#wartime contributions round up really is: Lucien getting all the lords together

[flowerflamestars]

I completly did not think about the Spring Court!!! Now I am just thinking about the sentries, who were loyal to Tamlin, yes, but to Lucien first, because he was sane and there and active and one of them (in a way). I do not want the Spring Court to fall, but I also really want the sentries to see Lucien Archeron alive and be like "actually? Yes, yes I WILL pledge my life to my long-time friend and his scary new family."

Could Lucien and Elain ever take over the Spring Court? It's such a hard decision. With Nesta ruling over the Archeron lands and if the Illyrians decide to stay and with the wall gone, we could have a huge human-fairy court (because I know Elain and Lucien and Nesta would either have no divide or a very loosely controlled one).

But on the other hand there is the Summer Court, to which Lucien is heir. Does he want it? He, who has never wanted to be a ruler, but who is so good at it, possible heir to so many courts? What connection does Lucien have to the Summer Court except that a man there impregnated his mother and the result was Lucien. Why would he go there when he could be part of the Archeron lands, or rule the Spring Court, or help Eris with Autumn and work to put good things out in the world?

Perhaps the real question is, where does Elain want to go? Because I think it would not matter to Lucien if every single person from Spring, Autumn and Summer would pledge their loyalty to him - if Elain wishes to stay with Nesta in the Archeron lands, then nothing in the world could make him move.

That IS the big question of the story! What happens when Lucien gets to be himself? What happens when Elain and Nesta have choices? How far will the three of them go to protect that?

One of my favorite Lucien Things is that he doesn't have that ego so SO many acotar characters are afflicted with. There's this stable center at the core of Lucien, despite everything that has happened to him. The Autumn crown is sitting on Elain's head, and no part of him is howling about denied birthright. His processing vis a vis the Day Court has two notes he'll really engage with- this, this, is why he was always a little wrong. This is somewhere his mother will finally be safe.

He doesn't want the crown. He kind of wants to punch Helion in the face. There is a part of him that's just...heartbroken about Day. That's not fixable. It's centuries too late to save the child Lucien was, and even now, Lucien loves Autumn.

Lucien, to himself, thinks he's a little selfish. His entire desire for power has only ever been personal: he wants to protect the people he loves. He want to take care of the people. He has a pretty serious sense of right and wrong, and has spent most his life in much more minor roles than he should have, mostly to try to help.

(these are, of course. All things that are GOOD, but Lucien is uh, working on it, we'll say. The Archeron's are hellishly good for a man's self esteem if it works out.)

Lucien wants to stay.

With Elain. With Nesta. With these people, who have never made him choose which parts of himself matter.

In some ways, one of the biggest hurts of the coming conflict is not the loss of land SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS, but people, and PERSONALLY (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS) what feels like the loss of the long-term ability to keep that little family they built together.

They would have been happy. They didn't need more. Lucien liked taking care of the Archeron vassals, playing up a love story that was actually entirely true. He and Elain would have gotten married, sealed the safety of all their positions. Both sisters would have been happy, allowed to do what they were good at, their birthright, forever.

Destiny keeps saying otherwise, Prythian just keeps pulling.

There's some outlying stuff I've overwritten- canon only sometimes likes to acknowledge that Prythian is coming out a half century of hostile occupation and basically, has to be, at least a little in chaotic shambles.

There's Lucien, unable to forget the people in Spring, but also less inclined to seek vengeance for himself than say, Elain. (and her new friend, the deranged shadowman with the magic knife, genuinely considering killing his own High Lord). There's Sorcha, whose fully absconded from her husband. There's the abject mystery of where the hell the Archeron's magic actually comes from. There's Cassian, unsubtly yelling to anyone who will listen this scary hot amazing lady WILL BE A GREAT FEUDAL LORD, FEALTY WELCOME

The only certainty is that Lucien isn't letting go, this time.