Estelle reached the River Estate shortly. She passed through the wards and entered the house. Rhys, Lysander, and Corbin were already in the main entryway. Rhys hugged Feyre tightly, then turned, hearing Estelle approach.
"Devlon mentioned you would be home soon and that you wanted to see me," Estelle explained.
Rhys nodded. "Lys, Corbin, you can go."
"Celeste seemed to miss you," Estelle snickered as Lysander passed by. He grinned and chased Corbin out the door.
"We can talk in here," Feyre said, pointing to a sitting room. They entered and Estelle took a seat. "Is the next group of Illyrians ready for the exchange?"
Estelle nodded. "I discussed it with Devlon and Jorah this morning."
It was hard to believe that four weeks, an entire month, had already gone by. A wave of homesickness crashed through Estelle. She hadn't been home for very long and already she'd be leaving again. This change was still going to take some getting used to, apparently.
Feyre smiled. "You're taking a lot of initiative with this."
"Why wouldn't I? It's my responsibility." Feyre merely inclined her head.
"Is training going well? Nyx has told me that the Peregryns and Illyrians seem to get along for the most part," Rhys said.
"Training is fine. We're all warriors, keen on expanding our abilities. The Peregryns are more excited about it than the Illyrians, but no one has caused trouble so far."
"And have you made any progress improving things with Mikael?" Rhys arched an eyebrow.
Estelle lifted her chin proudly. "Yes. We officially apologized to each other last night, in fact."
Feyre shot Rhys a smug look. "I told you making them share a room would help."
Estelle rolled her eyes. "Of course you were the one who decided that."
"Yes, well done, Feyre Darling," Rhys chuckled. "And I'm glad you apologized, Estelle. Try to avoid any future arguments from now on."
"I'll try, but I make no promises. He's surprisingly infuriating."
"Most males are," Feyre sighed in amusement. "There's no need for you to return to Windhaven today. You should go see Ser and Az."
"I will," Estelle promised. She bowed her head to them and left the room.
Estelle let the shadows carry her away from the estate and to her own home once she was past the wards. She arrived outside the townhouse with a smile. She entered, but saw no one downstairs. Estelle mounted the winding staircase and spotted Lysander sprawled across his bed. She ignored him and continued to her mother's art studio.
Estelle nudged the door open quietly. Seren hummed while she worked. She was painting a portrait of Lysander. Estelle let her eyes wander over the paintings that already lined the walls of the studio.
Several of them had been painted before she was born, but many more came after. There were paintings of her as a baby, and Lysander too. There were paintings of gardens, the stars and mountains, and the hidden valley. There was a painting of a flaming fist, and shadows and embers. There was a hand reaching out of a tumultuous sea.
Estelle smirked, spying several paintings along the floorboards. Those paintings faced the walls, which meant they were paintings of Azriel. Likely inappropriate ones, hence why they were turned around. Her mother liked to hang those paintings elsewhere.
Estelle returned her focus to the paintings on the wall. Some of them belonged to her and Lysander. Lysander had more of a natural talent, like Seren, while Estelle only ever painted using her fingers. She just smeared the paint around until she liked what she saw. Lysander could spend months perfecting a painting. Several of his unfinished pieces rested in a corner.
Seren glanced over her shoulder and smiled brightly. "I was beginning to think we'd have to come to Windhaven to see you before you left again."
"Not this time," Estelle replied. She entered the studio and pulled up a stool beside Seren's.
"Are you all right? Azriel woke up last night because the shadows were worried about you again." Seren leaned over, brushing her thumb across Estelle's cheek.
"I'm fine."
"Did something happen?"
Estelle hesitated, recalling Mikael's words. They're your parents. You shouldn't keep this from them. She pushed his voice back into the corner of her mind. They don't need to worry about me more than they already do, she thought.
"I ran into some trouble, but Mikael helped me out of it," Estelle explained. "I'm all right. Everything is fine."
Seren studied her intently, then nodded. "Can you stay long or do you have to go back to Windhaven? Azriel is visiting another war camp with Cassian."
"Feyre said I don't need to go back. I'll spend the night here and go early tomorrow morning, before the exchange." She still had to look for her weapons, after all.
"Then you should paint with me. We haven't done that together in a while."
"All right." Estelle grabbed a blank canvas and set it up on an easel.
She shrugged out of her leathers. Paint wasn't difficult to wash out of them, but she didn't want to bother with the hassle. She didn't mind if her jumpsuit was covered in paint though. Estelle selected a few colors and blotted them onto the canvas. She began to smear around brown paint, forming the shape of a body. She moved on to shades of white and gold after that. Estelle used her nails to form the individual shapes of feathers.
Seren set her brush down and watched. "Is that a Peregryn?" She asked presently.
Estelle nodded, still painting. She rubbed soft blue paint into the outer sides of the canvas. "One of my shadows went missing for a while. I found it last night."
"Where had it gone?" Seren raised an eyebrow.
"It's with Mikael. It's been with him since my first week in the Dawn Court." Estelle narrowed her eyes. "None of the shadows have done something like that before." She paused, meeting her mother's amber gaze. "Do you think it means something?"
Seren pursed her lips. "Have they given him nicknames or said anything about him?"
Estelle resumed painting, the tips of her ears growing warm. "They've given him nicknames."
"And?"
"Sometimes they say he's handsome."
"Oh?" She heard the note of humor in Seren's voice. She knew her mother was smirking.
"They've been counting points as well."
"Points for what?"
"They say it's our marks of progress towards getting along, but it really just feels like they're just scoring our insults and comebacks."
The Prince of Sunrises is in the lead, the shadows laughed in response.
"What are the nicknames they've given him?" Estelle didn't reply. Seren picked up her brush and added a few strokes to Lysander's hair. "Your father's shadows have nicknames for me. Lady of Ashes. The Shadow's Flame. The Illyrian Dragon. They call you Little Bat. Before you were born, they called you the Ember."
"What do they call Lys?" Estelle asked.
"Little Dragon." Estelle swirled golden paint around the head of her Peregryn as Seren continued. "Maybe you should ask Azriel what it means."
"Don't you know?"
"Yes, but he could explain it better."
"All right. I'll ask him later."
"Ask me what?"
They both looked back as Azriel appeared in the doorway. Lysander hovered behind him. There was no way Estelle was mentioning this in front of her little brother. He would tell Corbin and Nyx whatever he found out before she had a chance to stop him.
"Nothing important," Estelle replied. "What do you think of my painting?"
"I thought you didn't like feathered wings. You called them disgusting," Lysander laughed. Estelle rolled her eyes and swatted at her brother. He ducked, but not before she left a white handprint on his arm. "Hey!" Lysander dragged his hand through a puddle of yellow paint on a palette. Estelle shrieked and dove behind the canvases.
"Watch the paintings!" Seren hollered. Azriel's siphons glowed blue as he wrapped shields around them. Seren gave him a grateful smile, then screeched when he dabbed golden paint on the tip of her nose.
Lysander grabbed Estelle around the waist and lifted her off the ground. She kicked his shin and he began slapping his hand across her forehead. "Lys!" Estelle laughed.
He dropped her and she grabbed a tube of red paint. Estelle uncapped it and ran after Lysander as he bolted from the room. The shadows grabbed him by the arms and held him still.
"That's not fair!" Lysander exclaimed as she squirted the red paint into his hair. "I'll never wash it out."
The shadows released him and Lysander tackled her to the ground. Estelle could hardly breathe between laughing and trying to close her mouth as Lysander shook his head, flinging paint onto her face.
They paused, hearing a yelp. Azriel ducked out of the studio, carrying Seren. She was drenched in green paint and smacking a yellow fist against Azriel's chest.
"I am not cleaning up that mess!" Seren gasped.
"Here, Kids."
"Azriel, don't you dare!"
She attempted to leap out of his arms, but Lysander and Estelle were already there. Seren laughed and screamed while they smeared a variety of paints onto her and Azriel. The painting ceased when they were all out of breath from laughter.
Azriel set Seren down, ignoring her thoroughly joking lecture. She took Lysander by the arm, dragging him off to find soap and water. Azriel turned to Estelle and laughed, tweaking her nose.
Estelle grinned, throwing her arms around him. Azriel hugged her back, stroking her short curly hair. It was going to take at least an hour to wash all of the paint out of it.
"The shadows were worried about you again last night," he said. "Was everything all right?"
Estelle nodded. "I just ran into a little bit of trouble. Mikael helped me take care of it. I'm all right."
"Are you two getting along now?"
"We're starting to. We apologized and haven't been arguing lately." Estelle bit her lip, then added, "I need to talk to you about something later though. Mom thought it was something you'd be better at explaining."
Azriel knit his brows. "All right?" He began to pull away, but Estelle tightened her embrace. Azriel smiled with a contented sigh. Estelle didn't let go until she heard Seren and Lysander's footsteps against the stairs. Azriel rested his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Little Bat. We'd better go help clean up."
He chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eye, and added, "You'd better hope you don't have to turn around any of the paintings on the floor. Seren will be very unhappy if paint got onto those, and you'll be very unhappy if you have to see them."
"Ugh. I'm sure you've been enjoying how quiet the house is lately."
"Yes and no," he laughed.
"Gross, Dad. I didn't need an answer." She smiled regardless. Seren and Lysander appeared, carrying buckets of soapy water. Estelle joined her brother and returned to the art studio.