In the first half of the eleventh chapter of A Wizard of Mars<\/i>, Nita tries to figure out what Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s test was, and Kit deals with an even bigger problem: his oldest sister. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
AHHHH EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS!!!<\/p>\n
Nita<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, Nita. OH, NITA. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to see how much she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affected by the test that Kit was in the middle of because SHE TOTALLY HAS FEELINGS FOR HIM. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta be the reason that, upon seeing Aurilelde, Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction is to feel \u00e2\u20ac\u0153scrawny and non-toned.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d See, if this wizardry latches on to a wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception and then re-creates it, then it stands to reason that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reason<\/i> why beings within it appear as they do. Is Aurilelde Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideal woman? If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, then it makes sense to me that Nita would feel inadequate in comparison. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to live up to, and given that both she and Kit have not addressed their possible romantic inclinations in any meaningful sense, all Nita has is her imagination. Here, she imagines the worst of herself while witnessing Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interactions with this gorgeous woman.<\/p>\n
Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more going on here than this, but I still think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to lead to these two having a serious conversation about it before the end of the book. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another significance to Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exploration of this wizardry: she glimpses the gray being that she saw in the early part of A Wizard of Mars<\/i>, and that means:<\/p>\n So<\/i>, Nita thought, this is what the people of the First World made themselves into after they came. This is someone from Shamask-Eilith \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and now, by location anyway, a Martian.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n OHHHHHH, I GET IT. That was why her oracular vision gave her that image! It was foreshadowing to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153final\u00e2\u20ac\u009d form of the First World, who had<\/i> to change themselves when they made it to Mars. It suggests that Nita has a connection to this place, too, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 yeah, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I mean, given that Kit has a reason to be on Mars, I assume they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re related? But how can the wizardries planted within Mars have been programmed specifically<\/i> for Kit and Nita, when they wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have even existed for HALF A MILLION YEARS? That part of this mystery still perplexes me. It all feels too<\/i> specific, you know? Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this bit:<\/p>\n And based on the past behavior of the species that, it now seemed, had lain hidden on Mars for so long \u00e2\u20ac\u201c assuming that the history that she and Carmela and S\u00e2\u20ac\u2122reee had read or experienced in the cavern was true \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the thought of having any close dealings with the Shamaska-Eilitt was making Nita nervous. To these guys<\/i>, Nita thought, all was fair in war. But what about love?<\/i><\/p>\n GREAT. NOW I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M NERVOUS AS WELL. Is this entire thing a manipulation of Kit? Why? And why him<\/i>, so far into the future from when this was all set into motion???<\/p>\n Helena<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get any scenes between Helena and Kit after this, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty satisfied with this. Helena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception of her brother was obviously flawed, but when you have someone so utterly convinced of a reality in your life, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly easy to deal with. I get the sense that Helena had settled into a reality \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Kit being the servant of the Devil or something like it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really want to budge. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if Carmela was instrumental in Helena approaching this bizarre situation in a different light. How often had they talked? Had Carmela done her best to explain what Kit was and what he could do?<\/p>\n Regardless, after so much time away from the family, Helena has changed in one significant way. Oh, she might be able to talk up a storm still, but she no longer believes Kit is evil:<\/p>\n And Helena looked at him with an expression of not just understanding, but \u00e2\u20ac\u201c bizarrely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c pity. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you just tell<\/i> me that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a mutant?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yeah, suffice to say that I DID NOT EXPECT THIS TWIST. In hindsight, I can see why she thought this and<\/i> why it gives her comfort. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a choice that serves some evil being; instead, being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mutant\u00e2\u20ac\u009d means that Kit was born<\/i> like this, that it is some immutable part of who he is, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just doing the best with what he has. Granted, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not all that comforting to Kit, especially since wizardry relies so heavily on telling the truth and reading intent. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a mutant<\/i>, and he resents that Helena assigns this whole identity and reality on him, despite that she actually has no idea what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talking about.<\/p>\n But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a move in a better<\/i> direction, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s undeniable. At least she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to be on his case about being in league with Satan, right??? EVERYONE (sort of) WINS.<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/79Wtq8L0M4Y<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n -\u00c2\u00a0Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the first half of the eleventh chapter of A Wizard of Mars, Nita tries to figure out what Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s test was, and Kit deals with an even bigger problem: his oldest sister. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to … Continue reading