#inda not meeting up with him to get it. fox is like evred in that he'd do most anything for inda but unlike evred resents that heavily sldkf

[greatshell-rider]

“...[Sponge] was sitting in the tack room mending a headstall. He’d been doing that all winter. He looked just like his father, so sober and intent on his work. Older than his years. But then Hadand told him that Inda had arrived, and he leaped up, and his face changed into a boy’s face. Full of joy. I’ve never in my life seen such a transformation. He dashed out, running so fast he crashed into a wall. But he just laughed and ran on.”

Hadand realized something she’d been peripherally aware of for half a year: Inda was the only person who crossed in and out of that invisible space Evred surrounded himself with. Inda didn’t even seem to be aware of it. But Hadand could not imagine anyone else daring to hit Evred on the arm.

“Inda needs it,” Barend said. “Then Inda should have come and got it,” Fox retorted. Barend shut up.

have a few more gay ass bitches (feat. fox)

[greatshell-rider]

love fox’s reaction to having inda back on the death. all very much the same old yknow, the saunter and irony and being >:3c over his “legitimate pirate loot” now in the captain cabin, but he’s also smiling about lorm’s cooks and inda’s familiar mannerisms. he immediately recognizes inda’s old signs of pain, despite the two not having seen another for years and years, and offers him a hot tub bath while they both discuss leadership, plans for the upcoming battle, and just news. inda’s surprised at fox’s lack of derision when he tells him about evred’s offer for a marlovan navy, though fox does still poke fun at the king of course of course. it’s very much . . . we get inda’s perspective on this scene:

It’s Fox’s fleet. But I’m acting like it’s mine.

and

Yes, [the cabin] had changed. Well, so have I.

and like. he’s right! this applies to fox. fox banner fleet is indeed fox’s now, and fox has changed. we see that in fox’s anger over no mage being able to magically heal dasta’s spine. we see it in fox teaching mutt and other rats how to read. his getting to meet thog on her own ship, the “first non-Chwahir to do so, as far as [Fox] was aware”. again, the pride over lorm’s cooks being highly sought after at freeport harbor. i know that when inda handed the fleet over to fox at the start of king’s shield that fox beat up anyone who whined about “inda doing it this way” and all that. that was the start of it. but it’s really only now in treason’s shore that i see the fleet being fox’s, ha. it’s cuz of ramis beating fox around a little and adjusting his perspective on Life, the Universe, and Everything. fox learns to think beyond himself and the wrongs done to him and his family, starts thinking instead of the future, of legacy, of what his kids will have to do and deal with. that’s why he’s more open to the idea of turning from independent to a marlovan fleet under montrei-vayir kingship. building bridges

fox’s character arc is neat cuz he never gets his revenge. not in the traditional manner. first couple books he so desperately wants to be the protagonist of the story, and he acts like it, the edgy little snot. most characters like him would get to have a dramatic duel with evred yknow, save his family from exile, be (figuratively) crowned as the Rightful Marlovan King, probably use newfound wisdom to restore olara and idayago to independence or smth, and only then start thinking about Legacy and Future via Posterity. fox doesn’t get that tho. comparatively, he goes very tamely into retirement (before fucking off to norsunder), not even getting to hang out with inda anymore but writing his life story nonetheless. it’s not for the legit like ten generations later that the montredavan-ans are released the treaty and are alright to do their own shit again (magic!). very anti-climatic for a character like fox. it’s funny and anyway i’ve steered way off topic from the start of this post. i think i just wanted to make a joke about fox and inda being five feet apart (ie fox not even in the hot tub, but they’re talking through the open door) cuz they’re not gay