I lied. The big climax of Braz's plot was last night. I didn't mean to lie, but Braz decided that things were moving too quickly for him to stall it another week, and so they came to a head last night. As Hall battles go, it was more or less typical - one giant maelstrom of violent confusion. There were some islands of inactivity in the less experienced patrons, who were one and all commanded to stay out of the way by their superiors.
I got wrapped up in it and excited and got to pull the stunt I've been contemplating for approximately a month now, which was cool. I was rude to Jeff when it looked like his character Michelle was going to screw it up for me, though, which was not. (We worked it out through messages, but because I really feel bad about it, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Jeff. If nothing else, I could have phrased my warn-away more tactfully.)
And then, just when I thought things might possibly wrap up neatly and nicely, Braz dropped yet another bomb in my lap. (Keep it up, Braz, and I won't have a lap left.) Actually, it wasn't really a bomb. It was a stick of dynamite I'd been holding and hoping he wouldn't light the fuse. I'd seen the possibility coming, or I'd probably be really angry with Braz right now. As it is, I'm just kindof sad.
And the really funny thing is, two or three months ago, when this plot was just getting underway and Zoya was just starting down the slippery slope, I wrote a little vignette that had three separate endings, because those were the possibilities I could see at the time. Then some other stuff happened, and it looked like those endings couldn't possibly fit into what Braz had planned, so I abandoned them in favor of other possibilities.
They're back. They'll need a nip and a tuck to really fit, but by and large, I'm back to those three endings, as far as Zoya's concerned. And the only one of them that could rightfully be considered a "happy" ending seems pretty unlikely right now. One of them is tragic, because it has every likely hood of not only breaking Zoya's heart but ruining a friendship. And the third is bittersweet, and might have been almost a happy ending if it had happened six or eight weeks ago, but now is going to be more bitter than sweet.
By all rights, I should be cursing Braz right now. Zoya's been an emotional hermit for the past ten years, and Marten, by main force, was dragging her inch by inch out of that. And the endgame I fear is only going to serve to undo all that, and probably set her back even further. Worse, I can't even just accept that, because I'm an incurable romantic and Zoya's grown enough over the course of this thing to still dare to hope that this might yet turn out well, despite the fact that she's seen every man she ever loved - except one - destroyed before her eyes, and she left the one.
And there are other repercussions having nothing to do with Zoya's romantic life. Unless it turns out that the ghost controlling Jaret was controlling him entirely, Zoya's going to be extremely angry with Jaret for not telling her about it when she asked him. If they'd known for certain about that ghost, and who he was, they might have been able to plan a less traumatic confrontation. Zoya's trust for Jaret is perched on the windowsill and ready to fly. And the tragedy is that she's not the only one who feels this way. When Patrons stop trusting each other, that's sad. Glossaria's kidnapping and Vallel's foolhardy rush to her rescue has made Zoya somewhat overprotective, and it will be a while before she can force herself to let Glossaria go again.
Yep. By all rights I should be calling Braz any number of unflattering things. But I can't, really.
To curse him now would be tantamount to cursing the story itself. And despite its massive potential for tragedy, it's been too good to call down adminaversions upon it.
Damn you, Braz.
So, Matt's friend Tristan and his wife Heather are supposed to come to town today and stay with us for a couple of nights. I'm looking forward to it - Tristan's a card, and what I got to know of Heather the couple of times I met her were promising.
But Matt and I realized last night that Tristan and Heather don't know where we live. We brought them by once, before construction on the house even started, to show them our dirt - but who's going to remember that? Matt says he never gave Tristan any directions, and we aren't sure he even knows our mailing address.
So I hope they have something to do during the day today, before we get home and they can call us.
Word of the Day: adminaversion - a critical and censorious remark; adverse criticism
I already used it, up above. Did you see it and stumble over it, or were you just skimming?
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