#Guildford Flames

[itzlaurie]

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[allgirlsareprincesses]

Choosing the Beast: Modern Folklore Heroines Embrace the Animal Husband

“I choose the bear.” The refrain rang out across the web, with many a woman nodding in agreement or at least understanding, and certain men huffing with indignant outrage. Just a meme, really, but did it speak to a deeper truth? Is it merely age-old mistrust of patriarchy talking, or a true desire for the beastly, the wild, the untame?

I’m no sociologist, of course, but I have noticed an emerging trend in fem-gaze media that seems to reflect this view. In movies like I Am Dragon (2015) and recent shows like My Lady Jane and The Acolyte, the heroine chooses the beast, loving her animal husband in his wild form rather than requiring him to transform back into a mundane man to earn her affection. This is such a departure from the typical folktale pattern that it’s difficult to even find an historic example where this occurs.

Commonly thought to reveal the desire to tame a dangerous mate in a patriarchal society, most animal husband tales (ATU 425a) feature a hero who ultimately transforms permanently into a human. This is viewed not only as freeing him from the maddening effect of his wild form, but also saving his bride from committing the sin of bestiality. In these tales, the animal mate’s transformation is necessary for the salvation of both.

Is the modern heroine then damned by choosing her husband’s beastly form? Or does she actually free them both from the yoke of patriarchal expectations?

Bathing: Discovering the Wild Masculine

The first motif that stands out in these modern screen examples is bathing. In animal spouse tales, there is often a dynamic of the hunter and the hunted, and thus a moment when the hunter comes upon their would-be lover unawares. Perhaps they find the animal spouse sleeping, or they cast a light on them unexpectedly, see them without their animal skin or disguise, and so on. And of course, they often come upon the lover at their bath.

There is an implied eroticism in this discovery, finding one’s quarry not only undressed, but also in the most private of activities. Water of course symbolizes fertility, but bathing is also purifying, symbolically washing away all that might make a mate undesirable. And this, perhaps, is the reason that historically this motif is used almost exclusively for animal brides, not animal husbands.

For the animal husband, he either actively chooses to reveal himself to the bride (perhaps on their wedding night), or she violently strips away his disguise, often armed with “flame and steel” like Psyche and her many avatars. Animal brides on the other hand are nearly always discovered at a body of water, bathing. The hunter will then capture her either by stealing her animal skin or cloak, or by placing his own clothing on her. What does it mean, then, when it is the husband who is discovered bathing in a body of water, held as an erotic object in the feminine gaze?

In The Acolyte, Osha follows Qimir to a pool where he slowly undresses, in full knowledge that she is watching. On the shore, she steals his lightsaber, just like the hunter who steals the animal skin, symbolically claiming him. When he emerges, Qimir dons new clothes, as if acknowledging that he is a different person than before he entered the water, almost purified in a way. Osha is forced to confront that there is more to the murderer in the mask than she realized.

Similarly, in My Lady Jane, our heroine goes looking for Guildford just before sunrise on their ill-fated wedding night, only to discover him bathing in the stables. The scene is gratuitously filmed from Jane’s (very horny) perspective, flipping the script on the countless scenes in screen history shot with the masculine gaze. Immediately after she discovers and confronts him, Guildford transforms against his will into a horse, and Jane realizes that he is an Ethian, a creature she has been taught is demonic and unnatural.

And in I Am Dragon, Mira makes several discoveries in quick succession: first, she deduces that Arman is actually the dragon. In the next moment, she slips from the island’s peak and falls, saved only when Arman transforms at the last moment and breaks her fall with his dragon form. The water begins to wash over his unconscious body, and at first Mira thinks that she will allow him to drown. But the sight of Arman in his human form after he rescued her, worried over by his animal familiar, stirs her to pity and she wraps him in a sail and drags him to safety. In this way, she clothes him, claiming him as her own.

Each of these heroines discovered a new aspect of her husband at the bath, finding him unexpectedly alluring, and ultimately choosing to begrudgingly claim him. Each animal husband tried to wash away his beastly form, to separate himself from the wild masculine. These men feel a sense of disassociation from a part of themselves, but now that their brides have discovered it, there will be no more hiding. Further, the bride now holds the power in the relationship, evidenced by how her husband needs her: Qimir needs Osha to be his apprentice, Guildford needs Jane to help him “break the curse,” and Arman needs Mira to heal him from his wounds.

Playing House: The Half-Husband

The second feature of these stories is a period of domesticity for the couple. For a brief time after the husband’s beastly nature is revealed, the lovers “play house” like children. While sexual tension is present, they typically do not consummate their union during this time, but instead cook, eat, rest, and care for one another. What’s more, they ignore or even attempt to actively destroy the husband’s animal form. They deny that this is part of him and therefore part of their relationship.

In I Am Dragon, Mira heals Arman, and wakes the next morning to find he has left food for her (dragonfruit, appropriately). Together they begin building a home out of shipwreck debris they find scattered around the island. A cheery montage shows them decorating a living space, choosing clothes, playing music, and dancing. But the specter of Arman’s monstrous form lurks on the edge of their idyllic life. Mira has nightmares, and tells Arman how much she fears “the dragon,” notably not referring to them as the same person. And eventually, it emerges that Mira has been planning to escape, rejecting Arman’s dragon form entirely.

After he sheds the helmet and robes of The Stranger, Qimir turns his attention to caring for Osha: he heals her, lets her sleep in his bed, provides clothes, and cooks for her. In turn, after some lightsaber-wielding, Osha becomes more comfortable in his home and accepts the food he offers, eventually even trying on his helmet. Later, they bicker amiably on their way to Brendok, like an old married couple on a road trip. When not facing down Jedi, Qimir leaves his menacing persona behind and transforms into an empathetic, protective, and alluring partner.

Jane Grey, meanwhile, finds herself using her honeymoon sequestered away in a private cottage to try to cure Guildford of his Ethianism. With her knowledge of medicine, she concocts various potions and magical cures, but none of them succeed. Guildford often checks in on her after these disappointments, making sure she’s getting enough sleep and taking care of herself. It’s also clear that they’ve been regularly dining together when Jane suddenly dashes off to rescue her friend. Guildford follows her and the two protect one another, followed by an almost-tryst. Even when they move into the palace, their day-to-day (or rather night-to-night) life is one of comfortable domesticity, although they continue to deny Guildford’s horse form.

In each of these cases (although less so in The Acolyte without Season 2 to continue the story), playing house can only last for so long while the husband’s animal nature is denied. There is a part of him that is suppressed, rejected, and this leads to him being incomplete, a half-husband. Each hero is unable or unwilling to accept and celebrate his whole self with his bride. Eventually, it is that denial that leads to a rift between the couple, which can only be healed not with the transformation of the husband, but with the embrace of his animal form.

Enforcing Patriarchy: The Rival

Each of these relationships exists in direct opposition to the dominant culture in the story: Arman as the Dragon is the literal enemy of Mira’s people, Qimir as Sith is the enemy of Osha’s Jedi masters, and in My Lady Jane, intermarriage between humans and Ethians is punishable by death. By choosing to stay with their animal husbands, even for a brief time, our heroines are openly defying the patriarchal norms of their societies. But no oppressive society is about to take that transgression lying down. In each story, a rival emerges to enforce the patriarchal order, kill the beastly husband, and retrieve the bride.

In I Am Dragon, Mira’s betrothed and descendent of the dragon-slayer, Igor, journeys to rescue her from the dragon. Over the course of the story, it becomes clear that Igor cares nothing for Mira herself, and merely feels entitled to her as his bride. Dragon-slaying is his heritage, so he must find her, kill the dragon, and take his place as the hero of his people. Even the marriage ceremony illustrates his ownership of her: he takes hold of a rope tied to her boat and reels her in, thus binding her to the patriarchal order. Contrast that to Arman, who offers her the power of flight, a symbol for freedom.

In Osha’s case, Qimir’s rival for her loyalty is clearly Master Sol, who wants to keep his former pupil dependent on him and the Jedi. Sol takes patronizing fatherliness to an extreme, constantly rescuing Osha rather than letting her stand for herself, teaching her to deny her feelings and instincts, and lying to her to “protect” her. The Jedi refuse to allow that there might be any other way to access the Force than their own, thus invading the home of the Brendok witches and ultimately orphaning the twins. Sol continues to press this dominance to the end, challenging Qimir and insisting to Osha that his own lies were justified.

In My Lady Jane, there are two rivals, both women. Lady Frances attempts throughout the show to dominate her daughters and crush their wills, forcing them into unwanted marriages, applying political pressure, and even counseling Jane to abandon Guildford to save herself. The other rival is Mary Tudor, who is determined not only to emulate her father’s violent, oppressive, and misogynistic reign, but to crush anyone she considers “unnatural” or who poses a threat to her rule. These characters stand as clear examples of how women can enforce patriarchy, too.

In each story, there is a moment when the rival briefly recaptures or “rescues” the bride from her beastly husband, bringing her to a moment of decision: will she stay within the bounds of patriarchy like a good little girl? Or will she make an act of defiance to choose her own path?

Marriage: Choosing the Beast

The bride’s choice will ultimately decide not only her fate, but that of her mate as well. As an independent character, the wild masculine is deeply wounded, separated from himself and thus from his bride. He longs to transform not into a greater, more whole person, but into a lesser, half-person. Alone, without the embrace of his anima, he cannot see the value of his beastly form. Instead of healing, he faces annihilation.

As a part of the bride’s psyche, the beastly husband represents her innermost desires, the truth of her heart, and a spirit freed from the expectations of her society. He is her animus, her missing wild masculine. If she transforms him into a man, then she will tame his wild nature, bringing him to heel under the boot of the patriarchy. Choosing the human form and rejecting the beast means rejecting her own psychological needs. It would be just another form of psychic dismemberment.

Fortunately and unusually, each of these modern brides chooses her beastly husband without demanding he transform. When Osha finally agrees to become Qimir’s apprentice, she takes his hand under the willow tree, clasping the newly-bled lightsaber between them. A few scenes later, this wedding imagery is repeated when they hold hands over the saber again, this time looking into a sunrise/set. Notably, at the moment they “marry” under the willow tree, Qimir is wearing his beastly helmet with rows of menacing, wolfish teeth. He has not come to the light side or shed his Dark Side persona, but Osha has embraced him anyway without fear. And while they might not both be healed (yet), they are more whole together than they were apart.

When her efforts to cure Guildford of his Ethianism repeatedly fail, Jane begins to suspect that his “condition” cannot be cured at all. But listening to her Ethian friends Susanna and Archer finally convinces her that the truth is Guildford doesn’t NEED to be healed - being an Ethian is who he is, and it’s nothing to fear. Unfortunately, Guildford still associates his beastly form with his mother’s death, so he is unable to accept it as Jane encourages, and flees. After a near-death experience, he uses his equine speed to return to the castle just as Jane is deposed and captured. As our heroes battle toward the end, Guildford comes to learn that there are many other proud Ethians, and that his family loves and accepts him in any form.

Still, he’s unable to transform at will, and when Mary captures him and sentences both husband and wife to death, it seems their story may end in tragedy. But as Guildford has been struggling to accept himself, Jane too has been battling with her own conscience. Does she renounce Guildford to save herself? Use her wits to kill the guard and escape? Bend to her mother’s manipulation? Jane confronts each temptation, and ultimately chooses to face death rather than betray Guildford or herself. But when her Ethian friends (the wild instinct) appear to disrupt the execution, our heroine seizes the opportunity to rescue Guildford. Unable to free him from the burning pyre, she confesses her love for him, and they kiss amid the flames.

Fire is often a herald of transformation, burning away illusions to reveal the truth. And when Jane and Guildford exchange their vows in this symbolic marriage ceremony, Guildford’s fears and illusions are finally burned away. Now that his bride has accepted his beastly form, he can accept it too, and so he at last transforms at will into a horse so that they can escape. Their story ends with them married and whole before the sunrise.

Among our modern heroines, Mira is the boldest in her embrace of the beastly husband. Offered yet again as a bride to Igor, she realizes that this is not what she wants, and casts off the tether from her boat. She declares “I love the Dragon!” using the name of her husband’s animal form rather than his human name. Then, she sings the song that will call the dragon to her, and he appears to carry her away again.

But their story is not over yet! Earlier in the story, Arman told Mira of how he loses control when in dragon form, and that dragons are compelled to reproduce by burning maidens to death and retrieving their offspring from the ashes. Returning to the island with her a second time, the dragon drops her on the altar and prepares to spew fire, but Mira lunges up and kisses him. This act of love, even when he is a monster, stuns the beastly husband. Again, Mira declares her love and kneels before him, saying she does not wish to be parted. We might expect the animal husband to transform in this moment, but instead he lays his fearsome head in her lap as a lover. Their story ends with a child and a flight in the sky, silhouetted by the sun just like the other couples.

Each bride, when confronted with the option to return to the patriarchal limits of her childhood, chose instead an act of love and acceptance for her wild masculine. This embrace helped the beastly husband to accept his whole self, and he is healed without having to cut off the wild parts of himself.

What Does It Mean?

Again, this story is so rare in world folklore that it’s difficult to even find examples. On fleeting occasions that the woman chooses an untransformed beast, it is presented as a cautionary tale. These women are framed as a danger to the community for their bestial impulses and abandonment of the social order, much like witches who were said to consort with the devil. It was certainly never presented as a happy ending, insofar as we can tell from written accounts.

So what does the emergence of this tale mean for our culture? I would argue that this is just the latest step in our ongoing reckoning with historic gender roles, as well as renegotiating with other forms of systemic oppression. People of all genders are pressured to reject a part of ourselves, cutting us off from our own truth and desires that run counter to the enforced social order. We must not challenge patriarchy, must not embrace different gender expressions, must not blur established hierarchies of power, must not find joy and power in our identities, and so on.

This enforced denial does tremendous damage to everyone caught in the system, and so through story, we dream our way to escape. We dream of embracing the dark, wild parts of ourselves, of flying free on a spaceship or a dragon or enchanted horseback, and of being totally loved for who we are.

It’s clear patriarchy is still fighting back against this emancipation of the wild feminine and wild masculine, given that both The Acolyte and My Lady Jane were canceled not long after their release. In the case of The Acolyte in particular, there was a sustained campaign from its announcement to harass and silence the creators. Demoralizing as this phenomenon may be, it’s important to remember WHO ultimately owns these stories:

“Fanfiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk.

-Henry Jenkins, NYT 1997

Ah, an oldie-but-goodie. But Dr. Jenkins is right. Corporations may greenlight, film, release, and then cancel these stories, but ultimately they belong to the people. We take from these tales what speaks to us, leave what does not, and then retell them ourselves in fanfiction, in art inspired by the stories, and in lessons we pass on to our friends and families. If the embrace of the wild masculine speaks to you, let the story take root in your own life. Do you know someone who needs to be embraced, just as they are? Do you need to accept the parts of yourself that society tells you to hate? Do you want to be free, healed, and whole?

If so, then let these stories show you how, and tell more like them. Embrace the beast, and find your joy.

Sources:

Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner

In Search of the Swan Maiden: A Narrative on Folklore and Gender by Barbara Fass Leavy

And a relevant song for you, as a treat:

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D.

[evenhisfacewasanalias]

Fragments of Eros (Part 9)

Lady Jane Grey/Guildford Dudley

Rating: Adult

The last of the embers turned to ash, and something brushed her hand. She let out a small cry at the brief touch, the anticipation of claws or teeth that followed. But none did.

Only the feel of a warm circlet of gold slipped around her ring finger by human hands. The sound of a man’s voice, gentle, and not a beast’s.

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

A Cupid and Psyche/(Beauty and the Beast) AU, inspired by and encouraged by schokoleibniz.

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Chapter 9: The Queen

At the sight of Guildford, human still and helpless against the flames that threatened them both, Lady Jane lost all remaining caution. She turned and thrust both sword and torch back at Lord Seymour, setting his velvet doublet alight and slicing at his hand. His sword she took for herself.

Seymour, at the double blow of disarmament and conflagration, ran from the passageway back to his Queen above. Many of his men followed as smoke rose from the bonfires behind them. Those few that remained held fast to their prisoners, as Jane and Guildford battled to liberate father and son. Another battle was waged within Jane herself, who wished only to look upon her newly freed husband and take him in arms. But the way ahead was still treacherous, and there were many obstacles yet to face.

Greatest among them was her own heart, which would not allow her to leave their fellow prisoners trapped down here. With all of the regal authority left within her breast, she commanded the freed Dudleys in pulling the pins from the cell doors, and freeing the inhabitants, even as smoke and ash began to fill the remaining passages. They would face the remaining guards side by side.

Several among the inmates, thankful for their freedom, aided Lady Jane and the Dudleys in freeing their neighbors. Others simply fled, desperation and fear hardening their hearts toward the plight of all but themselves. Some, who had been there so long they could no longer remember what freedom meant, remained within their cells, and welcomed their fate.

Even with their new band of merry rogues to aid them, Jane dreaded what they might find as they ascended the steps of the dungeon to the outer world above. Surely Queen Mary and her men awaited them there, to witness the final capture of her prey. Though Lady Jane was often quite clever, she only recognized the trap for what it was in hindsight, her love of Guildford having been played against her doubly in the setting of it.

And Jane's thoughts proved true, for Mary with the entire Kingsland guard and a cadre of Spanish soldiers awaited them on the Tower Green.

But Jane needn’t have feared, for the three armies of their allies had already begun waging in war against Queen Mary above, and the battle was well underway by the time of her arrival.

First among them were all manner of Archer’s creatures, the birds that swooped and the beasts that clawed. Archer himself had helped to tear down the gates of the tower, and Jane easily spotted the darkly furred shape of him at the center of the fray, his fearsome growl quaking the ground below.

The second, she saw, were Wyatt’s men, as they shouted death to Bloody Mary, and death to the Spaniards in their midst. They fought side by side with the beasts, and with equal ferocity though they were but men.

The third was her cousin Elizabeth’s own army, wearing her colors as they marched into battle. Elizabeth herself sat resplendent as a Queen atop her silvery gray mare in the moonlight. These were the least fierce among them, for Elizabeth was fighting not an old enemy but a beloved sister.

Lady Jane had long since lost any tender feelings toward her cousin Mary, she was only held back by her desire to protect her husband from further peril. But Guildford himself leapt into the fray as soon as they left the dungeons behind, even weakened as he was by a week’s harsh imprisonment. 

From some deeper strength gained at this proof of Jane’s love, he transformed himself at his own will for the first time. No longer a ghastly bloodied monster, but simply as a dark chestnut stallion - ordinary though powerful. His visage no longer struck terror into the hearts of Mary’s men, but with Jane still wielding her sword in full armor sat astride him, they made for a fearsome pair in battle.

The battle waged on for many dark hours. But finally Elizabeth, in Queenly manner, cried out for mercy for her sister Mary. Jane saw the reason for her plaintive cry - her oldest friend, in falcon form, had clawed at Mary's eyes, while other birds pecked at her soft flesh. The soldiers bearing Elizabeth’s golden crest shielded her from a worser fate as they held her captive - along with Lord Seymour and many of his men, ending the battle among the English. For the Spanish among them, Wyatt’s mens would not rest till they had chased them from England’s shores, and they ran to spare their own lives.

Several among the dungeon’s inmates who had also entered the fray were now embraced by brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters found within the triumphant armies. Others - those less innocent among them - fled with the Spaniards.

The two lovers were happiest among all those gathered at the battle’s end. The two reveled not only in their triumph over Mary, but also in Guildford’s own salvation, his freedom from his curse. He pulled Jane within the circle of his arms, and they looked upon one another with eyes full of love and wonder at the dawning of a new day.

****

Elizabeth was named Queen, as Mary’s successor and as triumphing monarch in the Battle of the Tower. Her crowning was as it always should have been, and all were to be united under Queen Elizabeth’s gentle and patient rule. Human and beast, Catholic and Anglican, all were named equal under her reign, and they accepted her gladly, for all had witnessed what Mary’s cruelty had wrought. The once Bloody Queen herself was sent to live out her days in exile in the North, with her once paramour Lord Seymour, both of them left greatly marred by the battle.

Lady Jane was glad as well to relinquish her claim to the crown to her beloved cousin, having never herself wished to rule the Kingdom. In turn, Elizabeth restored Jane and the Dudleys to their former ranks and places at court, and she herself presided over their second wedding, attended this time by all their friends and relatives - including among them the newly wed Katherine and William Seymour. 

Their wedding was a joyous occasion for all, filled with friends and family, old and new. The nuptials took place within the gardens of the Greys’ ancestral home, still a site of such happy memories for Jane, and far more comfortable for her beastly guests. Though many took human form for the occasion, the celebration was made even more magical by the attendance of birds of every shape and color, and all manner of creature that walked on four legs or more - even a delightful miniature pony that so resembled Guildford’s own chestnut coloring that Lord Dudley nearly named him son.

Jane’s new wedding gown was even more beautiful than her first had been. Rabbit had crafted it for her in the ancient style, which Jane herself had also grown to love for its freedom and history. The silken fabric was of a pale gold, woven through with delicate embroidery and fine pearls, the long, voluminous sleeves split over a diaphanous underdress beneath. At its hem, Rabbit had embroidered the scenes of their courtship and victory - embellished of course, by Rabbit’s own imagination - with each of their friends and family represented. Jane had nearly wept to see the faces of her family, the falcon at her shoulder and the small rabbit at her feet, and the many forms of her husband so lovingly stitched into the silk. 

Atop her loose curls she wore a circlet of flowers made by her sisters. She laughed to see the bright red poppies and small white clusters of hemlock, the various medicinal herbs, woven in among them. A far more fitting crown for the Lady Jane.

All eyes were on Jane as she walked down the garden pathway. She looked as though a faerie queene in the soft afternoon light, surrounded as she was by bright blooms and scattered rose petals, but her eyes were only for her bridegroom. She knew she would never tire of looking on his face, so much more dear to her for having so long been denied its sight. He was dressed handsomely as well, in a suit of velvet and golden leaves, but his eyes too were focused entirely on her. Warm brown eyes met with hazel as they had always longed to, and familiar hands held her own as the priest again read them their vows.

“I plight thee my troth.”

How much sweeter the words sounded from the lips of her own dear husband, and how much more easily the words fell from her own lips at this second vowing. Cheers could be heard from all around them as they sealed their vows with a tender kiss.

The lavish celebration of their marriage lasted well into the night, all in attendance glad to honor Jane and Guildford as well as their new Queen. Jane spotted Lord Archer, newly restored to his Barony, among those who congratulated her cousin.

“It seems your schemes worked out even better than you hoped, with Elizabeth now on the throne.” She smiled at her friend when she chanced to speak with him alone.

“It was as we had always intended,” he smiled back.

Jane puzzled at these words. She had not realized Elizabeth long planned to take back the throne, nor that Archer already knew of this. What role could she have played with the line of succession right restored?

“Then you never had any need of me at all?”

“For myself, no.”

Understanding suddenly filled her. “You knew how I might help Guildford - but why did you not simply tell me?”

“Susannah and Elizabeth spoke much of you before you came to us. I knew that had I revealed to you from the very beginning that your love could break his curse, neither of you would have believed me. Nor then would he have been so open with you, and you so accepting of him. You are both far too stubborn for your own good. This fatal flaw within you both was why we felt the match might prove true.”

Shock and no small amount of indignation passed over Jane at his words, but the truth of them was undeniable. 

“I take it back - you are no politician at all. You are a romantic,” she accused, her smile one of good humor.

Lord Archer laughed at the recrimination. “I cannot deny the charges, my lady.”

Guildford too met word of this kindly meant trick with equal parts indignity and humor, though Lord Dudley heard it with greater sadness.

“Perhaps, if I had spoken earlier, told you that I-”

But the words still did not come easily to the man, though Guildford now seemed to understand them all the same, and embraced his father heartily.

Jane embraced her mother too, for she was beginning to understand her better as well. Her sisters she kissed, and saved a kiss for her new brother too. He did not resent her for the hurt and exile she had caused his father, and in him she saw a member of her own family and not of Lord Seymour’s.

After much feasting, the party all danced until the dawn had nearly risen, human and beast hand in hand as the music played on. Jane was loath to leave her place at Guildford’s side, and he from hers, so all rearranged the dance so that the happy couple might remain together. They only party briefly, to share a dance with her sisters and Susannah. For a brief step a smiling Lord Archer caught her hand, but she was swiftly whisked away once more by her bridegroom, and Lord Archer was rejoined with his own Susannah. Stanley begged a dance from her Lady mother, while the elder Lord Dudley and Rabbit sat on the sidelines and watched the younger people promenade. 

Many of the gathered Lords offered their hands to Queen Elizabeth to join in the dance, but she gently eschewed them all to watch the festivities from her seat at the head of the party. She smiled at Jane and Guildford to see a love she knew she would not find for herself.

Thus was Jane married to Guildford with all the proper ceremony.

****

In lieu of a second honeymoon, and with Elizabeth’s blessing, Jane was sent forth to bring learning to the Kingdom, alongside her husband and a great deal of gold and silver. But they took this, the dawn of the second wedding, to revisit the site of their first.

How different it was now, the ancient sarsen monument of the White Horse Stone bathed in morning light. No more the tomblike qualities she had once thought to have seen in it - now it seemed only an altar of nature’s own making. The trees no longer loomed, tall and shadowy overhead, but stood as gentle sentries of their peace of solitude here.

Guildford brought with him a soft quilt to lay across the stone altar, so unlike the funereal black velvet of before. The morning was temperate and dewy, and with a light breeze that carried the fresh scent of oak and moss. The forest had just begun to wake, and everywhere was the gentle buzzing of insects, and the songs of the morning birds.

But the greatest difference was in Lady Jane herself. No more were her fears and uncertainties in this place. She had come unbounded, of her own will. And she came alongside her beloved, whose heart she knew as well as her own. That she could now see him with unmasked eyes was a privilege she meant to take full advantage of. 

Guildford too, seemed to relish the opportunity to see her out here in the open, where she could look back at him readily in the dawn light. In the days following the Battle of the Tower, they had been kept busy each day with tending to the wounded, and the heavy work of reuniting the kingdom. Each night they had held each other close, greatly exhausted and still bruised from the battle themselves. It had been many weeks since they had last enjoyed one another beyond the simple gratification of their sight - something they had both yet to tire of.

And their eyes hardly left one another as he moved to set aside her floral coronet and her wedding jewels as they stood before the stone. As he had on their first night together, he carefully loosened her laces at the back of her gown, allowing it to slip free from her shoulders. The long underdress she wore was nearly sheer, the pale gossamer crepe covering her form from ankles to wrists but hiding little. Only her shoulders were left entirely bare, and he pressed a kiss to the tops of each, mindful of the lingering bruises that lay just below. He moved to kneel at her front, slipping the shoes from her feet. Jane’s breath hitched at the sudden change in his position, as she looked down at him bowed before her. She watched as his gaze drifted from the teasing outline of her breasts, to the faint dark triangle of her sex, barely obscured beneath the silk. She would not allow herself to blush, no matter how naked she felt beneath his regard. 

She anticipated he would next remove this final barrier between them, but instead he rose to his feet, and guided her gently to lay back across the stone. Her hands stretched above her head, not quite as they had been before, but enough to position herself at the greatest advantage. Jane knew she had been successful at the darkening of her husband’s eyes, the way they ran over her form before locking with her own again. Jane could feel a familiar heat already beginning to stir throughou her body as his gaze burned through the sheerness of her dress. She heard a similar warmth in his voice as it rumbled over her.

“When I first caught sight of you here, your lovely gown had grown damp with mist, and your veil as translucent as your shift is now,” he recalled, his voice low and reverent, his hand reaching out to cup her cheek.

Jane could not resist teasing him for the rosy tint of his memories, “I was half frozen that night, and nearly drowning in my veil. And I did not see you at all.”

“I came here as Archer bade me too because he told me that I might save you, and that your cleverness might save me in turn.” His words reminded her that they were both of them in a less than fortunate position that night. “But then I saw you, not only beautiful, but like a great Queen prepared to face down an entire army of foes. You were completely fearless, as if you already knew you’d win.”

“I was very much afraid that night,” she admitted.

“You hid it well.”

“And any resolve I displayed was mere stubbornness. I’ve been told it is my greatest flaw.”

“And it is my favorite of yours. When you turned that heated iron on me I believe I was already halfway to in love with you.”

“Only halfway?” She laughed, though she can feel an answering tenderness swelling in her heart at his words. Jane remembered well her brazen attempts to defend herself before she had realized she was safe with him. “Was that when you decided to seduce me?” 

“As I said, you were also quite beautiful.” 

His fingers traced over her features, slipping down the long line of her throat to run along the edge of her dress. His eyes left hers but for a moment as his warm hand cupped the soft swell of her breast through the silk, thumb teasing across the peaked tip of it. Jane shivered at the work of his fingers, arching into the touch and growing desperate for more.

“And that was enough to sway you?”

He grinned. “Was it not enough to sway you? I seem to recall you warming to me after you held my face and learned my features.”

Jane knew she could not argue this, and did not try.

“If only your manners had been as handsome.” She says instead.

“Had I been so docile and well-manned, I believe you would have eaten me alive that night.”

“Perhaps I may still do so.”

At this she sat up to capture her husband’s mouth with her own. She nipped at his grinning lips and the strong line of his jaw. Her hands pushed at his clothing, for she no longer wished him alone to have the advantage of her. She slid the unbound velvet double down over his arms, and tugged at the undershift beneath.

“I seem to remember your hands being bound to this stone before,” he jested, though he did not shy from her touch.

“They are not bound now, so you will have to face their liberty.”

“I will gladly submit to them.”

And gladly he did, as she ran her hands beneath his linen shirt, teasing him as he had her, before freeing him from the garment. Jane drank in the soft flush of his newly revealed skin, framed only by the necklaces her fingers had traced so many times before.

“Then lie back, for I have gone far longer than you without being able to look upon my lover.”

Together they finished undressing him before her bridegroom was pushed none too gently to lay across the stone altar as she had, and Jane moved over him to look down upon the sight of him below. This dramatic alteration in their positions allowed Jane’s eyes and hands to trace over the visage of her lover, at once so familiar and yet so long remained unseen. 

The dark curls she had so often threaded her fingers through were now badly mussed by her hasty removal of his shirt. His eyes were darkened with his desire but ringed with a thin edge of deep brown as they looked back at her. Miles of skin, long unseen, faintly seemed to glow in the early morning light, as her hands traced the musculature of his arms and chest that she had become so acquainted with. She numbered each previously unknown freckle, the small scars that had healed so nearly as to be invisible to her fingertips. He was not so thin as he had been when he had been freed from his captivity, his ribs no longer so starkly pronounced. The bruises had faded from both of them, though her eyes still sought the memory of their purples and greens, his fingers ever mindful of remaining scars. But her hands pressed more firmly against him, and his answering groans were no longer of pain but of delight at her touch.

Jane imagined for a moment that their roles had been reversed that night, that it had been Guildford laid out across the sacrificial altar for her to take as husband, knowing that they might save one another. She pictured being able to see him first, without him seeing her. She knows she would have felt a little as he did - not love, at first, but sympathy, and certainly desire. Her husband was handsome, and she discovered she rather liked having him like this. Would she have seduced him that first night, as he had her? She had not known how to at the time. But now…

“If our positions had been reversed, at our first wedding -” she began.

He smiled at the recognition of her train of thought. “I recall we were neither of us free to make our own choices that night.”

“Yes, but had you been lying here in the dark, unable to see me?”

The low rumble of his laughter buzzed through her own body.

“Had you sat astride me as you do now, you could have had me on this very stone - even without your beautiful face to tempt me.”

Jane could feel her lover’s body responding beneath her to their conversation and to the work of her hands, the tiniest movement of her hips. Each touch drew out a small shudder, and an even sweeter sound. He kept his hands from her as if bound, as hers had been, and let her do as she willed to him. Her fingers threaded through the faint dusting of dark hair at his chest, before trailing lower. As her hands shifted, his breath quickened. When she gently took the hardened length into her small hand his eyes slipped shut, hiding them briefly from her view. Jane commanded them open again, smiling as he did as he was bid and rewarding him with a firmer touch.

Though after only a few moments, Guildford halted the work of her hands, turning her so that she lay below him once more. “I think I was always fated to adore you, no matter how we began.”

He pressed a kiss of apology to her lips, and nosed along her jaw, breathing her in. With his lips he mapped her form through the thin gossamer of her dress, placing tender kisses across her breasts, her belly, the damp curls of her sex, before freeing her from the final barrier that remained between them.

For many long moments, the two lovers lay side by side, simply drinking in their fill of one another, seen for the first time by the full light of day with nothing to obscure their vision. The soft whisper of their hearts’ confession filled the space between them, no longer held back by either. “I love you,” whispered again and again, the three words having not yet lost their power.

By now the sun’s chariot had passed well into the highest point of the sky, and the sun grew warm against their bared bodies. Jane might have been tempted to fall asleep then and there - having danced the whole night with all those she loved - were it not for the thrumming of her body, the urge to bring herself ever closer to her lover. She met his lips once more, drawing herself closer and pressing into the hard planes of his body, further augmenting her desire rather than satisfying it. Their kiss deepened, the sweet taste of his tongue sweeping past her lips as his fingers clung to her. Jane guided her lover to lay back across the stone altar, softened as it was by the quilt below them, and moved to settle herself astride him. She breathed out his name as she took him inside herself once more. She had dearly missed this. 

Jane savored the sight of her husband below her again, flushed and breathing labored as his hips rose up to meet hers in a familiar rhythm that promised pleasure for them both. She studied his expression as she moved over him, the furrowed brow, the parted lips. She traced them with her fingertips, and smiled when he drew them into his mouth, nipping at them with blunt white teeth. With damp fingertips she followed the pink flush of his cheeks and throat down to his chest and belly, watching the muscles there as they flexed with each thrust up into her. She memorized the shape of each of his fingers as they gripped at her sides, or dipped between them where she was most sensitive. 

Jane leant down to kiss him once more, relishing the feeling of their bodies pressed tightly together. Here she could catch the familiar scent of him, taste the sweetness on his tongue. The movement between them grew with their renewed urgency. They were moving ever closer to the precipice, the rolling of her hips and the circling of his fingers against her pushing them higher. Guildford clung to her as they tumbled over the edge, never pulling back even as he shuddered out his own release.

With trembling limbs she fell easily into his arms, and he tucked her close to him as he had even that first night of their strange nuptials. As now again, as Guildford held her within the circle of his arms, Jane began to believe in fate too.

[star2fishmeg]

hello! i see you’re an eihl fan - who’s your team?!

Hi!! My team is the Guildford Flames! Although the Sheffield Steelers are fucking crazy, I respect them a lot!

[goalhofer]

2023-24 Washington Capitals Famous Relations

#96 Nicolas Aubé-Kubel: Cousin of former Guildford Flames RW T.J. Foster. #19 Nicklas Bäckström: Son of former Brynäs I.F. assistant coach Anders Bäckström & former professional handball player Catrin Bäckström, nephew of former Timrå I.K. GM Anders Huss, brother of former Oppala I.K. D Kristoffer Bäckström and cousin of former Åsele I.K. RW Viktor Huss. #3 Nick Jensen: Nephew of former A.T.S.E. Graz LW the late Steve Jensen. #22 Lucas Johansen: Brother of Colorado Avalanche C Ryan Johansen. #79 Charlie Lindgren: Brother of New York Rangers D Ryan Lindgren. #39 Anthony Mantha-Pronovost: Grandson of former Jersey Devils LW André Pronovost. #77 T.L. Oshie: Son of former Seattle Totems scout the late Tim Oshie, 2nd cousin of former Colorado Rockies C the late Henry Boucha, 3rd cousin of former Los Angeles Kings scout Gary Sargent. #8 Alex Ovechkin: Son of former Z.B.K. Dynamo Moscow PG Tatyana Ovechkin, son-in-law of actress the late Vera Shubsky and ex-boyfriend of former professional tennis player Maria Kirilenko. #67 Max Pacioretty: Husband of former professional tennis player Katia Pacioretty and brother-in-law of former K.K. Dynamo Moscow RW Maxim Afinogenov. #38 Carl Sandin: Brother of Rögle Bandyklubb RW Linus Sandin. #17 Dylan Strome: Brother of Anaheim Ducks C Ryan Strome & Hershey Bears RW Matthew Strome. #57 Trevor Van Riemsdyk: Brother of Boston Bruins LW James Van Riemsdyk & former Norfolk Admirals C Brendan Van Riemsdyk. #43 Tom Wilson: Son-in-law of former University Of Manitoba volleyball head coach Garth Pischke and husband of professional beach volleyball player Taylor Wilson.

[food123sblog]

Guildford's Culinary Gem: Charcoal Chicken Delights Await

 Experience the mouthwatering flavors of charcoal-grilled chicken at Guildford's renowned restaurants. Indulge in tender and succulent chicken, perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection over charcoal flames. Discover the irresistible aroma and taste of authentic charcoal chicken, served with delicious sides and sauces. Guildford's charcoal chicken restaurants promise a delectable dining experience you won't forget.

[theinternethassexwithitself]

Nobody scores in January

I think it would be fair to say that none of us particularly knew what to expect when my brother and the nut tax man accompanied me to Braehead Arena to watch the recent Challenge Cup semi-final first leg contest between Glasgow Clan and Guildford Flames.  While the three of us have varying degrees of interest in ice hockey, with me becoming borderline obsessed with the NHL, the UK league is not…

[extraliga-related]

Due to recent events, here's a reminder that the Queen dropped the puck at a game between host HK Poprad and the Guildford Flames back in 2008, cursing the Slovak team to never win their championship in the process.

Let's see how the odds for the upcoming season have changed. 👀

[ghost-toast]

The EIHL are starting a league wide pride weekend next Jan, which is great, but the Flames are playing the Panthers which is homophobic :/

[bahoreal]

undefined

Went to see some hockey tonight, and the puck got stuck in the net. Five people and three minutes to dislodge it. #hockey

game tonight (on april fools) went second period flames 2 steelers 4 flames: april fools! final score flames 5 steelers 4

[furimmerfrei]

Brian Stewart announces his retirement

And just like that another goalie is gone from the EIHL. You might not have been a fan of the Coventry Blaze or the Guildford Flames, but everyone has at some point been entertained by Brian Stewart.

(more…)

[moriartywantstoparty]

"Not all men" you're right. Mike Will #33, goaltender for the Guildford Flames, would never treat me like this

[goalhofer]

2024 IIHF Worlds Great Britain Roster

Wingers

#7 Robert Lachowicz (Glasgow Clan/Nottingham)

#9 Brett Perlini (Herning Blå Ræv/Guildford)

#11 Cameron Critchlow (Manchester Storm/Summerside, PEI)

#14 Liam Kirk (H.K. V.E.R.V.A. Litvínov/Rotherham)

#23 Sean Norris (Belfast Giants/Ascot)

#48 Johnny Curran (Coventry Blaze/Niagara Falls, Ontario)

#74 Ollie Betteridge (Nottingham Panthers/Nottingham)

#91 Ben Lake (Belfast Giants/Calgary, Alberta)

#94 Cade Neilson (Alaska, Fairbanks Nanooks/Nottingham)

Centers

#5 Ben Davies (Cardiff Devils/Cardiff)

#16 Sam Duggan (Cardiff Devils/Reading)

#27 Cole Shudra (Sheffield Steelers/Rotherham)

#75 Robert Dowd (Sheffield Steelers/Billingham)

Defensemen

#2 Sam Ruopp (E.H.C. Lausitzer Füchse/Regina, Saskatchewan)

#13 David Phillips (Belfast Giants/Kingston Upon Hull)

#17 Mark Richardson (Cardiff Devils/Swindon)

#24 Jeff Tetlow (Nottingham Panthers/London)

#26 Evan Mosey (Cardiff Devils/Downers Grove Township, Illinois)

#28 Ben O'Connor (Guildford Flames/Durham)

#41 Josh Batch (Cardiff Devils/Chelmsford)

#44 Sam Jones (Sheffield Steelers/Walsall)

#79 Nate Halbert (Hockeyclub Innsbruck/Nottingham)

Goalies

#1 Jackson Whistle (Belfast Giants/Kelowna, British Columbia)

#33 Ben Bowns (Cardiff Devils/Rotherham)

#35 Lucas Brine (Glasgow Clan/Chertsey)

[thebrotherhoodelites]

Going to a hockey game today woo!!

[richmond-rex]

Hi, I was wondering what exactly was people's reaction to Richard III crowning himself King? I've seen some people say that the majority of the country was relieved/accepting but that is ... certainly not what I read? From what I understand, everything happened so quickly that most people were initially very confused and thus didn't instantly react, but once things became obvious, Richard III faced quite a bit of opposition - proved by the sudden execution of Hastings, the way people were said to weep when the topic of the disposed Edward V was brought up, the rebellions, and the newly substantial support Henry VII received. But perhaps I misunderstood, so what do you think?

Hi anon, sorry for the late reply! Richard III's ascension is complicated and it's impossible to know how things transpired in terms of percentage/numbers, but he was indeed met with considerable opposition. In London, as you pointed out, there seems to have been considerable confusion at the time of his ascension. There was a palpable atmosphere of intimidation as Richard arranged for 5-6 thousand armed men (the rumours circulating at the time said 20,000) to come into the capital. He also declared a night-time curfew controlled by a watch carefully appointed to survey the city. The executions of Hastings, Rivers (Anthony Woodville), Thomas Vaughan, Richard Grey and the imprisonment of the Bishop of Ely (John Morton) and the Archbishop of York (Thomas Rotherham) would have remained fresh in people’s minds. The chroniclers paint a picture of a London waiting to see what would happen and acquiescing to the strongest (de facto) leader.

Richard did not only display force: he also made many grants to old members of Edward IV’s household and retained them in their positions so they could remain loyal. Despite his offerings of reconciliation, the Croyland Chronicle continuator commented that after his coronation people began ‘to murmur greatly’, ‘especially those people who, because of fear, were scattered throughout franchises and sanctuaries’. Mancini recorded that ‘already there was a suspicion that [Edward V] had been done away with’. The Great Chronicle reported that ‘men feared not openly to say that [the princes] were rid out of this world’. A rebellion broke out in London less than a month after his coronation when men started fires across the city in hopes that the Tower garrison would rush out to deal with the flames and the princes would be rescued. 

After the rescue plan failed, many, many, many other risings took place. The majority of the rebels were former servants of Edward IV, and the more important of them had held senior positions in his household. At the end of August, Richard appointed Buckingham (so far his right-hand man) to investigate and judge treasons and felonies in London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. At the start of October, risings broke out in Kent, followed by Exeter, Guildford, London, Newbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, Cornwall and more. There was also a failed attempt at insurrection in Wales led by Richard’s own right-hand man, the Duke of Buckingham. However, it’s also important to note that Richard was well-received in the cities he visited during his progress into the north of England.

A. J. Pollard has drawn attention to the fact that regional prejudices and feuds, notably north vs south, played very important roles during certain phases of the Wars of the Roses and in the period following Richard III’s and Henry VII’s ascensions that regional difference only became starker. Richard had been king in the north in all but name. The south, on the other hand, regarded Richard III with suspicion, especially following the risings of October 1483 after which Richard placed his own men in the positions of power which had so far been occupied by the people that had revolted against him. The main act of attainder that was passed following the risings punished ninety-eight (98) men, the largest number ever attainted at one time, and those weren’t even the total number of people who were punished or pardoned. The continuator of the Croyland Chronicle remarked:

What great numbers of estates and inheritances were amassed in the king’s treasury in consequence! He distributed all these amongst his northerners whom he planted in every part of his dominions, to the shame of all the southern people who murmured ceaselessly and longed more each day for the return of their old lords in place of the tyranny of the present ones.

It’s important to mention that Richard didn’t only place northerners in the south: other trusted servants coming from the west midlands and East Anglia were also deployed. But Croyland allows us a glimpse into the mentality of an author writing in the southeast of England. ‘The tyranny in mind was not so much the actual behaviour of the new ‘lords’, says Pollard, ‘but the transgression of the fundamental notion that the local communities should be ruled by their own native elites’. Richard the malignant tyrant is not so much Tudor propaganda as it is the product of metropolitan, south-eastern authors compiling their accounts. So at his time and ever since then, there remains two Richards of tradition: the noble duke and king whose death was lamented by the city of York (the northern Richard), and the usurping infanticide and tyrant (the southern Richard).

To go back, things might have calmed down after the risings, and Richard III certainly did everything in his power to act like a generous ruler to those standing by his side, yet more and more people kept defacting to Henry Tudor. Anywhere between 400 and 500 Englishmen sought Henry in Brittany—no other exile or pretender to the crown after the conquest ever received that amount of active national support in exile, to talk nothing about the amount of support he received in Wales. The garrison of a Calais fortress also entirely defected to Henry’s side, which was especially worrying to Richard III since Calais was a city that could be so easily accessed from France and used as a jumping point to England. People who had been pardoned in early 1484 such as William Brandon and William Berkeley kept rebelling, and even men from Richard III’s own household started to abandon him, such as his keeper of the wardrobe, Piers Curteis, who fled to sanctuary at Westminster in 1485.

It’s interesting that, for all their international backing, the number of Englishmen that accompanied Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel & John de la Pole remained minimal and never rose as high as those who joined Henry Tudor. The Lambert Simnel rebellion received substantial Irish support but not many northerners could be roused to join Edward of Warwick’s cause against Henry VII—the city of York itself, who had so lamented Richard III’s death, stood with the new Tudor king. When Perkin tried to raise rebellion, only Cornwall followed suit and that was after the region had revolted against taxation; when Warbeck tried to rouse Kent, a region notorious for rebelling against previous kings of England (Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III all faced Kentish rebellions), the locals fought Warbeck and his men without even calling for the king’s help. 

The amount of opposition that Richard III encountered was not normal nor minimal. In the end, he could not rule with only half of his kingdom’s support, and this unevenness in support explains much about the quickness with which he was toppled from the throne, I believe. Sorry for rambling (and for the wait!), but this is what comes to mind. Thank you for reaching out and I hope this answer is of help! 🌹x

[humphreyhippo]

20171210 - Face-Off