The rebels were preparing to leave the continent. Azriel's shadows had delivered the news an hour ago, but the words kept echoing inside his mind, he'd have to go and scout their likely landing points, he'd have to go today, and he'd have to go alone, or perhaps with Cassian. But, he winced at the thought, he couldn't take Gwyn, and she'd hate him for it. She'd hate him, but she couldn't fly, and with the possibility of armed rebel Illyrian scouts, anyone who accompanied him had to be able to fly, even if she asked Feyre to re-summon her wings, Gwyn couldn't fly, it would be far too dangerous to bring her with him. He'd spent the last hour not planning as he should have been, but worrying about how to tell her. Now, seated at his desk, a map spread out in front of him, his mind was too loud to find the calm he needed to be able to think,

"When are you leaving?"

"What?" Gwyn had slipped in without him noticing, and was now leaning against the doorframe,

"Since the shadows were so worked up earlier, you've been quiet all morning, and the map, I'd assume the rebels are preparing to invade and you want to check out their landing sites." Got in in one, as per usual, he shouldn't even be surprised any more,

"It's too dangerous for you, without flight you'll be vulnerable," he started before realizing, she hadn't asked when they were leaving, but when he was, "You're okay with not coming?" She shrugged,

"It's not like I want to let you go into danger without me, but I can't fly, I assume that's why I can't come, and you have Cass, if either of you is worrying about looking after me you'll just be in more danger. Besides, I have things I can do here, I haven't seen enough of Nesta and Emerie since we got back from the continent, we have lunch today. I know you've got a load of reports to go through, so I can start on those, and I'm not blind, Az, I know Maddy's around, so she can help me." Azriel wasn't the slightest bit surprised that she knew that, Maddy had probably deliberately made sure Gwyn had noticed her, not that it would take much, but he snorted anyway, "Oh, and Madja wants to see me about trying to improve the varieties of herbs we have, she thinks Elain and I might be able to manage something." Elain? Azriel blinked in surprise, and Gwyn chuckled, her shoulders shaking as she shook her head gently at him,

"She was just surprised before, and she apologized, and well, I like her. Neither of us is stupid enough to let some guy prevent us from being friends."

"Well, speaking as some guy," Azriel rolled his eyes, "I'm glad, and I feel the need to apologize again for being an idiot,"

"A big idiot,"

"A big idiot," he agreed, but Gwyn sighed,

"She reminds me of Catrin." She added quietly, barely more than a whisper, "Do you know where she's buried, Cat I mean?"

"I do. I buried her, and the others." Tears filled Gwyn's beautiful eyes, so full of mirth not one minute ago, "Once you get home can you come with me to visit her?"

"Of course," Azriel hadn't realized he was moving until Gwyn had her arms around his neck, her face buried in his chest,

"I wish she could have met you, she'd have loved it here, she was always the brave one, the one who always dragged me into trouble. We snuck out one night, one of the others could winnow, and, we didn't go far, just to a nearby town, a bar, she taught me to play cards that night, and held my hair back the next morning while I was throwing up." She lifted her head and smiled, "She'd wipe to floor with Cass at cards, and I'd love to see his face afterwards, but, I just have so much to tell her."

"We can go any time you want to, just tell me, and anything else can wait."

"Not now, I want to know that you're safe first, and that we're not about to be attacked, but later, when you have time,"

"I will always have time for you," he promised, "Always, you don't even have to ask, my time is yours, I am yours," Gwyn offered him another smile before lifting herself onto her tiptoes to brush her lips against his,

"Just come back to me, okay?"

"I'll be back before you know it."

Gwyn had underestimated how difficult it would be to watch Azriel fly away, but Cassian's words before he'd followed had found their way to her heart, soothing the mind-numbing fear that had started to take hold,

I'll look after him, Gwyn, with my sword and my life, I promise.

Gwyn had nodded, and hugged him again, and after making him promise to look after himself as well, she'd stayed on the House's balcony until they were both long gone, the sound of wingbeats having faded into nothingness. Only the wind remained beside her, whispering in her ears as it passed. Even Nesta hadn't stayed to watch her mate fly away, not wanting to see him leave, but Gwyn couldn't bring herself to leave. She leaned against the railing, the wind whipping more fiercely around her face, tearing her hair free from the braid she'd tied it into that morning. She'd expected one last quiet day, a morning to train with her friends, to go out for lunch, one last day to pretend that the world wasn't threatening to crumble around her.

She could have been standing there for five minutes or five hours before a sense of purpose instilled itself in her, the wind steadying in answer to the quiet hum of power that responded to her thoughts. That power, born of some line that she didn't know, resembling the sun's very rays, the thrum of the wind ebbed and flowed with the rumble of power, moving in question and answer, as if it recognized it. But that was ridiculous, she'd only ever been able to summon light, and not much of it, like lighting a candle, and it had always been unreliable, apt to disappear when her emotions ran high, but here it was, all but begging for some sort of escape. She glanced once more in the direction Azriel had flown, and turned away, the wind whispering her name as she left it behind, she had more important things to worry about.

She didn't bother going to the end of training, there wasn't time for any meaningful improvement, but she did pop her head in to make sure Nesta and Emerie knew she was still planning to go for lunch. She'd only meant to be a few moments, but she hesitated as she caught sight of Rhys, sweat dripping down his brow as he forced himself through what must have been just another exercise in a long routine. Gwyn narrowed her eyes, and frowned when he dropped to start on push-ups.

"That'll do." She ordered, a hand on Rhys' shoulder, her grip firm enough to stop him from shrugging her off, "Take a break, Rhys."

"I'm fine."

"I didn't ask if you were fine, I told you to take a break." She snapped, "There's no point in resting for a few days and having the best healers in the Night Court if you're going to undo their work in a few hours,"

"I know my limits, Gwyn, it's fine."

"No, it's not, if you were on a battlefield I know I'd prefer to fight you than anyone else right now, you know why?" She didn't give him any time to answer, "You're swaying on your feet, your balance is off, you can hardly get any air in your lungs, you're literally shaking, you're blinking too often. I don't care if you think you should be able to do more, you need to stop." Rhys blinked in surprise, not accustomed to being given orders, for that was what it was, an order, "You're going to go and get a drink and then cool down, slowly, okay?" He sighed in resignation, as if realizing the truth in her words, he really did look a mess, like he might collapse any minute, "Just take it easy," Gwyn added, "There's no point in killing yourself right away, and don't think you'll get away with overdoing it just because Az and Cass aren't here. You might have hidden it from them," she added, gesturing to Emerie and Nesta, "But don't try that bullshit on me," she frowned when he let out a short bark of laughter, "What?"

"I don't think I've ever heard you curse," he chuckled, "Cassian's a bad influence, Gwyn,"

"Maybe I learned it from Az, or you, or Nesta let's be honest," Nesta shot Gwyn an annoyed glance from across the room, but shrugged, even she had to admit that she had the filthiest mouth of all of them. "Water." Gwyn ordered, "Now." Rhys rolled his eyes but obeyed, and Gwyn grinned to herself, asking Emerie to make sure he didn't try to keep going, she would have asked Nesta too, but with Rhys that was an explosion waiting to happen, they might have accepted their differences, and similarities perhaps more importantly, but asking her to keep an eye on him would likely be a step too far, no matter the way she'd been almost frantic when she'd found out he was injured. Still, her false indifference when he'd first shown possibly hadn't helped, although if he'd been paying attention he would have noticed the loosening of her shoulders, the easing of her breathing upon seeing him, but why would he notice what he'd never expect? It wasn't a secret that people saw what they expected to, but Gwyn had noticed, silently observing Nesta's worry for the male that she'd silently accepted a brother, even if she wouldn't admit it, not yet.

Gwyn's mind was still wandering when she found her way to Azriel's office, earning a raised eyebrow from Maddy, the female grinning from her perch atop Azriel's, thankfully, empty desk. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, hues of red and amber blended into the natural chestnut, flames, it almost appeared that flames danced around her head, across her shoulders. She grinned, crossing her legs and leaned forwards,

"Long time no see, priestess," Gwyn returned the grin,

"It's good to see you, Maddy, although the circumstances could be better,"

"You can say that again," Maddy groaned, "You have no idea how difficult it was to convince my wife to let me go, she's convinced I'll throw myself into danger."

"Won't you?"

"That's not the point,"

"She worries, as anyone who loves you would. It's not easy to allow someone you love to put themselves at risk, you know that."

"I do," Maddy tilted her head to the side, leveling an assessing stare at Gwyn, "Speaking of, you doing okay?"

"Fine, he'll be back in a day, it's fine, I'm just going to keep busy and not dwell on it too much." Maddy scoffed, not convinced, but didn't push the matter, complaining profusely when Gwyn pushed her off the desk to find the most recent reports from several of Azriel's spies about the size of the rebel army, the numbers of humans and Illyrians, their supply chains and weaponry. They'd failed to steal any battle plans or correspondence so far, but there was time for that later.

It was worse than she'd dreaded, an army of almost seventy thousand, granted fifty thousand were human, but she was fairly sure that the rebel Illyrians were skilled and dangerous, twenty thousand was beyond their highest estimates, and fifty thousand humans, with the access to faebane and Cauldron knew what else, they could be a problem. Gwyn made a mental note to find the records of all the Illyrians that had disappeared, as far as she'd been aware, it had been twelve thousand, but there had been individuals here and there afterwards, but so many, they'd been caught napping. Maddy wordlessly handed her another report, pointing to the first line with a grin,

The humans distrust the Illyrians, their commanders will not speak to them without one of the Queen's direct orders or presence.

"The Queens travel with the army?"

"It appears so,"

"Good, that's good," Gwyn trailed off as her mind started once again to race, considering each way that they could break down this alliance, kill one or all of the Queens. If they were gone, the humans would likely retreat, assuming this report could be trusted. "Do we have anything to corroborate the distrust between them?" Maddy pursed her lips,

"No, but there are more reports due today, hopefully those will hold something useful, but you're right, we can't risk acting on one report, although," she added with a smile, "It's Jason, and I've never known him to get anything wrong, or to get caught, there is always a first time for everything, but we can hope." Hope, that was the key wasn't it? The one thing that could turn the tide of war, hope, or the lack thereof was perhaps the single most important thing, not the armies, rulers, weapons, it was the hope of the soldiers, of the people that would win or lose this war. Still, every report that mentioned it agreed that the rebels, while well equipped, did not have the high quality weaponry or armor that was taken for granted in the Night Court, they'd be more cautious as a result, hopefully.

Gwyn moved Jason's report to the 'ask Azriel' pile, hoping that there was something she'd overlooked in her inexperience, and that Maddy had simply missed. There had to be, she would consider no other option. Azriel would be able to find something, one word that would give them an advantage, from the grin on Maddy's face as she'd passed the report, Jason must be good, she trusted him, if it were accurate, and it had to be, they had a way in.

"Any luck?" A voice from the doorway drew Gwyn's attention, and she looked up to see Morrigan standing in the doorway, a hand braced on the doorframe, "Want a hand?"

"I need to speak to Az, but you couldn't go and find Cass' review of the Illyrian legion and the report on the Darkbringers you father sent, could you?" Morrigan nodded, offering a wide smile,

"You need a break, Gwyn, take five,"

"I'm fine, Morrigan, just tired,"

"Just Mor, none of my friends call me Morrigan, that's only when I'm trying to either impress or intimidate someone, although I wouldn't think you'd be so easily impressed, takes more than a few battle honors doesn't it?" Gwyn snickered,

"Just a bit more," she laughed, "Why don't you get Emerie to help you," she gestured to the Illyrian female as she appeared behind Mor, her eyes widening at Gwyn's suggestion. Gwyn smiled to herself at the pink flush that filled her friend's cheeks when Mor turned around to see her, but she followed after shooting Gwyn a look that promised retaliation.

"Matchmaking, huh?" Maddy laughed, "I see it, they'd be lovely together,"

"They work well too, and I've seen the looks they shoot each other, I'd be a fool not to, they might think we haven't noticed, but I have." She turned back to the desk, hands braced on her hips, lips pursed as she ran her gaze across the papers spread across it, waiting for instinct take over, for something to jump out at her. She was so distracted that she didn't notice when someone did jump out a her, although Nesta's light prod in the back could hardly be called an ambush attack, Gwyn almost leapt out of her skin, silencing her yelp before it sounded, and turned to glare at her friend. Nesta chuckled to herself, but when Gwyn turned back to stare at the desk her eyes landed on a series of reports, different writing, similar dates, different locations

Birthright.

Next time.

Camp Lord.

Shadowsinger

She mentally located each of the reports on a map, a circle, they formed a rough circle around the place she had hoped not to return to. With this, she may have to, perhaps there was something they hadn't noticed in their haste to get had a lead, not much, but maybe she could find something about the rebels' long-term plan, their battle strategy. They thought must have played across her face because Maddy raised an eyebrow, and Nesta stilled beside her,

"You have an idea?" Nesta breathed,

"Not an idea per say, more a possible source of intel,"

"What?"

"Not what," she corrected, "Who. You met him a while ago, and he might just be able to tell us how to break the rebellion into a thousand pieces. Perhaps some time in the Hewn City has loosened his tongue."

"Really? Who?"

"Azzy's brother."