The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

"I can't," she said. (Spoilers for Peace Talks and Cold Case)

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ClintACK:
Proposed: When a faerie who cannot lie tells you that she cannot do something, she's probably not speaking metaphorically.

Theory: Molly literally cannot tell her parents that she's the Winter Lady.

In Cold Case, we learned that there are things Molly literally can't say or tell people, without a fair bargain in place. She tries to tell Carlos what she's doing in Unalaska, and it keeps coming out as Maeve-style subtlety-of-a-two-by-four flirting instead.

Similarly, when Harry asks her to tell him how she's handling being Winter Lady, she says: "Can't, literally. Faerie mystique and all that."

When he raises the subject of telling her parents: "I will," she said with a bit too much instant assurance. "You know. When I find a way to bring it up." Perhaps she means this literally as well -- she can't just bring up the subject and tell them, without some sort of pretext or bargain or way to make it her duty to tell them.

In Peace Talks, Harry cuts off her explanation fo why she hasn't told them, assuming that he understands. What if he doesn't? What if her explanation was going to be that it could harm the cause of Winter to have Michael angry, and she literally can't take that risk without a benefit to Winter to balance the scales. Through the rest of the conversation, she says things like: "I can't," (italics in the orignal), "It hurts," "I can't," "I can't," and "I can't ask you to do that."

Remember that she can't lie. When she says that she can't do something, we should assume that she's being completely literal.

It's a horrific conversation when you parse it that way -- she's weeping and begging him to help her and he just thinks she needs a hug and some emotional support.

spiritofair:
Oh, duh. Of course! Harry is so dumb, lol.

KurtinStGeorge:
But as someone in the Dresden Files; maybe it was Michael, once said, "The faeries are such lawyers."  (or something like that)  In any case, if Molly can't outright tell her parents that she's the Winter Lady she'll have to do something else, like show them she's the Winter Lady.  Harry will have to play along with the Molly's game, one way or another.  Molly might give Harry some specific orders or he might have to figure out what's going on and realize he has to play his part.  In the end, Michael, Charity or both will realize what happened and figure out that Molly is the new Winter Lady.  Once they've said it, the reason for keeping the secret is gone and Molly should be free to talk about it.  Though Molly will still have to keep the details of her job secret.

ClintACK:
That sounds right. I'm just surprised that Michael seeing Molly's face on the Hecate statue in Skin Game didn't trigger the revelation somehow.

forumghost:

--- Quote from: ClintACK on July 29, 2020, 12:10:15 AM ---That sounds right. I'm just surprised that Michael seeing Molly's face on the Hecate statue in Skin Game didn't trigger the revelation somehow.

--- End quote ---

We should all be thankful that it didn't. Michael would not have been happy, and he was piloting Uriel's Jumbo Jet at the time...

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