A Court of Dark and Decay

Chapter 25- It Would Not be a Waste

Nesta's hands shook as she worked throughout the day. She was on laundry duty and lunch duty for the tents, so as soon as she left Cassian standing there she went straight to the edge of camp. 

She tried hard to ignore the change in the Illyrians. 

Women rarely showed face outside anymore. She didn't see any children. Maybe that was because they all thought she was evil, but Nesta knew that wasn't it. 

Word had gotten out about Iona. Females were scared. Iona was a loved member of thier little community, but more importantly a reminder that the women could  have power just like the males. A statue to the capabilities they all had inside of them. 

And that statue had been torn down and ripped apart right under thier noses. 

The females were scared. 

In the tents, people were asking questions. 

Iona was a face they saw everyday, a female they all adored for all her kindness and purity. Jaida was the one to tell them, to deliver the news with the food. Nesta was cooking, and she bent over the large pot stirring some kind of soup that smelled heavenly. 

Nesta liked it in the tents. No one warded off evil as she passed, no one hid thier children behind thier backs. She wasn't odd or different or wrong here. This was a place for the odd and different. And who was to say what was wrong? No one, at least not here. 

She found herself spending the entire day there in the tents, listening to peoples stories and helping those who needed it. 

Carina, the older woman without legs, told Nesta a story about Iona. When she was little, apparently, Iona would fly through the tents, practicing her ariel skills. Henery- who had wings at the time- would fly around trying to catch her. Every weekend, Carina would put a daisy on the top of her tent and Iona would always take it and leave a peice of caramel.

The older female's brown eyes matched the glow of her dark skin in the afternoon sun streaming through the window as she spoke. Before Nesta left, Carina gave her a caramel candy. 

Nesta was debating on eating it while stolling through the tents when she heard a hushed psssst carried on the wind.

She lifted her head and tightened her cloak around her as she slowly turned, listening for the sound again. 

"Nesta!" A whispered scream.

She felt her cheeks blush as she spun around and found no one. Nesta scrunched her eyebrows, taking a few steps in the direction she thought the voice was coming from. 

Then suddenly there were two hands on her shoulders, pulling her into the darkness of the space between tents. 

 She felt it around her fingers before she could wilfully summon it. That white hot magic at the ready. She had awoken it, and she was ready to fight with it. 

Rosie's hands dropped from Nesta's shoulder as she swore at the sight of the magic.

"Nesta it's us, stop it!" She said as Sera stepped in front of her- hand on her sword. 

Nesta breathed a sigh of releif as she coiled the magic back inside of her.

"You shouldn't pull people into corners, Rosie." She said, twitching her fingers to shake the sticky feeling the magic left. 

In this corner between tents, Nesta could barely make out the two females in front of her. She could tell it was Rosie because her blonde curls practically glowed. Sera was recogniziable because she was the only one who protect Rosie with such ferocity.