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<div>Gerry Quinn-<br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Maybe I am being over-simplistic,
but my impression is that Silk's spirit is dying, but not his
body (as the Neighbour says). As you put it, a mourning
ritual gets out of hand, but not fatally to Silk's body.
Conversely, Horn is in the opposite situation. His body dies,
while his spirit flies to Silk's body.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">What happens Silk? I think his
spirit remains dormant in his old body, now occupied by Horn's
spirit. (Aspects of Pas seem to be there too; although
uploading is distinct from possession, I suspect a certain
amount of spirit mingling has taken place here too.)</font><br>
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<font size="2"><font face="Arial">Even if your reading of "one whose
spirit is dying" is the one intended (and it might well be), it
comes to the same thing. We have examples of dying spirits in
The Book of the Short Sun (Jane offered a good one. There are
others.) If Silk's spirit was dying, then it would need another
spirit to animate the body. If Silk's body was animated by
Horn's spirit, there's no reason to believe it would heal Silk's
dying spirit because the "wound" it had suffered was Hyacinth's
death. HORN's problem was not that his spirit was dying but that
his life was dying. There is no justification in the story for
that spirit to subsequently die while Silk's lives.<br>
<br>
If Silk's spirit dies, his body needs Horn's spirit. And that's
what I argue happened.<br>
<br>
u+16b9<br>
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