I participated in a little silly quiz thing with suitably random Top Five lists being provided. Mine was "Top Five Fandom Pairings" and I, of course, figured I'd go for some Amber Elder pairing amusement. Obviously, the number of pairings with Fiona is because of the development I've done with her as a character.
5. Julian/Benedict, the taciturn two. I've seen this done with Sane Benedict and Insane Benedict, and in some ways I prefer Insane Benedict because, this is a great trainwreck of a twosome. Julian is, of course, played by rikibeth because she somehow manages to show why some people see the Master of Arden as a complete jerk while at the same time managing to portray his immense strength of caring and character. I also like the dichotomy of Benedict the warmaster being completely out of his depth in romantic relationships. The whole, "All's fair in love and war," gets amusedly let onto its head.
4. Julian/Fiona, the unarranged match. I think of it with Fiona being the older sister, the "perfect one" that Julian aspires to, the one he sees as clever. He wants her to see he's smarter than baby-brother Gerard, and he knows she likes the snark. At the same time, he knows he can't compete so instead he'll make a place for her, a place of beauty away from the cold stone walls of the castle, a place where Oberon does _not_ rule. And girls like ponies. He can give her the pony she always wanted. Erm. This is going to go to a really bad place now.
3. Caine/Fiona, daggers in the night. I have this ongoing theory about the green-eyed siblings being the aggressors, and the blue-eyed being the peacemakers. I love the competition in this pairing, and the potential as they orchestrate their plots. Even if it's never consummated in physical passion, I could see the intellectual pairing having intense erotic tension.
2. Llewella/Florimel, the mirrors. The lion of the water versus the flowers of the surface; a not quite perfect opposition. I did write a short fic about this pairing suggesting that Llewella and Florimel are almost reverse-video images of each other. The light jade hair versus the strawberry blonde started the visual.
1. Fiona/Brand, the venomous pair. The funny thing is that they both get what they want from this pairing, but usually I paint Brand darker in this situation than in any other, because his only motive here is poisonous. I know I kid around by pointing out how much Brand needs recognition for his actions being because Fiona and Bleys never made time for their kid brother, but add a dash of ambiguously-consensual sex, and it becomes quite, um, twistedly amusing.
Bleys/Fiona is one that almost squicks me, and I'm not sure why (after all, I used it in a story once), but probably for the same reasons I like Fiona/Brand: I like my Bleys to be almost perfect, and the combination some how has to be as painful as it is passionate, and that just doesn't fit Bleys' charm for me.