Well, that was a fun little diversion! What did we miss… oh, some bureaucratic paper-pushing and party planning. Nothing to see here!

This probably won’t be the last time I say, “This scene hits different after 1/6.”

Kur’Ik is, I think, the most completely organic character to be technically part of the Peacemakers. By this, I mean that we never planned out an arc for her or made her a priority when outlining chapter plots. We just kept finding scenes like this which she improved by her presence. There’s something to be said for that approach, because this scene is clearly greatly enhanced with her in it and trying to do it with some new face (maybe Persson’s secretary?) wouldn’t resonate nearly as much.

Ardaic is an honest man by nature; he’ll lie out of perceived duty but won’t be that good at it. But reader ArchmagusSilverweb had an interesting point: if he hadn’t gotten Kur’Ik out of there, she might have overheard something, and the conspirators might have seen her overhear something. In effect, he may have purposely saved her life just now.