To say that the Skiritai students were allowed to choose the creatures they would fight would not be entirely correct.
A worn leather booklet filled with scribbles in what was suspected to be Marshal de la Tavarin’s own handwriting had been provided to the class, and in that overly loopy handwriting were outlined three lists of lemures. The Marshal said that Watch teratologists ranked the dangers of the creatures on a scale of one to ten but that he found this to be lacking flair so instead he would provide them with a different one: flint, iron and steel.
The Flint list was for ‘disappointments in the making’. It appeared to be lesser lemures and even some of the most dangerous breeds of lares, some of them needing to be kept in packs to represent a threat to well-trained and well-armed students. The Iron list, he claimed, represented the caliber of opponents they were most likely to end up facing out in Vesper. The lower end was along the lines of a pack of lupines while a nemean – the lion creature Angharad’s band had faced on the first day – was in the upper end.
“The Steel list is for those of you headed for either history books or an early grave,” the Marshal then cheerfully added. “Sometimes both!”
The rules were thus: once a week, every student must be part of a band of no more than four that faced creatures down on the grounds of the Acallar. Groups were allowed to choose an opponent from whichever list they preferred. Those who fought in Flint and Iron would draw a slip of paper from the Marshal’s hat to find out what they fought, but those who fought in Steel were allowed to choose from that list directly. And unlike the others the lemures in the Steel list would not be replaced as the year went on, making every victory a lasting feat.
On firstday a band of four tried to make a splash by slaying a muchakabeta, a massive snake with six horns and an upper body that was troublingly like a man’s. The creature wielded blades made of bones and had been agreed on by many to be the weakest of the Steel list.
It killed half the band before thirty breaths had passed.
Only volleys of musket fire by the watchmen were able to drive it back into its cage long enough for the Marshal to lock it in again. No one had since dared to try the Steel list, and Angharad’s band was to be no exception. They had chosen Iron instead of Flint but waited until secondday to step forward so they could practice two formations: one for attack and one for defense. They were the first to draw from the Marshal’s hat today, though the name proved unfamiliar to all.
“Monos picudos,” Angharad muttered as they strode across the grounds.
“Beaked monkeys,” Shalini helpfully provided.
That the breed sounded more humorous than dangerous was no reason to let her guard down. The Watch would not have bothered capturing them if they were not in some way perilous, much less the Marshal placed them in the Iron list.
“Beaks could mean birdlike,” Expendable said, eyes on the ground as he followed.
Honesty compelled Angharad to admit she had not wanted to keep the man – whose true name was Velaphi, though he insisted on being called Expendable – as part of their band. Shalini, however, had strongly argued for it. The Pereduri had her suspicions as to why.
Shalini Goel’s contract had a treacherous price, so sympathy for a man who appeared to have it even worse was not altogether surprising. The Someshwari had a kind streak as well as a ruthless one. Angharad might yet have opposed the arrangement, if their last companion had not tacitly acquiesced when the matter was brought up.
“Hope not,” Salvador grunted. “Flyers are tricky.”
The quiet Sacromontan was eyeing the cage the Marshal stood by warily, and not without reason. Wings alone were a reason to be bumped up to from Flint to Iron, in Angharad’s opinion. She had not thought so at first, but seeing Muchen He’s band struggle against a flock of dog-sized birds with human faces last afternoon had driven home how difficult dealing with such mobility could be. Those creatures had only been passingly clever but they still had taken nearly an hour and several flesh wounds to deal with.
Best to make certain. She reached in and
/the door blew open, a flock of five creatures bursting out as they screeched. Beaks and feathers, but also fur and a tail. Shalini’s shots downed one but the rest scattered and/
she breathed out. It would be a headache if the lemures were allowed to scatter.
“Let us take the spear formation,” Angharad said. “It is best we thin the herd from the start regardless of whether they are winged.”
“Fair enough,” Shalini shrugged.
Salvador nodded his assent, and if Expendable had an objection he kept it to himself. They moved into place, if not smoothly then with purpose. Angharad and Salvador hid themselves on the right side of the cage, sword in hand, while Shalini loaded her entire set of pistols and Expendable spun about his spear to loosen his muscles. It was the Someshwari who was the key to the formation, so it was she that called on the Marshal to open the cage. There was the sound of iron being pulled, and then just like in Angharad’s glimpse the door blew open.
One shot, two, three – so quickly succeeding she could barely tell them apart – and then the Pereduri charged out with Salvador at her heels.
The creatures were worse now that she saw them properly. None smaller than a dog, brightly colored in red and blue with a vaguely simian leathery face ending in a sharp beak. The neck was more fur than feathers, as was the red tail sprouting from their bottoms. Shalini had caught two with her shots, one dead and the other writhing, but Angharad did not pause to finish the lemure off. Salvador, on her heel, would take care of it.
Instead she went on the attack.
The beaked monkeys were fresh out and their eyes were on Shalini, baited by her contract price, which let her cut the first down in complete surprise – downwards blow, right between the wing and the shoulder. She angled her wrist even as there was a wet crunch, bone and flesh parting beneath her saber stroke, and when she ripped free her blade the lemure’s stinking innards came spilling out. She struck out again, but the monsters were nimble. One ducked low, then took flight, and the other landed to scuttle away on what she realized were clawed monkey’s paws.
A gurgle behind her, Salvador cleaning up the loose end.
She ignored the one flown off and chased after the one on the ground, lengthening her stride but to little avail: the creature was fast. Once it was more than twenty feet ahead it turned, screeching mockingly as it waved its feathered buttocks her way, and – its head turned to red pulp, Shalini’s fourth shot finding its mark. Angharad turned in time to see the last lemure, whipped into a frenzy by the gunslinger’s contract, dive down at her from above. Expendable’s spear missed it by a hair, the lemure chattering a laugh, but then the Malani snatched it out of the air barehanded.
She chose not to look at Expendable smashing it against the stone violently even though she could hear the screeching. Or to notice his limbs had been convulsing, the monster sealed inside him aching to get out and spill blood.
Marshal de la Tavarin only strolled back into view after the last of the screeching abruptly cut out, looking somewhat irritated.
“That was staggeringly boring to watch,” he said. “Let us hope that next week reserves a greater challenge – a good blade dulls when used to cut grass.”
Angharad flicked the blood off her blade and nodded in acknowledgement.
“Let us hope,” she agreed.
He squinted at her.
“Tempted as I am to sprout a second on you immediately, I suppose it is yet early in the year,” the Marshal said. “Go on, then, and send down the next band.”
They assembled before moving towards the exit, some relieved chatter blooming as they all politely pretended not to notice there was a feather on the corner of Expendable’s lips. Surely he had not eaten the… would it even possible, with a man’s teeth? It was not as if the beaked monkey had come cooked and sauced.
“-cision, Angharad,” Shalini was saying. “Those things looked a lot clever than the birds Muchen got, it would have been tricky if they scattered.”
Angharad cleared her throat, mildly shamed she had not been listening.
“It felt like the correct decision at the time,” she said.
“It was,” Salvador rasped. “Good instincts.”
Not instincts at all, and she felt like a heel for cheating even as she enjoyed the compliment. The conversation broke up when they took the stairs, emerging back onto the balcony where the students waited until the fights were done for the day. As usual the large space was barely used, scattered cliques of students nesting in their own corner even as more sat near the balcony’s edge for a better look at the violence. Their arrival got a few friendly waves, but no cheers as some of the fights in the past had.
Theirs had, Angharad would admit, not been exciting enough to warrant such a thing.
Yet it was proving sufficient to warrant something else: lounging by the head of the stairs like a panther at rest, an impeccably dressed Lord Musa Shange was waiting. He pushed himself up at the sight of them, stretching in a way that drew the eye to his admittedly muscled arms. Everything the man did was a performance.
“What do you want?” Shalini called out.
A tad rudely, but Lord Musa had earned little courtesy from the Thirty-First.
“A private conversation,” the man replied, then nodded at her. “Lady Angharad.”
“Lord Musa,” she coolly replied.
“Like that’s going to be-” Shalini began, but Angharad gently laid a hand on her arm.
“I can speak for myself,” she said.
Gently still, despite the presumption. Her friend spoke from care, and Angharad owed Shalini and the rest of the Thirty-First Brigade a great deal. She had relied on their kindness for many things since moving out of the cottage.
“We will not be leaving the open,” she informed Musa.
It had his face tightening, but he did not argue. How could he, when his own captain was a known robber? She gave a reassuring nod to the rest of her companions and followed the Malani up a few rungs of benches, far enough they could not easily be overhead. Once they were there, however, the man looked hesitant.
“What can I for you, Lord Musa?” Angharad asked.
Only marginally more polite than what Shalini had said, but he had little courtesy from her either.
“It has been pointed out to me,” Musa stiffly replied, “that the discord between us might be needless.”
Her brow rose but she said nothing. The Pereduri had no intention of apologizing for stepping in when he sought to force Zenzele into a duel. And while mention of that fact had been largely a pretext at the time, it remained true that the false Yaretzi that’d attempted to kill her had received Sandile coin. Not for her own death, but the connection remained.
“I spoke to you impolitely without good reason,” Lord Musa admitted. “In my eagerness to avenge the insult done my cousin, I myself gave insult. I would withdraw my words from that evening, if you will allow.”
Angharad hid her surprise. Withdrawing one’s words commonly served as an apology among Malani highborn, as it avoided acknowledging fault outright while expressing a desire to restore relations to where they stood before the words were spoken. She had never thought much of the practice. Apologies should be given when one overstepped: that giving it marred your honor was the very point, not an unfortunate coincidence. If a noblewoman had committed something worth apology the stain was deserved.
Yet her friends from the Middle Isle had called such an opinion ‘charmingly provincial’, so she was not unaware it was not how Malani saw things. By his standards, Musa was making a genuine effort.
“For the disrespect offered me, I give leave,” Angharad replied after a heartbeat of hesitation.
Which buried personal enmity between them but made it plain she still stood with the Zenzele and Thirty-First. As well she should, Sleeping God. They had been her friends before, but now they were her benefactors as well.
“There is nothing else I would withdraw,” Lord Musa flatly replied.
She could respect that. Musa had a right to be angry on his cousin’s behalf. By fleeing their betrothal and spurning her so openly, Zenzele had damaged her reputation in the eyes of all her peers. Rumors would follow her for years, all the more considering the Sandile were a great house and the Duma lesser – why would the young man flee such an advantageous match, if nor for some hidden defect on Lady Arafa’s part?
Deep down, Angharad thought Musa more right than wrong. House Duma had done badly by Zenzele, betrothing him without his involvement, assent or even knowledge, but that was no fault of House Sandile’s and their reputation was still scoffed by the affair. But that does not excuse, Angharad coldly thought, the use of assassins. That black mark was not Musa Shange’s however, and he should not be made to answer for it.
“That is your right,” Angharad agreed.
He nodded in acknowledgement, seeming pleased they understood one another.
“As a gesture of good will, I would extend an invitation to dinner,” Musa smiled.
Angharad mastered her face. In Malan, she would have needed to watch her tongue. She did not know much of House Shange, but they appeared well connected and were likely wealthier than the Tredegar. Avoiding causing offense in turning him down would have been paramount. But they were both Watch, now, and in principle neither stood above the other. She could answer frankly, and the thought was so novel she could not help but indulge.
“The intimate company of men holds no appeal to me,” she frankly replied.
Musa politely coughed into his fist, though not so quickly she did not see the ghost of a smile.
“Nor that sort of invitation, Lady Angharad,” he said. “Some of us highborn from the Isles are gathering for a private dinner at the Galleries next fourthday. There was talk of inviting you, and I volunteered to extend the opportunity.”
Likely turning talk into decision by doing so, a further gesture of goodwill. The man seemed serious about making amends.
“It would be my honor,” Angharad said, inclining her head in thanks.
“And ours,” Lord Musa easily replied.
He paused.
“Should you be looking to obtain the services of a tailor, Sebastian knows one familiar with our fashions,” the nobleman said. “He offered to make introductions if you would like.”
It was an effort not to grind her teeth. A man who had robbed her wanted to share a tailor? She would rather attend naked.
“I will keep that in mind.”
Musa’s lips twitched.
“I thought that might be your answer,” the Malani lordling said. “You will find, my lady, that your… temporarily absent belongings await you at the Rainsparrow Hotel. Give the attendant the word and they will be brought to your room.”
Musa half-bowed, which she was surprised enough to return half a heartbeat late.
“Sebastian only had animosity with the Thirteenth Brigade,” he said. “Never Angharad Tredegar herself. You are invited to keep that in mind, going forward.”
And with that he took his leave, stalking away lithely as Angharad was left to watch his back. The noblewoman was no fool, to confuse a thorn being pulled out for a favor being done, but it would have been almost as foolish not to acknowledge that Captain Sebastian was making a gesture. Unprompted, with no one forcing his hand. She knew better than to believe it was out of the goodness of his heart, of course. Angharad had been right in a way: she was being courted.
Only it was as a sword instead of a woman.
—
After a bath and a change of clothes the last thing Angharad wanted was to head back to the streets, but there was no helping it. She had already put off this chore too long.
Not that her lodgings at the Rainsparrow Hostel were worth lingering at. The room was a glorified closet and even going back to fetch her affairs had not managed to make it feel any less empty. It was the bareness of the walls, Angharad felt. No pretense was being made that the room was anything but a place to pass through. Not at all like the cottage, where they had all-
No, better the bare room than the cottage. Bleak as it was, it was no lie. There were things about that night Angharad regretted, but leaving was not one of them. It had done her good, to distance herself from the tumult. Standing in that room it’d felt like there was no choice but to claw back, but that was a mirage. It would be ungrateful for Angharad not return the favors done to her on the Dominion, but she was not some Izcalli serf bound to serve the Thirteenth ‘til death.
She could leave if she wanted to, and after three days away from the others she’d come to believe that she did. Pulling her coat tighter around her neck, Angharad gave the blackcloak in front a nod as she walked out the door. The man had earlier confirmed Lord Musa’s words: the belongings taken from her had been returned and were not awaiting her leisure.
Angharad had yet to decide whether she would accept the gesture.
Port Allazei evenings were cool, kept so by the sea breeze, but the streets were still full of cloaked silhouettes. As one of the three main streets outlining the Triangle, Hostel Street was still thick with garrison men and students even though the hour approached six. Mere moments after passing the door Angharad was waved at by an acquaintance, Captain Philani of the Thirty-Eighth, and she slowed her stride to talk with the amiable Malani.
Small talk – the Thirty-Eight did not have a Skiritai, he was curious about the class – but he did have a question.
“Will you be at Dregs tonight?” the captain asked. “Most of my brigade will be, I thought to make introductions.”
“I believe so,” Angharad replied. “Ferranda has been trying to convince me their fish pie is edible, I suppose I ought to try it.”
‘Dreg’s Draughts’ was a tavern by the docks, whose sign had swiftly been vandalized to be boasting of ‘Dregs’ instead. The owners, far from insulted, had embraced the name. Though their ale was almost insultingly terrible it was also cheap and plentiful, which meant about a third of the Scholomance roster went through those doors any given night.
“Lierganen cooking,” Philani agreed, rolling his eyes. “It almost feels a lie to speak the words.”
Angharad smothered a grin.
“They make fine hams,” she loyally replied.
They parted in amusement. Barely two street corners later she ran into Captain Nenetl of the Third, in conversation with two others, but the Izcalli called out to her and made introductions.
“Izel Coyac, meet Angharad Tredegar,” she said.
Izcalli, she thought from the name. A tall, strong-shouldered man who seemed hairless even by the standards of Aztlan stock. He nodded a greeting, which she returned.
“And-”
A heartbeat into the introduction, Angharad placed the other face. It had seemed familiar.
“Kiran Agrawal?” she interrupted.
The Someswhari looked surprised, pleasantly so.
“Indeed,” he said.
Angharad smiled at him, then offered Nenetl explanation.
“We are both Skiritai,” she said. “His band faced some sort of bull lemure last week and I was impressed by his spearwork.”
“My thanks,” the man replied, faintly accented. “Your swordwork is superb, as I am sure you know.”
“Oh, please do not let this turn into another blade flattery session,” Captain Nenetl sighed.
She laughingly solicited Izel’s support in changing the subject – he was a Tinker, it seemed, though Angharad believed those calluses on his hand also from training – and the conversation did not long last after courtesies. Both belonged to the Nineteenth Brigade, she learned, and in truth shared classes with Angharad. Their brigades had simply never formally met.
That last part put a shadow to Angharad’s smile, driving her to end the chat early. What was it that had kept the Nineteenth away from them – Song’s name, the enemies Tristan brought or just another of the hundred black marks on the Thirteenth Brigade that she had never cared to notice? She had been so blind.
A mere three evenings with the Thirty-First had been enough to open her eyes. Their brigade was split between two small houses near the western edge of the Triangle, Rong and Zenzele sharing one while Shalini and Ferranda shared the other. The only appropriate arrangement: Zenzele was a young widower, or close enough. For him to live with two unattached women would have been scandalous. Angharad had supped at the former and twice accompanied them to Dregs, and the difference had been…
Sleeping God, she had missed society. The cottage was so insular, far from everything. There was intimacy in that, but also a certain staleness. To be able to go out in company without concern about Song’s name or Maryam’s paleness had been a breath of fresh air. She had spoken to more of her fellow students in the last four days than she had since making shore in Port Allazei.
It felt like she had been let out of a prison cell.
Even the simple exercise of finishing the Saga readings with the Thirty-First on firstdday, sharing a table with them at the Crocodilian, had been refreshingly painless. Ferranda’s cabal was not frictionless, with Rong often growing irritated at Shalini for her blitheness while Lord Zenzele struggled with giving his opinions in ways that did not step on his captain’s toes, but the stakes were so low. No one was struggling against crushing burdens, set fire to houses or report being run out of their own covenant.
They had read the assigned readings of their professors, shared a pitcher of bad cider and broken early for a meal. No one died or wept in the process.
The rest of the way to her destination was not far. She left Hostel Street for Regnant Avenue, then followed it south towards the garrison barracks. There were clusters of small courtyards there, abandoned, that were sometimes used for students for sparring and practice. The house she was looking for had been well described to her, and the red awning stood out enough there was no mistaking it. She dragged her feet the rest of the way to the open doors, hearing the sounds of a scuffle inside.
Part of Angharad wanted to find an excuse not to cross that threshold, but that was weakness. She had already used the move and her changed circumstances as an excuse for too long. Evening out her expression, the noblewoman breathed in and passed through the open gates of the courtyard.
The inside was worn but still in fine enough state, a broad sparring yard with an upper gallery surrounding it. Weapons racks had long collapsed into scrap, but someone had recently nailed spikes into the stone wall to hang a few practice weapons. Some of them were being used as she watched: Tupoc Xical, a dull axe and dagger in hand, was dancing around that Tianxi girl from his cabal with the burns and the milky eye. She wielded a long spear, the bread and butter of the republican militias, and the reach should have given the Izcalli trouble.
Instead he was toying with her, catching the shaft with his axe or dagger before darting in for killing strokes – never harder than a tap – and giving grounds to begin again. It took Angharad two passes of watching the girl grow increasingly angry and sweaty as she failed to land blows to realize what Tupoc was doing. He was trying to break her drilling habit and teach her distance as used in duels instead of the march-and-thrust the Republics demanded of their infantry.
After the third pass Acceptable Losses, as she recalled to be the Tianxi’s sobriquet, looked angry enough to snap her own spear.
“You are too much better at this,” she said. “There is no point-”
“There is no point in you thrusting at where I am,” Tupoc interrupted. “You need to thrust where I am going to be.”
She looked inclined to argue, but he raised an eyebrow over those pale eyes and the Tianxi sighed. Only then did she spare a glance for Angharad, who was yet standing by the gates, and sneered before walking off. There was a small door beneath the galleries that Angharad had earlier missed.
“Angharad Tredegar,” Tupoc greeted her. “I had begun to wonder if you would ever come to collect.”
“I merely had other affairs to settle,” Angharad replied.
“Yes, moving back into the Rainsparrow,” the man mused. “I heard.”
Angharad said nothing, knowing that to give him any thread to tug at would be a mistake. After a moment, the man chuckled. He gestured at the training weapons against the wall.
“Care for a spar?” he asked.
“No,” she flatly replied. “I came for-”
“Did you know,” Tupoc lightly interrupted, “that there are now only sixty-eight cabals left?”
Angharad frowned.
“I do not recall how many there were before,” she admitted.
She thought Song might have mentioned it in passing, but she had not committed the number to memory.
“Seventy-two when classes began,” he told her. “One collapsed from their Stripe being tossed out of Scholomance, but nothing so near for the others.”
“Deaths?” she asked with a frown.
There were now eight dead Skiritai students, though this Lady Knit ruling the hospital seemed able to cure much anything short of death. She had heard rumors of more deaths from Port Allazei and even one student taken by Scholomance, but nothing she would dare to call a fact.
“Arguments,” Tupoc replied. “And poaching. The first deaths made holes in brigades, whose captains recruited to fill. The brigades being recruited from in turn had to poach, and down the ladder it went.”
“Until the bottom rung,” Angharad said, cocking her head to the side. “Those collapsed.”
He nodded.
“And became spare parts for brigades to pick from,” he said. “At the turn of the month, there will be a lot of desperate sorts willing to do anything so a cabal takes them in.”
“A warning, Tupoc?” she challenged.
He grinned.
“I merely worry of the Thirteenth’s health,” he piously said. “First you move out of their secret hideaway, then most of you cease talking in public? Your pet rat even stopped coming to class.”
Angharad’s teeth grit. Tristan had been absent today and the day before, though she had been assured he still lived.
“Why would you care even if there were trouble?” Angharad snorted.
“Why, Tredegar, we are all old friends,” Tupoc said. “How could I not worry about dear bosom companions like you, Song or Maryam?”
“I only barely consider you an acquaintance,” she coldly replied.
He was, unfortunately, only enthused by her words. What little patience she’d come here with began to thin.
“I did not come here to entertain you,” Angharad said. “You promised me answers, Tupoc. Deliver.”
He leaned his axe back against his shoulder, then hummed.
“I was in the thick of it, that night,” he said. “Much like you.”
She nodded.
“I recall.”
He had been one those meeting the cultists with steel instead of blackpowder, keeping the raiders at bay.
“I do not believe any of you grasped how close-run that skirmish was,” Tupoc mused. “If not for the muskets on the stairs, we would have faced the full warband and been swept up. If not for our fighting line proving so fierce, a few of their warriors could have toppled our firing line in moments.”
He paused.
“Hollows well versed in fighting soldiers know better than to assault a dug-in position,” the Izcalli continued. “Given the fine cover a dark forest makes, I was concerned that their captain would send a few warriors to swing around and strike at our musketmen.”
“So you kept an eye on behind us,” Angharad put together.
“As much as the fighting allowed,” Tupoc said. “I did not see who shot Isabel Ruesta, Tredegar, but from the way she fell to the ground I can tell you who did not: the cult of the Red Eye.”
She breathed in sharply.
“You are certain?” she pressed.
“She was facing the tower when she was shot,” Tupoc said.
And the musket ball had struck the front of her face, not the back of the head. Angharad had thought her spun around by the shot. She closed her eyes. Who had been up there? Cozme and Tupoc had been in the thick of it with her. Who did that leave? Brun, who had been enamored with killing and closest to the corpse. He did not have a musket, only a pistol. Lan, who Angharad had never seen use a weapon. Shalini, who had only used pistols as well. And then their two sharpshooters: Ferranda Villazur and Song Ren.
Angharad could still remember the last heartbeat of that fight: a shot from the woods, and then one from the near the tower. Where Ferranda and Song had stood.
“Either Villazur or your dearest captain,” Tupoc said, echoing her thoughts. “That is my best guess.”
“And you said nothing?” she curtly replied.
He shrugged.
“I thought I might need that little tidbit if either of them tried to get me hanged,” he replied. “It was best kept under wraps until I could make use of it, and now I have.”
“Would you testify to this?” she asked.
He burst out laughing. It took an obnoxious, teeth-gritting full minute until he ran out.
“Oh gods,” Tupoc breathed out. “That just made my week.”
“This is not laughing matter,” she said.
“It is,” the Izcalli replied. “All that takes place on the Dominion falls under amnesty, remember? Even if Ferranda confessed to a Watch tribunal tomorrow the words would not earn her so much as a slap on the wrist.”
Much as she would have liked to punch that grin off his face, he was unpleasantly correct. As far as the Watch and its laws were concerned, the Dominion was a done thing. Without another word, Angharad turned and walked out. Tupoc had not given her sufficient reason to insult him, only for lesser rudeness of this sort. She ignored his taunting calls, fingers still bunched up into fists.
It was not proof, but it was not nothing. And it made one thing all the clearer.
Angharad need to sit down with Song Ren to tell her that when the month ended, she would be leaving the Thirteenth Brigade.
Pale Lights 
Early merry Christmas to you all.
Have an updated visual overview fanart of the students: https://www.deviantart.com/gwennafran/art/Pale-lights-B2-Students-chapter-22-1004179053
LikeLiked by 5 people
When framed in this manner, it makes sense for why she would want to leave. She’s missing a lot of details, and very trusting of people with unclear self-interested motives, but she’s mad and wants to create distance.
Which in its own way is interesting for a fighter like her who has pre-cog powers, she only wants to get away and disengage rather than go for anything and communicate more directly until forced to.
Things would probably be fine if she took an exit stage left for a couple of chapters.
LikeLike
When framed like anything is framed in Angharad Tredegar’s world evrrything makes sense so that she is never at fault for anything nasty or vaguely dishonorable. There are certainly othera at fault in many things, but it’s funny how things work out like that every time.
Thirteenth hasn’t formally met other brigades? Nothing to do with a certain fight happening on a formal diner, leading to an agreement having to be made with another brigade for sure. Hells, must be the fault of that cursed Ren, the woman who is being target for her last name. What an asshole, imagine having your family be target. (Song was planning to attend the first brugade meeting until she heard of that fun little duel, leading to a crippling)
Haven’t gone to a pub, keep having spats when talking to your brigade members? Why, this must be the fault of that no good, very bade pale (gasp) skinned woman who keeps being unecessarily rude to you for absolutely no reason at all, very rude. Racism? Imperialism making you believe youre right and the locals are savages? You are being civilized, do not resist. (Continued instances of Maryam dealing with racism and microagressions from Angharad)
Being hunted by unknown parties, targeted by assasins or information is being hidden or omitted from others in your own brigade? Unthinkable, no incidents with beautiful spy women who want you to commit robery to report. Dead family members? Forbidden contract that grants precognition and possibly release a very cruel and powerful old god? Must be that dirty rat at it again, what a dishonorable fellow with his bent truths and hidden dealings.
Angharad is a study in hipocrisies and the lies we tell ourselves to make things simpler. The Thirteenth is full of issues, but she is not in the Watch for the fun of it either.
The way her head works is madening sometimes but it is a fun read.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Im reminded of Catherine dealing with Heros in PGtE, and the visceral wish that the other shoe drops on the heroes…
LikeLike
What really burns me is how she expects to find another brigade to put up with her baggage, but is so intolerant of the baggage of others. She showed up with barely coin to buy her student uniform, fleeing her own government, with assassins on her heels, then has the audacity to expect that she will fall in with some ‘acceptable’ nobles who will forgive her all the troubles she brings?
Everyone was kind of a shit heel in the last chapter in one way or another, but Angharad has absolutely no leg to stand on. I say this with love, of course, since she is bound to do some great character development in this book. EE does not simply write idiots, even when he writes simple idiots.
LikeLike
Reminds me of Conference Realignment in College Football and the Transfer Portal. Angharad is getting wined and dined like a 5 star QB. Though Blades feel more like RB given the high attrition rate. But they are valuable so maybe Tight Ends.
We need a Cabal Collapse (72 > 68) and Skiritai Death Counter (-8).
Lady Knit is the new Grey Pilgrim. Healing so good it feels like a contract or can signs heal?
I assume Acceptable Losses is a Mask. Also Tupoc is bothering to train her? Maybe his squad is sandbagging in public on some 5D Chess Plan. Cause if names are really assigned by duels…makes no sense a contract less Bait who is big but got pressed by Tristan does get destroyed by Expendable.
Ferranda or Song. It is interesting that Angharad assumes Song. Granted Song does have a ruthless streak, the stronger motivation, and her eyes make setting that up trivial.
Angharad meanwhile has how many offers? Let’s say at least half a dozen on the open market. Team shuffling though makes the POV switching more difficult since it’s not just Tristan and Angharad anymore. Granted I love to see all the classes we are missing. So maybe it will be Ferranda that be a twist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think Lady Knit is an actual goddess.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apologies, this comment was for Mirror Night above.
LikeLike
As someone who’s currently anti-Song because I liked Isabel I’m actually seriously doubting whether Song is the murderer just because of the devastating inability to keep a lid on things that Song has displayed so far. It’s not even a Rule of Threes narrative beat thing, I can remember atleast five instances of her critical failing a subterfuge check in Book 2 alone. Her most successful coverup she was being coached by Tristan, and she blew up the whole thing in front of Angharad and Maryam immediately after.
So I feel like if she actually did kill Isabel something incriminating would have fallen out of her mouth by now. Or if it did it went completely over Angharad’s head. All the other circumstantial evidence points to her, but Villazur has the crucial point of not being the worst criminal of all time.
Also the biggest reason Ferranda would have to suspect Isabel (and therefore an excuse to murder her) was actually some sort of enemy outside of Isabel being a schemer was revealed as bupkis. Yaretzi sent Ferranda after Isabel to cover for her own subterfuge. That fact briefly came up in Cantica but Ferranda lowkey just ignored it and moved on, and I’ve been wondering if that would come up again.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yeah I doubt it can be Song either because it would be impossible for Angy to return if she was outed. And it does appear as if the killer will be outed at some point.
LikeLike
Another thought I had is that Song being a suspect could maybe be the curse at work. We don’t know how it fucks with her other than screwing up her health. But just happening to be at the wrong place at the wrong time to catch heat for someone else’s murder? Yeah, that sounds like something a curse would do!
LikeLike
It looks like the 13th Brigade is shrinking, although the thought occurs that the title banner has a full 6 people wearing black cloaks in it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah I cannot for the life of me determine if that Banner is Flavor or what the actual roster looks like. What throws me off the most is the height.
Also EE is progressive so you cannot make standard gendered assumptions based on say hair length or general body shape. Which is to EE’s credit but makes the job even harder.
Still 6 People in Cabal seems like a reasonable end point.
LikeLike
Nobody on the banner has a tricorn on their head. I would feel odd to leave out such a defining piece of wardrobe if it was meant to represent the cabal.
LikeLike
Out of all our main cast, the only one actually good at communicating is the man whose business is secrets and theft.
Maryam lacks the confidence to speak her mind. Perhaps in a world which didn’t treat her like a slave-in-waiting it would be different, but she feels she must struggle to merely exist in this one. She found a friend in Tristan because she is a good person and he’s never met another. Not because she is particularly good at expressing herself.
Song is too obsessed with rank and appearances to communicate effectively. She was so incapable of admitting she was having an off day she literally buried evidence of a mistake rather than laugh about it with people who would be her friends if she reached out. Frankly, Angharad might be more angry about that lie if she knew about it. That’s a lie told to her after all, rather than an effective stranger.
And, of course, Angharad. To her credit, there is a narrow category of people she can communicate effectively with. Unfortunately, those people are the ones I regularly refer to as “people.” The only reason to communicate with such things is to maintain the systems which create them by twisting children into consumptive beasts.
Enter, Tristan. I can’t recall a time he’s caused offense without meaning to. He regularly gets what he wants out of people from all backgrounds. Everyone knows he’s the best of the 13th at lying, the most ruthless and violent of the bunch (though his violence has generally been directed at the deserving), and they still trust his words.
This is because small lies are a central part of communication, and he’s the only one who habitually tells them. Maryam lacks the confidence. Song is too afraid of anything she says coming back to bite her. Angharad is from a culture which has, in many ways, inverted the concepts of honesty and deceit such that the only lies she is capable of are the ones she tells herself. None of them are fit to lead, because all have been broken by the circumstances of their lives in ways which make it difficult for them to relate to others.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Eh. Tristan is better at lying than telling the truth. I’d say Maryam overall is better, she’s just got some very case specific barriers, such as malani “prejudice” outward, and everyone being racist towards her.
LikeLike
I mean if Tristan wanted to avoid conflict. He probably should have just taken his blows from Song. Who he knew was already at a breaking point and just went through a similar traumatic nightmare as he did. His running also caused the issue that nuked the Cabal.
But no Tristan wanted to get his licks in fair enough. However, his major complaint is Contract Related. No one in this Cabal has revealed such secrets willingly. Nor has Tristan told even Maryam that he can see and talk to his God on a regular basis. So it kinda rings hollow as a breaking point for him.
Maryam is the peacekeeper especially since they major fault line was Tristan and Angharad. Sure Maryam is not vocal with people she doesn’t know. But she is plenty vocal in a small group.
LikeLike
I think he was also at the breaking point for having just extended one hell of an olive branch (something he has done for everyone at some point or another) and gotten blamed for it (which no-one else has done). I’m not saying it’s all on Song, but Tristen just actually managed to salvage the reputation she just threw away on his behalf and Song, in typical Song fashion, just doubled down on him.
All of this on a day when the 4 of them were as emotionally raw and haggard as they were? I can’t blame anyone for just absolutely snapping.
LikeLike
Angharad once again shows that while she’s a murder blender of epic skill she is by no means able to handle politics. It took her a good long while to see people wanted to recruit her and Tupoc was able to run circles around her. But I can’t really blame her for wanting to leave the 13th since in her view they’re very untrustworthy and are a net negative to her, but the thing is they’re likely some of the few people not out to manipulate the shit out of her and use her.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unlike the Thirteenth? Seriously? I mean I guess Maryam isn’t out to manipulate Tredegar, but that’s because she fucking hates her. Tredegar is an unambiguously good person whose biggest moral flaws (as CantankerousBellerophon points out every. single. fucking. chapter.) can be defined as ‘lack of action’ (she doesn’t really care about the plight inherent to nobility) but that’s more from a lack of ever seeing that harm be done than anything else. Because seriously, has literally anyone ever explained to Tredegar the argument against nobility, much less actually tried to convince her?
On the other hand, as shown when Tristan was getting shaken down by Tupoc in the first book, and Tredegar tried to stop it, Tredegar doesn’t need outside calculations to help people. She’s just a good person. That’s it. And yeah, it’s due to cultural values of honor or whatever, but big help explaining that’ll be when Tristan or Song would leave a beggar dying in a gutter alone and Tredegar wouldn’t.
Tristan and Song, meanwhile, are literally just out to use Tredegar, and the best that can be said about them is that it’s not necessarily at Tredegar’s expense.
LikeLike
Her biggest moral failed is that she is more biggoted than a MAGA uncle.
LikeLike
I don’t think all that many people want to manipulate Angharad all that much. I think most cabals would be happy with ‘be a good Skiritai in exchange for us in exchange for being part of out cabal’ which isn’t so much manipulation as much as the basic agreed contract of the school.
Given that 2 out of the 3 other members of the 13th discussed her potential assassination, then I don’t think saying they are somehow less out to manipulate her than anyone else (excepting Tupoc and the Malani spy) is accurate at all.
LikeLiked by 2 people
thanks for the chapter!
LikeLike
For most of the books I have been a Tredegar defender. This is the first chapter where I genuinely feel disgust for her.
Her attitude toward leaving the 13th can basically be assumed up as “it’s hard to live with a silver spoon in your mouth, but I come from privilege so I don’t have to do I’m gonna bounce.” EVERYTHING she holds against her cabal mates are issues stemming from them being born in unfavorable circumstances.
Also, “Sebastian only had animosity with the Thirteenth Brigade. Never Angharad Tredegar herself.” … Angharad Tredegar is the only person from the 13th to transgress against the 9th! She’s so dim to not spot that immediately!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Blast it, this was supposed to be a general reply…
LikeLike
See, I think you’re making a big assumption by concluding that she HASN’T spotted that. Her immediate conclusion is that she’s being courted as a recruit- in other words, that he’s giving her empty flattery and reassurances to try and wave away the animosity he absolutely, definitely had with her.
LikeLike
??? Tredegar dealt with all the issues she’s complaining about fine before, she’s just commenting on how relieving it is to not have to deal with them anymore. The reason she left is because Song, who she trusted, turned out to be someone who would rather lie and kill than have a mark against her career, and that Tristan, who she trusted less so, would do the same literally just because Song asked. These are bad people, and Tredegar is not wrong to attempt to leave. Tristan wants to be a good person but has it constantly beaten out of him, (reminder here that he killed that one servant guy at the start for the crime of -possibly- being a rapist in return for favors) and it isn’t on Tredegar to try to fix him.
Maryam’s just a bitch to Tredegar which as Tristan pointed out is basically for no reason. Realistically if Maryam actually cared about ending the oppression of her people she would either court Tredegar to help end the oppression or kill her for being a Malani noble, not just passively-aggressively whine. This isn’t to say that Maryam is unjustified, because yenno obviously, but more that the clash between Maryam and Tredegar is more or less unresolvable on Tredegar’s end. She literally has no power, what’s she gonna do about it?
And more to the point, what have any of them done for Tredegar out of kindness? Tredegar acts to defend people out of her own sense of honor, (she tried to stop Tupoc from shaking down Tristan that one time, for example) and doesn’t require outside motivations to help people up when they’re down. Have Song or Tristan ever helped Tredegar without explicit manipulative intent?
Literally the only moral wrongs Tredegar has made throughout the entire story can be defined as ‘lack of action when it should have been taken’ a far cry from Song and Tristan’s manipulations and killings, though they occasionally do good when the mood takes them (against their better judgement, notably.) Maryam is also a good person so far as we know, but that’s irrelevant since she hates Tredegar. And portraying Tredegar leaving as somehow disgusting… why? What have they ever done for her that she should help them?
LikeLike
She does realize its BS. She knows she has being recruited as a Free Agent. Cause quite frankly from what little we have seen she is the strongest Skiritai Student. Maybe Shallani or Expendable could beat her…but her time contract makes that quite difficult.
This is more an Alliance of Convenience then true friendship. Makes sense that Angharad doesn’t want to deal with everyone elses baggage. She only really liked Song in this gang to any degree. And in terms of Combat, Song is the only useful one to her mind as well (she highly prioritizes combat). The most Elite Blade respects The Most Elite Sniper. So it makes sense a revelation about Song is what pushes her out of the Cabal as the Final Straw.
LikeLike
Angharad realizes she’s being courted. She HASN’T spotted–or doesn’t see anything wrong with the fact–that in order to court her, the 9th is throwing the rest of her brigade under the bus. She’s the one that spit in the 9th’s eye, but OF COURSE she gets to have the things the 9th stole back, the rest of her squad–whose only sin was to stand next to her after she picked a fight–can just suffer, I guess, because she’s not going to stand up for them.
Only Zenzele gets that privilege. I guess he just has the right blood for it.
And I might be unique in my take on this, but my perspective is that the term “baggage” refers to “unresolved internal personality failings,” like untreated kleptomania or fear of commitment. Being a victim–because your grandfather was infamous, or because people of your skin color are institutionally enslaved, or because a research lab put a bounty on you because you’re the son of a fantasy Tuskegee experiment victim–is not baggage. Being a victim is the world putting you down from without, not something you voluntarily lug around with you from within.
Backstabbing her fellow cabal-mates BECAUSE they’re victims, raising her own status at their expense when they’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got, makes Angharad the worst kind of exploitative egotist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Mirror Night
I think it’s worse than that. Angharad doesn’t know the difference between alliances of convenience and friendships. Every “friendship” she’s had modeled to her has been explicitly transactional. They were all with nobility who can only think that way after all.
Isabel was useless to her. She knew that. Isabel knew that. As a result, they shared almost exactly nothing with each other. They were physically attracted to each other, but it could not be deeper than that because Isabel was the kind of person who spent the lives of her childhood playmates like coppers, and Angharad is the kind of person who tries to set up interest payments for a few coppers. She fundamentally fails to understand the urge to help people because you care about them.
I’ve said before that Angharad is a woman who has never had a friend. This is another manifestation of that bleak fact. She can’t tell the difference between people who care about her and those who care about her sword, because she doesn’t understand that there is one.
LikeLike
She clearly does realise it – the 9th had a political problem with her actions, not a personal one, and now she’s potentially on the market they are happy to set the slate clean to ‘Court her as a sword”.
Honestly I think it’s hard to fault Angharad here – it’s not like the 13th have been her friends. Everything has been infighting and disasters for the entirety of Scholomance and getting out of there when you are clearly well desired by other cabals with less crap going on is a much more sensible move than everyone else being increasingly toxic to each other. We’ve seen that Angharad does in fact get along well with the general student body and she’s been shown to value loyalty above her own self many times, so for the 13th to have squandered that, primarily due to Song and Tristans relentless independence is in my opinion a far greater disgrace.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Morgan What, exactly, did Song and Tristan do to betray Angharad? Wait until they were back at the cottage before they told her about killing Tristan’s would-be abductor, instead of telling her immediately in front of the blackcloak officials? Song didn’t tell her about being cursed, but I liken that to not telling work acquaintances you have HIV–it’s none of Angharad’s business and she’s not unlikely to draw false conclusions. Tristan is a Mask, the only thing she’s holding against him is doing his Mask assignments.
The only infighting Angharad has had to deal with is with Maryam–which she has generally been the instigator for.
Other than a feud with an influential cabal due to Angharad’s actions, not a single disaster the 13th has had to deal with has been of their own making. Tristan has a price on his head because he’s a scientific oddity. Song has a curse because her grandfather caused a natural disaster before she was born. Maryam had the audacity to be born as a member of an enslaved race.
Angharad is literally leaving them because they’re being bullied and she can’t be bothered to stand up for them.
And again, answering “you made a political of yourself so we’ve been bullying your whole cabal but now that you’ve left we’ll gladly keep bullying them instead of you if you join us instead” with anything but bare hostility isn’t loyalty. What the 9th is doing to the 13th–stealing their possessions and working against them politically–is no worse they what she defended Zenzele from–an embarrassing loss in a duel to first blood with Musa. Yet she steps in for Zenzele, but “has yet to decide whether she will accept the gesture” when the same man treads over the 13th.
Angharad isn’t going to be loyal for a rat, a republican, and a Triglau; she reserves her loyalty for Malani nobles, infanzones, and dutiful servants that know their place.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Responding to the general gist of the comments in this thread. I feel you’re equivocating the wrong things with respect to Ang’s loyalty. I don’t care much for her as a character because she’s just the muscle (so far) but reading it your way doesn’t really make sense to me.
It’s not fair to characterise what the 13th is going through as mere bullying. It’s only coming off as bullying because no one is putting in serious effort to actually harm them. In many ways, it’s worse than bullying because they’re seen as too insignificant to focus real effort on. Ang has never shied from being the one to speak up (for Song), to act (the duel), to be first (every single fight). Granted she has a massively overpowered advantage but even knowing what she’ll face, she still stands forth.
I don’t think Angharad takes anything from Tristan that personally. They seemed to have a mostly genial relationship. She does not judge him for his background. She willingly works with him and treats him like a peer. They came to verbal blows due to the stresses of the trial and argument. And in fairness, they both made good points.
All of the 13th has to navigate numerous blurred lines brought upon by their circumstances. Angharad is justifiably pissed that there was at least some context (Song’s curse) deliberately left out. You liken the curse to HIV because you have the perspective of a reader. However, if you’re told a person has a disease without further specifics, would you be ok with sitting next to them in class? Or living with them?
Angharad’s internal processes were more complex than just defending Zenzele when she made the decision to duel Musa. The political consequences are just as much on Song as Ang due to the instructions Song gave her (make a splash). In a subsequent chapter, Song even internally praised Angharad for her execution before the whole suite of consequences were made clear. The fact of the matter is, had Musa been part of a lesser cabal, Angharad’s duel would probably have been a net positive.
It’s also important to note that to Angharad, who is basically a blade master, what she did for Zenzele likely wasn’t of great significance to her. Certainly not nothing, but it was also something she knew she could easily handle. So while she showed loyalty, it wasn’t that much loyalty on the scale of things.
Ang is (currently) considering ditching the 13th because Song, the person she had the closest relationship with, has shown to be deceptive directly towards her. This violates one of her most deeply held values, which is basically “do not lie”.
As readers, I think we all grasp that Ang’s adherence to her values are too inflexible leading to inevitable hypocrisy. That is not the same thing as her making value judgements on who is more worthy of loyalty.
Book 2 is very clearly a character (as in personal values) growth arc for all the characters. Angharad has always had a particularly clunky set of values. EE is an exceptional writer and excels at building realistic characters in fictional worlds. One of things that I suspect we are building towards is a traumatic event that forces a reevaluation and reconstruction of values in Ang, Song, Maryam and probably even Tristan.
LikeLike
To be clear: I think Angharad is well written. I am also expecting this book to be full of character growth arcs, it’s just that this particular chapter significantly lowered my opinion of Angharad.
I’ve never viewed Angharad’s values as inflexible, rather I think her an interesting hypothetical on what growing up in a society where an honor code is baked into the laws of the land does to someone’s world view.
For Angharad, honor is not just a point of personal pride, it’s also what separates criminal deviants from lawful citizens. Whenever “honor” and “law” are equivalent, some pedantic lawyering–obeying the letter of honor while violating the spirit–is almost something to be expected. For Angharad in particular, her loyalty is measured by how pedantic she is with this lawyering–for those she holds in low regard, she will unhesitatingly violate the spirit of honour while meticulously obeying the letter; to those she is loyal, she will bend the rules of honor to assist them, while telling herself she is obeying the spirit of honor even if she’s not adhering to the technicalities.
That’s why I keep honing on on the duel she took for Zenzele. By the codification of honor, she should have sat that one out–Zenzele DID dishonor Musa’s family, and legally SHOULD have been forced to answer that slight with a duel. Angharad has no legal claim to duel in his stead–Yaretzi didn’t attach her on behalf of Musa’s family, she just happened to be on the same island while working for Musa’s family and wanted to collect Angharad’s head while she was there. Angharad had no legal right to fight the duel for Zenzele, but she’s loyal to him so she did it anyway.
Meanwhile, she’s going BEYOND applying the letter of the law to the 13th in her justifications for leaving. Song never lied to her face by not telling her about being cursed–Song omitted telling her about the curse, but lies of omission don’t count. In fact, I’m not sure I remember any time anyone in the 13th has actually lied to Angharad. Angharad isn’t honor-bound to tell Musa to pound sand even though he’s very much antagonizing the rest of the 13th, so she doesn’t because that could be politically inconvenient to her personally.
The way Angharad is behaving is the way she behaves when she’s betraying someone, and her internal justifications for doing so are “I’m tired of being saddled with lowborn who don’t get invited to noble functions and have to deal with constant bigotry.” As I said earlier, she’s being the worst sort of petty egotistical backstabber in this chapter, and I loathe her for it.
LikeLike
So what we’re discussing is the natural intersection between ethics (a real system of ethics; not to be confused with the tripe that some of the other commenters on here routinely spill) and law, and the logical extension into intent and action. You regard her thought process to be reprehensible because you perceive that she cuts slack to people who are her peers and not those of “lower status”.
If you re-read Chapter 5, you’ll note that Musa’s entire provocation to duel was using Zenzele’s offence as a technicality with the objective of picking on the 31st. With Song’s prompting in mind, Angharad responded with approximate equivalence by using Yaretzi’s actions as a technicality to intervene, at which point Musa directly gave her offense. The codification of honor, as you put it, was a tool for the political by both sides. In this sense Angharad’s actions were, if not perfectly balanced, an approximate parity for both technical and spirit.
Song vs Angharad is interesting because Song does many things for “face” (burying the chicken). It’s very obvious that Song is patterned on Chinese culture, and if you have any Asian background, Song’s actions are familiar. An inherent quality of face as a cultural value is that there are times when lying becomes an acceptable sin. It was inevitable that it would go head-to-head with Angharad’s “honour”.
I really don’t see how you can say lying by omission doesn’t count. This very subject has been debated at great length in numerous cases over the centuries.
Even if the curse only negatively impacted Song (which Angharad is not convinced is true), considering what cabals are intended to face, any member not informed is reasonably justified in being offended. If Song whiffs a shot in combat because of the curse, this could completely screw all of them. This was how I expected Song’s curse to be revealed originally.
As readers, we still don’t know what the full implications of the curse are. In the perspective of Angharad, she doesn’t know much about the curse other than the fact that its a strong negative at Song’s personal level. You’re right it’s not a direct lie, but given that the intent has the potential to lead to extremely bad outcomes for people who are ostensibly on her side and her responsibility, Song ranks much lower on the morality scale than Angharad, and frankly is much less deserving of loyalty.
Angharad was making observations that her life was easier without the rest of the 13th. That’s hardly a justification about anything. An observation that life is hard when partnering with a pariah and a minority isn’t the same thing as judging them herself. She’s making decisions based on Song’s actions. Had Song been upfront about the curse, the Angharad playbook would almost certainly have been sticking with her. It’s also worth noting that neither Song nor Maryam are actually “lowborn”.
LikeLike
Lying by omission doesn’t count because Angharad has–multiple times with explicit intent–towed the line of honor by dissembling and committing lies of omission to trick others. Remember that poem about promising stars in a cup? Following “the words exact” has been shown sufficient to adhere to the structures of honor in Angharad’s opinion multiple times so far. By Angharad’s own conception of honor, honor has not been broken with her.
Further, I’m not sure where you’re getting your reading of Chapter 5 from. Zenzele’s offense is in no way a “technicality,” Zenzele actually harmed Musa’s cousin and Musa wants to mete justice to Zenzele for it. Part of the justice he wants to deal is lowering Zenzele’s status, but that doesn’t suddenly make Musa some sort of Machiavellian mastermind who only wants to draw Zenzele into a fight to increase his own status. The 31st isn’t important enough for that, Musa just sees a way to avenge his cousin–who, again, WAS wronged and DOES deserve justice according to Malani ethical standards–without costing Musa or his cabal anything.
Meanwhile, I’m not even sure Angharad’s reason for the duel even qualifies as a technicality. Yaretzi was hired to kill Zenzele’s fiance by Zuma’s aunt. Yaretzi finished that job, and decided on her own initiative to try to collect an extra bounty on Angharad right after. I find it highly dubious that the Malani code of ethics would hold an employer responsible for the trespasses of an employee that only USED TO work for them, but Angharad still manages to sneak it in as a justification because nobody– including her–questions it too deeply.
All this, for a man she owes next to nothing. He never saved her life. He hasn’t extended his trust to her. He never treated her as a comrade. His sum total of support for her was a short stint in the maze where he followed the same path as she did for a short time.
Meanwhile, Song HAS saved Angharad’s life, multiple times. Song has trusted her with knowledge of her contact. Song extended the invitation to Scholomance to her. The entire 13th have treated Abgharad as a comrade, with Tristan covering for her and even Maryam helping her regain her lost composure. The 13th have been loyal to her and have stood up with her even when she started a feud with one of the politically strongest cabals for dubious reasons.
Despite that, Song is a Republican born to a disfavored family, Maryam is Triglau, and Tristan is Sacromontan Rat Mask. Angharad can’t live the high society life she is accustomed to if she’s stuck with such poorly-bred companions, so she’s abandoning from them at her first justifiable opportunity–I mean, screw loyalty, have you seen how nice the breakfast table the 31st gets to eat at is? That’s literally the only claim to friendship Zenzele holds for Angharad over the rest of the fifteenth.
LikeLike
In non-consecutive sequence from Ch. 5:
“Lady Ferranda’s hand drifted to her rapier, which the man noticed with a smirk. As if daring her to draw, Angharad thought. Musa Shange’s words and actions were not dishonorable, for he was avenging the slight on a kinswoman’s honor, but they were… needlessly provocative. He did not speak like a man who was seeking resolution: he was picking a fight.”
“Angharad knew that a duel was in the making. Lord Musa had pushed hard for it and would not give up. Reckless, she thought, only half-listening to the public argument. He provoked Ferranda as well, as if the fight matters more than who he is to be fighting.”
“If you cannot make friends, make an impression, Song had tasked her. Would it not be doing both, to lend these two a hand? The warmth of their greeting was no reason to act, she knew that, but surely this could be considered a strategic decision.”
I never said Zenzele’s offense was a technicality. I said Musa was using Zenzele’s offense as a technicality to screw the 31st, and by doing so, elevate the 9th. Musa might get some personal satisfaction from this, but this only highlights that if Musa wanted it for personal reasons, he did not need to create a highly public spectacle. Musa was acting on behalf of the 9th using his personal grievance as a technicality to target Zenzele and by extension the 31st. And it definitely was the 31st because he insulted Ferranda as well. It was not “just to avenge his cousin”.
The intent was to boost the 9th’s status. The action was to duel. The action was the technicality to achieve the intent. Angharad similarly used a technicality (Yaretzi; I’ll grant you a rather thin technicality) to realize multiple intents (Song’s task, defend 31st, elevate 13th). Moreover, there was no opposing interests between the 31st and 13th at the time the duel took place. As I said, not a perfect balance, but an approximate parity. That was a remarkable bit of writing on EE’s part.
You’re also somewhat underselling Ang and Zenzele’s relationship. They had a cordial partnership in a death maze where they shared multiple life and death situations together. To say there’s no comradery between them is a bit of a stretch. And as I’ve already stated, from Ang’s perspective, the favor she did Zenzele was pretty minor since she was absolutely certain she could maul Musa.
If you’re referring to chapter 11 in Book 1 about the “stars in a cup”, the point of the chapter was that using technicalities to acquire results begets technical responses and outcomes.
Ang’s response to Song’s lie of omission is a genuine response of outrage. She’s not saying, “oh I want to live the high life that I can’t get with the 13th so now that Song technically lied, I can leave”. There was real trust in a way that put Song on a pedestal. Ang’s response is hypocritical sure, but the hypocrisy is not rooted in a technicality to realize a prejudice tinted outcome.
Song has saved Angharad many times, however, I’m not seeing how the 13th has treated each other as comrades at all (which the argument between them all shows). There have been 2 – 3 factions since the very beginning; Tristan / Maryam, Song / Ang, and Song / Maryam (kind of). Maryam and Ang have more or less been at odds with each other since the outset with 1 singular moment as the outlier. Tristan and Ang have a decent working relationship but they’re not actually close. Tristain literally offered to off Ang at the drop of a hat for Maryam.
Song invited Ang to Scholomance because Song needed her. Good odds Ang would have made it to Scholomance without Song considering that Shalini, Ferranda and Zenzele all got there too.
What loyalty Ang had to the 13th was largely personal between her and Song. In the group argument, it was Song’s actions that deeply offended Angharad. Ang took shots at Tristan and Maryam but the fact that she put up with them for this long suggests it’s not them that are her deciding factor. If Ang wanted the high life, she could have jumped ship immediately after her duel with Musa. She was even aware of the options even back then. Ang can still repay the personal favors to Song without being part of the 13th.
You’re looking at Ang’s action (leaving 13th) and deciding her intent (classism? racism?) based on an observation (greener grass) where the observation is, frankly, both true and rational.
LikeLike
In non-consecutive sequence from Ch. 5:
“Lady Ferranda’s hand drifted to her rapier, which the man noticed with a smirk. As if daring her to draw, Angharad thought. Musa Shange’s words and actions were not dishonorable, for he was avenging the slight on a kinswoman’s honor, but they were… needlessly provocative. He did not speak like a man who was seeking resolution: he was picking a fight.”
“Angharad knew that a duel was in the making. Lord Musa had pushed hard for it and would not give up. Reckless, she thought, only half-listening to the public argument. He provoked Ferranda as well, as if the fight matters more than who he is to be fighting.”
“If you cannot make friends, make an impression, Song had tasked her. Would it not be doing both, to lend these two a hand? The warmth of their greeting was no reason to act, she knew that, but surely this could be considered a strategic decision.”
I never said Zenzele’s offense was a technicality. I said Musa was using Zenzele’s offense as a technicality to screw the 31st, and by doing so, elevate the 9th. Musa might get some personal satisfaction from this, but this only highlights that if Musa wanted it for personal reasons, he did not need to create a highly public spectacle. Musa was acting on behalf of the 9th using his personal grievance as a technicality to target Zenzele and by extension the 31st. And it definitely was the 31st because he insulted Ferranda as well. It was not “just to avenge his cousin”.
The intent was to boost the 9th’s status. The action was to duel. The action was the technicality to achieve the intent. Angharad similarly used a technicality (Yaretzi; I’ll grant you a rather thin technicality) to realize multiple intents (Song’s task, defend 31st, elevate 13th). Moreover, there was no opposing interests between the 31st and 13th at the time the duel took place. As I said, not a perfect balance, but an approximate parity. That was a remarkable bit of writing on EE’s part.
You’re also somewhat underselling Ang and Zenzele’s relationship. They had a cordial partnership in a death maze where they shared multiple life and death situations together. To say there’s no comraderie between them is a bit of a stretch. And as I’ve already stated, from Ang’s perspective, the favor she did Zenzele was pretty minor since she was absolutely certain she could maul Musa.
If you’re referring to chapter 11 in Book 1 about the “stars in a cup”, the point of the chapter was that using technicalities to acquire results begets technical responses and outcomes.
Ang’s response to Song’s lie of omission is a genuine response of outrage. She’s not saying, “oh I want to live the high life that I can’t get with the 13th so now that Song technically lied, I can leave”. There was real trust in a way that put Song on a pedestal. Ang’s response is hypocritical sure, but the hypocrisy is not rooted in a technicality to realize a prejudice tinted outcome.
Song has saved Angharad many times, however, I’m not seeing how the 13th has treated each other as comrades at all (which the argument between them all shows). There have been 2 – 3 factions since the very beginning; Tristan / Maryam, Song / Ang, and Song / Maryam (kind of). Maryam and Ang have more or less been at odds with each other since the outset with 1 singular moment as the outlier. Tristan and Ang have a decent working relationship but they’re not actually close. Tristan literally offered to off Ang at the drop of a hat for Maryam.
Song invited Ang to Scholomance because Song needed her. Good odds Ang would have made it to Scholomance without Song considering that Shalini, Ferranda and Zenzele all got there too.
What loyalty Ang had to the 13th was largely personal between her and Song. In the group argument, it was Song’s actions that offended Angharad deeply. Ang took shots at Tristan and Maryam but the fact that she put up with them for this long suggests it’s not them that are her deciding factor. If Ang wanted the high life, she could have jumped ship immediately after her duel with Musa. She was even aware of the options even back then. Ang can still repay the personal favors to Song without being part of the 13th.
You’re looking at Ang’s action (leaving 13th) and deciding her intent (classism? racism?) based on an observation (greener grass) where the observation is, frankly, both true and rational.
LikeLike
The section you quoted supports my position, not yours. Musa is being “needlessly provocative”–in other words, Musa COULD accomplish those political aims you say are his primary goal with words, sullying Zenzele’s name and lowering the status of the 31st without violence, but he’s spoiling for a fight. If all he cares about is ruining the 31st’s reputation, he doesn’t need a duel to accomplish that–nobody cares about Zenzele’s honor other than other Malani, and the only thing they care about is his marital indiscretions. Nobody is reasonably expecting Zenzele–a minor noble from the diplomat track–to win in a duel against Musa–an accomplished Skiritai Malani duelist.
Involving Ferranda isn’t a sign that Musa’s somehow targeting the entire 13th instead of Zenzele alone, but rather that he’s trying to avoid any sort of diplomatic resolution to the conflict–after all, as the captain of the 31st Ferranda could make accord with Musa’s captain with diplomacy, who could then order him to stand down. Musa wants Zenzele’s blood on the floor for scorning his cousin, so he needs to goad Ferranda into a fight–one that Musa knows he can win–as well.
“They had a cordial partnership in a death maze where they shared multiple life and death situations together. ”
Where was the cordiality between Ang and Zenzele in the Maze? They banded together because Zenzele was angry with Ishaan, and the entire time Ang had to excuse him being a heel because he was grieving first for his fiance and later for his aunt. Zenzele and Ferranda were thick as theives the whole time, but his relationship with Ang amounted to “you’re the last option left after the man who abandoned the love of my life to cultists and Tupoc.” Ang took risks for Zenele multiple times, all while he was being rude and reckless. That’s not what I would call comradery.
To be clear, it could be I’m misremembering something about the relationship between Zenzele and Angharad, but without reading half of Book 1 again other than checking where they agreed to journey together in Ch. 20, all I remember is Ang excusing him for being a pill without him ever really earning that lattitude.
“You’re looking at Ang’s action (leaving 13th) and deciding her intent (classism? racism?) based on an observation (greener grass) where the observation is, frankly, both true and rational.”
I’m not saying Angharad is being irrational, I’m saying she’s being self-centered, amoral, classist, elitist, myopically racist, and disloyal.
I’m reading Angharad’s intent from her words. She literally says (internally), “To be able to go out in company without concern about Song’s name or Maryam’s paleness had been a breath of fresh air.” It’s not Song’s fault she was born with the name Ren. It’s not Mayam’s fault she was born with pale skin. The “greener grass” Angharad is looking at is literally “I was born into privilege so I shouldn’t have to deal with this.”
Is it rational? Sure. It’s also morally reprehensible, like abandoning a child to a convent because they were diagnosed with a terminal illness. Many things which are rational are also unkind, unjust, and unethical.
LikeLike
“The section you quoted supports my position, not yours.”
You’re misreading my previous comment. Musa’s intent was political for the 9th as whole, not personal political benefit. Which one has a greater impact: a public verbal shaming or a public verbal shaming + martial loss? It’s really unclear how you are able to arrive at your interpretation that Ang explicitly favors Zenzele because of his nobility status.
And you’re not really addressing the fact that Ang saw this as a minor favor. I mean, she used a butter knife.
No one really believes a Laurel vs a Skiritai would end any other way and this is precisely why Zenzele’s contract break was used as a technicality. The 31st just had a convenient excuse in the form of Zenzele, so they became the target. Had Zenzele been part of the 99th, then the 99th would have been the target.
“nobody cares about Zenzele’s honor other than other Malani, and the only thing they care about is his marital indiscretions.”
First part I agree with but it also applies to the second. No one cares that much about the marital contract break except for ex-Malani nobility either. There’s no mention that anyone really gives a shit. People were watching because it was a public spectacle.
“Involving Ferranda isn’t a sign that Musa’s somehow targeting the entire 13th instead of Zenzele alone, but rather that he’s trying to avoid any sort of diplomatic resolution to the conflict–after all, as the captain of the 31st Ferranda could make accord with Musa’s captain with diplomacy, who could then order him to stand down.”
This is actually an interesting interpretation I hadn’t considered. I find it unlikely but your interpretation could be correct here. The same reasoning could be applied to the theoretical 99th’s capitain so it holds.
“To be able to go out in company without concern about Song’s name or Maryam’s paleness had been a breath of fresh air.”
Let me put this in a different way. I’m based in a part of the world that finds darker skin unattractive. There is very much systemic prejudice in the local culture. If you’re in sales and you have to make sales with a black salesperson, it’s going to be rough. Maybe not zero sales, but people who would otherwise work with you won’t even give you the time of day. If you run a sales team, it does not make sense to staff a black person. It’s not a decision based on personal values. It’s a decision based on outcomes. Angharad is making similar observations.
The cultural prejudices I described are not particularly unique. You can condemn the practices of over half the world’s population people if you like, but if this is how you think, you’re unlikely to be effective anywhere outside of the USA and maybe a handful of other Western nations. And if you fail at achieving effective results, you are actually less ethical than the people who make practical decisions. You can do a deep dive down the philosophy rabbit hole to understand the why but one of the things I like about EE is that this point is not lost on him (or her).
LikeLike
Hrm. Complicated chapter for me. Setting aside my bias against Angharad for a moment, I sympathize with her position. She feels kept in the dark and constantly manipulated to other’s ends, and to the detriment of things she finds as necessary as others find food or drink. She’s a very social creature, unlike the rest of the 13th.
Picking the boas back up though, she comes across as very much a “fair weather friend”. She is certainly being manipulated, but frustratingly only really by the people she is associating with outside her cabal. She craves social interaction but is shockingly inept at it compared to the other aristocrats.
Her feelings are valid, but they come from a place of frustrating blindness. She was never kept in the dark, she merely has a longstanding history of choosing to be blind. I look forward to her learning to see past the surface level of interactions. The party could use a “Face” and she could be an extremely proficient one if given the time to merely figure out how to ser through deception
Her Diplomacy skill is decent, and Intimidate quite high, but her Bluff and Semse Motive need dome real work. Especially the latter.
LikeLike
Angharad continues to be my least favorite of the MCs by a mile, but I can’t really put my finger on why. Anyone else feel the same? It has something to do with the disparity between her ridiculous sense of honor, the nature of her contract as a means of cheating in all interactions, and just… how she is. She feels so superficial compared to the others.
LikeLike
Shes the equivalent of a self-righteous toddler with a gun.
Constantly manipulated. Obsessed with the version honor and truth she was raised in except when it comes to her own contract. Indoctrinated to the point where she cant conceive that the Queen that let her whole family be killed can do any wrong. Hell she has even kept the plot to steal from the Watch she was approached about a secret.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Her contract is genuinely antithetical to her concept of honor, I don’t understand how that is never a source of internal conflict. To add to how bs it is, the contract has the least serious drawbacks of any yet encountered except for maybe Song’s. My (hopeful) guess is that the true drawback of her contract hasn’t been realized yet, otherwise the contract is just further evidence of her silver spoon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“To be able to go out in company without concern about Song’s name or Maryam’s paleness had been a breath of fresh air.”
That. That, right there, is where Angharad lost me.
I’ve been on board with her concept of honor even when it gets strained, because it’s as much a legal construct as it is a point of personal pride in Malani society. But the above particular sentence would be like me saying “going to Disneyland is so much better when I just go with white people. Any time I’m with someone of darker skin tone the shopkeepers folks is around and act like we’re find to steal stuff and that’s no fun.” Just thinking that with no qualifier is absurdly misguided in at least six different ways.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Blasted autocorrect.
The quoted section should read, “going to Disneyland is so much better when I just go with white people. Any time I’m with someone of darker skin tone the shopkeepers follow us around and act like we’re going to steal stuff and that’s no fun.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d agree that Angharad is my least favorite, It’s because she’s detached from reality: she still has it in her head that only some humans are people, that some of the Watch actually matter, and that everyone never lies because honor is what matters the most. Her empathy to others is tied to “honor” and whatever shade of self interest she is painting with that brush.
The only reason she uses her foresight is when the matter is literally life and death, and in several of the iterations she dies stupidly and has to course correct until she finds a good approach. She never uses it in social situations or to game out what her options are, and blunders her way through because as long as she is “honorable” then she’ll be on the right side of history.
For all that Tristan calls himself a Rat, he is brutally fair and does not abstract himself from his dealings or give himself exemptions. Song likewise keeps everyone to a high standard, herself higher still. Maryam is in the progress to learn to include herself as a person, and roughly treats people fairly. The rest of the main cast is wrestling with pretty heavy concepts that will likely kill them if they don’t solve for them. Angharad is already considering going back under the banner of the people who killed her parents, so her revenge plotline feels hollow.
I’d rather deal with Tupoc, because at least the asshole is funny, and I get a sense there are layers to him (most of which are probably poisonous in their own right). It would be a much more interesting dive.
LikeLiked by 2 people
(Angharad using her foresight in social situations: That would be fun to witness. I wonder if she views it as a (dishonourable to an neutral or allied party) hostile act.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I find myself curious about what path this will be taking narratively;
Angharad finds herself in a trap and remembers that she’s as much marked for death as this other three?
Angharad actually never rejoins them, and it’s a subversion in which she ends up a permanent antagonist or dead?
Another path, such as her rethinking her life outlook
or Tristan using her own concept of honour to bind her back to them?
Whatever the flow, I look forward to seeing how matters develop.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She’s lucky if Tristan sinks his hooks in first from the parade of vultures surrounding her. It’s like the loan shark who will *only* break your thumbs…
LikeLike
I’m surprised that nobody else seemed to notice it, yet, but that invitation to the Galleries does indeed smack of a trap.
Like, she’s not allowed to be there, is she? But Song probably didn’t have any opportunity or reason to mention it, yet. Maybe Ferranda will tell her.
LikeLike