[530] Daaang Important

I'd guess "waiting", "powerless", or "you".

But I tend to be wrong.

Seconded on Muut's new wing.

I think it's "you", because
a. it's bolded
b. it gives a feeling that there's someone else bending the rules

Annie is looking pretty annoyed in the last panel.

And not forget Muut's idea put her in danger, from what we know now it looks probable that Yeanne's attack was someway related to the blinker stone.

i think the important word is "we" in the last panel

this means that the etheric realm is working toward a greater purpose

yay reading way too much into things

Well, seems like Annie was quite right all along (referring to #360). She was supposed to help.

The one thing that irritates me is that supernatural powers, be they oracles, spirit guides, gods or whatever, never seem to ask the humans for help. They pretty much always trick them or force them into doing what they want. Despite the grief Annie has with the guides, I don't really think she would've declined a polite request for help. But then, maybe that's just the whole difference between being human and, well, not.

I also think the important word is "you". The spirit guides by definition are truely neutral and passive. All they do is guide the dead to the afterlife. If one of them actively interferres with the fate of a living, that is quite extraordinary. But then, you could say they already started interferring when they allowed little Annie to accompany them on their visits back in the hospital, since that definitely had quite a great influence on who she became.

Heh, Annie doesn't like being used like this, I think. Any moment now she'll get mighty pissy at Muut, and she'll have to move on to whoever told Muut to arrange this

So, how come Muut just didn't go "Hey, we need your help: that light over there is a ghost that we can't reach. Here's something that will let her contact you" when he showed up on the riverbank that night?

Hmm, maybe Annie would have refused to help if she'd known what was going on. Apparently her attitude toward Muut (maybe all psychopomps) has changed since she first met him; maybe she no longer wants to lend the psychopomps her mediuming skillz.

EDIT: Oh dear. Despite reading the previous posts in this thread I managed to completely miss eightyfour's comments on the exact same thing I was talking about. Alas.

Didn't expect the chapter to go in this direction. I'm very pleased that we're getting more Jeanneformation so soon after S1.

BTW, the important word is totally defintely maybe "waiting". Waiting for what?

I also think the word is "waiting". He must've given her the blinker stone so that Jeanne would be able to cross. However.. did Annie spend her time in the ravine on the Court side or the Gillitie side? On which side was Jeanne waiting?

Muut had said Annie should be thankful she could not not cross the river. Would he have done anything (deliberately) to break that ban? I don’t think so. Also, there is no real indication that it was the blinker stone that allowed Jeanne to cross the Annan waters. After all, she had arrived on the other shore only after the blinker stone’s fire had gone out. The psychopomps don’t know anything about Jeanne; Muut admitted as much. When he had said she couldn’t cross the river, he could simply have been mistaken; even a psychopomp may be wrong sometimes.

That it was the Gillitie side is pretty obvious. By the way, the bit about the Tic Toc bird having taken root in the cliff is highly dubious. We only have Ysengrin’s word for this, and according to Red, he was lying: Ysengrin had discovered the bird shortly after Annie had left and then “buried” it, maybe excercising his “terrifying skills of gardening”, to quote Reynardine’s sarcastic remark.


Judging from her expression in the last panel, Annie doesn’t like to be asked for help (as she did in the past), but actually she had already got that far on her own. Remember this dialogue from the closing pages of chapter 16?

“Kat: This kinda reminds me of the ghost with the sword you met at the Annan waters.

Annie: Oh?

Kat: Yeah, you said your psychopomp friends couldn’t help her, right? So what if she’s stuck too?

Annie: If that’s the case then she might not even know why she is down there.

Kat: And she’s probably been there a really long time. It’s kinda sad …

Annie: I should have tried to help her … Instead I was a fool and became scared when I thought she had cut me. I should have faced my fear, as I did with Martin …”

And now, after Muut’s gentle reminder, maybe she will follow her own advice.

I think she's "waiting" in the same way Martin was waiting; she needs to be taken on to the next life, but the people who take her can't come.

I think the most important word is "needed", if only because it feels out of place. Why didn't he say "we need your help"?

"We need" would be to explain current action. "We needed" explains past action, even if the need continues.

Annie is probably annoyed in the last panel - in addition to her previous annoyance (and kudos to her for asking questions first this time!) - because the psychopomps haven't had a problem with *asking her to help* and *telling her what they know of what's going on* before. But in this case, the first case where she's suffered any harm from a spirit, Muut foisted the situation on her without a request or explanation, and even masked his action to look like something else entirely.

Closing pages of chapter 16, which Kuraru mentioned.

Oh, and for the important word, I favor "alone" but "waiting" is a good prospect.

Could be time.

Who knows how much time it will take.

Simple sentences. Tired.