On Mon, 9 Sep 2002 Gaertk at aol.com wrote: >In a message dated Mon, 9 Sep 2002 7:18:22 PM Eastern >Standard Time, David Silberstein <davids at kithrup.com> writes: > >> >> This is a question which I always want to ask Steve every >> time I read the ending of "Phoenix Guards", and I keep >> forgetting. Well, this time I'll not forget! > I was really hoping SKZB would give at least *some* response, but it appears that he has buggered off (and perhaps left an oblique nose-thumb in my direction, although I may be reading too much into it): http://www.dreamcafe.com/weblog.cgi ] Tue Sep 10th, 2002 6:01 AM ] Off on a long pilgrimage. A few days in central California, ] then Minnesota to catch the last couple weekends of the ] Renfest. I'll be back in early October, and maybe then I'll have ] my thoughts organized for the rant in which I explain why I ] think historical accuracy is over-rated in fantasy. Yee-ha. "historical accuracy is over-rated"???? Hmpf. > >> So I am wildly curious to know what happened! Did Steve >> err? > >Not if we can think of an alternative explainantion :) And unfortunately, I found myself thinking up several explanations, besides what I've written. Unfortunate, because Steve should be doing his own backfilling. :-) >> Did Paarfi err? > >My motto: when in doubt, blame Paarfi. Several hypotheses: 1) Paarfi is in fact reflecting a discrepency in the historical record: Khaavren's (or somebody's) earlier reports or letters refer to Gyorg Lavode, and the records of the later testimony mention only Lytra e'Tenith. Paarfi left this in deliberately, figuring that if *he* was confused, so should everyone else be. 2) Khaavren was the victim of an illusion or shape-shift (or memory edit spell), perhaps created by Seodra, and he later found out the truth. Or perhaps the Orb itself *compelled* him to state the truth? (Interesting thought, that). 3) Politics: Both Gyorg & Lytra were tied to Seodra, but Gyorg was, for whatever reason, untouchable, and was left alone after the plot was uncovered. The discrepency was Paarfi's way of pointing this out. 4) Perhaps Khaavren really did forget about Gyorg in his rush to get out his accusation of Seodra, and we have learned something interesting about how you can tell what you *think* is the truth under the Orb. But then Lytra should have been able to testify, saying "I was not in that room with that woman", and that would have been true also, which would have shown the flaws in testifying under the Orb. Hmmm. Some of the above are simultaneously possible; some are mutually exclusive. >> Is SKZB playing with our heads? > >Of course. Hmpf, again. The Yendi that he is... [snip] >> Have I missed a subtle clue? What? > >Perhaps; let's see if I can find that post Brust made on >rasfw... well, this isn't the one I remembered[1], but it >says the same thing [last paragraph]: > >http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=526oq3%24g86%40news5.wavefront.com > But this isn't the same thing at all! We're not talking about a discrepency of some amount of orbs, or the color of somebody's garment; this is about who was involved in a critical plot point of political intrigue! Ooof. Too tired; must sleep now.