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

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Following a missive from Reyall to Erek and Detozi in which he announces his engagement, “Expectations” opens with Alise asking to move inside as she rapidly assesses events and her place in them. Carson begins to take charge of the situation with the captives that have been brought to Kelsingra, and Hest presents himself before Alise. Alise considers the implications of his appearance against the events of the past months, pleading with her as Reyn and others rebuke him. Alise upbraids him for his deceit of her, disclaiming their marriage publicly, and when Hest protests, Sedric interjects, testifying to Hest’s perfidy. Carson commends Sedric for his declaration, and the group departs from a stunned Hest.

Later, Reyn rejoins Malta as those assembled in Kelsingra confer. The pair discuss Phron and his progress, noting the still-poor prognosis for their son. Reyn also comments on the proceedings regarding the captives and the relative youth of most of those involved in them. Various testimonies and perfidies are summarized, and Reyn and Malta consider their status among the new Elderlings. Their thoughts turn to Tintaglia, and Malta avers feeling her slow approach. Reyn tries to believe but cannot quite do so.

Within eyeshot of the city, Kalo urges Tintaglia along. She reaches the city, losing consciousness as she does so and the new Elderlings flock to her.

In Kelsingra, Tintaglia’s condition is assessed. Reyn and Malta plead with the dragon to drink what Silver is available, administering it to no obvious effect. Thinking they have failed, they ask for privacy for themselves, Phron, and the dragon, and they are given it–including by Leftrin, whose thoughts turn once again to Alise.

I note with some attention the comment Carson makes as he begins to take charge of the captives brought to Kelsingra: “let us act as befits who we are, rather than who we think they might be” (278). Being the age that I am and with my adult life therefore shaped by the events that have occurred, I have heard much in the line of “We have to do X, because those people are going to do it.” My response, when I have offered one (which I don’t much do anymore; it does me no good, and I rarely get traction with it), has been much in the line of Carson’s comment. It doesn’t matter what those people, whoever those people are (and it shifts; oh, does it ever shift!); what does matter is what we do–or what I do, because that is the only thing that falls under my control. With others, I can advise. I can argue. I can cajole. I can command. I can punish (perhaps). But I cannot compel; the choice always exists for others to do other than I would have done. For me, though, the only choice is what I would do; what I do is necessarily what I have chosen to do. That does not mean the choice is always what I would prefer, or that it is a good one; there are sometimes no good choices, which I believe Hobb comments (among many others). But only I can make the choice for me, and I can make the choice for only me. So I find I appreciate Carson’s remark, affective as my doing so might be.

I note, too, Sedric’s public testimony against Hest. Although it is the case that Kelsingra is a far more sexually permissive place than the other Traders’ settlements, that he is willing to out himself in the way he is is something that comes off as commendable; the abused rising against their abusers is a thing worth seeing. Not all real-life victims of abuse are so fortunate as to have situations in which they can do such things, of course; many who attempt something like Sedric does find themselves much less well off than he does in the present chapter. But then, one of the things that fiction can do is show what can be, more than what is.

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