On the second day he woke to silver. He woke to the mist hugging low the grasses. He woke to the comfort of being filled, of Nowaki still inside him. He woke to arms of seeming immeasurable strength and infinite gentleness. He woke to silence.

Slowly he blinked.

And then in panic he began to shake the bronze shoulders that filled out behind his own, twisting and sliding off his lover. The evidence of last night's pleasure had dried on his stomach and chest, thighs and he swore he could even feel some on his cheek. Just how many times had they done it last night? He ignored the ache for such thoughts were not important.

"Nowaki!"

She was looking at them. Looking at them the way a mountain might gaze down at a mole hill.

"Nowaki!"

The greater man stirred, nose scrunching up and eye lids flickering. He did not open them though, instead choosing to draw the professor closer and bury his face into auburn hair.

"Hirosan…don't want to…"

"I don't give a fuck if you want to or not, GET UP!" The irony of him having to force Nowaki awake was not lost on him. Without giving it another thought he kicked out, strong enough to send the giant rolling about a foot away. The sudden rush of cool air, or perhaps it was the sudden damp of the dew on his back, seemed to do the trick.

"Hirosan, what is—?" Nowaki shut himself up as the sight of her.

She stood there, before them, garbed in nothing but a cloak, spun from moon beams. Hair of white gold shimmered as it twisted and waved in an aura around her, leaves and flowers caught in the gilded net.

She looked at them with old eyes that spoke of time without end. Hiroki shivered as he was pierced by her gaze, feeling vulnerable beyond his nudity. Lips, a shade of perfection not found in any mortal realm, curved into a gentle smile sending the hairs on the back of Nowaki's neck on end as together they rose to meet her.

The air around her wavered, warped as though the world were the surface of a pond and she was forcing her way to the surface. Ripples traveled out as she stepped closer.

"My lady." Nowaki bowed, so deep it bordered on mocking. Hiroki made to imitate but remembered his new found royalty just in time and stopped halfway. She smiled prettily at the new king, showing her teeth. Hiroki drew his shoulders back and his chin up, returning the smile with a stiff one of his own. It did not take much imagination to see a crown upon his wild hair and a cloak of his own trailing behind him in the moss.

"To what do we owe this pleasure?" He did not know of what she was the lady of, but something in him sang at her presence. It was deep, primeval, and it hummed in recognition.

Slowly, with all the grace of a sunrise, she reached out to him, her palm caressing his cheek with a cool touch.

"Your Highness, it is not you I seek." Her voice was the harmony of growing things, laced with the beat of dying hearts.

He stiffened, suddenly wary of how vulnerable Nowaki was beside her. Eyes darted around the clearing, and for the first time he realized they were completely alone. Silently he cursed the phooka. His decision was made final by the all-encompassing hand on his shoulder, warm and solid in his panic. There was no thought as he stepped forward, putting himself between his lover and the lady.

He opened his mouth, tongue ready to form words. But he couldn't. Nor could he bring his hands to his lips at the surprise of it. He eyes would have widened at the shock of what she had done to him but he was frozen, his time stopped as the world continued to move around him. She brushed by. Goose bumps formed at her passing.

He was not spared a thought as she forgot him, her mind of the present. She was a fae and by nature the past slipped her mind. The here and now was their eternity, their universe did not stretch to the what was or what would be. Her actions were conducted by impulse and it was by impulse that she reached both hands up, slender fingers blazing lily white against Nowaki's cheeks as she grasped him with a surprising strength.

Her kiss sent a wave of confusion through Nowaki. His eyelids dropped to half-mast as a haze filled his mind, clouding his thoughts and hiding away the voice screaming at him about the pure wrongness that rose at the feel of her lips, like the petals of a rose, against his own. One thought did come clear though, one name stabbing through him, shattering the spell.

Hiroki watched as Nowaki reeled back, one of his hands flying to cover his mouth, the other raised before him like a ward. Inside his mind he screamed as she laughed, the sound like rain against leaves.

"My-my lady!" Another of her laughs pealed as she flitted around him, her hair a trail of golden light behind her as her fingers glided over firm muscle tensed and ready to spring away.

"Kusama Nowaki, giant son." Her teeth, like pearls, flashed. "I claim you."

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

The cloud of despair that hung over them was pierced by the sudden ear splitting chirps that announced Jack's return, and subsequent displeasure with their delay. He was, after all, missing his nest, and being a rather good looking robin if he did say so himself (his chest was the brightest found this side of the wood after all) he was most likely being missed.

Misaki chirped back and the robin took off. Quickly the fae pulled his companion to his feet and they took off after the flash of red. Akihiko could not help but notice that the forest did not look so bright anymore, nor as welcoming, and the weight in his stomach almost made him wish Misaki would release his hand and leave him to the numb abyss that threatened to overtake his mind.

It was then that Misaki stopped and through their connection he was pulled backwards, almost off his feet so sudden was it. He looked at the brownie, only to see emerald eyes wide and staring, seeing beyond what his own human eyes were capable of.

He almost jumped at the sudden crash as something dropped from the sky, tearing through the foliage as it went and without warning Misaki was pulling him behind his own slight body as the black shape barreled towards them. Akihiko's hands were around the other's chest, pulling him back as the massive black shape advanced at unbelievable speeds. There wasn't time to even close his eyes when suddenly the great mass froze in place and he was able to make out what it was.

It was a great horse, so black that no light reflected from its coat and twice the height of Misaki at least. And from above the golden eyes looked down upon them, seeing all, but revealing nothing. Half in hysterics Akihiko's mind chose to wonder if all faeries looked at you like that.

Against his chest Misaki was shaking, and even though he didn't know the nature of the enemy they faced, the author could feel clearly the aura of wild power that this creature wore like a crown. He throat had run dry, and he swallowed before opening his mouth in hopes of getting some truth from the horse. But there was no need, the great being spoke first.

"Your presence is required by my king." The two stared at him for a moment, the whites of their eyes clear in their shock and fright. Finally Misaki found his voice, strangled and quiet though it was.

"If I might ask, of which court do you call your own?" To this the horse seemed to stand taller, its chest swelling with pride.

"I am of the Unseelie court and long have I served there."

"T-then you are to take us to our Lord Arawn?"

"That I will not, for I serve a new king at this time, before I may return to my station." Misaki nodded in understanding of the situation.

"My apologies great phooka. I pray your service is a short one." The phooka nodded back in acknowledgement.

"My order still stand. I am to take you too my king."

"And may I ask the name of this King you call your master?" Throughout the conversation Akihiko had not relaxed his grip nor had Misaki's muscles lose their ridged nature. At the phooka's answer this changed.

"His Highness Kamijou Hiroki."

Without another word the couple mounted the beast and together they took to the skies.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

Cool fingers brushed raven locks and in their absence was seen a crown of oak and fox glove, twisted into a circlet that pulsed with light. She danced around him, those same fingers caressing hard muscles and tracing the curves of bone. Nowaki shivered and the cloak of moss and sticks that now covered his shoulders and fanned out behind his bare form shivered too.

"My Lady—" His sentence though was lost in the pure words that spilled from between her pearly teeth.

"Yes, I, your Lady be.

Come my lover, dance with me.

Fill the absence of my thighs.

Unfurl to me the stars on highs.

As my old lord was injured thus,

Come to me to mount and thrust.

Fill me with your ample fount,

Come I need a ripening bout."

Together Hiroki and Nowaki's faces bleached paper white, for both knew the fate of the consort of the praying mantis. And both knew how little the difference was between her and the Summer Queen. Neither man really fancied the idea of Nowaki impregnating the Lady, only to die and be reborn a child the next year. They did not know how the old King had been injured, but neither really felt any impulse or sense of duty to replace him. Nowaki thought fast as Hiroki strained against invisible bonds.

"My Lady…" Nowaki struggled for the words.

"If thou wish a trist with me…

Then grant to me these wished three:

An egg with no mother

A sea with no shore

A moon unchanging

That's all, no more.

With these boons, my sword I'll pledge.

And remain here, this side the hedge."

With those words the dance stopped, frozen before without warning she whirled. Any human like façade was gone now as they stood face to face with the twisted features of a demon, born from the deepest pits. Nowaki, stumbled back only to collide with Hiroki. He could think of nothing to do but wrap his arms around his lover, shielding as best he could now his symbols of power had left.

And then she was gone.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

It took a good ten minutes of Misaki explaining the dynamics of goblin power succession before Akihiko was finally able understand just how his childhood friend was now the king of the very same beings he had been afraid lived in his closet until he was seven.

It was a good fifteen minutes before they finally arrived at a clearing, the remains of a great fire still smoldering in its center, but this was not what drew their attention.

"Hiroki!" Said brunet's head snapped up as his attention was immediately drawn away from Nowaki.

"Bakahiko! Where have you been?!" Akihiko quickly flung himself from the back of the Phooka, a good sized drop from the ground. With one hand still attached to the author, Misaki scrambled to follow without breaking anything. Realizing the brownies predicament Akihiko momentarily forgot Hiroki as he lifted Misaki from the fae's back, holding him against him with both hands at Misaki's hips, perhaps a second longer than necessary, before slowly lowering the shorter man to the grass. It was only then when he turned back to Hiroki.

"So I hear your king now? Whatever shall I tell your mother?"

"Don't change the subject idiot. Tell me what happened after I was dropped down that hole."

"Only if you tell me the same."

"Deal."

Stories were exchanged as Misaki kept his eyes steadily trained to the grass between his toes and Nowaki concentrated on searching for last night's discarded cloths, or at the very least their pants. To his luck he found these and a shirt and it was for this that he interrupted Hiroki's rather furious account of their interaction with the fae queen.

"I still don't understand just who she thought she was, propositioning Nowaki like that." As Hiroki finished the zip to his pants, Misaki, looking up, finally decided to add his input.

"Our Green Lord had been injured, and can now no longer rule." Hiroki, in the middle of a silent battle with his lover for the lone shirt, cast his sharp gaze at the timid brownie.

"Injured? What, so he's damaged goods and she no longer wants him now?" Misaki frowned at him and Akihiko was almost taken aback at how offended the boy looked. Hiroki on the other hand slipped the shirt over his head, despite it being clearly too big for him.

"It's more than that! He…he's been injured…you know…" He made a vague gesture below his waist. "And our Lady needs a lover. Our Lady is this. All of this." Akihiko found himself following along as Misaki spread his hands out to the trees around them, turning. With a smirk Akihiko managed to manipulate the turn so that the shorter ended up pressed to his chest. Misaki frowned at him, but didn't pull away as he continued. "The Lord gives the seed so that the Lady might grow ripe. If the Lord cannot provide then there must be a new Lord. If there isn't…then Arawn comes for us all." Misaki shuddered and grew silent, drawing Akihiko's arms tighter around him as if searching for warmth. Realizing that that was all that was going to be said, Nowaki picked up the trail.

"So that revel last night was for her to pick her new lover. And she chose me?" Hiroki's expression adopted a certain smug air. He quickly dropped it at the amused look from Akihiko.

"But why would she chose you when you are clearly with Hiroki?" the author asked. "Wouldn't that start a war with the goblins?" Misaki shook his head.

"There already is a war with the goblins. There must be. The Unseelie Court will never make peace with the Seelie Court. It is the way of things. Darkness cannot live with light. It would die if it tried." Nowaki nodded his agreement before adding his own information from his place seated on the grass, head resting on Hiroki's thigh, said professor's fingers lightly grazing his scalp. It was odd. He had never been much for affection anywhere save behind closed doors, but something last night had changed. In fact he was finding it had to resist just ripping Nowaki's cloths off and having him right then and there. He concentrated, keeping himself in check as Nowaki spoke.

"Along with that, my being with Hirosan last night does not change anything. The fae are what we would call polyamorous. The Lady will have her one official consort, but she and they are free to find pleasure as long as he fulfills his role. Look at faerie tales. When has a faerie lover ever stayed faithful to a human? It's just not in their nature."

It was with those words that Akihiko felt something in him drop and a weight made itself known in the pit of his stomach. The arms around Misaki loosened as he understood. Feelings that had been ignored were forced to the front and in turn he was forced to realize their hopeless future. He tried to drop Misaki's hand but the fae wouldn't let him so instead the pain spread and his chest tightened until breathing became a feat for a man much stronger than he. Hiroki had continued talking as he stood there, able to do nothing but concentrate on fighting back the burning pressure behind his eyes. For he had realized the truth.

He was in love with Misaki.

And Misaki would never love him back.

So the Lord Arawn in the lord of the dead in Welsh mythology. I don't know if the Welsh have a psychopomp type god so I'm going with this.

The hedge that Nowaki mentions is the same hedge that hedge witches straddle. It is the barrier between this world and the wild one beyond. Think of the hedge around the Shire.

Did everyone enjoy Beltane? Have good sex? At least feel the need to kiss everyone within a fifty mile radius? I know I did. Which is weird since I'm pretty much asexual.

Sorry, I'm pagan. I swear, we can't hold a ten minute conversation without talking about genitalia.

Sex is a hug part of most forms of paganism. Not sex itself, although there is a lot of that, but more the symbolism. The coming together of two things to make something good. That's what Beltane is. Like rain and earth make the seed grow. Tell me that isn't sexy.

In Arthurian legend there is the story of the Fisher King whose groin is injured and in turn the land starts to die. In Irish mythology, if the King is in any way marred, there must be a new king. It's the idea that if the leader is healthy and strong, then the tribe shall also be healthy. Think of Khal Drogo. When he is no longer strong, he is abandoned. The Khaleesi did not understand this I guess. The system I've given is a bit Wiccan but the idea is older than Wicca.

Did you all at least dance yesterday? I know I did. I just got back and was finally able to give you all a chapter. Our Beltane lasted three days. We had a wicker man dance, a bon fire dance, and then a maypole. I hope you at least got to feel the beat of the drum, although I don't know how you can feel it and not dance. Really you don't have a choice in the dance. Your body moves, and shakes, and waves, and convulses and somewhere in the back of your mind you realize you've been dancing for hours but your body won't stop. It's very much like being high I've found. And the dance goes on until finally you black out from exhaustion and wake up the next morning. We had three drums and someone brought a flute and someone else didgeridoo which was hella cool. I sited the faun video last chapter, but Beltane is more than that. That video was so controlled, although they got the painting with ash and washing with dew correct. And the marriage, although ours was much more bawdy. There is no order to Beltane, just chaos. Have you ever been high from the dance and the drum? I don't think it helped that it was a full moon last night.

I'm sorry for the long txt block, it's just Beltane is so amazing and I want all of you to be able to know the feeling of the dance. There is nothing quite like surrendering your body to the dance as all your thoughts stop and there is nothing but the drum. I don't care if you follow an Abrahamic religion, or are atheist, or Buddhist, or anything else. I'm not trying to convert, I just want you to understand our dance.

I really would like it is you would go an read The Horned God—An Unofficial Biography by Damh the Bard. It's online and should only take five minutes. Please read it.