So, the other day, I was contemplating the fact that I write an awful lot of multilingual characters for someone who's solidly monolingual. (I really do, if you haven't noticed. I have more multilingual characters than monolingual ones.) And that started my thoughts down another trail: what would happen if the main characters of Blood in the Snow and Mechanical Heart met? Who would get along well? Who would fight? Granted, it's not something that's likely to happen (given the current lack of the appropriate magical and technological knowledge on both ends), but if it did . . . and if they somehow could understand one another despite different languages and deafness and whatnot . . . Well, I had such fun imagining the possibilities that I just had to share.
If Baili Met Breen (And Related Potentialities)
- Baili and Josiah bond surprisingly quickly over their similar roles in their stories/worlds. It's not, like, instant friendship, but Josiah's good at drawing people out, and he and Baili quickly find their common ground (they're both royalty, both working for the rights and benefits of a lower class, both dealing with court life and all that comes with it). They share stories, which turns into sharing strategies, which turns into an all-out "ideal society, what's it look like" discussion. They also compare notes on people trying to kill them, 'cause that's also a shared experience. Meanwhile, Chouko and Luis also bond pretty quickly over their shared roles as reason-speakers to idealistically heroic royalty.
- Xiang kind of geeks out a bit over Breen and Luis's inventions. Fun fact that comes up a little in Blood in the Snow and a lot in Blood in the Earth/Soil: the Liu dynasty is known for being particularly interested in scholarship and study of the world, and Xiang is no exception. And while his primary interests are medicine and magic, not engineering and invention, he still finds Luis and Breen's work really storming cool. Breen doesn't entirely know what to do with his particular brand of enthusiasm, but Luis quite enjoys getting to show off a bit. (Xiang also pulls Baili over to see the inventions that he finds most interesting; Baili is also very impressed but not as excited.)
- Regardless of what communication-enablers are put in place, Gan and Baili both get Grace, Josiah, and Breen to teach them some sign. It's actually Gan, not Baili, who makes the request, but Baili joins in as soon as she realizes what's going on. They both pick it up reasonably well for the amount of time they have, but Gan is both better at it and more into it than Baili is. (This is partially because Gan's attitude is "I can think of five different ways to use this, also, languages are interesting," while Baili's attitude is "This is reasonably interesting and a fun bonding experience!")
- Because it's in the title and must, therefore, be mentioned: Baili and Breen get along, but definitely are not instant best-buddies or even instant friends. They both respect each other and what the other has had to go through and is now trying to accomplish, but neither one leaves their encounter thinking "Ah, yes, I would go out of my way to spend time with this person again at a later point." And they're both honestly pretty ok with that. Baili, as has already been mentioned, prefers spending time with Josiah (and also Grace), and Breen finds Chouko, Azuma, and Gan a bit easier to deal with.
- Josiah, Breen, Baili, and Xiang are all rather concerned (to varying degrees) about the potential implications of Bloodgifts and blood alchemy if combined. The first time Bloodgifts come up, Josiah and Breen actually freak out a little (in the sense of "Wait, blood-based magic, we thought these were ok people, not blood alchemists . . . oh, wait, it's not blood alchemy, it's actually ok, no one is dying over this, we're fine"). And the first time blood alchemy comes up, the topic doesn't go very far before Xiang starts wondering (out loud) what would happen if the blood alchemists got their hands on the blood of someone like him or Baili, and should they possibly move to a more secure location with more guards (not that he and Baili couldn't protect themselves, of course, and not that they don't trust their friends to also protect them, but he has almost lost Baili once and he would rather not have it happen again). Everyone ends up fine in the end, of course, but it still causes some stress on both sides.
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)
Interesting that both your published books have blood-based magic systems. I wonder if the blood of a Bloodgifted could be used in blood alchemy without the Bloodgifted needing to die?
ReplyDeleteI think Josiah would experience some philosophical dissonance when he learns that the Bloodgifted received their powers from the Divine and that the gift is given whether or not the Bloodgifted uses it in obedience to the Divine. At the start of Mechanical Heart he criticised the idea of the "divine right to rule", and while that's not exactly what the Bloodgifts are, a more cynical philosopher could make the argument that the Bloodgifted are able to maintain their power over their people whether or not they are good rulers because the Divine has so empowered them.
I wonder indeed. *mysterious eyebrow wiggle*
DeleteThat is an excellent point, and Josiah would do a lot of thinking about that (and would probably have lengthy discussions with Xiang and Baili about how that works out). He most definitely would not be a huge fan of the Inner Kingdoms' systems of government.