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King was looking forward to being able to actually rest for a few days. Sure the Sins already had another mission set up, and had to leave for it in two days. But that still meant two days of not having to sleep next to Ban.
And with how badly their last mission went, King desperately needed some time away.
The mission itself didn’t go bad , at least not any worse than most of the missions that the Sins go anyways. They were called in to take out a group of Earth Crawlers that had suddenly made a home in one of the forests out to the north east of the capitol. They randomly showed up and were getting a bit too close to the village in the area, so the people asked for help.
And help they did. It took them less than an hour to clear out the Earth Crawlers from the forest, Ban and Escanor just also happened to destroy a quarter of that forest at the same time. And then King had to spend two sleepless days fixing all of it, (which ok, he also might have figured out the root cause to the sudden appearance of the Earth Crawlers, and got to coo over some baby Moss Dragons while the parents went and re-established their territory. And got to meet all of the trees and plants in the area. And talked with the water spirits from the multiple bodies of water scattered about.) exhausting both himself and most of his magic stores.
With how exhausted King was, he was more focused on making it back to their rooms without having to be dragged through this damn courtyard, then on the little pitter patters of small feet running up behind him.
It wasn’t until a small, but loud, voice spoke up behind him that he noticed them.
“Hey, Grizzly Sin. I want to ask you something.” King looked over his shoulder, to see a collection of children behind him. The six of them seemed to be led by the one with short violet hair standing in front. It took King’s tired brain a second to remember who exactly this group was.
The Princesses and their Knights.
"Ask me something? What can I do?” King really hoped it wasn’t something that would need very much energy.
“Are you really a Fairy?” that- really wasn’t what King was expecting. I mean King hadn’t really tried to hide it, kinda hard to when he never really broke the habit of floating everywhere. And King’s fairly certain that even without that, the fact that flowers literally bloom whenever he’s around, would have given him away.
But still, he thought that most wouldn’t care about it, especially the middle Princess “I- yes? Is that important?”
The almost manic grin that split Princess Veronica’s face told him that yes, it was important, and that King probably doesn’t want to know why.
“I have questions about the Fae, and no one has been able to answer them.” Princess Margaret looked almost embarrassed at her sister's lack of tact.
“So you’re curious about fairies?” Princess Veronica nodded, and opened her mouth to speak, but King cut her off again. “Well before that. If you want to know more about us, you should know that ‘Fae’ and ‘Faerie’ aren’t nice names for us.”
“We prefer the names Fairy and Fairies. You can usually get away with Seelie too.” King shrugs slightly. “But that comes down to personal preference, more than anything.”
The other Sins must have realized that King wasn’t with them anymore, because he could hear them stopping behind him. Could feel Ban start to talk, but someone must have silenced him before King could, all he could hear was a cut off grunt.
“But, that’s what the books call you?” Princess Veronica seemed genuinely surprised. Like the idea of her books not being completely true hadn’t crossed her mind before.
“And most of those books were probably written by humans, who hadn’t ever met a Fairy before writing it.” King has had a few run-ins with those kinds of people. If he gets salt thrown at him one more time, he really can’t be held accountable for what he does.
“Well that’s stupid, why would you write something that you don’t know about?” King literally couldn’t agree more. If only more people thought like that, half of the issues that the Giant and Fairy races face nowadays would be nonexistent.
One of the Young Knights, Gilthunder, King was relatively certain, it’s kinda hard to mistake that pink hair. Stepped forward before Princess Veronica could speak again.
“Is it true that Fairies can read people's minds?” Most of the young group looked uncomfortable at the idea. Not little Princess Elizabeth though, she just looked happy to be here.
This wasn’t the first time that King had dealt with someone that was uncomfortable at the idea that King could hear their every thought. It was an issue when the Sins were first founded. Many of them didn’t like the idea that there was a member of their group that could read everything . So King would tell this group what he told his own.
“No, I can't read anyone's mind.” which, isn’t technically a lie. King couldn’t read anyone’s mind, most Fairies could yes, but King never picked up the ability. And being able to feel someone's emotions isn't the same thing as reading their thoughts. And they’ve never asked if King could feel people’s emotions, so really it's not on him that they don’t know about his powers.
Great, now that he was aware that he could feel everyone’s emotions, that was all he was feeling. The surprisewonderquestion coming from the group in front of him. The annoyancehumorinterest coming from behind him, Merlin, King would be willing to bet. The humor coming from the rest of the Sins, with almost all of them feeling some form of cute too.
King suddenly had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a quick conversation like he had hoped. And just as quickly decided that he’d rather not have it standing in the middle of the path like a fool. So when he spotted a patch of wildflowers and grass that looked to be recently cut, he started walking over to it.
It didn’t take more than a second for the children to start following him. With a burst of confusion from the other Sins, some of them moved to sit with him on the grass.
Once everyone was settled comfortably, did King turn the attention back to the Princess that started this whole questions thing.
“So, you want to know more? I can’t promise that I'll answer every question, but ask away.” the joyhappy and something that felt the emotional equivalent of ‘need to know’. It wasn’t helped by the grin that lit up her face that seemed to make all the others flinch back slightly.
“How do you get wings? Does something choose for you? Is it the Fairy King? Do you have wings?” Princess Margaret looked two words from fainting at this point. Young Gilthunder and young Griamore didn't look all that far behind her.
“ Val, stop it! ”
Despite the embarrassment that he would probably always feel when talking about his wings, King couldn't help but laugh a little. They reminded him so much of all the young Fairies that would ask him much the same questions. And even to an extent, they remind him of the questions he, Elaine, and Helbram, used to pester Fairy King Dahlia with when they were young.
“It's ok, really. I understand the curiosity.” he turned his attention back to Veronica, and tried to remember the exact wording of her questions.
“I do have wings, or, rather, I will have wings.” he could tell that his answer didn't satisfy her curiosity. He kept talking before she could interrupt him with another question. Better to explain it all now before she gets distracted by something else.
“Nothing ‘choses’ if we get wings, definitely not the Fairy King. Rather, we start growing them when we hit the peak of our magical potential”
He could just barely hear some sounds of surprise from behind him, and what sounded like Ban whispering something, but he couldn’t make out what exactly was said.
Most of his attention was on the kids in front of him. He could see understanding in Princess Margaret and Gilthunder's eyes. Little Princess Elizabeth was nodding along but King had a feeling that she didn’t understand a thing he just said.
It was Veronica that he was interested in the most. Her little face was scrunched up in confusion. she was mouthing his words back, and looking more confused.
He could feel someone, probably the Captain if he was feeling the heart right. It was a little hard to tell with all of the Sins clustered together right behind him, (plus the Captain has always been weirdly hard to track from his heart alone.) Move to walk closer to him.
For as long as King had known him, and for longer he'd be willing to bet. Meliodas has had a soft spot for kids.
‘You are a splendid king’ he'd always remember those words. Words said to him by, who he later learned was Meliodas, a diamond holy knight sent to kill the rogue fairy. But who was a complete stranger to him at the time. Someone without any connection to him and no tie in him as a king. Those words changed him more than the Captain seemed to have realized.
And some part of him always questioned, if he had looked older, looked the age that he should look, with how old he really is. would he have given King the same kindness of his words? Or would they have ridden in quiet.
That part only got louder when he actually met the Captain. The love and care that Meliodas would always show to any kid that they had to talk to. Even kids that they didn't necessarily need to talk to, kids that were just in the wrong place at the worst time, he’d always talk to them with so much love.
King had also noticed that he was quicker to draw his blade if there was a kid involved somehow.
And King had also noticed that all of those protective instincts were cranked up to 10 when it came to this group of Princesses and Knights to be. So before he could get close enough to interrupt the conversation, King kept talking.
He hoped that this analogy would help Princess Veronica understand. King knew that she had recently started her sword work, at her own insistence, but he wasn’t sure how far along she was, or how much she truly knew of how it all worked.
In all honesty, King didn’t know how much he knew about how all of this Knight business worked. But he hoped that it was enough that he wasn’t about to make a complete fool of himself. And if he did, hopefully he could blame the sleep deprivation.
“Think of it like this. When you're starting your sword work, you start with a wooden sword, right?” He could see Young Gilthunder's eyes light up, his heart beating with a happyjoy . Whether it was because he could see where King was going with this, or just because he mentioned swords, King didn’t know. “And when you’re good enough, you move to a real blade. But it’s only when you can prove that you are good enough that you get that real blade.”
“It’s like that for fairies. Our wings are like the proof that we’ve done all that we can without the wings, and now we get our wings to do more.” King could see the understanding light up Princess Veronica’s face. It reminded him painfully of Helbram when he would figure out something. Eyes glowing, smile wide and slightly higher on one side. If she had wings he was sure that they would be fluttering behind her.
It looks like Young Griamore was right there with her in figuring out how fairy wings work. Young Howzer, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be paying attention anymore. Finding it more interesting to play with the little Princess Elizabeth then any talk about Fairy culture.
The two of them seemed to be making small flower crowns from the grass and the few flowers that made it passed the gardeners.
“So, the wings mean more power? So you only get them when you need more magic?” hm, close enough. “So why don’t you have wings?”
Ouch
He could hear giggling behind him. From three places behind him actually. One close and two farther away. The Captain and Ban’s, and Diane, as much as the thought of it being her that’s laughing hurts him, heart’s were lighting up with happyjoylight , he couldn’t even be mad at them when he could feel their humor like this. Embarrassment? Definitely, but not mad.
“I mean, you’re one of the Seven Deadly Sins. if there is anybody- any Fairy , that should have wings, it would be you?” again, ouch . The worst part is that he knows that she’s just saying these things out of curiosity. She’s a child , if she was a fairy she would barely be out of her tuim stage. She probably wouldn’t even be allowed out of the Fairy Realm yet. Questions like this are to be expected. But that doesn’t make them any easier to answer.
If a question like this came from someone in his Court, King would know exactly how to answer. He grew up learning to navigate questions from his own Court. Questions about his wings, questions about his spirit spear, questions about his sister. He knows how to answer questions poised to sound innocent but are actually designed to shake his people's faith in him.
And while it’s true that most of those attacks stopped after the battle of Alu’bera, but not all of them did. The reason that he spent most of his time in the Fairy King’s forest instead of the Fairy Realm, was because of how over the Court drama he was. He just wanted to sleep and help any of the plants if they needed it. Not listen to some minor fairy trying to get their neighbor punished because they didn’t thank them for a gift.
He can’t imagine how bad it’s going to be when he goes back. Leaving for almost 800 years and then just showing up again one day? Yeah, he’s sure that’s going to go well. Even if he didn’t have his memories for 500 of those years, and then was locked up for almost another 200 years. Plus he is currently serving the rest of his sentence by working as a Sin. so it’s not like he could go back whenever he felt like.
Even in his own head, the lie felt like a weight on his shoulders. Pressing and uncomfortable , hissing in his ears that that wasn’t true . Which, yes, he knows that. If he really wanted to, he could leave whenever he wanted to. No one, outside of the other sins, (and even then, he could probably take most of them) could stop him if he left. But he couldn’t, it would ruin the relationship between the Fairy Realm and the Kingdom of Liones.
And, maybe, part of him doesn’t want to face them again. To look his people in the eyes and tell them that he was the one that put a flower through the heart of his own Knight. That he left so many of his people to suffer horribly for so long. That he left someone that he loves- loved so much, alone in his pain.
He can’t go back yet. He just can’t .
He can hear the Captain shift behind him, a flicker of confusionworry in his heart, and realized that he probably quiet for a bit to long. He focused on the confusioncuriosityquestion from in front of him and tried to think of a way of explaining it that they would be able to understand.
“Hm, maybe I just haven’t reached a point where I would need more magic?” he could see the surprise on their faces, and wonder from their hearts. The idea that one of the Seven Deadly Sin wasn’t as strong as they could be.
This probably isn’t the smartest thing he’s ever done, and it stings to even think like this but.. He wants to see how they’ll react to this little piece of information. “You know, there’s some Fairies that don’t ever get their wings. I could be one of those. As Ban likes to remind everybody, I am quite old to not have them” and oh did they not disappoint.
Princess Veronica’s eyes narrowed, looking like, what King would assume a dog looking at a bone would look. Or was it a cat with a bird? He could quite remember which metaphor meant what. She looked like she wasn’t going to let him leave until he gave her an explanation.
Princess Margaret and Young Gilthunder seemed to be trying to keep a straight face, but he could feel their horrorembarrassmentfear mixing together to the point that he had trouble differentiating who's was who's. He didn’t like that fear, it’s like they think that he’d get mad at them, at Princess Veronica, for asking questions. For asking him to elaborate on a piece of information that he willingly gave out.
But the most surprising reacting was from behind him. The lighthappyjoy coming from the Sins, was suddenly cut with confusionshame , and King had an idea of where it came from. Maybe he shouldn’t have thrown Ban off the petal when telling the kids about his wings, especially when he knows that Ban was just joking when he’d mention King’s wings. Or lack thereof, in this case.
Ban has always had a weird thing about what he’d joke about and not. He’s never ragged on the Captain about his age, about what he was doing before the Sins, despite doing it to Merlin and King all the time. He’s never asked Gowther what he looks like. And after The Fight between him and Diane, Ban’s never brought up her weight again. King knows that if he’d told Ban to stop with the wing jokes, then he would.
But before King can do anything, beyond moving some of the plants near Ban’s feet, to try and reassure him that he knows , and that King was just joking. Princess Veronica starts talking “Too old? How old are you? And what age do fairies normally get their wings?”
“We usually get them before we’re 500. If you’re a late bloomer you could get them as late as 700. Though that’s pretty rare.” he could feel the anticipation from everyone, even Young Howzer had stopped playing with Princess Elizabeth, who was looking at him as well.
King was expecting Princess Veronica to break first, so the soft voice, a little to his left, surprised him by asking first.
“And, how old are you?” He was happy to notice that the fear in Princess Margaret’s heart was completely gone, replaced by a steady, and much more appropriate for her age, curiosity.
It took him a second to do the mental math, and another second to redo it just to make sure that he had the number right.
“A little over 1,600.”
He could feel the shock from all around him. So much of it that he almost couldn’t pickapart the individual feeling underneath it. where it starts and ends. Most of it was lost to the unbelievable stillness of the shock from everybody.
He can feel shockinterest from Merlin he would assume. a shockdisbelief that could only come from Ban, and a interestcuriosity that he thinks is coming from Gowther.
He could help turning to the other Sins because “Why are you so surprised? I’ve mentioned knowing Fairy King Dahlia before.”
“Well yeah, but I kinda thought that it was more recent?'' The Captain was scratching his cheek. But it was the rising embarrassmenthumor coming off him that really sold the whole picture.
King turned to look at Ban, and found him already squinting at him “imma be honest with you, I have no idea who Dahlia is.” King could see Diane, Gowther, and Escanor nodding along with Ban.
King doesn’t know how to react, what to address first. So he decides to go with the one that seems the most outrageous to him.
The slight jump that Meliodes gives when King whips back around to face him is the least of King’s concerns right now “what do you mean ‘more recent’?! Fairy King Dahlia has been dead for about 1,400 years now”
“Wait, seriously?!”
“Yes? How do you not know this!”
“Hm, the consensus of the general public was that the second Fairy King disappear one day and hasn’t been seen since.” King looked at Merlin. with her hand on her hip, and her heart full of amusementhumorcuriosity it was clear that she was enjoying this.
“I can’t believe humans still think that! Do you really think that we would just lose a Fairy King? That we wouldn’t have some way of knowing what happened.” Merlin’s amusement just seemed to grow. “Isn’t the same thing said about the first Fairy King?”
Which, ok, he’ll give her that. They did lose King Gloxinia. And, to a degree, King himself was kind of lost for 500 years too. Wow, they have a bad record of losing Fairy King’s don’t they?.
But before he could think of how to respond to her, giggling from beside him brought his attention back to the bouquet of children next to him. Princess Elizabeth had her hands over her mouth. Trying, unsuccessful, to blanket her laughter.
Howzer and Veronica didn’t look all that far behind her. Young Howzer had his face turned down, but from where King was sitting, he could see his shaking shoulders and red face. Princess Veronica was taking deep, deliberate, breaths. Which King was more than familiar with.
From trying not to laugh when one of the other Sins did something stupid that, while hilarious, King never wanted to deal with again. And laughing would just encourage them. And even before that, he’d mastered it with Helbram. When, most of the time, after one of Helbram’s pranks, King would have to address it in front of his Court. It didn’t help his composure that King, and most of the time Elaine, were also involved in whatever Helbram was in trouble for.
“Excuse me” Princess Margaret was much more successful at keeping a straight face then the others. “But I thought that Fairies couldn’t live outside of the Fairy King’s forest?”
“Hmm, yes and no? The further we get from the forest, the weaker we get. And the longer we’re away, the harder it will get for us to recover the magic we need.” King knew that he was starting to skirt the line of information that humans weren’t supposed to know. But, well, he’s the Fairy King. he gets to choose what they know and not.
“But the Sins have been around for like, forever!” It's not even been 6 years yet. Sacred Tree, Princess Veronica was there when they were Knighted. He’d think that she’d remember it. “If you haven’t been back since then, doesn’t it mean that it’s hard for you to get the magic you need?”
“For most Fairies, that would be the case.” King leaned forward and put a hand by his mouth, like he was telling them a secret. “but I found a workaround.”
Princess Veronica’s eyes were practically sparkling. Young Gilthunder and Young Grimore looked equally as excited, and Princess Elizabeth was… back to making flower crowns from what King could tell.
“You see, the kingdom of Liones. The very ground we’re on right now.” King reaches down and runs his fingers through the grass and wildflowers around them. “It’s all built on the skeleton of the first Fairy King’s Forest.”
King could feel it under his hands. The hihello of the grass and flowers on top, and the rumble of greeting from the earth just below them. The rushcalmjoy from the small intersecting streams of water in the caves under them. And under all of that, conjoined with all of it at the same time, was the first Fairy King’s forest.
The Fairy King’s forest that King grew up in, Fairy King’s Dahlia forest, had always felt like a guardian to King. Wrapping King up in its branches when he would take a nap. Brushing its pollen over any cut or bruise he’d get without King even needing to ask. The contentjoylove that’s in every leaf, every blade of grass, is something that King knows down to his bones. Something that he felt when he was around King Dahlia, whenever he’s around Gerheade. When playing with Elaine and Helbram.
And until 200 years ago, King had thought that all of the Fairy King’s forests would feel the same. Then he was put on trial and thrown underneath the capital.
In that cell, King was surrounded by the roots of the forest. The first time he reached out to them, all he felt was a calmcoldsteady that surprised him. It felt so different from what he was used to as the Fairy King. There was no surprise or happiness at his presence, only a cool indifference that King had never felt from a plant before. Especially ones that originated from the Fairy Realm.
It had taken him weeks before he got the roots to talk to him, and even longer to tell him why they didn’t care for him. Or rather, didn’t care about his presence.
Waiting. That’s why they didn’t care about another fairy, they were waiting for their king to return. Having to tell them that the first Fairy King wasn’t coming back wasn’t something that King never wanted to experience again. The shockrefusal shook the walls of King’s cell that day.
When they finally calmed down after… King didn’t know how long it took, honestly, it was hard to keep track of time from that cell. The roots reached back out to him, brought him along its branches. Showed him the little flowers that wanted to meet him, and the ones that were struggling to survive. The caves and tunnels and the water that flows through them. The fruit that was just starting to grow on the trees, and the small patches of green that the humans were trying to take care of.
Where the forest that King grew up in would heal his wounds and kiss his forehead, the First King’s forest grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet, tells him that you are a king, act like it. Where King Dahlia’s forest would guide him to plants that needed any help, the First’s forest pretty much just shoved him at the issue and told him to help it, find out what’s wrong and fix it.
“The skeleton?” King jolted back slightly when small hands touched the top of his. Little Princess Elizabeth, with eyes wide and heart worried. “Is it hurt?”
So much kindness in such a small body that King’s heart couldn’t help but hurt for her. The world is going to destroy that kindness and King can’t do anything to help her, no matter how much he’d want to.
And wasn’t that something. King, actually wishing he could help a human, and hurting at the fact that he couldn’t. That all of these kids were going to get broken by this world sooner or later, and all he could do is help pick up the pieces after.
“No, it’s not hurt.” King didn’t quite know how to phrase this in a way that they would understand. “It’s like- you know how trees lose their leaves in winter? It’s like that.”
“It’s not as strong anymore, so it needs to sleep a lot to have more energy.” Princess Elizabeth still looked a bit confused, and her heart was singing with worryconcentration , but before he could say anything to clear it up, she suddenly smelled.
“Not hurt? It’s just taking a nap?” she giggled and leaned closer to the ground. “Don’t worry, I like taking naps too.” King could hear cooing from behind him, and laughing from in front of him.
Before King could respond, he suddenly felt a warmth under his hands. The plants started singing growthwarmspring and he could feel them moving and growing, all of them trying to reach for the warm magic above them that was coaxing them up. King had never felt them be this reactive before, unless he was calling on them with Disaster that is.
King quickly pulled his hands back, and watched as small flowers started blooming in the grass in front of him. The worryconfusionconcern that rose up behind King wasn’t enough to cover the twisted, almost forced happiness coming from the flowers in front of him. King had never felt something else try and grow one of his plants before, and now that he had, he could say that he did not like it. It felt like something reached down and told them be happy, you are getting attention, so be happy. And King hated it.
He reached out with his own magic, and told them to stop . Most of them listened, it was easy for them to ignore the foreign magic calling them when their King was right in front of them. Going back into the ground with only a little brush from King. But one just kept growing, no matter how much King tried to coax it to stop it just wouldn’t . And right when King was about to use more of his magic (it was hurting , it didn’t want to be growing!) a hand reached into his field of vision and plucked the flower, stem and all.
“Oh, it’s so pretty!” Princess Elizabeth was running back to her already collected group of flowers before King could even process the fact that she had taken the little flower.
A hand suddenly touching his shoulder made King jump. It didn’t take him more than a second to recognize the Captain, and even less to relax into the hand moving to rub the bass of his neck.
“You good?” King could appreciate that the Captain was trying to keep his voice down, but King could feel his cheeks heating up all the same. He was just hoping it wasn't as obvious as it felt. “Yeah, sorry, just got spooked.”
King didn’t have to look up to know that one of the Captain’s eyebrows were raised, he could feel his disbeliefquestionacceptance perfectly fine, thank you.
“You were giving off a lot of magic there?” and ugh , if the Captain (because as much as King loves the man, he somehow has the self preservation instincts of a wooden spoon , and the magical senses to back it up.) could feel how much magic he’d just been using, then the other Sins probably could as well. And that was a conversation that King really didn’t want to have with them.
“Just-, a stubbornly excited flower. It didn’t want to listen.” King couldn’t help snorting a little, his eyes moving over to the little Princess who's new flower crown was almost finished, the little nasturtium blossom sitting innocently in the middle. “And look where that got it.”
He could feel a bit of judgment from the Captain, but King was grateful that instead of pushing him on it, (and what would he say? King has no idea what that magic was either) he just squeezed his shoulders and moved on.
“Well, as cute, and informative, as this has been, you should probably wrap this up.” King knew that he was right, but that didn’t make the disappointed look from Princess Veronica, and the other kids to a lesser extent, any easier to deal with.
“My Captain’s right.” he had to speak a little louder to be heard over the start of Princess Veronica’s complaints. “So , I'll answer one more question, then we have to go.”
He could see their little minds working, trying to find the best last question. Something that they need to know, that no one else has been able to answer. It’s probably going to be more about his magic, or even Chastiefol. They haven’t asked about it after all, and a floating green pillow tends to draw people's attention. So it’s reasonable to assume that-
“Was the battle of Neckar as bad as the history books say?”
“ Excuse me ?”
Princess Veronica didn’t even look apologetic, just kept looking at King like she genuinely expected him to answer. How did she even know of that battle? That had to have been over a thousand years ago. King didn’t think that humans cared enough about their history to remember something from that long ago. And even if they did, he didn’t think that they had good enough record keeping skills to hold onto the information for a thousand years.
And who is letting someone so young read about bloody, ancient battles? King knows that she’s a Princess, but that shouldn’t mean that she gets to do whatever she wants, and that includes reading whatever she wants. King wasn’t even allowed out of the Fairy Realm for the first 200 years of his life!
That battle, what the humans named the ‘battle of Neckar’, was King’s first big fight after he became Fairy King, and the one that cemented his reputation as a Fairy King that would fight if pushed.
Even just remembering it always pissed King off. That damn Kingdom thinking that the Fairy Realm would be weaker with a new King, trying to invade and take from the forest. Their surprise and confidence at being met with only six fairies. It hadn’t mattered to them that those Fairies were the new Fairy King and his Knights, they only saw what looked like children and underestimated them. They stopped doing that after they ripped through the first two lines of defense and left a spray of red behind them. An entire Kingdom's forces against six fairies, and the fairies only walked away with two casualties.
Even so many years later, thinking about his two Knights that died that day still hurts. Asthore was more of King Dehlia’s Knight then King’s, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. And Bo had been there for most of King’s life up to that. Both of them had. Bo would always entertain King, Elaine, and Helbram when King Dehlia wasn’t able to talk with them, and Asthore would make sure that Bo could do that. Both of them playing with the three of them if they were bored. And after King’s took over as Fairy King, the two of them were crucial with getting the Court to accept him, and to teaching King to navigate it in return.
Finding the two of them curled together, bloody and cut up and smiling and peaceful , in a puddle of red after the battle is something that has never left King’s memories.
“Well?” And, oh, how is he supposed to explain any of that to a child, one that’s barely in the budding stage. A seedling. A damn acorn . How does he explain to her that sometimes when he hears horses trotting, he can still see the line of cavalry starting to charge. That if he’s too in his head during sunrise, he could almost see the outline of the end of that battle. The river that ran red with the blood of humans and fairies.
He needed to find some way out of talking about it, but he had promised that he would answer one last question. “That’s not something that a kid should know. So I’ll make you a deal. If you ask me again when you’re an adult, then I'll answer as best as I can.”
He could see Princess Veronica debating with herself about the deal. Thankfully Princess Margaret seemed to realize that King wouldn’t be budging with this. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
“Thank you for talking with us Sir King.” she dipped into a bow. Calling Princess Elizabeth back over to her, while lighting pushing Veronica back toward the castle, despite her complaints.
King watched them walk off, Princess Veronica walking backwards, talking a mile a minute. Young Gilthunder nodding and adding his own thoughts. Princess Margaret and Young Griamore seemed to just be enjoying listening to the others talk.
Little Princess Elizabeth was like a tornado under their feet, constantly moving and weaving. Talking and laughing and hanging off of them one second, only to then run ahead to look at something the next. Young Howzer was trying to keep her closer to them, and when she refused, he would run up with her. It was either a blessing that none of them tripped on her, or proof that she was normally like that, and that they were just used to it.
“We should get going.” King knew that the Captain was right, and he could already hear the others start walking away behind him. But right as he started to stand up, his eyes caught something in the grass. The flower crown that Princess Elizabeth was making, she must have left it behind in her excitement.
A simple, and fairly crude, crown of daisies and a single nasturtium that she so rudely pulled from the earth. Something that only held her attention for a few minutes, before being tossed aside. But even still, King couldn’t help walking over to it and picking it up.
He could feel the silky smoothness of the petals beneath his fingertips and could faintly hear the last echo of their voices. King knew before he even picked up the crown that it would be too late to help them, they had been out of the earth for too long. And plus, he could still feel that warmth from before, and he’s not fool enough to risk putting them back into the earth where they might be able to infect the other plants around them. Whatever that magic was, it was able to, even for just a moment, force control of the forest out of King’s hands. And that was too dangerous to risk happening again.
Really what King should do, is destroy it. But that felt wrong somehow. Princess Elizabeth had taken the time to make this, and to just destroy it without hesitation felt like a slight against her. Sure she hadn’t made it as a gift for him specifically, but it was made with his flowers, when she was talking with him. And the fact that she had just left it here, practically at his feet…
If any of the other Sins saw King drop the flower crown into a little portal that he opened, before running to catch up with them, no one ever mentioned it.