#astarion and zoraya forever

[purdledooturt]

This fic takes up real estate in my mind.

I just spent 2 hours writing a review for it.

I am very passionate and have a lot of feelings.

Chapter 16 of "Magistrate's Advocate"

Chapter 16 is out!

... in which they meet the parents and it goes about as well as you'd expect. Also, there are plums.

Read on AO3

[cinnamontails-ff]

"Magistrate's Advocate" in 15 beats

Here's my beat sheet for "Magistrate's Advocate"! Once again, I'm following the "Save the Cat" method to break down the plot into 15 beats. Yes, at 200k words, MA is roughly twice as long as a traditionally published novel, but it's always been planned as a single coherent story, and what's fanfiction for, if not a little self-indulgence? :D

Hopefully, this will be interesting/helpful for anyone interested in story structure, outlining etc! My beat sheet for Accountant's Guide is right here.

Full spoilers for Magistrate's Advocate ahead!

Opening Image

For MA, I really wanted to start off with the friendship between Zoraya and Astarion. The way they've spent their whole entire lives together in one way or another. That's why we start with them as children, running around his parents' orchard, laughing and having fun. It's a sweet, happy scene, but since we see it through Zoraya's eyes, there's also an air of nostalgia to it. Her narration makes it clear that their friendship didn't last forever and how, already back then, she felt like she was chasing him. It sets the tone for the depth of her feelings for him, the sense of imbalance in their relationship, and how this woman would do absolutely everything for Astarion.

2. Set-up

While Zoraya accepts Aquilan's request to go work for Astarion already in the prologue, I don't think the plot really kicks off until chapter 4, where Astarion makes her his advocate and decides to actually work with her (rather than give her menial tasks and be a pain in the ass). Chapter 2-3 are mostly set-up for the dynamic between Zoraya and Astarion. Her telling herself she can deal with this and is totally over him (sure, Zoya, sure). Him being an absolute prick to her and making it clear just what kind of magistrate he is -- but also showing the first signs of vulnerability and how maybe, perhaps, there is a sad wet cat hidden underneath it all.

3. The Catalyst

The point of no return is in chapter 4, where they go to court together and Astarion realizes what kind of gigantic trump card he has on his hands with Zoya. To me, the story doesn't really start until he states that she's his "advocate" (just pulling it out of his ass right then and there :D). And while his motivations are selfish, initially, this decision paves the road for their relationship to be one of respect and collaboration, rather than him torturing his assistant in whatever ways he can think of.

4. The Debate

This time around, the debate beat is less about Zoraya trying to decide if she wants to accept his job offer and more about her being confronted with the reality of what it's like to be his advocate. In chapter 5, he invites her to dinner with Cazador, which is where she really gets to see the kinds of people Astarion has surrounded himself with and what all he's willing to do to maneuver himself into a position of power. It's not enough to make her consider quitting, but it definitely sets the stage for what she's going to have to deal with in this job.

5. Theme Stated

Again, I don't want to say "this is the one and only theme of the story and if you saw something different in it, you're WRONG". Not at all. I love the fact that stories mean different things to different people, and I'm always super happy when readers point out things to me I never would have noticed or interpreted that way. But. For me, at its core, MA was always a story about people and how you view them. Racism, justice, slavery & vampirism -- those are all just different facets of it. The overarching question the story poses is: How do you view others? What sort of value do you assign to them (and what is that based on)? This is stated most clearly by Zoraya in chapter 4, where she tells Astarion, “Yeah, I’m sure you of all people know all about burdens.”

6. Break into 2

We begin act 2 with a visit to the Gur camp in chapter 6. We don't stay there for the entirety of act 2 this time, but it widens the scope of the story and forces Astarion to interact with the people who will be most affected by his policies. The scene is pretty much Zoraya, dragging him out there to confront the reality of his plans -- thus, figuratively, dragging him into act 2 of the story where he can no longer hide behind his fancy desk.

7. Fun and Games

"The Promise of the Premise" for MA is that the selfish racist magistrate accidentally learns morals from his lovely advocate, all while working through their shared past and falling in love in the process. The general trajectory of things here is positive, so from chapter 6-14, we see Zoya breaking through Astarion's walls of elitism, prejudice and selfishness. Importantly, she doesn't change him so much as she inspires him to change all by himself (see beat 8, B Story). After she saves him from the bandits in chapter 7, putting her own life on the line for him without a beat of hesitation, he is the one who decides to change his plans and make the Ancunin Highway into a philanthropy project instead. He tells her (and himself) it's just an act for media approval, but, well ... the timing of things tells a different story, Astarion :P

At the same time, we see their blossoming relationship as he and Zoraya work together on his highway plan. We see them fight over what happened in their childhood, get closure on all those things that were never said. We see them twirl in ballrooms and pine and kiss, but most importantly, we see how they're both at their best when they're together -- not just romantically, but also as legal professionals.

8. B Story

Whereas Astarion's highway plans are the external plot, the internal plot is all about Astarion learning how to rethink the way he sees the world. I've always seen this version of him as a product of his circumstances. Not a bad person so much as someone who's spent his entire life in rich, elitist circles and kind of forgot that that's not how the world works for everyone. It's Zoraya who reminds him of that. Zoraya who challenges him over and over again, pushes him to rethink his ways and be better. And while he initially plays the role of the philanthropist for his own gain, he quickly grows into it because he realizes it's actually pretty cool to be making a difference and to be respected for his accomplishments, rather than his lineage (another facet of the theme: Astarion and how he views himself).

9. Midpoint

Since the direction this far has been upward, the midpoint consists of a "false victory" in chapter 14, where Astarion is proclaimed as the "Magistrate of the People". This is a false victory because while the public is celebrating him as the savior of the Gur (& specifically his rescue of Ira), things have never been more tense. Police brutality is on the rise, Tatiana is distancing herself and working on her own plans, and Cazador is pissed about Zoraya's growing influence on Astarion. Basically, we get a moment of happiness (the infamous library date!) before shit really hits the fan.

10. Bad Guys Closing in

After Zoraya and Astarion start dating and get to have their well-deserved chapter 15 (:D), chapter 16-19 is all about ramping up for the inevitable catastrophe. We have the literal bad guys closing in in terms of the nightly visitors at Zoraya's house, the vampire attack through Boris, and the mounting political tension. On top of that, there's the figurative bad guys in the family dinner at the Ancunin estate, Cazador's manipulations of Astarion, and Zoraya's growing conviction that he's a vampire. The whole section is about building that sense of dread, that feeling that something terrible is right around the corner.

11. All is Lost

The lowest point for them both is of course chapter 20. The political tension coming to a head with the bombings, then the vote and the fight, followed by the Gur attack on Astarion, and then Cazador coming in with his little deal. It's just hit after hit for them both. I even made it rain, for god's sake! But really, in all honesty: Having Zoraya find out about it all from the newspaper is probably the cruelest thing I've ever done to my characters. Sorry, Zoya.

12. Dark Night of the Soul

This is the beat where the heroes regroup after their ultimate catastrophe. For Astarion, it's waking up in Cazador's estate and finding himself confronted with the bitter reality that no, he was never special. This was always what Cazador planned to do with him and he is helpless to stop it. Meanwhile Zoraya, stricken with grief, goes to his grave only to find that whatever was in the coffin is no longer there. Which is horrifying in its own right, of course, but for her, it's exactly the glimmer of hope that she needs to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and devote all her energy to getting. her. boyfriend. back.

13. Break into 3

Act 3 is all about Zoraya freeing Astarion. Her initial brute-force approach in chapter 22 goes about as well as you'd expect, and she only makes it out of the Szarr mansion due to Karlach's swift intervention. Zoraya lands in a prison cell for breaking and entering, and in comes Gale, informing her that there's no legal basis for accusing Cazador of kidnapping because vampire spawn are considered the property of their lord (i.e. he can do with them whatever he wants). This is where I tie the threads of racism, elitism and vampirism together in a pretty, if somewhat convoluted little bow by having Zoraya gather her allies and go to court to fight for a vampire spawn's right to personhood. Welcome to act 3, aka the courtroom drama!

14. Finale

The finale is Zoraya's High Court case. It's her using her legal expertise, the help from her friends, and also some unlikely allies (:D) to prove that yes, vampire spawn are people and deserve the right to legal protection. At this point, Astarion is traumatized enough that he himself needs to be reminded of the fact that he is still a person and worthy of her love and effort. I'm playing a lot with Cazador's control over him and the other spawn, and how he uses that to try and discredit Zoya. But ultimately, it's when she lets go of her strict moral compass (taking some inspiration from Astarion) and when he openly embraces his feelings for her (proving that vampire spawn are still capable of love & affection) that the High Court rules in their favor. Cazador ends up behind bars, and our heroes get to return home.

15. Closing Image

Astarion decides to embrace his vampiric nature, at least for the time being, and becomes a vigilante warrior for justice (which he has a ton of fun with). When he returns home one night, he accidentally discovers his bat form. He's a little freaked out by it, but then Zoraya finds him and calms him down. The closing image is her telling him that yes, she'll still love him even if he's a fluffy white bat. Accepting this part of him, just as she's accepted everything else about him.