Chapter Text
Buddy Aurinko took none of anyone's shit. She was a self made woman who rose up from nothing and built a successful business trading and occasionally pirating around. Her cargo ships were the sturdiest and fastest in the kingdom, and you couldn't get a job on one if you weren't also a skilled fighter, and possessed quick wits. Everyone knew it was her behind the pillaging of merchant ships, and yet no one said anything because Buddy Aurinko was, among other things, a charitable woman, who donated more money to orphanages than all the aristocrats in the kingdom combined.
Her travels brought her in all sorts of faraway places, and she liked to think of herself as a citizen of the world.
The woods she was currently travelling in, however, had nothing familiar about them, and it didn't take long for her to realise she was completely lost. A flash of lightning illuminated the forest just long enough for her to glimpse a broken fence.
She had no idea how long the sky would hold, so she steeled herself and walked towards the fence to seek shelter from the oncoming rain.
Behind it stood a huge castle, that looked like it had seen better days. Vines crept on the cracked walls, hiding the stones behind it. But what really caught her attention was the garden.
The place was completely abandoned, no sign of anyone ever tending to it. Except for the garden. Beautiful flowers bloomed in neat rows, perfectly circular flowerbeds adorned the space in a symmetrical disposition, and at the centre of it all stood the biggest wisteria tree Buddy had ever seen. Its scent enveloped her, making her feel slightly dizzy. Right next to it, a rose plant, stretching her luscious flowers towards the night sky. Buddy leaned in to take in their smell. She was already trespassing, what could happen if she took a single flower? She plucked the rose, careful not to prick herself.
Not even a second later, a growl could be heard from the shadows. A figure emerged: shorter than Buddy, hunched over, and yet emanating a terrifying feral energy. When she emerged from the darkness, Buddy could see a lizard creature with a dark expression on its face and a knife drawn.
Buddy's hand went to her belt, where she kept her trusty dagger (you don't go as far as Buddy has gone in life without a few precautions), when the lizard stopped. It emitted a sound that sounded eerily like someone stuttering, and then a voice. Croaky, like it hadn't been used in years, but it still made Buddy shiver. "W-what- uh what'd you think you're doing with that rose?"
Buddy blinked. "I'm sorry, I had no idea people lived here."
"Well, they do. I do. W-whatever, just get out of here!"
If Buddy didn't know any better, she could have sworn she saw the hint of a blush spreading across the lizard's cheeks. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't at least try to repay you for what I did?"
The lizard swallowed, then remembered it- she was supposed to be intimidating the intruder. "You can repay me by leaving my castle right now."
Buddy set her foot down. "I refuse. Besides," a crack of thunder echoed in the air as she was speaking, "there's a storm coming on, and I don't think you're the kind of person who would leave someone in the pouring rain." Buddy didn't know why she said 'person', it just felt right. She only questioned her decision when she swore she could see tears welling up in the lizard's eyes.
"I- uh-" She groaned. "Fine. But you can't just stay in my castle and do nothing." She emitted a weird ticking noise that sounded a lot like 'tktktktktk'.
"Good. What do you want me to do?"
"..." She was clearly racking his brains. "Cooking. Cleaning. Maybe keeping me company. Not that I need it, I'm just searching for things you can do."
"Of course." Buddy's voice softened. "So, let's say a week?"
"What?"
"Well, I can't just stay here one night and call it a day. I have to make up for the rose somehow."
The lizard huffed. "Fine. Only one week."
The castle was huge, cold, dark and old. Drafts came from every corner, the floor was covered by a layer of dust and all the mirrors were shattered. It looked like Buddy had a lot to do."
"Are you hungry?" The lizard asked abruptly, with the tone of someone talking to an annoying person.
"I suppose I am. Do you want me to make you dinner?"
"What? No! You just arrived, why would I-" She hissed. "I'll take care of it. And I'll show you your room."
"Thank you." Buddy stretched out her hand. "Buddy Aurinko."
The lizard glanced at Buddy's manicured hand like it was going to burn her. Hesitantly, she shook it. "Vespa. Vespa Ilkay."
~~
They settled into a comfortable routine: every day Buddy would wake up, get ready, wake up Vespa (and deal with her sleepy growls), make breakfast and lunch for her, assist her while she tended to her garden and then relax in front of the fireplace, where they would read aloud to each other and chat the night away.
The morning of the seventh day, Vespa flat out refused to leave her bed. She barely touched her bowl of fruit and locked herself up in her room until late at night, when Buddy was supposed to leave.
"... Goodbye, I guess." She spat out, staring intensely at the floor.
Buddy glanced at the open door, then looked at Vespa. "You know, I think I could stay one more week. Seems only fair."
Vespa's eyes lit up and she incredulously looked at Buddy. "... Fine, I-I guess. I need some help pruning the wisteria tomorrow anyway. Tktktktktk."
Buddy didn't even wait for the day in which she was supposed to leave. The night before her departure, she shut the book she was reading and said: "Maybe another week is in order."
About a month in this dynamic, Buddy was carrying a few extra blankets to her bed, when Vespa stopped her. "What are you doing?"
"It's awfully cold in my room, darling. I was hoping these wool blankets would do the trick."
Vespa awkwardly shifted her weight, mumbling something indecipherable.
"What was that?"
She repeated herself in the exact same tone.
"I didn't get it, darling, can you please-"
"Isaidyoucansleepinmybedifyouwant!" She blurted out, staring at the floor with flushed cheeks. "My room is warmer than yours and the body heat- I mean- Tktktktktk."
Buddy smiled. Apparently Vespa had no idea she made that noise, and that made it all the more endearing. "Sounds good."
It was more than good. Vespa was weirdly eager to go to sleep that night and immediately buried herself under the covers, turning her back on Buddy. Buddy slipped under the blanket as well, and when their bodies came into contact, both of them shivered. Vespa turned around to face Buddy, and her breath accelerated. They stared longingly at each other, until Vespa cleared her throat, muttered 'goodnight' and shut her eyes.
Buddy smiled again and closed her eyes as well, slowly slipping into unconsciousness.
When she woke up the following day, to the sight of Vespa sprawled next to her, snoring lightly with a frown on her face, she came to a groundbreaking realisation. She was in love.
Buddy's room was left to gather dust from that day forward.
~~
"How did you end up like this?"
Vespa's hands stuttered to a halt, the weeds she had just eradicated from her flowerbed still clutched in her fingers.
"If I can ask, of course."
"You can. I snapped at the wrong person. A witch with an insufferable laugh and violet eyes. I was a princess, you know? Before he cursed me. Hand me the shovel."
A princess. Buddy had to process the news for a few seconds before she could give Vespa what she asked. "Didn't your parents search for a solution?"
Vespa remained quiet.
"They sent you away, didn't they?"
Vespa nodded, ripping another weed with far too much force than necessary. "My family banished me to our abandoned summer estate. Couldn't even look me in the eyes."
Silence. A soft sniffle.
"Darling, if they really did that, they don't deserve to be called your family."
"They're the only one I've got."
Buddy grabbed Vespa's hands in hers and smiled at her. "Not anymore."
~~
Vespa would hardly ever get visitors. Buddy had been the first human she had encountered in years. So, when she heard a desperate knock at the door, her hand immediately darted to her knife.
"I suspect you're not expecting visitors, darling."
Vespa shook her head. "Stay here, I'm gonna check who it is."
"And risk you stabbing a salesman? Or worse getting stabbed?" Buddy shook her head, putting away her book and standing up. "We're going together."
Behind the door stood an old acquaintance of Buddy's. "M'tendere? How did you find me?"
M'tendere eyes darted from Buddy to Vespa, back and forth. "I asked around. Listen, Jet needs your help."
Buddy froze. Last time they parted, Jet and M'tendere weren't in good terms. If they bothered to search for her and tell her that themself, something really bad must have happened. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know. I can't reach him. Last I heard from him, Jack Silen had been trying to break into his house."
Jack Silen was Buddy's rival. She had robbed him blind one too many times and he had sworn revenge years earlier. She had almost forgotten about that threat, until that day.
"Word on the street is someone ambushed him and managed to break his arm. I tried to get to his house, but-"
They trailed off and Buddy understood. They weren't welcome in their village anymore. "I know. I'll go look for him."
"Thank you." M'tendere glanced at Vespa one last time, opened their mouth to say something, then promptly shut it, waved and after a "be careful", left.
Vespa looked at Buddy and the million questions floating around her head were visible in the confusion in her eyes.
"I have to go, Vespa. Jet is my oldest friend, if anything happened to him, I-"
"I understand. Go." There was a hint of fear in Vespa's eyes, and Buddy knew exactly why. She held Vespa's hand in hers, firmly.
"I will be back. I promise on my honor."
Vespa hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. But take this." She opened a drawer and fished out two magnificent golden rings, one with a green gem, the other with a red one. "They will turn black if one of us is in danger." She slipped the ring on Buddy's finger, realising too late that it was her ring finger. "Now go. Tktktktk."
Buddy walked out the castle and turned around just in time to see a distraught Vespa turning away and shutting the door.
Buddy spent the whole trip to the village envisioning worst case scenarios: at every flash of Jet's face contorted in pain, a different face popped up in her head. Green, scaly, looking at her with scared eyes and a silent pleading. Don't leave.
Buddy decided right there and then that as soon as she got back, she would ask Vespa to marry her. But for the time being, Jet needed her help.
The house looks worse for wear, with a broken window and the blinds shut. Through them, however, streamed some light, which was enough to tell Buddy that Jet was home. She unsheathed her dagger and knocked at the door with its hilt.
Some shuffling could be heard from behind the door, and Buddy knew from experience that Jet was looking out the peephole, hand over a crossbow strategically placed.
"It's me."
The door swung open. Jet's arm was hanging from a sling, he had a split lip and a black eye, but looked otherwise perfectly calm. "Buddy. Something the matter?"
"M'tendere contacted me. They said they couldn't reach you, that Silen attacked you."
Jet blinked. "He has, but it was days ago. I've been shut in my house ever since. I wanted to contact you, but I can't set a foot out the door without an arrow warning me to stay inside."
Buddy's brain gears whirred away, as she tried to make sense of the situation. "But why wouldn't they attack me? Did they want me here for some reason?"
Jet frowned and pointed at her finger. "Is it supposed to do that?"
Buddy's heart sank underground, and even before her eyes set on the ring, she knew its stone had turned pitch black. Everything clicked into place. "They wanted me away from the castle. Vespa... She's in danger."
She turned around to leave, when Jet's hand shot forward and grabbed her wrist. "Wait. You don't have to tell me who is Vespa, that is none of my business. But don't think that I won't come with you and help."
Buddy knew Jet enough to know that his furrowed brows meant he was not going to back down or give up. And God knew she probably needed all the help she could get to help Vespa.
The horse ride was tense and Buddy's mind ran through every worse case scenario, each even more catastrophic than the previous one. Her worst suspicions were confirmed when she saw the door bust open and heard voices from inside. She and Jet hopped off their horses and bared their weapons, storming inside.
All in all, there weren't that many people to deal with. Probably a dozen. They both had found themselves in worse scraps than this, oftentimes together. So they nodded at each other and started fighting.
They had been going at it for five minutes, only three assailants left, when a loud growl echoed down the staircase and across the hall. Buddy nearly dropped her dagger. Her eyes flickered from upstairs to Jet, who was clashing his sword against another's. "Go to her, I can handle it!"
Buddy hesitated for a couple of seconds, then nodded and darted up the stairs she had come to know so well. She didn't know how, but she knew Vespa was in her room, so she wasted no time in rushing there, kicking the door open. She arrived just in time to see Jack Silen plunging a knife in Vespa's chest and shoving her down the window.
Time slowed down as Buddy reached a hand towards Vespa. The two locked eyes, and she could swear there were tears in the lizard's cheeks as she grabbed Silen by the shirt and dragged him down with her.
Buddy didn't waste a single second on searching for a rope or making one; she ripped her skirt for mobility and rushed to the window, climbing down to the balcony where Vespa lied dying. Buddy tuned out the agonising screams of Jack, impaled on the spiked fence surrounding the castle. She tore another bit of skirt and attempted to bandage her wound. Vespa's shaky hand rose to gently bat away Buddy's.
"I studied medicine..." She croaked out. "There's no hope for me."
"Don't say that." Buddy shook her head, pressing against the wound to stop the blood flow. "You're gonna live."
Vespa laughed, and then winced in pain. "It's alright. It's what I deserve. You're free, now."
They were both crying, tears streaming down Buddy's cheeks. "No. No, hold on, you will be fine, you can't die. Not now that we found each other, Vespa, please."
Vespa's eyes turned glassy, and her breathing was barely perceptible. Buddy leaned down and kissed her lips for the first - and probably last - time.
Once she parted, white light surrounded Vespa's body. It blinded Buddy, who was forced to shut her eyes. When she opened them, she saw Vespa in her arms, unarmed and human. Buddy stared at her incredulous, then laughed while sobbing and pressed a bloody hand on Vespa's cheek.
"Hey, Bud..." Vespa said softly, and Buddy kissed her until they both forgot their own name.
~~
Once Vespa returned triumphant to her castle, with her new partner at her side, it didn't take long for her family to give up the throne and make her queen. Their wedding was the talk of the town, and through all the land were organised feasts open to every citizen, no matter their status.
No one could think of a more prosperous time in the kingdom than under the reign of Buddy and Vespa, in no small part thanks to their counselor, the wise Jet Sikuliaq.
"Darling?" Buddy called out from her desk, as Vespa was cleaning her knife. "Do you know of a certain king Nureyev?"
Vespa frowned. "Doesn't ring a bell. Why?"
"He and his wife invited us to his country, said we would find the story of how he met him oddly familiar."
Vespa grumbled. "Do we have to do this? We're fine where we are, we don't need more diplomatic missions. Tktktktktk."
Buddy smiled and stood up to kiss her wife. "Do it for me."
Vespa's frown softened. "Fine. But only because it's you. What's the wife's name, anyway?"
"Queen Juno Steel."