can you truly fly?

elain

cerridwen

nuala

"Wraiths are nothing but shadow and mist." A Court of Wings and Ruin

Rhys claps back at Azriel and throws accusations at him, and truthfully, he's kind of being a dick.

"What about Mor?" (Oh, you mean the unrequited romance from the last 500 years? What about it? You know that shit has no legs.)

"You believe you deserve to be her mate?" (Bro, you know this man doesn't think he deserves anything. Mr. "It Doesn't Matter What I Want" isn't out here prioritizing himself. How could you?)

"So you'll what? Seduce her away from him?" (Um, sir, Lainey was also doing some seducing herself--put it on me?--and frankly, Azriel didn't even have to try that hard because she already wants him. Rhys saw her standing in front of Azriel with her eyes closed and her lips parted. My queen had already made a choice.)

"If I see you panting after her again, I'll make you regret it." (Panting after her? Like a dog? You really think he just wants to get laid, with all the respect he has for his High Lady and women in general? Now you're just being hurtful.)

This is the classic move of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. All those spaghetti noodles just falling off that Illyrian leather. So what does Rhys do? Pull rank. Something he never does.

And what does Azriel do? Does he go to a pleasure hall? Nope. He does what he always does and trains until his body gives out. Peak yearning and frustration. If he just wanted sex, he could throw a stone and find a willing partner. But he doesn't. Because he doesn't just want a mate. He doesn't just want sex. He wants ELAIN.

Now, the fandom can also be a dick and assume Rhys' attempt to shame or dismiss Azriel is the way to go. But in reality, Rhys said all of this under extreme stress. He was worried about Feyre. Political alliances. He didn't have the headspace to hear Az's real concern, that their system is corrupted and something isn't right. Rhys was under pressure, but what's your excuse?

We don't talk enough about Elain being not only the first person to use Truth-Teller outside of Azriel, the first person he trusted TT with, but also the first person he trusted to keep TT safe.

The mandate from Azriel was: this will protect you, but you protect it.

We never talk about the fact that Nesta took TT from Elain and beheaded the King.

And then....

What happened then?

Did Nesta hand the bloodied knife back to Elain? Knowing that the dagger was Elain's responsibility.

Did Elain take the dagger that was just used to behead someone from Nesta's blood-covered hands?

Did Nesta drop it on the ground, and did Elain pick it up and carry it back with her to the camp?

She held on to it the entire time. Through the breaking and the reforging of the Cauldron. Through the unmaking of Amren. Through Rhys's death and resurrection. She held on to it not knowing if Azriel lived or died. Elain was the keeper of Azriel's legacy. And not only that, he WANTED HER to be the keeper of his legacy. If he died, he wanted HER to have Truth-Teller. Not his High Lord, not his brother and warrior Cassian, not his 500 year old crush Mor, not his High Lady. No, he wanted Elain to have it.

Elain carried that knife with her, maybe covered in King's blood, or maybe she wiped it with her handkerchief.

And then, when everything was finally over, and she saw that Azriel lived and survived, she handed it back to him.

She did her duty.

But now, she wanted the protection to return to Azriel. She didn't keep it for herself. He was more important.

But yes, she 'gave it back'.

The meet cute - 3 brothers x 3 sisters dinner - was the initial spark for elriel and nessian you numb nuts.. just like calanmai was for feysand… literally detailed it in the post…

The proof is in the books , across 3 series, between multiple characters.

You can be obtuse if you want too but, it’s not gonna change that people misconstrue the shit out of everything SJM says just because it doesn’t vibe with their ship. - idk if you know but plenty of ppl jumped from the gwynriel/ Eluciens ships after CHD and even more have recently as we are getting closer to release dates and such. The delulu fandom is starting to wake the eff up.

SJM basically told us what was going to happen with Lucien and Elain- basically gave you the damn answer as to how that was gonna end up without explicitly saying it and yet… dumbassery still remains afoot.

Elucien and gwynriel ain’t happening dudes, so what’s the point in continuing to focus on “spark” for them, when it’s not the right kind?

It’s ok, you’ll get it one of these days.