#(not that movie!Mehrunissa is weak)

[herawell]

Padmaavati and/or Mehrunnisa for the Panchakanya meme?

Ahalya

an important first for them || deception || disguise || something they waited for || kill two birds with one stone

Jalaluddin Khilji’s chief wife has borne only a single daughter, Mehrunissa. She has no son to her name, only haughtiness and pride and sheer grit, but still she is the Sultana of the zenana, the wife whose advice is most favored, the one accorded the title Empress of the World. She is a woman to be feared, and she looks to be shaping her daughter to be as fierce a lady-- but illness claims Malika-e-Jahan before her daughter’s tenth birthday, and any zest that may have been within Mehru.

Draupadi

one grudge they held || favorite hairstyle || baptism of fire || five finger discount || one big change that they wrought

Her father had been hesitant about allowing her marriage to his avaricious, irreverent nephew, and after Alauddin commits adultery and murder on their wedding night, the Emperor outright offers to have the union dissolved. “There is no shame in choosing the path of the khulla, Mehru beti” Jalaluddin reminds her, but Mehrunissa is still bright-eyed with hope, and convinced she can charm her husband away from the path of lust.

Doubt creases his forehead, but he says nothing more on the matter. Years later, Mehru wishes that Jalaluddin had been less indulgent and more stern a father, and she knows that she would have thanked him for it, were he still alive.

Sita

friends are the family we choose for ourselves || green thumb || captive audience || no good deed goes unpunished || true blue

Mehrunissa is famously even-tempered -- years of being Alauddin’s wife taught her she needed to kill her anger, lest it consume her -- but she wants to scream when Ratan Singh insists on meeting with the Emperor before leaving, announcing his escape as a peacock struts its feathers. She is a stranger to him, yet she has risked her life to help him, and he is happy to waste her sacrifice, not even speaking of his loyal wife who walked into enemy territory to save him.

The King of Mewar, it seems, is as fine a husband as Mehru’s own Alauddin.

Tara

one prediction they made || communal cup || one injury/wound/illness they healed or cured || on the tail end || keen acumen

Time is slipping so fast through her fingers, and she will soon lose her royal title and her freedom -- yet Mehrunissa considers it well worth it to have seen the Queen of Chittor limned in moonlight, to have felt her fingers on hers and to have seen the lift of her chin.

She is not so different from Alauddin after all. Risking everything for Sinhala’s Padmavati apparently runs in the Khilji bloodline.

Mandodari

frog in boiling water || mother lode || hospitality in a time of war || one time they intervened || labor of love

Alauddin’s eyes stray to Malik Kafur’s lithe form, swanning and sashaying around the court.

Mehru gazes upon the feast she spent four hours preparing with her own hands, waving away the services of their cooks.

Her husband’s ears crave Kafur’s innuendos and inflections and incisive wit.

Mehrunissa closes her ears to the bustling of the world and listens for the adhan, the call to praise Allah.

The Sultan’s limbs lock in a frenetic dance with the General’s, the energy of their cavorting shaking the high arches of the ceiling.

The Sultana sews the tears and rips in the Imperial doublets, and whenever she pricks a finger, her needlework alters not one beat in its rhythm and blood stiffens the fabric without intervention.

[dialux]

Fic Writer Asks

Oooof tagged by four excellent writers- @ferrame, @skyeventide, @stormwarnings, and @tol-himling- so do check ALL of them out when you get a free mo (which I don’t have enough of!!!! Sadly!!!). Still, yk, it’s Friday, I’m home from my first week of work, and there isn’t anything really pressing to do apart from another 15k on that last TRSB fic which I’ve been procrastinating for too long..........

Here we go!

how many works do you have on AO3?

65

what’s your total AO3 word count?

1035292, which means I crossed a million words this year! I hadn’t realized that lmao

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Hell, I’ve written for too many. Top three are definitely ASOIAF, Tolkien and HP, but there are a couple others sprinkled through like... Fleabag (Yuletide fic), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (Yuletide), Jodhaa Akbar (Yuletide), Padmaavat (me, losing my fucking mind over Mehrunissa in that movie), and... Good Omens? The Old Guard, too, for a while there. Oh, and let’s not forget the MCU that dragged me to AO3 in the first place

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I had no idea before I went looking, but- 

1. if you try to break me, you will bleed - the fic that will haunt me to the day I DIE

2. a tempest, a cyclone, a goddamned hurricane - that Sansa can see ghosts story

3. made weak by time and fate, but strong in will - the fic where James and Lily Potter live and defeat Voldemort through the power of lightning, rings and friendship

4. one burning candle, one wind-whipped flame - TOG fic!! I enjoyed this one, but still cannot believe it has more kudos than that Booker character study

5. we do not surrender - second in the time travel series, probably just because of sheer exposure lmao

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes it’s late (....very late) but usually I do get to all of them. Unless I have no idea of what to say, at which point I mark it as read just so I can get that sweet, sweet “0″ in my ao3 inbox

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Enh, I don’t like sad endings, so... let’s just say none of them

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

One crossover. ONE. The one where Sansa lands in Middle-Earth and mistakes Boromir for her dad, kicks ass, takes names, drags Arwen out of Rivendell. The whole shebang

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes! Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it isn’t, but it’s not like I wasn’t blooded in HP fandom circa early 2000s and that was a vicious set of reviewers on ff.net, so I don’t, like, mind. Keeps my ego from getting too big.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Not often, and certainly not well, but everything that has been written has been.... very much more evocative than descriptive. Let’s put it that way.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

One GO fic that existed on a locked community in LJ- I think, like, 10 people had access to fic once it went private or something- I don’t remember the correct nomenclature- but I did see something being recced when the first season came out that just made me go “hm” for a second lol. NOT that it matters, or that I care- I certainly am happy to have all my stories from those dark times disassociated from my name- but it is an interesting thing to happen

have you ever had a fic translated?

Four- all into Russian, by a very, very sweet person that I don’t think is on tumblr at all, or I’d link them!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

One, recently, with @nienna324. It was definitely a very fun- and different experience- and one that made me grow as an author <33

what’s your all time favorite ship?

Lmao I’m more of a sibling / parental relationship author, with the attention span of a magpie. All time is literally until I see the next shiny thing!

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

That GODDAMN JonxSansaxSatin AU. It has everything done for it, all the plot, it’s gorgeous, but I’ve got no ideas for the dialogue and probably never will because I managed to write myself into a corner

what are your writing strengths?

Probably turns of phrase. Some think it’s purple prose, probably, but I call it poetry and turn my nose up at their snobbishness XD

what are your writing weaknesses?

Expository writing sucks ASS like you’d never believe

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Fun? esp if you’re willing to put in that effort

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter- no, I refuse to be embarrassed XD

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Right now? Got to be the Caranthir post-rebirth character study. There’s another trsb fic with Aredhel that I’m SUPER proud of, but it’s not published yet- which reminds me that I need to get back to that!!! 

Haven’t been on here in a while and have zero idea of who’s been tagged/finished this already, but do it if you haven’t already!