something fishy in ha-rar

[fishtail-tavra]

my Tavonica drabbles master list

Feb 13, 2021, (originally untitled) Love: Tavra gets tangled in the ship's rigging, she and Onica flirt about it.

July 4, 2021, Hold: Tavra will not stop holding Onica's hand even while they make ta together and Onica is very okay with that.

July 26, 2021, Endearments: Kylan askes about Onica and Tavra's different ways of addressing each other and they are both very mushy about it.

Aug 30, 2021, Scars: Onica has been neglecting physical therapy while away from Tavra, and when Tavra suggests asking Tae for help, Onica admits she'd rather keep the pain of her scars to herself.

Sep 6, 2021, Keepsake: Onica gives Tavra a large pearl she fished out of the ocean and asks Tavra to disguise it as a Vapra pretty and wear it for her- and Tavra vows that she will.

Oct 15, 2021, Watched: Mayrin has her older daughters help her with correspondence and reads out bad news from the Sifa- Tavra hides her terror and relief when Onica is mentioned to be alive, aware that her mother is watching.

Nov 1, 2021, Unchanged: Tavra bickers with the newly re-woken Tae over if a spider could still be All-Maudra while Onica shushes them so she can read their map, secretly happy they are both themselves again.

Mar 21, 2022, Outdoors Part 1: Dialogue of Tavra convincing Onica to give the dangerous and absurd idea of skiing a try, in return for Tavra accepting swimming lessons from her.

Mar 21, 2022, Outdoors Part 2: Tavra is very proud of Onica for surviving the skiing, and Onica agrees to try again later- much later.

May 24, 2022, Homesick: Reuniting in the spring, Onica doesn't mind the lingering cold as long as she's with Tavra, and Tavra gives her a shawl to help keep her warm even when they aren't together.

May 30, 2022, Waiting: During the winter, Tavra worries about Onica and repeatedly pokes herself with a needle while making something to give Onica when (she hopes) they see each other again.

Jun 30, 2022, Truth: Tavra compares soothsaying to reading an opponent during a duel, which Onica teases her about- until Tavra observes that the true power of Onica's reading and dreams comes from the respect people have in her wisdom to interpret them.

Jul 30, 2022, Song: With her wings freshly torn from her, Onica is in pain and in need of distraction- she asks Tavra for a song, and Tavra quietly sings her the ancient song of the imperial unamoth.

Sap 15, 2022, Late: Onica wants to leave Ha'rar since Tavra is not here this time, but Tae was given orders to steal all her ship's sails, and it turns out a late arriving Tavra is behind the sabotage.

Sep 30, 2022, Stretch: Tavra insists on helping Onica do her stretches- no matter what else Onica had planned for their first night together in half a trine.

Oct 21, 2022, Interruption: A tipsy Tae and Ethri make the mistake of visiting Onica's ship to insist she and Tavra name their childlings after them- and Onica answers by tossing them overboard.

Oct 30, 2022, Table: Tavra is falling asleep at breakfast after a long night out again, which Mayrin notices- thankful Seladon and Brea are there to unintentionally make a distraction.

Nov 9, 2022, Guess: Brea and Seladon try to guess which woman Tavra is in love with, and when Seladon dismisses the idea of any sort of interclan relationship Tavra can't help touching her pearl amulet- feeling the weight of the secret she's keeping.

Nov 18, 2022, Impossibilities: Tavra laments to Onica about how her sisters tease her and Onica suggests Tavra let them in on their secret- but Tavra fears Mayrin would never forgive them for knowing.

Jan 12, 2023, Oops: Tae is ecstatic to meet her Silverling and prove Onica's dream true- Tavra is alarmed by this, which makes Onica smile, which makes Tavra gay.

Jan 29, 2023, Reassurance: Onica skips stones on the beach while being very not happy with Mayrin's pressuring Tavra, or with Tavra's self-sacrificing tendencies- Tavra hands her more stones to throw and quietly reaffirms that she won't give up being with Onica.

Feb 3, 2023, Reassurance 2: Tavra gifts Onica a shawl which Onica realizes Tavra made herself- while missing Onica, while wondering if Onica would come back- and they dreamfast in the moonlight about it.

Feb 15, 2023, Picky: Onica roams the docks unable to find a gift for Tavra while an exasperated Tae asks what she even wants to give anyway- the answer is simply, something perfect.

Mar 3, 2023, Dark: Tavra lies awake in the Sog worrying about the choices she makes and wishing aloud that she could speak with Onica, while she plaits her hair into a Sifan braid.

Mar 15, 2023, Picky part 2: Tae hauls Onica back onto their boat, complaining that Onica's done enough pearl diving to have a whole string of pearls if she wasn't so picky- but Onica's newest find shuts her up quick.

Mar 24, 2023, Seer: Elder Cadia uses a bone reading to dig into Tavra's insecurities around only ever earning her mother's pride while acting as a soldier- until Onica 'accidentally' interrupts the reading, and Tavra falls in love with again.

Mar 30, 2023, Repair: Onica wraps herself in the shawl Tavra made and remembers a night when Tavra sat by her fire mending it, just likes she always does, simply out of love.

Apr 6, 2023, Impact: Onica takes Tavra sailing and tries not to laugh when Tavra catches a fish.

Apr 15, 2023, Claim: Ethri wonders if Tavra will understand the meaning of being given a pearl- but Onica only wants to say she loves her, and that much Ethri is sure Tavra will understand.

Apr 30, 2023, Light: Spider Tavra watches as the morning light wakes a grumpy Onica, brooding on everything she cannot be for her now- but Onica smiles to see her brooding, and Tavra finds she can still laugh.

May 6, 2023, Until: Cadia discovers the pearl Onica intends to give Tavra and tells her Tavra will leave her someday- Onica answers she will hold Tavra until then.

May 18, 2013, Pray: In the Sog, Tavra watches Naia set off alone and asks for her to be watched over, to Bellanji's amusement- unaware that far away, Onica has heard Tavra, and prepares to follow Naia in her dreams.

May 27, 2023, Daring: Onica and Tavra compare differences in their clans' cultures and Onica finally gets an idea for what she wants to gift Tavra.

Jun 2, 2023, Waystar: Onica loses hope after finding out how much Ethri has changed, and Tavra reminds her that fear can change people- and people like Onica can help them to change again.

Jun 18, 2023, Pull: Ethri is interrupted by Onica announcing it's time to sail north- Ethri tries to tease her about being so eager, and quickly regrets it.

Jun 30, 2023, Cliff: Ethri and Tae tease Onica as they sail towards Ha'rar, and their bets on if Tavra will be waiting for her doesn't amuse Onica at all, who isn't so sure- until she spots Tavra waiting upon the cliffs.

Jul 12, 2023, Whole: Tavra tackle hugs Onica and a laughing Onica tries to stop her from worrying so much- which will not work, because Tavra is Tavra.

Jul 21, 2013, Pick: Naia is unimpressed with Onica's taste in women and Tavra specifically, which Tavra agrees with, and Onica very much doesn't.

Aug 3, 2023, Reminder: Onica reflexively hides her ruined wings from Tavra, citing that she can manage on her own- Tavra reminders that she doesn't have to and asks to help anyway.

Sep 3, 2023, Storm: Tavra meets a women on a sinking ship who cannot fly but smiles as she hands her friend over to be rescued instead- and even though it's a reckless thing to try, Tavra cannot leave her.

Sep 12, 2023, Fall: Tavra admits it was love at first sight for her as she helps Onica with her scars, and this confession is so ridiculous Onica is pulled out of her own pain to snark about it.

Oct 9, 2023, Stay: Ethri interrupts Onica and Tavra's rare time together with Far-Dreamer's business, but instead of leaving Onica to it, Tavra instead starts helping her prepare for the dreaming- not at all bothered if it should take all night.

Oct 18, 2023, Torn: Onica is annoyed by Tavra's eagerness to leave the Sifa, telling her to at least let Tae help her, but Tavra doesn't want to give Tae the wrong idea, asking Onica instead- and Onica agrees, deciding Tavra's choice matters more than her own dream.

Oct 27, 2023, Mending: Onica realizes Tavra tricked her into doing her exercises even back when Onica didn't like- an embarrassed Tavra insists Onica's dislike was reasonable, and Onica admits that even then, she hadn't wanted Tavra to leave.

Nov 3, 2023, Foretell; Tae pops her head in to let Onica know her girlfriend has arrived with flowers, and playfully asks an ominous question. Onica finishes advising a Sifa captain and laughs, giving an equally carefree answer.

Nov 9, 2023, Petals; Mayrin finds Tavra's bedroom door open to a sea breeze and hears her daughter has slipped away from her duties again. When she finds some flower petals on Tavra's floor, she crushes them.

Nov 18, 2023, Thought; Tavra brings Onica a lot of dead, dried flowers. Onica thinks this is very sweet.

Nov 27, 2023, Morning: Onica does not like mornings. Arguably she still doesn't, but waking up with Tavra almost makes them worthwhile.

Dec 15, 2023, Unseen An injured Tavra thought she could hide being hurt as long as Onica hadn't seen the hurt happen in far dreams, but Onica is perceptive, and patient, and can make Tavra crumble dejectedly with just a look.

Dec 24, 2023, Son Spider Tavra watches Onica teaching Kylan how to sail like a Sifa and thinks maybe they ended up having a child together anyway.

Jan 3, 2024, Lost Onica forgot about her missing wings for a moment, Tavra holds her tight as she remembers.

Jan 27, 2024, Usual Tavra and Onica sharing Sifa gossip in which they both know each other far too well.

[fishtail-tavra]

tavonica 100 word drabbles - Awry

   The null root leaves her as bile, bitterly burning.     “So much Mayrin planned for,” a shaking sigh, a damp cloth dabbing her mouth, “but not you being seasick.”    Tavra groans. “The floor is seasick.”   “What?”   “It’s heaving.”    The familiar stranger cradles her. “You’re aboard a ship, my love.”    “Your ship?”    “Aye.”    “And, I am yours?”    Her stranger smiles sadly. “Yes.”    Tavra strokes red curls, familiar as a dream. “I should know you.”    “You will again.” A promise kissed into Tavra’s palm. “In time.”    “I know…” Tavra frowns, “…you… are worth some seasickness.”    Tearful laughter. “And you are worth waiting for.”

[fishtail-tavra]

100 word Dark Crystal drabbles, Naia, Tavra - Reunion

   Naia shivers in Ha’rar’s cold, frost glimmering in beaded locs. Limping into the broken circle of Kira-Staba, she calls. “Tavra?”    The dull ember-glow of the grove flickers and brightens.    Gently Naia rests a hand on the smallest tree. “Knew you’d be here,” she grumbles.    There are friends in that darkness, the tree agrees.    Tears trail the corners of Naia’s smile. “I’m sorry. About Onica, your sisters, Kylan-” her voice catches, “-and you.”    The dream-stitching under Naia’s hand burns. We are together.    “Good. Is Amri..?”    Leaves whisper. Waiting for you.    “Someday,” Naia promises, scarred, tired, laughing in the dark. “Not yet.”

[fishtail-tavra]

Dark dark crystal ip owners, let me write a YA tavonica origin story, I swear I wouldn't get silly with it 

Tavra: This is awkward. 

Onica: Really? You think there’s something awkward about falling madly in love with me at first sight, keeping that to yourself for the several unum you spent nursing me back to health after I lost my wings trying to follow the far-dream that made us all believe you were destined to be one with my best friend instead, following my ship without telling your family, spending the summer learning to sail with me and then waiting to confess your true feelings until right before almost losing your life to the sea like you father and grandmother did in a frankly absurdly superstitious bid to both save your sisters from death at sea by dying in their place and also spend your last moments with the woman you love- only to wake up alive after I saved you, and find that our roles have reversed with me as the one sitting by your sick bed this time, now fully aware of your alarmingly repressed devotion to me?

Tavra: That, and since I am sadly still bedridden, I am afraid you’ll have to bend down if you want me to kiss you.

Onica: Is that really your priority right now, my love.

Tavra: I truly regret what this might imply about your taste in women, but yes, it is.

[fishtail-tavra]

the idea of if Tavra had been trained by Mayrin to be her sisters' wings and sword

and Tavra knowing she's not actually needed for that

that Mayrin feared her insecure half-Sifa heir would be challenged or that her nosy youngest would challenge the wrong law, and both might need a champion-

Tavra so skillful and powerful in flight, able to carry two other Gelfling safely through a ship killing storm- able to fly a sandstorm using a strange body and only sailcloth for wings. She would win any trial by wing. Tavra who can withstand a Skeksis attack in a one on one duel, even mortally wound one, this ancient being twice her size. If one threatened her sisters, she would slay them where they stood

Tavra. who knows just how powerful her sisters are without her

crooked winged Seladon and dangerously curious Brea who both only need words from her, not bloody swords or carrying wings

and her sisters, always coming to her for her quiet comments, her telling silences

the idea that Mayrin wanted to protect her daughters but didn't understand how to do that without turning one of them into a fighter, expendable but necessary, while the sisters all knew that a soldier is the last thing any of them needed Tavra to be

(how ever dutiful Tavra in the books, no longer able to be a soldier, can leave her clan and both her beloved sisters in said sister's hands)

[fishtail-tavra]

tavonica 100 word drabble prompts - Distance

   Onica leans out the window and into icy rain.    Cold water numbs her bandaged shoulders, almost familiar as sea spray- Ha’rar’s torches haunt her, could be ship lights if only they weren’t so still.    “Have you not slept?” Tavra asks, perched next to her, voice soft under Tae’s faint snores.    There’s no smile left for Onica to dredge up. “I’ll sleep when I can hear the sea again.”    Tavra’s thumb brushes her cheek, catching raindrops.    “If that is all it takes, then come.” Fingertips tilt Onica’s face into the heart-catching sight of Tavra’s smile. “The sea lantern is not far.”

[fishtail-tavra]

Onica reminds me of the High Aldwin from Willow a lot sometimes. Like him but younger. and wlw

wise, deeply respected mystical types with actual magic they barely use. Both of them dramatically shaking a container of bones that ppl think can reveal secrets. Neither of them actually USING said bones to figure people out

the High Aldwin's whispered "The bones tell me, nothing!"

and Onica's casual "Oh, I read his bones, just not the ones in the cup."

two sides of the same basic take on magic and REAL power that i love so so so so much

so fun to see the same idea going in two different directions- we've got the loud and flashy High Aldwin, who quietly asks Willow a question and uses THAT to decide what the bones say, relying on dramatics to back up his own judgment "THE BONES HAVE SPOKEN!"

Contrasting with Onica, who asks no questions and gives her answer without even revealing the bones at all, but who's casual confidence is so unnerving you HAVE to believe her- and SHOULD, since she's been piecing you together this whole time. The lack of dramatics makes her audience lean in on instinct and makes me shiver gleefully while reading it

While the High Aldwin functions as one of the local leaders, Onica is more of a warning, a weather watcher who knows the winds and tides and but won't stop you sailing into a storm if you want to. She doesn't use her reputation to make others follow her ideas... but she knows why you're doing what you're doing. She knows what to say to make you hesitate and think twice about it. And that's scarier than dramatics. That's what almost lets her talk down a SKEKSIS while they're armed and she's their prisoner

and the difference between them makes so much Sense!

as the only magical thing in a small isolated community, it's easy for the High Aldwin to awe his people with bone readings! There's no other magical stuff for him to compete with for attention- he can admit the bone readings are fake to Willow with zero worry about losing influence on Willow OR anyone Willow might tell, because even without the bones he's still the only magic the people are going to see!

but a clan of adventurous sailors, some of whom joined up after being born and raised far away, all of which have seen the power and mysterious knowledge of the big ancient Skeksis- those aren't people Onica can wow with dramatics. They've heard of many strange magics in the world- Onica being casual about it is what gets their attention. That she can dream waking dreams of far off places and times without any more ceremony than held hands and maybe a little burning incense, that she can know things about you without asking because of how closely she's always watching... THAt's unusual, even in her world

These two aren't formidable because of magic- you get the feeling they have that magic because their power is knowing how to get people to LISTEN and pay ATTENTION to them, by listening and paying attention to PEOPLE themselves!

it's the same tactic, just from different angles

and it is SO fun~

also Onica creating some atmosphere as she finally reveals the bones AFTER telling Periss about himself, only to inform him that

"The bones say... that you shouldn't ask for bone reading on a moving sand skiff."

as the bones he stole are swept overboard by the wind, making him openly upset for the first time is just so- mwah. Chefs kiss. No notes on your girlfriend, Tavra, she's the coolest

compare THAT with the High Aldwin's "Ignore the bird, follow the river!" after the rock he transformed into a bird to be a guide instantly turns around and heads home XD

hell, even gandalf did this once. ancient wizard lost in the mines of moria? just follow your nose!

magical mystical ppl giving very practical obvious advice, i lov u

[fishtail-tavra]

Tavra of Ha'rar is...... lesbian Aragorn (film version)

all the traits of the Chosen One and One True King / All-Maudra but focuses on running support for their less sword-y new friends who are the actual heroes

Tired

Does not want destiny

Misses the gf :(

reports of their deaths were pretty accurate but they lived bitch

sus and kinda eh when first meeting them

totally just a normal ranger / soldier yep don't even worry about it

"what's your name?" gives nickname

badass af

fights and fucks up the skeksis / ring wraiths that everyone else is correctly running from

wandering around through the wilds covered in mud even tho they're super duper royal or whatever

so soft and supportive but please don't bring up that royal destiny they don't think they can do

SWORDS

"lead your people!" "i CAN'T" does anyway, saving many lives

peal amulet vs star-like pendent

Sad

forbidden love but their girlfriend thinks that's stupid and it's a happy ending anyway

gf has future visions sometimes

future vision of them being dead does not deter the gf At All

gf's people want/wanted to sail across the sea to escape The Danger but the gf was like no thanks actually i am staying right here

this particular kind of forbidden romance has happened in their family before oops spoilers

something something symbolism of stars and trees

kingdom / clan has a cool mountain top citadel thingy

kisses the gf <3 <3 <3 and again <3 <3 <3 <3

will die someday but not before living happily with the woman they love

has / adopts a son with her

and last but not least!!!!

lives in a world where there are Giant Spiders that might Kill You

[fishtail-tavra]

tavonica 100 word drabbles - comic inspired - Heartsick

   “Checking up on me already?”    “Yes.”    “You could’ve waited.”    “I did.”    “Less than a day?”    “Long enough to miss you.”    Onica grins. “You're being strangely honest. Seasick, eh?”    “No.”    Tavra’s grip on the railing is white-knuckled.    Even seeing her miserable, Onica can’t stop smiling. “You’d feel better if you’d stayed in Ha’rar.”    “I would not.”    “Oh?”    “This is nothing compared to watching you sail away,” Tavra declares, and then leans overboard to be violently sick.    Laughing Onica hooks her by the belt, steading her. “No regrets?”   “None,” Tavra groans between retches.    Onica’s lost wings throb faintly. “I know the feeling.”

[fishtail-tavra]

100 word Dark Crystal drabbles, Tavra, Naia, Kylan, Amri - Family

   A touch to his cheek. “Look away, Kylan.”    His parents were taken, his maudra pushed him away, but he knows what a mother’s love sounds like, now.    A terrified thought catches Amri’s strike before it falls. “Amri, no!”    He almost gets himself and Naia killed playing the hero. When the storm breaks, he leaps, knowing what a hero really is.    “We must hold close those we love...”    Naia tightens their hug. “I’ll miss you, Silverling.” Only a dream, only a sister she had to trek across Skarith land to make. “But we’ll meet again.”    Tavra sighs. “We will certainly try.”

[fishtail-tavra]

tavra in the show: Adds 1 sword to skeksis inventory (by stabbing them with it). tavra in the books: Deletes 1 sword from skeksis inventory (by smacking it right out of their hands)

tavra the sword lesbian, AKA "You may occasionally hold a sword in my presence if you so dare but it will not last long and you will not enjoy it"

[dkscribe88]

Dark Crystal Theory: Deethra and Katavra Nicknames

Some major spoilers, mainly from the YA novels

So, in watching The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, I noticed that there are two specific characters that choose to go by their nicknames, the above listed Deethra and Katavra. Now, there are theories out there that think Deet has some deeper connection with the world of Thra, based off of her name. The way the series seemed to be going before it’s cancellation, I could definitely see that as a viable plotline, but there is one more deity that is mentioned very briefly by Cadia during his interactions with Brea after she drops his payment, and that being’s name is Ka. 

Keep reading

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

On the question of a possible deity or cosmic force known as “Ka”, possibly revered by some Gelfling clans.

First, a list of Gelfling words containing the phonetic element “Ka”.

Ka-dia: Cadia, a Sifa elder.

Oni-Ka: Onica, Sifa ship captain and far-dreamer.

Ka-am’lu: Kam’lu, Sifa ship captain and presumably Tavra’s father.

Ka-tavra: Katavra, commonly goes by Tavra, half-Sifa daughter of Kam’lu. NOTE: the Gelfling woman from the Age of Harmony who was Raunip’s friend and who Katavra is said to be named after, is referred to as Tavra, not KA-tavra.

Ka. For Ka’s sake: Sifa invocation in reaction to a surprising and upsetting event.

Gida-ka-i ka-e: Gidakai kae, a salutation used by Rek'yr to greet the Gelfling resistance

Vliya-ka: Vliyaka, a mineral found in Sog, who’s particularly dark and shimmering hue was always used by the Drenchen when depicting fire, and who’s name contains the word for Gelfling life force or magic, vliya, “blue fire”.

Olye-ka: Olyeka-Staba, the Cradle tree, supposedly the source of all the Dark Woods.

S-ka-rith: Skarith basin, a region of the lands inhabited by the Gelfling clans.

Based on this limited information, here is a possible theory into why Elder Cadia used the word “Ka” as if invoking a deity.

The cradle tree that supposedly created the Dark Wood, the basin that contains the Castle of the Crystal and the Crystal of Truth/Dark Crystal, and the mineral that makes a blue pigment associated with the vliya of a Gelfling’s living flame, all three use the “Ka” element in their names.

Connecting these entries together, I’d suggest that “Ka” means something like source or origin, or perhaps even a broader idea like truth or the concept of something’s true being. Light and fire might also be a possible meaning or connotation, with it’s ability to reveal and connection to fire and flames, which Gelfling associate with life via their vliya (blue flames).

We could also imagine Ka means “stone” or “crystal”, considering it turns the word vliya into a name of a mineral and considering the importance of a crystal as the heart of Thra, in the form of the Crystal of Truth, the source of life on Thra.

Keep reading

[fishtail-tavra]

tavonica 100 word drabble prompts - Reconcile

   Arguing is worse than seasickness.    Light fades, Tavra sinks into darkness with Thra’s setting suns, ignoring the shimmering lights of Ha’rar high above.    Hinges squeak. A voice catches at her heart.    “Tavra?”    Stealing herself Tavra turns.    Onica stands in the dark and unlit cabin doorway, slumped shoulders lifting in surprise. “You’re still here?”    The drop from mast to deck is nothing to the fall of Tavra’s insides. “I, I thought you knew.”    Sea dark eyes search her. “I heard you take flight.”    Tavra flinches. “I could not leave. Onica- might we…?”    Onica motions her inside, sad but smiling. “We can.”

[fishtail-tavra]

everyone laughs at Amri for his

"the All-Maudra had to produce Vapra heirs- with pure Silverling blood, no doubt. Not a mix of snow and salt water"

reasoning when figuring out why a Vapra princess (Tavra) would keep her Sifa lover (Onica) a secret.

(hee hee, Tavra and Onica are both women, Amri must not know where babies come from- never mind that Gelflings aren't human and already have weird biology / magic going on)

but jokes at Amri's expense aside, doesn't it just explain so much of how Mayrin treats her daughters?

her HALF-SIFA heirs to the VAPRA throne...?

wouldn't Amri's reasoning mean that openly having children (or just /a/ child??) with a Sifa became a problem for Mayrin later on?

she did that when she was young and adventurous and newly made All-Maudra, back when she honestly acted like a balance of her three future daughters- strong and daring like Tavra, creative in her problem solving like Brea, trying hard to live up to her mother's high standards like Seladon.

Mayrin isn't like that by the time her daughters are grown though. She's clearly worn down by the living crown, resigned to just maintaining the status quo and not making life under the skeksis any worse or more dangerous than it already is, settled into both the power and the chains that loyalty to the skeksis places on her.

did she end up regretting having her kids with Kam'lu?

did it leave her feeling she must demand the best from her daughters: not just to make up for the subversion of tradition by having had them in the first place, not just to keep the skeksis from doubting her family and clan and removing them from power and the safety it gives them, but also for her daughter's own sake- to give the Vapra and skeksis as few chances to criticize or remove them from power as possible?

is her past relationship with a Sifa, and it's fallout, the reason WHY she doesn't want Tavra falling in love with one?

or does that have more to do with Kam'lu not being around anymore. Him leaving, or dying at sea. He fell in love with a woman who was ready to twist tradition into new shapes, but she changed, and now in the present Mayrin is alone. Kam'lu is never seen or mentioned in current times. We never see his daughters remembering him.

Did they know him at all?

(let's put a pin in that)

Tavra in the books says Mayrin's daughters had to earn their mother's love. That Mayrin placed being All-Maudra over being their mother.

That doesn't sound like Mayrin in her comic, the Mayrin that met and bonded with Kam'lu the Sifa ship captain and was so excited to have her first child.

Was her changing what broke her and Kam'lu apart, or did he insist on returning to the sea, Sifa that he was, only to shipwreck and down like Mayrin's mother had- maybe in a storm very like the one that almost killed Onica and Tae. Is that what broke Mayrin instead?

Is that why she can't accept the idea of Tavra with a Sifa?

Too much salt water already in the family. Or fear Tavra will run off to her father's clan and be lost to Mayrin like him (half way comes true, Tavra and Onica promised each other to leave both their clans behind, and they do, but by then Mayrin is already dead). Or, even if Tavra does stay in Ha'rar, did Mayrin fear her daughter wouldn't be accepted if she openly challenges the way of things just like her mother once did?

Point is: Amri didn't think Tavra was half-Sifa.

Seladon, heir to her mother's throne, definitely IS half Sifa, Mayrin was already expecting her at the end of her comic.

the Grot are a bit isolated from the other clans and Amri's main interest in the Vapra at first is thinking they all kinda really suck, but. This is still the daughters of the All-Maudra. There is a joke in the Sog about the "many daughters of Mayrin", so clearly the personal life of the All-Maudra is a topic of gossip and songs even on the other side of Skarith land.

and Amri didn't know? About Mayrin's Sifa lover?

did Mayrin never officially name Kam'lu as the father of her children?

(is that where the joke of many daughters comes from. if she won't say who the father is who's to say she isn't hiding other children too)

or did Mayrin have trouble having children at first. Did any of her children from Kam'lu even survive... but that would make the joke of many daughters so cruel, let's assume that isn't the joke. Let's say it's just speculation of possible unacknowledged children instead.

maybe many Gelfling /suspect/ who the other parent of Mayrin's daughters is, especially the people Mayrin's age or older who would've been paying attention while the whole thing played out, but with no official word, it stays just rumors. Just an uncomfortable moment that makes Tavra's face flush when it's brought up.

Amri clearly believes that a half-Sifa All-Maudra would be a huge scandal, maybe wouldn't even be accepted at all.

so maybe it's not just a crooked wing and a name with history that has Seladon feeling insecure. Maybe it's her Sifa father. Maybe it's her Sifa blood. Maybe, buying into the skeksis beliefs to prove herself, she ended up learning to hate what she was

maybe it's just being the only daughter old enough to really remember Kam'lu and the whispers that a Sifa in Ha'rar's citadel might have brought each time he visited, or having to watch her mother's pain, keenly aware or assuming that Mayrin would be better off if she Seladon hadn't been born from a Sifa father. The reflexive guilt and blame for herself and her parents both.

maybe the reason we never see Mayrin and Tavra having any kind of personal interaction or moment together is thanks to Tavra quietly continuing to visit the wharfs and her Sifa lover despite Mayrin's own history, despite being old enough to vaguely know about but not have been part of it, and Mayrin preemptively closing herself off from the soldier who happens to be her daughter before she can have her heart broken again

(the fact that Tavra is a reflection of the Mayrin who was once an active and hands-on All-Maudra. The fact that of Mayrin's daughters it is Tavra who the Vapra are shown to see as THEIR maudra. Even after Seladon is crowned. It's Tavra who people from various other clans- Drenchen, Grotten, Sifa- wish could lead them)

(They all see in Tavra now what Kam'lu saw in Mayrin back then.)

is that why Tavra tries so hard to believe that people can always change for the better and do the right thing? Why she wants to at least forget whatever terrible thing it was Mayrin once did- and hope she will light the fires of resistance now?

has she heard or seen dreamfasts of the woman Mayrin used to be and want so desperately for that person to not truly be gone?

is she also trying to be like her mother- just, not the version of Mayrin that she sees today?

anyway. Brea also doesn't seem to know she's half Sifa.

(if she's half Sifa. if Kam'lu is the father of /all/ Mayrin's daughters)

or, if she knows her father wasn't Vapra, she ascribes so firmly to the "a Gelfling belongs to the clan of their mother" view that it doesn't even mean anything to her where her father came from. She clearly never knew him. If she had, meeting the Sifa wouldn't have been such a curiosity and adventure for her.

TLDR: imo Mayrin disapproving of Tavra's Sifa lover despite having had children with one herself isn't a plot hole, it's the explanation of why Mayrin and Seladon are Like That*.

*in need of therapy. Badly.

[fishtail-tavra]

tavra: What have you crazy kids done to me now.

kylan: I'm sorry!

naia: we turned you into a... spider???

tavra: Drat. Well, never mind, onwards with the rebellion- but be sure to loot my old body first.

tavra 1 book later: I CANNOT HUG MY GIRLFRIEND LIKE THIS. THE WOMAN I LOVE, I AM TOO SMALL TO HOLD HER, THIS IS HELL THIS IS HELL THIS IS BARELY EVEN LIVING I AM IN HELL!!!!

tavra 1 scene later: I'm fine. This is fine.

[fishtail-tavra]

one the one hand the Tavonica comic is very heartfelt and moving. One the other hand...

finally. fodder for the incorrect tavonica

[fishtail-tavra]

the fact that book Tavra refused to reveal her survival to her mother even in the safety of a shared dream like Hmmmm

was it despair? thinking she could never be Mayrin's daughter in her new spider body, too weak and changed to keep "earning" her mother's love as she later mentions having done? Tavra, learning of her mother's death later and admitting she wishes she could challenge Seladon and lead their clan, but she feels she can't. Not as she is now (wrong. a nameless whisper from her was all it took to rouse the vapra to war, and for them to crown her as their maudra in their song). Is that the failure she was scared of finding in her mother if Mayrin saw her now, tiny and so often helpless, unable even to lift her own sword?

or was it hope that kept her quiet and hidden from Mayrin. Did Tavra realize that in this new shape and with her gelfling body gone she could finally have a life beyond being her mother's dutiful soldier daughter, finally be someone other than a princess of Ha'rar, live free just as she and Onica had always promised they someday would be?

or maybe it was both. or just Tavra being extra cautious as ever

will we ever get the story from her perspective, i wonder