Sojourn - Chapter Sixteen

[kalinara]

So last time, we had a journal entry. So that's not helpful. But BEFORE that, Annoying Adversary McGristle just got informed that he'd been lied to. And now he's about to make trouble.



So we rejoin Drizzt. His lessons are going well. Montolio is a good, supportive mentor, which helps with the whole trauma thing. Drizzt, we're told is picking up "on the ways of the natural world better than anyone Montolio had ever seen." Of course, of course. But Montolio can tell that Drizzt is bothered by something.

Drizzt ends up asking if Montolio has extra good hearing, to make up for his sight. Then he asks if his blindness is a ruse. Rude! But apparently, Drizzt is still trying to process the fact that he lost to him. Bit of a sore loser, our Drizzt.

I actually like that as a character beat. I've certainly rolled my eyes at Drizzt's incredible abilities often enough. I like that he's so used to winning that he can't really comprehend his loss.

Montolio doesn't take offense. Rather, like a mentor, points out that he didn't defeat Drizzt truly (Drizzt protests that Montolio had him down and helpless). Drizzt had defeated himself by underestimating Montolio. He gives Drizzt a lesson:

Drizzt stopped abruptly, and Montolio stopped on cue as the drag on the branch suddenly increased. The old ranger shook his head and cackled. He then pulled out a dagger, spun it high into the air, caught it, and, yelling, “Birch!” heaved it squarely into one of the few birch trees by the evergreen grove.

“Could a blind man do that?” Montolio asked rhetorically.

“Then you can see,” Drizzt stated.

“Of course not,” Montolio retorted sharply. “My eyes have not functioned for five years. But neither am I blind, Drizzt, especially in this place I call my home!

I like this a lot too. It reminds me a bit of the discussions that always pop up about disability in fantasy universes. Especially in universes like Forgotten Realms where magic is so common. Sure, Montolio probably could, with the magic available in this universe, find a cure for his blindness SOMEWHERE. But it's more interesting to see the ways that the characters can adapt their disabilities to their lifestyles.

Montolio's a ranger. He's been one for decades. Prior to losing his sight, he would have learned a fighter's awareness of his body and positioning. He has a deep understanding of the natural environment. He has a slight supernatural advantage as well as the ability to speak to animals. So he adapted. That's really cool. It'd be interesting to see how a blind wizard might use his spells and reagents. Maybe his familiar can help?

So anyway, Drizzt is embarrassed to be called out on his ableist assumptions. Montolio forgives him and, of course, says that Drizzt still treated him more fairly than any who knew him before. Bleh. I'd have more respect for Salvatore if Montolio called him out without that caveat. It's okay for heroes to be flawed!

But now it's time to hear Montolio's backstory.

“I gave my life to the forest, to the natural order, at a very young age” Montolio began. “I learned, as I have begun to teach you, the ways of the wild world and decided soon enough that I would defend that perfection, that harmony of cycles too vast and wonderful to be understood. That is why I so enjoy battling ores and the like. As I have told you before, they are the enemies of natural order, the enemies of trees and animals as much as of men and the goodly races. Wretched things, all in all, and I feel no guilt in cutting them down!”

Then we get a summary of the hours he recounted some campaigns, both solo and in armies. He had a teacher Dilamon, who was female by the way, and so skilled with a bow that he'd never seen her miss. She died in battle defending farmers, and Montolio's very proud of her.

We also learn about his own circumstances: he'd been adventuring with the "Rangewatchers", and they battled a red dragon. Three of them were killed, and Montolio had half his faced burned away. Clerics were able to fix his face, but not his eyes.

Drizzt accuses him of coming out here to die. Montolio doesn't argue, instead just saying that pity hurt worse than any physical injury he'd had. Montolio turns it back around on Drizzt - he'd pitied Montolio too. That's why he lost.

Montolio doesn't have super senses. He just pays more attention. Even though he'd come out to die, he'd figured out that he does have a purpose. He brings up Mielikki here and shows Drizzt a unicorn pendant.

Drizzt of course has a decent share of religious trauma and is uncomfortable by the idea. He doesn't want a god. He thinks that Lloth and Gruumsh have played a huge part in why the drow and orcs are evil. He wants to follow his heart instead.

That's a bit dangerous in the Forgotten Realms. But Montolio is unbothered.

Montolio’s quiet chuckle stole the power from Drizzt’s proclamation. “You have a god, Drizzt Do'Urden,” he said.

“My god is my heart,” Drizzt declared, turning back to him.

“As is mine.”

“You named your god as Mielikki” Drizzt protested.

“And you have not found a name for your god yet,” Montolio shot back. “That does not mean that you have no god. Your god is your heart, and what does your heart tell you?”

Apparently, Guen follows Mielikki. That seems convenient, since Guen can't speak otherwise. But Montolio says Guen told him herself. She's the entity of the panther, which is a creature of Mielikki's domain.

Montolio's explanation is a little garbled here:

And yours is the true one?” Drizzt asked sarcastically.

“They are all true, and they are all one, I fear,” Montolio replied. Drizzt had to agree with Montolio’s earlier observation: He did not understand.

“You view the gods as entities without,” Montolio tried to explain. “You see them as physical beings trying to control our actions for their own ends, and thus you, in your stubborn independence, reject them. The gods are within, I say, whether one has named his own or not. You have followed Mielikki all of your life, Drizzt. You merely never had a name to put on your heart.”

I don't think Montolio is trying to say that the Faerunians are monotheistic at heart here, so much as saying that the deities are worshipped as a reflection of the self. Which does seem to speak to Drizzt.

Montolio points out Drizzt's reactions to the natural world, making friends with the bear and so on. He says he has the heart of a ranger, and the heart of a ranger is a heart of Mielikki.

Drizzt starts getting anxious at this kind of pronouncement. He asks, angrily, what the goddess requires. Which is a fair question for a dude who grew up in Menzoberranzan.

Fortunately, Montolio has an answer:

“Require?” The ranger laughed. “I am no missionary spreading a fine word and imposing rules of behavior! Did I not just tell you that gods are within? You know Mielikki’s rules as well as I. You have been following them all of your life. I offer you a name for it, that is all, and an ideal of behavior personified, an example that you might follow in times that you stray from what you know is true.” With that, Montolio took up the branch and Drizzt followed.

So Drizzt thinks about that for a while and decides he would like to know more about their goddess.

We switch scenes now to Roddy McGristle. He's gone to meet Graul, the orc King. He's got information and wants Graul to pay him for it. Graul is more the "talk, and if it meets my approval I'll let you live" type. Roddy's here for a reason beyond money though. He doesn't want to face Montolio alone. Even if he managed to get through him to Drizzt, Montolio's allies (including Dove Falconhand) would avenge him.

So Roddy informs him about Drizzt. Graul already knows, but he can't find Drizzt to murder him. Roddy can help with that.

We get an interesting look at orc society here, as Graul goes to the shaman. The shaman had apparently vetoed any action against Montolio in the past, believing that Montolio was an omen of bad magic. Graul sees this as an excuse to finally spur his minions to action.

Graul gets Roddy to confirm that Montolio killed the giant and helped Drizzt against them. (Roddy has no idea what Graul is talking about, but he recognizes an opportunity when he sees it. I appreciate that as annoying as Roddy is, he's not stupid.)

The shaman ends up agreeing: their god has to bless the attack on a new moon. Graul also gives Roddy a reward for aiding him against the shaman. Roddy takes what he can get and makes to leave, but Graul also isn't stupid. He wants Roddy to stick around and join the fight. Roddy doesn't have much of a choice.

We learn that Tephanis was Graul's other informant. He and the white wolf Caroak will help in the fight. Graul is looking forward to this. Even though he and Montolio rarely clashed directly, Montolio keeps using his animals to alert caravans of possible attacks. So if he can get rid of him before summer, the orcs will have some very good hunting this year.

The chapter ends with more preparation for battle.