#cube hostage exchange theory

[raayllum]

Anyway I did my 2nd watch of the season after sleeping / with the end in mind and it totally worked for me, especially with the understanding that there is 30% of the story left (and thereby Callum and Rayla's arcs aren't Over and room for more growth/plot had to be left open) and watching with the ending in mind.

I'm not upset that this is where Arc 2 ends, in some ways because it's sort of like season 2 of Avatar where Zuko doesn't join the Gaang in their 2nd arc (book two) because from a character basis he really wasn't Ready to do that / they had more story to tell, so I don't think with what they're doing it would've made sense to rush it in TDP. Nor do I think any of the previous set up for other outcomes (i.e. possession fight, salvation, etc) were wasted. Merely that TDP likes to do layer upon layer, and also have foreshadowing come back once (so you think you're safe) and then twice. I also don't think that Arc 2 resolved all the threads (i.e. Rayllum and greater good conflict / Aaravos & Callum) and ended them, and instead nudged them forwards in interesting ways for continued future exploration. I'll probably write more about the specifics later if this post doesn't get unwieldy or condensed with them for now.

In the meantime, these were things that I found really clicked for me on my 2nd watch through for S7 and with Arc 2 in general:

1) Arc 2's overarching focus on the Archdragons / the finale resolution with it.

We had a focus every season on at least one of the archdragons, with Zubeia (S4-S7), Luna Tenebris mentions (S4-S6), Rex Igenous (S4), Domina Profundis (S5), Sol Regem (S5-S6), and Avizandum mentions (S4-S5).

With that in mind, while I'm sure Aaravos' intentions was for no one to know of his plans ahead of time (7x01)... his actions also led to Callum and co. making connections to all the other Archdragons that they could pull on to bring everyone back to Lux Aurea, and Aaravos could destroy them (with no real consequence to himself, as his spirit was now free and his body could reform), taking a massive swing at the Cosmic Council's grand order that'd been enforced by the archdragons. He said the elves and dragons would fall hard... and now the dragons have, with the Cosmic Council being next (and thinking that the real focus on the Cosmic Council would be predominantly in arc 3 was, I believe, the general fandom consensus anyway).

AARAVOS: Now this is familiar, isn't it? Hasn't this all happened before? Arrogant fools. Again and again you make the same mistakes. (7x09)

Suitably, though, the Archdragons sacrifice themselves to protect all of Xadia, making amends for past / previous actions in their own way (narratively). They upheld the Cosmic Order, and then chose to break it.

Now, Aaravos will be returning to a world where there are no archdragons, and the only thing that can destroy his mortal form again would be the Nova Blade or some dark magic spell to take his spirit (but more on that later).

This also caps off S7 being about the destruction caused by one Archdragon (Sol Regem) and then the salvation through sacrifice from the other four as the finale. It comes full circle, but without repeating the cycle.

It also seems like the Nova Blade hasn't actually ever been used, as Aaravos states in 7x07:

She could have used the blade to destroy me, but chose instead to help imprison me. To spare me.

Or if it has, it still has a massive consequence that Zubeia is familiar with (the wielderdies if it's used to kill someone?), given that she is worried when Zym (and Ez wielding the sword) appears, intending to use it:

I'll also talk a bit more about why I think Aaravos designed 7x09 to be a win-win scenario for him no matter what when I get to Callum's section, but in the meantime...

2) Rayla's arc

Listen, y'all know I wanted Rayla to save Callum, like a lot, and thought there was a good chance she would if he was possessed again. However, neither of those things happened (also circumstances were crazy) and it was built up throughout the seasons, as well as in S7:

RAYLA: We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. (4x05) RAYLA: But I can't help you yet... because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need me. There's a great evil returning to Xadia and we have to stop it, at any cost. (5x01) RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused. (5x04) RAYLA: No, Callum. I want to help my parents, but I won't let it bias me. (6x01)

The season 7 setup is most prominently seen in S7 during Rayla's trial, in which she emphasizes that the assassins' deaths were not in vain due to the subsequent impact on the world as a whole, and in how their assassin pledges were upheld in their own way:

Life is precious. life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly. All of your lives were taken. But your sacrifices, they weren't for nothing. Callisto, you pledged your breath for freedom and we freed ourselves from an awful, pointless war. Andromeda, you pledged your eyes for truth. And we found the truth, a truth that changed the world. Skor, you pledged your strength for honour, and now humans and elves have finally begun to treat each other with honour again. And... Ram. You pledged your blood for justice. But what is justice? The king died that night. A life for a life. Is that justice? How much suffering is enough to paid for the mistakes we've made? I don't have the answers. But I'll carry you with me, all of you, forever.

So it made sense for her assassin oath to come back in some manner ("My heart for Xadia"). She had to honour her team's sacrifices by being willing to make her own (killing Callum and herself by symbolic extension), partially because her and Callum's "ride or die" dynamic had become a "ride and die" dynamic": this was his plan and his choice, and the alternative was to let him succumb to a fate worse than death AND to let Aaravos destroy the world through his hands.

And I get why this feels kind of backwards, because on the one hand, it seems like Rayla made a lot of progress, even questioning the validity of her own suffering for mistakes she / choices others have made, which is Huge!

And yet she's willing to suffer, and sacrifice Callum. The paying the price motif is even brought back in Aaravos' dialogue with the archdragons ("And what will your sacrifices buy?"). So what gives?

Well, I think in a lot of ways Arc 2 was Rayla learning to accept and ask for help (S5-S6), that she wasn't alone (S4, S7), and working to come back every time she leaves (S4) but... still being prepared to leave:

and still with sharing or acknowledging her own burdens not being her instinct.

There's a reason we all went "Rayla refusing to sacrifice Callum would be Character Development" after all. I also think it's quasi-similar to Rayla leaving after S3. She had a lot of opportunities to learn that she didn't have to do everything alone in arc 1, but those lessons didn't stick; in a similar fashion, Rayla had opportunities throughout arc 2 to learn that she doesn't always have to sacrifice something, but with Callum being increasingly sacrificial... Those lessons were there, but didn't stick. The other side of her sacrifice arc is not resolved.

With that in mind, I wanna talk about our favourite dorky mage, and then maybe arc 3.

3) Aaravos' Grand Plan & Callum's Corruption

This is a little hard to parse out just because we don't know what Aaravos' next step / goal was in bringing about Eternal Night (presumably to get the attention of the Cosmic Council, but who knows). That said, a few things I'm chewing on:

Aaravos, as previously discussed, found the most effective way to rid the world of (presumably) every Archdragon other than Zym

Aaravos, for whatever reason, wanted Ezran to have the Nova Blade, which Aanya even sets up for us in 7x09

Aaravos knew all along that Callum would turn to dark magic to take him down.

AARAVOS: Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: I suppose you've seen that written in the stars? AARAVOS: I have seen it written in his eyes. (7x07)

Furthermore, he wanted to have Callum be corrupted again, gave him the apple in 7x01 as the first attempt. The apple corruption was lampshaded with "Is there anything I can do to help?" + identity/name motif. Aaravos was actively goading him into dark magic in 7x09, even when he knew there was an assassin ready to kill Callum (Runaan), and smiling even when Callum began the spell (once Rayla had stepped in).

As of S7, Callum has been called (and not disputed being at least partially) a dark mage, used Viren's staff and now has it in his possession (and we still don't know why it was never supposed to be used again), and has a white streak. The willingness to go that far "has always been a part of" him and is now permanently reflected in his character design.

Secondly, we know that Aaravos' game with his pawns is not over, due to the secrets of the cube being ongoing (but confirmation in 7x09 that it indeed points towards Elarion) and due to framing with Claudia.

While I did consider that maybe Callum's pawn intro imagery had come back around in the conversation in 7x06 featuring the cube so heavily (!!) and then Callum choosing to do dark magic to stop Aaravos and save everyone as his destiny ("The one I write myself")... He's still corrupted, Aaravos is still going to come back in 7 years with Callum as a vessel, and the Key to the Book (metaphorically to literally the Book of Destiny) is still unresolved.

TLDR; think about how much it'd Hurt in a Good Way for Callum and Rayla to both know she would've sacrificed him for the greater good (fulfilling her end of foreshadowing from 6x03) only to be smacked in the face that Callum refuses to sacrifice her in Arc 3 with the other side of his ("if you ever have to choose between me and the greater good...").

The fact that the Cube canonically points towards Elarion, which feature stories about "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" after a season in which Aaravos mandates "Your beloved is an assassin who cannot kill" is just the cherry on top. It also means that both Callum and Rayla have accordingly hit the 50-75% wavelength of their arc(s), with us now having a definitive basis for her being willing to that sets up more clearly her being not willing to in the future, the circumstances we'd need for a possession fight re-established, and the cube beat still on the table because the cube itself is still waiting to be plot relevant.

Rayla always follows Callum's lead ("Say the word and I'll go back into that tower with you") and reflects him ("Who told you that?" "You did") and the lessons he teaches her about love. He'll pave the way, and she'll follow, and then their arcs will come to a close.

We just had to get here first.

Conclusion??

Anyway I hope you enjoyed, I want to do a bigger Arc 3 predictions post (the ruby project, Evrkynd, Claudia, Harrow, etc.) sometime soon, but I hope in the meantime this brought some potentially needed assurance, excitement, or another perspective to consider.

[sagegreenfrogs]

GUYS. GUYS. IDK IF ANYONE HAS POINTED THIS OUT YET BUT IN THE WEEPING SHOTS AARAVOS HAS HIS HEART.

in the “elf sad” clip, his heart is missing as usual. BUT ALSO

he has it in the poster. so either something like CHET becomes canon or this is a FLASHBACK to BEFORE HE FELL.

[raayllum]

Rayla has time to sit and think, while they wait.

The lakes at the edge of Elarion glitter as she and Aaravos—corporeal, but still infinitely more solid and there than she'll ever be comfortable with—stand, the sun setting behind them. The ruins are like grey smoke in the distance, the sky blood red. Her stomach churns.

"He won't come," Rayla insists, but she can tell they both don't quite believe it.

"Perhaps not," Aaravos muses, sounding utterly unconcerned. Why should he be, when Claudia is still out there, scouring for a few final ingredients near the shoreline? "But either way you will be a useful hostage, just as he was when I inhabited his body. You couldn't bring yourself to hurt him. I don't expect he'll let any harm come to you, if he was able to throw away my spell."

"Callum is stronger and better than you," Rayla says, hands bound in rope. There has to be a sharp rock around here somewhere she could use to get herself free. Not to run—she'd never get that far—but to tackle Aaravos or stop him, or at least help the boys in some manner when—if they come. "He'll see through this. He'll have a plan."

"I'm sure he will," Aaravos replies loftily. "And the only priority will be saving you. For that, I intend to let him win, if he cooperates."

"He—"

"I've waited a long time for this opportunity, little elf. I am not going to let it pass us by."

Her heart thuds against her chest.

It feels like no time has passed at all before her ears prick, and catch familiar footfalls. She screws her eyes shut, guilt and love and fear welling inside her like an insurmountable wave.

She doesn't want to see the price Callum pays for her—so she looks away, and doesn't.

At least the world can only end once.

Aaravos + Rayla

Opportunity Doesn’t Knock Twice

[rayllum-weekly]

Rayllum Weekly Round Up:

Week 41

Meta:

Cube Hostage Exchange Theory, for Real This Time by @raayllum

Fanart:

A childhood crush... by @temerity14

Ranting Scottish Rayla Rayllum fanart by @lilleuglesartfarts

Wing hug by @tategaminu

Love by @justinesketches

Graphics & Edits:

Dragon Prince + text posts (part 13) by @celestialowlryx

Rayllum + teasing by @rayllurn

Wing hug @raayllum

Rayllum art by @virenkinnie

Rayllum art by @crazy4httydxartist

New Fanfic:

Scumport ficlet by @numptypylon

Stay with Me: Chapter 1 by @parsbooks

I will save you by @amys-books27

I love you, I’m sorry by @amys-books27

Up-dated Fanfic:

I’ll Give You My Life (From Now Till Forever): Chapter 8 by @thatartiststudios

now or never: Chapter 4 by @ttm-rayllum-baby-au

love you again: Chapter 2 by @thosefiveadoraburrs and @raayllum

In the Shadow of Betrayal: Chapter 6 by @temerity14

The Lavender Inn: Chapter 2 by @dargorian

A Dark Alternative: Chapter 13 by @zuppizup

Something Worth Fighting For: Chapter 14 by @konmaao3

Hello Satan: Chapter 11 by @estelleraixx

i want this like a cigarette, can we drag it out and never quit? by @a-very-sparkly-nerd

Impossible by @little-red-alchemist-of-doom

Downtime’s Up: Chapter 20 by @numptypylon

[konmaao3]

Woke up terrified remembering that the mirror can work as a one-way window as well. Viren probably deactivated his side of the window before leaving for Xadia, but there was no reason for Aaravos to do the same.*

Which means that Aaravos may have been watching Callum for two years now without Callum knowing.

Raayllum recently mentioned that

the one (1) question my “cube hostage exchange theory” couldn’t answer was how they were going to know callum had the cube in the first place

But if Aaravos can still see through the mirror, Callum only had to pull out the Key once – and he probably did that to check which of the runes on the cube would glow in the mirror’s vicinity (interesting question: which runes would that be? I would be surprised if “stars” wasn’t among them).

I’m afraid.

*Actually there was no reason for Aaravos to deactivate his window in the first place, unless he got annoyed of having to watch dragon sex all the time. Since it is a prison, he possibly doesn’t have full control over the window-mode from his side, but with Viren’s help on the other side, I’m pretty sure they were able to enable this one-way mode.

[lawchan89]

Funny how nobody appeared to have an issue with Rayla being a “damsel in distress” who needed Callum to save her in the S3 finale

But now all of a sudden in a fan theory, it’s a problem

[raayllum]

This entire scene was For Me

[sagegreenfrogs]

can you explain the cube hostage theory you talked about in your post about aaravos?

I haven’t heard of it before

ok! so CHET (cube hostage exchange theory) is a theory in the tdp fandom that can essentially be boiled down to 2 things!

(slight spoilers be ahead)

"The Key Of Aaravos" (the cube with elemental runes on it) is important to aaravos somehow, and is something he wants back.

Rayllum are mutually going to save & doom eachother

The foundation of the theory is that aaravos will somehow take rayla (or ezran, but most likely rayla) hostage, and demand that callum brings him the cube in exchange for her.

this idea of a hostage exchange is evidenced by 5x08 when finnegrin takes rayla captive and demands that callum give him the ingredients required for a spell in exchange for her.

it's also backed up by rayllum's whole "i would do anything for you"/"if you have to chose between me and the greater good"/"i need you to kill me" shebang of being helplessly devoted to eachother, callum doing dark magic for rayla, while rayla gives up her own wants and needs for callum, etc.

we clearly see that the cube has some significance, given that it is literally named the key of aaravos. also, no matter where you are in the world, it always rolls towards the sea of the castout. (Callum's spell book, 6x02) in 6x09, it also appears in a flashback with aaravos.

it's more complex than that, but if you want to learn about CHET, go to @raayllum ! they've been spearheading the theory for a while now, and know the most about it.

[angstandhappiness]

WHY

Between

2x08 S: "As long as I'm doing something to help out a friend, I don't mind what it is! I just want to be there for 'em when they need me. Because at the end of the day, helping my friends is more important than anything in the world!"

3x03 Mei: "So wait, how did you get your gold vision back again?" MK: "I don't know! The same way I got them in the first place I guess. Every time I learned a new ability, it was because there was something I NEEDED to do, when there was no other way. Against the gold fish guy I NEEDED to do something to save my friends!" P: "Yeah, friends that YOU put in danger on purpose!"

3x10 MK: "NO! Mei is my best friend, I’d never abandon her when she needs me. We’re heroes! It’s what we do!",

3x14 MK: "A perfect world is what you make it. So as long as I have my friends by my side...this world! Is! Perfect!”

4x01 MK: "Honestly? I’m kinda liking the world as it is, right now. So...if it could just stay like this, forever? That would be awesome." SWK: "Yeah well...forever’s a long time bud...trust me."

4x02 AL: "It’s too late to save them! We can’t risk unleashing the curse into the world." MK: “You don’t know! We’d risk it for sure! I won’t abandon them when they need us."

4x07 IMK: "You can see it, can't you? This is your fate. Your friends will turn on you, seeing you for the monster you will become. They will destroy you, harbinger of chaos."

4x11 MK: "We have to try, he'd do the same—for any of us." and

4x14 YT: "I know full well what would happen should Azure fail. But- but he is my brother. I owe him my life." S: "We get it! I'd do anything to help my friends. But at the cost of the world?" P: "I'm sorry pal, but NOTHING worth that price!"

I'm like, really worried scoob.

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

the night you danced like you knew our lives would never be the same

Inspired by this post.

Rayla and Ezran dance at her and Callum's wedding. (PS; accidentally posted this on my sideblog, so I deleted it and copy and pasted it here)

Very few things in Callum’s life were his own.

His staff had once been Ibis’s, office once Viren’s, seat at the council’s table once the former High Mage’s, too. Things that had been lost and passed down along with the bloodshed and betrayal, just as everything seemed to be.

But Rayla was his. Not “his” in a creepy ownership way, but his in that his heart belonged to her, and hers him. His in that they were finally connected in every sense of the word, connected in a way that even life, fate, and history books could never twist.

So even now, with silver cuffs circling her horns and a matching ring finally on his finger, Callum wouldn't– couldn't –let her go far, keeping an arm circled around her waist and occasionally dropping his head to her shoulder, even going so far as to press a kiss to her neck when enough eyes were off them.

He could understand why the elf was popular, in high demand; he'd married her, after all, but it didn't irk him any less. Rayla was the daughter of two Dragonguard and one herself, had returned the Dragon Prince home, had saved the world twice now, and managed to capture the heart of the–apparently–infamously picky and hard-to-please Crown Prince and High Mage of Katolis.

Visiting dignitaries kept asking to dance with her, offer a drink, and while it was nice to see relations between the Pentarchy and Xadia truly blossoming, Callum really just wished everyone would leave so he could be alone with his wife–his wife! He could still scarcely believe it; it still felt like she'd be ripped from his fingers, like the universe decided they had to save the whole entire world again and wanted to hurt her just for the hell of it.

The last time she'd strayed from his side had been back at the Starscraper, the Celestial elves claiming she had to undergo some trial on her own, and the next thing Callum knew, the damn cube had been dropping from his hand and Rayla taking its place, all hell unleashed in the moments after.

So, no. He could hardly stand to let her go far anymore, not when she'd been gods-know-where all on her own for two whole years, not when his unabashed love for her was clear as day and so easily taken advantage of. If she was in his sight, in his arms, he could keep her safe. That's what he had to keep telling himself, at least.

And, yeah, Callum appreciated that it was completely paranoid and irrational; he couldn't very well get rid of every threat in existence, but the rush of calm when her sturdy warmth was in his arms, the trauma, didn't really adhere to reason. And she didn’t seem to have any inclination to go far from him, either, so it worked out just fine.

Read more on AO3!

[konmaao3]

Regarding the cube hostage exchange theory: I just remembered that Aaravos also knows the moon arcanum, which means that he doesn’t even need Rayla. If Callum manages to switch on the magical mirror webcam, Aaravos can just use illusions to show him whatever the fuck he wants anyway.

Which of course can also come in handy if the exchange theory isn’t true, there are many possible ways to use such deceptions.

[lawchan89]

Made To Watch

Part 1 of the Rayllum Whumptober Series

Summary: Claudia is ready to enjoy this. Rayla is prepared to fulfill her promise to save her love. And Callum is on the brink of a choice to either bring her home or bring about her destruction.

Rated: T for depictions of violence and slight gore.

“Hey Callum, did I ever tell you all the amazing spells you can do with elf hair?”

The young high mage’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, the scene before him making his stomach roil. Finding himself fixed to a crumbling wall in the ruins of Elarion by an immobilization spell was hardly surprising; he had gone to follow a potentially dangerous lead after all.

The fact that said immobilization spell had been cast by Claudia, someone he had once called a close friend, hit an awful lot harder.

The fact that some Earthblood elf at her side— What was his name? Terry?— had been positively starry-eyed at her ease in capturing him was just rude.

Viren, who Callum had last seen plummeting to his death from the top of the Storm Spire over two years ago, was alive and breathing beneath what looked like a giant pulsing cocoon attached to the rocky ceiling. Despite this, he still looked as if he were barely clinging to life, his face pale, his skin sunken in, and laying on a ratty cot. And that still wasn’t the worst part.

No, by far the most horrific sight was what— or rather who— Claudia had chained to the wall beside her. The one who had made it her mission to track down Viren and end him once and for all. Who had not counted on an ambush of such proportions awaiting her when she inevitably succeeded, because Callum knew her skills were incomparable, and he knew she would succeed. The one Callum had woken up every morning thinking about and gone to sleep every night dreaming of for over two years, now at long long last kneeling on the cold hard ground only mere feet away from him.

Continued on Ao3

[raayllum]

like they're just being Mean to me at this point

[theredhairedmonkey]

I don't know if it's just me but I often feel like in the rayllum fandom Callum isn't allowed to have much going on separated from Rayla or have a lot of worries outside of her. But that same rule doesn't seem to apply to Rayla or at least not to the same extent.

You’re definitely not alone, fam. It does seem like a sizable chunk of Rayllum fans are really just Rayla fans who ship her with Callum. As a result, they aren’t particularly interested in anything pertaining to Callum if it doesn’t intersect somehow with Rayla.

As a basic idea, that’s fine (no one has to like everyone equally). Where it becomes a problem is when it generates theories that are incredibly ridiculous because it doesn’t take into account who Callum is or what his motivations are, because that really sets people up for disappointment. The biggest one is, of course, cube hostage exchange theory, which rests on the assumption that Callum is so beholden to Rayla that he’ll risk everyone and everything else just to save her, to the point that he’d basically be a villain if he wasn’t the protagonist. Another one is the idea that Callum will perform dark magic (something he hates) to resurrect Rayla’s family (which includes Runaan, someone he hates), simply because it’ll make Rayla feel better.

The basic premise behind both these theories are the same: Callum has no personality or motivations outside of Rayla (and sometimes Ezran when Rayla fans remember him). So his only purpose is to just service Rayla, while Rayla gets to be a hero and have principles and ideals.

Which is hella ironic, because at least in season 4, this dynamic ran the opposite way. Rayla’s entire motivation, except in the last five minutes, was to get back together with Callum, while Callum had a good three or four issues that were more pressing to him than Rayla. The show even made a running joke of it by having everyone expect Callum to be concerned about Rayla when she wasn’t even on his mind. So, these theories are definitely setting fans up for disappointment, because there’s absolutely no way that anything remotely close to that happening, and Callum would likely have much more going on than Rayla moving forward.

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

Rayllum Month 2024! (13/13)

even after all this, you’re still everything to me

July 25th - You’re the Moon In My Sky

Holy moly, I can't believe it's over! S6 is TOMORROW. HOW ARE WE FEELING?!?!

Tonight, I'll be blocking the tags because I won't be able to watch it until tomorrow afternoon- either that, or I'll wake up at like 3am to binge the whole thing. Probably the latter lol.

Rayla was many things, and irrational was not one of them. Everything about her was completely founded, thanks very much. She was a master of logic.

About most things. Callum was an exception.

Fear of water? She’d nearly drowned at eight. Wanting to kill Aaravos? He’d possessed her ex-boyfriend-turned-situationship and caused a war. Leaving Callum? Perhaps not the most logical thing to do, but it’d made sense at the time, and he’d been safe. At least part of her mission had been a success. So she remained undefeated as a logic champion. Pragmatic, if nothing else.

So it was completely logical to be shaking in her boots, tentatively peeking over the side of the Starscraper. A much farther fall than the Storm Spire- she couldn’t even see the ground, just fluffy clouds.

Even with the bracelets she’d been told would give her wings, Rayla wasn’t convinced. It was new technology, as far as she was concerned, and technology was notoriously unreliable. She wasn’t exactly eager to be a guinea pig, even if she wouldn’t be alone for a second. She’d never be alone again, Callum’d promised, and he always kept his promises.

“I’m…” Rayla trailed off, grasping for his ever-patient hand next to her. Astrid and Azhar stood giggling behind them, talking about something or the other Rayla couldn’t hear through the ringing in her ears.

Callum tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, gazing at her with the intensity of a thousand burning suns, the light in his eyes soft and rose-golden. “You won’t fall,” he promised gravely, and Rayla thanked her lucky stars that he was the only one (that she knew of, at least) who knew about her relatively new fear of heights, one that had only developed when she’d first been back.

Nights spent lying awake, wondering if he’d redo it. If he’d jump after her again, knowing what she’d do to him.

“And if you do…” he continued, hands finding her upper arms and grasping there, firm but not uncomfortably tight. Just right, just like all of him. “I’ll catch you. I’ll always catch you. I promise.”

Rayla stared at him for a good while longer, dumbstruck, just because she could. With a suddenly dry throat, she made herself nod. “Okay,” she breathed through a shudder. “Can you… make sure they’re on tight enough?”

A soft smile gracing his unfairly handsome features, Callum nodded and took her wrists. “Is this an excuse to get me to hold your hand?” he murmured, fingers checking the clasps of the gold bracelets and dancing along hers in a way that suggested he didn’t care in the slightest– appreciated it, rather.

“Maybe?” Rayla said, suddenly breathless and choosing to blame it on the high altitude.

“You can just ask me, you know.” Satisfied the bracelets were secure, Callum slid his hand up to her jaw, cupping it lightly. “They’re…”

Rayla shifted on her feet, getting closer. “They’re…?”

He stroked along her cheek, eyes softening. “Beautiful.”

“The bracelets?” she asked through a giggle, unable to help it. She’d never been good at serious time.

His dextrous fingers moved to hold her chin so she couldn’t look away. Rayla wasn’t sure she’d have been able to even if she’d had the mobility. “No,” he said softly, slowly, watching her earnestly.

Getting to her tiptoes, Rayla moved up against him until barely a centimeter separated their chests, his perfect lips all she could see. A centimeter far too much. “The opals?”

Read more on AO3!

[chimpukampu]

8 and 12 for the ask game? 😊

8. what’s something you hope for come season 4?

Aside from the usual Rayllum reunion, costume change, Viren got busted, more elves - Earthblood elves, and more Dark mage characters that almost everyone wants to see:

Aaravos getting curious about Callum (I’m sure he wants to know how a human can use Primal magic (after what he saw while falling in the Spire), not to mention doing something that only 1/10 of Skywing elves can perform)

A brief background on how and why Runaan was appointed to lead the assassination

Flashback of exactly what happened inside Harrow’s room in S1 before Callum arrived

Flashbacks of Rayllum in Katolis

ATLA insert jokes - or at least someone do a “That’s rough, buddy” meme to Callum

Zym talking

12. what are some of your favourite headcanons?

That “Cube hostage exchange” theory that I recently featured on my angst comic

Another cube-related theory that I will mention on the Part 4 of my angst comic 

Dark magic is actually a safe form of magic (maybe for healing) but practiced in a wrong, corrupted way

Harrow-is-Pip - I know a lot hates this theory but I have a good reason for this

Imagine the bird jokes between Callum and Harrow

Potential angst drama between a decoined Runaan and bird!Harrow, where Runaan suggested a body swap for Harrow out of guilt

Bird!Harrow became Ez solid advisor, as well as Ez future child/next in line heir

Callum isn’t the only human who made a connection to an arcanum