I LOVED the way religion, faith, and love were depicted here. I love how Narcissa is able to make the connection between her spiritual joy and her son's emotional joy. I admittedly had to skim the part where Narcissa watched them have sex, because even though she was commentating in a very disinterested way it still squicked me a little bit, but the way she carefully watched their expressions for a hint of a slip and found only trust, love, and exhaltation was lovely. The shadows sound beautiful and fascinating and I can see why Narcissa was so obsessed with preserving them. I also really loved that the answer to her problem was faith in the shadows, which was a pretty neat use of that religious trope. And a neat nod to Astoria Greengrass too.

Lovely!