Adventures In Oakwald: A Throne of Glass Modern AU

Chapter 1

Aelin's POV

There was something missing in the world, something vital. Celeana lay in her bed well past noon. She still couldn't wrap her head around it.

Sam was dead.

She hated that she would never get to see his half smile again, never get to hear his laugh, never get to hear him say her name like it meant something special. She hated herself for being stuck in a world without him.

A knock sounded at her door. She considered pretending to not have heard it. She didn't want to move. She didn't want to think. She certainly didn't want to face people again, not after losing the only person who she truly let past her defenses.

"I have a task for you," a man said. Arobynn.

Celaena grunted in response. Arobynn took that as his invitation to come in.

"May I help you." There was no emotion in her voice. She didn't bother to even look at the man who held her life in his hands.

"Meet me in my office in an hour. But take a shower first." She turned to see him set down a box on her bed before silently walking out.

A box of chocolates. The edge of her lips automatically tilted up. Her smile dropped. How could she smile? How could she even try to be happy when he had been tortured and killed? If possible her heart grew heavier than before.

She groaned at the ache in her body as she got up and shuffled to her bathing room.

__________

Celaena didn't bother knocking. She shoved open Arobynn's office door and plunked herself into one of his chairs. He once beat her in this chair. She shoved the memory down. The memory of Sam screaming as it happened.

She glared at Arobynn. He finished signing a few papers and rested his elbows on his large, mahogany desk. She cocked an eyebrow as if to say 'What do you want?'

"I think it would be best for you to get away for awhile." She wasn't expecting him to say that. "I'm sending you to Oakwald National Forest for a few months, or however long you need. You will work at a wilderness camp there. Use this as an opportunity to deal with your grief, sort yourself out, and get ready to return to being America's Assassin."

"I can deal with my grief here."

"You have either been wallowing in that bed of yours for months or demolishing amateurs in The Vaults' pit fights. That is not dealing with your grief, that is succumbing to it."

Celaena bit back the anger caused by the bite in his tone. "Fine."

"You leave tomorrow." 

__________

Tomorrow. She was leaving tomorrow. She let out a sigh and fished out her suitcase from under her bed.

She would need at least a few books. Maybe more than a few. She grabbed all the books she hadn't yet read off her sagging bookshelf, along with a few of her favorites. Carefully she packed them in.

Next came the knives and the guns. She preferred knives and even swords compared to guns, but she had to admit hiding a gun was less noticeable than hiding a sword.

Arobynn had said she would be working outside, but surely she'd be able to have some fun too. She smirked. It had been too long since she'd visited a club or crashed a party. With that she added some of her finer clothes to her luggage.

She wasn't necessarily looking forward to being shipped off on one of The Guild's planes to go work in the dirt in the middle of a forest, but... she did need to get away.

However, she wanted to take in Rifthold one last time before she left. She loved her city, loved the bookstores, the luxury boutiques, and the bakeries. Ooooh the bakeries. That was where she was headed now.

"A pear tart?." The man with almond shaped eyes already knew what she wanted.

"Why, how'd you know?" She dramatically feigned surprise. The baker just cast a knowing smile her way. Maybe, maybe getting out, getting away wouldn't be so bad.

Much to Celaena's disappointment, her pear tart didn't last long. She decided to stroll back to The Keep after visiting a few of her favorite stores. 

Her grief was still an overwhelming weight, but she was breathing lighter for the first time in weeks.

Author's Note

Please comment and review!!  Tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome here! Also if you guys have any plot ideas, scenes, or whatever you think would be cool for me to add in, message me about it and I'll think about trying to fit it in. 

I don't have a posting schedule but I'm planning on continuing this story and will post again soon. Thanks for reading :D