I feel like this chapter was just what I needed. I am suffused with new enthusiasm. Finally, some DRAMA! Lets talk about all the moments of WIN, shall we?
Remin's entire conversation with his divine mother was wonderful. *He* is here? SQUEEEEE!!! Then Kudorin throws this out:
“You never had that conversation,” Kudorin said kindly. “It didn’t happen. I don’t want you to spend your time worrying about a conversation you haven’t had.”
Really. “How much time have you spent examining moments that have never and will never happen? You’re always in a different reality.”
“Because I understand all paths and I comprehend all times and I have the ability to keep everything in perspective. You don’t.”
“Oh, it’s just a silly thing like that?” Remin asked dryly.
Laughing, Kudorin said, “Take me seriously. I don’t want you to worry about a conversation you didn’t have and something that no one’s ever said. All right?”
While it is super tempting to think that Kudorin is just saying that to ease Remin's mind and make it so that Remin won't dwell on his future husband being there already, I'm actually inclined to take Kudorin at his word. It is entirely possible that the conversation happened in Remin's head. However, since it happened when he was meditating, I'm inclined to think that the gods had a lot to do with what Remin imagined. What's going to drive me nuts is whether or not HE is actually there or if the gods/Remin's subconscious just wanted to make a big honking point of how destructive Remin's personal distance can be. Or if it's both. Matthew, you're evil!
And I loved this:
“…self-serving pretentious entitled…” Orinakin was moving scrolls and stacks of paper across his desk with more vigor than was entirely warranted. He was also scowling and muttering under his breath. “…arrogant frunga fool…”
Frunga? Curious, Bade stepped farther into the room. “Who are you calling a goat-fucker?”
“Fucking shit,” Orinakin gasped, startled, staring at him. “How in the world did you sneak up on me?”
How, indeed. I think that the drama around the Sultan's arrival are not the only Sultan-related things that will drive Orinakin crazy while that pompous ass is a guest in the palace.
“I think that it’ll set the right tone, don’t you?” Bade asked. “I mean, you’re sending your husband, not a bootblack, so it’s still respectful. But you’re not at his beck and call anymore. Kudorin’s marrying into the Jacacean Empire. We don’t need to court the Sultan’s favor for anything anymore. If we don’t like what he’s doing, we just have Xio Voe send in military forces.”
“That’s not-”
“No, of course not,” Bade said. “But the Sultan thinks that everyone else thinks the way he does, and that’s what he’d do, in that situation.”
“The royal diplomat always meets the Sultan at the balloon,” Orinakin said.
“The Heir is ascending to the Anorian throne,” Bade said. “It’s a new world.”
OMG, how Bade has grown! Having this level of diplomatic understanding now, when he was so sheltered before, is remarkable. I wonder how soon he and Orinakin will realize that Bade is growing closer to Setanoto. Also, his way of thinking demonstrates a keen awareness of his own place in the Anorian government, how high up he really is. The royal diplomat's spouse meets all the same people, sits at all the same dinners and, like we saw in the days between Bade and Orinakin's wedding and their departure, attends a lot of the same meetings. The royal diplomat's spouse has a good bit of power, if not authority, and I can't imagine that the other Siblings' spouses, with the obvious exception of the pharaoh's husband and wife, have as much involvement in the government simply by virture of being married to one of the Seven Siblings.
And Bade knowing this, being aware of and comfortable weilding his own power in the face of a hugely influential head of state like the Sultan, was seriously frelling sexy.
The Sultan was furious. So furious that he stood there in front of everyone, all of the priests and servants on the field, all of the incoming visitors, all of the Anorians and all of his own people, and called Bade a worthless, godforsaken shepherd, the son of no one and the representative of nobody, a childish ape who had learned to mimic the gestures of kings but would never know any power of his own. Then he demanded that Bade return and send Orinakin to him.
The sultans'actions were awesome. He's such an asshole, an overinflated pompous jerk, and he is not considering how the Anorian-Jacacean joining will change his place in the world like Bade was talking about earlier. This will only be to his detriment. He is going to hang himself with how he acts while at this wedding. Insulting the royal diplomat's husband in public? Ranting at Vade, who was not wearing purple and was hanging out in the guest wing (two things Bade is very unlikely to be doing this close to the wedding) in front of everyone, which demonstrates that the sultan either does not know that Bade has a twin or simply does not care? And spitting at someone's feet?
Spitting? He's so screwed.
I'm hoping for one or more of these to happen:
1: Kudorin is right there and responds to the sultan's disrespect of a dear friend, almost a brother, of the living god among us. Kudorin will be kind and maybe smiling because that's how he rolls, but he will not let the insult to Vade pass.
2: Xio Voe hears about it and responds to the sultan's disrespect of a dear friend of the future Emperor of the Jacacean Empire. He will be cold and distainful because that's how he rolls, but he will not let the insult to Vade pass.
3. Mindo hears about it and cuts off relations with Lorban because you know what? He's allied with Orina Anoris and his twin sons are close personal friends of Jacacea's Heir and he really doesn't need Lorbain.
4. Jonan is there and tries to explain the new facts of life to the sultan, perhaps unsuccessfully, and the sultan has a breakdown which renders him incompetent to rule, so Jonan takes over behind the scenes and this is how he changes Lorbain for the better just like Kudorin said he would back when Jonan was a suitor.
Okay, so the last two are a little farfetched, but I can hope. Either way, this chapter was perfect for getting me excited about ITL again. I can't wait to see what happens next week!
