Crossing Boundaries

Chapter 38 (End)

Arrowan

I was surprised Luin didn't ask more questions about where I was going; but then again, he had to have a lot on his mind right now.

I could see his mother in him. They both had long faces with wide eyes and soft cheekbones. Her eyebrows arched like his did, and she matched him for height.

Their reunion, that had been a lot of what Luin and I were working for when we signed on to help with the war, so of course I had known it was a possibility... but I don't think I ever really believed it might happen. It was a gift, that she had been able to come to Luin like this, but it opened up so many questions. The most important one – and the one I was on my way to answer now – was how had we not known about this?

Triandra had said the banishment being lifted from excommunicated Seelie was announced yesterday morning. Luin and I hadn't left the hospital until the afternoon. So, why hadn't we been told about it? Maybe the details were still being worked out then, and our side had been waiting for everything to be finalized before they started telling everyone. I hoped that was the reason.

It took longer to get to the portal than usual since I didn't have Luin to teleport me there. Instead, I jumped through the mirror in Glenna and Safiya's shop and came out in the brightly-lit lake about a quarter-mile from the portal to Faerie. Thankfully, all portals to Faerie were located near something Unseelie could use to travel through.

I walked into the hospital nearly half an hour later and found that it was even busier than normal. Uraia was in the office and the look of pure relief on his face when he saw me had my stomach twisting in foreboding.

"Thank goodness you're back, Arrowan! This place has been a madhouse today," he said. "There are already a few patients in your exam room, since we had nowhere else for them to go. So-"

"Hang on!" I cut in. "I'm not here to work. Luin and I are taking today off."

"But-" Uraia cut himself off this time and frowned at me. Maybe he realized it wasn't his place to tell me I couldn't take my first day off in over a month. "Then why are you here?"

"I heard about the Seelie banishments being lifted and wanted to learn more." I watched his expression closely. It was possible everyone here had been told yesterday after Luin and I left. Maybe the leaders on our side didn't want to distract anyone from their work before all of our patients had been seen to.

Uraia's look of bafflement didn't bode well. "What are you talking about?"

Oh, boy. So hospital workers hadn't been notified yet. I couldn't think of any acceptable reason that might be. "Let me learn more and I'll get back to you, okay?"

I could see that Uraia wanted to argue, but he bit his lip and shook his head. "Alright. I need to get back to work."

Uraia went into my exam room and called forward one of the waiting fae. I left the hospital after that, begrudgingly accepting that this was not the place to find answers.

The next place to try was the amphitheater, which was still being used as our militia headquarters. Ninian, the Seelie who handled my and Luin's sign-up, was there. She looked just as cheerful as when we first met, at least until I said, "Why weren't we told about the treaty?"

Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled me aside. "We were waiting to make it public," she said. "It's just... there's some speculation that there might be defectors if people knew we already got what we wanted. And one of the conditions of the treaty is that we have to help the Seelie in their fight. It'll all fall apart if we don't hold up our end."

Her eyes skirted away from mine and she looked strangely apologetic. It took me longer than it should have to realize that she was feeling awkward because I was Unseelie. The signing of the treaty meant that, rather than fighting against both sides, our forces would be targeting just one.