Wow.

 

I've always liked Tanya. I think she gets a raw deal in the fandom most of the time. People like to use her as the bitch that causes Edward to cheat, or the bitch that tries to steal Edward from Bella, or the mean girl. But I think she has a lot more depth than that (especially from what little we see of her in the books, it's clear she DOESN'T hate Bella like the fandom likes to pretend), and I think you've portrayed her wonderfully here. The Denali sisters are some of my favorite characters, so thank you for writing this epic story, and I look forward to more! I also really hope to see a bit of a friendship develop between her and Bella eventually. I think it would be interesting during BD to see their interactions.

Poor Tanya :-). I already feel sorry for her even though her desires for Edward aren't that overbearing yet... you can tell she's genuinely coming to care for him and that will only wind up with her being more hurt.

i love this story, and i cant wait to see where it goes next. you are incredibly talented, thank you for sharing, and i hope you update soon!!

This story just keeps amazing me.  You have truly created a fully realized world here with each character so lovingly drawn, and the relationships between them.   You make them real.  Not human.  Real.

Carlisle and I were left awkwardly eyeing one another.  We may have settled our argument, but the circumspection with which we regarded each other was unchanged.

Carlisle turned toward the windows, and he was instantly bathed in the orange glow of the enormous summer sun as it skirted the nightless sky.  I made the first move and closed the space between us.

"You'll be travelling in reverse this time, Carlisle."  The first time he'd found us, he'd made his way up the Pacific coast to Alaska.  We'd each heard rumors of one another's existence, and Carlisle had come to see if they'd been true.

"I fell in love with the northwestern coast the last time I passed through, but I was searching for something very specific."  His eyes twinkled as they flickered in my direction.  "So I didn't linger as long as I would have liked."

"And I'm eternally grateful that you made that journey, Carlisle.  I only wish that in addition to my clan, you'd also found a home."

"Tanya, this is your home.  Edward and I, perhaps even after Esme... we could have assimilated, somewhat.  But you know that there can't be two leaders this close to one another."

And I did know that.  I would always assume that I was in charge of any vampire in the area.  Carlisle was seven hundred years younger than I, give or take half a century.  It went against my nature to consider him the head of his own coven while he was here.  He was so young in comparison to me, and in my estimation, he'd already made so many mistakes.  I could show him how to deal with Rosalie and Emmett.  He was too agreeable, too giving and pliant.  It would never do.

This is exquisite.  Masterful.   You have bothered to consider what the ramifications of their nature might be, and you have painted it for us with a loving hand.

And this:

But time had changed things for the three of us. The passage of the centuries had left human males more jaded and less likely to believe in something besides the hard monotony of work and the meager joy that family and friendship could bring.   Even the idea of god was greeted with growing skepticism.  And while I'd never cared to believe that any man could wield power over me, whether invisible and divine, or made of flesh and divinely muscular, it was still alarming to see the human populace relinquish the one belief that anchored them in the world.  For their lives were fleeting: like fireflies, they burned brightly for such a short time.  They needed anchors; but now their anchors were facts and science and hard data.  Even the roughest among them would seek the counsel of a chemist before consulting with their own sixth sense.  

Again, a masterful little touch of perspective and detail.

Tanya's plight is utterly heartbreaking.

The next evening, I sat in the study; leafing through the atlas that Edward had left there the night before.  His deft hands and long fingers had held these pages so gingerly.  The contrast between his gentle touch and the confident, primal power I'd seen the night we hunted together still haunted me... and I felt desire inevitably making its way through my body languidly, settling deep within my core.

...

Ironically, only now that he was gone, could I luxuriate in his presence, letting its effects wash over me fully, truly, without hesitation.  It stung, of course.  His brief attendance tore at the scar tissue that had formed to hold the pieces of my heart together over the ten years of his absence.  But I preferred this prickling and edgy feeling to the numbness that I'd settled into while he was gone.  I would hold onto this burn as if it were a life raft. It allowed me a glimmer of what I longed for, instead of the dullness of a never-ending, dark night.

...

And of her encounter with a human man:

His hot and sweaty hand touched mine, and I involuntarily recoiled.

"I don't burn," he mumbled, angling to touch me again.  He might as well have burned me, for all the desire I had to feel his naked skin against mine.

Edward has ruined her.  And she will live forever, unless mishap befalls her.  

My heart aches that some readers 'have grown impatient with Tanya'.   Perhaps your Tanya demands much of a reader ...  there is no HEA for her, and so, if we truly allow ourselves to connect to her, as your writing demands, since you have portrayed her in full glory of her complex vampire soul, then we must suffer with her.  And that is no small thing.

*

Second half of the chapter you take us down the Pacific Coast with the Cullens.  I love the place names you give to anchor us in their journey.   Love the anticipation for their connection with this place that will be so fateful for them.   Emmett is getting Edward into a spot of trouble I see.   Once again you use inventive ways to round out the characters.   And so the story moves on.   I feel you have done Edward's prudish/denial-to-the-point-of-callousness very well.  Each of your characters has flaws as well as beauty, and I feel perfectly balanced and also harmonious with the outlines provided by canon.  Just superb writing all around.

 

I actually had rather missed Tanya and I'm hoping we'll get a lot of TPOV throughout the Twilight books, especially BD.

Thanks!

Shawn

This is just magical.   An unexpected mixture of pathos and whimsy.   You really make Tanya live.   And the prospect of a unique friendship between Tanya and Rosalie is fascinating.   I also just loved the way you keep perspective on how odd and potentially dangerous are the choices that these families have made.

"You've gone from being a solitary vampire to the head of a large clan, all within less than twenty years.  You now have five vampires under your direction.  You would be hard pressed to go unnoticed by the Volturi, especially given your diet, and Edward's talents.   You made the decision to take this male into your fold, so he is your responsibility.  If he does anything foolish, the blame will lie not only with this newling, Emmett, but also with you.  I don't imagine you want to leave your charges alone in the world?"

and

" ... Our family has to be on guard more than most.  Our lifestyle is an affront to our race.   .. "

Really keeps the story grounded in the greater realities they have to deal with.

The thought picture of "Emmett the bare" had me laughing out loud.

And this:

I couldn't keep my mind from memories of my room, from my bed, where I lay motionless for weeks at a time. 

Edward truly has no clue.  EVen though he can read her mind.   Access to another's thoughts is no use if one does not also possess emotional intelligence.  In that regard, he is still a newborn ...

I love this story.

 

I liked this chapter, but I was really eager to see a Rose-Tanya confrontation, where Tanya didn't know that Emmett was already Rose's mate. Too bad, would have been interesting ^^

But I was amused by the proposal, clearly unpredictable and Emmett as a newborn is so funny.

As for Tanya-Edward...I'm kind of tired of their relationship, it's not your way of telling it, just that I find them childish.

 

Update please :)

Hehe, I read this exacat chapter on ff.net just yeserday. Its a great chapter though

Love the chapter.

Excellent writing

Update soon.

Author's Response:

Thank you!  I will!

Author's Response:

Thank you!  I will!

Haha Emmett :)

Poor Tanya.

Author's Response:

Yes.  Sigh.

Wow.   Tanya's reverie is so heartbreaking.   Thank you for writing her with a heart, btw.  As far as I'm concerned your portrayal is canon, henceforth.

And Edward.  He is in such a strange, liminal realm.  On the one hand, his telepathy brings him far too close to others:

To suddenly know the desires of well-mannered neighbors and their wives, the secrets that children kept, the pain and suffering of the shopkeepers and day laborers: it was like I'd found out I'd always lived in hell, but had been deaf before, and now that I was damned to it forever, my deafness was gone with my heartbeat. 

Not hell, dear Edward, samsara.  堪忍�–界。

Yet, at the same time, he is separated and alone.  A solitaire.  How tragic that he and Tanya are both alone, both solitaries, and yet they are not for each other.   What an incredible potential you have unlocked here, for a deep and nuanced and profoundly human story of evolution and accommodation between these two souls who may have regard and understanding and, each in his/her own way, affection for each other, yet neither can be what the other needs.   Wow.

And this, too, I found unexpectedly touching: 

Esme finally smiled, a small strained smile.  "Then it's done.  She's bound.  She's not ours anymore.  But his.  Forever."  Esme buried her head in Carlisle's chest, taking short, shallow breaths. 

"You sweet, silly woman," Carlisle cooed.  "Don't cry." 

Monsters, yet so recognizable in their emotions.  Brava!

Author's Response:

Thanks for your ever-thoughtful review, miao!  

Edward and Tanya's thoughts practically wrote themselves when I was writing this chapter.  At this point, I really felt at one with Tanya's character.  Like she could just start talking about what I was seeing while shopping at WholeFoods. And Emmett and Rose... well, I fell in love with them during the last chapter, so this one was wonderful for me to write.  

Funny thing, when I set out to write this chapter, I thought there might be some lemons.  I mean, Rosalie and Emmett finally get it on.  But Edward totally got in the way and put an end to that.  I felt like I was arguing with him... "But I want to see it, Edward!"  And he was like "Hell, no!"  Someday I plan on writing an outtake about what happened underneath the snow.  Until then, I'm left dreaming.  M

Great story. Can't wait for them to go to Denali.

update soon!

Author's Response:

Next chapter's making it's way through the validation process as I write!