One Who Could Cry 2014-08-05

[Radical_Knight]

Regardless of the actual affect of what Castela/Pickle did to the actual or image of the Fae, the intent was to mutilate and terminate the life of an apparent creature. That said and done, she cannot, now, go back to inquire intent or feelings of the entity after the destruction of the life-form. As for could it cry... why would that matter NOW?

[Skywatcher68]

Note she said "who" rather than "that". This shows understanding that she killed a person rather than a thing.

[Dave]

Regardless of the actual affect of what Castela/Pickle did to the actual or image of the Fae, the intent was to mutilate and terminate the life of an apparent creature. That said and done, she cannot, now, go back to inquire intent or feelings of the entity after the destruction of the life-form. As for could it cry... why would that matter NOW?

It matters, because Pickle has just realized that she didn't kill a thing. She killed a person.

For her, the ability to cry... that is, the ability to feel sadness and hurt, and to react to these by crying... are enough to define a Fae as "a person, kinda like me... him or her" rather than as "just a fairy... an evil, stupid 'it'".

Pickle had previously denied that she'd killed someone, saying that the kids who told her that were just lying because they wanted to be mean to her. She's just come to the emotional realization that they were telling the truth... she killed someone, rather than some thing. Her whole interpretation of what she had done... and therefore, of what she is... has just turned upside down.

Part of what brought her to this realization was Nadette's moral fable. Part was Atsali telling her explicitly that Cricket is a girl rather than an "it". But, she was already "getting there" before either of these things happened... because she saw Cricket crying, and realized for the first time that Fae can cry... because they can be hurt and full of sorrow... because they are people, just like her. That's why I said she's a sharp little thorn... I think she'd have reached her emotional epiphany even if Nadette hadn't fabled her.

She's committed homicide, not vermicide. Maybe it was justifiable self-defense. Maybe not. We don't know. Neither does she. As Kath pointed out, she doesn't know the whole story.

Justifiable or not, she can no longer shrug off what she did as unimportant... "just a fairy". She has to come to terms with the fact that she killed a person.

So... yeah, it matters. It matters a lot.

[Aed]

Nadette may not always tell you what you want to hear... but you can rest assured she'll tell you what you need to hear.

Kind of like someone that does not take you where you want to go, but always takes you where you need to go.

[lake_wrangler]

No answer to that question will be satisfactory. At least, none will ease her conscience.

What I'm hoping for next, is for Calista to take up her glamor so she's taller than Castela, then kneel in front of her and hug her for a while, probably without saying anything.

I think it's a bit soon to be hugging it out, but satisfactory or not, I think Calista might have the answer to Castela's question.

They may not feel very lovey dovey towards each other, but as a representative of the fae world, this may still be what's needed. There is a precedent...

And yes, as a representative of the fae world, Calista may have to answer that, if she knows who was involved in the incident. And Castela may not like the answer (hence the need for a hug).

[DilyV]

Nadette may not always tell you what you want to hear... but you can rest assured she'll tell you what you need to hear. How you deal with it is up to you...

this arc isn't tugging at heartstrings... it's yanking at them... HARD.

This is why I keep wondering if the Ursa's are related to Nudge and/or Shelly.

Or Tina!!!

[Warrl]

I was afraid this would happen. I hoped it wouldn't happen so soon. Barring a deus ex machina - or a convincing lie - Castela is in for a bad time.

There is at least one potential truthful, non-deus answer. That is that there was a fae who was watching over Castela when she first arrived at the orphanage; that fae saw Castela's rage and, just before leaving, created a gossamer "fairy" which Castela then caught and destroyed. In the short run that would ease Castela's rage somewhat and help her to adapt to the orphanage. In the long run... well you gotta get through the short run before you get to the long run.

The question is: if that is what happened, would Calista know it, and would Castela believe her? Because the long run has arrived.

[Aed]

Gossamer is usually something light and insubstantial.

As we have all observed, Paul tends to start with a "real" item, then molds it into something wonderous in the Wapsi-verse. We've been told that gossamer images created by the fae are very convincing visual illusions, but we have not be told about them having any actual mass or substance. Consider that Calista's gossamer 'friends' were discovered to be fake by a cheerleader. We are not told how, but could it have been something as simple as trying to shake hands or a pat on the back, or even a hug? Something light and insubstantial would be exposed under such circumstances no mater how good the visual (and auditory) illusion was.

So as much as it would make a wonderful "out" for Calista to have dismembered a gossamer illusion instead of a living sentient, I fear that Paul is not going to let either her (or us) off the hook that easily. Probably best to keep a box of tissues in easy reach as the rest of the story unfolds.

[AnotherFairportfan]

This whole thing may help explain Castela's teen rebellion and the "both sides" image of her at twenty-one we've seen.

[Dave]

Depends on her motivation(s).

"Did I kill a Fae that could cry?"

Option A: "Good! Those little bastards made me suffer, and they deserve all the grief I can give them!"

Option B: "So what? They still hurt me and those I loved."

Option C: ".....

When "The Other" ceases to be the other, then what?

I dug through my library and found a couple of discussions of this last question, that have stuck in my memory for decades.

From The Door Into Shadow by Diane Duane:

"Listen," Shihan says. "Don't try to figure this out: just hear it, let it in. When you strike another, especially to kill, you're striking yourself. When you kill, the other takes a little part of you with them, past the Door. If you do it in anger, what they take is the part of you that feels." Shihan wiped his mouth on his sleeve. His eyes burn with the intensity of one imparting a sacred mystery to a fellow initiate. "Kill in anger often enough and your aliveness starts running out too. Soon there's nothing left but a husk that walks and speaks and does skillful murder. Were you angry at me?" He shoots the question at her sudden as a dart.

"Master! No."

"But I'm the one that anger struck down. See how easily it used you?"

Segnbora stares at the ground, her face burning.

She shakes her head, confused. "Master, in killing in war or in self-defense, if I'm not supposed to feel angry -- what should I be feeling?"

He looks at her. "Compassion," he says, gruff-voiced. "Anguish. What else, when you've just killed yourself?"

And, then, the aftermath:

From Rissa Kerguelen by F.M. Busby

"Rissa, girl - what's wrong?" It was Liesel who spoke.

"It's - all right now," said Rissa. "I did not know what was weighing on me these past days. But now I do, and it is finished."

Hawkman broke in. "What was it, then?"

"You will not laugh?"

"Laugh? Of course not!"

"All right, then - it was that I had not yet grieved for dal Nardo."

"You what?*"

"Dal Nardo?"

"Grieved for him?"

"My father once said that those who kill and do not grieve for killing will rot and die of it. I was very young; although the words stayed in my mind, I did not know what he meant. Now I do."

"But - " Sparline sounded incredulous. "Dal Nardo? I mean, he - "

As though not hearing, Rissa said, "Once before, only, I killed - the policebitch, the Committee's bloodhound at Hokkaido. But there I had no warning and no choice; she would have taken me back to Welfare. So I did what I did - and never saw her face behind the mask. But still, briefly, I felt a pang."

She looked at each of them; none spoke. "But dal Nardo - I did see him - good or bad, he was real.

"And I did have a choice - I could have changed identities, or run off-planet. But instead I chose to challenge and to kill."

She saw raised eyebrows and shook her head. "It has nothing to do with what he was or his intent toward me. I chose his death, so I must bear its weight. Perhaps of Blaise Tendal's also, to some extent. And until now I had not done so." She tried to laugh, but failed. "None of you understand? Then I suppose you think me deranged."

Liesel said, "No, child, you're sane enough - maybe too sane for your own good. No - my thought is, damned few people can be trusted with power. I think you may be one of them."

[meisdadoo]

Or as Richard M. Nixon once said "Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quote ... j3TRmkP.99

When my Dad turned 18 he joined the Navy to get an education in electronics. He thought that fixing electronics on a ship would be fairly safe and that he would never be called upon to actually hurt or kill anyone. Turned out he was wrong. During the Korean War his ship was providing close fire support which put them in range of the North Koreans. The fire control radar stopped working and he was offered a choice. Either climb the mast while dodging enemy fire and fix the antenna (which would result in several thousand dead Chinese/North Koreans), OR don't climb the mast and let the Chinese/North Koreans wipe out a US Marine Division. He climbed the mast, fixed the radar, and was awarded a medal for his bravery under fire. Unfortunately he never really got over being responsible for so many deaths-- "It's a hell of thing killin man. you take away all he's got, and all he'll ever have. . ." (William Munny--Unforgiven)

[AnotherFairportfan]

Or as Richard M. Nixon once said "Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."

Wow. And there's a man who knew whereof he spokened.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Depends on her motivation(s).

"Did I kill a Fae that could cry?"

Option A: "Good! Those little bastards made me suffer, and they deserve all the grief I can give them!"

Option B: "So what? They still hurt me and those I loved."

Option C: ".....

When "The Other" ceases to be the other, then what?

I dug through my library and found a couple of discussions of this last question, that have stuck in my memory for decades.

Or Miles Vorkosigan, one sleepless night, reflecting that it wouldn't be so bad if your dead foes simply showed up to escort you to hell when you die, it's them hanging around by your bedside making wisecracks until it's time to go that's so demoralising.

[Aed]

Or Miles Vorkosigan, one sleepless night, reflecting that it wouldn't be so bad if your dead foes simply showed up to escort you to hell when you die, it's them hanging around by your bedside making wisecracks until it's time to go that's so demoralising.

I wonder if Monica's ability to communicate with the dead will allow a humbled and contrite Castela to apologize to and possibly attempt to make amends to the dead, as yet unnamed fae? Perhaps Castela will receive a geis that she must fulfill in order to make amends?

If a geis is involved, let us hope that it does not require Pickle to relive the murder from the victims point of view.

[KnightDelight]

Considering how closely looped things turn out to be in the Wapsiverse, I begin to wonder if the victim was a close relation of the royal family. Like Cricket's sister, for example. And how do the Fae feel about this tragic turn of events. Here they go out of their way to rescue Castela and she ends up killing one of her rescuers. Deliberately and with malice. I'll be kinda disappointed if it all turns out to be wrong and she didn't really kill anyone. That would suck all the drama/moral dilemma right out of the whole affair. Anyway, I do hope we find out about it this week. I don't know how much more whiplash my neck can take from sudden scene/plot changes.

[jwhouk]

I don't know how much more whiplash my neck can take from sudden scene/plot changes.

...and How Long have you been reading Wapsi Square?

I suspect "Wapsi" is an old Algonquin word for "twists and turns so complex it makes the head spin." (And, having seen how the Wapsipinicon River meanders through Iowa, I almost wonder if that might be the case...)

[Aed]

I suspect "Wapsi" is an old Algonquin word for "twists and turns so complex it makes the head spin." (And, having seen how the Wapsipinicon River meanders through Iowa, I almost wonder if that might be the case...)

How about a special effect to go along with that thought.

[shadowinthelight]

If a geis is involved, let us hope that it does not require Pickle to relive the murder from the victims point of view.

I'm not sure if I should feel proud or ashamed I knew exactly what that was before clicking on the link.

I don't know how much more whiplash my neck can take from sudden scene/plot changes.

How about some music to go with that sensation?

[My2Cents]

This has serious, life altering trauma written all over it. This may be a job for more than one grandma.

No, it calls for Aunt Nudge.

Castela has to look at things she has done in a new way, helping entities do that is Nudge's specialty.

[My2Cents]

Worst case next thing to have happen is Calista telling Castela "She was one who wanted to help you because she felt sorry."

Best case if it is this, is Calista keeping quiet until she can talk with Kathryn and Monica alone.