A beginning
I took a sip from the drink I held in my hand, letting the cool liquid flow over my tongue slowly as I savored the taste. Across from me, a human fidgeted with her own glass, occasionally taking a small sip at the water inside. Her blue eyes were darting around the room -- searching, though for what I could not say.
The acrid tang of her fear lingered on the edge of my palette, refusing to be washed aside by the ice wine in my glass. She reminded me of a cornered rabbit I had once seen, body crouched in an attempt to make herself invisible, muscles poised for a sudden flurry of movement...
"So." I finally broke the silence between us, after waiting long minutes for her to begin. "You have requested my protection. From who? And why bother a Fallen about it?"
She jumped and gave a small gasp, and I could see the edge of terror in her gaze.
Worst case of fear I had ever seen in a human in a long time. Usually they only gave me that look after I had done something insane, like sprint faster than their eyes could process, or walk from a burning building unscathed. Things like that.
"I... my apologies, my lord--"
I snorted. "I am no lord, yours or otherwise. Save that for the fools like Eli and Luna."
She swallowed and licked her lips, bobbing her head in a swift motion that I would have found amusing if not for the naked fear behind it. "Y-yes, m'lo--sir. It... it's about those under Eli's control..."
"Then go speak with Eli about it." I sighed, feeling a headache coming on. "We Fallen have our laws, you know, and for a Star to meddle in the affairs of a Moon is to court reprisal by our entire kind."
My denial apparently struck something in her, because she suddenly leaned forward, hands clenched tightly about her glass, eyes intense. "My lord, please! Ambrose wants my head on a plate, and Eli won't hear me out! Everyone knows you and Eli are at odds, that you've sheltered people he's been after before... please..."
Perhaps the plea exhausted her, or perhaps she suddenly remembered exactly who she was begging. Either way, she suddenly folded in on herself, collapsing back into the chair and taking a gulp of water from the glass she held in a shaking hand.
For my part, I sipped at my wine and turned her words over in my head. Ambrose was an unfamiliar name, but he was probably just one of Eli's constantly changing array of Lost. What he saw in those degenerates I could never understand...
But that held no bearing on this woman's request. While it was true that I could no more tell Eli how to act than he could tell me, the Celestial Covenant left me plenty of wriggle room in instances such as this. All I needed to do was give her a talisman that marked her as under my protection, and she was instantly off limits to every Fallen.
"Tell me," I leaned forward, watching her. "What did you do to earn Ambrose's ire?"
She licked her lips again, her eyes avoiding mine. "I... I called into question his right to call himself a Fallen. In front of several women he was trying to impress."
I couldn't help it -- I threw back my head and roared with laughter. A creeping wetness down my cheeks told me I was crying, so hard was I laughing, but it felt so good to laugh honestly...
Not that she seemed to share my mirth. Her gaze clearly conveyed that she thought I had suddenly sprouted ten heads, and the way she was shifting in her seat implied that she was preparing to bolt.
I waved a hand absently, trying to control my mirth enough for speech. "Child, well over half the so-called Fallen on this planet have no right to call themselves Fallen. Not by the true definition of Fallen that Eli and I, and those like us, ascribe to. It is the one thing we all share in common."
"True definition? I... I don't understand, sir..."
That stilled my mirth as little else could. With my sudden somber turn of thought, I mulled her words over. Time had escaped me once more, absorbed in my private feud with Eli, isolated from the human world, secure in my wealth. What else had changed in the world while I was caught up in myself and my kind? What other definitions had changed, knowledge lost, information twisted?
That was something Eli and I had in common, I mused, staring into my ice wine. Time continually slipped through our fingers, leaving us bewildered and facing the unknown, our feud the only constant in our lives. Perhaps we continued it only out of habit... certainly, the rancor I had felt those first few decades was gone, banished upon the winds of time.
"Sir...?"
Her soft question interrupted my thoughts, but didn't bring me out of them. Perhaps I would give her my protection, if only to revive the feud. How long had it been since I last needled Eli? I couldn't recall.
"There are around eight hundred and thirty two Fallen in this world, and of those eight hundred and thirty two, none of them are named Ambrose. On top of that, there are only three of us here in Caevadrin. Myself, Eli, and Luna. By the laws of our kind, if a fourth was to arrive, they would have to introduce themselves to all three of us before settling down somewhere in the area."
I shook my head, "No. Ambrose is a Lost, not a Fallen. I suppose the difference is subtle if you're not part of our society, but to us, it's the difference between life and death." A dark chuckle emerged from my throat. "Literally."
She looked confused, but I wasn't about to waste time trying to enlighten her. How many times in the past had I done so, only to run across the same misconception again and again?
Instead, I rose and paced across the room to the wall of cabinets, rifling through the drawers, trying to remember where I'd stashed my collection of talismans. It was rare that I ever needed one. Humans being such fleeting, flighty creatures, I typically only gave them to my servants, who passed them down through the generations that served me.
One finally came to my hand, smooth and cold, heavy with the weight of the blued steel that comprised the majority of the talisman. I held it up to the light, checking that all was in order.
Her swift intake of breath was loud in the silence of the room, and I gave her a curious glance, before looking back at the talisman.
All seemed normal to me -- the round disc was sharply engraved with a star pattern, the indentations colored a darker blue, like frost in the twilight, while the rest was washed a soft silver-blue. In the center rested a large star sapphire, a deep blue with a perfect six-legged star in the center. The chain was sturdy without being obnoxiously sized, and the same silver-blue color as the main body of the pendant.
With a shrug I crossed back to her and offered the talisman to her. "Keep this with you at all times. When outside your home, wear it openly. When in your home, keep it at hand. It marks you as being under the protection of me, the Frozen Star. While wearing this, no one who follows the Celestial Covenant may harm you."
She opened her mouth as if to protest, then shut it without saying a thing. Her hands shook as she took it from me, and she put it on as quickly as her trembling fingers could secure the latch.
"Now, if you have nothing else you need of me..."
The woman shook her head, rose, and darted from the room before I could say more.
It was only as she left that I realized I'd never even asked her name.