#also. all of us waiting for andor s2

[spaceprincessleia]

158 days until andor s2

[colleybri]

Cassian x Bix and Rebelcaptain: Please let these ships be friends !

I ‘ship’ Cassian x Bix AND Cassian x Jyn. I see there has been some conflict in the past when the “new woman” was first brought in with the series, some that remains now, and I’m both saddened and bemused by that.

Rebelcaptain for me is a canon relationship… to a certain extent. I have no doubt that these brave heroes would have ended up together had they lived. That’s why I love it… the whole beautiful tragedy of what might have been, and the loyalty that binds people together when making a sacrifice like this. Were they actually in love, in canon? For me – no. Not yet. And that’s important for my personal enjoyment of Rogue One, especially its ending. As the novelisation stresses, Cassian dies without knowing Jyn as “There wasn’t the time”. And I simply don’t believe you can love someone without knowing them . But I enjoy the idea of exploring what would have happened had they lived. They are a perfect loyal “battle couple”, definitely my favourite fanon SW couple and great to imagine together. I see Rebelcaptain also as a way of giving them the happy ending they deserved. Oh - and the chemistry between Felicity Jones and Diego Luna on-screen is absolutely electric. In short and again: I have no doubt that they would have fallen in love had they lived and would have been perfect for each other. And they are a perfect fanon ship.

(^^ And I I think this is the exact moment in canon when they both acknowledge the loss of what might have been. It’s just heartbreakingly beautiful… )

Cassian x Bix - I don’t even think of it as a ‘ship’ per se as it is a 100% canon relationship, and one that is currently ongoing as we wait for Andor S2.. It’s fascinating to me – 17 years of friendship that has occasionally blossomed into a romantic/sexual relationship. It’s a genuinely unusual set up too. I’ve read a few takes that they are “over each other” by the time of the start of the series, to which I want to say … watch again, closely! They certainly have moved on to date different people, but it’s also very clear from their interactions (especially in the intense scene in Ep 7) that there is still a lot of extremely deep feeling between them – even if some of it is very negative. In the S1 production notes, the show’s creator Tony Gilroy says that they “are meant to be together… but it’s been impossible all these years. Now, she’s done with him … he’s burnt every last bridge .” Why? The series also provides the answer – Cassian is in many ways an absolute mess at the start of the season and Bix was quite rightly fed up with him as a boyfriend. He’s completely unreliable, likes short-lived affairs (often with married women - so no risk of commitment!), isn’t working regularly and has debts all over the place. This largely stems from his “unresolved childhood trauma”. He has a fear of “leaving people behind” and despite having a lot of love to give “ is so scared of being loved”. But he and Bix nonetheless prove to be incredibly loyal friends and their love in this platonic sense clearly runs very deep indeed. They have known each other since he was 10 so she is also something like a sister figure. Bix is still very protective of Cassian and takes personal risks for him… and he finally comes to appreciate this and pay back his metaphorical debt to her in the finale. The question now is what season 2 holds for them, if anything.

(^^ I love the way she is using her fingertips to push his hand off, as if to avoid the risk of too much touch. The gesture and look that says “Please don’t try and get close to me again because we both know how bad that is for us… but I’m such a total idiot when it comes to you that I will still very unwisely go out of my way to help you, especially when you look at me like that so please just don’t”)

Does loving their messy and complicated relationship mean that I want Cassian and Bix to ‘end up together’ ? No, and the obvious additional point is that they don’t! They are both going to be very different people at the start of S2 and over the following years of the story . Bix has been traumatised; Cassian has been radicalised. And that’s just the start. Perhaps they quickly drift apart. Perhaps some kind of betrayal is involved. Perhaps one or both of them will want to commit again to a relationship, but it’s impossible because of the demands of the rebellion (like Vel /Cinta). Perhaps Bix “ends up with” someone else (Brasso, ideally, especially if they both survive the season). Perhaps they will get back together at least for a while and enjoy a little last happiness before inevitable heartbreak. Perhaps all, some or none of these. But none of that stops me from loving and appreciating what they do have, what they have had up to now, and the intriguing dynamics of when they do interact on screen. Bix x Cassian attracts me as a fanfic ship because it’s all about exploring what is there and how it came to be, which is why I currently don’t write them beyond the present time of season 1. I’m waiting to see what happens next in Canon, as it were, because that to me is an important part of writing them. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying analysing the relationship by imagining them in the past.

So for me Bix x Cassian in no way impacts on Jyn x Cassian or vice versa, especially if you apply… real life principles rather than the ideals of fandoms: “soulmates” and OTPs. Many people – most people – will have a beautifully intense and loving relationship with more than one person at different times of their lives. I’m old – trust me on this one.

^^ Both relationships in these two scenes go way beyond romance. In the first - many years of close and loyal friendship. In the second: a bond created through brave and selfless sacrifice together. And for both: Cassian’s absolute hatred of being “someone who leaves people behind”: the quality that I love best about him. And saving each other. Literally and metaphorically.

And oh… it’s beautiful. Both moments are beautiful.

Edit: I won’t do any speculating here about the content of the trailers and articles. Except to say that there’s nothing in them that detracts from the emotional power of both ships. They can continue to happily coexist. 

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Was browsing through early BOBF/Mando S3 criticisms on Tumblr and WOW, 93% of S2’s viewership dropped when S3 finished airing for an extremely understandable reason. As someone who got into Dinluke after all the dust settled I can only imagine what it was like becoming invested in Din’s story and being floored by the S2 finale only for it to get totally swerve-balled after a long-anticipated wait. How did you avoid the disappointment and burnout?

Spite is an incredibly powerful motivator, let me tell you.

I'm halfway joking about that, btw. I could say I'm used to disappointment and I also worked really hard not to take things too personally after being disappointed time and again year after year by fandoms I was in. Imo the healthiest attitude is that no show/movie/book/videogames/etc will ever play out the way you want/think it should so take what you can get and trash the rest. By the time I started watching The Mandalorian, I'd been burnt badly by Star Trek AOS, the Sequel Trilogy, the MCU, and the Disney machine, and I had to figure out how to accept that I like what I like, I can't change what I can't change, and I can/will run the fuck off with what I can change, which is making wildly fun and fulfilling transformative shit like fanfics and fanart.

I was actually excited about TBOBF and was utterly betrayed by the executive decision to throw him and Fennec to the side in order to absolutely trash the Season 2 finale of the Mando Show by having Din and Grogu reunite just like that. I guess I got lucky in that I had a long-running fic series that I was heavily invested in and I was not about to let Disney stop me from finishing it. Instead of letting my frustrations kill my interest in the show and fandom, I turned it into motivation to keep telling the story I wanted to tell based on the fallout of Season 2. It also helped that Andor happened.

I quit Season 3 of the Mando Show after the 1st episode and it was the best decision I ever made. I had a really rough time with it and was encouraged to step away if it was giving me too much stress. I'm glad for that. Less time and energy picking about Filoni&Favreau and Disney Lucasfilm's decisions and disappointments, more time and energy spent writing and drawing the dinluke I want to see. The nice thing about Star Wars is that it is an old and vast sandbox. Plenty of room here to build whatever sandcastles and dig however many holes you want while canon goes floundering by.

I think also that it really helped to find spaces to share with people who vibe on the same wavelength, so I'm not alone to my thoughts and spiraling myself out of a fandom I enjoyed (like what happened with TLJ but I shan't go there bc this response is long enough). Those posts about having friends you can shit-talk things with? Valid af. You need outlets to vent your grievances without setting bridges on fire, and it'll help your enjoyment of things in the long run.

I didn't avoid the disappointment but I figured out how to make something of it, so I'm still writing dinluke, I'm still drawing dinluke, I'm still getting giddy over dinluke. I actively choose to do what I want with them, and nothing Disney Lucasfilm puts out is ever going to stop me.

[theaggresivepacifist]

luthen, andor, and rogue one

The doom has finally come upon me, I care about a piece of Star Wars media (everyone who’s here for Stranger/SF, forgive me and avert your eyes from the spectacle that’s about to follow, unless you too share my obsession with the above topics)

We have to wait until 2024 apparently so please excuse me while I scream into the void about LUTHEN in the context of Rogue One - 

- or more specifically his ghost, how Cassian becomes for Jyn Erso what Luthen is right now for him, because I’m obsessed. (Forgive any minor inaccuracies as, as I say, I have never really paid attention to Star Wars much before now, other than when Rogue One initially came out.)

We know that by the end of Andor S2, everything will have to have gone to absolute hell for the Rebellion and specifically Mon Mothma, who is forced to go fully into hiding with the Rebellion, and Saw Gerrera, who is badly injured and breaks away from the mainline Rebellion. There are apparently canonical reasons for that that are way too far over my head right now, but what interests me is that Luthen Rael, “Axis,” the master of the Rebellion’s spy network, one of its key strategists and financiers, who brought in the man who helps to ultimately secure the Death Star plans and turn the tide of war, is gone by the time we make it to Rogue One/the end of Andor. I can only assume, based on the foreshadowing we’ve seen so far, that he’s dead (more on that later). 

Now enter Jyn in Rogue One. Like Cassian at the start of Andor S1, the Empire has separated her from her family. She too has been in the Empire’s prisons and what appear to be some kind of labor/mining camps. She’s been a child soldier, like Cassian in “the mud at Mimban.” She’s still hoping to be reunited with her father, just as Cassian is looking for his sister. She’s so beaten down that at this point, all she cares about survival, not rebellion. Sound familiar? And just as Luthen does for him in Andor S1, Cassian is the one who encourages her to take this war seriously, “to fight these bastards for real.” He becomes her handler, as Luthen is his, and works with her as she discovers her own reasons for wanting to fight the Empire. 

And Cassian, from the first moment we see him in Rogue One, is the one making all of the horrible, messy, secret choices and sacrifices necessary to keep the rebellion going - killing his injured comrade rather than letting him be captured, using Jyn to get him to her father so that he can (unbeknownst to her) take him out. The kind of vicious, tragic decisions that Luthen had to make, or felt he had to - his “I’m damned for what I do,” Cassian’s “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of in the name of this rebellion.” Cassian knows about and has some kind of precarious dealings with Saw Gerrera - who was Luthen’s contact, as well as Jyn’s guardian, and now Luthen is gone. And as many people have already pointed out, Cassian and Jyn end up dying in the very goddamn poetic sunrise Luthen said he burns his own life for, and will never see. ARGH

In closing, a few theories on what might have happened to Luthen based on what we’ve seen so far, because I live for the angst and GOD I NEED TO KNOW:

1) Mon Mothma betrays Luthen to the Empire for some reason in the name of the greater good of the Rebellion, cementing what we already saw at the end of S1 re: her daughter – she’s beginning to take initiative in making ugly sacrifices for the cause.

2) Luthen dies for Cassian in some way, whether that’s protecting him or allowing Cassian to kill him, cementing his growing sentimentalism/that he’s tired of hiding and sacrificing love and connection, and wants to be a more humane person – to make the Rebellion more humane.

3) Luthen dies in some kind of fallout with Saw Gerrera, cementing the tensions there and the break with the main Rebellion. (Also, if this is not the case – the fact that Saw outlives Luthen is so ironic given what we know about them so far, how isolated Saw is and how central and well-connected Luthen is, and I wonder if that influenced Saw’s decision to leave the Rebellion. That would especially be true if Mon Mothma or someone else sold out Luthen.)

4) I doubt it, but Luthen betrays the cause because he’s tired of sacrifice, and either disappears or gets taken out by Mon Mothma, Cinta, etc., or Cassian (also would cement Cassian’s growing coldness and allegiance to the cause that we see in Rogue One, when he kills his own injured operative).  

He could also just die in some tragic random way, which wouldn’t fulfill a narrative arc but would speak to the cost of war, and how even the greatest among the great can be brought down by chance, by a single cog in the machine, even by someone who’s just scared or following orders or unaware of what they’re doing. The show certainly has killed off a lot of its compelling characters quickly so far. There’s also potential for the arrestor cruiser incident to come back to bite him, because that was extraordinarily close and showy by Luthen’s standards, but that seems like too much of a stretch.

Anyways, I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUST WROTE 900 WORDS ON THIS and am so mad we won’t have closure until end of 2024, ow. 

[flythesail]

Okay because there's only three episodes left (🥲) and because why not, here are my predictions for the rest of s1 of Andor (and some of s2):

Cassian and Melshi (and probably others) escape Narkina 5.

Kino doesn't make it :(

He's either a) killed when he almost makes it to freedom or b) sacrifices himself so the others can make it.

Back on Niamos, Cassian is able to get his stuff back from where he was staying with Windi (the woman he was with).

Idk I could be wrong, but Nemik's manifesto seems kinda important to just drop out of the plot. Same with Clem's blaster.

So Cassian gets his stuff back, whether he has to track it down or meet with Windi (who maybe thinks he ghosted her when really he was arrested and stuck in an imperial prison ahahaha not fun times).

Back on Ferrix, everyone is there (Syril shows up for.. probably thinking he has the ability to take matters into his own hands. At one point I would have said he and Dedra work together, but after ep.9 I highly doubt she'll want anything to do with him ever. Unless she can use him to her advantage).

Cinta is already on Ferrix, and just for finale reasons (possibly still being ordered to kill Cassian reasons) Vel ends up back there too. (Also then they can kiss <3)

Cassian gets back to Ferrix and sees everything has gotten Even Worse.

Maarva dies shortly after Cassian's return. (Sorry to Cassian, but I'm waiting for a crying scene and this is it). I'm going to go with she just dies from old age. Maybe right before Dedra can use her to get to Cassian too (HA).

We see the timeline with young Cassian again, around when he's adjusting to life on Ferrix. Maybe we see his relationship with Clem and Maarva, maybe... Even young Bix? To be shown alongside Cassian learning what happened to Bix in the present.

I think that would work in the final episodes for a few reasons. A) it would feel very full circle to return to young Cassian at the end as that's where the season started, and b) as this season ends, I don't think it will be necessary to have flashbacks anymore. Idk if we'll even return to Ferrix next season. (More on that later).

Luthen... Dies??

Feeling unsure over that, but currently Luthen and Maarva hold a somewhat similar role. I wouldn't go as far to say Luthen is a parental figure to Cassian, as they barely know each other. Yet it's a sort of mentor role (or could be if they worked together more), and with Cassian presumably officially joining the rebellion by the season's end, it might be time for Luthen to go.

Another thing with Luthen is that he's a connecting piece. The biggest example, being that he was the primary go-between for Coruscant-things and the Aldhani team.

Which leads into another prediction: Mon is found out and has to leave Coruscant by the finale. (Granted, this could happen next season. But I stick by the fact it feels like a finale thing).

And if Mon is found out, well... We no longer really need Luthen to jump between those two spheres.

(And there's still Vel if we need to).

Also with Luthen, there's a lot of talk on him "slipping." Kleya is a firm believer of this. That has to lead somewhere and his death is one guess.

The empire is after Luthen too! Cassian too, but they can't get him for Rogue One-related reasons. (Aka, bad news for Luthen).

Other deaths: this is is largely me speaking from a place of fear, but Vel, Cinta, and Bix ALL make it out alive.

Yes... One of them could die. BUT... We have 4 more years to cover and these characters imo have a ton more story left to be told. While I feel highly doubtful anyone will make it to the s2 finale beside Mon, Melshi, and Cassian - at this point I'm letting myself believe the girls are safe and will still play a vital role in s2.

(Side note: fingers crossed Melshi gets a ton of screentime in s2 <3) (Imagine the trio of Cassian, Kay, and Melshi. I'm begging for it!!)

Brasso? I hate to say it, but I think he could die. :( Especially if we don't return to Ferrix in s2, there's a chance he doesn't make it.

If Maarva does die, Bix is really the only other big character left that's tied to Ferrix. Yet out of all the Ferrix characters, I could see her leaving Ferrix for the sake of keeping her in the story.

OR, she stays behind and becomes the reason to return to Ferrix in s2. This is all just speculation since idk whether Ferrix is confirmed for s2 or not.

Oh and B2. Considering he's made to fit the idea of "old family dog"... I'm afraid :(

Biggest point of the finale though is: Ferrix changes forever and so has Cassian.

Maybe s2 even ends with Cassian leaving Ferrix with whoever is left. Like his own little crew :')

Dedra and Syril also make it to s2, but I have nooo idea what they'll be doing in it. They can only be after Cassian for so long lol.

OH!! Last thing: Kerri

This late in the season, I don't think Cassian will ever see her again.

I think we will learn more about what possibly or did happen to her (this could pair with more flashbacks to young Cassian).

Yet with time running out, I'm less and less hopeful this will have a happy ending.

And given Cassian has yet to get a moment to clearly express how Maarva is the one that separated him from Kerri, the time around Maarva's death would be an interesting time to bring it up. Or better put, complicated.

[markantonys]

path of daggers chapter 7-20

perrin seeing a woman who looks exactly like an older version of elayne getting all huffy about andor and the lion throne: huh, wonder who she could be

for real, if perrin had hung out with his best friend’s girlfriend one (1) time in tear he totally would’ve heard the name lini, or if he’d hung out more with mat and asked about his trip to the palace he would’ve heard the name tallanvor (pretty dumb of morgase’s party to not ALL go by fake names just in case), and he would right now know exactly what’s what. talking to your friends saves lives, people! this also goes to show how cut off perrin is from the other characters - rand, mat, egwene, or nynaeve would’ve either recognized morgase on sight or would’ve quickly pieced it together from having heard elayne talk about her mom and lini.

i’m hankering sooooo bad for a trakand family reunion now that they’ve all gone down/been forced down such different paths. the 3 kids especially - 1 being a whitecloak, 1 a tower aes sedai ally, and 1 a rebel aes sedai means they’re all 3 on opposing sides of each other, and i really want to see that dug into beyond the brief elayne and galad encounter in book 5. i’m dyyyyying for elayne and gawyn in particular to cross paths again, it would hurt like a BITCH and boy do i want that pain (although, poor gawyn, elayne is his raison d’etre in his pov and in her pov elayne NEVER thinks about him lmao). give me my Siblings Torn Apart By War angst!

i am probably the only person in the entire history of the world to read wheel of time and think “you know what this needs? MORE gawyn.” i just think he’s neat.

tallanvor is so annoying to me and i don’t know why. i just can’t stand him for some reason. genuinely think it might be a lingering grudge from that one time 5 books ago when he scolded mat for putting a flower in his hair. anyone who denies my boys the opportunity to wear flowers in their hair is my enemy for life (looking at you, green man).

me, knowing full well that mat is not in this book and is nowhere near ghealdan, reading that perrin sees a man in a broad-brimmed hat approaching: [beyonce meme voice] MAT???

but it turns out to be elyas. also pretty dope, i will admit! i’ve been wondering if we’d ever see him again. whoa i 100% forgot he used to be a warder.

we learn for the first time that the warder bond can be masked and that this is handy for sex. perrin is shook to realize that aes sedai fuck sometimes jfkgh

“i love her! why would i shout at her?” aww perrin ❤️ this is the most reasonable thing any wheel of time character has ever said on the subject of romantic relationships lmao also, elyas is the king of showing up out of the blue and infodumping key knowledge to help out perrin’s life, first with the wolf stuff and now with saldaean culture (although i thought perrin already figured this out from meeting faile’s parents so i’m not sure why he’s still like “wait, faile wants me to lose my temper sometimes????”)

tangent but i’ve seen many people annoyed that elyas was pushed to s2, arguing that it delayed perrin’s storyline, but i disagree. in the book it was SO RANDOM how this wolf guy just showed up and was like “hey kid you can talk to wolves” before perrin had even noticed anything on his own. i much prefer the show’s approach of perrin figuring it out a little by himself in s1 and then getting a proper mentor in s2 (at least according to casting speculation). and say what you will about laila and all that, but it 100% gave perrin a real and scary reason to be afraid of violence and his own strength, as opposed to book perrin who’s just like “i’m Very Big and that could cause problems if i’m not careful.”

faile telling perrin under her breath what to say so that he’ll look smart in front of alliandre hjkfg girlboss/malewife rights! they really are such a wonderful ship at their best, it’s a shame their worst is so bad.

alliandre going “wow perrin is so good at daes dae’mar” when perrin was actually spending the entire conversation thinking “oh my god i have no idea what’s going on faile help” this is such tgh rand energy i love it

“if not for perrin, faile thought she might actually have liked [berelain]” god i want that.............what is the POINT of this love triangle which 2 of 3 parties don’t want to be involved in! why can’t berelain and faile just become friends!

constantly annoyed by how the Bad Aiel Women (sevanna & co) all Wear Too Much Jewelry and Expose Too Much Bosom and Care Too Much About Silks, and how this is brought up every 5 sentences during every single scene they’re in

“[cadsuane] had not met many people she considered formidable, but sorilea was one. perhaps even a match for herself, in some ways.” game recognizes game! if only lini could be here to complete the trio

“strong endures; hard shatters.” “[rand] confuses them. he needs to be strong, and makes himself harder. too hard, already, and he will not stop until he is stopped. he has forgotten how to laugh except in bitterness; there are no tears left in him.” 😭😭😭😭 baby boy............

“the storm was coming? light, [rand] was the storm!” SEXY!!!! as always, rand pulling rank and yelling at people and ordering them around is 🥵

i yearn for soft rand. i’m wildly into hard rand. i contain multitudes.

literally sobbing over rand being close-ish to ebou dar and knowing that the seanchan have taken it over. go stop them! go rescue mat! be his knight in shining armor!

rand sits on a table, Rand Bisexual Sitting counter +1. man i can’t wait to watch josha’s rand sprawling about in chairs wearing fancy silk coats. and pulling rank and yelling at people. that’s gonna Awaken something in me.

nice to catch up a bit with the black tower, if by letter instead of in person. kinda wish rand had spent more time there so we could’ve seen more of what the training is like. we learn that a lot of them are either dying in training or are slipped poison in their wine after showing signs of madness 💔

rand hears about the damage done by elayne’s unweaving, though he doesn’t know the cause. UGH (avi)matrandlayne are all SO CLOSE to each other and yet so far! it hurts!!! fuck you, pattern! weave them back together right now!

“not a mild tone - [rand] could not manage that - yet heartening, he hoped.” 😭 “you’ll be with me to the last battle. i promise it.” i’ll admit i accidentally saw the fate of the character he’s addressing (if i’m remembering the name right) while flipping to the end to see how many pages the book was, but even if i hadn’t that’s a Character Death Toll if ever i saw one lmao

“rand had not realized he had spoken any of his thoughts aloud.” this happens SO MUCH in these books and i go crazy every time. no one does that in real life! in all my 25 years on this earth i have never once had a train of thought, heard someone respond to it, and went “oh gee i didn’t realize i’ve actually been talking out loud this entire time.” agh! i guess rand maybe gets a pass for potential madness reasons, but for all other characters this happens to there’s no excuse!

egwene’s dream: “rand wearing different masks, until suddenly one of those false faces was no longer a mask, but him.” 🗡️💔

“recently all of her dreams about mat were pale and full of pain, like shadows cast by nightmares, almost as though mat himself were not quite real. that made her afraid for him, left behind in ebou dar, and gave her agonies of grief for sending him there” mat my baby 😭😭😭 mat and egwene’s friendship is so good, there really is so much love there. and nynaeve too with her grief about leaving mat behind earlier. kinda makes me laugh how mat is way more besties with egwene and nynaeve than with his alleged Actual Bestie perrin, who has not thought about him for several books and vice versa.

hilarious how everyone was so upset about the hot weather but now that winter’s back they’re like “no actually this sucks.” mat didn’t have his life ruined in ebou dar for this! show some gratitude you bastards!

egwene’s like “we gotta get rid of the three oaths, i love lying” lmao bless her. interesting debate with egwene pointing out rightly that the oaths will put them at a severe disadvantage against the seanchan and that being able to lie has helped her and siuan immensely vs. siuan pointing out rightly that the oaths are the only thing that keeps aes sedai in check and gives the general public any trust in them.

“where was gawyn? was he well? was he warm?” egwene being extremely relatable! (to nobody but me)

the Year of the Four Amyrlins! my inner roman history nerd is delighted

talmanes and other band members have Felt that mat needs them, a tugging south towards him, whoa! i think this is the first instance of a non-rand ta’veren pull. now if only mat would pull rand and elayne to him............

egwene smacks down the hall and makes them declare official war on elaida. YES so satisfying to see egwene showing them how steely she is after all this time of pretending to be weak and easily manipulated!

elayne rides mandarb with aviendha behind her, arms around her waist 🥰 interesting that elayne is sharing a horse with aviendha instead of with her warder (who’s sharing with nynaeve) 👀 i’m going to continue my Wingman Birgitte vision and say that this was birgitte’s idea as a matchmaking attempt.

“she and aviendha combed and brushed one another’s hair - a nightly ritual for near-sisters” your daily reminder that the maidens also told rand that his brushing aviendha’s hair would be considered an intimate romantic gesture “and then they snuggled tiredly into the canopied bed in a small room.” BEDSHARING!!!!! 📣📣📣 BEDSHARING BEDSHARING oh wait nynaeve and birgitte are also sharing that single bed with them. but still, BEDSHARING! man remember the cauthor bedsharing days of eotw? i miss it.

elayne complains about nynaeve’s elbows while sleeping and says that “birgitte flatly refused to change places, and [elayne] could not ask aviendha to endure the woman’s sharp prodding” not even Asking your gf to put up with your friend’s sleep-elbowing, THAT is true love! and i bet part of the reason why elayne doesn’t ask is bc she knows aviendha would trade places without hesitation, THAT is ALSO true love!

“with nynaeve and [elayne] and the other sisters at the head [of the riding party]. and aviendha, of course.” aviendha is just a given in elayne’s mind now 🥰

while traveling through the andoran countryside, in addition to getting info about how much support house trakand has, elayne also wants to learn what the common people’s biggest concerns are 🥰

WHAT on EARTH did elayne DO with that dildo smooth rod ter’angreal that made her wake up in her shift the next morning with everybody amused but refusing to tell her what happened????? give me your theories STAT i must know lmao

we are now 2/3 through the book and nothing’s really happened aside from the bowl being used, avilayne’s exciting escape from the seanchan, and egwene’s war declaration. it hasn’t been boring (aside from some stretches of perrin’s and egwene’s sections) but........nothing..............has happened.