Yendi - Chapter Fifteen
Jan. 8th, 2026 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatLast time, we had a marriage proposal and a reveal!
So last chapter, we had the cliffhanger reveal that the Sorceress in Green is not an Athyra, as initially thought, but a Yendi. What does that mean?
“What is it, Vlad? Why are you staring at me?”
“I can’t believe what I just heard. A Yendi? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. What is it?”
“Morrolan, how many Yendi does it take to sharpen a sword?”
He looked at me through slitted eyes. “Tell me,” he said.
“Three. One to sharpen the sword, and one to confuse the issue.”
“I see.” He chuckled a bit. “Not bad. What has that to do with our situation?”
I like this bit. It's kind of funny that Morrolan is the one who needs Vlad to explain it. But in a way it does make sense. Vlad is a cultural outsider after all, while Morrolan, a quintessential Dragon by the way, is immersed in it.
Tangentially, I also appreciate how Aliera, Morrolan, Norathar, and arguably Kragar are all Dragons and they all share the quintessential traits that we're told Dragons have, but are also all very individualistic in how those traits are expressed.
Anyway, Vlad isn't completely sure, but he notes that where there's a Yendi, there's a devious, twisted, and confusing plot. And the Sorceress in Green has been hanging around all of them since the whole chaos started.
Vlad notes that they've been looking for an Athyra who didn't exist, and they find a Yendi who looks like an Athyra who's been around the whole time.
Morrolan sees what Vlad means and intends to go talk to her. But Vlad stops him with a shouted "No!" And once again, I enjoy the incongruity of this friendship. We've seen these characters interact. We've seen the general disdain that they hold for Easterners. We've seen the airs they put on with each other and other Dragaerans. The fact that a nobody like Vlad - Easterner, Jhereg, baby crime lord, can halt Morrolan is significant.
Anyway, Vlad thinks their only advantage is to not let her know that they're onto her until they know what she wants.
I also like this exchange:
“Hmmm. It is axiomatic that no one but a Yendi can unravel a Yendi’s scheme.”
“Maybe. But to paraphrase Lord Lairon e’N’vaar, maybe I use different axioms.”
He thought about it for a while, then said, “All right, Vlad. What’s your plan?”
It really is an interesting dynamic, isn't it?
Anyway, Vlad doesn't have a plan yet. He's thinking things out. He asks Cawti to find Norathar and Aliera. Morrolan goes to help. Vlad thinks.
Everyone comes back, Sethra in tow. They ask what he's figured out. Nothing yet. But now it's time to talk.
Cawti telepathically warns Vlad that Morrolan had told Aliera about the Sorceress in Green. I hadn't remembered or realized that Aliera herself was a suspect here, so this threw me. Vlad notes that he's beginning to doubt that Aliera is behind this anyway.
So anyway, the first question is how did Norathar find out what Laris did. Norathar can't tell them. She does confirm that it was not the Sorceress in Green, though Vlad suspects the person would be a colleague or subordinate.
Vlad admits he won't really know if the Sorceress in Green is behind this until they know what the conspirators were after. He starts putting events in order, starting with the pre-Interregnum hijinx.
Someone did not want Norathar's dad to be Emperor. They're hypothesizing that it might be either the Sorceress in Green or someone she's working for. And the first thing they do is delegitimize Norathar. Her dad fights and, naturally since he was up against Sethra, dies. Adron is the heir.
That part is interesting because nothing happened there. Either they had what they wanted with him, or they didn't have time to deal with him because of Adron's Disaster and the Interregnum that follows.
THEN, Morrolan is the heir. Nothing happens. For two hundred and forty years AFTER the Interregnum, nothing happens.
That's actually interesting, I don't remember it being stated how long ago the Interregnum was before now. It also gives us an approximate age range for Morrolan.
THEN Aliera shows up and is made heir. THEN suddenly, Baritt, who is probably a conspirator, is assassinated. Two years after that, Norathar is set up, killed, revivified and made heir.
There is the question of whether the Sorceress would have PLANNED that Aliera revive Norathar. Aliera thinks it's possible, but Morrolan disagrees. He reminds them that he was there too. So if this were a set up for Aliera, it would have had to take both of them into account, because if Morrolan had been the one closer to Norathar when they teleported, he'd have attacked with Blackwand.
Blackwand, by the way, is one of those soul killing Morganti weapons.
And aw, that's sweet, because remember, they were trying to rescue Vlad at the time. Both Norathar and Vlad are a bit queasy at the idea. Vlad notes that the likeliest interpretation is that Norathar was supposed to permanently die.
Then there's Laris. He's in hiding and protecting, but he'd be losing a lot of money by fighting but not killing Vlad. They guess he's being well paid. Vlad wonders if Laris was the one to kill Baritt. He also thinks about the rumor that Laris ran a war for "Welok the Blade" and wonders how that would have happened since Laris wouldn't have had experience at the time.
They contemplate the idea that the Sorceress in Green may have run that war and may be running this one.
Vlad notes that when he met Laris, he was impressed by him. So he doesn't think Laris is a dupe, though he admits he could be wrong. He wonders if she's blackmailing him. There's some speculation about that, and Vlad's working theory is that he's the one who killed Baritt and the sorceress had proof. She might have got him that way.
I love this bit too:
“This speculation is quite entertaining,” said Morrolan, “but I fail to see where it helps.”
“We’re trying to understand what they’re doing,” I said. “Every detail we get helps put it together.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I should like to hear your opinion on why the Sorceress in Green would do all this.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“I’m not certain precisely what she’s doing—”
“Exactly.”
He nodded, slowly. “All right. I see.”
Sethra is mostly quiet. She doesn't have any ideas or guesses, but she is starting to suspect that the answer is back with the first time the conspiracy acted. Before the interregnum.
Cawti guesses that the motive was to gain the Orb. But Vlad notes that no Dragon actually wants the Orb. He asks Aliera if her dad knew the Sorceress in Green. Apparently they're acquainted. She's upset and defensive at the implied accusation against her dad. But Vlad is exploring all options.
Sethra doesn't think the conspiracy is Adron's style. Also Adron likes Baritt.
The speculation about Adron offends Aliera, something Vlad and Cawti find funny given the shit Adron undoubtedly did. But Aliera's response: Sethra was a friend, and Adron tricking her would have gone against his honor.
Vlad finds the idea a bit sad.
He asks how Adron and Norathar's dad got along. Apparently they disagreed. Adron believed that the Dragons needed to take the throne. K'laiter did not. We get an explanation of the issue:
“Of course they disagreed!” said Aliera. “My father felt the Dragons had to take the throne, K’laiyer didn’t.”
Sethra nodded. “That was pretty much it,” she said. “They didn’t agree on how immediate the problem was.”
“What problem?”
“The decadence of the Emperor. Phoenix Emperors always become decadent at the end of their reign, except every seventeenth Cycle, when we have a reborn Phoenix, such as Zerika. Since that was at the end of the Great Cycle—seventeen Cycles—it was especially bad. The Empire appeared to be falling apart, there were Easterners making encroachments on the eastern border, and Adron felt the Emperor should either step down or be removed.”
“And K’laiyer didn’t?”
Apparently Norathar's dad pointed out that the Easterner encroachments were into territories mostly made up of Easterners and figured that it was their land, basically, and he didn't see a reason why they shouldn't have it back.
Vlad likes the guy already. Sethra admits, he probably would have made a good emperor.
They interrupt their speculation (and Vlad being about to seriously antagonize Aliera) with a meal. Vlad is about to go off with Cawti, but then has a thought. He ends up staying behind to contemplate and when they returns, Vlad tells them that he may have figured it out.
It is a bit too complicated to easily explain so Vlad starts by asking if, about two or three years ago, the Sorceress in Green had a falling out with a close friend. Yes, per Sethra.
Vlad then asks about the line of succession. If Norathar is killed, Aliera's an heir again. Then if news got out that Aliera was involved with a gang war, she'd be out too. Morrolan is out because he's just as involved in the war. They aren't sure who'd be next in line after.
Vlad is sure the Sorceress knows. He notes something else: No Dragon wants to be the heir, but every Dragon wants to be Warlord.
Then Vlad asks Morrolan to send for a list he'd asked for: the names of everyone who might have suggested the Athyra wizard who helped.
He also notes this: if either Morrolan or Aliera were Emperor, they'd have chosen the other as Warlord. So they'd have to go. Adron had someone he'd have chosen, but Vlad doesn't reveal that yet.
The key part is that Morrolan wasn't a problem until Aliera arrived. Because before that, Aliera wouldn't have been around to be Morrolan's choice of Warlord. Someone else was, someone who got supplanted.
Once Aliera came, both would have to go. Hypothetically Barit said no, which ended up with his death.
Norathar had to die because Aliera could have examined her and realized she wasn't a bastard. Then Aliera and Morrolan would get discredited for helping Vlad.
Vlad notes something else. Norathar, at one point, was tested to see if she'd be useful as Empreror. He reminds her of the Sorceress in Green asking about an Eastern Invasion. Vlad thinks if Norathar had said yes, then they'd have let her be.
Cawti wonders why there would have been more fake assassination attempts on Vlad, but Vlad notes that Norathar wouldn't have believed she'd been set up.
So the list arrives and Vlad asks him to find the name of the person that he would have picekd as Warlord if Aliera hadn't appeared:
He did, and his mouth dropped open. Sethra leaned past Aliera and took the list from Morrolan’s limp hand. She glanced at it, nodded, and threw it down onto the middle of the table, her eyes cold as the blade of Iceflame.
“I would rather,” she said, “that she had tried to kill me.”
Vlad tells us that the third name down the list of nine is Sethra the Younger.
With this suitably dramatic reveal, the chapter ends.
So last chapter, we had the cliffhanger reveal that the Sorceress in Green is not an Athyra, as initially thought, but a Yendi. What does that mean?
“What is it, Vlad? Why are you staring at me?”
“I can’t believe what I just heard. A Yendi? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. What is it?”
“Morrolan, how many Yendi does it take to sharpen a sword?”
He looked at me through slitted eyes. “Tell me,” he said.
“Three. One to sharpen the sword, and one to confuse the issue.”
“I see.” He chuckled a bit. “Not bad. What has that to do with our situation?”
I like this bit. It's kind of funny that Morrolan is the one who needs Vlad to explain it. But in a way it does make sense. Vlad is a cultural outsider after all, while Morrolan, a quintessential Dragon by the way, is immersed in it.
Tangentially, I also appreciate how Aliera, Morrolan, Norathar, and arguably Kragar are all Dragons and they all share the quintessential traits that we're told Dragons have, but are also all very individualistic in how those traits are expressed.
Anyway, Vlad isn't completely sure, but he notes that where there's a Yendi, there's a devious, twisted, and confusing plot. And the Sorceress in Green has been hanging around all of them since the whole chaos started.
Vlad notes that they've been looking for an Athyra who didn't exist, and they find a Yendi who looks like an Athyra who's been around the whole time.
Morrolan sees what Vlad means and intends to go talk to her. But Vlad stops him with a shouted "No!" And once again, I enjoy the incongruity of this friendship. We've seen these characters interact. We've seen the general disdain that they hold for Easterners. We've seen the airs they put on with each other and other Dragaerans. The fact that a nobody like Vlad - Easterner, Jhereg, baby crime lord, can halt Morrolan is significant.
Anyway, Vlad thinks their only advantage is to not let her know that they're onto her until they know what she wants.
I also like this exchange:
“Hmmm. It is axiomatic that no one but a Yendi can unravel a Yendi’s scheme.”
“Maybe. But to paraphrase Lord Lairon e’N’vaar, maybe I use different axioms.”
He thought about it for a while, then said, “All right, Vlad. What’s your plan?”
It really is an interesting dynamic, isn't it?
Anyway, Vlad doesn't have a plan yet. He's thinking things out. He asks Cawti to find Norathar and Aliera. Morrolan goes to help. Vlad thinks.
Everyone comes back, Sethra in tow. They ask what he's figured out. Nothing yet. But now it's time to talk.
Cawti telepathically warns Vlad that Morrolan had told Aliera about the Sorceress in Green. I hadn't remembered or realized that Aliera herself was a suspect here, so this threw me. Vlad notes that he's beginning to doubt that Aliera is behind this anyway.
So anyway, the first question is how did Norathar find out what Laris did. Norathar can't tell them. She does confirm that it was not the Sorceress in Green, though Vlad suspects the person would be a colleague or subordinate.
Vlad admits he won't really know if the Sorceress in Green is behind this until they know what the conspirators were after. He starts putting events in order, starting with the pre-Interregnum hijinx.
Someone did not want Norathar's dad to be Emperor. They're hypothesizing that it might be either the Sorceress in Green or someone she's working for. And the first thing they do is delegitimize Norathar. Her dad fights and, naturally since he was up against Sethra, dies. Adron is the heir.
That part is interesting because nothing happened there. Either they had what they wanted with him, or they didn't have time to deal with him because of Adron's Disaster and the Interregnum that follows.
THEN, Morrolan is the heir. Nothing happens. For two hundred and forty years AFTER the Interregnum, nothing happens.
That's actually interesting, I don't remember it being stated how long ago the Interregnum was before now. It also gives us an approximate age range for Morrolan.
THEN Aliera shows up and is made heir. THEN suddenly, Baritt, who is probably a conspirator, is assassinated. Two years after that, Norathar is set up, killed, revivified and made heir.
There is the question of whether the Sorceress would have PLANNED that Aliera revive Norathar. Aliera thinks it's possible, but Morrolan disagrees. He reminds them that he was there too. So if this were a set up for Aliera, it would have had to take both of them into account, because if Morrolan had been the one closer to Norathar when they teleported, he'd have attacked with Blackwand.
Blackwand, by the way, is one of those soul killing Morganti weapons.
And aw, that's sweet, because remember, they were trying to rescue Vlad at the time. Both Norathar and Vlad are a bit queasy at the idea. Vlad notes that the likeliest interpretation is that Norathar was supposed to permanently die.
Then there's Laris. He's in hiding and protecting, but he'd be losing a lot of money by fighting but not killing Vlad. They guess he's being well paid. Vlad wonders if Laris was the one to kill Baritt. He also thinks about the rumor that Laris ran a war for "Welok the Blade" and wonders how that would have happened since Laris wouldn't have had experience at the time.
They contemplate the idea that the Sorceress in Green may have run that war and may be running this one.
Vlad notes that when he met Laris, he was impressed by him. So he doesn't think Laris is a dupe, though he admits he could be wrong. He wonders if she's blackmailing him. There's some speculation about that, and Vlad's working theory is that he's the one who killed Baritt and the sorceress had proof. She might have got him that way.
I love this bit too:
“This speculation is quite entertaining,” said Morrolan, “but I fail to see where it helps.”
“We’re trying to understand what they’re doing,” I said. “Every detail we get helps put it together.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I should like to hear your opinion on why the Sorceress in Green would do all this.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“I’m not certain precisely what she’s doing—”
“Exactly.”
He nodded, slowly. “All right. I see.”
Sethra is mostly quiet. She doesn't have any ideas or guesses, but she is starting to suspect that the answer is back with the first time the conspiracy acted. Before the interregnum.
Cawti guesses that the motive was to gain the Orb. But Vlad notes that no Dragon actually wants the Orb. He asks Aliera if her dad knew the Sorceress in Green. Apparently they're acquainted. She's upset and defensive at the implied accusation against her dad. But Vlad is exploring all options.
Sethra doesn't think the conspiracy is Adron's style. Also Adron likes Baritt.
The speculation about Adron offends Aliera, something Vlad and Cawti find funny given the shit Adron undoubtedly did. But Aliera's response: Sethra was a friend, and Adron tricking her would have gone against his honor.
Vlad finds the idea a bit sad.
He asks how Adron and Norathar's dad got along. Apparently they disagreed. Adron believed that the Dragons needed to take the throne. K'laiter did not. We get an explanation of the issue:
“Of course they disagreed!” said Aliera. “My father felt the Dragons had to take the throne, K’laiyer didn’t.”
Sethra nodded. “That was pretty much it,” she said. “They didn’t agree on how immediate the problem was.”
“What problem?”
“The decadence of the Emperor. Phoenix Emperors always become decadent at the end of their reign, except every seventeenth Cycle, when we have a reborn Phoenix, such as Zerika. Since that was at the end of the Great Cycle—seventeen Cycles—it was especially bad. The Empire appeared to be falling apart, there were Easterners making encroachments on the eastern border, and Adron felt the Emperor should either step down or be removed.”
“And K’laiyer didn’t?”
Apparently Norathar's dad pointed out that the Easterner encroachments were into territories mostly made up of Easterners and figured that it was their land, basically, and he didn't see a reason why they shouldn't have it back.
Vlad likes the guy already. Sethra admits, he probably would have made a good emperor.
They interrupt their speculation (and Vlad being about to seriously antagonize Aliera) with a meal. Vlad is about to go off with Cawti, but then has a thought. He ends up staying behind to contemplate and when they returns, Vlad tells them that he may have figured it out.
It is a bit too complicated to easily explain so Vlad starts by asking if, about two or three years ago, the Sorceress in Green had a falling out with a close friend. Yes, per Sethra.
Vlad then asks about the line of succession. If Norathar is killed, Aliera's an heir again. Then if news got out that Aliera was involved with a gang war, she'd be out too. Morrolan is out because he's just as involved in the war. They aren't sure who'd be next in line after.
Vlad is sure the Sorceress knows. He notes something else: No Dragon wants to be the heir, but every Dragon wants to be Warlord.
Then Vlad asks Morrolan to send for a list he'd asked for: the names of everyone who might have suggested the Athyra wizard who helped.
He also notes this: if either Morrolan or Aliera were Emperor, they'd have chosen the other as Warlord. So they'd have to go. Adron had someone he'd have chosen, but Vlad doesn't reveal that yet.
The key part is that Morrolan wasn't a problem until Aliera arrived. Because before that, Aliera wouldn't have been around to be Morrolan's choice of Warlord. Someone else was, someone who got supplanted.
Once Aliera came, both would have to go. Hypothetically Barit said no, which ended up with his death.
Norathar had to die because Aliera could have examined her and realized she wasn't a bastard. Then Aliera and Morrolan would get discredited for helping Vlad.
Vlad notes something else. Norathar, at one point, was tested to see if she'd be useful as Empreror. He reminds her of the Sorceress in Green asking about an Eastern Invasion. Vlad thinks if Norathar had said yes, then they'd have let her be.
Cawti wonders why there would have been more fake assassination attempts on Vlad, but Vlad notes that Norathar wouldn't have believed she'd been set up.
So the list arrives and Vlad asks him to find the name of the person that he would have picekd as Warlord if Aliera hadn't appeared:
He did, and his mouth dropped open. Sethra leaned past Aliera and took the list from Morrolan’s limp hand. She glanced at it, nodded, and threw it down onto the middle of the table, her eyes cold as the blade of Iceflame.
“I would rather,” she said, “that she had tried to kill me.”
Vlad tells us that the third name down the list of nine is Sethra the Younger.
With this suitably dramatic reveal, the chapter ends.