The Kindgom of Heaven and Hell

First topic message reminder :

Faline all but cowered at the back of the great hall. She hated meetings. They were often times full of loud angry men who had a tendency to throw things. This night was no different. The entire village had shown up, despite the raging storm outside. Every man from every family was there, shouting to be heard over the next.
Her father, the Jarl, was seated at the head of it all, one long leg draped over his ornate throne. For a while he remained silent, his eyes not one the villagers, but going from the young woman hiding under one of the tables near the door to her sister who sat on top of it, holding onto a rather heavy broad sword. He shook his head at both of them. 
Oalf sighed heavily and held up a hand to silence the crowd. "I am fully aware of the danger we now face from the outlanders. And I am aware that those who cross our borders are far from human. However, I am not sure if we warrant help from out bordering villages. If we decide to seek help, we will need to go to the king. But...he is a bartering man. I am not sure we have anything he will find worthy enough..."

"That's what Cessily told me." Faline said, blushing deeply. She ducked her head, her cheeks coloring vividly. "She went into detail about it. I haven't drank milk in years because of it."

"And what did you give old Sandy boy?" Braun laughed and shook his head. "A cookie?" He was clearly mocking the little nymph.

Lucian laughed even more. "Goodness me, you never questioned anything she told you?" He teased.

"Your perfect little princess." Serah snapped before marching on ahead of Braun.

"She was my older sister. She was wise and my father taught her everything about animals. Everything else she said seemed to be true." Faline said softly. She nodded at the milkmaid that handed her the laddle. Then she put it to Lucian's lips. "Taste it." She breathed. 

"And how did that work out for you?" Braun asked her, his tone somewhat dark. They were getting closer to the castle, more than just the pointed turrets was coming into view.

Lucian kept his gaze in Faline as he drank the milk. He tried to keep his expression neutral, but the milk was a little too sour for him and it comically showed on his face.

"I got to be beautiful again." Serah breathed, still walking ahead of Braun as the gates of the castle rose up in front of them.

"Serves you right." Faline teased, pressing her lips to his in replacement of the milk. The moment she had she blushed all over again. "Sorry, that was entirely too forward of me, sire." 

"Your concept of beauty is foolish." Braun said, shaking his head. "It's no wonder Sandy boy doesn't see you." He growled, stomping ahead of her to rap hard on the gate.

Lucian placed his hands against Faline's slender hips and kissed her again. "Was that too forward of me?" He asked, well aware many eyes watched them now. Most had no idea who this young woman with the king even was.

"Do you?" Serah whispered as she let the glamour she wore fade away. Her true appearance had blue lips and long white hair. Even her skin had a slight blue tinge to it, it had been this way since Sandman had cursed the kingdom.

"I'm afraid so, sire." Faline whispered."it's not proper. Especially since I am not yet your wife." She added, nervously tucking a stray blonde curl behind her ear. "And besides, you have not even done anything to earn it." She teased, giving him a wink.

"I see nothing wrong with the way you look now." Braun said, a gentle smile on his lips. It very nearly reached his eyes. "That human look didn't suit you at all, Serah."

"Does that mean... You wish to be? My wife?" Lucian asked, genuinely smiling, though at the same time seeming afraid she would say no.

"But human is what Sandman likes." Serah whispered as the doors opened up and she slipped in ahead of Braun, her now visible wings fluttering nervously.

"If you can find a loop hole, Lucian, yes." Faline nodded. "The illigitimate daughter of a jarl will marry a king." She laughed softly. "Let us just pray you so do not come to regret being near me as my father has."

"You didn't ever say the guy was smart." Braun pointed out, looking around him. "I hope he is t proud of this place. It's got quite a few design over sites. I would be embarrassed to call this place my own."

"I am king." Lucian replied with a grin. "I make the rules, little one." He breathed before kissing Faline again and spinning her around.

"That would assume filth like you even has a home." Came a powerful yet inviting male voice from the too of the staircase.

Faline didn't know what to think of it all. For a moment Lucian's eyes were dark again. It scared her. "I..." She placed her hands on his chest, feeling a strange vine like sensation sliding around her body where his hands were touching her. 

"Already name calling and we haven't even shaken hands." Braun chuckled at this. "That's not playing fair, Sandy."

Lucian no longer even noticed the change. He was holding onto Faline, his nose in her hair as he breathed her in. "Are you hungry, princess?"

"Fair was out the window the moment you dared touch what was mine." Sandman shot back.

"A little." Faline admitted, glad when Lucian set her on her own two feet and stepped away from her. "But sire, I am a bit worried about my father. I wish you would let him out of the dungeon. He was probably a little drunk and tired from the trip. I'm sure talking it over with a bit of lunch would be good for all of us..." 

"I'm hearing you say that but I'm not seeing a deed of ownership." Braun said, his own warm blue eyes skimming over the hallway and the room beyond. "Are we talking about a horse? Because I have an old nag a magician gave me that you're welcome to. Otherwise, Sandy boy..." He paused, his hand on his sword. "I would change my tone if I were you."

"And if it isn't? If he is still the obnoxious, vile excuse for a man he was last night?" Lucian asked, clearly not liking the man who would send his child away one little bit.

"She doesn't wish to see you." Sandman remarked when he saw Braun's eyes searching the hallway beyond. "She is of this land, and everything here belongs to me!" He added, taking a few steps closer. "Those that do not belong..." His smile was even more chilling than the ice around them. "Your sword can't protect you here, boy."

"You can send him home." Faline said gently, her fingers intertwining with Lucian's. Again she felt the sensation of something invisible curling between them. It was as if something were trying to bind them together and make sure they stayed that way. "Consider it a wedding present to me...please?" She asked softly, hoping she didn't sound like she was begging. "He is my father. No matter how I was created or how he truly feels about me. I still care for him." 

"You still sound like you're talking about a horse." Braun said, his stance never changing. He made no show of cowering before this god as so many others had. His hand remained on his sword. "Cessily belongs to no man or whatever it is you think you are, Sandy boy. She belongs to herself. And she makes the choice of where she goes and who she goes with. Not you. I'm worried the cold has frozen your ability to think that through."

"It sounds like the only one he cares for is himself." Lucian breathed, though he lifted Faline's slender hand to his lips and kissed the back of it lightly. "But if it pleaded you, I shall send him far away."

Sandman laughed at this, still wearing his icy grin. "You think Cessily coming here was by her own choice? You think it coincidence that that idiot king sent her here, despite him not even caring about a silly little dragon egg?"

"Let's just see if he's calmed down first." Faline said, worried again by the dark tone in his voice. Though she didn't look at it closely she saw a strange mark on her hand where he had kissed it. It wasn't there for very long but it was like the sign of a thorn. A symbol of possession...

"That man was no king." Braun said, taking a step forward. He could see the Sandman in the darkness. His eyes were all but glowing and his smile was very visible. "He was once a magician. But now...I'd say he is a lot like you. He possesses a body that is not his own. What outlander god is he? Death perhaps?"

"He was still howling in the dungeon when I came to find you." Lucian remarked his thumb brushing the fading mark on Faline's hand as they walked, normally an innocent enough gesture.

Sandman smiled again and tapped his nose. "My, it seems like Serah has been running that pretty little mouth of hers, hasn't she?"

"What was he so upset about?" Faline asked, pausing to look at a cart of sunflowers an old woman was peddling. "Oh Lucian, these are so lovely." She took his hands and placed them on the coarse petals. "Can you feel the warmth of the sun in them?"

"Serah talked only of you, Sandy. Despite the first impression I seem to have made with you, I'm a pretty smart guy. I figured it out all by myself. Didn't even have to have someone spell it out for me." Braun snorted. "Good to know I'm right though."

Lucian was refusing to touch the flowers, as though they caused him great discomfort, maybe even pain. "I would rather gaze upon a rose." He confessed. "Or even a lily."

Sandman smiled again, only a few feet away from Braun now. "Did you really come all this way, for one little girl?"

"You won't even smell them?" Faline asked, looking extremely disappointed. She had pulled several beaten coins from the sash of her dress and handed them to the old woman. "I save farthings for these flowers. When they wither I'll be able to make you more of that sunflower ale." She added, holding them under his nose.

"Did you really freeze an entire kingdom just because you couldn't have her?" Braun snarled, now nose to nose with a god that made most men sob like tiny infants. "I'm not afraid of you, Sandy boy."

Lucian was doing his begs not to recoil in disgust from the flowers, but seemed to be failing. "The ale I liked, very much, but these... They are most unsettling."

"Not yet." Sandman purred. "But even you must sleep eventually. "Cessily resisted too, until fatigue gave her to me anyway."

"It's all right." Faline said, giving up on trying to get him to anywhere near the flowers. "I wish I were fond of roses but those thorns.." She shook her head and sighed deeply. "Come on. At least hold these by the paper while I look for my father an apple pie. He loves them. It will settle his stomach and his thoughts."

"I'm not scared of the dark, Sandy. I've seen what it holds. It makes you look like a mewling kitten." Braun growled. "Now, speaking of Cessily. Show her to me. I need to see that she is at least safe."

Lucian finally relented and took hold of the offending items. "What if you made him one?" He suggested. "If your apple pie is even half as good as your ale, he would be in for a treat!"

It was odd to see Sandman continue to smile. "I never said it was the dark you should fear." He purred, though was already turning away. He was leading Braun back up the stairs to a room at the very end of a long hallway.

Faline sighed sadly. "I'll make one for you another time. Sadly, father will have to make due with what is here." She said, fishing the last farthing out of her dress pouch. "I'm worried about leaving him in the dungeon any longer."

Braun followed, wondering why it was so warm. He also wondered where the little nymph had gone. She had disappeared the moment the sandman had shown up. Could it have been a trick?

Lucian reached his free hand out and closed Faline's fingers back over the coin she held. "You really think I will let you spend your last coin on him?" He breathed as he looked down into her face.

Cessily was in the room that would have been her bed chambers had she grow up here. It was voice of cold and ice, as though preserved just for her return. The young woman was sat on the floor by the bed, her slender wrists bound to the bed post by chains. She had been robbed of her armour, and forced to wear a dress fit for any princess.

"Lucian..." Faline blushed deeply. "It's just a coin. I can earn more. And besides, he's my father. Isn't family the reason we earn coin and spend it?" She asked with a soft laugh. 

"We really need to stop meeting like this, kitten." Braun chuckled when he saw her. He pushed past the Sandman and moved closer to her, though not close enough to release her yet.

"You don't need to earn it." Lucian breathed softly. "You are going to be queen, everything I have will be yours." He added. "I would rather you keep this coin forever."

The defiant look in Cessily's green eyes was the very same one that had been there the first time she had out in irons while Braun was nearby.
"She kept trying to escape, or kill me." Sandman remarked with a disgusted snort. "The mortal world has ruined her, it is no way for my princess to act."

"My father always said I needed to save one to give to the king of death." Faline mused, nodding her head at the thought. "Lucian you are spoiling me and I am not yet yours. Are you sure about this?" She asked. 

"Ever consider that maybe you deserve it?" Braun asked, kneeling beside the bed. "We're getting out of this, kitten. I can promise you that. Are you...all right?"

"Is it not my right to sweep my intended off her feet with grand romantic gestures?" Lucian chuckled, handing his ow coin over for the apple pie.

"I don't need your help!" Cessily informed Braun with the same stubbornness she always displayed. However, had she told him she did need his help, that would have surely set off warning bells in Braun's head.