Who: Kat, Feyre, Loki, Thor, & Rhysand When: Backdated to yesterday - starting in the middle of this Where: The park What: A strange wake up and a reunion Rating: PG-13
“Lucy?” It was the first thing she said out loud after she had been woken by the mental nudges of her lover. Her animals lay scattered around her and they seemed in an equal state of early wakefulness. Myrkvan yawned and stretched at her feet, reluctant to escape sleep just yet. Next to her one of the raptors got to his feet and let out something between a screech and a bark as she send a reproachful remark back to her lover. ”I am sorry he is giving you a hard time, my darling. But you judge him too harshly. If you ever do become like him, I know her safe and cared for.” His comparison had not been a fair one in Katherine’s opinion or maybe she had too sour a view of Rhysand’s father.
It was then the wyvern stretched its giant wings that she saw the other body. Bare feet made their way over grass and stone. One of the monstrous pantherlike fae were curled up next to the woman. Its tentacles were loosely curled up by its side.
“Good morning, Feyre,” she smiled down at the body of her friend as the humanoid fae started to move. “Well, I have at least found Feyre,” she informed Rhysand.
---
It took her a second to realize where she was. And then… well.. she didn’t exactly know where she was. But that voice. That face. She stood up fast, and didn’t pause when a wave of dizziness washed over her, she wrapped her arms around the other woman. It was somewhat out of character, she knew, but she hadn’t been there, she hadn’t seen what she had.
After a moment or two Feyre stepped back. “I didn’t think I would see this place ever again… Or..” She glanced around. “Where the hell are we?” This was beyond anything she had seen in Prythian.
The bonding mark was absent from her arm.
---
Katherine frowned as she received words from both Feyre and Rhysand alike. She smiled at her lover’s words. Arguing with him right now almost felt like arguing with her father. She sent back a few words and then returned to reality.
“Uhm, good question. Let’s mark that as unsolved for the moment.” A casual tone that contradicted her frown enveloped her voice. “Rhysand is on his way here. My family seems to be with them.” She dared another glance around. Most of her animals were up by now. The two birds were already circling above them. She eyed the crow and shouted out to her. “Varða, anything?” It screeched back.
Kat scratched the back of her head and shook it softly. “Right, I have no idea what that means. Let’s pretend we are safe for now.”
~~~
Rhysand. She looked at her hands. Both of the marks were gone. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Had they been back home she would have panicked. But here… She just felt naked. Her mind was completely her own. Mother. How long had it been?
“Cauldron. Well this is a vacation wherever it is.” The only thing was that she missed her sisters already. But things here felt…. normal. She looked at the other woman’s feet. “I’ll ask an easier question. Where are your shoes?” Not that she hadn’t been on her share of barefoot jaunts, but she had been surrounded by overprotective fae at the time.
---
Now Katherine noticed it as well. She noticed how Feyre examined her hands and that… oh! Their bond was broken. The demigod could not help but feel a pang of happiness about it. Jealousy had always overcome her when she was reminded that she was not the only person who shared such an intimate connection with her lover. She was about to avert her eyes to keep her feelings hidden from the other woman when Rhysand answered. Thor. A sigh escaped her as she sent her own worries about her uncle back to the fae.
“I-” Katherine answered Feyre, trying to remember what she had said. Two conversations at once were very distracting. “I don’t know. I did not wear any at home. Then suddenly I was here.”
~~~
Did she admit to the other woman that she had gone home? She had been in the Night Court just before arriving back… Back were? That she was High Lady? No. She remained closed lipped. Instead she started removing the Illyrian knives. “Tell him I said bring you shoes. It could be dangerous, better safe than sorry.”
The fae looked around. She wasn’t recognizing anything. In that moment she shape shifted. A little. Those Illyrian wings she mimicked spread from her back.
“I’m going to go up. See what I can see. And try not to crash down.” Feyre smirked. “I’ll tell you in better words than a crow what I see.”
---
“Well, that would be highly appreciated,” she said with a smile. Varða was an exceptional detector of all things potentially harmful. However, when it came to communication they just did not share the same wavelength. No pictures had been planted in her head though and with her three gentlemen on the way she felt oddly comfortable. Right now, this might turn into an adventure. When Feyre left, she sent her last message to Rhysand before checking on her animals. Fear seemed to be their major discomfort. No wounds. She tried to calm them down as well as she could but they continued to hiss and snap at each other. Especially, the raptors made a fuss.
~~~
With a few hard flaps of her wings, which wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, she rose up over their heads. With a few more hard flaps she was higher than any of the terrain around them. She didn’t fly away though, she didn’t want to lose sight of Katherine. Getting lost seemed bad.
“If I could fly better I’d bring you up. This is….” There were no words, Feyre had seen nothing like it. “That movie… Wizard of OZ, put it best. I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Not that she knew where Kansas was.
---
Katherine glanced up at Feyre when she heard her words. That movie was not one she had seen. In fact, she rarely watched movies nowadays. “What’s Kansas?” Was that an old word she did not know? A place?
Suddenly, she became aware of Rhysand’s anger. Couldn’t her father leave him alone for a second? She sent over some soothing words before she refocused on Feyre.
---
“I don’t know. I thought it was a saying, doesn’t it mean home or something?” She began coming down, with every lack of grace she had. Until she finally thumped down on her knees. “I’ve never seen anything like it. But that doesn’t say much the island was something I’d never seen before too. And when I told Rhys about it he thought I’d gone crazy.”
Feyre put her hands on her knees and pushed up to stand. Dusting herself off when she did. “Even when I was pretending with Alis… She had never heard of anything like it.”
---
“About what?” she asked blinking. “That you had never seen an island before?” Feyre’s words were too vague to make up her mind about a certain interpretation. “Who is Alis? I really don’t know what you are talking about. But… more importantly what did you see?” That was what she was really interested in. Tales could serve later; it was time for facts.
---
“About the Island. It’s a lot different than anything in Prythian. Or… it was.” Because they clearly weren’t on it now. “Alis was a lesser Fae, hate that word by the way, that kind of took care of me in the Spring Court. I… I went back. And that’s why I don’t have the bond with Rhysand anymore. I had to pretend I was under some spell that Rhys put me under.” She looked up, using what she had gone home to as she tried to search for words on how to describe what she saw. “I don’t mean to sound crazy… but I think we’re in the stars.”
---
“Stars?” Oh my… the glass walls and lack of a proper horizon hinted at a dramatic change. But stars? She really wanted to take a look herself. “Binky!” she shouted. A white horse reluctantly trotted over to her. The lack of a saddle was very obvious. Of course… none of their things were here. None of their things were here. Katherine’s eyes widened as she realised that the infinity stone might be gone.
“You did not see our things somewhere, did you?” she asked the other woman warily.
---
She didn’t even want to think about what else was beyond the glass. And she definitely didn’t want to sound stupid by not being able to properly. So she just nodded. She felt dumb doing that, but at least she wasn’t trying to explain something she knew nothing about.
“Uh.. No but I wasn’t looking at the ground. I could go up again?” She didn’t land all that smoothly but she was pleased that she didn’t make any sort of dent in the ground, and she didn’t just fall. She hated that Az wasn’t there.
---
Seeing the pile and Katherine in the middle, Rhysand broke into a sprint that lasted all of four paces before he winnowed through the park to appear at his mate’s side. He fell to his knees amongst the creature pile, smiling bright with relief and reaching for her. “My love,” he crooned in a whisper to her ear as he tried to pull her in for a warm embrace.
---
Katherine was just about to answer Feyre when two arms wrapped around. Her face lit up. She felt whole again. “Hey…” she whispered through a smile. She reached up to him with her left hand and softly stroked his lip. Then she remembered that Rhysand would not have arrived alone. She glanced around him and found the two Norse gods. “Hey gentleman.”
---
The display of affection was almost sickening. Loki stared at the couple with crossed arms and an unimpressed expression. Katherine was still grinning happily when she finally decided to remember that she had family as well. “What she sees in this buffoon is beyond me…” he muttered to Thor.
---
Katherine smiled excusingly at Rhysand before she teleported over to her family. “Well, at least, that buffoon makes your two agree on something for once.” She said with a smile. “Hello, father.” A hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Uncle.” Same procedure. While she got worried when her father ceased to be grumpy - it usually meant that he was up to no good - , that display of mood worried her in her uncle. She had not shaken off Rhysand’s earlier words. “Once… this... “ She ushered at her surroundings. “... has turned into something normal, I will set you up on blind dates. No buts. You need to smile again.”
---
“Rhys.” He wouldn’t need her to fly up in the graceless flapping she had been doing. So those wings, and any other Illyrian traits, vanished. It was strange not to feel that mating bond. Or even that tug of consciousness through the debted bond. “Want to hang back just a minute, get a breath in?” Feyre offered. In laws like that probably made her sisters look like meek kittens.
---
Thor smiled broadly at Katherine as she came toward him, reaching out to clap a heavy, strong hand around her back and pull her into a hug. “I am glad you’re well,” he said straightly. He then looked at her curiously, caught off guard by her statement before looking lost, sad, and shaking his head.
“I don’t want to see anyone,” he told her gently. “But I appreciate the effort.” He looked at Loki as if wanting him to say something and make this awkward situation leave his shoulders.
~~~
Rhysand allowed Katherine away after their embrace, though he would have rather kept her safe in his arms. He instead turned round and found Feyre, giving her a grateful smile as he moved toward her. “You fly, now? Congratulations, Feyre. We’ll have to practice. It’s a good look on you.” He grinned in that way he did, suave and smooth, cyan-violet eyes sparkling from behind dark lashes.
“Are you alright? You’re not hurt are you?” he asked, looking down at her hand in silent acknowledgement that he had to ask. He didn’t just know.
That was weird.
~~~
“You still need to get out more. I won’t let you grow sour. Sif would not want that,” Katherine said softly. If it had been Rhysand that had vanished, she would not have wanted a new partnership either. But in a place like this, you needed to learn how to move on. How to gain a new life. Otherwise, you would perish.
She did not want to leave Rhysand alone for too long, however. She rejoined the other party soon enough.
~~~
He was not short of any salt that he could rub in his brother’s wounds. Little quips could drive a wounded animal into despair. In Loki’s opinion Thor had had it far too easy all his life. He had earned the hardship through arrogance and pride. Yet, Loki stayed silent during that beautifully awkward moment.
When his child went back to her lover, he felt no inclination to follow. Instead, his attention was cast to their new situation. It had potential. There might not be any barriers here. An open galaxy that could be his…
A path led him to the side as he falled the glass walls to the rims of the park. He wanted to see what lay beside them. A few into his stroll, he turned around. “Are you coming or is the elf your beloved companion now?” he called out to Thor. His brother might prove useful.
~~~
“Yeah, Azriel taught me. Or as much as he could teach me before the war.” She gave him a slight smile. “There’s nothing graceful about it. It did save my skin a few times though.” She was glad the necessity was behind them though.
Feyre looked toward the other two as Katherine started to come back. “Yeah. We vanquished Hybern.” There was a little sad turn to her voice, but she gave nothing else away. If he had not been home. If he didn’t know. She wasn’t going to tell him his future and alter things. That bit was small enough.
With a glance down at her left hand, and the ring on her finger, before the other woman could get too close she removed it. She held the closed hand out to Rhysand.
---
Thor only looked on at Katherine quietly before giving a short nod and moving on to go find his brother’s wandering. While he might have surely earned this sadness, in one way or another, he did not consider it as such. It did not dawn on him that this could be karma. In fact, he didn’t really feel at fault for anything. This place was a sickness; the island was a disease. Katherine had fought hard against that torture, a flesh-eating monster that worked from the inside out, to try to stop this sort of thing from happening. Now, here they stood, in an entirely new place drifting among the stars with who knew how many missing.
The god was not at ease.
“Don’t say such things, brother,” Thor said blandly. “It’s unbecoming of your greater wit.” And he came up alongside Loki to look outside.
~~~
Rhysand looked down at Feyre before lighting, putting his hands round her shoulders. “We did it?” he asked, only having remembered their plot before arriving to the island. He did not know of a fight or the conquests they had made as Feyre did, now. “Why don’t you sound more elated? We spent months on that--you sacrificed so much for that.”
He then looked down at her hand. “What’s this?” Rhysand’s gut twisted over on itself as he took the ring from her and swallowed. “Was this yours? From me?” It didn’t take a genius to know or understand and he felt sick that something had transpired, something he couldn’t remember because he had moved on here while she had been there. His free hand covered his mouth, rubbing down his chin as he took a breath and sighed.
“I...I’m sorry, Feyre.”
~~~
Katherine stopped as she saw the intimate moment unfold in front of her. The jealousy was hard to suppress. She wanted to eavesdrop but it did not seem fair towards Rhysand. She needed to trust him. Plus… yes. She freed her phone from the pocket of her dress and unlocked it. Lucy, yes, on the contact. Messages. New. ”Lucy, are you okay? Where are you?” she typed and pressed send. She glanced back to where the gods had been but they were gone. Off to a brotherly tête-à-tête. Yeah… right….
~~~
“I… We lost a lot. And we… There’s a lot that I shouldn’t tell you. But Elain.. she was forced to kill…” Her voice cracked. She still couldn’t say the words. Why her doe eyed sister had to pick up a sword and completely behead someone. Without any training. It was still hard to think about without getting angry… And sad. There was no way she was going to break down now.
She cleared her throat. “It was. But I think it needs a new owner.” Feyre elbowed him a little harder than she intended. “And don’t be sorry, you horse’s ass.” She glanced toward Katherine a little smile touched her lips. “But I think I’ll keep High lady. Someone has to keep the court of Nightmares in order.” How could she be sad that he had found love without some mating bond.
“We’re friends, you and me, and I like her. There is nothing to be sorry about.”
---
The Illyrian-Fae sighed, shoulders sagging as he listened to Feyre before touching her shoulder more delicately. “You’ll have to tell me later,” he said with a nod. “I want to know. Everything. Don’t leave a detail out.” He instructed with a point of a finger, the remaining wrapped around the ring before he took a step away from his friend, pocketing the jewel for later. It had meant so much to him and now he had the chance to give it to Katherine, whom he loved with every fiber of his soul.
That, however, did not restrain the guilt in his heart for having left Feyre behind when he got here. He moved on, not knowing when or how to get back to that place. Things were...messy.
“Keep the title. It suits you, anyway. But you might have to fight her for it,” Rhysand turned as he said ‘her’ with a easy snap of his feet, slipping over the slick ground under his dressy shoes. The smile he gave Katherine was radiant, hands hanging in his pockets comfortably.
“Darling, Withering Thorn in My Side,” he looked from Katherine to Feyre with a smirk, “I think we should head off to find our daughter and the rest of our rag-tag band of friends, don’t you both agree?” he asked jauntily.
~~~
Katherine slipped the phone back into her pocket and smiled back at the pair. She was still unsure about their conversation. There were bits she missed, bits that belonged to them and nothing else. She stepped back towards them. “I sent her a message. I don’t know how else to find her.” Her father might have been of help but he had fucked off. Frankly, she was grateful for that. Having Rhysand and him in close proximity to each other was painful for everyone involved. Then there was a lack of an infinity stone. She did not even want to think about that one.
“Rhys, do you know where we are?” She remembered words and explanations. But she had been too tired and overwhelmed. They needed refreshing.
~~~
Feyre put up her hands. “I make no promises.” Really she wasn’t sure when she would be able to. She wasn’t even sure she would be able to talk about their ‘status’. But maybe with time.
She grinned slightly. “Are you sure you want that to happen? I am trained by Cassian and Azriel… And Amren and Mor.” She joked. It was easier to do than handling raw emotions.
Feyre followed the few steps to lead them to Kat.
---
Rhysand laughed loudly at Feyre and nodded. “Yes, I do. I think it would be the most attractive thing I’d ever seen in my life,” he jeered as he slid up beside Katherine and moved to put an arm around her shoulders. “I know exactly where we are,” he told her. “The panels down the hall will provide us a directory, though you may need to read it. I’m not sure which language it was in when your father brought it up but it was not any I have ever known.”
~~~
Now her curiosity did perk up. “The most attractive thing? What would that be?” she asked. An eyebrow was quirked in provocation. Tread carefully, Rhysand. There were many pits to fall into. Nonetheless, she slipped into his embrace. By now, it felt like a second skin.
“A directory of what? I don’t know you told me but I don’t remember.” Directories in a foreign language. Glass tubes. Where were they?
~~~
The High Lord smiled as he kissed the top of Katherine’s head. “Why, a battle of wits and wills between you two.” He said with a point toward Feyre. “She said she would like to challenge you for title of High Lady, to which I said you must fight each other for it.” He chuckled, as it was all in good fun. Rhysand would never make them do such a thing--though he would not hate to watch, either.
He was hot blooded!
“The directory seemed to show the quarters around us, levels and passages. It was how we found you in the first place, once we knew what to look for.”
~~~
Feyre snorted. “Don't let him fool you, he's probably picturing something far more perverted than that.” She teased easily enough. “And it probably has to do with inappropriate gowns that are torn in just the right places, and has absolutely no armored protection. Probably no weapons to be seen.” She gave Rhys a cheeky grin. She was happy to see them both. No she hadn’t given the half Illyrian a hug like she had Katherine. But the sentiment was there.
There were no hard feelings. Not on her side. But then she had left Cass, what felt like moments before Kat had woken her. And it was easier to bury the sadness that crept over her than it was to expose it.
“So, your father can read this language?” Feyre already knew she would be no help. She was lucky she had a grasp on her own language
---
Katherine left the teasing uncommented. It was the best she could do. She felt that a conversation about how her lover wanted to see the two women he had bedded in a sexy fight tasteless at best.
“He can read any language,” she commented quietly instead. The feel of unease made room for curiosity. “What language do the gods speak in your mind? For me, it sounds like English. That is my native tongue or, at least, it has been made to be my native tongue. But I now know better than that. They speak the All-Tongue. It merely appears to be the language you are most familiar with.” Katherine knew from Rhysand that their world had their own languages but she had never asked how that translated to them.
---
Rhysand raised a brow at Feyre before returning to the conversation at hand. Though they were not bound together he could still shush her, and so he sent a ”was it something I said?” to his friend when Katherine seemed unwilling to play. Instead, he moved on externally.
“I hear the common language we all know in Prythian,” he said with another look to Feyre. “I’m certain you and I don’t speak the same thing, either, my dove, yet just the same we communicate just fine. That said...the screens did not hold anything I could understand at a glance.”
~~~
Feyre had gotten in a habit of leaving a door open. A special Rhys door, if you would, in that wall of Adamant. ”I don’t know. I think the ‘mate’ part of our relationship in Prythian may bother her.” But there was more to their dynamic than the sex. They were friends too. Friends first. But she gave away nothing of their inner conversation. And anyone else that came scratching at that door would be treated to tortures only war driven Daemati were capable of.
“The Weaver and Bone Carver might have spoken a different language when they were thought of as gods. But I never heard anything different. No one worships them as gods anymore. There is only the Mother.” She looked back at Rhys for confirmation. There was still the older sibling. But she had not met him.
---
Weaver? Bone Carver? Katherine was lost. She had heard of Mother - or did she mix it up with all the other religions that had a similar figure? Instead of answering, she whistled. The big creatures could stay here but she wanted the wolves at her side. It was soon enough that the pair came running towards them.
“Are you incapable of speaking a language I don’t understand?” she asked quietly. She was not sure how the island had mingled with their skills. Had it implemented a translation filter? Changed their understanding of the languages? Katherine had no idea but she wanted to understand. It would make her feel closer to them… him.
---
There was a feeling of sorrow and hurt that touched at Feyre. Rhysand could not understand how they still had to struggle with this when he had been so open and forward from the beginning. Yes, things had been difficult to start and the whole thing got messy when Feyre arrived but Rhysand had simply thought better of the situation. Perhaps he was rushing things because he was tired of dramatics. Back home everything had been dramatic. This island--spaceship--it was dramatic. ”I’ll try not to bring it up. Thank you.”
He turned his outward focus on the conversation. “I don’t rightly know the answer to that,” he said. “It could be a coincidence that through all of the worlds we speak similar or the same language, they’re only called by a different name. I winnow; you teleport. That does not mean we aren’t taken from one place to another in the blink of an eye.” Rhysand shrugged a shoulder as he smiled at her, reaching out to brush back a strand of her hair.
“Perhaps it isn’t something to worry about, and we can focus on what this new language is that none of us recognize, together?”
~~~
Feyre wanted to turn around and smack him, because, to her, not talking about it had left them at this point. Not knowing had been one thing. But now she knew. And so much more than that. But instead of showing that much outwardly, she simply raised an eyebrow. ”I think you need to talk about it. She may not be comfortable with us being friends. I’m not saying right now. Too much is ahead of us. But when you’re alone...” A wash of sorrow came over her. ”I’ve lost so much, I… Don’t… I can’t lose you too.” After a moment. After she was sure that her inner voice wouldn’t crack. ”Your family.”
She tried to push all that aside. So it wouldn’t show. But it took a moment until she could speak. A few swallows, and she was sure she speak plainly. “There were ancient text that Amren needed to translate. But she only had time to translate what I needed to know. What I needed to speak. But I don’t know what the words meant.” She hoped full disclosure would help their situation a little.
“But I could barely read common. So…” Feyre shrugged, her reading was better now. Much better. Especially what they had been a few years ago.
---
“It would not be the strangest thing I have ever heard,” Katherine commented Rhysand’s words and smiled at him with a small smile. When Feyre started to talk, her attention turned towards her and she leaned closer into Rhysand to close the distance between her and the speaker. “I did not know that you could not read or is that specific to common?” It was such a basic still and yet occasionally you came across people who lacked it. How did you live your life without it?
Suddenly, Fenrir caught up with them and almost crashed into her in his excitement. He leaped up and Katherine greeting with laughter and a pet. He bounded around his own axis, rolled over the ground and off he sprinted again. A wolf with too much energy. Kat stared at him blinking.
After a moment she turned her focus back to Rhysand. “I am sorry about father, by the way. I don’t think there is anything I can do to make him treat you better.” She shrugged. Changing her father’s opinions often was a fruitless cause.
---
There was a quiet moment between Rhysand and Feyre and he seemed on the precipice of speaking before he turning to Katherine again, looping an arm around her. They could all talk about this later, individually as necessary. Now was not the time.
“Feyre’s family did not have the means to teach her prior to her crossing The Wall,” he said. “I taught her. I am an incredible tutor, am I not?” the man smiled as he took a smooth sidestep to not be overrun by the beast, chuckling at his joy. “Seems someone is happy to be awake again.” And Rhysand dismissed Loki entirely with a wave of his hand. There really was nothing to be done. Katherine’s father would either see Rhysand’s true affection and caring or he would continue to hold a grudge. He was not going to go out of his way to please the man when that man clearly did not want to even meet him in the middle.
“Let us see if we can’t find somewhere to stay that isn’t in the middle of a park?” The High Fae took a few steps back the way he had first come, waiting for his companions to join him.
~~~
Feyre didn’t fall into the silence like she might have at the hands of Tamlin. But she did not probe at the unspoken words. Instead she placed her hands, joined, at her back. And just walked on as if nothing had been said at all.
“That’s not completely true. They had the means, just the lack of want. And then… then I was just too busy keeping my father and two older sisters fed to worry about it.” She wasn’t bitter anymore. It was what it was, and there was no changing it. “But you were a good tutor. I disliked you so much those first few times you came to fetch me, and your word list made me so angry that it forced me to go into Tamlin’s library and sit down with a book and a dictionary and teach myself.” She could actually smile about the memory now. “Rhysand is the most handsome High Lord, Rhysand is the most delightful High Lord, Rhysand is the most cunning High Lord. And everyday for a whole week he would change word to a different more annoying word. And I swear I could feel him laughing, which back then I took as mocking.” She held up her now naked hand, which had born his bargain mark. “I was still a work in progress when I got here. I still am, there are some words that I have to have a dictionary for.” She’d have to find one here.
She watched the wolf for a moment, reminded of the one that had changed her life. “I second that. Not that I have anything against sleeping outside. But a change of clothes and a bath sounds good too.” She finished a day of sparring with Cassian, and flight training with Azriel when she’d been brought back, she was sure if she took a hard whiff of herself she’d smell a lot like Cass.
---
Katherine listened to Feyre’s tale, still pressed into Rhysand’s side as they walked. There were flashes of emotions on her face as they moved on. Anger accompanied the first part, denying your child to learn was something she had no sympathy for. Amusement joined a little later when Rhysand’s antics became the spotlight of the conversation. “Ah, so he was not always this modest?” she asked with a remarkably straight face. She felt like she should congratulate herself on the task. It was not easy to keep the laughter hidden.
It was the talk about a place to stay that made her realised just how spoiled she had become. If there was anything she was missing, she could rely on her father to provide it. Finding a suitable accommodation was no worry of hers. Magic could build a home. Or it could find one. She stayed quiet though and instead glanced around. Excitement blossomed instead her chest as she realised for the first time that they might be free for good. They might be safe. No more losses. No more captivity. It was an overwhelming hope.
---
Rhysand laughed. “I am only ever modest!” he said with a pinch at Katherine’s side playfully. “If I had taught Lucy to read and write her words would be ‘Papa is the best. Papa is the coolest. Papa loves me the most.’” He chuckled and shook his head at his foolery before looking over at Feyre. He snapped, if only for effect, to clean and change her.
“I know it isn’t the same, but at least it’s a start,” the High Fae offered as whatever muck and grime had appeared upon her was now gone and her clothing changed to an outfit he’d her wear many a time before; blouse and leggings, strong boots, and a bow. While that feeling of filth might not have been washed away he thought she might perhaps at least like being out of the sticky, war-torn clothes.
“I recall seeing empty apartments behind most of the doors we checked on the way here. I have a feeling it will be another claim-your-own situation, which I’m not against. Perhaps we should choose our quarters and while Feyre cleanses we go to find Lucy?” he offered to the group.