LAST EDITED ON Jul-28-08 AT 07:18 PM (EDT)
 
>Freja's beef with
>Corwin was interesting, and sure, it forwarded the plot, but um, damn
>did it come out of no where. Wasn't it Frey who used to get all
>medieval on Corwin's ass?

Frey and Corwin came to something of an understanding in an incident that was shown in flashback back in S5M1 (an incident which also leaves me faintly puzzled at your assertion that Freyja's problem came out of nowhere).

>And why in the names of the gods would she
>risk the wrath of the Norns?

Well... why would a group of smart, capable teenagers spend a school year diligently trying to kill each other for the sake of a reward that no one ever specified to them? Why would an intelligent woman like Kanae Ohtori sit passively by and watch some guy screw around on her with cheerful abandon and destroy a legacy her forebears spent centuries building? Why would Touga Kiryuu be willing to die - repeatedly - for the sake of a man he loathes with his entire being?

Akio's rowing against a very strong current these days, and it may be having a deleterious effect on even his phenomenal patience (see below), but he still has a talent for identifying and exploiting psychological vulnerabilities, especially in women. Freyja has some ugly history with svartelves (covered in S5M1) and a track record of, shall we say, emotional brittleness. Compared to someone like Utena, or Corwin, or even Raven, she was an easy mark.

>Akio was strangely
>out of character. Since when does he show his emotions on his face?

An Æsir curse isn't an easy thing to live with. Perhaps he's simply indulging in a fit of childishness over this latest frustration. In a way, he can afford to do that, because this particular confrontation isn't actually important. This trip was primarily recreational. He saw an opportunity to put the cat among the pigeons with impunity - a way to exploit certain diplomatic niceties and a goddess's psychological flaws in order to remind his archest enemies as baldly as possible that, despite their best efforts, they still aren't rid of him. In that sense, his mission was still accomplished. Raven's reaction alone was worth the trip.

Besides, in all his many years, he'd never been coolly dismissed by Susan Ivanova before. That parting remark stung. :)

>Um, she was nice, but such a deus ex machina <grin>. Nice quest item
>btw. Doesn't the girl have enough toys?

The exchange of swords - a new-made one from bride to groom, a family heirloom from groom to bride - is a tradition that goes back a long, long time among the Ęsir, and their mortal worshippers who came closest to being right, the Vikings, practiced it as well. Technically, the heirloom one is supposed to be held in trust by the wife for the couple's firstborn son, but in the modern day that's a bit like those laws that say horseless carriages have to be preceded up the street by a man with a red flag. :)

Anyway, Utena has a number of swords, and they're all very good ones, but - and I take nothing away from the care Corwin put into constructing the Thorn of the Rose, nor the fine qualities of Utena's own Heart - she's never had one like that. Ivaldi the Ancient was the greatest smith in the history of the Heavens, and we've seen one of the three swords he made for the sons of Borr before. The one he made for Odin was eventually used as the Master Key of the World-Engine, and appeared as such in Twilight.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.