Transience And Women Protagonists

Fire Time, VII.

On that part of Ishtar where civilization possibly originated, an airborne mould consumes and destroys dead meat almost immediately. Many predators have to eat their prey alive because the meat, once dead, would become inedible too quickly. This area is the source of:

"'...a great many myths, religions, rituals, concepts of life and death alike...'" (p. 82)

So that explains the bizarre belief that a spirit is trapped in its dead body until the flesh is eaten. 

Jill's aunt comments:

"'The transience of the flesh may be as basic, as widespread on Ishtar, as the dying god is on Earth.'

"'Huh?' grunted Larreka. 'Well, if you say so, lady.'" (pp. 82-83)

Larreka takes for granted the transience of the flesh but does not comprehend this comparison with an alien concept.

I am rereading fiction with women protagonists:

Jill Conway in Fire Time;

Helen in Bryan Talbot's The Tale of One Bad Rat;

Lisbeth in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy;

Alan Moore's Halo Jones.