Flandry On Scotha: Queen Gunli

Queen Gunli is from Ilria, culturally superior but technologically inferior to Frithia. Because her young knight, Jomana, was of low degree, she was married off to King Penda. Later, Jomana was killed in a raid led by Cerdic.

Gunli wants Ilrian independence and an end to war. Flandry, having caught her eye on his first audience with Penda, composes alliterative verse in the Scothan bardic form:

"'So I see you standing,
sorrowful in darkness...'"
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 267.

Gunli avoids the winter solstice feast because the savages get on her nerves. Flandry avoids the feast because his mere presence would cause too many fights and, indeed, there are more than usual this year. This means that she and he are alone in an alcove by a window.

"...Scothanian and human females were extremely similar in outward anatomy." (p. 258)

We must add male skills to those that Flandry deploys for the downfall of Scotha.