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

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After in-milieu commentary about selecting Skill-couriers and their practices, “An Elderling Welcome” begins with Fitz making a decent show of diplomacy and learning that he is, indeed, confronted by Rapskal. Rapskal introduces himself brusquely as the local military leader and begrudgingly agrees to conduct Fitz, Lant, and Perseverance to Kelsingra’s rulership. Fitz finds himself somewhat affected by the prevalence of Skill-stone in the construction of Kelsingra, and he contrasts what he sees in his present situation with what he had seen in the city previously, as well as what he knows of Dutiful’s impressions of Kelsingra.

At length, Rapskal leaves Fitz, Lant, and Perseverance to confer with his leaders, assigning a subordinate to see to them. Fitz presents himself diplomatically once again, and he and his companions are provided refreshment. After they attend to themselves, Fitz and his companions confer about next steps to take, and Fitz soon falls asleep.

Rest is interrupted by the arrival of Reyn Khuprus, who greets Fitz warmly and receives introductions as he has Fitz, Lant, and Perseverance follow him to a kinder reception than Rapskal had given them. Malta joins them there, apologizing for Rapskal’s behavior and welcoming them. She introduces Amber, attended by Spark, and Fitz finds himself taken up into the Fool’s performance as Reyn and Malta invite the rest to sit and eat with them. Fitz finds himself somewhat taken aback by the frank discussion of social structures at work in Kelsingra. Questions about Phron and their answers elicit sympathy from Fitz, and as Amber continues the conversation, Fitz is able to fill in more of his knowledge of his old friend.

After dinner, Phron joins his parents and their guests, and introductions are made. When Fitz offers to shake his hand, he is taken by the Wit and the Skill, and something like a Skill-healing is effected, although without intent. Phron is greatly eased, and Malta marvels at what has occurred. Fitz is shaken by the event, but he manages to explain at least some of the changes his magic has effected in Phron.

Amber redirects conversation, relating a version of her exploits since departing Bingtown and its environs. Malta asks for healing for the other Elderling children whose changes are proving difficult or dangerous, and Amber attempts to deflect conversation again by glossing the depredations Ellik and his followers wrought on Fitz’s home, eliciting a strong response. Talk returns to the Elderling children, and Fitz, noting caveats, agrees to assist them.

With gratitude, Reyn, Malta, and Phron retire, leaving Fitz, the Fool, Lant, Spark, and Perseverance to confer. Arrangements are made for the evening, and Fitz is convinced to accept a sleeping draught for which the Fool vouches.

There are several things that attract attention in the present chapter. That the Fool would present as Amber in a company composed of Traders is not to be wondered at, perhaps, nor is the ease with which Fitz fits himself to the presentation (including shifting his pronoun references to the Fool as Amber); he has had practice at it, after all. That Lant and even Perseverance adapt so readily is more noteworthy, although Fitz notes “There was something of Chade in Lant after all” (714), which comes off to my eyes as begrudgingly respectful of the younger man. In all, it is relatively impressive that the Fool’s presentation, and Amber’s narrative, would carry off so well as they do in the chapter. The writer being Hobb, however, good fortune for the protagonist is not to be trusted, especially with what the second volume of a trilogy is typically supposed to do: put the protagonist/s in a bad situation, from which they emerge in the final volume.

Comments about the social structures at work in Kelsingra also attract attention. Reyn comments to his guests that “Even after years of it, king and queen sit a bit oddly with us” [emphasis in original], adding that “After years of the Satrapy extorting money from the Bingtown Traders, we who were raised as Traders still wonder why anyone would think we preferred a monarchy. But it’s a convenient way for the outside world to see us” (714-15). I have opined, and at some length, about the social structure of the Traders, seeing in them echoes of the nascent United States (if with better reactions to some pernicious social problems), which Reyn’s commentary supports. There does still seem to be something of hereditary rule in force in Kelsingra, however; it must be recalled that the Khuprus Traders are outrageously wealthy (note this, this, and this, among others), and that wealth is, by the time of Reyn and Malta, largely inherited. While Reyn and Malta are both capable people, they had the luxury–Reyn more than Malta, admittedly–of developing their capabilities free from the brute-force concerns of “Do I have enough to eat not to die today?” that typify the lives of many of the other residents of Kelsingra before their emigration. That is to say, they began their lives with advantages that they have parlayed into prominence in Kelsingra; they had the opportunities to be first with dragons because their preexisting socioeconomic status afforded them as much. It is not entirely meritocracy at work–although, Traders being Traders, it is conceivable that the Khupruses would be shunted aside in favor of “better” merchants. It bears thought, another scholarly someday.

I note, too, the particularly Tolkienian resonance (yes, I know) of Fitz’s not-entirely-voluntary healing of Phron. I have written before (here) about the ways in which Fitz enacts the warrior-hero trope common to fantasy literature; he moves away from, but is still substantially grounded in, the Tolkienian iteration of the trope, or I understood him as being so at that point in his existence and in my own. (We ought to revise ideas and opinions as more information becomes available. It’s something with which many people struggle, clearly and unhelpfully.) Even with what I have come to believe since, I acknowledge that there is still enough to sustain such a reading, to look at Hobb as existing within the Tolkienian literary tradition although she is clearly drawing from other sources than Tolkien–or than just Tolkien, especially since she acknowledges her debt to him. In the present chapter, in addition to the martial and diplomatic aspects of the warrior-hero Fitz does not seldom deploy, there is something of “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer” (LotR V, ch. 8) about his interaction with Phron. While it is the case that Fitz has participated in Skill-healing previously, and to miraculous effect (something that edges towards Christ-referencing, as I think on it again), the present chapter, where the healing happens, and not entirely with Fitz’s approval, seems more…otherworldly than most of the examples in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus. It’s yet another thing that bears some thought and consideration, yet another scholarly someday I hope I live long enough to address.

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