Two months is really an unacceptable amount of time to write just 4.7k words. I hate me, I hate my life.
I am going to try to stick to trying to update every other week. And for every three days I miss my deadline, that's one extra floor from which to jump.
I would normally dismiss this as dark humor, but you've previously mentioned depression so... please believe me when I say I absolutely found this chapter to be worth the wait.
Eleanore blinks for a moment, confused. Then - without really even looking into the sky, as if she's taking you entirely on your word, or as if she knows of no way to confirm this - she merely says, "...Ah." Then she turns counterclockwise and begins to walk again.
Okay. Sister Eleanore may just have a cartoonish lack of a sense of direction. But given what else we see, it seems she understands the basic idea of North and South, East and West. She just doesn't know what they are or how they match up. This implies she's never had to learn and/or use compass directions. Which raises some more questions about life in the mountain shrines. Or at least her shrine.
"N-No," you say blankly, too confused at this to even really register that Eleanore didn't even know you're a dryad, "we're just...d-durable." You're not sure whether this or if the knight's exposure to dryads being solely from Anya's romance books would be preferable; you're a bit too caught up in the fact that the knight before you didn't even know what a dryad is. What rock has she been hiding under?
This whole passage (including the parts I didn't bother to quote) really drives home the idea that maybe Neianne was being too kind when she avoided the word "cloistered". This is way past, "never seen a dryad before". Instead, she's coming across as lacking basic education.
Wait. What does this mean for our theories on Steph's origins? Is this sort of racial ignorance just among Eleanore's shrine or is it universal?
Sometimes sarcasm is all you have.
ah. finally some narrative defense for Neianne's changes in personality.
"I...just thought the knight orders were..." you trail off, deciding that perhaps the word "cloistered" - with its implication of being sheltered - is not the most appropriate term to use for knights. Yes, it is fast occurring to you that Eleanore perhaps is sheltered, but you don't want her swinging her sword at you or - worse - trying to pluck the leaves in your hair again. "More secluded," you finally allow. "That you just...stay in your shrines."
Huh. I missed the middle part of this paragraph on my first (admittedly fast) read through. Honestly though, I am unsure Eleanore would have picked up on the negative connotations.
Something about "sinful lowlands" fills you with a sense of muted annoyance, even if you do not yet have words to give voice to that frustration. Without really thinking, words begin spilling out of your mouth, more from annoyance than from sudden religious conviction: "No problem is solved by hiding from the World."
Be the change you want to see in the world. Though I guess, Eleanore would argue that she
is.
"You carry with you the ancient faith of the dryads, then," Eleanore observes with what almost sounds like a hint of approval, which is almost strange given her Conceptualist roots.
Eleanore looks at you askance. "I would have thought," she says, "that when dryads come out of the forest, they would want to adopt the faith of the land they're in." Her gaze turns in the direction of Sieglinde, as if expecting a fellow elf to back her up on this point.
The elven knight's eyes narrow. "It would've been ideal if you carried the faith of your foremothers."
This interesting. Eleanore, at least, doesn't seem to be as bothered by heathenism as she is by atheism. Instead she seems to respect theism in general.
There's a near-imperceptible hardening around Eleanore's eyes. A subtle frustration that you sense is directed elsewhere, not at you and Sieglinde. Maybe you've just gotten good at reading emotionally-obscure elves. "Do you think us free of sin? I am here seeking to retrieve a gift from a rival, am I not?"
"To be free of sin is the journey of a knight, not something that merely comes with being a knight. That we are meant to honor the merits and shun the vices of the old ways does not mean we are always successful in abandoning the corruption of power and wealth and war, as our foremothers once were. This hiring of cutthroats proves just that."
Another interesting reveal of Eleanore's character. She obviously see's being sinless as an ideal to strive for instead of an inherent state of being. Her frustration, given an obvious lack of socialization, heavily implies that this misconception is not one people have of Knights but of a disagreement among knights. I guess the question is whether this is an inter-shrine disagreement or an intra-shrine one.
I do find the line about the "foremothers" being sinless interesting.
Okay. This whole next section jumps around too much more me to quote it well.
But, Eleanore seems to be really lacking in empathy. Not in the psychopath way, but more in the completely ignorant kind of way.
She straight up doesn't understand what bandits actually are for one.
Then there's the implication she doesn't really understand what war is.
There's a whole rabbit hole here given the fact that she takes it for granted different shrines would hire mercenaries to attack her. And then her insinuation the nation brought the way down on themselves by supporting mercenaries groups.
I come away with the impression the shrines have their own rivalries and conflicts and Eleanore just assumes war is the same without any actual understanding of the functional/practical differences in scale or method.
And/or she's just that emotionally disconnected from the rest of the nation.
Her criticisms of the peasant bandits are accurate. But her expectations of them scream "Why don't they just get a better job?"
Lastly, wow. The Knight Orders really took the loss hard if they're using the term heretic in comparison to how polite Eleanore has been on the subject of religion so far. (and I won't excuse this as Eleanore just being polite enough to avoid insulting people to their face after the whole Dryad thing.)
But Sieglinde looks thoughtful for a moment before admitting, "She is not entirely without merit. I personally took quite well to her point about..."
I wonder what Sieglinde was going to say. I'm going to guess "honor the merits and shun the vices of the old ways".
She doesn't have the chance to finish her sentence as she suddenly stops in her tracks, bends a knee behind a bush as you swiftly do the same, and holds a fist up in the air in an unmistakable signal for the group to halt. Unfortunately, almost expectedly, Eleanore is completely confused by the gesture and continues walking, blinking at Sieglinde and asking, "What's wrong?"
More evidence the Knightly Orders, despite their military origins, have really taken to heart treating war as a vice to be avoided.
Eleanore squints before replying, "Not from here. But it'll be there." She rises to a standing position, already moving to draw her sword from the scabbard. "This will be the easy work of thirty seconds, then."
30 seconds to take on a deserter and a "dozen or so" other people. There's no way she can reasonably expect them to rout that fast (morale loss takes time to sink in). Just how fast is she?
okay. Leadership styles.
[ ] Take advantage of Eleanore's momentum as a knight, and use her as the bulwark for a devastating frontal attack.
Takes advantage of the most immediate and obvious advantage.
[ ] Take a moment to flank left in a surprise pincer attack instead, hoping that Stephanie and Elizabeth will manage to flank right while Eleanore goes down the center in rough tandem.
Takes risks for hopefully a greater reward. On hand, its much more of a tactical decision on the face of it. On the other hand, it assumes things are going well and will go well.
Did Elizabeth shoot of the lightning just to let Neianne know they encountered bandits (Neianne only said "trouble" in the text) or if things have actually gone wrong as in the vote.
[ ] Take the safe option and rush towards where you heard the blast, making sure that Stephanie and Elizabeth are safe and unhurt.
Prioritizes the team over the objective/mission. Again, this could be a good thing if something really has gone wrong, but it could be a bad thing given our mission to stop the bandits.
Other factors to take into consideration.
(1) Sister Eleanore is a knight and presumably capable of routing the bandits alone. While she has no reason to pursue them, she'll very likely incapacitate a significant portion of them before they manage to flee. Thus, we could argue Neianne has effectively outsourced the bandit problem to a reliable third party and can/should prioritize her own subordinates.
(2) Steph and Beth went to find the Sheriff and have an instructor with them. While the instructor won't interfere except as a last resort, the Sheriff is famous, was supposed to wait to meet up with them, and would have no problems with actively helping the apprentices. Now granted, maybe something happened and they got separated or never found her, but we have no way of knowing.
So...
Given what we do and do not know...
I am going to
tentatively vote:
[X] Take the safe option and rush towards where you heard the blast, making sure that Stephanie and Elizabeth are safe and unhurt.
I'll be honest... I started this post leaning toward a flanking maneuver. But, we know Eleanore is capable of handling herself and is not our responsibility. And Steph and Beth are our responsibility and we don't know if they ever found the Sheriff.