Chapter Text
Elain was fine.
She was away from the intricate twisting politics of the Night Court's inner circle, away from people who treated her like she was something fragile, away from a mating bond that neither of them really wanted.
The Summer Court was paradise, with its perpetual blue skies and stunning beaches. Its people were the nicest Elain had ever met, their kindness as unending as the summer sunlight. She'd settled down in a coastal town away from the capital, in a tiny house with a view of the ocean and a small patch of dirt in the back.
Really, Elain was better than fine.
She'd thought her sisters would argue when she left. Feyre certainly was upset, but Nesta stood up for her.
"It's her life, Feyre," she'd said.
"But why would you want to be alone?" Feyre had asked pleadingly. "Your family is here."
No, not Elain's family. Feyre's. But Elain didn't want to hurt her sister, so she kept quiet. She had a lot of practice doing so, after all.
"We've had so many choices ripped away from us," Nesta had pushed. "Let this one be hers."
There really was nothing that Feyre could have said to that.
"Thank you," Elain had said later, as she packed the few things that she had.
Nesta had shrugged. "Feyre has found her place here. She forgets that we may not have. You do what you have to do."
"What about you?" Elain had asked.
Nesta had smiled. "Don't worry about me. Just promise me you'll keep in touch?"
It was an easy promise to keep.
Elain spent her first week alone feeling terrifyingly lost. After a lifetime of being told what to do, what to say, whom to please, the sudden surge of freedom was overwhelming.
She drifted around the town as though shoved by a breeze, staring at everything with wide eyes. On one of these walks she was surprised by a thunderstorm, and forced to enter a shop to take shelter from the rain.
A bell above the door jangled as she slipped inside. The faerie sitting behind the counter, a water wraith, glanced up, then returned their attention to the book in their hands.
"Sorry," Elain said, "It's raining, so I came inside. I'll be out as soon as the rain slows."
The faerie shrugged. "Whatever."
Elain looked around. She seemed to be in some sort of grocery store. Curious, she drifted around, looking at the shelves. Something caught her eye.
"Are these seeds?" she asked, holding up a container.
The faerie looked up again. "They're seasoning, you put them on salads. We get them from the Spring Court. I guess it'd grow if you tried, anything from that place would start sprouting leaves and flowers if you didn't watch out."
Elain nodded. "Oh," she said, then immediately felt stupid. Her gaze fell on the book in the faerie's hands. "What are you reading?"
The faerie grinned, displaying a row of pointed teeth. "It's a murder mystery."
"Is it interesting?" Elain asked.
"Haven't gotten to the good bit yet," the faerie replied. "That's the murder, by the way."
"I guessed," Elain returned. She glanced out through the glass door of the store. It seemed like the rain was slowing. "Thanks for letting me stay here for a bit," she said, as she edged towards the door.
The faerie raised an eyebrow that was just as pointy as their teeth. "Are you getting those?"
Elain realised that she was still holding the seeds. "Oh. Uh, yes." She set them down on the counter.
"You're new here, aren't you?" the faerie asked, as they accepted the coins that Elain carefully counted out.
Elain flushed. "Yes," she said.
The faerie shrugged. "Cool," they said. "I'm Kayla, by the way."
"Elain," she replied, then, "Thank you," when Kayla handed her the packet of seeds in a handy little paper bag. The skies were already clearing when she stepped out, returning to their usual blinding blue.
She didn't think Kayla had particularly liked her. Still, it was the first conversation that Elain had had with someone new.
"I bought some new seeds," she told Nesta, when they called the next evening.
"You should plant them," Nesta said immediately. "Didn't foxboy give you a bunch of seeds as well? Plant all of them."
Elain narrowed her eyes. "I thought you didn't like Lucien."
Nesta shrugged. "He's not so bad. We've been talking. He knows literally all the gossip in Prythian, it's great. Anyways, don't change the subject. You love gardening, don't you?"
"I do," Elain agreed. "I was thinking of clearing out the space at the back for a garden."
"It's a good idea," Nesta said.
So Elain did it. The work was tiring, and familiar. Within a month, she had little buds emerging. It was astonishingly fast, but hardly the strangest thing she'd encountered since she'd been Made.
"Oh, what lovely lilies," a faerie said, stopping by Elain's gate as she was watering her plants. "Do you sell them?"
"Oh, you can have some," Elain said, "I'm not growing them for anything in particular."
"Don't be ridiculous, of course I'm going to pay you for them," the faerie replied, and a few minutes later she left with an armful of lilies, and Elain was staring at the coins in her hand.
Two days later, a dryad who looked like a young boy ran up to her gate, and said that his father had heard from Talia who lived down the street that Elain grew flowers and could he buy a sprig of lavender please?
A day after that it was a teenage faerie who asked for lilac roses for her girlfriend.
So now Elain had a flower shop.
"You have a talent, you know," Kayla said. They'd taken to hanging out in Elain's garden when they weren't working.
"Hmm?" Elain asked. She was oddly distracted by the way the sun shimmered on Kayla's iridescent skin.
Kayla rolled their eyes. "Seriously, El. The whole I'm nothing great thing doesn't suit anyone. You're really good at growing flowers. Probably better than those fuckers at the Spring Court."
Elain smiled. Kayla's no-nonsense approach made it easier to accept compliments, when before she'd have brushed them off. "Thank you," she said. "Why don't you like the Spring Court?"
Kayla shrugged. "I have cousins there, they tell me the high lord is a piece of shit. Demands everything they have for his Tithe and then some."
"I've heard that too," Elain said. She thought of the way Feyre never spoke about Tamlin if she could help it. Then she thought of the bruises she'd seen on Lucien's face every time he returned from the Spring Court.
"Elain," Lucien said carefully, when he picked up her call. "Is everything okay?"
"Of course," Elain replied.
Lucien blinked. "It's just that we haven't exactly ever spoken. I didn't even know you knew how to contact me."
"Feyre showed me how," Elain said. Feyre had definitely been suspicious when Elain had asked how she could get in touch with Lucien. "Listen, I wanted to ask..." She hesitated.
"What is it?" Lucien's voice was very gentle. How had any of them ever thought he'd force the mating bond on her? "You can ask me anything, I promise."
"Why do you go back to the Spring Court?" Elain asked. Lucien's expression shuttered. "I know Tamlin hurts you."
"I- it's complicated." Lucien said. Elain gave him an unimpressed look, and a startled laugh was surprised out of him. "Someone has to keep it from falling apart."
Elain hummed. She could understand that. It didn't seem fair though. "You should talk to Feyre about it. She might understand."
"Maybe," Lucien said, in a way that clearly meant no. Elain didn't push it though. She did resolve to keep in touch with Lucien though. A mating bond couldn't keep them from having a friendship.