#tortall

Their break up scene is so funny - he obviously didn't want to break up, but had to for his family and he's crying and inside Kel is just "THANK THE GODS".

Fandom: Tortall - Tamora Pierce

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: Gen

Relationships: Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau & Thom of Trebond, Thom of Trebond & Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak, Thom of Trebond & Francis of Nond, Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau & Jonathan of Conté, Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau & George Cooper

Characters: Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop and Olau, Thom of Trebond, Jonathan of Conté, Gary of Naxen, Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak, Francis of Nond, Alexander of Tirragen, George Cooper (Tortall), Roger of Conté, Eleni Cooper (Tortall), Coram Smythesson, Gareth I of Naxen, Baird of Queenscove

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Major Illness, Child Death, both thom and alanna go to corus, give thom even one friend challenge, POV Multiple, unsafe chest binding, canon-typical gender essentialism

Chapter excerpt:

Duke Roger of Conté arrived with little fanfare, appearing at the palace gates without an escort one afternoon in early August. Jonathan and Alanna, who had been enjoying a rare shared break between her lessons and his duties, caught sight of him in the stables on their way back to the palace, surrounded by servants who were leading his horse to the stables and gathering his belongings. Jonathan’s whole face lit up when he realized who the newcomer was and he practically dragged Alanna off her feet in his eagerness to bring her to meet his cousin. Alanna righted herself at the last minute and trotted after him, her eyes on Duke Roger’s back. “Cousin!” Jonathan called out, and Duke Roger turned, his features arranging themselves into a broad smile as he recognized them. “That can’t be Jon,” he said. “Surely you’re still ten years old.” “You’ve been gone for too long,” Jonathan said, laughing. Standing side by side, Alanna could see the resemblance between the two. Both had dark hair, although Jon’s was a few shades darker, and piercing blue eyes. Both were handsome, with straight noses and high foreheads. Roger stood head and shoulders taller than his cousin, and he carried himself like a prince. He dressed like one too. The clothes he wore, which must have been traveling clothes, sat spotless and wrinkle-free, their rich colors brilliant in the summer sunlight. He looked as fresh as though he had spent the past weeks living a life of luxury at the palace, not traveling alone from Carthak. His voice was rich and musical, a light tenor that seemed alive with easy humor. A stone settled into Alanna’s stomach. For some reason, Duke Roger set her every nerve on edge.

The new Duke and Duchess of New Hope have arrived, and have a winter to settle in and begin to win their reluctant subjects over. New Hope's people watch with wariness and resentment, and maybe, by the end of the winter, some of the hope their fief is named for. Five people who observe the growth of Liam and Vierka's partnership, and one time Liam notices it himself. (A direct sequel to nothing ever comes if you call it.)

Alternatively, thoughts on a summer page training camp being interrupted by Elfangors falling spaceship?

Thanks for all your writing 😊

Like, obviously we start with Alanna and SOTL, which is all about pure access. The question here is very simple: should girls get access to the education system? And the answer is equally simple: yes, obviously. This is a book about proving that these girls who have been denied access to the system can, in fact, succeed if given a chance. That girls are just as capable of doing well as boys are, and that they deserve the same opportunities as boys do. We are shown that with enough determination and support from the people close to her, Alanna can push through and beat these people at their own game.

Then we have circle of magic, where we are instead asking ourselves: what about kids who aren’t able to succeed inside that system? Not every kid is Alanna. Some kids are never going to be able to brute force their way through the system as she did. Not because they’re not as smart as her or as determined, but because they’re different. The system is never going to work for them, so the only way forward is to remove them from the system. And in doing that, these kids find success no one in the system ever dreamed possible for them.

Then we get to Kel and protector of the small, and we finally get to ask what in my mind are the real questions. Rather that a pure question of whether she has access to the system, Kel is also questioning the value of the system itself. How it treats the people inside it and those supporting it, like Lalasa. She is looking at the system and instead of accepting it at face value, she asks why it works the way it does, and if it hurts so many people and privileges bad behavior, is this the right way? And if it’s not, what does a better way look like, and what does it take to change it?