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moonlightreal · 4 years ago

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Fate episode 6

When last we left Elemental Academy, I was seeing doomful parallels to every Bad Ending arc in Higurashi. And sadly, I like the three adults and my genre-savvy tells me they won’t all make it through this last episode.

How much of a downer will the ending be? Who will end up screwing everything up? (my money’s on Bloom.) Who’s for the chop? (my guess is Silva and one out of Dane, Riven or Beatrix.) Will we finally learn the red truth of what happened at Aster Dell? Will we ever get the skinny on what the heck Burned Ones are? Will the show finally give me the lowdown on changelings that I’ve been whining about since episode one? Will we get the full story on Bloom’s destiny? (My money’s on no to at least three of the four.)

And I suppose we’ll finally answer the question we started with: Good, bad or irredeemable?

One last time, let’s dive in!

We pick up right where we left off, Bloom having a mental chat with Rosalind! Rosalind says, ‘Do you have any idea how special you are?”

...waitwaitwait, is there gonna be a prophecy? There’s always a prophecy! A prophecy that the Chosen one would be born in Aster Dell and that’s the real reason Rosalind nuked the place. Only she didn’t know which of the babies it was, she guessed Beatrix and she guessed wrong.

Am I right? Sorry, I barely let the episode start, let’s get back.

Rosalind encourages Bloom to bust her out. Bloom flames her eyes up.

Aaaaand we cut back to the girls in the corridor. Terra wonders what they could be talking about and Stella teases that she once heard Terra talk about dirt for two hours. I’m liking friendly Stella, but she faceturned faster than Tinx at the end of WoW!

Terra’s also worried Beatrix may recover from being frozen and come after them. Sensible, Terra! But no, Beatrix will be gone when you get back, off getting the mysterious “him.” I know how these shows work!

Ahahahaha! I’m right! Beatrix is gone! I swear I type these things while I watch, all guesses are genuine!

And then Dowling, Harvey and Aisha bust in. Yeah girls, you might’ve not done this during a Burned One attack! Harvey says “Not another word!” which nobody listening is why y’all gonna get the bad ending, and the girls follow him. Stella resurrects her inner witch to tell Aisha, ‘Hope the brownie points you get from this will keep you company when you’ve got no friends.” simmer down Stell, she was trying to protect people’s lives… Aisha goes with the girls leaving Dowling to go after Bloom alone.

Rosalind is coaching Bloom on how to burn through the barrier. Bloom’s grinning, because magic feels hot and dangerous and you just want more. Then the barrier goes down and Bloom has a moment of worry about what she’s done before she… has a very caring moment, she grabs Rosalind assuming the older fairy will need water and food after being trapped for so long. That is really sweet, Bloom. But Rosalind says, ‘No. I need magic.”

And here comes Dowling! I assumed Rosalind would steal Dowling’s magic, but when the headmistress gets there everybody’s gone.

Opening!

Bloom and Rosalind come out a door in the graveyard out in the forest. Secret passage! Dowling doesn’t know about it. Dowling doesn’t know about lots of things, according to Rosalind. Bloom really should be having second thoughts here. Rosalind has an evil face!

Harvey reads the girls the riot act. He’s wearing his army coat, the same kind Rosalind wears, from their soldier days. He’s horrified about all the girls have done. He turns to go.

And Terra jumps up, “You lied again! About Rosalind, about everything, and you’re angry with ME? You can’t punish me for not knowing something you didn’t tell me!”

Yes! Get ‘em Terra!

Stella and Musa tennis-match look from daughter to father.

Harvey just says, “I suggest you all cool down!” and leaves without facing his daughter’s very sensible argument. And he magics the doors locked.

Terra: ‘I’ve caught him in a logic trap and he’s used his magic to ground us.’

Stella: “That means you won.”

Then aisha heads for her room to “deescalate the situation by removing myself from it” and Stella calls her a rat of a teacher’s pet and Musa asks for a brief pause so she can get her headphones. She flees into her room as Stella and Aisha get into it.

There’s Sam! Hiding in Musa and Terra’s room!

Stella says everyone over five knows not to snitch, even terra knows not to snitch, and Terra gives her a look. Aisha brings the logic: burned Ones, outside! Bloom, kinda single minded! Rosalind, an extra problem we don’t need right now!

Dowling checks the stone circle. Nobody there.

When she leaves, Rosalind and Bloom appear. So Rosalind is mind/light at least. Rosalind puts her hands over the center stone and absorbs magic.

Bloom asks what happened at Aster Dell. Rosalind makes a very evil face. ‘Everything Farah told you is true. I lied to them. I told then Aster Dell was evacuated. It wasn’t.”

Bloom starts to wonder if maybe she released a baddie.

But rosalind has more to say. ‘One of the fundamental tenets of the Otherworld is that only fairies can do magic. The settlers of Aster Dell were the exception. They were humans who drew on sacrifice and death. Blood witches.”

Gee it’d have been nice to hear that fundamental tenet sometime before the last episode! 9_9

So Rosalind saw an opportunity to wipe out the totally unforeshadowed witches along with the Burned Ones. And Bloom was a fairy baby kidnapped by the witches. Her fairy parents are still unknown. Bloom’s freaking out, but Rosalind just says, ‘You weren’t safe in the Otherworld, the power inside you was too great. that’s why the witches wanted you, to use your power.” and the Burned Ones can sense Bloom’s power and want to get rid of it before it’s used on them.

Yikes! Bloom realizes her presence is putting everybody in danger!

Rosalind: ‘Sucks to be special sometimes, doesn’t it.” But now they can go after the Burned Ones! And Rosalind has another trick to teach Bloom…

Hmm, so these Burned Ones were just… around? And gathering because they sensed Bloom’s magic? I assumed someone summoned them back after not being seen for 16 years.

We go to the fighters at the barrier. Remember how last episode Bloom drugged Sky and left him passed out at the stone circle? Well Aisha found out somehow and told the teachers so Silva is giving Sky the “why did I find this out from Aisha?’ and Sky hits back with, “Why’d I have to find out about Aster dell from Bloom?” But they’re in the middle of a siege situation here so Silva logically suggests they talk about that later.

Another few specialists including Riven and a girl named Kat who knows Stella are watching Noura’s last video. Kat thinks she knows where it was shot. Silva says, “Let’s go.” Just him and five students. Riven says, ‘Without fairies? that’s fucking stupid, there’s six of them!” and Sky shuts him down; order’s an order. That’s the most twit-ish thing Sky has done this whole show.

They hear Burned Ones growling… but it’s coming from the direction of the school! Yikes! Everyone rushes back!

At Alfea, the lights, that were never bright anyway so we’d remember this is a dark show, flicker out! Terra says the electricity runs on magic and there are energy wells… Sam says he’ll go check it out. He Kitty Prydes it through the door, unbothered my the sealing spell. So if he can phase, can Terra learn it too?

Spooky empty corridors! Flickering lights! Sam all alone! Y’know Sam probably can’t do that trick Kitty does where an enemy launches at her and goes right through, because he can only phase through earth-y and plant-y stuff.

Yikes! It’s a jump scare! Burned One right in Sam’s face! It claws him and he goes down yelling in pain!

But he manages to get back into the girls’ suite to tell them there’s a Burned One loose in the school!

Back with Bloom and Rosalind, Rosalind’s encouraging Bloom to channel lots of magic. “More! Let the fire consume you! Control limits you!” bloom says she’s scared and Rosalind encourages her to embrace that feeling, to enjoy it! “And with the right people around you...”

Bloom unflames. “You mean with you.” Bloom’s realized it! “You want me to listen to you and trust you and let you guide me? I just met you.’ and that’s not all! Bloom realizes Rosalind left her on earth a danger to everyone around her, to hide her from Dowling. “Without any guidance.”

Rosalind: ‘The guidance you needed was love. Farah couldn’t give that to you. Vanessa and Michael could.” Ugh, so their names are canon. And Rosalind knew about their baby and “gave them a second chance. And I gave you a hiding place from the monsters that wanted you dead.” And rosalind says she’ll always look out for Bloom, and when this is over they’ll find Bloom’s birth parents.

I dunno Bloom, maybe ask a whole lot more about how she knew about an Earth couple whose baby had a heart defect?

It had occurred to me that Beatrix might be the other half of the changeling swap, if there’s healing magic that can fix things like that.

But no time for that, Burned Ones are in the school and the girls are stuck in their room! Bloom has to go help. She asks Rosalind if she’s charged up enough to help help. Rosalind says she can’t, “But you don’t need it. BS, Rosalind, you could totally help. But Bloom runs off leaving the lady with the evil face all alone.

In the suite, Sam is getting worse, they can’t get out, and cel phones are giving up.

Bloom races toward the school. She hears noises from every side… but there’s Sky! At least bloom seems relieved he’s ok after she spiked his drink. He doesn’t seem nearly as upset as he should be over that, but I guess we gotta save the school first!

Inside dark halls there’s Riven and Kat with flashlights. They hear noises, but it’s just some students led by a male fire fairy with a handful of flames. Kat goes with them to the “courtyard” which I’ve been calling the cafeteria, I guess it’s outside? The big set with the arches and walkway overlooking it.

So Riven’s all alone to get the rest of the students from this area! He goes into the greenhouse… and there’s Dane! And Beatrix lying asleep on a table. Dane brought Beatrix here but she’s still paralyzed from the spell and Dane doesn’t know how to help her.

Riven just says it sucks for her and she’s not worth it. Which true we’d be better off without her but also yikes, heartless much Riven?

Dane: “She cares about you and I know you care about her. Don’t act like you don’t.”

Riven shrugs and turns to go and Dane grabs him. Riven says fine, he’ll help. Dunno why they don’t just carry Beatrix to where the students are gathering, that’d be safer for everyone.

Sky and Bloom are having the “you drugged me.” conversation. And the “I trusted you, I told you things.’ and “you trusted me but you’d still have stopped me.’ and “you were gonna release a murderer and a crazy ex-headmistress.” and Bloom starts realizing everyone had reasons for what they did and Sky wraps it up, ‘just because they’re doing what they thought was right doesn’t mean that it is.”

Back with the girls, Sam’s getting worse and something is banging on the door! it’s Sky! Did he just kick his way through an enspelled door? Badass.

Sky and Stella look at each other and say hey.

Then we all head for the courtyard and comparative safety!

Dowling is magically sealing the beautiful arched doors with trees in them, she tells the boy fire fairy to get his compatriots to weld them shut, and everyone to start making barricades. Silva’s handing out armor to fairies who want it. Harvey has a whole chemistry lab set up with a lunch lady helping him. Badass Marco is still getting treatment for his injury when the girls bring Sam in for help. Sam’s in a bad way. Harvey asks why they didn’t bring him immediately and Terra reminds him they were locked in their room. Harvey flinches.

Dowling stands on the stage where we saw Luna before, as behind her fire fairies weld the doors. She tells them the situation: Burned Ones in, power out. But she got word to Queen Luna and the army’s on the way! Everyone looks at Stella when she says that. They’re safe in the courtyard… but if the Burned Ones get through before the army comes, they’ll have to fight. Dowling does her best to be inspiring, “Let’s show them what it means to be Alfeans!” But I just feel… the lack of history. And I know, we have history. Feels like we don’t.

Sky and Stella have a moment. Bloom told him Stella ran away from home. Stella: “Home’s on its way here, so that’s fun.” Sky offers to help her hide but Stella says she’d love to take him up on it but… ‘Breaking up was the right thing to do, we never should’ve gotten back together. We are codependant at best, toxic at worst. This time I have to deal with it myself.” yay Stella! Grow into a better person! Sky says she sounds just like Bloom and Stella jokes that that’s what he’s into these days.

Meanwhile Bloom is following Dowling trying to convince her not to be mad. ‘Rosalind isn’t the monster you think she is.”

Bloom, you just met her you said it yourself!

“She had a reason to lie. The settlers of Aster Dell weren’t innocent. They were blood witches. And my birth parents weren’t even there.”

Dowling just sighs and says “She certainly has a way of winning people over doesn’t she.” Dangit, I wanted her to just kill the retcon and say, “there’s no such thing as blood witches, Bloom.”

Bloom goes with, ‘is your ego so fragile you can’t even consider for a minute you might be wrong about her?” Dowling says Rosalind is just manipulating, Bloom says you’re doing that too, and Dowling sensibly points out Dowling could be here defending herself and also defending the school.

Bloom flinches from that logic but says Rosalind is still too weak.

Dowling says the stone circle is the conduit to the magic of the land. It supplies everything… like the electricity. And the barrier.

Yup. Nice job breaking it, hero! Bloom singlehandedly brings about the bad ending!

Bloom says the Burned Ones are after her, and Dowling had figured that out. Bloom says she knows how to fight them now, but Dowling points out, ‘you’re he reason we’re in this mess, you’ve done enough. Help the other fire fairies weld the doors if you want to.’

And she strides off, pausing to suggest to Aisha that the other water fairies could use her leadership.

Aisha had been coming to talk to bloom I think, but she changes her mind.

In the greenhouse Dane and Riven are making a medicine to revive Beatrix. Turns out Riven is good at potions because he used to hang out with Terra. ‘Look, I’ll deny saying this but she’s not the worst.”

Ok, that makes Riven’s nasty remark to Terra in the first episode way worse.

Riven: “I might’ve led you astray this year...’

Dane: “you didn’t. Beatrix is special.”

Riven: ‘You are gay, right? I’m not blind? I know when someone wants my dick.”

Dane: “I think you’re hot. She is too, in a different way.”

There’s nothing like a cute threesome! ...and this is nothing like a cute threesome. But now the problematic element sits up and says, ‘You made the right choice. Rosalind will be impressed. When this is all over, you’re going to want to be on our side.”

Burned Ones growl! Rosalind pulls magic from the stone circle!

And Sam is in a bad way. There was a splinter of Burned One claw near his heart. Dang, I should’ve put him on the list of people for the chop! Musa tries to use her mind magic to take some of his pain, but it’s too much for her.

Harvey starts falling apart, stuttering that he can’t get the splinter out. Terra encourages her father, and Harvey manages to pull the claw splinter out. sam’s alive, but until the Burned One that tagged him is dead it’s only a matter of time!

The fire fairy boy says he heard they have the rest of the night and a whole day before the army comes. Too long for Sam, and if the Burned Ones get through the doors too long for all of them. Bloom, who’d been watching in horror the results of her bad choices, sets her lips and strides out.

Bustle of students putting up barricades. Sky is working with Badass Marco, then he turns and there’s Bloom with an apology. “I should’ve been honest with you like you were honest with me and I’m sorry.” And she reassures him that the kiss was honest, and gives him another one for emphasis!

Sky: “If I still say I don’t believe you, can we do it again?”

Well Sky is the most sane and stable person here, he’ll be good for Bloom! And immediately her catches Bloom’s glance and says, ‘whatever you’re thinking of doing… I’m here.”

And Aisha knows Bloom’s gonna try something, because Bloom always tries something and this time she thinks it’s her fault. Stella tries the, ‘If only her friend hadn’t turned on her..” and Aisha feels bad and she’s sorry. And here’s Bloom, come to get them! It’s the last episode, we all get to go fight!

Sky’s not with them, he’s with Silva and Silva has a final confession to make. Because he thinks they’re all gonna die tonight, he wants to tell Sky the truth about what happened at Aster Dell. Because that was where Sky’s father died. But Sky thought he died in battle…

Flashback! On the plains. Silva is yelling that there were still people, the town wasn’t evacuated. He wants to run and tell Rosalind. This must be while the magic users are up on the cliff ready to call down lightning. Silva says his friends think they’re only killing Burned Ones, but Andreas says Rosalind knows the truth. And he’s going with what Rosalind said.

Silva says ‘I know Rosalind gave you a sense of purpose, I know you’re indebted to her.” backstory there, but surely Andreas wouldn’t be on side for nuking hundreds of people?! Silva says, orders or morals? And Andreas… yep, he’s Team Rosalind. he’s not gonna let Silva warn the others.

He does not say, “They’re evil blood witches, we’ll show you the evidence and then come back.” which is really the only correct thing to say here.

Punches are thrown! The two warriors scuffle. Then Andreas goes for his sword. Silva draws his own. And a few swings in, he runs Andreas through. And races to the top of the bluff to stop his friends being accessories to a massacre.

Oof! What a thing for Sky to learn! And before that, Silva says, Andreas really was a great hero. Just… flawed. As we all are. That’s not much good and sky snaps, ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?” But he’ll have to work it out later because now the Burned Ones are breaking in!

Dowling and the specialists move to the front, Dowling saying, ‘Keep your emotions in check. Runaway fear leads to runaway magic.”

In the clinic Harvey and Terra battle to keep Sam alive. Terra goes to get help and finds Musa zoned out with headphones. Terra begs for help and Musa says she can’t bear to feel somebody she cares about die, not again. This Musa’s mother dies last year, and Musa was with her and felt everything. Oof! The two girls hang onto each other and cry for a moment then Terra says, ‘It’s ok. I’m not gonna let him die.” And, understanding, leaves Musa to her music. But headphones can’t shut out the sound of the Burned Ones banging on the walls!

In the courtyard terra walks right up past everybody and starts dismanteling the barricade! ‘We’re hiding when we should be fighting.” Silva tells her they’re gonna be fighting soon enough and indeed, here comes a Burned One through the roof! The boy fire fairy blasts it and Kat is ready to skewer the thing when it… passes them?

It’s looking for Bloom! Who was last seen sneaking out a trapdoor with Stella and Aisha! The banging stops, and Dowling figures out Bloom has left to draw the enemy away!

The girls emerge from the secret passage in the graveyard.

Harvey calls Terra over as she is clearly headed out to fight, but he says she needs to stay with her brother, to help him hold on until the Burned One is destroyed. Then Musa appears and takes Sam’s hand. She’ll help him as long as she can.

Outside Stella points out that her mom is on the way with a real live army, but Bloom says there’s no time for that. Rosalind taught her how to stop the Burned Ones but she has to do big magic and she’s not sure how that’ll work. She needs help. Aisha will be there with her water magic in case the forest catches fire, and Stella can hide them.

Bloom: “Rosalind wants me to believe that she’s the person I need to get through this. But she’s not.

Aisha pulls the water from the pond into a cyclone around Bloom. Bloon lights up her eyes and lifts off the ground and… transforms. Transforms-ish. Flames spiral around her arms and legs, and around her body. Bloom’s clothes don’t change but fiery veined wings open behind her, first very large then dwindling as Bloom lands back on the ground.

The designers definitely could’ve watched PGSM to get this, if they then decided to tone things way down. And why not change her clothes? I’m sure they could’ve managed something. As a live action transformation sequence it’s… ok. They were trying for something cool and they had some good ideas how to get there, the fie spirals were good, but they needed to really run with it and they didn’t. So it’s just ok.

And how the night did Rosalind know the long lost secret of how to transform?

Burned Ones advance and Bloom blasts them with fire one after another. When the last one is down, her wings go out. And where the Burned Ones fell are… specialists? People, anyway.

Dowling arrives and Bloom collapses in her arms, then Aisha and Stella rush over to help. “We did it.’

Inside Sam suddenly feels much better! Terra hugs Musa. The lights come back on.

In the greenhouse too, where Beatrix and the boys are ready to bring the bad ending! I still smell a bad ending, because we just had a good ending but there’s twenty minutes more to go! The boys say they should rejoin their classmates but Beatrix says they should wait to meet Rosalind and her dad, who have a plan. ‘The two of you can be part of it. This doesn’t have to end.”

Dane asks if it was her dad who sent her to Alfea and B says he’s technically not her dad… and here’s Rosalind coming in the greenhouse doors. She and Beatrix recognize each other though they can’t have met. B says the boys are her friends and Rosalind reads their minds. I wanna say the boys are wondering what they’ve gotten into but… no, they don’t seem to be seeing anythuing wrong with this at all.

The girls are putting Bloom to bed, talking about the good ending they think they have. Sam will be fine, Terra’s great at doctoring and she’s sad she missed seeing Bloom’s wings. Tinkerbell is mentioned and I can just hear my friend cringing as they say Bloom’s wings were cooler than Tinkerbell’s. Bloom’s parents call and Aisha talks to them, covering for Bloom. She calls it her ‘one allocated lie of the week” which is weird. Bloom’s awake and fine, she could talk to her folks. Aisha says they’ve been having killer exams and the girls giggle.

Nobody says, ‘ohmigod the secret of wings was lost ages ago, what exactly did you do? help us all learn it!” which seems like a very obvious thing for everybody to be saying.

Also being all happy and going to bed while Rosalind and Beatrix are unaccounted for is a weird choice!

Silva and some specialists are scouting for her. No luck. They find Dowling with the bodies of the ex-Burned Ones.

Dowling: “Bloom transformed, Saul. She spent one night with Rosalind and unlocked ancient fairy magic, magic we thought was lost. She told Bloom the settlers of Aster dell weren’t civilians, they were blood witches.”

And Silva seems to believe it. Which of course means he killed his friend for no good reason. If it’s true. But if it’s true why didn’t Rosalind and Andreas tell the others, present evidence of the blood witches’ crimes, and make a plan to deal with things aboveboard? So why does Silva believe it now hearing from Dowling who heard from Bloom who heard from Rosalind well after the fact? But he does believe it and this is his awful moment of guilt.

Sky too is grappling with what he’s just learned, pacing on the lawn outside the school as the night ends.

Bloom finds him as the sun rises and I gotta say, I was not expecting the night to end! Everyone heard Bloom “went full fairy last night.” Bloom says it was the first time she truly felt like herself. She says, “I belong here.” but she realizes Sky is in the same clothes as last night and asks if he’s ok. He says he’s fine, which he isn’t.

Then Dowling comes looking for Bloom. The two fairies go into the headmistress’ office. Bloom’s feeling ok after her big magic, and suddenly she apologizes for all the awful things she’s said to Dowling. “You found me when I was lost, brought me to a safe place, gave me guaidance. Surrounded me with amazing people. And I’ve been...’

Dowling says, ‘It’s forgiven.” And Bloom hesitantly asks for a hug, or maybe offers one. Dowling looks like she’s never heard of hugs before, then she stands up and she and Bloom hug. Dowling totally gets teary-eyed.

Dowling: “When I became headmistress I made a decision. To become a figurehead. To project strength. It’s what students your age need. Admitting mistakes invites uncertainty...but not admittng them means people you care about have to ask you if you hug.”

Awwww, that was sweet! Dowling says she should have been more honest and Bloom says she maybe needed time.

...are we maybe NOT having a bad ending? I mean if Stella confronts her mum that would take up the time and we could end on a good note! Nobody’s dead yet! But all that bad-ending buildup...

‘Cause suddenly we’re back on Earth and Bloom is going to tell them the truth! Which, what good will that do them? And do you even know the truth? People told you lots of things. And the rest of the girls are here to hang out over the weekend! They head upstairs so Bloom can drop the “changeling” bomb in peace.

Music plays, Bloom speaks and her mother cries and looks at a baby book, ultrasounds and a newborn hospital bracelet. They believe it too, the whole mad story of fairies and magic. Of course Bloom summoning double handfuls of fire probably does a lot to convince them.

Sweet family montage, Bloom hugging her parents, the girls at the kitchen table, eating pizza.

Back at Alfea, Silva asks Sky where Riven is. Sky just says he and Dane are probably off getting stoned. When is this? Did y’all not do a full headcount after the battle? Sky is of course not happy with his mentor. Silva just says, ‘one day I hope you’ll see everything I did was for your benefit Sky.” Which, if Silva’s parenting produced Sky the paragon of decency and Andreas’ parenting produced Beatrix the occasionally charming also slutty obsessed murderer, good point there!

Here come some doomful black SUVs! They pull around and out hop a bunch of soldiers who surround the two confused guys.

Queen Luna gets out and… arrests Silva for the attempted murder of Andreas of Eraklyon!

Yow! Poor Silva looks most confused. But there he is, Andreas gets out of an SUV still wearing his specialist vest thingy. Sky looks at his resurrected father in shock!

Dowling is looking over some graves. Rosalind suddenly turns up! Turns out the Burned Ones are a sort of zombie, they were human once so when Bloom turned them human again and dead Dowling buried them. I hope she tried to find their next of kin and stuff too. Rosalind knew about them.

Dowling: “Are there more out there?”

Rosalind: “Shit ton.”

Rosalind must’ve already met Riven, his speech patterns are rubbing off on her!

And then Rosalind delivers the prophecy. There always is one. Or in this case, “There’s a legend. It’s a thousand years old. That’s how old the Burned Ones are, by the way. They were soldiers from an ancient war. The legend is about the magic used against them. It created them. it’s powerful. It’s primal. The Dragon Flame.”

Whaaaaaat? Really? Come on.

And that’s what Bloom’s got and that’s why she could transform. Rosalind let the Burned Ones into the school to see if Bloom could do it. Dowling’s upset about the danger to, y’know, everybody.

Rosalind: “there’s a war on the horizon. The Burned Ones are nothing compared to what’s coming.”

And Rosalind says she’s taking over the school, pretty much. We go back to the front yard where Silva’s getting hauled away in handcuffs and Queen Luna is giving the ordersy and there’s Beatrix watching and inside someone’s taking down Dowling’s portrait and putting up Rosalind’s.

Soldiers march into the greenhouse and Harvey and Sam smile weakly, smart enough not to try anything against six big dudes.

We learn that Andreas has been in hiding all these years because “I needed someone to raise Beatrix.” Uh, wow Andreas is one obedient guy! He also looks a little nutty. I dunno, the very regal beard… it’s too much somehow. Next to him Beatrix smiles at Riven and Dane who are I guess her loyal retainers now.

And then, infodump over… Rosalind straight up MURDERIZES Dowling! Well first she suggests Dowling might want to run away and take some time off, but Dowling is having none of that so Rosalind kills her! And then angry rock music plays as Dowling’s body sinks into the ground and flowers come up over her, making one more grave.

The girls return from their weekend on earth wearing the awful clothes from the trailer and discover… not the three adults they were expecting!

Well that was… something. You got the bad ending all right!

So lemme scroll up and see how good my guesses were…

Nobody but Dowling died, so my death guesses were wrong. And if she’s an earth fairy she might be able to heal herself under the ground or something, I mean weirder things happen in this kind of show. Bloom did indeed doom the school by releasing Rosalind.

We learned what I guess is the truth of Aster Dell, but... unforeshadowed blood witches? Reeeeeally!? That’s what you’re going with? And we found out Burned Ones are ancient zombies created by the unforeshadowed Dragon Flame which Bloom has for some reason. You’re supposed to foreshadow the important stuff for the night’s sake! That’s how things have weight in your story, that’s how you make the world feel real like the parts of it are connected to the other parts of it! The lack of worldbuilding has been bugging me more and more, can you tell?

Anyway we get a season two. I’m pleased because I’ve enjoyed plenty of aspects of Fate, but on the other hand… Fate has turned the already weird Winx fandom into a pit of radioactive rage-bees, and I won’t be sad to put that behind us!

So what about the big question? Good, bad or irredeemable?

I expected to judge how Fate lines up as a Winx Club show, but it… just doesn’t. At all. None of the characters are the same, none of the worldbuilding is the same. It’s apples to oranges.

But as just a show… I think I’d have to go with “bad.” The way the world feels so flimsy, all the really obvious bits of Otherworldbuilding that just aren’t there until the end, or aren’t there at all. All the Earth popular culture references. Beatrix being stuck in a slut stereotype role. All the drugs. All the everyone’s lying to everyone about everything, it got really tiresome. Those things knock the show out of the “good” category.

But there was a lot to like. I have to say, all the actors did a really good job. Given the semi-mess they had to work with, they gave it all they had! Stella was so awful but put across that she’s terrible because she’s terrified. Sky was a truly good person. Beatrix and Riven are objectively terrible people but both had moments of being so charming it was hard to hate them. And Dowling, Silva and Harvey managed to hold up this flimsy worldbuilding and almost make it work. The magic was flimsy but pretty and the castle and the forest are absolutely stunning.

So it’s not good, but there’s something there. So it’s not irredeemable, though there’s a lot we have to wallpaper over with it. I’m’a go with “Bad. The show has charms but is in general bad.”

At least that’s what I think after a five-hour marathon of the last episode! We’ll see what occurs to me in days to come!

#fate the winx saga #you get the bad ending

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celestescamander · 4 years ago

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The Wine Library

Celeste Scamander Wedding Week - Day One

Celeste Scamander

Gossip Witch

Wedding Week – Day One

Celeste nodded not knowing what exactly Caleb had said, her fingers tapping lightly against her thighs as the nerves took over her. She wished her common sense had awoken before she was in a taxi cab in Portugal on the way to their luxury hotel, Six Senses Douro Valley which was about an hour drive away from the airport, apparently the Palácio do Freixo was a beautiful place to get married but not for staying in. It was going to be a little hard to run away when she got there but maybe she could pull an all the commitment scared her off, it wouldn’t be nice for Caleb and his family would surely hate her but the last part was going to happen anyway.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked placing his hands over hers. Celeste sucked in a breath, she was already a mess she didn’t need his hands on her body, especially not on her thighs.

“Nervous, very nervous, contemplating opening this taxi door right now and legging it type of nervous,” she said chewing at her lip, eyes trained on Caleb’s hand, his fingers threaded through hers.

“Cel, there is no reason to be nervous,” Caleb said softly. “My family will love you, half of them already do,” he said with a laugh, that Celeste was sure was meant to comfort her.

“No half of them love what you told them, they don’t even know me,” she huffed. Sure she had met his sister a few times and his mother once when he first signed to Spellbound but that was it. How could she live up to whatever image Caleb had painted of her? The Celeste he described had to be better than the real thing, Caleb by definition was the world’s best hype man - read how he talks about Daniel, and of course, he had to make her someone he could believable date.

“Cel, I created an imaginary relationship, not an imaginary you, the Celeste i described is the exact same Celeste that is sitting beside me,” Celeste dared to look up to find Caleb frowning down at her. “Why i would i change you?” he asked as if the thought never occurred to him. Celeste’s face was beginning to get hot, why did he have to say something like that.

“I think we are here,” Celeste said shifting slightly as the taxi slowed down, the six sense resort was surrounded by an 8-hectare vineyard so if anything goes wrong she could drown herself in wine. As they drove up the road she spotted the pink mansion it was known for. “Wow,” she said under her breath.

“I should have known bringing you to a vineyard would make you feel better,” Caleb teased. Celeste rolled her eyes playfully nudging him as the pulled to a stop at the front of the hotel. Two massive wooden doors welcomed them, their taxi driver opened the boot as their luggage floated out into the hotel. “Let’s get checked in,” Caleb said reaching out and squeezing her hand one last time before exiting the taxi and coming around to open her door holding his hand out for her.

“Well aren’t you a gentleman,” she said sliding her hand into his trying to ignore the way his face lit up, she had to squash these feelings. Her friends comment about how she should be careful could be heard in her mind, purposely ignoring the hopeful voice that said Caleb choose you to be his fake girlfriend.

They entered the hotel. A large reception desk was in the centre of the lobby, a textured art wall was behind them candles floated around the staff. The staff greeted them warmly, one of them gushing about Caleb was even more handsome in real life. Caleb chuckled muttering a thank you. Celeste couldn’t stop herself from smiling, it was cute when he got bashful, a rare occurrence given his chosen career. Another staff member came over directing them to the balcony and handing them their complimentary glass of port wine.

“So how rich is your family again,” Celeste asked raising an eyebrow at Caleb who gave her a sheepish smile.

“One you can’t talk given who you are related to,” he said holding one thing up, Celeste sipped on her wine shaking her head, her family just had a name, a single famous member, money-wise they were just average. “We are decently rich but Fiona’s fiancee’s family is way richer,” he pouted. “Speaking of which guess who just message me,”

“Should Dohyun be worried about Fiona’s fiancee messaging you? Don’t tell me the bromance of the century is over?” she joked, bring a hand to her heart as she faked a gasp. “What will you tell the AMM kids?”

“Cel you know that nothing can come between me and Dohyun, we’ve been together for over 10 years,” Caleb said seriously. Celeste wanted to believe he was playing along with the joke but given it was Caleb she had a feeling he truly meant that. “And as much as i would appreciate Cass texting me it was, unfortunately, Princess Fiona,” he sighed dramatically.

“Did you just?”

“Make a Shrek reference, yes and yes i am fully aware that implied my sister is a troll,” Caleb cut her off, he must have taken the giggling fit Celeste was having as judgement because seconds later he opened his mouth to explain. “In my defence, Penny said Shrek was one of the most important cinematic pieces in history and gave me an hour-long speech about the version of I need a hero from Shrek 2 redefined a generation,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

“Ignoring the way you rolled your eyes at a very true statement, it was iconic Cal iconic, what did Fiona want?” Celeste asked.

“Oh my family is down in the Wine Library waiting for us apparently,” he said simply, Celeste’s nose scrunched her nerves returning full force. “We can always wait, take our time with these drinks or if you really aren’t ready i can say you were exhausted from the trip and you wanted to rest?” he suggested.

“No no it would look weird if i didn’t show up as well,” Celeste frowned. “I wish i knew that they were waiting, we could have skipped the wine,” she said. Well not skipped the wine since they would have been on their way to the wine library and his family instead of making them wait.

“Celeste, it’s fine,” he said softly, “No one is upset if anything Fi is just anxious to start her embarrass Caleb plan,” he huffed. “She is been wanting to get back at me for years but jokes on her i have no shame,” he said puffing his chest out proudly.

“Yeah right, remember the time Daniel showed me those pics from your BNT photoshoot, you squealed and ran out of the cafe,” Celeste pointed out as Caleb’s face scrunched at the memory.

“I wasn’t prepared for that betrayal,” Caleb huffed. “But now i know it’s coming, Fiona wants revenge after i told Cas she used to chew on her hair,” he said eyes narrowing. “It is not my fault she is weird, I tried so hard with her you know,” he said shaking his head.

“Why do i have a feeling you made her life ten times harder than it needed to be,” she asked raising an eyebrow looking up at Caleb who smiling sheepishly.

“It’s what brothers do,” Caleb said. “Plus it’s not like Fiona doesn’t make my life harder,” he pouted, a voice in Celeste’s head pointed out that the whole reason she was here was one of those inconveniences Fiona had caused for Caleb. “And you should be on my side you know, as my girlfriend,” he pointed out with a whine.

“As your girlfriend, i think we should get going,” Celeste murmured.

“Fine,” Caleb groaned. “Let’s go see my family,” he said wrapping his arm around Celeste’s shoulders. “If it gets too much for you let me know and I’ll cover for you,” he said pulling her into him. “Gotta look out for my girlfriend,” he added with a cheeky wink. Celeste let out a laugh as she pushed herself away.

“How kind of you,” she joked, reaching down and linking their hands squeezing his hand to make sure he knew she appreciated that he was looking out for her.

“Do you think i should have got changed?” Celeste asked as they stepped into the elevator watching in mild horror as the door slid shut in front of them. Her outfit, a pair of dark skinny jeans and an oversized pink knit sweater was perfect for the trip over but for meeting your supposed boyfriend’s parents.

“What? No, you like fine Cel,” Caleb said looking her over. “Adorable even,” he said cooing with a big smile. Celeste’s eyes narrowed at him, he too was wearing more comfortable clothes, a plain shirt, dark jeans and a beige coat, yet he looked like he had just come from a fashion shoot, not a plane ride.

“Just because you could show up in pyjamas and still look good doesn’t mean the rest of us can,” she said bitterly as Caleb blinked at before chuckling shaking his head. “Yeah yeah laugh it up model boy,” Celeste said with an eye roll. “In all seriousness, how is my hair? And do you think i should fix my make up?” she asked, reaching into her purse before Caleb reached out and cupped her face.

“Hmm in professional opinion, as the part-owner of a very successful modelling agency you don’t need any more makeup, you’ll be the prettiest girl there,” and squeezing her cheeks before giggling. “And your hair,” he said reaching up and ruffling it. “There we go, perfect,” he said with a wide grin. “And you can’t argue because look we are on the 4th floor,” he said as the elevator came to an easy stop. “Seriously though you look beautiful,” he said.

“You have to say that but thank you,” she mumbled. Celeste sucked in a breath as the elevator door opened with a ding. Caleb seemed to notice her hesitance and stepped placed a hand on the smalls of her back. Nodding to herself Celeste stepped forward as Caleb followed hand never dropping from her body.

The wine library was a large space, its cozy interior matched the miserable weather outside. The place was filled to the brim with hotel patrons, lounge chairs were scattered around and in the middle of the room, there were large wine tasting tables. The wine cases were on the side, protected by glass doors.

“They are further in,” Caleb said softly his hand dropping from her back and reaching out to grab her hand as he moved forward, pulling her along. Celeste followed, not that she had much choice, despite his comments about Fiona earlier it was clear that Caleb was excited to see his parents, his eyes were lit up, a wide smile on his face and the way he was rushing forward Celeste swore he was going to pull her arm off. She assumed by the happy squeals off Caleb’s name they had reached their destination. Without a moment’s hesitation Caleb raced forward dragging Celeste along with him, she tried to break out of his grasp before she tripped but he had a death grip on her hand.

Celeste’s hand was finally given a reprieve when they reached the table where Caleb’s immediate family sat. Within seconds Caleb’s mum had launched herself up from her seat and into her son’s arms. Just like that the rest of his family was up and coming over to them, well Caleb, Celeste just stood to the side not sure if she should say hello or wait. Give her room ballbusting movie executives and she would have them eating out of her hands, give her an affectionate family who openly love each other and she will be a timid wallflower wishing the ground would swallow her whole.

“Celeste,” she was greeted by Fiona, one look at her and she was reminded that good looks were hereditary in Caleb’s family. “I am so glad you could make it,” she said pulling Celeste into a hug. Oh, they were all huggers as well. “How was your flight -”

“Fiona you better not be pulling that girl into wedding stuff straight away,” she heard Caleb’s mother said pushing past. Fiona rolled her eyes muttering that she was just saying hi. “Oh look at you,” Caleb’s mother said holding her arms out and looking Celeste over. “Oh aren’t you a sight, it’s about time someone bought his beautiful girlfriend to meet us,” she said sending a faux annoyed look over to Caleb who must have known he was being talked about because he paused his conversation with his dad to look over a curious look on his face. “Come sit let get you a glass of wine and some food, have you eaten? “ she said pulling Celeste over to the table where Caleb’s older sister Rosalind, her husband, Fiona’s fiancee and what Celeste assumed were Cassius’s parents.

“Honey, could you get two glasses of Quinta do Vale Meão,” she called out to her husband. “Evelyn, Byron, you remember Caleb,” she said looking proudly at her son who had come over sliding to stand beside Celeste. “And this is his beautiful girlfriend and my future daughter in law Celeste Scamander,” she tacked on with a happy smile either not noticing or choosing to ignore the way Caleb choked and Celeste’s eyes bulged.

“Mum what are you saying?”

“Scamander? As in Newt Scamander?” Byron asked curiously. Celeste plastered a fake smile on her face trying to calm herself after Caleb’s mother’s comment.

“I am putting it into the universe and why are you acting like I’ve said something bad, after all, things you put this wonderful woman through, two years Cal –“

“Yes, well no, he is my great uncle my great grandfather is Thesus Scamander,” she explained leaning back as Caleb and his mother bickered about her. God she wished Caleb’s father would hurry up with the wine, talking about her family and listening to Caleb and his mother bicker of why their fake relationship hadn’t been upgraded to a fake engagement was doing her head in.

“Celeste herself is quite successful,” Rose commented, “She works for Spellbound management, I’ve been told by multiple sources that she is the sole reason my little brother is so famous –“ she said with a wink as Caleb spun around at the mention of his name.

“What?”

“I was just telling the Nam’s here about how Celeste was a driving force in your career,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Caleb nodded in agreement.

“Yeah if it wasn’t for her lord knows where my career would be? Probably still the designated eye candy,” he laughed.

“Please you aren’t pretty enough to be eye candy, you would be the ahjussi,” Fiona commented with a laugh.

“And you’d be cast as a troll,” Caleb said eyes narrowing at her. “And go tell my fans I am not pretty, I dare you,” he said, tilting his chin up pompously. The Nam’s stood up muttering a quick excuse us as the stood up and headed to one of the other rooms.

“What fans? I thought they all dropped you as soon as Daniel burst on the scene,” Fiona said as Cassius came to sit beside her shaking his head at the bickering siblings. “And you can’t ask Celeste because she is biased, no offence,” she said looking at Celeste with an apologetic look.

“Celeste isn’t biased,” Caleb huffed. “And how dare you bringing up my protégé, bringing up Daniel like I wouldn’t trade you for him in a heartbeat, my life would be so much simpler with a little brother,” he said wistfully. Celeste’s nose scrunched up wondering about Caleb’s sanity if he wanted to actually be related to Daniel.

“You come to my wedding week and say such nonsense,” she tsked, for a second there Celeste thought she was in the godfather and was going to be asked to kiss the ring. “Celeste did you know when Caleb was little he was scared of goblins,” she said with a smirk.

“And Fiona used to say she was going to marry a teddy bear named Mr Snuggles,” Caleb said.

“And now she is marrying a wonderful man name Cassius and you are here to support your sister,” Caleb’s father said finally bringing the wine over. “Here you go Celeste,” he said handing her a glass of red wine. “Now I hope this whole scene hasn’t scared you off our family,” he said.

“Yes, unfortunately, our children, no matter their age, still act like bickering children,” Caleb’s mother sighed. “It’s just how families are,” she said shaking her head.

Celeste nodded awkwardly, the last time she had been around her older sister their fight had reduced her to tears so maybe sibling bickering was a bit out of her quidditch pitch. “Uhm I forgot to say it earlier but congratulations,” she said to Fiona and Cassius, “thank you for allowing me to come to your wedding,” she said.

“Well thank you but there is no need to thank us,” Fiona said. “Your pretty much family and anyway you are part of the bridal party,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I can’t wait to show you your bridesmaid dress tomorrow, you are going to look amazing in it,” she said with a wide smile before launching into wedding details.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

“See I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Caleb said as they walked down the hallway to their hotel room. “My family love you,” he grinned.

“They like me though to be honest I think its what you’ve told them because they were way too nice to me,” Celeste laughed.

“Nope,” Caleb said shaking his head. “They just love you because your awesome,” he said as he stopped outside the door. “This is ours,” he said swiping the card and opening the door. Celeste stood on her tippy toes sneaking a peek over his shoulder.

“One bed,” she said.

“One bed,” Caleb repeated. “It’s okay, I can just –“ he said reaching for his wand.

“Cal, it’s fine, we are two adults, we can handle sharing a bed right?” she asked. “Because no lie I kinda wanna just go to sleep,” she said with a whine.

“Yeah we can do this, just two adult friends sharing a bed, nothing will happen,” Caleb said quickly scratching the back of his neck.

“It will be fine,” Celeste confirmed, ignoring the way her chest ached at the word friends. It will be fine.

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cathcacen · 7 years ago

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On each other’s team

Lars and Theone talk about their ideal partners. Requested by @phylophe and happily filled because I have a fluffy butt. Edits to come tomorrow because sleep.

Sharval is warm this time of year. They’re laying in the grass beneath the shroud of stars together, full from a dinner of steak and kidney pie and a berry pudding smothered in jam-rippled cream when Theone, in her ever-casual indifference, throws out the question.

“So what’s going on with you and Kasem, Lars?” The eldest Ilvait-Sagen peers over at her, hazel-and-green eyes keen and curious in the moonlight. “You pretty much sat by his side all day.”

She blinks, confused. “How do you mean? I was helping Ceth drain the pus from his boils. Not exactly romantic, is it?” It’s true she’d found the young Caldeum native an interesting enough companion; he had plenty of stories to share on life in the desert. Bright-eyed, friendly, and eager to laugh despite his unfortunate condition. She liked him well enough.

Theone flops over onto her front to get a better look at her. “Yeah, but he seems like he’d be a good match, right?” She grins knowingly. “Or are you still hung up over Jace?”

“No.” Lars settles into the grass, relishing in the green, lively fragrance with its musky, earthy undertones. The familiarity is comforting. “I’ll be starting training with your dad when we get back to Virkove, anyway.”

“So?” Theone hums cheerfully. “I’m sure papa won’t keep you so busy you can’t date.”

She makes a face. “I don’t really want to date right now.” I’ve got some big shoes to fill. The thought sends shivers down her spine – excitement mingles alongside apprehension. Mae’s going to need a good scout when he’s General.

“Fair enough.” Theone sinks back down into the grass, letting out a contented, happy sigh. “What’s your ideal lover like, though? You didn’t look overly excited over your date when we were in Lut Gholein.”

“That’s because you picked him, you idiot.”

Theone frowns, evidently displeased. “Well, excuse me for trying. You ended up having fun, right?”

That draws forth a smile, and she chuckles, shutting her eyes and folding her hands together over her middle. She remembers the night well – the soft, lapping waves of the beach, soft-blue ribbons wound about a dark wrist, the crisp, clear water of the oasis, and the fresh breath of morning on the ride back to town after. Mae’s face surfaces, his smile bright and warm. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Theone shuffles closer, then lets out a long sigh. “My ideal lover has to be tall, I think. And he needs to be smart, but not obnoxious. Nice eyes, maybe.”

“Afraid he’ll be smarter than you?” She snickers as Theone elbows her in the side; amber eyes, warm and bright flash across her mind. A soft, careless hum escapes her, and she finds herself remarking in agreement after, “But nice eyes are a plus.”

“What else?”

“We’d have some things in common.” She searches the sky above, the deep-blue expanse framed in her line of sight by the tops of trees. “We’d swim together at night when everyone else is asleep, and go on lots of adventures together. See the world, try new things. Tastes and sights and sounds and smells – all of it.”

Theone chuckles. “That’s kind of a tall order, you know.”

She knows what her friend means. Virkovians are content to stay. Our roots run deep and strong. Her spirit yearns to fly – to see more. “Maybe. I could still travel on my own, though. He’d have to be okay with that too. Parting, and knowing I’d come home at the end of the day.”

“So he can’t be a jealous sort of fellow, then.”

“Ugh, no.” She slips an arm under her head. “I’d feel safe around him. I’d be able to tell him anything – any secret, embarrassing or not, and we’d laugh at it after. He wouldn’t be afraid of my father or my brothers. We’d fight sometimes, because he’d always speak his mind, even when it makes me mad. He’s not necessarily with the militia, but he works hard and doesn’t give up, even when the road forward seems impossible to traverse.” A pause, and she can’t help but to smile. “He’d be friends with my friends, and Averard would like him.”

“Good heavens, Lars, you’ve really thought about this.” Theone eyes her suspiciously.

“You asked.”

“Fine. Go on.”

She snickers, letting out a sigh after. “We’d be comfortable together. Like friends, you know? Like Aunt Ora and Uncle Heulan. We’d always be straight with each other. Life with him would be an adventure. He wouldn’t be the sort of man who’d promise never to hurt me, but when he does, he’d apologise straightaway. He’d love his family and he’d be sweet to his mum. He’d be funny and charming, but not in that obnoxious way that draws too much attention to the fact. It’d be an understated and ridiculous way, that makes you laugh at him. He’d be ready with a smile, and when he isn’t, I’d smile enough for the both of us.”

“What about looks?” Theone scratches at her chin, letting out a thoughtful ‘hmm’. “Jace was pretty good-looking. Pure Northern and full-muscle.”

“If you like him so much, you can date him.”

“I don’t want your leftovers, Cethlion.”

She lets out a laugh. “Well, what’s your ideal mate like, then? You seemed to like your date enough in Lut Gholein.”

Theone nibbles her lip, brows furrowing as she considers the question. “He was actually pretty nice. But really, I don’t know.” She pauses, then lets out a sigh. “Mama used to tell me that she just knew. That she fell in love with papa for his nature, and that she wasn’t expecting to fall the way she did. That it wasn’t really anything profound that drew her to him. She just loved him, and then eventually, he loved her back. Sometimes I wonder if that’s what it’s going to be like for me. I mean, if it’s going to hit me without warning, should I even bother thinking about it?”

“Sometimes, we can’t help but think about it.” A little bird settles upon a branch overhead, and if she squints hard enough, she can just catch a glimpse of orange. She sits up, running her hands through her hair to dislodge bits of broken-up leaf. “But you’re having a good time regardless, right?”

“Yeah.” Theone grins aside at her. “It’s encouraging to hear you think about this stuff sometimes too, though.”

“Apparently too much.”

“My ideal lover, though.” Theone pauses briefly, and she watches as the older girl’s eyes harden. “He’ll love Tychol as much as he loves me. And he won’t be a pushover. He’ll make papa nervous at first, and mama will have to step in, but eventually they’ll grow to love him too.”

“Think you’ll meet him in Virkove?”

“Who knows? And anyway, it’s not as if I’m in a hurry.” Theone perks up as a soft rustling breaks the relative quiet of the night. It’s just Mae, though, messy hair framing his face and teeth showing in a broad smile. “Did the happily-married couple kick you out too?”

“Nah.” Mae flops down onto the grass, and the little bird above flits down to land atop his head. “Ceth’s putting up some new shelves with the twins, and Cel’s baking some buns for tomorrow’s breakfast. What’re you two doing here?”

“Talking about our ideal partners.” She shuffles up to her friend and reaches out to the little bird with her forefinger. The robin rubs his beak gently against its tip, then allows her to scratch his orange crest. “So next time Theone sets me up on a date, she’ll have an idea of what I like.”

Mae makes a face. “What’s the most important criteria?”

“Averard has to like him.” Theone snickers at her cousin, and Mae favours her with a lighthearted chuckle. “Come to think of it, you’d fit that mould too. Right, Lars?”

“Well, Averard likes me enough.” Mae puffs his chest out with pride, the little bird upon his head following suit. “So I guess I’m your date for the next formal event we’re forced to attend, Lars!”

“Sure.” Glimpses of the oasis play in her mind yet again. She meets Mae’s eyes, lips curled in a broad smile to match his own. The amber eyes soften as they focus upon her own blues, and she feels her heart stop, if only for a moment. It’s not a new realisation for her, but it’s certainly one she hopes neither Theone nor Mae are aware of.

Mae isn’t merely ideal. He’s the dream – the adventure. Gods, I want to live it.

#emmbot writes #laori cethlion #theone ilvait-sagen #amaethon valdel #raindrop pendants westmarch #raindrop pendants

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