Cicadas buzzed in the trees of the keep, and somewhere in the gardens, a nightingale sang her lament. Talk. Talk about what?
She didn't have anything to say, so they sat on the parapet in silence for a while until even the cicadas went to sleep, and the moon slipped away behind them, and the sky began to brighten. Talk. Talk about what had been haunting her these months. Haunting every thought, every dream, every breath. Talk.
"I'm scared to go home," she said at last, staring out at the dunes beyond the walls.
The predawn light was bright enough for her to see the Master's brows rise. Why?
"Because everything will be different. Everything is already different. I think everything changed when Arobynn punished me, but ... Some part of me still thinks that the world will go back to the way it was before that night. Before I went to Skull's Bay."
The Master's eyes shone like emeralds. Compassionate-sorrowful.
"I'm not sure I want it to go back to the way it was before," she admitted. "And I think … I think that's what scares me the most."
The Master smiled at her reassuringly, then rolled his neck and stretched his arms over his head before standing atop the merlon.
Celaena tensed, unsure if she should follow.
But the Master didn't look at her as he began a series of movements, graceful and winding, as elegant as a dance and deadly as the asp that lurked on the roof.
The asp.
Watching the Master, she could see each of the qualities she had copied for the past few weeks—-the contained power and swiftness, the cunning and the smooth restraint.
He went through the motions again, and it took only a glance in her direction to get her to her feet atop the parapet wall. Mindful of her balance, she slowly copied him, her muscles singing with the rightness of the movements. She grinned as night after night of careful observation and mimicry clicked into place.
Again and again, the sweep and curve of her arm, the twisting of her torso, even the rhythm of her breathing. Again and again, until she became the asp, until the sun broke over the horizon, bathing them in red light.
Again and again, until there was nothing left but the Master and her as they greeted the new day.
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realized that both the beginning and the end of the happy paris stage of Loumand's relationship has this same contrasting orange to blue/green color scheme. and like. the visual metaphor of Armand literally leaving his cold, lifeless world behind him and choosing the bright, golden warmth of life with Louis instead of killing him like he was supposed to in that tunnel. but as soon as he chooses the coven over Louis, he separates from the warmth like oil in water that was never supposed to be there. and now he's back out in the cold. I'm normal about this, btw.
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