Keeping someone in ignorance to maintain control and profit is the greatest sin of all. Nearly starving Fenn has kept him weak and unable to feel his full power. Ain needs him to face this new threat.
Oliver has a lifeline his sense of duty is making him unlikely to grab.
Finn is so obtuse to his lifelong inevitability to be Orel's one and only it's making us all scream.
And poor Orel is overthinking the whole thing. Triple sigh.
If I had cut corners, I wouldn't be so bummed out. I ate less then half of it, and part of that was chewed to a mass of fiber and spit into a bowl. I got ripped off by a faceless butcher. I waited a month to eat this trash.
Rant over.
BTW-
I was delayed in reading this chapter by the most disappointing steak of my life. Carefully aged, seasoned, and cooked; the taste was there, but the thing was tough as shoe leather.
Artistry, real artistry, requires a profound fusion with the artist's emotions. We witnessed Tommy's strength here. He rebounded from fragility to resolute Warrior of Ice. He may be adopted, but he IS the son of his fathers.
Andrew, looking down the toothy maw of the US Navy, was reduced to a tiny footnote. He didn't mind.
I KNOW carries on to a new generation.