Yendi - Chapter Seventeen

[kalinara]

Shit, we made it to the last chapter. And I don't actually know what book I want to start next. But that's a debate for later. For now, let's see how it ends!



So last chapter, our merry crew caught up with the Sorceress in Green and got Laris's location from her. And in the first paragraph, Vlad pretty much tells us how it'll go:

Now, I suppose, you expect me to tell you how I caught up with Laris after a long chase through the streets of Adrilankha, cornered him at last, how he fought like a dzur and I barely managed to kill him before he did me in. Right? Crap.

There were only two things that could have gone wrong. One, the Sorceress in Green might have lied about where Laris was, and two, she might have had time to warn him. But, in both cases, why? To the sorceress, he was merely a tool. And, since we’d discovered what they were up to, he was no longer a useful tool.

Yeah, that's the problem with being part of a fantasy mob. You get to have a lot of fun, but you're also pretty much just a tool for other people.

Unless you're Vlad of course, with a strange ability to be treated like an equal by your social superiors...

So the next bit is basically Vlad and his dudes preparing themselves for an attack. We don't see any of our big names here, like Morrolan or Aliera, which makes sense. This is a Jhereg vs. Jhereg war after all. Honestly, it doesn't seem like Vlad needs the help.

And indeed he doesn't, but I'll show you the end:

Laris and I looked at each other, but neither of us spoke. What was there to say? I looked at his enforcers, most of them with half-drawn weapons. I told my people to stand aside. We cleared a path to the door. Sticks hefted his weapons, looked at Laris’s enforcers, and cleared his throat.

He said, “No future in it, gentlemen.”

They looked at the horde of us. Then, one by one, they stood up. They held their hands out, clear of their bodies. One by one, without a glance at Laris, they filed out.

I said, “All of you except Cawti, escort them out of the building.” I drew the blade I’d selected.

When we were alone with Laris, I shut the door with my foot. Cawti said, “He’s yours, Vladimir.”

I made it quick. Laris never said a word.

For characters who've only met in person once, Vlad and Laris have had a really interesting dynamic. We kind of get the impression, early on, that had Vlad and Laris met in a different way - if perhaps, Laris had taken over Vlad's old boss's territory, they might have gotten along really well.

But he hitched his horse to the wrong wagon, I suppose.

--

We switch scenes from a death to a resurrection. Or at least the announcement of one. Vlad is agape as Aliera tells him that she's revivified the Sorceress in Green. Why not? She's already been humiliated and the Empress is a personal friend of hers.

Laris, a useful tool, is gone for good, but the woman who wielded him is still alive. Power is power.

Vlad is worried about reprisal, but Aliera has a counter measure or two in place - basically, they did a mind-probe on her when she was revivified, and wrote down every scheme she's ever been involved with. They gave her a copy as a warning.

Rather surprisingly, Norathar agrees with Aliera's methods. As does Sethra, who was in charge of disciplining her own wayward apprentice.

We get a run down of the scheme: basically she wanted to conquer the East. She knew that Norathar's dad wouldn't allow it. They decided to put Adron (Aliera's dad) in charge instead. After the disaster, they let their scheme calm down.

Once Zerika became Empress, they scoped out Morrolan as her heir. Morrolan wasn't opposed to invading the West, so they were fine. But then Aliera returned, which caused some havoc.

It's actually an interesting note, because Morrolan is the one of the two who was raised in the East. So you'd think he'd be opposed to invading his former people. But apparently not.

So it's basically as Vlad and company figured out: The schemers decided to discredit both Morrolan and Aliera through Vlad.

An interesting note is that apparently Laris wanted to kill Vlad right away and had to be persuaded to leave him alive.

TO quote: They told him he could have you after their plans were complete. You know the rest, I think.

That actually sounds a little questionable, Laris. But okay.

So as for Sethra the Younger's punishment:

“Yes.” Once more, Sethra gave us her dreamy little smile. “I put her in the desert, with plenty of food, water, shelter, and a stick. And I set her to writing, ‘I will not interfere with the Dragon Council,’ in the sand, eighty-three thousand, five hundred and twenty-one times.”

Hah. Don't get on Sethra's bad side.

We end the story with a bit of sweetness, as Vlad introduces us to someone special:

Picture an old man—an Easterner, almost seventy years old, which is a very impressive age for our race. But he’s in good condition for his age. He is poor, but not destitute. He has raised a family in the midst of the Dragaeran Empire and done it well. He has buried (an Eastern term for “outlived”; I’m not sure why) a wife, a sister, a daughter, and two sons. The only surviving descendant is one grandson, who nearly gets himself killed every few weeks or so.

Aw. I also like the world building touch that no one apparently buries the dead anymore. Even Easterners, because Vlad would have likely heard the reason for the term from his grandfather or Cawti.

There's another nice touch here, where we revisit Vlad's classism/assimilationist leanings:

I went to see this old gentleman the day after Laris’s death. Walking through the filth in the streets made me want to retch, but I hid it. Anyway, we all know Easterners are filthy, right? Look at how they live. Never mind that they can’t use sorcery to keep their neighborhoods clean the way Dragaerans do. If they want to use sorcery, they can become citizens of the Empire by moving into the country and becoming Teckla, or buying titles in the Jhereg. Don’t want to be serfs? They’re stubborn, too, aren’t they? Don’t have the money to buy titles? Of course not! Who’d give them a good job, seeing how filthy they are?

I tried not to let it bother me. Cawti tried too, but I could see the strain around the comers of her eyes and feel it in the purposeful way she walked. I should have felt good about coming back here—successful Easterner boy walks through the old neighborhood. I should have, but I didn’t. I only felt sick.

I'm reminded of the fight that was never quite resolved between Vlad and Cawti earlier in the book. I THINK, though my memory is a little spotty, that this is something revisited in the next book: Teckla. (Which takes place after the first book.)

So Noish-pa meets Cawti. It's very sweet. And we get an interesting little tidbit about Cawti here:

“Noish-pa,” I said, “I’d like you to meet Cawti.”

She gave him a curtsy, and he positively beamed.

“Cawti,” he repeated. “Do you have a patronymic?”

I do not know if this is addressed in the main storyline or not. However there is a prequel novel that kind of hints toward Cawti's origin, IIRC. It's interesting!

--

Anyway, after the heartwarming, we get back to the mob. Vlad has moved into Laris's old office and will be starting to try to take over the territory. He tells that this "belongs to a different tale". I'm not actually sure if it's come up in the series yet. I'll keep an eye out.

Vlad finally gets a chance to cook a meal and we end on some philosophy of sorts:

The same day I moved into Laris’s old office I finally got a chance to cook Cawti a meal. I have to say I outdid myself, too—goose with Eastern red pepper, Valabar-style kethna dumplings, anise-jelled . . . but you don’t want to hear about that.

I will say, though, that while I was cooking, I came across an onion that had a small bad spot on the side. I cut the spot out, and the rest of the onion was perfectly fine.

Life is like that, sometimes.

...I kind of do want to hear about the food, but anyway, the story is over. Verdict will be soon, and I'll have to decide what book takes this one's place.