Edited on August 17, 2014. I'm currently working through this story and making slight adjustments to the story in order to fix certain inaccuracies that started popping up later in the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Black Jewels world. Anne Bishop holds all rights.

BJT:ANW

Last time: "But it does matter, Arina," Rose said quietly. "It really hurts you, and if that is in your past, how can you really expect to just…forget about it? You have to work through it before you can forget about it, and only then will you really 'move on'. And it will hurt. A lot."

BJT:ANW

Chapter 6

Rose knocked on the door to her mother's bedroom a few hours after the girls had disbanded from Arina's room. A few moments later, she heard murmurs, and then her father opened the door and smiled at her. "I can see that I won't be wanted," Daemon said dryly, noticing Rose's hopeful look over his shoulder at Jaenelle, "So I'll see you two later," he finished, giving Rose a quick hug and then walking off down the corridor cheerfully.

"Thanks, Daddy," Rose called after him, then slipped into her mother's room and closed the door behind her.

"Rose, what is it?" Jaenelle asked, concerned.

"It's Arina, Mama. We—the girls and I—were talking to her, and she's told us a little bit about her past, but not much. But we think that mostly it's the boyos that are making her nervous, with all the attention that they're giving her. Until she works through her past, and moves on from it, all the very single minded attention that the boyos—especially Lucian—is really freaking her out, despite her attempts to hide it. We—the girls and I—were thinking that we could go somewhere, kept secret, with Aunt Surreal, maybe, and work things out. What do you think?" she had said all of that very quickly, and only looked at her mother at the end.

"Why are you so nervous, dear?" Jaenelle asked, patting the bed beside her and waiting until Rose sat down next to her. "I understand how the girl is feeling, to an extent. But surely she understands that we will stand by her—Lorn did tell her that, he told me."

"Yes, he told her that, and I think that part of her, intellectually, understands that. But…she never had anyone love her. Ever. Not even when she was a child, an infant, did her parents really care for her. They just shipped her off to other people that they paid to watch her. She never had any friends, no caring family. Nothing. I know that you had a hard childhood, but you also had the coven, and Grandpapa Saetan, but she never had anything even remotely like that. So most of her, both mentally, intellectually, and emotionally, doesn't believe that we really will be there for her. I'm fairly sure that she thinks that when things get difficult, or we find out more about her, that we'll turn away from her. With her experiences, she just cannot understand the way we live. And that and…the attention that the boys were giving her really is freaking her out. She just isn't comfortable with the level of focus that they are giving her, and Lucian is making her particularly nervous. Which is why I'm nervous, actually, because if we actually do manage to get away, Lucian is going to be really angry."

Jaenelle blinked, slowly working through the information that her daughter had just unloaded in one burst. "Let me see if I have this right," she said finally. "Arina had no friends, no one to even remotely care for her in her entire life. I had a painful childhood, but I still had very good friends, plus Papa. She had none of that, so even though she has been told that we will always stand by her and that the boyos will be very protective and caring of her, she doesn't quite believe it, and thinks that we will all disappear or something. Right?"

"Pretty much."

"And so you want to go somewhere with the girls, who will most likely relate to her the best, because you are all the same age, and all girls. Without any boys, including your brother who has laid a claim on her and Arina being the only one to even remotely keep a handle on him."

"Exactly that."

"Oh, dear."

"Very much so."

"All right, you're probably right—that is probably the best plan. We really do need her to be as settled as possible, as quickly as possible. So, where do you think would be best for you all to go?" Jaenelle asked thoughtfully, leaning back on the bed. "Somewhere the boyos can't get to you, certainly. So that means a closed territory, or at least one where no one in their right mind would go without permission…"

"Arachna? It definitely would be safe, and not even Lucian would try to get in without permission. Besides, they could also teach her to deal with a lot of her power, too, seeing as she's a Black Widow. They'd teach her just as well as you could. But would they allow it?"

"I'll go talk to the queen right now," Jaenelle decided. "That way we can arrange this quickly, and send you girls off by tomorrow, hopefully. Hmm…I know that the coven will be disappointed, they were hoping to talk to Arina more, but I know that they will agree that this is more important than just spending time with her. Yes, this could well work. I'll head over to Arachna, and then talk to the coven. We'll have everything worked out. It would probably help if you could find some way to get Arina to spend time with the boyos today, dear…"

"Yes, mother," Rose said, laughing slightly. "Of course. Thank you," she added softly, hugging her mother tightly.

"Run along, dear, I need to talk to Daemon now," Jaenelle said with a smile, shooing Rose out of the room. As the teen girl hurried down the corridor to where Arina's room is, she glanced over her shoulder in time to see her father slipping back into the room. Rose grinned, then turned the corner, hurried up the next couple of hallways until she was able to knock on the door of Arina's room.

Titian opened the door, knife in hand, and hurried Rose in. "The boyos are getting restless," she said darkly. "Jasper's been pestering me about Arina, as most of ours have been. We need to do something, but…"

Both girls looked at Arina who was staring blankly at a book of Protocol in her hands. "Right," Rose said dryly. "Understood."

*Rose!* Yaslana called, sounding exhausted. *Lucian is going nuts! Is there anything that Arina can do? PLEASE?*

"Hey, Arina, do you want to go outside and do something?" Rose asked brightly.

"Not…really…"

"Arina." Rose stood in front of the girl and waited until she had her attention, all of the others turning to look at her expectantly as well. "My mother is arranging for us to hopefully go to Arachna, where the boys won't be allowed, and we can take time to get you used to this world. But, if we do this, we—you—will need to spend some time with the boyos, so that when we go, they won't go berserk. So, I'll ask again. Do you want to go and do anything?"

"I don't really have a choice about this, do I?" Arina said quietly.

"Of course you do," Rose denied. "It's just that no other option will end well. So, what do you think?"

"I guess. Well, maybe. But I don't know what to do!" Arina wailed. "And they wouldn't leave me alone, because…my…moontime? Started today."

"Oh, dear," Augustine murmured.

"That's for sure," Titian agreed.

*Rose!*

*Shut up, Yaslana, I'm working on it,* Rose snapped at her brother.

*Thank the Darkness!* Yaslana sent back, before breaking the link. Rose growled to herself.

"We can go for a ride though," Arina said finally. "I'll be comfortable there, at least."

"Excellent!" Rose said quickly, grabbing her hand and pulling Arina out of the room before she could change her mind, Rillian on one side and Titian on the other. As a group, the girls moved down the hallways in the direction of the stables.

*Yaslana,* Rose called.

*Yes?*

*We're heading for the stables, so if you want to come riding with us, you better get over here. And please don't come at us screaming and scare Arina.*

*Right!* Yaslana sounded completely delighted, and broke the link, no doubt so that he could tell all the other males.

Great, Rose thought to herself. I don't know if they are going to be delighted, or furious that she's going to be riding!

Then the group had made it out of the main keep and into the adjoining stables. Arina immediately relaxed, and smiled freely. The change in her, as she entered an area that she considered to be 'safe' was nothing short of astounding—she had gone from shy and terrified to calm and, surprisingly, confident.

Not a moment too soon. Almost seconds later, the first of the boys arrived in the stables, and things suddenly got very, very crowded.

"Arina!" Yaslana called, weaving his way between the girls to get to her.

The girl in question pressed her face into Pewter Star's neck, and took a deep, calming breath. "Hello, Yaslana," she said finally, before resuming tacking up Star.

"What are you doing?" Dmitri asked, coming up on her other side.

Rillian came up behind them and laughed. Arina grinned back at Rillian in response. "I'm tacking up Star, what else?" she said dryly.

"But—"

"But nothing! I can ride! I! Am! Not! Helpless!" both boys took a quick step away from Arina, eyes wide.

"Um, right, ok, sure thing…"

Lucian came up to them, and steadily looked at Arina. She sent him a narrowed eyed look, silently defying him to make a protest of her activities. From the look on his face, if he thought that he could have gotten away with it, he would have protested. However, he did not have any illusions that he would get away with it, and he was also trying, to the best of his abilities, to behave enough for him to be able to spend time with her, without her trying to avoid him. The path of least resistance. Be nice to her.

"So, where are you planning on riding?" he asked after a pause. She smiled brilliantly.

"I was thinking that we could go to that town over there, Riada, I think, and explore it."

"All right," Lucian agreed slowly. It wasn't the best thing that she could have chosen, like being out in the open where no one else would see her, but maybe she would get used to them more quickly if she was meeting more people from this world.

Augustine snickered as she hurried past the large group congregating in the middle of the stable. "Aren't you lot going to get horses? Or were you planning on walking?" she asked them. Dmitri and Yaslana promptly hurried over to their own horses' stalls, trying to get ready in time to leave and not get left behind.

It only took a few minutes for everyone in the group to get a horse saddled and meet outside the stables, in the main courtyard. There were several members of the first Dark Court gathered as well, watching their children mill around, every single one of them keeping a sharp eye on Arina, who was waiting patiently in the middle of the courtyard, stroking Star's neck absently. She only straightened up when Augustine came into the courtyard, as she was the last of the youths to be going out with Arina.

"Finally," Arina muttered, casting a quick glance around in a head count. Satisfied that everyone was there, she gently kneed Star towards the exit to the grounds. Yaslana and Lucian quickly caught up to ride on either side of her, and she sighed softly, feeling smothered.

Rose quickly caught up with the threesome and cut in front of them. "Darlings, you two might know Arina, because you were the ones who went to get her, but the other boyos don't know her, and she doesn't know them. Introductions, if you will." Both males glared at her, but she just smirked back at them, and turned to Arina.

"Right, so you already know my brothers, Yaslana and Lucian, naturally. And of course, Daemonar," she added grudgingly when the male in question pointedly cleared his throat. "So, moving onto the ones that you don't know. That guy over there, that's Andulvar," Rose continued, pointing to a smaller version of Daemonar, but with sharper features. "He's Daemonar's brother, obviously. Then there's Jasper," she gestured to a tall, black haired green-eyed boy with pointed ears, who grinned at Arina "He's Titian's twin brother. Then Morton, and Leon, they are Emerald's older and younger brothers, respectively," pointing to a pair of red haired boys, the older one with brilliant blue eyes. Then Rose swept her hand in the direction of Lauranna, and a tall boy with the same white blonde hair, light blue eyes and pointed ears, who nodded to Arina with a faint smile, "And Farostel is Lauranna's older brother; Dmitri is Augustine's younger brother, and then finally, Jonathan is Alexandra's brother." Rose took a deep breath, after pointing out the slender, dark haired grey eyed boy who had barged into Arina's room when she had fallen, Dmitri, and then the tall, blonde boy who was almost an exact duplicate of his sister, only male. "And that's it. Well, there are the kindred, of course, but you won't meet them until later."

Arina blinked, several times, and then shook her head to clear it. "All right, I think I have it. It'll probably take me a while to be able to remember names, and match them with faces…" Arina scanned the diverse gathering of teens, and sighed to herself. "It's definitely going to take awhile."

"Ah, well, nothing is perfect," Rose said, and grinned.

Arina's lips twitched upwards in response. "That's for sure," she agreed. "So, where exactly are we going?"

"You mean you dragged us out here and you don't even know what you're doing?" Yaslana said, obviously amused.

"Well, duh," Arina said loftily. "What did you expect? It's not like I've ever been here before, genius,"

Yaslana scowled at her. A couple of the girls giggled at the look on his face, making him turn his scowl on them. Arina and Rose exchanged looks, rolling their eyes simultaneously. The huge group of teenagers slowly broke up, separating into smaller groups that none the less remained in a rough circle around Arina. The girl in question was looking more relaxed than anyone had seen her in this world so far, grinning with Rose, while the latter's brothers stuck very close to Arina's side.

Farostel, Dmitri, and Leon came up beside Arina and the SaDiablo boys after a few minutes of silent, peaceful riding, all three of them smirking in obvious anticipation. Lucian shot them a dark look, which they ignored.

"So, Arina," Dmitri said, grinning wickedly, "How do you feel about a race?"

"Excuse me?" Arina turned in her saddle and stared at the three boys. "A race? Now?"

"Sure. Let's see what you're made of," Leon agreed. "It'll be fun," he coaxed. "We'll even let you win." And this way, you won't be so nervous around us…hopefully, he added silently to himself.

"Let me win? How about the other way around," Arina said scornfully. "I'm a very good rider. I doubt that you could keep up with me,"

"Is that a challenge?" Farostel asked, leaning forwards.

She raised an eyebrow back at him. "Is it?" she said, starting to smile. "Well, just perhaps."

Farostel sat back up and looked around thoughtfully. "There," he said after a pause. He pointed to the tree line, maybe about 1000 feet away. "To the trees."

Arina, Leon, and Dmitri all looked at the woods speculatively, and Arina pulled to a stop. Everyone else stopped as well, and looked at her curiously. "Alright," she told them all. "The four of us," she told the others, gesturing between herself and the three boys, "Are going to race to the forest. I think everyone else should get there first, so you can judge."

The others all looked at her, then at the forest. Most of the girls started grinning.

"You really think you can beat them?" Lauranna asked seriously. "Because I hate to say it, but my brother really is good."

Arina smiled. "I'm better."

"Well, if you're sure…no matter what the result—this is definitely going to be interesting." Rillian said, smirking. "Want Lillian, Daemonar and me to fly over head?"

"Sure," Arina said. Then she turned to look at Yaslana and Lucian. "That means that both of you will be at the tree line, right?" she added pointedly. Both boys paused, but the look on her face prompted them both to nod, if reluctantly. "Shoo," Arina said brightly. "We need to start."

Emerald and Titian laughed, and then turned their horses and thundered away. All the others followed, with Lucian and Yaslana last, taking the horses of the three fliers.

Arina, Farostel, Leon and Dmitri remained in place, carefully examining the field between themselves and the trees, finding all the bumps and hallows that could cause the horses problems. Each of the four traced their own routes, and then started to size each other up.

Arina quickly decided that Farostel would likely be her worst competition, being an elf of some sort…Dea al Mon, that is. But Leon was also apparently pretty much descended from horse-lovers and had been riding since before he could walk. She wasn't very certain about Dmitri and his skills, so he could be trouble as well. The girl grinned. This was going to be so much fun, she mused to herself, returning her attention to her trail. It would be bumpy, but she had every confidence in herself and in Star, so wasn't worried about injury. She was much more concerned with winning—after her boasts, it would be way too embarrassing to lose.

*Everyone is at the tree line, guys,* Daemonar sent, swooping by overhead. Arina shaded her eyes to look up at him. *Ready to start?*

Arina looked at her companions. "Well?" she asked, her eyes glinting wickedly. "Ready to go?"

"Bring it on," Dmitri drawled, smirking at her.

The four of them lined up together, facing the forest, and waiting for Daemonar to give the signal to start. A second passed, then two, and then…

"Go!"

And the four teens shot forwards simultaneously.

Farostel immediately pulled into the lead by a head, only to be caught by Leon within a minute. Dmitri swung around Farostel and ran on his other side, trying to get in front.

Arina, now slightly behind, bent down and whispered something Star's ear. "Come on, girl, I will not be beaten by the boys," she murmured. "Let's run,"

Star threw back her head, and then thundered forward, then around the other three boys. Star and Arina were going a bit more distance than the others, but they had more space, so more maneuverability. Slowly, they pulled up until they were level with Farostel, then Leon. Dmitri, irritated at being at the back, shot forward to match Farostel, who growled at him.

They were getting close now. Daemonar swooped down lower over the riders, with Andulvar spiraling just above him. Rillian was hovering over the tree line, smirking.

"Come on, Star," Arina muttered, leaning even further down against the horse's neck. "We can do this!" They were only seconds away from the trees now, the boys almost continually switching leads.

Then the four of them swept past the first trees, and instantly began to circle, slowing down. The other teens came over from where they had been watching excitedly, all of them talking at once. The Eyriens landed next to Arina, all three of them grinning. Lucian and Yaslana came up to their cousins, bringing back their horses.

"Well?" Arina demanded, glaring at Daemonar. "Who won?"

"You did," Rillian said wickedly. "By a split second. Then Farostel and Leon tied behind you. Sorry, Dmitri, you lost."

Dmitri groaned.

"It was really close," Andulvar offered, grinning. "But Arina won."

The girl in question smirked. "Ha," she crowed. "Take that!"

The other girls laughed.

"You did say that you were good," Farostel admitted, "But I didn't think that you were that good." He groaned. "We're never going to live this down, are we?"

"Eventually, my dear, eventually," Arina purred. "Maybe."

"Aren't we supposed to be going to Riada?" Emerald asked, grinning. "You know, sometime this month?"

"Oh, shush, that was fun," Arina said lightly.

"Only because you won," Leon pointed out.

The group turned in the direction of the village, still talking about the race.

"That's not quite true," Arina disagreed, glancing at Leon. "Oh, sure, I'm happy I won, so that does help in my enjoyment," she said loftily, "but I've lost races too, and I've enjoyed those. I think it's just the thrill of the challenge, for me. I love it."

"Huh."

There was a moment of quiet, all the teens lost in their own thoughts, moving at a lazy walk in a loose circle.

"Look," Lucian said, flicking a glance at Arina. "There's Riada." The young queen put on a burst of speed, and broke out of the trees, onto a hill overlooking the town. Even from there, the teens were able to see people moving around in the area, and Arina smiled, then headed down the hill.

It was time to extend her knowledge of this world and its people. Being around others outside the mountain Keep would be a better way of getting a grip on the truth of this world. She sighed nervously as they approached the town, and instantly several of the males attention was on her.

"Are you all right?" Yaslana demanded. "That race was a bad idea. With your moontime, you shouldn't be exerting yourself, you should be resting! Maybe we should go back—"

"And maybe you should shut up before I hurt you. Badly. I am fine. You forget that in my world, moontimes were uncomfortable, yes, but females went about their business as usual. There is nothing unusual to me about riding during my…moontime. I'm just nervous." Arina took a deep breath. "I'm not used to meeting a lot of people at the same time," she admitted. "But I need to do this."

Several of the boys exchanged dark looks. They would clearly much prefer for her to return to the Keep. Arina lifted her chin. She knew that she needed to do this, and she would. But…she quickly remembered what Rose had said about spending some time with the boys before they left. "But I won't stay long," she compromised. "Just a quick look in some of the shops, to see what there is, alright?"

The look of relief on the males faces would have been funny, if the exact same look hadn't appeared on most of the girls faces, other than Rose, who just raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

*That was a good idea,* Rose told her. There was a slight pause, then, *Mama's made the arrangements for us to go to Arachna. It's really unusual, but since you are the next Witch, and Mama asked, we can stay for a week. Then we are going to another territory… I think maybe Glacia, but I'm not sure. How are we going to tell the boyos?*

*I'll tell them after we leave the town. I think this needs to be handled…carefully.*

*You are the best one to tell them,* Rose agreed nervously.

The group of youths entered the town then, and Arina lost her concentration as she looked around constantly, trying to take everything in. The males pressed in around her, doing everything they could to protect her and not make it obvious.

The subtle roll of eyes indicated that they were not altogether successful with the 'not obvious' part. Still, Arina didn't protest, which the males considered to be a victory.

At this point, they'd take what they could get. She was incredibly difficult. Arina turned and smiled sweetly at Yaslana and Lucien, who simply exchanged looks—and sighed.

Actually, the time that they spent in the town wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it would be. Arina didn't protest when the boys stayed very close to her, even if the look on her face clearly indicated that she wanted to. It was a little difficult to understand the differences between her world and theirs in order to act appropriately, but they seemed to be getting better.

After drifting through several stores, including two clothes stores, a store that sold papers and writing supplies, as well as checking out some others as well. The teens only spent about an hour in the town total, before Arina finally walked out of the last store and looked around.

"I think I'm done here," she said finally.

"Thank the Darkness," Yaslana groaned. "Can we leave, then?"

"I have things for a picnic lunch," Rose offered.

There was a chorus of agreement, as everyone thought that this was a wonderful idea.

"All right then," Arina said when everyone looked at her expectantly. "Picnic lunch it is. Lead on."

BJT:ANW

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