The Silvered discussion

I'm trying to figure out the meaning of the prophecy:

Two, two, two, zero three *slap* Sixth! Bag of nothing. White light!

I'm guessing the numbers are future offspring for the women in the order in which they touched the soothsayer: Danika, Annalyse, Jesine, Kirstin, and Stina. Kirsten, as we know, died before having another child (she had two at home), and Danika was pregnant with twins.

I'm guessing, then, that the last two statements are talking about the sixth mage - Mirian. The "white light" refers to the unspecialized magic. What does "bag of nothing" mean? Anyone?

Perhaps Mirian is unable to have biological children.

Possible. It also occurred to me (after Tanya said that I was overthinking it) that it may be a reference to Mirian emptying herself to become the "river" of white light rather than the bucket. Or it could indicate that her arrival let the other mages "out of the bag", leaving Leopold with a bag of nothing. Or I could still be overthinking this, and it could just be a demonstration that soothsayers don't always make sense. ;-)

At the end, I thought the balloon the mages took might have been the "bag of nothing"? They refer to it as a bag of hot air, and worry about what happens to it when it gets shot.

Also, I keep seeing people ask about the "unborn child" the Soothsayers saw -- wouldn't that be Kirstin's miscarriage? Kirstin's actions set a lot in motion, and (at least at the beginning) they were mainly driven by her miscarriage.

*facepalm* I bet you're right about the balloon.

You may also be right about Kirstin's miscarriage. I like to think that one of the others will have a significant child, however, because that means a sequel!

M. Newton wrote: "At the end, I thought the balloon the mages took might have been the "bag of nothing"? They refer to it as a bag of hot air, and worry about what happens to it when it gets shot.

Also, I keep see..."

Yes! totally forgot about the balloon since i was so focused on the mages and their pregnancies. Thank you for the reminder.

I didn't really care about the prophesy. The emperor got "grown" to death and that was pretty cool, so I was satisfied with the climax. Maybe if Huff writes a sequel, we'll know for sure.