Chapter Text
“What if we use a tracking spell?”
Rayla stood hunched over a desk in the library, her hair disheveled. Books and papers were piled on top of one another in organised chaos atop the desk, one pencil by Rayla, another in Callum’s hand.
She sighed. “Callum. Can we please not talk about this?”
“Why? It could save your family.”
For three days Callum had been balancing out princely duties with finding a solution to find and free Runaan. Rayla spent the three days helping Amaya train some new trainees while helping Callum find a solution in her free time. The project was driving them both to obsession. Almost.
“At what price?”
Callum hesitated, frowning.
She looked up from the desk and into his eyes. “At what price, Callum?” she prompted further, a hint of anger and sadness rising.
“I— well...” He lowered his head.
She sighed for the umpteenth time since arriving at the library. “I don’t want you getting hurt. I’ve dealt with losing the people I love and I’ve been coping my whole life.” Rayla cupped his face and he leaned forward, resting his forehead on hers.
“I can’t lose you too.”
•• ••— •——• —•• •— — • —••
Footsteps rang against the cold stone of the early morning floor in the hallway. The sun was almost above the horizon now, but Rayla was ready for the day. Well, after she got breakfast, that was.
Amaya wouldn’t let her go about her day without eating breakfast.
On her way to the dining hall she passed a few guards, who all gave her weary glances. Not that she noticed, of course. Royal guards were much too sneaky for a moonshadow assassin.
Word spread around like wildfire that there was already an elf among the humans. Apparently several people thought it was just a myth, a rumour.
She sighed. The world has a long way to go if they wanted peace and acceptance.
Walking into the dinning hall equipped for training, Rayla found Callum and Ezran sitting next to each other, leaning over a few pieces of paper and discussing something as they idly stuffed their mouths. People passing by paid little to no attention.
“Mornin’, fella humans!”
“You sound cheerful this morning,” Ezran remarked. He smiled, Bait glowing in his lap as Rayla tossed him a piece of ham from her already waiting plate.
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Callum didn’t even look up, too engrossed in the documents as he reached for his coffee.
“Can’t I just be happy? You know, sun shinin’, birds chirpin’, another day of scaring the wits out of new trainees.” She smirked.
The two boys just grinned. Happy was a good look on her. Callum raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. I saw Soren tumble down the stairs this morning,” she snickered, taking her seat.
“That’s good to see you enjoy spending time with Aunt Amaya so much,” Ezran chirped. “We’re finishing correcting minor details for the peace meeting tonight.”
Milk sprayed onto Callum’s face as soon as Ezran said that. “Wait, tonight?”
The boys exchanged glances. “Yeah, tonight, why?”
“You got a hot date tonight?” Callum winked.
“Wait, don’t tell me you forgot.”
Rayla felt so dumb as she buried her face in her hands. “Ugh, no, I just didn’t think it was so soon!”
Callum smiled affectionately from across the table. Dork. She looked out the window, her anxiety stirring up a storm. Her boyfriend—how she loved that word—tapped her foot from under the table and she tapped back. Another small gesture of affection. She smiled before realising the sun was just starting to break the horizon.
“Moons above!” she exclaimed. “I have to go or I’ll be late!”
The boys just smiled and shook their heads as she got up, kissing the top of Ezran’s head, giving Bait a scratch, and kissing Callum on the nose.
“Love you,” he whispered.
“Love you too, dork.” But before she could rush off, Callum caught her hand.
“You hardly ate anything. Take something to go real quick.”
“Ugh, you’re just like your aunt,” she scoffed, reaching for his spoon and stuffing several bites of oatmeal into her mouth.
“Hey! That’s my breakfast!”
“Ymmh hmm hem mmr mmmrf.”
With that, Rayla was out the door on her way to the courtyard.
Ezran huffed a sigh, an elbow on the table, resting his face on his hand. “I miss Zym.”
— •••• • —•—— —•• ——— •—• —•— •••
The trainees were all lined up as Amaya signed what the agenda for today looked like. Rayla stood by a nearby tree behind the trainees, not wanting to disturb her speech, but General Amaya and Commander Gren noticed.
Amaya locked eyes with the young assassin, tilting her chin up ever so slightly. Rayla walked forward.
“—will be dismissed an hour early for the peace meeting,” Gren was saying. “First, you will be assessed on your sword-fighting abilities.”
Rayla stepped between two of the trainees as she took her place beside Amaya. Amaya couldn’t contain a smirk as some of them gasped, gawked, flinched, and widened their eyes as soon as they saw her.
A moonshadow elf. A moonshadow assassin. Almost no one in the kingdom saw one and lived to tell the tale. Everyone thought it was a joke when Marcos said he had—when he said one had spared his life.
Sometimes it was fun to see everyone’s reaction—they looked ridiculous. She and Callum usually got a good laugh out of it when they were alone. But sometimes it was alienating. She spent her whole life training to blend in, fitting in with her people. It was just a reminder that she was different, that this wasn’t her home.
Amaya gestured for them to start before giving Rayla an encouraging smile. She wasn’t one to be sappy—and made no attempt to be—but she was aware of the burden and hurt the young elf had to carry. Rayla gave a small smile in return and stalked off to assess the trainees.
•——• •— •—• — •— —•——
“Oof!” Soren puffed when he landed on his back in the dirt. A gasp went through the group.
“Ah, you must me Katolis’s best soldier, huh?” Rayla teased, a blade to his throat.
Soren smirked. “No. That spot is reserved for General Amaya.”
She considered this as Amaya smiled smugly. He had a point. Rayla might have been the second best assassin in Xadia, but they both knew Amaya could beat her. Best, she reminded herself bitterly. Even though she was ghosted, she was now the best in Xadia. And she couldn’t even kill. A title that came at a price. The title was not worth the price.
Rayla took the blade off his throat and pulled him to his feet as Marcos came by, heading straight for Amaya. Soren had come by not too long ago to see how training was going. As Gren translated the hushed whispers and signs, Soren and Rayla turned their attention to the trainees.
They gave everyone last minute tips and tricks for the day, and it wasn’t lost on Rayla that some were still intimidated by her. Marcos finished his conversation with the other two, turning to Soren with a wink before walking off.
Rayla raised an eyebrow at Soren’s flush. “What was that about?” she teased.
“N-nothing. Marcos is just a bit of a flirt.”
“Mmhmm. Okay. Whatever you s—”
“Rayla!” She turned to the sound of the voice, fingers twitching for her blades. “Rayla,” Callum huffed, catching up to her at a sudden stop, “are you ready?”
“Does it look like I am?”
One of the nearby trainees raised their eyebrows. Not many were bold enough to sass the royal family. Not that the royal family minded. They were always up for a good laugh.
“Well, no, it’s just that I thought you would be done by now. The peace meeting starts in two hours.”
She shrugged. “Uh, I think we’re almost done, so I’ll start getting ready soon. Unless you need me for something?”
He smiled cutely, taking both her hands. “I always need you.”
Rayla’s face was as red as a tomato as Callum turned to Amaya and signed to her. “Pleeeease?” he added.
Amaya sighed and rolled her eyes, but the smile on her lips was there. She nodded.
“Thanks, Aunt Amaya!” He gave her a big hug before taking off again, his girlfriend’s hand in his.
“Alright, five laps around the courtyard and then you are dismissed,” they heard Gren in the distance over the sound of their giggling.
“Okay, I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. I’ll meet you in the great hall when I’m done.”
“Okay, Prince Callum,” she sassed, ruffling his hair and earning a laugh.
He took in a breath to calm his nerves. It was something he did regularly, she knew. Whenever stress became too much. It was something his mother taught him to do.
“Tonight’s a big night. I hope this goes well.”
She nodded sadly. “Yeah. Me too.”
Callum took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. “Hey. I know how much this means to you. I can’t imagine having to go through what you are. It’s hard, isn’t it? Everyone is holding their breaths, wanting everything to turn out fine. But you? You have a personal stake in this. But you don’t have to go through it alone. I’m always going to be here. And no matter what happens, you’ve got a family here, welcoming you with open arms.”
Rayla took in a shaky breath, her arms wrapping tight around him. “Thanks, Callum. I needed that.”
He smiled and they stayed like that for a moment before he scrunched his face and back off. “Ugh, you need a shower. And I thought I was bad. Phew-wee!”
She snickered and her dramatic, silly boyfriend. “Okay, okay, I’m goin’ to get ready. Ugh, human princes. So insensitive.”
“I love you too.”
She shook her head as she closed the door to her bedroom, her grin wide. What a dork. Quickly, she took a shower and thought long and hard about what to wear. If I wear my usual outfit, that might insult the representatives of the Silvergrove since I’m technically ghosted. But if I wear something different, I might prove their suspicions of me being unloyal to Xadia.
“Ughhhh,” she groaned, weighing her options. She put on her assassin’s uniform—it had been washed many times—and attempted to tame her hair when a knock came at her door.
“Opeli?”
The woman smiled kindly. “You doing okay? I thought you might need help with your outfit.”
Rayla had only been around for a few days, but the advisor had already gotten a sense of her personality. Rayla wasn’t big on appearances, as the advisor had caught on quickly. The elf sighed in relief.
“Thank you. Really.”
“Anytime.”
••—• •—•• ••— ••—• ••—•
Rayla rushed through the hallways and took the shortcut through the kitchen, snacking on some fruit and a slice of bread as she went, not even slowing down. She was starving and wasn’t sure if she’d make it another hour.
She finished her apple and threw it away by the time she caught up with Callum, swiftly stopping by his side.
“There you are,” he smiled after finishing his conversation with someone. He took in her assassin’s uniform under her purple shawl. The shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, a pin of the moon arcanum keeping two corners of the shawl together and pinned to one corner of the shawl. The rest draped elegantly over one shoulder. Her white hair was pulled into a ponytail, a few small braids pulled back with it. “Wow, Rayla, you look nice! I mean, not that you don’t look nice everyday, because you do! You just look different. But in a good, nice way! You—”
Rayla effectively shut him up with a kiss in which he was more than happy to melt into.
“I... uhm... I should...”
She giggled. “You needed me for something?”
“Right. Uh, so, in Katolis, we have this tradition where whenever we host a gathering of some sort, there’s always someone to greet the guests by the front gate. And, uh, well, Ezran thought it would be a good idea if the three of us did it.”
She smiled, loving the idea, but a nervous wave of adrenaline burst through her. The elves—her family and kin—were waiting on the other side of the gate. And they all probably hated her. She nodded. “Okay. Yeah, I love that idea.”
“Okay,” he breathed. He was nervous too, as his breath indicated.
Corvus entered the great hall, followed by Ezran, making a beeline straight for the couple.
“Prince Callum, Lady Rayla,” he greeted. Rayla hated that title. “It’s time to open the gates.”
Callum took a calming breath. Rayla just stared straight ahead, listening to the sound of her beating heart. Ezran reaches for both their hands and tugged them forward.
The sky was a beautiful mix of vibrant sunset colours casting a warm glow everywhere it touched.
They stopped several metres from the front gate in the courtyard. Rayla’s nerves were on fire. She stood next to Callum with Ezran between them and slightly forward, trying not to let the excitement get the best of him.
Another breath.
Callum turned his head to her, his whisper light. “You’re family will always be here for you.”
She took his hand and the gates opened up.