tiamat-zx:

The fact that Avantika’s silver tongue finally became her undoing… It’s so fitting.

The deeper you dig your pit of lies, the further you descend. And it was already deep, much deeper than the depths of her patron.

And yet… when faced with death, not a single lie or half-truth could save her. All she could do was look away in defiance, despite knowing that she was already broken and her fate was already sealed.

Her silence damned her, because it’s just as much a means of protection as it is a death sentence.

And all because while she was busy with Fjord and trying to use him as a tool for her goals, she wasn’t as focused on the rest of the group. She also woefully underestimated Beauregard of the Cobalt Soul, a woman whose directive as a fledgling expositor was given to her by her mentor Dairon: “Weed out the corrupt, pursue the secrets and evils of the world and expose them to the light, twist the arm of the unjust until they spill their mysteries.”

And I think in that moment, Beauregard truly understood who she was and what she was fighting for: she is a spy, a hunter, a watchman to those who rule. She is not kind. She is forthright, She is truth.

And Avantika realized at that moment that she fucked up. But it was already over. She didn’t even get a chance to object as Beau gave her own. She didn’t because while Beau stated that she acts as a neutral party loyal only to the Expositors, her true allegiance still lies with the Mighty Nein, her second family.

And no one fucks with family. Not even a fanatical pirate captain.