Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses

Highjohn wrote:ericth, Merlin has been around for almost a decade now by my count. He will have shaken plenty of hands and hasn't been outed. So a PICA's hands must feel the same as a biological humans. The heat signature is probably different though.

Why? After all, if it feels like a human hand to the touch the surface temperature and so the heat signature must be the same as an organic hand, at least to the limits of the mark 1 human hand being used as a sensor.

Re training

It's been a while since I read the early books, but I'm pretty sure that it said somewhere that any child being brought up in or with one of the vicarate families was going to be taught/exposed to a good deal of spycraft to prepare her for the internal political manoeuvring of the vicarate. I guess Aivah was a bright and attentive child.

ericth wrote:I strongly suspect the bit about Aivah being "born with the primary capability" is a sucker punch by RFC to get us all speculating on exactly what is.

Note that he didn't say WHEN she was born. Perhaps it was a thousand or so years ago.

Gunny wrote:

ericth wrote:I strongly suspect the bit about Aivah being "born with the primary capability" is a sucker punch by RFC to get us all speculating on exactly what is.

Note that he didn't say WHEN she was born. Perhaps it was a thousand or so years ago.

Adorai Dynnys (sp?) knows her from childhood, which would make that highly unlikely (and given existence of her children, no, Adorai also being a PICA wouldn't work for that).

drothgery wrote:]Adorai Dynnys (sp?) knows her from childhood, which would make that highly unlikely (and given existence of her children, no, Adorai also being a PICA wouldn't work for that).

I think that you should stop throwing facts around like that. Spoils a perfectly good Wild Arsed Theory.

Gunny wrote:Note that he didn't say WHEN she was born. Perhaps it was a thousand or so years ago.

PICAs aren't born.

=2014/03/06=

If she only found out he was a PICA after meeting him, Merlin/Owl would have detected her original communication methods before she had a chance to upgrade them.

??Comments??

R
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PeterZ wrote:Well, the other interpretation of that off center smile is that she KNEW he was a PICA then and there. This might well have resulted in her raising her scurity protocols to higher levels.

If she is either part of Scheuler's legacy or Shan-wei's, she would have known that Ahbraim was or had divine/terran tech. Maybe not particularly a PICA, but seriously high tech.

RFC simply chose not to share that thought with us. The best bit of dissemination is performed through omission.

DrakBibliophile wrote:We also have her memories of him grabbing her.

Quote from A Mighty Fortress

“One,” Ahnzhelyk said, her smile going a bit off center as she remembered Zhevons’ blinding speed and the impossible strength of his gentle grasp.

End Quote

If she was a PICA, she would be IMO wondering if Master Zhevons was a PICA as well.

DrakBibliophile wrote:Ahbraim claimed to be a friend/associate of Merlin.

Later, Merlin acknowledged the "relationship" with Ahbraim.

Note: if you meant something else, forgive me as I haven't had my morning coffee.

McGuiness wrote:
<snip>

Merlin's best option would be to sit down calmly and ask her why she thinks he's Ahbraim. (Have they received messages from him in Siddar City so that Merlin can admit that they both know Ahbraim exists?) I expect she'll point out similarities in their body language and the fact that they are never in the same place at the same time, and Merlin is always absent when Ahbraim is around. She's trying to prove a negative, so she doesn't really have anything more than circumstantial evidence and the similarities between the seijins.

Nope, you nailed it in one, although my discussion of the Merlin/Ahbraim relationship wasn't as clear as it should have been. Blame it on not having had my morning cocoa.

Yes, Ahbraim had told Aivah that he knew Merlin. Had Merlin told her that he knew Ahbraim? It's probably logical to assume that everyone thinks all of the "seijins" in the "seijin spy network" know each other, but had Merlin explicitly told Aivah that he and Ahbraim were fellow seijins both working against the CoGA? If not, it's even more impressive (and scary) that she thinks they may be the same person. If he has told her, then she's probably just noted they're never in the same place at the same time, and that Merlin is invariably absent when Ahbraim shows up, plus they have similar mannerisms in speech and body language that Merlin simply couldn't hide from a person well versed in spying.

So she's probably quite sure they're the same person, and can show they've been thousands of miles apart on the same day, which at best would only prove that a seijin has the power to travel thousands of miles in a day. It doesn't prove that he can take someone along with him, so I think she's bluffing about demanding a ride. Merlin should play it as if she's bluffing. He can trade that information that he's Ahbraim and could take a passenger along for pretty much a full explanation of her network I'd suspect.

She really wants him to be able to take her to Zion in a single day - and she isn't worried one bit about him being a demon, because she knows what a decent guy Ahbraim is. So if Ahbraim and Merlin are the same seijin, she isn't worried that he's a demon, even though the CoGA has labeled him as one, and by the Writ's definition he actually is one!

On the other hand, we have her thoughts about what would happen if Clyntahn caught her.

IE she feared the Punishment and thought about how long the pain would last.

If she was a PICA, she would have been able to escape.

kbus888 wrote:=2014/03/06=

If she only found out he was a PICA after meeting him, Merlin/Owl would have detected her original communication methods before she had a chance to upgrade them.

??Comments??

R
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PeterZ wrote:Well, the other interpretation of that off center smile is that she KNEW he was a PICA then and there. This might well have resulted in her raising her scurity protocols to higher levels.

If she is either part of Scheuler's legacy or Shan-wei's, she would have known that Ahbraim was or had divine/terran tech. Maybe not particularly a PICA, but seriously high tech.

RFC simply chose not to share that thought with us. The best bit of dissemination is performed through omission.

DrakBibliophile wrote:On the other hand, we have her thoughts about what would happen if Clyntahn caught her.

IE she feared the Punishment and thought about how long the pain would last.

If she was a PICA, she would have been able to escape.
SNIP

confirmed by ownership of suicide necklace. Didn't Merlin have to stop her using it - or was that in my imagination?

A PICA would just trigger self destruct sequence...