A Tangled Braid

The tale of the two loves of the elf Iylaine is one of the premier storylines of Lothere: one of the longest-​running, most controversial, most affecting plots so far.

Running to novel-​length already, this storyline is still ongoing.

Theme: Lothere's thorniest love triangle

Rating: PG

Chapters: 191
Written between December 20, 2005, and January 4, 2012.

Elfleda finds a baby	October 19	1070
Alred and Ethelmund return from the forest	October 20	1070
Iylaine is unwanted	March 4	1075
Iylaine discovers the art of blackmail	March 4	1075
Iylaine begins to worry	March 4	1075
Iylaine meets a stranger in the woods	March 4	1075
Iylaine learns the stranger’s name, and about her own	March 4	1075
Iylaine learns what she can do	March 4	1075
Bertie blows the horn	March 4	1075
Iylaine has a few questions	March 4	1075
Bertie has a talk with Malcolm	March 4	1075
Vash says goodbye	March 5	1075
Iylaine goes to the glade	April 18	1075
Malcolm goes to the glade	April 18	1075
Iylaine gets wet and dry again	July 3	1075
Sigefrith has a chat with Malcolm	July 7	1075
Egelric has a chat with Iylaine	July 7	1075
Iylaine asks Malcolm a question	October 25	1075
Egelric goes out into the light	January 23	1076
Iylaine waits	January 24	1076
Egelric wakes in the dark	January 24	1076
Egelric talks to the elf	January 24	1076
Iylaine decides to be alone	March 20	1076
Iylaine gets a birthday gift	March 20	1076
Iylaine hears of a key	June 3	1076
Malcolm make a promise	July 21	1076
Iylaine overhears something bad	September 1	1076
Malcolm fails to make Iylaine happy	December 10	1076
Malcolm's pride is briefly shattered	March 20	1077
Iylaine escapes	June 23	1077
Iylaine goes to her friend	June 23	1077
Iylaine watches through the window	July 11	1077
Sigefrith asks for Malcolm's advice	February 6	1078
Sigefrith has some advice for Malcolm	March 20	1078
Malcolm is left behind	March 20	1078
Iylaine is disappointed	March 20	1078
Malcolm and Iylaine meet their match	April 19	1078
Malcolm and Egelric watch	May 12	1078
Malcolm begins to lose his head	June 23	1078
Malcolm says goodbye	July 17	1078
Iylaine climbs into the dark	November 28	1078
Iylaine is comforted and made to despair	November 28	1078
Malcolm is snapped at and bitten	December 10	1078
Malcolm sees a few things	December 23	1078
Malcolm and Bertie are told a secret	February 18	1079
Iylaine burns and is burned	March 3	1079
The elf demands an explanation	March 5	1079
Malcolm is a fool again	March 20	1079
Malcolm is promoted	April 10	1079
Iylaine says goodbye	May 2	1079
Iylaine despairs	June 24	1079
Iylaine meets Uncle Mustache	June 24	1079
Malcolm and Iylaine are not alone	September 20	1079
Malcolm and Iylaine are alone	September 20	1079
Egelric gains a bit of knowledge	December 15	1079
Ears is surprised	February 8	1080
Egelric and Alred dine with an elf	February 8	1080
Iylaine goes back out into the cold	February 17	1080
Alred borrows a book	February 23	1080
Iylaine gets out	March 20	1080
Iylaine and her cousin agree	March 20	1080
Malcolm considers the size of his nose	April 4	1080
Iylaine decides she is too old to be Babied	May 12	1080
Malcolm tests his mastery	June 27	1080
Iylaine tries to escape	July 9	1080
Iylaine is kissed	July 28	1080
Iylaine finds the stone	October 14	1080
Iylaine looks up and sees	October 14	1080
Alred delivers a message	October 21	1080
Iylaine hears what Leofwine wants to say	February 2	1081
Iylaine finds the stone	March 23	1081
Malcolm begins his observations	April 4	1081
Malcolm tries to catch up	April 16	1081
Egelric and Malcolm cross the field	April 24	1081
Malcolm meets an elf	April 24	1081
Iylaine goes out before dawn	May 25	1081
Malcolm is not only dreaming	May 25	1081
Iylaine finds the water wet	May 25	1081
Iylaine is scolded by an owl	June 21	1081
Iylaine meets another cousin	June 21	1081
Sir Sigefrith and Malcolm meet on the wall	June 22	1081
Iylaine wants to go down	September 14	1081
Iylaine comes as an assassin	March 7	1082
Alred gets wet	May 6	1082
Malcolm is led away	July 2	1082
Iylaine goes down	July 2	1082
Iylaine wants to go up	July 2	1082
Iylaine lets herself drop	September 24	1082
Iylaine acts her age	October 14	1082
Ears saves Egelric a trip up the stairs	October 14	1082
Iylaine is underground	October 15	1082
Brede and Eirik have good news	October 16	1082
Malcolm goes up	October 19	1082
Malcolm goes down	October 19	1082
August tells Egelric four things	October 21	1082
Iylaine goes deeper	October 29	1082
Vash is left behind	October 29	1082
Egelric gives Malcolm something to think about	October 30	1082
Malcolm comes to take Iylaine away	November 15	1082
Iylaine and Lili have something in common	November 15	1082
Iylaine goes to the willow	November 20	1082
Iylaine is reassured	November 20	1082
Iylaine looks into Malcolm's eyes	December 4	1082
Vash refuses	December 27	1082
Sigefrith faces three Colbans	February 1	1083
Colban lets go	February 2	1083
Malcolm listens to the voices	February 3	1083
Egelric lets go	February 21	1083
Malcolm takes Iylaine home	February 21	1083
Iylaine follows a monster down	February 22	1083
Vash learns what has been happening here	February 24	1083
Lili hears a new language	February 24	1083
Druze finds Vash	February 25	1083
Iylaine meets her father's fear	February 25	1083
A pair of geese goes flying northward	March 4	1083
Vash thinks like an elf	March 14	1083
Egelric does not see something interesting	March 20	1083
Mother Curran's poor lambs return to the fold	April 14	1083
Lady Gwynn drinks up romance to the dregs	April 16	1083
Vash goes to a higher authority	April 17	1083
Alred turns talk from the subject of turtles	April 26	1083
Alred speaks to Vash alone	May 12	1083
Iylaine believes she is a dream	May 18	1083
Egelric and Malcolm have the same idea	July 3	1083
Malcolm declares an end to the tyranny of peas	July 15	1083
Malcolm meets his fear	October 16	1083
Kiv is a miserable servant	October 16	1083
Malcolm begins to move	October 16	1083
Malcolm wakes, and Iylaine is not there	December 24	1083
Mother Curran finds certain proceedings scandalous	December 25	1083
Egelric meets a little turtle	December 25	1083
Madra learns all she can	December 25	1083
Egelric considers his hands	January 18	1084
Egelric meets a real elf	January 18	1084
Pol confesses a crime	January 18	1084
Malcolm goes down	February 12	1084
Vash receives an unintended lesson	February 12	1084
Pol keeps a promise to himself	February 12	1084
Pol touches his daughter	February 12	1084
Vash thinks like a naughty child	March 20	1084
Malcolm makes an ill-received announcement	April 27	1084
Vash sees something he doesn't believe	May 26	1084
Iylaine is a stricken doe	May 29	1084
Vash goes down	July 9	1084
Vash finds a stone	July 17	1084
Vash is told he was betrayed	July 24	1084
Vash confides	August 8	1084
Lena is spoken to	August 23	1084
Iylaine sees what she wants	September 25	1084
Vash regrets	November 21	1084
Vash demands punishment for his crime	November 21	1084
Iylaine cries and wakes the baby	November 21	1084
Iylaine embraces an elf	December 5	1084
Vash asks one question	December 19	1084
Alred welcomes new guests to the old barracks	December 21	1084
Iylaine learns the crime	December 21	1084
Malcolm tells the truth of a certain thing	January 8	1085
Sorin hears what he hoped not	March 7	1085
Malcolm finds a thorn	April 5	1085
A madman meets a nightmare	May 21	1085
Iylaine rises	May 31	1085
Iylaine goes too far	May 31	1085
Iylaine is in the water	May 31	1085
Iylaine goes down	May 31	1085
Iylaine is taken out	May 31	1085
Vash is reminded why not	June 1	1085
Vash reopens the old wound	June 29	1085
Malcolm sees blood	June 29	1085
Lasrua is sent to bed	June 30	1085
Vash tells and Paul asks	July 1	1085
Iylaine does not find	August 5	1085
Malcolm goes on	November 11	1085
Vash can cry no more	December 14	1085
Malcolm sees as other men	December 18	1085
Cearball walks the razor's edge	December 18	1085
Malcolm tells the two sides	December 18	1085
Shosudin declares an end to the tyranny of tears	December 20	1085
Lasrua gives a pretty piece of advice	January 21	1086
Malcolm tests Vash’s honor	February 6	1086
Malcolm has an excuse to speak nonsense	February 7	1086
Iylaine says the unspeakable	March 1	1086
Gwynn is the only witness	March 2	1086
Malcolm runs to the end of his leash	March 6	1086
Paul and Malcolm do the Christian thing	March 6	1086
A mourner comes to the house of mirth	March 7	1086
Lady Maire looks back along the furrows	March 13	1086
Vash and Iylaine cover untrodden ground	March 23	1086
Vash turns to stone	March 23	1086
Paul considers the season	March 24	1086
Egelric discovers a gift	April 6	1086
Colban troubles the living	April 8	1086