"Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com> Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info 07/13/06 09:26 AM To <dragaera at dragaera.info> cc Subject RE: Vlad & Cawti & (Lesser Orca Spoiler/ Dzur speculation) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 >I wonder if she's still living in the upscale part of town or if she moved >into South Adrilankha? Kind of hard to be a revolutionary if you're one of >the bourgois. Unless she's working to bring the system down from the inside? ;-) >Kiera's letter to Cawti in the closing chapter of _Orca_ doesn't seem >indicative of Cawti living one place and Jr. living in different place. True, but it doesn't rule out the possibility, either. >>Will he be showing any unusual signs due to his parentage/ancestry? > >Like a proclivity for flipping knives? ;-) Actually, I was thinking more about his great-granfather on his Mother's Mother's side... (BP spoilers) >anyone else around to train Jr. Cawti has some skill as a witch, but she >seems to have primarily practiced it in the role as Vlad's "coven" rather >than spending much effort doing it on her own. We might find out differently >if any of the stories ever centered around her, of course. When she first meets Vlad in /Yendi/, she'd given herbs to Norathar to ward off Loiosh's poison, because she was an accomplished witch. The only indication that she's any less skilled at it than Vlad is, in fact, is that she doesn't have her own familiar. >In any case, Vlad was about age 10, as I recall, when he began training as a >witch. Generalizing from a single example we could assume that's the typical >age for beginning such training. Seems reasonable. (Though it seems to me, this was only the beginning of Vlad's /formal/ training. Noish-pa was already playing games with Vlad that were designed to increase his witch-like (and fencing) abilities at an even younger age, IIRC) >>What will Loiosh think of him? > >Good question. Probably just about the same as he thinks of Cawti or any of >Vlad's close friends, with the caveat that the child would be more annoying >due to the various sorts of accidental mistreatment that children perform on >their pets, and Loiosh would probably think it beneath him to act like a >pet. If Jr. didn't attempt to dismantle him, then I'd expect him to feel the >same sorts of parental protectiveness that Vlad would. Hmmm... Makes me wonder if Loiosh and Rocza will ever have little jhereg of their own? Maybe Loiosh's son will become VNs familiar? >>Will Vlad relate his recent experiences with Savn to his own son? > >Given Savn's condition, I'm having a hard time imagining how it would >relate, except that Vlad might have learned to have a bit more patience than >otherwise. Well, call me crazy, but Vlad learning patience and parental understanding seems to be a pretty important step. >>Will the Jhereg be trying to get at VN in order to get at Vlad? > >No, I don't think so. Firstly, Jr. is completely innocent. Cawti became a >target because she was directly involved with Kelly's people and continued >to be a rabble-rouser despite several clear warnings. Secondly, I have to >think that some clear-thinkers on the Council must realize that the whole >business of Vlad's betrayal was caused because the rule about attacking >someone's family was broken, in a sense. The actual "rule" applies to >targets of assassination, but the end result of _Phoenix_ illustrates why >the rule exists at all. Endangering Jr. would be like mailing an open >invitation for Vlad to attempt to slaughter the entire Council. I'm not so sure the council really has any fear of Vlad striking back at them--at least not until they learn about GS--but I suspect that they may have other motivations for leaving VN out of it. Cawti, OTOH, would seem to be as much of a target as she was during /Phoenix/, unless she's stopped associating with Kelly & Co. I suppose having powerful friends like Morrolan, Cawti, Kiera and Sethra may have helped her on this count--but... As much as Cawti was rousing trouble for the organization, you'd think they'd be anxious to put her out of the way--regardless of whether or not it would help them get at Vlad. >To the left, given the apparent semi-autonomous nature of the Left Hand, I >shouldn't be surprised if Vlad comes into direct conflict with them as >result of something they do that endangers Cawti and/or Jr. This seems entirely possible, also. (BTW, love the use of "to the left" in this context. ;-) ) Majikjon