The Lark and the Wren - Chapter Eighteen

[kalinara]

So last time, Rune and Talaysen got kidnapped by elves and finally FINALLY banged. It's funny, I realize intellectually that Talaysen was actually only introduced in Chapter Thirteen. He's only been around for five chapters. And I spent most of those chapters having mixed feelings about the age difference.

And yet, I also feel like I've been waiting for them to bang for FUCKING EVER. So maybe that's a compliment to Ms. Lackey's writing. Anyway, it happened. Yay.



So when we rejoin Rune and Talaysen, they're actually subverting some gender roles, as Talaysen is, rather plaintively, asking if she'll marry him now. Apparently the day has been very pleasant, and Rune caught them a fish. And her injury turned out to be very mild: a bad knock on the head, but nothing that valerian couldn't help. They're maybe a day late on their journey, which isn't too bad, all things considered.

The gender reversal isn't lost on Rune, who notes that he sounds like a deflowered village maiden in an awful Bardic Guild ballad.

Heh, look at that growth. When Rune started this section of the book, she'd wanted nothing more than to be a Guild Bard. Now she's mocking them as well as any other.

Anyway Talaysen is flustered and manages to say exactly the wrong thing. He thinks she'll get harassed enough as it is, if they're married, if they're not, she'll be vulnerable.

He's not wrong, but it's not a terribly romantic reason to marry. Furthermore, as Rune points out, she's a bastard without a surname, so it's a little pointless. But one of my favorite traits of Rune's is her cool practicality. She doesn't get mad at Talaysen for what he's already said, and instead asks him to explain why he's so set on the idea, so she can think about his reasons.

I usually like Ms. Lackey's tendency to tell and not show when it comes to long explanations of something we've already heard (especially after the mess that was Shapechangers), but it doesn't really work here. She basically summarizes what he tells her. And...no.

This isn't yet another reiteration of the same historic backstory or argument. This is a wedding proposal, a culmination of the romantic plotline. We deserve to hear what he says rather than a summary.

Especially since the summary sounds pretty important:

We're told that he starts with logical reasons: it's better not to give the Guild another target, it might cut down on petty jealousy within the Bards, it might keep Church officials from harassing them and other Free Bards who travel as a pair.

Then we're told that he goes into the reasons that have no logic, and are harder to get out; he loves her, he needs her presence, she makes him feel alive, his daydreams of spending the rest of his days with her, and how she brings out the best in him. And I'm sorry, but we should be hearing that, and her reaction to that, in real time.

And then there are "the reasons that hurt to confess": his fear that without a formal die, she'll tire of him and leave without warning, how he feels like her refusal to get married is a rejection, like he's not worth the apparent sacrifice of her independence.

Now this IS new information. We've heard some of Talaysen's insecurities before, but not to this extent. Some of these reasons aren't fair to Rune and we deserve to see both of them react to and acknowledge that. Talaysen, as we've seen, is not a manipulative man. But it would help to get the emotional context of this confession. Furthermore, as the older, more experienced partner, this vulnerability is something we should get to explore in depth.

After this point we do get some real dialogue:

She let out her breath in a sigh. "Have you thought about this?" she asked. "I mean, have you really thought it through? Things like-how are the other Free Bards going to react to a wife? You think that it will cut down on petty jealousy-why? I think it might just make things worse. A lover-that would be no problem, but a wife? Wouldn't they see me as some kind of interloper? I'm the newest Free Bard; how did I get you to wed me? Wouldn't they think I'm likely to try interfering with you and the rest of them?"

These are good questions, and definitely worth exploring in terms of the power dynamic. It's interesting that Talaysen sees it more in terms of the sexual relationship, and Rune more in the marriage end. It would be interesting to analyze how each of their upbringings have influenced that.

Talaysen answers. He's not a mind reader, but he thinks there won't be a problem. He knows every Free Bard personally. Actually, he thinks marriage might make things easier. He can't be everywhere at once, and there are certain problems "the females" haven't always felt comfortable bringing directly to him. In the past, they've come to Gwyna, but that's not a great solution. He thinks that a marriage will imply a stability to the partnership, and the women who go to Rune won't be afraid that if they confided in her today, they'll find that Talaysen is with someone else tomorrow.

Rune acknowledges this point. She wants to anticipate problems though, before they happen. And now that we're out of summary mode, I'm really enjoying this discussion. For one: divided loyalties. She doesn't want people trying to work them against each other. This means that the only authority she wants to accept is as his other set of ears.

Then she surprises him and me by asking about children. Rune doesn't really seem the type to want children. She's never mentioned it before. But then again, she was a kid when the book started, and she hasn't been in a position where children are really feasible. Rune is very pragmatic after all, and she's not one to dwell on things that aren't in the immediate cards.

So that's the thing. She wants kids. And she wants to know if there's a way to have children and still be Free Bards. (She also cuts off his impending angst about being old and leaving her to raise them alone.)

He's clearly not thought about this before, but he doesn't sound opposed to the idea. He suggests that they could settle somewhere for a while. She doesn't think that'll work though. He has to be visible. And if they're in the city, then they'll have to leave the children alone to busk, and they'll be stuck taking the jobs the Guild Bards don't want. This doesn't bode well for financial stability. She also thinks the Guild will probably be very happy to flaunt their riches in his face to try to woo him back.

Talaysen is smart enough to fill in the other side of the scenario. If he accepted, he'd have to give her up, or convince her to be a "good little Bard-wife" and give up her music. I like that he doesn't waste time saying that he'd never even consider the offer. Because if he were a father, with hungry kids, I think Rune and I would think less of him if he didn't at least contemplate taking it.

He appreciates that Rune has a better read of the Guild than he expected. So he considers the dilemma more in depth. Another option comes to mind: a Roma wagon. The Roma people are nomadic and travel in caravans. They could get a wagon and join them, raising the children together. If there are older children, they can help watch the others, and there's usually someone doing tasks at the encampment who can keep an eye on kids if not.

Rune is a little skeptical, as she's only ever heard bad things about Roma parents. She does acknowledge however that the source of her "knowledge" is "evil-mouthed, small-minded villagers". I kind of like this bit. Rune has, for the most part, proven herself to not subscribe to the general anti-Roma racism of the setting. But I think in the real world, even the most well meaning white person can't completely avoid internalizing some harmful ideas.

Talaysen asks her if she's seen anything like those tales with her own eyes. When she admits she hasn't, he tells her that none of that is true. In fact, the Roma folk know how to prevent pregnancy, so they never have more than they can feed. And if something happens to one or both parents, every family in the caravan is willing to help. They're tended carefully, and the encampment is guarded by very loyal dogs. And those kids grow up to be wonderful adults like Gwyna, Raven and Erdric.

Interesting. I hadn't actually realized that Erdric was Roma too. Alain must be as well then.

Rune thinks it seems too good to be true, and Talaysen admits that there are SOME exceptions. Families that the other Roma refuse to travel with, who are hard on their children. But, he points out, that can happen anywhere. In general, Talaysen thinks that Roma children are the happiest and healthiest that he's ever seen.

The one downside is that they don't learn reading, writing, or the Holy Book, since Roma don't really hold with any of those things.

Rune's not phased by that. They can teach the kids to read and write. And she thinks the children should eventually read the Holy Book, when "they're old enough to understand that what they're reading is as much what the Church wants you to believe as it is Holy Words."

Rune likes the idea actually, and she thinks it will eliminate one of the biggest expenses of living in a town or city. Talaysen thinks she means rent, and we learn that she's told him about Amber's place. He thinks they'd probably be able to find something similar. But she actually means the tithe and tax. Being nomadic means they can't catch them.

Talaysen agrees, but admits he actually does pay taxes for both of them. "If you want decent government, you have to be prepared to pay for it."

Rune accepts that point, and remarks that Tonno felt the same way. It's really rather a tragedy that Talaysen and Tonno never got to meet. She doesn't think the tithe has any purpose though. It'd be one thing if it went to Priests like Ardis, but usually it doesn't.

Talaysen agrees, and his point of view narration implies some negative experiences of his own with the Church. He even thinks Ardis would agree.

Rune has another important question, one that makes me want to break my moratorium of referencing the Harper Hall Trilogy.

She leaned forward, intently. "Talaysen, what do you intend to do with the Free Bards?"

THANK YOU. She elaborates when he asks what she means:

"What I said," she replied. "What are you going to do with them? Oh, it was enough to form them, to keep the Bardic Guild from getting rid of them when there were only a handful of you, I'm sure. But there are nearly fifty of you now-not counting the ones that didn't come to the Midsummer Faire. And there are more joining every year! They think of you not only as the founder, but as the leader-now what are you going to lead them to? Or is this just going to be a kind of [Roma] Clan with no other purpose than to live and play music?"

...whoa. Fifty is actually a LOT of people for this pseudo-medieval setting.

Apparently, Rune is the only Free Bard to actually ask this question out loud. And it's one Talaysen has been contemplating himself.

He wants a lot, actually, but it requires having more power. This is why he's been getting the rest involved in ingratiating themselves to Sires and Guildmasters outside of the cities. He wants to see the Bardic Guild lose some of their privileges and monopolies. He doesn't want to replace them with the Free Bards, but he wants them to be equal. Any musician should be free to take any place that's been offered them.

He wants Sires to be able to hire and fire Guild Bards just like they can do to Free Bards and traveling minstrels. And he wants to look into some abuses of power within the Guild.

Rune is satisfied with that answer. It seems like enough for one lifetime, and his successor will worry about the next step. So:

"Are you going to marry me now?" he asked, trying to sound plaintive, and actually sounding testy. She laughed.
"Since you ask me so romantically, I think so," she said, tossing a shirt at him that he had forgotten. "But don't think that you can go back to being aloof until the bonds are set." She bared her teeth at him, in a playful little snarl that was oddly erotic. He restrained himself from doing what he would have liked to do. For one thing, he wanted a more comfortable bed than the boulders of the stream-bank, sun-warmed though they were. . . .

"I don't know why I shouldn't," he replied provokingly. "After all, you've been hurt, your head probably aches and I'm sure you couldn't possibly be interested in-"

She pounced on him, and proved that she could, most definitely be interested in-

And he found that the rocks weren't as bad as he had thought.

I excerpted this because it was cute. And I'm intensely entertained whenever we see that Talaysen is more finicky and prissy than Rune is.

So we skip ahead for a bit, where an amused Rune lets Talaysen drag them into the town of Brughten. There's no Faire, and pickings will be slim. But there IS a priest and a Church. He wants to get married. NOW.

Rune takes the chance to find some fresh supplies. Theirs had been washed away or ruined in the storm. Fortunately, their money is fine. She finishes her purchase, when a furious Talaysen comes to find her.

For a moment, I have Fifty Shades of Grey flashbacks, but Talaysen isn't mad at her. He won't explain in public, but once she's done with the purchases, he leads her straight out of town. He explains:

"I was told by the Priest," he said, tightly, "that we were vagabonds and tramps. He told me that trash such as you and I weren't fit to even set foot on sacred ground, much less participate in the sacrament of marriage. He further told me that if we didn't want him to call the Sire's watch to have us both pilloried, even though you weren't even there, that we'd better take ourselves out of town." He took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh. "There was a great deal more that he said, and I won't repeat it."

She's a little worried that he might have done something to the priest. He did actually, something a lot worse than throwing him into the pond.

Rune asks what he did, and he tells her:

"I informed him that he had just insulted Master Bard Gwydain-and I proved who I was with this." He reached into his pocket and extracted the medallion of Guild membership that she had only seen on satin ribbons about the necks of the Guild Masters at the trials. This medallion was tarnished, and it no longer hung from a bright, purple satin ribbon, but there was no mistaking it for the genuine article.

I love that he still has the fucking thing. So anyway, per Talaysen, the priest tried to apologize, but Talaysen told him off.

"Well, I was so angry I didn't even want to be in the same town with him," Talaysen said, with a glance of apology to her. "I informed him that if he heard a song one day about a Priest so vain and so full of pride that he fell into a manure-pit because he wouldn't listen to a poor man's warning, he would be sure and recognize the description of the Priest if he looked into a mirror. Then I told him that I wouldn't be wedded by him or in his chapel if the High King himself commanded it, I shoved him away, and I left him on the floor, flapping his sleeves at me and still babbling some sort of incoherent nonsense."

I have to admit, this is vicariously satisfying, even told after the fact. Rune agrees with his decision. She also notes that they should pass word to other Free Bards. The Priest generally sets the tone of the village, and if this one hates minstrels, then that could mean trouble.

Talaysen's apologetic about depriving her of the wedding, and she reminds him that she doesn't care about that. She's learned from Amber that there are many people who appear proper, who aren't fit to clean a stable, and others who that Priest would pillory, who have the best hearts in the world.

If it means that much to him, she says, they can get one of his Roma friends to marry them, and it will be as valid, binding, and MUCH more meaningful.

Sadly, they're interrupted by growing storm clouds. They'll have maybe a couple of hours before it hits. He asks if she wants to go back to the village, but she'd rather be soaked. They'll find a place to take shelter along the way.

Talaysen vetoes any deserted farmhouses, and she thinks to herself if it hadn't been for the farmhouse, "he'd still be avoiding [her] like a skittish virgin mare!". She agrees. Only POPULATED farmhouses.

They don't find a farmhouse, but they do find a shrine on the roadside. This, we're told, usually marks the dwelling of a "hedge-Priest or hermit". Basically, a member of one of the more monastic Orders, that go for the meditation and prayers. As they head up the path they encounter ENORMOUS dogs: mastiff with lots and lots of teeth.

Fortunately, they just sniff Talaysen and Rune and then bark impatiently. This leads to the arrival of a priest. This one seems much nicer though, he scolds the dogs affectionately, noting that "It's just a couple of musicians."

The man introduces himself as Father Bened (there's a cute bit where he wipes his hand off before shaking hands, as it had been licked by affectionate dogs). He quickly ushers them to his cottage. They make it just in time before sheets of water and thumb-sized hailstones come down.

The dogs are inside too. If you're anything like me, you were worried about that.

Anyway, the Priest gets out some bread and cheese to share, and scolds Talaysen when he tries to demur:

"But I do, son," the Priest said, with a look of reproach. "Indeed I do! You've arrived on my doorstep, on the wings of a storm-what am I to do, sit here and eat my dinner and offer you nothing? I am not so poor a son of the Church as all that! Or so niggardly a host, either!"

Ms. Lackey isn't really subtle with her contrasts, but it's still rather heartwarming. He also gets out some bottles of good cider, and a beautiful honey comb. The bread and honey are his, the cheese is local. Apparently he trades honey for pretty much anything he needs.

Conversation goes to the hounds, when Rune asks if they need to be fed. (Dogs are good at begging.) The Priest reassures her that they've been fed already, they're just greedy. For his part, Talaysen identifies them as "stag-hounds". He'd thought only Sires raised them.

Father Bened admits that the dogs aren't REALLY his. They belong to "ah-a-friend". He keeps them for him, while the friend comes by with meat and bones for them. The rest of the time, the Priest feeds them fish or rabbits, whatever happens to die.

Rune puts two and two together and realizes that Bened's "friend" is a poacher. Bened is a bit indignant about that. The Sire, Thessalay, has more forest lands than he has right to. He's petitioned the Sires, barons, and Church to come have a look, but no one bothers to read his letters. Instead, Bened and his friend are "doing the work of the Church. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked-"

With venison, cony, buckskin and fur. Talaysen notes, and asks if the small-holders go hungry otherwise.

Yes, says the Father. Basically, when he claimed the lands, the Sire claimed what was used for grazing and pig-herding too. the small-holders lost half of their means of support. The Father identifies Rune and Talaysen as Free Bards. Apparently one named Starling had stayed for a bit and helped Bened and his friend augment food supplies.

Talaysen does indeed know the man, who is from a small-holder family himself. Bened gives us a bit of his own backstory:

"I'm city-bred, myself," the Father continued. "When I was a youngster, the Church was very special to me, and I grew up with this vision of what it must be like-full of men and women who'd gotten rid of what was bad in them, and had their hearts set on God. Always felt as if the Church was calling me; went straight into Orders as soon as I could."

Talaysen notes that Bened must have had the same experience Ardis did. Bened confirms: he had a crisis of conscience, and before he declared Orders, he decided to go and see if the situation he encountered was unique. It wasn't.

Where Ardis became a Justiciar to try to fight from above, Bened went below. He joined the Order of Saint Clive: a mendicant order tending to wayside shrines. He felt he could do more good in the country.

Rune is confused by this, pointing out that he'd have a very hard time in the wilds. He must have spent all his time trying to get food and shelter. Bened admits that he hadn't thought of that at the time, but "God takes care of innocent fools". His Prior took pity on him and assigned him to a place where the cottage had already been built, and his predecessor had been well cared for. Bened just took up where his predecessor left off.

Talaysen asks his opinion of the Priest in Brighten.

"Father Bened can only say that his Brother in the Church could be a little more charitable," he replied carefully. "But I am told that there is a poacher of rabbits who roams these woods that has called him a thief who preys on widows and orphans, a liar, and a toady to anyone with a title or a fat purse. And the poacher has heard that he goes so far as to deny the sacraments to those he feels are too lowly to afford much of an offering."

Talaysen relays his experiences, and Bened is sympathetic. More than that, he offers a solution. He doesn't have a chapel, but he DOES have the authority to marry them and if the room will suit...

It does actually! So Bened gets to officiate his first wedding. He's even got the contracts. It's a bit nibbled on the edges and intact. And this is all ADORABLE:

"Here it is. Wedding." He looked up. "I'm supposed to give you a great long lecture at this point about the sanctity of marriage, and the commitment it means to each of you, but you both strike me as very sensible people. I don't think you need a lecture from me, who doesn't know a thing about women. And I don't expect you're doing this because you don't have anything else to do tonight. So, we'll skip the lecture, shall we, and go right into the business?"

And they do.

Afterward, as they settle into Bened's spare room, Talaysen asks if the wedding suited Rune. It did! Practical, short, and to the point. They've got a signed sheet of parchment in his pack and they'll drop it at the clerk's office. She asks if he's happy. He is. And the chapter ends with the note that it was a long time before they slept.

Well now.