Work Text:
-At the Fae/Eleven Palace
Sterling straightens his shirt cuffs as he stands in front of the lavish mirror in Rune’s quarters at the palace. He had opted to get ready with Rune because nether really knew how to tie a cravat. Rune appears behind him in the mirror to straighten his vest collar and asks, “You ready to go Ster? If we are late Sage will sacrifice me, and I, unlike some people, are not immortal.” Sterling answers with a heavy sigh as he is not fond of formal events,” Why do you need me there? You’ll have Sage, you don’t need me to third wheel.” Rune gently elbows Sterling; “Because,” Rune drags out “You are my wingman, plus Rooke will be there so you won’t be third wheeling you’ll be… fourth wheeling? I’m not sure how that works but I’m sure you two can find trouble to make while Sage and I appease our parents.” Sterling spins on his friend with a laugh, “Firstly, I don’t start trouble I finish it, and second have you met Rooke? I think she hates me.” Before Rune can interject Sterling continues rambling, “She’s so unpredictable. I have never been able to carry on a conversation with Rooke. Hell, he basically growled at me when you were introducing me to Sage the other day…”
“Sterling!” Rune shouts, making the former jump, “Your spiraling man.” Sterling releases the breath he has been unknowingly holding, “Yeah… Yeah, let’s just go. I didn’t get dressed up and look this good for nothing, huh? Let’s go turn some heads.” The two walk out of the room and set off in stride towards the great hall in the rear center of the palace.
Upon arriving in the great hall, the pair are met with the most impressive spread they have seen since the end of the War of the Realms. Suddenly, the pair shares a glance and begin to worry if they will ever find their seats in the crowed hall, but before either can get a word out, they are whisked away to the center of the hall by the extravagantly dressed palace staff and separated. Rune is sat towards the head of table alongside Sage and the royal families. Whereas Sterling is set much farther down the table amongst other important military figures that he has never seen before in his life. Panic sets in as Sterling cannot see past the men around him to send any sort of ‘SOS’ signal to Rune and social anxiety begins to freeze him in place.
A gentle hand upon his shoulder jerks Sterling out of his head, and he turns to find it is Rooke, who wordlessly slips into the only empty seat beside Sterling. Sterling stutters a greeting as Rooke shoots him an icy glare and leans into whisper; “Play along, I am not ‘technically’ supposed to sit at the main table, but the other tables are tragically lame and no one over there can dance to save their lives.”
The banquet begins with the King standing and giving a rather mundane speech before releasing the crowd to begin feasting. As they begin to eat Sterling and Rooke try and break the silence but begin to speak at the same time; further fueling the tension between the two. “You speak first.” Rooke bites. “I was just going to ask why you aren’t sitting with Sage? I thought you were like… attached at the hip.” “Gods, you don’t pull your punches do you?” Rooke snorts, “But to answer your question, when the palace doors are open to neighboring kingdoms, I end up shuffled off to a staff table since it is not proper for me to sit with the royal family.” Malice laced sarcasm seems to ooze from the word ‘proper’, which confuses Sterling as he was under the impression that Rooke was raised as an equal to Sage after her adoption into the royal family. Rooke interrupts Sterling’s musings as she continues, “Also, I am Sage’s ‘wingman’ not his babysitter, although some days it feels like it.” Sterling huffs a laugh thinking back to how Rune had called him his wingman earlier in the evening as well, “I understand the babysitting thing all to well. How do kids of Royal parents have absolutely no self-preservation skills?”. Rooke nods enthusiastically, “My point EXACTLY.”
Taken aback by the sincerity of Rooke’s reply to Sterling quickly asks, “Also, what were you going to say?”. “Oh,” Rooke pauses, “I was going to ask if you liked to dance.” “Dance?” Sterling questions. “Yes, dance. You know, you and me, music, and movement to a rhythm. They do have dancing in the Goblin Empire? Or were you raised under a rock?” Rooke giggles under his breath at her own joke since the Goblin Palace is built within a cave in the northern mountain range, but it sails over Sterling’s head as he’s still processing dancing, particularly him and Rooke dancing, together. When Sterling’s mouth catches up to his brain he blurts, “Yes! I mean yes, I dance, we do have that.” Rooke’s resolve breaks into full on laughter at this reply and a foreign emotion bubbles up in Sterling as he watches Rooke nearly bring herself to tears over something he said that was apparently funny. But before he has time to diagnose his feelings Rooke is dragging him onto a corner of the dance floor by the sleeve as the band strikes up a fast waltz.
Sterling tries to lead as he is accustomed to more traditional gendered roles and since it would complement their obvious height difference but finds himself a solid two steps behind the quick footed Fae. Rooke spins around Sterling and switches their positions to sneakily take the lead while Sterling, caught up in the moment, does not seem to notice. As the song comes to and end the pair stops and both laugh as they catch their breath. “I thought you said you could dance?” Rooke spits in a snarky manner, yet, against her will, her eyes hold only fondness. Sterling searches for a comeback as the band begins playing a traditional Elven song. “I assure you’” Sterling smirks” you are going to eat those words in about three minutes.”
By the end of the night, the pair have danced to song after song and continuously swapped the lead as if it were a competition. As they stumble off the dance floor, in search of the refreshment table that was set up at some point during their dancing, the pair stops when they catch sight of their friends on the dance floor. Rune and Sage sway and step across the dance floor as if they were tailored to complement each other’s movements. The synchrony outshines every other couple on the floor, but Rune and Sage are most likely oblivious to the world around them as the sea of people seem to part for them. Pride swells in Rooke and Sterling, but their fatigue forces them to continue their venture towards the ice-cold water at the table across the room.
Drinks in hand, they find their way out into the courtyard in search of the cool night air. Rooke skips ahead and perches herself upon a rather comfortable looking bench that has a nice view of the great hall. The two sit in comfortable silence as Sterling collects his thoughts and Rooke becomes a bit too quiet. Sterling glances at the much smaller Fae just in time to catch her yawning. “I don’t remember the last time I had such a lovely time,” Rooke quietly slurs as sleep threatens to overtake her, “Please tell me you’ll dance with me again?” Sterling, not knowing how to reply is barely quick enough to catch the Fae as his head nods, losing his battle to the fatigue. Rooke jerks upright then mumbles an incoherent sentence that ends with “sleepy”. Sterling’s instincts take over as he reaches an arm around Rooke in a reassuring manner and without hesitation Rooke dozes off, leaned against Sterling. Sterling’s heart seems to stop when he realizes that Rooke has fallen asleep on him. Sterling, set on absolutely under no circumstances disturbing the sleeping Fae, accepts his fate. The fate being one of a living pillow and falling hard and fast for someone whom earlier in the night he was dead certain hated him.