in the quiet night [closed to aiden]

[Damaris Ellorian]

Berlin, Germany: the restaurant Vau.

Damaris had crossed to the mortal realm a good three hours ago, but she was just now deciding what she wanted to do. The problem was that time slipped away so easily from her; the last time she had been in this part of earth, the year had been 1904 and the very layout of the city had been different. The jostling and bustling of this modern Berlin had disoriented Damaris at first, but now she was settling it. Barely.

Slipping down the crowded street, Damaris ignored the leering glances sent her way by a few men. In the seelie court, respected and revered by her other fae, and free to wander and dress however she please, Damaris had forgotten the confining ways of dressing that humans persisted in following. She was only wearing a skirt that brushed the top of her knees and a tanktop that ended above her bellybutton. She was also barefoot, thought no one had seemed to notice yet, thankfully. Setting her face stonily as one last cat-call escaped the mouth of a man she walked by, Damaris clenched her fists and stifled her temper.

Ah. A restaurant. The perfect escape. And thankfully, the place seemed to be slightly old fashioned: as Damaris opened the door, she saw an arched ceiling and low wooden tables. Stepping inside, the elf waved a hand over her feet, casting the illusion of shoes and sensible clothing. As a server approached her, the petite female inclined her head respectfully.

"How may I help you, Madame?" the man said, and Damaris smiled charmingly at him.

"I would just like an out of the way table, preferably by myself," she answered, and smiled to herself as the man nodded and led her over to a small spot in the back. Sitting down, Damaris unfolded the menu and looked over her options. However, she was not the only fae in Berlin...

[Aiden Rhytek]

Aiden knew that it was a risk coming to the mortal realm. All his power as an Eternal meant nothing here. A passing car could run off the road and kill him. Just as he thought that, one of the machines sputtered past him, leaking smoke and the smell of petrol. Aiden wrinkled his nose and hunkered down in his jacket.

Aiden had been a magus living in what was now Kyoto during the Kamakura period. When the shogun had been overthrown after two centuries of rule, Aiden had been one hundred and twenty-eight and ascending to the status of an Eternal. And this was his first first trip back to earth in over seven hundred years. He had never left the fae realms since becoming an Eternal.

Tugging his black jacket closer around him, Aiden eyed the streets of Berlin warily. He hadn't quite summoned up the courage to return to Japan yet, but this was close enough. Well it was half-way around the world, but his point still stood. Somehow.

Aiden was dressed in the aforementioned thick black flight jacket and a blue undershirt. Black pants tucked into black boots completed the outfit, leaving him looking like a thoroughly modern man. The appearance was all luck however; Aiden had been dressing like this since the thirteenth century. Stalking down the sidewalk, Aiden watched his breath curl in the cold air. The chilled metal of his spear handle bit into this skin; a simple glamour before he traveled to this world had changed the appearance of the weapon to that of a cane.

A set of doors reared up before him, and Aiden jerked his head in surprise. He'd been so lost in thought he hadn't even noticed. Odd of him. Walking inside, he examined the interior; a restaurant by the looks of it, and not a shabby one. Well he was getting rather hungry. Just as he was about to flag down a server, a sharp tug to his senses made him look across the room. Dull as his un-recognized magic was in the mortal realm, he could still sense other fae. And the girl curled in a corner booth was one of them.

She was slight and blonde-haired, long waves falling down her back. Examining a menu, she seemed oblivious to Aiden's presence. Not an Eternal; he knew all of them, and not an Unseelie since the humans seemed calm and at peace. A Seelie perhaps, and not a low-ranking one by her shimmer of power. A waiter appeared in front of him and Aiden said, roughly: “I'm with that girl in the back,” waving at the other fae. “She'll be expecting me.” The waiter shrugged and guided him over. Sitting down across from the girl, Aiden cleared his throat and watched her put down the menu.

[Damaris Ellorian]

As Damaris struggled to choose between a dish called gulash and a steak (which was at least food she recognized) she noted the sound of two pairs of footsteps approaching her corner of the room. Dismissing the noise as a server escorting someone to a table, Damaris settled back into her musing until a body slid into the booth across from her. She looked up, but the harsh words and confusing glamour that would have sent the man wandering in a daze from the restaurant died on her lips.

The mortal across from her wasn’t a mortal at all. He looked at her with a faint smile on his face. He was strikingly beautiful, though Damaris kept any admiring feelings off her face. He had sharp cheekbones and porcelain skin. Matched with liquid gold eyes that were wide and expressive, and sleek blue hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail (although a few rebellious bangs fell to the side and framed his face), he had such an otherworldly air that even an ignorant mortal would have stood in awe. Damaris coughed and set aside the menu.

“You aren’t human,” she said and wanted to die from embarrassment. Obviously, he wasn’t. “But you aren’t a vampire either…” she trailed off and tapped a finger against her lips. “I don’t recognize you from the Seelie Court, and you certainly aren’t an Unseelie…so that only leaves…Eternal?” Hiding her nervousness, Damaris continued on. “But what do you want with me then?”

[Aiden Rhytek]

Aiden settled back in his seat and plastered a smile on his face as the fae set aside her menu and noticed him for the first time. The more he thought about it, the stupider his decision to approach her had been; just because she was another fae in Berlin didn’t give him the right to sit with her. Well, too later for regrets now. Hopefully she would at least be a good conversational partner.

There was a pause as she looked up at Aiden, her mouth bent around words—telling him to leave, no doubt—but instead she only examined him for a minute. Trying not to blush, Aiden darted his eyes downward and—that was a mistake. He saw through her glamour and she wasn’t um, wearing much. Focusing back on her face, Aiden was amazed. She was gorgeous. The fae had slightly curled blonde hair that fell around her face and was tinted with a hint of pink. Her eyes were bright blue and shaded with thick black lashes. Clearing his throat, Aiden stared at the table. That was the safest bet.

He listened as the fae ran through the list of what he might be and only looked up when she seemed to have drifted off after asking what he wanted with her. “You’re right,” he said. “I am an Eternal. But I don’t want anything with you, I’m not going to bother you.” Aiden looked around the restaurant and restrained a sigh. “I just haven’t been to the mortal realms since I became an Eternal and I was hoping to find something to do here. I didn’t want to go home to Japan, so this was the next place.” Aiden placed his spear, disguised as a staff on the table. Would she be able to pierce through the glamour? He didn’t know, but it wouldn’t matter either way. The spear was blunt, and she didn’t know his powers.

“I found you by accident. Is it too much to ask for a simple meal?” Aiden flashed an uncertain smile. “My name is Aiden, by the way. I doubt you’ve heard of me.”

[Damaris Ellorian]

Damaris listened as the Eternal explained himself, pausing only once to place his staff on the table. There was definitely something a bit off about that staff; she pushed at it a little with her magic, but nothing happened. She should have known; he was an Eternal after all, and thus far above her in magic…and she’d recognized him, so his magic would be restored as if her were in the Eternal realms, Damaris realized with a sinking feeling, slumping her shoulders. She was so dumb sometimes; it defied belief that she was as old as she was. Sometimes she acted like a five hundred year old kid.

The man introduced himself as Aiden, finishing the introduction with some self-deprecation. Damaris eyed him for a moment, weighing her options. There really was no choice but to eat with him, she supposed. If he meant her harm, he could strike her down before she was even out of her seat. And he spoke fondly of his homeland; perhaps he still retained memories of his humanity. He didn’t seem very old, certainly not like her idea of Eternals. It could be a façade though. Damaris knew that Eternals enjoyed their games.

Perhaps he had been drawing a web around her for a while then, leading to this moment and hoping for entertainment when his plan came to fruition. In that case, it would be better for both of them if she simply played along. And maybe she would get something out of this game as well. Time to begin the first round.

“I’m Damaris Ellorian,” she said, lowering her eyes coyly. “A noble fae of the Seelie court. Though, I’m an elf if you want to get technical.” She lifted her gaze to scan the restaurant, noting the tranquility of all the humans. How oblivious they are, she thought fondly, smiling at them. “I suppose in mortal terms, I would be Her Grace the Duchess Ellorian.” She went silent for a moment, dragging a finger along the edge of the table before remarking offhand: “My grandfather is the Grand Duke of the Court. I suppose I’m the King’s cousin or something. I remember my parents used to take me out riding to the mortal lands on our white horses, riding over green hills and by sparkling lakes…we danced throughout the night. Mortals called us the aos sí, because we danced over their mounds and tombs, and we never aged or lost our lustrous beauty. But they learned, and now they have technology and smoking guns, bombs that bloom into fire like a spell gone wrong, and there are few who remember our dancing feet, and none who truly believe…” Shaking her head, Damaris brightened up, meetin Aiden’s gaze.

“I haven’t heard of you,” Damaris admitted, “But you’re also the first Eternal I’ve ever met, so that could be why. Are you newly raised then? I’m not very old myself, to be honest—barely three thousand years.”

[Aiden Rhytek]

Aiden tried not to let his jaw drop as the fae—no, Damaris—talked to him. Maybe his status as an Eternal gave him more power and prestige in the Endless Realms, but Damaris’s sheer age and wisdom put her far, far above him in his eyes. Three thousand years old? Aiden was only eight hundred four, and he wasn’t even the youngest Eternal! Three millennia of experience and life…? What had she done and seen? She spoke with firsthand experience of the legendary Sidhe hunts, hunts that had been legend and myth centuries before he was even born. But Damaris didn’t seem bored or apathetic like his fellow Eternals, far from it. Instead she seemed almost thrilled with life—she couldn’t even choose between two dishes on the menu of a mortal restaurant.

“You’re related to the Seelie King directly?” He asked. Well, way to come off like a power-struck fool, he thought at himself. “I mean, should you be allowed to just go to the mortal realm? Shouldn’t you have guards or someone with you? I mean, not that you can’t take care of yourself but um, it just seems a little dangerous.” Aiden stammered into silence, hating himself. Wasn’t he supposed to be an ageless and all powerful being that commanded life and death with a wave of his hand? He didn’t feel like that at all right now. “Well I suppose that it’s better they forgot about us,” he said softly. “Can you imagine if mortals still knew about us? They’d try to cut us down or cage us and lock us away. Experiment on us.”

Aiden snaked a hand beneath his jacket and pulled his purple quartz necklace out from under his shirt, bouncing the gem in his palm for a moment. Letting it fall against his chest with a sigh, he smiled gratefully at the approaching waiter who slid a steaming plate of food in front of both of them.

[Damaris Ellorian]

Perhaps it was petty of her (okay, it was definitely petty of her) but Damaris couldn’t help but feel a bubble of amusement at the Eternal’s expense as she revealed her family history. Most of the time she couldn’t care less about her prestigious connections; Damaris had spent most of her long life at her estates or exploring the other realms, not socializing at the court. Still, her family was a nice ace in the hole. She was lucky this Eternal was still young; she suspected if she’d tried this bit of flashy speech on any other Eternal they would have been thoroughly impressed. Round one to Damaris, then.

She listened to his words about how it was better the mortals had forgotten them, and was about to counter his argument when his jewelry caught her eye. The necklace he palmed and looked at briefly was an exact match to the purple quartz earrings that Damaris wore hidden by her hair. That wasn’t a coincidence. The gem was one unique to Sidhe and rare even in that strange land; one of Damaris’s estates had a small mine of them. They were expensive as hell. Her heart rate quickened and the elf shook her head calming herself. She knew that necklace.

Damaris had only fallen in love with one man before, and he had been an ordinary mortal living over a thousand years ago. She had married him and taken him to her palace in Sidhe, but he had died as all mortals must. Two hundred years later, she had gained the courage to return to the Mortal realm without thinking of him automatically. Wandering in Japan, the most distant place in the world from her husband’s birthplace, she had come across a small boy. Only four years of age, he had fallen into a well and was in danger of drowning. Rescuing him, Damaris had deposited him at his house and pressed the purple fold quartz necklace she was wearing into his chubby hand, entreating him to take care of it. The necklace had been a gift from her husband.

That that boy should be magi-gifted and grow up to be an Eternal, that she would meet here…life was certainly a jest. Shaking her head, Damaris picked up her fork and dug into the food the waiter set before her. She hadn’t recalled ordering, but perhaps service was different in this century. She had been away a while. Damaris chewed her food slowly, gazing out at the other patrons. This tasted..odd? By the fifth bite, her vision was growing blurry and there was a throbbing in her head. “What have you done, Eternal?” Damaris spit out at the hazy figure sitting across from her. “Don’t trap me one of your games, I don’t…”

She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. It was taking all of her strength to stay conscious; speaking was far beyond her by now.

[Aiden Rhytek]

Aiden watched Damaris's face as she caught sight of his necklace. For a moment, she looked on the verge of saying something to him, but only shook her head and began eating her meal. Aiden wished that the waiter had brought him something so appetizing as what Damaris dug into. The bowl in front of him was filled with a red stew, with chunks of unknown meat floating to the service. Aiden prodded one of the meat bits with a fork and his stomach flipped when the tine of the fork broke off. That settled it then. Pushing the food aside, he looked up at Damaris only to see her glare at him and accuse him of...games?

“I didn't do anything,” he protested as the fae lapsed into silence, gazing at the tabletop. “I didn't!” Aiden cast a glance at the rest of the restaurant—no one seemed to have noticed anything. They were in a tucked away corner, and Damaris's words hadn't been very loud. Acting quickly, he grabbed his napkin and willed it to look like a handful of euros, which he than threw down on the table. Sliding out of his seat, Aiden walked around to Damaris, kneeling beside her.

“Hey? I'll get you out of here, okay?” He grasped her shoulder and shook her gently, but the fae was unresponsive. Grasping her by the waist, he pulled her against him, her head lolling against his shoulder. Standing up, Aiden grabbed his spear and walked out of the restaurant—half dragging Damaris with him—and making excuses to the waiter who tried to bar his way.

Stumbling into the street, Aiden looked for somewhere to go. Spotting an alley about a dozen yards away, he shuffled over into his, setting Damaris down on a stack of boxes. Propping her head against the brick wall, Aiden held her face in between his hands. “Hey, come on. Wake up.” For a moment she remained quiet, and then she fluttered her eyes, groaning unintelligibly.

[Damaris Ellorian]

After Damaris had finished her accusation of the Eternal, she slumped bonelessly against the table, shutting her eyes. Barely awake, she couldn't utter a protest as Aiden stood beside her, and then pulled against him and carried her out of the restaurant. If the Eternal wanted to trap her in his games, there was nothing she could do for the moment. But one day he would regret messing with her, and she'd bring the full force of her rage down to bear on him. One day...

She heard the protesting tones of a server, than the bustle of the street; and then nothing. She was sat rather unceremoniously on rough wood, and she felt Aiden place his warm palms on either side of her face. His right thumb smoothed a rebellious strand of hair, and as he called out to her, Damaris struggled to respond. At first all that came out of her mouth was a choked-off splutter of noise; but slowly she opened her eyes and was able to speak again. “I can't move,” she said, dulled eyes glaring at him. “If I'm not a part of one of your games, Eternal, then who did this to me?”

“I did,” a rather squeaky voice announced from the end of the alleyway. “It's an iron-enhanced tranquilizer I've been working on for years. They didn't believe me. No one believed me. But I knew you existed. My grandmother told me stories about your kind, Sidhe. About your powers. And now I want them.” Damaris slowly tilted her head enough to see who was speaking; it was their waiter from the restaurant.

“Actually,” she said. “Our proper title isn't the Sidhe. That referred to thel land from which we came.” The waiter snorted, but Damris continued on: “How did you know what I was?”

“When you came in you were wearing a rather whorish outfit,” the waiter said and Damaris scowled. “But by the time I had gotten to you, you were in something completely different. My grandmother called it your 'glamour'. Your tricks.”

The man pulled out a gun from inside his white apron and pointed it at Aiden. “I'm sorry you were involved in this,” the waiter said. “But I can't let a human find out about the Sidhe, or what I know about them. This is my discovery alone.” The shot rang out and echoed violently in the confined space. Damaris shut her eyes; she trusted the Eternal would be fine and yet....she suddenly felt rather afraid.

[Aiden Rhytek]

As Damaris struggled to wakefulness, talking softly, Aiden watched her carefully. Even if the fae was much older than him, she was still weaker in terms of power—and right now, she was helpless. The right thing to do was to stay by her side and protect her until she was able to protect herself. Aiden focused on Damaris' eyes—they had been bright blue in the restaurant, but now they seemed to have lost their shine. Even her glare seemed weary. Aiden barely heard the footsteps that approached the alley, and they didn't register in his mind at all. There were so many people out on the streets tonight.

And then the waiter from the restaurant was there, confessing to drugging Damaris' food with a tranquilizer he'd developed. Aiden didn't really care about the details; he'd poisoned the fae, knew about the existence of otherworldly beings, and heaven forbid what he'd planned to do with Damaris if he'd captured. Even if he was just a mortal, he would probably have to die to keep their secret.

When the man pulled out a gun, Aiden slipped away from Damaris. The waiter wouldn't risk injuring his captive, and if Aiden was far away, there was less chance of the bullet hitting her by accident when re-directed it. The man pulled the trigger—Aiden raised a spinning wind wall in front of him, and the bullet careened off to the side, embedding itself in brick. The shock on the waiter's face was almost worth the trouble, Aiden thought.

“You aren't human either?” The waiter asked and stumbled backwards. Aiden looked expasperated.

“You didn't think this through very well, did you?” Aiden said. “Why in the world would a regular mortal be having dinner with a fae? You shouldn't have only...” Aiden suddenly recalled the disgusting gulash he had been served and shuddered. Small mercies—thank the heavens for his picky taste in food.

The man raised his gun again, but Aiden wouldn't be taken unaware again. It was a simple matter to twist the gun out of the man's hand with a snap of wind, and in an instant, Aiden had his spear de-glamoured and pointed at the waiter's throat. “Give me a good reason why I should let you live?” he asked.

The waiter gulped soundlessly.

“I thought so.” Sending the man slamming backwards into the street with a gust of wind (and a rap on the head from the spear to knock him out) Aiden turned back to Damaris. Hauling her off the boxes, he set her on the spear, side-saddle. “Can you hold on?” He wrapped her hands around the grip, only to see them spasm uselessly and fall off. “That's a no, then.”

Getting on behind her, Aiden wrapped his arms around her waist and grasped the grip of the spear. One moment and there—they were up in the sky, hovering over the rooftops of Berlin. “Any place in mind?” Aiden asked.

[Damaris Ellorian]

Damaris couldn't see most of the fight, although she heard the two men arguing. Aiden must have blocked the shot, because she heard the waiter protest in disbelief. It was so very hard to focus. Damaris leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes again. She wanted to sleep off this drug, wake up with her arms and legs ready to move again, wake up without the sticky taste of tranquilizer that seemed to coat her mouth and throat. She was so tired. It wouldn't be that bad if she just went to sleep; just for a few minuts. Aiden could take care of himself.

The sound of metal on flesh, followed by a crashing sound, brought Damaris out of her drowsed state. Her eyes blinked open again, and she saw Aiden approach her. Picking her up off the boxes; in quite the ungentle manner, she thought in a huff, Aiden sat her on his staff (which Damaris now realized just to be a glamorized spear. A spear. How quaint.) sidesaddle and placed her hands on the hilt. Damaris could only watch in apathy as her fingers uncurled and slid off. Aiden sighed and got on behind her, reaching his arms around her to hold the spear. And then they were up, off into the dark night, floating above the alleyway.

The cold rush of air as they flew should have woken Damaris up, but she felt only weaker. Aiden asked her where she wanted to go, but she could barely comprehend the question. Just some sleep; some sleep and she would be better. Letting her head rest on Aiden's chest, she murmured: “Did you kill him? You should have killed him...he can't know, not about us. Cousin Mason would be furious with me...” She trailed off and was silent for a few minutes. If Aiden said something in reply to her question, she was too far gone to hear his answer.

“Home,” she finally slurred. “I want to go home.” That was the last of her strength. Damaris sunk down into the blackness she had been circling for so long with no small measure of relief.

[Aiden Rhytek]

The two flew in silence for a heartbeat before Damaris showed any signs of stirring. To Aiden's surprise, Damaris' head slipped sideways against his chest, her blonde hair becoming tangled in the wind. She asked Aiden if he had killed the man, her words growing softer until Aiden could barely her her—something about a cousin? He remembered Damaris telling him in the restaurant that she was the Seelie King's cousin and Aiden nearly hit himself in the face before recalling that he was two hundred feet up in the air. That was just what he needed—the Seelie King mad at him.

Drifting aimlessly above Berlin, Aiden studied Damaris' face. What was he supposed to tell her? He wasn't sure if the man was dead, though he had certainly been incapacitated. Maybe the blow to the head Aiden gave him would erase his memory of all things fae and unnatural—maybe not. Well, it wasn't as if they'd ever see the man again. Aiden was just preparing to find somewhere deserted to land so he could find somewhere for Damaris to sleep, she spoke again.

Home? She wanted to go home? Aiden had no idea where she lived in Sidhe, and he doubted marching up to the palace with an unconcious Seelie Duchess in his arms would bring him anything but pain. But still...well maybe it would be a mistake to bring her there, maybe not. He wouldn't know unless he did it. And with the bitter aftertaste of that thought, Aiden and Damaris slipped into the Endless Realms.

Aiden's part of the Endless Realms was simple and modest, though beautiful—that's what he always told himself, anyway. Modeled after the land he had grown up in, waving green-and-yellow grass stretched in every direction. Three rivers cut through the earth and in the far distance, snow-topped moutains could be seen. (Though not climbed. Aiden had never gotten around to making them.) And Aiden's house fit the simple setting.

The house was a bit of a hodgepodge. A strange mixture of adobe and gray stone on the outside, with four chimneys that extended at odd angles from the roof and sidewalls, it had a blue door with five windows arranged around it. Aiden had expanded on the house as he pleased, tacking things on as they struck his fancy. Not the most organized method of conducting business, but he was pleased with the results. Stepping off the spear, Aiden scooped up Damaris in his arms before the fae could tumble to the ground.

Opening the door with a swirl of wind, Aiden stepped inside the entrance hallway and kicked off his shoes. Then he turned left and up a flight of stairs, to his bedroom. It wasn't that messy, he decided, though he did send a few items of clothing soaring into the closet and out of sight. Placing Damaris on the bed, he stood back and studied her for a moment. Now that he was in the Endless Realms, it would be a simple matter to extract the drug from her body and heal her. Then she would be on her way and he would have some peace. But to his surprise, Aiden resisted the idea. She had been interesting, and meeting her had brought some adventure into his life, no matter how brief. He would let her sleep it off, and see what happened when she woke up.

Throwing a blanket over her, Aiden went back downstairs, but this time he headed for the kitchen. Being in the human world made him hungry and he never had eaten his meal at the restaurant, after all.

[Damaris Ellorian]

Damaris woke up slowly. She buried her face in the pillow, frowning at the smell. Had the maids not washed her bedsheets daily, as usual? They hadn't been this lax in over five hundred years, not since the last time she had gotten really angry at them. They knew how fond their mistress was of her creature comforts. Pulling the blanket tighter around her, she was surprised to find that the material wasn't the wool she usually slept in, but a thinner material. Sitting up straight in bed, she yawned and opened her eyes to find; that she wasn't in her manor room at all. “What?” She scrambled up against the headboard, looking around frantically. Of all that was in the room, she noticed only one thing: trash.

The room was full of it! Unwashed dishes, a few stray heaps of grabage, grimy windows and dirty clothes peeking out from under the closet door. Had that waiter succeeded in kidnapping her? If so, she'd kill him and then that foolish Eternal who apparently couldn't even work basic magic. Quickly, Damaris tallied herself up: headache, throbbing, but maneagble. It must have been a side effect of that drug she'd been slipped. But as she flexed her arms, she was pleased to discover that she had full use of her magic back; and she left two matching scorch marks on the ceiling as proof. Picking her way among the piles of refuse on the floor, Damaris decided on her plan of action. Bind the waiter in ropes of light, perhaps bash him on the head a few times with something metal in hopes he'd forget all about her....

Her stomach grumbled. Sniffing the air, she was surprised to discover the smell of sizzling bacon permeated the house. In her anger, she hadn't even realized it. Pushing open the bedroom door, Damaris crept down the narrow stairs, rushing out into the hallway. There was no one there. But a side-door seemed to lead to the bacon, and Damaris slipped through it. Apparently it was the entrance to a kitchen....so where was the fiendish bacon-loving waiter who had taken her here? But to her second surprise of the day, the person making bacon wasn't the waiter. He was the Eternal she had met, Aiden.

“What are you doing?” Damaris asked, stepping into his line of sight. “Why am I here? Where is here? I told you to take me home~!”

[Aiden Rhytek]

To Aiden's surprise, barely an hour had passed before Damaris woke up. He was cooking his second batch of bacon. There was a pleasure Aiden got from cooking his own food rather than creating it pre-made, and he had to admit that the taste was much better this way as well. As the Seelie burst into the kitchen, he slid the sizzling strips off the pan and onto a semi-clean plate he had fished out of a cabinet. Not yet addressing her questions, he offered the food to her. “You want some? Well--” Reconsidering, he looked at the splotchy plate. “You probably don't want to eat off of something so dirty, do you?” A snap of air flicked the pieces of bacon up above Aiden's head. In the same moment, he curved his hands in a circle, and a shimmer of green air took the form of a serving plate. The bacon fell onto his creation and he pushed it into Damaris' hands. “That won't last long if I forget about it, so you might want to eat fast.”

Turning away, he glided across the room. Well “glided” was the wrong word. Aiden navigated his way across the mess, performing a very elegant dance over the various items and piles that blocked his way. Could he have flown across the room and saved himself a good deal of trouble? Yes, but there wasn't any fun in that. Being an Eternal was tedious enough without having the simple enjoyment of walking. Whisking two teacups off the counter top, Aiden waved his hand and the refrigerator door next to Damaris blew open, carrying a bottle of Jūrokucha over to him. Uncapping the bottle, Aiden poured the chestnut colored liquid into one of the cups. “You want some?” he asked. “There was an ad for this drink in Berlin, so I got some. It's rather good actually, if you like green tea.” Without waiting for an answer, the cup slid through the air to Damaris, halting before her face.

“Er, about why you're here...well you said to take you home, that's true. But you were knocked out, and you were the one who told me that you're a Duchess of the Seelie court and the King's cousin. I figured if I showed up with you slung over my shoulder and drooling, I'd get attacked, not welcomed as a hero. So I just brought you back to the Endless Realms so you could wake up. And I even made you breakfast! So don't complain!” With his short speech finished, Aiden poured himself a cup of Jūrokucha and sipped the drink.