Page 192: Sleep well, girls!

[Jagged]

Might not be her, the eye colours are different?

Thay are? They look green to me. Her skin is a shade different in that panel but I put that down to the lighting.

[Ithekro]

Why would eye color in this case matter? Dreams are usually seem from your own point of view and you would not see your own self in them. If this is Fireblade's dream, its from her point of view, so Alex would be "in" her position for the dream, and thus no see her in it, but Be her in it.

[Krulle]

The discussion of eye colour was to the page 180 and her more recent appearance in the shuttle.

In Alex' dream we did not see an eye colour of the "ego"person.

[Quickdraw101]

I don't know about you, but I have a creeping suspicion that the Historian is BSing Jardin about not trusting the Loroi. Yeah, they can't read him, but I don't believe they are as hostile as Historian is making them out to be.

[asaenvolk]

I dono, they seam fairly paranoid, and Greywind seams to be cut from a similar cloth as Stillstorm from what background information we have. The Loroi also seam to have a penchant for wiping out those who oppose them and smothering those who are aligned with them.

[Ithekro]

Her eye color wasn't different there in any way that can't be pinned on the lighting.

[DevilDalek]

Are we on the same page here? I was thinking one of the two girls Alex encounters in the dreamscape was Fireblade (I was thinking the younger one considering possible timeline).
Are you thinking Alex is Fireblade?
But the 'Shik' could nicely explain Fireblades facial scar later in life..

[boldilocks]

Sort of makes me wonder if fireblade was used as a sort of "hunting dog", which is why alex seeks out the two loroi in the dream despite their protests;
that is, he's not actually acting, his mind is simply replaying fireblade's memory and he's filling in the blanks on autopilot,
whereas she's dreaming of her past as a captive used to hunt down other loroi.
But then it wouldn't exactly make sense that the umiak would cut her down, unless that was a mistake by an overzealous soldier or she'd outlived her usefulness.

[Krulle]

Are you thinking Alex is Fireblade?

Yes, I do think that.

And the Fireblade we know has no eye injury, and no scar, and none of the Loroi ever mentioned an eye injury.
Hence Alex is looking closely at Fireblade's face while she's asleep, and he sees no sign of a scar there.
(Tech level 10 healing technology...)
And he needs to be careful.
I think Tempo knows about Fireblade having had a severe eye injury, and any mention of that may place Alex very difficult situation.

Also, going to the cockpit, where any transmitters are, may cause suspicions in those who think of his Lotai as a "bug feature".

[Jagged]

Are you thinking Alex is Fireblade?
But the 'Shik' could nicely explain Fireblades facial scar later in life..

Exactly that.

[DevilDalek]

Ahh.. I was coming at it as though he was an outside observer 'logging in' to a shared collection of dream bubbles.

[icekatze]

hi hi

Alex has been so consistently wary of Fireblade thus far, my first impression is that he's continuing the trend here.

[Rasayana]

1) Concerning why the shared dream is happening at all:

It would be reasonable to assume that this is a reoccurring dream for Fireblade, in which her people is slaughtered by an overwhelming force she can't do anything about. Possibly the event promoted her to swear vengeance upon the aggressors. Just like Alexander. If they both have such a similar dream at the same time, it blurs the edges of which person is dreaming what, and thus the linking goes smoother.

If this is indeed the case, I rather like it. The link between Alex and Fireblade is not "merely" a product of chance (that Alex is inherently susceptible and that Fireblade as a strong person just happened to be there). The link between them is in part reliant on some mutual understanding, and what could be identified as a human emotional connection.

2) Concerning what Alex might be thinking in the last panel, except what has already been said. I don't know if I feel much possibility in this, but here goes:

Fireblad may be having this dream right now because she feel that Alex is bad new, and which will draw the Umiak towards them. While Alex may sympathize with Fireblade, he could not address any misplaced blame from her.

This second point is something I came up with before other people here noted that Alex most probably was experiencing Fireblades point of view.

[Jagged]

why the shared dream is happening at all

Remember that Fireblade did try and invade Alex's mind and he, perhaps, pushed her out? Maybe that's the point at which a connection was established?

All the way back in:
https://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider018.html
and again:
https://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider028.html

[grixit]

Dummy still doesn't realize that he's getting some of Red's memories.

[Werra]

It's rather realistic this way. The possibilities of telepathy don't seem to have sunk in for Alex yet. How could they, nobody has told him about it. I don't think he even knows that Loroi can send involuntarily and it's not something he had cause to consider in regards to Loroi sleep "talking".
The readers have a lot more information than Alex right now.

SpoilerShow

And we don't even know if it's a two-way communication.

[CrimsonFALKE]

Wow they are connected bet this is going to set off some problems when the Lorori find out.

Rampant speculation time, my favorite! I agree, but only if the Jardin shield is linked to the gatecrasher force going unnoticed. Call that a 10/10 for priority. Without the link, it's a 3. Enabling the Historian spy would be an 8, I'm thinking.

more mind rape?

[Rasayana]

why the shared dream is happening at all

Remember that Fireblade did try and invade Alex's mind and he, perhaps, pushed her out? Maybe that's the point at which a connection was established?

All the way back in:
https://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider018.html
and again:
https://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider028.html

Sure I remember. Something was absolutely going on there, and Fireblade's figure was imprinted on him. Besides that, the Loroi acts if the "probing" was a failure, and that they were unable to establish a normal connection. After that, any telepathic experience between Alex and Fireblade has been left to some unintentional occurrences. If Fireblade is aware, she doesn't seem to have spilled the beans to her superiors.

While the connection probably first have been established as you point out, it seems to me that the connection is an emergent property which strengthens over time. Possibly what is preventing them from connecting is a sympathetic mindset (and consent). I would be surprised if the story would not make the connection an emergent property which deepens over time and/or because of mutual trust being established between A&F.

[Clockwork Ninja]

The transition between page 18 and 19 seems to suggest that Alex could sense Fireblade even before the mind probe.
So why her? This is my guess:
Assuming Loroi were indeed uplifted from humans, the most basic lizard-brain instincts (pain, fear, ect...) may have been left unaltered because why fix what already works? After his near death experience, captivity, and constant uncertainty about who he can trust, Alex is brimming over with such emotions.
Meanwhile, Fireblade is telepathically "louder" than anyone else due to her combination of trauma, implants and Unsheathed training.

So they both have an overabundance of the emotions that are most similar between Humans and Loroi, are regularly in close proximity, and in Fireblades case is being actively amplified. Could this be enough to pierce Alex's telepathic block?

[boldilocks]

The transition between page 18 and 19 seems to suggest that Alex could sense Fireblade even before the mind probe.
So why her? This is my guess:
Assuming Loroi were indeed uplifted from humans, the most basic lizard-brain instincts (pain, fear, ect...) may have been left unaltered because why fix what already works? After his near death experience, captivity, and constant uncertainty about who he can trust, Alex is brimming over with such emotions.
Meanwhile, Fireblade is telepathically "louder" than anyone else due to her combination of trauma, implants and Unsheathed training.

So they both have an overabundance of the emotions that are most similar between Humans and Loroi, are regularly in close proximity, and in Fireblades case is being actively amplified. Could this be enough to pierce Alex's telepathic block?

Another theory:
While Alex was unconscious, several loroi tried to get in touch with his mind and were surprised to find that he was using a "lotai".
Fireblade was simply the most powerful to attempt mind delve while he was still unconscious, and he woke up before they could gather the other unsheathed.
The argument between Stillstorm and Beryl was that it was unnecessary to attempt a "deep delve" now that he'd woken up and Beryl knew she could communicate with him through speech, while Stillstorm was like "nah, deep delve him anyway, I want answers"