Edited on July 10, 2015. 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.

I own nothing of the Black Jewels Trilogy or any following novels. All rights go to Anne Bishop. Thanks for reading!

BJT:ANW

Chapter 14

No amount of begging or pleading changed Arina's mind in the next few hours. Eventually the boys stopped trying, realizing that it was futile, and started to catch up with their homework and lessons that they hadn't been paying attention to before. The girls had lessons as well, though most of them were just drawing instead, as they weren't behind.

Arina, on the other hand, sorted.

In the course of her pre-Realms shopping spree, she had collected no less than 33 bags of clothes, 9 bags of books, and 6 bags of miscellaneous stuff. And that was only counting the things that she had gotten on her last day on Earth, when she had thrown caution to the winds and gone shopping. So there were also her three suitcases from her room that she would have to sort through, though there were very little clothes in there—mostly books and figurines.

It took quite some time to go through, naturally. Arina had spread out the bags to line up around the edge of the bed, scooting forward so that her head and arms were hanging over the ground, but still leaving her wings on the bed, so that she had access to the contents of the bags. Jaenelle had sent up a storage box to put things in to send to the Keep, and by going through the first two bags, she had already set four sweaters and three jeans in it. By the time the four hour mark rolled around, there were 9 pairs of jeans in different shades and styles, black pants, formal dresses, dress suits, 21 sweaters, and even more long sleeved shirts, and about a dozen sweatshirts in the storage box, and that was really only the cold weather clothing.

"Mercy," Arina groaned. There were so many more clothes for warm weather, because the town that she had lived in on Earth had long summers and short winters with warm springs and falls. Which was good, seeing as she would now be living in a jungle, and as such wouldn't need long pants and sweaters. But sorting everything out had been absolutely terrible, and she hated it. The fact that it had taken four hours hardly helped her disposition.

"Relax," Rose counseled. "Look on the bright side: at least you're completely done now." The girl slammed the lid down on the storage box with a crash before floating the massive container out of the room to be picked up.

"Only with the clothing," Jasper murmured gleefully, watching Arina twitch. By the end of that session, everyone was taking more enjoyment from Arina's facial expressions and obvious suffering than they probably should have, but they were still unhappy with her.

"I am never doing that again," Arina declared. "I'm not packing to go on trips, I am never going to move, nothing. I won't go through this pain anymore." She dropped her head into her arms with a sigh, her hair pooling in the small space formed by her position. Lucien brushed his fingers over her braid, only for her to growl slightly. "Leave it," she muttered.

"Sure you will," Titian said cheerfully, getting to her feet and stretching as she smiled brightly at the pair on the bed.

"No."

"Ah, well. That's what you'll have staff for, in the end," Alexandra teased. Arina snorted in reluctant amusement. She wasn't entirely sure with the whole staff thing, and being taken care of by someone else, rather than taking care of herself. It was so different from the way that she had been living her entire life.

A quick knock on the door preceded Karla into the room and she walked carefully over to Arina's bed. Lucien sat up and shifted out of the way so that the older woman could reach the girl, who sighed.

"I hate being injured," she grumbled.

"Don't we all," Karla sympathized. Rillian giggled slightly off to the side, and Arina's lips twitched as well. The checkup went quickly, and Karla kept the orders the same as Jaenelle's, proving that nothing had changed in the last few hours. Arina was still supposed to stay in bed, and wasn't allowed to get up and sit in a chair until tomorrow morning when one of the three Healers would check her again. "You're recovering quickly," Karla noted.

"Jaenelle said that I could be walking around on Thursday afternoon," Arina told her. She stretched her legs out behind her, pointing her toes with a slight wince that didn't go unnoticed.

"Well, we'll see," Karla said, giving Arina a speculative look. "If you keep up with the stretches you've obviously been doing, then you might be walking sooner. Over do it, though, and it will be later," Karla warned. "Be careful, child."

"Oh, I will," Arina assured her. She had absolutely no intention of spending more time in bed, so she was spacing out her stretches and going between the different body parts rather than focusing on only one limb.

"Good," Karla replied, climbing to her feet and strolling back to the door calmly. She paused before leaving the room, turning back to fix Arina with a sharp stare. "Have you told them about the house you bought yet?" she asked shrewdly.

A round of grumbles went around the room, and Karla raised an eyebrow in silent amusement at the answer. Shaking her head, the woman slipped out the door, closing it with a quiet click behind her.

"Tell me again why you won't let us move in with you," Leon pressed after Karla left. The male was staring intently at Arina, obviously frustrated. Arina sighed quietly, closing her eyes.

"There are lots of reasons," she said eventually. "You all have families and commitments to your own Territories, and until you officially enter into a Court," she nodded to the males in the room, "Or make you Offering to the Darkness, then you aren't exactly free to move in with me. We need to finish growing and maturing, and the best way to do that is to still live separately so that later we don't get on each other's nerves right away. We can still spend time together, and you can stay at the Manor sometimes, but you can't move in permanently. Besides, until I make my Offering and form my court, I'll be apprenticing to one of the Hayllian Queens. I won't even be at the Manor, so there is no point in everyone moving in anyway. So it makes more sense that you spend this time with your families, before you move away for good."

"And what about you?" Farostel demanded. "Are you just going to work all of the time? Go back to stay in an empty house when we aren't there? I don't think so," he growled.

Arina snapped at him in irritation. "It's not like that," she snarled.

"Oh, then what is it going to be like?" Yaslana jumped in.

"Different," Arina snapped, frustrated. "It's not like I can't or won't come visit the Hall—I do like it here, I just don't want to live here. Get it through your heads—I'm not leaving you behind or forgetting about you! I don't know how to make that any clearer than it already is!"

"Hey, you're claws vanished," Dmitri said suddenly, staring down at Arina's hands. She blinked, startled, and followed his eyes. Sure enough, her hands looked perfectly normal and human, without the wickedly sharp nails. Fascinated, Arina turned her hands over, examining both sides.

"Well," Rose drawled, eyes intent, "that's intriguing."

BJT:ANW

According to Jaenelle, Arina's claws had vanished because she had accepted them as part of her body and acclimated to having them. They weren't gone, just no longer visible. Jaenelle theorized that eventually all of the changes that had happened to Arina's body would disappear and leave her as a normal, completely human teenager with no visible differences, just like Jaenelle normally looked completely normal with none of her Dream visible. Arina would still be able to call forth the Dream within the Flesh at will, just like she could now flex her claws when she wanted to, but the changes would not be obvious.

Taking another bath that night, Arina stared at her reflection in the huge mirror, conflicted. Part of her was eager to return to being a normal looking teenager, but a small part of her was insisting that she wanted to keep the changes. She was so powerful, so strong now, and Arina was afraid that if she returned to being normal then she wouldn't be as much of Witch as she was now. Looking down, Arina flexed her fingers and watched as claws emerged seamlessly from her skin.

Did she want to lose what made her special?

BIT:ANW

The group brought a bunch of tables into Arina's bedroom so that they could keep up with their classwork while at the same time keeping the young Queen company while she was on forced bed rest. When Arina wasn't sorting through her many bags of random stuff, she was working her way through Jared's Journal, which Lucien had lent her. The book was a surprisingly accurate look at the recent history of Terreille, especially with the notes that Daemon had added on extra pages that he slipped into the copy that she had been given.

Along with the Journal, Arina had a thick stack of books on the history of Kaeleer sitting on her bedside table. One of those books was written by Jaenelle, and it was Arina's favorite. It was the best and most accurate history of the Realm, because it included every single Territory, even the closed and the Kindred Territories. And all of the books had been gifted to Arina, not lent, so she could take notes in the margins. She had already taken the map of Terreille and scrawled "Nazi Germany" over the Hayll in that Realm, to everyone's confusion.

The Queen alternated between books, trying to keep from getting too bored and losing focus completely, but it wasn't easy. The hum of nineteen voices in the large room was a soothing noise that tended to lure Arina towards sleep, and several times she caught herself nodding off several times over the past two days. Of course, the Webs and the fact that her body was repairing itself rapidly were both good reasons for why she was so tired all the time.

On Thursday morning, Arina finished the last page of Jared's Journal and closed it softly, looking thoughtful.

"What do you think?" Lucien asked. He was laying on the bed beside her like usual, and had been reading his own book before he realized that she had finished. Arina hummed softly as she leaned against him.

"It was interesting," she said after a moment. "I'm glad that Jared got his happy ending with Lia, at least. It seems like such a horrible place." Arina trailed off, thinking about the things she had read about the rule of the High Priestess of Hayll. They were atrocities similar to those from Earth, and wasn't that just sad.

"Yeah, it was awful. Father and Uncle Lucivar don't really like to talk about it, but it's pretty obvious. It's gotten better since Mother's Purge, though." Arina nodded drowsily, thinking about the last set of notes in the Journal about how Jaenelle had set off the great Witchstorm, and the ones detailing the history of the new Territory in Terreille, Shalador Nehele. "I like Lady Cassidy a lot," Lucien mused. "And her Court."

"Mmm…maybe…we can go visit sometime," Arina murmured absently. A moment later, Lucien blinked in surprise when Arina curled into his side, one wing draped comfortably over him, and went to sleep. He smiled a little and brushed her hair away from her face so that he could see it. She always looked so peaceful when she was sleeping.

Arina slept for about three hours, the longest stretch she had ever gone when surrounded by other people. Usually she could only catnap, too wary of being surrounded. The others in the room stayed quiet, but not soundless, and relaxed a little. Astira drifted over after a couple of hours and started playing with Arina's hair, drawing it down and running her fingers through it to separate the more metallic colored strands. She twisted the hair around so that black blended with the bronze and gold strands.

"What are you doing?" Arina mumbled as she woke up, cracking one eye open and looking at Astira in confusion.

"Nothing!" the younger girl chirped brightly. She hastily dropped her handful of hair and it fell all around Arina's shoulders. The Dea al Mon girl blushed softly, and Arina laughed.

"It's all right," Arina drawled, stretching. "You can play with it if you want. I don't care, and you could probably do more with it than I ever could."

Astira beamed at her, and skipped back over to Lauranna just as the door opened and Jaenelle and Gabrielle came in. Arina's eyes lit up in excitement.

Jaenelle smiled at her. "Are you ready to start walking?" she asked.

"You have no idea," Arina said with feeling. Gabrielle laughed.

While Arina napped, the rest of the teens had moved all the tables and chairs that they had brought into the room off to the side so that there was a large open space in the middle of the room for Arina to practice walking in.

"Have you been doing the stretches that you showed Karla?" Jaenelle asked as Arina scooted over to the edge of the bed and sat up, dropping her legs over the side to the floor.

Arina nodded. "It doesn't hurt anymore when I stretch," she added.

"That's a good sign," Gabrielle returned, studying Arina's legs. She was wearing a pair of short black shorts with a bright blue tank top today to complement the warm weather, and the windows were open in her room as well. There was new muscle on Arina's lower legs, and they looked strong. "All right, let's go," Gabrielle said.

Lucien hovered next to Arina as the girl set her arms down to push herself up off the bed. She made a face at him as she slowly rose. "I'm alright," she told him. The Warlord Prince ignored her, because at that moment Arina wobbled slightly and had to grab onto his arm to catch herself and stay on her feet.

"Right," Lucien drawled softly. "I'm sure."

"Humph," Arina muttered, straightening up. Her back muscles had grown stronger over the past two days from the time she had spent sitting up in her bed and letting the muscles work for short periods of time. She had also practiced spreading her wings out when no one was around to yell at her, additionally strengthening her wings and back. Now she automatically adjusted her torso to match how Rillian and Lillian held themselves—shoulders back and posture very straight, and felt her wings almost grow lighter. Apparently posture really was that important.

She started taking wobbly steps forward, Lucien hovering on one side and Gabrielle lurking on the other. Jaenelle stayed at a distance, eyes sharp on the girl. After a few feet, Arina's steps strengthened and grew more sure as she steadied. Arina laughed giddily.

It was only about twenty minutes later when Jaenelle told her to stop. By then, her legs were burning mercilessly, as was her back, so Arina didn't argue too much when the Healer Queen ordered a long hot bath and more sleep.

"We'll practice again tonight before you sleep, and starting tomorrow we'll have a session every couple of hours. I'll talk to Lucivar about helping with your wings," Jaenelle told her. "You did an amazing job, today. I'm proud of you."

Arina beamed tiredly.

BJT:ANW

Jaenelle was as good as her word. On Friday she walked around her room for two hours, with countless breaks in between, of course. By Sunday she was wobbling around the courtyard outside her balcony windows, and she started going through wing strengthening exercises as well. Every night one of the three Healers activated a Web while she slept, helping to strengthen her muscles even more. By the next Friday, she was released from bed rest and could be found either walking or stretching, either in the courtyard or the yard with Janos, or in the stables.

She also spent hours with Lucien, just hanging out and talking together. They were taking things slowly, working through their issues and getting to know each other better.

Farostel was rapidly becoming one of her closest friends as well. He was even easier than Lucien to get along with, simply because the Dea al Mon male had no expectations of her. He was also funny, though quiet, and it wasn't long before she was more comfortable with him than most anyone else.

Lucien no longer liked Farostel very much.

BJT:ANW

"Arina?" The Queen looked up from where she was engaged in a chess match with Yaslana on the floor of the Gathering Room. Lucien was reading on the couch, and Farostel was asleep in a chair. Rose, Lauranna and Augustine, the other three Queens out of the group of teens were huddled over a book off in the corner. Both Lucien and Yaslana were giving them suspicious looks every couple of minutes.

"Yes?" Arina asked Chaosti.

"The Queen of Hayll is here to see you. She has your letter with her."

Arina's eyes widened. She had expected a letter in response to her inquiry, not a visit from the Territory Queen. Hastily, she scrambled to her feet and brushed herself off. "I—I should change," she yelped, looking down at her sweatpants and baggy sweater.

"If you'd like," Chaosti said in amusement.

"Thank you for letting me know," she told him quickly, kissing him on the cheek as she rushed past. The male waved after her lazily, watching his son, who had opened his eyes and was watching him back. Eventually Chaosti nodded and walked back down the hall. Yaslana shrugged and vanished the chessboard carefully so that he could continue the game later. Farostel and Lucien stared at each other, silently deciding who would be escorting Arina to her meeting.

Lucien won the competition, and went after Arina. Muffled curses came through the door, and Lucien raised an eyebrow in surprise before knocking.

"Just a minute, Lucien," Arina called. "I'm almost done."

About ninety seconds later, she pulled the door open. Arina had changed into a white flowing gown that fell to her feet and swirled around her waist. She had pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and put a gold headband on to keep it out of her face. That was all she had done, though.

Arina set off down the hallway, moving quickly. Lucien caught up with her and offered his arm, knowing that she still tended to wobble when she moved to fast. She took his arm and took a deep breath as she slowed down. They walked slowly down the stairs and stopped outside of a drawing room, hearing the murmur of voices inside. Arina's ears flicked rapidly, betraying her nervousness, and her tail lashed.

"Relax," Lucien whispered. "We're here, and we won't let anything happen."

Arina arched an eyebrow. "We?" she murmured. Lucien grimaced slightly and nodded over to the shadows by the door. Farostel detached himself at Arina's questioning look and slipped over to stand on her other side.

It was a little pathetic that she had to be flanked by two highly imposing males to have a restored level of confidence. Particularly considering the fact that she was supposed to become the Queen of Ebon Avaski, but Arina brushed that fact aside for the moment. Taking yet another deep breath to calm down, Arina opened the door and stepped into the large drawing room.

Jaenelle, Daemon, and a strange woman all turned to the door.

The Queen of Hayll, for that had to be who this woman was, was not what Arina had expected. For one thing, she was surprisingly small, standing at only five feet, four inches tall. Somehow, Arina had pictured her to be taller than that, probably because she was constantly surrounded by towering people, and all of the members of the long-lived races that she had met so far were tall. Her black hair was braided off to the side, and she wore a dark green dress that was both functional and attractive. All in all, the Lady Irena Delanio was a very sweet looking woman. It was only her steely golden eyes that gave a hint of the strong personality that ruled the jungle Territory.

"Lady Delanio, Lady Angelline, Prince Sadi," Arina greeted. "Lady Delanio, I wasn't expecting your visit. I would have thought a letter would be an easier way to let me know of your decision," Arina added.

"Yes, it would have been. However, I have not yet decided for sure if I should accept your petition. You are a young woman with very little training, yet is sponsored by some of the most powerful and influential Queens in the Realm. I wanted to speak with you personally before I made my choice." The Hayllian Queen was quiet, but her voice was deeper than expected. The woman gave Arina a firm, assessing look. "May we speak in private?" the Queen asked pointedly.

Jaenelle rose lightly to her feet and pulled her husband up. "Of course. You are welcome to stay for dinner, if you wish, Lady." The two grown Queens smiled at each other before Jaenelle strolled out of the room with her husband, leaving the room feeling somehow empty.

Lucien and Farostel both glanced at Arina questioningly before they left reluctantly at her nod.

"Sit down, my dear. You look like you are still recovering from a Healing." The golden eyed woman glanced quickly over Arina's wings and ears, her more visible changes. The fangs, thankfully, had vanished on Wednesday. It was a good thing as well, considering that she had kept slicing her lip open with them accidentally.

"Thank you, Lady Delanio." Arina gratefully sank down into the sofa, but remained rigidly upright.

"Please, call me Irena." Arina nodded silently, twisting her hands together in her lap. Irena watched her carefully. "Why do you want to move to Hayll? I'm sure you would be welcome to stay here, or travel anywhere you wished within the Territories of Lady Angelline's coven."

Arina straightened up even more. "Because I could go anywhere. But if I did, then everyone would think that I liked those people more, and it would hurt the friendships I am trying to form. And because…well, I need to live in Hayll. I wasn't sure about it at first, but when I was looking for a home, I found Starfire Manor—"

"I know of it," Irena said thoughtfully.

"And the jungle sang to me. I can't even try to explain it, Lady Irena. But I felt so at peace, so happy there. I can't imagine living anywhere else. It is my home, and always will be. So it only makes sense for me to apprentice in the Territory that will be my home from now on. I'm sure that I could easily apprentice to any of Lady Jaenelle's friends, but that feels something like cheating." Arina blushed. "And now I feel silly," she mumbled. But Irena smiled.

"Good," she said in satisfaction. Arina blinked. "I had hoped that that would be your response, or something like it. I don't need Queens who don't feel for the land. I need ones that love it, and you obviously already do. With time, that love will only grow stronger."

"I—you—you mean, you're saying yes?" Arina breathed.

"Lady Arina Julianne Valini, I would be pleased to take you on as an apprentice in my Court," the Hayllian Queen said formally. "Do you accept?"

"I do," Arina said gravely, bowing her head. Lady Delanio touched her forehead gently, then smiled brightly.

"I'm so glad," she said brightly. "I'm sure that we are going to be wonderful friends, darling." For the first time, Arina wondered how old the woman really was. She acted very maturely earlier, but right now she seemed young.

"Thank you so much," Arina said dazedly. She pulled herself together with an effort. "Are you staying for dinner, Lady?"

"Irena," the woman said firmly.

"Irena," Arina repeated, rolling her eyes. "Are you staying for dinner, Irena?"

The other woman beamed. "No, I have to head back and finish up the arrangements. When will you be arriving at the Court?"

Arina did some quick calculations in her head. "Today is Saturday…so, I think my Healing will be done in a week, so next Wednesday? Would that be alright, or do you want me sooner?"

"Wednesday is fine," Irena dismissed. "I'd hate to have Lady Angelline on my case about disrupting a Healing. I'll see you then, darling. Ta!" The woman rolled out of the room without any further delay, leaving Arina feeling like she had just gotten hit in the head and in shock. She just sat there on the couch, staring at the doorway. After a minute, Lucien rushed in.

"Arina?" he asked, kneeling in front of her when she didn't react, worried. He squeezed her hand. "Are you okay?"

She blinked at him slowly. "I…yes. Yes, of course. I'm fine. I just—wow.'

"So, what did she say?" Rose demanded from the doorway. Arina looked up to see the girl leaning around Farostel, who was planted firmly in the doorway. "Are you going or what?"

"Next Wednesday," Arina confirmed, climbing to her feet, still holding Lucien's hand. "I'll be leaving to join the Court of Hayll next Wednesday." Slowly, she started to smile.

Lucien slumped, ever so slightly for a second before getting up and managing to smile at her. "Congratulations," he murmured.

"This isn't the end of us," Arina promised. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. But I need the skills to set up my Court. And," she added, pulling her hand from his and kissing him lightly. "You need the skills to join my Court. So we'll all be busy." She flashed a challenging smile at the teens waiting in the entrance hall as she joined them. "Because I don't think that any of us—maybe baring Daemonar, you old man—are yet qualified to form a Court."

"Yet," Farostel countered.

"Yes," Arina purred. "Yet."

BJT:ANW

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