Closed Starter || @ourscoutharper
It was a sensation that should be familiar to the Winter Queen. She relished it, invited it, and loathed as the seasons bid springtime arise from beneath a film of ice and snow. In fact, spring was an affront to her entire person; she was of the firm belief that if anything should be arising from the barren Earth, it should be death at her bidding, not new life and its insulting vibrancy. So when winter in Arain proved to be ghastly and heedless, Maeve found herself in a powerful glee. It was rare that she shivered outwardly in the season of death, seeing as she, herself, was as cold and unforgiving as icy windchill. So why was she shivering now?
It was the first thought that crossed the Unseelie Queen’s mind as she awoke. All she could feel was the cutting sensation of cold, piercing through the layers of her regal clothing. Her eyes opened slowly, though they quickly squinted at the brightness of white all around her. Strange...her quarters were far darker in color, and she could not recall a room quite as white as this. Perhaps she was in Aibell’s quarters? No, she quickly dismissed that thought. The Summer Queen was unlikely to keep her rooms this cold. In fact, no one should keep their rooms like this, Maeve mused, and bid her eyes to open further.
A sudden wave of shock rolled over the fae. She wasn’t indoors at all. Quickly, Maeve stood, scanning her surroundings. Trees, dripping with icy stalactites, void of the chirp of birds. As she awoke, her blood racing, her senses came to. She couldn’t hear anything, for that matter. No chittering of squirrels or wind racing through the dead underbrush. There was nothing, except...
Almost instantly, the smell followed. The utterly revolting stench of iron and sweat hit her nose, making Maeve nearly double over. Her head whipped around to the source, her eyes widening at the human she failed to notice. The sound -- a healthy, beating heart -- was suddenly clear as day. Maeve was filled with a sudden sense of anger and annoyance; had the human managed to drag Maeve out here without her knowing? The fae snorted at the prospect. Something this weak could never do such a thing. And to think her guard and power would be so vulnerable...it was inconceivable. Then why was she the only thing Maeve could detect for...what, miles perhaps?
Still riding off of her annoyance, the Queen lifted her skirts and trudged through the fresh snow to where the human lay. Without any sense of propriety or social recourse, Maeve stuck a booted foot out and smacked it upon the human’s side. That’s for the smell, she thought.
“Get up, human. You better have an explanation for this.”
