Sandstorm [ACOTOR series side story]

Forty

Nashira had no clue why Helion had chosen so few warriors to attend the meeting with him, but other than Bakaret and Ma'at, there were no other Scorpions coming along on this trip. He'd chosen to bring a few faction leaders who were loyal to him, but who looked no different than Nashira. They all looked made to kill and she knew he was being a show-off, but playing a sleight of hand. Let them focus on their looks, their strength and not the knowledge they possessed. And so, because there were so little Scorpions attending the meeting, scooping it out was her responsibility. She loved how bright and open Thesan's residence was, but didn't dawdle googling it, instead she checked the path they would take in the mirror realm and found it was safe.

She winnowed back, "All clear unless you consider the number of birds that were watching for our arrival."

Helion snorted, "The walls have eyes and ears in his residence, don't forget that or the bets we made. Night will attack Autumn first I tell you." 

Nashira took up the rear guard as they were escorted to the room with other High Lords awaiting. She swept her eyes over the entourages of the High Lord of Winter and their host. It was all blues, whites and fur with pale complexions for Winter and sharp eyes and feathered wings for the High Lord of Dawn. She bowed when it was needed,  but did not speak a word, even when Helion won his bet when the Shadowsinger attacked the eldest son of Autumn.

"Looks like you owe me ten gold marks," he gloated while shifting in his chair.

Nashira studied the only High Lady to ever truly be in Prythian, and she saw a kindred spirit, someone who was fighting for a world she wanted, she dreamed about with her own hands. Nashira didn't stand like the other women from the other courts because she knew her cousin would do it, or he'd risk some of his greatest allies, The Night Court and Nashira. As they had all agreed to stay the night after hours of deliberation, Helion went with them to their large but decidedly plain rooms compared to the room with the pond.

"Thesan doesn't like me, does he," Helion said amused.

Nashira snorted at the understatement but understood her cousin's behaviour as a prick as a mask to protect himself and all of them. 

"Well, I know who likes me and that's Rhysie so I'll go find him and hopefully I'll get the trio in my bed tonight."

"Pig." Bakaret was the only one who heard the word she'd muttered and smirked.

"Good luck, you're in charge of him tonight, so go get some rest until you have to replace me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nashira was on the roof over the chambers of the Night Court to start her night shift but remaining unseen by most residents in the Palace. Most except those who could fly like the Perrigans who lived there and the Illyrians who came with the High Lord of Night. The fact that Helion hadn't come out of those chambers this late meant that he wasn't going to come out anytime soon. Cauldron help her if the trio actually agreed because then she'd lose another bet with her High Lord, and she didn't like losing very much. But her question was answered when she spotted Azriel gliding smoothly in her direction to land beside her. She gave the Shadowsinger a nod in respect.  

"I've heard about you from the war and from stories from Under the Mountain and wanted to meet you."

He spoke in a low voice that matched the shadows that clung to him and she wondered if he knew she was also different. That she could weave through the world in a way unlike him and his shadows, but similar.

"I've heard stories of you from the War as well," she replied quietly. She felt comfortable with the male even though she just met him. But there was something similar in how he was a warrior like her but that they preferred to remain quiet and watch. 

His eyes caught onto her hand and he pointed to it, "How did that happen?"

"I was escaping a Seaclum and it brushed against my hand. The burns won't heal no matter how much the healers try but I like them. It's like without this scar as a reminder I would forget that I survived," she said while clenching her fists. All her scars proved she'd won, survived whatever the world threw at her and she was stronger for it. She jutted her chin to Azriel's own hands with his burns and he told her the story of how his brothers had given them to him.

"Huh, well I'm happy my brothers didn't have the imagination yours did," she scoffed. 

He looked at her curiously and only because he had revealed something so personal already, she told him about her childhood.

"My family hated me and called me a mistake even though I was full blooded like them. My father was often busy with his library and my mother would be cruel to me every chance she got. All my brothers and sisters adopted her behaviour except my closest brother. But he wanted to use me and, in the end, he ended up killing the rest of my family to gain power, but Asim was there as a guest thankfully. He took care of my brother's mess while I mourned the death of my nursemaid who had loved me like her daughter."

Azriel didn't say or do anything, but he somehow gave off a comforting presence while she remembered Wilda. 

"My nursemaid, she was pale and had brown haired but was High Fae and she said she hailed from the Night Court. I always wondered how the kindest female I knew came from a court famous for its cruelty." Nashira hadn't said the last part as an insult, but as reassurance that she didn't think of them as monsters.

"What was her name?"

"Wilda."

Azriel nodded, "Did she get a proper burial?"

"Better than the rest. She always said that whenever I decided to leave my family that if I needed somewhere to go, to come to the Night Court and to find her. I think she meant Velaris and I hope one day that I can see it," Nashira whispered.

Azriel nodded and spread his wings to lift himself up into the air but not without a slight smile in her direction as if to say maybe.

Well, it was better than nothing she decided before settling down for a boring shift.