A Surface of Pressure and Burden

Chapter 15: Some Sisters of Arriving and Departing

So...the trials were done, right? I pushed through the partying crowd after Rhysand, who was headed for his dressing room. He had one of the small, flat crystal devices all the faeries seemed to have and it was beeping and chiming at a frantic rate.

"The drama never ends," he sighed to himself and started taking off his stage makeup in a weary way. "Nesta? Is that you?" He waved his hand and chanted softly in a strange language. To my joy, I appeared at last! But to my surprise, seven other ladies also appeared!

"What's this?" Rhysand chuckled. The ladies were dressed in comfortable traveling clothes, sensible shoes, and an over-the-top array of Cowscross gear: pins, patches, hats, scarves, sashes. They all had large wire-rimmed glasses and unruly chestnut hair that they had each styled in a different fashion (I'm embarrassed to admit that for the longest time this was the only way I could tell them apart!).

"We're here for Nesta!" French Braid burst out.

"We realized the Will at Cowscross was a changeling!" cried Ponytail.

"When we finally let him get a word in edgewise," added Messy Bun.

"So we tracked down the real Will," said Pixie Cut.

"We tried to rescue him from Oberon House," said Beach Waves.

"But we couldn't get past the magic spells on the windows," said Pigtails.

"But he saw us at the windows and used sign language to tell us what happened to you, and that we should go save you and then come back for him later," Bangs finished up breathlessly.

So these were Will's seven sisters who had passive-aggressively baked their way into Cowscross! Suddenly the fact that I was about to get out of Prythian and see Will again hit me like a wave of pure joy.

"Let me guess," I said, "You met a greenish-blue faerie in the woods near Oberon House who offered you an invisibility spell and helped you sneak Over the Wall?"

"Exactly!" French Braid answered.

"We honestly should have known better, but we realized too late we didn't know how to get out of the spell," said Ponytail.

"Thankfully," said Messy Bun, "I had this OcuCrystal I bought at a shop near Cowscross, which allowed us to see you! And everyone doubted me when I bought this." She waved a blue crystal that hung on a leather loop around her neck.

"But now that Rhysand saved the day," (seven adoring looks shot in his direction) "we can finally get out of here!" Pixie Cut said. "Nesta, get Feyre and let's go! We can check on your dad and Elain, regroup, and figure out how to rescue Will."

Feyre - of course. I took the thought about how easily she'd stabbed two faeries today and shoved it into my mental box of Trauma to Deal With Later. "I'll be right back!" I called, heading out to the throne room. Behind me, I heard several of the sisters eagerly asking Rhysand about his workout routine.

The throne room was a chaotic mixture of faeries still partying and others breaking down the giant throne and dais and starting to clean everything up. It took me a few minutes to locate Feyre - she was standing in the corner muttering something to herself about painting.

"Feyre!" I cried, running up to her. "It's me, Nesta, I've been here the whole time, I've come to save you!"

Feyre stared at me in shock. "Nesta - wow - I can't believe it's you!"

I gave her a giant hug which she slithered out of.

Where to begin? "First of all, great news, Clare Beddor didn't actually die. It was all fake, it was part of the show. I hope the faerie from today will be OK but-"

"Wow," Feyre said, backing away. "So you're not even going to ask how I am."

"But I know how you are," I explained. "I've been here Under the Mountain, the entire time! I've been invisible, but I never left your side. I've-"

"So you couldn't even let me have this one thing," Feyre snapped. "You had to come in here and make it all about your stupid drama. How dare you judge me, by the way."

"Feyre, I came to save you-" I started, but was interrupted by Tamlin, pulling up across the throne room in a carriage with "Nama'stay at the Spring Court" emblazoned on the side.

"Babe, let's go!" he shouted. "It's time to start Our Happily Ever After! Pilot episode dropping next Tuesday on Prythian Plus," he added with a quick glance at the camera-fae.

"You got it, babe," Feyre chirped, "I'm ready to go, I don't have any other clothes to pack because I'm not the type of girl who worries about that stuff."

"Where we're going, babe, you won't need clothes. Ay-yo!" Tamlin shouted.

"Feyre, wait," I stammered, "You're going with him? Like - forever?"

"Duh," said Feyre. "We're in love. Tell Dad & Elain I said hi, K?"

"After what he did to you? To our family? Haven't you seen how little the faeries think of human beings? And let's not forget, you just stabbed two of them-"

"Um, Tamlin thinks of me all the time, so I don't know why you're trying to make it all about you," said Feyre. "Jealous much?"

"Fiery cauldrons, Feyre, it's not about that -"

"Nesta," Feyre interrupted, looking into my eyes and doing that thing she used to do back home where she would talk to me like a very small child, "There's nothing for me back in the village. And there never was." With that, she hopped up into the carriage. "Let's go, babe!"

"One sec, babe," said Tamlin, hopping out, "let me say goodbye to Big Sis." He closed the door, cutting off Feyre's patented sigh + eyeroll combination.

I couldn't hold it back any longer - I collapsed onto the ground in a puddle of tears. What had it all been for - the journey, the imprisonment, leaving Elain and Dad to fend for themselves, the spell, the risks - when in the end it was all for someone who couldn't be helped and wouldn't be rescued? Not to mention that as exasperating as Feyre could be, she was still my sister, and I would probably never see her again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Nesta, chill with the drama for a sec, OK?" Tamlin said. "Cauldrons, dude, how selfish are you? It's like you're not even happy for your sister."

"Please send her back Over the Wall," I begged.

"See, that's the problem here," Tamlin said, his menacing bulk towering over me. "Look, I don't care what those assholes say on Faecebook about me and Lucien or me and Rhysand or what they think happened the night we all went to the Fyre Festival or what they think they saw in the dressing room or the at the afterparty or in the wine cellar - Fey is Bae, OK? So if I ever see your stupid fat face in Prythian again trying to drag her back to your ass-crack of a world, you're gonna regret it. Got it, bitch?"

"I - yes - OK," I stammered.

"Good," said Tamlin. "This is me and Feyre's story, and you don't matter in it. Now get the courts out of here." He opened the door and slid back into the carriage. "Babe, let's blow this Prythsicle stand!"

And with a blast of music, the carriage shot away, and they were gone.