#from nona it seems to have some sort of stifling effect on necromancy/necromancy-related madness that RBs generate?? idk man

[a-flickering-soul]

Okay, wait wait wait. You predicted the saltwater? How did you come to the conclusion that there would be saltwater? Because I was a bit confused by that in Nona cause it is clearly significant but I can't figure out how. Was there something in gtn or ntn that I missed?

For reference: on my pre-Nona list of predictictions I had "beach trip for narrative saltwater reasons" and was absolutely delighted to see I got it!

Unfortunately I don't have my copies of Gideon or Harrow on me right now so I can't pull quotes, but to my recollection every time saltwater or brackish water has been mentioned, it's had some vague connection to necromancy. Of course, in Gideon there's the stipulation that Harrow can only tell the secret of her birth submerged in saltwater--that has more overtones of ritual purity or baptism than effect on necromantic ability, but noticeable. In Harrow, the River is described as having brackish water (mixed saltwater and freshwater), Alecto is referred to as a "saltwater creature", and I feel like there's more?? but I cannot remember off the top of my head. I gathered through just vague vibes and connections that saltwater had some sort of tie to necromancy in some way or another.

I had gathered from the very brief preview of Nona I allowed myself to read that they were on an unflipped planet with potentially safe and unfucked-up beaches and that Nona seemed like the kind of person who would want to go to the beach. And I'm always a sucker for a good beach episode in shows or books, and it seemed like the kind of thing Tamsyn Muir would put in in a referential sort of way. And naturally, she never does anything just for a single reason, so obviously it must be for narrative reasons. I think that was my thought process? I made that list in an absolute haze of pre-Nona mental zoomies, so I could not retrace my thinking for most of them if I tried, unfortunately.