Sorrel · The full story
Third of the Thirteen
In a coven that called Manon the ice and Asterin the fire, Sorrel was the stone — the thing that goes underneath whatever must not be allowed to move.
The stone
Third of the Thirteen, which in practice means she is the one Manon puts at her back and then stops thinking about. Asterin argues. Sorrel stands. The coven's own shorthand had Asterin as the fire to Manon's ice and Sorrel as the stone holding up both of them — and the thing about being the stone is that nobody writes songs about it and everybody assumes it will hold.
Forbidden at the Crossing
When the Blackbeak Matron sent Manon out to make the Crossing on a barely-broken Abraxos, she barred the Second and the Third from helping. Not from watching. From helping. So Sorrel's entire assignment that day was to stand at the edge of the Ferian Gap and do nothing at all while her Wing Leader took a bait beast out over open air, on the stated understanding that Manon came back unaided or did not come back.
Asked to hold Asterin still
Twice the coven's worst hours arrive as an order with Sorrel's name on it. When Asterin challenges Manon over what Duke Perrington wants done to one of their covens at Morath, Manon strips her of rank and hands it to Sorrel — a promotion that is really a punishment, and not even Sorrel's own. Then, with Asterin condemned and the High Witches assembled, it is Sorrel who steps forward and turns her to face them. She obeys. Obedience is the only thing she has ever been asked for, and that is the once it costs her something she cannot set down.
Second to last
At Orynth the Thirteen put Manon on the ground so she cannot follow, and go up at the witch tower without her. Sorrel holds while the rest of the coven goes ahead of her, one at a time, and Yields second-to-last with only Asterin still to come — the stone still there after almost everything it was holding up has gone. Terrasen laid flowers on the Plain of Theralis afterwards. Manon came back and stood in them.
Third of the Thirteen
A century of standing exactly where she was put.
Forbidden at the Crossing
The Matron bars the Second and Third from aiding Manon's first flight across the Ferian Gap. Sorrel's orders are to watch a thing she is not allowed to prevent.
Raised to Second
Asterin questions Manon over Duke Perrington's experiments and is stripped of rank. Sorrel takes the Second's place because she is told to, not because she wanted it.
Pulling Elide out of Morath
On the detail that goes in for Elide Lochan, and airborne again before Kaltain Rompier's shadowfire took the keep apart behind them.
Turning Asterin to face the High Witches
Manon refuses to execute her Second and turns on the Matron instead. Sorrel steps forward and pivots Asterin toward the rail, then runs when Manon screams at the coven to run.
The Yielding at Orynth
North with the Crochans, then the Plain of Theralis, then the tower. She Yields second-to-last, with only Asterin behind her.
Flowers on the Plain
Terrasen lays flowers where the Thirteen fell. Manon comes back to grieve a coven that had already decided she would outlive it.
We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — I can't put Manon on a shirt without knowing which way the iron teeth snap — so we keep the notes here where everyone can use them. The pages are fan-made, not official; the licensed designs are in the shop.
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