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random-fandom-ramble · 9 months

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Is Redfeather Etharis mother?

I just read the new short story about Rayla in Scumport, where we were introduced to this wonderful new MILF character, Redfeather:

Some things we learned about her:

She’s a moonshadow elf

She has matted messy hair

She has pale markings and likely has a darker complexion (“like shining leather”)

She was ghosted about 15+ years ago

She doesn’t regret the thing(s) she was ghosted for

Now 15+ years ago doesn’t place her at any important events that we know of yet. Rayla would’ve been 0-2 years old at the time, so it probably doesn’t connect to her. The whole ordeal with Sarai getting killed by Avizandum happened about 10-12 years prior, so it couldn’t be connected to that.

But you know who would’ve been in a very interesting age back then?

Ethari and Runaan

Ethari and Runaan were once referred to as “uncle-ish” age, which the show runners have clarified means somewhere between 30-35 years old. That means Ethari and Runaan would’ve been 15-20 years old at the time when Redfeather got ghosted by her village. And as we all know, 15-20 is the perfect age for fictional characters to get traumatized✨

One theory I had was that she was somehow involved with the assassins (target? Former assassin? Who knows) and that her crime, which somehow affected a younger Runaan, got her ghosted. But that is a theory for another time.

What caught my attention first was the specifics of her description.

Pale markings and “leather colored”(darker) skin

When it comes to the colors of markings, moonshadow elves tend to have very deep or even dark blue/purple markings. Ethari is the only moonshadow elf we’ve encountered till now who has significantly lighter, or paler, lavender colored markings amongst moonshadow elves.

This means that Redfeather having specifically PALE markings would be significant, if the paleness is referring to the color.

Another point is the eyes

While Redfeathers and Etharis face’s aren’t THAT similar, the eyes very much ARE

Look at that shape! Look at the lashes! Look at the curved lower lids! If this doesn’t mean anything, then this would be one heck of a coincidence for eyes to be drawn THAT similarly.

Another reason I like this theory isn’t just because of looks and appearances, but also because it could explain a bit about Etharis behavior regarding ghosting family members and strong feelings about abandonment.

See, when Rayla first comes back to the Silvergrove, one of the first things he says to is:

“They’re gone Rayla. He’s gone. Because you abandoned them.”

And later on, when he briefly lifted the ghosting spell to talk to Rayla, he says again:

“But I don’t understand, how could you abandon them like that?”

On a similar note, in the novel the bloodmoon huntress, when Runaan realizes that Kim’Dael is out there, there isn’t even a question about wether or not Ethari is coming along; he said right away “I’m coming with you”. He was NOT gonna stay- or be left behind. It’s like he has some very deep rooted issues surrounding abandonment, and being left behind. Maybe because his mother had to leave him when he was young? Or maybe pertaining to the crime she committed, where she left someone behind and surrendered them to their doom? Who knows…

And yet, for someone who has such strong feelings about someone being left behind, he was very quick to ghost Rayla. Yes he regrets it, and yes it was a decision made with feelings and grief and not his sound and sensible mind. But regardless of how much he regrets it now, he still ghosted her for “abandoning her team (and Runaan)”, and he seemed very sure of that choice at first.

If we looked at him as a regular person, a godfather who loved and cherished his goddaughter, and had raised her since the age of 8, this behavior doesn’t make any sense!

But if we look at him as someone who’s had to do it before, someone who had to learn long ago that family ties don’t excuse crimes, and that sometimes you need to cut out and ghost those closest to you - like say, your own mother-, well then it makes sense why he was able to do that to his goddaughter, even if he regretted it later…

——

And a final point close this whole theory off, though it is more of a meta textual point:

Ethari rarely gets talked about by the creators of the show. He was maybe mentioned here and there in the past, and on Twitter Aaron Ehazs promised that they hadn’t forgotten about Ruthari. So any mention of him that actually includes his name and something other than „he’s Runaans husband/Raylas substitute dad“ is pretty special and rare to find outside of the graphic novel Bloodmoon huntress . But in this new short story, he wasn’t just mentioned by name; he was specifically described along with his profession, his crafting.

And the first time that Ethari gets mentioned again outside of the bloodmoon huntress is when a new Moonshadow elf with eyes almost identical to his gets introduced.

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

✨Thanks for reading!✨

Feel free to add your own thoughts to this theory in the comments or in reblogs!

@beautifulterriblequeen @sunstone-nerding @hoothalcyon @legend-of-the-fandoms @anybody-else-who-wants-to-join-the-fun

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp theory #tdp headcanons #tdp ethari #tdp Redfeather #tdp season 5 #tdp s5 #tdp spoilers #tdp meta #tdp angst ✨#tdp speculation #tdp rayla #tdp runaan

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raayllum · 5 days

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Gift Giving & Primal vs First Elves :: Or Going Off Into the Deep Lore Deep End

Remember that meta I compiled about Greek mythology, deceptive gift giving, and TDP? Yeah it's time to talk about the gift motif properly as well as some other deep lore things because these excellent thoughts ( @spicyviren, @kradogsrats, and @its-leethee) got the wheels in my brain spinning.

AKA an unknown amount of sectioned word vomit into the nature of magic, where it comes from, how deep magic operates, some gifts and motifs, and Leola, just a little.

Let's go.

Gift Motif

The gift motif is one that's a bit of a slowburn in TDP. While characters will often pass and hand over objects — tools, artefacts, metaphorical responsibilities or trust (handing over the egg, for example) — to one another, there's not a big emphasis on gifts in the first three seasons.

There are some, such as Callum's letter from Harrow (that he's given by Claudia once again initially as a goodbye), Ezran giving Bait to Barius in S3, and Rayla's family pendant, but most of these, as you've might already noticed, are contextualized within Goodbyes. Whether the gift motif will amount in arc 2 to escaping this "final gift" context remains to be seen, but that's how it tends to work in interpersonal relationships.

There is an element of peace offering in hoping that returning Zym — a gift and/or gesture of good will — will help usher in peace, but I think (as of now at least) that ties further into the series' theme of Reciprocal Exchange (the assassin mission being an eye for an eye vs olive branch for olive branch) than outright gift giving. (Although we will probably talk about Exchange and gift giving at some point because there is also a thematic tether there.)

However, there is one other thing that is more and more often referred to as a gift in Arc 1, and that's Magic. Specifically, dark magic.

Now, this actually isn't that dissimilar from what the Goodbye gifts amount to, either. In Harrow's letter, he gifts Callum the Key of Aaravos believing it to be a powerful magical relic of some kind; Rayla's pendant makes its way from Ethari to her to Callum, who then uses it for magical purposes; and Bait, as a glow toad, is connected to an arcanum himself.

I do think it's noteworthy though that in Arc 1, (dark) magic being a gift is emphasized upon, specifically because of these lines for Khessa:

Upon first watching it back in 2019, it made sense that dark magic would be referred to this way, even when I just thought maybe it was that humans had been given 'nothing,' as Claudia says. Dark magic is closely tied to ideas of theft and thievery — stealing magic from others to harness its power for yourself — and the series is deeply interested in concepts of ownership or who has 'true' ownership over something, in magic, a throne/crown, a price to pay, etc. This follows neatly into Arc 2 (for ex: why Karim seeking to steal the Sun Seed is a metaphorical dark path even if it didn't outright involve dark magic through Kim'Dael), which we'll build on later.

That said, given the depth of the knowledge at the Great Bookery that is open to Sunfire elves more than any other type of elf, and the information that Tales of Xadia and Ripples gives us...

While elves warned that if humans were meant to wield magic they would have been born with it, [Leola] gifted the wisest humans with secrets: the language of the dragons and the runes that shaped spells. With the unicorn’s gift, the most determined minds among the humans could finally harness primal magic.

It happened long ago, when humans had only just learned to hold fire in their hands without burning. They nurtured their precious primal flames secretly—in the dark of night, beneath shadows and shrouds—as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters [...] Humanity had been given something it was never meant to have. And so there came a calamity.

It makes it more than likely than, unlike other elves such as Lujanne or Ibis, Khessa had reason to believe/know that there used to be primal human mages in the past... and that it wasn't 'enough' for them ultimately, because they still hungered and developed (and were given?) dark magic. "Your kind could not be satisfied with what you were given" was about the rejection of primal magic from Leola (the unicorns) in favour of a darker kind that involves theft and "dirtying yourself" (5x08) with dark magic.

But at the same time, this complicates the Gift Giving motif of including not just dark magic, but being also for primal magic — for humans, at least.

And also for elves. (Ignoring how "great orb" is very similar to "great one" for now.)

Janai: It was a gift. But there's more to it than that. The great orb began as this. Karim: This is... a sun seed?

Now, the Great Orb being grown from a Sun 'literal' seed makes sense. We've known for a long time that in Xadia, "magic is everywhere. It's just part of the vibrance or spirit of things" (1x05). Primal magic naturally occurring in plants, animals, and elves likewise makes sense on that note. Just as not "many could bear the gruelling path of a rune mage," Karim cannot bear to have patience and faith in something that will only come to fruition centuries later.

That said, I raise the question: how functionally different is the Great Orb from say, a sun primal stone would hypothetically be? If primal stones and primal magic were gifts to humanity from unicorns — from creatures connected to the Star arcanum, for lack of a better understanding — then why not magic from Startouch (?) elves to other elves.

How do we know that all magic isn't simply a gift that was given once upon a time?

From the First Elves to the Primal Elves.

Primal vs First Elves

So what's the difference between First Elves and Primal elves?

Well we have a few pieces of lore:

1) Zubeia's status as a "heavenly majesty" (which we'll come back to in the next section) gives her authority to speak in the name of the first elves, who are effectively gods to humankind and/or Xadians ("Have our Gods died? / Where do the fabled Great Ones hide?" —the Epic of the Void

2) It seems that the First Elves are, as of now and for a while, exclusively in reference to what would otherwise be called Startouch elves, although the latter is seemingly a name that came later given Rayla's affirmation of "ancient legends". This is reaffirmed in Tales of Xadia's two lone mention of First Elves:

No group of elves presents a greater mystery than the Startouch elves. Sometimes called the First Elves, those bound to the Star primal are rumored to have made great marks on Xadia’s ancient history—but beyond story and legend, little real evidence is left to us today [...] Among the few extant records of Startouch elves are the Scrolls of the First Elves, now kept in the Great Bookery of Lux Aurea.

3) At a post-S2 con in 2019 (how's that for a far reach?) we got a timeline of the events of Xadia laid out for us. The description of the very first piece of history and era we know of goes as follows, with the Rise of Elarion happening 2000 years ago re: the Dragon Prince era ("The Return of Aaravos"):

The Era of the First elves is the first recorded era 5,000 years prior to the current era. Dragons and elves were not allied during this period. There were no distinct primal elves. This is an era before all that. Humans suffered during this period.

—2019 con timeline

4) Justin and Aaron reaffirm this at the 2:30 ish minute mark of this video (a couple of months before even S3 was released) by reaffirming distinctly to Primal elves. Later (7:40-ish mark) we see this distinction reaffirmed again through the statement of, "The patterns have been that these primal based elves have grown cultures and civilizations that have become separate and differentiated from kind of whatever the early days were with the First elves were."

Okay, so there was 100% a time where there were only First Elves, and humans, and Primal elves as we knew them (maybe still with the hands and horns, but no arcanum? Or no singular, distinct arcanum) didn't exist. Why does this matter?

This is where the deep lore timeline gets tricky, as we don't know precisely when 1) humans received magic and 2) at what stage the First Elves / Great Ones / Startouch elves 'left' Xadia, only that they did, apparently, when Elarion (the human city) needed help: "Elarion, unworthy whelp / Wept as the stars turned black the sky / They donned their masks / They turned their backs / And left Elarion to die". Why abandon the city (beyond indifference/cruelty as Aaravos would likely claim), who knows.

However, we can assume the timeline looks something like this:

Era of the First Elves

Primal elves (and presumably archdragons *) are crafted / develop into being, whatever that means

Humans are magic-less and are having a bad time

Unicorns / Leola extend sympathy despite the fact that the First Elves tell her not to (Book One: Novelization / Tales of Xadia)

Humans have primal magic (Ripples / Tales of Xadia)

This attracts negative attention, consolidated in Elarion ("the stars she asked their light to cast / and stop the dragons’ fiery might" / "as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters. Eventually, for the audacity of their fire, they were hunted")

Elarion asks for help and the Stars leave

Aaravos, the last star — presumably already Fallen from the First Elves — gives them dark magic under the guise of protection even though it will inevitably help him (i.e. give him the ability to possess people)

Dark magic replaces primal magic as the primary form for humans

Tension and violence escalates (unicorns are hunted to near extinction). Sol Regem is removed as King of the Dragons

Under Dragon Queen Luna Tenebris, the daughter of an elven leader suggests the Judgement of the Half-Moon, causing for humans to be banished rather than eradicated, and the continent split in two

Again, nothing too crazy / not too much we haven't already known or guessed at for a while.

But like I said, I'm gonna propose two theories, so bear with me:

Theory #1: What is Deep Magic?

The First Elves engaged with what we're gonna call Deep or Old Magic, for lack of a better term. There can be an assumption at times that this magic would be more 'pure' or less 'diluted' than dark magic or even the primal magic we've seen on screen. However, I think that's less than likely. Dark magic is often times a bad path for good outcomes, and primal magic can be a 'good' magic for bad outcomes (the blood freezing spell, for example).

While dark magic is a more textually malevolent magic system and primal magic is more true neutral — able to be used as a tool and a source of connection for the user — I don't think this necessarily means that Deep Magic is inherently enlightening (we see with the Ocean arcanum and S5 that knowledge can be an immense burden) or that it's on the opposite end of the spectrum and is outright benevolent.

What, then, am I suggesting Deep Magic to be? Well, we have some clues likewise from the same old interview post-s2 that we haven't had much basis to (potentially) understand until now, in which it's stated:

Deeper magic and deeper gifts that the original beings received [...] practical, usable, powerful magic is drawn from the six primal sources, right? But there is this idea that there's this earlier, less differentiated power kind of magic that's deeper and more - I don't kind of want to say what all of them are. It's not that important now, it has more to do with the history of beings and their interactions with each other. But Aaravos cares about some of this stuff. The best I can say is that one of them's Power — but well, what does that mean?

The six primal sources — potentially just five (hence why only 5 gemstones seem to occur naturally in nature, and Star seemingly doesn't) — are all based around physical, somewhat tangible principles. Earth, Ocean, Sun (fire/light), Sky (wind/weather) are perhaps the most tangible, with only Moon dipping into something into something more metaphysical: illusions and questioning the nature of reality, the nature of death, etc. However, I'd argue that the Moon arcanum's emphasis on death still makes it something that is particularly important to creatures who are mortal (but more on that later).

What I am arguing for is then, therefore, that Deep Magic is magic drawn from Concepts and Ideas > tangible things found in nature or parts of other magical creatures.

Three concepts, to be exact: (translated dark magic screenshot from Cartoon Universe spells reversed).

Zubeia: He chose as his instruments those who had strong hearts and strong minds, but who had an insatiable thirst and fascination with magic (power).

Three quasar diamonds, three deep magic concepts. Heart, Mind, Power.

("To know something truly and deeply, you must know it with your head, hand, and heart. Mind, body, and spirit." / "She laid before me her scales, her blindfold, and her sword, and told me to choose.")

Now, I don't know if it's these three concepts exactly — I could Truth, or Justice, or something like that — or even if it's three. But given what little we know about Deep magic thus far and how much the series' likes its threes, I think that's the likeliest number and combination.

We've known for a while that there's something weird with the connection between dark magic, spells that use blood, and 'star' magic. We know it's unlikely that Aaravos being able to possess people who have used dark magic was just a happy accident discovered after humans started using it. We know that when Callum is offered the dark magic version of the cube in his dreams, the symbol is blood red: "You can have unlimited power." And that dark magic "became the key that unlocked a place of power for humans in Xadia" (Tales of Xadia).

So what if dark magic stems from the vein of Deep magic that's taken from the concept of Power? What if when Aaravos offered his pawns "unlimited" Power, or when Kpp'Ar accused Viren of (potentially using star magic) "making the same choice you always made: the one that gives you Power," they meant it?

Alternatively, this could mean that most other Startouch elves — their longevity, their indifference — comes from the vein of Mind and subsequent intellectual detachment? Enough intelligence and reason not to hunger for more (Power), but not enough compassion and empathy to sympathize with others (Heart).

And it would also tie into Leola being unique among her own kind for her heart taking pity on the humans, and giving them primal magic — perhaps in the vein of Heart, if we're keeping things consistent — and why love ("To know something truly and deeply [...] I love you with all of myself, and I always will" / "To love is simply to know this: the tides are true as the ocean is deep") has been consistently tied to Callum unlocking arcanums. The "Narrative of Strength (power)" vs "Narrative of Love" being even more literal than we thought.

This wouldn't be too out of line since Moon arcanum philosophy already borrows heavily from Plato's idea of the forms/reality (Plato's allegory of the cave, anyone?) and the forms basically mean "your imagined ideal of the object in your mind is going to be more perfect than any tangible, 'real' version of the object could ever be." That being applied to living beings who are literally in the sky would track a certain amount, in addition to the idea that however primal magic is set up in Xadia right is "the whole world is like a giant primal stone; sky magic is all around us, and it's also in me, with every breath we take." But I digress.

With the distinction of Deep Magic as 1) separate and a sea that flows into the primal as well as 2) older and earlier than primal magic, now onto the next theory:

Theory #2: First elves and the Archdragons?

Now admittedly this one is more speculative since beyond knowing 1) the First elves = what we'd call Startouch elves, 2) the rest of them except Aaravos 'left' Xadia a while ago, and 3) the aforementioned possible 'Mind' deep magic thing, we very quickly run out of set knowledge into full blown speculation. Beyond

With that in mind, I wanna talk about the... weirdness, I suppose, between the Archdragons / draconic royal family and the First Elves.

There's a few notes to this: we know that Ancient Draconic is the language of primal magic, indicating that dragons existed and presumably had primal magic before elves did, and that elves had to be given that linguistic knowledge at least to a certain degree.

Then we also have the way Zubeia is referred to being mirrored with the way she describes Aaravos later:

Likewise, the one person/creature we've seen referred to as a god outside the Epic of the Void poem is Avizandum by Harrow (bonus points for the game motif of "entire armies have fallen like toys" because of him):

Bloodmoon Huntress also asserts that from an elven point of view (or at least Lain and Tiadrin, and presumably Runaan, too) that "Dragons are the lifeblood, the very core of Xadia" and generally assumed that dragons have the most powerful connection to their individual primal sources.

So I'd be willing to wager (esp since Sol Regem is at least 1,2000+ years old) that Archdragons at least once upon a time had been contemporaries of the First Elves if not peers. What and why that connection exists and how relevant it is for today, I don't know, but I do think there's something there, especially since the one example we have of a First Elf-Dragon relationship in Aaravos, Avizandum, and Zubeia, was perceived to be positive somewhat on all sides — a matter of trust on his end (in order to be "betrayed") and a matter of reverence and importance on theirs; "admired and loved by all" / "you meant something to him".

There is also something to be said for the Archdragons being the most powerful embodiment of the primal sources (alongside maybe some rare and noteworthy elves, like Queen Aditi) still being "unable to risk a direct confrontation" with only one singular and Fallen Startouch elf. What would a whole slew of them at the height of their power look like? (And yet it is implied that the Nova Blade is "ivory draconic" so... maybe you just have to get a First Elf close enough to the mouth to be consumed / bitten? Or perhaps the Nova Blade is made from the tooth/claw of a 'Star' arcanum dragon.)

TLDR; it's looking more and more like Startouch elves as we understand them and First Elves in generally are — while emotive and feeling the way humans and elves are — something very different from anything else we've seen thus far in terms of knowledge and power skill, and that distinction is only going to be made more and more apparent as the story goes on.

Theory #3: Where do we go from here?

So if Deep Magic is distinct from Primal, and is distinct from 2/3 kinds of Deep Magic in dark magic (derived from 5-primal and Power deep magic thoughts)... where do we go from here, magically speaking?

Well, the important thing to note is that the story has given us some thematic clues. Aaravos is concerned with exile and power, both things we see thematically most represented by human characters (with some elven exceptions like Karim and Kim'Dael). The other Star touch elves are very on brand for "Xadian exile" as their favourite punishment as well as extreme isolationism ("I knew I had to be strong alone" etc). Therefore, whatever answer we give Magically also has to reconcile these issues from a thematic and character based standpoint.

It seems like a switch of where people are concentrating energy — for Startouch elves and humans — needs to have a drastic shift to one of the other veins/concepts of deep magic that will hopefully heal the rifts. If Aaravos is Power (humans) and the others are 'Mind' (Xadian indifference/isolation and banishment) for lack of a better idea, then subverting that binary and shifting more to a third 'Love' path seems to be very on brand for TDP. Holding both at the same time but being guided by a higher principle of peace and harm reduction is what Ezran's 4x03 speech is all about, after all.

Something something both Xadia and magic and the First Elves being reunited with Xadia / humanity and elvenkind as TDP's endgame, something something.

Other Gift Giving Thoughts

The other thing I wanna talk about now that everything else is laid out is how gifts are Given, in TDP. We see time and time again relationships and magic systems being framed on the idea of whether they are giving, taking, both in a bad way or in a good way. There seems to be two main indicators for gift giving, therefore, either that in the receiver is worthy, or that the exchange is going to be reciprocal.

At its best, a gift works as intended.

Humans (and elves?) are given primal magic and generally use it for exploration and to care for themselves / one another The sun seed is given to the Sunfire elves, but they must nurture it. Callum gives Rayla her father's bow and she uses it to protect them. Callum achieves enlightenment and understanding of him and is rewarded with primal magic twice, even if the Ocean in particular is a bit murkier than he'd probably like. Gifts and belongings are relinquished or restored for freedom, for hope, for peace.

Here we have to wonder if Leola's Last Wish reconciles both the Goodbye gift motif and the gift of Magic motif, possibly resulting in the gift of the sun seed or more likely something to do with primal magic / alleviate the fallout of dark magic's consequences.

For example, to get an answer from Rex Igneous — a seeming wealth of knowledge — you have to give him a worthy gift that is also a sacrifice of some kind, according to Nath'an.

However, Ezran points out the major flaw in this line of thinking, as "We offered gifts that meant a lot to us, but the truth is, they don't mean anything to you." Not everyone is going to value the same thing or think the same thing is worth the price that was paid.

We see this interpersonally most with the mage fam ("Maybe the world would be better off without magic" from Soren, whose life was saved with it) and with Rayla and Callum (as Rayla's gift of sacrifice by leaving is something Callum did not want and rightfully did not receive well, alongside her moonstone pendant). Again: what is defined as worthy, or worthiness, is in the eye of the beholder.

Just like one of the initial thoughts that inspired this meta, Khessa asserts that dark magic is a magic that "takes" > being reciprocal for both parties, nevermind a gift. The irony, however, runs a bit deeper, as Aaravos thinks the same of his fellow stars:

But the stars kept from them one secret still: that their first lesson—patience—was not a gift of the stars at all. You see, patience is a lesson the humans taught themselves. No, the stars do not know patience, for they have no need for it. The stars want for nothing, and take all to their liking.

And we see this idea of a 'false gift' show up time and time again in the series. Nyx pretends to offer passage but actually wants to steal Zym; Rayla's act of love in leaving is a curse upon Callum's heart and wellbeing; dark magic itself is a false trade of sorts, given how unevenly it tips scales in Aaravos' favour and how much it ruins both the environment and body of its caster.

[The elven thief Lasair] never saw the precious blossoms fade and turn to cold ashes when exposed to the dawn. They never learned their gift was perceived as a curse, not a trade.

—Tales of Xadia

Kim'Dael goes to Queen Aditi under false pretences ("The Queen's Mercy") but the gift that Aditi gives her is nothing good at all:

What pretty bauble, she wondered, had she tricked the queen into forging as a token of protection? What could be powerful enough to ward away the wrath of dragons?

Just as humans sought the stars' help to protect them from the ire of the dragons, Kim'Dael sought Aditi's. And just as Aaravos offered them a false magic that would protect and ultimately trap/destroy then, so does Aditi, with magic that doesn't seem to be entirely dark or primal:

“But know this: the binding around your neck—it is made with magic not unlike your own. It is a magic that demands, that takes."

A form of magic even maybe that demands sacrifice for that kind of Power.

You could almost say it's something Deeper.

Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed going completely off the rails with me, and that this long (winded) post got you thinking! I'll probably do a followup discussing the implications of what we have here for potential Laurelion-Aaravos later. In the meantime, take the fruits of my labour, and spin your own hamster wheels if you'd like.

#the dragon prince #tdp #tdp meta #gift motif #analysis series #dark magic #primal magic #worldbuilding #analysis #deep lore dive #i'm also pretty sure aaravos or someone got cast out bc of the primal magic thing too #stars wanted a punishment of some kind. yeah #but more on that later #something something 'but this isn't true strength. it's only power'

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sapphicteadragon · 1 year

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was skimming through bloodmoon huntress again today and noticed something interesting and kinda cute in a way.

When Rayla goes to Runaan and Ethari for help, she calls out for Ethari first. This happens more than once, first after she encounters Suroh, and again when Runaan fishes her out of the river. I guess this is probably because, at this point, Ethari has made a conscious effort to connect with her, to show her how valued she is in his eyes. Both the wingaling scene and the scene where he explains Runaan's mindset show this.

And then we have Runaan, who's been... I don't know if dismissive is the right word, but he's been somewhat emotionally unavailable this whole time, because, in Ethari's words, he shows love by protecting people. By keeping them safe. And Rayla doesn't really understand this at first.

So then you get to the scene where he fishes Rayla out of the river, and she calls out for Ethari. She's facing away from the camera (?) in the panel, but you can see how surprised she is to look up and see Runaan. (He also hugs her, and it's the only time we see him hug anyone... hfjsjfjsdndj) I think it's only then that she realises that he really does care about her, and starts to understand his way of thinking a little more. She sees it even more when he puts his life on the line to protect a family of skywings he doesn't even know. Only then, I think, does Ethari's explanation start to make sense to her. And it's this understanding which, in the end, helps them connect as a family.

And I love that.

(on am unrelated note I am almost done with uni for the term which means I can get back to doing proper ruthari art soon yay)

#the dragon prince #tdp #ruthari #runaan #tdp runaan #ethari #tdp ethari #rayla #TDP rayla #bloodmoon huntress #moonfam

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runaankisser · 1 month

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Sorry in advance if I’m awkward or anything I’m terrified of requesting stuff:’)

If you’re still open to TDP requests, Mayhaps Runaan and Ethari (bonus points if also Rayla but I don’t wanna ask too much-) somehow managed to take the reader in? I had a human reader in mind, but I won’t die if it’s not!

(I wish I could be more specific, I just have moonfam brainrot and no idea which direction to point it in. But if you do this anyway, thank you so much!! I really appreciate your writing.)

- 💙

The human in the woods

Word count: 802 Including spaces: 3957

(i just wanted to apologize for how long this took)

As the bright moon peaked through soft clouds, a young moon shadow elf giggled as she played with a couple of adoraburrs. The moonlight beamed on her while she walked through a grassy field. Although, something caught her eye. A young girl, in the distance, was standing near a tree, looking lost.

As Rayla got closer, she realized two things, this wasn’t an elf, this was a human! A short, malnourished human girl, with bruises all over her body. Rayla continued to walk closer to the girl.

“Hey! You’re a human!” Rayla says loudly, reaching out her hand to touch the human’s ear. Y/n flinches roughly at the sudden movement. Rayla’s eyes widen in surprise and she jerks her hand back.

“Uhm… where's your parents?” The young elf says with curiosity. Y/n looks up gingerly and shrugs, looking saddened. “You don’t talk, do you?” Rayla says, tilting her head slightly.

The elfling looks at the human with remorse. “You aren’t the only one without parents, mine had to leave me so they could guard the dragon prince,” she says with a smile, trying to relate to the famished child.

“Well I guess I do have parents. Runaan and Ethari take care of me! You should meet them!” Rayla rants, her eyes shining at the idea. Y/n looks at the elf, fear and curiosity filling her eyes. The young girl flinches and gasps at the feeling of a cold, 4 fingered hand grabbing hers.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y/n slowly followed Rayla, practically being dragged behind her. As they walked, the elfling continued talking about her home and perhaps they could take her in.

Soon, the pair came across a large tree. Y/n’s eyes lit up with surprise as runes glowed a soft purple.

“This is the silvergrove,” Rayla said with a proud smile, pointing down as the illusion melted away, revealing a village decorated with soft lights and silver architecture.

The moonshadow elf grabbed y/n’s hand once again and led her to Runaan and Etharis' home, being careful to avoid the other elves.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Rayla and y/n arrived at the house, Ethari was waiting outside. His eyes widened in surprise at seeing a human, a child!

“Oh moon! Why is there a human here?” Ethari stuttered, looking at the elfling desperately for answers.

“This is… uh I don’t know her name. She's hurt though!” Rayla says nervously, referring to the malnourished, scratched up girl. She tightens her grip on y/n’s hand.

Ethari stared at the young human, feeling sympathetic. He lets out a sigh and tells the pair to come in. “You know Runaan won’t be happy with this when he gets home,” The moonshadow elf says.

“You can sit over there,” Ethari says after leading them to the kitchen, then goes to get a first aid kit. Y/n nervously sits down on the edge of the chair, clearly on her guard. Soon, he returns with a small box, filled with herbs, ointments and bandaids. He bends down and reaches over to her knee with a scratch, frowning as she flinches. “It’s okay, I'm not going to hurt you,” he says softly and gently rubs an ointment on her wound.

“It’s okay! This will help heal it,” Rayla says, trying to reassure the human. Y/n whimpers quietly and flinches again as the stinging ointment is placed on her open wound.

After a while, Ethari finally finishes patching up all of the humans wounds. “Little one, do you have a place to go?” He asks softly, trying to keep the child calm. Y/n does not reply, she simply looks down and slowly shakes her head.

“Can she stay with us? Please! She can sleep in my room!” Rayla pleads, doing her best to look cute, wanting her new friend to live with her. Ethari lets out a sigh and looks down, deep in thought.

Finally, he says, “okay, but just for a bit. Runaan won’t be happy with a human in our house.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time skip, 5 months.

Ethari was wrong when he said y/n would only stay for a bit. The young human would stay forever, now family. At first, Runaan wasn’t happy with her in the house. But he soon gave in.

The smell of mushcup filled the air as the morning sun slowly rose. 4 pairs of feet thumped down the stairs, small giggles followed them.

“Good morning you two,” Ethari says, mixing the ingredients for mushcup. Runaan was at the table, drinking his morningberry juice, looking tired.

They both sit down at the table, the human mumbles a small thank you, still quite shy. Y/n was grateful to know that she belongs to a family, a family that won’t hurt her anymore. She was finally happy.

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince x reader #ethari x reader #runaan x reader #moonfam #platonic #child reader #tdp rayla

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black-dhalias · 9 months

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Hi!! I absolutely love your writing✨✨

I was wondering if you’d write a Ethari x Reader (pronouns are she/her) x Runaan where it takes place in the time of the assassination of King Harrow.

Ethari and reader witnesses the assassins flowers sink one by one leading down to Rayla and Runaan.

Days later, it depends on how many days Runaan was in the dungeon before he got trapped in a coin. They witness Runaan’s flower sink and are of course struck by grief.

If it’s not a bother could you write days later after Runaan’s "death" the time where Callum and Rayla goes to their house.

Reader is reading a book while Ethari is crafting weapons and he witnesses Rayla from the reflection and you know what happens next.

If you don’t want to write this it’s completely fine! Once again, I love your writing!!✨🤍🌙

Floating Flowers

Poly!Runaan X Reader X Poly!Ethari

Warnings: angst, kinda sad ngl, mentions of death and some descriptions of violence

One does not love without sacrifice, and one does not truly want to take the risk unless they know it's worth it. With all that at stake, it does not make sense to ever really let someone in. To love, is to let your heart beat in time with another—with many, and in so few words, all of it can disappear.

In a blink.

In an instant.

Within a single breath.

All love causes is pain. You thought you knew the worst of it, felt the bitter edge of loss, but you were so wrong. You had it all figured out only a year ago. You had Runaan... A voice of reason and rock. You had Raela... In all her stubbornness and sweet personality. You have Ethari... As your warmth, and your light. You loved all three extensively, dove head first into the chasm of love—hopeful and invested. They gave you purpose and warmth, and that's all you ever wanted.

You thought the price of love was worth all the pain, but now as you fold your arms over your knotted up stomach. You could barely tear your eyes away from Runaan and Rayla prepare for the mission. The one to avenge all of Xadia, but it was not worth it to you. Nothing in all of the realms was worth the price of watching them walk out of this village.

Soon it would be just you and Ethari—you begged for a minute longer as Runaan's palm embraces your cheek, "Goodbye my love." The words taste acidic, another minute of him would never be enough. You'd plead for hour after hour, for every second was worth a thousand pleas.

While Runaan notes your rigid form, the distant look in your eyes—he knows that he cannot stay. "It is not good bye..." He whispers quietly, "I will always return to you both." Your lips press into that all too familiar line, shaking your head as you part from him completely.

Hating the distance, but knowing you must let him go.

"Do not make us promises you cannot keep." Your words are dark, striking cold fear into Ethari—the sensation of pain mirrors into him.

Hesitantly, Ethari embraces Runaan and Rayla throws herself into your arms. You told Runaan she was not ready, that you were not ready to let her go into a battle she may not return from.

She's the closest you ever came to a child, you are certain that she'll be the only child you ever have. All her life was spent under your careful gaze, and embraced tightly in your arms. Your cheek rests atop her hair, and even when your eyes mist over—you do not let yourself cry.

"I love you Rayla... All the way to the moon." You insisted she was more like you, more like Ethari, but Runaan was certain. And when he was certain, there was no reason to try to talk sense into him.

When you finally gather enough strength to look up at Runaan, Rayla at his side and Ethari's palm on the small of your back. Runaan gives a tight smile, one he only gives when he is not sure.

"I love you..." You don't know if you'd forgive yourself if he didn't hear it at least once more, you see the softness of his eyes. "Both of you, and we expect you home before 30 nights have passed."

Soon enough, they disappear and leave only floating flowers in their wake. No one moved from the fountain, too many souls rest upon the surface—hardly a ripple as the air catches deep in your throat.

When the day came to pass, the crowd was thick with anxiety without a word of comfort to be shared. No one could say anything at all. Ethari held you close, unable to stop the tightening of his grip as each flower sunk to rest on the bottom. The ripples were jarring, the water stirred with grief.

The cries were haunting, even when no one knew who would come next... The tears remained locked up. And with each sunken flower, you felt a wave of guilt and relief because you wished it to be anyone else. Until it was only them.

All you had was the hope that they had succeeded, and were already halfway home right now. It is all that you have left.

"Come to bed starlight." Ethari's sweet nickname sounded so soft, you could hardly enjoy the comfort, but it was there nonetheless. "I miss your warmth..." You tear your eyes rom the water, and stare into his. You wonder if he knows how much you adore him, how safe and welcoming his arms had become since they found you. "I miss sharing a bed..." You hardly slept since they left, leaving Ethari to an empty home most days. Ethari and Runaan had saved you all those years ago, brought you back from the edge of the universe—a startouch elf who could hardly bring themselves to love. To care.

"Just tonight..." You take his outstretched hand, his hope brought you optimism. Gave you hope. That meant something to you.

"I miss you too."

In the quiet and dark, you lay entangled in your husband—embraced tightly in the linens and his arms. The shadows crest through the window, a moonlit night, but you struggle to see through the light. Almost certain that there is—not evil, but nothing good coming your way.

Ethari's arms tighten around and bring you closer than before, chin nuzzled into your neck. His hair is soft against your arm, there is so much on your mind and sleep seems distant.

The way his eyes are shut so lightly, lashes brushing his cheeks and while not a smile—his face is not contorted with nightmares. To be honest, this is the first time since Runaan left that you've seen Ethari sleep so peacefully. While you could not bring yourself to sleep, you were never too far away as to not soothe away the nightmares when they came to him. He truly is the last testament of your sanity. As light as you can manage, you brush your thumb along the highest point of his cheek.

"If you wanted me awake, you should have just asked." Sleep clouds his visit, but he sees you so clearly against the sharp contrast of night. A vision of pure, unscathed—starlight.

He tilts his head up so that he is looking at you, a look of pure admiration. "Have I told you how beautiful you are, starlight?" You find it in yourself to smile.

"More often with every passing day." He returns your smile, Ethari always was the one who stood in awe of you even when you doubted yourself. Your good nature seemed to move in step with his own, but something about the stars that danced in your eyes—you often seemed otherworldly to him.

"Good, I will never allow you to forget." And you know that he's telling the truth, you believe every word. "They'll come home to us. I know they will." Yet you are not as sure, humans are too unforgivable. Too dangerous and unpredictable. You hate them, and fear what else they are capable of taking away from you.

Neither of you say another word, finding comfort in each other. Letting the comfort exist in this singular moment, tomorrow you will face more fear and anxiety. Tonight, you find peace in Ethari's arms.

"Hope for the both of us, my love. I can only hope it's enough."

Only when you watched Runaan's flower sink so suddenly, when the ripples began to shatter the surface of the water. Your entire world seemed to shatter with your reflection. It felt like the world was on fire, and completely still; all at once, you had little left. Stones burn your knees in scrapes as you cry out for him, even the slam of the door is not enough to rouse you from your torture.

The way Ethari saw you and then saw the flower in the bottom of the pool. The heave as he sees the sunken hope. It was always a fool's mission, but the sensation of your crying form within his own arms is enough to send him into tears. The way your hands grip him without remorse—screaming at the universe that they can't have them.

Runaan is gone.

It hits Ethari like the whole of Xadia was put directly on his shoulders, their husband is dead.

He's gone, and he isn't coming back.

Ethari attempted to focus on the task at hand, the tools and weapons atop his desk never seemed so far from him. It felt as though he was staring at a puzzle he was no longer capable of understanding, but he did his best to keep himself occupied when the silence of the house threatened to consume.

Is this grief? Or is this the new normal?

Where you used to find comfort in Ethari, he could only ever reach you when the books were far from your grasp. A cycle of three titles, meticulously memorizing each page because it reminded you of Runaan. The nights when you would stay up with Runaan when the nightmares were too much, and you would read to him until he lulled off to sleep.

Neither really said a word, silent and long days until the time came to crawl into bed. Only then, arms around each other and duvets tightly enveloping both forms—did the tears freely flow. Did the pain finally mount and the length of the universe seemed to weigh heavy on you both.

However, by the time morning breaks, the silence returns and the image of a sunken flower haunts your vision. Ethari closes his eyes, adjusting himself and returns his gaze to his work. Only something catches his eye, a glimpse—nothing short of a miracle, one that causes his expression to falter.

Rayla...

Unable to turn for a moment, he pauses before walking out the door. Knowing that she would follow, unable to break your heart anymore than it has been already.

"Rayla. Before you left, I told Runaan that you were to goodhearted for the work of an assassin. Y/N told him too." He pauses, glancing into the reflection once more. "So I know you did not betray them out of malice. But that doesn't matter. They're gone. He's gone. Because you abandoned them." His words are harsh, not loud, but there is a sharpness as he recalls your cries from the night before.

Even when she disappeared from the reflection, Ethari was already back inside of the home. You had not moved from your position, and for a moment, Ethari wishes you could have seen her. Known she was alright, even if she cannot come home.

He exhales deeply, gathering what he needs before leaving once more to find her. "This will only break the spell for a moment, but I couldn't bear to let you leave without seeing you one last time." Ethari had to know, to hear her out, and find some comfort in her words. "But I don't understand, Rayla. How could you abandon them?"

She looked the same, different and more worn in others, but he saw her as she was. "I failed them. it was my fault we were discovered, btu I didn't run away." She pauses. "Ethari, we found something. Callum, show him."

"Oh uh..." Ethari turns his attention to the human, smiling a little. "I'm Rayla's earthblood elf friend. Trees to meet you."

"Trees to meet you, too."

"Don't humor him. We found the dragon prince."

"The egg wasn't destroyed."

"And I knew that if we could get him home to his mother, there could be peace."

"It's a miracle. I can't believe it." Ethari's eyes darken, recalling the letter he received from Ibis not too long ago. "But, Rayla, you need to know. The Dragon Queen is dying. Since the death of her mate, she's fallen very ill."

"We have to get to her. It's the only way." Ethari pauses, as he watches Rayla's eyes trail to the home. "Where is Y/N? Can I see them?" Looking through the window to spot you, to catch your gaze.

Rayla is struck by confusion at your still form—you were never that still. Never so quiet. Her eyes wander the way you seem awake, locked in on the book and every so often she’d catch Ethari glance over with concern.

Ethari watches Rayla, as she looks at you—“When we met Y/N, they were deeply wounded by abandonment. Alone and on the cusp of giving up.” His eyes are sad, she notes how he casts you loving glances in between the concern. “Runaan is dead. You exiled. Something in them finally snapped.”

“Will they ever be the same?”

“No Rayla. I don’t think that they will, they might recover, but Y/N has faced great losses…More than most, it’s why they loved you so dear. Because you’ve lost a lot too.”

Ethari whistles: "You can ride faster than you can walk. I'll see a message to the Dragon Queen. If she knows her little one still lives, perhaps she'll hold on."

"Ethari, can I ever come home again?"

"I don't know." His eyes are sad, he knows the devastation you felt when the rumors spread. When the word shifted to call Rayla a betrayer and to ghost her. You fought against it, but soon even you could not fight the thought. Consider the possibility that there might have been some truth to the village's words. "It's a real moon opal..." He holds it out to her. "When I gave its match to Runaan, I told him, "My love will be with you even when the moon is not."

Rayla looks through the window once more and then back at Ethari: "Good bye, Rayla."

Ethari came into the home with a purpose as he gathered another arrow, preparing it to be fired and for the first time since, you looked up at him. Eyes wandering to the message, to the way he seemed certain.

Something in the way he moved, it reminded you of who he once was. "What are you doing?" He meets your eyes, seeing the whole universe fall together in a dance as you rise to your feet.

"I have found us hope." Still, even now, he is holding onto the hope that he can somehow fix this. Change the way things are and you trust him.

"Runaan, the last time I made you one of these, it carried a message of death. but this arrow will carry a message of life. Regina Draconis!" While you do not understand completely, you understand enough to know that Ethari is still fighting for you. Still fighting for your future, the one you will share together. And you trust him.

Long before you loved Ethari and Runaan, before the turn of the century—eons before written history began. There was you and your brother, Aarravos. It was all you knew, and it was all you thought you needed. Masters of the primal energies—the epitome of Star Touch Elf perfection. There was no beauty like yours, and no power that tasted as sweet as the power you possessed.

However, it was never enough for Aarravos and soon enough, you had lost him completely. Your entire existence seemed to erase itself with his loss, the universe seemed so much smaller. It seemed so much more void. No longer did stars shine for you, and soon enough, you saw only the darkness. A never ending abyss of despair, and confusion. You no longer knew what your purpose was beyond the world you were building with your brother. It meant nothing without someone to share the success with.

You lean into the darkness, you found comfort in the silence—perhaps comfort is the wrong word. You found silence in the darkness, your bottomless pit of despair was less violent and loud. Your wandering felt less aimless when you accepted the loneliness. You were not at peace, but the numbness felt bitterly better than the pain of loss.

The greatest of your sins was never looking for him, for you assumed he had simply left you to your misery. Had finally had enough, and so you left him to his adventures—you imagined he must have left you willingly, no one could against the power you wielded.

Seven centuries, long and painful blistering years, in that time you only heard whispers of your brothers antics. Until you heard nothing at all.

Soon enough the sadness no longer touched you, or perhaps you wore it proudly—you rarely missed the brother that had left you alone. If he cared, he would have taken you with him.

A crest of moonlight breaks over the treetops and reflects off the waterfalls, the crisp blue hue brings a soft smile to your lip. Knelt before the basin, you submerge your palms into the clear water and bring it to your lips. The water is not bitter or heavy with minerals, you finish what is in your palm and remove the canteen from your hip. Using one hand, you pinch the lid and the other you submerge the object and wait for the bubbles to stop.

Crack!, you stiffen—eyes flickering to the left side, someone or something is near. The forest has gone quiet, and it leaves you to think that it is a someone. You hum, shifting your leg out from under you and leaning onto it—knife on your hip, another on your chest and ankle. You cap the canteen and tie it off to your belt, swallowing as you place the final knot. Only to hear the rustling once more.

Trying your best not to move, to hush your body and heighten your senses—your fingers curl tightly around the blade, clutching onto it just as the pair of elves break the clearing. You turn quickly, drawing your weapon and posing it high—“If you’re here to start something, it’s probably best you leave.” Before, with Aarravos, you were the voice of reason—diplomatic and poise, but now it is different. It is just you. Their eyes widen significantly, as startled by you as you are by them.

One is smaller physically, but his hair is much longer—he seems more muscular, less lean. While the other seems to be just as imposing, but not physically—there is knowledge behind those eyes. He is the first one to speak, “You’re a Startouch elf.” You nod, posing your weapon higher. “Fascinating.”

However, when your weapon does not drop it is the other who steps protectively in front of the scholar—his expression less than kind. “Startouch or not, please drop your knife. We never meant you any harm.

“We never looked back. It was just the three of us against all of Xadia.”

#imagines #imagine #requests are open #fandom request #imagine requests #x reader #requests #love #the dragon prince x reader #runaan x reader #ethari #Ethari x reader #poly!ethari and runaan #poly imagine #polyamory #poly!runaan

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hazy-summer-sky · 1 month

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Rumor has it that if you talk about mentally ill Ethari, I will come scuttling towards you with a WIP

Thanks to @no-cinnamon-for-synonym for posting about this earlier and sending me into a frenzy writing some of my fic, here’s a short sneak peek at a bit of it!

CW under the cut: s*icidal ideation, hallucinations, severe depression, hurt no comfort (yet)

“Are you really going to ignore that?” Ethari jumps at the question, nearly sending him tumbling off the ledge he’s sitting on. He turns around to see Runaan standing a few feet away, crossing his arms.

Surprisingly, Ethari just rolls his eyes and says, “You’re encouraging me to go towards danger now? That isn’t like you.”

“I am trying to get you out of danger.” As Runaan sits down next to him, Ethari returns to sitting with his feet dangling off the ledge and staring at the churning river beneath him. He seems far too calm for someone talking to their dead husband. “There’s only one reason you would come here of all places, alone and in the middle of the night.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe I was just looking for lunablooms and happened to stop here for a rest.” Runaan gives him a look, and after a moment Ethari lets out a frustrated sigh. “You should not even be here. I took my medication today, so can you please stop haunting me for once?”

“I cannot just leave you here, Ethari.” At this, Ethari laughs incredulously.

“Oh, now you cannot go? You never had any trouble leaving when you were alive!” Ethari lets out a strained breath through his teeth. He clutches at his chest, his fingers pulling the fabric of his shirt taught around him.

Runaan gives Ethari that exasperated look again. “You know that is not—“

“What, do you not remember how restless you would get between missions waiting for something ‘useful’ to do?! How you would go out and train more than any of the other assassins, how you would choose to take on as many solo missions as you possibly could?!” Ethari is on his feet now, shouting down at Runaan. “Did you forget how quick you were to accept the Katolis mission despite it being transferred to your team at the last minute, and how you lied about Rayla being sixteen so that you could have the team of six the Dragon Queen wanted?! You’ve always wanted to leave!” The hallucination just watches sadly as Ethari’s temper cools. “Rayla was always so excited when she got to go with you, too…” Ethari wipes his eyes and whispers, “Was being with me really that terrible?”

#ruthari #runaan #ethari #this is for the night sky AU

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beautifulterriblequeen · 21 days

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TDP autistic-coded characters: Runaan

Inspired by this post, which gave me the kick I needed to create my own for Runaan. I’ve always kinda pictured Runaan as “Zuko but instead of befriending Aang he grew up and married Ethari.”

I’m not going to go into how precious this headcanon is to me. You have headcanons that are near and dear to your heart. This one is near and dear to mine. Let’s go:

Physical traits

Sensory dampening

Autistic people often have sensory issues that result in them feeling overwhelmed, overloaded, or hypersensitive. It can result from a combination of mental and physical input, and autistic people develop a variety of coping mechanisms to deal with it.

One way to dampen an overload of physical sensation is with clothing. Loose and baggy works for some, tight and gently constricting works for others. It can turn overwhelming nerve input into a kind of white noise background so it’s easier to focus on other information.

Runaan wears a lot of clothes on missions, leaving only his face and upper arms exposed. I’m not talking about layers so much as skin coverage. While there’s a variety of coverage among the assassins, Runaan is the only one with long hair covering his neck, long pants, high boots, and gloves.

Though Rayla’s dressed very similarly to him, her hands are bare, giving her a more approachable and vulnerable look, as befitting a character trying to find out who she is.

With all his layers of insulation, Runaan appears as if he’s trying to separate himself from, or protect himself from, the world around him.

About those gloves and leather gauntlets. It seemed a little odd (read: foreshadowingly important) that those gauntlets would get a mention in Callum’s Spellbook as part of Runaan’s look, but they’re in there. Runaan’s gloves are black, a nice dark undistracting color. When he moves his hands around in front of him, he won’t be visually distracted by the light hue of his own gloves. And he does use his hands a lot, as a major form of his communication with others, so keeping that contact to a comfortable level, both visually and tactilely, lets him touch and move as much as he needs to without overwhelming himself in the process.

Meditation

Meditation is another way to calm an overload of input, or to psych oneself up for something that will require a lot of focus.The first time we meet Runaan, he’s meditating while the others set up camp.

Rayla’s been gone a while and he’s probably worried. It’s her first mission, and he vouched for her skills, so he can’t just go traipsing off to find her. He has to wait and trust her, so he spends his time calming and focusing.

We also see him meditating in the dungeon, several times.

Even though the room was dark and quiet, all that sensory input from his injuries must’ve been intensely stressful. Falling back on his meditative coping mechanism was the only tool he had to handle the stress and pain of his environment and situation. But all his years of using this technique means that he’s pretty good at it. Every time Viren came in to pester him, Runaan was always able to keep his wits about him.

Stimming

Autistic people stim as a self-soothing technique when they’re hit with intense emotions--good and bad alike. They’re basically a way to anchor during a storm of feels until it passes, by doing something familiar and repetitive.

Runaan’s stim is clenching his hands. His hands are very clenchy when he’s stressed. With those dark gloves on, it’s not terribly noticeable, but they’re opening and shutting constantly when he’s worried over Rayla and how she’s endangering herself/messing up his mission.

Runaan is an elf of action. His skill set is entirely physical. When Rayla acts insubordinate on the mission, he knows he should punish her--a harsh physical tactic--but he quietly refuses to do so. Instead, he talks to her. And though he keeps his voice calm for the most part, he’s upset, nervous, off book. It takes him a while to be able to make eye contact with her (more on that later). And his hands start twitching, possibly because he’d be far more comfortable with a physical fix to the situation, a tactic he’s far more familiar with but in this case he’s deliberately choosing not to employ.

Long hair

Devon Giehl confirmed way back when that Ethari braids Runaan’s hair for him (awww), and he’s really good at it. It’s possible that Runaan had a very different hairstyle, or not much of a style at all, before he fell for Ethari. Autistic people sometimes struggle with haircuts or complicated personal hygiene routines. Some very much enjoy the asmr of having their hair brushed, or the comforting weight of long hair. A warrior needs to see what he’s doing in battle. A Moonshadow needs to look stylish. Enter Ethari, who probably still cannot believe he gets to play with all this long glorious braidable hair every day.

Maybe this beautiful hairstyle that we all love and adore and draw over and over in our art is Ethari’s creation, tactically designed to bother Runaan as little as possible. It’s not hanging in his eyes or tickling his neck or bugging his ears. He has a clear line of sight in all directions. No dangling fringe, unlike almost every other Moonshadow we’ve seen.

Those hair cuffs Ethari made keep Runaan’s side tails out of his way when he’s spinning in battle, too. There’s basically nothing that will get Runaan’s hair in his face.

And he hasn’t cut it in a very long time.

Interaction Issues

Processing time

Runaan comes across as a stoic and calculating character. He uses silence and stillness on the regular. These techniques can be used deliberately to give an autistic person time to process new information. Autistic people can have processing issues, hearing issues, and comprehension issues, and our first instinct upon hearing new information can be to blurt, “What?” because we don’t collect all the details on the first pass. Letting the mind continue to process for a few extra seconds can help to fill in the gaps, though. Remember this iconic moment?

Runaan takes 17 seconds to make his way from “Give me the egg” to “Don’t do this.” He stands dramatically, the clouds part, it’s all very epic. But he could’ve acted the second that Rayla defied him. He didn’t. Looks like he genuinely needs a minute to process what Rayla is doing and how to handle it. It’s very unlike her. He wasn’t expecting it. He has no plan for this. He has to stop everything and think. So he holds still and keeps his reactions under wraps, until he has formulated a plan. Runaan lives by plans and rules. More on that later, too.

The Kiss

Autistic people can be sensitive to being approached and touched. And martial arts training does wild things to your personal space. You have none and all at the same time. It’s vastly more comfortable to keep everyone at arm’s length because there are so many options to choose from if they get close enough to touch.

An autistic person and their loving spouse can easily create little rituals--social and verbal cues--to be recognizable indicators of desired behavior. Ethari’s line, “My heart goes out with this one,” acts as a code that Runaan has heard over and over. Ethari’s worried, and he’s seeking comfort. So he prompts Runaan and patiently waits for Runaan to respond and initiate the kiss in his own time. And Runaan does so, with the smoothness of long practice. He reaches out, he steps forward, and then he also steps back, breaking the kiss.

Ethari chases the kiss as long as he can, but he does let it go when it’s clear Runaan is backing up. It’s clear that Ethari is an enthusiastic lover, and Runaan knows it. Though the kiss is complete, Runaan takes time to reassure his husband that he loves and trusts him, and he does that by ensuring a long moment of close eye contact and physical touch--both things that can take extra focus for an autistic person to offer. But for Ethari, it’s definitely worth doing.

Eye contact

Eye contact can be stressful for autistic people, and we often avoid it when we’re already uncomfortable. When Runaan takes Rayla into the woods to tell her she’s off the mission for being too soft, he can’t look her in the eye for the first part of their conversation.

He keeps looking in her general direction from the corner of his eye, but he can’t look her in the eye and tell her she failed him. It’s too uncomfortable for him. He has to work up to it for a couple of minutes. And though he does manage to meet her eyes for a short while, he ends the conversation by walking away while he’s still talking. As far as his plans extend at that moment, he’s never going to see her again. He believes he’s marching off to die, and he can’t look at her then, either. .

This look is Runaan’s emotional lockdown. Everything is tense and no feels are getting in or out. Hands totally fisted up.

Time Out

Autistic people can get so overwhelmed that we lose our temper, go nonverbal, or otherwise shut down, and we need to step away from the environment that’s caused the overload. Runaan lost his cool and yelled at Rayla when he learned that she’d lied to him about Marcos.

Losing his temper wasn’t good because he yelled at his daughter. But it was also bad because he lost his professional cool in front of his team. He had a little domestic right there in front of them. When you’re supposed to be in charge, especially in a culture that prides itself on cooperation and perfection, falling apart in public has got to be humiliating.

The next time we see Runaan, he’s taking a break in a tree with his second while the other assassins chill, clearly waiting on him. He might have been here five minutes. He might have been here for an hour or more.

My favorite part about this is how Runaan isn’t alone. His friend has come to sit with him, but silently. He doesn’t ask any questions, he doesn’t try to touch Runaan, he just waits. And eventually, Runaan gets his focus back and talks about the mission.

This moment is also an instance where Runaan needs time to silently calculate until he creates a whole new plan out of nothing. In this case, he’s deciding to set Rayla off the mission for being too childish to complete it properly, rather than executing her or otherwise punishing her as a full-fledged assassin. But first, he needs the time out, because he can’t make that plan until he’s emotionally calm again.

“Enough Brooding, Elf.”

When Viren dumped the coins out and Runaan saw that they were cursed objects that somehow contained his dearest friends, Lain and Tiadrin, he was so overwhelmed, shocked, and upset that he had his only eyeshake of the whole series, and he ended up going nonverbal.

Everything that Runaan had done with regard to Rayla over the last several months turned out to be for nothing. She didn’t need to avenge her parents’ honor because they never ran away. Runaan didn’t need to fight with his husband and go into emotional lockdown. And he, his husband, and Rayla never needed to ghost Lain and Tiadrin in the first place. All that stress and emotional suffering was for nothing. And on top of that, the man who’d taken him prisoner had cursed his friends and imprisoned them this whole time. Runaan just can’t catch a single break. His voice drops into a stressed whisper as he says, “You’re a monster.” And then, judging by the next words Viren says a whole scene later, Runaan doesn’t speak again.

Viren leaves him alone after the coin threat backfires, because he realizes he’s not going to get anything out of Runaan in his condition (and he could recognize this state because Soren is autistic-coded as well!). When Viren returns, he calls what Runaan was doing “brooding.”

Brooding is generally defined as being two things: quiet, and thoughtful. No one broods out loud. But a nonverbal shutdown while chained to a wall is going to look pretty similar. Runaan can’t do anything to physically escape Viren, so his brain just switches off his mouth for a while. He has a lot of bad things to process and he has no room for responding to Viren in his state of extreme emotional distress.

Courtship Rules and Replies

From interviews with Devon and Iain, we’ve learned that Runaan fell in love first, but that he also needed Lain’s prompting to confess his true feelings to Ethari. One way to describe the difference between autistic and allistic people’s thinking patterns is to call one oft them Microsoft and the other Apple. They can generally do the same things, but the ways they get there are always a little different. Because allistic people outnumber autistic people, they have generally framed the society we live in, and we often feel like we must rote-memorize the rules of the world around us instead of using our own system. This does create a strong reliance on rules, and specifically on knowing the rules before proceeding.

If Runaan had never courted anyone before--or if he’d tried to and it had gone poorly because Runaan didn’t fully understand the rules--he would be very, very hesitant to make the first move with Ethari.

Additionally, Runaan was making all his good-faith efforts to show interest in Ethari via the proper channels, but meanwhile, Ethari was skirting the rules. He was interested in Runaan, but he’s a playful elf and was teasing his suitor by pretending not to be interested That Way. This might sound cute, but to an autistic person, such a lack of hoped-for feedback would be intensely exasperating. Runaan was trying to communicate in what possibly felt like a foreign language, and he didn’t feel like he was doing a good job of it. He was probably doubting his metaphorical grammar and accent constantly. Autistic people aren’t always good with reading facial expressions or unfamiliar moods, so he didn’t pick up that Ethari was genuinely interested and just teasing him. He was too uncertain and vulnerable to take the matter to Ethari straight out, but there was an elf he trusted fully: Lain.

Lain could probably see Ethari’s interest when Runaan couldn’t. (And if I had to guess, I’d say Lain’s clue was Ethari’s intense eye contact, which Runaan wouldn’t notice if he was avoiding eye contact due to anxiety!) If Runaan was really so uptight and protective about his feelings, Lain wouldn’t have encouraged him to share them unless he was confident that Ethari would reciprocate. And because Runaan did trust Lain so much, he took that next step, confessed his feelings, and sure enough, Lain was right! Ethari loved him, too.

Free Time

Runaan’s birthday post for 2020 told us that he would prefer to spend the day reading alone, but he considers Rayla’s wishes and lets her decide otherwise. Runaan is more introverted than most and he’s perfectly fine entertaining himself, but Rayla drags him to the adoraburr meadow to spend time together, and because he loves her, Runaan lets her do it. If he were truly uncomfortable, he could put a stop to the whole thing. But he understands that this is how Rayla shows love, and so he lets her show her love through shared companionship, instead of shutting her out and keeping to himself.

Special Interest Sharing

Runaan tells Rayla that there’s an instinct to being an assassin. He has it, and he’s realizing now--only now--that Rayla doesn’t.

Callum’s Spellbook tells us that he began training Rayla to fight when she was just a toddler.

Autistic people often have special interests that appeal far above everything else, and can last a lifetime. For some it’s coding, photography, marathon running, or collecting something. Could be anything, really. Runaan’s special interest is combat. He’s a deeply physical elf who feels very present in his world, and sometimes too present (hence the gloves and the meditation). It’s only natural that he takes the body he’s got and trains it as hard as he can. Being ready for battle is a form of freedom for him. He can run anywhere and fight anything. His intense dedication to his training contributed to his promotions through whatever ranks assassins have, allowing him to contribute meaningfully to his community and his society through his service. Runaan’s special interest has made him uniquely qualified to lead the assassins.

When we meet someone we like, we tend to use our special interest as a form of communication and bonding with them: “I like you, so I will share this thing I love with you.”

Lain and Tiadrin had a precious baby girl, and Runaan and Ethari helped them raise and care for her. And the moment Rayla could move around, Runaan was right there, showing her all his favorite little tricks and techniques, steadying her, patiently demonstrating and explaining every little thing. Stances, physics, trajectory, angle of attack, center of balance, weak spots. All the physical things he knows and loves, he shared with his tiny new friend.

Having a full-grown adult pay her the respect of assuming she could learn all these things, even as a little child, must’ve been so important to Rayla and her self-image. No wonder they bonded so tightly. He truly believed she could do everything he taught her--and he was right.

Mental Effects

Hyperfocus

Autistic people can experience hyperfocus on a new and interesting person or thing. The more ways a person, like say, Ethari, appeals to someone like Runaan, the stronger his focus will be on them. All free time--and time that isn’t free--will immediately be diverted to thinking about and experiencing this delightful new phenomenon.

Runaan is described as putting his duty first, and he takes his job very seriously. But this is also the elf who deliberately damaged his weapons in order to have an excuse to see Ethari and ask him to fix them. To Runaan, the one thing he and Ethari had in common was weapons, so that’s where he started. Runaan gave himself a crash course in Ethari and his interests and ways of expressing himself, and found a way to speak the same language in order to ensure they’d connect. He literally hampered his own ability to do his job in order to find a way to connect with the craftsman.

Once they were a couple, he threw himself into learning How To Boyfriend so he could continue to communicate his feelings to Ethari in an understandable way. It was of the utmost importance to Runaan that he be able to speak a language Ethari could understand, so that he could tell him how much he loved him, and so that Ethari would believe it and trust it.

Small Talk

Runaan learned Ethari as a language, and he learned Rayla’s language as she learned his. He probably speaks Lain and Tiadrin fluently. But everyone has slightly different tics and cues in their speech, and they can all seem like separate languages sometimes. It takes true effort to connect with someone, to truly get to know them and all their little quirks. Runaan simply doesn’t have time to learn every single elf in the Silvergrove as a separate language. He’s learned how to connect with those he values most, and that’s all he feels he needs. Everything else is just small talk--a jumble of things Runaan doesn’t have room to care about beyond his special interest, his duty, and the few elves he’s taken such pains to learn so well.

[unfinished tdp meta]

#tdp headcanons #tdp #runaan #autism #autistic characters #autistic-coded #release the drafts #this is a big one #you can see how many of my headcanons came from this draft #anyway enjoy darlings

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mo-nmage · 6 months

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Small unnamed rayllum drabble

before reading:

– canon compliant for s5's episode “the great bookery”

– currently unfinished and this isn't everything i've written so far, only the part i consider to be slightly more polished (and that i kinda like heh)

– context before reading: zubeia and the others didn't arrive at the bookery when they did in the episode, so rayla, callum and amaya were left to fight banthers for some time. rayllum lost amaya and had to hide behind a broken bookshelf because they were too exhausted to continue fighting banthers

– hopefully you enjoy it!! it's not the final product so i'm still going to fix some stuff here and there lol but i kinda wanted to post it now to see if i should spend some time polishing it more

Both sat tensely in their spot while holding their breath and didn't even dare to move an inch. A sigh of relief escaped both of their lips a few minutes later when they noticed they were finally alone and free from danger, this made them both lower their bodies to properly sit down on the floor.

The pair sat with their shoulders brushing every so often while they worked on recovering their composure and calming down their extremely fast paced hearts because of both the adrenaline and pure fear they experienced a few moments ago.

Stella climbed down from Rayla's shoulder and sat on the floor between them. She was equally as scared as her owner so she didn't dare to chitter or make a small sound.

After everything seemed to calm down Callum whispered “I’m so glad I could find you and a hiding spot, fighting off those banthers was getting exhausting” he looked at her with relief in his eyes but frowned when he saw her closed eyes and pursed lips as if to try and stop any possible sobs that could come out of her.

He placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her but was taken aback by her looking up to the ceiling with eyes that were rapidly filling themselves with tears. Callum could tell that she was doing everything in her power to calm herself down or to not show emotions in a moment like the one they were currently in. He felt as if he had just been sent back to 2 years before when he comforted her in the midnight desert.

“Hey…” he started “It’s okay if you want to let it out, we’re not exactly in the most ideal situation so it’s fine if you feel overwhelmed by things right now.”. He sat straighter to try and make eye contact with her but this was in vain since she had her eyesight glued to the ceiling.

She shuddered and hugged herself before biting her lip anxiously. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and switched her attention to the mage sitting next to her that had the sweetest look of concern in his eyes.

“I’m so… so sorry for everything” she began “We’re in this situation because of me and now you’re dragged into this when it could've been avoided from the start and now I- I can't do what I swore to do 2 years ago.” she hugged herself tighter “I said I would protect you and do everything in my power to ensure your safety but now we’re here, hiding behind a fallen bookshelf while corrupted banthers are looking for us and there's nothing we can do…” she wiped tears that left her eyes and tried her best to continue talking while holding in the sobs that tried to escape her lips.

She felt weak, small and useless. Rayla had left for 2 years to put an end to Viren after having many nightmares where everyone she loved died because of his hands. Seeing them be hurt in her dreams was something, but to see Callum and Amaya be in direct danger in front of her eyes? She couldn't feel worse.

It was as if she were transported to years ago where she blamed herself for her ghosting, everything her parents did and Ethari losing Runaan. The more she thought about it, the more the tears continued to fall down her cheeks. She knew she was putting more blame on herself than she should and that everything happening to them wasn't her fault, but what even is the difference if she's partly involved in it?

Callum was in danger, because of her. She knew he's someone who keeps his promises until his last breath, but it happened because of something related to her. “I would do anything for you” he had said to her when she brought up the coins. Should she be relieved or terrified to the extent he's willing to go for her? Putting his life in danger, because of her?

“We don't know where Amaya is and we don't know if we’ll even make it out of here and-” she was cut off by Callum reaching out to her and enveloping her in a hug, she sat stunned for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

This small action made him hold her tightly, causing her to cry into his shoulder as he rubbed circles in her back. She felt so small in his arms as he hugged her, this realization made him hug her even tighter, if that was even possible.

“I don't know why you're blaming yourself for this, if anything we're like this because of me and being extremely obsessive with research, also dropping some books earlier” he let out a small laugh and pulled back to look at her straight in the eyes, his hands moved to rest on her shoulders. Rayla let her arms fall back and wiped off some tears that were still falling down her cheeks. He looked at her with a look that she couldn't quite understand and took a small breath before continuing to speak.

Callum knows her, he knows her well. He sometimes notices that he knows her better than himself. This means that he knows that she has always been the type of person to blame herself for things that are out of her control or are caused because of a small action done by her, as much as it breaks him to admit it, she does it very often.

He learned that loving her meant admitting and accepting this part of her. He hates seeing her be like this and it breaks his heart every single time, the midnight desert, the storm spire, the drakewood and now the present.

Did this happen during her 2 years away?

He pushed that thought out of his mind, he wouldn't let it cloud his consciousness now out of all times. Right now he had to focus on getting her out of her spiraling thoughts that were taking over her mind, he knew that if the roles were reversed she'd do the exact same thing for him.

“My aunt Amaya will be fine, she's strong and very stubborn, she wouldn't let some banthers take her down that easily. And I'm safe, you're safe, we are safe, okay? We aren't corrupted, so far at least-” Rayla grimaced slightly and he shook his head “Sorry sorry, bad timing for a joke like that, I know, but we're not corrupted okay? I also think we're both too stubborn to be taken down by some banthers in a library out of all places.”

He moved his right arm to wipe a loose tear from her cheek “We will get out of here alive. It doesn't matter if it's by fighting our way out of here or waiting until the sunrise, we are getting out of here no matter what.”

“How are you so sure of this? No, how can you talk so confidently about something where it seems like all the odds are against us?” Rayla asked. He smiled as he looked down and held her hands “A few days ago someone reminded me that I'm the ‘Destiny is a book you write yourself’ guy, so I figured it applies to this situation as well”

Rayla let out a laugh as she realized he was referring to her own words, which were used in a very different context of a conversation obviously, but was still a touching moment when she realized it meant that he remembered them. “See? There you go, you're smiling again! If you asked me, I'd say this is one of my favorite versions of you”

She felt her smile grow and looked down to their hands, she slowly intertwined her fingers with his and smiled wider when he squeezed hers. “How are you so good at this? This whole ‘managing to ground me before I start saying stupid things’ thing”

“Let’s just say that I learned from the best.” he looked up to meet her eyes. “You've helped ground me before so I'll do the same for you. And… I wouldn't consider myself good at it, I just try my best to make you feel better because I know you well enough. I know that right now you feel this way not because of the banthers around us, but because you think you’ve put us in danger.”

He angled his body in a way that is completely facing her and continued “I’ve had my fair share of moments like these too, how do you think I felt after getting possessed by Aaravos back then? I felt all these different emotions but the one that stood out was fear. I thought- no, I knew that he could hurt those I loved because of decisions I took in the past. My loved ones had nothing to do with my decisions yet they're the ones who will suffer and it might happen through my own hands.”

“But it wouldn't be you, if Aaravos happens to take over your body and hurt someone you love it wouldn't be your fault.” Rayla tried to add, she noticed that he started spacing out and his sight slowly focused on a spot in the wooden bookshelf next to them.

“Yeah, but does it even matter? It was Aaravos' actions but the blood will still be on my hands. The magic, the pain and the suffering will come from me.” he breathed out and closed his eyes “I can't let Aaravos do anything to the people I love, I can't let him do anything to my family.”

He opened his eyes and once again looked at her with a look she couldn't quite explain. It looked so melancholic, filled with longing and also so full of love?

Rayla felt her throat tighten once again “Oh…” she drew her hands back quickly and sighed before continuing “I won't let anything happen to you or Ezran, Soren and everyone else you love, okay? I'll make sure of it.” She reached up to gently place one of her hands on his cheek and slowly rubbed her finger on his cheek.

He reached up and placed his hand on top of hers before speaking “And who makes sure nothing happens to you?”

“What do you mean?” she tilted her head as she looked at him with slight confusion. The only thing she could hear was her heartbeat beating in her chest.

“You are also part of my family. 2 years ago when you chose to lose your hand over letting Ezran die was the day I considered you part of my family and you were never not part of it.”

He reached up to place his hand on her cheek this time “I love you, I always have and don't plan on stopping any time soon. If anything does happen, you have to promise me you'll keep yourself safe too. I already felt what it's like to lose you 3 times, and I don't want it to happen again.”

“I-I…” she shakily drew a breath “I love you too” she looked at him with a matching look to the one he has been looking at her with. Both looked at each other with love and endearment before Rayla broke the contact as she breathed out a sigh. His hand stayed on her cheek and he gently kept rubbing his thumb as if to provide her with comfort.

“And I'm so sorry for leaving those 2 years. Back then I thought it was the right thing to do, and genuinely believed I was doing what had to be done. I thought that leaving without you would keep you safe, but I realized that even though I protected you physically I hurt you from the inside.” she slowly met his eyes once again.

“I know nothing can take back what I did, no words can undo actions I made in the past but… I really want to fix things, I want to fix us. I know things can't be the same way they were before but I want to try if you want to go there too.” she sighed softly before continuing “There's so many things I want to say to you, to apologize, to thank you and most importantly, to make sure you know I'm not leaving you again, not now, not ever. If we get out of here that is.”

Callum smiled softly “These past 2 years were tough to say the least, I won't lie and say I wasn't hurt, because I was and I'm glad you recognize that. I overwhelmed myself with knowledge of magic of all kinds to distract myself from feeling anything.”

His eyes softened as he looked at her “When you came back I felt every emotion I forced myself to ignore, I used anger as a way to shield myself before I could sort all my feelings and looking at it now, it wasn't the best way to go but I'm past that now.”

“Letting you go after Viren felt right in Umber Tor. It was your mission, it was something you wanted to do and set your mind to, so I was nobody to stop you. But the second I saw your blade on the floor… I thought I had lost you forever, and I didn't think I could ever feel as helpless and heartbroken as I did at that moment.”

He breathed in to regain his calm “Knowing there was nothing I could do was unexplainable, I had let you go thinking that I was mad at you. When in reality it was the exact opposite, I think seeing your face in my office was the happiest I've been these past 2 years.”

He leaned in slightly to look at her deep in the eyes. From this distance he could take in every detail on her face, but most importantly, her eyes.

Have they always been this stunning?

“Life isn't always in our favor, and I'm starting to believe that sometimes destiny doesn't want us to be together. But no matter what happens, I will always choose you and us above everything else. Loving you means being willing to go through everything with you. I know we're not ready to jump into being together together, but until we get there? I'll hold your hand through everything.”

He moved his hand from her face to her hand and squeezed it tightly yet gently. It seemed as if all the sounds of the banthers nearby had completely muted out, the only thing that mattered at that moment was them. “I know you won't leave again. I do understand why you did what you did, but it doesn't mean I agree with it, but I understand it. I believe that loving someone means accepting every small bit of them whether you agree with it or not, you having a different perspective on protection doesn't erase everything I feel for you and it never will.”

“I'm willing to do everything for you. And that means accepting every part of you and standing by you through anything.” He sat up and placed a kiss on her forehead.

#mo-nmage tdp drabbles #tdp #rayllum #the dragon prince #s5 #i had to do a forehead kiss because the rayllum forehead kiss is a hc i've held onto for so long #i love angsty conversations lmao #rayllum talking about their feelings and stuff..

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lily-lilou · 9 months

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Hi everyone! Long time no see!!! I haven't come here in Eons, but what better motivation that earlier release of S5!!!

So! My thought on 5 without spoiler and out of context?

We don't see a lot of Aaravos but almost everything he says has a double entendre. He knows it, you know it. The writers know it. EVERYONE KNOWS IT!

Terry is a dork.

Callum is a dork.

Everyone is a dork!

Amaya and Janai: I'll jump into danger without hesitation and make difficult decision for my people. What? Picking flower? Impossible, I can't!

Also that scene with Zubeia who goes full Batman-dramatic-entrance - It was amazing, it was cliche (because hey! No risk to squash the little humans?) and no, I won't give context!

Bloodmoon Huntress. Seriously!

PIRATE KING!!!!

trust issues

control issues

daddy issues

lot, lot of issues! Especially for Viren

Worst of ALL THINGS: that 5 seconds of Ethari content in the credits. Yes, you heard me! This is so cruel :’(

But also, my thought/comments on S5 WITH spoiler (just after seeing the whole thing)?

my old theory about the first time using dark magic, the person might have a choice to do through that weird dream?? Check, apparently (Claudia: "it only happens when you use dark magic for the first time!")

BABY SOREN AND BABY CLAUDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 4th coin was: Viren’s master! hehehehe! ... eh? I didn’t see that one coming! (and apparently Rayla... let it rot on the dungeon floor?... maybe not?

Also: Viren + twin Peaks. That's all, I won't comment more on this.

The Jailer! Please. I want to know more. She was human? what kind of magic did she use? who is she? Where does she come from? I WANNA KNOW!!! EXPLAIN!!!

theory? Yeah, she’s related to the crow lord!

Ocean arch dragon? 3 minutes on screen, but yes, I already love you!

Karim is stupid

Queen Aditi!

Sol Regem: I want context. "I lost my hope long before I lost my sight"? CONTEXT PLEASE! Also I repeat: KARIM IS STUPID!!!! AND WHAT WITH THAT PRIEST!!!

You know Callum, you could have just taken the book with you from the start. or just come back the next day... >_>’

Also, speaking of corruption: the mushroom mage. Great, but... could he have helped with Lux Aurea? Or something?... no? Just me?

who cares, I already love him =D

Who's that dude in front of Aaravos's statue? You know, the other statue LOTR like? Is he also a startouch? Seems like it. Who is he?

Next season objectif? Saving the coins with magic cristals because imediate crisis averted (pfff you bet!). And hey! What a coincidence, magic sword to kill a startouch in the same package!

That weird old skywing with bandaged eyes in the credits. Pretty sure he’s in that tower with the sword

Bait + Baitlings: yes!

PIRATE KING!!!! (a crafty jerk, but we like him anyway - I do hope he’s not dead). Also, Villads and Nyx.

Callum: gets punched in the face a few times, read a poem, get a weird advice from an old hermit-crab-lady and bingo! Ocean arcanum reached + bonus speech about control issues! (or did I miss a few things?)

Everyone has been shocked to hear Aaravos saying "our child" to Viren (the viraavos shipers will implode, with that one) - anyone notices it means Claudia and Soren have a half-sibling, now?

will Viren survive? Will he reach an arcanum? ohohohoh! I wanna see! (Stupid theory: Aaravos is schocked his pawn isn’t moving according to plan, but will test his resolve before actually saving him... of doing it through Claudia)

last thing: squid Claudia. yes! you heard me!

Pfioooo! What a ride! That’s all for now. I’m gonna digest all of this.

#the dragon prince #TDP #Viren #Aaravos #Season 5 #Spoilers #Season 5 spoilers #it was amazing #in my eyes far better than s4 #And I'm saying that knowing ETHARI WASN'T IN IT!!!#THE UNFAIRNESS!!!

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fandomsandflyingstingrays · 2 years

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Happy birthday, Rayla!! I couldn’t let the day go by without writing something, since we’re all very worried about her, so have a one-shot about some other people who are just as worried.

Ethari puts more effort into the cake than he has into any of his meals for more than a year. He crushes the berries to nothing but juice and stirs the batter until it’s completely smooth, bakes it to perfection and frosts it flawlessly. It might be the most perfect confection he’s ever made.

He sets the table just as carefully: three plates, three forks, three glasses, all shining and straight at their places. And the whole time, his mind is detached from his body. He doesn’t think about what he’s doing; just knows that he has to. It’s only when he sits down, when he feels the true, crushing weight of the empty chairs, that he begins to question himself.

How did he think this would turn out? What comfort did he think he would get from setting his table for a shadow and a ghost? Did he think he would eat Rayla’s cake himself, piece by piece, until there was nothing left for her but crumbs? Did he think decorating the room and making her favorite dessert would make her come home?

He shoves the cake away and puts his face in his hands, fighting the tears that bite at the corners of his eyes. He was so hopeful when the Silvergrove received word of the battle of the Storm Spire, when they realized Rayla’s role in reuniting the dragon prince with the queen and undid her banishment. It didn’t change the hungry, all-consuming emptiness he felt every day without Runaan— but he thought, at least, it would help to have another voice in the house.

But Rayla never came home, and two weeks before her sixteenth birthday, he received word that she’d dropped off the face of the continent entirely. And now, more than a year with no word, no—

Ethari freezes.

A knock. So faint he could almost believe he imagined it.

No word, he thinks again, but the words feel like a lie now, and he waits, breathless—

There. He hears it. Someone is rapping at his door.

Rayla—

His chair clatters to the ground as he shoves it back, sprinting out of the dining room and through his workshop, throwing open the doors to reveal—

Not Rayla.

But he’s so startled that for a moment he forgets to be disappointed.

The boy looks different than he remembers. His once-flat brown hair sits in ruffled spikes across his head, which no longer holds the twigs he used to imitate horns. He wears the fine fabric of a noble, no leaves stuffed into his coat. Ethari knows who he is now, and for the life of him, he can’t fathom why the boy is on his doorstep.

“Hi,” the boy says with a small wave. “I’m Callum…”

The High Mage, Ethari thinks, the prince of Katolis, the brother of King Ezran—

“…Rayla’s boyfriend.”

The words freeze Ethari in place, and he thinks over his brief interaction with the boy more than a year ago. How close he stood by Rayla as they looked into the heartbloom pond. How she leaned against him as they road away. It makes sense, he thinks. Rayla always forged her own path. How could she fall for anyone less than a human prince?

Callum runs his fingers through his hair, clearly nervous. “May I come in?” He asks.

Ethari nods, still too shocked to offer anything more than basic courtesy. “Of course.” He steps aside so that Callum can enter the workspace and, without thinking, leads him into the dining room. Only when he glances back at the prince does he realize how it must look; three empty places at a house occupied by one and a single, uneaten cake.

“I’m assuming you know it’s her birthday,” he says.

Callum nods. “We actually did the same thing last year at the castle,” he says. “My brother had our baker made a cake, and Ezran and I bought gifts, just in case.”

Ethari relaxes. Between the anecdote and the pain in Callum’s eyes when he tells it, he can see how much he loves Rayla, how much he misses her. It’s a relief to be with someone else who still feels her absence so keenly.

“I suppose that sort of gesture makes more sense in a castle,” he says. “I’m not entirely sure what I was planning to do after I made the cake, I just knew I needed to.”

“Moonberry, right? Her favorite.”

“That’s right.” Ethari gives him a small smile. “Would you like some?”

Callum nods, settling into a chair, and Ethari cuts them both a slice. He expects the cake to be cloying on his tongue, but it slides down easily. It’s the act of sharing it with someone else, he figures. It turns it from the futile gesture of a grieving man to a celebration of a missing daughter. It makes it feel like it has a point.

Callum’s eyes widen as he takes a bite. “This is amazing. Do you want to come back to the castle with me? You could easily make royal chef.”

Ethari chuckles, appreciating the clear effort he’s making. “Thank you, but no. Humans eat too much bread for my taste. No challenge at all to make.”

“Rayla would agree with you there.”

They’re both silent for a moment, the clicking of their forks against their plates the only sound in the room, before Ethari sorts out his thoughts enough to speak again.

“Why aren’t you at the palace?”

Callum sighs heavily, gazing at his plate. “It was just… too hard. My brother understands, but everyone else… they keep talking about how I need to move on. I knew if I was there when today came, they would all try to distract me, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to be somewhere I could feel close to her.”

Ethari nods. “I wish I had more to offer you. But I haven’t heard anything from her.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Callum replies, his expression dim. “Ezran has contacts in every part of the continent looking for her. If she resurfaced, we would have heard. I just… I just wish I could know she was at least okay.” His voice breaks on the last word as he hammers his fist into the table.

Ethari draws a breath. “Maybe I do have something to offer.”

Callum’s eyes fly to him, surprise replacing his devastation.

Ethari pushes back his empty plate and stands. “Come with me.”

He leads Callum down the side of the house to where the pond stands, serene and beautiful as ever. As soon as Callum catches sight of it, he breaks into a run. Clearly Rayla told him the significance of the pool.

“All this time— I never thought to check—“ Callum braces himself on the rim and leans over. “Rayla’s flower,” he whispers.

Ethari comes to stand beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “She’s still alive.”

The boy doubles over, almost falling into the pond in his relief. He takes huge gulps of breath, as if he’s just finished a marathon, and several moments pass before he can speak.

“Thank you.” He says, and when he turns to Ethari he can see that his eyes are wet. “Thank you so much.” “Thank you.” Ethari spreads his arms to indicate the pool. “Thanks to you and Rayla, I haven’t had to enchant a single bloom since she left.”

He respected Runaan’s work, but it didn’t mean he didn’t resent every time Runaan left home, all the hours he spent watching and waiting beside the pool with his heart in his throat. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t resent the cycle of war that bred Runaan’s work in the first place— that took Runaan from him, and took Callum’s guardian from him. The cycle that Callum is breaking before his eyes because of his clear devotion to an elven girl.

“I’m glad.” Callum lets out the words in a breath, and when he draws another one, it’s short and determined. “I will find her,” he promises. “I’ll never stop searching.”

Ethari squeezes his shoulder. “I believe that. When you find her, tell her I haven’t stopped waiting for her.”

“I will.”

Callum turns to set off down the path, the straight arrow of his back and the set of his shoulders so different from the uncertainty that plagued him when he walked through Ethari’s door. It’s the same steely determination that lived in Rayla, and in Runaan, even if it inhabits a gentler vessel.

“Callum,” Ethari calls, and the boy stops.

“Come by next year. Wherever Rayla is, you’ll have a place here.”

Callum hesitates, and Ethari wonders if he’s finally overstepped— if he’s finally crossed the silent line Runaan drew between them all that time ago. But when Callum turns, he’s smiling, the first genuine smile Ethari has seen from him, and Ethari realizes he shouldn’t have been surprised. Callum crossed that line for Rayla, after all. Of course this boy, so much wiser than his predecessors, so much more hopeful, would cross it for her family too.

“Thank you,” he says. “I will.” He turns and begins his descent into the village, and Ethari leans against the pool. The ache will come again, he knows— but for this moment, he basks in the sweet relief of the smallest ember of hope.

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince spoilers #tdp spoilers #tdp callum #tdp rayla #tdp ethari #tdp runaan #rayllum #ruthari #tdp #ray rambles #ray writes

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mandaloriandragontrainer · 2 years

Text

Callum proposes in the autumn of his 18th year. It takes Rayla a moment to realize what he’s doing when he drops to his knees before her, and when she does she cries like a child, throwing herself into his arms. He carefully slides a beautiful silver cuff, crafted specially by Ethari on his request, over her left horn and joyfully kisses her. Laughing, she pulls him against her and guides him through the Moonshadow Engagement Dance (after all, she wouldn’t really feel engaged without it), and the two whirl through the falling leaves in each other’s arms, cheeks red and warm despite the chilly breeze.

Opeli asks them the following day if they have an idea about a date. Invitations will have to be sent to the other four kingdoms and throughout Xadia, of course, and they should be given some time to plan their journeys. The thought had not yet crossed Rayla’s mind, but Callum answers in an instant.

“July 15th.”

Rayla blinks. “Callum, darlin,’ that’s your birthday.”

“I know,” he smiles at her so brightly she swears it makes the room lighter. “And it’s the day I wanna marry you.”

“But, Callum… that’s your day. It’s ‘sposed tae be about you.”

“But it’s not, Rayla. Not anymore. It’s always going to be about you.” He gently takes her hand and kisses it. “And I don’t want it to be the day I lost you anymore. I want it to be the day we promise to love each other forever, a day to remind us that we’ll always be together.”

Rayla feels tears sting at her eyes. “Oh, Callum…”

“Please don’t cry, Rayla…” he smiles again, with so much love that it makes her heart physically ache. “There’s no better birthday gift you could give me.”

She slips a hand behind his neck, softly leaning him into a kiss, long and sweet and filled with promise, only pulling away when she remembers Opeli is still standing there.

“Oh, yes… please tell the Assistant Crow Lord tae send out the word,” Rayla squeezes her fiancé’s hand, gazing at him in adoration. “We’re gettin’ married on July 15th.”

They wed on a clear summer evening, the first of Callum’s 19th year. Beneath the silver light of the moon filtering in the grand window of the honeymoon suite, Callum revives a long-abandoned tradition. He sketches his family.

His baby brother, now taller than he is, a crown upon his brow and a grouchy glow-toad in his arms. His mother and stepfather, faded but still ever-present, watching with beaming pride. And for the first time, tucked at his heart, his beautiful, radiant bride.

It’s the happiest birthday of his life.

#give my boy a happy birthday again #the dragon prince #callum #rayla #rayllum #callum x rayla #tdp fanfic #mando writes #mando ramblo

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random-fandom-ramble · 11 months

Text

Who is Rayla talking to?

We’ve all been blessed with the first peeks at season 5 of the dragon prince, which included this above pic right here.

Now what do we see?

Raylas kneeling in front of something or someone and smirking (with Stella matching her cuddle mamas look).

Zym is giving this something or someone the stink-eye.

Callum is looking at Ezran with a look that is doubtful at best, and Ezran is matching that look with even more doubtfulness.

And Soren doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction to whatever is happening here.

What does this tell us?

What this shows us is that whatever or WHOever Rayla is talking to is

Distrusted by Callum, enough so that Ezran distrusts them as well

Disliked by Zym, enough so that he’s giving this person the stinky eye instead of looking elsewhere

Unknown to Soren, which is why he’s looking to Callum and Ezran for a reaction

Someone Rayla would enjoy giving some sass to

Who do we know that matches all of these criteria? It’s someone that at least Rayla, Callum and Zym have met before, so likely a character from season two or three.

Another clue to who it might be is to see where they are

It’s cloudy, that’s for sure.

In the background, right in between Callum and Ezrans heads, you can see some wooden construct with a rope on it.

Now, I’ve heard some people refer to this as a gallows, and that they must be interrupting an execution or something. But if you look real closely, you are just about able to see not just a rope, but a wheel attached to the wooden construct.

So a rope on a wheel on a wooden construct, with a grey cloudy sky as a backdrop. You know where you’d have a grey cloudy sky?

At sea, during a storm

We already know that they must be going to sea this season, because another one of the sneak peek images shows Ezran in front of a stormy ocean while it rains, and we saw them on a boat in the first teaser poster for season 5

But there was something else that we saw on that poster. And that was

Nyx, the criminal skywing elf from season 3

For those who don’t remember:

Nyx was the elf who intercepted the Lighthawk arrow with the letter that Ethari sent to the dragon queen, to inform her of Zym being alive.

She’s also the one who abandoned Callum and Rayla at the midnight dessert oasis, which is probably a good reason why Callum would distrust her

She also tried to kidnap Zym, which would make it likely that Zym dislikes her

And yet, after causing all that trouble (which includes the part where she’s basically the reason one of Raylas mounts, and Runaans dog pet moonstrider DIED), Rayla saves her life, which probably means Rayla might feel entitled to being a bit sassy towards Nyx.

And since this all happened while Rayla, Callum and Zym were in Xadia, neither Ezran nor Soren have met her before.

So in conclusion, seeing as that Nyx will be with them anyways (poster), and she’s the only one who fits to all the criteria named above, it seems as though she is the one Rayla is smiling to in that sneak peek image.

Now, why is she talking to Nyx? Might it be because she’s telling Nyx to join the dragon gang on their next endeavor? (In return for having saved her life from the soulfang serpents in season 3)? And if so, why Nyx of all people?

Alas, that may be a theory for another day ;)

But one thing’s for certain: Nyx is making a comeback in season 5, and I for one cannot wait to see her again!

✨✨Thanks for reading ✨✨✨

And as always, feel free to share your thoughts in the reblogs or comments below

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp theory #tdp rayla #rayla #tdp nyx #tdp theorist #tdp theorists #tdp headcanons #tdp s5 #tdp callum #tdp zym

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raayllum · 6 months

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Do you truly believe that Callum is the only best thing that's happened to Rayla?

I don't think Callum is the only good thing in Rayla's life, but I do absolutely agree with her sentiment that he's the best thing she's ever had / that's ever happened to her. This is for a few reasons (mostly only talking about arc 1 as that's the time she's referring to, but I'm also gonna be touching on S4/S5):

In Bloodmoon Huntress, the long time headcanon of post-s1-s3 fans that Rayla was a relatively friendless / lonely child was confirmed. This makes Callum and Ezran her first real friends, and while she's more likely to lean on Ezran for support (in arc 1 at least) initially than Callum is, Callum is still more so her peer (due to being similar ages) and is her first and main Best Friend. For that alone, I'd buy her statement.

Then there's the other ways Callum has changed her life. He is:

The person who inspired her to actively work towards breaking the cycle past the point of 1) believing it was right for Zym to return home and 2) to make up for her parents' perceived/failures mistakes, as seen most prominently in 2x07. This is something she is willing to die for, and while Rayla is (unfortunately) willing to die for many things, this is the cause she believes in and feels centred in: "Every fibre in my body is telling me that [leaving her] is wrong [...] It doesn't just feel like the right thing to do, it feels like the right thing for me to do. It's where I'm meant to be." ("Look at yourself, Rayla. Who are you? What do you stand for? Once you know that, you'll end up where you were always meant to be.") Someone giving you a much more positive worldview that aligns with your values and sense of rightness is certainly a big deal (and a positive one, particularly for someone who's struggled with hesitating over what feels right for so much of her life.

Callum is the first person in Rayla's life to love her wholly unconditionally. While Rayla is deeply loved by all four of her parents, and I've gone on record saying that Tiadrin and Lain didn't do anything wrong, arc 1 sees Rayla brush up against the lingering cultural hangups and choices that make her family's love for her feel if not outright be somewhat conditional. She is shunned by her village (condition 1), while Ethari says goodbye to her and embraces her he still turned his back on her (condition 2), Runaan was heavily disappointed in her betrayal of him/the mission and left her (condition 3), and her parents put their duty over her / being her parents (condition 4). Callum says fuck all that shit. He refuses to leave even when she's pushing him away. He loves and admires her for the exact things she's been punished or shamed for ("You have true courage and a big heart" -> "Even when her own people might misunderstand and turn against her"). He says she doesn't deserve to be Ghosted, she doesn't deserve to be unjustly turned away for a mistake she didn't even make, he says and shows that it's okay for her to be scared and that she can (and should) rely on him.

This is even more intrinsically tethered given Chasing Shadows and the canon fact that Callum and his love for her 1) kept her from throwing what little remained of her life away entirely and 2) literally kept her from forsaking her name/identity/everything else that makes her Rayla and 3) gave her the courage to try and come home to somewhere she'd be safe and loved, even if she knew/felt she didn't deserve to. There's an underlying belief in Chasing Shadows we see carry through into S4 where Rayla truly believes Callum can do and overcome just about anything, and if he can do the impossible, then maybe so can she:

She backed away, close to the pit’s edge. The crowd shouted and screamed at her ears, their spittle landing on her neck. It rattled her. The human kicked dirt at her, and Rayla scraped at her eyes, angry—infuriated, even. Humans were frustrating. Humans were clever. Humans could do anything, they could be anything, they could take their own fates and change them—

It is for all these reasons that Rayla clearly considers him to be her family and the love of her life. She gives him the pendant (from Ethari to Runaan, then Ethari to her, and then her to Callum) as a symbol of both familial and romantic love. He seems to be the first person she's had serious feelings for and certainly the first person she's fallen in love with.

She was originally going to confess first (2x09) back when she clearly didn't have any thought or inclination he'd ever love her back, either. Then he did, and it elevated an already very steady and safe relationship to one that was good natured, even more incredibly supportive, and wholly unconditional.

And given how he supports and loves her in S4 and S5, I am even more inclined to think she's Right <3

#rayllum #tdp rayla #pining!rayla #arc 1 #arc 2 #multi

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yurayuramiharin · 10 months

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Ruthari #7 for the prompt? 👀

Ship + kiss writing challenge

7: A kiss to shut up

When the two elves were heading back to their sleepy village, the horizon was glowing with pinks and violets of the incoming sunrise. They’d been out all night, watching Moonstriders on a secluded clearing by the waterfall and strolling through the Moonshadow Forest trembling with the magic of the Spring Equinox.

Ever since they’d left the clearing, Ethari was silent, so silent that Runaan, the least talkative elf in Silvergrove, was starting to panic and making up the worst scenarios. He’d asked the young metalsmith for a hangout a few days ago when Lain had literally pushed him inside the forge and demanded that he finally asked Ethari out and quit his endless pining. Runaan would never dare to call it a date, let alone say it out loud. And certainly, he would never expect that Ethari would agree to hang out with him.

In his head, Runaan thought that Ethari hated their hangout and would rather keep quiet about it than make Runaan sad. He should’ve planned this hangout better. Shadows, he didn’t even know if Ethari liked Moonstriders in the first place! Runaan should’ve known that not everyone was obsessed with Moonstriders as much as he was because regular elves were not necessarily interested in details of their behavior, when and where they migrated during the year, or how their age could be estimated by the slight differences in the color of their feathers–

“Runaan?” Ethari’s gentle voice struck him out of his thoughts. He rapidly turned his head towards the metalsmith, afraid that on top of everything, he'd upset Ethari by ignoring him. Instead, he saw Ethari smiling at him in a way that made his heart skip a beat every time.

"I was asking if you think they're going to be there next week too?" Ethari asked, continuing to walk leisurely next to Runaan.

"Y-yes, they should be there until mid-May," Runaan mumbled in response.

"I see," Ethari nodded before the silence fell between them again. Runaan couldn't bear it. He stopped and so did the other elf.

"Ethari, I… Please don't have to pretend you're enjoying this," Runaan stuttered. "I know you agreed to come only because you're too kind to refuse,"

"Runaan, I'm not pretending!" Ethari instantly protested but Runaan was too caught up in spilling his thoughts.

"I know that I can be annoying, t-that I don't usually talk, and when I do I mostly talk about Moonstriders or combat. And I know I don't always get the jokes you and Lain tell me,"

"Runaan…"

"A-and even though I know you're the kindest elf in Silvergrove, I didn't expect you to agree to come to hang out with me like that, a-and you asked me if I know someplace special and this was the only— mmh!" Runaan was not allowed to finish his sentence when Ethari cradled his face in his hands and pressed their lips together.

Just like that, the whole world around them went still. Runaan froze, too stunned to react when Ethari's soft lips kept moving against his own, and it felt nowhere near the way Runaan had pictured it in countless of his dreams. It felt even better, warmer, and sweeter than Moonberry Surprise and Runaan wished their kiss would never end.

In the end, Ethari pulled away from him but didn't let go of Runaan's face. He was looking at him with those deep brown orbs and Runaan had to remind himself how to breathe again when Ethari chuckled and shook his head with eyes closed.

"Now that you finally shut up, listen to me," Ethari laughed, slowly stroking Runaan's cheekbones with his thumbs. "I loved our hangout, every second of it. I love when you tell me about Moonstriders, how your eyes light up whenever you do," Ethari spoke and Runaan could swear that if it wasn't for the rising sun blinding him from behind the trees, he would think that he'd eaten poisonous berries and was now hallucinating.

"You're not annoying in the slightest. Even when you're not talking, you're a wonderful listener and it made me so happy when you invited me to come with you tonight. It was amazing and I was hoping we could do that again."

"E-eee…" Runaan tried to say something but it seemed like Ethari had temporarily taken away his ability to form coherent sentences. Ethari was practically grinning with delight now, his smile brighter than the sun before his eyes.

"I take it as a 'yes' " Ethari whispered before he pulled Runaan's face closer once again, sealing their arrangement with a kiss.

#ruthari #neurodivergent runaan #miharin writes

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thedizzydinosaur · 1 month

Text

March 24 Dance: hands, lead/follow, pattens.

"Are you sure about this?" Ethari scanned the pattens that the young man had pushed into his hands, scanning over the simple, but elegant design of the horn cuffs, render in seay to follow but still exquisite details.

"Very." The young skywing elf wrung his hands in what had to be nervousness. "She's my world, and, well, I.. "

"You want the best for her." Ethari smiled softly at the boy, and oh, he was just a boy, no older than 18 perhaps?"

Ah, he was that young once, dancing around his feelings over a certain someone who was currently chasing some guard recruits around the forest.

"So, do you want to get started on this? My schedule is pretty clear this afternoon, and i doubt you want to keep your sweet heart waiting..."

The boy, as it turned out, was a pretty good student.

He was attentive, absorbing every bit of information Ethari sent his way as he led him step by step through the prosses of silver-smithing.

First was heating up the bar of metal slightly, then feeding it through a set of rollers to flatten it to a nice even thickness

"Now we need to trace the patten on with a scribe"

The two halves of the first cuff were traced out onto the metal, along with some careful markings to show where the raised, petal like patten was to be added, before ethari took over again to cut the sides out.

"It's not that I don't trust you, lad, but the shears are sharp, and even I've nearly lost fingers to them."

Ethari didn't miss the way the boy's hands almost instantly vanished into his coat pockets when he said that.

Funny thing was that the boys hands seemed to have a fuzzy edge to them. Like they were slightly behind frosted glass.

Ethari shook his head.

A trick of the light.

They worked right into the evening, resulting in the completion of rough shapes of two horn cuffs, ready for refinement and decorating, before Ethari had to down tools to start dinner

The boy, who's name seemed to consistently slip Ethari’s mind, was staying just outside the village, as the inn was full.

Ethari did extend the offer to stay over in the guest room but was met with a polite refusal.

He left for his camp just before Runaan returned, cussing out a particularly mouthy recruit who had the gall to call him old.

"You are only 42, love," Ethari hummed, pulling his beloved, grumpy husband into a slow dance in the kitchen as they waited for dinner to finish cooking. "Hardly old."

"40." Runaan corrected with a grumble.

"I refuse to let you miss out on two years, darling~" Ethari crooned, lifting Runaan up into a twirl.

"And you said that you had nothing scheduled this afternoon." Runaan was smiling now. "So who was your supprise walk in?"

"One half of a pair of lovers" Ethari replied. "Looking for the perfect gift for his heart"

"Oh?"

"Yes. A pair of custom horn cuffs."

The timer at the stove dinged, and the two of them broke from there dance.

The skwing lad was back bright and early the next day.

Callum, as he reminded Ethari with a wry smile, picked up the art of engraving quickly, and it did not take long for him to start gushing over the young lady who held his heart in her hands.

Bold, sweet, brave, tender and sassy. You'd think she'd been sent by the moon herself the way callum spoke of her.

He was so in love, and that love was translated into each and every line engraved as the day went on.

Ethari had to wonder if the protective brambles carefully coiled under the moon lilies and roses meant anything in particular.

There was muttering in the village that a ghost had been spotted slinking around the village boundaries.

No one would mention the name of exactly who it was, but the village guards were getting twitchy, which was never a good sign.

Callum assured Ethari that he'd be OK as he slipped away into the growing twilight, precious cargo stashed away safely in his bag.

Ethari still watched on from his workshops doors, eyes following the skywing picked his way through the market and out past the boundary stones, just to make sure.

Callum dipped though the underbrush, keeping one ear out for the smallest sounds of village guards, assassins (trainee or otherwise) or anyone else that might try to follow him as he left the village, and made for the meeting point.

The adoraburr meadow was dark as dusk settled in, aside for the lightning bugs that drifted on the breeze.

With a sigh, he finally let the illustration he'd been living under for the last couple of days.

He flexed all 5 fingers as his skin regained its pink hew and the horns melted away into moon dust.

"Say, stranger, have I seen you before"

Callum sighed before turning and smiling up at the beautiful moon nymph that was sitting on a nearby bolder, the cheesiest smile in existence on her face.

"I'm not sure if I've ever met a goddess before." Callum zinged back as Rayla hopped down from her perch to greet him with a hug.

"I got you something." Callum returned the hug in full force.

"And I got you something ~"

"Dare I ask?"

Rayla grinned, and scooted out of his grip.

"Not telling~" she sung "not yet, at least"

Callum rolled his eyes just a little. He grabbed his bag, and started to follow her out of the meadow.

"Your uncles are doing well, by the way." He told her as they disappeared into the treeline. "But I noticed a 'no unattended Jr assassins' sign next to the door?

"Oh... yeh.... that might be my fault...."

#the dragon prince #tdpprism2024

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