A court of Night and Fire

catching up

Asterin POV

"you can come back to Velaris with us" Rhysand says and my parents exchange a glance before my mother nods "okay, I'd like to see more of this world" she says and I smile "it is beautiful, especially Velaris" I say "we will have to winnow though" Feyre says and at their confused expressions I explain "it's like what Fenrys can do, but over further distances." They nod. Feyre takes Aedion and Dorian and Rhysand takes my parents. Nyx takes me and Ash as usual and a moment later, everyone is standing on one of the gardens facing Velaris. 

My mother smiles as she takes it all in, leaning into my father. Ash comes to stand beside me and I lean my head onto his shoulder. He strokes my hair softly. Despite the months I've spent here, I never managed to get used to the view. I don't think it's even possible. My father comes to stand beside us. "you've got a new tattoo" he says, smiling at me. I look to Ash and smile "there's a pretty interesting story behind it" I say and he laughs "I want to hear it all" my mother says, joining us. 

Eventually, we go inside and into the large living area. My mother is lounging in an armchair, looking completely at ease. My father is stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder. Aedion is stood next to him and Dorian is sat in an chair beside my mothers. I am sat on a sofa, sprawled between my carranam and my mate. Rhys is sat in a chair beside the fire, Feyre perched on his lap. Emerie, Gwyn and Nesta are sat on a sofa, having been filled in and summoned mentally by Rhys, Cassian sprawled at one end next to Nesta. Azriel is leant against the wall, shadows swirling around his neck. Mor is lounging in a chair next to Rhys and Feyre and Amren is stood a few metres from Azriel. After Rhys had made the necessary introductions there was a moment of silence.

"what happened to the Valg?" I asked my mother who smiled grimly "let's just say it didn't survive the flames" she says. "what happened to you?" Aedion asked, gazing at me "you just disappeared" he adds. "I don't know for sure, but the Valg attacked my mind. I felt my power rise of it's own accord and a moment later the Valg was gone and I was falling" I reply "so I think somehow I managed to world walk." My father nods "the Valg said you just disappeared. Maybe it was your power trying to protect you. As soon as you disappeared it couldn't find you - mentally or physically." he says.

"we found her unconscious on the ground. She didn't look like anyone from the other courts so we took her back to Velaris" Nyx says, continuing where i left off. "other courts?" Dorian asks. Rhys explains about the seven courts, the high lords and the powers "after I met Feyre, I made her high lady. It'd never been done before, but i made it happen. I will not accept my mate as anyone but my equal" he finishes, smiling at the High Lady. "I like you" Aelin says, grinning. "once I woke up, we managed to piece together what had happened" I continue "we worked out that i world walked into a world you had fallen through. Feyre allowed me to stay in the night court for as long as I wanted" 

"what did you do here then?" my father asks and i exchange a look with Ash "well, I spent a couple of weeks training with them and getting to know these two overgrown bats" I say, gesturing to the two males I was sprawled across, who grinned at me. "why are they overgrown bats?" my mother asked, laughing "because they are part Illyrian have wings like Rhys's" "Illyrian?" Aedion asks, looking curious "we're basically winged fae minus the pointy ears" Cassian replies "we are bred and trained from birth to be warriors" Aedion looks interested at that.

"well, aside from spending time with Nyx and Ash, she also managed to become a Valkyrie" Feyre adds, smiling. At the confused expression on my mother's face, Gwyn says "Valkyries are basically a group of very powerful, badass, all female warriors trained in the mind as well as the body" My mother laughs and looks to me "I'm jealous now" she says, grinning. "the three of them also managed to defeat Bryaxis" Rhysand says, smiling at us. "what is Bryaxis?" Aedion asks, looking to me "something I never want to encounter again" Nyx says and I nod in agreement "let's just say it's called creature of nightmares for a reason" Ash adds. 

"now, on top of all of that, they also won the blood rite" Azriel says, speaking at last. "the blood rite is one of my least favourite Illyrian traditions" Cassian says in response to my parents questioning expressions "basically, anyone who wishes to compete is drugged so that they don't have any powers or fae healing, wings bound, and dumped into three points around a mountain with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They then just slaughter their way out of it. The aim is to reach the monolith at the top of the mountain Ramiel. So far only 17 people have ever reached the monolith. Three of them are myself, Rhys and Azriel, the other two are Emerie and Gwyn, and latest of all is Asterin, Nyx and Ash. They also made it in record time." he says and my family look rather impressed.

"the three of them found a completely new route up the mountain by scaling the near vertical side of the mountain." Azriel added. "even after one of them got stabbed in side, piercing both their lung and their heart" Rhys says, looking to me and smiling. My father follows his gaze to me "how on earth did you get stabbed in the heart?" he growls and I laugh "we encountered a group of four Illyrians. We'd made a pact before hand to spare as many Illyrians as we could. Three of them engaged us, one to each of us. The fourth looked torn between helping or fighting. Turns out he was from the group of males we trained with before hand. He tried to protect Asterin, but the male attacking her turned on him and threw a knife at him. Asterin protected him and got stabbed instead, buying the time to run" Ash explains, running a hand through my hair. 

"The male who'd thrown the knife twisted the knife in me and pulled it out, dropping it. Apparently his father had been in Nesta's rite when weapons were snuck in. He'd hidden them and told his son where to find them. It didn't matter though, because I killed him with the knife he'd used on me" I say. My father looks rather territorial at this point and so does my mother, but they relax slightly when they hear that I killed the male responsible. "and you still climbed a mountain in record time?" Aedion asked incredulously and I nod. "when we got back, the magic from the monolith wasn't enough to heal it fully, so Az took me to a healer. When i got back, I met Ash first. He kissed me and the bond snapped into place. I think you can guess where that led" I continue, catching my mate's gaze and smirking. 

"when she came back, we realised that her and myself were carranam. The three of us spent a week in the mountains but were called back to deal with a problem in the court of nightmares" Nyx says, his violet eyes meeting my own. "we dealt with it, but discovered something" I say, seriously. "there was a Valg in the court" I continue, still gazing at Nyx. I close my eyes and brace myself to say the next part "the Valg told me that he was one of many sent through worlds to find me" I say quietly and there is silence "he also told me who sent him" 

"who?" my father asks, softly. I open my eyes and meet his gaze "Maeve"