Guess what’s fun? Playing games is fun. I don’t think Yantzey is too happy with games, which is such a shame. He’s delightful to play with, even if he keeps trying to get out of it. I hope he doesn’t think I’ll actually let him go before he figures out the puzzle. If he does, he’s not as sharp as I expected. It’s been far too long since I felt like anything at all. I don’t want to pull myself back just because he made himself some unrealistic timeline for getting his work done. He over planned his day, anyways. Did he really think getting everything done in the least amount of time was a good idea? I won’t fit things to his timetable. Not when he’s going to run around and be stupid like this.
He did mention me underestimating him, but, you know? He doesn’t seem to be solving this puzzle very well. I left him at least three very usable ways to get out of here, but he hasn’t taken steps towards any of them. He hasn’t resorted to violence, but he also hasn’t gone and tried to talk to Astar. It’s like he doesn’t see the parameters of my test at all.
Are my tests out of style these days? I hope not, because this is far more fun than other tests I’ve seen. I didn’t even plan it out until he tried talking to Astar earlier. What a horrible attempt that was! I might have cringed when I heard that last line of his. What was it? “I’m sure you think you have better things to do.” What a thing to say! I figure Yantzey thought it was polite enough, but, the words, oh, the words. They were just so condescending. Even if it was accidental, it was a bit painful to hear.
Astar could be hard to talk to. The years had not made him any more social than when I’d known him in the past. I can see why a lot of people don’t like my friend. Still, I figured Yantzey would be better at talking to his friend than this. Maybe ask a little bit about him or try to get to know what his deal was. I hoped he could get some kind of interaction between them, and maybe get them talking about artifacts and what would be useful to help in this whole protection scheme. It made the actual results all the more disappointing.
I thought about his conversations with the king and the acts of violence and kindness he’d seen him do. It was safest to imagine the king as on-par with Astar as far as interactions went. I don’t feel right allowing Yantzey to visit the king when he’d made such a poor impression with my friend. That’s what the puzzle was about. Could he manage to improve Astar’s opinion of him enough for the artificer to lend him a hand? So far, the answer is a resounding ‘no,’ but I’m not about to write Yantzey off so quickly. He was a smart man, even if he had little patience. Maybe he’d come up with a solution before the day was over. I sure doesn’t mind having the human in my shop for a while. I really am enjoying the game.