what’s elaine’s favorite things to do with ban, before and after they parted at the fairy king’s forest?
𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊. elaine’s favorite things to do with ban , both before and after their separation in the fairy king’s forest , reflect the gentle yearning and wonder that defines their bond — born in stillness , deepened in loss , and revived through aching memory. he came to the forest simply wishing to steal the fountain of youth and she held a strong dislike ( dare i say , hatred for humans ): they both came out of it gaining something else : elaine learning not to distrust an entire group of people for the actions of a few and for ban , living and fighting for someone else. it's like king said : seven days healed seven hundred years of loneliness , depression , and heartache. neither of them enjoyed gestures that were loud or grand — the pair more-so preferred soft things , tender things , stolen and stitched into forever. because to love ban , for her , was to be reminded that even a fairy born to guard a fountain can long for human warmth — and be loved just as fiercely in return.
𝒊. 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆 : elaine adored listening to ban’s tales of the outside world ( half-true , half-boast , all wild glitter ): and how , he made the world feel enormous and she loved imagining it through his eyes — bustling taverns , pirate ships , golden towers. she’d sit beside him on a root-woven throne , eyes wide and soft , asking questions like a child learning to dream. it was amazing for her , to have more gaps filled in and listening to the various advancements of mortal society , in the time that she'd been the guardian. it was a different kind of happiness it brought her , at first. she had only been able to listen to bits and pieces for centuries but ban , was someone with context and he , too would fond over the things elaine had imagined up based on what she'd simply be hearing through the flowers across the years.
𝒊𝒊. 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 : on quiet nights , ban would point at constellations and give them names that had nothing to do with what they truly were — ❝ that one’s greedy dog ,❞ he’d say. ❝ the one next to it? hiccuping princess. ❞ elaine would laugh and correct him — at first gently , then teasingly , then not at all , just letting his absurd cosmos become real. she'd taught him all the proper names of constellations and was surprised , that the few that ban did know the proper names of where different. but that was to be expected. elaine was a fairy and ban , a human. she first and foremost knew the common tongue of the faerie realm and her clan. it should've been no surprise that the two different species would know of things differently. but , it was to elaine. it was how their bits and pieces of cultural exchange started : elaine would tell him the name in her language and also , if she knew the origins of its title and ban would fill in the gaps with his knowledge too. it was due to this that lead into their next favorite thing to do together.
𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 : this habit began simply — with a tattered book on different ales that ban thought might amuse her. but by the next visit , he had brought one on the stars , and elaine’s quiet world opened just a little wider. astrology , he called it — the study of the heavens ( of ancient light and wandering flame ): she clutched those pages like precious treasure , devouring every constellation as if to memorize the map of a sky she'd never been allowed to touch. elaine loved it — not just the learning , but the reclaiming. each fact was a shard of the world returned to her. she was centuries old , yes , but it was ban who made her feel once more as the first time she'd opened her eyes cradled in that field of lavender — made her want to know more , reach further , dream bigger. and he watched her with the same reverence he might give the sunrise — the way her eyes lit up ( how her lips shaped every new discovery like a prayer ): there was a day she said , half-whisper , that she wanted to touch a star — to feel if it truly burned as brightly as the books said. and ban , all grin and trouble and heart , told her he couldn’t pluck a star from the sky , but he could give her something close — a little fire of his own. then , the next day , he returned with his favorite ale , just for her and he called it burning starlight in a bottle.
𝒊𝒗. 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 : elaine , wanting ban to learn more of what it means to be a fairy ( of what it means to be so connected to flora and fauna ): began to teach ban floriography. she started small at first like when they'd sometimes , they wandered through the forest just to gather whatever blossoms had fallen petals that called to them — elaine would be clad in her simple white dress all barefoot in the moss would speak with a bit of aged wisdom to her. detailing the meaning behind each flower , even breaking it down into colors. ban at first had pretended not to care but always pointing out the flowers that matched matched not only elaine ( her hair , her eyes , her laugh ): but also , all the feelings he never spoke on before her and ones that he now felt because of her. elaine would press petals into the old pages of ban's book of ale or string them into little garlands , draping them over his shoulders like stolen crowns. for elaine , it was something she'd always did to help make the centuries less lonely and for ban , it was just another glimpse into the holy maiden's world. neither never really said why they did it — it wasn’t for potions or rituals or anything sacred. it was just theirs — a quiet ritual of beauty , of choosing softness in a world that had been so cruel to them both.
𝒗. 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 : what made their time special wasn’t only the things they did , but how quiet and sacred it felt. ban never rushed elaine , never filled the silence if she didn’t want to. she , who had lived centuries guarding the fountain alone , found in him someone who understood the weight of time and didn’t demand she speak to fill it. and neither of them knew what to call the strange stillness between their hearts , but elaine loved brushing her fingers against his when they walked through the forest. she loved the rare times she dared braid flowers into his hair , or when she'd gotten drunk with him and ban had made her feel anything but small , she felt like elaine outside of duty and her clan and what she was born into.
𝒊. 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 : elaine cherished the smallest things — the way ban’s shoulders curled when he crouched to tend a fire , the way he rubbed his nose when he was embarrassed , how he never forgot the way she loved every kind of bread ( especially sweetbreads , even if she now knew their proper name was cake ): she didn’t take time for granted anymore — so she drank him in , quietly , joyfully. and ban did the same to elaine in return.
𝒊𝒊. 𝒇𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒔 : with ban being the reason that her wings grew , elaine took every opportunity to carry him. to show him the vastness of the world he used to tell her about. she loved the startled awe in his face when they broke through cloudbanks , when she whispered , ❝ look , we could touch a star now. ❞ and it was his turn to see the world from her eyes. it was also elaine's way of getting ban close enough to touch an actual star in her own way , just as he'd done for her before.
𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 : elaine , fully embraced the terms around her birth and what that meant. she relished any moment she could stand between ban and danger ( hoping to one day make up for the time that she did not ): not because he needed it , but to never have ban scream for her in endless grief again. now , she was real and he was real. they where both here and she would smite any enemy who dared touch him and likewise he to anyone about her.
𝒊𝒗. 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅 : being together was a reality. they had many talks after elaine came back after the events with jericho. they’d talk about what could be , about what can be. a little home , surrounded by a field of wildflowers ( lavenders and daisy's and wormwood and wisterias ): maybe a tavern , or maybe not ( to elaine , that seemed more like elizabeth and meliodas thing ): but she knew that she desired something in peace , maybe not a tavern but a confectionary would be up their ally. the two would go on and on as elaine would rest her head on his chest and hum , imagining a future she once never thought to hope for. she didn’t dread eternity anymore — just enough moments like these and these , she wanted to last for centuries and centuries.
𝒗. 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 : after everything , just being near him — wrapped in warmth , no longer apart — was a miracle. she liked to rest with her cheek over his heartbeat , letting it lull her into sleep , grounding her in the truth that they had found each other again ( that neither was dead nor lost ): living and breathing and only wanting to spend life with one another. also , with as much as these two smooch in canon you know they most definitely enjoy sleeping together.
˗ˏˋ ⋆✴︎ @ragesin sent a love letter to the kingdom of benwick ˚｡⋆
