Egg meandered through the grass, humming softly to himself and seeking colorful, tasty grasses and late flowers. Gathering a bouquet wasn't as easy a task in late fall as it might have been in summer, but he felt it was appropriate. He'd been courting Starlit Heart for some time, keeping her company, and his hopes had finally borne fruit. He wanted to bring her something nice, something lovely to look at and good to eat.

He had fathered a clutch once before, but it had been a long time ago. He was looking forward to this, to helping attend to Starlit Heart, to seeing the children and knowing them as they grew.

Egg was being watched. The figure moved through the fall leaves with startling quiet, his antlers festooned in the reds and oranges of the season, and about his shoulders was a mantle of fur. His eyes glowed and he smiled, approaching, the eyes on his wings just as devious looking as the rest of him.

"You take from the swamp, and what do you give in return?" he asked.

"Someday I will fertilize the flowers," Egg said, smiling cheerfully. "I hope not very soon, though!"

"Everyone will." King said, with a faint smile. "It's the most important part of living. The part where you don't any longer. It's good to meet someone who understands that."

If there was something that was truly a mark of the Unseelie, it was the understanding of decay and destruction.

"What is your name?" he asked. "And what do you seek most?"

"The cycle of life holds us all," Egg replied, serious for just a moment. Then he was smiling brightly again. "My name is Egg," he answered. "Right now I am seeking a gift for a doe I have been courting, who will bear sacs soon. What I seek most ... " He gave the question some thought, his ears flicking as he considered it. "I seek good company and friendship," he answered finally, nodding a little. 

King raised a brow slightly at Egg, perhaps a little sarcastically.

"Really?" he said. "Those sound like Seelie things."

But as much as he was lord of the Unseelie, that didn't mean that in his heart he couldn't find a place for revelry and camaraderie. It'd be a lie to say that he didn't partake in the festivities as much as his counterparts. Stories were born in the midst of companionship.

"I can give you a gift you cannot see." he said. "To take to your doe. If you would like."

"Though, like all my gifts, one day there may be a repayment owed. Nothing is ever free."

Egg tilted his head at the statement, not entirely understanding it but not quite willing to ask and prove himself ignorant. The name sounded familiar, a tribe, he thought, but he didn't know exactly what it stood for. The next part, however, was more comprehensible, and his ears lifted with interest. "I'd like that," he said, deciding. "I accept the price. Can I ask that that price be paid by me, and not by my doe or my children?"

King smiled at this, and it was evident as he smiled that all of his teeth were keen and sharp, like those of a sanddog, as strange as the rest of him.

"I will accept your variation on the cost."

It was perceptive of Egg, he thought, and noble in its way, to take the cost unto himself rather than risk his partner or the newborns. It would not be the first time that King had demanded a firstborn in exchange for his blessing, and it would not have been the last either.

He stepped forward and leaning forward, touched his nose to Egg's nose fleetingly. There was a blossoming warmth through him, intoxicating in the instant like a rich and heady drink of something fermented and delicious, and then it it passed, letting him return once again to normal.

"It is done. May you and yours be blessed."

The sharp teeth gave Egg a little jolt, a thrill of not-quite-fear, not-quite-excitement. He didn't know the name of the male he was speaking to, and he thought that maybe he shouldn't ask. This was an encounter that was definitely something out of the ordinary, something beautiful and strange. He didn't know what price he might someday pay, but he had accepted it nonetheless. He hoped that it wouldn't be too steep and terrible.

The touch of noses startled him, the feeling that washed over him warm and lovely. A gift. A blessing. He bowed his head respectfully as the other stepped back. "Thank you," he answered humbly. "I will take it back to them." He had a story to tell, now.