The waterfront at Paz de la Frontera has warehouses, wharfs, watercraft, bustling human and nonhuman beings and scurrying machines and:
"Beyond, the stream flowed broad and brown." (p. 294)
"...broad and brown..." is familiar. See no less than seven other rivers described in works by Poul Anderson that are quoted in posts linked here.
The description of the scene from the wharf continues:
"The opposite shore was dimmed by a thickening rain." (ibid.)
Next come the reactions of two of the characters:
"Shan U registered a feline dislike of the wet, but Diana welcomed its warm sluicing. She felt cleansed." (ibid.)
Diana needs cleansing because she has just had to fight off four human males with a Tigery knife.
Shan U is a Cynthian and this species is squirrel-like although here his response to the rain is described as "feline" and one of Diana's assailants had described him as a "'...monkey-cat.'" (p. 292)
No single comparison will be quite accurate. The attached cover image shows Diana not with a Cynthian but with a Tigery disguised as a performing animal.
3 comments:
Well, I've had a similar desire for a shower after fights, but it wasn't because of moral qualms.
Cynthians are predators, IIRC. Sort of -carniverous- squirrels.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! Diana had zero reason to need feeling qualms. Those creatures had rape and probable murder in mind for her.
I would expect small intelligent races needing to be more aggressive that massive, literally well-armored species like the Wodenites.
Ad astra! Sean
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