THE WINTER LONG open thread!

So my daughter got a bit of a lesson in "Mommy's reading now dear, you play with your toys and don't eat batteries" today. Which is not to say that a corner of my eye wasn't always on her, but the rest of the eyes? Book.

This book! This book!

First of all, I've been waiting for that proposal since they first kissed. It was utterly adorable. Second, the stuff between the Luideag and the Winterrose. That was just... feels. Really feels. And I knew Amandine had more children. I'm still not sure what happened to August though. I got a sense of Blind Michael?

I can also see how this book had to have been plotted before anything else. Because you really can't read it without understanding everything that has come before.

Marvelous, really marvelous.

I'm still not sure what happened to August though.

We know that the Dochas Sidhe are important in some way. Perhaps somebody wanted to make sure that August would not fulfill the destiny of the Dochas Sidhe. Presumably, this attempt was not wholly successful, but I don't know how reliable Simon's opinion is in that regard.

Severe paranoia points out that Olivia de Merelands was in the area about the same time that August vanished - and we know who was pulling her strings now.

In my opinion, October appears to be Amandine's attempt to have a child who would not be fae enough to be part of the Dochas Sidhe. She lost one child, and she wanted to have a child that she could keep - somebody who was human enough to escape the job that her bloodline was supposed to do, and the threats that came with it.

Oleander could certainly have been a part of it, acting on Evening's orders. But that's a little *too* pat, if you catch my meaning. Oleander is pretty damn evil and had worse powers controlling her, but she can't be the series' all purpose bogeyman.

But August had a candle from the Luideag (or one that looked an awful lot like it) in Toby's vision.

Hmm. Good point. I wonder if Blind Michael's is the only place those candles can go?

I wondered the same thing. I interpreted that scene as August going into Blind Michael's realm, and possibly going missing because she'd been trapped there.

I wonder about Blind Michael, but I somehow don't think that's it. We know she was at least teenage, but we don't know how old she was at the time of her disappearance and if she would still have ah, been catching his interest.

The quake covers up a lot.

Also, why are her parents so sure she's alive?

I wonder about the Blind Michael connection, too.

For one thing, Amandine being as beautiful as she is and Toby being told that she is as beautiful/looks like Amandine (even though she herself says she is not) and Blind Michael wanting to replace his lady wife with Toby (and Toby being a bit more human then than now), makes me think that if August did end up in Blind Michael's land, I'm pretty sure that he might have tried to replace his wife with August. Obviously, he did not, or was not successful, or August did not stay in Blind Michael's land. I'm also wondering if the candles can also be used for other paths and other lands; I'm not too well versed in the original mythology of this, so please forgive if I am terribly mistaken ;)

If he DID try to replace his wife, then August would likely be dead. Or transformed into one of the trees, or something. That would be interesting too...Luna's parents being responsible for Toby's sister's death :/

Assuming she was transformed, it's possible that the change wouldn't last.

Simon expected October to break his transformation. If August was transformed by Blind Michael, the major difference would be that August had been altered by a Firstborn in his home territory.

Without Blind Michael to reinforce the change, perhaps a Dochas Sidhe could break out of one of his transformations.

That's a good point. Maybe it's enough that August is pureblooded fae to counter the fact that Blind Michael is Firstborn; after all, Toby was less than half fae at the time (?) and she was able to counter Simon's spell in 14 years. Maybe it will take another 14 years, or maybe not? Do we know what happened to the children after Blind Michael died? (Ugh, I really need to reread. And look up Tam Lin.)

I'm hoping it won't take another 14 years; that would be another seven books, at least. :)

If Blind Michael had her, I would have expected Amandine to challenge him, not stand aside (which, IIRC, one of the Torquills said that she did in Artificial Night). That said, I have no idea where she could have ended up (hopefully not with Riordan in Annwyn).