#moreso i wish there were more resources i knew i could trust when hearing about the horrors going on

[aro-as-in-straight-as-a]

...

[whitherliliesbloom]

The joyous cries of the fae could be heard throughout the Kingdom of Rainbows, as the people tossed popfires and glittering streamers across the sky.

“Hail to the new Queen of Il Mheg!” 

Plentiful offerings had been given to the newly crowned fae that day, gifts of all kinds from both friends and new subjects that sat untouched in the middle of the empty throne room. 

And in the dark of the new Titania’s private chambers, crumpled on the floor, the queen clutched onto the brooch bearing the last king’s insignia and wept by her bedside alone. 

[[ Backstory for Illya, the kingdom of the fae and a bit of lore regarding previous Titanias and Urianger for the fae au! Tagging all the peeps who are involved in the fae au or at least have participated in it once: @ofthesilverlining​, @yumeaino​, @maiden-born-in-snow​, @mintdrop​, @wysteria-ffxiv​,@windupnamazu​, @firstblesssed​, @astralyehga​ ]]

“Am I right to assume that you’ve kept by the queen’s side for long now?” with a clumsy flutter of his glowing blue wings, Alphinaud clutched the stack of books he had graciously offered to sort, flew up and begun sliding them into the gaps in the top row of shelves, spine side out as requested. 

He wasn’t given an answer right away, and he casts a glance backwards towards the elder man, who stood in front of his desk with his arms crossed over his chest. The firefly that buzzed within the confines of the glass lamp did little to light up the room, barely illuminating a circle around the man as he frowned down at the scattered documents on the table. 

When Urianger finally snaps out of his train of thought, he lifts his head to look at Alphinaud, now returned to make another round of gathering up the books that had laid abandoned on the floor and returning them to the shelf they belonged.

“Indeed I have. Moreso, I have served as the advisor for the past many Titanias of Il Mheg.” 

Fae certainly live a long time, but for Urianger to even live long enough to see the coming and going of several generations of rulers, Alphinaud would guess that he is way beyond several times his own age. 

Though Alphinaud has not served for very long for the fae, he has thrown questions about enough to learn a great deal more than he had when he first set foot within the kingdom. 

‘Titania’ is in fact, not the name of the queen, but a title given to the monarch of the fae, whether it be king or queen. The words of Titania hold with absolute authority, and with that authority came an equal status of power to match.  Though time is but a mere concept to the fae, he has been made aware that the Titania of the current is decades younger than those that came before her. For what reason however, he has yet to uncover. 

His knowledge on fae culture, and by extension potential leads regarding the cursed ailment that haunted his kind were gathered by his own merit - a combination of relentless questions directed to the fae, private readings into the scrolls the fae owned, and also a great deal of intuition on his part. His knowledge on the queen however, is limited.. and what little he knows of her has been information so graciously supplied by her very own advisor. 

It would be a lie to say he isn’t even a bit curious about Titania, the faerie he only ever sees fleetingly during respites between both their busy schedules. Titania held a grace and air to her that was befitting of queen, and yet at the very same, her demeanor was not so much different from the fae around her. 

In fact, she was perhaps a tad too gentle. Soft was her voice that she could not even bear to yell when the fuath had flooded the flower beds near Longmirror Lake once again. He saw the way she bit the insides of her cheeks as she overheard the words of a pixie who spoke ill of her efforts to restore the nectarine supplies within the kingdom, and the tragically sad smile she gave him when she caught his gaze trained on her. 

It made him wonder what drove her.. made him wonder what circumstances she’s had to endure prior to his arrival. 

He wondered if he could possibly have the audacity to learn more about her - the girl beneath the shine of her crown and the fluttering of her gown. 

“Then.. Would it be out of line for me to inquire more about Her Majesty?” 

Alphinaud’s words pierce through the silence, and causes Urianger to pause in his moments. His eyes narrow and his gaze slowly trails towards the mortal. And though Urianger had made it a point to sharpen his glare, he could tell by the unflinching stare back from Alphinaud, that the young man had no intentions of taking back his words.. nor did he seem at all unsure about what he was asking for.

“You wish to know about Titania.”

“That I do.. If I may, at least.. I wish to know all about her, and perhaps even what came before her.”

“Pray, why the sudden interest in our history?”

Alphinaud’s chapped lips curl into something of a sheepish smile.

“Is that not what I am here for? To learn? T’would be a waste of her majesty’s blessing if I don’t learn as much as much as I can about the fae.”

With a slump of his shoulders, Uriangers sighs and shakes his head. The curiosity and stubbornness of mortals have always been one of their worst qualities.. And yet, it was through those very qualities that he knew, that he has seen Alphinaud’s sincerity towards their cause.. and the queen. 

How long has it been since he has seen the queen’s eyes glitter as brightly as they do when she lays eyes upon this boy? Or the pride that he senses welling in her bosom when she hears of praises about his kind deeds throughout the kingdom? Even a man, as old as he would not seek to stop the flowers of youth blossoming when he sees one.

Urianger reaches to grab the lamp that sat on the table, and saunters towards the back of the room, where a worn, old flag of the Rainbow Kingdom hung proudly. 

“Thy kind is truly fortunate that the age of our old traditions are far behind us..”

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The fae kingdom was truly beautiful in all its splendor. From the deepest parts of their oceans, to the highest top of their mountain, did the land of the fae prosper in all its glory. All of fae folk lived in harmony, in no small part thanks to Titania, and the Royal Guards who served under them.

And yet, beneath the beauty of the land came a hidden secret.

Their soil was dyed red with the blood of mortals. Mortals who would dare trespass the land of the fae, for whatever reason it may be. They were all to be brought before the king or queen of the fae and executed without delay, and their bodies are to be used as a reminder of the gruesome fate that awaited those who would dare thread upon land that was not theirs.

For many years, did the fae live in isolation, but peace under this undisputable law. 

Urianger has seen many mortals fall before his eyes - head cut from their necks and their remains to be thrown and forgotten.. and he has seen many others more under the care of his shadow. 

He could not count the number of Titanias he has attempted to convince to abolish this law.. for how could he sit idly by while the lives of potentially innocent mortals were lost to ignorance or perhaps even accident? And when yet another king or queen is crowned who is far too stubborn in their ways to change tradition, he would go behind their backs, hiding the mortals away and helping them escape. 

He isn’t always successful, and the lives of those he could not afford to save always did weight heavy on his mind, and served to deepen the creases that would form into his skin as wrinkles of age. 

There would be no such need for such betrayal, such secrets if Titania were one of reason, if he had more power than a mere advisor, who in reality, truly had no real power.

That is.. until the son of King Everard - Lachlan. The next in line out of many kings Urianger would have to serve.. one he was prepared to have to betray the trust of yet again.

To his surprise, and the shock of the entirety of the kingdom however, upon being crowned the new Titania, Lachlan’s very first act was one that broke the long established rule upon the land - the execution of any mortals who came to Il Mheg. 

Under his new rule, all mortals are to be welcome with opened arms. with no exceptions, no trial and no borders. 

To this day, Urianger knew not the reason for Lachlan’s open mindedness towards the mortals.. what he did know however, was the chaos that befell the kingdom following the order of his law. 

A swarm of mortals that immediately came into the kingdom for a myriad of reasons.. Some had nothing but the purest of intentions - children and the innocent who merely wished to learn about the kingdom and people who has kept themselves in isolate for so long. Some wished to open trade with the fae, some wished to study the fae... and a good majority of the others merely wanted to plunder. 

And plunder they did- from the sap of their trees, the water from their lakes, the crystals from their mountains and even the very roofs above their homes. Wherever the humans went, came the desecration of their once beautiful home, left with nothing but rot and emptiness that the fae were left to handle on their own. 

Lachlan’s law had certainly brought about change to the kingdom, one that his subjects all felt, agreed were for the worse. 

By the time his wife, the queen Cocona had thought to bring upon the ban of mortals once more, the damage had already been done beyond repair. Millennia of prosperity and peace had been swiftly undone in less than a single decade. 

With their land polluted, resources depleted, and their faith in the rulers of the kingdom drained, the fae folk did bid in whispered breath for Titania to be dismissed.  

How could they place their trust in the one who had allowed their home to be destroyed so swiftly by outsiders? How could they bear to serve and smile upon the one who had been the direct cause of their suffering? 

Under traditions, Titania would still have many years remaining to sit upon the throne. 

Sensing however, that goodwill and morale had been utterly lost on him, for the first time in the history of the land of the fae, did King Titania willingly give up the crown early and placed it upon his only daughter, before leaving the kingdom with his wife to never return again. 

Many rejoiced upon the King’s leave, praising the new queen who had sworn to serve the remaining years of her service and what her birth guardians had owed to restore the kingdom to its former glory. 

The new Titania’s coronation should have been one filled with great joy and celebration. 

Few in the kingdom truly saw the deep sorrow the queen felt, however.. a relatively youthful fae thrust upon the throne several decades too early, made responsible for the restoration of the kingdom that her father had been said to destroy.. and above all else, the disappearance of her parents, who had left naught for her but a singular brooch behind for her to remember them by. 

That such a huge burden would be placed upon a singular fae was too much. Urianger knew this, and had thus begun taking a far more involved role than he has in generations in ensuring the queen’s welfare. 

He would deliver her her meals when she forgets to have them, write her missives that she could not handle on her own, teach her many, many subjects that a fae of her age wouldn’t usually already know. 

And he’d quietly listen to her sobs from behind closed doors, wondering if he had perhaps been a better advisor to her father, that he would not have deprived a girl of her youth so cruelly. 

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“.....For her to bear such burdens alone...” The scowl Alphinaud wore upon his expression was all Urianger needed to see before nodding in agreement.

“And I admit to bearing a part of the blame for her majesty’s plight.. The problems the kingdom faces, even those that were not of her doing, are now placed squarely upon her majesty’s shoulders..”

“Then I would share part of that burden.”  

The elder man is taken aback by the swiftness of Alphinaud’s words, nor did he expect the determined clenching of the boy’s fists.

“You know not what it is you claim. Your lifespan is but a fraction of fae folk.”

“That may be so.. But I can still help her.” His wings carry him towards the door, assured in their movements now than ever before. “For as long as I still have her blessing, I am a fae.. I have every right, and every wish to lighten the burden of my queen.”

The door to Urianger’s cottage opens, letting a flood of moonlight envelope Alphinaud’s form. His wings are glowing brighter than ever, and just before the young man thinks to fully leave, he casts a final glance back towards Urianger.

“If I may trouble you yet another question... What is her name? Her true name.”

It takes a few long moments of silence for Urianger to finally bow his head, lips twitched upwards into a small, barely visible smile.

“The name of Titania, one that has not been spoken to her for years.. is Illya.”