Pride of Princes - Part Two, Chapter One

[kalinara]

So we've made it to the gimmick of the book. Part One introduced the characters. Now each subsequent part will focus on one of the brothers. Part Two is Brennan's. Part Three is Hart's. Part Four is Corin's. The last part will involved all of them.

Interestingly, this is also chronological, when you take into account travel time. It's very likely that Brennan's part will be over by the time Hart reaches Lestra, and both his and Hart's part will be concluded by the time that Corin reaches...whatever the fucking capitol city of Atvia is. Theoretically I could look it up, but I'm lazy. Communication being what it is though, we probably won't see any real cross-references within the individual parts.

The advantage to this is that we're going to avoid White Wolf's utter quagmire of plots. Each brother will have his own story. The downside is that if you like one brother better than the others (*cough*) they will have less direct page time than prior protagonists. Trade off.



Interestingly, we continue with the theme from part one, where we actually have a new viewpoint character. This person is a young Cheysuli, and well, he's got a bit of a problem...

Within the ring of looming trees stood stave torches, thrust into the ground to form a second circle, a ward against the darkness. Within the ring of torches, men clustered. And within the ring of men, a boy was made to lie down on cold, hard stone. No. Not a boy; no longer, A warrior, now; he had received his lir.

Against the stone, he shivered. They had stripped him, the Homanans. They had taken jerkin, leggings, boots, as well as his knife. They had taken it all, leaving him with nothing, save the knowledge that they could get no gold, because he had only just received his lir. There had been no Ceremony of Honors in Clankeep, to honor his name, his lir, his newfound warrior status.

And would be none, ever, now.

There's some pretty great imagery here.

So there's the problem. This young boy should be home at the keep, but because he's taking part in his lir-finding ritual, no one's going to come looking for him. They're waiting for him to make his bond.

This is dark.

Rings within rings: trees, torches, men. And in the center, himself. On an altar once serving as a part of sacred rituals, Cheysuli rituals. Firstborn rituals; now the altar, in its nook of towering trees, was forgotten by his people. Remembered only by Homanans, who meant to pervert its use.

Upon the stone he trembled, and shut his eyes against the darkness, the torchlight, the looming faces, with their aspects of fanaticism. He shut his eyes against the fear for himself, because another fear outweighed it. They would slay his lir, he knew. First. So they could see what it was for a Cheysuli warrior to lose his other self. And then, as he was consumed by grief for the loss of his lir, his newfound other self they would slay the new warrior as well.

At the end of Part One, there was a lot of focus on how scary it is for Corin to go off to Atvia. And it is. Alaric is, as far as we know, still alive. Gisella is still alive. We don't know if Lillith is still there. Corin's not going in blind like Bronwyn did, but it's completely understandable that he does not want to go.

We get less focus on Hart and Solinde, but Solinde has been occupied, warred over territory for two generations. Even though it's never really been clear how much of that was the wish of the Solindish people. Hart's going into wildcard territory.

But this chapter serves to remind us that while Brennan gets to stay home, unlike his brothers, it's not completely free of danger either. The qu'mahlin was generations ago, but the hatred still exists. We saw it in the Midden and we saw it here. It's a dark secret now, not acceptable in high society. But all they need is an opportunity.

This is horrifying:

Hands held wrists and ankles. Even his hair, so he could not thrash head against stone in a futile attempt at breaking free. Hands held him: Homanan hands. Deigning to touch his Cheysuli flesh, because soon enough his blood would wash them clean of taint.

They bring the wolf. It's barely more than a cub. They've wired its jaws shut, and there's a chain around his throat. The boy begs, and the captors speak:

"There is a reason for what we do," the voice said. "A need. This is not idle whimsy, nor ignorant reprisal for the loss of the Homanan throne to a Cheysuli king. No. This is part and parcel of what must be done, in order to restore the balance of justice. To restore rightness."

The voice paused. "Can you understand that? Can you understand that I do not hate you, boy, nor even hate your race? No. Hate is not what fuels me, other than using it when I must; in its place, hate has its uses. No. I do this because there is a need. Homana's need."

The man cites a "mistake" made sixty-five years ago. Carillon naming Donal his heir, when there was a wholly Homanan son. It's odd how real the generational aspect feels, when we actually hear the number. Though the math is a little off.

Brennan is twenty-one now. He was born in White Wolf, when Niall about twenty. Niall was born in Legacy of the Sword, when Donal was about twenty-four. Donal would be sixty-five years old, but he would have been named heir at age eight. Fifty-seven years ago.

Not that I necessarily expect a racist to get his math right. I'm just remarkably pedantic.

Oh, and here we see who the man is:

Twenty years ago my father found Carillon's bastard. With the Homanan woman who bore the boy, my father went to face the Mujhar, Donal himself, to ask that the tine of succession be restored to its proper path. And there within the walls of Homana-Mujhar, before Council, the woman was murdered by a man loyal to the Mujhar; my father was slain as well, by Niall, then Prince of Homana." The voice broke off. The boy heard only silence, but felt the thrumming of growing impatience that radiated from the others. And then the voice went on. "That man now rules, boy, the royal murderer, when it should be Carollan's place. And so there are those of us who will see to it Niall is deposed in favor of Carollan; the grandson replaced by the son." The voice paused again, then renewed itself. "That is how it should be, boy ... that is how it should be. How my father, Elek, wanted it, before Niall murdered him."

So ultimately, this is Donal's fault. He had that ridiculous meeting, legitimatizing these idiots' claims and that led to Niall getting set up.

That said, I'm surprised that Carollan's condition and general unwillingness to rule hasn't become well-known by now. Or maybe it has. We don't necessarily know if this man is telling the truth.

The boy tries to beg for his lir's life. This seems to reinforce the idea that a young lir might survive if the warrior is killed. I'm reminded that one of Finn's accusations against Rowan was that he doomed his lir to a normal lifespan. Perhaps if the warrior is killed while his lir is in what would be a standard lifespan for the animal, the lir might survive? When it comes to warriors dying before their lir, we've only seen Finn and Storr. Storr would have been nearly forty himself. Maybe that's why he turned to ash?

They murder the wolf. They don't really take the time to see the boy go mad. They just kill him too, and declare that they're going to turn to larger prey. Scary.

--

So we switch scenes to Brennan. And this is a pretty hilarious fakeout:

"Shansu, shansu," Brennan whispered tenderly, soothing her silk-soft shoulder with a gentle, beguiling hand.

"Be easy, meijhana ... be easy. . . ."

Her flesh quivered beneath his seductive hand, as if in answer to his tone.

"Shansu," he whispered softly, stroking slowly, so slowly, "no need to be afraid. I swear it. I swear it. Any oath you choose . . ." Her flesh responded again. Brennan smiled slowly, warmly, in a manner of immensely patient desire and unconscious invitation. He was, in that moment, consumed utterly by the sole purpose of seduction. "Be easy . . . be easy—'

He is, of course, riding a horse. The horse is not seduced and tries to throw him off. Fortunately, he doesn't break his nose "forever altering aristocratic good looks". And that's actually a really interesting description as, from what we've seen described, Brennan is the most Cheysuli looking brother.

Possibly it's a careless word choice, but it could be an interesting reference to the fact that the land was originally Cheysuli ruled. Just because the Homanans don't remember/acknowledge it, they might still recall some of the facial features as "aristocratic".

So anyway, Brennan has a battle of wills with the mare as she tries to buck him off. I kind of love this bit:

We each of us have too much to lose, Brennan thought briefly, as he lasted another of the mare's spine-twisting bucks. Pride, too much pride. . . hers will be tarnished if I win, mine if she does—

Pride IS Brennan's fatal flaw.

So Brennan seems to win. But he doesn't trust that she won't throw him later. But the training session is interrupted by Maeve. Maeve comes with news: Brennan has finally been released from his prohibition against working with horses. Which is funny because of course, that's what he's doing. Both siblings are aware of it, though Brennan sticks to semantics. This doesn't count as "working" in his mind, it's just keeping the horses rideable so that he CAN work with them later.

I don't know enough about horses to judge that, but it seems reasonable. You can't really stop training an animal halfway through. I think.

Anyway, we get a time frame. It's been a month since Hart and Corin left. And we see another of Brennan's flaws here:

His face was grim; Hart had been gone a month, and the separation made Brennan irritable. "Gods, if only I could go to Clankeep—" He broke off and looked down at Maeve sharply. "I will go. I should have gone before. Even jehan cannot deny me a part of my heritage."

"No," Maeve agreed calmly. "Keely wondered how long it would take you to realize that."

Yes, yes, let's shill Keely. Relax, Roberson, her book's next. I made it through your two worst books, I'm not stopping now that the series is actually readable.

But as I said, it's a good look at Brennan's flaw. He's hidebound and not necessarily a flexible thinker. Maybe he'll work on that.

He invites Maeve to come with him. Apparently she used to go all the time, but hasn't for a long time. It's worth remembering that, unlike Keely, Maeve doesn't have any cool powers. In Shapechangers, clan life for women seemed pretty crappy, but Song and Legacy of the Sword seemed to imply otherwise. So let's hope some changes were made.

That said, Maeve's reaction is interesting:

His sister's expression was curiously arrested, as if his suggestion and accompanying question had caught her entirely off guard. Then she twisted her mouth briefly, hiding most of her emotions behind a carefully blanked face, but Brennan saw the glint of something in her eyes, Regret? Resentment? Fear? He could not be certain, even as she answered.

"No, no—I think not," she said easily. "There is much here for me to do."

Brennan's hidebound but not stupid. He can tell there's something bothering her. He asks if it's Keely. And honestly, the more they talk about her, the more Keely sounds like a fucking bully to her sister. It's really the downside to this sort of 80s warrior feminism - the way it's perfectly okay to mistreat the more traditionally feminine girls.

Maeve begs off, claiming she wants to help with the tapestry. But it's a little hollow. She mentions that there's no magic in there, but she has pride, and wants to help with something magnificent.

I like this bit too:

The mare tapped one hoof against a loose cobble. It rolled, clinking faintly; the mare bobbed her head and snorted down delicate, velvet nostrils. Brennan, tightening reins slightly in automatic response, looked down on his older sister and regretted more than ever that she had none of the gifts of their race. With them so evident in Keely, who took such great pride in her Old Blood that fact was nonexistent, it was harder than ever for Maeve to deal with her lack.

Perhaps if she did not live in a palace full of Cheysuli kin— But he let the thought die away. It would be no better at Clankeep, where only Cheysuli dwelled, Brennan sighed. "Well enough, Maeve. Stay here and help Deirdre with her tapestry of lions. But I think you are a fool to turn your back on your heritage, no matter what the reason."

Brilliant color suddenly flamed in her face. "What would you know of it?" she cried. "You with your lir and your gold and your yellow eyes—you with honorable welcome wherever you go—" Maeve clapped hands over her mouth as the hectic color drained out of her face and left it strained and pallid. "Gods," she blurted, "I did not mean to say that. Oh, Brennan, you know I do not mean it. Not for you. Never—" And she turned so abruptly, skirts swirling, that she startled the mare into a sideways leap that nearly unseated Brennan.

a) I really do like the intersection of elements here. We've seen so far in this book how looking Cheysuli can be a detriment. We saw Rhiannon's fear, a fear she didn't direct to Hart or Corin. We saw the hostility and greed in the Midden. We saw the horror at the beginning of this chapter.

Maeve doesn't have to deal with that. (And it's worth noting that Keely doesn't either. Like Corin, she takes after Niall in looks. She gets the power, but no customary lir gold.) But Maeve doesn't get to feel the solidarity either.

This is where I really wish we got to see more Cheysuli women though. Because the average Cheysuli woman doesn't shapeshift. She doesn't have powers at all. Keely, Gisella, Isolde, Bronwyn do, because of Alix's blood. But Alix was special. The blood has a limit apparently. Maeve, not being the child of first cousins, doesn't have enough. Neither will Keely's daughter, if I recall.

Now it is interesting to compare Maeve to Meghan. Meghan also had no powers and looked Homanan, but had seemed content enough as a Cheysuli. Or was she? After all, she DID end up skipping town with Evan after her father died.

I do wonder about the cultural elements. Niall had all that angst about his looks, but he did feel culturally Cheysuli to me in a way that I'm not seeing in the boys yet. Maybe it's just not come up. Brennan apparently was reasonably young when he got his lir, and he looks Cheysuli enough, maybe he doesn't really think about it until it's contextually appropriate. We'll see when he goes to clankeep, I suppose!

b) I like the Brennan-Maeve relationship in general. In a way, I think they're similar. They're both characters whose pain and difficulty isn't as easily perceived. Niall never saw Brennan's injury, for example. There's a better example, that I remember, but it's not come up yet. Brennan and Keely both are fairly ignorant as to what Maeve goes through.

But he does listen to her, which is probably why she's so quick to apologize and exclude him from her anger.

Brennan gets himself steadied, notices the stares of the stable lads, and realizes that chasing after Maeve would just give them more to gossip about. Instead, he rides out with Sleeta, but the chapter closes with: "But not without worrying."

Honestly, I don't really know what to do with myself right now. I like this chapter. I like this book. I like Brennan. I like Maeve. And honestly even if I didn't like Brennan, I think I could like this book. He's a take it or leave it kind of personality, but he's clearly defined and consistent.

I like the horrifying opening and the implications. What do they mean by "larger prey"? Do they mean adult Cheysuli in general? Do they mean ROYAL Cheysuli?

I remember some of this, but not all of it. I'm looking forward to finding out.

Comments

[copperfyre]

It's so weird when this series is good!

[kalinara]

It is really weird, isn't it?