It’s a bit of a short post this week, as we finish up Elayne’s section. Mostly we’re learning more about where everyone is and what they’re doing, setting up for the next part of the conflict between Elayne and Arymilla, and also the next part of the conflict between Elayne and the Dark Forces aimed at her by Mili Skane and Daved Hanlon. But there are a few very fun revelations as well as we cover chapters 15 to 17 of Knife of Dreams.
Somehow Elayne gets lost on her way to her apartments. She’s frustrated and furious that pregnancy has so befuddled her that she can’t even seem to find her way around the palace she grew up in. Eventually she stumbles across the doors to her rooms. She and Aviendha are tended to by maids, and while they’re dressing, Elayne notices Aviendha fiddling with a knife-shaped ter’angreal and asks about it; Elayne hasn’t been able to figure out what the item does, and didn’t know Aviendha was carrying it.
“I thought to give it to you, but you never said anything about it, so I thought I might be wrong, and then we would believe you were safe, from some dangers at least, when you were not. So I decided to keep it. That way, if I am right, at least I could protect you, and if I am wrong, it does no harm.”
Aviendha explains that she believes that the dagger hides anyone who is carrying it from the Shadow, so that neither Shadowspawn nor the Forsaken can see them, and possibly even the Dark One himself. But since Elayne didn’t see that, Aviendha assumes she must be wrong.
Elayne has tried to teach Aviendha how to make ter’angreal with no success, but now she wonders if her sister doesn’t have a different skill. She takes Aviendha to the collection of ter’angreal recovered from the Kin’s cache, and has her look at each ter’angreal in turn and say what she thinks it does. Aviendha is reluctant at first, insisting that she is only guessing, but as she touches more and more ter’angreal her “guesses” start to feel more confident, and to grow in detail. Finally, she identifies a statuette that she says holds thousands and thousands of books. She channels into it, and two words in the Old Tongue appear in the air before them.
“I think we have proof at last,” Elayne said more calmly than she felt. Her heart was in her throat, and pounding. Lies and Truth, the two words might be translated. Or in context, perhaps Fiction and Not Fiction would be better. It was proof enough for her. She marked where the flows touched the figure, for when she could return to her studies.
Aviendha suggests that she could take over the study of the ter’angreal, under Elayne’s guidance, but at that moment Dorindha and Nadere come in to tell Aviendha that the Aiel are leaving Caemlyn.
When Aviendha leaves, Dorindha tells her that they’ve been summoned by Rand, who sent a letter to Bael. But since the Car’a’carn told Bael not to tell anyone, she can’t give Elayne any more information than that. Nadere, meanwhile, is more concerned with the fact that Elayne doesn’t have a midwife yet.
Aviendha returns, ready to leave, and insists that Elayne take the dagger that hides the bearer from the Shadow. Elayne gives her the turtle brooch and seated woman angreal, as well as the twisted stone ring, though she mentions that she can only loan them, since the White Tower will want them back.
Aviendha looked at the things and gasped. “Even the loan of these is a great gift. You shame me, sister. I have no farewell gift to give in return.”
“You give me your friendship. You gave me a sister.” Elayne felt a tear slide down her cheek. She essayed a laugh, but it was a weak, tremulous thing. “How can you say you have nothing to give? You’ve given me everything.”
They hug and bid each other farewell, and Elayne is left to tell herself that she will have to use her duty to sustain her now.
Elayne meets with the mercenaries in the Blue Reception Room, which is a slight to them, though they don’t know it. Mistress Harfor and Master Norry are also there, clearly waiting for Elayne to be done with the mercenaries so that they can present their reports, as well as Captain Mellar. He greets her with an elaborate bow, but she is cold to him, dismissing him with a reminder that she has assigned him other duties. Birgitte slips in as he is leaving.
As predicted, the mercenaries ask Elayne for more money. She is immediately angered by their—unfortunately correct—allusions to how badly she needs them,
“I intend to hold you to your agreements,” she said coldly. Well, at least she was not raging. “You’ll be paid what you signed for, including the usual victory gold after I gain the throne, but not a penny more. If you try to back out, I’ll assume you are turning coat and going over to Arymilla, in which case, I’ll have you and your companies arrested and put outside the gates without swords or horses.”
One of the men pinches one of the serving maids, and Elayne adds furiously that they’ll be put out without swords, horse, or boots if any of them tries such a thing again. Sareitha and Careane point out that the Aes Sedai’s favor appears to rest on Elayne, not Arymilla, and warn the men against angering the White Tower. Elayne feels strange thinking about the fact that one of them must be Black Ajah, unless it’s Merilille, especially since she rather likes both women.
The mercenaries leave, and Elayne has to contend with reports from Mistress Harfor and Master Norry. Mistress Harfor has learned of rumors amongst Arymilla’s forces that they expect to take the city soon, which is hardly good news. Master Norry has something better: He believes he has found someone who can follow Captain Mellar without getting killed.
They have tried five different times to have Mellar followed, and each has been killed exactly the same way, which seems beyond coincidence.
A prisoner is brought in and introduced to Elayne as Samwil Hark, a cutpurse who is so good that he’s never actually been caught. He was only arrested after a fellow thief gave him up. After the man’s “credentials” are explained and evaluated by Elayne, she offers him a pardon from hanging and exile to Baerlon, if he can successfully follow a man for her. Hark continually protests his innocence and loyalty to Elayne and her mother before her, but agrees to the deal.
She also explains to him that she is Aes Sedai.
“The weave she laid on Hark’s belt buckle, his boots, his coat and breeches, was somewhat akin to that for the Warder bond, though much less complex. It would fade from the clothing and boots in a few weeks, or months at best, but metal would hold a Finder forever. “I’ve laid a weave on you, Master Hark. Now you can be found wherever you are.” In truth, only she would be able to find him—a Finder was attuned to the one who wove it—but there was no reason to tell him that. “Just to be sure that you are indeed loyal.”
Looking much less pleased with the deal than he had a moment before, Hark is taken away by Birgitte. Elayne supposes she has just handed Mellar his sixth victim, and expresses how badly she needs to know who put Mellar in her palace. Birgitte suggests that she could arrest Mellar and put him to the Question, upsetting both Norry and Mistress Harfor. Elayne, fighting down her own outrage, reminds Birgitte that the law has certain requirements, and that no one can be put to the Question without proof.
“My mother often said, ‘The Queen must obey the law she makes, or there is no law.’ I will not begin by breaking the law.” The bond carried something… stubborn. She fixed Birgitte with a steady look. “Neither will you.”
Elayne goes to the Map Room to meet Dyelin, and as they walk Birgitte explains to Elayne that some of the corridors have shifted or disappeared, “as if the whole [palace] had been built to a slightly different plan.”
They discuss the problem, and decide that this can’t be the work of the Forsaken or it would have happened before now. Birgitte wonders if the changes will always be benign, and what might happen to someone who is in a room or corridor when it is altered or disappeared.
In the Map Room, Elayne considers a map of Caemlyn, where pieces are laid out to mark the position of various forces. She tells Birgitte about the Aiel’s departure and that they have to find out if Bashere’s forces and the Legion of the Dragon are also leaving.
Dyelin arrives, confused about the new layout of the palace, and they fill her in. Elayne belatedly weaves a ward against eavesdropping and feels it cut through someone’s weave. Elayne decides to let the people know that she and the other Aes Sedai are aware of the problem, which should provide some comfort. The idea feels feeble to Elayne, but Dyelin approves of it.
They are interrupted by the arrival of the four young nobles—Catalyn, Conail, Perival, and Branlet, with Caralyn complaining that Elayne is not yet queen and shouldn’t be keeping secrets. Dyelin reports that the undeclared nobles aren’t going to join Elayne, but that they aren’t going to join Arymilla either. Some of them seem to be close to accepting that Dyelin will not accept a nomination to the throne, but it seems clear that most are waiting to see if Arymilla will win—and with Elayne out of the way, they’ll declare for Dyelin.
That night after dinner, Elayne is visited by Vandene, Kirstian and Zarya. After Vandene weaves a ward against eavesdropping, she reports that Reanne Corly has been murdered, smothered by someone using far more saidar than was necessary. They also show her a doll left behind by one of the Kin, Mirane Larinen, and tell Elayne the story about the doll’s importance to the woman. Until now, it has been presumed that Mirane ran away, but now Vandene believes that she was murdered, and that all of the missing members of the Kin were probably murdered as well.
“I expect clues were left among the things they left behind, treasured keepsakes like this doll, a favorite piece of jewelry. The murderer wanted us to think she was being clever at hiding her crimes but not clever enough, only we weren’t clever enough to find those clues, so she decided to become more blatant.”
Elayne feels like the politics behind this must be aimed at her somehow, but can’t quite figure out the puzzle. She orders that all of the Kin must be with at least one other member, if not two, at all times. On Vandene’s advice, she decides not to warn them to be careful around Careane and Sareitha. They decide to warn the Windfinders as well.
In her camp, Arymilla is infuriated with the quality of meat in her dinner, and considers having the cook flogged. She’s equally angry at her followers, not all of whom are as tightly tied to her as she would like. Sylvase asks what good taking Caemlyn will do if Arymilla doesn’t have enough supporters to become Queen, but Arymilla is confident that once she has Caemlyn, she will be able to convince Elayne’s young supporters to follow her.
“And if she could not, Master Lounalt surely could. A pity if children had to be handed over to him and his cords. “I will be queen by sunset of the day Caemlyn falls to me.”
Arymilla is pulled away from the meal to speak to her secretary, who reports: “They have agreed. But they want the whole amount of gold first.” She tells him to pass on the message that it will take a week to get the funds together, and goes inside to deliver the news that she will very soon be Queen of Andor.
Given the timing, I have to assume that the mercenaries who asked Elayne for more money are the “they” referred to in Arymilla’s section. Elayne refused their request for gold, so they immediately acquiesced to Arymilla’s attempts at bribery. The insistence on getting everything upfront is particularly telling, I think.
This is what Elayne and Birgitte (and everyone else on Elayne’s side, for that matter) have been worried about from the start—that mercenaries would never have enough loyalty to Elayne to stay if there wasn’t enough money in it, or if Elayne’s forces started to lose. I don’t think Arymilla’s smart enough to come up with a more complicated or sneaky plan, in any case. I suppose someone could be dropping one in her lap, some Darkfriend or Forsaken. Maybe Mili Skane. But we’ve had no suggestion of that being the case, and even if someone else was involved, bribing the mercenaries is still the easiest path to success, and it costs the Dark little if Arymilla gets her butt kicked.
It’s funny to me how every once in a while we get a cartoon villainess in The Wheel of Time. Arymilla is so much like Sevanna—narcissistic to the point of stupidity with no interest in anything but her own glory and creature comforts and no sense of empathy for anyone around her, not even one or two close friends or family members. That bit where she considered having Lounalt torture a bunch of children to get what she wants? Very Sevanna. Equally Sevanna is her decision to have the cook flogged over the condition of the meat even though the most cursory of examinations would show how bad the conditions of all foodstuffs in the camp—and everywhere else—have become. And then there’s her intention to weasel out of paying the second half of the promised money on the assumption that no one would bother a Queen about unpaid wages. Firstly, that’s untrue and just shows how little Arymilla understands ruling even from a functional standpoint, never mind a moral one. And second… well, she’s just gross.
We’ve seen other characters who might actively enjoy pain more, like Therava (and of course there’s always the true Evil of people like Semirhage) but Arymilla’s complete indifference to using pain, torture, or rape as a means to an end feels even worse, somehow, than someone who loves causing pain because that’s just their thing.
And again we have the reminder from the narrative that not every bad guy—a torturer like Therava, a narcissistic monster like Arymilla, a formerly intelligent person blinded by personal ambition and perceived slights like Elaida—is a Darkfriend, and in some ways, these people are more of an impediment to the success of the Light than those who have actually sworn to the Dark. Or at least, equally a problem.
And here is poor Elayne, beset by Black Ajah on one side, Arymilla on another, and Mili and co. on a third, and that’s not even counting the fact that she’s only in this mess because of Rahvin. Rahvin’s real plan was to take over Andor for good and have its armies and resources to wield for the Shadow, but even with him removed from the picture by Rand, he has still struck a huge blow for the Shadow by throwing the Andoran succession into chaos. As I said last week, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable for Elayne to feel rattled and unsure of her own feelings, given how much pressure she’s under and how many different problems are constantly being thrown her way.
But while Arymilla is a cartoon villain à la Cruella De Vil, we also have some characters in this section that show how great Jordan is at creating fully realized and complex feeling people to fill his world with. It’s always especially noticeable to me when we get bit characters who are only introduced for a short time or for one plot point, because the author’s job in this scenario is to take a character who is little more than scene filler or a plot device and make them feel like a real person. It is something Jordan does exceptionally well, and we see that in this section with characters like Deni, the Guardswoman who used to be a tavern tough and prefers her cudgel to the sword, and with Samwil Hark.
Deni also has the best monologue we’ve had in some time. I really liked the fact that her attitude towards the possibility of death (even a supernatural possibility) matches that which we’ve had from some of the male warriors, but is ultimately more pragmatic and, well, less angsty. (Looking at you Lan.) When Elayne asks Deni if she’s frightened by the change in the palace layout and the concept that you could be in a hallway that disappears or a room that suddenly has no doors or windows, Deni responds that such an occurrence is only the possibility of death, and that every day you wake up there is a possibility of death.
Elayne supposes that this isn’t the worst outlook to have on life, but in the world of this series, I think it’s actually a pretty incredible one. Especially in a time when the Dragon Reborn is back and the Shadow is moving, Dani’s attitude is reminiscent almost of a Zen Buddhist practice of acceptance, or the ancient Roman philosophy of Stoicism. The Darkness that the people of this world are facing is terrifying; if you let yourself, you could easily drown in that terror. There is only so much one person can do to protect themselves against things like Shadowspawn or the Black Ajah, even powerful channelers. A radical acceptance of that fact is probably the only way to keep functioning, to keep moving forward.
Samwil Hark is also a fascinatingly developed character. I don’t know if he’ll get killed by Hanlon, or if he’ll succeed in following him and then disappear from the narrative, or if he’ll show up again later, but even if we never see him again, I feel like I know exactly who this man is. I feel like I was in the room with him and Elayne, observing firsthand rather than reading an author’s description, and I’m just so impressed, again, at Jordan’s skill in this area.
Another aspect I found interesting was Elayne’s reaction to the way people seemed to take comfort from telling her about the mysterious changes to the layout of the palace. From Birgitte feeling less stressed through the bond the moment she tells Elayne what she’s observed, to Dyelin’s confidence in Elayne’s plan to simply let people know what is happening and that the Aes Sedai are aware of it, Elayne finds herself puzzled by the fact that she has somehow made people feel better. She worries that people think she’s capable of more than she is, that she has a better plan than she does, or that she has any plan at all. What she doesn’t seem to realize is the relief that people feel when they can hand a problem off to someone else.
You would think that Morgase would have taught Elayne this lesson—that the people following her would take comfort not just from her surety and capability, but also from the fact that dealing with such problems is the Queen’s job, not theirs. Elayne herself might never have experienced the relief of handing off a responsibility to someone above her—yes, she had her mother, but that’s what mothers do for their children, and Elayne has always seemed to see Morgase as something a bit larger and more powerful than real life. Elayne herself has always handled every responsibility that has been given to her, as the Daughter-Heir, as Siuan’s Black Ajah hunter, as Rand’s ally and a supporter of Egwene. The most she has had is peers with which to share the burden, but she has never had anyone take anything from her shoulders.
Rand tried that one time and she practically threw him out of Andor.
So she might not realize how much she is doing for those around her, those who serve her, just by letting them tell her about a problem. Birgitte in particular already has so much weight on her shoulders, and in her case, she isn’t doing something she was brought up to do, or something that is in her usual skillset. And then there is the fact that she is Elayne’s Warder. Her responsibility is the physical safety and the functional support of her Aes Sedai, but it is Elayne on whom the final authority rests, especially when it comes to big picture issues, like the One Power. Or the literal fabric of reality.
Birgitte did her duty, both as Elayne’s Captain-General and as a Warder, and the problem doesn’t have to be solved in order for Birgitte to feel a sense of relief. That doesn’t mean she’s going to stop being worried or wash her hands entirely or the responsibility.
I guess what I’m driving at is that I would expect Elayne to know this facet of human psychology and the way the hierarchy works. Rand being confused by it, or Mat or Perrin, would make more sense. And it’s a lesson that Egwene has learned from Siuan, and I would expect Morgase to have taught the same lesson to Elayne. I’m also thinking about how Jordan, with his military background, must have understood hierarchy, in all its pros and cons and intricacies, really well. He has explored what hierarchical systems mean and how they function in a variety of different ways throughout the series, but this feels both like one of the subtlest and the most profound.
And now Elayne will have to carry the burden of being the top of the responsibility pyramid without Aviendha. It makes sense, narratively, that Aviendha needed to leave Caemlyn. Her story was starting to stagnate, and she does need to reconnect with Rand at some point—especially since Elayne and Min have both cemented what their individual relationships with him look like, but Aviendha hasn’t yet. And from an in-universe point of view, the Wise Ones are clearly seeing a similar kind of stagnation. Aviendha has learned a lot about the One Power, has developed important understandings of wetlander culture and how to engage with it, all of which will be helpful in making sure that remnant of a remnant survives. But her lessons in becoming a Wise One, as Nadere mentions, aren’t finished yet.
I do wonder how close she is, however, and whether the Aiel have some kind of test like the Aes Sedai do, that apprentices have to pass before they can become Wise Ones.
Aviendha’s ability to understand ter’angreal by touching them is a huge deal, for female channelers and for the forces of Light. We know that studying ter’angreal is incredibly dangerous, and someone like Elayne can only learn a little bit at a time. However, there is no time, the Last Battle is looming, and every single useful ter’angreal that can be identified in time to be put in the hands of a channeler before then would be a huge boon in that fight. A ter’angreal that can hide one from the Shadow is also an incredible find, given how many of our heroes have been or currently are being stalked by the Forsaken. I would expect such a device to be more like an angreal or sa’angreal if it can do something so powerful, but Jordan knows his world building better than I do.
Imagine if Rand, Mat, or Perrin had possessed that dagger ter’angreal back in The Eye of the World, when Ba’alzamon was showing up in their dreams all the time. Imagine if Rand had it before he learned to shield his dreams from Lanfear and anyone else who wanted to invade his mind when he slept? Assuming the thing also works in Tel’aran’rhiod, which seems likely or it wouldn’t be very useful, it would really have changed their experience.
I do love Aviendha, and the shared moment between her and the maid when they got excited about the ter’angreal full of books was really special. It was also really moving, because it was a reminder that many of the ter’angreal that exist in this time were ones that were carried away by the Da’shain Aiel in an attempt to keep them safe during the Breaking. It wasn’t all weapons and amplifiers and pain rods. (Seriously, why is there a rod to administer pain in the cache and is it for sex?) Someone who loved books and reading tried to save that ter’angreal from destruction, and I can only hope that some day, after the Last Battle has been won, some Brown Sister has a chance to get into that ter’angreal and translate some of those thousands and thousands of books. It would be the work of lifetimes, even for a long-lived Aes Sedai, and so much could be learned about that time from a collection of both fiction and nonfiction texts.
Speaking of The Eye of the World, chapter 16 contains my favorite callback to a previous book to date. The weave called a Finder! This is what Moiraine must have done to the coins she gave Rand, Mat, and Perrin back when she first met them, and I don’t think we’ve seen it since, so that was really fun and really exciting to see in this section. Clever of Elayne not to tell Samwil that the weave only let her find him, or that it was only on his clothes and belt buckle—another example of using that Aes Sedai reputation to her advantage, and telling the truth but not the full truth. If she had told him everything, he could have just changed clothes.
I’m so sad about Reanne Corly! I really liked her as a character, and I’m sorry to see her die. I really hope that they catch whoever is responsible for these killings, and soon. I also hope that this doesn’t set back the progress that has been made with the freed damane. Jillari is clearly barely hanging on, and losing Reanne might have a big affect on her and others.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the Black Ajah murder is uncovered, and if Hanlon’s true nature is finally revealed. I’ve hated having him still close to Elayne and didn’t understand why she was still keeping him there, but her motives make sense. Dismissing him would mean never finding out who sent him in the first place, and that is a dangerous proposition. Not to mention Elayne’s righteous anger over the situation. But I worry that the longer she looks for proof of who and what she is, the more likely it is that he’ll be able to do something bad before he’s caught.
We’ll also have to wait and see if Arymilla’s plan comes to fruition, and if she indeed does ride into Caemlyn by week’s end, because next week we’re back with Rand, to find out exactly what he’s pulling all his forces to him for. The meeting with the Seanchan, no doubt. I’m sure that won’t have any unexpected complications.