#to be fair at this point the au was like 60k words so like. yes that is long

[bookwyrminspiration]

a story in 3 parts

[knickknacksandallthat]

hey I know you said you were thinking about posting around April

Do you have a date in mind?

if not it’s perfectly ok we’ll be waiting as long as you need for the sun and moon ☺️

ahhh, anon! This is a loaded question, lol, not that you would know that. But here is the conclusion that I have come to, after many, many shifts, moves, outlining rounds, trial and error, etc.

I have unfortunately decided that I have enough material for two fics.

In some ways, it was a little silly of me to think I could squeeze Jerejean's POV all into one fic when I had the material of both DON & DBD to work with. But here we are. After cutting three chapters altogether (THREE anon!!) and doing my best to cut the other chapters ruthlessly, I'm still looking at about 60K words, unfinished, and I haven't even touched DBD's timeline yet.

So, although I reserve the right to change my mind, I've decided instead of publishing Once In a Blue Moon, I will first be uploading Place in the Sun - a fic focusing on Jerejean's relationship through their time at USC. And yes, my goal is still to publish it in April. (Wish me luck, anon 😭😭)

Now I have to be clear since the timing is sensitive. For better or worse, I have established Jeremy's and Jean's characters in this AU with the limited canon information I had before TSC. Once TSC is published, these characters will likely conflict with what Nora has decided, but I won't be changing them. Where canon fits into the plan, I'll look to include, but the family members I've made up for them, friends, agents, personality quirks, etc., etc., I'm going to keep true to the AU I've built. It is what it is at this point, and though I feel somewhat awkward about it since I've tried to keep their characters close to canon, I'm very proud and happy with the A Falling Star series. I'd like to finish Kerejean's stories and do them justice as I've always planned to.

This in no way diminishes my excitement for TSC - I'm beyond thrilled that Nora has decided to give us canon Jean, Jeremy, and all the Trojans. It's going to be amazing and devastating and everything we've hoped for, I'm sure. But I have to be fair to the fic I've created as well.

So....there we have it, anon. Hope that answers your question. 😅

[sineala]

Some Tony/Ty meta

Here is some Tony/Ty meta! Because I've been reading DreamVision a lot! This is an expanded version of something I posted on Discord a few weeks ago.

Remember how at the beginning of the month I mentioned I was writing a Steve/Tony DreamVision AU in which Tony and Tiberius Stone are actually dating in the course of the story? Well, I still am. I am also very bad at estimating word count because I thought I'd be done in 20k and I'm at 60k and counting, but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, so I've been rereading DreamVision a lot and discovering multiple plot holes, namely:

Radioactive Man explodes himself in the middle of a battle with Tony and it is apparently suicide; then he shows up alive at the end of the last issue in the arc and it is never explained how he survived exploding himself. He's just... alive.

After Trevor Donahue tells Tony about Ty's propensity for homicide, Tony immediately confronts Ty, and Ty behaves as if he already knew what Tony was there to talk about and what Donahue had said.

There doesn't seem to have been any reason for Ty to have confessed to murder in front of Tony, although to be fair, subsequent appearances of Ty make it clear that he just seems to be the kind of guy who likes to confess to murder; in an appearance shortly after this (in an issue of Wolverine) he confesses to one of the murders he committed in this very arc that had previously not been explicitly pinned on him. I guess he feels like he needs other people to appreciate his Flawless Murder Skills.

The entire plot with Tony being smeared in the media begins when Ty's news channel airs footage of Tony meeting with Trevor Donahue and claims that Whiplash's death back in the Sentient Armor arc was the fault of Tony and/or Iron Man. But the news story doesn't make it clear what Donahue has to do with Whiplash -- they just say that because he met with Donahue, he's a suspect in Whiplash's death. Now, we the readers know that Tony actually probably should be a suspect (Whiplash was murdered by the Sentient Armor) and that Whiplash was very much connected to Donahue (before he dies, he claims Donahue is the one who sent him after Iron Man)... but there's no way the news should know any of that. As far as I can tell.

But, anyway, the actual point of this post is that I wanted to mention a thing I worked out about the timing of Tony and Ty's relationship.

Most 616 fiction that postulates a past Tony/Tiberius relationship sets it either when Tony and Ty were classmates or at some point slightly after that, while Tony was at MIT. And since this is non-canonical, we can all say what we want, but I have what I think is a pretty good argument for why, if a Tony/Ty relationship was a thing at all, it happened when they were both 21. Which is very specific, yes, but I have Reasons.

We can infer based on the flashbacks we see of Tony and Ty in IM v3 #38 that they are probably the same age, because they seem to have been in the same classes as children; I suppose there could be mixed-age classes at the fancy boarding school that we know Tony went to as mentioned in IM #287 (which is therefore probably the school they attended together), but the easiest assumption is that they were same-age classmates.

The very end of the flashback is what's relevant here. Tony talks about their rivalry, narrating the flashback, and he ends it by talking about when he and Ty became close. So they were rivals, maybe they were friends, and at a certain point they "became close" which is a good candidate for a euphemism for "were fucking," in my opinion. He doesn't say that they were close before that, though it doesn't preclude them having been good friends.

(This also doesn't preclude them having been physically involved at an earlier time, of course, just that they weren't "close" prior to then. So if you're postulating a relationship that's romantic -- at least on Tony's part -- I feel like this statement makes that unlikely, but it doesn't rule out a FWB situation.)

Tony says, specifically, that they became close after Ty's parents died. And he says that he knew what Ty was going through because his own parents had recently died. (We later find out that this is what ends up motivating what was actually Ty's murder of his own parents.)

And the thing is, we can date that, at least by internal chronology. Because we know that Tony was 21 when his parents died. So Ty was also probably 21. So this is, actually, well after they were in school together -- it doesn't seem like Ty also went to college with Tony, because Tony would have probably mentioned if he had. So at this point they haven't even been classmates for years. But this is when they "became close." The panel where Tony discusses this shows them drinking together.

So they have to be at least 21 when they are "close" but probably not that much older, because there's probably not a whole lot of time between Tony's parents' death and when Tony became Iron Man and then an Avenger, and his involvement with Ty seems to have preceded both of those things.

Curiously, even though Ty is canonically in Europe between that time and his reappearance in Tony's life in the first DreamVision arc, we know they must have met each other at least once after that. There's a throwaway line from Pepper in IM v3 #39 about Ty hitting on her at one of Tony's Christmas parties, and seeing as how Tony didn't even know Pepper until after he became Iron Man, Ty has to have come back into Tony's life, however briefly, at some point.

(Jan and Hank also clearly know Ty; they're at Ty's DreamVision party. Judging by the way Steve talks about the smear campaign against Tony, I don't think he's ever met Ty; he doesn't canonically meet him in this arc. Or ever, as far as I know, unless there's something I'm not thinking of.)

In conclusion, what we can tell from canon is that Tony and Ty had a close relationship in the period after Ty murdered his own parents to one-up Tony. Ty was probably playing on that for a lot of sympathy. Alcohol was definitely involved, which around Tony is probably a Bad Idea and Ty, who is very clever, might already have known that.

So I mean, I'm not saying that Ty canonically got Tony drunk and fucked him because he was taking advantage of Tony's good nature and, uh, his probably-lowered inhibitions, while Tony thought he was loving and comforting his grieving friend who actually murdered his own parents, and thereby Ty was arranging this entire situation so that he could pwn Tony and also receive free orgasms. I'm just saying that's what I'm writing in this fic, and you're welcome to join me in fictional dub-con gaslighting hell. The end.

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2021 | Part II

For anyone that’s new to this, this is how I keep track of all of the things I enjoy and/or create throughout the year. I have literally been doing this since I had a livejournal. I think the first one was 2011? Maybe? In which case, woohoo, ten years of scrapbooking!

It’s a nice little snippet of my life and helps to organize my brain.

A reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read 80 books (as of today, i am at 31 books, which sounds not great but goodreads assures me that it’s only 1 book behind schedule), finish five video games (at two at the moment... mostly because I keep dragging my feet on actually finishing P5R), write more than 20 fics (at... 6) or something larger than 20k (negative), and write either an original short story or start a novel (i have started plotting for the novel? does that count?)

Past Years

MOVIES

May

Mortal Kombat

(SW: The Phantom Menace)

(SW: Attack of the Clones)

(SW: Revenge of the Sith)

(SW: Rogue One)

(SW: A New Hope)

SW: Clone Wars

Enola

Wonder Woman 1984

Dark Phoenix

(Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring)

June

(Princess Mononoke)

Sailor Moon: Eternal

In The Heights

Wish Dragon

July

Luca

(Thor: Ragnarok)

(Doctor Strange)

(Guardians of the Galaxy)

Black Widow

Space Jam 2 Electric Boogaloo

August

The Green Knight

Godzilla vs Kong

(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

BOOKS

May

These Violent Delights | Chloe Gong [Fin]

The Midnight Library | Matt Haig [Fin]

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within | Becky Chambers [Fin]

Unconquerable Sun | Kate Elliott

People We Meet On Vacation | Emily Henry [Fin]

The Soulmate Equation | Christina Lauren [Fin]

June

Unconquerable Sun | Kate Elliott [Fin]

September Love | Lang Leav [Fin]

One Last Stop | Casey McQuiston [Fin]

The Chosen and the Beautiful | Nghi Vo [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 2 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

For the Wolf | Hannah Whitten [Fin]

The Sandman | Neil Gaiman [Fin]

Mister Impossible | Maggie Stiefvater

July

Mister Impossible | Maggie Stiefvater [Fin]

TAZ: The Crystal Kingdom | The Mcelroys [Fin]

She Who Became the Sun | Shelley Parker-Chan

A Psalm for the Wild-Built | Becky Chambers

The Universe of Us | Lang Leav

August

She Who Became the Sun | Shelley Parker-Chan [Fin]

A Psalm for the Wild-Built | Becky Chambers

The Universe of Us | Lang Leav [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 3 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 4 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

PODCASTS

May

The Penumbra Podcast, s3-END

June

The Magnus Archive - Fear Winners 1 & 2

July

Gods of Appalachia, Eps 1-6

(Wolf 359)

Janus Descending

August

(Wolf 359)

Mabel

(Zero Hours, ep 7)

Time:Bombs

TV SHOWS BY SEASON

May

Watcher Entertainment, Are You Scared?

Castlevania, s3, s4 [Fin]

Word of Honor [Fin]

Buzzfeed: Kelsey in Control?

Demon Slayer, s1

June

Demon Slayer, s1 [Fin]

Kim’s Convenience, s4

Leverage, s5 [Fin]

Watcher: Too Many Spirits, s3

Loki, s1

Lucifer, s2, s3, s4

Trese, s1

(Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime, s3, s6?)

(Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural, s1)

Sweet Tooth, s1

Love, Death & Robots

July

Loki, s1 [Fin]

Watcher: Too Many Spirits, s3 [Fin]

Watcher: Dish Granted, s3

Shark Week

Lucifer, s5

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

August

The Owl House, s2

Watcher: Dish Granted, s3

Watcher Weekly+

Buzzfeed: Ruining History

Star Trek Discovery, s1, s2, s3

What If..., s1

VIDEO GAMES

May

Monster Hunter Rise, 12 hours

Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition, 25 hours

Pokemon Go

June

Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition, ? hours

Pokemon Go

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, ??? Hours

Persona 5 Royal, ??? hours

July

Persona 5 Royal, 167 hours

Pokemon Go

August

Persona 5 Royal, 167 hours

Pokemon Go

Ori and the Blind Forest [Fin]

DELIGHTFUL FIC

May

The word is help. by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 9k | In a flash, Fett has his blaster out and pointed at Luke’s head. “You’re right,” he says. “Turnabout’s fair play. So maybe I oughta shoot you.”

Don’t be afraid. by spqr | Star Wars | Obi-Wan/Anakin | 12k | “Padawan Kenobi,” Yoda says, after a moment. “Complete your training, Master Skywalker will.”

who carried the hill by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 22k | Din’s about to head up the ramp onto the newly-repaired Razor Crest when a string pulls taut around his heart and yanks him into the sky.

Tapestry by spqr | Star Wars | Obi-Wan/Anakin | 8k | In March, Obi-Wan drags Anakin to another faculty party, where Anakin gets all sorts of wrong ideas about Quinlan Vos and decides to fellate Obi-Wan in a coat closet about it.

wonderterror by peradi | Star Wars | Leia/Han/Luke | 6k | Anakin Skywalker is the son of the Force.He’s half human and half something monumental.What does that make his children?

Xen Gardens by denimwrapped | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan & Shane | 1k | Shane Madej saves the day.A strange man comes to congratulate him.

A Series of Better Decisions by SassySnowperson | Star Wars | Padme/Obi-Wan/Anakin | 9k | "Kill him. Kill him now!" Chancellor Palpatine hissed, as Anakin held the two blades against Dooku's neck. "No," Anakin said. "It's not the Jedi way."

Futurus (-a -um) by cadesama | Star Wars | Padme/Anakin/Obi-Wan | 60k | Cracked hyperdrive? No problem. Just hold it together with the Force. Time travel? Well. That could be a bigger problem.

Comfort in Wartime by Rosbridge | Star Wars | Padme/Obi-Wan/Anakin | 4k | Obi-Wan is exhausted, drunk, and just about out of fucks to give.

spark me up, i'm a firework (i'll burst into light) by coffeeinallcaps | FATWS | Bucky/Sam | 7k | "You know how the super-soldier serum makes everything, well, super? I guess you could say that's what happened to my sex drive."

Thaw by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 6k | That’s what hope does to you, Luke remembers now. It lingers at the back of your mind, whispering maybe, maybe, so that knowing a plan is stupid isn’t enough to keep you from trying it.

Christ in Repose by spqr | Din/Luke | 8k | More on this story as it develops. Subscribe to HNN’s JEDI WATCH newsletter for instant updates on Jedi sightings throughout the galaxy.

Insufferable by perkynurples | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 3k | Wen Kexing asks a question. Zhou Zishu only hesitates to answer for a little while.

parasitic, parasocial by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen/Xue Yang | 45k | Xue Yang stumbles upon the channel of Fuxue, a popular videogame streamer, and immediately becomes completely and utterly obsessed with him. Unfortunately, Fuxue has a boyfriend -- but that's fine: Xue Yang loves a challenge.

Aaron Burr has Hamilton's RSI and he isn't pleased about it. by DragonBandit | Hamilton | Hamilton/Aaron Burr | 3k | Aaron knows 2 things about his soulmate: The first is that they're angry about everything. The second is that they need to fucking sleep.

dinluke lawyer au by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 31k | At 1:18 a.m., just when Luke is starting to think he might’ve gotten away with something, Biggs Darklighter shows up on the other side of his desk and says, “I can’t believe you called in sick to get shotgun married to a Mando.”

like, comment, subscribe by DeHeerKonijn, Roselightfairy | Lord of the Rings | Gimli/Legolas | 90k+ | Legolas meets Gimli for lunch - unfortunately, he meets someone else, too.

a jackal; a thief by brawlite | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Ye Baiyi | 11k | This is not the first time Wen Kexing’s body has been poisoned like this.

you're the trouble that i always find by sundiscus | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 27k | “Do you know him?” Jin Wang asks.The ringing in Zhou Zishu's ears gets louder. “No, Wangye,” he says.At Zhou Zishu’s voice, the prisoner freezes.

vampire!wwx threadfic by sundiscus | The Untamed | Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji | ??? words | in which vampires exist in a modern cultivation au, lwj is investigating a string of strange deaths, and wwx is a vampire he can’t seem to kill.

Velle by DeHeerKonijn, Roselightfairy | LotR | Gimli/Legolas | 29k | Velle (Latin): to want.

June

May All My Wounds Be Mortal by hansbekhart | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 10k | Peeled out of his many robes, Wen Kexing’s body reveals itself to be mostly leg. He strips eagerly, grinning up at Zhou Zishu as if this is another joke between them. See? Wen Kexing’s body seems to say, I have no secrets from you.

drop by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xue Yang | 4k |  Xue Yang has had this dream before.

Splenda by Tierfal | FMA | Ed/Roy | 19k | WIP | A sugar daddy AU that barely even qualifies as a sugar daddy AU, because these two can't do anything right.

From the Ashes by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Shane/Ryan | 3k | “This doesn’t need to leave this room,” Ryan had said that first time. “Casual is my middle name.”

Whale Songs by denimwrapped | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 2k | It could be humming, he thinks. Some distant angelic humming. What it’s humming about, he’d have to find out the hard way. All he can hear in his mind’s ear is come closer. There’s so much more in the depths than you’ve ever known.

A Good Bargain by Neery | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 11k | The Window of Heaven captures the Ghost Valley's master. Zhou Zishu is put in charge of interrogating him.

So Why Not Crack Your Skull When the Mind Swells by greenteafiend | The Untamed | Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian | 13k | Or, Wei Wuxian is cursed to feel terrible pain when he and Lan Wangji aren’t touching.

the agony and the irony by arostine | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 44k | WIP |  Ryan has a lot on his plate right now. He’s one of three members of his species employed at BuzzFeed, and the only male omega, and his boss keeps asking him to do videos about being an iterant ‘to educate the humans,’ when what he really wants to do is videos about ghosts.

the rest of your life by bestliars | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane/Sara | 30k | MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCE IN THE MIDWEST! The year is 2034. Successful video producer Ryan Bergara uproots his whole life to take care of his friend’s children.

sit in my circle and hold my hand by soda_coded | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 14k | Ryan and Shane work for the metaphysical department of the LAPD, fool around and get cursed.

Idle Hands (Do the Devil's Work) by ma_malice | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 4k | In which the only upside to being a demon stuck in a seasonal Chicago snowstorm is the ability to abandon your body and possess your boyfriend in LA.

Shell Game by Giddygeek | The Magicians | Quentin/Eliot | 20k | Or, Quentin can’t believe he never thought to ask if there was a magical time in Fillory when people swapped bodies with the last person they slept with.

Contention by hollybennett123 | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu/Ye Baiyi | 3k |  The Zhou Zishu of ten minutes ago, who first agreed to the whole thing — the evening’s conversation and general bickering over drinks taking an unexpectedly filthy turn — had been thinking only about the imminent pounding on offer and not, well, everything else that might come with it.

Necrocafé by etothey | Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon/Harrow | 2k | Harrowhark Nonagesimus isn't sure which confounds her more: the new boxes of bones she is to animate, or the hot redheaded courier who brings the boxes.

simple man by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius, Loki/Loki | 6k | “Tell you what,” says Mobius, shortly after the Timekeepers have sentenced Loki to death, “why don’t I take care of this?”

(Un)disclosed desires by Springandastorm | Loki | Loki/Mobius | "That's not how I see you at all, Loki." Mobius said, unexpectedly earnest. "We all play roles sometimes." 

sources of light by brawlite | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 3k | Zhou Zishu makes a difficult choice in order to save Wen Kexing's life. The morning after is not an easy one.

warm company, cold nights by janonny | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 23k | He gave Zhou Zishu a lingering look from beneath his lashes. “Your virtuous wife will accompany you of course.”

July

the potential of broken things by icarusinflight | Harry Potter | Drarry | 11k | "Can you feel that? Some things want to be what they once were. The original spell is still there, and it wants to work again. All it takes is a little push and then"—Draco clicks his fingers of his free hand—"snap, everything will go back into place."

little beast by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xue Yang | 7k | Payback's a bitch.

you, undeniable you by returnsandreturns | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Jake/Amy | 1k | “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Jake asks, for the fourth time. “Because we can just ditch that thing, toss it out a window, do it missionary like the founding fathers intended.”

Car Talk by drunkbedelia | Loki | Mobius/Loki | 1k | ‘When I pruned myself, I thought I might be able to find Loki,' Sylvie said.

one too many by sarcasticfishes | Watcher | Ryan/Shane | 1k | “Stay here,” Ryan says, just casual enough, “I’ll drive you home tomorrow.”

Tencent and Chill by quoth_the_ravenclaw | The Untamed | Nie Huaisang/Nie Mingjue | 2k | “Da-ge,” Huaisang whines, all for show, as much a performance as the actors on screen. He wiggles his toes. “My feet are so sore, you worked me too hard.”

The House at the End of the World by Hopetohell | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 1k | What will they do, now that they can do anything?

moderate the middle by ElisAttack | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 9k | People only smiled with their eyes when it was real. Unless they were a Loki. No matter the differences between the variants, their tricky grins were a constant as much as they were indiscernible.

Lost and Sound by snack_size | Loki | Loki/Thor/Sylvie | 5k | “Sylvie, did you help my brother defeat the Time Police?”

push the button (and let me know) by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 5k | “How about this?” hands folded on the table, he watches Loki intently. “If you tell me why, I’ll answer.” 

We're (not) all villains here by sir_not_appearing_in_this_archive | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 19k | WIP | Alone and friendless (once again), Loki has to find a way to set things right, or at least right enough he can comfortably sneak off into the sunset, which starts with one thing: saving Mobius's lost memories.

what remains by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | “You’re no analyst.” Mobius sounds stunned. They are not aligned, they are not in tandem. But there are wistful glimmers of what is now agonisingly out of reach.

worth a shot by thereyoflight | Loki | Loki/Sylvie | 2k | When Loki and Sylvie are moments away from being cornered on the train in Lamentis, they resort to desperate measures.

Bug Problems by xorabbit | Marvel | Grandmaster/Loki | 7k |  Loki ends up on Sakaar, of course, with just that many more schemes to scheme. However, the Grandmaster is not altogether too terrible--a bit of fine luck, for once--and perhaps it's all right to have a better-natured fling while one works out what's next.

our way, no takebacks by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 20k | "Nice speech," Sylvie drawls, but the sarcasm doesn't land.

August

Vennen min by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 12k | The day they let Mobius out of the infirmary, Loki gets assigned to a new handler. This, Mobius is pretty sure, is where the trouble starts.

new terms by dinosuns | Loki | President Loki/Mobius | 21k | For the first time in his life, Loki triumphs. How fitting then, for the end to swiftly barge in unannounced.

Icarus by Waako | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 5k | When Mobius got pruned, he expected two different outcomes. Either eternal peace or eternal emptiness. He certainly didn’t expect a grey sky, ruins of old buildings looming over him, and a Loki variant watching him like he was a piece of fresh meat.

Stress Relief by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 3.5k |  “Let me read you something,” Loki says. He rifles through the pages, clears his throat, and Mobius puts a hand over his eyes because he knows what’s coming before Loki even reads the first word—“Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō—“

just like the weather by sarcasticfishes | BFU | Shane/Ryan/Sara | 6k | “Y’know,” Ryan shrugs. “Friends have kids together sometimes. Like if a same-sex couple has a friend surrogate for them. Or sometimes people just co-parent.”

Woodash and iron and leather by iffervescent | The Witcher | 9k | Jaskier is the only person Geralt's ever been around who doesn't smell of fear

Food of Love by tanktrilby | The Witcher | Geralt/Jaskier | 22k | I brought a dead princess back to life through the power of song is the kind of thing that would have got an eyebrow raise even from the stone-faced Geralt of Rivia, so it's a good thing he and Geralt will probably never see each other again.

If The Morning Light Sets In by nagia | Castlevania | Sypha/Trevor/Alucard | 45k | Save the Belmonts, save the world.

halfway by ivelostmyspectacles | Castlevania | Sypha/Alucard/Trevor | 12k | Vampire attacks are happening again. Unprovoked, strange, humans and vampires dying alike. A disease. Alucard assures them that he isn't susceptible.

lonely lonely heart by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 7k |  Mobius looks down at the paperwork, gets a sort of flustered farmboy look on his face, looks back up at Loki and says, “You offered to give a cop fellatio in the middle of Central Park.”

Bedrest by Lise | The Untamed | Xiao Xingchen& Xue Yang | 3k | Xiao Xingchen's newest patient is causing him problems. He just won't stay put.

too little, too late. by raisesomehale | Miraculous Ladybug | Adrien/Marinette | 6k | WIP |  “Ladybug.” Chat’s voice cuts in like molten steel.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

May

Jesper Fahey | 99 Problems

Jesper Fahey | OLD TOWN ROAD

Kaz & Inej | I Can't Pretend

human | kaz brekker

bucky barnes || humble

The Mandalorian || Warriors

The Mandalorian | I'll See You Again

Hope is the light.

►Zhou Zishu & Wen Kexing | Beautiful mess

Kaz & Inej | I Can't Pretend

versailles at night | alina & the darkling

look what you made me do | the darkling

Bucky Barnes | Rasputin

Obi-Wan || dirty work

Blood in the water [the Witcher]

MARVEL || Astronaut in the Ocean

Enola Holmes || Unstoppable

Shadow & Bone || Fire Meets Fate

Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 3 AMV/Trailer - Teeth

Kylo Ren | STAR WARS

June

MARVEL || Rasputin

MARVEL || Astronaut in the Ocean

i dont enjoy hurting people | Loki [1x01]

loki laufeyson • unsteady [⚠ 1x01]

MARVEL || Levitating

Shadow & Bone | Paint It Black

Glitter & Gold | Jesper Fahey

Shadow and Bone | Levitating

wen kexing ✘ zhou zishu | put your lips on mine

Erik Lensherr - Magneto

The Crows || Circus

The Crows | Thrift Shop (Shadow & Bone)

Zemo & Bucky — RASPUTIN [tfatws]

Cruella | Feeling good

Percy Jackson || Watch Me

THE KILLING KIND || The Magnus Archives Animatic

LOKI || Glorious Purpose

The Darkling | Black Heretic

Sam x Bucky || Handclap [HUMOR]

Loki || Lovely

Doctor Strange || Dystopia

Loki & Sylvie || I’m not your friend

Loki || Hate Me

MARVEL || River

Loki & Bucky || Paint It Black

Wanda Maximoff || The Scarlet Witch (WandaVision)

Play With Fire || MARVEL || Loki Doctor Strange Scarlet Witch

MARVEL || Warriors

Loki || God of Mischief || You Do You

(Marvel) Loki | You Will Never Be A God

Marvel's Horror Cinematic Universe

community gardens || the magnus archives PMV

July

Thor || Rise

Loki & Sylvie - Demons in my head [ep.3]

//HUMANS// THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Loki | Lost

A Quiet Place

Loki & Sylvie || Strange Birds

Loki & Sylvie "I won't let you down" | (+1x05)

♚ Loki & Sylvie | If You Love Me (1x04)

Loki & Sylvie | If our love is wrong [Loki +1x04]

Loki and Mobius | Hold On [Loki +1x05]

loki laufeyson • in the end [+ 1x04]

Loki and Sylvie || Feeling Good

Marvel || Black Widow - Counting Stars || Natasha Romanoff 

Cruella || Little Wicked

MARVEL || This is My Time || Shang-Chi Trailer Music

Sylvie | Unstoppable (Loki +1x03)

Loki and Sylvie (Lady Loki) || Play With Fire

Wanda and Vision || Dancing With Your Ghost

Wanda Maximoff and Loki || You Should See Me In A Crown

Loki and his Variants ⚔ King of Space [ep.5]

Loki & Sylvie ❤ This world is slowing down [ep.5]

Sylvie || Confident (+1x04)

•Loki x Sylvie ⱠΞⴼ King and Queens•

Loki - In The End | Marvel

Loki & Sylvie ❤ Out of Control [ep.4]

Loki & Mobius | Dynasty [LOKI/+1x04]

Loki & Sylvie ❤ Love War [ep.6]

(Marvel) Loki | Glorious Purpose

(MARVEL) Loki | Chaos

Loki | In The End [+1X06]

Loki x Sylvie | Another Love

Loki & Sylvie | Arcade [ Loki +1x06]

MARVEL || The Assembled Universe (c/w ASTrix UI)

August

Natasha & Yelena || Do It Like A Dude

Black Widow || Smells Like Teen Spirit

MARVEL || Uptown Funk

MARVEL || 1 in a Million

MARVEL/DC || Dies Irae

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness TRAILER #1

MARVEL || Loki 

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

May

The Wild One - Suzi Quatro

What’s So Funny ‘Bout - Sharon Van Etten

Levitating - Dua Lipa

The Underground - Meg Myers

You Won’t Find Me - Narrow Skies

Elixir of Life - Leah

Salt and the Sea - The Lumineers

ERROR - Niki, Kradness

Runaway - AURORA

Butterfly Water - Pastelle

Close to the Sun - Porcelain Pill

Selkie-boy - The Lost Words

Good Riddance - Annapantsu

Die Anywhere Else - Julia Henderson

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

Down - St Vincent

Word of Honor OST

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots

Follow You - Imagine Dragons

I’m Not That Girl - Kerry Ellis

Meant to be Yours - Ryan McCartan

Ex Wives - Six

Euphoria - BTS

Walls - Cher

96,000 - In the Heights

Sun Goes Down - Lil Nas X

Enough For You - Olivia Rodrigo

Brutal - Olivia Rodrigo

Ziti E Buoni - Maneskin

Shum - Go_A

Loco Loco - Hurricane

Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Glass Animals

The Horror and the Wild (whole album - The Amazing Devil

Chant - Hadestown

Titans - Major Lazer, Sia

Bones - Galantis

Golden Dandelions - Barns Courtney

Le Nozze di Figaro - Hybrid

Save Your Tears - The Weeknd

Psycho - Post Malone

Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Close to Me - Ellie Goulding

And So It Went - The Pretty Reckless

help herself - bbno$

Fire For You - Cannons

Twist the Knife - Chromatics

He Said She Said - Chvrches

Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Campus - Vampire Weekend

Your Power - Billie Eilish

Reach - Eternal Eclipse

1 Last Cigarette - The Band Camino

Insertion - Hans Zimmer

from the edge - fictionjunction

The Devil Is a Gentleman - Merci Raines

Meet Me In The Woods - Amarante

Fire - Saint Mesa

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Saint Mesa

Appetite - Casey Edwards

All Things Devour - aeseaes

Throne - Saint Mesa

Witchcraft - Vian Izak

June

The Shrine / An Argument - Fleet Foxes

It’s Tricky - Run

Darjeeling - Barrie

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings - Father John Misty

Picture Me Better - Weyes Blood

Loch Lomond - Mackenzi Tolk

Punta - Matzzy

Touch It Clean - DJ Raulito

Oh No - Kreepa

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land - Marina

Sofia - Askjell

The Boy - Shannon & the Clams

First Steps - Lena Raine

The Power of Balance Rearranged - Rush Garcia

And So My Heart Became a Void - Ursine Vulpine

Paper Mache - Iris Lune

Catch Me If You Can - Desert Belle

Darkroom Double - Moon & Pollution

Serotonin - girl in red

In the Air Tonight - Natalie Taylor

When Your Heart Is a Stranger - Friends In Paris

Moon Effect - Sailor Moon Eternal OST

In A Black Out - Hamilton Leithauser

Forever - CHVRCHES

Way Less Sad - AJR

Helter Skelter - Detention

The Devil You Know - X Ambassadors

TVA - Natalie Holt

Honeybee-The Head and the Heart

Home All Summer - Anthony Ramos

In the Shadows - Amy Stroup

My Way - Lucifer Cast

In the Air Tonight - Jon Howard

The Beast - Old Caltone

The Beast - Delta Rae

Freak Like Me - Adina Howard

Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel

Winds of Change - Scorpions

good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

If I Could See The World - Patsy Cline

Ends of the Earth - Lord Huron 

The Killing Kind - Marianas Trench

Bones - Wens

Kiss Me More - Doja Cat

How Not to Drown - CHVRCHES

July

Dark Moon - Bonnie Guitar

Free Smiles - Tia Ray

Sundown Blues - Joanna Levine

Citta Vuoto - Mina

If You Love Me - Brenda Lee

Very Full - Tom Hiddleston

Loki Green Theme - Natalie Holt

Wrecked - Imagine Dragons

The Wolves - Cyrus Reynolds

Cure For Me - Aurora

Theory of Light - Eternal Eclipse

Fate of the Clockmaker - Eternal Eclipse

Potential Breakup Son - Aly and AJ

transparent soul - travis barker

My Love Will Never DSie - AG, Claire Wyndham

Happy Together - King Princess

Atomise - Temple

Darkside - Oshins

Someone to Watch Over Me - Lucifer Cast

This is Ours - Peter Sivo

Love and War - Fleurie

Take Me To Church - MILCK

Devil I Know - Allie X

East of Eden - Zella Day

Shadow Preachers - Zella Day

Losing My Religion - BELLSAINT

Hard to Kill - Beth Crowley

Dark Side - Blind Channel

Tanz Mit Mir - Faun

My Jolly Sailor Bold - Ashley Serena

Stuttering - Fefe Dobson

August

Monsters and Fairies - Savannah

Chosen - SVRCINA

IAN HA 3BYK - GO A

Freya - Verdandi

Sick on Seventh Strett - Sarah and the Safe Word

Tarah - Sae Sae Norris

Suspicion - Sherwood Roberts

Fjorgyn - Osi and the Jupiter

Fight to Make It Up - Takenobu

The Edge of Dawn - Rozen

Innocence - Cannon Diviision

A Stray Child - .Hack//Sign

The Kiss - Luigi Rubino

Any Kind of Dead Person - Ghost Quartet

The Great Unknown - Dominique Gilbert

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Saint Mesa

over the rainbow - misterwives

Fireflies - Cullen Vance

My mother Told Me - Nati Dreddd

Athetosis - Crywolf

Major Tom - Shiny Toy Guns

Novacaine - 10 Years

Right Here Right Now - Jesus Jones

NDA - Billie Eilish

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

Completing the Circle - Gareth Coker

There’ll Always Be Another Monster - Brian D’Oliveira

POSTED FIC

May

take my hand and i'll drown you with me | Star Wars | Rey & Ben Solo | 2,157 words |  “You brought this upon yourself,” the creature told her, its voice serene.

June

keeping me restless and whole | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 1,584 words | Mobius was very young when he encountered his first Loki.

July

feed me lies until i'm dead | Loki | Thor/Loki | 3,476 words | “Don’t you think we should talk about it?” Thor asks.

the ghost of us can linger here | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 4,432 words | “So, how do you crazy kids want to do this?” Mobius asks them in a stage whisper, mouth twitching. At her back, Loki laughs, burying the sound against the curve of her neck.

there's a whisper in my bones | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 2,794 words |  “All right,” she says. “Fine. Let’s make things more interesting. Take off your clothes.”

east of eden | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 2,202 words |  “How long have you been fucking him?”  Mobius asks, stroking his fingers against the place where leather meets skin.

Triptych in C Minor | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 1,647 words | Pt 1 | There is a house at the end of time, past the last storm, pushed up against the very edge of the unknown. It is a castle, a manor, a fortress - all depending on who inhabits it. But one thing that it never is, is a home.

August

N/A

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

May

2k of Reylo mermay fic

June

N/A

July

1k+ of Xue Yang being a slut for Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen

300 words of vampire Song Lan

7k of Green Knight AU

August

10k of Green Knight AU

1.5k of hair dye shenanigans

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

May

yearning: a playlist for the heart

June

the chosen and the beautiful: a mix for jordan baker

July 

kings & queens of the ruckus: a mix for loki and sylvie

August

N/A

[tenspontaneite]

Peace Is A Journey (Chapter 1/?)

It was a long way to Xadia. A really, really long way. A month's travel if they were lucky. If they weren’t lucky....well, it could take twice that, or even longer.

It would take a miracle to get the egg to the Dragon Queen before war broke out. But what else could they do?

(AU in which the Xadian continent is much larger, the kids and their egg will be travelling together for a long, long time, and canon lays dying in a ditch along the way)

(Long fic, slow burn, 60k already written, cross-posted on ao3)

Chapter 1

In which there is a Lodge Heist.

The day began auspiciously enough, what with the discussion of Primal Sources and Callum successfully managing to get Rayla to agree to a very slight detour to the Banther Lodge. It was far more understanding and compromise than he might have expected from an elf, given all the stories, so he felt quite optimistic as he set out that day.

Of course, then he had to put his foot in it with his unfortunate assumptions about the diet of elves. And now Rayla was walking ahead of he and Ez with a sort of rigidity to her shoulders that implied she was unhappy about it. But, really, how was he supposed to know? Everyone knew that elves were blood-drinkers – or, well. Everyone said that they were. Wrongly, maybe, but – well. How was he supposed to know that?

At any rate, it was an uncomfortable situation all around. Especially given they probably wouldn’t arrive at the lodge until evening at the earliest, which made for a whole lot of uncomfortable silence to fill the time with.

Ezran, of course, wasn’t having any of that. “I think you annoyed her.” He said, in what was probably meant to be a whisper but carried perfectly well in the quiet forest. Callum winced.

“Wow, really? I never would have noticed. Thanks.” He muttered back to his brother, folding his arms.

Entirely unmoved by the sarcasm, Ez hefted the dragon egg in his arms, and persisted: “You were kind of a jerk.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that, please – do tell me more.” He glanced to the side, saw the hint of a smile building on the kid’s face, and immediately knew what was running through his head. “No, Ez, I know what you’re thinking, and no.”

“But-“

“The Crazy Jerkface Dance is not for-“ he bit off the word strangers, “-people we just met.” Ahead of them, he saw Rayla’s head tilt very slightly in their direction, as if listening more closely. He spared a moment to hope, sincerely, that she would not ask.

Ezran’s jaw set, stubbornly. It was a familiar look on him. “Well, maybe not the dance.” He allowed, generously. “But you can’t be a jerk to someone and just leave it.”

Why did Dad have to raise him so well? “…You’re not wrong.” He admitted, begrudgingly.

“Which means I’m right.” Bait, sat atop the egg, croaked as if to reinforce the statement.

Callum sighed, deeply. “Yes, Ez. You’re right. Congrats.” Ezran stared at him expectantly, and so did Bait, and the combination of the stares was enough to finally prod him into moving. He sped up enough to start catching up with the maligned elf in question, and clearly she heard him coming because she turned to stare at him suspiciously as he approached. “Rayla,” he said, reaching her side and slowing down.

“….Yes, Callum?” She answered, flatly, glancing briefly at him before returning her eyes to the path ahead.

“I’m sorry for what I said.” He expressed quickly, the words sort of hurried, just to make sure he’d get them out. “For thinking you were. You know, a blood-drinker. And that you’d try to feed Ez blood. I, well. I wasn’t thinking.” He wrung his hands a little, jittery with the social awkwardness of it all, and tried not to be too anxious while waiting for her response.

She was quiet for a second, and glanced at him again. The narrow-eyed tension ebbed a little. “…It’s not your fault, I guess.” She said, after a moment. “You just don’t know any better.”

His nerves settled a bit at the implied forgiveness, and he cleared his throat. “Still. I’ll try not to just…assume things like that, from now on.”

Her posture eased even more, and she eyed him a fair bit more tolerantly. “Makes me wonder if there’s anything I think I know about humans that I have completely wrong.” She commented, in an obvious enough progression of subject matter that Callum felt mostly off the hook. And, actually, he was kind of curious, now that she mentioned it.

Ez, having eavesdropped shamelessly on the whole thing, hurried forwards to look up brightly at Rayla. “Like what?” He inquired, apparently just as interested as Callum.

“Well,” She mused pensively, looking ahead as if deep in thought. “You all have ten fingers and fourteen toes, right?”

Callum had started nodding at ‘ten fingers’, nearly choked on his own saliva at ‘fourteen toes’, and then did a double-take just in time to see her trying and failing to smother a grin. “…I admit, you had me going for a second there.”

Ezran giggled and kicked his feet up experimentally for his next few steps. “Imagine having fourteen toes! Do you think we’d still fit in our shoes?”

“If we didn’t, we’d just make bigger shoes, I guess.” Callum shrugged, and glanced briefly at Rayla’s own footwear. He wasn’t sure if she just had smallish feet or if they actually were slim enough to suggest fewer toes than the human norm. “…So, do elves have number of toes as fingers?” He inquired, figuring he might as well just ask.

“No, we’ve got ten toes, same as humans.” Rayla answered, utterly straight-faced. He stared at her, nonplussed.

“I can’t actually tell if you’re joking or not.” He complained, and received his answer easily enough as she immediately snickered at him.

After a second, she took pity on him, snickering, and clarified “We have eight.”

“Huh.” Callum was reminded, abruptly, of his historic struggles with drawing human feet. He wasn’t so bad at them anymore, but once, they’d been his single most detested body part to attempt to render. He turned to stare ahead, brow furrowing a little as he imagined the different lines he’d need for a four-toed foot. And, for that matter, a four-fingered hand. He wanted, suddenly, to look at Rayla’s hands to inspect their configuration, but that would probably be pretty weird of him, given he’d not even known her a day.

His fingers itched for his sketchbook. He stubbornly held them still.

He became aware, suddenly, that Rayla was something. “-allum. Callum. What are you thinking about now?”

“Oh? Huh? Nothing much. Why?” he responded automatically, turning to blink at her.

“She asked you a question.” Ezran informed him.

“I asked you a question.” Rayla agreed.

“Sorry, I guess I tend to daydream a lot.” He shrugged. “What is it?”

She eyed him for a moment, but repeated it easily enough. “I asked how far it is to this winter lodge of yours.”

“Oh. Hmm.” Callum looked ahead as if trying to see all the way ahead to their destination. “It’s a good while yet. I think we’ll maybe get there in late afternoon, early evening.”

Rayla considered that. “Might want to keep an eye out for food on the way, then. Stop by a berry bush for lunch.” She hesitated, as if considering saying something else, but in the end kept quiet.

“We’ve not even had breakfast.��� Ezran pointed out. “And, wait, Callum – we’re going to the Banther Lodge?”

“Yeah, didn’t you – oh, you were asleep.” He remembered. “Right. I wanted to go there to pick up that weird cube in the game room. I think it might be magic. And the lodge is on the way, anyway, so…”

Ez frowned at him. “…Okay, I guess. But aren’t you worried there might be people there?”

“It’s the winter lodge, Ez. And it’s spring. No one is gonna be there.”

“Yeah, but…Isn’t the Banther Lodge where dad was sending us?”

Callum stopped walking, and after a step, so did the others. “….Oh.” he expressed, eyes widening. “…yeah. Yeah, it is, isn’t it. Um. Whoops?”

Rayla gave him a long looked. “’No winter, no humans’?” She parroted back at him a little sardonically, eyebrows raising.

“Yeah, I really didn’t think that one through.” He admitted, slumping. “If dad sent us there, he’d definitely have sent some guards. Maybe it’s not worth risking it, then.” He thought of the six symbols drawn into his sketchbook, and the primal stone in his bag, and felt his face falling. He’d thought the cube could be something important – something that could help him become a mage, but…it was probably just an old Xadian toy or something. Probably not worth the risk.

It was still a bummer, though.

A second later, he noticed that Rayla was still staring at him, now looking vaguely indecisive. “…What?”

She crossed her arms, muttered something indistinct about heartfelt speeches, and then produced a very put-upon sigh. “It probably wouldn’t hurt if we stopped near the lodge, and I went to check if there’s any humans around.” She announced, finally.

He straightened, eyes wide. “What, really?” He asked, astonished by this unexpected benevolence.

She rolled her eyes tolerantly, and smiled a little. “Yes, really. It should be fine as long as you lot stay back, and don’t go blundering in all-“ She waved her hand expressively in the air as she searched for words. “-Loud. And clumsy.”

“Thanks, Rayla.” He said sincerely, at the same time as Ezran said “Callum’s the clumsy one!”

Their eyes turned his way, and he added “He’s clumsy, not me. I can be pretty quiet when I want to be. But I’m carrying a dragon egg, so I don’t think I can do sneaky too well either.”

Rayla pointed to Callum first, “You’re welcome-“ And then Ezran, “-and, duly noted.”

By this point, though, Callum was occupied with his brother. “Since when am I the clumsy one?” He demanded, crossing his arms.

Tactfully, Rayla put a hand on his shoulder, and he was momentarily distracted by his earlier thoughts about elf hand structure. They really were just…like that, weren’t they? They didn’t look like they were missing a finger at all. They were just sort of…less wide than human hands. “Callum,” She said, kindly, interrupting his musing. “I’ve seen you trip over tree roots twice today already. We’ve not even been walking an hour.”

Well. When you put it that way…. “Alright, maybe I am a little clumsy.” He admitted, a little sulkily. “So what?”

She removed her hand, shot him a vaguely smug-looking smile, and turned to keep walking. “So, you leave the sneaking to me.”

“I can live with that.” Ezran said, trotting off after her.

“Let’s hurry up a little. If we want to get there in good time for a sneak-around today, then no more lollygagging.”

In the end, Callum declined to ask whether lollygagging was a real word or not, and just obediently followed after her.

In the end, some lollygagging turned out to be warranted: firstly, because Ezran’s little legs weren’t used to all this walking and needed a rest; secondly, because Callum’s less-little legs weren’t faring much better; and thirdly, because Rayla spotted a bush of something edible at a lunch-appropriate hour on the way.

Berries, as it happened, didn’t really go a long way towards satisfying hunger. He felt better than before, sure, and they tasted alright, if a bit sour…but, well, it was no bacon and eggs. Or a good sandwich. Or even a jelly tart. He peeled another stick of berries from the bush, making a face at them, and picked them one by one from their twigs, fingers becoming incrementally more and more red-stained.

…Come to think of it, they hadn’t really planned for the feeding-themselves aspect of the journey, had they?

….or any part of the journey at all, to be honest.

Callum frowned, licking berry juice from his fingers, and wiped his hands on his pants. Then he shuffled away from the bush and pulled his sketchbook into his lap, flipping one page past the symbols Rayla had drawn that morning. His charcoal hovered over the page as he called the memory of his lessons to mind, and after a moment, sketched out a rough map of Katolis in quick lines.

He put a mark down for the capital they’d vacated last night, and drew in the major rivers and lakes he could remember, as well as a few inverted V-shapes to indicate where the mountain ranges were. Then, at the north-east edge of Katolis, he drew a long bold line to represent the harsh divide of the Breach. He remembered, with some dismay, how long it had taken last time they travelled to the Great Bay for summer – and that had been with horses! And boats! And travelling on the roads!

It was a long way to Xadia. A really long way. A month's travel if they were lucky, and could catch a ship or two to speed it up, and the weather didn’t strand them anywhere for too long, and they didn’t have to go over any mountains, and there weren’t any other setbacks. And…that was a lot of ‘if’s.  If they weren’t lucky....well, the journey could take a lot more than a month. And that wasn’t even counting how far into Xadia they’d need to travel once they got to the border.

It would take a miracle to get the egg to the Dragon Queen before the war could break out. But what else could they do?

“Something on your mind?” Rayla inquired from beside him, wiping off her own red fingertips on the edge of a tooth.

“Just…the way to Xadia. And how I didn’t think this through.” He tapped his charcoal against his hand, troubled, as he stared at the map. Rayla pulled herself over after a second to look down, tilting her head at the shape on the page. She hummed briefly with recognition, and settled next to him. “…How long did it take you to get to the castle from the border?” He noticed Ezran looking over, listening, as he presented a small bunch of berries to Bait.

Rayla frowned a little herself, perhaps reading the track of his thoughts. “’Bout two months.” She admitted, apologetically.

Ezran made an incredulous noise around a mouthful of fruit, and Callum wasn’t feeling much better. “­Two – why did it take you so long?”

“We went the most isolated and impassable ways we could, to make sure no one spotted us.” She answered, quietly, not meeting his eyes. “It added a lot of time to the journey, even when we went as fast as we could. But it was necessary. Maybe not for us, though.”

“Why not?” he asked, a little desperate for any shred of hope of shortening the journey.

She offered a half-smile, and pulled up her hood, throwing her face into shadow. “If we’re careful, we can hide that I’m an elf. That’s a bit harder to do with six elves, maybe, but if it’s just me…I think we can afford to risk getting closer to human towns.” She flipped her hood down again, hair and ears and horns returning to view.

He made an interested noise. “Well, if you keep your hands hidden, sure, maybe.” He cast a doubtful glance at the map. “It’s still a really long way, though. Maybe there’ll be some food at the Banther Lodge that we can take with us.” Rayla shuffled a little at that, but didn’t say anything. He eyed her. “…What?”

“I was wondering – if we’re going to this lodge of yours for your magic cube, maybe we should try to pick up some supplies for the journey.”

Ezran spoke up, apparently done with his lunch. “Like what? Food?”

“I mean supplies.” Rayla reiterated, a little impatiently. “Long trips like this take a lot of doing, you know? I’m not sure what you’ve got packed, but I’ve only got what I’m wearing. My – the camp was on the wrong side of the castle for us to pick anything up on the way out. If we try to make the trip to Xadia without supplies, let me tell you, we will not have a fun time.”

“I didn’t think about that.” Callum admitted, noticing for the first time that she didn’t have a bag of any sort on her. “I…hm.” He stared back down at his sketchbook for a second, then turned to the back page to pick out a folded sheet of rough paper that was made for times like this. He held the charcoal poised. “I don’t actually have any idea of the sorts of things we’d need for travelling alone without twenty guards and however many household staff – maybe we should make a list? And if it’s in the lodge, you can see if you can pick it up.”

Rayla blinked, looking down at the paper. “Sounds good.” She said after a moment. “Let me think. There’s a lot of stuff, I’ll definitely forget some of it. Let’s see…well, what have you got in your bags already?”

“I have some clothes.” Ezran volunteered, pulling his bag open to inspect the contents. Bait promptly hopped into it, sitting atop the egg. “And dried jelly tart goop. And jelly tart crumbs. And a dragon egg, and Bait.”

Callum opened his own bag to check. He’d sort of packed in a hurry, and definitely hadn’t been thinking about it much. “I’ve got a few sets of clothes, my sketchbook, and a primal stone.”

Rayla made a vaguely disapproving noise. “Well, at least your drawing book thingy has a strap. What clothes do you two have? How many?”

He reflected that it was very weird to end up in a situation where he might need to tell a near-stranger how many pairs of underwear he had with him. “Er. I’ll check.” He said, and rifled through the bag to make a full accounting, Ezran doing the same.

“I’ve got two pairs of underpants, and one pair of pants and a spare shirt and undershirt. Couple of socks.” Ezran reported, making a face. “They’re all covered in jam though.” Rayla nodded at him, then pointed expectantly at Callum.

“Er. Three underpants, one pants, two undershirts, one shirt, one jacket, a cloak, and socks.”

“Well, that’s a start. Callum, is that jacket good for cold weather? Or the cloak?”

He blinked. “…Not, really? It’s basically the same as the one I’m wearing. Same colour, even. And the cloak is more for if it rains – it’s a little bit rainproof.” He tugged on his jacket to demonstrate its thickness, and then pulled out the edges of a black cloak from his bag to show her that. “It’s spring, though, and it’ll only get warmer. Do we need cold-weather stuff?”

She reached out to feel at the cloak, and made a dubious noise. “If we end up going through the mountains, yes.” She assured him, dry. “Okay. What I was taught about packing light is that you want one set of clothes to wear, and then a second one you can wear when you wash the first pair. And, you know, so on. So you, Ezran – you’ll want a spare jacket of some sort, and some winter things. Callum, you just need winter things.”

“Well, good thing it’s the winter lodge, then.” Callum remarked.

“We’ve got some really fluffy cloaks there. And gloves. And scarves, and hats.” Ezran informed her.

“They’d all be in our room or the cloakroom, so easy to find.” He paused, and gestured at his book. “Are we definitely going into the lodge then? Even if there’s people there? Because if we are, I can draw you a floor plan.”

Rayla raised her eyebrows at that, but nodded. “Even if it turns out to be packed with humans, we do need the supplies.” She admitted. “Better to get them from your things than have to steal from someone.”

“Not-stealing is definitely a bonus. Stealing from one’s citizens is not a very princely thing to do.” Callum said sagely, and Ezran nodded solemnly along with him.

“On that, we agree.” Rayla said, and scrutinised the book and charcoal. “…Well, you draw your floor plan, and I’ll have a think about the things we need.”

Callum did not require a great deal of prompting to get highly occupied with drawing, so he happily took that directive, putting charcoal to loose leaf paper and frowning in concentration as he mapped out the shapes of the Banther Lodge into a recognisable map of the rooms and floors. He couldn’t quite resist doing something a bit more comprehensive, so after a moment, he started drawing tiny representations of several of the rooms around the edges, adding helpful lines to make it obvious where they were on the plan.

While he was doing that, apparently, Rayla was consulting with Ezran about the locations of varying things in the lodge, not that he heard or noticed a word of it. At any rate, when he was basically done and presented the plan to Rayla, she seemed like a girl who had a game plan. All sort of….determined and focused, and satisfied. “Thanks.” She said, accepting the page and looking over it, eyebrows raising a little again. “…Hm.”

“Is it not good?” Callum asked after a second, face falling.

“No, it’s…fine.” She assured him, with an absentminded flap of her hand. “…Don’t suppose you could mark where the windows are on here as well?”

“Oh, right, of course.” He took the drawing back and sketched in quick lines on the floor plan. “Like that?”

“…Yes. Yeah, that’s good.” Rayla’s expression was a little strange as she received the updated drawing. “If it’s accurate, that’s a lot more information than I’ve had before when sneaking into places.”

“Callum has a really good memory.” Ezran informed her proudly. “So it’ll definitely be accurate.” Callum reached over to pat his brother’s shoulder affectionately, and then turned back to Rayla.

“So, did you work out what we’ll need?”

“Yep. Or most of it, anyway. If I think of more on the way – actually, do you mind if I write a list on the back of this?” She brandished the floor plan.

He waved agreeably towards the paper with both hands. “Of course, go ahead. It’s just loose paper.” For good measure, he passed over his spare stick of charcoal so she could actually write.

She muttered a thanks and stood as she took it, already writing. “If you two are good to go, I’d best do this while we walk. We’ve still got a lot of ground to cover.”

Bait, as if understanding the urgency, shot his tongue out to pry another mouthful of berries from the bush. Callum considered it a fairly sound idea, and snapped off a few larger clusters to eat on the way, passing one to Ez. “Yeah, okay.” He nodded, and stood. “Let’s go.”

The light of the day was growing dim by the time Rayla began to hear the distant sounds of voices; she held up her hand and stopped, ducking backwards into the shelter of a tree’s shadow. Callum opened his mouth to start to say something, but she held a finger to his mouth and shushed him, listening carefully.

The clatter and clamour of distant armour. Voices. It was very faint, but…

“I hear people.” She said, lowly, and tilted her head. “Reckon that’ll be the lodge over there?” She nodded towards the sound.

Callum and Ezran exchanged a glance, and both nodded. “I don’t hear anything.” Callum said, thankfully very quietly, “But yeah. This place looks about familiar.”

“I think that’s the rock I tripped over last year, see?” Ezran pointed out a rock next to a fallen tree covered in a thick sheet of moss and greenery. “I remember because it was next to the tree.”

“Shh.” Rayla reminded, as his voice was louder than she’d prefer, and after a second of listening, spoke again. “Let’s get some distance between us and the heavily-armed humans. Be quiet.” She mimed zipping her mouth shut and stared at them until she was reasonably sure they’d listen, and then directed them away. She spared a moment to wonder if humans even had zips, to understand the gesture, and then shook her thoughts back to practicality.

She’d need them to stop somewhere secluded and out-of-the-way of the humans’ patrol paths. Somewhere she could leave them without having to worry too much about them running into trouble while she was gone. Unfortunately, the direction she chose to search for this ‘somewhere’ seemed to be in the direction of deep water, because she was quite certain she could hear a river nearby.

Well. Sometimes life was just like that.

The river came into view only a few minutes later, and after scanning the treeline for anything likely, she found a nice enclosed area where the trees and foliage ought to hide the princes from casual sight, and that was also not too close to the river. She marched them up to it, made a quick circle of the trees, and nodded slightly to herself. “Wait here a second.” She directed them, and jumped up the nearest tree.

“Hey-“ He heard Callum protest, startled, but she ignored him.

She pulled her way through the branches as high as she could go, and looked out from between the leaves.

The lodge was visible, even from this reasonable distance. The clearing its grounds left in the forest was very distinctive, and she could see the top of the roof sloping above the trees. The river they’d come up against seemed to run down one side of it. She couldn’t see a lot of the actual ground from this angle, but – there did seem to be horses there, and humans milling about in the open area.

It was a good thing night was coming. Humans had rubbish eyesight in the dark – she’d have a much better chance of getting away with looting the lodge for supplies under their noses. It heavily depended on where they were stationing their soldiers, though. If there were too many inside the lodge…well, they might have to give it up as a bad thought.

Rayla considered the distant clearing for a few moments more, then descended the tree, finding the princes milling uncertainly about the bottom.

“You climb trees really fast.” Ezran informed her, sounding very impressed.

“Thanks?” She offered a hesitant smile, and then dropped down lightly to the ground from the last branch. “I had a wee look up there – there’s a good few humans about that lodge. I want you two to stay here while I go have a closer look at their patrol patterns, see what they’re up to.”

Callum nodded at her, eyebrows dropping a little into an expression of vague concern. “So you’re not going to try to go into the lodge yet?”

“Nah. Just doing a bit of reconnaissance.” It had been thoroughly trained into her to carefully observe and map out the area and security of a place before trying to slip through its defences. The fact that neither she nor the rest of the assassins had done any preliminary recon of the castle at all was testament to how much they’d had to rush to make it in time for the full moon. “I shouldn’t be any longer than half an hour, alright? Stay hidden. They might be patrolling.”

“We will.” Callum put a hand on Ezran’s shoulder, as if to ward him from walking off. “…Good luck? Happy sneaking.”

She snorted, flashed them a half-grin as she pulled her hood down, and then jumped back into the tree, this time using it as a platform to start swinging through the rest of them. She paused every few trees to stop and listen, careful for the sounds of nearby humans trampling through the undergrowth, and eventually heard a few. She stopped hidden in the branches above a pair of armoured humans, both women, who were walking in a fairly straight line through the forest, talking idly with one another.

Rayla listened to see if they were saying anything useful, and they sort of were. One of them was expressing relief over getting to patrol instead of setting up camp. The second disagreed, because she apparently liked dealing with tents more than walking around after they’d already been riding all day.

So, the humans were setting up camp at the lodge. With tents. That implied they weren’t staying inside the lodge.

Feeling vaguely more optimistic, she waited for them to pass her by, trying to trace their route from what she’d seen. A basic perimeter walk, maybe? They weren’t far from the lodge. Maybe only fifty or sixty metres out.

Once the guards were far enough to probably not hear it, Rayla leaped to the next tree and continued her progress to the edge of the clearing, growing slower and more cautious the closer she came. Most of the trees here were pines, which didn’t make her job easier, but she managed. The sun was setting to the west, and since she’d approached from the easterly side of the lodge, the large building in the clearing was casting a convenient shadow over the treeline she’d approached from. She watched the skyline, briefly, some tension in her face that she’d not been paying attention to easing a little as the light dimmed. She sighed, the shadows a welcome relief to her eyes, and felt the coming night prickle her into alertness. Good.

She sat in the tree and looked out at the lodge, quietly withdrawing the paper Callum had drawn on to inspect its correspondence to reality. She’d been impressed by the quality of the drawing, but Ezran had been right – it really was accurate. It was a novel experience, sneaking around a place she had an actual map for. She nodded to herself, satisfied, and put the paper away again, eyes now tracking the force of humans in the area.

There were fewer than she’d feared. Only about ten, including what looked like their commander, a man wearing that cloak and armour she recognised from the castle Crownguard. He was standing over by the lines of horses out to the front of the house, not far from the slope of the river that ran eastwards to where she’d left the princes. He seemed to be taking reports from two other soldiers, but was too far away for her to hear anything being said.

Rayla cast a glance to the rest of the humans, finding two apparently in the process of pitching tents to the rear of the lodge. They were planning to stay for a while, then. And they couldn’t have arrived too long ago, or their camp would be set up already. It was late, for humans to still be setting up. They’d have difficulty getting things done in the dark.

She considered the number of humans, and the number of horses. There were an even sixteen horses, so…perhaps she should assume the presence of the same number of humans. Ten were in the clearing, and she’d seen two on patrol, which left four unaccounted for. They might be on patrol, or they might be in the lodge.

After some consideration, she left her tree for the next one over, picking her way quietly around the edge of the treeline, closer to where the commander was taking reports. He was well away from the trees, close to the river as he was, but the wind was in her favour – once she got into the right position, she could just about hear their conversation.

She settled into a well-concealed branch and listened.

He finished taking reports from those two soldiers, and then another two came out of the lodge and talked to him as well. Another two emerged from the shadow of the forest about ten minutes later, and she recognised them as the patrol guards from earlier. There was still no sign of the last two hypothetical humans, but the reports shed some light on that.

It was a good haul of intel. Rayla considered it more than enough, and once the commander turned to write a letter for the crow one of his people was offering, she turned to glide back through the trees.

She kept eastwards until she saw the river, and adjusted her course back to where she’d left the boys. She found them sat where she’d left them, Callum with his sketchbook out and Ezran peering over his shoulder, making comments. She dropped down in front of them without ceremony, and both jumped back, shrieking a little from shock. She smirked slightly and, somewhat needlessly, announced “I’m back.”

“Er, yes, so we noticed.” Callum said, wide-eyed, hand resting lightly over his chest like a fainting maiden. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“I forget sometimes how easy it is to sneak up on you humans.” She lied, grinning, and leaned over to glance at what he’d been drawing. The egg of the Dragon Prince, apparently. It was only half-shaded, but already impressive. She wasn’t quite sure how he managed to get the look of the light and glow with just grey charcoal.

“How did it go at the lodge?” Ezran asked, looking up at her. “Did anyone see you?”

“’Course not.” She made a vaguely derisive noise at the mere thought. “It all went fine. I think we can do this.”

Callum perked up. “So there’s not too many people?”

“’Bout sixteen, I’d say, but they’ve already searched the lodge, so if there’s anyone posted in there, it won’t be more than two people.” She answered, thinking back to the conversation she’d eavesdropped on. “They’re looking for you. They knew you’d been sent here, and thought you might have managed to arrive before them. They’re setting up camp to wait and see if you show up.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense. Did you listen to what they were saying, then?” He closed his book and put it down at his side, interested.

“Yep. And turns out we got very, very lucky.” She sighed a little at the memory of the most pertinent piece of information. “They’re waiting on reinforcements, but they won’t arrive for days. We’ll be long gone by then. And that’s definitely a good thing, because apparently it’s General Amaya who’s on the way.” She shook her head in disbelief. Imagine that: the Standing Battalion herself, redirected to wait around for a couple of princes.

Unexpectedly, Callum and Ezran instantly looked at each other, expressions turning weird. Baffled, maybe. Or uneasy.

Ezran spoke first, confusedly. “Do you think it’s a different Amaya?”

“I don’t think there’s another General Amaya, Ez.”

“But still-“

“Yeah, I know.” Callum turned back to her, looking strangely pensive. “You’re sure they said General Amaya?”

She eyed them suspiciously. “Believe me, it’s not a name I’m about to get wrong.” She said, dryly, and crossed her arms at the next loaded glance exchanged by the boys. “Alright, what is it?”

“Er. Well, nothing much.” Callum attempted. She levelled him with a very unimpressed stare. He deflated. “Well – she’s, kind of our aunt? Yeah.”

Rayla stared.

“I’m kind of sorry we’ll miss her.” Ezran said, obliviously, smiling a little as if recalling something pleasant. “It’s been so long since she last got to visit.”

“Well, she’s a busy woman. It’s probably a good thing we’ll be gone by the time she gets here, though. Aunt Amaya…well, she really doesn’t like elves. You know that.” He looked across at her, and whatever he saw on her face made him quickly look away again, nervously clearing his throat. “I don’t think it would go well if she met Rayla.”

“Maybe.” Ezran sounded very doubtful. “I bet she’d listen if we tried though.”

Callum made a doubtful noise, and seemed about to say something else when Rayla found her voice again. “Aunt Amaya.” She repeated, incredulously, and looked over the two boys with disbelief. “General Amaya. She’s your aunt?”

“….yes?” Callum offered tentatively. “I didn’t know you’d have heard of her.”

Rayla stared, still half lost for words, and reached up to rub at the centre of her forehead, feeling a headache threatening her at the mere thought. “Your aunt is probably the best human warrior alive.” She said, finally. “You could say I’ve heard of her. We definitely got lucky that she’s not here. Ransacking your lodge for supplies under her watch….I’m good, but I don’t think I’m that good.” She shook her head, still not entirely able to process the idea of these dumb humans being related to General Amaya.

The humans shared another glance and shrugged. “When’s the supply heist going to happen, then? Since you think it’s alright.” The elder prince inquired, leaning forwards with interest.

Rayla frowned, and looked up at the sky. “Well, I would say it would be better to do in a few hours, when they’ll be sleepy and complacent, but…” She tapped her fingers on her knee, crouching down to rest closer to eye level with the others. “I kinda want to steal one of their tents. And that’ll be very hard to do once they’re all set-up and being slept in.”

“Steal a tent?” Ezran parroted, surprised, and then visibly actually put some thought to it. “That’s a great idea, Rayla.”

“You said there wouldn’t be any tents in the lodge, but…the soldiers all have them.” She shrugged. “And theirs don’t look half bad, either.”

“And there’s a lodge right there, so it’s not like we’ll be condemning some poor schmuck to sleeping out in the open.” Callum nodded along, clearly picking up on her enthusiasm.

“Personally I care more about condemning us to sleeping out in the open for the whole journey, but that’s also true.” Rayla commented dryly. “Anyway, they already had two set up when I left, so if I want to grab a tent pack I’d best get a move on. Can’t afford to sit around. But – I don’t know what they’ll do when they notice the pack missing. We might have to run. So I want you to be ready to move. No drawing, or settling in.”

Callum glanced forlornly at his sketchbook, but slung its strap over his shoulder agreeably enough. “Yeah, that makes sense. Do you know how long you’ll be?”

“Nope. No clue. Probably not more than an hour or so if all goes well.” She stood, and cracked her neck, stretching out her limbs with a series of satisfying pops. “Right then. Hand over the bag, mister.” She held out her hand, expectantly. He blinked, but got her meaning after a second, obediently passing over his barely-filled backpack. She slung it over her shoulder and exhaled sharply. “Keep an ear out. Don’t get caught.”

“Right back at you.” He smiled lopsidedly. “Have fun.”

She mock-saluted him, and then returned gladly to the trees.

Night was well and truly falling now, and the dark settled over her with a comforting familiarity. Her eyes adjusted easily to the low light, the colours of the forest going grey and pale in the absence of sunlight to colour them. Something in her eased, settled, and then another part of her woke up. Rayla leapt through the forest, and felt herself coming alive and alert, senses sharp and perfectly-attuned to the twilit forest.

Moonshadow elves could adapt to a diurnal routine well enough, and frequently did – but it was night that they were made for. And this – sneaking through the night-shadows, lit by nothing more than stars and moon? She was born for this.

Easy, alert anticipation stretched under her skin as she approached the lodge, quick and silent in the treetops. The first thing she looked at when she arrived was the fledgling camp. Three tents were up now, the soldiers getting to work on the fourth. She wasn’t quite sure how many packs were left at the wall of the lodge, but there couldn’t be more than six remaining. She stared, narrow-eyed, and considered what to do.

They were setting up the tents by the light of a single torch, lodged at the top of a nearby post. The actual packs were in shadow. She thought she had a very high chance of grabbing one without being seen, but what about when they noticed it missing? If they searched the lodge while she was still packing supplies, she’d be in trouble. But if she waited until there were fewer packs left, she might miss her chance to get one. And she did not fancy the idea of sleeping in the open for weeks on end.

Finally, she exhaled quietly, and dropped down from the trees into the deepest shadows. She marked the positions of twelve visible humans, two of whom were standing watch by the doors of the lodge, three tending to the horses, the commander tending the crow, two seeming to be arranging the camp food supplies, two pitching tents, and the last two standing guard beside-

Her eyes narrowed. Was that a boat?

It was. Ugh. She stared at it, with an uncomfortable prickling feeling, and resolved to ignore the thing entirely. It probably wouldn’t be relevant. It hopefully wouldn’t be relevant.

Quietly, Rayla slipped around the edge of the clearing, across to the back wall of the lodge, and stealthily picked her way towards the tent packs, casting wary glances to the tent-pitchers who were amiably coordinating their work by torchlight, just ten metres away. She ran quick eyes over the packs – only five left. After a moment of quick decision, she extracted one at the edge and rearranged the others to make it look less like there was one actually missing, and then turned tail and made a beeline back to the trees. She climbed a likely specimen a few metres out from the clearing, and stowed the tent pack in it, and then extracted her floor plan to have a last look over it.

She looked from the paper to the lodge, squinting, and noted with disbelief that the windows were all wide open. What in the world was that in aid of? Were they trying to air out the building? Was it dusty in there? Either way, she definitely wasn’t complaining. Once again, she spared a moment to thank magic itself for not making her have to contend with General Amaya.

Without further ado, Rayla dropped down from the tree and slunk quickly over to the walls, lodging her boots into the masonry and hauling herself up the walls, and slipped easily through a large window on the first floor. She didn’t even need to use her picks.

She ducked down to the floor quickly, and looked around, getting her bearings. She’d landed in what looked like the kitchen Callum had sketched, which meant the main hall should be through that door, the stairs to the cellar through that one…

…and, yeah, Callum’s drawings were actually stunningly accurate. That human had skill.

She shook away the thought, and listened carefully for signs of any of the last two or four humans within the lodge, but all of the sound seemed to be coming from outside. The building was dark, and very, very still.

All the better.

Rayla headed for the main hall, steps silent, and upon confirming it empty, made a beeline for the cloakroom. It was strange, to have everything look like the drawings she’d seen, to know where she was meant to be looking. She pulled the largest backpack she could find off of a hook, and then looked over the winterwear, finding a row of heavy fur cloaks, luxurious enough to be thick fur on both sides, and to have collars bristling with even longer fur. Only one of them looked potentially Ezran-sized, so she stuffed that into the bag, and then studied the rest of them a little more closely. That one looked a bit shorter, maybe? She unhooked it and held it up in front of her to judge it, and concluded it to be approximately the right size to be Callum’s. She hesitated to pull another one off the hooks, but, well, Ezran had given it his blessing. So she took a third, which might also have been Callum’s, and stuffed them all into Callum’s bag, with some difficulty.

Heavy winter cloaks were, as a rule, very bulky, and these ones were extravagantly thick. She doubted she’d be able to get any more into his bag, but maybe she’d manage some smaller bits of clothing. She scanned the cloakroom and found the little set of drawers she was looking for, pulling each of them open to find hats, scarves, and gloves. She pulled a pair of the latter out with some amusement, holding them up to her hands to look at the extra finger on the fabric. Hand-disguises, she thought, and suppressed a snigger.

She grabbed a few of each and shoved them in next to the cloaks, and then moved on.

Her progress through the lodge was slow and careful, stopping in the shadows of furniture and doors to listen to the sounds outside. There was still no noise within the lodge. She headed for the cellar next, since it would be the hardest to escape from if she was cornered there, and she wanted it out of the way. She rooted through every container she could find, throwing things haphazardly into whichever bag would fit it. A roll of bandages, plus a couple other useful wound-care things. Scissors. Two large empty jars. A pair of large waterskins. Two long coils of rope. Some spark-rocks. She left the cellar as soon as she could, and then rooted through the kitchen.

She located some long brown things where Callum had helpful annotated the possibility of food. They were rock solid and heavy enough to use as blunt force weapons. Dubiously, she inspected one, having a sniff, and….it maybe smelled edible, but she wasn’t at all certain. In the end, she elected to take the jar of mush that smelled like fruit instead, figuring it was probably some kind of jam. She located a bar of soap near the washing basin and took that too, adding in a wash-rag for good measure, and found a small iron cooking pot in one of the cupboards. Heavy, but probably worth it.

The kitchen thus raided, she headed upstairs, and straight for where the princes’ room ought to be. She opened the door to it, and noted the familiar-looking space with two beds, several chests, and a large wardrobe at the end. Callum’s drawings continued to serve well.

She located Ezran’s clothing and pulled out a thick wool jumper from there, and then found Callum’s and did the same.

Then she hesitated.

Dubiously, she extracted a pair of trousers, holding them to her hips to gauge the length. Short. Not horribly short, but….definitely short. She frowned indecisively, slinging the clothing over one arm as she inspected the shirts, and then the thin jackets. They all looked nearly identical to what Callum was already wearing, the only variance being in colour and in some cases the embroidered patterns on the front. She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that a journey back to Xadia on one set of clothes would be too disgusting to contemplate, and liberally raided Callum’s vestments to pick out a few bits for her own use. She gave the rest of the room a quick once-over, and extracted a hairbrush from someone’s drawer, a plain towel, and a couple sticks of charcoal that were almost certainly Callum’s.

That only left the supposedly-magic cube.

Now feeling rather weighed down by the two increasingly-full bags, Rayla made the final trip to the game room, locating her quarry in a box of keys. It was, indeed, a weird cube with the symbols of the primals laid out on each side. The moon symbol glowed as she touched it, so maybe there was something to the idea of it being magical. Without incident, she shoved it into the bag and traced her path back through the lodge to the window she’d come in from.

She paused to listen at the window before leaving it. There was the sound of raised voices outside. Arguing. Someone named Marcos was being accused of losing a tent.

They’d noticed its absence, then. Best move quickly.

She peeked out of the window, confirmed a clear path to the treeline, and hauled herself and her cargo out, landing a bit more heavily than she’d have preferred. She made it back to the trees with an almost laughable lack of trouble, retrieved the tent pack, and made her way back eastward after a heist that went off without a hitch.

Mind, the two bags plus the tent pack made her significantly less graceful than she’d have liked, and the exertion had her breathing heavily and making an uncomfortable amount of noise as she finally drew close to where she’d left the boys. Enough noise that they actually heard her coming, startling and looking up warily at the trees above them. Rayla dropped heavily down in front of them, and this time they weren’t surprised. Relieved, though; it was gratifying to see that on their faces. The glow toad croaked reproachfully at the sight of her, evidently not as pleased to see her as the humans.

“Rayla! You’re back.” Ezran sounded audibly relieved too, bless him. He really did seem like a good kid.

With a groan of relief, she set the backs down. “I’m back.” She confirmed, shaking out her shoulders.

Callum stepped forwards to inspect her haul, hands hovering over each bag in turn. “Looks like it went well?” he asked cautiously, hand coming to rest on the tent pack. It was a heavy, bulky thing – shaped like a long roll with a single strap to sling it over a shoulder. It had bounced about like nobody’s business when she’d had to jump through the trees with the thing. “Hey, you got the tent?” he sounded impressed.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Ezran sighed, seeing the potential future of many days sleeping rough vanish before his eyes.

She grinned, proud and immensely satisfied. “Mission accomplished.” She declared, and sat down. “No one saw me, and when I left they were blaming each other for losing the tent, but I don’t know if they’ll notice anything off if they go back into the lodge. I think we should move out a bit before we rest for the night, just in case.”

They exchanged dismayed looks. “….Do we have to?” Ezran asked plaintively after a moment. “I was nearly falling asleep while you were gone. Could we at least have a nap?”

Rayla hesitated, and looked back over her shoulder. They were about five minutes of casual walking away from the lodge, which…wasn’t really far. It didn’t feel very safe. But… “I don’t think it’s safe,” She said after a moment, and their faces fell. “But if you want to sleep now, I’ll keep watch, so I can wake you up if there’s any issue.”

Callum blinked at her. “What about you, Rayla? Won’t you be tired?”

She was tired. Naturally nocturnal or not, she’d still been up and walking all day. But… “It’s only a day past the full moon.” She looked up at the sky, where the trees obscured the waning shape of it. But she could feel it. Even past the power the true full moon brought, it was invigorating. “I’ll last. And I’ll wake one of you at dawn and get a couple hours then.”

Callum inspected her, face serious, and nodded. “Thanks, Rayla.” He said, sincere, and Ezran echoed it quickly. “Wake me up when you want to get some sleep, okay? Even if it’s in the middle of the night.”

“…Sure.” She agreed, with absolutely no intention of actually waking him up earlier than necessary. She was not at all certain of his abilities as a watchman, and these were far from the best circumstances to test him in.

Ezran yawned widely, rubbed his eyes, and shuffled over to find a comfortable patch of moss to sleep on. “Mmkay. Thanks again, Rayla. ‘Night.” Callum hesitated a bit, looking at her awkwardly, before he turned over to do the same.

She sat still and quiet for several minutes, listening as they shuffled and shifted and then, when they’d grown comfortable, eased audibly into sleep, breath evening out. She wondered if they were heavy enough sleepers for her to get some organising done in the night, or if she’d just have to sit quietly for hours.

Well, if she did, it wouldn’t be all that new, though the length of the watch would be. She was used to a watch rotation shared among six people, which was much more lenient. If this little group tried to set up a rotation…well, it’d only be her and Callum trading off, wouldn’t it? Ezran was a kid. He couldn’t be any older than ten, and you didn’t put ten-year-olds on watch duty. Even she wouldn’t have been a good watchelf at the age of ten.

Her wrist twinged unpleasantly, not for the first time that day, but….for the first time, Rayla didn’t ignore it. Casting a furtive glance at the princes to make sure they were asleep, she brought up her left wrist to stare at the binding. It looked so deceptively unassuming now. It felt a little uncomfortable, maybe, like she ought to loosen it, but certainly not like irrevocable limb loss embodied in a tiny silver band.

She’d never seen an assassin’s bind stay on for more than a day before. She knew, in theory, what was going to happen, but….how long would it take? How much would it hurt? Would her hand just fall off on its own…or would it be more of an agonising process of the band tightening until it squeezed through her skin and flesh and bone? Her fingers clenched reflexively at the mere thought, and she shivered. If it came to that, she’d much rather cut it off herself. At least then maybe she wouldn’t die from infection before the hand even came off.

Quietly, she pulled out one of her blades, and lodged the tip under the binding. She tugged, and pulled, but the blade that could happily pierce rock did absolutely nothing to the piece of flimsy-looking ribbon. It didn’t even so much as displace a thread. She hadn’t expected any different, really, but…

She sighed, frustrated, and put the blade away.

Miles away, the kingdom was changing. That day had dawned on the end of a beloved monarch’s reign, his funeral procession rang out by the castle bells, tolling lowly all the way to the Valley of Graves. There, Lord Viren declared that the Princes of Katolis were both dead, and the kingdom grieved for the death of the entire royal family as the King’s body burned.

The sun set, and by the light of the Acolytes’ fires, Opeli reluctantly placed the Crown of Towers upon a new head.

On that day, the Thirteenth of the month, the High Mage was crowned Lord Protector of the realm.

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End chapter.

Timeline: I’ve decided a date for the start of canon just so I can make a proper timeline to follow. In this story, the first day of canon (night-time, when Rayla fails to kill Marcos) was 11th of May. The day of the full moon was 12.05, day 2 since start of canon. This chapter takes place on 13.05, or day 3 since start of canon. Numbering the days like this helps me keep track of when events should take place, as my notes on TDP episodes are numbered according to the day count. My timeline is meticulously planned up to day 14 so far, and I have plans that will take the story far beyond that.

Important canon divergences this chapter: Amaya is still many days away from the castle, and had no chance of stopping Viren’s coronation. Viren is now, somewhat legitimately, the Lord Protector of Katolis, and will have full authority to use the king’s seal and command the forces of Katolis. You can bet Opeli isn’t happy about it though, and most of the local citizens won’t be, either.

On the story concept: The drastically increased size of the continent changes basically everything. Armies take much longer to move, and the logistics of supplying them are much more difficult. Amaya is not able to basically teleport from the Breach to the Banther Lodge in half a day. Anything that’s time-sensitive, or involves a message or a person having to go somewhere, may turn out drastically differently. Some major events in canon may still happen, others might not, and others may occur in very, very different ways.

The kids themselves will take dramatically different routes to canon, encounter different problems, make different plans, and in general spend a whole lot more time travelling and managing their travel. There’ll be lots of delicious travel scenes, and campfire scenes, and interaction, and cute character moments. Also tent-sharing. There will be a whole lot of that.

Please note that the Rayllum is going to be very slow burn. I mean that. The very first hints of it aren’t until about 30k in – this fanfiction could probably double as a slow cooker. But there will be plenty of fluff along the way.

Final note: While the first 40k of this story is pretty light and fluffy, it will get more serious after this, and contain difficult scenes, concepts, themes, and will have events with lasting consequences for the characters. I will warn readers at the start of any chapters that may contain potentially difficult concepts, events, or scenes.

Currently written chapters: 1 (This one, ~9k), 2 (about 9k), 3 (also about 9k), 4 (11k), and 5 (10k). It’s mostly cute travel fluff until chapter 5, where things start getting more serious.

I’ll update every few days ish. Want to give myself time to write more. Please please show your appreciation in some fashion if you enjoyed this or are intrigued to see more – I get super anxious whenever posting a new story, and feedback and story stats keep me motivated to continue writing.

My thanks to Jelly for reading and providing feedback while I was writing chapters 1-5, and in general for nagging me to keep writing when my motivation was flagging. You've been an excellent writing buddy.