❛ What are the terms again? ❜ He asks as means of confirmation, not as display of inattentive behavior. There are many venues for acquiring power, binding himself to another appears as... novelty in this pursuit. ❛ And the price, of course. I take that this is a collaborative effort. ❜ As opposed to a transactional one. Semantics, right? | 🟥 Open to however Honey would propose it, of course.
Clever boy—though that's hardly a surprise, is it? It's part of why she'd taken a shine to him in the first place.
But, still: not bothering to be very clear and concise about the terms of a fey bargain was the folly of many a mortal before him; the consequences of which could be quite...impactful, to say the least. Honey wasn't (generally) malevolent enough to hide much in her contracts, few and far-between as they were.
❝ Absolutely—I'm proposing to be your patron, not, like, your possessor, ❞ unlike some of her kin whom would be delighted to steal a pretty thing like him away, parading 'their human' around like a fancy pet, ❝ My end of the bargain begins with granting you my favour; passively granting you access to certain powers, ❞
The full breadth of which would be a bit tedious to list, even if he would only be tapping into a fraction of fathomless potential; some highlights she'd laid out already including the means to beguile; further enhanced agility and endurance; the 'sight' which allowed him to glimpse beyond the material; and the empathy which would reveal some semblance of the intention, feelings, truth of those around him.
❝ —and, in particularly serious cases: to call on me, directly. Could be for healing, for whisking you away from a rough spot, or to help...handle whatever it is that's put you there. ❞ As much as she didn't usually care for the more violent solutions to problems, she wasn't exactly against them; sometimes the simplest solution was, in fact, the best.
❝ In turn, you do me the favors we discussed: help any of the seelie you come across in your travels return to their courts, delve into ruins you come upon which you have reason to believe might have been touched by one of my kind, ❞ seelie, pari, snowland fae—all held the same value to her, ❝ ...and occasionally, fulfilling special requests from yours truly— delivering any findings, or artefacts, to me. ❞
For the most part, she didn't seek to impede his travels and ambitions as they were; only to have another (very strong), wanderer who could help seek out pieces of the fractured legacy which preceded her, so she might continue reconstructing it; to inch ever closer to an elusive truth.
❝ Though I know your inheritance already grants you a great deal of strength, I'm confident my offer is still a valuable one—and if you decide it's too much trouble down the line, we can terminate the contract. It's hardly worth the effort for me to continue investing in someone unwilling, after all. ❞
❝ ...so? What do you say? ❞