Sabre
Sabre sighed as he surveyed his unruly brood.
Angel had left because of Glorificus being after Serafina and her siblings.
The cat wished him well.
He just hoped he wasn't stark raving bonkers by the time the vampire came back.
"Draco! Get down from there."
The kitten looked at him with wide eyes.
"Down."
Draco sighed and dropped from the bookcase with a silent grace.
"What have I told you? Stay out of Angel's office."
Sabre walked over and closed the door after Draco skitterd out.
"And the rest of ye better be behaving!"
He rubbed his aching head tiredly.
"How about I tell you lot a story?"
Four pairs of interested eyes swung on him.
"Upstairs in bed then."
The kittens scampered up the stairs and Sabre followed them wearily.
They all got settled into one of the big beds and Sabre cleared his throat.
"This happened two hundred years and a day ago...there was a beautiful maiden, and she was madly in love with a bard by the name of Tam O' Lin. Now, Tam, he was such a harper that he could charm the birds from the trees, and the flowers grew faster and smelled sweeter as he played. The animals of field, house and forest came to him to listen, for he was such a singer that they were entranced by his song.
"But Tam was also so verra proud...
"He boasted that he was the best bard on the face of this green earth, or over it, or under it. And he had no eyes for the beautiful maiden who loved him."
"What was her name?" Perseus asked.
"Her name was Meghan. Meghan of the Ashes. Because her and her family used to live in a house surrounded by ash trees. Now, back to Tam. Ye should never, ever boast like he did. And especially nowhere that th' fair folk ken hear ye. Because...one did. And she wasn't just any fey. Oh no. She was the Queen of the Fair Folk. Rhiannon of the Birds..."
Sabre held his kittens spellbound as he told them of how Tam O' Lin was kidnapped by the Queen, and nearly held by the Fair Folk for all of eternity. Until Meghan rescued him by holding to him no matter what form he took when he passed by on his fairy steed.
And then what happened after Meghan died, and Tam was all alone...
He followed a white hind into the forest and was never seen or heard from again. Except sometimes on a midsummer's night, if you hide by a faery hill or path, you can hear a harp and a man singing of his true love, Meghan of the Ashes, even as he rides by with the Fair Folk.
Sabre eyed his asleep kittens with a fair sense of accomplishment.