All right, this is not bad a chapter, but aside from meeting an old friend it doesn’t feel like much is happening anymore. The faster pace with the night elf attack has gone completely now that Albione is doubting his faith and doing little else besides. The night elf plot doesn’t seem important anymore, the distrust against the militia isn’t going anywhere, and for chapters now Albione has been doubting himself at every turn. It feels the story is meandering along. It feels like something should happen soon.
The big thing that I noticed was that Albione seemed like a different character at the start of the chapter, laughing at everything that was said to him without a clear reason given why. Last chapter he was particularly dreary and before that he also had little to smile about, let alone laugh. When the child leaves you make mention that he loves for the child to come for blessing. While that’s a good reason to be cheerful, I’d like to know the reason for his good mood beforehand and not afterward.
Similarly when Albione is surprised by what Charom is wearing you never explain why a formal green tunic and white pants are so odd for his brother to wear. Also, what constitutes ‘formal’ in this setting?
I don’t really understand how Aetherial the half-elf can be a friend. Albione has a lot of problems with the militia men, it’s why he’s been so conflicted these last eight chapters, because they don’t follow his god. The half elf is one step removed from being a heretic, yet here Albione and Charom are both fine while Ferris, who follows a god of order – order, not chaos or something else evil – is despised. This is a weird dichotomy in their characters. But I’ve mentioned how I find the whole rivalry between temple and militia more than a little odd already.
I like Aetherial more with everything he says, he seems, like Ferris , one of the rare characters making perfect sense. I’m noticing a trend, neither are followers of Alazon
This is the first chapter where, aside from the god of the night elves, we get to hear something about a different god. Going by the story alone I got the view that there were only two gods, Alazon and the night elf god.