On Tue, 26 Aug 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: ><Auden snipped> > >> I don't know if this has been commented on yet, but at the end of >> _TLOCB_ Chapter 64, Grassfog and Iatha have a conversation about >> "the social niceties" and belonging. It occurs to me that while >> Grassfog is probably male (pg. 161), and at least one of Thong >> and Iatha is probably female (pg. 131), there's a fair chance that >> Grassfog and Iatha are a same-sex couple. And maybe we have met >> others who grammar veiled. > >Fascinating. I *had* taken that conversation to be about "reformed >bandits will never *really* be accepted," but your reading makes >better sense. Of course, they might just be a mixed-house couple, >which would be, in some senses, simpler. But it wouldn't be as Cool, >so by Brust's writing principles, I think there's a very good chance >that you're correct. > But you could also go back and check when Grassfog & Iatha are introduced, when they have slid down the ropes, and see that Grassfog is male and Iatha is female. So the are almost certainly just a mixed-house couple. Although -- I note that their Houses are not mentioned, or even guessed at. Perhaps they themselves are in fact the *offspring* of mixed house couples. As crossbreeds, they would definitely be personas non grata in the officially civilized parts of the Empire.