(urth) Neighbors & Trees/Ash & Vine

[Roy C. Lackey]

James Wynn wrote:.
> Still, I would have rather hoped that Wolfe would leave more breadcrumbs
> if the Neighbors had originated on Green. But then, he doesn't always
> (or often) leave as many breadcrumbs as I think he ought. I'd say mark
> this as inconclusive with the weight toward NOT FROM GREEN. Still, on
> the whole its fifty-fifty.

Not even. Later in that same conversation with Hide, Silkhorn all but spells
it out (IGJ, 355). The Neighbors were native to Blue. Further, on the same
page Hide asked: "What happened when all the Vanished People here were
dead?" Silkhorn answered: "I'm not sure it ever occurred." "A very few may
have survived; a very few may survive here still." There are more than a few
trees on Blue, including the big, old ones up the river on Shadelow you
alluded to.

I'll go one step further and give the quote that *should* put an end to this
issue. It is from one of the Neighbors who gave Blue to humans: "From this
whorl we sprang." (OBW, 271)

[snip]
> I agree they did not transport the inhumi to the Whorl by spirit travel.
> I'm not saying that. How they got them to the Whorl has always been a
> mystery. I'm sure no one would allow an alien lander to dock. It is
> possible the inhumi flew there.

FWIW, Jahlee said that was too far for the inhumi to fly.

>The Rajan believes the Neighbors "must
> have" had landers. He doesn't say why he is so certain, but, again, I'm
> inclined to trust him. Maybe because they were trees? I don't know.
> Still, if the Neighbors had landers, where are they?

I don't care to argue the point, but Jahlee's "slender tower" (RTTW, 59) on
that cliff on Green has elements suggestive of the remnants of a spaceship.

-Roy