Cupidity - chapter twenty

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Previous chapters here.


"Robin," Angel said. "Um. I think we're in trouble."

Alberich came straight up to them and then stopped, as still as a tree. People flowed around him like he wasn't there.

Robin nodded. "Maybe a little. Hello, step-father."

"Hnn." Alberich gazed at Robin for what seemed like several minutes. "You've grown," he said.

"You saw me last year."

"But still, it's true."

His voice was so soft that Angel couldn't understand how he could even hear it, but he could.

"I'm sure you're correct," said Robin, with a small bow.

Alberich ignored him and turned to Angel. "You're the young demon who's been invading my lady's woods."

"I'm just human! And he hasn't been teaching me things, and I never meant to go there!"

Alberich raised one long, thin eyebrow. "I did mean demon in a metaphorical sense. And whether you mean to or not is rather irrelevant."

"Invasions are on purpose."

"A fair enough point. I imagine you got in the same way I did the first time."

"How was that?"

Alberich smiled. He looked a little sad. "I don't know. Isn't that funny? All this time, and all my reading, and I still can't say how I found her forest. Why me? Why you, for that matter. Although, knowing Robin, you were looking for answers from the moment you met him. Your dreams merely led you in the right direction."

"But--"

"Can we speak elsewhere? I am not accustomed to so much...company." He glanced uneasily at the people around them.

"We visited your old workshop yesterday," Robin said.

"I know. That's why I came. We might as well go back there. I should show you some things, and you can put my books back where you got them."

Robin had the car brought around. Alberich looked almost pained at the sight of it.

"What an invention, simply to get from one place to another more quickly. The human race has sold its soul to a clockwork devil."

Angel frowned. "Cars don't run on clockwork."

Alberich looked mildly affronted (and also surprised), and Robin turned away to have a small coughing fit.

"Well, they don't," Angel muttered to himself as he got in--the backseat, of course. It was like riding with his parents again. He'd been stuck in the backseat his whole life. Still, he supposed if you were driving with the king of the fairies, you couldn't expect to call shotgun.

When they arrived at the mound this time, there was no circling around looking for the door, no long creepy passageway. Alberich walked up to it and waved a hand, and the whole side split open into a white marble archway. Torches lit themselves along the walls as they walked inside. When Angel looked back, he could still see daylight, but it seemed very far away.

"Wow," he whispered.

Robin dropped back to walk next to him. "If you were wondering what the difference between a halfbreed and the real thing is, now you know," he said quietly.

Their footsteps echoed on the marble tiles. Alberich led the way. He looked less dusty now, somehow. In the workroom, the fire crackled to life, and a copper kettle hanging over it glowed as if freshly polished. The bottles and jars on the shelves gleamed and the contents didn't look quite so murky, which was not a good thing in Angel's opinion.

"I do miss this old place," Alberich said, poking at something in a jar. It had too many legs and a small sad, white-eyed face.

"What the fuc—I mean, what is that?"

"I'm not sure," Alberich said, peering at it. "A land spirit of some type."

Rows of glass vials held colored powders and liquids, all stoppered neatly and sealed with pale yellow wax. There was a wooden tray of instruments; long thin measuring spoons, spindly knives, strange multi-pronged things. Some of them were gold, or silver. Some were blackened iron, as if they'd been held in the fire.

"What's this one?" Angel said, holding up something that looked like a misshapen harpoon.

"Toasting fork," said Alberich. "You think we don't eat?" he said, to Angel's expression.

"Uh. I don't know," he said, quietly. He glanced at Robin, who was standing by the fire. "I mean, Robin does, but he's only-- He's not quite--"

Alberich let out a sigh. He lowered himself into the single chair as if he were an old man. "You shouldn't be here. It's no place for you," he said.

"But seeing as we are here, Robin, you may as well make us some tea."

"Yes, step-father," Robin said, bending his head.

"Sit," Alberich said to Angel.

He said it as if Angel could do nothing else. Angel wondered what it had been like for Robin, growing up with him in the palace. There was a short three legged stool, and he perched on it. Its legs wobbled slightly on the uneven tiles and it was hard and uncomfortable. Robin looked over at him and smiled faintly.

Angel was unsettled by every single thing in the room, and he couldn't wrap his mind round Robin bowing his head to anyone. He wondered exactly how dangerous Alberich was. Alberich's hand landed on his knee and Angel jumped about a foot.

"It depends how much you annoy me," Alberich said.

Clean water stood ready in an earthenware jug, as if it had been drawn that morning. Robin took down a black and red patterned tin from a shelf, along with a round brown teapot and three chipped enamel mugs. The copper kettle rumbled and hissed and Robin stood, waiting for it, his still and solemn face lit by the fire. He looked so young compared to Alberich.

Steam billowed to the ceiling when Robin filled the teapot. He'd even found a tray from somewhere. It was silver and elaborate and sat at odds with the scarred and stained table top. Robin drew up another stool and sat at Angel's side, like they were kids at grandpa's knee. Only this old man didn't have a grey hair or a wrinkle on him. Angel sipped steaming hot bitter black tea and tried to keep calm.

Alberich closed his eyes. "What are you planning, little bird? You wouldn't be here if you weren't in trouble."

"I'm trying to be good," Robin said. His voice was almost toneless. "I want to undo a wrong I did. To Rose."

Alberich opened his eyes and laughed. "I adore the ambition of the young. Why do you want to do that?"

"It's important," was all Robin said, and then he shut his mouth and stared at Alberich.

"You sound almost convincing," said Alberich. He looked between Angel and Robin, and cocked his head to one side. "I like your young man, Robin."

"So does my mother," Robin said.

Alberich's mouth twisted a little and he nodded. "Your mother loves you, Robin."

"Love doesn't make stuff any better though, does it?" Angel said.

"Ah. So says the little boy who ran away from home. Do you imagine your mother and father don't wish every night on sleeping that you were with them, and safe?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Angel said, and heard his own voice as a growl.

"Oh, I do. We're both runaways, Angel. So is dear Robin, an ill named child if there ever was one." Next to him, Angel felt Robin stiffen, but Alberich just smiled. "He was the cuckoo in my nest, the twisting snake in my bosom. I think Rose hated you more than I did, oddly. She is a strange child. She gives her passion to odd things. She is very dangerous, I think."

"Step-father--"

"It was better that you left when you did," said Alberich, and he sipped his tea. "Much better. Now, what is it you want from me?"

"How did you do it, step-father?"

Alberich looked at Robin for a long time. He seemed to know what Robin was asking. The fire spat sparks up into the dark chimney and in the logs something fizzed and popped.

"What would you give me for that answer, Robin?" Alberich said.

"I'll pay anything."

"Oh. I see."

"Wait," Angel said. "No one said anything about paying." Robin and Alberich both looked at him with identical sets of raised eyebrows. "What?" Angel said.

"Do you pay for your keep?" Alberich said to him, leaning forward. "Of course you do, with everything you have." He touched Angel's cheek. "With your flesh, and your heart. Nothing is free."

"Wait, that's not the same--"

Alberich raised a hand and Angel's words failed. Robin's hand slid into Angel's, fingers stroking his skin.

"Do you think my knowledge came without cost to me? That I'd pass it to you for no charge? It has a price. Even my lady pays, in her own way. She can never stop being what she is."

"What do we have to pay?" Angel said. He was squeezing onto Robin's hand like it was his last link to sanity.

"That depends on what you want," Alberich said, setting down his cup. "It also depends on who is going to pay." He folded his hands together.

"Transmutation," Robin said. "Can you do it? You must've done it at least once, clearly."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Alberich said. "It's very dangerous, if the wish and the will to change isn't there. The desire is important." He looked pointedly at Angel.

"It's not for him," Robin said.

"Then who?"

"For Rose."

"My Lady of the Woods pierced my heart with an arrow fired from her bow. I know of no other way to perform this act."

"Wait," Angel said. "You mean she just shot you, and bang, you're a fairy?"

Alberich smiled thinly. "Not quite so simple, no. But the spell is fueled by her bow and her power, and without that, it is useless. Do you still wish to know more?"

"Yes," Robin said. "Name your price."

"Tell me first who is paying."

"I am," Robin said. He sounded very serious, and resigned.

"What? No, come on, don't-- You don't know what he's gonna say."

"It doesn't matter, does it?"

"Yeah, it does!"

"But this is the right thing to do."

"Not if you end up dead because of it!"

Robin blinked at him slowly, like it hadn't occurred to him that that would matter. "Oh. I see."

Alberich snapped his fingers at them. "Children? Not that I have anything in particular to get back to, but some of us in this room do have mortal lifespans. A decision, if you please."

"Tell me the price," Robin said.

Alberich leaned back in his chair. "Well. I suppose you really must mean to keep him then."

"Yes."

Angel looked back and forth between them. It was like watching a tennis game. With an invisible ball. "What?" he said.

"Don't," Robin said. He was looking at Alberich.

"Hush, little bird. Close your mouth and pour us some more tea."

Robin did, and that was still a little mind boggling for Angel to see.

"He'll pay himself," Alberich said, ignoring Robin and speaking directly to Angel. "Even though he knows whatever price I set you would have to be lower. You have so much less to give than he does, and yet he'd spare you from having to give anything at all. Interesting, don't you think?"

Angel looked at Robin, but Robin was focused on the tea. "Yeah. Um."

"So, you tell me. What should I ask of him?"

"Nothing! It's not like we're asking how to break into Fort Knox. It's just so Rose isn't walking around bleeding and shedding leaves for--forever. Can't you just tell us?"

"Ah, yes. To help Rose. Of course, if she's human, it would also make her easier to kill."

Angel sighed and picked up his tea. He rubbed his thumb over the little chip out of the edge. "Are all you guys like this?"

"Yes," Alberich said.

"What do you even want? I mean. Not gold, I guess."

"No, not gold. I could ask for many things. His hand or his heart or his blood, or years off his already short life. Service, obedience, fealty. A favor owed yet unspecified; always the most dangerous of bargains to make with our kind."

Robin sat very still with his palms pressed to his thighs and his head bent. He looked like he was waiting for a death sentence.

"What if it was me instead?" Angel said. "What would I have to pay?"

"But it's not you, child. That's not your choice to make." He looked at Robin. "You know, I still can't believe she raised you as her own. It was so unlike her. And yet, I can see the attraction. A truly unique thing, and all her own. No wonder she's upset to have lost you."

"She never had me," Robin said, very quietly.

"What a foolish thing to say. We're all owned by someone, all our lives, in part or in whole. Which I suppose provides me with the answer to my own question."

Maddeningly, he stopped there to sip his tea. He cupped his chin in one hand and watched them both.

"Mortal lifespans," Angel said, twirling his finger in a hurry-up motion.

Alberich smiled. "I've just realized our Robin has nothing left to offer me. He's given it all away." He looked at Angel, more meaningfully than Angel was comfortable with. "So I suppose I must help you, hm, out of the goodness of my heart? No, that seems unlikely. Call it a dowry, then. He is the closest thing I've had to a son, and I've often thought I would pay to see the back of him, so it works out well for all of us."

"Uh," said Angel, thinking, dowry?

Robin didn't say anything, but his expression was pure deer-in-headlights.

Alberich clapped his hands together and stood. "Ah, how lovely. You needn't say anything. To see such expressions on my children's faces is thanks enough. Let's go and find my notes, shall we?"

Comments

[sinestrated.livejournal.com]

Alberich seems to hold a stunning (and more than a little creepy) similarity to Kannon and her capriciousness. Maybe that was intended? ^^U

Man. I'm very impressed with your fairy world. How much research have you two done for this? Because I took an entire semester of Celtic Studies last year and I could never beat this.

(Of course, that could also be due to the fact that I slept through most of the lectures, but don't sweat the details...)

[avierra.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I love this, their mutual "ownership" so that neither of them has anything to offer of himself as a payment to any fairy folk.

Robin being liked to a cuckoo, which pushes the legitimate bird babies out of the nest, and a viper, is very sad. It makes me wonder at the circumstances of Robin's father getting involved with Eos. Clearly Alberich has some thoughts and feelings about it. It also makes me wonder if Rose is Robin's step-sister or half-sister or what.

Other thoughts: Alberich calling Angel a demon, aside from being funny in the present day sense, I wonder if he also meant it in the original sense.

And Alberich providing a service as Robin's dowry made me giggle. The end part of this chapter was very romantic.

And Alberich saying Angel's parents missed him, and Eos missed Robin is sad too, because it sounds like neither set of parents had the ability to convey their feelings to their offspring. But I do wonder if Angel's abject fear of sleep sex (aside from the circumstances in which it was inflicted on him by Robin) has something to do with whatever went on in his household before he left home.

Overall, I would say Alberich sounds very Sanzo-ish in his wisdom and insight, just not as bitchy.

[chomiji]

Wow, Alberich seems to have a heart - must be left over from being human! The final bits of this were really very warm and sweet and strong, and I do wonder how long it's going to take Angel to thing through the implications, especially Alberich's statement "To see such expressions on my children's faces is thanks enough ... " (my emphasis). Is this just because Robin and Angel are betrothed, as far as he's concerned, or ... what?

It is so wonderful to have this to read at the end of the day! Please, have a lovely weekend.

[freeradical9.livejournal.com]

Love, love, love, in so many ways. For far too many reasons to go into here, but still love. You guys are simply amazing.

And also.... *hides face in hands* Throughout this whole dialogue, for some reason, all I can picture is Ian McKellan. It just fits.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Dowry. Oh, God, I think I'm in love with Alberich.

[amikko.livejournal.com]

this chapter oozes so much love that i can't stop smiling (my roomie declared me mad because i kept squeeing and grinning at the monitor).

love every word,every imagery in it.i think i can go through the weekend rereading this chapter.

so.so.so sweet.*sigh*

have a nice weekend ladies and everyone too.

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

My favourite line in this one....

Still, he supposed if you were driving with the king of the fairies, you couldn't expect to call shotgun.

You made me giggle madly and earned me a rather strange look from the Hubby. I'm so enjoying this story and the depth of the characters and fairy lore you've got going. Thank you ever so much for sharing this with us all.

...dowry...*grins madly*

[jiele.livejournal.com]

*love*

^^

<333333333333333333333333333333333333333

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

*hearts and smiles* is all i have.

Thank you.

[saiyuki-win.livejournal.com]

*cannot stop grinning*

Robin didn't say anything, but his expression was pure deer-in-headlights.

This sentence earned this chapter's place next to the previous. *chuckles* *smacks self to get image out of head*

Awww.. so sweet.. a lot of parts just warmed my heart.

[saiyuki-win.livejournal.com]

I really want to stop my comments that because that all i felt after reading the chapter *_*

I'm so long winded!

Actually.. my heart warmed every time they call Robin 'little bird'.. It keeps coming back to me as an endearment, even when Rose said it. I don't mean cuckoo... Robin is a kind of bird is it no? =)

Alberich smiled. "I've just realized our Robin has nothing left to offer me. He's given it all away." He looked at Angel, more meaningfully than Angel was comfortable with. "So I suppose I must help you, hm, out of the goodness of my heart? No, that seems unlikely. Call it a dowry, then. He is the closest thing I've had to a son, and I've often thought I would pay to see the back of him, so it works out well for all of us."

I don't know about the rest of the chapter, but this paragraph is just soooo Hakkai =x The knowing smile Hakkai..

Thank you for the wonderful and lovely chapter! Warmed my heart.

[gen50.livejournal.com]

i can feel the end.
but what an ending it shall be....

[hieronymousmosh.livejournal.com]

Hee! The giggles throughout this chapter were a nice touch to all the tension you two've been building up *g* I do love the way Angel is dealing with everything, and that he just can't seem to help being *him* - like with the knowing Alberich is dangerous, but not keeping his mouth shut (and the 'wrap it up' gesture! ♥).

[aqua-eyes.livejournal.com]

<3

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I can't decide if Alberich is reminding me more of Kanzeon or Nii now...either way, it sure feels like there's more than just the "goodness of his heart" behind his finally agreeing to help the boys without more direct payment! Love how you managed to make that scene touching and unsettling and more than a little funny all at the same time. And poor Angel, once again everyone sees right through him...that nice little shell of denial can't last much longer! :)

[tochira.livejournal.com]

The end of this chapter is pure win, but my favorite was: Still, he supposed if you were driving with the king of the fairies, you couldn't expect to call shotgun.

I love every bit of this! So very much. I'm going to feel rather bereft when there aren't any more new chapters waiting for me in the evenings.

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

You've stirred together an amazing combination of emotions among all three characters in this chapter. The fear, love, uncertainty, unsaid words, all blend together exquisitely and beautifully.

[geri.livejournal.com]

Hell i agree with every commentor up here alberich is creepy and dam good at keeping his secrets wants and needs to himself.goyjo and hakkai are 2 of a kind in spades.