A world in colour

In a world where everything is black and white, color is known to take hold when one meets their soulmate. Still this does not make the hunt for the 'one' any easier, the key is they eyes they are known to be the first hint of the truth.
Atrel x Connor
Teenager Connor is stuck on the camp his parents sent him to to 'fix' what's wrong with him. Atrel winds up in a mushroom ring very close to the camp and the young human comes across him seeking to escape the camp even for a little while.
Kat x Kit
With her brother in line for the throne, Kat feels more comfortable wandering around the human world on her own. On one of her trips she finds Kit sketching more treehouses
Nero x Vi
Deciding that he's in need of an assistant, the royal healer Nero takes a trip to the warehouse to see what's on offer and finds Vi.

Mentally writing Switzerland onto his mental list, Connor watched the faerie quietly observing him and once more thinking about the colours that showed so vibrantly. Thinking about the colour made him murmur absently “The colours back in your cheeks after that shower and some tea, Teresa always says that tea is like a hug in a cup” not entirely paying attention to what he was saying as he was too involved in observing the different colours he saw on the faerie that now corresponded to colours around his house. There was a lot of silver and black in the decorations in the kitchen, the colours went with the faerie that was standing there like he belonged there, it wasn’t too long after that that they parted ways and he once again was alone in the spacious house. Thinking over everything he made his decision there and then that he was going to start traveling, to fallow this call into the unknown that spurred him into seeking something his otherwise cowardly nature would have kept him from doing.


It had taken a while to sort everything out, but he’d managed to get Leila staying with his sister and had left the church for good, since then he had spent nearly three years wandering, going all over the place using up much of the money he’d swindled from the church over the years. His money was starting to run out despite how frugal he had been, sitting in a small town in Switzerland he was taking a short break from his trek up into the local mountains. Switzerland was the one country he kept coming back to, despite all of the other places he had been, it was this place that had always called him back again and again and he had no idea why. Leaning back on the park bench, only able to visit this place in the middle of summer unable to cope with the cold in winter, closing his eyes he sighed soaking in the warm summer sun, the pleasant breeze and fresh smell of the country air.

He looked older, no longer clean-shaven he instead had a short beard that was as neatly trimmed as possible, his clothes were now well worn and there was a small backpack at his feet. He had tanned a little from being out in the sun all the time and seemed fairly relaxed, sensing that someone was watching him he opened his eyes and squinted a little against the bright sunlight before recognizing the faerie “Well well it’s a small world after all” scooching over so that the faerie could sit down as well he continued “Drawn to this kind of neck of the woods as well?” halfway hoping that Atrel would sit with him he looked out towards the mountains quietly “All this place is missing is a lake” he still hadn’t been able to find the right place that felt like home, it was like being lost at sea just floating without a purpose unable to get where he was meant to be, and there was someplace that was calling for him or he was being called to go to he didn’t’ know which one it was now.

Absently leaning against the faerie, a little without even realizing it, somewhat surprised that this was also one of Atrel’s favourite places he half wondered if they had more in common than he had ever realized.  “I escaped, Leila is with Teresa and Julie, they’ll keep her safe, I took the essentials and bailed one night. I deal in cash only now and don’t stay in one place for too long” he hadn’t really been asked for that information but it wound up falling out of his mind anyway. “I’ve been around Asia and Europe the history is far more interesting than back home” America's history looked like a shallow puddle compared to the deep ocean of history found in Europe and Asia. He’d learned and seen so much and had dabbled in picking up the local languages a little, he had learned that he got a much warmer welcome in most places if he tried to use their language instead of being a typical white tourist that only used their countries language and refused to try anything new. Trying to ignore the warm feeling he got from being in the faerie’s presence again, part of him remarked that he was like a manipulated pet, discomfited by that he gritted his teeth and ceased leaning against the faerie.

Less stressed was indeed a good way to put it “As long as the church doesn’t find me” feeling slightly fidgety from the various thoughts tumbling through his mind he stood and glanced back at Atrel  “Care to come for a wander around the place?” he didn’t particularly want to leave the pleasant welcome company from the faerie but couldn’t stay in place for long when he started thinking about the church or what he felt. No matter what he knew from what he had learned from Teresa, what he felt was that this somehow was right, even though he’d been raised and taught that it was wrong. Turning off his mind and going with his gut was hard, harder than almost challenge he had ever come across, swinging his pack over one shoulder and holding onto one of the straps to keep it there his other hand slipped into his pocket lest it try anything. After a few minutes of wander, his feet had brought them both to the pond standing staring out over the water, somehow this felt familiar, but how? There were too many questions that didn’t have any answer, stooping down he set his bag at his feet and picked up a small round stone turning it over in his hand, feeling how warm and smooth its surface was. Pulling back his hand he did his best to flick it and watched with a disgruntled look on his face as it splashed into the water as soon as it touched the surface of it. “Tess was always better at this, she tried to teach me, I’m still awful” laughing a little sheepishly he avoided looking at the faerie and instead looked up at the mountains that formed the valley, although it was a calm sunny warm day down in the valley there were some clouds hovering around one of the taller peaks leading him to wonder if it was snowing up there, coming back to the present when he remembered he wasn’t alone he glanced at Atrel out of the corner of his eye.

Watching as the stone thrown by the faerie neatly skipped over the water “psh Show off, yeah she’s nice enough when she’s not outshining me in everything she does” speaking dryly there was still a look of affection in his gaze when he spoke about his sister. Looking down at their reflections in the still water, if he squinted slightly it was like his reflection changed to someone else who wasn’t quite him, the moment passed and he was left with a feeling that there was something missing. Missing inside of him or the moment he wasn’t sure but it made his heartache, the pain was frustrating as he’d had many brief moments like this during his travels, very blurry memories that were filled with colour, senses of déjà vu when he was doing things. What was his purpose? Crouching down to flick his fingers through the cool water he watched the droplets spray across the water “Is it narcissistic? Growing up with an imaginary friend that looks just like you?” was that what was wrong with him? Speaking quietly and not looking up at the faerie he flicked his fingers through the water again, feeling lost again although he did his best to hide it out of habit.

Childishly wanting to ball up his hands and slam them into the water he nevertheless kept that urge to himself and just nodded “I never felt that I could talk to anybody about it” murmuring softly while he absorbed the words about Atrel having a good teacher, Connor exhaled softly. Something about that just made sense, blurred out of focus memories like he was opening his eyes underwater, it was enough for him to feel sick, rocking back on his heels to sit with a soft thud he rubbed his wet hands over his face hoping to bring himself out of it. “Why? Why now” speaking to himself now, more questions were added to his extensive list, why had he only started getting sensations like this after he had met Atrel again, what did this all mean? Why would something that the faerie say about somebody else fit into place inside him like a puzzle piece he didn’t know he’d lost had been returned to where it was meant to be?

Watching the way he lit up when she mentioned what he was doing, Katherine looked over the sketch quickly realizing it was of a tree house “Not many people talk about plants that way, it’s nice” the compliment was quiet whilst she was studying the sketch. He was fairly gifted and the way he talked about the tree suggested that he had known the tree for a long time. This small town had definitely changed, the wall that surrounded it was gone and there wasn’t much left of the place where she had grown up, “I think he’d quite like the company, he’s the sort that’s always loved kids” shifting her weight to lean against the trunk a little she nodded “It’s looking good so far, do you do this as a job or do you go around randomly gifting houses to trees” a cheeky look crept into her gaze and smile at that.

He wasn’t really that surprised when the faerie made an excuse and left, he wasn’t particularly great company at the moment, trapped inside his own head trying to make sense of everything that was going on in his mind.
A year later, one day before the coronation event was set to take place, a servant came into the crown princes quarters looking for him “Forgive me sire, but theres an Ice faerie who’s looking for you. She said something about her brother and wouldn’t say anything else” once he had the princes attention he lead the way to where Teresa was waiting. Standing watching out the window, the girl was dressed in clean plain clothes with her black usually rather frizzy hair pulled black into a plait, looking unusually pale she blinked in surprise seeing Atrel walk in. That surprise was quickly put to the side, leaving the window she walked over to him “he’s gone” not bothering with any niceties she got straight into why she was here “Cons gone, I’ve searched everywhere and I mean everywhere, the only place we haven’t been able to look is places to do with the church, they’re protected from witches and when I tried to get in they were waiting for me every time I go” She didn’t mean to sound as desperate as she did, but there was no other choice, she had to go to the faerie that had been so interested in her brother and pay whatever price it was he wanted for that aid.

Slightly amused when she was told that the tree had been there for a long time, Katherine kept to herself just how long he had been around for, it wasn’t relevant and would only serve to make her seem weird. Returning the warm smile and understanding the silent offer of a seat when he scooted over on the root upon which he was seated, sitting next to him quietly “oh really? That sounds like a job with plenty of variety in it, you must never get bored” the dull day to day paperwork of her jobs at court frequently got monotonous but it was her job and so it was done to the best of her ability. Watching his pencil skim over the surface of the paper as he worked, rather mesmerised by it and how it was making the lines it drew come to life “I used to draw a little when I was younger and had some free time, no where near as well as you do, however” feeling like she could sit and just watch the man sketch forever, she was careful to keep that to herself happy to enjoy the peacefulness of this moment away from the rest of the world.


Listening to his words, she kept her frustrations to herself  “Because I don’t know who else to go to, the church is a viper’s nest, and they know who Julie and I are. Whenever we start snooping, they start getting violent. You have some kind of bond with him surely you must feel some kind of obligation to help, unless of course he was just some kind of plaything.” Her eyes glittered slightly at that, but she made herself continue  “Fine. But you’re a dark faerie, lying, manipulating and being a slimeball come fairly naturally, such traits are needed to infiltrate the church and to get him out, I wouldn’t be here if there was some other way”. Doing her best to keep her ice powers in check and her emotions under control, sensing this was the place not to loose either, Teresa delivered her lines in a clipped controlled voice with her face as neutral as possible.

His perspective was definitely an interesting one, most humans didn’t think about trees that way, “That’s rather perceptive, I’m sure they appreciate that” Perhaps it was just because he was being polite but this was strangely pleasant  “Katherine, it’s a pleasure to meet you” quite comfortable there on the root, she was happy enough to just sit and watch him sketch, it was surprisingly soothing. “Well, I definitely know who to come to if I ever want a treehouse built, have you ever considered giving lessons on how to draw like that?” she doubted that she’d get very good, but it was a way to come back here without seeming like a stalker. This chance at happiness was something she wasn’t about to let get away, she had been waiting for so long she’d come to the conclusion that she would never see colour and that was she had been so pushy with her brother when he’d seen colour on the human. Despite herself, there had been a small part of herself that had been jealous, seeing colour twice in one lifetime as a faerie twin had seemed like ridiculous luck, so while most of her had been happy for him that small toxic part had stayed inside of her.


With a careful breathe in and then one out she seemed to become more distant and cool, carefully doing her best not to explode  “Very well, I sure hope nothing bad happens to him in those two weeks then, your majesty” perfectly polite she continued “I should be going, you seem busy and I’d simply hate to intrude further, I’m sure there are more important matters that require your attention” Faeries. More than glad that she lived in the human world with Julie away from them she did her best to keep her powers to herself although she wasn’t quite able to help the distinct drop in temperature of the room. She knew better than to tell Atrel her true thoughts which were, if anything happened to Connor in the next few weeks she would hold Atrel responsible for not acting, events were not more important than lives, but she’d be treading on thin ice. She didn’t know the faerie personally and thus had no guarantee what he’d say to that, potentially he’d tell her to fuck off and rescue her brother on her own, these next two weeks would entail her going, again and again, trying to find her brother. “Goodbye, Atrel” and with that, she had left the room intending to get back home to Julie.

She could easily imagine that they did, the style he’d sketched out carefully was one that would appeal to many faeries as well, feeling the glance kat looked up from watching his pencil tip move. “as I said I used to draw when I was younger, it’d be nice to try and improve, I am aware that time means money so I’d be fine with offering some kind of monetary compensation for taking up your time.” It’d be rude to expect him to take time out of his day to teach her, someone with not a lot of natural talent, and not offer to pay him something for it. If he didn’t wish to teach her that was fine, but admittedly some part of her was hoping the warmth she felt from this meeting wasn’t just one-sided. It was so unlike her to let down so many of her walls around a stranger, but she was away from court and the man was quiet and unassuming with a great degree of warmth to him, that along with the striking colour blue in his eyes were the reasons why she had let said walls down.


He had lost track of how long he’d been collared for; he had also regressed back to how he used to be when he was a child, quiet and not doing anything that he hadn’t been asked to do. Following behind the faerie that had claimed him as her pet, the busy room was filled with faeries and in all honesty to his shutdown mind was overwhelming. Next was a long boring speech by some faerie who wore a crown, wanting to wrinkle his nose in distaste he kept himself from doing more than a slight twitch of his lips, monarchies were so out of date and positively unethical. Giving one person all the power over the land was foolhardy, his country had broken free of such bonds and now while not the most reputable place, it was free, Rita had skited about how advanced faeries were and that as a human he was nothing but now he saw just how primitive they were despite how amazing they thought they were. Completely uninterested in what was going on he stared into space, now in the habit of doing so when he could and transporting himself into a made-up world where he wasn’t skinny, constantly hungry and sore, where there wasn’t a collar that was so tight, he disliked eating, and fancy silk clothes that hid his wounds and bruises. Colour brought him out of his daydreams, blinking he stared up at the faerie that was blazing with colour, murmuring the name of the faerie so softly he didn’t hear the words himself, he watched the proceedings in shock.

Brightening up when he agreed, Katherine answered “Sometimes showing is easier than explaining anyway” the question was one she felt the need to be more careful with “I used to live here when I was a child, I came to visit for the first time in a long time, it’s a pleasant place to escape for a weekend or two.” It was extremely ironic that he was here, her colour in the very place she had grown up, whoever had planned this was someone she’d like to have some very intense words with. Brushing her fingers over the trees bark she did her best to push away the memories she’d had as a human, they wouldn’t help her right now they only hurt.


Following her brothers gaze to the achingly familiar face, Katherine’s concern for her brother overtook everything else as soon as she could she was at her brother’s side feeling the intense guilt as if it was radiated off of him in waves. “Atrel” understanding what he was feeling as she could feel it herself, she went to him and gave him a tight hug. “Now is no time to wallow in guilt. That wont help him or you, now, I can get the attention of his faeries and ask them to come for a walk with me, that will separate them from the boy, if you head into the gardens he may very well follow. Or alternatively completely ignore him the entire time and come up with another plan later after the frivolities are over” speaking briskly and almost business like, she felt that he needed options for him to make a choice from.

Well she had his name and his address, it’d be so easy to pet him now and one part of her wanted to, so he was hers and hers alone, but that didn’t really suit what she wanted for a proper relationship. “you’re very kind, Thank you” avoiding using his name knowing what using it would do to him, Katherine smiled looking back up at the sky. Today was a good day after all despite how she’d woken up that morning “Do you have many jobs lined up then? Do you watch them build it or come back once its all completed?” Unable to help the questions she looked a little sheepish, a look that was rather unusual for the princess to wear “Sorry for all the questions” she couldn’t help the curiosity that drove her to want to know more about him.


Not letting go she just tightened the hug a little, her answer was a simple nod, pulling back from him to study him for a moment “I intend to lead them away to talk to them privately about the next ball or something, that will give you time to get into the gardens with the boy” refusing to call the human Con as to her Con still belonged to Conrad. Katherine gave her twin a slight smile before heading back out there and wandering around the room eventually winding up talking to Rita and Ralph, when they went to bring con she flicked a dismissive look at the pet and mentioned to them that the pet had no need to be privy to their discussion and headed off with them. Gravitating over to stand close to where the food was he watched it quietly held back by what he was told by Rita, that he was not to take the food, hearing his stomach growling in protest he stood so he was out of the way of the faeries and just watched the food with a quiet ravenous look to his face although he did his best to hide it.

Listening to him speak quietly, she didn’t say much more after that quite happy to sit there in his company, however she knew that she couldn’t be too far away from her job for long so she finally stood with a sigh. “It was nice to meet you, I’ll definitely come and get that lesson off of you” stretching her arms up towards the sky in a comfortable but brief stretch she bade him farewell and headed back home. It was a good couple of months before she was able to return, remembering the address it was a cool day with heavy dark clouds that were threatening rain, a battered old looking book was hugged close to her in an attempt to try and keep any rain off of it. Thankfully she arrived at the address just as the expected rain started to fall. Knocking on the door firmly she pulled her jacket further around herself to try and stay warm, what she really wanted was a nice fruit tea, it’d be quite nice right about now.


He couldn’t help but notice the bright colours as they came closer, glancing at the familiar faerie out of the corner of his eye, he picked up on the glance, he stayed where he was for a while before following the kings path. Warily stepping out into the gardens he stopped closing his eyes at the blurry memories or visions he’d been getting from the moment he’d stepped inside this palace. The moment passed and he continued walking, finally spotting Atrel he wandered over although he stayed out of reach out of habit by now, he didn’t really know what to say but he was relieved to at least be away from Rita for a little while. Despite himself he watched the food more than the faerie, hugging himself he pulled his jacket around himself more, he was quickly learning that silk did nothing for keeping out the cold, although it was fairly mild he always felt cold in his bones and chest.