Please help....grand conspiracy

originally posted by rob mackay

its driving mr mad, and i can't find my copy…but how did arithon and fionn get away from lirenda?

originally posted by Andy

IIRC, they dodged through Jaelot, and hid in the house of the blind women. When they finally got to the hole in the wall to escape, Lirenda showed up and Arithon planted a kiss on her.

originally posted by Blue

To further Andy's answer, Lirenda planted Elaira as a guard at Arithon's intended exit from Jaelot. The idea was, that he would refuse to leave, because it would leave Elaira in jeopardy with the order for allowing him to escape. Lirenda shows up, thinking she has him, and he does indeed go to her and kiss her. Janny's description of the scene, where Arithon is looking at Lirenda closely, and reacts as though startled, leads me to believe that he knew, either through s'Ffalenn AND Masterbard's empathy, or being able to read her body language, that Lirenda herself had unresolved feelings* for him.

He kissed Lirenda, and she pretty well surrendered to him. This led to the double bind he now held over her, that she could not gleefully turn Elaira in for "treason" in letting him go free, without Elaira being able to turn the tables on Lirenda herself about kissing Arithon and ENJOYING it immensely, which completely ruined her for the succession as Koriani Prime.

*Whether said feelings were truly love, curiosity, or plain lust is rather hard to say. But I would guess, based on Arithon's reaction, that perhaps her feelings truly WERE love, or as close as Lirenda has ever been able to get to it. She has spent the better part of her life sworn to a very strict order, and had little experience in dealing with men on the personal level.

originally posted by motley

:smiley: From my linguistics background, I think both Andy and Blue's answers showcase what is considered typical male/female communication styles perfectly. Inform vs Detail.

(There are so many deviations from the mean, that you can't truly stereotype… but it was fun to see it here. Apologies to both!)

originally posted by Blue

No apologies necessary to me, Motley. I LOVE being a bookworm, and I show off whenever I can.

originally posted by Andy

Happy to oblige!