Acotar retelling

The Attor

Some days my dreams continued to be plagued by the deaths I'd witnessed, the deaths I'd caused, and horrible Amarantha ripping me to shreds—all watched over by a shadow I could never quite glimpse that made me feel safer.

Tamlin and Lucien kept up a rigorous training schedule for about a month but eventually I was leading my own routines; maintaining muscle and technique instead of having to build and learn it. I started my day with breakfast and a workout before moving on to painting or exploring the grounds more.

~~~~~

Magic seemed to grow in the Spring Court. Try as I might to paint it, I could never capture it—the feel of it. Sometimes I dared to paint my High Lord, who slept at my side when we were together, oh so long ago. I miss him.

And so I decided to paint, to take out my frustrations and my longing and splatter it onto a canvas.

That day I decided to get a key from Tamlin, and I started to clean the gallery.

I began by pulling off the various sheets and covers from paintings. I tossed them in a bin outside the door that some servants had brought up for me.

I went to bed sore and satisfied, ready to continue working in the morning.

~~~~~

The next day I moved in on cleaning—I could have asked the maids to do it, but I needed something to fill my days here in my old court.

I started with dusting, then I took a break for lunch before I went back into the fray.

I threw myself into mopping with my whole body, opening windows to let in light and breezes that dried the floor quickly. It also let in a warm light that brought life into the cold marble room with its pristine shore colors.

I resolved to let Alis draw me a bath so I could relax before bed and when night came I slept deeply. Cleaning and reorganizing the gallery was proving to be a wondrous distraction.

~~~~~

After another night's sleep I rushed through my breakfast and headed straight to work. I sorted the paintings that previously lined the walls and began to lay out a plan. By noon I had my favorites and least favorites separated and ready to be hung. I continued without a break and began using a ladder to hang as many of my favorites that I could manage.

When dinner time arrived, I had all of the smaller paintings on the wall. My stomach growled insistently so I relented and ate dinner at the main table.

"Tamlin... do you think you could ask someone to help me hang up the rest of the art? I finished cleaning yesterday and today I hung the smaller art but I cannot get the necessary grasp on the large items that's needed to mount them properly."

"Yeah certainly, I'll send some people to help you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Great, thanks."

We ate the rest of dinner with a mix of amicable talk and comfortable silence.

~~~~~

Eventually the time came when I was done with the gallery, no more cleaning, no more organizing and no more decorating to make the room seem less lifeless. So dutifully I returned to painting. I painted my court: Amren, Mor, Cas, Az. I painted my sisters and dad. I painted the library and Bryaxis below, I painted his window to the stars. I painted my stars, my moon and my sun. My Rhysand.

My weeks blurred together, a whirlwind of paint and memories.

Before long though, Calanmai was upon me.