#lightly implied

[Send me a character or pairing, and a one word prompt, and I'll write you a drabble!]

Here is what the people of Andor know-

Queen Elayne Trakand, Radiant of the Light, Lioness of the Sun, is the finest Queen they’ve had in a very long time, maybe the finest in Andor’s long history. She is brave and compassionate and wise in equal measures, unafraid to be ruthless and cunning when duty demands, but unwilling to be cruel or harsh without cause. She keeps trade open and the granaries full, the nobles in check and the alliances that make up the Court of the Sun strong.

If there is one fault to be found in Queen Elayne it is the fault of all Trakand rulers, the fault that had ended her mother’s reign and almost destroyed the world, though she has kept it better checked then her predecessors. A fault that is all to human, and yet easy for the bard’s to romanticize and rationalize away- the kind of thing that will fit neatly into both her legend and the history books, and something that is easy enough for her subjects to forgive given all else she does.

After all, what does it matter if the Queen has a truly terrible taste in men? The Queen can do as she wishes as long as duty is satisfied and the rule of law kept and the realm stays prosperous. So what if she had loved a traitorous Darkfriend? She had taken his head during the Last Battle in the end. So what if their had been some rough handed mercenary? Was a woman not allowed to enjoy making a scarred man bend to her will? So what if she had taken her new Captain General to Warder and lover both? The man should be grateful to rise so high on her esteem. So what if some dark haired bard slipped in and out of the palace’s private chambers? A woman had needs.

Queen Elayne Trakand was the most powerful woman in the Dragonlands, perhaps the world. She was Aes Sedai and twice a sovereign and the leader of the strongest alliance to ever been seen, and even if none of that was true she was the Queen. She could do as she pleased, and if anyone had any aspersions to cast, the meanest crofter, the lowest beggar in all of Andor or Cairhien would raise a hand to silence such.

Here is what the palace knows-

The Queen has no husband and never will. It is not an unheard of state of affairs for a leader, particularly one with a secure heir already in place. If some of the nobles and dignitaries are nervous about the lack of a second in line after the Daughter Heir or the missed potential of a marriage alliance, well it was their job to fret about such things.

The Queen was the Queen, and her duty was to provide an heir which she had done. Her private affairs beyond that, where her private affairs. The why is not that important. Rumor in the palace would name a thousand different reasons, but the most commonly accepted is that she had seen what love had done to her mother’s reign, to the rules of countless men and women throughout the long history of the Dragonlands, had tasted it herself with that snake Mellar and thought better of laying herself so bare in heart and soul. She was wedded to her realm and that was more then enough. Pretty musicians and handsome commoners who would ask no questions and be grateful for their Queen’s attention, could fulfill any other required need, without risk. It was no more then her due as Queen, after all.

And if there is one particular dark haired musician who stays for irregular but frequent periods in the royal apartments, well. Maybe she just likes his singing voice.

(The rumor that she had loved the Dragon comes up too from time to time, that he had been father to her children and first flame of her heart, but it it’s solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of believers, and even it’s adherents would never begin to guess at the full extent or truth of it).

Here is what the Lion Guard knows-

The rumors of a bond with Mellar where trash, any woman of the Guard could tell you that. Captain General Guybon is her Warder and Captain General, but no more. There had been a mercenary at one point, though he had been more of a fop then a rough sort, and belonged to the Seanchan now these days. And there had been a man with a face like misshapen clay, a rough laborer whose smile could curdle milk.

There had been an Aiel woman too, sometimes, beautiful as the sun and sharp tonged as a viper, but soft and gentle for the Queen. She still visited sometimes, when her duties as Wise One did not call her away, but there was a distance there too, created by the Aiel’s role as peacekeepers.

But the Dragon? That was foolishness. A rumor cooked up to strengthen morale, to lend the First Prince of the Sword and the Daughter Heir an air of mystique, of divinity to their legacy. A pretty thing for the legends, and the footnotes of history books. The Dragon had never looked twice at Queen Elayne as far as her personal bodyguard knew- and there was no way such an affair could have been carried off without their knowledge. Certainly not.

And none of them, not Dragon, not mercenary, not laborer or Aiel, or Warder or Darkfriend traitor could claim the truth of the Queen’s heart. That honor went to the pretty dark haired man who sang the sad songs for her in the Old Tongue, who juggled and told stories to make her laugh and lounged with her long evenings on the garden.

It was him who taught the First Prince how to use his sword, who listened to the Daughter Heir cry out her night terrors, who played games with them, and read to them, and showed them the affection and love and devotion of a father. The matter of blood was irrelevant really- weather they where the laborer's or Cauthon’s or hells the Dragon’s didn’t matter. It was the gleeman they called father, and it was the gleeman who fulfilled that duty.

That was enough for the Lion Guard. He might never been Prince Consort in name, but in all the ways that mattered he was one of the House od Trakand, and so, they would spend their lives to guard him, for the sake of their Queen, and their realm, and the man himself.

Here is what the children know-

It is a secret. A very very important secret.

Your father saved the world once their mother had explained to them, time and time again. It nearly cost him his life. If it is found out he still lives, it will cost him the rest of it.

Cethlyn does not mind, not really. She is a bright girl, and can put together the pieces as they stumble into her hands growing up. The tale of the boy who had climbed the garden wall, and the Dragon who had given everything over to saving the world. The way mother laughs when she is in father’s arms, the same laugh as when she dances with Aunt Avienda or Uncle Mat in the small hours of the morning, or hidden away at the secret cabin that they only ever visit by Gateway. They form the whole picture in time, and she keeps her silence and lets tongues wag. One day she will be Queen in turn, she knows, she will have to put up with worse said about her.

It bothers Shevan a bit more. He hates people thinking some filthy Darkfriend’s blood runs in his veins. But he knows duty, and he loves his fahter, and can’t stand the thought of anyone taking his father away from them forever. As it is they see him rarely- and though he always returns with a song and a laugh and a new story, Shevan is hungry for more. Hungry to travel with him, to know him, to be trained by him in earnest, even as he is to shy to ask.

Neither child doubts or questions or wonders, why they look so different from the dark-haired man their mother calls Rand. It dosen’t really matter. The world is full of impossible and strange things. What is one more?

Besides, when their parents hold their hands and laugh, when they gaze into each other’s eyes and smile, when father sings in the soft lilting Old Tongue and their mother seems to breath it in like air- their can be no room for doubt. Not witnessing the raw love that fills them both, the admiration, the bond.

It seems a shame to keep it secret, and yet it seems right too, to hide this fragile brilliant light from the world, lest it be broken by the eyes of those that can not be trusted.

Here is the secret-

Elayne Trakand loves Rand al'Thor, despite all that lays between them, and maybe because of it. Their are others too, other compartments in their vast hearts, and that dose not preclude their love for each other. They have a family together, and Rand does his best balance his wanderings, and his abstaining from events, and being their father too. He has earned his peace and Elayne does not begrudge him it.

It should be tawdry and scandalous and dangerous. But it isn't. It is shockingly, almost disappointingly wholesome and pure.

And Glimmer is a mess in more ways than one, and she doesn’t feel like she’ll ever be even close to as good as the rest of her family. Glimmer perceives herself as a disappointment, and she projects that feeling onto every one else.

It’s why she never actually talks to Angella, because she feels like Angella thinks she’s too weak/not good enough to fight rather than Angella’s sense of responsibility when it comes to keeping Glimmer safe. Angella says herself that Glimmer didn’t know about her guilt for what happened to Micah because Glimmer doesn’t talk to her.

Micah is a unreachable idol for most of her childhood. He’s immortalized in murals and statues, and regarded as a hero and super powerful sorcerer. He’s perfect and nothing she’s told changes that, and she doesn’t think she’ll live up to him.

And Castaspella is a different story. Her Aunt is royalty and wasn’t born or married into it, she earned it and she’s well-respected. She has not a hair out of place, and she’s better than Angella at keeping her emotions in check. Glimmer seems, on some level, aware that she can hurt Castaspella’s feelings on a way she doesn’t with Angella— but it’s mostly after she’s already hurt them.

The way Glimmer talks about her achievements with Castaspella is actually, notably, to put an emphasis on Angella believing in her and She-Ra. Throwing around the two things that usually get support. But Castaspella, unlike most people, isn’t all like “yeah a bunch of kids can win a war that’s been going on 30+ years because my SIL thinks so”.

That’s not enough for her to regain the hope she lost when she was fighting the war herself. Instead, it makes Castaspella feel like she doesn’t have a right not to believe if Angella does, because Castaspella also struggles with severe feelings of inadequacy. (And, notably, deals with it pretty similarly to Glimmer!)

And part of Glimmer’s “silent” arc throughout the series is gradually coming to understand that her relatives aren’t the perfect people she painted them as in her mind. They’re people too, and they struggle just as much as she does.

After S1, she realizes Angella is not infallible and Angella starts trusting her more and Glimmer realizes her mom thinks she’s capable, she just loves her a lot. This is later kind of broken in S2-S3, since Glimmer starts leaving Angella in the dark about her decisions. (Crimson Waste.)

And as for her relationship with Castaspella, it doesn’t seem to have fully clicked for Glimmer until S5 (or maybe S4) that her Aunt is also a person and not infallible, as the way her and Castaspella interact changes. Glimmer acts more on equal-ground with her, and is ready to comfort her when she seems upset.

She even shoots SW a dirty look for insulting Castaspella, because she recognizes her Aunt might not show that it gets to her, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t.

and the writing is kinda good there. I think they could’ve better expressed this arc of Glimmer’s, because it was… basically the brunt of her psychological issues. The idea that people are inherently better than her is something she struggles with throughout the show, and the primary reason why she’s so concerned with being replaced as a friend.

And she had to learn from SW in S4 because SW was the first (and only) person to tell her that she had an opportunity to be better than her family members, and to learn from where they failed and whatnot. Glimmer needed and wanted to hear that, and SW knew it. Even if Castaspella had offered to reach Glimmer, Glimmer wouldn’t have accepted and she wouldn’t be able to explain why.

She kind of ends up just… snapping out of this mindset in S5.