FB: If nothing else, this arena will kill anyone’s childish belief in the Tooth Fairy.

Bonus points to John (under Flo’s direction) for making Harky look extra scary here. This scene needed a spectacular show of force *and* personality from him, and the page delivers. For better or for worse, Harky and Penk have “compartmentalized” their problems with each other to the point where they’re all spilling out in the fight.

Harky’s point about “Those who see us as less than dogs” resonates even more with me today than it did at the time. You can’t expect an honorable deal from a people with ingrained contempt for you as part of their culture. Compromise with such a group is usually a sucker’s game. Of course, Harky can’t imagine any humans who see trolls differently, despite his having met a couple. Or perhaps it’s safer to say that he won’t imagine it. After his own betrayal, he vowed, “Never again.”

I had forgotten that Flo started dating someone regularly not too long before this page was published. I won’t say too much about the girlfriend represented in the alt text because I don’t know what’s private about her and what isn’t, but I will say she made our last year on Guilded Age livelier and I wish her well.