Aequitas
Hel’s Gate
Rannibic Station

In which Sleak has things to say.

Shout out to Lute and Moonhawk, whose story continues to be told even when the Temple would prefer it to be forgotten. I wonder if the version Sleak knows includes the two things that must without fail be said. (I would bet good money that whatever version the Temple currently tells doesn’t include either of the two – if they tell the story at all.)

When I first read this story, I thought it felt unfinished. This time around, I didn’t mind the ending so much, which is probably partly because this time I knew what to expect. But it’s not entirely inconclusive: we don’t see the resolution of Sleak’s disagreement with Lomar, but we are at least left with the impression that there is going to be a resolution. And this time around, I found myself tracing the thread about fathers teaching their skills to sons, which becomes Lomar wondering specifically what Sleak would teach his son if he had one and was allowed to teach him, and then we get an answer when Sleak decides he has things he wants to teach Nathin.

(I wonder if Lomar is aware of the extent of Sleak’s historical interests. Maybe she does, but maybe by the time they met that was already in the past and not something a husband might discuss with his wife.)

I said in the post for the first chapter that I wasn’t sure if the mentions of Jeni and of Lomar’s second husband referred to the same person, and in the second chapter likewise for Nathin and the youngest husband. After this chapter, I’m confident about both, but I’m still not sure about Aramis and the fifth husband.

That gives us a nearly-complete roster of Lomar’s husbands in order of acquisition: Terbus, Jeni, Vroyd, Sleak, Aramis, Ronlath and Nathin, with one more unnamed husband who is either just before or just after Aramis.