Erob’s Hold
Practice Grounds

In which Val Con, Miri, and Nelirikk go into harm’s way.

Jase presenting Commander Rialto’s pistol to Nelirikk has a message to it, beyond “you’re going into action, you’ll need a gun”. Nelirikk already has a gun; Miri cleared him to carry one days ago. But that was Miri showing that she trusted Nelirikk; this is Commander Carmody showing that he trusts Nelirikk, and by extension committing all the mercs under his command to work with him. Also, between this and his farewell to Val Con, making people promise to bring their equipment back seems to be Jase’s favoured way of asking them to come back safe.

I see that Emrith Tiazan is still clinging to the idea of Yxtrang as inhuman monsters, and I’m not going to say that’s not understandable in the circumstances, although one might hope she’d rein it in a bit when Nelirikk is standing right there. (I guess, though, that if she’s convinced he’s an animal, she wouldn’t see the point in that; who worries about sparing an animal’s feelings?) I can’t remember if she ever does acknowledge Nelirikk as a person later on; if she does, it’ll be interesting to see what the tipping point is.