Our boys are together at last in the same sketch! And they’re all lit up and glowing, too. It’s so tooth-rottingly sweet I’ve died seven times already.
Dancing is integral to Moonshadow culture--a blend of martial accuracy and artistic expression, a repository of tradition. Runaan and Ethari have to dance every time they come home from anywhere, whether together or alone, and I’m living for that image.
But this sketch? This is far more than a secret key to the village.
Rayla and Callum could have performed their unlocking dance without ever touching. This dance is meant for touching, which, if you’ll remember Runaan’s soft touch under Ethari’s chin, is something they both enjoy very much.
Runaan’s also all the way down to a single shirt. He lives in his layers--they’re vital for his job and for his mental stability while he does it--so seeing him in just one shirt means he’s off the clock and fully enjoying his soft leisure time.
Ethari’s hair is always a disaster, but Runaan’s is actually untidy as well. Makes me think their dance has some good spins in it. Or something. Mmmm, yes please.
The lovely white glow makes me think they’re dancing under a full moon, or at least in the moonlight, although they could be enveloped by a gleaming spell of some kind too. Or both.
What’s selling me on some kind of Moonshadow marriage ritual is the matching marks on their cheeks. I know that could mean nothing at all. But the fact that they both have the same mark, and that Runaan’s seems to be bleeding, makes me wonder if they broke out the knives and performed a blood ritual. Something sweet and quick, just a nick on the cheek, and maybe they kissed it better right away. But how Moonshadow would that be, to celebrate starting a life together with a reminder of their own mortality?
After all, is it really a Moonshadow wedding if the happy couple hasn’t been lightly stabbed?
