#cr2e8

Nott is the most positive but her response seems largely based in optimism and a lack of experience with the empire as a whole. “There must be some nice places here, right?” Like the village they just came from, like Felderwin. It makes perfect sense. Apart from the unfortunate goblin attack, Felderwin seems like a fairly idyllic small town, and while Veth’s childhood certainly wasn’t ideal, it was due to childhood bullies, not government oppression. With little exposure to the rest of the empire, what reason would she have for thinking poorly of it? When she does begin traveling as Nott, any negative treatment she experiences can easily be rationalized and justified by her as an appropriate response to a goblin, and until joining up with the rest of the Nein, she and Caleb spent the majority if their time together in the woods or on the fringes of society, focused more on survival than the problems of an empire. 

While Beau comes from a fairly privileged background of wealth and comfort, she is the most openly negative about the empire, fully in line with her distrust of authority and power. She’s also a bit more worldly than Nott, having traveled for a bit after leaving Zadash, and being more free to move through society as a human. She cynically points out that the further north they travel, the harsher restrictions will become, and while there might be nice things in the north, it’s because that’s where all the money is. But she also doesn’t seem deeply invested in its flaws. She’s only recently been encouraged by Dairon to seek out corruption in systems of power, and at this stage the concept of trying to change her country on such a fundamental level must seem insane. The empire is “kind of lame,” but hey, it is what it is.