Chapter 8

In the middle of the camp, the fire was roaring with danger. Around it were clusters of Illyrian warriors drowning themselves in the alcohol which tonight, was abundant. Lorelai sat beside the fire, a great smile plastered onto her face. Celebrations were all around her, as people danced and laughed like there were no tomorrow, it was always her favourite part of going to the camp. Every year at the peak of summer there would be a great alcohol-fueled celebration which lasts all night long. Currently, it was eleven am, the party already going on for over sixteen hours, although the people attending gradually slimming down through the night. Beside her, were the friends which she had greatly missed during her time away. Directly next to her was Katelyn, one of the fiercest warriors in the camp, and was there with Lorelai when they completed the Blood Rite last spring. They were the first females ever to do so, and Katelyn never let anyone forget it. Coming towards the females, with bottles of rum in their hands, were Arin and Zane, the thickest, most boisterous and yet strongest Illryians in nearly the whole of Prythian - even coming up close to Cassian and Azriel. When Lorelai first came to the camp, they had tag-teamed her, hoping to prove their strength. To be fair, they lasted approximately 5 seconds before they nearly got their asses drowned. Ever since then, she found herself hanging out with them, as she'd always preferred to befriend boys rather then girls. Another plus was that they were some of the only males in the camp after that to give her respect, which she greatly enjoyed. Katelyn had come into the picture a bit later on. She had arrived at Windhaven half dead from the cold after being kicked out of her old camp. The whole summer was spent with Lorelai healing her, and when she game back the next summer, the girl had begun to show immense power, and even had Cassian give her personal lessons. Eventually their little group came together, to form what Lorelai thought was her own mini-inner circle. She knew it was a while away, but when she eventually would become High Lady, she knew she wanted to keep her friends by her side, just like her father and mothers did.

"So," Zane began,"who you taking home tonight?"

"You mean this morning," Arin smugly said.

Lorelai snorted, "No one this year, I've got Cassian breathing down my neck."

"I can't believe he even stayed this long," Pondered Katelyn.

"Mmm," Lorelai agreed, "I don't like being babysat."

"Aww he's not that bad, he's pretty fun if you ask me." Arin added, glancing over to where Cassian was currently downing drinks like it was the last night of his life.

"You think that, try having him as an uncle. Everyone is so damn over protective."

Katelyn laughed. "Lore, you're gonna run this court one day, and from the amount of stunts you pull, you need an over-protective family."

"I do not pull stunts!"

"Really? Then you nearly getting killed last year in the woods after hunting down a highly dangerous monster isn't pulling a stunt?" Arin grinned.

"You also seduced Tamlin's son," added Zane.

Lorelai rolled your eyes, "Neither of you were there for any of those things, and I did not seduce him!"

"Really?" Kaitlyn challenged.

Lorelai shot daggers in her direction, "really." She took one of the bottles in Arin's hand and chugged it, swiping her long hair out of face after doing so. "Who's up for dancing?"

Zane grinned at her, and whisked her off the log she was sitting on, and towards the dancing Illyrians. A band was playing jolly music, as they danced together, laughing the entire time.

Still sitting, Arin began, "Do you wanna-"

"No." Kaityln interrupted sharply.

Arin gave a defeated look, "Why must you hurt me so, fair maiden."

"Fair maiden me one more time and I'll send your ass into that burning fire."

Arin chuckled, drinking a heft amount of the alcohol, "Always know how to make a male feel special."

Her response was a growl that rumbled through the dirt beneath them.

Lorelai turned her attention towards them, "How sweet," she smiled.

Zane barked a laugh, "That's one word for it." As they continued dancing, his facial expression changed and he said to her, "You're different this year."

Lorelai gave a blank look, "I am?"

He looked down, "You haven't had any bad days."

She stopped dancing. Holy Cauldron, she hadn't.

"You don't have to explain it or anything," he began, "it's just we've noticed that you've enjoyed yourself a bit more, not always so stuck in your thoughts. You've stayed solid throughout this entire trip and just-...we're just really proud of you Lore."

Lorelai's eyes welled up, as she pulled Zane into a massive hug, his massive 6'4 body encircling her small 5'4 one.

Many healers had come to see her over the years, all with different answers, none with any cures. Sometimes, she felt completely hollow, overwhelmed with the entire world, so much so that she can't move, barely speak. Just cry, and break apart. It happened less in Illyria then in Velaris as she was always so busy, but she couldn't keep it In forever. It always forced itself out, explosively pausing her life for however long it lasted. Not many people knew about it, as other courts could exploit it. The only people that knew were her mini inner-circle, and Alec. It had begun when she was old enough that her parents never noticed, but Alec did. When it came to his sister, Alec noticed everything. Every time it happened, he would always come rushing to the camp (Cassian luckily long gone), and spend the days or weeks with his sister, watching over her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.

Hearing those words from Zane made her rapidly blink back tears as she realised what he said was the truth. The last time it had overcome her, was over 2 months ago, a week before the Spring Court visit. Life had been so fun, so hectic - she had forgotten that it hadn't made an appearance.

Pulling out of their hug, Zane wiped her eyes. "No more sappy shit ok? Or you'll make me cry!"

"Thats a sight I don't wanna see."

They pair began laughing, when they saw Cassian coming towards them. "I'm going back to the cabin, you two have fun." Cassian winked.

Cassian loved Zane (probably because he reminded him of a younger version of himself) and always thought that him and Lorelai had some sort of secret relationship going on, even though they denied it countless times. She suspected however, that Zane would jokingly support the rumour behind her back, causing it to spread even more.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Do you think they thought we wouldn't notice that they'd gone."

Looking over at the place the group had been originally sitting, she saw that Arin and Katelyn had disappeared. Lorelai looked shocked, "How long has this been going on for?"

"On and off for the past year", Zane grumbled. "It's been hell to be around."

"I can imagine." She murmured, the idea of Arin and Katelyn together foreign to her.

Looking up, she saw Zane eying up a beautiful female dancing across the bonfire, wearing a flowing purple dress. She wasn't one of the warriors, and Lorelai hardly knew her, but she knew what was playing on his mind. Grinning she placed her hand on Zane's arm, "I'll leave you to it then."

"Was I staring that hard?"

She laughed, "Only for a bit."

As she walked away back to her cabin in the morning light, she shouted back loudly, "Be safe!" Causing Zane to turn a deep shade of red when the female he had been staring at looked their way, confused at the words.

Lorelai chuckled to herself as she reached the cabin, opening the door to see Cassian passed out on the desk. He couldn't even make it to his room - she chuckled at the thought. After she went up the creaky wooden stairs to her own room, she lept onto the bed, stretching her aching bones from the long night. As she lay, staring up at the ceiling, her thoughts turned to Brennon. She wondered how he was faring, being trapped in that prison they call a court. As she thought this, her eyes drifted towards her writing desk, and the clock which sat above it. It's eleven thirty, she thought, he should be up. Slowly walking to her writing desk, she did something she didn't think she would ever do. Hell, she didn't even know if she was authorised to do this. Tiredly picking up a pen, she began to write on a small slip of paper she ripped off. She didn't know if this was tiredness, pity, or pure selfishness doing this, but she did it anyways. She wrote:

'If you are ever looking to enhance your training, take a trip to the Illyrian mountains, it might be worth your while

- Lorelai'

After staring at it for what seemed like forever, she turned her power towards it, and it disappeared into flames, travelling across Prythian and hopefully making its way to the Spring court. It was a gamble. Lorelai had never trained across that long a distance and didn't know if he would even reply.

After changing for bed, she snuggled under the covers, hiding her face from the light shining through the windows. She would sleep the whole day, she decided; Cauldron knew she deserved it.

A/N: I think this is probably my favourite chapter I have ever written :)