#diva ryan

oh right this was before the Roane eyes were retconned to be green

One of the few things we know about Diva is “consistently the first person to answer the door” 😄

And then she burst into tears, all but flinging herself into the Luidaeg’s arms. “Oh, Annie, Annie, is he really gone?” “He is.” The Luidaeg patted the girl’s back with her free hand, and said, “Diva, this is October Daye. She was Connor’s sweetheart.” Diva straightened, not bothering to wipe her eyes. Tears rolled unashamedly down her cheeks as she studied me.

I’m pretty sure other consistent things are the hugs—physical affection coming very naturally, it’s her go to—and being very heart on her sleeve. She’s definitely not hiding her feelings here.

She also hugs Toby right away, even though they’ve just met, and calls her family. She’s the first at the door, the first to welcome people into the house, and is 100% down to adopt a stranger as family (I remember this being the case with Gillian too, but I’ll get there later).

We met Diva at the first landing; she was going down much faster than we were going up, and barely managed to stop herself in time.

Diva runs to the door, runs off to go find her mom, is hurtling down the stairs—this is where my constant motion comment comes from 😄

“Her mother’s a Selkie, and her father’s Roane. They’re still waiting to see which she’ll take after—if it’s him, she won’t need one of the family skins.”

Implies that Diva’s transformation magic hasn’t yet come in at this point.

sleekit-stoat: and she's 16 then, that's late for a shapeshifter

it’s possible Annie’s not very plugged in to the clan news, but?

also we know now that Aldridge promised Liz that their daughter would never need a skin, so if the magic is that late they might start to get worried, but they might still be reasonably confident she’d transform eventually. but Annie wouldn’t have talked enough to Liz to know what Aldridge said to her.

“And Selkies aren’t supposed to mate outside the family. Diva’s mother never cared much for rules. Diva’s father . . . well. He was just glad to have a child at all. When you’re on the verge of extinction, you’ll take what you can get.”

“you’ll take what you can get” ouch

you know, this does read as “I am judging that one of my descendants had a kid with a Selkie/Liz specifically but I guess if the opportunity presented itself, you take what you can get, I suppose I can’t judge that much.”

even if she doesn’t understand how a Roane could ever touch a Selkie

sleekit-stoat: definitely reads like she has no idea about it being a result of prophecy, which makes sense- Liz herself rewrites history as being her the one who went and found Aldridge and the Luidaeg repeats that version to Toby. Once Liz knows the truth about Annie she can probably put the full meaning of his visions together right? As in knowing that Diva's relationship with the Luidaeg is important?

And telling the Luidaeg about it could make it harder for it to actually happen, harder to have your feelings slowly changed if you're Aware of it

ooh true

huh I was headcanoning that she pretends that she was the one who sought out Aldridge bc she doesn’t want to admit to her impulsive decision-making (which could still be part of it), but the idea that she wanted to hide the prophecy is an interesting one!

oh now this is making me wonder what she’s told Diva. because maybe she did fudge the truth to Diva too, to try to avoid having the prophecy hanging over Diva’s head? Not wanting Diva to know that she only had Diva because Aldridge said it was destiny?

sleekit-stoat: there are two halves to the prophecy to be fair- one is that Aldridge foresaw having a kid with her, and I can definitely see her telling that part to Diva and close family, otherwise it would be really hard to explain why she got married to a guy (before any child was conceived) while having no romantic interest in him, but I think she kept the second part secret. It makes sense without it- everyone's like oh that makes sense, the Roane guy would be in favour of that potential kid to keep their whole species going, Liz was up for it because it was a way to cheat around the Choice

This makes sense emotionally, but if her immediate family knows that he was the one who told her “we’re destined to have a kid together,” wouldn’t it be odd for her to be spreading the “I sought out this man to have a kid” story?

sleekit-stoat: There's no need to bring "and she's meant to be the Key to Undoing a Great and Terrible Wrong" into it, which would put pressure on Diva and uh, her induction as clan leader doesn't exactly go well and we know they're vocal about their dislike of her, she probably expects they wouldn't believe her anyway

oh yeah I don’t think she would tell anyone that—Diva doesn’t need that on her shoulders and it’s best if Annie not know that, yeah it could interfere with the prophecy

sleekit-stoat: true, it's possible she doesn't tell either part to anyone which uh. will be a surprise for Diva when she does meet her dad

hmm I don’t think Liz would want to keep lying to Diva about her own dad? And I imagine Diva would be really curious about him and Liz would want to give her some stories to hold onto.

but maybe she does withhold the prophecies, including about how Diva meets her dad in the future, so Diva has more of a choice? although wait no, I feel like she has to explain the prophecies at least somewhat

because Diva would want to know why her dad’s not around

and that would require explaining that the future said he can’t be around

sleekit-stoat: maybe Diva and a few of the older clan members who were there when she came back from the Duchy know the first half and younger clan members who later ask + the other clans and clan chiefs + Toby + the Luidaeg get the "I sought him out" version?

yeah, otherwise her dad just seems like an asshole

yeah — the tricky thing is, wouldn’t the Luidaeg have been around Diva enough to hear the actual truth?

sleekit-stoat: Either she mostly avoids talking about Liz with anyone (and some clan members would presumably know they dated once) or she does hear the other version but chooses to believe that one? though that would be weird bc I feel the prophecy one makes more sense, even with changelings it's hard to get randomly pregnant in a short space of time

ooh that’s another thing—does Diva know that they dated? (before the Convocation)

I’ve been writing it as no but you’re right that various clan members would know that….but when Diva lets Liz know that Annie’s there (and we see that a couple times) it doesn’t feel like she knows this is her mom’s ex-girlfriend? It feels like they’ve managed to hide that particular tension from Diva?

and “Annie avoids discussing Diva’s parents with Diva because she’d rather not know any details about how Diva came to be” could be plausible yeah

sleekit-stoat: I think from what we see of her relationship with Annie she definitely doesn't know they had a serious relationship that neither of them have gotten over

she might have heard gossip from others and gathers they dated, but has no idea how serious it is? do we ever see her interact with Liz and Annie at the same time?

the Luidaeg must be a lot politer to Liz when Diva's around or Diva wouldn't like her, but if there's still some kind of noticeable Tension there, it would make sense that she might ask some other clan members what the deal is there?

We’ve never seen Liz and Diva interact, sadly

sleekit-stoat: apart from the post funeral scene, you mean?

that’s more of a mention than an interaction?

wait which funeral

I was referring to Liz’s dad’s funeral

sleekit-stoat: same, but yeah maybe she doesnt actually say anything, just is described

The mourners were a constant tide, terrifying my daughter—sweet Diva, only seven years old, with her father’s huge green eyes and my tendency toward stillness—and forcing me to answer questions I wasn’t yet prepared for.

this is the line

It’s unfortunate that we never see Liz and Diva in the same scene, it means I’m doing a lot of guesswork about their relationship.

It’s weird because in AKF Diva opens the door and then Toby brushes past to her and Toby ends up solely interacting with the other teens, they’re the ones who bring Liz down, Diva just disappears from the scene.

sleekit-stoat: Diva truly is in charge of the door

mm yeah Diva might think it was more casual and also that things are amicable now, if they’re good at keeping up an act of politeness when she’s around

“Hello, Lizzy,” she said. “Mind if we come in?” “As if any could stop you?” asked the woman seated behind the room’s carved mahogany desk. She looked to be somewhere in her late thirties, with ash-blonde hair that couldn’t quite decide between gold and silver, and a Selkie’s characteristic sea-dark eyes. A snifter of what smelled like brandy was in her hand. The light came from the oil lamps set on the desk’s front corners, well away from the papers in front of her, or the books that lined the walls. “Come in, come in, and bring your friend along.” “It’s still polite to ask,” said the Luidaeg, stepping inside. “Lizzy, this is October Daye. October, this is Elizabeth Ryan, current head of this clan.”

And Liz’s first line of her first appearance is about how powerless she is against the Luidaeg. And okay the thing about her de-aging to look like she’s in her mid-twenties after taking a skin is a later retcon.

Also “it’s still polite to ask” the Luidaeg says, and then pretty immediately discards that politeness.

sleekit-stoat: Good to know my mental image of her as older did come from somewhere

“And much grief it’s given me,” said Elizabeth bitterly. She took a sip of brandy. “You are welcome here, the both of you.” “No, I’m not.”

mmm the clan leadership being a burden, an almost punishment. and Liz still trying to adhere to politeness, maybe because Toby’s there, but it is very much a lie and truly wild for Toby to just be standing there in the middle of all this unexplained history.

also I remember the first time I read this scene, it threw me so much how the Luidaeg was going around and being so friendly and kind to the rest of the clan and then suddenly switched into “blunt and unyielding” mode. Must have been weird for Toby too.

sleekit-stoat: welp yeah poor Toby. She's not been anywhere since Connor died and she lands in the middle of their bitter exes deal with no clue what's going on

“October was Connor’s lover, and she’s Amandine’s daughter. You have a year to notify the clans. Then? Your bill comes due.” “You come to me in time of mourning to tell me this?” “Yeah, Lizzy, I do, because this is when you’ll listen to me.” The Luidaeg leaned forward, the driftglass haze bleeding from her eyes, replaced by blackness. “I can make the choices for you, but you won’t like them. Tell the clans. One year.”

so many of the Selkies seem to not know what they’re being called for at the Convocation. but the Luidaeg just says “Amandine’s daughter” and “the bill comes due” and Liz reacts like she knows what that means—so presumably the clan leaders do know what the full bargain was, and what the full prophecy was, for Liz to know the implications of “Amandine’s daughter.”

“And what do I tell the children for whom there are no skins? What do I tell the parents who have to choose between them? Annie—Luidaeg, please—” “You tell them the truth.” The Luidaeg stood. “I’ve been kinder than I had to be. You know that. I didn’t have to give you warning.”

This is the part that really stings (this and the next bit). The Luidaeg is in so much pain, but looking at this in the context of “they’re ex-girlfriends” is. yeah. Your ex-girlfriend emphasizes that you’re at her mercy and should be grateful that she didn’t upend your world and force your family members to make terrible choices without warning.

“I liked you better when I was young and foolish and thought you a cousin, sea witch,” said Elizabeth bitterly, reaching for her brandy. I wasn’t clear on what was happening, but I was pretty sure that brandy wasn’t her first of the night, and it wasn’t going to be her last. “Yeah, well, I liked you better when you were young and foolish and called me Annie-my-sweet and danced with me on the beaches,” said the Luidaeg. She stood. “Growing up’s a bitch, isn’t it, Liz? You have a year. October, come on.”

um. “I liked you better when you were young and foolish” is actually quite a fucked up thing to say. ‘I liked you better when you were more naïve and easier to lie to’ 😬

Liz is reminding her that she used to be kinder or at least act nicer and the Luidaeg’s response reads like “yeah it was better when you were easier to fool, but now you know who I really am and you just have to deal with it.” And calling Liz foolish for believing Annie’s lies is a cruel thing to say.