[2900] What Remains Under Moonlight Chapter 3: The Favour
NSFW: For mild sexual references and the dangers of jousting
What has happened so far: War between two countries. Ended with a treaty sealed with the marriage of Prince Oren and Princess Ava. Ava was initially accepting of marrying a stranger to bring peace to her people, then when meeting Prince Oren had our classic "Oh no he's hot, I did not account for this" moment. At the wedding feast we had a brief shot of a knight with "black burning eyes" who gets a proper intro here.
Influences are very Daughter of the Forest, Tam Lin, Lady Hawke, The Lays of Marie de France, Kay Nielson illustrations, The Bloody Chamber, Swan Lake
Love any general feedback.
What I am going for here: I want the reader to see Ava increasingly view Oren as safety, and Sir Hugh as a threat. The reader may have their own ideas, but I need them to accept Ava's emotional logic. So I'm interested in if that is working.
I'm also interested in how Sir Hugh comes across in this chapter
If anyone knows anything about jousting, how'd I do? Is this reasonably plausible?
Also some of the feedback I got was around the world feeling a bit thin, so I've added more description in this. Is it enough? Not enough? Poorly integrated?
Crits:
Posted Jun 4, 2026, 1:19 PM UTC