I started this over two months ago because Silmarilz1701 did something similar with her OC couples for Valentine's Day, and I got all jazzed up to follow suit before my interest levels (predictably) migrated elsewhere. Well, they eventually migrated back around, so... enjoy a lil overview of seven of my dear fictional couples ^.^

I'm not good at the aesthetic thing like Silz is but I'll grace you all with Picrew art versions of my couples, alongside my happy outline of what makes their relationship special to me.

Fred Thorne and Fiona Segelas
"The Innocents"
Featured in: The Village, The War, Sorrow and Song

Fred and Fiona are the OG couple, one of the first Legea romances to exist as a concept and my first real attempt at writing romance. Some early-draft melodrama notwithstanding, I wanted to give this beloved pair a gentle road, and they walk a gentle one indeed toward their growing feelings for each other.

Fred Thorne and Fiona Segelas are both remarkably genuine people: it's part of what makes them connect so well, and it gives rise to a relationship founded on transparency and wholesome communication that was absolutely DELIGHTFUL to explore.

Neither is indifferent to each others' physical attributes, but for both it begins on a level of aesthetic appreciation, as they're similarly attuned to finding beauty in the things around them for its own sake. Fred, four years older and secure in his own identity, is the first to feel the pull of a deeper attraction, and more ready to acknowledge his developing feelings for what they are.

Fiona, clinging to old memories of her native land and the childhood that belongs to them, insecure in her own mind and her place among others, lingers in that realm of friendship-only. She does not at first have room in her mind for more, because Fred, for her, replaces the childhood friends and loves she left behind. But she is not a child, and in the end her wholehearted emotional commitment will not stay in stasis.

They're incredibly wholesome, just a little self-conscious, and so utterly authentic. Maybe it's Fiona's quick blushes that do it for me, maybe Fred's chaste forehead kisses. They're innocent and charming, but there's no doubt as to the sacred reality of their union.

She is truly his beloved, and he is hers.

Holwena, Queen of Rothalon, and Lord Riharis of Edel Hag
"Arranged Marriage"
Featured in: Flare in the Darkness

Another one of my very first romance forays to reach completion, Holwena and Riharis remain some of my proudest work. I took the arranged marriage trope and wrote it the way I wanted to see it, in a way that made sense to me, with absolutely no punches pulled in either the tension levels or the emotional payoff. I wanted Holwena, a sober, restrained, mature-for-her-age crown princess, used to putting the interests of her country first and foremost, to react to the council's proposition of marriage according to her culture, her station, and her personality: with dignity. This is due process, something she understands and is mentally prepared for. She may entertain air-castles and uncertainties privately, but she is not especially flustered, and certainly not taken aback.

I wanted Riharis to be someone who would subsequently threaten Holwena's equanimity toward the marriage. Whether she realizes it or not, she has expectations; and Riharis does not meet them. He is clumsy, diffident, not especially good-looking, and a slow thinker. They share no interests. Holwena measures him against the standard of her erudite, companionable parents, and finds him wanting. She deliberately distances herself, holding him in an indifferent esteem that speedily withers to contempt and resentment.

I did not want Riharis to be blameless in the relationship either. Deeply insecure and running from the constant dismissal and rejection he received in childhood, he views Holwena as a possession of sorts, something beautiful and peerless that finally nobody can take from him. He is in awe of her, he does not dream of forcing her or abusing her, but the attitude of entitlement is there at the root of it. He assumes she will meet his desires, a belief which Holwena sees through with scorn and can manipulate.

I wanted Riharis to offer Holwena, so capable and generally self-sufficient, something she actually needs. She does not want him (initially), and thus believes she needs nothing that he could possibly have to offer. But Riharis ultimately provides the one thing that nobody else in Holwena's life can give her: a distraction. The weight of a kingdom sits on her shoulders, night terrors stalk her sleep, and her only close friend is as serious and politically-minded as she. Riharis may not be the family members she misses, but he is tenacious, loyal, and capable of more than she has given him credit for. His mundane, small-talk rambles that she begins by simply tolerating turn out to be more of a respite than she realizes: a chance for her mind to slip out of its imprisoning, anxious spirals and dwell on lighter things.

Riharis, in turn, comes to see Holwena as a person, not the object of his adoration. The closer they grow, the more he witnesses her vulnerabilities. He comes to see her as a human that must be treasured, not a goddess to be owned and worshipped, and his esteem for her and all that she accomplishes with so much against her only grows.

The full story of Holwena, Riharis, and their journey from emotional estrangement to loving resolution, I'll restrain myself from attempting to recount here. Suffice to say, their story satisfies every inch of the romantic in my soul. If I had a Valentine poster couple, it would be them.

Berethar Mycraí and Ehla daughter of Éanran
"Commitment"
Featured in: Sorrow and Song

Berethar and Ehla are one of my favorite couples to write, period, the end. They embody the hard parts of marriage and the dedication to see it through all the same.

Ehlethar is no poster couple. Berethar, a taciturn introvert with bare-minimum social capacity and a lot of baggage surrounding vulnerability, repulsed Ehla's first feelers of interest DESPITE having been attracted to her for literally a year. His difficulties with opening up are not something a romance could switch with the first kiss or wedding bells, but a lifelong process of healing with multiple close friends. There were not a few times in their early years when Ehla felt frustrated, closed off from the man who was supposed to be closer to her than any other. A personality matched equally in strength to Berethar's, her anger was quick to manifest aggressively, often without taking the time and effort to really sort things out. They had to learn, together, how to navigate and work through their communication struggles.

And they did learn. Because at the end of the day, they're committed. Not just to seeing it through, but to learning how to see it through. Not to a blind idea of loyalty, but to loyalty in application.

I love how Berethar and Ehla can go head to head with each other's tempers, though very different things make each of them angry. As stubborn and petty as Berethar can be, he needs someone unafraid to confront him and tell his controlling tendencies off in no uncertain terms. And Ehla, in turn, needs someone who can ground her reactive nature, stabilizing her violent reactions with a level head and blunt reason.

If you managed to make them both simultaneously angry at you... congratulations, you should probably start running.

When the main storyline of SAS kicks off, Berethar and Ehla are long past their honeymoon phase, comfortably rooted in a home and village and happy together, but definitely out of the "glow". They're raising seven kids ranging age nineteen to three, who get a kick out of any time Dad says something randomly flirty to Mom.

When the happy life is uprooted and the fallout unearths some difficult things that Berethar REALLY should have talked to his spouse about by now, it's not easy for Ehla to handle. She doesn't react in the best way -- an understandable way, but not the best. She finds herself in the position of needing to not only forgive, but apologize.

Berethar, in turn, must not only apologize, something his honor requires without question, but honestly forgive.

And she does. And he does.

Not because it's the easiest way. But because that's what they do.

Sandy Thorne and Inspector Wilhelm Dickson
"Enemies to Lovers"
Featured in: "Pride and Prejudice and Rail Fences" short, Sorrow and Song

This pair came at me out of nowhere. One minute Wilhelm Dickson and Sandy Thorne had never laid eyes on each other, and the next Sandy had dared the brusque, dignified Inspector of the Peace to walk a fence and nothing would ever be the same.

It's really hard to talk about 'em without tripping spoilers. But suffice to say, Sandy Thorne hates Will's guts before he ever shows up on the scene. A casual interaction at a formal event is enough to take the edge off her ire ("okay fine, he's a human being and not an abomination from the depths of Mordor")... nonetheless, she can't resist the chance to rag on his decorum when the opportunity presents itself. Cue the fence episode, where Sandy the tomboy dares the out-of-towner to attempt her favorite pastime and critiques his subpar efforts. This turns Dickson's perspective from "whew, at least she tolerates me" to "please can we never cross paths again".

Sandy and Dickson take a while to acclimate to each other, and when they do, their relationship remains one of a pleasantly bickering style. They talk like an old married couple before they ever get married and honestly nothing could make me happier. Neither of them likes to cook, neither of them likes to play by social mores, both of them would 110% rather stay home and get old by the fire than go out for any reason whatsoever. They're a pair of big-hearted grinches and for that they have my undying love and support.

Therelane Grey and Mirda King
"Love at First Sight"
Featured in: The War, Sorrow and Song

In The Village (Ceristen book 2), Therelane Grey is a shy, passive boy nursing a desperate, borderline unhealthy longing for affection and acceptance. Mirda King is a sunny, warm-hearted lass who befriends lonely newcomers, pep-talks her little brother, and can tease mercilessly when the occasion requires. They undergo their own trials and testings without ever exchanging dialogue, let alone sharing page time.

It's not until midway through The War, on the way to rejoin his division after a serious injury absence, that a little older, wiser, and more worn Therelane stumbles across Mirda's somewhat-familiar face in Orden City. She's just there to nurse wounded men and hopefully pick up news of her brother now and again. She gives him the same friendliness and concern she would to anyone from home, but there under the sunshine and the hot summer wind, his battered, love-starved heart is gone. It's hers now.

I love them so much as individuals that it's almost hard to think about what sets them about as a couple.

One of the first scenes that I wrote for them happened during the early drafts, before either were strongly developed as a character. It was a damsel in distress situation, Mirda in trouble and Therelane the knight to the rescue, and there were weird things like Mirda refusing to scream for help because?? WHY? and Therelane delivering dramatic one-liner threats that made the enemy flee in terror (oh my soft-voiced stammery son you could never). The scene underwent various rewrites over the next four years, but the basic content still remained intact when I reached it in July 2018 during the chronological draft of The War. But I found, as I stripped the incident of its melodrama and sketched one final interpretation with all the heart of Therelane, Mirda, and the larger story at its back, that I loved it unashamedly.

And I still do. I love that Therelane gets to be the hero for her. He's spent so long being overlooked, doubting and fumbling his way through relationships, fighting his tendencies to self-pity, it felt good to give him this fearless and then euphoric moment.

And I love that Mirda, my practical, optimistic healer, who has been the ray of sunshine for so many others till now, gets to break down into tears for a moment in the wake of a situation that would have been terrifying for anyone to live through. She has been there for him so many times, and she'll be there again in a few hours, "a well for all the tears he had to fill", when he faces the worst tragedy of his life. But right now, he's the rock who's there for her, and she cries in the safety of his arms.

They're such a dear, supportive couple. You can believe that Mirda hyped that rescue story up SO many times to her kiddos and Therelane was sitting in the background trying not to blush. Because that's just how Mirda rolls, of course, she's THE hype squad for anyone in her circle of intimates. But hey, this one, this hero... he's her's.

Mordred Kenhelm and Lethira Gerisson
"Soulmates"
Featured in: The War (kind of), Sorrow and Song

They're cute, okay. They're so cute. They're the ship.

Mordred + Lethira happened, literarily speaking, because Mordred needed a wife in order to have the kids who could do important things in Sorrow and Song. Her character development lagged significantly behind her husband's; I was writing his big character arcs when she wasn't even scheduled in the timeline for another three books. She appeared as the "mom" character in SAS's early drafts, and other than that role, for the most part she simply reacted to Mordred's adorably ardent/romantic side -- a understated foil for his more high-spirited personality.

As I completed the Ceristen Series and looked over its array of vivid, dynamic female characters, I found myself wanting to know more about Lethira, my Mordred's little wifey: what she desired and valued, what made her tick. What she contributed to the clearly beautiful and healthy relationship sustained between them. And gradually, over several years and a handful of short fiction pieces, the more complex facets of Morthira began to unfurl. To this day, each discovery makes me so happy.

I learned that Mordred, a hurt, slowly healing boy of barely nineteen as the War ends, has still not learned how to laugh at himself, and it's a dainty, unassuming, freckled girl with hazel eyes who teaches him how.

I learned that not only does Mordred's extravagant affection find an outlet in his newly budding relationship, but so does his compassion, offered to a young woman who left behind a home scarred by the hands of war.

I learned that when Mordred's PTSD flares and his mind is going to pieces, Lethira is the one he wants to be there, the one he trusts to know what is going on, the one who knows what touch is okay and what words need to be left unsaid.

I learned that Lethira's hands are warm, that she steals the covers at night, that her feet are ticklish, that she really does worry a lot, that she tries not to laugh at her husband when he does something silly (but inevitably fails), that she's actually a stricter parent than Mordred, that she's ISFJ and probably an Enneagram 6, that she will deliver sass absolutely out of the blue and then go back to being a genuine sweetheart like nothing happened.

Apart, they're adorable individuals. Together, they give me so many feels I might as well sail in an ocean of my own tears. Still not over the reunion kiss in SAS. Or the first pregnancy announcement. Or any of 'em.

Derek Kenhelm and Aílean Mycraí
"Childhood Friends to Lovers"
Featured in: Sorrow and Song

I like to call Derek and Aílean my "firework couple". Derek's an intense, energetic guy who's more doer than talker and has a none-too-subtle flair for the dramatic. Aílean is a gregarious, peppy gal with an occasionally caustic tongue and an exuberant appreciation for the finer things in life. Together, they're an almost terrifying force of vitality and charm. The kind of pair that makes "stereotypical extrovert couple" headlines.

Of course, it's not all happy fireworks. I debated the wisdom of Derek and Aílean as a pairing for a few years after they became a thing. Their youthful passion was offset by the fact that realistically -- as I even envisioned Derek's father remarking to them at one point -- "You do realize you're going to be arguing for the rest of your life."

For a while, I even wondered if Aílean WOULD fall for Derek when his much more emotionally even-keeled and diplomatic brother Douglas was Right. There. (I would fall for Douglas!! 10/10) However, as the story developed, I learned that the road Aílean walks is one better suited to her and Derek in the end. Their similarities strike sparks off each other, but they also fuel each other. They are what their story, their world, needs. They're fearless. They're fighters.

They've known each other's families from childhood. Their love story is slow and tentative for all their impetuous temperaments. Derek was one of the "big kids" to Aílean back in the day, and as one of the "big kids", Derek didn't see much to notice in the five-years-younger Aílean. Their meeting as young adults, under rather unfavorable circumstances, pushes both parties' buttons (Aílean is horrified to discover that older and peer-level Derek has layers below his "fun big kid" and "company manners" side; Derek is displeased that his supremely unattached questing life with the Brother has been interrupted by an inconvenient person with depressing news from home).

Even after they adjust to each other, it's some months before the relentless banter definitively takes a deeper road. You can blame me for that, since I love slow burns and I make no apologies for it. The firework couple's love is forged quietly, in moments here and there amidst their crumbling world. His arm the first around her as she cries. Light words and lazy grins that might mean a little more than they used to. I'm still in the midst of writing their story, actually, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. But I also know how it ends. And I get hyped up every time I think of that :)

Also with this ship we get Derek asking Berethar Mycraí for his daughter's hand in marriage, which is possibly the greatest scene to ever spring from my pen.

***

Welp, hope you enjoyed this in some small or great capacity. :) I had great delight in writing it, for all that it took me two months to hone to my satisfaction. 'Tis always a pleasure to analyze fictional beings.

I have a ramble about writing and "plot armor" sitting in a rather rough form in my drafts, which I may tune up and post if anyone wishes to see it. Yea or nay?