Anyway, I’m sure the magical stuff was involved in some way, but we don’t know how, and the phrasing of the first sentence makes it sound like we should already know both that they lived in Monvale and that they left, and by extension when and why they left.
A flashback in 2-8 and 2-9 shows Nansa’s induction into the Monvale City Militia.
It’s never been stated explicitly how the sisters acquired their curses, but the chapter 1 bonus page implies that it was from dangerous runes left inside the Abbey. So it is likely that they had already left Monvale before they became, uh, as they are? Heaven knows why they left, though. Perhaps Sepia ran away from home, and the rest went to find her? XD …But that is baseless speculation.
Ha ha, I can totally see them wandering the forest on a dark and stormy night and coming across the abbey. “Hey look,” they say, “maybe we can spend the night in here!” …cue the Scooby Doo music. …and the Evil Monk saying “And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those pesky sisters! …And their giant snake?!? AIEEEEE!” Then he is eaten, or at least constricted. He’d always told his brothers, see, that that particular curse rune was a horrible idea, but none of them believed him. Alas!
As to how long the sisters have been there, when Hrae is shaking down Jodd in chapter 1 she implies that they’ve been in the Abbey at least as long as Jodd has been alive. All the sisters’ attitudes, their comments about being stuck, and the like also point to them having been there, and in their current condition, mostly excluded from society at large, for a very long time. Which has another interesting implication. Whatever harm these runes seem to have caused the sisters, it appears to have also made them immortal. (Sepia’s offhand answer on page 1-5, “since I was fifteen”, and Jodd’s “so it’s been what, a week?” look in the next panel still make me giggle.)
“A citizen’s vote”? How quaint. It’s easy to forget that in a setting like this the only choice a peasant might get is to pony up the taxes come collecting time, or perhaps enlisting in the levy before the press-gangs make you anyway. Note peasant, not citizen. A citizen is a city dweller with full rights within the city’s governing structure, and you get to be a city if you buy that right from the local noble–size has very little to do with it, except inasmuch as how the town might afford the right. If you’re not a city dweller, you’re not a citizen, and even if you are, all you might do is petition the king. He’s not going to go out and ask you to vote. The very idea.
Of course, this is fantasy and so an author can make up whatever they like. Buuut… a little historical background would be useful, on occasion.
Thank you for posting! As it turns out, you’ve caught on to some foreshadowing, there. :)
I don’t want to give overt spoilers, but I will say that there exists a more powerful and slightly more egalitarian culture right next door to this kingdom, which for various reasons people both do and don’t want to emulate. So for those in power to offer all of their people a token vote on occasion is very much a political move. (Exactly who gets to vote, and why, is actually going to be pretty important next chapter.)
8 thoughts on “Chapter Two – Bonus Page”
Wanderer
The girls once lived over in Monvale? Why did they leave, and what does the place’s growth have to do with their departure?
Azure
IT may have something to do with their magical curses.
Andy H.
Correlation does not imply cursation.
Wanderer
…Was that an intentional pun?
Anyway, I’m sure the magical stuff was involved in some way, but we don’t know how, and the phrasing of the first sentence makes it sound like we should already know both that they lived in Monvale and that they left, and by extension when and why they left.
replacement sparrow
A flashback in 2-8 and 2-9 shows Nansa’s induction into the Monvale City Militia.
It’s never been stated explicitly how the sisters acquired their curses, but the chapter 1 bonus page implies that it was from dangerous runes left inside the Abbey. So it is likely that they had already left Monvale before they became, uh, as they are? Heaven knows why they left, though. Perhaps Sepia ran away from home, and the rest went to find her? XD …But that is baseless speculation.
Ha ha, I can totally see them wandering the forest on a dark and stormy night and coming across the abbey. “Hey look,” they say, “maybe we can spend the night in here!” …cue the Scooby Doo music. …and the Evil Monk saying “And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those pesky sisters! …And their giant snake?!? AIEEEEE!” Then he is eaten, or at least constricted. He’d always told his brothers, see, that that particular curse rune was a horrible idea, but none of them believed him. Alas!
As to how long the sisters have been there, when Hrae is shaking down Jodd in chapter 1 she implies that they’ve been in the Abbey at least as long as Jodd has been alive. All the sisters’ attitudes, their comments about being stuck, and the like also point to them having been there, and in their current condition, mostly excluded from society at large, for a very long time. Which has another interesting implication. Whatever harm these runes seem to have caused the sisters, it appears to have also made them immortal. (Sepia’s offhand answer on page 1-5, “since I was fifteen”, and Jodd’s “so it’s been what, a week?” look in the next panel still make me giggle.)
…my thoughts, anyway. Cheers~
Francisco
I suspect that they were going from Monvale to Jorsan and thought that going via Runewood and Fisher may be a “short cut”.
Pedant
“A citizen’s vote”? How quaint. It’s easy to forget that in a setting like this the only choice a peasant might get is to pony up the taxes come collecting time, or perhaps enlisting in the levy before the press-gangs make you anyway. Note peasant, not citizen. A citizen is a city dweller with full rights within the city’s governing structure, and you get to be a city if you buy that right from the local noble–size has very little to do with it, except inasmuch as how the town might afford the right. If you’re not a city dweller, you’re not a citizen, and even if you are, all you might do is petition the king. He’s not going to go out and ask you to vote. The very idea.
Of course, this is fantasy and so an author can make up whatever they like. Buuut… a little historical background would be useful, on occasion.
Rachel
Thank you for posting! As it turns out, you’ve caught on to some foreshadowing, there. :)
I don’t want to give overt spoilers, but I will say that there exists a more powerful and slightly more egalitarian culture right next door to this kingdom, which for various reasons people both do and don’t want to emulate. So for those in power to offer all of their people a token vote on occasion is very much a political move. (Exactly who gets to vote, and why, is actually going to be pretty important next chapter.)