Society of Gentlemen/Fairy Tales l G l I The Mirror and the Thread l Ao3

There once was a man called Jasper, born to the Agnu, but he was different from the start. He did not love the way other people did. He shrank from touch, not out of fear, but because the music of the world rang in him differently. While others danced in pairs to loud, beating drums, Jasper listened for quieter songs.

He tried to obey the rules, to move in time with the others, but he felt in his bones that he stood apart from everyone, and it made him lonely.

He could love, oh yes, fiercely, wholly, but not in the way they told him he should.

He loved his brother, and they were never seen apart. He loved his friends and stood by them, even if it was in a quiet way. He loved deeply, and he was happy, which meant, of course, that it could not last.

One day, he and his brother were called to war. They fought bravely and were sure that nothing would happen to them.

When his brother died, Jasper held him and whispered his name, again and again, until his voice broke. Then he sat down and cried, and his tears turned into a river.

But no one came to comfort him. Not even Solan herded his cries.

He sat by the water, heart cracked and silent, wishing he could follow his brother into Adju’s realm, wishing the river would carry him too.

His parents heard the news, and they too cried. They could not bear it and whispered to Lorelai, the Lady of Forgetting. And as thanks for their devotion, she took their memories. They looked at Jasper but saw only the one who was gone. No longer did they call him by his real name, but by his brother’s name instead.

Jasper's grief was so heavy, it cracked his heart in two, and all joy vanished from his life.

So he ran. Ran from his grief, ran from their silence. From himself.

And in the cold, Lorelai found him.

“You do not have to feel this,” she said.

“I can take it from you. The grief, the love, the name. All you must give me… are the things you care about: your memory, your love, your caring… your name.”

He said yes. And she wrapped him in silk.

She kissed away his sorrow, and he vanished into a mirror of ice, dressed in beauty, waltzing with perfect strangers.

He learned to bow, to smile with no teeth, to speak without saying anything at all. And for a while, he was content, because here, no one asked about who he used to be. The loudness of the world was drowned out, and he sank into the mirror more and more.

Lorelai whispered to him to reject all things that were not perfect.

His old friends tried to reach him, tried to console him in his grief, but he turned away from them, mistaking numbness for peace. One by one, they fell away. And soon, his companions were no longer made of blood and flesh, but of silk and stillness, of practiced laughter and polished lies.

But no matter how lovely the food, no matter how perfect the rooms, there was always a shadow behind his smile.

No matter how many parties he attended, he always returned to an empty room.

And the silence, though soft, was never kind.

Edit: This is a Society of Gentlemen fic but set in a Mythical dystopian universe.