Diamonds
Logs for the second part of Renate’s search for her brother and her family’s treasures have been posted. Capsule summary: Renate fails to regain the Golden Harp of Astrid.
Some interesting bits. Renate has settled into possession of three speech registers, not two: we already knew about her native sixteen-year-old drawl, and Emilia Eaglebourne’s bookish formality, but it’s become clear she’s got a third. I’m calling it the “respectful Southern child,” because it’s exactly what the polite kids sounded like in school in Raleigh. Lots of “sir” and “ma’am,” never bluntly disagreeing with a respected adult, careful but not stilted diction.
(I can’t quite hear it with a Southern accent, but that’s probably my distance from my childhood operating.)
This part of the hunt centered around Dorothy Durai. After reading the scenes at the Risen Octagon club (very ugly—Renate’s already having flashbacks) and afterwards, my husband shook his head and said in disgust, “She’s a spiritual vivisectionist. A soul-eater. A—well, the word is ‘vampire.’”
Renate knows that. Intellectually, anyway. Renate has dubbed her the Drifting Diamond, a hard woman wandering around looking for someone she can’t damage.
But Durai is that most dangerous of psyche-stealers, the pity-inspiring manipulator. And Renate’s too young and too innocent and too nice (in game terms, WIS 9) not to be sucked in. Not to mention that Durai completely flambéd her sixteen-year-old libido.
There’s going to be a major train wreck somewhere down the line. Durai knows it (and wants it), Godfrey knows it, and even Renate knows it, though she’d never admit it. But Renate’s also smart, and her fresh, not-yet-disillusioned youth gives her a certain power to resist corruption. Durai’s going to have to work for this one. Should be quite a chess match.
We also meet an old flame of Godfrey’s (I’m still trying to figure that one out), several more dragons, and the noble city of Ilium.
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