As the solstice neared without him preparing for his hunt, Percy felt an unsettling discontent running through his muscles. An energy filled him that he could not vent despite the hours he spent walking through the woods at night.

He avoided the village if he could at all help it. A few days after his arrival, they had begun turning on their lights as soon as it got dark, and then there had been the incident with the Fae and the Yeti that brought him out during the day and exposed the truth to him. He had somehow wound up in a veritable Christmas village. They had perfectly decorated every home to look like giant gingerbread houses. The lights twinkled and flashed in the dark and gave him a headache, and the market square seemed to smell of all kinds of treats and sugary confections that made his stomach turn.

The human whose name he'd finally learned was Marium... or Miriam, or something close to that, insisted on bringing him stews every few days, though he couldn't complain about that. Her ability to cook meat was superb enough that he even invited her in and offered her a hot rum drink in return.

When the woman had glanced around the house and realized he had gotten rid of the decorations, he had seen her expression get a confused and sad expression, though she did not mention it. Instead, she asked him about his knowledge of the creatures that lived in the mountains and woods, and he was happy to oblige her, if only because she seemed to want to understand those who were her neighbours.

A week passed, with her as his only visitor.

Mid-afternoon a week after his arrival, as the sun dipped closer to the dark mountain peaks, he was outside splitting wood, replacing what he had burned in order to burn off that ever present energy that continued to build within him. He had never thought of not doing a yearly hunt, it had been part of who he was for most of his life, and though it had not initially bothered him, Percy was now left with a lost feeling as he tried to come to terms with who and what he was without his yearly task.

And Miriam had commented that she would tell Kris, the fae, that he needed more wood the night before. And he had been completely adamant that he could split his own logs, of which there were plenty stacked in the woodshed.

The effort of the exercise in avoiding the fae and giving himself a way to burn his energy had him overheating until he was chopping in his dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and collar open halfway down his chest.

"Why are you chopping wood in a suit?" The low rumble of the Fae's voice stilled Percy mid-swing, and he turned around, lowering the axe to his side as he regarded Kris.

The man only fit the stereotype of his kind in that his hair was platinum blonde, and he had a beard, though the beard was closely trimmed. There was no belly that jiggled or round cheeks that glowed. No, the Fae was large only in the fact that he was taller than Percy, and had considerably more muscle, though Fae forms did not change as drastically as Percy did when he shifted. Percy's true form was almost as tall as the Yeti was, but as a human, he was a fair bit smaller than the Fae.

Who was wearing the ridiculous flannel shirt and a pair of work pants, an axe resting over his shoulder as his dark eyes watched Percy curiously.

The man looked truly perplexed.

"Because I need wood." Percy offered and glanced over at the pile of split wood that he had made.

Perhaps he had gone a little overboard.

"Most people just ask me to split. But that's not what I mean. You're wearing a suit. Why?" Kris lowered his axe to the ground, leaning it up against the porch as he looked at Percy's jacket that was handing over the porch railing.

Percy paused, glancing down at his clothing, then up at the Fae. The man had an excellent point. He hated suits. But he wore nothing but suits in human form, so he had no other clothes.

He shrugged. "Better than whatever you're wearing."

It rewarded him with a flash of annoyance across the Fae's features. Then the man smirked slightly. "What's your name?"

"Percy. And you're Kris." Percy turned and picked up another piece of wood, paying attention to getting it to balance upright on the chopping block.

The Fae was silent until he had swung and split the wood. Then he spoke. "According to the truce, when I ask for your name, you are required to give it to me."

With a grimace, Percy buried his axe into the chopping block and turned to look at the man, feeling a flash of annoyance rushing through him. "And what's your name?"

He was being difficult, but now that he had said the words, the man would have to answer, and the two of them would be at an impasse. If you learned the name of a Fae or Demigen during a meeting, they could do you no harm.

Kris smirked again, though he inclined his head ever so slightly.

"Percivus Rudinius Oddsonne." Percy hated this part of the new truce. It was why he avoided the Fey as often as he could. The feeling of his power slithering through his words and binding him was not one he enjoyed.

An odd expression crossed the face of the Fae, the man's eyes widening ever so slightly.

Then Kris murmured, almost intimately. "Krisinial Merviana Torbjorn."

Percy's mouth went dry, and he stilled in place, feeling an odd shimmering move through the air between them. Like he recognized the Fae in front of him. Like Kris had been some long-lost friend he had been searching for and finally found through the truth of the man's true name.

Then Kris smirked ever so slightly. "Why don't you go by Rudi?"

The man's words were said in the tune of that annoying human song about reindeer, though the tease was only a gentle one.

"You damned well know why I don't." Percy crossed his arms over his chest, fighting off the shiver he felt running over his skin as his body cooled under the damp shirt he was wearing. "I don't need any wood."

"Our human forms are vulnerable to the cold here. You are going to catch a chill." Kris shook his head and nodded toward the cottage. "I'll help you bring the wood in."

But the man didn't move yet, watching Percy curiously, waiting.

Percy assumed that if he had refused, Kris would have probably accepted it and left him alone, and all logic would dictate that was the decision he should make. But for reasons not clear to even himself at that moment, he nodded and turned to gather a load of wood into his arms and started up the steps to the cottage.

He used his power to open the door, though the name binding caused it to tremble uncomfortably, reminding him that magic use while the meeting persisted would be less than comfortable. Not that he hadn't pushed the limits of that discomfort before. Percy told himself that he wasn't in the mood for it, and that his not using his power to aid them move the split wood into the house had nothing to do with the sudden desire to not scare the Fae off.

Even then, they made quick work of the task and as darkness truly settled over the cottage, they finished, both of them standing in the small space, breathing heavier from the exertion. Silence stretched as they stared at one another, and Percy found his mind going blank as he met the other man's gaze.

"I don't have cocoa, but I had buttered rum." Percy broke the silence with the inane offer, though it inspired a smile on Kris' features.

"Miriam has told me of this fabled drink. She says you should set up a booth at the market." Kris chuckled softly and turned toward the fireplace, stacking up the wood and kindling. The man crouched in just such a way that his ass and back were on perfect display. "You should change your shirt. You're soaked and you can still catch a chill."

Percy snorted in amusement and turned to the kitchen, distracting himself with preparing the drinks, keeping his back turned to the man to avoid the urge to stare. "I don't think any of you would want me selling alcohol at your little Christmas market. Is that why she keeps coming over?"

"No, she keeps coming over because she thinks you are lonely and you enjoy her stew. Maybe because she says you know a great deal about the night's children that live around us." Kris' words were absent as he continued to work, judging by the rustling of wood and the smell of smoke coming from that direction.

"The what?" Percy turned to look at Kris even as the man stood up and away from the fire that was starting to lick along the wood structure that the Fae had built.

Kris watched him for a long moment, frowning, before turning to the nearest lamp and turning it on, the golden glow lighting up the room. "You. Your ilk."

Percy stared at the man until the kettle started boiling, then he turned and poured the hot water into the cups on the counter, thinking over the term for a moment. "You call the Demigen, the Night's Children?"

"I..." Kris trailed off into silence, and Percy turned to find the man looked almost pained. "I didn't realize that was not the name you went by. Demigen?"

"There was a time when we weren't so opposed. We lived in a world that understood that day and night, life and death, dark and light, were not opposites, but merely part of the same cycle of things. That I can not exist without you and you can not exist without me. How old are you?" Percy stirred the liquid in the cups before sliding one across the counter that separated them.

Kris walked across the small space and reached out for the handle, bringing the cup up to his mouth and breathing the steam in. "Just about seven hundred years."

"I grew up in the tail end of it all. I started the hunt at the tail end of it all. I had a Fae partner for a few decades, until the world changed, probably around the time you were born." Percy glanced toward the fire, watching the flames grow, though the heat had not yet spread out into the room. "I think the Fae stopped understanding, or caring, about the Demigen around then."

Kris took a careful drink of the mug and frowned over it at Percy. "And the Demigen stopped caring about the Fae."

"War tends to do that, I'm afraid." Percy shook his head slowly. "But the world has changed again, and the new guard has come in and things are even more different. Thus I am here. I know you don't trust my presence, but believe me when I say I did not know what this village was. I just wanted to be remote while I took this enforced sabbatical."

"I was a little untrusting of your motives at first." Kris gave him a sheepish grin that was somehow as charming as it was innocent. "You are the... one who made the young one cry."

Why was the Fae so damned good looking?

Percy barked a laugh, though he paused as he felt a shiver run through his body. It had truly been a long time since he had spent so long in his human form. He continued chuckling, if only to prevent the other man from figuring out his discomfort as he walked around the counter and moved to stand beside the fire. "I apparently did, yes."

Kris moved to stand beside him, putting the mug on the mantle and carefully placing a few logs on the blaze, feeding it a little more. "I feel sorry for the kid, but... I'm glad you came here. You've already helped a great deal and given me a lot to think about. About how blind I've been to things."

They both fell silent after that, watching the flames that warmed and dried Percy off as surely as the hot buttered rum warmed his insides. There was something comfortable about the man's presence, even when they were both lost in their own thoughts. Percy almost offered Kris more to drink when he noticed the man finishing his cup, though he hesitated too long and the man smiled down into the empty depths.

"I should go. I'm dry. And I can feel this going to my head." Kris grinned again, then turned and walked to the kitchen, putting the mug in the sink.

Percy followed him dumbly to the door, his mind going blank, but for the thought that he didn't want Kris to leave.

Which was nonsense.

It should have been nonsense.

Kris reached for the door, then paused and turned to look at him again. "Thank you. The drink was pleasant. And... the conversation was even better."

"You're welcome to return if you'd like." Percy offered.

And as odd as that statement should have been, it felt right. It felt like the next best thing to asking the man to stay longer that moment. And he was rewarded with a surprised, yet genuine, smile from the other man.

Kris nodded once, then pulled the door open, stepping out into the cold as he murmured. "I'd like that."

Percy watched the Fae walk into the darkness and down the street, keeping watch until Kris faded from view into the village, that was lit up as brightly as it ever was. But for whatever reason, the colours that twinkled didn't bother him nearly as much as they had the last time he had looked at them.