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Another letter from Erek to his old master, Kerig, provides an update from the previous before “The Well” begins. As the chapter opens, Rapskal pleads with Thymara to accompany him after she and Tats have taken him aside. Thymara considers recent events, conferring mentally with Sintara as Rapskal continues to plead, his words not entirely his own. At length, Thymara is persuaded, and the pair walk Kelsingra, Rapskal speaking from memories he has taken in from it and plying Thymara further. He urges her to reach into her own ancient memories for the secret of restoring Silver.

Elsewhere in the city, Reyn and Malta confer about their fortunes and those of their family and of Tintaglia. Malta places Phron’s hand upon the dragon and offers something not unlike a prayer.

Thymara resists the call to dive into memory, and she rejects Rapskal’s insistence harshly. Sintara pleads with Thymara, however, and she reluctantly descends into the well along with Rapskal. As she does, she feels the memories rising around her, and at the bottom of the shaft, she finds the remains of her past self. More memories rise within her, and she releases a hidden reservoir of Silver from which the dragons begin to drink.

Phron cries and Malta moves to feed him from her breast, the child’s parents exulting in the evidence of changes worked by Tintaglia upon him. Other dragons approach Tintaglia, shunting the Khuphruses aside as they bring Silver to Tintaglia, treating her. The elder dragon rises, hungry, and moves to hunt amid the joy of those surrounding her.

I remain pleased to see the chapter-prefaces used not only in the Asimovian style of providing greater context for the world and the events depicted in the pages of the chapters, but also to trace ongoing outside narratives. I know I’ve commented on the device before, but as it continues to be a source of delight for me, I feel I ought to remark upon it now and again. And it really is a treat to have the short little snippets–because the letters are rarely of any length, sensibly to them being carried by pigeons–do so much to illustrate what else is going on. More formally, by pointing towards events outside the main narrative, the letters assist Coleridgean willing suspension of disbelief by gesturing towards Tolkienian unexplored vistas that authenticate the act of sub-creation; more briefly, by making the presence of outside context within the milieu explicit, the letters deepen the verisimilitude of the main narrative. That is, they make the world in which the main narrative takes place “more real” than a work centering on metamorphosing dragons and their effects upon the world would otherwise be.

The depiction of the Silver in the present chapter continues to reaffirm for me the link between it and the Skill plied in the Six Duchies. I’ve commented on the perceived link a few times (such as here, here, and here), so I was already quite confident in the interpretation. Reading again of the manner in which the Silver-treatment occasions Tintaglia’s recovery offers more to bolster the interpretation; compare, for example, the dragon’s recuperation to that Fitz endures in his Skill-healing (see Golden Fool, chapters 20 and 21). The continued effort to “normalize” things across series taking place in the same milieu, relatively contemporaneously, is clear in the present chapter; it works better here than in some other places in the tetralogy, which is a pleasure to see.

The depiction of the Silver in the present chapter also continues to remind me of the EarthBlood in Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. (I write about it a bit here.) The tension between destructive force and creative power embodied in a markedly colored outflow from within the earth is telling, although I’d need to do some additional rereading to pull out the parallels more fully. Doing a bit of source-study remains tantalizing, of course, but that would require more of an investment of time, and I am not sure how much of it I am likely to have in the near future.

It’s for good reason, or reason good for me, at least. But I would still love to attend to the project, along with a great many others…

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

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Following a missive from Reyall to Erek and Detozi in which he announces his engagement, “Expectations” opens with Alise asking to move inside as she rapidly assesses events and her place in them. Carson begins to take charge of the situation with the captives that have been brought to Kelsingra, and Hest presents himself before Alise. Alise considers the implications of his appearance against the events of the past months, pleading with her as Reyn and others rebuke him. Alise upbraids him for his deceit of her, disclaiming their marriage publicly, and when Hest protests, Sedric interjects, testifying to Hest’s perfidy. Carson commends Sedric for his declaration, and the group departs from a stunned Hest.

Later, Reyn rejoins Malta as those assembled in Kelsingra confer. The pair discuss Phron and his progress, noting the still-poor prognosis for their son. Reyn also comments on the proceedings regarding the captives and the relative youth of most of those involved in them. Various testimonies and perfidies are summarized, and Reyn and Malta consider their status among the new Elderlings. Their thoughts turn to Tintaglia, and Malta avers feeling her slow approach. Reyn tries to believe but cannot quite do so.

Within eyeshot of the city, Kalo urges Tintaglia along. She reaches the city, losing consciousness as she does so and the new Elderlings flock to her.

In Kelsingra, Tintaglia’s condition is assessed. Reyn and Malta plead with the dragon to drink what Silver is available, administering it to no obvious effect. Thinking they have failed, they ask for privacy for themselves, Phron, and the dragon, and they are given it–including by Leftrin, whose thoughts turn once again to Alise.

I note with some attention the comment Carson makes as he begins to take charge of the captives brought to Kelsingra: “let us act as befits who we are, rather than who we think they might be” (278). Being the age that I am and with my adult life therefore shaped by the events that have occurred, I have heard much in the line of “We have to do X, because those people are going to do it.” My response, when I have offered one (which I don’t much do anymore; it does me no good, and I rarely get traction with it), has been much in the line of Carson’s comment. It doesn’t matter what those people, whoever those people are (and it shifts; oh, does it ever shift!); what does matter is what we do–or what I do, because that is the only thing that falls under my control. With others, I can advise. I can argue. I can cajole. I can command. I can punish (perhaps). But I cannot compel; the choice always exists for others to do other than I would have done. For me, though, the only choice is what I would do; what I do is necessarily what I have chosen to do. That does not mean the choice is always what I would prefer, or that it is a good one; there are sometimes no good choices, which I believe Hobb comments (among many others). But only I can make the choice for me, and I can make the choice for only me. So I find I appreciate Carson’s remark, affective as my doing so might be.

I note, too, Sedric’s public testimony against Hest. Although it is the case that Kelsingra is a far more sexually permissive place than the other Traders’ settlements, that he is willing to out himself in the way he is is something that comes off as commendable; the abused rising against their abusers is a thing worth seeing. Not all real-life victims of abuse are so fortunate as to have situations in which they can do such things, of course; many who attempt something like Sedric does find themselves much less well off than he does in the present chapter. But then, one of the things that fiction can do is show what can be, more than what is.

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Following a message from Sealia Finbok to Hest, one meant to be held against his return, “Hostages” begins with Skelly conferring with her captain and uncle, Leftrin, about the unlikelihood of success retrieving Silver from the well the keepers have reopened in Kelsingra. She pleads to be tasked with the retrieval, but Leftrin refuses, and further conversation is cut off by the return of the dragons, whose needs must be addressed. Thymara finds herself considering her relationship with Tats once again as the dragons beckon and their quirks are noted, as are ongoing changes in Rapskal, and she joins the others in rushing to tend the dragons.

https://www.deviantart.com/gryphonic19/art/Heeby-757727927

The dragons return to Kelsingra, delighting in the actions they took against the Chalcedeans and asking for reports on progress towards the Silver. Soon after, the ship being escorted arrives.

Leftrin chafes at the arrival of the new vessel as his crew helps to bring it into port. The captives are brought ashore, and Leftrin notes with some surprise the presence of Traders among them as Alise joins him. Calls for executions ring out, and Leftrin argues against them, Alise recognizing that Rapskal has been largely swallowed by the memories embedded in Kelsingra. Amid the confusion, some of the captive Chalcedeans attempt escape and are thwarted, leaving the issue unresolved.

Hest, for his own part, assesses the changes in his situation as he is also brought under guard to Kelsingra. He marvels at what he finds there and begins contemplating what treasures it holds, and then he recognizes Alise among the throng, bristling as she accepts Leftrin’s attentions. He swiftly perceives that the pair have grown intimate, and he begins to plot how he will take control of things. Scanning the crowd for a likely target, he is shocked to see Sedric among the Elderlings and wounded to see his clear affection with Carson. And so he begins to plot revenge.

I note something of a parallel between one of the keepers and the Fool in the present chapter. The note is made that one of the keepers, Kase, came into contact with a small bit of the scant Silver retrieved from the well. A lack of pain and the presence of oddness of sensation are attested. Something similar comes to mind for the incidental contact the Fool had with the Skill-imbued Verity and the subsequent uses of power that resulted from it. Again, I’m nerd enough to appreciate the call-backs and echoes of older texts in the more recent, even if I’m not always skilled enough in the moment to notice them directly.

I note, too, the disparity of textual treatment of characters in the present chapter. The summary above does not entirely reflect it, but the section of the chapter that focuses on Hest and his thoughts is the single longest and most coherent in the chapter; it spans some six pages, while the other sections are three, five, and five pages, so while Hest does not receive a majority of attention, he does have a plurality of it. (A word-count would give more accurate information, of course, but such exceeds the scope of a post to a weblog such as this one.) It’s not necessarily a surprise; he has been figured throughout the Rain Wilds Chronicles as a significant antagonist, petty as he is presented as being, specifically as an impediment both Alise (one of the primary protagonists) and Sedric (a clear secondary, but a strong secondary protagonist) must overcome. Nor is it surprising that the presentation rather heavily foreshadows the coming conflict between him and those he had formerly controlled, although it might have been hoped that his own experiences in servitude and abjection might make him more sympathetic to them and contrite for his own misdeeds. Instead, he seems to be following in the footsteps of Regal Farseer once again, and while it is the case that neither Alise nor Sedric is as capable of ironic cruelty as Fitz or a certain mustelid, there are no few in Kelsingra who are…

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