Day 345
Standard Year 1392
Jolie’s House of Joy
Surebleak
In which Pat Rin and Natesa pass the eve of an enterprise of surpassing danger.
I am convinced that the ambiguous moment in which Natesa shows up naked in Pat Rin’s bedroom is the primary reason for which the detail of “naked” being Surebleak slang for “unarmed” exists.
Not that it’s without layers of its own; the implications of the analogy say a lot about the conditions of life on Surebleak.
I wonder why it is that Pat Rin’s dreams on the subject of Natesa coming to him do include her coming armed?
It might just be that his dreams start out at a point close to reality before heading in their own direction, and in reality, as he mentions, she has until this point always been armed when he’s seen her.
It could be that her arms represent something about her that contributes to her attractiveness, either metaphorically (something about her personality? her self-sufficiency?) or literally (as an expert marksman himself, he might find her expertise attractive in itself).