A court of Night and Fire

Please don't destroy doors

Asterin POV

I wake up in bed. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in Azriel's arms. I sit up, rubbing at my temples. Someone's changed me into a pair of thin leggings and a shirt. I look around and find Feyre sat in a chair beside me, smiling. "How are you feeling?" she asks and I frown. How was I feeling? Not too bad considering I'd just fought Bryaxis. "like eating something. Scratch that. Like eating a lot" Feyre laughs and something twinges painfully at my neck. I reach a hand up and find what feels like a bandage there. "for some reason, the wounds Bryaxis gave all three of you don't heal like normal. They won't even heal with our magic helping" I raise my eyebrows "Magda had to put stiches in all of you. they will heal, but rather slowly."
"how are Nyx and Ash?" I ask
"they're okay. They woke up a couple of hours ago and haven't stopped trying to see you"
I grin "at least I made an impression"
Feyre laughs "yes. You managed to come off with the worst injuries, but they aren't that far off the other two. You got a couple of rather deep gashes across your chest, ribs and arms that needed quite a few stitches courtesy of Magda, all the others weren't too deep and are mostly healed now" I nod and roll my shoulders slightly, feeling the slight tug of the stitches.

"what's the tattoo on your back?" Feyre asks, watching me. 
"my father did it. Most of my court have them, they're written in the old language. All of ours are different. Mine reads 'my name is Asterin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I will not be afraid'. It serves as a reminder of who you are. It helps me sometimes. I know it sounds weird, but my mother used to have a human as her shifting form. When she was training to be an assassin she met Sam Cortland, whom my brother is named after. My mother and Sam loved each other, but Sam died just before she got sent to the mines. Whilst he was still alive, he told her that whenever he was frightened he'd recite 'my name is Sam Cortland and I will not be afraid. My mother used it to help her conquer her fears and remember who she was. She taught it to me when I was younger and whenever I am scared, I remember it and the tattoo on my back as a permanent reminder of who I am."
Feyre smiles "that's actually beautiful" she says quietly and I smile at her "my father did it in such a way that he can add to it whenever I want him too. All of ours are different."
"the Illyrians have tattoos that they gain when they complete the blood rite" I'd heard of the blood rite - Cassian had explained it to me the other day.

I swing my legs over the bed and stand up. "where are Nyx and Ash?" I ask as Feyre stands up as well. She sighs "are you sure you want to see them now?"
"yes" I say, determinedly. She walks over and opens the door. Nyx and Ash are waiting outside and immediately rush towards us when they catch sight of me. The both pull me into a hug and I laugh "Perhaps I should have left it longer if you missed me that much" I say and Ash glares at me. "In that case, I would've started breaking down doors." he says "Ash, I'm not sure your capable of knocking down a door." he glares at me and I smirk "knocking down implies there will be at least some of the door left in tact" I finish and he laughs "true" he says. "plus, I'm sure Nyx would throw a fit if you started breaking doors that will one day be his" Nyx smirks "although, yes they will one day be mine I agree with Ash, princess, a minute more and I would start destroying doors" 

I laugh and catch sight of Azriel standing in the doorway. I walk over and hug him. I don't think many people have hugged Azriel before, so I think I might make it up to him now. Azriel laughs and hugs me back "how are you feeling?" he asks, looking down at me "absolutely starving" I reply and he chuckles. "Nuala and Cerriwiden have prepared lunch for you, when you want it" I release Azriel and grab Nyx and Ash and drag them out the room. Half way down the corridor, Nyx breaks free of my grip and lifts me up. I laugh and allow him to carry me into the dining room. 

The three of us sit down and eat together. We're all starving after our encounter with Bryaxis and right now, the problem of food must be addressed before the creature of nightmares. Rhysand come in with Cassian half way through. His violet eyes catch on mine for a moment and he smiles before turning to the room. "from what we can tell, Bryaxis is dead" he says. "good. what was that?" I ask
"Bryaxis is also known as the creature of nightmares. It previously dwelled in the library but we released it during the war with Hybern. After the war, it disappeared. We hunted for it, but could only find traces of it's whereabouts. We never found it." replies Feyre, looking to Rhysand.
"so why was it in the forest?" asks Nyx
"we have no idea" says his father
"well, I'm glad it's dead." I say, simply and everyone nods in agreement "but it knew I wasn't from this world. And it felt... well, it felt like a Valg"
"felt?" asks Rhysand
"yeah, the Valg have this really weird thing with them, their very presence just sort of naturally repels you. Not out of fear but because it feels wrong. It's really hard to explain. Some are fully or partially immune to magic too, it's like they can repel it" 
Nyx looks to me "yeah, I felt it too" he says

"that's because somehow Bryaxis came from the same world as the Valg" says Amren as she enters the room. "how? the others only came through because either Maeve or Erawan made it possible" I say, looking to her, unflinching. "that's because ,girl, Maeve and Erawan were not the first to world walk. My guess is Bryaxis walked between worlds before either of them and was trapped here." she says, still staring at me with those damn grey eyes. "the only reason you were able to kill that thing was because the combination of your magic is new. Bryaxis could not have an immunity to something that didn't exist until recently. It was born of old magic, not the new"