#island of fennbirn

[lonewizzy]

I need to talk about the Three Dark Crowns series. I finally finished the series, and I'm disappointed and slightly angry.

I love this series

I thought the series was about how adults fail growing children and leave them with a broken and corrupted mess to fix.

SPOILERS

I thought our triplet queens were going to figure out the true histories of the reigns before them (like the Blue Queen and Oracle Queen) and then go on to reveal the treacheries that took place and then teach the truth of the Island.

Is Low Magic ACTUALLY the Goddess' truest magic? I think it is, it requires: blood, sacrifice, and intent. And it's as tempestuous as she is. (IF it is, it would make sense why she chose Madrigal to continue her line.)

The Legion Queen Plot: I hate it.

SO THE GODDESS JUST PUSHED THE REDO BUTTON!? Like, Jules CLEARLY was the Goddess' chosen guardian for her queen. I thought her final battle was her prophecy, "being the end of the queens," would have been IT.

Nobody spread the truth of the blue queen.

No adult in power was faced with the fact that they defied the Goddess' will, they just recieved the consequences for it (Natalia Arron)

Mirabella:

I thought Mirabella's death was going to be a sacrifice that was her own to make, not to avoid becoming Zombie Queen 2.0

Katherine:

I thought they were going to tell Katherine everything and get her fully involved in saving Fennbirn. I thought her death/sacrifice was going to be THE course correction. I thought with her, Mira's, and the losing Queens' final deaths, the Goddess would be ESPECIALLY pleased with Arsinoe as Queen Crowned.

Arsinoe:

Arsinoe, the Low Magic user, clearly pleased the Goddess, which is why I think she lives at the end. Technically, the Goddess got her winner. I think Mira and Katherine telling us that Jules would be the next queen was a mistaken prophecy (or the author shoehorning to make her ending work). I think If Arsinoe was a part of the trip to the shrine, they would have received a crystal clear vision.

I think Arsinoe and Katherine being switched at birth should have been focused on significantly more. It could have led to learning about the histories and intentions of all the gifts. Like, I think the Poisoners were intentionally supposed to be Healers/Apothecaries, but the Arrons corrupted then changed the status quo for power. Arsinoe's gift steered towards healing and low magic,

I think the Goddess' original intentions were for each gift to incorporate low magic as well. The Oracles seemed to have used aspects of it in their craft, which I think led to them being viewed as taboo or mad. The Oracle Queen was imprisoned 500 years before the current story, and the Sight gift was barely known about back then, too.

I adore the world Kendare Blake, but I have many more thoughts too.

[luminouslumity]

Mainland Boys: A Joseph and Billy Story

From Kendare Blake's newsletter: a snippet set on the mainland during the time that Joseph was banished there with Billy.

By the winter of his sixteenth year, Joseph Sandrin had been away from Fennbirn for what felt like a long time. But only when he thought about it. Most days, he was as any of the other mainland boys his age: concerned with his studies, and the break from his studies for the holiday, concerned with prospects of sport, concerned with whether he and his foster brother Billy Chatworth would merit an invitation to the Governor’s Ball. Most days, he was of the mainland, for that was the ground beneath his feet, and those were the lives that surrounded him.

But sometimes, and more often when he was near the sea, he thought of his old life, the one he had led as a boy on that shrouded island of magic. He would think of hot, steamed clams in butter, and birds perched on shoulders. Dogs and petulant cats with such expressive faces that they could sometimes seem to speak. He thought of fields full of barley that popped at a touch. And mostly, he thought of his girls: a dark little queen with a coal-smudged nose, and the naturalist girl with one green eye and one blue.

That day, at the start of December, he stood at the edge of a frozen pond, edged with dead, tanned reeds. Close enough to the sea, he supposed, to spark the memories of the island. Or perhaps it was only that it was December, when both of his girls would celebrate their birthdays.

“Joseph! Ho, Joseph!”

Joseph smiled, listening to the soft crunching in the snow as Billy approached from the direction of the house. Then a sharp crack, and a laughed curse: his shoe must have broken through the ice. “Stop walking on the pond, dolt,” Joseph said over his shoulder. “The ice isn’t thick enough yet.”

“Damn, my foot is freezing!” Billy threw his arm around Joseph and shook him. “What are you doing out here?”

“Thinking.”

“Thinking of Christine Hollen? Squirreled away in the privacy of the Governor’s stables?”

Joseph chuckled. Christine Hollen was the Governor’s daughter. His oldest daughter. She would not be seen cavorting with the likes of him, a foreigner, a foster-son, not even if his foster family was one of the richest in the city.

They had come north for the holiday, like many of the best, most respected families had, including the Governor. The Chatworth’s country estate, Hartford, was not far from the Governor’s own. It was actually visible from the most eastern hill. Joseph ought to know. Billy had brought him up there plenty of times, dreaming of the day he would buy it right out from underneath the Hollens at half the value.

“I’m not about to play around with the Governor’s daughter. Your father would have my head.”

Billy let go of him and tugged his scarf up farther on his neck. “Well you ought to do some playing at least. The lads are starting to talk.”

“You know I’m…waiting for someone.”

“Ah yes.” Billy grinned. “Waiting for someone. And that would be the infamous Jules Milone, wouldn’t it? The girl you haven’t laid eyes upon since you were eleven? The girl you may never see again if I don’t become king of your home country?” He cocked an eyebrow and burst out laughing. Joseph did as well. Billy Chatworth, the king-consort of Fennbirn Island. It sounded ridiculous, and seemed impossible.

Not impossible, he thought as he looked at his foster brother from the corner of his eye. Difficult. But he must have been sent to the Chatworths to groom Arsinoe’s future husband. Why else would the Goddess have sent him?  He had clung to that belief in the early years, clung to it hard, filling Billy’s ears with stories of Fennbirn. His education, in Joseph’s mind. But now that the time of the Ascension drew near, it felt more and more like fancy. Made up by his childhood imagination, to make his banishment bearable.

“Only a few months left,” Billy said. “Finally, after all this time, I get to go to your secret island. I have to admit, part of me doesn’t believe it exists. Part of me expects to board the boat and find you and my father laughing your arses off at your magnificent, five-year practical joke.”

“But we don’t know if it’s ‘we’, do we?” Joseph said. “I’m still banished. You might be on your own.”

“On my own? No, not after so long.”

“The Black Council doesn’t often let go of a grudge. Why do you think I’ve been preparing you all these years?”

Billy shrugged, the carefree mainland boy, even in the face of courting a queen. A queen who would have to murder her two sister queens, no less. But Billy had grown up on the mainland, with no gifts, and no Goddess. No queens and no Black Council looking down over everything. He had grown up with money, and with power, and with ease, and the struggle of the queens would not be real until he saw it for himself.

“You worry too much, Joseph. My father will work something out. He always does.” He blew warm breath into his cupped hands. “It’s freezing out here. Let’s go into the village and grab a pint before the party tonight.”

 ***************************************************

The walk to the village was short, but Billy insisted on taking the carriage anyway on account of his cold, wet foot. As they were let out near the pub, something in a shop window caught Joseph’s eye.

“What now?” Billy asked, following as he went to press his fingertips to the glass.

It was a ring. A simple, silver ring, set with dark green stones.

Billy leaned close. “That’s nowhere near fine enough to catch the prettiest girl in three counties.”

“Christine Hollen is not the prettiest girl in three counties. She’s only the wealthiest. And I wasn’t thinking of her.”

“Of course you weren’t. This is more to Jules’s taste, then?”

“When it caught the light, from over there…it looked like the color of her green eye.”

Billy leaned back and squinted. “So it does.”

“How would you know?”

“Well, I did have that old cat, with one blue eye and one green—”

Joseph smiled. “Stop comparing Jules to your old deaf cat.”

“I loved that cat. And I’m willing to bet that I remember the shade of that cat’s eyes better than you remember the eyes of some eleven-year-old girl. She might not even have those eyes anymore. They might have,” he wiggled his fingers vaguely, “darkened and whatnot. It’s unnatural for you to have carried on about her this long when you don’t even know what she looks like.”

“I know what she looks like.” Or at least, he thought he did. He remembered so well that girl of five years ago. Her smile. Her clothes. The sound of her voice. And as time passed, and as he grew up, so did the Jules of his imagination. Her hair grew long and tumbled down her back. Her face thinned and her eyes softened. Her laugh changed from the high, wild laugh of a child to the low, easy one of a young woman.

Of course, anyone who knew her family could have told him that the girl he was imagining was really only the image of Jules’s aunt, Caragh, with a dash of her mother Madrigal thrown in as wishful thinking. When Joseph imagined Jules, he simply conjured up the most beautiful girl he could think of, because to him, that’s what she was.

“It’s nearly her birthday. Sixteen, just like the queens. Born in the same month.”

Billy sighed. “The same month as Arsinoe. My bride-to-be.”

“Your queen-to-be.” Joseph watched as Billy’s eyes lost focus, and the blush crept into his cheeks. Billy imagined Arsinoe the way Joseph imagined Jules. Over the years, Joseph had built Arsinoe up, highlighting her virtues: her bravery, her wit, her fierce, affectionate spirit. He may have left out some other things, like that she was stubborn as an old donkey, sarcastic and secretive. And of course he had told him she was beautiful, when he had no idea. When they were children, Arsinoe was just like Jules: dirty and running about, and she had kept her hair very short. Poor Billy. All queens are beautiful, they say, but in Billy’s mind, Arsinoe must look just like Christine Hollen, only with black hair and eyes. And though Joseph does not doubt that she will be lovely, she will not be lovely like that.

“I can’t wait to meet her for real,” Billy said, his voice wistful. Then he straightened, and tugged on his lapels. “Queen or not, one look at me and she’ll faint dead away.”

“From fright?” Joseph laughed, and Billy tugged him back down the street to the pub.

****************************************************

Despite the chilly winter air, the party was warm. It was a dinner party, and so not terribly crowded; certainly not as crowded as the Governor’s holiday ball was bound to be, though that was on more expansive grounds.

Joseph, as usual, stayed back from the dancing, content to stand by himself at the window and imagine what Jules and Arsinoe would make of the mainland dances. The mainland girls in their frilly frocks, with lace at the sleeves and ribbons in their hair. Perhaps he should have warned Billy that Arsinoe would be constantly in trousers. But no. Why ruin the surprise.

“Are you not dancing again, Joseph?”

He did not need to turn to know who that purring voice belonged to, but he did so anyway, to be polite. “I’m afraid dancing has never suited me, Miss Hollen.” Christine Hollen, the Governor’s daughter, stood before him resplendent in green satin that made her blond hair shine like spun gold. Somehow she had managed to get herself alone. Usually she was flanked by a small herd of girls of similar age and social status. Watching them Joseph was reminded of the geese that wandered to and from the pond on the Milone property.

“I could teach you,” Christine said quietly.

“So I could dance at your wedding to Billy?” he asked, and she tossed her head back and laughed.

“Billy Chatworth has not looked at me once since this summer.”

“But he speaks of you often. Just this afternoon he told me you were the prettiest girl in three counties.” She does not blush much at that. No doubt that is a lower number of counties than she is used to. “You know that if he decides not to go abroad, he will pursue you in earnest. And when he does, then I’ll learn to dance.” He excused himself quickly, and ignored her dropped open mouth.

He moved through the rest of the party, making sure to appear to be searching for Billy. If he was idle for one moment, some girl would be upon him, trying to drag him out for a turn on the floor. Room after room and he did not spy Billy; after four rooms he began to search for real. He even poked his head into the drawing room, where the men sat smoking cigars and playing cards. But Billy was nowhere in the house.

“So which girl is also missing,” Joseph muttered as he stepped out onto the porch. The winter air was cold, but still, and an earlier dusting of fresh snow coated the trees and fence posts and made everything soft. Even in the blue light of evening, it was not hard to follow Billy’s footprints.

As he walked, he heard Jules’s voice in his ear like he so often had when they tracked something as children. “Here’s where they started to hurry,” she would have said, and, “here’s where she picked up her dress to stop it dragging in the snow.” They hit a snow drift, and the girl’s prints ended. “Oh, for Goddess’s sake,” he could hear Jules sigh. “Here’s where he picked her up.”

He followed the trail to one of the stables. Not the busy one where the coach drivers were having their own bit of merriment as their horses rested and stayed dry, but the nearly deserted one that housed the horses owned by their host. He opened the door and it creaked, but not before he heard the low laughter and rustling of clothes.

Joseph shook his head. He stomped his feet. He gave them plenty of time to put themselves together before he climbed the ladder into the hayloft, but even then, Billy’s tie was undone and Penny’s dress was askew.

“Joseph!” Billy exclaimed and put his hand to his head in relief. “You gave us a fright!”

“As I should. You’re starting to be missed.” He nodded to Penny, who blushed as she brushed past him.

“Will you—will you make it back to the house all right?” Billy asked, and she paused on the ladder only long enough to glare.

“What are you doing?” Joseph asked when he heard the door open and close again. “Just this afternoon you were dreaming of queens.”

“So I’m practicing.” Billy grinned. “Besides, that festival you keep going on about isn’t for months.” He peered regretfully at the ladder after Penny. “Not terribly gallant, I suppose.”

“Not terribly.”

“I’ll be better. I will.” He threw his arm around Joseph’s shoulder.

“If you ever treat Arsinoe that way…”

“I know, I know, you’ll strike me dead. And I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Joseph clenched his jaw. “Sometimes I don’t know how I expect her to come to love you like I do.”

They walked together back to the house, and upon entering, ran directly into Billy’s father, Mr. Chatworth. Instantly, both boys straightened. Mr. Chatworth was an imposing man, though Joseph could never put his finger on why. He was handsome, but not extremely so, tall, but not towering. It was something in the eyes, perhaps. You always knew that he had the measure of you. That he saw through you, the moment you opened your mouth.

“There you are,” he said, and smiled. “Joseph, I need a moment with my son.” He led Billy without a word up the stairs and into a private office. It did not matter that it was not his house, and not his office. Chatworth did what he wanted, and somehow that earned him respect. Back in Wolf Spring, it would have earned him a punch in the face.

Content to wait, and away from the party at least, Joseph paced slowly at the bottom of the stairs. It seemed a long time before Mr. Chatworth came down again, and smiled at him, and patted his shoulder. Billy followed after, looking a bit dazed.

“What was that about?” Joseph asked.

“He received a letter,” Billy replied, and as he spoke, his face lost its paleness, and his mouth curled into a smile. “From your island. Your banishment has ended early, brother! You’re to go home before the end of the month!”

Joseph could barely breathe. He threw his arms around Billy and they shook each other hard. “I can’t believe it!”

“And that’s not the best part! I’m to come with you, and stay with your family. Get a bit of a head start with the queens.” He punched Joseph in the arm. “I told you my father would figure something out.”

Joseph’s head spun with hopes he had been too afraid to have for the last five years. He was going home. Home to his mother, and father. Home to Matthew and Jonah and Wolf Spring. Home to Jules. And to Arsinoe, with the gift of a fine husband.

Billy reached into his pocket. “And there’s this,” he said, and pulled out a small box. He opened it, and inside was the silver ring that Joseph had admired in the shop window. Even in the dimness of the hall, the green stones glittered. “I doubled back for it when I sent you home ahead.”

“I can’t afford it,” said Joseph, and pushed the box back.

Billy shook his head and placed it in Joseph’s hands. “I’m not going to let you go home with nothing for your girl.” Then he turned him back to the party, his grin wide. “Joseph my friend, we are going to take that island of yours by storm.”

[mira-nicodiangelo-grey]

Yeah!!! The world of the three dark crowns deserves to become a series. Like when I read the books, I saw it as movie; everything was so clear, the screen colouring was a bit grey on the island and regular colouring on the mainland. Also, I’d love to hear more about the other queens cause there’s whole list of them. Especially the first queen; she the only one with multiple gifts… besides Jules but I don’t quite consider her a queen on Fennbirn. OOh, the special episodes about the queens… the history, the beauty of fennbirn. Ugh now I’m mad. What kind of fuckery is HP getting a tv show before the queens.

so the terf wizard books get a tv show even though the movies are barely over a decade old but we still don’t have a three dark crowns series? what kind of fuckery is this?

[theincorrectbookquotes]

Mirabella: Who hurt you?

Katherine: You want a list or what

[darkcozyforest]

The signed copy of the book. Katharine’s official portrait. AN EXTRA CHAPTER KENDARE WROTE FOR THE END!

A tapestry, blanket, pillow case and book sleeve

Luca’s tea, Mirabella candle, Fennbirn pin, Gillespie’s Bookshop Soap

(Mirabella, Bree and Elizabeth) (Pietyr and Kat) (Arsinoe, Billy and Braddock) (Jules, Camden and a trash can)

These artists are so talented! I am so excited for this book!

[ht-burrows]

“Naturalist queens do not survive. Not unless they’re beasts, like Bernadine and her wolf.”

Queen Bernadine and her famed wolf

[who-did-you-kill-for-that-url]

Arsinoe, the Bear Queen; Mirabella Mistbane; Katharine, the Undead; Jules Milone, the Legion Queen

[realismreading]

Been thinking a little bit about the first Queen of Fennbirn. Since we don’t know much about her, I thought I’d share.

So meet Aurelia, the first Queen of Fennbirn and the holder of all five gifts (as represented by the different colours)

[like-foreverry]

Am I the only one who feels like the Bermuda Triangle is really just Fennbirn Island?

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

20 to 20: 2021 Holiday Special - Day 12 (TDC)

Um, so I have been listening to the Encanto soundtrack and getting... inspired. I’m so sorry for what y’all are about to read.

Surface Pressure

Arsinoe was trying to teach Kat a hand clapping game in the garden when Mirabella emerged from Black Cottage to watch over them. Willa had told her to enjoy her time at the Cottage as well, but she was the oldest, she needed to look after her sisters, to bear the weight of their collective crown. 

To make sure that they felt nothing but safe and loved when they were around each other.

Willa said it was too much for her to bear at five, but who else would bear such a thing, who else could, really? No one else was a Queen of Fennbirn expect for her and her sisters and she would not put the weight on them.

She was strong, she could bear it.

~

She still bore the weight at ten with no complaints. Hell, every day she fought her chains just so that she could stand tall and hold up the sky’s weight to protect her sisters.

She had heard Sara and Luca talking about Indrid Down, about what Kat was going through and she had screamed through the night, the house and it's foundations cracking apart from the force of the cyclone she brought in from the sea. She was meant to bear the pain of being queen, and she had failed, she hadn’t fought hard enough to keep her sisters close and safe.

Long after the cyclone had gone, she cried, bent by her fear and sadness.

~

At sixteen, she loses the weight of a crown, but gains the weight of Arsinoe’s fear and loneliness. Her sister is happy to be free - unsurprising, since Arsinoe had never once reacted well to a cage - but is also buckling under the expectations of being a girlfriend on the Mainland. Arsinoe thinks Mirabella doesn’t see the way she picks herself apart at every turn, at every glance at a “perfect” Mainland girl, at every look Mrs. Chatworth shoot her when Billy takes her hand.

Mirabella bears that and gives Arsinoe as many outs and escapes as she can and when she can’t, she goes back to Fennbirn, as much as she doesn’t want to.

~

At seventeen, she thinks she won’t have to fight her sisters anymore, she thinks she can finally set the crown’s weight down.

She couldn’t be more wrong. Because now she holds the weight of not one generation’s crown, but the crown of all of the dead queen’s that have weaselled into her sister’s mind and body. She is crushed by the island’s demands for a Queen Crowned and Kat’s need for a new generation of triplets. And by her own fear that Arsinoe was on the wrong side and killing herself to fix everything.

~

At seventeen, she falls.

When she does, from those cliffs so high, there is no weight, no fear, no pressure.

[one-pissed-off-child]

Only A Fool

I have been here for 300 years.

Anyway, here you go.

Phillipe didn’t listen to Camille.

He was tired, true (in this same moment, a thousand lifetimes away, he would have been much too tired and much too sullen to put up a fuss) and he had a long journey ahead of him. But Phillipe had given everything to this island. His years, his family’s funds, his dedication, and now he would give his children. He was owed, at least, a chance to see them for the first and last time.

So he went.

When his wife laid down to rest, still weary from the tribulations of birth, and when the old midwife stepped outside to fetch a bundle of calming herbs at the king’s behest, Phillipe went to see his daughters.

As he stepped into the hall, Phillipe came to the stark realization that he had no idea where the nursery was. In all the hours that they'd been here, Willa had not bothered to show him where the babes would be kept. Why would she? He was never meant to see them after all. They weren’t his to see.

But still, he searched undeterred, and eventually, he came across a room a few doors down from Camille’s birthing chamber, barred by an expertly crafted door engraved with three black roses. Beautiful flowers marked with the color of death. How symbolic.

Pushing into the room, Phillipe was reminded of the brief moment of calm that often comes within the eye of a storm. He felt himself relax as he took in the domesticity of it all.

Sunlight gently streamed in through the window, falling on three bassinets to the side of the room. He felt a small smile split his face as he approached the cradles. Seeing the small forms sleeping peacefully inside filled him with indescribable joy, he wished he knew their names. Phillipe’s smile morphed into a frown. He should know their names.

He started with the one cuddling the cloud pillow. Scooping her tiny form into his arms was a surreal experience. She barely weighed anything at all and staring down at her little face almost gave him the sensation of floating. It was often said that the queens retained no physical traits from their parents before them but he could see that this one had his jawline and ears. She would grow up to be beautiful.

Phillipe kissed her brow before settling her back into place.

The next one did not look much like him, although he could see a bit of Camille in the roundness of her face and himself in her strong nose. However, as he gently lifted the little girl out from underneath her horrid mobile, it quickly became clear the similarities between them lay in their personalities. He chuckled softly as she squirmed in his arms. His mother often told stories of how fitful Phillipe was as a child, even when asleep. His restlessness did not subside much as he grew older but rather worsened. All up until now in his manhood he had trouble keeping still. Phillipe suspected this child would be the same.

He pinched the tiny hand that slipped out of the swaddle and nearly cried when it latched around his fingers.

He tenderly set the second child down, careful to avoid disturbing -or touching- the dead reptiles, and turned his attention to the final cradle.

This last child was not like him in appearance nor mannerisms. She was so still that Phillipe almost feared for her health until he saw the healthy flush in her face. And she did not look like him at all but, he noted with no small amount of pride, she was almost the mirror image of Camille. Smallest out of the three by far, this one had to be the youngest.

Just as he kissed her cheek and prepared to set her down, big, black doll-like eyes suddenly fluttered open. He froze.

She didn't immediately start wailing like he assumed her to. In fact, she stared at him almost expectantly. As if she were waiting for him to do something. It almost felt like...a request.

To his credit, Phillipe did try to leave. Told himself to go before his traitorous thoughts could continue entertaining a notion that would likely get him killed. Yet still, even as his rational mind tried to reason with his body, he felt himself crumple to the floor. Those eyes that were so much like Camille's turned his legs to anchors.

There is a saying amongst the people of Fennbirn. At first glance, it seemed a strange one given this island’s seemingly unconditional adoration of their triplet queens. But the years taught him better.

Only a fool could love a queen

Then he truly must be the king of fools to have fallen in love with four of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camille shot up with a gasp. Cold sweat ran down her forehead in rivulets. She gripped the sheets like a lifeline. She felt like throwing up. Camille groaned at the intense pounding in her skull. She hadn’t been able to sleep properly since her...victory.

Sleep. How could she? How could she when the ghosts of her sisters screamed in her ear; when she saw their dead and dying faces every time she closed her eyes; when the memories of her early days returned to her and all she could think of is the sweet little girls in those memories and how she murdered them?

Camille shook herself. Now was not time for regret. It wouldn’t do much good for anyone either way; what’s done is done is done. She was so close to everything she had dreamed of for seven years.  She could start over; live the life she had always wanted from the beginning. All she had to do was walk away and never turn back.

Yet, when she searched for her dream's face, she did not see him.

A cold pit of dread formed in her stomach.

Camille called for him, hoping he had simply stepped out for air. No answer. The pit in her stomach grew larger.

She desperately wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he just went to get some water or if not that then to get a better pillow or if not that then to use the chamber pot. One by one she checked the kitchen, each of the bedrooms, and the bathroom, and one by one they all were deemed empty.

Once it became evident that her husband was nowhere else in the house, Camille slowly made her way to the nursery. She pointedly ignored the bittersweet feelings that rose marked door summoned within her as she made her way into the room.

Inside, she found her husband, sitting on the ground and cradling one of the baby queens against his chest. Camille sighed heavily and approached the pair. She carded a hand through his auburn curls.

He looked up at her and- oh

He was crying.

Her love, soft-hearted though he may be, was not a well-known crier.

Pursing her lips, she carefully settled down next to him. "Come now, darling. Let us find Willa." But he was already shaking his head. He looked back at the child in his arms.

"I- I can't do this Camille. I'm sorry."

Camille's hand slipped from his hair to his shoulder as she dredged up every last ounce of patience her tired body possessed. "I know this is hard for you but it's simply how we do things here. I promise that once we get to the mainland-"

“Did you hold them? Did you even touch them?”

“Phillipe-”

“Take her, Camille.”

Camille did not take her. “You’ve known that this would happen for years. I’ve told you time and time again that you can’t get attached. This is why I told you not to go. ”

"I can't just leave my daughters-"

"They aren't your daughters," Camille said gently, "They belong to the island and the Goddess only."

Phillipe tensed. "So you truly believe that it's right for us to just sail away and go about our lives knowing what they'll be subjected to here? That it's right to just hand them over after everything these people have done to you?"

“It is my duty as queen”, Camille said mechanically. She wasn’t even sure if they were her words (they weren’t. Not really).

“They’ve taken so much from us. I hear the way you cry out for your sisters at night. I've seen the scars on your arms and back. The Arrons, the temple, this entire damned island, they have given you nothing, nothing but heartache and pain. And as thanks for your suffering, you'd give them our children to torture?"

"They are not our children!", She snapped, then softer, "Please, enough of this. You know the island won't let them go. We can have a real family on the mainland."

Phillipe just sadly shook his head again. "I can't be with someone who would abandon her own daughters to a life of misery. If you force me to choose between you and them- it's them. I'm sorry", and Camille's heart shattered.

He finally turned from the infant to her. "I don't want to choose, please don't make me choose." He took her hand and rested it on the child's -Katharine, she numbly recalled- head. "This is our family. Don't let the island tear it apart."

Everything Phillipe was saying went against the very person Camille had been taught to be. What the temple taught her of being a vessel for the Goddess on earth. What the Arrons taught her about succeeding no matter what. The things Phillipe was suggesting were blasphemous and damn near sacrilegious (but she had stopped praying a long time ago). To go along with it would be to burn down years of meticulous planning. To spit in the face of all the teachings Camille received.

She looked from Phillipe and his pleading eyes to Mirabella and Arsinoe, blissfully sleeping through the turmoil in the room, to little Katharine, whose eyes and nose looked so much like her own.

Queens never pass on physical traits

She was tired of following the rules.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Black Cottage was small, although it was not actually a cottage. Hidden away in the forest and surrounded by undergrowth, it was not an easy place to find, let alone reach. Few people were privy to the cottage’s exact location and every one except the queens were sworn to secrecy on pain of execution. This, of course, was to allow the Midwife to raise the ascending queens in peace as well as protect them in those few vulnerable years where they were not constantly guarded by a powerful foster family. The meticulous position now worked to their advantage as Queen and King rushed to secure the baby girls in the back of Willa’s old but sturdy wagon.

Phillipe tied down the wicker baskets that held his daughters with the rope they found in the kitchen while Camille shackled Willa's fastest horse, Sarin, to the front of the wagon.

Phillipe stopped suddenly. "Wait, should we bring nappies?"

Camille blinked. "What? You mean soil cloths?"

"Yes, who is going to change them?"

"I'd reckon you know more about these things than I do."

"But you're-"

She shot him a withering look. "I'm what? A woman?"

"Smarter than me", he finished.

Camille just rolled her eyes. "We can figure all that out once we're on the road. I'll go get the cloths." He nodded as Camille finished attending to the horses and turned back towards the house.

She stopped.

There in the meadow stood Willa. This was the first time Camille's seen her since the birthing. She had completely forgotten about her pseudo mother. Behind her, a small gasp indicated that Phillipe had similarly forgotten about the only other person in the house.

“Camille-”

“Get in the wagon.” She sucked in a breath and righted herself with a confidence she did not feel. “I will handle this.”

Still, Phillipe glanced between her and the old Midwife as though he expected Willa to summon a dagger out of thin air and bury it in Camille's eye. Knowing of the old woman's history as a poisoner, Camille could not even say his concern was unfounded. But he finally nodded once and got in the coach's seat.

She approached Willa with her head held high

Willa smiled as she drew near. "You were going to make off with my only wagon and best horse without even a goodbye? The gall of this generation."

Camille didn't know what to say. She stayed silent as she eyed the bag Willa had slung over her shoulder. Noticing the younger woman's tension, Willa's smile fell away.

"Relax girl. I'm not going to beat you to death with a rucksack." Her eyes hardened, "And I'm not going to try and stop you either."

Now Camille's silence was tinged with an air of shock.

"Those six years I spent raising the three of you were the happiest years of my life. I treasured every moment I spent watching you and Arden play in the river. Eating those horrible cookies that Nautica baked every winter," Willa raised one wrinkled hand to Camille's cheek. She didn't pull away. "You girls were the most important things in my life even after those black carriages came and took you away."

"I collected every piece of news about you three I could find. I celebrated every victory with you and every time I heard of Nautica's escapades with her multiple spouses or of Arden's ridiculous spars with the warriors from Bastian, I would think of our time here together."

"The pain I felt when I heard of their passing was the worst than anything I had ever experienced. I prayed I would not live long enough to feel it again."

Camille couldn't help it. Tears blurred her vision as she whispered, "I killed them."

Willa nodded. "You did."

"I remember their faces. I remember the river, the cookies, all of it." Camille shook as she wept, "And I killed them."

"And now-", Willa said as she wiped her tears, "You will ensure no little girls are forced to kill their sisters ever again."

"You failed your sisters and I failed the three of you. Do not fail your daughters." Camille nodded against Willa's hand.

Willa again smiled briefly.

“I’ll send for the houses in two hours. It will take one hour for the word to reach all of them and another three or so for the carriages to arrive. I suspect that should be just enough time for you to reach the landing. Provided you take the back roads of course.”

“I-yes. That should be enough.”

“Good. Now then,” She handed Camille the sack she had brought. Inside were blankets, soil cloths, medicinal herbs, clothes for infants, and a collection of peculiar items that she assumed were to the girls entertained. And quiet.

"Thank you", said Camille, and she meant it from the depths of her soul.

"A child needs not to thank her mother for doing a mother's duty." Then mother and daughter embraced for the last time. Camille stiffened as she pulled away.

“You’ll be-” executed. Brutally. Painfully.

The old crone just smiled. “I will be fine.” It was a lie.

The Midwife turned around and slowly made her way back into the house. Camille watched until her back disappeared behind the door before walking back to her husband and daughters.

To her family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jonathan Blackburn is a family man at heart.

Whenever his sister needed help wrangling her massive brood of eight, Jonathan was there. Whenever his mother needed him to drive the cattle because one of the work hands fell sick, Jonathan was there. And when Phillipe came to him seven years ago and told him of his plans to go to the legendary island of Fennbirn and pursue one of their triplet queens well, what other choice did Jonathan have than to go with him?

You could start a family of your own you know, Phillipe had said.

And Jonathan replied, How could I trust myself to start a new one if I can't take care of the one I have now?

So, when his little brother arrived at the landing three hours early in an old wagon with his wife at his side and a slumbering newborn in his arms, Jonathan took one look at his pleading face and called for the captain to take to sea.

Not a word was passed between them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Goddess took being robbed of her new queens about as well as Camille expected her to.

Within thirty minutes of leaving Bernadine's Landing, a vicious storm descended upon the mighty Rapshire, and thus, the battle began.

If there was one silver lining in this whole debacle, it's that every man aboard this ship was a mainlander. Not one of them batted an eye when she and Phillipe carried the girls aboard.

But as it goes, if there's an upside then there's a downside. No matter how good of a crew these men were, they were simply no match for the ferocity of the typhoon. There were many times in her life when Camille wished to be an elemental but none more so than today.

Down in the underbelly, Camille listened to the stomping and shouting above her head as the men tried everything in their power to keep the ship afloat. Phillipe was up there too, shouting orders with the rest of them.

A particularly strong gust of wind threatened to capsize the ship altogether and the young mother desperately kept hold of her children while struggling to stay sitting upright. Camille winced as the wails of Arsinoe and Katharine rose to match the crashing of thunder.

The eldest of the baby queens simply laughed. Where Camille greened every time the boat was violently rocked by the waves, Mirabella shrieked in delight and flapped her little arms about as if she were the one bringing this storm down on their heads.

Camille huffed. Elementals.

Once again, the ship rocked so violently that it was everything Camille could do to keep a tight grip on the baskets. She felt something slip out of her pocket and clatter to the ground. She looked down at it and paled.

A vile of nightshade. Willa had pressed it into her hand during their embrace. Such a poison was much too weak to have any effect on Camille. There was no question of who it was for.

You will ensure no little girls are forced to kill their sisters ever again.

Somehow she managed to grasp the vile with a shaking hand. She swallowed as she considered the task before her. Killing two teenage girls whose faces she hardly remembered was difficult enough but three infants?

Yet, letting the Goddess sweep them back to the island would be just as damning. A small bit of nightshade is incomparable to the suffering that the Arrons would inflict on Arsinoe. And Mirabella, she would be forced to live through the deaths and haunting memories of her sisters as Camille is. She uncorked the vile.

Yes, this is the kinder fate. A death by nightshade would be quick and painless. At her young age, not even Arsinoe's poisoner gift could protect her from a toxin this deadly.

She only wished that she could have made their last moments as joyous for her two youngest as they were for Mirabella.

Slowly, she kissed each of the girls goodbye. The silence was deafening as she pressed the vile to Katharine's lips and made to tip it back.

Silence?

Camille snatched the nightshade away before a drop of liquid could spill over.

The cabin was suddenly still. There was no booming thunder overhead. No screaming wind that nearly knocked them clean over. She couldn't even hear the rain anymore. It was as if the storm had never happened at all.

Camille dared to let herself hope.

And when Phillipe rushed downstairs to practically slam his mouth into hers, she knew her dreams finally came true

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun on her skin was a blessing after being cooped up in that tiny cabin for what felt like hours. If the pleased cooing was anything to go by, it seemed Katharine agreed.

An arm wrapped around her waist and her husband and brother-in-law joined her at the bow of the ship. Each of them held her other two children.

Phillipe observed them with proud eyes. He stared down at his daughter in his arms as if she were the most perfect this in the world.

Phillipe looked at her again and she saw tears in his eyes for the second time in seven years.

"What are their names?"

Camille smiled through her own tears. "She-", Camille said, nodding to the babe in Phillipe's arms, "-is Mirabella. The eldest." The new father beamed.

She gestured to Jonathan. "She is Arsinoe. Middle child."

Jonothan grinned down at his wiggling niece. "Hello, little Arsinoe. I am your uncle Jon. I can already tell you're going to be as much of a handful as your father is."

"And this is Katharine. She is the youngest." Camille pressed a kiss to Katharine's head.

Phillipe repeated their names in order under his breath. Then louder and louder still until he was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"THEIR NAMES ARE MIRABELLA, ARSINOE, AND KATHARINE! I'M A FATHER!"

Jonathan whooped. "You heard him, gents! Hats off to the new parents!"

Camille laughed like she never had before as each and every man on board cheered and flung their hats into the ocean. Those that didn't have hats took the shirts off their backs and whipped them over their heads like madmen.

Distantly, the part of her that still thought of Fennbirn as home wondered what would happen to the island without its queens. Perhaps the people would learn to move on without them, even as their gifts faded. Or maybe the Goddess, in a fit of self-righteous anger, would turn her ire on the island that she’d birthed. Maybe she would command the seas to rise and swallow Fennbirn whole. Send a storm three times as terrible as the one she inflicted on Camille's family to wash everyone and everything away.

But as she watched her husband dance and cry and laugh and kiss their daughter all over her face, Camille found that she could not bring herself to care.

[jaicarbonilla]

Two Dark Reigns and Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

Synopsis of Two Dark Reigns:

Queen Katharine has waited her entire life to wear the crown. But now that she finally has it, the murmurs of dissent grow louder by the day. There’s also the alarming issue of whether or not her sisters are actually dead—or if they’re waiting in the wings to usurp the throne. Mirabella and Arsinoe are alive, but in hiding on the mainland and dealing with a nightmare of their own: being visited repeatedly by a specter they think might be the fabled Blue Queen. Though she says nothing, her rotting, bony finger pointing out to sea is clear enough: return to Fennbirn. Jules, too, is in a strange place—in disguise. And her only confidants, a war-gifted girl named Emilia and her oracle friend Mathilde, are urging her to take on a role she can’t imagine filling: a legion-cursed queen who will lead a rebel army to Katharine’s doorstep. This is an uprising that the mysterious Blue Queen may have more to do with than anyone could have guessed—or expected.

Synopsis of Five Dark Fates:

After the grim confrontation with Queen Katharine, the rebellion lies in tatters. Jules’s legion curse has been unbound, and it is up to Arsinoe to find a cure, even as the responsibility of stopping the ravaging mist lies heavy on her shoulders, and her shoulders alone. Mirabella has disappeared. Katharine’s reign remains intact—for now. When Mirabella arrives, seemingly under a banner of truce, Katharine begins to yearn for the closeness that Mirabella and Arsinoe share. But as the two circle each other, the dead queens hiss caution—Mirabella is not to be trusted. In this conclusion to the Three Dark Crowns series, three sisters will rise to fight as the secrets of Fennbirn’s history are laid bare. Allegiances will shift. Bonds will be tested. But the fate of the island lies in the hands of its queens. It always has.

Review : (Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

As soon as I decided to return back to reading after almost 3 years of not reading at all (except for mangas and webtoons), I figured I should finish the series that I put on hold before I start and read new series. I remember reading Three Dark Crowns and One Dark Throne like immediately as soon as it was available in the bookstore where I used to work at. I fairly remember liking both of them enough to make me still know that I have yet to finish it and here I am, finally done with this series.

I’m going to review both of these books as a whole because I have very little to say about Two Dark Reigns, and I figured well I can just do Five Dark Fates with it. (Spoilers ahead)

First of, I remember rooting for Mirabella since the start, not because she was more powerful than her two other sisters, but because she was definitely queen material, and she was intelligent and cared for the people and the island as much as she can, but then again she loved her sisters more.

I have glimpses of memory of the first two books but I know the plot enough to remember where I left off when I started reading Two Dark Reigns. This book starts of with Katherine as Queen Crowned, who is inhabited by the dead queens when she fell in the Breccia Domain, then you have Mirabella and Arsinoe in the Mainland with Billy, hiding since they abdicated their rightful claim to the throne.

The plot basically is just a build up for the upcoming war, I mean, yeah, we get this Queen Illiann and Daphne / Blue Queen backstory, but that’s about it that excited me. I do like, however, Jules’ role, how she is this Legion-cursed but people still believe enough in her that they make her the Queen of this rebellion that would like to overthrow the triplet queens line. So that’s Two Dark Reigns, in summary Katherine is reigning in Fennbirn where she deals with the revolting mist that is actually Queen Illiann, on top of the dead queens trying to ultimately control her, and the fact that the people are starting to get uneasy enough to finally question her ascend to the throne, and then you have Jules reigning as the legion cursed queen for the rebellion.

Then you have Five Dark Fates, the last book in this series, thank God. I’m sorry, it was just very tedious to go through the two books, I’m just happy enough that I finished it and now I can just move on.

What can I say...

So they discovered how the mist can be stopped, and how they can get rid of the dead queens in Katherine. Mirabella sets off to be with Katherine because she still believes in the goddess and the triplet queens line enough that she was not ready for Jules to be the one on the throne, she believed that she can save Katherine and ultimately stop the war and the mist, but she doesn’t really know how to I believe she never got that knowledge till the end.

Then you have Arsinoe who was at the beginning trying to heal Jules with low magic or her poisoning gift, I don’t remember, from the legion cursed that was broken by the death of Madrigal. When she finally realized that Mirabella was gone, she didn’t believe that it was on her own choice, so as soon as Jules was up they set out to free Mirabella.

What was Katherine doing at this point... I believe she was unravelling the Blue Queen’s secret, and Arsinoe and her both discovered the way to stop the mist like at the same time, but both of them did not want to do it, since it required the sacrifice of an elemental queen, which in this case is Mirabella.

Then a lot of shit happens, Pietyr, Katherine’s love, tried to get rid of the dead queens using low magic but failed and was in a comatose because of it, Billy got captured by Rho Mutra who Katherine shared the dead queens with, and then the shittiest shit happened when Mirabella died. I’m biased, I know that, because I was rooting for her, but damn, I wanted her to at least have an extravagant ending, no matter what it was, like I didn’t care if she was going to be sacrificed, I just wanted it to be good, like fitted for her, I mean I get the point, it fairly follows the plot but the way it was executed could have been better, could have been more dramatic. I just didn’t like the execution of her death that’s it.

So past the ongoing war, where you have Jules and Rho fighting off each other which is basically, I guess, the main face off there. You have Arsinoe, Katherine, and Pietyr in a standoff, well not really because Katherine was willing already at that point which is a good arc for her character. Some shit happens and then the only redeeming factor for me was the end of the dead queens, because by then you have the redemption of Kathrine when she sacrificed herself for Arsinoe, and then you have the mist which has Queen Illiann, Daphne, Mirabella (I hoped it was a greater comeback but good thing I expected less), and Katherine at that point finally getting rid of those dead queens. 

That’s it, I mean you have this epilogue where weeks past the war has everyone trying to rebuild everything and then you have Arsinoe by the end going back to the mainland to try and fix things with Billy. Yeah.

3 stars. I just didn’t like it enough, but it was enough for me to get through the series. So some plots were good, some were not, and in the end it was just... meh.

[tdc-giftexchange-2021]

Winter on Fennbirn was usually a time for celebration. 

For three sisters, however, it marked being another year older. Another year closer to their sweet sixteen, a reminder that they were running out of time. 

The first birthday that usually would've marked the end of the Ascension year was a strange one. 

Katharine was stood in the Volroy, buried in one of the supply cupboards, ignoring the world. 

Outside, the whole island celebrated.

There were those less inclined, of course. Bitter people stuck in their ways, hellbent on bloodshed, eager to watch another generation of triplets kill each other. 

But for now, people were just glad that their individual queens had survived. 

Katharine didn't want to be among any of them. Not even her sisters. 

Instead, she focused on her new job as the island's chief healer. 

She rummaged around with pale hands, slender fingers stretched out like cobwebs. 

There had been an outbreak of a type of pox that the mainlanders had brought over. There was a mild cousin to the strain that Fennbirn had already experienced. 

But until the pox was fully contained and treatable, mainlanders were now forbidden from travelling to Fennbirn unless extensive checks had been done to ensure that they were safe. 

Katharine was working to create a tonic to solve the issue. It was taking up all of her time, day and night. She often tested on herself or Arsinoe, both of them sure that they could withstand the consequences. 

"Queen Katharine." Katharine paused. 

Emilia. 

A constant thorn in Katharine's side, always finding the weak spots in her corsets and jabbing through the material to bother her. 

She was very protective of Julienne Milone, Katharine knew. 

It was only through mutual connections that Katharine held her tongue on how much she distrusted the war gifted girl. 

"Emilia," Katharine said instead, retracting her hand, a jar of sweet-smelling herbs following it. She turned to face Emilia. "What brings you to my part of the Volroy? I thought you preferred the higher floors?"

"I do," Emilia responded. "I was told I could find you here."

"If this is a medical matter, I'm afraid I'm quite busy handling this pox outbreak. Perhaps you should talk to one of my apprentices. They are more than capable. Only the best from Indrid Down and Prynn have the privilege of working in the Volroy."

"This is not a medical matter," Emilia said. "This is ... personal." 

Katharine put the jar into her small satchel. She'd intended to go back to her private workspace to work alone, as she often did. This was taking up valuable time. 

"Personal?" 

"The Ascension is now over," Emilia said. "Officially."

"Yes, I'm aware. I was rather hoping to avoid the topic." Katharine sighed. 

"Since Jules has taken the stance of allowing all three of you rule alongside her, I've decided that despite my distrust ... I would make an effort to get along with all of you." 

"Have you had this conversation with my sisters?" Katharine asked. "Or is this a conversation reserved only for the one you hate?"

"I don't hate you," Emilia said. "Not anymore. I did, but I am trying to see what others see in you. Since the business with the dead queens, I have seen a better side of you. The one from the stories your sisters tell. And I shall be talking to Arsinoe and Mirabella as well. It's important to Jules that I make an effort. She loves Arsinoe, and has grown fond of you and Mirabella." 

"So you're doing this for Julienne?" Katharine pried.

"Mostly," Emilia said. "We must begin with honesty if we're to get anywhere, Katharine."

"I shall also put aside any distrust I have in you too. Arsinoe respects you, for Julienne's sake. And so I will learn to, as well." Katharine said slowly. "It may take a while for things to be any more than frosty between us, but I assure you that I am also trying." 

Emilia nodded in understanding. "Why are you not celebrating your birthday?"

"The pox." Katharine prompted, gesturing to the storecupboard around her. "It's got to be solved by someone." 

"Surely you can take one day off."

"I don't like the crowds." 

"But you like your sisters."

"I love my sisters." Katharine corrected. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to show my face today. I will surely ruin everyone's mood. Things are too fresh. Perhaps next year."

"No Fennbrin triplets have all reached seventeen together," Emilia said. "I know Arsinoe and Mirabella would be happy to see you. To see them happy is to see Jules happy. Which in turn pleases me. This could be the start of defrosting a friendship between us." 

Katharine looked at her satchel, still open and only half full with the items she'd come to collect.

"For an hour or two, only." She said eventually. "Then I must come back. The best poisoners from Prynn and Indrid Down may be working here, but they still act like headless chickens without my guidance. Natalia would have a fit if she knew things were in this state." 

Emilia smiled. "Come along then." 

Katharine closed her satchel and strung it over her shoulder so that the strap crossed her chest and the leather bag rested against her hip. 

She followed Emilia out of the Volroy and into the streets, wincing at the noise. 

Ahead, her sisters were dancing to the music played by oracles. Even Arsinoe had sat still long enough for Jules to weave flowers through the braids that Mirabella had most definitely done. 

They saw her immediately, sensing her presence as they had done as children. All three were once again so perfectly in tune with her sisters, it was as if they were one soul in three bodies. 

Emilia gently grasped Katharine by the wrist, as if she knew Katharine's bony arms bruised easily, leading her straight to her sisters so that the celebrations could truly begin. 

And despite the pox that Katharine had focused on so heavily these last few weeks preying on her mind, the smiles on the faces of those she held dear was more precious than any tonic she'd ever made. 

Three queens, different in nature but alike in their love for each other, solidified their names in history. 

On Fennbirn, things were beginning to heal, starting on the day their queens turned seventeen. 

Submitted by @realismreading for @poisonerrose

[olavgrey]

My review for the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake.

I'm going to be honest... I did not love this series. I had a lot of hope for the series, and there was some bright moments but for the most part... no.

One of my biggest issues throughout was a sense of scale and being. It takes place on the Island of Fennbirn and I honestly couldn't tell you how big this island is. I don't remember a time where a character wasn't going from one city to the next and not just... being there the next chapter. I think there maybe have been one time, but the scale isn't given between towns. I never realized how important this is in a book to at least once and a while show scale through travel till now.

Next is impact. Especially later in the series some things happen (avoiding spoilers) that should have been important and island changing, yet only 2 people seemed to care. This takes away from the immersion and stakes when something literally island changing happens and no one cares or makes mention of it. And this happens time and time again with smaller happenings.

Characters were okay, as the series went on I fell out of love with some, fell in love with others and stayed pretty indifferent on many others. That's not really a bad thing, it's nice to see characters grow. One irksome thing is how the 3 main characters (triplets) refer to each other as "little sister" or "big sister". I'm an only child but this just seems very... cringy? Maybe it's not, I'm not sure.

All in all the Three Dark Crowns series is... fine. I can see this being a guilty pleasure series because it's not awful, it's just not what I had hoped for. It seems like it wants to be an epic dark fantasy series but misses out on the "epic" side of things. Dark is something it for sure is.

I don't know how to end this... I just needed to vent/word vomit my thoughts on the series. It's not the worst I've read but I did complain a lot about decisions throughout my time reading.

[darkcozyforest]

The entire last few chapters of Two Dark Reigns after Arsinoe returns to the Island, is literally just Emilia and Arsinoe being petty and jealous about who’s going to end up with Jules

[ht-burrows]

“Queen Andira, the White-Handed naturalist whose sisters both born oracles and were drowned”