Aleksiel Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 “I ain’t twelve,” Lift snapped, looming over them. They turned up toward her. “I ain’t,” she said. “Twelve’s an unlucky number.” She held up her hands. “I’m only this many.” “...Ten?” Tigzikk asked. “Is that how many that is? Sure, then. Ten.” She lowered her hands. “If I can’t count it on my fingers, it’s unlucky.” And she’d been that many for three years now. So there. He looked to be about sixteen. Unlucky age, that. I think Lift asked of the Nightwatcher to stay ten years old. And her 'awesomeness' is actually the curse. Or even if it's the boon, then Lift is convincing herself that being cursed to stay as old as she was is actually cool since all other ages are unlucky. “Somehow, you are partly in the Cognitive realm,” Wyndle said, coiling beside her and raising a twisting mesh of vines that could make a face. “It is the only answer I can find to why you can touch spren. And you can metabolize food directly into Stormlight.” Perhaps stormlight is the raw energy of the Cognitive realm? I've read speculations that Highstorms originate from there. I think being part of the Cognitive realm is the curse, because I don't see how she could have asked for this to be the boon. She's only ten, I doubt she has any idea what it means. What do you think? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoser he/him Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 It seems that one needs stormlight to do things in the cognitive realm and it is a scarce resource there. Jasnah chides Shallan for going there with only one dim sphere. I think stormlight must come from the spiritual realm. The highstorm may contain a rift to the spiritual realm. Satsuoni has a model of how that could work. The age thing seems like a bit of flavor to me. She grew up in a nightmare place, the City of Shadows (Ral Elorim). She tells Darkness that she tried to be like he was, dead, but it wasn't worth it. I am clueless, but I imagine the boon she requested would have to do with her history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet he/him Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 With her focus on food, I suspect that she asked to never be hungry again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleksiel Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Which would make her non-changing age the curse. Still fits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isomere Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 My favorite theory, she asked her to "Make me awesome!" 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikorr Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I like Isomere's suggestion. And I doubt that she's 10...she just doesn't want to acknowledge any age older than 10, because she can't count it on her two hands, and that's unlucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesomeness Summoned he/him Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) In my mind, her beliefs on numbers is just a result of an illiterate child trying to feel "awesome" despite not being able to count past ten. What's so special about being able to count past ten if they are all unlucky numbers anyway? I like Isomere's guess as well but if her abilities were the boon, what was the curse? Always being hungry due to her gifts burning all her food? Perhaps she can't actually breathe in stormlight like other surgebinders. Burning her food is the only way to invest. Edit: @vikorr - it's clear from the text she is 13. She says she's been 10 for 3 years. Aleksiel was saying she might be frozen biologically at 10 years old Edited January 23, 2014 by Awesomeness summoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikorr Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I realise...I was saying that she just likes the concept of 10, because higher than that is unlucky. I'm guessing that if she found 11 apples, she'd still say she only found 10. Edited January 23, 2014 by vikorr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natans he/him Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Now that I think about this boon are sDNA related ? I'm mean her sons will have this power too? Because I see a very good similarity with this and Allomancer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaa he/him Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 (edited) My theory is that Lift had a traumatic experience (like, maybe her parents died) that left her with a major case of clinical depression, making her incapable of caring about anything. At first she embraced this mental disorder (explaining the "I wanted to be like you, once" thing she said to Darkness), but for some reason she realized that this state of mind was wrong and that she had to do something about it. So she went to the Nightwatcher and asked to be able to love again. That was her boon. Her curse was that she'll get hungry more often than other people. What the Nightwatcher didn't say was why Lift will get hungry more often. Edited January 24, 2014 by skaa 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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