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(sethra speaking to vlad:)
"I know you, Vlad: you are uncomfortable with things like causes and reasons,
however much you ask for them. And however much you protest, you are and always
have been happiest when you had a single task you could accomplish, without
worrying about the whys and the consequences." Issola p 42 paperback
(vlad speaking of the necromancer:)
You must understand, it isn't that I'm afaid of her. I've spoken with her, and,
if you can get past the fact that she's undead, and that her mind is perfectly
comfortable living in places that would drive me mad, and that for her the
distinction between the living and the dead is what way she's facing, she's a
perfectly decent sort, as Dragearans go. Issola p 213 paperback
i think vlad likes her, he's just not quite comfortable with her because he
doesn't understand her... and considering the reasons (life and death being a
"matter of engineering" and so forth), i don't think he quite wants to know. so
he likes her, but from a distance.
Derrill 'Kisc'
Guilbert To: Dragaera <dragaera at dragaera.info>
<lister at insanenin cc:
jahero.com> Subject: Re: Sethra's House, the Necromancer
10/29/2003 10:10
AM
Philip Hart wrote:
> Another theory - the N seems to be oddly fond of Vlad (v. the last pages
> of _Issola_) - perhaps in _Jhereg_ he was trying to pretend he felt
> comfortable with her out of (rather rare) courtliness, or just because he
> felt he owed it to her.
>
> Still, most likely the oddness in _J_ is just Vlad having a little joke.
> Probably Loiosh fell off his shoulder laughing (or whatever the jhereg
> equivalent is - headbobbing?) when V described the encounter in question.
>
>
I got the impression that Vlad was more comfortable with the Necromancer
at one point, but then as he came to understand that "living" and "dead"
were technical terms to her, matters of looking in a different
direction, etc, he became less comfortable around her. Perhaps she
seemed polite and non-intrusive before (good characteristics in the eyes
of an assassin), but further exposure to her has brought him an
understanding that she really /is/ looking right through (the physical)
him when they speak.
Kisc