07.01j: The Seventh Winter (Dinner with Dragons)

[Joshua]

"What?" Oberon will ask. "Dworkin never mentioned anything like that." He will sigh. "It seems like the kind of thing a sane person would mention. Which means nothing with Dworkin."

[Wyvern]

Alys shrugs. "I could be mistaken. Or Dworkin might expect people to go find their own mechanism for immortality; from what I understand, Pattern is very good at finding things. Still, he has put down a law that royalty are not to kill each other - and I doubt he'd bother with that if he expected you could be easily replaced by a new generation."

[Joshua]

"I suppose. Depending on how many of us are left untapped out in shadow." Oberon will say. "Perhaps his search isnt' insane, and is just that difficult?"

[Veyska]

"This is Dworkin we're talking about, there's no reason it can't be both and it's entirely possible the former is what will ultimately mitigate the latter." Asai's expression is entirely cheerful as she says this, as if the notion of an insane possibility is a thing of interest and not uneasiness.

[Joshua]

"Asai," Oberon will ask... "I know it's rude to ask a lady her age, but... didn't you say something about outliving your keepers?"

[Veyska]

"Where I grew up, asking a lady's age was considered a compliment, although given that such a question was supposed to be followed by exclamations of how much they'd learned for one so young or of how well they had withstood time it may just be a peculiar twist on the notion now that I think on it. In any case, yes I did outlive a fair number of generations of humans back in my home shadow, and near as I can reckon things despite the scale difference they lived much the same lifespan as most humans elsewhere. Precisely how many I've never gotten around to counting, though. For one thing, as best I can remember things it took me some while to become aware that I was more aware than my kin, who really are no more than particularly clever beasts, and I haven't the faintest clue how long it took me to reach a state where I was capable of such self-reflections."

[Joshua]

"Of course," Oberon will speculate, "That was before you walked the pattern, but perhaps just the potential allowed you to do that." He will shrug. "I guess we will find out in time, Although not worrying about having enough time to learn... is a nice thing. Regardless, we're more likely to meet our end from poison or intrigue rather than old age, even with a more typical lifespan."

[Veyska]

"Or perhaps our lifespans are measured in some length of Amber years, my home shadow was after all an extremely fast time at least at first. That does raise unpleasant implications about visiting slow time shadows, but I've done my best to avoid those anyhow since they make me feel like I'm losing track of time without the potential benefits of having done so..."

[Joshua]

Galardrian will speak up at that. "There is a precedent for that. Did you know if you're immortal in one shadow and you move between them, it tends to wear off? Sometimes spectacularly?"

[Wyvern]

Alys nods. "A good reason not to rely on sorcery for immortality, at least if you expect to travel. The advantage of Pattern is that it works everywhere... I've heard that Morgana is trying to mix sorcery and Pattern; perhaps that's what she's working on?"