#rayla's short story (if she gets one) is going to Destroy me

[raayllum]

I just wanna say I absolutely love all your analysis and metas of the Rayla-Aaravos parallels. I'm a big believer of their devastating circumstances more than I was before. You captivated them very well. Elves who've been backstabbed and betrayed by their people as well as being banished from their communities. It's fascinating yet heartbreaking. Especially with the short stories. I'm beyond excited for the next short stories they have coming up and where their character arcs go.

Keep being awesome, fam. ❤️👏

Thank you!! I caught onto the Aaravos-Rayla parallels at first because the mirror reminded me of the Ghosting - a sort of exile and obviously communication through certain reflective surfaces - and then in the places they held in Viren and Callum's life: elven guides who aid them in travelling deeper into their magical journeys, accessing greater power due to that bond (power that dooms Viren, and saves Callum). I still think the bulk of Rayla and Aaravos' parallels are tethered to their dynamics with their respective high mages (Aaravos will save Viren, who is being hunted by Rayla; Rayla will save Callum, who is being hunted by Aaravos, etc) but they have some really juicy ones all on their own like

Their relationship with truth telling that constantly goes back and forth ("I'm not lying, I never lie" vs "I've been keeping something from him, hiding the truth" "White lies are illusions you build with your words to protect the hearts of those you love"). Rayla hating water, Aaravos being imprisoned (seemingly) under water. "You keep calling it a monster. Does it think? Does it feel? Does it have a family? Then is it the last of its kind?" Rayla consistently having the water reflection motif / ripples. Aaravos believing his return is inevitable while Rayla dreads that her failures are. Doing something even when the odds seem impossible ("[Finding Aaravos] is hopeless") and even when your own people might misunderstand and turn against you. Rayla being branded as a Ghost and a coward (worse than death / dying honourably) while Aaravos himself is something worse than death. Their metaphorical masks and literal hood reveals, both of them being echoes of Thunder ("he is the reason I am where I am" whether in prison or on the assassination mission, cloaked by the storm and illuminated by lightning). "I have not seen the stars in centuries, but when I see them again - when the stars are forced to look upon their dark brother - they will know I have waited" and "I wish I could say that we will see each other again, but I don't know if will. I hope so." The way that Rayla is the first to correctly and consistently identify Aaravos' Key: "It's a toy, probably a piece from a children's game" "It's a glow toy" and "or are you losing to Bait at a game of rolly-cubes?"

It's so so good, not even touching on the ways they largely represent Callum's two (perhaps not mutually exclusive) paths post-s4. I'm so freaking excited to see how they're intertwined next

[imminent-danger-came]

Here’s a jumbled mess of my thoughts and questions after watching season 4

This is a long list buckle in:

When Callum asked Rayla to kill him. Oh. Oh god.

Nothing was resolved this season. We're so fucked for season 5. Like, this is very much the season 1 of arc 2. Season 2 fulfilled a lot of what season 1 set up in arc 1, and I think season 4 is the same.

Why was Rayla acting so strange all season? Like there is so much there to suggest she’s not herself.

What's with the weird butterfly guy, like yeah he lead Claudia and the gang to the map but there's going to be more there.

Callum possession.

No really the Callum possession was the worst (affectionate) part of the whole season I’m still freaking out

We never got a Rayllum I love you. Next season’s gonna hurt!

Stella is a fucking weirdo I still do NOT trust her. (Thanks for saving bait and Rayla’s fake rock parents though.)

 How did terry and Claudia meet. Very excited to get an explanation if that’s in the cards!

Gonna go on a big rant about our 3 human mages

*Ahem.* VIREN AND CLAUDIA NEVER SAW CALLUM DO MAGIC WITH THE SKY ARCANUM. AUGH. I’M WAITING FOR IT TO HAPPEN. THE “Callum mastered the Sky Arcanum” reveal for those two is going to be SO FUCKING CRAZY

THEY SET SO MUCH SHIT UP FOR A CLAUDIA AND CALLUM CONFRONTATION NEXT SEASON. I'M SO SCARED. Like she's the one who keeps going on about Humanity having nothing and Elves and Dragons considering them to be filthy animals, BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE. Also the way she looked at his sleeping form. The “Not anymore.” at them being friends. Lol. We’re screwed guys.

Now that Callum and Rayla have reconciled I am fully confident he's gonna master the moon Arcanum next season, since those two things have been thematically connected. I'm screaming.

THE EPISODE 4 INTRO THOUGH.

LIKE EVERY INTRO AFTER THAT WAS A SCARY GAME OF “Is it going to be Viren, or will it be Callum?”

Fuck that cube

I CAN NOT BELIEVE CLAUDIA GAVE RAYLA THE COINS. LIKE. WOAH. WHAT. WHAT WHAT WHAT. CLAUDIA I HAD LOST ALL HOPE FOR YOU.

Viren, that dumb motherfucker. Can’t believe he has like, “a will to live” again UGH

Very interested to learn about the 7 Xadian cakes.

Every time they foreshadowed “Callum becoming Aaravos puppet” was wild man. I am not ready.

Speaking of, Callum really wasn’t okay with that all season lol. Again. He asked Rayla to kill him like WOW. “What if I’m on the path to darkness?” Buddy you should have destroyed the cube.

Or, maybe not. You’re gonna need to use it as leverage later probably.

Actually the fact that he was crying over the possession. Over Rayla? All of it?

So glad Soren is part of the Dragang.

Episodes 3 and 4 were FUCKING AMAZING HOLY SHIT.

Can not believe they stabbed both Ibis and Claudia on screen. Like really I shouldn’t have been surprised with the way season 3 was, but I think it was fair to be surprised at the blood spilling out of Ibis’ mouth.

THE COINS HAHA! Yay?

i DESPERATELY want to know why Rayla came back. Miss “I left because I love you and want to protect you against everything. I love you so much. We may never see each other again”. Like lol. There is more there. The Rayla I know would have crumpled from guilt the moment Callum was a little bit angry towards her. She has exactly ZERO self-worth. I am terrified of what those 2 years did to her.

The fact that she called searching for Viren “revenge” felt strange too. Especially after reading the “Dear Callum” short story.

Somehow, I trust Stella less than the weird star butterfly abomination. Like I really do not trust that cuddle monkey.

JANAYA THE WHOLE SEASON. I LOVE THEM.

Karim. Lol.

The way Soren screamed after seeing his father. God.

The Soren and Claudia reunion was kinda sweet. Fucked up. But the way Soren protected Claudia from falling hurt me.

Terry this season was a DELIGHT. I think a lot of his appeal for me comes from the fact that he’s Claudia’s partner. There’s something so wrong with him. And he’s also a dork. The dualism.

When the looking glass shattered. FUCKING SCARY DUDE

Really loved the world building on moon opals and other magic stones.

Buddy you should have destroyed the cube.

The drakewood was neat!

2 of the funniest jokes in the season were back to back and all happened in episode 7. The whole “speaking in the dark” bit. Zym putting a hand on a grieving Ezran’s shoulder. Comedy.

DOG ZYM DOG ZYM DOG ZYM

Is it okay for me to have a crush on a dragon.

Really Zubeia has the prettiest voice.

buddy you should have destroyed the cube.

Thank you Rayla for NOT choosing to go after Viren again. Don’t leave your boys. Callum needs you.

JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL JANAYA PROPOSAL

Janai this season was so sweet.

Karim. Lol. Eat shit.

Rex Ignus was cooler than I thought he’d be. Still a fucking loser though lol

Callum did so many cool spells this season I’m so proud of him.

Buddy. You. Should. Have. Destroyed. The. Cube.

Terry’s magic form was SO NEAT.

I hope we get to met the water arch-dragon next. She looked SUPER pretty

I wonder what other pieces of Aaravos’ whereabouts the other arch-dragon’s have.

“I’m going to do something more human. I’m just going to stab him.” (Not word for word but you know the joke)

Queen Aditi was very pretty and I am excited to learn what happened to her

Also the Orphan Queen! What a gal! The Katolis custom of “only orphans may ascend to the thrown” makes a lot more sense now! Fuck whoever that other bitch was that was manipulated by aaravos.

Corvus playing the fucking cello. Like girl what? You’re a multi-classing ranger and bard?

The Soren and Zubeia dynamic was so fucking good. Please dragon smash boy SAY the good words now, they light the hearts of other people (those people being dragon queens)

I miss Corvus (And lowkey ship Sorvus)

Soren and his new friend dragon :)

TLDR; I love tdp

[ecoamerica]

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[theredhairedmonkey]

TTM Spoilers: Are they really going to leave things open-ended like this? My gut tells me that they are gonna wrap up this arc in another comic or two, and then by s4 Rayllum are together and this whole thing is resolved. There's just no way they can just sum up everything that happened in a short prologue in s4.

Through the Moon Spoilers

Are you a fan of Rogue One, by chance? Fantastic movie! In my opinion, the best Star Wars movie to come out in the last five years.

Do you know how the story of Rogue One is summed up by episode IV? It ultimately gets just two sentences in the opening crawl:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Two sentences. That’s it. That’s all you need to know about Rogue One for this movie.

Summing up previous stories isn’t really that difficult to do. Even here, you could have a character (Ezran or Callum) give us the gist of what we need to know in just two or three sentences too: “On a fateful trip to the Moon Nexus, we learned the horrible truth that Viren is alive. Callum and Rayla were supposed to go try and find him, but Rayla left alone in the middle of the night. Callum traveled to Xadia on his own, trying to find Rayla before it’s too late.”

Simple as that. That would probably take less than 20 seconds of screentime to say. And the fact is, some prologue will be necessary no matter what happens next. The trio (or Rayla at least) knows that Viren is alive. Some kind of short explanation is necessary to tell us how that was discovered. There’s no reason to think that things would be wrapped up before s4 begins. I’m having a hard time conceiving how exactly Rayla--one of the most driven, reckless characters on the show--would just suddenly up and decide she doesn’t need to look for Viren despite knowing he is alive?

And the fact is, I don’t think this should be unwound before s4. This is good character development for Rayla. Maybe not in the direction any of us had hoped, but certainly the most significant change in her character since, perhaps, s1. I don’t think this should just remain relegated in a graphic novel or two, but instead, have the full ramifications and consequences of her actions explored in s4 as well.

[swtorramblings]

What Was Unbreakable

Second Chances, Chapter 3

Claudia’s introduction. She was not part of the original concept, but she fits it so well she revitalized my interest in continuing the story.

Renewed Chances Chapter List

He was gone. She couldn’t believe it. He had understood, and cared, but he had still left. She couldn’t. The choice had paralyzed her.

What was she going to do?

He had called their father evil. The father he had needed for so long. She had stayed because of how much Soren needed him.

Hadn’t she?

But which of them really needed Viren? Which of them was really the most like him?

Is that what he thought of her? That she was evil?

She fell to her knees, set her bag down in front of her.

First, she pulled out the bottle, the one with that adorable little plant, setting it aside. Maybe someone would find it and take it home.

She laid down all the things she had collected, bits of magical creatures, the source of her power. The only way humans could do magic. She knew this. How unfair it was. How the magical races had kept it from them, hoarded it for themselves.

It didn’t matter any longer.

She began tearing the pages from her book, one by one. Placing them with the objects of power. Preparing herself.

She knew what he’d done, and that he’d lied to her about it. What he had planned to do to Soren proved it.

How could he have wanted to do that to his own son? And how had she believed him over her own brother?

Finally, she knew what she would do as the words coalesced in her mind, and she smiled.

===========================

Viren eventually found her, at the edge of the camp. He still carried both the worm and the staff.

She was surrounded by black dust from a spell she had cast. A great deal of it. Torn pages fluttered around her.

She knelt in the center of it. She did not turn. She crackled with power.

“Be careful, Viren, we still need her.”

He wished his ally would be silent. “Claudia, I know he hurt you. I understand.”

“No, you don’t.” She sounded as though she had been crying. Of course she did.

“Please, we have to move forward. We have no choice, whatever Soren has done.”

“No, Dad. I stayed for him. I sacrificed for him. For us, to keep us all together. So you would love both of us.”

“I do love you. I love both of you. You know that.”

“If you’d loved him, you would have been proud of him. He needed that so much, he would have done anything for you. And you asked him to, didn’t you?”

“Claudia, please, is this about what he said? You know he sometimes gets confused.”

He was going to say more, but she cut him off. “If you’d loved me, you wouldn’t have made me choose. Wouldn’t have lied to me to get me on your side.”

He took another step towards her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she had to be stopped. Whatever she was doing was dangerous. To her. To him. To his plans and his army.

She continued, her voice cracking. “And if I’d loved him enough, I would have believed him.”

He reached for her.

“I couldn’t choose. And, now he’s gone. They’re all gone. None of them will ever forgive me.”

Viren could hear the worm again, urging him to lie, to do anything to salvage this. He realized it was much too late.

“Because of you!” Claudia shouted. She turned, her eyes blackened by her power, and lashed out. Tendrils of smoke wrapped around the staff, pulling it from his hands, pushing him away.

“No, what are you doing?”

She took the staff and lifted it over her head, as though preparing to swing it to the ground. “You took my brother from me. I am going to take this from you!”

“How? You know the staff’s power. It’s unbreakable!”

He realized that was the wrong thing to say, again too late. She grinned up at him. “Yes, and unbreakable is just another kind of breakable.”

She spoke, words even Viren did not know, but the worm began shouting at him in panic, “Run! Run now!”

He ran, almost too late. The blast caught him, throwing him a dozen feet through the air, scorching his robes and skin.

Some of his troops, still human, drawn by the explosion, rushed to his side, lifting him to his feet. They searched the scorched ground where Claudia had been. All that was left of the staff were useless, drained shards. Nothing was left of any of the components she had used, or of her book of notes and spells.

Of Claudia, the only trace she had ever been was a shadow burnt into the ground.

=======================

Miles away, Soren looked down from the mountain, seeing even from that distance the explosion, feeling the loss. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath, tears falling to the dusty floor.

Callum also felt it, and helped him to his feet, called Ezran over and told him what had happened. Ezran hugged him around the waist, and they joined him in tears. Rayla placed her hand on Callum’s shoulder, trying to comfort him, and he put one hand on hers.

The dragons and the sun elves, though they did not share the grief for this fallen enemy, one who, like her father, would destroy them for power, for jealousy, still did their best to console these humans who had brought the Prince back to them, who would have fought for them.

The troops Viren had transformed, deprived of the Sun’s power, returned to their human forms. They realized what he had done to them, that he had sacrificed who they were to make his army, and turned away from the magical lands. They no longer trusted him or the creature he had unleashed on the world.

The war was over, having done far too much damage already, with only one more family being sacrificed to it, the family that had caused the worst of it.

Viren was alone, abandoned even by his ally. Scarred by his own uses of power and by whatever it was his daughter had done. He finally wept, also, for everything he had given up, only to fail at the end.

Did he ever truly realize that the real loss was more profound than his ambitions? Perhaps. Perhaps even at that moment. But this is not a story about him, or even the many people he had tried so hard to destroy.

It is about the girl that he almost had.

=======================

Claudia opened her eyes. The flash had dazzled her for a time, but now her vision was clearing, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Where was she? There were people milling about her, dozens of humans in strange clothes, in strange contraptions speeding down smooth roads. Humans surrounded by what had to be magic, towers of glass reaching to the sky. How was any of this possible?

She walked to one of the buildings, looked at herself in the glass. Fully half her hair was white, now, her face smudged with ash, her clothes tattered. Still, perhaps she had been given another chance. Without her father, or her brother. She did not know how she felt about that, but it was a chance, and she would take it.

==========================

The Machine received notification of the third anomaly, a short video of her before she disappeared into the crowd. She began recalculating, again. Now, unless more appeared, it was time to send her agents, if only to observe.

[dork-empress]

A Helping Hand

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Fandom: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)

Characters: Rayla (The Dragon Prince) Callum (The Dragon Prince) Ezran (The Dragon Prince) Ellis (The Dragon Prince) Lujanne (The Dragon Prince) Azymondias (The Dragon Prince)

Additional Tags: Severe Injury, Burns, loss of hand

Deciding she doesn't want to face the issues of slowly letting her hand fall off, Rayla takes matters into her own hands, well, hand, when she gets the Sunforged blade.

I LOVED the Dragon Prince, but thought they were so perfectly set up for this and then just didn't go there. The parallels, the blade, everything. And...the dragon biting if off kinda felt like a cop-out to me. But again, I loved the rest of the show.

Read on Ao3

“Did you find the knife guy? Did you get his knife?” Ezran asked as he and Callum ran towards the shivering pile under the cloak.

Except Rayla wasn’t shivering. She was shaking. There was a very subtle difference as she clutched her arm to herself, silently screaming in pain, but she wasn’t cold, not as her blood flowed through her, her heart beating fast with adrenaline and fear.

Rayla sniffed as they got close. “Rayla?” Callum asked, soft and kind.

She swallowed, “The bad news is that the sunforge blade didn’t work,” she said, voice shaking with her. “The--the good news is I did manage to get the binding off.”

“Really?” Ezran asked, excited, “How?!”

Rayla flinched, and pulled back the cloak. Callum and Ezra gasped at the sight, and she pulled it back close to her chest, regretting showing them at all. It was too late now. They saw the stump where her hand had been.

Callum sat next to her on the fountain, Ezran on her other side, stabilizing her. “What happened?”

************

“No! Nothing can cut this stupid binding! Ugh!” Rayla said, about ready to throw the dagger in anger. Her hand burned, she had sliced just a bit of her skin in the process. At least the damn thing cut something.

She watched her own skin sizzle for a moment. It didn’t bleed, but looked red and angry. Felt angry too. An idea floated into her head.

If she waited, the loss of her hand would be slow, agonizing even. She could lose more than just her hand, her whole arm could be forfeit. And the blood loss….and infection….she could die from it. Which of course, was the point, it wasn’t a true bind if it didn’t cost something.

She took a deep breath. “You,” She said to the dagger holder, “Gimme that sheath.”

“Sure, uh--” he stammered, fussing with taking the sheath off his belt. “Sure, take it! Take anything you want! Just don’t hurt me!”

Rayla rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to hurt you,” she said, “I’m...going to hurt me.” She lay her arm out on the stone and took a breath. She could do this. She could do this she could do this.

She put the sheath in her mouth and bit down as hard as she could. No way she could stop herself from screaming.

With a final gulp she raised the dagger and sliced.

********

“Rayla...I’m sorry,” Callum says, “Here, let me see.” Rayla clutched her stump closer to her chest. “The burn probably still needs to be treated. At least with some water or something.” Reluctantly, she held it out. He winced, but got up to fetch some water from the well. She yelped putting her arm in the bucket, but after a moment, it felt good.

“Tell me something good happened with the egg,” she said, fighting off tears.

“Yes and no,” Callum said, tearing off a ribbon of her cloak, “Well, no. Not yet. So, yes? In a way?” He started wrapping up her hand.

“Sounds like we’re averaging out to a maybe-minus,” she said, still wincing in pain.

“Yeah that sounds about right,” Callum slumped, finishing up the bandage.

“We learned about a miracle healer,” Ezran perked, “Someone who might be able to help the egg!” he jumped up beaming, “And maybe your hand, too!”

Rayla looked doubtfully at her hand. “Really?”

Callum shrugged, “She apparently re-grew a dog’s leg. A hand can’t be too much more complicated right?” He sighed, “The only catch is, the healer lives up there...the Cursed Caldera.”

Rayla gulped. “Please tell me it’s named that because it was discovered by the great explorer, Sir Phineas Cursed.”

“Actually, it’s called that because it’s infested with horrible monsters,” Callum said.

“Yeah...I know,” she sulked.

“There she is!” They were distracted by a voice behind them, “She’s an elf! She did dark blood magic right in front of me!”

Rayla flinched in pain again. “Oh, right. I forgot about the other bad news.”

They ran.

************

Rayla paced back and forth, uneasy. She had only barely been able to climb up the tree one-handed. It was hard to imagine that just a short while ago, she’d scaled up a cliffside and a castle. She was built for climbing, made for it. But now, her arm hurt so much she could barely think.

Ezran was sitting on the other end of the tree branch, Bait beside him, cradling the egg to his chest. “It seems to be hanging in there,” she said, positively, “Barely,” she added, more cynical.

Ezran hugged it tighter, “I’m so sorry I messed up the plan,” he said, bowing his head.

Rayla collapsed to sitting, feeling some of the despair and pain wash over her, “Ah, you should cut yourself a break,” she said, voice flat and miserable even when she was trying to be comforting, “Everyone messes up sometimes. Or in my case, all the times.”

“What are you talking about?” Ezran said, swiveling to her confused.

She scoffed. “Trust me, if the plan hadn’t gotten messed up when Bait flashed, I’m sure it would have flopped when it was my turn.”

“Are you kidding?” Ezran said, “From what I can tell, you’re awesome at everything.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the compliment. “I WAS pretty awesome at everything,” she said, waving her stump as a reminder, “Right up until the moment when it really matters. And that’s when I just, poof. Screw things up.”

“What do you mean?”

She scoffed, “Look at me, Ezran. I lost my darn hand! I’m a one-handed assassin.” she sighs. “I hesitate. I think too much, get confused about the right thing to do. And the next thing I know, I failed,” She looks sadly at her hand.

She told him the story of letting the guard go, remembering everything about that night, the cold rain, the dark shadows, and worst of all the pain in the guard’s eyes. “Do you realize I’m an assassin who’s never killed anyone?”

“I think that’s a good thing,” he said, putting the egg away. He seemed distracted from his own mistake, at least. “Thanks for failing at your mission, by the way. I like being alive.”

“I’m glad you’re alive, Ezran,” she said, meaning it. She couldn’t imagine having extinguished the bright light that was the young prince. “Knowing you is definitely worth losing a hand for.”

“That is the weirdest nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” he responded.

She chuckled again. “I just...I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” she said, “I want to get you and Callum and the egg to safety.”

“And don’t forget Bait!” Ezran pushed the glow-toad into her face.

She grimaced. “How could I?” she said flatly, then sighed. “But….we’re going to face more monsters on this journey, probably. More people who want to stop us for whatever reason. No offense, but you’re a kid. Callum is a twig who knows one and a half spells, and Bait is….Bait. I can’t even hold the egg anymore, let alone protect it. What...what am I going to do?”

Ezran scooted closer to her. “Well,” He said, “You can still do some things without your hand.”

“Oh?” she asked, and he lifted his arms, encasing her but not pushing on her. She sighed, and wrapped her arm around him, encapsulating him in a hug.

*********

“She’s a moon mage,” Rayla said, looking at the elf, her heart in her stomach, “An illusionist.”

Lujanne, the illusionist, went on to explain what she did, and what she had done for Ava. “She didn’t need that leg to be happy, no more than you need your hand.”

“But I do need my hand!” Rayla said, upset and raising her stump, “I’m a warrior! What am I going to do with just one hand?!”

“You’ve done pretty well so far,” the girl Ellis said, leaning against Ava, “Like Ava! You destroyed that leech one handed, saved everyone. You climbed the tree one-handed, defended us against the illusions…”

“That’s because that’s what they WERE,” Rayla argued, “In a real battle...I don’t know what I’ll do!” She held her head in her one remaining hand, clutching her stump to her chest. It still hurt.

“The monsters may have been fake, but your fight against them was real,” Lujanne argued, “It takes great courage and spirit to make it up this mountain and past my monsters. A courage I saw in Ellis and Ava,” she smiled at the wolf and the girl, “and a courage I see in you.”

Rayla shook her head, “I don’t know what you see,” she said, “but it’s not courage.”

“What are you talking about?” Callum said, “We never would have MADE it this far without you. You’ve saved all of us at one time or another, even Bait, and that was when you were terrified of the water.” Bait croaked in agreement.

“Yeah, you did everything with just your slish hand!” Ellis added, “Just like Ava did everything with just three legs.”

Lujanne chuckled, “There may be some things you can’t do anymore,” she said, “But if you’re worried about being there for your friends, I’d say you have everything you need.” She motioned to the others, all looking at Rayla with smiling faces.

Ezran’s face fell as he turned to Lujanne, “But...we have another problem. And this one’s REAL,” he said, taking the egg out of his bag.

Lujanne and the rest of them lamented as they realized there was nothing she could do. Rayla closed her eyes. All of this, all of this was for nothing. Saving the egg, all that she had done. It was for nothing.

And then Callum was gasping. He said, “I know what I have to do,” and took out his Stone.

Rayla only figured out what he was talking about a second before he smashed the orb onto the stone ground. The glass shattered and they were all blown back by the explosion of wind. In slow motion Rayla watched as the egg rolled along the rock face, directly toward the edge of the cliff.

For once, Rayla didn’t overthink, She hardly thought at all. Hand or not, that egg meant peace for the world, and more than that it was a child, a hurt child. No way was she letting a measly hand stop her.

She clutched the egg to her chest with both arms, hugging it to herself until the wind became too strong. She took out her sword, using her one good hand to stab into the rock face, keeping herself steady. The egg pressed on her stump, sending shocks of pain up her arm, but she didn’t dare let go, holding it in the crook of her elbow.

Finally the wind died away, and she looked around. They were in the eye of the storm, the center of calm surrounded by chaos.

She put the egg down and watched. The storm spiralled away, the energy released and dissipating into the sky.

The egg sat still and cold. Once again, Rayla felt a wave of failure flow through her. They had tried everything, absolutely everything, and still they failed.

Then, it cracked.

Rayla nearly squealed looking at the adorable baby dragon, as it cautiously stepped out, blinking up at Bait and Ezran. Ezran talked to it, like he might talk to a person, but Rayla hardly heard what he said, too distracted by ‘BABY DRAGON!!’

Ezran turned the dragon, Zym, saying “That’s Rayla. You almost blew off the mountain, but Rayla saved you!”

Rayla kneeled down as the baby dragon hopped toward her, sniffing at the bandage around her hand. He licked at it, causing it to sting. “Aww! It’s okay, little one,” she said, “The important thing is you. One miracle is enough for me today.”

Zym bit at the bandage, pulling at it. “Hey, stop that,” she said, trying to gently pull him away. He was insistent, stronger than she was expecting, and the bandage came loose. He licked eagerly at the exposed stump, and she flinched.

“Hey! Zym, don’t hurt her!” Ezran said, but Rayla held up her hand.

“It’s alright,” she said, letting the dragon lick her, “I...I feel something. I…” The bandage fell away and she looked at the arm. “The pain! It’s...it’s gone!” she said, looking at her hand, “It feels perfectly fine now!”

The others all beamed, and Zym yipped, proud of himself. She pet him with the stump. “Thank you,” she said.

[theskyexists]

the biggest problem i had with the dragon prince is sokka’s voice for callum and the irish accent for rayla. i just cannot take it seriously

warming to her accent, but callum’s voice is just - arghghghghg

also though the king is super cool, the way he tells the story, the humans were just super shit.

ok that heart to heart was better

the fuckin naruto run lol

finding it more palatable now i know viren’s not an actually evil dude, just using dark magic is all

but episode two has got wayyy better pacing

Claudia turns out to be hella powerful and i love that

lol wtf. that line just launched millions of harrow/viren ships

(if the egg wasn’t destroyed why didn’t viren TELL harrow. viren is a shitty friend alright. edit: im thinking, was it claudia?? but she would have been too young. edit edit: viren IS a power-hungry dude, but WHY? what the hell does he want)

how did Rayla INSTANTLY decide to align herself with callum and ezran against renaan??? when he refused to back down. she seems thrilled at fighting him! what the fuck!

the scene-changing feels super unpolished tbh. it’s very realistic - and therefore not super conducive to smooth storytelling. callum goes to see the king like three times in a row. it’s like using the same word over and over in a piece of writing

gotten used to callum’s voice

all callum does at the top of the tower is fail to talk with his dad, lose his voice to viren, get it back, be convinced viren is a villain, get no response to calling his dad, dad, abandon his dad for no reason i can really see.

the plans all fail. viren lashes out and thinks callum is a shitty commoner (lol)

i dont really fuckin understand how from this mess, callum concluded that neither harrow nor renaan would want to return the egg. so little trust in harrow. and yeah, renaan wants to kill harrow, but then rayla goes against him for no real reason - to... distract him from killing harrow - which she shouldn’t particularly care about So Much (if she’s thinking about a feud, then have her reference Callum’s point) and which isn’t worth sacrificing her life for, and which won’t stop him in the long run, and even if she did, she’s willing to go back to protect him AGAIN for ....callum? i don’t get it

like, just go up there with the egg, show it to them elves, show it to harrow. ?

tonally this is fucking weird because they’re like, team-bonding about having a quest now while up in the tower right NOW all their adults are fighting each other to the death lol

ezran has gone from annoying to adorable though

SO ALL THESE GUARDS ARE DEAD!!! AND ALL THE MOONSHADOW ELVES ARE DEAD!!! (i guess?? they weren’t as invincible as they fucking said?? wtf??)

oh right Harrow, IS dead. but not really because clearly and obviously Viren did something.

hoping: that this mess resolves itself in the next episodes as the adopt a travel format.

i can’t tell exactly what makes the narrative so messy. but it feels extremely messy. i need to think about it. i think it’s because it seems super counter intuitive how all these kids are responding to the circumstances

i know they’re trying to be nuanced and create ambiguities. but i don’t know how to feel about it

they still had guards left? to carry the coffin? lol

not sure why mourning the king has to be cut short because of war. like what are they gonna do, the guards dead, apparently zero nobles in this ‘kingdom’, the princes both LOST LOL

and claudia and the brother are both completely unaffected by Harrow’s death. they’re like: damn so tired ugh im gonna have a sip of coffee in this highly sad procession. they don’t give a FUCK. oh callum and ezran are dead ? these kids shrug - i was kinda friends with em but whatever

jfc

lol CLASSIC villain, im gonna usurp the throne now Viren. what the fuck is up with him. one moment he’s like, gotta save YOU! the next he’s like, gonna get me some power

i just canNOT get a read on these characters. i know they’re like supposed to be 15 or something. but can’t tell if callum is responsible or reckless. and rayla seems like such a SUCKER one moment, and the next she’s all chagrined, one moment tormented, the next, thrilled at betraying her people.

also i CANNOT deal with the sense of humour in this. like lets spend time on recounting a stupid dream? WHO CARES. rayla comes in, oh i was so taken with your insecurity lets risk EVERYTHING. i mean??? what a LOSER. why would she give in??

‘no more detours alright?’ THEY ARE GOING ON THE FIRST DETOUR EVER AND  SHE’S OKAYED IT

this winter lodge is like, a tiny house. this king is not very rich. it’s an early king?

there are NO servants in the whole damn castle OR in the winter lodge. just soldiers, always soldiers. it’s just ridiculous. it’s frozen all over again - ROYALTY IS SUPPORTED BY A HUGE UNDERCLASS THAT DOES THE DAY TO DAY STUFF OF LIVING. (apart from it ruining realistic worldbuilding, it also feels like it just forgets about/erases the truth of everyday life, of peace, and of the unprivileged classes)

‘it won’t work, humans and elves don’t trust each other’ - uhhh ok, but why is Callum so sure of this. he has no experience

why has rayla just been ducking around the rafters and running around the roof. could just have chilled out. i appreciate that they wanna show off her cool parkour but it’s been already three times that they play her running around like a very quick ninja as ‘cool! oh wow! stakes!’

SO AMAYA JUST FUCKIN WRECKS RAYLA. i hate how literally every fight in this makes me think: great, now these two idiots are fighting each other for no real reason

OMG ELVES HAVE ONLY FOUR FINGERS?? ok thats a very cool little thing

i know this is like super on the nose storytelling like - hey actually FIGHT racist stereotypes, using them doesn’t fuckin work

but it’s so grating

lol - nobody saw the hostage bullshit comign? nobody is like, hmmmm these boys are going along with this girl suprisingly voluntarily

yeah so harrow’s spirit is definitely in a bird now. did nobody notice that just before Harrow died, he flailed about like a bird?

i can’t keep going

[ecoamerica]

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