#Elain immediately righted on the timeline: WHERE IS MY DOG?

[flowerflamestars]

Timeloop snippet

It gutted to nothing, not even smoke, and Nesta smiled. “You see me? And Lucien?”

  Fire and light forever- fierce and gentle- apple blossoms carried on the wind, over fields of gold and yellow. Her dearest hound- her dearest- a murderous scowl that hid abject adoration, not here, not yet, out there waiting for her and here too, in this-

  The dizzy world righted so, so slow behind her eyes, and they waited for her.

  Brighter, lighter than she’d felt since the last time she saw her baby sister’s human face, Elain laughed.

  Opened eyes she hadn’t even realized she’d shut. “Where’s Daisy?”

  Wordless, Nesta hauled her into a ferocious hug, holding Elain’s shoulders hard enough nearly to hurt. It felt right- Elain felt right, like she’d stepped out of chaos once she’d put her feet on a familiar path.

  “Eating legs off chairs at my mother’s house, I think,” Lucien told her, through a soft laugh, invisible past the fall Nesta’s unbound hair. “I’ll write.”

  Elain could write a letter. She just had to remember the right name.

  But there were more pressing matters, including that she was on the floor in some horrid, beribboned concoction of a nightdress.

  “Just give me a moment,” Elain sprang to her feet on legs that felt new, coltish long and yet- she could remember learning them. Remember falling down oh so many stairs, trying to get the hell out of this house on them. “And I’ll be ready to leave.”

  In silent agreement, Nesta pulled a handful of pins from her pocket, and began to make quick, neat work of pulling back her hair.

  “Where are we going?” She heard Lucien ask as she stepped out of the room, coming to the sprawling wardrobe stocked with about a hundred outfits that bared either all her legs or back or stomach.

  It took digging, to find something remotely comfortable, much less sensible. The black didn’t suit her in the slightest, but this was Velaris- they were a breath from Sangravah, the weaving capital of this continent- Elain would be damned, if she couldn’t find a single lovely dress.

  Nesta didn’t answer until Elain returned. “You know, I feel like pie.”

#Elain immediately righted on the timeline: WHERE IS MY DOG? #the correct response to nonsense! #Elain: I would like to leave I would like MY PUPPY AND MY COUGH MEAN BF COUGH AND TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE- #she can see the loops! #kinda sorta ish #Nesta: right so you know everything would you like to meet my bestie a God? #I love these three as a team!! #and. nothing #nothing #is funnier than Rhysie and co perceiving this as Nesta chaperoning #meanwhile Elain: kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss #she is smashing their faces together in all ways but physical #no grave can hold me body down #lucien/nesta #yes Elain is my voice to complain about NC fashion being...flawed.

[acourtofthought]

Apropos of nothing, it's just something I was ruminating on because as much as I rag on Az, I do think he has a soft heart underneath it all that wants to help people and that makes me all mushy for him. I know people want to make the scene where Az rescues Elain purely romantic (and sure it CAN be read as such) but after reading ACOSF and piecing together the timeline, Az is practically fresh out of Sangravah, he saw the absolute horrors inflicted on the priestesses and what was done to Gwyn so like... OF COURSE he's gonna wanna haul ass out to save Elain? I don't think for a second has nothing to do with the possessive mate thing like so many of them want it to be (re: the argument az didn't jump to save gwyn from the rite like he jumped to save elain from hybern) Like why would he NOT volunteer to rescue her immediately after seeing those nightmares first hand?? He would have done the exact same thing for Mor or literally any of the women in the IC because that's the kind of guy that he is (also might I add that he didn't lose control in the Hybern camp and go feral and kill everyone like he did at Sangravah, when, as spymaster, he absolutely should have taken some hostages 👁️)

Wow, you bring up such a good point and something I never considered!

Feyre's birthday is the longest night of the year (so December 21st).

Her wedding ceremony was 2 weeks later, around January 4 and Rhys called in their bargain for the first time which takes us to January 11.

One month later he called in the bargain again which takes us to say, February 11.

One week after that she escapes to the NC for good (February 18) where she sleeps through at least one night.

Rhys flew Feyre to the HOW for the first time where we get confirmation Sangravah was attacked three days prior so we'll say he rescued Gwyn on about February 16.

ACOWAR starts in June however a few weeks pass while Feyre remains and until Az / Cassian save Feyre as she's being dragged across the ice by her hair wrapped in bands of fire.

Estimates have ACOWAR ending August which is when Az and Feyre rescue Elain.

6 months have passed since he walked in on Gwyn's assault.

2 months have passed since he witnessed Feyre being drug by her hair, bound and gagged.

We get our first hints of Azriel's savior complex in ACOMAF:

Azriel just shook his head. “I’ll go. The Prison sentries know me—what I am.” I wondered if the shadowsinger was usually the first to throw himself into danger.

We get proof of Azriel's need for heroics later in the series, to be the protector:

toward Mor and Azriel—“to monitor me.” So this was where Azriel had gone—right to the loft. To no doubt spare Mor from enduring Amren Duty alone. But Amren’s tone … cranky, yes, but perhaps a bit of a front, too. To banish that too-fragile gleam in Cassian’s eyes. “We’re not monitoring you,” Mor said, tapping her foot on the carpet. “We’re monitoring the Book.” (Mor was monitoring the Book yet Az insisted on joining her)

“Call off your dog,” Amren said with that lethal tone. Because the shadow in the corner behind Amren … that was Azriel. The obsidian hilt of Truth-Teller in his scarred hand. He’d moved without my realizing it—though I had no doubt the others had likely been aware.

The argument with Rhys this morning had been swift and brutal: Azriel insisted he could fly—fight with the legions, as they’d planned. Rhys refused. Cassian refused. Azriel threatened to slip into shadow and fight anyway. Rhys merely said that if he so much as tried, he’d chain Azriel to a tree. And Azriel … It was only when Mor had entered the tent and begged him—begged him with tears in her eyes—that he relented. Agreed to be eyes and ears and nothing else.

Not that he's does these things for fame or glory, I think he does them because it's the only way he feels worthy. Like it's his penance to pay in order to remain part of his family.

We know he wasn't there to save Mor or stop the way his mother was treated. He wasn't there to stop what happened to the priestesses in time. And he was nearly too late to save Feyre, the last two things being very recent.

So here we have this other female who he sees is in need of saving and he's sitting there watching Nesta and Cassian debate her fate and it's really not that surprising, knowing what we know of Az, that he jumped in to volunteer, despite the danger. Danger has never once mattered to Az.

In the right circumstances, a male coming to rescue the female could be romantic, but in this instance and when you look at the entire picture and who Az is as a character (not to mention the evidence that he's still not over Mor at that time), his rescue of Elain is anything but.

To me, he doesn't look at Elain as wanting to save her because it's her. He wants to save her for a chance to find some sort of redemption because of all the other females he was unable to save in time and I think that has played a small part in why he eventually gravitates toward her. Because she represents his personal triumph, the time he wasn't too late. And as with everything in the E/riel setup, it always seems to be more about him and his issues than Elain as an individual.

Thanks for bringing up such a great point!

#anti e/riel