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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Seattle and Houston... sleeping in a car.
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overall, it's a decent spoiler. I really liked the Lumie scene.
Spoiler for spoiler:
Tigre is sent by a village to hunt for this buck. Tigre stalks it, shoots it, and then... just waits. The reason for doing so is because he's not sure if the buck is really dead. If the buck suddenly sprang alive while he approached, he would be dead meat. Further, he's aware that a dead animal like that is a magnet for other predators. If he were to approach it immediately, he might get blindsided by another predator. Funny thing is, Lumie immediately flapped, flapped his way to the dead buck and Tigre just kind of laughed it off and slowly approached the buck.
Tigre notes that the buck is too big, but he'll need to cut off the horns as proof and he'll shed the skin. This meant that he would have to leave all the gut and meat here.
In Game of Thrones Tywin Lannister style, he starts disemboweling the buck, pulling its guts out, and shedding the skin off. He pulls the intestines out and throw it to Lumie. Lumie proceeds to chomp on it and when he's finished, he picks at Tigre's leg asking for more. Because Lumie's mouth is painted in blood, some of it stains Tigre's paints (yes, it's that detailed). After throwing more meat and Lumie had his share, he finally started napping. Tigre himself cooked whatever he could eat and left everything but the horn and skin as proof.
As a whole, it's a detailed and highly gory scene if you fully imagine it. At the same time, the details and descriptions of a simple scene such as a hunt is what makes this novel so enjoyable.
And like Archmirage said,
After the hunt,
Spoiler for spoiler:
The villagers were in utter disbelief of Tigre. Tigre is like, "it's nothing." The villagers thought about holding a celebration for him, but Tigre declined because Ella came into mind. The next morning, he wanted to slip away and when he went and bid his farewell to the elder, the elder was in tears asking Tigre to stay one more day to tell his story of how he hunted the buck. Tigre thought it was a real shame that he had to return, but he had to return.
Like Archmirage said, when he got back, there was a brief summary of Arc 1. He sees Tita waiting for him and Tita informs him that Ella and Lili is waiting for him.
What was waiting for Tigre? Why, a personal request by the king for Tigre to act as a secret emissary. Like Arch pointed out, it's a rather complex political situation at the other country.
As for Tigre himself, he finds himself is a real bind. Tigre notes that he has only seen the king once. While the king showered praise on Tigre during their past meeting, the king's deep, void, and black eyes left a deep, chilling impression. He found it strange that the king gave him a personal request that was not to be on record.
In the letter, the king stated that by sending Tigre as a emissary, he's suggesting to the prince that not only is the prince getting Ztched's support, but the prince is also getting Brune's support. The king noted that there was no one more appropriate than Tigre for this role because of his hero status in Brune and his current residency in Ztched under Ella.
Now, when I read the king's letter, all the hairs on the back of my neck immediately stood up. It sounded nice, but my senses told me that there is something really, really wrong here. I could sniff a trap.
Spoiler for spoiler:
Tigre wasn't exactly in the mood to accepting this request, but at the same time, he felt it was impolite to refuse the king's personal request. Also, he had the concern about dragging Brune into this political situation. Simultaneously, he also felt that Ella was being forced to pressure Tigre into accepting this request because it was also the king's way of testing Ella's loyalty. In Arc 1, Ella mobilized the military with various excuses to the king. This time, Ella has nothing to offer to the king.
As Tigre mulled over this letter, Ella decided to be transparent. She said that this letter is a way of the king to test Tigre's ability.
First, it's to see if Tigre is strong or weak.
If Tigre is weak, the king is dispose of Tigre and force Brune to take the blunt of the political blame.
If Tigre is strong, Tigre can achieve glory for himself and also strengthen the proposed alliance with Brune tagged in as a bonus.
Also, Ella guessed, if Tigre proves to be strong, the king can also determine whether or not to eliminate Tigre as a threat.
Any way you look at it, the king wins in the end.
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