Re: Chapter Twelve - The Traitorous Trinity

Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t reached this point in the book and want to experience all the surprises as you read, turn back now!

Chapter Twelve is a bit of a breather in terms of action after everything that happened in Chapter Eleven, but there’s still plenty to discover and develop as the crisis continues. Particularly in regards to our characters. Starting with Kennedy, who’s still reeling from the action of last chapter, especially the death of Charles Becker and the pseudo-death of Nergüi. Even more so, his instinctive tendency to leap into action, protectiveness towards Sophia, and hatred/fear of Sainne are starting to play off of each other, and that’s only going to get worse in the next couple of chapters.

But let’s talk Avery, or rather, Bailey Morgan Walker. When discussing Quincy and the reveal of Scarlett being Sophia, I mentioned I wanted to create a couple of red herrings, and naturally Avery was one. Kennedy of course briefly considered that she had been the princess because her disdainful attitude towards the monarchy lined up with a hypothetical David had offered. But creating a character merely to serve as a red herring while taking up so much word count is poor craftsmanship in my view. So, here we see the other important part of Avery’s character- as a member of the titular traitorous trinity, along with Pierce Elliot and Nergüi.

Bailey gets by far the most “screen time” of the trinity, as she acts as their spy. From a plot perspective, this is important for several reasons: it explains the efficiency of the attack on Crown Royal, allows for a glimpse into the perspective of the Charmies, and of course, gives us the events of this chapter. As a member of the Traitorous Trinity, she also sets up some insight into David’s character – about his guilt and need to prove himself. As a character though, it’s interesting to note that her current allegiance to the Charmies and PF9 is quite earnest. When you consider that their motivation for leaving Time Peace was essentially that Time Peace didn’t do enough, it makes sense that some of the Trinity would be motivated to find a worthy cause. We’ll see later that this might be unique to Bailey, however.

The interrogation scene was of course one that took a lot of work to get right. Kennedy is the go-between for these two former allies, and is trying to keep up in a situation he really isn’t prepared for. It was tricky to demonstrate that both Bailey and David had skill while having the conversation ultimately spiral out of control.

Speaking of the special skills of certain characters, the Hawk really gets to shine here as well. He lays out his analysis of Sainne’s scheme, which is hardly comforting to Kennedy. While Sainne isn’t here, this was also important for his character. As the Hawk says, Sainne has set up a situation where no matter what move Time Peace makes, he wins. Sainne isn’t just a scary-looking guy, he’s a clever and patient man. All the more impressive, then, that the Hawk can deduce his plan. Though, there is one factor that the Hawk may have overestimated.

I think it’s interesting to note just what led Scarlett to first take notice and decide to talk to Kennedy. She approached him after he started a fight with the Charmies – after Kennedy threw the first punch. Interesting to think about that when Sainne is betting that she would be driven to irrational persecution of the Charmies. Was Sainne closer to the mark than the Hawk realized? Or was the Hawk correct to assume that Sophia was sophisticated enough to avoid such manipulation? Something to think about. The answers might not be so clear-cut.

One other skill of the Hawk’s demonstrated here is his ability to defuse Kennedy’s outburst. When Kennedy directs his hostility at him, the Hawk often brings the conversation around to Sophia. For instance, when he says it’s less important who knows Sainne best, but rather if Kennedy knows Sophia well. He doesn’t confront and give Kennedy an excuse to escalate. Instead, by shifting Kennedy’s focus, the Hawk gets him to immediately defuse himself. He can’t keep his aggression going when the topic shifts suddenly to Sophia. It’s a deliberate and productive move on the part of Time Peace’s leader.

Let’s wrap up with a little trivia. I’ve mentioned before that I often struggle with names, and will resort to things that amuse me when I can’t figure something out. Which brings me to Pierce Elliot and Kennedy Frost. I had decided relatively early on to call Kennedy, well, Kennedy, but it took a while to come up with a last name. I considered several, like Brown or Jones. I wanted something that was one syllable for the flow, and something that sounded particularly American. I eventually settled on Frost for two reasons; first, it sounded cool. Second, because of the poet Robert Frost. Nothing too deep there, just that he was an American poet and the fact that his famous “the road not taken” happens to involve a road with two possible paths. Not a perfect metaphor for splitting timelines by any stretch, but enough of a connection to amuse me.

So, how does this connect to Pierce Elliot? Well, I wanted a character name that would be a parallel to Kennedy’s. So, his first name should be the last name of a U.S. President, and his last name should be that of an American poet. Thank you Franklin Pierce and T.S. Elliot. This is what an inability to name characters and an internet connection will do. For added amusement, the pattern of syllables for Pierce’s name are the opposite of Kennedy’s. Instead of a three-syllable first name and one-syllable last name, we have a one-syllable first name and three-syllable last name.

I’m afraid that’s all I can muster up for this chapter this time around. There’s still plenty there to examine, but I think I will leave that to you, dear readers. As for me, it’s time I get back to work. We’ll chat again when we meet Sophia again in Chapter Thirteen: Rendezvous at the Albatross Café.

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