THREE HUNDRED ELEVEN: What Grows Unseen
Next Chapter: August 29 (approximate)
THREE HUNDRED ELEVEN
What Grows Unseen
******
then
******
“They’re never going to stop.”
The whisper was the only sound in the tiny room where Ryada stood, one hand splayed against the face of a monitoring cabinet and the other cupped against her ear. The room was dim, and flickers of gray writhed above the plate she’d slid out of the cabinet. She didn’t look away from them as the door behind her opened, but when another’s self brushed against her, she shoved the plate hastily back into its slot.
“You didn’t wake up Seth for her turn?” Tilliver stood in the doorway. “You’re too good to us. Were you even going to wake me?”
“I’m just restless.”
“Take something for it. We’ve been pushing ourselves harder, so we should all rest when we can.”
She smiled at him as she slid off a heavy bracelet and tucked it into its own slot in the cabinet.
“What were you looking at just now?” Tilliver asked.
Ryada turned away.
“Sit down and let me redo your braids,” she said, pulling down a seat that had been folded against the monitoring room’s wall. “You look like you were plucked at by angry panpi’is on your way here from your bed.”
“You’re not someone who can talk about other peoples’ hair.” He flicked at one of the purple curls spiraling near her temple before taking the seat. “So what were you looking at? Did you sense something we should worry about? Any messages?”
“Nothing like that.” She tugged the ties out of his long hair. She tapped a light on the wall, and it glowed like it was full of embers. The pale strands in her hands shone. “I was…curious about how things are progressing behind us.”
“The nests we cleared today? Everything is well?”
Her knuckles rested for a long moment against the back of his neck.
“Ryada?”
“Everything is as expected,” she said lightly, her hands moving again. “And we are making more progress now.”
“If we keep this up, we might even request an additional squad to keep up with the work behind us,” Tilliver said in a satisfied voice. “You were right about spreading your skill wider. It works, we’re moving twice as fast, and we’re still leaving everything clean enough for the restorers to finish up without trouble. Of course the mission takes as long as it takes, but it feels so much better to be striding forward instead of slogging. Postor and Emban are in a much better mood today. We’re going to be one of those squads that others are envious of. I don’t mind that.”
“I’m…everyone being happy makes working out here less of a trial, doesn’t it?”
“I know I’ve been finding it easier.” He held himself close to her for a while, then withdrew. “What are we going to do about Emban leaning too much your way too soon?”
“We’re supposed to have these conversations all together.”
“I know, but since she’s the only one with such a singular preference this early in our time together, and that singular preference is our most widely compatible member…it will lead to resentment. It already is somewhat. I don’t want that. I want us all to find someone and remain friends.”
“I want that too.”
“I think when you feel drawn to one of us more than the others—if you do—you should say so. Even if it’s early. If not, it can’t be helped. Don’t put pressure on yourself. But if you did happen to know already…”
“I don’t,” said Ryada. “Being as comfortable with the closeness of others as I am has its own drawbacks.”
“I’m sorry for bringing it up then. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is, so maybe I should have kept my words to myself.”
“You’re fine, Till.”
“I’m a bit useless to the rest of you actually. The sculptures are so pitiful. Of course it’s based on complex magic, and I knew the efficacy would be unimpressive at first. But I’d be more useful out here with my wizardry. That bothers me more than I expected.”
“None of us would win the prize for strongest new knight if they gave one out.”
“I know. And given the type of squad this is, I wouldn’t even be with you if I were much more powerful. That would be a loss. I’ll just have to content myself with watching you kill everything for now. When they ask me what the most impressive thing I did on Goldbush was, I will point to you and say, ‘I assisted Hn’tyon Ryada-bess.’”
“I pictured Life to Water being different.”
“In what way?” Tilliver asked.
“I don’t know. You’re right. I should have let Seth take her turn in here.”
“It’s cramped and corrupt. Not the best place for clear thoughts.”
“No.”
She finished his hair in silence then patted him playfully on top of the head. “All done.”
“Thank you, Ryada. What were you saying when I came in here? I didn’t quite hear you. Something never stops?”
“Oh, I don’t even remember,” she said. “Too sleepy. See you when I wake.”
“Bithe’s in charge of first meal. It should be good.”
After she’d left, Tilliver sat for a while, checking over everything in the room. Then he reached for the plate she’d shut away and the bracelet she’d been wearing.
The flickers of gray light appeared.
“Just the area we did today,” he said. “She worries too much. Her skill will finish those off soon.”
He put on the bracelet and cupped his hand to one ear.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Just the sounds of things that once lived here dying.
******
now
******
In the past, Victor had gifted Alden with some mice, a rat, roaches, and a disturbing clump of fur—all deceased, which was a quality he hadn’t appreciated enough. Before she completely disappeared to attend to her own assignment, the griveck killed several of the problems he would have encountered without her help. He saw the evidence in wrecked mimics and splashes of vibrant red.
But she’d also bullied a few of the fake demons, riling them up so that they’d be better sport for an Avowed on his first adventure in the Rapport III training fields.
Alden assumed her thoughts were along those lines. He squatted on a hill, looking down into a valley where demon goats roamed. Using his lenses, he’d been able to spot five. He could hear them screeching. They were charging threateningly at anything that moved. Mostly, that meant running at each other, and then stopping suddenly before they collided.
Maybe they’re friendly to other members of their species, and being demons is only halfway screwing up their ability to recognize their own kind.
They were hazard mimics, but he was seeing chaos-afflicted mountain goat creatures. He’d been studying them for a while. They weren’t as big as bokabvs, but they likely outweighed him. They seemed to be able to detect movement from a significant distance away despite the darkness. And the speed they moved at looked wrong on them.
They had forward-pointing horns that were perfect for spearing Alden in the chest, and each one he’d been able to check had a slash on its back right hip that had to be the griveck’s version of a signature.
Could be her way of weakening them for the human cub to practice on. But it seems more like she was infuriating them for me. Alien nurture sure is different sometimes.
Sorry, Ms. Griveck, but I’m not going to approach this with the type of battle plan you must’ve imagined.
The whole goat valley was stained redder than any area he’d run through since landing. The fastest route to Bithe was right through the center of it.
Going around would take time, getting killed by a goat would be stupid, and wasting his skill or his supplies would make him useless when he reached the others.
The griveck’s assumption that the squad was in a rough spot seemed true. They weren’t answering any of Alden’s attempts to make contact, and the lenses were telling him his comm dots were still working fine. They also weren’t moving toward him like they were supposed to be. At least, Bithe wasn’t.
It had taken Alden a while to be sure. His sense of his entruster’s distance wasn’t well trained enough. Not for faraway locations. If he and Bithe were both in the gym at Celena North, Alden would be able to picture exactly what spot in the room the Artonan occupied with little effort. Out here, he could say with absolute certainty that Bithe was across the valley, but was it that next hill? Two more?
He’d thought he would have found them by now, though, considering how much ground he’d covered. They were either stuck somewhere or backtracking.
The hills were higher here. Running straight down this one was going to be a little dicey even with his wordchains. There were no doubt things he couldn’t see in addition to the goats. Traveling through this much red would likely result in some damage.
Dozens of ways to make mistakes all piled together. Nobody to tell me what’s best. Consequences for others if I get it wrong.
Not my first time.
He extended his left hand and made the kelsithe into a shape that resembled a snow shovel. Instead of preserving it, he tried to hold it in that position purely with mental focus.
Okay.
He thrust it toward the ground. The kelsithe entered the dirt easily, but it took more than one attempt to make it behave exactly like he wanted. It was a minute before he managed to make the shovel head expand to an even larger size, deeper and wider into the ground, and then encapsulate a hunk of soil and grass. He preserved it that way and stood with something like one of the gym’s hundred kilo bags on a handle.
Familiar.
He waved his arm through the air a few times, getting a feel for the weapon physically and with his skill.
Yeah. Familiar.
He couldn’t twirl this and flick it like his Winsterminator, but at least one of the goats was less intelligent than Winston. He’d seen it fly into a fit of rage against a bush that had done nothing wrong, and now it was ramming hooves and horns into the splintered remains.
That’s the one whose territory I trespass through. Maybe it’ll come at me. Maybe it won’t. No more time to waste.
Get to Bithe.
******
then
******
One morning, the squad found a dying golden fenyan near their campsite. Emban spotted it struggling in the red mud and went to end its suffering with a spell.
“Not even a demon,” she said as she let her auriad wrap around her bow again. “It looks like it barely got caught at the edge of your range Ryada.”
“What do you mean?” Ryada broke off from the others and hurried toward her. “Not a demon?”
“You didn’t have to run through all this mud, too,” said Emban. “But look. It doesn’t feel like a demon. The way it’s injured…it seems like it was almost far enough away to resist, but not quite. It’s unfortunate. I wonder why it was so close to our…Ryada?”
Ryada had dropped to her knees in the mud beside the animal. Its fur was almost completely gone. Its tail was only an oozing stump. “They’re supposed to live in trees!”
“Are you both all right?” Seth called, heading toward them.
“They’re supposed to live in trees, Emban! There aren’t any trees near here.”
“Well, it’s…things like this are going to happen sometimes with the way we’re clearing the patch. You know it’s not your fault.” Emban looked to the others for help.
“It’s not at all,” Postor said at once. “I’m the one who suggested you finish your skill off for the night right before we made camp. The fenyan must have been struck by it then.”
“I’m the one who said we could put off range testing last week,” said Seth. “We’ve all grown more powerful.”
“We could take the morning and do that now,” said Tilliver. “And I should have mentioned last night that we’re close to the edge of our patch. Close enough to hit things we shouldn’t with some of our magic.”
“If I’d checked the area more carefully yesterday, maybe I could have spotted the fenyan,” Emban suggested. She motioned at Bithe.
“I…it looks like an elderly fenyan that was nearing the end of its natural lifespan. I’m sure it has many offspring that will thrive in this patch we’ve been healing.”
There was a pause before Ryada looked away from the corpse toward Bithe. “Are you pretending to be able to tell the age of a random Goldbush animal to make me feel better?”
“May it nourish the land that feeds its young,” said Bithe. “I’m sorry. Everyone else had already said the more obvious things.”
“I thought Life to Water would be nourishing like that.”
“It is,” Emban said. “You are.”
“Corrupted life becomes water that brings life,” said Bithe.
“I know,” said Ryada. “That’s how it’s supposed to be.”
She stood. Her authority greeting rang out—cheerful and familiar to all of them. “It’s all right. I’m being absurd today for some reason. You’re right that these things happen. It’s been a long trip, hasn’t it? A little more, and we can all go home.”
“Nothing unsettles you for long, does it?” Emban said admiringly.
“Ryada’s the one who keeps the rest of us sane out here,” Seth agreed. “We’re all learning. We’ll learn from this too. No more golden fenyans…of any age.”
******
now
******
“Everything breaks down so suddenly,” said Noh-en, watching the news about the destroyed flyer scroll across the display in the staging area. And I’m sure that’s only a fraction of what’s going wrong for their squad.
She wished she could be in two places at once. Up in the observation station, they’d know so much more than she did here.
“‘Suddenly’ is a word to be wary of,” someone said.
Noh looked around to see Veln-art’h smiling at her.
“You’re in a place like this!” she said.
“I’m not so retired from the field that I can’t peek in, am I?” the Primary’s spouse asked. “And how good it is to see little Noh here! A votary yourself. It seems like only a season ago that I found you and Stu sitting under that library table talking about what it would be like to be where you are now.”
He stood beside her. “In chaos, some disasters truly come upon us suddenly. What should be becomes what shouldn’t without any error to blame. That makes it too easy to think that nothing could have been done to stop an accident from happening. Use the word ‘unexpectedly’ first whenever something goes wrong, to remind yourself that there might have been signs you missed.”
“Emban’s flyer went down unexpectedly?” Noh said.
Veln nodded. “And when you say it like that, what follows are questions about what should have been expected. And by whom? Is what happens to the knights you serve unforeseeable, or was it unforeseen? So much of what we regret is the second. Many things grow where our eyes never point.”
******
******
“You can see how it came about. Their flyer misses an update, they don’t have access to the latest news, and their squad composition was ambitious to begin with.”
“I wouldn’t call bringing a human adolescent they happened to meet somehow ambitious.”
“He’s got the tools he would have needed to not be too much of a bother to them during the quest they thought they were going on. They must have hoped to use him to get their objective all the way to the worldkeeper on their own. That outcome would have looked reasonably likely to them before they set out. It was an attempt to achieve a little more than they were expected to. Ambitious, I say. Inexperienced, but ambitious.”
“But now they’re on the ground in a situation they don’t understand.”
“So they are. They chose to travel along that ridge because they were hoping to avoid the dangers they were aware of. Lighter chaos up there. They didn’t know Forduan was going to be releasing some in that direction because they didn’t know everyone else is moving to make things difficult for the ewtwees. Nobody knew about the lazy camouflaged ones that have been lounging around up there since this round started.”
“Who did the last flyover of that region?”
“The reports on the ewtwees are still lacking in detail.”
“Those newlings are going to need something relaxing to drink when they review this later.”
“They need a mentor to ask them what they were thinking about the Avowed. What was going through their minds before they left, and when the poor Ryeh-b’t was falling without them, and after he reached the ground and they told him not to move?”
“Ay! No! There goes our Tilliver’s main weapon. I’m surprised it lasted through so many uses.”
“I’m sure they’re all wishing they had brought more supplies. Or at least kept the wegyta rings for themselves. They might keep the human boy safe if he can’t resist wandering through that valley, but then what?”
The voices in the conference room had mostly washed over Ryada. She was busy watching the main map with one eye through a gap between heads while she kept the other on the closer views of her squadmates and Alden that she’d requested for herself. Her friends were struggling at the top of a ridge that was disastrously located. She was trying to see everything they were doing at once, but that comment about Alden pulled half her attention back to the conversations around her.
The knight who’d said it was one of the more prominent participants in the analysis. She expected someone to respond to him with an update. When nobody did, she glanced around and found Jozz next to her. Emban’s cousin must have found an opportunity to sneak away from Makee-en.
“None of them are looking where we’re looking, I guess,” she said quietly to him.
“Hmm? Do you have any thoughts on Emban’s performance?”
“She’s doing better now that they’re in trouble,” said Ryada. “She’s at her best in a long fight. But I meant what was just said about Alden. They haven’t been watching him ever since he stopped above the valley.”
“Oh?”
Ryada realized from his tone that she’d assumed too much. “But he’s your brother’s closest friend…”
“I have heard that more loudly than I liked,” Jozz said. “I’ll check on him?”
She frowned. “Watch what you want to watch. I’m going out onto one of the decks. It’s gotten crowded in here.”
******
When she returned to the spot on the observation deck that she’d left behind earlier, the same older knight was still there.
“You missed my company,” he said.
It was dark now. Someone had brought him a basket full of sausage bread.
Ryada took a piece when he offered. “My squad’s having an awful time out there. It’s one of the more interesting situations at the moment, so it’s drawn a lot of people.”
“Commentary from those who don’t know your friends as well as you do can be unpleasant,” he said. “Even if all involved are wise and well-meaning.”
“It’s not that…there’s an Avowed who got separated from the squad. I feel like I know him well even though I only met him recently, so I’ve been watching him, too. But I just realized I might be the only one paying any real attention to him. They’re talking like they haven’t even glanced at him in a while. I guess the valley ahead of him looked like an obvious place for him to stop moving, or fail. And there’s so much to see during these events. But…only me?”
“Should they be watching that Avowed as much as they watch our brothers and sisters?” he asked.
She looked at the bread. “Isn’t it strange to assume that a person staring down at a valley full of demons isn’t going to do anything worth notice?”
******
a little while ago
******
A chain for speed and one for gracefulness.
A few foundation points.
A body that was taller and stronger. Night vision through enchanted lenses that cost more money than he’d ever imagined having last year. Specialized shoes that let him feel the ground without hurting his feet.
All of that practice with Bobby and superheroes and all by himself and with Stuart.
The kelsithe, light despite its current bulk, was barely awkward. He swept it through the air as he ran. He heard the air rush around it. Once, he felt something he hadn’t seen strike his skill. Far more impact than anything the size of an insect should have had.
He imagined he’d killed a fake demon, one no larger than a Thegundese grasshopper, and he didn’t slow down.
Flat out. Downhill.
Ground element everywhere his feet could go. His trait sent him over it, the feeling turning almost lightweight on some steps.
Nothing on Anesidora was ever like the ground on Thegund. The way he could run across it and look back to see that he’d been running on something that was barely there. Pits and trenches in his wake as it collapsed.
This wasn’t like that either, but it was closer. He hit a stony place, and gravel tumbled away from his feet and rolled.
Should he have fallen there?
He was already gone.
The more he ran, the more he remembered what he wanted to remember. How, when you made your final choice, there was nothing left but action.
Once the lab was gone, you ran or you died. You ran until you died.
For Kibby. For his entruster.
The mindset wasn’t quite that one, but it was closer to it than he could get normally.
Bithe became more and more like a weight in front of him. A sun he was turned toward. Pulling him forward as the slope gentled, almost leveling out.
He skimmed nearer to the stupid demon than any of the others.
It didn’t come at him.
It didn’t come.
He’d passed it.
Good. He wanted to save as much power as he could to help Bithe.
He heard a screech from a different goat. To his left. Up ahead. Well over a hundred yards away. He’d thought that one wouldn’t notice him from so far. It had. It was charging at him.
All right.
Brutes and spells and weapons have come at me faster.
He let the demon slam once into his preserved kelsithe, because that was what he’d decided he’d do before he started running.
It’s heavy. Dammit. Bithe needs me at full strength.
One of the goat’s horns snapped. The animal rolled. Not quite like Winston or the bokabv in his dreams or anything else.
Close enough.
Alden brought the kelsithe down like a hammer. He heard his own breathing. No battlecries down here. He’d decided that before he started running, too.
He ended preservation inches from the struggling demon, and the misty weapon returned to his arm almost simultaneously. The dirt wasn’t perfectly contained like it was in a sandbag, but it was at least a couple hundred pounds of ground moving as fast as he could make it move.
It slammed into the goat.
His lenses informed him that his dust blockers were filtering out particulates.
He wasn’t sure the demon was dead. He could still sense magic from the hazard mimic. Was that leg sticking out from under the soil twitching in its death throes, or was it planning to get back up?
Alden paused for the first time. A few precious seconds were sacrificed to thought.
Shovel.
His kelsithe flowed forth obediently.
Comments (292)
Satisfying.
"In the past, Victor had gifted Alden with some mice..." "Gifted" links to this: https://www.patreon.com/Sleyca/redeem/10B28 Caught this on a re-read. Was it always here? Sneaky Sleyca! Thanks for the free month!
While the III we get tomorrow will be great, I am even more excited for the inevitable VIV
...IX?
Now that Team Vatha is soon-to-be reunited, with Alden ready to ferry them like a one-man moving van, it's time to reevaluate strategic prioritiea
I kinda hope Emban shoots the other demon with her bow. I want to know what she uses :)
It’s 7:35 here, I’ve been half awake since 2am hoping for soup. I even dreamt soup was released and the title was “the help “ lol I woke up at 7 smiling I’m gonna read the chapter
So exciting to come here and discover the absence of a Sleyca comment -- not long now!
We could delay until tomorrow if the chapter needs it. I am willing to wait.
I'm not impatient, you're impatient!
How would you know I'm patient, you're not my doctor!
She app on my roxi till I mate
Next chapter prediction: Most eyes don't turn towards Alden, but they do keep watching the squad. Our latest grivek friend didn't get to the ewtwees in time, and they attack the squad again with another ranged magic attack. Alden arrives just in time to block the attack to save the squad. Bonus prediction: Alden catches said attack and returns it to sender. I think i would also quite like if the next chapter is given as reactions first, actions after, like this one was presented. I quite liked it being presented that way and Alden coming into focus for them would be good while we imagine whats happening. Though I'm sure whatever way its presented will be close to perfection.
I feel like given Veln's statement, his actions will be reviewed either in after action reviews or when he contacts the squad again unexpectedly
I was appromised.
Mother, I crave soup
I'm so excited!!
Soup soup
Ever closer the approximate soup comes. May it be delicious
I am loving the irony here. The older knights: “They (the squad) need a mentor to ask them what they were thinking about the Avowed. What was going through their minds before they left, and when the poor Ryeh-b’t was falling without them, and after he reached the ground and they told him not to move?” And then Ryada reveals that none of them have been thinking about the Avowed either.
A chance to approximate!
Oh dang it just occurred to me Alden could potentially use the Kelsithe to help augment his stories in class
I'm hoping he gets so good at origami that he's able to fold scenes as he narrates them. No fancy tools, just fast hands and a ton of practice
I was focussing a lot on how Alden was growing unseen here, but there's a whole Ryada arc here, slowly exposing what goes unseen with her. That first sentence "They're never going to stop". The too-quick show of recovered cheerfulness. All the ongoing assumptions that Ryada is the resilient one,.. Ryada is going unseen. Letting herself go unseen? Showing only the acceptable side? Oh the parallels just keep stacking. Ryada is a likeable and complex character. I want to see her more.
Updated Less Approximate ETA: 24ish hours from now.
Thank you for the update! Take the breaks you need.
Happy approximate day!
I love it when the posts are on fridays or saturdays, I can stay up for them without ruining a work day LOL.
Alden to Lute next week: "I need you to hide out in a random place so I can practice figuring out how far away you are. It's too easy if you always go to the girls' apartment." Alden to Stuart: "Can we play hide and seek in the woods of report 1?" Alden to Stuart next year: "hide on any planet or moon and let's see how long it takes for me to find you."
Another vegan / vegetarian thing for Alden and Gorgon to consider: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-09-07
I mean, their situation IS involuntary...
The additional context from these flashbacks really highlight how darn sweet it was that Emban searched for a Here-to-There for Ryada to help protect with her, and managed to find one with no hard feelings from the Master Wizard whose people were leaving her village. Emban heard Ryada's hurt over the fenyan she accidentally killed, and the jarring disconnect from the purpose she wanted to use her skill for, and went looking for something they could do together during their affixation recovery that (she thought) wouldn't require Ryada to fight or kill anything at all.
😳I haven’t even thought about that!
For me, one of the best outcomes of this event will be for Alden to get the Vatha team working together again as THE TEAM they should be, not one sniping at each other. Alden is a great thinker and supporter and as he has shown in his classes at CNH, good teamwork is one of his proven strengths.
Not saying that I don’t want Alden to shine, because I do. Very much so.
Way back when Alden was getting his first lessons from Joe, Joe asked him that if a stack of things was one item, why not a pair of things, like gloves separated by a millimeter. I had a vision of Alden learning to pick up one part of an item, and being able to pick up the other part of it at a distance, and move it around. Like a pair of dumbbells, where he's waving the second around across the room and hitting things by dropping preservation at the last second.
Someone should introduce Alden to the concept of quantum entanglement.
Hey hysterical thought, Alden has the most backwoods hick Artonan accent ever on account of his language immersion experience in general, but it's mixed with so many other oddities. He's going to very politely talk to (and occasionally very righteously ream out, see the deal with Stuart and the same-face twins, etc) the highest of society while sounding like a parody of someone from the ass end of nowhere with a strange mix of extremely technical and advanced language around chaos and some extremely childish vocab. The accent is thickest on the words one generally needs a very high degree of scientific education for. Artonans must constantly be fighting an endless series of twitches listening to him talk Like, "Excuse me, **Honored Beings**, but //have y'all got any 'moss-silnn// I can take? I'm //more'n willin' ta// **send back payment**, soon as I physically reach **the Mother** or reach by phone **my lifelong friend of Oath**, //'r swap y'all some chores for it//, but I'm feeling //icky// after I cut my hand a few //days back//, 'n I fear if I don't get some //m̸̟̤̏͒ë̴͓d̶̙̏̐i̶̹̺͐̿c̶̦͔̎ạ̴͂l̸̻̝̒ ̸̩͘a̶͙̥͌t̷̪͆̀t̸̜͚̄e̶̡̯̓̄n̶̪͒͝t̷͍̤̋i̵͍̔̌o̸͖̐n̸̝̭̎̉// for it soon, I'll never see my **m̵̘͚̐u̷͖̐̐c̴̩͒h̶͚̆ beloved soulbound** again." Key: Classroom pronunciation **Rapport I Pronunciation** /)Thegund pronunciation// B̵̢̑͑u̷̡̓t̷̢̮̃c̷͗̕ͅĥ̶̡̡é̸̞͕ŗ̵̗̑̈́e̶͇̹͂͝d̷̬̓̇ ̸̘̰̾͘h̴͈͂̕ǘ̸̃ͅm̸̞̯̓a̶̎͜n̷͉̓̇ ̴̗̩͗p̸̩̱̊̀r̸͍͆o̵̤̜̎n̶̰̊̍ū̸̢̏n̶̪͒͜c̸̬͛i̴̤͐ä̵͕́t̷͔͘i̷̬͜͠ő̶̥̪͌n̷̡̲͑
I can't remember the actual line I read in a novel ages ago, but it was something like "he sounded like a Korean who was taught to speak English by an Albanian."
Off topic for this chapter but I've been rereading bits of the story and remembered Kon's parents are doing a ballet performance for the lunar new year in February. He was going to invite their whole class. Is it still January or has Feb started? Also can anyone remember Aldens last holiday month from summons? He had 2 months for his affix plus 6 if I remember right
The date in-story is 20 Jan, 2041. We project May. This is a link to a (Terrestrial Biped's) timeline (it's a permaliink, thanks @anthonylutz) https://terrestrialbiped.github.io/Super-Supportive-Timeline/patreon-latest.html
Something I just thought of: wasn't the here to there just very recently? They were just out of affixing there and unable to cast, no? So they're all fine now?
The Here-to-There was multiple weeks ago by this point. Actually, checking it now, it seems like it's been at least a month since then, so they should definitely all be fine by now.
Structured a bit differently than most chapters, but I enjoyed the parts about what Alden was doing. And the sections about Ryada’s last mission were poignant.
JOZZ (after looking in on Alden's efforts) I wager four hundred quatloos on the newcomer.
It just occurred to me that there's a world in which Alden is offered a prize for his participation and asks for upgrades to the facilities at CNH
It'd be better/smarter to ask for an exchange program (f**k Li Jean!) with CNH. Leave Anesedoran politics and people like Aulia or even Elias out of the loop completely, IMO.
After Alden shows up and helps in an impressive fashion, I kind of want one of the watching Knights to forward an Alden clipshow to Principal Saleh and tell her "keep up the good work, we were all very impressed!"
Very much seconded. Also looking forward to reactions to the footage from Waker, Klein, and Ash.
It's striking to me in the flashback that most of the squad was referencing 'clearing' the patch, and rushing to assure Ryada that fault for killing that fenyan was shared, not on Ryada alone. Bithe was the one who described it as 'healing' the patch and centered empathy for the animal's untimely death and hopes for its descendants to thrive in the land going forward. It's Bithe's words that got Ryada to look up, and to remember what she wanted her skill to be like, and to reassert herself as part of the squad instead of mired in her own head and her sorrow over the unintended suffering she caused by pushing to go faster and sloppier with her skull use.
Emban's first instincts being to end the suffering of the dying animal she spotted and then double-check whether it was actually a demon even if it means slogging through extra mud seem very much like the instincts of someone Ryada would be drawn to. Emban wants to help. Emban cares about animals. Emban seems to be straightforward in her emotions and forthcoming about what she discovers. She's not hiding a devastating unintended consequence of Ryada's experiment with maximally spread skill use, but she's not given it world shattering undue weight either. Emban likes Ryada; Emban openly admires her. Emban is easy for Ryada to read, which has to be comforting for someone who has gotten a little too practiced at lying to everyone about how she herself is doing. Emban is predictable. Emban shines the longer a fight goes on and everyone else starts to falter. Emban is in it for the long haul, and she wants to be in it *with* Ryada. I can see why Ryada is drawn to her in turn. I hope Ryada is successful in rebuilding the foundations of her self-regard; I hope exploring deepening with Emban brings them both joy.
I've been thinking about Alden and Stu deepening and I just realised that Alden might not have ever told Stu about his Gremlin. I know he told Stu very obliquely about Gorgon. Without revealing any sensitive information but I think he held back about Mr Uneven. Which I assume would be really important since I assume Stu would be able to 'hear' it just like Alden does. On the occasion it gets upset about something being uneven. On another note, I know it was mentioned that some remnants of the mind trap still linger, because Stu didn't want to get rid of them. Which made me consider if Alden might be able to see Stu's mum on the occasion when she appears.
Imagine poor Stu having to give up his water noodles
I think a lot of people have developed the wrong idea about Ryada and Alden. Alden does not intend to treat fake magical constructs like real animals; he intends to rush to his entruster with as much of his magic and weapons still available as possible. And Ryada's PTSD behavior in the Here-to-There was just something to consider, not something to be emulated. Here is the relevant section from chapter TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR: “'He could have warned us,' Stuart said. He’d just returned from circling the caravan with Ryada, who’d insisted on checking all of the fallen koobas herself to make sure none of them were still twitching. It struck Alden as an odd thing for her to do, and it reminded him that he’d noticed her mood shifting from jovial to something sterner during the battle when she’d seen Olget-ovekondo, barely competent possessor of a bad diploma, firing weak force spells at one of the large koobas that had been downed but not quite finished. Now she was carrying a stack of kooba hides. They were basically animated blankets; Alden’s first impression hadn’t been wrong. He offered to put them away somewhere for her, but she refused with a smile that seemed less real than her others and a joke that didn’t sound like a joke about how she took responsibility for her own kills even when the victims were just toys."
That's before he told her how she had given him something to consider about his own compassion and then reworked his dream to reduce the bokabv's suffering. Whether or not he would emulate that treatment of something like the koobas, he definitely would to any demon he could and he's going to treat this exercise as close to real as possible, so I don't see what's being misunderstood.
Teams are composed of members with similar strengths so they can find compatible partners. This would imply that Ryada is not nearly as strong as Stu. Maybe, however, just maybe we can get our team of misfits together since she would have had a couple of affixations. I wonder how strong Yaril is?
I think that team Vatha is what we could call a courting team - knights who are seeing if they can get together with someone. So that team isn't optimized for fighting chaos, or doing any other mission. Not that they're necessarily bad together - just that chaos fighting isn't their top priority. Team Klerm, if it ever happens, would likely be more of a long-term thing. So they'd be looking for skills that worked together, rather than knights who want to deepen.
I hope klerms eat vathas. That would be great symbolism for the way The Klerm Squad will poach Ryada from The Vatha Squad. I think they’ll be better friends to her. Her squadmates really come out looking oblivious at best in this chapter.
Klerms are native to Artona III. Vathas, to Artona I. So they obviously won't interact in nature. In the context of a zoo, however: who can say?
Like Ryada, the Quaternary's skill kills everything in the area. She was upset that she almost killed Alden and Kibby. I imagine she'd be a great mentor to Ryada.
I bet Emban *wishes* Ryada's struggles were as easy to resolve as getting the art'h wood to lead her a branch so she could go personally beat up a nefarious wizard holding Ryada's secrets locked behind a contract. Emban doesn't want to beat up Ryada herself (mostly), but I can see her being in much the same unquiet mind state as Stu at the start of chapter 281 ("[...] Stu was exhausted. *I’m also angry. Worried.* The urge to do something was strong, but he lacked a direction. It was a frantic feeling he didn’t like. [...] His mind was very unquiet.") She hasn't had the literal years of mindhealing Stu has benefited from so much to fall back on.
Maybe acting like a storm incarnate is an art'h thing. "Emban’s entrance was like the first gust of an unexpected storm. "Her shoes landed in one of the cubbies by the door with a thud, and then she was stalking down the shallow steps into the living room. She had a brown cloth bag in one hand, and she carried it straight to Stuart, so rigid that her every motion seemed to snap in the suddenly quiet room" (234, 'Here-to-There XIV'). "There was some place where a fast answer to the problem and a flawless one found compromise. Stu needed to seek that place even if he couldn’t quite reach it. "Easier to know than do. "In the main house, he went through the kitchen like a storm, grabbing food from every convenient platter and pot, barely wondering why there was so much left out late at night. Then, he swept up to his room without speaking to anyone and collected clothes and bathing supplies that he carried back downstairs with him and outside into the dark forest" (281, 'Unquiet Mind'). "The first record we have of one of your friend’s ancestors in this part of the world is from somebody complaining that a woman with the power of a century storm had come from across the water to take all the summer’s bundlefruit and ‘the two men the vines loved most’" (298, 'A Chance to Appreciate').
“Somehow, Alden got into an adventure.”
Inconceivable!
I personally don't think Anonymous Older Knight is Esh, and I really don't want him to be. Because I really want Lind to stroll up to responsibly observe and mentor the newlings only to immediately pull up a video chat to Esh with the cold open, "wtf is your kid up to, I thought he went home" and watch him simultaneously flounder bc *so did he* and scramble bc *what's happening instead, how many bodies do we need to hide?* I think we all deserve this. Especially Lind. You don't soul-marry the earnest goofy guy unless you like watching him be goofy, and not always on purpose. (it's me, i'm the goofy guy, qpr wherever you are hmu, be goofy with me, flamingo parade with me in public upon eye contact)
He's not enthusiastic enough about Alden, or funny enough to be Esh.
Everyone saying how great Ryada would be a great fit for Stu and Alden's squad don't forget about Yaril!
why not both? And Quinyeth as their votary (after Asay dies because he can't handle being a knight)
If the next chapter were to consist of nothing but all the different messages various people have been sending Stu while he's been asleep about Alden unexpectedly participating in his cousin's training quest, 1.) I may half expire from continued cliffhanger anticipation, but 2.) it would be very funny (and telling, I suspect).
Editor's note. I stumble over this paragraph even on rereads: >>> “I’m sure they’re all wishing they had brought more supplies. Or at least kept the wegyta rings for themselves. They might keep the human boy safe if he can’t resist wandering through that valley, but then what?” 'They' has been used over and over for 'the squad', including in the first sentence of the paragraph. Then in the third sentence, 'they' refers to the rings, and it's used at the front of the sentence, and the start of the sentence is very ambiguous. 'They might keep the human boy safe' sounds very much like it is referring to the squad keeping Alden safe. I had to stop and puzzle out the sentence the first time I read it. Suggested: >>> “I’m sure they’re all wishing they had brought more supplies. Or at least kept the wegyta rings for themselves. The rings might keep the human boy safe if he can’t resist wandering through that valley, but then what?” That way, an ambiguous 'they' no longer can point to 'for themselves' as the subject it is referring to (the squad is the last thing referred to in the previous sentence), rather than 'the wegyta rings' (the middle of the previous sentence).
Technically, it’s already grammatically correct
I think they will be taught better. One of the overheard comments from the observers was that a mentor needs to ask them what they were thinking about the Avowed at different times, and the moment when they ordered him not to move was explicitly called out. Tilliver done screwed up, and he’s going to get an earful about it.
Going radio silent ought to be on the list too (if their comm dots didn't fail). Presumably they are deliberately ignoring Alden because they don't want to tell him they are in the process of getting decimated.
Hm, you know, there's probably a spell for packing soil together and making it like concrete. Alden ought to learn it; not only would it help his demonslaying, it'd probably also count towards his house-building spells for his wizard certification.
you mean like, rammed earth but made with magical compression instead of elbow grease?
Alden… Disrespected on Anesidora for being a B-ranked rabbit Disrespected on Artona III for being teenage, human, and Avowed. About to kick ass.
Technically this is Artona I, Rapports III. But yes, Alden is quietly getting on with doing something epic and unexpected, and only the lucky few of Ryada and those Ryada has nudged to watch are going to see it live at first.
I love the understatement of the clash. Brutes and spells and weapons have come at me faster -- if that's the best he can say, this thing is terrifying. It's heavy -- he's mostly just concerned about fatigue, but he absolutely stops it in its tracks. He just *smoked* this charging mimic monster.
Bro just slapped a charging rhino into the dirt. That knight talking about him wandering into the valley really has some egg on their face
Something that occurred to me is that Alden likely /does/ have more experience in this kind of situation. The kind of situation where everything goes wrong, you have only the stuff you're carrying, and you can expect no help. The Vatha knights have also been in a chaos environment, but theirs was curated and as safe as those things can be. They were getting regular check-ins from more senior knights. They knew that if the worst came to the worst, a lot of powerful knights and wizards would drop everything for a rescue. Maybe I'm selling the knights short. Maybe Alden will get eaten by a demon. We'll see, I guess. Stay tuned!
I agree with this. While it's training (and good training for the knights - dealing with the unexpected), Alden's already done this. That's reflected by him being cool under pressure, and now his focused mindset that he has fallen back into. "The more he ran, the more he remembered what he wanted to remember. How, when you made your final choice, there was nothing left but action. Once the lab was gone, you ran or you died. You ran until you died. For Kibby. For his entruster. The mindset wasn’t quite that one, but it was closer to it than he could get normally."
I'm really hoping the kelsithe's nickname of Winsterminator gets back to Winston and the rest of Gym. Especially that it's now famous among Knights.
It didn’t seem like he nicknamed the kelsithe as Winsterminator to me
I am so happy to get some chaos action back, it’s been like 250 chapters since he escaped the labs
Could anyone remind me the chapter number where Alden and Ryada talk about affixation - or at least, Alden comes as close as he can to talking about it with her? I want to revisit that conversation.
Ch 243: With a Yell
It's concerning how they all act like the Avowed fighting chaos alongside their young knights is nothing but an afterthought. Do they treat Avowed the same way in real combat and chaos events? That's scary
In fairness, it’s a safe war game exercise, the avowed are basically furniture, and Alden is a joke rabbit on top of that.
In accordance to the theme of Ryada's last line, I have to ask the following... "Is it really strange to assume, that the person that survived and extracted a small child on Moon Thegund against less than 1% odds, might just be extraordinary enough to warrant at least one eye worth of attention?"
I don't think most of the Knights and observers know who Alden is. He was just listed as an Avowed they came across and not named. Noh-en with the requisition form from Bithe in front oh her still had to wait until she physically saw Alden to know it was him.
Grivecks are literally the best. Everyone from Earth to the galaxies beyond consistently doubts Alden, even after he does incredible things. But our murder kitty? Nope. Five minutes of conversation with the cub and she rounds and rallies a pack of demon goats for him to hunt. That's genuine belief in a way that no one else (besides Mother) has ever given him. I really want a griveck to be there when they review things to call out the stuffy wizards about their preconceptions blind them to the incredible potential of the murder-rabbit-cub.
…and Stu. Mother, Grieveck and Stu believe in him :-)
It is super funny to me that a few chapters ago, Alden was panicking in a bathroom, fearing that he would do something to cause all of the knights watching to lose respect for him. Only for us to later find out that almost no one is watching him because the knights have already written off the "poor helpless" rabbit. He can't tank his reputation at this point, he can only improve it! They all think he is doomed and is wasting good equipment. I look forward to this arc proving otherwise.
He could tank his reputation by becoming considered a wildcard who does not follow clear instructions? Especially if he dies/fails in the mission.
Not completely related to the chapter (But not completely unrelated either), but Alden and Stu really remind me of the song Kid and Leveret a LOT (with Alden being the one who "hid to be heard", with all his sneaking until he's powerful enough to garner support, and Stu being the one who will "run to be remembered", running towards his more than likely death in order for people to acknowledge and remember who he really is rather than who his family would rather him be). This chapter made me wonder a lot about if it's not the opposite, though, with Alden quite literally running to be witnessed by the Hn'tyons rn and remembered in a favorable light when he eventually reveals himself, while Stu is still in hiding, building his confidence blocks and biding his time until it's time to make them all hear him. In that sense, Stu resembles this chapter's Ryada a lot, his worries got pushed down in favor of the maintaining of others okay, and whenever he tried letting his own scream out, others screamed louder as to not listen to him. Also, on the relationship with Alden, the description of bearer including "You can't lay your burden down" means his entruster is the one who has to put him to rest, and with Stu being the planned primary entruster, that means Stu will be to Alden what Ryada was to her squad? Either foreboding in the cyclical mistakes vibe or positive in the "they know how to do better this time" vibe
(This will not happen, but the image came to mind, and it’s greatly amusing me) The team is pinned down on the top of a hill. Injured, exhausted, with no way out. They’re moments away from complete defeat. Wait, what’s that in the distance? A figure, moving at speed, obscured by the dust cloud kicked up by his passage. The team watches the figure’s approach, wondering if rescue has arrived just in the nick of time. In a slow motion shot, with dramatic music playing, a heroic figure emerges from the dust cloud, striding forward with confidence and grace, already swinging his weapon, interposing himself between the teens and their enemies. To their shock, it’s their Avowed, and he’s wearing a knight’s coat.
Stu's family continues to be supremely unlikable. Though maybe I'm reading too much into the subtle jab of Veln, assuming it was even a jab. My opinion on Ryada is only growing, and so is my hope for her being a potential good squadmate for our duo. It would probably be a good place for her as well. She won't be the center of everyones desire, she won't have to sacrifice her own thoughts or lay aside her own struggles for the mental and harmony of her team. It's almost poetic that she wouldn't have to carry her squad's burdens with Stu and Alden, considering who Alden is. Then there is the fact that Alden maybe saw more of her than her own squad had in a single day. Sometimes, just being seen is worth more than 4 people who want to fix problems. She also seems more open-minded towards Avowed and what Alden is capable of. Everyone there is dismissing him out of hand and only sees him as a burden (ironic really), yet Ryada believes he is worth watching. Even though she must also be aware of his limitations and lack of ability, comparatively. I actually really enjoy the dynamic and similarities between Alden and Ryada, one I would like to see more of, so I might be biased. Oddly enough, I think Alden might also be a surprisingly good fit for Emban's squad. They clearly were over-relying on Ryada to self-sacrifice, a position Alden could fill. Probably unhealthy and maybe just kicking the can down the road, but a fit nonetheless. It also ignores the fact that his presence alone would cause other issues.
What’s your problem with Veln here? He’s a votary mentoring another votary in the wake of (possibly) a very real fuck up. If this had happened in the field instead of in training people might have died from it. No part of what he said was out of line; it needed to be said and it needed to be heard. For instance: maybe a more thorough check of the flyer would have revealed an intermittent fault in the comm system. Maybe it wouldn’t have helped - maybe chaos did, in fact, degrade it quite suddenly - but maybe it would. And Noh will be all the more thorough in checking equipment because of this incident and Veln’s advice for the rest of her career.
Since only the most elite warriors in griveck culture can be rabbits, does this mean that he assumes Alden is an elite warrior rather than a beginner B rank? We saw this happen previously when Kibby claimed Alden was the best avowed. It could be that the enemies ahead are much stronger than anticipated.
Ms Griveck is probably assuming that he’s strong, yes, but not because he’s a rabbit - far as we know he never told her that. All the other Avowed at this event are pretty strong, though, and she’s probably assuming Alden is comparable to them.
So, Alden is currently moving through a valley full of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOfb1gCBfcA
Can someone remind me who Makee-en is, and when we first met him? Why was Jozz reluctant to talk to him 2 chapters ago?
Chapter 251: A Second Blossom: "And then he met another girl who wanted to talk about skills. That was enjoyable until they were joined by Makee-en. Makee was a knight a few years older than Sina’s birthset. He was the art’hs’ neighbor, and he was most likely already on a call with some member of Stu’s family, informing them of his whereabouts like he’d found a lost child. His mere presence scared off the declared girl who wanted to talk about skill choices. If Stu understood the hasty apology she gave before hurrying away, she thought she might be judged for being too companionable with the Primary’s son. “Well, this is an unexpected meeting,” Makee said. He had a small nose and large, very dark eyes under low, nearly straight brows. Stu had a faded memory from when he’d first come to the siblinghold of some older sibling or cousin getting in trouble for saying Makee looked like an ibbler. Ibblers were subtle, solitary animals that didn’t interfere with anyone, so Stu had to disagree with the comparison."
I love this chapter as things are moving and paying-off. I've commented a lot on it today, that's how you know it must be good (wry smile). I'm semi-afraid of speculating what could happen in the story, and inadvertently jostling Sleyca's elbow/causing an inflection by guessing too close. What does Jozz observing Alden portend when we readers know he researched the old Avowed list and may recognize #112?
I would be sad, personally, if It didn't portend comparisons to Sina on his part. Alden is singlemindedly cutting toward Bithe/his squad. He probably looks similar to how she did when she was 'in the zone'.
I’ve gone from a mild worry that Alden might embarrass himself (through little fault of his own) to a more serious concern that Alden will do so well he will be overestimated in competence
The possibility of Alden’s secrets being exposed is so much lower than he fears. They don’t even _see_ him, let alone be concerned about anything that could be interesting or strange, or unexpected in anyway way. They don’t care about him at all. It’s like these are all world-class sports players, all only concerned about winning the title for their team. Everything they do revolves around that concern. Along comes this cute, stray puppy; it may be a fun distraction but no-one is looking at this dog in relation to how it can help their team. Even if they see this dog punting a ball, no one in their right mind would be considering the possibility of drafting a random dog onto a professional sports team. But this is basketball, and the thing is, there’s nothing in the rule book that says a dog _can’t_ play basketball.
Hm, is he going to mercy-kill the "demon" or is he just reloading his weapon before continuing his sprint? Looking forward to Alden coming to the rescue! It'd be cool if he announced his presence by smashing a "demon" dead with a big rock, but it feels like he wouldn't be outperforming a charged-up Emban by that much. Still, if Team Vatha and their opponents are evenly matched now, adding Alden will definitely tip the balance. I wonder whether Emban can usefully make Alden better at catapulting shots of earth and rock by transferring her charged-up projectile buff, or if it's limited to arrows only.
He is mercy killing before likely reloading to continue onwards. After watching Ryada confirm the kills on the koobas on the here to there, then confirming the belief that demons should be treated with the respect any other living creature should with Rel-art'h, he is someone who intends to not let anything suffer. The way i imagine definer of groves, yes Emban could give Alden's catapult a boost. When they were throwing the paper planes, each plane was following the groove of the previous, so her arrows could pass to his dirt lump. Edit: Or maybe not, a paper plane is a object, and she defines for objects. A dirt lump is ground, even a boulder is ground. Maybe tilivers sculptures could benefit from launching?
Alden really went through some serious "training" on Thegund. He seems more experienced than his squad mates even
This is the second time that Alden has perceived, as an outsider, the true nature of a person among the knights and future knights, while the closest Artonans were utterly blinded towards it. I think there are two factors that contribute to it: the knight community seems to be made of people drawn to self-sacrifice, and as such they are people who often pressure and are pressured to serve the interests of the community. Note in particular the pressure that Noh-en faced and that pushed her towards being a votary instead of a knight - and the same pressure that failed to work on Stuart. Make no mistake - the knight community is ruled by fear. This is why the outsiders knights are kept separate from the lineaged knights. This is why there are so many invisible rules and expectations who should and shouldn't become a knight. The adults are afraid for the children and try to create molds for the perfect knights that will not kill themselves. Yet these molds are imperfect and cut away at people, that do not fit neatly. It also enforces a self-perpetuating system - the knighs and votaries have strong expectations and they enforce these expectations through societal pressure, which only reinforces their opinion that they are right and their way is the only right one. "What do you mean, you want to be a knight when we decided that you should be a votary? Are you trying to kill your siblings? Your parents? You should clearly listen to us and go back into the preassigned mold. Our advice will save you. Your choices will doom you." If knights serve the community, then the community should decide the fate of the young. This might contradict the spirit of the seasons of choosing, but the families know what's best and it's for their own good after all. Finally, this leads to a certain blindness and ignorance born from fear. The parents of Stuart have refused to see Stuart as a knight, because the possibilities terrify them, and they cannot let go their fear. Ryuada's team was inable to see her pain, because they were terriffied what this pain could mean for her and the entire team. They do not confront their fears - they walk around it and try to deny it. So far, it's Alden who refuses to be blinded and who chooses to believe in the truth, even if the implications are frightening. He chooses to believe that they can defeat their pain and their fears, just like he has defeated his own demons.
Who is the [apparently] 40-ish male knight chilling on the observation deck? ○ The secondary ○ The tertiary ○ Lind-otta in disguise ○ Esh-erdi in disguise ○ The head of the Yipalk corporation ○ A random knight we never see again
Option G! A random knight we *will* see again!
Thanks for the chapter. I really enjoyed Ryada's perspective during the knights commentary of what's going on. Understandably they have more information than Alden and knowing more of what is happening is interesting. On the other hand Ryada has more information about Alden than they do. I really look forward to seeing what happens next.
Veln's talk about questioning unexpected outcomes reminds me of Hannah's thing, early on, when she said the motto she'd choose was "We could have done that better." She talked about how she'd take up the burden of looking closely at mistakes, of *not* saying "we did our best" and moving on, so that the stronger Avowed she was supporting didn't have to. It's really remarkably similar.
Excellent catch! I'm glad to be seeing more of Veln.
“Isn’t it strange to assume that a person staring down at a valley full of demons isn’t going to do anything worth notice?” I'll take lines that'll be swimming through my head for weeks, Alec.
Sleyca, you feed us so well. Thank you for all this perspective into what's gone wrong for Ryada-bess, and the delightful experience of watching Alden use everything he's learned in the field, even if hardly anyone is watching him (for now).
Can we also talk about how messed up the attitude is towards knights and prospective knights who are struggling with affixation? Obviously Stu is the poster-child for this, as ever since he declared for knighthood, all his friends and family (save for his dad) have either abandoned him or are plotting to convince/coerce him to change his mind. The emphasis on ensuring they are prepared prior to affixation makes sense giving the attrition rates. But the mentality seems to be that the greater you are struggling - or the higher likelihood you have of struggling - the less support you receive from your peers. Maybe I'm reading too much into this since a lot of Ryada's struggles have to do with how much her team was leaning on her, both in her skill usage and in her authority openness. But it seems to me that the general guideline is that if you're struggling, you're meant to remove yourself from your team - your support system - so as not to potentially bring them down with you. I would think it should be the opposite. Your team should be your support system when you're struggling. A good portion of their training should be about building trust and a supportive rapport with your teammates. And how to recognize the signs that someone is struggling and how to respond to that. And the importance of speaking up when you're struggling rather than trying to shoulder the burden on your own. Now, maybe all that does occur, and maybe their team was just really bad at all of it. But from my perspective, they seem wholly unprepared for the reality of supporting each other through the post-affixation process. Also, there seems to be an unhealthy amount of emphasis and pressure on bonding. I believe it's been stated that this is a relatively new development, so there may still be an adjustment happening to how this is taught and coached, but that does not seem to be the sort of thing that should ever be rushed or forced. Again, this may be a case of their team just being particularly bad example, but their obsession with bonding was only ever going to lead to issues within the team. I can imagine the emphasis on bonding may lead to higher death rates for those who can't find a bond partner, never mind what the effects will be for those who rush the process when they aren't as compatible as they believed. Will the bond even work at that point? Failure could cause its own set of problems. Or if it does work and things sour between them, that would be an entirely different can of worms. I'm hoping we get a deeper dive into it all when Alden openly declares his knighthood.
Stuart did say at one point that if Emban and their squad were older and more experienced Ryada would more likely stay with them as it would be better for them all. However due to their youth and inexperience if Ryada were to die on a mission they would be far more likely to blame themselves and wonder if they had missed signs she was really struggling with herself that day and if her death had been unnecessary
Oh, Ryada-bess! You're just like so many people who become veterinarians because they love animals...and then end up spending much of their time killing them. It's very clear now why you're struggling with your skill, especially the way your teammates reacted to your distress.
I have read this chapter multiple times today and am sure I will at least once a day until the new one drops. One line keeps affecting me every time I read it. Tilliver: Nothing out of the ordinary. Just the sounds of things that once lived here dying.
The best lines can tell us so much of the story with just a few words: • Ryada was listening to the demons slowly die • Causing slow deaths has become the normal procedure • Tilliver himself has no particular reaction to that suffering • Tilliver has no reaction to having no reaction • Tilliver doesn't feel guilty, unusual, or threatened for having no reaction • Causing excessive suffering is institutionally normalized • Having no reaction to suffering is institutionally normalized • Tilliver has no idea that isolating yourself to listen to animals die might be a symptom • Tilliver can't imagine that Ryada might have a problem with what she's hearing • Tilliver misses a lot, but oof, this is really obvious stuff here • Tilliver likely wouldn't empathize with Ryada even if she explained it with small words • Ryada would get nothing good from explaining it to him
Ryada really seemed to suffer not only from pressure of the one everyone wants to bond to, but also from the realization how much pain and death she is surrounded by. Wherever there is chaos, there are people dying. And in the process of cleaning up, she may hurt some beings. If you think about it, something similar that happened to the fenyan could have happened to Alden when he was running to safety with Kibby. Ryada has a similar skill of removing chaos. If she was the person who killed two children who were hoping you would save them... how would she live with herself? She can already barely tolerate making a little fenyan suffer horribly. And things will only get worse from now on. And when everyone tries to cheer her up, they just swamp her with toxic positivity, instead of sitting with her grief and pain. Alden was the only one who said "yes, we are in a shitty situation and this all hurts a lot. I still believe we will get through it".
The intent of Ryada's skill seems to be about rebirth. Death to life. Turn chaos to water which leads to new life. That is not conducive to speed-running from objective to objective, which seemed to be the team goal in the flashback. To get the full breadth of her skill would require patience. Too fast and all she gets is death, and it seems like the wider she spreads her skill, the slower that death occurs too, leading to more pain she must cope with. It's sad that her friends and teammates seem to miss this core tenet to her values. And yes, I think that does parallel with what nearly happened to Alden and Kibby on Thegund. I imagine much of the damage done to Alden was caused by Alys directly, and that's a large part of why she was moved to intercede on his behalf with Mother. We don't know what the long-term goals of Ryada's skill usage will be, but it certainly contains the risk of her being put in a similar situation, and if she doesn't get the right supplementary skills to identify non-chaotic life in her area of influence - or the right team around her to identify them in her stead - I don't foresee a good outcome for her mental health in such a situation.
I'm glad we got more lore about Ryada, but i'm still curious about the state of her self-acceptance. As the friendly one, it makes a lot of sense that she would choose a skill that brings nourishment and life to her surroundings, presumably, the flashback was her previous affixation, and it was at least the 2nd affixation as they'd grown more powerful with the skills. If she was truely unhappy with the skill after finding out she was accidentally killing indescriminately, why did she pursue more growth and another binding? Did she go ahead with another binding (at least 3rd), hoping and maybe failing to achieve enough to bind a new facet that gave her more control? did she affix a bit early, syncing up with the squad, and which made her miss out on what she needed? The flashbacks really put into perspective why she was comforted by Alden's letter. He saw her compassion for the things she killed, when her own squad, which seemed to all be trying to bond with her, failed to notice. " I keep finding new pieces to replace what was lost. And there are parts of me I was sure were worse after Thegund—parts I called bad—that don’t bother me much at all now. I believe that some of them may even be strengths I haven’t learned to appreciate yet. " Is she still looking, or does self-loathing clog her veins like stuffing sap
There's no sign Ryada sought out more growth. Knights grow whether they want to or not unless they actively seek out stagnation. Like, stop all magic and try to be at peace with the universe. Skill use means you grow. Spells mean you grow. Spending time in chaos means you grow. And once you've grown enough, you have to affix. If you don't affix, you die. I think this latest was their second affixation, and it sounds to me like they all affixed pretty much simultaneously both times. That means the flashback happened after their first affixation, during their first deployment; she found out she was unhappy with her skill; the second affixation didn't fix what was bothering her. Maybe it *couldn't* fix what was bothering her. Somehow getting better sensitivity and finer targeting would mean she didn't kill healthy animals, but she seemed distressed even about leaving demons to suffer and die slowly. And that's what her skill did; it left behind nests of creatures still dying, long into the night. She could kill them quicker, probably, if she exerted her skill on a smaller area, though it's unclear if she could kill them quick and clean *enough* to be happy with it. But then the social pressure comes into play. The squad moved faster, achieved more, and felt better about themselves when she spread it wide. Probably their mentors even complimented their faster progress.
Ryada's squad messed up, but people are panning them too hard. Spreading her skill wide was Ryada's idea in the first place. She all but lied when Tilliver asked her why she was up late and what was wrong. When they misunderstood what was bothering her and therefore comforted her incorrectly, she shut the whole interaction down instead of explaining. They were stupid and they leaned on her too hard. But they're teenagers; expecting them to be socially perceptive is, uh, optimistic. The default assumption with teenagers is that they're so awash with hormones and changing life circumstances they can barely function (sorry, teenagers, I believe in you!), and that's *before* you throw affixation pain, death marches through chaos, and a new social status that comes with crushing expectations into the mix. It is not any kind of shock that they missed social cues from a person that was actively hiding them. Did they lean on her too hard? 100% yes. Did she refuse every opportunity to stop carrying the entire squad on her back? Also yes. I'm not saying Ryada was to blame. I'm saying they *all* fucked up, including Ryada and possibly the squad's mentors as well.
Well said, and insightfully so.
“I pictured Life to Water being different.” Ryada thought Life to Water would end demons and nourish life. It certainly can do that in a better way than we've seen, or else what was her choosing season for? Quickly ending the suffering of demons and nourishing new life fits perfectly with her compassionate nature. However, it turns out LtW is most tactically efficient when extended to its maximum distance, crippling demons and wildlife alike and leaving them to suffer for hours or days. Convenient for her team but antithetical to her nature. She doesn't hate her skill, she hates the way it's being used. Ryada is experiencing what could have happened to Boe if he had taken the path of letting other people decide how to use his power. Or any Avowed who take classes, skills, or spells they don't like.
Alden needs to take Ryada rathunting in Chicago or seasonal pesthunting in Jatonta. Or just out killing demons specifically, thoroughly, and quickly, one at a time. Refilling her soul by killing things the way she imagined, like a griveck.
Ryada to Jozz: I think that you were one of the cool ones, another member of Team Alden, but I guess you are another Rabbit hater. I'm out.
Jozz: I heard that more loudly than I wished. - unfortunately he still did not listen and does not even try to see his brother’s friend as such. What a lousy person! Ryada appears to he the only one who gets it. The whole Arth family ( not including Alis and the Primary) ought to feel ashamed!
Love the insight into Ryada and her difficulties with her team. It's very clear why she had her breakdown given the lack of support she received from her peers. They were obviously accustomed to leaning on her heavily and never bothered to notice she was buckling under the weight. Her reaction to the golden fenyan was heartbreaking, and her squad's reaction to her breakdown was very telling. None of them are used to giving comfort, only receiving, and they were all too happy to push thing back to the status quo. Perhaps even more disturbing was her conversation with Tilliver. The way he spoke of her made her out to be a commodity that the team coveted more than anything. Calling out Emban on her behavior towards Ryada, when it seemed like he was very much the same. My guess is that he worried that the art'h name would give her priority access on the bond partner they all seemed to want. As if Ryada had no agency of her own. It all makes me wonder about the childhoods of these aspiring knights that grow up in the rapports. They seem to have very intense study and training, but they also seem to be heavily coddled in other ways. Are the only hardships they ever experience those manufactured by their trainers? Because they feel a bit like paper tigers to me. And then we get to the end with Alden! I love seeing the culmination of all the work Alden has put in since Thegund. That kelsithe multi-tool he was given is going to be a gamechanger for him. I foresee a very long thank you letter to the creator in the near future from Alden. And to Bithe for getting it for him. And even after he goes badass on the demon goat hazard mimic, he still turns back for mercy. Even in a training exercise where it's not a real creature, he still turns back. Our boy has grown so much! I can't wait for him to swoop in on the team, collect them in his wake, and all but carry them to their goal. Then the post-scenario breakdown where he says how much fun it was but how it lacked some of the sheer craziness in his gym class. Oh, and Ryada is definitely joining him and Stu, right? They would be perfect teammates for her.
You realize *all* the knights in Vatha Squad were explicitly there looking for an inesvul partner, Ryada included, right? It would be offputting of them to express interest if she'd said she wasn't looking, and iffy if she hadn't said she was looking, but she *was* looking. They all were. And I don't think Tilliver was talking about himself when he said Emban pushing to the front of the line was causing resentment. If I was to guess, I'd say he was thinking of Postor. You know, the one who's currently in a sulking nest, post Ryada revelation, instead of supporting his squad in a group exercise after they failed the first attempt? Whereas Tilliver has in fact been relatively normal, other than snapping after Emban tried to push away the squad's innocent new addition. Tilliver *encouraged* her to voice any preference she might have. *Any* preference. Because what she wanted mattered to him.
Isabella's Monster Truck Rally voice from Phineas and Ferb: W-W-W-WELCOME BACK ONE AND ALL TO RYADA'S RABBIT RECAP! Before the break, Alden separated from ShatteredGlassGriveck and blitzed his way through a valley of hazard mimics pretending to be Chaos-infested mountain goats. While we were gone, he closed some of the distance between him and his Knights, and it seems like he might have just caught a look at the battle. The self-titled Vathas Squad is surrounded and having a tough time of it. Knight Tilliver is out of gas, and it looks like some of the squad's equipment has already been broken by the Chaos. Knight Emban seems to be hitting her stride at last, but will that be enough? OH! Looks like one of the camouflaged ewtwee demons got bored and decided to join in on the fun! That's gotta hurt. If another one like that hits, it's curtains for Knight Divin. And, yup, you can see the ewtwee winding up the pitch now, Knight Bithe doing his best to draw the nearby vathas into a doppelganger to protect his teammate, but it doesn't look like it'll be in time, but WAIT! WHAT'S THIS? IS IT? YES! IT'S RYEH'BT ALDEN WITH HIS KELSITHE SHAPED LIKE A STEEL CHAIR!
Would pay cash to read Alden transforming kelsithe to a folding chair and going to town with it )))
Combo of Alden's plus Seth's skills to make a knight kite: Seth sets the knights (and herself) to float in the air. Alden shapes his kelsithe into a high platform behind him that Seth can sit on/brace against, and runs with his rabbit Earth moving trait to go super rabbit speed. The Knights (held by Seth's skill or by rope, doesn't matter) are tugged through the sky like streamers blowing in the wind. Because Alden is only preserving his kelsithe, the force required to pull them is incidental. The Knights in the air watch for threats, snipe from a distance, or simply rest until a threat moves in. Could be used to transport only the injured, but bonus points if Alden pulls the whole squad at full speed! And there we have it, an Alden-Seth knight kite! Thoughts?
So for those who don't remember, Veln Dad was the guy in chapter 182 who Alden and Stu overheard saying that he still didn't think Stu should be a Knight and it was imperative that they talk him out of it but that it would be a dick move to manipulate Alden into talking Stu out of it. He's also the one talking about realizing later that you missed a bunch of signs leading up to something in this chapter. I HIGHLY doubt he'll figure out Alden essentially is a Knight in all but name (vows only pending, coat kept tailored to him in a vote of confidence from the Mother and all), but I do suspect he's already half realized that talking Stu out of the path of highest onus is a lost cause, that Stu's self-assurance and self-esteem have blossomed under Alden's attentions, and that if he wants to stay in his son's life he'd better start getting to know and getting along with his son's BFF. I suspect he came here largely to root on Emban. I also suspect that he will be leaving realizing he didn't just miss some signs, he missed enough neon to make Vegas pale.
Veln, watching the baby bunny go griveck on some demon goats training dummies: Okay, I know I thought there might be more to Stu's friend. I know I thought he might actually be propping up Stu's decision. I know I realized I may have ignored some signs that Stu's self esteem and self assuredness were sprouting like a weed under his friend's attentions. But damn. There are signs and then there are Signs. Damn.
Edit Suggestions: They haven’t been watching him ever since he stopped above the valley.” ->They haven’t been watching him ever since he stopped above the valley.” (Double Space)
Lucille: “I train to only hurt, so I don’t kill anything” Alden: “I train to only kill, so I don’t hurt anything” When I think of it like that, they’d make a good supervillain team 🤔
Ryada*
Beautiful themeing. Good gods is it hard to read this one week at a time though. I need more!
When we first heard about Ryada leaving the group, i remember them saying a big part of the problem was because she had been holding back her uncertainties or suffering. Which made it sound like she was the one at fault. Here we find out that her team was equally at fault, since they tried to erase her discomfort with her skill when she did actually bring it up. They actually pushed her to silence. Very enlightening.
I wonder if part of the reason they reacted that way was fear. Knights who are unhappy with their skills are probably more likely to return to the trees. For new knights, seeing a teammate having a breakdown over their skill could be terrifying. So they push her to be okay instead of really listening.
Laughter .....and shovel knight rises again!
*deep voice* They Call Him the Grave Digger.
Why do I feel like the only reason Ryada is "confortable" to be so close to others authority is because she hate herself (her skill = herself) so much that feeling anyone else is a reprieve of her hate against herself and what she's becoming. Meanwhile everyone things it's a good connection, while it's more of an escape.
I don't get that impression. She was both open (comfortable) and charming (comforting) *before* she started hating her skill. But that causes its own problems; it's like being the pretty girl who's really not ready to date, yet, even though it sounds like something she'd like to do in the future. In theory. If she could just find that soulmate everyone says she's supposed to have.
Alden needs to find a big stone or small boulder; it would do more damage and be easier to pick up again.
Honestly, just pick up a tree and use it as a big stick to hit people with, gotta bring that Stu energy. :)
You know, this event seems like it would have been a perfect chance to use an instant commendation patch
A Chance To Appreciate the convenience of magical embroidery!
I wonder if the other avowed that are available but not selected for these missions can still watch, I’m sure they’d have some thoughts about Alden
I just noticed that in the back-and-forth of timeframes and points of view, what Alden is doing is described as "now". Except the last bit. Which is "a little while ago". DUN DUN DUN! Foreshadowing! [probably]
It gives context to Ryada saying "they've just written him off, which makes it obvious they barely glanced at him" when that time framenote shows she's already seen him casually take out a demon. It's not theoretical, she knows for a fact that they're wrong.
At some point please have one griveck watch this with a young griveck to study human hunting methods. So far I believe Alden has demonstrated a preference for crawling to sneak up on prey and a conscious decision not to skyline himself against the hills. EDIT: 1. It's very important to me that Jozz spends time watching Alden kill demons alone and learns fear. Ideally, he would grow to suspect that Alden was being trained as a rabbit assassin the same way Alden thought votaries were assassins. 2. If the unnamed wizard is Esh, watching Alden make his way to Bithe, killing demons on the way is probably going to be interesting and explain a lot about how Alden survived A) On Thegund, B) an attack by three stronger avowed and C) carrying Zeridee across an apocalyptic hellscape. I don't imagine Alden's persona is easy to reconcile with those accomplishments. 3. If the other knights ever review Alden's full time during the exercise they're going to be like "The human spent more time than I would have expected in the valley killing goats with a hammer."
I really don't think it's Esh. For one, Esh and Lind are not only famous but the latest hotness. Outsider declared look up to them as role models; they're historic record setters that make even the stodgiest of knights decide there "must be something more" to Esh. It strains credulity to think Ryada wouldn't recognize him. Also, this doesn't sound like Esh's voice to me. There's a bit of the same cadence, but we've seen neither the jokes nor the compassionate insight I associate with Esh. And when Ryada suggested an Avowed was interesting, this knight pushed back, suggesting her squadmates were surely more interesting. If it had been Esh I'd expect to hear, "Oh? An interesting Avowed? Do tell me more."
Yeah for the kelsithe! It's like how Alden imaged his wrapping paper tool but in the moment he needs it.
He really does have super origami now.
Veln-art'h: "It's so disappointing that Stu suddenly decided to become a knight and befriend this...Avowed" Ryada-bess: "-Unexpectedly-“
Veln is such a caring dad... He grows on me in this chapter even more than after the Here-to-there, also as an insightful votary mentor.
The Griveks are going to be so confused once everyone else catches on to the Alden-awesomeness “He’s a Ryeh-b’t, why were you expecting anything else? Ignore them, cub - tell us more of these ‘radishes’. Are they good hunting?”
"The radishes are an endangered species."
Is the Older Knight talking to Ryada Esh-erdi? Twenty years her senior does kind of make sense, but this Rapport is supposed to be his home. Would Ryada not recognize him here? Unless she's not from this Rapport and just got brought in for the chaos training exercise. It would also make sense that a knight of his caliber would be lounging outside and receiving updates directly rather than have to crowd in and watch the battlescreen with the rest of the hangers on. Gosh dang you write these slow burns so nice Sleyca. Fantastic progression.
I believe we've been told that Rapport III has the primary training grounds, so there's no reason particularly to expect Ryada-bess to be a local. On the other hand, there's plenty of older knights out there.
Alden comes back to Anesidora wearing a t-shirt that says: "I participated in a chaos-fighting exercise on Artona I and all I got was this t-shirt. And a LOT of great gear."
i wonder why he chose bludgeoning over piercing. anything with reach is great. big hammer is also a big shield but it does wear him out faster. i guess it’s the safer choice at the very least. maybe a spear would have been more efficient but it also carries more risk in that it could miss. damn his new item is so cool. so many options!
He can't use it as a weapon, it's not what his skill is for. He got around that by dumping a bunch of dirt on it.
Thanks for the chapter!
Wow, this squad's dynamics is so skewed... Tilliver, Emban and Ryada are literally a triangle, no wonder the tension broke out with getting Alden onboard as the last straw. And then they are so egocentric that even the outsider knight who doesn't know what happened on the vatha ship is prompted to ask how they treat that living being they took the responsibility for. A responsibility that remains some childish lip service so far... Ryada the sensitive one was such a bad fit in that squad! To be burdened with being what keeps them together, and everyone leaning on her so much is so unfair it hurts. It's good she got reassigned and this training will give them the opportunity to grow up.
And such a masterful callback to things that grow unseen so early in the story! Ryada's panicking "They live in trees, how did it get here?" after realising that the thing has been slowly dying all night is such a perfect mirror to Alis-art'h realising that her intelligence was incomplete and she nearly squashed two children with her skill...
TFTC!
Alden: I only listen to the mountain goats Jeremy: oh, I love that band! Alden: the what?
I never thought the older knight talking to Ryada was Esh before, but his comments sound just like him. I can now picture him jumping to his feet at Ryada talking about the avowed thinking that sounds just like Alden. Finding trouble again. I must go and see. He saunters into the viewing room, takes one look and calls delightedly. “Lind, you must come.”
I get what you're saying about the way he speaks, but it said he was twenty years older than her, and I've had Emban and Co about 20 or 22 in my head, which would put this Artonan around 40. I don't know how old Esh is, but he refers to Zeridee as the und girl, and she's 60, so I'm thinking he's got to be 80 to 100?
So the shovel… is he planning on digging the goat out of the dirt to mercy kill it? The exam must not be hard enough for him to abandon contemplating mercy lol Even if no one is watching I’m sure Alden notices how well he is doing!
No, I took it as Alden simply reloading.
“At least one of the goats was less intelligent than Winston. He’d seen it fly into a fit of rage against a bush that had done nothing wrong” a) Apparently Winston in Alden’s estimation is likely less smart than the average demon goat b) Even that may be too charitable. Sure, Alden, we’ve never seen Winston fly in a rage at someone that’s done nothing wrong…
Isn't it canon that Winston's sister once did a science fair project "Is my brother dumber than a hamster?"
Special delivery: Dirt in your face
I would really love to see Alden be able to be entrusted abstract burdens in the future - hostility aimed towards him or someone else, distance between people - it feels like there could be lots of room for interesting experimentation at higher levels of power
The more we see these knights together, the more extreme their lack of maturity seems. Them trying to comfort her over the squirrel really just amounted to them invalidating her emotions. She was upset and frustrated about how violent her skill is, and they basically said "You shouldn't feel that way. Actually, we're relying on you to never feel bad about anything, so you're not actually allowed to feel that way."
maybe Artonans really do mature slower than humans
I love Alden's mindset when he gets serious! He is such a cute lil'bun! I'm so hyped for the next chapters! 🥰
Go go! You’ve already got a plan and it’s going well!
Oh that was nice. Ryada's pain growing unseen. Alden growing unseen. Great parallel.
Both of them not being seen until they provide that for each other is great…who supports the one supporting everyone else?
Wait I think this is actually the first confirmation that Veln-art'h was Olorn-art’h's hubby and not wife prior to marrying Jeneth-art'h (the Primary). Previously, all we knew was that the primary had 2 husbands and 4 wives and the following from Chapter 165: "Father’s first marriage contract was with Olorn and Veln, who had been his votaries. The two of them were already committed to each other and planning for children when he finally mentioned that he’d been hoping they would have children with him when they decided to retire from following him to dangerous places. Aunt Alis says she had to talk him into telling them.” and then this: “Years later, he did the same thing again with another votary couple,” said Stuart. “And then the four spouses spent a while finding another pair that suited them and the rest of the household before telling Father he ought to <> them.” So this means either the second couple or third couple were a wife-wife combo. Did Jeneth ever marry Stu's mom (Iella-inwer) or was she excluded from the parent count? It seemed like Stu was a passion baby during their campaign via chapter 163: “My parents fought side by side in that <> every day, cleansing it of corruption. Often, Father rested his mind and recovered in the shelter she made for him with her skill. And whenever they became worn by the struggle, they pleasured one another to remember the brightness of life. I was <> in that way.”
Patreon eating words between the <> symbols is usually annoying, but this one worked pretty well: “then the four spouses spent a while finding another pair that suited them and the rest of the household before telling Father he ought to <> them.”
So, the older knight and Ryada scene had the sun setting. Alden left Anesidora on Saturday morning. There's been TWO nights on Artona I now. It's got to be well into the small hours Monday, and Ignacio's been stood up. Or, Alden gets a call from Lute asking if he'll make it back in time...
By my napkin math, with various assumptions (and a spreadsheet), it will be midnight-ish in Anesidora at rapport 3 sunrise. so monday morning coursing class will be around lunchtime? Edit: my soup math https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ygo4kVuw6w-BjkBgZJ76hjXvkbe7YdCiUpKfrl3qy94
I really don't think Emban is compatible with Ryada after reading this chapter. I think she needs someone more perceptive to balance out her masking. Like how can emban be the one to find the dying creature and then not see how devastated Ryada was by it?
It's striking to me that the person Ryada finally told seems to have been the one squad member more interested in being her family than her soulmate. I don't think that rules out Emban growing into being a good match for Ryada, but I do think it's a clear sign that Emban would have a heck of a lot of growing to do to catch up.
Jozz (thinks): Well, let's see what kind of a mess this dead weight that's attached himself to my brother is in. Jozz: H'mm.
Jozz, who used to be on Sina's squad, who used to be the one waiting for Sina to carve her way through to him: !
Holy shit. This kid is going full badass. "Once the lab was gone, you ran or you died. You ran until you died. For Kibby. For his entruster. "
That’s the kind of conviction I want my son to develop. Sometimes a thing must be done no matter the consequence.
Thanks for the chapter! This was amazing. Ryada is amazing... The reason everyone loves her, in part, is because she shields others from her grief/problems and is a wonderful person to boot. I wish she could find a way to make Life to Water her own. Or a partner who can preserve the life she wants to protect. Let’s not make Ryada widen the effect of her skill, please. Veln’s words were incredibly on point. Crazy how Ryada’s sections were relatively small compared to Alden’s but seem to have more impact. That being said, it’s awesome to see everything coming together for Alden here. Thanks again.
Ryada's burden of being gifted at ushering life into death to become ingredients for new life would be eased if she practiced sensing Life so acutely that she could tell which Life was corrupted and which Life should be protected instead.
Ryada could learn to use her skill like Alden playing Three-Fingered Thief, knifing through a crowd of living, moving beings to cut out only a single color of life out of a rainbow present.
Joining an intergalactic peacekeeping force, check. Acquiring an item capable of creating any shape he can imagine, check. Using it effectively as a giant hammer, check. Alden is becoming Green Lantern.
Lmao I keep thinking this too, especially with the new show. He’s like a baby Green Lantern - or perhaps a Blue Lantern
If only Ryada-bess could bond with someone who could help channel her power more precisely. Along a Narrow Way of some kind.
Oooh. That is interesting
I feel for Ryada. Shes so clearly struggling with the harm her skill does to other living things, yet her squad fails to see she's lying when she says "I'm fine". They say she keeps them all sane, not realizing that leaves her feeling like she cant confide in them because they expect her to be unshakeable.
The ones who keep telling people they're fine are generally the ones who aren't.
Once the lab was gone, you ran or you died. You ran until you died. This is why Alden will succeed where others have given up. He has already made the choice to sacrifice everything he has is pursuit of whatever goal he is seeking. Heck, he's done it twice already. With that mindset he focuses everything he is capable of on the problems in front of him. It's not something most people can do.
He generally experiences a lot of growth when in this mindset. It'll be interesting to see if this causes him to push even further before his affixation
"I saw you folding the kooba skins, and I won’t presume to know what it meant to you, but in watching your action I recognized a weakness in my own compassion that I will try to make better." And Alden changed his dream of empowerment to ensure he could be strong enough to give his enemies the mercy of a cleaner kill instead of flee with them dying in agony behind him. And now here he is, with Ryada watching him closely from afar, and he's killing only the fake demons he *must* kill to win his way through to rescue his entruster. Like a sudden image of Sina, stronger when she was fighting through to what she most wanted to protect. Between receiving the authority to bear a burden, and accepting it, between committing his authority to join his entruster's in owning and protecting his burden and implementing that follow through, Alden is embracing being Bearer. Nothing is held back; there is only the will and the willingness to follow through on what he has practiced. The boy with the bright smile is also the young man who knows what he is willing to sacrifice to protect the one he chooses to serve.
This chapter also shows why Alden's letter hit Ryada so hard. Her own squad didn't really get her turmoil even when she told them, but Alden picked up on the essence of it just from watching her fold some blankets.
Thank you for the wonderful chapter. I really look forward to seeing what happens next.
Alden is doing SO well!!! I am so proud! Stu is going to be so proud! Esh is going to be impossible to live with!
I am so excited. I am so with Alden, running across the valley. I hear the song from Mulan playing, ”let’s get down to business! To defeat… the demon goats!”
Alden going to fly completely under the radar only for Ryada to quietly submit his valley actions to some kind of after-action highlight reel
Maybe her attention will make the older knight take a closer look, too. I sure hope Alden gets noticed for his actions. I am glad Bith is his entruster, that wasthe best possible pairing because they at least met before and have learned to respect each other..
I hurt for Ryada. She never wanted to leave even demons dying slowly. Her teammates don't understand her deeply enough to get how devastating it is to her.
Yeah and it really goes to show how one sided the compatibility emban feels towards her is. Like she just sees how Ryada makes her feel and not how Ryada is or how to help her through this transition
"“Should they be watching that Avowed as much as they watch our brothers and sisters?” he asked" -> I'm surprised there aren't more Avowed talent scouts watching here.
By the mentions of the list of avowed to pick from, I think they're already pre-vetted and have chaos experience. It's probably very unusual to know and invite a non-list avowed
Too bad the other knights aren't paying enough attention to Alden to notice what he's up to. I'm pleased Ryada is indignant.
I like that Ryada has at least one eye on Alden even though her team is in peril!
“I have heard that more loudly than I liked,” Jozz said. “I’ll check on him?” -> Jozz slowly being converted to team Alden for the love of Stu
That's such a passive aggressive way of saying "so what" jozz doesn't care to see why Alden is Stu's friend he only said he'd look cuz Ryada was maybe after seeing Alden in action he'll get closer to their side but I'm not very hopeful
I'm excited to see Alden take on a demon (hazard mimic)! Looks like it might have survived the first engagement. Will he finish it off before it gets up?
I think it's heavily implied that he did.
*whole-body wriggle of delighted anticipation!*
Suddenly vs. unexpectedly is a useful piece of philosophical failure analysis advice!
What a metal chapter. Half of my heart is with Ryada and how no one in her squad could see how devastating it was to her to not have finer control over what she was killing. Other half of my heart is with Alden getting to charge through a scary place he chose to be in. You can really tell how far he's come.
Well, they did see her suffering and they did try to share her burden. It just didn't work because she could tell that they weren't sincerely feeling the weight of it. Hmm...
Lol, nobody expecting anything of Alden, followed by him absolutely plowing through a valley full of 'demons' is VERY satisfying. :) I was hoping we would get a 'badass Alden' moment, but I didn't know how realistic it would be. I am pleasantly surprised.
This is the “Luke shows up dressed in black being a badass saving his friends after some incomplete training” part of the journey “Return of the Jedi, er Rabbit” was foreshadowing during the coursing arc.
I’m loving Alden’s super focused mode as he strives to reach Bithe. He’s becoming more aligned with his skill as he runs — that bodes well for some kind of breakthrough in the next few chapters I’m disappointed only Ryada seems to be paying attention to Alden — but I’m also loving the backstory into her own struggles. I want for her to join Alden and Stu’s squad. Almost like this is an audition just for her
Honestly, I think Ryada and Alden have passed the point of needing an audition. I mostly worry about Stu. I want to say that if Alden surviving the moon started his journey to being a badass, how much more would being born in the chaos make someone badass... But that could just be wishful thinking. Not everything you survive makes you stronger...
This chapter is so exciting! I really really can't wait for the young knights' POV when Alden comes charging up their hill, bloody spade in hand and fire in his eyes.
Likely we’ll see the older knights’ reactions to that first, and I’m really, really, really looking forward to it.
Getting to see what Life to Water is!!!! I love the comparison of Alden and chaos and Ryada all being “unexpected.” Alden performs better than expected because he has his own path he wishes to walk. Ryada is too good at making people comfortable to alarm people when she is doing terribly. Chaos takes what is expected and makes it unexpected, and yet it is like magic except that the change is caused from someone’s intentions rather than unwilled.
Ugh. “They’re never going to stop” in reference to how she will never not hear the sounds of life fading away with her skill????? Oh boy. Poor Ryada. (I guess she used a tool to hear the voices, but still it’s a consequence of her ability). She’s just rot and decomposition without the new life that is brought forth. And inexperience with her skill can cause that to affect any life? Yeah. Try to find a peaceful relationship with erasing too much for the good of the future. What a burden to bear
Veln-art'h is here to witness Alden's run to save his squad.
If only someone was paying attention! I hear you, Ryada-bess.
goddamn when Alden moves he fuckin *moves*
I feel like a run this dramatic deserves an action movie soundtrack
A theme from almost the first arc of Soup has been what it means to be supportive, and what the costs are of being TOO supportive even to one’s own detriment. From an objective viewpoint, I really love Ryada-Bess’ part in exploring those themes. But as an involved reader, it scares the heck out of me as to what it might mean for her
I’m just hoping that she becomes Alden and Stu’s squad mate down the line. I think that that would be the best outcome for her short term. She needs people around her who know what it means to look into the Abyss (metaphorically) and decide to still keep going.
Delicious.
Fun stuff! Can't wait for the next few chapters. Uber competent and helpful alden will be very fun to see
Perhaps not uber, unexpectedly competent?
Work 101, straight to shovel.
yeah everyone who though alden wasnt going to be a badass to the rescue here is in for a mountian of dissurprisement :D
unexpectedation
Yessss! Backstory on ryada's issue with her skill, Alden being awesome... Jozz being jozz
Someday I will get jazzed about Jozz. Maybe witnessing Alden's moment of awesome here turn into multiple moments of awesome will spark a change for him.
Ryada 🥹
Not quite the magic trebuchet we've been hoping for but we're getting there!
He's got the 90kg, he just needs to work on the 300m and then he's there!
Ryada continues to be amazing, and Jozz is now really starting to bother me.
Yeah, though to be fair, Jozz only really “knows” Alden from the second hand accounts of his family. 😑 Edit: I hope he takes this opportunity to get to know him.
Alden should consider picking up the rope dart. Seems pretty applicable with his current execution style. I'd call it a fighting style, but his enemies don't stand enough of a chance to call it a 'fight'.
I am delighted ryada is keeping an eye on mother’s favorite avowed.
Ryada realizing the innocent casualties of her skill must have been quite a harrowing moment. The knowledge that all her sacrificed potential was not just turned into a weapon, but an indiscriminant one.
I can see the poetry that initially spoke to her. Taking what was corrupt, and turning it into something pure for new growth. But the reality right now, especially before it has had time to grow alongside her into something she is aligned with...
Quite the thing to be reading whilst enjoying a goat curry
I really like Ryada. Poor thing was overwhelmed by how everyone wanted to bond with her, and by how dissatisfied she was with her skills effect. Alden really did make a good impression on her. Maybe she just pays better attention? Anyway, I hope he helps her find a balance within her self and her skill.
moreover, she was pushing herself to use it in ways that would make her less satisfied in order to keep up squad morale. it sounds like if she increases range, she sacrifices damage. still enough to incapacitate, not enough for a clean kill.
Our sneaky rabbit is going under most people’s radar… but not everyone’s. I wonder what ripples this might cause?
I was thinking this! They were expecting Alden to fold at the first real problem, while his vibe is 'hmmm... I can't hit as hard as I did in school, but it'll work. It's not like this is as hard as some of my lessons'. It makes me wonder if the average knight doesn't really understand the potential of their human avowed. Most of Alden's classmates would have done better than their knights in training with this exercise, and it's purely wasteful to not have young avowed there training right alongside the young knights--especially the ones in hero training.
Holy shit lets go Alden. What a satisfying read. Loved all the lessons he learned being verbalized, that all these choices were earned and thought out.
Not me chanting 'Let's go Alden let's go!' for that last portion.
Pay no attention to the quiet Rabbit going to rescue the Knights.
Woop
Your name- your is a masterpiece..! I wish I had thought of it first, since I am also a super Super Supportive supporter. In my mind, sometimes, I am even the super superest super supportive supporter.
What the freak?
Clarify?
Yeeees. They are seeing Alden be awesome.
Well, strictly speaking, only Ryada is seeing Alden be awesome. The rest will realise in hindsight. Alden is growing unseen.
holy moly!
Bedtime chapter, yay!
And what a chapter. Alden quietly doing his thing, all his experience and practise and new gear coming together... So satisfying. So brave. Bearing the burden of finding his entrusted back. I'm glad Bithe is the entruster. Bithe has grown on me. And more Ryada ! Observing. Noticing Alden. Noticing how people overlook the avowed. Alden's going to be an agent of change in the societal structures I think. Nuff said I have to read this again now.
Thanks for the chapter!
Midnight snack, I love it
Midnight soup! Eeeeep I’m so excited to read this! ⸜( ˶>ᴗ<˶)⸝♡
Lets go!!
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu (due to my lack of self control, I'll have to drop everything rn and read this)
Awww, not fast enough for first. Good soup.
Bithe thought he was acquiring a mutable archaic shield Little did he know he was unleashing Winsterminator 2.0. Admittedly I was picturing more “form of Wolverine claws” over “shovel”, but Alden’s way is probably more in line with his training/skill (and summons fewer lawyers) Ryada is literally going to see him learning her lesson of compassion to his enemies, and that’s awesome.
I think Alden already learned that when he was changing his dream fight against the demon Boka thingie when he wanted to put it down quickly instead of causing it pain
Soup time!
Awesome, so excited for this chapter. Thanks, Sleyca!
Thanks for the chapter.
Morning soup!
TYFTC!