Not autumn by any stretch in these parts
But the leaves are still falling in abundance
And people scoop them into sacks
Push them into piles
And hope that cold winds don’t bite too deeply when they blow
For me
They are insulation and compost
What I need to keep me warm
What I need so that my fields will fruit
And I can eat for the rest of the year
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Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.
An extended excerpt from Prilkop‘s writings, detailing his treatment by the Servants after his return to Clerres, precedes “Accusations.” The chapter begins with Bee waking in her cell from an unpleasant dream. She steels herself against Vindeliar and directs her energies towards healing before her captors arrive. After she is fed, she considers her deeds of the previous night until the remaining members of the Four arrive to extract her from her cell, betraying Vindeliar’s work upon them.
Bee listens as the three remaining confer about the death of one of their own and the possibility of her complicity therewith. One of them, Coultrie, is led away, and the other two, Capra and Fellowdy, confer about what Vindeliar has said. The implications of Symphe’s death begin to be discussed, and Bee watches as power shifts in Clerres before she is confined again.
The present chapter is remarkably brief, some eight pages in the printing I am rereading. I am again taken by the desire to get hold of a cohesive print-run of the Realm of the Elderlings novels and to simply count the pages in chapter to see if there is some pattern to be found among them. I am not sure there’s anything there to find, admittedly, but I have the sneaking suspicion that there is something, and I’d have to do the work to rule out anything in any event. Ah, to have such luxury! Alas that I do not and may well never again!
Brief though it is, the present chapter serves useful functions for the reader. It continues emphasizing the hubris of the Servants in Clerres and points out the irony of their overreliance on their interpretation of prophetic foreknowledge. That is, it reminds the reader that the Servants have blinded themselves to ideas not their own, and while it is the case that a person can only come up with certain things themselves, it need not be the case that a person disregard the ideas and understandings of others. The Servants do so, and they do so at their peril, both internally (as witness Vindeliar) and externally (as Fitz and company prove).
One idea does occur as I reread, though. Throughout the Realm of the Elderlings novels, the actions of the Prophets’ Catalysts tend towards eluding prognostication. If it is the case that Bee’s actions confound the Servants’ prophecies, the idea that she is, herself, a Catalyst…tantalizes.
I still remain available to write for you, at reasonable rates and with no AI slop!
Elliott RWI 