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nevertheless-moving · 4 days

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“The other day,” Skar added, “he was talking about what he’s doing there. It sounded an awful lot like he was learning how to read.” The men shifted uncomfortably. “So?” Kaladin asked. “What’s the problem? Sigzil can read his own language. Storms, I can read glyphs.” “It’s not the same,” Skar said. “It’s feminine,” Drehy added. “Drehy,” Kaladin said, “you are literally courting a man.” “So?” Drehy said. “Yeah, what are you saying, Kal?” Skar snapped. “Nothing! I just thought Drehy might empathize.…” “That’s hardly fair,” Drehy said. “Yeah,” Lopen added. “Drehy likes other guys. That’s like … he wants to be even less around women than the rest of us. It’s the opposite of feminine. He is, you could say, extra manly.”

Different possible explanations for this scene, to be taken up depending on which headcanon would be the funniest for a given fic:

While being gay is more broadly acceptable than being unmanly, conflating gender roles with sexuality is not uncommon; the other guys have just gotten more than one drunken lecture from Drehy about how he hates being treated womanly just because he likes dick. Kaladin was obviously working those nights.

Under Vorinism, Gender roles are rigid, but a range of sexualities are perfectly fine. The ardent who visited Kaladin's hometown was just a freak who hated gay people so much it was unreal, and took great pains to explain to the boys of this isolated rural town the unhinged idea that marrying a man was OBVIOUSLY womanly and therefore Bad. He mostly unlearned that shit after joining the army but is a bit confused. It doesn't come up often.

There was one (1) elderly queer couple in heartstone growing up, and one of the men was super gnc, which made people uncomfortable but his parents always told him that you shouldn't shame people for harmless joy. so, yeah, Kaladin just sort of figured that in a relationship between guys, one of them is the woman. He assumes Renarin is gay and I mean. He's not wrong. Part of the reason he never accepted friendly offers of soldier companionship. Not that there's anything wrong with it. He never asked Drehy who was who, because its none of his business and he didn't want to know.

the only times Kaladin has personally ever noticed being attracted to another man is when the guy was doing something womanly. Is it a kink? Is it an extremely dense man needing someone to stand on top of clearly marked social signposts and wave their arms for him to even register them as a sexual being? who knows! not Kaladin! he doesn't have time to unpack any of that. anyway he assumed that all same sex attraction worked the same way and obviously never actually talked about it with a living person. actually I'm expanding this to cover all of Kaladin's sexuality just to make him extra stupid. first time he noticed Tarah was when she punched a dude.

#stormlight archive #oathbringer #kaladin stormblessed #cosmere #yes for that last one it means he finds sigzil talking about science research and Taking Notes on his training kinda hot #that might have been part of why he agreed to be studied but he's totally professional about it okay #also he may have Noticed Hoid playing the flute like that but that's not why he stopped to listen to him!#and falling in love with Shallan after she pulled a Shardblade out of her ass...#fuck this headcanon works shockingly well i'm cracking myself up #if you have other alternate takes on the weird little homophobic scene of all time please please let me know #nevertheless cosmere

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nevertheless-moving · 5 days

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AU where Renarin asks Kaladin for help being Radiant during Words of Radiance, leading to secret training. Everyone thinks they're fucking. Renarin and Kaladin are the last to find out, being blissfully oblivious to the more obvious interpretations of emerging from extremely private chasm time in uncharacteristically good moods with messed up clothes but no injuries, along with a million other suspicious things about their 'training'. Not to mention Kaladin suddenly switching his shifts around to take over Renarin's night watch, and then guarding from inside the room so they can 'talk'.

First Chapter.

I have thought about this au a normal amount. Look how short this post is. Literally just a basic summary of the premise. No rambly meta roughly outlining a fanfic or deranged sidebars at all.

Actual eventual fucking is optional.

Either A) Kalarin 'well now that you mention it, you make me a better version of myself and i like the way you hug and for some inexplicable reason, we really understand each other. and i may be experiencing some unusual emotions in your direction. if you must know.' [me and the bad bitch i pulled by being autistic. they're both the bad bitch and the being autistic] OR B) comedic rlainarin and ?shakadolin (insert fav kaladin ship here) long game:

Adolin: 'is this how my father felt.'

Renarin: 'Yeah, it's official. if I'm not attracted to Kaladin Stormblessed then I'm just not attracted to humans. Fuck. Got to stop thinking about licking carapace when I'm supposed to courting my father's new favorite son.'

Rlain: 'why does the captain's boyfriend keep looking at me like that. I really need this job.'

Honestly absolutely everything i've written and plotted out is option A, but a part of my heart belongs to B) EXCLUSIVELY crabsexual Renarin. like...i am putting the poor boy through so many romance tropes with grey ace oblivious kaladin in this au. renarin is hiding a boner in probably 1/5th of this fic. the idea of going through ALL THAT — Sweaty Kaladin Stormblessed pinning him to the ground while they're both half naked. medically necessary stormlight shotgunning. magic moonlit flight. increasingly frequent and lengthy hugs — the idea of going through all that and being like hm. this does nothing for me. but i am still getting parshendi wet dreams. EXCELLENT. literal dating the hottest nicest coolest person you know just to really confirm no, you're for sure a gay furry. Also I love rlainarin so even in option A there's probably some post ROW ambiguously poly kaladin/renarin/rlain.

ok long meta/ spoilers for this au (not sure if it counts as spoilers when I'm uncertain how much I'll fully write out)

I was compulsively rereading WOR for the best place to put the canon divergence start scene. Since starting writing this meta post I made a spreadsheet with the next 28 days of events. Ok the spreadsheet has gotten bigger. Oh god. The spreadsheet has multiple tabs to keep track of bridge four characters shifts. aaahhh

I literally have an entire other drafted start where Renarin's already a bridgeman, but the thing is I needed to give them a bit more time to actually interact before the whitespine uncaged duel, which goes differently for Renarin in this AU.

...I just really think Renarin deserves a huge public unhinged deadpoolesque WOR duel scene where people are just like 'Wow! That kid is Not Normal! But it in a way that we as Alethi Approve Of!! I really thought the sword got him that time but I guess he dodged?? Guess he is the Blackthorn's son! Good luck for him that the guy he's fighting keep dismissing his shardblade and grabbing his head, but he's still in shardplate so Renarin should probably watch out, Holy Heralds that punch probably shattered his entire ribcage! Oh I guess not since he's running in again! How in Ash's actual Tit's is he doing that? Do you mean he and that bridgeman actually were secretly training? Can he train me to do...whatever this is?'

THEN at the end when the audience is like huh! wow! that was pretty rad! guess maybe they weren't fucking! Renarin passes out with his shardblade still summoned (he's been really focused on keeping it manifested but it's been yelling at him and this whole thing has been a lot). Naturally Kaladin and Adolin freak out about this. Kaladin carries him from the field in his big strong man arms to get some stormlight, maybe leans down and tries to breathe out his last smidge for him. So to the audience which is THE ENTIRE ALETHI NOBILITY is like ohhh so they were secretly training AND fucking.

Dalinar doesn't catch that last part.

Renarin holds Kaladin back from going back out there and speaking up about his boon, because he doesn't need to look at the future to realize that won't end well. which makes Kaladin super pissed off at Renarin, leading them to have a little 'breakup' after this.

Meanwhile Adolin is at first stuck in his armor and then stuck in his role (if he leaves the arena to go after Renarin then it means that it was all for nothing) But his brother's sword, the sword that Adolin gave him, the sword he took up to protect Adolin, is still laying in the bloody sand.

he, and everyone else, has got every reason to believe that his brother just fucking died, and he can't even go weep over his body because if he does (if he leaves the arena to go after Renarin then it means that it was all for nothing).

So when Adolin gets his boon in a dead silent arena and issues the challenge to Sadeas it is. Scary. Sadeas has to make a choice right then and there about what's worth more, his pride or his life. Is fairly sure that Adolin is going to kill him if he steps in that ring. actually he's fairly certain Adolin will kill him anyway, so might as well go out with a fight maybe? hm. this went badly. Two young blackthorns, almighty have mercy on the kingdom. Is very seriously considering cutting his losses and retiring in shame to his estates. He has very nice estates.

But anyway, the thing is, for all this to happen, they need:

Sigzil to get read in so he can do some theorizing about blocking investiture based on his old Master's words

Renarin to be one of very few people with an aunt who can just. give him a box of aluminum wire because he said please.

Leyten to make some aluminum lined gloves, which means that while Renarin has to focus to keep the shardblade summoned, it's not screaming too loudly in his ears.

the two of them to realize that Renarin's self healing is even faster than Kaladin's in a scene I will probably lightheartedly skim over because that's not the focus ok. we are moving past this because we need to get to Kaladin checking the fit of Renarin's gloves to make sure the weird soul interfering metal won't mess with his hands, and then feel some sort of way about the fact the fact that he's massaging the prince's left hand.

Somewhere private for Renarin's absolutely bonkers training montage. Which is the chasms.

and I tragically realized that chasm training got shut down literally RIGHT before Renarin asked to join the bridge four. Which is a storming (I hate that even when I'm writing meta I have a hard time saying fucking except literally because it feels out of place) problem, because the FOUNDATION, the very HEART of this au is that Renarin gets pulled aside by Kaladin for 'special spear training' and the soldiers are like huh okay yeah that's a euphemism, and bridgefour initially agrees with the interpretation.

Then after Renarin's Extra Heretical radiant reveal to the rest of bridge four, the guys start subtly encouraging the fucking rumors because. I mean it's suddenly the better option for lighteyes to suspect, compared to what they're actually doing, which is Kaladin trying to get the highprince's son to use his ability to TELL THE FUTURE in a combat scenario while they spar actually stabbing each other a bunch.

You think you want to watch radiant sparring, then you realize how much blood is involved. Mostly Renarin's blood. The boys really wish Renarin was just giving the Captain fantastic head, life was so much simpler when they thought that the skinny Kholin boy was just getting down on his knees for their Captain. The captain was sleeping better. It was a good time, when they didn't know the truth. (It was actually very stressful. but this is worse).

Kaladin and Renarin do not know about any of this. Renarin finally finds out through an incredibly confusing conversation with Adolin where his older brother gives him a bottle of fancy lube and a bunch of stuff clicks into place suddenly. Kaladin doesn't find out about the rumors until the very end of the book, because he's an idiot. The only one who finds out after them is Dalinar, because Adolin worked like a dog to keep it all from him. Brother of the year.

(Oh! also! while kaladin still caves about the assassination around the same time as canon, he comes around on saving elhokar a couple days earlier, leading to a severely sleep deprived radiant Kaladin somehow convincing Elhokar and Moash to travel together through alethkar to escape possible assassins in the camp and reclaim kholinar, with Moash teaching Elhokar to be a hero and better king.) it's a torturous experience for both of them. all the caravaners hate moash's guts for being a lighteye who treats his darkeyed servant like shit. elhokar accidentally lightweaves his eyes brown when he's scared about his drops running out at a bad time, assumes it's just permanent now so it is, because that is bare minimum stormlight usage. the sex is deeply fucked up and intensely hot. they both become radiants but in a useless way. Elhokar technically becomes a wine whore. Their entire arc through oathbringer is WILDLY tonally dissonant to Renarin/Kaladin's. Like we cut from Moash fucking Elhokar into the ground while choking him, with Elhokar trying in gasps to explain to the Parchmen who are watching that this is not actually good BDSM etiquette anymore, to a balcony with Kaladin blushing while holding hands with Renarin for the first time since they officially started courting. I have enough thoughts about this that i'm gonna cut here and make another au/post. i swear my justifications for their actions are plausible, or failing that, at least funny. they do have experience significant character growth. Some of it could even be considered positive.)

Anyway!! Back to Words of Radiance! After laying awake at night thinking about it, here is the actual canon divergence: it's not Renarin working up the nerve to directly talk to Kaladin.

it's the chasmfiend.

It never moved closer to camp, so the chasm training never got cancelled, and since it had been so successful, actually increasingly became part of standard spearmen training. The stained glass heresy panels of chasmfiends that I'm wildly assuming Renarin Saw in canon (a monster moving beneath a sentry's watchlight, a pair of legs wearing a Kholin uniform sticking out of the Chasmfiend's mouth) are instead replaced in this au with Kaladin (Kaladin breathing stormlight, Kaladin surrounded by windspren) so he suddenly has clear confirmation that this man, the man who even his father trusts, this man could help him and Glys.

And that's worth taking a chance for.

#some mildly nsfw text below the cut #stormlight archive #stormlight au no 3 #my au #nevertheless meta #nevertheless cosmere #renarin kholin #kaladin stormblessed #kalarin #moashkar

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nevertheless-moving · 6 days

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Kaladin set down his cup with noticeably shaky hands, his face drained of color. "He killed my men, Shallan," he said, voice loud in the suddenly silent room.

Several heads slowly turned to look at Nan Balat, who had gone far paler than Kaladin could ever manage, with a few blotches of red on his cheeks for contrast. "What? What men? When? Where? I didn't kill any men! You mean people, right? I didn't kill any people!"

"He was my brother," Shallan said, tears in her eyes. "And you killed him to save Amaram."

"Sixteen of my men, Shallan. Sixteen."

"Of course you never talked about this," Adolin muttered. "Of course not." Why would they sit down and talk about things.

"What—" Dalinar started to say, but Navani shushed him, gently taking his elbow to indicate they should leave.

"Oh, I'm sure they died in glorious battle defending HIghmarshall Amaram. What a wonderful brightlord to defend. You must have been very proud."

"Cenn. Dallet. Cyn. Lyndel —" Kaladin was standing now.

"Yes, men die in war. You're telling me they have names too? Shocking, I tell you. Truly revolutionary information." Shallan stepped toward him, expression contemptuous.

Renarin opened the door with a slight creak, dragging Sigzil by the arm to force him to leave.

"They weren't even fighting Shallan. They were just in his path. We barely understood that a Shardbarer was there. Cenn was fifteen and already injured, and your brother trampled him with a horse."

Navani all but pushed Dalinar out the door, repeatedly hushing him as he tried to interject.

"Wait, what?" Jushu said. "This — this is about Helaran? Shallan, you knew about this? For how long?"

"Blood of my fathers," Adolin moaned. "Of course."

"I'm not leaving," Teft hissed. "Lad needs someone on his side."

"He was my brother Kaladin. My brother." Shallan was openly weeping now. Judging by the snot, it probably wasn't a lightweaving to make Kaladin feel worse.

"I know," Kaladin said, face twisting in guilt. "I know. I'm so sorry, Shallan." He reach one hand out but pulled it back immediately. "I — you have no idea how much I regret defending Amaram, but I did the only thing I could at the time."

Shallan let out a broken cry, then charged forward, knocking over a chair to reach Kaladin.

Adolin scrambled over the table, trying to reach them in time, but his wife was already there, throwing her arms around bridgeboy.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I hate you. I shouldn't have said any of that. I love you. I'm sorry."

"Oh thank the Heralds," Adolin said, slumping back. He didn't really know what his plan would be if they actually started attacking each other. Cry, probably.

"Kaladin Stormblessed killed Helaran?" Wikim whispered.

Adolin winced. Yeah. This was probably how this was always going to go.

At least Kaladin hadn't written a book about it.

Shallan and Kaladin never actually talk about him killing Helaran until well post Oathbringer, when, and it is important it happens in exactly this way, she and Balat are having a petty sibling fight in front of company and she yells "KALADIN CAN YOU KILL MY NEXT OLDEST BROTHER"

#stormlight archive #nevertheless cosmere #oathbringer spoilers #rhythm of war spoilers #maybe i can't remember when Dalinar's book got published #stormlight fanfic #shallan davar #kaladin stormblessed #Windrunnered your tags you get it

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nevertheless-moving · 6 days

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What is this?” Dalinar bellowed toward Sadeas, who sat only a short distance away. The lighteyes on the benchlike rows of seats between them hunched down or fled, leaving a direct line of sight between the highprinces. Sadeas and his wife turned about, lazily. “Why do you ask me?” Sadeas called back.

Wait I'm sorry I missed this the first dozen times I read this scene because that is the funniest shit. POV: you managed to get pretty good seats for the duel! Then Highprince Kholin starts shouting at Highprince Sadeas and you realize a) why these seats were empty and b) this might be the day that the Blackthorn finally snaps and just straight starts murdering people again. And you are in between him and the guy he very clearly wants to start with.

You duck down because you're right in the middle and you don't think you can run in time. There's several points during the duel where you want to get back up because the way the crowds reacting its clearly a really good match but every time you peek back at one of the highprinces they are VISIBLY losing their shit. Apparently Adolin Kholin somehow wins against FOUR shardbareres?? You start to get back up but then he challenges SADEAS to a duel and then someone next to him challenges AMARAM and the king is ARRESTING one of them and you figure you'll stay on the floor until everyone else leaves.

#stormlight archive #words of radiance #cosmere #nevertheless cosmere

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nevertheless-moving · 6 days

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I have a handful of aus that involve bridge four becoming either briefly or unshakably convinced that kaladin is actually a herald (either one who lost his memory, or secretly, as a test for the lighteyes (they're not doing well)). Actually there's probably at least one guy in canon in WOK who has this as his only half joking pet theory and a couple others who are willing to hear him out for laughs. When the Tower run second ideal happens he's just like I TOLD YOU GUYS I STORMING TOLD YOU.

Anyway Bridge Four Shenanigans such as:

swearing by different heralds names extra loudly to see if kaladin turns around at one

One guy around a corner burning glyph wards dedicated to specific heralds at timed intervals while you watch kaladin carefully to see when he twitches

Saying blatantly wrong things about heraldic legends to see if kaladin will correct you. this one actually works sometimes!!

Eventually teft (assuming its not a time travel scenario where teft is also pretty sure radiants shouldn't just know per-recreance things) or kaladin realizes what's going on and exasperatedly explains his Actual Whole Deal. The guys still keep the bit going, 95% because they've learned it really annoys Kaladin, 5% because he might still be a herald that's testing them only he has a new name (its a very multicultural group of men. What's one more name for Jezrian/Yaezir/Yaysi). And if he is a herald testing them then that's a dick move to pull on your own bridge crew so he deserves to be mocked for it.

Bridge Four being Assholes:

Very satisfying to angrily snap "Kaladin's hands!" to his face when he assigns you night watch for the second week in a row.

Or even just doing a normal herald swear and then immediately following it up with "SORRY CAPTAIN NO OFFENSE." The more panic you fake the better. He sighs so hard, it's great.

a genuinely aggrieved "CAPTAIN'S TITS" got such hard laughs after Lopen stubbed his toe that Moash almost threw up

but unfortunately. as we all know. if you do something ironically enough times. it eventually becomes an actual habit.

And now some of the other bridgecrews have picked up on it and the Captain might actually send the guys who trained them on a one way trip to the tranquiline halls. Skar tripped in front of Prince Adolin and cursed without thinking about it and now the Brightlord is asking. a LOT of questions. Couple of pissed off ardents might get involved. It's messy.

#stormlight archive #kaladin stormblessed #bridge four #words of radiance #way of kings #stormlight au no 23 #stormlight au no 8 #stormlight au no 24 #stormlight au no 27B #stormlight au no 33 #my au #nevertheless cosmere

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nevertheless-moving · 7 days

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#And then they argue and cry a bunch. I like to think in another 10 years or so she similarly tells her siblings about killing their mother #stormlight archive #oathbringer spoilers #kaladin stormblessed #shallan davar #nevertheless cosmere

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nevertheless-moving · 8 days

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Cool f/m paring have you considered making her 6'11 and him 5'

#me with Hesina and lirin in hesina willshaper au #stormlight au no 2

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nevertheless-moving · 8 days

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#and then Kaladin got to curbstomp Sadeus and make him hand over all the bridgemen or else get thrown into a chasm and everybody clapped#dropped that highprince in front of Elhokar from 50 feet in the air#he couldn't even lash him because of shardplate. had to carry him by the ankle.#literally same energy as cat bringing his human kills because it thinks the human is a pathetic kitten that can't hunt for itself#if you haven't seen the og post the thesis of this au is that Elhokar and Kaladin get super weird about eachother (reblogging with my own tags)

Scene from stormlight au 27, oathbringer to way of kings time travel au

“They didn’t bring their own bridges. They’re doing the tower assault with Sadeas,” Kaladin said in disbelief.

“So much for the Blackthorn’s honor, huh,” Moash said, sneering.

“That, and Sadeas is going to betray them,” Kaladin hissed, moving them further from the ears of passing soldiers. “He’s leading the entire Kholin army into a trap.”

Moash’s eyes widened, turning to watch rank upon rank of blue uniformed soldier march across Sadeas’s bridges.

“Then, this is the battle, the one where we…” Moash trailed off uncomfortably.

The men seemed to have largely decided that remembering a future wasn’t the same as predicting. Still it made them significantly more uncomfortable than the frantic radiant training in the chasms. He could hardly blame them, it made Kaladin uncomfortable too.

“It’s happening same as you remember?” Teft asked under his breath.

“Almost the same.” Kaladin grit his teeth. “It seems that since…El wasn’t able to convince Dalinar to change his plans, the idiot decided to come along for some storming reason.” He nodded at the figure in golden shardplate, massive shard hammer stapped to his back, nearby gold and blue standard waving in the wind.

“I think he gave up his blade,” Syl said, hand up in a humanlike gesture to shield her eyes from the sun. “It’s hard to tell from here, but…I don’t think he’s bonded with one anymore.

Moash froze. “Wait…the highranked lighteye who your friend replaced…El is King Elhokar?”

“I promised him I wouldn’t…” Kaladin shifted uncomfortably.

Moash grabbed his shoulders, leaning in close. “Kal, are you telling me King Elhokar is dead?”

“I -“ Memories of a palace floor, red with blood and light through crystal. Moash, spear in hand, those he swore to protect, killing eachother -

“I watched him die,” Kaladin whispered after a long pause, not meeting Moash’s eyes. “Please Moash, don’t ask me about this, not now.”

Syl tsked in disapproval, but didn’t say anything.

Moash let him go, stumbling back, watching the golden armor with an unfathomable expression. Kaladin wanted to say more, but didn't know what, and Matal was shouting at them to lift bridges.

At the next stop, he had word spread around that this was it.

“If things happen the same…”

He considered trying to reach Dalinar. If he revealed himself, flew over - but no. It was like Elhokar said. Dalinar was convinced that the Almighty himself had told him to trust Saddeus.

He could perhaps claim to be a messenger from the Heralds, explaining the vision? The radiance would help, Elhokar might back him up.

But even if the idea didn’t tie his stomach in knots, what if he ended up causing an outright civil war with his accusations? Tens of thousands could die before any desolation hit. Perhaps the King’s presence would be enough to give Sadeas hesitation in his treachery, but somehow Kaladin doubted it.

No wonder knowledge of the future is forbidden, he thought anxiously as they ran across another plateau.

“It’s not the same,” Syl whispered in his head, not showing herself, perhaps dancing in the air above the bridge. “I still don’t understand what happened, but this isn’t telling the future, not the way that’s forbidden.”

The men muttered softly amongst each other. A handful of the squires might manage a wobbling escape through the air, but they didn’t have enough stormlight between all of them to get away. They would have to bring the bridge, which would mean waiting until after the battle, a few of them flying back to rescue the wounded afterwards.

“The men are in agreement,” Sigzil said quietly. “If your friend is unable to stop Sadeas’s betrayal, then we will protect them.”

Kaladin’s heart swelled with pride as he looked over the men, meeting each man’s eyes and receiving a quiet nod from each in turn.

“They know there’s no guarantees? No certain reward? That they might be throwing away a much more sure chance at freedom for death?”

“They know,” Sigzil replied.

“We’ll still have to march with the retreat,” Kaladin said. “If we just stay there then we’ll be cut down, either by the Parshendi or by our own army. Probably both. If we can fake a few injuries during the initial charge, or temporarily avoid healing any that me or the squires get, it will help our case when we fall behind. Tell the rest of the squires to try and save their stormlight, if they can.”

A dozen more plateaus, a dozen more hushed conversations. At one point Kaladin turned to look at the Kholin army, only to find the King already staring at him. He felt a confused buzz of panic intermixed with relief run through him as they made eye contact for a moment.

I’m not alone in this. But my backup is Elhokar - how am I going to protect him - he’s probably the safest man on this battlefield, a Radiant in Shardplate with a full Kingsguard - he might be able to get the army to cut through to the landing sooner, reduce the casualties - another Shardbarer would help with that anyway - I can’t believe this is the best he could do - I absolutely can - surely he could at least change the battle tactics - but that would require strongarming Dalinar and Sadeas -“

He saw Sadeas ride up next to the King at multiple points throughout the long march. Maybe trying to convince him to turn back?

Perhaps his presence will be enough to prevent disaster. The men and I can escape another day, after we have a little more training. We’ll come back once everyone’s a squire, and their slavebrands heal. If we end the war, then there won’t be bridgemen anymore. Maybe I can convince the King to end slavery; he already passed that proclamation for bridgecrew shields...

He watched, groaning as the Kholin army, eight thousand men, among them three in shardplate with standardbarers, managed to get themselves cleanly surrounded, then abandoned.

Kaladin, again, pushed his way through to look at the eel himself.

The men tensed with barely restrained anticipation as the order to withdraw was given, hidden by bandages and unfaked exhaustion. Kaladin's wince came honestly as they lifted the bridge, narrowly resisting pulling in light to heal the cut on his arm.

“I’m sorry Old Friends,” Sadeas murmured. “I’ll make sure the Kingdom we built stays together, with a strong leader.”

Matel eyed the still dripping bandage with a pleased expression.

They staggered along behind the green coated army, screams at their back like a time keeping fabrial.

“I might be able to make some of the Parshendi army retreat, if I’m obvious with my powers,” Kaladin said, as Sadeas’s army slowly moved out of sight, bridge four looting the dead for weapons and gemstones with expert skill.

This time, Kaladin asked Matel to wait, for his bridge not to be left to angry Parshendi seeking vengeance if they fell behind. It was a slight risk, but - no, the idiot brightlord’s eyes were already lighting up, and bridge four didn’t even have to make it to the chasm edge before being fully abandoned.

“We’ll be right behind you,” Teft said, the rest of the men murmuring eagerly in agreement.

“You know you don’t have to -“ Kaladin offered one last time.

“We know, gancho,”

“Fly on, get out of here!”

“Life before death, life before death.”

“Let’s save those honorable idiots!”

“Show them what bridge four can do!”

Kaladin breathed in a quarter of the emeralds Elhokar had smuggled him on his last visit, nodded, then lashed himself back at the battlefield, quickly outpacing the men charging behind. Their honest cheers and whoops helped him believe for a moment that not all was lost between him and the men who he considered brothers. It had taken a little time, but they had started getting used to the even more haunted, slightly heretical man who had replaced their Captain.

As he had hoped, Elhokar was already leading the men to the chasm’s edge - with any luck they might reach the landing before the bridge got there.

He heard cries from the Parshendi as arrows flew his direction. With ease he pushed Stormlight into a borrowed shield, letting it fall, filling the sky with light before falling into shadow as a full volley engulfed it.

As he had hoped, the front ranks of archers were breaking. Better still, the second and third ranks had seen. Cries of Neshua Kadal spread throughout the army, and Kaladin dared to breath in almost all the rest of his remaining stormlight, blazing like a second sun as he lashed himself in an obvious arch above the Parshendi.

More cries, Listeners scrambling to get away at the edges; their song taking on notes of fear and awe. Mixed in with Neshua Kadal were various Herald’s names, as the Kholin army obviously spotted him.

He landed in a cloud of dust and stormlight on a rock formation between the chasm’s edge and the desperate human army. Forming Syl into an overly massive, unwieldy Shardeblade, he carved a massive boulder of cremcovered rock, then breathed deep, pulling in extra stormlight from the bravely approaching warpairs. He sent the boulder tumbling upwards and slightly to the side. Parts of the battlefield fell still, eyes drawn again upwards to the impossible.

A meteor, glowing with pale blue light before quickly fading to grey and falling with fury.

A tremendous series of crashes rang through the battlefield, the boulder rolling over the Parshendi troops awaiting bridge four’s arrival, clearing the landing and scattering terrified listener ranks before crashing into the chasm beneath with another earthshaking series of booms. He thought he could hear the crack of bones and carapace beneath the clamor, but it was likely in his head.

The Parshendi closest to Kaladin charged him desperately, but he took them down with ease, lashing them to fall amongst their own army, shouting and terrified but alive. One femalen managed to get within his guard, scoring a hit that quickly healed. He retaliated by burning her and her partner’s eyes out with a single swipe.

Come on, he thought desperately. Run, just, run.

Behind him, he saw his crew setting bridge four, having crossed the plateau with incredible speed. Some of them glowed faintly, and he could see another ripple of retreating Parshendi, though several lines of warpairs rallied, daring to charge them, likely hoping to overwhelm the small group and toss the bridge.

Across the battlefield, more listeners were falling away, warsong taking on notes of fear and confusion; but he could still hear the sounds of fighting and dying, his men at the chasm edge, the Kholin army almost on top of them. He flew to another rock formation on the armies buckling eastern flank, chopping one, two, three boulders as ammunition. Some of the infantry must have had gemstones on them, as light streamed from gems in both directions when he took a desperate, reaching gasp of stormlight.

Three more boulders fell among the parshendi in three directions, shaking the plateau, and finally, incredibly the song transitioned fully from uptempo vengeance and battle to retreat. In an absurdly short amount of time, the space around the Kholin army was empty, space where minutes earlier superior forces were crushing doomed Alethi invaders. It was everything that Kaladin could have hoped for, and it still left him stunned. Ten thousand Listeners, routed by a single windrunner.

The true voidbringers would never have run like that.

The Kholin army looked about in shock, calling out praise to the Almighty, to the Heralds - praise clearly shouted in Kaladin’s direction, much to his discomfort.

You did it! Syl said in his head. You protected even more of the Kholin army, and you avoided killing as many Listeners as possible!

Thousands still died. And the Alethi are going to see me up close soon. A radiant bridgeman. A man with slavebrands and a Shardblade. How soon before their adulation turn to confusion, then fear and hatred?

Exhaustionspren spun around him as he slumped, nearly falling to his knees. He caught himself at the last moment by summoning Syl as a gleaming metal staff, leaning heavily on her to stay upright as the last of his stormlight steamed away.

They won’t see me if I just stay up on this rock formation forever, he thought deliriously.

Syl sighed, staff buzzing slightly. “Nothing makes you happy, does it?"

A thump sounded behind him, and Kaladin spun to see Elhokar grinning at him, armour leaking stormlight in dozens of place, but no pieces missing. He smiled weakly at the King, cognizant of hundreds of eyes below on them. He moved slowly towards the king, who met him part way. He stumbled at the end, and Elhokar caught him, steadying his arm with a gentle gauntleted hand.

“I did try and stop my uncle,” he said. “He just…wouldn’t listen. The best I could do was join, and even then I half thought someone was going to tie me down to keep me from coming. I hoped Sadeas would change his plans if I was on the battlefield, but I might have made things more tempting.” He turned pained eyes into the distance.

I’m supposed to teach him to be a leader. Kaladin though blearily, and he forced himself to wave away the lingering exhausion. What would I say, if he was a squad sergeant under my command? The comparison was ridiculous, the sheer scale of lives on the line if the two of them failed making Kaladin nauseous.

“You did well,” Kaladin said softly, voice coming out more confident than he felt. “You can’t control everything; the important thing is taking care of those under your command to the best of your ability.” He nodded towards the Kholin army. “I’d guess more than a thousand soldiers are alive because of your actions.”

Elhokar straightened, grin returning. A single gloryspren spun around him like a golden crown.

“You were incredible,” Elhokar said, awespren replacing the glory. “I was practically unconscious when you fought in front of me before, but this time - you…you were like Jezrian come again.”

Kaladin grimaced in reply, then moved to change the subject.

“What next?” Kaladin asked.

The king blinked. “You’re asking me?” Then he flushed, looking down. “I mean…of course I’m king…it’s just…’

“You’re king. You’re my king,” Kaladin said encouragingly. “What do you think the threats to your men are?”

You have to coach him, you can’t just take command. He needs to take his own journey, for his own sake. He needs to be a King, for the kingdom’s sake.

“Some of the injured could still bleed out or succumb to injuries, but my uncle’s taking care of marshaling the survivors. The Parshendi could come back, but I doubt it. Obviously the desolation, but that’s a slightly longer term threat. Near term, Sadeas…Sadeas wants Dalinar out of the way,” he grimaced. “My presence here makes the situation more complicated. This…could mean all out civil war.”

Kaladin nodded, but Elhokar wasn’t done.

“And you and your men. Sadeas will want revenge on you, for helping us.”

He smiled at the King. Not long ago I doubt he would have thought of bridgeman as people. Then again, he does know they’re prospective windrunners…still progress.

“What’s the best way to handle Sadeas?” He asked, pit in his stomach already suspecting the answer.

“A show of force, before they get back to camp,” Elhokar answered promptly, gaining confidence as he spoke. “He should return already knowing he’s in a position of weakness, that his ploy failed utterly. If we wait to confront him at camp then I’ll either come off as an unbearably weak King, or I’ll be forced to discipline him publicly, which will back him into a corner and essentially force civil war anyway.”

Kaladin nodded again, swallowing back bile. “Fortunately, you have a man who was able to scare away an entire Parshendi army under your command.”

#stormlight archive #my au #nevertheless cosmere

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nevertheless-moving · 9 days

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gravitation 1

I may be channelling Rock, since I just wanted to draw Kaladin fall straight onto his face… It gave me much amusement. This thing.

#stormlight archive #Thank you so much op

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nevertheless-moving · 9 days

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me and my friends were debating shakadolin through voice memos this weekend the way ancient philosophers debated the meaning of life

#oBSESSED #shakadolin #stormlight archive #i love this so much #he's so unhappy it's beautiful #love the way shallan is very clearly reveling in kals exhaustion with them while adolin is either ignoring it or oblivious you can't be sur

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nevertheless-moving · 10 days

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#i fear the reverse is more likely#shallan & adolin confess their desire for kaladin to join their marriage#and he just stands there uncomphrending as they immediately get sent to turbo hell

@magenta-somethings im crying. second fear

stormlight winds and truth fear: kaladin tearfully confesses his love for shallan and adolin only to immediately be sent to Turbo Hell

#stormlight archive #stone soup #nevertheless cosmere #shakadolin #oh no third fear:#adolin giving kaladin a long lingering embrace: take care of shallan for me. i want our child to have a father #kaladin:#kaladin: what #adolin: [plinko horse heralds himself into super hell]

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nevertheless-moving · 10 days

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Hi! I love your writing snippets - have you thought about posting them on ao3

Thank you!! Yes, I have thought about it, for sure! I'm nevertheless_turtle on ao3.

(I have... six fics, all of them star wars, half of them unfinished, last one updated in January 2022. Unless someone decides to put a million dollars in my kofi jar, this is for Fun, so unfortunately once the hyperfixation fades...it fades*.

:( star wars back and forth tumblr fics with star wars mutuals my beloved... murderbot discord i loved collaborative storytelling with ya'll and i miss you...i don't know how to make friends on the internet i just talk blorbos in situations and my blorbos drift over time... hello stormlight archive fandom)

! anyone want to talk about putting my type of blorbo, which when i check my notes is a pathetic wet person who is very good at killing but somewhat tries to avoid it, if you want to talk putting someone like that in a Situation, Hey! i may or may not be your person. this ask is really getting away from me i might be tired from walking a bunch of miles today...

*i do historically cycle back around to fandoms! i was lurking on tumblr for over a decade before i posted anything and there was definitely a cyclical nature to it! i consistently knit furiously for 3 months and then take a 4 year break! star wars fics wait for me!

aNYWAY writing fic directly into Tumblr adn/or Discord or if i don't have internet connection then a fuckin shitty notes app appears to be the Key for me?? like i tried fic writing before that in Word or Docs and it just didn't go?? idk! I think it's like the comic sans trick.

wait i still haven't answered the question.

you know, the thing is, when i write a snippet at the end of 5 paragraphs of background meta for an au, or a literal bullet point list, i'm not really sure how to post that to ao3. can you post chatfic and bullet points to ao3? it feels weird? idk. real question for the crowd in the midst of an extremely incoherent ask answer. let me know what you think!

me to myself: the question. scroll back up. what was the question. myself to me: that was answering the question! somewhat!

Right now a bunch of fic writing is churning around and out of brain, and circumstances have aligned for better or worse such that i have time and mental energy and ideas to write. we'll see how it goes. Once I get a bit more posted on tumblr i'll probably put things together and either make seperate works for different aus, or a masterwork of different tumblr aus that i don't think i'll develop further. i may turn some of those bulletpoint lists into cleaner fics for posting, making my earlier point moot.

some of my aus i already have a bunch written on my phone over meals or stopped in the middle of a side walk or on bus and train rides (why would an ELEVEN HOUR TRAIN RIDE not have an outlet to charge my laptop??). so. if i clean that stuff up ill probably post it to tumblr, then immediately notice the spelling mistakes, edit, then post to ao3.

a perfect system.

for my most recent snippet, well, that's actually self contained (not an au that requires 6 paragraphs of background to understand the snippet) and not a chat fic, so i WAS thinking i would just post it to ao3 soonish. i asked in the tags if anyone felt like betaing for ao3, i am wildly but unquestioningly assuming that the sorta individual who would want to beta a fic for me are reading the tags on my tumblr fic post. if anyone likes betaing stormlight or is interested in betaing a specific au/fic idea i've mentioned, hit me up.

TLDR above, tumblr is a for fun rough draft looser writing form place for me. ao3 feels like its asking for a bit more polish and structure. i have writing bees in my brain right now so i'm slightly more focused on that then editing, but if anyone feels like doing some form of beta, reach out and we can chat about it. regardless, i will clean up at least some of my recent snippets and post to ao3 eventually.

#stormlight archive #nevertheless meta #star wars #murderbot diaries #fandom

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