From: "Roy C. Lackey" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Love, Hyacinth, Valeria
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 01:16:07 -0600

Nutria, responding to Adam, wrote:
>As for Silk, my memory of TBOTLS is not that good, as I said; but my
>>recollection was that the "Hyacinth" Silk loves is largely a creation of
his
>>imagination.
>>
>>--Adam
>
>Or perhaps (and rather, I submit) the Hyacinth that Silk loves is her true
>self, which she does not herself see, and constantly abuses. And her
>misperceptions and self-degradations are, horribly, the result of the way
>men have used and abused her.
>         Silk loves Hyacinth with "eros," but more with "agape," the love
>of principle that sees into the truth and does not flinch.

Silk did more than flinch--he nearly jumped, from the airship. I agree with
Adam that the Hy Silk fell in love with--at their first meeting--didn't
really exist. It didn't take Silk long to find that out, either, which is
why he despaired on the airship, but by then it was too late.

Let me review the facts. Less than 24 hours after Silk's "enlightenment", at
which time he pledged heart and soul to the Outsider, he fell in love with a
beautiful, naked, junkie whore. Hy neither said or did anything at their
first meeting to inspire love. The most obvious thing she had going for her
was her body, something any normal 23-year-old male could appreciate. The
soiled sheets on her bed should have told him her worth as a human being.
That she "came on" to him, a complete stranger, might have gladdened his
gonads, but the Father Brown in him should have seen beyond that.

But, along with her body, Hy possessed one other important quality--she was
possessed by Kypris at the time of their meeting. This isn't speculation;
Kypris said so when she appeared to Silk in the glass at Orchid's.
Possession by the "love" goddess imbues the possessed with apparently
irresistible qualities. This is the only excuse I can find for Silk falling
so hard for so little, all within a matter of hours after his enlightenment.
Days later, after finding and marrying Hy--which had nothing to do with the
mission given him by the Outsider--when Hy was no longer possessed by
Kypris, Silk realized he had lusted after her at the expense of his
commitment. Without Kypris to add shine to Hy's natural luster, Silk began
to see her for what she was, which wasn't much. The same thing happened to
Auk. He fell in love with Chenille when she was possessed by Kypris, but
when the goddess was gone Chenille wasn't as lovable.

As with Moses's "sin" in the wilderness, Silk was tempted and failed his
God; and, like Moses, he was punished by being denied the Promised Land.
That's the real reason Silk didn't go on the lander. He stayed with Hy
because he was man enough to live with the consequences of his own actions.
And as soon as Hy was dead he was on his way to Blue, however convoluted the
path the Outsider chose for him.

-Roy


--