IrrationalSanity, though I read your fanfic segment back in May and gave two "Good post" awards to your work, I neglected to post any comments about it. Well, I will make amends for that oversight, now. I appreciate that you put this work in the Mordant's Need forum!
Your writing sheds light on why Adept Havelock would challenge Vagel to combat when Terisa allows him to see the Image-room in Eremis' stronghold, despite Terisa hoping he'd translate Eremis and Gilbur through flat glass to madness in Orison: it is because Havelock has seen through his augury of Joyse that he will have a chance to dispose of Vagel once and for all after Terisa, Geraden, and Artagel depart for the stronghold--if he just waits by his mirrors for Terisa to show him the Image-room. I like that you add description of Images from Havelock's augury of Joyse, as it adds to the published Mordant's Need story without contradicting any of it. I enjoyed it!
IrrationalSanity wrote:Yes, I haven't read it recently enough to say who said it (it was either the King or Quillon), but there was an almost throw-away line (actually it was a punctuation to a discussion) something to the effect of "My lady, did you know your presence was augured?"
That
does sound like a passage in the Mordant's Need story, but as I searched the pages of the two MN books, I did not find any place with that exact sentence. Instead, I found a passage where Quillon tells Terisa they (Quillon, Havelock, and Joyse) knew from the Congery's augury that they must trust her, and a passage where Joyse tells his daughter Myste that something she had done was augured. Here, I will quote both passages, and comment on each.
[quote="In Chapter 31 of
A Man Rides Through, entitled "Hop-Board", was"]"Therefore"--Master Quillon gritted his teeth to keep from shouting--"King Joyse set himself to save the world.
"His weakness is an ambush. He lures the enemy to strike
here rather than elsewhere--to inflict their peril and harm
here rather than on the people he has made vulnerable--to attack Mordant and Orison rather than first swallowing Cadwal and Alend and thereby growing too strong to be defeated. We did not know who he was."
Roughly, Quillon shrugged, trying to contain his anger. "That is the reason for everything King Joyse has done. That--and the Congery's augury--and Geraden's strange translation, which brought you here. When you came among us, your importance was obvious at once. Clearly, it was vital to make you aware of the world you had entered, so that you could choose your own role in Mordant's need. Even a good person may do ill out of ignorance, but only a destructive one would do ill out of knowledge. The augury made it clear we had to trust you or die.["][/quote]
So, the augury mentioned to Terisa by Quillon that she was a part of is the Congery's augury, not Havelock's augury. This seems odd, because we get a thorough description of all the pieces of the Congery's augury in
The Mirror Of Her Dreams chapter 9 (entitled, "Master Eremis At Play"), and no scene depicted in that augury explicitly shows Terisa. However, one of that augury's pieces shows Geraden going into a mirror without showing the Image in that mirror. I suppose from that augury scene Joyse, Havelock, and Quillon concluded that whoever Geraden brought back would be the true champion of Mordant in its time of need. Having Havelock's augury explicitly show Terisa, as your short story does, IrrationalSanity, gives further reason for Havelock, Joyse, and Quillon to trust her with information about Mordant's history. (However, I note that Quillon confesses he had a hard time trusting Terisa nevertheless because of her seemingly passive personality.) So, your fanfic piece strengthens the motivation for Joyse wanting Terisa to be "in the know" about the world that she finds herself in.
[quote="In Chapter 49 of
A Man Rides Through, entitled "The King's Last Hopes", was"][King Joyse, to Myste:] "In the meantime, daughter, you have brought us new hope. Did you know that your meeting with Darsint was augured?"
Elega looked at King Joyse sharply.
Augured?
Both Terisa and Geraden were grinning.
"Havelock cast an augury," Joyse explained, "in which you appeared, on your knees before Darsint as if you were begging him not to kill you."
Darsint shifted his weight uncomfortably. "She did kneel. I was hurt--out of my head. Couldn't get my eyes in focus. Everything was changed, enemies everywhere. Someone came, I fired. Nearly God-rotting killed her.
"Then I heard her voice. A woman. On her knees. Felt like shooting myself when I saw what I did to her."
Distinctly, as if he wanted no mistake on this point, he said, "She saved my life." There was a threat in his tone. He had no intention of letting Myste be harmed again.
For a moment, the King's blue eyes blurred. "When you disappeared from Orison," he continued to Myste, "I knew in my heart where you had gone--and I was afraid. That is why," he explained to Terisa, "I was so harsh with you, when I asked you to account for her absence. I could not resolve my fear of the truth.
"In fact," he went on, addressing Myste again, "when I first realized that the champion in Master Gilbur's glass was the same as the figure in Havelock's augury, I almost decided to shatter that glass. To spare you. So that Darsint would not be translated. Havelock had great difficulty dissuading me. Allowing that translation to take place--trusting the risks I had chosen--" His smile was sad and relieved and strong all at the same time, "That did not come easily. If I had let the Fayle urge me to stop the Congery, my determination might have faltered."
Geraden cleared his throat. "Adept Havelock tried to tell us about that augury--tried to tell Terisa. I'm still not sure why. All he managed to do at the time was scare us. But maybe he was trying to make us understand you better. As well as he could, in his condition--"
Dryly, King Joyse replied, "Perhaps. Don't underestimate him. At his worst, he's still the best hop-board player I know."[/quote]
Indeed, Havelock shouldn't be underestimated, and your short story gives further confirmation of that, as there's often reasoning in Havelock's seeming madness, based on what he knows. Thank you again for the story, IS!