(urth) grumble at wolfe comment made attached to guardianarticle

[James Wynn]

I just remembered that it is difficult for Dahlia to be Teasel's mother 
because Mint encounters her (and an old man whom I presume to be 
Hammerstone) at the end of Exodus. That's not really a show-stopper 
anymore than Severian encountering Apu-Punchau is a show-stopper, since 
they're Time-travelers. But it _is_cumbersome. Still, it's better than 
saying that Teasel is Marble as well. Especially since Teasel /seems/ to 
have a mother and father.


> >So...how DID Quetzal get aboard the Whorl????
>
> The question is bigger than that. In order for there to be a Quetzal, 
> there had to first be a human encounter with a wild inhuma. It is 
> arguable (although some refuse to credit it as possible) that sentient 
> inhumi would make a flight to the Whorl in the same manner that they 
> assaulted Blue. But it is not possible (I think) that a wild inhuma 
> would that.
>
> It has always seemed obvious to me that some of the Cargo had to have 
> made an expeditionary landing at Green shortly after the arrival at 
> the Short Sun. And I believe one of those was Tussah. I used to think 
> maybe Hyacinth had made such a trip as well, and that was how she knew 
> colonists were not in for a pleasant surprise. Now I think something 
> else, but surely there _was_ such an expedition. If the Neighbors are 
> to be believed then they manipulated that expeditionary landing as 
> well as others. Since that would be difficult for alien-appearing 
> Neighbors, that manipulation must have been done by the Rajan himself.
>
> It is plainly evident that the Rajan can Time-travel, but is there any 
> evidence that the Rajan went back that far in time? Yes, because he is 
> in the the Grandmother's Tale in "In Green's Jungles". Furthermore, we 
> know Marble/Moly/Magnesia went with him back to the Whorl, and I think 
> we see her, in Dream-Travel, in "Nightside of the Long Sun" as 
> Teasel's mother, Dahlia who was a student at the palaestra around 20 
> years before Silk arrived: Teasel is 13. Her mother would have been 
> Marble's student  when she was 13. If one supposes she had Teasel 7 
> years after being Marble's student that's 20 years.  Of course, chems 
> don't sleep so the Dream-travel would have had to occur at the very 
> moment of her final break-down.
>
> Why is Dahlia Marble in Dream-travel?
>
> 1) Marble twice references that used to look like Dahlia or Teasel:
>
> "I used to have a face like yours. I would say like Dahlia's, but she 
> was before your time.
> Like Teasel's or Nettle's, and there were things in it, little bits of 
> alnico, that let
> me really smile or frown when I moved them with the coils behind my 
> faceplate.
> But all that's gone except for the coils." ~ Calde of the Long Sun
>
> "I was the maid, the sibyls' maid, when the first bios moved into the 
> city.
> I got our cenoby ready for them, and in those days I used to look 
> like--like
> Dahlia, I nearly said, sib, but you never knew Dahlia. Like Teasel,
> a little." She laughed nervously. "Can you imagine me looking like
> Teasel? But I did, then." ~ Exodus from the Long Sun
>
> Twice = an important clue although we can argue about what.
>
> 2) Teasel's mother is unnamed, but her father, Martin, is not. 
> However, teasels and dahlias are both astrerids which implies the two 
> are closely related. And, of course, Teasel and Dahlia are similar in 
> appearance.
>
> 3) Teasel is twice said to belong to Marble:
> "Her name's Teasel, and she's one of Marble's bunch." Maytera Rose 
> sniffed again. ~ Nightside of the Long Sun
>
> "Teasel's one of Maytera Marble's, very likely the best of them." ~ 
> Calde of the Long Sun
>
> 4) Marble's real name is "Magnesia", and, except for silica, magnesia 
> is the most common element found in asteroids. And a dahlia is an 
> asterid.
>