Honestly, not as bad as I'd feared. It sucks for Ambraea, of course, but it's not a nasty surprise for
us, and it's something it makes perfect sense for the Empress to bring up for good reasons. I was half expecting something messed up like declaring that Peony was now our slave for life, or some other manifestation of the tension about how much power Ambraea had to ruin people's lives without really thinking about it.
I was a little surprised she didn't mention Darting Fish as an option for travel when asked. I'd have thought that saying "yeah, upperclassmen owe me favours, but I can do better than to call them in yet" would have been a decent flex. Not sure whether that means losing the vote means Ambraea didn't really consider it, or just that she didn't think it worth mentioning.
The embarrassment of meeting her mom's twentysomething special friend was delicious. Please mortify our girl further. Perhaps Ilina finds her an approachable person to ask for advice about her mother's moods?
[x] Throw yourself into your swordswomanship, seek out new opponents for practice duels
Same reasoning as Randino, essentially. Self-medicating with horny feels unhealthy and unlike Ambraea (and unhealthy
because it's unlike her). Secluding herself to study feels a bit dull and a waste of the opportunity that the change of venue offers, unless silt-winders are extremely cool, the Empress' notes are extremely interesting, and/or this is the only window in which to work on them. Swordfighting is cool in its own right, it gives us more to talk about with Sola, who's great, it might let us see S'thera again in a more limited capacity, it's a very Ambraea-ish approach to sublimating feelings via diligence that provides distance from our normal routine and environment linked to Maia, and it's an opportunity to bond with our dad.
Honestly, I wonder if Ambraea's instinctive reaction to Deiza isn't on some level at least partially motivated by subconscious resentment that she can feel this free to be unbound by the expectations of others, which has literally never been an option for Ambraea with her parentage.
It's a bit late, but I want to say I worry this is starting to miss the forest for the trees. The discussion of why these two rub each other the wrong way is interesting, but at base, Ambraea doesn't like Deiza because
Deiza is a jerk. Her apology was the first time she actually used Ambraea's name; before that she mostly addressed her by
her father's nationality. That's not a free-spirited failure to navigate the fine details of pointless Dynastic etiquette, that's extremely rude by
our own standards. She's actively sought Ambraea's attention but been actively obnoxious while doing so, and when called on that fact in fairly mild terms escalated wildly to gratuitous insult. And she clearly isn't all that unbound by the expectations of others, since it definitely seems like she wants
something from Ambraea that her own buffoonery keeps pushing out of her reach.
(Honestly my main guess about Deiza's grievance is that she sees Ambraea hanging out with "misfits" like Maia and Amiti and feels aggrieved she isn't considered worthy of that attention - but is blind to the fact that it's not about her rank or family or whether she's sufficiently toadying and conformist, it's simply that she makes herself unpleasant company. Her behaviour towards Ambraea has the energy of reply guys who make over-familiar jokes towards semi-public figures because they've misjudged the actual level of closeness they're at, and then feel wronged that they don't get the reaction an actual friend might.)
