A Court of Ashes and Daybreak

Cassian

I hardly recognised the animal that stood next to Nesta when I opened my door that morning. To be honest, I hardly recognised the smiling, pink-cheeked female who'd knocked. Becca was plumper and sleeker already, her ribs no longer painful to look at, and her matted, muddy black coat had been brushed out into a shining sheet of ebony silk. The grin that split Nesta's face was the largest I'd ever seen. I couldn't help but grin too, as Becca leapt up to greet me, smothering me in doggy kisses. We set off at an easy jog, Becca trotting along at Nesta's side.

Nesta let Becca off the lead when we turned out of the town, heading along the river path. The long-legged dog then utterly out-paced us, flying ahead but turning round to look whenever we dropped to far behind. "That look," Nesta panted, "that she's giving us right now? It's her wondering what on earth we're doing, moving so slowly." Indeed, whilst there was no malice in Becca's face, there definitely was a certain amount of confusion. I tsked softly. "If that's her game, we'll just have to move a little faster..." I increased the pace, almost catching Becca before she danced away again, making me feel as heavy as a rhino compared to her fairy grace. Who knew a ragged stray dog could be so pretty?

It was another clear morning, and we stopped again at the viewpoint to look down on the sleepy Velaris and out to the sea. It had rained last night and the path down was slippery, but it was hard to exercise caution when Becca was charging around, casing random scents and pausing now and again to attack sticks that got in her way. I scrambled down a bank, but Nesta ran past me with a whoop, Becca leaping beside her, grabbing at the stick she was holding. Nesta threw it and laughed as Becca fell over in her eagerness, tail windmilling at about a million miles an hour. I dashed after them, feet skidding but only just keeping my balance. Nesta flew after me, swinging round trees and grabbing branches to stay upright. Becca ran round in circles, picking up sticks from behind us and charging forwards to show us, dealing bruises to the backs of my legs as she passed by. We half ran, half fell, shrieking and whooping, Becca barking crazily. She darted across my path and I stumbled, slipping and sliding several metres on my ass. Nesta laughed so much she fell over, and then Becca jumped on her and she was still laughing so hard she couldn't get up until Becca had covered her in so much spit she could hardly move anyway. We emerged from the woods still laughing, panting from the run, and with Becca prancing around like a muddy spitfire. I realised it was the most fun I'd had in ages.

Becca lay curled up in the house of wind whilst I gave Nesta her fighting lesson. The dog still needed to sleep a lot, Nesta said, because she was still recovering. Nesta was improving quickly, already grasping the simper parts of sword handling. Becca was the best thing that had happened in all of the time since Nesta had arrived at the night court. She seemed so ...happy. She battled the practice post with a smile on her face, which made her look softer than usual. She'd been beautiful before, but a cold, harsh, haughty beautiful, the sort that, unless you're Cassian, you tend to stay away from. Now she looked more like Elaine, but with the steely eyes and intense features of the female I wouldn't admit that I loved. Before she had been ice, now she was snow.

"Cassian," her voice broke me out of my musings, "where's your favourite place in the whole of Velaris?" I looked at her, the shock probably apparent in my face. I mean, she hated me. She hated Velaris. But now she wanted to know my favourite place here? "Uh, it's this bridge place that you can only get to by flying.."

"Ah," she nodded, and I finally realised what she was been hinting. "Oh, sorry, we could go if you wanted..." I had gone red. "Yeah, Ok." she winced, "I still hate flying though."

I smirked at her. "Yes, Ok Nesta. You hate flying..." She hit me over the head with her glove, grinning ruefully. I scooped her into my arms and we took off, me flapping hard as we rose into the air.

"Why do you hate flying?" I asked, planing round on the updraft from a building. Nesta turned her head, chewing on her lip. I thought she wasn't going to answer, but, "It makes me vulnerable. I'm not in control and there's nothing I can do about it. If one of you chose to drop me, I can't stop you, if you wanted to fly off to another country, there's nothing I can do, you're completely omnipotent."

I nodded, surprised at her answer. "Well, just so you know, whilst we're flying, I'm just a glorified flying horse, and I'll always go down if you want to, unless it jeopardises your safety. Although..."

She narrowed her eyes. "Although what...?"

"Well...considering that I'm all powerful, perhaps I should take the opportunity..."

"Don't you dare!"

I smirked, "Darling Nesta, kiss me or I'll drop you."

"Fuck you Cassian!"

I loosened my grip slightly, and she screamed, grabbing the front of my leathers.

"You wouldn't actually?" she looked troubled, and I was about to reassure her when she kicked me in the gut. I grunted, and she slammed an elbow into my neck, ripping away my arms and leaping into the air.

"Nesta!" I screamed, diving after her, "Are you crazy!?"

My wings clawed at the air, sending me flying downwards. My arms closed around her waist and I feathered my wings, halting our free-fall. "What were you doing?" I screeched, "You could have died! What if I hadn't managed to catch you!?"

She looked at me, eyes blazing. "Guess I do have some power then." I shook my head in despair. Crazy.

We landed beside the crepe shop, grabbing crepes with chocolate sauce for breakfast. I made Nesta swear not to jump like a crazy person again, and, fully reassured, we flew up again and flapped swiftly over to the bridge.

I was reminded, when we got there, why it was my favourite place in Velaris. The iron strut work of the bridge made a perfect place to sit, and it looked down along the river towards the cathedral. Pigeons and starlings had made it their home, nesting amongst the pillars and wheeling around like dancers. We munched on crepes and discussed bridges, rivers and birds.

After an uneventful flight back, we landed on the house of wind to greet a excitedly wagging Becca, who demanded belly rubs and ear scratches. I was happy and I think she was too. Nesta was hard to read, if only she could wag her tail when she was happy like Becca did. Maybe then I wouldn't muck things up so much around her.

She was just about to leave when she faltered, turning back to me. Then she kissed me softly on the lips.

"Just because you wanted it so much..." She turned and swaggered out through the door, flashing her I'm-up-to-no-good smirk. I stood there, shell-shocked, eyes bugging, unable to form a complete thought. The image of her grey eyes and the imprint of her lips hung in the air. I realised my mouth was hanging open like a goldfish. Oh dear. What on earth was I going to do now?