Morgan Micro Fiction

[Dina]

Margaret wasn't running away to hide.  She was a dead wizard walking.  And she knew it. That much is in the text.  As the how to safely meet someone who wants bad things for you, you meet them on the National Mall where they will be seen if they act.

Whatever Margaret knew it was valuable.  Somebody was shielding her from Raith. Even if she was a deep cover agent of some type she still had to buy off her protector. Short of living her life in a circle, the only ones able to shield her that we are aware of were the Fae. The same way Morgan was shielded.  And whoever did do it, did it for two years.  Her stay alive card expired on October 31 when Harry was born. 

That fact might lead you to believe that Harry was the price.  Morgan isn't complaining that Harry was born.  He bitching because Justin got in first.  But there is another point implied.  That Margaret had another thing so valuable it convinced Lea to protect her and then Harry. And this is pure speculation.  Margaret knew who had the Atheme. Picture this, Lea doing a happy dance, and spending he next 25 years coming up with the price.

As an aside, the Senior Council knows about Outsiders. But that doesn't imply that they knew about Nemesis. But if the don't Cowl was right. And there is no reason to believe that the broader White Council is aware of Outsiders at all.

Just a thing. I agree Maggie knew she was going to die when Harry was born. I always believed it was because she made the deal with Lea with Harry on her womb, so Lea's protection to Harry will necessarily protect her. I am not saying she did the deal for that, no. I mean that as a side effect of her deal with Lea and her own plans to have Harry born on Halloween, she was able to knew the date of her own demise.

But Morgan is not talking about what happened when Harry was born. He is speaking about what happened when Malcolm died. That is when Morgan missed his chance to take care of him because he was on a mission, Harry went to the foster system and only THEN Justin appeared.

@KurtisStGeorge, about who has Harry journal: I repeat

Another thing about the location. Wouldn't it be fun if Morgan had a magical way to write in his journal from a distance, perhaps even mentally? And that would appear written in a physical book stored in another place? It would be like uploading something to the Cloud for instant synchronization.

If something like that was possible for a wizard, the journal could be in some safe place, that perhaps Morgan knew Luccio knew. It's just an idea.
@BadAlias: it's ok 

[KurtinStGeorge]

Margaret wasn't running away to hide.  She was a dead wizard walking.  And she knew it. That much is in the text.  As the how to safely meet someone who wants bad things for you, you meet them on the National Mall where they will be seen if they act.

Whatever Margaret knew it was valuable.  Somebody was shielding her from Raith. Even if she was a deep cover agent of some type she still had to buy off her protector. Short of living her life in a circle, the only ones able to shield her that we are aware of were the Fae. The same way Morgan was shielded.  And whoever did do it, did it for two years.  Her stay alive card expired on October 31 when Harry was born. 

That fact might lead you to believe that Harry was the price.  Morgan isn't complaining that Harry was born.  He bitching because Justin got in first.  But there is another point implied.  That Margaret had another thing so valuable it convinced Lea to protect her and then Harry. And this is pure speculation.  Margaret knew who had the Atheme. Picture this, Lea doing a happy dance, and spending he next 25 years coming up with the price.

As an aside, the Senior Council knows about Outsiders. But that doesn't imply that they knew about Nemesis. But if the don't Cowl was right. And there is no reason to believe that the broader White Council is aware of Outsiders at all.

You missed my point.  I'm just saying the Margaret LeFay/double agent scenario is a plausible explanation; at least for the present.  Creating a scenario where Margaret LeFay sets a heavily populated public location as a meeting place with Morgan in order to curb his enthusiasm for taking quick and direct action is clever idea.  However, something like that isn't a hinted at in the text.  More importantly there are a few details it leaves out.  How would she contact Morgan in the first place?  Neither of them can use cell phones or email.  OK, there's snail mail if Morgan kept a normal property somewhere, but Margaret would have to know that address.  I'm sure you can think of some way she might send him a message, but how does she make sure no one else learns about it?  Morgan might give his word that he would take no action until he heard what Margaret had to say, but that leaves everyone else on the White Council free to act and then there are her enemies to consider.  Margaret and Morgan having a prearranged meeting place because they are already working together makes just as much sense.  Again, at least in the absence of more complete information.

I didn't address Justin for a couple of reasons.  First, because I didn't think there was anything interesting for me to say that wasn't already said by someone else.  Well, maybe one thing, now that I think of it.  (Though it's a minor thing really.)  Both Ebenezer and Morgan despised Justin DuMorne.  Ebenezer calls him, "that a son of a bitch DuMorne" and Morgan says "That bastard Justin DuMorne."  In both cases what we aren't told is when Ebenezer and Morgan came to think of Justin in those terms.  Because Jim has cleverly withheld pertinent information from us, it's possible both men only came to hate Justin after they discovered he had betrayed the Council and legally kidnapped Harry.

The second reason.  I forgot what what it was.  I'm sure it was nothing worth discussing anyway.  I'll just add that Morgan not knowing what was more disturbing, Justin faking his own death or a 16 year old Harry actually killing Justin in a duel was a nice touch by Jim.  I wonder if Jim put that in to get back at everyone who ever thought they were being clever by asking him if Justin was really dead, because Jim appeared to get really annoyed by that question being asked one too many times.  I can see Jim saying to himself, "This will make them think they were right all along until I pull the rug out from under them when I do a real flashback scene and show that Harry really did flame broil Justin."

Finally, Justin having a magical way of transcribing a journal that Luccio web be likely to find.  It's not a bad idea, but I wish there was something in any of the novels or short stories that were at least similar in nature to this.  The closest is Harry's note to Ivy in Small Favor, but that doesn't work for Luccio.  An old fashion physical dead letter drop that Luccio knew about might make more sense.

[Dina]

Finally, Justin having a magical way of transcribing a journal that Luccio web be likely to find.  It's not a bad idea, but I wish there was something in any of the novels or short stories that were at least similar in nature to this.  The closest is Harry's note to Ivy in Small Favor, but that doesn't work for Luccio.  An old fashion physical dead letter drop that Luccio knew about might make more sense.

The thing that makes me against the last idea is that this is not a letter. He explicitly writes it as an entry of a journal. I've had a journal when I was a child, long before computers were in every home. I would have never thought in taking a piece of paper and just write something as if I was writing in my physical journal. It would be...wrong. Whatever you want in your journal, well, you wrote it in your actual journal, not in random papers.

So when I was reading the microfiction I thought Morgan was writing in a book. But then, it is weird that he has with him a book that he has not used since his seventies (long ago). So I imagined that perhaps he was writing it at distance, somehow. But now I reread the microfiction and Morgan mentioned he has been reading the last entries. So, he has access to the full content of his journal, and is able to add an entry, and hopes that Luccio will find it (but somehow, apparently, he does not thinks their enemies will). So I am guessing that perhaps he has the book with him all the time, but it is protected for some sort of magical seal, something Morgan believes Luccio will be able to access (I don't know if because she is her personal friend or because she is the Captain of the Wardens, but it is the same for him). Another (similar) option is that he has a sort of bag of holding, so he is not always physically carrying the weight of a book but can access it when needed. And again, perhaps there is a magical password or lock that Morgan thinks Luccio knows or will find (but not his enemies). What do you think?

I

[Arjan]

It starts getting obvious now.

Nemesis is on a need to know basis. That means most of the council and parts of the senior council don't know and even those who know often have only a superficial knowledge.

That was what the gatekeeper confirmed and interestingly he knew Margaret. Lea also knew Margaret. And now Morgan was involved too.

At a certain moment Margaret was shown around and was explained exactly how dangerous the outsiders were. That was because she was a necessary ingredient for creating a weapon against them. She needed to know. She agreed because she was convinced it was necessary. She made the best deals she could.

So Harry was born.

[morriswalters]

I would love it if all pertinent data were included in the text, but Jim won't confine himself to that, so how can we. The official timeline puts her in the middle of the National Mall in DC just prior to her death.  And there is a reference to a way to contact Morgan and set a meeting place.  It's called  a telephone. Harry uses one to get the Wardens to Demonreach in Turn Coat. All the rest is a common trope , come alone, yada yada yada..... And in that era land lines were common, including phone booths.

In terms of where Morgan had his Journal, the easiest  guess is that it was in his bolthole.  That he has one is implied in Turn Coat when he is hiding in Harry's.  And it's where he go to think about his next step, which is what he writes in the journal.

And I just hate the possibilities implied by the spy counterspy thing.  It's plausible though.  Peabody was exactly that, a deep cover agent, so the idea has support in the text.

[Mira]

At a certain moment Margaret was shown around and was explained exactly how dangerous the outsiders were. That was because she was a necessary ingredient for creating a weapon against them. She needed to know. She agreed because she was convinced it was necessary. She made the best deals she could.

I doubt she got her information from the Council though.   She roamed The Ways, one of her best
buds was second only to Mab in the Winter Court,  her and Rashid compared notes.  I wouldn't be
surprised if it was from Lea and Mab that she got her information about Nemesis and that is what
she and Rashid compared notes about, since he is the first line of defense apparently.   

I sense a certain amount of contempt for the Council on Rashid's part, and the whole "need to know"
thing pisses him off to a certain degree.  It might be the source of Margaret's original anger with the
Council,  not unlike the anger and frustration people in high security chain of command feel when something is need to know and it is determined that they don't need to know it.  Yeah, it may keep
some things secret but it can also get people killed.   But I can see Margaret angry over how the Council was dealing with the Enemy, rebelling and falling in with the wrong people which sent her
down the wrong path for a number of years.

[Arjan]

I doubt she got her information from the Council though.   She roamed The Ways, one of her best
buds was second only to Mab in the Winter Court,  her and Rashid compared notes.  I wouldn't be
surprised if it was from Lea and Mab that she got her information about Nemesis and that is what
she and Rashid compared notes about, since he is the first line of defense apparently.   

I sense a certain amount of contempt for the Council on Rashid's part, and the whole "need to know"
thing pisses him off to a certain degree.  It might be the source of Margaret's original anger with the
Council,  not unlike the anger and frustration people in high security chain of command feel when something is need to know and it is determined that they don't need to know it.  Yeah, it may keep
some things secret but it can also get people killed.   But I can see Margaret angry over how the Council was dealing with the Enemy, rebelling and falling in with the wrong people which sent her
down the wrong path for a number of years.

Almost certainly not the council. They probably, with the exception of the gatekeeper, don’t know enough and are not in the position to show it so convincingly that Margaret decided to prepare her child for the fight that had to come.

It was Lea who showed her around. She might have told her about the conditions for getting a Starborn child. I can not imagine any council member telling her even if they knew.

[Mira]

Almost certainly not the council. They probably, with the exception of the gatekeeper, don’t know enough and are not in the position to show it so convincingly that Margaret decided to prepare her child for the fight that had to come.

It was Lea who showed her around. She might have told her about the conditions for getting a Starborn child. I can not imagine any council member telling her even if they knew.

  But can you feel her frustration knowing what she knew and here was the Council as far as she
knew, ignorant of the danger they all face? 

[Arjan]

  But can you feel her frustration knowing what she knew and here was the Council as far as she
knew, ignorant of the danger they all face?

It explains her involvement with the Sidhe. They are doing something to protect this reality.

[Mira]

It explains her involvement with the Sidhe. They are doing something to protect this reality.

  Indeed it does, also her closeness with Rashid, it wasn't just because he is good friends with Eb.

[g33k]

...  I think it's just a term Vitto Malvora created and used to sell his plan to Madrigal Raith.  We know, from both Vitto's conversation with Cowl and the final battle in the Raith's Deeps that there wasn't another active partner other than Nemesis.  I think it's easier to sell the idea of a powerful group working together ...

While I agree that it could be made-up, and in some ways the "shadowy organization" is more threatening than a rogue wizard and a few-people-know-of-it otherworldly entity, I'm pretty sure that both Madrigal and Vittorio believed -- if it was invented, it was invented by Cowl, and sold to Vitto-the-dupe.  I don't have my books available to check, but I thought Cowl and Vitto discussed it in the hide-out where Harry tracked Vitto via the paint-fleck...?

[morriswalters]

I have mine.

"My lord," Grey Cloak said, bowing his head. He left it that way;
There was a long moment of silence before Cowl spoke. Then he said, "You have failed."
"I have not yet succeeded," Grey Cloak replied with polite disagreement. "The curtain has not fallen."
"And the fool with you?"
"Still ignorant, my lord. I can preserve or dispose of him as you see fit." Grey Cloak took a deep breath and said, "He has gotten the wizard involved. There is some sort of vendetta between them, it would seem."
The little mist figure made a hissing sound. "The fool. There is not enough profit in Dresden's death to jeopardize the operation."

[Mira]

  Here is another thought Margaret was a spy, which is different from being a double agent.

She didn't play for both sides,  she sacrificed herself to find out the extent of the Enemy's penetration into various institutions and groups. So she went rouge seemingly, even marrying Lord Raith and having a kid by him.   When she found out how bad it had gotten and found the right man[Malcolm] she and Mab, Lea, even Rashid formed a plan, that was for her to conceive a star child.  None of it was random, she just didn't change because she fell in love with a good man, she was never evil in the first place. 

[Snark Knight]

I seem to remember reading,  and am more inclined to believe it was a WOJ than written in a novel or short story,  but something about Harry saying this kind lady would visit him in the orphanage, and that was Lea.   So if that is true, she checked on him, but as far as protection goes,
we know the Fae have a different view of things.  From Lea's viewpoint Harry going to Justin might have been the best thing in the long term chess game for her Queen and the Winter Court.  I doubt she was interested in Harry growing up with proper moral values.

That's the one I was thinking of, to think it was Lea hiding him. She still had tabs on him, so either Justin hid him but wasn't able to keep Lea away, or Lea hid him but agreed to Justin adopting and training him when his powers manifested.

There was also a WOJ that Lea was perfectly happy with Justin's guardianship over Harry until he crossed a line when Harry was 16 - she's clearly more interested in teaching youths to be dangerous, hardened survivors (witness Molly) than mental or emotional well-being. Whether the line Justin crossed was the enthrallment attempt or the Outsider dealings, I'm not sure.

However you slice it though, Lea and Justin seem to have had some sort of agreement, until Justin broke his end and Lea pointed Harry back at him like a weapon. I just think Lea is more likely to have the ability to shut Morgan's tracking down entirely than another wizard.

[Mira]

However you slice it though, Lea and Justin seem to have had some sort of agreement, until Justin broke his end and Lea pointed Harry back at him like a weapon. I just think Lea is more likely to have the ability to shut Morgan's tracking down entirely than another wizard.

I think that makes the most sense.