Work Text:
"Hello, darugha"
No matter how long they had lived together, that voice out of nowhere never failed to give him a start, no longer out of fear, but his heart still raced. He spun round to meet the golden eyes of the man responsible, trying not to let his expression waver.
"One day you are going to give me a heart attack, and then you will regret this habit"
"But for now you are healthy, so I shall indulge" he whispered in his ear, breath ghosting over his cheek as cold, slender hands rested on his waist "Come with me"
"Where?"
"You'll see" he said as he turned to walk away, expecting him to follow.
For a moment he contemplated not following until he knew where they were headed, but quickly decided against that, and hurried after him. He trusted his magician after all. Mostly.
As they got closer, he recognised the areas they were walking through and realised they were headed to his workshop.
It wasn't long before they reached it, and the magician ushered him inside and to a table covered in small cogs and pieces, with a wooden box sat in the centre.
"You were interested in how my creations work, so I thought we could assemble a simple one together."
The darugha smiled at him. "I would enjoy that"
For the next few hours they worked closely side by side, as the magician spoke to him of springs, tightly coiled in their housings and wound by a key, cams and followers converting the rotation into linear motions, barrels moving bellows, or plucking metal combs to pick out a tune - another section of their symphony - and the cogs that linked every part together.
When the mechanism was finished, they carefully installed it into the box, Darugha putting the lid on and careful to line up the holes drilled into it with the six rods protruding upwards from the mechanism. The magician disappeared off to another area of the workshop for a moment, before returning with a strange shape hidden under a cloth. Carefully, he positioned it over the rods, peeking underneath to connect them, but not letting the darugha see, until he declared it finished. He instructed him to wind the key, before removing the cloth with a flourish as the shapes began to move.
Before the melody from the symphony played, the bellows fulfilled their purpose and the sounds of two birds filled the workshop, one hooting, one cawing, and the removal of the cloth revealed two beautifully lifelike birds, an owl and a crow, moving their heads and fluttering as if they were alive.
"This is incredible!" he praised, as the magician once again came to stand behind him, slim arms encircling his waist and a bony chin resting on his shoulder
"Thank you, my dear darugha. I chose birds for us, the owl is you"
"Oh?"
"Mmhmm, quiet, majestic, and wise."
"You flatter me~" he couldn't help but smile at that description, pressing a kiss to a veiled cheek "And that makes you the crow?"
"It does, an omen of death" he hummed back.
"You sing far nicer than a crow. I think of all the birds, you would be a nightingale."
The magician didn't reply, just pressed his face into the darugha's neck.
The owl and crow took pride of place in the darugha's office, next to the first bird he was gifted. And if, a few days later, a third bird box - this one featuring a nightingale - appeared next to them, neither of them said anything about it.