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fandomweekly2025-11-22 11:24 am
crabkick) wrote in fandomweekly2025-11-22 11:24 am
[#006 - AMNESTY] A Man In the Garden (Original)
Theme Prompt: #006 - Unexpected Company (Amnesty 28).
Title: A Man In the Garden.
Fandom: Original.
Rating/Warnings: PG/Gen/None.
Word Count: 541.
Summary: Helike is the demigod of victory, daughter of Ynpharia, goddess of vengeance and justice. They are much protected and have spent their entire life in their mother's garden, shielded from the eyes of men—until now.
The god of fire is an interloper. He goes where he wills, whether he is wanted or not.
Helike sits deep within their mother’s gardens, meditating. The tall, pale shapes of ruined, ivy-choked pillars waver and fracture in the black pond before them, shining gentle with the light of the moon. The breeze is a soft sigh, the night as untroubled as the clouds that filter over the stars. The peace here, the security they have known in their growing years is a blessing, one their goddess mother has fought hard and bled much for. They are grateful.
The gratitude does not make it feel any less like an ever-shrinking cage.
Helike watches through half-lidded eyes as a lynx wanders through the pillars. It stops, and pricks its ears. Its eyes are strange. They seem to flicker like coals, to meet their gaze through the mirror the water provides.
Helike blinks.
There is a man leaning against a pillar where the lynx once stood.
Helike is on their feet in seconds, the cruel length of their spatha flashing in their hand as they draw it. The man smiles. It is not a kind smile.
“At ease, Princess. I have not come to pluck the rose, as it were.”
Helike sneers. “Fortunate—for a rose’s thorns are wicked, and wont to make an errant hand bleed.”
The man chuckles. “Spoken like a true daughter of Ynpharia.”
Helike’s heart beats quick in their chest as he approaches at an easy pace. How did he get in? Has he disabled the guards? This has never happened before; Ynpharia’s gardens are as secret and safe as a womb.
The man draws close enough to run a finger along the flat side of their spatha, insouciant, unconcerned with its edge.
“Who are you?” Helike demands.
“Who do you think I am?” the man returns, quirking a dark brow. Helike glances him up and down. Sizes him up. Tan of skin, with red eyes like embers—he who walks where he wills and enters the forbidden places of the world at his whim. The man of many cloaks. The traveler. The trickster.
The man’s smile changes in quality as they realize, though Helike is not quite certain what this new emotion shining through is meant to be. Pride? Indulgence?
Perhaps it is only derision.
“Good,” he says. “Very good. But fret not—I have not come to make trouble. I only thought to see the much-shielded princess for myself.”
“You have seen them,” Helike bites out. “Now leave.”
“As you wish. But first, I would like to impart upon you a coming-of-age gift, for I have no doubt that I will be barred from the ceremony tomorrow.” Paveros dips his hand into his pocket and withdraws something small and glittering that he tosses to Helike. Helike snatches it out of the air and thumbs over it, unwilling to take their eyes off of him for even a moment.
“A coin,” they say flatly. Paveros grins.
“It’s lucky, you know.” He bows at the waist. “It was good to meet you, little Helike. Give my regards to your mother.”
In a flash, he changes into a swallow, a slip of color in the night, and flits away.
Title: A Man In the Garden.
Fandom: Original.
Rating/Warnings: PG/Gen/None.
Word Count: 541.
Summary: Helike is the demigod of victory, daughter of Ynpharia, goddess of vengeance and justice. They are much protected and have spent their entire life in their mother's garden, shielded from the eyes of men—until now.
The god of fire is an interloper. He goes where he wills, whether he is wanted or not.
Helike sits deep within their mother’s gardens, meditating. The tall, pale shapes of ruined, ivy-choked pillars waver and fracture in the black pond before them, shining gentle with the light of the moon. The breeze is a soft sigh, the night as untroubled as the clouds that filter over the stars. The peace here, the security they have known in their growing years is a blessing, one their goddess mother has fought hard and bled much for. They are grateful.
The gratitude does not make it feel any less like an ever-shrinking cage.
Helike watches through half-lidded eyes as a lynx wanders through the pillars. It stops, and pricks its ears. Its eyes are strange. They seem to flicker like coals, to meet their gaze through the mirror the water provides.
Helike blinks.
There is a man leaning against a pillar where the lynx once stood.
Helike is on their feet in seconds, the cruel length of their spatha flashing in their hand as they draw it. The man smiles. It is not a kind smile.
“At ease, Princess. I have not come to pluck the rose, as it were.”
Helike sneers. “Fortunate—for a rose’s thorns are wicked, and wont to make an errant hand bleed.”
The man chuckles. “Spoken like a true daughter of Ynpharia.”
Helike’s heart beats quick in their chest as he approaches at an easy pace. How did he get in? Has he disabled the guards? This has never happened before; Ynpharia’s gardens are as secret and safe as a womb.
The man draws close enough to run a finger along the flat side of their spatha, insouciant, unconcerned with its edge.
“Who are you?” Helike demands.
“Who do you think I am?” the man returns, quirking a dark brow. Helike glances him up and down. Sizes him up. Tan of skin, with red eyes like embers—he who walks where he wills and enters the forbidden places of the world at his whim. The man of many cloaks. The traveler. The trickster.
The man’s smile changes in quality as they realize, though Helike is not quite certain what this new emotion shining through is meant to be. Pride? Indulgence?
Perhaps it is only derision.
“Good,” he says. “Very good. But fret not—I have not come to make trouble. I only thought to see the much-shielded princess for myself.”
“You have seen them,” Helike bites out. “Now leave.”
“As you wish. But first, I would like to impart upon you a coming-of-age gift, for I have no doubt that I will be barred from the ceremony tomorrow.” Paveros dips his hand into his pocket and withdraws something small and glittering that he tosses to Helike. Helike snatches it out of the air and thumbs over it, unwilling to take their eyes off of him for even a moment.
“A coin,” they say flatly. Paveros grins.
“It’s lucky, you know.” He bows at the waist. “It was good to meet you, little Helike. Give my regards to your mother.”
In a flash, he changes into a swallow, a slip of color in the night, and flits away.