TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE: What next?
Next Chapter: March 18 (approximate)
******
Before Stuart had stepped outside, he’d cleaned most of the melon from the alcove. The room still smelled like it. Alden was near the door, exhilarated by his freedom from the secrecy contract and eager to follow his friend, but waiting for a final interaction with Worli Ro-den. He didn’t know what there was for either of them to say, but there must be something. Ro-den had pushed to get him alone for a private conversation. Alden was surprised he hadn’t burst into speech the second Stuart exited.
Didn’t he have something for me beyond ‘You’ll die!’? Details? Or even a request not to spread the word about his tutoring sessions?
Ro-den was just…sitting. He slumped on the chest that held Renjen-art’h’s demon hide, drinking from a cup. Alden had plenty of time to notice that it didn’t match the other dishes Stuart had taken from the table.
Guess the smooth talk was a show again, and I’m not worth the effort now, he decided.
He wondered if he should count this silence as a win and be grateful that the professor wasn’t pushing him to reactivate the tattoo.
Alden was extremely grateful. To Stuart. But the longer he stood here, watching Ro-den sulk, the more furious accusations were coming to mind. He had had a long time since their last talk to fill a well inside him to the brim with resentment. He could dip his hand in there and pull up so many different varieties of anger for this one man.
Here was some tinged with Alden’s embarrassment about how easily he’d trusted and how much he’d failed to understand. There were also some timely complaints; he was on his way to see a mind healer who was helping him deal with his memories of Thegund, after all. And he could feel the even darker stuff rising—the cruel things he’d pictured himself saying to Ro-den when he woke up from nightmares about cleaning the remains of Kibby’s family out of the car.
No, he decided. There’s nothing from that place that should ever be said.
“I’m glad I can talk to Stu about myself now,” he said. “Properly. But I don’t see a good reason to spread around most of the things that were covered by our agreement, if that’s something you’re worried about. I’ve got enough common sense not to shout about Earth Contract’s soft spots or the smuggling of bombs.”
Ro-den’s only answer was a glance.
That’s it? How exactly did Stuart put him in this state? I guess I did basically say that I’ll keep what benefits me and protects my planet a secret, and that might be so obvious it’s not worth responding to.
Whatever. Time to go.
“‘Common sense’ must mean something different to you than it does to most intelligent beings.”
Ro-den’s parting shot was quiet but petulant. It struck Alden as absurd. The ‘bald general,’ the Distinguished Master, the tyrant of the LeafSong labs. Joe. Sitting on a box with nothing more to offer than that insult.
Who is this person? Why did he have so much power to disappoint me?
“People expect you to be cool,” Alden said in English. “So many people. You obviously know how to be, but then…you aren’t.”
When he stepped out into the evening air, he felt like he’d finally gotten that clean break Ro-den had insisted on when they met at Matadero.
Stuart was waiting on the road. He’d already selected a green pebble from the bucket to carry as his offering to the House of Healing.
Now there’s a guy who knows how to be cool when it matters.
Stuart was trying to hold his pebble in one hand and multiple cantaloupe shards in the other. He had his anti-Ro-den stick under his arm. His mouth was full.
“How did you do this?!” Alden crowed, bounding over to join him. “You looked exhausted when we talked a few days ago. You still do. Have you been trying to make this happen all week? That’s badass! You need to teach me how to say ‘badass’ in Artonan. I thought we were going to have to put up with so much shitty misunderstanding before this was over. I was trying to train my way out of it. But you just came along and figured it out and solved it. Give me that. You didn’t have to eat the attack cantaloupe. I would have brought you another.”
He was sure Stuart had been extreme. The chest Ro-den was taking was extreme all by itself. Wasn’t his family going to flip out when they realized it was gone?
“I’m relieved I did the right thing,” Stuart said. “If I’d been wrong about you needing help with it— ”
“You were right. You were so right. And you’d better be proud of yourself for persuading Ro-den. He wouldn’t even answer a call from me.”
Stuart wrapped his fingers around the last piece of melon before Alden could take it. “I am a little proud.”
“Be a lot proud. And if the consequences from your family are rough, I’ll be worth the trouble eventually.”
“Already. Not eventually.”
“You can blame the demon hide on me. Tell Aymeg I’m so stupid I misunderstood him and thought he wanted me to give that chest to a smart wizard.”
“I won’t do that.” Stuart paused. “Blaming you wouldn’t be badass.”
Alden laughed. “You’re right! I feel shame for even suggesting it. Let’s go get my mind healed so that I have better ideas in the future.”
******
The long walk along the inward path that night was as helpful as always, but for the first time, Alden was in a hurry to leave at the end of it. He popped out of the grotto where he had been obediently steeping and bowed his thanks to Healer Yenu at the spiral’s entrance.
His peaceful thoughts were already being swept up in the excitement of finally getting to head to the Rapport and have a talk about his skill without anything getting in the way.
“Where’s Stu?” he asked, looking around the dark grove behind the House of Healing.
“Inside,” said Yenu-pezth. “He argued with his healer that he would not sleep, but he is sleeping. Let that be instructive.”
Sleeping? He’s going to do that for hours. I can say anything I want, but who am I supposed to talk to?
“Good.” Alden tried to sound like a person with self-control. “He needs it.”
******
******
******
“It’s part of a ritual for when a member of the family goes traveling. So that I could carry the land with me wherever I went.” Stuart pointed the object under discussion—his walking stick—toward a cluster of bushes that had overgrown the path to the old house. The bushes leaned away, opening a narrow trail for them to pass.
“I couldn’t invite Ro-den here, so I did this. Leeter-zis leveraged the power I was carrying with me and designed a different ritual to enhance it and make the greeting house my domain. I thought he’d be able to do something like that after seeing his work during the Here-to-There.”
“Despite the first impression I had of him, he turned out to be a serious wizard,” said Alden. “And he did tell me he wished he could use you as an ingredient here in your home.”
“He told me the same thing. He wasn’t hesitant about it at all. And the way he takes advantage of other peoples’ festivities for his casting requires creativity and competence. I was surprised at how much he managed in such a short amount of time, though.”
“Him? I can’t believe how much you did in a short amount of time. We’re definitely in private now? Since you started talking about this, I can say whatever I like, too?”
It was an early morning in the middle of the woods, but about fifteen minutes ago, Stuart had said he sensed his brother Kofa. They’d walked in companionable silence since then.
“We’re alone.”
Alden hit him with an authority greeting. “Finally! Hello! I’m The Bearer of All Burdens, but that’s a gloomy title so please just call me Alden.”
Stuart stopped. The butt of his walking stick dug into the soil. Alden had almost gotten used to its presence, but the stick did call attention to itself in a way a normal accessory wouldn’t.
Stuart returned the greeting, but said, “Would you please not speak jokingly about your skill for now? It’s important that I understand how you think about it, and with everything that’s happened and language differences… ”
“You want to be sure.”
Stuart nodded.
“I understand. That’s the right thing.” Alden did want to make sure they were on the same page, too. “I’m not certain whether or not I was completely joking about that. I am The Bearer of All Burdens. Sometimes that sounds impressive to me. At other times, it sounds too hard. Bearing burdens isn’t the most pleasant concept I can imagine for a skill.
“I’m proud of some things I’ve done with it, but I’m also overwhelmed by it. You asked about when I managed to hold Zeridee with it during the flood. Just magic, no hands. I was in pain, dying myself, and trying to hold onto her with everything I had left. I’m glad I can do that, but I don’t actually want to have to do that—to go that far to be one with my skill. And then, in addition to that, you told me there was a way to have a skill that did very similar things to Bearer without the entrustment restriction. I…can’t say that doesn’t make me regretful. A little. It’s not my main feeling. It’s just part of it.”
Before Stuart had a chance to reply, Alden added, “Right now, I’m happy I get to talk about it. I’m not saying I’m very disappointed. And I might tell you I’m The Bearer of All Burdens fifty times before the day is through.”
“It’s a beautiful skill, Alden,” Stuart said after a moment. “I’ve collected some of the information that’s available on it for you.”
“Thank you!” Alden blinked. “But already? That was fast.”
They’d both spent the night at the House of Healing and gotten up early. Stuart had done a short ceremonial handover of the greeting house to the healers. Now they were back here to talk and give the walking stick to the old house. It seemed impossible that Stuart had found even a second of free time.
“I had a reasonable theory about which skill was yours before yesterday.”
“You did?”
“After I realized the contract with Worli Ro-den was what was making you act so unlike yourself whenever I wanted to talk about your skill, the possibilities narrowed. He wouldn’t have forced you to hide the truth if it were a common Avowed talent. And when I gave you my tablet to research masterpieces, I saw that you were most interested in spells similar to the skill you already have. As if you intended for it to be your main one long into the future. That narrowed the possibilities further. Once it occurred to me that you might have bound one of the skills that were designed for early Avowed, I looked them up in our manuscript library. I even knew where the information I wanted was without asking. Jozz had studied them when researching to find his skill. Among them, there was only one that could have been yours, and it matched so well that I was almost sure.”
“You figured it all out just like that?”
“After seeing you use your skill many times and spying on you.” Stuart sounded frustrated. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner.”
“I have no complaints,” Alden said. “I feel ridiculous, though. I even thought you were trying to be sneaky when you gave me the tablet with the spell descriptions, but I didn’t know how sneaky. Did you read my search history or something?”
Stuart pointed to rusty orange eyes that wore thin golden implants.
“Your eyerings! I’m an idiot. Of course you can view your own tablet through them.”
“You’re not an idiot. You just trust me, which I hope you will continue to do. I’ve felt guilty. I had to stop myself from confessing.”
“It’s all good. It’s really good from my point of view. But what’s…so…my skill is something you’ve read about. You’ve seen me use it, and now you know it’s going to be something I do a lot of. For a long time. What do you think about it? From a knight’s perspective. And from a practical one. Honestly.”
This was a question that filled him with nerves.
Stuart had said the skill was beautiful, but that seemed like what one person should say to another in this situation. Even if a knight revealed they had a skill that was weird as hell, Alden thought he would be able to sincerely tell them it was beautiful that they’d found the thing they wanted to make part of their soul and chosen to share the news with him.
Useless, broken, or painful things could contain beauty. But he didn’t want to hear that he was a quirky clunker by the standards of someone who’d been exposed to all the fancy modern options.
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. If he thinks it’s massively flawed, I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it.
Stuart was taking a long time to answer the question, too, which wasn’t helping.
“Stuart?”
“I was considering my reply,” Stuart said. “If I heard another Declared had selected that skill—someone who was a stranger to me—I would admire their choice and think they were someone I’d like to know. I would look forward to meeting them in the field and would make what efforts I could to be considerate of their need for an entruster. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with The Bearer of All Burdens, not even to the slightest degree. It is dignified, versatile, and selfless. What it costs the knight, or Avowed, who becomes it is repaid in potency. Actually, it’s more practical than my own skill will be in many ways, so I hope you won’t worry about that again. If you had chosen it for yourself after a choosing season like my own, I would be glad for you and think you had chosen something close to perfection. But every time I think of you choosing it in ignorance, I grow more furious.”
The forest went as quiet as it usually was around the siblinghold. Shadows seemed to sharpen. Stuart’s eyes burned.
Alden could suddenly imagine him taking on the Grand Senate. Only it would be less like politics and more like what he’d done to Ro-den.
“Thanks for that,” Alden said. “But don’t send the trees to war for me… unless they’re definitely going to win.”
Stuart exhaled and relaxed his grip on the staff. The nearby trees creaked, and the noises began to return as he and Alden walked on.
“This skill will grow with you for your whole life. You could choose another and neglect your first, but it will always be a prominent part of you. There’s a different…weight to a skill like this than there is to something like your spell impression. I say you may neglect it, but that’s a last resort that is likely to have bad outcomes. Ideally, you would have had access to everything I’ve had access to before your first binding. But you didn’t. And from where we are now, the best course is for you to nurture what you have become and take pride in it.
“When you’re sure you have an enduring, positive relationship with who you are as The Bearer of All Burdens, then you might bind another major skill. The older knights tell us the right reason for doing something like that is to run closer to what we already are instead of fleeing from the first skill. They also say we’ll find it hard to tell the difference during the early years. Does that make sense?”
He looked over at Alden worriedly.
“It does. Lying to yourself about why you want a new skill would be an easy trap to fall into. Convincing myself I’d be better at bearing burdens if I could fly…it might be true, but if I’m taking a flying skill even a little bit because I don’t like something about Bearer, like entrustment, I’m feeding self-hatred.”
“Entrustment,” said Stuart. “I wanted to address this with you. How much do you truly dislike it? And what would make it worth the sacrifice that is inherent to it?”
The way he asked was careful and made Alden answer with equal care. “At best, it’s inconvenient. I can’t use my skill without asking for permission or tricking another person into giving it. At worst, it terrifies me. If something bad happens when I’m alone or with someone who won’t entrust anything, I don’t have a skill. I know the point of it is to make me more powerful in certain circumstances and that a preservation skill without entrustment would be weaker than mine. On most days, I even think it’s worth it…if the effect’s strong enough compared to what it would be without it.”
“You do! Good!”
Alden let himself laugh a little at that. “You were worried I was holding onto much worse regret, I guess? I’m fine. I’m just not sure I would have accepted that price if I’d thought harder and understood more. I don’t think I’m going to flee from it, though.”
“I’m relieved by this,” Stuart confirmed. “It’s the kind of restriction anyone might struggle with, even someone who’d chosen it wholeheartedly. As long as you don’t <<despise>> it, I think you’ll come to appreciate it more than not. You need more practice with taking advantage of that aspect of the skill. I’m not sure you’ve ever used it to full effect except probably with Kivb-ee. But that wasn’t the best situation, and she wasn’t the best entruster to help you see some of the potential.”
“Harsh.”
“I only mean that she’s a child and not very powerful.”
“Harsh on me,” said Alden, frowning. “Do you really think I’ve only ever had one correct entruster experience? What about Zeridee?”
“I know she had a severe brain injury that prevented her from thinking clearly, but didn’t you say you had trouble getting her to agree to your help?”
“She didn’t want me to take any risks because my death might make an art’h sad.”
“It would have.”
“Good to know.”
“To me, it sounds like she might not have been able to be a proper entruster. Your magic was very effective during that disaster, but that doesn’t mean you were handling all parts in the best way. You were, as you just indicated, immensely burdened. That would make you more in tune with your skill, but your skill is like a song with many notes. Were you singing all of them well, or only the ones that are about suffering and sacrifice? Most of what you’ve done as The Bearer of All Burdens has been <<wrong difficulty>>, hasn’t it? Either too unserious or too torturous. How many entrusters have actually trusted you to protect something that is important to them? And how often are you genuinely willing to serve them in that way?”
“Both of those at the same time?” Alden looked down at his feet, thinking. “Hardly ever. Maybe with you during the mishnen. Ro-den’s assistants. I don’t really know how any of you felt, though. But definitely with…”
“Kivb-ee,” said Stuart. “You carried her frequently, didn’t you? During your final days at the lab, not only during your run to find Aunt Alis. She needed you to bear the burden of the chaos for her and trusted you to do it. You wanted to do it. That was probably close to a perfect expression of your skill in multiple ways. I think your, ‘At best, it’s inconvenient,’ doesn’t acknowledge that the entrustment requirement made you strong enough to do that.”
“I know,” Alden said. He looked down. There was bluish green grass here peeking up between roots. “I do appreciate that.”
“If Kivb-ee had been as powerful as Father, you’d probably have been able to shield the whole building without much strain.”
“I… what?” Alden leaped ahead a couple of steps so that he could spin and face him. He held up his hands even though Stuart had already halted. “The strength of the entruster affects what I can do? That much?”
“It does.”
“How do you know that? How do I not know that?”
Stuart raised an eyebrow at him.
Alden raised one back. “Because I’m not usually approaching entrustment with the proper attitude.”
“Entrustment isn’t a restriction that exists solely for the sake of adding to your burden; it’s magic you can do, intentionally, to forge a connection between you and another person that will increase your authority to influence reality because you’re not alone. You’re representing someone else as well. If you do it in the right way, the authority of the other person becomes a relevant factor.”
“Oh.”
“But you don’t have to be the perfect Bearer of All Burdens in every way every time you do anything with it. As long as you’re not fighting yourself, however you want to use your own skill is fine.”
“I want to make sure I know how to do it all, though. I don’t want to be a half-ass knight. I want to be able to preserve a large asteroid that’s bothering my entruster. I’m assuming my entruster is you, by the way.”
“A bothersome asteroid?”
“You’ll pick one, and I’ll throw it toward a moon-sized demon. You know, if your own skill is exhausted.”
Stuart’s expression shifted from consternation to delight. “I’d like to do that, too.”
“Of course you would. Who wouldn’t? We’ll make it a goal.” Alden turned and led the way forward, squeezing past the next bush before the walking stick could get involved.
“Half-assed is bad?” Stuart asked.
“Correct.”
“Badass is good.”
“Also correct. You are a badass who kicks ass with a walking stick.”
“That’s confusing,” said Stuart. “But I will learn.”
******
******
“ … so I took Burden of Enchantment,” Alden concluded. “It hasn’t been useful many times yet, but I think when I’m better educated about which enchantments do what and can be moved where…I hope it will be something worthwhile.”
It was around midday, and he sat on a huge windowsill beside Stuart, his feet dangling over the edge above a carpet of dead leaves. Stuart said if that carpet was swept away, a “spell court” of stone stars would be revealed. But there was no sign of that, and the grand hall at their back had almost as many leaves in it. They covered the glossy floor and piled up in drifts at the base of columns carved into the shapes of plants and animals that Alden didn’t know the names of.
The old house was a magnificent place, but a very strange one. There were no windows, only the openings where they would have been, because when people last lived here, spells had allowed good weather in and kept bad out. Some rooms had no roofs. There was furniture, but not in normal amounts or arrangements—a set of stools in one room, a wardrobe in another, a table with a white basin full of water in a third. It had been hot and clean, and Stuart had encouraged Alden to wash his hands in it. He’d been brushing grime off things everywhere they went to see what the house really looked like. Nothing seemed to be dirty beneath the dirt the way it should have been. Piles of rotted leaves left no stains on the floors. Something that looked like mold had fallen away from an entire wall when Alden had only wiped a single board.
It was like it remembered how to be a house and wanted to again.
It also wanted to drink Alden’s blood like a vampire. That should have been concerning, probably, but the house wasn’t too mean about it, and he had decided to take it as evidence of welcome. Like Stuart was.
“I’m sorry it’s taking so much,” he said, sounding more chipper than sorry as he wrapped the fifth makeshift leaf bandage of the day around Alden’s left palm. “These do seem to be slowing it down.”
Stuart had buried his walking stick under the tree he’d cut it from and then introduced Alden to the house as the friend, the knowledge, and the power he’d brought back from his trip to foreign lands. Alden had done his part by shining his light spell around to show the house he was friendly, knowledgable, and powerful. And then, after minimal protest, he’d given the ground a few drops of blood from a tiny cut they’d made on his palm.
A couple of weeks ago, he’d have argued more. Not because he minded feeding his blood to a house, but because he’d been specifically deprived of the opportunity to do it before. During his welcome to the siblinghold, no human blood had gone on the hearthstone. Sure, it was a little bit of a bummer to be left out, but he didn’t want his DNA to break something because ancient wizards hadn’t imagined just how foreign a foreign guest could be.
Now, though, Stuart insisting was enough reason to ignore his misgivings. His friend had built a tiny house and threatened a teacher. He’d stolen a demon hide that they’d been told not to mess with. Ro-den was probably feeding it to his grasshoppers while plotting how to murder the Primary’s son…when he finally stopped skipping school.
Stuart was definitely getting yelled at soon, and some amount of fallout might land on Alden, too. But considering everything he was getting in return, it was worth it.
If Stuart wanted this house to meet a human the old fashioned way, so be it. He’d taken off his rings and shed a few drops on the same patch of soil where Stuart had apparently donated so much he’d almost fainted a few days ago.
The gremlin had been a giant mental question mark ever since. Like it knew something was going on but couldn’t decide if it was a positive or a negative. But the old house hadn’t collapsed on top of their heads, and no alarms had sounded. Instead, the wound on Alden’s hand had gotten wider and wider until he was leaving a trail of blood drops behind him as they explored.
“It’s funny that one of the first things we do once I’ve got my protective rings is take them off so that they don’t interfere with the house injuring me.”
“Leaving is a better prevention if the bleeding won’t stop. And of course the Burden of Enchantment will be useful. A lot of equipment gets damaged but not completely destroyed in chaos. You could probably move an enchantment that’s still good from something broken to a tool that’s still useful. The possibilities will increase as your power grows, and I’ll be there to help you decide what can be successfully moved. If we’re partners, my knowledge is yours.”
“That’s nice to hear. Part of me wants to know everything myself, but until I can actually cram decades of new information into my brain… ”
“You’ll have me.” Stuart let go of Alden’s freshly bandaged hand. “I wonder if the Burden of Spell facet would allow you to hold one of the ways I create. And what the result would be.”
“You mean literally hold the tunnel that forms?” Alden tried to wrap his head around the idea. “It doesn’t exist for very long. Did whatever you read about my skill say I should be able to do something like that?”
Stuart shook his head. “It wasn’t detailed in that way… you know we can do things with our skills and steer them in directions their designers never imagined? You can follow rules they didn’t set and value aspects of yourself that they didn’t account for.”
“Like your father deciding ‘fair play’ was an important concept for Cleaver of Strength? And you deciding to use Maker of Narrow Ways like you plan to.”
“Yes. You can do the same as The Bearer of All Burdens. You’ll find your own way of liking it, and you’ll turn it into something that is uniquely yours even if others have held the skill in the past. I look forward to finding out what you’ll be doing with it a few years from now.”
“I’m really not getting tired of being able to talk about it. Do you have preferences for what I choose during my next binding? Now that you know I’ll be working with this. If we’re going to fight together, there must be some things you wish I’d lean toward.”
Stuart pulled his legs up to sit with them crossed. “I want…to understand what you’re choosing and why as part of making my own choices. I’ll give you my opinions on everything, but I don’t want us to be very concerned about maximizing the functionality of each other’s skill for our early bindings. I think we’ll find plenty of ways to support each other as it is.”
“What’s next then? Now that you’ve solved the thing I thought would be getting in our way for… I don’t even know how long…what do we do? I’ve changed my classes around at Celena North so they’re mostly helping me get ready.”
“Your MPE classes aren’t bad training for now. I’ll help you practice your skill and your wizardry whenever you want. But I won’t be very good at that for a while after first binding… I don’t know how much I should delay that… ”
“Not at all for my sake,” Alden said adamantly. “The advice your father gave you sounded good. Do it when you’re sure. That’ll be the right time. Everything else will fall into place around it.”
“I’m scared.”
Alden’s stomach clenched. “That’s healthy.”
Stuart stared out over the grounds of the old house, toward the hillside where they’d fired the keda bean together.
“Our friendship is now so many things I’ve wanted. I wish I’d met you years ago, or that we had years ahead of us to live like we did today, or that day.” He gestured toward the hill. “I’ll change, Alden. I want to be better. What if I’m not? What if, as a knight, I’m worse?”
The obvious answers crossed his mind: You won’t be. You won’t change that much. Lots of people have done it, and you’re as good as any of them.
But the obvious answers kind of sounded like bullshit in the face of emotion this raw. Alden reached for Stuart’s spot in reality and stayed beside it. An act of attention. Closeness.
“I’ll be here,” he said.
******
Comments (348)
Given Alden's prior 'Looney Tunes' -style tactics, I wondered if in-universe others would have the context of those cartoons to associate with, or if it was something after the divergence point that might have been changed by the Artonans' arrival. But lo! Looney Tunes started in the 1930s (specifically to showcase certain songs, hence the 'tunes' name), and the very first arrival of 'Bugs Bunny' getting the better of 'Elmer Fudd' came in 1940 with "A Wild Hare" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wild_Hare). This means it is not only possible, but even *plausible*, that someone is eventually going to take certain B List club members' compilation of Alden's stranger gym (and outside of gym) victories and set it to Looney Tunes music to evoke a Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's practically destiny.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bugs_Bunny_cartoons I desperately need in-universe Alden-is-secretly-Bugs-Bunny memes now.
What does a release date "closer to 24 hours from now than not" mean, really, when you get down to it? The obviously interpretation is just that the release date will be closer in time to a point 24 hours away, than it is to a point in time 'now'. The intuitive understanding is that it means the release will be in around 24 hours. But, that's not what the literal words say. If we accept that 'not' being closer to 24 hours away just means that it is closer to now, than the words literally mean that the release date will be closer in time to a point 24 hours in the future than they are to the current time. But, that's as true statement for release dates 25 hours in the future as it is for 50, or more. All time after 12 hours is closer to 24 hours in the future than it is to the present. So what does that mean? Slyca in her crafty messages has promised us only that a chapter will be released sometime between 11am this morning, and the end of eternity.
🥲😄
*shaman voice* the soup gods demand tribute… who among you shall be sacrificed for the good of the many…
"All hail our Tribute, SSSS!" (Patience gently nudges SSSS over the edge and into the tub filled with hot water.) Enjoy your soak. And pray for a chapter before your fingers prune.
Just stop leaving proposed chapter update dates.
Lot of people are a lot like me though. Why give a date at all if it’s just going to be treated like Ro-den phone calls. I’d rather just be happily surprised later then be excited then disappointed constantly. You do realize that every single update this year has been approximated by a day or more. Why even mention it at all this point. It’s just a loving lie.
Someday, I hope Alden gets to hang out with Esh and Lind and train with them. I bet anything Lind gives Esh would end up being an amazing object for Alden to practice with - Esh treasures everything Lind gives him so much, and vice versa. Would their mutual spot-holding mean they could effectively act as one doubled entruster for Alden?
I think Alden should ask Esh-Erdi to really strongly entrust him with a shield when he goes to get beat on by the S-rank club. he should see how much it can hold up to.
„How many entrusters have actually trusted you to protect something that is important to them? And how often are you genuinely willing to serve them in that way?” - the healing hospital wizard, when she gave him the puppet with an artificial heart
The wizard wasn't his entruster, though (249): The wizard didn’t let her attention flick away from the project at all. It was Panna-ser who told Alden to pick up the doll, and the blob with it, without letting either be disturbed for a single instant. EDIT: Natalie and the turkey! Reply below.
Do you believe in a dream called 'chapter might appear soon'?
No. I cannot allow Hope.
I think something more sinister is happening with the missing knights. Maybe a powerful demon took them and is attempting to turn them into demons as well.
I’m wondering if it’s going to be an event that makes the family even more overprotective of Stu. Could be another obstacle to their respecting his desire to be a knight.
"Bad news - the siblinghold did an inventory and a priceless and dangerous demon hide is missing" Stu'art'h: "There is no need to be concerned, everyone. I stole the demon hide and gave it to a noted criminal to help my human friend communicate better."
the only way Stuart gets out of this relatively unscathed is to give justification, and that involves Alden at least telling them about BoaB
Bearer could low key be a terrifying villain power. No cap on its growth. It’s esoteric applications could let you store someone’s spells and break enchantments. You could theoretically take someone’s ability to speak by bearing their speech just because they talked to you. Preventing most forms of controlled casting. Take someone’s pain and potentially give it to someone else. Lots of oof potential. Glad there is only 1 user at a time.
You'd need a hench person to tell you to take stuff. BoAB is helpless on its own. (Unless they're also a wizard, of course)
Chapter predictions? I'll start: The lost knights on Goldbush are recovered. Stu is grounded.
Recovered Goldbush knights had slipped on a banana peel. Alden sneaks into the siblinghold with Mother's help, bringing a replacement for the floor-melon. Stu completes his desecration of the wevvi ritual. Melon-wevvi is sinfully good.
Zany thought of the day, the Roswell incident in this world could’ve been the artonans losing a piece off one of their early flyers. while they were scouting earth deciding if they should make it a resource world or seal it
Alternate theory: Roswell was Gorgon's people trying to escape their sealed planet, which brought Artonan attention to Earth.
Thinking about Stu saying he could get access to other skills for Alden, can nothing be done about him not having to bind more stats into sympathy for magic? It kinda of seemed like an unavoidable part of the class growth in the mother chapter but I expect Alden to ask about it.
If I recall, it was a mandatory part of Rabbit affixation at level 1, but not for any level after that. He can't get rid of it, but he doesn't need to invest any more into it.
A clarification I just properly noticed, that I myself have claimed previously as some sort of fact. Aldens' BOAB is an early avowed first 300 skill, but Stu just said "the knight, or Avowed, who becomes it", and that Jozz did have it among his choice research skills. This would instead imply that the first 300 avowed skills are in fact just modified knight skills that have been tuned under the assumption that the user does not have authority awareness like most avowed. This is the same kind of skill modification like the "modern convenience" of the summoner auto-targeting and the movement restriction that Alden has/had. this does give life to all of the theories that the Primary knew a BOAB knight previously.
Yup. All the people (including me!) who have been pedantically saying "BoAB is an avowed skill, not a knight skill!" are having to eat their words. (The shame I am feeling is enormous...)
To me: Bearer of all Burden has the literal meaning of burden=authority. Because the burden of every knight is the authority that they wield. And Alden gets burdened with part of that authority, entwined with the actual skill that the source authority is used for.
I realized a thing, if the entruster's strength affects the strength of the preservation if the skill is properly aligned. Then Klein's Pause might, in no small part, be due to Lexi's overprotectiveness of Kon (and possibly his friends). I think Lexi was the entruster of the shield that time, and he entrusted the shield to Alden with the strongly implicit purpose of protecting them. So it was not just a very well aligned skill, it was also likely B + A strength. Probably still just a blip on the radar for an experienced S, but it would help further explain Klein's Pause. (And yes, I do enjoy capitalizing that. It's an event worth a title. According to Mehdi at least :) )
Which can be further extrapolated to: If Alden gets on Kon's coursing team, he should probably get Kon to be his regular entruster. It will likely help both of them. Kon to develop his authority, and Alden gets to hitch a ride on an S.
Here's a thought that's been tickling the back of our shared brain for a while now, which this chapter's revelations about entrustment reinforces and raises to greater salience. It'd actually be legitimately useful and practical for Alden to sink some foundation points into Appeal during his next affixation. Specifically, Appeal fine-tuned by Mother to enhance his ability to convey his *trustworthiness* to those around him, through his mannerisms and body language. We'd already been thinking this because of all the times he's been challenged in getting seriously injured people to entrust themselves to him during a major medical emergency. Stu with the mishnen, Søren when he burned himself, Zeridee during the flood... it's enough of a pattern that supernaturally enhancing his aura of trustworthiness is a legitimate asset for an aspiring hero to add to his toolkit. Now that we've learned that the depth of trust extended to him by his entruster directly enhances the strength of his skill, adding Appeal tuned towards trustworthiness goes from "useful asset in emergencies" to "bona fide power hack." It's too useful to ignore, even if he feels yucky about adding Appeal or influencing people's readiness to trust him in that way. It's just too good an opportunity to pass up. Here's hoping Alden realizes this in time for his next affixation. Maybe then that one doctor will trust him to deliver a pizza. 😉 General Content Advisory Link for the authors of this comment: https://glowfic.com/users/2759
Chapter 60 (Mother, pt 2): > “It does kind of make it easier to grasp, I guess, even if some of the rules seem to be left out. For example, there’s no mention of the autotarget for summoners.” > “That’s a newer convenience added on top of the original skill. A largely System-directed bauble. It relies on the fact that by responding to a summons under contract you are on some level choosing to serve that person.” Chapter 221 (Here-to-There I): > “These are a type of vatha,” Bithe said, twisting one of his hands in front of himself as he watched the moths dance. “My skill is called The Vatha Lantern. That which << mesmerizes >> only to burn. I asked for it to be stripped of some << modernizations >> others have chosen so that I might start with it closer to an older form. But I wasn’t expecting this. The vatha have been coming to me for a few days now, whenever I think of myself in a certain way.” If Alden had been given his skill without the modern conveniences, its possible that boab could have had that sort of trustworthy effect on people without an appeal point going towards it.
Anyone have thoughts about where contracts get the budget they use to perform tasks? The teleports could partially be a form of technology I suppose, but there are a lot of other functions. We know earth system and later mother granted enchantment bonuses to Alden’s stats. That didn’t get taken from his existing authority. So I’m curious where the extra comes from
My current random guess might be that everyone on earth tithes a small portion of authority in exchange for the system connection? Or maybe wizards do somehow. Could also somehow be tapping into the authority of the planet or universe? And I’m not sure exactly how any of those would work. Especially the secondary options. Since we know Wizards and artonans aren’t keen to use up their authority (Kibby subconsciously avoiding the Gorgon rite during Thegund for example)
Random thought to stew on until approximately the 19th: Stuart has now had a closer look at Alden's authority and hasn't seen his gremlin. And Stuart is carrying around something like his mom's gremlin. Healers and other wizards can't find either gremlin (or at least can't figure it out in Stuart's case.) The two have a lot of similarities. Does that mean Gorgon's, Alden's, and Stuart's gremlins are all the same kind of thing, made with the same kind of magic? The only three gremlins in the entire accessible universe, just happen to know each other, ambassadors for three different species.
I was under the impression that Stu's mind trap was less unfindable, and more so integral to his mind that it couldn't be fully removed without killing him. I mean, he bassically had it since birth, no way it was easy to separate
“March 18 (approximate, going to be closer to 24 hours from now than not) comes.” - 2025 GOTY
The last few times (at least for me, not sure about time difference) the new chapter always showed up exactly one day after the expected date. - so new chapter today I hope :)
Update: This approximately is going to be closer to 24 hours from now than not. I don't want people to feel like they have to wait up. I'll see you with it tomorrow.
Thank you. I much prefer these kinds of messages to staying up all night wondering if the chapter could be here at any moment or waking up the next morning and wondering if no chapter means that it will arrive any minute or not for another 18 hours.
For the obstacle course team to come - I would be so delighted if Kon thought to recruit not just his own teammates from the Flashes challenge, but also Max and team from Flashes (minus Finlay, maybe plus a Maricel or Jupiter?).
Or more concisely, this is effectively the celebratory diner hangout group in 'To Belong' (257): "Ten of them crowded around two tables at the back of the diner". Alden, Kon, Everly, Lexi, Haoyu; Max, Astrid, Jeffy, Lucille, [Finlay - farewell, Finlay!].
I just did a minor re-read of Ch. 117-118 (Catch-Unfolding) Funny how Alden's speed gets a massive boost when he's trying to catch the balls that Waker is throwing at him. Even though Waker is in his Big Snake persona, his Little Snake speed is still available to Alden. Sleyca really thought things through, didn't she? It was there all along, and we didn't see. (Or at least *I* didn't see.)
Was there any indication in what Stu said that the Bearer gets access to the skill(s) or similar of his entruster? I must admit I did not read it as that. Stu says Alden could have shielded the building, he said nothing of him cleaving demons if the Primary had been his entruster. Concerning instructor waker: I have always read that incident as several factors coming together: 1) it is mentioned that the „defogging package“ starts working 2) Alden manages to align himself better, making bearer stronger and leading to 3) a disregard for his own health, enabling him to execute maneuvers that are normally too exhausting (mentioned in sauna) 4) Children play with balls to learn coordination, to learn what they are able to do and to translate the movement they see (direction, speed, etc) into something they can react to. Because of that we might be able to catch a housekey someone throws to us. Alden trains the subconscious spatial awareness of his new sixth sense. I believe it is mentioned explicitly that he is not any faster than his body was able before. Though all this is still my interpretation, I might be wrong :-)
I’m actually also really excited now that Alden understands the entrustment system of bearer better. With a proper mindset he could probably find ways to get help from Lucille or Ignacio to be able to contend with S ranks slightly better. Not sure how he would need to pull it off, but doing it well could partially close the gap
Was he not going to work with Ignatio in some s-rank training?
Funny misunderstanding on the first read, but when Stuart said, "Leaving is a better prevention if the bleeding won’t stop." I thought he was referring to the leaf bandages from earlier.
Leafing?
I’m looking forward to finding out how Sleyca will make use of Stu’s skill. He’s very smart and would have taken/created a skill that’s far more useful than it might seem on the surface (Stu talking about BoAB: “Actually, it’s more practical than my own skill will be in many ways…”). In fact, given how Sleyca writes, I’d be willing to bet that the narrative utility of Stu’s skill will be something far beyond how he’s talked about it up to now. Some use that when we find out about it we will say to ourselves, “Of course!” The first random possibility that leaps to mind, simply as an example, would be him & Alden using it to open up a way into a sealed off universe, because they’ve figured out some solution to whatever problem caused it to be sealed away in the first place. Or to go in & rescue people stuck there (maybe Alden could hold the passageway open on the way out). Because I’m always hoping for Gorgon’s people to be sealed off rather than dead. Or for Alden & Stu to go to the heart of chaos that Thenn mentioned to Ro-den in that recent memory. Do I really think that’s how Stu’s skill will be used in the story? Meh, probably not. I’ve come to trust that Sleyca comes up with narrative twists far beyond what I could imagine. Still, Stu’s skill will surely be important, and I can’t help but be curious what sneaky plans Sleyca has for it.
To me it sounds like opening a wormhole and travel between planets or dimensions. Alden preserving it like a gate.
Predictions! • Stu will continue to be a badass. • Alden will not half ass anything. • Winston will continue being a jackass • Somebody will be a smartass. Am I missing anything?
We understand Klein better now, but he's not done being a hardass.
Just came across Lio the post box during re-read. I wonder what Stu being so sensitive makes of it. I am strongly voting for Stu visiting earth with Alden!
Aw man I just realized my dreams of Leo the pocket entruster have been dashed. If Alden's skill increases with his entruster's authority, an entruster of Leo's weak and vague nature is only good for small stakes. Boo.
You know, when Emban said Stu could be a wizard of "rare worth" to the family, I feel like she was, if anything, underselling her point: Stu is mastering a *masterclass* spell as a first year university student. He solo'd doing a family ritual that empowered a cut branch so powerfully that *Worli Ro-don*, formerly-Distinguished Master, thought it was an art'h family heirloom from a famous ancestor. Sina Stu-art'h is absolutely going to be someone's famous ancestor someday.
I bet everyone in the siblinghold has been taking exquisite care since they first seriously realized what kind of potential Stu has not to let him get a swelled head about it. Stu grew up surrounded by famous people. He's always looking at the power and talent gap between himself and, say, his father, who happens to be the current Most Powerful Person In the Universe, aka the Primary, and he's distinctly missing how much of a power gap there already is between himself and his nearest classmates.
Mother must “ feel” very smug ( if thats a thing with a AI type of contract kernel): Alden and Stu developed a true friendship and have each other’s back. This is the best outcome anyone could have hoped for with the Primary’s son. I hope some of his family will finally see it that way, too. But since its been a while in the story ( and much longer in real life) I am afraid first some kind of disaster will strike. Also, Gorgon was passing on his gift to Alden as revenge to the Artonans. That is something that will surface at some stage later, too.
Since they are starting the new year more or less in the story, what all do you think will happen. I’m curious about a lot of the school elements. Do the classes get merged with the people who started late? For their first full terms. How are the classes gonna be different with students having left for elites? Do we get some news on level ups for the side characters coming back from breaks? Know it’s not everyone’s favorite part of the story, but I am interested in a lot of the possible stuff we could see
The school runs on a quarterly schedule, with the exception of these mid term admission hero course students. Now that their truncated term is over, they'll be normal students joining units that should last until the end of March, and there will be a mix of the students we know and students we don't in these new units
Alden gave Ro-den a chance to have a private say after Alden was finally free to say to Stu what his privacy tattoo with 'Joe' had been preventing him from saying, and silver-tongued Ro-den could not seem to speak. He was done running, slumped and seeming sulking. Was Ro-den choking down a yell? Was he trying to drown a whine with the remnant wine? What emotions was he trying to medicate away this time? Alden made space to hear him, and spoke to reassure him, and Ro gave him what sounded like a child's answer back.
The last time we saw a wizard getting drunk on fancy wine, it was Olget about to make a life-changingly bad decision.
Re reading and realizing Alden told Stuart about his skill selection but we didn’t get to see if he went into detail about talking to Mother. The thing I really wanted to see if it was a rare occurrence. So much lore and revelations tantalizingly close
It seemed like a sensitive subject for Stu given Sina's change from comfort with Mother after her first binding. I feel like how Mother has advised Alden about his skill so far is still a pending revelation for Stu. So too the living leaf that one tree bestowed on Alden that he has been periodically feeding with the gift of his magic (aka the memory of light, very wizard-like) and sprinkles of water (very Haoyu caring for his bromeliad-like).
I'm getting increasingly worried Boe may have gotten in over his head with that "troubled" person he was monitoring when Alden last called him, and that the previous "cat" emergency Alden's brain conjured up when the secrecy tattoo got triggered so hard is about to become a real Boe-had-to-flee-to-catspace emergency that will require Alden to teleport away to Chicago to go rescue him.
Chicago feels as far away as Goldbush does from the Rapports. What has happened to those two missing newling knights?
“People expect you to be cool,” Alden said in English. “So many people. You obviously know how to be, but then…you aren’t.” One oft the most devastating things a teen can say to an adult. Go Alden!
I'm doing a reread right now (not quite to the submerger yet) and one thing that's really hitting me that didn't on first read is how tiny a timeframe this is all happening over. Alden starts school at the end of October. his very first MPE class is November 5 iirc. submerger is before Thanksgiving, and choosing season is just new years' break... Alden are you *sure* you're ok?
I'm doing a reread too, although I'm slightly further along. In the chapter where Alden goes clothes shopping with Gus, Gus says all rabbits that haven't been on the island for 90 days are his (responsibility). So Alden hasn't even been back for 3 months when the second disaster struck
I am a little desperate for Alden and Stu to revisit their conversation from 'Echoing Klerms' (164), the very first time the contract got in the way of Alden talking about his skill with Stu. Alden catching the tennis balls with his eyes closed was so cool! I wonder what Stu would say about the mindset Alden tapped into to get there, not to mention all the soup-finding practice Alden has been doing since then with his housemates.
I keep thinking of how Alden was *so sure* he could find Kibby even if she was a whole world away during his dream surgery (210) - was Alden actually targeting her on Thegund from where he was getting treated on Artona I?
Unrelated to this chapter, but when Alden goes to the uni class on storytelling, and they ask him what his experience is with Artonan Storytelling he's going to say that Esh told him the Elder's Croak and the teacher will fall off their chair. Because I don't believe Esh was lying when he said that he was a renowned storyteller.
I just had the most glorious vision of the visiting artist asking Alden to retell it for them all. Alden: *does his best impression of a tomato*
I am a little surprised that Alden didn't talk to the healer about some of the more recent revelations, but on reflection it makes sense. It could be a couple more visits before they talk. I do hope Alden and Esh can be a little open about skill instruction and stuff.
I was not expecting Alden to remind me of Natalie multiple times this chapter. Stu really has lifted a heavy burden from Alden in relieving him of that increasingly onerous secrecy contract.
Compare this chapter: "'Give me that. You didn’t have to eat the attack cantaloupe. I would have brought you another.' [...] Stuart wrapped his fingers around the last piece of melon before Alden could take it". with "[Natalie] helpfully grabbed Alden’s paper plate and tossed it toward the trashcan. It was the most evil thing he’d ever seen her do. He’d been planning to get that last crumb" (173).
I wonder if Mother will pick this memory, Alden's thoughts during this pivotal conversation with Ro-den, as one of the ones to share with Stu right before Stu's first binding. It feels like a memory worthy of being added to the cottage of oaths.
Sharing others' memory might still costs Mother even if Alden's already given the consent? My take is that Mother probably won't since Alden can just tell Stu himself now
At some point during that brief melon-gathering and alcove-cleaning interlude, Ro-den must have lurched up from Stu's liar-eating table to go plant himself on his earned chest with the former-demon hide like it was the last safe spot for him in the entire greeting house, his last hope that he was defending with his body to prevent Stu from tugging that out from under him too. I'm done with being judged and almost eaten, say Ro-den's actions. I don't know how to deal with selfless children; they keep getting the better from me somehow.
I keep thinking of how Ro might be now if Thenn had survived; if Ro had acted more like Esh living up to Lind-otta. If Ro could have a time machine and travel back to different points in the last two years, what would he change when and why?
I'm thinking back to how Stu helped Alden make that shield from water during the here-to-there, I want to see more of that! Alden will learn so much!
So what’s next? Shouting match between Stu and his family about waisted resources and misuse of Arth authority? Big party at Leaf Song for Stu who brings Alden along? Stu’s affixation and afterwards a sabbatical on earth in some kind of incognito ( his face will not be known and if he returns to a more normal hair style he could pull it off. There were those wizards at Thanksgiving asking regarding some kids to visit earth, maybe he could claim that connection or being related to Esh..).
Stu already held a party for his roommates. Best of all, Leeter-zis combined party with spell to make the ideal bash!
It occurred to me that in a goofy interpretation, word chains are basically crypto block chains. And there is something hilarious to me about that parallel
“Like I’m Gonna accept this authority coin for value today, and maybe I’ll pass along authority coin I’ve mined tomorrow”
I wonder how a close bond between Stu and Alden is impacted by Stu’s mother’s remnant in his mind on the one side and Gorgons Gremlin in Aldens mind on the other side. It makes an interesting pairing.
It occurred to me recently while rereading that it may not actually cost the contracts that much to conceal aldens knighthood. A respectful silence is so embedded in artonan culture that doing so would not weaken their trust in the terms of the contract. Given that it already allows for spell instruction for rabbits, there might already be some obscure terms allowing it discretion on their details. Other races might be less happy, but they'd probably be even more irritated to find out that Artonan are deliberately downplaying the best skill choices, making concealment still a better option.
Alden's Choose Persona privilege is the only thing that is costly about keeping Alden secret. The contracts already aren't supposed to be telling people things they don't already know and can't easily find out. Although in the case of normal knights, that's probably Mother being polite rather than an enforced term of the oath.
I think Sleyca is planning big things with Alden/Stuart’s bond. Maybe Stuart will genuinely have more trouble with his affixations and Alden will figure out a way to bear part of that burden. Also, Gorgon’s magic is supposedly capable of destroying authority, so maybe Alden can figure out a way to get rid of his spell impression and/or actual affixations one day?
Would Alden be able to use Stus free authority to grand Stu’s wish to increase Aldens authority and thereby delaying Stus next binding and accelerating his own?
Yesterday, best bday present ever… my own Wummy. Because the people who love me don’t look at me funny when I tell them I want a stuffed wombat. 😂
Happy birthday 🎂
It just occured to me that Alden being extremely stable is probably why the house likes his blood so much. I hadn't thought about how he might compare to other knights, or Artonans in general, but this seems to suggest good things.
He's tasty Also ritual hospitality ingredient and riches from abroad Also leaf patted and bowl blown and root wrestled Also Mother kissed and Murmur approved Also primary touched and quaternary held
> “If I heard another Declared had selected that skill—someone who was a stranger to me—I would admire their choice and think they were someone I’d like to know..." Wait... does it imply that a knight really could've picked that skill? Which means knights can have avowed skills (or at least the original 300)?
fundamentally what's the difference between an original avowed skill and a knight skill? I can imagine that more intricate skills with high control requirements for basic functionality would be out for avowed, as they don't have authority senses. but in general, wouldn't the main difference be the accessibility features for other species and those lacking authority senses? if that's the case, I don't see any reason why a knight couldn't take one of the original avowed skills as their primary skill
It'd be funny if there were an arc where Stu's parents told Alden he can't visit anymore, but Alden just keeps showing up like a raccoon getting into a garbage can. Unstoppable Alden 😂
from what I understand, Alden doesn't have Bearer of all Burdens yet, he just has the shitty knockoff and he can use an exploit in the Contract to have it evolved into the real thing.
No, he has the real thing. The skill can just evolve with time. Unlike many awoved skills it doesn't have a upper limit to how much it can evolve.
So if I am getting this right, why does entrustment need to be one person? It’s possible that an end level Alden takes on a groups authority and blocks moons
I think it’s entirely possible that one of the facets of bearer of all burdens could be to have multiple entrusted the future. It could also be that through perception Alden can view a small Ish group of related individuals as one in exactly the same way that he can pick up multiple items as one stack. He has also been able to pick up multiple items independently so again it may be possible for him to have one be multiple.
I hope next week we’ll find out the significance of Aldens leaf 🍃. I wonder why Stu has not yet noticed it, he did see the spell book.
Oh wait. This is huge. The Art’h wood is already crazy magic. The leaf’s gotta be chalk full of Stu’s lineage’s magic
Anybody else notice that Gorgon's concept of magic was simply Self-sacrifice for an others gain... but only via equivalent exchange. Everything I've ever learned in my life about magic is that equivalent exchange is the only method of balance that doesn't force imbalance (Chaos) onto the world.
Gorgon's magic wasn't self-sacrifice of the person using the magic. His magic used a person's own authority to grant their wish. Still an equivalent exchange style deal but the way you phrased it made it seem like the wish granter was paying the price. Which isn't true.
Random thoughts I've had in my head since the chapter dropped: Re: entrusting spells Alden and Stu already had an interesting result (with apparently amplified or altered effect) when Alden preserved the spell component that Stu had already cast upon in ch222: ------------ “Your senva seed cushion spell worked, but not like it usually does.” He described the effect. Stuart wanted details about what had happened, but he didn’t seem surprised by the outcome. Only thoughtful. “If a person moves the seed a short distance from where the spell was cast, the cushion fades quickly, but not that quickly. You were more than a short distance away, though.” ------------ Re: shaping the growth of a skill to the user's preference/nature This actually might have some bearing upon the Manon situation with her unusual application of Tailor Environment: it might not be that the skill can normally be used to do what she did with it, rather it might be a Manon-specific change. Food for thought :)
shaping the skill growth is more that with thousands of options to spec into, your going to end up with something unique compare to another user. Like shuffling a deck of cards, there are more possible configurations than there are atoms in the universe. Alden can pickup a spell now, but once he gets Burden of Spell it will be more efficient with more assists. Like how he can see enchantments now. With Manon, I though Stu more or less confirmed that was expected usage, but she doesn't have a skill that is optionable like aldens, once she finishes leveling it then its bound and complete. However there will always be creative workarounds due to perception.
Charges that don't move Ro-den: Duty, Shame, Evil. Charges that devastate Ro-den: People expect you to be cool. You obviously know how to be, but then…you aren’t.
And by people, I mean…Kibby.
Given how deliberate Stu is being to go all in on introducing Alden to the old house, and how chipper he is about the old house wanting so much of Alden's blood that Alden is bleeding in literally every room of the house, I get the strong sense Stu is trying to make Alden permanently associated with the art'hs on a level his parents can't easily undo. It feels akin to Met-oosa being determined to ensure her costume for Alden could not be altered from the full magnificence of her vision - those dressed by Met-oosa will not blend in with the walls! Those befriended by Sina Stu-art'h will not be unwelcomed!
All magic is will impressed upon reality through belief in the absolute of equivalent exchange. I personally think that Gordon's people understood that sacrifice for gain was fundamental. Also that the artonans who first discovered gorgons people found the shortcut (not the equality of wordchains) to be uncontrollably addicting. They literally discovered new chaos free civilizations and INTRODUCED chaos. Artonans WRE the chaos bringers. The worst part is that they know this.
A suggestion for the next plant-based item for Alden to bring for his next visit : maple syrup. I think that Artonans would go crazy for that stuff. (Especially if he was able to get his hands on some of the syrup that Rou Jin makes. That one is hard to get, though.)
They might already know of it, or an equivalent! Remember "sap sauce" from the Jozz chapter (247)? "The kitchen wasn’t empty after all. Stu had just missed the man standing at the counter a few steps away, pinching small pieces from the meat on his plate and dragging each one through sap sauce."
The new entrustment reveal reveals something Bearer has in common with Gorgon's wishing well powers. Both the well and Bearer scale with the target's strength, not the wielder's. Neat.
Nothing indicates that it doesn't also scale with the wielder's strength. I'd say it scales with both.
What repercussions for all this will there be for Stu? Bare minimum, his access to family resources could be restricted to approval only for 'wasting' the demon hide. Or maybe his parents could disallow Alden from visiting the siblinghold, and even restrict communications with him since he's seemingly driving Stu's reckless behaviors. Anything less obvious?
They'll sufficiently enrage Stu by their failure to understand that he decides it is no longer worth trying to convince them. He has Alden smuggle him to Earth to get away for a while.
I wonder how Boab’s use of the strength of its entruster would work in a more adversarial situation? Would it be possible at all, or would it go too much against the spirit of the skill? Next time Big Snake chucks tennis balls at Alden, would Alden be able to use Big Snake’s strength against him somehow? In the right circumstance, that could change a major limitation into something that let Alden fight above his weight class. Is any of this even going to be relevant anymore, now that Alden’s going to be fighting demons?
Good point. I wonder to what extent Alden will even get to be a superhero? Mother did say that she thought he would make a great one.
I just love this story. “Stuart pointed the object under discussion—his walking stick—toward a cluster of bushes that had overgrown the path to the old house. The bushes leaned away, opening a narrow trail for them to pass.” - Stuart, the maker of narrow ways.
“Good.” Alden tried to sound like a person with self-control. “He needs it.” That’s me when we reach soup day and it’s just approximately there.
Same!
Hmm I wonder how Gorgon knew about the entrustment empowering it? I’m sure he knew because up until now, it seemed like an odd choice - it is a good skill but surely there were others from the 300 available that were less restrictive But with this in mind it’s such a perfect match for a sidekick - it gets stronger as your partner does
My best guess is that Gorgon’s culture of granting wishes is heavily based on the same principles - taking other people’s authority that they willingly give you and doing something with it. Possibly the Artonans made this skill because they met Gorgon’s race and found that principle strong?
Ro ist stunned by the fact that Alden is good friends with Stu and vice versa, trusts Stu, knows his skills true name, wants to kill demons and defines talking about his skills true name as talking about himself. He is thinking through the implications. He may also recall a long ago conversation with a young knight offering him to become his votary and telling him to get lost because he would do more against chaos by his research. Now he lost nearly everything and the knight became the primary.🤔
I really want to know what Ro-den is most infamous for. Was it turning Hn'tyon Jeneth-art'h down, or publicly disagreeing with him in some way? Why does Ro-den feel that decades-old twinge of *indebtedness* to Jeneth? Why is Jeneth amused at how Ro-den skulks around him to the point of looking for opportunities to see Ro-den do it again?
I really love the idea that entrustment is not a limitation on BOAB but an empowerment of it. I think that’s a fantastic reversal of how we look at the skill. We were told that BOAB was not designed for solo use and now it makes so much more sense how it all works. Brilliant, just brilliant.
This is another point towards Tailor Environment being an ideal secondary skill to support BoaB. It helps him be in tune with his entruster by knowing what they need and value, so that he can balance maximising the expression of BoaB with what is practical in the situation. I don't think that something designed to help him use entrustment more ideally would fall under avoiding additional major skills until he's comfortable with his main one. In addition, it fits in with the rabbit superhero image on the earth side of things, allowing him to continue to appear like a more or less normal avowed for a while longer it's also a great skill for teamwork, as he'll be able to adjust the battlefield in a way that suits his partner, or doesn't suit the enemy
Maybe, or possible something similar but uncapped that isn't normally available to Avowed. (IIRC TE capped at 30)
Thinking more on the entrustment component, on the original 300 avowed skills, and on the ‘support’ part of the equation. Maybe every support skill in that list is designed to be used in conjunction with at least one other person. For example, Bearer of all Burdens has the entrustment requirement and can’t be used without it. If, let’s say, Lute also had one of these skills (not chainer, his other S skill), and let’s say it was called ‘Harmony’ on Earth, and maybe ‘Power of Cohesion’ in the Artonan list, then using this Power of Cohesion wouldn’t do much for Lute on its own but could work to make the power of other people stronger together than they are individually.
not directly about your overall point, but I just wanted to clarify that Lute's second skill isn't harmony. harmony is a wordchain he specifically asked for in addition to his basic chaining curriculum. as of this time, we know very little about his second S skill, not even its name
It occurs to me that the speeding up that the deepening with Stu would bring would let Alden pick new parts of his skill to bind in rapid succession. Setting aside the downsides of rapid improvement, it will be exciting to see what he chooses. Burden of Spell will be first, likely. Any thoughts about what next?
Burden of Birds, perhaps?
Joe is missing a lot of information We know removing the secrecy contract so Alden can grow as a KNIGHT is the evil being fixed Since Joe doesn't have that information, he probably thinks removing the secrecy tattoo is step one of fixing the evil Joe tried to stop it, but failed Now Joe is will be waiting for the other shoe to drop. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting … 🎬
The evil is that this Avowed is being under-utliised! The Primary may have been content to let him ripen, but Righteous Squeaker Stu-art'h thinks he needs to be pushed, and will almost certainly get him killed. This is a generous guess at what Ro-den might un-generously be thinking. 😉
"“Where’s Stu?” he asked, looking around the dark grove behind the House of Healing. “Inside,” said Yenu-pezth. “He argued with his healer that he would not sleep, but he is sleeping. Let that be instructive.” Sleeping? He’s going to do that for hours. I can say anything I want, but who am I supposed to talk to? " This is a funny parallel to when Stu had to wait for Alden to wake up after confessing he was a wizard.
Excellent catch! I was thinking the wording about Alden popping out of his grotto and hurrying over to go talk more with Stu sounded very Stu-like, it's fun to see them mirroring each other asynchronously like this.
I feel like a dragon building a hoard of adjectives every time Stu sincerely compliments Alden about something. Yes, yesssssssssss, accepting "dignified", "versatile", "selfless" into the wordhoard. These are all excellent entries, thank you for your thoughtfulness, Stu.
Love it!
I wonder how Alden's blood will affect the house. Will it think of him as one of it's own and defend him if someone tries to hurt him on the property? Will it support him... his self... in some way in the future? Stu's ritual was very powerful and based on the household so we have an idea how powerful it is in protecting those who leave. How much more powerful would it be for those who stay?
Stu and Alden seem like they might make it their home base in the future. It would help cleanse it of the evils that were done there before and make it relevant again in the minds of the Primary and Alis, and it seems like the house would enjoy hosting people again.
The issue with Alden getting remote presevation to work is that the other part is missing. Zerridee, as a wizard, enhanced Alden's skill by just being there herself. That interaction can't be replicated with an inanimate object. If it worked for an inanimate object, it wouldn't be Bearer of All Burdens, but a different skill, as Stu suggests Alden do. Which, as Stu noted, is less potent.
I don’t follow. You’re saying it wouldn’t be Bearer of All Burdens if it worked with more classes of burden?
We never heard why Roden said Alden will live a short life if people found out about the skill?
Because as an awowed rabbit, he would be called into dangerous situations all the time. If used well, he would be a great asset to knights fighting demons but likely to die early. As a knight working with Stu that still may happen but he has more say in it.
Do you guys think Alden will share the other lessons with his friends ? The ones about perspective and how he thinks of things while using his skill … I think the lesson number 1 is the only one dangerous for earth
He kinda has been sharing the perception stuff. It was under less restrictive secrecy.
[“He argued with his healer that he would not sleep, but he is sleeping. Let that be instructive.”] Did she force him to sleep? like karate chop him to sleep? We know that she already abducted Stu so she is not afraid of Stu primary's son status
I bet she put him in a bed and lit a calming bed. Stuart, after several nighs of no sleep and a casting marathon, immediately zonked out.
Ro-dents, Ro-dents everywhere https://ibb.co/qFhhyzVg
I'm curious why Stu seems so subdued about the skill. Mother and Joe both made it sound like a big fuckin deal, and Stu is just like "yes I see I suspected as much very good moving on'. I was looking forward to some artonan/wizard perspective on alden's skills. Are the og avowed skills notable, or stigmatized?
Probably because he is still young and only started studying the skill. He still needs to get to the "oh shit" part
Sleyca, I wish you'd stop teasing me with Kofa. A reader can only be pushed so far, you know!
Can Stu sense his brother when under camouflage? I believe he did not in the kitchen scene. Therefore it may well be that they are being spied upon. Especially since the windows are open, his brother might hear everything.
I like the “Of course you would. Who wouldn’t?” Echo of Luna Plim talking about suitcase throwing being applied to asteroid throwing
Alden is going to politely devastate Joe once for every cliffhanger he has given us and I am here for it.
I'm going to predict that Stu's binding will happen sometime in the next ten chapters. So during or before Chapter 295.
Lets say 15 chapters just in case Sleyca plans to make it happen exactly at chapter 300
Perhaps the gremlin thinks that Alden's blood donation is supposed to be triggering the wish granting rite in some manner, and it's really confused by that fact that the rite *isn't* being triggered.
I think it's kind of confused because this is sort of a contract, a blood contract no less, and the gremlin is all about balance in things like contracts/oaths. But also this is a contract with a non sentient house, so I think it's kind of like ???
Disappointed we didn’t get more of Roden’s thoughts, different perspectives that aren’t so samey as Alden and Stuart’s are a nice change of pace
I have a feeling that's coming up. My guess is that Ro-den is realizing that he's not respected at Leaf Song and Alden and Stu-art'h are the only people who have really challenged him since Thenn-ar died. So maybe he will want to study chaos in the center of the universe.
Aha! We finally find out WHY Alden’s superpower needs an entruster! (Also I hope they have a conversation at some point about “we call them ‘superpowers’ for traditional cultural reasons.”)
I love these two so much! I cannot wait for Chapter Seven Hundred Forty-One, when they are throwing asteroids at demons!
A very soupy soup 🥣 the bowl is clean
just art'h fae things: - the trees are older than you think and they are hungry for your blood, - prince of an ancient family conducts a ritual courtesy trap to earn the privilege of knowing Alden's true name, - located in a different realm that mortal men cannot reach, where time is strange and it's easy to lose track of the days, - decades since the house has been inhabited, yet it remains in near-perfect condition, - guests must consume a special fruit prepared in a very specific method, - it is common for magical contracts to bind your tongue to silence on their secrets, - if you please them, you may earn treasured gifts beyond value, - they enjoy hosting great feasts lasting days, during which they imbibe strange mind-altering substances, - their voices are strange yet compelling, in pitches unreachable by humans, - patterns of 3 are in held in great significance
!!! I knew something was off about these Artonans...
Wonder why he hasn’t told Stuart that his choice was guided rather than made blind?
If you mean guided by gorgon, then for two reasons as i see it. For one, he cant really talk about gorgon yet until hes had a chance to meet him and ask for permission, and second he effectively did pick blindly. Even though someone guided him to the skill, it was still one he had no clue about, and had he known what he knows now he probably wouldnt have chosen it.
I love how Alden looks at Stu in the middle of stuffing his mouth full of salvaged attack cantaloupe, juggling the stone for the path in one hand, multiple shards of cantaloupe in his other hand, and his very impressive stick tucked awkwardly under one arm and thinks, "now there's a guy who knows how to be cool when it matters." Alden is right, but also, that is such a funny image of Stu and not what most people would think watching that particular melon munching fest.
And Stuart wasn’t about to let it being used as a projective prevent him from trying that fruit. scrapping it off the walls and floors “well I’m definitely still gonna eat the good bits” Edit - projectile. Whoops
Ro-den's behavior here strikes me as very wrong for him. He seems very shocked. He's usually so suave and on top of things... but we also know he can really care about some people and when he does, he tries to take care of them. Something about this situation from the moment he looked sad that Alden didn't trust him anymore til now has caused a massive impact on him. I hope we get his POV soon, but I suspect it will be a while, as Ro-den percolates over what happened. I hope we'll see him try to make a change somehow before he talks himself out of it.
I get the sense Ro-den won't be swearing like he usually does the next time Stu comes to his class.
A nearness of Kofa, Stu's mysterious eldest surviving brother, at last! I do wonder about Kofa, and whether he might actually be a lot more clued into some of the ongoing dynamics than Stu, Jozz, and other family members seem to be assuming.
Kofa keeps being described as someone trying to be "one with the land", and we've just seen how the land has been reacting so responsively to Stu now that Stu has taken such serious steps, ritually speaking, to increase his own closeness with the land.
Ro Den will remember that.
All the feels on the last paragraph. Interesting chapter. Ty ty
His power is literally a force multiplyer for authority. That's so fucking cool.
Maybe? It seems like he can leverage other people's, but I don't know if it just borrowed their authority, and reduces their available authority in the process, or if it ends as a magnifier.
Ro Den is such an interesting character. Since this story began, my opinion of him has run the gambit between respect and disgust, sometimes in the same chapter. Part of me thinks that he is the quintessential “average person” of the series. The everyday “Joe”, if you will. After all, how many people actually have ambitions “to save the universe”? In a way, him saying that they could spend a lifetime solving the problems of one planet(moon but .. basically an inhabited planet), was already a pretty large goal. I’m looking forward to finding out what happened to derail everything.
Joe was very disappointing. I like that. He should be disappointing with a personality like that. Stu rocks. Thanks for the chapter!
What did Stu ever do with rocks? Stu trees.
Great ...... Now i am having visions of Alden casually picking up the lab and running for it carrying thr entire building fown to the foundation casuslly over his head.
How do you practice protecting things people find valuable? Will Alden eventually be able to percieve the value of what he's holding, the amount of trust he is given, or the power invested in his success? I think he will, if he hasn't realized it already. Does the entruster investment come from free authority? (Does a recent binding lower the "amount" that can be invested?) Is that part of what Stu did? Does the entruster need to consciously boost Alden's Skill, or can Alden "take" some of it without them knowing?
You practice it by having the person value it for it's usefulness in a dangerous environment. For example an item needed to complete an obstacle course in a competition they want to win.
Do you think the Gremlin might make the trees sick?
Gorgon might be talking to some trees right about now...
Gorgon really chose an amazing skill for Alden. The skill protects things. It enables other people and powers. It is more powerful than it could possibly be on its own. It is literally empowered by the power of friendship (trust of teammates). It's also insanely versatile. The sacrifice and entrustment requirements are annoying, but Stu just pointed out how much of a benefit they can be. We caught a glimpse of it during the Here-to-There. Alden is only just now beginning to realize how much he has to learn about his skill, and by proxy, himself.
For a child whose most profound wound was being left alone by the deaths of his parents, and then frequently disappointed by an aunt he loved but couldn't trust, the entrustment component of The Bearer of All Burdens encourages Alden to build connections with others and be rewarded with power commensurate with the level of trusts he builds with his chosen entrusters. Alden's literal source of power is leaning into the intimacy of trust and using that relationship to empower taking on any burden, even those that might be utterly crushing for him to attempt alone.
Another great chapter. Could someone please direct me to the chapter(s) explaining the gremlin? Thank you.
11: Last and Least - I believe this is most of the initial explanation. 51: Take Me Somewhere Better - Meeting after he drinks Kibby's blood and Gorgon explains more. There are bits and pieces sprinkled around, and I may be forgetting something, but those are the main ones I recall.
shit baby stu finally opened up about being scared bc he finally had someone who would support him regardless
That really hit me hard too
I like how Thenn Ar calls Ro out for underachieving and cowardice, then Alden does more or less the same thing after showing he is courageous enough to seek the path he believes in even if it's likely to kill him early. Maybe Ro will try to be more after this.
cuuuuuute ahhhh i love them
No wonder the trees are taking Alden for all he's worth. Stu said he promised them something foreign, knowledgeable, and powerful. The gremlin is all of that and more. I do hope Gorgon isn't getting a negative outcome from this back in Chicago.
Gorgon suddenly can’t chew on #2 pencils anymore. His version of the gremlin has become convinced they might be sentient.
Since we learned that Bearer gets a boost from the authority and connection between Alden and the entruster, it’s theoretically possible he could target multiple knights and get an absolutely massive authority boost. Even if it’s just momentary that would be a huge help in disasters
Yeah I had wondered if he could have multiple entrusters I could never think of a reason for it and I dont think it would work because of the targeting requirement either but he can bare more than one burden so maybe he will grow into multiple entrusters later 🤷♂️
Yanno, since the esvulgivnas-thing is relatively new, it's entirely possble the Artonans have never had a bonded pair as their Primary. Esh and Lind might beat the boys to it, of course, but...
I thought the primary and the quartanary were esvulgivnas. Am I wrong and they are just close in the normal way?
Joe still doesn't *know.* Incredible. All that and he still doesn't know.
Joe will make armor out the demon skin, which he will give to Alden as recompense for his past actions. he will also become his and the Stuart's votary or else-wise teacher on Golden Bush Scrub Place, for the same reason. He will stop taking medical patches that make him more logical and suppress his emotions. In doing so, he will continue to develop his new experiment that is to the betterment of all life, and begin to fight chaos in earnest after he sees the boys' struggle.
That's some strong copium. Who's your dealer?
Alden’s deepest friendships are all so beautiful. Being able to talk fully about his skill will mean he can start drawing on Lute and the other powerhouses while getting them to entrust him with something that truly matters. Not sure how much he is able to disclose to teachers but they could help (and would be grateful to know the drowning lessons he was pushing for were not self hatred but trying to unlock his skill)…
Yes, seeing how this will affect things at school will be really interesting.
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Part of me kept thinking this chapter could have been titled ‘In the Eye of the Storm’. It’s quietly joyful. After all, they’ve survived the battle for Alden’s freedom. But at the same time, there’s a strong awareness that this moment of calm is temporary and precious, because the storm that threatens their partnership will move in again, and soon.
But how cool is bearer?! I always felt like entrustment was going to be important but more in the general sense of "restriction equates to power" which is true but it's so much more than that. Before this, I had a hard time reconciling the balance of power: the skill is useless without an entruster, the entruster can just withhold permission—almost as if the skill was meant to be of a servant to a master. But trust is so important. It's not 'hey, hold this for a second, will ya?' and more 'I care about this thing. I trust you to protect it." We have been thinking through Alden's pov to use his skill independently, but from an entruster-who-really-wants-something-preserved's pov, it is easy to see why the skill is able to use the entruster's authority. It is as if a doctor could use all the hope placed on them before operating. Now I'm thinking that instead of removing the entruster 'restriction' it would be so much stronger to able to have more entrusters able to fuel their desire to preserve one object/person. It also tickles the anime fan in me because power of belief and all :D
Very much this. In fact if he can do multiple entrusters there can be a major threat moment where everyone entrusts him to protect a planet and he basically channels their will to survive and protect their homeland.
"Before Stuart had stepped outside, he’d cleaned most of the melon from the alcove. " Imagining Ro-den and Alden just standing around awkwardly while Stu cleans up. Ro-den is getting wine-drunk in the corner, Stu is eating melon off the ground, Alden is just standing there
Not Stu eating floor melon Dying here
SO GOOD!!!!! TFTC!!!!!
Will Alden ever figure out that it is possible to be self-serving? As in, choose himself as the one he wishes to bear a burden for? I think it should work, just not as well, because (a) he would only have his own authority to draw on and (b) the skill would be less itself in that case. But it should be good enough to let him choose to bear minor burdens for himself such as, for example, drying out his clothes after being caught in the rain, or entrusting some ice cream to himself so he could carry it in his pocket.
Question: now that Alden is able to talk more freely and has access to a lot of info, will he ever do some research on his old friend in the embassy that helped him get the skill he has? Would be interesting to learn a bit more even if it's from a perspective that probably holds him and his people in a negative light.
Yeah its been soooo long!
I can't believe how effectively Alden burdered Joe in passing by so accurately summing exactly where Ro-den's courage was falling short in Thenn's eyes. Did Ro feel like he'd gotten another dose of Thenn's prior cutting words delivered directly to his ego by the messenger she entrusted her dying words to?
I wonder if this is how that random Rabbit guy looked at the Hoppening party after Alden gave him more truth and moral guidance than that guy was fully ready to handle in one conversation.
I love these gay wizards
Yessss someone else sees it!!!!!
Dang all the speculation on Ro-dens reaction last chapter and mans just checked out 🤣. Maybe we will get something later
oh gosh im so excited to see what happens next. Consequences for Stu? Gorgon? Are we gonna spend more time on Earth with the conflicts with the Avowed? Kibby? Maricel? We haven't heard from her in a while. I genuinely have no idea where we might go and its so exciting
I agree! Which makes this chapter's name so perfect. We've finally got relief from all of the "When will he tell Stuart" tensions and the story can take so many paths from here.
you've done it now Sleyca. I hope at some point Alden will have to redirect an asteroid, or at least something approximately like an asteroid lol
Foreshadowing!
okay so now something is going to go wrong. I expect Stuart's family to say he can't be trusted to have Alden over if he's going to behave like this, and for Stuart to go to his first binding so that he doesn't need their permission to contact Alden and invite him to the rapport anymore
I expect the second one. I hope for the second one.
Great chapter! Love the conclusion to this mini arc! The build up to it was also great, but too slow and long,hope we have some action in next arc, esp with new school courses!
I hope so too! I wanna see skill development, Alden bringing along his friends, maybe even helping them get better with their skills, maybe another plot to deal with. Im excited to see
Can the house/forest become Alden's successor (in the way that Alden is Gorgon's)? Can it then be used to sacrifice authority to remove the burden of affixation from Knights who have served their time? thus allowing a peaceful retirement? Regardless, I really hope Alden gets to go back to Chicago and talk to Gorgon and Boe soon.
Certainly not without Alden being a lot more powerful and aware of his abilities and deliberately making the choice. And my money is against him doing that.
I always felt the skill was 'nerfed' since Thegund and recently that's something that has been pointed to but even then to have the degree of the nerf and why pointed out properly really shows how much Alden has been kind of 'playing around', even through all his busy times and hard work simply due to ignorance and what the people around him in Earth think of him.
Nerfed how? To be fair, the only time he has been in a catastrophic situation since Thegund was during the flood, where he managed to use his skill at distance. We can only compare his skill performance in similar, dire, situation I think
Fast forward to chapter 2281, Alden preserves an asteroid 9km in diameter after Stuart makes a Way from the asteroid belt 999,999,999km away to slam into a demon 99km tall traveling at 999km/h
Can't wait for that, lol. looking forward to 2037 when that chapter comes out!
A minor fantasy im playing around, but i think there is something compelling about a (fallen) hero, not taking the spotlight of the story. I would love to see Ro-den rise to become the savior of the universe, all while we follow Alden and Stu-Art’s journey, catching just brief glimpses and minor encounters of Ro-den’s (epic) redemption arc at different stages of his journey. (“People expect you to be cool,” Alden said in English. “So many people. You obviously know how to be, but then…you aren’t.”)
Joe sitting there, drinking from Thenn's cup, hearing Alden echo her words, accusations from Thenn on not having courage, and from Alden on being capable of being cool but not doing so, reminded me of how Aunt Conny changed after she realised (the hard way) that Alden couldn't rely on her. I wonder if Ro-den will be changed.
I wish he would change. I really like Joe, and if he chose to actually become a braver and humbler person, he could be the kind of side character that deserves their own book. But this reaction makes me fear that we just saw the last of him. That the story is moving beyond him entirely, because he refuses to grow to match it. Oh well. There’s a reason Alden is our man, and the choice not to be bitter and cutting to Joe is part of it. I look forward to the boys’ future adventures regardless.
> "There's nothing from that place that should ever be said." Can we just appreciate how noble Alden is? He had both the reason and the right to take verbal revenge on Ro-den, yet he still chose not to, even if he's hurt. Not because Ro-den doesn't deserve that, but because Alden chooses to be a kinder person than that.
And perhaps because Alden realized he’d gain nothing from spitting out those words. Because no matter how angry and justified they would be, Joe wouldn’t care (or let himself care), nor would he respond in any way that would give Alden satisfaction or closure. In fact, Joe would probably respond with things that would only make Alden feel worse. Even now, when Alden takes the high road & says, don’t worry, I won’t screw you over by talking about your secrets, in response Joe’s just a dick. There’s no receptiveness or remorse in him.
The old house might not think much of the power Stu brought home (though maybe it does; maybe it sees what Alden could do with a powerful entruster). It can certainly see that Stu brought back an excellent friendship, one that will last a lifetime. But the real kicker here, the reason the old house can’t get enough of Alden’s blood, is the knowledge. Oh what knowledge. Alden is, without question, the first human to offer his blood to the house. He carries within him an entire world the house has never drunk from. No wonder it’s acting insatiable.
and Gogon's gift as well.
I love how surprisingly Artonan the idiom "half-assed" is. It's about how much of yourself you invest into doing your sincere best.
O child of the mother planet, lend this task both your buttocks
Good chapter :( That last bit made me tear up. And what an incredible finale to all of this, I have no idea what'll happen next but I'm looking forward to Alden dealing with a bit of normal human school again. Curious how MPE will go after the Elites program shake up, and it feels like Maricel's been completely left behind in the story, how's she doing?
Assuming she didn’t leave for Elites, she’ll finally be back to school! I, too, wonder how she’s doing. The signs we’ve seen don’t look particularly good.
You know, I bet that Natalie's Thanksgiving turkey was the most "proper" entrustment thus far. Natalie really cared about that turkey and giving it to the wizard team at Matador and she trusted Alden to deliver it, and Alden was absolutely willing to bear it because he cared, too.
That's true. Nobody messed with the turkey though so we'll never know that strength
Fantastic, thanks
Holy shit, so much catharsis in one chapter. I'm actually shaking
Why does the ending feel like Stu is one step away from walking up to a tree and affixing right there…? But honestly, I like his sudden confession of worry/fear. Not about survival or skill (which he prepared for) but about how the future dynamics and he himself might change. At this point we already know it's only a feeling and will not change his decision, but it adds humanity to someone who's so young but so certain about what he wants.
Yea, it's simply a matter that he had to ignore or push down his doubts because so many people were against him but with someone who supports him, he can confess to his doubts and fears and work through then properly.
I like that Stu has the attentive house and the trees on his side, and Alden is having the attentive gremlin on his side, and both parties are shedding quite a bit of Alden's blood trying to establish communication between these two very different lineages of power. No wonder the trees are so ready to move at Stu's command! Stu has brought back a most extraordinary gift of a union between two sets of ancestors and a bonus human race besides (and Stu thought Alden in his own right was an extraordinary gift! The house is definitely appreciating all the extras Alden is bringing with him as a secret bonus, amazing.)
As soon as the trees and gremlin reach an understanding: “…hello again Alden. I thought I told you not to try that again… why are we in a forest? I don’t see anyone around, who did you feed your blood to?”
What a gift this chapter is. What a cool pair of people helping each other steady and reach for their dreams. I want to bring myself close to this spot of new reality born of this story and give it my welcoming, curious, devoted attention for a while. I am here, I am listening.
If stu dies afixing after all of this, I think I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life to hunt down Sleyca. Like pls don't.
I don't think the affixation by itself is dangerous? It's done by the System. The danger comes after in the forms of existential pain and fighting demons.
If I find out that the silly-putty foot bone is a metaphore for Alden's skill protecting Stu, I will be very upset that I didn't see it sooner. I'm also really curious what kind of spell ingredient that lucky wizard's foot is becoming.
Ooooooh, that’s an angle I never thought of before. A literal piece of a friend, held and treasured for years?
these gay bitches be u-hauling (pos)
>Entrustment isn't a restriction that exists solely for the sake of adding to your burden; it’s magic you can do, intentionally, to forge a connection between you and another person that will increase your authority to influence reality because you're not alone. It's such an unexpected but reasonable note. Also beautiful that, just as Maker of Narrow Ways, BOAB is also about connection, not just being convenient.
Also now the perspective on Ro-den mentioning (and clearly annoyed or burdened by) his assistants' expectations makes more sense to me. Those high (and perhaps unrealistic in his case) expectations can add mental weight/burden, but they are also a pathway to understand & connect with people, and even a motivation to excel. What a beautiful analogy.
Good to know you can bring an entire living person as the knowledge and the power to pay back the trees...It makes so much sense though, with all the living sacrifices
Glad to get a mention of the gremlin. I was literally reading along thinking it had been a while since that came up. I really hope we learn more about Gorgon soon. Is there a specific reason he’s not told Stu that Gorgon recommended the spell in the first place?
Alden described it as not being his secret to share, but implied to Stu that if Stu felt he needed to know then he would share. So, I think the matter at hand is that Alden knows and trusts Stu, but what he would be sharing is another person's major violations of their imprisonment. I am sure Alden will go to Chicago and talk about many things at some point and that Alden will share this with Stu at some point, but I think Alden's perspective of not wishing to share what is a shared secret without either strong need or agreement from the other party is sensible.
I had the entrust requirement all wrong. I thought it was something he was going to overcome later either by changing his image of the skill similar to being able to keep entrusting even while asleep, or by simply unlocking it during an affixation. Now I can see the opposite being true. Instead I can see him: * Him having multiple entrusters each giving him a small amount of strength. Quantity instead of quality. * I don't think authority is limited to sentient beings. Maybe entrusters can be a concept such as contracts or a country's laws. * Someone could entrust a "goal" to him, which he can then us his abilities for anything that would support goal. * When someone entrusts themselves to him they go into complete stasis. I can see a person very close to him such as stuart, being able to entrust themselves in a way that doesn't lead to being in stasis. Instead they simply share authority. They temporarily become one existence with two bodies and minds.
Alden can target Leo the Postbox with his skill. Leo is an artificial sentience, and so is Mother or the Earth Contract in my eyes. So for me there is no reasona Contract wouldn't be able to entrust something to Alden - it only has a cost.
If Alden's last line doesn't give Stu the confidence he needs I don't know what will
Maybe it is because I woke up wrong today but I wonder if this is the calm before storm. Stu’s binding and what happens when the Primary finds out are big looming questions. So happy for them in the meantime though.
The good news is that Stu has the Primary's support - unless you mean what happens when the Primary finds out about Alden, in which case, I'm with you! The Primary seemed reluctantly willing to use Alden as needed, in future. It's a future that's coming up sooner than expected, and it's unclear how much his relationship with Stu might change that.
Stu will always associate the taste of melon with the feeling of victory.
Feed the melon to Victory!
Ro-den will never recover from being called unc. Bro's cooked
Thinking about “‘Common sense’ must mean something different to you than it does to most intelligent beings.” Not sure it's actually related, but it triggered a question of whether the Thegund contract failed because contracts are wizardry, even if they have some wordchain-ish aspects, and all the people who believed in wizards left? Did it fail when it failed because Joe's assistants believed in wizardry enough that between that and their location on the moon, they were somehow load bearing in maintaining the contract? Maybe by tying the place into Joe's authority even at a distance? That timing part mostly doesn't make sense even to me, but it's being a hard thought to shake because if the contract was on the brink, I could sort of imagine a precarious balance being held up in that way.
That’s a really interesting question. I don’t remember it coming up before.
I'm full 😋😋
Don't lie on Art'h land. You'd read more of there was more. One of us.
instructor Flinn showing up in Alden.
…Who? Google isn’t helping me here.
‘That’s badass! You need to teach me how to say ‘badass’ in Artonan.’ I really enjoy it when a character in this story speaks on our behalf. Alden clearly shares our appreciation for Stu’s badass evolution. And Stu deserved to hear it. He freaking earned it.
This chapter was so close to perfection that I couldn't tell the difference. :)
This is all neat and wholesome of course. But I've got to admit, I AM a little sad that the 'you can only tell the Primary' thing never came to be. :) It felt like it would be a moment of epicness and bafflement.
yeah I was hoping his friendship with Stu would lead to that happening years and years before Joe predicted it. Would have been major lulz
One of the sweetest chapters, I love how Alden feels like he can truly be himself around Stu now, also it feels like their relationship has grown in intimacy and understanding. Thanks for the chapter i really enjoyed it.
I wonder if he'll tell his roommates.
Man, that house has great taste. Stu promised to bring back a friend, knowledge and power, and boy did he deliver in spades for all three. Ride or die friend, bearer of ancient power, and knowledge of a totally alien planet and culture all in one package? No wonder the house can't get enough of him! It trying to politely drink so much of Alden's blood shows that it knows how valuable Alden is!
That entrustment reveal makes So Much Sense! Of course the original protective Avvowed skill has a way to take advantage of a wizards strength. Of course entrustment isn't just a restriction making the skill more difficult for servant purposes. I'm genuinely kind of shocked that I never considered the idea that entrustment was a feature strengthening the skill, not a bug restricting it.
Same, I was thinking it was something he was to overcome or be unlocked as he got stronger.
I dream of one day creating something as incredible as this story.
This such such a generational run of chapters!
Yeah, this is probably my favourite part besides the end of Thegund, amazing writing.
Oh, what a chapter. Closeness in words. And a huge reveal about tboab! Stu's an even better partner than we knew!
Brilliant chapter! I love these boys!
Great chapter! I was under the impression the skills were supposed to be exclusive. You can take more than one knight skill? Or is he talking of the more limited skills?
Lute had two skills right away. It’s not uncommon for Avowed, so I imagine its possible for Knights as well.
Good soup! So, what’s the esvulgivnas plan? Do they both need to be affixed first and then later get fixed together at Stu’s second affixation and Alden’s third?
Probably something more like Stu’s third and Alden’s seventh, or Stu’s second and Alden’s fifth, depending on how the speeding up and slowing down works
I'm glad we're leaning into the positive aspects of entrustment. I always got the impression that if the task was important enough the Bearer would be strengthened far beyond their typical means to carry the burden.
Thank you for the chapter! If anyone needs me, I’ll be checking Discord for fan art of Alden hucking an angry, snarling attack cantaloupe at Ro-den. Edit: I’m weirdly proud that the warcrime house likes Alden’s blood so much. Edit 2: I bet Stu’s entrustment of the broken wand was a really good use of Alden’s skill. Maybe Stu’s strength and understanding helped keep it metaphysically intact?
The broken wand is a good point surprised Stu didn't bring that up.
Great chapter! But I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get an actual conversion with Joe.
I thought I wanted that, but after reading this chapter I'm glad it only went as far as it did. Honesty from Joe at this point would have felt like a sudden right turn in his character. I feel like he had an opportunity to be honest with Alden here... but it would have required becoming a more trusting person, if only a little bit, and that's not the choice he made.
“People expect you to be cool,” Alden said in English. “So many people. You obviously know how to be, but then…you aren’t.” What a line. Obviously in-universe this is about the people on Earth who are so enthralled with the Bald General and the people like Kibby and Joe’s assistants who have put so much faith in him as their wizard, but out of story it clearly refers to us readers who all got so caught up alongside Alden in thinking of Joe as a really cool dude. That illusion has slowly been stripped away, but even now there’s a part of many of us that wants Joe to be a cooler and better person than he actually is. Because the potential is there, and the presentation is there, but the reality of Worli Ro-Den just does not live up to the expectations we have of Joe.
I used this quote further down the thread, but I'll put it here as well: "Shawn, you used to be cool. But you've changed, man." (from The Good Place)
I've wanted to read this chapter for I don't even know how long. Just like how Alden doesn't get tired of talking about his skill, I don't think I'm going to get tired of rereading this.
So a partial explanation of of Klein's Pause in Flashes VIII and VIV[1]. Alden was in the zone, wanting to protect people he cared about. And he was using some of the power of the person who entrusted him with his rope shield. A brief perusal doesn't indicate which of his teammates was his entruster at the critical point, but if it was Haoyu, resistance to the deformation of the self would probably give Bearer an extra boost. [1] Heh. In the words of Klein himself: "I'm the funniest man I know." (Ch. 77)
It's also noteworthy that Alden learned how to catch fast moving objects from his prof. Was the fact that someone powerful was the entrustor part of why Alden succeeded with that breakthrough?
I'm not crying, you're crying!
What. A. Banger.
TFTC well that was another longstanding question answered. The Mother implied there was more to entrustment than he was seeing, and now we know what. Two and a half months into the year and it still feels like Christmas every week.
I hope there is a Boe arc next. Like chainer.
Wait, hold on, those words fit together too well. Is Boe intended to assist Chainers/chaining?
> I wish I’d met you years ago If Stu had met the Alden of years ago, he would not have met the Alden of today. The Alden of years ago would be nearly unrecognisable compared to the Alden of today.
Maybe. Alden of years ago was a great friend to prickly angsty Boe, too.
Feeling bad for Old Joe. He’s delightfully amoral and self-interested, but he’s also kind and affectionate. I think the Very Strict Triangle and the Clean Break were both done for Alden’s sake and it’s sad to see him being despised for them.
Joe was kind to Thenn-ar when he wanted to be. However, he was cruel to himself and to her to deliberately drop out of post-coital happiness. Since her death, he's probably drawn back even further into a shell. I'm not unlike Jason in The Good Place, telling Shawn "You used to be cool but you've changed, man." Another Jason quote that may be apropos, but for Joe this time: "Evidence isn't a good thing that you want. It's a bad thing that you have to destroy or you go to jail."
Oh my goodness!!! The house is amazingly cool (maybe a great space to create their own legacy? First in secret, later as their own?), and I love the world building it contributes to! Ro-den being made to be small & meaningless now that his power over Alden is gone was also so beautiful. And sad. I wish he’d chosen differently. But it is so very true to character that he didn’t. But the honesty & emotion between Alden & Stuart is so unbelievably heartwarming. Sleyca continues to build an incredible relationship that I can absolutely believe will carry them both through the trials ahead. The relationships throughout the story are so moving & poignant, but the two of them are really something special. The support they give one another is a magic all its own. I get more excited for every chapter!!! Thank you, Sleyca, for the beautiful work you’ve put into every word.
All I have to say about this chapter is..... D'awwwwwww
Huzzah for soup! What a lovely chapter. This multi-chapter payoff is so cathartic.
Yes! Cathartic was the word swimming around in my head too.
The internet has ruined me. The first thought I had seeing them get close as friends was "Kith." But aside from that unfortunate brainrot, I fucking love this story. Never stop writing it. It's so good
Was deeply confused by this for a few minutes, because “kith” is an archaic English word meaning “close friend”. What could be more wholesome or relevant? And my first search just taught me it’s also the name of a clothing brand. “Kith meme” finally reminded me that it is also “kiss” pronounced with a lisp.
Yum, soup! Tftc! Hard to read Stu's emotions, kinda expected the chapter to be his pov, but Alden's joy is very lovely to see
This has to be the most bromance story ever.
Perfect words to end the chapter with <3
Swaying like a happy plant as I read this. Going to reread the last chapter and then this one again just to appreciate it better. Thank you SO much for this story's existence ❤️
Wow. So beautiful. I wonder what the house is exploring in Aldens blood? Just curious because it hasn't ever met a human? Does it sense the Gremlin? The end was so poignant. I often struggle on what to say when matters are very deep and serious. Aldens answer was perfect. I'll be here. So much that we learned about BOAB! I have to reread this chapter.
Well, they wanted to give the house something powerful, knowledgeable, and foreign, and the gremlin is that in spades.
Aw. I'm so happy for them:)
Ro-den will be rolling around the concept of being “un-cool” as long as he lives
Teens can be so savage
Wow. Hindsight the clues were there all along. In regards to using anothers authority. Aldens already been using people's bodies as shields, because they're entrusting themselves to him. Of course, if they were aware, they would also be entrusting their authority to him. I wonder if this will ever be brought up with Lute? IMO, I think its clear if he were born artonan, hed be very much like Stuart in regards to authority control.
Also explains the water shield. It didn’t just work because Stu helped, it worked because Stu shared some of his understanding and authority control.
Their friendship is making me feel so many emotions, I cried a little when alden said he will be there for stu
Lunchtime soup!
Soup! Glorious soup!
Yay!
TFTC!
Is there a way to give Alden the option of having a much weaker preservation that doesn’t need an entruster for emergency situations? Like, he uses the entrusted preservation 99.9% of the time but if there’s no one around he’s not totally helpless? Or, would that change weaken his entrusted preservation just by being a part of his skill? Also, wow, so quick today!
My thoughts are no, but that the entrustment will grow and get more flexible over time. He's already been able to decide weapons coming at him are being entrusted to him, and that's huge. Maybe he'll be able to go weirder with that, like counting all kinds of things as entrusted by whoever last interacted with them. Or maybe eventually he can get many things entrusted to him at once and swap through them as needed without the carriage requirement.
TFTC!
Perfect just got on the train
I was gonna snooze my alarm again, but I'll stay up to read this instead.
Thank you!!
chapter
Hooray! Just in time for my work break!!
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank soup!