Arundelle Theory?? (😉) (SPOILERS!)

Okay, so I was looking back over N!OBE and I realised something CRAZY, guys. I know this is in tWatWK discussion, but you'll soon see why I put it here. It was not a mistake.

So I was reading back over the chapter "Ouster Will and the First Books." And I found this on page 85: "'Her name was Alma Rainwater,' Nia said. 'She was a good friend of mine. We always thought she would marry your uncle. We hoped she would. But she never made it out of the castle.'"

STOP. RIGHT. THERE.

At the footnote at the bottom of page 85, it says, "Though little is known outside of the Shining Isle, Alma Rainwater was one of the many Annieran poets whose work was hailed as revolutionary because it rhymed and followed a strict form called ba-dum-ba-dum pentameter."

We know that Alma Rainwater was actually the pen name of Arundelle, as we learn in tWatWK (pg. 225). But the reason I stop us at page 85 of N!OBE is this:

Why was Arundelle in Castle Rysen the night Anniera was invaded? According to Nia, she was there with them when the Fangs came, and she never made it out of the castle. But why would she be there? She didn't live there. She was an honoured poet in Anniera, yes, but that doesn't mean she lived in Castle Rysen.

And we read in tWatWK, after Janner plants the new seed (😢) to restore the Annierans to humans, Arundelle is also transformed by Janner's sacrifice. And after Artham learns she's alive, she asks him, "Artham Wingfeather, will you still have me?" (pg. 487) When I first read this, I thought it was because of her failure in the past when she became a cloven. But why would that matter now if she's restored?

So that brings us back to our original question: Why was Arundelle in Castle Rysen the night Anniera was invaded?

My theory is this: Artham invited her to the castle so that he could propose to her.😏 And either he never got around to it or she never said yes because the Fangs were storming the castle. So this would explain her question, "Will you still have me?"

So what do you guys think? Why do you think Arundelle was in Castle Rysen that night?