On Zacharia:
"Diana could sense the watchfulness beneath [Targovi's] affability."
-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, p. 372.
Well, sure. We already know that Targovi is a sharp Intelligence operative. Earlier, he had said:
"'...I am no Flandry. I am among many who go about, alert, reporting whatever they learn...'"
-CHAPTER THIRTEEN, p. 331.
He has learned a great deal.
When Flandry was getting into Intelligence, Brechdan Ironrede judged that he looked alert but also was young and junior - then. What perhaps puts Flandry into a different league from Targovi is that, as he matured professionally, Flandry learned how to look anything but watchful or alert. In his first published appearance, he had put on a public act as a political appointee and roisterer, thus putting the conspirators that he was investigating off their guard while at the same time working his way toward them by meeting the shadier characters of the planet Llynathawr.
Targovi has the wit to use Axor and Diana as his stalking horses on Daedalus.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Ha! And Flandry's pose as a roistering political appointee also fooled Prince Cerdic. And he might have similarly deceived Oleg Khan in "A Message in Secret" save for Bourtai's ill-timed intervention.
And we see Flandry, at the end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE promising Targovi, Diana, and Fr. Axor his help in achieving or seeking what they most wanted. Targovi definitely wanted to rise higher in the Intelligence Corps, and Diana might have wanted to do likewise.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment