Princess of Wind

Chapter 21: The Return Home

When Elea woke the next morning it was a warm presence wrapped around her body, calling her back to sleep. Without opening her eyes Elea rolled closer into Ayden, enjoying the peaceful moment that existed within the canon his wings formed.

"Morning," Elea said, looking up into his pale blue eyes.

"More like Afternoon," Ayden said, wrapping his arms tighter around her, "you've been asleep for two and half days now."

"Oh," she turned in his arms to lay on her back, "I didn't realize that the portal would be so draining."

"Lea, you opened up a portal between dimensions," Ayden said, "I'm surprised you didn't sleep longer."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't," Elea responded, pushing herself into a sitting position while gently brushing aside Ayden's wing. "Who knows what I would miss, and what I've missed already for that matter."

"Not much," Ayden sat up beside her, "the portal seems to be disappearing, they only drop the occasional person back to their proper places instead of taking them. We're theorizing that whatever you did set the balance back and know the world is fixing itself."

"Interesting," Elea said. It was a relief to know that people were returning, it met something that had to have gone right. Now all she could do is hope that it stayed that way, "have Marion and Eira returned yet?"

"They haven't," Ayden said, "We were actually waiting for you to wake up to see if you could open one of the cross-dimensional portals."

"I could try," Elea had found the ruin for this world in her studies and still had the image she drew, it was likely that it would work, "however I need to eat and use the bathroom first, sleeping for two days is not the best way to maintain a body."

"I'll leave you to it," Ayden said, giving her a quick peck on the lip before standing up, "I need to tell everyone that you woke up anyways."

"Ok," Elea carefully placed her feet on the floor, bracing to stand on her numb legs, "I'll see you downstairs in a bit."

"One thing," Ayden said, offering a hand to help her stand up, "I may have had to explain the whole mate thing to my family, well more like confirmed it, because let's be honest we didn't hide it very well."

"I don't mind," Elea said as she began moving towards the bathroom, "we were going to tell them anyway and this saved us from having to find time. Plus it's not like you did it on purpose, I was hurt and you reacted as any mate would. Now, before we go off track, I really need to use the bathroom, so we can talk in a moment, ok?"

"Ok," Ayden said, "I'll go tell my family and find some food for you."

"Thank you, I'll be down in a few," Elea said before closing the bathroom door behind her.

A ten minutes later Elea walked down stairs looking reasonably presentable. Her hair was brushed and pulled back into a braid and her nightgown was exchanged for a pair of loose black pants and a light blue top. It may have been far more casual than she was used to, but it was a vast improvement from the bird's nest of hair and long shapeless nightgown she had been in minutes before.

When she arrived downstairs Ayden and his family were sitting in their living room, she entered after Ayden waved her in and gestured to a plate that held cheese, crackers, salami, and apple slices on it.

"Thank you for the food," Elea said, picking up the plate and diving in.

"Your welcome," Ayden replied, leaning back into the sofa by her side, "so, my parents wanted to ask a few questions while you eat, is that okay?"

"Yes, it's no problem," Elea said, her attention moving the couple that sat on a sofa across from her.

"Do you think that you will be able to open a portal between worlds?" Feyre asked.

"I do," Elea said after she finished eating a slice of apple, "I have everything I need, so I should be able to form a portal as soon as I finish eating."

"Would it be possible for us to travel through the portal with you?" Feyre asked again.

"Most likely," Elea said, "why do you want to come through?"

"We want to see the place were our son grew up and to meet and thank the people who were kind enough to take him in as a child," Rhysand said, "that and we believe that it may be beneficial to have allies in another world, just in car something like this were to happen again."

"That could work," Elea said, "I'm sure that my parents would love to meet you as well. Will anyone else be coming with us?"

"Just Gwyn and Azriel, their daughter could possibly be in you world and they wanted to be their to help find her," Feyre said, "other than that we need people her to keep order in the court and help those who are returning or have yet to be taken home through a portal."

"Let me finish eating and get Marva and Eloise and then we can go," Elea said, turning back to her plate as the conversation around her turned to different topics.

It was an hour later when everyone in their little group was ready to leave. They stood in a field outside of Velaris as Elea once again drew that mark for a wyrd portal.

This time the portal between worlds formed an opening that invited people in instead of locking them up and stealing them to another world. This time the portal opened into the perfect location, a training field on the castle grounds, where groups of soldiers stood gaping as the missing Princess of Terrasen and her little group walked into the middle of their lesson.

"Eloise, Elea," Aubree shouted, running over from where she had been sparring with a brown haired boy, "Your back."

"We are," Eloise said, pulling her sister into a large hug, a sight that Elea had maybe seen two times in her life.

"Come with me," Aubree said, after pulling away from her sister, "Aunt Aelin gave birth yesterday and she and Uncle Rowan should be in their room right now. I'm sure that they are drying to see you. Also Marion and a girl that is from another world, Eira I believe, are in the library, they'd be happy to see you too. Everyone's been worried sick, it's going to be a huge relief to see you guys back and safe."

Elea could find the words to respond to Aubree, the girl could talk a million miles an hour, so she simply nodded and managed to say, "I'm going to shift and fly over to see my parents, can you guys help our guest get settled for the moment."

"It will be no problem," Eloise said, "will go see Marion and Eira."

"Thank you," Elea said before shifting in a flash of light and taking off.

It took her a few minutes to reach her parent's bedroom, one of the windows was open, so she angled towards in and shot into the room. As she shifted back, she realized that it may not have been the best idea to shoot into a room with a protective face male and his mate and newborn child, but it was too late to change anything.

It took a second for her father to move into a defensive position between her and her mother, it took another second for him to recognize her and his posture to completely relax.

"Elea?" He asked, as if he didn't quite believe it was her.

"Hi dad," Elea said, giving a small wave.

"You're here," he said before striding across the room and pulling her into a comforting hug.

"I missed you," Elea said.

"I missed you too," he said.

"Wow, what am I, chopped liver?" Aelin's voice came from the other side of the room.

"I missed you too, Mom," Elea said, moving to where her mother sat on the bed, a little bundle in her arms.

As she came to the side of the bed Elea could make out little whips of blond hair and a pair of blue-grey eyes that stared straight at her. Elea sat down on the side of the bed and carefully gave her mother a side hug.

"I missed you to sweetheart," Aelin said, reaching out an arm to return Elea's hug, "I think it's time you met someone," she said with a softness in her eyes as she looked at the baby in her arms, "Elea this is Daniel, your new brother."