TWWR Round up 07/01/2024– We Dance Under Moonlight Here

This will be my last roundup until July15th. I’ll be just getting back from being out of town at Anthrocon later this week. Instead of jumping into writing after traveling, I’ll be giving myself a rest. I may post a reworked review of Rigsby, WI from Damage Control Blog. Or if there’s time I might get to that promised short review of chapter 29 of What Lurks Beneath. Or nothing might go up. We’ll see.

As for this week, I thought it would be another short roundup as Africa, Lost Scent, and The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uprising are all still on hiatus. Then four pages of Home dropped last Tuesday. So much for that short week.

 

To Catch a Star | Page(s): 523, 524, 525, 526 | Patreon

Lupi is about to catch the Lost rabbit when another wolf catches it first. Angry, the sun shouts at the other wolf who turns out to be Tussle. Surprised, she drops her kill. A moment later, she recognizes Lupi and tells them that they scared her. The sun also recognizes Tussle. The Dusky then calls for Sweep who smiles. Lupi smiles in return, but then frowns and looks down. The two Duskies share a glance at each other before Tussle asks them about Shadow. Deeply pained, Lupi looks away, and the two girls understand that something awful happened to the large Nova.

Tussle tries to comfort the sun by admitting things have been hard for them as well. Looking down, Lupi changes the subject and asks the pair to share their kill. The gray Dusky admits that the rabbit is actually food for Danger, but if the sun comes along they might be able to hunt something else to eat. The trio return to the former alpha who has recovered from being attacked by Takedown. Tussle gives the rabbit to Danger who is surprised to see the sun.

I can’t help but wonder if Lupi will end up visiting all the wolves that Backlash and Shadow befriended on their journey. I imagine if Tussle and Sweep are taking care of a heavily pregnant Danger that none of these particular Duskies will be up to joining Lupi. Let’s hope that the sun sticks around to talk to the friendly members of Backlash’s former pack for a while. It might be comforting to know that not everyone was an asshole like Takedown, or the trio that wrangled the group earlier. I guess the run-up to the final pages might look like Lupi running into old friends as Hearth tries to catch up to them on their quest to find the remaining star.

I’m glad the Supernova won’t be on their heels during the entire trip. That said, getting the moon to make the wish might not be so easy. I’ll be shocked if Scorch and his fellow zealots aren’t the last roadblock to Lupi wishing for a better world. At least that’s something we’re likely not going to have to worry about for a while.

The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 28, Page 8 | Patreon

Shocked at the revelation that Dr. Xijo just put forth, one scientist stands in alarm as another one quickly thumbs through her notes. The standing scientist remarks the claims are revolutionary and will need to be peer-reviewed. The Martian agrees with her, as the full impact of their finding needs to be explored. That will be done in due time. For the moment the situation is severe enough that the organization must proceed with the assumption that the data is correct. They must use the machine. Dr. Njeri jumps in and reminds the scientists that information revealed is highly classified and that they all signed papers before the briefing.

Until the crisis on the moon is dealt with, the findings are limited to a need-to-know basis. He continues and explains the device can amplify Shankar Radiation without manual input, and that the Black Idol reacts strongly to it. This amplifier could be a weapon or safeguard. Furthermore, the device is crucial to their upcoming mission as they test suitable candidates.

There’s not much to say, other than I’m not surprised that the device will be used in a way related to the Black Idol. I figured it was to protect people from reverting to their original Black Idol form while off-world, but it being used as a weapon is another possibility. Thinking about it, previous issues did indicate that blasting the creature with Shankar Radiation did have an effect. I’m mildly curious about what these tests will entail. Will they be held in the lab or off-world? Will someone risk being exposed to the Black Idol? If they do end up traveling to the moon through the gate, will Melissa and Julia choose that time to release Kenazil?

Golden Shrike | Page(s): 271 | Patreon

Boneslav begins to share the story of Karuna that his father told him. God is the moon who walks out from its own reflection in order to dance with the deer it created. At daybreak god escapes to the sky and is hidden by the sun. It is missed by its creations until night falls again. In spite of all the happy deer that like to dance, there is one deer that does not like to dance. He also dislikes the fact that his friends and family dance. His name is Mousara.

First, I’m kind of fascinated by the fact that the Stonekrovn refer to Karuna as “it” instead of “him.” Either way, the deer god is considered to be the moon. It must be lonely at the top, so creating other deer makes sense. Perhaps dancing a form of worship. I’m guessing Mousara didn’t much care for that worship or just being around the other types of deer. I wonder if he was one of the first deer who would become either the Stonekrovn or the Marshlanders. Again, as I noted last week both breeds have similarities in the fact that they don’t mingle with other types of deer. Since this is Boneslav telling the story, I’m going to guess that Mousara is the first Stonekrovn.

I’m also fascinated that Karuna went away with the rising of the sun. I’m guessing deer couldn’t communicate with him during the daylight, and likewise he couldn’t communicate with his creations? That makes me ponder if the sun is really just the sun, or is it another deity? After all, Karuna is the moon. Having a sun deity wouldn’t be that farfetched.

Home | Page(s): 860, 861, 862, 863| Patreon

Not going to lie, I briefly considered just skipping this extra-long Home entry. Four pages a month are enough to usually deal with, but now I have four pages to contend with in a single update. This entire section is longer than everything I’ve written above. Get comfortable before you proceed.

Back at the Shiverfall Tribe, Viscountess Eopei watches Feomeh play with Meela. Nubia pads by and lets her Viscountess know that she’s off to visit her daughter. Eopei tells the Huntress to send Feaf her love. Bagheraati tells his leader that the Viscountess and Baron from Solar Stag Tribe are here. Baron Faekas tells Eopei that their letters have been ignored for months. The Taiga Lion replies that their silence should have made their answer clear– Feomeh stays with Shiverfall. Faekas tells the tribe leader that she doesn’t want this fight. To that, Eopei tells the Rifle that the fight never ended for them. Viscountess Lahmina laments that their alliance will be over, and Eopei is having none of it. The dogs never really supported the Taiga Lions– they were just tolerated, and they’re not even being allowed to take care of a single Forngrym. The Solar Stag Viscountess sighs and notes that the capital voted years ago. The species isn’t allowed to stay.

The Shiverfall Viscountess shoots back that the vote was taken when there were only four tribes on Aedra. Another vote should be held (since there are now 15 tribes who’d actually show up to vote). Lahmina gives up and informs her former ally that she’ll let the Matriarch know of Shiverfall’s answer and thoughts. As the representatives from Solar Stag leave, Faekas stops to ask about the drawing of a spear going through a stag skull’s eye. To that Eopei tells him that Solar Stag will see when they’re at the gates. The pair of dogs exchange a surprised glance before they leave. Bagheraaati asks his leader about her decision. As much as she hates to admit it, Ranach is right about how powerful the capital has grown. Plus, if they get a hold of Feomeh they’ll execute her, or use her for their own means. The Archer frowns as he notes that Solar Stag are hypocrites as they can accept a saber-toothed wolf, but not a saber-toothed feline. Eopei looks concerned.

At Solar Stag, Jahla and Romé approach the massive gate. They are allowed to enter the territory and the other dogs stare at Jahla. Her companion tells her not to mind the staring. The pair reach the large Sky God spaceship, but only the Akiulfr is allowed to enter. Before she heads in, the Great Vildmarkens tells her to remember what she wanted to say to the Matriarch. She passes through the hallways of the ship with various vegetation growing on the walls and starry constellations on the ceiling. It doesn’t take her long to reach Matriarch Ninmah who asks how her granddaughter is doing. Jahla can only stammer out a questioning “fine.”

Ninmah asks if she’s had any luck with the locals, and the Havenreach Viscountess recounts how the locals want nothing to do with her tribe, including the injured family from Southspear Tribe. The Matriarch can only reply that she’s sorry about the difficulties, and was hoping that public opinion would change so that she could pass her title down to her Akiulfr granddaughter. Confused, Jahla asks why Ninmah is stepping down. The Liulfr admits the tribe is no longer listening to her and have started to take control of decision-making. She wanted Feomeh to be left alone in Shiverfall, but Solar Stag is pushing back against that decision. Ninmah frowns as she says the tribe needs to see their leader directly, and Jahla urges her to leave the ship. The Liulfr has gone too long without another of her species beside her and will fade if she leaves the ship– if she’s not killed by her tribe members first.

Jahla asks what the Matriarch will do, and Ninmah tells her not to worry, as she’ll figure out a plan. In the meantime, the Solar Stag leader has a surprise for her granddaughter. She knows that the Akiulfr wants to learn the language of the Sky Gods, and she has someone who can help her do so.

Whew. That was a long summary to get through. Having walls of text for dialogue on each page didn’t help. You better believe I had to lean on the Wiki for the names of characters we only see once every few hundred pages.

Even though Axiyah told Solar Stag Tribe about Feomeh, they just couldn’t look the other way despite firing her. (Hilariously enough, Axiyah still appears on the Solar Stag Tribe page banner on the Wiki as of this writing.) I guess Solar Stag just has to be evil now. Doubly so, since it seems they’ve gone rouge regarding the wishes of their Matriarch. I have to wonder how evil they can actually be if they haven’t bothered to imprison Ninmah on that ship. Nor have they denied entry to Jahla. Right now it just seems like they’re having a leadership spat, not the beginnings of a coup.

Anyway, Solar Stag gives Shiverfall a thinly veiled threat of violence for not handing over Feomeh, then they just leave. At this point, do they plan to return home to come back with dogs to forcefully take the saber cat, or are we to assume Ranach’s rebellion will quash them first? Eopei certainly seems to think so, as she pretty much gives away the threat to the capital. Seems like it would have been smarter to keep her mouth shut or maybe utter a vague “It’ll make sense in time.” Bagheraaati isn’t wrong about the hypocrisy of Jahla being accepted while Feomeh is not. Again, if Solar Stag were in full rebellion mode against their Matriach, why allow Jahla easy passage into the territory? Why not threaten Havenreach? This group had no issue with wiping out an entire tribe of Bayou dogs. (Even though that was a result of Kique having a fallout with another one of his former co-writers.) It seems Kique wants it both ways. His main characters never face much hardship and villains are never properly made into the threat they should be.

I don’t have much to say about Romé coming with Jahla other than it’s weird that she wouldn’t take another Akiulfr with her. I’d imagine Thakir is being left behind because he’s the only one who can be bothered to actually run the tribe while Jahla does whatever. That said, why not take Argeirr along? If they’re worried about flak from the locals, they could just wear hooded coats much like Rohgir did way back on page 50. I’m sure Ninmah would have been delighted to see one of her grandsons. Likewise, he would have been happy to see his grandmother. It’s a massively missed opportunity, and I bet Kique didn’t even think of it because he tends to forget how family works when it comes to Home.

As for Jahla taking Ninmah’s place as Matriarch someday, perhaps it would have been a good time for the Akiulfr to tell the Liulfr that she’s not interested in outreach or running her own tribe. Worse, if Solar Stag would rebel against Ninmah for being a Liulfr, I doubt things would go much better for Jahla. And once she stepped down, what would she do exactly? Retire on the ship? Ask Father to take her away? I don’t get it. Seems like it would be better to reveal herself as the Matriarch who’s been here since before the dogs arrived and spill the beans on what the Shield Wolves’ true purpose was before they were corrupted by the Green Ones. I call bullshit on Ninmah not being able to leave the ship for long periods of time despite sharing energy with it. I mean Ranulfr ran around Earth for FIVE years without another Liulfr to share energy with. Ninmah can’t last a few days without being on the ship? Come off that nonsense. Surely, the place could serve as her official place to rest when she’s not handling business.

And if she actually needed a Liulfr to share energy with, why didn’t she ask Father ages ago for a companion Akiulfr? In Asmundr, Lifa was able to share energy with her pups when she had the mark. Ranulfr was going to force himself on Niita to create pups that he could share energy with– as gross as that was. I’m sure when father was creating a bunch of Akiulfr for Rohgir to lord over in the Origin Orion Tribe, he could have given the Ninmah at least one or two pups. Or circling back around to Argeirr, why not let him live with his grandmother and let him share energy with her? It’s not like he’s doing much in Havenreach, and I’m doubtful Solar Stag will be a true threat to the Matriarch any time soon.

As for the Sky God’s language, is Jahla actually interested in learning it? Or was it something she kept herself busy with while not leaving Origin Orion hundreds of pages ago?

 

Again, I will be out of town starting tomorrow. I will get back to your comments or concerns next Monday. There may or may not be an article from me. There certainly will not be a roundup next week. Catch you on the flip side of Anthrocon!

On hiatus:

Africa | Page(s): | Patreon

In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uprising | Page(s): | Patreon

Lost Scent | Page(s): | Patreon