>For my part, I'm very interested in the contents of that letter Minna
>was writing. There are a couple different possibilities that occur to
>me based on her state of mind, and all of them are fascinating.

Indeed. I'm curious as well, but Minna is polite and capable of dealing with the brass in a proper way, or she wouldn't have been a general. I have a feeling that, after a stab at reconciliation no one ever saw coming from LeMay, she'll be trying to meet them halfway.

After all, this is the kind of behavior she wants to reward. In general, respect for her and her team as equal partners in the war effort. Despite SHAEF's best efforts, maybe they CAN be taught!

I think the biggest factor can be traced to Perrine giving LeMay the speech about how they're not being given the basic respect the men have received for centuries. By itself it may have not moved LeMay, but after he's seen how they will simply sidestep the chain of command, perhaps their legitimate grievances took on a new, practical light.

The biggest sidestep, though, may have been Zauberschule. We've discussed before that the witches are seizing the means of production. I think the prevailing attitude up until that point has been that they're young, inexperienced, and should be coddled but kept in the dark for their own good. And for some time they may -have- been inexperienced, but now they have been separated from society so thoroughly that they're not just developing their own subculture, but their own magical power, in a way the governments of the world cannot control and which will, in time, eliminate the inexperience that's used against them. Forward-thinking conventional people might be realizing that the witch leaders of tomorrow need to be emotionally invested in the culture of today...or they will simply overwrite it when they gain political power.

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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge