(urth) The eyes of a clone

[Roy C. Lackey]

Crush wrote:
>But, Roy, whatever the floorplan this passage causes you to imagine,
>surely the passage that starts with...
>
>"This way," Potto told him, and pushed him through a door and into a
>gorgeous room full of lounging soldiers..."
>
>and ends with...
>
>"Blood and Maytera Marble were sitting side-by-side when Potto shoved Silk
>into the room; he was so surprised to see her for a moment he failed to
>notice Chenille, Xiphias, and a drooping augur lined up against the wall."
>
>...is the relevant one and that passage makes it clear that Silk is only
>passing from one room to another, and the entire group is sitting in the
>"gorgeous room full of lounging soldiers".

No, James. No. Two rooms are involved. The hall (also called the foyer by
Marble), which contained a landscape by Murtagon, the "gorgeous room full of
lounging soldiers". And the drawing room, where Blood took Marble and the
meeting with the others subsequently took place.

>Otherwise, you have to *imagine*
>Silk, Potto, and Sand filing into a "hall" (an event not described)
>containing not just Marble and Blood but literally everybody else as well.

No. Marble and Blood were not in the hall when Silk was brought up from the
cellar. They were in the drawing room, which was reached by a door from the
hall. The soldiers and troopers were in the hall.

Blood wanted to speak with Marble/Rose in private. That's why he left the
hall full of soldiers and went into the drawing room with her. There are
references in their conversation that make it crystal clear that the
soldiers are not in the same room:

Marble: "Here in private you may call me a trull or a trollop . . ."

and

Marble: ". . . I saw a lot of slug guns out there in your foyer."

Later, after Blood told Marble he would set up the meeting, is when the
dazed and confused Silk was pushed by Potto into the drawing room. That is
when he saw Marble, Blood, Chenille, Xiphias, Incus and Loris. Potto and
Sand came into the room with Silk. After introductions, Sand was dismissed
by Potto. He left the room, "shutting the door behind him." That's everyone
present, until Oreb flew in through the open window. There are several
references that, again, make clear that the soldiers and troopers are out in
the hall. But I'm not going to bother to list them. I've wasted far too much
time and effort already. I'll give just one. When Loris shattered the marble
bookend it made a loud noise. "The door flew open, revealing Sand and two
other soldiers with leveled slug guns." Potto said, "It's all right. Shut
it." (338)

>>When Marble came to the front door of the house, the door was opened and
>>she saw that the room it opened on contained "soldiers, and bios in
>>silvered armor." (CALDE, Tor paperback, 327) Blood was standing behind
>>them. She goes on to describe the room as "the hall". Following some
banter
>>with Blood, who wanted some privacy, he said to her (next page):
>>-----------------------------------
>>"You'd probably like to sit. I know I would. Come in here, and I think
>> we can settle this."
>>He showed her into a paneled drawing room and shut the door firmly. "My
>>boys are getting edgy," he explained, "and that gets me edgy around them."
>> ------------------------------------

The drawing room was emptied again later of all but Silk and Marble, so that
they could have a private talk. During that talk was when Blood elected to
sneak outside the house and re-enter the drawing room through the window. In
the wake of his firing of an azoth, "the door flew in with a crash". "From
behind Sergeant Sand and a second soldier equally large, Potto barked,
'_Shoot him_!'" (366) That, of course, is what led to the two soldiers
turning around and shooting Potto.

I don't think that even you believe that two councillors and Blood would
discuss their schemes and criminal activities in the presence of soldiers
and troopers.

Lost in all of this is your point about when Silk was thinking what, and
when he saw Chenille for the first time that day. The one-or-two room issue
is irrelevant to all but your reading of an admittedly confusing passage.
I've established that there were two rooms, and I explained it all earlier.

Those are the facts. I can do no more.

-Roy