#young rayla

[ask-runaan-anything]

What would you have done differently when you were raising Rayla?

Differently than what? Obviously I taught her everything she needs to know about life in the most helpful and efficient ways possible.

...Unless Ethari says otherwise...

[raisedbyheathens]

Supportive elf adoptive dads! Troubles and comfort! I hope you guys like this!

Dang it, I didn't tag this right @dragonprinceweek this was from yesterday 😅

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[ask-ethari-anything]

Hey etari I have 2 questions for you

1 you will tell a story about laina and runaama when they did something wrong

2 you will tell stories about baby rayly

I greet you very much ps you with runan are my favorite characters

ps if I wrote something wrong in English, sorry but I come from Polish and I still write so well in English

Good evening, love, and welcome. I'm glad you've come by to say hello! Hmm, you look like Rayla, but if you were Rayla, you wouldn't ask about yourself in the third person, so I suppose you must be someone else. *conspiratorial wink*

Rayla was always a powerhouse of determination. It took four adults to keep her chaos contained, and even then we didn't always succeed. It was always better to redirect it than try to stop it.

One day, before she came to live with us, Lain, Tiadrin, Runaan, and I were busy cleaning up around the house, and Rayla was determined to be useful to someone. She broke a vase trying to help Lain, spilled a bucket of moonberries trying to help me, and scraped a horn along the table top trying to help Tiadrin. We were at our wits' end.

But Runaan looked at this wee bundle of energy and thought to himself, "That's exactly what I need to clean the tops of the windows." He helped Rayla balance with her little bare feet on the front curve of his horns so she could clean the top section of the big windows in the kitchen, and she was very happy to help him out.

And then she didn't want to get down.

I had to rescue him by settling her on my shoulders and dancing with him for a few minutes, so she could be a part of our dance, too. She held onto my horns and said "Wheeeeee" as I spun Runaan around the kitchen. Lain pulled Tiadrin from her task to join us, and it cheered all of us up.

Now we have a family tradition of celebrating chore time being over by dancing, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you have any chores today, best to get them done sooner so you have more time for dancing later!

[azissuffering]

did someone ask for more baby rayla content

[reginadraconis]

Teaser Thursday~A little scene from an upcoming chapter.

Ethari uses his thumb to brush away the tears. “It’s okay to feel scared, Rayla. Everyone does at one time or another.”

“Runaan doesn’t, though.” She protests miserably. “He never gets scared. He just gets angry and scary. And now he’s going to be scary-angry at me.”

“And why do you think that, little one?”

She shakes her head and Ethari smiles. Stubborn, like her mother, and like his husband. “Rayla, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything.”

“I don’t want to say.”

“Oh, and why not?”

“Because,” She’s trying really hard not to cry now. “Because I don’t want you to be angry with me too.”

“I won’t be.”

“You don’t know that, ‘thari.” She sags her tiny body into his chest. Clutches the front of his tunic and clutches. He can feel the damp wetness of her tears and the halting gasps of her breathing. “It wasn’t a very nice thing I said.”

“I’m sure that I’ve heard worse. Maybe even said worse myself.” As much as he loved Runaan with all of himself, his husband had a certain talent in pulling even his temper out of him sometimes. “Runaan is not always the most empathetic elf.”

“Empathetic?”

“Understanding, patient. Sometimes he can be very-”

“Horrible!” Rayla supplies, helpfully. Her voice is no longer muffled by sobs or Ethari’s chest but it’s still so small, so painfully young. “Sometimes he can be so horrible like something that smells really, really bad?”

Because this is how I plan shit lol. Random dialogues and loose directions.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Runaan & Rayla Characters: Runaan (The Dragon Prince), Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayla's parents Additional Tags: Runaan to the rescue, Young Rayla, Runaan gets to wear his hood, Moonshadow elves, Big spider nest of doom, Shelob's annoying little sister, Did I mention the giant spider yet, soft Runaan Summary:

Little Rayla got impatient waiting for Runaan to come visit one afternoon, so her mother sends him out into the forest to catch up. What Runaan finds makes him hood up and go on a rescue mission.

[ask-runaan-anything]

What crimes did Rayla commit to get banned from the forge ages 7-12? -Tricky💛💚

Breaking and entering, Shenanigans, Mild Stealth Violations, Hooliganism, Bedtime Insurrection, Thievery I, Bait and Switch, Thievery II, and Smirking During Interrogation.

Also she set something on fire, but I believe that part was an accident.

[ask-ethari-anything]

Have you ever questioned your love for your husband? Maybe after an argument or shortly before the wedding.

My mom told me she was very close to cancelling her and my step father's wedding the day before it was held because she was overthinking their relationship and all their little disagreements.

Runaan and I have had plenty of dark times together. Sometimes we haven't understood each other's views well, and it's caused extra stress when we both hoped to be united. I've definitely questioned the wisdom of loving this assassin! But I've never questioned that love itself. The heart wants what the heart wants, and to deny that want is just silly. It's there, just acknowledge it! And then you can decide if you want to do anything about it or not.

Emotions are not reasons, and they're not excuses. They're just feelings. Everyone has them. They can tell you whether you like or dislike something, but that won't tell you whether that thing is good or bad. You have to decide that yourself.

Runaan came back from a particularly rough mission once, years ago, and basically collapsed into tears once we were alone. I eased him through our recovery ritual, and while I lay next to him and fed him berries while his hair dried, he rested in his weighted blanket and quietly told me of the horrors he'd seen. Things had gone wrong before he even reached his target, and he'd needed to seek shelter while the Moon was down. Then a little one with a pet dog and a fist full of little golden flowers found his blood trail. Runaan was hurt, alone, and wary. But the child didn't raise the alarm, so Runaan didn't strike. His attack when the Moon rose was chaotic and violent, and he took more wounds for his efforts to complete his mission. But he chose to spare the child, and her dog, when he saw them hiding.

And when he reported his mission success to Avizandum, the King of the Dragons flared his wings and stomped his foot and demanded that Runaan return to finish the job properly. No witnesses.

Well, what could he say, except Yes? He swore an oath. So he came home to me, and he cried, and when I asked him if he was really going to do as Avizandum demanded, he closed his eyes and said, "Of course I am."

And that's when I questioned the wisdom of loving an assassin - one whose sword is directed by another, one whose choices are not always his own. I questioned it hard. Could I really survive loving him, if this was the sort of angst he would always be drenched in?

But, see, I realized that it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter if I survive loving him or not. I love him either way.

I was very soft with him until the full Moon came when he was scheduled to return and finish his previous mission. He held my face very seriously as we stood by the ritual pool to say our farewells, and he said, "You mustn't ask me, after. I cannot lie to you, my heart. Please don't make me want to."

And what could I say, except Yes? I watched him run up the treeway, and then I was alone with my thoughts - and Rayla. The next day after school, she asked me if she could brush Runaan's moonstrider while he was away, and I said she could as long as she did a proper job Runaan would be proud of.

She dashed out eagerly, and then she didn't return, even for supper. I wandered out to the paddock to see what was taking her so long, and she was gone!

Tethu, my shadowpaw, had apparently been conscripted to keep their secret, but Rayla hadn't bothered to ask him not to show me where she'd gone. A ten minute ride led me to a quiet dell where Rayla was happily braiding flowers into Lachir's feathers, and Lachir was preening like the pretty queen she is. I let Tethu whuff into Rayla's hair inquisitively, and she jumped to her feet.

"You said to do a proper job," Rayla blurted. "One Runaan would like."

I leaned forward onto Tethu's saddle and studied her with sudden and intense interest. "And what's that look like, then, Runaan's proper job?" I asked.

She perked right up, proud to get to tell me all about Runaan's instruction. "Sometimes," she began, tucking her little hands behind her back, "finishing something properly takes longer, and you must travel farther and work harder. But such a success is all the sweeter for its extra effort." Beside her, Lachir whuffed her support.

"You had to travel out of the village and braid Lachir's feathers with flowers to do a proper-?" I began, while Rayla was already nodding eagerly. This "proper" wasn't a proper "proper," at all!

And then I realized what Runaan had really been asking me, the day he left. If I should ask what he had done, he would feel he had to tell me the truth: he'd found a way to wriggle right through some sort of loophole in Avizandum's directive, Moonshadowing his motives and his reasonings so hard that not even I was privy to them, lest I... what? Disapprove? Hardly!

My heart soared, and a great weight lifted from me. I hopped down and spun Rayla around, and we played and braided in the dell for another hour before our rumbling tummies reminded us that it was suppertime, and had been for a while now.

Runaan returned soon enough, and I carefully did not ask him anything about his mission. But as I took his braid down to wash his hair in our usual ritual, I found a tiny golden blossom tucked into it. I looked at it, and then our eyes met. He smiled at me ever so softly and squeezed my hand. And then we carried on, as we always do.

It isn't always wise to love my assassin. But I'm entirely incapable of doing otherwise! Especially when I keep finding proof of the depth of his softness, hidden where few can see.