Another Addition to the Strange Magic Story
This is really turning into a story. WTF, brain?
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Due to the laws dividing magical and non-magical creatures, Renatta and Leland are only seen as a large spider and a butterfly in the eyes of their human captor. A relief, to the both of them, as the discovery of their magical kingdoms could lead to their destruction.
Unfortunately, the human that captured them is a child, who separates the two of them in different bug jars, and begins to shake Renatta’s jar without mercy. It seems the child doesn’t like spiders, and the poor spider fae is knocked around, injuring several of her legs and crushing a part of her thorax. Leland is not without his own punishment, receiving accompanying jostles.
Afterwards, the child finally relinquishes them to an empty aquarium tank in a child’s daycare facility, and they’re still extremely angry at each other despite the beating they took.
However, both are too tired, too injured to continue the fight, and reluctantly retire to opposite corners of the aquarium. Their thoughts are on returning to their kingdoms, as soon as possible.
In the morning, Leland is taken from the tank by a larger human, a teacher, and displayed for the children in a bug jar, who feed him sugar water and various pieces of fruit. Renatta doesn’t miss the smug look on his face, being adored and giggled at. Then, the children move from him over to Renatta, who receives horrible glass taps instead, and even Leland can’t help but have the tiniest shred of pity.
Leland and Renatta continue to receive their respective human treatments, and are in the same aquarium together by the end of the day. They each search for a way to escape their prison, but as soon as one is close to leaving, the other somehow manages to get in their way. After several set-backs, the tension builds and breaks.
They begin to fight once more, but when a stray rat wanders into the room and eyes them hungrily, they choose to put their differences aside to be on guard. To stay up, they exchange a few neutral words - discussing their mutual duties and guardsmen/clan sisters. There was even mention of Leland’s daughter, which Renatta softens against. Many had expected the Queen of the Spinstrels to have already found a mate and birthed several heirs, but still she remained single. Her sisters scolded her playfully on this subject, but it was a rather sore point for her, and she would often watch her sisters with envy as they raised their daughters and sons.
Meanwhile, on the second night of Leland and Renatta’s abduction, the Fairy Kingdom and Goblin Kingdom are on edge. Marianne takes control of the Fairy Guard in Leland’s stead, though she doesn’t have a great deal of experience in leading. It also doesn’t help that Marianne has to take care of Leland’s daughter, Noelle, as he didn’t really have any close friends of family. Luckily, Dawn has a close affinity to Noelle, and the two of them play while Marianne deals with the military consequences of Leland’s absence.
The Bog King does likewise, taking over Renatta’s position, but due to the misunderstandings and previous dismissal from the court, the Spinstrels treat him with suspicion and cold stiffness. Griselda has more luck, considering she was the previous Queen, and persuades them to stay for the time being.
But this is a buffer at best - for sinister forces are stirring on both sides of the forest. And they would love nothing more than descending both kingdoms into chaos.
"War is coming," say the whispers.
At a loss, the future King and Queen of both kingdoms meet again, despairing over the possible war looming in the near future, but gain strength as they reassure one another.
"We’ll get through this together."
They begin planning for the reclamation of their respective commanders, and pray that they aren’t too late.
On the third day, Leland and Renatta are exhausted, having stayed up late through the night to guard against the rat. They’re given no rest, though, as the children repeat the routine of taking Leland out, and letting Renatta stay in the aquarium. This time, however, they let Leland out onto their teacher’s desk, and watch him expectantly. No bug jar this time, just left to wander the wooden piece of furniture freely.
Renatta stares at the awkward situation until Leland stares back, shrugging his shoulders tiredly. They’re not giving him anymore sugar water…just…staring. He notices the tall human isn’t in the room with them, and it makes him feel uneasy.
Then, one children takes a bottle of sugar water and puts a drop on their finger, holding it up high above Leland’s head. It takes Leland a while to understand that they want him to fly. Snorting, he ignores them and takes the time to survey the exit points instead, taking advantage of what he could see behind the aquarium tank. He curses his inability to fly when he notices an open window just above the aquarium tank.
As he ignores them, this upsets the children, who begin to poke him, grab his wings, and blow on him to force him to fly.
Now, despite all the misgivings between them, Renatta begins to feel sorry for him. He has a daughter, after all, and she couldn’t make a child - even a fairy child - an orphan while she could do something. Still injured, Renatta at least has the strength to jump and smack herself against the glass, drawing the attention away from Leland back onto her.
The teacher returns luckily and scolds the children for taking the butterfly out of the tank without her there. Upon learning that Leland can’t fly, however, she puts Leland back in the tank and takes Renatta out instead.
Terrified, Renatta reaches out for Leland, who does take her hand and mounts her spider-half. He begins to smack the teacher’s hand with his wings, and Renatta uses her claws and teeth. Surprising her, the teacher drops Renatta back in, and they’re left alone for the remainder of the day - the children staring widely at the strange pair of insects.
Leland and Renatta share an awkward moment: the spider fae trying to say thank-you, and the fairy trying to brush it off. In the midst of their stumbling words and quiet pauses, Renatta notices Leland holding his arm - and finds out that it had been broken when the teacher dropped them. She offers to splint it, at least, for his help, and he surprises her with a ‘yes’.
They don’t talk, afraid that they’d start fighting when they were really too tired to, but Leland begins to see a softness to Renatta that was hidden beneath her hard carapace. Once bound, she offers him a blanket made from her silk, and he offers some sugar water in return. They begin to grow closer.
The next morning brings surprise for both fairy tale creatures: their tank had been moved to the middle of a large playroom on a center table. And the number of children had grown triple.
The two of them are taken out and placed in the same bug jar, the closeness making things more awkward after the truce that was called the night before. What’s worse: pairs of human eyes surrounded them, intent on watching. Renatta begins to feel fatigued, only having had the sugar water from Leland to sustain her, and most of her energy was diverted to healing herself.
Leland tries to help her, but she waves him off insistently, her instincts to eat the pretty-winged fairy growing. But he is stubborn - and sits squarely on her spider-half again, assuring her that this is the only safe place, considering she can’t turn around to grab at him.
Renatta can’t argue it, and settles into a comfortable corner to rest, Leland watching over her as the humans come closer to stare. The shiny black spider and the beautiful blue butterfly. It was an unusual, but pretty sight to see. And it elicits a fair amount of sympathy, as the teacher knows the spider hasn’t been fed in the last three days. She had expected it would’ve eaten the butterfly - it couldn’t fly, after all - but it never did happen. Whatever strange relationship the two had, it was strong enough to the point of the spider starving itself.
So, as the daycare closed its doors, she drops a few live crickets into the tank without anyone looking.
Renatta is took weak to catch the blasted things, though, so Leland offers to do it for her. It’s impressive, considering he can’t fly, but she does laugh a little every time his “Captain of the Fairy Guard” mask falls.
"Frustratin’ li’l beasties," she teases, "Ain’t the’ Cap’n?"
Hunting is not a fairy’s strong suit, and he ditches his armor and things to make moving easier.
By the end of it, she is very grateful when he presents her with two of the mad-hopping beasts, and stifles any laughter she has left. His hair and wings are covered shavings and bits of leaves, evidence of his harrowing feat.
There’s a fair amount of embarrassment when she tries to eat, though, as he’s staring at her, and she urges him to look away. Spider fae feeding was not for the faint-hearted, but he refuses, wanting to make sure she eats the damn things for the trouble he went through. With a shrug, she begins dissecting them, slurping their insides, and revealing her massive, capable-of-eating-fairy-sized jaws to swallow various pieces of the cricket whole.
Leland regrets his decision.
Yet, as she finishes her meals and looks at him softly, smiling with that melty, half-lidded and satisfied gaze you can only get after eating to your heart’s content, it makes his wings flutter and his stomach do somersaults - not out of disgust, mind you, but something…indescribable.
As thanks, she offers to patch his wing with her silk, and he wants to turn her down. However, her strength has been restored, at least partially, and she snags him with her arms before he can escape.
She doesn’t ask how it’s been damaged, though Lord knows she wants to, but can see that it’s a painful subject for him. Leland shifts uncomfortably as she mends the sticky web to his wing, but the uncomfortableness doesn’t come from that. Two of her arms are occupied on his wing, but the other two are distracting him by holding onto his chest and stomach, near his twitching, crossed lap - as if it were natural. And every time he moves to flee, they squeeze him there, gently and firmly all at once.
He chooses to sleep away from her this night.
In the morning, Renatta finds that she’s nearly better, the energy from the food she’d ingested helping fuel her magic to heal her faster. She and Leland both agree that getting out of the daycare would be faster if they could work together, and plan their escape - their tank had been moved back to the first room again, which meant the open window was behind them once more.
Good thing Renatta repaired his wing - they’re going to need it.
They wait from morning until the noon time, when the children and teacher leave for whatever reason (the word ‘recess’ reaches their ears), and begin. The tank to the aquarium is heavy, but Leland remembers when the teacher used a small hatch to let the crickets in.
He takes a large spool of Renatta’s thread and flies up to the hatch, attaching the ends of her web around it. She climbs up, and uses brute strength to bash it open. Leland flies out, and watches for the humans as Renatta squeezes through the hatch herself. But just as they both get free, they notice that the window behind them is shut. Freedom was so close, yet now so far.
And the children are due back any moment.
Leland notices another open window, however, and points it out to Renatta. The only problem? It lies on the opposite end of the daycare room, which was like an ocean for the two tiny fae. They don’t have much choice, though - if they get moved back to the large daycare room which has no windows, they would be trapped forever.
So, Renatta asks him to fly the two of them over. Leland is about to mention how much larger she is in comparison to him, and the improbability of being able to carry her due to her weight…but any way he puts it, it sounds rude and insulting.
While trying to find a different way to say it, Renatta already understands his concerns, and sneaks off to the side to prepare a spell.
Renatta’s magic was limited, being so far away from the magic leylines of the forest, but she could do the basic transformation, at least. In a waft of purple smoke, she disappears her spider-half and replaces it with something like a fairy’s: only one pair of long legs with her remaining six legs dwindling to tiny bony appendages on the side of her hips.
Leland, finally finding the words, turns to her and is surprised at her change of appearance. No words are said, as he wonders if he’s hallucinating, but Renatta breaks the silence with a cough. The humans are coming back, and the longer he stares, the less time they have.
Awkwardly, they try to figure out how Leland is to carry her, and they settle with her wrapping her four arms around his neck and shoulders in a hug.
Neither one are comfortable with the situation, and every accidental shared glance makes them embarrassed.
However, they finally take flight when they hear the door clicking open, and speed away towards the window. They make it half-way across the room when they’re spotted, and all feelings of embarrassment disappear as the children rush to snatch them from the air. Leland focuses on flying as Renatta uses her web, flinging it at the children to make them reel away.
One child grabs a cup of water and splashes it towards them, causing them to tumble and crash against the window. Yet, it’s just enough as they scramble up over the edge, and fall into the green bush below. Leland is knocked out during the fall, and Renatta changes herself back, carrying the unconscious fairy towards the safety of the forest. She manages to make it to the edge before collapsing in sheer relief - they made it.
Then, the reality of their escape hits her. Spinstrel. Fairy. Queen. Captain. Two very different fae, on opposite sides of the Forest. And all the pressures that came with it.
She looks over at Leland’s unconscious body. Four days ago, she would’ve left him in the aquarium tank - or eaten him. Four days ago, she couldn’t stand the sight of him and wanted to tear out his throat. But that was four days ago.
In the shortest span of time, Renatta had gotten to know him, and all of his flaws and strengths. And a warmth blooms where her spider heart lays. He is a good fae. If he were a Spinstrel male, she would have……..
The thought crosses her mind innocently enough, but once realized and caught, Renatta slaps her forehead.
She likes the bloody fairy - enough to not eat him, at least. A certain word bursts through the threshold of her mind, but she denies it vehemently. When they got back to the kingdoms, they would resume the positions they held, and be at odds once more. For neither could turn their back on their kinsmen/women. They were too stubborn and too loyal to do so - and this, whatever “this” is, could not be.
So she closed herself up. Layered her heart. And prayed that by the time they got back, whatever she was feeling would be gone.
