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so here’s what happens: alex thomas the fourth, after much preparation, holds a coronation according to the script they’ve written in their head, in the shower and after homework at midnight and when they can’t sleep. it’s as much a part of them as their skin. truthfully, the whole thing is their mother’s, and maybe that’s why it feels like a physical part of them. maybe if they looked hard enough, they’d find where it grows from.
maybe in their lungs? maybe in their bones?
family is important to alex. they never miss a birthday, or a wedding, and if they can’t be there they always send a card with a handwritten message. that’s what their family brought over from england: don’t go into the woods. beware the fair folk. above all, honor and love your family lest the worst comes to pass.
(by the time they realize that one, they have no way to access the sending tree, and two, juniper absolutely is not allowed to count as family, there’s already a card with a message on their desk. they don’t have the heart to throw it away.)
this whole scheme, these internships that leave them exhausted, that grand speech, all the research that has led to this coronation, is a way to honor their family. it’s for alice. it’s for her son. it’s for his son, and his son, and his daughter that is their mother. it’s not for them. it’s not about them at all. it’s the most important thing in the world.
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so here’s what happens: sorrel looks at wisteria. wisteria looks at sorrel. they have nothing to say to one another.
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so here’s what happens: juniper apologizes to kestrel as a knee-jerk reaction, and kestrel’s hugging him before he’s even registered that she’s run clear across the room, and he can’t help but admire whatever sort of bizarre mettle that the woman’s made of.
kestrel is young, as in it’s practically as much an oddity that she’s sorrel’s right hand as it was that queen iris was human, as in she’s never known a Faery with peace, as in all her life the courts have been bitterly divided. as in, it makes no sense that she’d up and hug juniper foxglove without a second thought. and that’s the thing: maybe there’s hope for the fae courts, yet.
kestrel is, in fact, a lot of things. he already knew that she’s a people-pleaser, and a sage, and full of nervous energy. within the span of their first conversation, they also learn that she loves his scarf, and she wishes she could learn the constellations, and she’s thought about it, really mulled it over, and has concluded that there’s logically nothing to be gained from their courts’ rivalry. thank the heavens above that she’s smarter than an entire rivalry. she’s as quick-witted as they come, maybe quicker, and in a moment juniper understands exactly why sorrel picked her as their second.
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so here’s what happens: sorrel looks at wisteria. wisteria looks at sorrel. something passes between them like regret, remembering all those equinoxes where they’d spend every moment together because they were cursed to be born in courts apart.
the moment passes, and then they remember that, more than they despise each other for being foxglove and sage, they despise each other personally .
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so here’s what happens: alex is young and full of fire and has something to prove. kestrel is young and full of fire and has something to prove. two roads diverge in less a yellow wood, and more a fucking wasteland.
alex has their ideas on how the world works, and they have a plan, so they do it. they’re sure that if the fae were any more observant they’d see it all bleeding out of them. christ, half the time it felt it was bursting out their skin. what a relief that they’ve revealed themself from hiding, because it is nothing short of hell to not speak their mind.
kestrel knows what her ideas should be on how the world works, but she harbors her own private doubts against sorrel’s hatred of wisteria, and against the way her whole court expresses their values. she cares about what they think, though, so she digs a little hole and buries all of it, never to be seen again. maybe if she looked hard enough, she’d find where it all went.
maybe in her lungs? maybe in her bones?
what’s important is that sorrel did her the honor of making her their assistant, and gave her a circlet to celebrate. what’s important is that juniper compliments her bird-patterned scarf and tells her that she’s been a joy to correspond with. what’s important is that she does not dishonor- well, does not dishonor anyone.
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so here’s what happens: juniper guides wisteria with a light touch through the navigation of its desire to scream what it feels in front of sorrel, or alex, or dozens of mortals. later, she thanks them for that; now that the moment has passed, they can see why such a response would have been inappropriate.
wisteria nods in the right places and offers support, later as well, when juniper paces the room with heavy footsteps and explains exactly why things aren’t fair and how they feel about the state of it all. he apologizes to her and she says, do not apologize, emotions have their own place in the soul. juniper says that they suppose it’s right.
they make a good team. they balance one another out. that’s how you run a court without a queen.
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so here’s what happens: sorrel doesn’t quite understand the whole trend of circlets, but they like theirs well enough. kestrel’s young. she’d probably like this new trend.
sorrel knows that assisting a high-profile fae such as themself comes with a great deal of stress, and that is why they screened each potential candidate thoroughly and thought long and hard about how they would handle the position. of course kestrel passed the thought experiment with flying colors, because she is an up-and-coming prodigy with a bright future. to be entirely honest, however, and just a touch sentimental, kestrel was the obvious choice because she is the most like a young sorrel sage.
sorrel is old enough, wise enough, to admit that they are a better person than they were at kestrel’s age by far. sorrel also knows that they could not have changed on their own, and, well, iris is dead, so kestrel needs some sort of guiding hand. of course, sorrel could never measure up to iris, but, then, if they don’t try, who will it be?
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so here’s what happens: crabapple introduces wisteria to instagram and she takes to it like a bee to pollen. sharing images over this ‘inter net’ to the whole world is something magical, wisteria is convinced, and it’s the first time she’s been so full of wonder over the human world since, well, iris. in fact, the way crabapple tilts their head when they’re concentrating- no, it must be imaginary.
(wisteria half-wishes sorrel were here.)
later that day, when alex shows sorrel the app, they wonder why they bother doing something just because they think their bosses would get a kick out of it. must be to earn their trust. that’s it.