nesta had spent two hours locked in her room trying to make the harp open a portal back up for keqing to return back to her own world. it started off with her being civil, but it didn’t take long for the mind games and riddles to set her temper aflame. it felt foolish to be standing in the middle of her bedroom yelling at a harp, plucking it’s string trying to open the portal. after nesta asked what the reasoning was for keeping keqing here, the harp’s only response had been that it wanted to play. that, along with hearing the harp’s hypnotic lilting voice for so long was enough to make her give up for the day. she locked it back up and headed toward the room where she left keqing upon her arrival.
the harp’s words kept ringing in her head, i want to play, i want to play. it made sense for the harp to want to play around with her, but keqing? an innocent girl from another universe, why would it want to mess with her. guilt bit at her because she knew this was her fault, it was because of her this woman was thrown into a place unfamiliar to her. dealing with any object of the dread trove was risky, but dealing with time and other universes is even riskier. nesta knew this and yet she couldn’t starve her curiosity. she felt bad enough where she considered going to feyre and having keqing stay with her. after all it’s feyre who always seems to save the day while nesta has been a failure at everything. there was too much pain and heartbreak to return to the night court though, even for a brief time, even if it’s just to see her sister. the possibility of running into the others was far too great for her to go.
she gave three quick knocks on the door before entering. the frustration was clear on her face, it seemed like one bad thing after the other kept happening to her. even worse, it seemed like those around her were always affected. everyone would have been better off if they had left her be in that apartment in velaris where she shut herself out from the world.
“i’m sorry keqing, but you’re not going home.” her words came out blunt and harsh, even to her own ears, because of that she added gently. “not today at least.” she rubbed at the spot where a headache was beginning to form, talking to the harp that long really did a number on her. “the dusk court welcomes you though, you’re free to walk around as you wish and visit any shops or restaurants. whatever you buy you can put on my tab. this room is yours while you’re here. i don’t have servants, but this palace is enchanted, whatever you want it will give you since you’re my guest. all you have to do is ask it.” her face softened as she looked down toward the woman. “i’m really sorry this happened to you. i’m going to do everything i can to get you back home. for now though, is there anything i can do for you? or do you have any questions? i’m sure this world is strange for you.”