Daughter of the Lion - Chapter Four
May. 12th, 2024 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, well, we saw the downsides in this particular type of would-be-feminist storytelling. It's really a shame because Keely, on her own, is a perfectly solid character. It does her as much of a disservice as anyone else to use her to shit on other female characters. She doesn't need that.
We rejoin Keely at Clankeep. If you recall, she'd reminded Brennan that he can shapeshift and get to Homana-Mujhar in time to help Aileen, so she's been left with his horse.
We learn a bit more about horse-rearing here:
Brennan's colt was a fine animal indeed, a leggy chestnut with deep chest, long shoulders, powerful hindquarters. I could feel the speed living in him, and a bright, burning spirit, but it was raw, so raw, as yet uncut and unpolished. He was young, just shy of three—Brennan refused to race at two, saying it broke down leg bones not fully formed—and very green, wary of my touch. He did not know me at all, which left him confused and also clumsy, watching too much of me on his back and not enough of the track that stretched westward in front of his nose.
Seems like a nice horse.
Anyway, it's Keely's job to bring it back to Homana-Mujhar, but the colt is giving her a hard time. Apparently he's enthusiastic, anxious and very distracted. I'm no horseman but that sounds basically like any baby animal mid-training. Keely, to be fair, isn't into training baby animals, so she's getting impatient.
And it sounds like she's got some reason. Assuming she's not exaggerating when she complains that it'll be nightfall before they get back, and it's late afternoon now. That does sound like an unpleasant way to spend the day.
Keely considers going back to Clankeep and coming home tomorrow, but she's almost halfway to the city. And, well, she suddenly gets interrupted. By whom?
I heard soft laughter, the hiss and rustle of leaves, the subtle sibilance of boot against deadfall. A man stepped out of the trees, out of the shadows, into waning sunlight gilding birch and beech and elm.
The colt saw him, snorted noisily, pinned ears and rolled eyes. I soothed him with soft words and gentle hands, thinking it odd contrast to the quickening of hostility in my heart. For the stranger was more than merely a man, he also was Cheysuli. More, even, than that: my kin-wrecked cousin, Teirnan.
Oh, hi Tiernan/Teirnan. Sorry that your name got flipflopped between books. I always think of Teirnan as a missed opportunity, really. Because I'd love to see a character actually challenge the Cheysuli's relationship with the prophecy. I've made this argument before, I know, but they've GOT the peace that they're looking for. A qu'mahlin at this point seems unlikely, when we have Cheysuli rulers of three out of the four "warring kingdoms". Homana and Erinn are pretty tight now. Hart's got Solinde, and assuming that he listens to Ilsa, he MIGHT be okay. Corin's position might be trickier, but neither Strahan nor Lillith seem inclined to actually rule a kingdom. And they don't have armies - Corin's got the backing of Homana and probably Erinn. So he's likely okay too.
So why continue, when, going by history, you're likely to get captured, tortured, murdered, raped and so on? Is it even a good idea to bring back your demigod forefathers? Do we know they're going to be good people?
I'd love to see someone seriously asking this question. But Teirnan, sadly, isn't really that person. He's an idiot who just wants the throne to himself.
I looked at his face but saw Maeve's instead, twisted by anguish and self-derision, washed by tears of humiliation.
I looked at his face and saw a consummate Cheysuli: proud, unyielding, determined; as fierce in defense of loyalties asked, given and secured as any king could require, for he was bound by sacred oaths. So like all of us, my cousin, and yet like so very few. His oaths were to himself and to the a'saii, demanding a service in direct opposition to the sort freely offered, as Maeve had said, by my father, uncle, brothers.
And, as for my own?
I appreciate Keely thinking about her sister. I do not appreciate again the linking of "Cheysuli" with being abusive. I don't think Roberson does it on purpose, but it's hard not to read into it given the series' history.
The idea of service "freely offered" is interesting. IS it? They're all raised with the idea of tahlmorra and the prophecy after all. They're taught that denying the prophecy means denying the afterlife. On the other hand though, following the prophecy is the reason why they're the royal family of Homana to begin with. There are serious downsides, of course, to their fates (as I just mentioned), but it does come along with luxury and power. Maybe it is a trade off.
But is Keely immune from that trade off?
I absolutely sympathize with any woman who wants to choose her spouse and doesn't want to be bought and sold like chattel. But at the same time, let's think about what it means to be royal. It means luxury. It means power. It means servants. It means never having to worry about basic necessities, even while normal people suffer. So then, a marriage to preserve peace...IS that too much to ask in exchange?
Especially in a series where we saw what came of a broken betrothal. Lindir wasn't to blame for the qu'mahlin. But arguably, she might have prevented the war between Bellam and Shaine.
It's a little convenient that this doesn't really apply to Keely. Keely's betrothal to Sean was pretty much immediately made redundant when Liam demanded that Niall make his daughter the eventual Queen of Homana. With Brennan and Aileen solidly married, there's no reason to think Liam or Sean would make war, even if Keely ran off into the night. So we, conveniently, have no reason not to side with Keely.
(Wouldn't it have made more sense to betroth Keely to some OTHER royal family to ensure peace? Niall was even vaguely concerned about Caledon in the last book! But I suppose that might have made everything more complicated.)
But I digress. Keely spits at Teirnan, who mockingly suggests that she be an envoy. She wants to know what Teirnan is doing here. Teirnan gets to give a speech:
My cousin shrugged. "This is home," he said, "every inch of Homana—every pebble, leaf, raindrop—as was always intended. We have made a new clan out of the of old, with warriors and women more cognizant of how things were, how they should be, how they will be again." He lifted one shoulder, dropped it; eloquent negligence. "A clan lacking in prophecy, perhaps, but with an abundance of free will."
I really wish the a'saii made more sense. I wish Teirnan did. Because all that shit I said about the main characters achieving world peace and avoiding any likely qu'mahlin purge only really applies to the current royal family.
If the a'saii somehow succeeded in overthrowing Niall or Brennan, that peace would be completely out the window. The Homanan people who see Niall as one of them will not take kindly to a Cheysuli overthrow. The Homanans who hate Brennan for being visibly Cheysuli won't be any more welcoming to a DIFFERENT Cheysuli. Hart and Corin are definitely going to retaliate against the person who overthrows their father and/or brother. And Liam in Erinn is going to join in, since the marriage alliance is with Brennan. Not Teirnan.
It'd be one thing if the a'saii just intended to live as separatists. But Teirnan wants the throne. And that's fucking idiotic.
Anyway, Keely asks what he wants, accusing him from wanting to trouble Maeve. Nope, actually, he's here for Keely.
Um. Why and how?
Think about it for a second. It'd make sense if Teirnan were here for Brennan or Maeve as they were known to be in Clankeep. But Keely flew out there today due to an emergency! She's only coming back the long way because of Brennan's colt. How the hell would he have known she'd be here?!
I suppose it's possible that he has a spy in clankeep. I don't remember that being a plot point, but it has been a long time. I do wish Keely would react to this unlikeliness though.
We get more of a description of Teirnan here:
"And will, given the chance." Teir's face, similar to Brennan's, was formed of sharper bones lying but shallowly beneath characteristically dark flesh. It lent him the look of a predator more so than anyone else of our House; I found it ronically appropriate. "Come down from that horse and hear what we have to say."
Roberson, could you please avoid having your white-passing lead compare the more Cheysuli-looking people to animals? It wasn't great back in Shapechangers and it's not great now.
Keely calls his bluff. She's got Alix's powers after all, so she'd sense any other lir around. He's alone. It makes him mad:
The mask was stripped away and cast aside. Teirnan showed me the face beneath it, naked and feral, with the conviction of a zealot. He was a'saii, deserving of nothing from me but renunciation. And, perhaps, my pity; he had cut himself off from his race.
But from none of his heritage. For now he was little more than a troublesome gnat nipping at the Lion, but I sensed he could in time make a dangerous enemy.
He tries to recover. He's here to make her an offer. He makes the mistake of bringing up tahlmorra. Keely's rebellious and she doesn't like her fate, but she's not a traitor. And where someone cleverer might use Keely's issues against her, Teirnan is fortunately as transparent a misogynist as everything else:
"You," he said coldly, "know nothing of what made me do what I did, nothing at all—:" Teir stopped short, clenched his teeth briefly, fought some inner battle. It only took a moment; he was not the sort of zealot controlled by ignorant passions, but by cold efficiency, a personal conviction. "And until you understand—until I have taken the time to explain it clearly to you—I suggest you do me the courtesy of holding your tongue." He paused, then smiled coolly, under perfect control again. Showing nothing of the anger that had flared so very brightly, if so very briefly. "And do yourself the service of not betraying your ignorance with such naive forcefulness."
Yep, I'm sure condescension and belittling is going to work here, you fucking moron.
I might occasionally gripe about Keely, but when push comes to shove, I do really like her.
"Ignorant, am I?" I flung back. "Naive?" I shook my head. "I think not, Teir ... I know very well what you did, and why. You are a small, petty man, fed on the bitterness of your jehan—" The colt sidled again, restively slashing his tail as he responded to my tone. "Because of Ceinn's jealousy and your selfish ambition, you turn your back on our honor and try to create your own." I shook my head. "You are no different from Strahan, serving his noxious Seker—he wants power . . . he wants control . . . he wants the Lion Throne—"I fought the colt automatically, twisting my head this way and that as I tried to stare down my cousin. "Renounce everything you like, Teir, but know it will buy you nothing of what you desire, nothing of what you expect—" I leaned forward in the saddle, holding the colt with reins; holding Teir with will. "If you truly want to destroy the prophecy, why not go to the Ihlini? Go to the Gate of Asar-Suti and trade your manhood for Strahan's pleasure!"
Teirnan gets violently angry here and tries to pull her off the saddle. This freaks the colt out, he gets free and runs for it. Keely's still on top, so she just rides it out, letting the horse do what he's born for.
Unfortunately, when she's briefly distracted by the loosening of her cap, she misses the sight of a rope stretched across the road. It would have gotten her in the shoulders if she were a man, it gets her in the neck instead.
The chapter ends, cliffhanger style, with Keely thrown from her horse.
We rejoin Keely at Clankeep. If you recall, she'd reminded Brennan that he can shapeshift and get to Homana-Mujhar in time to help Aileen, so she's been left with his horse.
We learn a bit more about horse-rearing here:
Brennan's colt was a fine animal indeed, a leggy chestnut with deep chest, long shoulders, powerful hindquarters. I could feel the speed living in him, and a bright, burning spirit, but it was raw, so raw, as yet uncut and unpolished. He was young, just shy of three—Brennan refused to race at two, saying it broke down leg bones not fully formed—and very green, wary of my touch. He did not know me at all, which left him confused and also clumsy, watching too much of me on his back and not enough of the track that stretched westward in front of his nose.
Seems like a nice horse.
Anyway, it's Keely's job to bring it back to Homana-Mujhar, but the colt is giving her a hard time. Apparently he's enthusiastic, anxious and very distracted. I'm no horseman but that sounds basically like any baby animal mid-training. Keely, to be fair, isn't into training baby animals, so she's getting impatient.
And it sounds like she's got some reason. Assuming she's not exaggerating when she complains that it'll be nightfall before they get back, and it's late afternoon now. That does sound like an unpleasant way to spend the day.
Keely considers going back to Clankeep and coming home tomorrow, but she's almost halfway to the city. And, well, she suddenly gets interrupted. By whom?
I heard soft laughter, the hiss and rustle of leaves, the subtle sibilance of boot against deadfall. A man stepped out of the trees, out of the shadows, into waning sunlight gilding birch and beech and elm.
The colt saw him, snorted noisily, pinned ears and rolled eyes. I soothed him with soft words and gentle hands, thinking it odd contrast to the quickening of hostility in my heart. For the stranger was more than merely a man, he also was Cheysuli. More, even, than that: my kin-wrecked cousin, Teirnan.
Oh, hi Tiernan/Teirnan. Sorry that your name got flipflopped between books. I always think of Teirnan as a missed opportunity, really. Because I'd love to see a character actually challenge the Cheysuli's relationship with the prophecy. I've made this argument before, I know, but they've GOT the peace that they're looking for. A qu'mahlin at this point seems unlikely, when we have Cheysuli rulers of three out of the four "warring kingdoms". Homana and Erinn are pretty tight now. Hart's got Solinde, and assuming that he listens to Ilsa, he MIGHT be okay. Corin's position might be trickier, but neither Strahan nor Lillith seem inclined to actually rule a kingdom. And they don't have armies - Corin's got the backing of Homana and probably Erinn. So he's likely okay too.
So why continue, when, going by history, you're likely to get captured, tortured, murdered, raped and so on? Is it even a good idea to bring back your demigod forefathers? Do we know they're going to be good people?
I'd love to see someone seriously asking this question. But Teirnan, sadly, isn't really that person. He's an idiot who just wants the throne to himself.
I looked at his face but saw Maeve's instead, twisted by anguish and self-derision, washed by tears of humiliation.
I looked at his face and saw a consummate Cheysuli: proud, unyielding, determined; as fierce in defense of loyalties asked, given and secured as any king could require, for he was bound by sacred oaths. So like all of us, my cousin, and yet like so very few. His oaths were to himself and to the a'saii, demanding a service in direct opposition to the sort freely offered, as Maeve had said, by my father, uncle, brothers.
And, as for my own?
I appreciate Keely thinking about her sister. I do not appreciate again the linking of "Cheysuli" with being abusive. I don't think Roberson does it on purpose, but it's hard not to read into it given the series' history.
The idea of service "freely offered" is interesting. IS it? They're all raised with the idea of tahlmorra and the prophecy after all. They're taught that denying the prophecy means denying the afterlife. On the other hand though, following the prophecy is the reason why they're the royal family of Homana to begin with. There are serious downsides, of course, to their fates (as I just mentioned), but it does come along with luxury and power. Maybe it is a trade off.
But is Keely immune from that trade off?
I absolutely sympathize with any woman who wants to choose her spouse and doesn't want to be bought and sold like chattel. But at the same time, let's think about what it means to be royal. It means luxury. It means power. It means servants. It means never having to worry about basic necessities, even while normal people suffer. So then, a marriage to preserve peace...IS that too much to ask in exchange?
Especially in a series where we saw what came of a broken betrothal. Lindir wasn't to blame for the qu'mahlin. But arguably, she might have prevented the war between Bellam and Shaine.
It's a little convenient that this doesn't really apply to Keely. Keely's betrothal to Sean was pretty much immediately made redundant when Liam demanded that Niall make his daughter the eventual Queen of Homana. With Brennan and Aileen solidly married, there's no reason to think Liam or Sean would make war, even if Keely ran off into the night. So we, conveniently, have no reason not to side with Keely.
(Wouldn't it have made more sense to betroth Keely to some OTHER royal family to ensure peace? Niall was even vaguely concerned about Caledon in the last book! But I suppose that might have made everything more complicated.)
But I digress. Keely spits at Teirnan, who mockingly suggests that she be an envoy. She wants to know what Teirnan is doing here. Teirnan gets to give a speech:
My cousin shrugged. "This is home," he said, "every inch of Homana—every pebble, leaf, raindrop—as was always intended. We have made a new clan out of the of old, with warriors and women more cognizant of how things were, how they should be, how they will be again." He lifted one shoulder, dropped it; eloquent negligence. "A clan lacking in prophecy, perhaps, but with an abundance of free will."
I really wish the a'saii made more sense. I wish Teirnan did. Because all that shit I said about the main characters achieving world peace and avoiding any likely qu'mahlin purge only really applies to the current royal family.
If the a'saii somehow succeeded in overthrowing Niall or Brennan, that peace would be completely out the window. The Homanan people who see Niall as one of them will not take kindly to a Cheysuli overthrow. The Homanans who hate Brennan for being visibly Cheysuli won't be any more welcoming to a DIFFERENT Cheysuli. Hart and Corin are definitely going to retaliate against the person who overthrows their father and/or brother. And Liam in Erinn is going to join in, since the marriage alliance is with Brennan. Not Teirnan.
It'd be one thing if the a'saii just intended to live as separatists. But Teirnan wants the throne. And that's fucking idiotic.
Anyway, Keely asks what he wants, accusing him from wanting to trouble Maeve. Nope, actually, he's here for Keely.
Um. Why and how?
Think about it for a second. It'd make sense if Teirnan were here for Brennan or Maeve as they were known to be in Clankeep. But Keely flew out there today due to an emergency! She's only coming back the long way because of Brennan's colt. How the hell would he have known she'd be here?!
I suppose it's possible that he has a spy in clankeep. I don't remember that being a plot point, but it has been a long time. I do wish Keely would react to this unlikeliness though.
We get more of a description of Teirnan here:
"And will, given the chance." Teir's face, similar to Brennan's, was formed of sharper bones lying but shallowly beneath characteristically dark flesh. It lent him the look of a predator more so than anyone else of our House; I found it ronically appropriate. "Come down from that horse and hear what we have to say."
Roberson, could you please avoid having your white-passing lead compare the more Cheysuli-looking people to animals? It wasn't great back in Shapechangers and it's not great now.
Keely calls his bluff. She's got Alix's powers after all, so she'd sense any other lir around. He's alone. It makes him mad:
The mask was stripped away and cast aside. Teirnan showed me the face beneath it, naked and feral, with the conviction of a zealot. He was a'saii, deserving of nothing from me but renunciation. And, perhaps, my pity; he had cut himself off from his race.
But from none of his heritage. For now he was little more than a troublesome gnat nipping at the Lion, but I sensed he could in time make a dangerous enemy.
He tries to recover. He's here to make her an offer. He makes the mistake of bringing up tahlmorra. Keely's rebellious and she doesn't like her fate, but she's not a traitor. And where someone cleverer might use Keely's issues against her, Teirnan is fortunately as transparent a misogynist as everything else:
"You," he said coldly, "know nothing of what made me do what I did, nothing at all—:" Teir stopped short, clenched his teeth briefly, fought some inner battle. It only took a moment; he was not the sort of zealot controlled by ignorant passions, but by cold efficiency, a personal conviction. "And until you understand—until I have taken the time to explain it clearly to you—I suggest you do me the courtesy of holding your tongue." He paused, then smiled coolly, under perfect control again. Showing nothing of the anger that had flared so very brightly, if so very briefly. "And do yourself the service of not betraying your ignorance with such naive forcefulness."
Yep, I'm sure condescension and belittling is going to work here, you fucking moron.
I might occasionally gripe about Keely, but when push comes to shove, I do really like her.
"Ignorant, am I?" I flung back. "Naive?" I shook my head. "I think not, Teir ... I know very well what you did, and why. You are a small, petty man, fed on the bitterness of your jehan—" The colt sidled again, restively slashing his tail as he responded to my tone. "Because of Ceinn's jealousy and your selfish ambition, you turn your back on our honor and try to create your own." I shook my head. "You are no different from Strahan, serving his noxious Seker—he wants power . . . he wants control . . . he wants the Lion Throne—"I fought the colt automatically, twisting my head this way and that as I tried to stare down my cousin. "Renounce everything you like, Teir, but know it will buy you nothing of what you desire, nothing of what you expect—" I leaned forward in the saddle, holding the colt with reins; holding Teir with will. "If you truly want to destroy the prophecy, why not go to the Ihlini? Go to the Gate of Asar-Suti and trade your manhood for Strahan's pleasure!"
Teirnan gets violently angry here and tries to pull her off the saddle. This freaks the colt out, he gets free and runs for it. Keely's still on top, so she just rides it out, letting the horse do what he's born for.
Unfortunately, when she's briefly distracted by the loosening of her cap, she misses the sight of a rope stretched across the road. It would have gotten her in the shoulders if she were a man, it gets her in the neck instead.
The chapter ends, cliffhanger style, with Keely thrown from her horse.
Oooo shîte.
Date: 2024-05-14 05:05 pm (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
Re: Oooo shîte.
Date: 2024-05-14 05:37 pm (UTC)