Dawn Court

Chapter 1: The Third

A/N: this story follows the inner circle as they meet the rest of the dawn court

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being the Third in Command for the Dawn Court isn't always easy. Especially when there is a High Lord meeting and the High Lords bring their whole court. This, unfortunately, was the case for Alba Forester. She was expecting today to be a normal High Lord meeting and she could relax all day, but no, she had to have a meeting with the other Thirds and have a lunch with them.

Walking down the halls of the Dawn Court's castle, Alba was preparing what she would say for any conversation that would arise and also planning where in the meeting hall she should sit. She was hoping that nobody really talked to her and she didnt have to answer that many questions.

"Alba!" a familiar voice rang through the halls and she looked up to see her High Lord, Thesan standing in the middle of the Hallway.

"Yes?" Alba asked. Hopefully it was nothing and she could answer whatever he needed to say in a couple of seconds because the guests would be arriving any minute now.

"Have you seen my tunic that's orange with light pink accents? Its my favorite one and I would like to wear it Today." He asks. Alba lets out a sigh of relief and tells him that it's in the room where they keep all of their freshly done laundry. He thanks her and she resumes walking downstairs. Already downstairs is the Second, Arc, and he looks extremely nervous.

"What's bothering you Arc?" Alba asks. He jumps at the sound of her voice before he takes a deep breath and turns to her.

"What do you mean? I'm fine." He says and she gives him a look. "Okay, I'm a little nervous about meeting with the Night Court's Second." Alba shivers as the stories they've both heard about Amren come back.

"A little? You jumped higher than I've ever seen you jump before and that was around me." She says.

"You'd be nervous to if you had to meet with her! I'm jealous, you get to have a meeting with the Morrigan" Arc says. It was true, Alba was meeting with the Morrigan. They had once met briefly during a visit to the Night Court and ever since Alba has has a secret crush on the Night Court's Third in Command.

"I wouldn't get too jealous, Vaily might get mad." She teased and watched her friend's expression soften at the mention of his mate and wife.

"It's nice to see that you two aren't arguing for once." Thesan said with a smile as he rounded the corner, wearing the orange with light pink tunic. He stood beside then and said "It seems that it will only be us three greeting our guests. Salica and Mard are already in their meeting halls preparing their own things and Landra is probably in the library again."

Alba was about to comment when they heard wings flapping and voices laughing. She looked through the open doors and when she blinked she say six people, some being put down by their winged companion, standing there. The six strangers turn and start walking towards her and her companions. They reached the front step and Alba could finally get a good look at each of them.

The two she immediately recognize are the High Lord and Lady, both have wings and have their hands clasped together. Two others have wings, one with long hair and a playful smirk and the other has shorter hair and seems to be wrapped in shadows. Alba feels Arc's breath hitch as they both land their gaze on the Second. She's shorter than Alba but twice as intimidating. The last person in the group, the one she would be having her meeting with later, was in her signature red dress.

"Thesan! It's good to see you again!" The High Lord, Rhysand, says as he walks close enough to shake her High Lord's hand.

"It's good to see you too." Thesan says with a smile before turning to Alba and Arc. "This is my second, Arcker, and my third, Alba."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Arc says while Alba just waves at the people standing before them.

"Of course, it's a pleasure to meet you two as well." The High Lady, Feyre Archeon, says before turning to her own companions. She points to the two winged ones first. "This is Cassian, our Commander of Armies," she says gesturing to the one with longer hair who winks at them. "This is Azriel, our Spymaster," she states pointing at the one who seemed to be surrounded by shadows. He offered a nod of his head and Alba and Arc nodded back. "And of course you know our Second and Third from your visits a couple months ago." She finishes.

Amren turns and stares at Arc until he starts sweating. The Second chuckles and turns to face Alba's High Lord. The Morrigan turns to look at her, and this time it was Alba's turn for her breath to hitch.

The Third stuck out her hand and said "Hi, I'm Mor. I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other today." Alba gulped and shook her hand.

"Well, make yourselves at home and if you need anything before the rest of the Courts show up, we'll be down here greeting people." Thesan says. "Oh, and before I forget, Cassian please don't destroy any of my buildings." That earned a laugh from everyone before the members of the Night Court headed upstairs.

Alba turned around to watch them go and saw the Third-in-Command looking right back at her. The Morrigan smiled at Alba and she felt butterflies in her stomach. Maybe today won't be such a bad day.