ARC: TTT Chapter 2

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TheCulminatingApe

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« on: January 06, 2019, 07:02:30 pm »
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I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser.  This men know even as they deny it, which is why they so often make murder their absolution.  The truth of crime lies not with victim, but with the witness.
- HATATIAN - EXHORTATIONS
Sez who?
Seswatha, that's who.

TheCulminatingApe

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« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2019, 03:44:24 pm »
Cnaiur goes looking for his son
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Why, Cnaiur wondered, would the Dunyain keep this child?  What did he see when he looked upon it?  What use was there in a child?
There was no interval between the world and an infant soul.  No deception.  No language.  A infant's wail simply was its hunger. And it occurred to Cnaiur that if he abandoned this child, it would become an Inrithi, but if he took it, stole away and rode hard for the Steppe, it would become a Scylvendi.  And his hair prickled across his scalp, for there was magic in that - even doom.
This wail would not always be one with the child's hunger.  The interval would lengthen, and the tracks between its soul and its expression would multiply, become more and more unfathomable. This singular need would be unbraided into a thousand strands of lust and hope, bound into a thousand knots and fear and shame.  And it would wince beneath the upraised hand of a father, sigh at the soft touch of the mother.  It would become what circumstance demanded.  Inrithi or Scylvendi...
It did not matter.
And suddenly, improbably, Cnaiur understood what it was the Dunyain saw: a world of infant men, their wails beaten into words, into tongues, into nations.  Kellhus could see the measure of the interval, he could close the interval, answer the wail... Make souls one with their expression.
As his father had before him.  Moenghus.

He raises a fist to strike, but Esmenet stops him.  He ends up on his knees before the crib.
Interesting because, at the end of TUC, it is not clear where Moenghus' loyalties lie.

Xinemus has become a drunk.  He begs Achamian to talk to Kellhus for him.

Esmi is dressed by her slaves
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It was with awe that Esmenet greeted her own image in the mirror, an awe she saw reflected in the admiring eyes of her body slaves.  She was beautiful - as beautiful as Serwe, only dark.  Staring at the exotic stranger before her, she could almost believe she was worth what so many had made of her.  She could almost believe that all this was real.

She meets Werjau.  Men have been caught painting Orthodox slogans.  It is assumed they were paid by Conphas.
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"... Have them flayed and posted".
The ease with which these words fell from her lips was nothing short of nightmarish.  One breath and these men, these piteous fools, would die in torment.  A breath that could have been used for anything: a moan of pleasure, a gasp, a word of mercy...
This she understood, was power: the translation of word into fact.  She need only speak and the world would be rewritten.  Before, her voice could conjure only custom, ragged breaths, and quickened seed.  before, her cries could only forestall affliction and wheedle what small mercies might come.  But now her voice had become that mercy, that affliction.
Such thoughts made her head swim.

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... Kellhus had warned her about Werjau.  The man resented her, he said, both because she was a woman and because of his native pride...

Many skin-spies seem to have slipped the net.

She attends the Penance, where the Nascenti lash believers - including Proyas.

Akka has been installed in the library.  She goes in to get a book, and tells him Kellhus has taught her to read.
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"I..." he began.  "I was your life... I know I was, Esmi."...
... What does he matter?  His heart was broken long before -
"Yes," she repeated, "you were my life".  When she raised her face, it was with weariness, not the ferocity she had expected. "And he is my world."

She is with Kellhus later.
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"He will not forgive," she whispered.
There was indecision in his look, frightening for its rarity.  "He will not forgive".
Is Kellhus' indecision genuine?

Iyokus has arrived in Caraskand, to find Eleazaras has turned to drink.
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"Believe it.  The Consult exists.  All this time,laughing at the Mandati, and it was we who were the mumming fools".
A long accusatory silence.  Iyokus had always told him he should heed their claims more seriously...

Eleazaras believe Kellhus is a prophet.  He sees
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"... the secrets you keep from yourself"... "He sees what breaks your heart"
You have doomed your School
"You're drunk," the chanv addict said, his tone both unnerved and disgusted.

Eli tells Iyokus to beware the Mandate Schoolman.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2019, 03:46:16 pm by TheCulminatingApe »
Sez who?
Seswatha, that's who.

Wilshire

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« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2019, 07:05:07 pm »
One of my favorite arcs is Iyokus/Akka. Such great tension.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2019, 07:10:56 pm by Wilshire »
One of the other conditions of possibility.

Dora Vee

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« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2019, 11:03:59 pm »
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"... Have them flayed and posted".
The ease with which these words fell from her lips was nothing short of nightmarish.  One breath and these men, these piteous fools, would die in torment.  A breath that could have been used for anything: a moan of pleasure, a gasp, a word of mercy...

This actually pissed me off quite a bit and I lost respect for her here. Well, at least at first. Then I realized that despite the power that she has, she was still following the letter of the law. Proyas would have done the same, I'm sure, but he's used to having such power. Conphas wouldn't even be thinking about this.

It kind of reminded me of the Casey Anthony case, oddly enough. People were super quick the judge the jury, but generally shut up when they listened to what the jury had to say. They DID suspect that she was guilty, but because of how US law is, any doubt means acquittal. That's in accordance with the law.
Faith is the truth of passion. Since no passion is more true than another, faith is the truth of nothing.   
                          -Ajencis, the fourth analytic of man

Wilshire

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« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2019, 01:24:04 pm »
They DID suspect that she was guilty, but because of how US law is, any doubt means acquittal. That's in accordance with the law.
reasonable doubt (or is it "shadow of a doubt"). Which is to say, the biggest bully in the room decides your fate.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2019, 03:47:28 pm by Wilshire »
One of the other conditions of possibility.

Dora Vee

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« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2019, 04:23:33 pm »
So, the judge decides? :D
Faith is the truth of passion. Since no passion is more true than another, faith is the truth of nothing.   
                          -Ajencis, the fourth analytic of man