Chapter Text
Javier's father was a knight posted at the edge of the realm, vowed to protect the land from any who wished the people therein harm, human or otherwise. When he came back home once or twice a month, he used to tell them all about his adventures.
His sister Ishika or Izzy as she liked to be called, used to be fascinated, dreaming of the day she herself would enlist to be a knight… except Javi knew the laws of the land. Despite being a born marksman and strong of body, his sister was fated to be nothing more than a lady of the house, a wife, or a mother… No noble lady worked, and their father and his father before him had spent their entire lives to earn that nobility. Javi didn't have the heart to break his little sister's dreams, not when it would be broken soon, when she grew up.
His father expected him to follow in his footsteps, not Izzy, but he had other aspirations. He was an artist, a storyteller, a musician.
His father had smashed his lute when he had first heard his dreams. Why wouldn't he? When Javi sought to be a measly bard instead of a strong knight… except he knew he was not weak. He may not have a strong body, but he did have a strong voice.
The world would never understand though.
Let alone his father.
But his sister did.
After he gave up trying to smuggle musical instruments into his room after his father made it his life's goal to find them the moment he entered the house, his sister showed him an instrument their mother had from her birthland… something called the sitar, capable of serenity he had never comprehended.
Their father never discovered this, since he didn't think of the sitar as anything but a useless relic from a forlorn land.
Maybe if he had, Javi wouldn't be in this dilemma.
For music had power beyond anything that can be contained in swords and spears.
A magic that can reach distant realms.
And it did.
When Javi strummed the strings and sang his heart out, the raw emotions of his heart… his love for everything around him, his anxiety for what the world might think, his fear of disappointing his father yet again, his anger at being born in a world that did not allow him to be who he was and his hope of someday being free… all these conflicting feelings intertwined, becoming something powerful… something magical, calling out to a higher power.
Javi continued singing, his eyes closed. He was sitting on a stool, facing the open windows, that permitted the cool breeze of nighttime to brush against his face, and the soft silver glow of moon beams to bask his room.
He sang till his throat became rough and his fingertips were flayed.
He sang because he didn't know when it would be the next time, he would be able to.
His father had enrolled him into the knights. He was bound to begin his duties as a squire by the next full moon, bound to a life of lies.
If only he could escape…
"I wish I can be free…" He murmured. "I wish I can leave this land for some place I am free to sing as many songs I want."
Streams of tears rolled down his eyes, knowing his wish would remain unfulfilled.
No one can escape their fate.
He was born to a family of knights.
And knight, he shall be.
He didn't know his wish was heard or that he was no longer alone in his room.
He heard a soft giggle behind him, and he opened his eyes in shock, thinking he might have imagined the voice. He turned around on reflex, though he knew there would be no one there.
His mother and sister were asleep, and his father was away at the edge of the forest.
No one could hear him sing.
But there was someone.
Someone beautiful, yet incomprehensible. It was like he was looking at the sun.
He yelped, skittering back, only to topple the stool and forcing him to fall back, hitting his head hard on the wall.
The last thing he saw was the being… a feminine form with luscious pink skin as if it was made from the lotus flowers, and red hair, which looked like strings of flame and embers loom over him.
"I grant your wish." She whispered softly, yet her voice reeked of mischief.
He felt his consciousness waver, but he knew this creature from tales his father had told… the most dangerous creature of the forest… the fey.
A Javelia fic by me… Who would have thought? Well, it's all because of Skye.
It is a fairy tale/ high fantasy AU set in the same universe as "The Princess and Her Knight", which I have titled "Honour and Truth, Broken and Blue" after Taylor Swift lyrics.
It is a multi-chapter fic. Won't be too long, I think. Hope you liked it. :)