Work Text:
☾
Lilia hated playing hide and seek.
This was a fact Malleus found out later into her life.
It first deterred her from hiding so often from Lilia, but whenever there was something he’d be in trouble for, being scared of his own power, or simply wanting to test their loyalty, Malleus would hide.
Lilia’s search would be for show. They could trace Malleus’ magic signature for a very long distance, but for the sake of the ‘search’, Lilia would try not to use it.
Of course, that’s never stopped Malleus from testing the limits of how undetectable he could get. Lilia had told him that the two of them, Lilia and Malleus’ father, served his mother as her left and right-hand generals. Lilia, the legs, and his father, the eyes. If Lilia could find Malleus no matter where he hid, then so could his father, right?
But Lilia was the one who found Malleus every time. No matter where she hid behind, under, or cloaked with magic, Lilia wouldn’t be far behind.
Of course, Lilia only hated playing the ‘seek’ part of the game. They seemed to quite enjoy the ‘hiding’ aspect as long as they were the one doing it.
If there was any area of magic Lilia was an expert in, it was concealing magic; a kind that would make one near undetectable. Runes and techniques perfected to a tee. There were far more instances than necessary where Lilia had only survived due to their mastery in this type of magic, passed onto Malleus with the hope that he'll never need to use them.
And just how Lilia could find Malleus despite the concealing magic, Malleus could sense Lilia’s presence on the grounds of Black Scale Castle.
Lilia had come back from their cottage in secret. Their magic was muted, one wouldn’t have noticed or given a second thought by the weakened energy, but Malleus could recognize the magic that held him so gently for as long as she could remember.
So this time, Malleus would be the one to ‘seek’. Heh, they sure knew how to keep things interesting.
Sneaking away was easy, no one questions where she goes, and the ones that do would be led to believe Malleus was at his study. The rest of the servants knew better than to search for him, the right to win their hide-and-seek games was reserved for the Queen and Lilia only.
With the cloak of magic hiding her from the world, Malleus steps off the castle and closer to home.
The trail around Baul’s house has already been cloaked with the Zigvolt’s magic. Hmph, so you really wanted to stay hidden. He yanked the remaining, near disappearing wisps of his mentor’s magic trail up and away, imbuing his own magical signature overtop of them.
What could possibly be so important for all this discretion? Doesn’t Lilia know that abandoning post, especially from the Crown Prince, is grounds of high treason?
Lilia’s abode is rustic, almost unfitting with the mentor he knew. There were flowers sprouting along the home, a pile of firewood laying haphazardly to the side, and a patch of grass with what must be an offering of milk poured recently around it.
“Malleus, I was wondering when you’d show up.” Lilia, undoubtedly detecting his presence, came to investigate, creaking open the door. “Come inside!”
“So this is where you’ve ended up- Goodness,” She addresses the blob creature playing with a block contraption. “What is that thing?”
“This is a human baby." Is this baby aware of the precious blessing bestowed upon it? "His name is Silver.”
Lilia was famously known for taking human lives. It was rather laughable to consider them keeping one, much less giving them toys as if it were a pet. “Are you raising it for food?”
Lilia’s defensive wards around the cottage sparked, an electric current tingled in the atmosphere for a split nanosecond.
So Lilia was protective over this random human child. How the mighty fall.
How dishevelled their styled hair was, sticking out in all sorts of places. Could such a tiny creature cause so much grief? “Don’t give me a heart attack, Malleus. We don’t do that anymore.”
It does make sense, in a way. Lilia was always emphasizing the importance of maintaining the balance the natural world had given them. However, what could’ve possibly happened between the end of the war and her birth that prompted Lilia to care about the balance, especially regarding the newfound fondness of human life? Could it have been the work of this child?
The squishy thing did have rather dashing eyes. They reminded Malleus of sunrises and birdsong.
Malleus hisses at the child, only for it to giggle and reach up to him. Malleus reacts in visible disgust. “Are you happy to see me displeased with you??”
In response, it babbles, getting spit and snot all over its face. Were all of them such ungraceful creatures?
“This thing is horrendously ugly.” Malleus wrinkles her nose. She almost feels a bit of sorrow for the thing’s unfortunate genes. “Why are you keeping it?”
Lilia scoffs at her, wiping the mess from the infant’s face with the pale cloth fashioned around its neck. “He’s much more well-behaved than a certain child who used to spit fire when it was time for his bath.”
“Maybe if you didn’t scrub me like you were removing grime from your armour…” Granted, the only time they needed the scrub was when Malleus was still a fully scaled body. The other times were due to being all muddy trying to help out in the garden.
“Yet you always demanded I was to be the only one to bathe you,” Lilia shook their head in exasperation. “Such high maintenance.”
The slobbery blob was still staring at her. Very well, if it wanted to stare so badly..
Malleus wills his own eyes to start glowing, and bores them directly at the baby.
The light didn’t seem to bother it at all, in fact, the baby was even crawling towards him.
“Your mess stays in your corner of the room.” Malleus shoos the baby away with a motion of his hand, not that anything would deter that weird baby.
“Did you like Malleus’ eyes, Silver?” Lilia laughs. “It seems you’ve attracted him with the glow. It might remind him of Baul’s scales.”
Malleus’ eyebrow twitches. What a freakish baby. What sort of peculiar traits would this child pick up later?
The fireplace was well tended to, soft fabrics, coloured containers, scattered toys, and various books all occupied the once empty shelves.
The spinning wheel hasn’t stopped since Malleus’ arrival, and much longer before that— if the tiny clothes pile made by Lilia were any indicator at all.
Right in the centre of it all, was Lilia tending to their new child, a gentle smile on their face, with a soft voice, one that Malleus only had the pleasure of hearing a few times.
It was all so domestic. Lilia had turned this empty cottage into a furnished home, and Malleus no longer had a place in it, if she ever did in the first place.
And the thought cuts deep into her chest. She didn’t like how it stole her breath or how it felt like she would collapse.
“I’m afraid I must take my leave.” Against her upbringing, Malleus vanishes without waiting for a response, transporting herself back into the familiar walls of the Castle, a place void of company now that Lilia is gone.
🐉
Lilia had spent less and less time with him before they departed from the City of Dragons to live in a quiet cottage away from the Court. They told Malleus that they would like to travel again. They also told her that a prince of the Valley must form opinions independent from her tutor and the Unseelie Court, which Grandma had agreed with.
So why? Were all of these reasons merely excuses for Lilia to leave the castle and Malleus?
Even though he had removed himself from the cottage, Malleus finds himself back in the house that rejected her very presence. He just couldn’t settle for the last image of Lilia in his mind to be that of… not beside him.
Why did you step foot back in Dragon City with a child in tow, not to see me, but to meet your old friend in secret?
The little baby looks around, not being able to locate Lilia, and tears well up in his eyes.
“Quit the hysterics. This is unbecoming of a child of Lilia’s.”
“There’s no need to cry, Silver. We’re both here and safe.” Lilia emerges with a candle dish and sets it down on the counter, picking the baby up from his crib and bouncing him on his hip, singing a soothing tune.
Was our time together simply an obligation you felt from serving Mother?
Only when the baby was less upset did Malleus speak. Not of the questions swirling around her locked heart, but of the pressing, alarming change happening before her. “You sing a lot more now.”
“Do I?” Lilia chuckles. “I like to think of it as me finally finding the beauty the gift of song brings.”
“Is that so…” Lilia only sang to him to calm him down, never singing around the house or speaking to Malleus about anything but life lessons.
When the sky turns dark, Lilia also lights up candles around the house, filling the room with an incandescent light that they didn’t really need.
“Why do you light the house?”
Lilia sets the candle down. “Silver’s not used to the dark like we are. He prefers to be in illuminated rooms.”
With their new child, Lilia was nothing but gentle, if need be, they’d protect it from the light of the sun.
The stabbing of her breast was happening again.
“You can visit us any time, Malleus.”
“Hmph,” Malleus scoffs. An invitation to be excluded is no invitation at all. “What ever for?”
“Is simply being blessed with your presence not enough?”
“Not at all. I will come and go as I please.”
“Very well. I’ll be sure to keep some sweet treats around for you.”
Malleus shakes his head. What is he, a pet just like Silver? Such simple bribery is beyond her age. “I bid you farewell.”
When Malleus materialized back in his chambers, the remnants of Lilia’s laughter seemed to throw some life back into some of his childhood belongings, just as they did with the memories of his upbringing.
Maybe Silver would like his old stuffed rabbit. However, the matter of its challenged tiny brain was getting concerning to Malleus. Perhaps his old set of novice sculpting tools would be a more useful gift.
🐉
“Bye, Silver.” Lilia coos— ew— and waves to a baby that has no way of even understanding what in Wonderland is being said to it. “I’m going to fetch some baby food for you– solids! How exciting! Behave for Malleus while I’m gone, okay?”
In response, Silver spits all over the soppy wet rabbit in his mouth, giggling when Lilia’s voice takes on an odd cheerful tone.
“Keep an eye on Silver.” Malleus doesn’t know how seriously to take it when she just saw them wiggling their fingers and cooing at that drooly baby a few seconds prior. “He shouldn’t be doing too much besides his afternoon nap, but if he wants to crawl, do so with supervision.”
For all of Lilia’s teasing about advance warnings, they sure didn’t follow their own code, having thrust the lowly job of a nanny as soon as Malleus appeared. Dear me, were they already entering that senile age?
Malleus stands over Silver’s crib, shielding the light of twilight with her body. Keep an eye on Silver, she will.
It doesn’t do much but just sleep, the frequent rise and fall of the baby’s chest informs him that Silver’s heart is just as tiny as the rest of it.
“I still think you’re ugly.”
Silver giggles some more, as if it were a compliment. It kicks its legs and reaches out for Malleus.
His legs were squishy as well. He was stronger than his squishy appearance misled him for, but it was hard to fathom how it functioned. Did he really just sleep and have to wait to be fed? He couldn’t hunt for his own food?? He was so defenceless.
Of course.. Malleus could never be a replacement for a child Lilia desired, but surely they had better options than this little milk rag.
“Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep..” Malleus quietly demands, rocking the thing in its crib.
She even spun the mobile above the crib, catching Silver’s attention. As the child became mesmerised by the movement, Malleus tried her hand at hypnotics. “You are getting reeeeeally sleepy.”
Using her unique magic on an infant seemed rather overkill for someone with her power range. It was really a matter of pride that stopped her from it.
The baby seemed more awake and alert when Lilia left the house. He occasionally tried to search for Lilia with his eyes, but at least he wasn’t uncomfortable in Malleus’ care.
The nursery was filled with books, intentionally placed for Lilia’s easy access to information regarding Silver, so of course there should be something written about how to get him to sleep.
Malleus nearly flings a book into the wall of the nursery until he pulls it back with his magic, flipping open the page to the ‘sleep’ section.
A soother. Why is Silver eating a stuffed toy— his stuffed toy. No longer though, she didn’t want the now repulsive toy back— when he should be nursing on a soother??
Conjuration magic was easy for Malleus, one of the basic spells she first learned, creating a soother out of her own magic.
“Now shush and go to sleep.” She slips the soother in Silver’s mouth. He looked a tad confused about what it was, before suckling on it as if he’s had it all his life, blinking unevenly in a silly manner before the motions had him out like a light.
Malleus blinks in a stupor. For all that fuss to be solved by a little soother.. What simple creatures…
She spends the rest of his nap pulling out different books and alternating between looking at the text and keeping watch of Silver.
Until she gets to the section about infants dropping dead for no reason, then she settles for keeping a hand on Silver’s back at all times, just to ensure that the fragile creature was still breathing. Truly, if some infants’ systems weren’t developed enough to keep their host alive, couldn’t have they spent more time in the womb??
Yes, humans were simple creatures, even the way they died was simple, sometimes for no rhyme or reason.
This was stressful. However did Lilia put up with this for so long?
🦇
“Goodness, Lilia!” Malleus takes the cup away from Silver. “Human children need to drink from bottles. No wonder it’s crying, the poor thing is starving!”
“Silver is always starving, that’s nothing new.” Of course he did. Even on his fourth serving of milk for the day, he acts like they never feed him.
Malleus gives them a testy glare, conjuring a bottle. “How do you know human children need milk but not that they need it from a soother?”
For the sake of Malleus’ pride, Lilia chooses to stay silent, watching in barely hidden amusement as Malleus transfers the milk from the cup into the bottle and lifts Silver up by his armpits.
As Silver hangs awkwardly, Malleus freezes, unsure of his next steps.
“Remember to support his head.”
Malleus doesn’t show he’s acknowledged Lilia’s words, fumbling slightly to cradle Silver in his arms, supporting the head as told. Picking up the bottle, he tilts it to Silver’s mouth, the baby spitting out the sucker a few times before he discovers the milk inside.
From then, Silver brought his hands up to greedily latch onto the bottle, as if helping Malleus. Malleus shifts her hold a little, holding her gaze intently with Silver in case the boy chokes.
“Treat the egg with more care, you crazy princess!”
“Hah! As if you would let him fall. Even if he did, are you suggesting my Malleus is weak enough to be harmed by a small toss? My little one is very sturdy, aren’t you? Yes, you are!! My malevolent star will be just as handsome as Levan, I know it!”
“For your sake and mine, you better hope he doesn’t inherit your horrid temper.”
“You better hope he doesn’t strike you for being such a nuisance.”
“I don’t expect anything less.”
Down to the smallest detail, the back-and-forth motion of their thumb and a hint of a smile on Malleus’ face is so reminiscent of an earlier time. Some things really never change.
You were so scared of Malleus becoming lonely, Meleanor, but now he has a sibling to grow alongside him. Would you have doted on Silver like Levan would have, or take on an attitude similar to your beloved star?
Malleus coos at Silver for finishing his bottle, even if she will deny it later. She bounces Silver in her arms a little, earning a sloshy giggle from the baby.
With a bit of adjustment on Malleus’ end, he hoisted Silver so his head was over his shoulder, giving a few firm slaps to the baby’s back.
“Aww, what a nice big brother you have, Silver. Feeding you and burping you.”
As if on cue, Silver burps. Only, it follows with a bit of the milk in his stomach.
Malleus freezes for a momentary second before looking as offended as ever. “Lilia, take your child back.”
Yup, definitely inherited almost all of his mother’s mannerisms. And sadly for Meleanor, his father’s genes were fighting a losing battle from the start. “Babies sometimes regurgitate their food, Malleus. Silver means no harm.”
“He spat all over my attire. It is abhorring.”
*Hic.. hic..*
“I don’t understand why you’re the one crying about it, shouldn’t it be I?”
From Malleus’ tone, the infant’s cries intensified, eventually smacking his limbs around and onto the fae.
“How dare you further sully my attire-”
Lilia shushed the child, patting Silver’s head and humming a low tune.
Silver’s voice decreased in volume to listen to Lilia easier, then Lilia held Malleus’ elbows, guiding them in a left-and-right motion, until she followed the movement without their help. Always the clever one, that prince.
Malleus watches intently as Silver’s eyelids grow slower to open while he’s rocked. When they fail to open again, she speaks quietly. “Your child is pacified so easily.”
“It is only a matter of figuring out what Silver responds best to.”
“.. He likes lullabies, and being held.. And he likes it when I talk to him.”
“Hence why, we must sing more, hold him close, as well as enrich his vocabulary.”
“Even when I’m mad at him?”
“Heh, yes, even when you’re mad at him.” Lilia pats his head, scratching at a special place right between the horns. “It serves both of you no good to stay only for the happy moments in life and not the rocky ones as well.”
Malleus directs his glance back to Silver, a sigh escaping him, but the more he searches the infant’s face, the more a small hint of a lip quirked upwards was there.
Whether excited, angry, upset, or bored, I’ve never known a life without you.
Very well then, Lilia. I shall keep your secret. Covet, treasure, and hoard it as it may be, these are the rules of the fae.