Escape From The Darkness (continued)

6) memories

~ Cassian ~

📍 House of Wind, Velaris

 

Rhys projected Aelin's memories into everyone's mind. Without even looking at any in particular, I could tell they were full of loss and hardships. After a moment, Rhys focused on one.

Rhys focused on an early memory from when Aelin was probably 6 or 7, she was running in the garden with her cousin, Aedion, who looked 11 or 12. They were laughing and after a while, they laid down and started playing with the flowers. Aedion let her make a flower crown for him and play with his long hair.

Next was a memory of a dinner with the Terresan royalty and the Adarlan royalty. Everything was going fine until Aelin felt a dark presence in her mind that she thought felt like a worm. She ignored it until it became too much and she started crying in pain. Her parents ended the dinner early and the three of them went to an estate by the river.

The next day, Aelin woke up to screaming from Marion Lochan. When she looked up she saw she was covered in blood. Her parents blood, coming from their slit throats. Holy Shit. Marion took Aelin and told her to run to the barn so she could be found by the rest of the court. She ran, but not before she saw Marion get decapitated through the window. She kept running even when she could feel the vibrations of the assassin's horse under her feet. When she was half-way over the bridge, the rope was cut and she fell through, straight into the river. She woke up a little while later in a man's arms. He introduced himself as Arobynn Hamel and gave her 2 options; she could go with him and live or she could go by herself and probably die. She went with him.

Next we saw 12 year old Aelin sparing/training with Arobynn. Damn she was good, how is she now? Arobynn noticed that her left defense was weaker than her right so he said that either he could break it for her or she could do it herself. Later that night she slammed her right hand in the door frame of the heaviest door in the Keep. It took 4 months to heal because Arobynn refused to let healers see it immediately, during which time she could only work with her left.

Next we saw how Aelin/Celaena was sent along with Sam to Skull's Bay to secure a trade deal. How that deal ended up being 200 slaved. How Sam and Celaena frees those slaves and both nearly died in the process. How when they got back she was beat unconscious then sent off to the Red Desert. How she drank her weight in alcohol in a tavern in Innish but didn't so much as stumble. How she taught Yrene Towers self defense and gave her enough money to get her to the Torre Cesme. How she trained in the Red Desert and rode stolen Asterion Horses across the dune. How she trained with the Mute Master and studied snakes and hares. How she was drugged and dumped in the desert and how she rushed to the fortress just in time. How she saved the Mute Master and his son. How she waited 21 not 20 minutes before firing the arrow. How she got the Mute Masters letter of approval and 3 chests of gold as thank-you.

We saw how she reunited with Sam and Lysandra and how Sam and her regretfully accepted a job to kill Doneval, a man who could have saved countless slaves because she was tricked by Arobynn. How she almost drowned in the sewer and how Sam saved her. How Sam finally admitted his feelings towards her and how they started a relationship. How she bought an apartment and paid off both their debts.

We saw how Arobynn tricked them into taking a job of killing the crime lords of Rifthold. How Celaena was pacing in her apartment for hours after Sam left and finally went to look for him. How when she got back Arobynn was in her apartment and told her Sam was dead. How she screamed when she saw his shredded body and how she fell asleep next to him. How his body smelled of Gloriella. How she woke up in her old room and overheard 2 assassins outside her bedroom door feeding her information about the crime lords. How she went to enact revenge and Wesley stopped her, and she knocked him out in return. How she jumped through a window into a meeting. How she killed almost 20 of the men before getting paralyzed with Gloriella and tossed around like a rag doll. How Farran was feeling her up and taunting her while she just sat there, unable to do anything. How she was brought in front of the king and sentenced to 9 life times in the Salt Mines of Endovier for her crimes of enacting revenge for a loved one. How she arrived in the slaves mines and told herself 'My name is Celaena Sardothien and I will not be afraid.' over and over again.