Annotated 40-21
So I guess the overall portal itinerary here was:
1. Hollister and Clair to Peacemaker Headquarters
2. H&C and Syr’Nj and Kur’Ik to Fr’Nj’s part of B’ial Vezk
3. H&C and Syr’Nj to Iwatani’s farmland
4. H&C and Syr’Nj, Frigg, E-Merl, WAV, and Sundar BACK to Fr’Nj’s part of B’ial Vezk
5. H&C back to Asallah En-Qu’Lara (for now)
Under the circumstances, I’m not sure Syr’Nj needed to explain why point 4 of the itinerary was B’ial Vezk… of course she wants to know whether Kur’Ik is going to make it! But then she’d have to explain why they all wouldn’t be accompanying the sky elves back to point 5, so this is a minor nitpick.
Hollister remembering Frigg’s debt is a nice callback both to Chapter 33, where she incurred the debt, and his first appearance, where he clashed with the elders over their tendency to treat conjured food as just coming out of nowhere. It does raise the question of why Syr’Nj didn’t pay that debt when she was treating the team in Chapter 37, but maybe Frigg just didn’t bring that up.
Gastonia “claiming dominion” over Asallah En-Qu’Lara says more about Gastonian arrogance than political reality. They’re wartime allies at best. But as long as Caneghem is cooperating for his own reasons, the team can’t risk it.
I read that “claiming dominion” and I was like, “Gastonia is delusional.” Though I suppose that is true.
Alt-text didn’t make it.
Updated!
Why does Syr’Nj think she’ll be safe here? As long as B’ial Vezk is allied with Gastonia, humans (including spies and assassins) can come and go as they please, so she can’t really expect to hide here forever. Restricting human access would lead Gastonia to ask why, which would most likely result in breaking the alliance, which would probably be bad for the entire wood elf population.
But she won’t have to worry about the government turning her in.
Home turf, why Bandit was more or less safe in Gnome Town as we will later find out.
Indeed, safety is a relative term. Even if I hadn’t read the strips beyond this one, I’d be guessing that she’s looking, not for somewhere she can safely cower for the rest of her (are wood elves even mortal?) life/eternity, but for somewhere to enact a plan against the “Altruists.”