#why can't I get this attached to characters that have bounds and bounds of material to them why is it always the MINOR CHARACTERS

[inquisimer]

for garahel! 'If they wept for him, he couldn’t hear it.'

ro I just 😭😭 I MADE MYSELF CRY AGAIN, I'm so fucking emotional about these two 😭 where do I put all these FEELINGS

for @dadrunkwriting | Isseya & Garahel | wc: 716

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His mind made the same leaps as Isseya’s, at almost exactly the same time. For all that they thought differently, they had spent their lives together and sometimes they thought just the same. He saw the last of the Tainted griffons fall, Edelys, frozen and incapable, and he saw Isseya, lips pressed together, gather Revas’ reins for one last dive.

No.

No sooner had he thought it than Crookytail was moving under him, drawing alongside Revas so that they could stop Isseya before she gave herself up.

If it was to be one of them—and it was, there was no other way, this could not all be for naught—Garahel would not let it be her.

His beloved sister. He’d seen the light in her eyes when they first saw the griffons; the bright joy that bubbled up when Revas wrapped her up in a wing. Of course he’d felt something similar with Crookytail—but none of them ever felt the griffon’s beating heart as Isseya had.

And now the griffons were dying.

He did not know exactly what dark magic Isseya had worked on Strife, those fateful years ago, but he recognized the blame in her eyes. The self-flagellation and disgust at the sight of their great beasts with bloodied beaks and pure, unadulterated rage in their eyes. Whatever she had done to save the griffons had condemned them just the same. Perhaps even worse. And she would never forgive herself for it.

But it was not only her fault. He could have stopped her.

It was his Joining kit that she took, back when he was a Field Commander and she was not. His supplies that she used in that first experiment. If he’d stopped to question her, listened to the nagging in the back of his mind that something was not right, he might have saved her so much of the grief and corruption that weighed on her now.

And beyond that—he had given her secret away. He had been the one to tell the First Warden what she had done, given him the knowledge he needed to issue the order that killed them all. It was necessary, it had to be done, he would do it again—and that did not change the fact that it had hurt his sister, and he regretted that alone.

She was dying. Her hair had long since fallen out and in the rare moments that he saw her unwrapped from all the scarves, Isseya looked more like a ghoul than his sister. But he knew the shape and feel of her as well as he knew his own. He had known her all along and he knew her now still.

Which was why he knew she could fix this.

Isseya had worked impossible magic in her own right. She had a brilliant mind and so many people of the Free Marches owed their lives to her alone. It was her well-intentioned mind that poisoned the griffons and Garahel did not doubt that it was her mind alone that would find the answer, given a chance. A chance she would only have if she lived beyond today.

So even though it was, by rights, her blow to take, Garahel pushed Crookytail past her. They rarely flew the griffons so close, for risk of collision, but he could not stop himself from reaching out to brush bruised and battered knuckles against her shoulder one last time.

Be strong, Isseya, he thought as the wind whipped his hair about his face. You are strong. The strongest of us all. I love you. And I’m sorry.

“Give my love to Amadis, and my weapons to the Wardens,” he said. “And, Isseya, be kind to yourself.”

He prayed that she listened.

As he stood on Andoral’s spine, barely daring to think for fear that he would lose this precious chance, Garahel’s eyes caught on the dark speck that could only be Isseya on Revas, watching it all play out. He raised his blade in a salute she certainly couldn’t see, and drove it down through the Old God’s skull, deep into its Blighted brain.

And as the archdemon’s soul sought him out, as it ripped fire and agony and anguish through his mortal soul:

Isseya, be kind to yourself.

[girlswithambition]

Prince of Song and Sea - Exploring the Bravery in Love

Buy it here: https://bookshop.org/books/prince-of-song-sea/9781368069113

Seriously, I implore you. I'm gonna remind you a few more times.

Tragically, the audiobook is not read by Chris Barnes, but from a cursory listen it tears my heart asunder almost as much.

Prince of Song & Sea surprised me in the best way. It's delightfully-characterized, elevates its source material, and is queer in a way I imagine Howard Ashman would have been proud of.

And oh Gods, it's about trauma: real, violating, human trauma that goes beyond the safe bounds of a typical angstfest. I didn't expect that at all. The audience might read this knowing the courageous tropes fairytale princes carry with them, but Eric's strength comes through his vulnerability.

It comes with the Die Hard-style end that he brings Ursula, too but that kind of goes without saying. This book hits the notes you're looking for from the film and they feel just as satisfying, but I treasure the quieter moments throughout.

I never quite know what I'm getting into when I read licensed lit. 1989's The Little Mermaid has inspired a few YA titles over the last decade or so, and they're mostly enjoyable but relatively hit-or-miss. They're something you read because you're attached to the source material.

Some relatively spoiler-free reasons to enjoy Song & Sea for its own sake:

Linsey Miller did her homework. It shows on every page in loving, but relevant detail. I don't like to get persnickety about what's canon or accurate, as that doesn't a good story make. But the spirit of what made these characters compelling exists in Song&Sea's foundation.

Queerness. My little gay heart swam out to sea and hasn't returned. 21st century lit can get a bit checkboxy as far as queer representation goes, only scratching the surface of how queer humans might exist in literary worlds, but I felt the gay in Song&Sea's bones. And if you can't feel The Gay wafting up from its pages, are you really reading nautical literature?

Sometimes reads like a season finale of Buffy. To tell you why and which season(s) might spoil you, but it's for more than one reason.

Grimsby, my man. I love him.

I'm not going to shut up about it: I can't remember the last time I've read such an authentic portrayal of relational trauma.

Characterizes both Eric and Ariel in the best faith, and raises a discrete proverbial middle finger to criticisms that don't matter, Broadway Musical. The pot shots it takes at the Broadway plot made me giggle okay?

I had planned to go point-for-point with a bit more eloquence, but I think that's going to be relegated to drip-feeding tagged spoilers under some readmores for the next few weeks/months. I've been holding these feels in or ages and they've fermented. Unfortunately, I have the alcohol tolerance of a small child.

Please drop me a DM or an ask if you want to discuss it further - I have a ton more to say and would love to scream about it like an excited goat.