Chapter 18: Quadrant
We start this chapter off with a description of the bad guy's epic adobe.
Whoa. Let's take a closer look at this testament to villain ego.
So on the ceiling, there's a mural of the Big Bad fighting a monster. I wonder if he's actually driven his saber through the heart of an airborne raptaurus before. Or if he just commissioned a picture of himself doing something badass, so he could look up at the ceiling and think "Oh yeah, that's me alright. Damn I'm cool."
French doors lining the wall? Why specifically French, especially if Aerynon is an alternate universe? How would Aerynon know what France even is? What do they do, spy on people of Earth and steal their ideas? "This France place sure has some cool looking doors. We oughta copy them."
I also note that Samantha Stone lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Is there a possible connection there?
And why mirrors lining the other wall? So Draegor can stare at his hot sexy self every time he walks down the hall?
Pointing to the map, Krell said, "They've been spotted here and here. Their hide-out must be in this quadrant." He looked at Dain and Tasmin. "We must find them."
You catch that chapter Title Drop there? Yup, he said the word "quadrant".
That's literally the entire chapter. And I'm using the word "literally" correctly here; I quoted the entire chapter verbatim. The whole chapter shows us more of Draegor's audacious home, and then shows bad guys saying, "Btw, we found where the good guys are probably hiding." And, um, that's it.
Next chapter!
Chapter 19: An Amnesiac Spell
Samantha looks through the seeing well in Isolde's study, the well that shows you images. Inside the well, she sees her mom still lying in the hospital bed in a coma.
Isolde tells Sam, "I know you're worried, but she's very strong."
Sam asks, "What if she never wakes up?"
But Isolde points out that Draegor's minions tried twice to kill Sam's mom, and failed both times.
Hold on; how come Sam's mom knew what was going on in that early chapter when the monster showed up at her house and tried to kill her? She knew plenty; enough to yell at Sam to go back to the store (to get Sam out of danger), and to fight off the creature. Amnesiac Spell my ass.
Anyway, back to this scene.
Sam asks if this indicates that Draegor is getting stronger, and Isolde tells her that if she defeats him, her mom will wake up.
Sam starts crying and complains that this is too much to ask of her, but Isolde tells her that she needs to conquer fear and believe in herself, since the fate of her mom and her people rest upon it.
Her people. All those Aerynonians who Sam only recently discovered existed. This entire land she had no idea was real. The land that Samantha is the secret princess of. Yup. Not just Samantha's mom, but the fate of the people she's supposed to one day rule over are in this ten year old's hands.
No pressure.
And another really short chapter ends. This one was less than twice the length of the previous one!
Chapter 20: Talu Root Icing
Okay, now we get a significantly sized chapter.
It starts with Sam practicing riding her kallion. She flies, gallops, and leaps over driftwood.
Every day? Yup, she's a Mary Sue alright.
Thelwyne tells Arstaef that Samantha might even beat him at the kallion races. Yeah, I'd say her skills are improving insanely fast.
Later, Caelum sits Sam down for more teleportation training.
"It's hard to get excited about moving a little rock," Sam remarked dryly.
Yeah, Sam would need something more important, like maybe a baby or something, to spark her latent teleportation ability. Or perhaps a blanket.
Sam is taught that her grandmother would say the words "potentia movere" again and again, to activate the spell. So she closes her eyes, puts her hands together like prayer, and starts chanting. The rock she's using for practice quivers, but doesn't otherwise move.
"You just have to want it badly enough," he urged.
You know what, you're right. Why not throw a baby off a cliff instead?
Caelum passes his hands in front of the rock, and suddenly a bottle of strawberry soda is in its place. Sam remarks that it's her favorite, and Caelum points out that yup, he's a wise old man. Because wisdom directly relates to knowing a kid's favorite soda.
Sam closes her eyes and practices some more, until finally the soda bottle shakes, and disappears, reappearing in the palm of her hand.
"Never underestimate the power of sugar," Caelum laughs. I guess he found another thing Samantha desperately wants to teleport. I'd make some remark about the kid's priorities, but I think all of us would rather teleport soda to our hand than some rock.
Uh... dialog much?
Sam and Donum are then training in the jungle, as they practice fencing, while being watched by Malachi the parrot.
I seriously wish I could see how that played out. It sounds so utterly surreal.
I also love how Sam is mastering both teleportation and combat so damn quickly. Total Mary Sue protagonist!
Now, at Sam's bedroom, she is practicing another skill, with Thelwyne.
"No," Sam said.
"Concentrate Sam. Imagine yourself under the bed."
Sam sighed and opened her eyes, "A dust bunny?"
So now they're apparently practicing psychic spying?
Thelwyne pulls cupcakes out from under the bed, telling Sam that if she'd figured out they were there, then she'd earn them. But nope. A shame, too, as these are made with "talu root". One taste of talu root causes your mind to jump immediately to its happiest memory. Damn, these sound like amazing cupcakes.
Sam does get to try the frosting, though, and instead of happy, it immediately makes her sad.
Which honestly doesn't surprise me. Happy memories of things long ago can really hurt sometimes. And in Sam's case, the memory was of herself with her mom in a park. The same mom who's in a coma now.
"Fa-ther? Fa-ther?" Malachi asked.
"He doesn't care about me. Why should I care about him?" Sam shot off flippantly.
"Great la-dy. Great la-dy. Not," he squawked.
Oh my god, a parrot just made a "not" joke. Totally 80s!
But Malachi insisted, "No-blesse o-blige."
"Malachi wants you to think about the ancient concept of noblesse oblige," Thelwyne explained.
"No-whatty-what?" Sam asked.
"No-bless. No-blesse," the parrot repeated.
"Doesn't anybody speak American around here?" Sam asked.
I'm loving this dialog. Honestly, the people of Aerynon speak English just fine, for all the French culture they'd absorbed. I wonder if they also speak French. (I entered "noblesse" and "oblige" separately into Google Translate and hit French -> English, and I got "nobility" and "requires" separately. But entering them both at once doesn't provide a translation)
But that's not good enough for Sam, who wants them to speak American!
Oh, I think Draegor learned it; he just doesn't give a shit. Because he's evil, and that noblesse oblige would get in the way.
Thelwyne wishes Sam a good night, and walks out, as Sam thanks Malachi for some reason.
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