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

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The eighth chapter of Shaman’s Crossing, “Old Thares,” starts with Nevare lying to his father again, claiming illness as a reason to keep abed rather than look upon the depredations of rapacious forestry that had disturbed him. At length, Nevare and his father disembark from Rhosher’s barge and spend a day in Canby, which town and its crowds are described. From there, Nevare and his father board a jankship, which is itself described as it makes good speed downriver towards Old Thares. Nevare generally comports himself well while aboard, although there is a strained exchange surrounding his cousin, Epiny, and Nevare is somewhat unsettled by the signs of long settlement along the Soudana River.

Keft attempts to offer Nevare some comfort and advice as they proceed downriver, noting that his time constrained by urban living will be brief enough, and Nevare attempts to find solace in his father’s words before they dock in Old Thares. There, they find Sefert has sent a wagon for them and their things, and Nevare wonders along the way to the old Burvelle estate if they are being insulted by his uncle. When they are received, however, he finds that such is not the case; Sefert appears to delight entirely in his younger brother’s good fortune, and Nevare remarks the differences between how his uncle acts with him and his father alone and his earlier encounters with the man.

As Keft and Sefert talk, Nevare notes comments about his family and surprises about fathers’ concerns. He also is informed of changes at the Cavalla Academy, including a new commandant, Colonel Stiet. He further overhears discussion of potential unrest among nobles before he finds himself addressed directly. His father and uncle speak of the Plainsfolk and the Specks, Sefert needling Keft “with one of the ‘noble savage’ sentiments that had been so popular of late” (195) and being somewhat surprised by his brother’s regard for his erstwhile opponents even as he espouses a need to correct their ways of life.

That evening, after Nevare retires, he receives an uncomfortable visit from Epiny. She asks him about his travels and experiences, finding his replies unsatisfactory and labeling him “ordinary.” He protests the description unsuccessfully and takes some time to fall asleep after she leaves. The next morning, he wakes uncomfortably again, a chambermaid entering and seeing to his room. After breakfast, he finds himself bound for the Academy following an awkward farewell, and along the way, Keft offers more advice to his son, bidding him remain “true to what you have been taught and to the honor of your family” (203) as they arrive at the King’s Cavalla Academy.

To address the chapter-length issue: the present chapter, in the edition of the novel I’m rereading, runs 19 pages in length, approximately 3.29% of the novel. The contrast to the previous chapter is clear; the present serves mostly as a bridge from an important point to an important point, rather than itself offering an important point–unless possibly in foreshadowing matters (although Soldier Son is less concerned with prognostication than is Realm of the Elderlings) and in introducing Nevare’s cousin Epiny. It’s not the case that every portion of a work has to be of equal heft in terms of driving plot or characterization, to be sure, and it is of use, if only for narrative cohesion, to at least gloss how a character gets from point to point to point within a story and within that story’s world.

Also, for indexing purposes, the following: Arms Institute, Canby, Captain Rhosher, Carsina Grenalter, Cavalla Academy, Colonel Rebin, Coloniel Stiet, Council of Lords, Dahlias, Daraleen, Dark Evening, Defford, Elisi Burvelle, Epiny Burvelle, Gernia, Gernian, Hotorn Burvelle, Ister River, Junkshop, Keft Burvelle, King Troven, Landingers, Landsing, Mouth City, Nevare Burvelle, Old Thares, Plainsfolk, Rosse Burvelle, Sadia, Sefert Burvelle, Selethe Burvelle, Sirlofty, Soudana River, Specks, Steelshanks, Swanneck, Tea, Tefa River, Tobacco, Vanze Burvelle, Wind wizard, Yaril Burvelle. I note with some interest the reliance on tea rather than coffee, which seems at odds with the United States parallel–but then, tea remains a drink of choice even now, and, as I’ve remarked previously, one-to-one correspondence is not necessary to establish a parallel or a reference.

I am reading affectively again, I know, but there are comments from Nevare that grip me. One of them is at the end of the first paragraph in the chapter: “The world I had expected to live in was vanishing before I could explore it” (184). While it is the case that I have been a student of the past, I have worked hard not to be such a person as fantasizes about living in it; I would not be able to do what I do without the resources that living where and when I have lived have afforded me. At the same time, the training that I have had during my life has tended to suit me to professions that, while extant, were far more accessible in the past than they are now. Too, perhaps because I am stultifying from a long-existing staidness, perhaps because I have a soon-to-be-teenager in the home, I am more and more aware of the ways things are changing in ways I find difficult or impossible to understand. (As often, my failure of understanding is my fault rather than the fault of the thing I fail to understand; I try not to be on the “kids these days” bandwagon, knowing I wasn’t ideal.) Still, there is clearly some part of me still puerile that the comment of someone less than half my age rings in me as it does–and it does.

And on the topic of staidness, there is Nevare’s discomfort with being thought “ordinary” by his cousin. It’s another thing that has me reading affectively, sympathizing with Nevare more than is perhaps good for me to do. Despite my staidness and stolidity, my tendency to do what I am told and avoid taking risks, I long fancied myself as being exceptional. I am not, and I know it; even though there are things I have to offer (such as writing support services and tailored instructional materials), there are things I do not know and others I do not do well, no more or less than most folks. But when I was Nevare’s age (and older than that by more than is comfortable to admit), I still thought I was special; to be told otherwise and to have it decisively demonstrated was…unpleasant. Even now, when I know the truth of it, having the reminder is uncomfortable. So, again, I find myself feeling along with Nevare, and if it is the case that such a reading is at odds with scholarly insight, I operate mostly outside academe, anyway, and the fostering of empathy is supposed to be one of the things fiction is supposed to do for us. That I am drawn along in such a way might then be called a measure of success for the work as I read through the first third of it.

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