wow. skunk girl needs a kicking.

Sorry, the princess needed to be shown her place.

Finally, someone logical steps in to shut her up

Looks like a personal witch hunt was all she wanted.

It really irritates me how everyone's hating on Katherine, even though she's intended to be one of the main protagonists in this comic.

Yes, she's brash, yes, she's arrogant, yes, she's presumptuous, and yes, she is mean. But if you'd go back to the first few pages in this chapter that she was in, you'd understand that there is some basis as to why she's so suspicious of Zoana, even though she's most likely missing the mark. She lost her mother and sister to an alchemist as a child. She lost the two things in her life that she loved dearly, at a young age. Her cruelty towards Zoana is unwarranted, I agree, but again, she's going to be one of the heroes of the story. You don't need to rag on her for acting this way so early on.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't have to be a bitch about it."

She had a fucked up past. It's pretty much an instinct for her to quote unquote "act like a bitch". Jaina Proudmoore had Theramore destroyed by the Horde. Seto Kaiba was adopted by a corporate monster, more interested in his intelligence than literally anything else. Being abrasive towards others is uncalled for, 200%, but if you know what happened to these characters in their past lives, you should probably be willing to show just a little bit more sympathy towards them, whether or not they're redeemable. Jiminy fucking Cricket.

I'm not saying you're wrong.

But I don't have to like a protagonist until they give me a reason to like them. So sure Katherine has a lot of growing to do as a character and probably will over time, but until then, she's still a bitch for the time being. =P

Also, no people that had difficult past don't get my sympathy if they act like asses to other people, because those people could also have a difficult past (and in this case Zoana kind of does.) and they should know better specially because of what they've been trough. Troubled past doesn't excuse being a butt though it does sometime explain it.

If I may act as a neutral party (because I like both characters). While normally I agree that difficult pasts don't entitle people to different treatment, that isn't entirely what's happening. Besides her own personal vendetta, Katherine genuinely seems like she's intending to protect Bethellium from what she sees as a truly dire threat. Now, granted, this is the equivalent of judging all people who went to the University of Washington by Ted Bundy. However, the vibe I'm getting is that, while this is personal for her, she understands better than anyone else what dark magic and alchemy can do in the wrong hands. She WILL NOT let the same thing happen here, and is directing every ounce of her energy into ensuring that, even if she has to grasp at straws a bit and perhaps cross a few lines.

Inversely, Zoana's own pride and asocial behavior kind of lean into Katherine's preconceptions. She's clearly not what Katherine thinks she is, but her relative ineptitude in this sort of setting isn't helping her case. Also, indignant rage, while 100% earned and justified here, definitely looks bad regardless of which side's doing it. To Katherine, Zoana's outbursts probably seem like a cornered wolf desperate to keep her power/opportunity/position. Whereas to the completely innocent Zoana, Katherine seems like the Inquisition, and considering that she was literally asked to come out here and did her job to the T, this is downright absurd and unfair.

Simple fact of the matter, since most of the story is from Zoana's perspective (so far), Katherine is the antagonist just by nature of whose side we're seeing it from. If the sides were reversed, I guarantee that Zoana would seem like the nasty one.

is this trial, or whatever it is, going anywhere?

I can understand where Katherine is coming from given her history from that brief nightmare, and Zoanna does seem to have so many common elements with this evil guy, but without any concrete proof and hard evidence, Katherine is just coming off as rude and speciest.

thank you a level headed question and one that is a personal vendetta against her, if anything the skunk female should be questioned as to why she went that route and not stick with the real question that was meant to be asked. I think the female skunk has it out for the vixen

Hmmm....I'd thought that the "interrogation" had ended too soon. This puts everything into perspective.

This test....hmmm....

The background voices are really nice touch.