# MIAs *The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 07 Oct 1998* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Robert Borski *07 Oct 1998, 17:35* Don't believe this has been addressed yet, but in LEXICON URTHUS, the following question is asked: "What were the names of the journeymen Master Gurloes sent in search of the House Absolute and what ever became of them? Here's who I believe they are and what happened to them. In CLAW, present at the excruciation of Thecla's handmaiden are Master Gurloes, and three assistants--Odo, Mennas and Eigil. Later, in CASTLE, we learn these three are indeed journeymen, as we would expect, given the masterfulness of their full-boot skinning. This leads me to believe they may be senior journeymen, and given the importance of Thecla (the first concubine Gurloes has ever had from the autarch's inner circle), it stands to reason he may have sent his most experienced journeymen to the House Absolute, which is not as we learn easy to find. We never hear mention of Odo, Mennas and Eigil again, and they are not present when Thecla is later placed in the revolutionary. As for where they end up, when Roche and Severian are at the House Azure for their night of pleasure, the "Chatelaine Thecla" warns Severian about possibly hitting her when he raises his hand to the khaibit. Says she: "There are people here to protect me...Three men." Severian doubts her, but doesn't strike her; he taunts her to scream and draw these three men, but she refuses. Later, however, just before they make love, the naked Severian is told by fake Thecla: "You must be clothed in favor, remember. Otherwise you will be given over to the torturers." The phrase itself may be part of Thecla's religious instruction, since just before this they're talking about the theocenter; but it still seems a clue. Could it be that, under impress of the Autarch, Odo, Mennas and Eigil have wound up at the House Azure as troubleshooters? Torturers do seem to have the same sort of knowledge about nerve clusters that martial artists do. And who better to roust out malcontents than members of the Order of Seekers for Truth and Penitence, who are widely feared? Robert Borski ---