2.5.43
on October 6, 2025
at 3:00 am
And that’s a wrap! Everything completely resolved and fine with absolutely no lingering c’mon man
As usual I’ll be taking a small break between chapters to sleep, eat food, maybe go apple-picking, and contemplate the abyss!
Alinua should low-key stop being surprised when Kendal is in danger. Girlypop he has the survival instincts of a dodo bird.
Objection! Dodos are born knowing they need to sleep.
Kendal at the moment: Being slammed into the ground by a volcano god.
Alinua can’t leave him alone for even a few hours!
I wonder if this has to do with the “she’s here” he experienced on the ship? I’m scared the Collector found him.
What page?
2.2.19
“SHE’S COMING”
Hehehe I like the nickname ‘girlypop’ for her x3
To note further points to Dodos on survival instincts: they don’t charge into recognized peril either, they just didn’t see the traps to avoid.
There’s actually a lot of misinformation regarding the extinction of the Dodo Bird. They actually tasted pretty terrible and were only eaten as a last resort. The main agent of their extinction was all the invasive species that the colonizers brought with them—pigs and dogs for example—which would eat the Dodo’s eggs, whose nests were on the ground out in the open not because Dodos were stupid, but because they were literally flightless birds. The reason Dodos couldn’t defend against predation wasn’t because they had no sense of self preservation, but because they literally had not evolved any effective ways to fight back against these animals which were utterly novel to the whole ecosystem. Dodos’ extinction was due to no fault of their own but due to the carelessness of Portuguese sailors, who then went back and rubbed salt in the wound by painting Dodos as somehow deserving of their extinction. Which, disturbingly, is pretty much the same treatment colonizers gave to colonized *humans* as well.
Yeah 😀
Turns out I’m dumb as people think Dodos were because I mixed up the Portuguese and the Dutch.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: things were getting a little too chummy around here
Image source: atone
tumblr text: and now I sleep
Haha. Chummy. That’s a pretty good pun.
Bluesky text: good morning and good night
what a reassuring sentence, i’m sure i’ll be normal about waiting for the next chapter to find out what it means
Hey panel six, you uh, you’ve got a little something there in your bottom right…
I’m sure it’s fine and absolutely not spying on anything that’s happening. Certainly not going to report back to anyone. It’s fine!!
It also has a HUG awww
Crossing my fingers that last bit is just an accidentally ominous phrasing of “he already washed ashore on an island and is therefore out of my reach”
That does beg the question of why she specifically mentioned Kendal and not the rest of the party, though. Especially when he was the least in-danger party member last time we checked.
That might actually just be because she doesn’t know about the rest. Kendal is famously very visible to gods all around him, she can probably see him sitting atop Rakhn from all the way down here.
oh, that’s a good point!
That’s what I’m thinking, yes. She can see he’s on Rakhn, a famously unhealthy place for mortals to be.
Not to mention that it’s a place where the local god is hostile toward her specifically.
Well, one of her titles is “Bulwark against mountain’s rage” and Kendal IS RIGHT NOW on that raging mountain.
Also, depending on when the timelines match up, he could be actively fighting Rakhn at the moment.
Fingers crossed it’s this and not “oh no the Collector has caught up to him.” Although … I feel like she’d be quite a bit more concerned if it were the Collector. Then again … gods can’t see her, so she probably wouldn’t know.
Ah. Almost forgot the looming spectre of The Conversation With Rahkn. My bad.
Awwww captain valia is admitting to her wrongs. Why do i find that exceedingly cute?
I just noticed that both Caturus and that one unnamed sekrai have the .o. face
( o⌓o)
hate to break it to you but that’s their noses
I think theyre talking about the second panel… its not their noses!
Yay, apple picking!! 😀
But also Oh No.
Also ‘bravest minnow’ is adorable 😍
First? Probably not.
Ok formcarver is a pretty neat title.
Also that chimera fish down there does not look to be dead…
Here’s hoping it’s loyal to Alinua after she apparently accidentally revived it!
Alinua stimming with her hair, adorable hug on panel 6, mercy is a gift only afforded with power and the wyrm is beyond powerful.
SNACK PURVEYOR LIVES!! *THUMP THUMP*
chimera pet companion pog? Flesh shape it to walk on land POG?! NEW BUDDY POG?!
bravest minnow in my waters,,
Yeah I don’t think a living Collector Chimera is a good sign
Hey that Little Guy is alive and well after all! Oh Wait! It’s spying on them. That’s very bad actually.
As for Kendal being “beyond my power to help”, that could mean a few things. Most likely referring to either the Collector, or Rakhn. Best case:She is referring to Kendal fighting Rakhn, as we already saw in the last chapter. Worst case: The Northern Wyrm knows something about the Collector, and it is Bad News.
“Beyond my power to help” could mean nothing more than “no longer in the water”.
Here’s hoping
Maybe it’s harmless and she just means because he’s on Rakhn. I’m sure there’s nothing at all more ominous going on right now.
On another note, anyone else think it might be a problem that that chimera fish is alive and can see what’s going on here?
Yes
Yes. Definitely yes. Many yes.
Also I’m wondering if she might be talking about the Collector? Though we know that gods can differentiate Kendal more easily from mortals, so it might just be that Kendal is the only one of the Floof Squad she knows about currently
She’s there twidling her hair and looking at her feet “Oh yeah oh shit the plot”
hehe… Chummy…. Like for sharks….
well here we probably notice that the sekrai and such are probably Perpetually Pissed At Rakhn because he likes to throw rocks into the ocean.
…I definitely didn’t load up this page today expecting to find another page release. No, I definitely didn’t do that. Red’s on break (and justifiably so). Of course there wouldn’t be a new page to read. Eheh.
Let the hiatus madness commence! XD
On a side note, d’aww, Selach is giving Ali a hug in panel 6.
Gee Alinua! How come the Northern Wyrm lets you have TWO epithets?
Oh I love Captain Valia’s speech; the transition from well practiced listing of her god’s titles to her personal, shaky apology is perfect. She had lost hope, turned against her own god, and I bet she was fully expecting some kind of punishment. Maybe now the bravest minnow will mellow out, at least with Alinua anyway.
As for other highlights, panel 6 features the chimera Alinua touched with her magic (which I hope is dead, or else it may give the Collector a lead) and a zoomed out Selach glomping Alinua.
Aww, don’t you worry N.W., it’ll take some time, both to help your people and to regain your reputation, but I’m sure you’ll get back to your big snek form sooner or later. Or maybe stick with this current form, and just grow it bigger?
That reminds me, I wonder how Gleicann is doing reversing his current ominous form back to his old happier one.
I agree with @Leaf, I think N.W. means that since they washed ashore on Rakhn, they are not in her domain, thus out of her sphere of influence. In fact, given N.W.’s sobriquet “Bulwark against the mountain’s rage” and Rakhn calling her “the cold wyrm”, I’m guessing those two DO NOT get along.
Rakhn’s mood was just improved by Falst and Kendal’s heist; the last thing the gang needs is to inflame any tensions.
Prediction for next … whenever (take your time Red, as a guy with several apple trees it is nice picking fruit):
Scene change! I’m thinking the Ruunasers, we haven’t seen them in a while; either following up on Erin’s thinking, whatever that may be, or deciding how to look for the others. Neither Erin or Tess know they survived, let along where they might be.
And that’s not the only thing complicating the reunion; Kendal could be held up by Rakhn if he wants more, Falst and Dainix need to get past the volcanic Ignans, and, judging by N.W.’s words, Alinua is going to have to swim to the island and search it on her own. Granted Alinua has her aura sensing powers, so she may have an easier time finding someone.
OOH! IDEA! Alternate prediction for next whenever: scene change to COLLECTOR’S LAIR!! She’d be spying on Alinua using the water chimera that’s in today’s panel six. EEEEEE!!!
But I’ll be excited no matter how Red introduces next chapter. But for now…patience…
Wait, Kendal is somehow in more danger than me underwater, in the ocean?
AW C’MON RED
Cliffhanger aside, I love this page and the way the Wyrm is so gentle, affectionate, almost, with both Valia and Alinua. The formal way she speaks and bestows epithets also feels fitting for her.
Chuckling a little at Alinua’s “it was nothing” because ma’am it was definitely something.
It’s nice to see that this particular situation has been resolved! Maybe the Wyrm can help Alinua find her way to Kendal, or at least to shore, so she can help him get out of whatever trouble he’s about to get into… ot at least be reunited with her friend and in trouble together.
Hey, new to the comic here, how long is a short break usually? Trying to figure out when I should tune back in to see if it’s started up again.
I’d say a month is a good starting guess, but it might very well be longer. If you check back in at the start of November there’s a good chance that somebody would have written a comment here with official word from Red about how much longer the break would be. Unless the break was already over.
What you could also do would be to follow Red’s comicaurora account on tumblr or bluesky, where she’d post about a new page releasing once it happens.
We have received Word of Red from Tumblr:
Not before December at least. ( https://www.tumblr.com/comicaurora/796864054509568000/do-you-have-a-rough-order-of-magnitude-estimate )
Oh, you know, just obsessively reload this page several times a day for the month or so it takes to start again.
Oh no, wait, thats just what I do — don’t do that xD Rai’s suggestions sound good
Maybe you could do that with the archive page instead?
Red tends to post the “Coming soon” artwork for the new chapters a few days in advance.
Yeah, i do that too. Multitasking! xD
From what I’ve seen, it’s usually three weeks.
Alinua’s face in the final panel is the most meme-able thing I’ve seen in the entire comic so far.
Silksong Mentioned o.o (wait that may be spoilers)
Alinua stimming with her hair is the cutest thing I’ve seen today. Will we be back to Kendal, Falst, and Dainix or Erin and Tess?
Aw the titles sound wholesome instead of badass for some reason
anyone else noticing that Alinua’s eyes have changed???? like yes that last sentence was ominous and “bravest minnow” is sweet but ALINUA’S EYES ARE FULLY GREEN NOW SCLERA AND ALL JUST LIKE THE COLLECTOR’S!!!!! it wasn’t like that before she destroyed/freed the Wyrm!!!!!!!!!!
they’ve been like that since she changed her eyes to be able to see underwater
Last time I checked they have been like this for most of the chapter. But u r right its alarming.
Oh I do not like that Collector-waterdog down in the lower lefthand panel, I dooo noooot liiiiiiike.
V ominous. Much creepy.
All the rest of it, though, is fantastic.
By Jod, I love this comic <3
“pretty lady touching my face… wait what”
Alinua: “Ma’am, how in the world did I make you so gender?”
Panel 4: Ya can’t cry underwater.
LOOK BEHIND YOU THERES A GUY
Any guesses for the plot of chapter 6?
I’m personally hoping that we go to the Snowfast and catch up with the stormdrake (they’re in the character page so I feel like they’re going to be important somehow) and Tam. Maybe see the Septrenn? We know Tam and Priora are close to the Snowfast, and since Tam was shown at the beginning of Ch. 4, I feel like Red is keeping them relevant to the near future of the story for a reason.
Ooh yeah, id like to see them again!
…Okay, fair, Kendal is probably a multi-person (multi-deity?) project but hey, we’re trying here 😛
I’ll be very curious to know how having the goddess of the northern waters owe you a favour, and Rahkn in a suddenly much more helpful mood, will help our party.
Also “bravest minnow” may be the cutest epithet/endearment ever.
The little guy is okay!! This makes me very happy even if it’s bad news.
excuse me while I melt. “Bravest minnow” 🥺
This chapter and the previous one DO take place roughly at the same time, so Kendal might still be fighting Rakhn at this point…
it took her .5 seconds to go from “wow having arms sure is weird” to “let me gently cradle your face in my hands” love that for her
BRAVEST MINNOW!!!!!!!
Now that you’ve killed the biggest sea monster in the ocean, let me reward you with this amulet that gives you +5 damage against sea monsters.
the little chimera in the sixth panel is concerning, but… also kind of cute? she’s just flip-flopping around down there :}
haven’t seen anyone else point it out but selach hugging alinua in panel six is very adorable <33
This really manages to sell her as a god so well, just the absolute awe and wonder everyone looks at her with
I bet the dark blue guy in panel 2 is what Mary Magdalene looked like on Easter.
You know, you’re probably right, also this is a weirdly similar situation now that I think about it (I guess not that similar though, Jesus never turned into a rampaging sea monster after all)
Y’all are responding to the allusion to Kendall being “beyond help” and nobody’s speculating as to why the Wyrm went from caressing Aluina’s cheek to well out of arm’s reach between the last two panels?
I’m thinking she picked up on whatever portion of the Life primordial is hitching a ride in Aluina and is….understandably surprised and concerned. Not sure if that would be a bad thing, but…there is something of a tone-shift there.
Next time on Aurora: Smash cut to why Kendal needs help.
Interesting. Honestly, the timelines lining up keeps tripping me up.
SQUISHY LIVES!!!! Adopt the baby >:(
Gotta corner that plushy market! Gotta keep (non-existant) marketing department happy!
That’s what was needed to complete the fluff squad, a team pet.
I love that it’s not quite clear which character is the demigod
oh hey remember that guy
If my comment repeats it’s caus it didn’t show the first time okay? Anyways, hiw long do these breaks usually last? Asking as a new reader who speeded the comic in two days
The breaks vary in length, but this one will probably be a couple months at least, according to the official tumblr.
i too would be starstruck if the goddess i’d sworn to protect, thought i had lost forever, came back and called ME her bravest minnow.
The art is so beautiful 😍 🤩 👌🏾
Me this morning: ooh! It’s Wednesday!
*checks the page, Red literally said that she would be taking a break.* gosh darn it.
Yeah, same xD
I mean yeah, Kendal’s in danger again, it must be a day that ends in Y
Who let Sun Wukong read Aurora? Kendal is not Tripitaka, he actually has agency.
Hey I agree, it’s just that Kendal’s choice is usually “Get myself into a dangerous situation because I can *probably* survive better than whoever else would be here instead.” He’s not a damsel in distress, he’s a hero shooter Tank
*pats Kendal on the head*
“You can fit so much Heroic Sacrifice in this bad boy”
Hahahaa xD