Thanks for reading my analysis!!!! I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the scene in the garden that lent such an air of familiarity between Irene and Kamet. To be honest, I wouldn't have thought of all this if there not been that sense of gentle mutual understanding between them..... and it was this feeling of EVEN THOUGH Kamet did help Nahusaresh and was technically responsible for Nahusaresh's escape (when Attolia wanted a ransom for him in Ephrata) it was completely understood that Kamet was acting far outside of his own person desires. Its as if they knew each other's hearts the entire time.

I'm doing a second re-read right now and the first time around Kamet's personality kind of grated on me. And I wrote all this out in an attempt to see beyond the prickliness about him that irritates me (he's so eager to feel higher than thou, his reasons for feeling superior are very shallow, etc. ... total real life triggers at work here) and see him higher and deeper than his surface annoying qualities and I was ... so touched to see that he aligns so exactly, with the character (Attolia Irene) that I resonate with, empathize with and sympathize with the most.

OH the scene in the garden. My brain practically short circuits when I think about the scene in the garden in which Irene, physically as if she'd been through the storm of a lifetime, and she is like the calm after the storm that almost took her life.