#feynites

“I'm IN THE WORKSHOP!” sheyells up at the rafters, causing Inquiry to jump at the sudden noise.Selene glares up at where Deceit has perched themselves, watching herwork unrepentant.

“Accidents have still been known tooccur here,” Deceit offers in lieu of an apology.

“This is ridiculous,” Selenedeclares, slamming the cover of her notebook closed. “I can't livethe rest of my life inside the bedroom because of a single incident.You can not keep doing this.”

“We agreed to let you return to theworkshop,” Deceit retorts “You did not specify a desire forprivacy.”

“I-!” Selene throws her hands up inthe air before dragging them down her face. “You're right. Ok.Fine. I didn't specify. Consider this to be me specifying.”

Deceit is silent for a moment beforesaying “Then we would like to retract our earlier permissions.”

“Are you kidding m-”

BeforeSelene can finish her sentence, she's been dragged through thedreaming, and back into the familiar walls of Dirthamen's chambers.

Shelets out a frustrated cry as she falls back onto the bed.

Deceitappears again after a moment, in their elvhen form rather than as araven, and sits down beside her.

“You areupset,” They note, long thin fingers stroking through the loosecurls of her hair.

“Yes,”Selene says, arms spreading wide above her. “Yes,I am. I'm upset that you seem determined to keep me locked upsomewhere.”

“Youwere free to go,” Deceit frowns.

“Solong as I had a chaperone,” Selene mutters.

“Selene,you were kidnapped from within our territories-We did not know whereyou were, or if you were alive or not. We did not know if you weresafe, or being harmed, or if you would ever return.”

“Yeah,and you know what those people who kidnapped me did?” She argues,glancing up to make eye contact  “Keep me under constantsurveillance, locked up in a room I wasn't allowed to leave.”

Deceithesitates.

“Itis not the same,” They finally say.

“Maybenot from where you'restanding,” She grumbles, scrubbing her hands down her face again.“But as the princess locked in the tower let me just say; a changeof scenery really isn't that much of an improvement.”

Deceitshands still in her hair as they stare down at her.

Selenelets out a breath.

“Ididn't-” She sighs “I don't mean that I'm not glad you found me.I am. I still love you, all of you, very dearly, and I couldn't evenbegin to accurately portray the amount of joy I felt to be back withyou. But I cannot handle being watched every moment of the day. I doneed some measure ofprivacy, or else...” she moves her eyes up to the ceiling “Idon't know. I just know it makes me feel as though you no longertrust me. I can't live with needing permissionto go to work, or the mess hall, or the gardens. It just makes mefeel...”

“Trapped,”Deceit finishes quietly.

Seleneswallows and nods.

Deceitseyes crinkle the way that they do when they are arguing internally.After a few minutes of silence they finally speak up.

“Wedo not wish to make you feel as though we are keeping you prisoner,”They say slowly. “But we are still concerned that you could betaken away again. Perhaps we could come to some sort of...agreement?”

Seleneblinks, and sits up, propping herself up on her elbows.

“Whatsort of agreement?”

–

Ittakes a bit of negotiating, but they come to a resolution beforemorning.

Ondays where Dirthamen is feeling particularly vulnerable, or Fear isparticularly large, Selene agrees to stay with them in some way.Whether at their side, or under their watch, or with Sairal at herside if it is also a day where her presence is required elsewhere.

Ondays where Selene is feeling stifled, she is allowed to give them abreathing word, which lets them know that she is having a bad day ofher own, and needs privacy. At that point, Fear is permitted to take stock of wards andsecurity, and Selene is allowed to have as much time as she desiresto herself, without any of their eyes on her.

Ifboth events occur on the same day, Dirthamen is permitted to approachSelenes space, provided he brings some separate activity he is ableto occupy himself with. A book of his own, or a thought to meditateon, or even just paperwork that requires his attention. Often onthese days, it leads to Selene walking through and reading or writingin her gardens, with Dirthamen occupying himself on one of thebenches. Her presence still eases and grounds him, and she is leftundisturbed and unwatched in her own time.

It's asystem which requires self-restraint not to abuse, but it works outfor them both. It allows them the room to adjust back to their usualroutines, and to leave open space for communication and adjustment ifanything else occurs moving forward.

Seleneis feeling particularly tired on this day, and Dirthamen is feelingless solid than makes other people comfortable, and so she agrees tostay with him. She shifts into her smaller dragon form, and crawlscarefully up his back to curl up in the hood of his cloak.

It isvery comfortable, and the silver thread embroidery in the edges ofthis particular cloak give her something to focus on attaining. Sheis not very nimble in this form yet, still largely unpracticed andentirely without thumbs, but that does not stop her dragon-esque mindfrom trying to pick the silver thread out of the hood with her claws.

She istrying not to shift too much in the hood, covered only by the longlength of Dirthamen's hair today; thicker than usual, though shethinks he may be doing that on purpose. But she cannot stop thecompulsion in her to pull at the shiny thread, using claws and teethto try and rend it loose. Nor can she stop the soft squeaks or tinygrowls of frustration that drift out of her. She is tugging on an endshe has nearly managed to pull free when Dirthamen turns a cornersuddenly, and she tumbles backwards into him. A soft puff of airescapes her, and she hears the quiet chuckle of his own at herantics.

It'snot funny damn it.

Shewants that shiny thread!

Stupidmagically reinforced clothing...

Sheclambers up his shoulder to tell him about her plight, but when shedoes, her eyes are caught by the decorations on the front of hiscloak.

He'sgot buttons on.

Niceones, too.

Allthoughts of secrecy and staying hidden fly from her head, overriddenby thoughts of how lovely those buttons will look all piled uptogether with her, how nice and cool they'll feel against her scales,how they will already smell like him, and how easy it would be to tugthem from his cloak right now.

Shequickly climbs down the front of him with an awed cooing sound,stopping Dirthamen in his tracks as she darts directly for hertargets.

Yes,yes, they are so close, the first one is just out of reach but shecan just-

Anotherelf comes around a nearby corner, and Selene lets out a veryundignified squeak as Dirthamen grabs her and stuffs her inside of his cloak.

No,damn it, she doesn't want to be in the cloak. The buttons are on theoutside! That's whereshe needs to be!

Dirthamen!

Dirthamen!

Her attempts tocall his name go unanswered as she is still only able to manage basicdragon noises and nothing as complex as true consonants yet. His gripon her only tightens slightly, trying to still her squirming andwriggling as she tries to at least get her face through one of thegaps to get a button into her mouth.

There is a quietconversation, and then Dirthamen releases her, some of the tension inhis shoulders falling away. Selene quickly pushes her headthrough the front of his cloak, teeth snatching one of theintricately decorated buttons and yanking it.

To little avail,other than a wry look from her god lover.

She lets out apitiful whine and pulls on the button again, trying to communicate tohim that she needs these buttons. She needs them.

Dirthamen lets outa sigh and scritches at the space between her horns.

“You may havethem when I am done for the day,” He promises. “But for now, itwould be safer if you returned to where you were resting.”

Selene huffs,and tugs pointedly on the buttons a few more times. When they do notso much as loosen, she dejectedtly crawls back up and into the hood.

She lets out a longyawn as she curls around herself and settles, Dirthamen finallymaking his way into one of his more important meeting rooms. Moretired from her attempts than she realized, Selene quickly findsherself dozing off into a comfortable nap while voices drone onaround her and Dirthamen finds his seat.

She is unsure howmuch time has passed when she lazily blinks her eyes open.

What she issure of, is that one of the attendants in this meeting is wearingearrings that she would like to have very, very much.

And just her luck,the attendant is being sent out of the room to gather food and drink.

Selene slinkscarefully out of the hood, and follows them out the door before itcan close behind them.

Silent, sneakypredator, she thinks proudly, still crouched low to the corners.

She's learned theshadows in Dirthamen's castle well in her time here, practicallybefriended them really, and they offer her the cover she requests asshe moves. Knowing where her prey is headed helps her to take knownshortcuts to cover for the difference in their current leg size.Flying could risk being heard; sneaky is better.

The attendantenters the kitchen just as Selene crawls up through one of the tiles,silently replacing it with her tail as she eyes her prey one moretime.

Shiny, danglinggolden earrings.

Yes, she thinks. Iwould like to have those.

She waits untilthey are distracted by one of the servants, hurrying to compose aplatter of suitable fruits and drinks for whomever Dirthamen iscurrently meeting with, and slowly flies herself up just high enoughto reach the earrings. Hovering in the air just behind them as shereaches forward, jaws open wide to try to snatch them before she iscaught-

And then theattendant turns around.

It is around thistime that it registers to Selene that the attendant is not one ofDirthamens.

They are one ofSylaise's.

They let out ablood curdling shriek, and go flying through the kitchen, screamingand yelling for someone to help them, there is a dragonin the kitchen and it is trying to eat them!

Selene is stillhovering, huffing that she was not trying to eat them, she onlywanted their earrings after all, when she sees Des's face peak in,curious about all the fuss.

He blinks when hesees her.

She blinks back andwaves, gesturing to his neck and then to her own, trying tocommunicate that 'yes I like your necklace may I have it please?'.

He drops it hastilyto the floor, and she makes a joyful squeak as she drops down after it, quickly scurrying over to gather her prize.

Success!

–

Dirthamen is tryingvery hard not to panic.

Panicking in thepresence of his sister would surely only lead to further problems.But as he feels the weight of Selenes dragon form leave his hood thepanic rises in him, slowly but surely.

He is unsure if sheis still in the room or not.

He is unsure if itwould be worse if she were not.

His sistercontinues on with her concerns about trade routes and June's latestcreative needs, and Dirthamen continues trying to focus, but findshimself more and more concerned with where Selene might have run offto.

If she were to bediscovered in her current form by one of his sister's people, itwould surely only lead to problems. Problems he could not contain,and which would make keeping Selene safe significantly moredifficult.

He is trying veryhard not to panic.

One of Sylaise'sattendants bursts into the room, screaming about something in thekitchen and a dragon trying to eat them and-

Oh no.

Dirthamen feels hisstomach lurch as his sister turns to look at him, and he is unsure ofhow to cover this particular deception.

It is then that Desjoins the room.

“Sorry,” Hesays, head low and in a deep bow. “My apologies for intruding, butI wished to assure you all that there is no dragon in the kitchen.I'm afraid our poor attendant has had a very confusing few minutes.”

“I SAW A DRAGON!”The attendant screeches. “IT HAD ROWS AND ROWS OF TEETH, AND IT WASTRYING TO SWALLOW ME WHOLE!”

“What you saw was one of ourlatest experiments for the labyrinth gotten loose,” Des lies. “TheLady Ghilan'nain had sent us a large winged snake in the past, and wehave been breeding it with other creatures in an attempt to makesmaller versions we could release in swarms.  One of them must have gottenloose; I apologize for the scare.”

“Do you think Iwould not know the difference between a dragon and a snake?!” Theattendant snaps.

“Are you sayingyou do not think I would be aware of a dragon within my ownterritory?” Dirthamen interrupts, exuding as much confidence aboutthe matter as he is capable of.

The attendant shiesback “No, my lord. Of course not.”

“We apologize forthe fright you must have had,” Dirthamen continues, eager to end thesubject. “Des will go and gather the...snake, and ensure this doesnot happen again.”

Des bows deeplyagain, murmuring a quiet “Yep, got it,” before leaving the room.

Dirthamen turns theconversation back to the matter of Sylaise's requests, and breathes asilent sigh of relief.

At least he knowswhere Selene is now, he supposes.

–

Selene is stillin the kitchens when Des finds her again, crawling through drawers ofsilverware and attempting to steal/hold a very respectful number of spoonsin the curl of her tail. Two freckled hands ply her out of one of thecabinets, tucking her quickly into the folds of a silken robe. Shewriggles and complains until she realizes that it is a very fineset of robes which feels rather wonderful over her scales. She settlescomfortably into the crook of Des's arms while he carries her back tohis chambers until he drops her unceremoniously onto his bed.

“You could'vegotten into a lot of trouble today,” He lectures. “Only one of uscan be the troublemaker, and I'm calling dibs on that role.”

Selene grumbles upat him because she wasn't trying to make trouble, she was only tryingto be the sneaky predator she's meant to be. She holds up hisnecklace as proof of her competence.

He laughs.

She notices therings on his fingers.

--

By the timeDirthamen finds her again, she's curled up around a large pile ofnecklaces, rings, bracelets, and spoons in the center of Des'smattress, guarding them while Des paints her claws with some of hispolish that makes them shiny too.

She lets out aquiet squeak when she sees Dirthamen enter, and crawls across Des'sbedspread (While Des yells something like “Not dry!”) to greethim. He greets her back, fingers finding the soft spot under her chinand rubbing it until she is purring in contentment. Selene closes her eyes and relaxes into his touch,much more comfortable now that she's made a successful hoard forherself.

Although, sherealizes, it's not quite finished yet.

She reluctantlypulls her head from his hand, and starts pulling on the buttons ofhis cloak again.

“Yes, alright,”Dirthamen nods, tearing off the buttons one at a time and handingthem to her “I made you a promise.”

Selene lets out avictorious cry and immediately carries her new treasure to her hoard,depositing them right on top. She curls her body around her treasure,and gives a happy mewl towards Dirthamen to show him what she hasaccomplished today.

He is lessimpressed with her skills as a predator than she thinks he should be.

But he smiles andtells her he is proud of her all the same.

Selene preens up athim, and curls back around her shinies.

  She enjoys the conferences because they’re a chance for her to learn new things from the people most (usually) enthusiastic about the topic.  And Lialva is completely charming - she unabashedly loves what she does and hasn’t picked up any pretentious academic nonsense.   Davuna was not expecting to get hit upside the head with the “Oh no she’s cute” brick though.   Normally she’s pretty good at talking to people and being an excellent listener and sounding board but she has to keep biting down on the urge to just blurt out that she thinks Lialva is adorable.  It’s really quite distressing especially because the only “romantic” things she can think to say are cheesy lines from her father’s romance novels.  (For his sake she won’t admit to ever reading them.)

After a few days of this and frantically asking her parents and Ghilan’nain for advice (which is an adventure in and of itself - Andruil chimes in at one point) she finally asks her out for lunch somewhere and tells her.  Then she promptly turns bright pink and starts muttering about the weather.  Ghilan’nain is in a corner somewhere observing this interaction and is honestly expecting her niece to start changing colors like an octopus.  

Should Lialva return the sentiment and the pair begin dating or courting, it would proceed fairly comfortably I think?  Though it would likely include such adventures as 

I Know I’m a Marine Biologist But I’m Here to Study Butterflies For REASONS.

and

Come Look at All the Potential Butterfly Food Plants I have Over Here That Are A Complete Coincidence.

and also

Oh No! A Very Special Hedgehog Escaped Ghilan’nain’s Territory We Have to Go on a LONG Hike By Ourselves to Catch It Before Things Happen!  (Nevermind that I Put It There Myself Conveniently Next to a Nice Pool.)  Hey a Pool!  We Should Go Swimming After Our Hike.  (And if other things happen, well, other things happen.  Yes there is a full-body blush to go with all those freckles.)

There might also be How Many Pearls Can I Cover My Girlfriend In Before It’s Too Much?  

Let’s not forget Did That Person Upset You? They Will Have Nightmares For Months.  

All in all, very cute, very fluffy.