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This chapter contains sexual violence.

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After an excerpt from Bee’s dream journal, “Parting Ways” begins with Bee musing on changes among her abductors in the wake of Vindeliar’s suborning. The Chalcedeans’ ingratiation with Vindeliar is tracked as they test his abilities and begin to exploit them for themselves, and the threat under which Bee and the others operate with Dwalia out of power is made clear. Within Bee, the echo of Nighteyes she carries urges caution and calm, and she observes as the Chalcedeans fall once again into depravity. Dwalia attempts to redeem her people, but the Chalcedeans refuse, and amid the ensuing fracas, Bee and Shun attempt escape.

The present chapter is another relatively brief one, some ten pages in the edition of the novel I am reading, and I once again think I need to see about looking at a cohesive printing of the Elderlings corpus to see if there is, in fact, some pattern at work. I know I keep mentioning it, and there is a part of me that longs to simply spend the money on it…but I think it might be better either to visit a library or make an arrangement with a bookstore to so such a thing than to buy another sixteen novels that I already own. As it is, I have multiple copies of some of the works, and there’s at least one other that I’d like to buy, correcting a mistake I had the opportunity not to make. I am not so well funded as I might like (although, if you’d like to help, there’s a link below you can use for that purpose), so I would have to do some working-around to make that kind of thing happen.

As far as the content of the present chapter goes, though, I do not know that I can say much. If there is, as I have suggested might be the case, some reference going on to a real-world Odessa, I am not sure what to make of it at this point. It cannot be a pleasant one, given what befalls the thus-named character in the text, and I do not feel at ease explicating the violence being worked out upon her, even if it is somewhat “off-screen,” noted as occurring but not explicitly depicted. Hobb does not shy away from overt presentations of violence elsewhere in her work, as I well know, and she has been direct in presenting sexual violence elsewhere in the Elderlings corpus; Kennit’s violation of Althea comes to mind as one example, but it is not the only one. So I am uncertain what the import of the specific presentation of violence here is, although I expect there has to be one. As others have pointed out with great eloquence, and as I recall telling my students in those receding days when I had them, every word on the page is placed deliberately, and it is placed with the knowledge and consent of several people by the very nature of publishing. Something is at work, even if I and others cannot necessarily say what it is at any given moment…

More scholarly somedays, I suppose.

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An extended commentary on a fragmentary Skill-scroll precedes “Bonds and Ties,” which opens with Fitz enjoying riding a new horse and not enjoying the attempt by the same–Fleeter–to Wit-bond with him. Fitz assesses his combat capabilities as Fleeter presses upon him, and Fitz’s name in the Wit, Changer, comes to attention again as Lant and Perseverance join them. Fitz also does not enjoy the added company and attempts to get the others to leave, but they refuse and determine to accompany him despite his urgency. Nor yet is he thrilled that Motley joins and decides to like Perseverance, nor yet when Riddle later joins the growing throng–although Riddle, at least, seems aware of the complications the expanding group presents.

With warning that they will not wait for the others, Fitz and Riddle press ahead, Fitz settling into the saddle atop Fleeter and acknowledging her quality as a mount; Perseverance does a decent job of keeping up, and Lant lags behind. At the end of the day, the group chance upon a barn and make use of it, conferring as they tend to themselves and their animals. Fitz surreptitiously doses the group’s tea with a soporific, apologizing for doing so as they fall asleep, and after a brief rest of his own, he doses himself and Fleeter with carris seed, musing on what he has seen of its perils. After ensuring that his erstwhile companions will be well, Fitz also doses himself with delvenbark, and he and Fleeter proceed into the dark.

The prefatory materials once again catch my interest. Describing a damaged manuscript and the circumstances of its damage, the prefatory materials bring to my medievalist-trained mind the various manuscripts of the Cotton Library, damaged by flame and thrown out into the snow–those that were not lost, entirely. Even now, some of those manuscripts continue to degrade from the effects of the flames, chemical changes to their materials put into motion and ongoing, unstoppable, ultimately irredeemable. Knowing as I do about some of what survived, I have to wonder what was lost and will now never be found again, and a great sorrow wells up within me at the works of scribal hands and cunning minds lost to chance and misfortune. How much worse must it be to contemplate deliberate destruction!

But it’s not like that kind of thing happens anymore, right?

In the chapter, itself, I note with some appreciation the juxtaposition of Fitz’s recognition of his (physical) deconditioning and his seemingly easy resumption of his assassin’s tricks; he notes the fatigue he feels after a single day of hard riding, when he had before gone days or weeks in the wild with relative ease, and he has little hesitation about drugging his comrades–and does so without being noticed by someone also trained to stealth and skullduggery (Riddle being long implied to have some such schooling). Something about old age and treachery comes to mind, and, as I feel my (fewer than Fitz’s) years while I’m writing this, there is some comfort in it for me.

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Following an excerpt from anonymous instructions to an assassin, “Confrontations” begins with Lant reporting to the Farseer elite, as well as Rosemary and Ash. Fitz reflects on Lant’s account to that point, and he speaks in Lant’s favor as Dutiful dismisses him. Discussion follows Lant’s departure, and Fitz finds himself unexpectedly tasked with seeing if any of the guards from the company that had acted ill are worth redeeming.

Fitz later confers with the Fool about the situation, which conversation is interrupted by a Skilled summons from Nettle. Fitz excuses himself from the Fool to answer it, Motley accompanying him.

Answering the summons, Fitz reports to the Queen’s Garden, where Civil Bresinga delivers tidings of Bee and Shun. Old Blood folk and their animals had noted strange movements of people, corroborated by Skill-deadened agents, leaving the Farseers with the evident intended destination of Bee and Shun’s captors. Dutiful lays out his plans, and he offers Fitz a place of honor but not one of aid, reminding Fitz who is in command of matters.

Fitz fumes silently at how he has been maneuvered, and more at the correctness of those who have done so. Thus fuming, he purposes to call upon Chade, only to find Steady there and Chade asleep. Steady confers with Fitz briefly until a stirring Chade interrupts, bidding him go retrieve their daughters. And Fitz then moves to do just that, giving directives to Foxglove and others. Foxglove gives a frank report of unit readiness, and Fitz moves off with some self-doubt to address the task of the disgraced guards. That, however, he manages neatly, if brusquely.

So much done, Fitz returns to the Fool, preparing to dose himself with elfbark and outfit himself for a covert expedition. The Fool reports his dreams as Fitz makes his preparations and excuses himself; Fitz runs into Lant on his way out, and Lant purposes to accompany him. Fitz is direct with him, urging Lant to remain behind, but it is clear he will not stay in Buckkeep.

Fitz then rejoins Foxglove, reviewing their augmented forces. Afterwards, he makes to tend to his horse, where Perseverance meets him, and they talk together briefly.

The present chapter, just after midway through the book in the printing I am reading, has a lot going on, a lot of smaller moving parts. In terms of structure, it suggests an acceleration towards the climax of Freytag’s pyramid, that the pivotal action for this novel–and perhaps for the trilogy, given that the novel is the second member of it–approaches. And in terms of content, it suggests that Fitz, despite his greater years and experience, remains the headstrong, passionate boy he was at the death of Shrewd decades before, seeking to rush ahead because he knows better than those who bear responsibility and have both more information and clearer heads than he. I am not certain whether to be delighted at the consistency of characterization or annoyed that Fitz seems not to have learned lessons that have been literally (and, yes, I do intend the pun, here) beaten into him across years–but it seems to me as I consider it that the fact to that uncertainty is an artifact of my engagement with the text, and that would seem to argue for the narrative’s effectiveness, at least with this reader.

Admittedly, such an assertion ranges once again into reading with affect; I have lost track of the number of times in this rereading series that I have found myself reading affectively, reading through my emotional reactions to the text rather than calmly applying one particular critical lens or another to it. Were I still in academe, it would be more of a problem than it presently is; as it is now, I am not much writing for classroom audiences (although I do still have the impression that some student or another reads what I write here and uses it for some schoolroom purpose or another–which is not a problem, although it would be nice to hear from those who do so). Were I in more practice than I have allowed myself to be, I might look at the present chapter through some more formal rubric than the “reader-response” that I (over-) generously label myself as using. But, alas, I am not in more practice than I am, even with the source- or reception-focused approaches that tended to undergird my scholarship when I made claims to doing it. Other major approaches do not suggest themselves to me at the moment, either, which may just be an artifact of my hammering this out between other jobs or may well be a symptom of my critical faculties atrophying.

Or it may be that this is another of my scholarly somedays, a project waiting for attention and to which I will return in time. I can hope for as much, for both the inspiration of how to treat it and the time to treat it well enough to suit myself–and maybe others. There is some comfort in that, at least.

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This is one of the chapters that needs a content warning: references to sexual violence.

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Following reported commentary by Dwalia about the induction of forgetfulness and neglect, “Vindeliar” returns to Bee, noting the remarks by those around her of her improving condition and her uncertainty about the same. The progress of Dwalia’s party across is glossed, and disagreement emerges between Dwalia and Ellik about how to proceed further. Shun notices Bee’s observations and advises her against the appearance of the same, and Bee attends closely as Dwalia exploits Vindeliar’s abilities to persuade Ellik.

Progress continues, and Bee and Shun confer covertly about possible escape. When Dwalia presses Bee for conversation, she replies with reference to the futures she has seen, attempting to turn conversation, and Dwalia upbraids her for doing so. Ellik hears the upset occasioned and intervenes, determining to turn matters to his will. Vindeliar being then absent, he succeeds, and he comprehends that it is Vindeliar’s influence that has allowed Dwalia to retain command. That situation, he moves to address.

The present chapter recalls the cartoonish evil of Chalced, in which Ellik had participated at high level. Thinking back on my earlier impressions, such as I can recall them at this point, I had originally understood Chalced to be an antagonistic but not necessarily “evil” nation-state; the presentation in the Rain Wilds novels was something of an immersion-breaker for me, as I gesture towards in my rereading comments. In the present chapter, which reminds readers of the slavery practices and rampant misogyny at work in Chalced, the evils of that nation-state seem more “real,” although I cannot determine whether my reaction is to the overt presentation, the contrast with earlier work, or my inability to read the text without awareness of the broader context in which I do the reading this time around.

I do find some interest in the construction and its comparison to that of Clerres, however. While the situation in Clerres is not yet directly presented in the text–readers at this point have the Fool’s report, which may well be understood to be biased–they do have the actions of the Servants, both with Bee and with the messengers the Fool had dispatched to Fitz (here and here). While the Elderlings novels as a whole call into question the degree to which any agent of a given nation-state can be said to represent that nation-state as a whole, and while it is certainly the case that the Six Duchies is hardly an innocent place if its agents can be taken to any degree as being representative, Dwalia and her company do not give a good presentation of Clerres even if the Fool’s report can be set aside as biased. The question of which nation-state, Chalced or Clerres, is more evil is one that the chapter gestures towards, and a ponerological study might well be worth undertaking.

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After in-milieu commentary warning of the dangers of travel through the Skill-pillars that might have been useful to characters earlier, “Marking Time” opens with Fitz searching for an outlet for his emotions, taking training alongside his new guard unit to find it. Foxglove reluctantly allows it, giving Fitz some warning, but he persists and regrets it. Afterward, he is confronted by Burrich’s son Steady, who rebukes Fitz for letting his despair flow out into the world, and as Fitz follows the younger man’s direction, the pair discuss Chade’s situation and what led up to it, as well as Steady’s own regrets regarding Bee. The risks Chade had taken are explicated, and Steady asks Fitz for the particularly strong Outislander elfbark. Fitz provides it, and after Steady takes his leave, he reviews Bee’s writings that he has brought with him, recognizing her power for prophecy as he does so.

The next days pass unpleasantly for Fitz, who finds himself caught between hope for Bee and fear for her. He works to navigate his restored identity as a prince of the realm, and he calls on Chade, finding him responsive but largely absent. Steady intervenes as Fitz presses his mentor, glossing the retrieval and analysis of information from where it had been sequestered. It is cold comfort, and Fitz soothes himself with thoughts of murder.

Fitz continues to wait for news and to check on the Fool, whom Spark / Ash attends. Fitz finds himself recalling his and the Fool’s shared youth, and the Fool reports some improvement. Ash reports Chade’s decline, and the three confer about what will become of Ash if Chade dies. The Fool presses Fitz to go to Clerres, and he demurs, citing his ongoing instability in the Skill and his continuing expectation of news of Bee. The Fool avers that Bee will accompany them both to the destruction of Clerres, will indeed conduct them thither, which Fitz rejects. The Fool then advises Fitz about what they will face, and Fitz begins to question whether he can enact the destruction for which the Fool has called. A discussion of logistics ensues, and Fitz asks Ash to help him with his own stitches as a means of forestalling more talk.

More time passes, and Fitz continues to work to regain his combat skills. At length, Thick and Lant return with soldiers who will be discommended, and Thick reports mistreatment at their hands. Lant receives direction and correction, and Perseverance, who had accompanied the group from Buckkeep, is taken aside to give report. Fitz accepts the boy’s report and commends him to the care of one of the senior stable staff, offering a final set of instructions to him.

The present chapter is slightly longer than normal, some twenty-five pages in the edition I have of the novel. I am reminded once again that I need to take a look at a cohesive print-run of the Elderlings novels to see if there is some pattern of chapter-length at work in them and, if there is, what significance that pattern has for the corpus. It remains among my scholarly somedays, things to which I look with some yearning even as I question whether I ought to maintain any pretense of scholarship, being as many years out of academe as I am. But then, given what all is happening in and to academe as I sit and write this, perhaps my small works here and in a few other places–yes, I do still have some stuff going on, about which I expect to write more later–are among what will be regarded as the last vestiges of what might have been a tradition. Or maybe they will be sparks from which some new flame is kindled to warm the heart and light the mind, but I am probably unreasonably vain to think such thoughts and write them where others are apt to see them.

As often before, I find myself reading with no small degree of affect. I expect this is something deliberately constructed, of course; the Eight Deadly Words being a thing, its inverse would be seen as desirable, and “relatability” is something that many readers look for in what they read. While I dislike the term–I don’t know why, but something about it strikes me as insipid, although I recognize it is my own taste at work and not something “wrong” with the word itself–I acknowledge that readers are far from wrong to look to see themselves reflected in what they read, and I acknowledge that so much is true for other media, as well. Representation matters, of course, and people should see themselves represented in the media available to them, just as they well ought to see and be led to empathize with those different from themselves. And while I am fortunate not to have been in the position of waiting for news of my own daughter as she languishes in captivity, I have been anxious to learn how my daughter has fared and impatient with the delay in news reaching me, chafing at my inability to do anything in the moment to make things better for her and chastising myself for my failures with her. And I find, like Fitz, that there is some use in knowing that others have done as much and more; even if it is not a comfort–and it is not; that others feel poorly does not make a poor feeling rich–it is good to have a reminder that others have done things and thus that we can also do them.

There is much to do, ever and always. Having the reminder that what needs doing can be done, one of the many things that a good read offers, is thus a welcome thing.

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After a description of Clerres reported to Chade, “The Strategy” begins with Fitz waking up to the crow, Motley, haranguing him for food and flight. After tending to the bird, Fitz reaches out through the Skill to Chade and finds him dreaming and disoriented. Nettle rebukes him through the Skill, and Dutiful summons him by that same agency. As Fitz considers his response, his anger at his situation grows, and he quashes it as he attires himself in a manner befitting his station.

Suitably attired, Fitz makes to answer Dutiful’s summons, but he is waylaid along the way by Foxglove, a former commander of the guard unit that had formed around Kettricken in her early days at Buckkeep and in which he himself had served for a time. The pair reminisce briefly before Fitz accompanies her to a guards’ mess. There, Fitz finds himself suddenly presented with a guard unit wearing the emblem of a charging buck long ago assigned him by Verity. Foxglove introduces some of her own kin, wearing the livery of Fitz’s new guard unit, and, after some Skilling with Nettle and Dutiful, Fitz accepts their oaths and asks for Foxglove’s own, naming her the captain of his guard.

After Fitz is able to gracefully exit the impromptu ceremony, he attends on Dutiful, Nettle, Kettricken, and Chade, the last of whom shows his age and injuries. Reports are exchanged and counsel taken, and Fitz’s own condition is noted with some concern. Plans for how to search for Bee and Shun are made, and the King, Skillmistress, and Kettricken leave to begin to enact them. Alone, then, Fitz and Chade confer about private events, Fitz voicing concerns about predestination. Their talk turns to dragons’ blood, and Chade notes Shun’s strength in the Skill. Chade reluctantly accepts the attentions of a healer, and Fitz moves to address the terms under which he does so.

Returning to the hidden suite where the Fool is kept, Fitz is startled by the appearance of a young woman–one Spark, who is the truth of Ash, who explains herself to him. The Fool is hurt by the deception, although Fitz seems to accept the explanation offered. As Spark then moves to summon Chade’s preferred healer, Fitz searches out his own medicines for his old mentor, and he and the Fool confer about Spark. The pair determine to talk together again, and Fitz takes his leave.

On his way back to Chade, Fitz encounters Dutiful’s sons, King-in-Waiting Integrity and Prince Prosper. An awkward conversation ensues and is soon concluded, and Fitz returns to Chade. The old assassin is in decline, his mind wandering as Fitz attends to him, and Nettle bustles him out of the room, informing him of the treatment that must follow for Chade and the need for his exclusion therefrom. Reluctantly, Fitz accedes.

As I reread the present chapter, which overtly calls back to earlier events, I find myself annoyed at myself for some of the way in which I gloss the events of earlier chapters. Had I been more thorough with listing names than I was, I would have an easier time of things now. That said, a summary should gloss details; it exists to make a brief account, after all, and offering all of the details means it cannot be shorter. Too, while a summary can be presented as an issue of fair use, especially when it is accompanied by explanation and commentary that run longer than it does, the more that is reproduced directly in the summary, the less fair the use is. I do not want to exceed what is fair, in this or in my other endeavors, so there is some tension…but I could have done better with character names than I did. And than I am likely to do, moving forward.

I find myself also once again uneasy with the Fool’s reaction to gender fluidity. Given the Fool’s own easy movements among presentations of masculinity and femininity, the long-standing failure to consider that the Unexpected Son might be a daughter sat oddly with me; the vehement reaction to the revelation that the boy, Ash, is a performed persona of the girl, Spark, seems even more so. (I do note, though, the parallel to Fitz’s own reaction to the revelation of Amber. Perhaps that underscores what’s going on, that the Fool has taken on some of Fitz’s less admirable ideas. It seems erratic if so, however.) Fitz’s acceptance of Spark’s explanation makes more sense to me, in fact; for one, he does seem to have a soft spot for children (Hap is but one example), and for another, Fitz has long known that Chade is not unaccustomed to doing such things in his own clandestine work. I remain…uncomfortable with it–not the fluidity, but the reactions to it of characters who seem to me as would have other reactions. But that may just be me.

I am more comfortable with the guard company coalescing around Fitz and the ceremonies related thereto. I’m a sucker for such things, honestly, for the presentation of lauds and honors in heavily symbolic contexts; indeed, for a while, I’d thought about how I could get work in the US Office of Protocol. (It’s one of many things that did not happen, like my being a band director or a college professor.) I am overly sentimental, to boot; heartfelt grand gestures get to me. (It’s been a problem before; I’ve been manipulated in such ways on occasion, taking at face value things that were, in the event, merely pro forma. Such cynicism as I evidence has some justification, after all.) I’ll admit that my reading of the ceremony does tend towards the medievalist–go figure that one out–and I’ve picked a post-image to suit that, but I have to wonder–go figure that one out–whether there’s some Native American practice being emulated in the specifics of the ceremony. I’m not versed enough in such things to be able to say so or affirm not, of course, and it is the case that Hobb remains within the Tolkienian fantasy tradition even as she ranges outside it…I’ll hope to see someone more up on such things than I am or can be take up the discussion.

They’re not all scholarly somedays for me.

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Following the text of a binding resolution from the Traders’ Council of Bingtown, “The Changer” begins with Fitz musing over the possible effects the Fool will experience from drinking dragon’s blood and conferring with the Fool about current conditions. The Fool reports feeling more energized, and Fitz prepares a medicine as he settles in to get more information from his friend. Conversation is uncomfortable, ranging to many questions that find few answers, although the Fool is able to lay out some of the social structure in which Dwalia and her company are enmeshed.

Fitz lays out much of Bee’s early history, and the Fool’s belated acceptance of the idea of Bee as the Unexpected Son allows him to understand much of what has happened at last. Fitz, however, does not take the news as calmly. After laughing uproariously, the Fool attempts again to explain matters before turning to the destination towards which Bee is headed–Clerres–and how to intercept her captors. Fitz takes his leave and ruminates on the Fool’s explanations and some implications of the same, and his thoughts turn to Patience in the court where he now resides.

The present chapter brings to mind once again something I found…vexatious…in my first readings of the present novel and its immediate predecessor. On the rereading, or on this rereading, I find myself less vexed and more open to the ideas of 1) magic mucking about with things and 2) longer exposure and engagement prompting different circumstances. After all, I am older, now, than I was then, by more than a decade, and the differences between what I was and what I am are in many cases only those of greater familiarity. I am a better father now than I was then, for instance, but largely because I’ve had more time to learn how to parent. (It’s mostly because I have an excellent daughter who has, so far, made the work of parenting relatively easy. Credit where it is due.)

I am struck once again by the mismatch between the Fool’s understanding of Bee as the Unexpected Son and the Fool’s own gender fluidity (let alone Fitz’s visceral reaction to the Fool’s assertions of their mingling). I know that it is a humanizing thing to give characters blindnesses, and I know that Hobb is much concerned with imparting verisimilitude into her work; both such lend themselves to the Fool having trouble accepting the idea (and Fitz, to be certain). Still, for that to be the sticking point…it is a splinter between my fingers, and I don’t have the tweezers to address it well.

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Following commentary from Chade about medicinal uses of dragon-parts, “Blood” begins with Fitz relating a remarkably vivid image to describe the sensation of his plunging through the standing stones and of reconstructing himself and Chade as they travel poorly therein. He emerges into the world, pulled thence by Dutiful and his coterie, and as he returns to normal consciousness, he makes such report of his experiences and recent events as his condition allows him to do. He subsequently stumbles through initial tending to his injuries, and he sleeps under pharmaceutical influence.

Fitz wakes to greater certainty and reaches out through the Skill, conferring with Dutiful and Nettle, although both urge him to restrain his Skill because he is not yet in control of himself. Nettle joins him in person, helping him to steady his magic, and the two confer briefly before food arrives and Fitz’s attention focuses entirely on it. After, Dutiful lays out to Fitz what actions he has taken and is taking, and Fitz gains greater control over himself, although with effort. Dutiful and Nettle also inform Fitz of what has befallen the Fool.

Fitz makes his way to the Fool, assessing his old friend as Kettricken looks on, and he quizzes Ash on what he has given the Fool. Ash reports in detail, and Fitz learns that the Fool has been dosed with dragon’s blood purloined from a supply meant for Andronicus Kent.

The prefatory materials to the present chapter, as often, attract my attention. In the present case, two major reasons obtain for their doing so. The first is the comment that “this scroll has been translated many times, to the extent that seventeen of the [twenty-seven substantiated] remedies make no sense,” which is given an accompanying example. While I know that the commentary is fabricated–and I have more to say about such constructions elsewhere–I also know that the kind of nonsense presented is the result of word-to-word translation, rather than sentence-to-sentence or idiomatic renderings. In the long-ago days when I had students and had occasion to discuss such things with them, I would ask Spanish speakers in my class if “¿Quién cortó el queso?” had the same valence as “Who cut the cheese?”; the answer was always a laughing “no.”

Chade’s comments about the “fifty-two unsubstantiated remedies” are also on-point. The regard for attestation that he uses as a rubric for contrasting the unsubstantiated remedies with the substantiated ones is, perhaps, something of an analytical bias (because, after all, user testimonies can be faked), but it is at least something. Too, the comments about manuscript positions–the unsubstantiated remedies are described as add-ons in the text from which Chade works–check out with what I have seen in discussions of even such august works as Beowulf; there’s a whole big thing about how the section of the poem dealing with the dragon is someone else’s work than who wrote of Grendel and his mother. So there is more than a bit of verisimilitude at work in the prefatory materials, which I appreciate seeing.

I note in the main line of the present chapter a return of one of Hobb’s narrative techniques, one previously deployed on the Skill-road to the stone-quarry and which has occasioned some readerly comment. In the present chapter, as in the earlier, Fitz’s experience with the Skill leaves him confused and befuddled, finding it difficult to conceive of thoughts and to convey them to others in any way they can easily parse. The present chapter, which notes Chade doing much the same thing, suggests that it is the Skill itself that has such an effect, rather than it simply being Fitz’s limits. I note, too, the similarities between Fitz’s narrated experience and the Fool’s report of the Skill-silvering; the intense, intimate focus on even the smallest details is another thing that seems to be of the Skill rather than of its users. I am put in mind of other media; Hobb here seems to be using a particular trope, although she uses it well in the present chapter–and I am taken with the notion that Fitz finds himself lessened by his return to himself after his Skill experience. There is something worth exploring there…

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Following more commentary about the Servants and their machinations, “The Journey” returns to Bee as she begins to recover from her illness, tended as she can be amid the demands of travel in haste. Thoughts of escape for her and Shun are quashed by vile threats from Dwalia, and her illness is ascribed to the kind of change that marks the lives of the Fool and Prilkop. Bee is urged to record her dreams again, using materials provided by her captors, and the Wolf-Father within her urges her to caution. Bee, who has dreamt prophecies, manages to dissemble.

It seems treatment of Bee has moved back to shorter chapters with the present one; in the edition I am reading, it is only five pages long, and while it is the case that I have still not done the work to examine chapter-lengths in any kind of rigorous way, there is still something striking about just how brief the present chapter is. I am still not sure what the function of the brevity is, although I am convinced there is some function, some purpose (chimerical as I know discussion of intent and purpose are). It seems to me to be too consistently the case that the Bee-centered chapters are short that it is without some reason. But uncovering it looks like it will remain a scholarly someday for now.

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Something of a content warning (torture) applies to the chapter and, to a lesser extent, the discussion following.

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Following a brief note that lays out some of the Servants’ methodology, “Surprises” begins with Chade and Fitz continuing to dose and question members of the Withywoods household. The pair discuss theories about their daughters’ abduction, and Fitz determines to return to Buckkeep and confer with the Fool. Chade determines to accompany him after they finish questioning the members of the household.

Fitz stalks through the estate, musing on his failures once again, and he directs the members of the household he encounters to attend to a diversity of tasks, thinking that occupying them would help them not focus on their own sufferings. Successors to slain members of the household are named, and matters begin to be set to rights until after dinner, when the remaining members of the household are dosed and questioned, the information they provide slotted in among what Chade and Fitz already knew.

As Fitz bears witness, Skilled members of Dutiful’s court join him through that magic, and they confer along with Chade about next steps. A report of the Fool’s declining condition is made to Fitz, and Chade steels him against acting rashly once again. At Chade’s urging, Fitz retires to a fitful, fretful night, after which the pair take breakfast along with the officers of Chade’s rough unit. Preparations are made for setting out, and Chade and Fitz confer as they ride along. Unexpected members of the rough unit join them, attempting to assail them. Battle is joined, and Fitz messily and brutally dispatches of his opponents. Chade is far less kind to his own opponent, extracting information from him, before the two plunge through a standing stone towards Buckkeep.

The present chapter is a reminder, as if one was needed, that Fitz and Chade both are very, very dangerous people within the milieu. The fight, even though it left Fitz injured and Chade in a perilous position, saw the pair of them fight off superior numbers that had the element of surprise in their favor–albeit not so much as they had thought they would. That Fitz is yet capable of savagery is, perhaps, foreshadowing, something with which the Realm of the Elderlings corpus as a whole is concerned and on which the present series focuses more narrowly. If it is, however, it’s not terribly illuminating; it does not take much to guess that a trained killer, magically empowered, hunting for his daughter would resort to no small amount of violence. But then, despite its motions away from it, Hobb’s work is part of the Tolkienian tradition.

Another commonplace in Hobb’s work reemerges in the present chapter, as well: torture. That it pops up in the Realm of the Elderlings corpus is amply noted (see this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, for examples; Selden in Chalced also offers examples). It also pops up in her non-Elderlings work; a contribution to Warriors comes to mind, and I recall it being a factor in the Soldier Son novels. That it sticks out for me is something of uncertain importance. It may well be that it sticks out for me, that my eye finds it because it is primed, for whatever reason, to search out such things. It may well be that it is part of Hobb’s work towards verisimilitude; torture is, certainly and unfortunately, part of the world her readers inhabit, and so working to create a milieu that immerses readers will necessarily involve it. It may well be, however, that there is some authorial preoccupation with it, and while I have noted more than once that biographical criticism is fraught, that it is so does not mean that it is without value, even if I’m not in a position to be able to do much to follow it.

Many are my scholarly somedays, and no few of them will never come.

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