The adventures of Aelin and Fenrys

8

After a near silent breakfast, the three of them had moved to the living room. Aelin remained unnervingly quiet as she slowly pulled herself out of the abyss she'd tunneled her way into. This was nothing new, but it did not affect her any less.

She was grateful for the shadows; she didn't think she would be. She couldn't ignore the fact that they had initially petrified her when she mistook them for tendrils of Maeve's darkness. Her body had been set in unrelenting shivers, but the closer she had got to them, the sooner she realised she couldn't have been more wrong. Timothy was his name, the one that liked her.

Aelin didn't get a chance to talk to the others, she barely even spoke to him, but his magic seemed to be laced into his very being. It danced with her fire and soothed her very soul. She felt him slither his way into her mind and pinpoint all the memories of darkness that rose to the surface. His darkness substituted Maeve's and wrapped around the tethers between herself and the past before oozing cooling reassurance to calm her raging heart. Her breathing calmed and she slowly regained control over her body again.

Fenrys had dozed off on the lounge, his large frame taking up one of the three seaters. Aelin felt a pang of guilt run through her as the terror was finally under her grip. Now, she could see the events of the morning clearly and coherently. She had let her delusions make her act irrationally.

She wanted him to catch up on the sleep she robbed him of, so she whispered to Azriel "Let's get some fresh air". His eyes widened slightly before he nodded and rose to lead her to the balcony that hung over the mountains. She'd barely said a word to him since the weird incident in the hallway, but he was happy to clear the air.

He recalled the smell of terror that seemed to leak from her very pores. She showed no sign of that terror after she'd spotted him. His shadows had told him they were sneaking around the house and he assumed they were up to something. He didn't know that they were running from something.

She leaned on the railing that overlooked the city of Velaris and the sunrise that had left the sky in a mixture of reds, oranges and yellows. Her golden hair was unbound and moved with the soft breeze. Azriel watched as her skin seemed to absorb the sun's rays and left her glistening. "I've never seen powers like yours, better yet I've never felt them" she spoke slowly as if she was voicing her raw thoughts and processed them after.

"I've never met anyone with my powers either or someone that could feel them. What happened when you touched them? they blocked me out" Azriel questioned as he frowned and moved to lean on the railing beside her. He leaned his hip onto the railing and faced her before she mirrored his stance. She snorted and contemplated "I think they like me better". The side of his lip twitched in amusement but before he could continue, Aelin blurted "they helped me".

When she saw his quizzical look, her gaze returned to the city again. She bit her lip in concentration, deep in thought. She refused to meet his eyes as she explained, "I have these episodes most nights where I don't know what's real and what's not and I freak out. Sometimes I freeze in panic but most times I want to go hunt down the threat."

She paused with a pained smile on her face, "My mate complements me in every way possible. His ice and wind magic can soothe and strengthen my fire, his patience allows me to heal but without him here to calm me down... I just felt as if I was drowning. But the darkness... It helped. I didn't think it would because I've had some bad experiences with the dark but Timothy knew and decided to substitute himself into those nightmares until all I could feel was cooling relief."

She released a shuddering breath as if a weight was lifted off of her then turned to finally look at Azriel. She was happy to not see pity lining his face but empathy and... understanding?