-Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest (London, 1975), Epilogue, p. 228.
A large gathering immediately suggests an important event. Important events have just been concluded in one of the many universes with access to the Old Phoenix Inn. Since the quoted sentence opens the Epilogue which we can see ends at the top of the following page, we know that we have reached the conclusion of this novel, indeed of a trilogy, the earlier volumes being Three Hearts And Three Lions and Operation Otherworld. Thus, both a large gathering and an (implied) important event seem appropriate.
We find all of these ingredients, a large gathering, an important event and the telling of tales in an inter-universal inn elsewhere:
Centaur Chiron: It is certainly an event of great moment and consequence. Something that reverberates across time and space and myth. I have never seen the Inn so full.
-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Worlds' End (New York, 1994), "Worlds' End," p. 3/141, panel 5.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
More prosaically, I wondered just now how and from where did the Taverners obtain their supplies of food and liquors? Did they make stops in some of these universes to buy them? And where did the obtain the needed funds? We don't see Mine Host charging his guests for the inn's services.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
He is commissioned by some power unknown.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but that doesn't answer the question of just how the Taverners obtained the supplies of food and liquors for the Old Phoenix.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: magical shopping at Whole Foods and farmer’s markets.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha! Amusingly put! And I've sometimes been to a Whole Foods not that far from my house.
Considering how the Taverners had to buy or obtain some items in bulk, they might have shopped at alternate world equivalents of Costco as well! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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