To +1 this (and defend Suvi one last time, since there are loaded questions in the Fireside bucket about this and I plan on ignoring them) - it's one thing to tell Steel "your help takes too long, so thank you but we're just gonna dip" and another to lie & waste her time as war spins back up.
Be in the North Pole in 2.5 days for the conclave: solved by Citadel provision (and you can say whatever you want about Sly, he's a Citadel wizard that used Citadel funding to provide the teleportation plate to Ame)
Have Suvi with her as an advisor & counselor: solved by Suvi's consent (which is also a Citadel provision, because she is who she is)
Have Eursulon with her (not a win condition, according to the prophecy): solved by Eursulon's consent
Visit her sanctum before the conclave (again, not a win condition): the only thing without a clear path, and the only thing Ame needs help with, hence going to Steel
So Steel already gave the go-ahead for leaving to Ame in her sanctum the night before (she just says it will be hard to use the Citadel's transport to get to Toma safely) so Ame's feelings of the Citadel actively trapping her is based on Ame's/the fox's vibes alone (again, the prophecy states that only Suvi would fail to receive permission to attend, and because it never specifies from whom, it is more likely in Suvi's mind that that meant the witches actively plotting to kill Ame and not the Citadel that has only helped her in her time with them, and even so Suvi ignores her Citadel bias when Ame asks and states it could reference anyone,) and therefore should have been explicitly stated so Suvi would know (and understand that Ame believes Steel is actively lying to her to detain them.)
Instead, Ame explains nothing of her thoughts/feelings/plans to Suvi, lies to Steel about waiting, and lies to Suvi about the fox (which Suvi catches and calls out.) Then, when she wordlessly power-walks away in Xiao Court and Suvi grabs her, Ame's curse-flash makes Suvi "magically aware that Ame can punish you for that [grab] 100 years from now.” After which she AGAIN refuses to communicate and storms off.
What time crunch precludes the minute it would take to catch up your friend and maintain one of your 2 needs? Because that's the truth of it: from Suvi's viewpoint, all of Ame's actions actively prevent Suvi from acting as an advisor or counselor so the 2nd condition of the prophecy is already failed.
And even with that, Suvi sending the guards to bring them back to her (which isn't having them arrested and doesn't risk Eursulon getting be-paintinged until he decides to drop his illusion later) isn't an indication that she's no longer planning to leave the Citadel - she just sees the signs of Quest Fever (i.e.: walking quickly/purposefully and refusing communication to the point of retaliation, which has just happened for the second time in the Citadel) and cannot trust them in that mode because it means action at any cost.
So she uses her trump card. And it doesn't work. And they prove her right, blowing up a transport hub and nearly killing 4 people so Ame might achieve her want of stopping by her sanctum before the conclave. And with Eursulon blowing his cover too, neither of them can return safely or openly to the Citadel, so they've now forced Suvi into a position where her friends and every other facet of her life are mutually exclusive.
Yes, Suvi has seen flaws in her home (the Cassov[sp?] Collection, the treatment of artificers) up close over this arc, but she's also seen flaws in her friends (who routinely ignore caution & consequence when they want something badly enough, and physically & magically retaliate when Suvi tries break through their silence in those moments) and has no reason to throw over either for the other, and both have demanded unquestioning compliance from her on occasion.
Ame's opinion of wizards (based on her actions) is what people think Suvi's opinion of spirits is: bad/untrustworthy overall with a couple exceptions, and fine to harm if there's something to be gained in doing so. Even her familiar spent her month-long coma terrorizing the wizards healing and caring for Ame, and if that's not symbolic I don't know what is.
Even if you consider a witch and a spirit above the laws of the empire, what of the laws of hospitality? Of treating a friend's home and family with respect? But of course Suvi remains the villain, and her action cast as one of petty retribution to a slight against her imperial ego.
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
dededos
annaxmalina
