Exiled to the streets

Devin was quite happily seated on the couch with a plate of cake and was helping himself, very precise in the way he ate the boy didn’t like making a mess everywhere so took his time. Only half-listening to what the adults were saying he was mostly interested in the honey cake that had turned out to be quite tasty while avoiding the tea that he wasn’t really a fan of, it made his mouth feel all dry and wrinkled even with milk in it, he preferred milk on its own instead since it made his mouth feel less dry. Once they were served Con retreated to give the small group some privacy, watching Con move internally rather pleased with his pet, Hrolf nodded “I suppose she wants me at court elevating my status some more?” he spoke a little dryly but his gaze betrayed his amusement “I’ll need to put in some appearances at court anyway to let people know there is no ill-will between the crown and myself now all debts are square so he’s been trained up to accompany me” he jerked a thumb in Connors direction “I’m glad I survived, its good to be home. In a way it was the best thing to happen to me, I’ve ended up with two good pets and an heir now Ceila’s gone and isn’t likely to be coming back even if she changed her mind” mentioning his wife lead the usual gentle relaxed look on his face hardened a little. Hearing familiar footsteps charging across the floor, Hrolfs face lit up a little when Lilli charged into the room, it was quite clear that even though she wasn’t his child by blood he cared very much for the feisty red-headed little girl. Devin's instant reaction was to tense up and scoot closer to his dad now staring very determinedly down at his cake as if focusing on that would make him not be noticed.

Unable to help his smile he tickled her a little “This is my cousin Lord Tori and his son Devin, we’re having some of your dad’s honey cake do you want a slice?” he reached over and cut her a slice knowing the answer before she gave it when it came to sweet things she was a true faerie. Passing it to her he continued “you must have done very well on the horse if he said that” flicking a glance at Devin Hrolf queried “Do you like riding Devin?” Since he’d only ever met Devin a handful of times and a few years ago now he didn’t feel like it was appropriate to use Devins nickname. Throughout the entire scene, Connor had remained in his spot just listening and ready to do anything if his faerie decided he needed to, he couldn’t help his slight smile at Lilli’s antics although he’d appeared to not notice the interested glance that was flicked his way from the faerie who’d been introduced as Tori. Devin meanwhile was trying to pretend that the bright loud girl wasn’t there, wishing he could just hide behind his father or just vanish the question made him glance up, he’d never really had anything to do with horses, just the cerns at home that he was quite fond of so after flicking a gaze at his father he shrugged “I don’t know, I’ve never seen one” with that he started eating quickly as if hoping that by eating people wouldn’t talk to him because he obviously couldn’t speak as his mouth was full of cake.

Studying his empty plate carefully, now that he wasn’t eating he was trying not to stick his fingers in his ears at the sound of others eating, looking up warily when it seemed he was being talked to the dark-haired and eyed boy leaned into his father more not really wanting to go. Looking up when Tori told him to go play he felt like he didn’t really have much of a choice so he reluctantly slid off of the couch and hugged himself giving a simple nod, following the girl outside trailing behind her a little he focused on his breathing so he wouldn’t panic. Watching them go, Hrolf didn’t comment on the boy's behaviour, deciding it was best to just accept the boy as he was and treat him like he would anyone else, “Don’t worry Tori, I have every intention of not getting on the Kings bad side. I have a few tricks up my sleeve this time around” the biggest one was Connor, from the way the king had interacted with him, Hrolf had a hunch that things would go a little more smoothly at court especially if people saw the king interacting with Connor a fair bit. He’d go to Vanessa first and chat with her before going to apologize to Sarah and Sofia and after that make his way around the various nobles that were actually important in regards to his farm.

He relaxed a little when she spoke a bit more quieter and brightened up at the mention of dogs “I like dogs, as long as they don’t jump on me, I’m Devin” dogs were nice to snuggle with even though sometimes they could smell gross. He appeared to come out of his shell a little more now she’d mentioned dogs and her behaviour had settled, forgetting to hug himself he moved to catch up to walk in step with her. Sticking closeish to his guide as she lead him around to where the dogs were a big smile lit up his features and he moved to pat one when it came up to him, quite thankful that the gentle creature didn’t bounce all over him as he was short enough to easily be knocked over.

Smiling slightly as the children headed off, “Lilli? I spent my year of exile homeless, Lilli, her father and Con were also homeless, if not for Lilli’s father I probably wouldn’t be here so to repay my debt I made her my heir so she will never want for anything and made him a pet as it’d be wrong to separate her from her father. As for con well he needed a home too” choosing not to bring up the conditions they’d found Connor in and his background, Hrolf didn’t want to divulge that information while Connor was standing there listening. He also wasn’t about to go harping on to everyone that he’d been homeless on the streets of a human city and had nearly died, he had a long way to go weight gain wise but with the attention of Jon reminding him to eat and making sure he got enough sleep the faerie was on the right road to recovery.

Watching as the girl sat down and let them jump onto her lap he wandered a little closer and sat down as well, quite pleased when the adult dog followed him and lay down next to him to rest its head on his lap. “No we have cerns, I help daddy with them at home, we breed them, raise them, train and then sell them our family are well known to be the best at it and our’s are worth a lot. Dad takes lots of care to make sure the bloodlines remain good and not inbred” the cerns were one of his special interests, they were big but calm and pleasant to be around not to mention their fur was so soft. He took a lot of pride in the fact that he helped his dad with them, there was an orphan one that he was allowed to help feed which he adored doing. Despite how much he loved the cerns he really wanted a dog of his own as well, but he didn’t have high hopes for that happening, continuing to stroke the head of the adult dog quietly he quietly noted to himself that the large beast needed a bath because it smelled very doggy.


Quite thankful that Tori had chosen not to bring up Lilli’s hair, he knew that he would have changed her into a faerie even if her natural hair colour had been purple, she was a good kid and he owed her father his life a debt that was quite serious in most faeries books. “Yes, to the local one” which was coincidently the same school that he knew Tori sent his kids to. Sipping the last of the tea out of his cup and setting it down Hrolf continued “How is Milah doing? And Tia” he was quite fond of Tia, the gentle woman had changed Tori for the better in nearly every way possible, and now as a father, he’d shed the last of his selfish immaturity and had come into his own.

His mouth dropped open with surprise when Lilli said she didn’t know what a cern was, so he got up pushing the dogs head off of his lap and gestured for her to follow him, heading to the carriage he’d arrived in he greeted the cern harnessed to it quietly. Reaching into his pocket he fished out some of the honey cake he’d saved for later and offered it to the gentle creature, “This is Nana, she’s the matriarch” he’d practiced the word several times until he was able to pull it off most of the time when he said it. They were big yes but also gentle and having grown up around them most of the time he felt very safe in their presence, rubbing her face very gently when it came within reach he reassured himself that the harness was still sitting alright on her and wasn’t rubbing anywhere it shouldn’t. Glancing over at Lilli “Coming to say hi?” when she got closer he showed her where to pat the large animal giggling when the tongue of the gentle beast ran over his hand a few times cleaning up the crumbs for now he didn’t seem to mind the germs although once he was done he would obsessively scrub at his hands until they felt clean.

Nodding Devin explained “Yes, she’s the oldest female so she’s the wisest and keeps all of the others safe and in line. They pull carriages and sometimes we get to ride them” his voice was soft as it always was around animals, the cerns were his favourite animals to be around and he already had many picture books and other books about them, some filled with stories while others were stuffed cover to cover with facts. He loved Nana as it was on her that he got to have riding lessons, the gentle creature intelligent and wise enough to know that she needed to be a little more careful with him on her back as his balance wasn’t always the best. The entire time he’d spent around Lilli the boy had avoided eye contact, instead looking down or elsewhere when speaking to her, he found eye contact very difficult to hold and often found when he made himself do it he couldn’t focus on what the person was talking about. Thankfully his mother had explained to grandmother why he didn’t hold eye contact and she’d become a lot more tolerant when it came to things like that, spotting his father coming out of the house Devin left the cern to go over to him and on purpose walked straight into his fathers legs to wrap his arms around one of them essentially holding onto him like he was a koala.

Laughing when she barrelled into him, Hrolf ruffled her hair affectionately “Cerns don’t do farm work Lils it wouldn’t be happy on its own and with no real work to do. I’m sure Tori wouldn’t mind if you visited Devin and he showed you his home” watching his half brother interact with his nephew with a smile, Hrolf didn’t interrupt as Tori tickled his son and then picked up the boy who cuddled into him, once again pleased at how much Tori had grown. Devin snuggled into his father closing his eyes, he had a very close bond with both of his parents and could be rather needy, “Yeah” was all he bothered to reply with, although at Hrolfs words he looked over at Lilli and nodded “She can come daddy?” obviously not now but in the future maybe.


After being home for about six and a half months, Hrolf had finally gained enough weight and to pass for someone living and not a walking corpse and Connor had progressed onto his second collar already. The boy's aptitude for picking up things when it came to how to deal with faeries was quite simply amazing, he’d heard that most pets took a while to go through the collar ranks but it seemed that the human was going to go through them in record time. Getting out of the carriage and wishing he was home already, Hrolf mentally put his game face on and headed in with Connor following, not all that pleased on the inside to be back in this place, it was a fact of life that he had to come in order to maintain connections that were important for the productivity of the farm. Watching the goings-on for a few moments he picked out the faerie that he had wanted to speak to, going over to her he greeted Sofia politely and started a conversation, Connor followed him obediently glancing around the room taking in all of the new faces before he picked out the single face that he knew. The short faerie with black hair and silver eyes, watching him silently curious he remembered his lessons and diverted his eyes unwilling to cause trouble his first time here, the court reminded him of back home in some ways, he had to charm and deceive without appearing to something he’d honed on the streets and had been a skill he’d hung onto purposely.

Having kept an eye on Hrolf herself ever since he’d returned to court he did as she guessed he would and made his way over, accepting the polite greeting she engaged in the conversation, watching from the corners of her eyes as her pet made her way back over to her clearly wanting some reassurance. Reaching back with a hand to brush her fingers quietly over Sarahs hand giving the girl some of the reassurance that she required, Sofia maintained eye contact with Hrolf talking about general things until they finally got to the subject that was the reason why he’d come over to talk to her in the first place.  “I need to apologise to you and your pet, what I did was wrong” his gaze flicked to the girl while he spoke “And I cannot apologize enough for my blindness and my blunder that caused harm to your pet and distress to yourself. Forgiveness is not something I can ask for, all I can beg for is acceptance of my apology and repentance” once he'd finished speaking he flicked his gaze to the floor. It was blindingly obvious to her that he was filled with guilt and regret from his body language let alone his words, musing over them she glanced back at Sarah again choosing her words wisely “Forgiveness never happens right away Lord Hrolf, however I thank you for your earnest apology and it is most definitely accepted on my part, the true forgiveness and acceptance however must come from my precious Sae” stepping to the side she wrapped an arm around Sarah and pulled her close so she could murmur softly into her ear “It is your choice on what to do or say, you will not be reprimanded or punished for speaking the truth lovely girl” kissing her cheek softly she looked over at Hrolf who had lifted his gaze briefly at her statements only to lower it once more when she’d announced that the true one he had to ask for acceptance of his apology was the one he had truly wronged. William was quietly speaking with Billie, wanting to find out more about the lands that she had been to last, in all honesty he really wanted to go with her some time, but his place was with Atrel at court and he had long made his peace with that. If everyone left travelling there wouldn’t be any point to anything, so he’d kept his desires to himself. Spotting the king he politely excused himself from his favourite person at court to talk to that wasn’t his faerie and went over to him to greet him with a bright smile that faded a little as he studied his faerie, having grown up with the king all of his life William had become very adept at reading the king “Somethings niggling at you” although his mother was usually the one that was more in tune with what was going on with him as William was plenty more self centered than she was, the red headed young man waited to hear if his faerie needed him to do anything or not.

Quite pleased with how her darling pet handled the situation, Sofia nodded and watched with satisfaction as Hrolf turned and left with his new pet following him. Musing over the strange boy who felt nothing like a usual human, Sofia determined that she wanted to find out more about him, he felt like herself or Atrel not quite one plain thing “Sae my darling, follow the pet and find out more about him for me, you handled Hrolf well I am pleased” satisfied that that would be enough to send Sarah scuttling off to talk to the blue eyed boy Sofie moved to go talk with other members of court. William eyed his faerie closely before flicking his gaze back out over court in time to watch the new pet flick his gaze up to Atrel, instantly possessive of his faerie that he already had to share with his mother, Will was in no mood to tolerate anything that could remotely threaten his position. “To do with that pet? Why?” he wanted to insist that there was nothing special about him, that he was probably just some sort of street rat that hrolf had picked up whilst he’d been stuck in the human world. However, something stopped him, a shred of concern that some how he would be passed over and that skinny weedy brat who looked like a gangly young giraffe would be someone he had to tolerate. Con had been privately keeping tabs on where the faerie was and when he met the green steely gaze of a beautiful red headed man he for a moment mistook for a girl, was under no illusions as to who that was and his opinion towards him. Flicking his eyes away he excused himself from Hrolfs side and move to a place where he could watch the goings on, falling into one of his favourite tasks when he had nothing better to do, people watching, being able to read people as well as he could the various levels of deception and controversy that rested layer upon layer on each Faerie and pet here was simply fascinating almost like some of the tv dramas that had played during weekday nights that his father hated and his mother loved.

Usually that would have been enough to cow him a little, however this time he met his faeries narrowed gaze steadily “The pet of the farmer Lord Hrolf” the unworthy brat that continued to occasionally glance their way although now he’d moved to people watch presumably and wasn’t looking up at all. Sae was making her way over and soon had parked up next to him speaking, he would wait to go put the boy in his place after she had left him alone, he knew better than to misbehave or make a scene he merely wished to impart to the boy which of the pair of them was the boss. When he mentioned the boy he flicked his gaze pointedly to him as if it was rather obvious whom exactly he was talking about, at least Hrolf didn’t come to court often so whoever the boy was, he wouldn’t have much opportunity to mingle with the king.


Looking up briefly when a soft voice interrupted his thoughts, recognizing the girl as the one that Hrolf had spoken to only moments ago, he had the distinct feeling that this wasn’t a social call. Shuffling through his various options he picked to appear just as meek as he did before his father after a beating, deciding that way he wouldn’t be all that interesting and she’d leave to report on him as someone who wasn’t a threat. Offering a shy smile he rubbed the back of his neck glancing down before back out at the crowd of faeries and pets mingling “Oh yeah it is, it’s a lot to take in, I suppose you must be used to all of this finery by now” people liked usually talking about themselves even if they were being sent over to investigate him so he was quite careful to appear genuine, rather good at it after being taught how to manipulate all of his life. “It’s a bit more fancy than the farm” he laughed a little awkwardly seemingly not entirely comfortable or sure what to say or do.

Resisting the urge to fold his arms and scowl, William merely inclined his head, he liked it at court and wasn’t about to risk getting in trouble and not being allowed to come back for a while. Deciding to stick close to him, Will watched Sae speak with the boy studying how when the boy was spoken to his body language changed becoming more unsure, inching closer to Atrel half hoping for some sort of attention he leaned against the king slightly the most he asked for attention when they were in public. Billie had wandered else where and for now he wished to stay beside the male faerie who owned him, just incase the boy looked up so he realized that the king already had a pet thank you very much and there was no room for a third.  “As you wish” if he had had it his way he would have scared him good, as it was he would just have to go over and get his point across differently but just as effectively


Watching the bright colours as the various court visitors whisked around on the dancefloor Connor shrugged a little at the question “I’ve been living with Lord Hrolf for six months, I adapted to the farm quite quickly” the shrug was a purposeful rookie error although he was careful to appear unaware of the blunder as he’d made up his mind of how he wanted to come across to her. Glancing up briefly to offer a quiet smile he briefly rubbed his hands together before slipping them into his pockets, “It’s very peaceful there a kind of paradise” taking great care not to mention Jon or Lilli as it wasn’t his place to talk about them and spread rumours through the court. He was here because Jon would have hated it, and Connor was good at conning, feeling eyes on him he avoided looking around for the owner of those eyes guessing that it might be the red headed man with piercing green eyes that had been glaring at him earlier.

Listening to her quietly, Connor flicked his gaze up to hers briefly “nice to meet you too, I’m Con, I was a little nervous coming here for the first time. At school, the new kids got hazed pretty bad so I was half expecting the same here to be honest” appearing horrified at everything that had just dropped out of his mouth he rubbed his hands together anxiously and studied the ground beneath his feet going a little red. “Sorry I didn’t um mean for all of that to just fall out like that, I’m still figuring all of the rules and stuff out” appearing to remain on edge until she’d said that it was fine he looked up at her again  “Thank you, I’m glad I got to meet someone nice” flicking his gaze to Hrolf who was now looking over at him, Connor excused himself “Hrolf wants me, It was nice talking to you Sae I hope we get to exchange words again sometime” and with that he headed back over to his faerie. William watched the interaction and ceased leaning on Atrel to elegantly make his way over to the pet, stopping at a few places along the way so it appeared like he wasn’t suddenly beelining for him. Touching Connor's arm he expertly drew the new pet away to somewhere a little more private to chat with him.