If Honor had died...

cthia wrote:

(Snip)

Hmm, if Honor had died, wouldn't Emily most likely have been spared the literary axe? But, if both had died, think Hamish would wed again? That'd certainly be a huge homestead to live in alone. Kuzak could comfort him again, in the presence of his own home, and not worry about leaving. She could eventually become... Countess Kuzak?

Kuzak was killed during Chin's attack on Third Fleet, before Honor brought Eighth Fleet through the wormhole. She couldn't have resumed her relationship with Whitehaven after Emily's death.

The orginal concept was 8th fleet went first and got mousetrapped. Honor’s last words were ‘I picked a good day to take up smoking crack.’

tlb wrote:But was that true when the first Winton bonded? "Soul of Steel" is Queen Elizabeth (correct?) and by her reign the cats had learned enough to begin using sign language.

Soul of Steel is Elizabeth.

The first adoption was Adrienne, who was still a princess at the time. She was very distraught in that particular visit to Sphinx thinking about her duties as Crown Princess and how she was sparring with her father the King. That's the state of mind that Seeker of Dreams tasted when he adopted her.

But it's unlikely Adrienne was the first Winton to meet an unbonded treecat. Not impossible, I just think it's unlikely. They had been known since the reign of Elizabeth I and the question of their sentience and their reserved domains in Sphinx had been discussed for some time.

We do know that since Adrienne, all but two monarchs were adopted (seven out of nine). One was Adrienne's heir, who was assassinated. The other was Michael II, who could not leave the palace to go to Sphinx in the first place.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

cthia wrote:So, although there's no textev to the fact. The data points seem to support it.

It appears like that, but the sample is too small. We don't know enough treecat adoption to be able to say for sure.

Jonathan_S wrote:And some of that sample is seems skewed. The adoption rate of Wintons lately pretty clearly shows the 'cats had been making a special effort to attempt adoption during visits to Sphynx. And IIRC Honor even suggested as much.

True. But there is no way we can assume such an intelligent species doesn't know the importance of injecting itself within the highest levels of government. The Cats may be more politically savvy - by happenstance, and as a result of their hunter-killer nature - than Honor was as a babe. IOW, I will consider that as a forced attempt to "bond on a curve."

Jonathan_S wrote:So even within the tiny sample size it seems we have is a mix of chance random adoptions and more deliberate attempts to expose as many 'cats as possible to potential adoptees.

Yes, see above. Also, I thought it was obvious the missing data points would include the overwhelming bonds of Shinxian natives who are not in the Navy that the author hasn't yet had cause to introduce.

As I broached in the "Honor and Nimitz and Pavel Young" thread, and also upstream, the Cats don't suffer fools. Or like dummies. As an implication of textev once stating that a particular bondee (forgot who) was too young to bond because they weren't mature enough, thus their mindglow hadn't yet settled, I think an effect of genies with the IQ enhancement focuses their minds. The emotions of humans are all over the place. So much so, WE don't really know what we're feeling, or how we really feel, most of the time.

To me, bonding is like finding your Soul Mate. You increase your chances by expanding the target rich environment. But, a soul mate is still a soul mate. You like what you like.