Prompt twelve: Miss the boat | Idiom; to lose an opportunity to do something by being slow to act |
Word count: 774
Characters: Kien's ancient, Apollo (before he took the seat of Azem), Hermes, Meteion
CW: None
Notes: At first I thought I'd do a Kien x G'raha story but then the intrusive ancient brain worms said "but what about Kien's ancient Apollo and his unrequited love for Hermes?" SO HERE YA GO XD I’ll probably go back and add more to this at a later date cause I wrote this pretty late last night and I really love this connection—I hope I was able to capture his story well!
Endwalker spoilers!
Before I had taken my place in the Convocation, I had been a scholar on Elpis. At first, it didn’t make sense as to why I was there. I was clumsy, hardly any good at creating or overseeing anything except maybe the check in desk at the library in Amaurot. Someone out there must’ve seen potential in me. I suppose they found my journal of drawings of all the different creation ideas I had and places I had hoped to one day visit. I just hope they hadn’t learned about my accidental creation of quite possibly the most hideous and strangely affectionate creature on my first day there.
Even so, I’m glad I was assigned to Elpis. I had a chance to meet Hermes. He was the Chief overseer of Elpis and while his title made him seem intimidating, he was actually quite kind and approachable. He helped me settle in on my responsibilities the first day; he even thought my accidental creation was clever, even if my fellow scholars didn’t agree.
I’m not sure what drew me to him. He was handsome, sure, but also passionate and truly caring about life not just on Elpis but all of Etheirys. I’d often catch him by himself, just gazing at the sky with his beloved creation by his side and though he smiled often, there seemed to be a sadness deep within his heart. Even so, I found myself wanting to know what life was like through his eyes.
I threw myself into my work. Any excuse to be near him. After some time, it seemed my dedication paid off. Hermes approached me and asked me to be his assistant and how elated I was. The days I spent by his side were the best days. We spent hours talking about everything—I learned so many new things not just about Elpis but all of Etheirys. We had become even closer than before and I couldn’t help notice how much more relaxed and happy he was. I found myself falling for him.
I never worked up the courage to say something to him though. I was too afraid of what he’d say, too afraid of rejection. I kept my feelings to myself. Meteion knew though. It was hard to hide anything from her but she was happy to have someone love him just as much. We both wanted his happiness.
The day I left to take the seat of Azem was both the happiest and saddest day. It was a chance to finally go see the world like I had dreamed of but it also meant leaving him and Meteion. Hermes understood of course but Meteion didn’t want me to leave—she gave me a feather as a parting gift to help ease the sadness and made me promise to return every so often to tell her all about the things I saw. I agreed as she hugged me tightly and Hermes thanked me for my hard work and that was it. I resolved to myself I’d never see him again and that my feelings for him would be left unsaid.
I returned from a trip when I learned he had accepted the empty seat of Fandaniel and oh, how happy I was to be near him once again. But, he was different. He seemed sadder, more absorbed in his work than ever before, and worse of all, he told me Meteion became unstable and that in itself seemed to drive him closer to the choices he made as the Final Days approached.
He became enthralled by his own creation. It was too late for him. It was too late for any of us, really. I was opposed to the Convocation’s plan—I stepped down from my seat and defied my colleagues wishes. Before I left though, Venat told me everything that had happened that day on Elpis with him and Meteion.
I don’t know why she did. Mayhap she thought that in my knowing of the truth, it would help me better understand the choices he made, that it might ease the pain and confusion I had been feeling. In a way it did, but I was overwhelmed by my own foolishness of how blind I had been to just how much sadness and longing was locked inside his heart.
You were looking for the meaning of life, Hermes…and I believe I had found the answer that you had been searching for, even if it was just on my end. Life with you was all the more worthwhile.
If only I had told him that. Mayhap, it could have saved him.
The Ancients are the fae that are the oldest known. These fae have the strongest powers due to very rarely mixing of power types. Elementals married elementals, and they had children together that were pure elemental. This is just one example of how the Ancients worked. Many of them were sought out during the mounting tensions within the fae. People wanted the power of the Ancients on their sides, and when they were denied, some of the Ancients were killed to keep their power from falling to the opposing side.
This all led up to the attack on the Ancients home, Echelon. Not much is known about the place now, as fact has given way to faded memories. Some of the remaining Ancients sought refuge within the Courts, while others made a go on their own. Of all the fae, the Ancients hold the most direct connection to the dragons; outside of the fae born direct of a dragon parents.
These are the fae that date back to the beginning of the species. Back in that time, people tended to believe they should keep within their same power families. The made for strong bloodlines with concentrated magic of a specific type. As time moved on, people began to mix blood lines, which lead to mixing of powers. Some power lines lost certain abilities due to them being breed out over time through multiple generations.
During the civil unrest, ancients were hunted. They were wanted for their concentrated powers, but in many situations, they were killed eventually to keep that power from falling into the wrong hands. This is one reason that many of the ancients went into hiding. Some of the dragons provided shelter to the ancients that they could, while others fled to the States and other countries, getting as far as they could from the centralized conflict in Europe.
In modern times, the ancients numbers are very few. They help what fae they can, but they still keep to the shadows. That had the purest abilities of all the types, which still makes them a prized catch to many seeking to tip the balance of power.
