Annotated 19-6
“Centuries.” So here we have confirmation of something I’d forgotten for a bit: wood elves are long-lived relative to humans, at least when nobody kills them for their resources before they start going gray.
That has certain Tolkienish implications for the wood elf-human couples whose unions will get some official approval before this chapter’s end. But Faereksch’Nj knows her daughters and knows that they know what they’re getting into.
(I mean, I guess we haven’t conclusively said that humans on Arkerra don’t live centuries as well. Maybe the planet orbits a lot faster than Earth, so “centuries” don’t even mean quite the same thing? But let’s assume Occam’s razor on this one.)
Or maybe the Bough gives off Youth Rays, and living next to it was the trick.
It’s pretty powerful seeing this sacred justification for hunting becoming a declaration of war.
I assumed that Syr’Nj was supposed to look older than she really was, which would imply that wood elves age faster than humans, if anything.
FWIW, my impression of the MC’s ages, converted to human years:
Byron: 30-40.
Syr’Nj: 30-40, but looks 40-50.
Frigg: 20-30.
Gravedust: 65-75.
Bandit: 20-30.
Best: 20-30.
I mean, MMOs usually have a day/night cycle measured in minutes to hours…