“And talk about your foregone conclusions. Harry didn’t really see why Hermione had been so tense about it. In what weird alternative universe would that girl not be Sorted into Ravenclaw? If Hermione Granger didn’t go to Ravenclaw then there was no good reason for Ravenclaw House to exist.

Hermione arrived at the Ravenclaw table and got a dutiful cheer; Harry wondered whether the cheer would have been louder, or quieter, if they’d had any idea just what level of competition they’d welcomed to their table. Harry knew pi out to 3.141592 because accuracy to one part in a million was enough for most practical purposes. Hermione knew one hundred digits of pi because that was how many digits had been printed in the back of her math textbook.

Neville Longbottom went to Hufflepuff, Harry was glad to see. If that House really did contain the loyalty and camaraderie it was supposed to exemplify, then a Houseful of reliable friends would do Neville a whole world of good. Smart kids in Ravenclaw, evil kids in Slytherin, wannabe heroes in Gryffindor, and everyone who does the actual work in Hufflepuff.”

Also, “Whom Shall We Murder Today And Of Our Murders What Shall We Say?”
I know you’re hiding small bits of text in the comics, but you might wanna’ hide them slightly better.

Lebbrin - Well, always glad to surprise you folks. Hope the twisty-turny thing called the plot does not disappoint.

Gremalkin - Fifty lashes with the wet noodle! Oy!

Peregrin - True enough, she called his bluff.

zangoules - She’s a piece of work, all right. And it gets worse.

SteinarB - I think she and Vetinari would get along, though seemingly (and I have not read all the Discworld books, so I don’t know everything that’s been revealed) Vetinari has far fewer vices than Her Majesty, and is far more tightly wound personally. Still, he does visit Wuffles’ grave regularly, so there is a human being inside there. Also, he does allow himself to positively *enjoy* the role of despot when it’s appropriate.

Fatuncle - Mucho thanx!

Jean - Lady Bethela is, indeed, long-suffering. A sensible, quiet and also ferociously loyal individual, she has been witness to some of the most unbelievable rows in Kivalian history. Some personal, some about land or policy, some about combinations of sex, love and all the above at once. Some culminating in violence or emprisonment and some in passionate rapproachment and celebration. And through it all, she’s the one who makes sure all the T’s are crossed and I’s dotted, all the service arranged, all the broken crockery cleaned up, the blood wiped off and all the appropriate folk at just below her level paid off. And she has no lines in this scene.

Lictre - Can’t fully comment, except that he’s definitely scared. Of a lot of stuff.

InCestusWeTrust - Maldik’s murders are all problematic, unless they can be handled by someone else and he never has to think about them.

I’ll check out the HP fan fic,(it’s bookmarked) but right now all my spare reading time is for “Making Money,” and I barely have time to make headway on that.

Sleepinin - She seriously walks the walk that she talks, and walks it well.

SamuraiDemonPuppy - Yes, see the above response to Jean for a description of Lady Bethela. And, no, that is one but not Yanora’s biggest disappointment in Maldik.

ICEKAT - Both “stanch” and “staunch” are correct, as Retiarius points out below.

Lora - I wasn’t going purely for “exasperated,” but it works. Watch tomorrow’s update.

TB - Mainly because he won’t be the one doing the actual leading. It isn’t his little plot, he only thinks it is.

Retiarius - Thanks!

Elfguy - Ah, wheels within wheels …

OddCodicologist - Oh, it gets even more fun than that. Just wait and see.

MaxBigFoot - Well, the Heiropolis, which is in charge of everybody’s souls, says that the war was necessary to halt the spread of Draconian heresy. The aristocracy had become bored with fighting among themselves, and with the decades of general peace needed somebody to kill. The Draconians had definitely split with the established church, and there were accounts of martyrdom and property being siezed by the Draconians from loyal Kivalians, atrocities, rapes, human sacrifice, etc. Some of the tales may even be true, or most of them. It’s a long ways away and hard to tell, and the average man doesn’t know or care. He just goes where the king and the Heirophant tells him to. What the Erogenians, and therefore Zona and we, know about Gudik is that he’s a decent king from their perspective. Very physical, a good fighter and as honest as a Kivalian king can be - which is not up to Erogenian standards, but they make allowances as long as all his dealings with Erogenia are straightforward. Zona and Gudik get along on a personal level very well. Gudik can actually almost keep up with her in certain sports and activities, which endears him to her.

Lictre - Well, so far no one has brought news of his death, though Yanora anticipates that an attempt, at least, is forthcoming.

tricksterson - That’s who was the model, though at this point, they’ve now morphed into their own creatures, which is cool.

Lyra - Yes! NO cardboard characters! haha!!!!

ICWT -

@TB People would throw in behind his little plot because they know he’s too much of a dim-witted tool to realize he’s being manipulated, used, and eventually robbed blind. Also, he’s in the proper line of succession to the throne. He’s an ideal front man for a plot… access to authority, and less depth of thought than a mirror.