Between Anarchy And Order

by thinksleep

Summary:

The morning after the ball Rue finds Hob confessing to Wrackingspelt that he must marry, and it ends up leading to an arranged marriage, Hob reading Walt Whitman, and grappling with the concept of cognitive dissonance.

Notes:

Thank you to @50_Shades_Of_Octarine for the first 1.5k of this fic, which I was so obsessed with I ended up writing and not stopping. I can never resist an arranged marriage prompt.

 

It may surprise many that at his core Captain K.P. Hob was a chaotic creature. To most he was rigid, orderly, and overly formal. He was the calming eye of the storm that was the Goblin Court.

Hob’s father had taken a different view. Hob often reflected that his father was one of the wisest souls he had ever come across, and he had been right about so many things, was it such a stretch to believe his kind view of his son’s odd behavior was right too? When Hob had been tormented as a young goblin for his manners and politeness, his father had often reminded him that true disruption was found in upsetting the norms, and in a court of savagery, manners were the height of anarchy.

It had comforted Hob then, and it still comforted him now. During long patrols at the outskirts of the Goblin Court, he would turn the words over and over in his mind, and let them soothe the loneliness in himself. They kept him warm when the bonfire’s heat didn’t reach to his vigil. He had thought of them during his father’s funeral, when he joined the army, and he knew they would be his final thoughts when he inevitably fell in battle.

He seemed to exist in the space between the fine courts of the fey, and the wild nature of goblins. His mere existence was a threat to norms they both upheld. Too wild for one, and too domesticated for the other.

“A true goblin, my mischievous Knickolas, never does as he’s told, never tells as he’s done, and never follows a rule, least of all this one.”

A younger Hob had spent hours trying to unravel his father’s words, the words of their court. He had tried to reason that if one never followed a rule, including that one, then a true goblin must do the opposite, to do as he’s told, tell as he’s done, and always follow the rules, most especially that one. But if that was the case then the positive became negative again, and round it went in a neverending loop.

His father had laughed and told him the rule was nonsense, as ridiculous as the idea that the Goblin Court would have rules, when they seek to uphold the value of no rules. As ridiculous as the idea that the Goblin Court would have no rules when they need structure to be a court in the first place.

“But how can you have rules and also not have rules?”

“Things can be true and not true at the same time, Knickolas,”

He hadn’t fully understood it then, and he didn’t truly understand it now. He could recite the words verbatim, he could uphold mischief, mayhem, and sneakery, but only while following orders from his court. He wasn’t quite sure if it was what his father had meant but he was no longer around to ask.

*

He was reminded of his father’s words once again while dressing for the ball, the peak of the Bloom’s festivities. The dress code was to be monochromatic, though in a bid to stand out he had been told to wear anything but. Blemish and Boil were in deep reds, and Grabalba was in an eye catching and sparkling silver. He figured most fey were doing the same, and the best way to stand out would be to follow the dress code.

Hob went for white, though there were threads of gold throughout it. Both following the dress code and not. Anarchy and order threaded together in every stitch of his outfit.

His breath caught when he saw Delloso de la Rue, finely fitted in a black and gold dress. Anarchy and order. So similar to Hob.

He had never fallen in love before this Bloom, he didn’t know if it was usual to fall so fast for someone, whether he was following a norm or carving out his own path. He had never known someone so perfect, and yet they were so similar to himself. Their loyalty to a court they did not consider a home, their reputation from their court being founded only in their usefulness. Even their qualities that far surpassed his own; their bravery was unparalleled, their dedication to other’s enjoyment, even their looks, while comparable to his own, were far more elegant and beautiful than his own roughness.

They danced together for many more dances than the appropriate two, though Hob found while he was in their arms he did not care whether the fine courts would consider him rude and discourteous for taking up so much of Rue’s time, or if the Goblin Court would wonder if this was trickery and mischief. He was content to be selfish and hold Rue for as long as he was allowed.

*

The next morning he was greeted with his orders to wed Sylmenar, though he could still feel the sharp points of his dance card scrapping his insides, he could almost feel the looping ink of Rue’s name burning itself into his very being. He didn’t want to follow his orders. There had been many times when he had disagreed with his superiors, in which he had followed orders against his better judgment. This was the first time he had considered not following them at all.

However, if his manners and willingness to follow orders were his anarchy, what did that make his rebellion? Would the Goblin Court look kindly on his joining their ranks for the first time, or, as he has long suspected, was he only accepted on sufferance, because his compliance was useful to them. If he rebelled, they would have no more use for him.

His head and heart were too full, and so he went to see Wrackingspelt, his only confidant since his father’s passing. It was not the first time Hob had wept into Wrackingspelt’s mane, and it wasn’t the first time Hob had wished for his father’s shoulder in Wrackingspelt’s stead. But it had been quite a while since the sting of his absence had sliced quite so deeply. Most of the hurt had been cushioned by the passing of time, leaving both the memories and the ache in fuzzy recollection.

His time spent with Rue was reminding him, so close to having the comfort of another person like him again, someone who understood, who was on his side, and yet now so far out of reach. His hand fisted around the crumpled note from Blemish and Boil, he hadn’t even realised that he had brought it with him.

He knew despite his wish to go against orders that he couldn’t bring himself to. Without the Goblin Court he was untethered, and he knew he must marry Sylmenar. First he would cry out all his tears, and try and burn the previous night’s memories onto his heart.

He knew the details would be lost, he would eventually forget the exact noise of the swish of their dress, or the colour of the peony they tucked behind his ear, the songs that they danced to. He wished to hold on to how they made him feel, like he was important and wanted, that out of everyone there, the most ethereal fey had spent the entire night with him. That maybe there was a chance his feelings were reciprocated.

He locked it away inside him, along with his dance card. He couldn’t help but liken the pain in his chest with the ache of a hangover, as though he had spent the night love-drunk. Hob often felt as though joy was a finite source, and by indulging in it, he ensured himself a debt of pain.

He continue weeping into Wrackingspelt’s mane, his faithful companion whuffling anxiously at his shoulder. The last few times Hob had cried on his horse was after battle, after so many had been lost, his ears still ringing from the noise of the explosions.

He tried to comfort Wrackingspelt in turn. To let him know it was a different situation.

“Wonderful news, Wrackingspelt,” Hob couldn’t quite contain the sob that escaped him, “I’ve fallen in love.” His voice cracked as he whispered it, as though someone might care enough to listen in on his woes. “And I am ordered to marry.” He clung to his horse as his words rushed from him, the last threads of hope severed by the knowledge he could never go against his court.

He heard a sharp inhale from the door to the stables, and he looked up to see Rue silhouetted by the still rising sun. He wondered what they were doing up so early, and so near the Goblin Pagoda.

He tried to ask them, or apologise for his appearance, but the words caught in his constricted throat and all that came out was an unintelligible garble of noises. Rue’s look softened, they seemed both desperately sad and entirely empathetic. There was an odd look in their black oval eyes that he had not yet learned to decipher, he wished more than anything that he could have had the opportunity.

“Your love has proposed? I don’t mean to pry, but this doesn’t seem the typical reaction to such news.” Rue’s tone was light, no judgement in their lilting inflection. They were being kind, but Hob’s hurt was still raw. There was an echo of it in Rue’s throat, as though they shared in his heartbreak.

“No, they- they have not, and more pertinently, would not have asked for my hand. It is no matter. Please don’t trouble yourself in consoling me.” He deflected, ducking his head low in an attempt to salvage his dignity. This did nothing to appease Rue though, and they stepped into his space with a stern gait.

“Don’t say you’re overreacting. If they haven’t proposed, then you are being forced to marry? Against your heart?” Rue placed a hand on Hob’s shoulder, gently mussing up the fur under their palm, slowly pulling him towards them. Hob knew himself too weak to refuse his own body as it leaned into their pull, so he did not fight them as he was dragged into their embrace. They trilled happily as he dropped his head into the crook of their neck, scratching the fur of his scalp with their claws.

He was so weak, but he could not refuse any touch or kindness they would offer. He knew when he married Sylmenar he could never see Rue again, he feared what vows he would break at the slightest temptation Rue might offer. So he would indulge his weak will now, and savour the memory in the future, tucked away with the memory of last night, and their name on his dance card.

“Lady Sylmenar of the Seelie Court. I am to escort her to the theatre tonight.” Hob explained quietly. He did not have the energy for more words, or any inflection in his tone. Rue’s arms were warm, and he felt his tears drying up as his voice turned monotone. His energy had been sapped after crying, and had now turned his despondency into lethargy. He let his weight rest more firmly in Rue’s hold, surprised at the strength they possessed to steady the two of them.

“Have you met her before?” Hob felt the vibrations of their words though every point of contact between them. He merely shook his head, and sensed their anger in the huff of air that escaped from their beak and ran down his neck.

“That’s not right.” Rue’s rage was carefully reined around each word. They squeezed him tighter, pressing their beak against his forehead. “But you seem tired. I’ll take you to your tent to sleep, and I’ll sort this out for you.”

He could have protested, but he was selfishly enjoying the feeling of being taken care of, protected, like he was something important. All the panic and fight had left him as he’d spoken of his impending marriage to Sylmenar with the true object of his affections. He had always enjoyed the restorative powers of sleeping after crying, and this would be no different. He would sleep, rise again, dress, and then escort Lady Sylmenar to the theatre.

I’ll sort this out for you.

Rue’s words were comforting, like there was a happy solution to the mess he found himself in.

*

Hob awoke in his bed to the sound of a furious debate. Rue’s voice cut through the throb at his temple, startling him into awareness. He felt groggy, and realised the rising sun he’d gone to sleep to had long since risen to its peak. He sat up sharply as he realised he’d been asleep for hours. The raised voices, which he now recognised as Rue and Lord Blemish, reached the climax of their debate, the muffled voices began to slowly strain into intelligible words as Hob finished waking.

“Mistrex Rue, even you must see that another failed engagement would be ruinous to the Goblin Court! Unless you were to provide an alternative match, there is nothing to be done.” Blemish huffed.

Hob quietly rose from his bed and made his way towards where their voices were coming from, they seemed to be arguing right outside his room.

“Hob has confided in me that his heart is already engaged. Surely any fey who is enough to win his attentions is also enough to suit this alliance?” Rue said.

“What of this matter interests you so much? Neither court involved is your own, and the Court of Wonder had their chance.”

“I-” Rue faltered momentarily before their surety returned, “I have a personal interest.”

There was a brief silence and Hob desperately wanted to know what was happening in the silent showdown.

“I see.” Blemish said sharply, like a cat that just got the salt goblin.

“I assure you, you don’t.”

“This engagement will not be broken off. The participants may change but the Goblin Court will have an alliance one way or another. And a word of advice, Mistrex Rue?” Blemish’s voice turned smug, “Five dances last night, and now this? You want to be careful, or people might just start talking.”

“I don’t have the slightest clue what you mean.” Rue’s tone was hard, trying to intimidate rather than convince.

Blemish took great delight in subverting courtly innuendo and double speak, and now was no different, “They might start saying you are in love with him. Is that why you object to this match so much?”

“I am not in love with him. But even I would be preferable to a fey he’s never met before.” Rue’s tone was as detached and piercing as a dagger to the back. Hob hadn’t heard them utilise such a voice since before their glamour dropped. To hear it now, and over the matter of his heart was devastating. The price of eavesdropping was sometimes you heard things you wished you hadn’t.

Hob returned to his bed, which was more of a sleeping roll on the floor, and buried himself under his blanket. He had done it since he was a child, and could still remember his father spotting the wriggling lump under the blankets and saying.

“Where could my little thief be? So adept at sneakery! I hope he’s not using it to hide from his problems,”

Hob always had been, whether it was other children’s mocking taunts, stares from teachers not used to his odd nature, or when salt goblins laughed at his attempts at mischief.

He was hiding now, hiding from unrequited love and dashed hopes. That small hope that Rue would have told Blemish that they loved him dearly and they would marry him instead of Sylmenar.

He knew he had to leave and resume his responsibilities, that he couldn’t wait for kind words from his father to coax him from his blanket. He had cried his tears and now he must make peace with it.

He waited until Rue and Blemish’s voices had faded along with their footsteps, before dressing and straightening himself out. He headed out on patrol, though it did little to improve his mood as he was shot by Apollo and then had spoon surgery performed on him. Physical pain he could endure, but Rue’s words from that morning kept hammering at his heart, distracting him from even the feeling of a spoon scrapping against his ribcage.

Afterward he wanted nothing more than to fall into a deep and restorative sleep, but he knew he still had to go to the theatre. He dressed in a fresh uniform and headed out again.

The theatre was the final event of the Bloom, the only chance he had to get to know his betrothed before they were wed. His heart hurt at the thought of marrying Sylmenar, of carving a wedding gift for them, and the thought of the sunny Seelie Court, the sideways glances he’d receive from his new Court, this time not for his odd manners like his current Court, but for his wild nature.

He made his way towards the theatre, and found himself slowing near the lake beside it, glaring at his own reflection. Too wild for one, and too domesticated for another. He thought when Rue had revealed themselves he had found a kindred spirit, and after last night at the ball he thought there might even have been the chance for more.

I am not in love with him.

It was time to move on.

 

*

 

Lady Sylmenar was as beautiful as any Seelie lady should be, and Hob tried to reassure her as best he could of his long absences and need for only a small, separate room. It seemed to work and she gave him a smile and squeezed his arm.

“It doesn’t have to be bad,”

He saw someone also trapped by circumstance, trying to make the best of the situation they were in. Hob needed to cast Rue from his mind, and put his effort into this alliance. Perhaps they might even grow to be friends, fostering a love of a different kind. It was more than Hob had a right to hope for.

Then he received his long awaited answer from the Seafoam Court. Rue had been the one to break the engagement.

He sat numbly for a moment, the distant sounds of Jeremy Renner’s voice washing over him in his shock. Rue had been the one he was looking for all along, they had known and never told him. Did they think he could possibly demand satisfaction from them? He could never hurt them.

A chilling thought made itself known to him, perhaps that is what they had planned for. Their disgust at his touch during the Hart Hunt turning to dancing with him the whole night at the ball, the only thing that had changed between those two events was his confession at the tailor’s shop. He was a fool to have believed their kindness could have been anything more than a ploy to gain his affection, knowing it would distract him from his intent.

He thought that Rue’s kindness to him this morning was because they didn’t wish to see him in a loveless match, that they had argued so passionately to Blemish on his behalf because they cared for him at least as a friend. He knew now that they were simply breaking off another Goblin alliance. They were still working on behalf of their court, even after everything they had learned about their court; the plot to steal magic, the destruction of BINX’s court. Had Rue seen him heading out into the forest this morning, had they sent Apollo after him?

He looked towards Apollo’s box, which was surprisingly empty, but decorated around it were his signature flower. Peonies. Hob was an idiot.

“Excuse me I need to find the loo.” Hob tried to excuse himself, and his lack of proficiency was evident to even those outside his court as Lady Sylmenar clocked the lie straight away. He knew she did not deserve his lies, and it was no way to build a foundation of trust in their relationship. He confessed he was leaving on goblin business, and she accepted this.

He could feel the uncomfortable burning of Rue and Lady Sylmenar’s tokens next to each other, and pushed it down on his mission to find Rue.

He couldn’t spot them in the crowd, and Andhera and BINX responded that they knew where Rue was. He followed their instructions and spotted Rue’s dress first, it looked like an upturned rose. He had never been good with fashion but he knew they had outdone every other fey in the theatre.

He had to get a handle on himself or he would never confront them.

“Delloso de la Rue.”

Rue turned to look at him, he was shocked to see they had been crying. It threw him off kilter, he had been expecting them to be smug or gloating, some expression he had never seen on their face and therefore confirming they were not the fey he thought they were. Instead their black oval eyes shone with more incoming tears and he wanted nothing more than to wrap them in a hug, hold them like they had held him this morning.

“I’m afraid I cannot have this conversation.” They waved him off and made to leave.

Ah. It was another ruse, to provoke that protective instinct instilled within him so they may escaped unharmed into the night.

“You have maligned my court’s honour.” Hob said, talking over Rue’s protestations in his need to get his words out, “You broke the engagement of the Viscountess Grabalba and the Prince Apollo.”

They confirmed his every fear.

“And- and you tried to break the engagement of myself and the Lady Sylmenar. Your court is set on the ruin of mine-”

“No.” Rue said sharply. “That is not why I tried to break your engagement.”

“Then why?”

“Why?” Rue asked incredulously, “Hob, you had confessed to me that you were in love with someone else! I- I care about you, and do not want to see you trapped in a loveless match when you have the opportunity-”

“I don’t have the opportunity. I told you they do not feel the same. A love match is not possible, and therefore Lady Sylmenar is a good match.”

Rue looked furious, “How do you know they don’t feel the same? You won’t even admit when you’re injured with two arrows stuck out your back! You won’t even deign to respond when someone else shares their feelings with-” Rue caught themselves and took a slow inhale to calm themselves, “Have you even told them? Or are you just assuming?”

“They have made their feelings perfectly clear.”

Rue looked like they were going to keep arguing, but raised their hand in a wave, dismissing their own response, “It is no matter. I simply didn’t want you hurt.”

“And Grabalba?”

Rue sighed, and looked remorseful. They explained haltingly and sadly of their own upbringing in the court, the need for glamour to fit in, of spending millennia playing catch up on unspoken rules that no one would teach them. Of feeling alone in the only place they had.

Much like in the tailor’s shop, Hob wanted to tell them they had a home, that they were not alone. But it was not his place.

“I know what my court does to those who do not fit in. I did not wish that fate on Grabalba, but I shouldn’t have simply broken off the engagement because of my own fears for her. It was done in haste, without thought for the consequences. And I truly had no idea that it was your victories I was undermining when I did so. However, those actions are hard enough to set in motion, trying to stop it once it had begun was impossible.”

Hob nodded. He could see, given their experience and upbringing how they could make such a decision. Due to his own past he may not agree with them but he understood them.

“Will you tell me who you are in love with?” Rue asked softly, Hob went to protest that it was hardly necessary but Rue continued, “I could help you, help gain another alliance with whomever it is, as an amends for breaking off Grabalba’s engagement,”

Hob shook his head, “As I have said, they do not feel the same, and I will not trap them in a marriage they do not want.”

“But you’ll trap yourself?”

And Lady Sylmenar.

Hob knew it was selfish, but he was far more willing to risk Lady Sylmenar’s happiness by trapping her in a loveless match than he was Rue. He wouldn’t risk Rue’s happiness for anything.

He was surprised to see Rue was crying again, silent tears getting caught in their fur, leaving damp tracks down their face.

“Please Hob, if you love them then they must be wonderful. I can’t imagine anyone you chose to give your heart to could treat it so harshly. I can’t watch you be unhappy, I l-”

“Someone is trying to kill BINX,” Andhera’s panicked voice came through Lady Chirp’s birds in their ears. Hob had a wild moment of wondering whether their whole conversation had just been sent out to their whole group, he had no idea how to turn the damned things on and off.

He awkwardly tapped the one in his ear, “On our way. What’s your location?” He hoped the tap worked, the bird was grumbling but Andhera responded that they were near the lake, BINX had escaped the vines and taken a hit of poison, but they were heading to Squak and Apollo.

Hob had already started running, and though Rue now had a stride equal to his, he was far more used to the adrenaline surge of battle, far quicker to act and outpaced them easily, arriving to Apollo and Squak before them. Hopefully he could afford them some cover. Their dress, while beautiful, would not hold up well against weaponry, magical or otherwise.

It was the first time during the whole of the Bloom where he felt assured of his own capabilities. He was out of place with sharp tongues and quick wits, even during his duel with Wuvvy he had been wrong footed, unsure of why it was taking place, but he knew battle against a known enemy.

Apollo was naked and caught off guard, and Hob, filled with familiar and comforting rage, felled him in a singe blow. Death for a fey was normally a minor problem, especially for one so highly ranked as Apollo, clerics and healers were never far away and diamonds abundant. Hob’s weapon, however, was made specifically for fighting fey, for killing them and making sure they could not get back up. His weapon had been imbued with Unseelie magic before their wars, back when they were allies, it stopped regenerative healing. Apollo was dead for good.

Part of Hob was relieved, he wasn’t sure what kind of revenge Apollo would have given him for the embarrassment of being killed while naked, but it would have been far worse than the heart seeking arrows Hob had been shot with this morning. The other part was caught up in what this meant politically now, he hadn’t expected Apollo to go down so easily and now he was dead, it meant there would be a power vacuum within the Court of Wonder, and Hob would have to answer some uncomfortable questions about his part in it.

“Hob!” Rue shouted, and Hob turned just in time to watch Suntar’s spell hit him. His mind went hazy and orders felt easier. He didn’t have to think about who he was hitting or why. He did not have to think about being goblin enough, or too goblin like, about who to have manners with, or which behaviours to regulate. The constant balancing act in his mind faded for the first time since childhood and he simply followed the order echoing in his mind.

When his thoughts cleared, Suntar’s concentration having been broken by falling through the portal, the frightened face of Squak focused in front of him, Hob realised what had happened. He had been used, a blunt instrument once again. Shame burned inside him, doubled by the fact that while he hated that he had hurt Squak, he had enjoyed existing in peace within his body, that he hadn’t had to think about anything.

Rue caught his arm, “Are you alright?”

Hob nodded stiffly, he didn’t trust himself not to fall into their arms again. They hadn’t finished their conversation from earlier, and Hob doubted they would. It was the end of the Bloom, and he would likely never see them again. He would tell his superiors that he had failed, that the saboteur had evaded him, as he could never demand satisfaction at the cost of Rue’s life.

They said they cared for him, and he would choose to believe it was true, hold it with the memory of their dances, and the token from them, still burning away in his gut. The one he hadn’t been willing to part with, even at the risk of the portals closing. He realised he had burned Sylmenar’s, and he regretted briefly that it would make for an uncomfortable marriage, the foundation cracked beyond repair.

He needed to get back to her, try and fix what he had already broken. Rue was running their hands over him lightly, trying to find any injuries that he was lying about. He remembered their concern over his wellbeing this morning as well, and even if they didn’t love him as he loved them, at least they cared for him. It was enough. It had to be.

“We need to leave before someone sees us,” Rue said. Hob suspected they meant everyone, but Squak and Chirp were by the portal, and Andhera and BINX seemed to be having a moment together.

“That is wise. Whoever is found to have killed Apollo will likely face severe consequences.”

“We can blame Suntar.”

They managed to wrangle the rest of them before retreating to their own separate quarters. The rest of the theatre had fled at the supposed earthquake, including the Seelie Court. Hob was grateful that at least he could go back to his own rooms and tend to his metaphorical and literal wounds in peace.

*

The next morning he was summoned to Blemish and Boil’s quarters, where the two of them were sat in mute fury. He was directed to follow them where he was led to the chambers of the Chorus of Wonder.

The rooms were at the tallest tower of the palace, everything was glaringly white and sparse. BINX, Andhera, Squak, Chirp, and Rue were already inside, and Hob’s gut clenched in fear. Squak and Chirp’s grandfather had already departed, and so much like Andhera, they were their own highest representatives, BINX was the leader of their own court, and Rue’s representative was the Chorus. Despite knowing this Hob felt akin to a naughty child being led in by Blemish and Boil.

“You have been summoned to explain yourselves.” The Chorus demanded in harmony, their triplicate voice combined with the open space meant their voices rang in echoes through Hob’s head.

They all remained silent, none of them daring to look at the others.

“Prince Apollo was killed last night. We were unable to revive him.” Their voice was still monotonous, but there was a pause at the end, as if willing someone to answer.

They had agreed as a group to blame Suntar for Apollo’s death, and Hob’s eyes traitorously flickered to Andhera, to see if he was still okay with them using their sister as a scapegoat.

“We arrived too late,” Rue said, “Suntar killed Apollo and then escaped to the Mortal Realm through the portal.”

The Chorus turned their masked faces to Rue sharply, and Hob had to fight to urge to step in front of them.

“Though we could not revive Apollo due to unknown reasons, we were still able to cast Speak With Dead.”

There was a long pause in the room.

Hob often forgot that other courts used magic, he knew it in the abstract but he forgot truly how much magic was capable of. The Chorus already knew what happened, the only thing Hob could do now was spare his friends.

“I killed Apollo.” He said. The others looked sad, though resigned, like they knew it would have to come down to this. Hob wasn’t going to drag them all down with him, he had to take responsibility for his own actions. Rue looked like they were trying to frantically find a fix, a way of proving Apollo had lied, even though he hadn’t.

The Chorus turned their masked faces towards him, they did not ask why he killed Apollo or how it was he had a weapon that stopped revival. They had likely formed their own theories before summoning him.

“We demand satisfaction.”

Rue inhaled sharply, but Hob simply nodded.

“I will gladly sacrifice my life. Though on the condition that my fr- the others are released without punishment. My actions were my own, no one else harmed Apollo.” Hob pinned his shoulders back and tried to stare down the Chorus, though it was difficult as their masks did not have eye holes, just the shape of where eyes should be.

“Your death does not serve us. We demand service instead.”

Hob felt a thrill of fear shoot down his spine but he nodded. Satisfaction had been demanded and he would answer it no matter what. Service for the Court of Wonder would be binding, and the length indeterminable. Though the Court of Wonder was not currently engaged in any wars Hob knew of, they would at some point over the next millennia. He wondered if they had known about Apollo closing portals, given that they were consuming courts and magic, they likely did. Hob wondered if that would be part of his duties. If one day he would have to help consume the Goblin Court.

“Hang on.” Blemish said, jabbing a clawed finger at the Chorus of Wonder, “We need him for the Seelie alliance.”

“He has accepted our demands for satisfaction.” The Chorus said, they hadn’t turned away from Hob. There was no expression on their face, so Hob couldn’t work out why he felt hunger radiating off them as they looked at him.

“Then we demand satisfaction.” Blemish said petulantly. “This will be the second time the Chorus has broken an engagement and denied the Goblin Court an alliance.”

“Wait,” Rue said, they looked like they were trying to make several calculations on the spot, “There’s another way,” They winced and looked apologetically at Hob. Hob didn’t know what they were about to say, but he was stood between a loveless marriage and an eternity of service. It couldn’t be much worse than those.

“What if,” Rue continued, holding a placating hand towards both Blemish and Boil, and the Chorus, “Hob marries into the Court of Wonder. The Goblin Court gets their first choice of alliance, and Hob’s military knowledge and skill would still be accessible to the Court of Wonder without having him in bound service.”

Hob blinked in surprise at the venom behind Rue’s last two words. He knew bound service for a fey was limiting, and put the particular fey at the mercy of whoever held their contract. He knew the Court of Wonder could not be a kind master, but he was surprised to find someone who cared enough about him to try and object on his behalf.

Blemish and Boil looked thoughtful and started muttering between themselves.

The Chorus merely hummed, “And why would we accept that when we could simply have Hob without a marriage alliance.”

“Because you would be against the Goblin Court’s demand for satisfaction, as well as the Seelie for the broken alliance, and I believe Grabalba is securing an alliance with the Trickster Court as well, who would be bound to come to their aid if a war started.”

“And the Unseelie.” Andhera said firmly. He gave Hob a sharp nod, and Hob realised they had been standing straighter since their talk with his mother, the shard gone from his neck, replaced with self assurance.

“And the Court of Craft.”

“And the Lords of the Wing.”

The Chorus seemed to weigh up their options. The Court of Wonder was strong, but even they seemed hesitant to take on multiple courts. The Court of Craft and the Lords of the Wing would be auxiliary support, but the Seelie, Trickster, and Unseelie were large and well established courts, a combination would be deadly.

“Your Prince and leader of your armies is dead, and you would place his killer in charge? You expect your soldiers to follow him into battle, against so many other courts?” Rue said, their voice was as sharp as Hob’s halberd. He had always appreciated watching a warrior in their element, and truly they were in Rue’s domain now.

“Your proposition is acceptable. Who will the Goblin Court demand for the marriage alliance?” The Chorus’ voice hadn’t changed, but Hob could imagine their annoyance from behind their blank masks.

Blemish looked up at the Chorus, and Hob knew as well as everyone else in the room that thanks to Rue’s argument the Goblin Court could demand nearly anyone now with the threat of war in the air, and the Chorus would likely accept it. Apart from their precious Prince, they had no one they would protect from the disgrace of a goblin marriage.

“Your Prince is dead, and your nobles hold no true power with you. Therefore your court’s worth is in status.” Blemish’s greedy eyes slid from the Chorus to Rue, and he grinned smugly, “We demand the illustrious Mistrex of the Bloom. The jewel of your court.”

Hob’s heart seized in his chest. He knew this was some power play from Blemish and Boil. They were correct that the nobles of the Court of Wonder were figureheads in their own political structure, but he knew the real reason Blemish and Boil had chosen Rue was to humiliate the Court of Wonder. To take the jewel of their court who had refused marriage proposals for millennia, the very image of Wonder and wed them to a lowborn goblin would be a blow for the Court of Wonder, and it made Hob sick to think of them debasing Rue in such a way.

“Agreed.” The Chorus said, almost a shade too quickly.

Hob narrowed his eyes at them, it was the first time in the whole meeting where they had faltered in their image of perfection. Why were they so eager to fall into Blemish and Boil’s obvious trap?

Hob saw BINX wince, and he realised with horror that Rue had been planning to leave the Court of Wonder, they had planned to accept BINX’s offer. Hob would not only be trapping them in a marriage with him, but trapping them within the Court they hated.

“Rue.” He said insistently, he turned his back on Blemish, Boil, and the Chorus, and lowered his voice to a whisper, “If you left the Court of Wonder as I suspect you had been planning, you would no longer be considered as a candidate, you would not have to have your hand forced.”

“I will not abandon you to this fate.” Rue whispered back, they threaded their hand with his and squeezed.

“When you spoke in the tailor’s shop,” Hob’s voice was barely above a whisper, and BINX had started loudly asking questions to cover up their conversation, “You said that you felt alone. Know that if we are to be married, I shall be by your side, and you will never know a lonely day again as long as I draw breath.”

Rue’s breath caught and they swayed towards him briefly before they gathered both his hands in their grasp and lightly knocked their forehead into his.

“We will be okay. We have each other.” Rue said softly, and Hob thought they were likely reassuring themselves.

Hob repeated it back to them, and he watched as a small tear escaped their eye before immediately being absorbed in their fur, if they hadn’t been standing with their foreheads pressed together, he doubted he would have seen it.

Rue cleared their throat, and positioned the two of them so they were side by side facing towards the room.

“Then it’s settled.” They said, “Major Hob and I shall wed.”

*

If Hob hadn’t known that the wedding was arranged, he never would have been able to tell from Rue’s behaviour. They threw themselves into planning a small but perfect wedding within the day. The Goblin and Wonder courts wished the marriage to happen by the end of the day, only allowing enough time for the alliance to be written up, most of it had already been done for Grabalba and Apollo before Rue had stopped it in its tracks. Hob doubted even the ever prepared Rue could have foreseen they would be taking Apollo’s place in such an event.

They set to work fashioning a dress from several they already had, and got BINX and Andhera to work on crafting decorations. Squak and Chirp were in charge of arranging out the seats for the ceremony, and the after party. It was far more than Hob expected, most arranged marriages either happened in a room with the bare minimum number of people required to sign the paperwork, or they were lavish and grand affairs often heralding the end of war between two courts. This seemed to be settling somewhere in between the two, the Chorus wanted it done as secretly as possible, and the Goblin Court wanted it as public as possible.

The Bloom was technically over, and so most courts had departed, however, Lady Chirp’s African Greys had been dispatched to every court to invite a select number of their highest representatives to witness the joining of Goblin and Wonder. Most courts had replied that they would send two or three, as a gesture of goodwill, but it would still be a small affair. Hob didn’t really see the point in so much effort for so few people, but if it was what Rue wanted for their wedding then Hob was going to make sure he did everything in his power to get it for them.

He spent hours ordering salt goblins to fetch flowers from the woods and directed them to make garlands and wreaths, he helped organise the food and the musicians, thanks to Rue’s endless preparations, the fey doing these tasks for the Bloom were always prepared for one more event, or one more hiccup, and got to their tasks with delight, always willing to help the overworked Mistrex.

A couple of hours before the ceremony Grabalba physically dragged him to her room and demanded he stopped working. She shoved him into a bath big enough for him, he had no idea why she would need one this big and he didn’t ask, it probably involved details of sexual exploits he didn’t want to know. She told him she would be back in half an hour so he better be ready by then, and then left him alone in a bath that smelled of lavender for some reason.

He pushed the bubbles around in the bath as the scent soaked into his fur. It was a popular myth that goblins did not wash, of course they did, but they generally had quite sensitive noses, and so natural smells like mud, rain soaked leaves, and wood smoke were more appealing than manufactured ones that often came in perfumes and bath soaks. Despite his sensitive sense of smell, Hob had often preferred the scent of flowers, and recently had developed an unsurprising fondness for peonies in particular.

It therefore astonished him that Grabalba had an extensive collection of bath scents and oils, she had them in a lockbox that she had pulled from the bottom of a trunk. He wondered if she secretly enjoyed them. He knew she enjoyed fine wines and silks, and had secretly been excited for joining the Court of Wonder, despite it meaning being wed to Apollo. It confused him because she was one of the most goblin like goblins he knew. She was brash, and feral, and unapologetic about it, to consider she also enjoyed delicacies and finery was at odds with that.

Hob dipped his head under the water. Just one more thing he didn’t understand. Like how courts could have rules and no rules, or how one could enjoy two seemingly contrasting things. How he wanted to marry Rue more than anything but was also considering fleeing to the Mortal Realm to not marry them.

How could Hob begin to try and understand other fey and their motivations for things when he didn’t even understand himself and his own?

He tried to focus on getting himself clean, scrubbing any mud and leaves out of his fur. He remembered complaining to his father about how he liked playing in the mud but didn’t like that it got stuck in his fur, until he’d come home one day to find his father had bought him a jacket and shorts. Hob had paraded around proudly in them, much to the confusion of other fey. Most goblins covered in fur or scales or spikes didn’t bother with clothes unless it was for formal occasions. Hob enjoyed his though, and when he joined the army, he had fashioned his own military jacket, though to conform to the military dress code he had to forego pants.

Eventually he dragged himself out of the bath and dried himself as best he could, brushing out his fur so it didn’t dry the wrong way.

Grabalba came bustling back in with a bundle of cloth gripped in her hand.

“I didn’t have much time so I just decorated the outfit you wore at the ball.” Grabalba dropped the outfit on the bed and he could see she had added pinned ribbons to create a quick effect of ruffles and a few twinkling gems studded on top of the nearly invisible pins.

“Thank you,” Hob said, he had looked after Grabalba for the majority of her life and had watched her grow up, for the most part. He had assumed he would be helping her get ready for her wedding day, rather than the other way around.

Grabalba waved him off but he could see she was pleased.

Hob hesitated, but eventually decided that Grabalba should know, “It wasn’t your fault that the engagement between yourself and Apollo was called off,”

Grabalba looked at him curiously, “What?”

“I was thinking how I was expecting to help you wed first, and how our roles are now reversed. I just wanted you to know that you weren’t the reason the engagement was cancelled,”

Grabalba pulled at him until he knelt and then squeezed his cheeks between her hands, turning his head this way and that, looking for something in his expression, “Did you- Hob did you find who cancelled the engagement?”

Hob remained silent.

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” Grabalba kept poking him, likely to ensure he wasn’t an imposter using illusion magic, “The only reason you wouldn’t tell is if- was it Rue?” She asked in disbelief.

Hob started trying to back himself out of the corner he’d made for himself, he’d only meant to try and reassure Grabalba as she’d been so despondent after the cancelled engagement, he’d worried at first that she’d actually been in love with Apollo, but he suspected more recently that all the chuckled whispers of Grabalba being the problem or unweddable did not bounce off her as easily as they had all assumed.

“I only meant-”

“Why did they do it then?”

“Grabalba,”

“Tell me?”

Grabalba looked so young as she stared up at him, the tiny sharp claws at the end of her fingers digging into his skin.

“I believe they were unsatisfied with a political match, rather than a love match, between the two courts, and after their experience of being forced into a glamour they feared what the Court of Wonder might do to you.”

Grabalba thought about this for a while, Hob wondered if he would still have indents of claws on his cheeks this evening if Grabalba didn’t stop pinching his face.

“When did you find out?”

“Last night.” Hob often mused how fey time was so odd. Barely a day ago he’d found out Rue didn’t love him, Apollo had shot him, and he had been heading off to the theatre to meet Lady Sylmenar for the first time.

Grabalba patted his cheek, “I will speak to Rue but thank you for telling me.”

“You won’t tell Lord Blemish or Lady Boil?”

Grabalba gave him a withering look, “I think you’d prefer your spouse in one piece. No, I just want to speak with Rue on the matter, make my peace with them. I think if I didn’t have Fable I might find it harder to forgive them, but it’s hard to hold onto anger when everything has turned out for the best,”

“Not for Rue,” Hob muttered.

Grabalba frowned at him, “You’re both heading into a marriage where you know each other and get along, it’s more than most get. Besides, you can’t fool me, I know you’re in love with them,”

“I-How?” He thought he had been doing a relatively good job at hiding his feelings, at least from those in his own court.

“I love you Hobby, but you are a bit of a bloodhound when it comes to your court’s honour. There’s only one reason you wouldn’t have turned Rue in after you found out.”

Hob sighed, he couldn’t deny that his feelings for Rue played a larger part in his reaction than his opinion on their reasoning.

Grabalba kissed his cheek and then patted it, “I hope you’re happy, truly, and Rue’s more fun than a Seelie Lady anyway. Besides when you get sick of Wonder you can come party with us,”

“Actually, that’s something I hadn’t thought of,” Hob said, and Grabalba’s eyes lit up, “I will need to visit my home to fetch my belongings, or at least get someone to pack them up and send them to Rue’s home. I’ll need to find Gorebladder before-”

Grabalba sighed, her hopes of getting Hob to party dissipating, “Oh Hob, never change,”

She bounced out of the room, lighter than when she came in, although now she had a dangerous glint in her eye that meant Rue was likely in for a goblin tradition of settling old anger through wrestling and drinking.

He dressed and spent far too much time tweaking the additional pieces on his uniform jacket, far fancier than anything he had ever worn before.

A knock sounded at the door and Hob startled, he didn’t think anyone knew he was getting ready in Grabalba’s room. He dearly hoped it wasn’t Fable looking for a late afternoon entertainment.

“Enter.”

At least that way, Fable would have a chance to turn tail if he thought Grabalba had a chaperone.

Instead, Rue opened the door and grinned at him, “You look divine,”

Hob blushed, they had said much the same at the ball. He could almost feel a phantom peony behind his ear, and the warm tingling feeling in his chest of feeling pretty and desirable for the first time.

“You look radiant as always,” Hob stumbled, gesturing to their dress. It was a light pink and seemed to float in layers that swished around them. It looked so soft, and Hob’s fingers twitched with the urge to touch.

Rue stepped up to him and smoothed out the last remaining wrinkles that Grabalba had created bringing it to him.

“I hope you don’t mind my stopping by, Grabalba told me you were here,”

“You have spoken to Grabalba?” How long had he been fussing with his clothes?

“She came and found me and invited me to a brawl and a drink the next time we are near the Goblin Court,”

Hob worried that Rue was under the mistaken apprehension that it was a pleasant invite, “About that-”

“Don’t worry, I know it’s her form of demanding satisfaction, and I shall uphold it.”

Hob nodded, “I can teach you all of her tricks, she fights dirty, and it will likely be until first blood.”

Rue laughed, “Sounds like a delightful evening. I did wish to ask you something before the wedding.” They hesitated and distracted themselves with a loose thread on their shawl.

“Anything,” Hob said, when it seemed like their resolve was wavering.

“I just wanted to check, one final time, about whether your love would suit as a replacement-” Rue could see Hob’s protests forming but they continued speaking, “If they are in the Court of Wonder, you could marry them instead, I could speak to Blemish and Boil- Hob, I refuse to believe whoever you gave your heart to does not cherish it, and I worry you are doing this out of honour and not because there isn’t a chance with them-”

“Rue, if you don’t wish to marry me, then you are free to leave for the Court of Craft, or wherever you wish. In fact, I encourage it, the Chorus will be satisfied with me in bound service to them-”

“I refuse to leave you at their mercy, and in bound service no less, marriage is the best alternative.”

“Then we are at a stalemate.”

Rue huffed, “I know after the confession I sent the morning after the ball and my part in breaking off the first Wonder-Goblin alliance, and the fact that I was the one who suggested this that you may be hesitant to trust me but I swear to you I would not have suggested this unless it was the only option.”

“Rue that’s not-” Hob was trying to sort through what they were saying, trying to work out what confession they had sent, perhaps a confession about their part in the broken engagement? However, they were talking quickly and they just kept going.

“I want you to be happy, if they are of Wonder I could persuade Blemish and Boil to switch me out for your love, and if they are not then, you are free to conduct your affair in the knowledge that I will never say a word, and the alliance will still stand.”

Hob tried not to show his disgust for the idea. It was best that Rue kept thinking he was in love with another, and not with them. He knew their feelings for him on the matter, and was baffled by their continued disbelief at someone not returning his affections. However, he was wholly ill equipped to continue a long term charade such as having an affair, and he would not let anyone think of Rue poorly if a rumour starting circulating.

“I will be making a vow to be faithful to you today. I will always uphold it.” Hob said, with all the gravitas it deserved. Marriage vows were not binding in fey, but only because so many had extra martial affairs. Despite if both parties knew, it had been decided long ago to avoid the fuss that came with more official vows. Although Hob had never taken a vow lightly in his life and he didn’t intend to start now.

Rue’s gaze softened and they ran a hand lightly down his arm, “You are the most honourable fey I have ever met, and therefore I release you from any promises you make today and leave you free to follow your heart.”

The kind and selfless nature of their words pierced his heart, and Hob tried not to cry. This was more than he could have hoped for, he shouldn’t want more.

 

*

The wedding was perfectly picturesque for everyone who could not hear Hob’s heart tearing itself to pieces in his chest. The ceremony was draped in soft pinks and light browns, it made Hob think of wild flowers in the woods.

They followed the Court of Wonder traditions, mostly because the Goblin Court didn’t have any traditions, didn’t even have marriage unless it was to ally themselves with fey from other courts. In the Goblin Court you just partnered up, or grouped up, no ceremony or anything official. No rules, no traditions, just chaos. It was a wonder they hadn’t collapsed before now. Though there was structure there, a hierarchy and values, they abided by the rules of other courts for alliances.

Hob hoped the Court of Wonder would have more straightforward rules, he thought there were probably a lot of them, but that they would at least not contradict themselves fundamentally by having him follow rules in a rule-less society.

When they made their vows Hob thought back to Rue’s words, they hadn’t strayed far from his mind since they’d been spoken. He should have offered them the same in kind, and he would at the first opportunity, but then the after party was in full swing, most of this had been organised by the combined force of the Lords of the Wing and Grabalba.

Hob watched Grabalba dancing with Fable, and BINX and Andhera dancing, Squak had somehow managed to get Jeremy Renner as his date and the two were doing something completely lewd in a corner. Chirp was spiking the drinks while her birds flew around sharing gossip.

He turned to look at Rue, only to find them already looking at him. Did they think he was scanning the dance floor for his love?

“Would you like to dance?” He asked. They had danced together at the ball, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think they might want to dance with him again, though that was when he was still operating under the laughable hope that they might reciprocate his feelings. He knew he wouldn’t get swept away by the moment again but he was weak and wanted any chance to hold them.

Rue smiled and led him out to dance, they did not hold themselves as close against him this time, nor did they linger in his arms when the dance was over. It was perfectly proper, far less scandalous than their five dances together the other night.

It had only been two days ago, and now they were wed. It felt like a lifetime ago.

“Did you wish to discuss arrangements?” Rue asked, there was an odd hesitation in their voice. They had retired from the dance floor after only two dances and were now both holding refreshments they wouldn’t drink.

“Tomorrow.” Hob said, “You should enjoy your hard work tonight. A truly remarkable feat to put all of this together in under a day.”

Rue nodded and started mingling with the guests from other courts.

Hob’s eyes followed them around the room for the rest of the night.

 

*

Tomorrow dawned as surely as it always did, despite Hob’s futile wish that for once it might surprise them all.

As the end of the Bloom had been the day before, the Goblin Pagoda had mostly been cleared, only leaving a few tents in the woods to sleep in for those who attended the wedding. Hob had retreated back to his own tent on his wedding night, wanting to give Rue one final night of space before he couldn’t anymore.

He rose with the sun as he always did, and knew the Goblin Court would only linger here for as long as it took them to wake up. He had until noon to sort everything.

He started by packing up his remaining belongings into his trunk, which he then hefted onto his shoulders and set about tracking down Gorebladder for instructions on sending on his belongings from home. Hob would miss his swamp home, miles out from most of the other goblin homes it was peaceful, organised to his liking, and pristine.

He still thought his habits might be too grubby for the Court of Wonder.

After locating Gorebladder, he carried his trunk towards Rue’s room, pausing halfway there. Rue often stayed on to make sure every thing at the Bloom was dismantled before returning to their court. Would they expect Hob to head to their home without them, and follow him there in a few weeks time? Or would they wish him to stay here? He couldn’t imagine they would want him living in their private belongings without them there, but he would also be constantly underfoot while they went about their business if he stayed with them.

The trunk on his back was getting heavier and he didn’t know whether to continue taking it to Rue’s rooms or leave it with an attendant manning the transportation circle to the Court of Wonder.

Perhaps he and Rue should have spoken about arrangements last night after all. He decided he would simply ask Rue, they hadn’t spoken about what they were doing and so Hob was simply wasting time trying to guess Rue’s thoughts. He did regret that it was so early, but throughout the Bloom he’d often seen Rue up and organising just passed sunrise.

He was correct and when he approached the door to Rue’s room he could hear them moving around. They lived in one of the towers during the Bloom, which acted as apartments rather than a singular room. He had not seen them himself but BINX had mentioned the workroom that Rue had in their apartments. Hob wondered if there was a small second bedroom in there but he doubted it. He had a bedroll and blankets, he could sleep in the workroom perhaps.

He rapped on the door, and the movement behind it paused.

“Who is it?”

“Major Hob.”

Rue opened the door and smiled indulgently at him, “I think we’re a little passed titles now,” they ushered him in and shut the door behind him quickly. Hob didn’t think there was anyone about to see them at this hour, and even if they did it was hardly inappropriate anymore.

“Good night?” Rue asked, their tone was strained but they were looking at him encouragingly.

Did they think he had spent the night with his love? Hob wasn’t sure whether it was better for them to think he had or to tell them the truth.

“Indeed. The wedding was wonderful, your planning skills are unparalleled.” Hob said, and then continued before they could correct him, “I hope it is not too forward but I’ve brought my belongings. The Goblin Court will leave when they awaken, and are likely to take anything left behind. Though I was unsure of whether I am remaining here with you or heading straight to the Court of Wonder.”

Rue directed him out of their workroom and up a short flight of stairs to their bedroom and told him to put the trunk at the foot of the bed.

“Unless you wish to leave for the Court of Wonder, I was going to suggest you remained here, Court is an- unpleasant place to weather alone.”

Hob nodded, relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with high society on his own, with no one to tell him the rules and an unending string of judgemental eyes.

“I should like to remain here.”

Rue’s feathers puffed up slightly and Hob got the impression they were pleased.

“Excellent, to be completely honest with you it normally does not take too long to remove everything, however, I normally stay for a few weeks before I am needed back in Court,”

Hob nodded, this was Rue’s version of long patrols to avoid the bonfire rumpus, “I am happy to assist in any way you desire.”

Rue’s beak tapped together nervously, “Well, I mostly oversee everything being dismantled, there is not a lot to do in that sense. You could enjoy some well deserved time off,”

Hob frowned in confusion, he had no idea if they were serious or trying to hint at something. He was going to have to get used to trying to read between people’s words to look for their meaning.

“What do you do to relax?” Rue prompted, and Hob realised they were being serious about time off.

Hob paused, “I don’t know.”

“What do you do when you’re not working?” Rue gave him a second and then when no answer was incoming they continued, “Hobbies?”

“I enjoy sparring,”

Rue nodded, “Anything else?”

“Riding.” Hob rarely got chance to ride outside of battle and patrols but he thought he’d enjoy it in theory.

“Very well,” Rue seemed to make a mental note. Hob noticed they did it a lot, like they organised their off time as meticulously as the Bloom.

“I suppose until the Chorus have their orders for me I shall have to fill the time somehow.”

Rue’s face darkened at the mention of the Chorus but they patted his chest, “Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to relax,” they coughed awkwardly and then removed their hand, “by indulging in hobbies, I mean.”

Hob nodded, he wasn’t sure what else they could have meant, “And yourself? What are your hobbies?”

“Oh, well I’m sure you’ve noticed my love of dress making, I also enjoy nature, I could spend hours walking through the woods here, there aren’t any in court so I have to take my fill here,”

“A woodland walk sounds marvellous, may I be permitted to join you, or is it a hobby you prefer to enjoy in solitude?”

“Company would be most appreciated, though I stay longer than I need to here to avoid court, it does often get lonely. It will be a pleasant change to have someone else here,”

“Does Wuvvy not assist you?”

“I always encourage Wuvvy to use these few weeks to return to the Court of Hoof and Claw, visit family and friends who couldn’t attend the Bloom, she left with her court yesterday,”

Hob was surprised he hadn’t seen her at the wedding, though perhaps she had left by the time the invitations went out. Only a Count and Theodore had stayed from that court before leaving last night after the ceremony.

“So what needs to be done?”

“Tomorrow all the decorations and outdoor furniture are removed, and then I start removing any enchantments, you’re welcome to join me, although it’s quite boring. We could go for a stroll in the afternoon?”

“Delightful. Does anything need to be done today?”

Rue’s hands twitched nervously at their sides, “No, I have been informed that we have the day off by the Chorus. They said they will see off the remaining courts in my stead.”

“Why?” Hob noticed that Rue didn’t seem entirely comfortable with the situation as it stood.

“Well, the morning after one’s wedding- they informed me that no one will be expecting to see us today.” Rue coughed awkwardly.

“Ah.” The Chorus still wanted to uphold this as a love match, as parading it as political only shone them in a poor light for having to stoop so low as to match with Hob.

“I thought perhaps we could sort through some of the gifts we received from yesterday, in case you wanted to keep any in particular.”

Hob nodded, courts often brought multiple items for the express purpose of gifting them should matches arise during the Bloom, given their last minute wedding at the end of the Bloom, Hob had no doubt they had received whatever was left.

“There is one that is addressed only to you.” Rue said quietly, trying to gauge his reaction.

Hob knew they thought it was from whomever he was in love with, but given that he was in love with Rue, he had no idea why there would be a gift addressed solely to him. Rue went and grabbed it, handing it over before busying themselves by neatening the sheets on the bed, giving him some privacy to open it.

He opened it carefully, not sure what to expect, and found a smooth black stone with a white line embedded in a perfect circle around it. He expected it to feel cool to the touch but it was warm, as if it had been lying in the sun for hours. He unfolded the note that came with it.

Dear Major K.P. Hob,
I offer my sincere congratulations on your love match. I wish to extend an invitation to yourself and Mistrex Rue to join me for tea whenever you are near the Seelie Court.

I have included a wishing stone as my wedding gift to you and Mistrex Rue. In the Seelie Court these stones are considered to bring great luck to those who possess one. I hope it brings you every happiness in your marriage.

Best wishes,
Lady Sylmenar.

Hob turned the stone over in his hand several times, following the white line, which connected to itself perfectly. He wondered if it would truly bring him luck, sometimes fey gifts truthfully held magic and other times they were simply stories they would tell each other.

If it truly brought good luck then perhaps it would get Rue to stop trying to set him up with themselves.

“We have an invitation to join Lady Sylmenar for tea when we are near the Seelie Court,” Hob held out the letter for Rue to read if they wished, but they didn’t take it. Instead they were looking between Hob and the stone in his hand.

“Hob, Lady Sylmenar wasn’t- she wasn’t who you-”

“No.” Hob said quickly, and Rue breathed a sigh of relief. The wishing stone was clearly just a rock.

“I hadn’t thought so, but the gift was for you alone so-”

“She says it is for us both, though I think it was a gesture of good faith, to show there are no hard feelings for breaking off the match,”

Rue took the letter and read through it, nodding. They were clearly adding it to some schedule of visiting that they had already started compiling. Hob would ask them to add Unseelie and Craft to the list but he knew they would already be on there, he would like to visit Goblin again at some point, if only to show them around the woods. The woods around the Goblin Court were unrivalled by any other court, and the thing that Hob would miss the most.

“Did you want to go through the other gifts?” Rue asked, handing him back the letter.

He nodded, if they were expected to be hidden away in Rue’s room all day they may as well be productive.

Oddly Hob ended up with more of the gifts, simply because of his fascination with anything magical. Rue had seen many of the enchantments before, and like Hob had suspected were the least impressive and last remaining gifts the courts had. However, Hob was captivated by them. The Court of Seafoam had gifted them a shell that sung lullabies when held to an ear. The Deepwater Court had given them a small crystal ball that seemed to roil with dark waters, and occasionally a small creature from the deep could be seen swimming through before disappearing.

The Court of Hoof and Claw had given them matching daggers, which Rue had handed theirs over to him anyway as they said they were more likely to injure themselves than anyone else. They had received a Cloak of Displacement from the Trickster Court, and a Ring of Weight from the Court of Stone, and from the Lords of the Wing they had gotten a copy of the Green Hunter signed by Airry Pearry and a box filled with drugs and sex toys. Hob had closed it again quickly and pushed it out of reach, glad his fur covered his flushed face.

BINX had gifted them a patchwork blanket in the same pink and brown colours that had been in the wedding, which Rue had immediately added on top of the covers on the bed, and Andhera had given them two obsidian looking rocks with a note that said ‘some rock buds for you! (also they’re sending stones so you can always talk to each other)’.

Hob smiled sadly, thinking of a young Andhera alone in the dark caves of his court wishing for someone else to talk to. He would have to ask Rue if there was a long distance method of communication they could set up, he usually relied on letters, but if there were magical alternatives that would be quicker it would be preferable. Although he didn’t want to be using them as a messenger if the only option was a Sending spell.

Rue hummed to themselves as they started clearing away the boxes they had unpacked everything from. Hob noticed that he had ended up with most of the gifts simply because Rue hadn’t been interested in them, though it did seem unfair. He was reminded of the fact that he had yet to present them with a wedding gift himself. Or even make it.

Hob decided he would spend his day inside doing just that, although he would need some supplies, “Do you have any wood in your rooms by any chance?”

Rue’s gaze fell onto the box containing the gift from the Lords of the Wing, which had some interestingly-shaped carved bits of wood, as well as some glass ones.

“I also have some logs for the fire in the sitting room,” Rue said, pointing back down the stairs to their workroom and living quarters.

“Thank you, I believe I shall use those.”

Hob stayed downstairs once he had the logs, rough cutting the wood before using a whittling knife to begin to craft his gift. He knew if Rue found the magical gifts from the other courts mundane then they would find his attempt at a gift pitifully plain, however, it was tradition and Hob refused to not get them something just because it might hurt his own pride when they didn’t like it.

He spent most of the day working on it, Rue had followed him downstairs but had stayed in their workroom working on their own projects, and after a few hours Hob found he had a wooden cup. The sides were smooth and there was no handle, and he had engraved a woodland ringing around it with two figures walking through, vaguely owlbear and bugbear shaped.

Hob remembered the one his father had, ringed with two warriors in different battle stances. When Hob had been younger he used to twirl it around and watch the two figures come to life fighting. Hob’s mother had fallen in battle when he’d been too young to remember, but his father had used his wedding cup every day.

It was one of those odd non-traditions that the Goblin Court had, everybody did it but no one called it a tradition, for fear of being labelled a rule maker.

Now he just had to present it to Rue, which was easier said than done. He took a deep breath in and held it for as long as he could, knowing he would have to complete his task when he exhaled. Bugbears had quite the lung capacity but even he had to admit defeat after a few minutes.

He hovered in the doorway to Rue’s workroom. They had a large sized set of apartments, presumably second only to the Chorus and Apollo, as they were here before everyone else and long after. The entryway led into the sitting room where he’d been, which was attached to the workroom through one door and a small kitchenette through another, then a spiral staircase leading up to the bedroom and its own small offshoots containing a wardrobe and a bath respectively. It was about the size of Hob’s home, and he wondered what Rue’s home was like, or if they lived in the palace with the Chorus.

He cleared his throat to catch Rue’s attention, and they jumped slightly in surprise. A hand placed on their chest to calm their heart.

“You move incredibly quietly,” Rue grinned, mostly out of embarrassment.

“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you.”

“I forget how good at sneaking you are,”

Hob could feel a flush rising on his cheeks at the compliment, although he had always been surprisingly good at sneakery given his stature, more so than any of the other goblin values. He supposed it came from a childhood of hiding from others.

“Unintentional sneaking I assure you. I- have a gift for you,” He pushed through the latter half of the sentence, not wanting to loose his nerve while he still fleetingly had it.

“A gift?”

“A wedding gift. The Goblin Court has a- well, not truly a tradition as goblins have no formalised traditions, but it is the done thing.”

He wondered if Rue would ask about the traditional non tradition, Hob had no idea how to explain how something both was and wasn’t a thing, he didn’t understand it himself. Rue just nodded as though it made perfect sense, Hob wanted to ask them to explain it to him but he didn’t want to appear foolish.

“I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you-”

Hob shook his head, “There is no need, and it is nothing extravagant but I should like to give it all the same,” he held out the carved cup and placed it in Rue’s hands, he was pleased to see it fit well in their hands, just as large and clawed as his own.

“Did you carve this just now?”

“Yes, apologies with the haste of the wedding it had slipped my mind to complete it before,”

“Hob this is amazing, I can’t believe you did this just now, it looks like it would have taken much longer,”

Hob’s fear cleared as he realised Rue was trying to compliment him on his efficiency and not berate him for his lack of thought.

“Ah, well I have always been good with my hands.”

Rue gave him an odd look before busying themselves with examining the cup, “It’s beautiful,” they lightly traced the carving of the two figures, “Thank you, I shall treasure it,”

Hob nodded, “Oh, I should-” he cleared his throat and stood up straight, “May our cups and hearts be full, our minds full of mischief, and our lives never dull.”

“That is a very formal non tradition,” Rue teased, thankfully gliding over Hob’s stumble over the word ‘hearts’.

“It is to be given with the intention of being full of food and drink, but also if there are ever hard times it can also be burned on a bonfire.”

Hob remembered the first Unseelie war that his grandparents had fought in, provisions and morale had been low and the Goblin King at the time had demanded every wedding cup be burned to keep their eternal bonfire going. They had done it to preserve the fire, but they’d also thrown the Goblin King on there too, and replaced both him and the cups after the war had finished.

It meant Hob’s grandparents cup was nearly as new looking as his parents’. He wondered if Rue would allow him to put them out for use in his new home, how much of a space would he be able to carve out for himself?

“And are they to be used for day to day use? Or displayed?”

“Day to day, although I understand if it is not to your taste, I’m sure you have a curated aesthetic to your home,”

Rue stared at the cup for a long time, “It’s nice to be able to use it. The Court of Wonder, and many of the other courts,” Rue gestures to the gifts they had received for the wedding, “are made to be looked at but they are not practical, most will sit and gather dust. It will nice to be able to use this,”

Hob thought about the only wedding gifts Rue had been excited about, BINX’s blanket and Andhera’s sending stones, arguably the only two that Rue would have use for. Hob was pointedly not thinking about the Lords of the Wing’s gift. Even the magical cloak and ring from Trickster and Stone, while interesting, couldn’t be used day to day unless in battle or exploration. Perhaps if BINX went to the Mortal Realm they could gift them to her.

“I’m glad you like it.”

Rue held the cup to their chest, “Thank you,”

Hob held their gaze for as long as he dared, trying to read whatever emotion Rue was conveying through their large, black eyes.

“It’s getting late, I will prepare for bed,” Hob said, and hurried off to change, cursing himself for not asking about whether they would prefer he slept in the sitting room or the workroom.

He changed into some sleeping trousers from his trunk in the bedroom and made his way back into the sitting room, where there was a bookcase filled with books.

Hob had noticed that while the rooms themselves were filled with white walls and marble as the rest of the Court of Wonder rooms were, that Rue had draped colourful and soft blankets everywhere, and stylish wall hangings, the walls were covered by shelves filled with belongings. It was too colour coordinated and organised to be exactly like home, but the fullness of the rooms was comforting.

Hob selected a book at random after looking through all of them and figuring out there was a broad array of genres displayed, there were romance books like The Green Hunter, there were instructional books on topics about origami, calligraphy, table displays, and flower arrangements, there were history books and books about different courts, about histories between courts, there were speculative fiction books and mystery books. The one Hob picked out turned out to be a battered copy of children’s tales from the Material Plane.

He sat down and started reading.

 

*

 

Hours passed without Hob realising and he was swept up in tales of thornless roses, crying paintings, carved trunks, and even cautionary tales about the fey.

It wasn’t until he’d finished the book that he realised he’d spent all evening reading. He looked around to see Rue had left him out a plate of food and lit some candles for him. He hadn’t even heard them moving about the room.

He quickly ate and was about to settle down when he realised that his bedroll and blankets were still in his trunk in Rue’s room. He thought about just curling up in the armchair to sleep, but while it was made for a seven foot tall being to comfortable sit in, it would still be a squish to fit all his limbs on it to sleep. He decided first to see if Rue was still awake, if they weren’t he would just sleep on the floor by the fire.

He crept up the staircase and lightly knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Rue said, they didn’t sound as though they had just woken up.

Hob pushed the door open and saw they were already in bed, also reading. They smiled when they saw him and pulled back the covers next to them. Hob noticed they were over on one side of the bed.

“I thought you might be reading all night,” Rue patted the bed next to them, “Though it is one of my favourites,”

Hob hesitantly shuffled over to the bed, “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I can sleep on the floor if you wish, I only came in to grab my bedroll-”

“Oh, well we don’t have to share, I can fetch another mattress in if you like, but I don’t have much room back in Court so we’ll likely have to share at some point.”

“Are you comfortable with that?” Hob would happily sleep on floors for the rest of his life if Rue wasn’t comfortable sharing. He had learned his lesson about pushing his affection onto them after the Hart Hunt, and after the ball Rue’s overheard words had reinforced the lesson he had been in danger of forgetting. Never again.

Rue just patted the bed again, “Get in, and tell me what you thought of the book?”

Hob hesitantly slid into the bed, making sure that he didn’t crowd against them, “I enjoyed it, although I am unsure about the ending of the one about the crying painting, did the woman triumph in the end or did the painter?”

“I quite like that one, I like to think she found peace, though the painter is certainly the antagonist,”

The two of them talked about some of the stories, Rue’s favourite was the one about the thornless rose, and they told Hob about how it how comforted them when they’d had to wear a glamour, a reminder that it was often beneficial to be underestimated because of looks.

Eventually they drifted off, and due to the easy conversation between them Hob forgot to be nervous about sharing their bed.

*

The next morning Hob woke to a weight down his left side and found during the night Rue had migrated over to his side of the bed, flinging an arm and leg over his waist and thigh. Hob found himself in the unusual position of actually being pinned. Rue wasn’t trying to actively grapple him, so he could escape but not easily without waking them.

Rue let out a soft sigh, as if they could hear his internal debate, and buried their face further into his neck. Hob selfishly decided to lay still for a little longer, to enjoy any scrap of affection that he could receive, any give any comfort he could offer.

He revelled in the soft brush of feathers and the intimacy of feeling Rue’s breath against his neck. He wasn’t sure how long he led there for, feytime stretching out the minutes for him, before Rue started shifting and eventually woke up.

They jerked slightly in surprise before gracefully slipping back over to their side of the bed.

“Apologies for not remaining on my own side,” they said, looking embarrassed, “You would think millennia without touching anyone would have ingrained a habit,”

Hob tried to puzzle through what they meant. How could one go through millennia without touching another? Hob had no close friends or family, but he still regularly touched people and had people touch him. Salt goblins climbed over him constantly, Grabalba would pat him on the shoulder, or at least, his hip where she could reach. He sparred with other goblins, and more recently Andhera would throw their arm around him, or BINX would excitedly grabbed his arm when a plan of theirs worked.

He had heard so many good things about Rue, how personable they were and willing to go to any lengths to help someone. He had heard endlessly about their radiance, and wonder, and everything else that the Court of Wonder promoted. He realised with dawning horror that he had never seen anyone touch them, they were always two steps back, or wearing an architectural masterpiece of a dress that did not allow anyone within five feet of them.

“You cannot touch people?”

Rue looked surprised, and then caught themselves, “Ah, I often forget that magic is not commonplace among the Goblin Court. My glamour was illusory magic, and would not hold up to physical touch. You see now why I had to bat your hand away during the Hart Hunt, I am sorry for that by the way, I simply wasn’t ready to reveal myself at the time,”

Hob’s world tilted on its side momentarily, and when it fell back into place he thought back to the Hart Hunt. He had thought of it often but always focused on what he perceived as his own misstep, now it was reframed with context from Rue. He remembered their words ‘I deeply wanted to have a moment where I could connect with you, I realise it’s just not possible’. At the time he had thought it was because of a fault on his part, knowing now it was due to their own hesitancy in revealing themselves.

“Rue, I did not realise, I thought I had offended you. But then why did the duel-” Hob paused, Wuvvy had refused to tell him the reasoning for the duel, would Rue also deny him the knowledge?

“It was an argument between myself and Wuvvy, I-” Rue paused, and then looked at Hob somewhat sadly, “I suppose I can be honest with you, now that all my cards are on the table. I wrote a letter to you that I wasn’t yet ready to send, I told Wuvvy to burn it, and when she refused, I used magic on her to compel her to do it.”

“So you did not send her to demand satisfaction?”

Rue shook their head emphatically, “No, truly I didn’t even know she had gone to you. She would never demand satisfaction from me, so she took out her anger at me on you,”

Hob felt a knot of worry in his chest unravel, one he didn’t even know he had been holding on to. He thought if he ever managed to unravel all of them he might be able to relax for once, his shoulders might be able to slump once they were free of the weight.

“What did the letter contain?”

Rue fiddled with their hands, “I wished to let you know the profound effect you had on me, seeing you made me want to be brave and reveal myself but I was still warring with myself, I had only know you for a day, and the letter was full of doubts and hesitation.”

“You wanted to reveal yourself because of me?” The words came haltingly out of Hob’s mouth, as if they couldn’t believe that particular string of words were correct either.

“In part, it was something I had been thinking about for a long time, and seeing as there was a chance this would be the last Bloom, I had decided to take the jump but I was still hesitating, I told myself I was going to do it at the beginning of the Bloom, and then I didn’t. Seeing you being yourself unapologetically was incredible, a goblin trait that I think more of us should strive to emulate.”

Hob gave a low chuckle, “I think that is the first time someone has praised me with the honour of being like a goblin,”

Rue frowned, “I know you believe your honour and trust aren’t good qualities because of the values of your court, but you are also incredible at lots of more goblin like things, your sneakery! When you scared Wanessa, that was amazing!”

“Ah, thank you,” Hob said awkwardly, he wasn’t one for compliments but he knew Rue was just as stubborn as he was, and they would keep complimenting him until he accepted, so it was better to concede an early defeat than let the war of compliments drag on.

Though Rue still looked suspicious about Hob’s easy defeat. Perhaps next time he would put up a small amount of push back to make their victory sweeter. Goblins often did it as children when they liked another, letting their crush win fights and arguments to get to know them. Though if it was a mutual crush, fights tended to go back and forth on who won.

Hob decided to quickly avert Rue’s inevitable questions by changing the subject.

“So what is on the agenda today?”

*

They were supervising the clearing of the forest from drinks, potion bottles, and underwear that the fey had left scattered about throughout the forest during the Hart Hunt. It was mostly the lower fey from the Court of Wonder who were doing the actual finding and collecting in small satchels of holding, but Rue was there to help for any high level magical intervention.

So far there had been a sprite who’d taken up residence in an empty bottle of gin and was very aggressive about defending their new home, promising they weren’t trapped. A mouse who’d accidentally stepped in an abandoned ring of enlargement and then couldn’t get the ring off their newly massive foot. The mouse had ended up the size of a wolf and was terrorising its family by trying to dig into their mouse holes in the ground. There were also lot of summoned creatures, mostly fey in nature, but some beasts and monstrosities that would normally fade after a certain time but due to the amount of magic at the Bloom had been sustained.

Towards the end of the day Rue was exhausted and magically drained, Hob had also burned through quite a lot of his own non-magical resources, helping Rue contain or fight the creatures.

They were doing one final sweep of the forest to make sure it was clear and there were no new additions to the natural ecosystem, or endangered current ones.

“There was one Bloom, when a fey from the Trickster Court emptied an entire rack of potions into the stream and of course, all the animals were drinking from it, it took days to sort out all the lasting effects of that one.” Rue said as they wandered. Hob noticed their pace had slowed, and he couldn’t hear the lower fey running around.

He was becoming increasingly aware that they were approaching the clearing where he had made his perceived faux pas, although he now knew it had very little to do with him, and everything to do with Rue’s own internal battle.

Rue continued oblivious to where they were heading, and Hob was powerless to stop their trajectory without alerting Rue.

“It’s been much easier this Bloom to have your help, I wanted to thank you again, you didn’t have to come out and help me- oh,” Rue’s gaze swept around the clearing they found themselves in.

They lapsed into a brief silence that Hob wasn’t sure how to break, he was about to suggest they headed east back to their room when Rue spoke softly, “I wanted to join you in the tree you know.”

Hob made an involuntary noise of surprise.

Rue smiled. Hob thought their smile was incredible, despite the fact that their beak didn’t move he could see their cheeks rounding and the crinkles that formed around their eyes. Eyes that were wholly black that could still convey emotions like mirth. Hob found it beautiful that even a being not designed in any way to smile could still find a way to do so. It never failed to take his breath away.

It also gave him hope, as a creature who was designed for combat and war that he may be able to break his own mould, and explore softer pursuits.

“You truly wished to join me?”

Rue nodded, “Though I have spent millennia in this realm, some instincts are hard to shake. I tend to indulge when I am alone at the end of the Bloom, if you would wish to partake?”

Hob agreed eagerly, and the two of them started searching out for mud with all the eagerness of children. After finding some and sufficiently coating themselves they started an unspoken competition of finding the best tree to climb.

They ended up in the exact same tree that Hob had chosen during the Hart Hunt, and he felt proud that Rue had chosen it this time. It was sturdy, offered a good vantage point, and provided them good coverage from prying eyes. The last one had Hob’s cheeks heating but they were already halfway up the tree.

When they got themselves settled and Hob realised how close together they were pressed due to the branches he loudly and quickly decided to pick a topic before he did something ill advised like brushed the leaf from their shoulder or kiss them.

“Would you like to do some mischief?” Hob said, and then realised how his words might be interpreted given the fact they were crammed in close quarters together completely unsupervised, “I only meant- goblin mischief that is.” Although given rumours of goblin promiscuity that probably didn’t clear things up.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Goblins can- we don’t have magic, but we still have the innate fey ability to project ourselves to the Material Plane, or a shadow of ourselves at least, now the portal’s magic is still flowing between realms,”

“Can you show me? No matter how long I’ve been in Fey I’ve never been able to, being from the Material Plane myself,”

Hob held out his hand for them to grasp, and they slipped their hand against his and threaded their claws together. Hob tried to pull himself together over such a simple touch, but before this Bloom it had been years since he’d been touched for a reason other than fighting or salt goblins climbing him. It had only been since meeting Rue that he’d danced with someone or held their hand.

Hob tried to put the warmth of their hand from his mind, and focus on the dark places in the Material Plane, the places where mortal’s heart rates picked up, and every twig snap was a threat. Places perfect for mischief and rumpus.

They didn’t travel between planes, that required a portal, or at least a high level caster to do, but they could almost see the other plane shimmering in front of them, another forest overlaid on top of the one they were in.

Hob pointed out a shadowy figure walking through their own forest, a glimpse of what was happening.

“Can they hear or see us?” Rue whispered in Hob’s ear.

He tried not to think about their warm breath on the side of his face, or how it reminded him of waking up with them lying on him. He wasn’t doing a good job.

“Not exactly, we’re more concepts here.” Hob rustled some of the branches in their forest, and watched as some of the leaves shook in the mortal’s.

The mortal’s head whipped around, “That’s not funny Jack,”

Their voice seemed further off that it should have.

“Jack?”

Hob growled and watched the mortal leap in fear and start backing away.

“Can I try?” Rue asked delightedly. Hob nodded and stopped growling.

Rue let their magic seep into their voice and carry it on the wind, swirling it round the mortal in a whisper, “Come join us little one, it’s dangerous out in the woods, all alone, you might get eaten up,”

The mortal was swinging around wildly, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

Another figure crashed into them, “What are you doing?” They laughed.

The first mortal hit the second, “You scared me you idiot! Let’s get out of here,”

“Come join us little ones,” Rue whispered out again, and Hob tried to push forward the glowing yellow of his eyes to peak through the branches, letting one long and clawed arm swing down.

The two mortals started screaming and swearing as they took off into the forest.

Hob let the image of the Material Plane fade, leaving only their own forest in front of them.

Rue was beaming, “That was wonderful, I’ve heard people talking about messing with mortals when they’re bored but that was so much fun!”

“I don’t often partake,” Hob’s father had always been one for small acts of rumpus, inspiring mischief and pranks in mortals, persuading them to tie each others shoelaces together and switching signs. Hob had never been good at the influencing part of it, his talent had always lay in scaring mortals.

Rue squeezed his arm, “Thank you, I’ve not been able to ask anyone to do that with me, because of the glamour it would have raised too many questions as to why I couldn’t do it myself. Now the glamour is gone it won’t take long for people to realise I came from the Material Plane.”

“They will treat you poorly because of it?”

Rue thought about it for a while, “No one technically treats anyone badly in the Court of Wonder, it’s below them to act with so little decorum, so it’s less overt. You simply end up not invited to things and left out of the loop, which in Wonder is the worst thing to happen, you become forgotten,”

Hob’s heart ached for Rue, for the fact that they had given up their wish to join the Court of Craft to stay with Hob, so he wouldn’t have to face life in the Court of Wonder alone.

“Andhera is in two courts,” Hob said, remembering that his friend had told him about their decision to be both in Unseelie and Craft, he didn’t know how long it would hold but it was possible. “You could still be in the Court of Craft,”

Rue just smiled sadly, “It’s worth it,”

Hob wasn’t sure what ‘it’ they were talking about because it definitely wasn’t him.

“I’m here too, and I won’t let them forget you,” Hob swore to them, and Rue smiled, “Now what is next on the agenda?”

 

*

 

Over the next few days Hob and Rue mostly let the lower fey clear up after the Bloom, only stepping in with higher magic was needed from Rue, and though Hob had never had one, he felt that this was what a holiday must be like.

He woke up every morning to find Rue wrapped around him, and then they would have food and tea on the grounds, watch lower fey getting into magical fights with the indulgence of adults watching children play fight with wooden swords. Then they would get on with whatever task they had clearing up the Bloom.

They had regrown any scorched or bloodied earth from duels and fights that had taken place, quickly clearing up after Hob and Wuvvy’s duel and moving on to where two Seafoam nobles had fought over a particularly pretty pearl found on the shore.

The day after they had gone to rearrange the hedge maze for next year, Rue had walked through it with ease, nudging it every now and then to get it to shift. They had taken a potion of plant affinity to make the whole thing easier, although Hob was surprised to find the hedge was playing pranks on him instead of listening to what Rue wanted, brushing tendrils of vine against his shoulders until he looked behind him and then would brush the other shoulder.

It was confusing but harmless enough, and after trekking through the maze’s new layout, they thanked the hedge and went on their way.

They sorted the ball room out the following day, and Hob watched as Rue magically started packing away all the decorations into a bag of holding with the tag ‘Masquerade Ball’ and the year on it. He wondered where they were all stored and if any got reused. He was mostly doing this to avoid thinking about his dances with Rue in that very room. That had been a long day.

Finally they cleared the theatre, a lot of it had been cracked from the portal’s tremors going off and so much of it was fixing the foundations. The theatre itself would stay standing but the props and costumes for The Green Hunter would need to go in their own bag of holding.

The more progress they made the more nervous Hob got. He and Rue were getting on better than ever, they would wake together, work together, and take meals together. Whole days were spent discussing shared interests or friendly debates over points they differed on, it was everything Hob could have dreamed of in the comfort of the familiar surroundings of the Bloom. His thoughts kept straying to what might happen when they were finished and had to head to the Court of Wonder. How long would it be before the next Bloom? As far as Hob understood it was based on the intensity of the magic surrounding it, flowing like tides, and no one knew how long it would be until it rushed back in again, particularly with everything that had happened with the portals.

He didn’t even know what to expect, each court favoured different environments. The Goblin Court existed in a dark forest, where the trees were so tall you couldn’t see the tops, where time existed in perpetual dusk, the only light came from the eternal bonfire. He knew the Unseelie lived in the dark corners and cracks of caves, cool and hidden, with streams of fresh water in the floor and veins of crystals in the rocks.

He had been told by Lady Sylmenar that the Seelie lived in wide open fields, with dew coated grass and golden light warming everything it touched.

He had no idea what the Court of Wonder would be like, but given their decoration style at the Bloom for their rooms, he imagined cool hallways with polished floors and high ceilings, everything glittering and untouchable. It filled him with unease. Would Rue have their own house, or would it be one big palace where everyone had rooms?

He knew his nerves were becoming more apparent with each day that went on, as Rue kept giving him worried side glances.

The evening they finished clearing up the theatre Rue asked him about it. They had waited until the two of them were in their room before turning to him.

“What’s wrong?” They demanded, putting their hands on their hips.

Hob shook his head, “It is nothing I assure you.”

Rue stormed up to him and poked his tense posture, “Hob, I could snap a sword on you right now, what’s gotten you so-” they waved their hands around as they searched for the word, “formal?”

“I’m merely preparing for going to the Court of Wonder.”

Rue laughed, “Is that all? Hob while I don’t like the Court of Wonder, or the scrutiny it entails, it’s at the very least a comfortable place to live. We’re not going to war,”

“Not at the moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Goblin Court has had to claw its way onto the playing field, and while most courts tolerate our presence, the Court of Wonder has been trying to wipe us out for years.”

“That’s not true, they were going to form an alliance,”

“To either infiltrate and absorb our court, or break off the engagement and go to war, wiping us out the old fashioned way.”

“The broken engagement wouldn’t have led to war, it didn’t,” Rue said, dragging him over to a seat by the fire and sitting them both down.

Hob looked in shock at Rue’s naïveté, for all they were a master in their craft at the Bloom, Hob realised for perhaps the first time it was unlikely they had ever been allowed outside of the reach of the Court of Wonder, “Rue, if the Bloom had not happened, then our courts would have gone to war,”

Rue looked uncertain in the face of his conviction, “Surely not, wars happen when alliances are broken, that alliance hadn’t been made yet,”

“The insult of it though was enough. The Goblin Court has been at war with the Unseelie over territory disputes for years, the Unseelie feel as though the Goblin Court is too similar to them to be it’s own court, they have been trying to absorb us for years, despite my victory at Briar Falls we needed allies, we needed the Court of Wonder, and to have that help promised, to have allies in sight, and then have it all snatched away without reason- we would have gone to war, but the Bloom presented the chance to find if there was one saboteur, we figured if there was we could demand satisfaction without the need for countless fey deaths,”

“But,” Rue looked thrown off balance for the first time that Hob had known them, even when they were scared and uncertain revealing their true self it was their choice to do it, they were in control of that situation, of every situation they were in, “But wars aren’t permanent, you have a special blade that stops healing but most fey just get revived again,”

“Fey who come from courts with magic,”

Rue suddenly looked horrified, realising as all courts eventually did, that goblins didn’t have access to revivify or resurrection, that when they went down on the battlefield they stayed down. It was one of the reasons Hob hadn’t been able to kill Andhera, rumour had spread about Hob’s weapon and the young Prince had looked at Hob’s raised weapon with despair, feeling the fear that every goblin charged into battle with, the knowledge that they may not go home. He hadn’t been able to strike Andhera then, though he had never told his superiors he’d let the Prince go instead of them escaping.

“Hob if you had died on the battlefield-” Rue’s voice cracked.

“Many have died, and we did not want any more if we could help it. That is why I wished to find the saboteur before the end of the Bloom, otherwise war would have been a possibility again.”

“I truly never meant for that to happen Hob, you must know I never meant to hurt you when I broke off the engagement,”

“You hurt a lot of people.” Hob said quietly, he hadn’t even meant to say it, but the thought of Grabalba’s despondency after the alliance was called off sprung to mind.

As if reading his thoughts Rue replied, “And I will be accepting whatever Grabalba’s demand for satisfaction will be.”

They looked at him encouragingly as if it was all resolved and tied up in a neat bow, but Hob could still feel the pain of betrayal burning in his gut along with their peacock feather. His superiors had told him to let the hunt for the saboteur go, that his and Rue’s marriage soothed it over, but a true goblin never did as he told and he could still feel the indignation over his court’s honour bubbling over.

“Perhaps a new topic.” Hob said, before he said something irrevocable.

“Hang on, are you still mad?” Rue said, they grabbed his hands, “Hob, truly I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was your accomplishments that brought the match about, I had no wish to undermine them, and I didn’t know it would cause a war-”

“You are not sorry for anyone else?”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter-”

“It does, Hob. Tell me?”

Hob tried to rearrange his thoughts, he didn’t want to rush in and cause undue harm with his haplessly chosen words, “You are sorry for undermining my accomplishments or starting a war I could have died in, but I’m not mad on my behalf. It is the damage it did to my court, to Grabalba, and I’m still not sure why you did it, why your conviction is so strong. You didn’t stand to gain anything, and you weren’t acting under orders for your court,”

“Hob, I couldn’t stand back and watch another loveless match,”

“That is truly the only reason?”

“What better reason is there?”

“Rue,” Hob had truly never met anyone so sincere in their conviction to cause, “Grabalba is a grown woman who never wanted a love match and decided she wanted an advantageous one,”

“But her and Fable- she’s much better off now,”

“While I believe she and Fable get on very well and enjoy each other’s company, neither are inclined for love. And you had no way of knowing she would be better off when you broke the engagement. Not everyone wants love, and even if they do, some would rather marry well than marry for love, or they have to. It’s-” is not your place, “It’s their decision.”

“Why?” Rue said, “I could help and so I did.”

“Grabalba did not ask for help.”

“I don’t understand-”

“Romantic is not the only type of love,”

“That I understand,” Rue said, the sharp hurt in their voice giving way to vulnerable naïveté, “You’re right that I didn’t consult Grabalba, or even Apollo, I simply projected my own fears of loveless matches, and gave little thought to the consequences. What I don’t understand is how someone who is like me, who wants romantic love and a happy marriage,” Rue looked pointedly at him, “how you, they- no, how you could be so set on a political match. When you have the opportunity for more,”

Hob wondered if they were going to keep trying to push him to chase after his love given everything they had talked about, the reminder that they had tried to break off his engagement to Sylmenar just as they had Grabalba and Apollo.

“I may not always understand my court, or the customs in it, but I care deeply for the people. For my parents, those under my command, for Grabalba. If I can help them and my court by marrying, I will. It is hardly a sacrifice at all.”

A few tears slipped down Rue’s face, “That’s not right.”

“Not for everyone, perhaps.”

“You deserve happiness and love,”

Hob shook his head, “It’s not about whether I deserve it. It is about whether I decide I need romantic love. Happiness and love can still be found outside of romance.”

“I don’t think I will ever understand that sacrifice,” Rue curled into his side, letting his shirt mop up their tears.

Hob lightly wrapped his arms around Rue and let his hand sweep up and down their back. His chest felt lighter now, the tight knot of his anger releasing with the words in the air. It did not erase past actions, but it gave hope they wouldn’t be repeated.

“You’ve done it though,” Hob said quietly, “You sacrificed your chance at love to save me. It’s the same.”

Rue froze in his arms, before pulling back, “It’s not the same at all Hob.”

“Of course it is, you gave up your chance at romantic love so I would not be left in the Court of Wonder on my own.”

“Hob,” Rue was looking at him oddly, their eyes searching his expression for something, “Just because it’s not reciprocated doesn’t mean it’s stopped.”

Hob looked at them blankly. They had pulled themselves even further away from him, a cold space lying between them now. He could still feel the phantom of their body pressed against him, “I don’t understand.”

“Hob,” Rue was looking at him in horror, “Did you even read the letter I sent you?”

“Letter? Why would you need to send me a letter? We’ve been in each other’s company for the last week.”

Rue looked slightly frantic now, “I sent it after the ball, I was coming to get your response in person when I found you crying in the stables with Wrackingspelt, and then-” They gestured to encompass everything that happened after that.

“I received no letter off you. The only correspondence I received the morning after the ball was from Blemish and Boil with my orders to marry Lady Sylmenar.”

“So you didn’t-” Rue slumped back in their seat, “Either Blemish removed it, which makes his later comments even more horrid, or Wuvvy never delivered it.”

Hob thought back to the part of Blemish and Rue’s conversation that he heard. Blemish had incorrectly assumed Rue’s actions meant they were in love with him, but Rue had quickly corrected that assumption.

“What was in the letter?”

Rue looked at him with eyes filled with sadness and hope so sharp it hurt to look at. They stared at him for so long he thought they weren’t going to answer him at first.

“I love you.” Their voice was barely above a whisper but the words echoed in Hob’s head as if they’d been shouted, “So you see, I didn’t give up my chance at romantic love in marrying you.”

 

“You don’t love me.” Hob said without thinking, he could still hear the echo of their words to Blemish.

“Yes I do.” Rue said, affronted. Hob had a brief second recognising an equally stubborn soul in front of him, and knew this could easily descend into a back and forth of ‘no you don’t’ ‘yes I do’ unless one of them stopped it.

“I heard you tell Blemish you didn’t love me,”

“When?”

“When you were arguing with him the morning you found me with Wrackingspelt. I woke up and heard you,”

Rue sighed, “Hob, I wasn’t going to reveal my hand to Blemish, especially because I found out you are in love with someone else,”

“I’m not,” Hob said, although finding out Rue was in love with him was a swelling feeling of hope that was building in his chest, and he feared it would be burst any second, that he was going to wake up for all of this to have been a dream.

“You told me you were,”

“I’m in love with you,” Hob said, at least if it was a dream it would go pleasantly, though perhaps his brain was cruel enough to deny him even in sleep.

“What? But you said your love didn’t reciprocate- I know you didn’t get my letter, but I haven’t been subtle, Knickolas. We danced five dances at the ball together, more than two is considered improper,”

“You are an excellent and generous host, I thought you were showing a kindness to a goblin who could use a night of magic, of believing anything was possible,”

Rue’s cheeks rounded with a soft smile, and they cupped his face in their hand, “I am not so generous to dance so much with just anyone, especially my first ever dance,”

“Your first dance?”

“My glamour,” they waved a hand dismissively.

“An even greater honour,”

Their hand was still on his face, “Knickolas?” they gently rested their forehead against his, and he thought back to standing in front of the Chorus in the exact same position.

“Yes?”

“May I kiss you?”

He nodded, he tried to whisper the word yes but his heart seemed to be lodged in his throat and it wasn’t letting any more words out. Rue pulled his face to theirs and kissed him tentatively, as if they still weren’t certain of their welcome. Hob never wanted them to doubt his feelings now he knew they were wanted.

He swept them up in a kiss he had been trying to stop since the Hart Hunt, and they spent an indeterminable amount of time trading soft kisses before their wide grins made it impractical.

Hob tried to catch his breath as they paused, “So, why did you keep trying to get me to cheat on you?”

Rue let out a delighted laugh, “Darling Hob, I want you to be happy, even if it’s not with me. It would have killed me, but also seeing you happy would make me happy,”

Hob could feel it inside him, feel Rue’s happiness and sadness within him, twining around each other and making his chest tight.

His anger over Rue’s thoughtlessness and actions sat next to his love and forgiveness for them. Two feelings that should repel each other like magnets, comfortably tucked next to each other inside of him with all the other contradictions. The whole conversation had taken him through so many emotions that were currently simmering on the surface and he felt like they were so overwhelming they might come pouring out of him at any moment.

He still wasn’t certain what the Court of Wonder and his future would bring, but he felt more solidly rooted, not only with Rue’s constant companionship, but also now with their love, to help support him.

*

After their time had finished ‘clearing up’ the Bloom, Rue had written to the Court of Wonder to inform them that the two of them would be touring some other courts upon invitation. Not quite a honeymoon, but the closest thing they were going to get. Rue had insisted to the Chorus it was a tradition of theirs from the Material Plane, but had quietly confessed to Hob that owlbears had no such thing. The Chorus didn’t need to know it was a mortal habit, and Hob was happy to delay their arrival in the Court of Wonder.

They toured back to the Goblin Court first, and Hob delighted in showing them his cabin, and touring them through his favourite trails in the woods. There was even a tree in which salt goblins would carve little faces that reminded Hob of the fairytale about the carved box from Rue’s book.

They spent hours walking through the eternal dusk and impossibly tall trees of the Goblin Court, and spent the evenings around the bonfire drinking wine and dancing. It was the most included Hob had ever felt in his own home, even if his and Rue’s dancing was more formal than the other goblin’s.

At night they curled up in Hob’s old cabin in a pile of blankets and held each other.

“It’s funny.” Hob said one night in the comfort of the darkness, “That it took leaving my court to become more like a goblin.”

He felt Rue turn to face him more than he saw them do it, “You haven’t changed though, Knickolas.”

“Then what has?”

Rue pondered it for a long time, before he felt them shrug slightly against him, “If I had to guess, you stopped trying to do what they wanted because they wanted you to, and started doing it because you wanted to.”

Hob felt the words settle in the air, and he thought about them for a long time, long enough that Rue eventually fell asleep against him. He thought about how easy things had been with Rue. After the Bloom they had simply existed outside of courts and rules and enjoyed their time together. He had treated the bonfire as something similar, he wanted to dance with Rue and so he did, he wanted to try the wine so he did.

He hadn’t had to worry about patrols, or protecting someone, or trying to ensure he did enough mayhem so the Goblin King would be pleased. He hadn’t been trying to please anyone but himself. How long would it last though? He was to enter a new court soon with new rules and responsibilities. His newfound goblin ideology of simply doing what pleased him could not hold up once his holiday was over.

He told himself he would simply enjoy it while it lasted, they still had many courts to visit before he would have to return to his usual self.

*

They had not received invitations from every court, but most had sent at least a passing invite out of politeness. They first visited the Seelie Court, out of deference to Lady Sylmenar, and wanted to foster any remaining goodwill between the three courts.

The Seelie Court was as warm and sun dappled as Hob had imagined, filled with the smells of flowers and fresh cut grass wafting on the gentlest of breezes. They only spent a day or two there before moving on, long enough for Lady Sylmenar to coo over the two of them, and for them to pass on their congratulations at the news of her own match to a Count from the Court of Stone. She was radiant in her happiness, the two having apparently formed a friendship through correspondence since the end of the Bloom.

They also spent brief days at the Court of Stone, the Trickster Court, the Deepwater and Seafoam Courts, and Rue was in their element of charming and playing the part of a newlywed very much in love. Although Hob found himself grinning madly whenever he remembered Rue wasn’t acting and they actually were in love with him. He was certain there was no doubt in anyone’s minds that he was a lovesick fool.

They next made their way to visit the Lords of the Wing, who thankfully did not live with their grandfather, and ended up spending a week there. They hadn’t intended to stay as long as they did, though Chirp had demanded Hob teach her to fight, and Squak and Rue had ended up in a deep discussion about ideas for a second novel from Airry Pearry.

Halfway through the week Peep visited, now that she was more of an open secret and the portal’s were stable, and Hob thought Chirp would have flown off for some alone time with her daughter, but Peep had looked up and Hob with wide eyes and several missing teeth and demanded to know how to fight as well. So Hob found himself teaching Chirp and Peep, and it mostly descended into chaos and hitting each other with pillows.

Then Hob introduced Peep to the sending stones he and Rue had received from Andhera, and Peep declared she was going to be an invisible-death-warrior-spy. Hob had told he she could be anything she wanted, and she’d given him a look that implied he was stupid that had Squak written all over it, and told him ‘duh, my great grandfather invented birds’.

After their stay with the Lords of the Wing, they headed to the Court of Craft, knowing they would likely be saved a trip to the Unseelie Court by going there first. They were correct and found Andhera was with BINX when they arrived.

The Court of Craft looked like a little farm house, surrounded by fields and gardens where BINX had started regrowing their own food. By the look of it, it had originally been able to feed hundreds, and the fields further out had not been revitalised yet, only the closest being needed for a court of two.

They stayed with BINX and Andhera for weeks. Rue had started helping BINX respond to fey who had written looking to join the court, which BINX had been studiously ignoring. Hob had enjoyed the fact it gave them an excuse to stay longer and had started helping in the gardens, tending to vegetables for eating, and plants for spell components. He helped chop wood and carve utensils.

He and Andhera had also borrowed the sending stones to play with in the woods, much as he and Rue had used them after the Bloom. BINX managed to set them up with two magic boxes that could send letters between them over long distances. They told him that he simply had to place a letter in the box and it would appear in the other. She said it was based off an invention they had seen in the Material Plane called a ‘fax machine’.

So Andhera took his fax box with him to the Unseelie Court and travelled with it whenever they returned to the Court of Craft, and so if Hob wanted to communicate with BINX as well he was able to do so.

Hob had thanked BINX profusely but BINX had merely shrugged and said it was good to keep in contact. He knew Rue had wanted to join their court before they had stepped in to marry Hob, and he could tell BINX wanted to leave a line of communication open between them once they returned to the Court of Wonder.

It was mostly out of guilt about this that Hob tracked Andhera down one afternoon when he was at the Court of Craft to ask them about their experience of being in two courts.

After a few weeks in the Court of Craft, Rue and Hob had no more excuses not to travel to the Court of Wonder. They took their time travelling there, as no Court simply handed out the teleportation circle, so they were almost on top of the Court before they could teleport in, which seemed meaningless in Hob’s opinion, except for the fact that the teleportation circle was right off the main hall in the Court of Wonder, meaning anyone who arrived had to make a grand entrance into the hall.

Rue had insisted on sending a letter ahead of them saying they would arrive in the morning, and then ferrying the two of them through the teleportation circle in the middle of the night so as to have the smallest possible group of spectators.

Most courts had open spaces for their courts, even the ones that then built houses and mansions on the land, as fey tended not to be the sort to be cooped up for too long. The Goblin Court had their forest, the Seelie Court their glen, the Court of Craft had their farming fields, and so on.

The Court of Wonder had no such thing, the whole court existed inside a palace, with neat courtyards and patios in the middle, but no exit out. Hob understood why Rue was so keen to walk in the woods while away from their court.

Rue had directed them straight to their rooms when they arrived, they had a favourable position high in the palace, near where the Chorus and the Prince’s rooms were, not that the latter would be using his anymore. The rooms themselves were about the same size as the ones Rue had during the Bloom, big enough for a bedroom, workroom, and a living space.

Hob noticed there was no kitchen, and no bath. He decided to ask Rue about it in the morning, because as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

*

Hob found himself sleeping in the first few days, not used to the lack of sunlight waking him up that he’d gotten used to at the Bloom, the Court of Wonder had no windows, only illusion where windows should be, and it took Hob a while to adjust. He suspected the Chorus didn’t want anyone looking outside, any speculation as to whether there was more beauty and wonder to be found externally rather than inside the cold walls.

He reported to the Chorus the first day, and they informed him of their disappointment in not being able to receive them with a proper welcome upon their return. Hob suspected they had intended on bringing the whole court out, shaming Rue for their connection to him in front of the whole court, and he had never been so glad that Rue knew this and had outsmarted the Chorus.

“We have given some thought to what Mistrex Rue told us on the last day of the Bloom.” Their voice was monotonous but Hob’s gut was telling him of incoming trickery, “They were correct when they said that our soldiers will not be willing to follow the fey who killed their previous leader, therefore we are demoting you from Major.”

“I see.” Hob had years of practise in keeping his face a blank mask, though he suspected the Chorus may be harder to fool than the Goblin King, or rather, they took more pleasure in acknowledging his failed composure than the Goblin King had.

“You will train with the other soldiers, and report to General Lillian.”

Hob saluted to them, which just involved standing to attention with a sharp click of his heels. The Chorus seemed unaffected by the common Wonder salute, but Hob knew to a goblin it was the worst kind of insult. Pleased with his small rebellion, he headed to the training field, which was a large room within the palace.

He spent the morning dejectedly going through drills he could perform in his sleep, mourning the loss of his title every time the drill master yelled ‘Hob’ instead of Major or Captain.

His differences had never been so apparent to him than standing at the back of the room, a full head and shoulders above even the tallest soldier in the room, his movements fast and solid where the Wonder soldiers moved with finesse and grace. He wondered how many had seen true battle, the Court of Wonder was so large normally the threat of war was enough to discourage their opponents.

He followed the rest of them for lunch in the lower hall off the kitchen, he suspected Rue and the titled nobility had already eaten in the hall upstairs, and the foot soldiers ate the plain foods and leftovers once they were finished.

The other soldiers mostly ignored him, muttering between them when they thought he couldn’t hear, it was nothing he wasn’t already used to from growing up in his own court, though the matter of what they were whispering about was different: too wild now, instead of too formal, too monstrous instead of too proper. Hob nearly laughed to himself at the ridiculousness of it all, he had managed to pendulum swing from one extreme to the other without changing a thing about himself, rather that the world had moved around him.

He returned to Rue’s room, their room now, still buzzing with adrenaline. Most training days in the Goblin Court ended with a brawl to work off any excess energy, sometimes it had descended into an orgy, although as the superior officer Hob had always left before that happened. He had known his anomalous behaviour in his previous court had made other goblins happy to fight him but not bed him, at risk of outcasting themselves by association.

Though it meant that besides a few dalliances before he gained rank in the army he didn’t have a lot of experience under his belt. He and Rue had exchanged many delightful kisses, though they had gone no further. Rue had asked they wait as they were still getting used to hugging and kissing after millennia of no contact, and they didn’t want to jump in head first and get overwhelmed by pushing themselves too quickly.

Hob had no issue with waiting, while he was nervous about not performing well, he knew a timeline wouldn’t affect it, he would be nervous whether they fell into bed that evening or in a millennia’s time.

However, it did mean he was completely unprepared for how to act when he walked into their bedroom to find Rue stripped down to their underwear.

“Rue!” He jumped in surprise and quickly turned to face the wall, “My apologies for walking in unannounced, I - um,” though he was no longer facing them, the image of them in their delicates was something Hob was not going to be able to stop thinking about.

“Oh, it’s quite alright, Hob, we are married after all. Quite nice to have someone who actually sees them for once, they’re rather pretty aren’t they?”

Hob let out a strangled noise that was meant to be the word ‘yes’.

Rue was still searching the room, and hadn’t seemed to notice Hob’s dilemma.

“I was just looking for my robe, I was about to head down to the baths, if you would like to join. It’s completely empty over dinner, though I’ve asked a maid to fetch a tray up for us. I hope you don’t mind, I much prefer eating up here of an evening.”

Hob’s mind was trying to catch up on what they had said, “Yes, that sounds excellent. I would greatly enjoy your company.” He needed to get a grip on himself, he was acting like a cad, simply gawking at them like they were just something pretty.

“Wonderful,” Rue said, they dug their robe out of the back of the wardrobe, along with a spare, “My old one should fit you if you don’t have one,” they left him with it and then disappeared behind a changing screen to rid themselves of what they were wearing and came out wearing their robe.

Hob quickly dived behind the screen once they were done, he had no problem stripping off in front of people but he didn’t want to risk making Rue uncomfortable. Once they were both clad in robes with their nightwear in hand, Rue directed him towards the baths.

They were underground, even further down than the kitchens, and they passed the noise of the upper fey eating and then further down the lower fey eating, before arriving at a low lit and steam filled room. There were hundreds of baths dug out from the floor and tiled in, spreading out in rows along the room, like a giant bath house. The air was thick enough that he couldn’t see the furthest ones, but the room was silent and the water still.

“Due to my true size the baths are a little small, so I preferred to come here alone in case I looked odd bathing around my glamour,”

Hob nodded, Rue had told him further about how the glamour had worked and he could see how it would have been strange for anyone seeing them wash to see them cleaning a foot above their glamour head.

“And so you have food sent to your room,”

“The Chorus allowed it due to the glamour, I imagine they allow it now because they don’t want to see me in the hall. They looked most put out to see me at lunch,”

“Their loss.” Hob said as the two of them crammed into neighbouring baths.

Rue sighed as they slid down into the bath, and Hob followed suit. The baths weren’t truly meant for beings of their size and Hob found he had to either stick his feet out the end or have his knees stuck above the water. Rue giggled as they watched him try to arrange himself in a way that meant all of him was under the water.

“I didn’t see you at lunch, you did remember to eat?” Rue said once he had settled, resigning his knees to get chilly out of the hot water.

“I ate with the soldiers near the kitchen,”

Rue nodded, “Meal times are often used for networking here, and getting to know those around you. Did you get on okay?”

Hob grinned at how much they reminded him of both his father and Grabalba. His father asking him if he made friends when he was young, but was really asking if anyone picked on him, and then when he was newly ranked as Captain, he remembered Grabalba asking if the soldiers were behaving, but had really been asking if they had been deferring to him properly. He felt that feeling warming him again, as Rue truly asked whether anyone had been cruel to him today, he enjoyed it, the feeling of someone caring about him.

“Everyone was polite.” Hob settled on, he was never going to expect the fey of the court to be friendly, but no one had said anything to his face, and that was probably the best he could hope for.

“And they’re following your orders?”

Hob paused, and remembered that he hadn’t seen Rue since this mornings meeting with the Chorus. He figured it was best to be honest, no matter how embarrassed he was at being demoted, and it was best to get it over and done with, like pulling two arrows out his back.

“I have been stripped of my title.”

There was a long pause, broken only by the sound of water sloshing as Rue turned their whole body to face him, “What?”

Hob explained the Chorus’ reasoning, he didn’t mention that they had done it based on Rue’s argument as they had been trying to get him out of bound service when they said it, and he didn’t blame them for the Chorus’ scheming, they were no doubt playing some sort of game trying to drive a wedge between Rue and Hob. Despite him not mentioning it, he could see in their eyes that they remembered anyway.

“How dare the Chorus do that? Demand use of your service and then strip your titles, don’t worry, I will sort this out-”

“Rue,” Hob said gently, wanting to shake them out of their ire before they stormed to see the Chorus in nothing but a towel, “It’s alright. They are quite right that there would be discontent at my leading. I am quite alright where I am.”

Rue looked at him in disbelief, “Truly? You’re truly not bothered at all?”

“I am saddened to lose what I had worked for, but it would have been lost anyway. A Major who does not have the respect or loyalty of his soldiers is no more than a foot soldier anyway.”

“They’re doing it on purpose though,” Rue said, fury filling their eyes at the thought of the Chorus.

“I know, but they want us to fight and rage. The best bet with an enemy that powerful is to escape notice.”

“And do nothing?”

“For now. As we are, we will not win.”

Rue looked thoughtful, “Very well. I could demand we had lunch in my rooms as well if you wished to avoid the other soldiers?”

As much as Hob wanted to say yes he refused, “If I never spend time with them, then I shall never earn their respect.”

“Fine, just make sure to point out any who give you a hard time, I’ve learned a few new spells.”

Hob grinned at Rue’s protectiveness, it had been a long time since anyone had thought him in need of protecting, or perhaps it was more that while Rue knew he could protect himself, they still thought he was worth protecting.

After their respective baths, they dressed and returned to their room where there was a meal waiting for them. Rue heated it again with magic so it was hot, and they fell asleep discussing another one of Rue’s books, another from the Material Plane.

Their days fell into a routine, and Hob found the other members of the Court of Wonder fell around it like clockwork pieces. He passed the same people on his walk to the training room in the morning, every soldier had their own spot in training they returned to, each had their own spot during meals, he would see Rue in passing at the same points during the day, and then meet them in their room before bathing, and then returning to their room for food and a discussion over a book one of them had started reading.

Though Hob had grown up comforted by routines, he found the monotony of the Court of Wonder unnerving. Even the court members faces did not change, a polite smile here, a scathing look there, by the end of the week he found he could work out who was walking behind him by the look on the face of anyone walking towards them.

In the Goblin Court his adherence to rules and formality had not only soothed the part of him that felt comforted by knowing the rules to any situation and being able to follow them, but also satisfied the goblin need to cause mayhem. However, now he was surrounded by rules, but they were not his rules, and he didn’t enjoy following them, it also did not scratch the itch of mayhem that was building under his skin.

So he started walking a different way to the training room each morning, delighting in the shock on fey’s faces who normally didn’t have to see him, he took pleasure in watching soldier’s horror when he sat in the wrong seat, or stood in a different place for drills, he made Rue laugh when he asked if they could pick different baths in the bathhouse, choosing ones right in the middle one day and then in the far corner the next. Rue told him they enjoyed it and followed along behind him to wherever he decided to bathe that day.

After a week of Hob delighting in small bits of rebellion, Rue finally asked about it. They were curled around each other in bed with their legs tangled. Their bellies were full and the fire was roaring, if Hob ignored the décor he could pretend they were back in the cottage at the Court of Craft.

“Knickolas,” Rue whispered, never daring to say his true name outside of the safety of their rooms, “You seem full of mischief lately, Lord Malleon told me you switched all the name tags in the seamstress’ room and everyone got sent the wrong clothes,”

Hob blushed, it was nothing more than a parlour game in the Goblin Court, though in Wonder it was likely to be a punishable offense. He hoped he had not implicated himself in some way that would come back on Rue, or even worse, that Rue thought his fumbling attempts at trickery were pitiful.

“Ah, yes. I did.”

“His face at the suggestion he wear Lady Eloise’s dress was priceless, her fashion sense is at least a century out of date, I think he’d rather wear his servant’s clothes,”

“You enjoyed the trick then?” He asked hesitantly.

“Definitely, though I am curious, I’ve never known you to play a trick before, and this last week you seem to have done nothing but,”

“It’s odd. When I was in the Goblin Court, I found comfort in following rules, even when most of them were of my own creation, and it soothed the need to cause mischief. But now I am surrounded by rules, but they’re not mine, and so I want to cause mischief, if that makes sense.”

Rue nodded, “Anarchy and mischief are simply about upsetting the way things are, regardless of whether that’s by adhering to rules or breaking them,”

Hob was struck by how similar Rue’s sentiment was to his late father’s words, ‘in a court of savagery, manners are the height of anarchy’.

“I have never-” The words were out of his mouth before he had thought them through. He was still hesitant to confess to Rue his long held secret, the one he’d not even told his father. He worried Rue might think poorly of him, but they had shared everything with him; their glamour, their involvement in the breaking of Grabalba’s engagement, their touch starved nature and their fear of rushing in too quickly. He decided to be brave.

“I have never understood my court,” He confessed in a rush, “How does one have rules about not having rules. I- Grabalba is the epitome of a goblin and yet she craves the finer things in life, and yet I have always tried to adhere to the Goblin code but have failed. I just-” He struggled to find the words to convey a lifetime’s worth of not feeling included, of playing catch up on unspoken rules.

Rue pulled him into an embrace, “My darling Knickolas,”

The tension in Hob’s shoulders released somewhat at the lack of mocking, though he hadn’t anticipated Rue would ever do such a thing, the lingering doubt in the back of his mind sounded an awful lot like goblin laughter. If anyone were to understand not belonging in one’s home, and always feeling like the oddity, it would be Rue.

Rue started to speak before they quickly closed their beak with a soft click, they seemed to mull over their words before asking quietly, “Do you want advice or someone to listen?”

Hob buried his head further into their neck and smiled. Since their conversation about Grabalba’s engagement and Rue’s involvement, they had been trying to temper their habit of inserting their help where they thought it was needed. Hob knew that Rue would always want to help someone they thought needed it, and it was one of the qualities he loved about them, but they were trying to get better at making sure their help was wanted first.

“I don’t know if there is advice that could help.” Hob mumbled, although he desperately wished that Rue could simply wave their hand and make the lifetime’s worth of inner turmoil disappear.

Rue pulled him over towards the bed and sat them both down, Hob stubbornly kept his head buried in their neck. They started stroking the fur behind his ears, and Hob all but melted into them.

“There is something I read about in one of my books from the Material Plane, it’s when someone has two conflicting beliefs in their mind, and how they cope with the discomfort of having those beliefs at the same time. Like my love for the Court of Wonder and the people in it, the work I’ve done here and the opportunities I’ve had, and the fact that it has been a prison for me all my life, one where I’ve had to hide my true self. These feelings contradict each other, and I spent a long time upset about it.”

“How did you fix it?” Hob mumbled.

“I’m not sure I fixed it necessarily,” Rue contemplated, “Rather, I accepted it. People are messy and complicated, and don’t fit in neat categories, as unsatisfying as it is.”

Hob thought about how angry he was at Rue when he found out they were the saboteur and how much he still loved them, how he had been both annoyed and impressed by Andhera’s antics during the duel, untrusting after BINX’s identity reveal and sympathetic. How he loved his court and hated it in equal measure.

He understood what Rue was saying, but how did one accept it? He figured he’d already revealed all his cards, he may as well just ask.

“How do I accept it?” His tone was almost petulant, even muffled by Rue’s fur.

Rue let out a soft laugh, it wasn’t mocking, it sounded almost fond.

“It took me years to accept it, even now it bubbles up and frustrates me. Recently in fact, I’ve been getting more angry about how the court has been treating you, but I’ve also enjoyed catching up with old friends and showing you my home. I’m constantly torn between trying to bully the court into being nice to you and making this a pleasant place to stay, or just whisking you away in the middle of the night.”

“What do you want to do?”

Rue pressed a quick kiss to his head, “That depends entirely on you. I wasn’t sure if you wanted the rules and formality, as no one does that quite as well as the Court of Wonder, or if you wanted to strike out on our own.”

Hob thought about it for a long time, he hadn’t thought leaving was an option, but Rue wouldn’t have presented it as one if they didn’t already have a plan to execute it. He thought the rules and formality of Wonder would have been somewhat reassuring, something to fall back on when he was shunned for his wildness, but instead it just felt suffocating. They could move back to live in the Goblin Court, although they would still be at the beck and call of Wonder. Hob found the thought unsettling, he hadn’t realised how heavy the expectations of Goblin had weighed on him until he shed it. The thought of taking his newfound levity and mild trickery back to a court that would laugh at his fumbling attempts made him want to curl into a ball.

Hob felt a bone deep weariness at the thought of courts, of the politics and the confusing rules with no rules, of constantly feeling a step behind everyone.

“I just want to do what I like.” He confessed. He thought of the days after the Bloom where it had just been him and Rue, of travelling and visiting other courts, of running through the woods with Andhera with their sending stones like children, helping BINX make food and chop wood. It reminded him of when he was younger, when it was just him and his father. But it also felt like defeat, wanting to retreat to a simpler time.

“What is it that you like?” Rue said, they started trailing their claws through his fur, neatly laying it back into place where it had been ruffled.

Hob lapsed into silence as he tried to word what sounded to him like an entirely childish and selfish request. How could he tell Rue, who spent their life trying to help others, and create the most wonderous experiences, that he wanted to take them away from all their friends, fracture any chance that they could host another Bloom, just so he didn’t have to make himself uncomfortable?

He knew that Rue had mixed feelings about their court, they had said it themselves only minutes before, but running away from the Court of Wonder would be impossible to recover from socially. They wouldn’t be invited back to another Bloom, let alone be allowed to host another one.

He had clearly been quiet long enough that Rue was worried about his spiralling thoughts, and they softly prompted him, “Are you having trouble figuring out what you want?”

“No,” He said honestly, “But what I want would upset you.”

“Why don’t I be the judge of that?”

Hob blushed, he had been reliant on only his own judgement for far too long, it was a pleasing change to have someone else to run his thoughts by, especially since he had a rather drastic history of misjudging the reasoning behind Rue’s thoughts and actions.

“I don’t want to remain in the Court of Wonder.” He confessed, and though he braced for it, no admonishment came. Rue just nodded and waited for him to continue, “I- I don’t want to go back to the Goblin Court either.”

He could feel Rue shift against him slightly, he could tell they wanted to say something, or suggest something, but held themselves back, and waited to see if he came to the conclusion himself.

“I know you originally wanted to join the Court of Craft, but you said you enjoyed being back here. I would stay here if you wanted.” He rushed to assure them.

They smiled, and ran their hand down his cheek lovingly, “Darling Knickolas, while I’ve enjoyed visiting, I have never wanted to remain here. I only tried to make the best of the situation because I thought you wanted to remain here. You had the best chance of returning to your previous military rank here, of leading troops again.”

“But if we leave, you’ll never host another Bloom.”

“I know. At the last Bloom, I was already making enquiries about other courts hosting the Bloom, I knew it would be my last one as soon as I made the decision to reveal my true form.”

“So you wouldn’t be upset leaving for the Court of Craft?”

“It was one of the reasons I insisted upon a marriage, rather than you being in bound service. If you had, there would be no chance of leaving. You are physically tethered to the court, the Chorus ensures it causes physical pain if you try and leave the grounds without permission. But this way, I made sure we made as many allies as possible during our honeymoon tour, the Court of Wonder will undoubtedly want to retaliate, but if they don’t know which court we’re hiding in, they can’t do much.”

“Won’t they suspect we’ve gone to the Court of Craft? They know it’s where you were originally planning to go.”

“They may suspect, but without confirmation, they can’t enter court grounds without it being seen as an invading force. The Court of Craft would have the backing of the Unseelie, and the Lords of the Wing. I suspect the Goblin Court would jump at the chance to take Wonder down a peg, and if they get involved the Trickster Court would have to. We have also made friends in four other major courts. Besides which I would simply remind the Chorus that it would be an awful lot of effort for the former Bloom Master and a Major who was demoted to a foot soldier.”

Hob could feel hope blooming in his chest, but he was a military man first and foremost, “Surely there would still be the threat of war, we would have broken the alliance-”

“We would still be married, and the Chorus could still technically call you in for battle, but they would have to go through the frankly humiliating affair of writing to every court to request their foot solider back.” Rue said smugly. Hob suspected they were enjoying the possibility that they could use the fact he’d been demoted to hoist the Chorus on their own petard.

Hob frowned, “What if they tracked us magically?”

“There would have to be contingencies, perhaps a permanent transportation circle in Craft, amulets to hide us from scrying and tracking.”

“That’s a lot of effort.” Hob’s hope knotted itself into fear. That was a lot of favours to use up, and magical resources to burn through, just so he didn’t feel like the odd fae out. Rue had lived through millennia of hiding and being uncomfortable in the Court of Wonder, and Hob couldn’t even manage a few months.

Hob paused. Rue had lived through millennia of hiding and discomfit, but if he’d been able to spare them of it, he would have in a heartbeat. Rue had lived through it and wanted to spare Hob the same fate. Just as he would have tried to shield them if they had ended up living in the Goblin Court from the mockery and tricks other goblins would have played.

It had been hard for Hob to believe that Rue loved him, and he often found himself marvelling over his good luck, but in that moment he truly realised, down to his core, that Rue loved him as much as he loved them. That despite his belief of unrequited love during the Bloom, and everything that was expected of a political marriage, he had ended up in a partnership.

Hob steeled himself before he could second guess, “What’s the plan?”

Rue grinned at the military set of his shoulders, even lying down in bed next to them, and they explained their plan.

*

Years passed quickly in the Fey Realm, even though Hob and Rue had spent several hiding out from the Chorus in the Material Plane, at least until the Court of Craft had grown and was a respectably sized court in its own right. They had even spent a while living with Esme and Peep, with frequent visits from Chirp, which had the added benefit of a line of communication between themselves and Craft whenever Chirp flitted back through a portal to Fey.

Eventually they were able to settle in a small cottage in the forests surrounding the Court of Craft, and Hob’s days became filled with manual labour building houses, teaching a group of fledgling fey basic drills and weapon training, and either walking through the forests with Rue, or running through them like a child with Andhera.

Hob watched Rue and their friends bloom under the support and love of a community, rather than a court. BINX came into their own as a leader, earning their court’s trust and loyalty through her kindness and respect. He watched Andhera play with the children, and ensure everyone had someone to talk to, each new member was instantly added to Andhera’s hoard of friends who they cherished.

Rue turned their organisation skills to helping BINX run the court, and their skill at creating and hosting events adjusted to organising talent shows, and arts and craft sessions, to telling stories around a campfire, or sometimes crafting their own.

The Court of Craft didn’t have rules of formality like the Court of Wonder, nor rules of chaos like the Goblin Court, it had rotas, and cleaning schedules, training days, but no rules, fey were simply allowed to be themselves.

Hob eventually found a balance between his more formal nature; keeping himself to a strict training schedule, and organising the rotas for cooking and cleaning; and his need for impulsiveness; teaching tricks to the younger fey, playing tag with Andhera (who shamelessly exploited the Ring of Blink that BINX gifted him), and surprising Rue with spontaneous dates (or rather they were spontaneous for Rue, Hob had planned them meticulously. He simply delighted in the mayhem of the surprise itself).

It had taken years, as Rue had told him it would back in the Court of Wonder, but he could feel it in his veins now, thrumming through him with every heartbeat, the differences that made him wholly goblin and ungoblin in one unified whole. He’d found one of Rue’s books from the Material Plane, and dogeared the page marking the mortal known as Walt Whitman’s words, ‘I am large, I contain multitudes’ and he wore those words on his heart like a medal of honour. Though even Whitman was a few inches short of a seven foot bugbear.

Also as Rue predicted the Court of Wonder were too ashamed to chase through the courts for an disgraced Bloom Master and former Major, so while they were still nominally in the Court of Wonder, their hearts and lives resided with Craft. It meant they were no longer welcome in high society, and the first few times watching other court members head off to a Bloom were hard, but they became easier with time. Especially when the Lords of the Wing caught wind and disgraced themselves so badly at a Bloom they were banned for the next century, and so held a rival Bloom that was surprisingly well attended.

Hob spent his days smiling and nights sat around a campfire telling stories to scare the younger fey. He shared a small cottage with Rue that was filled with books and hand crafted weapons, where the wedding cup he’d carved them saw daily use, depicting the two of them on an eternal walk in a forest.

Hob finally found peace in living as he wanted, and delighted daily in the ongoing tricking of the Goblin and Wonder court, upholding an alliance through a loophole. Living his simple life no longer felt like defeat, it felt like rebellion.