In response to NaNoWriMo
Title: Ice and Snow, Chapter One
Fandom: Dresden Files, book verse
Character and Character Pairings: Harry Dresden, John Marcone Leanansidhe, Queen Mab, mentions of Queen Titania, Mauve, Molly, Murphy, and Eb
Summary: Post Ghost Stories, Queen Mab takes Harry to the Nevernever to ask him one last favor.
Rating: PG 13 for cursing...for now
Warning: Genderbending and lack of Beta
I don't know how long I've been here by Mab's side as we wandered the frozen landscape in silence. She'd been waiting when I came back, having nursed my body back to health patiently as I slept and now it was my turn to wait. To hear what she had to say as we walked the white land.
It didn't take me very long to notice that, where ever we were going, there was an odd thrumming in the air that grew stronger the closer to it we got. It was like a heart beat that resonated through me, reminded me of being a child while it tugged something low in me. It was both familiar and alien to me. Like I'd touched what ever it was in part and this was the source of it all, its heart...the center of some universe that I was only intruding on.
“Once...humans believed in the male and female aspects of life.” Mab murmured, gaining my attention. “There was the elements but they all possessed duality. Yin and yang...are you following Harry?”
“Yeah.” I stated, looking over at her.
“We Faerie have always been like that. Male and Female. Life and Death. Dark and the Light. Seelie and Unseelie.”
“You control the seasons and their changing.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “And No...Beside our courts rules two more. Our Male Aspects...our consorts. Spring and the Fall.”
I stared at her. This had been news to me. After all I'd only dealt with the two courts of Summer and Winter.
“They sleep in the deepest heart of the Nevernever. Acting as our balance. Only going to them when we are at our weakest.” Mab lectures softly. “It is from those unions that sometimes more of the Sidhe are born. Or that's how it use to be. Me and Titania have ruled too long...we've become unstable and with us the rest of the Sidhe. Titania is passing her title to her heir at the height of summer.”
I considered her for a long moment pausing behind her as she pressed on. Realizing she wasn't going to stop I rushed to catch up. “What about you?”
“Mauve isn't fit yet to rule. She hasn't taken her position as seriously as she should.”
“Then who's taking your place?”
“All things with patience my Knight.”
Sadly patience wasn’t one my better virtues but I stayed quiet, walking alongside the frozen queen of the Winter…but she didn’t seem so frozen now. Rather she seemed very sad, distance. And who could blame her? She was faced with a tough choice. Give up her crown and watch someone else rule from a distance or keep her crown and watch her people fade.
If I was faced with the same choice I’d be sad and distance too.
I took a deep breath, it seemed the thrumming was filling my entire body now, vibrating my very bones to the point that something was resonating deep inside me. Like something in my very soul was responding and calling back to that unheard sound…that unheard calling.
It was a like of flash of insight. That thrumming, the sensation of being caught within a giant heart, it was a calling. Though I couldn’t tell what it was a call to or for.
That occupied my thoughts as we walked, she was silent and I wasn’t paying attention really to where I was walking. So it only stands to reason that when she stopped I’d run into her.
Which I did.
The Sidhe glanced back at me with a dark glare before turning back forward. I didn’t apologize. Really I couldn’t. The sight before stole away my words, be them polite, snarky or otherwise.
This was the true heart of the Nevernever. Some would call it the World Tree, others Yggdrasil or Kalpavriksha or the tree of life but to me this was a true sacred Grove. To my left grew bright and young trees that held brilliantly colored flowers and multicolored leaves that would never occur in the mortal realm, trees that tried to draw me in and captivate me, promising me a cushy life free of worry or duty. To my right was dark and twisted trees, gnarled with age and knowledge, cold and dead though I knew that was not the truth. These trees were merely waiting for their time to bloom again with the ancient patience that only nature possessed. But neither held a candle to the beauty that was the largest tree that rested between them. It was like a flawless blend of the two sides living and dead, bright and dark, young and old. The tree, if such a small word could contain the magnitude of this monolith, drew me in. I ignored the soft masculine tones that whispered on either side of me and Mab’s responses as I reached out and light touched the bark feeling both the humming warmth of summer and the familiar chill of winter.
When I tried to draw my hand back the whisperings grew louder and I found myself stuck to the tree. The call stopped. It stopped because I had answered it and now the world held still. It was as if everything was holding its breath, waiting for something, and I found myself holding my breath too. Worry and curiosity swirled in my mind a split second before my body seemed to catch fire.
I gasped.
It was all that I could do as my body seemed to melt around me leaving my mind and magic intact. It was as my body had only been a mold that held something else inside, yet even when it flowed I burned. Then somebody touched my back and a chill filled me. That same person pulled me away from the tree and I realized it was Mab. As she held me she seemed to become less and less and the chill filled me more and more.
It was becoming harder for me to keep my eyes open as I watched this subtle transformation. I fell asleep, Mab’s voice following me into the darkness. “I ask my final favor…Please. Protect the Winter court and guide Mauve…”
Fandom: Dresden Files, book verse
Character and Character Pairings: Harry Dresden, John Marcone Leanansidhe, Queen Mab, mentions of Queen Titania, Mauve, Molly, Murphy, and Eb
Summary: Post Ghost Stories, Queen Mab takes Harry to the Nevernever to ask him one last favor.
Rating: PG 13 for cursing...for now
Warning: Genderbending and lack of Beta
I don't know how long I've been here by Mab's side as we wandered the frozen landscape in silence. She'd been waiting when I came back, having nursed my body back to health patiently as I slept and now it was my turn to wait. To hear what she had to say as we walked the white land.
It didn't take me very long to notice that, where ever we were going, there was an odd thrumming in the air that grew stronger the closer to it we got. It was like a heart beat that resonated through me, reminded me of being a child while it tugged something low in me. It was both familiar and alien to me. Like I'd touched what ever it was in part and this was the source of it all, its heart...the center of some universe that I was only intruding on.
“Once...humans believed in the male and female aspects of life.” Mab murmured, gaining my attention. “There was the elements but they all possessed duality. Yin and yang...are you following Harry?”
“Yeah.” I stated, looking over at her.
“We Faerie have always been like that. Male and Female. Life and Death. Dark and the Light. Seelie and Unseelie.”
“You control the seasons and their changing.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “And No...Beside our courts rules two more. Our Male Aspects...our consorts. Spring and the Fall.”
I stared at her. This had been news to me. After all I'd only dealt with the two courts of Summer and Winter.
“They sleep in the deepest heart of the Nevernever. Acting as our balance. Only going to them when we are at our weakest.” Mab lectures softly. “It is from those unions that sometimes more of the Sidhe are born. Or that's how it use to be. Me and Titania have ruled too long...we've become unstable and with us the rest of the Sidhe. Titania is passing her title to her heir at the height of summer.”
I considered her for a long moment pausing behind her as she pressed on. Realizing she wasn't going to stop I rushed to catch up. “What about you?”
“Mauve isn't fit yet to rule. She hasn't taken her position as seriously as she should.”
“Then who's taking your place?”
“All things with patience my Knight.”
Sadly patience wasn’t one my better virtues but I stayed quiet, walking alongside the frozen queen of the Winter…but she didn’t seem so frozen now. Rather she seemed very sad, distance. And who could blame her? She was faced with a tough choice. Give up her crown and watch someone else rule from a distance or keep her crown and watch her people fade.
If I was faced with the same choice I’d be sad and distance too.
I took a deep breath, it seemed the thrumming was filling my entire body now, vibrating my very bones to the point that something was resonating deep inside me. Like something in my very soul was responding and calling back to that unheard sound…that unheard calling.
It was a like of flash of insight. That thrumming, the sensation of being caught within a giant heart, it was a calling. Though I couldn’t tell what it was a call to or for.
That occupied my thoughts as we walked, she was silent and I wasn’t paying attention really to where I was walking. So it only stands to reason that when she stopped I’d run into her.
Which I did.
The Sidhe glanced back at me with a dark glare before turning back forward. I didn’t apologize. Really I couldn’t. The sight before stole away my words, be them polite, snarky or otherwise.
This was the true heart of the Nevernever. Some would call it the World Tree, others Yggdrasil or Kalpavriksha or the tree of life but to me this was a true sacred Grove. To my left grew bright and young trees that held brilliantly colored flowers and multicolored leaves that would never occur in the mortal realm, trees that tried to draw me in and captivate me, promising me a cushy life free of worry or duty. To my right was dark and twisted trees, gnarled with age and knowledge, cold and dead though I knew that was not the truth. These trees were merely waiting for their time to bloom again with the ancient patience that only nature possessed. But neither held a candle to the beauty that was the largest tree that rested between them. It was like a flawless blend of the two sides living and dead, bright and dark, young and old. The tree, if such a small word could contain the magnitude of this monolith, drew me in. I ignored the soft masculine tones that whispered on either side of me and Mab’s responses as I reached out and light touched the bark feeling both the humming warmth of summer and the familiar chill of winter.
When I tried to draw my hand back the whisperings grew louder and I found myself stuck to the tree. The call stopped. It stopped because I had answered it and now the world held still. It was as if everything was holding its breath, waiting for something, and I found myself holding my breath too. Worry and curiosity swirled in my mind a split second before my body seemed to catch fire.
I gasped.
It was all that I could do as my body seemed to melt around me leaving my mind and magic intact. It was as my body had only been a mold that held something else inside, yet even when it flowed I burned. Then somebody touched my back and a chill filled me. That same person pulled me away from the tree and I realized it was Mab. As she held me she seemed to become less and less and the chill filled me more and more.
It was becoming harder for me to keep my eyes open as I watched this subtle transformation. I fell asleep, Mab’s voice following me into the darkness. “I ask my final favor…Please. Protect the Winter court and guide Mauve…”