I feel like Waverly is secretly such a badass, despite how cute she looks and how quiet she is. Her life is full of tiny little adventures and sincere wonder.
Anyway, discussion, thoughts, theories and whatever else that comes to mind is welcome here.
Very excited to see what alterations Sebastien makes to the astronomy potion, and who besides Ana she intends to induct into the organization!
Her previous original work with the shadow proprioception potion was some impressive stuff, especially for a girl who merely “dabbles” in potion making. I’m sure this one will somehow result in new, wildly exaggerated lore to add to the Raven Queen mythos 
Errata:
He sipped the steaming liquid with an indulgent smile, staring at her. → there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the sentence but staring at her felt wrong paired with an indulgent smile. Gazing, perhaps.
Sebastien flinched, and as the servant Thomas hurried to open the door, briefly contemplated running. → I think the comma should be after the and. “Sebastien flinched and contemplated running”.
It was only when she saw Damien on the other side that she realized she had instinctively expected it to be Professor Lacer on the other side. → delete one “on the other side”
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I do love a man who can cook. Especially when there’s basically nothing in the kitchen to eat. Impressive, Oliver, very impressive.
I’m glad she remembers about her mother now. Even if there’s nothing she can do at this moment, finding her - and Newton - and putting them out of their misery one way or another is a goal for the long term.
I think the fact that she has a piece of Newton will be useful for divining where he is - which might lead her to her mother, as well. After all, he was stored away from Gilbratha.
The fact that shop keepers are giving her a discount for punching the heir to the throne is hilarious but definitely trouble 
I did appreciate the inclusion of belladonna into the potion of star viewing. I always love the little details that go into making these spells work.
I still have no idea how Damien figured out Sebastien was at Oliver’s house. Did Oliver literally send him a message to make sure she wasn’t left alone? Was it just a wild guess?
Still, I did love the adventures of Waverly and Brinn going on in the background. They’re so sweet together.
I also love that Sharon just swooped in and took them all off to eat. She’s such a motherly figure.
And Ana. Darling Ana. I know how she feels, honestly. If I paid for a friend’s medical treatment to save their life I’d not really care about the money. Especially if the money was nothing to me and a struggle for them. I’d rather have my friend alive and well than the gold.
But using it as leverage to get access to a secret? I’m on board with that. It’s a bit sneaky, but hey. I think it will be very interesting to have her on board - and I think she’s much less military minded than Damien who accepts the “higher ups” and chain of command logic. I think Ana will question a lot more and Sebastien is going to need to do some quick thinking if she doesn’t want her secrets exposed.
I can’t wait! But, alas, I must. Enjoy your break, Azalea!
I think Siobhan underestimates her potential. I suppose having three wills makes freecasting much easier after the first time. One will to hold the word, one to hold the circle and one to keep everything from falling apart.
‘I will never cast through my own flesh,’ she swore
I feel like there’s no chance that doesn’t happen at least once before the end of the series.
Lets hope she is bullshit enough by that point for it to not entirely go wrong.
I know how you feel, because the number of times she repeats it makes you feel like it has to happen. Especially with all the speculation about the People and the Naught bloodline.
But I still kinda hope she never does. That she keeps that small, determined promise. That things never go so catastrophically wrong that she needs to risk her life and sanity in that way.
I…sort of hope, possibly because of my own mind pulling at info like a puzzle, that she understands enough to do it without the usual issues eventually. I have growing suspicions on the boundary conditions for why casting in the flesh is bad, but those same suspicions have me think its actually entirely plausible someone could do so but a mixture of symbology and really specific definement would be needed for it to be functional.
I think the problem is the addiction and she’s proved to be weak to that in the past.
Her mother cast through her flesh, so did her grandfather. They couldn’t stop once they started. They wanted to cast more than they wanted to keep living. More than they loved Siobhan. It’s a truly terrible, all consuming addiction.
After that it doesn’t matter if your mind and flesh can withstand it for a hundred thousand castings or if it fails at the first - you are an addict who will do whatever it takes to get your next hit.
That…dependency. It’s a shackle, a doom. A loss of control. It’s anathema to everything Siobhan fights for.
If she finds a way to manage it, it would be a feat worthy of Myrddin himself. But it feels almost like if she got the sun to rise in the West. It would be a huge feat, but deeply disconcerting and unnatural.
There would need to be a lot of build up to such an achievement.
Oh yes, I didnt mean it that way. I have a suspicion, that to even get to that point of urge is essentially a failure in kind of how you define the given spell vs what makes you, you? Still thinking on it so don’t know if that made the most sense. Like I suspect the right spell that may be compatible with you as a specific individual might not be addictive, partially due to my suspicions on why that urge to propagate continues and how similar that is to Aberrants. One may either need to effectively have the spell be so natural that it is limited to how they exist in the first place or be capable of it being so specific that it cuts itself off.
I don’t necessarily think she could do such a thing soon, but do think it may be less a matter of power and more specific alignment. Which could possibly be researched as a topic given Legions version of claudios constructs may highlight how things are conceptually defined or delineated for spells.
If there is a way around it I feel like it would ultimately be a derivation of the familiar bond. Witches can cast through their familiars, but Legion in particular is a familiar that has no actual material form. If anything, they live in her mind, but her mind is contained within her flesh.
So is there a point where she can develop her bond to cast through Legion and end up being able to cast through some limited portion of her flesh? And would that flesh remain valid even if Legion were eventually destroyed or got free?
While I’d love a full reveal to Anna and Damien thats unlikely anytime soon but I do think a lesser reveal that the no name group is headed by the Raven Queen is likely.
I think that makes sense from a logical standpoint on top of the “not wanting to lie to her friends as much any more” one to be honest. It explains things perfectly in a way that only the truth can, whilst also solidifying her two identities’ separation in case Sebastien needs to distance herself from the Raven Queen in the future
She made three doses of the star brewing potion, one is obviously for Anna but who are the other two for I’m thinking Deidre and Millennium’s mom.
I don’t think she was planning to use them to induct anyone. She just wanted to try a new recipe and see if she could tweak it.
That said, it will be funny if she puts Ana through the same ritual as Damien since it was tailor made for him. I don’t think she’s quite as susceptible to dramatics as he is. But if she doesn’t go through the same ritual and Damien finds out then there will be hell to pay
I do like the idea of saying their organization either is or has become affiliated with the Raven Queen. I am unsure if Ana would he happier or more cautious on the idea of it being a bit of a revolutionary organization. Which would be fairly easy to imply if she is told any of the current truths going on like the aberrant growth.
‘I never imagined I would manage to free-cast something so soon! I’m only twenty years old!’
This made me think - S. completed 2 semesters in uni, so almost a year passed by since she first came to the city. When is her birthday? She must be turning 21 pretty soon? Is she going to celebrate it in any way?
She has this thought on 26.03
…she realized that her birthday had passed, without her even realizing it, and she was now two decades old.
The lower bound seems to be 29.11 though Kuchen isn’t a very reliable source on this
I think it’s quite clear that she is no nineteen-year-old girl without any formal training in the thaumaturgic arts.
She could just use Legion to pose as the mysterious higher up. They should be able to speak and use her shadow.
Whilst she might use one with Anna, I don’t think her plan for that particular potion recipe and her tweaking its effects revolves around inducting people to her organisation.
I suspect she wants to us it to experiment with magic linked to the stars, with my primary thought for now being the Dazzler. When she learnt it there was a discussion with Lacer about when it would be possible to use (for most under the light of the stars) and she was theorising that she might be able to cast the spell under different circumstances where the stars weren’t visible as they are always present.
This potion could just make it much easier to experiment with the Dazzler, or maybe it helps her to access the spell from wherever she is.