#j writes

sheepstealer causing havoc

rhaenyra being locked in her room, by her son and queensguard, during the battle

the first change, i dislike because in the book, sheepstealer and their rider, nettles (changed into rhaena for the show) were extremely competent, iirc. nettles figured out how to tame sheepstealer, and she fought in the gullet just as well as any of the other riders. we do get a bit of nettles after the battle being affected (presumably by the devastation and death), but nothing about her fighting and flying any less competently than the other new riders (ulf, addam, and hugh).

the second change, i dislike because iirc, in the book rhaenyra didn't participate in the battle out of either choice (deciding her riders should go forth in her stead and could handle themselves) or out of medical necessity (she might've been still recovering from the birth and death of her daughter visenya?). either way, she wasn't locked in her room by her child and one of her own men.

thank you eternally @bucksbabybelly for the tag. ive been cooking on this one and so excited for it 😭 a bit of a longer excerpt since ive been busy and missing my tags for a hot sec

“Oh,” Hen says. It’s meant to be quiet, but comes out much more audible than intended, and her tone sounds way too invested for Buck’s liking. Louder, she infers, “That Dad.”

“Duh,” Theo says matter-of-factly. Buck realizes his vision has gone slightly out of focus, and when he corrects it, he feels helpless to turn away from the soft look of shock Eddie’s got on his face, full attention trained on Theo. “He pretty much is a dragon. Right, Chris?”

The ‘s’ in ‘Chris’ comes out in the clumsy way toddlers mouths’ tend to form around the sound; not quite a lisp, but still fuzzy around the edges. Buck’s pulse thumps rapidly against his eardrums.

Right. ‘Dad.’

Because Dad is what Christopher calls Eddie. And because Theo’s been spending a lot of time around Christopher. And, out of force of habit, Buck usually refers to Eddie as some variation of ‘your Dad’ whenever Chris is around.

A hot flash of longing hits Buck square in the solar plexus, and he would be fooling himself if he said he didn’t know exactly why.