My incredibly late contribution for Brackendra Day 2019. I hope you enjoy!
This entire mini-series is for @jesussavedevenme
Read part 3 here!
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Bracken was beginning to think that maybe he should buy stock in prison systems, considering how much time he’d been spending in them lately. Maybe that way he’d at least wind up with a halfway decent bed and some edible food one of these times.
Trapped as he was in the realm of the Underking, Bracken spent a lot of time thinking. He thought about his past, his family, his friends.
He thought about Kendra.
She’d been left in a real bind. His conversation with her had been cut off when they were both in the middle of their own crises. He worried about whether or not she’d fared well with her dragon encounter, then shook himself out of his worry. Of course she’d done well. She was Kendra Sorenson.
He, on the other hand… well, he was here now.
Sigh.
Kendra had been in his dreams again. Quick, brief glimpses of her often infiltrated his unconscious thoughts. He wasn’t able to make a ton of sense out of what he saw, but there were distinct images which stood out in his brain, clearer than when he had been imprisoned at Living Mirage.
He saw her screaming. Running. Saw her with incredible determination and confidence glowing on her face. She cried. Stared out at a vast expanse of ocean with an unreadable expression. Shot arrows at a large company of centaurs. He even caught a quick glimpse of her speaking with someone who looked remarkably like Risenmay, which piqued his interest.
The ones he found the most intriguing were when he’d catch a glimpse of a much older Kendra Sorenson. He saw her smiling, a flower crown woven into her hair. She laughed while she was toppled backwards by a small pile of young children. Kendra bowed deeply in front of his mother, who knelt before her handmaiden in exchange. Bracken’s father kissed Kendra’s hand. She danced in the moonlight, wearing a white, gauzy dress.
And then there were the dreams of her coming to rescue him. Those were pretty much all the same – he’d first notice light entering the dungeon of the Underking and would look in its direction to determine where it was coming from. The light would increase until suddenly he’d see Kendra walk around the corner, shining like the sun. She’d run to him as he stared at her in disbelief.
The vision of Kendra finding him in the dark came to him often, and it always woke him up. He’d stare into the depths of the dungeon at the area where he first saw Kendra’s light appear in his dream, half-expecting her to show up, and always disappointed when she didn’t.
Until one day, when she actually appeared.
Bracken gaped at her.
Shining like the sun.
“Please let this be real,” he muttered as she drew close to him. He instantly recognized his mother’s crown, and a sense of utter disbelief filled his entire being.
“It’s me,” she assured him. “I have permission to let you out.”
She did more than just let him out; she returned all three of his horns to him. He’d never been in possession of all three of his horns at the same time before; he gave away his first to a human who saved his life as a child, which was before his third had grown in. The feeling of power which rushed over him as he took possession of his horns was not unfamiliar to him, but this was different than normal. Fuller, somehow.
Not only did she liberate him from the darkness – yet again – but she’d brought him an overwhelming gift. In addition to all of that, she even helped him defeat his cousin.
He stared at her as Ezabar lead them out of the dungeon. He tried to pay attention to his surroundings, too, but mostly his gaze remained transfixed on the glowing goddess at his side. She looked just the same as she had when he’d seen her last, but there was something different about her now; she carried herself with greater confidence. There was a surety to her step which he’d seen her wear on occasion in the past, but which she now fully owned. Strength and determination punctuated her movements.
She also wore his mother’s crown. The implications of that were tremendous and complex. He chose to ignore them for now in favor of thinking about them later.
When they finally reached the surface, he and Kendra busied themselves by climbing into a boat which the lich assured them would take them back to Crescent Lagoon. It wasn’t until they were out of sight of land that Bracken allowed himself to close his eyes and feel the sunshine on his skin and the breeze in his hair.
“Are you okay?” Kendra’s voice interrupted his reverie.
He smiled as he looked at her. “I’m perfect,” he answered. “You’ve saved me.”
Let’s end the year with some Brackendra (or platonic Bracken & Kendra) content!
Prompts:
Hands, Magic, Longing
Use of prompts is not required in order to participate. All forms of fan-created content will be reblogged. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Written for @aerinmelina‘s @fablehavenshipfest! I had no idea what to do for the story but @fairyprincesskendra gave me the idea. I had so much fun with this, I love these two so much
So book 2 is when Warren the Great is introduced. He immediately helps Kendra, and says a lot of comforting/validating things to her. (Please cut me a break for not citing specific lines - I’m without my books at the moment haha.) Suffice it to say, Warren comes in and helps Kendra save the day. He’s proven time and again that he will do whatever it takes to do the right thing, including sacrificing himself if need be. And Kendra has pretty much adopted him into her life as the older brother she never had.
Warren protects Kendra, and he takes his job seriously. It gets him hurt a lot, however I would argue that his actions aren’t careless but rather calculated (or as calculated as they can be) on his part. He knows the risks. He wants Kendra to be safe. Which is why I don’t think I’ll be able to understand if he’s not in the next Dragonwatch book.
Did you know:
Kendra is bound to wisdom, and the way to earn wisdom is to go through hardship and come out on top. Warren is a protector - a game keeper protects its inhabitants. Our Warren is very protective of our Kendra.
Now on to other things since that particular dynamic in their relationship has been clearly labeled.
A lot of us in the fandom have read between the lines/have picked up on the subtext that a deep friendship has grown between Warren and Kendra, borne out of mutual respect for one another and their differing strengths. They are some sort of distant cousin in actual relation to one another, but they behave more like siblings. Their bond is tight, and Kendra trusts him. I do, too, even though this is a Brandon Mull series! ;) Fandom has explored different areas of the Warren and Kendra dynamic, myself included.
I think one of the biggest components in their relationship is compassion. Warren is a genuinely good man, with the best intentions. Does he always make the right choices? Nah. And I’d bet he was a handful when he was a kid. But he’s so compassionate toward people in need. He thinks about other people a lot and considers how his actions will affect them. (It just so happens that Kendra tends to be in need a lot - a dynamic which I hope will shift a bit in the books soon.) Kendra is also an incredibly compassionate person and thinks of others pretty much always. Warren and Kendra combined equal a hopeless duo of good-doers who want to make the world a safer place for all of its inhabitants. If that isn’t a pure goal, then I apparently don’t know what the meaning of “pure” is. More than that, though... I found this quote somewhere on the internet and chose to paint it as my contribution for Warren and Kendra Day 2019:
Warren and Kendra care about people, each other included. They will do whatever they can to help each other and the people they love.
Their relationship is one of my favorite dynamics in the Fablehaven series. I’m a sucker for wholesome platonic relationships, and Fablehaven delivers on that one here.
I wanted to have a fic ready for today, but alas - the muses in my brain will have to be appeased at another time. Life outside of writing has needed my attention.
To sum up, Warren and Kendra are awesome, funny, tender, compassionate, protective, and are willing to sacrifice everything in the name of doing what is right. I love them and their dynamic, and I hope we see more of it as Dragonwatch progresses.
