Annotated Chapter 32 Cover
That looks nice, there. Coffee and ale’s never done it for me, but I’ve picked up a taste for tea, and I can sort of reimagine these other drinks as hot chocolate, with or without whipped cream… yyyaw-haw-haw… aaaawwwn.
Sorry, got a bit sleepy there. This chapter’s honestly a little snoozy, with a pretty exciting but peripheral opener, a few hints of other action scenes, but mostly a lot of kaffeeklatsch chatter. I remember being sort of bewildered at some pages Flo was sending in while I was on vacation with family. There was nothing wrong or out of character with them; they just seemed strangely lacking in dramatic urgency, considering the fate of civilization being at stake. And at this point in our relationship, Flo and I were increasingly struggling to explain ourselves to each other and avoiding talks that could lead to conflict.
I now think that, consciously or not, Flo was reaching for a contrast with where she knew things were going to go by the end of the six-chapter sequence. Chapters 32 and 33 are extra peaceful because Chapters 35 and 36 will be extra disquieting. See how you like it. As ever, y’all are the final judges.
Have to agree with you there, on both counts. In TV parlance, this chapter might be called a “setup episode”, where nothing much happens but it serves to set up plots and themes for the next few chapters. I did find it a snooze the first time around.
Meanwhile, that last chapter felt like it ended rather suddenly. I had no inkling the previous page was the last one.
At first, I was mystified by Byron apparently having some clear spirit, but then I realized that it’s just water, not to interfere with the effects of his medicine.
Also, I wonder what the others would have? I imagine Rachel could go with wine, E-merl with fruit juice and Scipio maybe would just have a bigger tankard of beer. Best would probably have whatever is the equivalent of whiskey in Arkerra.