Rhiannon Matthias · The full story

The friend who chose first.

She chose Violet on day one — back when Violet was the girl who probably wouldn't make it — and she never once un-chose her.

The choice

She chose Violet on day one.

Before the parapet, before either of them had a dragon, when the whole quadrant had already written Violet off — Rhi took one look and decided that one was hers. They swapped a boot each on the stairs so both had traction, and she never took the choice back.

The signet

Object Summoning, and what it quietly grew into.

On paper it's a party trick — call a thing to your hand. In practice Object Summoning is the signet that matters most: Rhi's exactly who you want holding the dangerous object when it all goes sideways. By Iron Flame she's pulling steel through solid walls, and nobody clocked how strong she'd gotten — she never made it about herself.

The rank

Squad Leader. On merit. Obviously.

While the ambitious kids schemed for rank, Rhi was busy keeping her people breathing — which is exactly why she got the rank. Squad Leader, Second Squad, Flame Section; Sawyer as her XO; and zero patience for an order that spends her squad like currency. Not the sidekick. The reason the squad holds together at all.

The friendship

No knife behind the smile.

This genre loves a knife hidden behind a smile. Rhi is the answer to it. Violet lies to her for half of Iron Flame — and Rhi's response to being lied to is to pull a dagger through a wall and save her life anyway. That's the whole test of whether a friendship is real, and hers passes it cold.

You don't need the recap. But since we're both rereading anyway—

The friend who chose first.

Rhi's whole arc is one unbroken choice. She picked Violet on the stairs before the parapet — one good boot each — and every book since has been her proving she meant it. The quiet competence nobody clocked grows into a signet that pulls steel through solid walls; the loyal squadmate becomes the Squad Leader who won't spend her people like currency; the friend kept in the dark becomes one of the two hundred who fly to Aretia rather than look away. She never needed a prophecy — she needed to be right about Violet, and she was.

01
The shoe swap
Conscription Day, on the stairs to the parapet: Rhi's boots are worn smooth and Violet's have grip, so they trade one each. A small thing that keeps them both upright — and founds the friendship the whole series runs on.
02
Feirge picks her
At Threshing a green daggertail decides on sight. Green dragons run to strategy, so of course one chose the girl already three moves ahead — and she and Sawyer celebrate their bondings together.
03
Squad Leader
Second year, the third-years graduate, and the rank goes to the cadet who kept everyone alive instead of the ones who schemed for it. She names Sawyer her executive officer and gets to work.
04
The dagger. Through the wall.
Varrish is about to search Violet, and one incriminating alloy dagger is in the way — so Rhi summons it clean through solid stone into her own hand. The moment her signet stopped being cute, and the moment the truth finally came out.
05
She flies to Aretia
Read into the venin secret at last, she doesn't flinch and she doesn't stay. When the cadets are offered the harder side, she's one of the two hundred-plus who fly to Aretia — Squad Leader to the end.
06
Onyx Storm
The war jumps off the map, and Rhi is no longer just Violet's best friend but a rider with real command — calm judgment under fire, Feirge at her side through Draithus.

In her words

Loyal out loud — and funny about it.

“Promise me that if you need help, you'll let me give it to you.”
Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros

“I'll take being lucky over being good any day.”
Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros

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We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — 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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