Trembling Hands

In truth she’d kept a close eye on the drama that had occurred when the princess’s pet had gone missing and had done a little of the detective work to help find the Faerie who had orchestrated it mainly as she was fond of Atrel the princess’s older twin brother. To her utter delight the human that Katherine had brought back with her was instantly someone that the cunning faerie female could use and so she had very quickly taken the necessary precautions to prepare herself to start manipulating the girl. Katherine had kept her close to her side for quite some time suggestiong that perhaps suggested that she’d had a little trouble with the girl. Either way, the fact that the pale blonde was finally present at a court function meant that she was finally ready, mingling rather innocently with a few other noblewomen she was more than aware that she was slightly unliked and considered rather below faerie standards of beauty. That had never bothered her, she preformed her job as Spymaster well and indeed only three or so Faeries even knew her position within the court, the rest all knew her as a faerie that’d been a commoner and had been given a barony far out in the country side of the fae lands. Excusing herself and flicking a subtle wink in Atrels direction seeing that he’d decided to show up likely for his sisters sake, walking over to the pretty girl she let a slight smile appear on her features. “Hello, It would be a delight to have a dance with you Miss” she knew that Kat wouldn’t have let the girl come along if she wasn’t allowed to dance and so was fairly confidant that the girl would agree to dance with her. Keeping her body language very relaxed and friendly, she was silently coming up with things that she could say and do to start to manipulate her, she was pretty and if she was very lucky she’d be able to pick up what she wanted her to learn.

Taking in the flinch and the girls body language, Sofia kept her smile to herself, the princess had schooled the human before her into the perfect candidate for her. Drawing the female close she began to dance with her, a relaxed friendly smile still on her face “What can I call you? I’m Sofia” not correcting the girl who kept watching her feet, sofia continued to dance with her. She’d use this ball to get the girl to know her and after wards she’d get to know her more in private. Guiding their dancing over to another pair, her keen ears picked up on what they were talking about, filtering through the information that she’d collected she mentally sorted it while continuing to dance and keep an eye on the pretty blonde she was dancing with. Balls were such entertaining occasions, there was always something going on, the next couple they breezed past had much more interesting information than the previous couple. Keeping them dancing close to them until she’d eavesdropped everything she could out of them, she returned most of her attention back to the young woman in her arms. Green eyes sparkled with intelligence and some amusement as they studied the human girl, she was so submissive so quiet so scared, she’d flourish under warm gentle handling and so that was what the cunning Faerie would do.

Waiting patiently, her gaze visibly softened when the girl in her arms trembled and finally murmured her name, “That’s a lovely name” deciding that she wouldn’t push the girl any further for now, the cunning creature ended the dance and walked the timid human girl back to her corner. Once they were safer in the darker corner of the room Sofia spoke again “It was lovely dancing with you Sae, I hope to see you at another court function” she needed to be careful as she was wary of pressing the girl too far too soon. So she kept away for the rest of the ball, it was a couple of weeks later when she was wandering through the gardens that she discovered the girl from the ball was sitting down underneath a tree watching the butterfly winged faeries. “Well hello again Sae, you’re looking rather lovely today” smiling as a couple of the faeries fluttered over to her and spoke to her in their lilting language, replying softly she offered one of them a flower and smiled when one took it. The others flocked to her and started to squabble until she produced a flower each which had the rather satisfied creatures returning to the girl with their prizes. Picking up on the girls terror, she let her features soften, crouching down to her eye level she very gently took the girls hand and spoke “hey, its alright moon’s light, I wont hurt you and I wont get you in trouble with the princess, she wont get angry if you speak to me” she reached out and lifted the girls chin so she could see the sincerity in her eyes and on her features.

It'd been about a month and a half now and Sofia was well settled into her routine of meeting the human girl, Sae on mondays just after one pm. During that time she'd taught the girl about the butterfly faeries and had started to teach her their language, she was intelligent enough and had finally started asking questions and seemed to soak up all of the information like it was a sponge. Hearing footsteps, she looked up from her spot on the wooden bench and smiled her usual warm friendly smile when she saw that it was Sae "Good Afternoon, I hope you've had a good week Moonfire" the term had come about as to her the females hair had been kissed by the moon and she often blushed red which reminded her of fire. Gesturing for the girl to join her she reached out and carefully tucked a lock of blonde hair behind the girls ear, from now she'd start to do small gentle touches that would help manipulate the girl. Quite content there she waited for the pretty girl to start telling her how her week had been, Sofia had been quite careful to portray herself as someone different from the princess. Someone who was always gentle and kind and that would never say a harsh word nor lift a hand to hurt her.

She listened quietly, leaning back against the back of the bench her green eyes closing whilst she listened, her fingers were busy plaiting a bracelet for the girl, the leather she was using was black and pretty gems were being braided into the pattern. Opening her eyes again to properly focus on what she was doing, Sofia continued to listen to the girls story, by the time that the girl fell silent the bracelet was finished, leaning forward a little she offered Sae the bracelet. It was something ordinary enough that no one would blink at a pet having it, and yet the pretty stones made it a unique and lovely piece “Here, don’t worry its not spelled and the princess wont be suspicious of you wearing it. I wouldn’t give you something that’d get you into trouble, I want to keep you safe Moonfire” her voice was soft and affectionate, dark green eyes flicking from the girl to the butterfly faeries. The gems were sapphires, they went well with the leather and after some digging she’d discovered that sapphires were the girls birthstone “Please take it Sae” she hadn’t used the girls name before usually preferring to call her Moonfire, her use of the name meaning quite clearly that it would mean a lot to her for Sarah to accept the bracelet.

By know knowing that the 'she' that Sae mentioned was the princess Katherine, she shook her head and ever so gently took the other females hand "She wont get angry at you Moonfire, nor will she take it away, if she mentions it say that it was a gift that would have been rude to refuse" it seemed that whatever the princess had done to train this girl had scared the living daylights out of her, it was a little sad to see, the girl was so pretty and pale fear ruined her features. Ever so gently brushing a kiss to the back of the girls hand she released her and removed her hand to rest it with her other one in her lap. Her brown wavy hair was neatly cut so it brushed against her shoulders when she moved her head, faint subtle make up on she also wore rather non descript clothes. Simple black pants that clung to her slender legs and a green shirt, if anything she looked more like a human worker than she did a fae although her wings proved otherwise.

Nodding at the question, Sofia smiled, she was more than aware of what Katherine was planning to do and a few of her comrades around court had reported to her that a male faerie was quite interested in the striking girl as a bed warmer. That was something that she would not tolerate, the girl would belong to herself, and if that meant threatening the rival Faerie then so be it. "Yes, however I have other things I can teach you if you like learning, like how to gather interesting information and how to tell when someone is lying to you and more" brushing her own hair back out of her face, the green eyed faerie watched the butterfly winged tiny faeries that bickered with one another and very vainly made themselves look as nice as possible hoping to be praised and thus by their standards be announced the prettiest. Even the male ones took part, they were built rather muscular and often had larger wings than the more dainty females, the biggest one had an impressive set of moth wings and although they weren't colourful they were shining with health and well looked after.

Content to teach the girl new things, Sofia also neglected to watch the time, enjoying the rapt audience, watching her carefully when the girl apologized and said that she had to go, Sofia smiled. Standing she offered sarah a hand up and once the girl was standing kissed her hand “That’s quite alright, Hurry along back to the princess, I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble on my behalf” releasing the girls hand Sofia left her there heading away to her own quarters. The King wanted a report of the various goings on under the surface at court and so she had to prepare a full report on it all, sitting down she was soon lost in her work writing things down and double checking facts. IT wasn’t worth the trouble if she made a mistake, if she made a mistake she could be replaced, if she was replaced she’d be nothing again, although she wasn’t against being nothing she liked having wealth and pretty things. If she didn’t have wealth and pretty things she wouldn’t be able to claim the pretty little human for herself. It was more stressful than she let anyone else know, the only thing anyone else ever saw was what she wanted them to see, and stress was something that could not be allowed to show. Finally finishing and with a headache from several hours work by candle light, Sofia rose and left her quarters.

Walking through the garden, he’d headed there to clear his thoughts after yet another argument with the one that he’d taken as his mate, her constant nit picking and criticisms were wearing him down. She’d seemed so wonderful and perfect for him when they’d first met and it wasn’t until after they’d become mates that the real self of her had come out. These gardens had become his sanctuary, and he was very thankful that they were there for him to wander through, pausing as he noticed a struggling plant Hrolf Ulfmaerr crouched and did his best to bolster the little things life force. His family was better off with animals than plants, over thousands of years working with beasts, they were the ones who trained falcons and the hounds that the fae were so fond of. Not ones for court it’d taken Hrolf a long time to build the respect and standing that he now had in court, once the plant was faring better he stood and brushed the dirt off of his clothes. He was mildly attractive, with dark brown hair that had a few blonde streaks through it, and green eyes that had flecks of brown through them. Continuing along and spotting the pale blond female, a brow raised while his gaze observed her, she was a pet and by the look of her collar was for sale, making his way over to her he sat down on the bench he was more than aware it was just a matter of time before his wife left him. She was never satisfied with the money he brought in, and hated that the animals he worked with left fur on him and everywhere in their home, she sought glamour and wealth and well he just wasn’t very glamorous . “Hello there little one” he began “What brings such a pretty lady out here?” the details on the collar informed him that she belonged to the princess, despite himself there was the vague idea that perhaps she’d be better company than his wife and keep him from being alone again. His parents had died in an accident concerning some of the animals that they raised, which was why he’d been so thankful when he’d met his wife only to find she was nothing like what she’d first seemed.

She became instantly nervous as soon as she noticed he was there, she began fiddling with the hem o fher shirt, however despite her apparent anxiety and fear she answered his question. Impressed that she’d been trained well enough to answer even through fear he tilted his head a little noticing that she was now trembling slightly, reaching out Hrolf touched gentle fingers to her cheek then chin lifting it so he could meet her eyes. “You like watching them? What is your age and name?” he was quite curious about the girl, and would continue to question her for a while, “do you often come here?” he didn’t mean to come across quite as creepy as he was and instead leaned forward slightly interested in her. She’d throw nice children that would become his heirs and learn how to look after the various animals that were raised on the farmland he and his family owned. One hand absently spun the wedding ring on his finger, at least he’d be able to make a decent amount off of it once his wife left him and he sold it, then he’d go back home and return to doing what he loved, which was working on the farm and taking care of all the animals on it. Able to understand animals better than most fae he was admittedly proud that his farm and creatures sustained much of the dark faerie kingdom.