Dragonquest - Chapter 5 - LYTOL (and some other people)

[kalinara]

So last time, we met the dreaded Kylara and I ranted about poor Brekke's lack of character. Then I took an impromptu hiatus, but I'm back now.

So this chapter makes me happy, because we see a return of the only decent male character in the entire franchise. At least so far: Lytol, the perpetually tragic Lord Warder of Ruatha Hall.



So this chapter starts with Jaxom. Jaxom is the son of Gemma and Fax from Dragonflight, and thus the child lord of Ruatha. I still wonder what the Ruathan people think about this, because Jaxom (and Lytol) basically just became rulers of Ruatha because F'lar said they were. But apparently they're fine with that, since we don't hear otherwise.

Anyway, Jaxom is a kid. He's happy to ride a dragon. He's sad that Lytol seems irritated. We're told that Lytol is irritated by larger concerns, but Jaxom, understandably, is too young to realize that. He wants to please Lytol, but feels like he can't.

I find Jaxom reasonably sympathetic here. He's a kid, so his concerns are simplistic. He likes dragons, he feels overwhelmed by his position, he envies his friend Felessan because Felessan gets to live among dragons.

I still think Felessan has a terrible name for a dragon rider. How do you even shorten that? Anyway, Jaxom does irritate me with this part:

"It was only a green, Jaxom thought with some disappointment. You’d think they’d send a brown at the very least, for Lytol, Warder of Ruatha Hold, one time dragonrider himself. Then Jaxom was overwhelmed by contrition. Lytol’s dragon had been a brown and it was well known that half a man’s soul left him when his dragon died and he remained among the living."

Sometimes I feel like Ms. McCaffrey wants to have her cake and eat it too, when it comes to the Weyrs. We're told there's sexual freedom, but somehow Jora and Kylara are still treated with distaste for their sexual appetites. The dragonriders are presented as reasonably egalitarian except for the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman, and the individual Wing Leaders, with each dragon being important, but then we get the constant belittling of the green riders. (Which is particularly uncomfortable given their implied roles as passive sexual partners.)

And here we get the retcon I mentioned before. Dragonquest and onward tells us that Lytol's dragon was brown, not green. I can't help but think that this is because he's an important character. The only important green rider characters that I know of are women. It's hard not to read into that.

Anyway, it turns out that Jaxom recognizes the green rider as someone he had played with in the lower cavern. Since J'ralt is described as a "young man", I'm assuming that he was probably more babysitter than playmate. Jaxom calls him Jeralte at first, only to be corrected by Lytol, which embarrasses him.

Jaxom really envies dragonriders and feels "a sudden wave of overwhelming pity for Lytol" for having lost it. He also recognizes that this must be very difficult for Lytol, and wishes he could comfort him. We get recognition that Lytol is very fair and that his high expectations were because Jaxom had to be the Lord of Ruatha.

I vaguely remember finding Jaxom irritating when I read this series as a kid, but I have to admit that right now, he doesn't seem that bad. He's a self-centered little kid, but he's capable of empathy and seems decent enough for now. Maybe he'll annoy me when he ages.

I really like this description of Benden Weyr actually: "Never had the Bowl seemed so welcome, with its high walls softened and colored by the lambent sun. The black maws of the individual weyrs, set in the face of the inner wall, were voiceless mouths, greeting him all astonished."

So we're told that there's a Ruathan girl among the new candidates for Impression. Jaxom is confident that she'll be another Ruathan Weyrwoman, and he's proud that his Hold had bred up more Weyrwomen which is a really disturbing way to word that, now that I think about it.

We get more about poor Mardra, who apparently had some real funny notions about the Hold and tends to annoy Lytol, and make his cheek twitch. Poor Mardra. Where Kylara is the anti-Brekke, Mardra has become the anti-Lessa. Though at least Lessa HAS a character. It's a little annoying though that Ms. McCaffrey is so adamant to set these women at odds.

So Jaxom meets up with Felessan who is excited to see him, and drags him off pretty quickly. Felessan is three years younger than Jaxom, so maybe six or seven, and there's an odd little moment where Jaxom disapproves of his manners and thinks that maybe Mardra was right that the new weyrmen had no manners.

It's also not good manners to judge people, Jaxom. And you've done that twice now.

Anyway, Felessan leads Jaxom into the Lower Cavern, where Jaxom is treated with courtesy. Jaxom doesn't understand why, because Felessan was "just as important as a Lord Holder", and wasn't always being watched. I feel like at nine or ten, Jaxom is probably old enough to realize the difference in their ranks, but okay.

So Felessan ends up leading Jaxom farther into the caves which makes Jaxom nervous, because Lytol had instilled a great deal of respect for the Weyr. And he might be willing to brave Lytol's wrath, he never wanted to anger Lessa or especially F'lar.

So anyway, the kids find their way into the Hatching Ground to look at the eggs. They look at the queen egg particularly (with some side note about Mardra saying that Benden stock is in trouble because the dragons are too large to maneuver properly, because Mardra is the new Jora and must be constantly mentioned as being awful) and Jaxom sees a very tiny egg away from the others.

Jaxom touches this egg, which horrifies Felessan because they're not supposed to touch eggs unless they're candidates and its their turn. Jaxom is a bit of a dick here, because he's jealous of Felessan.

Oh and side note, it really annoys me how Mardra is consistently portrayed as worse than T'ron. Her treatment of T'ron (which seems to be denying him access to her bed, because god forbid a woman say no) is constantly brought up as a point of criticism. And while F'lar was willing at one point to extend some sympathy to T'ron for having never lived without Thread, no one seems willing to offer the same to Mardra. Mardra is portrayed as a bad Weyrwoman who endangers her wing, which is bewildering because Mardra's the one with the decades of Thread-fighting experience. Suddenly she's forgotten how this all works?

And sure, Mardra is unlikable and annoys Lytol and Lessa, but those are personal conflicts. We've seen T'ron be an active obstruction in Councils, block very necessary safety measures and other precautions, impede communication, and foster ill will between the Weyrs. But Mardra won't sleep with him, so she's worse. God, I hate this society.

Okay, anyway, it looks like Ramoth is returning, so the kids flee. Jaxom is having some trouble breathing after their exertions and because he got a little cut up squeezing through the fissure that allowed them to sneak into the Hatching Ground. And worse, the kids ended up getting lost in the old, empty part of the Weyr.

They do find something interesting though: a hatch that opens a secret room. But the inert gas overcomes them and they pass out.

-

Meanwhile back at the entrance, Lytol is bantering with F'lar and Lessa who praise his rearing of Jaxom. Lessa notes that Lytol twitches a little, and wonders what Mardra was complaining about this time, because why not insult Mardra some more.

Robinton and Fandarel are also present, and there's more weird flirting between Robinton and F'lar. (Supposedly it's about the wine, but given how Robinton talked about F'lar earlier, I'm going with my interpretation.) Anyway, Robinton and Fandarel bring news of more premature Threadfalls, which annoys F'lar, because he's had no knowledge of this.

We're also told that while the Harpers are bound to Fort Weyr, T'ron hasn't been keeping Robinton abreast of things either.

This is nonsensical to me, honestly. I understand that there are hard feelings between Benden and the Oldtimers, but what kind of rational human being wouldn't realize that "hey, these charts we've all been using don't work anymore" is something that EVERYONE needs to know!

It reminds me of R'gul in Dragonflight really. McCaffrey seems to be incapable of portraying adversarial characters as rational people. Sometimes I think it's because she realizes that F'lar is so awful that we might actually decide we like the adversaries better unless she makes them fucking cartoon characters.

Honestly, though, this scene is pretty pointless. It tells us nothing we didn't already know: we knew about Threadfall, we knew T'ron and T'kul are problems, we knew that Robinton isn't happy with Fort Weyr. Hell, Lessa even has essentially the same line of dialogue about the idiot Weyrwoman Bedella not telling anyone about R'mart's injury that we got from the earlier chapters.

It's weird, because McCaffrey's usually really good about pacing and avoiding needless repetition. This feels like senseless padding.

Anyway, Lytol is understandably freaked out that the charts don't work anymore, but also quickly apologizes for snapping at them about it. Because Lytol is the best male character in this entire fucking franchise. He also lives up to being the most useful person in the room by relaying more Oldtimer fuckery.

Again, I mean, it's repetitive. New instance but same gist. T'kul refuses to help Meron clear out burrows, and some folks are homeless (which is novel I suppose because Meron is the sympathetic one for once), and T'ron left a hold too early, leading to some plantations having to be burned entirely.

Robinton tells us that girls are being kidnapped on pretext of Search. Which, well, yeah. The Dragonriders were doing that all along, though were told that girls now BEG to come to Benden Weyr. (Why? All of the Weyrs are fucking terrible.) But apparently the other Weyrs are even worse, as they're taking women from husbands and children only to end up as drudges to the Weyr ladies.

The riders are taking "special privilege" with everything, with the knife incident being a very minor example. And we get this:

“I fancy that no one at Benden Weyr abuses privilege,” Robinton replied. “No one at Benden Weyr. After all,” and he grinned toothily, managing to resemble T’ron as he did so, “Benden is the backsliding Weyr which has forgotten true custom and usage, become lax in their dealings. Why, they permit Holds bound to Benden Weyr to retain dignity, possession and forest. They encourage the Crafts to proliferate, hatching bastard breeds of who-knows-what. But Benden Weyr,” and Robinton was himself again, and angry, “is respected throughout Pern.”

God, this aggravates me so much. In Dragonflight, we saw how awful Benden Weyr was, and the kind of privileges and special treatment they demanded even after four hundred years of being useless parasites. But god forbid we actually explore the idea that our heroes may come from a flawed culture. No, instead we get to sidestep that entirely.

Benden Weyr isn't that bad! Look, the other Weyrs are much worse! Now women WANT to come to Benden. Benden is respected because it's marginally better than everyone else!

It's such lazy writing, and it's frustrating to no end. It'd be one thing if this led to some honest evaluation, in which F'lar and Lessa realize how badly Benden Weyr has acted in the past now that they've seen people who take their privileges even farther. But there's none of that. We're supposed to pretend that Benden is fine, because it's not as bad as the others.

That doesn't work for me, Ms. McCaffrey. You're not convincing me that Benden Weyr is good and necessary because all of the other Weyrs are worse. You're just convincing me that there is basically nothing salvageable about Weyr culture at all.

Anyway, Robinton goes on yet another "F'lar is the greatest" rant and tells him that he needs to take charge: he was right when he pointed out that the Holders and Craftsmen were too "parochial" to deal with the real problem, but that the Oldtmers are even worse.

Lytol backs Robinton up, with the perspective of having been both dragonrider and Warder: the Weyrs aren't doing their job and resentment is growing.

F'lar tries to encourage Lytol, by saying the Oldtimers were shaken by the events of the morning and that T'ron will be setting up sweepriders and fires. They discuss other communication methods but Fandarel has a new invention that might help. The catch is that it will take time.

Okay, I admit, I'm starting to see the point of this scene. The information isn't new (except Fandarel's invention), but it serves as a contrast to F'lar's meeting with the Weyrleaders earlier. This meeting is actually productive, with representatives of each faction actually listening to each other and finding solutions. Their emotions are high and resentments are aired, but they stay focused on the immediate concerns.

It's nice to see, and far more effective than any rants about off camera depredations. Because that's the thing. I don't need Fort or the High Reaches or any of those sorts to kidnap women or rob craftsmen for me to side with F'lar in this conflict. I hate the dragonriders regardless, and I will always hate the dragonriders. It would have been enough for me to see the mess that was the first meeting, and the lack of communication between the Weyrs for me to go "okay, yeah, if you guys can't do the ONE JOB that you're designed to do, then there's a problem."

You don't need to hit me with an anvil when a newspaper will get the point across.

Anyway, Fandarel's new invention will take time to implement and will require the cooperation of all of the Lords and Weyrs. Lytol thinks that F'lar will at least be able to get the Lords in line. Lessa and F'lar are concerned that if F'lar approaches the other Lords then it would antagonize the Oldtimers, but Robinton puts it into perspective: that Pern is at stake and they need to look beyond affiliations.

Robinton can be annoying, but he has a good moment here where he refuses to let Lessa blame herself for "setting the stage" for their current problems. She saved Pern. Thank you, Robinton.

Anyway, Robinton wants F'lar to take leadership again. And F'lar ends up agreeing in a moment that I find kind of sweet.

They all turned to him, Lessa slipping a hand to his knee, her eyes eager. This was what she wanted, all right; for him to assume the responsibility. It was what he knew he had to do, finishing the task he had relinquished, hopefully, to those he thought better qualified than he to protect Pern.

Damnit. I know their relationship was awful in Dragonflight, but a part of me is still really invested in F'lar and Lessa as a couple, even granting that she could do so much better.

So the meeting ends up concluding with more ideas (F'lar wants to demonstrate Fandarel's invention at the wedding) and banter, and then it's time to go. Which means they have to find the boys.

There's kind of a funny bit where F'lar and Manora realize that the boys probably went to look at the eggs. Lessa is Displeased, but it's all part of growing up in the Weyr. I like that bit actually, it's the first bit of Weyr culture that we've gotten that doesn't involve implicit child abuse and indoctrination.

Anyway, they do end up finding the boys and the room. There's a bit where everyone realizes that Lytol is human after all:

'What’s the matter with them?' Lytol demanded, supporting his ward against him, and anxiously feeling for his pulse.

'Blood?' He held up stained fingers, his face bleak, cheek a-twitch.

So, thought F’lar, Lytol’s heart had unfrozen a little. Lessa was wrong to think Lytol too numb to care for the boy. Jaxom was a sensitive boy and children needed affection, but there are many ways of loving.

Aw.

Also, I'm not really sure I want to know how the Weyrs raise "sensitive children."

Something occurs to me as well. Until recently, all of the male dragonriders have been weyrbred. The women are found on Searches. And there's usually one queen dragon amidst a bunch of others.

What happens to weyrbred girls? Are they just relegated to being servants for their entire lives??

Tell me again how women WANT to be part of Weyr society again, Ms. McCaffrey, because I still don't get the appeal.

Anyway, once they're sure the boys will be all right (...is it that easy to recover from inhaling inert gas?), they explore the room. It's pretty incomprehensible, filled with strange drawings (which sound like charts) and metal items. Basically, it sounds like they've stumbled onto one of the old high tech rooms.

F'lar thinks he recognizes one of the "scribble-designs" from a metal plate that F'nor had found at Fort Weyr in Dragonflight. And I'm amused that Ms. McCaffrey can remember that scene but not the entire jaunt that F'nor, T'bor and Kylara took into the past. Meanwhile, Fandarel finds a microscope and experiments with its use.

This gets F'lar thinking that if there are ways of making small things large, then are there ways to bring distant objects close? Fair question, I say as someone who wants to own a telescope. As usual, Lessa gets his meaning first and is horrified: if they can SEE the Red Star, they can go there.

To be fair, turnabout is fair play. Lessa had a risky scheme, now it's F'lar's turn (even if someone else will steal the glory of the actual trip.)

I think it will be harder than F'lar expects, because unlike the Pernese people, I have a concept of vacuum. Also, I feel like going face first into the source of Thread might be a bad idea in general.

I always wonder about lost knowledge/lost technology societies. What determines how things are forgotten? I mean, obviously they don't have their computers or high tech vehicles. But would the concept of vacuum have been retained?

-

Anyway, the chapter ends with Jaxom waking up. (Felessan was faster to recover and is eating dinner.) He gets told about the rooms that he found and gets to have dinner.

We also get an age for Jaxom: he's almost twelve. (Which would make Lessa 32 now, F'lar 42, F'nor SHOULD be 43 but is 39, et cetera and so forth.) I realize no one cares about that kind of thing but me. But it makes me happy to pinpoint things.

There's a very cute moment where Jaxom sees Mnementh, who seems to wink at him, and even speaks to him, though Jaxom doesn't realize it, because Mnementh doesn't give a fuck. Mnementh is the best character in this series.

Next chapter, more Kylara. Yay.