So, this conversation between Althea and Amber always stood out to me. Obviously, she’s asking Amber for advice about her situation with Brashen, but I found it incredibly interesting how Amber spoke with so much knowing about what it’s like to be in love, and the sacrifices and compromises that having a partner entails. She almost spirals off into her own wallowing before catching herself and you can tell. She’s obviously thinking about Fitz here, but the line that especially stands out to me is this:
“You have to admit to yourself that perhaps he has needs you cannot fill.”
I may be reading in between the lines a little too much here, but it reminds me of the quarrel between Fitz and the Fool in Tawny Man, when the Fool claims “well does he know” how distasteful Fitz would find the idea of sleeping with him. I don’t think this is the only interpretation of the line. This alludes to an emotional need as much as a physical one. Remember how the Fool was hurt when he realized Ketricken could commiserate with Fitz over Nighteyes’ death in a way that he couldn’t?
To the Fool, love has always been about sacrifice.
Whether it’s sacrificing his own desires and needs; sacrificing deeper depths of proximity and camaraderie, or sacrificing a life.
