#alighting the darkness

[sparrowsworkshop]

"Alighting the Darkness" by OneWingedSparrow for @dubiiousfood

This is my Loftwing Letter for @dubiiousfood, for the event hosted by @zelinkcommunity ! I hope you like this TP Zelink fluff! <3 Main Tags: Twilight Princess, Post-Canon, Married Zelink, Fluff without Plot Summary: Following the events of the Twilight, Zelda comes to realize how Link places light wherever she needs it. Read on AO3 Reblogs are appreciated! ~ The populace of Hyrule could perhaps say that they knew a “time before Twilight, and the two times thereafter.” Though most Hyruleans had been unknowingly turned to spirits during the curse over the kingdom, and, were therefore oblivious to the atrocities committed by the Usurper King Zant, they were nevertheless aware enough that, in the past, there had first been a time of grim foreboding; then, a time of great fear; and at last, a grand time where the great fear was graciously extinguished.

Queen Zelda, however, dwelt upon a different timeline. The time before Twilight, and the two times thereafter, mattered not nearly so much as these:

The time before Link, and all time thereafter.

~

She saw her Hero first in his accursed form of a blue-eyed beast; and, even in the darkness cast over the castle, everything about the wolf before her seemed to gleam. The iron shackle clinging to his leg, the grinning fangs escorting his growl, even the artful patterns streaking his dark fur with a lighter shade. A snarling predator stalking into her chamber should not have been a source of encouragement, but Zelda could sense the spirit within the flesh, and her weary eyes smiled faintly under her hood as she watched him stride towards her.

You are the light, she told him within her mind, as she removed her hood and his growling instantly ceased. The foretold, sacred light Hyrule desperately needs.

She beheld in him the Hero chosen by the gods. She foresaw in him the Hero destined to bring Hyrule back into the light, as a careful goatherd would direct his flock out of the storm and safely into shelter. In spite of her gifted Wisdom, however, she did not perceive in him the Hero chosen to guideherback into light as well. Such an epiphany revealed itself only during their future marriage.

~

Rebuilding the castle was a lengthy endeavor. While the structure was not demolished entirely, the brutal clash between Midna’s Fused Shadows and the demon beast Ganon left several stones unthroned. While the construction crews travailed the necessary renovations, the queen and her fiancé spent much time outdoors, in the quiet courtyards where pink and yellow flowers still dared to bloom, ever defiant towards the evil that once shadowed them.

Verily, Zelda might have found superior productivity in her study, where her paperwork was not at risk of being spied on by scouting ants or swept away by the teasing breeze. Even so, she chose to eschew her old habits. Her productivity might have lessened outdoors, but her motivation only increased. After all, how could she not be delighted by the golden-bodied beetles Link presented to her with a flourish, or the merry tunes he played for her on whistlegrass when no one else remained in earshot?

In the courtyard, with his subordinates standing vigil, Link never needed to be on constant guard, to uphold his duty as her appointed protector first and foremost. When they would travel Hyrule, of course, checking in on each province, he shouldered his responsibility with grave focus, standing tall as both the Hero of Twilight and the Captain of the Hylian Knights. But here, under the oak trees and the dappled sunlight, where the windchimes laughed and the stepstones wandered—here, as the beetles spread their wings and buzzed away from his open palms, and the blithe melody of the grass summoned a hawk to cheer a chorus—here, with her, he could be simply Link, grinning and teasing to make her smile even while she worked. It felt quite like a forgotten childhood come back to greet them, Zelda thought, or perhaps a bright tomorrow welcoming them anew.

~

A castle is a fortress first, a sanctuary second, and a home last of all. The larger a window, the more accessible an invader’s point of entry. Thus, many long corridors were illuminated only by braziers, their warmth spaced apart by the ghostly fingers of drafts ever haunting the stone walls. Over her lifetime, Zelda’s eyes grew accustomed to the enclosed dim; Link, however, had a newcomer’s keen eye for all improvements that could be made.

“It’s dark in here,” he said once of their bedchamber, as he scrutinized the curtains and ran his hand over the thick, embroidered fabric. “Does the brown color please you?” “It keeps out the sun,” Zelda replied, but her words suddenly sounded strange. She wrinkled her brow, and, stepping next to Link, reached out, tugging the two curtains away from each other. The day was overcast, but a grayish glow whispered into the room, gracing their boots with a shy, soft brightness.

She glanced at her husband. “How do you feel about ivory?”

~

From that moment onward, Link’s transformations of Zelda’s once dark world became all the more apparent. For the first time, she noticed the multiplication of candles around their dining table—most of them scented cheerfully with pumpkin, transported all the way from Beth’s Sundry. She counted the vases of bright-colored flowers strategically positioned around the Great Hall, like devoted soldiers standing at attention, and knew only one person who would trek so far into the forest to collect such particular, elusive species.

Her favorite of his transformations, however, was when Link commissioned the court artists to paint not a portrait of himself, as most royals would, but rather, a mural of the pastures of Ordona. The grass in the painting practically dripped with morning dew, and the circular horns of the goats glittered like fairy wings; a brilliant dawn broke through the dark woods beyond the flock, and spilling sunshine over the tranquil field.

That vision alone would have rendered the painting wonderful; but Link’s directions went further, and the artists happily delivered.

In the foreground stood a figure, facing the dawning sun—black cloak slipping from her shoulders, while the wind swept through her hair.

“Do you like it?” Link whispered in her ear, the day his surprise was revealed.

Only one thing would I change, she thought at first. Where are you in this lovely story?

Yet, when she turned towards him to ask, fierce, bright blue eyes caught hers, and she saw for a moment in him the wolf who once brought Courage to her gloom.

Enlightened, Zelda smiled.

“Of course,” she said, and cupped his face in her hands, to lose herself in his gaze just as the woman in the painting lost herself in the powerful sun.

You are the light...my light...as always.

~

[darel3ne]

The sillies.

I couldn’t find the exact font for the background cuz its different.

@thecryptidart1st @thegraveyardsh1ft

Is this what Henry has to deal with everyday.

I HATE THE WATERMARK.

[tcofht]

zombie

[vanillashusband]

god why did these take so long for me to finish?? 😭 but yay some various self aware cookie aus I thought up and couldn't stop thinking about

so much of this is just vanilla hjghfjgf I'M OBSESSED /silly

🧡TAGLIST: @selfshippinglover @sunstar-of-the-north @honeycombscereal @tulaytullahs

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

on our fates alight--the moogling

------

He was going to kill a moogle.

Or two.

Maybe the entire godsdamned settlement.

"You know, you're slightly proving the point by just standing over here and being all dark, mysterious, and broody. Maybe just a little edgy too, kupo."

Maybe all of fucking Dravania.

Heedless of the potential danger it was in, the moogle parked itself next to Odin's Dominant. And then...

"Seb's not a bad guy, Seb's not a bad guy."

It was fucking singing.

"Seb's not a bad guy, Seb's not a bad guy."

Riven? I'm going to go on a killing spree. Sebastian transmitted mentally--as loudly as he could. No response from Valefor.

"Seb's not a bad guy, Seb's not a bad guy."

[birlwrites]

character interaction but it's just every single regulus and sirius staring in horrified bafflement at orion and walburga from #orion and walburga save the family challenge

BJWUIOEGHWOEHTJWLEHTOHFLJWHTLJERW

stga sirius: so you're like... involved in your kids' lives? and actually consider what they want instead of just expecting them to fall in line?

#orion and walburga: of course!!

lachrimae regulus: and you wouldn't like. let bellatrix and voldemort force your kid into the death eaters without asking him about it or telling him it was going to happen?

#orion: NO THEN HE WOULD DIE HORRIBLY BY DROWNING IN A CAVE

lachrimae sirius: they did WHAT

#walburga: we signed our regulus up for swimming lessons so he wouldn't drown while trying to bring down voldemort!

lachrimae regulus: wh..what

ttdl regulus and sirius: *just kind of catatonic, deeply uncomfortable, terrified that the #parents will try to go in for a hug because lachrimae regulus seems to be on the verge of a breakdown*

tyrant regulus: i don't know why you're all so surprised 🙄 mother and father have always been very supportive of my ambitions

stga regulus: BECAUSE YOU'RE TRYING TO BECOME A FUCKING DARK LORD

[bolton-buried]

Try statement 0070914-A.

-An angel

I’m going to try throwing something heavy at your cranium actually.

[freyja-official]

KHDR Spoilers!

Freyja tweening with his actual art?? Wow... I miss Dark Road :(

[autumnslance]

NPC ask: Vrtra!

OK so, remember: I wrote up Aeryn's surprise backstory thanks to FFXIV Write prompts, with a one off in one year, and then the next having the original version of the whole Avengret saga, like 2 months before Endwalker came out. Eventually it all came together in Bearing Sins of the Past, where I added the coda "with any luck, Aeryn wouldn’t have to think about dragons again for a while" because when EW DID hit and I got to Thavnair I helpless laughed, because this woman just cannot get away from dragons for anything.

My own fault for starting playing this game in HW, and then putting a bit of Coerthan in my WoL, I suppose.

Actual answer below cuz I rambled a bit on this one, and added in brief answers for the FC's FF16 AU and my other OCs.

To say Aeryn was shocked to learn of Vrtra and his role in her nation's history is mild; she spent a good few nights thinking back to her mother's stories and the teachings of Thavnair's history and how they see dragons, versus that of Coerthas and what she'd learned of and experienced in the Dragonsong War. It was a decent distraction for a while.

Bit of nervousness too, I mean, how do you look your secret ruler in the eye and say "yes, I'm the one who killed your brother"? Even if his dad and another brother helped. Awkward. Which is also true when around Tiamat and Azdaja, but hey.

But Vrtra is also so different from his siblings; he spends more time with mortals than with other dragons, and so understands them in ways his siblings do not. He has more in common, perhaps, with the late Ratatoskr than the others; Aeryn thinks she'd be pleased by and proud of what her youngest brother has accomplished with Thavnair.

And so Vrtra isn't just another Great Wyrm of the First Brood, and not only the Satrap of Radz-at-Han (publicly, finally), but also...a friend. He's warm, and personable, and understands and uses mortal humor. Not always perfectly; there's still an alienness to him that can seem reserved or even standoffish, and some things he still doesn't understand. But he takes it all in stride and with good intention, and assuming the same from others. He's kind, and caring, and she cannot think of a better defender and leader for her homeland.

And it certainly makes sense as to how such consistency and coordination exists in Thavnair's growth and policies, leading to a fairly happy and prosperous land and people.

Still, Aeryn mostly actually behaves when adventuring with Vrtra, in whatever form. A mostly proper young Thavnairian lady, that her grandmothers would find no fault with while in the presence of the Satrap. Vrtra thought the Scion stories of her being a reckless gremlin in combat were exaggerations...until the Isle of Haam and getting to the aetherfont with Thancred in the party. She really couldn't help herself, it's part of how their relationship works. But she did maybe pouty face puppy dog eye Varshahn to please not mention her behavior to her family at all ever. And again, given he understands mortals, well...even Vrtra doesn't dare cross a pair of Thavnairain grannies!

In the FF16-inspired AU, where Aeryn and Zaine are Dominants of Asura and Daivaidipa, Vrtra was the one who had to wrangle them when they first primed as children on returning to Thavnair. He took the little family in, the Striker siblings (and their mother) becoming wards of the Satrap. Vrtra used his child simulacrums, then adolescent, as they grew, acting as a brother as much as a mentor and guardian. In that AU the bond is much more familial, with the closeness of years and shared secrets and power between them.

Back on Main, Dark Autumn and C'oretta like Vrtra well enough, though Dark is far more comfortable with his Varshahn persona. C'oretta has pestered the alchemists about how the simulacra are made and work cuz it's fascinating. Iyna....just isn't sure at all how to handle actual dragons, especially First Brood, so remains quiet and aloof to cover her awkward, when she has to interact. She also much prefers interacting with Varshahn, but can't quite ever forget what he really is. Still, like the others, she remains polite and to the job, mostly for Aeryn's sake.

[6pixiepop9]

Aishite ita no ni/Even though I loved you

Thesis my first time making an animation meme and using alight motion, please don't be too harsh

[kinkykinard]

went out to catch the perseid meteor shower for @fireladybuckley's birthday and we were also treated to the most incredible aurora borealis we've ever witnessed

magic is in the mundane and it is all around us, we just have to know where to look 💗

[tcofht]

volume warning!

[vanillashusband]

Hi again can you maker (baka) wedding dress, what Will be the reactions of the cookies (i hope you don't mind me apologizing a lot)

sorry this took so long!!! I was finally able to finish this once I got my long ass speedpaint out of the way hjfjgfhg

The boys are very excited 😳

[majorasnightmare]

sits here thinking about all the fic ideas i have for my durge and isobel and punches a hole in the drywall because i have unmedicated Cant Focus Disorder

[her-canine-teeth]

JUST RUN AWAY WITH NE ALIGHT TO PARTS UNKNOWN da da da da da JUST RUN AWAY WITH ME N YOU WONT BE SO ALONE da dada da da is SO lottielee coded. I swear to god

[birlwrites]

This is probably a strange ask but how is it would you see the characters of different aus interacting with each other.

I do not remember much of stga (looking at the bookmark notes mine is just arsonist reg and lily kills Voldemort) but Regulus and lachrimae would be the most divided of all of them based soley on stances of the war, maybe, i need to reread it to get a better understanding.

Career Goals is a slightly more violent version of atfhv, but they would maybe compare plans if their brains would go the trust the alternate you route rather than kill them.

Stga! Reg having killed barty and seeing every other Regulus be best friends with him would be a bit awkward.

I feel like many if not all of the Evan variants would be incredibly intrigued by the whole thing and (hopefully) one of them would give Regulus a hug.

there was a period of time when i was talking with an anon about what would happen if various stga characters and ttdl characters met - unfortunately i don't think i tagged those posts with anything to help find them again later ajflskghkjf, maybe i'll go do that when i feel like procrastinating on other things

ok UPDATE i did it just now actually, this type of post will now be tagged #fic interactions!

lachrimae regulus would probably face a lot of sideeye from stga regulus and tyrant regulus in particular, as they're the most 'SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY SOLVE YOU' - i think ttdl regulus would also be on board the 'you have literally so much power why aren't you uSING IT' train but with a muted sense of 'yeah i see the chess game he is playing here and i would not want to play it either'

tyrant regulus and ttdl regulus have the same goal but are going about it in wILDLY different ways, ttdl regulus is playing 5d chess along the lines of what lachrimae regulus is doing and tyrant regulus is in solidarity with stga regulus's 'uhhh well voldemort said some shit to me and i didn't like his tone so i'm going to piss him off in front of everyone and also dive into literally every fight headfirst' approach

i feel like every evan at this meetup would be equally distressed for very different reasons afjslkghsjfd, ttdl evan is worried about every other regulus's safety (ttdl regulus suddenly looks like the cautious one, except for lachrimae regulus who has different problems), lachrimae evan thinks literally every other regulus is going to make a wrong move and get himself killed horribly, stga evan just is confused by everything, tyrant evan actually isn't particularly concerned because he knows regulus is capable of committing murder in self defense :) he'll be okay :)

(which makes every other evan, except stga evan who's still confused, EVEN MORE CONCERNED)

stga regulus is very very uncomfortable looking at all these bartys and evans afjslgkhskjghdjkf, lachrimae regulus and evan hold hands and stga regulus and evan look at each other like 😰 and the ttdl and tyrant reguluses and evans are in absolute shock over this public, obvious, non-painkiller-induced display of affection

stga evan to stga regulus: HOW ARE YOU A SLYTHERIN IN EVERY OTHER UNIVERSE. HOW THE FUCK DID THE SORTING HAT LOOK IN YOUR HEAD AND THINK 'OH, SLYTHERIN FOR SURE'

ttdl regulus, a bit offended: the other houses were never in question

tyrant regulus: *nodding*

lachrimae regulus very quietly: the hat thought about ravenclaw

stga regulus to stga evan: THE HAT SUGGESTED SLYTHERIN BUT I REFUSED BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BORING

ttdl regulus, now very offended: so you decided to spend seven years with the house of RECKLESS BONEHEADS?

literally every barty: *snickering*