Codex Alera/Heartwarming

• Let's start with Tavi promising Kitai that she'll never be alone at the end of the second book and go from there.
  • Referenced again much later, in an exchange where Isana mentions that, since she's the only Marat without a clan, it must be terrible to be alone... "I would not know. I am not alone."
• In Cursor's Fury, Captain Cyril demonstrates that he's A Father to His Men by keeping Max's Evil Stepmother from causing him an "accident" and arranging for Tavi to stand guard over him - and while Tavi's getting ready, Cyril stands guard for Max.

"Maximus is Legion. If harm comes to him, it will be because I am dead."

• In the same book, when Crassus and Maximus finally take the field together--they're brothers with a rough past at the best of times, but spend a lot of the book getting closer to one another, culminating in the opening of the final battle scene, where they move in perfect unison and coordination, just as they were always meant to.
• And the scene during the epilogue of the third book, when Amara and Bernard discharge a High Lady's debt to them by asking that the redeemed spy and her daughter be given a quiet place to live. Oh, and ponies.
  • Of course that only makes the part in the fifth book when the Vord Queen causally murders that same redeemed spy out of hand all the more heartbreaking.
  • But it comes back to heartwarming again when Bernard and Amara have adopted the little girl... And are giving her pony-riding lessons. In the middle of the Apocalypse.
• The scene in First Lord's Fury when Tavi realizes Kitai is pregnant, which ends with Tavi allowing Kitai to feel their baby through his watercraft.
• Or when the surviving Narashan Canim freed from Lararl, and they turn out to be mostly the wives and children of the Canim with Tavi. Oh, and among them is Varg and Nasaug's wife/daughter-in-law, and their grandchildren/children.
• During the final battle at Calderon Valley in First Lord's Fury, Lord Riva speaks with Bernard, and admits that they have both been at odds for so long, when they needed to worry about the real threat of the Vord. He then apologizes and offers whatever help he can, and Bernard accepts, shaking his hand. Small bit, but wonderful.
• Bernard and Amara's quickie marriage in the face of a Bolivian Army Ending in Academ's Fury.
• In Cursor's Fury, Tavi is wallowing in self-pity when Max reminds him how much he's accomplished without any furycrafting, with the result that the whole legion believes in him and is willing to fight rather than run from the impossible odds they're facing.
• In Captain's Fury, Tavi reveals to Isana that he knows about his parentage, and she finally tells him the whole story, ending with Tavi shocked and angry at the years of lying, but also still as full of love for her as ever.
• In Cursor's Fury, Amara manages to convince Rook to turn on Kalarus not through bribes or torture, but by doing what's right: the moment she learns of Masha being held hostage by Kalarus, she offers to rescue the child. Rook's response is to break down crying as she's presented a way out of the horrible scenario that's kept her leashed to Kalarus. What makes the scene even more powerful is that Invidia is watching the whole thing, and being Invidia, she doesn't seem to understand what just happened.
• In First Lord's Fury, Tavi's conversation with Fidelias, just before his wedding. Fidelias remains in his Death Seeker Atoner phase, and wants to die for his treason. Tavi's punishment? He sentences Fidelias ex Cursori to death... but Valiar Marcus will train the next generation of Cursors, and will enjoy the respect and admiration he's gained from his past and present Moments of Awesome: in short, he's been born again and given a second chance.