A Visitor from Terrasen [Indefinite Hiatus]

Part 1: A Trip to Endovier

A warning I should have added when I wrote this the first time: This will contain swearing, referrences to sex and whatever. But nothing more explicit than the books themselves. Just felt the need to add that. Hope you enjoy :)

The Queen of Terrasen didn't know what she was doing, striding through the front gates of the salt mines. Aelin had told Rowan where she was going, then told him he was staying put and taking care of her kingdom. Their kingdom.

She wore a black, close hugging leather suit, one similar to the one Arobynn had given her all those years ago. Sharp, deadly blades were tucked into hidden pouches and it fit her form well, still giving her agility to fight in. Her hair loose around her shoulders, wild just like it had been when she had served a year in this gods forsaken camp. Aelin had brought no one else with her, though she had considered it. But this was no special time, it was not yet the ten year anniversary of the day she had nearly sacrificed herself, the day Dorian, one of her dearests friend, has also nearly sacrificed himself. In another 2 months they would celebrate the banishment of the gods, but she had felt a pull to this place, a tug on her lessened power. She had found herself wanting to visit this place, alone.

Gazing around at the nearby mountains, the queen was reminded of another set of mountains she had seen 10 years ago. One where 2 Fae had stood, one winged, the other pregnant. This brought a smile to her face, wondering about the child that must have been born since she had flown through the sky. It had been kindness, the kindness of a stranger, that had allowed her to return to her mate and court all those years ago.

Since then Aelin had Settled as Fae, however she still enjoyed her human form, enjoyed fighting in it just to push herself further and challenge herself still. The Queen hadn't found many people to kill in recent months and years, she had people to do that for her now, and she would like to say she was happy to sit back, but then...

An itch, the strength of her power was made to destroy, to burn and burn and burn. Years of working as an assassin also made her dream of running over the rooftops of Rifthold, slipping in windows and slitting throats. It should make her feel sick, the wish to kill and fight, but there was nothing she could do.

Even being blind would not stop her from finding the exact spot where she had given up her power. Wyrdmarks that weren't truly there glowed in her vision and she stopped dead, precisely where Aelin had stood facing the King of Adarlan, 9 years and 10 months ago. Images of the worlds she had travelled through flashed through her mind, her quick, witful mind, and she gazed at the hard earth under her feet.

Black boots to match her leathers, caked in mud from the walk. She had brought no mount, her Fae form was faster than any horse, although a wyvern could most certainly give her a run for her money. And she loved to run. Aelin could run for days, the wind blowing through her hair reminding her of her mates power, his wind, ice and rain. The power that as his carranam, she could also harness.

Releasing a sigh, she flipped a knife out of the sleeve of her clothes, tapping her fingers along the flat edge she considered it. So long since she willingly sliced open her palm, having always cut her forearm for blood oaths. A snap came from the nearby woods, a large animal pouncing on its prey. She chuckled, even she knew better than to make noise like that, better not to have anyone awake to be aware of your crimes. As she gazed at the unreadable marks around her feet, a pull stronger than even the mating bond nearly split her into and she cursed, the blade splitting open her palm, blood running freely.

The wildfire in her veins throbbed, remembering this was where the rest of it had been lost. Pulling and pulling. The Queen of Terrasen dropped to her knees, a strong desire pulsing through her, magic and flame singing as she flattened her hand to the ground.

It was like her soul was being sucked out, holding back a scream Aelin spasmed as her blood spilled into the earth. Her power twitched and begged, searching for more of it. She nearly sobbed, nearly let fear overrun her as she desperately tried to escape its deadly hold. And then it stopped, and then she was falling, her magic flung out around her in a wild panic.

She shifted, not in control of herself, into her human form as she fell, the blade sliding back into her sleeve, the leathers still fitting her snuggly. But she reached out for the mating bond, but there was only deafening silence, her magic also fell suddenly silent.

There she lay, on the freezing ground in the woods, surrounded by different, otherwordly mountains. In her human form, magic out of reach, with absolutely no one there.

As she sat up, she had only one thought.

She was fucked.