#aelinsweek

[tomtenadia]

Our first Beltaine

Hello all,

Here is my first fic for Aelin’s week. It’s set a decade after the end of KOA. Rowaelin have a daughter and it’s the girl’s first fire festival and she gets to play with her growing powers.

It’s just pure domestic fluff, silliness and Rowan being the usual amazing dad. I wrote this in an hour, hope you will like it.

@rowaelinscourt​

The castle was all adorned and ready for celebrations.

It was Beltaine and since the end of the war, the Queen and King of Terrasen had made an effort to bring back all the ancient festivities of the land.

Beltaine marked the end of the darkness and the arrival of the long days, of life triumphing over the darkness of winter. After the years under Adarlan rule, the citizens of Terrasen had embraced such celebration with open arms and rejoiced at their freedom. Light over darkness.      

The castle had been opened to all citizens and the extensive yard was full of vendors and booths with sellers and performers.The main attraction, however, was in the royal garden were bonfires had been prepared for the revellers. A few fire wielders were slowly stoking the flames to allow the participants to jump across the bonfires as tradition. Couple would leap the fires to ask a blessing for their union to the gods or people would just just for good luck. It was a celebration of life and people would start arriving on the royal grounds as soon as the night started to fall.

Aelin and Rowan were in their royal chambers and were getting ready for the festivities. That night it was a special one for them. It was their daughter’s first Beltaine. Aisling was six. Until the year before they had kept her away from the fires but that year they had decided to finally allow their daughter to join. Aisling had just started showing signs of magic. It was very early for a child, but given who her parents were, no one had any doubts that the girl might be a skilled magic wielder. The girl had inherited both of her parents powers and they had just started training her in controlling her gifts. So far the biggest incident had been her freezing the entire castle after getting frustrated with one of her toys. Rowan had ran to her quickly enough and stopped the glacial wave that had descended on the castle.  

“Look at you, your tunic is almost regal.”

Rowan looked at his wife and raised an eye brow. He had worn a nicer green tunic for the festivities, but nothing compared to the stuffed ones that he hated but had to wear for annoying courtly stuff.

“This will allow me to enjoy the evening without feeling stiff.”

Aelin smirked and walked towards him, her hands brushing his chest “and much easier to peel off later on, for our own personal celebrations.”

Rowan was about to add something, when the soft patter of Aisling’s feet reached their ears.

“Mama, dada, I ready!”

The little girl was wearing a green dress with a puffy skirt, a crown of kingsflames on her silver-haired head and a set of wings on her back. 

Aelin turned and ran to her daughter “my love, you look beautiful.”

Aisling turned around to show off her dress and then bowed to both.

Rowan went to pick up his daughter in his arms and spun her around as she was properly flying “did auntie Lys help you dress up?”

“Yes. Am I pretty dad?”

Rowan smacked a kiss on her cheek “you and your mum are the two most beautiful ladies around here.” The girl giggled happily and snuck against her father. 

“Now we need to wait for your mum to finish dressing up. She is not as organised as the two of us.”

Aelin, who was getting ready in a corner of the room, complained loudly “I heard you, buzzard. You’ll pay for this.”

Rowan let out a low chuckle and placed Aisling back on the floor and she scurried away. When she came back, the little girl was carrying a simple tiara and passed it to her father “for you, dada.”

Rowan kneeled in front of her and lowered his head so that she could place the item on his head “now you are pretty too.”

A loud laugh escaped his lungs and when Aelin emerged he stood and turned to her “What do you think, wife? Am I pretty too?”

Aelin tried not to laugh “Our girl definitely has more taste than you when it comes to dressing up.”    

He moved closer and playfully nipped her neck in provocation and Aelin hummed happily.

“You will be happy to know that I am finally ready.”

Aelin was wearing a simple red velvet dress with a squared neck and long sleeves, her hair up in an intricate fashion with a few kingsfklames tucked in it.

Rowan stared at his wife transfixed. No matter that they had been together for almost a decade, she would still take his breath away. 

“You are stunning, fireheart.”

In response, Aelin kissed the corner of his mouth “you are not too bad yourself, my king.” And with those words she planted a kiss on his mouth with the promise of more that night.

“Mama, dada, no kissy.”

At their daughter’s words they pulled apart and Rowan went to take her hand, followed then by Aelin and eventually they left the room, ready to join the festivities.

As they walked out and reached the yard, people stopped to bow to the queen and king and Rowan stood up straight, not afraid of showing up in public with a girl’s tiara. It was a gift from his daughter and he would not break her heart for the sake of his pride. 

They walked in the main area for the festivities and Aelin took the centre stage to make the usual speech that would officially open the festivities. Rowan moved at the side and picked up Aisling in his arms.

“My dear citizens, I welcome you all to another blessed Beltaine. This one is, for my husband and I, a special one. It’s our daughter’s first official Beltaine and we are both very excited.” She kissed the girl “Now, please have fun and be merry and let’s all celebrate the arrival of the longer days.” With a flick of her hand she fed the flames that burst up high in powerful blazes that lit up the evening. Then she brought her power back in control and the bonfires dimmed down and back under control of the fire wielders.

When she turned she noticed her daughter’s pine green eyes fixed on the flames in amazement “pretty.”

Aisling squirmed in her father’s arms and Rowan let her down but still keep a hold of her fearing she might snuck out to play with the bonfires. Her magic was still very unpredictable and he was terrified of what might happen if she got too happy near a fire.

“Come on, my love, let’s go and get some food first.”

Rowan passed Aisling to Aelin and stood in his corner admiring the evening.

Somehow his mind brought back the memory of the first Beltaine with Aelin in Mistward. When he was still training her. When she was still a brat that drove him crazy each single day. But that night when she burnt out was also the night that brought them a step closer. It had been when he had seen the scars, when she told him about Endovier. When for a brief instant she let him. He was so deep in his thought that he did not notice his two women coming back with a few plates full of food.

Rowan laughed and grabbed some, then he sat down and they followed. The grass was fresh and smelled alive beneath them.

“Here we go, buzzard, I have meat on a stick for you. I asked Emrys to prepare some for tonight especially for you and it seems to be successful.”

Rowan grinned and took some of the food Aelin was passing him.

Aisling sat between them and happily chomped away at the food that the cook had prepared especially for the kids. Her stare never left the bonfires as if she she was attracted to it.

“We are jumping too, let’s have dinner first.”

The little girl beamed at her father.

Having the king and queen to join the festivities and seat in the grass like all the other citizens was a common sight in Orynth. There were always some guards discreetly posted around the grounds, but both Aelin and Rowan had made clear from the start that at events like these they wanted to be free to celebrate together with their citizens. It had taken a lot of convincing but in the end the captain of the guard had yielded at their request. Rowan had also added that he was more than capable to protect his wife and daughter on his own if needed. Aelin had teased him by calling a protective brute. But when it came to Aelin and Aisling’s safety, Rowan never joked.

Once the family was fed, Rowan stood and grabbed Aisling “Come on, time to jump.”

Aelin stood too and Aisling jumped in excitement.

They found a bonfire a bit far away and once the last couple jumped, Aelin asked the fire wielder to move away. The fire died down and Aisling turned upset “mama, fire.”    

Aelin sat down on the grass beside her daughter and Rowan did the same.

“I’ll show you.” Aelin extended her hand over the logs and a flame sparked up, dancing gently.

“You try now, like mama showed you.” She added, extinguishing the flames with a simple flick of her hand.

Aisling placed both of her small hands above the logs and scrunched her face hard in concentration. In those instant she looked exactly like Rowan and her heart skipped a beat at the image.

“I can’t.”

“Remember what mama told you?”

The little girl nodded. Aelin had been training her with her fire magic and Rowan helped with her ice and wind magic.

The girl kept concentrating, until a small flame popped up timidly.

“That’s it, baby.”

Rowan placed a hand on his daughter’s back as support and in that instant the flame grew a little bigger until it slowly engulfed the logs.

Aelin smacked a proud kiss on her daughter’s cheek “You are my little fire wielder, my love.”

Rowan pulled Aisling closer and kissed her silver hair “our little fireheart.”

The three stared at the flames dance placidly, swaying at the gentle rhythm of the wind that Rowan was blowing around them.

“I did it.” At the burst of joy, the flames sparked up high, but Aelin was ready to take back control in an instant “Shall we jump now?”

“Yes!”

The three stood, with Aisling between them, each holding one hand.

Aelin controlled the flames to a safe height and then they stepped back a few steps.

“Ready?” Asked Rowan.

He counted and at three they started running and jumped, both parents lifting an elated Aisling above the flames.

Aelin whopped happily as she landed.

Aisling let go of the hands and ran back to the bonfire “Again?”

Rowan turned and saw happiness in his wife’s face “again, fireheart?” He asked while offering his hand to her.

As a family they jumped a few more times.

Celebrating life.

Celebrating light over darkness and while jumping they whispered to the ancient gods the promise that bound their souls together.

To whatever end.                

taglist

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity  @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98  @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love  @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee @athena127

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfic #aelin x rowan #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #aelinsweek #rowaelin kids #domestic fluff #aelin galathynius