STARLIGHT AND LACE, Ch.1 - Arrival

Author's Notes: Wow this took a long time. This bad boy right here is why I've been so absent recently -- I got this commission MONTHS  ago, with the stipulation that I wouldn't get paid for it until the entire thing was finished... and the "entire thing" had a bottom cap of 20,000 words. Needlless to say, this took a while.

After working on it for bits and pieces, taking long breaks from it, and otherwise fucking around, I finally put everything else on a back burner and finished the project, after nine chapters. Apparently it "missed the mark a bit" but I did my best. For those of you who have no mark to hit, hopefully you're enjoy it!

I should also forewarn you that this is a largely story and world-driven project.  It does have smut, mostly later on, but it also offers a lot, lot more. My goal is to start trying to release a new chapter every week. Have fun in the Southworld!

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The horizon of Castle Drathwyn finally came into view as the swirling, immaterial vapors of the sky began to drift and break away, no longer held in place by the sea below. In the distance were emerald hills, slashed across with the lofty, intersecting motorways that kept the little villages of Crannith alive, the working and farming settlements that pumped the lifeblood into Drathwyn. The place still seemed so wild to Sina – large sections of it taken up by farmland or even by nothing at all. Despite being a place of increasing political value, the island nation was still so small, with such limited expansionist policies that it had barely managed to reach the edges of its own borders.

The galleonea drew nearer, bringing into clearer view the tall, shimmering spires and towers of Castle Drathwyn. Sina had heard of how it gleamed in the midday sun, most of the upper levels of the castle composed of massive windows, the crystal they were formed from as bulletproof as they were magnificent. The stories she had heard did no justice to the sight before her, the castle glowing like a beacon as noon began to settle. Sina's heart began to race as they approached, the galleonea beginning to drift downwards. She could hear its propellers slowing as it began its descent, making its way to the skyway that would bring its single passenger of import – Sina T'i of Endwood – to Castle Drathwyn.

“Are yuh well, melady?” Sina's fingers tightened around the galleonea's guardrail as the voice of one of the helinauts rang out behind her, the implacable accent of one of the Nathenet people. She turned, offering a tiny nod, though fear fluttered once again in her stomach. This was not her choice, being sent here. Not something she'd chosen. Whatever she encountered within Castle Drathwyn was that which she was destined to live out the rest of her life with, even once her human husband-to-be was long dead and Sina was left as the sole monarch of a foreign land, no more than a pretty alien in the eyes of the people.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” She turned fully, holding one hand to her stomach in a fruitless attempt to calm her airsickness, looking up to the man who had spoken... or at least, looking up at his chest. Sina had to take a full step backwards and crane her neck even more to get a good look at the ruddy-skinned, white-dreadlocked helinaut, the massive, muscular man only serving to remind her of how out of place she felt in this world. Everyone was just so... large, making Sina feel like a child stumbling about in an adult world. She'd been short and slight even in Endwood, among her own people, but in these new lands of humans and other species, she felt more vulnerable than ever. “How long until we can disembark?”

“We'h here, melady,” the man said. “Just a few momen's now.” He turned away from her, looking to the spires of the castle they were settling into, the propellers coming to a full stop as the galleonea docked at the skyway. Sina didn't wait for him to escort her away – that still wasn't something she was really comfortable with – and made her way towards the skyway on her own, her sandaled feet making a negligible clicking sound along the smooth, paneled wood deck of the galleonea.

Sina breathed in deeply, wandering closer to the edge of the flying vessel and out to the skyway below, the long ramp that would lead her to the place that was to be her new home. The jitters refused to calm down, no matter how much she wished them to – this wasn't her choice in the slightest. If Crannith hadn't suddenly turned itself into a global power with the discovery of what seemed to be an unlimited supply of kadnivite ore, Sina wouldn't be here now, and more and more she was wishing they hadn't.

“My lady!” a voice jarred the girl from her transitory perch at the edge of the skyway, steeling herself to hazard that first step into this new realm. A man – more a boy, than anything – came rushing up along the ramp leading to the galleonea, lightly reaching out to take Sina's hands in his own. He was short and slight for a male, still a great deal bigger than Sina herself, but at least the difference was more... manageable, than it was with the Nathanet sailors on board. “We've prepared your quarters for you, and a meal, if you'd like.” Something about the boy was off-putting – either his handsiness or just his general exuberance. It was... uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” Sina murmured, offering a little nod and looking away, withdrawing her hand from the boy's soft-skinned grip and quickly stepping forward to show that she was willing to follow. She took one last glance back at the ship that had brought her, taking one last mournful moment to wish she could return home, before turning and starting to follow the page to the front gates of Castle Drathwyn. “What's your name?” the noble foreigner murmured. Part of her didn't particularly care, but she would have to do her best to learn the people and places around her if she was ever going to fit in... much less eventually rule.

“Andwyr,” the youth answered softly, “Page to Lord Endon. I take it you'll wish to see him as soon as possible?”

The name struck a chord with her. Lord Tharis Endon, the heir to Castle Drathwyn and all of Crannith – arranged to marry her by his father. She half-supposed that he wanted this as little as she did, that he was being forced into a union of royal families the same way Sina herself was. Then again, from what she'd seen of human ways, she mostly doubted that the gift of a eternally-youthful Vay wife would go unwanted, no matter how unwilling the wife in question.

“Yes, please,” Sina murmured, quietly enough for the page to look back to her, a puzzled look on his youthful, almost cherubic features.

“I'm sorry?”

“Yes,” the newcomer spoke up a little, folding her arms across her insignificant chest awkwardly. “Please.”

Nodding, the boy – Andwyr, she supposed she should start regarding him as – continued to lead her away from the skyway and across a short, paved boulevard, leading both forward to the castle itself, and to either side, stretching out into other quarters of the mercantile city-state that had formed itself around Castle Drathwyn.

A large stone archway led the pair into something of a courtyard – massive and sunlit, pointedly different than the starry groves Sina was used to in Endwood. This was a place of design and intention, everything structured and put in its place, as those who had created it wanted it to be. Flowers and small trees bloomed out from the little banks and beds that had been made for them, glossy cobblestone paths leading them towards the main gates of the castle itself. The tremors in Sina's stomach reemerged, fluttering anxiously as she grew ever closer to meeting the man to which she was going to be betrothed.

A pair of guards shifted to their respective flanks of the doorway leading to the castle, nodding at Andwyr, obviously recognizing him and the significance of Sina's presence – and with one more small footstep, she was inside of Castle Drathwyn. “Will he meet us out here? Or...?” The anxiousness was getting to be unbearable. The front courtroom seemed desolate, unused, and more and more Sina wanted nothing but to get this underway, to meet her future husband and to begin the process of settling in.

“I've already informed Lord Endon of your arrival,” Andwyr said, his voice uncomfortably chipper for what was soon to be a life-changing – and possibly life-shattering – event for Sina. “He should be here any–”

“My Lady T'i?” Her heart stopped for a moment as she heard his voice, turning to see him striding towards her down a high, partially-concealed spiral stairway tucked behind the courtroom. His voice was soft, and he was beautiful. Lean and tall, unbearded face framed by loose, sunrise-colored curls, he was a spectacle of the Kaldric people and of the human race as a whole... not to mention somewhat enticingly exotic to Sina's Vay eyes.

Sina tightened her arms across her chest, almost hugging herself in a desperate subconscious attempt to guard herself. “I am she,” she murmured, her voice catching just a moment late enough to not make a complete and utter fool of herself. “Lord Endon?”

“I am he,” the man said, nodding his head in a half-bow as he approached, Andwyr shifting aside to let the Kaldric monarch take Sina's hands in his own. He towered above her – not as tall as the Nathenet helinauts or even the guards outside, but still enough to make his Vay bride-to-be seem childishly small.

Contact with the man's skin set Sina's skin aflame, looking up to him briefly, making eye contact before quickly moving away. This was going too fast. Stupid fast. She should have told Andwyr to bring her to her quarters before meeting Lord Endon – she may have thought she was ready for this, but she wasn't. Not even close. Not even in the slightest bit. “It's a pleasure to meet you,” she forced herself to say, heart pounding in her chest so hard it was nearly audible.

“And you as well,” Tharis replied, his smile warm, though curiously... uninvolved. Dispassionate. “I've had a room already prepared for you, if you'd like. While I'm aware it's still quite early, I figured you would like to rest after what I'm sure was quite a long journey. Forgive my forgetfulness, but where was it you sojourned from? Endwood?”

“Endwood, yes,” Sina murmured. Endwood – known to some less-developed cultures as the Lost Vale – was the home to the small, pale people known as the Vay. Sina's people. The people who had sold her into an arranged marriage in order to strengthen their political position with Crannith... or, more specifically, the seemingly endless supply of kadnivite ore that the humans here had managed to unearth. “It's been a few days, and... I'd like that, yes. Perhaps we may speak more tomorrow?”

Tharis nodded, an almost imperceptibly small gesture as he rubbed one thumb over her hand, releasing it without kissing it or any other such shows of affection. “Perhaps that would be best. I'll have Andwyr send you up some refreshments. I've hired a personal maid for you, as well – she has yet to arrive, but I'm hoping that you'll be a bit more comfortable with her than with my page.” Another small smile from the human lord, his deep brown eyes gleaming with a gentleness she had not expected to find within them. From her brief meeting with him, Tharis Endon had managed to defy many of the things Sina had already expected of him – he gazed at her with no visible thoughts of possessiveness, lust, or control. He was a perfect gentleman... the only thing that concerned the Vay noblewoman was that while he showed no outward carnal desire, he appeared to show no desire whatsoever.

Offering a small nod to him, Sina turned her gaze back to Andwyr, who extended his hand to her for her to take. She politely and silently did not, though she did indicate for him to guide her onward. What was it with these people and touching, anyway? She was quite capable of following someone under her own power without being physically led by them. At least, that was what she told herself – physical contact was considered much more intimate in Endwood than it apparently was in Crannith.

Sina had trouble concentrating through the haze over her mind and thoughts as she was led to her room, across carpets and through a tall staircase heading upwards into one of the high, glittering spires that made up the castle. Inside, the place was impressively furnished – thick curtains blocked out the sunlight, with small, pale starlamps creating a moonlit appearance, far easier on Sina's nocturnal Vay eyes.

This, of course, brought up more questions. Not only had Lord Endon had extensively prepared a room for her to stay in by herself, rather than creating a place for him in his own quarters, he appeared to have done at least a trivial amount of research on the Vay in order to have such a room designed. None of it really added up.

Offering a little nod at Andwyr for him to leave her to herself, Sina sat down at the edge of her massive bed, her fingertips teasing idly at the silky, sky-blue sheets. She let out a soft sigh, trying to get her bearings – it was nice to be alone, even if she was still in a strange place devoid of friends or kin. She missed her homeland of Endwood, missed her sister and her father, missed her friends that she'd spent the last few decades with. That she'd danced and played with under the starlight. Here, she felt like a relic.

It felt like an hour that she sat there, letting her thoughts gather up and coalesce, coming to no conclusions on anything, but merely trying to adjust to her new surroundings – however precisely they were designed to emulate her homeland as much as Castle Drathwyn was able to. She glanced to the mirror on the far side of the room, getting a look at her own self – light-skinned and pretty, tiny even for one of the Vay. Her long, soft hair defying color, neither white nor blonde nor truly silver, it evoked starlight in a way that could only be described as “pale,” offset by the deep, intense forest green of her large, almond-shaped eyes. A prize for any human monarch, Kaldric or otherwise.

Exhaling through her nose, Sina T'i of Endwood flopped backward against the bed, her eyes open and staring at the ceiling, remaining still, surrendering herself fully to a blanket of sleep that refused to come amidst the constant buzzing of her thoughts and worries. She would be married soon. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week, maybe in a month. But she would be married, and she would be Lady Sina Endon. It didn't really roll off the tongue.

Only thoughts of the angelic face of her groom-to-be helped her relax enough for sleep to overwhelm her, his warm voice and gentle smile. Maybe being married wouldn't be so bad. Maybe, if she just let herself think of things as an adventure, rather than a prison, then she could make the best of things. And maybe, she thought as she drifted into troubled, conflicted dreams, maybe Tharis Endon would be a better husband than she'd dared hope. Maybe.