#bc i already love ashrym and fearne and orym's friendship.

[astralleywright]

also since i've already seen people try to turn this into a thing i will just say now, as someone who loves Ashrym and doesn't particularly care for Callowmoore, that my feelings about the two aren't really connected. i love Fearne as a character and i don't see her as "getting in the way of my ship," and honestly i don't think of Ashrym and Callowmoore as being in competition at all! i would be just as happy with some sort of Fearne/Ashton/Orym polycule becoming canon as i would simply Ashrym.

ultimately what i care about is doing right by the characters; making choices that are both honest to who they are and compelling for their story. i love Ashrym because i think their dynamic has done a great job of developing both Orym and Ashton, and i'm far more interested in what they actually say to each other than whether they end up becoming romantic or not. I actually think both Orym and Ashton have a considerable amount of work to do before they're ready for a serious relationship! and if they were to get together i'd want it to be a much slower burn than, for example, Imodna, who were already so close and so intimate that it made sense for their romance to be like that right out the gate.

and the same sentiment applies to Callowmoore; i'm actually quite interested to see how Fearne and Ashton's dynamic could develop, and i think there's a lot of potential there. but it hasn't reached a place where a romance between the two would really feel earned. so yeah, I'm glad Ashton pushed the brakes on that, regardless of their reasons, both because its absolutely what he would do and because it gives them and Fearne the chance to develop a dynamic outside of just whether they're in love with each other.