Status Updates From From the Valley of Orchids ...

A TEAR

I’m fucking furious. I HATE what just happened. This is equivalent to me as when Ned was beheaded in GoT. The FUCK?!?! I cannot abide.

Oh, shit!

Years? I thought spending too much time there brainwashed you?

“No matter how the humans try to sanctify it, death is a bleak and painful thing that few deserve.” - Neko

(“All it takes is one folly”)
Enough to make S change his mind about I?

(Prayer into conception)

“Saru watched her closely, words full of dark joy as she spoke of Hell and poison. Was this his same road? Despite hating the villagers, she helped them just the same.”

Interesting notion. She thinks that by no longer aiding folks and only selling poisons, she isn’t helping the villagers, but the consequence is similar. They benefit. Not in the same way, but still do.

“Giving up, she sat there howling, wishing she could weep.”

Sentiment repeated! I love this book.

"It's best not to think on such matters, my friend, nor even imagine. There are things in this life, once known, which bring the world closer to night. If we turn away from terrors, they might not disappear, but mayhap we'll sleep better for a night or two." - Neko

Not all specific knowledge is valuable. I love this quote, and Neko tbh

Interesting. I just read ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ and Hun-Kamé expressed something similar about his experience in the trunk.

“Still, he envied the “humans; while his heart burst with sadness, he could not shed a single tear.”

OF COURSE the cat’s name is Neko. ねことさる、BFFL

["It's unbefitting to keep calling you monkey," Okina said.
"How might we address you instead?"
Saru dipped a skewer in the ashes below the iron pot. As the old couple gawped, he wrote his name on the counter with the blackened tip.
"Saru!" they both gasped at once.
He nodded. "Ukiki."]

We can’t call you “Monkey”, so we’ll call you “Monkey in Japanese”. 陽気な､ね~~~