THREE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN: What Grows Unseen VIII
Next Chapter: October 15 (updated)
All over the observation station, eyes and thoughts turned to catch what was happening to different squads of their Mother Planet’s knights. Errors and breakthroughs, victories and defeats of all magnitudes, magic old and new.
“I like nights like this,” said one votary to another as they dawdled under a waxy white image of the last ewtwee who was left playing the role of a demon. The Avowed’s two long tails curled and uncurled behind her as she ran. Her magic drew in boulders, lost weapons, and even the ejected seat of a flyer and then hurled them all at her pursuers before pulling the objects back toward her again. “Seeing our younger ones striving and experimenting without the fear they’ll find on other worlds gives me hope.”
“May all of them be here to impress us even more in the coming years,” the woman with him said. “We reach farther into the dark than we have since you and I were at the end of our own choosing seasons.”
“Maybe the dark won’t be so bad this time.”
“History may disagree with you, but I won’t until I have to. Get yourself into the alcove and home to your family.”
“I’m going. Tell young Bithe I’m proud of him if you see him. From smuggling himself into the Rapport to this! They should have him up here instead of the ewtwee right now, don’t you think? I suppose his power doesn’t show off quite as well in this style of art, though.”
He brushed the white wall with a hand, then turned to say something else to his companion. His lips paused as he saw a young wizard with a half-bald head striding past.
“The Primary’s youngest,” he said quietly, after Stu-art’h had entered a lift and disappeared.
“I saw him too.”
“Still a declared.”
“That’s so.”
“It is…worrying for such an adoring father to leave his son unsettled in that way.”
The woman’s breath entered in a rush and then left slowly. “Some thoughts are better left unspoken. Jeneth-art’h ensures the next important work against chaos begins with his hand on the hilt. His sense of duty doesn’t wane. That is good to say. Why he goes now instead of waiting a little longer on his son…you and I aren’t close enough to their hearts to speculate.”
“Some would disagree with you and say that the hearts of the art’h family belong to the Triplanets more than to themselves. But I won’t. It was good to observe a busy night on the training fields with you, my friend.”
“And with you, my friend.”
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Most of the mouse demons were weak, but some were more stubborn than others. There was one in particular that refused to be mesmerized, burned, or shot. It would respond to Driftseed for a second or two, then fall to the ground.
Although ground itself seemed to be a questionable reality for it. Alden, positioned to guard Bithe’s back from any chaotic fragments that might interrupt him, saw the mouse scurry through the air more than once.
All it cared about was getting to the noisy treat mouse, and Seth was using that against it. She scampered around burning demons, sometimes seeming to dance through the air herself as she encouraged the strong mouse to run over lesser ones in its hurry to catch her.
After a while, the ground in front of Tilliver formed a knee-high mouse sculpture, standing on its back feet with an alert-looking tail and ears. Whatever he’d taken from the stubborn mouse in the process weakened it enough. It vanished in a flash as Bithe’s skill was finally able to take hold of it.
The Vatha Lantern was the star of this show. Only fifteen or so minutes after the distress calls of the mouse in the bottle had brought the very first attackers to them, Alden and the others found themselves without much to do. He stayed on the alert, shielded kelsithe at the ready, but nothing was striking it. No demons seemed to be getting close to them at all anymore.
Not visually, and not through his other senses.
“It’s all right if you want to relax,” said Seth, coming over to Alden with their bottled mouse still making a racket in her hand. “He’s at his best, and he seemed to want you to see that.”
Bithe was quiet. Alden looked at him.
His eyes were open, blinking slowly. His expression wasn’t strained. Or even focused. He looked calm.
In the direction he was facing, there were flashes of silver light, and as Alden slowly turned, he saw more of them all around. The feeling of Bithe himself was different. He’d become a signpost to Alden tonight, but now, even though he was doing more with his authority, he felt less available to wizard-style sensing. As if he’d dispersed. Yet the sense Alden had of his entruster as The Bearer of All Burdens hadn’t changed at all.
It made for such a strange contrast.
“I don’t know if I’m saying this right,” said Alden. “But there’s something peaceful about this. The way he’s doing it. It’s not what it looked like earlier with the demons on the ridge.”
This is not how I imagined monsters burning to death would be.
“It’s because this is a situation he’s much more suited for. Have you ever seen a vatha lantern?”
“I’ve seen lanterns and vathas.”
Seth shook her head. “No, I mean the kind people used to use…you wouldn’t have, would you? Give me one end of your rope, and jump really hard. I’ll drift you. It will be easier to see from above. And it’s worth seeing. Bithe chose his skill very well.”
With the biggest jump his legs could muster and a favorable breeze, Alden got surprisingly far up on the first try. He rose like a dandelion seed above Demon Goat Valley, tethered only by his grip on the rope. When he turned his night vision off, he couldn’t make out the squad below him well at all. But he could see all the flares of light. Three or five or ten at once, there and then gone. Small as fireflies or zansees from this distance.
He didn’t have to watch for long to see that Bithe’s kill range was expanding. Tougher or luckier mice were making it closer to the squad than others, but the trend of flashes was moving outwards across the valley. The mousetrap, as Alden would probably think of it every time he looked back on this night, had been widespread.
It took him longer to notice the war whistles had almost stopped. He wondered if he was just too far away to hear, but since the demons that did whistle every now and then weren’t all that faint, he thought it was actually Bithe’s doing.
A mesmerized vatha isn’t afraid of the lantern. And if the mice are truly being mesmerized, they can’t stay in fight mode. They’re demons, so the chaos interferes with his magic on some of them, but the ones from farther away have spent a longer time under his influence than the closer ones did. What’s there to scream about while you’re going toward something you want?
A cluster of more than a dozen burned silently and instantly. They were so far away from where Bithe stood. Could he cover the whole valley if he had enough time?
I understand, thought Alden.
I know what kind of knight he’ll be when he’s strong. It’s mass killing, but he doesn’t want to be cruel.
The grass wasn’t even burning around the mice he killed.
Many years from now, Bithe would stand like he was here, with the same soft look on his face, and every demon suffering on a corrupted world would have a final moment like this. He’d become the lantern for them. And maybe they’d feel their species’s version of curiosity. Purpose. Even something like peace. Whispers of the normal life they’d once had.
Then an end in light.
I was someone who could have become a demon. If my life had taken different turns. If Earth had lost the Contract before I was born. Esh-erdi even mentioned it.
The thought hit him in an unexpected way, its strength magnified by where he was and what he was doing.
Look where I am instead. The crazy turns my life took instead. The path of highest onus is the right decision. I don’t know why it was so hard. I can’t believe I agonized over whether or not to let people like Bithe and Stuart do this job alone when I can help.
He scrubbed his eyes. It was just some emotional eye water, not proper crying, but he was very aware that he was sinking toward the ground, where the Artonans would be able to see his face again.
These aren’t even real demons. They’re going to think I’m someone who gets like this over broken hazard mimics. Why can’t these expensive lenses delete a few tears?
He blessed the breeze that arrived to carry him upwards again. He had time to breathe because of it.
And he didn’t mind watching Bithe’s skill for a while longer.
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Atop the station, flyers arrived and departed. People rarely waited for them, but there was a space for waiting anyway. When Vayeerd-und’h’s flyer landed, he stepped out of the vehicle and through a curtain of floating shell beads that formed one of the walls of the waiting area, his eyes on his interface instead of his surroundings as thousands of beads shifted to allow him through without touching him. He wore his uniform, though he favored a coat that hung down to his ankles instead of the shorter style that was more popular these days. His braid, purple as the night’s edge, stopped at his hips so that the long tail could fan out behind him like a broom.
“We heard you might be coming,” said a voice from across the room. “And then I felt you coming and came up here to have you all to myself. I’m glad to see you whole and healthy, Vayeerd-und’h. It’s been a few years.”
He stopped abruptly. “Lind-otta,” he said as he turned to face her.
The chair she sat in was the only occupied seat in the room. It rocked itself below her.
“Not as healthy as you could be,” she corrected herself. “You look like you haven’t slept enough tonight.”
“Binding was a few days ago. My first in a while. And I prefer to take care of all the trouble I can while I’m home anyway.”
“What trouble is there here?” she asked with a smile.
“Not very much. First, there’s a squad I’d like to have a few words with. Too inexperienced to summon in the first place and then mishandling the Avowed in every way. It happens almost every time we have these training battles for the younger…”
She was shaking her head. “That’s not a problem. Not a problem for you, certainly.”
“If it’s not a problem, then how do you know which squad I’m talking about?”
“That squad will have more advice than they need as it is. Esh and me, the art’hs, and all the normal voices for this kind of thing.”
“My voice may have something different to contribute.”
She shook her head some more.
His mouth opened in astonishment. “Lind-otta! You’ve earned the quirks of an elder thrice over, but I’m no child. You didn’t really wait up here to tell me I couldn’t advise newling knights! My own daughter’s their age.”
“I’m sure you have advice that many here would appreciate. But that Avowed is our guest.”
“What? He’s with the art’hs. The Quaternary’s misplaced Ryeh-b’t. Involved with that…niece of mine in an incident on Anesidora. I looked him up.”
“He saved Zeridee-und’h’s life. She made it somewhat hard on him.”
He blew through loose lips. “That doesn’t surprise me. She wanted to want to be a knight, but she was afraid. Now she wants to want to be ordinary class. She thinks herself into cages, then stares at everything through the bars.”
“She’s a hardworking young woman.”
“Of course. She’s an und’h. And as addicted to magic an any und’h ever has been…that’s her struggle to bear alone unless she decides to slink back home. It’s fine if the Avowed is your guest. I wasn’t going to talk to him anyway.”
“But you were going to talk to our little path siblings about him, which doesn’t combine well with all the work my busy Esh has done to make him feel welcome here in our Rapport.”
“Welcome? He doesn’t need to feel welcome here.”
“We disagree. And there’s enough land here for you to keep your opinion and us to keep ours without too much trouble, don’t you think?”
Vayeerd-und’h seemed to swell briefly.
Lind-otta watched him without a flicker of disturbance.
“Teach him to listen to orders from knights in battle at least,” said Vayeerd, flicking his fingers out in a gesture of release.
“Did I say we wouldn’t?”
“You will?” he looked surprised.
“Did I say we would?”
“Why is a knight my age being pestered by someone of your dignity over a Ryeh-b’t when I’ve come here to volunteer my time as a mentor?” he exclaimed. “Has some vine of madness sprouted in the heart of the Rapport? Or is this a dream for the mind healers to analyze?”
She crossed her hands in her lap. The chair was still rocking. “You must let elders pester you until you’re old enough to be called one yourself. Esh and I rescued Alden Thorn. We have taken an interest in his introduction to the Triplanets, his recovery, and his happiness. So we can also handle making suggestions to the squad he’s with right now. That squad has significant involvement from the art’hs, too, since Emban-art’h is a member. We’ve all given successful advice to young knights before, but you’re one too many tonight. They’ve had struggles with each other more serious than what you’re worried about with Alden anyway. Let them be.”
“I’m not going to fight to talk to five children I don’t properly know if you’ve gathered them into your arms, Lind-otta.”
“My arms are full.”
He nodded slightly. “It was…odd to meet you like this. I’ll be on my way. I assume I’m allowed to talk to the others I’ve made note of? Did you see the one who lost a hand trying to defend a griveck he summoned? He and the griveck aren’t in your arms, too?”
“Shall I grab them up?”
He turned.
“Vayeerd-und’h,” she said. “You are a knight true to your oaths. I know you do your best for our people. Must you despise the Avowed you summon to do it?”
“No,” he said. “But I can’t agree with anyone who doesn’t see them for what they have to be. Especially now, Lind-otta. It’s in a matter of days. The first stage of the unsealing.”
“It is.”
“Avowed are shields,” he said without looking back at her. “A shield that is loved isn’t a good shield anymore. We should respect them enough to make them strong. And we should not hesitate to place them where their breaking will buy us any change at all from this never-ending war. Dying for the hedonists of our own species is bad enough, don’t you think?”
“I am the best knight I know how to be,” he said as he walked away. “The votaries are already training several Avowed for my daughter, Zelwin. She stands between chaos and the worlds those Avowed come from. Let them stand between it and her, in whatever way they can. If she weeps when they die, then I’ve failed as a father.”
“May her days be as long as mine have been,” said Lind.
He entered a lift on the other side of the room.
When he was gone, Lind spun her seat around and said, “He didn’t notice you stepping out of the lift yourself a moment ago. I must have perturbed him even more than he showed.”
Stu-art’h had been standing against the wall. Not hidden, only quiet.
“He didn’t congratulate you on your esvulgivnas.”
“Is that really what you noticed?” she asked.
Stu took a few steps toward her. “My own family has disappointed me too deeply tonight for a stranger’s words…”
She didn’t prompt him to say more. Eventually, he walked all the way to her chair and bowed. “There’s a squad on its way to rescue Alden and the others,” he said. “They don’t know it yet, but some of the groups near theirs have finally managed to get information flowing as it should. When he comes off the field, I don’t want anyone to bother him with this…all of this. I was looking for you or Esh-erdi so that I could make sure everything had been taken care of. I could sense you up here. I think he must be in one of the private conference rooms.”
“He is,” she said. “With Azeeda-und’h and her hoped-for one. They’re just chatting about personal matters now.”
“Thank you for helping with this.”
“He is our guest.” She swept her eyes up and down over Stu. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. No. I just want…” He took a deep breath. “I just want to treat Alden like everyone else will be treated after everything they accomplished tonight. And then I want to go contemplate. I’ll have to sleep and go to school somehow too.”
“That does sound like enough for now,” said Lind.
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Alden had mixed feelings about being rescued.
Not running anymore was an important goal for him. But the big, shiny flyer showed up about two minutes after they’d made it out of Demon Goat Valley and to the less red chaos zone he’d promised everyone. They’d started laying out all the comm earrings he’d been preserving in the pattern that was supposed to make them enhance one another’s efficacy so that they could send a clear message calling for help.
It was like someone had stolen the last step of the plan from them. And his chance to see how to make the comm equipment do that trick.
The others looked up at the gleaming flyer like it was a descending miracle, though. And as soon as he sat down in a clean, cushiony seat, he wanted to become one with it. There was an exhausted guy onboard who the squad said was Forduan.
Alden was surprised someone who must have just been picked up from his own field minutes ago was sleeping while the flyer landed in another place to collect younger knights in distress.
But after Alden drank a bottle of water from the storage onboard, he closed his eyes for what felt like a second, and woke up half an hour later to find the flyer had picked up two more people he didn’t know and landed at the staging area. So he wouldn’t be judging Forduan after all.
“What now?” he asked Bithe, as they walked down the ramp together. “Are we done?”
“We report everything to the votaries here, and then we’re done,” said Bithe. “Be detailed! Anything you mention becomes information that can be accessed by other people participating in the simulation.”
By the time Alden was finished talking about everything that had happened— first alone with his own dedicated votary asking questions and then with the whole squad together—the sun was up. Their quest was officially over. The others were around him as they headed out to the normal, local flyer that would be waiting for them. They were all trudging but smiling. The squad would need to decide whether they wanted to keep the treat they’d earned for their own use on Goldbush or trade it for some other luxury object that another squad had. There would be a bartering event especially for that.
The mouse would be researched until the end of the simulation, as if it were a real unique demon they’d found. And then, hopefully, Alden was going to get to have it. He’d mentioned how much his cat would like the fancy toy enough times for everyone to get the hint.
“I’m glad I saw your boat coming down the river,” he said as they exited the turtle-shell shaped shelter. “I would have missed out on something important if I hadn’t.”
“You did well,” said Emban.
They’d all been complimenting him and each other a lot.
“Alden!”
Alden’s head jerked up at the sound of his name. “Stuart! What are you doing here? And Ryada-bess! Hi!”
Emban and the others were all hurrying toward Ryada, too.
Alden beat them there. He and Stuart launched into something that was enthusiastic but too disjointed to be called a conversation.
“We brought k’rethkan,” said Stuart.
“I got a kelsithe! Bithe got it for me. Look at what I can do with it.”
“Do you enjoy the lenses? You did a good job of applying the plates.”
“How long have you been here?”
“There’s plenty of meat petal.”
“I’m so happy you were watching!”
“You must be tired.”
“I’m incredibffmmm..incredi…tired. This k’rethkan is too good. Hold on.” Alden finished shoving a hot, crispy k’rethkan into his mouth, then licked his fingers.
Divin was already reaching into one of the tiffin containers they’d brought for seconds.
“May I talk to you in private?” Stuart asked after Alden had grabbed his own second piece. “In the flyer?”
Alden realized there were two of the bubble-shaped flyers behind Stuart. The one the squad had asked for and the one he and Ryada must have arrived here in.
“Okay.”
Alden followed him into one of the bubbles. He collapsed onto a seat while Stuart did something to the controls to make the bubble opaque.
“You really meant private.”
Stuart stood in front of him instead of sitting down.
He looks almost as worn out as I feel, Alden realized.
“Sorry for getting up to something like this right after you left for school. I hope you weren’t worried?”
“I’m so proud of you,” said Stuart. “Your performance was your best, and your effort was extraordinary.”
Alden felt his own smile trying to break the bounds of his face. “You saw a lot then?”
“I saw almost everything. I saw how you found the treat. I knew what you were doing.”
“You did?”
“I could tell. I’m very…I’m proud,” Stuart said again. “May I hug you?”
“Sure. Of course.”
He stood up so that it wouldn’t be an awkward sitting-standing hug.
Stuart’s arms wrapped around him immediately. Alden returned it.
“I could probably use a bath right now,” said Alden, giving him his most subtle authority pat to go with the hug. “Sorry about that.”
“You’re going to be a knight,” said Stuart, his arms tightening.
“That’s the plan.”
“A great one. I know it.”
“Stuart, are you okay?”
“We just have to build it even taller than I thought,” Stuart said. “The tower.”
The tower…the confidence tower…the tower that shows everyone else who we want to be.
Someone must have said something bad to him?
“That’s all right,” said Alden.
Stuart’s next words were a surprise. “Eeaner-ket was here earlier. He says I should invite you to the party.”
“The LeafSong party? Really. That sounds…”
“I almost refused for you,” said Stuart. “I don’t think you would like it.”
“You don’t even think you’re going to like it,” Alden pointed out.
“I have to try. He’s started saving the klerms.”
Comments (374)
'All over the observation station, eyes and thoughts turned to catch what was happening to different squads of their Mother Planet’s knights.' :D '“History may disagree with you, but I won’t until I have to.' :) 'Although ground itself seemed to be a questionable reality for it. Alden, positioned to guard Bithe’s back from any chaotic fragments that might interrupt him, saw the mouse scurry through the air more than once.' Hmm 'After a while, the ground in front of Tilliver formed a knee-high mouse sculpture, standing on its back feet with an alert-looking tail and ears. Whatever he’d taken from the stubborn mouse in the process weakened it enough. It vanished in a flash as Bithe’s skill was finally able to take hold of it.' :D 'but now, even though he was doing more with his authority, he felt less available to wizard-style sensing. As if he’d dispersed. Yet the sense Alden had of his entruster as The Bearer of All Burdens hadn’t changed at all.' :) 'The mousetrap, as Alden would probably think of it every time he looked back on this night, had been widespread.' :) 'The grass wasn’t even burning around the mice he killed.' :) 'He’d become the lantern for them. And maybe they’d feel their species’s version of curiosity. Purpose. Even something like peace. Whispers of the normal life they’d once had. Then an end in light' :) 'Why can’t these expensive lenses delete a few tears?' :) '“We heard you might be coming,” said a voice from across the room. “And then I felt you coming and came up here to have you all to myself. I’m glad to see you whole and healthy, Vayeerd-und’h. It’s been a few years.” He stopped abruptly. “Lind-otta,” he said as he turned to face her.' >:) 'The chair she sat in was the only occupied seat in the room. It rocked itself below her.' >:D '“We disagree. And there’s enough land here for you to keep your opinion and us to keep ours without too much trouble, don’t you think?”' >:) '“Did I say we wouldn’t?” “You will?” he looked surprised. “Did I say we would?”' >:) "It’s in a matter of days. The first stage of the unsealing.” “It is.”" Hmmmmm '“He is,” she said. “With Azeeda-und’h and her hoped-for one. They’re just chatting about personal matters now.”' :D 'Alden had mixed feelings about being rescued.' :) 'So he wouldn’t be judging Forduan after all.' ha 'And then, hopefully, Alden was going to get to have it. He’d mentioned how much his cat would like the fancy toy enough times for everyone to get the hint.' :D '“We brought k’rethkan,” said Stuart.' HA 'The tower…the confidence tower…the tower that shows everyone else who we want to be. Someone must have said something bad to him?' :) '“I almost refused for you,” said Stuart. “I don’t think you would like it.” “You don’t even think you’re going to like it,” Alden pointed out. “I have to try. He’s started saving the klerms.”' :) Thank you for the chapter :D
I belive I've forgotten something important about Lind and Esh? Was Esh coupling with Lind basically like a genius mid-twenty guy courting a 70 year old war hero?
Something like that. I think it came up when Alden and Stuart were hanging out in the old ruins. Something about Esh and Lind having the greatest gap in raw strength, strength that comes with age, of any pair of knights that have made the soul bond work. Lind also kinda hinted at it during the Snow arc when she mentioned that in the past she'd had to wait for Esh to work through feeling guilty for things that weren't his fault and how she was too old to wait for Alden to do the same. That definitely had an older partner in an age gap romance vibe to it, even though I know it's not romantic in that way.
Since we are waiting for the soup, I have a question that I hope will tantalize our taste buds. What moment do you think is the exact moment that alden and stu began to weave a friendship with. I'll go first, I believe it is the moment where alden called himself a prick. We have been shown that whenever stuart is angry at someone his most desired wish is their acknowledgement of wrong doing. I think that is the first time in a very long time, if not ever, that a person has acknowledged their wrong doing when it comes to interacting with Stuart.
I think they each started weaving during their time apart. I think a kindred spirit connection was made. For Stu, he felt supported in his initial assessment when standing in the hall, Alden said that his honor was his own. Alden held onto his lucky wizard foot and it became somewhat of a touchstone for him. But I think he felt more than just being nice when he met other Alden. I think he felt what she meant. That he was mourned and missed and special to someone.
I found a fun little paragraph way back in 289: “But a knight or an Avowed sent officially into chaos would have better equipment than this, he told himself as he approached the starting line. An actual shield of some sort that then gets double protected by my skill? A morphable one. Something light as air and big as a shed. So if I’m preserving some random little thing in a bag like this, I’m probably not doing it primarily for my protection or Stuart’s.”
> “I am,” said Alden. “I’m just deciding how it’s going to be.”
Ever since dawn after the Submerger murder-suicide incident, I imagine Esh and Lind have had a growing list of crack and fragilities that concern them about this rich and vulnerable world and its peoples under their care. The first stages of the unsealing are now imminent; someday, a few months to a year or maybe sooner, these kind friends and potent allies will leave Earth to go join Jeneth on his campaign. What is left that needs mending?
Alden is blossoming, and Stu-art'h seems to have found a much needed anchor and refuge in their deepening friendship. Negligent, brutal Bash-nor has been banished and replaced with a competent ally (no longer "Former" Ambassador Libv-eth, perhaps?). Questions of justice and consequence for the rebellious Avowed who assaulted the Bunker Street shelter have presumably been addressed off screen. How much headway Lind and Esh have made on the "unbecoming" opinions of various wizards Esh put himself in a position to overhear is still to be revealed, but Alden and Kabir's own impromptu diplomacy with the Thanksgiving may have already made more of an impact than they know.
Rereading Eeaner's poetic turns of phrase from last chapter gives me such pleasure - look at that deft alliteration with variation! "Where are the dulcet whispers of corner poets? Where are the calm and proper welcomes? Why was the wine served with dishes of pressure and delusion by the son of the Primary?" Where / Dulcet / Whispers / Corner / Poets Where / Calm / Proper / Welcomes Why / Wine / Dishes / Pressure / Delusion / Primary You can really feel the indignation of Jozz's lack of chill / calm adding pressure and evidencing delusion instead of dulcet words!
In the recent chapters, there were two small moments where I imagine Mother's influence helping "her Alden" along: * When The mouse suddenly jumped on top of the dirt pile after Alden found it and was just looking for a way to point it out without revealing Himself. I suspect Mother helped keep his secret after he already did the hard part of finding it. * The random breeze that brought him higher over the vanta lantern, when he didn't want to have his tears visible seemed like a kind coincidence. What do you think? Any other moments that might be a kind hand in the background?
The hit to the transport craft from a shot that was missing, and the breeze that brought Alden to a safe spot on landing. Obviously not certain they were mother, but possible.
The party with Eaner will be a chance for Alden to wear his new tropical shirt!
But not wearing commendation sends a message. He learned about the message in the last party. It is not a message he wants to send.
During his first MPE Session, Alden was thinking that one day they will ask us to run over mud and then my skill will be amazing! Took us a while, but it surely is! Another comment made by Winston was, that Alden would move into Esh‘s garage …
I hope the embroidery Lind was making was meant for Alden. It would be very meaningful if he could say it was stiched by her own hands.
It does not make a sense. The artonan custom is, that you embroider it yourself. If she is stitching something for him, it would be a new design. But she is the oldest among knights. Her commendation design must have been crafted when humanity was still using horses as main means of transportation. I guess she might be crafting Bearer of all burdens design, as a parting gift when they leave Earth behind, since she might have figured it out? I just do not think whatever she made is for Alden.
I'm calling it now: The Chicago arc will start on chapter 360. The chapter will be: Three Hundred and Sixty: Full Circle. (This is, of course, a play on 360° in a circle and coming back to Chicago.)
(J Reynolds assumes his "waiting for laugh" expression)
Think we get a VIV out of this?
It is inevivable.
Thinking again of the Primary, I wonder if part of the reason he left while Stu is “unsettled”, is because he’s afraid of having to use an ultimatum with his family to “solve” their difficulties in seeing who Stu has become. He made a point out of talking to Stu before he left, and letting Stu know that he supports his decision. But what would happen I wonder if he made that declaration publicly (even just within the family). Would they pretend to agree with him, and then pressure Stu even more, to not make a selfish choice? Or, would they have actually heard them both out properly. Unfortunately, I think the first is more likely.
I think him leaving is actually a show of support for Stu. Like he's saying, you don't need my presence to be strong enough to do this. Or even if he's not that sure Stu will be fine, I think he realises his son needs room to build his own tower if he is to weather the coming storm. Shielding him now might actually lead to bigger troubles in the future, if the foundation of his decision was built upon the strength of another. It's also possible he didn't realise his spouses would pressure Stu this much after he left. As his votaries its their job to ease his troubles, so they might not be entirely forthcoming about their efforts to persuade Stu. And possibly they also don't realise their well meaning actions have become mean-mean, like Alden pointed out.
Wake up babe, new keyword just dropped
(We all love you Sleyca)
319 is coming your way tomorrow. I've got just a bit more left to do with it. See you soon!
Butbutbut does that mean 24 hours or 1 ?
A knights power has a sort of snowballing effect, supposedly, growing more and more powerful rapidly, with no real upper limit. It probably makes some of the older knights value the potential that a young knight has, over that of avowed, who have an initial burst of growth as they get a handle on their powers, then tend to stagnate somewhat. Very logical and practical decision, that. Doesn’t make them any less a monster. I think Zeridee might have more legitimate reasons for not becoming a knight than Vayeerd thinks, if this is how the rest of her family thinks.
Avowed authority has the same fundamental growth boost that knights do, its just that artonans/wizards grow faster because they are aware of the tension. Vayeerd is just being speciesist in how he is willing to throw avowed at the problem to be a shield for knights. The initial growth boost is just generic learning about abilities and isnt any growth speed. Im interested to know more about zeridee's reasons now that we know what her upbringing was like.
Chapter 298 when Alden left with Esh and Lind for the weekend was posted on June 1st. At this rate I will die of old age before Alden graduates.
It is the slowest of burns. I love it.
Alden comparing the burning mice to fireflies and zansees reminded me of the home-making ritual during the here-to-there when he made his ember burn with stuart's help. "A single bug blinking under the dome of the bowl, a Diwali firework that left specks of silver light floating around Apex for minutes, scooping zansees into a jar at the siblinghold…" Alden's home in the fight against chaos.
Does anyone remember why the other member of the Emban's squad (Postor?) was missing?
Busy sulking in his sulking nest. (Reading between the lines a bit, my guess is he has Big Feelings about squad drama and/or Ryada's situation, and crashed out with the rest of his squad somehow prior to the training.)
I feel that "Zeridee's weight in manyadeeth" has some meaning Esh purposefuly did not mention. Like if Alden gives it to Zeridee, he proposes to her in a very traditional, historic way. Since there was a historic wizard who held a young female as a hostage, but when he got his ransom from her family, he offered it to her to stay with him forever. Or it is a traditional color of weding dress, an wizard must acquire for his wife in order to marry. Or if he refuses the gift, it means he wants her as a reward instead.
Next chapter predictions in haiku, or otherwise? Squad party cut short Ryeh-b't Alden must 'hop' off On to Yet More Gym
Ignacio says "Next time, invite me along! My knives can help you"
T'was the day before posting when all through the 🏠 all the readers were waiting word on the magical 🐭. Cell phones and laptops were logged in with care in hopes Sleyca's posting soon would be there.
T’was the day of the posting, today was the date The end of another unbearable wait But the queen’s never early, nor is she late For she added a key word: APPROXIMATE
De liver De chapter De sooner De better De later De chapter De madder I getter (Did anyone read dear Mr henshaw ?)
No. You sound like a madman. And that is coming from me.
Waiting approximately 🥣
To whomever recommend Runeblade to fill the time between approximate days - thank you. It has been a fun read.
I also enjoy that one and there is a lot of chapters to get thru before you catch up
Joyous Approximate Day to all the brothers, sisters, uncs, and aunties in the soup line. Join us in our vigil as we await the approximate hour together.
If you are still in line for soup when the approximate date closes, stay in the soup line until you eat!
Happy approximate day! I think this is the right time for idle rambling. So we know that a planet's Contract is called the contract because the main component of it is the contract between the resource world and the artonans. Buuuuut what about the Artonas themselves? Did the first Contract come into being when the first resource world was discovered? Or did they already have a Contract? If so, what contract was it? Was it the Knight vows? A contract between knights and the general populace that they would use their significant power to defend them? In short, what do you think the terms were of the first planetary Contract?
What is more interesting, is that contract strength can be improved on both ends. We can just sell bananas, and artonans will approve of contract with Earth. It will have profound effect on Earth, banana republics will be drowning in argold, buying all the medical supplies their people need, finaly realising their socialist tropical heaven.
This arc is just a treat to read all in one go.
Avowed are not shields. Shields are disposable. They absorb blows and are literally thrown away when damaged. Avowed are expendable, perhaps, but then so are the knights, in the sense that they are willing to suffer injury or even death for sufficient gains. Treating avowed as expendable is harsh but justifiable for sufficient gains in the necessary fight against chaos. How sufficient is sufficient enough is a hard decision, but a disposable shield requires no debate, no decision. Any reason becomes sufficient. Then not only do you lack respect for those who fight and sacrifice alongside you, you expend resources wastefully and weaken the fight against chaos.
"That sounds like something a bleeding heart who doesn't really care about defeating chaos would say," replied Vayeerd-und’h.
So I've got a new hypothesis about why knights aren't knocked out during affixations. You know how you're supposed to keep possible concussion victims awake? From what I understand, it's not because being awake is better for them per se. It's because if they're awake, you'll notice if their condition suddenly declines, and have a chance to do something about it. Same with affixation. You really, really don't want to cut the wrong thing. If you do, you want a chance to notice and staunch the bleeding, so to speak. And you can only notice if they're responsive. I came up with this idea after re-reading Alden's first affixation on earth. Why are some Avowed brought into a private audience during long affixations? Knock the complicated ones out, sure, don't want 'em wiggling around during surgery, but then why wake them back up and hold a conversation in a dreamworld? The Contract kept saying stuff like "Fear for your wellbeing is an appropriate response. Good." It was checking Alden's condition and mental processes.
At first I mistook you as saying that knights don't go unconscious during their bindings, like some Avowed do. I wondered where we'd been told that, because I don't remember it. But now I think you mean that they're *physically* unconscious, but they're aware in the same conversational dream state that Mother and Earth have put Alden in. And just like Earth did that to test his responses, Mother likely does the same thing for him, and for knights, if in a more personal way. Is that the right reading?
Unsealing is 0% ominous. I’m sure it’s fine. Also nothing bad ever happens on matadero demon day.
Unsealing is slightly ominous. Wait till un-walrusing happens. Then we'll know that shit has hit the fan.
I was wondering if Alden can be told to preserve “all uncorrupted life in this area” for example. We saw in the water puddle scene how his skill allows for this inspection between entrustment and pickling. The reason I was thinking this is because of Ryada. It would be good for her to have someone around who can preserve life while she turns the corrupted life into water
To date, no, because he couldn't pick them up and bear that burden. In future? Sure sounds like a good battlefield support/force-multiplier move, exactly like what Hannah aimed for with Arjun.
The thing I love about Sleyca and her characters' opposing viewpoints is that ... usually, they're not wrong, just different facets of a complex gem that is difficult to hold all parts of in proper measure simultaneously, so most people choose one or two aspects to focus on for sanity's sake. In *theory*, of course it's better to build community and treat all sapient life, especially those fighting alongside you, as equal in value. In *practice*, this is war, Peacock, casualties are inevitable, and Knights are going to have a lot more practical value than Avowed, even if the Avowed are fully filled in on what's worth pursuing, bc Knights just have way more relevant education and can cast independently of their bound skills and shore up their own skills in dire straits like Alden did on his marathon on Thegund and sense out fluctuations and distinctions in magic, and losing people sucks already when you don't have to fight for survival internally and externally at the same time beforehand. To an extent, Avowed *are* beasts of burden (summonings for a wide variety of tasks, including, fittingly, carrying luggage) *and* children in need of instruction (Avowed are almost always affixed as children, yes I'm counting teenagers as children, and they are woefully, criminally under-prepared and under-informed for their choosing seasons and with regards to the wider galaxy in general and Chaos in specific, plus the less literal sense of humans, at least, being a younger species if I'm reading things right and definitely younger in terms of magic and technology) *and* gifts from the holy universe (more fighters against Chaos, along with just general task-doers) *and* existential threats (not sure on this, but at the very least if traveling to worlds spreads Chaos rather than traveling to worlds discovered in proximity to Chaos is how it works, plus the ((very)) eventual possibility of a subjugate race developing an Authority sense and science of magic and rebelling en masse). Even Olget-ovekondo, the barely competent possessor of a bad diploma son of the village head in the Here-to-There. *Yes*, permanently limiting your infinite potential in order to stabilize yourself to more safely and effectively fight Chaos is incredibly noble and important, and *yes*, to permanently chain a part of your very being in a way that will literally never stop being awful to the point of your whole community being on permanent low-grade suicide watch is horrifying and repulsive outside the very specific and in many ways unlikely context of securing your species' survival.
> *and* existential threats (not sure on this, This Alden. Alden is the existential threat.
Imagine trying to hit Alden in the gym with his Kelsithe. It's a pole. He vaults! It is wings. He floats! You lose track of him - it is a bat, he Winsterminates!
Wouldn't vaulting on the pole break his carriage rule? How would he float if it does not transfer any strength to the user? Which is actualy a mistake sleyca made too, there is no action and reaction from schooping air during the fall, if the force is carried by authority, not reality.
We've never gotten an official ranking for Lind-otta and Esh-erdi, right? I don't think it's ever been mentioned. I imagine they are well over Evul in power, but well under Alis. But they will be joining the Primary after the unsealing so... somewhere just over 100 maybe?
I think he was 63, but not sure where it was.
I would love to see Stu decide they need to tell Esh and Lind now. After hearing Lind say that they have taken interest in Alden’s introduction to the triplanets, his recovery and his happiness, I hope he feels he can rely on them to help further with Alden’s integration as a knight. Just as importantly, Stu himself needs support and he is not getting it from his family. Everything they do causes him further uncertainty and stress and it is breaking him. He needs to strengthen his own building blocks whilst being there for his friend. It’s such a struggle to do it all on their own.
That would literaly ruin the story's main plot - the capture of the mysteriously disgusting criminal, who smuggles pee into Lute's shoes. The ultimate villain needs to be exposed, before Alden can leave Earth behind. Stu knows this, because he is a real friend.
Anyone have a handy list of affixation symptoms? I want to know how closely it matches migraines/cluster headaches/ennui. I'm still ranking it below ice pick through the center of the brain. I do not know if this is in error.
I'd been thinking of it like intestinal twisting of your existence. Pain worse immediately after affixation then slowly reducing as the blood circulation to that part of your existence dies off (affixation settles). The pain never truly going away but hits manageable levels.
This arc has me thinking back to Thegund. Is there a canonical distance or time Alden spent on foot with Kibby on his back? I remember the tremors from Alis-art’h’s work starting, stopping, and starting again, and then when Alden finally staggered into the habitat, Alis-art’h was about to start yet again. Does that correspond to two full Artonan day-night cycles?
The distance was never given to us. As for the time, there isn’t enough info to be completely certain, but I think it was about two to three earth days for the reasons you mentioned. Bear in mind that when he started the run, he couldn’t sense the tremors at all, and for a while he could sense them only faintly. To turn that into a distance, we’d need to know his average speed, and there’s too much going on between Azure Rabbit and his struggle between exhaustion and panic to get anything more precise than “More than 60 miles, less than 600. Probably.” Here, have a timeline! https://terrestrialbiped.github.io/Super-Supportive-Timeline/patreon-latest.html
TYFTC
Apparently, Patreon (edit:) charges from overseas (/edit) and, can't be reliably paid by a gift-card debit card.
What happened ?
I wonder if Stu's ?prejudice? against the party experience will make it far more memorable than appropriate. I get the feeling that it'll turn into a lesson with an overcorrection. Bithe's diffusion seems similar to what the mask of Anesidora does. I also suspect it's something similar to finding the flow to being one with your environment, which is why the entrustment direction has the same strength (and possibly far more entrustmentability).
I can’t help but think that the upcoming party will push Stu further toward affixing somehow, although I can’t imagine how. For one, it seems to be one of the themes of the arc, and two, it’s just the thing that has to happen for the story to progress.
Now that I think about it, have we seen the knightlings doing any wizard magic? Or just skills and tools?
Seth did her star! But most of them had their last binding just a little while ago, so their free authority is low.
> It’s in a matter of days. The first stage of the unsealing. ... what?
They're unsealing a territory that fell to chaos in hopes of reclaiming it
I’m very happy Alden and Stu are gonna have an eaner version of welcome end (I hope that’s Eaner’s intention anyway since he must have been aware Stu wasn’t invited to anything )
Stu doesn’t seem to tell Eeaner much at all. Eeaner didn’t know the family was trying to make Stu a votary. Stu certainly didn’t tell Eeaner that he was with Alden instead of at Welcome End. FWIW, Stu was invited. There was a convo where Alden was like, “You can dip out to go see them, I won’t mind.” Stu just chose not to go because everyone there was weird about his Declared status, and better company was readily available.
The more I see about Vayeerd-und’h the more I dislike him. He wants the conscripts (the charitable word choice) to be strong, and has his overseers sorry votaries training some for his daughter's use, but he's concerned that she'll be too attached to be able to discipline them properly.
I like his reality facing, even if I find it misaligned. I sometimes think of my grandfather talking about how he killed 'japs' during WWII and "The Act of Killing" documentary (10/10), and think to myself, my oh my, we have so many layers of self deception. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kii5OL4p-0 I believe, the mind protects itself with whatever is available to make reality easier to bear. What I remember my grandfather telling me about Guadalcanal was along the lines of "We listened to the two marines screams all night as they were tortured to death. There was no surrender to those animals. They would charge at us without weapons and we had to mow them down. It was us or them" I highly recommend watching the full documentary on the "hero". (Edit, found publisher video) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uxggN_9EPqc or It's worth 10-1000x it's price: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0KIY6LZ83ZWSSOM1Z9VP3HR8MG (Is prime video good? If not sorry, the Google link wasn't working.) If that wasn't enough, here is a great video by Barry of Barry's Economics about similar problems: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e87vZZBvwSI
Ro-den was right about that wasn't he. He knew how avoweds like Alden would be used.
It really depends on who gets control of him. Right now, that’s the art’hs, who don’t take such a high handed attitude from what we’ve seen. But yeah, the und’hs would use him right to death. It would be a useful death. A noble one. And they would not mourn him.
Bayab would be so jealous of Stuart "your avowed can do spells with you ?? He’s becoming a knight like you ??? You guys are deepening ??? “
What's the timeline again on Aulia's leafsong job that she'd hired Manon for? Was that something that's still months down the line from now or is it something that can become an issue at around the same time Alden is attending the party?
Months down the line in universe, of course. I imagine even if the party happened the very next day in universe it'd be months down the line for us lol
Alden should bring Kon and Lute.
As the party is on another planet rather than down the block, it’s not clear that Alden can choose to bring people. But I agree those two would be entertaining guests. So would Haoyu.
I wonder how far the delusional portion of the Arth's will go once Stu affixes. Will they shun him because they don't want to 'watch him fail' while conveniently ignoring the fact that he'd already gone no-contact with them, wail dramatically like he's already dead, or switch to a campaign of trying to convince him to stop doing any magic at all so he doesn't have to endure the pain of affixation again? The shunning would give him the most freedom and draw less attention to their dire warnings (and how right they were whenever Stu's dealing with even a minor inconvenience), so they'll probably take options 2 or 3. The paranoid part of me that might have read too many suspense novels is starting to wonder if they want Stu to fail because he's: A. The favorite. or B. The child of the favorite spouse. The above might not even be intentional, but I bet it's playing a subconscious part, at the very least. Infantilizing him permanently due to a childhood injury {that he's recovered from and is perfectly able to work around) is a great way to keep him from becoming a competent adult who will outshine their children in his father's eyes simply by existing. *So potentially ableism, jealousy, and perhaps racial superiority, since I'm sure the ability to split their minds is one of the reasons some Artonans think they're better than others.
Not doing magic will not stop the next affixation. It may slow it down, since he would not be practicing the free part, so it will grow slower. But knights see practicing and improving their magic as their duty. And honestly wizards not using magic is unthikable to anyone except Zeridee. I think they will ignore him after affixation. Stu himself said that they will be forced acknowledge him, when they see he is a knight and unlikely to fall. That might take a year or two. As for household drama, Stu is not a child from a marriage. He is a child from a woman his father loved, all wives had to be pushed on him by his sister and (later) spouses, so they were definitely jealous ofthe different treatment. This jealousy was then fueled by him giving most of his time to him, instead of their children. Not that I think it has anything to do with it, other than sweeping him away from knighthood to protect their own children. He has a track record for that. Stu is pureblooded artonan, his ability to split his mind was supressed by training, not genetics. It is more of a quirk, since he can do it, just prefers not to.
Thinking for a moment (someone's comment on RR sparked the thought): Who will Alden run into at LeafSong for Stu/Eeaner's party? Ro-den is possible Jel-nor is about certain Eeaner-ket and his housemate Bayab, of course, they're the hosts Bti-qwol is really unlikely, IMO Thwarthog is a possibility, esp. if she's the bodyguard for a party guest I wonder if any LeafSong official will look him up after the costume social and it's commendation for Alden (the social one, not Alis') and the concern Alden would use refusals after Thegund, and where that might lead.
Eeaner is the host, so I expect Worli Ro-den would *not* be invited to the party proper. Jel-nor is quite possible, though. Outside of the party on the route to/from the summonarium, I expect Stu would be Alden's escort to make sure Ro-den would avoid them. Maybe Alden will see that friendly-ish unregistered Avowed who acts as a bodyguard for one of the students? (Thwarthog?)
It's funny, going into every competitive training exercise, I always think "I don't really care if Alden wins; I just hope he learns something." It's always a lie
Only half true! He learned something. AND his team won.
I like that Lind takes the time to make Stu feel seen, and ask how he's doing. She makes such a welcoming, listening space for anything he might care to share. This is what Stu needed from his votary parents, expected from them, and did not get from them when they talked together earlier.
What do we think Lind was stitching before she and Esh left for the observation tower? I keep wondering if she might have been embroidering Alden's commendation onto a dark green knight's coat like Mother decided to model on 'other' other Alden during the 'An art' chapter.
I've been wondering about ordinary Artonans, and the possibility of affixing. Has it ever come up if its possible? Awowed is a measure to stop people from chaos potential, but is it still an option for ordinary Artonans, and a possible way to serve?
Pretty sure they don’t have the bare minimum authority to affix into a skill, like most humans.
Even before he goes through with self-forging, Stu's self-concept of connecting people to healthier ways of relating to each other is already starting to effect that change in the world, through his actions (and Alden's!).
Bithe opened himself (and his *self*?) to building home with his squadmates. Emban opened herself to hope and took the vulnerable step of asking Ryada to deepen with her. Ryada found her courage for Bithe's sake and let Emban properly see her, existential fears and all. Alden dared to jump, and jump again, and show his wings: he is forging himself for the sky, and running the ground, and venturing even into the seas of politics and beyond.
We've been wondering what number Lind is. I'd imagine that she's in the top 20. (Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised if she were the Secondary or Tertiary— she's just told people not to introduce herself as such. We'll see.) However, a question I haven't seen asked yet: what do you suppose Alden's rank is? [Stu:] "The Welcome End that coincides with the turning of seasons in the southern Rapports always has fewer. The total will probably be between sixteen and seventeen hundred new knights for this year. And that means there will be more than forty-five thousand knights.” — Ch. 252 Factors: 1) Alden is considered gifted by Mother. B) Alden's Authority only started substantially growing in April 2040 when he learned how to sense his Authority. As opposed to Artonans, whose Authority presumably grows (slowly or quickly) from birth. III) We don't know how weak the weakest Knight is at binding. Is there a 'you must have more Authority than X to become a knight', or could a member of the ordinary class who has only a whisper of Authority become a knight somehow and hop on the Authority growth escalator? The only conclusion that I can come to is that Alden is probably in the upper range of the 1600-1700 brand new knights. So maybe Alden will be able to give someone a call with the caller ID something like: [Video call from Forty-Three Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty-first General Alden Thorn, Earth. Connection fee waived.]
Knight rank and Priority rank are almost certainly different. A powerful wizard like Joe probably has a lot more raw Authority than a lot of knights. Particularly beginner knights. So his priority rank would be higher. So Alden's priority number still likely has a lot of commas. But his knight number has at most one comma. Even if he's knight Forty-Five Thousand.
How do we think Bearer interacts with esvulgivnas? If Stu and Alden become intertwined like that, could they each act as each other's entruster, maybe at the speed of thought?
In the explanation Stuart gave of inesvul, he mentioned that afterwards you're never really alone anymore. Perhaps this means Alden could potentially entrust items to himself through the bond? Even if Stuart was somewhere else physically. I think it would be really neat if Sleyca went this direction, though there is also something poetic and beautiful about bearer's need for an entruster.
Now that Alden has the kelsithe he is one step closer to his final form, a childrens birthday party magician in a tail coat and top hat! Behold as Alden pulls a ridiculously long handkerchief from his sleeve! Marvel as he makes small red balls disappear! (by putting stolen invisability enchantments on them) Now pick a card, any card, now put it back in the deck (this counts as entrusting) is this your card? With a flourish he lets loose the presevered doves from his jacket pocket and finally, for the piece de resistance, he whips off the top hat and pulls out.... other Alden! (Alden has to explain this joke to Stuart a few times when he asks to borrow the ryeh-b’et)
Yesssss, let’s go. For bonus points he does this routine at birthday parties for very confused Artonan children. “I thought he was supposed to do magic?”
I wonder how much of Lind here was actually Esh… ? The sarcasms and jabs sound more like Esh but could also be a side of Lind we haven’t seen much of yet
I don't really get a sarcasm tone from her. She's making very clear that this squad is off limits, and it's not his place to question that. But it's not intended to be mean, even if she does disagree with his views.
Vayeerd is so interesting to me, a really well done character already. These last chapters of setting up this "mean uncle" I think really primed me to focus in on him. "Respect them enough to make them strong" and "bad enough that we sacrifice for the hedonists of our own species". Clearly he doesn't respect them enough as actually people who might choose to sacrifice if they were given the information and the choice as the knights have, that the world was a fortress not a paradise and someone needs to stand on the walls. But no, they have to be shields, not soldiers, not comrades, it maybe doesn't even enter his mind as it doesn't fit in his world view.
Yeah, what Renjen did back then is unspeakably immoral. Doing the same to Awoved is OK and should be the norm. What a brazen speciecism.
Random amusing side thought, Circling back to the Artonans are Fae topic from awhile back Clicked for me all the Avowed are textbook warlocks
Are the avowed warlocks, or is that the wizards who summon their dangerous contracted creatures from other dimensions?
Seeing a lot of the new discussions prompted by this chapter has been awesome We’ve gotten to see hints of different factions members surrounding avowed and I kinda just wanted to throw some thoughts about the “holy gift” faction. We haven’t really seen any of these people that I can recall, but I think Bearers creators must have been. Thinking about the sheer amount of earnest diligence the creators must have put into bearer alone. Hundreds or more of curated expected facets for upgrades, geas for user support. And that the skill fundamentally works best when the user understands what they are doing. Bearing burdens for others with full understanding. I can’t say what those wizards were like (or if any of them are around in some capacity still; descendants, etc.) but I’m currently imagining wizards like Stuart or Alden. Really earnest and noble, wanting to make a difference by empowering avowed and knights. Such a wildly different type of wizard than many of the ones we have seen. maybe that’s somewhat blindly optimistic, but I like the idea of that faction being less zealots like an alternative version of the palace of unbreaking, and more the optimists . who hoped for a better universe not only for the Artonans but every living species and world
I think the palace of the in breaking and its flowers can be counted in the gift party. They are after all prostrating themselves before Lute and handfeed him...
I love how Sleyca shows us what should be obviously unfair and potentially abusive situations that you can almost explain away, then progressively rips off the mask. Well.... Oh... OH. OHHHHHH.°°°°°°°°°°°°. For example, Joe, it should be obvious that there is a massive power imbalance and he's exploiting Alden, but how badly and brutally can almost be explained away until it's revealed over and over how bad it was. °°°°°°°°°°°°°°. With avowed, they are signed up as magically compellable child soldiers for life, with no choice - but yay cool magic, help for earth, most aren't summoned, etc. And then Hannah disappears, Aldens first summoning he gives up the Klerm, Joes exploitation, Bashnor and Stus parents, Stus various explanations, etc. But this chapter felt the most mask off - avowed aren't people, they are things, and we will throw away as many as we have to save ourselves. "For the greater good" can't be wrong, right? I expect the mask to slip further for some knights and artonans, even though we should have been able to see it from the start.
If the alternative is to end up like Ilket then the Avowed species do not enjoy a strong negotiating position. They can only be grateful to have a chance to survive at all. It is only rational for the Artonans to ask, why should we? The ban on further exploration shows the balance was judged net negative already.
> Jeneth-art’h ensures the next important work against chaos begins with his hand on the hilt. > But I can’t agree with anyone who doesn’t see them for what they have to be. Especially now, Lind-otta. It’s in a matter of days. The first stage of the unsealing. Ooooooo spooky
So, he’ll unseal a dimension long lost to chaos, if I remember previous chapters correctly. So, gorgon arc next?
So, the Septenary went through a binding very recently. I wonder what his number was before that - even if the overall authority quantity is the same, surely the power level shifts somewhat
Vayeerd-und’h is the son of the Septenary, no?
I like how realistic Number 7 Vayeerd-und’h's attitude is. I imagine this won't be a popular stance, but it's very easy for me to understand and empathize with them. They're the 7th strongest knight. That means they've been fighting for a long time, long enough to be nearly as strong as Stu's dad. They've probably seen lots of people they cared for die. They've certainly seen family die. Not just kids, but nieces, nephews, grandkids, and great grandkids have all been fed into the never-ending war against Chaos. All the while, the vast majority of their culture plays hedonistic games and pretends like Chaos is some far-distant threat that can't touch them, rather than an ever-present danger that keeps killing dear friends and family members. Vayeerd-und’h has hardened their heart to survive their long struggle. They're not so callous as to stop caring about others, or to stop fighting for their species, but they've sharply narrowed the scope of who they care about so there's enough left of them to be willing to get up in the morning and keep fighting. To keep going to their binding and enduring unspeakable pain. It is not at all surprising that they seek to avoid other sources of pain. Vayeerd-und’h's hard heart is tragic, but no more so than the rest of their lifelong struggle.
That said, if someone like the now-ex-earth ambassador had shared similar sentiments as Vayeerd-und’h, I'd hate them whole heartedly. What has someone like that sacrificed that they think they deserve to think or speak of sacrificing others so.
Fantabulous, thanks
If Alden shows up at the party with a single pineapple less than 40, I will be disappointed.
If he shows up with the 40 pineapples, it kills a potential running joke
Edit Suggestions: And as addicted to magic an any und’h ever has been… ->And as addicted to magic as any und’h ever has been…
This chapter made me appreciate Zeridee more. Her struggles with her own choosing season were perhaps not only about self-sacrifice and giving up some of freedom of her magic but also that the und'hs seem to think that a willingness to sacrifice others is part of the oath. Since choosing not to be a knight, she's been selfless in trying to protect avowed from floods and ambassadors and given up magic as well. I hope that she does not keep torturing herself for not being a knight the way most und'hs seem to think is best and that her compassion is rewarded.
Just kicking the can down the road towards another big dilemma(gotta be Alden's Wizardry secret getting out yeah?)
First up is levelling as soon as he gets home and goes to sleep.
THEY'RE ALL SO ADORABLE
I give my love to this chapter, indicated by the heart I’m sending it ❤️.
Did Lind-Otta just find out Alden is wizard from the hug? She mentioned she noticed a specific knight arriving, so her range is that large.
Her range is large, and she can apparently look for specific people, but there are so many people moving their authority around making ‘noise’ here that unless she was focusing on Alden specifically at that exact moment I highly doubt she could tell.
This seems like a resolution that’s too easy… ?
Such is life under the aegis of an old woman with jaws
Vayeerd is the polar opposite of Alden’s unhealthy self-sacrifice tendency that he’s working through with Boe. Alden felt that he ought to completely disregard his own safety for others. Vayeerd feels that the only way to safeguard himself/his in-group is to totally disregard the wellbeing of and treat as disposable the group he has othered. Alden is working getting himself to a healthier place, and hopefully Vayeerd will, too. Unfortunately, many of the people around him seem to be enabling and working around him like the proverbial missing stair.
I think a more charitable read is avoiding the attachments that would prevent them from deploying avowed in the best way to fight against chaos, and for the loss of Avowed to not impact their ability to be knights. Both in how they are making decisions, as well as avoiding the impact and pain that losing Avowed would have on Knights fighting against Chaos. The series makes a big deal about Artonan society trying to spare Knights further pain or distraction from their duties and the burden of affixation.
I really like the background tonal change that is being presented in this and a couple of the previous chapters. The und’h perspective, repugnant though I find it, really helps bring that across. The Artonans are fighting a war. Humans are playing at cops and robbers.
True. But whose fault is it? Proper discretion was not invented on Earth. Also, not all Artonans act like their people are at war. Ordinary people live their best lives (also thanks to proper discretion), and most of the wizards act like the nobles in Poe's Masque of the red death - isolationist, hedonistic, self-serving and in denial.
The annoying thing is that the squad genuinely does need a lecture about how to handle summoning avowed. Not from this jackass (nor the other jackasses who think preempting this jackass makes them better than him), but they brought in Alden with basically no notice, no plan, and no legitimate reason. "Maybe he can help preserve the treat" is a pretty weak justification. They gave him insufficient training, forgot to check on him at all for a while when the ship blew up, and they gave him a bad order. The fact that Alden made things massively better for the squad doesn't change any of that.
Well... he did kind of imply that he wanted to (whether intentionally or not). And it is training. Bringing Alden along has value as training for both them and him even if it doesn't necessarily have a vital strategic role. Yes, once they made that decision they should have incorporated him better. And this is a good way for them to learn that.
I hope Alden goes to the LeafSong party with Stu to support him, and I hope he brings a bunch of Natalie's magical food with him as a gift for Eeaner, their host. That or forty pineapples.
I kind of want him to bring Natalie, Hadiza, and Emilija.
When all the klerms are saved........ What will the plants eat?
art'hs
How Stu is in this chapter reminds me how Alden was at the end of the Family Matters arc. I'm glad they got some privacy for hugs with their bodies and authorities, however brief.
So short 😭 & so much tension with Stu’s situation… I’m happy to read, but impatient for more~
Improved autoloader with button to copy to clipboard. ``` var delay = ms => new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, ms)); await (async () => { var repeat = true; while(repeat) { var regex = /View|Load/i; var items = document.querySelectorAll('#content-card-comment-thread-container button'); var toclick = Array.from(items).filter(el => { const toInclude = regex.test(el.textContent); return toInclude; }) || null; toclick.forEach(el => el.click()); repeat = toclick.length; if(repeat) { console.log(`${repeat} - Waiting 5 seconds...`); await delay(5000); } } console.log("Finished!"); })(); var allComments = document.querySelector('#content-card-comment-thread-container').innerText var copyBtn = document.createElement('button'); copyBtn.innerText = 'Copy to 📋'; Object.assign(copyBtn.style, { position: 'fixed', top: '20px', left: '20px', zIndex: '10000' }); document.body.appendChild(copyBtn); copyBtn.onclick = async () => {await navigator.clipboard.writeText(allComments);}; ```
How do you use this? Where do you run this from?
Next approximate is another Wednesday, makes me wonder if it's a VIV instead of Alden being back on Earth. (That's assuming Sleyca has been giving herself an extra day for this arc specifically because of the challenging setting. Approximate day used to move back a day each week instead of being the once per week thing.)
A VIV surely, there's more to do and say in Rapporr III. Even if the debriefing happened offstage, Stu has a lot to tell to Alden, the Vathas and Ryada may wish to celebrate, and EshLind need to see him off.
The idea of a controversy during the feedback session makes me think of expecting the unexpected.
“I could have rescued the squad in 3 minutes! One minute to wrap a knight up like a k’rekthan…”
Here, Alden can't imagine leaving the knights to fight alone. I think it's worth remembering that this is not a common sentiment - and it's coming from an avowed who is also a (potential) knight. In usual Sleyca-style, I see Vayeerd-und being positioned in contrast to Alden's moment of clarity. Here is a knight that believes, down to the very marrow of their bones, that the knights are bitterly, truly, fundamentally ALONE in this fight. His allies, apparently, are three planets worth of hedonistic wizards who can't survive chaos, and a few species-worth of oft-reluctant, forced conscripts who Can survive chaos but are magically mute. He is going to take Everything he can claw away from their limited resources to stem the bleeding from his people, his knights, those who have watched their Selves be broken and patched together in a cruel mockery of what they were, only to stride forward and break themselves once more, holding back the tide of a malignant universe. I also don't think that it is a surprise that EshLind, who just spent a year learning as intimately as possible that they are NOT alone, have been more receptive to Alden than most others... All that said, this doesnt excuse uncle und's behavior. Not least because systematically failing to give members of the Interdimensional Warrior's Contract the respect that warriors are due sounds like a recipe for Contract destabilization... but that's another topic.
I liked how you put that. Insightful!
[“I’m sure you have advice that many here would appreciate. But that Avowed is our guest.” “What? He’s with the art’hs. The Quaternary’s misplaced Ryeh-b’t. Involved with that…niece of mine in an incident on Anesidora. I looked him up.”] This part make me realise that there is a bigger cleavage between the knights factions that I though. I know that you are not automatically close when calling someone "brother/sister" but the "He's with the art'hs" show that he think of them as a complete separate group (and probably oppose to)
Yeah I love to see bigger cleavage
Looks like someone needs more time in the punishment closet
This chapter really highlights the issues with how knights are treated. The art'hs wanted to appease this odious prick. So did his family. How many avowed have died because people are too busy lauding a vile piece of shit when they should be shaming him? Was Hannah one of them? How many of Alden's classmates are going to be used like disposable armor plates? Lind went easy on him
Hannah as a shield to an Und’h would punch the heart of this fandom. We would weep salt tears. It would leave echoes in us for all the stories we are yet to read. A wound that we might think about in years to come, late to night, when melancholy and falling asleep. Is it weird … is it weird, I kinda want it to be something horrible and powerful for her after such a long time wondering and fearing about what happened to her. Whatever it is, I want it to hit us all like a train. I want it to be in my top five ‘you ruined me author’ moments. I gasped when Stu was there and heard Und’hcle’s words.
I want to see them show his experience in gym class. And I cant wait to see him show off his new toys. That one teacher is going to be drooling 🤤 And I am even more convinced that when Alden gets his next level up that he is going to jump from B to A. He has gone through so much and pushed his ability over and over. I bet Mother is going to be like duuuuude chillax for a bit lol
I've wondered myself about that. Alden's teleport brought him to the hall outside his apartment. He yawned as he opened the door and went in. The apartment was dark— not unexpected for 12:30 at night. [Congratulations, Alden,] the System sent. [You've progressed. Your power has grown, and you've gained a greater understanding of the gifts you've been granted as an Avowed.] As it was texting, a gold system window appeared in front of Alden with the same words written on it. At the bottom, it said: [Rank Up: B → A [Congratulations. In addition to strengthening your skill, your general magical capabilities are increasing. You 've increased in rank from B to A. You may now choose from the Rewards List.] "The frick?" Alden exclaimed. "Are you shitting me, System? I can't have progressed from B to A already!" There was a yelp from the unlit kitchen. Haoyu poked his head around the doorframe, chocolate bar dimly visible in his hand. "You've ranked up?" "Typical," Lexi's voice commented from the darkened living room.
I feel like we might see some changing with Stu now that he's become more distanced with his family while simultaneously trying to get closer with an outsider like Eeaner-ket.
Vayeerd is exactly the type of summoner Alden was terrified of after his first affixation. He is the first obvious proponent we've seen of Ro-den's so-called "Avowed are beasts of burden" camp. Trying to remember the others... that new ambassador to Anesidora was of the "children to be protected" camp. I don't remember if we've seen the "gifts from the universe" people. Maybe the Artonans in The Palace of Unbreaking qualify for that? I wonder when we'll see the Artonans who view Avowed as existential threats. Something tells me those types don't hang around knights and summoners , which might explain why Alden hasn't come across them. I bet when he's revealed as a knight they'll come crawling out of the woodwork.
Oh, we've seen "beasts of burden" folks all right. Trash-nor was the first, and now we get Weird-und'h.
As happy as I am to see Alden invited to the party, I'm with Stu. I don't think he'll enjoy it. Maybe Eeaner-ket could join them after at the many baskets to shop for Natalie's food
I'm hoping that Eeaner-ket will make it the kind of party that Stu wants: neat magic stuff they've learned.
When Lind states to Vaueerd-Und'h that she and rescued Alden, it kind of sounds like Lind and Esh are using the investigation into the wave incident to meddle where they feel necessary. Alden's mental health, creating a place Alden can possibly escape to, Lute's Contract, a new storytelling class pops up. I wonder if they have an overarching agenda, or if it's just tiny pushes on things in directions they want them to go on. One thing I'd like to know is how wildly the events of the wave are known at this point. I also wonder what kind of information they are getting from the votary shadowing Alden. We know that they don't know that he has control over his free authority, but does the votary? It seems like something they would notice if they are keeping close watch.
I think Drusi-otta (Lind's cousin) stopped following Alden when Bash-nor ceased to be a threat (was kicked off-planet by the Grand Senator), no?
When the two were talking about the primary maybe should have delayed until after his son went to his first binding, and Stuart's, not despair, but recognition that he's further than he thought from being seen as being strongenough, I had a terrible thought that the primary might survive after the unsealing, and that might be the goad that pushes Stu to affix.
Unfortunately, they are going to need many bricks indeed to impress even Stu's parents much less knights like the undhs.
Lind is too good at her job. I wanted to see all the squad feedback! Knights shouting at each other about whether they rocked or sucked! Tilliver and Emban desperately trying to come up with a good explanation for why they brought Alden! Fights about whether an Avowed who is given an obviously dumb order by an obviously panicking knight should obey! Alden and squad sitting through the debriefing with the same expression Eeaner had with Jozz, wondering what the hell they're supposed to say when all the senior knights are having a meltdown! Possibly someund'h getting burdered! But Lind is smooth AF and averted the disaster so we don't get any of that, and I'm a little bit sad about it.
Yet, we haven't gotten that yet. They haven't gotten to the feedback yet, only done a debrief.
As maddening as the pace feels sometimes, the payoffs are worth it. I’ve done a reread a couple times and the arcs really do work well.
On re-reading, I’ve just realised that Alden did a subtle authority pat while Lind is nearby. Considering how sensitive she is with authority pats/shouts, what are the odds she recognises his subtle pat from a distance (from when he was doing big pats, unless im remembering it wrong) and calls it out during next EshLind meeting?
The is a lot more authority noise on the station than in Anesidora. So its unlikely despite her sensitivity.
Thanks for the chapter!
Btw Lind-otta is considered an elder...That's way older than I thought (middle age at best).
Remember when she kicked off the Thanksgiving? She’s old.
If the Und'h's think of Avowed as shields, then Roden's "plan" for Alden starts to make more sense now.
Also Stuart and Alden are just such good friends it's almost crazy??! Stuart being possibly more excited than Alden for his own performance and Alden knowing something's not right just right away?
Okay, last comment, but omg, those 2 gossips at the beginning….. they were so annoying but well written. ”It wouldn’t be appropriate to say such and such about The Primary, so I won’t say it.” Some people are just like that
I can't judge them too harshly - I suspect one of them may have been the votary who took Bithe back to his family, heard how awful his father was being to this small determined desperate boy, and took Bithe back to join the Rapports.
I’m so thrilled that Victor is getting a present
Only if they took the hint.
So Bithe is like a bug zapper, but he’s a beautiful bug zapper
“She wanted to want to be a knight, but she was afraid. Now she wants to want to be ordinary class…And as addicted to magic an any und’h ever has been.” There are so many threads for how this could unravel, but it makes me feel like Zeridee choosing to be a member of the ordinary class is actually an important step in her choosing season before she declares and takes her oaths. We’ve seen with Stuart, and many knights, that coming into alignment with their chosen skill is paramount to increasing their effectiveness & it feels entirely in line with Zeridee’s character to go about reaching perfect alignment as difficultly and completely as possible.
Except, she is older? I recall there was time limit to the chosing season, implying an age limit for binding. Passing up on what she wished to be may be her regret.
I think this is the most we've seen of Lind. I like her. Her method of dealing with that other Knight mirrored her skill.
Ohhh great point. I love that.
The idea of him going back to Leafsong as part of his healing/confidence Journey is interesting. I went back and reread one of the early chapters with Joe. The bastard was so likable. Sleyca did a good job. It was the chapter where he revealed more information about his skill and how to affix larger amounts of authority to it. One thing that stood out is that according to Joe most avowed skills are capped at level 10. Does this mean this next level will put him over that level 10 cap and make it clear to the school something else is going on? Will Alden be running to the party just to escape attention if it's noticed?
Anesidora has familiarity with a few skills as high as 14, ISTR. (edited, I misread your level-10 cap statement)
Stu would try anything for the klerms 🐸
“I have to try. He’s started saving the klerms.” This made my heart swell. Stu is so sweet. Also, Vatha lantern is so beautiful. I hope Alden tells Bithe about how he feels about his skill, but I have a feeling that he’ll feel like his insight is “too shallow” or something.
Ah that hug was a long time coming <3
I waited and wished for it for such a long time! It was so good!
So, magic tools got mesmerized by the vatha lantern skill. Post-Drop confused Alden's entrustment skill. Could Alden target the mouse? What happens if he'll target a demon?
We already got a taste of: - Avowed vs. Non-Avowed - Combat Avowed vs. Non-combat - Wizard vs. Non-wizard - Wizard vs. Avowed - Wizard vs. Knights Now we dip into Avowed vs. Knights. Will we later get into similar disagreements concerning Contracts, Wordchains and Demons? That could take years exploring all that.
Oh! That ended too soon 💕
I really enjoyed Ryada and Stu bringing out k’rethkan for the squad and them being way too tired and hungry to notice the joke.
Thanks for mentioning it. I, also, didn't notice the joke. It's a good one, and I'm glad you brought it to my attention.
Lind really slowed the momentum of that Und'h down to a stop huh.
I'm seeing the possibility of a future conflict here - what if Hannah was one of the und'h's broken shields? I can't see Stu-art'h keeping that info from Alden once he's a knight and has access to information.
You have a crazy ability to make me tear up from the dumbest sentences. 'He's started saving the klerms' got me real bad lmao. Something about people trying their best to be good always does
And now we know of a battle that lind-otta felt was worth fighting
This was another wizard Alden was not ready to deal with.
I think he would have done fine if he didn't have to worry about the knight squad. Its part of why Vayered was going to address the squad and not him. He would have an opposing view rather than an unbiased view to easily project onto.
I'm seeing a lot of general und'h hate based on Vayeerd-und'h's apparent philosophy, but I think it is only fair to remember that he has consistently been described as extreme even for the Und'hs. I bet the more prevailing philosophy among the Und'hs IS that 'avowed are soldiers to be deployed pragmatically', but doesn't go as far as 'avowed are cannon fodder to be sacrificed' like Vayeerd seems to think. Which I do think is an important distinction.
The bigger problem I see here is that the entire Und'h family is apparantly enabling this dude to avoid pissing him off.
Esh and Lind suspect Alden of authority, I am almost sure of it now. I'm excited for when he finally tells them properly, almost I as excited as I was for him telling Stu.
One of the earlier chapters in this arc was from Lind's PoV and laid that idea to rest pretty soundly. She explicitly thought that it's too bad he doesn't because if he did she thinks he would be charming.
if bithe’s squad are the vatha squad then the alden-stu-eaner squad can be the klerm squad. To apply, you must save at least ten klerms from certain death!
How is Alden gonna save any klerms? So far he is at -1.
may the und’hs keep their eyes off alden. I just realized his skill is particularly suited for their ideologies “thinking of avoweds as shields”
Alden will just have to bear the burden of all the other avowed that would otherwise get summoned if he weren't there. Why sacrifice 100 avowed, when you have a reusable Alden instead?
Vayeerd-und’h is definitely someone who would summon Hannah Elber and leave her to die.
Not without a reason. And he would not do it just yet, knights avoid humans, as Stu explained. Avoided humans, but now it changes, right before a new war. Thanks, Alden.
Random fun fact: my interpretation on how Bithe is Bi as in Bit and Th as a thorn, so when you combine that you get Bife which is portuguese (my mother language) for Steak. So yeah. Steak.
A chance to appreciate a Bithe! > He blessed the breeze that arrived to carry him upwards again. He had time to breathe because of it. > And he didn’t mind watching Bithe’s skill for a while longer.
this was a long one but incredibly satisfying🍜 I find the und’h kind of fascinating. They appear to have some sort of resentment towards avowed… which makes some sense. From what we’re told of earth avowed especially, they’re kept pretty far from the more dangerous places of chaos. For a family who appear to bind so many of their own to sacrifice, it Must feel hedonistic. That said, finding resource worlds make those worlds susceptible to chaos even more than they would be. Yet the und’hs don’t appear to have a crisis of conscience about that. They feel entitled to the sacrifice of the avoweds despite the reason why avoweds become avoweds being due to a narcissistic impulsive move of an artonan. Maybe they hate the wizards of their species as well, they did call the hedonists. It just seems somewhat narrow-minded. A version of what Stu’s family does to him (pushing their thoughts of what they think is best over his own stated desires) but instead applied more harshly and widely over a group of people.
Lind(Artonan politeness for): You fuck with me on this and I will END you or make you wish I had.
The und’h attitude of Avowed as disposable shields and the art’h attitude of sacrificing Alden for Emban’s protection makes for quite the parallel. Good thing an old woman’s jaws are still strong.
Whoever said an unloved shield was the best shield never had a kelsithe. And more to the point, never had Bearer.
Love makes a stronger shield than contempt.
- “I’m glad I saw your boat coming down the river,” he said as they exited the turtle-shell shaped shelter. “I would have missed out on something important if I hadn’t.” “You did well,” said Emban. They’d all been complimenting him and each other a lot. - I'm so happy to see Emban seems to have completely let go of her anger at least with respect to Alden.
Yesssssssssss. A compliment for Alden! A compliment for Emban! Compliments all around!
I NEED one of these for my two cats. They keep bringing me real ones. - The mouse would be researched until the end of the simulation, as if it were a real unique demon they’d found. And then, hopefully, Alden was going to get to have it. He’d mentioned how much his cat would like the fancy toy enough times for everyone to get the hint. -
> “I could probably use a bath right now,” said Alden, giving him his most subtle authority pat to go with the hug. “Sorry about that.” Um. Lind is definitely closer-by than the distance from Anesidora to Matadero, right? Just how subtle is this pat?
It's directed this time. Last time Alden sent it out into the aether.
We now have two notable characters who belong to the “beasts of burden” camp, and it’s interesting how they differ. Bash-nor wants more Rabbits. He thought Alden’s commendation was a political decision. He flexes on Avowed at parties. He waves offensive spells at traumatized teenagers to prove a point, then goes meek as a mouse when someone more important looks at him. Vayeerd wants combat Avowed, strong ones. He doesn’t see a commendation by an art’h as a reason to leave Alden be. He scorns hedonistic wizards. He wants his daughter kept safe. It takes Lind herself to run him off. Same fundamental view, as categorized by Joe. Two very different attitudes.
Another thing I think I see is that he wants Knights to have emotional distance from Avowed. At least in part because he sees it as important to spend them to protect knights, and wants the knights who have their own struggles shielded from the emotional cost of that type of decision. He seems driven in large part by duty and practicality.
Emotional eye water, eh? Seems to going around. (Rubs eyes)
What an amazing skill Bithe has. And it impacted Alden so deeply, making him reaffirm his commitment to supporting the knights.
Hedonist summons avowed and they die?! What pleasure could they be seeking that causes an Avowed to die?
huh? Knights die, in battle, to save the hedonists. Unpleasant-und'h thinks that knights shouldn't die to also protect avowed. In fact, that Avowed should be sacrificed to prevent knights from dying. To such an extent that a knight shouldn't feel bad when they do.
I can see why Lind is a match for Esh. She is quite devious as well. 'Did I say I wouldnt?' 'Did I say I would?' Please have a side story about their pairing!
AO3 has several fan-fics of Esh/Lind. They're quite good.
Found a minor typo: >>> And as addicted to magic an any und’h ever has been And as addicted to magic AS any und’h ever has been
He started saving the Klerms! I think this going to be their catchphrase for someone who could think along the same lines they do.
He’s a kindred klerm saver!
Thank you for the chapter! :)
I must have read that last part like 4-5 times, but each time it brings a tear to my eye. Stu mentioning the confidence tower, and the ‘I have to try. He’s started saving the klerms’ combination is both heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. I can’t wait to see what happens with Team Klerm in the future. Thanks for the soup!!
Team Klerm :) I love that. I want to be on Team Klerm
"The votaries are already training several Avowed for my daughter, Zelwin. " What are the odds that Hannah is one of those avowed?
None, she would have come back some times and would have been able to communicate. The contract wouldn't say she was missing
Yeah I think you're projecting a bit there at the end Stu. But also Stu needs a lot of hugs.
Vayeerd-und’h: Avowed are shields, to be used and used up as I direct. Also Vayeerd-und'h: Why aren't my Avowed using their own initiative more? How come they're playing dumb so much? Lind-otta: It's a mystery.
You made me snort coffee!
Listening to Azeeda talk about the war really made it feel real, in a way that I haven't felt since Thegund
Azeeda doesn't appear in this chapter?
So, did an und’h summon, use, and break Hannah? Possibly this und’h? Esh said all protocols were followed, but that would still fit with this person’s uncaring attitude towards avowed.
I think whatever happened needs to include a legitimate reason why her fate is mysterious. I don't think that this und'h would go to effort to hide when he gets an avowed kill because he just does not give a shit, and I don't think Esh would see that as "handled properly".
“We just have to build it even taller than I thought,” Stuart said. “The tower.” It wasn’t what I expected, I thought that the latest events would show Stu how seeking his family approval was a lost cause for both of them, not double down on it by saying that they need even more confidence in their choices. I’m not even sure what it can accomplish at this point.
I’m not sure he was saying it for his family specifically. He had just watched someone say that Avowed are meant to be shields and you cannot get emotional about their loss. The tower might be designed to protect them not only from criticism/judgment, but also generals who would quickly put Alden on suicide missions, especially if his magic is seen as less-than
Lind presenting not a single chink of weakness for this still-young, exhausted, bitterly scared und'h father to latch onto, *and* still having the gall to be compassionate with him: devastatingly effective.
The detail of the random naysayers in the beginning, talking about how the primary had left his son so undecided. Just, the more I think about it.. that implication there that the Primary should have, what? Convinced Stu that his dreams were less important then whether or not the rest of everyone on the tri planets thinks he’s capable?? The audacity really! They’re like Royalty aren’t they? Like genuinely. Simultaneously coddled and catered to, but also expected to live up to these nebulous and highly idealistic principles, that ostensibly hold society together.. but. Do they really?
I think they were implying he should have stayed till Stu affixed.
Lind-otta the interceptor! Also I think the Undhs will explode when they learn a human is a knight
Hmm most likely the biggest voice opposed to his path of choice. At least it will makes their hypocrisy evident: they hide their supremacist views behind a paper thin « well Avowed are worth less than Knights it’s just logical to consider them as tools ». It just so happen that all the Avowed are from other species and all the active knights are of their own until Alden. Suddenly being a Knight will not be enough either.
Vayeerd-und'h does *not* consider Avowed to be a gift from the holy universe.
Are you sure? I thought the opposite. Gifts to shield knights from danger.
'“Avowed are shields,” he said without looking back at her. “A shield that is loved isn’t a good shield anymore. [...]"' I wanted to scream, reading this... a shield is a tool... a binding is a tool. If you hate your tools you are GOING to be less effective at using them and you will be doing harm to yourself.
It also blinds him to all the other useful things avowed are that can help in battle. Creative, decisive, adaptable. That's so much ability left without purpose. How does that square with the mission? Especially when their overall command structure is so liquid?
> “Avowed are shields,” he said without looking back at her. “A shield that is loved isn’t a good shield anymore. We should respect them enough to make them strong. And we should not hesitate to place them where their breaking will buy us any change at all from this never-ending war. " Vayeerd said the quiet bit out loud. I really get why Stuart's family do not take Alden seriously - they do not treat avowed as real people.
The end justify the means mentality. They assign an arbitrary value to people, and decided that Avowed are worth less than Knights, their sacrifice is therefore expected and required.
Mm. So that's his stance on avowed. I forgot what the four ro-den mentioned, but it's clear he thinks of them as what they were "intended." Individuals meant to protect or assist the pinch hitter. The knights. The oath sworn. He lacks empathy for alien races because, to be fair, they definitely arent enduring suffering like knights are. He's awful for it, but also, im sure he can see his family and friends, the ones he want to live, throwing themselves on A blade to protect avowed. Rather than blame their empathy, he'd blame the "shield" for not doing a better job.
Ch 39, Lesson One: > “Beasts of burden, existential threats, children that should be bossed around, or gifts from the holy universe.” It was a hard conversation to forget. To your statement, "...they definitely arent enduring suffering like knights are." Avowed die, and for all we know, suffer before and during the dying.
I can't believe uncle undh that Zeridee was too afraid to be a knight... Maybe she was so disgusted by her family's treatment of Avowed that she decided she would rather go and serve those Avowed in whatever capacity is available to her
He has no respect for her and her choices at all, also: « Involved with that…niece of mine » it feels like he wanted to call her something way less polite and neutral than « niece ». She is being insulted by her family.
I hope Eaner ends up as Stu and Alden's votary. An "he's a weasel, but he's *our* weasel" type would be super helpful for them. They're both way too sincere for their own good sometimes.
I would like that, he is quite perceptive. He does need to build up more rapport with Alden first and I guess the party will be a good place to do so
That kind of philosophy AND only a few days after an affixation? Yeah, that guy would have been ruinous in any kind of discussion.
I'd like to take a moment to appreciate that the art'hs and und'hs have different aesthetic sensibilities. The art'hs give names with one or two syllables and often end on consonants; Jeneth, Tesen, Alis, Stu, Rel, Evul. The und'hs use two or three syllables, stick a 'z' or 'y' or 'ee' in every name, and often end on vowels. Zeridee, Yookee (retconned), Zakithee, Azeeda, Vayeerd, Zelwin. The art'hs have a few members with short hair - Evul, Sina. The und'hs have been universally described with very long hair. Zeridee's braid almost brushed the floor, Zakithee's mane looked like it had never been cut, now Vayeerd has hair to his ankles. The art'hs wear the common style of knight coat, and Vayeerd here has an ankle-length one. It's a bunch of scattered little details, but it builds to this picture where a member of one family or their faction might instantly recognize a member of the other. Cultural differences from their distant heritage before unification, or the influence of a few strong personalities in recent memory, or defining themselves in opposition to one another - whatever the source, they don't stop at having irreconcilable philosophical differences. They've made sure you can tell them apart at a glance.
Extending your observation: I'd argue that the art'hs set the trend (Primary, Quaternary...), and that the und'hs are being reactionary with the length of skirts and beards (coats and hair).
I wonder if Eaner was among the welcoming party and Alden just ignored him, cause he has no idea who this dude is? If so, it'd be interesting what Eaner thinks about their enthusiastic meeting, talking over each other, and then Stuart dragging Alden off to a flyer. Stuart must be showing a very different side of him compared of how he is at Leafsong. Edit: Nevermind, Stuart himself said "Eaner was here earlier" and that means he is no longer here.
Sense I had is when Alden fell asleep, Eeaner went home, and a few other things happened.
Oh my god that ending line hits like a truck. Also, Vayeered, I sincerely hope you're eaten by a demon.
He binded a few days ago and decided to make it everyone else problem by being execrable
Eeaner-ket inadvertently sets up Jel-nor, Part II
Who's Jel-nor? Can't remember.
I really hope Lind and Esh are let in on the secret soon, they're both just consistently awesome
I would be sad if they are not. They never failed to be a positive presence in Alden and Stu lives, contrasting deeply with the Art’h family.
I’m so happy Alden and Stu are getting their time of happiness, and mayhap a glimpse into who will be with them on Goldbrush? I hope Boe will join, though I know it’s a long shot. Boe doesn’t deserve to be left behind. Someone Needs to take his parents off his hands, and put them in a good care home or something. I hope also that Kibby comes home before Alden has to leave for another Chaos zone.
I hope Stu tells Alden what his family did. He deserves someone to be angry alongside him
sub 'alongside' for 'with' and I completely agree!
Vayeerd-und’h.. what can I say but “Wasteful Resource Management”
"We have millions more where he came from." -- Josef Stalin, probably
I love the juxtaposition of care between the und'h family and members of Vatha Squad like Ryada and Bithe that we've gotten to see this arc. The overall und'h family position seems to be that the best way to serve as a Hn'tyon is to harden oneself against anything and everything that might wound you; the battle against chaos is hard enough without carrying wounds from home into battle, so there's no reason to invite such things. Vayeerd-und'h insists on the absolute minimum level of care possible for the Avowed they fight and die alongside in order to minimize such wounds. In contrast, Ryada and Bithe show the exact opposite end of the spectrum with a nigh overwhelming abundance of care, not just for those who serve under them, but even for the demons they are tasked to fight. Ryada, of course, has been as mindful as can be since we met her, and the entirety of her tumult lately has revolved around the fact that, on some irreversible level, she has turned part of herself into an uncaring weapon, when it seems like what she really wants to do is help and encourage life to thrive. And Bithe, as we've just seen, is so thoughtful as to turn himself into a weapon that gifts demons with as calm and beautiful a death as could be hoped for.
I wonder if Ryada might try to deepen with Bithe specifically to make Life-to-Water kinder. Personally I think she ought to pivot her Skill into high power and precision for now. Kill single enemies quickly. There are also healing applications (for example removing cancer)
aww the hug ❤️ My heart!
Big Sister Lind-Otta “You best be leaving our boy alone” instead of Big Brother Esh having that conversation shows their balance even more. I don’t know if Esh would have been as subtle and the other guy would likely not have listened anyway. i hope Alden gets some Ryada time too… they both need it but she will likely be occupied by the team.
Esh also doesnt have the authority that age brings. He is young and Lind is an elder so her words have more weight than his would
Uncle Weird-und'h is worse than I expected. What a self-aggrandizing prick! And one in the position to decide life and death at that. I love the understated strength of Lind, both as knight and social. Edit: So maybe Zeridee got the same treatment as Stu - told off by family pressure from her chosen path - but without having a friend like Alden. Her rebellion is admirable if so. Being desperate, alone and still doing the right thing. What a loud righteous exit from the mess that is Undhhouse!
While I don't agree with the Undh knight at all I can see the events that would leave him feeling the way he does. As much as I wish he doesn't, he does have valid reasons for his choices. I just don't agree with them
“Why is a knight my age being pestered by someone of your dignity over a Ryeh-b’t..." Lind is so old now that she no longer has an age but dignity! 😂
Poor Lind! So terribly old.
I think I hate Vayeerd-und’h more than I thought I would tbh. You’re sending avowed to fight and die in a war not their own, and you can’t even be bothered to treat them like people instead of tools? I think there’s a lot of respect due for anyone who willingly becomes a knight, given the sacrifice it involves, but *man* do some of them need a good punch to the face.
Resource world's also have chaos, wasn't Boe rescued from succumbing to chaos by his (forced) affixation? Which made him a u type but also kept him alive?
I’ve got this sinking feeling that Haoyu’s mom might be among the Avowed training to protect Zelwin. A shield, Vayeerd said. For a knight the same age as Emban and Bithe. A strong S-rank might be just about right. And what is a dura brute, if not a shield? We know mum accepted a voluntary summons recently. Like the invitation to etiquette training for Alden was supposed to be nominally voluntary. It makes the scope of the conflict with the und’h faction far more personal in the short term, and provides stakes Sleyca could believably threaten us and Alden with. It isn’t by any means guaranteed, but it would be all too neat.
I don't really get the conflict if a person chose to be a shield like you said then its not surprising they eventually take a hit they can't survive. Ideally the knight would call a strong enough avowed so they are not forced to die in fulfilling their duty and role in the team, but if they see a top teir S rank like Haoyu's parents then that means there was no one better to call to the role.
Alden has definitely missed his first class of the day, I expect. Ignacio must be vibrating like a tuning fork at this point.
Should be roughly midnight Sunday by my math, I think he'll miss his late Sunday rabbit recall practice, but he should make it to class ontime.
“Are the und’hs like the art’hs?” “No.” Esh-erdi said it so quickly that Alden wondered about it. “They’re alike in ways that all knights share. And the und’h name belongs to a more diverse group of knights and votaries than art’h does, so there are some running around here who might slide comfortably into the siblinghold. But I would expect them to be different. More difficult for you to get along with. Though I don’t plan on having you meet any old enough for that to matter on this trip.” And Lind has managed to maintain this promise! The Und'h moral position of treating avowed as cannon fodder and meat shields is incredibly callous, but I can still easily see how they justify it to themselves for preserving the much more long lived and potent knights. I wonder more now how Alden would react to their etiquette training, a knight ordering him to take a bullet for them feels really really bad, but also, that is precisely what his skill and entire self is aligned for him to do for his entruster I know we're getting Alden's fake level up and the party next, but I want so bad for these two boys to just talk about how they are both ready for, and wanting, to increase the intensity of their lives in their respective ways.
I’m torn over the und’h position. On a purely mathematical level, they’re probably right to sacrifice an Avowed before a knight. But choosing not to care, not to mourn… We have soldiers and police that use dogs. The dogs they use are very valuable to the work and usually beloved partners key to morale. Despite their value, almost everyone can agree that it’s better the dog die than their human handler. It’s not something you want to happen, but it’s better than the other way around. And if a handler didn’t mourn after his dog died saving him, I’d quietly wonder whether he’d been broken by war or was just a sociopath. Now, Avowed are not dogs. Just as important, though, knights are not soldiers. We are well aware that morale failures are a key cause of death for knights. (Bodies falling in the snow.) So there is something I can understand in the fact that they would try to protect themselves from taking an emotional blow. There is something I can understand in the way they raise their children not to break a little each time an Avowed is lost. It’s not what I’d call the best way. There’s a mote of cowardice in it, a flinching from the full consequences of one’s actions. But each person has finite emotional reserves, and we all get tired. We all make decisions, conscious or unconscious, that we can’t afford to care about everything. But if failing to weep for a dog is inhuman, how much worse not to weep for a person?
Lind - demonstrating how calm and measured can be incredibly badass.
Yes! Every time she rocked her armchair again, it started to feel like the pressure of her powerful authority racketing up yet another notch while her face stayed placidly calm. Rock...rock...rock.
The in the sky lantern watching was cool but the Stu Alden reunion was AMAZING!
Great chapter! I'll add it to my favourites. Vayeerd-Und'h is such a interessting character! (I would love to see Alden thrown in an environment where Vayeerd's voice carries more authority! But probably not going to happen.) ... should have seen it coming, but are we seeing the build up of a klerm-squat? ... It's just a fluke, right?
Finally we got a Studen hug! I'm so happy!
A hug and a discreet authority pat!
This chapter had it all. Lind standing on business. A profound and positive look at Bithe. Stu getting a hug. Divin getting food! I like that Alden's (probable) flyer seat made its way into the station highlights. And that the Ewtwee throwing it around is like MegaOpal. I enjoyed seeing a version of the classmates' avowed magic show up in this setting.
Random prediction: (sometime in 2032 when about six months have passed in-story) The Unsealing will not go well. Hnntyon Sina Stu-Art’h will Make a Narrow Way to bring reinforcements, with Esh-Lind leading the way.
I don't think Stu will be that powerful in just six months, and I think the story won't be moving as slowly as it currently does after Stu affixes
Ryada must be jealous as hell about Bithe's skill and the peace it brings before the near-instant death. No wonder she's been in crisis looking at the gap between what she hoped her own skill would do and the days-long agonies she was leaving in her wake during their last mission! Trying to reach further to make their mission go faster just made their deaths longer and harder.
Adds a whole new layer to Bithe's first snap at Alden during th HtT.
Obviously Vayeerd isn't going to hear what Lind was trying to convey, but I'm curious what his own faction will say about him going to the station after just affixing, authority vibes on Red Alert mode, wanting to vent at newling knights.
Azeeda, at least, clearly saw this as a problem.
I wonder if Hannah became a "shield"
Esherdi would not say that everything was adequately handled if he thought there was the slightest possibility that Hannah's life was lightly and carelessly spent. Still, the sentiment is valid - knights from undh family could easily summon any Avowed we know and sacrifice them. It could have happened to Hayou's parents. Snake. And many more, if the war on chaos goes into the next stage.
Yaaay!!! We are so proud of Alden!! Triumphant and tired and with a party on the horizon.
Seeing the difference between Bithe’s gentle mesmerizing and the pain that Ryada accidentally caused with Water to Life sucks (non-derogatory)! Like, yeah. Both are AOE drains that have respect for life in their own way (Bithe comforting his prey vs. Ryada establishing a foundation for future life), but the act of unending killing itself is so much harder in Ryada’s case.
Poor baby Stuart... he looks so sad and crushed by everything. It's not just about his family rejecting him - it's also about the undh family seeing Avowed as mere tools not worthy of respect. Would they treat an Avowed turned knight as a real knight or as another resource, another shield to protect true Artonan daughters and sons who chose knighthood willingly and knowingly? Stuart must feel so alone, yet also comforted by his friends and allies. Together, they will have to build a tower that will survive the encroaching darkness - especially the one the older knights have mentioned. On a different note, I love that Alden feels delighted by the choices he made. It's like a proof of concept - that he can be a knight, survive and protect others - and this proof of concept has proven itself to everyone. Finally, I can't believe I was giving the undh family benefit of the doubt! They suck so hard for treating Avowed as disposable and frankly I can see it leading to subpar decisions on their part. Also, respect to that knight that sacrificed an arm to protect a griveck - the kids are alright. Not everyone is as stupid as thr undhs.
Imagine how sad you must need to be to require sweaty alien hug to feel better.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who had the Imperial March playing in their head while Darth Vayeder-und'h was entering.
dun dun dun dunnnh, dun dun! dun dun (ominiously)...
"Did you see the one who lost a hand trying to defend a griveck he summoned?" Bro took the role play too far
He didn't literally lose a hand but he would have if it was real. He will have lost his hand on the injury readout and probably can't use it for the rest of the activity
I’m not usually used to smiling for half an hour straight so now my face muscles feel strained… Even still I can’t stop smiling. I’m living a really good life right now and Super Supportive is part of that. Thank you for the chapter.
Me too!
Fuck you, Vayeerd-und’h.
Love your shields like Alden loves his Kelsithe, not like Vayeerd loves his Avowed.
You know thats not a parallel I had considered, but it is kind of hilarious (and a bit sad) that Alden cares more about his inanimate shield than vayeerd does about the non-artonan lives under his command.
Help, author, I ahve finished the chapter and my soup is empty. Perchance I could have another scoop?
Rereads only for now, I fear
Party rabbit!
Early birthday soup for me! Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Happy Avowed BirthDay
Unsealing?! I bet that this is the next phase of Earth's integration. Maybe a potent but expensive spell that protects Earth from chaos incursions is about to be phased out.
@Vitor, she's talking about Jeneth-art'h's mission to re-establish contact with the Ilket, the species who could not be trusted to abide by a Contract, and thus had their dimension sealed, leaving them to face Chaos alone. This is the mission the Sdyelis Branch is being built for.
I cannot even imagine the looks on everyone else’s faces when Alden and Stu had that… Conversation and then immediately vanished into a flyer set to privacy mode. Now taking bets on people thinking Stu is tapping dat.
I’m glad that both Alden and Stu got positive moments this chapter but also I’m shaking in my boots what is “the Unsealing”
So what is the unsealing? EDIT: l’ve worked it out. I think it’s what Jeneth is doing.
@Tallen - the dimension the Ilket occupy. The Ilket were the ones who couldn't be trusted to keep to the terms of a Contract, and were sealed/abandoned to Chaos by the Triplanets. Jeneth is away exploring the re-opening. EshLind are due to go fight the chaos there with the Sdyelis Branch and crew.
“Eeaner-ket was here earlier. He says I should invite you to the party.” big grin, happy sigh, I feel like my work here is done!
Unsealing?
The Ilket. Their dimension was sealed for contract misfeasance. The Primary is away exploring the seal/path to their dimension.
Bithe shines. Stu hugs. Lind uses influence! It's super-effective!
She should have just used her skill. He would arrive a little late when only few votaries are left there packing.
So the und family’s, or atleast the old ones’s, stance toward avowed is that resource should just be resource. Damn.
"I'm going to harden my heart, and swallow my tears"
With Stu feeling out of place on the Rapport, I fear Alden will return to Anisidora and feel that same thing now’s he’s experienced a taste of Rapport life, and knighthood.
Or perhaps Stu will join him and Zeridee on Anesidora, Rapport VIII.
I'm glad Azeeda-und'h's good intentions are being rewarded with Esh hanging out being available to answer questions about esvulgivnas.
Sleyca is in charge of stealing a bit of time out of my working day each time she publishes... Have to make time for soup!
soup>work, always
Thank you! I just can’t help picturing an Alden balloon
Oh god what do you MEAN unsealing is about to begin?
Unsealing the way to the ilket
Stu needs a hug. I need a hug. Alden needs more k’rethkan and a nap.
God I love Esh and Lind
I'm more and more confidant that Stu and Alden are gonna break it to them first. I am honestly very curious as to Lind'otta's ranking among the knights. With the amount of respect she receives, part of me wonders if she is top 10, and with her bond to Esh, that would make him nearly as powerful, if not quite. We know that the Quaternary and the Primary are bonded, and that their was previously a third sibling in the bond, so the bind doesn't bring them to complete equality in power or ranking.
BITHE THIS CHAPTER
Knew there was a purpose to my insomnia tonight
TYFTSoup
SOUP!!! *makes disgusting slurping noises*
Tfyc!
🙌🏼
Soup
HAVE NO FEAR, BITHE IS HERE! HE BRINGS A NEW CHAPTER!
Thank you
*wriggles in whole-body delighted anticipation*
STU YOU GOT YOUR HUG, thank *goodness*. And you talked to Lind and felt the truth of at least some adults in your life being proper adults and looking out for you! And Eeaner wants Alden to come join Stu for the party! HE'S STARTED SAVING THE KLERMS, they gotta fan that spark now, it's turning into a movement. Alden leaping into the sky to better see the peace Bithe's skill brings to the corrupted ones who are suffering: I wept with him. What a profoundly moving gift Bithe has chosen to bring to the necessary work of resolving demons so chaos can be pushed back and the intregity of reality restored.
yeah soup!