Despite the Queen's insistence that Etho has no talents or skills, she has never once caught him when he decides he wants to be somewhere else. Granted, it was easier when he was a child, before the weight of the court's eyes clung to him wherever he walked. It used to be so simple to slip out into his favorite courtyard, too small to be noticed. Even as a prince he was too young to matter, then. Now, it takes more work. Etho always has a plan of escape tucked into the back of his mind. His eyes catch on the nearest doors, the darkest corners. His footsteps are silent and he can glide through a crowd like a will-o'-the-wisp.

The Unseelie Court is hosting guests from her sister court to celebrate the winter solstice, and Etho needs to escape before one more person tries to corner him into conversation.

From the very start of the night's festivities, he’s been creeping towards an innocuous door on the side of the grand ballroom. It's half-hidden by an elaborate shimmering tapestry that seems to dance and move before the eye. It's masterfully crafted and beautiful, but Etho is far more interested in the plain door concealed behind it that will lead him to his escape.

Just as he finally sees an opening to clear the last twenty paces between himself and freedom, a towering, willowy woman in a shimmering gown appears at his elbow.

“Your highness,” she says in a low, sultry voice. She bows deeply at the waist and her long hair brushes against the smooth marble floor.

“Rise,” Etho says to the woman. He allows himself one moment to close his eyes and sigh very, very quietly. It's been an hour and a half of this, and he's been caught into conversation nearly a dozen times in the three hundred paces he's managed to walk in that time.

The woman is beautiful, in the way that all fae are beautiful. She's shorter than him, though not by much, and he would put their ages within a few decades of each other. He has absolutely no idea who she is, but that's not unusual. She sways to the music and her dress glitters. “I hoped I would have the honor of speaking with you on this happy night,” she says. “I know it is a special night for you, especially, my lord.”

Etho would be flattered, if she weren't the tenth or so person to approach him for this exact reason. He was born on the winter solstice, five hundred and seventy-six years ago. On any other day, he's glad for it and the powerful magic the solstice gave him when he was born. However, the winter solstice gala is the only event Etho can never seem to escape without being caught up.

“Very special indeed,” Etho says. “You honor me with your kind regards.” He dips his head in a brief expression of gratitude to appease the hungry eyes of the woman in front of him. He doesn't bother with a smile, since his mouth and nose are always covered by a mask.

“I wonder if perhaps you would honor me with a dance?” the woman says. Etho bites his lip. How to get out of this? The Queen would be furious if he sparked gossip by refusing a dance, but moving to the center of the ballroom close to the band would set him back nearly an hour of progress towards the door. He glances around the room, trying to appear as though he's casually scanning over the dancers, and makes eye contact with a woman with fiery red hair and bright green eyes staring right at him.

He widens his eyes as subtly as he can to plead for help, but Gem is already on her way to save him.

“I hope you don't mind my interruption,” Gem says to the woman, whose face freezes like stone into an unpleasant smile. “I’ve been waiting for a moment to speak to the Prince all night.” Gem has the kind of smile that looks completely innocent, but that just makes it all the more intimidating.

It's not like anybody is going to argue with the Princess of the Seelie Court anyway, not if they know what's good for them. The woman who had been accosting Etho merely bows at the two of them and slithers away. Etho takes Gem into his arms and tolerates a kiss on his cheek.

“My savior,” he says, and leans his forehead against hers. Partygoers glance at them, but their eyes don't linger long. Etho and Gem have been betrothed since they were born, and no one is likely to fault them for some simple affection, even if it is in public like this.

“Happy birthday, E,” Gem murmurs, mindful of the company around them.

“Aw, you honor me,” Etho teases. He squeezes Gem tighter and she giggles. “I'm making an escape attempt, would you like to join me?”

Gem sighs and tucks her head under his chin. The two of them begin to sway gently to the music playing across the ballroom. The crowd has parted around them enough to have space to breathe, finally. “I shouldn't, G would be mad if I left him to fend for himself.” Etho glances towards where Gem had come from and finds her brother in the middle of a passionate conversation with Joel and Solidarity.

“I dunno, I think he'd be fine.”

Gem pinches his lower back for his tone and Etho very admirably does not squeak in pain. He does crush Gem even further as she laughs at his expense. Mean, mean girl. He loves her so much.

“I might come find you later, once I get tired,” Gem says to appease him. Etho hums.

“Alright. I'm going to go to the woods for a while, but I should be back to my room in a few hours. If you beat me there, feel free to get cozy.”

“As if you have to give me permission to get cozy,” Gem laughs. She tilts her head back to glare playfully at him.

“Well, believe it or not it is my room and bed you'll be getting cozy in,” Etho drawls.

“Fine, then. If you're going to be like that, maybe I'll just sleep in my own bed–” Gem starts to push away from him with her hands on his shoulders.

“Wait, no,” Etho pleads. Gem looks instantly smug. Etho rolls his eyes and laughs.

“Got you,” Gem sings. “I'll see you later. If you go now I'll try to intercept any more advances.”

Etho presses a kiss to her head through his mask. “You're the best.”

“I know!”

With Gem's help, he's able to make it to the door without any more incidents. He takes one last glance around to ensure nobody is watching before slipping through the door and into the servant corridor behind it. He feels a small twinge of guilt as he starts down the hallway. He has friends from the Seelie Court he's sure would be happy to spend tonight with him, and it always feels a bit bad abandoning them to hide away. But like Gem, they all understand that he doesn’t enjoy events like these, and they've never faulted him for fleeing them before.

There are plenty of days left in the celebration to spend with them, in any case. For now he's going to hide in the woods until the edge wears off.

He doesn't bother to hide his hurry as he moves down the servant corridor, even when he passes a young girl hoisting a platter of cakes over her shoulder. Her eyes don't even see him, glazed with the same blank look that all of the Taken have. Nearly all of the castle servants are Taken, which is perfect for moments like this, since they won't be spreading gossip about the serial runaway prince.

He winds through several connected passageways, all hidden from the judgemental eyes of the court, except of course his own. Soon, he's run far enough from the grand ballroom that he can safely emerge into a shining corridor to continue his flight.

Every inch of the Unseelie Castle is smooth white marble, carved from a single stone. The techniques of its making and the makers themselves are long lost to time, but their handiwork is as exquisite as the day it was finished. Even in the dead of night, glowing orbs of light make every hall seem to shimmer.

The hallways are barren except for the castle guards who stand sentinel and silent, and Etho makes it outside with no struggle at all. It will be hours still until the Queen is notified of his absence, and by then no amount of searching will find him. Not that there will be any searching, but the thought is still satisfying.

Etho's favorite spot is hidden within a grove of trees so dense that even in daylight it is dark like night. In the very center of a clearing deep within the treeline, there is a pool of water that never freezes. The water sits in a bowl of dazzling crystals, glass-clear but slightly disturbed by gentle ripples from the stream that feeds the small pond. It's his favorite place in the realm, a secret place only he knows about. The crystals in the pool glow gently with the power of the moon, and Etho settles close on his usual patch of grass, leaning against a low boulder to read the book he smuggled under his cloak.

“Gah! Where the hell did you come from? Who are you?” someone shouts from beside him. Etho's head snaps to the side and he meets eyes with a man who definitely was not there a moment ago.

The man sitting across the pond from him has dark hair, tan skin, and huge dark eyes that shine in the moonlight. More interesting even than the fact that he apparently appeared out of thin air, are his rounded ears and dull teeth. Etho has never seen a human without the glazed look of a Taken's servitude before.

The next thing he notices is the pool. It looks almost the same, still glass clear and crystalline, but the magical luminescence from the moonlight has dulled until the pool appears as dark as the grass and trees around it.

“Hey! Answer me!”

It takes Etho a moment to realize what's happened. There are places where the magic of the fae realm spills into her sister realm and leaves the borders malleable. Faerie rings are the easiest to find, but they can take any shape, really. Even, apparently, a moonlit pond. It seems that his hidden place has turned out to be a gateway to the human realm.

Well, it's not how he planned to spend his night, but Etho is an opportunist. It's not everyday that a fae gets to see the human realm and meet a real live human.

“Oh, you startled me,” he says. The human blinks, body tense. “I've been rude, let me introduce myself. My friends call me E, may I have your name?” Etho smiles for good measure, though he's not sure how much good it does with just the light of the moon to illuminate him, plus the mask.

“I'm B–” the human stops for a long moment. “Hm. Um yeah, you can call me B.”

There’s no honey-sweet taste of a true name on his tongue. Sneaky thing, he's smarter than Etho expected, but maybe that's his own fault. He knows only the basics of dealing with humans, since he's usually tied up in his royal duties. Still, he's up for a challenge, even if his prey does have some understanding of faeries and their games.

“We match,” Etho says. He tucks his book back into his cloak, all hope of reading gone with the light of the pond. “B and E. What brings you here, B?”

B hesitates. He wrings his hands in his lap and his shoulders raise towards his ears. “I was just looking for somewhere to be alone,” he says. Etho cocks his head and looks him up and down. He's not wearing nearly enough layers to be out in the woods on the darkest night of the year, and his teeth are chattering loud enough to hear clearly across the pool. “I'll go somewhere else, I’m–uh, I mean, I didn't mean to intrude on your space.” B stands up hastily and begins to back away. Shit, he can't lose the human that fast, Gem and Joel would never let him live that down.

“There's no need to go! Here, you look awfully cold. Take my cloak for a while and warm up a bit. I don't mind the company, and it's foolish to be out tonight with no coat.” Etho unpins his moss cloak from around his shoulders and offers it to the human. B halts in his retreat, uncertain. “Honestly, I don’t really need it to keep warm, I’m at home in the frost. Come sit down.” He pats the spot beside him on the grass and hopes.

B frets with indecision for a few moments before sighing harshly and joining Etho on the other bank of the little pond. He hesitates before taking the cloak but then quickly wraps himself nearly head to toe in the thick moss. The garment dwarfs him in quite a charming way, especially when he folds down to crouch on the ground next to Etho. For a few minutes, Etho and B just sit in silence while B nurses warmth back into his body.

“This is warmer than I expected it to be,” B says eventually, rocking himself gently back and forth.

“It's a well made garment, I would hope so,” Etho laughs. MJ is the court's best tailor, and his pieces are always unfathomably intricate and well-made, although the man himself seems convinced that every piece will be the end of the world. “So, what brings a lost human into the woods tonight?”

B sighs again and rustles around under the cloak for a moment. He finds what he's looking for and holds it out for Etho's scrutiny. It's a crown of vines. Entwined with the vines are small, red clay balls like berries, that make a bright noise like a child's shaker when B moves the crown.

“I was crowned Prince of the Solstice,” B mutters.

Etho blinks. “I didn't realize I was in the presence of royalty.” Should he bow? Or has he already fumbled this meeting badly enough that it would only dig himself deeper into awkwardness?

B laughs. “You're not. It's just some silly competition from the festival, the village voted to crown me.”

Oh. Silly Etho, then. “Oh, I see. It sounds like you’re well liked, then. Why not spend the night with your friends instead of meeting strangers in the woods?”

“I dunno. I s'pose they all like me, but I don't feel like I belong with them. Does that make sense?” B tucks his hand back into the cloak, taking the crown with it.

Etho bites his lip as he thinks. “I think I understand what you mean. Do they… exclude you?” This conversation is going nothing like he imagined it would, but now that they've started talking, Etho can't help the tug on his heart. He's had his fair share of loneliness. He has more friends in his life than he used to, but even now he's sometimes struck with a feeling like he's completely alone in a room full of people, even when they smile and laugh with him.

B chuckles “It's kind of the opposite. All the village kids always want to spend time with me, and everyone seems to like me. But even surrounded by all that attention, I just feel…” he drifts off.

“Alone?”

“Yeah. Alone. I guess I decided it would be better to actually be alone than to feel that way even though there were people around. And the woods were the only place I could think of where nobody would bother me.” A grin slides onto B's face. “But you know, then I found you, so there goes that,” he laughs and Etho joins him. He's slightly shocked to hear this human teasing him, but it's a pleasant surprise.

It seems only fair after B was so vulnerable with him that he shares a little in return. “I came here to escape my own celebration,” Etho admits. B’s mouth drops open in gentle surprise. It's odd; Etho is usually much more private than this, but he feels sure that it's okay to tell this human about himself. Within reason, of course.

“Really? What kind of celebration?”

“Really. It’s the same kind of celebration as yours, I believe. The faerie courts are throwing a huge gala tonight to honor the winter solstice. Unfortunately, I can’t stand the crowds. So I escaped to my secret spot in the woods.” Etho smiles. He hopes that with their new closeness B can see it in his eyes. “Apparently, it's not as secret as I thought. I was planning to spend the night reading here. In the fae realm, the crystals in this pool glow with the magic of the moonlight, and they cast just enough light to read by.”

“So you really are a fae.” B's eyes shine with awe as he looks Etho up and down. “I thought you must be, ‘cause of the way you're dressed, but you're telling me you're a member of the court? No wonder you're dressed so nice! Do all fae wear stuff like this?”

Etho is helplessly endeared by the human's sudden excitement. “Many of us do dress very well, at least in comparison to humans, I think–no offense meant.” Etho sighs softly. “But yes, I am a member of the court. I’m the prince of the Unseelie Court.”

The awe in B's face slides into something like horror, or constipation. “Oh, stars.” He looks faint. Etho laughs. “Should I be bowing? What's the correct procedure for meeting faerie royalty? Void, I don't even know what I'm meant to do in front of human royalty!”

Etho puts a hand on B's back to calm his panic. It works to some minor success, although it's mostly due to the way the man's breath is caught in his throat and his body has gone still.

“You don't need to worry about it, B. If I cared about those things I would have introduced myself as royalty when we first met here.” How long have they been sitting here in front of the pool? The moon has moved from one edge of the pool and is making its way towards the center. “What are the chances that we would meet here tonight, two runaway princes of the Solstice?” Etho teases. He removes his hand from B's back only to nudge him with his shoulder. B giggles with a slightly crazed edge to it.

“I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm sitting in the middle of the woods next to some magic pond with a faerie prince. This is the kind of thing that only happens in stories.” B lets his head sink into his hands.

“Would it make you feel better to know that I've never met a human, either?”

B lifts his head to meet Etho's eyes. “Really?”

Etho nods. “I had no idea the pool was a boundary between our worlds. Nobody has ever come near it before you.”

B extends one booted foot out from the cover of Etho's cloak and digs his heel into the muddy bank. “That does actually make me feel a little better,” he admits. He looks at Etho sideways with a little grin. For a few moments the two of them simply watch the reflection of the moon dance in the water. The silence is surprisingly comfortable.

After a while, B breaks the silence. “Is it lonely being a prince?”

What a horrifyingly intimate question. Still, B has been very honest and open about his own struggles every time Etho asks. It's only fair.

“Sometimes it is, yes. A lot of people pretend to know me better than they do because they want something from me, and that feels lonely. But I’m lucky to have many friends who make my role bearable. Even when I ditch them at a ball to go read a book in the woods by myself.”

“You ditched your friends at that ball?” B seems properly upset about that, actually. He rises to his full height, which is still a head shorter than Etho, even sitting down, and levels him with a glare of righteous fury.

Etho raises his hands in defense. “They don't mind it! I've been doing this since I was a child, everybody knows to expect it from me. The celebration goes for a few more days, anyway, so they’ll see me then!”

That seems to placate the human somewhat. “Well at least they have a warning, I s'pose,” he mutters.

Etho crosses his arms. This little argument is bothering him so much, for some reason. “I think I deserve it anyway, tonight. It's my birthday, nobody would blame me for wanting to get out of my mother's terrible ball.”

He's not sure what reaction he expected, but B throwing his head back and groaning loud enough to disturb the birds from their slumber was not it.

“First you tell me you're fae, then you tell me you're a prince, and now you say it's your birthday? E! You are holding out on me! These are the kind of important things that are good to know about a new person!” B is so loud, but he doesn't actually seem… that mad? He's smiling. Etho is getting mixed signals.

“Wait, are you angry with me or not? I can't tell.”

B cackles. “I'm not mad, you just keep dropping these huge revelations on me!” B pulls his head under the cloak for a moment before he reemerges. He holds his hand out to Etho. “Here, happy birthday.”

Etho hesitates but B shakes his fist and he scrambles to take whatever it is he's being offered. It's a small wooden snowflake tied on a leather cord. A necklace.

“What do you want in return for this?” Etho asks. B’s eyebrows furrow.

“Nothing, silly. It's a birthday gift. I’m giving it to you!”

Surely there must be some kind of trick that B is playing to earn a favor from Etho. Who in their right mind gives something to someone they've just met with no ulterior motive?

“Agathe was selling those tonight, and I bought one since her family had a hard time with their harvest and she's sure to need the extra coin, but snowflakes aren't really my style. I think it suits you much better,” B assures him.

“I can't accept this–” Etho tries, but B pushes it back towards him when he tries to give it back.

“I'm serious! Is this a weird fae thing? Humans give each other gifts to celebrate important occasions, like birthdays. I'm trying to give you a present, man!”

How to avoid a possible trick? Etho can tell B isn't lying, he would feel it if he was, but he knows better than anyone that that doesn't mean someone is telling the truth. Perhaps an even exchange would render their debts even? Yes, that could work.

Etho relents and pulls the necklace over his head. It's far more crude than anything he's ever worn, but he can feel the effort that went into its making. Despite its imperfections, the carved snowflake is elaborate and beautiful. B is right, too. Snowflakes do suit Etho.

“You honor me, B,” Etho says with a polite dip of his head. The least he can do is keep his manners intact right now.

“Ah, no problem,” B grins. “Happy birthday, E.”

Without them noticing, the moon has crawled across the center of the pool. It's late. Gem is probably through with partying by now and curled up under his covers, waiting for him to come join her. Still, it's a terrible shame when B finally stands up with a groan and stretches.

“It's getting late, I should probably get home before my father starts thinking I got myself lost in the woods, or worse.” B starts to unbutton Etho's cloak. “Tha--shit, uh, you… honored me… by letting me borrow your cloak.”

Etho snorts but lets the mistake B nearly made pass without mention. There are more important matters at hand. “You can keep the cloak,” he insists.

B pauses. “What?”

“You can keep it, I don't actually need it, and it's still cold out. Really, you should keep warm on your way home. Keep it.”

B's huge eyes only get bigger. “I couldn't possibly keep your cloak! It's so nice!”

“B, don't worry. I have others, anyway. It would make me very happy if you would keep the cloak. It suits you.” It does, too. It looked too long while B was curled up in it, but now that he's standing, it comes just down to his ankles. The fabric makes him look soft and warm, the opposite of the man Etho met sitting on the other side of the pond just a few hours ago.

B doesn't look convinced, but he seems reluctant to argue with an insistent fae. “Well, if you're sure. Okay. You honor me, E.”

A dangerous idea occurs to Etho. “Well, if you still want to get rid of it, you can always come to meet me again sometime. You should go, B. Even the longest night of the year won't last forever.”

B hesitates for a moment before nodding roughly. “Yeah, you're right. Goodnight, E.”

And then he's gone.

In moments, the pool in front of Etho is glowing with soft blue light again. It's too bad that it's too late now to finish his book, now that B is gone--wait.

Etho hides an unprincely groan in his hands. His book.

He left his book in the inside pocket of his cloak. The cloak he just gave away to some random human.

He sighs and picks himself off the frozen ground. Unconsciously, his hand drifts to the warm wood of the snowflake against his chest. Well, it wouldn't be so bad to see B again, to get his book back. No other reason.