Daughter of the Lion - Part Three - Chapter Nine

[kalinara]

I'm realizing I have to go back and fix the chapter titles for this book. Eh, I'll do it later.

Anyway, last time, the book remembered Maeve exists. Pretty much only to make her a strawman opponent to Keely getting an abortion. I mean, at least her argument is along the lines of "it's too late and will probably kill you", but I could wish for a little better.

The first part of the book, while decent, was remarkably repetitive at times, with at least two separate occasions each of Keely storming off, meeting Rory, asking the same questions, meeting Teirnan, hearing the same doubts, consulting with Ian, clashing with Brennan and so on.

Imagine for a moment, we actually cut out some of that repetition and gave Keely's sister some focus in this feminist themed book?

What if we actually got to play a little bit with the contrast between having the status of a princess, the protection of legitimacy, and the burden of betrothal, to having none of those things, and then maybe got into the fact that despite Keely's powers, despite Maeve's anonymity, both end up used and abused by men who try to use them against their loved ones and force them into pregnancy.

I don't know, I feel like there's something to explore there. Instead of just "Keely's not like other girls and her plight is the only one that actually matters."



So the chapter starts with Keely going to the solar. It's full of women: Deirdre, Ilsa, Maeve, and assorted Erinnish and Solindish ladies who are helping with Deirde's tapestry. Keely, of course, is uninterested in it.

I do appreciate the change from earlier books in the series: Deirdre has women servants, Ilsa has women servants, presumably some may have come with Aileen as well. That makes sense, unlike poor Aislinn some three books ago.

So anyway, Deirdre is aghast because Keely has just announced that she wants to go on a trip to Clankeep for a week. Maeve is keeping quiet, though apparently, "her face was tight and color flushed her cheeks, giving away her thoughts, but no one, thank the gods, looked at her."

Ugh, Keely, do you have to sound so ungrateful? Maeve promised to keep quiet. She didn't promise to agree with you.

I really like this bit:

The morning sun slanting through open casements set the whitewashed room alight. Pale-eyed Ilsa, all in white, fair hair braided and netted back from her flawless face, was an ice-witch with blood to elbows; the yarn piled in her lap was red. "Keely," she said quietly, in her accented Homanan, "I think you would do well to be aware of how worried everyone has been, and what such worry does to people: griping bellies, stealing sleep, haunting dreams." She smiled a little, though her eyes were grave. "Give them time. You will have your freedom again, I know, but for now let them feel safe again, with you here where they can see you."

A lot's been made about Ilsa's resemblance to Electra. And even here, she's an "ice-witch". But she's also very kind, and having the distance from the situation that the others lack, she can present their concerns diplomatically.

Unfortunately, Keely's kind of on a time crunch.

Also Unfortunately, Keely, being Keely, doesn't actually say anything about that and decides she would have to "hurt them with [her] cruelty, knowing also, it was required or they would never let [her] go."

So what does she say?

"You are none of you Cheysuli," I said harshly. "None of you, save Maeve, but even she will tell you she has no magic in her blood." I drew in a deep breath, trying not to shout; nor to cry. "None of you," I repeated, "and therefore you cannot know what it is to be stripped of honor, of worth, of self-—" I cut it off with a sharp Cheysuli gesture, meant more for myself than for them. "I will go, because I must. There is i'toshaa-ni to attend to, and other, private things. If you worry for what my jehan will say, and my rujholli, and my su'fali and all the lir, tell them I have gone to cleanse myself. They will understand. They will. I promise you they will; all of them are Cheysuli."

Actually, for Keely, that's probably not so bad. Except, you know, the needlessly singling out Maeve as being somehow LESS Cheysuli, despite having been raised in the same damn family since she was two years old.

But you know Roberson, if you want to tell me, through Ian, that Keely isn't cruel by nature, you might want to avoid situations where she decides to be unnecessarily cruel?

It is rather interesting, I realize that while there are other characters with experiences like Keely's. Right now, they're men and none of them are here.

Deirdre asks if Sean will understand. Keely snaps back that she knows Sean better than Deirdre does and he'll make shift for himself, regardless. That's probably true actually, but it's pretty harsh. Maeve is offended by how Keely talks to "our mother".

And this is interesting too:

"No," Deirdre said quietly. "No, that will come next, will it not?" She was looking at me, not at her daughter. "You are using all your weapons, I see . .. well, why do you wait? Maeve has said the words— now you are to say that no, Deirdre is not your mother, but your father's light woman. Meijha, in your tongue." Her brows rose. "Well, why do you wait? Why not say the words, Keely, so you may cut yourself free of us all?"

You know, if we couldn't give Maeve some focus in this feminist book, maybe we could have given some to Deirdre. A woman who raised five children, only one of which was one she bore, but none of them consider her their mother.

It does seem a bit unnecessarily harsh though. I can't believe I'm defending Keely, who generally does annoy me, but the worst she's said to Deirdre was that Deirdre didn't really know Sean. Which is true...because Roberson apparently can't conceive of the idea that someone might VISIT their old homeland once or twice.

Keely breaks a bit here though:

Tears welled up before I could stop them. Gods, I am grown so weak because of this thing in my belly—crying all the time— "No," I said tightly, "I will say no such thing. I will do no such thing ... all I want is a week to myself at Clankeep, for i'toshaa-ni—" I stared hard at a blurred Deirdre, swallowing painfully. "How can you think I would say such a thing? To you? How could I? Even in anger, I would not—oh, gods, Deirdre, do you think me so cruel as that? Do you think 'I am Strahan, preying on weaknesses—"

Aw. Deirdre quickly comes to hug her. And I like about half of this:

"Shansu," she said in Cheysuli, having learned her share of the tongue in twenty-two years with my father. "Oh, Keely, forgive us ... we have been so worried, all of us—and now that you are back, we're not wanting to lose you again, even for so brief a time as a week." She smoothed her hand against the crown of my head, whispering quiet words first in Erinnish, then in Homanan. "It has been so difficult for all of us, over the long years . . . Gisella in Atvia, Niall's light woman here in her place . . . you never had a mother, not as I had; as Maeve has, and others. Only me in her place, and no one able to admit it for fear of damaging proprieties, foolish Homanan proprieties, reserving a place for a banished queen and never letting you or your brothers forget it—"

Ugh, I know I just pointed this out from Deirdre's perspective, but this whole "you never had a mother" thing just rankles me. Maybe simply because it's set up in contrast with poor Maeve again. Maeve has the advantage, not this poor royal princess, who gets the rank and privilege and powers.

(The fact that the boys, by this same criteria, never had a mother, is irrelevant too, I guess.)

But to her credit, Keely just says Gisella was never her mother, it was always Deirdre. (I will interject that it was never Gisella's fault, but I feel like Keely's response here is understandable.)

Anyway, Deirdre gives her permission to go and take what time she needs. Keely, rather reluctant to leave her, does so.

--

So she goes to Clankeep, speaks to the shar tahl and starts i'toshaa-ni. All in a paragraph, but fine, we saw it through Niall's eyes before. We're told after the three days fast, she'll eat and then on the fifth day, return and get aid to lose the child.

...why not ask for the aid FIRST, THEN do i'toshaa-ni.

But instead, on the fifth day, Teirnan shows up. Which is a pretty big transgression indeed. We finally hear about his lir, by the way, a small-eyed boar named Vaii. Keely gives us an aside that it's been said that the lir reflects the personality of the warrior. This makes some sense, but it's also annoying that it comes so late in the series.

(It IS rather interesting though that of the male leads of the series, we do see a rather funny shift. Duncan had a falcon, Finn a wolf, Donal both, Niall also a wolf, then Brennan a cat - with Hart and Corin having a hawk and fox respectively, while the next leads have a raven and a cat again. I wonder what that means to Roberson...)

Keely wants him to leave. Teirnan taunts her, saying Strahan had profaned her more than i'toshaa-ni can cleanse. He wants an answer to his "proposal."

Keely finally starts acting sensible here. When Teirnan starts babbling about losing lir, she points out that not everyone believes that. Very few people do. THANK YOU.

I mean hell, if it's a genuine concern, you could ask the shar tahl. It's their job to interpret shit. I'd forgive Roberson a lot of this if at one point someone did ask and the shar tahl was like "well...it could be read that way, but we don't think so."

Teirnan wants to know if she still intends to marry Sean. Keely considers how now she actually does have a reason not to marry Sean - Strahan's heir in her womb. I mean, it worked for Alix - it got Carillon to finally leave her alone. But Teir doesn't know about that.

Keely actually gets to be pretty great here.

I pushed myself up from the ground. Standing, I stared down at him, aware of rising apprehension; the comprehension of his intentions, and his dedication to them. "How far?" I asked. "How far are you willing to go?"

Teirnan spread his hands, as if to promote innocence. "A thing worth doing is worth doing well. So we are taught in the clans."

"How far?" I repeated. "If I refuse to wed Sean, it guarantees nothing. There is still Aidan. The Lion has an heir."

His eyes were shuttered by lids. Then he looked up again. "He is a sickly child."

"But alive . .. unless you take pains to kill him."

Keely tells us that she's learned from Strahan how to judge by things other than what a man says or even his silence.

So," I said quietly, "first you come to me. To persuade me, with guile and skill, not to marry Sean. And so I do not. Part of the prophecy dies." I smiled my tribute. "And then there is Aidan—small, sickly Aidan. He may die any day ... he may be helped to die, and so only Brennan is left. Brennan, heir to the Lion . . . the only one in your way."

So very cool, is Teirnan. I almost believed him. "I am not interested in the Lion. This is a far greater service."

"Destroying the prophecy?" I shook my head. "First me, then Aidan, then Brennan. And, perhaps, the Mujhar? Hart is Prince of Solinde; he inherits the kingship on jehan's death, and will have no time for Homana. Corin inherits Atvia; the same applies to him." To mock, I inclined my head. "Leaving the Lion with no heir, and only one man close enough to lay claim in his own name. Son of the Mujhar's dead sister, your claim is quickly granted."

Basically, all this nonsense is because Teirnan wants the throne.

Teirnan says that all Aidan has to do is wed and sire a son and the prophecy is nearly complete. (I pointed out with the math it kinda is already, but okay. And actually, to be fair, that does put some urgency on Keely. Because her kid really should be a Firstborn mathematically as well.)

He also notes that Brennan could just marry another Erinnish girl and get a son on HER too. Which does make you wonder why these complicated betrothals are necessary.

Anyway, Teirnan declares that to destroy the property he has to stop all of him. And Keely realizes that he's gone fanatic enough that he probably doesn't actually need her alive anymore.

She points out what we know: Brennan won't set Aileen aside.

Teirnan says that men declare things before and have their intentions changed. And maybe he even has a point when he points out Brennan's loyalty. Keely points out that Corin could marry an Erinnish girl. But Teirnan thinks he won't wed anyone but Aileen, when Brennan sets her aside.

Keely asks what he'll do if she says she will marry Sean, will he kill her? Teirnan says he has other means.

Keely tries to reason with him here:

"Teir," I said quietly, reaching for patience and, to my surprise, finding it in abundance, "we are not enemies in this. What you have said regarding the loss of the lir frightens me, and badly, because I begin to think you may be right. And so you are right to question it, to bring the topic before Clan Council and all the shar tahl—"

"Keely, it is too late."

I mean, I still think that there's no genuine reason to believe Teir is right, but Keely's also trying to keep him calm, so I'll stop bitching about it.

Teir IS pretty scary here though, saying there won't be any need for violence. And announces that he has an ally. Someone who needs to destroy the property as much as the a'saii.

And...oh...dramatic.

Behind me, the shelter collapsed. From the ruin came Rhiannon.

Oh nice. Strahan was all talk but he accomplished very little in the end. Lillith and Rhiannon, on the other hand. THEY generally accomplished what they set out to do.

Keely tries to attack her but Vaii intercedes, shocking Keely: A LIR attacking a Cheysuli?

Apparently Vaii is as equally committed to treason as his partner. I wonder what would happen if a lir and partner were at odds. (It's actually something that comes up pretty early on in the Valdemar series - maybe the second trilogy and the one most well known for all the gay mage hijinx. One of the reasons I feel like folks attacking the series for presenting Heralds as "holier than thou" kind of miss the point when Heralds are specifically established as paladins with angelic partners. Yeah, they're going to have something of a moral high ground most times. IT'S THE PREMISE.)

ANYWAY, sorry, different rant.

So what's Rhiannon up to now?

I had not seen Rhiannon for more than two years. Then, she had been Brennan's meijha, masquerading as a sweet-mouthed Homanan girl madly in love with the Prince of Homana. I knew better, now; she had given herself away on the day she stole Brennan for Strahan. Ian's Ihlini daughter, born of Strahan's sister, Lillith.

Black-haired, black-eyed, as so many Ihlini are, but with skin fair as Ilsa’s. A lovely, striking woman, now more so than ever, who had borne my brother a child to be matched with Strahan's own, bred on his meijha, Sidra. Such a twisted, tangled birthline, now firmly entwined with mine.

She wore leathers, which shocked me. And gold at her throat, dangling from her ears, hooking her belt in place. Slim, deadly Rhiannon, half Cheysuli, half Ihlini, with no lir but all the power.

She held up a silver chain, displaying it. From it depended a ring: sapphire set in silver. It was, I knew, a trinket Brennan had once given her; she had kept it well since then, using it to augment her spells. Because it had been Brennan's, she could use it as a shield. It was why I had not known of her presence. It was why my magic was useless.

"All the power" is an interesting idea. Because if the powers require a certain percentage, then Rhiannon probably shouldn't have any more Old Blood magic than Maeve does. Ian's a bit more Cheysuli than Niall, thanks to Sorcha being half to Aislinn's none. But the old blood comes from their father, and if anything, Deirdre would have been more likely to carry some than Lillith (what with the "Old Blood" coming from Alix's white mother, through a weird Cheysuli offshoot that married into an ERINNISH line. That's still really offensive by the way.)

We have established though that Ihlini powers are definitely more egalitarian than Cheysuli. If you're a female Cheysuli without enough Old Blood, you get jack shit after all.

I also like the touch of her having Brennan's ring as a token to pervert, like she'd done to him.

Rhiannon is there to taunt, of course. Keely tries to snap back that Strahan is dead, but Rhiannon had known already. She also knows Keely is pregnant. She orders Teirnan to hold Keely fast, noting that she's weak from hunger and the child is affecting her power.

Wait, what? I mean, it'd make some sense, but you had a while to establish this Roberson. A line about that being why she fell out of the sky next to Corin's boat would have been fine.

(Shame Keely didn't ask for abortion help BEFORE the ritual, but I can't really blame her for not thinking clearly this time.)

Keely tries to point out to Teirnan that Rhiannon is Ihlini. Which is a pretty good point, considering that Teirnan's initial objection to the prophecy was the idea of laying down with the Ihlini. But he's a fanatic and a hypocrite.

Or more accurately, he just wants the throne and has convinced himself that his cause will justify it.

Anyway, they pin Keely down and Rhiannon starts by saying she'll tell Keely a tale, "of a proud Cheysuli woman with old Blood in her veins, and the thing she had to do."

Keely feels her mind give way, expressly comparing the experience to Strahan and wondering which is worse. She also tells Keely that she'll do the thing and then bear a strong healthy baby.

The chapter ends with the world winking out in place of Rhiannon and "the thing" Keely has to do.

Comments

[pangolin20]

Having Teirnan be actually dangerous is a nice twist. Well done, Roberson!

[kalinara]

Definitely! And the alliance with Rhiannon is a lovely bit of dangerous hypocrisy.