The Bedel
In which Rys makes a discovery.
I’m not sure I have much to say about this chapter, since it speaks pretty well for itself.
One detail that’s left open for speculation is why the luthia gave Rys the task of seeing Kezzi off in the mornings at the same time as she began this course of education. Is it somehow part of the lesson, too? Did Silain foresee that it would be in the act of seeing Kezzi off that he’d come to his realisation about what is going on?
PA: Did Silain foresee that it would be in the act of seeing Kezzi off that he’d come to his realisation about what is going on?
Good question. I hadn’t considered that. I am curious about what all the dreaming actually covered, especially after Rys describes to Silain what he first, mistakenly, thought was her intent. What was all that about that it required so much background before he could realize what he must do?
As I understand it, the subject covered by the dreaming was leadership — probably, for the most part, specifically how to lead a kompani, since that’s the kind of leadership the Bedel would most need to keep reference material on. Which explains why Rys’s first mistaken thought, when he figured it out, was that it was a kompani he was intended to lead.
That it takes him a while to figure out, I attribute to two things. One is that he didn’t think of himself as a leader, or expect to be called on as one, so when he was trying to figure out the purpose of the lessons that wasn’t a possiblity that naturally occurred to him. The other is that the lessons are described as being full of gaps, as if they’re part of a lesson plan that’s not being followed in the intended order or with everything included. I don’t think that’s just to keep him from figuring it out: I think that because it isn’t a kompani he’s being prepared to lead, following the kompani headman lesson plan exactly isn’t the right course, and Silain is giving him the bits she expects him to find useful while leaving out the bits that are specific to being a headman (and, perhaps, bits that only a headman is permitted to know).
Thanks, Paul. That makes sense of a confusing bit (for me).