#PERTH AELIN IS THE ONLY AELIN

[korzni-a]

listen I would die for nikolai and I absolutely love you and your portrayal of him

LISTEN i love ur aelin sm i would give her the world and ur such a fantastic writer and so fAST ??? like how do u come up with such good shit so quickly i am amazeD 

[live-the-fangirl-life]

To the Ends of the Earth

A World Away Companion Piece

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - World Travelers AU

Aelin and Rowan decide on their next adventure. Be it fate or bad aim, it’ll be somewhere neither have ever been before.

*you don’t have to have read AWA to understand this fic but doing so gives a better understanding

Written for Rowaelin Month 2022 Day 3: Travel/Vacation

Masterlist | Fic Masterlist | Rowaelin Month | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

2048 words

*******

An easy breeze rolled in with the waves and brought a smile to Aelin’s face as it cooled her water-speckled skin. From their perch in the hammock Rowan hung up between two small palm trees, they had a beautiful, unobstructed view of the wavering tide and slowly setting sun.

Rowan was laid on his back, one hand behind his head and one running fingers through her hair where she’d taken up residence atop him. His leg hung over the side and dug into the sand as he slowly rocked them back and forth.

“We check out the day after tomorrow,” Rowan broke the comfortable silence, and Aelin lifted her head, resting her chin on her hand sprawled across his chest to look at him. “Any thoughts on what’s next on our list?”

She hummed. “If you’re talking about what our next destination should be, may I remind you that we have plans to be in Vanuatu by the end of the week? It worries me that you can’t remember; you booked the meetings and yet here you are, only days before, obliviously forgetful. Ah, the perils of old age, Buzzard—” she laughed as he poked her side with a grunt.

“Truly hilarious,” he deadpanned with an eye roll. “You should have your own stand-up special.”

“I would sell out arenas,” she agreed but paused and corrected, “Theaters? Music-halls? I don’t know, where do comedians usually perform?”

“Not in a hammock in Fiji.”

Aelin scoffed, but it quickly dissolved into laughter which Rowan echoed.

“I meant where do you want to go after, smartass,” he didn’t put any bite in the word. “We just talked about Vanuatu this morning. I figured it was a given I meant beyond that, but, apparently, you have less faith in me than I thought.”

Smirking, Aelin sat up, her shifting weight urging Rowan to do the same so they didn’t tip over. “Careful, your feathers are ruffling.”

“You and the buzzard jokes, I swear…” he grumbled and dragged a hand down his face so she couldn’t see the smile tugging at his lips. He was wildly unsuccessful.

“Okay, okay,” Aelin laughed and started throwing out suggestions. “Madagascar? We can walk under the baobab trees and feel like we’re two feet tall. You can try getting a shot of a lemur to add to your wildlife collection!”

“That’s definitely on the to-do list,” he agreed. “But what about someplace closer? How about Perth? We didn’t get to Western Australia when we were there. Take a drive, go see some of the pink salt lakes?”

Aelin nodded, her brain whirling as she looked at her mental map. “Ooh! What about New Caledonia? I’ve heard the whale watching there is phenomenal this time of year, all the humpbacks coming in towards the lagoons.”

“We still need to—”

Aelin sat bolt upright, eyes flying wide and smiling broad enough to make her cheeks ache. “I have an idea!”

Rowan arched a skeptical brow at her sudden declaration but couldn’t stop the upward tug of his lips at her pure giddiness. “What kind of idea?”

“The kind that will solve our dilemma for us.”

***

They had to pry the generic water-themed painting off of the wall of their hotel room, but the pain in the ass it was going to be to rehang it would be worth it.

“What happens if it lands in the ocean?” Rowan stood next to Aelin as they both faced the wall.

It being the small dart she was twisting around in her hand, trying to get a feel for its weight.

She eyed the map they had pinned to the now-vacant wall. It wasn’t anything special and still had all the creases from being folded up and stuffed in a stand at a small tourist shop, but it would do.

“We choose the closest island?” she suggested, shrugging. “Take a cruise? Do some really intensive snorkeling?”

Aelin huffed a small laugh, not having to look at her husband to know he was rolling his eyes. She lifted the dart they’d snagged from some bar in Queens and practiced her throw. She almost let it fly but stopped herself at the last second. “What if it lands someplace we’ve already been?”

Rowan crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Guess it’ll depend on where you hit – see if we want to go back. If not, then I’ll take a throw.”

“Yeah, okay,” Aelin nodded, feeling satisfied with that, and turned back to the map.

She readied her shot again, narrowing her eyes, and biting her lip in concentration. But it was too hard to keep a straight face; she dropped her hand and whirled back to Rowan with a widening grin. Her voice bubbled with excitement as she gushed, “This is so fun!”

The sigh he loosed was equal parts fondness and exasperation. “It will be once you throw.”

Rolling her eyes, she huffed, “Don’t rush me.” But didn’t fight her grin as she again aimed at the map.

It was fun. They were beyond lucky to have the world at their fingertips; so many options open to them that they couldn’t choose just one. Ultimately, they didn’t have to choose, they both knew they would be exploring as many places as they physically could. But whether they went somewhere next week or next year or in the next decade, well, with that they could have a little fun.

Aelin had never been as happy as she’d been since meeting Rowan, since choosing each other and all that came with it. So many adventures led, so many places and sights seen, so many foods tried, and people met. So many passport stamps.

And now they were simply leaving it up to chance...or fate…or Aelin’s wonky aim to choose their next adventure.

She released the dart and watched as it embedded itself in the map.

The soft thud of the metal tip hitting the wall was the only sound in the room for several seconds. Rowan’s arms fell slack at his sides, and she chanced a glance towards him to see his mouth open and close as he stared at the pierced spot on the map. Her own eyebrows were nearly at her hairline as they stood in the growing silence.

“Huh.” She finally broke the tension, trying to keep her voice light. “Well…that’s…definitely somewhere we’ve never been before.”

Rowan made a choking noise, halfway between an incredulous laugh and a suppressed groan. “When you do something, you don’t go halfway, do ya?”

She huffed a laugh. “Have you met me?”

He leveled her a flat look but she rushed on before he could interject

“Hear me out—” she wasn’t entirely sure where she was going with this or if she even wanted to argue the point, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little intrigued by their turn of events. “How many people can say they’ve been to Antarctica?”

“The insane ones.”

Aelin rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “Really? So all the scientists and expeditioners are insane?”

“Are we scientists?” He argued.

“No.” she arched a brow. “But one could argue that—”

“Aelin. Fireheart.” He stepped towards her and held her face in his hands as he leaned in close. “Thorn in my side, and love of my life. We,” he gestured between them, “are not equipped for that. A real, true Artic expedition is a bit ambitious, even for us.”

“Antarctic,” she corrected, breezing passed his trepidations and choosing to ignore the thorn comment altogether. “Come on, Ro, don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.”

“Of course, I’ve thought about it,” he huffed. “It’s one of those passing things like, Huh, wouldn’t it be amazing to go to Antarctica? or Wow, I wonder what that would be like? And then I move on with my day because I rather like having ten toes, thank you very much.”

She felt a grin on her lips but held it back, feeling like she could crack him on this. Antarctica? Wasn’t on her radar, not even a place she thought, truly, about visiting. The idea of going had never actually felt plausible, and it was perhaps the one place in the world that she wouldn’t have been upset about missing.

But…

“Imagine the kind of story Coast to Cadre could get? The publicity? The opportunity? And, please, think about how incredible it would feel knowing you’ve stepped foot on all seven continents?”

Carding a hand through his hair, Rowan stared over her shoulder towards the middle distance, and Aelin could tell the gears in his brain were turning.

“Aelin.”

“Rowan.”

“You really, seriously, want to go?” Rowan asked before she reached up to grab his hand. He pulled his gaze back to hers and laced their fingers together, his thumb rubbing small circles on her skin. His voice sounded skeptical, but his eyes held a different story — one that told her this crazy idea was settling, and as the shock wore off, he was beginning to actually wonder about it.

She paused for a moment as her eyes were drawn back to the map. Squeezing his hand, Aelin found his questioning stare again and grinned. “Yeah. I think I really do.”

He searched her face for any sign of teasing but found none. Finally, Rowan loosed a long, slow breath and barked out a short chuckle. “This is insane.”

“You’ve already said that.” Aelin’s grin softened as it spread, and she stepped closer into him, unlacing their hands so she could wrap her arms around his neck as his landed on her waist. “Besides, I think we could use a little insanity.”

Rowan arched a brow. “Really?”

“Yes,” she insisted. “Our last three stops had us either in meetings or on a beach all day.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about it,” he argued, hands flexing and pulling her even closer as he ducked his head towards her neck and began peppering soft kisses on her skin.

“Of course, I’m not complaining,” she said a tad breathlessly. “I just think that, maybe, trying something out of our comfort zones would be a good idea.”

He pulled back, smirking at her flushed skin, and snorted, “I’d say this is far, far outside our comfort zones.” He laughed again, “Are we actually talking about this? Are we really considering a trip to the south pole?”

Jerking her head towards the map, they both stared at the dart. She could almost picture an imaginary string connecting the toy to the large, white continent, pulled taught by the fates themselves.

“Technically, it landed near the coast. But might as well go big or go home, right? The south pole it is.” They’d see how that actually worked out.

“It’ll take a lot of planning,” Rowan pointed out, still unable to look away from their upcoming adventure.

She nodded. “And time.”

“And mountains of logistical nightmares.” Rowan huffed a laugh making Aelin glance up at him. “I thought the whole point of this,” he waved a hand at the offending map, “was to decide our next trip? This isn’t something we can pull off with a week’s worth of planning.”

It was true. Unfortunately. Shoulders slumping, Aelin released a defeated sigh as reality crept back in. “You’re right.”

“So,” Rowan carefully unwound her arms from his neck and walked towards the map, plucking the dart from the blustering tundra before returning to her side. “How about I throw for our actual next destination, after Vanuatu,” he flashed her a wink, “and we take our time planning out this Antarctic adventure?”

Aelin beamed and couldn’t help her elated laugh as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him once more. She pulled him down eagerly until she was kissing him, pouring all her anticipation, excitement, and joy into it.

“We wanted to see the world – what better way than going to the end of it?”

It was going to be one hell of an adventure, but there wasn’t anyone else with whom she’d rather try it.

“With you?” Rowan cupped her cheek, lifting her jaw just enough to connect his lips with hers again in a kiss that dissolved into matching grins. “I’d go anywhere.”

*****

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