Nightfully ;Azriel

24

Althea pretended she was still sleeping.

She lay on her bed listening to the murmurs to the complaints that some witches threw in Amara's direction which she ignored. She felt thankful yet her heart was heavy, Althea being here affected the other women a lot, she noticed that much. Althea just had nowhere else to go. She made sure her hand was limp as the familiar touch of Wren lifted it into her own. 

"I cannot fix this." Her voice was heavy, a hint of sadness evident. "Althea reached too deep within her core, drawled too much energy." 

She was afraid of what her hands looked like, did they look hideous? Did her own eagerness bring her downfall? But she refused to open her eyes until the group of witches left the room in her cottage which was given to her after her power awakening and out into the bustling town leaving silence in their wake.  And when she opened her eyes she was welcomed with darkness, her head was heavy, her hands tingled, she felt sore. 

Althea held her hands towards her chest for a minute before pushing herself upwards fighting away the nauseousness that hit her instantly. She made sure the curtains were closed before she lit the room in light, starring down at her hands in silence.

Her hands were covered in the markings she saw not long ago, but instead of the glowing veins they left a light shade of red that trailed up her wrist before fading. She clenched her fingers. It wasn't the worst thing to happen to her but it still sucked.

With one last long look inspecting both her hands she dragged herself back to bed trying to block out the giggles and chattering from outside her window. 

***

"Althea we need to talk." Nora claimed wiping sweat off her forehead, Althea walked past her to the water that sung out to her. They spoke when she woke a couple of weeks ago and she apologised but they already made their decision. Once she was trained, they would send her to the Nightcourt where her sister was Highlady. 

It left Althea being the shell of what she was when she was with them, she found them mistrustful, she wasn't as open with them as she was a couple months before, she spoke mostly to Nora who she saw everyday. It reminded Althea of what she felt back at her family manor, how alone she felt at times. She bit her lip turning to look at the Nora who didn't look any older than Althea was but in reality she was over 500 years old. 

"What's wrong?" 

Nora regarded her for a second before clamping her shoulder tightly. "You've improved at an astonishing pace, Althea" She gave it one last squeeze, leaving Althea on her own. 

It was like that for the next week until the three main witches decided that she was ready to leave the following day. Amara and Nora waited by the entrance while Wren fetched her. Althea didn't sleep the whole night before, she sat at the edge of her bed staring down at the bag she packed until she heard the knock on the door. 

She didn't say a word as she gave the small cottage a long last look over her shoulder as they climbed up the hill, she ignored the pitiful looks that were sent her way and kept her gaze in front of her. Head held high. 

If anything she was much more surprised when Nora announced that she was coming with her, her bag slung over her shoulder. "You're coming?"

Nora looked at her as if she was stupid. "Who else is going to lead you to the night court?" She shrugged. "And I have a few friends of my own there." 

That made more sense to her. After their quick goodbyes, Wren made her promise to visit them after the whole thing ended before Amara took a step towards her with a thin smile. She held a pair of black finger-less gloves, the knuckles of it had leather sewn onto it and it fell right where her scars ended. 

Althea gave her a silent thank you, thankful that she would be able to hide them for a small while until she was comfortable enough.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until Nora broke the silence. "You didn't think we'd send you alone did you?" she was teasing her. 

Althea frowned before she admitted quite grudgingly. "I did." '

A smirk splattered across Nora's face. "You couldn't get anywhere near the wall without someone else, someone like me."

She wasn't impressed. "Feeling quite cocky today aren't you." she threw a matching smile over at her. "I'd make it to the wall at least." she joked.

They were actually quite close to the wall much to her surprise, she was surprised that they didn't catch the witches any sooner before remembering the familiar red head she ran from. "What happened to the guy, the one with the golden eye?"

Nora gave her a curious glance before placing a hand on the wall. "Oh him? We sent him back why?" Althea watched in amazement as fire coated the red heads hand, she pushed against the wall and she could only gasp as the wall melted at her hands. 

"That guy was there when I was pushed into the cauldron." she repeated the exact same words as she did to Amara. "Amara said you guys wiped their memory, how does it work?" 

Nora frowned pulling Althea through the wall with her. "I don't know, it's not in my job description, Amara and the other earth witches do that stuff." 

"Doesn't make sense, you should know you're as old as my great-great-great-great grandpa-."

She stopped at the nasty look Nora sent but that didn't stop her lips from curving upwards. She stepped over fallen branches and large rocks, feeling grateful that she was allowed to wear pants which had pockets which were even better in her eyes, If Nesta saw her she would've lost her mind. A bitter taste formed in her mouth as she thought of her older sisters. She would see the three of them soon and as happy as she was she was nervous. 

How does she break the news that she's part witch? Does she just break it to them?

She once again turned to her personal therapist ready to dump whatever worry she had but fell silent as she heard clattered talking. She stopped in her tracks, grabbing onto Nora's arm. The fire witch gave her an understanding nod, brandishing her long silver dagger as they continued their walk. But a gush of wind sounded throughout the clearing and the angered chattering disappeared alongside of it.  

"They winnowed." 

Althea blinked. "That's great." she muttered sarcastically. 

Nora rolled her eyes. "It's a way of magical transportation that allows someone to travel long distances instantly." She gave her a mocking look. "If you were any useful you would've learnt how to winnow to the night court by now"

"Sure let me just close my eyes and magically take us to the night court."

"That would be great."

Althea scowled at her. "You're the one who's like a gazillion years old, shouldn't you be able to winnow?"

They stood staring at each other for some time until Nora cleared her throat changing the subject and leading them off to wherever she was leading her. They walked for some time and Althea secretly admired the beauty of the court but the thought of the arrogant high lord of spring flashed across her vision and she scoffed at herself. It was like that until they came across a cave. "This leads to the autumn court." Nora announced.

"And there's no guards?" 

Nora frowned. "Someone must've planned along head, an escape route."

Althea nodded impressed, and as they took advantage of the persons plan they quickly slipped into the cave, away from the roars of the highlord of spring that echoed through the trees. After venturing through the cave for a few minutes they were welcomed to the autumn court with a sudden blast of cold air, the world beyond the humid cave was painted in colours of brown, red, gold and green. The trees were old and thick, branching out meters ahead of them.

"Welcome to the spring court."