Annotated 37-21
WAV, dude, you were the one who released the latch on your helmet earlier. I guess you’re saying you can survive with it off for a while but not indefinitely, like the way Aquaman needs seawater? Frigg’s not always the brightest, but her intuition seems correct here.
Obviously, the thrust of this scene is that Syr’Nj is nowhere near her best. Not noticing Rachel’s dead is a pretty egregious failure of leadership. And she hasn’t noticed something important about WAV, either. So I just want to take a moment to appreciate that even when she’s like this, Syr’Nj can still perceive which of Frigg’s taunts are her schoolyard style of flirting.
Panel 3 is as close as we get to the team protesting Bandit’s treatment to Syr’Nj (though E-Merl had plans to do so, and Scipio will do something that’ll show his tacit disapproval). I suspect Syr’Nj may hear or have heard such sentiments from others (Gravedust, once he learns of it, seems likely to ask Syr’Nj to distinguish between what acts may have been necessary and what acts may have been driven by angry grief). But Bandit has already exited the active Peacemakers’ lives entirely, so from here on out, there will be little point in dwelling on it.
Really there is no need for calling her a birch know is there?
I wonder if she is referring to the ornamental aspect of birch trees over the fact that the white bark of some birch trees burn even when wet?
This is the first time that Syr’Nj has even seen WAV, right? Because if so, her non-reaction to his strange appearance — quite apart from any resemblance to a certain bard — is yet another indicator of how wrapped up she is in her own grief at this moment. (But how would she know to call him a “mage-knight”?)
I think her and Sundar are just doing an uneducated guess (Syr’Nj in ehr haste, Sundar in his Sundarness) by seeing his armor heavy enough to consider knight but glowy unnatural shit to assume magic.
Dang, there’s so much in this. Well largely it’s just funny that she didn’t notice WAV’s face.
In Syr’Njs defense, apparently no one told her about Rachel. It’s obvious why she didn’t debrief Frigg, except maybe she should have investigated why Frigg was so upset. Syr’Nj was *distracted* and dropped the ball, I suppose. Understandable and she’s held to such a high standard, but that’s the price of leadership.
I’m imagining holding Bandit to that standard, heh. She’s *great*, and I still think her actions against the berserker (and Syr’Nj) were justified based on what she knew, but she is what she isn’t. And she isn’t a… leader…
Except we just had a wonderful short story about how she brought together the gang of four. And it fits with the text, too. They really respected her. What is it that I think she lacks? Cold detachment?
In conclusion: Syr’Nj and Bandit are both good leaders. Bandit had a day of correct choices with bad outcomes, and Syr’nj had a day of crippling loss.
Bandit had a day of crippling loss, too. She reacted by, well, overreacting, and although nobody was physically hurt because of it (nobody who wasn’t already dead, that is), it greatly enhanced the trauma for Syr’Nj.
Syr’Nj reacted by still going through the motions but actually stopping to pay attention to anything she should have been paying attention to. And although nobody was physically harmed by it, it greatly enhanced the trauma for Bandit (and Gravedust, and Frigg, but to a lesser extent). Syr’Nj should have done the same thing she forced Bandit to do: Step back from the job until she can actually fill the role again.
The problem is, Syr’Nj thinks she can’t step back. Two people who might’ve been able to convince her to are both dead.
I’m wondering, what would Syr’Nj actually have done with Bandit if she had not escaped?
The only crime Bandit could really be said to have committed is going against a direct order from her superior.
This can be quite serious and some leaders would punish it harshly, but I don’t really see Syr’Nj as that type.
Since they both believe Bandit to be Byron’s killer that could also be what she would be put on trial for, but could Syr’Nj really argue that case, knowing Byron’s curse as well as she does?
I don’t know if I give Syr too much credit, but I just don’t believe she would do that once she is no longer in the midst of her grief.
Would you provide any insight here, T? :D
I’m not T (obviously), but possibly Syr’Nj had Bandit imprisoned knowing that she’d escape. Now Syr’Nj has shown that she was tough on those not obeying orders, without having to actually directly punish Bandit (past kicking her out of the group indirectly). Having said that, I’m not sure if Syr’Nj is in a place where she’d think that far ahead, or if it was more of a “Put her there and I’ll think about it later” situation.
Seth’s theory ain’t bad, especially if we add “subconsciously” to it.
“What If… Bandit Had Not Escaped Sky Elf Custody?” Well, several scenarios, I think, but all with more or less the same result.
Most likely is that after recovering some equilibrium with Sundar and hearing E-Merl out on the issue, Syr’Nj would have the difficult chat with Bandit she’s been avoiding and end up giving her an honorable discharge. It’s not just the Byron thing: Bandit has lost all respect for Syr’Nj as a decision-maker, and even if Syr’Nj were gone too, Bandit still wouldn’t really want the field-leader gig any more. She put aside how much it made her feel like a fish out of water when it also made her feel like (1) a hero and (2) an accepted part of a found family. She’ll eventually find those feelings somewhere else, but when it comes to her and the Peacemakers, those feelings are gone, and she is not getting them back.
But suppose she and Syr’Nj are still too pissed at each other to come to that understanding, and suppose Bandit felt guilty enough about the Culitst slaughter that she sort of wanted to be punished. In that case, Syr’Nj would drag Bandit back to Ardaic for court-martial proceedings… only to run smack into Bedard’s anti-adventurer smear campaign. And at that point it wouldn’t matter how much she wanted Bandit disgraced; protecting Byron’s life’s work would take priority. Ardaic, well aware that Syr’Nj’s busy life is about to get busier when the Altruists make their offer, might volunteer some expedited dismissal in recognition of Syr’Nj’s rank. E-Merl would be willing to argue Bandit’s defense, but again, Bandit doesn’t really want the job anymore. As soon as more urgent priorities outweigh spite, we again end with an honorable discharge. Syr’Nj would grumble about it a bit, but she just can’t afford the time to engineer a different outcome.
Buuuuut suppose the Altruist cabal is moving slower, and the rest of the story is railroaded so there’s actually time to put Bandit on trial. In this case, yeah, I think Syr’Nj would admit she was pursuing this for the wrong reasons and let it go without E-Merl or Frigg having to protest for long. She’s stubborn sometimes, but she’s not her dad.
Me thinks Syr’Nj is simply extremely focused right now. Constantly focused on one issue at a time. Actively not even trying to let her focus slip from anything that isn’t in the crosshair.
‘Cose the moment she lets the scope to widen, she will be struck by the grief and it will paralyze her.
Not paying attention to anything but the exacts is the way she’s “coping”.
Some would call that “tunnel vision”, and it’s a sign she’s just running on reflexes now. Which means she’s not actually able to fill her shoes at the moment, because she’s busy panicking.
This. But no-one, but Frigg here hasn’t been too Keyne to tell her that…
The last one to tell her that got tranq’d and thrown in jail after all…
Thanks, T, for pointing out the other group members’ complaints. I suppose my own comment some time ago about them not protesting enough was not so correct after all — although even Frigg is somewhat indirect here. Not that I can criticize her for that since she’s got another topic that’s hitting much closer to home right now, as does E-Merl.
That leaves only Scipio, who doesn’t talk much. Although he *was* there when it happened and has recently found uncharacteristically many words. But at this stage, it’s all too late anyway. They would have needed to say something between the incident and Bandit’s flight.