"Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com> Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info 06/13/06 11:31 AM To <dragaera at dragaera.info> cc Subject RE: Sethra Lavode (Large spoilers, esp Orca/Issola) Spoiler space 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 >Kiera's entire purpose at this point in the story is to relieve Vlad of his >misgivings and convince him to agree to meet Morollan. At that point, >however grave the threat, the Jenoine attack hadn't yet happened. (Judging >by subsequent text, it took place while Vlad and Morollan were involved in >fighting Loraan or thereabouts.) Sethra could quite literally have just IIRC, Vlad asks Sethra during their very first meeting (an hour? two? after seeing Kiera at Ferenk's) why she and Morrolan don't just blast into Loraan's keep and take the staff... and Sethra's excuse is that she can't leave the mountain at present. This is, obviously, *before* Vlad breaks into Loraan's keep. >Of course, Sethra's excuse of not knocking on Vlad's door is that she >couldn't leave Dzur Mountain just then. Either she felt it would take too >long to do that and the subsequent negotiating or she had her own reasons >for pretending that she couldn't leave. It might well be that knowing him as >well as she did in the guise of Kiera, that the whole rigamarole with Quion >was designed to impress him with how much they desired him, personally. If >she just knocked on his door with a business proposition, the relationship >would be purely a business deal with an unusual customer. In a weird way, >the whole plot to lure Vlad to Castle Black and on to Dzur Mountain is an >exercise in laying the foundation for a personal relationship between Vlad, >Sethra, and Morollan; one where Sethra is the instigator and has the >commanding hand rather than being a customer looking for a service provider. Knowing how well Kiera knew Vlad, it's somehwat odd that Sethra could have *really* misjudged him that badly regarding Quion. To the left, however, it's likely that there wasn't ever an analogous situation while Kiera was around Vlad (while they were friends, she didn't really interact with him on a "professional" level after he assumed his own territory.) So maybe she really did just misjudge him a bit, and that the exchange with Sethra later was exactly what it seemed to be. >>Aliera may just be >>keeping her mouth shut, but it always seemed to me that Sethra and Aliera >>were never as close as Sethra and Vlad or Sethra and Morrolan. > >It's true that Aliera treats Sethra as a compatriot, where she seems to >greet Kiera as a fast friend, if you see the difference. I have a theory >(completely unsupported by any evidence) that Kiera was responsible for >bringing Aliera and Mario back together. Ooo. Interesting. A friendship with Kiera might explain a lot about where Mario could have gotten to. Majikjon