I was finding myself increasingly irked by what appears from the outside to be a budding romance between Corwin and Korra. The way he's interacting with her is not all that different between the way he acted with Utena in Symphony 1, and well, we know the signs.

And the potential that Utena and Anthy might even be accepting of it seemed even more strange, because it's really too soon. They've only known Korra for a few weeks, so my Mary Sue alarms were starting to go off. But when I got to this line, I finally got the picture:

> "Yesterday, you welcomed the three of us - " (gesturing to Anthy
> and Corwin) " - into your tribe and your family. Tonight... "
> Pausing, she raised her left hand, holding it in a fist against
> her chest for a moment; then, with a smile, she said, "Tonight it's our
> turn," extended the hand to Korra, and opened it. On her palm, a silver
> ring inlaid with the Duelist rose crest glinted in the firelight - much
> like Korra's eyes, as they widened in surprise.

The Trinity's relationship has always been complicated by others. Those Rose Seal rings represented engagement rings to Anthy originally -- and Juri, Miki, and definitely Saionji act as if they still do to some degree. Even if the meaning of the rings has changed, they still represent the same kind of deep commitment.

So even if it does go in a romantic direction, I guess I'm okay with it, because they're already in a strange situation. If it's romantic friendship without the full relationship, that would be fine too. But I think I need to trust that Anthy will figure out the right thing to do.

I have to say, I really like the way that Anthy has turned out. She adds a lot of subtlety that much of the cast is lacking (looking at you Utena and Corwin and Korra), providing the long term strategy to everyone's tactics. She also happens to simultaneously be an archetype of the sweet maiden, the loving mother, the strong warrior, and the evil witch simultaneously. I don't even know how that's even possible, but there it is.

Anyway, good job writing Anthy, because she's hard to understand. I don't think I understood her character at all until Page of Swords, when Devlin commented on how very deep her emotions run. She's like Aunt Bell, but a little bit Evil.

I have a couple of comments related to the fact that I've never watched any Avatar or Korra. When the Rose Duel exhibitions happen, I never really care that much about the outcome -- I just like the cool fight scene. But this time? Boy was I glad that Utena beat Korra. After a long divergence into Diqiu, it felt like Utena was finally taking the plot back. After all, she's the Rose Prince, you gotta deal with it.

Second, I feel like I had trouble visualizing the new characters in the Suite. I don't know if it's because I glossed through the descriptions when they happened (who are all of these random new people and why do I care?), or because the descriptions weren't meaningful to me ("looks like she's from the Fire Nation"... ok?). Maybe I'm just a stupid reader. But maybe a few reminders of the characters' appearance wouldn't hurt.

Anyway, it's been a long detour, but things like that happen in life, so I'm not gonna fret about that. The story must flow. Thanks for all the entertaining stories, including this one.