With Erannath's help, Ivar Frederiksen has left the tinerans and become a guest of the Riverfolk. At the prow of the Jade Gate, a gigantic, scowling Fortune Guardian holds a sword and a lotus. (The attached image shows a Chinese fortune deity.)
Jao, a daughter of the captain, serves Ivar. He guesses that she is eight or nine. This time, Poul Anderson leaves it to the reader to calculate Jao's age in Terran years. We have been told that Ivar is eleven and and a half which is twenty Terran.
Ivar vows to bring aid to the tinerans when he becomes able to do so but does not seem to consider that he also was affected by their affliction when he was with them. Would he have attacked a man as readily as he did in other circumstances? He asks whether Fraina had to provoke him into leaving them so soon but did she provoke him or just act naturally?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Despite the unpleasant circumstances, it's just as well Ivar left the tinerans when he did. Unlike them Ivar and his fellow nords had not had centuries to adapt to the parasitic "luckks" of the tinerans. Meaning Ivar was being more strongly affected by the parasites.
Ad astra and Merry Christmas! Sean
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