#if ezran is faced with the need to take a life to keep peace

[withdenim]

Sorry for the stupid line callback he was just like. Specifically requested or something. Idk .

#Corvus #Corvus tdp #tdp #the dragon prince #aaravos #aaravos tdp #mystery of aaravos #my art #the nova blade #I know narratively Soren’s probably gonna have it bc aaravos was the catalyst for his family’s shit #even though it was their faults in the first place #but like yk what I mean #STILL THOUGH. #if ezran is faced with the need to take a life to keep peace #I think Corvus should offer to take that burden from him yk #maybe I made up how much they care about each other in my head #but in my head oh boy it’s interesting #btw the constellation behind them is the one in the intro with the cello

[beautifulterriblequeen]

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 3: I See Fire

part 2

Part 3

Viren: Well how do you suggest we get him out?

Claudia: *grins, brandishes marshmallow on toasting fork* Unharmed is just another kind of harmed

Viren: Claudia no

Claudia: Claudia YES

I See Fire

Angst rating: 9/10

Viren is clever enough not to take the Silvergrove on alone, no matter how badly he wants Ethari to make him a magic key. Aaravos could be cooking in that pod for a while longer, but Viren still has a trustworthy and badass ally at his side.

Oh yeah, it's Claudia Time again!

Claudia is a powerful and imaginative dark mage, and she has the tainted Sun staff. So, you're the magefam, and you've made it to Xadia, to the edges of the Moonshadow Forest. And all you need to do to get the power of your dreams is to threaten one soft craftsman. But how do you find one specific Moonshadow elf in a hidden Moonshadow village somewhere in the middle of a giant spooky magical forest?

You burn him out.

Credit once again to@random-fandom-ramble for reminding me of this forest fire headcanon, because it fits so well. and so I don't get all the blame for this one, lol

Because see, that's not ordinary fire. Oh, no. That's dark magic fire. We've seen that before. It leaves permanent scars. Remember Sol Regem's eyes?

That's going to be the landscape when Claudia's fire gets through with the Moonshadow elves' home. Where I live on the US West Coast, they name forest fires, and if they combine, they get called complexes. So maybe we can name this fire the Dark Tragedy Complex? Because I do have to wonder... you could start a dark magic forest fire easily with a tainted Sun staff, but how do you put it out?

Two things are going to happen if these events should unfold. One is angsty. The other is also angsty but then amazing.

Firstly, Viren is going to get what he wants. He'll find Ethari, whose tree burned down :(. He'll show him the coins, and he'll offer a trade. Build what he wants and make it work, and Ethari can have his family back, uncoined and free.

And Ethari will say yes.

He'll say yes no matter what anyone else tries to persuade him to do, and I hope they do try, because see: Ethari has to make it look good. He has to make it look like he's all in on Viren's plan, to Viren. Even if that means turning his back on his people in their time of greatest need.

Secondly, the Moonshadow elves are going to be collectively homeless and bereft, hungry, injured, terrified, angry. They will have nowhere to go. They will be a people without a home. And no one else in Xadia will help them. Maybe they're too terrified to hide Ethari's people in case doing so brings Viren down on them, too. We've seen how ordinary elves flee in terror from dark magic. Maybe they're all fighting other issues, too. Viren knows all about stretching resources too far during times of crisis. Whatever the case, there will be no welcome anywhere in Xadia for the Moonshadow elves of the Moonshadow Forest.

But here's where it gets amazing. Because one hand will reach out. One small hand, from across the border. Good King Ezran will stand up on the seat of his throne and say, "You can stay here. I have forests. You're tired, you're hungry. You need medicine. Let me help."

And I'm gonna cry like a little baby.

How many cycles does this break, how many circles does it complete? Moonshadow elves used to live in Katolis before the border was created. When humans were under threat of total annihilation, the Moonshadow leader's daughter spoke up and asked for mercy. That mercy came in the form of land reassignment, and the Moonshadow elves had to give up their ancestral home, their Nexus, and travel east across the new Border. But that mercy got paired with justice, and the life-loving Moon Druids probably had to swear some kind of blood promise to keep an eye on the humans forevermore, and to kill any individuals who got out of hand, as if their sins were the Moonshadows' responsibility now.

That's got to breed a little resentment, a little superiority. "Look what we sacrificed for you, and this is how you act. Ungrateful." And maybe that was partially Luna Tenebris's goal: to hold to her vision of justice, she had to make the elves who shared her arcanum feel a little resentment. Moonshadows love life, but we can't have them being too soft to keep Xadia safe from dark mages, now, can we? I will never stop cackling over dragon politics okay, never

But the Moonshadow elves never figured on King Ezran. A soft boy who refused to let his father's assassination harden his heart, because every life is genuinely important to him. I've seen headcanons for Ezran getting the Sun, Earth, Ocean, and Stars arcanum. How about Moon, too? Because this is very Ethari of him, and if these stories of Viren's plan and the Moonshadow elves' displacement were actually to happen in tandem, the contrast between Ezran's soft choice and Ethari's hard one would be mindblowing.

Ezran completes the circle by inviting the Moonshadow elves to return to Katolis, to their ancestral home. They left long ago, paying the price for an act of mercy, but they were welcomed back by the mercy of humans, repaid after a thousand years, repaid in the face of tragedy. Tragedy on all sides. Tragedy Ezran wants to stop from happening, by being brave and caring and soft, and by being the first to break this thousand-year cycle between Katolis and the Moonshadow elves.

Rayla is his friend. And these are her people. It won't matter what they've done, only that they need help in a time of great desperation. And of course he'll help them. He's Ezran, and he's Katolis's greatest treasure.

Oh, what's that you say? Inviting the Moonshadow elves to settle in Katolis again would make it easier for Rayla to live with Callum in the future? Oh gosh, how about that? What a deal. *smug matchmaker noises*

And once the Moonshadow elves understand that they're safe and begin to trust Ezran--which could happen very quickly, because saving a Moonshadow elf's life when you didn't need to is a really fast way to prove you're trustworthy--maybe Ezran will be encouraged to take the next step toward peace, and eventually other elves and dragons will come to meet together to talk it over. And Ez will offer them jelly tarts, which they will love.

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem. What if we are gifted with Iron Man Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost- almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone: Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would know that Ethari would have to stay close to Viren of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. And making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Runaan and Ethari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future, or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What beating Viren looks like, I can't guess yet. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in thwarting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

part 4

#tdp #tdp theory #tdp speculation #tdp parallels #viren #ethari #laindrin #runaan #moonshadow elves #moonshadow assassins #hopepunk #tdp angst #heavy angst #tw trauma

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

The Long Game Ch 1

Instead of striking a few months later, the Moonshadow assassins guild decides to play the long game. Rayla will pose as a human and kill Harrow and Ezran when the time is right all while gaining valuable information. One problem: Rayla falls in love with Callum and doesn't think Ezran deserves to die for a crime he doesn't he even know was committed.

Now, Rayla has a choice: tell the truth and risk losing Callum but fixing the divide between Katolis and Xadia or staying quiet and having a chance at a happy life with Callum, Ezran and Harrow but losing the best chance they have at peace and probably never seeing her home or family again.

---------------------------------------

The assassins guild had been talking for days about whether or not to go in and kill King Harrow and Prince Ezran now or wait a few more months or even a year.  Queen Zubeia was in distress and the call for revenge was ringing loud and clear throughout Xadia.  First, eight years ago, the humans had attacked them unprovoked and murdered one of their citizens for their perverted dark magic.  Now, they killed the Dragon King and the Dragon Prince's egg.  Xadia could not let this go.  The only question was: when?

Runaan looked at Rayla out of the corner of his eye.  He knew she wanted to prove herself worthy.  He personally found it difficult to believe that his friends, Tiadrin and Lain, his parents, had abandoned their post.  In the back of his mind, it didn't make sense.  They knew better.  But, a Skywing elf who had also been part of the Dragon Guard had admitted they had all fled when the humans killed the Dragon King.  There was nothing anyone could do to stop the Silvergrove Ghosting the pair now.  But, Rayla could do the right thing in their stead and proclaimed herself ready to do whatever it took to right their wrongs.

"It's better to go now.  Who knows how long the Dragon Queen has?"  Runaan turned his attention back to the conversation his guild mates were having.  A cacophony of sounds as they tried to plan the best course of action that would bring them all back home and, hopefully, stop these humans from killing anymore Xadians.

"The humans will know it's us right away."

"So what?!  We want them to know what they did was wrong!"

"True, but, if we wait, maybe we can cause doubt.  They'll destroy themselves trying to figure it out."

"We have never not admitted we've taken life before.  Why should we do it now?  We take life but we don't take it lightly."

"Yes, but this is our chance to not only get the humans fighting each other, but to also get the Moon Nexus back!"  There was silence for a few moments.  Every Moonshadow el,f even a thousand years after the humans were forced out of Xadia, still felt the string of losing contact with the Moon Nexus.  It went deeper than pride; it was an irreplaceable piece of their heritage, culture, and magic that was forever lost to them because the humans refused to accept their lot in the universe as non-magic users.  "All I'm saying is, kill two Moon Phoenixes with one arrow.  Sow dissent AND fulfill the contract."

Runaan turned to Rayla.  Her young face was stony as she took in what everyone was saying.  Young...  He looked her up and down.  She was strong, but those who didn't know better would see her as a slip of a thing.  Slowly, a plan formed in Runaan's mind.  At any other time, he would have been horrified by the idea.  Rayla was his daughter as far as he was concerned.  His apprentice, his greatest joy besides Ethari.  Ethari would never forgive him.  But...  Runaan stood up, getting the attention of everyone in the room.  "I have an idea.  It involves my protegee, Rayla, and getting honor back for her parents as well as stirring doubt in the Pentarchy."

"What do you propose, Runaan?"  The guild master had a steeling expression as he stroked his beard.

Runaan smirked.  "We play the long game."

-------------------------------

"Absolutely not!" Ethari roared.  "We already lost Tiadrin and Lain.  We aren't losing Rayla!"

"She's going to be fine, Ethari."  Runaan breathed through his nose.  As he expected, Ethari was displeased.

"She's too kind, Runaan!  Too loving. Her heart isn't made for a regular mission and you want her to do this?!  Send Bandlr or someone else."

"She's the only one her age whose properly trained. She's faster than all of us and quick on her feet."

"Then send yourself or a group."

"They won't suspect a young girl travelling on her own.  The longer she does nothing, the more likely they will be to think everything is fine."

"And if they catch her after she succeeds?  They'll kill her!  They'll kill our daughter and you're sending her to the slaughter."

"She'll die with honor and rise above what her parents have done."  Even to Runan's ears he sounded so detached.  He winced.

"You...you can't be serious.  Runaan, she's our child.  Not by blood, but we raised her.  She's only 15.  She'll be 16 when her training's over.  You can't...you can't do this."  Ethari's voice was shaking as he started to breath a little harsher.  "She's just a child."

"Rayla's already agreed, Ethari.  There's nothing either or us can do now."

"You didn't even ask me first!"  Ethari breathed deeply for a few moments before his face became stone.  "So, that's it, then?  You're just going to say good-bye to our little girl?"

Runaan ran a hand through his white hair.  "My love, it's not that simple.  Queen Zubeia ordered the two hits.  We have to do the job."

"Then take a squad like tradition says and do it!  Do not send our Rayla into the human lands alone.  What if the spell fails and she's found out?  What if she slips up?  We have no idea when the time is even right.  We may never see her again!  Do you want that?  Because I don't!  Rayla shouldn't be made to go because of her parents' actions."

"No one is making me do anything," Rayla piped up from the chair.  Runaan had completely forgotten she was in the room and, judging by his slight jump, so had Ethari.  "Yes, Runaan offered my name for the plan before asking me, but I agreed.  I had a fair chance to give someone else the job and I said I would do it.  I'm going, Ethari."

"Rayla, please, don't do this."

"Why do you lack faith in me?"

Ethari shook his head.  "It's so much more than that.  You're a child, Rayla.  Don't throw away your chance for a future when tradition holds you shouldn't even be considering this."

"What future?  If Xadia doesn't do anything, the humans will eventually believe they can do whatever they want.  What if they start killing elves or more dragons for dark magic?  We're already at war.  We have to act!"

Ethari looked between the two of them.  "You know what?  Both of you, do whatever you want."

Runaan started reaching for his husband.  "Ethari-"

"I'm going to my sister's, Runaan.  I need time to process sending my child, OUR child, over the border to be alone and carrying out a mission ALONE for who knows how long."  Ethari slammed the door behind him; silence reigning for a few minutes.

"Well," Rayla looked up at Runaan, "he took that better than we expected."

Runaan sighed.  "He's right, Rayla.  Think long and hard about this.  You have been given 24 hours before you're officially assigned this task.  We are asking you to give up an untold amount of time.  You might never come back."

Rayla looked directly into his eyes.  "I know, but I don't have a choice.  Someone has to do this and it should be me.  If my parents had just stayed, maybe, the Dragon Prince would still be alive.  Besides, they'll probably believe me easier than someone like Bandlr whose already all muscle at 14.  I'm young and fast, but I'm slight enough.  No one will believe I'm a threat if I say I come from a farming village."

"You're right.  I'm so proud of you, Rayla.  I'm sure you'll be able to come back home one day."

It took Ethari two weeks to come around, a new blade for Rayla in hand and a flower for when she went on her mission.  He still barely talked to Runaan and, if Runaan was being honest, he couldn't blame him.  Rayla was going to be spending a few months with Lujanne at the Moon Nexus followed by a bit of time in the village by the Cursed Caldera before making her way to the capital.  There was no room for error and she was going to have to learn how to act human fast.

The flower Ethari made was set into the fountain, the whole of Silvergrove watching.  Runaan knew he and everyone else would be keeping an eye on it.  Rayla had to succeed.

-----------------------

6 months later

-----------------------

Callum groaned as Soren sent him to the ground again.  "C'mon, step-prince.  Wasn't your mom the strongest general is Katolis?  You shouldn't be this weak after this much training."

Callum glared a bit at his...friend?...tormentor?  Callum wasn't sure who Soren was to him anymore besides the big brother of his crush.  How Claudia and Soren came from the same parents was beyond Callum.  Though, Viren did give Claudia more attention because of her magic.  More love, probably.  "My mom was a lance specialist.  Why don't we try that?"

"Princes use swords; even step-princes."

Callum looked down at his feet.  "The king can use a lance."

"ARGH!  It's just not how it's done, OK?  Sword first, than lance.  Now, on your hands and knees and give me a hundred push-ups."  Callum groaned and was about to follow through when Caludia raced through the courtyard to stand in front of Soren.  She started miming a bit, a big smile on her face.  "What is it, Clauds?  Use your words."

She squealed.  "There's a girl whose just come from the border.  She asked to see the king and she looks about my age, maybe a year younger."

Soren and Callum's brows furrowed.  "Why does she want to see the king?"

"Don't know, but she's pretty cute.  She might be your type, Sor-bear."

"Uh-huh.  You don't know my type, Claudia.  You've proven that how many times now?"

Callum didn't bother staying for what was bound to be an argument between the two.  Instead,he hurried to the throne room, running to Ezran and Bait with a handful of jelly tarts with them.  "What do you think she wants?" Ezran asked.

"No idea.  Whatever it is, I'm sure the king will hear her out."

"You know, you can call him 'Dad.'  I really think he'd like that, Callum."

"He's the king, Ezran, and I'm just the step-prince."

"But, he raised you and I know he loves you."

Callum closed his eyes briefly.  "It's complicated, Ez."

Ezran pouted a bit, but dropped it.  When they finally made it to the throne room, they stood to Harrow's right while Opeli and Viren were standing to his left.  Before them was a pale girl with hair a few shades lighter than Soren's and light blue eyes.  She stood perhaps an inch taller than Callum and was dressed in plain robes that marked her as a member of the farming class.

"Your Majesty," her voice was clear and projected throughout the room.  She took a sweeping curtsy, though almost lost her balance doing so.  She raised her eyes when Harrow told her to rise, slowly coming back up to face the room.  "I come from a town on the border.  We were attacked not too long ago."  She looked down, a tear slipping down her cheek.  "I'm all that's left of my village.  Please, I need help.  I have no family."

"Who attacked your home?"  Viren looked straight at her, eyebrow raised.

"I believe it was elves."  Viren and Harrow shared a look before turning back to the girl.  "They kept saying something about dragons when they came but everything happened so fast it's all a blur."

Viren cleared his throat.  "And why did you come all the way here?  Surely there were others who could look after you."

The girl looked distressed, twisting her hands together a bit.  Callum couldn't help but notice just how pretty she was, with a Cupid's bow on her top lip, high cheekbones, and large eyes.  But, there was something slightly off, something that in the back of his mind was saying it wasn't quite right.  Maybe she was too pretty?  "To be honest, I tried a few times but they either didn't want me because of the possibility of the elves coming after me.  I just hoped that I could be safe here."

Harrow nodded.  "Of course, dear child.  You are welcome to stay as long as you like.  And, I am so sorry for the trials you have faced before coming here today."

Viren sent a glared at Harrow.  "Harrow-"

"Not now, Viren.  We have to look after our citizens.  Always."  Harrow turned back to face her.  "What's your name, child?"

She looked at the five in the room, a soft smile on her face.  "Rayla.  My name is Rayla."        

#rayllum fanfic #rayllum #the dragon prince #tdp #the long game #whelp #the first chapter is here #despite me saying I was going to wait #I don't keep my word apparently #please enjoy

[bjorntheluckybastard]

Amnesiac

it'd been four years since Rayla's disappearance, and three since she'd been assumed dead.

when the news that rayla was assumed to be dead hit Callum's ears he couldn't take it, he'd already suffered her sudden disappearance a year prior and now with the possibility, she'd never come back he couldn't cope, it took him years to mourn her loss, going through the stages of grief and finally accepting the fact that if she were alive, she'd have come back by now.

the last time she'd been seen was when villagers of a small town had seen a " woman with half of her hair white and the other half black attack a Moonshadow elf with dark magic and take her away" the woman was assumed to be Claudia but no one could know for sure because the location they were suspected to be in was completely abandoned by the time they'd arrived there.

the only evidence of rayla ever being there was in a small room in the dungeon of the place, a chair with cuffs on the arms and legs for holding people in place in the middle of the room, torn pieces of the fabric of her clothes, blood splatters on the chair and floor, and a chunk of the end of her horn was found in the room. Callum had to be consoled for days after what he'd seen and imagined what they'd done to Rayla.

now three years after that Callum was beginning to heal after her loss but still not being able to love anyone other than her, so to distract himself he dedicated himself to helping his brother in whatever way he needed him.

today he, Ezran, and Soren were traveling to a camp of Vikings in the mountains, they'd been raiding small towns and fighting other clans so Ezran wanted to see if a peace treaty could be made and get them to convince other clans to sign it too.

the task was going to be a hard one but this clan, in particular, was known for being a lot less brutal than some of the others so it was a decent place to start.

" so how'd you convince Corvus and Opeli that you only needed me and Soren on this trip?" Callum asked "well 1 I'm their king and 2 it'd be better if there were fewer of us so that they don't feel threatened by us to keep this as peaceful as possible" Ezran mainly wanted to spend time with Callum to help him get over rayla but there was truth in his statement. " eh who cares I'm the only protection you guys will need anyway," Soren said with a smug grin.

they arrived at the camp a few hours after dawn, for a small place it was extremely loud and active, the warriors were either training, drinking, talking, or just fighting, well there were other things but those were the main things.

" Hej!" the three turned to see a tall dark-skinned man covered in tattoos and scars " you must be the king that wishes to have me and my kin bow at your feet" he laughed " I am Kludd Jarl welcome" he put out his hand for Ezran to shake and grabbed his forearm and slapping the other arm with his hand, a bit shocked by the sudden rough greeting Ezran smiles back at Kludd " its an honour to be here sir". Kludd stands back and points at Soren " so is this one your Drengr?" the three look at Kludd puzzled " my what?" Ezran asks confused, " Drengr, it means courageous warrior in our tongue, I assume that's what he is because of the few members of your party", " well I would consider myself pretty courageous" Kluss smiles " Glad to meet a fellow warrior" kludd puts his hand out for Soren to grab and pulls him into a back slap hug, whacking Soren on the back.

now Kludd turns his attention to Callum " Hej friend, what's your purpose in this party?" kludd once again puts out his hand to greet him, Callum grabs it expecting the rough pat on the opposite arm " I'm the king's brother, and a mage" Kludd looked impressed " I should introduce you to our seer at some point, but for now I will allow you to acquaint yourselves and look around we shall speak again soon".

Soren goes with Ezran as he's the one guarding him on this trip so Callum explores on his own, the men and women are loud and intimidating but are very friendly towards him, it's odd he thinks, ' they seem so friendly already I don't know why we really need a peace treaty'.

he wanders around greeting the warriors and acquaints himself with the blacksmith, Gunnar, he's an absolutely massive man with impressive arms for building weapons and armor, he kind of reminded him of Ethari, ' damn I've not seen Ethari in almost a year I should send him a letter asking him how he is' he thought to himself. Callum tried to keep as much contact with him as possible after Rayla was assumed dead Ethari had lost all of his family and was heartbroken further. during his thought of what he should say in his letter, he notices one of the warriors looks distinctly different than the rest, with horns and white hair they were an elf, a Moonshadow one. Callum only saw the back of their head but they had an undercut with a scar on the back of their head and a chunk of their left horn missing replaced by a piece of metal, ' huh kinda looks like the same amount of Raylas horn that we fou-' the realization dawned on his face, there's no way it's one little similarity it couldn't be the dead assumed love of his life, could it?

then the elf turned around, he'd recognize her beautiful violet eyes anywhere, and her voice and accent were slightly different but there's no way he wouldn't know, that's rayla.

the overwhelming feeling of excitement, anger, dread, and sheer relief felt like he'd just been shot through the chest , he runs up to her and places his hand on her shoulder " I cant believe it, after all these years you're alive!" he expects her to be excited to see him or at least be shocked that he's there but she looked so confused " uh yeah I'm alive, whats it to you?" that's not what he was expecting, he hadn't expected her to be so neutral about it "cmon rayla you know me" he hopes she'll at least know who he is " Rayla? who the fuck is that?" how could she ask that? he thinks to himself she has to be joking, and if she is it's certainly not a funny " wha- you are!" he says trying to keep his temper in check, " no I'm definitely not my name is Randvi and I've never seen your sorry mug in my life" her words shattered Callum's heart, she turned to leave but he grabbed her arm involuntarily " do you fucking mind, piss off you bacraut" she jerks her arm away from him and walks off leaving poor callum just stood there trying to comprehend what just happened.

" so I just get over the fact my girlfriend was assumed dead and I've finally found her and she doesn't remember me? fantastic" he mumbles the bitter statement to himself as he searches for kludd, hopefully, he will have the answers Callum needs.

#rayllum #the dragon prince #ac valhalla au #this is my first fic #criticism is welcome #have a nice day #or evening

[theredhairedmonkey]

What do you think will happen in "Through the Moon"?

Hmm, I’ve changed my mind a couple times as to what I think will happen, but I’ll let you know what I’m thinking right now, anon:

Since this story takes place in the Moon Nexus (and involves some kind of invitation for a ritual there), I imagine that some time must have taken place since the Battle of the Storm Spire. Just throwing out a number, I’ll guess that something like a year to 18 months have passed, which gives the trio enough time to change and adjust to the new peace they helped create.

So, some background on each of them before we dive into “Through the Moon.” All three are now living in Katolis.

Ezran is having a tough time, as he now has the most responsibilities of the three of them (oh, how the tables have turned). It turns out that Opeli’s “peace will require just as much strength as war” was not a joke. The battle to save Zym might have led to peace with the elves and dragons, but it has upended the entire world order. Katolis now has closer ties with the elves (the Sunfire elves in particular) and the Dragon King Azymondias than it does with several of the Human Kingdoms (particularly Neoloandia, which has cut off ties to Duren and Katolis after Prince Kasef’s death). 

The battle also shifted the balance of power; Katolis lost much of its army, while Duren, which suffered the fewest casualties, is now the strongest Human Kingdom and breadbasket for the Pentarchy. While Queen Aanya means well, King Ezran has been encouraged to allow General Amaya to rebuild the Katolian army. Additionally, racism against elves and dragons is a hard beast to overcome, and Ezran has been struggling with certain voices in his court that are urging him to take an aggressive stance against Xadia. Keeping these people pacified has been a challenge…especially now that Rayla is living in the capital as a permanent guest.

In spite of his age, Ezran is pretty much on top of this all—Corvus once commented that he had shown more “courage, strength, and grace than most leaders show in a lifetime,” and I think that will shine through here. He might not be the most learned or most well-informed person in the room, but he knows when to rely on experts and when to rely on his sense of right and wrong.

So, “Through the Moon” might show a little bit of that–how Ezran has begun to fill his father’s shoes (as well as make his own), how well he’s adjusted to being a ruler during peacetime, and how much he still has to grow.

Callum is a prince reborn. In just a few months after the battle, he quickly mastered Sky Magic in its entirety, even coming up with several new techniques along the way. He has also learned quite a bit about the other Primal Sources and their respective Arcana. Callum is also within striking distance of finally understanding the Moon Arcanum (more on that later).

He’s trying to help Ezran as best he can, but this “awkward step-prince” always had trouble succeeding at his princely duties, and that extends to administrative and political matters. He’s no Viren, and neither his personality nor his Sky Magic provides much help at court. His abilities are more physical than the creative, complex spells that Viren often does.

Instead, Callum finds that he’s most helpful outside and beyond the walls of the castle—this is, after all, where the sky is, and where Callum is at his strongest. He’s often flying to other towns, and helps the common people with building roads, constructing dams, clearing out fields for farmland, irrigation, and the like.

The people who knew him before are quite surprised by this change. He used to be this bookish artist boy who could barely hold up a sword, wearing a signature red scarf and blue jacket. Now, he’s a strong, confident mage, sporting sleeveless shirts that reveal elaborate runes on his arms. He can fly and is therefore more physically capable than any ordinary human in the kingdom. Many less tolerant people are also put off by how protective he is over his new elven, um, “friend” Rayla.

Now, on to Rayla. Hoo boy…

Here’s what we first hear about her—Only Rayla is still restless

At first, I was wondering why she was refusing to believe Viren is dead, when it seems everyone else is ready to move on. And then I remembered this scene:

Viren: “I’ll return for you soon. It will be a pleasure to add one more Moonshadow elf to my collection”

Both her terrified expression and her registering what Viren is saying help explain why she’s so restless—whatever was in that bag must contain something related to other Moonshadow elves (either their remnants or their essence).

Then, when talking to Callum about what he saw in his spell, she’ll start to put two and two together. Even if he didn’t understand what he was seeing, he must have seen Lain and Tiadrin get coined by Viren.

Rayla doesn’t know if they’re dead or not, but she realizes she needs to find that bag. Maybe they can be revived, maybe they can’t. But the pain of not knowing is overwhelming.

She’s also probably fearful of the man himself. While she’s been overpowered before, she’s never been so helpless as she was before Viren. His “I’ll return for you soon” line stays with her, and not being able to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that this monster is gone will haunt her.

And to make matters worse, no one has been able to find Viren’s remains. Most assume his body was just lost, perhaps in a ravine somewhere. But Rayla needs to find his bag of coins. Combine that with the sheer terror she expresses in the scene above, she probably doesn’t fully believe that something like a fall could kill someone like Viren. And part of her hopes that’s the case; if she’s right, there’s a chance she can find her parents’ coins (and whoever else) and either revive them or, at worst, make peace with the fact that they are gone for good because the uncertainty is just that painful.

Without knowing for sure whether Viren, her parents or Runaan are gone, she’s lost. At least Callum, who tragically lost his parents, knows they are gone. There is a bit of solace in the finality of accepting your loved one’s passing. Rayla, on the other hand, is trapped between hope and fear. Hope that they may be alive, fear that she’ll never know.

Callum will pick up on the fact that something’s wrong, and Rayla will likewise let him in. She knows now that she’s safe around him. She can be vulnerable and scared and raw around Callum, because he will never think less of her, never judge her, and never love her any less.

And this is just something she will absolutely adore about him. Even though he’s incapable of giving her closure (even as a mage, he can’t just bring them back or give her an answer), he’ll always try to make her feel better, even if only by a little bit and for a short while.

Nevertheless, the three of them are called to an ancient ritual at the Moon Nexus. I’m guessing that, since there’s peace with Xadia, Lujanne either invites the trio back, or reveals the Moon Nexus to the Human world. In either case, there’s an invitation for Ezran, Callum, and Rayla to come back and take part in this ritual.

At some point, either by accidentally overhearing something or just from Lujanne explaining the ritual, she learns that the lake is a portal between life or death.

This is her chance, she thinks. This portal contains the answers to all the questions she’s been craving. The questions that have been eating away at her that no amount of “Big Feelings Time” has been able to ease.

Part of it is to see once and for all if Viren is dead, but the main reason is that she wants closure. She wants to know whether she needs to save her parents and Runaan or mourn for them. At least then, in either case, she can move on.

But the portal is unstable, and the ancient Moonshadow Elves who destroyed it never intended for it to be reopened. It seems as though Rayla will have to risk life and limb (and maybe not just her life and limb) to reopen the portal. I’d wager that, in the midst of the ceremony, she’ll jump right into the lake because, let’s face it, jumping into certain danger is something she’s used to at this point.

And speaking of things certain characters are used to, Callum will for sure have another episode of “here I go doing something reckless to protect Rayla,” and follow her.

As a quick side note, if there’s a time for Callum to unlock the Moon Arcanum, it’s here. He’s already worked through his understanding of reality and appearance well enough to apply it when facing Sol Regem. He’s also cast his first Moon spell, and hence knows how it “feels” to do Moon magic. Just as with the Sky Arcanum, Callum’s got all the details he needs “swirling in his head,” and just needs a way to bring it all together.

But, for Rayla, this is very much an introspective journey– Will Rayla’s quest to uncover the secrets of the dead put her living friends in mortal danger?

I am very skeptical that we’ll learn Viren is alive before S4. That is such a huge reveal to occur before we even see the trio on screen! And to a lesser extent, I have a hard time imagining how S4 could start off with Rayla knowing that her parents and Runaan are indeed alive.

Instead, I imagine “Through the Moon” to be more of an introspective look into Rayla—How does she see the world? How does she see herself? What’s bothering her, and what does she do to overcome her internal strife?

This would honestly be a breath of fresh air—while S3 does a good job shining a light on Rayla, it’s mostly from Callum’s perspective (he notices her sobbing and goes to comfort her; he observes and comments how she’s a hero; he helps her work through her feelings about her parents).

This graphic novel is a great way to focus on Rayla’s perspective instead. Her journey at the end of S3 left us with a bit of a “now what”? So, this book might be a good way to begin answering that.

#rayla #through the moon #tdp speculation #thanks for asking #the dragon prince #tdp #runaan #tiadrin #lain #callum #ezran #viren #zym #moonshadow elves #lujanne #tdp graphic novel

[kuno-chan]

Love Amongst the Dragons - Ch. 7, The Bars That Bind

Summary: In a sentence, Prince Callum doesn’t care for dragons. He has his reasons for not being a fan, but the Dragon Ban has expired and now his life is full of them as the Dragon Keep has finished and everyone around him is preoccupied in making sure everything is ready for the Xadians arriving so the dragon rider’s training program may succeed. Now, Callum is up to his neck in everything that has to do with dragons as he does his best to satiate some dangerous curiosities, wrestle sorrowful memories and support his stepfather, King Harrow, in this time of redemption.

Rating: G

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Please consider reading and reviewing on Ao3

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The next morning, the Xadian party visited again. As always, Callum beat everyone to the keep. Again, Ezran was nowhere to be found. He would have to start asking around and almost did that morning, but the news of the Xadian party’s return visit piqued his curiosity.

His worried stepfather also had Callum willing to go.

The morning began much like the last; the Xadians inspecting the keep and irritating Lord Viren in the process. He didn’t like how the elves inspected the place as if they owned it, but their supervision was part of the peace deal with Xadia.

It didn’t exactly help that it all came from a place of mistrust. Elves did not, under most circumstances, trust humans. They especially didn’t trust humans with dragons. Frankly, the elves were better and probably could have dealt with almost any rider the humans could produce. Then again, maybe Callum was being presumptuous.

“Today, we will show you how to ride a dragon,” Runaan announced to the keep. “Our way.”

He nodded to Rayla who promptly mounted Luna. She nodded back and patted Luna before bursting into the air, twirling like the wind itself. They soared around the keep, diving and flying together as one. Rayla even leapt off of Luna mid-air and, somehow, Luna was right there to catch her before she fell.

Callum marveled at them. At her. Rayla did not hesitate. She held no fear of the ground below or the sky above. Not with Luna.

He might have envied her, but… that freedom. Fearlessness. It seemed so attainable now. His mind naturally went back to the Tempest. Callum shook his head. He would never ride a dragon, but he could admire those who could.

Rayla and Luna landed gracefully just as Runaan flew off on Athena. If Rayla and Luna were one, then Runaan and Athena were a part of the sky itself. They wove through the air seamlessly. Like silk and clouds. Not an ounce of hesitation anywhere in sight.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Callum could see Lord Viren frowning beside King Harrow who was smiling. The king clapped as Runaan landed and dismounted in one swift motion. “You truly are a master.”

“It’s the result of many years of training. Bonding. If a dragon doesn’t trust you, then you have nothing but a weapon.”

“We are in agreement.” Harrow looked over the titan wing dragon. “She would save you from anything. Give her life for you.”

Runaan ran a hand over Athena’s scales. “I wouldn’t want her to. But yes.”

King Harrow’s gaze flickered down, then back to Runaan’s face. “You have shown us a true gift. My hope is that humans can have the same understanding and love you both have with your dragons.”

Lord Viren inclined his head at King Harrow. Callum wondered what it was about.

After the meeting, Callum caught up to Rayla on the ramparts, feeding Luna a Xadian orange and scratching her freely.

“... you did so good today. I’ll get you a pear later, okay?”

Luna warbled happily, proudly receiving her scratches.

“There’s a dragon I know who likes pears.” Callum said, making Rayla turn her head. “Is that a dragon thing?”

Rayla blinked at him, assessing. Luna nudged her and warbled again, this time encouraging. Rayla glared at her softly, but it quickly fell into something softer. “Crescentbacks like them, for sure. But they’re picky things. I think they just like fruit in general.”

There was a pause between them as Rayla fed Luna another cut of orange. “You were amazing up there. In the sky?” Callum could have smacked himself. Where else would she be flying? “I just mean… you’re an amazing flyer. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Rayla looked over him. Another nudge from Luna. “... thank you,” she said proudly. “Even if half of it is Luna. She does a lot of the legwork. I trust her with my life.”

“That’s incredible. You’re incredible. Both of you are, I mean.”

Luna approached and snuffled him. Approval, perhaps?

“She’s saying thank you.”

Callum laughed. “You’re welcome?”

Luna sniffed him again, setting her eyes on him for a moment. Callum’s stomach fell. Right. The Tempest. Then, he caught Rayla’s face from behind. She was… smiling?

He smiled back at her. “I mean it. I know I barely know you, but you’re just… incredible.”

If he didn’t know better, he’d say her face was turning red, but she cleared her throat and shook her head. “Thank you. I… that’s appreciated. And, yeah. Thanks.” She looked away. “Luna, we should go. Runaan’s going to leave us behind.”

Luna snuffled another goodbye. Rayla waited for her.

“Callum?” she said his name, cocking her head.

“Yes?” Callum blinked.

“I’ll see you tomorrow? I’m usually flying in the courtyard. I’m sure Luna would like to see you again. I could ask you some questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“I’ll ask you tomorrow.”

Then, she left. He felt the urge to follow after her.

-:-:-:-

The Tempest was much more receiving of Rayla than he was of Claudia. His nostrils flared and whatever Rayla’s scent was, it seemed familiar enough for him to relax and let Callum talk about the elvish dragon rider he couldn’t stop thinking about.

“And she’s fearless. You should have seen her! I just… she loved being up there. And she was good at it! Better than any of the riders I’ve ever seen.” Not that he was an expert on the subject. “She wants to talk to me tomorrow.”

He didn’t know why the prospect excited him so much. He’d known her for all of a few days, but she never ceased to impress him. And, apparently, Luna didn’t mind him either. Callum didn’t blame her for not trusting him entirely, but he was glad she’d give him the time of day.

She was wary of him, but her invitation for a talk was genuine. Welcome.

She seemed just as curious as he was.

He didn’t know why it mattered to him so much.

The Tempest made a noise. Amused? Laughing?

“Listen, the king wants peace, right?” He retorted, his face warming. “I’m just helping. It’d be nice if we were friends. It could help in the long run… right?”

After all, that was why he was so interested.

The Tempest grunted.

“And I think she’s cool.”

Whatever it was, the dragon snuffled at him fondly and Callum rubbed his nose. He lingered there, his mind going back to a place he often tried to leave. It didn’t escape him that there were bars between the two of them. That the Tempest had been in this cell for more than a little while.

He wondered if they ever came to see him, give him water or scraps. Callum provided these things in secret, but it shouldn’t have been that way. He still noticed the way the Tempest looked at the sky from time to time. How he seemed to get darker as time moved on, the color of a heavy thundercloud. His strength was coming back, but he still seemed…

Sad?

Not completely there.

That was Callum’s intuition, anyway. He didn’t exactly know the Tempest outside of this cage.

Callum paused.

He didn’t know the Tempest outside of this cage .

They’d never interacted outside of this room, had they?

Sure, Callum visited him, but--

He might as well have been a more accommodating jailer.

And the prime question coming to Callum’s mind:

Did they hurt him? When Callum wasn’t here, did they hurt him? It’s not like he’d ever know. Did dragons even bruise?

Maybe he’d never know. Or maybe he did. It wasn’t like they would never visit him. And Callum had seen what the Tempest was like with other humans. There was no way they--

Enough. This was enough.

He could ask himself questions again and again and have the same thoughts run through his head endlessly, but that wouldn’t solve anything.

And something about today--

Callum couldn’t stand to see him in this cage anymore.

“I’ll be back for you tomorrow night. It’ll be different tomorrow night,” Callum said to him. “I promise.”

The Tempest snuffled at him softly and laid back down when Callum left.

-:-:-:-

This idea had been a lot less nerve-wracking when he’d thought of it last night. Last night, he’d felt brave and determined and just… he just wanted the Tempest to have a better life than what was going on in that room.

But now he was heading to the courtyard, his mind running through whatever he was going to say when he told her he’d been visiting a caged dragon that looked just like her own.

And then having the audacity to ask her for a favor and not run to her very scary dragon commander. Leader. Whatever he was.

In the courtyard, Callum heard her before he saw her. She was flying high, taking Luna around and around in what seemed less like a drill and more like an instance where Luna wanted to play. They twisted and turned in the air, whizzing by and soaring. Callum heard Rayla laugh. It made him smile despite his nerves.

He waited for her to see him. She seemed pleased and his breath hitched in his throat.

“Callum, there you are. I wasn’t sure if you were going to--”

“I need a favor,” he blurted out. He smacked himself on the forehead. “I’m sorry. I just… I need your help.”

Rayla raised her brows when he looked to her, then she frowned. “With?”

He didn’t answer right away, and he kept his voice quiet. “There’s something I think you’d like to see.”

Like was a bit of a strong word in this context.

Callum pulled her aside and told her what was going on -- and begged her to keep quiet about it. The last person he wanted to hear about this was… well, everyone, but Viren and Runaan were amongst the two people he was mainly talking about.

In any case, he won her over.

“So, what exactly was your plan?” she asked him that night.

They didn’t fly that night. Too risky. And it wasn’t like Callum had ever gotten on a dragon’s back before. So, they walked along the path Callum went through every other night.

She wasn’t… pleased with the revelation that he’d been visiting a caged dragon. Or that they locked it up in the first place. She said something about humans and how Runaan had warned her about this.

But she let up and ultimately agreed to help him once he told her his plan.

Callum winced. “Okay, I know it sounds bad, but… I guess I just wasn’t sure what to do.”

“So, you just kept him in there?” The look she gave him was scathing.

“The king-- my stepfather needs this to work. I didn’t want to cause trouble.”

“Right.” She said. With bite. “The king.”

He was in no position to ask what she meant by that. In fact, he was lucky she didn’t rat him out, but that only made him look at her more.

“What are you staring at?” she asked. Luna was around, Callum realized. Somewhere he couldn’t see. He also realized it didn’t bother him.

“Thank you.”

“What?”

“Thank you. For doing this. For helping me get him out.”

“He should already be out. Why would you put him in a cage?”

Callum frowned. “I didn’t put him in there.”

“Then why did you keep him in there? You said the king needs this to work. Well, if you’d said something, we would have demanded him out already.” She argued. “This isn’t right. He’s a magical creature. Not an experiment.”

“I know that.” Callum stopped in his tracks. “Look, I hate seeing him in there. But… my stepdad needs this peace to work, okay? What was I supposed to do? Bring this to him and make him worry more?”

“I’m not really worried about what your king is worried about,” she said, turning to look at him. Luna appeared between them, revealing herself.

“This peace is important to him. It means everything to him. He wants this to work more than you know.” Callum bit his lip. Tried to bite his tongue. “And you don’t know him.”

He locked eyes with her. Violet eyes mixed with something between regret, anger and irritation.

And I don’t know you, he realized.

“You knew somebody, didn’t you?” he asked, deflating. “In the war.”

“In the war he started?” she turned away and started walking. “Yeah.”

He did it because of what happened to Callum’s mother. He did it because the elves sent a dragon to kill her. He did it to avenge her death.

Callum said none of these things.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead. “That war was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened and… I’m sorry. For your loss, too.”

Rayla froze. Her shoulders hunched. “... I’m… sorry for yours, too.” She turned back to him. Her face was softer, even if whatever feelings she had before lacked absolution. “I am. All of it was a mistake.”

There was too much to unpack there. The history. The deaths. King Harrow could never talk about it in a way that Callum could understand. This moment wouldn’t fix that.

“I know this doesn’t… help, much. I know it doesn’t really make sense, but I really do appreciate you coming to help me.” They started walking again. “I can’t stand to see him like this anymore, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“You’re trying to be loyal to your family,” she said weakly. “I get that. And you’re trying to help. I’ll admit I didn’t exactly expect this from you.”

“What did you expect from me?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I guess that’s why I wanted to talk to you. In the courtyard, I mean. Runaan told me what to expect from humans. You kept coming around and you weren’t really like how he said you might be.”

“And what did he say?”

She glanced at him. “... not nice things.”

Callum laughed, if only to himself.

She turned her attention to him. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. You’re just-- you’re good at talking in circles. Didn’t really expect that from you. You seem like you’d be the direct type.”

She didn’t know how to take that. Her head raised, then lowered, then raised again as if unsure how to respond and how to carry herself. “I am,” she said, raising her chin again. “I am direct. But I’m on an important mission here. I’m not supposed to just be discussing anything with just any human, you know.”

He walked ahead of her. Turned to her. “But I’m not just any human. I’m Callum. Remember?”

He grinned. She blinked at him and--

The crack of a smile. “I suppose so.” She walked past him, the smile growing a bit wider. “Callum… you’re lucky I like your name.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not?” She shrugged. “I think it’s nice.”

-:-:-:-

The Tempest was waiting for Callum as usual, but his attention went straight to Rayla before she even entered the room. He could smell her judging by the flare of his nostrils.

“It’s alright,” Callum reassured him, reaching through the bars. Rayla knew better than to approach him right away. The Tempest’s pupils were in slits, trained on Rayla for any sudden moves. Callum stroked his nose. “This is Rayla. Remember me telling you about her?”

“You told him about me?”

Callum shushed her, his face warmer than normal. He placed a hand on the dragon’s horn. “It’s fine. I promise. She’s here to help.”

The Tempest snorted. His nostrils flared one more time. He looked at Callum, then relaxed, a noise of resignation rising from his throat.

“How did you ever get close to him?” she asked, carefully walking up.

Callum shrugged, pulling out the Tempest’s dinner: a piece of beef and some pears. “He just kind of let me, to be honest. Then, I started bringing food, and he warmed up more.”

“Interesting…”

The Tempest stopped eating, his pupils slit again, and he focused on an empty spot.

Luna appeared in that spot. She warbled a greeting at him, but kept her distance. On instinct, Rayla approached her dragon and stroked her muzzle. “We’re friendly,” she said. “We’re here to help.”

Callum smiled when the Tempest went back to eating his food. “We’re going to get you out.”

Whether the dragon actually understood or just knew something was different, Callum didn’t know, but they looked at each other and Callum nodded. He was doing this. Tonight. He refused to keep acting like the Tempest’s jailer or one of the humans that imprisoned him.

He wasn’t sure how Rayla would help him, but she was here and between the two of them he was sure they could figure it out. Granted, his plan could have been better. He had the idea of picking the lock or breaking the bars with Luna and the Tempest, perhaps the impact of their strength would--

Rayla pulled out two wicked blades from under her hood. Callum’s mouth dropped open. He kept a tight hold on the Tempest. “I didn’t know you had those.”

“Of course you didn’t. I didn’t want you to know,” she said and got to work on the lock.

“You can pick that?”

“I can try. These blades are a bit big for picking, but this lock is pretty big too. If nothing else, I can try to break it, but it’s probably proofed against dragon fire and claws. I’m willing to bet my blades won’t so much as scratch it.”

Callum sat nervously, hoping that this was a good idea and he wasn’t making a big mistake. He waited as Rayla tried with the lock. It opened in less than five minutes.

Rayla stared at it. She slowly stood up, but didn’t put her swords away.

“That was too easy.”

“Well, I’m glad it was because--”

“No, I mean-- That should have been harder to do. I shouldn't have been able to open it so fast. Callum, are you sure nobody knows you come down here?”

Callum shook his head. “I’m sure. I’ve been coming down here for weeks. If anyone knew, why would they just keep letting me?”

She didn’t answer.

She still didn’t put her swords away.

“Let’s go,” she urged. “Will he come outside with you?”

Callum hoped so. The Tempest edged out of his cage. Slowly. Slowly.

He spread his wings and stretched his body. Callum let him do these things at his own pace. The Tempest was cautious, but reached his head out and snuffled at Callum. A thank you? Curiosity? Either way, Callum was more concerned with just how big the beast was. He was at least twice Callum’s size now that he was uncurled.

In the corner with Luna, Rayla hadn’t put her blades away.

“You can trust him,” Callum said.

“I trust him,” Rayla said. “But I also trust him to be a dragon that’s been locked in a cage for weeks.”

The Tempest looked at her, his tail slowly moving. Ready to pounce at any moment. Callum ventured and scratched under his chin. “It’s okay. They’re friends. They’re with me.”

Callum stepped between them. He had the Tempest’s attention and smiled. Whatever the dragon saw, he went back to stretching.

“We need to get out of here,” Rayla said. “If he wants to fly away, then he needs to get going.”

A lump formed in Callum’s throat. “You’re right.”

He didn’t think about this part.

He didn’t think it would make him feel like...

Well, like this.

But Callum owed it to the Tempest. If his mother’s death had taught him anything it was that, sometimes, people left you. Sometimes, you had to leave them.

His fingers on the Tempest’s dry scales slowed and his mind misted back to the hours after his mother died.

“Don’t make me go!”

“Prince Callum… you have to let her go now.”

His stepfather wasn’t there yet. The guards were digging their fingers in him and pulling him off his mother’s corpse. She was ice cold, but he clung to her and laid his head against her still chest.

He waited for her voice. Her lullaby. Her gentle words.

Anything.

There was nothing, and he screamed when they pried his arms from around her.

He wailed.

He didn’t stop crying even when his stepfather finally crushed Callum into a hug.

He never saw her again. Callum only ever saw her in the stone of her grave, but she was still gone. It never stopped feeling like she left. Or she was taken. He could never decide the difference, really.

Callum blinked back any tears that threatened to spill. Not right now. He’d cry about this later.

They led the Tempest outside and Callum still hadn’t quite let go. Rayla didn’t say anything, but when they got outside, he looked at her. Comfort? Reassurance? He didn’t know.

She smiled softly.

“Do you know his name?”

Callum shook his head.

“Dragons usually have their own names,” she said gently. “When they tell you, it means they choose you. You’re the one they want to bond with.”

The lump in Callum’s throat grew. He turned back to the Tempest. “I wish I’d had time to learn your name,” he whispered. He bit down on his inner cheek. “But you miss your freedom. And I can at least give you that.”

The Tempest snuffled Callum’s hair. He nudged him and bowed his head.

Then, he turned and spread his wings. He launched himself into the air.

A chain dragged him back down to the earth.

Callum’s breath caught in his throat. The commotion startled him as the guards spilled into the arena, one chain after another keeping the Tempest grounded. The Tempest snarled and thrashed, but they kept him down. Rayla ran into the fray and knocked one of the guards out, but they quickly surrounded her to the point where he couldn’t see her.

“No!” Callum ran forward, but one of the guards grabbed him and kept him back. He fought back. “Stop! You’re going to hurt them.”

He didn’t know where Luna was, but he could hear her, roaring and snarling to get to Rayla. There was the beginning of dragonfire in his peripheral, then there was a commotion and--

“Luna!”

The tip of Rayla’s blade found the apex of a guard’s throat. No, wait--

Not a guard.

Lord Viren stood where he’d approached. His staff in hand, he raised his brows. “And what do you intend to do with that? Kill me? As a diplomatic envoy?”

“I don’t care,” she growled. “Let Luna go.”

“Do you honestly expect me to put my men in danger? Your beast attacked them--”

“Because of what you’re doing!” Callum shouted at him. “Lord Viren, I’m begging you. Please, don’t--”

“Don’t what, exactly?” Lord Viren glowered at him. “Don’t hurt them? Do you not understand that these people would all slit our throats and set fire to our cities if we so much as give them an edge to stand on? Look at her!”

“She’s done nothing wrong,” Callum ground his teeth. “I asked Rayla to be here.”

“Because you have been coerced-- brainwashed by this Tempest Crescentback! A vindictive, unholy beast! One of the most dangerous of the Lesser Dragons! Your soft heart has led us all here! And she,” Lord Viren gestured to Rayla. “Has misled you twice that. Do you truly believe that her weapons are just for protection--”

Rayla pressed her sword to his throat. “We’d be fools to walk into your kingdom, with our dragons, unprepared. Don’t think we don’t know what dark mages do with the dragons they find.”

Lord Viren glared at her. Then, he snorted. “Very well, then. Kill me.” He raised his chin. “Kill me and let the war begin.”

Rayla’s elbow bent. The sword retracted slightly.

Hesitation.

“Don’t say that to her,” Callum’s voice was soft. His eyes were not.

The guards approached Rayla. She readied her blades for a fight. Dragons snarled--

“That is enough.”

The king had never sounded so venomous. Not in Callum’s living memory.

The crownguard at his back were small compared to King Harrow’s glowering anger at the scene before him. Guards that weren’t holding dragons immediately stepped back from whatever they were doing.

“What is the meaning of this?” King Harrow demanded.

“Your majesty, I discovered Prince Callum cooperating with this elven girl to free this Tempest. I had him put away because he was a danger to the trainers and the other dragons.”

The king frowned and raised a brow. “Put away?”

“You locked him in a cage for weeks! I’m the one who had to feed him so he didn’t starve,” Callum fought against the guards restraining him. “Your majesty, please, he’s not a bad dragon. I know I shouldn’t have been this close to him by myself, but he’s good and he doesn’t deserve to be left in a tiny cage to die.”

The king narrowed his eyes at the guards holding Callum. “If you know what is good for you, I suggest you both let my son go.” The guards obeyed, letting Callum go so fast he almost stumbled to the ground. King Harrow’s gaze softened. “Callum, of course he doesn’t deserve that. Why didn’t you come to me about this sooner if you were so concerned?”

Callum pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure how to answer. “I… I just didn���t want it to get in the way of everything that was going on.”

The king sighed. He turned to Rayla. “Are you hurt, Rayla?”

Rayla stiffened. She shook her head.

“Good. Runaan will want to see you when he hears of this. I can’t imagine he would be very happy if you were.” He turned to Viren. “As for you--”

“Your majesty--”

“No. We will discuss this later. After I make sure the Tempest is placed somewhere safe for the night. You will also let Rayla’s dragon go.”

“Harrow.”

“Now.”

They stared at each other for a split second. Viren hesitated. He bowed.

The guards let Luna go. She snapped at them and returned to Rayla’s side, snarling protectively at them while Rayla smoothed down the crescent spines on her back. Rayla hushed her, keeping one hand on her saddle.

“This is over. I won’t have any more trouble. Before the night is truly over, I must now explain this to the Xadians,” said King Harrow. He turned to Rayla and Callum. “I’d like the both of you to remain here and I will escort you both back to the castle.”

“I can get back on my own,” Rayla protested.

“I have no doubt that you can, but nothing will happen to you if you are accompanied by me. And as far as I’m concerned, your safety is my responsibility until you return to Runaan’s charge when we get back to the castle. “

Rayla didn’t argue, but it was clear she wasn’t looking forward to seeing Runaan after all of this.

Callum stepped forward to go to the Tempest, but the king stopped him. “Your Majesty--”

Something flickered in his eyes before he set sturdy hands on Callum’s shoulders. “Not right now, Callum.”

“Please,” Callum looked at the dragon still struggling on the ground. “Just let me help him.”

“Tomorrow. Right now, he’s an agitated, cornered creature. I won’t risk you getting hurt. Let us get him somewhere where he can calm down.”

“Can’t we just let him free?”

“Not if he’s upset enough that he might attack someone. Tomorrow, Callum.” The king’s voice broke a little. “I promise.”

Callum felt the faintest touch on his arm. He looked over his shoulder at Rayla, pulling back as if she weren’t sure what she was doing. Still, the tone in her voice was anything but harsh. “Callum…”

His eyes burned. “I can’t just leave him like this.”

“I know, but... he’s kind of right.” She pointedly did not look at the king. “We don’t want him to end up getting hurt.”

Luna groaned at him, tugging gently on his sleeve.

He hated this.

He really hated this.

Callum stepped back, but he didn’t turn away. Rayla never left his side which made it easier -- if only a little -- to deal with the fear that crept into his heart.

--

This was the longest chapter yet! This chapter is almost at the halfway point for this fic. It's right about there and this was an important chapter, marking other important chapters. Soon, very soon. The Tempest also, for me, becomes more and more real as the chapters go on. His place in Callum's life a little more solidified each time. The chapters coming after this are going to be very important and the fic is really going to wind up.

As always, guys I love it when you leave those reviews, they really keep me going and really keep me going. I sincerely thank you guys for your patience with me on this fic and Sides of the Moon because with school going it's harder to write, but I'm going to keep going! Train's not stopping anytime soon! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!

#the dragon prince #tdp #rayllum #rayla #callum #my fics

[aetheternity]

Omg this is so pure!! I'm in love!! Thank @methargicism for this prompt. I changed it a little tho..

"Rayla." Callum called as they walked but was ultimately ignored.

"Raylllaa." He tried again dragging her name with a sing songy voice. He noticed the slight change in her shoulder blades the way they flinched up and ultimately relaxed back in annoyance.

"Rayla!"

"What?!" She screamed back, clapping her hands over her mouth immediately after. "Will you stop calling me. What'd you want anyway?"

"You were ignoring me." Callum replied with a soft shrug, quickening his pace to be right beside Rayla.

"I'm not ignoring you. I was just... thinking.."

Callum raise an eyebrow. It wasn't uncommon for Rayla to get lost in her thoughts so much so that everything around her disappeared but today it seemed less like harmless daydreaming and more like concern over something.

"What's bothering you? If you don't mind me asking."

Rayla's shoulders hunched up again before falling as if she was forcing them down. Her back slouched and her eyes darted away from Callum.

"I wonder how long it's gonna take.." Rayla started, "I mean for humans and elves to actually make peace.. Runan's gonna hate me for running off like I did.. If he even survived.... And how's he gonna feel about... about you."

She really did have a lot on her mind.

Callum rested a hand on Rayla's shoulder stopping her stride and turning her to face him. "Stop worrying about what you can't control. You'll make yourself crazy. We've done what we can so far and we're gonna keep working hard until elves and humans can be friends and work together. You'll see, it's me and you."

Rayla's face warmed with the sweet words, blush deepening with the last sentence. You'll see, it's me and you.

Callum seemed to pick up on it too because he quickly backed up, hands flying to his pockets with a need to cover them. "And Ezran." He added quickly though it was a little late.

Rayla smirked a soft chuckle cresting off her lips. "Yes of course and Ezran.." She giggled.

Callum didn't know what it was maybe the atmosphere or Rayla's little giggles but he found himself staring at her horns when she leaned forward and stood back up straight. Eyes enamored with the pointy tips and smooth purple color of them.

"Hey Rayla?"

Rayla smirked, hands on her hips. "Please Don't tell me you're gonna start that again." She joked

"No no I'm done with that." He assured, eyes moving back up to her horns. "I was just intrested in your horns. Can I.. touch them?" Nervousness peaked throughout his whole body as the question exited his mouth. Though it was definitely having a worse effect on Rayla.

Her eyes widened like saucers and her face brightened to the color of a newly ripe tomato. Callum didn't have time to even retract his question before Rayla was racing off past him. Up into a tree.

"Rayla wait!" He knew he wasn't supposed to yell as that could draw attention they really didn't need but he couldn't help it.

What had he done wrong? Were elves horns super sensitive or something? He probably shouldn't have asked.

Even though Rayla had lectured him on staying together when they'd first entered Xadia she wasn't against it now. She'd jumped at least 15 feet away from him climbing the tallest tree Callum had ever seen in his life.

"Rayla please!" He called, worry filling his voice against his own will. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I take it back!"

Climbing trees was no big deal for Callum when he was younger. Him and Ezran had begun a sort of competition between each other to climb to the highest branch they could. But the last time they'd done that he'd been at least 5 years younger and was in his city. Now he was in Xadia climbing a tree to get his moonshadow elf friend down after he'd accidentally hurt her feelings.

And nothing about that is normal in the slightest.

"Rayla!" He continued to call as he tossed his leg up to a branch near his shoulder. He was hoping for an angered response of lower your voice. Even maybe a Callum shut up if she really was pissed. But neither of that came as he climbed.

"Rayla.." He struggled, jacket getting caught on a branch. "I'm so sorry.." He whined unhooking himself and hoisting his arm up over a much smaller branch. "Please forgive me.. I take it back!"

Still no answer. All the leaves in the trees began to jumble, his breaths slipping out in heavy huffs. "Rayla.." He laid against the branch near his head all movements paused. His palms felt wet whether it was his own imagination or reality was unclear.

He shut his eyes, brain banging unsoothingly in his skull. The branch under his foot made a cracking noise, Callum felt his weight shift and bounce. He was gonna fall. The branch was gonna give way... But he couldn't bring himself to move. Couldn't even open his eyes.

When the branch broke he fell but not very far before a pair of arms were hoisting him up around the waist. A breathy groan sounded above him and his tired wet eyes opened to Rayla's frustrated face above him.

"You dumb human! What do you think you're doing? You could've died!" Callum grasped the branch Rayla was trying to pull him up to. Her hands were wrapped tightly around his waist in a way he found comforting on his hot skin. Once he was balanced and seated he shut his eyes again. Heart beat bouncing disturbingly fast.

"Are you ok?" Her breath tickled his cheek and his pulse flickered when he felt her soft fingers gently push his sweaty brown hair away from his face.

He sat still till his body cooled down before his eyes flickered open landing on the concerned girl in front of him. "Rayla I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

Rayla's fingers flinched on Callum's shoulder, but she didn't let go. "What're you talking about?"

"When I asked to touch your horns you ran away... I assumed I offended you or something."

Rayla's cheeks flushed again but she didn't run. Her eyes closed, quickly flicking open again but not looking at Callum. "Callum... You didn't offend me."

Her eyes stayed locked on the leaves below them, hands moving away from Callum's shoulders slowly like she was scared he'd fall.

"Callum.. When you touch an elf's horns... It's the equivalent of... Two humans kissing each other's foreheads.. Or Even cuddling..." Rayla informed.

Of course this information was a bit shocking but it didn't waver Callum's curiousity or make him uncomfortable.

"Is that bad?"

"Wh-what?!" If it were possible for Rayla to become more red then she already was it happened.

"Would it be bad.... If it was me?.."

"N-no! I mean! Callum!! Two elves rub each other's horns as a sign that they want to date!! It's before the first kiss! It's sacred!!" She squealed, arms cluched to her sides like she was her own lifeline.

"And You can't do it with a human.."

"Callum!"

"Rayla." He smiled all gooey in the face and warm in his eyes. "I won't force you. And if you say no I'll back off right now but.. Would it be that bad if it was me?.."

Rayla's face cooled from its bright red to a soft pink as she calmed. Her arms came down to grasp the branch in the space between them. She pushed up onto one knee other one balancing over the edge. Her fingers shook a little but Callum was there to catch her if she needed help.

Once she was less than 3 feet away, she bowed her head softly, pushing her head up close to Callum's. "Go.. Ahead.." Breath stuttering a bit where it left her mouth and bounced off the trees.

Now that she was this close Callum could feel his body warm and his fingers shook where he began to bring them up to the tip of Rayla's horn.

He started sweetly just gripping the hard apendage with two fingers at the tip before slowly petting her, running his fingers down the length of her whole horn. The branch they were sitting on shuttered with Rayla as she shivered almost purring a little.

Her hair fell back as she streched to look at Callum. "Sorry.. I've never had my horns touched like this before..." And Callum couldn't tell if it was his own imagination but Rayla definitely looked at his lips before her eyes flashed back up.

"It's ok. I think it's cute." Now it was Callum's turn to blush, Rayla joining him as she leaned back against the trees rough branch.

"Thanks.."

After a couple minutes of silence Callum smirked focusing on Rayla again. "So... I guess it's time for our first kiss."

"I will push you out of this tree."

I'm gonna fail math because I was writing this instead of doing my work.

#this ship is gonna kill me #uggghhh rayla is so cute!! #rayllum you're doing amazing!! #rayllum said straight rights #rayllum #rayla x callum #tdp rayla #the dragon prince #tdp callum #tdp s2

[bicon-korra]

this feeling that binds us

[Rayllum, 2,097 words, allies to friends to...something more?? Note: italics not on tunglr version bc I’m lazy]

Rayllum Week 2019 - Day 4: Moonlight @rayllum-week

Summary: After a long day of travel, Rayla takes night watch while Callum and Ezran sleep. Rayla, an assassin bound by duty to Xadia, never lets her guard down—that is, until she met Callum.

[READ IT ON AO3]

---

“Rayla? Are you still awake?”

Callum is searching for Rayla just outside their campsite, stumbling through thickets lit only by the pale moonlight. They’d made camp for the night after a long day of sailing. Rayla had volunteered to keep watch while Ezran and Callum slept, despite Callum’s protests. He could see how tired she looked—her face pale and gaunt—and insisted on taking her place. Rayla refused: I appreciate your concern, Callum, but these woods are dangerous, and you need to rest.

Callum knew nothing he said could change her mind. That’s one thing he learned about her during their long voyage to Xadia. Rayla felt a strong sense of duty to return the dragon egg to its home, and with duty came the responsibility to make big decisions during their journey. Most of these decisions, Callum felt, involved bossing him and Ezran around. It’s for your own good, she said one day. Growing up in a castle won’t help you survive the wilderness! I will. So follow me, and I’ll make sure you don’t get eaten alive by wolves.

As thick-skinned as she was, though, Callum began to see cracks in her armor. Earlier during their boat ride, she looked sickly and in pain; her bruised hand—the one with the mysterious binding—hung limply over her lap while she gripped the side of the boat with her other hand to steady herself. She cringed each time a strong wave threatened to flip the boat over, her eyes shut tight and mouth set in a hard grimace. Callum hated seeing her like that. He tried playing a game to distract her—one where he’d ask her simple questions about her life, with the hope of getting to know her better. That didn’t go over well. He learned that she lost both her parents. How, he didn’t know, but it didn’t felt like the right time to ask. Callum could somewhat relate; he lost his mother, and sometimes it still hurt to talk about it. But at least he still had his father. He decided to tread lightly next time he asked her about personal matters.

After getting poked and prodded by several branches, Callum finally reaches a clearing. He sees Rayla lying down at the foot of a large tree, her arms limp and chin tilted toward her shoulder. Callum panics for a second, heat rising in his throat, and rushes over to her side to make sure she’s okay. There was no way she fell asleep—he couldn’t imagine her abandoning her post and settling for a nap instead. Something terrible must have happened. He kneels beside her and breathes a sigh of relief when he hears her faint snoring. Her eyes are closed, mouth slightly open as a trail of saliva runs down her chin. She’s asleep, that’s all. Callum smiles. He’s never seen her look so peaceful. He had a theory that she didn’t sleep, that Moonshadow elves didn’t physically have to. Clearly there was a lot he didn’t know about his newfound ally.

“Rayla?” he whispers.

Rayla startles at the sound, eyes popping open. She sits up while her hand swiftly grabs one of her swords in defense.

“Whoa! Relax, it’s just me!”

Rayla’s grip goes slack, and she drops her weapon. She blinks rapidly to make out Callum hovering above her, worry in his eyes.

“Callum, what is it? Is something wrong?” She stands up quickly and turns her head to scan the perimeter for any signs of danger.

“No, I’m okay. I actually thought you’d be awake. You said you’d be on guard duty tonight.”

Rayla’s face colors in embarrassment. That’s right. She was supposed to be keeping watch tonight, but fatigue got the better of her. Her limbs felt like jelly from hanging on for dear life on that cursed boat.

“I’m so sorry,” she stammers. “I don’t know how I fell asleep.” She clenches her fist at her side, angry at herself for keeping her guard down. There was too much at stake to lose focus now.

“No, it’s fine,” Callum reassures her. “I actually came to switch places with you. You clearly need to rest—”

“Nuh-uh. I’ll keep watch. You were rowing that boat all day today. Your human arms are probably close to falling off.”

Callum glowers in mild embarrassment. His arms were sore, but he would never admit it to her. Callum never really cared about his physical strength—that was more of Soren’s thing. His new thing—better thing—was magic, and he didn’t need to swing a sword to do magic. Plus, he was content following Rayla, who was definitely the strongest person he’s ever met. She could outrun any adversary that pursued them, cut down branches like they were parchment paper. But recently, he felt like he wanted to look tough for her, rowing the boat without a single complaint even though his muscles screamed in protest. It was a confusing feeling but one he couldn’t shake.

He stands up a little taller, chest out, and waves her away. “Nah, I feel fine. I just need a few hours to relax, then I’ll be ready to hit the water again.”

Rayla groans in exasperation, plopping herself on the ground. “The water…” She shivers, recalling the feeling of being stuck in what she basically considered a moving coffin. “I hate boats,” she grumbles. His bubbly laugh that follows makes her crack a small grin. She likes the way it sounds.

“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear.” He smiles. His eyes flit to the tight band on her wrist—her skin bruised and swollen around the edges—and his eyebrows knit in concern.

“How’s your hand?” he asks.

Rayla glances at the binding: a dark promise she made to kill the young prince of Katolis. Prince Ezran, the sweetest, most caring boy she’s ever met, someone who would travel across the world to do what was best for his people. And Rayla’s. Someone she now considered a friend. Guilt threads its way tight around her heart, more painful than the binding that threatens to cut off her circulation. So much has changed since she made that promise. She couldn’t possibly keep it now. She quickly covers the band with her other hand, hoping to change the subject and quell Callum’s worry.

“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Callum’s voice is somber, a rare occurrence. He usually approaches conflict with a somewhat naïve sense of optimism, making jokes and elaborate plans with a penchant for the dramatic—I do my spell, you swish your swords, and kersplat! The monster’s dead. But Rayla sees a different side of him when he’s concerned about his friends. He’s quieter, a lot more reserved. Someone who has seen loss, carries pain for the people he cares about. She doesn’t want to hear that voice. She doesn’t deserve his pity—not for this.

“It’s nothing, Callum. Just Moonshadow elf stuff…”

“If it keeps getting tighter, what will happ—”

“It’s fine, Callum,” she snaps. Callum winces slightly, and Rayla feels a pang of guilt. She can’t help but try to shut him up. She doesn’t like anyone worrying about her when she’s the one supposed to be protecting them.

“Okay, okay, I’ll drop it,” he says, holding his hands up in surrender.

Rayla sighs and holds out her hand. “This binding,” she begins, “is a promise I made before our mission. I have to return the Dragon Prince to its home. Then, the spell will be broken, and I’ll be free. Simple as that.” What would he do if he knew?

“Oh. Well, that’s pretty inconvenient. How are you supposed to do cool tricks with your blade with that thing squeezing you?”

“I’m aware of how hard it is to move,” she groans. “I can still fight just as well with one hand.”

“That’s so cool,” he says with unabashed admiration, and Rayla can’t help the blush that colors her cheeks, thankful that it’s too dark for Callum to notice.

“I’ll be fine. As long as I can still hold my sword, it’s nothing.”

Callum nods, sensing that she’s minimizing the pain. Then, his face lights up with an idea. “One sec.”

He quickly trods toward the campsite, and Rayla looks curiously after him. Several minutes pass, and she begins to feel anxious. She’s just about to get up and see what’s wrong when she sees him walk toward her with a small pot they use to cook their game. There’s water inside, and the sight of it makes Rayla cringe.

“Oh, so now you’re bringing the water to me. Woooow, how thoughtful,” she bites.

Callum shakes his head and settles down next to her. “I just scooped some from the river bed. It’s pretty icy, so I thought it might numb the pain a little bit.”

Rayla raises her eyebrows in surprise, touched by his small act of kindness. She didn’t tell him just how much her hand hurt, but he must’ve been paying close attention.

“Oh. Thank you,” she says, awkwardly fidgeting with the band on her wrist.

He sets the basin on the ground between them. “Here.” He reaches for her hand, and she gently places it in his. Something flutters in her stomach as he guides it into the water.

The cold water shocks her nerves at first and then she feels a tingling, numbing sensation that makes her breathe a deep sigh of relief. She beams at Callum, happy that it worked.

“Better?” he asks with a warm smile.

“So much better. Thank you.” She looks into his eyes and is overcome by a wave of sentimentality. Here he was, holding the hand that was raised to kill his kind. So blissfully unaware. So…human. And yet, there was a wisdom to him that she’d underestimated. Just like his game of questions on the boat, his gentle touch was his subtle way of showing her that he cares. They may not always see eye to eye—Rayla’s stubbornness saw to that—but still, he cares. In his own small, human way.

“Thank you for helping us get this far. It’s the least I could do.”

Rayla can’t stop thinking about her hand in his. “Yeah, well, I’m not the one rowing the boat,” she offers with a shy smile.

Callum notices he’s still holding her hand and quickly withdraws his. He clears his throat, drying his hand on his pants, and hopes she doesn’t see him blushing. Rayla’s face grows hot, and the fluttering sensation spreads from her stomach to her chest. Callum gives a wry smile when he sees her frazzled expression. For once, she looks like a normal girl…er, elf girl, he thinks.

“Let’s travel on foot tomorrow,” Callum says. “My arms really are about to fall off.”

“Thank you,” Rayla sighs in gratitude. “I can show you how to hunt game, if you’d like. That way we can split up and cover more ground.”

“I like that idea. My dad would like it too. He always wants me to go hunting with him.”

Rayla averts his gaze, her chest weighing even heavier with guilt. His father, the king. Gone. She can’t bear to tell Callum as he wistfully talks about making him proud.

Callum notices she’s gone quiet. “Rayla, are you okay?”

Rayla nods, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Yeah. The water’s getting warm. I should go back to night watch. I slept way too long, and who knows what’s lurking out here.”

“Please, let me. You look wiped out. You were even drooling in your sleep,” he teases.

“Ugh! Moonshadow elves don’t drool in their sleep. It’s unbecoming.”

“Right,” he smirks. “Well then, I better get back to check on Ez. And our egg...friend.”

“I’ll stay up, Callum. Go to sleep,” she instructs.

“I will. ‘Night, Rayla.”

“Good night, Callum.”

Callum walks away, smiling to himself as he thinks about the look she gave him when he retracted his hand. Almost as awkward and embarrassed as he felt. His newfound ally—No. Friend.

Rayla quickly scales a nearby tree with low-hanging branches, getting a birds-eye view of their campsite. She watches him walk away, hugging himself to stay warm in the cold night air. She looks at her bruised hand again, tries to conjure up the feeling of his warm touch. It’s a feeling she’s not quite comfortable with, one almost as alien as her new human friend. But also a feeling she doesn’t want to forget, and some part deep inside her hopes she’ll never have to.

#writing #rayllum #rayllumweek2019 #tdp #the dragon prince #rayla #callum #short fic #rayllum week #day 4 #blah blah

[dork-empress]

Dark Magic Callum

Part of my ‘another 100 dragon prince aus’ oneshot collection

read on ao3

Callum takes a different route in his vision quest

You Know I Had To Do It

The hooded figure of...well, himself, stood before him. “No,” he muttered, “I wanted to learn PRIMAL magic. Like the elves and dragons have.”

“You can’t.” the figure before him said, but not in his voice. Slowly the figure morphed into the image of Lujanne, her eyes black and skin cracked like a porcelain doll. “You’re a human. Humans aren’t connected to the arcanum. You’re too ordinary.”

“But I can learn,” Callum said, “I WANT to learn. I’m willing to do anything, please.”

“Anything?” The image of Lujanne asked, and then switched to Callum again, “Then you know what you have to do for the dark magic.”

“No,” Callum said, “Rayla said….Rayla said it was dangerous. Too dark. Too...awful a thing.”

His face changed to that of Rayla’s. “And you believe everything she says?” the girl said, “She lied to you, time and time again. She tried to kill you! And you’ve only known her a week, You’ve been living in a place filled with Dark Magic ever since before you were born. Dark magic is what made your life possible!”

“Dark magic is what got us into this war,” Callum said, “That’s what my step-dad said. He no longer trusted it, and I trust him.”

“King Harrow said that the world was complicated,” The image of Rayla rippled to show him Harrow instead, “Evils have been done on both sides. The dragons were so afraid of the idea of Dark magic, they re-populated your entire race and split the country down the middle!”

“Because dark magic was killing magic creatures! Creatures like the dragons!”

The image of Harrow laughed, haunting and cruel. “No, boy. Think about it. For ages, Dragons and elves had all the magic while humans had nothing. Do you know what happens when one side has power and another doesn’t?” Callum swallowed, “Come now, you’ve read history books before. History echoes one event leading into another and then the next and the next, all of them remarkably similar. So tell me.”

Callum bowed his head. “Oppression,” he answered, “War.”

“Yes.” Harrow’s image said, “So, tell me, who is it who’s responsible for the war.”

Callum frowned. “Both,” he said, “Both parties.”

“Correct,” Harrow said, walking circles around him, “You learned well. And once they had dark magic, the humans finally had an even hand.”

“But it involves killing things.”

“So does cooking,” Harrow said, walking around, behind Callum, “Do you mourn the chicken thats made for your supper?”

“It’s different,” Callum said, trying to find arguments, “I need to eat or I’ll die.”

“You could become a vegetarian. Oh, but that’s harder, isn’t it. All about the morals until it means eating your vegetables, hm?”

Callum looked down at his feet, his mind scrambling, “I don’t want to kill things, though. It didn’t do anything to me.”

“Tell me, do you feel particularly bad about killing the little worm that saved your friend?” He asked, “Or is killing reserved for spiders you’re scared of?”

Callum swallowed, trying to think. “It’s...it’s evil.”

“Am I evil?” a new voice said behind him. Callum turned to see Claudia, beautiful as ever standing there, “Is that what you think of me?”

“You’re not Claudia,” Callum took a step back, “And Claudia...she...she’s made mistakes. She tried to kill the dragon, and take Zym back, and capture us and--”

“She did it to try and keep you safe,” Claudia said, “She used dark magic to find you, to try and save you, and save a town under dragon attack. What about that is evil?”

Callum opened and closed his mouth, “It’s just...it can be...VIREN stole my voice with Dark magic, kept me from my father, killed the dragon king.”

“A sword may be used to kill or to defend.” Claudia said, stepping forward, “Your mother was a warrior, as is your aunt and your step-dad and Soren. All of them have killed people. Do you call them evil?”

“It’s different.”

“It’s not.” Claudia said, stepping forward. She lifted the cube in Callum’s hand, and when Callum looked into her eyes, she had changed once again into his mother. “It’s a tool,” Sarai said, “A tool that can be used by the most evil of men, or the most good. You, Callum, you could use it for good.”

Callum contemplated the cube in his hand. “I could help save Rayla,” he muttered, “Save Zym, and Ezran. I could make peace with the elves and the dragons.”

“Yes, Callum,” Sarai said, holding his face in her hands, staring at him with blank black eyes, take it, take it into yourself.” and she pushed his hand, bringing the cube to his heart.

In the waking world, a dark glowing force emanated around Callum’s body, a terrifying aura that made his limbs jerk awkwardly, like a puppet on strings. “Oh Callum,” Rayla said, watching him, “Oh Callum, what have you done?”

#the dragon prince #tdp #tdp callum #tdp fic #tdp fanfic #laura writes #another 100 dragon prince aus

[beautifulterriblequeen]

If your Runaan is King theory is true, do you think there might be any parallels between Runaan and Lain friendship and Harrow and Viren friendship (before Viren was taken over by dark magic)? And if Harrow died before he and Viren drew apart, would he have asked Viren to take care of his kids (same way Lain did with Runaan)?

Oh man, this is such a fun question! Gosh gosh gosh. I think there should be parallels there, yes! Lain is Runaan’s BFF, and Viren was Harrow’s. Like, that parallel is already there. The BFFs have/had a wife, and the leaders have had spouses too. There’s a group of four for each of them, two couples, with these pairs of men as the closest friends. 

Both sets of relationships are complicated, and though we know a bunch of the issues Viren and Harrow have dealt with, we really don’t know much about Lain and Runaan’s friendship or how it’s affected their friend group and marriages, aside from two things: Lain got Ruthari together by encouraging Runaan to tell Ethari how he felt, and Laindrin trusted Ruthari with Rayla’s upbringing. That’s kind of all we got so far.

But I would love to see a handful more really key mirrors and parallels in place. Some things that are the same, and some that are different. That’s really how this show’s characterization works, so I’m practically expecting it.

Viren and Lissa divorced because Viren was creeping her out with his dark magic, apparently. Lain and Tiadrin are still together, and they fight as a dedicated battle couple. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t face some kind of crisis moment too, where maybe Lain had a hard choice to make and Tiadrin decided to support him instead of pull away--or maybe Tiadrin was the one making the choice. 

Maybe it involved having Rayla? Or joining the Dragonguard? If Lain was the one invited, and he really wanted to go, Tiadrin would have to choose between staying with Rayla or staying with Lain. That’s a big echo of Claudia’s “Don’t make me choose!” right there, so maybe there’s something to that? (I have an angsty hc that Runaan, as the assassin leader, sent them both to the Storm Spire for many reasons. If one of them was to prevent Tiadrin having to choose, and if he chose to suffer the loss of both so they could remain together, gosh...) If they struggled with a decision and then left together, then Runaan and Ethari would have to support their friends’ departure while trusting that they’d be stronger together. Oh man, the feels.

Harrow and Viren are both men who will do things on their own if they must. We saw Sarai as more of a “I can go with you or leave you to your folly but clearly you need my help” kind of person when it came to the Magma Titan mission. And iirc there’s a tweet out there saying that Tiadrin and Sarai would be great friends if they met under peaceful circumstances. 

So maybe Tiadrin, with her tactical mind, has the same approach as Sarai, and Lain is more of a “Dude, bro, dude, let’s just do the thing, bro my dude my guy, I gotchu.” He’s very supportive, but that can also become enabling if it goes a little too far, so maybe Lain has gotten Runaan into some tight spots, or at least not talked him out of said spots, over the course of their friendship? And it was Tiadrin who saved their butts, which she does not let them forget. I can see Sarai teasing her boys about their follies and her needing to save the day, too, gosh I love that.

We don’t know what kind of societal role Lissa had. I’ve been assuming she didn’t fight like Sarai did, but I could be super wrong on that. If she isn’t a combatant, then she actually kinda parallels Ethari. Three fighters and someone who doesn’t fight, but with the pairings are swapped. That just adds more possibility to the paralleling options, though. 

And I’m wondering, maybe Runaan and Ethari had a moment like Lissa and Viren, where Ethari might’ve had to choose whether to stay with this stabby idiot after he saw something very unpleasant. Perhaps it was Runaan getting his scars? Viren sacrificed someone (presumably) to save Soren’s life. Perhaps Runaan nearly sacrificed his own on a mission. There’s a really dark parallel with these two about how little they value life--extra ironic and complicated for Runaan as a Moonshadow--and I can totally see a big scary moment happening where their spouses realize exactly how different their loved one’s philosophy is from their own. Except that Ethari stayed and Lissa left. and now Runaan has gone but Viren remains, aaaaa

I wonder how the other couples might’ve played out, there. When Viren and Lissa split, how did Harrow and Sarai handle it? What did Harrow try to do for his friend? Did they try to reconcile the couple? Probably. That could’ve felt like political pressure to Lissa. And I wonder if Harrow even knew what Viren had done to save Soren’s life, that he killed someone. I bet Viren wouldn’t tell him that part. Maybe he even lied, because his need to be Harrow’s friend, to be close to power and allowed to practice his magic, was so strong.

Lain and Tiadrin would’ve tried to talk to Runaan and Ethari too, I’m sure. They’re both assassins, just like Runaan, so they’d see his side, and Ethari might’ve felt very pressured as well, to just submit and go along. Not just as a freaked out spouse, but as the craftsman who made weapons for the assassin leader and for others, keeping them safe. If he left... who would keep Runaan safe? That’s kinda sus, bro. But I can see the Moonshadow logic in it.

Viren has attached himself to Harrow as friend and protector, and he’s dedicated years of his life to helping Harrow protect their people. Possibly Lain had the same motivation? “This guy’s important, so I wanna be his friend and help him out with that.” That’s not a bad thing at all. Viren’s motives were a little tainted by dark magic. Maybe Lain’s a stand-up guy. But maybe he also has some kind of self-interest involved in being Runaan’s best friend, too. Moonshadows be complicated.

tl;dr: Yes anon I am very here for an interwoven, complicated friendship between Lain and Runaan that involves spouses and plenty of good and bad history, similar to the long and complex relationship between Harrow and Viren. I am jonesing for more moonfam backstory so bad.

As to your other question, I do think that Harrow would’ve wanted to entrust his children to Viren before he and the dark mage drew apart. The question that arises for me is: when did that begin? 

I think it began with Sarai’s death. Harrow had his own plan, but he trusted Viren and did it his way, and he lost his wife in the process. Fifty thousand lives is a lot more than one life. But that one life was the most precious one to Harrow, and it made the sacrifice personal in a way that losing fifty thousand citizens never would be. 

Harrow might still have given his kids to Viren. But Amaya was also a choice. The general or the mage? Neither are super safe for a childhood environment.

Interestingly, in this parallel, Amaya is a lot more like Runaan: the fighter, who would’ve trained Callum and Ezran to fight because they grew up in such a dangerous environment. I wonder if there was another option for Laindrin to give Rayla to, one that was more magical, or more dubious? Lujanne comes to mind! Hah, can you imagine? Crikey!

I think that if Harrow and Sarai needed to give their boys to someone, Sarai would advocate for Amaya and win: “With troops like Gren and Corvus and the whole Standing Battalion to protect and raise them, there’s no safer place in all of Katolis!” It sounds like something Tiadrin would say about leaving Rayla with Runaan and Ethari, amidst the assassin corps. It’s not ideal by miles, but I can see why she, as a warrior herself, would see safety and a like-minded community as the strongest benefits.

If it was only Harrow, after Sarai died, it might still be Amaya, because his trust in Viren had begun to fracture, but it’s hard to say. I get the feeling that Harrow has never really seen Viren as dad material, even though he has kids. That hug thing in the S1 novelization was really weird, and I will never unsee Viren saying “familial clasp.” Viren, why are you like this. Anyway, Harrow might just decide that leaving his kids with a guy who literally doesn’t know what a hug is, might not be the best move for their emotional development.

He’s a good dad, an angry widower, an iffy king, a great jokester, a loving husband, and a loyal friend. He’s as complicated as Runaan is, kings or no. But I hope that he and Viren had many years of true friendship, just like I suspect Runaan and Lain have had. Positive, healthy relationships are good for everyone.

Please though, TDP, moonfam friendship stuff. This parallel is begging to happen and things don’t feel balanced without it. What’s that, there’s not enough time? 

*magically sprinkles five extra minutes onto each episode* Reality schmeality.

#asks #viren #harrow #lain #runaan #tdp parallels #king runaan #moonfam #amaya #rayla

[tenspontaneite]

Peace Is A Journey (Chapter 6/?)

In which Rayla’s life begins to get a whole lot more painful.

(Chapter length: 13k. Link to Ao3 version)

“How are we going to do this, Claudia? It’s been days! They could be anywhere!”

Claudia stood well back from the clanking commotion her brother’s pacing made in the hall, brows furrowed and fingers tapping a little nervously at her bag, hyper-aware of what she knew was in there. “Relax, Soren. It’s not that bad.”

“How is it ‘not that bad’?” he demanded, stopping to whirl and face her, crossing his arms with a metallic shhnk. “Dad says they took a boat! We can’t use tracking dogs on a boat!”

She rolled her eyes, and then waved her hand dismissively for good measure. “Psh. That’s not a problem. We just have to follow the river until we find where they left the boat, and then the dogs can do their jobs. Finding the trail won’t be a problem. What I’m worried about is catching up to them.” Her fingers stilled on the bag and its precious contents. “The scent trail won’t last if it rains, you know.”

He squinted at her, thinking it out. “So you’re saying…finding them is going to be easy…until it rains.”

She shot him a thumbs-up, grinning encouragingly, and after a moment, hesitantly opened her bag. In one corner were the new ingredients. The…emergency ingredients. One of which, even carefully wrapped, was nearly big enough to poke out of the bag. She ignored those, very carefully. She rooted through the rest of it, frowning thoughtfully, while Soren started pacing again. She eventually remembered to actually say something, rather than get entirely side-tracked by thoughts of spells, and affirmed “yes, Soren, that’s what I’m saying.”

He did not find this encouraging.

“It’s spring! It rains every week! Sometimes lots of times a week! And sometimes there’s even storms!” As a man who regularly went about wearing a full suit of metal armour, Soren had been suitably intimidated about the dangers of being out in the open during a thunderstorm, and as such had acquired in training a fear of lightning that he’d never had as a child.

“That’s true!” She agreed brightly, still rummaging. She…just…really didn’t have many of the necessary components, did she? And even if she did…

“Claudia, why aren’t you more worried?” He stopped in front of her again, foot tapping, face kind of hilariously screwed-up. He looked like one of those puppies with the really wrinkly faces. She kind of wanted to smoosh his cheeks up to increase the resemblance. Her fingers twitched towards him and he, well-accustomed to having her as a sister, gave her a dirty look and ducked away. “Claudia,” he complained, crossly. “This is serious!”

She eyed him, humour dimming for a second, and sighed.

Yes. Yes, it was serious. An elf assassin had somehow convinced Callum and Ez to go with her, and they had the egg of the most powerful creature in the world with them. Dad was scared about the loss of that egg. Genuinely, truly scared, enough that he’d told her outright that the egg was a higher priority than her brother’s life. That…was worrying.

But magic could ease a lot of ills. It was helpful like that. Claudia smiled mysteriously, and tapped the side of her nose. “If we lose the trail, there’s a tracking spell we can use, I think.” She conceded, eventually, and put a hand on his shoulder to shove him in the direction of the princes’ quarters. “We’ll need to pick up some ingredients, though. I don’t have most of what I need.”

He looked vaguely mollified, and started walking of his own accord beside her. “Okay. You’ve got a magic-tracking-thing to do. That’s…good. I think.” He allowed her to lead him along the halls, brow furrowed in thought. “So…can we just skip the ‘following them with dogs and horses for days’ thing? Just use the spell right away? That would be faster, wouldn’t it?”

She patted him on the shoulder. “Not…exactly. It’s a little complicated!”

Soren gave her his best unimpressed stare. It mostly just looked petulant, though, so she was unmoved. “Complicated, how?”

“Well…” Claudia smiled cheerfully. “Normally, this spell needs to be done at the top of Mount Kalik to work! Which, as you can imagine, complicates things a little.”

He stared, for a second, and then spluttered. “Mount Ka – complicates things? By the time we get up the mountain, they’ll be half-way to Xadia!” Not even really an exaggeration, she thought. Ascending Mount Kalik couldn’t be done in less than a week, even if you were desperate. If you wanted to avoid dying from exposure, or mountain-sickness, or both – well, it could take you much longer than just a week. And that wasn’t even counting the time needed to descend it afterwards.

“Yes, Soren, that is what I meant by ‘complicates things’.” She agreed. “And that’s why I need to adapt it. I think if I work at it, I can adapt the spell to just need a…really tall mountain, instead of the tallest mountain.” Well. Tallest mountain in the Pentarchy, anyway. She had no idea if the Xadians had taller mountains or not. At any rate, the original spell wanted to be cast on the tallest mountain within a certain distance. A certain very large distance. She could probably meddle with the boundaries of that, and make it accept the tallest mountain within, say, ten metres.

Soren made a suspicious noise at her. “But doesn’t that mean we still need to climb a mountain?”

Claudia waved dismissively at him, pulling him around the corner, just a short distance from their destination. “You like climbing, Soren. You love going up on the battlements, you know you do.”

“…I do like climbing.” He admitted, side-eying her with a little more interest. “But wouldn’t climbing a mountain still, like, mean the princes get more time to – walk places, and stuff?”

Claudia thought of the new things in the corner of her bag, and suppressed a shiver. She wasn’t sure whether she was excited or terrified at the prospect of it, but…it would certainly be something, wouldn’t it, to channel that sort of power? “Yes. Yes, it does. But you leave that to me, Soren.”

She stopped them before the door, back straightening and shoulders squaring. Soren finally seemed to realise where they were. “Hey, isn’t this the-“

She pushed open the door to Callum and Ezran’s rooms, and peered around, taking in the drawings, the books, the disarray the boys’ swift exit had left the place in. Though, that could well just be boys being messy. It’s not like she saw these rooms very often, after all.

“Why are we here?” Her brother asked, exasperated, as he followed her about the room, watching her go through the drawers with absolutely no idea of what she was doing. But that was okay. Claudia knew very well what she was looking for, and soon enough, she found it.

She held up the hairbrush she’d found near the bed, its bristles half-covered in useful spell material, and smiled. “That’s the first ingredient we need.” She said, satisfied, and plucked the hair from the brush. “The others…well, they’ll take a bit more work.” A smile stretched across her face, slowly.

Soren eyed her uncertainly. “You’re doing that voice again. The creepy-voice. The ‘I’m thinking about wasp butts’ voice.”

Psh. As if she’d ever be thinking about anything as useless as wasp butts. Claudia snorted, and tucked the clump of what looked like both princes’ hair into a secure pocket in her bag. “Come on, Sor-bear. Let’s go find your dogs.”

She led him, still-complaining, out of the room.

  The afternoon that Rayla finally admitted the truth about her wrist binding, the boys closed ranks around her in a way that was both bemusing and a little touching – at least at first. They stuck to her side like glue, hovering at her heels, anxiously taking every task out of her hands that they could…and while Rayla appreciated them doing their bit for the camp-stuff, the coddling got old pretty fast.

Eventually, when Calum tried to insist on carrying their bags all over to the tent himself, interposing himself between her and their stuff, she rolled her eyes and abruptly lost patience with it all. She stepped up to him, unceremoniously hauled him over her shoulder, and relished in his astonished squawk as she carried him like a very large sack of potatoes over to the tent and dumped him there. Carefully, mind, since she had no interest in hurting him, but the action was definitely best described as dumping.

Rayla straightened up, her lips twitching into a self-satisfied smile, and inspected his reaction. He was wide-eyed and open mouthed, staring at her with the most comically astonished expression she’d seen on him yet. It was great. “Buh – wha-“ He stammered, ineffectually, and she smirked wider.

“Let’s get this straight, sunshine.” She told him, feeling very pleased with herself as she squared her shoulders and planted her hands on her hips. “My hand being messed up doesn’t make me fragile, and you and Ez don’t need to keep bending over backwards to try to do everything for me. Alright?”

Eyes still hilariously wide, he nodded dumbly as he stared up at her. “…Alright.” He agreed, in something of a squeak.

She nodded back, exceptionally satisfied with his reaction, and turned to see what Ez had thought of the whole thing. His eyes were wide too, but he looked more delighted than astounded.

“Rayla, that was so cool.” He declared, scampering up to her to beam at her from close range. “You picked up my entire brother.”

She snorted, and grinned at him, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Yep, that’s what happened. And it wasn’t even hard. He’s a skinny bugger, that one.” Ez giggled as his brother spluttered, though whether it was at her choice of words or the sentiment conveyed, she wasn’t sure. She observed the little prince for a second and then, on impulse, said “you want a go at being carried about, Ez?”

His eyes lit up. “Yes!” he blurted, almost incredulously, as if he were shocked she’d need to ask. She huffed at him, grinned, then bent down to scoop him up, throwing him over her shoulder like she had his brother. Naturally, he was considerably lighter than even Callum, so she felt perfectly able to haul him back and forth across the camp several times to convey each of their bags, one-by-one, to the front of the tent. Just to prove she could. Callum watched with eyes wide as saucers the whole time, wordlessly taking the bags from her to stow in the space between the outer and inner tent layers. Ezran laughed madly with delight throughout the whole thing, clearly having the time of his life.

She noticed, idly, that neither of them seemed to particularly react to her picking up Ez’s bag, even with the dragon egg in it. Just the other day they’d been side-eyeing her a little watchfully whenever she was especially close to it, but now there was no trace of that, which was interesting. Maybe they were just distracted?

Ignoring that track of thought for the most part, Rayla carried Ez around the camp one last time for good measure, then set him down next to Callum, laughing a little helplessly at the looks they both gave her once they were both sat there. Callum was looking very conspicuously impressed, and Ez looking like he thought she’d hung the moon, and both of them were very clearly absolved of any misconceptions about her fragility.

“The looks on your faces.” She said, shaking her head at them, and laughed again.

Callum chuckled, a little sheepish, and rubbed the back of his neck under the scarf. “Ahaha. Yeah, um, that was pretty impressive?” he offered, having apparently finally found his words. “I mean, I knew you were strong, but – wow. I don’t know if I could even pick up Ezran.”

“Want to try?” The prince in question suggested, nudging him in the side, eyes bright.

He huffed. “Nah, I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

Rayla smiled with a little more warmth than she’d intended, genuinely gratified by their response. She knew, intellectually, that she was unusually strong and fast even for an assassin with her level of training…but, well, it had been a long time since that was something surprising or impressive to anyone, rather than just something that was expected of her. It was nice.

But that was enough ego-boosting for her for now, anyway. Time to get on with camp chores. She shook her head, as if to dispel some of the levity. “All that aside, we should make a start on dinner. Get that out of the way so we can relax a bit. Get the cooking things out of the bags for me, will you?” She said, and then turned on her foot to go arrange the already-collected campfire materials. The rocks had been lined up; she set to work putting in the wood and leaves and grasses they’d collected.

Ez arrived not long afterwards with the metal pot under one arm and the jar of leftover fish under the other. Callum followed with the other jar, laden with some remaining greenery she’d grabbed during the day, as well as, unsurprisingly, more fish. They had a fair bit of it to get through. “What are we eating tonight?”

“Thought we could warm up the fish and eat it with some greens.” She said, and inspected the jars. “Actually, have you got that little pot of jam I got from your lodge? We’ve not used that yet. Might make the fish a bit less boring.” As they would soon learn, cooking during travel was mainly a game of throwing weird flavours together and trying to create something vaguely not-bland. Even weird flavour combinations tended to be appealing after weeks of eating homogenised clumps of the same thing over and over again.

“The…jelly?” Ezran guessed, exchanging a glance with his brother.

“If that’s what you call it.”

“Huh. Fruit with fish.” He considered it. “That sounds weird. I’ll go get it!” He said, seemingly delighted, and ran back to the tent, little legs apparently not that tired from the day of walking.

Rayla smiled faintly after him as he went, then turned to Callum, reaching to the side to fish the sparkrocks out of the pot. “Want to try starting the fire yourself today?” She offered, holding them out with her bad hand. He eyed them for a second – or maybe he was eyeing the hand – and took them with a lopsided smile.

“I’ll give it a go, sure.” He said, and leaned forwards over the to-be fire. “So, what do I do?”

It took him a fair few tries and quite a lot of ineffectual sparking before he managed it, but he got it eventually, and that was another critical travel skill learned. Which was…good. Using sparkrocks like these required the use of two hands, after all. And no matter what the boys had said on the matter, Rayla was not in the least optimistic about her chances of keeping her left hand for long.

  They cooked, ate, and cleaned up after themselves with increasingly-efficient coordination, and in the end were left with still a couple of hours to kill before they should be getting to sleep.

“Hah, wow. Maybe I have time to draw while sitting down today.” Callum remarked when she told them that, brightening at the idea. “I mean, I do okay while I’m walking, but it’s not the same, you know?”

“You’re less likely to trip over things this way, too.” Rayla told him dryly, looking up as Ezran returned to join them near the campfire, egg held firmly in his arms. He sat down with it and shuffled up to his brother, who had already withdrawn his sketchbook.

“What are you going to draw?” he asked, watching as Callum turned the pages, settling cross-legged with the luminescent dragon egg resting comfortably in his lap.

“Not sure yet – oh, huh.” He made an interested noise as a piece of paper fell out. “Oh, I forgot about this. You were writing draconic words on here, right, Rayla?”

She blinked and looked over at her name. “Hm? Oh, yeah.” She said, and peered at the paper. “Don’t expect it’ll be anything useful though. I couldn’t think of any obvious sky magic words.”

His lips turned upwards. “Except for fulminis. And inpulsis.” He pointed out, with a smile, and opened the paper, eyes running over her handwriting with interest. “…Huh. Ancient Draconic has different names for months and days?”

She rolled her eyes. “Ancient Draconic is where the modern month and day names come from.” She corrected. “Well. Mostly.”

Ez poked his head over to look, clearly interested. “They do look kind of the same.” He commented. “So, in Draconic, my birthday would be in….” he squinted. “Martias? That one doesn’t sound that much like ‘March’.”

“Mine sounds similar, but also kind of like someone’s name.” Callum commented, with an interested stare at the page. “’Julius’. Huh.”

Rayla blinked at him, mildly surprised. “Huh.” She echoed, drawing his attention.

“What is it?”

She shrugged and offered a smile. “Looks like we’re both July birthdays.” She answered, and his eyes lit up a bit, pleased at this little coincidence. His mouth opened, and anticipating the question, she told him “thirty-first” before he could ask.

His mouth closed for a moment. “Fifteenth for me.” He added, after a second, observing her with an odd look on his face, as if he’d had a weird thought and didn’t know what to do with it. She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for him to say whatever was on his mind, but he didn’t. Just sort of scrutinised her, looking mildly uncomfortable.

“By the way,” She said, when she’d grown tired of seeing whether or not he’d say anything. “Julius was someone’s name. He was an ancient Dragon King. Named a month after himself.” She pointed at the next month on the list. “Agustus, too.” She wasn’t exactly interested in history, but even she knew that much. It was kind of interesting that these humans didn’t. They were princes, right? Which should mean they were, well, educated? She wondered what other things might be common knowledge to elves but completely unknown to humans.

There was a conspicuous, surprised pause as the two of them digested that. “Two of our months are named after dragons?” Ezran reacted first, looking down at the egg in his lap. “Cool,” he concluded, a second later.

Her lips quirked at his enthusiasm. “I guess it is.” She agreed, and was about to point out the weekdays named for the sun and moon when Callum apparently got whatever thought he’d been having into words.

“Uh, Rayla? Can I ask something?” He rested his hands at the edges of his sketchbook, as if to give them something to do. When she glanced across at him, he seemed a little hesitant. She eyed him, and nodded, gesturing for him to speak. He mulled his words over for a few seconds before saying “I heard that elves live a long time. Is that true?”

One of her eyebrows went up. Her first thought was to say depends on the type of elf. Instead, she answered “well, we don’t have the typical human sub-century life expectancy, if that’s what you’re asking.” She watched him, trying to discern what exactly had put that weird look on his face. Was he actually curious about elf lifespans, or-

“Does that mean you’re like, eighty years old or something?” he asked finally. “Like, do elves grow a lot slower than – hey!” He crossed his arms, an almost pouty frown settling over his face as she bent forwards and laughed, loudly, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she chortled into it. “It’s a reasonable question! How am I meant to know how fast elves grow?”

She held up a finger as if to shush him, shoulders shaking helplessly with now-silent laughter, hilarity bubbling in her chest at the question. Moon and stars, humans really didn’t know anything about elves, did they?

“I’m getting the idea that Rayla is not eighty years old.” Ezran announced, watching her with a little smile of his own as she managed to abate the laughs into a more restrained snickering.

“Yes, Ez, thanks for clearing that up.” Callum said grumpily, and she peered at him and his disgruntled expression and nearly started laughing all over again.

Well, it was at least still a much funnier cultural misunderstanding than the ‘blood-drinkers’ thing. “I’m only fifteen, you daft humans.” She informed them, finally, still chuckling under her breath. “We grow just as fast as you lot.” She paused, and frowned a little. “I mean, I think.” She eyed Callum, who seemed more or less of an age with her, by her standards. A bit shorter than an elf her age would usually be, but who knew if that was human-normal. Maybe he was younger than her?

Ezran hummed thoughtfully while Callum was, apparently, still processing. “So you’re a year older than Callum, I think.” He concluded, looking up at his brother for confirmation.

“Yeah, seems that way.” He agreed, after a moment, and inspected her. “…Do fifteen-year-olds usually get sent out as assassins, in Xadia?” His tone was dubious. “I mean, I know someone who was training as a Crownguard when he was our age, but that’s not exactly normal.”

Rayla processed the words, previous good humour dimming abruptly at the things they called to mind. She looked away. “…Not normal, no. I guess I’m a bit of prodigy…and, well, because of my parents – some people thought I deserved the chance to make up for what they did.” Some people, such as Runaan, the lead assassin. Quite possibly the one who’d killed these boys’ father. Coincidentally, the elf who was essentially a second father to her himself.

An elf who, very easily, might not even be alive now. You’ve killed us all, she remembered once again, and felt her shoulders stiffening.

She pushed the thoughts out her mind almost violently, refusing to think of it. It wasn’t relevant. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t. But it wasn’t relevant. It didn’t change her mission. It didn’t change anything. She wouldn’t think about it. She wouldn’t. Her jaw clenched, and she fixed her eyes determinedly on the fire as if to distract herself.

The hand that settled on her shoulder a few moments later startled her, and she jumped a little, looking round to see Callum reaching out and Ezran looking, both of them concerned. “I’m sorry if I brought up something…difficult.” Callum said, expression vaguely guilty, and drew his hand back. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Rayla looked at him, and at the honest concern on his face, felt an awfully multi-faceted guilt clench at her gut. It was guilt for what she’d still not told them about their father, all tied up with her own sickening fear at the thought of what might have happened to Runaan. Her right hand tingled, as if somehow aware of the binding that had fallen from it days ago.

She had to tell them. They’d find out eventually. She had to tell them. But how could she? How could she possibly bring them with her into the reality where her family had killed theirs, and that was something they all had to live with?

She exhaled, shook her head a little, and forced a smile. “Let’s talk about something else.” She suggested, firmly, and pretended not to notice the glance that the brothers shared with each other.

Still, they humoured her, good-natured and clearly wanting to cheer her up again. “I was looking at this here.” Callum said, encouragingly, and shuffled over closer to her to point out two words on the page, near the start of where she’d written down most every idiom or phrase she could think of. Which, all told, was not many. “Is it a spell, or something?”

She inspected it, and despite her very recent dark thoughts, did huff a laugh at the example he’d chosen. “No, it’s a saying.” She informed him, lips twitching. “A popular one for Moonshadow elves, as a matter of fact.” Which was, incidentally, how she knew it.

“’Carpe noctem’?” He attempted, Ezran echoing him a second later, both becoming genuinely interested as they sank into their attempt to distract her. “What does it mean?”

“’Seize the night’.” Rayla said, with an ironic twist to her smile. “Sort of a way to say ‘make the best of your time’ or ‘live in the moment’.” Most other elves, being generally diurnal by nature, tended to use carpe diem instead, but, well. It was really not surprising that Moonshadow elves preferred the nocturnal equivalent.

“That sounds like a great saying for Moon elves.” Ezran decided, staring over at her with the innocent curiosity of a child. “I’m guessing you guys like the night, huh.”

She snorted. “Moonshadow elves feel most awake at night.” She informed him, and smiled at the way his eyes widened at that tidbit of knowledge. “Most elves prefer day-time, but not us.” In theory, Startouch elves also preferred the night – but, really, it wasn’t as if anyone actually really met a lot of Startouch elves these days, was it?

“Does that mean you’re sleepy in the day?” Ez prodded, an endless well of questions and childish fascination. Though, in fairness, his older brother was looking quite intrigued at the information, too.

Rayla eyed the brother in question a little as she answered, dryly, “It’s fine if I’ve had enough sleep.” He ducked his head and squirmed a bit, apparently recognising the gentle poke the words were at him. She wondered how much of a pain he’d be to share a tent with this night, and shook her head at him.

Ez, not blind to this exchange, giggled at his brother. “Callum, have you been talking in your sleep again?”

“I have not been-“ He broke off in the middle of a vaguely indignant denial, expression going decidedly nonplussed as he realised he didn’t know if he was speaking truth or not. He glanced warily at Rayla. “Er.”

“Not yet, he hasn’t.” Rayla confirmed honestly, with just the hint of a smirk. “He’s like you, though, Ez. Doesn’t know how to stay put when he sleeps.” She nudged Callum where he sat beside her, a little teasingly, to try to take any bite out of the teasing.

“I see.” The little prince said thoughtfully, ignoring the increasingly flustered look of his brother. “I am very sorry for your shins.”

“Eh, they’ll be alright.” Honestly, his arms were more prone to annoying space-invasion than his legs, anyway. “I’m tough.”

“Enough about Rayla’s shins.” Callum said, firmly, cheeks a little pink from all the discussion of his unconscious-self’s behaviour. “Can we please get back to the fascinating paper full of dragon-words, maybe?”

Rayla patted him on the arm and looked over. “Go on, then.” She agreed, obligingly, and allowed herself to be drawn into a demonstration of how exactly to pronounce all the months and days, and then-

“What’s all this? You’ve not written translations for any of it.”

She peered at it, and snorted. “Moonshadow elf curses.” She answered, dryly, and smirked at how quickly that elicited Ezran’s interest.

“Ooh,” he said, staring, only for Callum to determinedly fold that corner of the page so it couldn’t be read. “Hey.” He complained.

“The king will kill me if I bring you home cursing in Draconic.” He said, firmly, unwittingly making Rayla’s gut twist yet again. “Definitely not letting you learn those if I can help it.”

“Hmph. Well, I saw some of it already, so there.” Ezran declared proudly. After a moment, Rayla reached out to ruffle his hair.

“So? What did you see?” She asked, amused, determinedly ignoring her king-related troubles.

“Er.” He deflated. “Mostly I just saw the word ‘noviluna’ a lot.” Callum folded his arms, looking distinctly put out.

She huffed. “Well, on its own that one isn’t that rude. Just means ‘new moon’.” She patted him consolingly. “So you’re out of luck.”

He pouted. “Aww.”

“’New moon’ is rude for Moonshadow elves?” Callum asked, after a moment. “Why?”

Rayla looked up at the sky, where the sun was nearly set, and she could feel the moon preparing to rise. Waning gibbous; still a fair while from its most unpleasant state. “…Give it a couple of weeks, and you’ll find out.” She said, a little dryly, and directed their attention to the next things on the list. There wasn’t a great deal left, maybe, but it was a way to pass time.

When they were done, Callum set the paper aside, and started a new drawing. For lack of anything better to do, Rayla sat by and watched, listening as idle conversation passed between the two princes.

It didn’t take long for the shapes on the page to become distinctly recognisable. “You’re drawing my blades?” She said, intrigued, and leaned in.

He smiled at her, a little bashful, and nodded. “They’re pretty cool. I’ve been wanting to draw them since I used one for the fish the other day.”

“Huh.” She pronounced, after a second, newly fascinated by the process of watching him draw. It was oddly satisfying to watch the lines resolving into something recognisable, and she found herself quite interested to see how it turned out. “…Want me to get one out as a reference?”

“Thanks, but I got a pretty good look before. I’m probably fine.” He demurred, charcoal moving in quick lines over the page. It was a little baffling how he managed to draw clean lines like that with a blunt-looking stick of charcoal. When she’d written her list, the lines of her handwriting had been considerably more smudged and indistinct.

She recalled his apparent extremely good memory, and nodded, tilting her head. “Yeah, but have you seen the hook-form yet?” She inquired, unable to remember whether or not she’d used them as hooks within his eyesight or not.

He looked up from his sketchbook, flummoxed. “The what-now?”

Rayla grinned, and withdrew one of the sheathed blades. Flicked it out, then shifted it.

The reactions were exactly as appreciative as she could have hoped for. It was, she was discovering, pretty fun to travel with humans who found everything Xadian a novelty.

  That night, Rayla made the unpleasant discovery that her bound hand had grown sore enough that she could no longer sleep on her left side at all. She transitioned, uncomfortably, to sleeping flat on her back, and thereafter actually had a surprisingly uninterrupted night of sleep. Her hand and wrist ached ever more badly and woke her several times in the night, so it wasn’t perfect, but for once her tent-mates weren’t being an annoyance. Not a single time was she disturbed by an errant arm or leg. When she woke at dawn and looked over, she concluded that this was probably due to the way Callum seemed to have latched onto Ez in the night and lodged there, clinging to his brother as if he were a cuddly-toy.

It was pretty cute, actually. Especially as Ez himself was hugging the egg again, the two human princes illuminated in a soft blue by its glow between them. They made endearing enough a picture that Rayla almost felt bad that she had to wake them up.

She did it anyway.

Callum dragged himself out of the tent ten minutes later, when Rayla had sat cross-legged by the burnt-out campfire to inspect her hand, slowly flexing it back and forth and grimacing at the pain. She looked up at his approach, finding him as-expected looking pretty much dead on his feet, though a flicker of alertness came into his eyes at the sight of her hand.

“How’s it doing?” He asked, groggy, voice still rough from sleep, and settled heavily next to her, eyes still resting on her hand.

“…Not great.” She admitted, after a moment, still flexing it. “It’s pretty messed up. I can still move it if I have to, but…” It was stiff. Stiff, harder to move than it ought to be, and painful to move. She remembered her thought from the other day, and tried to massage along the digits a little, tried to get some semblance of circulation into the tissues. She left white trails across the dark skin where her fingers moved, every touch painful, like pressing on a bruise.

He watched her for a few long moments, very evidently fighting his way to proper alertness, and shuffled a little closer. “Can I…?” He raised his hands slightly, nodding towards the one she was nursing, and she blinked.

A little perplexed, she turned to hold it out to him, the motion somewhat hesitant. “Sure?” She offered, and looked down to watch her hand slip into his. His skin was warm. Warmer than she expected. But then, her bound hand was colder than it should be. It was oddly nice, even so.

He inspected it, almost analytically, pressing gently against the bruise-dark skin to see it blanche and then go dark again. He looked up watchfully, every other second, as if to check in with her. “It reminds me of tourniquets. You know, for when you’ve a really badly bleeding injury.” He said, abruptly, turning her hand over to better see her wrist where the binding held. “Field-healers get warned not to leave them on long, otherwise the limb doesn’t get enough blood, and then…well.”

“Then you end up losing it.” She said, dryly, and watched him flinch at the bluntness.

“Well, yeah.” He admitted, and inspected the binding itself. “This isn’t as tight as a tourniquet, so you’re doing better, but…it’s getting tighter, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, instead grimacing at how high the discolouration went up her arm. Almost to her elbow, really. “Shouldn’t you take this – arm guard thing – off? It’s got to be restricting your blood flow a bit, right? Maybe not much, but…” He shrugged, a little helplessly.

She stared at him as if with new eyes for a moment, a little surprised, and looked at her gauntlet with a frown. “I didn’t think of that.” She admitted. She hadn’t thought about intentionally trying to promote blood flow, though she should have. Stars, before last night, she’d even been mostly sleeping on her left. That probably hadn’t helped matters at all.

“You could put it back on over the binding, maybe, a bit looser?” He suggested, inspecting where the binding was tied over the guards. “I just feel like – this thing is putting pressure on way more of your arm than it should be, because it’s squeezing your whole arm-guard down, you know?”

Rayla considered it, flexing her hand again, and tried to decide whether she thought he was right. He…might have a point. It was constricting her gauntlet, which was constricting her arm… “If I take the guard off, won’t it just squeeze my wrist tighter in that one spot?” She said, honestly curious, and joined his hands with her right to press around the binding, testing for where the pressure was.

He grimaced. “Maybe.” He admitted. “I think…it’s kind of spread out now, so it’s affecting your arm as well as your hand, and maybe it’ll be worse for your hand if it’s less spread out, but…” He shifted uneasily. “If it gets tighter, though…” He trailed off.

“If it gets tighter I might not actually be able to get my gauntlet off?” She guessed, and he nodded.

“Yeah, pretty much.” He hesitated, and then let her hand go, admitting “I’m not sure what would be better to do.” His hands settled into his lap as he slumped, watching her for her response.

She hummed, thoughtfully, and kept her hand there, suspended between them, her fingers against the binding. In the worst-case that she thought most likely, having her gauntlet under the binding would be a huge complication. If she needed to amputate the hand herself – well. Having to cut through the guard as well as the flesh and bone wouldn’t only make it astronomically harder, but it would be a horrible infection risk too.

“…I think I should take it off.” She said, and hesitated with her fingers over the fabric edge of the guard, extending to the start of her hand. “…But it might be tricky to do.” She tried, gingerly, to pull at the guard from the other side of the binding, but it didn’t budge. She pulled a little harder and then hissed at the pain, fingers flinching back reflexively.

Callum twitched beside her, and she raised her eyes to see him watching with a frown, hands ever-so-slightly raised from his lap, as if drawn out by her pain. “Is it stuck?” He asked, worriedly, and she considered it.

The gauntlet itself was semi-flexible light armour, a type of magically-woven fabric that was intensely resistant to cutting or piercing, and distributed blunt force across a fairly wide area. It could stretch, a little, to fit the wearer – but it was generally pretty stiff. It would be hard to pull out from under the binding…but maybe not impossible.

It would be painful, though. That was certain. “Yeah, kinda.” She hedged, eyeing the binding apprehensively as she positioned her fingers for another attempt. She exhaled, steeled herself, and pulled.

The next few seconds passed strangely and not entirely coherently. She was aware of gasping with the pain – aware of dropping her fingers from the gauntlet and pulling her hand reflexively to her chest – aware of Callum’s alarmed response, the call of her name, the anxious hand resting on her arm.

“That,” She said, tightly, once her perception of time had returned to normal, “was not nice.”

“Yeah, I guessed.” He said, a little wide-eyed, and stared worriedly at her hand. “Can you get it off? Or-“ he hesitated, and left the question hanging.

“I have to. Or it’ll just get worse.” She closed her eyes to exhale through the aftershocks of pain, lingering in tender flesh and aching in her arm. “I should have thought of this earlier.” She made a disgusted noise at herself, shuffling restlessly on the damp morning-grass.

“…I realise this suggestion might be sort of in poor taste, but…do you think it would be easier in water?”

She eyed him, unimpressed. The suggestion made sense. That almost made it more annoying. “…Ugh.” She said, instead of actually answering the question. “We’ll have to try to stop near a proper water source today.”

He looked back at her, concerned and just a little wary. “Does that mean ‘yes’?”

“It means ‘you have a point, but I wish you didn’t’.” She answered, dryly, and rose to her feet. “Help me pack up the camp?”

“Sure.” Callum answered automatically, but then jerked his head towards the tent. “I think I need to go wake Ez up again, though. He should have been out by now.”

She listened for a few seconds, focusing, and snorted. “Yeah, he fell back asleep.”

He tilted his head and considered her. “…You have really good hearing, huh?”

Rayla reached out and lightly flicked one of his ears, grinning as he yelped. “Better than yours.” She said, a little impishly, and helped him to his feet. “Go on, then. Go wake your brother. We’ve got a long way to go today.”

“Seems we’ve got a long way to go every day.” He sighed. She patted him consolingly on the shoulder.

“Pretty much, yeah. Get going, you.”

He saluted solemnly, hand over his chest. “Yes, ma’am.” He said, amused, and turned to go crawl back into the tent.

  It had been a week since she bound herself to Ezran’s death. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that her hand was getting so much worse – she should have expected it. But she hadn’t, and that day, the pain was so much harder to ignore. It hurt when she moved it and hurt worse when she didn’t; if she let it lay idle for long enough, a numb ache built in it that grew more insistent and distracting with every minute.

In the end, she flexed the stiff fingers and massaged the painful limb as much as she could tolerate. It hurt too, but less than leaving it alone did. Or, at least, it hurt in a slightly more bearable way.

The boys didn’t miss the signs of it, either. Even with her demonstration of strength yesterday, they hovered a little, anxious and concerned for her. It was sweet, but it was also tiring, and made it even harder to stop thinking about the pain than it should have been. She was on the verge of growing ill-tempered with it all, and wishing fervently for something to distract herself as well as the boys, when an opportunity presented itself to her.

It was a few hours in, coming up to lunch-time, when she spotted the first cluster of a familiar plant in the undergrowth. It was cheerfully prolific in its spring growth, and a quick glance revealed more patches of it everywhere, calling to mind a few old memories that chased a smile onto her face. She recalled the practical use of the plant, and considered halting the boys to gather some. She recalled the entertaining use of the plant, and kept quiet. She eyed it, speculatively, and felt a spark of mischief settle in her gut.

Well. She had wanted a distraction.

Nonchalantly, she allowed herself to slowly fall behind the other two, who were in the middle of discussing the various secret passages Ezran had found in Katolis over the years. She snatched up a large handful of plant, familiarly-textured, and snuck up behind Callum with her lightest, stealthiest stride to affix it carefully to his back. As expected, the minutely-hooked texture of the plant’s surface stuck immediately to the fabric of his jacket, clinging there easily. She managed to stick three more stalks of leafy greenery to his back before Ezran noticed her, catching her eye over his shoulder, step faltering as he looked between her and the plants in her hand and Callum’s back.

Then he giggled. Callum stopped to glance at him, and Rayla neatly side-stepped out of the way to avoid running into his back, grinning a little as she held a finger up to her lips to shush Ezran…and reached out to attach another cluster of sticky leaves to Callum’s jacket, this time more on his right-hand side than his back.

“What?” Callum asked, perplexed, and then – perhaps clued in by where Ezran was looking – twisted to look over his shoulder and see her on his opposite side. He jumped a little, startled to find her there, in yet more evidence that his situational awareness needed work. “Er. Rayla? What are you-“ Finally, he noticed the plant in her hands and the smirk on her lips, and slowly raised his hand to his back. He found the cluster on his side, first, and peeled a leaf away. He turned to stare at her, utterly bemused. “Stickyweed? Really?”

With that tiny bit of subterfuge revealed, Ezran collapsed into giggles. Rayla watched as Callum’s lips twitched upwards, automatically responding to the humour, before he schooled his features into an unconvincing facsimile of seriousness.

“Why not?” She quipped, feeling impish, and reached out to affix another piece to his collar. “It’s traditional.”

“It’s traditional to stick plants to your travelling companions?” He asked, clearly trying very hard to appear unamused, and not really succeeding. His lips kept twitching.

“It’s traditional to stick stickyweed to people’s backs without them noticing.” She corrected…and backed away, brandishing her last handful. “…And also, to throw it at each other.” Realisation dawned on his face a second too late; she lobbed the plant at him and absconded just as he started ducking out of the way, finally abandoning his pretences and laughing helplessly. The sound of it prompted a little thrill of delight in her gut as she fled for the underbrush, a grin stretching on her face.

Ezran got the idea, and dove for the nearest cluster of the prolific weed, snatching it up in chunks to arm himself. Rayla had already re-supplied, and jumped into the nearest tree to assail both of her travelling companions from higher ground, pelting them with handfuls of her ammunition.

“That’s no fair!” Ez shrieked, plainly delighted, as greenery landed in his hair. With a slightly alarmed grumbling, Bait hopped for cover under a nearby bush. “We can’t reach you up there!” He gathered up a larger armful of stickyweed and stared up at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Yes, we can.” It took her a moment to process the voice as Callum’s – she wasn’t sure she’d heard that sort of voice from him before. Confident, a little secretive, a little excited. She looked over at him. She saw the mischievous spark in the green of his eyes…and what he had in his hand.

He was holding the primal stone.

She understood his intent at the exact second Ez did. “Oh no you don’t-“ She started, just before Callum drew a familiar rune in the air. “Ah.” She said, eloquently, and jumped for the next tree, laughing as she went.

“Get ready, Ez!” Callum’s voice followed, full of anticipation-

“Ready!” The littlest prince reported, just as eager-

“Aspiro!”

Rayla landed on the next tree’s branches, anchored herself to it with a hook-blade to weather the coming wind-storm, and resigned herself to her fate.

  “Well, that was fun.” Callum said, ten minutes later, when Rayla still hadn’t finished peeling the stickyweed from her armour and hair. “If unexpected. And kinda silly.”

“Eh, we were due for a lunch break anyway. And besides, it served a purpose. Sort of.” She flashed a grin at the two princes, brandishing the large bundle of somewhat bruised stickyweed at them. “This stuff? Is edible.”

Ezran did a double-take at the plant pile she’d amassed at her side. “What, really?” Bait made a dubious noise, and shot out his tongue to imbibe one of the plant stalks. He turned a mild shade of green thereafter, croaking discontentedly.

“It’s kind of nasty to eat raw, but yeah.” She agreed, planting herself by a nearby cluster of the stuff to pick some more. “We’ll cook it to make it a bit nicer. Since we’ve run out of fish, we’ve got to stock up on something for tonight.”

Callum caught her eye, then; a meaningful sort of look that she assumed was related to their previous discussion about hunting. She nodded slightly – they’d have to talk about it soon. Maybe not now, though.

“…Do we have anything for lunch?” Ez asked, oblivious to this exchange as he looked at the stickyweed. “I didn’t even realise we finished the fish this morning.”

Rayla looked at him for a second, reminded anew of how vastly different his upbringing had been from hers. Of course he hadn’t noticed them running out. He was so used to having food provided for him, he probably didn’t even realise that keeping yourselves fed was actually a bit of a task out in the wilderness. He probably hadn’t even considered the idea that they might need to hunt to give their diet some substance.

Well. She’d leave Callum to figure out how to bring that up, she supposed. “I can go look for some fruit, if you like.” She offered, setting the bundle of weeds aside. “Might take me a while, though. You don’t get as many fruiting plants in this sort of forest.” Soon, there would be almost no fruiting plants at all, and probably no useful fruiting trees. Already, pretty much every tree around them was a conifer or a pine or a fir.

The two boys blinked and looked about them, bemused. Callum spoke, this time. “…There’s different sorts of forest?”

She groaned, and let her head fall back, perhaps a little over-dramatically. “Yes, Callum, there’s different sorts of forest.” She said, exasperated. Then, since she was already leaning over backwards, she engaged in a slightly unnecessary backflip to get to her feet, stretching out. “And in this one, there’s not as much fruit.” She pointed at the primal stone, still out of its bag from recent use. “Keep that handy, alright? I might be a while.” She pulled her bag up to extract one of the large jars from it.

“…Alright.” Callum said, and apparently anticipating her next action, opened his bag to pull out a jar. He offered it out to her and watched as she stacked it under her arm with the other one.

Without further ado, she set off at a run amongst the trunks of the trees – because these trees almost exclusively had needles, not leaves, and those were kind of prickly to climb in. Especially with one hand increasingly out-of-commission.

As she’d expected, it took her a while to find anything that was not only the sort of plant that had useful fruit, but that actually had ripe fruit on it. She raided a small moonberry bush with very little on it, found a weedy young apple tree with a few ripe-looking fruits, and in general had to make a pretty wide and extensive circuit of the area to find enough to fill the jars.

She also found clusters of two useful medicinal plants, and made certain to pocket those, too.

In the end, it took her an uncomfortably long time – the better part of an hour, in fact – to find enough fruit, but she headed back with plenty to share. She found the princes looking over Callum’s sketchbook, talking over it while Callum’s charcoal hovered over the page. When she drew a little closer, she saw that they were looking at the map.

As was admittedly becoming habit for her, she approached smoothly and quietly to see if they’d notice her. She wasn’t exactly hiding herself – she was walking up to them from their left – but somewhat predictably, they didn’t notice her until she was practically on top of them.

“Oh, hi Rayla!” Ez chirped, as he saw her, and Callum looked up as well. “You’re back!”

“However did you notice?” She said, tone dry, and sat down beside them, planting the jars there. “What are you up to, anyway?”

Callum’s eyes brightened at the question, and he tilted the map towards her. “Ez and I were talking – you know, about how we’re going to help your hand.”

Her lips turned down. “Oh.” She said, uneasily.

As if hastened by this mild expression of disapproval, he practically hurried to point out a spot on the map to her. “We’re heading into the mountains this way, right? Well, along the way is this town called Verdorn? It’s big enough that it should have a healer. We don’t have to detour or anything to go there, and we’ll probably get there sometime tomorrow, so…” he trailed off, shuffling with what looked like an awkward mix of nervousness and excitement. “Well, what do you think?” He asked, after a few seconds.

She stared at the map a little inscrutably, keeping the best grip on her reactions she could. “…I don’t know, Callum.” She said, eventually, and her gut churned as his face fell. She sighed, settling her good hand over the painful one to massage the sore, prickling flesh. She attempted a smile, but it came out feeling more like a grimace. “I…appreciate what you’re doing. But how do you think you’ll get a healer to look at me, even if there is one?”

He perked up a little at that, Ezran mirroring the response beside him. “Well, actually, we were thinking – what if we don’t get a healer to look at you?”

Her brow furrowed at him. “Well yeah, that makes sense.” She said, with plain sarcasm, and waited for an explanation to be forthcoming.

“No, I mean – what if me and Ez go to talk to a healer without you?” He pressed, increasingly earnest, Ez nodding hopefully by his side. “We can just say you’re a friend of ours and that you think there’s no point in seeing a healer – which, can I say, is actually true! – but that we wanted to get some advice anyway. That way we can find out if there’s anything a normal human non-magic healer could do for your hand.”

She folded her arms, eyeing the two of them with a sort of reluctant interest as Callum spoke. “…And if there is? What do we do then?” She ruthlessly clamped down on any part of her that felt inclined to start appreciating that ‘if’, to actually consider that fleeting avenue of hope.

“Well, maybe there’s some sort of medicine we can bring back without a healer having to see you at all.” He pointed out, reasonably. “If there isn’t…I guess we figure that out when we get there. But it’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”

“You said you’d let us try.” Ezran reminded her, a little anxiously, as if worried she was going to back out of the agreement.

She stared at them, maintaining her rigid control over the churning of emotions in her gut, eyes flickering between two sets of expressions. Both worried, a little nervous, a little determined. Hopeful, even. How could they be so hopeful about something like this? There was no way, none whatsoever, that her hand would last long enough for them to get to Xadia. She’d be lucky to have another week, at the rate it was going, and every day of it would be painful.

Part of her wanted to put her foot down. Put a stop to this, get them past this fruitless, pointless hope of theirs before it hurt them too much.

“You said.” Ez repeated, as her silence persisted, eyes wide and worried.

She exhaled, quietly.

She had agreed to let them try.

And this town was on the way.

“Fine.” She said, voice carefully neutral, and watched as the tension in the two boys practically fled them with their breath as they exhaled. “We’ll stop by this human town. But we’re not stayin’ there any longer than we have to, alright? We can’t waste time.”

“Of course. Thanks, Rayla.” Callum said, sounding absurdly grateful for what was an acquiescence to let them try to find some help for her hand. It was a little ridiculous, in all honesty. They’d only known her for what, five days? Why in Xadia’s name did they care so much?

She sighed, and shook her head a little. “Get some lunch in you. If we’re going to a town tomorrow, I’d prefer not to get there too late.” She told them, and went to extract some fruit from one of the jars. The apples turned out to be too sour to eat raw, so she put those aside to use in cooking.

Rayla ate, then bundled up the stickyweed into their bags and waited impatiently for the boys to finish their share. As soon as she could, she urged them on again.

She could just tell that the human-town-thing was going to waste time. Best get as much ground covered today as possible, to make up for it.

  About an hour after resuming travel, Rayla heard the tell-tale sounds of some sort of running water nearby, and begrudgingly altered their course in its direction. It turned out to be a reasonably-sized brook – too wide and deep to qualify as a stream, but not big enough for her to really call it a river. The sound and sight of the running water put her on edge regardless, but given she needed access to a decent water source at camp today, she gritted her teeth and resolved to put up with it.

She directed the boys up-stream for a while, following their correct course of travel, and eventually selected a serviceable campsite a couple of hours after lunch. Here, in the coniferous forest, the ground was loose and loamy, mainly composed of many years’ worth of fallen needle-leaves, as was typical in this sort of forest. There was a lot less ground-level plant cover even than there had been a few hours ago, testament to the increasingly boreal nature of the landscape. There were clusters of rich green ferns here and there, and some patches of nettles, and a good few mosses here and there, but…

“We’re starting to gain altitude, I think.” She estimated, after a careful glance over the surroundings. “It’s already a little colder.”

“Well, there were an uncomfortable number of uphill parts today, so makes sense.” Said Callum, who was lingering awkwardly at her back. After a moment she realised she hadn’t actually announced they were stopping, and set the tent pack down as a more overt sign that they were done for the day. “I hope tomorrow will be a little flatter.”

Rayla, who had found the day’s walk mostly very easy aside from the part where her hand was increasingly painful, said nothing for several conspicuous moments. Given the next leg of their journey was pretty much entirely uphill, she was increasingly certain that the boys were going to have a very unpleasant time of things soon. But, she supposed, she’d be having a very unpleasant time of things with her binding, so at least their misery would have company. “…Sure.” She agreed, unconvincingly, and did not mention that the day would probably come soon where they’d need to ascend most of a kilometre in a single day’s walking.

“We’re camping here, right?” Ezran checked, after glancing at where she’d put the tent-pack. He waited for her nod before sighing with relief. “Oh good.” He said, setting his own bag down. Callum quickly followed suit, glancing around. The forest was relatively sparse here, consisting mainly of tall conifers that towered far, far over their heads. A little way to their left was a secluded hollow where the brook ran to and pooled, a pretty ideal location for washing things or collecting water. All the tall trees would make for a terrible campsite in a storm, but luckily, the weather was perfectly clement today.

Rayla’s hand ached at her, as if to remind her what she had to get done soon. She flexed it, casting a glance about the camp, and sighed. “We’d best get set up quickly.” She said, a little grimly.

Ez perked up. “Tent first?”

“Tent first,” She agreed, and set them about the tasks with increasing familiarity and ease. Callum had to handle the difficult part of getting the tent up, since she was increasingly hampered by the lack of a properly-usable hand. When that was done, she and Ezran went to get firewood while Callum sorted out the inner-tent, and their camp was pretty much complete.

“We’re getting pretty quick at this.” Ezran declared, not long after, when she’d set all the cooking things and food jars next to the area marked out for the fire. “It’s only been a few times but we’re already way better.”

Rayla’s lips twitched upwards, and she reached over to ruffle his hair. “You are picking things up nicely.” She agreed, amused. “Now I just need to teach you how to cook, I suppose.”

“Can I try starting the fire this time?” He asked eagerly, and Callum shot him a slightly wide-eyed look.

“….We’ll see.” Rayla said, after seeing that expression on the older prince’s face, and resolved to ask later. “For now, I’ve got something I need to take care of.” She eyed her hand, exhaled slowly, and had a look through her bag. She made a disapproving noise. “Callum, I think you’re carrying the soap. Find that for me, would you?”

He blinked. “Uh, sure?” He agreed automatically, and then pulled his bag over to look. He passed over the soap and then the towel for good measure, eyes flickering between her face and her hand. “Are you going to – I mean-“

“I need to try to get this gauntlet off.” She said, grim, and took both proffered items with her better hand. “I’ll be back in a while.” She stood, and stalked off towards the small, steep slope overlooking the watery hollow. She heard the scuffling of the others following after her and sighed, skidding down the modest slope and crouching beside the brook as she waited for them to catch up.

She fixed them both with a grimace when they arrived, worried faces staring at her. “Er.” Said Callum, uncertainly. “Can we help, or…?”

“Probably not.” She said, shortly, and eyed them. The binding had been painful and tender enough to test this morning, and she had absolutely no reason to believe it would be any gentler on her this afternoon. She wasn’t entirely pleased at the prospect of having them both here for this, when she knew it was going to hurt. She particularly was not happy about having Ezran there – he was a kid, and a highly empathetic kid at that. There was no way this wouldn’t upset him. “Look. There’s really no reason for you two to stick around watching me hurt myself, alright? Just…go back to the camp and get the fire going.”

Ezran actually glared at her for that, putting his little hands on his hips as if she’d offended him with the very suggestion. “No way.” He said, indignantly. “Even if I can’t help, I’m not gonna just leave you here alone if you’ll be in pain.” Stubbornly, he planted himself beside her, on the side of her good arm. He folded his arms, as if to cement his immovability.

Rayla huffed at him, not sure whether to be touched or annoyed, only to have Callum kneel down at her left, looking less bull-headed about things than his brother, but fairly resolute in and of himself. He wasn’t going to be any more sensible about this than Ezran, it seemed.

He presented her with a somewhat strained smile, the lines of his face creasing with worry. “We can be moral support, if nothing else.” He offered, and looked down at her hands. “…What are you going to do?”

She exhaled, slowly, and looked out into the burbling water of the brook. For once, the dread of the coming pain was almost more insistent than her dread of the water. “Soap and water should make the binding and guard more slippery.” She said, after a moment, and leaned over to douse her left hand and wrist in the chilly water.

It almost felt pleasant – cool and soothing. The cold ached at the already-aching limb, intensified the burning sensation in some of the skin and intensified the numbness in other places, but…the chill of it was still something of a relief. She closed her eyes, briefly, and then withdrew her hand to start slathering it with the soap. It would be murder on the soap itself – she’d likely run through a lot of the bar with this, but it was sort of unavoidable, really. A waste, she couldn’t help but think, even if she really did need to use it.

Why couldn’t she have thought about her stupid arm-guard days ago? It would have saved her so much trouble. And so much soap.

Eventually, her hand and that which bound it were about as soap-slippery as they would ever get, and she put the bar aside to hesitate. The boys watched her all the while, quietly anxious in a way that couldn’t help but grate at her a little. She’d have really preferred to handle this alone, without anyone else there to watch her in pain. The vulnerability of it nagged at her, persistent, as she stared at her hand and tried to muster the will to do something about it. Moon help her, if she found it this hard to get herself to pull a bloody gauntlet off, how would she ever make herself cut her hand off when she needed to?

She breathed in, then out, reaching out to pinch the edge of the guard, where it sat not too far from the darkened skin of her knuckles. She braced herself, then pulled.

The pain was immediate, and viciously intense. She clamped her teeth shut along with her eyes and strangled the shriek that wanted to escape from her throat. The pitiful edges of it emerged regardless, in an agonised wheeze that hissed between her teeth and set Callum and Ezran to fluttering with concern. She was aware of their clamouring more by the sounds of them moving than from anything else; she inhaled and exhaled in short bursts for the next few seconds, then opened her eyes.

The bloody gauntlet had barely budged. She quashed the pang of hopelessness it provoked, and tried to regain her focus. She exhaled, steeled herself, and then pulled again.

This time she was a little more ready for the pain – she kept her eyes open, and kept at it, tugging and yanking at the cursed thing with all the bloody-minded determination she could muster, the pain of every movement seething up her arm like sun-fire and building into a sickening agony intense enough she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d last. She pulled her gauntlet something like a centimetre past the binding and then couldn’t manage anymore – she collapsed in on herself, clutching her hand to her chest and panting heavily, a cold sweat building on her brow. She’d ground her teeth together so hard it was beginning to hurt.

“…You got it to move a bit that time.” Ezran offered, in a very small voice, from beside her. She cracked open an eye to peer at him, her body trembling from the after-shocks of the pain. Her gut clenched at the expression on his face; he’d paled a bit, and his eyes were wide and near-frightened, his whole bearing painted with pain – almost as if he were acting as a mirror to some vestige of her own suffering. His distress was awfully obvious – and didn’t he see this was why she hadn’t wanted him to watch?

“…A little.” She agreed, quiet, unclenching her jaw just enough to let words escape past her teeth. Her jaw ached, a small and meaningless pain compared with the one that pulsed hotly in her arm with every passing heartbeat. She almost wanted to avoid looking at Callum, not quite wanting to see how he was reacting to this, but she looked anyway. That was hard to endure, too. His expression was tight with concern, fists clenched white-knuckled in his lap, eyes glued to her hand as if unable to look away.

She lowered her gaze again, breath shuddering, and closed her eyes. Held her fingers tight in the armour-weave, and started her ordeal once more.

Every millimetre of progress cost her dearly. The binding clung fiercely to the gauntlet and did not want to let it go – she pulled, and hurt, and felt sweat bead on her brow and drip down her face from the sheer agony of it, again and again. She forced herself back every time, gritting her teeth to try to keep quiet, but it got so much harder to keep doing it.

The boys sat in near-silence, their own faces pale and getting paler every time they saw her have to stop to catch her breath, every time she strangled the shrieks in her throat, every time she couldn’t quite stop the hisses and gasps of pain at the barrier of her teeth. Callum started fidgeting, in sharp and jittery movements, agitated into restlessness by her pain.

She forced three pitiful centimetres of the gauntlet past the binding before her will eroded completely. Her hands wavered, trembling horribly in front of her, healthy fingers shaking around their grip of the fabric. She hunched forwards and panted, every inch of her feeling cold and clammy and damp, the pain in her hand burning long after she stopped actively agitating it. She tried to muster the will to pull the thing again, but couldn’t quite seem to do it. Her fingers twitched on the fabric, but that was all.

Frustrated, and still in the grips of likely the worst pain of her life, Rayla’s breath shuddered, and she closed her eyes.

She couldn’t do it. She’d overestimated her tolerance for pain. She was too weak to see it through.

Maybe…maybe she’d be able to do more after a break? And then she could try again? But…no. That would just draw it out longer. And she didn’t want to waste the soap that had gone into this pursuit, or this whole thing would be wasteful as well as agonising, and she’d come this far – why couldn’t she just – just do a little more. Just a bit. She stared at her fingers, weak and shaking on the fabric, and tried to will herself to pull. Tried to be as strong as she was meant to be. As she had to be.

But she couldn’t.

She exhaled, heavy, and let her head fall forwards as she let her fingers fall from the gauntlet. Bitter, helpless frustration burned in her throat like acid, like gall.

A voice. “…Rayla?” It was Callum. Worried, uncertain. She couldn’t quite muster the strength to straighten enough to look at him.

“…Are you okay?” Ez’s voice was very small. “You’re in a lot of pain.”

“I’m just peachy.” She managed, after a few seconds. The fact that she couldn’t quite muster the vehemence to make the words sound sarcastic, rather than just exhausted, was testament enough to how off-balance she was. She breathed in, breathed out. Tried to use Runaan’s meditation tricks to find some part of herself that didn’t exist adrift in pain, that could be calm and steady and stable in the midst of it. “…I’ll keep going in a second. Just need…” She exhaled, shaky. “Just need to catch my breath a little.”

She could practically feel the glance the princes exchanged over her head. She heard Callum shuffle at her left. “Rayla,” he said again, this time quietly insistent. Gentle, but determined. She mustered the forbearance to look up at him…and found the same calm, concerned resolve on his face as she’d heard in his voice. He lifted his hands, just a little, in her direction. “Let me help. Please.”

Rayla stared at him, a little blearily, as she tried to comprehend what exactly he intended to help. The pain left so little room in her mind for thought. “…How?” She asked, and couldn’t quite keep all of the helplessness from her voice. “It’s just…stuck.”

“Maybe. But it’ll be easier for me to do it than for you to try pulling something off your own hand, considering it hurts this much.” He hesitated a little, then moved his hands towards hers, gently moving her fingers aside to put his own in her place. She didn’t try to resist, or pull away, only watched with a strange exhausted passivity as he lodged the nails of one hand carefully around the edges of the binding. It made sense, maybe. If he could stop the gauntlet from tugging on the binding itself by holding the binding back, it might be easier.

She exhaled, and let her arm go limp, renouncing her bound hand into Callum’s care. He adjusted automatically to support it over his knee as he shifted closer, glancing between her face and her hand with obvious reluctance. He didn’t want to hurt her. “…Do it.” She ordered him, before she could say ‘no, leave it’; before she could let her impulses make a coward of her.

His eyes met hers, for a second. He nodded, almost more to himself than to her, and set the fingers of his other hand at the arm-guard. He took a deep breath, easily audible at this close range, and pulled.

She hissed, clacking her teeth together to stifle any greater sound. Callum’s effort wavered and hesitated for a second, like he might call it off on account of causing her pain, so she turned her eyes to glare at him until he kept going. And he did.

It hurt. It hurt horribly. The area where the binding sat was now so tender that the slightest pressure was painful, and this was well beyond a light pressure. It felt like – like digging fingers into a raw bruise, like poking at an open wound, like squeezing around the site of a broken bone; it sent shocks of agony shooting up her arm and overflowed quickly to the rest of her body. She clamped her eyes shut and curled forwards, suddenly grateful beyond words that she didn’t have to endure the pain and perpetuate it at the same time. She clenched the fingers of her other hand into a fist at her side, nails digging into her palms.

She lost track of time for a while, then. Intermittently, she was aware of things. Once, she gasped with the pain, unable to entirely stifle it. At some point, Ezran’s little hand curled around the one she had at her side, and held it faithfully while she huffed and panted like a wounded animal. She heard Callum speaking, from time to time, soothing innocuous things, like “easy,” and “hang in there, it’s almost done.” If she’d had the presence of mind to actually process speech properly, that last one might have brought her considerable relief.

As it was, she was half out of her mind with pain and entirely uncomprehending when it suddenly stopped. Of course, it wasn’t like the pain actually went away; the shocks of it kept travelling up along her body, the site of the binding seethed with heat and agony, and she doubted any of that would pass away soon. But the pulling stopped, and so did the new waves of pain.

She cracked her eyes open, almost bewildered, and didn’t quite comprehend what she saw.

“There. It’s done. It’s finished.” Callum was saying, voice low and soothing and oddly comforting. She heard the words, but like the sight in front of her, it took much longer than it ought for her to understand.

Her hand was dark and awful, sat in Callum’s hands. The skin around the binding looked angry and swollen, as horribly tender as it felt. But…it was the skin. Just the skin. The accursed gauntlet was on the ground by her knee.

She stared, and breathed out, shaky. “…Oh.” She said, lamely, and kept staring.

“How are you doing?” He asked her, still in that quiet, reassuring tone.

Rayla breathed in, and out, and in again. Her final exhalation was gusty and trembled along every second. Her heartbeat felt thin and thready against the skin of her neck. She swore she could feel it in her horns, even. “…I’m not sure?” She managed, voice oddly crackly, and tried to clear her throat. Her mind was oddly blank and sluggish. Her skin was cold. She shook her head, in some unsuccessful attempt to dislodge its haze, and exhaled again. “Fuck, that was horrible,” She added finally, finding the capacity to be emphatic about it, and didn’t even notice she’d sworn aloud for several seconds.

She thought even Runaan would forgive her it in this situation, though. The boys certainly didn’t flinch at it.

“You had a hard time.” Ezran said to her, voice just a little distressed, and she realised he was still holding her hand. “You did really good.”

Rayla might have felt patronised by words like that, under ordinary circumstances. She couldn’t quite object to it now. It had really been an ordeal to get that thing off. In the end, she said nothing, and kept staring down at her discoloured skin, so starkly contrasted against Callum’s own hands.

“…I think it might help the pain a little if you run it in the water for a while.” Callum said to her, a moment later. “Bring the inflammation down a bit, maybe.”

“…A’ight.” She acquiesced, a little numbly, too off-balance to even have much objection to the water. She let him lower her hand forwards into the brook like a marionette, and felt the cold of the water as a shocking relief against the heated pain around the binding. It was cold enough that it hurt, too, aching in her skin and the joints of her fingers in a chill so pronounced it was almost a burn, but it was still an unbelievable relief. She shuddered, and kept her hand in the water as Callum’s hands drew back.

“Stay there for a while, alright?” He murmured to her, gentle, and leaned back. He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder for a few seconds, solid and warm against the cold sweat that had built on every inch of her skin. “Let the cold water help, and rest for a bit. I’ll go get the fire started so you can just sit here.” He waited a few moments, perhaps to see if she’d say anything, but words were hard to summon right now. He nodded, withdrew his hand, and stood. “Stay with her, Ez?”

“Duh.” Said Ezran, little hand resting persistently over hers.

Callum hesitated, just for a second, and then walked away. She felt his absence more keenly than she ought, and shivered with her hand in the cold water. “…I should really be doing something.” She mumbled, almost more to herself than to Ezran. It felt strange to sit here, still and useless, while others were off being productive.

“No you really shouldn’t.” Ez refuted, firmly, and shuffled against her side. “You’re still hurting. You need to rest for a while.”

Her limbs still felt shaky. Her whole body felt wrung-out and exhausted, and probably not fit for anything especially strenuous. The stink of the stress-sweat was starting to set in, acrid and harsh, as if to remind her what she’d endured, and her skin was still clammy with it.

She shivered, increasingly cold, and sighed. “….Alright.” She agreed, quietly. “But once he gets that fire going, I’m going to want to go sit next to it for a while. ‘s a bit chilly.”

With each passing second, the chilly brook exorcised more and more sensation from her hand, leaving nothing except a cold ache. It was comfortingly uniform. None of the prickling, or burning, or other flavours of pain she’d been growing familiar with. It would almost be pleasant, if not for the fact that it was water, and that it was making her so cold.

Ezran’s hand on hers remained, a spot of warmth in the afternoon. “Sounds good to me.” He said, and didn’t budge an inch.

Rayla stared out at the flow of the water, as numb to its fear as she was to the ache of her hand, and found herself feeling begrudgingly grateful for water for perhaps the first time in her life. Who knew – maybe this experience would make her hate water a little less? She snorted, softly, at the notion. As if, she thought, a little derisively, and watched the brook as it burbled gently over the rocks and debris in its path.

Soon. Soon she’d have to get up and make herself useful, or get dinner going, or in general stop wallowing uselessly beside the littlest Prince of Katolis. Soon…but not now.

Rayla exhaled, slow, and settled into a tired slump at the water’s edge, allowing it to chase away the ills the day had wrought.

  End chapter.

Timeline: Occurs on 16.05 (day 6) and 17.05 (day 7). Subtract two days to determine time since leaving Katolis. Please note that 17th of May is canonically Runaan’s birthday and he’s spending it in a dark magic dungeon, poor guy. Who knows, we might even get a look at him, soon! (soon means chapter 8, according to current arrangement).

Canon Divergences: Mount Kalik is absolutely immense, and Claudia and Soren absolutely cannot scale that in enough time for it to be worth it. If they want to – very, very eventually – catch the kids, they’ll need a…creative solution. Possibly several creative solutions.

On Worldbuilding: Carpe Noctem and Carpe Diem taken directly from Latin.

And, for anyone interested, the calendar months: Januaris, Februaris, Martias, Avrilas, Maius, Iunias, Julius, Agustus, Septevis, Octovis, Novevis, Decevis. These are derived from the Roman month names or the old/middle English names as I preferred, but still modified. Note: I’m pronouncing ‘Decevis’ like de-che-vis.

The weekdays, derived from Latin and modified: Lunadis, Martedis, Mercuridis, Jovidis, Veneridis, Saturnidis, Soladis.

Some Moonshadow elf curses (and other elf curses) still use Draconic, and generally they centre around the New Moon or general absences of the Moon or moonlight. The New Moon is a bit of a bitch for Moonshadow elves, for multiple reasons. (The first New Moon of piaj is scheduled for Day 17, and will elaborate on this.)  The most commonly used elf-specific curses are not in Draconic, and the use of Draconic curses makes one seem vaguely old-fashioned and/or dramatic – except on the New Moon, where everyone does it.

Of the Draconic curses, the most commonly used one is futtanovil, an adaptation of a longer curse that originally meant ‘fuck the new moon and everything even vaguely related to it’. In its colloquial abbreviated state it still evokes the same meaning. Of non-Draconic curses, ‘Moonless’ is most used, a common modifier to any number of curses or insults. Example: that ruddy moonless bastard. Example 2: it was a cursed, moonless bitch of a day.

All completely made up by me, because as previously discussed, I can’t not worldbuild.

Other notes: Rayla uses pretty much a one-armed fireman’s carry on Callum and Ez this chapter. Do I believe her capable of carrying someone her own body weight or heavier? I absolutely do. And I wanted Callum and Ez to know it, too.

Stickyweed: more properly known as gooseweed, or about ten other names, this plant is found basically everywhere, and is covered in tiny hooks that make it stick very readily to things. Its seeds are spherical, also sticky, and are commonly found in the fur of animals. I walk past about ten patches of this stuff every time I walk into town. It is, in fact, edible by humans. However, the use of it I remember most fondly as a child is the one enacted in this chapter. And, might I add, I feel that Moonshadow elf children probably have a great time playing games that involve sneaking up on people to hang plants on their backs. Who knows, maybe it’s even encouraged as fun training for the assassin kids.

This chapter, specifically the gauntlet scene, contains a reference to a relatively famous episode of a classic sci-fi! We’re talking 60s sci-fi. I’m interested to see if any of you get it.

Total written content for piaj now exceeds 130k. Chapter 7 is complete, and around 10k long. Chapter 8 is currently about 6k long, and is probably going to exceed 10k

If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to enrich my story stats in some way. It is no exaggeration to say that I check them several times a day.

#tdp #rayllum #tdp fanfic #tdp rayla #tdp callum #tdp ezran #piaj #piaj chapters

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

The Long Game ch. 5

Rayla sighed as she felt Callum’s forehead.  “He’s still burning up.”  The doctor sighed, gesturing towards the medicine to the side.

“Make sure he takes it, Lady Rayla.”

“OK.”  Rayla barely noticed as the doctor left the room. Callum had come down with a high fever and a sore throat a few days ago, complaining of aches and shaking as he grew pale very quickly.  The past 24 hours, he had barely been conscious, and when he was, his gaze was unfocused and his breathing worse. 

Rayla had barely left his side since he became bedridden, finding it difficult to leave him.  The whispers that it was improper couldn’t get her to leave him.  Harrow visited frequently and Ezran rarely left the room, either.  Currently, Ezran was discussing something important with Opeli. Rayla should care, it was her job to care, but she didn’t.  Gently, she held Callum’s hand and ran her thumb along the back of his hand.  “Get better.  Please.  I can’t do this without you.”  What even was ‘this’?  Her mission? No.  Life?  Maybe. “I need you.”

“Is everything OK?” Ezran asked from behind.  Rayla didn’t even turn around, nodding as her eyes remained on Callum’s prone form.

“The doctor didn’t look pleased, but he said Callum needs to keep taking the medicine.”

“That’s probably the best we could have hoped for.”  Ezran sat in the chair on the other side, Bait in his lap.  “Maybe if you told him you love him-”

“Stop it, Ez.  I don’t love him.”

“Why are you lying? Everyone can see it. Well, not him.”

Rayla looked over at Ezran, shaking her head.  “No, Ezran. He’s meant for something better than me. That’s final.”

“Why are you like this? You two wouldn’t be the first couple where someone was from a royal background and the other person wasn’t.”

Rayla stayed quiet. She knew the real answer why she couldn’t be with Callum, but Ezran didn’t.  “He needs more water.  I’ll get a maid to go get some.”

“Rayla-”

“Let it go, Ezran.  Please.  My feelings are not important.  I’ll ask for them to bring us dinner here, too, OK?”  Ezran sighed, but nodded in assent.  Bait looked at her with concern.  Great, the glowing frog was also worried about her.

Rayla grabbed a passing maid, asking for water and dinner.  Instead of heading back in and risk being interrogated by Ezran again, she took a walk around the castle.  Everyone stared at her like she was a ghost.  They had barely seen her in a few days, but was it really that surprising? The sunlight against her skin as she passed the windows felt nice, warm.  “He’s going to get better, right?” she whispered into the air.

She hadn’t seen Claudia since Callum fell ill, despite how often she tried to hang around nowadays. Rayla didn’t trust it.  Viren had to be up to something.  The longer she was here, the clearer it was that anything involving dark magic was Viren’s idea and that he convinced Harrow to take that route.  Harrow didn’t trust dark magic anymore, supposedly, and they fought constantly.  

“You can’t be serious!” Rayla turned to the door on her right, shocked that it was Harrow’s study she had found herself in front of. She quietly opened the door, looking in to see Viren and Harrow arguing.  “No more dark magic!”

“Xadia hasn’t attacked us, Harrow!”

“GREAT! Excellent!  Why are we tempting fate?”

“Because that girl-”

“Do you mean Rayla?”

“Yes, her.  She came in out of nowhere, no evidence of what she claimed anywhere, and you just took her in.  What if she’s a spy?”

“She’s a child, Viren.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. What if all of this is a ploy to get access to you?  What if she wants to marry one of your sons?”

“She’ll have my blessing if she and Callum actually confess their feelings for each other.”

“I can’t believe you are encouraging them.  You should be encouraging Callum to pay attention to Claudia.”

“Viren, Claudia likes girls. Everyone has known that since she the incident with the bakery girl.  Why are you so desperate for the two of them to be miserable?”

“Because it would unite our houses!”

“And, what, Viren? Bring you back into my good graces? Make me forget what you did to that egg?!”  Rayla’s eyes widened, wrapping her hand around her mouth to keep the gasp from escaping. They still hadn’t discovered she was there, but she wasn’t going to risk them learning.  

“It doesn’t matter, Harrow.”

“IT WAS AN EGG!  An innocent!  Killing Thunder because he killed Sarai was one thing.  But you killed his egg and took a magic mirror. And the Dragon Guard?  You want to explain to me what happened to them?”

“I told you, they ran away!”

“I don’t believe you. What did you do?”  Viren was quiet for so long Rayla didn’t know if that was the end of the conversation or not.  She heard clinking followed by a gasp from Harrow.  “What have you done?!”  She couldn’t see through the crack, but whatever Viren had showed him, it had caused Harrow’s face to go pale.  “They were people-”

“Elves who were going to kill us!”

“You can’t prove that! If you had just left the damned egg alone, Viren.  What have you done?  Free them at once!”

“No.”

“Viren!”

“NO!  That just leaves a bunch of elves running around Katolis!”

“How many do you have?” Viren was quiet again.  “Gods, how long have you been doing this?  Do you keep them for experiments?”

“No.  I’ve never released them.”  Released them from what?  Rayla wanted to know what was happening, but neither Harrow nor Viren was being explicit enough. What if…whatever it was, it was her parents?  Did something happen to her parents?  Had they not abandoned the Dragon Prince after all?  “Whose to say what would happen if they were ever released from the coins.”

‘Coins?’  

Rayla didn’t have time to contemplate it.  Harrow growled a ‘get out’ and she had to quickly move away as Viren stormed out of the room.  He saw her and glared.

“You don’t belong here, girl.”  Viren walked away, not turning back to her.  

Rayla looked in the study only to see Harrow slouched in his chair.  He looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.  “Your Majesty?”  He looked up, nodding.  “Is everything alright?”

“Fine.  How’s Callum?”

“The doctor said that he needs to continue with his medicine.”

“Of course.  He’ll be fine, then.  Will you and Ezran be having dinner in his room again this evening?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Please, Rayla, call me ‘Harrow.’”  She nodded.

“Harrow, I heard you and Viren arguing.”

“Don’t mind it, Rayla, please.  Just too old men arguing about old things.”

“But, you mentioned the Dragon King.”

“Rayla.  I trust you, I do, but I need you to understand that I have not always done the right thing.  I’ve let my grief consume me.”  Rayla waited for him to continue, sensing that if she said a word, he wouldn’t tell her more. “In my grief, I made a bad decision. I went with Viren on a mission of revenge, to kill the Dragon King for killing Sarai.  Sarai deserved to live.”

“But, Sarai took a life.”

Harrow looked down at the ground, a tear going down his cheek.  “She shouldn’t have been there.  She went because she believed we should stand together, but she didn’t believe in the mission.  She thought it was a shortcut.  And what happened?  She was right.  It worked, but it cost us her life.  Ezran has no memories of her and Callum was effectively orphaned.  It was my fault.  If I had just made a decision sooner, if I had been smarter with the Queens of Duren….”

Rayla placed a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing it.  “I’m sorry. Everything I’ve heard has made her out to be a wonderful person.  She didn’t deserve to die.  Do you regret any of it?”

“I don’t know.  I regret how things have played out and for letting Viren persuade me into using dark magic, but I don’t feel regret for killing Thunder.”

“What about the egg?”

“I have no idea what Viren’s done with that egg.  I wonder if he destroyed it or used it or is lying to me.  Either way, it was an innocent and should have been left alone. What if Xadia comes for my sons in revenge?”  Rayla gulped. ‘That’s why I’m here, Your Highness.’  

“Maybe you should ban dark magic.  Stop Ezran from having those same choices offered to him?”

“Viren has too much influence.  It’s my own fault.  Taking away dark magic could leave use defenseless.  Besides, Xadia would get what it has always wanted but what about letting us back in?”

“What if that’s what it would take?  An act of good will?”

“It’s too late for me. It’s not too late for Ezran and Callum, though.  My hope is that they will choose peace every time.  Some day soon, I hope you will stand with them.”

“Me?”

Harrow finally looked up. His green eyes were full of such hope and sorrow it almost broke Rayla’s own heart.  “I see the way you look at Callum.  Your souls are screaming for each other.  You never deny it; your feelings or that he has them for you.  Why don’t you act on it?”

“Because, I am not meant for this life.  Because I don’t think he loves me the way you and everyone else seems convinced he is. Even if he was, you can’t rewrite the stars for two people.  I have to return to him.  Good day, Harrow.”  Rayla curtsied to Harrow before he could say more and left.  The egg could still be alive.  The Dragon Prince could still be alive!  She was going to have to search every corner of this castle until she knew for sure whether or not that was true.

For now, she had to return to Callum and Ezran.  When she got back to the room, Callum’s eyes were half-open.  He groaned, hand reaching out towards her.  She rushed forward, taking his hand in her’s and holding it to her chest.  “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.  I’m sorry I was so long.”

Ezran stayed quiet, but she could feel his eyes on her.  Rayla didn’t care.  She fed Callum his dinner and barely left except to bathe and take the occasional walk. When Callum recovered three days later, he awoke to Rayla holding his hand, a relieved smile on her face.  “Morning, sleepyhead.  We missed you.”

#rayllum fanfic #rayllum #tdp #the dragon prince #au #the long game #moonbase fanfics

[luthienliveblogslately-blog]

Milestone write-up!

Since the story seems to be closing one story-arc and moving on to another, I feel this is a good place to take stock, summarize what we know and make some more or less educated guesses at what might happen in future. It got a bit away from me (”a bit” lol), so here’s a read more for your convenience. 

Players on the board

Last we left off, shit had decidedly hit the fan. We got painful confirmation that the elves successfully assassinated King Harrow, but they in turn had a painful price to pay. From what we can tell, Runaan is the only survivor, and he has been captured by Soren and Claudia. Claudia thinks he might come in “useful”, whatever that may mean. Might be they’ll interrogate him for information about Xadia, might be that Claudia has some more nefarious, magical things planned. She might ask him about Rayla and the egg, but it’s not like he can tell her anything that she doesn’t already know, aka Rayla and the boys have the egg and they plan to return it and use it to restore peace. Maybe, if they keep talking for long enough, he might actually get her to see that the egg really is just a yet to hatch baby dragon and therefore a sentient being in need of protection, and not just a powerful magical weapon to be used by whoever sees fit. If Runaan manages to escape or communicate with other elves, our heroes will have some real problems. He clearly sees Rayla as a traitor and seeks to punish her for the perceived crimes she committed, and there’s still that pesky magical bounty on Ezrans’s head… 

It’s hard to say what Claudia and Soren will do next. I think it depends very much on if Viren is sticking around the castle or not, and what his plans are. As to what his plans might be… god knows. Just how much does he want the egg back? Is he willing to go after it himself, or will he maybe send Soren? How much does Soren know about all this anyway? Five bucks says he had no idea about anything tbh. You know what still hasn’t been opened yet btw? The fucking letter. It’s still in Viren’s study. If it really has a contingency plan like “Callum becomes prince regent until Ezran is old enough to rule” I get the feeling Viren might pull some GoT-style shenanigans and try to put himself on the throne. At this point there isn’t really anything I wouldn’t put past him. In any case though the kingdom might be thrown into serious chaos for a while. After all: the King is Dead, long live the…. wait, who now? The crown prince is missing? The step-prince is missing, too? Well, guess it’s time for some good old-fashioned power grabbing! 

And then there’s our three four protagonists. We don’t know where the kingdom of Katolis is exactly, but in any case they have a long journey ahead. They will have to stick to the woods for most of it and avoid towns I think. Rayla can’t be seen by humans, the egg can’t be seen either, and Viren might try and put a bounty on all of them anyway, so the boys might not be save either. I trust Rayla will be able to get the foods from the woods though, so that should be alright. And then eventually they’ll reach the Breach and have to make their away across it and around however many standing armies manning the border from both sides. Yikes. Though we have no idea how far they’ll go in three remaining episodes. There are after all at least 5 more potential seasons in store for us, so there’s a good chance they won’t even remotely come close to the Breach in this one.  What I’m really worried about is Rayla keeping the truth about Harrow from the boys.  While it breaks my heart just thinking about them having to mourn their dad, I’m worried about Callum lashing out at Rayla in his grief. We already had a scene when he found out about the assassination plot and subsequently flipped out at Ez out of fear, and Ez hadn’t even really done anything. How much worse will that reaction be if she’s been lying to them for several days, even if it was just to spare them the pain? It might damage his trust in her, Callum might even try and make them split up and continue without her. Sounds like a really bad idea, but people do stupid things when they’re angry and sad. 

Other unresolved plot points

WHAT DOES THE FUCKING LETTER SAY

What’s up with the Mirror? For that matter, why is the mirror fishy enough to be covered up but not fishy enough to be hidden in the Lair of Dead Things? 

What’s with the picture Harrow looked at last time we saw him alive? It’s gotta be something, right? Why would they make the camera zoom in on it lying face down on the bed otherwise? Just have Harrow put it away and then forget it exists, don’t give it an extra shot!

Pip! Is he still alive? D: 

Callum still has the Storm Stone, but he might have to get his hands on a book or find himself a teacher to learn some new spells probably? 

WHAT DO THE BLACK EYES DO? DO THEY EVEN DO ANYTHING OR ARE THEY JUST FOR CREEPY EFFECT? 

Viren’s staff! Just cool historical artifact or actually relevant to the plot? 

Shameless Tin-hatting aka Foreshadowing Fucking Everywhere aka Miscellaneous Shit I Noticed While re-watching ep 1-3

Callum’s drawing of a Dragon roasting a Marshmallow Monster -> this show’s version of the Cookie Cat jingle? Possibly depicting Viren’s inevitable demise? 

Not foreshadowing, but I realized when the Narrator says “on the eve of last Winter’s Turn” in the opening what is meant with “last” is just most recent, as in “last month” or “last Christmas”. So it probably was some solstice type date after all. Makes sense with it now being spring. 

People keep pointing out how shit Bait is at hiding. I’m afraid at some point they’ll have to hide from something REALLY BAD and Bait will get them found. :/ Really, Bait being called Bait just seems super unfortunate in general. 

You know how Rayla says “My Heart for Xadia” during the ritual? Yeah, I’m getting the feeling Rayla will be instrumental in getting Ezran out of the magical contract, possibly in a super heroic way by just doing what her heart tells her to and saving the day, or possibly just… by dying in his stead. Oh god I feel like I jinxed her. :( 

You know how Callum was like “You’re so lucky, you get to learn magic!” and Claudia was like “You get to learn sword fighting!” and then Callum was like “I’d switch places in a second!”? Well, he’s doing magic now, so…. the little disaster bi that is myself is praying for Claudia in armor with a big-ass sword being a BAMF. ´

Anybody else who really wants to know what is under that OTHER, BIGGER tarp in the Lair of Dead Things? Because I really wanna know. I bet Ezran knows already. 

Harrow said about the letter that “[Callum will] understand in time.” What makes me think there’s more in there than just his last will, possibly it’s also his last confession. What terrible shit has he done over the years of his reign, how much of it did Viren have his fingers in and how much of it can Viren use against him post-mortem? And how will the boys react when they get confronted with their dad’s uglier side, possibly via what the elves or even some direct victims have to say about him? 

I’d really like to have a look at that book Callum is carrying everywhere. I figure it’s his sketch book and not relevant to anything, but it might still be fun to get to see some pages anyway. 

Stuff that I got spoilered on because there’s too many tags to block :( 

I saw some pics of the Dragon Prince after hatching! D: I’m sorry, it feels like I robbed myself of an awesome surprise and you of a genuine reaction. :( I didn’t look very closely, I just saw that he was adorable and had roughly the same color scheme as his dad. Which leads me to some more tin hatting: What with Thunder being called that and also breathing lightning, I’d like to propose that the Storm Stone still has a big role to play after all, other than just providing Callum with a magical source he can carry around. 

I saw General Amaya of the Standing Battalion being name dropped in a text post. I scrolled too fast to see any context, but considering who she is I guess we’ll get her as an upcoming character in some capacity.

I know that the elf making the MAGIC TREES amulets gets another ending slide at some point, and that people are theorizing he and Runaan are a Thing.  I’m not a super big fan of Runaan at this moment in time so I couldn’t give less of a shit about his love life tbh, and as much as I like to ship things I usually need a bit more than literally two pictures to get me going, so. I dunno, don’t expect much from me on that front until more material comes out in later seasons I guess. Like… if there isn’t enough for people to make emotional gif sets out of, can you even really call it a ship?

Netflix tried to push Chapter 4 on me when I went to re-watch the others. I got it shut down quickly enough, but I still saw the title. I think it was… Bloodthirsty? Bloodlust? Either way I think either Runaan is gonna have a REALLY bad time very soonish or our protagonists will have to run REALLY fast from people trying to catch them.  Maybe both. 

#the dragon prince #tdp liveblog #drapri liveblog #rambling review

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

The Long Game ch. 3

“You called, Dad?” Claudia announced her presence.  Viren turned to her, sighing as he faced away from the mirror he had gotten back in Xadia. He still hadn’t figured out it’s secrets, but he had seen a cloaked figure appear every once in a while.

“Yes, Claudia.  We need to talk about relationships.”

“Oh.”  Claudia blushed, putting a few strands of her dark hair behind her ear.  “Did you hear about the girl at the bakery?  I know it’s unorthodox, but-”

“You don’t have time to be worrying about bakery girls, Claudia.”  Viren sat in his chair, gesturing for Claudia to sit beside him.  “Ever since Rayla got here, Prince Callum’s attention has drifted from you to her.”

“I know.”

“That’s not acceptable.”

Claudia looked down at her hands.  “He’s my friend and I didn’t want to embarrass him, but I never liked him, Dad.  I like girls.”

“I know.  But we’re a different cut above people who work in bakeries.”

“That’s not what Harrow says.”

“Claudia, please.  In order for our families to be closer together, in order for us to keep living a life you’re accustomed to, I need you to make an effort to get Prince Callum’s attention again.”

“Dad…I don’t want to. If he wants to be with Rayla-”

“Soren wants to be with Rayla.  You’ve seen how he makes a fool of himself around this castle when she’s in the room.  Don’t you want your brother to be happy?  It frees Rayla up if Callum’s taken.”

“How would I even do it?” Claudia put her arms around herself. Viren got up, wrapping an arm around his daughter.

“Callum wants to learn magic.  Though both he and Harrow are deeply opposed to dark magic, start teaching him how to use the primal stone.  Private lessons.  Do whatever you can.”

“I don’t know….”

“Claudia, look at me.” She finally did, confusion in her green eyes.  Viren shook his head.  He hated that he was asking his own daughter to sacrifice her happiness, but he had plans. Harrow was growing more and more distant from him.  Killing Thunder and taking the egg hadn’t done their friendship any favors.  If anything, it had deteriorated it.  They argued constantly and Harrow had threatened to send him out of the castle.  Viren couldn’t let that happen.  Harrow was becoming too against dark magic and was starting to doubt everything they had built towards.  What if Xadia attacked and Katolis was defenseless?  Or worse, Harrow tried to make peace and Xadia used it as an excuse to invade the entirety of the Pentarchy?  Viren couldn’t let that happen.  “Please. It’s important that you do this.”

“OK, Dad.  I’ll try my best.”

“Good girl.”

-----------------------------------------------

Rayla watched from the window as the royalty from the other kingdoms came to the castle.  They were coming to celebrate Ezran’s eleventh birthday. “They’re here,” she whispered to Callum and Ezran.  They both looked over at her, interest on their faces.  “Have you really never met any of them?”

“I met the former Queens of Duren when I was four,” Callum started, “but, besides, that, no.  This party for Ez is pretty unorthodox.”  

“Why?  Seems counter-intuitive.  You get a stronger alliance when you all know each other, right?”  Rayla glared at herself in the mirror.  Was that too obvious?  Callum and Ezran were really trusting individuals, but she really could be slipping as she grew comfortable here.

“There’s a concern about influencing the other kingdoms.  There’s a desire to be friendly, but to also be separate and to respect differences.  Duren and Katolis have usually had a reasonably close relationship compared to the others. But when you have a country like Evenere, which is far out compared to everyone else, it can lead to concern about plotting and alliances.”

“Fair, I suppose.”  

“We’re going to get ready for the party.  You coming?” Rayla nodded, keeping her eyes on the window for a moment longer.  This was the other reason she was here; information.  As she followed the princes to their rooms, she noticed just how rushed everyone was.  They were moving about and it felt like the whole castle was being remodeled.  “Good thing I moved out months ago,” Callum said to Ezran.

Rayla raised a brow.  “‘Moved out?’”

“Oh.  You didn’t know?”  Rayla shot him a look of confusion.  “Ezran and I used to share a room.  The day I turned 15, which was right before you got here, I finally got my own room. It’s next to Ezran’s, but I needed space.”

“Why did you two share a room for so long?”

Callum shrugged.  “Maybe because of our mom’s death.  I know I had nightmares and didn’t like being alone and when Ezran needed a room because he outgrew the crib, I offered mine.  I only moved because the king suggested it.”

Ezran sighed.  “Call him ‘Dad,’ Callum.  He liked it when you did that one time.”

“It felt weird,” Callum whispered.

“Because you made it weird. You apologized right after and everyone could tell that you were thinking about it for a long time.  He liked it.  For all the Big Feelings Times we have, the two of you are so hesitant to be open about this.”    

Rayla was quiet as they argued about whether or not Callum should call Harrow ‘dad’.  What was she going to do while the royal families were here? If she mingled too much, it would be obvious that she was trying to get information.  Viren was already suspicious of her.  But if she stuck with Callum and Ezran she would be missing out on an important opportunity.  When they approached their rooms, they saw Soren and Claudia arguing in the hall.  “Can we help you?” Rayla called.

The two turned, smiling at the trio.  Soren cleared his throat.  “Rayla, I was wondering if you would like me to accompany you tonight?  Usually, for these things, people take dates and-”

“Callum already asked and I said ‘yes.’”  Rayla’s eyes widened a bit.  It was the perfect chance.  If Callum was her date, then she could meet the royals and have an excuse to not be too conspicuous.  But, that hadn’t been why she had said that.  She didn’t want to go with Soren.  She looked over at a sputtering Callum.  “Right?”

“Yeah,” he muttered.  “I asked a little bit ago.  Sorry, Soren.”

“Oh,” Claudia interrupted. Rayla’s eyes narrowed.  “That’s a shame, I was hoping you and I could go together, Callum.”

“Really?”  Callum raised a brow.  Rayla looked at her door.  She didn’t want to hear this.  “Why?”

“Well, you and I have known each other for a long time, so…maybe the two of us could start thinking about dating.”

“But…Claudia I saw you in the bakery last week.  You and the helper were very clearly flirting and making-out.”  Claudia flinched.  “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m sorry, I’m not interested in you like that anymore.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped for a moment, biting her lip when the shock probably wore off.  “OK.  That’s fair. Ezran, will you be my date?”

Ezran looked down at Bait. “Can Bait come?”

“Of course,” Claudia smiled.

“Sure!”  Claudia, Soren and Ezran moved on, heading to their rooms to get ready.  Callum hung back, still looking at her.

“Rayla?”

“Hmm?”

“I never asked you.”

“I know.”  She said it so matter of factly it probably shocked him if his continued stare was any indication.  “I didn’t want to go with Soren.  I’m sorry I put you on the spot like that, but I didn’t see any other choice.”

“Is that the only reason?”

‘No’ almost escaped her lips.  He needed to stop looking at her like that, like she was something to be admired and adored.  “I trust you. Is that not enough?”  Callum held her gaze for a moment longer, finally nodding. They stood in the hall a bit longer, static crackling in the air between them.  “Besides, you need a good guard.  Who better than me?”

Callum chuckled.  “True.  You can take anyone in the crown guard.”

“Yes, I can.  And don’t you forget it.”  Rayla turned away, entering her room.  She leaned against the door for a few moments, pressing her clenched fist to her heart.  Her heart was beating too fast.  It always did that when he looked at her too long.  ‘Does he see?  Can he see through the illusion?’  She couldn’t tell.  Ever since that first night on the balcony when he said something about her appearance was off, he sometimes looked at her like he could see through to her true form. He never said anything, so Rayla had no way of knowing if she was being paranoid or if he was quietly observing.

That wasn’t it, though. They talked on their balconies almost every night.  Their winter at the Banther Lodge had been cozy and intimate and she had gotten to know him, Ezran and Harrow more.  She liked what she saw.  Liked it too much.  Also….Ezran. Oh, gods, Ezran.  Was she really here to kill Ezran?  The more time she spent with him, the more she realized he was just a child and how wrong all of this was.  The Dragon Prince hadn’t deserved to die, but, would justice be achieved by killing another innocent?  

‘Stop it, Rayla!  You’ve been having too many Big Feelings Times with them.  You are here for a job.  It’s not your responsibility to judge what is justice and what isn’t.’  It wasn’t her job at all.  Rayla pushed away from the door and made her way to the bed.  There was a blue gown on the bed.  The gold embroidery on the skirt was obviously meant to be reminiscent of the uneven towers of Katolis.  She ran a hand down the expensive silk.  ‘Too much…’  Rayla pulled her clothes off and dressed in the gown.  When she looked in the mirror to make sure it sat correctly, she was startled by her reflection.  Human…she looked human.  Would she ever get used to seeing blue eyes, rounded ears and blonde hair staring back at her?

Rayla stepped forward for a moment, hand touching the reflection and the other touching the necklace.  What she wouldn’t give to pull it off and see herself looking back at her.  Lujanne’s warning screamed loud in the back of her mind.  ‘If you take that necklace off, the illusion will break.  If you put it back on, you will not look exactly the same. There is no way of knowing if that difference could be explained away or not.  You can never take it off as long as you are on this side of the border.’

Rayla quickly put the necklace under her dress.  She didn’t need people asking questions.  She did her hair in a loose bun, several chunks framing her face, and her small braid used to wind it all together.  She had never thought about her looks before coming here.  It was a distraction.  There were most important things to do than having perfect hair.  There were a few tubes and jars of, what she assumed, was make-up. “No way.”  Rayla was not going to paint her face with human cosmetics if she wasn’t allowed to wear the dye of her people.  

She put on the low heels Opeli had most likely picked out for her.  The dress covered the heels.  What was the point of wearing them if no one would even see them?  She shook her head; just thankful she hadn’t been given anything with a corset or laces.  She had seen that fashion here in Katolis and it didn’t interest her at all.

She looked in the mirror one more time and walked out the door to the hall.  Callum was waiting for her.  Her eyes widened as she took him.  He was in a red jacket and a fancier version of his black pants.  There was clear padding on his shoulders as well as the same embroidery of the uneven towers.  His eyes scanned her form, slowly taking in every detail.  She both wanted to hide and stand firm in his attention.  “You clean up pretty good,” she finally said.

“You look beautiful.” That wasn’t fair…he couldn’t say things like that.  Not when she was fighting her heart against him.  Her heart was so desperate for her to run into his arms, tell him the truth, and maybe, just maybe, it would all work out.  That wasn’t how things worked, though, was it?

“Thank you.  I’m just hoping I don’t trip on this dress.”  She lifted the skirt a bit to show the shoes. “I’m not used to heels, either.”

“You’re a pretty good dancer, though.”  Rayla smiled. Callum had been tasked with teaching her how to dance since he wasn’t terrible at it.  Rayla had taken to it quickly.  It may not have been the same steps she knew, but Silvergrove was full of dancing.  It was in their keys, their celebrations, their harvest, everything.  

“You need to stop complimenting.  You’re going to make me think you mean it.”

“I do.  You’re amazing, Rayla.”  Callum cleared his throat.  “Shall we go?”  He held his arm out, giving her the crook of his elbow.  “I can’t wait to for you to show me off.”

“I’m showing you off?” Rayla chuckled.

“Of course.  I’m the step-prince of Katolis.  I need to be shown for the whole world to see.  Oh…is the whole world going to see?”

Rayla looped her arm through his.  “No. Just the important people.”

“Same thing.”  Rayla laughed as he stuck his tongue out at her. They waited for Ezran and walked with him to get Claudia and Soren.  The group of five exchanged pleasantries, Soren stumbling on his words as he complimented Rayla.

“The dress really suits you, Rayla.”  Soren bowed a bit.  “You sure you don’t want me to escort you?”

“I’m sure.”  They walked behind Ezran and Claudia, who looked back at them every once in a while.  Rayla didn’t know what game Claudia was playing, but she didn’t like it. It wasn’t acceptable to play with Callum’s heart like she was.  “You got a problem with this?”

“No,” Claudia said too quickly.  “Just wasn’t expecting it.”

“After seeing you give lingering looks to half the girls in the castle, I wasn’t expecting what you asked either.”

Claudia was quiet. Rayla wasn’t sure if she was simply refusing to answer or if she had offended her.  Either way, Rayla couldn’t find it in her heart to care.  They arrived at the hall, waiting for Ezran and Claudia to be announced.  “This is so much,” she whispered.

“I know,” came Callum’s soft reply.  “You can stay by my side all night if you want.”

“Thank you.”  They walked forward when Opeli gestured.

“Introducing Prince Callum and King Harrow’s ward, Ms. Rayla.”  Rayla took in the room.  She saw a lot of figures she had seen from the window.  She could hear whispers flitting to her ears.  

‘She’s stunning.  Look at that face!’

‘I heard a rumor she was gifted with weapons, but she looks so slim.’

‘They look uneven, don’t they?  A rare jewel like that next to the step-prince?’  Rayla’s eyes flitted around the room, trying to find that particular voice.  She saw a young man with a crown on his head dressed in golds and creams.

“Who is that?” she gestured with her chin when she got Callum’s attention.  

He looked over and was quiet as he thought.  “I think Prince Kasef of Neolandia.”

“So no avoiding him?”

“No.  Why?”

Rayla looked back at Kasef. He was staring at her with heat in his eyes.  She had heard rumors that Kasef acted like a child when he didn’t get a toy he wanted. “I don’t trust the way he’s looking at me.”

“How’s he looking at you?”

“Like he wants to eat me. I couldn’t be less interested.”  

“Really?  A lot of girls think he’s attractive from what I’ve heard.”

“I’m not into selfish children disguised as men.  I’d rather kiss Soren, and I’m not into himbos, either.”

“‘Himbos?’”  Rayla winced.  Right, that was a Xadian term.  Hopefully she could play this off.

“Not very bright, but muscular and kind.  Well, he’s kind with Ezran.  I don’t like how he treats you.”

“He’s not so bad,” Callum looked down at his feet.  “He can be a pretty good friend when he wants to be.”

“He calls you the ‘step-prince’.  I’ll believe you when he apologizes for that.”  Callum didn’t push it.  They finally made their way to stand by Harrow and Viren, standing off to the side. Rayla tuned out Harrow’s speech about friendship and forging connections to be a united Pentarachy.  She’d heard Harrow practice it a million times.  Watching everyone’s reactions to it was far more telling.  There seemed to be a good-natured attitude in the air.  Kasef, though, rolled his eyes every so often.  Rayla looked at a young girl with blonde hair in a crown. She stared at Harrow with an intense gaze, but moved her eyes down the line.  When she made it to Rayla, they held eye contact for a few moments.  In those moments, Rayla saw a world of strength and pain. Someone who wasn’t willing to back down and didn’t trust because they were betrayed every time.  “Queen Aanya,” she breathed.

Callum looked where she was, nodding slightly in ascent.  “Yeah.”

Aanya held the gaze. What did she see?  Finally, Aanya broke away first, but Rayla felt like she had given Aanya far more than she had learned herself.  “She’s Ezran’s age.”

“She is.”

Harrow’s booming voice broke through Rayla’s concern.  “Please, enjoy the night.  And, again, thank you for coming to celebrate Ezran’s birthday.”  Rayla stood to Callum’s side as the royals came up and introduced themselves.  She curtseyed and kept her head down as much as good as she listened to everything around her.  

When Kasef got to her, he picked up her hand and placed a kiss on it, a smirk that he probably thought was charming on his face.  “May I have the first dance?”

“Already promised it to Callum.”

“Second?”

“Ezran.”

“Third?”  Kasef’s voice was straining, squeezing her hand.

“Harrow.”  It bothered Rayla how quickly lies left her lips lately, but she felt no guilt for this.

“Fourth?”

“Callum again.”

Callum coughed a bit. “Look, she clearly isn’t interested-”

“Was I talking to you, step-prince?” Kasef hissed.  Callum looked down at his feet.  “Thought so.”

Rayla glared at Kasef, snatching her hand away.  “He’s right, I’m not interested.  Pick someone else to annoy.”          

“Rayla, right?”

“You’re bothering me and you’re asking to make sure you got my name right?”

“I just want to be sure I know the name of the woman I plan on pleasuring tonight.”

“Then you’re talking to the wrong girl.  Not happening tonight, tomorrow, or ever.”

King Ahling sighed.  “Kasef, leave the girl alone.”

Kasef cocked his jaw, but moved on.  Rayla didn’t stare after him, looking straight ahead lest he turn back and think she was encouraging his behavior.  Aanya was next.  They stared at each other for a few moments.  How did this tiny human queen make her feel so small?  Aanya nodded.  “I’m Aanya, Queen of Duren.”

“Rayla, a simple farm girl.”

“Not what I hear.  How does a farm girl get so good with a sword she beats a member of the crown guard or so good with a spear she trains a prince?”

“We watch the military and play a lot.  I’ve got good reflexes, I guess.”

“I see.”  Aanya stared at her for a few more moments.  “Has anyone ever told you that there’s something not quite right?  It’s like something is pulling at the edge of my mind when I look at you.”

Rayla nodded.  “Callum said that.”

Soren piped up from behind them.  “It’s because she’s so pretty.  You know how beautiful women make you stop in place.  Same thing.”  

Aanya was quiet, staring long and hard at Rayla.  Finally, she turned away.  “I see.” She turned back and nodded her head. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Rayla grabbed her hand, shocking them both.  Aanya raised a brow but did nothing else.  “What do you see?”

“I see someone who was deeply hurt by someone they love but hides it because it’s easier than thinking about it.  I see confusion and anger and hurt.  I also see a heart that’s too good for the world we live in, one always concerned with war breaking out.  Perhaps, if you let go of that hurt and forgave, you could be happier.”  Aanya walked away before Rayla could say anything.

“How did she do that?”

“She’s good at reading people,” Callum whispered.  

“That’s an understatement.”

“You have to be if you live the way she does.  Sycophants, assassination attempts, regents pretending to love her like their own child, whispering in her ears.  It caused a stir when she took the throne last year.  Everyone said she was too young, but she couldn’t trust the regents anymore.  She’s either going to be one of the greatest rulers the Pentarchy has ever seen or she’ll be so clouded by distrust she’ll be a tyrant.”

“What do you think?”

Callum mulled it over. “She’ll be a good queen, I think. Maybe she won’t always make the popular choice, but she’s well-known for loving her people.  She views them as her family because she lost her parents when she was a baby.”

The night dragged on. Rayla meant dignitaries and nobility who stared at her like she was a piece of cattle on display.  Her face hurt from smiling and her feet hurt from the heels.  The biggest reprieve had been dancing with Callum.  A simple waltz had left her imagining they were the only two in the room.  He had that effect on her, like the rest of the world just melted away and there was no one left but them.  She had clenched her fists in Ezran’s clothes when he danced with Claudia while she and Ez danced.  

“Rayla?” Ezran whispered. She looked down.  “Callum doesn’t like her anymore.  I don’t know what Claudia’s doing it, but anyone with eyes can tell her heart isn’t in it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Rayla whispered.

“Then why are you so upset?” Rayla didn’t say anything.  She danced with Harrow in silence, smiling at his jokes, but unable to get rid of the cloud hanging over her head now.

When she came back to the dais, Kasef was waiting for her.  “May I have a dance?” he asked.  Rayla couldn’t put her finger on it, but she had a feeling he expected her to say ‘yes.’  

“Don’t you give up?” Rayla shook her head.  “Will you leave me alone if I do?”

Kasef smiled down at her. “I can promise you you’ll never want me to.”

Rayla snorted.  “Sure, but promise you’ll leave me alone.”

“If you truly wish it, if you let me have this dance, I will leave you alone for the rest of the night.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” Kasef took her hand and pulled her way too close when they got to the dance floor.  Rayla pushed herself a more than appropriate amount away.  “You’re pushy.”

“How old are you?” Kasef asked.

“16.”

“Marriageable age in Neolandia.”

“Cool,” Rayla huffed under her breath.

“You’re quite stunning. Why would you choose to be the step-prince’s date?”

“He’s nice and I like him.”

Kasef pulled her closer again.  “I have experience with women.”

“How nice for you.”  Rayla was going to slap him if he didn’t stop.

“A beautiful woman like you should be draped in silks and dripping in diamonds.”

“Not interested.”

“Come on.  I’m offering you a chance no other farm girl would ever get.”  Kasef spun her, and brought her back far too close.  “If you keep my bed warm every night, I’ll give you all the pretty things you never dreamed of.”  His hand snuck down her back and he groped her ass.  

Rayla couldn’t hold back. She slapped him so hard his head swung to the side.  “DO.  NOT.  TOUCH. ME.”  Rayla held firm as he turned his head to look back at her.  “Learn to take a ‘no’ every once in a while, and stop acting like a child.  Actually, that’s not fair.  Children know that ‘no’ means ‘no’.  You’re spoiled and you need to grow-up.”  Rayla walked away before he could say anything back.  The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.  

“Well,” Aanya’s voice carried throughout the room, “I don’t know about all of you, but I think this party should move on.  I’m tired of dancing.  King Harrow, I heard that Katolis has a beautiful garden.”

Harrow nodded.  “It does indeed.  Let me show you all.”  Rayla stayed back as everyone went to the gardens.

“You OK?”  She was startled back into reality as Callum took her hand.

“I’m fine.  Just grossed out.”

“Not even the jerkface dance could make that better.”

“No, it couldn’t.”  

“What do you need?”

“Can we just go to bed? Or would that be rude?”

“Given the circumstances, I think it would be OK.”

“Did I really just slap the crown prince of Neolandia?”

“You did and it was awesome.”  Callum chuckled with her, gently putting a hand on her upper back.  “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.”  He looked up into her eyes and she almost fell into them. His lips her so close and they were alone.  He moved away before she could let her heart make the decision for her.  

‘It’s for the best, Rayla.  Your heart is a fool.’        

#rayllum #rayllum fanfic #tdp #the dragon prince #the long game #au #moonbase fanfics

[beautifulterriblequeen]

TDP rewatch: Ambassador Gren?

When Amaya is just about to stab Rayla, Gren flings the door open and calls out to her with news about the princes. But his body language makes me think that he’s purposely trying to keep Amaya from killing Rayla. Like he heard the fight and correctly interpreted that Amaya was winning--he’s got excellent hearing, after all--and he knew what that meant for her opponent.

So when he burst in, knowing what he was going to see, this is how he looked: one hand outstretched as if to warn Amaya off of her stabbiness. Even though he’s a human, and serving under the General of the Standing Battalion, he’s not hard enough to let Amaya simply kill an elven teenager in the same lodge where her nephews are taking refuge. She may prefer her shield to her sword, but Gren doesn’t carry either one. He’s a negotiator, not a fighter. And he almost seems to function as Amaya’s Jiminy Cricket here.

Once he’s been locked up in the dungeon, Gren tries to parlay with Viren. The topic of choice is Xadian fruit. But Gren’s getting fed, and he’s eating. He’s not starving and desperate. He chooses to ask after the Xadian fruit because it’s a negotiation tactic, sure, but he specifically mentions that it’s Xadian when he shows interest. He doesn’t hold the same level of grudge against Xadia as other humans do.

He’s trying to connect with Viren, who totally ignores him. And if he’s very clever, he knows that Runaan can hear him, too. Can hear him sound positive when he talks about Xadian fruit. Because Gren does like to talk, and the creators said that he tried to chat with Runaan. The assassin never answered him--too busy being Already Dead™--but perhaps Gren had been trying and failing to get a reaction for a while now, and so he thought that if he mentioned an interest in Xadian fruit, it might soften Runaan up just a little bit.

Spoilers: it did not.

But if he heard that line about the Xadian oranges, it means he can hear everything that was said down the hallway, including the “it’s a Moonshadow elf thing” line.

Gren absolutely knows that the other prisoner in the dungeon is one of the assassins who came for the king.

And he still makes this face of heroic concern when he hears Runaan start to scream.

With Gren’s predisposition to talk his way out of things instead of stabbing them, his tempered feelings for Xadia, the fact that he already seems to have saved Rayla’s life on purpose, his honest concern for Runaan’s fate, and the fact that the credits sketch tells us Gren’s getting freed soon if he hasn’t been already, I gotta wonder if Gren will actively advocate for Runaan’s release from the coin as some kind of gesture of goodwill or hostage exchange.

How cool would it be to have Gren save both Rayla and Runaan? If anyone can show Runaan “Humans are liars” the Assassin that there’s good in humans after all, it’s this cinnamon roll. Runaan’s going to need someone to talk him out of his narrative of strength, if he’s going to survive this show. Gren might be just the human for the job. I would love to see Gren step into such a critical role--so many plot points could hinge on persuading such a staunchly pro-Xadian character as Runaan into even a small change of heart. 

Gren could easily become a kind of ambassadorial character, possibly working for Ezran at the castle, trying to negotiate for peace as a counterpoint to Viren’s warmongering, and--fascinatingly--such a position could bring him into direct confrontation with Amaya, whose job is martial defense. 

Ooh and crikey me. That would be intense.

#tdp meta #gren #rayla #runaan #amaya #viren