Oh my god... I have to say it i'm in utter love with this page. How long is it been since we had such emotion? Such sense of dread? Of injustice? Of maturity? Not since the basitin island for sure. Strange how basitins always better the story every time they come in focus...
Because since then,yeah we got drama, and some good one (keith and Natani building a real relationship, Flora and Trace been remembered that beyond their love the world is still in a bad bind...) but nothing like that. It was (almost) always separated from the world-building or the stakes. Or was far too sugary to give any sense of urgency (the entire adventure of group B...).
Here we've got not only a deeper view into a character who was until now nothing more than a comic relief / ditzy kid, view that doesn't contradict the rest of what we know of her but also establishes clearly some stuff barely mentioned until now, some being really dark, like a reminder that, yes, that world is not all sexy people and charming romances:
- yes she lied concerning her age, establishing for good that she falsely accused Eric of being a pedophile: a dirty move who didn't help her on the long run
- yes being overspecialized in stealth WILL be a problem when you're in a situation out of this domain
- yes Trace had a dungeon where keidrans died, say hello to the skull in the background (okay this one was clear from the beginning)
- basitins are a proud warrior race, very cool... except that lead to eugenist practices, with a literal discrimination of those judged "unfit" (and even racist... remember Keith, judged "biologically tainted"); and even more unhealthy as you think about it: "maybe next time" sounds an awful lot like "hurry up to lay another baby, we're getting short on cannon fodder, and choose someone physically worthy this time". Must be quite the pleasure to grow into such an environment (sarcasm)... also, theory: it's possible they pressured Adelaide to force her into mating more in the hopes she'd have more "super basitins" like her; but it fell short because she was in such a position of power it was impossible to impose anything to her.
- and once intruders are turned into animals by Trace's estate Rose locks them up into the dungeon to break their mind and reduce them to easily controllable live stock....
Now little silly hypothesis: Karen notices the scared little chicken and adopts it. And now team A has its own pet, a poor templar forced to "play" with Mrs. Nibbly.
Criminals are less dangerous than virtuous people: they kill less.