Teres

SCSF: Who cares about consistent worldbuilding, after all?

Who indeed. Like Paolini, Douglass only focuses on the things she's personally interested in (eg every woman being OMG SO BEEEEUUUUTIFUL also lots of pointless abusive "romance" and babies) instead of the things that are actually important. If she gets bored with some aspect of her plot or setting, then you won't be hearing anything further about it. It's so self-indulgent and unprofessional.

It really does seem like Douglass wants Azhure to have been disliked for the things she likes most about her, not for the stuff that would have made her stand out, which... is not likely to be exactly the same.

She wants to have everyone hate Azhure without actually giving her precious favourite doll any acknowledged flaws, so therefore they have to hate her for nonsensical stuff like... being pretty? Come on. As for the "independent spirit" thing, given the level of abuse she's copped her entire life I find that very hard to believe.

Oh, lovely.

Yeah, Azhure gets slut-shamed all the time but it's never acknowledged.

I genuinely wonder what he could even do to protect Axis when he goes to fight Gorgrael's forces...

Nothing. He isn't there to help him at the obligatory "climactic" battle in this book and only actually does something to watch his back once in book two. After that he becomes entirely irrelevant.

Veremund could have kept watch for anyone coming in, at least. They are in Hagen's house, after all, and they have not put a guard outside, so there might just be a villager coming in when they do not expect it.

Yeah, this whole thing (along with doing the "flashy eye" thing for no reason when anyone could have spotted it) makes them both look like utter morons.