Shocking new addition to the dragon AU; Fäolin(on the left)! With Arya, but I drew her before :D These two are pairing that feels a bit ignored imo (despite being canon even).
For the character meme, how do you feel about the minor elves? Yaela, Invidia, Wyrden, Othiara, Kialandi, Formora, Fäolin, Glenwing... Any or all of them, really.
Hey! I was so excited when I got this ask! I did a little happy dance. I am going to be splitting this up into two parts, because I am still doing an in depth read of the Cycle, and I am in the middle of Brisingr. Eragon’s spell weavers are not really studied in depth where I am at, and I have read Inheritance the least out of all the books. The Characters I can do are the ones who stuck in the memory or that I have already read about.
Kailandi:
How I feel about the character: I am intrigued. If I remember correctly, Kailandi is the elf that cast the spell on Oromis that separated him from his magic. That leads me to wonder, why did he want to know that. It is my personal opinion that Elven Society has a very unhealthy view on magic and physical abilities, leading to many societal problems. I wonder if Kailandi was or knew someone who had physical or magical problems, leading him to study the way it was done. It would explain his defection as well as his choice in combat.
All the people I ship romantically: I headcanon him as aromantic, but hugely invested in platonic relationships.
Non Romantic OTP for his character: I imagine him surrounded by a bunch of little mini-rider apprentices. I imagine he was the one who would heal injuries and help with accidents that the babies did not want the masters to know about. I also headcanon he was an empathetic listener and someone who would help human riders figure ways around elven strength and skill.
Unpopular Opinion about the Character: IDK what the current fandom thinks about him, but as far as in-universe opinion, I believe Kailandi was unrelentingly, apologetically about life being completely fair, to the point he would be willing to make it so. I think he was committed to an ideal that didn’t really exist, not that he was power hungry.
I wish would/had happened: Honestly, that we were given an idea of who and how he was trained. I assume he was not an elder Rider, seeing as Oromis was considered more powerful. So he would have been a rider during the rise of humans and outside of Elven authority.
Formora:
How I feel about this character: This is the character that I relate to the most, as far as making dumbass and panicky decisions. From the little we know she is a bit more straightforward than her brother and a little less likely to take a roundabout approach.
People I ship romantically: I headcanon she was involved with a female human rider.
My non romantic OTP: I think she was probably very martially skilled and headcanon she trained with and around the dwarves. I think she had good friends in several different militaries. Weird headcanon: I think since she had Kailandi remove some of her memories of other militaries and locations for the sake of giving her friends a fighting chance.
My unpopular opinion about this character: Same as Kailandi IDK what popular opinion is, let alone unpopular. I do think that she was one of the people who went mad with their dragon, but I think she sought Brom out in the end for him to kill her.
One thing I wish would/had happened: Similiar to Kailandi, I wonder how she was trained, but I also wonder if she was trained with Kailandi or separately and how that impacted their relationship.
Fäolin
How I feel about this character: He was too young to die.
All the people I ship romantically with this character: Arya, a long life, and adventure.
My non-romantic OTP for this character: Idk about OTP, but I think Ajihad got a headache whenever he saw him coming. Fäolin could talk anyone into anything and a lot of young warriors would suddenly find themselves with interesting jobs after Fäolin “discovered” them.
My unpopular opinion about this character: IDK on popularity, but Fäolin was a pain in the ass to everyone but Arya and sometimes Glenwing. He was full of ideas about how people could do things better. Half of Arya’s problems with diplomacy come from Fäolin.
What I wish would/had happened: I wish we got to see the impact his death had on Du Weldenvarden. Did he have friends, family? Did Arya have to bring news of his fate?
Glenwing:
How I feel about this character: He needs a fucking nap, y’all. He is too old for all this nonsense.
All the people I ship romantically with this character: a nap.
Non romantic OTP: I can not state this enough: a nap. He was the permanent third wheel to two very young and obnoxious elves. He has been on duty since Arya chased the last four elves off. He has no one to commiserate with, just the birds, the horses and occasionally Ajihad. He is the person who is smoothing over diplomatic problems and he needs a nap.
Unpopular opinion: He was not a patient elf. He didn’t volunteer, he was chosen because he was stubborn and diplomatic. He was, in essence, a baby sitter for Arya since she was the equivalent of thirty. He wants to retire.
What I wish had/would happen: I wish we had gotten moments where the humans talked about him and what he was like. Nasuada and others generally talk about Arya, but there were two other elves there at least. How did he impact the rest of the world?
Consider: once the egg is in elven territory (an impenetrable and highly trapped forest), in elven hands, behind elvish wards, what guarantee does the Varden actually have that the Elves (who want an elven Rider) will actually return the egg? The answer might be that Arya and her guards swore a detailed oath about which route to take, how long time they would take, how many elves would be allowed to be tested, where the testing-ground would be, to keep the egg safe from any would-be interlopers, contingencies for the above, etc. I’m thinking the oath would have been negotiated and translated/shaped in large by Brom, who was a respected and neutral party, and probably overseen and confirmed by the Dwarves.
The Twins would then get their hands on the specifics, and leak those specifics to the Empire, allowing Durza to set up his ambush well in advance.
(Muttering to self) Wow, somehow writing smut of all things has revealed to me so much more about the relationship between not only Eragon and Arya but Arya and Fäolin and why, while Arya and Fäolin did indeed love each other very much, there was something...off. Even in MIC.
This thing I'm working on will indeed be put up on AO3 and will be linked here, but not for a while. Hopefully I'll upload it before I go back to work in a week, but no promises. There's definitely some similarities between the way Eragon and Fäolin um...perform. But looking at it now after skimming 'First' again...
One day soon I will put out another ramble about Arya and Fäolin's relationship and how there was already some odd wall/rift that would have prevented them from being life mates/actual long term mates (by elf standards) though would have allowed them to continue having a close friendship, but that's for another day.
So, Eragon does feel a little jealous of Fäolin after Arya reveals he was the one she was in love with and had a relationship with, very much akin to his reaction in canon.
However! Over time, as Arya, and Glen and Brom by extension, talk about Fäolin more, Eragon comes to realize that Fäolin loved Arya for much the same reasons that he does. He recognizes a lot of what Arya saw in Fäolin in himself!
And, most importantly, Eragon matures and sees that Fäolin and the relationship he had with Arya made her happy. That Arya had someone like that for her, in her corner in ways no one else could be, was so, so important. And he is so happy for that. He's happy that she had someone that made her happy! He understands that Fäolin was special, was a very important person in Arya's life, and damn it, if he were still alive then Eragon is pretty sure he and Fäolin would be pretty damn good friends!
Just like Paolini, I don't think the relationship between Fäolin and Arya would have survived post-Gil'ead. I think they both would have changed enough to still love each other, but not be in love with each other. It would have exposed some cracks that never would have come to light had they not been separated so violently without confirmation of the other's status. And I think Eragon, after a year or two, would have realized that as well. Arya confides in him that she sometimes finds herself 'getting angry at a dead man for questions he can't answer,' and he realizes that while a part of her will always love Fäolin...she is no longer in love with him, and is, in some ways, recognizing Eragon's feelings for her and that they may indeed be mutual. But because he has sworn to never pursue her without explicit consent on her part, he just continues on supporting her and loving her in the ways that he can.
Iunno. What stands out to me the most is that Eragon understands Fäolin is and always will be a big part of Arya's life, both pre-relationship and during the relationship. They can freely talk about him and Arya can make comparisons or quips about past interactions with Fäolin and have Eragon laugh at them without feeling jealous or angry or set aside. He knows what they have is in the now, and he has nothing to fear, and neither does she.
(Also, I don't know if anyone has picked it up, but to be perfectly blunt here lol: Fäolin is always compared to the sun, very bright, warm, never stopping that cheery, playful side. Eragon, increasingly so as we move along the timeline and Arya realizes {and both does not realize, being our dumb as rocks demi lmao} her feelings, is similarly compared to the sun, but in a slightly different way. Yes, he's got that sunny warmth, but his warmth is deeper and warmer toned. At least, that's what I've tried to do. I don't know if i've gone too subtle or if it's popped up in only like one or two stories that have made it to post but it's a running thing I've done, especially when in Arya's pov.)
I really hope this made sense, hit me up again if it didn't lol.
(A/N: This is only spicy in the way that nudity is involved but not exactly described and it's supposed to be a lead-in to more explicit stuff but haha that's for me to know and you all to probably never find out.
Fäolin is the more experienced one here. The only experienced one, really, and that's more because he was bored I guess? He's not had much to do since Arya left and spends his days practicing sharpshooting and just sorta wandering. He took partners to pass the time I guess.
Arya's coming off of a deployment that was one of the most active and combat filled that she'd had up till that point and is understandably dealing with that.
Fäolin told her how he felt in the Menoa tree probably like...two or three days before this. Derps.)
“Relax.” Fäolin murmured into her neck. He refused to continue if she wouldn’t. He could feel all the muscles along her back, the plane of her stomach, even her legs, loosely wrapped around his waist, tense and even trembling with the instinct to stay alert. “You’re not out there. You’re here. You’re with me.”
Arya bit her lip. The feeling of his hands running up and down her spine, trailing lazy patterns with those calloused fingertips, did feel nice. It wasn’t exactly the feeling of being absolutely bare while he sat shirtless beneath her that had her stomach twisting in knots. Clothes were clothes, skin was skin. There was nothing wrong with either.
But it still…it still felt almost wrong.
Not in the way humans seemed to feel when bare, all embarrassment and shame. Arya had laughed at the other Wolfcats all those years ago when they yelped in indignation of her leaning into the showers to pass along orders. So silly to be afraid of someone else seeing them naked, to not take pride in what nature and diligent work had shaped them into being.
Vans had her running laps for the whole day afterwards, chanting over and over, “I will knock and ask before I enter the showers, I will knock and ask before I enter the showers,” until he figured the young elf had learned her lesson in consent to see verses seeing without any warning.
But being so close to someone, while so vulnerable…it felt almost frightening. She knew Fäolin wouldn’t hurt her, and at the same time she couldn’t help but feel like there was a knife about to slide into her unprotected belly, someone waiting for them to get on with it before leaping in to strike.
“Sorry.” Even she could hear the tension in her voice, trying to hide it as she was. “I’m not…used to this.” She tightened her grasp on his shoulders, a soft, unexpected noise leaving her throat when he huffed against her neck at the change. Now that felt nice.
“It’s okay.” Fäolin assured her. His lips tickled her skin as they moved, a shiver breaking through the stress. “Do you want me to stop? We don’t have to do this.”
Again, she bit her lip. There was no denying she wanted him, not when he had confessed his feelings to her and kissed her that night. Hell, she kept wanting to kiss him, again and again, to feel him against her lips and her body and warm and everywhere at once.
If she left Ellesméra in 48 hours without having felt that in its entirety, felt him…she was pretty sure she’d be regretting it, very deeply, quietly cursing in her bedroll every night, for however long she was out in the field.
So she mustered up all her willpower to relax. Tried to force her muscles to ease.
It didn’t work nearly as well as she hoped.
Arya leaned away with a shaky breath. Fäolin let her, shifting his grip to link his fingers behind her lower back to support her just as she did the same behind his neck. His eyes, mossy with those fascinating motes of liquid gold, held steady on her as she searched his face. Calm. The barest glimmer of the ache he felt, the almost painful want.
“We don’t have to do this, Arya.”
“Shut up.” Mumbled, lacking any bite. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, still trying to shake the static buzzing, the feeling of trepidation. “I can…I can relax.”
“It’s okay if you can’t. We can try another–”
He stopped. Her eyes were half hooded when she opened them again. She still felt tense, muscles against his legs and his sides rigid with the ingrained need for control, the same control over everything that had kept her alive out in the world for so long.
She slid her hand from behind his neck to cradle his jaw against her palm, thumb wandering over his lips.
“Shut up and kiss me.” She pressed her forehead to his. “Make me relax.”
There was no pleading in her tone. She had given him an order.
His smile was soft as his lips as they brushed against hers. “I can work with that.”
~~~
(Post-A/N: Is Arya a dom or is Fäolin letting her feel in control of the situation because he knows that's definitely a way to make her feel relaxed?
