Nesta held her light forward as the sound of something ahead caught her attention. "Hollis?" She frowned, listening closely, trying to pinpoint what that strange noise was. It was like someone shaking a rattle…the bodies of the scorpions came into view, gaining distance in mere seconds, and she released an ear-splitting screech as she pivoted on her heels and ran as fast as she could back the way she'd come.
Cassian turned with wide eyes at the sound of a scream, her scream. Without a word, he took off at a full sprint, uncaring that it was slick or what lay ahead. Daggers out, he didn't care that the others were running behind him, too. He slid into the main chamber they'd entered and dashed to the crevice Nesta had entered. He slammed himself against it, trying to squeeze his massive frame through, but then Nesta smacked into his chest.
"GO!" She screamed, and he backed up, pulling her up into his arms so her feet were off the ground as the scorpions flooded through.
"Feyre!" Cassian yelped as he scrambled behind her as she raised her hands to fill the space the scorpions came through with flames.
They screamed and squealed as they sizzled into the ice, but just as they'd feared using flame, the snow around melted. Turning into a slushy river of scorpion stew, flooding toward them.
"Back this way!" Kallias shouted, ushering them to the tunnel they were creating with the hopes that the flood would even itself out and cool enough to become ice again.
Instinctively, he ran with them down the tunnel they'd been carving, out of breath as they came against the wall he was carving. He pushed forward and turned another few feet of snow to ice. They did this, over and over, until his theory proved to be true and the water displaced itself. Freezing the ground with embedded scorpions. When they could take a moment to breathe, he leaned against the wall and pressed his hand against his forehead. Finally able to think again, Kallias stared in the direction they'd run from.
"Hollis went down that path…" Tears gathered in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. "I should have come with him. I never should have let him come here alone."
Turning, he faced Nesta with red eyes. "Did you see him? Hear him?"
Nesta swallowed. "I was rushed so quickly…I saw nothing else." Her lip quivered.
Had Nova felt her bond sever?
How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he been there, moved quicker?
Why…
"Da!"
The voice he'd heard the past twenty-six years called out to him and warmed the gray of his soul. They turned to face the wall of snow ahead of them as Kallias lurched forward and began digging with his bare hands, not wanting to move too much snow too fast. The others followed suit as Kallias called out, "Hollis!"
"DA!" His voice came louder, and Kallias grinned as he cried with joy, so relieved he could hardly get a breath into his lungs.
Then, above them fell a pile of snow right on top of them, and they quickly stepped back, watching more snow fall off the wall. It was Azriel's head that came through first, and Cassian burst into a brighter grin.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Cas chuckled as Az grinned back.
"Not from where I'm looking," Kole said from behind him, a full view of the Illyrian's rear followed by Hollis's laugh.
His laugh, his boys laugh. Without waiting another moment, they pulled chunks of snow from below as they worked above. Together they created a slide-like path, coming down one at a time on their bellies.
The moment Hollis was within his reach, Kallias pulled him into his arms in a crushing hug. He quickly loosened as Hollis yelped. Still holding his hand comfortingly on the back of his head, he looked down at his arm with wide eyes.
"You went through those passages like this?" He asked, looking up with wide eyes.
Hollis nodded, letting his father wipe the blood from his chin from where he'd bit his tongue, then asked, "Is Nova okay?" Then he looked down at his shoulder and frowned, asking in a panic, "Are you okay?"
Unable to stop himself from smiling, Kallias squeezed the back of his neck in place of a hug. "I do love you so much."
Hollis smiled, "I love you, too, Da…" It had been a long time since he'd said that, perhaps since he was a child.
He should say it more often.
Nova crept on her hands and knees to the mouth of the cave where the reptilian tracks ended. She held a hand out to Kyra and Finch behind her, keeping them from following as she inched just a little closer, and a little closer yet to peer around the lip of the entrance. The sun was beginning to set, making the scene inside more visible.
She watched the Squyla pace around his fire, constantly glancing between his nest of eggs…and Bran. Holding her breath, she slowly backed up and, keeping her voice low, said, "They're in there. Bran is breathing." She met Finch's eyes, making sure she spoke slowly enough to read her lips. "We might need to use a distraction again. He doesn't keep his eyes off Bran long, but I don't know if it would be safe to distract him. He's big. Strong. If we're separated, it will be less likely we'd be able to take him if we need to."
"What do you mean by 'if'? Of course we need to! It took Bran!" Kyra whispered harshly back.
Nova settled a firm gaze on her. "You're right. He took Bran to survive just like we're trying to do. He's an intelligent being, not a monster. We might be able to barter with him."
"Barter what, exactly? What do we have to offer? And what if we offer, and he's not interested? We will lose all element of surprise."
Biting her lip, Nova glanced between her and Finch. "Alright, I can see your point, but I don't want to go in thinking we can take him without weapons or magic. So…let's do this. I'll go in and try to barter. If that doesn't work…"
"When that doesn't work." Kyra bit back, a fire in her brown eyes that she'd never seen before.
Nova searched her face for a long moment. "Kyra, I am trying to meet you halfway. You have to work with me." She pursed her lips and tried again. "If it doesn't work…I know you'll both be there and we can still have the surprise factor."
For a moment longer than Nova would have liked, Kyra stared at her.
Frowning, Nova asked, "Will you both be there?"
Kyra swallowed and ground her teeth before releasing a sigh and nodding. "Fine."
It wasn't quite the exchange she'd expected, but Nova nodded and looked to Finch, who frowned with worry as Nova turned to creep through the mouth of the cave and slowly stood to her feet.
Bran looked over with wide eyes. "Oh, no. Nova, go…" He whispered.
The Squyla turned to her with wide eyes and bared its blackened gums at her, no teeth. Of course…it swallowed its food whole.
"I'm here to make a trade." Nova held her hands up.
His tongue flicked out, amber eyes narrowing to slits as it said through a raspy purr, "Offering yourself as a meal is an interesting choice…" His voice ended in a soft hiss.
"Not quite what I was thinking," Nova said, glancing at Bran. "I can bring something back to you. I'll bring food for you and your children, and you let him go."
The chuckle was somewhere low in his throat, and Nova couldn't quite place where it rumbled. "Illyrian meat is hard to come by. It is most nutritious."
Nova glanced between the Squyla and the eggs it protected, but as she did, it took a few steps toward her. Towering over her, by herself, without weapons or magic… She'd be in for the fight of her life.
"I don't want to hurt you," she said, holding her stance. "I just want my friend. If you won't take a gift of food, then take a gift of knowledge. I can teach you how to preserve food. To last well past winter to feed your children, but only if you allow me to take him."
"I think not." He tilted his head, another step forward, and Nova finally took a step back. "Actually. You'll make for a nice meal in the Spring, too. Less membrane to chew through."
He charged her, and Nova dove forward at his waist, smashing into him. Using every bit of strength her shoulders had, she drove him hard against the back of the cave wall. Nova jumped back as his claws slashed forward, narrowly missing the flesh of her torso. She leaned her head to the side as he launched himself for a bite, aiming for her throat as she sent a swift kick to its stomach, sending it back a few feet.
"No!" The Squyla bellowed over her shoulder, and she made the mistake of looking, finding Finch and Kyra working to untie Bran from the intricate knots.
A blur of scales, it rushed past, flinging his tail against Nova so hard she fell back. She surged to her hands and knees and hurled herself at his legs. She wrapped her arms around them, forcing him to the ground to give them a chance to escape.
And they did. She watched them help Bran out of the cave…and the Squyla turned on her. Refusing to release her grip on his legs to give him a way after them, he slammed his claws on her back and slashed across. It was like being lashed with fire.
Nova cried out, spittle spilling from her mouth as another slash came, ripping across her back in another wave of excruciating flames. Flames. She raised her head to the fire and released her grip on his legs, but before he could get to his feet, she wrapped her bulging biceps around his neck, keeping as much pressure as she could on his jaw to keep him from snapping at her as she dragged him to the fire. She couldn't get through his tough scales, couldn't wring his thick neck with her hands, so she shoved his head into the fire. Screaming through the pain as she pressed his face in, letting the heat lick up her arms and scorch her hands.
He reeled up, screaming his outrage as he moved to clamp his mouth on her arm just as Kyra approached on the opposite side of his head and shouted, "MOVE!"
Nova did, holding her injured hands to her chest as she raised the massive river rock above her head and slammed it down on Squylas' face. His screaming and thrashing ceased, leaving only the subtle twitch of his tail. Unable to handle the heat any longer, Nova jumped to her feet and rushed outside, sinking her hands into the snow as tears and drool spilled, trying to keep her cries quiet and to herself.
Shaking and shivering, she leaned down and pressed her face into the snow and tried to imagine walking through the slopes with Hollis. Picturing his face to calm her heart.
Nova startled as hands touched her shoulders. She pulled her face out of the snow to see Kyra. "It's me. It's me…" Her wide eyes filled with tears of her own. "Nova, I'm so sorry…I shouldn't have waited so long to help you. I should have…"
"You did what you were supposed to do." Nova cut her off, though her voice shook from shock. "I need you to get the eggs."
"What?" Kyra frowned and cringed. "I'd rather just hunt, Nova…"
"Not to eat." She said, saliva still dribbling from her lip as she reentered the cave, holding her hands to her chest as she passed his burning body to retrieve the abandoned eggs. "To save." She said, kneeling. Careful not to hurt the eggs or herself, she carefully placed the eggs, about the size of a goose egg, in each pocket of her jacket. With the moss and cat tail down to keep them warm.
"You can't be serious," Kyra said from behind her. "You almost died from that thing, and you want to save what it reproduces?"
Nova swallowed and faced her, straightening her back through the ache. " You can laugh at me; call me crazy. I don't care. They don't deserve to be left to die because their father protected them." Without another word, she walked past Kyra and began the trek back to camp. They didn't speak as she soon matched her slower stride.
She wasn't sure what hurt more, her injuries or the guilt of taking a life. All her training could never have prepared her for that. It didn't matter that it was for self-defense; she knew it was all she could do to survive. But the guilt was still there.
Holding snow in her hand until it melted, Nova continued picking up handfuls as they returned to camp. The back of her hands were not nearly as important as her palms, but her back…she wanted to writhe with every step. They passed Bran's camp, which was now devoid of supplies, and continued to the shelter she'd made earlier in the day.
It was the smell of fish cooking on the fire that made Nova move a little faster, stomach rumbling. She and Kyra entered the campsite and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Finch and Bran, cuddled together by the fire. If they could have held each other's hearts, Nova was sure they would have.
Bran looked up with wide eyes. "Are you both alright? I wanted to stay, I…"
"Bran," Nova frowned slightly. "You could barely walk, let alone fight. You both did the right thing to get the hell out of there. Anyway," she glanced at Kyra, "We had it taken care of."
Kyra met her eyes and swallowed her guilt before managing a small smile. "Right…"
Holding up the tin can from the cave, Finch said, in a quiet voice, "Willow tea?"
She smiled and nodded, "I might need a gallon of that." She grimaced, looking down at her hands and adjusting her shoulders.
"We need to get you cleaned up." Bran frowned. "How deep are they?"
Kyra cringed as she looked over her back. "Deep."
"I'll boil some water."
With some assistance, Nova soon lay down beneath the shelter wearing only her pants. She rested her hands above her head and settled the eggs in the circle of her arms while Kyra cleansed her back with warm water. With each wipe against her tender flesh, her muscles quivered, biting her lip to keep quiet.
While Finch and Bran ate their meals of fish, Kyra dipped her cloth in the water and sighed. "I'm sorry, Nova, for how I acted back there. I shouldn't have questioned you."
Frowning, Nova couldn't look over her shoulder, but said, "Says who?"
Kyra scoffed, "I admit you're a better warrior than I am. I just…" She pursed her lips. "Cassian put me in charge of the female Illyrians because I was the best. I just thought I knew better back there, and I didn't. Then I hesitated in what to do to help you when it mattered."
They were quiet for a long moment as Nova tried to think of a response. "We both made mistakes, you know that, right? Maybe you hesitated, but I also took the risk of trying to barter first. We both have our strengths and our limits. We just can't let it come between us. That's what's dangerous—not trusting each other. We're both tired and hungry. We're not at our best, and that's what this is all about. We see each other at our lowest so that we know there is a limit. There are times we're going to reach it, but we can at least rely on each other through it."
Nova finally glanced over her shoulder and met Kyra's tear-filled eyes. Finally, she smiled and nodded. Peering over her shoulder a little, she asked, "Are you really going to hatch those eggs?"
Nova snorted and rested her cheek against the down, closed her eyes, and tried to sleep.
Kallias pinched his brows as Hollis's sudden cry of agony filled and echoed off the palace walls. While Madja tended to his shoulder in the parlor, Wolfe and Klaus worked to adjust his broken arm. As it had been angled unnaturally and had already begun to heal, their task of rebreaking was not one for the faint of heart.
He held Viviane's hand, squeezing lightly as she flinched from the sound, but now all was quiet. Kole sat with Nieve, hugging his side by the fire. Feyre and Rhys leaned against the wall as Madja relayed Azriel and Cassian's conditions to them. Azriel was worse off, but nothing a little rest and warm liquids couldn't solve.
Madja shook her head, wrapping bandages with careful precision. "All you lot do like to keep me busy, don't you?"
Unable to help himself, Kallias chuckled as he dragged his hand down his face. "My deepest apologies." He murmured before accepting a soft kiss to his lips from his mate, closing his eyes to allow himself a moment to be thankful. They were back, and though Hollis had sustained the most injury, he was alive. He savored the soft stroke of her thumb along the angle of his jaw.
It wasn't much longer before Hollis came down the stairs. He was in nightwear with the promise to Wolfe, who followed close behind him, that he would do nothing but rest if he was allowed downstairs. Now that his arm was in its proper position, it was wrapped in a hardened binding that kept it straight, nestled in a sling that hung from around his shoulders.
They smiled as he entered, and, although exhausted, he smiled too. He was covered from head to toe with bruises, cuts, and scrapes. There were parts of his body that were swollen, which he had never known could swell. Sitting on the couch, carefully, he leaned against the pillow and shuddered a sigh.
Staring at the Nova's shell. "I think I'll stay here the rest of the time."
Kallias chuckled as Rhys took the last bowl of steaming soup from the coffee table and offered it to Hollis. "Nova is doing just fine. You should rest."
Smiling, he took a small scalding sip and nodded, but he knew he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon. Though with the warm broth now in his stomach, his body sank further into the comfort of the couch. He tried to keep his eyes open as the sun started to rise, but with the soft caress of his mother's touch against his cheek, the exhaustion he'd fought since the avalanche finally claimed him.
The morning seemed to come too soon as Nova opened her eyes with the dawn. Groaning she could hardly move with everyone piled around her. However, they were cautious not to touch her back, still wrapped in a soft cloth that would need changing, but they didn't have anything clean to change it with. It was lucky enough that Bran had a bit of fabric to begin with.
Kyra, awake and leaning against the rock with a slight frown, watched the sweat bead on Nova's brow. "We don't need to travel today. You need time to recover."
Turning her head with some effort, she realized Bran and Finch were watching her too with worried, twisted brows.
Swallowing dryly, Nova shook her head. "If we can make it to the stone, we'll all be healed. The longer we wait, the stiffer I'll feel. The worse the climb will be." It wouldn't be easy, none of it was after all, but they had to go. "This could be over by tonight if we go now. I'm ready to go home…"
Bran smiled softly and nodded. "We've got your back."
It took some time, and help from everyone, for Nova to be on her feet and prepare for the hike ahead. She hated the weight of her jacket against her wounds, cringing as Bran helped get her gloves on her red and blistered hands. Dressed and ready, she placed the eggs in her pockets for safekeeping and sat down on the log to force herself to eat something. Despite the hunger that gnawed at her belly, she didn't want to eat. Her body ached just by breathing, and she wondered if the claws of the Squyla held the same toxin as its mouth.
Eating a stew of fish broth and parts, eyeballs included, she filled her stomach for the sake of energy. She soon stood with her companions, and they abandoned the comfort of their campsite for the foreboding mountain ahead.
It took longer than Nova had wanted, but it couldn't be helped as every step she took sent radiating pain across her back. It made her want to hunch her shoulders and rest more often. Every time she stopped to regain her composure over the pain, they stopped, too. They waited patiently.
Finch approached her and offered a bit more willow bark and ginger root, smiling softly as she took it gratefully to chew. She looked up at him and nodded, returning the smile. They were battered and bruised, but they were together.
That was all that mattered.
While Bran walked ahead, Kyra and Finch walked behind, leaving Nova to walk in he middle- forming a layer of protection around her on all sides. She let herself breathe and be cared for.
Uphill through dense forest was mile after treacherous mile. They didn't stop…they couldn't stop. Pushing through the brambles, finding the path of least resistance, they continued, and Nova wondered what it must have felt like for Enalius. To draw that line and climb this mountain alone. The moment they'd mentioned the Rite at the bonfire, Nova imagined herself braving the wild, this perfect image of herself standing at the top, triumphant as she claimed her right as an Elite Warrior.
But it wasn't her right. It was a privilege. One that she was grateful not to have earned by herself. The purpose wasn't to be as courageous as Enalius, but to embody the courage he stood for. That was, after all, what made a warrior.
The will to persevere.
With many breaks and the sun beginning to set, bringing with it a harsher cold. Each step forward was small, but deliberate as they huddled close together. Keeping Nova in the center as her breaths became ragged. They climbed the steep hillfaces and crawled over the crumbling overhangs. Aiding each other as they pushed themselves to exhaustion.
Bran shoved through yet another bramble of branches, and they stumbled through to a clearing and in its center… The black stone.
They froze, staring at it in the dark. In the cold. The moon's glow on the snow was the only thing that illuminated the space. And they just stood there.
"We did it?" Kyra asked.
Nova smiled and released a shaky sigh. "We did…"
Stepping to the side, Finch gestured to the stone and smiled. "Go ahead, Starfish."
Her cheeks hurt as they stretched into a grin, through the throbbing pain of her back and the pulsing of her hands. She shook her head and took his hand. "Where we go, we go together."
Looking at Bran and Kyra, they smiled and nodded in return, careful as they took each other's hands not to hurt Nova's as they walked to the stone. As one, they kneeled before it.
"Thank you for your courage," Bran murmured, and they pressed their palms against the stone.
***
Rhysand's lips stretched into a grin as she lifted his head to address the room in wait, "They've returned to Windhaven."
***
The renewal was so sudden it took Nova's breath away. The pain she'd felt moments ago was gone, and now, instead of the top of the mountain at the stone, they stood among a crowd of the entire Illyrian population. Their cheers were thunderous. In the crowd, as if suddenly appearing, were her family, and Nova grinned.
Though they stared at her, jaws dropped to their chests.
Looking to her left, she watched Bran's new blue siphon glow to life. As did Finch's and Kyra's, both of which were red. Nova, however, looking down at her armor, her eyes widened at the collection of ten green siphons that clung to her armor, twinkling in the starlight.
She hadn't anticipated earning anything other than the Carynthian title for touching the stone, let alone ten siphons. Somehow, she'd let herself forget that she didn't need wings to be an Illyrian.
A smiling face loomed to the right of her uncles: sparkling blue eyes and a grin filled with pride and love. Nova lurched forward and in the next instant, her lips were against Hollis's, holding him as he, too, held her. Ignoring the woots in the crowd, she looked down at the arm he didn't hold her with.
Gasping, she asked, "What did you do?"
Hollis blushed bright pink. While his arm was still in its sling, his bruises had turned yellow, and his scrapes scabbed over from the days of rest by the coffee table, watching her shell. "It's a long story. I'll tell you all about it later," he grinned up at her. "You did it…I knew you would."
"You were scared to death."
"I was scared to death." He nodded with a smile and looked down at her armor. "What does green color mean?"
"Those with green siphons are adaptable to their environment," Cassian answered with a small smile, watching them with affection as Nova turned to him and glanced at Emerie, also adorned in green. "They know when to stop and when to strike. Balanced."
Balance.
Nova grinned and looked to her companions; they had moved to celebrate as well. Kole held Kyra close, examining her siphon. She wasn't sure where Finch and Bran had escaped to, but wherever it was, she hoped they were having fun and a moment of well-earned peace.
Embracing her mother, then her father, while she kept herself beside Hollis, she began to relate things that had happened emphatically. It was incredible to her that she'd felt so terrible mere minutes ago, to be now surrounded by warmth and celebration.
Hollis grinned, watching her. Listening to her describe the Banshee…he could listen to her talk for ages, even if it did send him into a bit of a panic thinking of her in those situations.
They eventually all surrounded the fire that cold morning, sitting on logs and eating their fill of eggs and bacon as Nova continued, but then she stopped, her eyes wide. "I almost forgot…"
Rhys tilted his head as they all watched her reach into her pockets and withdraw the two gray speckled eggs.
"Squyla eggs?" Azriel asked with wide eyes.
Nova pursed her lips and tucked them carefully back into her pockets. "I protected myself and my friends, but I couldn't leave them behind. It wouldn't have been right."
A small smile curved Feyre's lips. "I would have done the same thing."
This was the Nova she first met. Her daughter, who kept precious things in her pockets and fought for the safety of innocence, even if it meant risking her own. That girl had never been gone, just simply hidden under new skill and dense armor.
No, their star had never been lost, but now she shined brighter than ever.