Afterword - Book 2 - Chapter 38 (Patreon)

Chapter 38: Passions by Night

(Original Chapter Title: Passions by Night)

In which Crim uses a smut title without writing any smut.

In a lot of ways the prior chapter and this one are highly connected. Not only do they share the tale of the same day, but Ranthia's dinner plans began in the prior chapter.

It's also exactly 5,555 words and I figure someone will flag something on RR that forces me to change this.

A fairly consistent theme of this chapter is Ranthia's struggles with adapting to non-Reman sensibilities. The breadth of... bread, cultures unlike her own, and her clumsy attempts to treat elven 'high society' events like she would Reman ones.

Ranthia just wants another intimate night of affection with her new lover, but Avyna's business associates have other plans. Thus, it's time to get dolled up!

Ranthia has more adamantium bonded now than she did last time she was in contested territory, but she's still struggling to figure out what to actually do with the rest. She has enough awareness to know that showing off adamantium is the best flex she's got—mistweave is popular among the elves, but not wholly impressive—so she wants to carry more of it. Thus, adamantium jewelry.

Of course, Ranthia's still in her starstruck stage of her new relationship, so Avyna managed to almost completely shut down Ranthia's brain just by dressing up.

The other elves of the trading house are a look at what BtDEM readers might be expecting from elves—a gaggle of self-assured, self-important people that treat Ranthia more like a thing than a person. But hey, at least there's chocolate. The savory 'cake' was a croquette, by the way, and the creamy grain was a risotto. Fancy food for fancy folk.

The musicians are actually a cameo, from a book none of you have read! Tip the Scales by Willow the Wisp (look for it in a future shout out, one of my oldest and dearest friends is self-publishing it at some point). Much like Cinna and his friends actually would, the [Bards] are intensely biased and actively mess with the jerks that hired them in favor of the plucky victim.

And victim she was. Ranthia had been terrified of messing up the party, but she hadn't managed to expect to get called into a 'friendly' duel. Their host picked a well-meaning guard to goad into challenging her, but there was a deadly game being played—the man clearly believed that Ranthia would have to yield or would die.

Unfortunately for them, the guard is... well, a guard. He didn't have much combat experience beyond dumb beasts and underwhelming mortal raiders. Ranthia, on the other hand, is a combat veteran and a war veteran that spent years fighting an opponent that was both stronger and faster than the elf. His lack of technique let her control the fight, all appearances to the contrary.

Honestly, the end of the party could have gone either way. Ranthia's internal comment about getting labeled a 'cheater' was something I sorely considered back when I wrote this chapter. Ultimately though, I decided to keep the guard ineffably well-meaning. He's arrogant, but if he was bested, well the best thing to do is to puff her up and make her sound impressive!

With a parting quiet threat to their host, Ranthia and Avyna make their way out. Where they definitely won't run into any more surprises on their way home.