107 Stories of Rowaelin

16. Dinner With Remelle

This is a scene that was mentioned, but not written in the books so I've decided to write it. It's mentioned in QoS. Celaena is still Celaena in this scene btw.

    "Rowan!" The dark haired young female sprinted, leaving the other two female Fae behind her, and threw herself into Rowan's arms. He hugged her stiffly, and Celaena felt herself tense.
    "Hello Remelle," Rowan said quietly, disentangling himself stiffly from the hug. "This is--" how would you like to be introduced?
    "Elentiya," Celaena said quietly. "I assume you two are old friends?"
     Remelle giggled. "You could say that. We were lovers, oh, about seventy years ago." Rowan winced perceptibly at the word "lovers." Remelle didn't notice. She did notice Celaena however. "Don't you try to fool me." She addressed Celaena as if she were five. Celaena bristled. "I met your mother here. Evalin was rather nice."
     "We don't speak of my heritage here," Celaena said, quietly but not weakly.
     The two older Fae caught up. Rowan seemed relieved to have a distraction from the hostility war going on in front of him. "These are Remelle's parents, Mischa and Nala." He gestured to the one with light brown hair first, then to the dark-haired one. Both had striking brown eyes, and Nala wore soldier's armor.
    Mischa spoke first. "We're here on official business from Her Majesty, but Remelle wanted to come catch up with Prince Rowan. Please, excuse us, we must speak with Bas." They turned and walked off. Aelin frowned slightly in their direction. Remelle hurried after them, speaking hurriedly to Nala.

     "They seem friendly. Nala doesn't speak much, does she?" 

     Rowan looked amused. "They liked me when they came to visit Remelle. Mischa tried to give me chocolate." Aelin giggled. Rowan's voice got quieter and his eyes looked grim. "Nala doesn't speak because she can't. She was in Adarlan, being one of Maeve's 'eyes'. She was captured. Another spy managed to free her, but not before they cut out her tongue."

     Celaena caught her breath in a tiny gasp of horror as anger at the King of Adarlan surged within her. Remelle ran back to them. "Oh yes, did I mention? Not only will my mothers be joining us for dinner, but more embassies from Her Majesty. We can all catch up together!" Remelle's tone indicated that there was only one type of "catching up" she wanted to do, with a certain silver-haired warrior. Celaena told the magic within her, very very sternly, to stay.

   Rowan's tone betrayed nothing. "Why don't we give you a tour of Mistward? After all, it's been seventy years." 

      "Oh, that'd be wonderful!" Remelle exclaimed, fluttering her eyelashes for a heartbeat too long. Celaena had to tell her magic to be quiet once again.

     The tour was awful. Remelle flirted with Rowan at every turn, and they talked together about people Celaena didn't know and stuff that had happened in the past. Besides, Mistward wasn't particularly special, so there wasn't much to see. There was one highlight that gave Celaena no small amount of female satisfaction. Remelle found an excuse to shiver at every turn, obviously hoping that Rowan would give her his jacket. He did no such thing, simply ignoring her faked chill.

     Rowan managed to end the flirting session "tour" with the dining hall at the exact right time, so they came in at the same time as the other Fae. He quietly pointed out them to Celaena, who promptly forgot all their names. Thank the gods, no one noticed her apart from a few raised eyebrows as they caught her scent. By some freak of nature, Remelle, Rowan, and Celaena were all seated at the end of the table together. Servants brought out the food. Luca was among them, giving the tiniest of thumbs-ups to Celaena. Rowan noticed and snorted. Celaena served herself a ridiculous amount of food. She was always hungry these days, with her magic draining so much of her energy. Remelle saw the mountain of food on Celaena's plate and giggled politely, but somehow managing to make it sound like an insult. Then she not-so-subtly moved her chair closer to Rowan's and put her arm up against his. Rowan pulled back but continued to eat like nothing was wrong. Remelle moved even closer to him, pressing her body up against his. Celaena was almost entirely focused on telling her magic to SHUT UP  as Rowan moved away from Remelle again. 

     "What's wrong Prince?" asked Remelle in that manner Celaena had heard ladies use when they talked to Dorian. 

    "Remelle, we are no longer together," Rowan said quietly. "Please stop."

    Remelle looked up at him, running her finger along his shoulder, down his arm. "But Prince don't you like me anymore?" Rowan froze underneath her finger as she traced it up and down his arm.

    Celaena's voice came out cold and deadly. And quite a bit louder than she'd expected. "If he says stop, then stop."

    The other Fae turned in their direction and froze, unsure what to do. Remelle spoke coldly, condescendingly, to Celaena. "Stay out of this business bitch, or I'll have you whipped.

     I'll have you whipped. I'll have you whipped. The world went ice-cold and still, but burned at the same time. Celaena exploded in flame. She contained it, condensing it into a fireball as the other Fae at the table flicked up shields. With little regard for her, the fireball shaped itself into an arrow and shot towards Remelle, consuming the bottom part of her beautiful red dress. The girl shrieked and beat at the flames, which went out, but only after her skirt was left in charred rags. Celaena's voice was cold, still, and firm. "If you touch anyone in this castle, not just Prince Rowan, it won't only be your dress burning. Then Celaena turned on her heel and stalked out the door.

     That night, as she climbed into bed beside Rowan, he touched her hand. Thank you. 

For what? Saving you from Remelle?

And the looks on their faces.

Celaena laughed quietly and slid beneath the covers. That night, Rowan held her hand to his chest, the same as he'd done after she'd burned out, on Beltane.