How did he find out?

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Okay: Eugenides tells Costis that his cousins held him face down in a water cache until he agreed to repeat filthy insults about his own family.

Then, later, the guy who was a member of Dite's set asks Eugenides about it, which he finds himself regretting very very much.

My question is: Where did the guy find out about it? We know Costis didn't tell him. I very much doubt that Gen was broadcasting it to anybody. So - who told him?

(Maybe it was that busybody Moira?)

Comments

[meltintall3.livejournal.com]

I got the impression that someone was listening in the hall during that conversation.

The question I always had was, "Didn't Gen realise there was an eavesdropper?"

Oh, no, your majesty, I wasn't listening at no eaves; there aren't any in (on ?) the palace.

[(Anonymous)]

"Oh, no, your majesty, I wasn't listening at no eaves; there aren't any in (on ?) the palace."

:D Curtaindropper than. Or maybe coveniently-false-ceiling-dropper.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Gotta love that conveniently false ceiling!

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Well, there were Eddisians stationed all through Attolia. Maybe some of them were being indiscreet? :P

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it was a fairly commonish story? I mean, when everyone first found out about Gen marrying Attolia, I imagine there was a lot of gossip about him throughout the palace. Granted, this would've been months later, but I still find it plausible that it could've come from a variety of sources.

[twtd]

I thought that the whole point was that Gen purposefully made sure that people knew about the story. It was part of his plot to a) appear weaker than he was and b) bring down Erondites. He spends the entire first part of the book doing everything he can to convince the people of Attolia that he isn't capable of doing much at all, that he's completely incompetent. Did he walk up to someone and say "Here's this really embarrassing story about me." No. But he obviously has ways of making sure the "right" people are around at the right time to overhear something, just as he made sure that Costis overheard his conversation with Teleus and lost his temper.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

What twtd said.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

That's a good point.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

ooh, nice. Silly us, underestimating Gen.

[cleo]

I agree with twtd on this one. That was the impression I got while I was reading. Gen really is quite coniving.

[empmai.livejournal.com]

I thought it was pretty-boy, who was guarding Costis room. Costis only had a curtain for a doorway so Awesomly Beautiful couldn't help eavesdropping. Then Amesomely Beautiful told his lover, who told Sejanus father, who told Sejanus, who told Dite and Dite told his friend (It was one of Dite's circle that said it right) in order to discredit Gen's manliness in Att.'s eyes. Or maybe Awesomely Beautiful told Sejanus or the other soldiers directly. Wait or was it Leonides (the guy whose killed at the end who was guarding the door? It was one of those two. Leonides would have told the baron or Sejanus directly...) My book is too far away for my to directly check now who was guarding the door and who went for food.

But everyone else's explanation of Gen spreading the rumour himself or everyone just knoing stories of Gen makes so much more less complicated and plausable.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Just checked my book - it was Laecdomon guarding the door, but he was long gone by the time Eugenides was telling Costis about his cousins, unless he came back to eavesdrop.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you're right, the guy guarding the door! Laecdomon was the one there! And (riffles frantically through pages) Aris and Costis talk about him at that final episode in the practice hard, and he's from Baron Erondites' demesne. So it would be more direct path - he wouldn't even have to go to the baron, he could go to Sejanus in an effort to curry favor, and we can be sure the word was passed along. (And it's the very day after that banquet that Gen finally has his chat with Dite - maybe that episode with Dite's friend pushed him into realizing he really had to do something about talking to Dite?)

I don't think the rumors could have been widespread, because while dear honorable Costis might not have heard them if they were, I'm pretty sure Aris would have, and when Costis was telling him that Costis would have to go and tell the king he hadn't spread rumors, Aris would have told him, "Don't be an idiot, everybody knows that!"

I can't quite see Gen's deliberately spreading the story. His reaction at the banquet, being so angry and wild that it scares Ornon, doesn't seem calculated, as it would almost have to be if he had planted the story himself.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Maybe not, but I can see it. Gen does all kinds of things at the expense of his own dignity and feelings. It's part of his remarkable brand of courage (like telling Attolia he loved her and then enduring her laughter -- I think he KNEW she would laugh, but it still hurt when she did). I can see him deliberately planting this detail out there, and still being genuinely hurt and disturbed when it comes back at him.

Or not.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

*or even in the practice *yard*.

[empmai.livejournal.com]

LOL, Laecdomon, that's it. There's a reason why I usually only write the first letter or two of names. :D

I think there was still a guard at the door though because I don't think they would have left their weak-little-boy-can't-defend-himself-king alone with someone who just attacked him, and through he had nothing to lose since he was about to be condemned to die. Even if they didn't care if Gen died, they seem to follow protocol.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Wait, killed? Was Laecdomon killed?

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Nope, not as of the end of the book. One can only imagine what Erondites does to him, though.

[empmai.livejournal.com]

Yea, I forgot he wasn't killed, I tihnk I just assumed Erondites would have killed him.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Ok, whew, I was afraid I had missed something major, there.