A Court of Scars and Shadows

Beastly Reunions

GWYN'S POV

The first few months in a new court took some adjusting too. Especially since she wasn't in the library anymore.

Most of the time Gwyn was alone, either in Rosehall or exploring the land Spring has to offer. Her favorite places had become the library in manor and another lake she found near by.

When she wasn't alone, she would either spend time training with Tamlin in the clearing, conversing with Lucien when he stopped by, or eating dinner with Tamlin every night.

Conversations with Lucien would vary to a different topic every time they saw each other. They went from talking about favorite genres to read all the way to Lucien's travel to other courts. Gwyn would do that one day, when she was more comfortable with what the world had to over. She had just wished she left the library earlier.

One conversation she had with Lucien was about his mate, Elain. During the conversation, Gwyn admired how Lucien's russet eyes sparkly with love as he spoke of Elain. He had told her how far they had come from day one and how they kept moving forward each day. He had also told her about Nesta and Cassian's mating ceremony. She had felt guilty for not being there at an important event in her sister's life. Lucien saw this and took the opportunity to try and convince her to let him tell the Inner Circle where she was.

Gwyn immediately shook her head no, as she done every other time he had asked. She felt horrible for making them worry about her everyday, but she knew that once they figured out where she was, they would come for her; asking her to return home. But was it ever home to begin with? Gwyn had only considered it to be sanctuary for her to get better, but never a home. She needed to learn how to control what she was before she faced her family again. She couldn't put them at risk, no matter how much of a thrill that thought gave her. She has told Lucien exactly that.

Training had been tedious with Tamlin. They met each day at noon after she completed the first step. Ever time he would shift into his human form, but turned back when they finished. He had asked about her family and what courts they were from.

She explained that her grandma was a River Nymph who seduced an Autumn Court male. Out of that affair resulted her mother. Her mother had participated  in Calanmai with a High Fae from the Spring Court, which led her to conceive twins.

Tamlin concluded that Gwyn might have other powers beside what her rage could make her do. He explained that Autumn Court people are gifted with fire, Spring Court people are associated with land, and River Nymphs can manipulate water as well as seduce any man.

He taught her the basic magic of High Fae, which was manipulation of wind to create wards and winnowing. He brought Lucien in one day to help show Gwyn about fire. Gwyn surprisingly caught on quickly before creating a  small fire ball of her own. Tamlin tired to teach her how to manipulate water, but it was not good.

He had simply said, "You might not have been given that power." Gwyn had tried her hardest not to look disappointed. The power that would have came from her mom, did not settle with her. When Tamlin mentioned the act of seducing, Gwyn froze and didn't speak to anyone for two days before continuing to train with Tamlin.

One of the hardest parts of her training was controlling her rage. Although she had found her person that grounded her, Tamlin said that was the easiest part. She struggled with that so she knew that learning her power from Spring would have been the hardest. She practiced mind-stilling on her own, trying to be as relaxed as possible.

The next step to controlling her rage was to be able to do it quickly without needing someone to tell her anything. These training would exhaust Gwyn emotionally. Tamlin would have to say things to anger Gwyn, which neither of them enjoyed.