Nerilka's Story - Chapter Four

[kalinara]

So last time, we saw Tolocamp again and got to appreciate how devastating his actions were to basically his entire family. I may not always appreciate McCaffrey's lack of nuance, but I do appreciate how, when she wants to, she can craft a truly hateful villain.

That said, I'm going to be doing a lot of bitching in this chapter.



Oh, well, this chapter starts on a pretty emotionally devastating note. Nerilka tells us that the earplugs she'd put in last night (something I don't think I put in the recap) fell out during her sleep, so she woke up to hear the drums that announced her mother and sisters' deaths.

Poor thing. She goes to comfort her little sisters. Her brothers, except Campen, come to find her too. They all share their private grief, and Nerilka wonders if any of "us" were hoping that Tolocamp would get sick from the same disease he'd left the rest to die from.

It probably doesn't help that there's extra provocation around:

When a messenger from Desdra found me, I welcomed him as an excuse to leave the sorrow-filled room. I could have gone down the back stairs to the stores to fill Desdra’s request for supplies, but I led the man through the main corridor. Clearly I heard my father’s vigorous voice calling out the window, and I saw Anella lurking just round the first bend in the corridor. Quick as a snake, she scuttled away, but the gloating smirk on her face provoked me past indifference to active dislike and disgust of her.

...really McCaffrey?

It's like McCaffrey knows when I'm inclined to find a character somewhat sympathetic. Anella is Tolocamp's mistress, of course, but he's the one with all the power in the relationship. He's brought her and her family in, providing shelter from the plague. We know he's going to marry her, but exactly how much of an ability she has to say no is an interesting question right now. We have seen how petty Tolocamp can be.

But we're supposed to hate Anella, not feel sorry for her, so of course she's going to smirk at the deaths of innocent women. And just so there's no mistake, we also see Anella "sweeping down the steps, beckoning imperiously to [the cook]" - just so we know that the woman is immediately seizing the opportunity for advancement.

Honestly, I don't really blame her for that. Why not take what power you can get in this craptastic society?

Nerilka helps deliver the supplies and is surprised to find the Healer house filled with sounds of joy. Master Tirone is back!

“Fog caught me between holds, friends,” Master Tirone was saying in clarion tones. “And a lame runner. I caught a fresh mount from a pasture and was proceeding on when I heard the first drum message. I came on apace, I can tell you, and never stopped for sleep or food. I’ll apologize for borrowing the runners later, when the drums are not so hot with important messages.” The sly hint of laughter in his voice was rewarded by chuckles from the other harpers. “It was shorter to take the back route by then, so how was I to know Lord Tolocamp had set up guards to prevent any of us entering or leaving?” That was the first I’d heard of my father’s precautions. Master Tirone’s voice dropped to a more confidential tone. “Now, what’s this about an internment camp for healer or harper trying to contact his Hall? How are we supposed to work with such a foolish restriction on movement?”

So this complaint is interesting, because Nerilka agrees with him of course. She's growing very disillusioned with her cartoon villain dad. But there IS a quarantine going on right now. And we're supposed to dislike Tolocamp for breaking quarantine to go home. But now we're supposed to hate him for enforcing the quarantine?

I mean, if you think about it, hasn't Tirone just done exactly what Tolocamp did? With the exception of not abandoning his wife and kids to die, of course.

Anyway, Desdra is surprised to see the amount of supplies Nerilka brought, but Nerilka's got good reason. She explains that she wants Desdra to take as much as they can before she's no longer in a position to help. Nerilka renews her offer to assist as a nurse, but Desdra believes that Nerilka must take her mother's place during this emergency. Nerilka wants to correct her and tell her about Anella, but instead asks about Capiam. He's doing well.

Later, Nerilka also gets a glimpse at the internment camp. Basically wayfarers, harpers and healers, who are "only trying to get back to their Halls" are stuck there. And they're expecting sick people soon, who have the right to go to the Healer Hall for healing.

Nerilka makes her position clear:

“Who’s the guard leader?”

“Theng, far as I know.”

Even Theng could be got round if it was done the right way. He enjoyed a bottle of wine, and while he was drinking he could pretend not to see past the end of the flask. Harper and healer refused access to their Halls? My father was foolish as well as frightened. And hypocritical when he, himself, returning from a disease-ridden Hold, placed his own people at jeopardy by his very presence. Well, that didn’t mean that I had to be foolish, too. I knew my duty to the Halls—hadn’t my father drilled it into me? And I might need their charity before the end of these terrible days. I would speak to Felim, and to Theng.

...okay, so I know whose side I'm supposed to be on here. McCaffrey, as I've mentioned a hundred times, is not subtle. But...do we know where these healer and harper folks came from? Are any of them from Ista? Ruatha? Being a healer or a harper doesn't confer immunity onto people. And while yes, sick people should be cared for, do we really want a plague taking out every doctor in the area?

At least tell us what precautions Healer Hall will have in place to treat sick people if they are admitted.

Tolocamp is a monster and a hypocrite, sure, but this is still a contagion. I do wonder if I'd have felt different reading this book in 2019 rather than 2022.

Nerilka looks up and realizes that there's a figure watching from a first story window. It's Tolocamp. She doesn't think he can recognize her from this distance, but doesn't really think it matters if he does.

Oh, and of course, Anella is a problem:

“What am I to do now, Lady Nerilka?” the cook began before I could ask him to save the broken meats for the interned men. “She came down with orders for all kinds of foods that I know Lady Pendra would not condone—” And then he burst into tears again, blotting his eyes and face with the rag he always had hanging out of his apron waist. “She was stern, Lady Pendra, but she was fair. A man knew he had only to keep to her standards and there’d be no complaint.”

“What did Anella want?”

“She said she was to order Hold matters now. And I was to prepare broth for her children, whose stomachs are delicate; and there are to be confections with every meal, for her parents desire sweets; and roasts midday and evening. Lady Nerilka, you know that isn’t possible.” Tears streamed down his cheeks again as he shrugged. “Must I take orders from her now?”

“I’ll find out, Felim. Proceed with the plans we made this morning. Not even for Anella can we alter an established routine in one day.”

Then I asked him to save what he could from the evening meal, for delivery to Theng.

Because of course the evil stepmother wants to be spoiled with every treat under the sun during a pandemic. Of course she does. But it's interesting too, because Nerilka ALSO wants to break with routine.

Where do "broken meats" normally go? Pernish society is too full of hardship to be as wasteful as ours is. Historically speaking, "broken meats" might have any number of uses: feeding the staff, feeding the poor, feeding animals. I trust Nerilka to know her job well enough to not starve the working staff, but that stuff probably went somewhere that isn't the trash bin. Someone's going to feel the lack. Nerilka's got good reasons, but it will still be disruptive.

And because it's clear that I'm supposed to hate Anella as much as Nerilka does, because I can't possibly sympathize with a grieving girl's anger and resentment if the target isn't as awful as possible, I guess, I'm determined to sympathize with her instead. Here, Nerilka can help me:

Felim was fair, too, I thought, trying to keep my mind off my mother. Thinking of Anella helped. That little lay-aback, coming in here and thinking she could just take over a Hold the size of Fort and run it as if it were exactly like the backhills midden from which she’d come! The thought of the chaos that would shortly result at such inexpert hands gave me a perverse delight. Little did Anella know of real management, and if she wished to keep my father content, she’d better learn. Whatever had made her think that just because Lady Pendra was dead, she was to step into her shoes, just as she had taken her bed partner? Unless . . .

Thank you, Nerilka. Anella is from a "backhills midden". She's in a long term relationship with a powerful Lord, who probably comes to see her, bringing all sorts of gifts and sweets to dazzle her. She has no way to know about the inner workings of a Hold like this, and has no idea what a burden her demands are placing on the staff. You could explain to her why her requests are unreasonable and maybe she'll adapt.

That said, Nerilka's got some legitimate reason to be angry, as she learns when she meets a distressed Campen in the hall. I really wish Nerilka's brother's name wasn't so similar to the Masterhealer's. But anyway, some other siblings are there too. All of them are upset because Tolocamp has already transferred Anella into Lady Pendra's rooms.

Even better, he actually made some of his sons (Theskin and Doral) help move the woman in. Okay, see, that's a perfectly good reason to be upset that doesn't require Anella to be a cartoon character.

Apparently Tolocamp has been looking for Nerilka, wanting to know where she's been and why she was at the internment camp. So of course he had seen her. I do rather like this bit:

“He may come down with the illness and have lost a last chance to enjoy his few remaining hours!”

“Nerilka!” Campen was appalled at my irreverence, but Theskin and Doral guffawed.

“She may have the answer, you know, Campie lad,” Theskin said. “Our sire has ever liked his little pleasures.”

“Theskin, that is enough!” Campen remembered to lower his voice, but the intensity of his reprimand made up for the lack of volume.

Theskin shrugged. “I’m off. Checking the guard! I’ll be back for my dinner. Wouldn’t miss that for the world!” He winked at me, tugged Doral by the arm, and they went off, leaving me with Campen.

But I had no wish for a continued lecture on my shortcomings. “Watch out, Campen. She has two sons, you know, and we could all be booted to the upper stories!”

Patently this had not occurred to my eldest brother. As he struggled with the possibility, I made it safely to my snug little inside room.

Siblings are siblings.

But Nerilka does have a point. Holds don't pass through primogeniture on Pern. Tolocamp himself has an older brother if you recall.

Speaking of, Munchaun makes an appearance. See, Anella's set up a veritable banquet, with the great tables set up, and Tolocamp's chair on the dais. Munchaun apparently hadn't been invited (or it's dry sarcasm), but he's there anyway. He seems pretty unimpressed. He reports to Nerilka that his research hasn't turned up anything.

Oh and the arrival of our vixen/victim:

Her grand entrance was spoiled by her flaming cheeks and her father’s stumbling pace. The man had not been drunk, I was later informed, but had a crippled foot. But I was in no mood to be charitable or compassionate. He, at least, had the grace to look embarrassed throughout the next few minutes.

Anella, dressed in a heavily embroidered gown totally unsuitable for the mourning of the Hold or for a family dinner, mounted the three steps to the dais and walked firmly to my mother’s chair. Uncle Munchaun’s hand restrained me now.

Okay, but does Anella OWN any mourning clothes? And if she does, had she packed them when she and her family fled to the Hold?

For that matter, I suspect if Anella HAD worn mourning clothes, Nerilka would have called her a hypocrite.

So Tolocamp sent a missive, which Anella reads (her eyes bulging unbecomingly as she shouts. Of course). The gist being that he's deputizing Anella as Lady Holder to manage things, while Campen carries out his own orders. He also wants them to observe quarantine and refrain from contact with others.

Oh, Anella does have one other task:

She turned the sheet toward us and pointed to the end. “His signature and ring mark are here to be verified.” Then she insulted us again. “He charges me to discover which of you ventured perilously close to the internment camp today.” Her bulging eyes swept the lot of us.

...how is that an insult? Nerilka DID go to the internment camp. But there is a sweet Spartacus moment where four of Nerilka's siblings (Peth, Jess, Nia and Gabin) all stand up.

This bit is...something:

“Do you not understand? There are sick people there!” Anella’s face turned pale with fright. “If you catch the plague, you will infect the rest of us before you die.”

“Just like our Lord Holder,” came a voice from somewhere in her audience.

“Who said that? Who spoke so vilely?”

I mean, again. There's a quarantine going on. So while Tolocamp is a hypocrite, they're NOT WRONG. We're supposed to dislike Tolocamp for breaking quarantine, but then hate him for upholding it?

Anella is being portrayed as a shrill harpy here, demanding to know who badmouthed Tolocamp. Though the kids aren't wrong for being upset either.

I'm really annoyed here because this actually is a situation that is perfect for nuance! Anella isn't wrong to be afraid. Tolocamp isn't wrong to want to uphold restrictions and save lives. They are hypocrites too, of course. Tolocamp more than Anella, since he actually came from plague central, while Anella had not been anywhere near exposure.

But Anella is terrible and Tolocamp is terrible so we can't possibly consider that there's a point to this.

Anyway, Anella insists on summoning the highest ranking of Tolocamp's children (including "Nalka", because of course she gets Nerilka's name wrong) to the table. She's too dense to notice when one of the children makes a gibe at her. There's no conversation at all at the Head Table.

Now in a part that feels real and emotional to me, Nerilka thinks about her mother and sisters, and her "uncharitable absence" during the last moments that her mother and sisters were in Fort Hold. She also seethes at "the usurper" and vows she'll never lift a hand to help Anella in her new role, and thinks, from the temper of the Hall, that no one else will either.

I don't begrudge Nerilka this at all. I sympathize with Anella, mostly because the narrative clearly doesn't want me to. But I am happy to interpret her as a woman in way over her head, overwhelmed first by being brought to the Hold for safety, and then suddenly shoved into a position of authority with the immediate upgrade from mistress to wife.

Tolocamp is the one who made that decision, and while Anella probably accepted it freely (and really, it's hard to imagine refusing the upgrade), what do we think Tolocamp would have done if she'd said no? Or pleaded some time for good taste?

(I mean, for that matter, while the kids are right that there should be time to grieve, I can't help but remember that Alessan will be bringing HIS new wife to the Hatching that also serves as Moreta's funeral.)

I'm annoyed at McCaffrey because she's giving us some lovely bits of grief and conflict here that feel very authentic and real. That's always been a gift of hers. But she's juxtaposed it with these utter cartoon characters.

Would it have been THAT hard to make Anella a human being? Nerilka was going to dislike her anyway, so why not let her be a bit less over the top?

Or at least let her be a clever conniver, rather than a bull in a china shop?

No?

Okay then, but I'm going to fucking bitch about how you're spoiling a damn good story with this nonsense.