Shipyear 65
Tripday 135
Second Shift
9.30 hours
In which a game of ping pong results in several discoveries.
Another chapter where I’m pretty sure I’d have more to say if I was reading for the first time, instead of (a) re-reading and (b) familiar with what the authors have had to say about the sexual orientations of their characters.
Although, having said that, I can’t remember now whether I was particularly surprised when I did read this chapter for the first time. If I wasn’t, it probably owed something to how matter-of-factly the sequence of events is told; there’s no attempt to make a big deal about where it goes, and I for one appreciate that.
Since I read everything out of order, I already knew that Shan and Priscilla were lifemates, so it did take me by surprise that Priscilla was the one to respond to Lina’s perfume. Also, it annoyed me that the perfume was basically overriding the characters’ usual inhibitions, and in that sense, overriding their free will. *That* is not something I would normally associate with Korval’s sense of honor and respect for others.
And…on second reading…it is even more obvious to me, because of Shan’s conscious choice to remove himself from its influence until he could deal with his reaction. Thus, I was surprised anew that he allowed Lina to go forward with her little subterfuge…unless, of course, the intention was merely to provide a venue for healing?
And the third time through, I was just as annoyed with Shan . . . and with the authors.
It just doesn’t seem in character for Shan—after recognizing the potency of the perfume—to allow Lina her experiment. It’s not as if he doesn’t know what an aphrodisiac is! And he himself recognizes how overpowering its effect is on him, but once aware of it, he was able to choose not to yield. Now if he’d walked into the room and announced “Lina is trying out the new ‘Endless Lust’ perfume, so beware,” or some such warning, then, and only then, would I have felt as if the circumstances were “fair.” The authors even have Shan tell Lina that she is spitting hairs over the ethics of overriding someone’s volition after she says “no more than a healer might, encouraging one to embrace joy” (with “embrace joy” basically being Liaden for “having sex”).
This seems to indicate that Lina is saying it’s okay for a healer to heal someone without their express permission! Which we know is not according to how we’ve been told that Healers operate. Making the assumption that you are choosing to override someone’s inhibitions “for their own good” is not much different from raping someone because you “know they really want it.”