Annotated 20-16
That first panel’s not my favorite. I still feel like Syr’Nj’s line in the first panel should have gone to Ardaic; in at least one phase of revisions, it did. Seriously, just read it and the two following balloons in Ardaic’s voice and see how it flows.
Regardless, the intended thrust of Ardaic’s argument is probably clear. You were upset at the time, Syr’Nj, but maybe you were right when you said you “can’t be all these things.”
We’ll see the idea he proffers here mature further in the next chapter. He knows he can no longer command her, though, so all he can do is (sorry) plant the seed.
I’m with you on this one. In Syr’nj’s mouth, that word balloon simply seems mis-assigned — an outright mistake, a non-sequitur. I went back to the previous page to see if it logically followed from anything on that page. Nope.
I’m still surprised that Kur’ik wasn’t intended to be even a red herring for Shanna. They just look so similar in a lot of these pages! Just look at that last panel. Maybe you started playing that up a little bit once people made the connection?
The first line definitely works better for Ardaic. His response doesn’t really make sense as a response, nor does it fit well with how his half of the rest of the conversation goes.