All characters belong to Sarah J Maas, excepting my original characters. I thank her for creating such a wonderful world to run away to for a little while.

After my talk with Eilidh, my mind was overthinking far too much, dwelling on her words about Ailean. When my mind wandered I had one thing that never failed to settle me; sewing. It was what I'd grown up with, always helping my father finish his commissions and I found focusing my hands let my mind rest for a while.

I headed down the corridor, to one of the smaller rooms outfitted with multiple armchairs and benches that I knew to accommodate a team of humans and fae alike who were utilising their skills to mend, repair and create linens, furnishings and other useful things for both the village and the manor. They were led by Elda, the other human who sat on Tamlin's council. As I entered the room it immediately felt cosy and safe, with children sitting on their mother's laps, taking in the heat of the fire as they worked and talked. I stopped short, second guessing myself and feeling like I may be intruding, but Elda noticed me and ushered me over to where she sat, at the centre of it all.

'Wishing to help, dear?', her voice was warm and full of kindness,

'if I'm not imposing, yes I'd like to,' she smiled at me, her face wrinkling as the corners of her mouth lifted; this woman had lived a full life. She directed me over to a table in the corner lined with fabric and threads, organised neatly into piles that designated each project to be completed. Standing next to it, creating and handing out the piles, was a lesser fae. A male, tall and wiry, his skin a tawny brown with lychens and other mosses crawling up his limbs, fashioning themselves into a form of clothing. His long hair was formed of branches, full of leaves, like a weeping willow personified. His hands moved quickly and with that grace that only fae possessed. He turned to look at me, softly smiling, yet sorrowful too. I returned his look before speaking,

'Might I take a project to the library with me? I still have some research to do but I'd like to be stitching while I do it, if you don't mind,' I made sure to keep kindness in my voice, letting him know that I didn't mean to impose, only to help. The smile reached his eyes more now, and he moved his hands across the piles in front of him, settling on a small pile of fabric cut neatly into the pieces of a shirt with a set of threads that matched its khaki green colour. He gestured to me and I nodded, letting him know that would be fine. He then moved across to where the needles sat, picking up a few and sitting them in his palm so I could look,

'I think this one would be just fine,' I said, picking up one a similar size to the ones I used at home,

'You wouldn't happen to have any thimbles lying around would you?' I then asked, he smiled and reached into a pocket of the apron he wore, pulling out an array of thimbles carefully crafted from what appeared to be leaves. I reached to look at them but he stopped me, putting one finger of his other hand up; I found myself smiling now too. He looked down, picking out the thimbles one at a time and scrutinising them, the expressions on his face changing as he compared them. As he did I was impressed at just how much emotion he could show simply from his face and gestures, wondering if he had always been speechless or if this was a by-product of the Spring Courts' fall from grace. He finally settled on one, an off white piece that he placed in my palm, holding it there for a second, scrutinising me now before he smiled even wider than before and certified his decision with an approving nod. I smiled and thanked him, feeling as though he had seen far deeper into my soul and making his decision on things even I didn't know about myself. I thanked him again, taking my work and thimble, moving back through the room and saying goodbye to Elda. As I walked toward the library I looked more closely at the thimble, feeling its silky softness and noticing how remarkably it had been sewn together. As I inspected it I realised this particular one had been made of petals, rose petals if I was correct. I smiled down at it, feeling as though I had been gifted a unique treasure.

I ventured to the library, seating myself among the stacks and near the fire that sat along one of the walls. The shirts I had been given to sew were simple and something I had prepared many times for my father, so I allowed myself to find some of the books I had fallen asleep reading before, setting them up in front of me so that I might sew and read at the same time. I set to work, settling into the usual rhythms of my sewing and happy to be maintaining something of my home and my father. I continued with one of the books from before, The Great Continent; Prythian, The Mortal Realms and their History. I had started reading it before, looking at the maps and the dividing lines between the seven courts before coming onto chapters about each individual court. I had just finished the section on the Autumn Court, with its flame haired and fire hearted people, and was preparing to move onto Winter when a piece of folded parchment fell from within the pages. I looked around, checking no one was spying on me, before reaching down to pick it up. Unfolding the page, I saw scrawled notes, most of which I couldn't decipher, but I could make out a few words; 'a part of each court', 'the making of each peoples', '…something lost, something found?' And other equally mystifying thoughts. These notes were clearly someone else's who had been researching the same subject as me, Enoch? Carrigan? Perhaps even the High Lord himself. I tucked them back into the book, saving them for later so that I might compare my own thoughts with them.

I carried on reading as I began to hem the shirts, having sewn them together within a few hours, something my father would no doubt have been proud of. I was happily continuing with my work, lost in it, when the door to the library opened. Enoch entered, walking over to me,

'If you're free, Tamlin has called his council to meet,' I put down my work, marking my page in the book and making sure to keep my needle somewhere safe.

'Of course, now?' Enoch nodded in affirmation, walking back over to the door and holding it open for me.

'Thank you,' I gave him a little bow as I walked through, to which he laughed.

'you needn't bow to me little one, save that for the High Lords, though I do appreciate your manners,' I smiled at him as he spoke, though a spark of sadness appeared in my heart and him calling me little one, something my father had often referred to me as in my childhood. Enoch seemed to notice and took my arm after closing the library door, leading me onwards. We walked in a comfortable silence towards the council room, Enoch once again opening the door and holding it for me as we entered, I stopped myself before giving him a little bow once again and we smiled at each other as I moved past, walking once again to the seat at Tamlin's left hand side. The High Lord himself was not yet present, but most other members of the council were already there, including both Elda and Bearnard. As Enoch took his seat, the door opened again, Faolan first with Tamlin behind him. The others all stood as he entered and so I followed suit; Faolan walked around the table, pulling out the High Lord's seat. Tamlin sat, then gesturing to the rest of us to do so too. I shuffled in my seat, wary at being close to the High Lord after the training session this morning, who clearly felt somewhat the same, though at this point terse and awkwardness in the presence of others appeared to be entirely natural to him. As everyone settled down, I reaffirmed my thoughts from earlier that I should wait for Tamlin to tell me about his past himself, yet there was intrigue there, that a human girl had affected him and his court so.

Carrigan called the room's attention to him, clearing his throat and placing papers down on the table in front of him,

'now the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the further preparations for the visit of High Lord Summer and his court; as you know we were able to delay them a little in order to get our rebuilding progressed further and thankfully the Summer Court agreed,' he looked around the room expectantly, ending with his gaze upon Tamlin, who nodded for him to continue,

'Since then we have indeed progressed, at a rapid pace in fact, with Bearnard reporting he expects both the mill and some of the houses to be ready before the end of the week,' Bearnard himself looks incredibly proud of this achievement, and possibly as though he would like to say something, yet Carrigan continues,

'With this it is of course assumed we stand in good stead to show the best of our court to Summer; with the assistance of other members of the council we have only final arrangements in relation to the hospitality for the visit, though that we can organise later,' The room nods along,

'Ivar, I believe you have an update to give us on the training of the new guards, Fae and Human alike,' all eyes turn to the pale haired brother, stoic still, he raises from his chair and almost directly addresses Tamlin,

'My Lord, many of the warriors we currently have training have recently reported the returning of some of their powers, lost when we lost favour in the war with Hybern. ' Tamlin visibly withdraws, stiffening in his seat at the mention of the war, yet Ivar continues,

'In recent days they've mentioned some of their ability to transform returning, and some of the lesser fae regaining their link to their natural homes, whether it be the water, earth, trees etc., As you can imagine it has increased confidence in their abilities and the court as a whole, so much so that I would like to formally reintroduce the Wall guard; between Faolan and I we can organise the rotations and ensure that we are protected from the threat to the south,' Ivar stands there upon finishing, looking to his High Lord, as do the others seated on the council, with Faolan to Tamlin's right talking to him now, speaking quieter yet explaining in more detail his plan with Ivar. While I know he's speaking, I look only at Tamlin, his body stiff and statuesque as he too half listens to Faolan. He doesn't need to say anything for me to see that he is hesitant, that even the mention of the Mortal Queens threat makes him uneasy, that the idea of sending members of his slowly rebuilding court to guard against them is something he is fearful of.

My head is fully turned towards him now, my eyes narrowing as I take him in; his eyes flash to meet mine, a split second later leaving, as he nods his head, agreeing to Ivar and Faolan's plan.

'But I have to agree to everything; every last detail, from timings to who is on each shift, I won't have this court going back to what it was before', Ivar bows, Faolan bowing his head to the High Lord too,

'Thank you, My Lord, we'll have the plans drafted as soon as we can', Ivar gives a final bow, before sitting again.

'Equal rank will be given to humans and fae; no priorities, no preferences', all heads turn back to the High Lord as he says this, shock present on every face around the room. While that shock remains on the faces of some of the High Fae, Bearnard, Elda and the lesser fae very quickly began to smile and bow their heads to their High Lord. It seemed he really was trying to do some good.

'Of course, My Lord,' Faolan finally said.

After that revelation, Carrigan took the floor again, occasionally being interrupted by the others depending on what he was addressing. Most of the discussion surrounded the labour to be done, tasks to be completed and other general daily business of the court. I listened, took note of anything that might concern me, but mostly felt very unimportant as little involved me. I started tuning out, daydreaming a little and looking around the room, I vaguely felt that the meeting was ending when my attention was pulled by Enoch saying my name,

'Olwen?' I very quickly looked up, widening my eyes and smiling dozily, pretending to have been listening at all. Enoch gestured his head to my right, to where Tamlin sat. I turned, our eyes meeting once again before I quickly looked just below his eyeline.

'When Summer visit, you will be at my side,' my eyes widened once again,

'in absence of a…lady of this court, I would like you to be in charge of organising hospitality, with Enoch and Elda's help,' I stuttered for a second, unsure of just how to reply, both at the idea of organising and the inference of the role of a lady of the court, neither one being anything I was familiar with. I quickly looked to Elda and then Enoch in quick succession, a reaffirming smile from the pair.

'Of course,' I said quickly, a little out of breath, at the same time slightly shaking my head and a rather confused look on my face. My whirlwind of emotions was clear to Elda, who interjected asserting that she would help me as much as I needed, and while I appreciated her words my eyes were still glued to Tamlins, quite unsure of what I should be feeling or what he expected of me. Reeling, Carrigan adjourned the meeting, missing his words completely as I saw everyone stand up to leave, offering Tamlin one final bow each as they left the room.

I walked, still in a stupor, finding myself behind everyone else, with only Tamlin left in the room as I reached the door,

'Olwen, please, may I join you?' Tamlin spoke before I could bow to him, catching up to me, taking me again by surprise within a very short space of time. I nod, bewildered, as we leave the room together and he follows me, keeping his distance from me, as I walk back towards the library and my abandoned books.

I hold the door for him and as he follows me in, taking the door from me, his hand hesitates just a flicker away from mine; looking down I realise only now that I am still wearing the rose thimble. I pull mine away, shyly moving away and back to where I was seated earlier, reopening the book where I left it and picking up the shirts to finish them. Tamlin joins me, sitting in the furthest armchair in the circle that surrounds the fire and picking up a book from the stacks. We stay that way for a while, sitting in a calming silence as we both work at our respective books, the sound of the pages turning every now and then and the subtle roar of the fire, lit since I was in here earlier. It's comfortable and I realise as I look over at Tamlin, his long hair falling over his face which wears a look of concentration as he reads, that this is perhaps the safest I've felt in a long time. He looks up, green golden eyes meeting mine, and for a second it seems like time stops.

I look away, focusing my eyes back onto my sewing, glancing over to my book every now and then. Tamlin closes his book and rests it upon his knee, holding it there as he looks at me, then across to the fire, where his gaze stays as he speaks,

'The cauldron is known to be the source of our magic, some say that Prythian itself was spilled from the magic held within it. Each of the seven courts has its own history, its own people and customs, but any member of a court should know of the others,'

My brow furrows as I take in his words, watching him again instead of focusing on my work,

'The cauldron was used to make and create terrible things, horrors that couldn't be imagined, so it was hidden away and for many of us, we never expected it to appear again. It was lost to time, to stories and myths, some holy thing that affected us all but we might never understand,'

I recognised his words, remembering reading them the night before, but how did Tamlin know that was what I reading? His own book was something entirely unrelated, some book on identification of plants. Unless…

'You were the one who found me last night?' I blushed, suddenly incredibly embarrassed.

'I'm sorry if I intruded, but I couldn't let you stay down here, not when we know the Queens know about you. I felt it best to move you…'

'Thank you,' I whisper, my voice barely audible, yet I know Tamlin hears me, 'you didn't have to do that'

'I did. You're a member of my court, if you would like to be. Every bit of safety and protection I offer them, I offer you,' this is perhaps the most honest I have heard him; is this a glimmer of who the High Lord of Spring truly is?

'I would' I interrupt him, 'Would like to be part of your court I mean,' I smile shyly at him, accepting his offer with more certainty and confidence than anything I ever have before.

For the first time he smiles back at me, his features soft and in the copper glow of the fire, he appears younger, all the harsh lines and hard set of his jaw no longer present. My heart beats a little quicker as we look at each other a little longer, something changed between us.

He looks down, placing his book on the table and standing up. He offers me a bow before turning away and walking to the door. He stops as he opens it, looking back at me,

'Goodnight, Olwen,'

'Goodnight, Tamlin.'

A/N;

Hello Hello Hello

Thank you once again to everyone reading this; I'm happy you've found my story and decided to stick with it for this long, it's more than I ever imagined I might get.

To everyone who's reviewing super thank you, reading your reactions is making me want to keep writing and keep planning where this is all going! I hope I'm doing you justice, and that you can clearly see and understand who my characters are.

Olwen has a little piece of me in her, especially in this chapter, I often forget to take off my thimble when I've been sewing and I felt this was certainly something she would do too.

Please if you're enjoying SoS feel free to follow, review or anything else! Hey, even if you think you'd change something I've done or have any guesses where this is all going, I'd love to hear those too!

As always, Thank you,

laurelbloom xx