To the Stars | Throne of Glass

39

Samhuinn was tomorrow. A week, Ben had said. Had a week already gone by? How did time fly like that?

Celaena stood in front of her wardrobe, frowning at the messy piles of clothes there. She opened the drawer beneath the main compartment to see all her undergarments in scraggly heaps. At least they didn't smell bad like Ben's had, despite their appearances.

With a resigned sigh, she picked up a tunic, and folded it neatly before placing it on her bed. And another. And another.

Some while later, Celaena put her hands on hips, surveying the beautifully stacked towers, now safely stored in her wardrobe once again. Her back ached from all the hauling and bending over, neck in no better condition.

Celaena flopped down face-first on the bed, rolled over, and grabbed a title from the ever-increasing shelves of books beside her bed. Crossing and uncrossing her ankles, she flicked open to a random page.

Ah.

Celaena slammed the book shut and a cloud of dust wafted out, the smell of old book pages filling her nostrils as she sneezed rapidly. Horrible. 

Celaena was feeling strangely sheepish as she rubbed her nose and slid off the bed. She hoped book-Charly wouldn't be annoyed that she was about to steal his idea of loose floorboards...

Celaena dropped to her knees, gently rapping the wooden floorboards. There. A hollow sound, and Celaena prised the plank up with a knife. A tiny space stared back at her. With hurried movements, Celaena unsheathed a couple of her daggers, and laid them into the hole carefully before pushing the floorboard down again. Backup weapons, just in case.

She beamed at book-Charly's resourcefulness; the ingeniousness of it, silently thanking the author, too. But now she had two empty sheaths. Celaena stood, kicked open the door, and strolled out.

'Laena! What a nice surprise!' She stopped at the foot of the stairs. Why was Archer here?

'Laena? Are you rutting serious?'

Archer grinned. 'It's better than Selay.'

She huffed. 'What about just Celaena?'

Archer pretended to think, stroking his impossibly handsome chin. 'I like Laena.' There was no arguing with this bastard, was there?

Celaena surprised even herself as she took his hand. 'Come on, you stubborn ass, lets get some training done.'

'But it's Samhuinn tomorrow!'

She stopped, turned, and fixed him with a glare. 'Honestly, no one would think you're eighteen. You act like a five-year-old.'

~

Hunter had changed a lot over the years. Celaena hadn't seen him much, as they trained at different times, and also, Hunter's room was down a different corridor, so the changes came as a bigger shock. Now fifteen, he had noticeably filled out more, and he wasn't bad-looking either. Celaena grinned at him. 'Hunter, Archer. Archer, Hunter.'

Hunter cocked his head, an impish gleam in his eyes. 'Now we're just waiting for you to introduce Fisher,' he drawled.

Celaena tried to keep a straight face. 'And Baker and Rider and Builder. Anyway, what are you doing right now?'

Hunter gave her a lazy grin, rolled his head, then his shoulders. 'Oh, I was just finishing off, but...' He smirked. 'I challenge you. No weapons.'

She lifted a brow. 'I'm in.'

Archer coughed pointedly behind her. 'What do I do?'

Celaena paused from removing her belt of weapons. 'Watch. Oh, and look after those for me, will you?' she said, kicking over the scabbards.