot her.
He swallowed, and looked up at her.
“Yes, my lady. Harry Dresden is indeed here.”
***
She felt his emotion, rough, sad and deep, and young. He was mortal, she had been to for a time before the Mantle took her and her choice made. Changeling to Summer Lady. And he. Changeling to Summer Knight, but he was younger than her. And hurting. Sorrow swept over her, an unnatural feeling in its intensity, and transformed into kindness and a shared hurt for him. She couldn’t hurt him, she had no desire to.
But how could she ease his pain?
Sarissa averted her eyes again, staring back out of the window and at the soft Summer sky, watching the day change to night.
“You will do your duty admirably, Sir Knight,” she said, surprising even herself as she spoke. She looked at him, and extended her hand toward him. “For me and your mission with.. Winter.” Formality necessitated she not regard Harry as a friend. They were opposites now, fundamental enemies at the heart of everything. That was sad.
But balance was necessary.
***
Her words warmed him, and while he did not smile, his eyes twinkled a bit. Taking her hand in his, he leaned over it, kissing her knuckles softly before releasing it, and clasping his hands behind his back once more. He bowed his head for a moment, the rightness of having his lady near nearly bringing tears to his eyes after the days he had spent in this place without her.
And there was no mistake - she was his Lady. Not Fix’s lady, who was dead and gone, never to return, but the Summer Knight’s lady, and that was his first and primary concern. Fix was secondary. Tertiary. Nearly unimportant when it came to the grave and important task the Summer Knight had been given.
“To the best of my ability, my lady. My very life means little, and I will gladly give it to protect your own. You need not fear, my lady. I shall be close, in the next room, and you may, of course, call for me whenever you need me. I am your Knight, and as such happy and honored to serve.”
He hesitated, then spoke again, a bit quickly.
“But may I make one request of you, my lady?”
***
She went rigid again when he spoke his last question, though she maintained the peaceful look on her face. She was silent for a moment, then inclined her head in confirmation. “Yes?”
It was strange to be given a role of.. authority. Sarissa had been indebted to Winter, a mortal living around and serving the Queen of Air and Darkness, and though she was meant to take Maeve’s place in the end.. being given the role was still more difficult to handle than the thought of it had ever been. In time, no doubt, it would become more natural to bear and she would adopt the grace of the Sidhe and Summer itself.
She would lose herself to Titania’s influence, but what did it matter? She was resigned to it now and did not want to die.
And her Knight would aid her. She wasn’t alone. She smiled again and visibly relaxed, her shoulders easing a fraction as she settled into the gentle comfort. It wasn’t a full immersion, but she touched the surface of the feeling, looking around with the barest tips of her fingers if it were a palpable thing to feel.
***
Fix nodded, and hesitated a moment before making his request.
“I ask only that you not leave this apartment without me, my lady. Wherever you go, allow me to accompany you. I care not what you do or who you visit. Your business is not mine, indeed, much is likely far beyond my meagre understanding. I do not ask you to share with me what you do, or to explain to me why we go where we do. I shall be silent, and disclose nothing. I shall ask no questions. I only ask that you give me the chance to keep you safe, to protect you in this place. The Winter Lady and her Knight are here, and I don’t know what they may have in mind. As the days shorten, their strength will grow while ours lessens, and one must always be on guard against the treachery of Winter.”
No matter how much you had once trusted and liked them.
Harry was not just Harry anymore. He wore the Mantle of Winter, and it would influence him as Fix had been influenced by Summer. There was no way around it. A Knight was a Knight first, and the person they had been before second.
***
Silence settled between them, Sarissa kept her eyes on her hands, and the tension returned to her shoulders. His request had been sincere, deep, heartfelt. She knew that from the bond that existed between them, and in the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes.
But doubt gnawed at her, and Winter’s teachings demanded she look at it from all angles. An honest request to watch over her or a prisoner to the Summer Knight? And yet her ability with the magic of the Fae would far exceed his own, wouldn’t it? But she could not sabotage her own Knight, anymore than he could sabotage his Lady. That went against the nature of the Mantles that existed inside them.
Worry ate at her.
Sarissa looked up at Fix, her expression kind if neutral. “With conditions,” she said. “If I ask you Three Times not to follow you won’t. If I .. ask you to leave, you do.”
***
Fix hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with those conditions. His recent failure at his duty ate at him, and he wished nothing more than to be near enough his Lady at all times that such a thing could not happen again.
But she was his Lady. He did not give her orders, but she to him. She was being gracious with her conditions, when she could have told him flat out that she wanted nothing to do with his concerns.
He bowed his head in acquiescence, a bit resigned. If she did not wish for his protection, he could not force it on her. Neither was she Lily, with whom he had a far more...intimate relationship.
“Of course, my lady,” he spoke, his voice soft, with a hint of a nasal Chicago accent coming through. “You have my word.” Although he was not technically fae, he would no more break a promise than they would. Especially a promise made to his lady.
***
The Lady smiled again, the brightness of Summer warming her face and the very room in which they resided, full of compassion and kindness. And the grace of the Fae.
“Then I grant you your request, Sir Knight, and accept your protection.” And hoped that some days he would be too distracted by his own business to take interest in hers, whatever it may be. “Though, I hope you won’t follow me to the toilet.” She hesitated then shook her head, her dark hair waving about briefly until she settled into stillness.
“Our business here is concluded, Sir Knight,” she said, frowning slightly as she watched him. “If you have no other concerns.”
***
He blushed a little at her words, and shook his head, lowering his rather embarrassed eyes.
“No, my lady, certainly you may do that in privacy.”
He bowed to her deeply, smiling himself. Perhaps it would not be what he had with Lily, and there were still many obstacles to overcome, but he had hope that they could at least form a good working relationship. And he would, as he had said, do anything including giving his life to protect her. She was the Summer Lady, and he her Knight. And little else was important, in the end.
“Of course, my lady. Do not hesitate to call for me if you need me, no matter what the reason.”
***
Sarissa rose to her feet then, after he bowed, and nodded once in acknowledgment of him. “If you leave, Knight,” she said, turning toward her own bedroom door. “Knock once and I’ll know.” And wonder vaguely if she may indulge her business while he was away or wait for his return. Wait, then, she would. She was bound to her word, but the wily ways of the Fae would allow her room to maneuver if it became necessary.
She wouldn’t worry of it for now.
Sarissa turned away then and stepped back into the lonely confines of her own bedroom. At least there she could think in the relative safety of her own demesne, with her Knight close at hand.
***