User blog comment:SaynaSLuke/Seven Tears Shed/@comment-2142396-20170507071737

It seems like the latest chapters were sort of a break from all the action, focusing mostly on the healing the wounded and heroes planning their next move. Not that they didn’t deserve all of that. ;) I’m glad that Xzaris’s ‘spiritual sight’ is explored more fully, since I had been waiting almost forever for him to be established in his status of blind fighter and a new prophet, mainly hyped by all the pictures and our discussions of the matter. :D I admit I hadn’t thought of his ability as aura seeing and prevision... the first one was not so surprising, since his gift of seeing without eyes was tied to spiritual anyway, but the second one was a shocker. I suppose the color of one’s aura corresponds to the beast’s link with Ignasa? Sayna is a very strong follower, and her aura is bright blue, Romsca is more of a wavering follower and hers is pale blue, and Shui isn’t a follower and her aura is just a dim outline of no color?

I feel that Xzaris was certainly lucky to get a mentor like Sayna, and I love their interactions. Frankly speaking, she is probably the only one who can advise him, and she has experience of training other beasts throughout her lifetime. Sayna’s method of teaching isn’t what I expected though, and I’m not surprised by Xzaris’s reaction to it… I mean, it would’ve been hard to me as well to completely put my life at someone else’s will – plus, Xzaris had been used to relying on nothing but his own strength, skill and abilities all his life, not waiting for any divine help, so that would be one more reason for his reluctance. Though personally I wouldn’t say that trusting yourself is such a bad thing. You have still to ask for guidance and look up for Ignasa, otherwise the self-confidence would turn into blind arrogance, but trusting yourself is still important… Maybe my wording isn’t perfect, but I’m just used to relying on a very sensible ‘God helps those who helps themselves’ principle.

Val’s chat with Clecky was amusing, and Clecky’s commentary on the difference between hares and rabbits actually made me giggle. But it’s good to see a friendship form between vermin and woodlander, because both groups were pretty secluded so far. But since both Val and Clecky are the most outgoing and amiable beasts of their respective groups, it was fated to happen sooner or later. ;) The only thing that does bother me somewhat is how Val becomes immediately interested in Hood – I know it’s mostly because she is a type of person who wants to be friends with everybeast, and there are not many foxes for her to talk to, and I suppose Sampetra city isn’t a friendly place in general so of course she would want to know him better… I think I can understand her desire not to be alone, but the way she drops that phrase ‘in case my boyfriend doesn’t return to me’ just doesn’t sit well to me, as if she already thinks of Hood as a reserve variant.

I knew that Ublaz was enchanting his monitors to make them intelligent and to control their will, but the fact that he was somehow… magically multiplying them as well makes him something akin to a mad scientist. :o My first thought was that he is ‘cloning’ the adult monitors somehow, but since it would probably take way too much magical energy, it would be more logical to suspect that he is enhancing the growth and aging of the hatchings, making them mature way faster. By the way, how many dragons Isan really have in his tribe? He did say they are less than a thousand, but no numbers were given. I didn’t expect the bats to be actively involved in fighting, but now that they do, Romsca and her allies have ground force, aerial force and a little fleet – almost a full army. ;) However, while the dragons’ plan to have the pirates sail ships for them is good, there is one dereliction: while they do have three Captains and enough ships, there are less than twenty possible crewbeasts to man them. I suppose some of the dragons can help, but they weren’t exactly built to manage the rigging and such…

I’m glad that Romsca actually managed to persuade the bats to spare Rasconza, even if she had to get a loan of sorts to pull it through. But Romsca’s devotion and loyalty to her friends really shone through there, and not for a moment did I doubt that she would really rush to raid Ublaz’s ships if there were no other means to get such amount of gold. The dragons’ treasury was impressive indeed, though I was just as shocked as Romsca and Xzaris to learn of its sources. :o Considering the sheer amount of gold and silver they have, I guess they had been gathering them for many years? But yeah, if the dragons love collecting things and don’t actually spend any of it, their hoard would indeed only grow with time.

I’m a little surprised that Isan chose the situation with Rasconza as the final test of Romsca’s loyalty, but it had to happened, and better sooner than later. ;) I’d say that it wasn’t truly a choice of whether or not Romsca and Xzaris would return to the dragons since Val, Arashi and Barranca were left as de facto hostages, but they could’ve done a lot of harm to the dragons if they chose Rasconza’s side, so to speak. Maybe the dragons would’ve been able to destroy Rasconza’s crew, but if he combined the strength of his pirates, his own cunning and Romsca’s information on the dragons’ weak spots and struck quickly, I’d say these three had a chance to break the dragons’ defenses. Heh, I guess I just love theorizing on the way Romsca and the crew can take the advantage over the dragons. :D

Ah, but Romsca and Xzaris’s meeting with Rasconza pleasantly surprised me with how heartfelt it was! Rasconza always seemed more stoic and aloof, being the least emotional of the friends and somewhat of a loner, at least the way I saw him. So when he showed such genuine emotions for his friends – for Romsca’s return, for Xzaris’s injuries, for Val’s wellbeing, that really hit me in the guts. We don’t often see that sensitive side of him, after all. ;) I’d say that the very fact that Rasconza was persuaded to leave the Whispering Cave without further arguments is an accomplishment in itself. Knowing how stubborn both Rasconza and Romsca are, the lack of further information must have only spurred the fox’s interest! But I guess that Drip was right when he said that if Rasconza was Romsca’s friend, he would trust her enough to believe her anyway. Still, I wouldn’t put it past him to try and find out what’s going on, by trying to track Romsca and Xzaris or something similar – I doubt he would let the threat of ‘ghosts’ just slide. Now, I’m pretty excited to see how it all plays out in the end, so keep the story going! :D