#i have several wips where i address the bias against witches in character moments and general worldbuilding connected to that

[darkpoisonouslove]

That's pretty much why I included this. I know that canon doesn't really show Oritel as biased against witches but canon as a whole has witch-phobic undertones that are never addressed and, frankly, out of the Company of Light I feel like Oritel is the most likely to fall into that mindset. Griffin joining the Company really was the perfect opportunity to explore the situation with how witches are treated in general in nuanced ways because, on the one hand, Griffin does represent everything witches are criticized for, but on the other, her being allowed to join the Company, made a difference, not just for her but for the universe at large considering her work as CT's headmistress. (Honestly, I am doubtful that the Council would have allowed Valtor's ex partner, even if redeemed, to take one of the highest positions in witch society and as a whole, considering the anti-witch vibes the society is giving; that part doesn't make sense to me and is imo one of several problems of adding the Company backstory retroactively but I digress).

How was the relationship between Marion and Griffin? I can see that Oritel has a lot of prejudices against her because of the things she did and her relationship with Valtor. But idk about Marion. I can see her be carefull with her but also that she could see how much it take from Griffin to really leave him.

Yeah, that's a pretty good summary.

Marion being wary and cautious makes perfect sense at first. After all, Griffin has tried to kill her and the people she cares about many times. Not to mention that Griffin's sudden defection from the Coven is... suspicious to say the least. It could be a trap. Valtor could have sent her to do recon. And Marion has an entire planet to look after, not to mention her own family. She can't afford mistakes. But that is what also makes her more open to the possibility of Griffin's cooperation. She prefers to let Griffin's crimes slide if that will give her better chances of protecting her people. Oritel, meanwhile, is firmly set on the idea that Griffin needs to face consequences for her actions. He's the less flexible one between him and Marion and he cares more about keeping the person that attempted to harm/kill his family away from said family than he does about the uses of working with Griffin. He's convinced that without her by Valtor's side, they'd have an easier time defeating him anyway.

I also like the idea that Marion and Griffin have the best understanding between them about how they view magic - in general and their own - out of all the CoL members. Hagen and Oritel are depicted more as warriors than as wizards, Saladin frankly hasn't had enough screen time to show much of either but considering that he's the headmaster of RF, I'd say that he relies both on magic and non-magical battle skills at least equally, and Faragonda used to be a witch and then switched to being a fairy, which has probably left her with certain feelings to deal with when it comes to her magic. But to Marion and Griffin their magic essentially dictates their lifestyle and I think that would be a very handy bonding point. Actually, it will probably be something that muscles them into bonding whether they want it or not but the important thing is that it would help them find common language whereas Griffin's magic would probably be part of the problem for Oritel (in the sense that her crimes were instigated by her strong connection to her magic; not in the sense that dark magic is universally evil (although there could possibly be a little bit of that as well)).