Flight of the Raven - Part One, Chapter Five

[kalinara]

So last time, Aidan met an ancestor and maybe a god? Hard to say exactly, but getting a look at the Cheysuli religion more in depth is always welcome.



So this chapter starts off a bit more normal. Aidan makes his way to and through Clankeep to his father's pavilion - it's blue and has a painted black mountain cat on it. We're told that Brennan rarely makes the trip, so Aidan uses it. Aidan also spends most of his time in Homana-Mujhar though.

That's understandable, but it's good to see them keeping up with their traditions.

Teel is waiting there. Aidan accuses him of having "known", and Teel hedges a bit. Teel admits that he knew who the Hunter was, but not what he wanted. Aidan takes the explanation as a compromise, but he's still pretty angry about the whole deal.

Teel approves of the anger, by the way, feeling that it's better than fear.

I'm enjoying the portrayal of Aidan here as someone who is more intuitive and emotional than either Niall or Brennan was. I feel like either character, face to face with a god, would have a very different reaction than anger and frustration. But Niall had crippling self-confidence issues and Brennan was prone to overthinking and it's possible that neither would recover into action as quickly.

Aidan's annoyed at Teel for dodging his questions - but I do think it's fair to note that Teel has given a lot more answers than we've ever seen from any previous lir. But then Aidan's not really in a position to compare. I am though, and for all his arrogance and attitude, Teel is actually saying useful things.

Aidan's also embarrassed about having fallen off his horse. Remember, Brennan's big thing is horses, and Aidan doesn't really want to admit to having fallen off. But he's likely to need his ribs strapped, so he'll have to admit it.

So Aidan goes to see the shar tahl. This is interesting because we've heard about them, but really, I think the only time we've ever seen one was way back in Shapechangers - it's how we learned that Alix's Old Blood came from her white mom. I'm never letting that go, by the way. So many plot holes would have been less pronounced if it came from Hale and it would have been far less racist (AND would have maybe tied in with why Finn got away with so much, why Finn and Alix were a plausible pairing for the elders despite being half-siblings, and star magic and weirdness involving Hale's sword....)

But we do get to see some stuff up close:

The shar tahl's pavilion was larger than most, since he required additional room for storage of clan birthlines and assorted ritualistic items. It was customary to wait no farther inside a shar tahl's or clan-leader's pavilion than a single pace; Aidan therefore sat very precisely near the open doorflap on a gray-blue ice bear pelt brought from the Northern Wastes. The shar tahl was not yet present, although word had been carried throughout Clankeep the Mujhar's grandson had arrived.

Even though Aidan was well-accustomed to the immense size and overwhelming presence of Homana-Mujhar, he felt daunted by the pavilion. It was here the history of the clan was kept, rolled tightly in soft leathers and tucked away inside strong chests. His own history resided somewhere in the pavilion, reduced to a single rune-sign on pale, bleached doeskin. A rune, no more than that, yet he felt small because of it. Small because of doubts; was he doing the right thing? The Hunter had not admonished him against displaying the golden link, merely said it was for him. He could not imagine anything to do with gods could be denied a shar tahl. Such men served those gods with steadfast loyalty.

It occurs to me that these written histories must be even more valuable after the qu'mahlin. I wonder how they were able to protect them. I'm also wondering who the current clan leader is. The last one we knew about was Finn.

Aidan's nervous now. He's worried the shar tahl will think he's mad like Gisella. Though he tries to be optimistic and imagine that there will be answers instead. He's also, once more, frustrated that this has to happen to him.

When the shar tahl shows, Aidan tries to bow.

"No, Aidan—not from you." The hand was removed. The shar tahl came more fully into the pavilion and moved around to face his guest. He was surprisingly young for his place, still black-haired and firm of flesh. He was, Aidan thought, perhaps thirty-five or thirty-six.

Interesting!

Aidan's met shar tahls before, but they were all old. This one seems more energetic and abrupt. He doesn't deny Aidan's protest that honor is his due, but he'd rather get down to business.

Things get interesting when he notes that Aidan doesn't know "which one" of the shar tahls he is.

We get some banter here:

The other smiled. "You take the easy road. That is not your reputation."

Aidan's answering smile was twisted. "My reputation is founded on many things, and so there are many reputations. Which one do you know?"

"The one I heard up north across the Bluetooth, in my home Keep." The shar tahl crossed his legs and linked dark fingers. "My name is Burr. I am but newly come to Clankeep—I thought it might be worthwhile for me to live nearer the Lion."

So he's likely from the same clan that Sorcha lived with when she died. The one Donal visited to collect Ian and Isolde.

Aidan is a little alarmed, and for some reason, connects Burr's statement about living nearer to the lion to Teirnan's ambition. But Burr reassures him that Teirnan is proscribed and forgoes the teachings of the shar tahls.

It is an interesting thought that Teirnan's weird belief about the loss of lirs could come from Burr's home clan. If Roberson had suggested that in Daughter of the Lion, I would have spent a lot less time bitching.

Aidan's distrust of Burr is interesting. He takes Burr's statement to mean that he knows Teirnan personally. Burr confirms that he knew of him and even met him once, something that was not reported to the Mujhar.

And apparently there ARE consequences to going a'saii to the extent that Teirnan has, we learn. Because Teirnan has lost his lir.

Holy shit. OKAY. I'd wondered about this before. Sadly, Roberson had never really developed the lir to the extent of, say, the Companions in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, though they have a similar role if we think about it. I'd wondered if, like Tylendel's Gala, the lir could repudiate a Cheysuli they were bonded to. And it sounds like maybe it can.

Aidan assumes this means that Teirnan is dead, but no. The death-ritual is actually voluntary. The Cheysuli who undertake it believe it, and they do it. Teirnan apparently does not.

That said, we saw what happened when Ceinn made Niall think he was lirless. There definitely WAS some kind of madness there. We know that losing contact with Tasha is part of how Ian was enslaved in Atvia. And we saw what became of Duncan - though that also involved some fifteen years of being Tynstar and Strahan's captive.

And we get a reminder that our characters, while likable and sympathetic, are still religious fanatics in their own right:

More than bruised ribs ached. Also family pride; the awareness of a betrayal he had never experienced. He had been told all about Teirnan's defection from the clan, his rejection of the prophecy and betrayal of heritage, but Aidan had been conscious of it with a pronounced sense of detachment. He had been too young to know Teirnan, to comprehend the issues.

But he was no longer too young. Now he began to understand why all his kin hated Teirnan.

Burr just notes that Teirnan has made his choice. Death is not Teirnan's way.

Aidan remembers that Teirnan wants the Lion, which seems pretty ridiculous as a scheme now. There's no way that the Homanans who have spent decades with Niall, and have grown used to the idea of Brennan as heir over decades, would accept a random new Cheysuli man as their monarch.

That's not even getting into how the rulers of Solinde, Erinn and Atvia are all Brennan's siblings. OR that even the more extremist Cheysuli aren't going to follow a guy who doesn't have a lir anymore.

Burr asks what Aidan wants. Aidan is still uncomfortable about Burr. But they share a moment:

Burr's smile lapsed. The eyes, so like Aidan's own, were fixed and uncannily feral. The voice was very quiet; the tone a whiplash of sound. "If you question my own commitment to my race, let me reassure you. My belief in the gods is unshakable. It has been since I was quite young—I knew as clearly as I knew my lir what I was meant to be. It was my tahlmorra: I could be nothing else. No man, no woman, no warrior—proscribed or otherwise—could ever turn me from that, any more than Teirnan or anyone else could turn you from the Lion. I am a Cheysuli shar tahl, fully cognizant of my service." Intensity dispersed abruptly, as if no longer needed. The calm smile returned. "What service may I do you?"

Something in Aidan answered. His distrust of Burr faded, replaced with an odd recognition. This man is very like me—He smiled back slowly, though its twist was decidedly wry. "I have many questions." He pointed at the link. "What do I do with that?"

But interestingly, after Aidan gives him the link that he'd gotten from his dream, Burr suddenly pulls back, motioning Aidan to leave and telling him he can't help. Aidan has to find his own way.

Aidan presses, but Burr is adamant, and he says something interesting: that he came to his own arrangement with the gods when he was young. Aidan must come to his own. And that he's "not meant" to tell Aidan what he wants to know.

At the end of the chapter, Aidan asks Burr what he DOES have for him. And the answer is his sympathy.

I have to say, I really am enjoying this more in depth look at Cheysuli religion and cultural practices that we're getting in this book. I'm a little annoyed that it took so long to get here, but I have to admit, I have a hard time seeing any of our previous protagonists in this kind of plot either.

Carillon was Homanan. Donal was too self-important and certain of his Chosen One role. Niall's feelings of inferiority and disconnect would have prevented this. Brennan is an overthinker who would repress anything as ephemeral as this. And Keely was too focused on herself. MAYBE Alix. In a better version of Shapechangers could have embraced this side of things to learn more about her role. But well, that'd be a different book entirely.