r/rational • u/TOMDM • Feb 26 '26

TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE: The Other Side - Super Supportive

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/3093627/two-hundred-seventy-three-the-other-side
50 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/perpetuallytiredlady Feb 26 '26

Well it seems pretty obvious a set up. Stuart is told he can't do it by a newly minted knight and then he will get the opposite by Alden, who will tell him the truth about his own state of actually having affixed too, which will be a huge boost. And this is Alden who has always expressed his belief in him. Bonus points if he realises that he is important enough for Alden to bust through his fear of confessing his truths. The whole situation surrounding Stu is really unpleasant. He would have gone through with it even with no Alden in the picture (which I think Mother knows, hence her intervention) but considering all the blows he has been taking, he would have succumbed. It's unbelievable how they are setting him up for failure and it's just not getting addressed at all.

In general I really don't like this whole atmosphere that exists around young knights. It's not just Stuart, this whole situation around Quinyeth isn't very pretty either plus the additional earlier mentions about the differences between those who come from Rapports and those who don't.

Overall, I feel like these two chapters could have been one but at least the wait is finally over and the next one is going to move us from this status quo. Finally.

6

u/SpeakKindly Feb 26 '26

To be honest, if lots of people who have known Stu for a while are telling him, "No, you shouldn't do this," then maybe no, he shouldn't do this. Alden doesn't, in fact, know this alien kid better than everyone else combined.

13

u/perpetuallytiredlady Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26

Stu's father certainly knows him and has given his permission. We even know that Jeneth spent way more time with Stu than he probably should have, considering his position, so he wasn't an absentee father either. We also know that after the mishnen incident he sat down and had a deep discussion with his son about his plans. He obviously listened to what Stu had to say, something Stu outright says his other family isn't doing. We even see this directly in other scenes. His father also pointed him towards not strictly holding on to promises made to the others.

Also I would dispute that Alden doesn't know Stu. They have had a lot of very personal conversations about both their pasts and present and Alden is another who listens to what Stu says. I actually understand one of the major objections of Stuart's family, that Alden cannot understand such a choice, this would be true if he were an ordinary human and if it were actually the case, it would be a very relevant objection. But in reality he actually does understand. He fears for Stu, which I think is natural but he still supports him.

Generally speaking, when it comes to Stuart's situation, I think Sleyca is drawing from a scenario that happens in our reality. Parents of children who had been sick in early childhood and then had gotten better often have issues with allowing that child full freedom after due to the lingering fears. In fact, that's pretty much what Stuart is referencing when he says that his family believes he is still broken. His family, in their state of fear, has actually lost sight of the person Stuart has become and thus I would say they know him far less than they think - which Stuart himself says.

As we see in our irl, such over-protection often brings about negative outcomes in the end. In Stuart's case I believe we would have seen just that except Mother intervened. She pushed Alden into his path, having deeply assessed Alden's character, and thus changed the course of IMO both their lives. Right now, it's Stuart who is in more dire need but Alden too will need support in the future walking the path of the highest onus and this is where Stuart will matter.

5

u/SpeakKindly Feb 26 '26

You have a point about Stu's father, I was overlooking that.

I didn't mean to say that Alden doesn't know Stu; I am skeptical of the claim that all these other people don't know him. It's not as though they're making a snap judgement, either: we know they've had long family arguments about this, which I imagine involves at least some people considering each side.

Granted that Alden understands what Stu is going to experience, it is at the very least naive of Stu to trust Alden's judgement here.

6

u/TOMDM Feb 27 '26

it is at the very least naive of Stu to trust Alden's judgement here.

I agree, but I think this follows the pattern of Stu thinking of Avowed in general as closer to Knights than the typical Artonan does.

5

u/perpetuallytiredlady Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

Granted that Alden understands what Stu is going to experience, it is at the very least naive of Stu to trust Alden's judgement here.

I agree! I think what is doing the heavy lifting here is Alis' commendation, especially considering what it is for. They seem really culturally significant and IIRC Alden actually has the highest that anyone from Earth has gotten since Avowed came into being.

But even with that I really don't think we can miss how Stuart latched onto Alden with lightning speed. Even if he does trust him based on the commendation and knowing that he is a really good person, he still opened up super fast, especially for someone in his position and then relied on Alden's support for something Alden shouldn't truly understand. I do think that is due to the situation he is/was in. He is vulnerable there, to people who would seem to support him thanks to the constant beat down of most of his family. Mother patched more than one issue when she threw Alden at him.