Book completed

Paladin's Strength, by T. Kingfisher. Second in its series. In the first book, we meet a small group of "broken" paladins - their god has died, and because they've spent their lives as berserkers in his service, they are experiencing PTSD, in a variety of forms. One of the paladins in the first book, Istvhan, is a main character this time; he's investigating a creepy phenomenon from the first book, but now he finds himself also helping a lay nun to find her abducted sisters. Istvhan is very large, and Clara is also strikingly large, so they find themselves curious about each other - and since it's a romance novel, we can reasonably predict that they'll end up together. However, Clara has an interesting secret, one that's gotten in the way of her previous relationships. Istvhan is uniquely qualified to appreciate her anyway, but it takes a while for her to trust in these new possibilities. It's a fun read, with memorable characters and scenes - the fulfillment of the reason the nuns were abducted is particularly creative and different. Excellent fare when one is otherwise stressed and/or tired.

A quick Ajani update

Since he was still a bit smelly after his very brief "bath" yesterday, I didn't let him into the bedroom. Instead, he had found a very small box in the far side of the livingroom to curl up in, and he seems to have spent the night there. I heard three thuds on the bedroom door in the night but no crying. Perhaps having access to a previously forbidden room was itself too stressful.