A Court of Legends and Myths

Chapter 38 - The House of Wind

Aelin's POV

Aelin looked up at the house built in the mountain. She saw no other way to get in except climb the very, very, very, big staircase in front of her. She turned on her heel towards her company, "so how do I get up there, 'cause I really don't want to climb all those stairs."

"Well, we can't winnow you in so the boys will carry you up there." Nesta answered, pointing to the Erileans, the girls had met up with Enda, Fenrys, Connall, and Azriel on their way to the house. Cassian had gone earlier to talk to the librarians living within the mountain, Rhys had gone to see if dinner was ready. Then Az left when they had reached the house. For what reason, they didn't know. 

"Why can't we winnow there?" Connall asked. That was a good question, it didn't seem too hard to winnow up there from this distance.

"There are wards around it stopping anyone from winnowing in. You'd have to winnow into the air a few feet above then drop down, and land on the balcony." Mor answered. Aelin frowned, normally she would've taken the challenge, but she promised Rowan she wouldn't take any unnecessary risk that could harm her, or their baby, flying it was, she supposed. A black figure stepped off from the balcony high above, and dove down. As the figure got closer it turned into two figures, then three, then she could recognize them as Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand. To Aelin's left, Feyre changed clothes using some sort of magic, then wings started to sprout from her back. The three bat boys landed. Borte sauntered up to Azriel and smiled at him, "I'm going with you. You're the cute one" She declared. A blush spread across Azriel's cheeks and he let out  cough, obviously embarrassed. "Don't you have a husband?" Mor inquired, seemingly annoyed with Borte's actions. Borte shrugged and answered Mor's rhetorical question, "yea, so. That just means I can't sleep with others, or have a romantic relationship with others. Along with other legal nonsense. It doesn't mean I can't find others, male or female, to be cute or attractive. I mean I think all my female friends are beautiful, and their counterparts aren't exactly hard on the eyes either."

"Uh, huh" was the response she got.

"Ooook, so I guess, I'll take one of the males, Rhsy can take Aelin, and Feyre can get Elain. Then we'll come back for the other two." Cassian said, walking over to Enda and the twins.

"Hell no. I'm flying myself up there." Enda declared before Cassian got five feet from him, he then shifted and flew away. The twins looked at each other having some sort of silent conversation, then, "yea, we're just gonna winnow," Fenrys said, before the two of them disappeared. Aelin knew that if she looked up she'd see the two of them appear in the air, then land and roll on the balcony.

"I guess Cassian is flying alone then." Rhys said, as he walked over to Aelin. He grabbed her around the waist and took off into the air, Aelin screeched, tightening her grip on Rhys. Azriel with Borte, Feyre with Elain, and Cassian, weren't far behind. Mor and Nesta were nowhere to be seen, probably having winnowed themselves.

She squeezed her eyes shut so hard they hurt, finally relenting when she felt her feet land on the ground, she pushed away from Rhys and went straight towards the balcony. She bent over and spewed her guts up, all over the edge. A chuckle behind, and "Can't take heights, eh." She turned around and glared and Fenrys, Azriel appeared at her side with a glass of water, she smiled and nodded towards him, taking the glass and drinking a small sip. "I can take heights just fine, thank you very much. But the baby inside me, just loooves to make my life difficult right now." She said, with a pointed look towards the White Wolf of Doranelle. "Gods help us all, when that one is born. The royal kids, people already have, are hard enough to deal with." Enda muttered under his breath. Both the twins mumbled a quiet "yep".

"You should thank Yeran for deciding not to bring our daughter. Last time she and Zephyr were in the same place together, they nearly destroyed the aerie at the Khagan's palace." Borte said, smiling to herself. Cassian lifted an eyebrow at that.

"On that note I'm hungry, could we please start eating?" Fenrys said, clapping his hands together. Aelin rolled her eyes, Fenrys was always hungry. Rhys let out a silent huff. He motioned for all to follow him as he led them through the House of Wind and into a dining hall. In the hall, there was a large table, with 14 seats — one seat at each head, and six along the long edges, the chairs had black velvet cushions, they looked super comfortable — on the table itself there were a few bottles of wine, some meats, chicken and beaf mostly, along with some bread, and vegetables. Aelin sat at one table head, she was a queen after all. Rhys sat at the other one, with Feyre to his right. Elaine beside her, then Mor, followed by Amren. Connall sat beside her, with Fenrys taking the last seat along that edge, the one closest to Aelin. Nyx sat at his father's left, with Nesta sat at his other side , Cassian was beside his mate. Then Azriel, Borte, and Enda. They waited for everyone to have been seated, and for Rhys, to give the go ahead before digging into the meal. Wine started to get poured, and Borte went to pour herself some when she was stopped by Cassian. "You can't drink that." Borte looked at him sideways, and asked why not.

"It's faerie wine. It's a lot stronger, and can mess with a human's head a lot more. There's a bottle over here that would be safer for you to drink." Azriel explained, reaching for another bottle down the table. Enda who had poured a glass of his own took a sip of his wine, and frowned.

"What do you mean "a lot stronger"? This wine is rather weak, compared to what we have back home." He said.

Connall and Fenrys looked at each other; they seemed curious, now. They reached for the bottle and each poured a little bit, and took a sip. "He's right. It's really quite mild." Connall informed those around. "Borte would be fine having some of this." Enda insisted, passing the bottle to Borte. She smiled, and gladly took it, pouring some for herself, and taking a sip. Cassian and Feyre, seemed flabbergasted, Feyre, even looking mildly concerned.

"The wine's fine, nothing like what Sartaq and Nesryn can get imported from Doranelle." Borte said with a smile.

"Oook, in other news, I talked with the women down in the library, they said that Aelin and Borte could visit the library. Clotho, would have to meet the males between you five, before giving you permission to enter." Cassian announced.

"Why?" Borte inquired. All of the Prythianers at the table but Amren, had frowns befall their faces.

"Because many of those women have been hurt in unspeakable ways. Many have been assaulted, in the most horrid of ways." Azriel quietly answered. Now everyone was frowning sadly. A shadow passed over Fenrys's eyes, it seemed only Connall, Aelin, and Azriel noticed. Connall moved closer to his brother, brushing his arm against Fenrys's. To anyone else the gesture might have looked accidental, but Aelin knew better. Just as fast as it was there, the shadow was gone.

After a few moments of silence, Mor intervened hoping to bring a lighter note to the table. "To change the subject, what did you boys do this afternoon?" She inquired.

"Nothing really, we just sat around all day talking about our training, and other stuff." Connall replied.

"Really that's it?" Borte said. A few nods, from around the table.

"Well, then. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Feyre asked.

"All I know is that I'm going down to this library of yours." Aelin answered for herself.

"Borte is gonna teach Azriel, Rhys and me to play Itaelaich." Cassian shouted, excitedly.

"She is?" "I am?" Rhys, and Borte said simultaneously.

"Yep. Of course Feyre, Nyx, and Emerie are free to join if they wish." Cassian added.

"Emerie, can't. She's on duty tomorrow, training some new Illyrian recruits." Nesta said, shaking her head. Cassian frowned but shrugged, anyway.

Dinner went along smoothly after that, nothing of much interest happened. Aelin found the whole thing quite boring actually.