>>3747
Now this is so much better than >The conversation went downhill from there.

Now you can see the influences of the various people - setting up as an introduction to either further actions after Betty's sticky end or a more expansive amount of local politics. Also, showing what caused the fight and how it developed made the end so much more reasonable than presenting it as a conclusion.

The contrast of hot and cold continues to make an interesting interplay. If anything significant happens during the grounding, it will be interesting to see it. If not, it might be best folding the entirety of it into that same chapter - although Meris should make some kind of significant impression, if only in her absence.

I feel like I might be suggesting too much at this point, so I'll stop.