John Klein writ (mostly. I added an attrib): > On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 asr at ufl.edu wrote: > @>[missed attrib] Timothy Scott said: > @> > 1) I got the impression that, if she hadn't died, Teldra > @> > might have begun an affair with Vlad. > @> > @> I think that she'd be horrified at the notion. How > @> amazingly rude to his wife. > > She isn't his wife anymore by this point, remember. We're not exactly > given a complete rundown of matrimonial customs on Dragaera amongst > humans, but their relationship is clearly over after Phoenix. > It may be that they'll have some other kind of relationship in the > future, but on the other hand, maybe not. Their marriage may be finito, but their relationship is far from it. > So, no, it wouldn't be rude at all. Which isn't to say that > the original poster is right, just that that isn't a valid > objection. ;) Oh, I'd say Teldra would still consider it impolite. Certainly, (an admittedly younger, callow) Vlad has voiced serious prejudice against such a liaison. One might also wonder just exactly what Teldra knows of VN. She's more than capable of withholding that particular bit of knowledge from Vlad. It would be impolite of her to inform him and it would, I think, put a damper on any romance independent of the small matters of race and previous marriage. (Note, my reading of the climax of _Issola_ does not indicate that Vlad would necessarily discover this particular secret even if she was aware of it.) Casey