moonglow garden

Elriel °❀.࿔ | Jonerys 𓆩𓆪 𓃦 | Zutara 𖤓☽ fantasy and whimsy

[mercyalayne]

"The moon has kissed you and etched your shadow upon the ice twenty feet tall."

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

snowstorm drawn by @adelikashere and commissioned by me and @virginrosess

[moonglowgarden]

We’re all about to see Elain fully hone her seer abilities, create her own path, forge her own destiny, and prove that she is more than just the ‘sweet one’ of the Archeron sisters.

“Don't forget that gardening often results in something pretty, but it involves getting one's hands dirty along the way." - Rhys discussing Elain, A Court of Silver Flames, Feyre bonus chapter.

[starboundhearts]

“Elain had always been gentle and sweet—and I had considered it a different sort of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be kind. She had been always so full of light.” ✨

[wingedblooms]

All the world is a song

Previously, Sarah mentioned the forces that be in relation to fated mates, and in her most recent interview (while she’s been editing the upcoming acotar books), she reiterated her interest in free will versus fate and used the term nature instead. Sometimes, nature gets it wrong when it comes to mating bonds.

It got me thinking about the forces that be, their connection to nature, and it led me back to the chaotic part of the Book of Breathings. This part of the Book sings in threes as well as three parts (here, here, here). That pattern makes sense if this part of the book harnesses the creative magic of Chaos.

Part 1 describes the cycles of nature, specifically the stages of life (life and death and rebirth), solar and lunar cycles (sun and moon and dark), and flora and fauna (rot and bloom and bones).

Part 2 welcomes the three Archeron sisters with three distinct hellos; it’s also possible the first two are for Feyre, and the last one combines Nesta and Elain.

Part 3 gives instructions on how to bring the Book of Breathings to life and use it. This allows certain people (those not born of this world, including Made Fae) to control the forces of nature through things that channel it: the Cauldron, Made weapons (Trove, TT, etc), mating bonds, and even the land.

The Book welcomes the three sisters as though it knew they were marked by fate and have an important role to play in the grander tapestry. @psychee92 theorized years ago that this part of the song might even be a prophecy for the three Archeron sisters and indicate their alignment with specific phases of the triple goddess. @psychologynerd expanded this theory through the alchemical wedding. They certainly seem to be the three faces of the Mother in the flesh. I have wondered if their connection aligns with specific parts of the life cycle, but it is probably more fluid than that since their arcs seem to represent the progression of nature overall.

@silverlinedeyes, @offtorivendell, @merymoonbeam, @psychologynerd and many others have talked about their connection to Made objects. This unique kinship (as vessels) makes them similar, if not the same as, those who are Starborn. We see this kinship begin in the original trilogy through Feyre. She wields magic from nearly all courts (unless the sisters’ lineage is connected to Dusk and it becomes 8), restores the Book of Breathings, hears the Cauldron’s siren song like her sisters, touches the Cauldron to travel with it like a force of nature, and repairs the Cauldron and tear in the world with raw magic from Rhys.

This kinship expands in Nesta’s story, as she both uses Made objects and Makes them herself:

The Harp asks Nesta to play it, to let it sing again.

The House sings because Nesta Made it.

Nesta Makes weapons and it is accompanied by music only she hears.

The bond she weaves with Cassian sings after they Make it together.

The whole world, all of creation, is a song.

Nature can be influenced through song, as @silverlinedeyes and @offtorivendell suggested. This song is a poetic way to describe communication—different parts of nature working together in harmony. This communication is the secret language of Wyrd and in hofas, it is referred to as the language of creation. This connection deepens in the crossover:

The land of Dusk asks Bryce to reach out, open her heart to it, so it might sing again.

Love me, touch me, sing me.

Bryce does not free the land of Dusk due to the presence of the prisoners, but she does free Avallen and we get a glimpse of what that entails. She can hear the land’s quiet song, feel its joy when it is finally seen and freed from its magical chains.

These moments are seeds for the third sister’s story, bringing us full circle.

Elain has always been very connected to nature. She ended the original series as a promise of the future and feeling eager to restore the land.

In acosf, we see hints of how deep this connection might run. When taken together, we find Elain’s appearance reflects the land: in Hewn city, she looks as void of life as the land and in Velaris soon after, she is glowing with life again. This kind of earthen magic would mean that she can sense ley lines—the flow of life in the fabric of the world—and Make gardens. Is that what might happen when her sleeping buds bloom?

Will she need to fully embrace them and what they represent (all of her, including her forced change) to make her magic sing? Many of us believe she was given the vision and gifts to help restore the inherent, pure magic of the land. To free it from the magical threads of the Asteri: the magic they hoarded in sacred peaks and the division they wove into the land and people who inhabit it. This freedom would, in turn, restore the people and their magic. The land and its magic would be freed for all of them, not simply a powerful few. This plot extends beyond a single court and would certainly demand a big story.

It might also require behavior we don’t usually associate with Elain: using pure life, if she possesses it, to unbind warped threads (the opposite of what Feyre and Nesta did with their healing magic). She might even learn how to do this through her sight as she wanders with the Mother (that’s why her carved rose is placed next to her figurine). Will she come across a healer from another world in her travels? This particular healer may be the key to learning that pure life is world-making power. She can bind as well as unbind the very fabric of life, of worlds.

In this promise of the future, the world would truly be a song, one where the forces of nature exist in harmony once again.

[wingedblooms]

The priestesses’ musical dusk ritual helped Nesta and we’ve been theorizing for years that the dawn ritual could help Elain. We have Gwyn to thank for hinting that the ritual might involve ancient movements that take them out of their bodies, in a way, allow them to commune with the Mother. Afterward, they do groundings to bring them back to the present. What, exactly, do we think Elain is doing at dawn, my friends?

[islamontgomery123]

Too many razor-sharp thoughts sliced him any time he grew still long enough for them to strike. Too many wants and needs left his skin overheated and pulling taut across his bones. So he slept only when his body gave out, and even then only for a few hours.

Azriel couldn't stop it. The envy in his chest. Of Cassian, and Rhys. He knew he'd be swallowed by it if he went up to his bedroom, so he'd remained down here by the dying light of the fire.  

But even the silence weighed too heavily, and though the shadows kept him company, as they always had, as they always would, he found himself leaving the room.

But she'd gotten Azriel one last year— a headache powder he kept on his nightstand at the House of Wind. Not to use, but just to look at. Which he'd done every night he’d slept there. Or attempted to sleep there.

Because her mate had been in the family room and Azriel had needed to stay by the door the whole time because he couldn't stand the sight of it, the scent of their mating bond, and needed to have the option of leaving if it became too much. Elain's large brown eyes flickered, well aware of all that. Just as he knew she was well aware of why Azriel so rarely came to family dinners these days.

ACOSF- Shadows darkened his eyes, full of enough pain that she couldn’t stop herself from touching his shoulder. Letting him see that she understood why he stood in the doorway, why he wouldn’t go near the fire.

The infamous bonus chapter has THIS in it. The way I wouldn’t ever bring up another ship if this is what was being said in the same chapter 😭 And that’s even setting aside him calling her beautiful in 100 different ways, and the sexual tension that could be cut with a knife that follows. Razor-sharp thoughts slicing him any time he’s still? Pulling taut across his bones? Sleeps only when his body gives out, and even then only a few hours? He’d be swallowed by envy if he so much as went to his room? Silence weighing too heavy? Staring at headache power ffs every night? Can’t stand the sight of Elain and Lucien? Was going to leave solstice with his family during a time he thinks is important to spend with others? Hasn’t been coming to family dinners because he wants her so much? His eyes full of so much pain that Nesta couldn’t help but console him?

If this isn’t absolute peak yearning behavior idk what is. There’s not a chance in hell Lucien’s “longing” even comes close.

[allergictononsense]

𓇢𓆸 Her eyes were the brown of a fawn’s coat.

𓇢𓆸 Her sister’s delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered in the red-stoned hall like a promise of spring, a sparkling river that she followed to the open doors of the chamber.

[eospaint]

just two introverts being pals

[lentejita25]

One of my Favorite Elriel arts. When these two introverts met sparks did not fly like another certain fiery pair. Instead they burned quietly like two colliding particles fusing and increasing the temperature over time. We're about to witness a meltdown, an explosion so powerful and all consuming, there will be no escaping it... and I can't wait.

[addamvelaryon]

Daenerys Targaryen by EtceteraArt (twt/ig)

[elainarcheronsvisions]

I can’t wait for Elain to show everyone that you can be a total badass while also remaining kind and gentle.

“Elain had always been gentle and sweet - and I had considered it a different sort of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be kind.”

There aren’t enough soft female characters in romantasy!

[sadexecutivelove]

The northman

[elrielffs]

Elain was raised as a lady with certain expectations drilled into her from childhood. Be beautiful, be feminine, be demure, be the perfect lady and get a good husband and bear children. This was paramount. This was her life's plan. Do not question it. This was the limit for Elain, the best outcome she could hope for--she could be no more and no less. And Elain did as she was told because she didn't know any better and because Elain's fault is complacency. She performed perfectly.

When we first meet Elain in the cottage, she comes off as nice but dim. We know that she is painted as a "bad sister" alongside Nesta and I know a lot of people like to say "well why does Elain get a pass and Nesta doesn't?" And I think that comes down to where their actions and feelings come from. Elain was never intentionally mean to Feyre, Elain never acted out of maliciousness, she was neglectful sure, but Elain never went out of her way to cause Feyre harm, unlike Nesta.

Elain was used to being taken care of, either emotionally by Nesta or provided for by Feyre and this caused her to fall into a sense of complacency since nothing was expected of her. She accepted the situation and depended on others to change/fix/manage the problems around her and her family while holding on to hope and trying to make the best of the situation to what she thought was the best of her ability. (Selling flowers she grew, getting Feyre paint etc, always trying to be kind)

And when we see Elain again after Feyre leave's Spring Court the first time--Elain is back in the element that she was raised for and flourishing. Everyone loves her, her gardens are spectacular, and her family's standing in society has risen again. The plan for her life is back on track she plays the part perfectly again.

In ACOMAF, the trend continues. She's a wonderful hostess, great communicator, can run a household, is a master at balls and has secured a good marriage and wealthy fiance. She’s complacent with her lot and life and has the happiness that others told her she should want.

Elain thinks she is doing everything right. She endured with her family during the years they were poor and now continued to blossom after all the hard times have passed and accomplished everything that was expected of her and a bonus--she loved her husband to be!

Then the cauldron.

Kidnapped in the middle of the night by fae she's been taught to fear her whole life.

Terror.

The first into the cauldron. Will she drown? Will something worse happen? What about Grayson, what about her marriage, what about this life that she has cultivated perfectly to everyone's standards for her?

Elain is turned fae--Grayson and his family hates the fae.

Elain is claimed by a fae male who she doesn't know, but knows that he was on the side that caused this to happen to her.

And Elain now has powers. Powers that confuse and trick her. Are they hallucinations? Is she going crazy? Is she in the past, present, future?

But it will all be okay, right? It has to, she did everything right. She did everything right.

She see's Grayson, the man she loves, who loves her, who she shared her body with. He'll love her, he'll accept her, and everything will be okay. A mate, powers, being turned fae--it means nothing because Grayson loves her and she will be able to continue on like before.

Except, she can't stay at her home where she had carefully cultivated the life she was supposed to have.

She can't stay among humans but has to be among fae, a race she knows nothing about and has been taught to fear all her life.

And worse of all, Grayson doesn't love her. He rejected her most cruelly.

Everything in shambles. This wasn't supposed to be happen. She did everything she was supposed to--she had everything she was supposed to want. This wasn't supposed to happen.

She did everything right.

She said all the right things. She did all the right things.

It wasn't enough.

Now she has to start over--in a new place with new people. Her sisters are there, Nesta angry and simmering, Feyre important and busy in the life she had made for herself, the life she deserved.

Elain withers. There was no point to any of it. Everything is murky and dark. There is nothing. No one sees her---her.

Then a light. She is seen. Her powers that have haunted her have been given a name. A Seer.

Slowly she begins to recover--to her standards. Making the best of the situation, carving out a new life for herself in a way she wasn't able to before. She gardens, she bakes, she makes new friends with Nuala and Cerridwen. More of her true personality start to come through. She does everything at her own pace. She doesn't go to balls, she doesn't play hostess, nothing is expected of her here.

Except--the mating bond.

She is told that the mating bond is important in fae culture, that bonds are sacred--that because a fae male she doesn't know claimed her as his mate she should talk to him, get to know him, accept the bond. This is what is expected in this new fae culture she is now unwillingly apart of.

It's expected that she'll accept the bond, become his "bride" so to speak, have his children.

Except--she's already done that. She's already done that. She perfected that.

She did everything right and it ended in disaster and here, it's being asked of her again and she doesn't even know or love this male.

No. Not again.

She will not do it again.

Elain was stripped of all autonomy. This is her way of gaining it back. She can't make Grayson love her, she can't become human again, but she can reject the male that everyone says has a claim on her.

Elain is living on Elain's terms now. Elain is doing what she wants and what she expects of herself. We already see her beginning of growth in ACOSF--offering to help scry for the trover rather than depend on others to handle the situation.

I hope a part of her journey reflects that--having Elain find out that her limit is so much more than she has been led to believe, that she is so much more than a pretty lady in a dress, that she can be who she wants to be without repercussions. That people will love her as she is and not what she is expected to be.

That she can make her own choices, what she does, who she loves, how she acts. No longer complacent with what others expect or assume for her.

[rosieandthemoon]

French Brooch, circa 1400