Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

---

Following a report from Detozi to Reyall about the status of messenger birds in Trehaug that also mentions the Tarman, “Second Thoughts” begins with Thymara waking after her assignation with Rapskal and chastising herself for the indiscretion before surveying her surroundings and gathering supplies. Both she and Rapskal clothe themselves in Elderling robes they find nearby, and they head back out into the city to scout more of Kelsingra. They prepare things for the group on the other side of the river, as well, and Rapskal comments easily about Heeby in ways that leave Thymara stinging at her lack of connection to Sintara. After they find some food, they confer about their assignation, Rapskal affirming affection for the questioning Thymara.

Aboard the Tarman, Reyn and Malta confer about their situation as the liveship is readied for the return to Kelsingra. The condition of their son receives attention, as well, and the pair decide on a name for him: Ephron “Phron” Bendir Khuprus. Malta’s thoughts turn to her absent younger brother, Selden.

Selden wakes in poor condition in captivity, surveyed by his captors and pleading for hot food and drink and a blanket. He confers with a ship’s boy and learns he is aboard the Windgirl, bound for the capital of Chalced, there to be delivered to his enslaver. Selden recalls, in broad terms, his progress into captivity, and he is denied his requests. The ship’s boy leaves him to ruminate bitterly.

Leftrin frets at the delays in getting back underway to Kelsingra. Although Khuprus financial backing is helping him resupply, he is also paying premiums for the speed at which he is acquiring materials, and he is drawing ire from customers whose purchases are being subordinated to his. Crew and family difficulties assemble, legal entanglements threaten, and Leftrin issues orders to accelerate departure. A Council delegation makes to confront Leftrin, and, after some dickering, the Tarman shoves off, evading pursuit at the risk of revealing the clandestine modifications made. As they depart, Malta, Reyn, and Tillamon confer.

In Kelsingra, Thymara and Rapskal rejoin their companions, who watch as they return, Tats jealous and the dragons conferring. Questions are posed and reports made, and Alise chafes at the despoiling done, citing the mercantilism of Bingtown. Rapskal gives answer, suddenly eloquent on the topic, and Tats recognizes that Rapskal has positioned himself as a leader in their company, and it eats at him. His dragon eases him, and Mercor takes overall command of the situation, bidding all focus on helping the remaining grounded dragons to fly.

There is a lot going on in the present chapter–sensibly, since the end of the book approaches and things must be made ready for the subsequent volume. It’s something I recall noting before (although whether it is in this webspace or not, I do not recall), a tendency to rush towards the end, and I tend not to like it as a reader. Somehow, it seems to me to be…off. But, as I also recall I’ve said before, it’s not like I can do any better. Too, I’m sure that it works quite well for some people. That much said, I think I’m allowed to express personal preferences (and it can’t be too far outside them; I am still reading the book, more than a decade later).

Of some small interest is the way in which Selden’s present and his brother Wintrow’s past align. Both have been subjected to enslavement on the Chalcedean model (Selden at present, Wintrow here), and it seems that both have lost parts themselves (Selden here, Wintrow here). Markings and maimings differ, of course, but the fact of the parallel is somewhat striking. Wintrow’s ordeals emerge from the actions of Kyle Haven and his crew, as has been noted, but Selden’s do not seem to have quite such a source, at least not that springs to mind. Perhaps it can be read as a longer-ranging unintended consequence of Kyle’s perfidies.

Also of interest is how Leftrin acts in the chapter. I have opined at great length about the Traders’ society echoing the early United States; reading the text with that in mind, Leftrin’s actions call up, for me, memories of having read Louis L’Amour’s Sackett novels in my teenage years. (I grew up in central Texas; Westerns are a thing.) They seem entirely consonant with the kind of ethos that often gets espoused, in those books as elsewhere, and not only where I grew up; the law is useful to an extent, but sometimes right requires moving outside it–and even more so does need.

I wonder, as I write this, how far that parallel might be taken. I know there are resonances between typical Westerns and the kind of materials from which much mainstream US fantasy literature borrows, of course, and there is certainly more to be done to bear out that kind of connection. The extent to which fantasy literature borrows from Westerns, though, is something I’ve only done a small amount to investigate. (I’m also not the only one, as might well be imagined.) Efforts of which I’m aware have focused otherwise than on the Realm of the Elderlings novels, but if it is the case that the Traders are echoes of US settlers / colonists, then it follows that the milieu in which they operate can be read with an eye towards such a refiguring no less than a mainstream fantasy novel working an amorphously “medieval” milieu can be read with reference to earlier renditions of medievalism (e.g., reading A Song of Ice and Fire to see how it mis/uses tropes from, say, Lord of the Rings). So perhaps there’s another line of inquiry that someone with more time and energy to devote to the life of the mind can follow.

Or you can send your support along directly!