This may have been discussed somewhere, but I don't recall seeing it. I have always been curious about amount of Bronwyn's Deryni training.
She grew up in Culdi with her Aunt, who was able to give some training to Alaric when he was little. Bronwyn had spent more time with Aunt Vera, and I would imagine she would have also gotten training. While women did not get education in those days, and Bronwyn was set to marry the human Kevin, she was also the sister of the most notorious and hated Deryni in Gwynedd, and thus should have at least been taught basic self defense.
The books mention that she had shields, could mind link, and mind speak, and some aptitude with animals. The books also portray Alaric as a protective and indulgent older brother, and given his history, he knows the challenges even discreet Deryni might face. So I would have expected he would have had Bronwyn trained at least to defend herself and do basic spells. But it seems her training was minimal, which to me seems an oversight on Alaric's part. I mean, Richenda also lived as a discreet Deryni, yet she was highly trained. As was Rothana, and other Deryni women in the books. Richenda also had no aspiration to public life as a Deryni, yet she was highly trained. Why wasn't Bronwyn?
I have often wondered if she had been more thoroughly trained if she would have been able to counter the deadly spell in the jerreman. It seems to me like she should have had some training in that.
I know Alaric was never even formally trained himself, but he learned mor from using his magic. I am surprised he didn't find a teacher for her.
I wonder if that was an oversight on Alaric's part. Maybe he thought she wouldn't need it?
Thoughts?
I don't know that Alaric would have known where to find her a better-trained teacher, aside from his Aunt Vera. He was the highest profile Deryni in the Kingdom at the time, and others like the Arilans weren't exactly making it public knowledge that they had powers themselves, much less that they knew where formal training could be acquired. And I don't think we can say for certain that Bronwyn didn't have at least the highest amount of defensive training that Vera and later Alaric would have been able to provide for her themselves. I get the impression that the type of magic that killed Bronwyn might not have been well known to Vera or Alaric, aside from them being able to recognize what it was after the fact. And in Gwynedd, it was not a form of danger that they might have expected Bronwyn to encounter. In a kingdom where the greater-known danger would have been from humans who hated Deryni, they might have concentrated more on teaching her the spells most familiar to them both, as well as maybe a bit of hand to hand combat with a dagger in case she ever found herself cornered. Jerraman crystals are a more subtle form of magic that seems to have acted extremely quickly, so even with better training, Bronwyn might still not have had the time to put much of her theoretical knowledge about them into practice.
IIRC, Bronwyn might have been able to counter the spell of the crystal, but Kevin interfered by trying to protect her and then it all went sideways.
I always regretted their deaths.
Consider that Alaric was mostly Self taught. The only Deryni to assist him in his youth were Vera and Sir Si. but at some point Sir Si seems to have disappeared. He would not have known any Deryni instructors. He did not find out about Bishop Arilan until after Bronwyn's death. Bronwyn would have only had Vera in her very young days and then later her brother to teach her. We do not know how much influence Alaric's half sister Zoe and her husband Sir Jovett Cahandros(whom I believe was deryni) had on Bronwyn's life. If anyone would have known about some Deryni instructors it might have been Sir Jovett, but we don't know that much about him.
The novel pretty much all but comes out and says, had it not been for the human Kevin, Bronwyn would have in all likelihood been able to counter the spell. The jerraman spell on the crystal was very rudimentary magic. I also still believe Bethane was a descendent of one of the blocked deryni