you know which character i REALLY feel bad for in fourth wing?
Baide.
literally at the beginning of chapter sixteen, violet says that, “Jack hasn’t quit staring at Tairn across the field.” Can you imagine being Baide, who’s so happy to have found a rider that’s just as ferocious and violent as her — only to realize that your chosen rider doesn’t even want you because you’re not big/strong enough for his liking? and then giving him your trust and keeping his venin condition a secret, only for him to pull a fast one and LITERALLY stab you in the back? Ouch, man. Baide, for all of her violence, deserved so much better than jack barlowe.
“Let us talk about the fact that Violet is so important to the Venin, that they made Jack-fucking-Barlowe protect and save her in Iron Flame.” —shortshannonreads
I’ve been pondering this ever since I saw it on a random Insta… so, is THAT why Baide didn’t roast her in Iron Flame when given the chance in the RFC mission?!?
… Speaking of how long was Baide opaque eyed and not herself, did it start in that chapter when she was described as “catching her hazy golden eyes” and later “opaque instead of golden” and what did that equate to in meaning (it’s not Venin veins… so)?
… And when did Jack Barlowe turn venin, I presumed he always was, but he hid it well (was he like Xaden in that way?) and if so how long until he was given the “don’t kill her” order? — at least it explains him saving her life in Iron Flame (cause that was confusing as hell). … Though I still feel bad for Baide, and kinda confused on what a Venin rider does to the bond (+ how he even did that to Baide… let alone survived via draining & Venin shit)
I finally got around to writing part 6 and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I promised to make a Liam and Violet piece at one point so you also have a little bit of art in this one.
Spoilers for the Empyrean series and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!
Ok, let's see, where were we? Ah yes, the riot is making it's way to Aretia. Violet is still cut off from the bonds but Sgaeyl is flying right next to Tairn, giving her a direct view of Xaden who turns back at her every few minutes. On the other side of Tairn flew Cath, that seemed to be stressing for his rider. Violet truly felt for the poor dragon. She was in a lot of pain too and an 18 hour flight was not helping at all. Along the way she saw a few other dragons joining the riot, both bonded and riderless.
Once in Aretia Xaden sent out his shadows to help Violet off of Tairn and didn't wait for anyone else before bolting to the medical wing with Brennan in tow.
Violet admittedly doesn't remember much after that and when she woke up next the sun was just rising outside the window. She could feel the bandages wrapped around various areas and she was wearing a shirt that was definitely too big for her. Probably one of Xaden's.
Liam was once again sleeping at her bedside in the most uncomfortable position possible and Xaden was laying on the bed with his head next to her hip and his feet hanging over the edge.
Violet would've been content to just stay in bed for the day and forget about everything that happened for the last few days but Zihnall was not on her side and she swore she could hear yelling from the floor below where the assembly was probably gathered. Didn't this room have soundproofing wards? She had to get Xaden to upgrade them if this noise was gonna be a reoccurring thing.
Slowly she reached a hand to gently run her finger through Xaden's hair, slow getting him to wake up.
Violet, happy that the bond is working again: Hello, my love.
Xaden: Hmph, it's good to see you too Violence.
He carefully rose up and placed a soft kiss on Violets head, which had her melting in her pillows even more.
Liam, still half asleep: Should I leave...?
Violet: Nah, you can watch if you want.
Liam: Tempting, but no thanks.
They kinda laze around a bit longer, Xaden and Liam each explaining what they where doing prior to getting Violet out of Basgiath. How Xaden went on his wyvern hunt and sent all of Navarre out of wack and how Liam committed some light arson with the squad. Just a regular Tuesday really.
After they make their way through the crowded halls of Riorson house and bitch with the Assembly for a bit, Violet, Xaden and the squad make their way to the valley where the dragons are because Andarna's awake.
Her wing muscles still haven't developed after the dreamless sleep, but you can't tell me she would never be able to carry a rider. Tairn (even if he's more of an extreme) is able to carry a whole ass other dragon, you can't tell me Andarna won't be able to carry an objectively small human. Whatever the Elders are spewing is bullshit.
Violet notes that the magic around Andarna feels different than Tairn's and the other dragons'. It's wilder, almost like the power channeled by the sky wielders. Her scales now had a certain shimmer to them, similar to Deigh's where he was mended after Resson. Violet decided that if Andarna deemed it a concern she'd tell her but figured that the dragon was nothing like any she'd seen before. Do dragons have an equivalent for sky wielders? Maybe that's why Andarna was so happy after threshing, she never explained.
Battle Brief (Uncensored Edition) is in session, operation translate the journals is now in business and the Iron Squad and the sky wielders are managing alright, all things considered. The nature of the sky wielders is kind of an open secret at this point since there's a lot of people in the know but they're a bit concerned with the Assembly so they try to lay low for the time being.
Most stuff stays pretty close to canon up until the Cordyn trip. The only difference I want to mention is Mira and Brennan reuniting.
Brennan: Hey sis!
Mira: *breaks his nose*
Violet: Ah yes, I felt better too after throwing a chair at him.
Mira: ... You're not getting smacked for not telling me just because of that. Keep that in mind.
Anyway back to Cordyn. Xaden is still broody since Violet didn't listen to him, but let's be honest when has she ever done that.
So far Tecarus is the only one that seems to not mind Violet's looks. If anything the man is excited about it, much to all the fliers' dismay. Cat still tries to rile up Violet but she can sense the thick flier magic from the other girl and knows that Cat must be doing something, so she refuses to rise to the bait despite all her emotions.
Violet still has to participate in the venin fighting pit but this time she's not as stressed about it since she's been around her sky wielders long before they learn how to channel from the sky so she's really just desensitized to venin at this point. What she notices instead is that unlike in the early days with her wielders, the earth's magic seems to recoil once the venin is on the ground. As the fight began Violet sensed a new pattern with the magic. Essentially it seemed to flee any area in which the venin moved next, giving Violet a few seconds advantage.
With the venin dead she stops Xaden from strangling Tecarus and threatens promises that if he ever trys something like that she'll smite him down herself.
Moving on, new item aquired: the Luminary! I'll be honest, idk what a luminary is, I always just imagined a giant blue crystal ring but I propose a more interesting idea for this AU. They're dragon helmets that amplify their fire. I like to imagine at one point they may have even been used in battle but were considered inefficient due to their weight slowing down the dragons.
Ok, skipping ahead once again the Gryphon fliers move to Aretia and we start rune class. Violet understands the logic behind weaving strands of magic in specific ways to make it do what you want, but to her this method looks so inefficient since she's actually felt the natural patterns that magic produces so by the end of class she just straight up ignores the way everyone does it and guides the power to mimic the naturally occurring patterns she's sensed before. Her runes look like mad and incomprehensible swirls similar to the rebellion relics but they're surprisingly more stable than the normal runes. Also everyone is confused because how do those even work?
Once again we're back with challenges, this time with the Violet vs Cat showdown. Violet absolutely loses it when she realizes that Cat was also trained by Xaden and both the earth and the sky seem to react to that. Violet combines the fighting styles she's learned from her squad and her sky wielders to throw Cat off and the flow of magic helps her predict the opponents movement similarly to her fight in Cordyn, except this time instead of recoiling, the magic condenses. Needless to say everyone witnessing this is scared shitless because Violet right now looks more like a Venin than ever. She's fast, adapting to Cat's fighting style easily and seems to take her down with ease. (Her squad has never been more proud though. I'm sure Ridoc is chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" from the sidelines with the sky wielders joining in)
Xaden still pulls Violet off of Cat and takes her to the throne room. She can feel just the slightest bit of concern from his bond but they quickly advance to the one of the most iconic scenes in the series. After Xaden has a little bit of a crisis because of his signet Violet can sense that it wasn't the bond through which she ended up switching povs. It was still part of both her and Xaden, that much she could tell, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was exactly.
I really don't have much for the next stretch since everything stays pretty close to canon. Dain and Violet bond over translating the journals, Andarna becomes a Scorpion tail and Violet must raise the wards asap.
The dragons that raise the wards are still the same. Violet did try to point out that the sky wielders' dragons are the most powerful in the Aretian riot but Kate quickly stopped her saying that Speur and the other have very good reasons for not wanting to light the ward stone.
After all that is done Xaden and Violet fly out to the edge of the wards to make sure that they're working and the two of them still have the second signet talk. Violet just got a bit of brain damage from the revelation but is overall very supportive and decides to finally share what the fuck she's been doing with the sky wielders since first year. How they were venin at first and how they learned to channel from the sky. All the good stuff really.
Xaden is... concerned. He's grateful that Violet let Liam tell him about venin in the quadrant last year, but he would very much like to revisit the chair throwing threats for Liam not telling him Violet was building her own little venin army.
Violet: They're sky wielders, not venin and please don't- Wyverns ahead!
Xaden: We'll finish this talk later!
Anyway the wards are mostly working and our crew flies to Athebyne to meet with General Melgren and Sorrengail and find out about future venin attack at Samara.
Some general chaos, Assembly bullshit and one "brilliant fucking woman" moment later the crew gets to Basgiath to make sure the og wards are ok.
Lilith showes our crew (consisting of Violet, Xaden, Mira, Liam and Kate) the way to the wardstone where Jack Fucking Barlow decides to stab his dragon in the neck and take down the wards. In that moment Deigh comes barreling through the opening in the ceiling, the scales on his chest a shimmering royal blue and throwing a wave of white fire at Barlow who, while not catching fire, looks like he got a really nasty sunburn. Kate thankfully gets to Baide in time to save her. The orange dragon is distraught at the turn of events to say the least and Deigh hovers protectively over her.
After Barlow reaches to drain the earth around them Dain rushes him and is mostly successful in stoping the venin but he does get his arm drained a bit in the process.
Xaden: Ok, we've got the idiot restrained. Now, what's up with Deigh? I get that killing a dragon is a big deal but why is he protecting Baide all of a sudden? And why is he blue?!
Liam: He says- Ok, don't snap at me! I didn't ask to be the one caught in the middle of all these conflicts of interest! He says that humans have no say in the matters of mates. Also, I don't know why he's fucking blue, you can ask him if you want, but I choose life!
Violet: In the matters of what now?
(You though you knew enemies to lovers after Riorgail and Slain? Well get prepared for Deigh/Baide! Ah yes, crack ships, my beloved!)
While everyone prepares for battle Kate is trying to mend the wardstone after the monumental effort of fixing Baide. She doesn't think even channeling from the sky will be enough for her to entirely mend it, but luckily Brennan and the rest of the Aretian riot show up and he helps Kate fix up the stone.
The battle goes pretty much the same and Sawyer still loses his leg for character development. Once on the ground Violet and Cat get acousted by an Asim and Andarna engulfs them with a wave of white flames similar to Deigh's, if somehow brighter. That's when Violet realizes that Andarna is a seventh breed of dragon and somehow, after being mended, Deigh became one (partially) as well.
Xaden and Violet get summoned by Melgren and Violet has another "ah-hah" moment and figures out how to fully raise the wards. Luckily for them the sky wielders' dragons are here, ready to bully Codagh into helping.
Once Kate and Brennan mended the wardstone Violet desperately started imbuing it. She could feel herself approaching burnout and sensed the magic in the earth and air coiling around her, practically begging her to reach for their power. That's when the screams of her dragons were stopped by Mama Sorrengail kicking her daughter away from the wardstone. Brennan has apparently gone and brought their mother to stop Violet from killing herself over this and Lilith dragged Sloane along to siphon her power to the wardstone. Kate quickly came to argue with them trying to figure out another way, rather than someone sacrificing their life. While everyone was distracted all Violet could feel was the sky's flow soothing her burning skin, closer than she's ever felt it before. It no longer waited for her to reach out and bridge the gap between her and the source. It was right there, whispering in a language long lost to time waiting for Violet to just let it in.
Tairn: Whatever power you need, you take from us.
Andarna: But if the sources lend you their power, accept it. Just don't take anything they're not willing to offer.
Tairn: *begrudging agreement*
Violet slowly got on her knees and while the others were still distracted she finally gave in and let the magic flow through her as it saw fit. She felt the cool flow of the sky mingle with the warm patterns of the earth and her arms started glowing, from her palms connected to the stone all the way up to her shoulders, she could feel the bright swirls through which magic chose to move. She guesses that's how the marked ones got their relics too, from the rune magic flowing inward to protect them.
Once her awarnes came back she realized that Brennan was holding her in his arms while Sloane and her mother were starting at her in shock and horror respectively from where they were kneeling next to her. Kate just crossed her arms and gave Violet the biggest shit-eating grin, her now silver eyes glowing with glee at her.
Brennan: Yeah, we kinda figured after the earth decided to sprout grass and flowers instead of become all scorched, you know?
Violet: I took nothing that wasn't offered!
Violet, looking at the spot she was in a few moments prior: Well, I'll be damned!
Kate: Pff- It's good to officially have you as one of us Sky Sage Sorrengail! Nice tattoos by the way, you match with the marked ones now.
Sloane: I truly hate each and every one of you, chaotic bastards! I nearly had a heart attack!
After this Codagh, Aimsir, the sky wielders' dragons and Andarna finally breath fire onto the stone, successfully raising the wards to full power again.
After wyvern start falling from the sky and venin start retreating Kate helps Violet find her way to Xaden who was staring down in the ravine, looking at the river below. Ari was next to him and when he spotted the girls he made his way towards them, his eyes flashing as if his magic recognized their own.
Ari: Can you walk on your own, Sage?
Violet: Yeah, just limping a bit. Why?
Ari, motioning to Xaden: You two should talk in private a bit. C'mon, Kate, let's see where the others are.
Once Violet got close to Xaden she could finally sense why he still hasn't looked at her. His magic was... different. Still him, still her Xaden, but different. By the way he seemed to tense she guessed he could sense she wasn't quite like before either.
He told her about the fight with the Sage and how he killed him and threw him in the ravine. Violet took his hand in hers and leaned her head on his shoulder.
Xaden: I didn't understand. Back when you told me about the sky wielders... I think I do now.
And when red rimmed onyx finally met glowing silver he sighed and pulled her in.
Xaden: Think I've got what it take to join your little group, Violence?
I know she was just a minor antagonistic force and we don’t know much about her except that she chose Jack Barlowe to be her rider and she was described as being temperamental.
But still, she in no way deserved to be betrayed by Jack. She didn’t deserve to be controlled and then cruelly murdered by him – as though she meant nothing.
I felt for her when I read that her gold eyes were opaque and then when Jack started talking about how easily he controlled her and how easily the magical bond she gave the two of them was replaced (I’m presuming with the magic to control the wyvern) - my heart just broke for her.
Iron Flame question (no Onyx Storm spoilers please in case it explains it)… but as I think I’m missing something… I have a question: how in the world did Jack not die with Baide?
