In The Wake of Viekko Spade

Author Commentary

Chapter 21

So Viekko is dead.

Just kidding he's totally alive.

But, no seriously, he's dead.

Nah, I wouldn't do that.

I would totally do that.

Just kidding, I wouldn't.

I would and did.

Anyhoo!

 An event like what happened is bound to have a ripple effect across the society and immediately make life difficult for everyone. So I thought it was important to spend some time with the other characters as they dealt with a new and swiftly changing situation. Well, that and build tension as to whether or not Viekko is dead.

...he totally isn't it's fine.

It's not fine, I'm a bastard and you know it.

In this scene, I wanted to show two things. First that Viekko's actions have already had a direct effect on the underground resistance movement in Cytherea.  What underground resistance movement you might ask? Why the one that's so underground we don't even know about it yet. Or, if you've been paying attention, it's the one that Isra's gotten some hints exist. The strange fight that drew her attention early in the book, the movement in the alleyways as the emissary took them on a tour through the city, a poignant look here and there; I've been trying to drop hints up until now that something was going on at the edge of our screen but recent events have forced it to the front.

The other thing is that Isra is starting to understand that she is losing control here. The betrayal and death(?) of Viekko Spade has given Rainha Isabel the perfect excuse to do exactly what she wanted all along. Isra still things she can get the outcome she wants though, but it's going to mean doing more things that will hurt her in the long run.

And we also start to understand the lengths Isabel will go to keep this city under her strange enthrallment. We begin to see that the current state of Cytheria isn't the way it has been in the past or is supposed to be. It would be like aliens landing in nazi Germany. They would likely naturally assume that what was going on was just the way that was instead of a strange, short-lived aberration.