>>5631413You pause. Irinnile, despite being plainly motivated by a selfish desire to conclude your work here and thus free herself to pursue her own agenda with Yosef—something you still have misgivings about—raises a valid point. In making plain to the Paladin king the shortcomings of his state apparatus, and hinging Rufos’ own ascent on improving the workings of that system with demonstrable results, you have in fact placed additional risk upon your biological father and upon one of your closest friends and allies (oh, and Infiltrator Halle, you suppose). And the longer you are away from the northern forward base, and from Bloodrise, the more things can go awry in your absence.
And then, there’s the Novice…
With a start, you realize you’ve thought very little about the Novice lately. All your romantic energies and inclinations, once reserved primarily for your childhood bully turned closest companion, have gradually shifted towards the target of this current campaign of subversive seduction. In some ways, the two females are similar. They are both highly-born, well-read young females, stifled by their sex in spite of their station and desiring more; Eka says this frustration is referred to among the intelligentsia of the surface-apes as ‘feminism’. In other ways, though, they couldn’t be more different! Sseztlussth, the Novice Fleshweaver, has the characteristic ruthlessness of your Master Race—a cold-blooded pragmatism, a disdain and disregard for anyone who isn’t of immediate use or personal relation to her, a total incomprehension of romantic love or altruism. She is consistently skeptical of your grand vision for the New Age of Darkenss precisely BECAUSE she sees no worth outside the temporary and stertegic in preserving the lives of dwarves, Drow, bugbears, or humans... Even Degenerates, like Olu, or your like your late mother.
Ekaterine is… Well, much more like YOU. Ekaterine cares about her ‘lessers’, about the foreigner and the alien and the lowborn. She is naïve to a fault, horrified by even necessary violence, but this is because she feels her emotions strongly, passionately, a you feel yours…
And this includes love.
