Ahab-Esais

In which Tocohl wakes up briefly.

The good news is, Tocohl didn’t choose to throw in her lot with one of the bad guys. The bad news is, that means she’s been taken captive instead.

This chapter spends much less time catching up on old news before proceeding to new events, which one might expect when there’s only a couple of ships and a handful of people to catch up on, compared to a whole planet.

I wonder how sincere Inkirani Yo is about doing Tocohl a favour and allowing her to follow her heart instead of her orders. I think she’s being entirely truthful about how much she wishes to be free of her own orders, and about knowing what it’s like to be trapped and to suffer sensory deprivation (which implies, in a casual aside, some nasty things about the Lyre Institute), but it’s difficult to take her at her word about letting Tocohl follow her desires when her actions are all to keep Tocohl constrained and only allow her to do what Inkirani Yo wishes her to do.

And also, there is a difference between Inkirani Yo’s forced obedience and Tocohl’s duty, which binds her only because she chooses to be bound — though, to be fair to Inkirani Yo, she has never been allowed the latter experience so she may not realise or understand the difference.