Onyx Storm: Chapter 40
Apr. 6th, 2025 04:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaThe crew flies out to bury the bodies of Trager and Silas.
They find a small island--more magical than Zehyllna, half as magical as Navarre--and land to hydrate and have their funeral. Interesting that there's more magic the further they go out. Presumably at the end of this breadcrumb trail of islands they'll reach one with enough magic to support the irids. I have figured this out, and if I'm right, I will once again be annoyed that our genius protag has not.
The island they are on is not on their map.
Also, they named the kitten they got in the themed challenge from the last one "Broccoli", which is so twee that it makes me angry.
The group realizes what I realized in the last chapter: there are hundreds of tiny islands not on their maps, because, no shit, they're from an isolationist country run by a deranged and stupid military regime, how would they even have accurate maps? This seems like something they could have negotiated for from any of the islands they've passed through.
Violet divides the group into pairs for the search, annoying Xaden by separating herself from him to take advantage of Sgaeyl and Tairn's mating bond.
Hey, Xaden, if wanting to protect causes an irresistible urge to channel from the earth, and in fact Violet has indirectly been the cause of multiple times you have done that...maybe she is a trigger. And you've been ominously hinting that she'll have to kill you or that you'll leave her throughout the book. So why are you suddenly insisting she isn't a trigger? What?
Ridoc and his dragon fool around in the water, getting Ridoc absolutely soaked, and then he goes to change, leaving Violet alone on the beach. Apparently he and his dragon are in a prank war.
And then...
Yup! Violet has accidentally stumbled onto the irids. Will they also have a stupid themed challenge? Who can say?
Seriously, though, this feels really anti-climactic. They're just going to stumble onto the irids on the first island they check? And somehow no one noticed them on the island they all landed on?
They find a small island--more magical than Zehyllna, half as magical as Navarre--and land to hydrate and have their funeral. Interesting that there's more magic the further they go out. Presumably at the end of this breadcrumb trail of islands they'll reach one with enough magic to support the irids. I have figured this out, and if I'm right, I will once again be annoyed that our genius protag has not.
The island they are on is not on their map.
Also, they named the kitten they got in the themed challenge from the last one "Broccoli", which is so twee that it makes me angry.
The group realizes what I realized in the last chapter: there are hundreds of tiny islands not on their maps, because, no shit, they're from an isolationist country run by a deranged and stupid military regime, how would they even have accurate maps? This seems like something they could have negotiated for from any of the islands they've passed through.
Violet divides the group into pairs for the search, annoying Xaden by separating herself from him to take advantage of Sgaeyl and Tairn's mating bond.
"...wielding to protect you has always been an instinct, but now it’s… uncontrollable.”
“I know.” I study the healing cut along his arm, then lift his hand and kiss the center of his palm. “Which is why you’re going with Garrick. He carries serum, too.”
“All right.” He grips my waist. “I mean it when I say you own my soul. You’re the only place I feel completely like me anymore. You’re not a trigger,” he repeats, then steals another kiss and walks away. “See you tonight.”
Hey, Xaden, if wanting to protect causes an irresistible urge to channel from the earth, and in fact Violet has indirectly been the cause of multiple times you have done that...maybe she is a trigger. And you've been ominously hinting that she'll have to kill you or that you'll leave her throughout the book. So why are you suddenly insisting she isn't a trigger? What?
Ridoc and his dragon fool around in the water, getting Ridoc absolutely soaked, and then he goes to change, leaving Violet alone on the beach. Apparently he and his dragon are in a prank war.
And then...
Heat gusts against my face, and the scent of sulfur permeates the air. “
Tairn?” I swing my gaze along the beach, but there’s nothing there, just the shimmer of the morning sun on the waves.
“I am busy with curmudgeonly things.”
The sand ten feet in front of me moves, forming a series of furrows like the beach is splitting.
Like talons are flexing.
“TAIRN!” My heart jumps to a gallop as the air before me shimmers, then solidifies into gleaming sky-blue scales between two enormous nostrils.
Yup! Violet has accidentally stumbled onto the irids. Will they also have a stupid themed challenge? Who can say?
Seriously, though, this feels really anti-climactic. They're just going to stumble onto the irids on the first island they check? And somehow no one noticed them on the island they all landed on?
