The King's Dog

***The King's Dog*** is a *Fae Tales Verse AU*, and part 2 of *The Lone Wolf (series)*.

## Summary

When Augus is contracted by the Raven Prince to tailor an outfit for Master Mage Gwyn ap Nudd for the upcoming Unseelie Masquerade, he’s both suspicious and uneasy. Gwyn isn’t known for his manners and Augus has no idea what the Raven Prince is scheming. Not only that, but Gwyn is unpredictable, and Augus really just wants his life to go back to normal.

## Character Bios

### Ash Glashtyn

#### Life

Ash is an Unseelie underfae waterhorse, and Augus' younger brother.

### Augus Each Uisge

Augus is an Unseelie underfae waterhorse, and the current incarnation of the Each Uisge. He works as a healer for fae who couldn't afford more expensive healing.

#### Appearance

Augus' Masque costume involved waterfast facial makeup of 'deep violet eyeliner around his eyes and . . . black mascara', and styled his mane in a complicated braid that showed off the waterweed in it. 'His mane would always be wet and dripping . . . but it held its shape well, the thick, black strands of hair settling into their neat position easily. . . . His costume wasn’t nearly as elaborate as Gwyn’s, though the embroidery on the shirt and coat had taken an awfully long time. Black leather pants, treated to have a dull rainbow sheen, gleaming blue or jade green or violet depending on how the light hit. Calf-high black leather boots with a decent heel, also treated with the same coating, peacock feathers stitched into both sides with metallic and iridescent threads.

The shirt was a deep glossy green, a scalloped pattern of pale green feathers upon it, the coat was thick and black, feathers falling down over it in neat embroidery until they ended at the hem in a fringe of trimmed, real peacock feathers. His nails were painted a shimmering blue-violet polish. And over his hair he placed a tiara of stylised, metal quills of blue and green, terminating in faceted gemstones. The half-mask of the peacock, with its pointed beak – to hopefully stop people from getting too close to his face – and its metallic blue feathers and arched white eyebrows completed the ensemble.' The mask tied around his face so he didn't have to hold it. Gwyn was impressed by it in a way Augus found flattering.

#### Life

'Augus had been invited to the Unseelie Court with increasing frequency of late. It was tedious, but he didn’t wish to slight the King'. Augus is not interested in being assigned as Gwyn's tailor, particularly given the ease with which Gwyn might murder him, but also finds Gwyn intriguing from their first meeting. He thinks of Gwyn like a puzzle as he begins to learn more about the Mage. Although Augus is cordial to strangers and courtiers, he struggles to handle Gwyn's apparent temper tantrums and rudeness. Over time, he begins to be firmer in responding to Gwyn's rudeness. He eventually realizes that Gwyn has been assaulted or otherwise abused in the past, which is likely a major reason he doesn't trust Augus, as Gwyn assumes Augus will do the same to him, on the Raven Prince's order. Augus takes Gwyn's measurements and sketches multiple designs for Gwyn's costume, including a solar god costume, which Augus hopes Gwyn will choose, because of Gwyn's light and Taronis' defeat. Gwyn's vulnerability as they grow more used to each other encourages Augus' bloodlust, as well as his protectiveness. When Augus makes a joke about the Raven Prince, Gwyn attacks him, nearly killing him, and Augus uses a compulsion to make Gwyn leave until Gwyn feels sorry for what he'd done. When Gwyn returns, penitent, with a basket full of vanadellia, Augus takes Gwyn inside and massages his hands while asking Gwyn about Taronis and the Raven Prince, satisfying his heartsong of dominance. He reluctantly attends the Masque after a *very* late order to attend by the Raven Prince, and mingles with the crowd before finding Oxcillian harassing Gwyn, letting him better see the full picture of Gwyn's past, though Augus says nothing about it until Gwyn confronts Augus as Augus is leaving. Augus promises not to reveal it to anyone, and leaves. He feels uncomfortable about not doing anything, but feels like there is nothing he can do, and that it isn't his business anyway.

### Fluri the Mouse-Maiden

Fluri is a member of the Raven Prince's Inner Court and a healer who heals Gwyn's hands after Taronis burns them to the bone. Due to her direct intervention, it takes Gwyn three and a half weeks to recover, though the pain leaves a few weeks later.

### Gwyn ap Nudd

#### Appearance

Gwyn has pale blonde hair and pale blue eyes. When Augus first meets Gwyn in private, Gwyn 'was svelte, and his wrists were bony, his fingers long. He wore simple leather boots that didn’t look well-worn, as though he didn’t like to wear shoes at all. Suede tan pants, a cream linen shirt that had no collar, only soft, frayed ties so that it could be opened at the chest or tied closed. His cloak was just a huge bear pelt with the head and paws sheared off. No stitching, only a bare attempt at shaping. Two holes had been punctured to thread leather through in order to keep it in place on his body. At his side, in a worn leather belt, his staff. Unlike other Mages from the School of the Staff, Gwyn’s looked like nothing more than a polished stick. The wood didn’t even look that special. It held no gems or stones or sculptures and it wasn’t living.'

Gwyn's Masque costume involves gold-ivory 'gloves on Gwyn’s fingers tipped with golden claws' and gold-ivory boots. Augus initially puts gold lustre in Gwyn's hair himself, but at the Masque, Gwyn uses illusion magic to turn his hair truly golden. The mask is expressionless and white-gold, with spikes that radiate outward like a sun, but not round. The sleeves are long and embroidered.

#### Personality

To most people, Gwyn is rude and strategically manipulative, crafting a reputation for himself so that others leave him alone. He is also proud, arrogant, and has an inferiority complex. He hides his laughter the rare times he laughs. He is also very self-deprecating, and extremely temperamental. He can also be very delicate in his movements, 'like he was afraid he’d break anything just by brushing a finger against it.' He also demonstrates hypervigilance. The Raven Prince has a habit of removing Gwyn's language - to varying degrees - as punishment or lesson, for some large part of Gwyn's life, to the point that Gwyn dismisses it as something the Raven Prince is right to do, due to Gwyn's disrespect. The punishments still get to him, as shown when he is terrified of Augus lashing back at Gwyn for breaking an etiquette rule. He largely hides his constant terror of Augus, or at least the reason why, until Augus figures out that Gwyn was abused in the past. Gwyn even seems to use his dra'ocht to hide his inner turmoil. He is incredibly touch-starved and hungry for praise. When Gwyn grows more comfortable around Augus, he reveals that he 'could be playful and charming and rousing.'

Gwyn doesn't like red, all black, or violet (the latter two seemingly because they are the Raven Prince's colors).

#### Life

Gwyn is raised by the Raven Prince as his ward and apprentice at the Unseelie Court from Gwyn's childhood. In his youth, he is assaulted by Oxcillian, but never tells anyone else about it. The abuse continues, to some degree, to the story present. He also attends the School of the Staff and becomes a Mage. He ultimately serves as a member of the Raven Prince's Inner Court. 'They called [Gwyn] the King’s dog and the King’s executioner. Augus had only caught fleeting glimpses of him in the Unseelie Court throne room, the King’s dog was never there for longer than it took to speak briefly to the Raven Prince . . . [Gwyn] almost never wore his Mage motley, and he stared around the room with open disdain. He’d teleport away with his incandescent light, even though it was rude to do within the Unseelie palace, but the Raven Prince always allowed it.' Gwyn does not get along with Augus on their first meeting to create a Masque costume for Gwyn, and teleports away at the first opportunity. The Raven Prince then says something to Gwyn that makes Gwyn show up at Augus' home the following day. Although he stays long enough to talk, he refuses to be measured, and leaves again, with plans to return after speaking to the Raven Prince. The Raven Prince thinks it 'auspicious' that they are meeting at Augus' home, but threatens to remove Gwyn's language for a week if he doesn't let Augus measure him. Gwyn begrudgingly lets himself be measured, and returns later to see the design. After attacking and nearly killing Augus over a joke, he returns, penitent, with a basket, to pick a bundle of vanadellia for Augus, and even acquiesces in letting Augus massage his hands, though he does not know how to handle pleasure or prolonged gentle touch with another person. Gwyn later surprises Augus by conspiring to help them both be late for the Masque. When Augus notes that they would part ways after the Masque, Gwyn seems hurt, but doesn't otherwise say anything. During the Masque, where Augus witnesses Oxcillian assault Gwyn (though Gwyn only seemingly sees Augus and Oxcillian conversing after the fact), Gwyn realizes that Augus uncovers some part of the truth of Oxcillian's relationship with Gwyn, and confronts Augus as Augus is leaving.

#### Skills

Gwyn is vulnerable to compulsions, even as a Mage and when someone of lower status - like Augus - uses them on him. He can fight them, but he still has to obey them.

Although Gwyn noted he had no skill with herbs, he had skilled hands, and picked far more flowers than even Augus could in the same amount of time, and didn't bruise the petals in the doing. Gwyn also had a very good memory, particularly for voices, dates, and times.

Gwyn's dra'ocht was harsh, and made the air smell sharply of carbon.

### Medelia

#### Appearance/Personality

At the Masque, Medelia wears a 'half-mask of a human-reckoned red devil'. She is an 'empusae with tumbling black hair, and lovely olive-brown skin, Augus had spent nearly four full days with her, and she’d needed every minute of them.' She is chatty and plump. Augus likes her.

#### Life

Medelia is one of Augus' former clients. She is invited to the Masque by Lord Varonidas, and approaches Augus at the Masque.

### The Oak King

#### Personality

Gwyn notes that the Oak King respects the Raven Prince because the Raven Prince is dutiful to his Court, which is 'a divine Seelie trait'.

### Lord Oxcillian

#### Appearance

Oxcillian is shorter than Gwyn, and has silvery eyes. At the Masque, he wears 'a half mask of a ram, horns curling tightly.'

#### Personality

Gwyn considers Oxcillian obnoxious, and is terrified of him. Oxcillian is patronizing to Gwyn when Augus speaks with them.

#### Life

Oxcillian is the Raven prince's head executioner, and serves as 'a member of the Raven Prince’s Court for centuries'. He trains Gwyn from a young age 'on the finer points of execution after the Raven Prince was done teaching [Gwyn] about his true appetite.' He uses his position to assault Gwyn from a young age to the present. He gropes Gwyn at the Masque, and only leaves Gwyn's side after Augus intrudes on the encounter and bothers Oxcillian into leaving.

#### Skills

Oxcillian has the ability to quell magic, and is particularly useful in executing Mages.

### The Raven Prince

#### Personality

He internalizes the teachings of the School of the Staff that skill 'is learned through the repeated application of self-discipline', which gives him firm opinions on the appropriate use of magic. Augus notes that most of the Raven Prince's 'mischief wasn’t truly malicious, but he still made sport of other fae.' Gwyn thought of him as always rude. Gwyn also noted that Augus was more similar to the Raven Prince than Gwyn was, because the Raven Prince put duty and obligation over his personal desires and adhered to the old ways, like Augus did.

#### Life

The Raven Prince is a seventh son of a seventh son, which gives him raw power. He also becomes King of the Unseelie. 'The Raven Prince thought Augus was 'pleasing to look out', and sought out his help in properly attiring Gwyn for the Masque. The Raven Prince is pleased that Augus manages to dress Gwyn in an elaborate costume that Gwyn stays in for longer than 10 minutes. He discusses Gwyn and Augus' relationship with Augus, as well as the Raven Prince and Gwyn's relationship, and discovers that Augus *knows* something about Gwyn and/or the Raven Prince that changes Augus' perception of the Raven Prince, as Augus doesn't know whether or not the Raven Prince had a hand in Oxcillian abusing Gwyn. When Augus refuses to reveal what he knows at the Masque, the Raven Prince promises they'll see each other again and 'find the time to discourse upon certain subjects then'.

### Taronis

#### Life

Taronis is known as the Mage of Light, and perishes in a duel against the Raven Prince during *The Lone Wolf.* According to Augus' research, Taronis 'hurt Gwyn ap Nudd for no good reason at all except jealousy. The Raven Prince had killed him for it, and instead of taking Taronis’ near mythical tower for himself, he’d gifted it to Gwyn. Rumour had it that Gwyn never went there.' Speaking about/around it is difficult for Gwyn, and makes him shrink into himself, and he avoids it whenever possible. Taronis' attack leaves Gwyn with scar tissue in his healed hands.

### Lord Varonidas

#### Life

Varonidas is possibly a high-ranking Unseelie courtier, who invites Medelia to the Masque as his guest.

## Locations

### Augus' lake

At the bottom of Augus' lake is 'his underwater home, safe and dry beneath its vivid green protective dome'. There is a front door and a lounge filled with couches covered in cushions, as well as a kitchen where Augus sometimes makes tea. 'He had a space set aside for his own tailoring. A room mostly for storage, but also for lengths and rolls of fabric, as well as good cloth scissors, needles and pins, measuring tapes and more. Usually walking into the room filled him with calm'.

### Human realm

The human realm is where most humans reside, and where Augus hunts prey.

### Unseelie Court

The throne room at the Court is filled with an overwhelming 'melange of scents' and fae vying for status. After sunset, 'glowing creatures lit up and chandeliers of phosphorescence began to glow. Blue-pale fungi let off light, and served as comfortable, soft seats. Fireflies in yellow, blue and green arced around, floating up towards the ceiling and appearing like stars.' The walls are uneven and rocky.

The room the Raven Prince designates as a neutral location for Augus and Gwyn to meet initially seems 'dedicated entirely to dress and cloth-making. [Augus] had nothing like this back in his home. There were even human machines that ran on magic on a table nearby. . . . A small pot of thimbles rested by the table Augus sat beside. There were pincushions everywhere, three made by the same person to resemble iridescent beetles.' There is also a wall of fabric samples.

## Quotations

* To Augus, about Gwyn: 'I hear that you are used to taming all manner of fae in unusual ways,’ the Raven Prince said. ‘I’m sure it won’t come to that. But I’d like for him to not be dressed as a peasant scarecrow for yet another year. If he comes at all.'
* The Raven Prince to Augus, about Gwyn: 'Then use your compulsions. I don’t care. I’ll organise a time for you to see him.'
* Gwyn to Augus, about the Raven Prince: 'He always has his games, and not all of them hurt. But when it’s the Masque at the Court, and our rivals and allies and our Unseelie Mage colleagues will be there… The past few years, he has not fussed about whether I’m there or not. This year… I don’t know who is on his guest list, or what has changed to make this reality. But I trust it not.'
* 'Gwyn’s eyes widened, and he shrank back into the chair, looking up like he expected another compulsion. He’d obviously belatedly realised that he’d been rude, and was prepared for consequences. . . . A little too used to being quickly punished, which didn’t surprise Augus at all, he knew how fickle and impatient the Raven Prince could be. And Gwyn was adopted as a ward of the Court, after his Seelie parents gave him up to avoid a diplomatic disaster. But Gwyn wasn’t fostered out to anyone. The Raven Prince had realised what a coup Gwyn was, in terms of his Seelie pedigree, and his magical potential, and raised him up himself. The Raven Prince was an impish, trickster teacher. Augus imagined he didn’t know the first thing about parenting.'
* Gwyn to Augus: 'The Raven Prince thinks it auspicious that we have moved the meetings to your house, and then he promised me that if I did not let you measure me the next time, he would remove my language for a week.'
* To Gwyn: 'You behave like a five year old,’ Augus said, as calmly as he could. ‘Do you understand? Do you understand that you have barely any rudimentary skills in socialisation, and that the Raven Prince likely let you roam wild and feral about the place because it causes less diplomatic nightmares than if he’d let you remain in the Court? Even if you wanted to be there, he’d find reasons for you not to be. . . . You have been asked to attend an event. You don’t know the motives, I don’t care about them. All I have been asked to do is tailor some clothing for you, and I have to measure you to get accurate, up-to-date measurements. At every turn you have been dangerous, boorish, suspicious, impatient and unreasonable. Did the Mages take your manners from you and replace it with a skill at magic? I can assure you, it wasn’t worth it. . . . I have tried to ask you why you don’t want to be measured, so I can reassure you, and you offer me nothing but rudeness. You treat me as though I am going to attack you constantly, even though I have shown you no signs that I’m going to, and my reputation is not that I attack fae cruelly, but that I help them. Besides which – I have no intention of offering that assistance to you anyway, because I can already see that it wouldn’t be helpful in the first place. Whatever the King wants, I don’t care for it, but unlike you, I am not behaving as a toddler throwing a tantrum. Believe me when I say I want nothing more than for you to return to your wilderness and never darken my doorstep again.'
* 'Gwyn was afraid, and not in a way that Augus could easily transform into something else. *If he feels this way all the time, he must be exhausted*.'
* To Augus: 'Why do you not simply use your compulsions on me?’ Gwyn said. ‘You know they work.'
* Augus to Gwyn: 'the difference between me and a torturer is that my ‘victims’ sing my praises, buy me gifts, and leave me more whole than when they arrived. I didn’t ask for my reputation, I had no idea when I started out how adept I’d be, and yet I have a reputation as a healer nonetheless.'
* 'Augus imagined what it might be like, luring the raw truth out of him. He suspected Gwyn hated attention but craved it, never having known what kind of attention he truly needed and only being hurt by most of what he received. That wasn’t so uncommon. He knew Gwyn had very little concept of what good touch might feel like, maybe no concept at all. He was a lonely, wounded thing, standing on a great burnt field, and as far as the eye could see, there was nothing generous in the world for him. So he’d turned himself to spikes and brutality, and become what the Raven Prince needed him to be, and yet someone had seen past all of that and scarred him further all the same.'
* About the Lightwash Delta: 'I don’t think the Raven Prince ever understood why I never went back there,’ Gwyn said. ‘I don’t think I understand it myself. But it’s not my realm. It’s not my tower. It’s not my place.’ ‘You suffered hideous damage there,’ Augus said. It made complete sense to him. ‘But I healed. Ultimately, it was only a few weeks of my life. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a drop of water in the ocean.'
* To Augus: 'I wish I had more cause to work with herbs,’ Gwyn admitted. ‘I thought, as a Mage, I might find reason to use them all the time. But none of my talents or skills lie in that direction.'
* ‘I’m fine,’ Gwyn said. ‘This is unnecessary.’
* Gwyn to Augus, about the Raven Prince: 'I escaped him and that Court as early as I could, and I haven’t returned in any meaningful way unless he commands it. He let me go because he knows how cruel the Court environment can be. I think he envies what I have taken for myself. He is not wild in the same way. He can’t do it himself. . . . I attend my King because he commands it and he has the tools to make me regret not listening to him. I am here with you because he has told me I must be, but even you will well remember I found many ways to shirk that responsibility.'
* About Gwyn: 'Augus walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, wondering if he should have been friendlier. But they weren’t *friends*'.
* Gwyn to Augus: 'The School of the Staff does not look kindly upon anyone who relies on raw talent only. It’s considered lazy and undisciplined.'
* Augus: 'It’s yours. After tonight, unless the Raven Prince wills it, we’ll never see each other again.' Gwyn didn’t look away for a long time. Then he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and reached for his staff. ‘Your service has been commendable,’ he said. ‘I’ll let the Raven Prince know.'
* To the Raven Prince, about Gwyn: 'He is not that bad, once you get used to him,’ Augus said.'
* The Raven Prince to Augus, about Gwyn: 'If only you could have known him as a child. He could be very endearing. But he has always been a half-feral thing. He knows, you see, that his mother hated him at the moment of his birth. He knows that I was never meant for parenthood. And I find myself certain that I more than met some of his needs, and never met some of the others.'
* 'And you know I’m going to invite you back, don’t you?’ the Raven Prince said. ‘I like having you in my Court. You are comely, and you fascinate the others. There has never been an Each Uisge like you.'
* To Augus: 'You *know*,’ Gwyn said, his voice strained. ‘I don’t know how you know, but you know.'
* To Augus: 'It is *nothing* compared to…' An actual choking noise, and Augus wanted to take a step towards him, but he felt like the only reason Gwyn was talking to him now was because Augus was about to leave, because they weren’t close to each other, because it was always night here around the Unseelie Court, always dark, and they were shrouded by trees and shadows and the sense of seclusion. 'It is nothing,’ Gwyn finished off.'

## Trivia

* *The King's Dog* is unique in *The Lone Wolf AU* in that it is told entirely from Augus' perspective.
* Waterhorses 'liked creature comforts.'
* At Gwyn's first Masque, the Raven Prince gave him a dog mask to wear.
* Gwyn helped Augus harvest vanadellia: rare small white flowers that grew for only a brief time and only flowered for two days, once every three years, with the help of Augus' growing ability; they 'smell of sour lemon, but Augus thought they tasted sweet.' Bruising the flower petals ruined them, and they were best on the first day of flowering.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 not\_poignant. “The King's Dog.” *The Lone Wolf. Archive of Our Own,* 13 April 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22333180/chapters/56708482. Chapter 4.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 not\_poignant. “The King's Dog.” *The Lone Wolf. Archive of Our Own,* 20 January 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22333180/chapters/53347861. Chapter 1.
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 not\_poignant. “The King's Dog.” *The Lone Wolf. Archive of Our Own,* 14 February 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22333180/chapters/54280678. Chapter 2.
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 not\_poignant. “The King's Dog.” *The Lone Wolf. Archive of Our Own,* 17 March 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22333180/chapters/55491727. Chapter 3.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Lone Wolf.” *The Lone Wolf. Archive of Our Own,* 27 April 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3831187.