River
Date 22 December.
The storm hit about twenty minutes ago and there is no chance of me getting back to the house. I was delayed on the way here by two idiotic representatives from the citadel claiming Celeste would be safer there even though we all knew she wouldn't, not with 'him' lurking around still.
I'm currently trying to find some marshmallows for Celeste but the Christmas shoppers seemed to have cleared out the last of them. "You look like you could use some help" a voice says behind me. The person reaches up to the top shelf and hands me a packet of marshmallows. He had chocolaty brown hair and startling ice blue eyes. His hair fell over one of his eyes and he wore jeans and a dark shirt but what really stood out about him was his energy, his aura. It was a swirling mix of many colours, and I can also see part of Celeste's spirit in there to. "Galen Andrews?" I ask just to make sure.
"The one and only, and you are?"
"River Rose Thorn" I reply
"Now what's a faery guard, especially a Thorn doing round here in the middle of a snowstorm"
"Protecting the princess which you already know" he expression changes to one laced with sorrow "How is she?"
"She misses you, but considering everything she's been through, she's doing okay" I tell him "did you know about who she was the entire time you were with her?"
" no I only found out that night"
"What happened to you after that, she says you just disappeared"
" I went to see her the next day but she was gone, I heard that the fae came for her and I've been looking for her since, though I always seem to be one step behind."
"When the storm has passed I'm taking you to see her, because if you're there her training might go faster and it might help her to find her affinity." I tell him.
"Do you have a place to stay until the storm lets out? "
"No"
"Then you can stay with my and my room mate I don't think he'll mind, and if you are friends with Celeste then I'll help you" he tells me.
"Have you taken her to the citadel yet?" He asks me as we head back to his place. " no, it's not safe for her there, how do you know so much about us"
"My mother was a fae, you might know her she is the librarian in the citadel, I learnt a lot because I spent all my time there"
"What about your father?"
"Human "
"You are a changeling "
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly welcome amongst the fae,so the little time I spent with my mother, she kept me in the library "
We arrive at his home and he unlocks the door and leads me inside. "Galen is that you" someone calls walking into the room "yeah and we have company, Aspen this is -"
"River!" I drop everything and run to him, he wraps me in his arms and spins me around. "Oh God River , I've missed you so much, he says.
"I've missed you to Aspen, but what are you doing here, I thought you were with the rest of the guard?"
"I'm off duty at the moment, so I was helping Galen search for Celeste, hoping to find you as well but no one has heard anything from you though, where have you been hiding, we have been searching everywhere for you,"
"I have been keeping under the radar, the princess isn't ready to return to the citadel, it's not safe for her there."
"You're definitely right about that, the place is a war zone, it is complete chaos, people are against her taking the throne and 'they' are definitely not helping the situation, but you are going to have to take her there sooner or later River."
"I know, but not yet, not until she's had better training."
