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soulsbleedink · 2 months

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𝙇𝙐𝘿𝙄𝘾 | 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝘼𝘼𝙉 𝙓 𝙀𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙄

Prompt: Runaan returns from a mission; exhausted. Ethari braids his hair and they have a soft and slow night in the meadow. Then Rayla decides to join them.

Warning[s]: None, all fluffy <3

Pairing: Runaan x Ethari & Rayla [Rayla's scene right at the end]

Word count: 1.5k

masterlist

this is what was mentioned in orphic. the memory rayla was reminiscing about. and i just had to, i think it's beyond adorable. i love ruthari so much <3 have fun reading. :)

Ethari’s hands were gentle as he combed through Runaan’s mane of silky white hair, weaving his fingers through the slightly tangled locks. The moon gleamed above them, the clock ticking on while nature paid no heed to that. Neither did they. They didn’t know how long it had been since they had sat out here. But neither of them cared, or minded. Runaan returned from a mission, tired, but wanting desperately to bask in his husband’s warmth, of course Ethari would never deny him of that simple joy in life. Although an elfling Rayla did. She wouldn’t stop tugging at Runaan’s hair, to the point that the already messed up hair was now practically falling apart. Somehow Runaan had found it in himself to tuck the very… enthusiastic elfling into bed. Huffing and snaking his arms around Ethari as the craftsman waited at their kitchen, chopping some fruit for him.

“It took so long…” He yawned, pressing his face onto Ethari’s shoulder, chin resting there. Ethari hummed, placing the knife away and turning back to his husband.

He ran his hands through his white curls of hair, one of the silver cuffs slipping off and onto his palm. “You should’ve let me put her to bed.”

“It was my turn,” Runaan reasoned, but the way his eyes drooped begged to disagree with the words leaving his mouth. He leaned into Ethari’s touch, barely noticing how the tip of one of his horns poked him. Ethari didn’t react, just continued carding his fingers through his husband’s hair.

“It would’ve been fine, but she’s asleep now. Here.” His warm hand left the plain of Runaan’s face and hair, the assassin frowned from the loss of warmth, but his eyes followed the hand anyway. Ethari held up a plate of nicely sliced fruit for him. How endearing, he smiled. Gently, Runaan accepted the plate, Ethari’s arm snaking around his waist and leading him to the table. Runaan sat down wordlessly, Ethari opposite him as he smiled at his husband.

Runaan picked up a slice, taking a slow bite, but his hand shook slightly. He hurried with the next, until he was on the next slice. And he did it with the rest of the fruit on the plate. Ethari frowned softly, he opened his mouth to say but Runaan smiled at him.

“I’m fine,” He insisted to Ethari’s silent plea. Ethari wasn’t particularly convinced anyway.

“I wouldn’t think so,” He said, standing up. He made his way over to Runaan, pushing the plate away. He held his hands out. Runaan eyed them, glancing at the blacksmith before he accepted the hands. Ethari intertwined their fingers, pulling Runaan up. The assassin stumbled into his chest, cursing himself for the imbalance. “It’s okay, you just need some rest.”

“I don’t want to head back to bed just yet,” Runaan whispered.

Ethari chuckled. “You sound a lot like Rayla now, and no, we’re not heading back to bed just yet.” He tugged Runaan forward, leading the tired assassin out of their humble abode. Into the meadow just outside the Silvergrove. Runaan wasn’t even sure how he managed to keep on walking, but as long as he was with Ethari, he supposed he could do it.

The flowers tickled Runaan’s ankles, but it felt like a breeze to him, with the way Ethari hummed ahead of him and then sat down, pulling Runaan with him. A soft gasp left Runaan’s mouth as he dropped onto the soft grass beneath him. When he hit the ground, Ethari laughed, pulling the assassin’s back closer to him, until he could rest his chin on Runaan’s shoulder, brushing the hair to one side.

“Let me do this for you, just relax.” He twirled some of the white hair around his fingers. Runaan relaxed into the grip, shoulders slumping. Ethari squeezed his shoulder, softly moving the long white hair back over his shoulder. He inched back, just a bit. Runaan missed the warmth, but he didn’t mind.

The assassin watched the moon, the stars twinkling beside her, and he smiled, the soft gleam that she casted down on the grass dancing with the breeze that swept through the meadow, hitting Runaan’s skin like the drafts that swept through their house in the early mornings, when he’d be draped safely in Ethari’s arms and warmth. Who was humming behind him, effectively lulling him into a near sleep state. Although the soft tugs on his hair did anchor him in the real world. He just wanted to fall back, watch those hazel eyes as he slipped out of consciousness for the night.

“Runaan?” The humming stopped, his husband’s soft voice whispering against the shell of his ear. He shivered, nodding in acknowledgement. “Just a bit longer, alright?” Ethari continued, picking up his pace. Runaan wished he’d take longer, he didn’t mind this. It felt incredibly nice.

He didn’t realise when Ethari had finished his braid, already slipping back on the silver cuff that always held it together. He glanced towards his side and noticed a flower getting plucked out. He turned around, but couldn’t fully. Ethari had his hands on the assassin’s shoulders.

“Hold still, please.” He smiled softly.

“What are you doing?” Runaan asked, raising an eyebrow at him. His husband laughed, voice a gentle breath that flushed warmth against his face. Runaan smiled too, reaching back gently, tracing a hand over Ethari’s jaw. “You’re incredible, love.”

Ethari blushed, his face getting warmer under Runaan’s touch. The assassin leaned forward, capturing his lips in a gentle kiss, as a thanks, as a reminder, as many things that he couldn’t put into words. He just wasn’t up to task for that, but Ethari did that. Ethari spoke his appreciation, and his love existed in all the words he spoke every day. In the way he weaved words together, love was prominent. Runaan didn’t do that, he touched, and he gave, and he did. His love was in the way he would leave an extra plate of moonberries every morning before training, and in the way he would take extra time to fix Ethari’s clothes, or when he lingered at the door of the forge. And maybe that’s why they were married. They were different, but perfectly the same.

“I can see a whole ocean’s worth of thoughts behind those eyes, Runaan,” Ethari whispered, grinning. Runaan smiled.

“There are, and all of them concern you,” He said in earnest.

“Alright, let me finish this. Just a few more flowers.” Ethari turned him back around. He closed his eyes, “oh gosh.” Ethari’s voice was much quieter. And then Runaan heard it too. The shuffling. He opened his eyes, glancing at the elfling standing in front of him. Purple eyes gazed up at him in confusion.

“Rayla, you woke up?” He asked, although it was pretty obvious that yes, she was awake—He opened his arms for her, the elfling lunged for his chest, tackling him with her hug, putting as much force as she could, although there wasn’t much force being exerted, to begin with.

She nodded against his chest, relaxing. “What are you doing?” She asked, voice still laced with the last traces of her sleep that should’ve lasted the whole night.

“I’m just doing Runaan’s hair, we were intending to head to bed right after,” Ethari explained softly. He rechecked the flowers that were woven in, letting the braid drape itself over Runaan’s left shoulder. The elfling stood up, using the assassin’s lap to seem taller as she looked up at Ethari, who leaned closer.

“Can you do that for me too? Can you teach me?” She asked, excitement obvious in the way her voice was growing in volume. Runaan traced shapes on her back, making her relax. She yawned, letting him law her down on his lap, her head resting against his chest.

“Of course I can, Rayla. Tomorrow though, alright?” Ethari whispered, now beside Runaan. He brushed strands of Rayla’s hair off her face. “We’ve got a whole night to sleep through. He intertwined his fingers with Rayla’s, squeezing her smaller hand as he watched her fall back asleep.

“Next time, we ought to be more careful…” Runaan said, nodding at the elfling asleep on him. “What if she got lost?”

Ethari nodded, “true, well, she’s here now.”

Ethari smiled at him, and Runaan’s whole heart warmed, along with his face. He let Ethari pull him up gently, snaking an arm around his waist as they walked back to the Silvergrove.

Runaan didn’t speak much, he never did, and Ethari’s voice was soft as he recounted the whole day with their Rayla. The wind hummed in their faces, the usually loud and bustling Silvergrove quiet in the early hours of the morning, or late hours of night. Or whatever the time was. To Runaan, that didn’t truly matter. He was back with his family, and he was sure he would have the best rest with them. Rayla moved in his arms, maybe once, or twice, but it meant near nothing. She always did that in her sleep, he’d noted over the while she had been with him and Ethari.

He looked to his side, Ethari looked as beautiful as ever, animated as he spoke in a soft tone. Runaan smiled. Letting his own words die out in the breeze while his husband became his lullaby for the night. How he was every night. One he never got tired of, he never could.

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beautifulterriblequeen · 1 month

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hi and welcome, it's new theory time wunce agayne, with I, your host, BTQ, stitching things together that maybe fit perfectly or maybe have no business touching at all: you decide!

Today's post inspo began several days ago when I started playing the Xadia game and discovered some cool lore that I just could not stop thinking about, so here, below the cut for all the spoiler reasons, is a screenshot of what you can find in the game, and what I would love for it to mean!

Topic: How Aaravos was tricked into that mirror prison

Context: We all wonder what happened to Luna Tenebris, how she died, where she went, all that good stuff. This isn't about answering those questions. This is about what she did before she died, and why. If she died at all (yeah that's always the question with Moon beings innit)

If you've played the game you'll know the context for this screenshot:

Ethari says, "Someone with the power to influence the Blood Moon itself used blood magic to become... something else."

and, well,

Luna seems to have disappeared during a Blood Moon. But she might not have died, despite what everyone thinks- she might have just become something else.

Why would she do this?

I'm guessing it wasn't for fun. Something desperate must've been happening. Luna disappeared 300 years ago, hmm, what in the world could've been happening at that moment...?

No, we all know.

You remember the Jailer. She's a human. No arcanum at all. She may be a dark mage, or she may just be a trickster magician. Either way, her whole deal is that she thinks outside the Cosmic Order box - she thinks in ways even Aaravos can't. And human ideas in times of desperation can break a lot of conventions and even taboos - just look at the things Viren, Claudia, and Callum have done when they had to.

So if the Jailer is thinking about dark creative solutions as the only way to trick a godlike Star Touch elf, maybe one of those ways was to get the Archdragon of the Moon to turn into something else, with magic that worked outside the laws of the Moon Arcanum.

We've all seen what Kim'dael can do - her Moonshadow powers and her forbidden magics are available to her at any time, not just during a full moon. Now imagine that ability for a blood magic archdragon.

Yeah.

Why the Queen of the Dragons, though?

I think they needed that much power to combat Aaravos. No one else could've done it with the confidence to succeed. And then there's the whole Moon theme of sacrifice, which all the Moonshadow elves keep demonstrating so determinedly. Surely their dragon queen has the same sentiment, deep down.

This still doesn't tell us what she did. But if she could use her massive illusion/deception powers at any time, they could trap Aaravos in any instant of their choosing instead of luring him to the predictable full moon. And seeing what sort of shenanigans are possible in the game when Moon creatures step outside their boundaries, well, there is certainly a lot of room for surprise there. In several directions. And they'd only have to surprise Aaravos once.

(side note: I can see now why Amaya says Moonshadow elves are the worst kind lmfaooo PLAY THE GAME IT'S SO FUN)

This whole theory feels very Moonshadow because even though I have this central nugget that feels plausible, I still wonder about so much more. For instance, what happened to Luna after this? Where is she now? Did she willingly die to keep from turning into a monster? Is she stuck in the spinning water that bears her name on the map? Is she alive somewhere still, lurking? Is she- NO SPOIL ME I JUST STARTED THE GAME. Idk if she's in there or not, shh.

Anyway. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this lore since I saw it in the game. And there's so much more than this even in the small bits I've played so far! If you're into the lore of The Dragon Prince, you'll wanna get this game!

But, serious lore enjoyer face. This one's extremely fun to think about.

#tdp spoilers #xadia spoilers #xadia game #tdp theory #tdp

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sapphicteadragon · 1 year

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a whole load of headcanons i wrote out just after s4 came out (though my thoughts are largely still the same now so not much has changed really) that have to do with ruthari:

Callum will have to use dark magic to free him from the coin, and will be reluctant to do so, but if Rayllum is back on track by that point he will probably agree to do it for Rayla even if he knows what Runaan has done

When he gets out, he’ll probably be very disoriented and have no clue where he is or what’s going on. I like the idea that getting coined has left him physically weak, so he needs time to recover.

On top of that, I think his mission will be the last thing on his mind at that point.

Different theories are going around – will the dragang take the coins back to the silvergrove, or will they free the coins elsewhere?

If they take the coins back to the silvergrove, and Ethari helps them out, I imagine he won’t leave Runaan’s side even for a minute. Cue every soft and angsty interaction you can possibly think of.

Ethari can barely believe that he’s got Runaan back after all this time. He cries when they kiss for the first time after being reunited.

Let’s say Zym is there and manages to get the binding off. Runaan doesn’t have much choice in the matter, but that can wait for a later time when he’s not half dead. Even then, his arm is permanently damaged, and he’ll likely never regain full use of it.

Runaan has trouble sleeping, since he keeps flashing back to the moment he got coined, and how painful it was, both physically and emotionally. After a few nights, even though he’s still weak, he asks Ethari to stay with him.

This whole time, the one thing Ethari has ached for more than anything is to hold Runaan again. To hear his voice. To know he’s there and he’s alive. And now that he is, he can’t quite believe it’s real.

Once he regains more strength, Runaan is faced with difficult questions. What will he do with his life now that he’s crippled? Obviously Zubeia will have called him off killing Ezran at this point so that isn’t an issue. More the problem is with Callum, who likely had a great personal cost to bring him back. He’s… indebted to Callum, who saved him despite him being the one who killed his dad. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s questioned his path in life, and I really think it will rock his worldview significantly. I don’t know if I can see him retiring to settle down for a quiet life with Ethari just yet, but no doubt it’s on his mind. Ethari did lose him for two years, after all.

As for Rayla, well… there sure are things to talk out. The advantage is that she knows him and how he thinks and operates. And with the whole Callum thing, knowing how desperately she wanted him back that Callum was willing to do that for her… also given how she helped Xadia and knowing the truth about her parents, he would probably argue strongly in favour of unghosting her. I do think, given their history, that they would be able to forgive each other eventually, and that it would make a nice parallel to her and Callum.

Aside from all that, he has to take some time to just get used to living again. To being with Ethari again. To sitting out on the front porch, drinking tea together every morning. Adjusting to life with a permanent injury.

absolutely no clue how many of these will come true and if they do how many we'll actually see, but a gay disaster can dream, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?

#the dragon prince #tdp #ruthari

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kaseyskat · 2 years

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does anyone remember when i was tdp on main years ago... probably not... well with s4 around the corner i got an idea to write something that will most certainly not age well and be disproven in a week, please enjoy <3

The mission had to be secretive.

Despite all of Ezran's bids for peace and a new friendship with the Dragon Queen, the human nations - and Katolis especially - were still... wary, of the idea of hosting elves. It was hard enough to lobby for the friendlier Earthblood and Skywing elves to come and trade goods, but the thought of hosting Moonshadow elves after the assassinations?

Yeah, it wasn't happening anytime in the foreseeable future.

But this mission was different, personal. It had come only a few months after Callum's birthday, when he had desperately sent off a letter, "d chatted with Soren and with Gren for the rest of the details, had been stupidly hopeful. Despite his naive hope, he hadn't actually expected anything to come out of it; he knows her too well for that, knows her sense of pride would have her avoid everything until it stands directly in front of her, but he had still hoped...

...well, the fruits of his labor now stands in front of him, clearly uncomfortable in the stone of the palace.

"I appreciate your cooperation in this," Callum says as he leads the way to his own chambers. "Most of the people of Katolis are still... hesitant around Moonshadow elves."

"I cannot say I blame them," Ethari says, and his hood drops now that he's indoors. "I must admit, I feel the same, knowing tragedy has befallen us all in this very place."

At the very least, he's... considerate. Callum admittedly hadn't gotten the greatest impression of Rayla's pseudo-father figure in the short time they had met, except that Ethari had humored his bad jokes and had, at the very least, seemed to love Rayla very much- that had to be enough for now.

Even now though, he droops with the heavy weight of grief, and not for the first time, Callum is reminded of all he and Ezran have fought for since the day their lives changed.

"You got my letter, so you know why I've invited you here," he says instead, choosing to ignore the heavier nature of their conversation. "Two of the finest people I know have both testified that the leader of the assassins was kept alive before our previous high mage vanished him, and though I can't tell you exactly what happened to him..."

"...I understand," Ethari promises, and there's a visible slump to his shoulders as they finally reach Callum's room, where he's prepared what he has found. A bow, shining with elven magic, found in Viren's own lab along with the mirror that Callum has hidden away. It could only belong to one; in fact, Callum had seen its owner wielding it only moments before it had been used to fatally end his stepfather's life.

Some part of him, bitter and vindictive, had wanted to destroy the bow in vengeance. Instead, he had polished it and kept it as a reminder that even his enemies have families and lives of their own.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you," he says as Ethari grasps at the bow, holds it like a long-lost friend, close and tight to his own heart. It reminds him of the way King Harrow had cherished everything of his mother's after she died; everything including Callum himself, though he only realizes this in the bittersweet ache of hindsight.

And yet, as he remembers what he had seen in the lair of the Dragon Queen, remembers the fate that he just needs evidence to prove, he keeps quiet. No need for false hope, not yet, not when he doesn't even know if there's a cure.

"What you have done is more than enough, I know what he took from you as well," Ethari says remorsefully, and he finally looks up at Callum once again. "But I know you did not draw me all the way from Xadia just to gift me Runaan's bow. What troubles you?"

Callum hesitates, and then commits. "It's Rayla," he confesses. “She’s been gone for months now, and I… worry. She hasn’t talked to you?”

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting. Somehow, he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Rayla’s first stop after disappearing had been to drop by the Silvergrove. He doesn’t even know if she’s still Ghosted, and the way Ethari’s face falls seems to confirm what he had been fearing.

“Rayla is… free-spirited,” Ethari says, and his lips curl in the barest form of a smile. “She loves hard, but she also has a sense of… righteousness and duty, the kind of person who’d risk everything on a whim for what she believes is right. She’s done this time and time again, and it seems this time, you were the casualty and not the cause. It’s hard being the one left behind, isn’t it?”

Callum sighs, and his heart aches in his chest as he stares forlorn at the ground. “I just wish I had been enough for her to stay,” he admits, and it comes out wretched, hollow. It’s nothing he hasn’t thought before, but he’s kept them buried, not wanting to put the pressure of his own problems on Ezran or Soren, not this time.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Ethari steps forwards, gently placing a hand on Callum’s shoulder. It draws Callum out of his self-inflicted stupor, and he can’t help but relax at the way Ethari looks at him; it feels strangely comforting. “One day, she will come right back to you as though nothing has changed and preaching about her goals and what she’s accomplished, just as you two did to me. When that day comes, make sure to stop by the Silvergrove again, will you? I’ll ensure that you two receive a safe welcome.”

The implications - that maybe, Ethari will be able to remove Rayla’s ghost status in her town, has Callum breathing a sigh of relief. “Will do,” he grins, and a thought occurs to him. “You know, in some weird way, you’re probably the closest thing I have to a father figure left, too.”

“Ah, is that so?” Ethari chuckles, and he slings the bow across his back, still holding it with gentle hands. “Ah, to be a single father at my age… might as well break my back now.”

Callum laughs, and despite the circumstances, he’s finally feeling… not better, but maybe okay with the situation.

Besides, he thinks as he sees Ethari off again, it probably won’t be too long before I see Rayla again.

Right?

#kasey writes stuff #the dragon prince #the dragon prince spoilers #ttm spoilers #callum #ethari #the rayllum and ruthari are both heavily implied but not technically enough to tag #i just needed them to have a conversation i apologize #this is the first thing ive written that WASNT amphibia in so long now it feels unnatural

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firerose · 2 years

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Three ways I can See the callum possession arc go :

1. The most likely one: Callum gets possessed but only for a short time and breaks out of it with the help of Rayla, Soren and Ezran

but not before being forced to free Aaravos which has consequences for him (nightmares, guilt, blame and mistrust from humans and elves)

he has to deal with in seasons 6 and 7

2. The pretty unlikely one since it’s too similar to events that already happened in the show: Callum gets possessed but after Aaravos breaks free he traps Callum's souls somewhere unknown ( Maybe in the realm of the star elves which would be a way for Callum to find a way to beat him )

And this causes Callum to fall into a coma similar to the one in season 2

Where he has to find his way back to his body and maybe deal with a few angsty visions along the way

Also, we could get Rayla waiting at his bedside, waiting for him to wake up because she knows he will or she eventually has enough and going to hunt Claudia and Viren down for revenge,

Also some bonding with her family (points to my post about her and Ethari bonding over having lost their partner)

Or her parents being confused about how much their daughter cares for a human and her explaining to them how much Callum means to her

3. The very unlikely one because of too dark

Callum gets possessed and frees Aaravos but this time Aaravos decides to keep Callum under his control

He takes a still-possessed Callum and disappears before the Dragang has time to react

He stays hidden sending Claudia to wreak havoc in Xadia and the human kingdoms so that he has time to break Callum and tire his enemies out

(Viren is dead in this version because with Claudia and Callum as his pawns I don’t think Aaravos needs him anymore)

Rayla is devastated but as always tries to hide it.

She forms a new dragon guard with the help of her four parents

( She doesn't recruit Sky wing elves though because of angsty Callum-related reasons)

Years go by, and rumours come and go, (about what happened to Callum and whether he is on Aaravos side or not)

Until he returns one day, attacking multiple Nexuses to steal their magic

That of course causes conflicts because now the elves believe that another human mage threatens their world in the name of Aaravos

Aaravos meanwhile uses Callum's body as a shield, a protection for because if something goes wrong Callum is the one to get harmed, not him

It's also a way for him to mess with the Dragang who are desperately trying to keep the peace in their kingdoms

because keeping the peace would be easier if they killed him.......

But how can they if he's in the body of someone they care about?

#Can you tell the 3 one is my favourite?#maybe because it is the angstiest one #and also because I love the idea #of Rayla becoming a badass captain of the dragonguard #who slowly starts to adopt the younger guard members #and of course she still wants to do things by herself soe they don't get hurt #and of course they notice and get themselves into trouble just like she would #and on the other hand you have self blaming Soren who also adopts the guard #and tries to protect everyone because he lost Callum and he doesn't want to loose anyone else #also broken king Ezran who tries his best but slowly grows tired of Royals bad mouthing his brother #Dragon Prince #Rayllum #callum #aaravos #Also Ethari forges the guards weapons because he can!

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heppyhenry · 3 years

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My wholesome Rayllum headcanons (Part 2)

Months pass before Callum and Rayla reunite. After they make amends and such, the first thing Rayla notices is that Callum is now slightly taller than her. It sort of annoys her, but time will tell that she’ll definitely get over it.

One time during a sparring session, Rayla landed a few successful hits too many, leaving Callum with some decent-sized cuts and bruises. She could tell by the way he’d been grasping some spots on his abdomen that he needed care. He tried to “look tough” and deny it like Soren had said one time, claiming that he was completely fine, but Rayla wouldn’t accept that for a second. She brought Callum inside to his bedroom, took off his shirt, and treated his wounds just how Ethari had taught her many years ago. She washed, disinfected, and then dried the cuts, but before she wrapped bandages on them, she hatched an idea for how to really make it up to Callum. She leaned down and gently pressed her lips to one of his wounds, much to his surprise. She took his expression as a sign of affirmation and continued peppering his stomach with soft kisses for a few more minutes before finally bandaging him up. She got up to face him with a tender smile and was met with the most beet-red face she had ever seen in her entire life, only making Rayla’s feeling of satisfaction stronger. Strangely enough, ever since that day, Callum started getting a lot more injuries...hmm...

Rayla is amazed by Callum’s drawing skills; she constantly asks him to draw her in different poses and settings in his journal, to which Callum happily accepts every time. He needs the practice, and giving himself more ways to remind himself of her when they’re apart makes this a win-win.

Ezran is the best wingman Callum and Rayla could have asked for. He always reminds them about gifts to give each other on a date, or gives them advice on what to say when they need to address a conflict. He has a clear knack for that kind of stuff, so it’s extremely helpful for the two of them whenever they need a second opinion, and Ezran would love nothing more than to see his two best friends have a long and healthy relationship, so he’s always eager to lend a hand.

Rayla gives Callum dancing lessons after realizing that he desperately needed them when she watched him during their Silvergrove dance. But, honestly, it kind of frustrates Rayla how fast of a learner he is. That is, until one day, when she’s sitting by the fire - singing a song from her past absent-mindedly - and Callum approaches her while joining her in the melody. She has little time to react before he grabs her hand, pulls her to her feet and then close to his body, and starts to sweetly sway with her. She looks up at his face and all she can find is an expression of true confidence and love; her face feels hot and her heart is thumping so fast at first but soon she sways along with him, continuing her singing with a sheepish grin. Something about the way he so courageously took her into his arms without a word...she rests her head into his chest, listens to the comforting sound of his heartbeat, and lets him take control. At that moment, she’s like putty in his hands, and she’s okay with that. She’s so proud of her big, dumb human.

#rayllum #tdp #the dragon prince #tdp headcanons #tdp rayla #tdp callum

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earnestly-endlessly · 3 years

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Hi! Please, I need help. I am desperate for Fanfiction with Erik and Charles arguing/fighting

Something a little angsty where maybe Erik exaggerates with his powers and risks to hurt Charles without meaning to

It could be also long, like over 70.000 words ... the longer the better ;)

I'd prefer it not to be an AU, but canonverse/fix it/canon divergent

Please help me🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you @shonen-tiger for the ask. I'm terribly sorry how long this took me but I have really been thinking of fics that would fit your description best. It's a bit of a challenge when you have a request this specific, but there are a few I think you might enjoy with these elements.

Dark Flowers - Niphrehdil

Summary: When Charles is captured by a secret organization and used as a weapon for searching and destroying other mutants, Erik has to go after and save him. Erik keeps telling himself he does it only for the mutant kind. At least until he finds Charles.

Wake Up and Smell the Pancakes - Ayra Sei Ethari

Summary: In one universe, Wrik left Charles. In another, he stayed. So what happens when the two Eriks get switches? “At first, Erik thinks he’s dreaming. Then he realizes that this is Charles. Who is not paralyzed. And kissing him.

Count to Three – Harleydoll

Summary: Charles is psychologically damaged after experiencing Shaw's death in his own mind.

Seeing Sense – Ook

Summary: Emma didn't want to work with Erik, so Erik decided kidnapping his boyfriend Charles Xavier and holding him using a power suppressing collar would give hinm time to persaude Charles- gently, of course!- to Erik's school of thought re human-mutant relations. Because every group of mutants needs a telepath.

What he didn't know, and neither did anyone else, (apart from Charles) is that Charles' telepathy is intricately connected with his other senses; suppress his telepathy and he is deaf and blind...This is going to go so well, isn't it?

Unfinished Business – pocky_slash

Summary: It's March of 1963 and Charles Xavier's life seems to be falling into place. Sebastian Shaw is dead and he, Erik, Moira, and their team and young pupils are well on their way to opening their mutant school for fall enrollment.

Everything would be perfect if it wasn't for the childhood nightmares that Charles keeps accidentally projecting to the house, the odd dreams that leave him sleepwalking through corridors that haven't been used in decades, and the children's insistence that the house is haunted by a ghost that roams the halls at night. Erik thinks Charles is seeing things, Moira is afraid that the strange occurrences have something to do with the mysterious man trying to woo her, and Charles just wants proof that it's not all in his head.

The Succession of Events – alphera

Summary: Written for this prompt: "Bit of a spoiler, the movie makes it pretty obvious that Charles feels it as Erik kills Shaw. Even if they hadn't gone their separate ways, that's the sort of thing that would put a strain on the relationship. I want one of them breaking down in the other's arms, weeping. Obvious choice would be Charles, both from the shock of the pain itself, and from his overwhelming pity for the history that would drive a good man to do something like that. But I would be just as happy to see Erik slowly realize exactly what he's done to the man he loves, and have the horror absolutely wreck him.

What can we do without you? – swoopswoop

Summary: Charles and the boys were holding onto a secret more dear to them than their own lives when Charles disappears into the night; Erik is betrayed and finds himself returning to Westchester in the hopes that the government was just trying to trick him. All the while the boys are stuck in the middle, left guarding the secret from the man they are most afraid of finding out who is weaselling his way back into their lives alarmingly easily.

Lay down beside me (so still and so soft) – C_Gracewood

Summary: A different take on the events of the film.

Of Needles – Skull_Bearer

Summary: AU where everyone's born Dominant or Submissive

Once a Dominant and Submissive pair is born, they are linked to each other, no matter how far apart they are. This link doesn't actually tell the Dom or the Sub each other's thoughts, but it does allow them to know how the other's doing and serves as a reassurance that there's someone meant for them out there.

Another one of the reasons that Erik hates Shaw so badly is because Shaw managed to break Erik's link to his Sub. Now Erik doesn't even know if his Sub's alive because breaking a link like that can kill a Submissive.

Meanwhile, Charles hates himself for not yet having telepathy strong enough to contact and help his Dom, especially after feeling the pain his Dom was forced to go through. He truly believes that his Dominant is dead. Hopes it, some nights when he remembers how his Dom was forced to suffer. It's better than to think of his Dom still being forced to bear that pain.

And then Charles pulls Erik from the water

Rumor Has It – blueink3

Summary: "Did I hear the doorbell earlier?"

"Yeah, but I'd steer clear if I were you. It seemed a little tense. I don't know what's going on, but there's a kid out there who looks freakily like the prof."

Nearly six months after Cuba, Charles' life is turned upside down for the second time. Though he's slowly learning to adapt to the first, he's not sure he can handle the second. Luckily for him, there are a few people out there more than willing to help.

A Dangerous Game - pangea, ikeracity

Summary: When a familiar enemy of Erik's returns to the city for some old-fashioned revenge, Charles is sucked deeper into the world of the mob than ever before.

Note: I know you specifically stated that you didn’t want AUs but this fic does actually fit the bill quite nicely in many ways, so I decided to add this one as well.

#fic recs #asks #cherik #cherik fic recs #earnestly answers #fic search

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tenspontaneite · 3 years

Text

The Ceracurist (Chapter 1/?)

Rayla has been at university for nearly three months, trying and failing to take care of her horn upkeep alone, before she admits defeat and goes to visit a professional horn salon.

It ends up being somewhat less of a terrible experience than she expects.

(“You’re human?” She blurted, unthinking, and the smile he’d been wearing went momentarily fixed. A little more professional than it was genuine. Then he huffed, an easy laugh, and she felt herself go red around the ears.

“What gave it away?” Her ceracurist asked, dry, his grin a little lopsided.

Rayla stared, taken off-guard, and gestured expansively at his entire body.)

(Chapter length: 6k. Ao3 link)

---

Rayla pushed through the doors of the salon with a bearing that would have been better suited for heading into battle. Regrettably, there was no one she could legally fight here, so she slunk cautiously in, grimacing at what she saw. She might have hoped to find somewhere to lurk and get her bearings unnoticed, but there was no hiding in that open and well-lit reception area, and no disguising the way that the bell on the door chimed cheerfully at her passing. It was altogether a terrible start to what she fully expected would be a mortifying experience.

A Sunfire elf looked up from the desk and smiled. Their dark skin and hair was typical enough, but the horns caught her eye; she stared for a second before she could avert her gaze. Far from the usual plain gleam of Sunfire horns, these had been carved into elaborate patterns and dyed in an astonishing gradient of red and purple. She’d never seen anything like it outside of the mageskein, or maybe the cover of a magazine. “Welcome!” the elf chirped, friendly. “Do you have an appointment?” Beside them, on the desk, a potted melodaisy sang a tune that she vaguely recognised. It was weirdly anachronistic to find melodaisy music in a place as modern-looking as this.

Rayla stopped short, tension locking her joints. Her neck prickled with self-consciousness. “...Do I need one?” she asked, after a moment, with an edge to her voice. She eyed the door, already wanting desperately to escape. Shouldn’t have listened to Ethari, she thought morosely. This had been a bad idea from the start.

The receptionist inspected her, and in that moment Rayla was entirely certain that they knew exactly what she was about. It was unnerving, the calculating weight of that look. Then it passed, and they waved dismissively. “If you wanted something complex done, yes. But I’m guessing that’s not what you’re here for.”

She gave serious thought to the idea of just...walking out. She could do that, right? But then she’d have to explain the cowardice, such that it was, whenever she next called her family. And what a stupid thing this would be to lose her nerve over. “No.” She agreed grumpily.

“Touch up?” The receptionist questioned. “Basic buff and polish?”

Her shoulders hunched. “Just the filing and buffing,” she relented, in the end. “I’m not here for anything fancy.”

“Polishing is part of our standard service, I’m afraid. Nothing fancy about it, as far as we’re concerned.” The Sunfire elf smiled at her in a placating sort of way. It grated. “Why don’t you go take a seat and I’ll see who’s available?” they gestured at the row of seats, smartly upholstered, arrayed along the wall. Again, Rayla eyed the door. This was apparently noticed. “It’s alright, we’re used to first-timers,” they assured her, already receding from the desk and heading for the door into the salon proper. “It’s really not that scary. Just wait a minute, alright? I’ll be right back.”

They couldn’t have known it. Or maybe they did? But Rayla heard ‘scary’ and stiffened before she could help it, setting her jaw. Very stubbornly indeed, she stalked over to one of the chairs and planted herself in it, staring grimly at the assorted posters and advertisements on the walls. They were, of course, largely advertising different things one could have done to one’s horns. Because this was a horn salon. A horn salon that her entire family had suggested, implied, or outright stated she desperately needed the services of.

It wasn’t her fault that it was hard to get to the undersides of her horns on her own. Even using a complex set of mirrors, working on what you couldn’t see was decidedly challenging. She’d filed off the nasty parts, but apparently, that wasn’t good enough, and she looked unkempt, and undignified, and how do you ever expect to follow your parents into their line of work looking like that, Rayla-

“Ugh,” she muttered to herself, disgruntled, and folded her arms. She glared at a poster that implored her to, in very bold and cheerful lettering, ‘Ask about horn art today!’. Rayla had absolutely no intention of asking about horn art today.

While she was waiting, a Skywing elf emerged from the same door the receptionist had entered, and approached the desk curiously. He turned to her, and as he did, the light caught on his horns. “Did the receptionist leave?” He asked, and Rayla tried very hard not to stare. Not only did this elf have elaborate patterns carved into the horns, but there was – some sort of silvery metallic inlay in there, gleaming bright and almost liquid in the daylight filtering through the window. She hadn’t even known people did that. It was startlingly striking.

“Er,” she said, and “yeah, I think they’ll be back in a minute, though.” The unfamiliar elf accepted this agreeably enough, and stood by the desk to wait.

Sure enough, the receptionist returned in short order, pausing briefly in the doorway to do a double-take at the man waiting there. “Oh, so that’s why he was free,” they muttered to themself, just about loud enough for Rayla’s excellent ears to pick up. More loudly, they said “Tairas! You look fantastic! Glad you decided to try the metallics after all?”

The elf, evidently some sort of repeat customer, chuckled at them as they strode back up to the counter. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure at first, but-“ he waved expressively at his horns. “-wow, right? You’ve got some serious talent working here.”

“We’re very glad to have him, yes,” agreed the receptionist, and then conducted what ended up being a rapid exchange of a staggering amount of currency. Apparently, fancy horn-decorating did not come cheap. Rayla glanced uneasily at the price lists on the walls to reassure herself that what she was here for wouldn’t be so extortionate. Finally, the customer with the fancy metal-patterned horns left, and the receptionist approached her again. “Well, you’re in luck, Callum finished up with Tairas just in time for you,” they told her. “So I can take you through now.”

“Great.” Rayla said, unenthusiastically, and the receptionist snickered at her.

With a friendly pat on her shoulder, they said “It’ll be fine, trust me. And Callum’s one of our best ceracurists anyway, so you’ll be in good hands.”

The words didn’t soothe her. They’d be stranger’s hands, no matter their skill; that was what had unsettled her. Of course it was what had unsettled her. What else?

Still. She supposed if she had to have a stranger’s hands on her horns, at the very least it could be a stranger who knew what they were doing. Rayla sighed, resigned, and followed the receptionist through to the treatment area. She entered a long corridor with yet more doors arrayed along it; some further down its length marked ‘staff only’, others nearer and unadorned. The receptionist took her into the closest, revealing a large room lined with curtained-off booths. The sounds were precisely what she’d expected; the buzz of a half dozen electric buffers in operation, the hum of voices, the shuffling of feet. She could smell keratin dust and horn polish on the air. Horn oil, too.

It ought to have unsettled her further, and it did, a little. But the sight of the curtains had soothed her at once, with all their attendant implications of privacy. Somehow, she’d anticipated something far more open, where she had the sight to go with the sound of however-many elves having their horns groomed. She’d anticipated that others would be able to see her, sat beneath the ministrations of a ceracurist who she didn’t even know.

It had been a stupid expectation, in retrospect. For all that it was more common in the larger cities for elves to see a ceracurist when they needed to, they still had their dignity. Of course there’d be booths. Of course they wouldn’t be able to see each other. Of course.

Her relief at the realisation sustained her until she was led a little further down the room. Only one booth was open and empty, and within it she saw what she expected: a chair, a basin, a mirror. A table of tools. There was no one waiting there for her, but she tensed regardless.

“He’ll be here soon,” reassured the receptionist, as if mistaking the source of her anxiety. “He’s just changing. The metallurgy is careful work, you know.”

She didn’t know, in fact. She didn’t particularly care, either. “Right.” she said, terse, and eventually allowed herself to be prodded over to the waiting chair. Stiffly, she sat. And then the receptionist left her there to wait.

It didn’t take long. On-edge as she was, her ears twitched at the footsteps in the corridor long before anyone entered the room; she traced their approach, staring at the sight of her own terse expression in the mirror. Then, finally, the person drew near enough to pause at the edge of her booth. She could see the edge of their body in the mirror, wearing some sort of dark apron over a uniform.

“Hey there,” he said, friendly, and there was the sound of a curtain being drawn. “So you’re my surprise appointment, huh?”

“Suppose so,” Rayla muttered, eyes on her hands as they tightened in her lap. She still hadn’t looked. She didn’t really want to look at him. This was the person who’d be handling her horns. A stranger. She wasn’t quite ready to put a face to the voice yet. But, ready or not…he stepped into view.

Startled, she blinked up at him, and registered several things in rapid succession. The hair was a little surprising; brown, but smooth in a way you didn’t often get with Sunfire or Earthblood elves, and his skin was pale. Eyes a pleasant forest-green. Cute, Rayla’s mind supplied after a moment, as though to distract herself from the far more obvious conclusion of-

“You’re human?” She blurted, unthinking, and the smile he’d been wearing went momentarily fixed. A little more professional than it was genuine. Then he huffed, an easy laugh, and she felt herself go red around the ears.

“What gave it away?” Her ceracurist asked, dry, his grin a little lopsided.

Rayla stared, taken off-guard, and gestured expansively at his entire body. The lack of horns, the rounded ears, the – the five-finger hands, so strange in their shape that for a moment she couldn’t pull her eyes from them. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen humans before. But these circumstances were weird.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” He acknowledged. He stepped up to the table of assorted tools, inspecting them, and nodded before returning his eyes to her. Again that lopsided smile. “Don’t worry, though. I promise I’m good at my job, even if I don’t have my own horns to practice on.”

Her face burned, blood flushing hot in her veins at the sudden and abrupt reminder of what she was here for. Of what he was here for. “…Is that something people worry about?” She found herself asking, struck by how practiced those words had seemed, like he’d said them – or some variation of them – a great many times.

“Eh, sometimes.” He shrugged, then went over to pull the rest of the curtains closed. “It’s not something people expect, anyway. A human ceracurist, I mean.”

“I definitely didn’t,” she muttered, not quite under her breath, and he snickered.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.” He offered a smile, and then – to her surprise – a short polite bow, in the human style, fist clasped over his heart. She’d not seen anyone do that since she was a child. “I’m Callum, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

Thoughts suddenly muddled by some very old memories, she blinked, then nodded cautiously. “Rayla.” She hesitated. “Same?” Under the circumstances, she shouldn’t have found it nice to meet him. But, unaccountably, she did.

“Is it okay if we get started?” He asked then, nodding to his table of implements. “Don’t want to hurry you, but this does take a while.”

Whatever ease she’d managed to find in the brief conversation abruptly fled her, and she went still and wordless. She glanced at him, at his face, for all of a second before the mortification overcame her and she had to hide behind her hands. “Moon above,” she muttered, into her palms, shoulders hunching. “Ugh.”

There was a pause. “You alright there?” His voice was only half joking.

“…Yeah.” She said eventually, and forced her hands down. “Just…”

He sounded sympathetic. “Never had your horns done outside the family, huh?” She made some sort of affirmative noise, and he nodded understandingly. “It’s okay, we get a lot of that here. If it helps, just remember that it’s a professional setting, and doesn’t come with the normal implications, okay?”

She sighed. “I’ll do my best.” Despite that resolution, though, she still couldn’t help the embarrassed grumble when he draped a gown around her front and shoulders, ostensibly to shield her clothes from horn debris, and leaned the chair she was in back towards the basin.

“Do you prefer to have a hair-shield on, or to have your hair washed afterwards?” He asked, after a moment, and she balked. She hadn’t even realised that was an option. But – of course, otherwise people would have to leave the salon with their hair wet with horn-oil and full of disgusting keratin dust and flakes…

“Hair shield,” she opted, quickly, and he hummed his agreement.

“No problem.” He pulled something from the table with a rustling noise. “Does mean I won’t be able to get at the first centimetre or so of your horns, though, so keep that in mind.”

Worth it, she thought. It was something of a mercy, even. The horns themselves were just insensate keratin on the outsides…but the skin at the beds? That was sensitive. She’d be glad to avoid that particular intimacy.

Even as she thought it, the ceracurist lowered something over one of her horns, and then the other, perceptible by the light and gentle weight grazing over them. She went utterly still, and peered up to try to see in the mirror what he was doing. It was a kind of…hood, or shroud, with two horn-holes in it. And some sort of drawstring around both holes. She watched with a bizarre and anxious tension as he pressed the hood down and then tightened the drawstrings around the base of her horns until they were flush with the hornbeds.

Then, visible in the mirror, he paused and looked her horns over. His expression didn’t change much, but she could see the minute lift of his eyebrows. Her face burned. “Been a while,” she offered, by way of explanation for the state of them, and she saw his smile in the reflection.

“You’ve done a pretty good job by yourself, really.” He said generously, dipping something into the basin with a distinct watery splash. “The oversides are pretty neatly filed.” Briefly, there was the lightest sensation of weight on her right horn, like he’d touched a fingertip to it. A shiver of apprehension stiffened her shoulders. “You’ve done this ridge a bit flat, though. And the undersides…” He paused, like he couldn’t think of anything charitable to say on that moment’s notice.

Rayla closed her eyes, embarrassed and unnerved at once. “Ugh.”

“They’re hard to get to, I know,” he soothed, and then planted a wet soapy cloth on the horn in question. “It’s okay. I can fix it up.”

She sighed, neck prickling with tension. “Sure.”

The next few minutes she sat silently warring with her impulse to twitch at every touch on her horns. Given the ceracurist spent said minutes washing those horns, this was a considerable challenge. The sensation of heat from warm water radiating through the keratin wasn’t unfamiliar, and neither was the scrub of the brush – but she’d never experienced either outside the company of family before. It was unsettling. Reminding herself that it was professional didn’t help that, either – all it did was calm the flush in her cheeks a little.

“I’m guessing you moved here recently, then.” The ceracurist – Callum – said after a while. “Away from family.”

She startled a little, and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. As best she could, anyway, with her head tipped mostly backwards. Her nose obstructed most of her view from this angle. “…Yeah. Few months back.”

He paused. “You’re a student?” He guessed, and she supposed it wasn’t a difficult leap to make. She was the right age, this part of the city was packed with students, and the first term had started nearly three months ago in March. The conclusion was obvious. She offered a vague hum of agreement to confirm it, and he was silent for a while. “That’s actually kind of impressive,” he said at last. “Most of the other new students with tricky horns gave up trying to do it themselves after like, a month. Not three. You’ve been managing pretty well.”

Rayla snorted. “Tricky horns?” She repeated, ignoring the rest for now, and he huffed at her.

“Moonshadow, Skywing, you know. Tricky horns.” He elaborated. She could practically hear the smile in his voice. “The Sunfire elves manage pretty well, theirs are simple enough.”

“And meanwhile we have the most annoying kind of all,” Rayla muttered, of her own race. “Stupid ridges and all.”

“Well, if you’ve not seen a Skywing elf when they’re casting their shells, maybe hold off on making that call.” He sounded amused. “But yeah, you guys don’t exactly have it easy. We get a lot of Moonshadow elves coming in here for horn help.”

“Students?”

“Mostly. But there’s other elves around who don’t have anyone in their personal lives they’d trust enough, too. So they come here.” He removed the brush, wiped her horns off, and went for a distinctive tool on the table. An electric buffer. Considerably faster and more effective than doing it by hand, she knew, but they were expensive enough that a lot of elves didn’t have one. Her family had, though. They all shared the tools. So she knew what to expect.

The noise of it started up, and accordingly their conversation dwindled. She felt the buzz of the buffer against her right horn a moment later, angled carefully into one of the ridges there. As always, the sensation hummed straight through the keratin to the vaguely-sensitive skin beneath; it tingled. The next while passed like that, with the ceracurist occasionally sitting her up and coaxing her to move her head this way or that to get better angles on her horns, paying particular attention to the neglected undersides. She didn’t even want to think about how many keratin flakes must be littering the gown he’d put on her.

Her inner-horn had gone thoroughly numb from the vibrations by the time he switched the buffer off and set it aside to get the cloth again. “I’ll just wipe this down and go for a second run, then do the same on your other horn, alright?” He said, soothingly, probably seeing how she twitched at every motion, uncertain what he’d do next.

She tried to relax a little. It was uncomfortable, yes, but…this was his job, and it – that was all it was. Plenty of elves had their horns done by ceracurists. It was fine. “Right.” She muttered, and tried not to flinch when she felt the weight of the cloth on her horn again. More to distract herself than anything else, she asked “How long have you been doing this?” Except, once she’d actually asked, she was curious. How did a human even end up working in a horn salon? Why was he in an elven city in the first place?

The ceracurist huffed, and said, impishly, “This? Probably coming up to ten minutes, so far.” He tapped her horn cheerfully, as if to indicate it, and went back to wiping. Her cheeks heated instantly; she couldn’t exactly help it, with that very direct reminder that he was touching her horns.

She rolled her eyes anyway. “Ha-ha,” she said, dryly, and he snickered at her.

“About two years, now.” He relented after a moment. “I’m only in a few times a week, but, eh. It’s a hobby. And I get paid for it, so.” He shrugged, then went for the buffer again. Accordingly, there was no more talking for a while, but in that interim her interest grew. He looked around her age, or maybe even younger…and he’d been doing this for years?

She’d assumed, from his accent, that he came from one of the human countries. Possibly even Katolis, though she wasn’t great at telling the different West Xadia accents apart. But if he’d been living here for years…was he a resident? Long-term? That was rare. The curiosity nagged at her enough that she half-forgot the embarrassment of having her horns handled by a stranger, and when he put the buffer down again, she said “You don’t have a Gullcrest accent.”

“That’s probably one of the politest ways anyone’s tried to ask me where I’m from,” he mused, and for a second she felt like an absolute racist boor before he waved dismissively at her. He explained “It’s fine, people get curious, I don’t mind. I didn’t grow up here or anything, I just came for the university.”

Rayla startled. “You’re a student?”

He smiled, and this time he looked decidedly proud of himself. “Mastery student, even.” He agreed cheerfully, and she stopped short, turning her head over her shoulder to squint at him. “You know, it’s hard to work on your horns if you’re facing me,” he told her, very reasonably, but she was busy inspecting his face. He had to be around the same age as her, surely. And he was on a masters degree?

“How old are you?” She demanded, suddenly completely uncertain of her ability to judge human ages.

The ceracurist looked pleased at the question, as if he relished every chance to show off the absurdly young age at which he was pursuing a mastery in…whatever it was he studied. “Eighteen.” He said, and then gently nudged her into turning around again. She made an incredulous face at him, but obliged after a moment. “How about you?”

“Nineteen,” she answered, distractedly, trying to parse the mystery of her ceracurist’s unlikely academic circumstances. Generally people were only allowed to pursue a mastery when they’d done an apprenticeship or undergraduate degree already, and those were never less than three years long. An apprenticeship, then? She couldn’t imagine a fifteen-year-old being let into the university…

Unceremoniously, the buzz of the buffer interrupted her thoughts and the conversation, so they fell quiet again. It was him who spoke first when he was done with the first pass on her other horn. “What are you studying?”

However logical it was as a follow-up question, it still caught her off-guard. “Er.” She scrambled for the name, mind suddenly blank. A moment later she supplied “Professional Security. And Tactics.”

“Huh.” He sounded bemused. “I know someone on that course, actually. He’s second year now.”

Rayla snorted. “How’s he finding it?”

“Says there’s way more math than he thinks is fair. And he thinks Professor Sadris is evil.”

That neatly matched her observations thus far, at least. “Sounds about right.” After that, the second buffing run silenced them again, and she was left in thought. What would a human be studying at Gullcrest at a mastery level? How long had he lived here? She’d seen a handful of humans at the university, but…well, they stood out. There weren’t a lot of them. Had she seen him before, perhaps? There was something weirdly familiar about him…

She was all set to come out and ask one of the dozen questions on her mind when the buffer stopped, but he just said “I’m about done with this now, so it’s onto the polishing next. That won’t take as long, but there probably will be horn-polish splatter, so…brace yourself, I guess.”

“Isn’t that what the hair shield is for?” She asked, neatly distracted, and was surprised to realise that most of her nerves had disappeared, somewhere between her curiosity and the human ceracurist’s efficient work.

“And the apron,” he agreed. “But it does still get messy. You want any colours?”

“Colour?” She echoed, disconcerted, and he seemed to understand what she was asking.

“Horn polish can come in colours, with dyes in it. It’s a really easy way to add colour to horns. If you’re just here for basic care, though, that’s fine.”

“Er.” She thought for a moment on that startling gradient of colour on the receptionist’s horns. Was that how theirs had been done, or was there some other method needed for something that striking? Either way… “No, no colours. Thanks, though?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. You’ve got a nice base horn colour, anyway.” He said, as if making comments like that was the most normal thing in the world. For a ceracurist, it might well be; but her cheeks flushed an instant and virulent red regardless. “It’s a good clear dark purple. It’ll look great when it’s polished up.”

Rayla wondered, amid her embarrassment, when she’d last seen her horns polished. Her parents did the buffing, sure, but polishing…not so much. It was a lot of work without the special oils and tools. She thought maybe they’d done it once, when she was pretty young, for one particular formal occasion. Aside from that, though… “I don’t even know what my horns look like polished,” she admitted, flustered, and he paused for a moment.

“Huh.” He said, just a little surprised. “Well, the colour goes darker, and a lot shinier. Looks really nice, I think. You’ll see.” And, with that, he uncapped the horn polish, the smell hitting her like a slap to the face. Her nose wrinkled, and she wondered how many times she’d have to wash her hair to get the residual stink of it out. The hair shield probably wouldn’t be able to keep all of it off, after all.

Her ceracurist seemed entirely oblivious to how awful the smell was at close range, but she supposed he’d had practice withstanding it. Either that, or he’d burned out his sense of smell in the first week of his alleged two years. She closed her eyes a couple of minutes in, the acrid reek of the stuff making them water and sting. It felt like she was dousing her sinuses with acid every time she inhaled.

Callum chuckled at her, as if he knew precisely what she was thinking. “The stuff we use is a lot stronger than what you’re probably used to.” He said cheerfully. “Has a pretty interesting smell, right?”

“It feels like it’s burning my nose,” she complained, lifting a hand to rub at it with annoyance. “And it’s making my eyes water.” The sensation was rather alike being too close to the epicentre of a very enthusiastic onion-chopping endeavour.

“Yeah, we have spells on to keep it out of our eyes so we can actually see what we’re doing,” Callum said, uncapping the bottle again. It decanted a fresh wave of acrid reek into the surrounding air. “It’s not harmful, though, just sort of stings. Plus, I’m only using the full-strength stuff because your horns haven’t been done in a long time. It’s a lot weaker when it’s just a normal touch-up.” Though she couldn’t see his face, she could practically hear the grin. “Come back a little sooner next time, and it won’t smell this bad.”

Come back? “Ugh,” she said, en lieu of addressing that statement properly, and fell quiet to ruminate disconcertedly on what he’d said. Come back? She hadn’t thought about it, but – of course, she’d need to come back. She was going to be at university for years, and would barely be home for any of that. If she didn’t want her horns to get disgusting again, trips like this would have to be an ongoing thing.

“Every month, is usually a good bet,” Callum said, as if she’d actually spoken the question that was suddenly on her mind. “Usually between half-moon and new moon is the best time for you guys. You get a lot more active keratin growth around full moon, so if you wait till later, the work we do will usually stay put until the next month.”

Rayla frowned at the mirror. “Do humans have some kind of mind-reading power I don’t know about?” Her tone was dry, for all that she was a little off-put at how well he could apparently read her. It…well, it was useful information, though. She hadn’t known that keratin grew faster around Full Moon, for all that it made sense. She wondered if she should be bothered by learning something about how her own horns worked from a human.

He snorted, but took a few seconds to respond. “Not me, that’s for sure.” He said, lightly, and finally put the stinking polishing-stuff down. “Can’t speak for other humans, though. I think we probably don’t have secret mind-reading societies anywhere, but you never know. Weirder things have happened.”

She thought of the huge scandal of a few years back and made a face. “True enough,” she sighed, turning her neck to inspect what he was doing. “Are you done yet?”

Having moved enough to have eyes on him, she was able to watch as his lips turned up in a wry smile. “You’re that eager to escape, huh?”

Rayla rolled her eyes at him. “Escape the polishing? Yes. It stinks.”

He snickered, but nodded, and went for a more normal cleaning cloth that she was deeply glad to see. “Yeah, that part’s done. I’ll rinse off now and then put some oil on to dry, and that’ll be it.” He wrung the cloth over the basin and then coaxed her head around again, lifting his hands to her horns.

She blinked. “What, ‘it’ as in done?”

“Yep. I like to think I’m pretty speedy at the whole buff-and-polish thing by now.”

“…Huh.” Nonplussed, Rayla went quiet.

She could hear the smile in his voice. “Wasn’t as bad as you thought?” He guessed, as on-point as ever, and she felt her cheeks heat again. It was quite a question for someone to ask when their hands happened to be on your horns.

Rayla folded her arms under the protective gown. “….Maybe,” she admitted, begrudgingly, and sat there while the warmth of the water and his hands crept through her horns. The gentle slide of the cloth was easily perceptible, a shift of weight and echoing sensation in the living core. A stranger’s hands, and she was just…sitting there. She couldn’t quite get her head around it. But he was right. It wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be.

“Make an appointment for next month, when you’re on your way out,” he suggested, setting the cloth back and uncapping some other sort of oil. This one, in sharp contrast to the polish, let off a surprisingly pleasant smell. Faintly sweet, and reminiscent of the lighter oils Ethari used on some of his woodcraft. A pang of nostalgia, just shy of homesickness, stabbed through her gut. “That way it’ll be all sorted for next time.”

“Mm.” She shrugged lightly, noncommittal, a little perturbed at the little secretive thing unfurling in her chest that wanted to come back. Not for the mortifying ordeal of having her horns handled, certainly not, but…

With the finishing oil applied, Callum released the drawstrings from around her horns and pulled the hair-cover away. “All done. Take a look,” he invited, nudging her head up, and reached out to remove the gown while she automatically looked where he’d pointed her. For a moment, she was utterly stunned, wide-eyed at the unfamiliar sight of her horns gleaming darkly in the mirror, perfect to the every ridge. She was still silent when he spoke again, saying “See? Just like I told you. Your horns polish up really nicely.”

She looked up reflexively, expression unguarded, and could do nothing to stop the quicksilver flush that his words brought to her cheeks. He was smiling at her, wide and genuine and a little lopsided.

It took what felt like far too long for her to manage to speak. “I suppose?” She offered, averting her eyes to the mirror, where she watched herself schooling her face into something a little less transparent.

He patted her shoulder, friendly, then reached out a hand – five-fingered and alien – to help her up. She stared at it for a moment, then took it. His fingers were warm, and soft from horn-oil. She could feel a trace of it left on her skin when he let go. “It was good to meet you, Rayla,” he said, with that same smile. “Maybe I’ll see you next time.”

She averted her eyes for a moment. “…Maybe.” She agreed, finally, and managed to master herself enough to flash a tentative smile back at him. “Er. Thanks, Callum.”

Rayla was a little too busy trying not to look outwardly flustered to pay much attention to the next few minutes, but as she found herself escorted back to the reception area, she felt strangely disappointed to see the door close on her ceracurist. The receptionist was eyeing her appraisingly as she eventually summoned the presence of mind to go fishing for her money.

“Looks like he treated you well enough. You’re not all tense anymore.” They observed, looking pleased for some reason. “Good on you for not making a fuss, either.”

She blinked, drawn out of her reverie. “What would I make a fuss about?” She questioned, taken-aback.

“He’s human,” the receptionist said, like it was obvious. “People can be stupid about it sometimes. But you weren’t, which is nice, because otherwise we’d have had to throw you out with bad horns, and that would be embarrassing for everyone. I assume I’m booking you in for next month?”

Rayla was still trying to process the words and didn’t register the question for a moment. Distractedly, she said “Yes? I think?”

The receptionist eyed her. “Three weeks,” they decided. “We’ll book you in for waning crescent. Callum works weekends and Wednesday afternoons only, so if you want another time, you’ll need to go with a different ceracurist.” They looked at her expectantly. For a second Rayla was flustered by the implied suggestion, but then she realised that it was probably just standard practice for people to see the same ceracurist every time. Certainly it would be less uncomfortable that way. She couldn’t even imagine having to put her horns into the hands of a new stranger every month.

She cleared her throat, blinked, then tried to consult her mental schedule. “Three weeks…” she muttered to herself, thinking. “Er. Wednesday afternoon?”

They flipped through their papers, squinting. “Four-thirty? He’s pretty booked for the rest of that window.”

“That works,” she said, hoping her voice sounded normal and not-flustered, and supplied her name to have it written into the schedule. It was another weird anachronism; most people would have written it into a computer, but here this elf was using a notebook instead. It was set aside by the potted plant once closed; the plant in question broke off from its recitation of music to mimic the sound of the doorbell note-perfect. That was the problem with melodaisies. You could teach them all the music you liked, but as soon as they heard someone whistling, they might well just start imitating that instead.

“Thanks for coming,” the receptionist said, after shooting an exasperated glance at their plant. “We’ll see you next month.”

Rayla took the hint, and went at once for the door. She escaped with the ring of a bell, a palpable sense of relief, and considerably shinier horns than she’d gone in with.

---

End chapter.

Notes:

Welcome to the first meet-cute I’ve ever written! Also the first story whose entire purpose is essentially romance. Because it’s me, there is a broader potential plot thread at work, as well as cool worldbuilding, but given I have no idea how much of this I’m actually going to write, I’m not really worrying about that too much at this point.

Hope everyone had fun with this first chapter, and that everyone is curious about what the heck is up with Callum.

Story notes-

Setting:

I’d loosely describe the setting as canon spliced with piaj twisted by most of a millennium of alternate history and technological development. Essentially, it’s sort of a modern AU, but not really.

Because this story is for fun, I’m wiping real-world-modern vibes over it wherever I want to/think I can justify it, and same goes for my own personal university experience vibes.

Worldbuilding:

A great, great deal of the worldbuilding is taken from my primary project – Peace Is A Journey – and adapted for the alternate historical context that this setting involves. I have even borrowed several elf OCs (at least three) from piaj and its sequel. History in this setting diverges from canon some time after the banishment of humans from Eastern Xadia – though I’ve not narrowed the timeline down precisely, it’s likely that the first couple hundred years of history went very similarly to how I’ve ironed it out in piaj, though this isn’t likely to be hugely important.

However, despite the similarities, this AU’s broader global history and foundational metaphysics are completely different to piaj. Worldbuilding and metaphysical specifics that aren’t incompatible with this difference, which is most of them, remain.

I’ve involuntarily put a fair amount of thought into the setting’s worldbuilding, and a lot of it is pretty cool, but considering it is a for-fun project, I’m not too concerned about specifics or ‘balancing’, so to speak. This means that I will be trying not to put huge amounts of thought into why some technologies are advanced and some aren’t. I am trying to keep the Worldbuilding Complexity setting to a dull roar, pretty much, and only develop the stuff that matters.

Glossary:

Ceracurist: a professional horn-salonist; one who cares for horns. From Greek ‘keras’, horn (same root as keratin or polycerate), and Latin ‘cura’, care (same root as manicure or pedicure or even cure). Technically this sort of root-mixing is sometimes seen as bad form, but it works just fine in context.

Mageskein: magic internet, pretty much. This is used almost exclusively in Eastern Xadia.

Gullcrest: an elven city located along the southern coast of Eastern Xadia. The majority of the story will take place here. The base concept and location of Gullcrest was taken from piaj worldbuilding and heavily adapted for the Ceracurist setting.

Extras:

A picture demonstrating an unpolished and a polished bull horn from the same pair, to demonstrate how much of a difference it makes.

#rayllum #tdp fic #tdp rayla #tdp callum #meet cute #modern AU #sort of #College AU #also sort of #Alternate history AU

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hiccstrxd · 3 years

Text

Kisses from the moon

Hello! I wanted to write shameless fluff with lots of kisses and this is exactly what it is. I’d like to believe that for a first timer in the kissing department, I did it okay lmao

It's rated t btw. You can find it in ao3 as well. Enjoy!

Summary: She didn’t know how it happened, the only thing she recalls is that they had meant to depart with one chaste kiss on the lips and somehow it had quickly escalated to unknown territory, though for sure not quite an unpleasant one.

It hasn’t been that long since the battle of the Storm Spire and relationships among the neighboring kingdoms couldn’t be any more restrained — the shifting alliances have been slightly worrisome but the newly pledge between the Dragon Queen and the young King of Katolis compensate all the arising uncertainties, if just a little.

Rayla doesn’t know that much about politics but she supposes that last bit gave enough solace to the kingdom. A bright occurrence amidst the cataclysmic disputes and deadly wars.

And since this was now her home away from home, she was very well informed — rather unwillingly — in its state of affairs.

Both Callum and Ezran (and Bait too, apparently) had firmly made her know that if she was one hundred percent sure and at ease with the idea overall, she was more than welcome to stay in Katolis, no matter if it was merely a temporary arrangement. It took quite a lot of arguments and counterarguments from both parties and even further persuasion from the two brothers (and frog) for her to concede to the proposition with an underlying hesitation.

She was fairly certain that her residency in the kingdom — and in the castle no less — will not be as gladly received. She’ll have to withstand many scornful looks and insensitive judgments left and right, her presence won’t do any good there. Plus, she would feel so out of place and a little bit too conscience-stricken for her liking. But then again she didn’t have anywhere else to go, nowhere to call home.

It was all very confusing and frustrating, rightfully so.

Later that night, with the moonlight casting shadows over the two lovers that were basking in the company of one another and with no impending death hanging in the air, a five-fingered hand was tenderly holding her four-fingered one, a warm smile on each of their faces. Lazy strokes were traced on her wrist, going up to her palm and finally detouring to each of her fingers, making careless doodles with the tip of his forefinger. She let out a sigh of contempt.

A murmured ‘I love you’ was softly said to the wind followed by an imaginary heart being drawn on her palm.

She looked over at him. His eyes had softened a great deal and he now sported the gentlest of grins, he redrew the heart for emphasis. Rayla intertwined their fingers together and gave his hand an affectionate squeeze.

She’ll never get tired of hearing it.

“I love you, too.”

And maybe that was the little push that she needed to make up her mind.

That’s how she got here. In Katolis, she meant. Definitely not with her back pressed slightly against the wall and a pair of gentle hands that held onto her with urgency, if just a little shyly.

She didn’t know how it happened, the only thing she recalls is that they had meant to depart with one chaste kiss on the lips and somehow it had quickly escalated to unknown territory, though for sure not quite an unpleasant one.

They were both expected somewhere else, the kiss was just a farewell gesture, something to get them through the day until they could be close with each other again — which was most likely to be late at night or early morning for how tight their schedule was today.

Rayla needs to break it off. They need to get going. She doesn’t.

She felt his hands that were once placed safely on her waist, slowly trail down to rest on her hips with a lose grip. Hers started their journey upwards, tracing his neck with feather-light touches to finally cup each side of his jaw. Their lips moved against one another at a deliberately slow pace, their noses brushing every so often with each gentle pull.

They have kissed before, of course, but nothing like this.

A loving peck on the lips, a quick kiss on the forehead, even a small brush of lips against each knuckle. They had definitely had some kisses that had lasted more than they should have but even those seemed to be cut short. No, this is new.

The gap between them came to be nonexistent, their breaths mingling together in their shared space. She felt warmth blossom in her chest as he pulled her even closer, his thumb slowly drawing small circles on her hip and when she felt him smile against her lips she couldn’t help but let a small smile out too.

Kissing him has always felt quite exhilarating, a rush of feeling that made her heart soar and her mind numb. A tingling sensation that extended from the tip of her fingers up to her very lips, a warmth that consumed her and spread like a wildfire within. Rayla has never kissed anyone before — she hadn’t felt the need to, having little interest in that sort of matter before— but she had seen Runaan and Ethari display little shows of affections every so often, and as a kid, her inherent curiosity had led her to wonder how loving someone felt like.

Ethari had said that it was like holding your whole heart in between your hands, so delicate and precious that the rest of the world blurs and fades away having no point of comparison with its beauty. Runaan, ever the pragmatic, said that it was a matter of sentiment — you feel everything more intensely.

She reckons that both are quite true, to some extent. Though, she might add her own contribution to the mix: it felt like a typhoon of emotions all at once; you feel weak yet strong, confused yet never more certain in your life, vulnerable yet empowered. It’s warm-hearted, a tender gesture. But then again, it’s something that she cannot fully put into words because the concept is so abstract and the action is so blissful that no notion will ever do justice to what she feels.

Soft kisses soon became frenzied presses of lips and their hands seemed to have a mind of their own, moving on their own accord and trying to frantically touch every patch of skin, clinging to the fabric of clothes in an attempt to be closer. His breath faintly tickled the skin beneath her nose, their heartbeats rhythmically pounding against their chests, and the almost inaudible sighs of delight, whenever their lips brushed against each other, was all she could hear in the secluded corner of the castle. Her senses were overflowed with his presence.

She couldn’t help the soft gasp she let out when he gently bit her bottom lip and pulled it in between his own. It was definitely something they haven’t done before and the action's intimacy promptly took her off guard.

And then he was frantically pulling away, eyes wide with horror and with eyebrows that seemed to reach his hairline, his lips the tiniest bit swollen from their whole encounter. His hands were still on her hips but if he was desperately trying to bring her forward before, he was now doing his best to hold her at arm’s length.

He was quite a sight and she would find it in herself to poke fun at his ridiculous countenance if she didn’t think he was on the verge of a mental collapse.

“I-I’m so sorry, that was not— and I just— I got carried away... Not that that excuses it! I — oh Gods,” Callum stumbled over his words, hand clasped over his eyes, and shifting uneasily on both feet. Rayla had trouble deciphering the inarticulate unfinished sentences that were being stuttered past his mouth but his body language could clue her in.

She raised a single eyebrow whilst fighting an amusing smile from breaking out.

With tentative fingers, she reached forward to lace their fingers together with the hand that was covering his face, his momentary flinch didn’t go unnoticed as she did so.

“Hey,” she softly said with a small smile on her face because leave it to him to straight-up freak out during one of the most intoxicating kisses they have shared so far in their relatively new courtship. She gently rubbed her thumb on the side of his hand as a silent way to reassure him that it was all good. He visibly relaxed a tiny bit, though still showing a little apprehension for his actions done in the spur of the moment. “I liked it.” She shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes and she wanted to smack herself for the uncharacteristic demeanor.

She felt a coy smirk tug at the corners of her mouth, “I really liked it.” Rayla relished the way his face went from rueful to downright embarrassed, a deep flush spreading all over his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears. She couldn’t stop the heartening laugh this time.

“O-oh?” She heard him mumble. He rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that was not holding hers, and she playfully rolled her eyes at her dorky human prince’s antics.

“In fact, I wouldn’t mind tryin’ it out again.” She said while mindlessly arranging the scarf on his neck that has become rumpled by her own doing. She looked at him solemnly, this being a little unfamiliar to both of them and the uncertainty of how to approach was slowly killing her. With a clear of his throat and his forest green eyes thoroughly searching hers to silently confirm what she had put into words, he shifted forward.

“Well, in that case,” He brought one hand to pull her closer while he raised the other one to caress her cheek lovingly. His eyes stared earnestly at her as if he could find all the wonders in the world by solely looking at her. It was wistful thinking, but she’d rather not dwell into that right now. Not when the only thing that matters was the blitheness from her heart and the prince that was the cause of it all.

He drew her toward him as the space between them once again diminished and with half-closed eyes, slightly pursed lips, and with the erratic thumps of the heart filling the air, they slowly leaned in again.

He nudged his nose against hers and placed a small kiss in the corner of her lips. Callum smiled, he went to do the same on the other side but she’d have none of it. She looped her forearms loosely at the back of his neck and lunged forward — she took delight in the muffled hum of surprise.

Their lips glided lazily but surely against each other, and this time — with the self-consciousness fading away and the overwhelming feelings of adoration rising in its place — the kiss quickly took a passionate turn. Fervent lips searched hers and she returned the gesture in equal measure.

When they came to this corner almost hidden from any prying eyes to share a light kiss, one which swiftly became so much more, Rayla had been concerned they would get caught. They never seemed to get any privacy in the heavily guarded walls of the castle and sneaking around resulted in their last resort, something that both thrilled her and troubled her; there was always a crown guard just around the corner, a handmaid that not so subtly eyed them from afar, or worse, the High Cleric that without fail appeared around inopportune instances.

The number of times she had wished the earth to open up and swallow her whole were unimaginable.

But now, as she now pulled his bottom lip in between her own, that thought was dismayed and stored in the back of her mind because kissing Callum made all of those seem as insignificant worries as every kiss felt like the very first one — she was sure there wasn’t a greater feeling than being in his arms. She could stay here forever.

That was until a nervous cough could be heard behind them, a few paces away from the darkened corner. They jumped apart.

“Prince Callum,” Corvus gave a slight bow, eyes not quite looking directly at the couple, “your presence is required in the throne room.” He cleared his throat, posture uptight as always but shifting from one leg to another rather uneasily.

Oh, sweet primals.

Rayla could already feel the burning sensation on her face and ears and quickly disentangled herself from his embrace in an attempt to put some proper distance between them. He was not expecting her briskly move and promptly stumbled over his own two feet, arms flailing to catch his balance before he fell somewhat unceremoniously on the ground below.

“Corvus, hi! Yeah, I was just on my way. I was just telling Rayla about the... uh,” He trailed off, unsure of what to say that would be credible enough to somehow cover up their real deed. Rayla was sure she was just about to die from embarrassment.

Corvus placed both his arms behind himself and with a deadpan expression affirmed, “I assure you, your highness, I do not need an explanation. It is all good. Nevertheless, let’s not keep the High Council and the King waiting, shall we?” Rayla could have guaranteed the corners of his mouth lifted in the slightest — almost imperceptible — in what she could only assume was amusement. “And Rayla, Soren is waiting in the courtyard for your daily training session.”

With that last bit, she nodded in acknowledgment and went straight to where she was initially supposed to be nearly fifteen minutes ago. And she almost gave Soren the triumph of his life since the only thing on her mind was how much she had enjoyed their little rendezvous and the excitement of its reprise was as annoying as it was enthralling.

#rayllum #my writing #rayllum fanfic #callum #rayla #the dragon prince #tdp #tdp callum #tdp rayla #tdp rayllum #fluff #things get a little carried away but nothing serious #I wanted to write something happy pre ttm #i'm sorry for any grammar mistakes #a hiccstrid fic is in the works too

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ask-runaan-anything · 4 years

Note

Was there ever a time you worried about your marriage (even if it turned out unfounded)? How did you overcome it?

I overcame it by being a soft fool for my husband, and by actually talking to him, and listening as well. You know, the usual.

Angst warning, little shadows.

The first time that Ethari worked on a big village project as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove, he spent long hours, and long days, in the company of his fellow crafters. He was in charge, so he had to be there from very early until very late, for more than two full Moons.

I was busy training, as always, and I didn’t understand what the difference in our daily rhythms would mean at first. But I started to miss little things, like morning tea with him, and letting him do all the talking to Rayla’s teachers at PTA meetings, and extra long hair brushing sessions where he and I would talk of soft things.

I missed them, and I missed him. But I had my duty, and he had his. And so we continued on.

I took a bit of a tumble in training after a while, but Ethari was in a big consultation meeting, so I patched myself up, with a little help from Rayla. Ethari looked sad when he saw my injuries, but he didn’t say anything.

A few days later, he came home with bandages of his own, along his shoulder and one side of his chest, and I nearly had a heart attack. But he brushed it off, saying it wasn’t that bad and a support structure had just gotten out of hand during construction, and his team was just being overly protective of their project leader. So I let that go, too.

Then.

Then his team publicly revealed the project they’d been striving over so long and hard, and I had to stand in the crowd and listen to my husband say that the village wouldn’t need assassin patrols like before, because his team had crafted an early warning system attuned to sensing approaching life forms around the village’s protective spells. And they were planning on extending the alarm towers in a spreading pattern out from the village, too.

Excuse me??

I may have stalked off, but I assure you, it was just to find a quiet place to think. I definitely wasn’t furious, not me. Did not at all feel like my entire purpose in life was being casually discounted and replaced by a, a, a, a magic pillar.

Was that all I was to Ethari, in my professional capacity, a magic pillar? That he could just up and replace me, my service to the Silvergrove? Did he only want me doing my duty far far away in the human lands where he didn’t have to hear about it? Was my being an assassin repellent to him?

Under my fury--which I totally did not have--I was scared. And lost. I thought I knew what our professional partnership meant: he made the swords and I swung them. Simple. But he had gone and made these plans, and involved the whole village, and they all went along with it.

I worried that Ethari was lying to them, that they thought that because it was Ethari making these defenses, that he had my approval and support, and so did his project.

I was not a hot mess of negative feels, nope, not me, not this stoic assassin. I was Fine.

I may have stopped speaking to my husband, though. May have needed more information than I had access to and didn’t want to misstep without it. Didn’t know if my trust in him had been misplaced.

That’s, um. That’s a very bad feeling. I hated it with every fiber of my being.

So I lurked around my own house in silence, trying not to spend much time in any room with Ethari, lost in my own worries. Meanwhile, at work, I changed exactly nothing about our training routines. Somehow, I would find a way to keep my assassins relevant to the village’s needs, on top of our missions.

Ethari pulled away from me, too, when he realized I’d gone silent. He didn’t know what it meant, he’d never seen that from me before. But he constantly offered small tokens of connection, trying to reach me.

I wanted to reach out to him, so badly. I desperately needed to understand. But at the same time, I didn’t trust him anymore, not like I had. When you crave reassurance but your only source is the person who hurt you... My thoughts went through some dark cycles then. The darkest of which was something like: Should I just leave the village and let them ghost me for choosing an elf who so completely failed to understand my life’s purpose and ended up hamstringing the assassins and their ability to perform their duty for Xadia and led to the ruination of the Moonshadow elves’ honor in the eyes of all our fellow elves and the Dragon Throne?

The genuine terror that I may have failed to understand Ethari’s heart so deeply that I’d brought the end of my entire people as we knew ourselves... was not a good headspace.

“Runaan. Runaan, you haven’t washed your hair in days.” Ethari tentatively lifted the end of my ponytail and showed me a bit of leaf that had been there yesterday. And the day before.

I nodded and took my ponytail from him, and I started toward the bath to take care of it. Can’t let your appearance slide, not if you’re a Moonshadow elf.

But he followed me. I was exhausted, and lonely, and afraid, and very much lost in my own head. And Ethari had always made me feel better. So, in a moment of weakness, I let him wash my hair again. I needed him, however I could get him, even if I couldn’t trust him anymore.

He poured clean water over my hair and sluiced out my bubbly shampoo, and then he paused. I tensed up, waiting, not sure what to expect. He leaned close from behind me and rested his forehead against my wet hair.

And then I heard him sob. “Where have you gone, my heart? What have I done to push you away? I was only trying to help you, I promise. Please, Runaan. Tell me how I can make it better. I’ll do anything. I’ll always do anything for you.” And he pressed his head against mine and cried.

I nearly broke the edges of the tub, I was squeezing them so hard. Wherever Ethari was coming from, it wasn’t the place I had imagined. “You... never asked,” I managed to say. My voice sounded strange, rusty.

“I wanted to surprise you. You’ve always liked my surprises before,” he murmured.

“Your trinkets weren’t trying to put me out of a job,” I sassed.

“I was trying to keep you safe!” he exclaimed. “Fewer patrols, fewer skirmishes. But if that’s how you feel about my project, I’ll scrap it.”

And just like that, the old Ethari resurrected in my heart. He’d never changed. I hadn’t read him wrong. We just... hadn’t communicated well.

I turned in the tub and faced him, cupping his cheeks in my wet hands. “You impulsive fool,” I begged him, “why didn’t you consult with me first? Or any assassin? All your work, and you never asked any of us.”

His dark brows bent. “You never keep the right secrets from each other.”

That sent my heart racing, because I knew he was right, and I couldn’t say so. I scooted away from him on my knees and shoved my face under the water and shouted out of sheer frustration. When I pushed myself up again, panting for breath, Ethari’s mood shifted suddenly.

“Wait, Runaan, I think I can fix this. The bubbles you just made... Yes, I have an idea. And as soon as you’re dressed, I’d like to consult with you properly on it. If you’ll let me...?” He bit his lip and waited nervously.

I slicked my hair back and took a deep breath. “No special treatment.”

“What?”

“The Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove shouldn’t give out special treatment. You need to treat me the same as everyone else.”

Well, that made one of his brows pop, and he looked me up and down in the tub. “I’m not sure I have that much shampoo on hand, love.”

I firmed my lips to keep from smiling at his sass. “When it comes to project consultation, Ethari. Let’s start from the beginning, where we should’ve begun in the first place. Tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you what I need. That’s how we’ve always done things. We shouldn’t have changed a formula that works.”

He nodded for a moment. “I’m sorry. I did give you special treatment, and it’s gone all wrong. I shouldn’t have tried to soften your hard side. You need it to keep yourself safe.”

“I do.” Our eyes met for a long moment, and then I squeezed his shoulders and pressed my forehead against his, finally confident once again that Ethari was the elf I thought I’d fallen in love with. “But I will give you care of my soft side again, my heart. I am sorry I doubted you.”

“You doubted me?” Ethari breathed.

I nodded against his forehead. “It was... severely unpleasant and I never wish to repeat it.”

Ethari whisked a towel around my shoulders and used it to pull me closer. “Then I’ll never give you cause, my shade. Let’s get you dried off. You have a consult with the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove in a little while, and I want you looking your best for him.”

I pulled Ethari into a tight, wet hug and squeezed my eyes shut, clinging desperately to his warm and stable strength. “He deserves my best.”

#ask runaan #runaan answers #story time #ruthari #tdp angst #ruthari angst #runaan #ethari #is couples therapy a thing in the silvergrove #it should be #but it should probably be run by a sunfire #and everyone can refer to seeing them as getting a tan #so one has to admit they're getting therapy #but come on #we all need it look at us.#also why do i always have such deep conversations in the bath #such a mystery #it's like i'm vulnerable there or something #no layers to hide under

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

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oh hey, my angst hat! *puts it on* *maniacal villain laughter ensues*

Got a quick and extremely angsty Viren & Runaan/Ethari theory for you today, because I've started writing for Whumptober (my villain origin story or my redemption arc, you decide). Pulling together "Runaan has an unfinished redemption arc and he can't just waltz into it, he has lore" and "Viren gonna Viren" and "Ethari please be a clever badass" and then drowning them all in an angst vat.

This one is genuinely angsty af, not joking, proceed at your own risk.

tw: body horror, death, undeath, psychological trauma

Ready?

Hold onto your butts.

Back in S1, Viren kept the Moonshadow assassins' weapons after they died on their mission, and he found use for them later. He keeps and collects things in case they prove useful to him at a later date, but what he collects is usually meant to be spent, like magic components for spells, so he's never attached to these things past the purpose they may serve. Those assassin weapons showed up one more time, and Viren sent them on their way, content that he'd found one last use for them.

So yeah, he's definitely got Runaan's bowblade. He's got it on purpose. And this next bit could go two ways:

1) he uses Runaan's broken horn, or

2) (my favorite) he uses the ashy remains of Runaan's magically spent body to power his own coining. All dark magic needs a spell component from a living/once-living creature, and there was nothing else magical in that cell aside from Runaan himself. When Viren cast the smoky spell with the other assassins, he used their cremains as his source of magic. There needs to be something in Viren's spell that matches those cremains.

Either way, Viren resurrects the smoky ghost of Xadia's best assassin.

And then he hands Runaan's smoky self his bowblade and quiver and gives him a mission, smugly confident in the assassin's skill set.

Ohoho, where are you going? I'm not even close to done yet.

Runaan's target could easily be someone who will recognize that bowblade on sight. Might Viren sic Smoke Runaan on Rayla, for various upstart teenager hero things and also for killing him? Yes, he would absolutely do that.

But what if he sends his smoky minion after a new threat? What if Ethari has entered the larger arena as a player on the big board, and he has to defend himself against his own creation as well as the ashy and bespelled remains of the beloved elf he gifted it to?

Mhmm. Here we go.

Ethari is the one person who stands the best chance at defeating Runaan's shade, I think. He doesn't have assassin skills, but those shadows can't do much damage without a weapon in their hands. And that weapon is one that Ethari knows intimately. He can't fight off Runaan's attacks, but he could probably disable the bowblade itself, perhaps by disenchanting it, breaking its magic bowstring, something like that. If he can render that precious gift unusable, he'll be safe.

Except from his feels.

None of us felt good watching Runaan shoot arrows at his daughter from the castle roof. Imagine if we have to watch him shooting arrows at his husband, too. Imagine if one of them hits him before he can disenchant the bowblade. Ethari's in love, and he's very soft, it's true. But it's also true that the work of his hands has enabled the deaths of many humans. No amount of soft smooches and tears can erase Ethari's participation in the angsty choices of this show. Sorry, Ethari.

Extra cruel angst version: Viren knows who Ethari is to Runaan now, and he leaves a little bit of instruction in Runaan's smoky spell, should he actually fail, so that Viren can count either option as a win of some kind.

If Ethari manages to destroy the gift he lovingly made for his husband, thus saving his own life at the cost of Runaan's most treasured possession, Smoke Runaan could stop and stare at him as if in recognition long enough for Ethari to draw closer, desperate for any vision of his lost husband. And then Runaan could explode in ashy bits all over him. Actual ashy bits of actual Runaan (whether horn or whole), blowing all over Ethari, right in his face. Wearing his husband's ashes in his hair, having to taste his last mortal fragments, and knowing that he himself is partly responsible for these horrors, because he placed that weapon in Runaan's hands himself.

Can you imagine. I can, and it's horrible. Poor Ethari.

Viren would love it. Psychological warfare ftw.

*hands you a baby wipe and an adoraburr therapy session*

Okay, so.

Ethari gets overpunished for crafting a world-class weapon of war. Runaan gets overpunished again for being the guy who agrees to do the stabbing, whatever his motives are. Viren gets overpunished by losing another fragment of his dying empathy to dark magic, leaving him unable to truly understand love in any form anymore - not his enemies', not his kids', no one's.

Ahh. Balanced. As all things should be.

*takes off angst hat* Okay, I can only wear that thing for so long. It gets itchy.

Final thoughts from outside the angst bubble:

could Viren create a smoky version of Runaan if his soul still lives somewhere, or does the soul need to be dead dead?

is there some way that distinction could be used as some creepy sort of test for Harrow? Or Runaan/Lain/Tiadrin?

would Runaan's missing horn be enough to power that smoky spell? And is there a difference between using a pinch of cremains when the whole body has been destroyed and a pinch of horn when, say, the body remains intact somewhere? Would Viren just summon a floating half-a-horn and get really mad and tell it that it was supposed to be something special, something important?

what if it's not Viren who casts it, but Claudia? She knows how. If she knows where Viren stashed Runaan's bowblade (which probably yes, because she knows where Viren's primal stone was), this could be a big step for her as far as what her skills are and where her limits aren't. And passing the Villain Hat to Claudia has so much angsty potential! What if Viren wouldn't actually send Smoke Runaan after Ethari... but Claudia, never having been married/in love, doesn't see a limit there, and Viren does? (especially since he seems to have been resurrected without the gray taint of dark magic, like he's his original self again, and even as his current villainous self he still had a soft spot in his heart for Lissa in Book Two: Sky) Woah.

Thank you for coming to my Angst Talk. I hope you're all okay. Feel free to yell at this post if it helps. I did.

#tdp theory #tdp speculation #tdp parallels #viren #runaan #ethari #tdp angst #heavy angst #whump #putting the terrible in btq today #tw body horror #tw psychological trauma #tw death #OH NO THIS IS MUCH WORSE #dear fic scene i stopped writing halfway through to make this post:#oh no we're not done yet not by a long shot #whumptober is gonna be lit y'all

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blutopaz15 · 4 years

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1, 3, 5 and 7 from the otp asks with Rayllum!!

I have #3 queued up in another ask :)

1, 5, and 7 below the cut

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?

I think it’s obviously gotta be Callum, but if we’re not AU-ifying this, I would kind of reframe this as Callum just making absolutely sure that Rayla has everything she could possibly want/need, especially if we’re talking about teenaged rayllum in Katolis. I don’t think that either of them are particularly materialistic but I do think that royalty still comes with some trappings of luxury that Callum is more than generous with...perhaps downright insistent on sharing with Rayla.

I feel like it starts from a place of desperately wanting Rayla to be comfortable and feel at home in the castle, so everything Rayla even looks at...it’s hers. Rayla wants the bed by the window? Not even a question. Rayla stops in the hall to look a vase full of flowers? oh, look at that, a bouquet has appeared at her bedside. Rayla likes that muffin but not those muffins? suddenly all muffins in the castle are the kind Rayla likes.

But then, like, that shifts into outright gifts. Rayla is spoiled. The hem on Callum’s pajama top that she’s been borrowing starts to unravel? Suddenly Rayla has a new pair of pjs for every night of the week. Rayla mentions that she might like to write a letter to Ethari? a new stationary set appears on Callum’s desk for her. Rayla misplaced her whetstone? Here are three of the finest in Katolis to choose from.

also, now I’m sad thinking about Callum not getting to spoil Rayla for her 16th birthday. :’(

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?

hehehehe, I have a little ficlet with a rayllum cooking mishap and a multichapter fic where they bake some moonberry surprise together in Katolis that this one makes me think of.

I think that honestly this one could go either way, because they both a) want to do nice things for each other and b) don’t want the other to be sad ever.

but also:

Imagine Rayla has a bad day and comes back to their little apartment (like could be their own private quarters in the castle or we can take this the modern au route too) and just wants to have dinner with Callum but it’s her turn to cook/he won’t be back til later so she has to cook, but then this happens and everything’s ruined and she’s just an upset, crying, pissed off mess when Callum comes home and finds her sitting on the floor in the kitchen. At first, she tries to insist that she’s this pissed off just because she burnt dinner, but then Callum gets to the bottom of it to hear about the rest of her horrible day before offering to take her out/send for food/get take out.

And then I want them to bake cookies together after Callum cleans up the kitchen bc I say so, that’s why. (:

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?

Rayla.

PJs? CONFIRMED.

Scarf? No one can convince me that doesn’t happen all the dang time. (also until I am proven wrong, I refuse to shut up about my headcanon that she stole the scarf at the end of TTM. It’s just So! heartbreakingly sweet!!

Jacket? YES PLS. IMAGINE THE CUTE.

Let’s face it: Callum’s clothes are just a lot more steal-able than Rayla’s and Rayla, as cuddly/touchy-feely as she is...yeah, girly definitely wants to be all up in Callum’s business, and that absolutely involves a whole lot of clothes-stealing. And Callum, of course, does not mind one bit. :)

otp headcanons thing

#ask game #thanks for asking :)#anon asks #rayllum #otp headcanons #fic ideas #i've been feeling not very creative lately friends #but these are HELPING #and giving me IDEAS #THANKS #:D #gonna sleep now but I have a bunch of these in my inbox to distract myself with tomorrow too!!!!#will try to get all of the rest answered tomorrow :)

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swtzutara · 4 years

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MAJOR THROUGH THE MOON SPOILERS

after reading through the moon, I decided to make a post with all my predictions for season four, especially because it changed the course of what most of us were expecting for it (rather tragically). i think it’ll be fun to come back here when the season drops and see what I got right. most of these predictions were already in my mind before the comic came out, but I had to change them just a bit to fit what happened at the end of thought the moon. under a read more because of ~spoilers

Rayla won’t appear on the first episode, and maybe not on the second one too (though I think we might see a little bit of her at the end of the second ep) but we’ll see her on the end credits art, like maybe clues showing where she is, or the places she went to

I think callum is gonna be desperate about her, and will want to go after her right away, but won’t be able too for some reason, probably ezran and soren convincing him to go back to katolis first, or maybe something in the letter she left for him?

Callum and ezran will have a fight about callum wanting to leave everything behind and go look for rayla, because ezran is also worried about her but he can’t leave because of his duties, and he feels abandoned by rayla already and doesn’t want callum to leave him too. rayla leaving the way she did would impact them both, but since callum can be a little bit of jerk towards ezran when he’s got his head full, I think maybe he’ll focus on how rayla leaving affected him and how hurt he is, and forget that ezran also cares deeply about her. they’re brothers and it’s easy to get overly emotional with family, and to have a lot of complicated feelings, and I’d like to see it being explored on the show with them. also callum can’t just leave his brother like that, i think he knows that deep down, but after the events at the end of season three i think he would be really worried about rayla

(that’s a popular one already) I think we might get a “Rayla Alone” kind of episode, since I believe rayla won’t appear much in the first episodes. the episode will show the scenes referenced in the end credits art from the previous episodes and also where she is now. i believe we will see her struggling mostly with her feelings, since survival is not a problem for her. she will have nightmares like the ones in through the moon, and maybe new ones, since she left callum and ezran behind and will probably feel guilty about it, even though she believes it was the right decision. it will be a very emotional journey, which i think would be great, rayla’s feelings are incredible to analyze and really complex, there’s just so much potential for her on this season

I think Terry the Earthblood Elf will appear on book four

Ezran and callum will have a Big Feelings Time and solve their fight (not fast or easily, but i’ll leave these details for the show lol), and then maybe they will send corvus or soren after her, but at some point i think callum will go too, perhaps after they got a clue? i love rayllum but i can’t think of callum just leaving his baby brother (who’s king) for only God knows how long, especially knowing that rayla can take care of herself during her journey, the biggest problem here is to where this journey is taking her

Rayla will be able to reach viren because I believe she will get the coins in this season. they need time to develop all the conflicts that will explode when runaan, tiadrin and lain are free, so I think she will get the coins by the end of season four, they will be freed on season five, and we’re gonna have seasons six and seven to develop the characters and the conflicts between them

Rayllum will have a Big Fight when they get together again. i think their inicial reactions will depend on the situation they will found themselves into when they reunite, but after this they will have a fight that will turn into a serious conversation about what happened; i think they just need to put their feelings out there and with the way things happened, it would be through some screaming. callum will talk about how he felt betrayed by her, how she left him and ezran, how he just wants to help her and be there for her, she broke his trust, and as much as i think he’ll understand her motives, it’s still very hurtful, and she doesn’t need to do things alone anymore. rayla will talk about how difficult it was for her to see everybody apparently moving on while she was stuck in the past, how she didn’t want him to distract her of her pain but just accept that she was hurting and let her deal with it on her own, how she COULDN’T let it go because only answers would bring her peace, though it is true that she didn’t have to run away and try to hunt viren on her own. they will be fine by the end of the season, but we’re gonna get some pretty heavy emotional moments before that

I think ezran won’t be able to go after rayla with callum because of his kingly duties, and we’re gonna get a lot of human kingdoms politics with his narrative, and maybe some aanya-ezran bonding (PLS I WANT IT SO BAD). it would be nice to see callum dealing with the politics to, awkward as he is, and he is a prince after all, he can’t just ignore this part of himself

I think amaya will be torn between lux aurea and katolis. i think she and janai will be pretty close when the season starts, and since janai, as the new queen, will be dealing with the disaster viren caused at lux aurea and with no doubt being stressed a lot by it, amaya will want to support her and be there for her, but then she’ll found out about what’s happening at katolis (aka her nephews fighting all the time and rayla’s disappearance and all the crazy politics ezran will be dealing with) and she’ll want to be there for them too. i think it would be nice to see amaya having more of a emotional conflict, she’s so tough when it comes to physical conflicts, but emotions are something that can really shake you to the core

I think ethari will help the boys on finding rayla, maybe with some spell he knows?? he might work with corvus or soren to track her, they both joining their abilities, that would be really sweet and also reinforce the show’s theme of humans and elves working together. i think maybe we won’t get A LOT of ethari on season four because I believe he will be of great importance on season five helping rayla free runaan, tiadrin and lain from the coins, but it wouldn’t make sense for him to NOT be a part of season four too, considering all the situation with rayla, and how he needs to make up for what he did to her

Aaravos will take great interest in claudia, but she won’t trust him. we already saw on the show that he thinks she’s a “useful asset” and that he’s impressed by her resourcefulness, and he’ll probably want to use her for his own gain, but she doesn’t trust him because she hates elves. the creators said aaravos is really manipulative, especially because he was able to manipulated viren, that is also very clever, so sooner or later he’ll find a way to manipulate claudia or get her to trust him, and I believe it’ll be through viren. he’ll either threaten viren behind viren’s back or manipulate viren so he manipulates his own daughter (what a mess)

I think callum may connect to the moon arcanum by the end of the season. i’m not really into the theory that he’ll connect to all six primal sources, because as badass as it sounds I’m not sure if that’s what the creators are planning for his arc or if it’s really necessary, but I do believe that he’ll connect to at least two, sky and moon. he already have the set up to forge his connection, especially after both his experiences at the moon nexus, and I think the process will happen more smoothly now. he’ll be reflecting about something, maybe his situation with rayla and the lies she told him, and also remembering the “white lies” quote from the comics, and he’ll suddenly realize that he has connected to the moon arcanum (again, it wouldn’t happen as lame as i’m sure i’m describing it, but i’ll leave the details to the writers). callum struggled a lot to understand the sky arcanum because it was his first try, and he had no clue of what exactly to do, and I think it would show great character growth if his second connection came more easily, especially because of his feelings for rayla, and the way he’s trying to understand her. she being the key to his connection with the moon arcanum would be really sweet

I think we’ll see soren also struggling a lot about his place on the castle. he doesn’t have his family around anymore and he used to be very close to claudia, and all the experiences at the storm spire affected him deeply. he loves the boys and want to be their protector, but I think he might feel lonely. i’d love to see some bonding between him and ezran or him and callum (hopefully both!), and I also think he’ll be worried about rayla too, they seemed to be starting to develop a friendship in ttm (i loved it so much), they talked about his father and how dangerous he is, he knows rayla will be in big trouble if she finds viren, and he’ll be afraid of another confrontation with his father

I’m honestly a bit lost about how the ending could be. if rayla will be found or come back willingly after getting the coins, i don’t know which one i’d like better. also rayllum being separated from ezran again is so hurtful, but there’s no way callum wouldn’t go after rayla at some point, and it would look really bad for ezran if he abandoned the crown again, right after the war, but i hope we can have callum and ezran together for most of the season at least. i’m also expecting a big fight between claudia and rayla, i think it would be great.

I already thought that rayla and callum would be in separate places during s4 or s5, but I sure didn’t expect for it to happen like THAT. I also expected a fight between callum and ezran because I think their relationship needs to be a bit more tested, especially now that ezran is king. I’m so excited about season four I can’t barely sleep at night lol (a release date when??). I know this predictions are a bit (or a lot) vague, but they’re really supposed to be just overall ideas of what could possibly happen on book four.

#tdp #tdp predictions #book 4 predictions #ttm #through the moon spoilers #book 4 #rayllum #janaya #tdp book 4

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