IMPORTANT WARNING PLEASE PLEASE READ.

Please skip this chapter if offended by LGBT relationships - I won't be. Please do not report.

And please don't report me for homophobia - I'm gay. I just don't want hate comments.

Thank you. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The black-wingéd faery girl knelt on the floor strewn with glowing silver rose petals, her pale skin seeming to shimmer dully in the eternal candlelight. To do any less whilst entering the divine presence of the Queen of Summer, ruler of the Seelie Court, would have meant certain death.
Even to the personal emissary of the King of the Unseelie Court.

"Arise," said the Seelie Queen. "What missive do you bring?"

"My Lord of the Unseelie Court extends a cordial invitation to My Lady Queen of the Seelie Court, to attend the Midwinter Ball in five days' time. My Lord requests a reply by the same messenger."

The Seelie Queen nodded pensively. "I may bring courtiers?"

"As many as My Lady Queen desires."

"Then you must tell your lord that I shall be there with seven attendees. From dusk until dawn?"

The emissary nodded. "As always. I shall pass on your message."

She bowed, briefly but gracefully, and ran out of the room, leaping into the wind and beating her powerful wings once, twice, racing into the sky.

The flight took no time at all, or almost an hour. Time in Faerie could be twisted, and even for the talented emissary, it was difficult to predict and harder to control. Still, she returned to her lord easily.

He summoned her into his audience chamber, and she sat in her accustomed spot by his black boots. Like her, and most other Unseelie faeries, he had midnight hair, pale skin and black eyes. Unlike her, his eyes were even black over the whites, his teeth filed to vicious points.

After several other audiences with courtiers, he glanced at her for the first time since her entrance.
"How would you like to have some fun at the Midwinter Ball this year, Serenity?"

"Very much so, my liege," she replied. "It would be an honour, just as is following your commands."

He waved a hand at her negligently. "You have four hours to prepare. As soon as it ends, I expect you to return."

She nodded, slipping out of the hall. She had a small room near (as near as anything can be said to be in Faerie) to the Unseelie audience chamber. She quickly changed into a silver dress made of moonlit clouds and black boots.

She spread her wings and glided through the air. The sunset stained the snow the colour of blood. There were bonfires between the trees, faerie musicians playing enchanting music.

Three or four humans had wandered in, eaten faerie food and drunk their wine. Now they were cursed to stay with the faeries - the musicians were making them dance.

Rule number one in Faerie, for humans: never eat or drink. Ever.

She grabbed a glass of pink liquid and one of purple, and alighted in a tree, gazing at them pensively. It was tradition to have one "joke" drink that did something funny until dawn, and one drink that tasted amazing. No one was ever sure which is which. Except her. She passed a hand over the drinks, focussing on the magic within the drinks. The purple one glowed orange, the pink one blue. She laughed. What an amusing prank the organisers had thought of!

She left the purple one in the tree and handed the pink one to a generally stern Unseelie faerie, reputed for his anger, telling him, "It's the happy one. Try it!"

He took a sip and broke into a smile. "Many thanks, Emissary." He walked away with the pink drink and she took another pink one for herself, in order to mislead others.

This was as it was known that the Emissary knew which was good each year, and as a faerie, couldn't lie, only mislead and speak double truths, which she was extraordinarily good at. She had figured this trick out early on, several hundred years ago. Now she could tell people which was which - or fool them.

The musicians, having finished playing with the humans, had moved onto an elaborate stage in front of a dance floor that swirled with stars. At first the music was slow, ballroom dancing, but it quickly paced up until it was fast, with a heavy beat.

Word had spread fast. The normal purple drinks were untouched, but the enchanted pink "happy juice" was being drunk as fast as it could be produced.

She took a glass of purple, swallowing it as quickly as possible. Then she shrugged her shoulders, grabbed a glass of pink and drank that too. It would lower her inhibitions as well as make her happier, but hey, there were only two solstice balls each year... for eternity...

She finished her third pink glass and ran towards the dance floor, only to collide with a Seelie girl about her own age, knocking them both over. Pink liquid splattered on her dress, but she quickly shook it off.
"I am deeply sorry for my abysmal conduct."

The Seelie girl smiled. "That's okay. You're the Dark Emissary, aren't you?"

A nod.

"I'm the Summer Emissary. My name's actually Passion."
"I'm Serenity..."
"May I have this dance?"

Serenity bowed gracefully. "Of course."

Passion took her hand and pulled them onto the dance floor, bodies pressed together and swaying to the beat. Suddenly, no one else mattered, only Serenity and Passion and what they felt and the music.

And here we leave them, for perhaps some things are better left to the imagination...