Reading this, I was struck by Illyan's presence, always in the background, but with hints of what he'll grow into.
He takes over as chief of security as the Vordarian Pretendership kicks off, and his first *real* job is clearing out spies and traitors. He had to be combing his memory for shreds of connection to Vordarian, or other shreds of dislike of Aral, and checking those memories against recent activities and public statements. Even with that, he must've been on the edge of panic every time Gregor was in a crowd of more than six people, and doubly panicked every time Aral and Gregor were in the same room, wondering if some idiot with plans to seize the throne had found a way past his security measures.
By the time Miles was a cadet, he must've spoiled a hundred badly-planned assassination attempts. I have the feeling a good portion of his tolerance for Miles was that Illyan was incredibly tired of stupid troublemakers; a brilliant one was so refreshing he didn't want to stop him.
(I like the idea of a fest. I don't know if I'd participate; it would depend on timing. I do have an Aral/Bothari story I'm itching to write, but it's being bumped by more pressing commitments.)
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timeasmymeasure
Illyan
Date: 2009-06-02 03:28 pm (UTC)He takes over as chief of security as the Vordarian Pretendership kicks off, and his first *real* job is clearing out spies and traitors. He had to be combing his memory for shreds of connection to Vordarian, or other shreds of dislike of Aral, and checking those memories against recent activities and public statements. Even with that, he must've been on the edge of panic every time Gregor was in a crowd of more than six people, and doubly panicked every time Aral and Gregor were in the same room, wondering if some idiot with plans to seize the throne had found a way past his security measures.
By the time Miles was a cadet, he must've spoiled a hundred badly-planned assassination attempts. I have the feeling a good portion of his tolerance for Miles was that Illyan was incredibly tired of stupid troublemakers; a brilliant one was so refreshing he didn't want to stop him.
(I like the idea of a fest. I don't know if I'd participate; it would depend on timing. I do have an Aral/Bothari story I'm itching to write, but it's being bumped by more pressing commitments.)