Quote Originally Posted by Alleo View Post
Why did nobody of the scion check out the people that are in touch with them and see if they are tempered?
How do you tell? Unless I'm misremembering, nowhere in the story has anyone come up with a device that you can scan someone with and say, "Yup, they're tempered." You tell that an individual is tempered by their actions - and tempered who are trying to pass themselves off as normal are going to act, well, normal. Being tempered does not compel an individual to behave every minute like some kind of raving loony. Their behavior may not change at all, in fact, aside from the fact that they are now unswervably loyal to the Primal that tempered them.

Essentially, tempered individuals are just about as close as you can get to perfect spies, undetectable unless you actually catch them in the act.

I don't believe that the story mentioned that these individuals had been knowingly in touch with the Qalyana. It was implied that they had been abducted and tempered, most likely while they were traveling away from town for various reasons. (And, of course, once the Qalyana managed to temper a few, those few could have lured others out to be tempered, as well.) Since you can't detect whether someone has been tempered or not, do you suspect every individual who has ever traveled outside of town? And if you do suspect all of them, how do you keep tabs on them all?

No, while it makes perfect sense to be wary of the Qalyana - and they WERE wary - the Qaylana plan was a GOOD one. Insisting that the alliance should have been able to anticipate it is nothing more than 20/20 hindsight. You can be reasonably confident that they won't be making the same mistake twice.