Chapter 255

After dinner that evening, Elain leaned back against the cushions on one of the couches in Rhys' house she was sharing with Lucien and Feyre. Azriel, Nesta, and Cassian were still there, and they were all gathered around a low table in the living area, in front of the warm fire. Lucien's hand was slowly caressing Elain's thigh as she listened to the conversations going back and forth across the room, and she struggled to keep her eyes open. It had been a long day, and she was very much looking forward to getting up to bed when they were done here.

"Are you alright, Petal?"

Elain nodded, leaning into Lucien's side, resting her head against his shoulder. His hand continued to caress her, and she released a soft sigh of a breath, watching as Azriel leaned forward over the table. They had gathered a list of all the names of those who would participate in the training they were going to provide, and now the Shadowsinger and Cassian were working on breaking those names up into groups in order to move through the training over the next few days.

"Do you want to keep family groupings together?" Azriel glanced up across the table at Cassian who tilted his head, considering for a moment. Elain just watched them. She could see both the benefits and drawbacks of that situation. Some would likely feel more confident and supported working with members of their family, while others may be distracted and do better in a situation they could better focus on what they were being taught. This was about moving out of their comfort zones, after all. Cassian had evidently had the same thought, because he shook his head, and Azriel's gaze returned to the list before him.

"How big will the groups be?" Feyre asked, swirling her wine around in her glass.

"Around seven." Azriel replied, looking over his groupings. "More or less…"

"That's a good size." Cassian said, and Elain didn't think she had seen such a thoughtful look on his face before. She could tell that he was going over his plans for the morning, how he would run his session and what he would need to do. "It's small enough for individual instruction, but large enough to cover nerves of anyone without confidence and large enough to actually get us through everyone…" He fell silent, his eyes still distant, and Elain turned her gaze on her elder sister. Nesta was watching Cassian, her own eyes somewhat distant and her expression thoughtful as well.

"Do you really think you have time to teach them everything they will need?" Lucien asked, and Elain could hear the hesitation in his voice as if he were reluctant to express his doubts. "Proper training takes…" he paused for a second, "… longer."

"Yes, it takes years ideally." Azriel murmured. "Which we evidently do not have."

"No…" Lucien said.

"We don't need to make them fully fledged warriors." Cassian replied. "We just need to give them the confidence to push back. Teach them a few ways to put some of those bastards on their arses…" He looked from Lucien to Azriel and then back again, "Once those pricks see that they can't just come down here and take what they want, once they see that everyone here will put up a fight, they'll decide it isn't worth it, and they won't come back." Lucien tilted his head, considering those words, and Cassian's eyes settled on Elain's mate. "That's the hope."

"And if it's not the way this plays out?" Lucien asked.

"Mm…" Cassian rolled his shoulders, settling himself more comfortably into his seat. "Then I'll put them into the dirt."

Elain looked from one to the next, her blood growing cold at the thought of that. Evidently not the only one put on edge by Cassian's words, Elain watched Feyre down the rest of her wine before leaning forward. "… can you take them all?" Feyre asked, her hand reaching out and settling against Cassian's wrist. "If it comes to that?"

Cassian looked around at them all, and then he nodded. "Depends how many of them there are, but with what we have in this room… We should be fine."

"Rhys would come." Feyre said, setting back in her chair once again. "If we needed him."

"No doubt." Cassian nodded and then took the lists that Azriel had handed him. "These look good…"

"We just need to work out a runsheet and schedule, then." The shadowsinger replied, moving onto the next slip of paper. Elain watched him writing for a few moments, Nesta leaning forward over the table to have a look at what he was coming up with. "An hour or two for each session?"

"Two." Cassian murmured, "It needs to be worth it…" he bit his lip, "Make it three…" He looked at Lucien then, "What do you think?"

"Three." Lucien agreed, "If you're going to teach them to use a weapon, It'll take you an hour to demonstrate and them to grasp the idea, an hour for them to get it right, and then at least an hour of practice while you give them support and feedback…"

"Yeah…" Cassian nodded again, "At least three…"

Azriel continued to work on his schedule for another few minutes, and then he had passed it to Elain who lifted a hand and took it. "Does this make sense to you?" he asked, and she looked down at it.

"Yes…" He had drawn a map of the town, indicating where each session was to be held, and with who. Then he had added times and group names so that she would know which group was meant to be at which station at certain times, and then where they should be directed to next. "It does. It's very clear."

"Good…" He sighed, "That will be what we go with then." Elain nodded and handed him back the sheet.

"What time in the morning are they all gathering again to find out which groups they are in?"

"Sunrise." Cassian replied, every one of his teeth on full display as he grinned. Elain groaned.

"We'd better get some sleep." She said, and Lucien got to his feet first.

"You're halfway there already, Petal." He grinned, offering her his hand and then pulling her to her feet. Elain didn't let go of his hand then, but smiled at him. Behind her, Cassian and Azriel also got to their feet.

"We are all going to need rest." Cassian said, "Sunrise in the training square…"

Elain gave a half-hearted wave to the others and then followed her mate up the stairs to their waiting bed and the soft mattress she had been daydreaming about since before dinner had even been served.