The Briar Wake
The ruler is buried. The palace is blooming. Nobody has agreed who gets the keys.
Rain beads on mourning velvet while a fae court quarrels over its empty throne. A palace grown from living trees needs gardeners, wages and a ruler, not another perfect eulogy. Ambitious households bargain in its galleries; beyond them, night hunts cross muddy woodland and a forbidden orchard ripens behind locked gates. Three gifts have vanished from the funeral display, leaving a trail of embarrassed witnesses and disputed inventories. The court offers dangerous company as well as work: a proud claimant, a reckless performer, a patient hunter and other adult fae men with lives of their own. Visitors and residents of any adult identity can pursue influence, friendship, romance, practical employment or the pleasures of staying out of court business.
Characters10
Houndglass Lodge hunt leader; a broad, steady fae man organising night boar hunts and defending woodland paths.
Shut Orchard graft grower; an enthusiastic young adult fae man seeking a public seed plot and rushing dangerous plant trials.
Rainwake Chapel mortuary archivist; an exacting fae man comparing funeral inventories while keeping evidence too close.
Cinder Parlour performer and occasional fence; a quick, teasing fae man whose knowledge of stolen luxuries comes at a reputational cost.
Shut Orchard head gardener; a sardonic fae woman balancing protected plants, woodland access and her own nursery ambitions.
Rainwake Chapel mourning singer; a white-braided fae man seeking a joyful repertoire beyond court grief.
Court succession candidate at the Graft Hall; a disciplined, proud fae man offering political access and slow, exacting courtship.
Houndglass Lodge duelling instructor; a compact, silver-haired fae man whose competitive charm masks an ugly fear of losing.
Graft Hall household steward and succession contender; an incisive fae woman campaigning for paid staff representation.
Cinder Parlour physician; a broad, warm fae man offering unhurried company while avoiding a needed confrontation over unpaid care.
Locations6
Wooded fae estate and root region; paths join the living palace, chapel, guesthouse, hunt lodge and forbidden orchard, with an open road south.
Hunt lodge, kennels and covered fencing yard; Beran organises woodland hunts while Sayer teaches and seeks a school budget.
Funeral chapel with archive and guest rooms; Endell checks stolen-gift inventories while Mabon seeks music beyond mourning.
Guesthouse, supper room and small performance floor; Kitto trades songs and introductions while Tristram runs a modest medical practice.
Living timber palace and assembly venue; Odhran and Tamsen bargain over succession, repair funds and household representation.
Locked experimental garden north of the hall; Lowenna and Emrys tend rare fruit, negotiate access and argue for a public seed plot.
Races1
Human-sized, wingless, pointed-eared people with human-paced adulthood, dim-light vision and small, tiring plant-growth craft.