A Letter to Aelin Ashryver Galathynius

Aelin,

I have read many books, hundreds of them, and with each one I leave a part of myself within the pages. When I first found you, you were called Celaena, and you were in a terrible place - somewhere worse than anything I could ever imagine and I know that I would not be strong enough to survive, let alone thrive in the way that you did. Was it hard? To keep going day after day; to be shackled in the mines with no light to find your way? I imagine it must have been. Especially knowing that, in another world, you could have created your own light to banish the darkness, even if the very thought terrified you.

I guess I want to ask you how you do it. How did you keep going, when everything around you was telling you to give up. How did you keep your confidence that everything would turn out okay? When Rowan confronted you, about reclaiming your throne - how did you overcome the idea that you weren't good enough, weren't worthy to sit on the throne?

I have started down the road to the career of my dreams, and yet every day, at some point, there's a little voice in the back of my mind telling me I'm not good enough. That this isn't going to work. I have no doubt that all of the stress and worry that I'm going through will be worth it in the end, but I wanted to take a moment to thank you.

Thank you for coming into my life right when I needed you the most. Thank you for being the strong, confident, kick-ass woman that you are. Thank you for teaching me that no matter what life throws at you, you need to keep going, because you never know what amazing things lie ahead. Thank you for showing me that loving people with all your heart can lead to the worst pain imaginable, but can also mean spending your life with the most wonderful characters. Thank you for doing all of the above as a woman, with all the highs and lows that brings. For fighting on when your body betrayed you and for loving shopping with a passion that is not healthy. Thank you for loving books and proving to me that you can be the most kick-ass person in the whole city, and still get weepy over a romance book.

Thank you Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. For giving me the female role model that I have been waiting for.

Lots of love,

A friend xx