Song of Homana - Part One - Chapter Six

[kalinara]

So last time, Finn went off to find what's left of his people. Much to my mild shock, I'm a little disappointed by this, if only because I'll have far fewer opportunities to tell Carillon to get a room with Finn gone.



So we rejoin a Finn-less Carillon as he rides through Mujhara, toward Homana-Mujhar. I think. At the moment, I can't remember which is the city and which is the palace and I'm too lazy to check. I feel like maybe, just maybe, Roberson could have given these places more distinct names.

Carillon is feeling out of sorts because this should be his home, but it's basically unrecognizable. People are speaking Solindish in the streets (Lachlan and Carillon are using Ellasian themselves), there are bored soldiers everywhere, and apparently "the magnificence was gone", with dark, dim windows, and grimy, dingy walls. Apparently the Homanans don't take pride in their capitol.

(Oh, and Homana-Mujhar is the palace. Okay.)

Lachlan, wiser, advises Carillon to try not to look angry, but it's hard to blame them. He asks what "they've" done to his city. Lachlan answers:

Lachlan shook his head. “What defeated people do everywhere: they live. They go on. You cannot blame them for it. The heart has gone out of their lives. Bellam exacts overharsh taxes so no one can afford to eat, let alone wash their houses. And the streets? Why clean dung when the great ass sits upon the throne?”

Carillon thinks that Lachlan isn't talking like a spy of Bellam would: he's not trying to feed Carillon's ego or get on his good side. He's just being honest. They head into a tavern, hoping for better fortune than they found in the villages.

Apparently, Lachlan and Carillon have been finding recruitment difficult. Carillon understands: it's a bit too much to ask farmers to give everything up to follow an exile without some kind of guarantee. He needs soldiers first. So they go into the tavern.

We get another reminder of Carillon's size, as he ducks to avoid low beamwork, and we see that the tavern is in kind of shoddy condition. He and Lachlan enter separately, and Lachlan is recognized as a harper and welcomed immediately. He starts playing a few songs and then starts the Song of Homana.

This IMMEDIATELY gets a response from a soldier in Solindish garb who accuses him of treason and draws his sword. Before Carillon can defend Lachlan though, the other men in the tavern surround him and, under the command of their young leader, tie him up and gag him.

Carillon likes him immediately:

He smiled. He was young, eighteen or nineteen, I thought, with an economy of movement that reminded me of Finn. So did his black hair and the darkness of his face. “We have silenced this fool,” he said calmly. “Now we shall let the harper finish.”

Ah, Carillon, I'm glad to see you're still horny for your best friend. I'd tell you to get a room, but he's not here.

Anyway, the Homanan men listen to Lachlan and appreciate how he "ha[s] a feel for [their] plight." As they speak, Lachlan drops a hint about Carillon, saying "the former glory you aspire to have again...it may come."

The young man immediately gets what he's saying. They discuss Carillon's recruit prospects. This young guy, who Carillon describes as having "the dedication of the fanatic" without being mad, says that he would join Carillon, as would the others here. And there are more also. Apparently they meet in secret to plot and prepare for the possibility that Carillon will come home.

It's interesting because we get an idea of how the common people see the end of Shapechangers:

“Bellam is powerful,” Lachlan warned, and I wondered what more he knew.

The Homanan nodded. “He is indeed strong, and claims many troops who serve him well. And with Tynstar at his side, he is certainly no weak king. But Carillon brought the Cheysuli into Homana-Mujhar before, and nearly defeated the Ihlini. This time he might succeed.”

This has interesting implications for Carillon ending the qu'mahlin. The Cheysuli aren't being seen as enemies here, but rather as potential weapons to fight their enemies. Perhaps Bellam did Carillon a favor by continuing the purge, since it seems like some of the commonfolk are willing to put the Cheysuli in a "the enemies of my enemies" type of category.

So anyway, it's kind of stupid to have this conversation in public. Lachlan says that, though far more diplomatically. But the only strangers here are Lachlan, who has harper immunity, and Carillon, who the young man thinks is a common soldier, and he intends to kill him. I rather like that, actually. It's cold and ruthless, and gives a bit more nuance to the characters. (But not in the fucking idiotic way that Shapechangers makes almost everyone a rapist.)

Anyway, now is time for Carillon's dramatic reveal. He drags it out, by first presenting his Cheysuli made knife (from Finn), and then having the young man cut his sword free. Hale's sword is, of course, very distinctive. So even if Carillon himself is unrecognizable (and as we'll see soon, this man actually has a pretty good reason to recognize Carillon), the sword isn't.

And Carillon has another way to prove his identity, because while this young man doesn't recognize Carillon, Carillon recognizes him. This is Rowan, the boy from the Atvian camp. The one that was flogged for spilling wine, who Carillon got Alix to set free. The one who, by default, was the best male character in the goddamn book on the basis of being twelve years old.

Carillon shows Rowan the scars from the Atvian chains, and Rowan drops to his knees, begging forgiveness. As soon as Carillon tells him that there's nothing to forgive, he wants to know when they'll fight. He's charmingly eager, but then, he's been waiting for this for an entire third of his life.

Carillon intends to gather what men they can, as it's late winter, and in the spring, they will start raiding parties. He also takes advantage of this moment to announce that the Cheysuli are their allies, that they serve him, and the qu'mahlin is over. There are some would be protests, but Carillon, firmly and quietly, makes it clear that he means it. Rowan laughs, and Carillon thinks he hears relief there. Everyone agrees to follow Carillon.

Rowan ends up useful for another reason: he brings Carillon information about his mother and sister. Neither character was mentioned in Shapechangers, but I'm always glad to see more women escape the backstory fridge. His mother is basically under house arrest at Carillon's father's estate in Joyenne. His sister, the awkwardly named Tourmaline, has been taken hostage and is currently in Homana-Mujhar. Bellam hopes to use her as leverage against Carillon's eventual return.

I like that actually. It would have been easy to portray Bellam as a raving monster, but this is strategically wiser. Both women are imprisoned, so they can't be used to rally rebels, but they're not being mistreated or murdered, so they're not martyrs either.

We didn't get to see Bellam in Shapechangers, which is a shame. He's an interesting figure.

Apparently, Bellam has talked of possibly marrying "Torry". I wonder what's taken him so long. Carillon's been gone for five years. But anyway, Torry apparently has not been an "acquiescent" hostage. We also learn of another important figure in Homana-Mujhar: Bellam's daughter, the princess Electra. She's Tynstar's light woman, or mistress.

Carillon thinks that information is very useful indeed. He also takes this time to ask Rowan about the fact that Rowan really really really looks Cheysuli.

This was something, you may recall, that came up in Shapechangers. And like then, Rowan vigorously denies it. Carillon is actually happy to see Rowan get angry about it, since again, he thinks a traitor would play nice. I think this assumption might be used against him some day.

Carillon is distracted by Lachlan's music then, and he seems to remember that he has an ally who uses formidable magic, who he's not sure he can trust. He very dramatically goes to Lachlan and draws his sword.

Lachlan is more afraid for his harp than for himself, and he puts it down obediently. Carillon extends a hand to Lachlan and the chapter ends with him giving Lachlan a final test, telling him to kill the Solindish soldier.

We won't know if he does it until next chapter.

So this is the first chapter without Finn. I'm glad to see that Carillon hasn't forgotten him though. And we get the return of Rowan, and the complicated question of his heritage. I do understand that Alix and Rowan never had time to talk about it in Shapechangers, but that still strikes me as a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, because this story is in Carillon's point of view, we'll never see them have that conversation about racial heritage and chosen culture. I'd like to think it happens though.

Alix really deserved a better book. Like this one.