Aery never had been a big fan of royal gatherings. It had since gotten worse since she’d come back from assassin’s training, found out she was the only surviving Silverheart, and thus had her coronation as queen… Before her thirteenth birthday.
Today’s gathering was her thirteenth birthday celebration, which meant that she had an extravagant host of guests attending the party, all wanting to speak with her. Which she hated, because so many of them would talk at her from just behind her, where she couldn’t see to read their lips. She’d lost her hearing during her excursion to Xandria three months previously, and that proved terribly useless in social situations.
So, her scalp itched from the hair extensions that the maids had fitted her with; although her hair had grown back in some, it was only about three inches long at its longest point, which was totally unbefitting a queen. Her makeup was caked on terribly thickly, so that no one could see the numerous scars crisscrossing the skin of their fair young queen.
And yet no one saw through it. Of course, no one was really allowed close to the dais on which her throne sat, no one except the suitors (of which there were many.) A good number of the important families of the realm had sent their youngest sons to try to win her favor, and she flat-out refused them. Her advisors spend days or weeks talking her ear off about this realm or that realm, but all of their chatter ultimately came down to: You need to find someone to marry, or we’re going to get forced into a war that we cannot survive.
To which she would inevitably reply, But if I make an alliance with one nation, will not their sworn enemies then attack us? Is it not better to keep the bowstring taut for years than to suddenly run a knife across it?
And her advisors would praise her as a clever girl, but none of them could understand why she was so reluctant to find a husband. All of them were male, and oafish ones at that, far removed from any female contact by choice or by their work. But she carried a secret that could not be allowed to come out, even in a whisper, as it undoubtedly would if she ever tried to marry. Whispers behind curtains would pass on the knowledge that the young queen of Adarlan had a child before her time, and before too long she would be known as a joke in the realms. Not that she would mind.
But there was one other thing, so secretly buried that she refused to recognize it herself. A husband would tie her down, and she couldn’t afford it. Her offerings to the poor and the homeless had already gotten her hailed as Queen Aerienna The Generous. But what they didn’t know, and would never find out was that, at night, their beautiful queen would wash off her makeup, don a silver mask and silver spidersilk garments, and go out into the city known only as the Angel of Justice, protecting the young and killing those who haunted the city and frightened innocent children.
And on a completely selfish level, she missed Celaena. God, she missed Celaena. Celaena Sardothien, AKA Aelin Galanythius. Aery’s first mentor and mother figure. And also the only person who knew of the pain she’d borne in Xandria. She’d said goodbye just a month earlier, made a joke about how she had to go sort things out in her own homeland Terrasen.
Aery shook her head, realizing there was someone standing in front of her throne. She quickly played catch-up in time to realize it was one of her more persistent suitors, the second Prince of Fenharrow, asking for a dance. He’d always been her dinner and dance partner from the time she was nine until the time she finally ran away to join Celaena in the lower city, and apparently he’d wanted to regain that role again.
“I don’t think… I shouldn’t dance…” She said, softly. It had to be soft, to cover the strange intonation that came from being unable to hear herself. She was actually rather frightened, because she’d never had the chance to practice dancing when deaf.
But the prince grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet and out onto the dance floor. The broken bones had healed by now, but there was still a warning twinge of pain. Quickly the prince spun her into a waltz and most of the dance floor cleared in deference. She had a moment to see a ring of other angry princes around them before one of them cut in on the prince of Fenharrow, and another cut in on that one, and so on and so on, until she’d barely managed to dance two steps with each boy before they’d gotten cut in upon. At least then no one had time to realize how desperately clumsy she was, as she couldn’t actually hear the music and could only vaguely feel it vibrating in the floor.
Looking around at the scuffling boys, she desperately wished Celaena were there. She’d have had most of them tied to the ceiling rafters by their shirttails before they’d even realized they weren’t still scuffling. She saw her opportunity and made a break from the carnage, headed back to her seat. But an ambassador snagged her arm and started chattering in her ear (and she had to look out of the corner of her eye and give herself a dreadful headache to even begin to comprehend what he was saying!) and then another did, and another, and by the time they were finally done with her the princes were ready for another round of dancing. On and on it went, never any rest at all. She wished she’d been able to stay on the streets and never get back into the aristocratic way of life.

Aelin Galathynius stood at her birthplace in Orynth. She had been practically jumped on due to her disappearance five months ago. She was the Queen of Terrasen, A major contender with Adarlan's Royal Members. But to make things harder Aery, due to that problematic night where the Heirs had been dispatched, That Aery had claimed the Throne, Aery was lucky that Aelin found her and took her under her wing, and then crafted her into a weapon. Aelin was littered with members of Terrasen Royalty, giving her news which she already knew ' Aerienna Silverheart has taken the Adarlan Throne'. She had half a mind just to go to Adarlan and witness Aery's reign for herself.

Aelin after that thought looked at the sky and tried to refrain from crying, She had no one left to think about, and she would rule Terrasen without people that she trust. She let her feet go in front of the other, She was walking back to her ' Sanctuary ' which was her castle but it didn't feel like her's. She walked into the grand building and then smiled sadly. This wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. She remembered all the good things that She and Aery did. Then she ordered her Scribe to write Aerienne Silverheart a letter.

Aery sat at a meeting with her "inner circle" of advisers. These were her war councilors, battle-hardened veterans (Including her trainer Rowan Stormfire, when he was around, which he currently wasn’t), her panel of ambassadors from all the nations, her economics advisers (wealthy merchants, mostly) and the heads of the guilds, including her spymaster and chancellor of mages. Their appointments in particular were the source of riots, but Aery could think of no one she trusted more.
Of course, the people of the realms didn’t see what she did in her two latest appointments. In her spymaster and head of the couriers guild, Silenia Earthwatcher (She had taken that name after Aery suggested that they not appear to be related, lest people think she was stacking her advisory panel) the realm saw a scrawny, scruffly nine-year-old girl who had thread bracelets up both forearms to her elbows and several knotted thread necklaces. But Silly, as she had her friends call her, brought connections to and the loyalty of well over two thousand street urchins in all the realms, and when Silly threw her support behind Aery, all of them did too. The result was a network of information, of secrets and plots, flowing up the chain of command to Aery.
In her Chancellor of Mages, Amethystia Starseer, the people saw a girl who shouldn’t have even discovered her magic yet, a tiny, very skinny four-and-a-half year-old with shocking violet eyes, looking plainly scared to be in a room with so many adults. What they didn’t see was that she was more aware of politics than most grown scholars were. With her magical abilities she had mental connections to all the mages in Adarlan. She’d always been a very aware girl, but with her magic, she could see anything or hear anything in Adarlan, and even in some of the neighboring realms.
Aery had gotten lucky with those two. If not for them, she’d probably never have pulled herself out of the darkness that had tried to swallow her up just two months previously. She stifled the sob that tried to rise up in her throat and turned back to the dizzying task of trying to follow the heated debate going on: Half of her advisers were convinced that they should declare war on Terrasen (which had since freed itself from Adarlan’s rule with the assassination of her uncle) and the other half were of the firm belief that they should exchange ambassadors and set up a treaty. She’d read lips to catch up on the argument, before she finally broke the tension. Most of her council meetings were like this, a debate over one issue or another, until she finally made a decision on each, as much to shut them up as to actually clean up the messes her uncle had left behind.
“I appreciate all of your inputs, gentlemen.” That was her standard opening. “After carefully reviewing what each of you has said, I believe that we should attempt to ameliorate relationships between Adarlan and Terrasen. It will be hard, as you know, given the unfairness of what my uncle did to them as a people. But that being said, I have connections to Aelin Galanythius and I think, if anyone would be open to repairing the relations between our empires, it would be her.” Instantly an argument broke out, to be silenced by a rapping at the door.
“Come in!” Aery called. The door opened and a boy of about nine, the courier Axle, poked his head in. Seeing the gathering of nobility, he looked like he wanted to run. Silenia rose to her feet to beckon the boy into the room, and he came in with reluctance. He bowed deeply to Silenia and then knelt to Aery.
“Oh, dearest Axle, please get to your feet. We have no time for such nonsense. From the look of you, you’ve been running hard.” Shooting a glare at her merchant advisors, who objected to a street boy being allowed to stand in Aery’s presence, and another at most of her military advisors, who objected to this breach of protocol, she motioned for the boy to hand over the papers.
He fidgeted, put his hand through the neck of his shirt. His hand fidgeted around for a moment, then a slender linen folder fell out of his shirt. He blushed. “Sorry, mum, I mean, yer Majesty, on’y, the nobles, they like me t’ carry my messages in one o’ these sos that pickpockets canna steal them.” He was also subtly doing hand-signs in front of him in such a way that none of the advisors could see. He’d learned the hard way that his accent changed the shape his mouth took, and as a result Aery couldn’t always understand by lip-reading.
He bent to grab the messages, rose to his feet. He pulled three envelopes out for Aery; a stack of a dozen more he handed to Silenia. She gave him a gold piece, for he’d most likely run all the way from the border of Adarlan and Terrasen, which was where he was usually stationed. Then she shooed him out of the room.
Tiredly Aery looked at the letters on her desk. Then sat bolt upright. One was a dinner invitation from the royal family of Fenharrow—God, these people just never quit!—but the other two… One was addressed in a messy scribble that she could barely decipher. Rowan Stormfire. The other was in a scribe’s elegant hand. Aelin Galanythius.
Since tears flooded her eyes and she could in no way explain them to her advisors, she quietly said, “Everyone out except Silenia and Amethystia.” When the other grown-ups started to argue, she raised her voice. “I said, everyone out! I’ve made my decision regarding Terrasen, now go. We’ll meet at two bells after noon tomorrow as we always do.” She forced the tears back behind her eyelids. “Get out, please!” Her voice cracked.
“Do as she says!” Silly raised her voice too. When one of the soldiers jumped to his feet and started shouting at her, a purple glow appeared over his lips and then faded just as quickly, with one difference: His lips had fused together. The same purple fire formed a pair of giant hands which started none-too-gently picking up her advisors and carrying them out the door and down the stairs. Most of them ran out on their own accord. Then the hands came back inside, shut the door, barred it, gave themselves a round of applause, and disintegrated into a pile of purple glitter.
Aery made eye contact with Ame and Silly. Silly rolled her eyes and Ame just blinked innocently. Then all three collapsed into a fit of laughter that lasted until their stomachs hurt and their eyes were streaming.
“You know, someone’s going to have to clean up that glitter, Ame.” Silly said, between her giggles and hiccups. Ame just rolled her eyes, clapped her hands, and the glitter vanished.
Then the girls settled into their sign language.
OPEN LETTER NOW. Silly signed.
Rather than sign anything, Ame just used her magic to write over her head “I could send all those Fenharrow letters back to where they came from. And disintegrate them into glitter. Their whole ballroom would be filled up with it and they’d probably never bother you again.”
Aery glared at her, causing her to giggle until she got the hiccups, then turned to the letters. She opened Rowan’s first.
Dearest Aery,
I am en-route to Adarlan from Xandria. Aelin tells me you need a military advisor. Well, you can count on me. Also, you have still not finished your training. While I do not like the path your career has taken, I promised Aelin that I would train you to the best of my ability. And I keep my promises.
You can reply by courier to the White Pig Inn.
Regards,
Rowan Stormfire.
She giggled despite herself, and wet a quill to write a response. She always wrote her own letters.
My friend Rowan,
I tremble to think of what I might have left in my training. Be that as it may, I am sorely glad to know that you will be here soon. Besides my Mage Chancellor and my Lady Spymaster, I have no one here that I can trust.
Love, your student and sometimes-partner-when-she-doesn’t-screw-up-too-badly,
Aery.
A purple blob came in front of her vision until she sat up and looked at Ame.
SERIOUSLY A-M-E TOO SNARKY YOU-ARE. She signed. Ame just giggled.
“Will you open the letter from Aelin or not?!” The purple fire wrote in the air.
SORRY MISTRESS was all that Aery signed, causing another bout of laughter from her two youngest advisors.
My daughter,
I hope this letter finds you well and in good health. I am sure you have many responsibilities, even as I do, so I will keep this letter brief. I will be sending you an ambassador in a week’s time—probably, she will be en-route before this letter gets there, because, as darling as your couriers are, their sense of time is a little peculiar (and by peculiar I mean nonexistent)—Her name is Alyssia Icethorn. She is entirely trustworthy, and I should know. I trained her myself.
I should like to pay a social visit, however, this is infeasible. My realm was in shambles and is only now managing to be put back together. I cannot leave it at such a critical time, so we will have to correspond purely by post. I have heard that Rowan is going to be attending you, and you cannot imagine how relieved I am to hear it. You need someone you can trust by your side, someone stronger than Silly and Ame. Though I’ve also heard that Ame’s magic is good enough to rival even the great mages. Did she really calm the entire rebellion in ten minutes?
I look forward to hearing from you, my daughter,
Aelin Galanythius.
Aery grinned despite the tears that were flowing down her cheeks, and set to writing.
Aelin, oh Aelin.
It is so good to hear from you. It is also welcome news that you are sending an ambassador; maybe now my advisors will realize that you mean no harm. They have been doing nothing but encouraging me to declare war on you. I will be sending one of my own, once I find a suitable candidate. Would you be terribly insulted if I sent a child? Most of my people are too scared of me because of the deeds of my uncle, and only the children, who know me from the street, are eager to help my cause. I think I will be sending Esmyrilda Hanen. She’s one of my across-borders couriers. She can be trusted; I would trust her with my life.
I am saddened to hear that you are not able to make a social visit, as I have something that is life-altering that I must ask you about, something that I dare not commit to print. While my couriers are good, there is always a chance of a letter falling into the wrong hands, and this is of such a delicate nature that I dare not write it, for even a whispered rumor would leave my queendom in shambles. I may send the message by mage connection, for Ame has a range where she could set up a communication with any one of your mages, if you have one that you trust. Speaking of Ame, that girl baffles me. Her magic is so strong now…I wonder if she’s part fae? It would surely explain her unusual resilience and capacity for magic.
Looking forward to hearing from you, and from your ambassador,
Your loving daughter Aery.
She pressed her seal, five knives forming a pentagram around a rose, into the pale blue wax that she always used. She then called for a courier. As luck would have it, it was Esmyrilda. At fourteen she was one of the older couriers. “Esmy, I’ve got a new job for you.”
The girl flinched, and Aery hastily recorrected. “No, no, you’re not being fired. You’re one of the only couriers I trust, and I trust you completely, with my life. You’ve proven your worth time and time again.” Once street bullies had beaten the girl fairly badly to get the message she carried, and she hadn’t given it to them, and had completed her run with several broken bones. “I’ve got a promotion for you. As I said, you’re the only person I trust that I can spare. So, take these letters. Give the one addressed to Rowan Stormfire to… Azzy, why not. Have him take that one, and then you take this one to my lady Aelin Galanythius in Terrasen. All the way there. Then tell her that you’re Esmyrilda Hanen, and you’re there to be her ambassador to Adarlan.”
The girl met Aery’s eyes for a second, hers going huge in her head. Never had anyone appointed someone so young as an ambassador, nor ever to so important a house.
Aery smiled at the girl. “Go on, you heard me right.” And, curtsying and mumbling thanks, Esmy sprinted off.
Aery sighed and jumped when the clock struck midnight. Had she really been that long writing?
Oh well. She doused the candle and went to bed.

Aelin looked around at The Elder Council whose members were situated around a table, She, too was seated at the table.. The members were discussing War Plans to take Xandria and Adarlan, Her eyes widened at Adarlan and immediately refused to take Adarlan "No.. I won't take Adarlan, Infact I plan to ride there to discuss with their queen an Alliance, I pick Chaol and a few of my 'Other protectors' in Terrasen, to accompany me under the Guise of Alyssia Icethorn." A few of the Council Members were confused on why there was a Faux-Name needed, but Aelin shrugged it off and got off her seat and went to her quarters to get some things and then climbed downstairs to the main hall of the castle and walked out of the castle and found her Asterion horse saddled and ready for her to take the Week-Long trip to Adarlan. She was glad to be meeting Aery, Ame, Silly and Rowan again. She climbed up on the horse and kicked it's sides and it immediately sped off, she was sure her Escort was coming, but she doesn't need an Escort, she could handle her self, she was tor- No she didn't want to relive that moment and she shrugged the thought off as she was going faster than usual on the Asterion horse.

The walls were dark stone and spattered with blood, old and new. A crack of a whip and a white line shot across her vision and she screamed with the sudden agony across her back. And her torturers laughed, and again the whip bit her, again and again, until there was no skin left for it to tear.
Aery awoke to hands fluttering over her, over her face and torso. She screamed and swatted at the hands, thinking they meant her harm. Then a candle lit and she realized where she was. In her bed, safe in her room. One of her maids, an urchin named Lillyan, hovered over her. In the light of the candle she signed to Aery. YOU O-K? SCREAMING CRYING. BAD-DREAM?
Aery nodded, not trusting her trembling hands to sign back. "I'm fine." She whispered. But obviously she wasn't. Obviously by the tears streaming down her face, by the shudders wracking her frail shoulders, the terrified, haunted look in her icy eyes, she wasn't. "I need light... Please... Lilly, light all the candles in here, and the fire, please."
She frowned, but did as she was told. Aery forced herself to not lunge for the fire when the first happy glow came from it. As it was she got up from the bed, still shaking, and went to kneel by the fireplace, staring into it, absorbing the heat, trying to banish the darkness in the happy glow. Her head bent forward, her hands over her ears though she would never hear anything again, shaking, rocking back and forth, trying to calm herself before the darkness in her heart could swallow her up entirely. Out of habit, the poem that had been drilled into her head a thousand times in all of her training rose up in her mind. She could almost hear Rowan and Celaena and Ansel and all the other assassins who had trained her, every one of them, reciting it. The darkness tried to stifle it, tried to drown it out.
I....will...not...fear. F-fear is the m-mind killer. Fear i-is the little d-death that total obliteration.
Then, out loud, knowing Lilly probably thought her insane for it but not caring. "I will...I-I will face my fear. I will p=permit it to pass over me and through me. A-a-and when... And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." And she added her own line. "And I will be unbroken." Over and over again, until the darkness was, while not vanquished, subdued at least, and she was calm enough to drink some tea. She wanted to go back to sleep but the guard called the fifth hour after midnight, which was usually when Aery would wake up. She sighed, needing to make do with less than three hours of sleep every night over the last week, but got to her feet and forced herself to get dressed.

Remember me, Arienne, Because I do, I see you have become what I predicted. We need to settle down sometime Your Majesty, I would love to see you, Send a letter to BriarCliff Ansel said and then made the Fire much much brighter but not out of control Alyssia's on her way don't worry She chuckled and then closed the communication with Aery and then started one with Ame I see you have gotten much stronger Ame, But can you do what I am doing now, I am glad I was your Teacher, You made me smile sometimes and when you did your tasks right I granted you a new spell/Enchantment... Speaking of Enchantments You must have learned a few of your own. She closed the communication.

Aery let out a little yelp at hearing Ansel's voice in her head. As soon as she was dressed she all but ran to her office to write the letter to Ansel, thanking her. She was a little confused as to why she "shouldn't worry" because Alyssia was on the way. Still, she wouldn't let it bother her. She had too much else on her plate to worry about the new adviser until she actually got here.
Ame sat bolt upright in her bed, fighting to keep from laughing out loud at the sudden contact by her mentor. She frowned and her brow creased in concentration as she formulated the message and threw it to Ansel. Hi, Ansel. Obviously if you can hear this I've figured it out... This is kind of a stretch. I can comfortably talk to any mages in Adarlan and most of the ones in Xandria and Terrasen, if they've not shut me out. I can read people's minds, the minds of any people in the city, and of any people they're directly thinking about. As far as enchantments, I figured one out on my own that I'm quite proud of. You know how cells are kind of my specialty, well.. I came up with a disintegrating kind of cell that I can grow between people's lips, and they won't be able to talk at all for at least three hours. I can also grow it to keep their eyelids shut or to plug their nose. Once the cells disintegrate they're totally fine and unscathed, if a little frightened. She giggled, earning a raised eyebrow from her "nanny" that she'd been saddled with because of the castle rule that young ladies under the age of five couldn't be unattended ever.
~~Five days later~~
Aery was in her study reading with Ame and Silly when the door opened without her invitation. She looked up irritably, ready to scream at the counselors to just GO AWAY and give her five minutes of time to read, but then froze when she saw who it was standing in the door. Her training master, Rowan Stormfire, covered in dirt like he'd just been on a hard ride, a wry smile on his face. Aery gasped, jumped to her feet, sprinted to the door and tackled Rowan, nearly knocking him to the ground. She buried her face in his shoulder weeping, clinging to him. "Oh my god, Rowan. I missed you so much. Why did you have to leave to start with? It's been so hard for me, with just Ame and Silly that I knew I could trust."
Silly came pounding up the stairs before Aery had gotten herself together enough to let go and greet Rowan in a proper, dignified manner. Silly saw them, covered her mouth with both hands to keep from laughing. When she'd finally gotten herself under control she said, in a rather strangled voice. "Aery, the ambassador from Terrasen is here... Might want to go greet her properly. As in, put some royal clothes on. And your hair extensions. And your crown." Remembering that Aery couldn't hear, and couldn't see her lips, she quickly signed AMBASSADOR HERE. GET DRESSED AND GO-TO MEETING.
Aery gulped, let go of Rowan, and stepped back, blushing nervously. "Sorry, Rowan. I got over-excited. I've got to go get ready to meet the ambassador from Terrasen, so... you can stay here if you want, or go get some of the dirt off of you and come meet the ambassador with me. I've had rooms set aside for you in the block with my other advisors. Fifth floor, third door on the right. The lock is magic, just touch your hand to it and it'll let you in." She jogged off to go get dressed and made up.
Less than thirty minutes later she was waiting in the castle courtyard as the ambassador and her attendants came cantering in through the palace gates.

Celaena/Alyssia Icethorn looked around in amazement Adarlan HAD gotten better, Her personal guard Chaol Westfall, had gotten off his horse and rushed to her to help her down from the horse. She didn't need help and had gotten down her self and then began to walk in the direction of The Royal Courtyard, It had changed slightly but mostly the same, She smiled.

Aery saw the ambassador coming and did all she could not to stare. Celaena had trained her, she'd said. And it certainly showed. The woman walked with the same confident air, looking around with the same look of superiority. She carried no obvious weapons, but of course that didn't mean anything.
As one of the heralds of the castle began to introduce Aery, she very subtly waved her hand and cut him off. She didn't really care about the protocol of it. "Please, Master Herald, I am sure these people already know who I am, and I should not like to bore them with my titles. They come from my friend Aelin Galanythius, and as such, they probably know more about me than I do!" She stepped down from the castle entryway, ignoring the openmouthed surprise of the soldiers on duty. Let them be surprised that she had made it so that she'd have to look up at the ambassador.
The herald, slightly flustered, began calling the titles of the ambassador and her party, fumbling quite a few of them. Aery smiled. "I apologize for my herald and for my guards." she murmured. "I always function terribly against protocol, and they as yet have not adapted to my ways." She offered a slight curtsy to the lady ambassador. "One of our stable-boys should be along to take your mounts." She was doing hand-signals behind her back to the boys, because they'd only just been hired by her, and they'd never dealt with any nobility before. "I am afraid most of my staff is new and fairly young, and so they may not understand the treatment that you deserve. Please be patient with them. I've tried to assign to you the most capable servants that we have; unfortunately, not one of them is over the age of fifteen." The stable boys finally came up and took the party's mounts. Lillyan, looking plainly scared to be with so many nobles, came out as well and curstied deeply to the ambassador. "My maid Lillyan will show you to your quarters. I will leave you to get settled in. We dine in two hours; tell Lillyan if you need anything and she will have it provided." As Lillyan passed by Aery, she whispered in the girl's ear "Don't sweat it, Lil. I know a couple of the lady's guards and they're decent folk."
Lillyan smiled shyly and picked up one of Alyssia's bags. "My lady, if you will follow me, I can show you to your quarters?"

"If you can not get lost while doing it" Aylssia laughed and agreed to be shown to her quarters, Celaena had been through so much all this work-filled week, Bandits, Raiders and common thieves but they fell quickly due to Chaol Westfall, such a sword master he was and rivalled her skills, But she wasn't here to watch Combat situations, she was here under the guise Aylssia Icethorn to witness Aery's reign as Queen. She had with all her heart missed her daughter since she to depart from her.

Lillyan blushed but led Alyssia up the stairs to the quarters set aside for the noble guests. "My lady, these are your rooms. For your entourage, they will be given rooms on the ground floor, unless you would prefer they share these rooms with you, in which case other accommodations will be made." She giggled nervously and dropped another curtsy.
Aery was faced with a dilemma. She was attempting to get dressed for dinner; she'd make an extra effort tonight since the whole court would be there for the presentation of the Terrasen ambassador. After selecting one of her favorite dark blue gowns and having one of the maids zip her into it, she realized it was rather tight around the belly... But she'd not been gaining much weight. She'd been eating so little, in fact, that she was losing it (though she didn't have much weight to start with.) She looked in her mirror to see what was going on... There was a bulge in her lower belly... She knew what it meant, and clapped her hands over her mouth in shock. Tears sprang to her eyes. She'd thought she'd been too young... She'd not had a monthly before, in any case, when the male guard had done that... No, no, don't think about it, Aery, don't you DARE think about it. But here she was, and here was the evidence.
"I must make a social call on one of my companions." She said softly. Seeing the maid's raised eyebrow she shook her head vehemently. "Not THAT kind of friend. But nonetheless it is a matter of some urgency."
Without waiting for the undoubted comment about an escort, she sprang out of her rooms, half-sprinting down the stairs until she found Rowan's room. She knocked furiously. "Rowan? Rowan, please, I need help..." She was crying, one hand covering her mouth, the other pressing on her belly.

Rowan was standing out on his balcony, this was a better view than the low and trashy built castle in Xandria, There had been so much object's in they're way as they started an unstoppable rise to the top, He heard someone knock his chamber door "Come in. " He commanded and then turned around to see who was about to walk in.

Aery didn't hear anything, obviously, but she didn't care. She was panicking. She pushed the door open and stumbled in, still crying her eyes out. She forced it together, took deep breaths, until finally she faced Rowan as calmly as she could. "Hypothetical situation. A woman finds herself carrying a child. She cannot afford to let the world know that she has a child, because all her authority, not to mention value on the marriage market, would go out the window. She also cannot emotionally bear the reminder of what caused the child's presence in her body. What should she do?" She doubled over, gasping, wheezing and coughing, tears streaming down her cheeks again.
"I-I thought I'd gotten i-it to be manageable, o-only... N-now... I can't do this, Rowan... I... I can't. N-not when th-there's another... Another life at st-take."

"WHAAAT!!!!!" He shouted so loud he was sure she'd hear him, "That's why the bump is there, here's me thinking you ate too much" He sighed and tried to think of a plan to hide her from the public "Is there any people who look similar to you" then walked with her to find a quick exit passageway

Aery couldn't hear him shouting, though she felt the wind of it on her face. "Not eating too much. Have you seen me at meals? Well, I guess you haven't. Anyway. Sometimes Silly has to force-feed me because I just stress out too much to eat. I just... I don't know what to do." She frowned at him. "Unfortunately, no one here bears even a slight resemblance to me. Most of these people are either dark-haired and dark-eyed or blonde and green-eyed. And they're all way too tall." Even though she was probably already close to her full height, she was only about 4'5" "I can tough it out for one more day. After that, well... Ansel said she was going to be here soon... Is there some poison I might take to..." But she broke down again just thinking about it. An assassin she might be, but she would never take the life of an unborn child. Not her own. Though it would probably kill her, to see this through. She was very small-boned and quite honestly she didn't think there was room for a baby inside of her.
She walked over to Rowan slowly, lightly put her arms around him, seeking whatever comfort he might provide. "I just don't know what to do, Rowan. It'll break my heart to kill the baby and might kill me if I try to see this through. And I... It's a monster's child. If it were the child of someone I loved I'd do it, I'd do it in a heartbeat, just die so that my child, one of my friend's children, could have a happy life, but... The child of a man who tortured me. I know I shouldn't punish the child for the deeds of the parent, but... I just can't... I look at myself, and all I can think of is that I'm still there. That I'm still in that dark room with all the blood and I'm still at his mercy and he's going to torture me to death and I just can't do it."

" I'll father the child" He thought a moment before saying that and then knelt down to face height "You won't go through this alone.. " He pressed his forehead to her forehead and then softly lay his hand on her cheek "That guy is still running free, shall I have him brought in for execution. " He looked at his Queen with anger in his eyes for the poor sod that would have to clash swords with him for doing that to her.

Aery gasped, nodded, then shook her head no, then sighed and pressed her face into his hand. "I don't even know. Don't put another murder on my conscience. Thank you, but. We shouldn't... It's not honorable." She let out a pent-up breath, as an idea came to her. "The easiest thing to do would be to get married, but we can't announce that, not all of a sudden.. Not when we just got new foreign dignitaries." She said it honestly, ignoring the rush of emotions. "Of course, then Adarlan would have a thousand people suddenly quit vying to be our favorites, and the purity of the royal bloodline would be compromised, at least in the eyes of the people. But it wouldn't be the first time such a marriage happened. My great-great-grandfather's third wife was a kitchen maid. What's to stop a captain of the elite guard and a queen?" She hiccuped, her tears having run out suddenly, pressed herself against him, buried her face in his shoulder, only to suddenly jerk upright as she had a second epiphany. "Oh, I know! My grandmother's diamond ring. I've worn it at every occasion for the last couple of months, but on my second finger... I can put it on my fourth finger tonight and when asked about it say that I wasn't ready to announce my engagement to the world, but decided that now was the time. And it would explain my reluctance to dance with the Prince of Fenharrow."

"It's your decision..my Queen" Rowan Said then slowly inched his lips to her's, he thought for a moment before saying "Who is the new dignitaries, dear. " He asked, all he needed was once chance to slip away and he'd have that interfering asses head perched on Briarcliff before sun rise

Aery kissed him back without hesitation, for once. She needed something to keep her mind off of... What was happening. "Lady Alyssia Icethorn of Terrasen." She said, in answer to Rowan's question. "She acts just like Celaena, what little I've seen of her. But Celaena said she trained the woman, so I kind of expected that." She had a painful hope that maybe, just maybe, this Alyssia was Celaena come in secret.