Bathed in Moonlight. Today’s the day! The 7th Songs of the Amaranthine tale has released. I hope it’s well-received. And since such tales are short & sweet, I’ll make this post do double duty as the Squee Post for Bathed in Moonlight.
Some courtships follow all the rules. Some courtships bend them.
As the Seven Score Moons cycle through their phases, the appointed time for the Queen’s Festival draws near. Wolves from all over will gather at a site that the packs count as sacred, to sing for the Moon and her maidens. Rinloo is part of an allotment of dexes sent to guard the Circle, which has long been anchored by an Amaranthine tree. There he encounters a girl-child spirited to safety by imps and an unhappy maid from the Luminous Court.
Release Day: November 4, 2021
Amazon (US) | Goodreads
Squee Post. If you need a place to react, confer, or kick up a fuss, this is the spot. I’ll enjoy your enthusiasm, I might be willing to clarify small points, but I reserve the right to evade questions that will be answered later in the Saga & Songs. ::twinkle::
[[[WARNING: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS]]]
FORTHRIGHT 
I’m not finished yet, but I will say the familiar names that were popping up made my eyes go all sparkly!! 🤩
LikeLiked by 1 person
Highwinds and Amberveltes and Starmarks, oh my!
LikeLike
Just about spit food when I got to the end and found characters from LMM. It’s so perfect that they run a tea shop and now I want to go find their bits in LMM.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re probably not the only one. I’ll be all helpful and link you:
LMM Ch228: “Back Door” – https://forthwrites.com/2021/04/02/lmm-228-back-door/
ART POST: “Moonglade Tea Room” – https://forthwrites.com/2021/09/04/art-moonglade-tea-room/
LikeLike
Yay! Thank you 😊 I’ve just finished and dashed straight here to re-read this section of LMM. So exciting to find a link between the stories. This story just grew and grew on me and I loved it more with each page 😍🥰
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yesssss I did the same thing!!!! Had a moment of vacant blinking at the screen and a little bit of a “wait just a minute… isn’t that…?” Hahaha…
And we finally got a name for Adoona-soh’s bondmate, right?? We didn’t have that before? Or am I forgetting?? I’ve been wondering for the longest time…
Now I’ve gotta do another read-through to update my wolf spreadsheet! I’m pretty sure there’s at least one new name suffix I haven’t seen before now 😅😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
WAIT, I didn’t notice the first time through, but is Paltry Beloor-dex’s son?? I know Glint obviously had other brothers, but he’s THE brother
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nah. Another brother. Highwind is a BIG pack.
LikeLike
Oope, what good timing! Hahaha
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wait, no, no…. Book details and LMM details now slotting in. Not father and son, since he uses Beloor’s name for naming attendants, but that would mean… uncle instead?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Highwind is the First Pack in the so-called “New World.” So they’re sorta-related to just about every wolf in the western hemisphere. In Marked by Stars, some of the Highwind males were establishing their own clans/packs, and Elderbough was among them.
LikeLike
I do remember this! I saw Elderbough and thought we were witnessing history in a very nonchalant, understated way hahaha I feel like I need a “The Clans: a History” installation 😬 FAR too interesting!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In Bk4, we learned that Adoona’s bondmate was a Trebellaire (and that pack’s usual hair/fur/eye color).
LikeLike
The age difference between one of couples and the age at which the courtship starts at makes me very uncomfortable. How do you justify having an adult becoming fascinated by a preschooler and beginning to court (groom) them from that early age?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I don’t really think I need to “justify” anything. Age differences will always be an issue in a fantasy series of this nature. However, everyone’s circumstances are different, both in-story and IRL, and I figured some folks would grumble. (Some always do, no matter *what* I do.) One quibble. The child wasn’t a pre-schooler (under the age of five here in the US). She’s eight, and she *knows* what makes her uncomfortable.
If these were two humans, I’d probably be uncomfy myself, depending on how the story unfolded. Do please try to bear in mind:
1) One of the characters involved isn’t human, and the passage of time means something very different to them.
2) Said character is an Impression, and they’re even further removed from human ideas/ideals than the Amaranthine. (Some choose to find their assumptions/presumption charming.)
3) I would hardly call a few hours’ visit once a year from across a windowsill “grooming.” Don’t ascribe villainous intentions where none ever existed.
4) Anything that happens under a tree is known to that tree, and Cedar is as protective as his is doting. Every visit was effectively acknowledged, respected, and chaperoned.
Over and again throughout the Saga & Songs, I’ve had to rehearse, “Do not lend human meanings to Amaranthine affections.” Their point of view is simply different.
Apologies if this particular story hit you in the squicks. Triggers are real. I do try to be gentle.
~forthy
LikeLike
Did we even read the same story? There wasn’t a *single second* of grooming. I hate when people throw the word around as if it means ‘existing in the same space as a minor’. Grooming in the context you’re trying to uses it in has a very specific meaning.
I’m further disgusted when people apply *that* label willy nilly. Shame on you.
As Forth has stated, triggers are real, and I do not discount them, but this only reads as blind virtue signaling.
LikeLike
This was a wonderful short story! I reviewed it on Amazon, so I won’t rehash the same exact things here, but it’s my second favorite of the Songs, tied with the very first! I loved learning about Impressions and Wolves, and moon-maids and the occasional reaver 😊 And we saw Laud! Speaking! I hope his friendship with the wolves is yet strong.
LikeLike
Is there a Q&A for book 6?
:’D
LikeLike
ahem
I came to say that I absolutely adored this story, it was perfect in every way.
I hope we get a chance to see more from Pippin and her lady in the future, even if it’s only in snippits.
LikeLike