the casteslums were basically all about compassion. with all of the hardship they faced, the residents were basically like the equivalent of a giant family. we were tightly-knit, and loyal to the bone, and it was that unusual kindness to one another that gave me such an unrealistically idealized view on alternia.

perhaps the biggest hardship of all that we faced was the whole lusus raising thing. the casteslums were full of bronzebloods, and it was that fact that made the empress assign the casteslums the duty of caring for and raising infant lusii. of course, parhac isn't a bronzeblood, so why did he have to raise the lusii too?

well, here's the thing: for every ten great and talented psionics, there is going to be a psionic that is just absolutely shit at using their powers. and in this case, parhac was the psionic in question.

parhac was just so terrible at doing anything good with his psychic abilities that he was essentially assigned the role of a lusus caretaker by default. even if spending time with lusii in my early days was fun and all, i cant imagine how isolating it must have been for him to have to deal with that, being so useless in your own caste that you're forced to take the role of another...

oh, who am i kidding? im fucking nepeta. of course i know a thing or two about isolation. i can imagine that easily.