the Lucent Tales book is lovely and full of insight, but I particularly like the third story because

the Lucent Tales book is lovely and full of insight, but I particularly like the third story because it offers some (super cool) information on the origins of the adorable moths, as told through the research notes of Krill, ghost to Ubartu-ana. magiscience aside, there is a lot to unpack here. Ubartu-ana is clearly an ass, but Krill themself is not exactly a fan of the Hive either - at the very least not of their Hive. is this because of their lightbearer’s cruelty upon being rezzed? how many doubts did Krill have? did they give in to peer pressure, did they hear an unexplainable call to choose this person in particular? what shape do their regrets take? how does it feel, to wait for so long and have their hope so simply crushed? do they, too, consider the proto-Hive “weak pests”, do they echo Ubartu-ana’s sentiments upon meeting him, or do they still see some merit in the Hive they might’ve perhaps seen when they made their choice? is their research merely scientific curiousity or do they hope to heal the ailments of Ubartu-ana’s patients? all of these? none? is the final line, of their name - Krill - being poetic in that everything of value about Ubartu-ana came from his ghost, a clue to their original opinion, or a cruel little joke of Krill’s own?

it is all very beautiful and very sad and I wish we could hear more from Krill themself, but the saddest part is that in search for week one’s moth in the quagmire cave we must defeat a wizard and kill their ghost, and that wizard is Ubartu-ana.