Naomi Novik
So I can't answer these questions for SURE, because I don't really know until I write things out exactly what will happen -- my primary motivation for writing is in order to find out what happens myself.
But I do think that yes, Sarkan has come back to live in the valley; he returned because he managed to sufficiently overcome his fear of putting down roots and being part of a community. I don't think he's going to take a house in the village or anything, but he isn't going to run away again.
My best guess is that Agnieszka and Sarkan both continue to live in the valley, occasionally quarreling so hard that either he storms off to the tower or she storms off to her house in the forest, and whichever of them was more at fault will eventually grudgingly recognize it and go to the other and they'll end up spending a stretch there.
As far as training, I think that while Agnieszka would keep learning all her life, her apprenticeship is clearly over. She's learned HOW to learn on her own, at this point.
I suspect that Kasia would age but probably like an old-growth tree, very slowly and gradually.
But I do think that yes, Sarkan has come back to live in the valley; he returned because he managed to sufficiently overcome his fear of putting down roots and being part of a community. I don't think he's going to take a house in the village or anything, but he isn't going to run away again.
My best guess is that Agnieszka and Sarkan both continue to live in the valley, occasionally quarreling so hard that either he storms off to the tower or she storms off to her house in the forest, and whichever of them was more at fault will eventually grudgingly recognize it and go to the other and they'll end up spending a stretch there.
As far as training, I think that while Agnieszka would keep learning all her life, her apprenticeship is clearly over. She's learned HOW to learn on her own, at this point.
I suspect that Kasia would age but probably like an old-growth tree, very slowly and gradually.
More Answered Questions
Matthew Green
asked
Naomi Novik:
In the Temeraire books, you touch on theological and philosophical questions; and you bring up the RIGHT questions, and refer to the kinds of answers that would actually be proposed by theologians and philosophers. (I have studied and taught philosophy and theology.) Have you studied these topics personally, or did you ask others who were well informed to give you ideas? (Either way, great job!)
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