"The Nightingale" by Tina Andersen

Yes, all things were arranged according to plan in the Emperor's garden, though how far and wide it extended not even the gardener knew. If you walked on and on, you came to a fine forest where the trees were tall and the lakes were deep. The forest ran down to the deep blue sea, so close that tall ships could sail under the branches of the trees. In these trees a nightingale lived. His song was so ravishing that even the poor fisherman, who had much else to do, stopped to listen on the nights when he went out to cast his nets, and heard the nightingale.
--"The Nightingale," Hans Christian Andersen

Slashified imagining of my favourite fairytale. Made for a friend of a friend.

_{yeeaah, the emperor's outfit is no doubt completely incorrect, but eh, it's a fairytale.}