A court of water and worlds

Chapter #49

Ok so, I made this chapter super long and just warning, that it is a hefty amount of plot, but don't worry there will be more cute relationship soon.
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Gwyn was seated near the end of the table next to Nesta.
Emrie smiled at her from across the table sitting next to Mor. They were making eyes at each other again.
Gwyn watched the door in anticipation. She hadn't yet seen Azriel.
It had been a week since she had last seen him, and no one told her where he went or what he was doing.
He was a spy, he was probably Sneaking around people watching somewhere.
Gwyn smiled to herself. He did have a people watching problem.
Elain brought in the last of the food and took the spot across from Cassian who was sitting next to Nesta.
Gwyn heard the front door open and there he was.
Still, in his fighting leathers and two siphons looped around his middle finger.
Gwyn didn't mean to smile. She didn't mean to stare at him like a creep.
She immediately looked him over for any injuries and didn't see any but that didn't mean there wasn't any. His body was mostly covered so there could be any manner of injury where Gwyn could not see.
Gwyn heard him apologize to Feyre for being late and Gwyn hadn't realized how much she had missed him until right now.
She missed talking to him, laughing with him, training with him. She missed his smile and his dimples and his eyes. She missed his competitiveness and how safe he made her feel.
As he walked in and greeted everyone, Gwyn could not take her eyes off of him.
The gracefulness of each step, the slight smile across his dazzling face, and his night black hair ruffled from the wind.
Gwyn was one hundred percent sure she had never seen anyone more beautiful.
"Hello Gwyneth."
She completely melted. His name on her lips was the last thing she remembered before she got out of her seat and tackled him in a hug.
The force made him rock back, but he caught her, tightening his arms around her.
And she was surrounded by shadows and his scent of night chilled mist and that light undertone of frosting that Gwyn could never get enough of.
Gwyn felt every part where their bodies touched.
"Hi," she mumbled into his shoulder, and he tipped his head back and laughed.
The rumble vibrated through Gwyn's bones.
She tore her face away from his shoulder to look up at his face.
Absolutely nothing else in the world mattered because he was smiling. He was smiling like someone strung the stars across his lips.
And his eyes...
They still were the beautiful hazel color of the forest floor, but they looked glassy and his under eyes were swollen.
He was tired.
Gwyn stepped out of his grip, and she punched him in the shoulder.
"Next time you leave for a week straight, you need to tell me, or I will take all of your fun star maps and burn them," Gwyn crossed her arms.
"You think they're fun?" his eyes lit up, and she punched him again.
"Owww," he frowned but could only hold it for a second before his lips tipped up again, "ok, ok. I promise next time to tell you if you stop punching me."
"I wasn't even punching that hard."
"It still hurts."
"Want me to kiss it and make it better baby Illyrian," she teased and he chuckled then froze.
Gwyn just then realized that the room was silent.
She cringed then turned around to find everyone looking at them, gaping.
She heard Azriel cough nervously behind her and she furrowed her brows.
"What?" She asked them, confused.
It was Rhysand who responded smirking towards Azriel, "don't mind us. It's just, We've never seen him so smiley before. It's like seeing a triple rainbow."
"Is that really a thing?" Gwyn looked behind her at Azriel who nodded, currently looking completely flushed.
She loved seeing him so disheveled and nervous.
So, public displays of affection make him look like that? Gwyn took note and fully planned to use that to her advantage.
"Well now that we are all here, I'm sure we have plenty to discuss," Feyre said, bouncing Nyx lightly on her knee.
Gwyn took Azriel's hand and led him to sit in the seat next to hers.
She was sure by all the wandering eyes that everyone saw this happen, but she didn't give a shit.
"Well," Nesta started, then coughed nervously and turned to Cassian.
This was it, we're finally going to say something about the pregnancy.
"Me and Cassian have been visiting camp windhaven as you all know."
Not where Gwyn thought this was going.
"We explored some of the other lands in the Illyrian mountains and there is a lot of land I was hoping to use to further the Valkyrie training."
Now Gwyn was gaping.
Nesta wanted to move their training to the dangerous mountains.
"Of course we would have to talk this over," she looked at Gwyn and Emerie.
"And we would need your approval as high lord and lady," she turned to Rhysand and Feyre, the former smiling brightly.
"but there is no longer enough room for the priestess to train in the house of wind due to all the new recruits. As well as some Illyrian women I have spoken to in the camp who said they would like to join us if possible.
So I believe this could be the rebirth of the Valkyrie legion. I know it's a lot to take in, but it is something I hope to pursue in the future."
Gwyn had absolutely no words.
"You truly think training in the mountains would be best? The environment is so cold and harsh." Emrie questioned.
"It is actually the land surrounding the Mira lake—
"The lake of peace," Emerie muttered more to herself and Nesta nodded.
"That's beautiful," Gwyn smiled, "it would be perfect for mind stilling."
Nesta nodded and added, "yes, there is much to discuss on this topic, but I only wanted to bring it up. We can get into the details later."
Yes, they definitely would because Gwyn had a million ideas.
"I think it's a good idea, but there would be many kinks to work out," Feyre said and Nesta nodded.
As They started plating and eating food, Gwyn sighed in annoyance.
when were Nesta and Cassian going to tell them about the pregnancy?
Gwyn plated herself some food that smelt divine.
Throughout the rest of the meal they spoke of the Illyrian war camps and their progress. Emerie and Mor spoke of their time in Dawn and meeting with its high lord Thessan.
Eventually the conversation led to Koschei.
Both Cassian and Nesta's face sparked with rage and Elain's sagged with defeat.
"He hasn't done anything drastic recently, so we are unable to track his movement," Azriel said cold fury lit his eyes.
"If we were able to get to him," Gwyn thought out loud, "how would we plan to trap or kill him? He is a death god, you can't simply cut him down with a sword."
A woman named Amren spoke, "I actually have theories that a certain sword could. Ataraxia," she turned to Nesta, "it is a death sword and if a death sword struck a death god then maybe the two would cancel each other out. But that is just a theory, if we truly wanted to end him we would need to find where he stored his death, or we would need a far more powerful sword."
"What do you mean?" Mor questioned.
"Legend says that he hid his death somewhere no one can find therefore making him immortal, but I was thinking a made sword could give us an advantage, a short cut."
Gwyn thought... Was that why Koschei had shrieked at the sight of truth teller—- Gwyndolin, because it was truly a made dagger?
"Could it be any made item?" Gwyn questioned.
"Do you know of another that is not just a legend?" Amren stared her down but Gwyn was not afraid, it was ten times less scary than Nesta's stare.
"Aside from the dread trove, The made dagger Gwyndolin," Gwyn turned to Azriel who looked impassive.
"Do you know it's location or do you possess it?" It was Elain who asked that.
"Well..."
Gwyn didn't want to look like a fool and say she possessed it when there was a slight chance that the truth teller could be just a normal sword, well it definitely wasn't normal.
Azriel finished for her, "we think my dagger could potentially be the made dagger."
Not everyone was gaping again.
"Truth teller?" Mor asked Azriel and he nodded.
"Even if that were true, though Gwyndolin is powerful, it is nothing compared to how it would be with its twin sword."
"What is its twin sword?" Gwyn asked thought she already knew the answer.
"Narben, though that sword is far older than Gwyndolin and far darker and no one has seen it in centuries. Unless..." Amren paused.
"I was told a while ago the Amarantha had found a made sword and dumped it in the ocean or destroyed it. I assumed that it was Narben but always suspected it could be Gwyndolin, but if Azriel's dagger is Gwyndolin and he has had it for the past five hundred years then that couldn't have been the made item she found. It had to have been narben."
"That makes more sense. Why would Amarantha look for Gwyndolin the dagger of life when she could find Narben the sword of death?" Rhys added and Feyre nodded in agreement, calm fury lit her face at the name Amrenthana.
Gywn hasn't heard much on amrenthana, only that she had trapped the high lords under a mountain for fifty years.
The horrors Rhys must have seen, and Feyre as well. Gwyn knew that she was the one who broke Amarantha's curse on the high lords, Feyre saved them.
Other than that all Gwyn knew about Amarantha was that she was a ruthless Hybern general and was currently dead.
Good, Gwyn thought, the less Hybern the better.
"What did you mean when you said Koschei hid his death," Mor asked Amren.
"Well, no one is truly immortal. Even a death god, they are just clever on where they hide their death. Koschei has his death hidden separate from his body."
"Surly that can't be true," Gwyn cut in, "I remember reading a story about him hiding his death inside an obscene amount of items in an iron chest, buried on the island of Buyan in the ocean, but that is just a story."
Gwyn had read a story on this.
once, Koschei stole a king's wife. The king loved his wife very much and would brave heaven and earth for her, so he went on a journey to get her back. Throughout his whole entire journey he searched for Koschei death. The king had learned that Koschei's death was in the complicated place Gwyn had just explained. inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest, that is buried under a green oak tree, on the island of Buyan in the ocean.
Legend says if If the chest is dug up and opened, the hare will bolt away; if it is killed, the duck will emerge and try to fly off. Anyone possessing the egg has Koschei in their power.
The king got a hold of the egg and forced Koschei to give him his wife back. But by that time Koschei had already killed the king's wife.
Once anyone has Koschei in their power He begins to weaken, become sick, and immediately lose the use of his magic.
If the egg is tossed about, Koschei likewise is flung around against his will. If the needle is broken, Koschei will die.
At the end of the story the king slaughtered Koschei by forcing Koschei to tourcher himself.
This was one of the books Gwyn had given to Elain. Gwyn thought because Koschei was still living that it had all been a story.
Plus, there were a lot more stories like this one, where Koschei was the villain and eventually died in the end.
"Well, how do you know about Narben if not from stories?" Amren threw back at her.
Gwyn was not about to give up.
"That is different. We know for a fact Koschei is alive, and if we were going by the story then he would be dead."
Gwyn saw silver lined in Amren's eyes, but she said, "I suppose you're right. We will just have to focus on the swords then."
"Swords plural," Mor asked and Amren nodded.
"We would have a better shot at actually killing him with the dagger of life and sword of death combined."
"What about Ataraxaina?" Nesta questioned.
"To be honest, I don't think it would be completely powerful enough to actually kill him, just injure him."
"What if we used the other made sword Nesta created combined with Ataraxaina?" Rhys asked.
"That is just two death swords. To completely kill Koschei, we would need both forces of life and death, Amren finished taking a drink of her wine.
"So we look for Narben?" Cassian questioned.
"How do you go about looking for a sword you have never seen, and have no clue where it is—
Feyre cut herself off, "the stones and bones."
She turned to Nesta, "I know it's dangerous, but—
"I can't," Nesta cut her off, "much of my cauldron made power was depleted and I don't have much of a strong connection, and" she added looking towards Cassian, "I'm pregnant."
Chaos broke loose.
Everyone was up out of their seats laughing and giving hugs and kisses and congratulations. As if the conversation about a certain death god had never happened.
Gwyn looked to Azriel who winked at her.
They had both known weeks ago, but managed to keep it a secret.
Gwyn hugged Nesta and Cassian and allowed herself to look at Nesta's stomach, where there was a slight swell.
Gwyn smiled at the small bundle of hope and light in a world submerged in darkness.