#She had to be there. Aelin had to be there.

[acourtofthought]

Sarah likes tension and discomfort in her endgame pairings. She liked Feyre being terrified of Rhys at first, of being nervous to go with him to his home, she liked Nesta kicking Cassian in the balls at first, she liked Feyre refusing to engage with Rhys at the start of ACOMAF while in her depressed state, she liked Cassian feeling irritated with Nesta in ACOWAR and in FAS, she liked having Rhys note how Nesta had no interest in being in the same room as Cassian in ACOFAS, with Cassian trying to convince himself he wasn't bothered by Nesta sleeping with others though he was clearly uncomfortable with that fact.

Elain and Lucien expressing discomfort around the other is not a bad thing and I don't know why, if anyone has read any of Sarah's books, they would ever think it is.

"I'm not always in this city to see my mate." The last two words dripped with discomfort.

-Is exactly like like Cassian telling Feyre to "mind her own business, that her family was full of bossy, know-it-all females."

- Is exactly like Cassian saying "not everything in my life is about your sister, you know."

"But Elain's actions are different because Feyre and Nesta argued with Rhys and Cassian!". Yes, because Elain is different than her sisters, the author confirmed this. So this is simply Elain's way of dealing with things in a way that is true to her character but doesn't change that she's probably experiencing the same thoughts as her sisters in relation to their mates. Not to mention Lucien is not harassing Elain the same way Rhys and Cassian did with Feyre and Nesta. Had he been as pushy I guarantee she would have started sniping back because we saw her do exactly that in SF with Nesta but because he's respectful, he's not forcing her to lash out and can instead continue responding the way she currently is.

Elain losing her newfound boldness around Lucien is no different than Nesta's interaction with Cassian in ACOFAS, where he wants her to talk to him and she tells him to go home. Where she enters her apartment and thinks how she hadn't felt anything in months. Keep in mind, this was the EXACT same character who went out drinking and sleeping with other males, clearly demonstrating "bold" behavior until confronted with the one person who actually made her feel something real but those real feelings are what had Nesta running and turning inward. It was when Nesta hid from her deepest feelings that she was able to wear the persona of someone who enjoyed gambling and drinking and sleeping around.

Elain and Az evoking almost no feelings in their interactions together outside of garden chats, "lust" and flirty glances is a problem for her endgame pairings. Elain whispering an apology to Az after he rejected her is not the setup for an endgame. Az rejecting her, regardless of the reasons, after leading her on with his flirty glances for a year is absolutely a reason for Elain to put him in his place but instead she acted like a kicked dog with it's tail between it's legs. Had Elain turned cold towards him, had she called him out, had she demonstrated unease around Az after the fact, THAT would be the right kind of setup which would have left the readers with the knowledge that there was more to tell. Instead Elain just kept on living her life exactly the same as she had before with zero change to her behavior around Az. It is because she demonstrates a different emotion around Lucien that we know there is a story to tell. The story exists because there is discomfort, exactly like we saw Feyre's discomfort around Rhys at times, exactly how we saw discomfort for Cassian around Nesta at times, exactly how we saw discomfort in Aelin when around Rowan at times.

The problem with some in the fandom is they believe there is only one possible meaning for this discomfort and that's just so far from the truth in a SJM novel. Discomfort for her OFTEN means "my feelings are too big and they scare me" especially when it comes to the mating bond.

[acourtofquestions]

Overhead, the stars shone clear and bright, and though Mala had only once appeared to him at dawn, on the foothills across this very city, though she might be little more than a strange, mighty being from another world, he offered up a prayer anyway.

Then, he had begged Mala to protect Aelin from Maeve when they entered Doranelle, to give her strength and guidance, and to let her walk out alive. Then, he had begged Mala to let him remain with Aelin, the woman he loved. The goddess had been little more than a sunbeam in the rising dawn, and yet he had felt her smile at him.

Tonight, with only the cold fire of the stars for company, he begged her once more.

A curl of wind sent his prayer drifting to those stars, to the waxing moon silvering the camp, the river, the mountains.

He had killed his way across the world; he had gone to war and back more times than he cared to remember. And despite it all, despite the rage and despair and ice he'd wrapped around his heart, he'd still found Aelin. Every horizon he'd gazed toward, unable and unwilling to rest during those centuries, every mountain and ocean he'd seen and wondered what lay beyond... It had been her. It had been Aelin, the silent call of the mating bond driving him, even when he could not feel it.

They'd walked this dark path together back to the light. He would not let the road end here.

[manonblaqkbeak]

Rowan would invent mother's day for Aelin and no one can change my mind

[pergaminaa]

Modern au

When asked, Manon would confess that pregnancy wasn't all that great, and she honestly can't understand how some people willingly put themselves through that kind of thing again and again.

The first few weeks were okay; she really didn't think too much of it, and from how things were going she believed it would be smooth sailing. Why were people complaining? Everything is seamless (she really thought she was built different)

A few weeks later, morning sickness began, and with it, Manon's earlier sentiments went out of the window. It was hard and downright brutal. She believes that calling it morning sickness is wrong because it was persistent all day and night long, for days and days and days. Really, it was endless. She was feeling sick most of the time; she wasn't eating and she was tired all the time. During that time there were regular hospital visits because she just kept throwing up and all that dehydration was not good neither does her nor the fetus growing inside of her.

A few weeks later it eased up a little but did not stop. She was still going to the hospital once every few days getting hydrated through an IV because really, her body is not dealing with this at all.

A while later when she was 4-5 months along, she began noticing some spotting. Dorian called the doctor and got them seen almost immediately. Things were okay, they’re baby is doing fine but from that moment on Manon was put on strict bed rest until her daughter was born.

At around the sixth-month mark, Manon was so over being pregnant. "Hate to break it to you, witchling, but you still have three more months to go," Dorian got kicked out of the room that night for his smart remark. But she called him back later on because she was lonely and by that point, she wasn't used to going to sleep without him being there.

It seems that all of her biology lessons in school have evaporated. And she was horrified at finding out some things she was certain she'd remember if she had actually studied them. She honestly didn’t think of what the difference is between giving birth and having a c-section in her mind she was just ‘a baby gets born’ without thinking how that would actually happen (Asterin was the unfortunate soul that discovered this and had to explain it)

'It's not too late to back out from this now, is it?' Asterin only rolled her eyes at her because yeah sure, by all means just stop being pregnant.

Newfound information aside, nothing actually prepared Manon for the grand finale: almost four days of (slow labor) and a little over 30 hours of active labor was all it took for her daughter to be born.

Manon, bless her soul, right in the middle of active labor, (literally her baby is only a few hours away from being born) realized one thing: she wasn’t her ready to become a mother.

The notion terrified her, and she seemed to realize it all of the sudden. She confidently thought that she can stop or try again later (???) but that wasn’t possible for obvious reasons. She wasn’t in pain (thanks to the epidural) but she was terrified. That is something she doesn’t know how to navigate and she was just panicking. She did end up having a panic attack and yeah imagine going through that while giving birth. (She really wasn’t having a good time)

Dorian was right next to her, his presence steadied her somewhat and after a WHILE she finally started listening to him and calmed down enough to focus on the main task.

Honestly the sudden cries kinda distracted her then she realized that her daughter is actually born and it took her a minute to fully realize that it’s all over.

Honestly, she'd rate the experience -10/10 even though her little baby girl is so worth it. She was born a little early (3-4 weeks, nothing too major) and she might have taken over 30 hours but she was out at last.

She won't do this again willingly though. Never.

Manon's both in awe and lowkey wonders of Aelin and Asterin are okay in the head. Her cousin went though this twice (willingly) and Aelin has like four children and Manon just cannot comprehend this.

[starryyvenus]

I just can’t fathom how untrustworthy chaol is about aelin. They’ve became friends to lovers to bitter exes than to friends again been through thick and thin together grown to know each other yet he still thinks that she can do all these terrible acts in tower of dawn which she can but doesn’t want too and that’s the whole point she doesn’t want to she has a whole list of reasons why she could do all that but she won’t because it’s just not who she is even after all this time he still doesn’t believe that she wouldn’t do all these things and it’s just so disheartening because like he says in chapter 36

“But he knew that there were no restraints, no inner ones, on how far Aelin would go to protect those she loved. Protect her kingdom.

And if someone stood in her way, barred her from protecting them ... No lines existed to cross within Aelin in regard to that. No lines at all” she would do anything to protect the people she loves no matter what and the funny thing is is that he would do the exact same things for the people he loves he treats her so bad even in his own mind like yes aelin can and would do anything for the people she loves and cares for even if it would lead to her own demise which she does do for elide in empire of storms, I don’t know I just find it so fucking funny that he can criticize and judge her and reprimand her all the way across the fucking sea when he would do the exact same shit aelin would do for the people he’s loves and cares for.

I don’t know if this made any sense the point is is that chaol just doesn’t know aelin at all

Could she conquer the fucking world yes would she? No, that’s just not who she is

[tinasshelf]

y’know maybe Chaol was onto something because I too loved Celaena Sardothien with my whole heart and disliked Aelin Ashryver Galathynius for a while till I came to terms with the fact that this is just how she is now and I have to learn to like it

[ninelivesart]

I’m having a bit of an artist dilemma and I’m hoping someone might be able to help.

Every year my work does a pumpkin decorating contest (painted, not carved). And the prompt is always “Favorite book character.”

This year I thought it would be fun to do all the main SJM girls. I also bought a pack of acrylic paint pens just for my pumpkin.

However, I usually work digitally and wanted to draw up my designs digitally just to play it safe. Since you can’t really sketch on a pumpkin.

Now I’m stuck trying to figure out how to get the designs onto the pumpkin. Nothing I’ve tried so far has worked. I tried to decoupage the images but they just peeled right off. I then downloaded a paid app that’s supposed to superimpose your images over the camera. Great in theory. Didn’t work out for this particular project.

And now I’m back at square one. I considered the old pencil tracing technique but the designs are just too detailed and I know it won’t come out visible enough to be worth the effort.

The only other thing I’ve thought of is a projector. But since I have no plans to use it for tv, I don’t know what to look for. I still want something relatively affordable. But I’m not looking for something to project big images. The pumpkin is fairly small even for a pumpkin. I know I’ll probably use it for canvases. But I still don’t want to shell out the money for something unless I’m sure it’ll do what I want it to do. And we don’t really have a store here that I can go browse and talk to people.

Also I did consider a home made projector but to get it to do what I need, I’d have to buy so many supplies that I may as well just buy a real one.

So that’s where I’m at. I had this issue last year too and i ended up giving up just because nothing worked out. I’m hoping I can get at least one of these ladies on my pumpkin this year.

If you have any ideas or know of a good projector I can buy, I’d be really grateful.

[androjello]

lidia the woman that you are

[selene-moonie]

You know how in every SJM book, the last 100 pages is the world upside down and on fire? Like. The majority of Empire of Storms has been that but god I did not expect that ending.

[gwandas]

and if i said rhys' similarity to bryce and aelin says everything about who sjm sees as the main character of acotar— *gunshot*

[manonslayme]

Elide: hm, I know I’m interested in men but women are also hot. I kinda want to try and explore that with someone-

Literally all of the tog women: I volunteer as tribute!!

[acourtofthought]

Imagine if you had a friend with a crush.

Imagine if she decided to stop pursuing that crush in December.

Imagine if 5 months went by and there was absolutely no indication that she liked him any longer. No reaction to his presence (good or bad), no looks - just complete indifference.

Then imagine if you insisted that she still had a crush on him, you were extremely forceful in telling everyone around you that she still wanted him despite her returning the gift he got her which should be a clear indication of her decision to move on especially considering she's got absolutely zero connection to this person, zero ties to him any longer after returning everything he gave her - the way she would if she shared a mating bond with him, still had his jacket, still accepts every one of his gifts (because no matter Elain's declaration that she didn't want a mate or her refusing to speak to Lucien, she accepts his gifts and has not formally rejected their bond - both which do send mixed signals).

That's E/riels when it comes to Elain currently having feelings for Az.

5 MONTHS. 5 months and not a single glance his way, not a single sentence where Nesta noted Elain being sad, not even a single mention of Elain shooting daggers Az's way. 5 months and plenty of opportunities where Elain and Az were both on page at the same time yet Sarah gave no indication of any interest on her part, no irritation, no hesitation, nothing. Instead Elain stood with Helion at Starfall. Instead Elain was at Mor's side when Feyre and Nyx nearly lost their lives.

Could Sarah write that changing in the next book? Sure! Just like Sarah could still write Elain wanting Lucien in the next book. However based on where we're currently at Elain does not want Az. Sarah stopped her character from having any further interactions with him once Elain returned his necklace, a clear signal of her being done. Sarah stopped her character from even having "open to debate" interactions with him the way she did with Lucien (i.e., the reason for why Elain shrank back into herself is still open to interpretation regardless of E/riels being convinced it's a negative thing. Sarah's writing has provided enough scenarios where a FMC is overwhelmed by the feelings of want that she has around her mate to make this a plausible explanation).

As it stands, Elain and Az have no further business together compared to Elain and Lucien since a decision about their bond has not been made.

If she wants, Sarah could easily never delve into Elain and Az's interactions again where we know she will have to have Elain and Lucien communicate.

And it's clear that after the snowball fight Az didn't take long to turn his attention towards a certain redhead what with the admiration and encouragement he had shining in his face for her. His anger over being told to stay away from Elain lasted a total of 3 days (anger that probably had nothing to do with actually wanting a future with Elain and simply because he doesn't like being told what to do).

[acourtofquestions]

Aelin.

He had no voice here, but he spoke her name. Threw it across the gulf between them.

Slowly, she turned to him.

It was her face—or it would be in a few years. When she Settled.

But it wasn't the slightly older features that knocked the breath from him.

It was the hand on her rounded belly.

She stared toward him, hair still flowing.

Behind her, four small figures emerged.

Rowan fell to his knees.

The tallest: a girl with golden hair and pine-green eyes, solemn-faced and as proud as her mother. The boy beside her, nearly her height, smiled at him, warm and bright, his Ashryver eyes near-glowing beneath his cap of silver hair.

The boy next to him, silver-haired and green-eyed, might as well have been Rowan's twin.

And the smallest girl, clinging to her mother's legs ... A fine-boned, silver-haired child, little more than a babe, her blue eyes harking back to a lineage he did not know.

Children. His children. Their children.

With another mere weeks from being born.

His family.

The family he might have, the future he might have. The most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Aelin.

[queen-scribbles]

Aelin got the Steed of the Silent Hunter in a lockbox, and Rhia earned enough festivity tokens to buy the Honey goat :D

[pergaminaa]

Omg since winter is coming my brain is HUNG UP on the idea of Dorian going with his friends in a trip to the mountains.

It’s a thing they do annually; there is a large cabin up in the mountains and it’s where they go every winter. It’s cold and snowy and the perfect getaway for a while.

After getting serious with Manon he decided to take her with him. She knows his friends and it won’t be an issue. He did ask her if she was okay with going first, because he doesn’t want to pressure her.

By that point Manon was becoming friends with Aelin (and Rowan) she’s also growing closer with Yrene because Chaol is Dorian’s best friend. She sees Lysandra from time to time because of Aelin so she’s also good.

So going up to the mountains for ten days away from civilization didn’t sound too bad for her. She knows the people going and it should be fine.

Idk just something something about Manon making friends and having good fun times with others because my girl has been through enough.

[khaleesimaka]

I keep seeing people's predictions for Crescent City 3 and how Aelin is gonna come in and be this badass with her fire powers and I'm just like... did you read Kingdom of Ash?? Cause like she gave up her powers to close the wyrdgates