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

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After a letter from Malta and Reyn that politely but tersely addresses what appear to be ongoing concerns between Kelsingra and the Six Duchies, “Dragons” begins with Fitz quizzing Lant and Perseverance about the passage of the Fool and Spark. They have no further answers for him, so they eat, and Fitz notes the improvements to the campsite the pair have made in his absence.

Perseverance sits awake with Fitz for the first watch of the night and asks about the way the Fool and Spark are dressed, meeting Fitz’s answers sullenly. Later, after watches are traded, Fitz finds himself wakeful and joins Lant at watch. Lant asks his own questions of Fitz and is answered, although he is less sullen than he is whining in his receipt of those answers.

Further conversation is interrupted by the return of the Fool and Spark through the Skill-pillar. Spark is badly affected, and the Fool sports Silvered skin. Fitz directs Lant and Perseverance to attend to Spark and directs his attentions to the Fool. Managing to secure a glove over the Fool’s Skilled hand, Fitz guides his friend to where Perseverance and Lant attend Spark, and there asks for a report of events. The Fool lays out his reasoning and proceedings, and Fitz notes the uncertainty of Spark’s recovery.

At the Fool’s suggestion, Fitz looks for the camping equipment they had had together in that place after the Fool had died. With assistance from Lant, he finds it, and camp is reassembled. With that done, the Fool resumes his narrative, if with some prompting. Fitz learns that the Fool had gone to Kelsingra, navigating from echoes of draconic memories he had imbibed, finding the Skill well and touching what of the Silver he could. Doing so provoked the wrath of the Elderlings and the dragons, and the Fool and Spark fled to a ruined chamber, escaping from it only narrowly and returning to where they now sit.

The early portion of the present chapter puts Perseverance in a position not unlike that Fitz occupies with the Fool years before. Indeed, some of the boy’s phrasing in the current moment echoes that of the earlier man quite closely, and I am reminded again both of the fraughtness of gender performativity in the Realm of the Elderlings and of the need to update the Fedwren Project more than I have done. There are several scholars’ works already noted in it that speak to the issue; I have to wonder, I have to hope, that there is more current work that takes in the more recent entries in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus. It certainly presents itself plainly enough, not through what may or may not be a metaphorical treatment as some other things might or might not have been–but, as with several things, I am not the person to carry out a treatment of the matter, having neither the situated nor the invented ethos to address it.

Not entirely related: I appreciate the references to Rapskal and Heeby made in the Fool’s narrative. They are not named, and sensibly; despite who the Fool does know under the guise of Lady Amber, he would not have any reason to know, or even to know of, Rapskal and the dragon he serves. But it is entirely in keeping with their characters that they would jealously guard the Silver and move to violence before any other concern, and it is suggestive that some uses of the Skill-stone still seem to elude the Elderlings of Kelsingra at this point in the overall narrative. I find myself wondering if and how that will develop if and as Hobb presses ahead with her series (or if there is a Brian to Hobb’s Frank waiting somewhere, although a Christopher to her JRR might well be preferable).

I am somewhat struck with Fitz’s handling of matters in the present chapter. He seems to have a fairly decent handle on himself, which is…uncommon for him, even with his years and experience. So much said, it’s a good thing to see; how long it will last, though, I don’t recall. I guess I need to do more rereading…

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

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After an entry from Bee’s dream journal, “Departure” begins with a gloss of Fitz’s ongoing preparations to leave Buckkeep in pursuit of the Servants at Clerres. How he equips himself and plans to proceed are described, as is how he is sent off by his family and the assembled court of Buckkeep. Fitz notes some unease and sets it aside as the formal farewell proceeds and Fitz sets out with a party suitable to his station towards the Skill-pillar that was Bee’s last known location. Arriving there, Fitz gives a few final instructions, steels himself, and proceeds through the pillar.

Fitz is surprised to find that Lant goes with him, and he is more surprised that Perseverance accompanies them. To their questions, he makes harsh answer, and then he directs them to set up camp as best they can, given their situation. Matters proceed as well as can be expected, and the three take stock of their supplies, making clear that neither Lant nor Perseverance had thought through their actions. Fitz manages to calm himself and assess matters more rationally, although he is still displeased, and he sends through the Skill to Nettle and Dutiful, updating them.

The night passes uneventfully for the three, and the next day sees Fitz go out to hunt, setting Lant and Perseverance to tasks while he purposes to do so. As the pair address them, Fitz makes his way to the old stone-garden, visiting once again Verity-as-Dragon, tending to his lost king and confessing himself thereto. The man within responds to his nephew, easing him into sleep.

Returning to Lant and Per, Fitz makes a kill of a rabbit and learns that the Fool and Spark have been by, using the Skill-stones to travel. Fitz is incredulous as he receives report of their actions.

I‘m minded as I work through this that one of my scholarly somedays–and there are many, as I’m sure those of you whose continued reading I appreciate will have noted–is correction and updating of the work in this webspace. More than one of the prior pieces of writing I’ve referenced in putting together this commentary has needed some adjustment, and I cannot think that those I’ve noticed this time around are the only ones that are in such need. While it’s good to have something to do, it’s an annoyance to have made easily avoidable mistakes in my work; I really should be doing better than that. For such things, I can but apologize, work to proofread what needs it, and try to do better as I move forward.

It might also well be written that the present chapter seems to make some use of deus ex machina, an old device about which I’ve made some comment. There’s setup for such things as might appear so, though; Verity-as-Dragon is hardly new to the Realm of the Elderlings, after all, and the capriciousness of travel through the Skill-stones has been amply and repeatedly attested, in the present volume and others in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus. Verity’s response to Fitz might be a bit of a stretch, although it has been noted that the extent of Skill-knowledge that was available exceeds what is available; the recovery of what Regal had sent off to the Pale Woman was incomplete, and much of what was recovered was described either as damaged or at the leading end of substantial language change, such that it was unintelligible to modern-to-the-narrative-milieu readers. Verity, in isolation and seemingly interpenetrated with what might well be called a physical manifestation of Skill and which is used expressly to store and make available for consultation memories, has had time in which to plumb the mysteries of his magic. So perhaps it’s not quite so much deus ex machina, after all, but some variation on Chekhov…

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
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Do note that the present chapter discusses torture in some detail.

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After commentary regarding proper installation of Skill-pillars, “Travelers” starts with Fitz announcing his decision to leave Withywoods to the household staff, who accept the news easily. Matters are arranged to facilitate that departure with relative ease, and Fitz returns to Buckkeep, learning along the way that the Fool has been found where Fitz had suggested seeking him.

After arriving back at Buckkeep, Fitz confers with the Fool about his doings, learning that the Fool had gotten lost in the warren of secret passages that permeates Buckkeep. He had gotten lost while seeking more dragon’s blood, thinking to use it to restore more of his body and memories of a Skill-river and the effect of Silver (though not by that name) on dragons. Fitz rebukes his friend, and the two confer about how they will proceed to Clerres, the Fool laying out details he had not previously revealed to Fitz about his return thence and the social structure in place there, the machinations of those in charge of it. Some of the Fool’s sufferings are rehearsed, as well, and Fitz’s resolve against the Servants hardens.

Afterward, Fitz calls on Chade, finding him alone and lucid. Chade notes the effects of his age, not all of which are feigned, and he commends Fitz. He also notes Lant’s desire to accompany Fitz and urges him to allow it; Fitz holds his tongue on the matter. Chade also notes his distrust of Rosemary and her unraveling of his information network, but he still urges Fitz to press on with his own work. To that end, he presents Fitz a pair of exceptionally detailed maps on which he had worked for years.

Fitz returns to his chambers and secrets his gifts therein before responding to a Skill-summons from Nettle and Dutiful. Having made himself presentable, Fitz presents himself, finding the Farseers aside from Chade awaiting him. Arrangements are made for how the prince Fitz is will proceed, and a cover-story is introduced–along with comments about the residents of Kelsingra. The Fool is also discussed, and Fitz calls upon him to announce his intention to proceed to Clerres alone, to the latter’s exceptional upset.

The next days pass with Fitz making final preparations for departure. Kettricken gifts him yet another map, noting quietly her knowledge of how Dutiful came to be. A farewell feast is given, and private farewells are said–some of them brusque, indeed.

The present chapter is a long one, some thirty pages in the printing I’m reading. I am reminded once again that I need to find a cohesive print-run of the Realm of the Elderlings novels to get page-counts for the chapters; I remain convinced that there is something to be found in the relative lengths. O, to have the resources to undertake such a project!

The present chapter also offers more than a few things I like to see in a continuing work. One of them is a reference back to earlier parts of the body of work–in this case, Fitz’s first receipt of prophecy from the Fool. (It is also of interest that it’s just after six years since I treated that part of the corpus; how time flies!) There is a delight in seeing efforts made to maintain continuity across a body of work, to see attention to detail and long reading rewarded in text. I look for such delights, which the present chapter provides at several points.

I also look for the kind of commentary that can be found in the present chapter as the Fool describes the generational machinations of the Servants–“They are tremendously wealthy. They have been corrupt for generations, and they use the prophecies to make themselves ever wealthier. They know what to buy to sell later at a much higher price. They manipulate the future, not to make the world a better place but only to add to their wealth” (627). It may well be an affective reading, but I do find myself in mind of various oligarchies, established and aspiring, I see at work in the world. I am probably not the only one, either, and I think an examination of such commentaries in Hobb may be an addition to my list of scholarly somedays.

My medievalist self takes some interest in the description of Clerres as akin to Mont St. Michel–although I’ve discussed that much previously. Still, that I managed not to miss all of the details in my earlier readings is a comfort, and the partial correspondence remains in place. I wonder, though, if there is another scholarly someday in tracing Arthurian parallels, here; does Fitz castrate some giant, if only obliquely? I’ll have to consider it further as I reread more; it’s been a while.

So much said, the present chapter does a lot of explicatory work. As it is near the end of the novel, I have to read that work as being done to set up the third volume of the trilogy, Assassin’s Fate; I’ll proceed to that text soon, although not as soon as I might like–as I reread, again, I feel again the hunger for the reading that I recall feeling in earlier readings, spanning nearly ten years with Fool’s Quest and longer with other parts of the Realm of the Elderlings novels, that has led me to linger in place for hours, moving nothing other than my eyes except to turn the pages, and to stay awake far longer than the next day’s working demands suggest, taking in the text at once.

It is good to have such feelings.

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