A friend from Nepal.

When we think of Sherlock Holmes's great hiatus, between leaving Watson at Reichenbach Falls and returning to London years later, we tend to think of him as a solo act.

". . .  the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa and spending some days with the head Llama."

Okay, let's think about this for a moment. Sherlock Holmes finds himself thought dead and unable to go home. Where's the first place he thinks to go? Tibet? Why?

Well, he's Sherlock Holmes. We don't question why he does things, trusting that he has great reasons which will one day be explained to us. But Tibet never gets an explanation. But, hey, he's Holmes. That's fine.

Yet this morning, as I was considering the fate of his original Watson, young Victor Trevor, I took a moment to look into the Terai tea plantings, where Trevor went to recover from the loss of his father and disgrace of his family name and was doing quite well, according to Holmes.

Seeing that Terai is in southern Nepal, I made the immediate mistake of many a geographical novice and went "Isn't that a part of Tibet or something?" But even though they are two very different countries, Nepal and Tibet are neighbors, both claiming the Himalayas and even Mount Everest itself. So, yes Sherlock Holmes travelled in Tibet . . . but if that included mountain explorations, as his "Sigerson" identity seemed to hint at, why not start in Nepal?

And more to the point, why not start an exile from London and his current Watson by going to Nepal and re-connecting with the original item, Victor Trevor?

Sherlock Holmes heading to Terai for a friendly place to plot his next move make complete sense. We know he stayed in touch with Victor, enough to know he was doing well there. And who better to head for in a time of crisis than the one non-Watson person Sherlock Holmes called a close friend, and a hearty, spirited friend at that.

Did Victor Trevor travel Tibet with Sherlock Holmes? I like to think he did. The idea of Sherlock Holmes working alone is never a cheery one. He needs that other part, that matching piece who is, as he put it in Trevor's case, "the very opposite of me in some respects."

I have no doubt that the million monkeys of fan fiction have already hit upon this notion. (And no slur upon fan fiction writers intended there -- I like monkeys. Even created a male Mary Sue superhero once called "The Millionth Monkey.") Every possible idea about these boys seems to be out there somewhere anymore. But it was still a delight to me to finally make that connection.

And if nobody has written up the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Victor Trevor in Tibet yet, for heaven's sake, do it!  (I would, but I can't stop blogging! Trying to write something else right now, and everything keeps wanting to jump into a blog post!)

Anyway, Holmes and Trevor, yes, me stopping blog post now as going on too rambly long and starting to use monkey dialect. (Aw, Tibetan macaques are cute!)