Startling Stories #34, Spring 2021
“Cradle of the Deep” by Mike Chinn
“Invasion of the Deadly Brain from Alpha-IX” by Scott Emerson
“Evidence of the Mirror” by Herb Kauderer
“Mothership,” by Stephen Persing
“Hazthrog’s Contempt” by Maxwell I. Gold
“Payload” by M. Stern
“New Life” by Mark Slade
“Red Dragon” by Shadrick Beechem
“Snack Time” by Franklyn Searight
“Amiri” by Nicole Givens Kurtz
“Sticks and Stones” by John B. Rosenman
“T. Gips and the Time Flies” by Ahmed A. Khan
“The Angry Planet” by Dj Tyrer
“The Heart of a Hitman,” by Rie Sheridan Rose
“The Kidnapped Prince” by Cynthia Ward
“The Outpost, Outside” by Larry Hinkle
“The Vaults of Ban-erach” by Steve Dilks
“Totality” by Andre E. Harewood
“Triplet Cross” by Patrick S. Baker
“Sea Bound-1” by Eddie D. Moore
“Defiant, Deviant, Devoid of Soul” by Russell Hemmell
“The Blood Red Sky Of Mars” by Adrian Cole
“Sunrise on Mercury” by Robert Silverberg (reprint, not reviewed)
Reviewed by Tara Grímravn
One of the original grand dames of pulp fiction, Startling Stories was published by Standard Magazines from 1939 to 1955. By the end of its run, it had become a major influence in SF genre fiction. This issue marks a second attempt at reviving the magazine. In it are 24 original stories. Some follow the pulp style of the 1940s and 50s, while others have a more modern flair.
“Cradle Of The Deep” by Mike Chinn
It’s 1936, and the U.S. Navy has a new toy—a submarine that’s not only bigger than any other, it can also dive deeper. During a test run around the Chesapeake Bay at Norfolk, Virginia, Captain Bannon and his men successfully take the sub down to four hundred fifty feet. The test dive is interrupted, however, as something large grabs the submarine, only to release it after a few tense moments. A few days later, he finds himself in the sitting room of Damian Paladin, a man well-known for adventurous exploits. As it turns out, the sub didn’t return to the naval base alone, and the military wants Paladin to figure out what came back with it.
I have to say, Chinn’s got a knack for description. I’ve never been in a submarine, but his description of the sounds it made while diving, all the small details included, made me feel like I was there. It made the apprehension over all the things that could potentially go wrong that much more palpable. In terms of setting, the banter between the characters and their manner of speaking really helps take the reader back to the pulp fiction of the 1930s. This story is definitely worth a read.
“Invasion Of The Deadly Brain From Alpha-IX” by Scott Emerson
When Sherrif Farley Ketchum received the strange call from Hiram over at the Odgendale General Store, he figured it was probably some kind of robbery taking place. Imagine his surprise when he and Deputy Jed Miller arrive at the store to find a smoking pile of human bones and talking bull.
This is a fun story. One must set aside a bit of logic to fully appreciate it (how would a bull have the anatomy for human speech, for example), but once that’s pushed to the side, it’s quite entertaining. It’s like something straight out of the 1950s, like Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, only with stronger Creepshow vibes.
“Evidence Of The Mirror” by Herb Kauderer
Kenneth Williamson is stationed somewhere in space, his job to monitor the cryogenics maintenance schedule and make sure everything goes as planned. He’s the only human there and, though he has access to social media and other forms of entertainment, it takes weeks for the updates to show up on either end. As might be expected, he’s completely bored. Little does he know, however, that he’s also being monitored.
I’m not certain what to think of this story. On one hand, the premise is intriguing, and it does a fantastic job of keeping the twist hidden till the end. I just wish it was a bit clearer on what’s going on, especially since the twist sort of contradicts certain elements at the beginning. Now, one could say that’s the purpose of the red herring the story throws at us but, given the ending, there are just certain logical fails within the narrative that I can’t reconcile. For example, the computer’s role is relatively straightforward. It’s not capable of deception in the way Kenneth is since we see its exact thought processes. This isn’t a problem until the twist is revealed. We know from the beginning that there are several people awaiting treatment on the ship—the computer tells us this. How is it that it’s never mentioned that any of them are moving about? It only mentions vague updates to their individual treatments, a notion which Kenneth himself reinforces when he tells us that these people have been frozen until cures for their illnesses can be found. The time stamps on each of Kenneth’s journal entries (though exactly how they track time isn’t revealed until the very end, so they end up being rather superfluous for the vast majority of the story) lead you to believe he is genuinely the only one awake. Are we then to conclude based on the last few paragraphs that the gaps in time are simply because those are the only points at which he’s allowed to be awake? For me, the storyline just has too many holes.
“Mothership” by Stephen Persing
Dr. Helen N’Kembe has a reputation as humanity’s great-grandmother, exploring the universe ahead of those eager to colonize it. Her nature documentaries have made her name a household word throughout multiple galaxies. Today, she’s documenting a school of space-faring creatures with some exceptional abilities.
While I like the premise of this story, it’s just not a winner for me. In terms of writing, some things, like the phrase “barely were the words out of (insert character name’s) mouth,” appear frequently enough to make the reading feel off. Then there’s the issue that neither Helen nor Rawley are convincingly worried about the danger they are in. I’d go so far as to say they aren’t concerned whatsoever. The problem with that is, no matter how many times one has been in a close call, there should still be some fear. Even heroes are afraid. The fact that they still act despite their fear is what makes them heroes. Helen and Rawley are still human, yet despite what’s happening, they really don’t have much of a reaction aside from being concerned about filming. As a result, I don’t feel any kind of connection to them. And that’s really what makes a good story—the connection the reader feels. Without it, it’s just a string of events. Overall, while the concept is lovely, the feeling just isn’t there.
“Hazthrog’s Contempt” by Maxwell I. Gold
A neutron star dies, and its death throes jettison a meteor to Earth. Unfortunately, for those alive to see its arrival, this piece of stardust is nothing more than a harbinger of doom.
This very short piece of flash fiction has a few The King in Yellow and other Lovecraftian-style influences running through it. Frankly, it’s a bit too short for the subject matter. The narrator, presumably a human, somehow knew of Hazthrog in advance. How? If they were a worshipper of this thing or had it been established that they were a soothsayer of sorts, I might believe that they had some foreknowledge or knew of its name. I suppose that, perhaps since it drives people mad, that the name is revealed via insanity, but that’s not established anywhere in the narrative. The admonition to survivors at the end also makes little sense. If the planet is the tomb “sealed to the black voids,” who would survive to open it? And if they had survived, wouldn’t they already be sealed inside it? The same applies to anyone reading this testament—even if they’d come from another world, they’d already be inside the tomb, already on the planet, so the warning would be a bit useless. Unfortunately, for such a short piece, there are just too many logic fails within it for my taste.
“Payload” by M. Stern
Author Patricia Woden is holding a press conference. Despite her millions of fans, she’s been labeled a computer killer after creating malware that turned every infected machine into nothing more than an e-reader that displayed only her book, shutting down banks, businesses, and damaging millions of dollars’ worth of personal computers and devices. In the audience, Dr. Otto Pung watches and waits for his chance to ask her a question—one that will ensure his mark on history from here on.
An intriguing premise, this. Told from multiple viewpoints, we get to see how each step in Otto’s bid for immortality plays out. The story gets under one’s skin—no pun intended—and puts the reader a bit on edge. I have to admit to greatly disliking Woden at first (a strong emotional reaction to a character is always one hallmark of a successful story), before getting to see what Otto’s plan actually was and transferring my dislike to him. Very well done, this tale.
“New Life” by Mark Slade
Steve is stationed on Mars working on building houses for the New Colony. One day, as he and his co-worker, Tanner, are cutting down trees for lumber, they find a triangular object with strange writing on it. When their shift ends, Tanner stuffs it in his backpack as Steve tries to stop him—this would be considered theft by their employer, Scurver Company, and would mean big trouble for both of them. Strangely, the object appears to have cast some sort of spell over Tanner, who threatens his friend before storming off. A few days later, a company investigator shows up at his door asking about Tanner, who hasn’t been seen in days.
The premise of this story is fantastic. I quite like the idea of an alien object that exerts some form of power over those who find it. It’s not necessarily all that innovative, but is rife with possibility. Unfortunately, this story’s execution falls horribly flat. The dialogue is atrocious; it’s very badly written and not remotely believable. As for the rest, it just isn’t well-structured or thought out. Why, for example, do we spend the first three paragraphs getting to know Tanner, only to suddenly discover he’s not the protagonist, and we’re just being given an unnecessary info dump by Steve? Those details could have been introduced much more skillfully had they been sprinkled through the story or revealed during conversation, which would have been a great opportunity to develop Steve and Tanner both as characters. Also, what is a triangular cube? That’s a geometric impossibility, considering a cube is literally a hexahedron (a symmetrical three-dimensional shape contained by six equal squares). Additionally, there are numerous plot holes, including the ending, and the characterization all around is poorly done. This one just does not do it for me.
“Red Dragon” by Shadrick Beechem
Lana and Mitch are salvagers, scouring the solar system for dead ships that are sometimes hundreds of years old. It’s a dirty job. While these abandoned vessels are veritable gold mines that’ll bring them plenty of cash, they’re also often filled with the remains of those who once piloted them. Today, the pair have boarded a Russian vessel that must have been lost in space for over a century, and it’s very clear that something isn’t right.
Beecham’s story is an enjoyable blend of SF and horror. It’s rather short and fast-paced, but holds your attention to the end, which is absolutely horrifying. This story is worth a read.
“Snack Time” by Franklyn Searight
Michael Duffy has just arrived in Birmingham, Michigan from Chicago. Shortly after getting off the train, he meets a trio of orphaned children before heading to his accommodations for the evening. Over the next few days, he encounters them a few more times. While they appear to be just average children, Michael can’t shake the feeling that there’s something odd about these kids and the others they mention during conversation. He has no idea just how odd.
I quite like Searight’s story. Its ending is satisfactorily horrific, and the true nature of the children is kept well-hidden until the very end. It certainly doesn’t end the way I expected. It’s most definitely worth a reader’s time.
“Amiri” by Nicole Givens Kurtz
A former Candidate forced to give birth for other families, Aurora wakes from a nightmare next to her son. Her scream wakes the infant, and she quickly realizes they’re not alone—her former lover, the child’s estranged father, is in the room with them.
The fact that one of the characters is named Bain sort of took the wind out of my sails as I read. I just couldn’t separate Kurtz’s character from the Batman supervillain in my mind. That aside, I’m not very impressed with this story. I think it’s got the bones to be something great, but I feel like there should be more. There isn’t a climax or rise in the action to speak of (the flashback doesn’t count as a climax as far as I’m concerned, especially since its main purpose is to orient us in Aurora’s life, and neither does Bain’s arrival). All-in-all, this is just a single, rather mundane scene in a strange world that doesn’t feel all that well established.
“Sticks And Stones” by John B. Rosenman
Chang’s friend, Rizan, sits in a prison cell for murdering an ex-councilman. Rizan’s people, the Brynn, are staunch pacifists, and Chang can’t figure out what could have possibly driven him to kill. Who cares if the man insulted Rizan’s ancestors? That’s no reason to commit murder, right?
In terms of characters, I quite like Rizan. Chang, on the other hand, is a fail—which is disappointing. His reaction to everything seems so far over the top or out of place, like his reaction to the spider. For a human, he doesn’t feel human. The wording throughout the story is incredibly awkward, and the arrival of the spider in the cell feels far too contrived as if it’s just to make Rizan’s point, even if it is revisited at the end. Chang’s inability to understand Rizan’s reason for the murder is also faulty—which is unfortunate, as the story’s entire premise revolves around Chang’s perceptions of his friend’s actions, not the actions themselves. I mean, as a reader, I understand why he did it, especially considering Rizan’s culture, so it makes no sense that Chang can’t wrap his head around it, and the “sticks and stones” rhyme really doesn’t seem applicable here. Honestly, it’s not applicable in any situation outside of an elementary school playground. In modern-day life, desecrating a grave carries legal consequences, and the family of the deceased would be understandably livid. Why would this cultural nuance of the Brynn be beyond Chang’s human comprehension, especially considering that humans, who have moved well beyond Earth in this story, would have to have come to grips with the many cultural differences between humans and alien species? It doesn’t make sense, and neither did the ending.
“T. Gips And The Time Flies” by Ahmed A. Khan
Once known as The Great Problem Solver (TGPS), our protagonist now just goes by T. Gips. After his latest gig helping the people on planet Sisimak, he was about to return to his homeworld when an S.O.S. from Space Colony #203 forced him to reluctantly alter his course. Now, he finds himself on a planet plagued by flies that transport anything they touch forward in time, and the scientists in charge expect him to deal with it.
The writing in this piece is just okay, but the dialogue is not great. As for the plot and storyline, I’m confused on several points. First off, if the flies transport things forward in time and are untouchable, how were they being kept in a stasis chamber before the breakout? Beyond that, how is there even a planet left? If bits of the table and walls disappear into the future, wouldn’t the flies do the same to trees, rocks, and everything else in their environment? Even if one was to argue that that piece of tree would still be in the same place in the future, therefore essentially leaving the planet intact, then why are dents and holes appearing in walls and tables in the lab? How far in the future are we talking, here? Second, how were they put into the stasis chamber, to begin with? If they were captured and placed there by current laboratory staff, why do they need Gips’s help to do it again? This brings us to the ending, which is nothing more than an attempt at the worst “dad joke” ever. It’s neither funny nor clever, amounting to little more than an incredibly lazy way of solving Gips’ dilemma and leaving the reader feeling rather cheated.
“The Angry Planet” by Dj Tyrer
Commander Vinn Mazell has answered a distress call coming from Planet XC-23, also known as Red Eden. After arrival, his ship couldn’t tell him too much—the world was 30% terraformed, and he would only need a breathing mask on the surface. Once landed, Vinn sets out to find the colonists. Unfortunately, his ship’s computer reports that the colony’s mainframe has been severely damaged, it can’t locate anyone. A quick survey of the buildings tells Vinn that some sort of violence had broken out. There were even unfinished drinks in some of them as if the person drinking had just stepped out for a moment. Yet, everything was eerily silent. Where is everyone?
Tyler’s story has a lot of promise. Although it would be nice to know just who Vinn, apparently a commander of something called Z Patrol, is much earlier in the story so the reader understands that he’s not some random guy who decides to play hero from the start, for the most part, the story itself is intriguing. The main downfall is the dialogue. Now, admittedly, dialogue is one of the hardest aspects of writing to get right. Vinn’s conversations with the ship’s computer, Siri, are fine, but once Vinn meets Carolyn, the dialogue and the story start to fall apart. The events leading up to the climax don’t make a lot of logical sense, such as how Carolyn got to the maw in the first place. For me, the main reason for this is that the story moves too fast. There’s a lot to unpack here, and the narrative skips over some rather important bits that the reader needs to follow the story properly.
“The Heart Of A Hitman” by Rie Sheridan Rose
Flannery Quinn is a hitman working for the government’s Board of Rule. Tonight, he’s been sent deep into London to kill a low-ranking federal worker who made the mistake of voicing his discontent with government policies a little too loudly. As Flannery closes in on his quarry, he philosophizes about why he continues to do a job for which he doesn’t really care.
Rose’s story is an engaging read. I quite liked it. Flannery is a great character, and I love how we get to examine his conscience with him as he makes his way to the latest target. He’s flawed despite the tech used to give him an enormous edge as an assassin, and it makes him believable and quite likable. The technology and setting are well described, making it easy to get lost in the narrative, which is itself really well-done. The pacing is fast with enough action to hold the reader’s interest. Great story!
“The Kidnapped Prince” by Cynthia Ward
Leigh Silence sits in a bar, closely watching a conspicuous new arrival wearing a veil in a poor attempt to conceal their identity. Clearly, this person is here for her. She decides to approach the newcomer and reveals that she is aware of who they are. The two sit down to talk, and Silence deduces that this Sarkanarr Secondborn, Ait, is looking for someone to help rescue a kidnapped brother.
The writing in this story is pretentiously complicated with awkward sentences and wording. It’s also incredibly repetitive and unimaginative. For example, quite literally every paragraph on the first page references the protagonist, Silence, as “the ice-eyed woman” (plus one or two occurrences of a variant thereof) without giving us her name until she reveals it in conversation with Ait on page two. There’s no reason for this whatsoever. Neither the repetition nor the withholding of her name make Silence more mysterious. Having “ice-colored eyes” isn’t a personality or character trait; it’s a phenotype. It doesn’t add to her characterization, and it certainly doesn’t add to the tension—it detracts from it.
The dialogue between Ait and Silence while in the bar serves no real purpose. It’s just an info dump disguised as dialogue—and not a very interesting info dump at that. Silence also seems to have very little, if any, inner dialogue. We never get to know her or see what’s happening from her perspective. There’s no emotional component to her, making her seem hollow and cardboard. She does not feel like a real person. We do, however, get a lot of expositional paragraphs dumping more information into the story at convenient times in an attempt to explain some cultural or environmental aspect of the world or even Silence’s past, but it’s not skillfully or engagingly done at all, making the reading tedious and boring.
“The Outpost, Outside” by Larry Hinkle
Erik’s younger brother, Doug, works for a government organization researching a virus outbreak in Sector Five. Several of the brightest scientific minds have been gathered at this remote secret outpost to collaborate on a confidential mission. Now, they just need someone to protect them in case things go wrong. And that’s where Erik comes in; he’s been recruited to play bodyguard for his brother’s bunch of lab coats. So far, everything has been quiet—until today, that is.
Frankly, this is a great start to a story. It’s well-written, the dialogue is good. The brotherly antagonism between Erik and Doug is believable. I like the reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey and the way it feels like a combination of The Crazies and a zombie film. The problem is that it just kind of ends just as the climax starts to develop. Cliffhanger endings leave the audience wanting more, and that certainly happens here—I want to know what happens to Erik because I became invested in him—but the story doesn’t feel finished. Cliffhangers are great to keep the reader interested, which is why they’re fantastic for ending chapters or even stories that span multiple volumes (as in a series or trilogy). But it only really works if the story is going to continue and the reader gets some form of satisfaction eventually and, being a short story and not an installment, that’s unlikely here. Otherwise, it just reads as if the story took the lazy way out by requiring the reader to do the writer’s job, which is exactly what this story does.
“The Vaults Of Ban-erach” by Steve Dilks
Matt Randall is on the run from the Zuethii nomads. Once their leader, he is now a hunted exile. Fleeing across the desert, he stumbles across a magnificent ruined city half-buried in the sand. As he makes his way through the streets, a predatory beast kills his mount and sends him running into the ruins to escape. By sheer luck, Matt finds a door into one of the pyramids. As he steps inside and wanders down the corridor, he realizes that these aren’t ordinary ruins.
Again, Dilks’ story starts strong, but the main problem is in the details. Matt’s identity and the reason for his presence on this planet aren’t established until far too late in the story. This should have been covered as soon as we learn he was the former leader of the Zuethii and is on the run, especially since his name, Matt Randall, is so horrendously incongruous with the name of the nomad group. There’s no reason we had to wait to find out that he’s an off-worlder until much too late in the story. The romantic connection with Nuri feels like an ill-conceived afterthought, and she’s introduced at the weirdest point. Why wait till they return to the pyramid near the end? Why not introduce her when Vallitch first shows up if the romance aspect was that important? Character development on any of these characters is sorely lacking. Frankly, every detail, every reveal, every relationship, etc. is poorly planned and ill-timed, making this story frustrating to read.
“Totality” by Andre E. Harewood
On July 1st, 2017, passenger 12C, Corrine Cohen, was aboard XNX Flight 246 when it disappeared over the Caribbean Sea. Her plane reappeared today, exactly 20 years later to the day, and now Corrine, not a day older than when she first boarded the flight, finds herself in a counselor’s office. The life she knew is gone, her parents passed. Now she must figure out how to live with the future.
Harewood’s tale makes the reader think a little. What would we do if suddenly we found ourselves in the future? Not a century ahead, not a few hundred years, but only twenty—enough for things to change but not enough for one’s old life to be completely wiped away. How difficult would it be to start over then? That’s exactly what Harewood examines in this story. It’s definitely worth a read.
“Triplet Cross” by Patrick S. Baker
Lancelot MacLeod is a private investigator. He’s just taken on a case brought to him by two identical twins. Their sister hadn’t come home as expected, and they’re sure something is wrong. When he starts his investigation, however, it becomes clear that he might be in a little over his head.
I do not like Baker’s story. I normally enjoy pulp-style stories, and I have watched my share of 1940s detective movies. I quite like the lyrical and exaggerated similes and manner of dialogue that is characteristic of this genre. But, while I understand that this is supposed to be written as an homage to Raymond Chandler, I find it to be lacking in execution. The narrative isn’t all that interesting, and I don’t care for any of the characters. Frankly, it bored me.
“Sea Bound-1” by Eddie D. Moore
On a new planet somewhere in the galaxy, Patients is working security for a detachment of scientists aboard Sea Bound-1, a floating research station dropped from the orbiting spaceship, Orbital-1. Their mission is to determine why no large creatures are swimming in the planet’s enormous oceans. Shortly after Sea Bound-1 makes splashdown, however, things go terribly wrong.
For the most part, Moore’s story is decent, but it does have a few issues. To start with, it’s a little hard to follow some of the action. For example, there’s a scene where Patients and Gillerson are in the kitchen area of the station. At first glance, it’s unclear who is getting into the cupboards. The first sentence in that paragraph would make it appear that Gillerson is doing it, but it’s actually Patients. The dialogue after this paragraph clarifies it, but it’s confusing at first. And there are a few instances of this throughout the story. The biggest issue, though, is that there’s very little worldbuilding. A little more information on where we are, how the planet was found, why the scientists’ are interested in this particular problem, etc., would have made this story pop. The reader also isn’t given a solid opportunity or reason to care about the characters or their chances for survival, which is unfortunate.
“Defiant, Deviant, Devoid Of Soul” by Russell Hemmell
Heloim finds her classmate, Treuwan, in the library, his nose buried in ancient texts. She’s never seen a book before. Students are educated via technological means these days. She asks him why he’s bothering with such obsolete objects, to which he replies that certain knowledge can only be found in books, and this library contains the entire history of the human race after leaving Earth some 15,000 years ago. In an attempt to get him to warm up to her, Heloim decides to spend time with him by grabbing a book and reading it herself, a skill her father insisted she learn as a child. One day, she realizes that over 700 years of human history have been omitted from the library. Treuwan decides to find out what’s missing and why, even though his family is part of the Inquisition, a ruling party that strictly polices this kind of information.
While I love the premise of Hemmell’s story, the writing ruins it. The sentences are structured very strangely, including the dialogue, which includes Heloim’s inner dialogue. For example, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, at the very end, Heloim’s inner dialogue tells us, “I’ll keep your soul safe until I’m ready to join your fight, Treuwan.” Treuwan is not dead, so what is she talking about? The story doesn’t do a very good job of orienting the reader in the world. The relationship between Heloim and Treuwan, for example, isn’t clear at all in the beginning. When Heloim first appears, she talks to him as though she’s his teacher, but it’s revealed a page later that she’s a classmate. It’s also not clear why she seeks him out in the first place. If he’s aloof and doesn’t really “hang out” with the other students, why is she suddenly interested in him? Then, we come to the description of the Amuryan race (any human that had not been genetically enhanced, and thus are all short, ugly, and dark-haired). It makes little sense, considering the variety of phenotypic traits found among modern humans. If modern-day humans run the gamut from tall to short, ugly to beautiful, and with a wide variety of skin and hair colors, why are humans that haven’t undergone any genetic modifications all the same? This is further complicated by the fact that they never actually encounter any Amuryans, so I’m not at all sure why this detail is important. There’s an interesting message about racism and oppression here, but it’s buried beneath a poorly executed narrative.
“The Blood Red Sky Of Mars” by Adrian Cole
Arrul Voruum is on Mars for witchfinder training with another classmate, Kaarri. The Dream Lords, powerful humans with amazing psychic powers who once ruled the galaxy, have been hunted to extinction after aligning themselves with the nightmare god, as have most others who show similar skills. Both Arrul and Kaarri have some form of psychic ability, just to a lesser degree. Today, their test is to make it past the retinue of soldiers and steal the target item from the inner sanctum, then make it back out. The problem is that neither of them can sense the minds of the soldiers that should be waiting for them. Instead, someone else is here—someone whose psychic ability makes their mind impenetrable to Arrul and Kaarri; someone whose presence puts them in incredible danger.
Cole’s story is built upon a very interesting premise. Overall, it’s a decent story, though it does have its issues. The dialogue is too stiff for my taste, and all the characters have the exact same voice (even the aliens), and the action isn’t as well written as it should be—it feels as though we’re being “told” more than we’re being “shown.” The romance aspect between Arrul and Kaarri revealed at the end seems a strange thing to throw in at that point without any prior hints, although I suppose that could explain why Arrul constantly feels the need to “lock fingers” with her whenever they have to use their abilities. Either way, it is a good story to end on.