MISC: The Girl Who Saved the World, Part 26
George Phillies
phillies at 4liberty.net
Wed Jan 27 20:12:24 PST 2016
By the way, I did a minor rearrangement again. The book now starts with
Eclipse lying in bed in considerable pain, then jumps back to Kniaz
Kang's Shanghai Marco Polo. The diplomats which you are now reading are
shoved off to chapter eight. We will return in two episodes to Chapter
Three, in which we meet the Wells family, Janie, Brian, and Jessamine
Trishaset being Aurora, Star, and Comet, respectively.
“The Copper Book explains this,” Valkyria answered. “The Lesser Maze
tests determination, purity of thought, cleverness, strength of mind,
and physical and mental training, not enormity of power.” Unless,
Valkyria thought, you cheat by presenting the Maze with an artificial
construct that has no mental weaknesses. Alas, the construct was not
quite ready to enter the Maze before this Eclipse persona showed up.
“Thus Cortez and Fisher, the latter’s fleet being infinitely more
powerful than the former’s, could come equally close to victory. Your
description may explain how Eclipse escaped. The capture strategy, in
the few hours tactical support teams in Europe had to insert fine
detail, inferred her gifts from her acts in the Maze. We hit her vastly
harder than should have been needed, given the gifts she had shown.
After all, everyone who has ever tried to walk the Maze, whether the two
chess grandmasters or any of the World-Class personas, has while in the
Maze used all of their talents to their uttermost limits. She didn’t.”
“She cheated!” Lord Featherstonehaugh interjected.
“A different answer.” Saigo Shigetoshi, Legate of the Satsuma Daimyo,
did not officially represent his country. The Shogun’s Court could deny
responsibility for what he said. “Do not fear. At the end, as foretold
by the Harvest Stars, Eclipse had a choice. She could reach out and
take the Namestone. Or she could ask, and be given it if she was worthy.
I am totally confident. She asked. She received the Namestone freely.”
“Asked? When she could have taken it? She shows she is weak!” Markgraf
Moeller grumbled.
“Then I must humbly pray that we never have to contend with a strong
persona bearing the Namestone,” Legate Hong whispered.
“Thus,” Saigo continued, “as she is as worthy as the Martyr, who read
her soul before granting her the stone, she is no danger to anyone.
However, she may defend herself. Such acts might have less than ideal
consequences to nearby places, for example the neighboring continent.
Accordingly, the Satsuma Domain will not find it entirely convenient at
this time to participate in attempting her capture.”
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