to the stars who listen

“Azriel mastered himself enough to say, “Thank you.” I’d never seen his hazel eyes so bright, the hues of green amid the brown and gray like veins of emerald. “This will be invaluable.”

“Elain weighed my words … and slowly closed her fingers around the blade. Cassian gawked at Azriel, and I wondered how often Azriel had lent out that blade— Never, Rhys said from where he finished buckling on his own weapons against the side of the wagon. I have never once seen Azriel let another person touch that knife. Elain looked up at Azriel, their eyes meeting, his hand still lingering on the hilt of the blade.

1. Gwyn is not his mate. Thats statement isn’t backed up by the books. Gwynriels need to stop treating gwynriel as confirmed mates because they aren’t.

2. Lets think. If Azriel wanted a mate so badly, he wouldnt be going after someone with a mate. That is pointless. If his whole thing is “I want a mate”, he would still be waiting for his mating bond to snap with Mor. In the bonus, it wouldn’t have been, “why was the third given to another” but rather something along the lines off, “why do you all have mates and not me!” Showing he doesn’t care about Elain specifically, he just wants a mating bond.

3. “Well he only thinks Elain is his mate because of some prophecy-“ except he said, “he had never dared to say the thoughts outloud.” This idea of the cauldron being wrong & Elain/Him being mates wasn’t a thought that occured that night it was something that had been brewing in his mind for a while. Nesta and Cass being mates confirmed his suspicions. Elain acknowledging her mate yet still choosing him gave him the confidence to share these thoughts outloud.

4. “He never planned a future with Elain!” He was never asked that. Rhys was asking about Lucien specifically and what Az was going to do, “seduce her away” and to that he had said never planned further which is true. Azriel has done nothing to affect Luciens bond with Elain. He stayed away frm Elain. He is civil with Lucien. He gives them both privacy and space. So whilst he hs fantasies about what he can do, he’s never actually followed through.

5. The sad thing is, gwynriels want Az to get with Gwyn just because they’re “mates”. That isn’t romance. In other words, it doesn’t matter which girl it is - whoever is his mate he’d accept the bond because he is just so desperate for that bond. Did Rhys or Cassian choose Feyre/Nesta because they where their mates? No. They fell in love with them. Here, you guys are just treating Gwyn as some consolation prize for Azriel. Someone whose obsessed with mating bonds gets a mate…just because? Where is his character growth in that?

Finally, Elain is Azriels true soulmate. Mass confirmed having two mates is possible. Rage glowed in his eyes when Elain was taken. Only a mate can sense what is amiss, and Az figured it out. “Why not make them mates?”

Never.

Never has there been any well, Azriel will be with x' and then, Elain might be with z and then they'll get together, but if they don't then...

No. There's never been any 'if' or 'buts'.

There's never been any Lucien temptation. Any Mor temptation. Any Graysen temptation. Any Gwyn temptation. Any Tamlin temptation. Any Rhys's dead sister temptation. Any Bryce temptation.

It's always been Elain and Azriel.

There's never been 'Elain will explore the bond with Lucien...' or 'Azriel is still in love with Mor, but would eventually move on to Elain'.

Elriels have been solidly Elriel since the beginning.

And I love that for us. Why? Because we never needed to make anything up, because it's all canon. We've never jerked this way or that way after an interview, because something drastically changed and now we have to bend over backwards to make Elriel happen.

Azriel: “What if the Cauldron was wrong?”

… so Az was right all along?

And he… wasn’t entitled?

Everything. EVERYTHING Elriels have been saying about the story being told was true.

Elain’s story is all about choice, agency.

Rhys is not evil. He’s allowed to go through his own shit and make the wrong call, including telling Azriel to stay away from Elain.

Tamlin is abusive. Elain is not going to date her sister’s abuser.

Lucien is partially responsible for Elain’s trauma. She’s not going to get over that.

Bryce and Hunt are endgame.

What if the cauldron was wrong? = Nature did not pick right.

So no, I’m not going to believe this is the one thing we’ve been wrong about.

A: ..But can you just quickly explain what that means in the world? Mates?

S: It’s kind of like you’re destined true love in a way, but it’s complicated because there’s a biological component to it where like you can be mated to someone that is like not actually your true love. It’s like there’s true, true mates. And then there’s kind of like nature made a mistake like Rhys’s parents did not love each other. It was not a great relationship, but they were mates and it was like there’s a biological thing where they’re like, we want to be together but then its like “We’re fucking miserable with each other,” especially his mum. So its like, it’s tricky. But when you find your perfect mate, like Rhys and Feyre, Cassian Nesta, that is like the last little piece of your soul that was like kind of a little broken and is now, like you found your person.

A: But the rejecting of mates, is Elain rejecting the bond with Lucien?

S: I think Elain’s got her own trauma and shit she’s going through right now. I mean, like, imagine being transformed into a whole new body, a whole new lifestyle. Like you are gone from like, a—I don’t know. And like the human world, they’re like what? 60 years is a good life to suddenly like centuries, a millennium. The world looks very different and surprised like you’ve been forcibly essentially married to a stranger who also was involved in bringing you into this world and betraying you and shoving you into the Cauldron.

A: It’s a lot.

As time goes on, you try to find yourself again, which is really hard after trauma, but you manage. However, for some reason your family keeps inviting that guy. And he still insists that the two of you should get married. You try to be polite, at first. But he doesn’t get the hint, he even gets you expensive presents. Like at the christmas party your family invited him to.

At some point he has to travel for work a lot, thank god. But he keeps coming back, even though now you try to not even acknowledge his present. Maybe he’ll finally leave you alone now…

What about that is romantic??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

And that’s not even all. Because in addition, the Deluluciens keep hating on that other guy because he’s really gross and toxic, you know? The one that is always super respectful toward you and will listen to you brabble on and on about your hobbies FOR HOURS. The one that actually RISKED HIS LIVE TO SAFE YOU from another traumatic event, you know, instead of actively thrashing you into one for the personal gains of his best friend. Yeah, he’s so gross. He didn’t even make his first move until knowing you for a long long time, giving you the time to get to know him as well. Incredibly toxic behavior. No, falling in love with that piece of shit would be ridiculous. Never gonna happen.

“I don’t want a mate…”

“A mating bond can be rejected”

“That does not entitle him to my time nor affections”

“He does not know me”

“Lucien hadn’t bothered to bridge the gap between them”

༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚.

“𝒟𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝓉?

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮.”

༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚.

✮♱✮ art by @thiaperezart

✮♱✮ commissioned by me

༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚.

I’m back with more Elriel!!! This time, inspired by Arwen and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (and let’s be real, Arwen has the most gorgeous fits), and I think this fits so perfect for Elriel! Here we have them sharing their happily ever after with each other in the Night Court, free to express themselves however they wish and not afraid of those around them condemning it. I want to give the biggest thank you to @thiaperezart and her delivering this absolutely BEAUTIFUL and breathtaking art, and bringing my ideas to life!

༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚.

✮♱✮ quote is from Lord of the Rings

✮♱✮ characters are Elain Archeron and Azriel.

༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚.

✮♱✮ likes, saves, and shares are always appreciated!

✮♱✮ no reposts allowed.