(urth) Mucor and Oreb in the manse

[Roy C. Lackey]

Before I get to the scene in question, I must first go forward in the story
to a later scene, then back to another incident before the scene in
question.

Silk had just returned from the lake, on the day of Rose's funeral. He went
into his manse bedroom to clean up and change clothes. Mucor appeared in his
shaving mirror. The first thing she said was, "This isn't the first time
I've seen you with no clothes on." (CALDE, ch. 2, 71) That got me wondering
when she might have ever seen him naked, so I started backtracking. The next
time Silk saw her after Blood's villa was briefly in the face of Teasel's
dad. From there he went straight home and took a bath and went to bed naked.

He had some weird dreams, then what seems to be a dream within a dream that
incorporated real-world, real-time elements, such as hard dry rain coming in
the window that was actually gravel tossed by Crane. Just before the "dry
rain" it was: "A black-clad imp with a blood-red sword stood upon his chest
to study him, its head cocked to one side. He stirred and it fled,
fluttering like a little flag." (NIGHTSIDE, ch. 9, 220) That black-clad imp
suggests Oreb with his red beak. Marble calling Silk's name finally woke
him.

Silk didn't know he had injured the bird's wing with the walking stick
before he went to see Teasel. While Marble was watching Crane treat Silk's
injuries, she saw Oreb hopping in what Silk specified was the stairwell
(223). The bird made its way from the stairwell into the kitchen (229), then
managed to fly back up to the top of the larder (230), dislocated wing and
all, and had to be coaxed down so Crane could treat his wing.

My thinking is that Mucor possessed Oreb, got him to hop up the stairs and
onto Silk's chest while he slept, and that is when she saw him naked. This
blend of dream and reality also prefigures the later scene in the manse with
Oreb, Mucor and Pike. I suggest that Mucor might have possessed Oreb that
night at the manse, damaged wing and all, and that Oreb did not remember the
possession, just as Remora didn't remember when Mucor possessed him. That
Oreb could fly to the top of the larder with a dislocated wing proves that
he could fly well enough to get up the stairs with a splinted wing, even if
only by hopping up them.

If you want to say that Mucor's "seen you with no clothes on" meant only
that she had seen Silk when he was undressed but not totally naked, fine.
Then you can dismiss the the black-clad imp Silk imagined while he was
sleeping after getting back from Blood's villa and go straight to the next
time Silk slept, which was the night of Oreb, Mucor and Pike, and chalk the
black-clad imp up as just part of a crazy dream. It was just as hot that
night and he had undressed for bed. This is known because he stopped to put
his trousers on before he went downstairs to look for Oreb (LAKE, ch. 1,
32).

Either way, Mucor had seen him without his clothes on in the few days
between Silk's first sight of her at Blood's villa and her appearance in his
shaving mirror. She had been keeping tabs on Silk the whole time, at
Teasel's home, in the tunnels, at Orchid's and at the manse.

-Roy