Hello, elflings! Now that we know Eretria is officially bisexual and was not just messing with Princess Amberle, I’ll be here every week to give you a little recap of what the ladies were up to. These won’t be full-length recaps, because the Shannara world is very complex, and the season is already more than halfway over. But it won’t hurt to keep tabs on the Princess Rover ship, and have a place where we can all share our feelings!
Previously, Amberle and Eretria have, week after week, gone from threatening each other to saving each other and back again in a way that has built up so much sexual tension it might be more powerful than the elf stones. Last we left our ladies; Amberle and Eretria had taken a bath together, where Eretria came onto Amberle, and Amberle not-so-kindly refused the invitation. Later, Eretria’s “father” told her that “he” (half-elf Wil) would never choose her, and she sighed as though it wasn’t him she would want to be chosen by.
After falling down a big ol’ hill, Amberle wakes up in a river and immediately starts calling for Wil and Eretria. Amberle stumbles along when she hears voices. She peeps through some reeds and sees two people, humans, a woman and a man. Before she can decide what to do, Eretria pops up and claps her hand over the princess’s mouth to keep her quiet.
Eretria warns Amberle that these humans are elf hunters.
The girls run through the forest, but even as they run, Amberle questions if they should go back to make sure the elf hunters don’t have Wil. Eretria says of course they should, but they should do it under the cover of darkness. And sure enough, arrows start flying in their direction, sending them off running again. Amberle trips and drops her sword because apparently she can only run smoothly when blindfolded and in a gauntlet, but Eretria begs her to leave her sword, and they keep running. Amberle grabs Eretria and rolls them both down a hill, to safety.
The girl elf hunter is hella excited to find the sword because she knows it means the elf they’re hunting is royal. So they stop chasing the girls to gather more troops.
Glad to be free of the elf hunters, Amberle starts counting their blessings, ever the optimist, but before she can start skipping, the ground beneath them gives way, and the two girls fall.
The girls slowly get up and realize that they’re in a high school gymnasium, set up for prom. Well, THEY don’t know that, they only know it’s a building from the Age of Man. Amberle is excited, but Eretria is unimpressed; above them flies a banner that reads, “We Can Be Heroes.” The reverie is broken by bats flying through the newly made hole, and Amberle realizes no matter how cool this place is, they need to get out. She grabs Eretria’s arm while she says it, emboldening the rover, who immediately gets to work to find a way to get them out.
While Eretria fashions a way for them to get out, Amberle thumbs through an old yearbook. She says they look happy, unaware their world was about to end, but Eretria isn’t feeling nostalgic. Amberle tells her to drop the tough girl act; she knows Eretria saved her life-again. At first, she says it’s just for the payday, but when it’s clear Amberle doesn’t believe that, she admits she cares.
But then Eretria panics, her heart all out in the open like that, so she pulls it back close to her by sassing the princess about braiding each others’ hair.
The girls head down the halls and find an exit, but when they open the door, it’s packed through with dirt; they’re too far underground. It’s then that Eretria realizes Amberle is bleeding. She gives the princess an ancient letterman jacket to stay warm (very romantic) and asks to see the wound. Amberle takes this as proof Eretria cares, and again Eretria writes it off as just needing the princess not to be dead weight.
On their way back to the gym, Amberle finds multi-sided dice that look like the elf stones and pockets them.
In the gym, Eretria tends to Amberle’s wound.
Eretria asks her what she saw in the tree, and Amberle tells her about the stain glass window and having to kill Wil to prove her strength. Eretria is sympathetic. Amberle wonders aloud if maybe elves ARE bad, and Eretria understands her conflict. After all, being a rover wasn’t her #1 career choice. It’s Amberle’s turn to ask a personal question; what did she mean she was bought? Eretria says she’s been told she was sold at a bargain, and she has no idea who her parents are.
It makes Amberle so sad to think of little Eretria going through life all alone, but at least they have each other now, and they’re both orphans. Eretria can’t help but smile; she can’t believe someone can see a silver lining so faint. Amberle smiles back. She’s amused by the through of The Princess and the Rover.
Eretria tries to quell some of her feelings by saying they’re both hot for the same guy. They muse about their strange connection a moment longer before the elf hunters unceremoniously drop into the gym.
The girls set out to get the elf hunters’ ropes, teaming up to single them out and take them down. They get the ropes from the two men and try to make it back to the gym before the girl catches up to them. On their way, Amberle spots a glass case with a picture of the stained glass window from her vision, with an article and a map. They grab the clues like they’re in some kind of video game and keep trucking, but soon find themselves at the pointy end of an arrow.
The elf hunter calls Eretria by name, and Amberle looks terrified, but the little rover looks a little annoyed.
Eretria tells Amberle that she and this girl, Zora, grew up together. Zora accuses Eretria of leaving her, and Eretria admits that they were together once, but that Zora got too clingy. Which is probably Eretria for “I started to develop real feelings and I ran” but whatever. Either way, Zora’s not pleased. She makes them get down on the ground, and Eretria holds her little arm out like it will protect her princess.
Amberle begs Zora to let them go, trying to explain how the fate of the four lands depends on it, but Zora just wants some royal ears. She has Eretria tie the princess on one of the pulley ropes and says that there’s only room for two on this elevator. She kisses Eretria’s ear (slash sort of bites) and says it’s a shame Eretria has to die.
Zora is about to shoot Eretria when a shadow looms over them, and Wil drops in, knocking Zora over. He hugs his girls and starts to drag them both up to the winged beast above when Zora finally lets that arrow go, hitting Eretria and causing her to fall back down. Amberle screams that they have to go back, and down below, Zora stands over her, grinning devilishly over her wounded ex-girlfriend.
Amberle is super worried about Eretria. “She’s out there alone,” she says, knowing that’s how the poor rover was her whole life, wanting to ease her pain. She sets off with Wil, desperate to be the hero Eretria needs.
Eretria isn’t quite alone, though; she’s being dragged along by the elf hunters on a cart full of looted human things like trophies and basketballs.
What did you think of “Breakline”? Do you think there’s any hope for Princess Rover, now that it’s confirmed Eretria has been in at least one relationship with another girl or are our two heroines always going to be paired up with Wil?
