moonglow garden

Previously, Sarah mentioned the forces that be in relation to fated mates, and in her most recent interview (while she’s been editing the upcoming acotar books), she reiterated her interest in free will versus fate and used the term nature instead. Sometimes, nature gets it wrong when it comes to mating bonds.

It got me thinking about the forces that be, their connection to nature, and it led me back to the chaotic part of the Book of Breathings. This part of the Book sings in threes as well as three parts (here, here, here). That pattern makes sense if this part of the book harnesses the creative magic of Chaos.

Part 1 describes the cycles of nature, specifically the stages of life (life and death and rebirth), solar and lunar cycles (sun and moon and dark), and flora and fauna (rot and bloom and bones).

Part 2 welcomes the three Archeron sisters with three distinct hellos; it’s also possible the first two are for Feyre, and the last one combines Nesta and Elain.

Part 3 gives instructions on how to bring the Book of Breathings to life and use it. This allows certain people (those not born of this world, including Made Fae) to control the forces of nature through things that channel it: the Cauldron, Made weapons (Trove, TT, etc), mating bonds, and even the land.

The Book welcomes the three sisters as though it knew they were marked by fate and have an important role to play in the grander tapestry. @psychee92 theorized years ago that this part of the song might even be a prophecy for the three Archeron sisters and indicate their alignment with specific phases of the triple goddess. @psychologynerd expanded this theory through the alchemical wedding. They certainly seem to be the three faces of the Mother in the flesh. I have wondered if their connection aligns with specific parts of the life cycle, but it is probably more fluid than that since their arcs seem to represent the progression of nature overall.

@silverlinedeyes, @offtorivendell, @merymoonbeam, @psychologynerd and many others have talked about their connection to Made objects. This unique kinship (as vessels) makes them similar, if not the same as, those who are Starborn. We see this kinship begin in the original trilogy through Feyre. She wields magic from nearly all courts (unless the sisters’ lineage is connected to Dusk and it becomes 8), restores the Book of Breathings, hears the Cauldron’s siren song like her sisters, touches the Cauldron to travel with it like a force of nature, and repairs the Cauldron and tear in the world with raw magic from Rhys.

This kinship expands in Nesta’s story, as she both uses Made objects and Makes them herself:

The Harp asks Nesta to play it, to let it sing again.

The House sings because Nesta Made it.

Nesta Makes weapons and it is accompanied by music only she hears.

The bond she weaves with Cassian sings after they Make it together.

The whole world, all of creation, is a song.

Nature can be influenced through song, as @silverlinedeyes and @offtorivendell suggested. This song is a poetic way to describe communication—different parts of nature working together in harmony. This communication is the secret language of Wyrd and in hofas, it is referred to as the language of creation. This connection deepens in the crossover:

The land of Dusk asks Bryce to reach out, open her heart to it, so it might sing again.

Love me, touch me, sing me.

Bryce does not free the land of Dusk due to the presence of the prisoners, but she does free Avallen and we get a glimpse of what that entails. She can hear the land’s quiet song, feel its joy when it is finally seen and freed from its magical chains.

These moments are seeds for the third sister’s story, bringing us full circle.

Elain has always been very connected to nature. She ended the original series as a promise of the future and feeling eager to restore the land.

In acosf, we see hints of how deep this connection might run. When taken together, we find Elain’s appearance reflects the land: in Hewn city, she looks as void of life as the land and in Velaris soon after, she is glowing with life again. This kind of earthen magic would mean that she can sense ley lines—the flow of life in the fabric of the world—and Make gardens. Is that what might happen when her sleeping buds bloom?

Will she need to fully embrace them and what they represent (all of her, including her forced change) to make her magic sing? Many of us believe she was given the vision and gifts to help restore the inherent, pure magic of the land. To free it from the magical threads of the Asteri: the magic they hoarded in sacred peaks and the division they wove into the land and people who inhabit it. This freedom would, in turn, restore the people and their magic. The land and its magic would be freed for all of them, not simply a powerful few. This plot extends beyond a single court and would certainly demand a big story.

It might also require behavior we don’t usually associate with Elain: using pure life, if she possesses it, to unbind warped threads (the opposite of what Feyre and Nesta did with their healing magic). She might even learn how to do this through her sight as she wanders with the Mother (that’s why her carved rose is placed next to her figurine). Will she come across a healer from another world in her travels? This particular healer may be the key to learning that pure life is world-making power. She can bind as well as unbind the very fabric of life, of worlds.

🌹🌻🌷🪻

Azriel arrived first, no shadows to be seen, my sister a pale, golden mass in his arms. He, too, wore his Illyrian armor, Elain's golden-brown hair snagging in some of the black scales across his chest and shoulders.

He set her down gently on the foyer carpet, having carried her in through the front door.

Elain peered up at his patient, solemn face.

Azriel smiled faintly. "Would you like me to show you the garden?"

She seemed so small before him, so fragile compared to the scales of his fighting leathers, the breadth of his shoulders. The wings peeking over them.

But Elain did not balk from him, did not shy away as she nodded—just once.

Azriel, graceful as any courtier, offered her an arm. I couldn't tell if she was looking at his blue Siphon or at his scarred skin beneath as she breathed, "Beautiful."

Color bloomed high on Azriel's golden-brown cheeks, but he inclined his head in thanks and led my sister toward the back doors into the garden, sunlight bathing them.

My hair still damp from the bath I'd just taken, I slid my heavy earrings through my lobes and peered out our bedroom window, monitoring the garden below.

Elain sat silently at one of the wrought-iron tables, a cup of tea before her. Azriel was sprawled on the chaise longue across the gray stones, sunning his wings and reading what looked to be a stack of reports—likely information on the Autumn Court that he planned to present to Rhys once he'd sorted through it all.

Already dressed for the Hewn City—the brutal, beautiful armor so at odds with the lovely garden. And my sister sitting within it.

"Why not make them mates?" I mused.

Cassian's dark brows narrowed. I dragged a hand over my face before going to Elain and touching her too-bony shoulder. "Can I set you up in the garden? The herbs you planted are coming in nicely."

"I can help her," said Azriel, stepping to the table as Elain silently rose. No shadows at his ear, no darkness ringing his fingers as he extended a hand.

Nesta monitored him like a hawk, but kept silent as Elain took his hand, and out they went.

Azriel strode to the lone window at the end of the room and peered into the garden below. "I've never stayed in this room." His midnight voice filled the space.

"No," Azriel said, not turning from the window.

Azriel remained at the window. "Will Nesta stay here if she comes?"

"I’d still be surprised if they remember once the storm clears," Azriel said, turning from the garden window at last.

It was three by the time the others went to bed. (...)

Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she'd sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. Whether he cared about such things, I had no idea, but I sent him a silent prayer of thanks for his kindness before Rhys and I slipped upstairs.

I do believe the whole point of Azriel and Elain is them choosing each other despite a bond already bestowed upon Elain. But I also wholeheartedly believe they are true mates, not only because of the clear evidence of their compatibility, but the actual signs SJM has planted. Every single Elriel interaction is under a spotlight. Everything they do or say means something.

Offering food

ACOMAF:

Rhys straightened. "You'd—make me food?"

"Heat," I said. "I can't cook."

It didn't seem to make a difference. But whatever it was, the act of offering him food... I dumped some cold soup into a pan and lit the burner. "I don't know the rules," I said, my back to him. "So you need to explain them to me."

He lingered in the center of the cabin, watching my every move. He said hoarsely, "It's an... important moment when a female offers her mate food. It goes back to whatever beasts we were a long, long time ago. But it still matters. The first time matters. Some mated pairs will make an occasion of it—throwing a party just so the female can formally offer her mate food... That's usually done amongst the wealthy. But it means that the female... accepts the bond."

ACOSF:

Nesta considered. Then pulled something out of her pocket. A small biscuit, swiped from a tray in the birthing room. "Then here. Food. From me to you, my mate. That's the official ritual, isn't it? The sharing of food from one mate to the other?"

ACOFAS:

But Azriel only took Elain's heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, "Sit. I'll take care of it."

Elain's hands remained in midair, as if the ghost of the dish remained between them.

I need everyone to understand sjm chose to write this specific scene and that specific line, knowing full well what a female offering a male food means regarding a mating bond. The line was so intentional.

Amiss

The word amiss is used 6 times in acowar. 4 of those times is about Elain, (the 5th not related to her directly but she was mentioned in the very next sentence.)

ACOWAR:

"It's complex spell work— a loophole through the magic that binds the wall."

"And it implies," Mor said, frowning deeply, "that something might be amiss with the Cauldron."

—

"What I mean," Madja said at last, sizing up Nesta, then me, "is that I can find nothing wrong with her. Her body is fine—too thin and in need of more food and fresh air, but nothing amiss. And as for her mind... I cannot enter it."

—

The ancient healer jerked her chin toward Lucien. "See what he can do. If anyone can sense if something is amiss, it's a mate."

—

"He will try. And if he doesn't find anything amiss, we'll consider bringing another healer."

—

"We're the ones who need ….." Azriel trailed off. "A seer," he said, more to himself than us. "The Cauldron made you a seer."

Talk of loopholes in bond magic, the Cauldron being compromised, the mating bond being the thing that bridges souls together to sense what’s wrong. Only for Azriel to then discover Elain is a Seer, and for the Cauldron’s dark tampering be confirmed several times over

Bridge

ACOWAR:

But the bond, the bridge between us ... it was a howling void. A raging, dark tempest.

—

Madja said to my sister, as if she were a small child, "The mating bond. It is a bridge between souls."

—

I didn't dare ask if he was trying to get into her head, or if he was feeling a bond similar to that black adamant bridge between Rhys's mind and my own. If a normal mating bond felt wholly different.

—

I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection... that knife.

—

Finally awake enough to be coherent, I lowered the shield of black adamant guarding my mind and cast a thought down the soul-bridge between me and Rhys.

The constant repetition of bridge/mate bond/soul bond is a VERY HUGE INDICATOR that Elain and Azriel have that soul-connection, have a bridge between them, have all the makings of a bond without actually having one. The elements that truly matter are there for Az and Elain. It’s only the bond to Lucien that is in the way of it. Madja gives several very clear statements regarding the bond and what it is, what it should do, how it should work. Only for A) Azriel to have naturally done those very things a mate would do without anyone having to tell him and figured out what was happening to her, and B) Azriel and Elain then directly described as having a bridge of connection between them mixed in with beautiful, detailed imagery of them together in a very important scene. Their scenes aren’t scarce, but they’re rare enough that every single minute detail/wording sjm puts into them holds a heavy purpose to their relationship and foreshadowing.

Between them

ACOWAR:

I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection... that knife.

ACOFAS:

Elain's hands remained in midair, as if the ghost of the dish remained between them.

—

How Lucien withstood it, I didn't know. Not that he'd shown any interest in bridging that gap between them.

ACOSF:

Then his gaze shifted to Elain, and though it was utterly neutral, something charged went through it. Between them.

Things are always described as being between Elain and Azriel—

A blend of light and dark

A bridge of connection (Truth-Teller)

Charged space

Ghost of a dish

The only thing specifically described in the same way for Lucien and Elain is calling the bridge between them a gap.

Elain and Az are a blend of themselves met in the middle, they share a bridge of connection, they share charged energy, and they share a symbolic metaphor of something that should have been between them but isn’t. The “ghost of a dish,” is to allude to the bond that should be there. But even despite it, the moment is still there. They are still there, still drawn to each other, still on the path to colliding. Az and Elain have things between them, while Elain and Lucien have nothing.

SJM’s “If anything can sense something amiss, it’s a mate” and “as if the ghost of dish remained between them” had glaring implications when considering how things played out and what we know about the mating bond. Those were the obvious indicators.

But for fun, here’s looking deeper into it:

They are always “bridging the gap”

Azriel arrived first, no shadows to be seen, my sister a pale, golden mass in his arms.

Azriel, graceful as any courtier, offered her an arm.

"I can help her," said Azriel, stepping to the table as Elain silently rose. No shadows at his ear, no darkness ringing his fingers as he extended a hand.

Then Azriel, gently taking Elain's hand in his own, as if afraid his scars would hurt her.

Azriel scooped up Elain, looping her bound arms around his neck. "Hold tight," he ordered her, "and don't make a sound."

Azriel gently removed the gag from her mouth. "Are you hurt?"

The gray light of morning had broken over the world, mist clinging to our ankles as we headed into that camp, Azriel still cradling Elain to his chest. He dripped blood behind him the entire time—

Rhys lunged for Azriel, taking Elain from him and gently setting my sister down. Azriel rasped, swaying on his feet, “We need Helion to get these chains off her.” Yet Elain didn’t seem to notice them as she rose up on her toes and kissed the shadowsinger’s cheek.

He gently took her hand and pressed the hilt of the legendary blade into it. "It will serve you well."

But Azriel only took Elain’s heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, “Sit. I’ll take care of it.”

BC, though not needed:

Elain closed the distance, and her breathing quickened as she again paused, now a scant foot away. She extended the wrapped gift, her hand shaking. "Here."  Az tried not to look at his scarred fingers as they took the gift.

Azriel let his shadows whisk away the box as she said softly, "Put it on me?"  His head went quiet. But he took the necklace, opening the clasp as she exposed her back, sweeping her hair up in one hand to bare her long, creamy neck.

Azriel's fingers lingered at her nape, atop the first knob of her spine. Slowly, Elain pivoted into his touch. Until his palm lay flat against her neck. It had never gone this far. They'd exchanged looks, the occasional brush of their fingers, but never this. Never blatant, unrestricted touching. 

Elain shuddered, drifting closer. So close one deep breath would brush her breasts against his chest.

His stomach twisted as he pulled his hand from her hair  and stepped back. Forced himself to say, "This was a mistake.”

What’s forced is them forced apart

They are not bridging the gap

As Lucien took off his jacket, kneeling before Elain. She cringed away from the coat, from him—

I just strode to him and threw my arms around his neck, even if it wasn't the embrace he was hoping for.

I spared Lucien the torment of debating whether to touch her, and linked my arm through his as I began to walk away,

As far as I knew, he hadn't come within touching distance since the aftermath of that final battle.

He hadn't mentioned Elain, or his proximity to her. Elain had not asked him to stay, or to go.

Elain, the wretch, had taken the seat between Feyre and Varian, about as far from Lucien as she could get.

Elain had already departed with Feyre, claiming she had to be up with the dawn to tend to an elderly faerie’s garden. Cassian didn’t exactly know why he suspected this wasn’t true. There had been some tightness in Elain’s face as she’d said it. Normally when she made such excuses, Lucien was around

Azriel couldn't stop it. The envy in his chest. Of Cassian, and Rhys. He knew he'd be swallowed by it if he went up to his bedroom, so he'd remained down here by the dying light of the fire.  

But even the silence weighed too heavily, and though the shadows kept him company, as they always had, as they always would, he found himself leaving the room.

But she'd gotten Azriel one last year— a headache powder he kept on his nightstand at the House of Wind. Not to use, but just to look at. Which he'd done every night he’d slept there. Or attempted to sleep there.

Because her mate had been in the family room and Azriel had needed to stay by the door the whole time because he couldn't stand the sight of it, the scent of their mating bond, and needed to have the option of leaving if it became too much. Elain's large brown eyes flickered, well aware of all that. Just as he knew she was well aware of why Azriel so rarely came to family dinners these days.

ACOSF- Shadows darkened his eyes, full of enough pain that she couldn’t stop herself from touching his shoulder. Letting him see that she understood why he stood in the doorway, why he wouldn’t go near the fire.

The infamous bonus chapter has THIS in it. The way I wouldn’t ever bring up another ship if this is what was being said in the same chapter 😭 And that’s even setting aside him calling her beautiful in 100 different ways, and the sexual tension that could be cut with a knife that follows. Razor-sharp thoughts slicing him any time he’s still? Pulling taut across his bones? Sleeps only when his body gives out, and even then only a few hours? He’d be swallowed by envy if he so much as went to his room? Silence weighing too heavy? Staring at headache power ffs every night? Can’t stand the sight of Elain and Lucien? Was going to leave solstice with his family during a time he thinks is important to spend with others? Hasn’t been coming to family dinners because he wants her so much? His eyes full of so much pain that Nesta couldn’t help but console him?

𓇢𓆸 Her eyes were the brown of a fawn’s coat.

“Elain had always been gentle and sweet - and I had considered it a different sort of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be kind.”

Bjork; 1991.

When we first meet Elain in the cottage, she comes off as nice but dim. We know that she is painted as a "bad sister" alongside Nesta and I know a lot of people like to say "well why does Elain get a pass and Nesta doesn't?" And I think that comes down to where their actions and feelings come from. Elain was never intentionally mean to Feyre, Elain never acted out of maliciousness, she was neglectful sure, but Elain never went out of her way to cause Feyre harm, unlike Nesta.

Elain was used to being taken care of, either emotionally by Nesta or provided for by Feyre and this caused her to fall into a sense of complacency since nothing was expected of her. She accepted the situation and depended on others to change/fix/manage the problems around her and her family while holding on to hope and trying to make the best of the situation to what she thought was the best of her ability. (Selling flowers she grew, getting Feyre paint etc, always trying to be kind)

And when we see Elain again after Feyre leave's Spring Court the first time--Elain is back in the element that she was raised for and flourishing. Everyone loves her, her gardens are spectacular, and her family's standing in society has risen again. The plan for her life is back on track she plays the part perfectly again.

In ACOMAF, the trend continues. She's a wonderful hostess, great communicator, can run a household, is a master at balls and has secured a good marriage and wealthy fiance. She’s complacent with her lot and life and has the happiness that others told her she should want.

Elain thinks she is doing everything right. She endured with her family during the years they were poor and now continued to blossom after all the hard times have passed and accomplished everything that was expected of her and a bonus--she loved her husband to be!

Then the cauldron.

Kidnapped in the middle of the night by fae she's been taught to fear her whole life.

Terror.

The first into the cauldron. Will she drown? Will something worse happen? What about Grayson, what about her marriage, what about this life that she has cultivated perfectly to everyone's standards for her?

Elain is turned fae--Grayson and his family hates the fae.

Elain is claimed by a fae male who she doesn't know, but knows that he was on the side that caused this to happen to her.

And Elain now has powers. Powers that confuse and trick her. Are they hallucinations? Is she going crazy? Is she in the past, present, future?

But it will all be okay, right? It has to, she did everything right. She did everything right.

She see's Grayson, the man she loves, who loves her, who she shared her body with. He'll love her, he'll accept her, and everything will be okay. A mate, powers, being turned fae--it means nothing because Grayson loves her and she will be able to continue on like before.

Except, she can't stay at her home where she had carefully cultivated the life she was supposed to have.

She can't stay among humans but has to be among fae, a race she knows nothing about and has been taught to fear all her life.

And worse of all, Grayson doesn't love her. He rejected her most cruelly.

Everything in shambles. This wasn't supposed to be happen. She did everything she was supposed to--she had everything she was supposed to want. This wasn't supposed to happen.

She did everything right.

She said all the right things. She did all the right things.

It wasn't enough.

Now she has to start over--in a new place with new people. Her sisters are there, Nesta angry and simmering, Feyre important and busy in the life she had made for herself, the life she deserved.

Elain withers. There was no point to any of it. Everything is murky and dark. There is nothing. No one sees her---her.

Then a light. She is seen. Her powers that have haunted her have been given a name. A Seer.

Slowly she begins to recover--to her standards. Making the best of the situation, carving out a new life for herself in a way she wasn't able to before. She gardens, she bakes, she makes new friends with Nuala and Cerridwen. More of her true personality start to come through. She does everything at her own pace. She doesn't go to balls, she doesn't play hostess, nothing is expected of her here.

Except--the mating bond.

She is told that the mating bond is important in fae culture, that bonds are sacred--that because a fae male she doesn't know claimed her as his mate she should talk to him, get to know him, accept the bond. This is what is expected in this new fae culture she is now unwillingly apart of.

It's expected that she'll accept the bond, become his "bride" so to speak, have his children.

Except--she's already done that. She's already done that. She perfected that.

She did everything right and it ended in disaster and here, it's being asked of her again and she doesn't even know or love this male.

No. Not again.

She will not do it again.

Elain was stripped of all autonomy. This is her way of gaining it back. She can't make Grayson love her, she can't become human again, but she can reject the male that everyone says has a claim on her.

Elain is living on Elain's terms now. Elain is doing what she wants and what she expects of herself. We already see her beginning of growth in ACOSF--offering to help scry for the trover rather than depend on others to handle the situation.

I hope a part of her journey reflects that--having Elain find out that her limit is so much more than she has been led to believe, that she is so much more than a pretty lady in a dress, that she can be who she wants to be without repercussions. That people will love her as she is and not what she is expected to be.