Novalunosis: An ACOTAR Second Generation Story

Chapter 6: Caim

Caim (origin: Gaelic)— "sanctuary"; an invisible circle of protection to remind one of being safe and loved, even in the darkest times.

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***Night Court Family Tree at the End***

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Catrin awoke in the House of Wind after a long night of much needed relaxation. Work had been tough enough these days but with her guilt over the Andrew situation last night, that ridiculous stranger put her nerves over the edge. Luckily, there was nothing a good book, a great glass of wine, and a long bath couldn't cure.

She had the day completely free before dinner that night at the river house. Being the largest home in the city, it could fit the large crowd that would gather— Feyre and Rhysand, Nesta and Cassian, Emerie and Mor, Amren and Varian, her parents, and their various children. She even heard that Elain and Lucien might be in town and would hopefully be there.

She knew Willow headed back this morning to the Day Court, preparing for classes to begin. Elain and Lucien's other children— Anthony, Flynn, and Egan— were spread across the courts, constantly traveling as they took on their father's mission to build bridges between the courts so there was a slim chance any of them would make it tonight.

It was easier for the remaining Inner Circle's children to get together, but still not without struggles. They were a large group and never were able to wrangle all of them together at once. As she thought about it, Catrin realized that they hadn't all been together since Willow was born and Catrin was only six years old then. Between Ráðgríðr, the Illyrian war camps, traveling from court to court, and now so many partners having families of their own, it was nearly impossible to have a full reunion with everyone. Twenty-seven. That is how many of them there were, if you exclude the partners of the second generation. It was just too many to ever all get together. People had lives outside of Velaris and missions that took them further than the Night Court, though they all tried, they never were all in sync.

Her sister, Aria, wouldn't attend tonight and she doubted Ronan would be either. Aria was training to take over her father's position as the Night Court's Spymaster. Recently, she had been taking on more and more missions, always with Ronan at her side. Growing up, people thought that Catrin would take over for their father since she had all of the powers and training needed to succeed. Instead, she knew very early in life that the FAU was her calling. She spent so much time in the House of Wind library with her mother and Clotho before leaving for Ráðgríðr that it was clear she would do anything she could to pair research with advocacy, her own experiences motivating her even further. While Catrin was dedicated to academic validation and paired this with training at Ráðgríðr, both of her younger siblings decided that the Illyrian war camps were their calling.

Aria was a stunning fighter from day one. She constantly fought to be seen as one of the Illyrian and did so by persistently questioning their outdated beliefs. She was the best Illyrian fighter that they had seen in years, bar none, and she never let anyone there forget it. Aria didn't use her words to fight the ill-informed Illyrians of their prejudiced ideologies, instead she showed them that females were equally, if not better, equipped to learn strategy and combat. Her skills poised her to be well on her way to becoming the next Spymaster. Following his twin, Ronan decided to fight to be a beacon of new principles by internally deconstructing the system from inside the Illyrian camps, primarily using his words to do so. Anytime he spoke, it was to support his sister, amplifying her voice, challenging others, and being her constant ally.