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i_read_what2024-05-03 07:02 pm
kalinara) wrote in i_read_what2024-05-03 07:02 pm
Daughter of the Lion - Chapter Three
So last time, Keely and Niall had a discussion about swordsmanship and Aileen's health took a turn for the worst. Keely's off to fetch her brother!
We start this chapter with a description of Brennan that segues into a description of how special Keely is:
He is nothing like our father, being black of hair, dark of skin, yellow of eyes. All Cheysuli, is Brennan, unable to hide behind the fair hair and skin of our Homanan ancestors. But he would never try; nor would any Cheysuli, for the gods have made us what we are, blessing us with the lir and all the magic that conies with the bond.
I myself do not share that bond precisely. I have no lir, but I do not require it. I am blessed instead with the old Blood in abundance, the strain of the first clans who, settling in Homana from the Crystal Isle, did not mix with others, and so fixed the gifts. It was only after other clans outmarried that the blood weakened, making the true gifts random, that women lost the magic and only warriors bonded with lir. And yet now we are told to marry out of the clans, to merge our blood with others, so that the gifts may be regained. I have little understanding of such things, and little interest; I know only that all of this specified marriage, as required by the prophecy, is supposed to give birth to the Firstborn again, the race that sired the Cheysuli. And, some say, the Ihlini.
It still annoys me that the women have lost their magic entirely. Would it have been that hard to let the women have lir as well? If you still want to go with gender essentialism, you COULD give them non-predator lir.
Alix and Keely could still be special with their ability to take ANY form, but at the same time, it might feel a little less like we were arguing that they deserve special treatment over all these non-magic women.
The line about Brennan being unable to hide his race is rather interesting, and a plot thread that would have been interesting to explore in this generation. In Track of the White Wolf, the focus was (understandably) on Niall primarily. Whether or not a more Cheysuli appearance was ever to Ian's detriment wasn't really explored. It got touched on very briefly in Brennan's part - when he was captured and almost sacrificed by the racists, but never really examined in much detail. It MAYBE even was indirectly used in Hart's part, as it wasn't until the end that anyone bothered to acknowledge that he was descended from Solindish royalty as well.
I might be willing to cut Roberson more slack for the fact that ultra-Cheysuli Keely looks like a white blond woman if the book were willing to do more to explore the intersection of racism and sexism. I don't REMEMBER it being a thing, but it's been a long time since I read the book. So we'll see, I suppose.
Anyway, Keely tells us that Brennan has his doubts about the prophecy and the Ihlini connection too, but "honor-bound and dutiful", he serves the prophecy "unselfishly" and doesn't talk about it. Except possibly to Hart, as he writes frequent letters to Solinde.
This part doesn't really endear Keely to me much:
He sat inside his pavilion, awash in the meager sunlight I let in through the opened doorflap, and stared at me in shock as I told him of Aileen. Unsympathetic, I watched as the color drained out of his face. On a Homanan, it is bad; on a Cheysuli, worse.
You don't really HAVE to be that much of a dick to your brother, you know.
Especially as it becomes pretty clear, pretty fast that Brennan isn't really okay:
It was only after the horse was brought that he turned to me, and I saw something other than shock in his eyes. I saw desperation. "Too far," he said. "I will kill him if I run him all the way to Homana- Mujhar, and reach Aileen too late." -
It was a supremely ridiculous statement, in view of his heritage. Dryly, I asked, "Why ride at all?"
Fixedly, he looked at Sleeta, as if rediscovering his lir and what she represented. "Aye," he said in surprise, then nodded vaguely. "Oh, aye ... of course .. ."
You could be a BIT less of a dick to the guy whose wife might be dying. YOU care about Aileen. Is it hard to imagine that he might too?
Keely starts to realize that Brennan didn't actually KNOW that Aileen was pregnant. She gets really judgmental about this...of course:
"Aileen is often—private."
It was, I thought, an interesting way of summing it up. Married eighteen months, yet only because it was required, not freely desired; an arranged marriage, just as mine was. Aileen loved my twin-born rujholli, Corin, not the man she had wed. And Brennan? He is proud, my eldest rujholli, and stringently honorable. Though Aileen's virtue had been intact, her heart was clearly not. And he had not presumed to mend it. He had merely wedded her, bedded her, got a son upon her; a child for the Lion, and also the prophecy.
And now two more who might not live to be born.
"So," I said, "she is private. Well-matched, I would say; you have offered her nothing since the day you married her. But she offers you her life." I jerked my head in the direction of Mujhara. "Go, rujho. See to your cheysula. I will bring your cherished colt."
Sometimes I think I like the idea of Keely more than I like Keely herself. I know of some reviewers who adore her. And I don't begrudge them that. After all, given what this series has given us before, a character like Keely is very refreshing.
But I do think a character can be forthright and feminist without being cruel. And Keely, right now, is being pretty cruel. BUT, to be fair, we're at the beginning of the novel. She's got room to grow. And maybe we see a hint of that here:
There were things he wanted to say, but he said none of them. Another time, perhaps; Brennan and I do not often agree, and our discord is sometimes of the spectacular kind. For now, all he did was turn on his heel and walk purposefully away, ignoring me quite easily, with Sleeta at his side.
But I had seen his face. I had seen his eyes. And realized, in astonishment, my brother loved his wife.
I mean, he's not gone yet. You COULD apologize.
Nah. She does however decide not to leave for Mujhara at once. It's somewhat understandable: she finds Aileen's situation frightening, and she doesn't think she could face either watching her die or waiting in another chamber for bad news.
I mean, you could help heal her. Alix helped heal Finn, Storr and Donal at times. Though maybe Keely genuinely doesn't have that ability...
And I have to admit, she wins me over a bit here:
I would go mad with the waiting, saying things I did not mean, hurting people, probably Brennan; having seen his face, I thought he was deserving, at this moment, of more compassion than I was prepared to give him.
I appreciate the self-awareness. Now be better than your grandpa Donal and actually use that self-awareness to improve, okay? I really do want to like you.
...this doesn't help:
And then Maeve gave me the opportunity to focus my mood on someone other than myself; to contradict, as always, a woman who considers her world empty if a man is not present in it.
God fucking damnit, Roberson. Can you NOT be a dick to Maeve for ONE minute? Yes, I get it, for some reason feminist authors think that, in order to have a "not like other girls" lead character you need another, more traditionally feminine girl to shit upon. But it's BULLSHIT.
I mean, LOOK at this:
We are sisters, rujholla, separated by three brothers —for Maeve was born first of us all—and equally by convictions. Also by blood; though Niall's daughter, there is nothing of the old Blood in Maeve, nor even of the newer, thinner blood that limits warriors to a single lir and women to no lir at all, and nothing at all of the gifts. Deirdre's only child reflects mostly the Erinnish portion of her heritage, blanketing the Cheysuli under brass-blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin . .. and none of the Cheysuli woman's tendency toward independence.
That's not how genetics work, Keely. But it IS bullshit that Maeve doesn't have any shapeshifting ability. I will acknowledge that, at least as far as I remember, Roberson is consistent here. Keely's got more Old Blood than Maeve because Niall and Gisella both had an equal share. I don't think any of the daughters of the next generation are able to shapeshift either.
But still, it'd be easy enough to have allowed Maeve to be able to do that. The generation amount is fucking arbitrary after all. And it might make it seem less like "Keely deserves to be a warrior because she's special" if the other special girl doesn't want to be a warrior.
Keely notes that Maeve had been living in Clankeep of late, something that confuses everyone, since Maeve is, OF COURSE, much more comfortable at the palace than Keely is.
Anyway, they "toss the prophecy bones" a bit, and Maeve contemplates going back to the palace to help Deirdre, since she's likely distracted. Keely challenges her, noting that Deirdre won't have time for Maeve and they'd be better off staying out of the way.
Maeve calls Keely out, because of course, the feminine girl has to be mean to the tomboy.
Her mouth tightened. "You are not staying out of the way, Keely—at least, not in order to help. You are staying here because you are afraid." She smacked her hand flat down on the bones as I moved to scoop them up. "No, listen to me—you are afraid, Keely ... afraid to see what it is a woman goes through to bear a child, knowing you will have to do the same." Maeve laughed, a little, shaking her head. "You are so contradictory, Keely ... on one hand you are willing to take on any man in a fight, with knife or bow or sword; on the other, you are deathly afraid to lie with a man ... to give over yourself to the bedding, to the loss of self-control, to the chance to love someone other than yourself—"
Now, as an asexual person, I feel like I should probably be a little offended here. But that said, I've been watching the narrative shit on Maeve for two books now. So I'm willing to accept it.
Keely, of course, hits back and below the belt.
I raised my voice over hers. "You know nothing about it, Maeve—all you know is that Teirnan had only to clap his hands and you spread your legs for him—"
Charming.
Maeve's face was corpse-white. "Do you think I have not spent the last year of my life regretting the vow I made to be his meijha!" Tears sprang into her eyes; born half of anger, I thought, and half of humiliation. "Do you know what it is like to lie down alone each night knowing the man I love is a traitor to his race? A threat to the Lion itself?"
Guilt cut me deeply; gods, why do we always argue? Why does she force me to walk the edge of the blade and then push me off with such talk?
...I mean, you didn't HAVE to be that much of a dick to her?
Now, to be fair to Keely, at least in this scene, Maeve did start the confrontation. Out loud anyway. But I read Keely's narration, thanks, and given that Keely is not described as being particularly inclined toward self control or stoicism, I think there was probably enough non-verbal provocation.
I do like this bit though.
She scooped up the translucent, rune-scribed bones and hurled them violently away from us both. "Do you have any idea what it is like knowing you have been used, without regard for your own needs and desires, or your loyalties?" She stared at me angrily, tears spilling over. "No. Not you. Never. Never Keely. Well, I do know what it is like . . . and I have to live with it. Each day, each night . . . and for the rest of my life."
I was humbled into silence by her passion, by her humiliation, which she did not trouble to hide, being as proud as any of us. It is easy for me to dismiss Maeve because we are so at odds with loyalties and convictions, so mutually certain of ourselves. But for all there is little to bind us, what does exist takes precedence over threats from outside.
I do appreciate the book for giving Maeve the opportunity to defend herself and win. I am also willing to give Keely tentative points for her reaction here. The fact that the points are tentative aren't really Keely's fault. After effects of Donal, I suppose. I am cautiously optimistic in Keely's case though.
Keely does try to comfort Maeve here, saying that one day Maeve will be able to see that Teir has won nothing: he's lost Maeve, the clan, the afterworld. But there's something else...
"What of his child?" she asked bitterly. "What of the halfling got on the Mujhar's daughter?"
Oh. Oh DEAR.
It might be worth doing the math sometime to see how THIS baby falls under the prophecy. It is, I believe, missing Atvian blood. And Ihlini, of course, but it does have the rest. (Correction: I forgot that Deirdre and Liam's mother was Atvian. That means this baby is just as much a "completed Cheysuli" as any of the others. It's a good thing Strahan isn't paying attention.))
So anyway, that's why Maeve didn't go home. She's ashamed. Especially because, AFTER renouncing her meijha vow (and it's still bullshit that this is even a thing. Hey, Keely and Niall, light women don't have to go BEG to ditch their traitor asshole partners! So it is NOT better to be Cheysuli here), she slept with Teirnan again.
So...is Keely sympathetic to her sister's plight?
I wanted to be patient. I wanted to be compassionate. But other emotions took precedence: frustration, disbelief; an odd, abrupt hostility, that she could be so malleable as to give herself to Teirnan after renouncing him before Clan Council; that she could so readily dishonor our customs. "You knew what he was—a'saii, proscribed by the clan, kin-wrecked—and yet you went with him? Bedded with him? Knowing—"
"—that I loved him." Her tone was dead. She had taken her hands from her face. "Call me whore, if you like—others will, I am certain—but I was not lying with him for coin. It was for love, for pleasure ... and for the pain, knowing it would be the last time for us ever; knowing also that the risk was worth it, if only for the moment, for the doing . . ." She shook her head. "Maybe I am not so different from Hart after all, chancing risk for the lure of the risk itself ... all I know is that nothing is left of what we had, nothing at all, now—he said so himself, and laughed—except the seed he planted."
Poor Maeve.
Keely shows some self-control here and only asks if Teirnan knew.
Maeve's response is heartbreaking:
Maeve shook her head. "That much, at least, is mine. He does not know, and will not. It was to humble me, I think; to prove he could put a leading rein on the Mujhar's daughter and make her do his bidding." Self-loathing pinched her tone. "There was no love in it for him—he is too Cheysuli for it, too much a'saii—only power. Only acknowledgment of my weakness, proof that the House of Homana is not immune to manipulation." Bitterness shaped her expression. "And so there will be a child."
Keely isn't introspective enough to think about abusive relationships. But I remember what Maeve had said in Pride of Princes and what she's saying here and I can read between the lines.
Keely, as she had with Aileen, suggests abortion. Maeve, because she's the ultra feminine caricature, of COURSE balks.
It was a new thought to her. "I have told no one," she said blankly. "No one at all, save you . . . the last one I would tell, since you have no compassion, no empathy for anyone save Corin ..." Maeve shook her head. "But now I have told you, and your answer is to say I should rid myself of the child."
I actually do think Keely's trying to be compassionate here. But I also think the history of scorn so deep it shows in the narrative is working against her here. And well, it did take until NOW to realize that her brother might be upset about what's happening with his wife. So...
Anyway, Maeve actually does get to have a pretty good speech about not blaming the child for its father's sins. Which of course makes Keely feel persecuted:
I wanted to throw the bones back at her. "Putting words in my mouth, Maeve? Trying to make me feel guilty? Well, you will not... I am not foolish enough to say it is the only answer, nor even the best. I know our history well, Maeve ... it was not that many years ago that Cheysuli warriors stole Homanan women in order to get children on them, because the clans were being destroyed by Shaine's qu'mahlin." I sighed, finished picking up the bones, spoke quietly; fool or not, she was my sister, and under the circumstances deserving of more than my derision. "Children are valued within the clans, rujholla ... no matter who the jehan, your baby will be welcomed."
a) I don't really think this is ABOUT you, Keely. I DO think Maeve is lashing out a little, likely because, as pointed out, you don't get involved with physical pursuits and wouldn't BE in this situation. But she's the one in the rough spot here.
b) It is INTERESTING to compare this reaction to Keely's reaction to Aileen's pregnancy. Aileen openly admits to having consensual sex, sex that she clearly remembers quite pleasantly, and Keely immediately and repeatedly makes allusions to Brennan forcing himself onto her. Maeve describes a relationship in which she is used and manipulated, but Keely never seems to wonder if their asshole cousin might be abusive.
Neither reaction is great, but it's interesting who Keely identifies with, and projects upon, and who she doesn't.
c) And JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ROBERSON, are you really having your feminist main character trying to justify the Cheysuli raping Homanan women here?!
Your feminist main character whose main issue, aside from wanting to play with swords, is that she's being made to marry and have children against her wishes?!
Do you seriously not see how TERRIBLE this makes Keely look?!
I'm not going to dislike Keely for this because clearly this is a Roberson-ism. But WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK, Roberson?!
If I were judging this books feminism on a point scale, you'd have just lost a hundred fucking points.
Poor Maeve says that "He" will hate her. Keely thinks she means Teir at first, and is dismissive, but then realizes who she really means. And okay, this is a good moment.
"Oh, Maeve—no, no .. of course he will not hate you. How could he? You are his favorite. You are Deirdre's daughter."
"The bastard gotten on his whore," she said tonelessly. "Who will herself now bear a bastard, begotten by a Cheysuli who has renounced everything of his race but the magic in his veins."
Poor poor Maeve. Keely spends a lot of time being jealous of Maeve for being free of the whole arranged marriage thing, but I'll give Roberson credit for showing that Maeve has her own issues. Keely even notes, as they discuss Teir's jealousy, that Maeve only ever uses "they and them" to discuss Cheysuli. Maeve feels so separated from the others that she doesn't even see herself as Cheysuli at all. Which explains why Teirnan was able to influence her so.
But don't worry, we're not supposed to sympathize TOO much with Maeve:
"The only way we can survive," I said clearly, "is to make certain the prophecy survives, and to serve it. It is what the gods intended when they made it."
"Ah," Maeve said sweetly, "then we can expect an announcement of your marriage to Sean of Erinn any day."
The thrust went home cleanly, as she intended it to. In answer I dumped the bones into her skirt-swathed lap—Maeve would never wear leggings!—and stood. "As to that, it remains my decision, my say-so. Nothing so trivial resides in the prophecy of the Firstborn; I will do as I please in the matter of my marriage."
Sudden bitchiness AND a refusal to wear pants.
So of course, we're back on Keely's nonsense. Maeve pointing out that the prophecy requires merging, and Keely's son will have every bloodline but Ihlini. (True, but as we've pointed out, so does Keely's generation. But Roberson forgot that Lindir had a mom.)
Maeve may have a point though when she says Keely can't have it two ways. She either serves the prophecy faithfully or she's a'saii.
Keely responds by returning the bitchiness:
I glanced at Brennan's restless colt, tied to a nearby tree. I wanted to fly, not ride, but I had promised to return the horse to Homana-Mujhar. "So," I said finally, "am I to believe it was the prophecy that led you on a leading rein into Teirnan's bed? Into the arms of an a'saii?" I shook my head before she could answer, tugging my cap on more securely. "No, rujholla, of course not. It was your decision, your desire . . . and so now the decision falls to me, as does my desire to be free to make my own choices."
I wish Roberson had thought about allowing these sisters to actually be friends and allies. It actually does happen! You can have sisters who have very different temperaments and tastes actually get along. You could write the dynamic like you do Niall and Ian, but just give them boobs.
No? Okay.
Keely does make a point of telling Maeve that if she wants to come home, she should, and their father would never hate her. The chapter ends with Maeve agreeing to return tomorrow.
We start this chapter with a description of Brennan that segues into a description of how special Keely is:
He is nothing like our father, being black of hair, dark of skin, yellow of eyes. All Cheysuli, is Brennan, unable to hide behind the fair hair and skin of our Homanan ancestors. But he would never try; nor would any Cheysuli, for the gods have made us what we are, blessing us with the lir and all the magic that conies with the bond.
I myself do not share that bond precisely. I have no lir, but I do not require it. I am blessed instead with the old Blood in abundance, the strain of the first clans who, settling in Homana from the Crystal Isle, did not mix with others, and so fixed the gifts. It was only after other clans outmarried that the blood weakened, making the true gifts random, that women lost the magic and only warriors bonded with lir. And yet now we are told to marry out of the clans, to merge our blood with others, so that the gifts may be regained. I have little understanding of such things, and little interest; I know only that all of this specified marriage, as required by the prophecy, is supposed to give birth to the Firstborn again, the race that sired the Cheysuli. And, some say, the Ihlini.
It still annoys me that the women have lost their magic entirely. Would it have been that hard to let the women have lir as well? If you still want to go with gender essentialism, you COULD give them non-predator lir.
Alix and Keely could still be special with their ability to take ANY form, but at the same time, it might feel a little less like we were arguing that they deserve special treatment over all these non-magic women.
The line about Brennan being unable to hide his race is rather interesting, and a plot thread that would have been interesting to explore in this generation. In Track of the White Wolf, the focus was (understandably) on Niall primarily. Whether or not a more Cheysuli appearance was ever to Ian's detriment wasn't really explored. It got touched on very briefly in Brennan's part - when he was captured and almost sacrificed by the racists, but never really examined in much detail. It MAYBE even was indirectly used in Hart's part, as it wasn't until the end that anyone bothered to acknowledge that he was descended from Solindish royalty as well.
I might be willing to cut Roberson more slack for the fact that ultra-Cheysuli Keely looks like a white blond woman if the book were willing to do more to explore the intersection of racism and sexism. I don't REMEMBER it being a thing, but it's been a long time since I read the book. So we'll see, I suppose.
Anyway, Keely tells us that Brennan has his doubts about the prophecy and the Ihlini connection too, but "honor-bound and dutiful", he serves the prophecy "unselfishly" and doesn't talk about it. Except possibly to Hart, as he writes frequent letters to Solinde.
This part doesn't really endear Keely to me much:
He sat inside his pavilion, awash in the meager sunlight I let in through the opened doorflap, and stared at me in shock as I told him of Aileen. Unsympathetic, I watched as the color drained out of his face. On a Homanan, it is bad; on a Cheysuli, worse.
You don't really HAVE to be that much of a dick to your brother, you know.
Especially as it becomes pretty clear, pretty fast that Brennan isn't really okay:
It was only after the horse was brought that he turned to me, and I saw something other than shock in his eyes. I saw desperation. "Too far," he said. "I will kill him if I run him all the way to Homana- Mujhar, and reach Aileen too late." -
It was a supremely ridiculous statement, in view of his heritage. Dryly, I asked, "Why ride at all?"
Fixedly, he looked at Sleeta, as if rediscovering his lir and what she represented. "Aye," he said in surprise, then nodded vaguely. "Oh, aye ... of course .. ."
You could be a BIT less of a dick to the guy whose wife might be dying. YOU care about Aileen. Is it hard to imagine that he might too?
Keely starts to realize that Brennan didn't actually KNOW that Aileen was pregnant. She gets really judgmental about this...of course:
"Aileen is often—private."
It was, I thought, an interesting way of summing it up. Married eighteen months, yet only because it was required, not freely desired; an arranged marriage, just as mine was. Aileen loved my twin-born rujholli, Corin, not the man she had wed. And Brennan? He is proud, my eldest rujholli, and stringently honorable. Though Aileen's virtue had been intact, her heart was clearly not. And he had not presumed to mend it. He had merely wedded her, bedded her, got a son upon her; a child for the Lion, and also the prophecy.
And now two more who might not live to be born.
"So," I said, "she is private. Well-matched, I would say; you have offered her nothing since the day you married her. But she offers you her life." I jerked my head in the direction of Mujhara. "Go, rujho. See to your cheysula. I will bring your cherished colt."
Sometimes I think I like the idea of Keely more than I like Keely herself. I know of some reviewers who adore her. And I don't begrudge them that. After all, given what this series has given us before, a character like Keely is very refreshing.
But I do think a character can be forthright and feminist without being cruel. And Keely, right now, is being pretty cruel. BUT, to be fair, we're at the beginning of the novel. She's got room to grow. And maybe we see a hint of that here:
There were things he wanted to say, but he said none of them. Another time, perhaps; Brennan and I do not often agree, and our discord is sometimes of the spectacular kind. For now, all he did was turn on his heel and walk purposefully away, ignoring me quite easily, with Sleeta at his side.
But I had seen his face. I had seen his eyes. And realized, in astonishment, my brother loved his wife.
I mean, he's not gone yet. You COULD apologize.
Nah. She does however decide not to leave for Mujhara at once. It's somewhat understandable: she finds Aileen's situation frightening, and she doesn't think she could face either watching her die or waiting in another chamber for bad news.
I mean, you could help heal her. Alix helped heal Finn, Storr and Donal at times. Though maybe Keely genuinely doesn't have that ability...
And I have to admit, she wins me over a bit here:
I would go mad with the waiting, saying things I did not mean, hurting people, probably Brennan; having seen his face, I thought he was deserving, at this moment, of more compassion than I was prepared to give him.
I appreciate the self-awareness. Now be better than your grandpa Donal and actually use that self-awareness to improve, okay? I really do want to like you.
...this doesn't help:
And then Maeve gave me the opportunity to focus my mood on someone other than myself; to contradict, as always, a woman who considers her world empty if a man is not present in it.
God fucking damnit, Roberson. Can you NOT be a dick to Maeve for ONE minute? Yes, I get it, for some reason feminist authors think that, in order to have a "not like other girls" lead character you need another, more traditionally feminine girl to shit upon. But it's BULLSHIT.
I mean, LOOK at this:
We are sisters, rujholla, separated by three brothers —for Maeve was born first of us all—and equally by convictions. Also by blood; though Niall's daughter, there is nothing of the old Blood in Maeve, nor even of the newer, thinner blood that limits warriors to a single lir and women to no lir at all, and nothing at all of the gifts. Deirdre's only child reflects mostly the Erinnish portion of her heritage, blanketing the Cheysuli under brass-blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin . .. and none of the Cheysuli woman's tendency toward independence.
That's not how genetics work, Keely. But it IS bullshit that Maeve doesn't have any shapeshifting ability. I will acknowledge that, at least as far as I remember, Roberson is consistent here. Keely's got more Old Blood than Maeve because Niall and Gisella both had an equal share. I don't think any of the daughters of the next generation are able to shapeshift either.
But still, it'd be easy enough to have allowed Maeve to be able to do that. The generation amount is fucking arbitrary after all. And it might make it seem less like "Keely deserves to be a warrior because she's special" if the other special girl doesn't want to be a warrior.
Keely notes that Maeve had been living in Clankeep of late, something that confuses everyone, since Maeve is, OF COURSE, much more comfortable at the palace than Keely is.
Anyway, they "toss the prophecy bones" a bit, and Maeve contemplates going back to the palace to help Deirdre, since she's likely distracted. Keely challenges her, noting that Deirdre won't have time for Maeve and they'd be better off staying out of the way.
Maeve calls Keely out, because of course, the feminine girl has to be mean to the tomboy.
Her mouth tightened. "You are not staying out of the way, Keely—at least, not in order to help. You are staying here because you are afraid." She smacked her hand flat down on the bones as I moved to scoop them up. "No, listen to me—you are afraid, Keely ... afraid to see what it is a woman goes through to bear a child, knowing you will have to do the same." Maeve laughed, a little, shaking her head. "You are so contradictory, Keely ... on one hand you are willing to take on any man in a fight, with knife or bow or sword; on the other, you are deathly afraid to lie with a man ... to give over yourself to the bedding, to the loss of self-control, to the chance to love someone other than yourself—"
Now, as an asexual person, I feel like I should probably be a little offended here. But that said, I've been watching the narrative shit on Maeve for two books now. So I'm willing to accept it.
Keely, of course, hits back and below the belt.
I raised my voice over hers. "You know nothing about it, Maeve—all you know is that Teirnan had only to clap his hands and you spread your legs for him—"
Charming.
Maeve's face was corpse-white. "Do you think I have not spent the last year of my life regretting the vow I made to be his meijha!" Tears sprang into her eyes; born half of anger, I thought, and half of humiliation. "Do you know what it is like to lie down alone each night knowing the man I love is a traitor to his race? A threat to the Lion itself?"
Guilt cut me deeply; gods, why do we always argue? Why does she force me to walk the edge of the blade and then push me off with such talk?
...I mean, you didn't HAVE to be that much of a dick to her?
Now, to be fair to Keely, at least in this scene, Maeve did start the confrontation. Out loud anyway. But I read Keely's narration, thanks, and given that Keely is not described as being particularly inclined toward self control or stoicism, I think there was probably enough non-verbal provocation.
I do like this bit though.
She scooped up the translucent, rune-scribed bones and hurled them violently away from us both. "Do you have any idea what it is like knowing you have been used, without regard for your own needs and desires, or your loyalties?" She stared at me angrily, tears spilling over. "No. Not you. Never. Never Keely. Well, I do know what it is like . . . and I have to live with it. Each day, each night . . . and for the rest of my life."
I was humbled into silence by her passion, by her humiliation, which she did not trouble to hide, being as proud as any of us. It is easy for me to dismiss Maeve because we are so at odds with loyalties and convictions, so mutually certain of ourselves. But for all there is little to bind us, what does exist takes precedence over threats from outside.
I do appreciate the book for giving Maeve the opportunity to defend herself and win. I am also willing to give Keely tentative points for her reaction here. The fact that the points are tentative aren't really Keely's fault. After effects of Donal, I suppose. I am cautiously optimistic in Keely's case though.
Keely does try to comfort Maeve here, saying that one day Maeve will be able to see that Teir has won nothing: he's lost Maeve, the clan, the afterworld. But there's something else...
"What of his child?" she asked bitterly. "What of the halfling got on the Mujhar's daughter?"
Oh. Oh DEAR.
It might be worth doing the math sometime to see how THIS baby falls under the prophecy. It is, I believe, missing Atvian blood. And Ihlini, of course, but it does have the rest. (Correction: I forgot that Deirdre and Liam's mother was Atvian. That means this baby is just as much a "completed Cheysuli" as any of the others. It's a good thing Strahan isn't paying attention.))
So anyway, that's why Maeve didn't go home. She's ashamed. Especially because, AFTER renouncing her meijha vow (and it's still bullshit that this is even a thing. Hey, Keely and Niall, light women don't have to go BEG to ditch their traitor asshole partners! So it is NOT better to be Cheysuli here), she slept with Teirnan again.
So...is Keely sympathetic to her sister's plight?
I wanted to be patient. I wanted to be compassionate. But other emotions took precedence: frustration, disbelief; an odd, abrupt hostility, that she could be so malleable as to give herself to Teirnan after renouncing him before Clan Council; that she could so readily dishonor our customs. "You knew what he was—a'saii, proscribed by the clan, kin-wrecked—and yet you went with him? Bedded with him? Knowing—"
"—that I loved him." Her tone was dead. She had taken her hands from her face. "Call me whore, if you like—others will, I am certain—but I was not lying with him for coin. It was for love, for pleasure ... and for the pain, knowing it would be the last time for us ever; knowing also that the risk was worth it, if only for the moment, for the doing . . ." She shook her head. "Maybe I am not so different from Hart after all, chancing risk for the lure of the risk itself ... all I know is that nothing is left of what we had, nothing at all, now—he said so himself, and laughed—except the seed he planted."
Poor Maeve.
Keely shows some self-control here and only asks if Teirnan knew.
Maeve's response is heartbreaking:
Maeve shook her head. "That much, at least, is mine. He does not know, and will not. It was to humble me, I think; to prove he could put a leading rein on the Mujhar's daughter and make her do his bidding." Self-loathing pinched her tone. "There was no love in it for him—he is too Cheysuli for it, too much a'saii—only power. Only acknowledgment of my weakness, proof that the House of Homana is not immune to manipulation." Bitterness shaped her expression. "And so there will be a child."
Keely isn't introspective enough to think about abusive relationships. But I remember what Maeve had said in Pride of Princes and what she's saying here and I can read between the lines.
Keely, as she had with Aileen, suggests abortion. Maeve, because she's the ultra feminine caricature, of COURSE balks.
It was a new thought to her. "I have told no one," she said blankly. "No one at all, save you . . . the last one I would tell, since you have no compassion, no empathy for anyone save Corin ..." Maeve shook her head. "But now I have told you, and your answer is to say I should rid myself of the child."
I actually do think Keely's trying to be compassionate here. But I also think the history of scorn so deep it shows in the narrative is working against her here. And well, it did take until NOW to realize that her brother might be upset about what's happening with his wife. So...
Anyway, Maeve actually does get to have a pretty good speech about not blaming the child for its father's sins. Which of course makes Keely feel persecuted:
I wanted to throw the bones back at her. "Putting words in my mouth, Maeve? Trying to make me feel guilty? Well, you will not... I am not foolish enough to say it is the only answer, nor even the best. I know our history well, Maeve ... it was not that many years ago that Cheysuli warriors stole Homanan women in order to get children on them, because the clans were being destroyed by Shaine's qu'mahlin." I sighed, finished picking up the bones, spoke quietly; fool or not, she was my sister, and under the circumstances deserving of more than my derision. "Children are valued within the clans, rujholla ... no matter who the jehan, your baby will be welcomed."
a) I don't really think this is ABOUT you, Keely. I DO think Maeve is lashing out a little, likely because, as pointed out, you don't get involved with physical pursuits and wouldn't BE in this situation. But she's the one in the rough spot here.
b) It is INTERESTING to compare this reaction to Keely's reaction to Aileen's pregnancy. Aileen openly admits to having consensual sex, sex that she clearly remembers quite pleasantly, and Keely immediately and repeatedly makes allusions to Brennan forcing himself onto her. Maeve describes a relationship in which she is used and manipulated, but Keely never seems to wonder if their asshole cousin might be abusive.
Neither reaction is great, but it's interesting who Keely identifies with, and projects upon, and who she doesn't.
c) And JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ROBERSON, are you really having your feminist main character trying to justify the Cheysuli raping Homanan women here?!
Your feminist main character whose main issue, aside from wanting to play with swords, is that she's being made to marry and have children against her wishes?!
Do you seriously not see how TERRIBLE this makes Keely look?!
I'm not going to dislike Keely for this because clearly this is a Roberson-ism. But WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK, Roberson?!
If I were judging this books feminism on a point scale, you'd have just lost a hundred fucking points.
Poor Maeve says that "He" will hate her. Keely thinks she means Teir at first, and is dismissive, but then realizes who she really means. And okay, this is a good moment.
"Oh, Maeve—no, no .. of course he will not hate you. How could he? You are his favorite. You are Deirdre's daughter."
"The bastard gotten on his whore," she said tonelessly. "Who will herself now bear a bastard, begotten by a Cheysuli who has renounced everything of his race but the magic in his veins."
Poor poor Maeve. Keely spends a lot of time being jealous of Maeve for being free of the whole arranged marriage thing, but I'll give Roberson credit for showing that Maeve has her own issues. Keely even notes, as they discuss Teir's jealousy, that Maeve only ever uses "they and them" to discuss Cheysuli. Maeve feels so separated from the others that she doesn't even see herself as Cheysuli at all. Which explains why Teirnan was able to influence her so.
But don't worry, we're not supposed to sympathize TOO much with Maeve:
"The only way we can survive," I said clearly, "is to make certain the prophecy survives, and to serve it. It is what the gods intended when they made it."
"Ah," Maeve said sweetly, "then we can expect an announcement of your marriage to Sean of Erinn any day."
The thrust went home cleanly, as she intended it to. In answer I dumped the bones into her skirt-swathed lap—Maeve would never wear leggings!—and stood. "As to that, it remains my decision, my say-so. Nothing so trivial resides in the prophecy of the Firstborn; I will do as I please in the matter of my marriage."
Sudden bitchiness AND a refusal to wear pants.
So of course, we're back on Keely's nonsense. Maeve pointing out that the prophecy requires merging, and Keely's son will have every bloodline but Ihlini. (True, but as we've pointed out, so does Keely's generation. But Roberson forgot that Lindir had a mom.)
Maeve may have a point though when she says Keely can't have it two ways. She either serves the prophecy faithfully or she's a'saii.
Keely responds by returning the bitchiness:
I glanced at Brennan's restless colt, tied to a nearby tree. I wanted to fly, not ride, but I had promised to return the horse to Homana-Mujhar. "So," I said finally, "am I to believe it was the prophecy that led you on a leading rein into Teirnan's bed? Into the arms of an a'saii?" I shook my head before she could answer, tugging my cap on more securely. "No, rujholla, of course not. It was your decision, your desire . . . and so now the decision falls to me, as does my desire to be free to make my own choices."
I wish Roberson had thought about allowing these sisters to actually be friends and allies. It actually does happen! You can have sisters who have very different temperaments and tastes actually get along. You could write the dynamic like you do Niall and Ian, but just give them boobs.
No? Okay.
Keely does make a point of telling Maeve that if she wants to come home, she should, and their father would never hate her. The chapter ends with Maeve agreeing to return tomorrow.