Sunlight streaming through the window woke me. This sunlight was a rich, deep gold. It lit dust in the air ablaze, creating a dancing show of stars in front of me. I watched it for a moment, savoring its beauty, before going to the window and casting the blinds open.
Color jumped out at me from everything, nothing was dull. The symphony of colors - verdant green vines, blindingly white walls, fiery red and yellow flowers and leaves, and the cool blue sky - was so intense I almost looked away. My already impressive vision had been intensified even further. I could make out the individual petals of a daffodil that lay abandoned in the street no less than two hundred yards away.
There was no evidence of the festival that had occurred. No trash was on the street, no fae were passed out in the gutter, and no vendor carts. There was nothing. It made me wonder for a moment if last night was real, or if I had simply dreamed it.
This strangeness was surpassed when I noticed a shimmer to the air. It was difficult to catch at first, but once I noticed it I could not unsee it. At first I thought it was a trick of the light - some kind of reflection of the sun off my window - before realizing this could not be the case. It radiated outward from most things, but it had a particular strength near some objects or fae.
When I looked down at my hands, I saw the shimmer stronger than anywhere else in my vicinity.
It was magic, it had to be.
Though I could have sat and stared at the world for hours, I abandoned the window and began to bathe. It was mid afternoon now and I did not want to waste any more daylight.
Even though I had every right to be exhausted, I felt better than ever. The world was brighter, it felt more open to me. I felt a flash of anger at Lysander for taking this from me, which was quickly muted. In the mirror, I glowed like a magical beacon. There was no way I could have stayed hidden from Terrin like this.
I reached out to Lysander, like I did the night before, and had no luck. I found the string that connected us, but it was faint. I could not latch onto it.
The dining hall was empty, as was the reading room and the gardens in the back. The entirety of the mansion had an abandoned feel to it, everyone had retreated to their rooms.
I was heading back to my room when I spotted something strange about Vivianne's door. An intense shimmer surrounded it. My hair rose as I got closer to the door - electricity was in the air. Something did not feel right.
I approached the door and knocked on it. There was no response.
I knocked louder. The shimmer faded as well as the electricity.
A slit in the door opened and wet, grayish hair dangled in front of a single brown eye appeared on one half of the slit.
"Why are you here, Allyn?" She unforgivingly demanded. I continued to stand tall, even though I realized how strange it was to go knocking on a random person's door.
"Is everything alright?" I calmly asked.
"Everything is…fine." She squinted her eye at me. "You have changed."
"Do you see the shimmer too?" I asked.
"I do not know what you are speaking of," she tonelessly replied. Strange. was she lying or was I special? "But I sense a change in your magical ability." I said nothing. I did not want to open up to her, but I also was terribly alone.
"It is a long story." She did not relent.
"You sit at the table with me. I would like to know how you got so powerful in such a short period of time." Fair point. "Give fifteen minutes to get ready. I will speak with you then."
Exactly fifteen minutes later Vivianne swiftly exited her room, opening and shutting her door so quickly that I could not see inside of it. She wore a dark purple dress and had exchanged her violet eye cover for an all black one. She looked both ways down the hallway before speaking to me.
"We are going to get tea in the dining and you are going to explain your power to me," she told me. I nodded and followed as she confidently strode ahead. She was more paranoid than usual - constantly moving her head side to side as she observed the empty halls.
"Do you know where Kendryek and Lysander are?" I asked her.
"Lysander took Lord Kendryek to the Spring Court to show him what he found," she quietly spoke. "Lord Kendryek wanted to see the weapon that wounded Lysander, or one similar to it." She told one of the servants to make a pot of something called "Suutei Tsai" and gestured for me to take a seat across from her at the table.
A strange mist surrounded us, deafening all sound and obscuring us from view of any passing servants. The air shimmered so intensely that it was almost nauseating.
"Who are you," she asked me.
"I am Allyn. I was raised by my grandfather, now deceased, in the mortal lands," I replied. She shook her head.
"What bloodline do you come from. Who is your mother. Who is your father." I tensed and untensed my jaw.
"That is a secret to be kept between Lysander and I." She dipped her chin and managed to look at me even more intensely.
"Lysander knows?" she asked. I explained how Lysander knew of me at the cabin, how he repressed my powers up until recently, and touched on my grandfather's involvement in the Autumn court. She did not reveal her satisfaction with my answers, but she did not press me for my lineage again.
"Interesting. Very interesting. I met your grandfather," she said. I sat up straighter. "He was a righteous man, but I never knew quite what he was up to. He was always 'hunting.'"
"Hunting what?" I asked.
"I do not know. He never said," she replied before changing the subject. "I must apologize to you, Allyn," she said, her voice as flat as it was before. "For how I have treated you thus far. But, I wish to explain why I acted the way I did." She took a drink. "You are a half-fae in a land where many do not trust you. You appear by Lysander's side one day, supposedly bearing a legendary artifact that no one gave proof of. The next day you sit in my seat at the table. You are invited into Kendryek's room and you join the rest of us at the table, permanently.
"The following day I am dealing with a group of distrustful, zenophobic High Fae. I am Gilan's superior, yet they trust him more than I. I was wrestling this trust into my grasp when you appear, slightly late and without a weapon, to train under my directly when I previously had a scheduled time to drill the other High Fae." So far it was feeling like I was getting attacked more than I was getting apologized to, but I held my cool.
"None of this was your fault - it is the fault of poor planning-" I noticed that she didn't mention who was the one who did the planning. "-but regardless, I needed to make an example somehow. You were not supposed to win that fight and I did not see any possibility that you could.
"And yet you did. You did not fall for my limping act and managed to outsmart me, even if you did rely on direct help from Lysander. It was an impressive display of intelligence and swordplay," she said.
"Thank you," I replied, bewildered by her change in heart.
"Beyond this, I apologize for how I acted after your contact with High Lord Terrin. At the time I was still angry at you for ruining my day, effortlessly strolling into the inner circle, and for attracting so much attention so quickly - despite not appearing to have much power. In addition, I was willing to sacrifice your freedom if it meant the safety of our court. I did not understand what it is like…" she trailed off and looked to the side, her voice wavering. "It is important to protect those we claim to be our own." Any trace of emotion in her voice was now gone.
"You are a part of the inner circle now and I will treat and defend you as such," she finished. I bowed my head to her, I felt genuinely touched.
"Thank you." We drank our tea in a comfortable silence.
"Do you trust Lysander?" I asked when my cup was empty. She nodded.
"Trust is a strong word," she responded. "He is a very capable fae. He has powers that I don't entirely understand, but I have only seen him use them for good." I was not happy with that response.
"Do you trust Kendryek?" I pressed. Her face hardened and she set her cup down.
"I did not come here to be asked silly questions. This was a pleasant talk, but I have work that needs to be done," she said before clearing the mist, getting up from the table, and walking away.
My face reddened out of embarrassment and disappointment. I had, for a brief moment, made a new companion. I may have just thrown that to the wind.
She abruptly stopped halfway through the room and came back. I braced myself. She leaned over the table towards me and spoke in a low voice.
"A fae from Quercus' court will be here in just a few days. His name is Damien. I advise you to stay as far away from him as you can." There was a glimmer of something in her eye, but I could not make out what it was. She spun back around and left without another word, leaving me dazed, confused, and apprehensive about this new fae.