#gwyn and catrin

[oristian]

The first time that Gwyn manages to visit Catrin’s grave, Azriel accompanies her.

She tells her sister about absolutely everything that has happened in the time that they have been apart, and that she misses her—that she is sorry. This is the first instance that Gwyn has felt confident enough to speak aloud to her sister, when the guilt is no longer gnawing at her internally. A daunting weight releases from her shoulders then, and Azriel seizes this moment to finally place her invoking stone atop her head.

A soft wind rustles through her hair, and Gwyn could have almost sworn it felt like a brush of lips against her forehead.

[lady-embers]

𝑮𝒘𝒚𝒏 𝑾𝒆𝒆𝒌: 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝟏 - 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚

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A post shared by Margaret 🇱🇷 (@bookish_embers)

Under the cover of moonlight, two sisters create their own little bit of magic.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝑪𝑶𝑺𝑭 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒘𝒚𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝑵𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒏, 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏.

“My sister and I used to braid bracelets and put these little charms on them full of wishes for each other....We believed that the wish would come true once the bracelet fell off.”

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑮𝒘𝒚𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 💖

The artist for this is the incredibly talented @majuandrad!! Thank you so much for taking on this commission and getting it done so quickly for me! This brought me to literal tears with how perfect it is.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 @𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒋𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒔

@gwynweekofficial

[gwynniethenymph]

Perhaps Something Greater

link to Ao3

Hi everyone! I saw all those beautiful fanarts of Gwyn and Catrin, and just had to write something about them. So, this is a quick drabble for day 1 of @gwynweekofficial.

I hope you like it!

The night of the Great Rite was always one of chaos. Amidst flowy fabrics and perfume sprays, you could sometimes distinguish a priestess or another, but the children—Gwyn and Catrin included, at the ripe age of sixteen—were advised to stay as far away as possible from the females preparing. Gwyn wondered why.

🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚🌊🐚

She and Catrin climbed to the top of their favorite tree after Isobel shouted at them for the fifth time that night. Between the breeches and leaves, all Gwyn could see was the shining, silver moon and its reflection on the river. And her sister's beautiful face.

“Perhaps they all go naked and hug each other...” Catrin mused.

Gwyn laughed at Catrin's attempts to guess what exactly happened in the Rite. They knew males and females copulated, of course. It was a subject of great importance to the priestess who taught them biology, for the girls to know what exactly happened between two people for a child to take root. But it was odd, the need to have a huge get-together of sorts, just to have sex.

“Stop this nonsense. They may simply... reunite so the magic is stronger.”

Catrin shrugged, all charm and beauty. She was a spitting image of their mother, with her dark hair and pale complexion, no freckles in sight. Gwyn probably got her colors from their father, but that was something she would never be sure of. Suddenly, Catrin's smile faded and she looked at the stars, huffing a breath.

“Do you think we will participate in it someday? In the Rite, I mean?”

Gwyn considered her. Priestesses of Sangravah were only allowed to participate in the Rite after completely finishing their studies—not only in biology and mathematics or philosophy and literature, but also in their studies about the Mother and the universe. It was a breaking point for all of them, for they could have way more freedom than before.

“I really think so. We are doing well, Cat. We can do it.”

Catrin absently nodded. “Yes, I know. But sometimes... it feels really meaningless, you know?” She stared intently at Gwyn, her huge blue eyes a little wild. “I mean, is that our life? Study, pray, graduate, and then babies?”

Gwyn studied her sister. They had already talked about it, how they were raised almost to be just mothers. How Catrin sometimes wanted... more.

“It is... odd, I know. But I fear we don't have many options.”

Catrin's eyes glinted with mist as the wind gently blew her hair. “We could run.” This rakish smile illuminated her face.

Gwyn's mouth went fully agape, and her sister laughed.

“We can't run!”

“Why not?”

“Cat, we have a whole life here! And, only Mother knows what they’ll do to females like... us, out there.”

The mood darkened, growing heavier as they thought of their mother. Of how she went to take a swim and came back weeks later, dragged by the river flow, a gaping wound where her heart was supposed to be.

“I know, I know. I just... wonder sometimes. If I am fit to be a mother.”

Gwyn's cheeks burned a little when she thought about her own dreams. Dreams of a little girl she would cradle and love and care for, as soon as possible. She reached for Catrin's hands.

“I know. Perhaps there is another path for you, my beloved sister. There's no shame in wanting different things, and I pray for you to find your way.”

Catrin puffed and rolled her eyes, but Gwyn could see the grateful, loving glint in them.

“Enough of talking like our High Priestess. I think the carriages are here. Should we go down to spy on them?”

Gwyn threw her head back and laughed before agreeing with her sister. As they watched the carriages go away, she wondered when she would be the one leaving inside them.

She hoped Catrin would be by her side, too.

[azrielsbxtch]

𝑮𝑾𝒀𝑵 𝑾𝑬𝑬𝑲 𝑫𝑨𝒀 4 : 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝒀

[thevalkyriesshadow]

Okay, have y'all seen the evil twin theory with Gwyn and Catrin? If not, here's the reddit post.

NOW

While the theory has some interesting points and would make a hell of a good plot, there are a few holes in the theory/questions I have and wanted to discuss with anyone because I can't stop thinking about this theory LOL

My burning questions/thoughts under the break....

1. How did Catrin and Koschei meet? How did she become tangled in his pursuits?

2. Can scent be glamoured? If so, this makes sense, if not then this theory doesn't really work? (I can't remember if Feyre's scent was glamoured in ACOTAR)

3. If that wasn't Gwyn in the BC, how did she know to playfully call Az a Shadowsinger in the famous line: See you tomorrow, Shadowsinger (because that to me is a call back to the night at the ring BUT I also think Clotho is going to play a role in how Gwyn and Az get together (it's not a coincidence she's named after one of the fates - perhaps she did tell Gwyn it was from the shadowsinger? Then that would explain the teasing way she said it? Like she would know the necklace came from him?) I also think she has a good sense of smell based on evidence in the book and could smell Az and Elain on the necklace, but anyway...

4. I still think this theory leads to Az and Gwyn together because the spark in his chest was him thinking about the real Gwyn and her bright eyes and happiness, so even if everything else is fabricated, the spark is real - their interactions after Solstice are real.

5. The story of Koschei and The Little Mermaid have a dilemma where someone has to choose the right person, their true love and I think that's the choice Az is going to be faced with

6. The Little Mermaid part of it is a set up that leads to either Gwyn or Az losing their voice, and them knowing who their true love/mate is but not being able to voice it, thus leading to a very dramatic moment of one of them trying to get across the truth...perhaps this is where TT or Mor come in to help? Or even Elain with her visions?

I thought the theory was interesting and fun, but like I said there are some holes in it that I'm wondering about! Let me know your thoughts!

[orphicauroras]

Catrin and Gwyn by bookishkoda

[sonics-atelier]

Threads of the Heart: Gwyn's Tapestry of Love

For @gwynweekofficial Day 1 : Friends and Family

In Gwyn's world, threads intertwine,

With bonds of love that brightly shine.

Her tapestry of life, so fair,

Woven with care, beyond compare.

Catrin's laughter, a melody sweet,

In childhood days where hearts would meet.

Sisters by blood, but more by soul,

Together they made each other whole.

Nesta and Emerie, where they belong.

Then came the Valkyries, fierce and strong,

In battles fought and trials endured,

Their sisterhood grew, deep and assured.

With Nesta's strength and fiery grace,

And Emerie's courage, no fear to face.

Gwyn found in them a sacred kin,

A sisterhood that burned within.

Each thread a story, each knot a bond,

Of moments shared and times beyond.

In Gwyn's world, these gems so bright,

Illuminate her darkest night.

For in the heart where love resides,

No distance vast, no time divides.

Her cherished ones, both past and near,

Remain with her, forever dear.

Gwyn's tapestry, a work of art,

Woven with threads of the truest heart.

In every fiber, love is spun,

A testament to connections won.

So let us honor, let us cheer,

These bonds of Gwyn that we hold dear.

For in her world, so rich, so grand,

Her cherished ones forever stand.

- @sonics-atelier 2024 ( do not repost or reuse in any way shape or form, I will decapitate you )

[gwynrieldreams]

This is a page from "Language of Thorns" by Leigh Bardugo and those two remind me of Gwyn and Catrin.

[sunshinebingo]

Two Halves Apart

After several years spent hiding in the library beneath the House of Wind, Gwyneth Berdara has finally gathered the courage to come out into the light. With her found family by her side - and a shadowsinger who makes her heart beat a little faster - Gwyn is learning to embrace life, as well as her new powers. She is still slowly healing from everything that has happened to her at Sangravah, but she is almost certain that she cannot be more blessed by the Mother.

However, a spying mission one day puts her on the path of the one thing that can fill the strange void that she has always felt inside her. A void that has been left behind by an unknown twin sister.

✨Happy Gwyn Week 2024!!✨

I'm hoping to post a few chapters during @gwynweekofficial when they fit the prompt the most. This fic will include some Gwyn & Catrin, some Gwynriel, some Valkyries and House of Wind gang shenanigans and some OCs.

Read on Ao3 or below the cut

Lyra held her twin daughters in her arms and sobbed. Months of bliss had built up to the most heartbreaking moment of her life. She had always known that this day would come. But nothing could make this easier. She felt like the worst mother the world had ever known for what she was about to do.

“You have no other choice,” her own mother reminded her.

Despite her words, the look the older river nymph gave Lyra from where she sat by the water contained a kind of pain that only mothers could feel. Lyra knew that her mother understood what she was going through. She wondered whether her mother had also cried back then, when she had left her only daughter in the hands of her father to be raised on land.

Lyra had always tried to convince herself that it did not matter. It did not matter that her mother had not tried harder to be close to her. It did not matter either that Lyra’s father had later left her at the temple of Sangravah to be raised by the priestesses instead of in the Forest House of Autumn after she was deemed too “untamed”. None of had mattered.

As she kissed the soft heads of her two daughters, she understood the choices that her parents had made for her, now more than ever. She realised that it did matter. She hoped that her daughters would understand as well. Lyra hoped that they would not feel the same resentment for their mother as the one that she had suppressed at times when thinking about her own parents.

As a half high fae who couldn’t permanently live in the rivers in which she was given birth, she had assumed, before she was sent to participate in the Great Rite of Calanmai, that she might birth a child who would only need the air and land. Perhaps, she had imagined, her child might inherit her pliant nymph bones and her ability to breath for much longer than any high fae could underwater.

She hadn’t known the risks that she might also birth one who would get so much of her river nymph genes that she wouldn’t be able to always live above the surface. If she had known… No. Lyra stopped her thoughts from spiralling. Her twin daughters were her blessings as much as they were one for the land of Prythian. Two innocent little beings conceived on a sacred night with a nameless male who would probably never know that his blood now ran through the veins of the ones Lyra held close to her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, rubbing her nose on the soft onyx hair of her first-born daughter. Hair that was identical to hers and her mother. Then, Lyra kissed the head of her second-born.

Although they were both born on the bank of a Spring river, their scents both contained a mix of land and water. Lily of the valley with a hint of willow tree. Similar scents yet with different heart notes that would be picked up by those with a keener sense of smell. It would be those more subtle scents that would linger on who or what the girls would touch for long enough. Spring jasmine for the first one, and Autumn vanilla for the other.

“It’s time to go,” the High Priestess who had accompanied Lyra to Spring told her. For six months, the High Priestess had remained in the Spring court with her. She had been by her side near the rivers of the nymph as she gave birth and took care of her daughters. She was the same one who had sat down with Lyra after learning of the true nature of the girls growing inside her and had explained why this must be done this way.

Because they were rare and precious, no children were allowed to leave the temple grounds for their safety. And as a priestess who had already pledged her life to worshipping the Mother, Lyra’s loyalty to her temple was expected to remain as unmovable as when she didn’t have a child in another court.

For this reason, Lyra couldn’t run away with her fae daughter to live near a source of water for the sake of the other. She had to leave her nymph daughter to be raised far from her, in a place where she would live amongst those most similar to her. The rivers of Spring where some of Lyra’s blood relative still dwelled was a better place than the small empty lake near Sangravah. Lyra at least found comfort in knowing that her mother had accepted to raise the baby as her own. Perhaps it was her way of atoning for leaving her own daughter, although Lyra now understood the impossibility that it would have been for Minerva to raise a land child in the water.

Lyra looked at her mother. “Take good care of her,” she said with tears streaming down her face.

Minerva placed a webbed hand over her heart and the other one on Lyra’s shoulder. “I will place her safety and happiness above my own.”

Lyra kissed the forehead of her first-born. “I love you, my Catrin.”

Her daughters both looked at her with similar wide, bright teal eyes, a trait that even Gwyneth had inherited from the water nymphs.

Lyra stood and handed Catrin to her mother. She couldn’t hold in her sob when she watched the intertwined hands of her twins being separated. Both whimpered and reached out their tiny hands in search of their sister. Lyra wiped her tears away and started to sing as she rocked Gwyneth in her arms. The little readhead fussed for a while, as did Catrin in the arms of her grandmother. Lyra poured her heart out in her lullaby. It was a song that spoke of love and loss and reunion, one that she hoped would follow the girls in their journey in life.

“I will pray for the day when you will finally be reunited,” Lyra told them after their crying finally stopped. She waited until their eyes closed to give a small nod to her mother. With much effort, she stopped herself from following Minerva when she slithered back into the water.

The lake glowed under the moonlight and made Catrin’s skin look even brighter. The glow intensified for the seconds it took for her little feet to turn into a tail when she hit the water. Catrin’s face and body relaxed further.

“I will also pray for that day to come,” Minerva promised her.

Lyra smiled in gratitude. “Until they meet again.”

“Until they meet again,” Minerva said as she slowly lowered herself further in the water.

Lyra watched until Minerva disappeared with Catrin underwater, then behind the vines of the willow tree that covered the path to the deep rivers in which her daughter would grow. She turned around and followed the High Priestess though her eyes remained on a sleeping Gwyneth in her arms.

“My little fire.” She brushed her thumb over the baby’s hair. A beautiful shade of copper that Gwyneth had undoubtedly inherited from Lyra’s father. Most Autumn fae had a varying shade of red hair, but Lyra would never forgot the male who had briefly raised her. The male who she felt in her guts Gwyneth would inherit more from than the colour of her hair. Someday she would tell Gwyneth about her grandfather and her grandmother. Most of all, she would tell her of her twin sister, the other half of her.

[lovelygwyneth]

Happy Gwyn week everyone 🩵🤍💙

[shadowsxgwynriel]

@gwynweekofficial Day 4: Family

“Despite her faults—and mine—we loved each other dearly. We were all each other had while growing up. She was the only one I could truly rely on. I miss her every day.”

[cateyesinlove]

❣︎“𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞.”❣︎

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Art by @juwicebox

Commissioned by me

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@gwynweekofficial day 4; Family

I have always loved Gwyn for having the strength to go forward and be able to keep on living 😭 reading the story of Catrin and her was heartbreaking and it just makes me so happy that gwyn found people who love her just as much as Catrin did🥹

For this piece I got inspired by remembering that they used to share a room, and I can imagen Catrin sleeping alongside gwyn when she had bad dreams 😭

I want to thank @juwicebox for doing such a wonderful job with this piece 🥹

[shadowsingerspriestess]

@gwynweekofficial

Day 4: Family

[velidewrites]

ACOTAR CHARACTERS || CATRIN BERDARA

For @iambutmortal

[loonylooly]

Just a little theory, but part of me wonders if Gwyn and Lucien are secretly related, I mean, Gwyn is the descendant of a high fae from Autumn, no? And they're both gingers! I think It'd be nice for them to be family, I think they could really get along, and my man Lucien needs some good family members.

Like, iirc, Gwyn's grandfather was from the Autumn court. Maaayybeee, just maybeeee, Gwyn and Lucien are cousins or sumthing? Think of the possibilities ya'll....

[my-beautifulnightmare]

I have a new theory to break your heart. (TW: this one is brutal)

I don't think *we* have met Az's mate.

But I think he has. Two years ago. When he flew into a temple and slaughtered the beasts who were attacking Gwyn - and found his mate, in pieces on the floor, her scent nearly identical to her twin's.

"You'd know if she'd died", Azriel said, pausing his work and looking up at Cassian. He tapped his brother's chest with a scarred hand. "Right here - you'd know, Cass."

I think Az knows how it feels to lose a mate. Intimately.

Because he's already lost his.

Because he was too late.