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This snippet reveals the way that Mikeli of Tsaia thinks about the responsibilities of a royal marriage. There are no plot spoilers.
Where: palace in Vérella, Tsaia
Who: King Mikeli of Tsaia and his younger brother Prince Camwyn
“You should see this,” Mikeli said. “It’s from the king of Kostandan. He thinks I should marry his daughter Ganlin.”
“I thought Rothlin was interested in her,” Camwyn said, reaching for a hot roll. “He said she seemed to like him.” Then he remembered he’d heard that via Aris, his sister Gwenno, and Beclan, which made it gossip. He stuffed the roll in his mouth.
“Close to the throne isn’t the throne,” Mikeli said. He put the scroll down and picked up a tumbler of juice. “I hate this, you know. Girls are all very well, and I must have a wife, but I understand how Kieri Phelan felt when they pressured him. And now he’s married and happy with it. I suppose I will be.”
“Will you marry this girl, then?” Camwyn tried to sound more adult and sensible than he felt. Girls–Aris’s sisters, or the others he knew–were just people, as far as he was concerned. Pretty or plain didn’t matter as much as whether they were lively or dull.
………………………………..
Camwyn’s at a very awkward age, obviously. He’s trying to be more grown-up and take an adult interest in issues, but his thinking skills and attitudes are still very boyish….and time is running out as events press on both of them. Mikeli’s trying to be a good big brother while also being the king in a situation already difficult and soon to be much more so.
Even if they were the same age, they would not be identical twins. Camwyn’s more impulsive, more “hot” in his reactions; Mikeli’s more reflective and “cool.” Both are basically good-hearted, but in very different styles.
Comment by Jenn — August 22, 2012 @ 10:19 am
It appears that Camwyn has warmed up to Aris now that Egan is no longer in the picture. that is nice to see. I wonder what other gossip he is party to.
Comment by Genko — August 22, 2012 @ 10:55 am
Mikeli is barely 21, if that, as I recall. So he’s not exactly the most mature either, though of course many people marry by then or before. It’s tough, though, to add that overlay of royal duties and alliances and such.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — August 22, 2012 @ 11:29 am
Thanks for the snippets. I always enjoy them. However, they are a bit like a taste of something yummy that must go into the freezer to serve at a latter date. Mouth watering! 🙂
Comment by Ed Bunyan — August 22, 2012 @ 12:47 pm
Genko, I have known some who through hard issues and situations in life have grown up quickly ( a family member for one ). Having your life threatened at sword point and sorcery would tend to have one mature quickly or in the case of palace politics, die.
Comment by elizabeth — August 22, 2012 @ 2:17 pm
Genko: Mikeli was crowned at 21; by the time of Kieri and Arian’s wedding, he’s 22, and by the time of the end of the next book, Limits of Power, he’ll be 23. Keep in mind that Henry VI of England was considered of age to take on the role of king (not merely be crowned) at age 15. People grow up fast in some situations. And the difference between a 22-23 yo and a 13-15 yo is considerable.
Jenn: With Egan no longer poisoning the waters, Aris’s likeability has been easy to see. Also, Aris has much the same personality as Camwyn…adventurious, mischievous, impulsive.
Nadine: Yes–I agree that snippets can be taunting as well as enjoyable but enough people like them that I’d glad to hunt out good ones for you.
Annabel: Thanks. Conventions–esp. big ones–are a lot of work (it’s not vacation for me–it’s part of my job as I see it) but also fun. Up to a point, I enjoy being “on”–it’s ego-boosting, though it’s also tiring. I’ll bet there are some conventions in your area, but they certainly don’t suit everyone. (And not all conventions suit me, either!)
Ed: Taking care of myself is definitely on the agenda now, after several years when other peoples’ health crises in the family put mine on a burner so far back it wasn’t noticed. But you can’t neglect it forever. I’m on a slow but definite conditioning program now to regain strength, fitness, agility and that should be a big help in future. Right now it’s being a grind, but that’s how these things always start. You have to get to a certain level before you can have fun.
Comment by Ed Bunyan — August 22, 2012 @ 7:20 pm
“You have to get to a certain level before you can have fun.”
Amen to that.
Comment by Rolv — August 23, 2012 @ 4:58 am
Take care of yourself! No one else can be you!
Comment by Richard — August 23, 2012 @ 4:27 pm
I seem to remember a rumor here last year, that Mikeli’s feelings about being pressured towards marrying haven’t stopped him so pressuring Count Arcolin (who does, admittedly, have fewer years left in which to produce and raise an heir).
Comment by Karen — August 23, 2012 @ 6:10 pm
I remember enjoying Kieri’s responses throughout books 1-3 that his personal health and hardiness were second to his duty to the throne.
Is that what it’s like — to have a responsibility to fans? If so, may I make the same prayers for you that Kieri’s subjects seem to have made for him?
May you have strength, health, and happiness in times of peace, and courage in times of battle. May you have time to recover and regain your strength when battles lapse. Most of all, may you have the ability to finish the series!!!!
…and have many more books to come.
Comment by Daniel Glover — August 24, 2012 @ 6:33 am
I too, am now anxious for more … as in another series. Only this week it clicked as to what may be going on regarding the “dark cousins”, “gnomes”, why we’re seeing so few dwarfs–something akin to the “singers” decline I suspect–and how it all works in to the prologue of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter. But I think it involves more than one dragon POV, getting in the heads of handful (no more, maybe fewer) of “dark cousins”, including the history of Kolobia and the fortress there (dragons are long lived too, they can tell you).
It would be a difficult series to write, (and may not be at all what our good host’s plot daemon has in store), so while I would really like to see another Paksworld series after this one I’d rather see her writing what she feels called to write. We are the richer for it.
Comment by elizabeth — August 24, 2012 @ 2:23 pm
Karen: Responsibilities to family, church, publisher, fans…all that. I’ve had a strong physical constitution and in a series of stressful situations I just depended on it to keep going until I had time to work on it again. Unfortunately, the “series” lasted several years, and bodies just don’t maintain themselves over that long a span.
Gareth: I’m sure the exercise will help me concentrate in the long run, but I’m early enough in the re-conditioning that what it mostly does it wipe me out so I go “splah!” every afternoon.
Comment by Mollie Marshall — August 26, 2012 @ 2:25 pm
I’ve been re- (re-, re-) reading the earlier stories, and hindsight has thrown up a few tantalising hints, especially in Divided Allegiance. Aris has turned up again, but do we know anything of what happened to Rufen and Con? Rufen is a noble, so presumably not related to Baris Arnufson in KII. And the two Verrakaien who trained at Fin Panir – what’s the low down on that? (DA, p.358 in the British pbk.) One a squire deemed unsuitable for admission to paladin training, and the other: “Look at the time we put in on Pelo Verrakai, and what came of that!” Let’s have the gossip.
Comment by Daniel Glover — August 27, 2012 @ 8:15 am
Mollie,
I suspect some of that information is residing in the “missing notebooks”.
Comment by Genko — August 27, 2012 @ 11:13 am
Or they are just tantalizing bits like those we overhear every day and never get a chance to find out more about. One of the things I appreciate (and sometimes am frustrated by) in these books is how real they are.
Comment by Jenn — August 27, 2012 @ 1:53 pm
In my latest re-re-read I was struck by the statement made to Paks as she road into Chaya for the first time about the great trees and how they will stand as long as there are two kingdoms. I wonder if they are beginning to wither. Do I really have to wait a WHOLE year for IV?
Comment by Richard — August 27, 2012 @ 3:53 pm
Jenn,
less than ten months (I’m hoping).
Comment by Daniel Glover — August 28, 2012 @ 6:27 am
Jenn,
I’d been wondering about those trees as well since hearing the snippet. We can take comfort in knowing there are the old bones out there with a lot of power that the dark cousins aren’t counting on.