HFQ Official Snippet #12

Somehow, I found that conversation deeply satisfying — thank you.

I also am wondering what will happen if Aivah decides not to take the whole truth on board. I most sincerely hope that this is a purely hypothetical speculation, but I suspect that the opposition to Clyntahn and his cohorts runs so deep in her that she would be of no help to him even if she should find the unvarnished facts impossible to swallow.

"Aivah’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, yet his indirect reference to how little she still knew, how much faith it had required to come this far on the basis of so few hard facts, awakened an undeniable darkness under the anticipation"

I think that's why nobody came up with this explanation of the trip to the cave beforehand. It does take an enormous amount of trust to allow the most deadly warrior in the world and another Seijin you have never met, maybe even never heard of, to take you off to an unknown destination in a scary flying machine like nothing you have ever seen before. Since she's as ruthlessly logical as Nahrman, though, in hindsight I suppose it's just playing out the implications of her decision to approach Merlin in the first place. She knows that there would be no way of escaping if Merlin really wanted her dead anyway, however good she is against others, so it has to be better to go along. Takes lots of er... 'backbone' though.

I still think her insistence on taking along Sandaria is very strange. It reminds me of the early Star Trek where SOP seemed to be that all the senior officers should go off the ship on dangerous away missions to unknown planets together. Watching the re-runs that just seems so gratuitously unrealistic. One would think that for the sake of the SSK it would have been prudent to keep Sandaria as far away from this as possible in case of 'Oopsies'.

Randomiser wrote:"Aivah’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, yet his indirect reference to how little she still knew, how much faith it had required to come this far on the basis of so few hard facts, awakened an undeniable darkness under the anticipation"

I think that's why nobody came up with this explanation of the trip to the cave beforehand. It does take an enormous amount of trust to allow the most deadly warrior in the world and another Seijin you have never met, maybe even never heard of, to take you off to an unknown destination in a scary flying machine like nothing you have ever seen before. Since she's as ruthlessly logical as Nahrman, though, in hindsight I suppose it's just playing out the implications of her decision to approach Merlin in the first place. She knows that there would be no way of escaping if Merlin really wanted her dead anyway, however good she is against others, so it has to be better to go along. Takes lots of er... 'backbone' though.

I still think her insistence on taking along Sandaria is very strange. It reminds me of the early Star Trek where SOP seemed to be that all the senior officers should go off the ship on dangerous away missions to unknown planets together. Watching the re-runs that just seems so gratuitously unrealistic. One would think that for the sake of the SSK it would have been prudent to keep Sandaria as far away from this as possible in case of 'Oopsies'.

The SSK isn't a starship - it's a covert organization. Ideally it's got a mostly cellular structure. Aivah knows far more than she should from that point-of-view, but she's also (1) above suspicion, and (2) well-prepared to commit suicide in case she's taken. But Sandaria can be assumed to be lost with Aivah and vice versa under most circumstances, and having the chief's executive actually working close to her is too valuable a position as her deputy for it to be dispensed with to serve her role as her successor - if Sandaria even would be.

And if she gets a bit of what she suspect may be coming after this - actually seeing the strange, unearthly world of which even St. Kohdy offered only an obscured glimpse - having Sandaria there for mutual moral support and to be witness to all of the same first-hand - would be too valuable. She's also more aware of her own expendibility, and Sandaria's, when the stakes are high enough, than any redshirt.

Hello RFC!

Thank you so very much!

I hope all in your family are well and recovering from Thanksgiving.

Almost 3 pages of thank you's in less than 8 hours?

If ever you doubted the desperate watch for new snippets, put those doubts aside.

L

Thank you for this Snippet RFC.

Now the countdown begins for the next

Ahhh, a wonderful dessert for Thanksgiving- thanks very much, RFC.

Hope all goes well with the upgrade.

Thank you for the snippet. It doesn't make up for a local high school team stealing the Chiefs' jerseys and playing last night, but it is close.

Hi RFC et. al.,

Thanks for the snippet. I must say this one opens up some really twisty possibilities for plotline...

Don

anwi wrote:Snip

First, thanks for the snippet.
Then, I have to admit that RFC got me on that one. I wouldn't have thought that Merlin simply takes Aivah to the Cave without her (and Sandariah) knowing the truth. A daring move.
Other than that, few hard facts. We've to assume that Narmahn will be some surprise to Aivah very soon. And Nimue II is probably piloting the other skimmer.
Oh, and 90 minutes taking more than 10 days is a cruel, cruel fate.

I love an optomist. This feels like the end of that trail for a while and RFC gets such joy from hanging us off cliffs, this thread will pick up somewhere else in the next snippet.

BGV most likely or in South March

Mr. Weber, Thank you for the snippet and get some rest, please make the next one a big one!

Randomiser wrote:"Aivah’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, yet his indirect reference to how little she still knew, how much faith it had required to come this far on the basis of so few hard facts, awakened an undeniable darkness under the anticipation"

I think that's why nobody came up with this explanation of the trip to the cave beforehand. It does take an enormous amount of trust to allow the most deadly warrior in the world and another Seijin you have never met, maybe even never heard of, to take you off to an unknown destination in a scary flying machine like nothing you have ever seen before. Since she's as ruthlessly logical as Nahrman, though, in hindsight I suppose it's just playing out the implications of her decision to approach Merlin in the first place. She knows that there would be no way of escaping if Merlin really wanted her dead anyway, however good she is against others, so it has to be better to go along. Takes lots of er... 'backbone' though.

I still think her insistence on taking along Sandaria is very strange. It reminds me of the early Star Trek where SOP seemed to be that all the senior officers should go off the ship on dangerous away missions to unknown planets together. Watching the re-runs that just seems so gratuitously unrealistic. One would think that for the sake of the SSK it would have been prudent to keep Sandaria as far away from this as possible in case of 'Oopsies'.

I would think Sandaria was included because she is the complete confidant of Nynian. If for some reason Nynian was to go missing Sandaria would have the information on where she went and with who she went.

If you are going to deep freeze one it had better be both.