Life as a New Hire Ch. 47

Yes!

Thats very enticing, thanks!
Wouldn't a female "intern" working w/ the top tier of the illuminati be much more emotionally adept if not better than cael at manipulation and understanding the motives of others?? Even if only an intern, I would have expected someone akin to a mini delilah, not another sidekick that cael woos, fucks with, and teases into becoming a better person.

This is someone chosen by an associate of his aunts, who have been portrayed as scary smart... Even if relatively young, someone who excels beyond cael in coercion and dealing with people sounds like something his aunts would value (seeing as the ones we've seen so far cant always keep up with cael plus his hormones).

Wait does an "intern" even fit their illuminati model? Even if one was at the peak of the lower structure, it would seem more likely for one to be brought up with the culture and have a mindset rivalling (well almost) cael's before an "internship" w the true illuminati would be possible. Plucking the "best candidate after thorough search" works for expecting all interns to fail (amazons) but the illuminati seem much more... conservative in their approaches.

Cael has grown immensely but I look forward to him being out of his league a bit w/ certain facets of the illuminati, even if he has found his inner zen and seems to always figure things out in the nick of time, its always rewarding to see cael reacting in situations he has no business being in... And lets be honest, his reputation is gonna get him into a LOT of trouble. Look forward to it!

Dave

gollyath ...

... if his aunts stuck Cáel with a young FEMALE intern, no matter how talented, don't you think they would be simply fucking with his head?

If you recall, there are two ways to rise up within the Illuminati; you are noticed by senior members and worked into their operations, or you are part of one of the other secret societies which make up the Ruling Council. The O'Shea's are merely one faction represented there, not the entire body.

Different factions recruit in various ways. The O'Shea's preferred means of recruitment is from orphanages because their top leaders doesn't 'age out'. Other groups take into account the lack of immortality of their leadership which encourages a level of competition. The O'Shea's don't want that since they don't plan on going anywhere.

Therefore those closest to their family are selected at a young age and brought to family facilities where they are raised in a somewhat cult-like environment. They are lavished with care and attention and are expected to repay their debts with their lives without hesitation.

Those with the aptitude are allowed to attend outside prep schools and universities and live 'normal' lives in business, government, or even the military yet remained utterly devoted to the O'Shea's. If they think you are wavering, they dispose of you. They are using techniques Alal has perfected over millennia.

So, the maid at an O'Shea estate is as likely to whip out a knife and stab you, or throw themselves out a ten story window if commanded by one of Cáel's aunts as is an O'Shea bodyguard, assassin, or the mailman who has delivered your mail for the past twenty years.

What do you think Cáel's thought processes are going to be when he figures this out about his 'new intern', Dave? ;)


As for the Illuminati ...

The depth and breadth of the Council is one reason Alal removed the Condottieri from the Illuminati control all those centuries ago - so when he made his final play to take over, he had an army of killers to do his bidding who everyone would assume were enemies of the Illuminati, not tools of one of their Faction Heads.

When the Illuminati Council is planning out their strategy for crushing the Condottieri, an O'Shea is in the room, applying their advice and casting their vote. The results of those meetings end up with Alal who transits that information to his loyal pawns inside the Condottieri so that ONLY the forces inside the Condottieri opposing Alal end up destroyed.

When the Condottieri hit back, they don't seriously mangle anything critical to the O'Shea's ~ others are far less fortunate.

Mind you, a few intellects inside the Condottieri leadership are REALLY curious why everyone thinks they killed Ferko Nyilas. Not that they love the Amazons, but still ~ they are blamed for breaking the Protocals and ending the 30 year Truce ... and - surprise - surprise - everyone associated with that fiasco appears to have both actually worked for the Condottieri and are DEAD.

Initially they didn't care that much. After all, it appeared they had the Seven Pillars as somewhat allies vs. the Amazons ~ who tough could this be? Then Temujin turned up alive, the PRC got butt-reamed and the Amazons and 9 Clans seem to be in love with one another ... for no reasons which makes any God-damn sense to them. Oh yeah and there were a bunch of bullet-riddled corpses in London people were asking uncomfortable questions about.

Now the Condottieri are in some serious trouble, the 7P's aren't going to be helping anybody and everyone is getting really curious about which way the Egyptian Rite are going to jump.

James aka FinalStand

OMG

James, it is scenes like the Illuminati intern that show your creativity and make your stories so re-readable.

Questions

Were runners told about the second betrayal?
Katrina once mentioned that it was a closely guarded secret. Since the Amazons don't teach the OKH to runners, sharing such sensitive events doesn't make sense.
I asked this question beacuse in the 19 chapter, when cael explained the succession to the head of house ishara by being an Ash man to Esmeralda, he mentioned events of second betrayal ("it dates back to end of second betrayal" are the precise words). Now since Esmeralda was a runner, so using it to explain himself doesn't make sense unless he, himself was unaware of the fact that whether runner were told about it or not!

Silly question maybe, but why it is called second betrayal? Were the Amazons betrayed before by someone else?

Also, when cael became the head and asked Katrina to free Helena for house business, Katrina asked what's in it for her and cael "SACRIFICED" to visit aya. First I dont understand it being a sacrifice, cael absolutely adores and loves aya and of all people, Katrina should know better than that. She was also amazed! ('UNEXPECTED' was the word used by her). Was it like that because he was separating himself from amazon politics and was doing a favour to the council?

Another one.

In the starting of 20 chapter when Charlotte was explaining to cael what really happened at his dad's house. She mentioned video feeds by the SD team which was evaluated for final conclusion of events. Now all four but one died in the fire exchange and the last one was concussed hence unable to extract herself from the scene and was later captured by the police. So how the Amazons got the video, didn't police get it before them?

Merry Xmas?

Hey James,

Once again knocking it out of the park here, I've followed this since chapter 1 and have read it over and over, easily my favorite story here by a mile and I've been reading your work for years! Hope you are feeling better and things are going well, any chance we will have a new chapter before Xmas as an early present? I'm anxiously awaiting the Great Hunt and can't wait for how that plays out! Thanks again and be well!

Irish

Answers to some Questions [December 14th, 2016]

{Btw, there are very rarely ‘silly questions’. More often there are inadequate answers.}

1) The First Betrayal:
[Much of this is the legend according to Life as a New Hire]
In the Trojan Wars, the Amazons were allies of Troy. When King Priam of Troy called on them for aid, they marched to his city’s defense. Ajax fought Queen Penthesilea, mocking her and then Achilles killed her. After taking off her helmet, Achilles grew very mournful over her death and wished her buried with honor. This moved the Amazons greatly. After traveling to the Amazon camp to praise the fallen Queen’s bravery he invited them to dine in the Greek camp in return. They agreed.

And then things went south.

Another Greek, Thersites, upon hearing about what Achilles had done, began mocking him. In response, Achilles killed Thersites ~ because he often did shit like that ~ killing people who annoyed him. The problem was Thersites was ‘Prince’ Thersites, son of King Agrius, the (usurper) King of Calydon {famous for the up and coming Calydonian Boar which in turn involves another mystical female warrior figure named Atalanta … but that is a tale for another time}. To avoid more bloodshed, Agamemnon exiled Achilles to his tent.

The Greeks still went along with the feast though yet with a very different intent. The Amazons showed up, but instead of being treated as honored guests, they were drugged, bound and raped. The few who had stood guard over the rest were slain.

While you might imagine this was a HUGE breach of Ancient World etiquette, it also had serious mystic world consequences. Otherwise incapacitated Amazons woke up and worked free of their bonds. They managed to free a few others. They could not save them all, or even most. They still managed to work vengeance upon a few of the ringleaders – like Ajax, before escaping.

Despite their acts of revenge, the numbers lost were not something the Host could replace. Without their warriors, other enemies closed in on their home territory and the survivors had to flee over the distant mountains to an uncertain fate.

It is called the First Betrayal because of the calamitous effect the Greek’s false promise of hospitality had upon them. Achilles (and his Myrmidons) had seemed so genuine in their respect and the Amazons survivors felt so foolish for letting their guards down around men ~ inviting such a disastrous result. The pity was Achilles was ignorant of the other Greek leaders’ plans and would most likely have tried to kill Ajax himself had the Amazons not tricked Ajax to his own suicide before the morning’s light revealed the scene.

2) The Second Betrayal:
When Runners were brought in to Havenstone (technically, until the advent of Cáel they were considered ‘recruits’), they were given the story of the Amazons’ 3000 year struggle against a male-dominated world. Of course, this was from the Amazon perspective.

Yes, that means ‘Runners’ know of the ‘Second Betrayal’. The Full-bloods tell these newbies that they trusted men as equals before the walls of Troy and were deceived by their false hospitality. The lesson: men will never treat women as equals no matter what words they preach.

By their own wits, they saved themselves though their Nation was crippled beyond repair so they had to flee their Homeland into the Pontic Steppes. The lesson: the only people you can trust are your fellow sisters.

Then, centuries later, they gave Men a second at redemption … and were BETRAYED again. The lesson: see, we forgave the male gender for their treachery once. That mistake almost led to the extermination of our female-elite society. They shall never have a THIRD CHANCE.

In the Amazon mindset, these lessons basically ‘forgives’ every atrocity the Amazons commit against everyone else because when they tried ‘playing nice’, male society repeatedly tried to destroy them. If the basic instinct of males wasn’t so monstrous, the Amazons wouldn’t have to be so brutal in dealing with them. This includes dealing with women who live with the ‘illusion’ that they matter in a male-dominated society because those women are nothing more than pawns.

What most Full-bloods and all ‘Runners’ were not told about was the fate of the Ash Men. It really hurts their ‘DON’T DARE TRUST MEN’ narrative if you add “but a few males risked everything to save our sisters and daughters, suffering gruesome tortures at the hands of our enemies and never wavered in their loyalty to us … only to be slaughtered at our own hands when we lost hope in them …”

The Amazon Host’s betrayal of the Ash Men is a crucial lie of omission and has haunted the Amazons since that day.

So ‘yes’, Esmerelda knows about the Second Betrayal, but she doesn’t know about the Ash Men. It should also be noted most Runners don’t really care what happened 3000, or 2600 years ago as much as the fabric of society those tales weave. It is much like US school kids being told about Washington crossing the Delaware then the battles of Trenton (you almost never hear of 2nd Trenton) and Princeton. They all sound vaguely patriotic from our future vantage point even though those nine days were critical to the survival of what became the United States.

3) Cáel’s Sacrifice ~ the interplay between Cáel and Katrina in her office when they discuss him going to Summer Camp was just that – play. It was definitely a maneuver by BOTH Cáel and Katrina to get Cáel away from the Council Chambers for a few days.

That way, if Daphne, Paula, or Violet was asked about the conversation they could honestly say Katrina sent Cáel Ishara away to deal with her niece for a few days to ‘repay’ a debt he owed Katrina ~ the debt being Helena temporarily doing House Ishara business instead of working for Executive Services. That would be an answer leaving a bunch of questioners shrugging in incomprehension, but some answers only beg more questions.

4) The video feed of the firefight at the Nyilas household:
The Security Detail group had head-mounted audio/video gear along with Blue-tooth devices to unlisted ‘burner’ accounts. The video feed was uploaded to the nearby vehicle they had arrived in. Their gear did have a limited memory capacity. The four feeds to the vehicle were in turn monitored from a Havenstone property in Chicago by a Runner.

While unable to retrieve the team, they were able to send a code to delete their personal device’s memory and then went after the vehicle to retrieve it before it was caught in the Police dragnet. Burnham PD has limited resources so it was a race between the Chicago PD coming to assist and the Havenstone-Chicago Amazons and the Amazons won. They were not authorized to start gunning it out with the Burnham PD to recover their sisters’ corpses and by the time they realized the last one was actually still alive, it was too late.

5) This week my wife is at a training seminar so it is just me and the kids. I haven’t gotten much done writing-wise. Monday, I saw my Primary Care Doc. Tuesday, I had a blood draw. Today, I had an MRI on my liver again because my Doc is worried – not because of the blood test. My feet still such big time.
Raising teenagers is its own reward …
As for a Merry Christmas … I’m still hoping.

James aka FinalStand

Merry christmas

Just wanted to say I hope everything is going okay for you and the family, hope you have a Merry Christmas, and also keep up the good work that you do and don't over exert yourself for our benefit, your health comes first.

Thank you for the update and for sharing your talent. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas James!

Any gift for us reader? :p

Season's greetings

Merry Christmas James
You have our best wishes. I know how strange having health issues around holidays can be. I have a form of Leukemia. At the moment my electrolytes are not degrading significantly so wife is in a good mood but we keep having concerned friends asking about progression. Gets a little wearing. Sigh. They care but it's like being hit by snowballs constantly. Just for awhile wish to ignore problems and have a good time. Anyway hope to see a continuation of this series, especially his trials. Hope you have a good holiday.

Hey everybody

Thank you all for your well wishes and season's greetings. I've held off on replying in the hopes I would have positive news. I don't. Nothing seems to be working 'right' right now. I have been giving 'Christian College Sex Comedy' and 'The Other Child' a shot ... and nothing seems to be working correctly. I have several stories which are close ... but I either can't wrap up a satisfactory ending, or when I do a read-through, I find errors, or ways to re-write scenes which work better ... and other excuses.

I have written 7,300 words in a totally new story ~ "Her Open Marriage" ... which came about because I was bashing my head against 'Fighting for a Broken Trust' ~ which is totally nuts on my part.

I found a story idea I started on 18 months ago and added another 750 plus 85 more in story notes.

I have refined a Kriegsmarine fleet in a Alternative History 1942 ... along with trying to figure out if Belgium could be written off the map based on the political machinations of European Heads of State in 1830 and the economic hardships and racial tensions brought about by the Great Depression - oh, and being overrun by the Germans twice ... because ...

Does anyone care about the Polish Commonwealth's Constitution of 1791? I've got a story about that too that keeps screaming at me to be told.

If I do put out a story soon, I'm afraid it will be something 'new'. It isn't really new. It's been sitting around a while, but in recent weeks it has kept popping up in my mind so I've been polishing it up and adding to it. It is a comedy written in a anime/hentai style named "If this is a Harem Story ...". To a certain Brit who has promised to help me with my fight sequences - I have hesitated to send it your way for fear of insulting your intelligence. I haven't sent it to my editors yet as I'm still working on the epilogues plus they deserve Christmas with the kinfolk.

That's pretty much it from me for now. I hope the New Year will bring a return to the clarity I had this summer. Take care, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year.

James aka FinalStand

Very Interested

Interested in anything you put out, James.

What makes your writing good is not the topic, it's the mindset you have approaching the subject. So far, you're the best i've read, so kudos. You're inspiring just by putting stuff out there!

Update, December 27th 2016

Let me see ... I leaned back in my brand new chair last night, the damn thing's rear legs (2 of 5) snapped, spilling me into a wedge between my mini-fridge and one of my bookshelves and ... after a momentary panic, I felt inspired to work on LNH 48 once more. I cranked out 3,700 words and polished off the ending so I guess that is progress.

**
(Note: yes, I have 'deleted' the key countries and numbers in this insert. If you figure out my mad master plan, please don't broadcast it. E-mail me instead, please.)

For the first time in my life I sent word to my ‘Brother’, the Great Khan. My Spirit and Mind were joined on the liberation of ******* ~ I wanted this done. Screw it all, after sitting through the British briefing from ‘suppressed’ sources inside the Portuguese government, I wanted to free all ** million ********, but that wasn’t going to happen, so I was going to save the roughly *** hundred thousand ********* if I had to go see to it in person and make sure the **** hundred thousand living in exile could return home.

So, my Brother began calling people starting with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Damodardas Modi, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phú Trọng – personally. Those calls cascaded. The PM of India, after head-butting with some cabinet members, called his counter-part in … Brazil. Brazil was the largest Portuguese-speaking country on the planet and right across the Atlantic from ******* (aka their bases might come in handy if ****** became pugnacious).

The GS Trọng, after some brief consultations, began making his diplomatic overtures. Why? Imagine for a second being any small, relatively poor country in the United Nations who wasn’t a Permanent Member of the Security Council and doesn’t have veto-power.

And you have lived with this ‘inequality’ for 70 years.

And you woke up a month ago and suddenly you WERE a PERMANENT COUNCIL MEMBER of a New Global Body which valued your input and opinions.
The Great Khan couldn’t tell the General Secretary precisely what was going on, but he promised to have a team fly down to him within 48 hours to explain everything in person because unwelcome people were ‘listening in’ which was the damn truth. So, GS Trọng began reaching out to every Marxist, Communist and Socialist in Europe, Africa and South America who would listen. The top country on his list? Cuba.

No, he wasn’t asking for Cuba to become involved in ****** again as the Soviets had done back in the 1970’s. That would be … awkward. Instead, GS Trọng was asking his “Old Buddy”, Raúl Castro, President and 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to put in his good offices with …

- The Players -

{Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam}

{Raúl Castro, President and 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba}

[GOOD MORNING, HAVANA]

Raúl: “Comrade Nguyễn, long time, no see. (In fact, I can’t ever recall seeing you) Precisely why are you calling me at … 3 a.m. your time? The current retrograde revisionist direction of our inevitable victory got you down?”

Nguyễn: “Quite the contrary, Comrade Raúl. In fact, an opportunity has arisen to strike a blow against the Old World Order, Comrade. Can I count on you?”

Raúl: “Oh … ummmm … if you take into account I’ve heard this ugly rumor you are about to kick our fellow ‘Brothers in the Struggle’ in the testes in collusion with these jumped-up autocratic, religious fundamentalist fanatic Reactionaries from Central Asia and the always doctrinally-dicey Indians … what do you have in mind?”

Nguyễn: “All I need you to do is lend the gravitas of your leadership to a bit of backroom diplomacy, Comrade. I understand you are on speaking terms with those presently in charge of Brazil, despite their questionable adherence to Marxist-Leninist purity.”

Raúl: “Hmmm … beyond the linguistic reality Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese are not mutually intelligible … something could be arranged. Please continue.”

Nguyễn: “I need you to contact the President of Brazil and request her agreement for diplomatic and logistic intervention to a freedom-fighting victory we are about to experience on the African continent.”

Raúl: “A victory? Really? Where?”

Nguyễn: “Sorry. We both know the USA’s CIA and the NSA are crawling all over your communications networks like the smoke wafting off of one of your Havana’s Finest.”

Raúl: “Ain’t that the truth. Still, what do you want me to ask her for?”

Nguyễn: “Just to be prepared to back India’s play, no matter how bizarre it might at first appear. Also, let her know we’ve got her back militarily if it comes to a confrontation with the forces of Global Imperialism and post-colonial aggression.”

Raúl: “Wow … that sounds … ugly. What’s in it for us?”

Nguyễn: {pause} “WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!”

Raúl: {looks at his phone suspiciously} “No really – what’s going on?”

Nguyễn: “I already said I can’t tell you the details right now. I guarantee this will help advance the struggle of World Communism.”

Raúl: “Nice to know. And?”

Nguyễn: “Has your fervor for the Cause dampened, Comrade?”

Raúl: “I know for a fact you get your suits from Brookes Brothers, Comrade. I just found out my nephew’s yacht needs an extensive engine overhaul and the Venezuelan outfit which used to do the work closed up shop last year …”

Nguyễn: “Ah … we’ll, given two years my economic experts have informed me we, as in the hard-working people of Vietnam …”

Raúl: “Get on with it.”

Nguyễn: “Upwards of ten MILLION Central Asians A YEAR will start visiting our burgeoning tourist industry …”

Raúl: “Been there – done that during the Cold War.”

Nguyễn: “NO! These people will have MONEY! The Reactionary Khanate will be paying their workers Free Market salaries! We are talking real currency too – not those crappy, Soviet-era rubles you couldn’t wipe your ass with.”

Raúl: “Great Lenin’s Ghost! You had better not be lying to me, Comrade Nguyễn. If you could send five …”

Nguyễn: “Two!”

Raúl: “Three!” (I just DOUBLED my tourism industry!!!!!!)

Nguyễn: “Fine {grumble} three million, but you had better not leave me looking like Leon Trotsky in desperate need of a raincoat in Mexican City when all of this comes out.”

Raúl: “Perish the thought. If this works out ~ positively ~ I won’t forget this.”

Nguyễn: “You will be advancing goodwill toward the Cuban people in the corridors of power …”

Raúl: “I’ll take the hard, cold currency, thank you very much.”

Nguyễn: “How the struggle has been … transformed.”

Raúl: “Such is life. I’ll get right on this.”

Nguyễn: “I appreciate it. I really do.”

Raúl: “Well …”

Nguyễn: {uh oh}

Raúl: “Are your violently reactionary allies in Central Asia … sending any … economic aid your way? Things you might not need?”

Nguyễn: “Like?”

Raúl: “Like … anything. Have you seen the state of my economy? We’ve been hurting over here.”

Nguyễn: “Comrade Raúl, you get the President of Brazil in a cooperative mood so that this blossoms into a victory for the Freedom Loving Peoples of the World and I’ll hand your Wish List to the Great Khan personally.”

Raúl: “And if it … is a partial victory … for the Freedom Loving Peoples of the World?”

Nguyễn: “Eh … won’t be my people dying … nor yours. I’ll let my allies know you did your best and let New Delhi and Astana figure out how they wish to respond.”

Raúl: “Oh well … it isn’t like President Obama is going to get a 3rd term. What do I have to lose at this point?”

Nguyễn: “On the bright side, the Great Khan has … what’s the term you Latin American’s use?”

Raúl: “Machismo?”

Nguyễn: “That sounds about right. “Machismo to face down the Americans and just about everyone else. As one valiant member of the proletariat to another – I’ve met him face-to-face and he kind of scares the shit out of me.”

Raúl: “Really?”

Nguyễn: “Yes … he has the eyes of … those old-timers – the ones who ordered human wave after human wave of soldiers to clear the minefields and throw their bodies over the barbed wire so the next wave could grapple with the enemy … and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

Raúl: “And this is the man you chose to ally with?”

Nguyễn: “I’d rather sell my granddaughters to a Jakarta brothel than help the Chinese after the way they’ve treated us the past 50 years. Besides, he went to Tibet and left then went to Thailand and left. He is the best kind of ally there is – the one who remembers to go home when the war is done.”

Raúl: “Good point (I hope for your sake) … best of luck with that. I have some calls to make. I will be in touch.”

Nguyễn: “You do that. Good luck, Comrade.”

Raúl: “Comrade.”

**

Best wishes for the New Year,

James aka FinalStand

So you hit your head.....

And spoke with Ishara! Outstanding!!! We will be here when you are ready.

Wishing you health and prosperity in the New Year.

~S.W.

Any progress?

Is ebb tide ready? Its been a while since you said you just have to furnish the sex scenes.

Update, January 3rd 2017

Progress is slow, but is progress. I admit much of what I've done over the past few days is research, but that still amounts to 2,900 pages which I hope will make the final cut.

Yes, it is stuff away from the MC, but I think at times actions created by Cáel should be explored. In this case, his actions send a series of Khanate Air Force Reservists into action: 46 to 67 years old ~ in the antiquated equipment they trained with. The Great Khan Temüjin needs every bit of front line equipment possible yet his 'Brother' Cáel "demands" action.

With every bit of 'front-line' material heading off to their next mission (the invasion of western Iraq, Lebanon and Syria), these well-maintained, antiquated war machines are all he can spare. The biggest advantages are 1) no one will know what to make of such an air fleet ~ I mean, who invades with such an old aircraft when more modern planes are available, 2) though ancient, the 'rebel' Air Force will utterly dominate the region because of a combination of training & equipment maintenance and 3) Soviet, Russian and Chinese aircraft are all over the region and, while the Khanate flies 'Russian' planes, they pilot far more modern aircraft ~ no one has seen the Khanate fly anything this 'crappy'.

34 combat aircraft;
14 Mig-21's {1959} = 12 Air Superiority models + 2 twin-seat/trainer/recon models
14 Su-22's {1970} = 12 Close Ground Support models + 2 twin-seat/trainer/recon models
6 Su-24's {1974} = 6 multi-role fighters {used as a 'Bomber Force'}
Backed up by 6 non-combat fixed-wing aircraft;
4 An-26's {1969} = 2 transports + 2 specialized ELINT models
2 An-72's {1977} = modified to be AEW&C planes similar to the An-71
Plus 10 helicopters;
3 Mil Mi-8 {1967} = capable of transporting troops and cargo
1 Mil Mi -17 {1981} = hospital variant - technically based on 1967's Mil Mi-8}
6 Mil Mi-24 {1972} attack helicopters with the ability to carry some troops

50 aircraft to protect a tiny county fighting to be free. 50 aircraft over a decade older than the average person in the country flown and nurtured by people who could be their grandparents.

Yeah, I know it is off the beaten path, but ...

James aka FinalStand

Best Wishes

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2017! I hope that this year proves better for your health than the last, and that your life becomes easier
Sidenote: 2,900 pages?! I assume you meant words, but for a second when I saw your comment, I was extremely shocked and impressed. Anyways.
Best of luck with your health and writing, and I hope to see new work soon!

good to hear you are still progressing James, hope you stay well and may 2017 be better for you and your loved ones

Question FS

Any news on nanonites next book? And glad to hear that the research is going well.

Question about word scores

First, I love this story. Despite some spelling/grammatical errors ( a couple per chapter) I reread it at least once per month, lately it has been on a weekly basis.
Second, in chapter 19, Cael and Pamela mention "Double Word score" after Pamela says "...repository of nefariousness..." and again in chapter 33 Cael thinks "Triple Word Score" after thinking "sussurated".
The only game with word scores I know is Scrabble but in Scrabble the double and triple word scores are awarded for placing a word so it crosses a specific double or triple word scores tile.
What constitutes a double or triple word score to Cael and Pamela?
P.S. I wish there was a way to look up all comments by a person in lit as I find your comments very helpful in fleshing out the laanh universe in my mind but I have only been reading them since chapter 40 and I am too lazy go back to every chapter, go to the last page, click read all comments and find all of them. You should consider compiling then into an extra chapter like you have done with the cast and notes chapters.
Keep writing and stay healthy

Word Score

Yes, Scrabble, Words with Friends etc, need tiles. However, they're making that point value up. It is something people do. Kinda like driving down the road and seeing an old lady or man walking and saying they're worth 50 points if you hit them, but less dark and mean.

James, I hope you're doing well. So glad you've found inspiration. Can't wait to read more of your works.

Hey, Word Score and ..

... thanks J_Comic_Reader. ;) I was holding off on a reply to this for a day, or two, as I was working on the suggestion at the end of the second to last post ~ organizing all the 'comment's' I've made in LNH up until now. Whoops.

Yes, it is only 2,900 words, not pages. I WISH I was that productive (the 2,900 pages).

Thank you for your kind blessings and back at ya!

Word score:
Yes, the reference is to Scrabble and, sadly, I both don't own a game and haven't played in almost 30 years ... so I made up the scenarios with Cáel and Pamela.

Still, I like to imagine they talk during the day and play a game of Scrabble in their minds ~ memorizing what one another have said (Pamela is that damn good and honed those types of skills as a sniper ~ Kimberly trained Cáel to think that way [creating a constant visualization in his mind, not the Scrabble game itself; he would have learned Scrabble from his Father]) and playing Mind-Scrabble as yet another tool in training their minds in multi-tasking.

When you want to apply a word, a simple bit of eye contact would suffice. When you have said it while standing, or walking it goes in as vertical. Sitting, driving, ect. ~ it goes in horizontal. The game isn't about beating one another, but scoring enough points. If they total enough points in the game before 'Quitting Time' they allow themselves small treats.

FYI, though it has not come up, Daphne and Brielle can do this too: their Grandmother taught them when they were little as a 'game'. They aren't nearly as good at it as those two Mental Asylum Escapees, not being quite as bright, or telepathically linked, or soul-bound.

James aka FinalStand

OOO

I like your reasoning better! I like the idea of them applying their mental bond, and their abilities to something so lighthearted.

Hey FS

Please provide weekly update!

Update, January 15th 2017

... after ten long days of writing NOTHING and a night-long binge of Cthulhu porn, Mezcal and running from the Morality Police ... I wrote 1080 words on the night of the 14th ... actually at 4:00 am in the morning.

Still struggling on.

James aka FinalStand

Just glad to hear from you, James. I can't REALLY be impatient with you when I can just start from the beginning and enjoy it all over again... ;)

Stay safe!

Hey James, From a Fan

You've inspired me so many times you don't even know. You're literally my favorite author, on this site and in real life. I honestly can't say how many hours of fun and escape of real life Cael (I've always pronounced him 'Kai - el'), Israel and Vance has provided for me.

I've been struggling to write for years. I'm twenty five and have been an avid reader since I was young and started 'writing' around sixteen. The thing with me though is I can't ever seem to go past ten to twenty pages before I get bored/uninspired to continue. Usually most of the time it's because I've already moved onto another story.

Like you, I always have these ideas floating around in my head but I just can't seem to really get started a good amount on them. Whenever I get stuck or have writers block, I go back to one of your stories and just read through them again. Most of the time I feel the urge to write again.

I always find excuses for myself to not write, like 'i can just do it later, ' or 'i can't think of anything'. I'd sit there and stare at a blank page for half an hour, fiddling with the font and size, only to quit and start up another game of Legend of Legends. But when I am able to write, it feels so amazing and satisfying how your imagination is transferred onto paper. I think you know how it feels.

What is your writing process if you don't mind me asking? I've read articles that say chronological order works for some and others like to skip around, writing scenes that interest then at that moment. I know you said you also do this (with Cael meeting Selena and Miyako scene) when you wanted to introduce another secret society.

What interest me most is how you figure out your stories? Caels story is so big and vast that it boggles my mind how you could have even started it. When you first started LoaNH, where were you? Did you have a good amount of the story fleshed out in your mind or on paper? Or did you write as you go?

After reading LoaNH for the sixth(?) time, I got inspired and started on a story again and actually wrote down the most I've ever had (38 pages) over the course of a month. I stopped and started so many times, taking a week of break before going back to it, but I'm so tired of half assing all my stories. They want to be told but I just lack.. something. I don't know. If anyone has some input please feel free to share.

Thanks for reading James

Best regards,
Chris.

Best Wishes

hoping 2017 is a better year for you

enjoyed your writing very much & wish you all the best in dealing with your demons

xxxhugsxxx

Hey James

Weekly update!

Update, January 25th, 2017

Basically I feel as if my head is in a inverted fishbowl full of Jello and my router keeps crashing so doing any research is a case-iron bitch.

I've also been reacquainted with the concept of a 'brigade' and a 'battalion' having no relevance to a units actual size.

A snippet:
{Cáel meets his office-mates and new boss, the Executive Assistant to the President, who turns out to be Beyoncé Vincennes, Head of House Hanwasuit. If you recall, she was introduced way back in Chapter One as being on the Board of Directors, and, since Cáel dealt with the phone calls about her sick daughter and local pediatrician, a NYC native. Unlike the Regents (and Queen Aya), Beyoncé knows how Havenstone functions as a global financial entity thus can keep them abreast of what the Amazon Host can, and cannot afford, fiscally, to do as well as what other factions and Nation-States can do to hurt Havenstone legally.}

**
“Actually, Buffy Ishara recommended you both to Shawnee,” Beyoncé corrected their misconceptions. I knew the score. I’d be working intimately with the tight community around the President (Shawnee) and Vice Presidents (Buffy & Rhada). Buffy wanted me to be surrounded by women who hated my guts … so I wouldn’t end up boinking them. It rarely worked that way. All too often ladies who hated me end up punishing me with sex. I’m not precisely sure why that happened, but it did.

“Beyoncé, didn’t the Chief Diplomat of the Host have her own office? I’m pretty sure Troika had one before her unfortunate collision with St. Marie,” I felt entitled to inquire.
“Do you feel you’ve earned that office space?” she asked.
“Oh, fuck no,” I waved my hands to accentuate my denial. “I was just wondering where I could stick Juanita while I’m hanging around … here.”

“She has the desk right outside the door, Cáel,” Beyoncé smiled knowingly. “No way you can sneak past her.”
“Oh,” I grunted. “Buffy again?”
“No. Pamela Pile put in the request.”
“Oh, Sweet Mother of God … now she is conspiring with you too?”

“Yes. Some of us realize the greatest hazard to your health is yourself, Ishara,” Beyoncé chided me. “We’d like to keep you around so we listen to those charged with that’s nigh impossible task.”
**

Take care all,

James aka FinalStand

Love the Snippet

Laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes. Keep up thy noble fight James. Look forward to reading the next installment when it comes.

LaaNH on Amazon

I bought all eight books of LaaNH from Amazon to encourage James but mainly so I can add my own notes and highlights.
I book mark the sections that made me laugh out loud.

I had intended to wait until they were all published but what the hell it was Christmas

Looking forward to buying the other volumes when they are released.

The one thing that this site gives that the books don't is the comments that finalstand chips in with which is a shame. Jame's explanations of his universe and it's mythology and some of the questions he responds to are part of the joy of this site.

Happy Chinese New Year

Jon

JayBee99 ...

I have been encouraged to go through all the comments sections and publish the compilation both here and with the last book on-line for all the extra information it provides. I just need to get off my ass and do it. I'm up to Chapter 29, but I need to do some serious organizing.

Right now, I'm fighting a winter cold while reviewing 'What My Brother Left Me'. Ugh.

James aka FinalStand

Incredible enjoyable tale although I will say the highlight for me is the first 16 or so chapters. After that it becomes too much of an epic for my liking although it was still a very enjoyable ride and I look forward to the end of saga 1 with chapter 48 if that is still the plan. I immensely enjoy the simplicity and system you built in the first 16 chapters, had you continued in that more insular direction, it would've also been a phenomenal story. I've read the first 16 or so chapters 4 or 5 times while going through the rest of the story because of how much I enjoyed them.

The Pamela, Rachel, Cael interactions in their chapters are also incredibly fun.

I think it's incredibly impressive that you took the lessons from One in Ten to create this story. I haven't read the recently released chapter but I always felt you had boxed yourself in with how you wrote one in ten and while the ending was perfectly acceptable if you went with a fuck it, almost everyone is going to die ending, given the characters perspective

Do you ever say anywhere what eventually got Brian relocated, we know from Cael's thought process that it was obviously going to happen but I'd be curious if you'd ever provided background.

I'd also be very intrigued to see a small piece on Felix being read in, he'd have to be for his role in Cael's kidnapping to make any real sense to him.

Thank you for the wonderful experience.

Guessing Felix's recruitment

My guess and it is a definitely a guess would be that Katrina would do it. Remember Katrina is always the smartest person in the room.
She would have his psychology down to a T. See chapter 44
She would tell him that
It was dangerous
It showed he was better & braver than Caél
She would play on his self-image
He was the only person who could do this successfully
She would tell him he could earn full status no longer being an intern
And he would be able to play in Wyoming.

I don't know how much of the Amazon story she would reveal. Enough before the kidnap to be believable to the kidnappers and enough afterwards so that he didn't get creamed (destroyed) by the Epona house guard.

I might be a bit leery of trusting Felix because Felix has to be and be seen to be a winner. Would that make him want to beat Caél in the Great Hunt?

Just guessing don't know any spoiers

I've spent the last day reflecting on my 1-16 comment and I think that was somewhat unfair. I enjoyed most of the secret society stuff, as well as the diplomatic endeavours involved in that and the general mysticism. I also enjoyed the Ajax saga quite a bit. I think for me it dragged a bit during the JIKIT section due to the lack of focus on Amazon politics and the Amazon people as well as all the characters we've come to love. I think the way it went full circle in the last 3 chapters is what lead me to feeling this way.

Inevitable_

One thing I hate doing is making lame emotional encounters. I like to build up relationships. Among other things, I want to have the first meeting between Cáel and Temujin to be deeply personal (just not in the upcoming chapter). He knows his spiritual Blood-brother has gone through a great deal for a people he barely knows and had no earthly reason to risk and suffer so much for - the people of the Khanate.

Temujin may be a hard, brutal man, but he also cares for Cáel because it was Cáel's hand and heart which saved his life. Since then, time and again, Cáel has acted in the best interest of the Khanate instinctively ... and Temujin understands this was not a life Cáel was prepared for, or wanted.

Put it this way:
There is precisely one person in the Earth & Sky who is not of Temujin, or his sons', or his Mongol clan's bloodline - Cáel.

There is precisely one person who Cáel bows to first in the Earth & Sky - Temujin. EVERYONE else bows to him (Cáel) first. EVERYONE who doesn't want their head chopped off because the E&S don't fuck around were Temujin's decrees are concerned. When asked why (and his underlings do feel free to question him) he responded "he risked his life to save mine when no one else could." To the E&S, that is enough. They honor Cáel's actions even though they are not privy to the specifics of those actions.

More so, Operation Fun House saved tens of thousands of Khanate soldiers and airmen's lives and pretty much insured their victory in the first round of the Reunification War with the People's Republic of China.

The Liberation of Tibet would have been much more difficult without Cáel and through him, JIKIT.

Thailand would have been a nightmare class of the Super Powers and forced the US into the PRC's camp. Instead, thanks to Cáel's intervention, both the US and Khanate came out looking great both militarily and diplomatically.

So, the upper echelons of the Khanate know how critical Cáel has been to their successes. Whatever resentment they may have harbored has faded because Temujin's faith in his brother have proven to be well founded.

None of the respect mentioned above would make sense had you not read through much of the 'filler' in the mid-chapters.

And while we definitely concentrate on Cáel's female entanglements, he is also loved by three men ~ as a son by Alal, as a brother by Temujin and as a friend, by Timothy.

And if you don't think Alal loves him ... then why is Cáel still walking around considering Alal could have snatched Cáel up at least twice - Mindszent and again in Rome?

James aka FinalStand

You make a very good point on developing the trust relationship between Cael and Temujin and I certainly understand why you did the things you did, it just wasn't as interesting to me as the in house Amazon and Havenstone situation(I would certainly never call it filler though). I'd guess the first time they meet will be at Cael's wedding as that seems logical and is only a few months away and I'm sure that will be quite interesting, especially considering it will also be a meeting between Temujin and Queen Aya who is technically his non blood niece(if i have the relationship setup correct). A meeting in which Temujin owes quite a bit to Aya and the Amazons given how much damage they did in various battles and the whole stealing a modern Aircraft Carrier thing.

I have to admit I'm very curious about the direction you intend to take the Amazon's in Saga 2, they are now fully exposed to the US and UK governments in a way the Amazon's as a whole had never intended although Katrina was clearly willing to allow given that she didn't squash Cael's approach to the two governments. This is also combined with Aya's words on the subject.

I have to guess that Katrina will be very old when she finally goes to the cliffs given how insanely capable she is in a job that requires virtually no physical ability.

I could probably make these comments on the individual chapters but since I'm already here. One of my favourite scenes was the battle that ended the female line of house Ishara, so incredibly well written and developed. On the flipside, I found the gulch part of the summer camp battle quite dull and a bit confusing although I admit it could've been my mood at the time.

Very much looking forward to the Great Hunt and Saga 2 whenever the inspiration hits you.

Hey james

Weekly update please! Hopefully not annoying you :p

Looking forward to more

James,
I've read LaaNH twice!! I think that this is a great story and that you're a great writer!
I'm really looking forward to the Great Hunt and the next epic adventure! I'm very interested in the development of relationships between Cael and Buffy, how will House Ishara progress? Are you planning a new series after the wedding? Cael is no longer a new hire and his role in Havenstone and JIKIT, are ripe for expansion. Looking forward to whatever you have planned, because you've proven to be a great storyteller

Death of a bachelor

Hey James big fan of your work....just one thing ,please confirm if the song death of a bachelor will be featured at Cael's wedding....

Hmmm ... and update [Feb. 4th, 2017]

Okay ~ the bad news: Death of a Bachelor was released in September of 2015 and Cáel and Hana are marrying on January 1st, 2015.

The not so bad news ~ [Wikipedia] "In an interview with Pure Fresh on September 23, 2014, Brendon Urie stated that he had already thought about ideas on the fifth studio album," so ... in theory, he could have been inspired by Cáel’s wedding.

Now, during the 'TOO WEIRD TO LIVE, TOO RARE TO DIE!' tour, Panic! At the Disco appeared at Boston's House of Blues on 1/30/14, Montreal's Metropolis on the 31st and Toronto's Sound Academy on February 1st while Cáel was at Bolingbrook ... so he could have gone to see them. They certainly play his kind of eclectic music and I wouldn't put it past him, or Odette, to be seen wearing one of their t-shirts which could get the ball rolling.

So, perhaps, they could play it for the first time at Cáel's Bachelor Party.

Update: I finally have gotten to writing the Great Hunt. Actually, the night before the Great Hunt, but I suppose that is progress, right?

James

Good to see the humour start to show again. Also great to know that the words are started to flow again. If the ever want to read a story that has good laughs and a good plot look up three square meals by Tefler here on the site . It has a lot of good action and has good laughs just warning first couple chaptera are kinda slow. I lost count how many times I have have read life of a new hire and I have bought all 8 books plus all 3 naninites book as well. Can't wait for more of either story
Thalt992000(Larry hopper) thalt992000@gmail.com

I agree!

I agree with thalt, it is great to see the humor coming out again. Hopefully a sign of happiness. I await patiently the next chapter. Have been curious since chapter 40 as to what happens to cause Cáel to be dealing with consequences. So many different possibilities. Thank You for keeping us abreast of how you are doing James. Well wishes!

Question about Aya

James, Just as Cael has made huge progress during the internship, Aya has grown by leaps and bounds. It's amazing for her to go from a girl having temper tantrums to the girl holding a weapon on politicians after getting back from the kidnaping Is she now able to hold a bow and shoot? Is she progressing physically enough to pass her 12th year trial? Or is the trial more about brains than brawn?

LBLR15 and Aya

Aya and her Bow

Yes and no. Aya is still as physically underdeveloped as she was when we first met her. The difference is her confidence had greatly increased and the Amazon 'stillness' many seek out their entire lives, she has found.

She is regularly hitting her 'closer' target and scoring well. She still uses her lighter arrows. Because of her size and weakness, St. Marie is considering the great step of allowing a member of the Black Hand to train her in their 'Anything Style' {picking up any random object in a room and turning it into a lethal weapon} .

It would be overly-simplistic to say gaining a Father-figure turned her life around. As Cáel often said, inside her was Greatness ~ and it was, just below the surface. Even then, the pivotal moment is with the 7 Pillars and their torture. In that moment, she had to truly face her physical frailty ... and it DID NOT MATTER. Any Amazon, no matter how strong, could break under that torture given time. What mattered was how they dealt with it.

In the Amazon racial psyche (taught through their extensive oral traditions) is the memory of the Amazons who, raped and battered by the Greeks, escaped ... then came back for the others. All Amazons are descended from those who initially failed and were taken captive. What mattered was they didn't give up. Even in defeat, they kept their wits about them and when the opportunity presented itself, they struck back.

Every Amazon is a descendant of a loser; a failed warrior, a woman raped and taken captive by men who did not defeat them on the battlefield, but who took them by treachery ~ outsmarted them. True, with the vast infusion of new blood over the millennia, most Full-blooded Amazons today have no direct connection to those original few ... but mystically, they are all daughters of those few.

And IT DID NOT MATTER because that wasn't the end of the Amazon story. They freed themselves, rescued the others and survived. They have outlasted all others by never forgetting one loss is not the end, only a setback.

When Aya's finger was seared by that blowtorch and she passed out, she confronted her weakness ... and then all those childhood tales came rushing in to remind her in the same way they buoyed another pre-12th Year, Zola of House Hylonome, as she made her escape to warn Cáel and the others of the destruction of her camp.

In that moment, physical discomfort did not matter. Her small size did not matter. What the world thought of her did not matter. What mattered was she was an Amazon with a problem and Amazons always overcame their problems using the tools on hand and not whining about the tools they didn't have.

From that point forward, when Aya shot her bow, she wasn't aiming at the target to make her Mother happy, or Aunt Katrina, or anyone else. She was aiming at the target for herself. Because one day in the future this was a skill she might need so she needed to do it ~ not for anyone else, but herself.

Aya is not going to out-shooting Desiree anytime soon ... or in this lifetime. By the time she's 18, she will be good enough to make the Amazons proud, but not the best by any stretch of the imagination. After all, the Amazons need her to be a Great leader, not a Great archer.

The 12th Year Test

The 12th Year Test is mostly mental with a physical component in that it is a survival test. They drop you in the wilderness with a knife. In 7 days you have to cross X amount of distance to the Qualification Circle. It includes endurance, stamina, knowledge of how to navigate by Sun and Stars plus how to make other tools in order to help you get by.

Along the way you will have to find water and shelter to some degree. You will have to tell time (to help you navigate). Smarts are clearly very important. Big, strong yet stupid Amazon children will get lost thus fail.

Note, 99% of Amazons girls succeed at this test. It isn't meant to kill them. It is more of a bonding ritual. It can be a little scary, but the children are monitored from a safe distance by very skilled huntresses (who stay out of sight and only intervene if a child clearly cannot carry on).

Also, informally, Amazons place great significance on what place you finish in. Being first is lauded and important things are expected of you in the future. The last one to qualify is considered to be touched by Destiny and lauded because they kept going despite the lengthening odds (and lengthening shadows of the setting of the 7th Day Sun). Never Give Up!

Three examples:
#1 Despite growing up with Childhood Asthma, Pamela pushed herself to excel at whatever she attempted. While she was expected to do well in her 12th Year Test, no one expected her to finish first, or so rapidly. Other Amazons sought to honor her for this feat. She scoffed at her Elders instead, saying that the 12th Year Test 'was nothing and meant nothing'. While most were insulted, her independent attitude drew the notice of the head of the "Executive Services" [Author's note: I'm considering having it been called 'the International Travel Bureau'] of the day and to Pamela's career as Amazons assassin.

#2 Katrina was actually predicted to be first to finish in her 12th Year Test. She wasn't. On the final day, when she was in the lead, she looked back across a canyon and saw another girl with a broken leg struggling on. Katrina realized the other girl was moving too slow to finish on her own so she went back across the canyon and helped that girl finish instead of gaining the glory of being first herself. Her actions still drew much praise and led to the first meeting of Katrina and Hayden and to Katrina becoming Hayden's protege.

#3 Hayden herself finished tied for last place ... a decade and a half before Katrina would do something similar (though Hayden wasn't expected to finish first). Hayden went back when she heard another girl cry out in desperation (unaware of the hunter close by). The girl in trouble had slipped down the side of a cliff and was barely hanging on before finishing her plunge to certain serve injury, if not death.

Hayden spent hours cutting up a sapling so she could lower to the trapped girl. She also convinced another girl to help because Hayden knew she alone wasn't strong enough to pull the trapped girl to safety. The three barely made it into the Qualifying Circle in time. Needless to say, her willingness to risk her status to save another and ability to convince a third girl to help were major factors in the Council eventually deciding to elevate her to High Priestess ~ none of which Hayden was even remotely aware of when she acted the way she did.

Failing the Test

So, what happens to the girl who doesn't make it to the Circle in time? They are 'women'. They will never have another chance to be 'Amazons'. They will never be taught any of the martial crafts (bowyer, weapons-crafting, armorer), or allowed to have children of their own.

The serve in numerous other functions and are treated well (aka not like outsiders, or males), but they will never vote in their Houses' councils, or gain glory by fighting by their sisters' sides. They are allowed to bear arms and use them in defense of their herds, freeholds and homes. They just aren't allowed to got to war with the other, true Amazons.

When they die, they do go to the Halls of their Ancestors.

A few do commit suicide in shame. It is a tough existence yet most understand their very presence encourages the young girls to study harder and practice with greater diligence because you don't want to end up 'like them'. In this way too, they still serve the Host. As I have said before, these are some hard ass bitches.

A 12th Year Test may be 'voided' by a Head of House, or High Priestess ~ meaning under certain circumstances an Amazon girl in her 12th year can be considered to have participated in a level of hardship which would make such a test irrelevant, or other 'special circumstances'.

A good example of this is Cáel and the rest of House Ishara. 12th Year Test ... making him do it when he's 22 wouldn't make much sense. As House Head, he voids the requirement of the test for himself ... and all the other Runners-turned-Sisters. All of the candidates have already proven themselves to be excellent Amazons after all.

I hope this helps.

James aka FinalStand

it seems a bit odd to have Pamela describe her 12 year test as barely making it and then saying she finished first and very rapidly

For Inevitable_

Not the first time, or the last, Pamela has lied/exaggerated the truth to Cáel. In this case, not totally a lie. Pamela worked through some severe childhood disadvantages ~ asthma plus being very difficult to deal with. Teaching her was a 'chore'. She really did secretly bet other students she could get her instructor's knife then proceeded to get the woman so furious with her, she threw it at her (Pamela). Pamela caught it, thus winning the bet.

Though I've never specifically the mechanics of it - I have mentioned it a few times; Amazons are given gold jewelry to commemorate acts which advance the Amazon cause, or exemplify Amazon virtues ~ Honor Gold. Pamela never accepted any, even going so far as to ignoring the person offering it to her as a studied insult insinuating she didn't give a damn what other Amazons thought of her, or her actions.

Even when her superiors knew of her predilections, they felt compelled to offer her such rewards. Her constant refusal was somewhat legendary in and of itself. It also explains why Daphne thought her Grandmother had an 'unspectacular' career in pre-Havenstone because she had seen her Grans at House gatherings never wearing any Honor Gold (when she should have) so she assumed she'd never earned any. Whoops.

Of course, it never occurred to Brielle, or Daphne, that the other House members pretty much ignored Pamela out of fear, not because she was 'unspectacular', thus a disappointment to the House. I say 'fear' not because she ever hurt any of them (badly), but because her behavior and actions were so utterly abnormal and Amazons are so much into conformity.

Dial that back to her pre-Test childhood and you know other members of her House's (older) children tried to 'correct' her ... and, knowing Pamela, you can bet eventually all those lessons failed. She'd poison her tormentors with diarrhetics then ambushing them (as a group ~ attacking them one-on-one wouldn't have been a challenge to young Pamela) in the toilets, or 'overly drowsy' in their beds sleeping, or in the baths with their soap turned into some nasty skin and eye irritant. She could be endlessly creative in striking back to the point the adults realized their children's actions were spiraling towards someone's death and put a stop to it.

So Pamela wasn't totally lying when she said she barely made it through her 12th Year Test. Looking back at her 'antics' she is occasionally amazed her siblings didn't kill her for all the shit she put them through. In fact, the Pamela you see in the story has 'mellowed' over the years. She was once much, much more snarky ... than she is now in her 'Golden Years' with her Granddaughters and Grandsons keeping her company.

As another example of Amazons not telling the truth ~ Daphne lied about Summer Camp, suggesting to Cáel it constantly moved around when later it was shown it did not. Why would she lie about it? Habit: Cáel wasn't 'one of them' so the inherent desire to be evasive around non-Amazons kicked in.

James aka FinalStand

I have to say that's what makes this story so fascinating. Cael is not an unreliable narrator but because he's such an outsider and we only have his point of view for everything, his assumptions are sometimes wildly inaccurate. The most notable one would be the assumption that within house Epona, only Aya, Desiree and Caitlyn were fertile. Obviously given that house Epona is probably over 100 members, that number would be more than problematic, it would already be a death sentence. One can also guess that Arwen is fertile although it never comes up because all of the apprentices seem to be, that we know of(Gale, Rhada and Oneida). One can assume that most of the heads of house are fertile and have daughters based on how the culture values that attribute. The exception being stone cold badasses like Katrina who seized power for other reasons.

This actually leads to a question I've had. Why is Oneida so closely guarded compared to most of the rest. Sure she is the apprentice of a first house but that doesn't seem enough for her to be followed by bodyguards at all times. Rhada doesn't seem to have guards, there is no mention of any for Gale. Oneida is very much a girly girl but that hardly seems like reason enough.

Another question I have that is more a guess on my part is that Katrina had first choice and selected Cael? It seems logical looking at everything we know now, including that it was her plan in the first place and she is essentially the third most powerful person in the host(second at the moment).