THREE HUNDRED EIGHT: Jump Again
Next Chapter: August 9 (approximate)
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308
Jump Again
Alden tried twice to throw cooling words at the Artonans before a real argument could develop. First, he said again that he really didn’t want to throw the squad’s flow off. Then he tried to slow Tilliver and Emban down by requesting some guidelines for what they were all about to do.
He might as well have tried to douse a fire by spritzing it with gasoline.
“Do you hear him?” Emban said. “He doesn’t know anything about what we’re doing!”
“I hear him making an effort to get along with our squad.”
Both of their voices were raised.
Alden’s final play was to loudly announce that he needed to go get ready for whatever the group decided. “I’ll be in the bathroom,” he said, already out of his seat and on his way to the hatch that he’d seen Seth use once. It was a hexagonal panel that dropped down to the deck below.
At least this way I won’t be dragged further into it, he thought, willing the little elevator to lower him quicker. Maybe with me gone for a few minutes, they can recalibrate.
His head had barely made it below their deck level before Seth, Tilliver, and Emban started talking over one another again, in a much less productive example of Artonan multitasking than Alden had witnessed during the meeting.
He grimaced as Emban apologized for not being in the mood to watch Seth “try to be Ryada.”
“Yes. Only one member of our squad is allowed to be the <<cheery>> one, and everything must be misery until she returns. Seth and Bithe trying to make us smile is a betrayal. Your way is so much better.”
Tilliver could’ve stripped paint with that sarcasm.
“She needs a place to come back to. Her place.”
“She has one. This isn’t about Ryada’s needs! It’s about you trying to control everything for all of us because you’re scared and selfish! You’re acting like our squad is a tool you can use to force her to feel the way you think she—”
Alden was relieved when the hatch in the ceiling sealed again and cut off the sounds of their voices.
Is Seth not usually so cheerful? Is Emban controlling? Should I have brought Divin and Bithe down here with me so that the three people on this boat who aren’t in fight mode could stick together?
No…I’ve got enough problems of my own right now.
He felt sorry for them up there, but he was going to take a breather for however long he had and sort himself out.
He looked around.
Great. Even the bathroom on this ship is too complicated.
It was bigger than he’d expected. Everything was silver and gray, and the large windows gave him awesome river views from near the water’s surface. There were seats that were not toilets and a tile floor with channels running through it.
Is this a bathroom? The logogram for “dry” was on the wall near him. He touched it, and a panel slid up to reveal towels.
“I’m just going to give myself a break and ask,” he said. “Contract, where’s the toilet?”
[Press your hand to the wall on your left. There’s no logogram.]
He did as instructed and another panel slid aside.
Worried that he might only have a few minutes before Tilliver burst in and told him it was time to go, he splashed water on his face, took another dose from his inhaler, and looked through the contents of his messenger bag. What was he supposed to carry, wear, and do out on a knight training field? How had he landed himself in something similar to the pessimistic summoning scenarios that had haunted his brain before Healer Yenu and Stuart had helped him?
Alone in chaos with nothing but fifty feet of paracord and a poncho.
“Only it’s going to be together in simulated chaos with five near-strangers, fifty feet of paracord, and a poncho. Some honey locust thorns. Maybe hundreds of knights and votaries will be there watching me make a fool of myself. I’ve also got…a temper sphere with no enchantments left. A sling. One origami klerm.”
He had stuck it in this bag after class. He took it out now and set it on top of his head. The bathroom had a time delay on the wall that served as a mirror. It could be adjusted, but he hadn’t bothered, so he watched himself put the klerm there a few seconds later. The paper animal didn’t look like it would save him.
“Embarrassing myself in front of the people I’m trying to belong with isn’t worse than dying…but I don’t want to do either.”
He tucked the klerm back into the bag with the other odds and ends he’d brought for what, he now remembered, was supposed to have been a low-key day trip.
He didn’t even have decent clothes for this.
“Can I take my bag with me? Do Forgetful Traveler’s bags go with their owners into battlefields because they’re valuable magical objects that don’t want to be left behind, or will it make me look like all I brought to the fight was my designer purse?”
He shut the bag.
Let’s think this through. If they’re really taking me, there has to be some standard equipment. And one reason I’m not carrying armor and guns around is that I’m on the most well-protected, well-supplied planet in the known universe. If I need something to help me do my best, I can just buy it.
It wasn’t real chaos. Delivery existed.
For a moment, that gave him a feeling of control. He lacked things. He would buy things.
Easy-peasy. What do I want?
He stared down into the silvery bowl of the sink, waiting for an answer to come. He was willing to spend piles of argold on this, so…surely any second now, the answers were going to flicker to life in his brain like light bulbs.
Any second…
“Shit, I have no clue what I’m doing here!”
He laughed. It was more of a pressure release and an acknowledgment of the absurdity than genuine humor.
“I give up. Help me, please, before I end up at a knight training exercise with nothing but pieces of my birth tree for protection.”
He didn’t have to wait. The one he was addressing replied via his interface.
[Of course, Alden. Come out here and appreciate the river with me.]
He opened the bathroom door and there she was, standing across the tiled room looking out one of the windows. It reminded him of the meeting they’d had in his dreams at the streamview cottage.
That feels like it was so long ago.
“Not at all,” she said. “You’ve just come a long way since then.”
“I’m going to assume nobody upstairs has super hearing as one of their abilities since you’re here for an out-loud conversation.” He went to her. “I was about to try buying my way to being a helpful member of their squad. Then I realized I don’t even know enough about them or the rules to know what to buy. I’m not prepared for this. Have I made a mistake? Should I go up there right now and retract my offer to participate with them?”
She looked the same as she had last night when they’d spoken by the Yatanger triangle. She chuckled at his questions. “You have jumped and jumped again on this trip, haven’t you?”
“I had a few things that felt like wins, so I wasn’t cautious enough about this moth ship situation. You should have put a sign over it on my interface. ‘Warning: leads to training quest with unstable squad.’”
“But it was only a boat with young knights on it, and you thought it might be good to see Bithe again. Your own choices have made it more than a social visit.”
He sighed.
“What would you like to do?” she asked.
“I’d like to leave this planet unhated and unhumiliated when it’s time for me to go back to Earth. And undiscovered, as far as my secrets go.”
“You do want that. But if those were your only desires, would you have offered to help their squad with your skill?”
The number of buildings along the river banks had grown. Alden didn’t recognize them. He wondered how close they were getting to the coast and Wathe.
“Of course I want to know,” he said after a minute. What it’s like, if I can do it, how I’ll feel about my skill and the choices I’ve made when I’m working with them…
He didn’t need to say it all aloud since she knew.
“I don’t know how long it will be before another chance like this one comes my way. Can you tell me if going along with them will cause a disaster?”
“I can assure you that I will prevent all of my knights and the people training with them today from suffering significant physical harm. But protecting you all from embarrassment and mistakes would make the training a bit pointless. I promise to treat you as well as any knight on the field if you join us for our battle.”
That’s like a promise to let me ruin everything for the sake of realism.
But he did want to know.
“Could you at least help me figure out what to take with me? And what I should wear? So that I show up looking like I had more than five minutes to think about all of this.”
“I’ll always advise you about what to take with you into battle if I’m available and you ask. Would you like a little longer than five minutes to think?”
He thought he knew what she was suggesting. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
******
******
Alden sat in one of the chairs in the tiled room and closed his eyes. When he opened them, only a second later, he was sitting on the couch in the living room of the house where he’d lived with his parents for the first few years of his life.
It’s looking a little different.
There was no Christmas tree with gifts this time. Through one window, he saw his old backyard on what looked like a summer’s day. A sprinkler was spinning in the grass. Beyond it was an impossible Chicago skyline.
“Come downstairs” was written on the television screen. He got up and walked barefoot across a fluffy white rug that his roommates had trimmed a few stains out of, through a kitchen that smelled faintly of canned cinnamon rolls, and to a door that he somehow knew would lead downstairs.
He found a massive room down there, clearly inspired by the supply library at the siblinghold.
Giant honey locust thorns pierced through the ceiling instead of tree roots, and flocks of paper planes and cranes circled above him, glowing to provide the room with light.
Unlike the supply library, there were no aisles of shelving and chests. Only a single piece of furniture waited in the center of the room. It looked like the piece in the streamview cottage that held all the conveniences for guests.
She stood waiting beside it in a blue striped jacket that Alden recognized.
“For some reason, I don’t remember the Nashville house having a basement like this,” he said when he reached her.
“No?”
“And are you dressed like Tuck from Needle & Wheedle?”
“I have different cufflinks,” she said, showing him the shiny gold logogram for Contract at her wrist.
“I guess I do associate him and Yinuo with getting geared up. For social battlefields anyway.”
He studied the piece of furniture. It was the one from the cottage, but the doors on top had a carving of him and Kibby. She was leaning forward to blow out the promise sticks on his Thegund seven-layer birthday dip.
“This image does make me want to beat up chaos.” He opened the doors.“I’m not spending your favor to be here for a while, am I?”
“Do you think selecting tools to help you perform your purpose as a knight, or an Avowed, should cost you something?”
“No. But the time-extension vision seems like a luxury.”
“It’s one you deserve!” she said brightly. “We won’t take it too far. Doing your best with limited notice is good training for you in its own way, but all of the others do get much more help than you’ve had before they set food on a field here. My Tilliver spent half a week deciding what he’d take with him today.”
“And then he picked a Rabbit at the last second.” Alden reached for a drawer. “I can’t think about it anymore, or I’ll chicken out. What’s in here?”
“Some things you will like, some things I suggest, and some things Stu-art’h imagines you carrying with you on missions when he should be paying attention to his instructors.”
The first drawer was full of pills and potion injectors. Alden opened the next one and found a wand. Something that looked like hair scrunchies was in the third.
“Talk me through it,” he said. “Obviously you don’t expect me to carry everything here with me. I won’t even be able to remember what that many different pills do. And I know half of what Stuart’s got in mind is going to be way too ambitious for me to use today.”
******
******
Alden felt like he’d had around an hour of planning time, but when he opened his eyes again, it had been just under ten minutes. His interface was crowded with proof that working with a vastly powerful entity as your guide was great for efficiency. Records of the orders he’d placed were already shifting to the side to make room for a notice that a drone was waiting at a summonarium to accept his arriving purchases and bring them to him.
A list of items he couldn’t or wouldn’t be providing for himself had been made for the squad of knights to take care of. There were a couple of things he considered nonnegotiable and one he really wanted that he thought they’d probably say no to.
An argold transfer was now going through to a maker of eyewear in Vethedya, and a reminder to text Stuart was flashing.
[Hi,] he typed mentally. [I’m probably going with Emban’s squad on their training quest this evening. I’ll explain how it happened later. Don’t worry. I might damage everyone’s opinion of my capabilities beyond all hope of repair, but other than that, I’m not an idiot and I’ll be completely safe. Wish me luck.]
His chest felt a little tight. It was definitely more than before the obstacle course, but it wasn’t unbearable.
Save some of that adrenaline for whatever is going to happen.
He headed for the elevator.
There was no loud argument underway when he made it up to what he thought of as the boat’s main room. They were all looking quietly at the map or their interfaces. But there was tension in everyone’s posture.
“Am I going with you?” Alden asked.
“Yes,” said Tilliver. It sounded like a threat.
“We’re discussing it,” said Emban, her attempt at a smile so strained that it made her look ill.
If this was real, and I was an Avowed they were about to take with them into danger, their behavior would make me scared for my life.
“Let me know when it’s unanimous,” he said, heading for the exterior door. “I’m sending you all the material you should review to understand what I can do, as well as a list of requests. And you should send me anything extremely important I need to know about you or our objectives today as soon as possible. I’ll be as ready as I can with or without that, but with it would be better.”
He went out onto the back deck and closed the door behind him. The vathas were gone except for a straggler here or there. He walked to the side and stood at the low railing, the breeze ruffling his hair.
Giving them a to-do list feels pretty unnatural.
There had been a couple of times this month when he’d wondered if Emilija would be willing to do a chore other than social media and email management for him, but he hadn’t worked himself up to ask her yet because he didn’t want her to think he was too demanding. Now I’m demanding things of knights.
Spending an hour that wasn’t an hour going over the tools he’d need for a journey into chaos again had highlighted the significance of this exercise for him.
This is as close as I’ll get to the real thing before I’m actually in the real thing. Maybe they can be a bit more experimental or casual about parts of it because they’ve already been doing the real thing together and they have access to this kind of training experience whenever they need it, but if I’m doing this I need to go all out.
Thinking that way had made him confront a couple of decisions he’d have agonized over if he’d had more time. Literally yesterday he’d been wondering if he needed to be excommunicated from the Palace of Unbreaking, and now he ran headfirst into the reality that for the next few years he was going to be using the wordchains he knew even if he thought the organization had serious flaws.
The sweet spot for wordchain usage as a knight was exactly where he was. Chaos on Goldbush wasn’t so bad that chains would break down rapidly or be impossible. He wouldn’t have to use fifty casts to get the equivalent of a single foundation point of efficacy. Being good at them was an advantage that enhanced everything else he could do.
One day, he’d replace wordchains with his wizardry and new affixed talents. But learning a “run faster” or “be agile” spell when he had a million other things to learn didn’t sound like the best use of his time. And the wordchains he knew would let him run faster and be more agile even when his free authority was at its weakest.
He’d gotten reassurance from Mother that the child who was his Opposite shouldn’t end up on the hook for anything he was able to cause with the chains he knew. All that was left was deciding how he felt about paying for the wordchains he used.
Knights tried to avoid negative halves, especially when they were working.
After he’d spent a day using chains to fight chaos was Alden really going to eat all the debt for them himself? Even if he didn’t have to? Being clumsy, slow, and anxiety-stricken for several hours in an unsafe location sounded like a good way to shorten his life.
The negatives couldn’t always be avoided, but according to Mother, there was a difficult spell that disconnected debt from debtor. It was illegal for most wizards, but there should be votaries who were very accustomed to casting it available on any planet Alden was likely to find himself on in the next few years.
A record of those dropped debts was regularly sent from the Rapports to the Palace to keep the chains healthy.
Alden was uncomfortable with the idea that volunteers at the Palace would be doing some suffering for him. He was more uncomfortable with the thought of being unable to control his own body and mind while he hid in a tent surrounded by demons.
He’d decided he’d be using all of his physical wordchains today, and if he thought fear or nerves were making him less effective, he’d put on Peace of Mind. The first thing on the squad’s to-do list was getting his chain usage for the day covered the same way their own would be. Alden had decided it was a nonnegotiable. If he were really helping them in chaos, he’d expect them to do this for him even if he were an ordinary Avowed.
Beyond the principle of it, he needed to test the gremlin. And he didn’t need the bad half of Peace of Mind waiting in the wings for him right now.
He watched the buildings and the other boats slide by. As a couple of minutes became several, he started to worry that they were in there finding their sense of teamwork by commiserating over what a pain in the ass he was.
If they’re like that, this wouldn’t be the kind of experience I need anyway. I’ll use everything I’ve learned and bought today with Stuart eventually.
He told himself that, but when Divin-zadja came out onto the deck, he knew he was going to be disappointed if she said to get lost. She walked over to stand at the railing with him. She was a little shorter than Stuart, and now that they were this close he noticed that she had a thin blue line tattooed around the curve of one ear.
“Seth is taking care of the wordchains, and Tilliver is ordering most of the supplies you asked for. One of the items may be substituted.”
“So Emban agreed.”
“I’ll honestly tell you that she doesn’t agree your inclusion is beneficial, but she agreed that it shouldn’t be her decision to make. Don’t feel alone! She doesn’t agree that my inclusion is beneficial either.”
“I’m sure it is,” Alden said.
“I’m sure it is, too.”
The factual way she said it made him realize he’d only said it to be comforting. Apparently, Divin didn’t need his reassurance.
“This much <<bickering>> is normal. This will be my fourth squad. I’m looking for someone, so I swap a lot. Binding puts pressure on everyone. And being home after a mission gives people a chance to reassess priorities. It means that changes happen even if your squadmates aren’t ready…but you shouldn’t worry about how it will go today. They’re all good knights.”
“Looking for someone,” said Alden. “You mean you’re swapping squads a lot to find a partner for inesvul.”
Divin turned to lean sideways on the railing and face him. “They’re out there, and they’re lucky I’m running around looking for them. Here I come.”
She had a soft smile on her face.
“I don’t know if you meant to break our squabble’s throat by coming through with assignments for everyone to do, but it worked well. And it’ll save us from some embarrassment. I didn’t know we needed to request some of those drugs individually for you instead of just asking for a species kit. How did you know? And you put your list together so quickly! Were you actually hoping we’d take you with us from the moment you sat down at the table? That’s not what I would have expected from the first human Ryeh-b’t I’ve met, so I wonder.”
“Look, there’s my drone arriving!” Alden said, grateful to the inanimate object flying toward the boat for providing him with a distraction so that he didn’t have to explain how he’d made such a thorough list of important items for an event he’d never witnessed. He wouldn’t even be taking the drugs Divin was talking about, but Mother had told him how having them along would affect her assessment of different penalties.
Their mission failing because they assumed Alden could use the same alien mosquito repellent as everyone else would certainly be an education on being careful with your Avowed, but Alden didn’t want to be a part of that kind of learning opportunity if he could help it.
The incoming drone was a type he’d never seen before—a flying blue blob that settled silently onto the deck and then lifted off a moment later to reveal his purchases like they were an egg it had laid.
It wasn’t a shocking quantity of supplies, but the packaging on some of the items seemed to clue Divin in to what he’d ordered. She looked concerned suddenly.
“You didn’t have to spend that much on our quest. You didn’t have to spend any amount. We’d have borrowed near-equivalents for anything you wanted, and you’d just return them after we’re through.”
“I know,” said Alden. “But there were some things I knew I’d want to keep, so I went for it.”
“That’s the shop in Vethedya that one of my friends just ordered new eyerings from.” She was looking at the tiny box on top of the pile.
“It’s a small universe,” said Alden, picking up his new equipment.
Even smaller when you’re trying to buy something so well made that it will last you for a few trips into chaos.
He headed back into the boat with Divin following him.
“You needed even more than was on the list you gave us?” Tilliver sounded more worried than judgmental, but one of those pale eyebrows was raised, so Alden wasn’t sure.
“How much do you take with you in the field?” Alden asked. “You don’t run from demons in your favorite pezyva, I bet.”
“I don’t…”
Alden glanced at Emban. She was quiet in her seat, jaw set as she worked on her interface.
Seth shook her head about something, and Tilliver flicked one eye toward her while the other stayed on Alden.
“Everything you asked for is reasonable…except for the kelsithe. As fascinating as it would be to see one in use, it’s just too much for us to think through on short notice. The rarity and how troublesome the owner might be to deal with…maybe if we had more time. I’ll ask for a slybark shield instead. It was one of your alternate choices.”
The kelsithe was a shield Stuart imagined him carrying. But Stuart’s imagination could be too grand. Mother had told Alden there was only one kelsithe on the Triplanets that he’d actually be able to wield today.
I didn’t really expect it. Some other time.
“Slybark is fine.”
“The kelsithe would be better for your skill, though, wouldn’t it?” Bithe asked.
“Of course. But it was an odd request. I’m going back downstairs to get ready. I won’t be long.”
Bithe was frowning at his interface as Alden left.
******
******
Emban’s squad is ready to go, thought Noh-en, as the announcement of their arrival sounded throughout the staging area where she was working.
Noh only had a short while to be here at the training fields today in between lectures at DawnStep, so it was fortunate that her timing was good for a meeting with one of her art’h neighbors. It would be brief, but Noh’s encouragement couldn’t hurt. Especially since she’d heard that squad had failed this quest earlier.
That’s right. The Contract was pretending not to work in this area to mimic the inconveniences of being on a corrupted planet. Instead of using her eyerings, she had to look for the information about what had happened to Emban’s group using a display on one of the portable shelter’s walls. Tilliver-gare was hurt, and they were exhausted. I’m sure they want this second attempt to make right all that went wrong with the first.
Two other votaries were in charge of making sure all of the requests the squad had sent were met and their supplies were ready to go. They’d chosen one of the “weakened” flyers this time, so they must be planning to set it down before they reached the worst of the chaos in their field. That flyer would return here and probably be good for another flight or two before the Contract listed it as destroyed and removed it from the battle.
Noh-en liked to try to guess what all the knights who came through here were attempting. She made predictions about their successes and failures and then compared those predictions to what actually happened.
There wasn’t much time for it, since even in her current role as an errand runner for the more experienced votaries she stayed busy. But trying to develop her sense for what contributed to the ups and downs of the battle seemed like a proper thing for a votary to do.
Asay and Nell will be out here this weekend if they don’t change their minds. They’ll want to know how Emban’s squad performed, too.
What are their other significant requests besides the flyer? A few rings, an Avowed, a special…an Avowed? Noh blinked. They decided to summon for this?
There were quite a few Avowed around. Some of them were waiting to be summoned. Some were already on the field pretending to be demons. But Emban’s squad wasn’t one Noh expected to see an Avowed with. The Avowed on hand were experienced. Having one for a low-level mission might make it so easy that it didn’t really count as training.
Or everything will become a mess because they don’t have any practice at all leading an Avowed. And they’re not with a votary who could handle it for them, are they?
What species? Maybe they’re planning to do some terrain work as they go?
She tried to look it up. Instead of the clear and concise answer she’d expected, there was a narrative about how during Tilliver’s “recovery from his grievous wounds” they’d found an Avowed whose summoner “must have died”.
They wrote that he seemed eager to help and suited to their squad’s quest “despite him being a Ryeh-b’t, so we’re taking him with us. Please delete a different Avowed from the available resources so that the numbers work out and everyone knows we aren’t cheating.”
“How do you find an extra Avowed? They don’t just appear on their own!”
If knights want to trade one Avowed for another, then of course they can…but a Ryeh-b’t?
Noh was worried now. If they were bringing a griveck, then their goals must be completely different than during their first attempt.
Why wouldn’t they use one of the grivecks who are already available? she wondered, hurrying outside to meet their flyer.
There had been more notes on the display, but she might as well find out in person since they were here and all arriving knights needed to be greeted by a votary ready to take care of any last moment issues.
The pleasure flyer that had brought them from wherever they’d been enjoying their break landed near the bulkier, winged vehicle they’d be taking to their field. Noh had been told it was looking battered on the knight’s interfaces to add realism, but to her it appeared to be in excellent condition.
Emban was the first one to step out of the pleasure flyer.
She looks unhappy.
Noh held back her frown. Emban’s mood was to be expected. A votary should try to lighten it without disrespecting it. Bithe was right behind her. Then Tilliver-gare.
Griveck?
Seth.
No griveck.
Divin-zadja.
And finally Alden Thorn.
Alden Thorn? She stared at the human. Yes. That is Alden Thorn.
He looked just like the human Stu had introduced her to. But not.
Does Stu have something to do with this?
“Welcome,” Noh-en heard herself saying as she rose from a bow. “All is as you’ve ordered, and I will hear any more you might want and see it done.”
That was what she usually said. Usually, her attention was fully on the knights she was talking to.
Alden Thorn was all in black, wearing a pack on his back and a coil of rope at his waist with an obedience charm hanging from it. A pair of pouches beside it were unmarked. He had lenses of some kind in each eye. She could see the golden modifiers for them on his sclera.
And Tilliver was beckoning him over to see something the other votaries had laid out beside the flyer for the squad.
“Hello, Noh-en,” the human said to her as he passed.
She ended up nodding instead of speaking.
Well. He is a Ryeh-b’t.
*
Comments (264)
Noh-en: “How do you find an extra Avowed? They don’t just appear on their own!”. I just laugh out loud each time I read this.
Especially since Alden has already been found wandering around two different disaster zones by two different knights!
I have come here to kick ass and approximate chapters. And I’m all out of ass
How likely is it that lute’s second S rank skill is based on this difficult spell that separate chain debt from deptor??
Very unlikely.
A chance to appreciate a 10th reread
Let’s all gather around the soup pot and perform a soup summoning spell
Mine is potato and leek
Let her cook
Another take on the Frog Prince tale: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-06-06
So good!
Sleyca feels noticeably better! 😊😌😌
Something entertaining that could happen: Alden, entrusted the prize by Tilliver, tanks an enormous hit with BOAB. Somehow, one of his instructors (Klein?) gets footage of this. Next class: "Alden, you've got some splainin' to do about your power's strength!" [Yes, Klein does talk like that. Really!] As Waker said to Saleh: Alden is honest, but not forthcoming.
But, Reeeeeeeynolds.... waaaaaaaaaaaàaaaaaaa
More ..... Kibby! Grandpa - grandpa! Gorgan! Kraaa! A whopping grand game up a hill!
Is the "pleasure flyer" they came back on, the same vehicle as the boat they were on? I cant recall any other multi-purpose vehicles mentioned, but a magic plane could easily be a boat. and makes less sense that they would hop in a pleasure flyer to go back to the training fields compared to a regular flyer.
Pleasure + Vathas = Flyer?
Hi! This is the promised update. Chapter will be out tomorrow. I didn’t become speedy overnight, but I am feeling noticeably better and I have been writing today at something that’s close to a normal slow pace for me instead of the eekeekeek situation of the past few days. (Posting this under the original comment too to make sure it's seen.)
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Kinda random, but does anyone have a book or story online that has similar good interactions as Super supportive? It doesn't need to be a similar genre (though fantasy it's always welcome), just the vibe and depht in character develpment and friendships
You could try, "Worm" by Wildbow.
I have been thinking about teamwork and Alden's role on multiple teams. He isn't the star (even if he is the MC) he just seems to bring out he best in people. This thought had me thinking about this Worklife podcast by Adam Grant, The Problem with All-Stars. https://youtu.be/iZ3j5AVbbao?is=rvqpsHHQHZZmOyO7
He is super supportive
Hello, everybody. I wanted to write a longer update than the usual ones I put here when I’m not going to be able to hit “approximate” day. I’m wondering if I’ve missed my guess by more than twenty-four hours this time, and if I have, I didn’t want anyone to worry that this is some sign of terrible plot problems ahead. All is well with the story. I know what this chapter should say, and I think it’s a fun one. It should be! Look where I left you on the last one… Despite that, I’ve been making the slowest forward progress. I ask my brain for a sentence, and it finally comes back half an hour later with twelve words that it must have fetched from the backside of the moon. I don’t know exactly why. It’s not a writing-specific issue. I’ve been tired and foggy in general since the last post. I suspect it’s just that I haven’t slept well for several nights in a row. Fairly often, if I’ve had a few days of really struggling with a chapter, I’ll suddenly have an amazing writing day that makes up for it. I tricked myself into thinking today might be like that. I’m excited about Alden having this experience with Emban’s squad, and I feel like that should translate into a nice flow state that will speed me up any second now. It hasn’t so far. Whether it happens or not, I am still stacking sentences, and they are good sentences despite their lunar origins. Eventually, even at this pace, I will get to the end of the chapter that I want you to see. I hope that will be tomorrow. It might be the next day. Either way, I will update you in twenty-four hours.
Oh wow just by chance I just looked for comments! Take your time Sleyca. Thank you for the relative early notice time this time. So excited for the next chapters and I want them to be as good as you want them instead of rushing!
I just remembered, isn't Stu supposed to be acting as Emban's votary at the current time? Shouldn't he be here? if he see's Alden's message he could already be on his way!
Ever since she was rude to Alden, he has not been acting as votary. Also now that she has passed the initial stages of the latest binding and is willing to use her skill again, she may not require a dedicated votary as there are fewer social obligations like the here-to-there. It was always going to be a temporary position, as it was a compromise for having Alden come over after the floods.
Tilliver wrote the wrong explanation for the Game Masters. The real reason Alden is with them is that Bithe’s skill attracted him. And maybe it didn’t just attract him—it burned him, too, since Alden ended up being the focus of the squad’s quarrels.
It would be interesting if next chapter Sleyca pulls a Blue Mountain State and just skips completely to the post-game.
I'm not opposed to this, it would probably be more enjoyable than a play by play with a whole new set of characters.
Commenting again because I've decided to read the chapter again, and... I'm pretty sure Noh-en's stunned silence when seeing Alden is not gonna be helping to ease his mental image of votaries as mysterious assassins. And it has also only JUST sunk in for me that Alden is going to be in a simulated chaos environment, and with how powerful Mother is, that is likely to entail some highly accurate sensations of chaos against his authority and such. That makes me feel like there may be a slight PTSD type of reaction when he's in the field. Or maybe it'll be a cake walk compared to Thegund? Either way, I'm very interested to see what happens, especially if the older knights, votaries, etc. are curious about Alden when they see him, and pay a bit too much attention and they notice that he doesn't exhaust his authority as quickly as his profile suggests he should for someone of his rank/level/stats.
I just realized “hearsay” could easily be a literal translation of the artonan word for “gossip”
Next chapter prediction in haiku, or otherwise? Alden the Bearer Is borne above by Seth's skill Treasure holding treat
The knights go on their quest in truest form; to wrest a treat from chaos is their goal; but one has plans that seek beyond the norm; To fight a fate, and free the one it stole. Though training should be safe the shadows pool; within the heart of Emban as she fears; when death hangs in the balance so must rules; and life take precedence as mission nears. It is success that fills her heart with dread; a hoped-for-one might see the end of need; and in her heart find purpose gone and dead; she need not fill the gap should they succeed. And if there's risk to life should they prevail; is it not their duty now to fail?
Happy approximation day, everyone. I look forward to seeing you in the next iteration of this masterpiece!
Have an approximate slice of Pi. I would tell you what flavor it is but I am afraid I can't be 100%.
Random question for anyone, but ive been on and off trying to find a specific chapter the last few days and am having terrible luck despite re reading lots of em while lookin. Maybe im not even in the right ballpark. Does anyone know which chapter it is when Alden and someone (Lute?) are at what I thiiiiink was a Christmas village type thing and they ran into the Artonana ambassador and Alden ends up inserting himself into the situation?
262: Snow IV is the first chapter at the Christmas market, and 263: Snow V is where they actually meet the ambassador and the grand senator.
It's the Matadero Thanksgiving all over again. Alden is somewhere unusual. He gets caught up in an idea. He runs with it. It grows larger than expected. Something completely new happens. He builds reputation. I'm so here for this.
I wish there was a way to follow certain conversational threads even discord is not satisfying my itch
If you leave a comment and then like it, it'll give you a notification and that let's you quick jump to a thread in the new system.
I like where it's going 👍
What would be really amazing is if the mission is successful Alden gets a new commendation out of it. Then he ends up back at school and people are just like "where did you just go off and earn that?!" I imaging that to be a lot of fun... But also do we know if its ok to get a commendation that is "lower" than one previously earned?
If Alden really returns with another commendation, no matter how minor, I'm betting all my fictitious argold that Li Jean is gonna try to recruit him into their insane program. And he will decline. And everyone will lose their minds over it.
On reread, I think that Noh-en and Vandy would get along. Similar adherance to rules and expectations; similar reactions to the unexpected.
My ‘Exceptional Bravery in the Absence of Obligation’ senses are tingling Was it ever mentioned if that particular commendation had knightly connotations?
I think properly teaching Alden about his commendation was supposed to happen on this trip while discussing with Esh. He did touch on it a bit when saying that some wizards may think he's a way to meet Alis, but overall i dont believe we know quite how its percieved by the average wizard.
What a delightful chapter. Even better after a second read. Thank you so much!
I love how meaningful all the parts you show us feel. Alden's mentality and problem-solving here (including asking for help) are so different from how he would've acted if, for whatever reason, he had to join a training exercise soon after being saved. And now I can't wait to see what happens during this. Thank you for the chapter!
For Sleyca's delight, and because I'm feeling smug this apparently lured multiple people into binging the whole story to date in less than a week, have the Soup rec I wrote in response to someone asking for "Books you love, but rarely recommend".
"Here's another - I adore '[Super Supportive](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive)', but rarely recommend it offline because it's an ongoing web serial in an unusual genre niche. (Someday the author will go back and revise the early chapters and then start releasing it as a printed book series too, someday!) "It has elements of a progression LitRPG but is more interested in interrogating and subverting the usual tropes than fulfilling them; it involves Earth 'superheroes' and 'supervillains' and alien wizards who may or may not be elves, but puts Earth in the category of 'resource world' and the alien wizards as the empire builders. The author repeats 'slice of life' in the description multiple times for good reason. Alien beverage etiquette has plot-bearing weight; catastrophes and action/adventure subplots show up more as interruptions than the main thread.
“That’s the shop in Vethedya that one of my friends just ordered new eyerings from.” She was looking at the tiny box on top of the pile. Divin is going to have some absolutely skewed views of how well equipped avowed are going to be considering Aldens ordering eye rings used by knights and brushing it off
Amazing for the knightling to assume that any ryeh-b't on the field is going to be a griveck because they're the only combat oriented ryeh-b'ts
Noh-en is an aspiring votary rather than a knight, but I see your underlying point!
We know Klein doesn’t get summoned, but it would be really funny if he got pulled in as a demon stand-in. Knights: “Whew, it’s just one enemy!” Alden: “oh no”
We don’t know that Klein doesn’t get summoned. We know Colibri doesn’t get summoned; probably you’re thinking of her? She and Klein were introduced in the same chapter.
Do we know if Emban (and squad) have actually been to Goldbush/chaos, or are they still in their training years? It could be an interesting dynamic if the training field has the same kind of chaos feeling that the painting in the top library has, combined with the ever-present feeling of being watched (by the spectators). Alden will know the difference and be able to ignore it, but does the squad have that distinction? Will the session have a announcers and commentators broadcasting to spectators, what will they say about our commended rabbit. Will the local tellingbush have everyone tune in to watch the spectacle?
Funny thought, Jeffy would make a fantastic fake demon. Anyone who saw his profile or sensed his capabilities would see an aquabrute, but then suddenly LAND MOVES! thats a kind of change you'd expect to see chaos do.
Re: why 'treats' are called treats in this context, my guess is thus: Quest objectives that must be retrieved and protected during training quests are colloquially called 'treats' by knights because the exercise organizers use items that knights would find valuable on long missions as placeholders for whatever type of life they're supposed to be protecting. During the barter after the conclusion of such an exercise, knights can trade their squad'ss earned treats for other treats they like better if they desire.
I imagined a bunch of bananas or such, so a true treat that can be eaten and shared afterwards.
I love hoe Stu is clearly just sat in classes daydreaming about Alden and doing the Artonan equivalent of doodling pictures of him as a knight with love hearts around it
Is that a spelling mistake? Because after I kept reading, I got less and less sure of it. :D
Bithe is going to be interesting to watch in this bit of the story. Aside from Alden himself, he's the only one here who's seen Alden pull off a "miracle." Emban heard about it right after the fact, but didn't see it. Bithe saw the broken wand at the Here-to-There. He felt the horror, grief and sense of "failure" how all that joy would be polluted because of one asshole wizard. Then Alden "undid it all." Alden took charge, got Kon there (with considerable aid from Stu's family, but still) and Kon fixed the wand. Emban arrived after that, so she knew the wand was broken, but only after if had been repaired. She never felt all the negative feelings its breaking created in Stu and Bithe, so she never felt it when all those feelings collapsed into relief. It was probably like watching a resurrection. In any case Bithe is likely less skeptical about bringing Alden in on this than the others are. Seth and Tilliver wanted Alden brought alone to screw with Emban because they're angry at her. Emban knows that and is mad at them back. Divis is probably a little skeptical about the whole thing, because who brings a non-Griveck Ryeh-b’t into even a fake Chaos battle? I think only Bithe is thinking something like, 'There' a decent chance Alden will be the big reason we pull this off.'
“Where do you go to school, Emban-art’h?” he asked, as much to head off any bickering that might be approaching as to satisfy his curiosity. “DawnStep. I don’t have any reason to choose another.” “It’s where most knights complete their education,” Stuart said. Which is why he picked another school? “We have magnificent laboratories on campus. Stu should arrange for you to tour some of the safer ones sometime.” “Oh. Are you someone who enjoys lab work?” Alden asked. “Potions? Or more of the type with the breaking down of magical ingredients and then experimenting on them?” “I’m not. But I respect anyone’s <> in that kind of labor.” She had turned her attention to him fully and was speaking in what he thought was an encouraging tone. Why did she bring up labs if she doesn’t care about them? She doesn’t think I have passionate interest in them? He’d have to correct that possible misconception before she spread it around to other art’hs and they all decided he liked handling toxic waste and peeling the flesh from pickled aliens. “Can do” and “want to do” are very different things.
Alden could really simplify peeling the flesh from pickled aliens now by doing a small cut and then just preserving the insides.
I think an opportunity to reread the latest coursing chapters. Will be interesting to see parallels, or differences in the different training methods...
Now Alden looks like the black Ryeh-b’t from the party!
He just needs to add some orange streaks to his hair, grow the kind of pointed dentures that Sophie would approve of, and gain some wings!
I wonder if Stu'Art is feeling rushed/left behind: Since Alden has made his decision, he is like a boulder coming down a mountain. By now, Stu'Art should have figured out, Alden is not going to slow down. There are no breaks. (Except for a violent crash). Stu can either watch (or join). Stu's decision is too important to be affect by this. (But, Alden currently must be a harsh reminder, that even though Stu can take as long as he needs, the world keeps moving forward.)
I feel like Alden is a reminder to him of how he's "late" compared to others his age, but Alden himself isn't going about it particularly fast IMO, he's just doing it in reverse. Most people learn all the stuff he's currently learning and THEN have a choosing season to THEN affix, Alden is actually "late" cuz the first step is the easiest but by far the most time consuming. Alden reminds Stu of how late he is because they both are late, but at least they're late in different ways that compliment each other, which I guess it's what's closest to perfection for their situation
I adore that some Avowed are used as demons. Magnificent
It’s important for training to be realistic
I love you, Ryada-Bess, and although it sounds mean, you struggling with your binding is the best thing that could have happened to your team at this time, may even have saved their future lives by highlighting some big problems that these team-building exercises are perfectly placed to fix. You’ve been holding your team together. They fall apart when they lose you. What happens in the future if you get badly injured fighting chaos and they can’t rely on you? Do they fall apart in the middle of the battle? Not to let you totally off the hook either. Haven’t you been a little too agreeable? Taking the easy way out all the time—your original yes to Emban made admitting the truth worse later—trying too hard to keep the peace and not let your team down. If they come out of this as a team, you won’t have to work so hard to keep them together. I think you’ll enjoy being in that team a lot more. If they split, don’t feel guilty. Either way, they’ll still be stronger for it.
After this quest, Alden will surely know better how his important Klerm Prince sequel goes. I wonder if this squad will get to be the firtst ones to hear it. At the quest end, they will likely be able to appreciate it as a fable related to themselves.
Alden's wordchain journal will be surreal reading for Lute's boss, but certainly more interesting than usual. "Got chain. Paid chain... Chain from Lute, paid chain back through Lute. Got chain. Paid chain... Paid Lute's Chains for him like a good Beholden prostrator. Got chain. Paid chain... Got multiple chains. Excused from chains for participating in Knight exercise." Most elaborate way to end up at net zero. Alden needs to get Burden of Wordchains just so he can confuse poor Parethat-uur even more...
Good point. I wonder if Lute will hear about Alden's chain forgiveness.
Do we already know what an obedience charm does?
Not that I can remember.
Emban really doesn’t want him there. We recently learned that it matters how much/sincerely an entruster gives something to Alden for entrustment. The entruster really wanting Alden to take on their burden matters. Alden has experience with entrusters kinda going through the motions and others being very sincere & committed. But if Emban needs to entrust him with something while really not wanting to be interacting with him, if her entrustment is insincere, can that interfere with his skill’s success or strength?
If I had to guess, I'd suppose that there's never a malus - it would be just Alden's unboosted authority doing the preserving. Getting enthusiastic consent for something that's important to the entruster? Bonus, scaling to the strength of the entruster.
I wonder who has it worse, us eagerly waiting for the next chapter, or Stu stuck in class after receiving Alden’s text that he is off to fight chaos with newlymented knights.
Stu is out cold taking a nap, he's still got no clue.
1. People are talking about Klein being an Avowed who's hanging around but it would be much funnier if ASH were pretending to be a demon and randomly saw Alden. 2. Why does Noh-en think Alden looked different?
2. Probably since he's wearing black and in serious mode.
I'm so happy Alden is choosing to go all out. I'm looking forward to how his training and experiences will pay off. I'm excited for the kelsithe shield. Blithe is definitely going to make it happen, right??
Bithe said no to the kelsithe pretty clearly. We're getting a slybark instead, which is still very exciting.
Samuel Alden Thorn, Bearer of All Burdens, wore black on the day he was to attempt his first knight training quest.
It was great getting to follow Alden progressing from “Great. Even the bathroom on this ship is too complicated.” to “Now I’m demanding things of knights.” to “Alden Thorn was all in black, wearing a pack on his back and a coil of rope at his waist with an obedience charm hanging from it. A pair of pouches beside it were unmarked. He had lenses of some kind in each eye. She could see the golden modifiers for them on his sclera.” It’s like an entire character arc!
cue Terminator 2 theme
Interesting which knights Noh apparently knows well enough to reference by their first name only in her thoughts (Emban, Seth, and maybe Bithe, though Bithe goes by just his first name regardless), and which ones get the full name (Tilliver-gare, Divin-zadja, and bonus secret knight Alden Thorn). I cannot wait for what ideas Noh might come up with to explain why Alden Thorn is here (in Stu's place? to aid Emban for Stu? to aid Emban for her own sake? something else???). We have another name from that group of newling knights who have been excluding Stu - 'Nell'.
Nel-en was previously mentioned as a soon-to-affix knight in the Rapport. Nell is probably the same person with a changed decision about spelling.
Oh wow, I’m probably wrong, but once Alden gets Bearer of Wordchains (BoW), he might be able to “protect” and cast wordchains in even a chaos environment, isn’t he? Making sure that chaos doesn’t break it down. Honestly, there are so many abilities BoW could appear as. Picking up another persons debt, bearing/preserving the debt as a means of fulfilling it without having to experience the consequences or at least water the experience down, banking chains to use at a later time. Whatever his next facet will be, it’s going to be exciting. Also the Palace of Unbreaking is so problematic. Really worried Hazel is going to somehow force Alden’s wordchain Artonan person to get them to use the Rabbit to bear a particularly bad half of a chain they use.
It would be nice if he could water down the consequences - say half the experience over twice the time or something, but I think that's a bit of a cheat on the universal karma kind of thing. I could see being able to bank them longer, which would be great, but he'd have to have some way of collecting more than one at more than one time. I do think he should be able to bear other peoples - but he should either give them back or pay it himself.
i trust sleyca to handle emban appropriately as the story progresses. im used to obnoxious characters being permanent intollerable fixtures in other books. but after manon and cousin hazel I'm quite sure that emban will have the opportunity to redeem herself... or sleyca will smite her from orbit.
I don't believe we have seen the last of Hazel. That arc may be a whole book 3-5 years in Alden's future.
Ok, now I'm excited for this. Alden means business. Good luck!
"there was a difficult spell that disconnected debt from debtor" - so, I can see the Gremlin being ok with transferring wordchain debt to someone else, though I bet it grumbles about it. But I think if anyone ever tries to use this spell on Alden it's going to absolutely freak out. Uneven! Permanently!
The debt is what makes Alden uneven. So it might be that the gremlin freaks out like you think. Or the debt disconnecting might make the gremlin happy. Or the gremlin might not care about the spell at all, and have a normal-for-it freak out when Alden carries the debt for too long without paying it back. I agree with Alden, this is exactly the sort of thing this training exercise is good for figuring out.
Going through a reread. Just realized that Gorgon was looking for the rabbit class through the trades before Alden got selected and got his B rank. I think the first answer would be that he knew Alden’s rank before hand. But is there a chance that the same skill exists in other ranks ?? I mean since it’s an endless one. And A rank can affix it with more facets. And the system can give it a different name depending on which facets it starts with. Just a thought
I believe Gorgon matched Alden's desire to be a support hero to the skill LMTYL. I believe Gorgon spent some of Alden's authority to make him not be a *shitty* holder of skills, bringing him *down* to B (likely from A). Thus, after rearranging the *shitty* out of Alden, he hinted strongly at LMTYL (presumably because he could tell it was uncapped). I don't know if Gorgon actually knew LMTYL was the Great-Value naming version of BoaB, or the history of the 300 skills, my mind's not made up on that.
Sorry for 2nd thread but has Drusi-otta still been shadowing Alden all this time? Haven’t heard about or from her in a long time. I think this would be amusing to her as well.
I'd guess 'not since Snow' arc and Bash-nor found his way off Earth. The whole purpose was to protect Alden (and Zeridee) from his worst excesses, and with him gone, no point in Drusi shadowing Alden.
I love every chapter, but this is the first time in a little while that I’ve been so excited for the next one! I think the reread bug is about to bite me soon.
I'm tempted to go back to Alden's very first obstacle course team and their initial run of disasters, and then how Alden helped them redefine their goals to get more out of the second day of runs - I really loved that team unifying arc so much, having the Submerger disaster happen right afterwards really pulled focus from the implications of it, but you can see a throughline from that experience right to the end of semester diner celebration crew post-Winston defeat and right on to Alden's current (Earth) obstacle course team. Great time for a reread instead! And also a fun time to start speculating who else from Earth Alden might recommend calling to recruit in a pinch for this particular mission if a sudden need came up the current team wasn't well suited for (say, if that adjacent team of knights needed an urgent rescue with some serious firepower).
I like how Alden is already giving the knights valuable experience just by participating in the exercise. They had to look up a bunch of things about bringing Avowed that they didn't know. Probably he'll affect their logistics too. (He'll have to; last time they got exhausted before even reaching the part where Alden would be useful.) I think Alden might end up literally and figuratively carrying his team on his back :D
Love the chapter title. And Mother’s line about him jumping and jumping again. Alden really does alternate between being frozen with worrying and planning and then jumping into big decisions and actions. Quite like a Rabbit. Or a Klerm Prince.
Sometimes he gets into a momentum and starts zig-zagging, even!
You wanted them to bring a Griveck, to a Ryeh-b’t fight????
I love that all Griveck roles are fighter roles, even the Ryeh-b'ts. It really shows that there is flexibility to be had. I like to think of their whole species as masters of flexibly working a system around their inflexibility of all wanting to be war machines.
> “How do you find an extra Avowed? They don’t just appear on their own!” Alden’s already been found wandering around disaster zones by two different knights, so little do they know how reasonable their fanfic is…
I think this is just going to become an Alden Thorn legend thing, that knights run into him in the most improbable places. Sometimes he's a surprise solution to the problem they were struggling with, sometimes he's already solving the problem they didn't even know was there still to be solved.
So the million dollar question is... what the heck is a kelsithe and how awesome is it going to be when we see one?
I think (hope) Bithe’s frown at the interface is him trying to get Alden that Kelsithe
I just realized Alden could have shown Stu a picture of Gorgon instead of trying to describe him “Well…there were a lot of pictures on social media from tourists and extraterrestrial fans who’d sought Gorgon out for a photo op. But beyond that, there was only a listing of his name, a series of runes that apparently described his home dimension, and a few lines about his life sentence. Whatever Gorgon’s species was, there wasn’t another one of him on Earth as far as Alden could tell.”
There’s even a description of his home dimension …
“Hi,] he typed mentally. [I’m probably going with Emban’s squad on their training quest this evening. I’ll explain how it happened later. Don’t worry. I might damage everyone’s opinion of my capabilities beyond all hope of repair, but other than that, I’m not an idiot and I’ll be completely safe. Wish me luck.] “. Poor stu is gonna be soooo worried like Alden he left you for 5 minutes!
I'm just imagining Stu waiting up the next morning in the Leafsong campus, seeing Alden's message, and managing to speedrun getting dressed and fed in under 10 to teleport over and resume being Emban's votary so he's on hand to do *something* for this.
I love that Alden got some Matrix bullet time with Mother to try to maximize his chance of doing well in his jumping feet first into the training session. Then we have Divin-zadja picking at the clues that there is more to Alden than any of them are realizing… “You picked out things we had no idea we needed to know… how did you do that?” Alden with the quick redirect “Oh there’s my stuff now!”. Divin-zadja to Alden “you spent too much and got the good stuff!”. Alden “Yup” Fun seeing people pulled into his orbit just for being him. Also fun seeing poor Noh-en being extremely confused by his inclusion… basically a “but he is a human with a servant skill set” moment.
Mother created a rabbit cave for Alden out of the the thorns of his birth tree!! hes a real superhero now!
From the Batcave to the Rabbitburrow!
She tried to look it up. Instead of the clear and concise answer she’d expected, there was a narrative about how during Tilliver’s “recovery from his grievous wounds” they’d found an Avowed whose summoner “must have died”. Lind is never going to let Esh live down his 'death'.
Love it.
I'm trying to remember what the eyerings would let him do in a no Contract, low chaos zone... must be interfacing with electronics. Does anyone remember if he thought about it before (after or during Thegund)?
I don't think the lenses are merely an aid for electronics - not when it's from a shop that apparently even knights buy from. My guess is that they're actually capable of visualizing magic in at least some limited way (maybe only with the caster helping?). This way he'd have at least some small excuse to act on things he felt with his authority sense, especially if the lenses are particularly high end.
Alden debut's his new superhero outfit! From "Red Rabbit" (lab coat that got him into this mess) to "Black Bunny!" I am having PTSD flashbacks to the movie Watership Down lol. Actually this makes me realize\ that Batman is a Rabbit. Money is the Rabbit superpower, as is maxxing your Appeal (Batman aspected it towards fear induced in criminals and respect from innocents, that uni prof would be proud). Imagine a grivek and a erzatz legally distinct Batman Rabbit comparing notes lol.
Red Rabbit is his day job. He is moonlighting as Black Bunny. In pure cartoon logic, noone will recognize the disguise. (If he starts wearing a mask)
Since Alden has already experienced being in a no Contract, low chaos zone, he's definitely going to bring some valuable insights to this training.
I’m not sure how much Alden is adding. The Knights were on Goldbush recently.
“Some things you will like, some things I suggest, and some things Stu-art’h imagines you carrying with you on missions when he should be paying attention to his instructors.” I love that image of a daydreaming Stuart. Its so relatable!
I wonder if Instructor Waker will be on the field. Either as a helpful avowed or a demon. Ooh what about Klein or Haoyu's parents?
Aren't the knights anti-human-summoning? Or was that just the Primary's family?
I love how well constructed this chapter is, both as a standalone chapter and how it fit in the larger narrative. As a chapter, it introduces tension: Alden isn’t prepared. He needs supplies. He’ll look like a fool running around in his dress clothes. By the end, the tension is resolved. Alden’s dressed like a ninja and ready to go. While the chapter does that, it also resolves the minor mystery: why is Emban so mad? And it progresses the overall plot of the arc. Alden and his knights went from on the boat to at the staging area. While doing all that, the chapter also ties in thematically with the rest of the story. Alden now has the resources and support to prepare himself properly, unlike during Thegund and the Submerger incident. Just an absolute masterclass of how to construct a chapter. edit: I really want to know what a kilsethe is! Also “inanimate” is a funny word. It literally means unmoving, but has come to mean non-living, so it’s now customary to use it to describe moving things like robots and drones. edit 2: Also! A different author would have listed every single item that Alden could choose, and the chapter would be a big back and forth as Alden decided what to pick. The tension would have been Alden having to choose a limited number of valuable tools. This chapter blows right past that, and now we’ve got a fun minor mystery set up for later chapters to satisfy. What cool items did Alden pick? What’s his shield going to be like? How’s his obedience charm going to work?
Well said and insightful!
I like how at the end, it feels (to me) like we are getting the POV from one distinct half of Noh-en's attention, while the other half is locking in and focusing on the knights. When it says Noh-en "heard herself saying" the usual votary things, I found myself taking that a lot more literally than I usually do.
Wow! :o
I wonder if Alden is the first Human to ever participate in one of these exercises. There was that thing about the Knight political faction refusing to use Humans unless their service was irreplaceable during the siblinghold school arc. And the Art'hs and presumably some others refuse to use them casually at all after the Heretadere. Just a possibility.
I think they're more likely to summon avowed for things they perceive as training, like supervising them at the slaughter house. They're very paternal to Avowed. Esh called it a 'terrible responsibility.' There's something about the way humans were discovered (bringing more chaos with it) that makes them feel indebted. They want to shield human Avowed from the fight against chaos to the extent possible.
I also love how this scene must have felt from the perspective of Emban and company..... Alden goes to the bathroom for ten minutes, and when he comes back he is so locked in! Like, I would want to know what he had done in there.
I’d be so embarrassed. Rabbit comes in, he barely talks but is obviously competent, I try and involve/banish him from my personal drama, he comes out locked in with copious well-organized supplies for *my* homework I already failed at because my girlfriend/family’s absence is really hitting home. Like dang. Stealth build but for competency.
Thanks for the chapter! I find that I've forgotten the kinds of abilities Griveck Ryeh'b'ts have, given that many Human ones have often servant-coded abilities.
Similar to servant coded Humans abilities (abilities do get (added / removed) similar to BoAB being removed from human list after Alden takes it( However , The Griveck Contract is only allowed to give Class= Rye’b’t to S-Ranked, or higher, Avowed And Grivecks attempt to turn all skills into combat skills (similar to BoAB (slings/ meteor hammer) 🎬
Kelsithe.. I guess thats the forshadow of Aldens new legendary shield?! I wonder about its qualities and versatility. Didn't Stu mention something in a previous chapter? Will he be permitted to use it in his courses?
No, Alden will not be able to use it in gym class. Most magic items are banned in gym; the known exceptions are stuff like shoes that super strength won’t destroy and gear made by the Wright that is using it.
I need the next chapter NOW!!! I loved so much about this. The best part was seeing how badass and intriguing Alden looked from Noh's perspective. It is really exciting and cool to see Alden going "all out" for this as he says. I like to see anyone going all out. It makes everyone around them reassess. Other things: I love the carving of Kibby blowing out her birthday candles. I think that must show up again... One day Alden will have a lovely home with that carving for real. The blue drone laying an "egg" of packages was very cool and easy to visualize. The text to Stu!!!! Poor STU! He probably just imploded. Today I learned the word "sclera."
I thought the word 'quest' had been retired from the story? it seemed like the original story vision was much more heavily based on a video game, but that fell away and the words summons or assignments have been used since. I think the last time a quest was mentioned was in the anesidora intake chapters edit: I'm referring to Alden calling this a training quest in his message to Stuart
I think normal Avowed summoning still uses quest vocabulary, and this is the closest thing to a normal Avowed summoning Alden's done in a while.
Guesses on what the obedience charm is for? To make the rope behave?
That was my guess! So far, Alden's time in gym has mostly been with odds-and-ends that he could potentially find anywhere, rather than objects he'd actually choose to take with him into a chaos zone. A "make whatever shape I want" rope is a pretty big boost in his preparation speed, and unlike a 1,000 argold cannon, if the enchantment breaks, he still has a rope.
Giving Stu a heart attack back to back is not a good practice, Alden. I wonder if Stu'll try to message Blithe asking about how Alden is doing, or maybe Emban though I'm assuming Stu's not really talking to her much. Gossip about Alden is just going to spread more. Alden is definitely famous on the island, and will be recognized by the other (assuming adult) Avowed. I think it's unlikely for his teachers to be here (one could still hope!) but maybe friends of his teachers. Pretty sure when Alden told his advisor that he's taking courses to prep for summons, fighting chaos was definitely not on their radar.
Alden may be the only human Avowed in this activity. Esh and Stu made it clear that knights have been keeping their distance from humans.
With everything Alden is learning I hope he founds an Avowed Against Chaos club back at school. We've already seen with Ignacio that there are other students thinking about it and it would allow Alden to leverage all the resources of the school towards his real goal, rather than the awkward interactions he has now where everyone assumes he wants to be a superhero.
I think a club like that would be good for Alden to attend, but organizing such a thing sounds like a lot of effort and he’s already VERY busy.
Alden's chain debt will be reported to the Palace with the rest of the trainees' debt. Lute and his boss are responsible for Alden, so I expect Lute to be informed. Lute might even repay it for him lol
I don't think Lute is repaying debt, I think the hordes of followers are
Love this surprise arc for Alden. This seems like just the thing he needs to level set expectations on what it actually means to become the knight he's already planning to be. I'm also imagining Esh suddenly sitting up and wondering what happened to the avowed he was shepherding around Rapport III for the weekend. I'm hoping and kinda assuming Esh is going to be an observer in the event, so if he doesn't already know what Alden is up to, that will be a fun surprise. Also hoping we see some team-building and tension release in the group. Alden's very good with being level-headed and redirecting potentially bad energy into something productive, so finding and using him may end up being the best thing for their group. I'm also wondering what Ryada is up to and if she might be an observer as well. Given the group's earlier failure, if she is keeping up with things, I can imagine she may feel at least partially responsible for the groups lack of cohesion. I'm really hoping we get to see some more outside perspectives in this arc, and Ryada and Esh are my top two candidates for PoVs I'd love to see.
Emban passed on some observations from Ryada to the team so she's probably observing.
I need Noh-en to call up FeathersFavoriteNYC and provide that description of Alden Thorn.
It is important for the phrase "a coil of rope at his waist with an obedience charm hanging from it" to reach the fanfic writers of Earth. Surrounding context would be nice to have but not strictly required.
This whole snapshot: “Alden Thorn was all in black, wearing a pack on his back and a coil of rope at his waist with an obedience charm hanging from it. A pair of pouches beside it were unmarked. He had lenses of some kind in each eye. She could see the golden modifiers for them on his sclera.” I started hearing the Mission Impossible theme. Suddenly confident and assertive Alden all geared up with the best gadgets pushed my brain’s action hero button.
Agent Cottontail!
So does Alden have actual eye rings now, or what? Im a bit unsure on that part and curious. Also other eye ring questions below. I thought eye rings were a proper surgical procedure, no? Does Alden have some cheaper contact lense type models? He also seemed to imply they were sturdier/fancier than normal, though, since they'd survive at least some chaos exposure. Fancy for contacts? Or fancy for eye rings, period? I kinda hope its a semi permanent type of magic thing that he cant remove now without them bein made useless or without medical help or somethin. Wanna see him showin back up in class with even more magical gear most students cant acquire. Although I guess eyerings are useless for most avowed, right? Its just a Contract access replacement without using a phone/tablet, right? So only useful for non avowed, like wizards. But then.... why does he want em for this simulated chaos zone? I think im forgetting some of the uses for eye rings.
The eye rings presumably replace some Contract functions in chaos zones. Translation for sure. An interface for stored notes / files maybe. Wonder what else.
Nooooooooo!!!! These votaries and newling knights had better realize that Alden deserves respect RIGHT NOW!!! I agonize. Noh-en, Tilliver, and Emban are obviously not thinking with clear heads.
Also! I want Alden’s gear to make a reappearance so badly in the late future. Like, someone breaks into his room to find evidence that Alden is alien Batman. No one in the loft is shocked. Lexi has an alien Nighthawk costume to match (hence the feathers!!!! Proof!!! Evidence!!!)
The universe is a big place, but I wonder how newsworthy it will be if Alden makes a big splash here. Newsworthy enough for someone to mention it to another human ryeh-b't who spends most of her sunrises on the Triplanets? I know Neha has said that she hasn't met many knights, but I do imagine she keeps an ear to the ground for exceptional Rabbits.
Does anyone else pass their time fantasizing about griveck Ryeh-b’t abilities? Like how would the combat driven race weaponized a "Neat and Tidy Spell"? Would it be more by cleaning up the battlefied conditions for optimal attack vantage points? Or work by chopping up flesh into perfectly cubed and packaged pieces? Or would that be more of a chef Ryeh-b’t skill? Would love other ideas about weaponizing Ryeh-b’t skills!
"Hard surface scouring" and "Multi-species Massage", Kraaa's named skills, both seem like they could be horrifying.
Love getting these perspectives from different characters. Always adds so much flavor and context. Like how Noh-en assumes a Ryeh-b’t must be a Griveck. The inevitable Ryada-bess POV next chapter is going to be gold. One from Emban would be fascinating too!
Ryada POV would be particularly interesting given she's got that past Here-to-There mock combat experience to compare Alden's present performance to.
There are going to be so many artonians curious about what the survivor of thegund is made of and why he might have earned that commendation. The potential for embarrassment is so high.
Oh man, I hadn't thought of that. This will either make or break his reputation, won't it?
Ah yes, knight exercises. The only place where Rhey'bt automatically brings to mind the most deadly creatures. And Alden is very deadly in some social dynamics, so a little (or total) social annihilation à la "Burderer" would be perfectly natural during this exercise.
"Alden the Burderer, Bearer of All Burdens" sounds like an epic start to further concatenations of call-names
Alden missed out on saying something in response to "That’s not what I would have expected from the first human Ryeh-b’t I’ve met" even if its not entirely true this time. From the rabbit night councilor from ch73... "We are the handsomest, the richest, the cleanest, and the most thoroughly prepared for every eventuality. Forty-eight seconds? It’s no trouble. A Rabbit man carries all he needs to survive the ravages of interplanetary travel upon his person"
Noh-en thought that particular sentences instead of voicing it aloud. If Alden responded to her thoughts, she might wonder if he had a Sway skill.
Sounds like Alden got his first set of super hero leathers.
So, like, does Alden get a gun/wand along with his new equipment? I do think a soldier ought to have a gun per default. On the other hand, people with no gun training ought NOT to have guns. On the gripping hand, Alden with his stats and wordchains should figure it out within a few shots, and the System guards against accidents, so the expected value of giving Alden a gun is positive.
Then again if guns were truly effective in a fight against chaos, every F-rank would just be assigned as Gun Meisters with the "keep you and your gun stable in a chaos environment" power.
Alden is dressed like an RPG character and I love that
I was a little surprised he didn't pull out the Expeditioner stuff he bought from the Rabbit Warddrobe last year.
About the Kelsithe... ”The rarity and how troublesome the owner might be to deal with…maybe if we had more time. I’ll ask for a slybark shield instead. It was one of your alternate choices.” Don't know why, but the first thing that came to my mind is that Esh is the owner, hahahaha.
Esh owning it would be a bit too coincidental, I think. My bet is that its actually the treat: the reason only one is usable by Alden ought to be that its comparatively weak (maybe exhausted/ partially broken?), hence not overly valuable. Stu dreaming of Alden using it likely means there's nevertheless tons of symbolic value for knights to have one. Add in that its supposedly shieldlike and thus probably capable of defending against chaos by itself and you have the perfect treat - which might also turn out to be an amazing thank you present for the Rabbit's incoming heroic efforts :D
That paper klerm is totally gonna be a chekov's gun
Good call! He might carry it with him, in case he meets a small child in the chaos environment and needs to hand it out.
Huh, I wonder if picking the Burden of Wordchain facet would make Alden valuable on a Chaos battlefield, because he could arrive with a batch of 10 fresh wordchains and hand them out, when it would take a hundred casts to achieve the same result in that environment.
Would work especially well on a team with Lute who could load him up before the summons, or maybe even add more wordchains at a distance like he learned to do in Waves.
I'm having such a glorious mental image of Alden getting to the end of this squad's mission and then immediately getting teleported directly to his first class on Monday still dressed as a knight-adjacent commando, complete with golden eye rings, pouches, holstered rope, and backpack. Alden keeps doing extra gym before going to his CNH gym class, heh.
I WISH. It will absolutely never happen though.
“He looked just like the human Stu had introduced her to. But hot” Yes, that is how I originally read that with my bleary eyes. Noh wondering if Stu had something to do with it was a natural follow up, I thought Alden looks badass. Black battle outfit with golden sclera and green eyes? He must look like a fairly unique human. Thanks for the chapter! The external perspectives like Noh’s are always so cool. I really like Divin’s motion. Thankful most of the squad is taking care with Alden given the situstion
Alden switching from his favorite comfy brown outerwear to a solemn all-black uniform has certainly tripped his classmates up before. Remember this exchange from 154 ('Assembly')? “'Rebecca, you didn’t recognize Alden?' Everly gasped. 'Was he really far away when you saw him?' "'No!' Rebecca face turned embarrassed. 'But…that’s…he doesn’t ever wear the school uniform! He looks different!' "Astrid was laughing. "'I associate him with brown hoodies, green plaid, and radishes,' murmured Jupiter."
Edit Suggestions: He opened the doors.“I’m not spending your favor to be here for a while, am I?” ->He opened the doors. “I’m not spending your favor to be here for a while, am I?” (missing space) but Alden didn’t want to be a part of that kind of learning opportunity if he could help it. ->but Alden didn’t want to be a part of that kind of learning opportunity if he could help it. (double space)
So, unless this mission is about to be a picnic… Typo: food on the field -> foot on the field
food on the field -> foo fighters on the field
> Alden Thorn was all in black, wearing a pack on his back and a coil of rope at his waist with an obedience charm hanging from it. A pair of pouches beside it were unmarked. He had lenses of some kind in each eye. She could see the golden modifiers for them on his sclera. I'm further imagining a feather sticking up from behind his right ear. Silvery metal slices hanging from the pouches. Bone-like ornaments bound together in a necklace hanging at his neck, engraved with images of the struggle of klerms and a part of his birth tree.
So 30 min after Stu left Alden, he receives a message that the latter somehow managed to join a knight-in-training squad to head into a chaos exercise... He will absolutely go bonkers on this one, if he doesn't end up saying "I'll never let you out of my sight ever again you gremlin" I’ll eat my non existing hat.
It was a bit longer than that - Alden hung out at the summonarium for awhile, and he listened for an hour or so in the 'Observe' chapter before he first spoke up. I expect it's been under 3 hours total since Stu left to finally go get some real sleep, though.
> He looked just like the human Stu had introduced her to. But not. Does Stu have something to do with this? Stu always getting thrown shade his way.
One gets the sense Stu used to be the odd one out responsible for most...irregularities. Now Alden has superseded him!
Thanks for the chapter!
"Could you at least help me figure out what to take with me? And what I should wear? So that I show up looking like I had more than five minutes to think about all of this." Mother agreeing to this, by literally giving him more time is very sneaky. She accomodated him by being very literal in everything he asked her for. So Mother can't be accused of wrongdoings. But she could have done it in a way that did not raise so many flags for anyone watching. Alden didn't consider the consequences of his wishes and Mother seems to be okay letting him feel them. Divin-zadja literally came up to him and said how sus it was. So I bet the drone was timed to intercept her question to delay the eventual fallout. It is increadibly manipulative. She only seems to care that people will come around to *her* decisions *eventually* or after the fact. She is absolutely willing to throw people outside their comfort zone, even if they would not want her to do it, if they knew she was the instigator. I am not sure how to feel about that. :/
What you wrote is literally the definition of parents educating their kids - the good parents I mean, not the ones rising sissies or spoiled brats. Throwing your kid at obstacles and guiding them to socially acceptable outcomes - it's manipulative, and also the definition of socialisation.
Oh, oh, I just realised that Alden hasn't had a good partner that could entrust him with something while lending authority towards the task, but these Knights could! And it is great way of hiding how strong he is - just blame the strength on the skill and the entruster's authority
I feel like calling attention to the knowledge Alden has to his Skill’s depths is the wrong way to go about avoiding attention on it or him.
I was worried they'd change their minds so yay! Now I just need Esh's POV when he finds out, especially if he finds out from Stu calling him to ask why Alden is doing a chaos training mission. I can imagine our Stu being a touch aggrieved with Esh's perceived failures as a host.
I think this is exactly what will happen and because there is ‘no contract’ during the training Alden won’t know about anything till afterwards.
I can't wait to see Esh's and Stu's reactions to what Alden is doing.
You can’t safely leave Alden anywhere on his own without him getting into serious trouble!
> Well. He is a Ryeh-b’t. 🤣🤣🤣
You know, Ash might actually keel over from sheer envy if Alden walks into his class with installed eye rings and even more finger rings. Wizard bling-rings everywhere!
Ash is not worth the air used to talk about him.
> Doing your best with limited notice is good training for you in its own way And it's also something Alden has been forced to learn the hard way already. On at least two occasions. So the lessons to be learned from an improvised toolkit are limited in Alden's case.
Which was her point and is why she gave him bullet time in the dream so he'd have a full hour and lots of advice on how to proceed.
Confidence looks good on Alden. I can see him being the grey cardinal that guides the team into the right direction and interrupts their drama whenever it starts up again. I also like his talk with Mother. Alden keeps trying to offload responsibility unto Mother and she is always gently rebuffing him, saying that it's his own choices that gets him into trouble and that she will not prevent his learning process and the mistakes that might ensue. Alden always says he wants safety but keeps choosing the opposite.
Action tsundere
Someday, there will be so many Chuck Norris-style memes about Alden.
I was kind of picturing him as a chuck norris style commando in all black.
I wonder if Tilliver was one of the several others with whom Ryada was compatible enough to try deepening.
I'm betting the kelsithe will be available for the attempt. Despite it being Stu's wishlist, Mother didn't need to bring it up if it was unavailable. Also i hope we get a small POV from Emban, there must be such a big mental hurdle that this lab rabbit, that is baby stu's current hobby, is suddenly so prepared and capable for a random chaos exercise. returning after 15 minutes with such detailed list of requests and notes about how his skill works, having ordered custom gear in addition to the requests is just *chefs kiss*. Edit: im sure the Kelsithe is going to be there, just re-reading and " a special…" is on the list of significant requests.
Bithe was mentioned frowning at his interface, and that was after asking if the kelsithe would be better for his skill. Considering how Alden and Bithe's interactions have often focused on the proper expression of a skill(him attracting vatha in the Here-to-There and now, plus Alden's comments and thoughts towards it) makes me think that he would be more conscious about helping Alden with his skill as best he can even with his limited knowledge
"Alden’s final play was to loudly announce that he needed to go get ready" This strangely made me think of Zakithee loudly anouncing that he was going off away from the situation he viewed as problematic. I know it's not the same. But I imagined an alien telling me that he needed the bathroom as a paifully obvious exit excuse and my mind jumped to that.
And then the "Is this a bathroom?" part made me picture him relieving himself in a corner of the artonan equivalent of a pleasure yacht, fully visible to outsiders via two way glass that was not at all a bathroom and the knights strongly reconsidering their decision.
I am not sure how it would ever happen since Alden won't do it. But it would be funny if Alden brought this up as extra credit in his school.
He's doing independent study on "considerations for Avowed in survivable levels of chaos". He's straight-up gonna get credit for it, no extra involved.
Sophie would be so proud of Alden!
Interesting to se Noh-en role playing the errand-runner in a low-level chaos zone role that Jeneth once imagined for Alden in his thirties.
TFTC!
The funniest thing here is that one of the knightlings wrote *fanfic* about why they have a mystery Avowed with them.
When you have the opportunity to write fanfic in the mission report, you gotta take it.
Bithe is so totally gonna get the kelsithe for Alden anyway. Such a tsundere
I agree. He feels indebted to Alden. And I'm sure he has been wanting to pay back the favor. BTW - I love your username! We all need more hugs! Luckily I get the bulk of mine daily from my dog. 😀
SHOPPING!! Some of my favorite parts of vacation First Honeymoon Crosstitch store in Fargo ND Second and Third Honeymoon Shops at Walt Disney World Florida
The narrative change to Noh-ens perspective is gold! Thank you Sleyca for the great and approximate chapter!
The first part was about Alden trying not to have a panic attack and redirect his nerves. The last part was him looking bada** to others as he arrives. Excellent writing.
Thank you for your hard work and the joy you bring me each week, Sleyca.
Klein secretly playing a demon on the field: ô.o
Yesssss plz
LOL, Alden's presence was so incongruous No-en started dissociating.
Alden does have that effect on people, like the poor Knight who became bar staff. Pretty sure he broke Lexi more than once as well.
Thornian Social Dynamic - I will be helpful by giving others things to do. I have used this strategy before, when meeting my then girlfriend's elderly aunt and being told beforehand "She can be quite bossy". I responded by, when she asked the socially pro-forma "Is there anything I can do to help", saying "Yes! You can dry these dishes!" She's loved me ever since. Apparently I remind her of her dearly departed husband >.>
I thought the second half of your message was something Alden had done and I was deeply confused trying to remember when we had met possibly-Natalie’s family.
Noh-en was part of CH 204, Herdcreatures 2, and seems to have been one of the children mentioned in the vision about Sina's death ceremony. Edit: - old classmate and neighbour of Stu's - disapproves of Stu's choice, which in turn made Stu treat her quite rudely - met Stu and Alden when they were going to look at a bokabv
- can turn invisible (or otherwise walk unnoticed) to sneak up on Stu
Possibly a *big* stealthy lore drop here: “Some things you will like, some things I suggest, and some things Stu-art’h imagines you carrying with you on missions when he should be paying attention to his instructors.” We knew the Contract routinely reads Avowed minds, but I think this is the strongest indication we've seen that it can read the minds of unselected.
Well i dont exactly think stu is keeping those thing a secret from Mother, his family yes
I love the assumption from Noh-en that "A Ryeh-b't" is "A Grivek". Such an obvious cultural association for a member of the rapports, but still adorable. Also "*He is a Ryeh-bt*". :D
Especially as all grivek rabbits would be equivilant to S ranked avowed 😁
Someone looking at the accounting sheets will briefly wonder why Contract-accelerated mental time services for an Avowed was charged to the exercise instead of the normal binding maintenance budget, shrug and move on
"set food on a field" should be "set foot on a field". also, "Now I’m demanding things of knights." was this intended to be in a separate paragraph? not sure
Meanwhile, in an alternate dimension after chaos has been Thanksgiving'ed into submission: "How have you done this Alden Thorn? We must learn this food donation strategy!"
And that is how you make an entrance! I’m so hyped for Alden with all the gear! Absolutely love how we get the perspective of Noh-en who already knows of him, but has 0% expectation to see him here.
Can someone remind me where we’ve met Noh-En before?
We first saw her in Alden's vision about Sina's euthanasia ceremony, she was the student that got dismissed for crying. She showed up MUCH later as a votary (student) when Stu and Alden were visiting the bokabv (forgot how to spell that. The alien cow, basically.) where Stu was still a little angry at her for pushing him towards being a votary a little too hard.
Hmmm, interesting choice from Alden. No matter how heated things got, I don't think I would've left the room (except maybe the bathroom break). They were making a decision about him, involving something he barely understands at this point. I'd stick around to understand more about what's going on, and to make sure people don't make unrealistic plans involving me. Sure, he left to prepare in semi-secret, but how much information did he really have to prepare with? Then again, it obviously resulted in him getting some pretty neat all-round useful gear, so maybe it was the right choice after all. I also would not have expected Alden ordering the knights around to go as well as it did, with how emotionally charged the situation was.
I actually think it was a good play from Alden at that time, since that conversation wasn't really 'how are we going to use this Avowed' and more 'should we bring him at all (with lots of subtext about the group dynamics)'. In that scenario, him being there as a physical reminder of the current problem might keep the fire hot, especially since Emban currently predisposed to rejecting the idea because of who it came from (and who it is). He can (and I'm sure did) come back in after the fact to adjust expectations of his power and capabilities so that he isn't putting them all in a bad spot.
Hot damn, shit is moving at a lightning pace
Night owls unite!
My time zone actually makes me a morning owl 🦉
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
I stayed awake and the chapter appeared!
Quiet Rabbit? More like Bad Bunny! What an entrance! Love it!
Delicious soup, thank you
I see why emban drama was a free space on this chapters bingo card...
Noh’en: A ryeh-b’t? (Alden show up) Alden Thorn the ryeh-b’t!?
Sounds to me like Alden needs a hat :)