the fool's delight

I've changed the layout to one that has bigger font, and seems somehow more appealing to read O_o

The tree still stands
When its petals fall
The stars still shine
When morning falls
The Fool will dance
   Unfettered by time
   Until his last curtain fall

I think that about sums up Vivant's fate from here on. LOL. (Yes yes it's sad)

Occasionally I wonder if it's too early to say all these things about Vivant. For Next Assignment at least I'm more than halfway through the story and none of the characters - except Rowan - deviate much from then on. Okay okay, even Rowan keeps much of his personality, just something very important about his past is revealed. It doesn't change who he is, but I think it allows him to understand himself better.

But back to Vivant. True, he hasn't changed much since he wrote himself into stability about ten chapters ago, but nothing that was meant to change him has happened. He's learned things, about others and about himself, but he hasn't had the need to change yet. He might - or might not - change in the next ten chapters, but he will definitely change soon after that. Depending on how much I can fit in ten chapters LOL

At least I think we will see a very different Vivant when he returns to Isshaten, which will form the final arc (and a little less than half) of the story. Yes...Vivant spends a lot of time in Talgrith. I guess you could call his time in Talgrith his "formative" years. What happens there determines his mindset at least until the conclusion of his time in Issaten.

In some ways, Vivant becomes an adolescent earlier than most children. Maybe it's the lack of parents, the lack of secure familial love, the lack of stable adult examples. He seems to learn to question adults quite early in his life. That must be where he has acquired both his perpetual amusement and his perpetual distrust. Too perceptive for his own good, he sees through the actions of adults to the selfish desires behind them, and he finds their efforts at feigning otherwise amusing.

Thus, the Fool. Naive - but not quite so. Full of curiosity, like a sponge he could content himself with watching and absorbing the world. The Fool card in a Tarot spread means optimism, fresh starts and difficult challenges; as well as on the negative side recklessness, immaturity and inability to commit, all of which describe Vivant or his fate.

The negative aspects probably describe both Vivant and Vivrael, although Vivant only seems to exhibit these when badly provoked. If there's anything in which Vivant is worse than Vivrael, it must be his uncertainty - because he can never really decide what's most important to himself.

Perhaps the last thing in the world he learns to understand is himself.