La Gaudière

La Gaudière

n.
a glint of goodness you notice in someone that you wouldn’t expect, which is often only detectable by sloshing them back and forth in your mind until everything dark and gray and common falls away, leaving something shining at the bottom of the pan—a rare element hidden deep in the bedrock, that must’ve been washed there by a storm somewhere upstream.

French la gaudière, from Latin gaudere, to find joy. Pronounced “lah gou-dee-yair.”

Foilsick

Zverism

The Kinder Surprise

Suente

On Tenderhooks

Fardle-Din

Hanker Sore

Lilo

Drisson

Fata Organa

Mornden

Dead Reckoning

Mottleheaded

Moledro

Etherness

Lookaback

Hubilance

Amoransia

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Lackout

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Slipfast

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Nementia

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Chrysalism

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects