On Sat, 30 Aug 2003, Heather Fleming wrote: > >However, as to this statement, I wonder. Yes, I do wonder, and I >shall tell you why I wonder presently. My mind, and therefore my >memory, can only recall references being made to levitation, with the >exception of the afore mentioned castles that are the very subject of >this discourse in which we are presently involved, after the return >of the orb, specifically in reference to the levitation of and >transportation of bodies. For example, Aliera levitates and thus >transports herself by levitation in order to make her stature seem >more vertically imposing, yet mention of it only seems to occur after >the return of the orb. Similarly, a certain Hawklord named Daymar >transports himself in this manner as well, however this is also only >referred to after the end of the Interregnum. I can recall no >mention of transportation by levitation before the Interregnum. So I >do beseech you to show me where my logic has failed as I will simply >be unable to rest until my mind and this problem are thoroughly >reconciled. >And yet I believe it is the castles themselves to which you have the >demonstrate, if you would do me the kindness of continuing to read >while I write two words. >Consider, if you will, a feather: It it not easy to lift? Now >consider a pound of feathers, that is to say, many many feathers >collected together in a large sack. Is it also not easy to lift? >Yet if you can lift the pound of feathers easily, is it not far easier >to lift a single feather of them? >Now let us consider a castle. What, indeed, is a castle? For the >sake of my argument, let us call it a huge mass of stones, arranged in >a particular structure. >Yet if it is possible to lift that enormous mass of stones into the >air, is it not far easier to raise up a far smaller mass into the air? >Now, let us consider that castle, not simply as a huge mass of stones, >but rather as a living place. It is, in that sense, a large domicile >that serves to shelter many tens or hundreds of persons - the owners >of the castle, their servants and their guards, as well as any >possible visitors, guests and, quite importantly for the sake of my >argument, as you will soon see, sundry tradespersons who come to >deliver or take away various goods and substances to and from the >castle. >Obivously, if the castle is to be floating in the air in a manner >similar to a large cloud, that flow of persons and material cannot be >allowed to halt. Otherwise, the floating castle, while quite possible >as a sorcerous feat, would be utterly impossible as a practical >structure. However, since we have observed that is far easier to >levitate lesser quantities than it is to levitate greater ones, we can >combine that observation with our current one, and deduce that not >only was it possible to levitate tradesmen and peasants - and even >their wagons of goods - fairly easily to and from the castle, but that >this was in fact done on a fairly common basis, no doubt weekly if >not in fact daily. >There. Does that satisfy your curiosity? As to that, my friend, and I do so consider you as such as I sincerely hope that you as well consider me thus a friend, I am not satisfied. I, like Tazendra so often portends, do continue to wonder, why it is that our esteemed historian Paarfi as well as Master Brust do never make mention of this transportation by levitation. Now, I agree in your favor, as you are obviously well versed in the topic at hand, that the levitation of castles and all that they could contain is mentioned in brief and unspecificly. Therefore, one must assume that certain things could be ascertained from such knowledge however, no specific mention is made by either of the afore mentioned good gentlemen at any time, that I am humbly aware of, of such movement. I postulate, then, that your conclusion is incomplete, or in other words, based on facts not in evidence. I would, then, ever so modestly, desire you to clarify your source information, as I believe you must have a more convincing argument than my own. Or, do I dare ask, Sir Brust himself to settle my obvious confusion once and for all. .