Chapter Eighteen

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Question under the cut, here thar be spoilers. :-)

While Sophos was a “prisoner” of Akretenesh, he gets a message from Helen that I don’t quite understand. It was the love letter which talked about the marriage in the temple, the bed, and the apricot trees. I understood that it was the three “anywhere in the world” answers from TT, but why is that important?

I could see it as reassurance that the magus was alive, but Eugenides could have given her the same information. Then I wondered if that could be a reference to Oneia, a way of telling Sophos that that’s the place to be, but that doesn’t work, either. Oneia isn’t referenced in TT at all, unless my kindle version is messed up somehow and the search option isn’t picking it up (yes, I cheated, but I was curious and didn’t have my copy of TT with me). It couldn’t have been preplanned, because Sophos only realizes it later. He wasn’t looking for it. Unless he was lying, but even Gen never outright lied to the reader. So I’m stumped.

Am I missing something? I’d love to hear what other people thought about this.

Comments

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

Helen and Eugenides were telling Sophos his mother and sisters were safe in Eddis.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

We discussed this in Chatzy the other day, and came up with: In the where-would-you-be conversation, Gen had mentioned his lovely carved bed, which as Sophos knows is (or was) in Eddis' palace. And Sophos had mentioned being under the apricot tree with his sisters. And Eddis in the message says that only Sophos' presence is wanted to make the dream complete. So: Sophos' sisters (but not yet he) are in Eddis.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Ah!!! That's really clever - I totally missed it. Thanks!

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. If I were Sophos, I would never have gotten that. I would be so dead in QT world...

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Ha, great minds think alike, TLE. As aged_crone says, I asked that question in chatzy last week and super-smart sounisians explained it in a way that makes perfect sense (I've cut out the non-essential comments):

checkers from x.x.x.30 left this message 5 days ago:
Ok, question. How did Sophos know that the message in Eddis's letter meant that his mother and sisters were ok and no longer in Brimdemius? I get that he figured out the message was from Gen, because only Gen, the Magus and Sophos knew about that conversation, but what made him interpret it that way?

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
I gathered that the reference to the bed was to Gen's bed = Eddis' palace; and the mention of the apricot tree reminded him of his part of the conversation, about being at home under the apricot tree with his sisters. Hence: Your sisters are in Eddis.

Teena: wow, aged_crone, you're incredible. I just thought he reach that conclusion because those stuffs are what they long for.
Teena: And what Sophos really need right then was to know whether they're safe or not.
Teena: Your analysis is much better! ^O^

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
Well, it's the only thing I could figure out. I could easily be wrong.

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
Maybe Eddis really was babbling about her marriage bed, and so besotted that she thought all the trees were in bloom...

Puppeteer: No I thought what Leslie though about the message in the letter. Eddis was sending Sophos a message that said "Your family is safe in eddis", but she just chose to hide it in a smarmy way

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
I wonder if she was amused when writing that letter or writhing in embarrassment at what whoever read it was going to think of her...

Teena: @aged_crone : I could see Eddis blushed as deeply as Sophos with Gen's snickering over her shoulder.

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
Hee hee! And he would, too! Brat that he is.

elle_winters from x.x.x.82 left this message 5 days ago:
Yes, that was my interp as well, Leslie, and I think there was a line that said "the dream is complete but for your presence.." so above everything else that line made me go 'Oh,' as Sophos's presence will complete his family.

And omg he sooo was looking over her shoulder, the nefarious, little brat!

lurker from x.x.x.82 left this message 5 days ago:I did not know Gen wrote that letter, i thought it was Eddis

aged_crone from x.x.x.119 left this message 5 days ago:
I'm sure Eddis wrote it; she knew the information in it because of the conversation Gen reported to her in The Thief (that is, it's in The Thief, which Gen wrote for her). So he didn't actually have to be there for her to write it. I was just thinking that if he *was* there he'd be grinning about it as she wrote it. I don't know whether he was or not; depends on when Eddis went back to her own country.

philia from x.x.x.138 left this message 5 days ago:
It's also one of those moments when Eddis behaves a little like Attolia, letting the Medes believe she is being what they think of as a typical woman, dreaming of romance and marriage instead of anything else.

checkers from x.x.x.30 left this message 5 days ago:
And thanks for the explanation--now I see that the "only you are missing" line would make him (eventually) put that together. But an actual mention of "sisters" would have kept his captors from sharing the letter at all. They'd have guessed it contained some sort of clue.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

*hasn't read the book yet because the United States mail is slow*

I'm sure we would feel like Costis all the time: Huh...?

We'd constantly be in need of saving by Gen. Not that he would do it.

Lady Jane: Help Me, Your Majesty! I'm drowning in this sea of political intrigue!

Gen: *shrugs* What do you expect me to do about that. *holds up arm* Hello... One hand...

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Sophos would save us. Or we could all live in a villa-of-the-fangirls and watch the intrigue from afar. I quite like that idea.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Our Villa can be on Letnos, so we can have weekly Hyacinth-beatings for entertainment. >:-)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... Sophos is now also a potential rescuer. Again, haven't read the book, but I hear he's turned into the ultimate bad-a... rad-dude (You might get that if you've watched Veronica Mars).

Villa-of-the-Fangirls! Why have I never heard of this fantastical place! Sign me up! I'll even cook Sophos dinner, though he may regret taking up my offer.

Oh wait... I can't. I'm still on my super-secret spying mission for the king. At least I have Costis to boss around. Right, Costis?

Costis: *grumbles*

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

weekly Hyacinth-beatings

*dies laughing*

I am so in now! I'll even cook dinner and scrub the floors!

[lizzyazula.livejournal.com]

I would have never gotten that either! I had to read the book twice to get this. *Is embarrassed*

Just how big is this Villa-of-fangirls? Are we talking just QT world fangirls...or ALL fangirls (excluding the Twilight ones).

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. You can come stop by once your spy-mission is over. :-)

Costis can come, too!

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

We can all take turns with the chores. I darn a mean sock, anyone need socks darned?

I've been freaking out about sock darning ever since I saw someone doing this (http://www.caps.swannees-place.com/stargate/displayimage.php?pid=5931&fullsize=1) to a sock on a TV show. Honestly, no one repairs socks like that. LEARN TO DARN.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Well, since our villa is in QT world, I think Sounisians would be most interested - but anyone's welcome, I suppose. 'Cept twilighters.

[reader-marie.livejournal.com]

And (because I am given to over-stating the obvious), let's not forget the third part of the conversation: the magus' wish was to see Sounis marry Eddis.

(Aww...)

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

awwwh...

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm soo in ;)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

OOOWWWW... Darning must be some mystical superpower.

I'll sweep and mop. Somebody else should do the cooking. Preferably, someone who knows how, unlike me. I'm limited to french toast, pot roast, and pie.

I'll do the laundry too, but I'm not ironing. Anyone who wants their clothes ironed will have to do it themselves. Oh, wait... I'd have to use a washboard. We need to invent electricity and the washing-machine before we settle in.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

We need to put up a sign to scare away the Twilighters.

All of you listen to mee,
Don't disturb here,
I will call police catch you,
Don't come to my villa,
Understand, O.K.
I hate all of you.

No, I'm not crazy. It's a real sign.

http://www.engrish.com/2008/07/i-always-wondered-where-the-grinch-lived/

I cry every time I read it, and not because I'm sad. Read the comments too. Everyone cracks Sounis worthy jokes.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would've come right over, but Costis sat me down and gave a long lecture about duty, responsibility, abandoning one's post, and all that. Dork... I even told him that his wives and babies were just dying to see him, but he said no. What about family duty, huh Costis?

So, for the moment I'm stuck in Medea, until the king gives me leave, which he may not do after the whole severed-hand misunderstanding we had. I should send him some cookies and a nicely worded petition.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

Philia:It's also one of those moments when Eddis behaves a little like Attolia, letting the Medes believe she is being what they think of as a typical woman, dreaming of romance and marriage instead of anything else.

It must be nice for her to behave like that, because she can't do it as easily in person as she doesn't have her beauty and grace as a front like Attolia.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

Yeah but Sophos obviously thought about it a lot when he was busy fangirling over Gen.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

...severed hand misunderstanding? Do I want to know...?

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Darning is NOT a mystical superpower. It's something that everyone should know, because it greatly increases the wear of the sock (which would be indispensable, in this TV show - they don't exactly HAVE extra socks). If you sew a neat little seam in it (as Young is doing), not only will it be terribly uncomfortable, because the sock will be smaller than it was originally intended to be, but the single threads you're depending on to hold it together will give in and break easily.

To darn a sock, you put your hand in the sock and stretch it out like a quilting frame. Then you sew numerous stitches stretched across the hole, weaving new stitches into the others. This creates a new layer of fabric which fully covers the hole.

DARNING SAVES LIVES SOCKS

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

OMG That's hysterical!

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Yes! You definitely DO!

http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/331270.html

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Omg! SOCKS!

... I could become a carpenter and make us some cool furniture. *wields hammer and smiles terrifyingly*

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww ...... RIP Evil Scuzzy Sounis :( !!!

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

heh, this makes me giggle as I got my wish but not in the way I wanted. I was always whining that I didn't think "my uncle that was" Sounis was all that bad and I wanted to learn more about him. So I was like, doesn't anyone else want to know more about Sounis? general answer: no, sgwordy, you're nuts, that guy's a scumbag. :) So anyway, I kept wanting to know more about Sounis and now I got my wish; it's just that the name behind Sounis is Sophos while I'm getting my wish.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yes, I decided to knock on Gen's door and ask if the hand we found on LJ was his. He ran away screaming, I got arrested, and Irene wanted to behead me. It was all one big mess! Anyhow... you can read about it yourself in Arg's link.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

*runs away from Agh and her hammer*

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

AHEM???

Now, I may be many things, but I am not a PIRATE!

:)

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

*runs after Lady Jane, screaming "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG!"*

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

Yesh, It would be nice to know more about him. There isn't any chance that he isn't actuallly dead, is there?
...at least we learned that he never cried.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Really...? You're not...?

Anyhow... Opps. You are, of course, Agh not Arg. But I must protest that I have Interjection Blindness, meaning I sometimes mistake one interjection for another. It's a very serious condition with no cure. We must hope for my recovery.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

You're never gonna let this one go are ya?

Anyhow... I might point out that you make a very bad pirate. You have neither a hook nor a parrot nor a bottle of rum.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

This was my biggest problem with CoK. I didn't like the neat way the old Sounis was dispatched. I wanted to discover his hidden depths, but instead he just got a fever and keeled over.

[sunshinebutter.livejournal.com]

How on earth did you get that? - The only thing that I could understand with the bed, the temple and the apricot tree, was just some sort of reference to the conversation that they were having as they were entering Eddis? This has always confused me

(yep old post)