Chapter 48
Added 2026-02-20 17:00:18 +0000 UTCComments
Genuinely fantastic, loved it
SolsticeGoblin
2026-02-22 21:43:00 +0000 UTCI wonder if the Emain Twins are getting invited back? Or are all the best Malani going to be disinvited over time.
WaveySky
2026-02-22 06:48:37 +0000 UTCHell yeah, Angharad!
A.C.
2026-02-21 21:03:39 +0000 UTCI feel like this is the time to pull out a quote from 11 chapters ago. - “There’s not a lot of Malani abolitionists, meimei, but they don’t fuck around.”
Gwennafran
2026-02-21 13:31:02 +0000 UTCArguably Maryam's was the docks at the beginning of the year, where they 'robbed' a student at gunpoint and killed the crew members of the ship (which, totally deserved, but it does fit the pattern of escalation).
Cameron Pryde
2026-02-21 13:23:05 +0000 UTCI will point out that this is very different from what Tristan did - his actions resulted in only one outcome, a girl who was fit to be watch and had not done anything against the rules or principles of the watch being removed from it with no other option. Angharad, by contrast, is helping the watch - either someone who breaks its rules is removed, or he confesses his crimes against the watch and the watch can then actually mold him into a proper watchman. Sure, it doesn't help the Unluckies' reputation for escalation, but I doubt the consequences from Angharad's actions come from the Watch leadership on the island.
Cameron Pryde
2026-02-21 13:21:41 +0000 UTCAngie learned what you gotta do when you fail the Speech Check…
Joshua Flowers
2026-02-21 09:36:27 +0000 UTCThis... is interesting. Angharad has not only instilled fear and removed all sense of safety and confidence from him, turning around the whole 'beating up students getting no retaliation' thing that I suspect will make it so the watch doesn't directly interfere immediately, but also threatened his major use, being healing. He doesn't have an infinite source of the stuff. Her beatings are gonna drain that. I suspect he can heal himself, so if he doesn't fully heal, it means he ran out or can't do it subtly enough for that much. Or he can't and needs lady knit, which is also ruinous. It is a very direct threat. I have no idea how this will be received. I know the watch bans specifically killings, but they also disliked the rule lawyering that Tristan did and they are already on thin ice this year. However, he can still technically be a student due to his healing, and she isn't outright trying to cripple him permanently like Tristan did, so she might get away with it. Might. The fact she said all of that is scary when you remember she does not lie. I can't imagine this is where Nathi Morcant ends as an antagonist, because he feels too much of a thorn to be done away that easily. Yes, Angharad has absolutely brought reputational damage onto herself and probably never getting invited to another Malani gathering. She will have Zenzele for company now. She will probably get a reputation for this even broader out, and the Unluckies in general shall have regained the reputation Tristan brought on them earlier. And I can't imagine there won't be some official pushback from a student outright beating one to a pulp every day, not to mention she will need the rest of her brigade probably considering he will have his own and we've seen how navigators absolutely dominate a battlefield without one to counter. This is not likely to be the easy fix this might make it seem. But it is probably the best she could make of that night, as she needed to play to her strength or cut her losses, and she had most certainly lost. Also, realizing she did the same thing to Imani, putting the fear of a DGAF Angharad into her and just physically abusing her into submission. This... is starting to become a pattern. I did like how this touched on the issue, and specifically, the very prevalent issue of bystanders. Angharad realizing that while a lot of people might say they don't like something, they in reality just don't care much. An issue very strong in today's world, with the amount of issues always everywhere, so constant that it becomes hard to really know much about it or look further into it, apathy is in large part how so much of it continues even when so many will disapprove when asked. Angharad has had to face she has been ignoring the issue because it's uncomfortable to face the reality and what it says about her. She has benefited from and even supported parts of this, indirectly. She herself wondered for a moment whether or not the enforced rule of the queen perpetual was truly worse than allowing them their own lives. It is hard to advocate for a group whose suffering you benefited from, for you then have to acknowledge that you wouldn't be where you are if not for that. It tarnishes your image to all who hear or listen, for who are you to say these things? And what ruling class of anywhere is ever willing to admit they have been awful people and benefited from that and willing to deal with the shame and guilt that would require? Angharad was absolutely fighting a losing battle. Morcant and others like him have practiced against those arguments and managed to keep the trade going despite not being popular. They know how to make the masses swallow the pill needed. This is going a bit far into real life, but a reminder that the slave trade less went away because of moral reasons and more so because slavery is genuinely just bad economically. It's not sustainable or profitable as society progresses. Malan will continue that slave trade for as long as it's profitable, and in the state of the world they live in, absolutely will be so for a long time. And the Nobles who shake their head and give their sympathies won't raise a finger. Also, I didn't get my flashback or reiteration of the stuff the 13th did in the six days, I need more. I am flipping as we speak.
Sheyaan Bhesania
2026-02-21 09:14:29 +0000 UTCIt's hilarious to me when people phrase the problem like this, because you can see how easily people just think about things in the wrong way, just like Angharad... is the problem really that Morcant denies Maryam's humanity? So what, who cares, what does acknowledging humanity mean anyways? Nobody owes you kindness or acknowledgement of anything. Plenty of people can be rude and view you as beneath them, and that's not any major injustice. Phrasing slavery as this treats it like it's some social failing. If you view slavery as evil, call it out and treat it like it is — as a fundamental moral crime, evil in the same way that murder is and killing innocents is evil. Acknowledging identities doesn't even come close to the realities of the situation. People nowadays are too used to paying lip service and being like "I must say slavery is bad because it's the societally polite thing to do" instead of actually thinking for themselves and figuring out if/why it's bad from first principles, and then treating it as truly abhorrent or whatever other conclusion they come to, and being appropriately radical about it.
Gen
2026-02-21 08:05:53 +0000 UTCTristan shot a cabalist in the back and poured poison in the wound. Izel challenged Yaotl to a duel and dared her to kill him. Song smashed a glass on the ground and outed Cao's vulnerability for the Stripes to exploit. Angharad smashed and dislocated Morcant's limbs, then dragged him out for display. When will Maryam and Ishanvi join the "lose your shit in public to make a point" club?
Silverking
2026-02-21 07:07:15 +0000 UTCAnother thing I find compelling about this chapter is how it mirrors Song’s earlier confrontation with Cao at the captains meeting for the delve. Both Song and Angharad had the opportunity to take the easy, socially acceptable way out of their respective meetings, and both of them ultimately refused. Their moments of realization are quite similar as well. Song saw that Cao would continue on as she had up until that point, implicitly condoning injustices if it meant getting what she wanted. Angharad saw that the other nobles, while seeing slavery as “unseemly”, ultimately didn’t care enough to speak up against the practice, as doing so wouldn’t serve any purpose to themselves. Ultimately, both of them came to the conclusion that, unless something drastic were to occur, nothing would change. If they chose to play by the rules of their adversaries, they would never be able to win the game. And so, realizing this, they both decide to flip the board. Because it’s not a game, and you do not owe people who perpetuate injustice civility. For Song, that meant calling out Cao in front of all of the other Brigade captains, and leaving her to deal with the fallout of her decisions. For Angharad, it was dropping the pretenses, and using the only language slavers will truly listen to, in order to make Morcant understand- Violence. I’m really interested to see the fallout from this chapter, but honestly I think Angharad did exactly what she should have in this moment.
August
2026-02-21 03:08:21 +0000 UTCWell, it turns out Maryam was not quite wrong to be afraid there for a moment, at the start of the year, and not be completely trusting that Angharad would do the right thing. As she had indeed not yet learned to see the true evil at the heart of Malan, as her inner monologue here shows. Because no, Angharad, the Morcant prick was not just being *rude* to Maryam! He was more so fundamentally, utterly, and unthinkingly denying the humanity of another person right before his eyes and any notion that she could possibly be his equal, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And she didn't grasp what that means, not truly. Still thinking of it mostly in terms of sympathy for a friend and righteous indignation at this "unsavory", "distasteful" practice one "does not have any love for". She's still not quite there yet, but she once again came a step closer. And I'm sure Maryam will consider it a favor well spent to make the point.
Patneu
2026-02-21 03:00:14 +0000 UTCHELL YEAH ANGHARAD THAT'S HOW YOU FUCKIN' DO IT! Also holy hell that realization. Almost exactly like my own, when I realized I was also born to an evil empire. You can't make peace with that. Can't play nice. It's not a broken system in need of repair, it's working as intended. Injustice and suffering are what it's for. I so look forward to Angharad's future chapters. She's finally gotten good.
Jacob Burton-Edwards
2026-02-21 02:29:25 +0000 UTC
![✪ .z [ ⭐️boy ]](https://illustratorsleak.com/istorage/55080.jpg)
