Friday 31 July 2009
OK so I couldn’t actually call it that, even though I really really wanted to. Here it is:
I didn’t even know what to say about it in the blurb. 
It just seems like one of the must-read storylines of Lothere, if you’re not going to dive in and read the whole thing from start to finish – even though it’s over 160,000 words as it stands today. That’s the length of a hefty novel.
I have to say, having read all those chapters in close sequence, that even though my Vash vs. Malcolm loyalties changed sides on a regular basis, it is now fairly obvious to me that Iylaine has only ever loved Vash. Even if it is an idealistic, fairy-tale-castle sort of love. With Malcolm it has always been a sort of fall-back option… like when they were kids resolving to pretend to be married so that people would stop pestering them to find spouses… and later when she agreed to marry him, thinking that Vash was never coming back and that she was going to die soon anyway.
She does have a deep affection for Malcolm – he’s her best friend and the person who is closest to her and who knows her the best – but it’s just not and has never been THAT sort of love. And if it hasn’t become that by now, it seems safe to say it never will. (Even at risk of making Iylaine get ever more bitter and ever more peevish and petty.)
I have my work cut out for me in 1086 I see.
Chapters
And that's why I always feel bad for Malcolm whenever I read over these M/I/V chapters. They've got the friendship thing going, and during the fertility periods, they do have the sexual chemistry, but yeah, there's definitely something missing there, even though he's obviously in love with her.
I feel bad for Vash too, of course... but not quite as much, since he made the stupid mistake of "never telling her once". I get that he regrets it, and that's what he was told to do... but really, you'd think he'd figure that there was a slight chance that somebody who was out of the loop in regards to the whole Iylaine/Finn/Nimea drama might try for her as well.