Norine Luker
Norine Luker asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Happy Holidays, Lois. I am rereading Penric's novellas, and I was struck at how much Penric changed between the first novella and the second. What experiences did he go through that gave him so much self-confidence? (If you would prefer, feel free to write another novella talking about those years :) )

Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't know if I will write a novella or story set in Pen's college/seminary years -- it would depend on me hitting just the right-sized idea -- but they were a pretty intense time for him and a big change from his restricted youth in the rural mountains. The life of the mind opened up for him there. Plus he was assimilating Des, an even larger store of experience. Plus, y'know, he'd lately met his god, which ought to be life-changing for anyone.

The one bit of head-canon I have for him was that he actually did have a girlfriend there for a while, a music student. Alas, she graduated and went to be a Temple choirmaster elsewhere, and married someone less complicated and high-maintenance, the way ya do. (Though she never forgot his baritone.)

Ta, L.

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