Eudora made it back in time for dinner. She walked into her home sitting on top of the island's only hills and her mouth watered at the lovely scent of herbs and spices. She wasted no time to kick off her shoes bee-line to the kitchen and wrap her arms around her mothers leg.
"Hi baby.", her mother greeted and wrapped an arm around her back as she stirred a pot with the other hand. "How was the Winter Court?"
Eudora smiled, spilling about every detail from her visit. Not leaving out the incident in the river, making her laugh and then the boys playing the instruments. This in turn moves on to a tangent about how she's picked up a new found interest.
"I want to learn to play the lyre.", she says as her mother gives her a spoonful of the seasoned rice.
"Oh really?", her mother laughed.
"Mhmm", Eudora ate the spoonful and chewed through her next words, "And Father is going to teach me."
Another laugh escaped from her mother. The male of the hour comes out during the perfect time.
"I'm doing what?", he mumbled, He was fresh from the shower, his auburn hair tied up in a bun with a towel on his shoulder. He rounded the island of the kitchen and first wrapped his arms around his wife peppering her with kisses. She groaned from how he continued and Eudora giggled at their interaction.
"Lucien..", her mother stressed and pushed him off but that did nothing but encourage him further. Eudora watched with a smile as her parents bantered playfully.
She interrupted by jumping on her father's back, "You're going to teach me how to play the lyre..."
He huffed at the sudden impact, backing away from her mother. Eudora had his full attention as he adjusted her to be comfortable and held her arms that wrapped around his neck, "And what makes you think I know how to play a lyre."
"Learn.", her mother turned from the stove and cupped his face to kiss him.
"I guess i'm learning.", he said more like a trance spelled from the kiss. Eudora was thrilled by the news and cheered. She then started to explain to him about her time at the Winter court, this time including the small show she witnessed. It was only when she seemed to start another tyrant about her falling into the river was when her father interrupted her. "Princess?"
"Yes?" Eudora stopped catching her breath.
"Why don't you go clean up and you can tell me the rest during dinner."
Eudora scrambled off of her father and did as told. She came out just in time as Sage was starting to fill her plate. The family gathered around the table and fell into conversation, Eudora was elated to tell her father about the incident that landed her knee deep into the freezing pond. Finding no issue to blame the cause on Barachiel.
"It's Winter Solstice.", she started scraping the bottom of her plate for the few grains of rice left.
"It is.", Sage took the plate from her and filled it up with another serving of rice. "I assume they are celebrating already?"
"Mhmm", Eudora bounced in her seat, she was happy that her mother already knew what was going on, so her next question would not be out of range.
While she tries to get her way all the time, her one obstacle if anything is her mother. While lenient in a lot of manners, she also is strict. Her rules are miniscule but accumulate. No shoes passed the front door mat. Her bedtime is standard and it's either 'yes ma'am', or a lecture that follows if she tends to forget.
She knows it's out of love and respect, but naturally she finds it annoying at points.
"There were kids like me playing instruments.", she said before eating another heaping bowl of rice and chicken.
Lucien chuckled, "And I'm guessing one of the instruments was a lyre."
"Yes.", Eudora moved some of the hair out of her face, "I gave them a few coins because they were really good and Silas told me I should visit again. They are playing again tonight."
Sage nodded, eating a fork of roasted vegetables, "We really don't celebrate Winter Solstice baby, but... ", her and Lucien exchanged a look, "I don't mind going back to the Winter court to see your friend Silas play, i'm sure they are as good as sounds."
"That's the thing..", Eudora turned to her father and then shot a dazzled look to her mother, "They are actually playing in the Night Court, Barachiel told me."
She didn't notice the tense nature that took over Sage's movements, freezing entirely over her plate. Eudora instead continued just as excited as when Barachiel first told her.
"Apparently it's supposed to be a secret but it's in the city of Vlari-.Valry-.', she tried the pronunciation a couple of times, giving up on the third but looked over to finally see the frown soccum her mothers face.
"Mother?"Eudora saw her jaw tighten as she set her utensils down. Sage heaved a deep breath.
Eudora has yet to be exposed to all of the courts in the land she calls home. The land that her mother holds in the palm of her hands. She can control the weather, bend the grass, and grow trees in the blink of an eye. She's seen her mother do extravagant things and she knows there is more to know.
The only courts she's visited outside of the Winter and Summer, is Autumn. Lucien promised her one day to go to the Spring court to meet the High Lord of Spring's child but that is as far as she's come.
Eudora never stepped foot in a solar court and thought she figured in no time it'd come. She's heard plenty of Day and Dawn coming from her parents' mouths. About the High Lords and meetings. Nothing hostile about the conversations and she's read about the lands. How the terrain is different and they actually have a cycle. A period of time when the moon shines above the land and then fades into day.
It's foreign to her, just as much as the Night Court is something she hardly knows much of. Not about their High Lord or even the first High Lady to ever be appointed. Eudora only gathered that much information from Varian who was speaking with her grandfather at the army camps.
She's love to meet a High Lady, though she understands her mother's powers exceed them all, the fact that there's only one High Lady says something in itself.
Eudora glances over to her father to see if it was her pronunciation that wavered her mother's attitude. Just to see that he was in a somewhat similar trance. But instead of being tense because of what she said, he seemed to feed off the energy Sage had.
"Mother?", Eudora asked softly, "Silas's brother told me it was a secret, was I not supposed to-."
"No you were not.", she interrupted. And that gentle tone that Eudora is so used to was washed away in an instant. Sage continued back to eating, a little stiff with her movements.
Eudora shoots back over to her father, confused, "Have I done something wrong?"
Giving her a smile to make up for the lack of one her mother has, Lucien sighed, "I can take you to the Winter Court later ok?"
But that's not what she wanted. Eudora scrunched her dark eyebrows and shook her head, "But I want to see Silas."
"I understand that princess, I do, maybe we can catch them before they leave."
"But-."
"Eudora.", Sage's voice was not loud, but that didn't take away from the final tone. Eudora's only ever heard that tone once. It was after she stayed up all night to practice her powers. The rules intertwined with her staying up past her bedtime and using her powers with no guidance caused for another verbal lecture. She looked up to meet her mother's eyes and they were just as final as her words.
"Yes ma'am sorry.", Eudora said sorry and looked down at her plate. She didn't have the energy to scrap the few grains of rice left over this time and instead wished for her night to be over.
As dinner was finished Eudora watched as her parents took to the kitchen to talk privately. It took her a few seconds to lose her self control and venture around to peek her head around the wall separating the dining room and kitchen.
"Lucien, I don't care.", Sage put the dishes in the sink. Eudora watched her mother turn and immediately tucked away behind the wall fearing she would be caught.
"Come here...", Lucien called softly and Eudora peered around just in time to see her father wrap his arms around her mother, "You weren't going to be able to hide it from her forever. She's too curious for that."
Sage buried her head into Lucien's chest and sighed, "We agreed. She's not allowed to go there."
"Nesta was willing to watch over her. She'd have Asteria."
The sound of her Aunt's name chimed in her ears. Eudora moved her thick hair to give breathing room for her pointed ears. Her Aunt Nesta comes over periodically, bringing her cousin. While she knows they aren't blood related, Nesta is exactly that to her. When Nesta is around, her mother is lenient with a lot of her once strict rules.
She's allowed to stay up past her bedtime, she can practice her powers, and Nesta is one of the few fully trained female soldiers that she looks up to. The pool of female soldiers is so small besides her mother and Nesta, there is hardly anyone she can go by.
And Asteria is more like a big sister than a cousin. Everytime she is around there is never a dull moment and every time she leaves she dreads it. They write each other letters frequently, but now that they were mentioned, Eudora realized she doesn't know where they reside. She's never thought to ask, more focused on enjoying their company before they leave.
Now Eudora has a clue. The Night Court. Her aunt and cousin form a realm foreign to her. To most fae apparently as the two brothers were reluctant to give away where they will perform.
As she continued to listen to her parents, Eudora didn't look over the sadness that sparked in her mother's voice. As if it pains her to keep something a secret.
"I don't want her in the Night Court.", Sage repeated.
"I know me either.", Lucien whispered into her hair and kissed her temple, "It's going to be okay, she's just curious."
"That's the problem...", Eudora fled behind the corner again as she noticed her mother looking over her shoulder. And suddenly the conversation became silent. Eudora knew she was caught but she still waits at the corner for either one of them to ask her pending questions.
It's a few minutes before soft taps came around the corner and the next thing she knew, Eudora was lifted off her feet, her father carrying her to her room.
"You being a spy?", Lucien settled her down on her bed and tickled her.
Eudora fell back on the bed giggling till she couldn't breathe. As she settled down, she got up and sat on her knees, "Is mother okay?"
Lucien sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Your mother had a bad experience with the Night Court. She wishes to keep you safe as I do."
Eudora wanted to know more, now more curious than ever. Her mother is tough, one of the toughest faces she knows but the Night Court being the one thing that dampens her mood makes her question if she wants to continue her curiosity out of spite.
"But that doesn't matter", her father says and gestures towards her bathing room, "Get dressed, I'll take you to the Winter Court for Solstice."
"Yay!"Eudora scrambles from her bed and straight to the bathing room. Built in is a closet that she rummaged through for something to wear. She thought back to all of the winter court members and their attire and picked out a white dress that her mother sewed for her last month. Perfect timing as well. She matched it with flat silver white shoes and came out.
Eudora's fashion sense came from Asteria. From being used as a doll by her cousin to having fashion shows for their parents, she's picked up a lot from Asteria and loves to dress up.
"Well, look at you.", her father smiles and holds out a hand, "A true princess."
Eudora giggled and held his hand to pull out. She catches her mom just in time before rounding the corner as she continues to clean the table.
"Mother! Look..."
Sage stops and turns around. The frown from earlier is long gone, replaced with a small smile and tilt of her head, "You look beautiful."
"Thank you!", Eudora runs over to her and tugs at her mothers shirt, "Can you do my hair?"
"Of course." Sage settles the bowls down and Eudora all takes her position on the floor in front of the couch. She sits between her mothers leg as she braids her long staring into a crown crossing her head.
She feels the soft kiss on her mother on her forehead and immediately all her worries are gone.
"Enjoy Solstice baby.", she whispers and with a hug goodbye, Eudora and her father go to the Winter Court.
Maybe next year she can go to the Night Court.