Dedicated to my fellow transgender folklore lovers.
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When 18-year-old Reese finds himself stuck in the realm of the Fair Folk, he’s understandably pretty upset. Thrown into the unknown with a few new friends at his side, Reese must face vengeful gods, great battles, and the echoes of generational trauma… all while having feelings for the first Fae he ever met; Glais.
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Content warnings: War imagery, gore, major character death, depictions of mental illness
“Hold on, wains, back it up,” he rumbled softly, running a hand through his long, greying hair and scratching at his beard. Something in the sheer size of him – maybe seven or eight feet tall – made Reese’s entire body stand on edge, soothed only by pressing closer to Glais.
The shape that shot out of a nearby stand of bushes and reeds was that of a young woman. Shaped like Glais, she bore piercing blue eyes and her black fur was marked here and there by white specks like stars against the night sky. Her hair, long and tied back into a single braid, whipped behind her as she moved.
Aisling thought her brother was an idiot. An idiot she cared for very much, but an idiot nonetheless. Perhaps that was why she was so concerned when he started spending excessive amounts of time in the woods. He’d never been so obsessed with finishing meals quickly and dashing outside before, not even when they were both trying out weapons for the first time under the watchful eyes of their family. That fool was going to get eaten in the woods,…
How many days had it been by now? Two? Seven? Eighteen? Time blurred itself for Reese, not caring to reach into his mind as he sunk into the pits of confusion and despair. Unfamiliar places, strange sounds in the night… the one thing that remained truly consistent was Glais, who brought him food and water and met him every evening so that they could talk. He’d been wary of the pale fae at first, but Glais wasn’t so bad once…
“Reese…” the red-clad fae whispered the name over and over again, as though familiarizing himself with its very feel and taste. “Reese, Reese, Reese… It’s a good name. Strong.” “It’s Welsh. My mom always said it meant ‘fire’ and ‘enthusiasm’.” Reese watched Glais crack another smile. Despite the eeriness of his needle-sharp teeth and blood-red eyes, he had a charming air about him, especially whenever he grinned. He dressed in a vest and a white shirt with billowing sleeves, like…
“OW!” Glais reeled back, falling onto his rear in the soft moss of the forest. White-hot pain shot through his head, gradually dulling to a dimmer ache. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. Normally he would’ve described himself as quite good at dodging attacks, but the bizarreness of first finding a human being in the middle of a forest in Tír na Neart, then being hit over the head with a…
“Grandma, if you keep shaking like that, you’ll fall over and break your hip again,” Reese, age 6, did his best to point out to his grandmother, who was standing in front of a ring of trees and trembling violently with what was presumably rage. The silver-haired woman wore a marigold cardigan that was wrapped snugly around her shoulders, and she only pulled it tighter when Reese spoke. “What did I tell you about not getting close to faerie rings,…