The Mordant's Need Trivia Game (Spoilers!!!)

[Cord Hurn]

PS HBJ there is nothing in the rules that say you cannot steal the answer even if someone else is currently in the hunt to figure out answer

What Sam says is very true, Hunchback Jack. If you feel you have the answer, please feel free to post it!

[IrrationalSanity]

PS HBJ there is nothing in the rules that say you cannot steal the answer even if someone else is currently in the hunt to figure out answer

What Sam says is very true, Hunchback Jack. If you feel you have the answer, please feel free to post it!

Well, it isn't like flipping a light switch and someone could just say "Ala Kazam!" and have the right answer, you know.

[Cord Hurn]

PS HBJ there is nothing in the rules that say you cannot steal the answer even if someone else is currently in the hunt to figure out answer

What Sam says is very true, Hunchback Jack. If you feel you have the answer, please feel free to post it!

Well, it isn't like flipping a light switch and someone could just say "Ala Kazam!" and have the right answer, you know.

Sometime it happens!

[IrrationalSanity]

What Sam says is very true, Hunchback Jack. If you feel you have the answer, please feel free to post it!

Well, it isn't like flipping a light switch and someone could just say "Ala Kazam!" and have the right answer, you know.

Sometime it happens!

Well, I wasn't sure which element you were fishing for, so I tried to incorporate both...

[Cord Hurn]

[samrw3]

Okay now that I think about it my previous answer about womanly desirability was probably closer to a discussion she had with Eremis or Saddith.

Anywho....my next guess is that she had discussion with Myste and Elega about how she had to dress herself, pick out her own clothes and decide how she looked in her mirrors. Whereas, Myste and Elega had maids and others to make clothes for them, help them get dressed and they knew how they looked by how the other people looked at them because they had no gauge for themselves how they looked.

Also, possibly you might want to have some mention of type of clothes I do remember a conversation that one or both (I know at least Elega had some discussion along these lines) of them had they found Terisa's clothes looked strange to them and were interested in getting her dressed in more formal/attractive clothes.

PS that is why I mentioned desirability earlier. I have some memory that someone had discussion with her - (Mytse, Elega, Saddith) of thinking that she should wear more flattering clothes and that would kick up her attractiveness to men.

[IrrationalSanity]

Okay now that I think about it my previous answer about womanly desirability was probably closer to a discussion she had with Eremis or Saddith.

Anywho....my next guess is that she had discussion with Myste and Elega about how she had to dress herself, pick out her own clothes and decide how she looked in her mirrors. Whereas, Myste and Elega had maids and others to make clothes for them, help them get dressed and they knew how they looked by how the other people looked at them because they had no gauge for themselves how they looked.

Also, possibly you might want to have some mention of type of clothes I do remember a conversation that one or both (I know at least Elega had some discussion along these lines) of them had they found Terisa's clothes looked strange to them and were interested in getting her dressed in more formal/attractive clothes.

PS that is why I mentioned desirability earlier. I have some memory that someone had discussion with her - (Mytse, Elega, Saddith) of thinking that she should wear more flattering clothes and that would kick up her attractiveness to men.

Nice analysis of why your prior answer was not quite correct. However, and unfortunately, nothing you added gets you any closer to the right one. (At least, for this question...)

[samrw3]

Hmmm I am completely stumped.

Possibly you are looking for compilation of items where she was ordinary?

* Status in life - normal woman who helped less fortunate whereas Myste and Elega were royals and dealt with royals and treated less royals a certain way.

* Dress and attire - regular clothes and ability to perform duties in casual clothes. Alos deciding how she looked on her own instead of being guided by how others looked at her.

* Matter of living - Terisa kept to herself and just went out to perform her job whereas Myste and Elega had to perform civic/royal duties and be in public eye

* Ability to choose - reflects on some mentioned in the last three but still distinct - ability to choose what she did and how she did it. Whereas, Myste and Elega had some of their decisions guided by King and kingdom needs.
Also, Terisa chose her own she wanted. Myste and Elega were again clothes and dressed herself; whereas, Myste and Elega had maids to help them.

* Daily functions - Terisa performed her daily functions as she saw fit and when she wanted. Myste and Elega again were guided by certain royal expectations of how and when to conduct themselves.

* Type of speech and conduct - Terisa talked casually and without formal introductions and (if I remember correctly) balked at having a title (like Lady ). Also conductied herself with needing to bow, call others by names and show up functions in certain way/appearances. Myste and Elega were surrounded by formalities and talking a certain way.

I am pretty sure that covers every way I can think of that My Fair Lady clue was improved by Henry Higgins which apply to Terisa.

If the answer is still not in there, or the compilation is not the answer, then I wave the white flag and let Irrational Sanity answer or HBJ or Avatar if he knows now.

[IrrationalSanity]

OK, I guess I'll go for it, because you're making it way to complicated. Besides, I haven't actually answered (or asked) a question in quite a while.

In the context of the question, she says that she is an ordinary woman (Higgins and Reddy), with no power (light switch), and that there isn't any magic (Ala Kazam!) where she comes from.

This is what both angers Elega and entrances Myste.

All of the looks and clothing and day-to-day living stuff is either with other people or in other contexts, or both (leaving this vague in case someone wants to use that stuff in another question sometime).

[Cord Hurn]

In the context of the question, she says that she is an ordinary woman (Higgins and Reddy), with no power (light switch), and that there isn't any magic (Ala Kazam!) where she comes from.

"Ordinary woman with no power (Imagery/magic)" is the answer!!

Good job, IrrationalSanity!

I consider that to be the answer as to why Myste was drawn to be Terisa's friend based upon three passages in Mordant's Need (bold emphasis is mine).

Almost without thinking, Terisa replied, "I really don't have much to tell you." The contrast between her own background and the story she had just heard shamed her somehow, like a demonstration of how insubstantial she had always been. Against the threat of violent death she had no reality at all. "You're being very kind. But I'm only here by accident. I'm not an Imager. We don't have Imagers--where I come from. Something went wrong when Geraden made his mirror. Or during his translation." Again, she found herself sounding like her mother. But what else could she say? "I don't know why I ever let him talk me into coming with him."

Then, so that it would all be said and done with, she concluded, "I would have gone back already. But the mirror changed somehow. He couldn't make it work anymore."

She stopped. Her heart beat in her throat as if she had just uttered something dangerous, and the strange desire to weep which had touched her when she thought of Geraden in the pig wallow returned.

Gaping through her as though someone a few rooms away were performing a prodigious feat, Myste breathed, "Is it possible? Oh, is it possible?" She seemed to think that what she had just heard was more marvelous than any other revelation could have been.

In contrast, Elega flung her head back as if a menial had slapped her face, and her eyes flared. Slowly, her voice under rigid control, she asked, "Do you mean to say, my lady, that you have no reason here? No purpose? That you have not come to play a part in Mordant's need? Do you wish us to believe that you are nothing more than an ordinary woman? That this 'accident,' as you call it, should not have happened to you?"

Terisa didn't want to answer. The thrust of Elega's demand was hurtful. She had created this situation for herself, however, and she mustered her courage to face it. In that way, at least, she could try not to be like her mother.

"I'm not a lady. I'm a secretary in a mission." She held her back straight and her head up. "They need me. Not many people can afford to work for what they pay me. But I'll lose my job if I don't get back soon. Reverend Thatcher can't take care of everything alone.

"That's all. I live in an apartment. I eat and sleep. I go to work. That's all."

For a moment, she thought that Elega would scorn her. Myste was whispering, "That's wonderful. It's wonderful." Her gaze was coming into better focus on Terisa. "I have always wished that such things were possible." But Elega's face was made feverish by the intensity of what she felt, and she had drawn herself up as if she meant to spit acid.

[quote="In A Man Rides Through chapter 10, entitled "The Last Alend Ambassador" was"]Terisa nodded as though she understood. "Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh, no," Myste replied easily. "Or perhaps it was. I have nothing special to say. But I would like to know everything about you. You are a pleasure and a wonderment to me. You consider yourself an ordinary woman--and I believe you," she hastened to add, "I believe what you say of yourself, though it is difficult for me to call any woman from another world ordinary--and yet you find yourself here, in the great crisis of Mordant's history. If your world has nor Imagery, such a translation must seems extraordinary.

"For my part, great things have never happened to me. I have never been to a world other than my own. Indeed, I have hardly been out of Orison for the past few years. What is your world like? How did you live your life there?" She became more animated as she spoke, bright with curiosity. "How does it feel to step through a glass and find everything changed? What do mirrors do in your world, since they have no magic?"[/quote]

[quote="In A Man Rides Through chapter 17, entitled "Terisa Takes Action" was"]For a moment, Elega hesitated. Her doubts were plain in her face. I must look awful, Terisa thought vaguely. Abruptly, however, the lady became resolute. First she accepted a chair. Then she asked softly, firmly, "Terisa, where is Myste?"

It was symptomatic of Terisa's condition that she leaped from this question to the conclusion that King Joyse had somehow seen through her lie. With an inward wince, she replied suspiciously, "Did your father send you to talk to me?"

Elega raised her eyebrows in surprise. "No. Why would he?" Gradually her tone took on a tinge of contempt. "I doubt he knows that she is gone. And if he does know--and if he thought to have me ask for him the questions a father should ask--I would refuse. I am his daughter, but he has broken that duty for me by breaking all other duties for himself.

"No," she repeated, pushing the subject of her father aside, "I ask because I am afraid. My sister is not the wisest or the most practical woman in Orison. Her dreams often do not contain enough plain sense for ballast. I fear she has done something very foolish.

"Terisa, where is she?"

Terisa turned back to the fire to avoid Elega's vivid gaze. So her lie to the King hadn't been caught. That was a relief. Unfortunately, Elega's question still had to be answered.

Staring into the flames as though they might hypnotize her and thereby make her strong, Terisa murmured, "What are you afraid she's done?"

"I hardly know." The lady's uncertainty sounded sincere. "I freely admit I do not understand her, Terisa. She prefers dreams to realities. I know that she is hurt--as I am--by what our father has done, and especially his humiliation of Prince Kragen. That the King of Mordant"--she forgot her concern for a moment in anger--"should actively seek war with Alend is abominable." Then she steadied herself. "But what Myste might do because of her pain, I cannot guess. Perhaps she has left Orison for some mad reason." Her tone tightened. "Perhaps she has gone after Prince Kragen, thinking to persuade him to ignore the extent of his insults."

Elega had come just close enough to the truth to frighten Terisa. Dimly, she asked, "What makes you think I know where she is?"

Again, Elega hesitated. When she spoke, her tone was carefully neutral, distinct but unaccusing. "First, because I doubt that anyone else in Orison would assist her in anything greatly foolish. She is the King's daughter. Orison's people value her too highly to help her into trouble.

"But primarily," she went on, "because I have seen how she responds to your insistence that you are only an ordinary woman."

Terisa gazed vacantly into the fire and waited.[/quote]

It's your question, IrrationalSanity!

[Avatar]

Ha, serves you right!

--A

[Hunchback Jack]

I understood the "ordinary woman" clue, but missed the "no power" detail. Nicely done.

[IrrationalSanity]

Thanks, All!

Next question is also from very early in the books...

Terisa asked Sadith how, without mirrors, they knew what they looked like. What was her reply?

[Avatar]

Damn you...she saw how she looked reflected in the eyes of the men who looked at her.

--A

[IrrationalSanity]

Damn you...she saw how she looked reflected in the eyes of the men who looked at her.

--A

I'll have to give it to you, though your phrasing reads more literally than than the metaphorical wording in the actual text.

"I see what I need in the eyes of men"

could be referring to her literal reflection in their eyes, though my own interpretation would have been seeing them gaze at her with lust and desire.

[Hunchback Jack]

I agree. I think she meant she judged her appearance by men’s reactions to her.

[Avatar]

Ah, I didn't actually mean a literal reflection there, but that the way she looked was reflected in the desire with which they looked at her. Ambiguously phrased, clearly.

--A

[IrrationalSanity]

Ah, I didn't actually mean a literal reflection there, but that the way she looked was reflected in the desire with which they looked at her. Ambiguously phrased, clearly.

--A

No matter. I gave it to you. Of course, that means it is your question...

[Avatar]

I know...hence my curse when I actually knew the answer.

Ok, back later...

--A

[Avatar]

Oh shit, sorry, totally forgot I owed a question here...uh...back soon...?

--A