Divine Opals
Kari Swanson, The Kingdom of Aeris, years ago.
A gift is what another person thinks of you.
Kari Swanson, The Kingdom of Aeris, years ago.
A gift is what another person thinks of you.
The King was in his garden.
It was much nicer then what had been had been here before, but it still needed quite a lot of work. These things took time. Delicacy. Fortunately, the King had plenty of both. His days were certainly much more full than they used to be, but it would surely pass just as quickly.
He was smaller, at the moment, despite the ceaseless itching at his skin, because some things were simply easier with smaller, more dexterous claws. Also, he’d wanted to give the gardener a reward for their hard work. It was easier to do these things all at once, and minimize the amount of switching back and forth he had to do. The flowers he was working with right now were special, and he didn’t feel it wise to trust them to anyone else, regardless of whether or not they were half dryad.
“Don’t you have people to do that for you?” a familiar, amused voice came.
One moment, Kari had been standing upright. The next, he was on the ground, with the King sitting on his stomach. Kari would have been reminded of an over-excited, very large dog, if not for the fact the King was always pale beauty and sharp edges. He was still a little reminded.
“You!” the King exclaimed. “Where were you? You didn’t tell anyone. You’re supposed to report these things to me! I’m your King!”
“I wasn’t expecting to be gone for so long,” Kari admitted sheepishly. “I just... you know, wanted to go find an adventure. Just a little one!”
This was an ongoing issue. Kari had thought he wanted nothing more than to retire and lounge about being pretty, but once he had that, he... well, he got bored. He got wanderlust. He wanted to go... save princesses. And no princesses ever needed saving in Aeris, because there weren’t any, unless you counted Cara. And clouds above help anyone who tried doing anything to her.
“Grilka thought you died,” the King huffed. “I am very upset with you.” Grilka probably wasn’t too happy either, if ey really thought he’d died. Kari winced at the thought of how many apologies he’d be giving, and the kinds of apologies that would be required, specifically.
“Don’t you want to see what I got you?”
The King huffed, very clearly aware that Kari was trying to mollify him, but probably still wanting to see.
“I’ll need access to my pockets,” Kari told the King.
“I’m not stopping you.”
So much for being able to get up. Kari sighed, but reached down around the King’s legs to try and fumble around in his belt pockets. There was a fair bit of accidental ass-touching. The King didn’t appear to mind, but then, he wouldn’t. Finally, he managed to pull the little locked box out. It almost looked like something one would use to stash an engagement ring, so it was probably just as well that he was on his back instead of kneeling. He fiddled briefly with the lock, and then opened it for the King.
Inside were nestled a baker’s dozen of large, glittering opals, one considerably larger than the others.
“...They’re very pretty, Kari, but I don’t see why you needed to take ten months to get them,” said the King, frowning. He had opals. He had plenty of them.
“These are special. Or they should be, anyway. Supposedly, these are the thirteen Divine Opals.”
“Divine?”
“Mmm. They were spread out over the seven kingdoms.”
The King paused, considering this. “There are far more than seven kingdoms.”
“There were seven when they were lost,” Kari said, exasperated. “Honestly, that’s not important.”
“What makes them divine?”
“Well, the legends say all kinds of things. Enchanted by the gods, that sort of thing. There's even a prophecy. Maybe two, I wasn't clear on that bit. They’re supposedly indestructible.”
The King picked one up, and crushed it in his fist. Kari let out a strangled noise of protest. But when the King opened his hand, the opal was unharmed, and Kari let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the clouds.”
“Didn’t you test them before bringing them to me?” the King asked, amused, tilting the opal this way and that to watch it shimmer in the sunlight.
“Well, yes! But with, like, hammers! Nothing’s as strong as you, I was afraid you’d fucking powder the damn thing and I’d feel like an asshole.”
“It is somewhat impressive,” the King admitted.
“They’re legendary,” Kari insisted. “It’s tribute. You should be the one to own them. Besides, there was some very interesting legends about them on the subject of dragons that I thought was pretty interesting.”
This caught the King’s interest, so Kari continued. “Apparently, the woman who made them was a magic jewelcrafter of ancient lore, Rhodes. She had something of a feud going with dragons, on account of how several of her pieces had been turned to lead by them.”
"Well Rhodes should know that if you don't want jewelry to be turned to lead, you shouldn't make it out of magical metals," the King sniffed.
"Ah, yes," Kari said dryly. "Everyone loves iron jewelry, bedazzled with mudstone."
"Keep sassing, and we'll find something better to do with that mouth," the King warned, and Kari flushed slightly. He kind of hoped they would. It had been ten months, after all, and even though the King had plenty of lovers to keep him entertained in the interval, Kari sure didn't. Away from the King, he still lacked the confidence in going after the things he wanted.
"...Don't distract me," he said, trying to kill his blush. "I'm trying to give you a present." The King smiled, smugly. "Anyway, apparently she spent most of her life trying to discover a way to craft jewelry that couldn't be destroyed by a dragon. All of that research brought her to stories of the Divine Gems, rocks said to be touched by the gods, or the fae--legends vary--and very magical, but with totally unharnessable magic. She managed to track down a few, and have them refined into a more glittering form that could be set into jewelry. These were here magnum opus... the divine opals, a full set of thirteen. Originally, they were supposedly set into gilded armor, but the armor itself has long since been lost. All that's left are these... because they're indestructible, arguably."
"Unharnessable..." the King considered, turning the opal this way and that between his fingers. "In other words, I cannot access their magics for use in my own."
"But it also means you don't have to worry about ever accidentally turning them to lead," Kari pointed out. "They're pretty stones that are just pretty stones. Legendary, divine... pretty stones. I thought you could... I dunno, put them in a crown or something." As it stood now, his crowns were as easily and often replaced as any other kind of jewelry, but Kari thought a crown ought to be something special.
"You brought the stones crafted by a woman who loathed dragons, to a dragon king, to use as a crown?" the King said, sounding amused.
"Well, it sounds weird when you say it like that," Kari said, looking embarrassed. "I just thought they were neat. And you deserve something unique, something that no one else in the world--no one else in history--has had. A crown of divine opals, as beautiful and eternal as you."
"Ooh," the King said, stretching out to lay his body against Kari's instead of merely sitting on it. "I did miss that tongue of yours, so talented at singing my praises." He ran the back of a claw against Kari's jawline. Kari shivered underneath him, something the King probably felt along his whole body, sprawled out on top of Kari as he was.
"I'll have a jeweler look at these," the King decided, putting the opal back with its siblings and closing the box. "Perhaps we'll have them set in a crown. It would be nice to have something more permanent." As it was, the crowns were somewhat superfluous. He mostly wore them for the effect. "Besides... Elder Dragon of the Divine Opals..." he mused. "It was a ring to it, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Kari agreed immediately. "But I might be a bad judge. Everything you say sounds amazing to me."
The King laughed, and then tangled one clawed hand into Kari's hair, petting him and jostling his head about. "Oh, you. As much of a flatterer as always." He nuzzled up against Kari's neck, nose nestled under his jawline. "I did miss you, you know."
"I was desolate without you," Kari responded. The King flicked his nose, a somewhat dangerous thing to do with claws and extreme strength. Kari let out a pained noise of protest.
"Liar. You wouldn't have left, if that was the case."
"I felt the call of adventure," Kari protested.
"You hero types are all the same--"
"--and then I heard about the opals and I thought, well, that would make a good winter solstice gift..."
"It's the summer!"
"It took longer than I thought it would!"
The King huffed, hot breath against Kari's neck. "You," he decided, "are an idiot."
"...Little bit, yeah," Kari admitted, and the King chuckled again.
"You'll have to make it up to me," the King decided.
"The opals aren't en--"
"No." The King bit down, gently, where Kari's neck met his shoulder. The reaction was instantaneous and full-body, every muscle stiffening abruptly and then relaxing, melting limply underneath the King. Well, except one particular muscle, which the King could feel stiffening very abruptly indeed. He hummed cheerfully, pulling the loose collar of Kari's top to the side to reveal more of his shoulder... and revealing something unexpectedly pink and lacy in the process.
"...Kari," the King said, although the shade of red Kari was turning answered his question ahead of time. "Did you get changed before you came to me?"
"...Well... I... I'd been adventuring. I smelled bad," he mumbled.
"You're in luck," the King announced. "I've decided to have you right here instead of in the dungeon."
The following 2 users Like SolitareLee's post: liarliaronapyre, Tindome
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-27-2017, 08:15 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-27-2017, 08:25 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-27-2017, 08:30 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-27-2017, 08:32 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-27-2017, 08:55 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-29-2017, 01:45 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-30-2017, 12:05 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-31-2017, 01:41 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 04-07-2017, 04:30 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 04-12-2017, 02:11 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 04-18-2017, 08:52 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 05-23-2017, 09:05 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 06-16-2017, 02:16 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 06-16-2017, 05:57 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 06-16-2017, 06:35 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 06-25-2017, 06:06 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 07-04-2017, 04:42 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 10-18-2017, 09:29 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 11-09-2017, 08:03 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 01-06-2019, 09:02 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 03-14-2019, 03:35 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 10-27-2019, 08:28 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 11-11-2019, 08:12 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 11-14-2019, 02:00 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 11-17-2019, 11:11 AM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 12-29-2019, 12:40 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 01-12-2020, 12:56 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 01-20-2020, 04:05 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 02-08-2020, 10:10 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 02-10-2020, 10:01 PM
RE: Storytime [Read Only] - by SolitareLee - 11-01-2020, 01:52 PM