Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

THANK you for this response! I just LOVE how we are all so endlessly, eternally inspired by each other's perspectives and observations. The Sophos-Irene relationship is just SO SO SO ...... ___ AUGH I can't even find the right word but it's SO PRECIOUS to me. The platonic relationships all across the Queen's Thief are almost as rich and addictive and FEELS provoking as the romantic ones. It is such a powerful example of how Sophos is straight up afraid of Irene and his palpable fear of her prevents him from seeing anything beyond what is on the surface. Watching them together speaks to me of how a persons' fear of ANYTHING completely blinds them to the bigger picture and love that is all around. In the same way Irene has been so afraid for herself all her life that she was completely unable to receive Relius's and Teleus's love for her the entire time. And the people of Attolia LOVE and support her! One thing I adored about TAT is that it is clearly stated that the actual citizens of Attolia love their "savage queen." This is different from "The Five Languages of Love" and yet that work is coming up as similar-- Sophos "needs" Helen's direct openness and warmth to feel safe and loved and there is simply a part of Irene that expresses her love in a different way that Helen and Sophos do and that doesn't make it any less real.