what else are you young for?

Damien had taken a breather from the dance to stand a distance away and breathe in the fresh air. While it was calming, watching the squirrels play, he did have the errant thought that squirrels had it easy. No-one was trying to marry them off or plan their weddings for them. They didn't even have weddings. With a small frown, he shook himself out of this trail of thought. Clearly the mead had gone to his head, on top of spending the day listening to Leia talk about his wedding, and then the evening avoiding Saskia. Sparing the squirrels one last look, he turned to go back, and was surprised to see Eithne approaching. Then again, she knew him best, and could probably sense his mood.

Eithne was, sad to say, always attuned to where Damien was and how he was feeling so, when he left the dance, she waited for a few moments before following him. She was sure he hadn't interacted with Saskia at all this evening - which, if anyone else was paying attention, might raise an eyebrow. He seemed a little out of sorts so Eithne wanted to make sure he was ok. "Hey," she said with a smile as she approached. "Is everything peachy?" She wasn't sure why the humans used that turn of phrase but it made her laugh, so maybe it would cheer Damien up.

Damien wondered what it said about the situation that Eithne was the one who noticed and who came after him. Not his wife-to-be, not even his sister. He'd known he would marry Saskia since he was old enough to understand the concept. They'd never really seen eye-to-eye, but he'd thought they'd both grow up and grow closer together. Surely it would still happen? He supposed, if he was avoiding her, it never would. "Somewhere approaching plummy," he said, just to make her smile. "It's just..." He didn't even know how to explain it in a way she would understand. Only Saskia and he understood what it was like, having your whole life mapped out for you. And they'd never even spoken about it.

Leaning against a tree, Eithne had to smile at his response even if it didn't really answer the question. "It's just...?" She enquired gently, encouraging him to finish. The two of them had never really discussed Damien's apparent hesitance to marry Saskia - well, Eithne suspected he was hesitant. He didn't tend to open up to anyone about his feelings. Eithne wished he felt he could talk to her, but imagined that he believed it would be too overbearing, or that he should keep his emotions in check as a prince. Even if he didn't want to talk about it, though, she would still be there for him.

Damien had taken a breather from the dance to stand a distance away and breathe in the fresh air. While it was calming, watching the squirrels play, he did have the errant thought that squirrels had it easy. No-one was trying to marry them off or plan their weddings for them. They didn't even have weddings. With a small frown, he shook himself out of this trail of thought. Clearly the mead had gone to his head, on top of spending the day listening to Leia talk about his wedding, and then the evening avoiding Saskia. Sparing the squirrels one last look, he turned to go back, and was surprised to see Eithne approaching. Then again, she knew him best, and could probably sense his mood.

Eithne was, sad to say, always attuned to where Damien was and how he was feeling so, when he left the dance, she waited for a few moments before following him. She was sure he hadn't interacted with Saskia at all this evening - which, if anyone else was paying attention, might raise an eyebrow. He seemed a little out of sorts so Eithne wanted to make sure he was ok. "Hey," she said with a smile as she approached. "Is everything peachy?" She wasn't sure why the humans used that turn of phrase but it made her laugh, so maybe it would cheer Damien up.

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

“That’s my job,” Damien teased, aware that it wasn’t quite yet. “It’s hard when you don’t know him, too. Maybe you should see if you can spend time together in a social context. I understand that Leia and Saskia are friendly with the rest of the family; I assume that helps with the teaching.” When a younger faerie was struggling with their powers, they were usually paired with a faerie of the same element who they knew. It stood to reason that the humans would be similar. “From what Leia’s said, it sounds like it. They clearly respect him. I think Alaska was the mother, until she left.” None of them knew if she was coming back, and none of the faeries knew why she’d left; the family had refused to talk about it.

“Not quite yet, don’t go getting ahead of yourself,” Eithne joked, reaching out to gently boop him on the nose. “Ooh, maybe I should. I’ll have to ask him what his hobbies are and then try and do something with him. What hobbies do humans tend to have?” She mused to herself, assuming she and Jace wouldn’t have many mutual interests. Unless he enjoyed discovering new countries, which might be a slightly expensive hobby for him. “I doubt he’d want to go dancing,” she said with a laugh, referring to one of her favourite pastimes. “Makes sense. We don’t know anything about why she left, do we?” She asked, finding herself interested in the whole dynamic of the family. Most faeries were at least slightly interested in them, given that they were the first humans with any sort of powers.

“I’m just getting in some practise, then,” he said, rolling his eyes at her pedantry. “This is beginning to sound like a romcom plot.” He paused. “I cannot believe that I just said that. I might well strangle Leia later.” Plenty of faeries did watch films, to be fair, especially younger fae. There were still a lot of traditionalists who eschewed human ways; they wouldn’t be best pleased to hear their prince referencing films. “I don’t think you’d like human dancing. It usually involves loud music.” Not that he’d experienced it: this was something else he’d picked up from films. “They’ve been quite reticent about it. Saskia said it’s related to their powers and that Felix had taken her leaving personally. She brought them all together in the first place, and they’re still adjusting to life without her.”

Eithne smiled angelically at his eye-roll. She enjoyed riling him up more than she should but, really, a future King ought to be able to deal with annoyances, otherwise they’d be a pretty pitiful ruler. “Oh, no, don’t say that,” she replied, wincing. “I’ll be thinking about it next time and end up laughing in the poor kid’s face.” She couldn’t imagine thinking about Jace romantically - ugh. “Leia is a terrible influence on you,” she agreed jokingly. Eithne had spent a lot of time with Leia, as one does with their best friend’s siblings, and admired her enthusiasm and love of human life. “Hm, maybe not then. A lot of human music makes my ears bleed. This still doesn’t help with my problem of how to deal with him. We could… go bowling!” She suggested, plucking a random activity out of nowhere. “Sounds like it was quite selfish, then, if they’re all suffering without her.”

“Kid? He’s the same age as you, Eithne,” he said, though it made his heart a little lighter hearing her laugh at the idea of being with Jace romantically. “She is. I should have her executed.” It wasn’t a possibility - faeries had never had the death penalty. They didn’t have crimes in the same way as humans did. Their only crime, unwritten but understood, was to kill another faerie. Those that did were outcast. “It’s just not the same, is it? Leia has tried to convince me that some of it’s good. She played something called Katy Perry at one point and it was very disturbing.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Bowling?” Faeries had similar activities involving targets, but none of them involved wearing borrowed shoes. “Saskia insists she must have had a good reason,” he said, with a light shrug.

 “Pfft,” she said airily, waving a hand. Faeries liked to think of humans as children, considering how much longer faeries lived, and Eithne occasionally forgot that she wasn’t actually older. She laughed at the idea of Damien trying to get Leia executed. “You’d have to get through Saskia first and good luck with that.” Besides, Eithne knew Leia and Damien loved each other really. “No, I think some of their… what they call ‘classic’ music is nice, but it’s nothing special. What’s a Katy Perry?” She asked, frowning in confusion. She would always find it odd when half-faeries chose to spend more of their time in the human world than the fae one. “Well, I know they like to do that,” she defended with a shrug. “And I can imagine Jace would enjoy something that was competitive.” Maybe she should ask someone who spent more time with the humans, like Leia or Saskia; they might have a better idea. “If Saskia says so then I suppose she must be right.” She kept a light tone: she fully respected Saskia and thought she was a lovely person, but Eithne’s feelings for Damien sometimes clouded that respect. It was difficult, feeling jealous of Saskia and then being wracked with guilt for liking Damien.

Damien smiled at her handwaving. It was true, most humans did seem immature in comparison to faeries, their lives fleeting. “Yes, she might be a bit of an obstacle,” he admitted. “I think she’s a singer, but I don’t like the way she sings.” While he could see value in a lot of the human world, he would never be impressed by their music. It wasn’t the same as fae music. Having never met Jace, he couldn’t comment on her assumption. “I suppose you can ask him what he’d like to do,” he said. “She does know Alaska quite well,” he conceded, “but it does seem strange.” No faerie would leave their family like that: they were loyal. 

“Just ‘a bit’,” Eithne quoted, laughing. “Ah, I see. If Leia brings her up to me, I’ll have to think of an excuse. Or maybe it’d be okay and you just have bad taste; that wouldn’t surprise me.” She poked him in the arm with a smile. “I’ll give it a go. I’ll report back tomorrow if he doesn’t decide to just fireball me in lieu of a reply.” Not that she was scared of talking to him, just sensibly apprehensive. “It is weird. I wonder if she’ll ever come back.” She couldn’t imagine the rest of the family settling down properly without her.

“Yes, just a bit! I’m willing to execute both of them,” he joked. “Yes, I would make my excuses if I were you.” He raised an eyebrow. “No, trust me, she has awful taste. I have no idea where she’s got it from. It must be her father.” He actually liked and respected Leia’s father, even if he couldn’t see why his mother had given up the fae realm to be with him. “Well, good luck with it. It’s a good thing you’re fire resistant, you’ll be fine,” he said. He’d had the same thought. “I think she will. I can’t imagine her staying away forever, with their bond.”

Eithne laughed and shook her head. “I can see the headlines now: ‘watch out - Damien Corelli-La becomes first King slash murderer’. I’ll have to practise my curtsies so you don’t decide you’re fed up with me too, Your Majesty.” She did her best sitting-down curtsy (which wasn’t easy). “I’ll remember that in case she ever accosts me with any music,” she said, nodding. “I may be fire resistant, but that doesn’t mean a well-aimed fireball can’t hurt,” she complained, pouting. The fire resistance blocked the heat but, if fast enough, it could still leave a bruise. “Mm, that makes sense.” Maybe the rest of them - ok, Jace - would be easier to get on with once she returned. “What were you up to before I came to bother you, anyway?”

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

“That’s my job,” Damien teased, aware that it wasn’t quite yet. “It’s hard when you don’t know him, too. Maybe you should see if you can spend time together in a social context. I understand that Leia and Saskia are friendly with the rest of the family; I assume that helps with the teaching.” When a younger faerie was struggling with their powers, they were usually paired with a faerie of the same element who they knew. It stood to reason that the humans would be similar. “From what Leia’s said, it sounds like it. They clearly respect him. I think Alaska was the mother, until she left.” None of them knew if she was coming back, and none of the faeries knew why she’d left; the family had refused to talk about it.

“Not quite yet, don’t go getting ahead of yourself,” Eithne joked, reaching out to gently boop him on the nose. “Ooh, maybe I should. I’ll have to ask him what his hobbies are and then try and do something with him. What hobbies do humans tend to have?” She mused to herself, assuming she and Jace wouldn’t have many mutual interests. Unless he enjoyed discovering new countries, which might be a slightly expensive hobby for him. “I doubt he’d want to go dancing,” she said with a laugh, referring to one of her favourite pastimes. “Makes sense. We don’t know anything about why she left, do we?” She asked, finding herself interested in the whole dynamic of the family. Most faeries were at least slightly interested in them, given that they were the first humans with any sort of powers.

“I’m just getting in some practise, then,” he said, rolling his eyes at her pedantry. “This is beginning to sound like a romcom plot.” He paused. “I cannot believe that I just said that. I might well strangle Leia later.” Plenty of faeries did watch films, to be fair, especially younger fae. There were still a lot of traditionalists who eschewed human ways; they wouldn’t be best pleased to hear their prince referencing films. “I don’t think you’d like human dancing. It usually involves loud music.” Not that he’d experienced it: this was something else he’d picked up from films. “They’ve been quite reticent about it. Saskia said it’s related to their powers and that Felix had taken her leaving personally. She brought them all together in the first place, and they’re still adjusting to life without her.”

Eithne smiled angelically at his eye-roll. She enjoyed riling him up more than she should but, really, a future King ought to be able to deal with annoyances, otherwise they’d be a pretty pitiful ruler. “Oh, no, don’t say that,” she replied, wincing. “I’ll be thinking about it next time and end up laughing in the poor kid’s face.” She couldn’t imagine thinking about Jace romantically - ugh. “Leia is a terrible influence on you,” she agreed jokingly. Eithne had spent a lot of time with Leia, as one does with their best friend’s siblings, and admired her enthusiasm and love of human life. “Hm, maybe not then. A lot of human music makes my ears bleed. This still doesn’t help with my problem of how to deal with him. We could… go bowling!” She suggested, plucking a random activity out of nowhere. “Sounds like it was quite selfish, then, if they’re all suffering without her.”

“Kid? He’s the same age as you, Eithne,” he said, though it made his heart a little lighter hearing her laugh at the idea of being with Jace romantically. “She is. I should have her executed.” It wasn’t a possibility - faeries had never had the death penalty. They didn’t have crimes in the same way as humans did. Their only crime, unwritten but understood, was to kill another faerie. Those that did were outcast. “It’s just not the same, is it? Leia has tried to convince me that some of it’s good. She played something called Katy Perry at one point and it was very disturbing.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Bowling?” Faeries had similar activities involving targets, but none of them involved wearing borrowed shoes. “Saskia insists she must have had a good reason,” he said, with a light shrug.

 “Pfft,” she said airily, waving a hand. Faeries liked to think of humans as children, considering how much longer faeries lived, and Eithne occasionally forgot that she wasn’t actually older. She laughed at the idea of Damien trying to get Leia executed. “You’d have to get through Saskia first and good luck with that.” Besides, Eithne knew Leia and Damien loved each other really. “No, I think some of their… what they call ‘classic’ music is nice, but it’s nothing special. What’s a Katy Perry?” She asked, frowning in confusion. She would always find it odd when half-faeries chose to spend more of their time in the human world than the fae one. “Well, I know they like to do that,” she defended with a shrug. “And I can imagine Jace would enjoy something that was competitive.” Maybe she should ask someone who spent more time with the humans, like Leia or Saskia; they might have a better idea. “If Saskia says so then I suppose she must be right.” She kept a light tone: she fully respected Saskia and thought she was a lovely person, but Eithne’s feelings for Damien sometimes clouded that respect. It was difficult, feeling jealous of Saskia and then being wracked with guilt for liking Damien.

Damien smiled at her handwaving. It was true, most humans did seem immature in comparison to faeries, their lives fleeting. “Yes, she might be a bit of an obstacle,” he admitted. “I think she’s a singer, but I don’t like the way she sings.” While he could see value in a lot of the human world, he would never be impressed by their music. It wasn’t the same as fae music. Having never met Jace, he couldn’t comment on her assumption. “I suppose you can ask him what he’d like to do,” he said. “She does know Alaska quite well,” he conceded, “but it does seem strange.” No faerie would leave their family like that: they were loyal. 

“Just ‘a bit’,” Eithne quoted, laughing. “Ah, I see. If Leia brings her up to me, I’ll have to think of an excuse. Or maybe it’d be okay and you just have bad taste; that wouldn’t surprise me.” She poked him in the arm with a smile. “I’ll give it a go. I’ll report back tomorrow if he doesn’t decide to just fireball me in lieu of a reply.” Not that she was scared of talking to him, just sensibly apprehensive. “It is weird. I wonder if she’ll ever come back.” She couldn’t imagine the rest of the family settling down properly without her.

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

“That’s my job,” Damien teased, aware that it wasn’t quite yet. “It’s hard when you don’t know him, too. Maybe you should see if you can spend time together in a social context. I understand that Leia and Saskia are friendly with the rest of the family; I assume that helps with the teaching.” When a younger faerie was struggling with their powers, they were usually paired with a faerie of the same element who they knew. It stood to reason that the humans would be similar. “From what Leia’s said, it sounds like it. They clearly respect him. I think Alaska was the mother, until she left.” None of them knew if she was coming back, and none of the faeries knew why she’d left; the family had refused to talk about it.

“Not quite yet, don’t go getting ahead of yourself,” Eithne joked, reaching out to gently boop him on the nose. “Ooh, maybe I should. I’ll have to ask him what his hobbies are and then try and do something with him. What hobbies do humans tend to have?” She mused to herself, assuming she and Jace wouldn’t have many mutual interests. Unless he enjoyed discovering new countries, which might be a slightly expensive hobby for him. “I doubt he’d want to go dancing,” she said with a laugh, referring to one of her favourite pastimes. “Makes sense. We don’t know anything about why she left, do we?” She asked, finding herself interested in the whole dynamic of the family. Most faeries were at least slightly interested in them, given that they were the first humans with any sort of powers.

“I’m just getting in some practise, then,” he said, rolling his eyes at her pedantry. “This is beginning to sound like a romcom plot.” He paused. “I cannot believe that I just said that. I might well strangle Leia later.” Plenty of faeries did watch films, to be fair, especially younger fae. There were still a lot of traditionalists who eschewed human ways; they wouldn’t be best pleased to hear their prince referencing films. “I don’t think you’d like human dancing. It usually involves loud music.” Not that he’d experienced it: this was something else he’d picked up from films. “They’ve been quite reticent about it. Saskia said it’s related to their powers and that Felix had taken her leaving personally. She brought them all together in the first place, and they’re still adjusting to life without her.”

Eithne smiled angelically at his eye-roll. She enjoyed riling him up more than she should but, really, a future King ought to be able to deal with annoyances, otherwise they’d be a pretty pitiful ruler. “Oh, no, don’t say that,” she replied, wincing. “I’ll be thinking about it next time and end up laughing in the poor kid’s face.” She couldn’t imagine thinking about Jace romantically - ugh. “Leia is a terrible influence on you,” she agreed jokingly. Eithne had spent a lot of time with Leia, as one does with their best friend’s siblings, and admired her enthusiasm and love of human life. “Hm, maybe not then. A lot of human music makes my ears bleed. This still doesn’t help with my problem of how to deal with him. We could… go bowling!” She suggested, plucking a random activity out of nowhere. “Sounds like it was quite selfish, then, if they’re all suffering without her.”

“Kid? He’s the same age as you, Eithne,” he said, though it made his heart a little lighter hearing her laugh at the idea of being with Jace romantically. “She is. I should have her executed.” It wasn’t a possibility - faeries had never had the death penalty. They didn’t have crimes in the same way as humans did. Their only crime, unwritten but understood, was to kill another faerie. Those that did were outcast. “It’s just not the same, is it? Leia has tried to convince me that some of it’s good. She played something called Katy Perry at one point and it was very disturbing.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Bowling?” Faeries had similar activities involving targets, but none of them involved wearing borrowed shoes. “Saskia insists she must have had a good reason,” he said, with a light shrug.

 “Pfft,” she said airily, waving a hand. Faeries liked to think of humans as children, considering how much longer faeries lived, and Eithne occasionally forgot that she wasn’t actually older. She laughed at the idea of Damien trying to get Leia executed. “You’d have to get through Saskia first and good luck with that.” Besides, Eithne knew Leia and Damien loved each other really. “No, I think some of their... what they call ‘classic’ music is nice, but it’s nothing special. What’s a Katy Perry?” She asked, frowning in confusion. She would always find it odd when half-faeries chose to spend more of their time in the human world than the fae one. “Well, I know they like to do that,” she defended with a shrug. “And I can imagine Jace would enjoy something that was competitive.” Maybe she should ask someone who spent more time with the humans, like Leia or Saskia; they might have a better idea. “If Saskia says so then I suppose she must be right.” She kept a light tone: she fully respected Saskia and thought she was a lovely person, but Eithne’s feelings for Damien sometimes clouded that respect. It was difficult, feeling jealous of Saskia and then being wracked with guilt for liking Damien.

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

“That’s my job,” Damien teased, aware that it wasn’t quite yet. “It’s hard when you don’t know him, too. Maybe you should see if you can spend time together in a social context. I understand that Leia and Saskia are friendly with the rest of the family; I assume that helps with the teaching.” When a younger faerie was struggling with their powers, they were usually paired with a faerie of the same element who they knew. It stood to reason that the humans would be similar. “From what Leia’s said, it sounds like it. They clearly respect him. I think Alaska was the mother, until she left.” None of them knew if she was coming back, and none of the faeries knew why she’d left; the family had refused to talk about it.

“Not quite yet, don’t go getting ahead of yourself,” Eithne joked, reaching out to gently boop him on the nose. “Ooh, maybe I should. I’ll have to ask him what his hobbies are and then try and do something with him. What hobbies do humans tend to have?” She mused to herself, assuming she and Jace wouldn’t have many mutual interests. Unless he enjoyed discovering new countries, which might be a slightly expensive hobby for him. “I doubt he’d want to go dancing,” she said with a laugh, referring to one of her favourite pastimes. “Makes sense. We don’t know anything about why she left, do we?” She asked, finding herself interested in the whole dynamic of the family. Most faeries were at least slightly interested in them, given that they were the first humans with any sort of powers.

“I’m just getting in some practise, then,” he said, rolling his eyes at her pedantry. “This is beginning to sound like a romcom plot.” He paused. “I cannot believe that I just said that. I might well strangle Leia later.” Plenty of faeries did watch films, to be fair, especially younger fae. There were still a lot of traditionalists who eschewed human ways; they wouldn’t be best pleased to hear their prince referencing films. “I don’t think you’d like human dancing. It usually involves loud music.” Not that he’d experienced it: this was something else he’d picked up from films. “They’ve been quite reticent about it. Saskia said it’s related to their powers and that Felix had taken her leaving personally. She brought them all together in the first place, and they’re still adjusting to life without her.”

Eithne smiled angelically at his eye-roll. She enjoyed riling him up more than she should but, really, a future King ought to be able to deal with annoyances, otherwise they’d be a pretty pitiful ruler. “Oh, no, don’t say that,” she replied, wincing. “I’ll be thinking about it next time and end up laughing in the poor kid’s face.” She couldn’t imagine thinking about Jace romantically - ugh. “Leia is a terrible influence on you,” she agreed jokingly. Eithne had spent a lot of time with Leia, as one does with their best friend’s siblings, and admired her enthusiasm and love of human life. “Hm, maybe not then. A lot of human music makes my ears bleed. This still doesn’t help with my problem of how to deal with him. We could... go bowling!” She suggested, plucking a random activity out of nowhere. “Sounds like it was quite selfish, then, if they’re all suffering without her.”

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

“That’s my job,” Damien teased, aware that it wasn’t quite yet. “It’s hard when you don’t know him, too. Maybe you should see if you can spend time together in a social context. I understand that Leia and Saskia are friendly with the rest of the family; I assume that helps with the teaching.” When a younger faerie was struggling with their powers, they were usually paired with a faerie of the same element who they knew. It stood to reason that the humans would be similar. “From what Leia’s said, it sounds like it. They clearly respect him. I think Alaska was the mother, until she left.” None of them knew if she was coming back, and none of the faeries knew why she’d left; the family had refused to talk about it.

“Not quite yet, don’t go getting ahead of yourself,” Eithne joked, reaching out to gently boop him on the nose. “Ooh, maybe I should. I’ll have to ask him what his hobbies are and then try and do something with him. What hobbies do humans tend to have?” She mused to herself, assuming she and Jace wouldn’t have many mutual interests. Unless he enjoyed discovering new countries, which might be a slightly expensive hobby for him. “I doubt he’d want to go dancing,” she said with a laugh, referring to one of her favourite pastimes. “Makes sense. We don’t know anything about why she left, do we?” She asked, finding herself interested in the whole dynamic of the family. Most faeries were at least slightly interested in them, given that they were the first humans with any sort of powers.

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.

Damien wrinkled his nose up; that did sound less than ideal. “Oh dear. I hope the others are having more luck.” Leia was generally quite upbeat, though she’d been a little reserved on the subject of Morgan recently. Fern was lovely and he couldn’t imagine they’d be having a problem. “Maybe you need to take a different approach. He probably doesn’t like feeling like you’re coming in and taking over - he’s the oldest, isn’t he? Try showing him how you do it and asking how he does it. Tell him about the faerie world - you could talk about how we use different approaches for each faerie child developing their powers. It’ll make him feel like he’s learning about us too and he’ll feel that he’s on a more even footing. Remember you’re both fire, you’re going to clash at first but you’ll get there.” It didn’t surprise him that Jace was suspicious. Damien was, too. 

Eithne had know that coming to Damien would be a good idea. She considered what he was saying, tilting her head to one side. “That is a very good point. I always knew the two of us would clash a bit, but I didn’t really consider how he might be feeling.” Predicting how other people would be feeling wasn’t exactly one of Eithne’s strengths, but thankfully Damien was more aware of others than she was - it was something you wanted from a future monarch. “Maybe if I manage to get him on my side, it might make everyone else’s jobs a bit easier; the rest of them might listen to him. He’s almost like the dad of the group, isn’t he?” She said, basing what she knew about the family from what she’d heard from Leia and Saskia.

Eithne couldn’t help but laugh when Damien asked if it wasn’t going as she hoped. “Jace is the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. He seems to be of the opinion that he has his powers perfectly under control, and there’s nothing he can’t do that I can, despite the fact I’ve had years more than he’s had to fine-tune them,” she explain while rolling her eyes. “We’re supposed to be seeing what they can do and offering tips to help them to make sure they’ve got it all under control but he seems almost suspicious of me and keeps refusing to show me what powers he has. How am I supposed to do what I’ve been asked to if he’s simply refusing?” She hadn’t been told much about what exactly their mission was, but she was supposed to be reporting back on what their powers were in order to help them. They wouldn’t exactly be able to help them to develop their powers if some of them didn’t trust them.