On Tue, 31 Dec 2002, Jag wrote: > > P > > a > > t > > h > > s > > o > > f > > t > > h > > e > > D > > e > > a > > d > > > > S > > p > > o > > i > > l > > e > > r > > s > > > > A > > h > > e > > a > > d > > > > > > > > > > > > > 2. Teldra spends a considerable time in the wilderness in this novel. > > Looking back at the beginning of Issola, where Vlad has a typical > > I'm-better-than-a-Dragaeran moment about his woodsmanship, I wonder why > > Teldra has to pick her way carefully. > > Simple, woodsmen aren't dainty. They also don't wear beautiful > gowns.[1] I have no doubt that if Teldra wanted to, she could do just > fine in the woods. She also embodies all the nobility of the Issola. > Brushing through a forest, knocking three limbs and sticks out of the > way with your limbs, and getting your clothes dirtied and torn in the > process just doesn't seem to embody the type of nobility that Teldra > has. Remember, she also managed to eat her jerky daintily. It's all > about appearances. > > But then, she could also just be giving Vlad an ego stroke in order to > make him more likely to help. > > > [1] I don't remember what she was wearing, just making a guess her > > > Jag I don't think ego-stroking would be polite or politic in the circumstances - what if Vlad thought he was being patronized? Teldra appears "in a gown suited less to the wilderness than her duties at Castle Black" in Issola - good guess. In PotD she arrives in a form-revealing right-shoulder-bare gown (I hope she wears something else when they procure horses.) Anyway, Vlad is shall we say highly aware of what kind of clothes Teldra is sporting and would have to be pretty dazed to not distinguish between high-heels-in-a-forest-picking and why-is-this-ballroom-floor-covered-with-small-sticks-and-leaves-picking. And to flog this subject to death, I would think Teldra could waltz through a dense, freshly painted forest and emerge clean. - Philip