More Perils of Agia

Charles Dye · 15 Oct 1998, 11:17 · from urth-v0020.mbox · original

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From: raster at highfiber.com (Charles Dye)
Subject: (urth) More Perils of Agia
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 11:17:01
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A few digests back, Robert Borski propounded:

>Because I've
>never believed Agia's involvement; if she's not looking for coins as her
>brother suggests when Sev comes to visit her and Agilus in his cell, I
>believe she's looking for Sev's whetstone, which she knows is in his
>sabertache.

To which I asked:

>What good would the whetstone do Agilus?  His cell door ("merely wood
>bound with iron") locks from the outside!

I've assumed that she's going for the Claw in hopes of rescuing Agilus,
of course.  Either she believes it has some mystic power to free
prisoners ("All the things he is supposed to have done himself") or
else she hopes to use it to bribe any guard she can't seduce.

But it occurs to me that your theory can still be salvaged.  If
Agia isn't trying to filch the Claw, then she must be after the
keys.  We know S. has the door keys; where else would he carry them
but his sabretache?  Agia doubtless assumes that he has the key to
Agilus's chains as well.  (I don't think he *does* -- Severian is
only the executioner, not the jailer.  However, Agia wouldn't make
that distinction even if she weren't frantic.)

raster at highfiber.com

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