#and I am SO SCARED for the ae

[valaenatargaryensdragon]

Can you please write a sequel to the au where the greens win and Aemond forcibly married his niece where one of their children accuses him of making their mother sad which makes him realise that he has become like his father.

A/N: I hope you like it!

pairing: Dark!Aemond x Niece!reader

summary: sequel to the au where the greens win and Aemond forcibly married his niece where one of their children accuses him of making their mother sad which makes him realise that he has become like his father.

Word count: 1,2K

Warnings: Angst

Masterlist 1

Masterlist 2

"Daddy, why is mommy locked in her room?" Your youngest, Helaera asked innocently. Gaelys, your eldest snapped his head up to look at his father. watching his facial expression, he was never brace enough to ask such a question.

"Whatever do you mean, sweet one? Do you not see your mother in the gardens and during banquets?" Aemond chuckled picking her up to sit on his lap. Your sewing by then had paused, but still you did not dare look up from the tablecloth you were busying yourself with as of lately.

"Yes but otherwise she is locked in her room" She began playing with the buttons on his shirt pouting sadly. Gaelys moved to sit by your side now. He reached over to take your hand in his, you were trembling.

"Darling, your mother made many mistakes and must be punished for them" Aemond kissed her forehead. Her frown deepened and she wiggled out of his arms. She wobbled over to you on her chubby legs, reaching for you to pick her up.

"Come here, love" You put the tablecloth to the side with a smile trying to act as if you did not hear her questions. She giggled as you moved her to sit on your lap.

"Poor mommy, always being punished" she whispered snuggling into your bosom for comfort. Gaelys could not hold himself back, he was about to burst. He stood up from the couch and approached his father with a fire Aemond only saw in dragons.

"You once told us that grandsire Viserys was a horrible man, that he married our grandmother when she was much younger than him and that he never loved her-" Gaelys began. You gasped shocked at his snappy tone. You feared that Aemond would punish him like he did to you for so many years.

"-but you treat mother worse. You lock her up like some animal and only let her out for show. You use your authority on her as if she was some servant, no servants get treated better than her" Gaelys was panting by the end, from anger or loss of breath you did not know. You held your breath awaiting Aemond's outburst, tightening your hold on Helaera fearing she will be also on the receiving end of Aemond's fury for bringing the subject up.

"Go to your room, Gaelys" Aemond ordered, his voice low and angry. Gaelys turned to you begging you with his eyes for you to let him stay.

"Yes and take Helaera with you" You wanted him out of here, you wanted both of them away for when Aemond would let his furry out on you and your body. He has done so before many times.

"Mother-" You cut him off with the famous motherly glare. He sighed but took Helaera from your arms before leaving with his head bowed. You waited for the outburst of yelling and smashing of things but it never came.

Instead Aemond pushed himself slowly from his chair, as if he was fearing scaring you. Still you flinched as he stepped closer making the guilt inside of him twitch like some knife lodged into his side. He crouched down in front of you slowly, his hands softly caressing your knees comforting you.

"Gaelys' words made me realise something" Aemond began softly. You dared to finally look up and into his eyes. All he could see was fear, you even feared looking in his direction. What has he done?

"I am worse than my father" Aemond chocked on his tears. One lone tear trickled down his cheek landing atop his pouty lips. His brows were furrowed at the confusion on your face, you did not believe him capable of caring or even showing the slightest bit of emotions.

"I have become what I hated most" Aemond leaned his head down on her knee. His voice sounded full of despair. You felt conflicted on what to do with him, what to say to him, You could only come with the words "It is okay"

"No tis not!" Aemond jumped to his feet again. He ran a hand through his usual well kept hair, ruining the perfect half up do. He pulled his eyepatch off feeling the leather irritate his skin with his tears.

"I have treated you horribly, the woman I have been in love with since I was ten!" Aemond paced with his hands in his hair, pulling trying to hurt himself. You sat back and watched him break down. Watched him relive every single moment with you, every time he forced himself on you or showed you a side of himself he himself hated.

"I fell for you ever since you defended me during Driftmark. I imagined you to become my wife ever since then. When I learned the ways of the flesh at ten and three it was you I imagined ever since when I touched myself. Ever since I began reading poetry it was with you in mind" He cried. You stood up from the chair approaching him like some scared child. He paused his pacing and faced you, trying to read your facial expression.

"I will not justify what you did nor will I say I forgive you Aemond, what you did is horrible but I will accept that it is from the past for the sake of Gaelys and Helaera" You spoke calmly. Always the collected one in your family. Aemond rubbed his face noticing that you kept your distance, you were disgusted by him and did not want to touch him.

"I will not however tolerate your behaviour any longer, I have had enough, yes Gaelys is right even the servants have a better life than I" You hissed, regaining some of your old fire, but not all, you were tired. You were beaten with no hope. Your hope was now in Gaelys, the heir to throne after Aegon who now had a burned cock and unable to have anymore children.

"I am ready to beg for your forgiveness, my love" Aemond whispered, taking a step closer to you. He placed his hands on your shoulders. You hated the sight of his tears streaming down his face, you sympathised with him, he went through so much from losing his eye to losing his sister but so did you, you lost your brothers and mother.

"I don't want you begging, I want my freedom, I want to have the right to walk around like everyone else not like some animal on a leash. I want to have the right to see my children whenever I want and most importantly I want to go home" You pushed him back. Aemond stumbled a couple of steps back shocked.

"Dragonstone? At once we will go there" Aemond nodded eager to please you, eager to get on your good graces again.

"No, you stay here like the lap dog you are but I will move with my children to Dragonstone" You shook your head coldly. Aemond hiccuped from shock and despair, it was like you grew heartless in a matter of minutes.

"What about me?" He whimpered. He stepped closer to you but you pulled away before eh could touch.

"You stay with your green family and lick the ground they walk on. My children are Targaryens and they will be raised as such with their black and red flag on their castle"

#aemond imagine #aemond fic #aemond fanfiction #house of the dragon aemond #aemond targaryen #aemond x reader #aemond x fem!reader #aemond x y/n #aemond x you #hotd aemond #house of the dragon imagine #house targaryen #house of the dragon #hotd x reader #hotd #hotd imagine

[aegsll]

     nobled individual,

 

     you have been tasked to be patroned by a god or

      goddess to take on this challenge. come to the

    parthenon by midnight to know which god or goddess

       that is assigned by fate, patrons you.

 

                   yours truly, iris

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ae-vent⠀𝑖𝑖⠀:⠀⠀at the parthenon

greetings. you are to compete in the challenge too, aren't you? if yes, i shall be your guide throughout your journey. i am eryl, a nymph patroned by lady athena. i have been tasked to guide noble challengers like yourself. well then, let me tell you what you've to do.

visit the oracle. ask the oracle (@ae-vent) about your patron and wait for them to give you your assigned god or goddess.

spread the word. reblog and ask at least two people to join and be a companion. the more the merrier!

use your wits and creativity. this challenge tests your intellect to come up with something with only a few information and time given. make the best moodboard containing trinkets and items your patron god or goddess is associated with.

report back to me. after finishing your task, tag me (@aegsll) and use the tag 'aevent: odyssey' in your post so i shall be notified and offer your entry to the gods themselves.

that is all that i've got to tell you, and don't forget, you have a month to do your task or you shall be expelled from the competition.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀    ͏͏͏  ae-vent⠀𝑖𝑖⠀:⠀⠀prizes

interested in what you'll get when you win? well heres the list of prizes. i hope they pique your interest and get you to be enthusiastic for this event.

first place custom promotion msg, a moodboard, four custom dividers, two custom gifs, twenty-thirty reblogs

second place a shout-out, a moodboard, two custom dividers, two custom gifs, ten-fifteen reblogs

third place a shout-out, a moodboard, two custom dividers, ten reblogs

participants (excluding first, second, and third place) will get five reblogs as a thank you.

oh! and please note that, you'll only be given two weeks to claim the prizes so don't forget to when the winners are announced.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀    ae-vent⠀𝑖𝑖⠀:⠀⠀farewells

so you're sure you've seen everything? very well then, you're free to start your journey now. my name's eryl and don't be scared to ask me questions if you're ever troubled, nobled challenger.

hii aegsll here! omg i was literally so troubled because i did that post about the wonderland event without knowing how it'll work.. but suddenly i saw the my world photos (mainly ningning's) and this event literally came into mind. i've been a big fan of greek mythology as my irl name is also a greek god. it's a really interesting topic that involves characters that are so well thought and each one of them are distinct from eachother. hope you have fun diving into mythology as much as i do with this event. thank you so much for reading all of this ahh, i love you guys so much mwah 🫶🏻

#͏͏͏ the second ae͏͏͏-vent ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏⠀ ͏͏͏ #aevent: odyssey #moodboard #event #kpop #ningning moodboard

[auspicioustidings]

Ae Fond Kiss - Part 2

Love in the Guise of Friendship

Summary: 6 months pass and you learn to deal with your grief with help from an unexpected source. Words: 3.2k TWs: allusions to suicidal thoughts

Parts: 1 2 3

13 days after the world ended

“Please take him.”

You were a terrible mother. You couldn’t even hold your own son. You hoped as Joseph cried and Kyle took him and tried to soothe him that someone would come and take the baby away from you. You didn’t deserve to have something so precious when every time you held him you wanted to throw up. A few times you had, putting him down quickly and diving for the toilet. Head leant on the toilet seat, sweaty hair sticking to it and looking at the little thing on the hard tiled floor whose eyes belonged to a spectre, you sometimes wished you would do the right thing and just die already so someone better could take him. 

Kyle had stayed in your flat since the world ended. Johnny’s mother had wanted to and it was a small mercy that she hadn’t pushed. The idea of her being there made you want to lay down and let the earth swallow you up. You hadn’t seen Price although the groceries that arrived every few days had his name next to the order. Nothing at all from Ghost. You wondered if he found you disgusting. Sometimes it felt like he could see right to the heart of you. Sometimes it felt like he had seen the ugliness when your baby had died, and then he had seen it when your husband had died, and now he knew that you were wretched and unfit for love. You half expected him to show up in the night to take Joseph away.

“Come on little man, can’t be giving your mum such a hard time. If this is what you’re like now you’ll drive her right mental when you start teething.”

Fuck. The sob that came out of you was a broken and pathetic thing. It was just that Johnny had said something similar when you had first taken Joseph home. As it did at least five times a day, the grief smothered you so entirely that Kyle had to steer you into the nest of blankets and pillows you had built yourself on the couch. He was staying in the bedroom with Joseph right now. You couldn’t go in there yet. You didn’t know when you would be able to. 

“It’s ok, we’ll try again tomorrow yeah?”

You managed a limp nod as you burrowed into the bedding that had stopped smelling like cosiness among a winter pine forest a week ago. You would try again tomorrow.

–

23 days after the world ended

“She can’t be on her own.”

Simon had hoped that you’d be at least a little better by now. You’d never be ok, he more than anyone understood that, but you would learn to live again. You hadn’t seen him since that horrible night. The 141 never officially attended the family funeral, they had taken a portion of the ashes and held their own memorial for their fallen brother. But Ghost had seen you, had been there in the shadows keeping watch.

He had near threatened to quit if Gaz wasn’t given leave to stay with you. He had asked him to, although he suspected he might have done it anyway. You needed someone and after seeing how you had paled speaking with Johnny’s family he had made arrangements. Mrs MacTavish hadn’t been happy to stay away, but he was blunt when he told her that despite her best intentions, being around Johnny’s family would break you right now. He was steadfast in his belief that there was still enough of you left to break.

“Garrick…”

“Don’t Garrick me Lieutenant. You… you’re better at this kind of thing than I am. Stop being a prat and get over here, she needs you right now.”

“We don’t even like each other.”

“You don’t have to. You understand each other, that’s enough.”

He knew that Gaz was right. If anyone understood this sort of all encompassing grief, it was going to be him. He had already pulled you back from it once before. But it was different this time. This time his own grief was choking him and if he added it to yours he was scared it would kill you both. 

It was selfishness that had kept him away this long. Gaz was grieving too and he had been left with the responsibility of keeping your head above the water in the sea you had made of your sorrow. He had stayed by your side even when his own support system was waiting for him in his London flat. He had met Gaz’s partner a few times, he knew they would be there to soothe him like he needed. But because Ghost was a fucking coward, instead his Seargent (the one he hadn’t let fucking die in his arms) was with you. Only now the cracks were starting to show and Gaz needed to be home before he splintered entirely under the weight of it all. 

“Ghost?”

“Ok. I’ll be round tomorrow.”

–

30 days after the world ended

“You have got to be kidding.”

There was no way that the big scary man in the balaclava, that you still hadn’t seen him without despite your best efforts, was this hopeless at cooking. 

“S’too fucking long! Or your pot isn’t big enough!”

Oh God he sounded so unlike himself right then. Gone was the gruff, smug bastard and in his place was, dare you say, someone embarrassed. And he damn well should be in honesty. What grown man couldn’t even make spaghetti? All the pasta noodles had a section of scorching from where they had been left laying against the edge of the pot. There was a startling sound in the air, one you had forgotten existed. His eyes were wide as it carried through the room. It took you a moment to parse the sound. It was coming from you. You were laughing. 

His wide eyed surprise quickly giving way to a glare over the fact that you would dare laugh at his expense only made you laugh harder, clutching at your stomach with one arm and wiping frantically at your watering eyes with the other. 

“Big scary skull man defeated by Italian food!” you wheezed, your entire body clinging to the feeling of giddy lightness at this moment. “Is that why you wear it? Hiding the mortification from being outdone by” you paused to read the packet and the ridiculousness of it only made you laugh hard enough to be snorting like a pig, “Fedelini number 10!”

Ghost nearly ripped off his balaclava right there and then to prove he was not in fact mortified which would have been a disaster considering his logical brain was certain his cheeks and ears were burning red, but little Joseph rescued him from the further humiliation when he gave a happy gurgle from his high chair that had you scooping him up. You were laughing and cooing at him as you showed him the burnt pasta, telling him about the big scary skull man who was hiding his face for fear of reprisal from every Italian on the planet.

It was the first time you had held him without those storm clouds in your eyes and that awful rigidity from all the tension swimming through you. He was struck terrified for a moment that he would fuck up and this fragile happiness would shatter, but when you turned to him, making fun of him through the baby, his mouth was moving before he could overthink it. 

“Your ma’s a brat Joe. She forgets that I saw her attempt at a birthday cake.”

“It was avant garde! And it was still delicious!” you said with a gasp of outrage that he would dare to bring up the great birthday cake disaster of 2021. 

“You know he only told you that to spare your feelings, right princess?”

You pressed Joseph to your chest with a hand to his ear, feigning blocking him from hearing such slander. 

“This is why the universe messed up your hearing J, to protect you from all these lies coming from casper over here.”

The pasta was thrown out and you ordered in (Italian of course). Now that you could hold Joseph without your gut roiling you found you didn’t want to stop, but you still paused at the bedroom door and passed him off to Ghost instead. He didn’t push it, not tonight, not after you had laughed and held Joe and not drowned at the mention of something Johnny had said. Soon though. He was getting you back into a proper bed soon.

–

2 months after the world ended

Price was staying out of it although taking great amusement in watching it happen (even if his heart felt like it was in a woodchipper watching the biggest two casualties of his war). Joseph in his arms was happy to tug at his beard and not too concerned about the fight happening. 

You were like a fucking feral cat is what Ghost thought as you kicked your legs and battered your fists against his back. He didn’t really think about it when he laid a spank on your ass causing an indignant squawk from you. Maybe if either of you were willing to see one another as anything but enemies it might have caused an entirely different reaction.

“You put me down you fucking animal!”

“Language princess, little ears listening.”

Oh he thought he was hilarious clearly since you both knew Price had turned off Joe’s hearing aid the minute this started kicking off. You thought otherwise. Stupid bonehead didn’t have a funny bone in his body. Prick.

“I’m not bloody sleeping there!”

“Yes you bloody are!”

He had coaxed you into the bedroom over the last few weeks, but despite his efforts you still wouldn’t sleep in the bed and he had completely run out of patience. Compassion had been fully overruled by annoyance. You were an absolute pain in his arse and it was driving him crazy that you would be so stubborn about this. 

Plus he was starting to get antsy about sleeping on the bedroom floor. Since you were on the couch he couldn’t take that, and even though the bed smelled faintly of Gaz which would have been fine, the first time he had laid down in it the bottom pillow still held a whisper of whiskey in front of a fireplace, frosted pine trees perfuming through a window. So he had slept on the floor and not told you. Then he had just sort of kept doing it. 

“Jesus fuck woman!” he hissed when your nails dragged up his back as he crossed the threshold to the bedroom. 

“Should’ve wore your fucking kevlar if you were intending on getting into a fight with me. I’m going to rip you apart casper.”

He laughed as he grabbed your hips and up ended you over his shoulder and onto the bed, an offt coming from you as you bounced. You hadn’t been on this bed since the world ended. The thought of it would floor you. It had taken a monumental effort to even be in the room. Ghost had only convinced you with the fact that Joe slept better with the crib in the bedroom and needed his mum to put him down for naps and sleeps.

Only now all the panic you usually felt in this room, all the horror of the idea of being in this bed, was crushed under the weight of your fury at this idiot’s smug eyes looking down at you. Not on your life would you let him win a fight. Just because he was a lumbering giant with bad taste in masks did not mean he could take you on. So instead of hyperventilating and crawling off the bed to curl up on the floor and cry, you lunged to throttle him. 

When the growling and yelling stopped a minute or so later Price peeked into the room to make sure you hadn’t actually killed one another to find both of you in the bed, your back to Simon’s chest with his legs pinning yours and his arms holding you lightly in a sleeper hold. Not enough to significantly cut off your oxygen, but enough to immobilise you and have you silently simmering with rage at being caught. 

There were red lines down Simon’s arms, claw marks. Your hair was a mess, mussed and wrecked from what must have been a savage wrestling match. Was that…? Price laughed as he bounced Joseph.

“Better hope she isn’t rabid Simon.”

“He started it” you grumbled, maybe a little chagrined now faced with the reality of Captain John Price seeing teeth marks on his soldier’s forearm. 

Joseph perked up and chubby little hands flailed as he reached toward you. Price sat down on the edge of the bed to hand the little bundle of trouble over into your arms, Ghost’s hold loosening as his legs released yours and his arms dropped, hands finding a comfortable position lightly resting on your hips.

Neither of you put any conscious thought into the position, you sat between his legs, almost leant back on his chest with the baby cooing happily in your arms as Ghost waggled his eyebrows over your shoulder. You were both content to just lay all your attention on the most perfect baby to have ever existed and his beautiful eyes. 

The woodchipper whirred violently.

–

4 months after the world ended

You didn’t know what was more startling about the fact that Ghost had just burst into the bathroom with Joseph in his arms, the fact that you were naked in the bath or the fact that you could see Simon Riley. 

He sort of lived with you now, neither of you willing to be the first to voice that you were doing a lot better these days and probably didn’t need someone living in to make sure you didn’t go off the deep end. You thought Kyle was going to say something about it last time he visited, but he seemed to think better of it and kept quiet. 

But in all that time you had never seen him without his mask. You had caught glimpses of a strong jawline when he ate, seen clear eyes when he stopped putting eye black on them a few weeks back. Strangely after wanting to trick him into letting you see him, you had ignored the chance of it a week ago. He had been leaning over the crib and you caught a glimpse of skin that told you he had his balaclava off. Only you didn’t walk in. You don’t know why you didn’t. Instead you quietly left the room again and stood by the wall outside, covering your mouth to smother an unexpected sob when you heard the soft sound of a lullaby being sung.

He was a wild and twisted sort of handsome (not that he hadn’t told you several times he was good looking, for such a large and intimidating man he was actually a bit of an arrogant, smug tosser once you got to know him). The scars didn’t really make you flinch, you were married to Johnny after all and while his face wasn’t too badly marked up outside of a few knicks and small lines he had plenty of gnarled scar tissue around his body. You had been married to him. His face hadn’t been too badly marked.

“Ok, hang on, let’s do it again for mum Joe.”

Simon looked almost crazed as he stuck his tongue out at your son, seemingly not bothered in the slightest that you were still very much completely naked in the bath. You would have screamed at him to get out, only as he started screwing up his nose and crossing his eyes J laughed and any concern about your state of dress or his rude interruption died in your throat. 

“Oh… oh my God! Fuck wait where’s my phone! Can you do it again J? Is Simon’s face funny?” you cooed, nearly sliding and cracking your head open as you rushed to your feet and lunged out of the tub to get your phone from the counter so you could make sure you had video evidence of this moment forever. 

Both an unmasked Simon and a dripping wet and naked you cooed and made silly faces and laughed along for the next 10 minutes before Joseph decided he was well and truly tuckered out from practising his new talent and conked out on Simon’s shoulder. 

Only without the excitement of baby’s first laugh did you both realise the situation and blink in shock at one another. Simon’s eyes flickered briefly over you, and absolutely ass that he was he bit his lip to stifle a laugh.

“Nice piercing.”

Your face blazed red. Simon Riley had no business knowing that you had a barbell through the hood of your clit.

“Cute scars.”

Simon found the tips of his ears warming. You had no business knowing that he had a variety of scars on his face.

As if the spell keeping you both frozen in place broke, you snatched a towel and turned to wrap yourself in it while he turned his back so you couldn’t see his face. Both stood in the bathroom, backs to one another, there was an awkward beat of hesitation with neither of you knowing how to diffuse this situation. 

“I’ll… put him down. I’ll put him down.”

“Yes. Yeah. I’ll just… get dressed.”

“Right.”

You were both very careful to not bring it up again, even when Simon never wore the balaclava around the house after that.

–

6 months after the world ended

It was love in the guise of friendship. Neither of you were stupid enough to acknowledge it. 

–

2 hours after the fuck up of the century

“Permission to speak freely Captain.”

“Granted.”

“I fucking told ye so. Simmons has always been a shitebag, and now he’s fucked us.”

“...I won’t make you stay.”

“Aye, but we both know if I pull out of this now the world gets dirty.”

The despair settled into Price’s bones. John MacTavish should be on his way to exfil right now, but instead was on the other end of a burner phone as Price sat in the helo that wouldn’t be taking his Sergeant home as planned. 

He hated this. He hated holding little Joseph MacTavish knowing that Soap was missing it. He hated looking at you and seeing the way your eyes sometimes glazed, mind drifting to your apparently dead husband. He hated looking at Simon and seeing a man slowly falling in love and drowning in guilt about it.

But he had to get dirty to keep the world clean. 

So they changed the plan. Simmons had well and truly fucked it and now they needed to be in it for the long haul. John MacTavish would stay a dead man. Vladimir Makarov would be given no reason to suspect that his double agent was a triple agent, which meant a comms blackout until Soap was certain beyond doubt that it was time to pull the trigger. Nobody but him, Price and Laswell would ever know.

There was one thing asked of Price and he swore to it. He would do anything in his power to make sure you and Joseph were happy and looked after. He didn’t dare comment when after a moment, Soap added Simon Riley to that small list.

#mhairiwrites #cod #fanfic #soap x reader #ghost x reader #simon riley x reader #john mactavish x reader

[kckt88]

The Day Love Returned I.

Summary:

The Princess reawakens and longs to reunite with her love.

WHAT IF VAERA DIED INSTEAD OF AEMON?

AU of Dynasty!!

Warning(s): Sorrow, Grief, Anger, Dragon Battle, Death.

Word Count: 3600

Author Note: A companion piece to Courtship/Wedding & Consummation/Bath Time/Arrival(s)/Mother & Father/Petitions & Final Tributes/The Hand, The King & The Dragon/Dragonstone/Blood & Cheese/A Time for Grief/ Rooks Rest & the Silver King/The Gullet/Taking of a City/Harrenhal and the Rivers/The Gods Eye/The Fallen Queen/New Beginnings/Ravenous/Don't Leave Me/Another Plane of Existence/Gēlenka Zaldrīzes I/Gēlenka Zaldrīzes II & Gēlenka Zaldrīzes III.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon or Fire & Blood characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used.

Comments, likes, and reblogs are very much appreciated.

“Congratulations Princess, you are with child again” said Maester Orwyle.

Vaera smiled as she placed a hand on her stomach, it would please Aemond greatly to know that his seed had once again taken root and another child grew within her.

He’d been enamoured with the twins when she was pregnant with them, and she knew he would be just the same with this babe.

Mayhaps they would be blessed with a little girl. A sweet Princess, with silver curls.

Picturing Aemond with his long silver hair unbound, sitting in front of the fire with a tiny baby girl nestled against his bare chest, made Vaera’s heart burst with every ounce of love and joy she could muster.

Of course, she had wanted to tell him immediately, but he was busy in a council meeting with the King and landed Lords of the realm, so their happy news would have to wait until later.

So, Vaera decided that she would visit the nursery and spend time with the children, no doubt Helaena and Alicent would also be there.

It would be good to spend time as a family, there hadn’t much time for such things lately, the war for the Iron Throne was raging and times were dangerous.

Especially after the mysterious death of her younger brother Lucerys, it was driving Aemond to distraction, trying to prove his innocence and find the real culprit.

Perhaps the news of a child would be their beacon of light in the midst of a dark world.

Smiling to herself as she opened the door, nothing at could have prepared Vaera for the horror that was about to greet her.

Vaera felt a sudden sharp pain in her chest, she felt like she couldn’t catch her breath.

Suddenly she was on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, she could hear screaming and shouting, but it was muffled.

Then Aemond was gathering her into his arms, and she felt safe.

Using the last ounce of strength she could muster, Vaera lifted her hand to Aemond’s scared cheek.

She wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t form the words as the blood slithered from her nostrils.

A moment later, the last of Vaera’s strength ebbed away and her hand slipped from Aemond’s cheek, falling down by her side.

“A-Ae-Aem-“ rasped Vaera.

Then everything went dark.

There was no sound. There was no pain. There was nothing.

“AEMOND” screamed Vaera as she lurched forward, her hands immediately going to her head as pain lanced through her entire body.

“Easy Princess”

“W-Who are you?” asked Vaera, her limbs shaking.

"I am a High Priestess of the Red Temple of Volantis, the Flame of Truth, the Light of Wisdom, and First Servant of the Lord of Light, but you may call me Kinvara”

“W-What am I doing here?” gasped Vaera.

“Your dragon brought you here” replied Kinvara.

“W-Why?” exclaimed Vaera as she looked down and saw the raised and slightly pink moon shaped scar over her heart.

“You were murdered” replied Kinvara.

“M-Murdered?” asked Vaera.

"Your father made the arrangements" said Kinvara.

"D-Daemon he was-" gasped Vaera.

"The one who killed your brother" said Kinvara.

"W-Why would he do that?"

"The man seeks war and blood. He did what he thought necessary in order to facilitate his desire" muttered Kinvara solemnly.

Vaera stared at the Red Priestess, her father was responsible for Luke's death and in turn hers.

Suddenly it all came flooding back, the men who came through the wall, the terror, the screaming, the children, the flash of the dagger, the sting of pain as it penetrated her flesh.

Her sons. Her sweet boys. What had happened to them?

“Aemon, Rhaegar” said Vaera desperately.

“Relax Princess, your sons live” replied Kinvara softly.

“H-How am I alive?” asked Vaera.

“R'hllor, the Lord of Light saw fit to return your life, I am merely a servant of his will”.

“You brought me back? why?” gasped Vaera.

“Se bōsa bantis iksos māzis. Hen aōha ānogar māzigon se dārilaros bona istan kīvio, se zȳhon jāhor sagon se vāedar hen suvion se perzys” (The long night is coming. From your blood comes the princess that was promised, and hers will be the song of ice and fire).

“Dārilaros?” asked Vaera (Princess).

“Daenerys jelmāzmo hen targārio lentrot” (Daenerys stormborn of House Targaryen).

“When?”

“Many years from now, your fifth great granddaughter will ascend the Iron Throne and unite the realm against the enemy in the North” replied Kinvara.

Vaera wanted to laugh at the absurdity of what Kinvara was saying but how could she when she had taken a dagger to the heart, and now she was alive.

“I-If this Princess who was Promised comes from my blood, then what about Aemon or Rhaegar surely they would carry on my bloodline?” asked Vaera.

“Aemon has his part to play as do we all, but it is not just him. It is the babe in your womb”.

“S-Surely the babe did not survive my demise” muttered Vaera, her heart despairing at the thought of losing her unborn babe.

“No, she didn’t but as you now live so does she” replied Kinvara smiling as she placed a hand on Vaera’s stomach.

“S-She?” questioned Vaera.

“A girl with silver curls and the eyes of her father, the youngest Targaryen in history to ever claim a full-grown dragon”.

“T-This is a lot of information to take in” muttered Vaera.

“I understand Princess, but you must know of what’s to come” urged Kinvara.

“What else is there?” asked Vaera.

“A Targaryen must be seated upon the Iron Throne. You must ensure the survival of your house lest it fall to ruin” said Kinvara, her face grim.

“F-Fall to ruin?”

“The war for the Iron Throne rages many lives will be lost. The dragons will grow weak and die, Kings of the mighty house of the dragon will become just like everyone else. No wonder, no awe. Only pain and suffering until a dragon falls on the banks of the trident and a stag will rise” said Kinvara.

"A-A stag-House Baratheon will claim the Iron Throne?" gasped Vaera.

"The crowned stag will be devoured by the lion" replied Kinvara.

"The Lannisters?" said Vaera grimacing.

"Unfortunately so Princess, the lions will reign whilst the last Targaryen hides in the east” said Kinvara.

“H-How do we alter our fate?”

“We stand at the precipice of destiny, there needs to be death for others to live” said Kinvara.

“Who’s death?” asked Vaera, not entirely sure she actually wanted to know the answer.

“Do you really to know of such things Princess?”

“I thought you said I needed to know of what’s to come? asked Vaera.

“Learning of death will only cloud your judgement. You need to remain free of such constraints, but it may please you to know that your sons will live long fulfilling lives”.

“What about Aemond?” exclaimed Vaera.

“Your husband grieves for you” whispered Kinvara.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it” snapped Vaera.

“Silver stained with crimson, a sister of darkness piercing amethyst. A last remnant lost to the eye of the gods”.

“What?” questioned Vaera.

“Or many babes born from the seed of the gēlenka zaldrīzes” whispered Kinvara (Silver dragon).

‘gēlenka zaldrīzes’ Vaera closed her eyes, remembering when she called Aemond that for the first time.

“A sister of darkness piercing amethyst, a last remnant lost to the eye of gods what does -“ trailed off Vaera suddenly realising what Kinvara was trying to tell her.

The sister of darkness was Daemons Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister. The last remnant had to mean Vhagar, and eye of the gods was-

“Harrenhal. The Gods Eye. Aemonds going to die” cried Vaera.

“Possibly” replied Kinvara.

“I-I must go to him. He needs to know that I’m alive” said Vaera urgently as she tried to climb off the alter, but her legs gave way underneath her and she collapsed to the ground.

“You are not yet strong enough Princess. You must rest” said Kinvara.

“B-But my husband, he needs me” cried Vaera.

“You will return in time. But for now, you must remain here. With us” replied Kinvara.

It took some time before her strength had fully returned to her, and all Vaera could think about was Aemond and their sons.

Twice she had tried to mount her Cannibal, but her stubborn dragon had remained steadfast in his refusal to take her back.

Of course, through the bond she could feel that her Cannibal was elated that she was alive, but there was an undercurrent of sadness and despair.

She came to realise that her death had hit her dragon hard, she was the first person he’d ever bonded with, and their hearts were so entwined that she knew his refusal to return to Westeros was his way of keeping her safe.

But she would have to return eventually, and what she would return too she didn’t even want to think about.

It was selfish of her that much she knew, but all that mattered to her was Aemond and their children.

The babe that her husband didn’t even know she carried was healthy and hale, there were many midwives and Maesters in Volantis that would give her regular check ups and every kick her unborn daughter gave her was surely a blessing.

But her heart did not stop yearning for her husband and their sons.

To think of them grieving her death whilst she still lived made Vaera cry herself to sleep most nights.

Vaera imagined what she would feel if Aemond died, and it was like a huge hole had been punched through her chest. The devastation seeped into the very core of her soul, as she envisioned holding her husband’s lifeless body in her arms.

It must have been how Aemond had felt when she died in his arms, her mind conjured up a hundred possibilities of how he was dealing with his grief. Each as unlikely as the next, but she couldn’t help but consider Otto Hightower and his actions following her death, with everyone believing that she was gone, would the Hand of the King seek to find Aemond a new wife, to further solidify Aegon’s rule as the rightful King of the seven Kingdoms.

She knew the Lord Hand was as slippery as an eel, and he would need to make as many alliances as possible, and the only way to do that was via marriage.

The thought of Aemond being sold off made her blood boil, he was hers and hers alone.

Cannibal sensed her ire through their bond and let out a rumbling roar that shook the very foundations of the great Temple of the Lord of Light.

Vaera never ventured beyond the spot that Cannibal had claimed for his nest.

She was a stranger in this land, and she did not want any harm to befall her or the babe she carried.

Volantis was a large free hold, divided in two halves by the Rhoyne. The western side of the city is open to foreigners, traders, and merchants. The eastern side contains the inner city, which is protected by 200-foot-tall black walls.

It truly fascinated Vaera, as did the history of to Volentese people and their dealings with Aegon the conqueror.

Of course, she had read many books when she was a child, yet nothing could have truly prepared her for the wonder and grandeur of Volantis.

Aemond would love it here, soaking up every bit of history that he could. Perhaps one day they could come back for a visit.

As her mind once again drifted towards her husband, she hoped that he was coping, and the boys were ok. She missed them all so much.

It pained Vaera greatly to simply sit and wait for the right time to return to Westeros, but Kinvara was insistent she should not return before she was meant too.

Vaera suddenly felt movement in her rounded stomach, and she smiled, she had a piece of Aemond was with her and she would cherish it with every fibre of her being.

“Have no fear princess. Your husband will not seek another marriage” said Kinvara as she approached a lit brazier.

“You don’t know his grandsire; he moves people about the board as he sees fit. If he decides to gain favour with some of the more fickle Lords, the only way to achieve such a thing would be through marriage and Aemond is the only one free of such things at the moment”

“You have no need to fear Otto Hightower, the green snake is not long for this world” muttered Kinvara as she stared intently at the flames.

“He’s going to die?” asked Vaera curiously.

“It’s as I said Princess, there are those that need to die in order for others to live”.

The question of who else was going to die was on the tip of her tongue, but Vaera kept her mouth shut, the less she knew the better in that regard.

“Although, there is another who will desire your husband’s touch” whispered Kinvara.

“Who?” asked Vaera scowling.

“A bastard witch of the woods”.

“Aemond would never-“ said Vaera.

“-Not even for the promise of victory over his enemies?” asked Kinvara.

“No, he wouldn't. My husband is a man of loyalty and honour” replied Vaera sternly.

“She see’s much and more within the flames, the lady Alys. She will make your husband an offer, but the price of such a thing is far more than your gēlenka zaldrīzes will be willing to pay” muttered Kinvara her hand moving gently through the flames (Silver dragon).

“Price?” questioned Vaera.

“The seed of a dragon is a valuable thing, almost as valuable as blood” said Kinvara softly.

“S-She wants my husband to give her a babe?” exclaimed Vaera.

“A pointless endeavour. Your husband is as you claim. He will refuse the witch, his heart forever yours, even as it withers in grief” replied Kinvara.

Vaera let out a muffled sob, her hand on her chest. How much longer must she be separated from her love?

“As the sun rises and the moon turns, you shall return to the arms of your husband”.

Vaera sighed in relief and nodded, making a silent vow that when she was once again in the arms of her husband, she was never going to leave.

The sun had rose and the moon had turned, Vaera couldn’t contain her excitement as Kinvara confirmed that today was the day she was free to return to Westeros.

Expressing her gratitude to Kinvara for everything that she had done for her, Vaera promised that one day she would make a return visit with her husband.

Kinvara merely smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to Vaera’s forehead.

“Take care of yourself Princess”.

“I will and may the Lord of Light find my gratitude” replied Vaera as she eagerly mounted the Cannibal.

Vaera raised her hand towards Kinvara and after taking a deep breath, she gave her Cannibal the command to fly and for the first time in months, her dragon readily opened his huge black wings and propelled himself into the sky.

Vaera shared one last look with Volantis before it disappeared into the distance, it felt good to be flying again, even more so now that she was headed home. But she couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of sadness at the thought of leaving Kinvara.

The Red Priestess had facilitated not only her return from death but her unborn babe as well, and she had also supported her in her most vulnerable moments.

Sensing her sadness through their bond, Cannibal gave a concerned chirp as he pushed himself high above the clouds.

“Don’t worry about me my sweet” said Vaera loudly.

Cannibal in his attempt to cheer her up, began to dive through the clouds, roaring loudly as he disturbed a flock of birds, and for his sheer size, his speed was impressive.

Of course, Cannibal was not quite as large as Vhagar, but he was close.

In the hours that it took to fly back to Westeros, Vaera had Cannibal take rest breaks as she knew it wasn’t fair to try and make him fly the entire journey in one go.

Despite his previous reluctance to bring her home, Cannibal now seemed eager to return. She wondered if he was missing the other dragons, sure he’d mated with Dreamfyre, but he definitely had a soft spot for Aemond’s grumpy granny dragon.

At the thought of Vhagar being a grouchy granny, Vaera let out a small snigger, she definitely reminded her of those mean old ladies that would sometimes sit at court that would hit you with their walking sticks as you walked past.

Perhaps it was for the best that she kept that information to herself, as she didn’t think Aemond would appreciate her opinion of his old girl.

After many hours of flying, Westeros finally appeared on the horizon.

As she passed over the Gullet, Vaera half expected to be greeted by the dragon Meleys but neither the Red Queen or her grandmother appeared, then she spotted the charred ruins of the Velaryon fleet, the masses of wreckage moving back and forth with the waves.

What else had happened whilst she was away? Who else had met their end?

At that moment Vaera wanted so desperately to return to the Red Keep, but she couldn’t there was somewhere else she needed to go first.

So, with an air of determination, Vaera aimed Cannibal in the direction of Harrenhal.

As she’d been sequestered away in Volantis, Vaera wasn’t privy to any information on the war, unless Kinvara saw fit to inform her, but even then, it wasn’t significant details.

So, of course Vaera had no idea which dragons were still alive or where they would be located.

So Vaera made sure to avoid flying close to Dragonstone just in case.

As they flew over Duskendale and then Rosby, Cannibal suddenly gave a load roar and lurched forward, lashing his teeth in a fury like she had never seen.

Though the bond, Vaera could sense his agitation and anger, something was wrong.

Could he sense trouble ahead?

Eventually the ruins of Harrenhal came into view.

The sky was alight with the flames of two battling dragons.

Now Vaera understood her Cannibal’s urgency.

They were almost there.

“Hold on my love. I’m coming”

Caraxes was faster than Vhagar, and the deadly Blood Wyrm launched his first snapping attack at Vhagar’s hanging jowls, narrowly missing, and pulling back as she breathed a jet of blazing fire at him that missed Daemon by inches.

The Blood Wyrm rose high into the sky, hovering above Vhagar.

Vhagar with her experience in battle, managed to manoeuvre herself towards Caraxes, she bared her sharp fangs, snapping at the Wyrm and sunk her teeth into his neck, spilling the dragon’s boiling hot blood, putting herself directly in range of Caraxes’ claws.  

The Blood Wyrm raked his talons across Vhagar’s stomach, splitting her open.

Yet Vhagar was stubborn and despite being in pain she did not let go and in her fury, the ancient battle-hardened dragon sunk her fangs further into the neck of Caraxes.

Refusing to let go.

Aemond looked up in terror as Daemon stood in his saddle.

Suddenly a load roar echoed through the sky.

Aemond gasped in disbelief as the Cannibal descended from the clouds, almost like a ghost in the night.

His wife’s dragon, darted towards Caraxes, and collided with the two entwined dragons, using the bulk of his weight to free Vhagar from Caraxes claws.

From the sheer force of the attack, Daemon was flung from the back of Caraxes and fell towards the waters of the Gods Eye.

Vhagar tumbled through the sky, wriggling furiously as she tried to right herself.

Managing to free himself from his chains, Aemond threw himself from the saddle just as Vhagar crashed into the water with an immense splash.

Aemond was immediately sucked underneath the surface of the water.

Cannibal lashed his razor-sharp teeth deep into Caraxes neck and shook his head from side to side.

The Blood Wyrm shrieked and desperately tried to claw himself away from Cannibal, but he was no match.

With one final snap of his jaws, Cannibal ripped the Blood Wyrm’s head from his body.

Caraxes, now dead, dropped through the sky and plunged into the water.

The force of the dragons dead body hitting the water, had propelled Aemond towards the surface.

Using every ounce of strength he possessed, swam as fast as he could.

Coughing and spluttering as he finally broke the surface of the frigid water.

Vhagar, who had astonishingly survived, was now resting on its grassy edge, clearly dazed from the wounds she’d sustained and her collision with the water.

But at least she was alive.

In his exhaustion, Aemond collapsed when he made it to shore, his face pressed against the mud and silt.

Daemon had also survived his fall, as he crawled along the muddy banks of the God Eye before he finally freed himself.

His face covered in blood and his right arm hung painfully at an awkward angle.

The ground then shook as a dragon landed in front of him.

Daemon looked towards the Cannibal and smiled.

“Daughter. We believed you to be dead” rasped Daemon grimacing in pain.

“Yet here I am” replied Vaera firmly.

“Here you are” repeated Daemon.

“This is the end for you. Father” said Vaera.

A father’s eyes briefly met his daughters before the command was given and he was engulfed in flames.

Vaera watched silently as her father’s flailing ashen body slumped forward.

All that was left of the mighty Rogue Prince, was his charred bones. His sword Dark Sister laid in the grass, the Valyrian steel glinting in the sunlight.

Vaera descended down the Cannibals wing and took a deep shuddering breath.

She had made it in time, Daemon was now dead, and she just hoped that Aemond wasn’t too severely injured.

Cannibal trilled slightly as he hovered over her protectively.

Vaera turned around and came face to face with Aemond, who was stood stunned as he stared at her, his mouth hanging open.

“V-Vaera” exclaimed Aemond in disbelief.

#house of the dragon #aemond targaryen #hotd aemond #aemond x oc #hotd fanfic #aemond fanfiction #aemond fic #aemond x original female character #aemond one eye #prince aemond #hotd fic

[leiawritesstories]

Kiss Me Again

Rowaelin Month, Day 5: A Bad Date

Word count: 998

Warnings: mild swearing, Chaol

enjoy!!!

@rowaelinscourt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chaol Westfall was a terrible kisser. 

Aelin resisted for as long as she possibly could, but the second she got into her house and closed the door behind her, she was wiping her mouth vigorously with the back of her hand and doing her utter best not to gag at the too-recent memory of Chaol’s uncomfortably moist hands on her shoulders. The kiss had been both too short and far too long, barely more than a press of his quivering lips to her carefully painted lipstick, and she’d watched him lick his lips right before going for the kiss. 

The oblivious jackass hadn’t even noticed that her eyes had stayed wide open. 

“That bad?” 

Aelin jumped a little at the unexpected question. “What?” 

“Tell me I didn’t just see you trying to bleach Westfall’s slobber off your lips,” Elide deadpanned. She’d been Aelin’s roommate since they were in college; they were as close as sisters. 

“That’s it.” Aelin shrugged. “I’ll give him points for paying, but that won’t get his dating score up from absolute zero.” 

“I told you not to go on that date.” 

Aelin sighed heavily. “Ells, I’ve been single and horny for way too long. I need an orgasm that I haven’t given myself, and a date is usually the best way to get there.” 

Elide shrugged. “There’s so many other options, and you went for Mr. Vanilla from your workplace? Please, you’re as cliché as a YA romance.” She looped her arm around Aelin. “But I love you, and I can help you get a worthwhile date.” 

“Fuck off,” Aelin laughed. “Remember the last time you set me up?” She grimaced. “I’m still shocked I made it home in one piece.” 

About six months ago, Elide had set Aelin up on a blind date with a guy she’d met at a club. He’d hit on her, but Elide was very much taken, so she’d offered to set him up with Aelin, and he’d accepted. The date was spectacularly awful–Aelin came home in a taxi barely an hour after she’d left. Apparently, the guy had showed up off-his-ass high on something and made a sleazy comment. So Aelin had punched him in the face and left. 

“Yeah, maybe that wasn’t the best idea,” Elide agreed. “I’m still not letting you stay single and horny, though! I’ll think of something else.” 

“Oh gods,” Aelin groaned, theatrically. “I’m scared.” 

Elide snickered. “Don’t be.” She was already texting, her fingers flying across her phone screen. “I’m just asking Lor which one of his friends he’s willing to sacrifice.” 

“Funny,” Aelin drawled. “Am I really that bad?” 

“Of course not.” Elide winked at her. “But I will eviscerate the next guy who hurts you, so it might very well be a sacrifice.” 

Laughing, Aelin headed upstairs. “Let me know when you’ve figured it out, Ells!” 

The very next morning, Elide greeted Aelin with a big mug of fresh coffee and an even bigger grin. “Good morning, Ae!” 

“Uh, good morning, Ells.” Aelin eyed her roommate–who was far too cheerful for seven in the morning–warily. “What’s got you all bright-eyed this morning? I didn’t hear Lorcan crawling out of the window last night.” 

Elide blushed bright pink at the memory. “You’re the worst.” She perked up astonishingly quickly. “You have a date!” 

“That’s…great, I guess.” 

“Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. At least pretend to be excited.” 

“I don’t know about that, Ells. I’m a cynic at heart, and even if I wasn’t, I have shit luck with blind dates.” Aelin drained her coffee. “I need to get dressed.” 

“You do not have shit luck, most guys are just douchebags.” Elide took her empty coffee mug and squeezed her hand. “This guy is Lorcan’s oldest friend, though, and Lor promised to beat him up if he does anything wrong.” 

“All right, I suppose I can deal with that.” A grin flicked across Aelin’s face. “Text me whatever details I need.” 

~

It was nearly midnight when Aelin walked up to her house, hand in hand with Rowan–the unexpectedly chivalrous, impossibly gorgeous man Elide and Lorcan had set her up with. Her eyes were bright with alcohol and excitement, and she walked slowly, careful to keep her heels from clicking too loudly on the cement of the driveway. 

“Shhh,” she whispered when Rowan’s shoes scuffed at the pavement. “We don’t want to wake my lovely roommate.” 

He chuckled, the deep rumble setting her nerves alight. “I dunno, Ae. What about payback for all the times she and Lor have woken you up?” 

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She flashed him a wicked, conspiratorial grin. “C’mon.” Swiftly, she unlocked the door, let herself and Rowan into the house, locked up, and led him upstairs. 

“I like your room,” he murmured, his hands coming to rest hot and heavy against her waist. 

She smirked up at him and slid one of the straps of her dress off her shoulder. “I like you being in my room.” Fueled partially by liquid courage and partially by some inexplicable spark burning between the two of them, she closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his. 

He melted into the kiss, shifting his hands down to her hips and hoisting her effortlessly into his arms. “Aelin,” he groaned as he pulled back for breath. 

“Rowan,” she whispered back. Trust glimmered deep in her eyes. “Kiss me again.” 

“I might not be able to stop if I do that,” he murmured. 

She carded her fingers through his hair. “I don’t want you to stop.” 

He caught a sharp breath and tipped his lips down to hers, stopping barely centimeters away. “Are you sure?” 

“I’m sure.” It was a near-desperate breath. 

“Good.” Rowan kissed Aelin again, completely banishing the faint traces of Chaol’s pathetic kiss attempt from her mind. 

And they spent the rest of the night making Aelin’s bed creak and squeal so loudly that Elide wore her earplugs downstairs to breakfast the next morning.

#my writing #rowaelin #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfic #throne of glass fanfiction #rowaelin month #rowaelin month 2023

[queenofmalkier]

Queen Nynaeve is nowhere to be seen in the second of the season

Interestingly, the showrunners seem to be favoring Egwene by making her the hero in both season finales. However, I have high hopes for Nynaeve's character development in the next season, depending on how the writers handle her storyline. One thing that I don't enjoy about the books is the lack of Nynaeve's point of view in the later books and the disregard for her safety by her friends. Nynaeve is my favorite character, and it's disappointing to see her become an afterthought to move the plot forward at times in the book, so I am happy with the show expanding her storyline. With that being said, I was disappointed with the finale, but I do see a path forward in season 3 and future seasons. What are your thoughts on the lack of focus on Nynaeve in the second half of the season? What is your expectation for season 3 and future Lan and Nynaeve moments?

I love this ask because I have so many thoughts.

To start with, I have felt disappointment with Nynaeve in the show not being straight up BAMF. I want to see her get hulk!mad and blow stuff up! SHE ANGY!!! But when I take a step back from my violent need to see Nynaeve commit violence of all forms, I'm actually left pretty satisfied with what they've done so far?

Season 1 was about establishing everybody, including Nynaeve. We needed to see that she came from a position of power and respect in the Two Rivers despite her young age. People trusted her because of her knowledge, because she'd proved herself worthy of that trust.

As she's older in the show we don't see the outbursts she's known for in the books nor does she whack people with a stick, but that's too be expected. She's grown past feeling like an imposter as a wisdom - though she still feels the sting of it, as evidenced by how she interacts with Moiraine.

We see her do some incredible things, and then we see she's capable of wielding some truly awe-inspiring power.

Season 2 takes that Nynaeve and scares the hell out of her. I think Ishamael said it best - she's afraid of power. I have a whole schpeel on the arches that I want to do because I think that episode (mostly) hammered home that pure terror she has about wielding the one power, but that's for another day.

Contrary to the books, Nynaeve isn't treated as another novice. Instead these mythical, powerful women she does not trust are borderline obsessed with making her channel . They keep talking about her potential, about her gift, about what she'll do... but none of them is really talking about Nynaeve al'Meara doing those things. They're thinking about the woman they want her to become: Nynaeve Sedai.

They don't even ask what she wants.

The fact that she has a block and cannot control her power is explored more in the show than it is in the early books, in my opinion. Later books she breaks down and admits just how afraid she is, but instead we're getting that earlier - in the arches, she can't heal Tam, then later she explodes in the same rage she did in season one but nobody is healed, nobody is saved.

Close your eyes, think of a flower. We've seen Nynaeve react negatively to that statement more than once, and I think that's a really, really good way to demonstrate just how unlike the other Aes Sedai she is. "It doesn't work for me like that!"

It's heartbreaking to see, and it's why Liandrin is able to manipulate her, because she doesn't treat Nynaeve like everyone else, nor does she really put her on a pedestal. She challenges her, she shows her the possibilities, she tells her there's no one way to be an Aes Sedai. She makes Nynaeve feel seen. (Putting aside the stolen Siuan scenes.)

Ryma is also able to break through Nynaeve's fear because she approaches it on Nynaeve's level, from a place she'd understand. No flowers, no soft petals. Healing.

Without Ryma there she cannot heal Elayne's leg, and she's so hurt and upset that she can't, but she can still help. She still has all the knowledge of a Wisdom inside of her. It lessens the blow of being unable to channel through her fear.

As much as I want to see Nynaeve channeling like a beast, I'm enjoying watching her work her way through her fear in a way that will make her channeling later on feel earned.

I'm hoping in Season 3 that she acknowledges that fear, as well as her feelings of being a failure to those around her when that imposter syndrome comes back in full - and that she gets past it with the help of Egwene and Elayne, two women who see her for her, and not for the power she can wield.

In regards to Lan/Nynaeve if we don't get the ring scene in Season 3 I'm gonna be so upset lol. It's really difficult to judge where they're taking things from here - how's Tear going to fit in? The hunt for the Black Ajah? Are we staying together? My guess is the 'better together' theme of Season 2 is going to expand to Rand breaking up the gang again because of his own fears, but I really don't know and I'm trying not to overthink it.

#wheel of time #wheel of time tv series #wot prime spoilers #nynaeve al'meara #wheel of time book spoilers

[butterflydm]

wot reread: a memory of light (chapters 32-36)

spoilers for a memory of light, the final book.

Ah. It's a Mat PoV. I never really know what to expect out of Mat PoV these days, I have to admit. Early-to-middle Mat is always an enjoyable read, but I learned to despise reading Mat PoV during CoT & KoD, the two books that made me dislike Mat. The Sanderson Mat PoV chapters have varied wildly between "ugh I hate this"; "huh, that's intriguing"; and "Mat! <3". So, yeah, never know what I'm about to get when I start a Mat PoV these days.

2. Mat considers going out onto the battlefield again but changes his mind when Tuon glares at him from her ten-foot tall throne (...someone is overcompensating; that thing is twice as tall as she is). We get another of those bizarre thoughts from Mat where he praises Tuon for things that he dislikes from anyone else (Min did the same thing in her recent PoV too -- she's all "I don't respect any titles... except yours, Empress! I'll kiss the ground you walk on, Empress! I'll tell you anything you want, Empress!" ...I am mildly paraphrasing). I mentioned this earlier, how Mat starts having super-weird "I was born a native Seanchan" thoughts at a certain point, and this really feels like one of them.

In this instance, he claims that Tuon's ~way of giving orders~ "gives him a thrill", which... I'm torn between two things:

A. it just sends me right back to slave-conditioning (go back to Bethamin's Rules of Slave-Breaking back in Winter's Heart! It is downright eerie how much Tuon followed the rules there in how she interacted with Mat in CoT & KoD; it reminds me of how the most heartbreaking damane moments are when the channelers stop fighting and start desperately wanting to please their mistresses).

but

B. his actions don't really seem to back up that he enjoys getting ordered around by Tuon? Or enjoys watching her order other people around? It might be a thing, I guess, where his body has been conditioned into getting a thrill out of her being a slave-owner but emotionally and intellectually he's turned off by it?

3. Hmm, so Tuon gets incredibly jealous about Mat being in the same room as other women (who aren't slaves), but she doesn't want him looking at her with lust either. Interesting data point.

This is also a place where we really dive into the toxic ways that Mat is using the phrase 'Aes Sedai', where it basically is twisted to mean 'woman with power that I'm scared of' -- Tuon is an Aes Sedai in Mat's thoughts here, despite never actually channeling or having gone through the training to become an Aes Sedai. She's 'one of them' because she is a woman who is capable of having a power that Mat doesn't understand. If Mat had gone to Merrilor and learned what damage his fear and mistrust of Aes Sedai had caused in Caemlyn, he might have learned a healthier way to think about Aes Sedai.

4. Ah, @markantonys, here's that line: "You're doing a fine job of persuading Tuon not to use damane" (Mat sarcastically thinks to himself).

?????

It really is a fascinating/horrifying/mind-boggling contrast between what Mat's intentions apparently are and what he's actually done when he interacts with Tuon. Now, this is not the first allusion to the idea that Mat wants Tuon to stop using damane -- he told Min a few chapters back that "Rand" would want her to selectively use her viewings to try to encourage Tuon to think more favorably about Aes Sedai (Min proceeded to completely ignore him and just spilled literally everything to Tuon that she wanted to know) -- but it's the first time that Mat has actively tried to claim that he has been attempting to persuade Tuon on the matter of the damane.

So, in theory, Mat wants to persuade Tuon to stop using damane.

But in practice, Mat has always been silent and complicit when it comes to Tuon's use and abuse of damane, just as he is in this scene here. It kinda seems like the only way Mat is willing to risk himself for the damane around Tuon is by trying to place other people in her path who will argue on their behalf.

Mat is "unnerved" by how quickly the new Sharan damane has taken to her captivity. I mean, I could say the same of you, Mat.

5. Hmm, Mat is charming Galgan now. Maybe I spoke too soon on thinking that Galgan would no longer try to murder Tuon now that Mat is next in line for the throne, displacing Galgan's claim. If he ends up liking Mat more than he likes Tuon, then Mat might 'accidentally' become the (first?) Emperor of the Seanchan.

Ugh, now Mat is using "marath'damane" instead of "channelers". ...and, by contrast, Galgan is using "Aes Sedai" on Mat's orders. Hmm.

I guess we're supposed to be wondering who will 'win' in the corruption game between Mat and Tuon -- does Tuon manage to break him into being a proper husband-slave or does Mat manage to reach whatever tiny shreds of empathy might still lurk inside Tuon's heart?

6. idk why Mat keeps thinking that Tuon's behavior is mysterious and a puzzle to figure out. It's the omens. She's told you this. He wants to think that she's deeper than she really is, I guess. I suppose if I were trapped in a similar situation, I'd be doing my best to make the best of it too (but that runs into my other big problem of: Jordan's fatalism infecting all the characters even when it's contrary to their past behavior).

7. Tuon is currently interrogating Min on all the omens that she sees for every member of the Blood that's around. And Min just, you know, obeys. For whatever reason.

"He had an inkling of what Tuon might be capable of, if she grew displeased with Min."

Hmm.

"He loved her-- Light, he was pretty sure that he did. But he also let himself be a little afraid of her. He'd have to keep watch so that Tuon didn't decide to 'educate' Min."

Hmm.

Much like Mat himself, Min is in an 'honored' position... but Mat is very aware that this will not actually protect her from getting 'educated' if she displeases his wife-owner. And, once again, Mat gives us nothing he loves about her. Yet when it comes to why he's "a little afraid" of her, Mat does have reasons -- what he's alluding to here is that he's worried that she might hurt his friend's girlfriend (because he's seen Tuon hurt other innocent people in the past).

And we know the kinds of lessons that sul'dam teach. To quote from The Great Hunt again:

Renna took the chair, frowning at Egwene. "I must punish you severely for this. We will both be called to the Court of the nine Moons -- you for what you can do; I as your sul'dam and trainer -- and I will not allow you to disgrace me in the eyes of the Empress. I will stop when you tell me how much you love being damane and how obedient you will be after this. And, Tuli. Make me believe every word."

8. As a result of Min's reading of the 'omens' around one of the Blood, Tuon (through Selucia) announces that the woman will be executed, making both Mat and Min startle severely. Wow, maybe it's a bad idea to hand that kind of surveillance 'technology' over to an unhinged dictator, Min? Who could have guessed?

Anyway, Min is completely shocked by this (completely predictable) reaction from Tuon at an 'omen' that hints at potential betrayal.

Mat's thoughts about Tuon, the woman that he "loves":

Mat shivered. He didn't like it when Tuon got like this. That stare of hers... it seemed like the stare of another person. A person without compassion. A statue had more life to it.

That's literally just Tuon being Tuon, bro. Not sure what to tell you. This is the way she behaves the majority of the time. If you dislike this about her, then you're going to be unhappy for most of your marriage.

9. Min 'wins' this round pretty much the same way that Mat 'won' Tuon telling him that he was more than a toy to her -- she says that she won't tell any more omens to Tuon if Tuon continues to behave this way. If Tuon executes people based solely on Min's 'omens', then Min will stop giving her any omens.

I will say... this has been pretty consistent in the narrative so far -- Tuon only really responds to the threat of her toys being taken away from her. Anything less that that and she will continue to push the boundaries of making someone uncomfortable. Only the threat of losing her toys entirely really makes it through to her brain.

Mat worries here that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon is going to get her executed, but for the moment, Tuon agrees that she will not kill anyone based on what Min says they 'might' do.

...given how 'well' Tuon has kept her word so far, I'm pretty sure that she'll have trumped up an excuse to kill this member of the Blood in the next couple of days. But she'll be able to convincingly lie to Min that it wasn't because of her viewing.

I do think it's weird/fascinating how Min seems to view her 'job' with Fortuona as an all-or-nothing affair -- Mat suggested that she pick and choose what she tells Fortuona in an attempt to influence her, but Min seems to feel like she can either tell Fortuona everything or nothing at all. But we don't get any reason why that's the case. Especially since Tuon is a lot more interested in hearing Min's viewings about other people than the ones about herself, which was something that Min claimed she did for Rand as a ~special exception~ to her normal policy of respecting people's privacy. Again, why is Min going out of her way for the Seanchan? Tuon wouldn't actually know if Min lied to her about this.

10. Awww, Egwene is speaking in code to Mat about his medallion so as not to give his secret away to the enemy Seanchan. It's too late, Egwene. Setalle Anan betrayed Mat's secrets long ago, but it's very sweet of you to care.

Okay, so Elayne joins the, uh, conference call at this point ("thick with child". Um, exactly how far along do you think she is, Sanderson?) and so I am going to try to figure out what, if anything, she knows about the Mat situation. Thom told her a heroic story about Mat freeing slaves. Perrin told her Mat was doing "something" with the Seanchan. She's been pretty busy since then, so I wonder if Egwene has had time to update her on anything.

Mat wants to merge all the forces together. Mat's thoughts on Elayne: "She maintained the posture of a queen, but her disheveled hair and clothing burned in several places indicated what she'd been through." Meanwhile, ~Fortuona~ sits in pristine silks and lets Mat do her talking for her. I suppose she views him as acting as her Voice-husband-slave right now.

11. Elayne and Mat are the two people talking over the tactics at this meeting, btw (so consider that another spit in the eye to Perrin for trying to diss Elayne's tactical knowledge). Mat laying out the plan and Elayne questioning the details and reasoning.

Elayne doesn't acknowledge Tuon's existence at all during this entire section. She is absolutely and 100% only talking to Mat, and there's never even a mention of her looking over and noticing Tuon. She also doesn't seem to be treating Mat any differently than she had before.

I am so curious about Elayne's thoughts on this situation! Did Thom tell her about Mat's marriage being an accident when he came to Merrilor? Does she even know that Mat is married to the Seanchan Empress? She knows he's married to someone, because of his letter, but does she know who?

...also, she doesn't mention the Horn of Valere and Mat needing to blow it. That's maybe the one thing here that does indicate that she is aware of Tuon & the Seanchan even if she doesn't acknowledge them, not wanting to give away the Horn's believed ties to Mat. Which implies that she's ignoring ~Fortuona~ as a deliberate snub (good for her).

If the "Two Rivers coat" that Mat has been wearing was sourced by the person that Elayne found for Mat (by his request), then he is also wearing clothes that were supplied by Elayne during this entire meeting. Seanchan breeches and an Andoran coat.

Also, Elayne telling Mat, "I hope you know what you're doing," triggers the dice in his head. Is that... is that about more than the battle, Elayne? Are you speaking in code, Elayne? Are you talking about Tuon, Elayne?

Side note: Elayne doesn't get the whole "ugh no, she's a Dreaded Aes Sedai" treatment from Mat here even though she literally is one and Tuon is, in fact, not. I'm guessing because Mat isn't scared of Elayne?

12. Elayne then "passionately" explains and defends Mat's plan to Tam and, idk, some other leaders in the armies on her side.

lol so much at Galad's thoughts about how Perrin is so ~reasonable~ compared to other leaders like Elayne and how maybe the Whitecloaks should settle in the Two Rivers after the Last Battle. Perrin doesn't. He doesn't actually like you, Galad.

It is interesting that Galad is thinking of them as "Whitecloaks" though. When did that start?

Haha, just I was noting that, Galad also notices that he just did that and is puzzled at himself for it.

Elayne does not mention the Seanchan at all here, only "Mat" this and "Mat" that. Nothing about the Seanchan.

13. When Perrin asks Slayer if he thinks he'll be rewarded by the Dark One, Slayer tells Perrin "The Dark One does not discard useful tools" (citing the Forsaken as evidence) and I'm reminded of the many many commonalities that the Seanchan and the Shadow share all over again, because that is just about as true about TDO as it is about the Seanchan -- which is to say, sure, as long as you're still useful, you won't be discarded.

The Seanchan Empire is going to be the Great Evil of the Fourth Age, one way or another. I don't think there's any way for anyone to stop that. The poison is too baked into their culture as it currently stands, and the poison drips through to the people ("the poison drips through" is apparently a quote from Succession, which I've never seen, but that's a fantastic line).

14. Faile is hanging out with the Redarms, who are worrying about "Lord Mat" and wishing that they could be with him to protect him from the Seanchan. So that's now two sets of groups that care deeply about Mat and want to save him from the Seanchan that he's gotten himself tangled up with: Egwene & the Band of the Red Hand's Redarms. So it is 'known' among the general army that Mat is hanging out with the Seanchan (though not that he's married to ~the Empress~), so Elayne definitely knew last chapter when she was completely ignoring Tuon and only talking to Mat. And Faile is here to deliver the Horn to Mat (presumably without tipping it off to the Seanchan with him what they're doing?). To everyone except Faile herself, though, the delivery is "tabac from the Two Rivers" for Mat to enjoy during the battle, as a treat from The Amrylin.

Setalle Anan is also part of this group, it seems, and so is Olver, who is not dead (no thanks to Mat).

A bubble of evil sets their planned Gateway awry and they end up in the Blight instead of Merrilor.

15. ...Melaine is apparently "near to term" and just about ready to give birth. Which would mean that it's been less than nine months since Min first arrived in Caemlyn back in Lord of Chaos (and yet six of those months have apparently happened after Winter's Heart?).

It has been "many days" since Rand went up into the mountain of Shayol Ghul.

Aviendha catches Graendal in the act of attempting to influence the new commander who was put in place after Ituralde was taken out of command, and has an encounter with the red-veiled Aiel, realizing that they are the men who were sent into the Blight to die with honor upon realizing they could channel and that they have been Turned by TDO's channelers.

side note: this does remind me that one group that ends up not having a single Darkfriend in it are the Aiel Wise Ones. Not all of them are great people -- some of them are pretty awful -- but even the worst of the Shaido Wise Ones are not Darkfriends, I'm pretty sure? And no Aiel clan chiefs are Darkfriends either. No one who has been to Rhuidean and lived, essentially. Were the glass columns filtering out Darkfriends in addition to filtering out people who couldn't handle the truth about the Aiel's past?

16. Ah, I think this is our first real introduction to The Dark One as Entropy & the End of All Things. TDO 'wants' (or is driven by its nature) to consume the Pattern and leave nothing behind. I think, out of all the Darkfriends in the book series, that only Ishamael/Moridin actually understands TDO's goal. All the others are scrambling for temporal power and think they're actually going to rule the world after TDO 'wins' but there isn't going to be a world to rule. Only Ishamael/Moridin understands that the endgame is the ending of existence itself.

In the show, they've already tied us into this concept -- Dana, who gets dreams (presumably from Ishamael), talked to Rand about how TDO wants to end 'suffering' by 'breaking the Wheel'. So the show already set us up for the endgame battle which is great because it means (as long as Rafe & co know in advance that they're writing the final season), the show can always pivot to our endgame because they've already planted the seeds.

I'm curious about how much they'll tie Dana's argument into the Seanchan invasion. Because TDO is an existential calamity for everyone, but the Seanchan are an existential calamity for channelers in particular (though we do also have da'covale and I definitely hope that the show doesn't forget about them the way that it kinda feels like the books forgot about them). Once the Seanchan are on the scene, the question of "is it better to suffer in agony and humiliation for hundreds of years with no hope of escape or it is better to just end that suffering?" becomes an active question for the majority of the main cast (Moiraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Rand too when/if the male a'dam comes into play -- and especially Egwene, who goes through that suffering personally).

17. Poor Faile actually has to worry about travel logistics -- they're stuck in the Blight and it would take 'months' to walk to Merrilor. Shame she doesn't have Mat's magical non-channeling teleportation skills.

However, they do see that they're not too far off from the peak of Shayol Ghul itself and decide to head in that direction, since some of Rand's troops should be there. But Faile worries that there's a Darkfriend in their caravan and worries even more that someone on the side of the Shadow knows that she has the Horn of Valere.

Somewhat nearby, as she is also in the Blasted Lands, after a lengthy battle with the red-veiled Aiel, Aviendha's group gets battered by Graendal, with one of the Aes Sedai getting compelled and two others getting killed.

18. Olver still hates the Shaido (and all Aiel by extension) for killing his parents and yet had zero lasting negative reaction to the Seanchan invading a city where he was living, causing destruction and death all around him and deeply injuring someone he cared about a lot (the wall falling on Mat). The contrast between Olver's trauma from the Shaido invasion and his lack of trauma from the Seanchan invasion really does remain so baffling. The Seanchan invasion should have brought back so many horrible memories for him, but he was basically the same in WH as he was in ACoS -- all he cared about was snuggling into a grown woman's breasts.

So Olver knows that Noal is dead, "filtered through what the Lady Moiraine had shared about what had happened at the Tower of Ghenjei" (haha so she did get around to saying more than "the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" eventually). He also knows that Mat has "run off to join the Seanchan" (parental figure abandonment -- and Mat has not even spared a single thought for Olver this entire time, btw. Olver is worrying that Mat might die and Mat hasn't even had a passing thought about Olver's wellbeing; though I focus on the loss of Mat & Rand's friendship because of how... shallow... their reunion was, Mat's relationship to Olver also got shredded by Mat's off-the-page choice to desert his people).

Anyway, poor kid. He actually feels like a kid here, too, instead of a walking advertisement letting us know that Mat Cauthon Leers At Women And Teaches Kids To Do It Too, which is basically all he was for most of ACoS-KoD. He worries that he's going to end up all alone (again) as his companions die or abandon him. He has signs of trauma from Mat abandoning him here, too -- he thinks if he's able to train up and prove to Mat that he's useful, maybe Mat won't abandon him (again).

19. It sounds like the 'essence' of the Dark One in Shayol Ghul is basically acting like a miniature black hole -- it's trying to suck them into it. It's already eaten Nynaeve's shawl.

For Nynaeve and Moiraine, about an hour has passed. Rand's foot touched the darkness when he went to meet Moridin sword-to-sword and now the two of them appear frozen in time & locked in place. The wind pulls and tears at Nynaeve and Moiraine's clothing but Rand and Moridin are untouched by it.

20. Carefully moving around the chamber, clinging from rock to rock to keep herself from being pulled into the black hole, Nynaeve finds Alanna behind one of the rocks in the chamber. She's chained to the wall and has a bleeding wound in her side (matching Rand's, perhaps?).

Nynaeve realizes that the reason that Alanna here is to die at some point during Moridin's encounter with Rand, hopefully leaving him vulnerable due to the broken bond and making him easier prey for Moridin (and/or TDO? Though Nynaeve thinks here in terms of making Rand more physically vulnerable, making him more emotionally susceptible to TDO's arguments also seems like a likely motive to me?).

She wonders why Rand didn't notice Alanna's presence -- is he just so used to reflexively ignoring her? Nynaeve is feeling frustrated that she is unable to heal Alanna with the Power, because all her Power is in the link with Rand.

...oh, hey! I bet that's what Rand was feeling earlier! He could feel that someone he was bonded to had gotten hurt but the feeling was weird and he couldn't trace it. I bet that was about Alanna getting stabbed and it was wonky because it happened in the Weird Time Dilation Room.

21. Hmm, Mat is having memory issues. He blames his dice here on when "Egwene gave him control of the armies" but it was Elayne's words to him that triggered this set of rolling dice. We know because we were in his PoV when it happened.

Mat sees an old Andoran man that almost triggers an old memory for him, one of the ones that the dagger stole (it would have been when Rand was taking care of him on the trip to Caemlyn -- another one of the shoes that never quite fell for Mat, characterization-wise, is him getting back his foggy memories. We've seen a time or two that they are still in there, not just in this moment, but also back in Ebou Dar, when he saw the Darkfriend who attacked him and Rand in the stables). Mat actually remembering that everything Rand did to help him during the time he was sick with the dagger seems like one of those things that will inevitably happen post-canon, because the memories are still there, just hiding.

22. When Mat sees "his" Deathwatch guard among the working people here, he compares them to "wolves among the sheep". Mat does see it as a bonus that he was able to pull the armies together and pick his own battlefield but he's still pretty worried about the battle ahead.

Tuon gave Mat a new eyepatch to wear -- bright red. To remind people of the wound underneath? We know that she likes the active reminder to everyone that Mat has been bloodied in battle. Or we do get a reminder that the Deathwatch guards (all slaves) also wear a distinctive shade of red, so it's probably also another badge of her ownership over Mat.

23. When Mat tries to avoid the Deathwatch guard that are coming to "collect" him to be brought to Tuon's tent (the narrative keeps bringing up things that are so reminiscent of Tylin's behavior towards Mat), he runs right into Egwene and a group of Aes Sedai. Also... it's interesting that he thinks of it as "Tuon's tent" and not a tent that they share together.

When he mentions that he's running away from the Deathwatch guard, Egwene tells him that she's glad he's defecting back to the Westlands but the middle of the Last Battle is maybe not the best time. He walks back with Egwene (& Gawyn and Leilwin née Egeanin) back over to the Aes Sedai area of the camp as they talk.

24. Mat says that the reason he's running from the guard is not because he's defecting back to the Westlands but because Tuon wants him to sit in judgement over potential criminals (...in the middle of the Last Battle?). "Anytime a soldier is seeking the Empress's mercy for a crime, I'm supposed to sit in judgement!"

Mat thinks here that he's not going to 'order men to be executed' and, yeah, I keep going back to what Renna said to Egwene, all those books ago. Perhaps you believe that because you are valuable now, you will be allowed license. Or I think back to Mat's worries that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon will get her killed.

Because it kinda sounds like it's been made clear to him that "sit in judgement" means "condemn people to death" and that Mat would risk personal punishment if he rules against what Tuon would want him to rule. Is Mat worrying about how hard he can push Tuon without it painfully snapping back on him?

25. He obliquely asks Egwene if they've found 'it' (the Horn of Valere) yet. Hey, Mat, if you were so worried about that, maybe you shouldn't have defected to the Seanchan at the beginning of this book? Just a thought.

Yeah, we get a reminder of how easily Mat rewrites his own memory here when he talks about how he did all the hard work of finding the Horn and the dagger was barely a consideration for him. So for anyone wondering why I keep poking at Mat's professed reasons for doing things and doubting the surface level of what he says -- page 611 of the hardback copy of AMoL:

"It seems nobody can remember straight but me. I hunted down that bloody Horn like a madman. And, I'll mention, it was me blowing the thing that let you all escape Falme*."

"Is that how you remember it?" Egwene asked.

"Sure," Mat said. "I mean, I have some holes in there, but I've pieced it mostly together."

"And the dagger?"

"That trinket? Hardly worth anyone's time." He caught himself reaching to his side, to where he had once carried it.

(* side note: yeah, his mention of this here makes me feel even more sure that he deliberately didn't tell Tuon about Egwene being captured in Falme because he didn't think it was her business. He tells Tuon things on a need-to-know basis only, from what I can see, which feels like it's reflected in the advice that he gave to Min)

26. Egwene Travels them to the top of another location (to further move away from the Deathwatch guard) and Mat takes a moment to notice the grove of trees that Rand grew on the Fields of Merrilor.

[Mat] could feel something pulling on him, tugging him northward. Rand would need him soon.

27. Mat tells Egwene that this will have to be their last stand -- they don't have the supplies for a protracted battle. She says that they just need to hold out long enough for Rand to beat TDO.

But Mat points out that if they are unable to break the Shadow's advance, then they do still lose in some pretty important ways, because the Shadowspawn will flood the lands and kill all the non-combatants. "We can't just survive... we have to win."

We get another moment of Rand tugging on Mat from Shayol Ghul while the dice tumble in his head.

Mat turned northward again. A cool, somehow familiar wind blew across him, rippling his long coat, brushing at his hat. He narrowed his eye. Rand was tugging on him.

Ugh, I feel so cheated by this. Why set this up only to give us such a disappointing conclusion to this thread, Sanderson?

Anyway, the battle starts anew. And Mat successfully avoided being dragged back to Tuon's tent, so congrats to him on that.

Okay, the next chapter is the monster (nearly 200 pages all on its own), so that will be a separate post.

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #wot amol spoilers #wot a memory of light spoilers #mat cauthon #elayne trakand #seanchan content warning #faile bashere #olver (wheel of time) #next chapter of Voice is postponed until next week #due to covid making it difficult to do the polishing on the chapter that I wanted #but my reread vibe was still strong so there will be two reread posts this week #and we are almost done!

[kdramacrybaby]

My favorite drama couples

In no particular order and some minor SPOILER warning!) → Feel free to add your own favorite couples to the post, so we can share the love.

Sh**ting Stars (Oh Han-byul / Gong Tae-sung):

They are one of my absolute favorite couples in any drama I’ve watched so far. I don’t know what it is about them, but they are just so good together! (And it doesn’t hurt that the actors have an amazing chemistry). Enemies to lovers is a guilty pleasure trope for me, and this does it perfectly – they bicker so much in the beginning, but slowly realize that they actually make a great team, and they come to rely on each other a lot. They actually communicate properly, sharing their worries without being judged, and the drama never relies on something as silly as miscommunication as a point of drama for them. It’s not often a drama makes me actually smile like a complete lovesick idiot when watching, but this just goes straight to my heart. The drama might not be my fave overall, as it has its own issues, but I’ll watch it 100 times over for them.

Hidden Love (Sang Zhi / Duan Jiaxu):

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this drama too much as I was unsure about the whole age gap thing, but oh my word. This drama had me giggling like a teenager with a crush, and I was unable to stop smiling for most of it. They are so stinking cute together, and the fact that they actually communicate their thoughts and feelings with each other throughout it all is so important – especially with how their relationship started. I feel like I’m just repeating myself from what I said about Sh**ting Stars, but both of these couples just make me happy to watch. This relationship in particular has raised my standards so high, I’m probably going to end up single for the rest of my life. This drama really is all it’s hyped up to be and more.  

Happiness (Yoon Sae-bom / Jung Yi-hyun):

A fake marriage of convenience between two best friends, who both secretly have feelings for each other ?- sign me the fuck up. Two strong people who support each other through everything (in this case, an outbreak of zombies in their complex) – what more could you ask for? They just get each other, and both are willing to walk through hell and back for the other. We sadly don’t actually get to see them together all that much after they’ve finally confessed, but they acted like a couple anyway, so I’m not too sad about it. 

Fight For My Way (Ko Dong-man / Choi Ae-ra):

They have known each other for so long and, though they bicker, they are always the first to defend the other no matter what. They support each other’s dreams the best they can (though Ae-ra does have a problem with the fighting, and she tries to make him quit by making him choose between her and fighting, which I am not about, but I do get she’s just scared he’ll get hurt again). Either way, there is just something so pure about their love and the way they both slowly realize just what their feelings have evolved into as they grew up together.   

Doom at your service (Doom / Tak Dong-kyung):

These two had a rocky start, but I also feel like it only made them work better as a couple. The iconic lines: “So my plan is to love you, then I'll be able to live without losing anything.” / “Then let's do it right, love me to the point that you want to destroy the world for me.” are forever ingrained in my mind. It’s about both of them learning what life could actually be if you let yourself feel and live for yourself instead of living for everyone else. They help each other through it all until they both realize they deserve love, and I find that really beautiful.

#drama ranking #kdrama review #cdrama review #kdrama #sh**tings stars #hidden love #happiness #fight for my way #doom at your service

[taeyeonschild]

╰┈➤ ❝ [straykids as fanboys] ❞

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pairing: no pairings. they don’t actually know you

genre: fluff, point form hcs

contains: uhhh…. fanboys!

cw: none

A/N: i like this idea a lot, but i didn’t really now what to write for some of them…. hopefully this is somewhat decent? but i have more stuff coming out soon, which i am a lot more confident with!!!

Bangchan

➙ he is quite famous in your fandom for his youtube channel, where he records covers of all of your music.

➙ you interact with his covers quite often! he tries his hardest to remain calm, and casual, but internally he is freaking out!

➙ fans constantly request collabs, you’ve seen it requested so much that you’ve actually considered the idea! maybe one day you will work together! (at least he hopes so)

➙ he is a huge supporter of everything you do. fans who don’t know you personally, would probably think that you and chan are friends

➙ he is very active in the community, and he interacts with you on a fairly regular basis

Minho

➙ he doesn’t hesitate to spend money on you

➙ he has many of your albums, and merchandise, but he rarely ever talks about you.

➙ people will go to his house and be stunned by the posters on his walls, since they never even knew he was a fan before.

➙ he’s not embarrassed by it, he just prefers to fanboy on the inside.

➙ (if you make any asmr content) he seems like the type to listen to it at times when he’s super tense, to help him relax, and sleep.

Changbin

➙ he goes to every concert, and somehow, ALWAYS shows up on the dancecam

➙ his face has been seen so many times that fans start to recognize him

➙ if your music ever plays on the radio, or in a store somewhere, he immediately drops what he’s doing and drops the whole routine

➙ does he care if people watch? NO! why should he 🤷‍♀️ it’s only embarrassing if he messes up the choreo, (which NEVER happens)

Hyunjin

➙ he knows EVERY SINGLE ONE of your dances. he might not even know the words to your songs, but you know as soon as he hears that beat drop, bro becomes a dancing machine

➙ he is likely a part of a dance group

➙ attends random play dances, and gets so excited when one of your songs plays

➙ hyunjin totally posts dance videos online, he likely has a youtube channel solely for that purpose

➙ he even posts slowed + mirrored versions, to help teach others the choreo.

➙ he might also be a fan artist, but i feel that he’d be a bit of a perfectionist about his art, and would be too scared to show any of it online… :(

Han

➙ something about him gives off editor vibes

➙ i think he’d have a tiktok account, solely for edits of you/your group

➙ he spends hours on AE producing mouth watering edits

➙ he’s got quite a decent following aswell

➙ you interacted with his account once, and he FREAKED. he swears it was the best moment of his life

➙ MAYBEEEE secretly writes fan fiction???

➙ but even if he doesn’t write it. he DEFINITELY reads it…. (we’ve all seen the clip where he seemed to understand the term “omega”….. meaning he HAS read fan fiction at least some point in his life.)

Felix

➙ lix is a super fan, and he is proud to be one. he’s not ashamed, why should he be? 🤷‍♀️ he thinks you’re cool, and if other people have a problem with that, that’s not felix’s issue to solve!

➙ he has binders full of your/your group’s pcs

➙ he trades online for rare ones

➙ he has every version of every album you’ve ever released, and he keeps them proudly displayed on his shelf.

➙ his walls are covered in posters of you/your group

➙ he giggles when he hears you mentioned, and would jump on ANY opportunity to talk about you and your music

➙ he is BROKE because of you

Seungmin

➙ he pretends not to care about you, in fear of being teased by his friends, but secretly he is a HUGE fanboy

➙ he has secret accounts on social media, where he can follow you, and interact with content related to you/your group, while still remaining anonymous

➙ he has a few of your albums, but he keeps them hidden underneath his bed

➙ his pcs are his prized possessions, but when he has people over they hide in his sock drawer

➙ when he hears your music in public he often catches himself accidentally nodding his head, or tapping his foot to the beat.

➙ he is quick to defend himself, before he is even called out for it “i just like the music that’s why i’m dancing. i don’t even know this song.” what a liar

Jeongin

➙ he goes to EVERY meet and greet. he’d drive hours just to attend

➙ you’ve seen him so many times that you remember his name. it almost feels like you are friends at this point

➙ he’s always super respectful, so it’s exciting when you see him at different events.

➙ he likes to bring you gifts which you always appreciate.

➙ he has gained a large following online for posting about his interactions with you. and you always repost his videos! (which makes him cry tears of happiness).

➙ he also likes to post unboxing videos of all of your albums! (if you are in a group) he gets so excited when he pulls you! his followers love to see his reactions.

#stray kids #kpop #bang chan #lee know #changbin #hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #felix #seungmin #jeongin #stray kids reactions #stray kids headcanons

[heeracha]

ep 17. / ep 18. — the two am ride. / ep 19.

buy one, take me. — l. heeseung

synposis: with his best friend asking him for help because said best friend was scared he wasn't "boyfriend material" enough, heeseung looks for flower shops for his best friend's girlfriend. thankfully, jake knows someone from the university who has an aunt that owns a flower shop, you. now, heeseung messages you and shyly, but shamelessly asks if he can get any promos or discounts to which you shamelessly answered him, "buy one, take me". heeseung doesn't pass on this, of course. after all, you are pretty damn cute.

pairing: heeseung x flortist!fem!reader

content/genre: college au, slowburn, fluff, angst and crack, smau.

warning(s): swearing, of course. two idiots aka heey/n. toxic parents :(,, unproof read hehe

note: sEUNGMIN COVER !!! GIVE HIM SOME LOVE !!! PLS I LOVE HIM SM IM GOING TO CRY 😭 anyway,,, hope this lessens the hee slander agenda 😭 see u ep 19 <3

heeseung presses the buttons of his console, focusing on the game. he hears his phone ping, signaling him that there was someone who sent him a text. he glances on his phone, reading the message quickly, not wanting to leave the game since he can’t pause it because of it being on ranking mode. but the moment he sees your name, he drops the console, grabbing his phone as he unlocks his phone.

heeseung

are you busy

he dials your number, pressing his phone against his ear as he stands up, pacing back and forth in his room as he waits for you to answer. “hi,” you softly say. heeseung wasn’t thinking straight, but he was sure he heard you sniffling. “so, are you busy?”

“no,” he says. “why? do you need anything?”

“would it be okay for you to drive down to my parents' house and pick me up?” you softly ask.

“sure! of course, yes. send the address?” he asks.

“heeseung, don’t ring the doorbell, hm?” you say. “just text me when you’ve arrived, okay?”

“okay. i’ll be there right away.” heeseung says and you nod.

“take care, hee.” you say and he hums, grabbing his keys as he hangs up. heeseung grabs his hoodie, putting it on as he comes out of his room. he gently closes his door, careful to not wake up jay and ae-cha who are on the couch, sleeping.

“heeseung?” jay calls quietly to not wake his girlfriend up, but loud enough for the called boy to hear. “it’s two in the morning, where are you going?”

“uh,” heeseung softly hums. “just out.”

“y/n?” jay asks and heeseung sighs, nodding. “alright, take care.”

he nods, getting out of the apartment as he runs to his car. he turns the ignition on, looking at his phone to see the address you sent. heeseung drives right away. he didn’t care how far it was, even if it was an hour away, he didn’t care. he just wanted to get to you right away. there’s a possibility that he misheard it, but he knows you’re crying.

parents.

he meant it when he said he didn’t like you romantically. but he got a glimpse of how great you are and he wants you to be in his life. he knows better than to let a great person just pass him by. 

within less than an hour, heeseung arrives in the area. he turns his headlights off, turning to a corner and pulls up when he’s right in front of your house. he calls your phone, climbing out of his car as he looks up at the windows. when he sees one opening, you wave at him and he waves back. you go back in, grabbing your duffle bag and signaling him that you’re tossing it to him.

he comes closer, holding his arms out, ready to catch. you throw it and he catches it, running back to his car, putting it in. you climb out, closing your window as you carefully climb down, not wanting to make any noise as your parents are still in the living room, watching a movie.

heeseung walks towards you as you sit on the roof. he looks up, holding his arms out as he nods in encouragement, telling you that he will catch you. you grab on the edges, letting your body fall and just like that, heeseung catches you by your waist.

you were about to pull away, but heeseung pulled you in a hug causing you to wrap your arms around his shoulders. now, heeseung was sure he heard you sniffle. “come on,” he mumbles, putting you down on the ground as he grabs your hand, pulling you to his car. he opens the passenger side, letting you climb in and closing the door for you.

he goes around, going in as he drives off. you lean your head on the window, watching outside as heeseung glances at you every few minutes. “hey,” he softly calls when he stops at a red light and you look at him. he frowns, seeing your red puffy eyes. “you know you can talk to me, right?”

“mhm,” you hum, sniffling. “sorry about the other day.”

“no!” heeseung says, shaking his head with a small pout. “it’s okay. you were… i don’t know, you seem so out of it.” he softly says and you nod. 

“green light.” you mumble and heeseung looks up, shifting the gear and steps on the gas. he turns on a drive thru, ordering food for you and him. the rest of the ride becomes silent and before you know it, he pulls up in front of the building of your dorm. “hey, thanks again.” you say, opening the door and jumping off with the paper bag of food he ordered for you.

you go around, grabbing your bag at the back and going to his window. he opens it, looking at you. “i’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?” you say and he shakes his head.

“it’s okay.” he says and you smile. “good night, y/n.”

“take care, lee.” you softly say and heeseung smiles. you turn around, walking to the building and he waits for you to get in, but you stop, grabbing tightly on the strap of your bag. you turn around, looking at him. “you wanna spend the night?”

heeseung chuckles. “let me just park.” he says and you nod.

you two ran up to your dorm right away, settling on your bed as you two ate and caught up on the two days that you didn’t talk. “y/n,” heeseung calls and you hum, looking at him as you eat your ice cream. “why did you have to sneak out?”

“my parents were in the living room.” you say and he frowns. you sigh, forcing a smile. “my parents aren’t really into my course. and, earlier tonight at dinner they just bombarded me with questions about what am i going to do when i graduate which is…”

“a semester away.” heeseung softly says. “what did they say?”

you shrug. “they just kept asking questions, i didn’t even get to answer because they wouldn’t stop.” you softly say. “i always jokingly say what the hell am i doing with my life, but it hits differently when it comes out of your parents’ mouth.”

heeseung softly frowns and you laugh lightly. “i know, sensi—”

“no.” he says. “you want something that your parents don’t. it takes guts for someone to go against their parents, you know? a lot wants to do that, i admire you for that.”

“thanks, hee.” you softly say, pouting as you feel your tears again.

“you help with my jaycha drama,” he softly shrugs. “i can certainly be there for you as much as you are for me.”

you smile and he sighs, moving to the top of your bed as he gently grabs your hand, pulling you to him. you sigh, laying on his side, resting your head on his chest as he wraps his arms around you. your tears fall silently, but somehow, he feels it. he puts a hand on your head, softly patting it before proceeding to play with your hair as you two fall asleep in each other’s arms.

au taglist [open]: @jongsaengseong @fairybangtan @viagumi @nyfwyeonjun @msxflower @cyuuupid @pluviophilefangirl @denyelee @tomorrowbymoa-together @sophhloaff @duolingofanaccount @precioussoulofmine @lhsng @deeznutsriki @starzvrse @atrirose @aalwaysreading @yabukkura @artstaeh @rrinsluvr @j4d @taeyongslilkitty @andii711 @markleepooh @poipoi01 @enhasengene @jjongsha @hannabugblog @raimbows4u @calumsfringe @kunhye @sodafy @skyvwonie @wtfhyuck @sungookie @leeis @kimmchijjajang @tnyhees @fadingera @lost-leopard-beanie @sonjuyeonnie @sim-kissed @vantxx95 @xyxlyn @harperwasstaken1 @maybee-may @liliansun @heeliopheelia @nomurahayami @ang3lpxtch @renaishun @cupidrwm @ckline35 @knownunknown345

#.......are they sure theyre *just* friends #Hiraya-M #enhypen imagines #enhypen reactions #enhypen scenarios #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #enhypen socmed au #enhypen social media au #enhypen smau #enhypen social au #heeseung imagines #heeseung scenarios #heeseung reactions #heeseung fluff #heeseung au #heeseung smau #heeseung soft hours #heeseung social media au

[tomtenadia]

Detours to You - ch 11

Helo all!!!

Your truly is back from Canada and I have a surprise for those who care.

In tinsi chapter we have fussy Rowan and some good old hurt/Comfort... oh yeah... Aerobitch is mentioned too... I promise he will not make an appearance. he just gets mentioned but that's all.

Enjoy!!!

MASTERLIST

Two days later Rowan was on his red truck en route to Hamel HQ to talk to the bastard who was putting hundreds of people lives at risk. On top of his regular duties and paperwork, this one had suddenly become his top priority. He had even liaised with the police and an inspector admitted that they had a case against Hamel and were very keen on taking the man down if they had enough proof. Rowan was dead set on giving them all the bullets they needed to shoot the bastard down. 

Aelin and Maya had moved most of all their stuff at his place. He was meant to go back that night for the last load. He had been even more furious when he found out that Hamel had been increasing rent prices on a constant basis. He and Aelin had moved in that block of flats when they had decided to live together. It was a nice place, central and with a decent rent. But now it had basically tripled and he was not having it. He had an house almost paid off thanks to the money his dad left him, and Aelin was not going to pay any more money to that monster.

Hamel group HQ’s building was in the middle of the financial district and looked luxurious and disgusting. He parked his pickup and strolled in the lavish lobby, while anger rose in him. At the reception he introduced himself as the chief of the TFD and requested a visit with Mr Hamel. The receptionist told him that he was a busy man and an appointment should be made before showing up unannounced.

“I am the fire Chief and I don’t care. Your boss is putting lives in danger and I am not leaving this building until I have a meeting with him.”

“You could be the president, you still need an appointment.” She added almost bored.

In that instant security started to close on him “You win for today, but next time, I am showing up with a mandate from the police and the entire incursion team and we will rat him out by force if needed.”

He stormed out and called Nesryn at Police HQ. She was a good friend of his and as soon as he told her who he was gunning for she told him she had his back and all the legal documents ready to storm that shithole.

A smirk appeared on his face and he drove back to work.

*

It was late, far later than he had planned. Rowan was meant to go to Aelin’s place and pick them up and go home but he had been buried under a mountain of work and lost track of the time. He was about to leave the office when his radio became alive with a call. A three alarm fire. His heart stopped when he heard the address. Fuck fuck and fuck. 

Like a desperate man he ran to his pickup, checked that he had all of his gear and with sirens howling he drove to the location. 

In that instant his phone went off and accepted it via the button on his steering wheel “Aelin?”

Coughing in the background “Rowan?”

“I am on my way, Are you two safe?”

“Smoke, Rowan, there is so much smoke.”

Why was traffic not moving? Angrily he honked a few times “Listen to me, grab a cloth and wet it and place it on both yours and Maya’s face. Cover mouth and nose and stay low. And Aelin, do not leave the flat until one of us gets in, understood?”

A weak yes came through the call “Is Maya okay?”

“She is so scared.”

“I am almost there, I can see the smoke.” He heard Maya’s voice “Maya, baby I am coming, listen to your mum, be brave a little longer. I am coning.”

The girl cried and Rowan remained on the phone with Aelin until he spotted her building “Ae, I am here. I will see you soon.”

He finally parked and bolted out of the vehicle to grab his gear and join Lorcan who was directing the operation while he arrived.

His eyes lifted to the topmost floor where Aelin lived and relief washed over him when he spotted no fire. It did not mean they were safe though, the smoke was rising quickly and until the building was fully evacuated he would probably not know what normal breathing was again.

“What’s the situation?”

“Fire is on the second floor, we have evacuated the first floor and I have my team, station 7 and 8 on evacuating the level above the fire line,” he explained “The fire alarm did not go off and no sprinklers. The call was raised by a tenant who spotted the fire in his level when he was leaving the house.” Lorcan then looked at his friend terrified face “Brullo, Ress and Ansel are on Aelin’s floor.” And quickly he ran to grab his gear and join his team.

He quickly called for a situation status for each level and anger surged when the second floor’s team reported two victims. 

“Sartaq, take your team inside and go on level two with water support, we need to tackle this quickly.”

A call came through the radio “Chief, I smell electrical fire in sector A.”

Rowan held back Sartaq with his hand. He then looked at him and a nod was all the lieutenant needed to switch to CO2 “Nox, Sartaq is coming in with a lot of CO2 extinguishers.”

“Copy that, chief.”

Rowan was busy giving orders to his team when he spotted a head of golden hair and Brullo carrying a little girl with silver hair. His instincts told him to bolt and ran to them, but he had a job to do, so he just followed Brullo taking them to Asterin in the ambulance, the paramedics placing an oxygen mask on both. He lifted his hand and found it shaking. They are fine, he kept telling himself. They are fine.

Ilias, the captain of station 7, emerged with the two bodies of the victims and the paramedics joined him to ascertain that it was really the case. He walked to the man and stared at the two paramedic confirm that both victims had sadly passed because of extensive burns and smoke inhalation.

“This was in flat 4 on the first floor. It stinks of electrical fire, chief.” The anger in the captain’s voice reflected his own “Thank you Ilias, go and assist Lorcan and the other on level two. We need to contain the fire.”

“Yes, chief.”

It took Rowan and the three station a good hour to finally kill the fire. They had luckily evacuated all tenants when the fire jumped to the third floor.

Rowan looked at his men exhausted and walked to them to thank them for the excellent job and to have a little more of information of what happened inside. Then spotted Nesryn in the distance and joined her “Damn this looks like it was hellish.”

Rowan nodded “We haven’t started overhaul yet.”

The police captain nodded “We have intelligence that this could be arson.”

Rowan groaned. Arson was a nightmare to prove because the fire most of times destroyed all evidence “Are you sure?”

The woman nodded “Seems like Hamel decided the building was not profitable anymore. A residential building most of time is a money pit. He prefers his fancy buildings in the financial district where companies pay hefty rents. Apparently he was trying to make a deal to convert this building to another offices complex, but first had to get rid of the tenants.”

“Two people are dead!” He roared.

“I know. If OFI can prove arson, we have charges for murder and insurance fraud and a lot more.”

“This building is not up to code,” he added with fury “Even if it was not arson, that is enough to accuse him of dereliction of duty. His negligence killed two people.”

“Rowan, I know and that is already gross misconduct but arson would give us another serious accusation, enough to jail him forever because we can prove that the deaths are his fault.”

He paced “I have a drawer full of falsified inspections that should jail him for a long time already.”

“Hamel has ways to get his way out of things, but not this time.”

“My daughter and Aelin lived in that building.” Pain bled into his words.

“They will all have justice, I promise.”

Rowan looked around him where hundreds of people crowded the streets, sat on the pavements with desperation and grief in their faces. In the span of a night they had lost everything.

“We need to help these people.”

“I have contacted mayor Darrow and he is already on the case. Those who don’t have alternative accommodation with friends and family will be offered a place in hotels for now and then a more permanent place.”

Lorcan called him “We are starting overhaul. It will give us an initial ideal of the fire dynamics.”

Before joining the teams he ran to Aelin. Maya tried to wiggle free but Asterin kept her still. He hugged his daughter who cried in his arms “You are safe, my love. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

His arms extended to Aelin. He looked up at her, at her face covered in soot under the oxygen mask. He pulled her closer “You are both safe.”

Then he stood and walked to his car and came back a minute later “This is my bank card, and my house keys, get yourselves a taxi and go home as soon as Asterin clears you both. I need to stay behind.”

He kneeled to Maya “I will be home soon, go with mum, okay?”

She muttered a quiet okay and he kissed her then kissed Aelin on her forehead “I was so damn scared for you both.” The kiss lingered far longer than expected, then he ran away and into the building.

*

When he finally got home it was deep into the night. Overhaul had lasted much longer than expected but they had managed to find the source in one of the electrical panels in the basement. A water leak in the pipes had caused the fire to spread and reach the first floor where they exploded and let the fire engulf the flat that had been the worst affected. OFI was called on the scene and took photos and samples immediately. Now they had just had to discover if it had been accidental due to the lack of acre of intentionally caused. Either way, Hamel was in a sea of trouble and Rowan was looking forward to the moment when the monster would be behind bars.

By the time he got home he was exhausted and famished.

Quietly he walked into the house and once in the living room he spotted a figure on the sofa. Aelin was sitting there reading a book under a pile of blankets and a small book light “You can put the heating on,” he walked to the panel and switched it on for her and then turned on the lights.

Her face carried the marks of tears. His body moved towards on instinct and sat at her side.

She sobbed loudly and flung herself in his arms. Rowan wrapped Aelin in an embrace and let her cry “It was terrifying… the explosion…”

“Shh… it’s okay. You are safe now.”

Aelin kept crying in his arms “Is Maya asleep?”

“Yes, she is finally down, she was far braver than me.”

“You both were.”

His mouth landed on the crown of her head and left a soft kiss “When I heard the address over the radio is almost died. If—” he pushed his rage down “If I had lost you both I would have been lost man.”

Aelin looked up at him in his beautiful green eyes that still carried fury in them “I am sorry, Rowan. Sorry that I lied, that I kept Maya from you. I—” He did not let her finish speak and his mouth was on hers. It was a soft kiss, full of love. Aelin melted in it, the fire of an ancient love slowly rekindling inside her. How had she lived all this time without him? How did she even thought about dating other men when she knew that no one would measure up to him?

Rowan pulled back and caressed her face “You need to rest.”

Aelin tried to protest but he stopped “We will talk tomorrow. Will make plans when less tired.”

He stood and offered her his hand and together walked upstairs. Aelin gave him a kiss on the cheek before disappearing through her door.

Rowan smiled, his hand touching the point where she had kissed him then walked in Maya’s bedroom.

She was sound asleep, Elf and the shark in her arms.

He had been a firefighter all of his adult life. Had seen many scary situations but nothing will ever compare to the deep unyielding fear he had felt that evening. The idea of loosing them both had the power to destroy him. He had been trying to ignore his resurfacing feelings for Aelin. The woman had been the love of his life and now he was trying to understand how to navigate the strange relationship they were building for Maya. He tried not to dwell too much on the kiss. It was likely the effect of the earlier events and the residual adrenaline.

But staring at Maya sleep, a part of him wished they would become more than roommates.

For Maya.

For the family that they could be.

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 #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fanfic #aelin x rowan #rowanwhitethorn #throne of glass fanfiction #domestic fluff #aelin galathynius #rowaelin kids #hurt/comfort

[lutawolf]

The 8th Sense Ep 7

Everybody grab a drink and a smoke. We're going in.

Bring the pain. And boy, do they. Right off, we have Jae Won sitting on the beach by himself.

Man, I really hate those two. You can really tell the caring people in the surf group, and they aren't it. But bestie isn't having it. Go girl! I love Ae Ri. Please slap her Ae Ri, please.

Why are you even that nosy, dudes? How does it even affect you.

Oh, bless it. Jae Won looks like crap. We are for sure gonna get some trauma response. I need a shot. I can feel it. Geez, he is going to use this as a metaphor, isn't he. When it's this broke, of course it can't be fixed.

She's a good friend. Unlike someone we know! Dude, just look at your friend's face and leave him alone.

Her calling him oppa makes me want to puke.

Ohhh boy. You're trying to get hurt. Called it!!! Damn, Jae Won's eyes right before he jumped. You went to far Tae Hyung.

Me:

Damn, he sure is dealing with a lot for a love tap. 👀👀👀 Please tell me he wasn't going to apologize to that asshole.

I'm gonna puke if he is back together with her. I mean, I get it because sometimes self harm is sleeping with people we know harm us. You see this with SA survivors a lot, we go, fuck it. A bucket of boiling water isn't going to get me clean, so might as well. Not all self harm is visible for people to see or in a form of pills and drinks. Sometimes it's this shit right here.

Yeah, he was grossed out by that. Well, fair because me too.

Shit, he has been skipping his therapy and likely his meds. Damn boy. When you spiral, you don't do it half ass. Shhhhhhhit he gave a slight smiled when she asked if he had thought about extreme decisions. That's a yes. She knows it too, which is why she says, "It's a relief that you are here with us today."

I really love this therapist. There is nothing more powerful than walking someone off a ledge, and nothing more despairing than losing one. Ahhh, I would have liked to have known what she said! It's clear he is on a spiral.

Finally, the baby! Ji Hyun don't scare me like this.

Damn, but I love his bestie! He is hilarious. OMG! "Please come alone next time." 🤣🤣🤣

I adore the boss! "You favor handsome boys." "Why state the obvious." 🤣🤣🤣

Aww, Ji Hyun is so happy. Enjoy it while it lasts. Their friendship! I love it!

It's a trio!!! I knew he would be there! But damn. "It looked like he wanted to die instead of you." I bet it did.

"Was it that good?" 🤣🤣🤣 Love her.

OMG! I love this drinking scene so much. What type of vodka. Haven't we all been there. I don't know. Just make it good, please. You try it first. No you. Be my guest, please.

Oh, we got a metaphor going. When one side tilts, the other supports it. Vise Versa.

Oh, baby boy. You are killing me.

I am not okay.

#the 8th sense #luta talks the 8th sense #the eighth sense

[fishgirl514]

I REREAD UR INTRO POST. MP100. need to tell u this. consider aslfua mpo au. on one hand. esper cheol. his repression and social anxiety swag. listen 2 me… him playing w his powers in the countryside …. but then he doesnt use them at all anymore ….

ALSO TERU!JINSEOP

SORRY I AM RESPONDING TO THIS LATW i had to let it marinate sufficiently in my head it was just so good…..

jinseop and teru both had to experience humbling but jinseop could definitely maybe use a little more LMAO free my girl song-i rest she deserves better T_T

also thank you so much for cheol psychic powers bc he has always been so autism to me (avoiding eye contact, extremely awkward, not very good with adults and being formal, struggles to process and express his feelings, shuts down and stops speaking when he’s freaked out, intimidating by accident, prone to outbursts when overwhelmed, quiet, uncomfortable around people, antagonized by the school system and the people around him despite being the victim because of a perceived “threat”, mi-ae is his adhd counterpart) and we all know that mp100 is about autistic people have psychic powers

mi-ae is kind of like tome? the energy and the goof factor for sure. she would be a non psychic who thinks psychics r so cool and her whole arc w cheol would be him thinking she only likes him for his abilities and he’s kind of like god fuck off!!! bc he feels like all anyone cares about is his powers whether they’re scared of him or they want to use him or they’re gawking at him and treating him like a zoo exhibit. everyone being scared of him bc they’ve heard he has insane powers and had an outburst in the past, but she genuinely just wants to be his friend bc she remembers being friends as kids and stuff and he starts using his powers in little ways to protect her !!!!!!! UUUAAAAHHHH

LIKE LIKE the first time it happens it s like he hasn’t used his powers at ALL in like years but one time mi-ae gets into trouble and someone kind of starts to threaten her and suddenly he uses just a little bit of psychic power to freeze the guy and be like hey dude. stop. AAAAAAHHH !!!!! literally thinking abt this in real time oh this post is going to be an essay. and then he starts using his powers to like. catch her when she trips or send a note across their windows or silly little things as he gets more comfortable using it again. ugh. i love them. and her genuine lack of fear of him and appreciation for who he actually is makes him fall in love like in the regular series OTL

and obv we don’t know shit about whatever the hell happened between them back in the country side STILL UGHHH but i would think it would b something like. they are like playing together and he’s using his powers comfortably and freely in front of her and it’s such a bonding moment god i love them <33333333!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and like in the future he likes to float her around to tease her (she also loves it and requests it because she gets to be taller than him and fly like an airplane LOL)

he will put her in air jail when she needs to settle down

i also feel like they might have a fight scene with some sort of “jason this isn’t you :( just look at me jason ok? it’s just you and me right now” kind of moment LMAO but it would actually be good and not corny, more like the scene from avatar with aang and katara in the desert

anyway THANK you for this i am going to think about it forever i hope i was able to contribute and expand upon it

#literally in love this is so cute and fun #aslfua #mp100 #mop cycle #cheol and miae #after school lessons for unripe apples

[jellysoiree]

just finished reading season 1 of operation true love and i am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED ABOUT THE ENDING !!

i'm so glad that su-ae and eunhyeok have finally sealed the deal. BUT i am very scared about season 2 because something tells me dohwa is gonna be very fucking messy. since everybody is gonna be adults in S2, su-ae and eunhyeok are probably gonna be married or something and I have a feeling dohwa's messy ass will be a homewrecker 😭. to me, dohwa is gonna be one of two things in the next season, either really desperate or bitter and cold AF.

#operation true love #su-ae shim #go eunhyeok #baek dohwa #webtoon #˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ soiree rambles #ngl i laughed a little bit when dohwa woke up in the dark room by himself im so sorry #something about that shit was so funny to me

[lurkingshan]

The Eighth Sense 9&10

Gosh Jae Won looks so sad

Yesssss therapist call him out. Avoiding Ji Hyun is not helping anyone. Hurting and confusing someone because you want to avoid hurting and confusing them - this logic never holds up.

Joon Pyo calling him narcissistic 🤣 You’re right though, Ji Hyun

Ae Ri giving such good advice you truly are a queen👑

Ji Hyun has the best friends. They’re kind, empathetic, supportive. He’s lucky to have found them so quickly.

No Ji Hyun don’t let Eun Ji get into your head!

The hands!!! I am screaming

Yoon Won really feels clueless sometimes, geez. Can she not see that her friend is traumatized? Why is she making him relive the trip? And yeah clearly she is going through her own stuff but ma’am look outside yourself. Even in the state he’s in, Jae Won sees her pain and responds and I wish she could do the same for him.

Jae Won please stop letting this girl hang all over you, she is so manipulative and you must know exactly what she’s doing. Also pretty disgusted with her trying to get him into bed when he’s in this state. She’s despicable.

Oh poor Ji Hyun, that was awful

Yes Jae Won you are being cruel to Ji Hyun at this point. Sit with it, process it, do something about it. That little smile when he stops in front of Ji Hyun’s restaurant - that felt like him making a decision.

Detective Joon Pyo!

Ji Hyun giving him a camera and a sketch 😭

Time to dump her, Jae Won! Yesssss I knew it

She really was a cheater, huh? I’m not surprised.

I like that Jae Won has snapped out of it and now recognizes that allowing himself to slide back into things with Eun Ji was him actually being out of his mind, whereas being with Ji Hyun was real.

LOVE Jae Won going to boss lady for advice. He seems so much lighter just having ended it with Eun Ji.

Not Ji Hyun flashbacks my heart can’t take it

IS THAT CONAN GRAY OMG THIS SHOW IS TRYING TO KILL ME

Omg I’m crying he went to him!!!

THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL

This bed montage… how am I supposed to recover

Aww Ji Hyun is still scared

Jae Won reassuring him so clearly, these boys have communicated

Joon Pyo gave them the room for the night, what a great pal

They’re so cute how do I live how do I function

Jae Won looking at Ji Hyun with naked adoration, teasing him about using banmal, putting his jacket on him… I may never recover

I love Ji Hyun asking for clarity, and them talking so openly about why they’re happy. Healthy kings!

Aww yay, glad something good happened for Yoon Won.

Not Ji Hyun admitting he doesn’t actually care about surfing 🤣 and calling Jae Won out on pretending to need a lighter 🤣🤣

Ji Hyun is low key a little scared to part from Jae Won and I get it

Yes Ae Ri put it together!!! I love her, she is officially my favorite woman character in a bl

Jae Won looks so much better. Just putting an end to denying himself Ji Hyun has done wonders for his mood.

This asshole is actually asking for an apology from Jae Won? Get fucked, Tae Hyung

Ahh Jae Won you need to cut this toxic friend out of your life. But we can’t expect him to change his entire personality in a day. And I do like this explanation for why Jae Won keeps him around - he is comforted by his lack of filter and mask. He always knows where he stands with him, and maybe admires a little that he’s so open.

Jae Won openly smiling at Ji Hyun in front of everyone, we love to see it

They gotta figure out when their day one is, this is very important in dramas!

Yesss Bit Na drag him!!!!

Jae Won if you did not actually mean to come out to Yoon Won you need to be more subtle than that 🤣

Yoon Won and Joon Pyo… I’m picking up a vibe

Jae Won is so much kinder to Eun Ji than she deserves

“I want to be alone with you” 👀

Ji Hyun’s endless list of cheesy couple stuff he wants to do is honestly so cute

Hahaha I knew it

“I have no time to think about anything but you”

Ji Hyun, gracious in victory. Not totally buying Eun Ji suddenly being this chill in defeat, though.

T8S is unfortunately doing the very common kdrama thing of giving shitty characters unearned redemption at the end. Tae Hyung and Eun Ji deserved to be cut off, not receive forgiveness they absolutely did not earn.

Ahh that ending was nice. Ji Hyun coming into his confidence - emotional and physical - is such such a great place to leave that character.

I absolutely loved this show. Episode 9 was the peak for me - that was such excellent emotional catharsis and every moment of it felt earned. The final episode was not perfect - some annoying kdrama tropes reared their heads and I thought tonally it was a little too celebratory - but overall I am ending this series feeling fantastic. What a great ride.

#the eighth sense #gotta go back to work now and pretend to be normal #pray for me #shan shouts into the void