On 11/8/05, Bryan Newell <bryann at bryann.net> wrote: > Athyra > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * spoiler space * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > > > 7. I am nearly convinced that the narrator of Athyra is none other than Svan > himself. First off, it does appear to be narrated, not told from the 3rd > person. Consider the beginning of chapter 1, where it says, "The next thing > to happen, which was really the first for our purposes..." The "our" here > suggests the story is being narrated. Second, the only two characters whose > thoughts we are directly privy to are Svan himself, and Rocza. Svan seems > to have a special relationship with Rocza (see Orca when Loiosh is hurt), > and is being trained as a witch by Vlad. If Svan is the narrator, that > implies he does eventually recover, and perhaps gets to know Rocza fairly > well (well enough to quote her thoughts/memories). Does Rocza eventually > become Svan's familiar? If you want some really off-the-wall speculation, > consider: Can a Teckla become a Lavode? > I apologize for nitpicking, but since you wrote "Svan" throughout - his name is in fact "Savn", S-A-V-N. On a meta-level, SKZB has said that that stood for "Still Another Vlad Novel". I can in fact see Savn writing down the events of Athyra, much later in his life; the narrative has the feeling of a mature person reminiscing. I think it could be further speculated that the brain damage he sustained might have caused a break in his perception of self, such that while he has access to the memories that occurred prior to and leading up to the injury, they don't feel like they are "his", the person who he has become. Hence the third person narrative. I am not sure that Savn gains Rocza as a familiar, but he might have felt close enough to her that he can speculate on her thoughts as demonstrated by her actions. Also, consider that female jhereg are the dominant ones: she might be bolder about psychically communicating with strangers. For that matter, she was travelling with Savn for more than a year. Perhaps, as they travelled back to Smallcliff from Northport, he tried to understand what had happened to him, and she helped by communicating her memories of the events, as she understood them. I don't deny that Teckla might become Lavodes, but I don't see any particular reason to suppose that Savn was or is such a Teckla. I mean, he's done a lot, but he's still the son of a farmer who is learning the craft of healing - not a great warrior nor a great wizard, nor someone who has learned the understanding of politics or investigation or any of the other skills that the Lavodes need to have.