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

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A letter from Selden to Keffria and Ronica in which he glosses developments in his life precedes “Summer,” which opens with the continuation of discussion between the crews of Tarman and Paragon. Events in Chalced are glossed, and some future plans are floated. Difficulties are also attested. The dispositions of the dragons after the defeat of Chalced are also attested, and Chassim’s installation as Chalced’s ruler receives remark. Selden’s condition is also reported, and thoughts of his future are voiced.

Sedric and Carson see to the disposition of messenger birds that have been sent to Kelsingra. Neither has much experience with the birds, but they do find a message appended to one of them. Opening it, they find a request for news of Hest and a reward for information about him. After a brief conference, the two set the message aside as irrelevant and return to their work.

Tats and Thymara confer as they look out over Kelsingra and its surroundings. They note, too, the continued enthusiasm for mating fights and flights among the dragons, now that matters have settled. The pair are surprised to see Sintara at the center of such a tangle, from which she and Mercor emerge in union. And in exultation, Thymara, herself, flies, and she at last accepts Tats’s entreaties.

The present chapter, last in the book (there’s an epilogue, though) and thus the last in the tetralogy, does a good job of summarizing and resolving a number of plot points that earlier chapters had not quite addressed. It’s a sensible enough thing for the chapter to do, given where it is, even if I do still think it’s a bit rushed. Still, that much of the resolution is presented as a thing done previously and only reported some time after the fact does a fair bit to help it sit better with me, and there’s doubtlessly some determination to the effect of “Readers won’t be interested in seeing, oh, Selden and Chassim falling more fully in love, and the novel’s already long enough, thank you” involved in glossing developments.

(Look, I’m a sucker for some of this kind of thing. And I remain a nerd–obviously, since I’m writing about the book and about this kind of thing in the book more than a decade after the fact–so I want details and information, even if I can’t spend time on them the way I used to could.)

I will note that I appreciate the passage with Sedric and Carson in particular. That Hest has simply gone without a trace, or an obvious one, and that it’s accepted along the lines of “Eh, what you gonna do?” is something of a playful thing; that there is a clear implication that the pair know what happened, even without more or less direct evidence, only enriches it. Petty as it is, though, and subject to deconstruction (seriously, follow the implications), it’s a little bit of amusement for me, and I appreciate it.

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