The river knows it's time...

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Hi Sounis!!!

I have not been here in so long! I got locked out of both LJ and my backup email (what possessed my 13 yo self to set my security question to the last name of the maid of honor at my wedding is almost more of a mystery than my actual answer!) but anyway, I'm back! And bearing a discussion question, too!

I was talking with

1221bookworm

and

manderelee

about the scene where Kamet meets Irene in the garden. Of course, I thought it sweet and touching and....a set up.

Think it through with me...there's Irene, in the garden- not the queens garden, mind you - the regular garden which Costis tells Kamet that she doesn't want Gen walking in. Now, Irene doesn't seem to be a 'do as I say, not as I do' sort of person, so for the sake of argument, I'm going to guess this is not a place where she can usually be found.

Kamet, however, is very fond of those gardens and Gen knows that, so I start to question the coincidence of there meeting.

It could be that Gen put them in each other's way so that Kamet could share those words of wisdom that might help Irene to heal, but I doubt it. Irene is not so easily led, and if she wanted to hear that phrase, she could just as easily have summoned Kamet. So, I still think that it was a) a set up and b) she was in on it. Also, Irene, a very private person, sharing something so personal with someone she chanced to meet in the garden seems uncharacteristic...

We tried scrutinizing the few lines of dialogue for any hidden meaning but came up empty. What do you all think?

The alternative is that MWT has successfully turned me into a paranoid reader.

Thanks for reading, please share your thoughts!!

~books

Comments

Indeed!

[11rod88staff11.livejournal.com]

And considering how UN-spiritually minded Irene started as originally "Oh, I do believe, but I choose not to worship." (QofA), "her rage at the gods" (QofA)... it's so mind-blowingly full circle for Irene to say "when she comes again" if it is meant, in fact, with spiritual context. Honestly intuitively, I don't think this is the whole picture, her having grown more spiritually conscious through Eugenides's influence. It seems too simple.

Regarding the baby being fostered elsewhere this is a possibility but if it is because there is a threat to the child's safety, wouldn't it more likely be in some far away land of the Greater Continent?.... Isn't there a new character, an ambassador from there that Attolis introduces in TaT? Do they have close ties with the Greater Continent? To this day, I remain intrigued by the logistical travel between all these places during a time of horses and ships... I'm still not even sure how Eugenides got around in the early days with any time efficiency, considering how much he hated horses... did he just walk to Attolia four times a year?

Because, sending the child to Eddis for foster, even if Irene and Eugenides trust Eddis the most with the care of their infant, it seems unlikely that they would send their beloved child to the place they feel so pressed for time to evacuate before the volcano erupts that they would keep their friend Sophos in the dark to his true leadership potential CoK (where they made him believe they needed their help and had to resort to violence to retake his country).