In which Ren Zel dea’Judan has unfinished business on Casia.
The thing I find really satisfying about this story is how things turn out for Cyrbet Meriandra, the last child of Clan Jabun. I’m pleased for her sake her fate turns out not to be the desperate thing it sounded when it was foretold at the end of Changeling; she did no more to earn a part in the doom brought on her by Delm Jabun than Ren Zel did. And during the confrontation at the end of this story, it was her I was worried about more than Ren Zel; he’s a dramliza, he can take care of himself even if Anthora isn’t there to take care of him.
(I am of course also pleased that Ren Zel found a way to reconnect with his family, but it wasn’t such a subject of suspense; as soon as Anthora persuaded him to make the attempt it seemed obvious the attempt would succeed and it was only a matter of waiting to learn the details.)
There is something funny going on with Cyrbet, though. It seems to be implied that she’s too young to remember the death of her mother, and was raised from childhood with tales of Ren Zel the ogre, which would seem to fit with the mention in Changeling of a toddler identified as Elsu’s daughter. However, we have our choice of several not-entirely-consistent indications of how long it’s been since Ren Zel left on Dutiful Passage… not one of which is long enough for a toddler to grow into a young woman employed as an adult and contemplating marriage. The timeline published in the second Liaden Unibus has it that Changeling took place in Standard Year 1390, which would mean he’s been away a mere three years. Even if we ignore that, Changeling itself states clearly that Shan is the captain of Dutiful Passage, which places it absolutely no earlier than 1383, ten years ago (and probably no earlier than 1385, since Shan was nominally captain for a couple of years before he was actually free to assume the role). Finally, there’s a line in this story which can be read as indicating that it’s been twelve years (actually, it’s “a dozen Standards”, which, since it’s Liadens, might be an approximation the way a Terran would say “a decade”) and even that is not enough for a toddler to attain Bethy’s apparent age. Perhaps Elsu had two daughters, and Cyrbet was the elder by enough years to fix the maths, but then what happened to the other one?
Another oddity, but one which I think is more likely to be deliberate and meaningful than an oversight, is the Balance pronounced by Delm Jabun on Ren Zel. It’s stated clearly in Conflict of Honors that Liadens consider it inappropriate to Balance a transgression by seeking the death of the transgressor, except in really extreme cases where there’s truly nothing else that will do. So does this mean that Ren Zel’s alleged wrongs against Clan Jabun would, if real, constitute such an extreme case? Or is it a sign of Delm Jabun’s corruption, that he called for Ren Zel’s death, regardless of its appropriateness, simply because it was the outcome he desired?
There’s a lot of good parallelling going on in this story, especially on the subject of delms: so many different delms, each with their own approach to the delm’s duty of caring for their clans’ resources, allowing comparisons that cast light on what it means to be a good (or a bad) delm, and to be a good and obedient clanmember. There are also parallels between Ren Zel and his nemesis that are interesting, and instructive: we don’t get an explicit account from Bethy of why she makes the decision she does at the end, but perhaps part of it is similar to the reasoning behind Ren Zel’s account at prime of his Balance with Aunt Chane.
Tomorrow: “Code of Honor”
PA: we don’t get an explicit account from Bethy of why she makes the decision she does at the end
My impression was that she chose the balance she offered only because he had untangled the kinks he found in the “golden threads” for her benefit, even as she came for him. This is his form of healing, and he performed it between the time he awoke to her voice (and saw The thread pulsed, shedding flakes of gold, showing a core of molten red, like a raw wound) and the time that they met outdoors. Although, it is also true that we don’t get an account from her viewpoint of how her desire for revenge evolved into a recognition that balance could be achieved in a much different way than she’d been dreaming.
But Ren Zel doesn’t untangle the kinks in the threads: he reaches for them, but then makes a choice to let them be. He might well have kept an eye on them, to get hints of what she intends, but I see nothing that indicates he went back on that choice later. And Anthora, who would presumably be able to tell, says that “the young delm was wiser than I guessed”, which doesn’t sound to me like what she would say if Ren Zel had been influencing the young delm’s decision.
Can we be certain he didn’t unkink it before Anthora’s awareness was brought to bear? Just after he notes the “raw wound,” his thoughts…in third person…are That was . . .unnatural. That, he needed to deal with.
I was left with the impression that after his first decision *not* to interfere with the kinks that he saw further into the thread itself and decided that he *did* have to “deal with” it/?
Since the authors often use misdirection, but also often leave thoughts and/or actions unspoken in the text, this seems a case in which either interpretation might be accurate.
Of course he dealt with it. He dealt with it by getting himself out of his nice warm bed, getting dressed, and going to talk to her.
Well, yes, of course. For some reason I had a mental picture of him gently holding the thread and unraveling as he left the ship and approached her.
On a different but related subject, the amount of time Ren Zel spends in this story hanging out among the golden threads reads a bit differently with foreknowledge of what happens to him in Dragon in Exile and Neogenesis.
Yes, I found that to be the case.
Even following on this discussion, when I came back to this story I again had the impression that Ren Zel made a conscious decision to “soothe” the one pulsing thread, even after he had decided not to reach in and actually untangle anything. Meanwhile, Anthora had a different—more practical rather than metaphysical—way of dealing with the apparent threat!
I can see how it might be read that way, but on this re-read I stand by my belief that Ren Zel didn’t interfere with the thread directly, though perhaps he kept an eye on it to gauge Cyrbet’s intentions.
Also, there is this: I don’t want it to be the case that Ren Zel changed Cyrbet’s mind by interfering with her thread, because that would make me think less of Ren Zel and of the authors. On the authors’ side, having Ren Zel get himself out of trouble with easy magic is cheating, and considerably less dramatically satisfying than having a sympathetic character make a difficult decision after long thought on her own initiative. On Ren Zel’s side, if he really made Cyrbet reverse her course by altering her mind without her knowledge or consent, that would be a profound violation of her autonomy, at least as bad as the intended violation of Lorin’s autonomy that got Rijmont arrested, and not something that could be forgiven even by good intentions.
Good point, Paul. I believe you must be right, and that the authors were trying to show us how humble and honorable Ren Zel is regarding his powers. Rather than—as I had been assuming—showing us the development of his powers.
I also had wanted to add: The authors are gradually building Ren Zel as a Christ figure.
There were two allusions to the Bible that I recognized:
Anthora says to Ren Zel: As if Val on or Miri would lash you to the Tree and lay you three stripes . . .
Later, when Anthora introduces herself to Ren Zel’s Aunt Chane, his aunt remembers the logic of the former Delm: The clan could not sacrifice itself for the life of only one.
I assume these are subtle enough that the reference to Jesus’ suffering would not intrude for those not attuned to them.