Shadowsinger

Chapter 20

Gwyn shivered as the wind slammed into her, sending her stumbling backwards into Azriel as she regained her bearings,

"I'll never understand how you do that so easily," she grumbled, rubbing her hands together against the cold,

"Do it a thousand times and you'll be fine," he laughed, quickly consulting the map he'd swiped off Rhys' desk earlier, leading Gwyn Eastwards, pointing out the key points on the map as they went, and showing her how to calculate distance and direction. "Here, the needle points North, spin this so that it's pointing the direction you need and follow it," Gwyn grabbed the Northseeker off him, and he surrendered the map, letting her navigate alone for a while, but Gwyn had no doubt that he'd already memorized where they would be heading for that whole day, and that he would correct her if necessary.

"Are we avoiding towns?"

"Yes, I'd head South of this one, there's a slight hill, so we should be more difficult to spot," Gwyn opened her mouth to protest how he could possibly know that, but looking at the map, he was exactly right, there was nothing but open space East, West and North of the town,

"Or we could be silhouetted against the sky," she countered,

"So we won't walk on the edge of the cliff, it's wide enough, it will take longer, but I'm not taking that risk," Gwyn huffed again, having no better alternative to offer, but she still wasn't going to let him win, she'd prove him wrong at some point.

Eventually Azriel did ask for the map back, and made Gwyn practice moving her wings around while they walked, ignoring her complaints and threats to attack from behind,

"I'd hear you coming,"

"Not if I'm quick,"

"You're to my left, about one pace behind me," Gwyn made a face, "Rude," he muttered,

"Stop snitching," she hissed at the shadows skittering across the floor, but they just danced out of reach, and Azriel snickered, 

"Maybe you're not their favorite after all," Gwyn ignored him, focusing instead on moving her wings individually, one up, one down, one in, one out. She didn't notice when Azriel stopped walking, or when he started to watch her, until she passed him, "How long have you been doing that?"

"I don't know, a half hour?"

"Good, that's really good, it's like you were born with them," she fought the instinct that told her that she had been born with a connection to them, to Illyria, through him. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that her ease with adjusting was because of him, maybe she'd been watching him more than she'd ever admit, even to herself, after all, he did look rather good when he was training. She swallowed, banishing the image of him sweating and panting from her mind, the thought of how else he could get that way following it. There would be time for that later, later, when they weren't on a mission, when they weren't at war, when they had time to just be themselves, to learn how to enjoy that side of a relationship. She wanted that, not all the time, but she did want something, she couldn't place it, but she wanted something. "Gwyn? You okay?" Gwyn started, then nodded, cursing herself for getting too lost in thought, she'd worried him now.

"I was just thinking about the palace, how we get in,"

"About that, I know you already agreed to pose as my wife, but I'm not sure you know much about Illyrian customs,"

"I've picked up bits and pieces here and there, mostly from Em, but not much,"

"I thought so, since we're posing as rebels, we'll be expected to be fairly traditional, so anyone who we meet will likely only address me, and expect you not to speak unless directly spoken to, and certainly not before I do." Gwyn nodded, she'd expected that, hated it, but expected it, "And they'll expect you to look to me for protection, and not to carry weapons, I do have some daggers that you can wear under a gown, but you won't be well armed, so please, be careful, and don't draw attention, keep your eyes down a bit, and defer to any males, otherwise they'll know that something's up," Gwyn's lip curled at the idea of deferring to anyone solely because they were male, but she agreed, knowing that if she refused, Azriel would still leave her behind, rather than risk her messing up, risk her getting hurt.