Dragonsong - Chapter Twelve

[kalinara]

So here we are, on the penultimate chapter of Dragonsong. Last time was a sort of brief tangent into some Weyr type fun. This time, things are going to be a bit more eventful, because we're going to see the hatching from an outside perspective.

Unlike, y'know, in Dragonquest, where we saw the hatching from an outside perspective!

...yeah, I'm actually doubting the effectiveness of this strategy. But at least Menolly knows different Weyr folk?



So we start with Mirrim waking Menolly up. The hatching's today and "half Pern's invited". Menolly complains that Mirrim is being rough, and Beauty gets involved in protecting her. Fortunately Beauty backs down when Mirrim threatens to tell Ramoth.

Anyway, we're told by Mirrim, and it's confirmed by Manora, that Menolly's feet look somewhat better today and she's going to use less heavy bandages.

I'll give Ms. McCaffrey credit for not immediately forgetting or skipping past Menolly's injury. It does feel like something that, while temporary, is significantly impacting her ability to do much of anything. Menolly isn't displaying as much frustration as I would, but it's there.

Manora immediately leaves after tossing some praise about the fire lizards Menolly's way, and Menolly and Mirrim have a chat. Mirrim's stressed because of the Hatching in general and because of Brekke in particular and starts to break down. This is a great moment, because Menolly has (understandably) been wrapped up in her own issues. While she felt sympathy at Brekke's story, she was also a stranger to her, while Mirrim had been keeping a stiff upper lip and focusing on Menolly's care. Now Mirrim needs the support and Menolly's delivering.

It's nice to see girls being friends. It's something I missed in the earlier books.

Also, tangentially, it bugs me that Anne McCaffrey wrote Brekke as young as she was. Brekke was repeatedly established as being the same age Lessa was during her flight, which means we have a twenty-four year old foster mothering a fifteen year old. If we count his four years or so back in time, F'nor's actually close to twenty years older than Brekke is. I feel like she could have been made a contemporary of Lessa and Kylara, and this would be less jarring.

Though less excuse for F'nor to creepily refer to her as a child, I suppose.

Anyway, Menolly is being a good friend and gets the gist: Mirrim is afraid for Brekke, thinks her love for F'nor is a bad idea (same!) and she's worried that re-Impression is a bad idea. Menolly also realizes that a lot of Mirrim's "little poses and attitudes" were basically her way to cope and mask her feelings.

Though I actually wish the story would get a little more into Mirrim's perspective on Brekke, because I feel like that's something Dragonquest stinted. We only ever saw Brekke through F'nor's eyes, and F'nor is a dick who spent most of his time belittling her concerns. The period of Brekke's recovery between the flight and the Hatching was told at a considerable distance. It would be interesting to get a closer perspective.

So Mirrim and Menolly are called to work, and this is actually interesting too, because as Menolly works on simmering fish and peeling vegetables. She gets to listen in on the gossip. There's speculation as to who will Impress, and then talk goes to Brekke as it would. One of the staff compares Brekke to another rider, who "faded completely away"

Menolly ends up running into T'gellan later, who asks her to get her lizards to sing with her later, because no one believes him. I still wish we'd get a good age on him. I feel like he's not supposed to be THAT much older than Mirrim and Menolly (and in a later book, he's paired off with Mirrim, IIRC. Which saddens me a bit because I was headcanoning Mirrim as a lesbian. Ah well. I don't dislike T'gellan).

As the hatching starts, Menolly realized she didn't have time to change out of her stained cooking clothes, but T'gellan gets her secreted in a nice corner, while he helps get the Hatching Ground filled. F'lar is namedropped and I wonder how his sepsis is doing.

So we get to the hatching. Menolly has a good seat, but well, as I complained at top, it's basically the same thing we got from Jaxom in Dragonquest. It would have, IMO, been a lot more interesting to see this part from the point of view of a dragonrider, especially given the idea of re-impressing in general.

So yeah, lots of observations, then Menolly sees the women gathered around the queen egg. Brekke arrives last, stumbling and halting. Menolly sees Manora and "a man she didn't recognize" standing at the entrance. Ugh, F'nor. I envy Menolly for not knowing you.

There is one interesting perspective that Menolly gives us, which is the comparison of a dragon hatching to a fire lizard hatching. The fire lizards were completely independent as soon as they hatched, just very focused on food. The dragons on the other hand are a lot more helpless.

So, same events really: Brekke's lizard intercedes before the baby queen can get close to her. Brekke is shocked into speech and action. Another girl gets between lizard and dragon, and an interesting moment passes between Brekke and the other girl before the girl comforts the queen and Impresses her. Menolly is moved to tears, and irked by some of the other people in earshot who care more about whether a boy from their crafthold gets Impressed. Because god forbid they care about someone they actually know. (I'd like to imagine that they're actually pretty uncomfortable seeing a clearly grieving and ill person made into a spectacle like this and are trying not to acknowledge it in an attempt to respect privacy.)

We're told that Manora is radiant and F'nor sweeps Brekke in his arms. Ugh.

Menolly realizes from cheering that the crafthold boy did Impress, though she doesn't know which one he is. She's more focused on Brekke. She wonders why Berd didn't want Brekke to Impress. Finally, we get the bit with Jaxom and Ruth. And F'lar actually gets a line. (Basically just shouting "what are you doing?") I kind of missed that asshole. At least I miss telling him to fuck himself. Same difference.

We also get heart-wrenching glimpse of Lytol: "With a strangled exclamation, the older man sank back to the stone seat, his face a mask of grief." Aw.

So the chapter ends here.

It's not a bad chapter, and given that Dragonsong was written specifically for a different market than the first two, I suppose the repetitiveness isn't that big of a deal. Many readers may not have read the other books in the series. As someone who did read the first two books though, I found it pointless. Menolly's not emotionally invested in the Hatching. It's a spectacle for her. And that's fine, but it doesn't make her a very interesting POV character for this scene, even if we discount that Jaxom had the same beats (until the Ruth part).

Actually, it occurs to me, this scene should have been from Mirrim's point of view. It would be interesting to get Mirrim's point of view of Menolly, to see Menolly being sympathetic and supportive. Unlike Menolly and Jaxom, Mirrim DOES have a strong emotional investment in the Re-Impression, and as a fosterling of the Weyr, she likely understands more of the ramifications than either of the other two.

And since she and T'gellan seem to be fairly close, we could maybe have even got his perspective. What do actual bonded dragonriders think of this idea? We know F'nor and Manora are against it, but do they have legitimate reasons? Or is it just a matter of McCaffrey wanting to prove that they know Brekke and her well being better than Lessa does?

It's a minor complaint though. And the Hatching is still fun to read, even if I saw it before.

Comments

[copperfyre]

I love Menolly and Mirrim being friends. I want more of that!