Woodreads 12
It’s kind of sad that we will never see Bibli’Oh and Syr’Nj interact on panel, given what she says about him here. But if Faereksch’Nj’s “be back by sundown” is any indication of Syr’Nj’s library habits, they’ve probably spent a lot of time together we haven’t seen.
Obviously, we’re (and maybe Syr’Nj is) skipping over a lot in this account of her early years. Though the sting of his defeat here would probably make Gr’Zl less thrilled about chasing her in the future, the ‘Zls and the ‘Njs wouldn’t give up on this match completely for a while after this, as Chapter 17 will show. (“The course of true love always has a few knotted roots in it, my boy!”) And her rift with her father, present but unvoiced here (“Of course, Daddy!”), would gradually widen until she was ready to leave home as she did in “Call of Duty.” But by then, she had something to work toward, which was better than submission or directionless, reflexive resistance.
I suspect Syr’Nj calling the book Travels was a nod to Gravedust’s My Travels rather than a coincidence or theft. It’s certainly not like she couldn’t invent another title.
(Geez, that means the publication of Travels is probably the last thing to happen in the entire Guilded Age timeline, maybe many years after the end of Chapter 50. What a sobering thought.)
Ever get lost in a book? Try being lost in an entire library?
I feel like there’s at least one portal fantasy in there somewhere
Why is that sobering? It suggests that Syr’Ng has a long life following this series of events that really should have killed her (and kind of did, at one point). That’s success, by the standards of most sorts of organism.
Just in the general we’re-all-mortal sense, I guess.
It might also be a bit sobering for the people who crafted that looooooooooooong series of events, which went on looooooooong after this particular mention of the (much later) book.
After all, Gravy has been writing his thing all along. Syr decided to record her own experiences at some later point. But that point is really very far removed from the moment when they were writing this.
In a world as yet not fully explored, books with “Travels” in their titles will more often be memoirs than works of fiction. They are likely also prevalent in a world where “adventurer” is a profession unto itself.
I find Syr’nj’s lack of originality in bibliomonikers completely tasteful, and more so, given that adding your name to the title, even as a byline – while it won’t easily generate notoriety, except among the literate few or as a result of a campaign actively promoting said notoriety – in a world where records of one individual’s travels are probably so common, likely only helps distinguish it from others’ works.
It is enviable, really, just to contemplate someone living in a world where you won’t get sued for the mere title of your own work being interchangeable with a stranger’s, and to imagine your own byline is sufficient distinction to merit legal permission to publish.
So there are a good number of reasons why this series and its timeline are respectably fanciful, the way I see it.
Okay then, just casually disregard that I authenticated myself properly for this post, comments system! Could’ve sworn I did, at least.
But yeah this was me.